KSR - 2025-08-01- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

It's UK Football Media Days as Mark Stoops and Mitch Barnhart join the show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories,

their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on. A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know.

Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host Keir Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to.

Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Comedy of Broadway in Lexington welcomes Jeff Allen and his clean comedy show July 31st through August 2nd. Then from Kill Tony and Bad Friends catch Jesse Jetsky Johnson, August 7 through the 9th. And don't miss Lexington favorite, Miss Pat, August 15th and 16th. Her shows are sure to sell out. For tickets to all Comedy Off Broadway shows, call 859271 joke or visit ComedyoffBroadway.com. This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.

Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio Friday, August 1st. I'm Matt Jones here at UK Football Media Day in Lexington, Kentucky, an overcast day. but a day where we will have lots of guests on throughout the two hours. If you're a UK sports fan, this is not going to be a whole lot of non-sports today. Maybe a little bit,

but this is a UK football day. Clark's Poppinshop phone lines 859-2802287. A Vision Auto Glass Text Machine is 772-745254 in this edition sponsored by the TJ Smith Law Officer called T.J. He'll make them pay. UK Football Media Day, I missed this last year. Yes. So I haven't been in this stadium.

I didn't go to a home game last year. I watched them at home. So I haven't been in the stadium in like two years. And kind of nice to be back. The players are out on the field. I don't know any of them, but it's good to see them. And we are going to have a big day. We will have Mark Stoops, Zach Calzada, Aden Leros.

What's the big guy's name we're going to have? Pete. She has Pete. She has Pete. Largest human that has ever walked the earth. He's a monster. I mean, that's the biggest person. Dionne Walker's like, okay, dude, leave me alone. And then Bush Hamden.

Yes. And I've asked for Mitch Barnhart and have not gotten an answer. So we'll see about that. Guys, nice to be out here again, isn't it? There's a feeling that you get when you walk into a stadium like this, that it excites you. This is Mario's first ever time on the field, on this field. He was walking like he walked into the candy store. Did you not bring him last year?

Ron wasn't here last year. I wasn't here last year. Oh, okay. Where were you? Yeah, you all break the, don't leave at the same time rule a lot. Where did you go? I had a medical thing that day. Okay.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, well, I hope you're okay. I got trouble last year for talking to Stoops. You got in trouble? Yeah, he came up, pulled out the chair while I was on the air, and said, you want to talk? And I said, of course, but I didn't go through the proper channels. What was I supposed to do.

You got to go through proper channels. You got it, and you didn't do that. What a rebel. Well, we are here. Listen, I would normally start with that insane Reds game yesterday, but I'm not going to do it because since we're at football. maybe I'll bring it up later. But Shannon, I will say when I give you tickets, craziest games in the world, right?

That's right, yeah. I mean, the cycle that Ellie hit a couple years ago and then last night, that was the wildest game I've ever seen. Shannon, if Shannon is in the ballpark, expect insane things to happen. But we are here. All right, so first impressions, we're going to actually probably break early so that we can have stoops as much as possible. Early impressions. Number one, Ryan, I don't know these people. I was looking around and I'm like, I don't recognize any of these plays.

players, but that makes sense. It's a new team, right? Yeah, over 50 new players. I pointed out trying to find Zach Kalsata, the first time I've ever seen him in person. Number five, I saw Quisimberry, the kid from Boyle County. He was out here a while ago, so I see some familiar names, familiar faces, but most of the guys I'm like you, no idea who they are. And even when I look at this roster, first of all, a lot of people, you're seeing the expansion of the rosters due to the scholarship increase, 120 people on the roster. There's a lot of people on here where it's like, whoa, that's a lot that's just a ton of human beings on the team.

It is. A lot of them out here. I came to the whatever they called it a few weeks ago where they just played without two-hand touch and they were like 30 people here, whatever it was. So I've seen them in person, but haven't been able to do many interviews or haven't heard a lot of stoops. A lot of the stuff gets scheduled while we're on the air, so I'm excited. Yeah, Mr. Barnhart is talking right now. I'll get to that in just a second. The second biggest thing is how big the Pete guys.

Where did they find that person? New Mexico. He's our offensive lineman, right? He's left tackle. He's going to be good. First of all, Shannon, you should see this person. He looks like the Empire State Building. Bigger than Khadim at OVW?

Well, not as wide as Khadim, but maybe taller. Wow. I mean, I think he's taller than Dea. Dionne Walker might be a little bigger, but this dude's taller than him, isn't he? It's close. I think he's listed at 6-8, 6-7. I wish Dionne were on this team so we could just get them side by side. Dude, can you imagine if they lined up against each other?

Good night. I mean, have you ever seen a bigger offensive line? I mean, I've seen fatter offensive lineman, but I think I've ever seen as tall and big a dude. You're right. Walking across the field, he didn't look like he had any fat on him. He's a well-built, strong guy walking across the field while it goes. That's a big dude.

What we'll do is I'll stand next to him, and you'll get a sense. That's a good idea. Because he's going to over, he's going to tower. I think we need Ryan with a picture with him too. But Ryan's just going to look like a little baby with him. He's listed on the official site, 6-8-3-22. 6-8-3. Well, I could say he's all that, and then some.

He's not short, dark, and handsome. He is tall. And he's legit. It's supposed to be really, really good. He's not just a big guy. Dude's NFL potential. Yeah, so he'll be over here later. Mitch is talking right now.

It's happening right behind us, but we can't hear it. So I'm giving you the updates as they get sent to me. Here are the updates that we've had so far. $36 million will be spent on Krogerfield upgrades, $15 million, on general upgrades, $21 million on the suites. I guess that's just kind of life nowadays. He did say, what, we were going to have Wi-Fi, but in five years? Wi-Fi will be here soon.

I feel like he's been talking about Wi-Fi for a decade. Five years? I think eventually we'll just have Wi-Fi everywhere on the planet. We're going to have Wi-Fi in our brains before they have it at Crokerfield. What doesn't take so long? Did they have to bring it overseas? I don't understand. Why does it take five years?

What do you have to do? I feel like in five years you could build this stadium. Yeah, you could. Elon could have that up in an hour. They're going to build a tunnel from the Nashville airport to downtown Nashville in six years. I don't understand it. Any business you build, they install Wi-Fi as they build the building. I was able to call spectrum.

And I had it that afternoon. There we go. You know, I remember Dwayne Peeby having this conversation with us when Dwayne was here. They were going to redo Wi-Fi long time ago. I remember in 2003 the dial-up that they were talking about. Netscape. I remember they got mad Frank. Hersey was always on the phone so they couldn't get on the Internet,

and they were talking about it back then. All right. So I guess it'll be that long. I think the big news from what I've seen him say so far is that they're not going to release the rev share for sport to sport. He said he was going to keep that private. You know, I'm not going to spend today ranting about this, but I've given you my opinion.

I don't know how a public university can do that. I don't know how a public university can spend $20.6 million of money, and people don't see where it is. Someone would have to explain to me what the exception is, because we know what every coach makes. You can go on there. You can see what every professor makes, what every janitor makes, you can see, you can find online every dollar that this university

spends. And maybe there's an argument for not saying how much you're giving each athlete for privacy reasons. I can respect that, but not even saying what sport it goes to. I mean, literally, they have to say, when they build a building, they have to tell the public what they've spent on each aspect. of the building. They have to say what contractor got what money. They have to say all that. I don't know how they can hide what they're spending on each sport. And Mitch says we can't do it

because our opponents won't do it. I mean, okay, but I can't believe our opponents don't have to do it either. That's going to get challenged in court, and I will be shocked if that gets upheld that they can do that. Well, you said it. To me, just a guy looking in, it's right they're hiding something. Why are you hiding? Well, I don't think that. I believe him when he says he doesn't want the opponents to know, but I just don't know how you can do that. So, all right, I see Mark Stoops coming right now.

Let's, we have a hard break at 1030. Why don't I take the break now and that way we can have the full time with you? Is that all right? All right. All right. We will take the break now. We will come back with Mark Stubbs right after this. KSI.

Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and no. Nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

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Welcome back, Techie Sports Radio. All right, have Mark Stoops. We have him for 15 minutes. I got a lot I want to get to. Let's start with this, though. You're doing okay? I'm doing great. You know, you had the procedure.

Yeah, doing great. Good. You're wearing sunglasses. Makes you look like a badass. If you think I look bad, you see the other guy. That's the answer. That's the answer. All right, so tell me about the team.

There's 50 new guys. So it's like we don't know a lot of the guys. Tell people in the best, shortest way possible, strengths and things you've got to see get better over the next four weeks. Well, I think you've heard me talk a lot this summer. I'll try to be relatively quick. You know, for me, we had to get better up front, right? I mean, that's quite obvious.

You really can't do anything if you don't, you know, have the guys up front. So I think it started with the offensive line. I feel like we got a bunch of new guys there, you know, much stronger, much more depth. Same with the defensive line. It starts there. I mean, you have to be able to protect. You have to be able to run the ball. a little bit, have the balance you're looking for.

So I'm excited about that. Depth? We've heard, I'd heard from people, they felt like the started group was good. You feel good about the depth as well? I feel like we got eight guys that could start. Okay. So, you know, nine and ten, we're working on. Eight guys, I saw the dude from New Mexico. That's the biggest person I've ever seen.

Yeah, he's a big dude. And you need to have him on. He's coming on. He's an interesting guy. He's awesome to talk to. He's a great interview. He's very deep. You know, you guys.

have some good conversation. Well, good. Is there a position where you go, this is one I got to see guys step up, I want to make sure we get where we need to be. Well, you know, I've mentioned the O line already. I think that goes without saying. Same with the D-line. I think it's fair to say that our receivers have to be consistent and have to step up.

You got like seven or eight guys that I could see playing. Is it really just like a competition? It is that. It's definitely by committee, and we will see, you know, who steps up. I mean, you know, so, you know, obviously, Jay Mack, you know, Jimori has produced, you know, and really had a good finish to the season. Hopefully he'll carry that forward. You know, so, you know, Fred is a guy, you know, hardly coming back is a guy. Kendrick Law, you know, is one that we need to step up and be a player for us.

He's very strong. So, you know, we need him to be a ball player. Looks to me like your running backs could be a strength. Yeah. Do you feel that way? Yeah, without a doubt. Definitely. again, a position that we needed to get better from a year ago.

I definitely feel like we've done that. We got the size that we're looking for. Tell him about the two guys that came in. Seth is a guy that I think is. McGowan? Yeah, he's just dynamic. He's really good out of the backfield. He's a complete back.

He's a game changer. I think he's a pro prospect, you know, so he's a very good, complete player. And Dante's the big physical guy that we've been looking for. Yes, from Nebraska, right? Exactly. Yeah. You know, we wanted that a year ago with Chip, and unfortunately for him, he was injured a lot. But Dante's a big strong.

Kind of the running back you've had over the years. Yeah, the ones we've had over the years. You, I think we've talked during the offseason about last year, you know, discipline and some of that were things. Who are the leaders of this team? Who are the guys that sort of, because I've heard that is significantly better this year. It is. And I think, you know, we've had to address it. You know, as I've mentioned over and over again.

You know, we definitely fell short. It wasn't an area where I'd like it to be, say, like, it was the major problem. The major problem was we weren't good enough. Yeah. You know, that's the bottom line. We weren't good enough. I didn't do a good enough job with the whole team. So we will definitely be better.

There's definitely great leaders on this team. You know, you look at Alex Safari. You know, you look at Jordan Lovett. You look at David Gusta. You know, on the offense, there's multiple guys up front, Jagger Burton, you know. So there's, you know, it's tremendously better across the bowl. Yeah. I've heard that as well. So let's talk about you look at the schedule. I mean, that is a brutal schedule. Somebody could say, man, you guys could be a lot better and it's still hard because the schedule's very difficult.

But I would assume that's exciting for the players. Without a doubt. And the same with me. It's like it is what it is. So we just embrace that. You know, I've talked a lot in the offseason, but it's true. Like just embrace this journey. You know, we had to whatever you want to call it. We had to get better, right? We had to reset. And I feel like we've done that.

You know, does that mean we've arrived or we're there? No, we've got a lot of work to do. But I love this team. And it's not just coach speak. When you love showing up every day and love working with the team, like, that's a good feeling. I sometimes say, I mean, I'll say to you what I say when you're not here. I sometimes think I can tell how things are going by how you look. you look better than you've looked in a while.

Is that reflective of how? I think it's fair. It's definitely fair. You just look like you have more energy. Yeah, I think it's fair. You know, I, you know, just physically, just my ankle, you know, it's one thing, but it's a big thing. You know, I had to have my ankle replaced, and I just, that in itself, I feel a thousand times better. You know, it bothered me all last year.

Really, you know, it was tough. So got that fixed in the off season. and that helped. And, you know, I just think, again, just embracing the great challenge in front of us and just, you know, accepting it. When Vince left, there was a worry around people that, oh, no, it's falling apart. When that happened, what was your, did you see it coming? And then it does feel like to me, after that, lots of commitments came. Like there was almost, I don't want to say, a re-energizing or what.

But what was it like when you, were you surprised? And then what happened? Yeah, definitely. I was surprised. Definitely surprised. But as I mentioned, you know, that's water under the bridge. Vince and I are good. You know, there's never an easy way to tell somebody you've been with for 12 years that you're going to leave.

That's just not easy to do. And so there's no hard feelings there. But we're beating them in November, right? Oh, well, that, you know, without question, we're going for the throat. I mean, we got to let him know who the grown G-R-O-A-N man. is, right? Yeah, well, without a doubt. But, no, Vince is, it's all good that way. You know, it is what it is. You know, everybody has to do what's right

for them. He's in a role off the field that maybe it suits them better right now as he moves forward, you know, for the next 12 years, who knows, you know, but I thank him for what he's done. There's no hard feelings, and we moved right on. I mean, that's just it. You know, people think it's such a big deal. Explain to people how recruiting's done now. Because that's one of the things that people wonder. Well, and I think in June, people are looking for stuff to talk about, right? Yeah, of course.

And let's be honest. And so when that happens, it's kind of a big deal to people and the fans and everything, but not to the organization. I mean, these guys, we moved on quickly. Okay. And in recruiting things, you know, to me, and a lot, you know, we can't talk about it all right now. I'd be glad to jump on again later. But I feel like with this settlement and the way things are going, I really feel good about the next three years.

I really do. Do you feel, like, people are obviously. concerned wondering about basketball, football riffs here. Just talk to me just about football. No. Do you feel like you have the resources that you need to go and be competitive? Yes. Okay. And in particular, Matt,

with the settlement and with basically like a salary cap, if we could adhere to this nationwide, and then I think we'll be in the best position we've been in a long time. These last two or three years have just been rough. I don't even care to go back. You know, don't like making excuses.

It was just rough. You don't I mean, it just brought? But explain to me, there's, there are reports out there that the football program may not be getting as much as other SEC football programs. That's not true. Not true. Simply not true. Okay. Yeah. I think Mitch had a press conference this morning took my spot because I did mine Monday. But maybe he has addressed that. I don't know. I can't get in these. But you're not true. Not true. Okay. Well, there you. I'm very pleased with where we're at. And I feel like because of some of the things we've done, you know, with this cap, if you will, you know what I mean?

If we, with this settlement, if we, if everybody abides by these rules and we have some governance for this, then I feel like we'll be in the best position we've been in for a while, especially the next couple years. Do you, okay, so there's people who say, I mean, you know this. This is probably the most criticism I've seen. you have to take in an offseason since you've been here. You see it or hear about it, even if you don't see it. How do you react to that? I have a hard time.

Yeah, I have a hard time believing you don't notice it. You're like me. You feel stuff. That's fair. Absolutely. But I accept it. I mean, listen, when I said 12 years ago, 13 years ago, when I walked in here, I knew what I was getting into, that's not BS. Like, I know.

I've been around this business. If brothers have been head coaches, I've been around at all. That doesn't mean it's easy. It doesn't mean you like it. But I know very clearly, you know, there's going to be ups and there's going to be downs. And it's not fun, man. I feel, you know, when I say that, it's not just me saying that. Like, I feel for the way we played and everything.

Like, I don't want to come out here in this stadium and perform like that. a team like that, that matters to me. I have pride in what we do in our team, and that wasn't good enough. And, you know, I can promise you we're just working hard to get it wrecked by. Do you, I will say watching, I mean, you took a lot of criticism for a while. I have felt like in the last couple months, we've talked about this, there's been some like, all right, let's go, let's do this. And one of the things, Shannon, you haven't had to use the bell yet, right?

We haven't had to use the buzzer and the bell because we were talking about words, people said. The fans want to hear you're motivated. You've been saying grateful. Do you know what the fans are out there with the motivated thing? Why not embrace it? Well, listen, one thing is, that's fine. I'm motivated. When have I not been motivated?

I know. That's where it came from. When I've won 10 games two times in four years that hadn't been done in 50, was I motivated? You were motivated. Well, I mean, is that fair? Yes. No. So don't act like I'm not ever motivated.

You are? We're always motivated. Yeah. There you go. There we go. Do you, all right, so I love when you're swashbuckling. Your comment about the SMU coach on the SPN, we played it a lot where you said if he wants to strap it up and bring it on, it does annoy you when conferences try to act like the SEC is not the thing, right? I think it's funny.

I didn't make it. You know, I just thought, like, if you're some other head coaches, a couple of them are really good friends of mine, you know, that are making comments in the off season. Why wouldn't they say that? Of course they're going to say that. They want us to go and beat each other up. You know, some of them have been in this league.

But it's ridiculous to act like this isn't the best league. I mean, I don't care what, like this clearly. Matt, do I really need to justify our schedule? Put it up. Yeah, I mean, I am with you on that. I'm with you on that. So you, what is your philosophy going forward with how the portal is, et cetera? Football's got to be so hard because you want to develop guys, but you need guys in the immediate term.

How do you decide how to balance that? Yeah, I think there's just got to be a good balance. You know, obviously last year was really heavy. You know, it's not typical for us to have 50 new players. You guys know that. You follow us very closely. And, you know, I don't think that will happen again. I really don't.

Okay. You know, that's not our plan. You know, we have really good players that are young and that are growing in our program and we want to continue to develop that. That model for us is never going to change, you know, the old recruit and develop. I mean, that's still there. I mean, that's very much who we want to be. The players, I think, you know, as we move forward the next three years, I think there'll be a little bit more stability. Just because of the free agency with the portal. Does that make sense? The last three years, I mean, it's just astronomical, you know, what you don't could play players. If you were a college player, these last two years were the two years to be in college. Yeah, for sure. And so I think that's just, you know, it's going to be hard. It's hard for us to sustain that, you know, if the model stayed the same. My favorite Mark Stoops is ticked off Mark Stoops. I think that's your best, but you've got like a chip on your shoulder.

And I see that coming back. what did you do for you to get that back get that fireback? Yeah, I think, you know, again, I understand that. I agree, you know, to some extent. I think I'm always trying to stay ahead, try to stay motivated to do what I need to do, to your guys' point. But, you know, I think just nobody likes, you know, hey, let's be honest. I mean, we, you know, we took it on the chin last year, right? And nobody likes that.

Anybody that's a competitor, you don't like that. So, you know, we've got to get it fixed. And, yeah, I'm as competitive as anybody. And I don't like that. I don't like the way we played. And there's been other times, you know, where we left it on this field and there's going to be good and bad. And it's always going to be a hard schedule.

However, you know, it's time to reload. I can talk to you all day, but they're making this go. Mark, thank you very much for doing it. Thank you. We'll talk to you again. We'll take a break. Mitch Barnhart when we return. Yeah, it was good.

T.J. Smith, personal injury attorney. Call T.J. He'll make them pay. Now, more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones. Welcome back, Tucky Sports Radio. Mitch Barnhart, U.K. Athletic Director, joining us.

Mitch, this has to have been one of the more difficult years you've had with all the stuff that's been going on, right? Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, we've had about, I would say, 10 years worth of work

in college athletics. It's been jammed down the pipeline in about six to ten months. Okay. And when I say that, not from just the institutional perspective, from the global perspective of what's going on in college college. It's been a lot. We've had good leadership from a lot of folks, and a lot of folks are trying hard, but it's been a lot. I mean, even for you personally, going back, you know, it's 15 months ago you had to hire a new basketball coach all the way through all that's happened. That's a lot. Okay, so I'm a legal dork. I'm also a

political dork. So when all this stuff's been going on, I've been following it, and I will tell you, I'm a lawyer who did constitutional and labor law and like politics, and I have a hard time following. How do you all that, how do you guys keep up with what's going on a day-to-day basis on all this? Yeah, it's incredibly complicated. The challenges of governance structures, you've got an NCAA governance structure that is struggling. you've got the new Collegiate Sports Commission which is brand new which has no new pathways for us yet. They're trying to get

rules in place and everything like that as they go. Then you've got Congress, the U.S. Senate, from the executive branch, got people weighing in and saying this is a pathway we need to go. Then you've got four conference commissioners I mean, so there's a lot of folks in the middle of this. Yeah, a lot of cooks in the kitchen.

Yeah, it's complicated, as they say, complex, complicated. I'm not sure what it is, but it's one of those. Are there people in college sports, and you don't even have to say who they are, but are there people who are like trying to take the leadership on it? Yes, and do they have, are most people in college sports on the same page, or is it all over the place? Yeah, I think, I think, you know, you clearly have the FBS and the four autonomy conferences that are sort of, I would say, in the leadership position of what's going on in college sports. And for some, that may not be what they want to hear. It's a reality, I think. Commissioner Sanky, we're thankful in our league. We've got a dynamic leader in Greg.

His dear friend, I trust him. He's incredibly smart. There's other commissioners that obviously are joining alongside, and they're having conversations. So I think that they're taking the forefront of coalescing between the athletic directors move to the commissioners, the commissioners, to the presidents, and the presidents to the league.

the legal. Now, we've been in hallway. I've been to D.C., I think my, my sister was telling we have four times in the last 10 months. We've walked the hallways and been around that and been on the phone. I mean, we've been on the phone a lot. And it's, so they ask us to, you know, we've got to stay in our lane, so to speak. But there's also times where they want our opinion, what does it look like boots on the ground and you're what you're doing with the work? Because you can talk about it at one level, but actual implementation, it gets real different. when you take it to put it on a campus. How it actually plays out. Absolutely. My read on it, tell me if I'm wrong. I read that all this is great. Court decisions, commission, blah, blah, blah.

If it's going to hold up for sure when you get to those nine justices on the Supreme Court, you're going to need a congressional law passed in the House and the Senate with 60 votes, which means bipartisan, and then it can stand up. Do you agree with that? Yeah, I think that's what we're going to have to get that spot for it to have to last. a while. You know, what I'm hopeful we're not going to do is put us in a position where every three to four years we're changing the landscape again. We need some stability. Yeah. The waters are super choppy right now and we need them to settle and we need to get to a, our young people in our programs deserve that. They deserve to know the landscape that they're in. And frankly,

as I mentioned earlier in the presser was we had 675 student athletes last year. I've 525 this year. We lost 150. Oh, wow. And everyone doesn't really catch that until all of a sudden you look up and the baseball roster went from 42, 43 guys down to 34. But they're all in scholarship now, right? But they have more scholarship. Yes, absolutely. All true. But fewer people. But fewer people. And I always wonder, at the end of the day, all of those that got displaced, did they land someplace? Yeah. Did they find a home? And we all know, at the end of the day, football, men's basketball stirs this whole thing. We get all that. But at the end of the day, I'm also responsible for that other 450 people. Well, let's talk real quick about a couple of those

things as it applies to UK. Do you feel like you're going to have to cut a sport? At this juncture, we don't think so. We think we're in a really solid spot. I've gotten support from the university administration, and we feel good about that. And so we feel really comfortable. I've walked into our locker rooms with our team meetings, and I feel really good that we can be stable for a good long time. There's 20.6 million in revenue. I don't think I realized until I saw that you set it in there, but 2.6 of that is the scholarship, right? So really, it's 18?

Yeah, so that is a mandate of the settlement. You have to take that off the top. If you add scholarships, any scholarships that you add have to come off that $20.5 million. And if you give the Alston Awards, that's another $2.5 million, which we are not doing the Alston Awards. We've replaced that with revenue share or scholarships. What is the Alston Award? The Alston Academic Awards from the NCAA, from a, from a. about eight years ago.

Okay, so you basically are playing with $18 million. Yes, yes. There was a report that the SEC met, and they wanted all schools to set the same amount of money, and the report was that Kentucky objected. Is that true? Yeah, absolutely. I think that that is an institutional decision. I think that we ought to be able to make institutional decisions about how we spend our money.

What is important for one school might not be as important for another school. And there's priorities in place. there was a school somewhere else in the country. I can't remember which school it was. And they said they were going to give every student a piece of the revenue share. Well, that's sort of helpful, but not really. If I'm giving somebody $500, but I could have given them a scholarship. I'd rather give them a scholarship.

That's worth much more than the $500. So we want to be thoughtful about what we do. And I think each institution has to make choices. What is important for one school may be football and one school might be women's basketball. And, you know, there's certain schools. that have got incredible priorities for baseball in our league. And that makes a lot of sense to me, but then it becomes, okay, well, what do we do at this school? Yeah.

You have said you want it to be flexible. In your mind, though, is there a part where you have to say, I'm going to have to choose? Oh, no. I mean, and how do you make that decision? Yeah, we absolutely are going to have to make some roster choices, but I want to make sure we're in conversation with all of our coaches at that point. And they've been awesome. Let me repeat. Incredible.

I mean, that ability to sit down with both marks and sit here and say, hey, this is where we are. Kenny Brooks and women's basketball. You know, he's in the recruiting process. Mitch, what do we say? And, well, what do you need? Tell us what you need. Tell us, let's match Rob Mullins, who was my deputy a long, long time ago. I hesitate to say that.

You have a huge tree out there. So Rob always had a great line matching resources to expectations. So what are the expectations and what are the resources we need to match to those? And so I think we've done a really, really good job of matching resources to expectations for our coaches, and they've been able to go out. It's clear it's been successful in recruiting. Our coach has been able to bring in the rosters that they wanted to bring in, and as we look forward, they're all saying the same thing.

We're in a good spot. I suspect that you tell me, this was another report. You tell me if it's true. You know, it is very different. Lots of school. Every school wants to be good at football. You mentioned some really want women's basketball. Some really want baseball.

I can't imagine there's a school in the country that cares more about basketball than here. So as you're sitting here looking at this football team and saying we're playing the hardest league in the country, but I got this basketball team that they want the fans, the fans want to be the best team in the country. How do you do that with those two sports? It's magic. What a great answer. It's magic.

No, it's a puzzle. It's a puzzle. You know, we want to make sure that we're being thoughtful about that. You know, as I told them in there, I said the settlement goes up 4% every year. Yep. And then so that $20.5 million, we think, we're hopeful that we, that is in the litigation, we can get to a spot where maybe we can say that $2.5 million was a one-time offset and we can get that. that added back because it's the scholars scholarships it's not new anymore gotcha and so we're I don't know how that'll work Matt I don't I don't know how that'll work with if it does it does whatever the

amount of money is you can't yeah you think can have it yes okay so in some respects whatever the money is you're not worried about raising no we're going to be involved okay we're going to be at the at the maximum we can be okay to support our programs and and not be disadvantaged and that is something that I'm not going to say which schools some schools in the power four conferences might have a hard time with? Yes. Okay. Do you worry about the Big East teams that don't have football, the amount of money they could

spend on basketball? Certainly it's different. And that is a conversation that's a concern. You know what I mean? And as it relates to our basketball program, making sure that we're aligned in the proper ecosystem, so to speak. Yes. I want to make sure that we're in that conversation.

I think it's only fair that I ask you my biggest concern about this, which is I'm a public information guy. I heard that you said in there and I understand your position, which is I don't want to tell you what we're doing because that gives the other people a competitive advantage. Help me understand how public institutions, not just you, okay, because I'm sure they're all going to take this position. How do public institutions justify not telling people what they're spending the money on? Yeah, so part of that, you know, part of that is in terms of a student FERPA perspective, we want to be able to protect students rights. Which is sport by sport. And again, that's a more, it's, it will be for.

fluid from moment to moment. It could change from moment to moment. And so, you know, it's, I think that there's a competitive piece for us and then student rights piece for us. And we can argue it all day long. Leave aside the student rights piece. I don't care. And I get, I get people want to know. But let me just make my care. I'm not talking player by player. I don't, I don't think it, I don't, I don't know if the public should know what Alex Safari makes, right? But how do these, How do, does the SEC or any school justify not letting fans know which program they're spending money on? Yeah, I mean, I don't, I'm not sure the legal pieces and all that. You know, I don't.

Having said that, I just know that from a competitive experience. So it's competitive. For us, for absolutely, it's competitive. Absolutely, it's competitive. If all the schools come together and say, we're going to release it. Are you cool with that? Well, they shot us about it. I appreciate that.

You know what? Even when I disagree, I respect people that are up front on it, so I can take that. Last thing, a lot of fans, and I do my best to explain it, a lot of fans who just love Kentucky sports. I love Kentucky sports. College sports matter to me. Look at this and go, is this all going to survive? What would you say to them? Yeah, I'd say we, that is certainly, when you say,

All of it, I mean all of it, not just football, not just, I would argue, and not at the level, I get it. And so don't walk out of here and say he's delusional. Many have said that. When you walked in and we were throwing the final pitch to get to the College World Series, that was as emotional moment for a lot of Kentucky fans as it was for some of the things we've done here. And so my point, when Sydney McLaughlin is running away with gold medals, that's as emotional for a lot of our fans is a lot of things. You know, I could go down the list. My point in all that is, I want it to all survive, man.

But can football and men's basketball, there has to be a pathway. We have got to find a way to ensure there's a pathway. It's too important for us as an institution. It's too important for us as a community. What it means to this community, we just, got some economic impact reports from supposedly. We're trying to verify all that stuff of what the first second round of the men's basketball tournament was when we were here. Trust me. Somebody owns a restaurant. I can tell you. But also the state. I was down in Londoner after the tornado.

This stuff matters to people. It does. It does. It does. And so we've got to find a way to ensure, you know, and you weren't in there, but I told the story of the couple in South Carolina my wife and I befriended a little bit, and they didn't know anything about the litigation. They had no idea what was going on in the world of college athletics, but they did know that we were playing Duke next Tuesday night, and it was really, really important. And so I say that because our fans are so special, and this community is special, and between the Keenland and the horse racing and the Bourbon Trail and what we offer and tourism, and we're a part of that piece for this community, and the jobs it creates,

and the things that it does, we've got to be strong for that. We've got to be strong for what we do at Kentucky. We think we're a really good front porch for the university, and we want to make sure that when people walk in the door, it's painted well. It looks great on the outside, and we lead them in something that's really, really cool. So it's important from a lot of fronts, not the least of which, just the emotional well-being of our fans.

I want them to walk out and going, you know what, we are Kentucky and we're special. It brings pride to the state. Absolutely. It brings pride to people that need it, and I respect that. Absolutely. I'll finish with this. As we were starting this tumultuous path three or four years ago, I will admit, I thought Mitch has been a great athletic director,

but this is a conservative kind of old school guy. I think you've done a great job with this. I really do. I mean, you have navigated this way above my expectation. So I just want to congratulate you on that. I really do mean that. Thanks, Matt. Thank you, Mitch.

Appreciate it. We will take a break and be right back. All the best. Go catch. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, We break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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Shut up for something. Welcome back in Tuggy Sports Radio. Shannon just made me laughing to break about as hard as he's made me laugh. Corbreddin.Himp.com, full-spectrum flower-only hemp CBD. Gummies and celtzers. Take them. You can help you rest, relax, help you sleep. After a big baseball game like Shannon went to last night, help you come down a little bit.

It's CoreBred Hip. Use my promo code KSR, 20% off. Full Spectrum Flower Only Hemp, CBD with my good. friends at cornbread hemp. I think that's the best Mitch has ever been on KSR. I'm going to be honest with you. I've always kind of, you know, his interviews are usually like talking around stuff. That's, maybe it was just that we only had 12 minutes or 15 minutes.

He was direct. That's the best he's ever done on here, I think. What do you think? Maybe besides when he came on with Pope to introduce Pope to everybody. But this is probably right there with it. Very open, very candid, very straightforward. your question, didn't dance around anything. He was a little funny.

Got us all laughing a couple times. He answered them directly. Like, I give him credit. Like, that's not something he usually does. He answered every single thing I said directly. It's a great interview. I told Jake with UK Athletics, I said, I got to be honest, I did not expect to laugh twice when he sat down.

But when he said magic and the, eh, eh. I laughed quite a bit. I mean, I still disagree with him on that, but I got to respect the eh. What a good answer. Yeah, that was good. That was good. He definitely helped himself. I think there was life definitely news there.

Right. Oh, yeah. Not ending any sports. I don't know if he said this stuff in the other ones. I'm not sure. But not ending any sports saying we will have the money no matter what. And basically saying that, you know, well, maybe even Mark Stoop saying football's good. Yeah.

I think those are all three very important newsy things to come out of this. I think so also. You know, to talk about it being a fluid situation where it could change as the season goes on and things like that. So I thought both guys really, really help themselves in the eyes. of the fan base and said what I think a lot of us needed to hear him say. But see, that's like, I would say that's good advice in general, just like for these things. Just answer the question. Like, people are smart.

They can tell if you're not. He answered all of those questions. And I bet there are some sports fans and former athletes of some of those sports listening going good because there were definitely have been rumors that a couple of these sports might go away. And so he kind of, I think, diffuses that. Yeah, both guys. It's very comforting for anyone keeping up with this and watching. We didn't really get much time to react to Stoops, but I loved how straightforward Stoops was

about how those reports are wrong. Like, I'm good. I'm happy. Like, we all heard the basketballs that they're getting smaller piece of the pie. Stoops is like, no, that's completely false. And it is interesting. Again, you think of Mitch as like this conservative,

I mean, literally, Shannon played loosen up my buttons baby as he came in. I cannot believe you did have that top button. He did have his top button done. But he, for some, for him to make a little bit of him, Basically, I asked him about the report that he objected to everybody doing the same thing. I thought he would say, well, I mean, we may not have a bit.

He was like, yep, that was us. That didn't try to hide it at all, did he? He did not try to hide it at all. He was like, yes, we were the ones that objected. Good, because I think Kentucky is the school that maybe needs to object the most. We need to have the ability to pay basketball. And good for Mitch. He did it.

I don't know the person that was sitting right there. I don't either. Who was that guy? Swaggy Mitch. He stuck out his chest like, yeah, it was me. I mean, yes, he did have his top button buttoned. But I think underneath the pectoral muscles were flexing. Like Mr.

Pectacular, Shannon, like, yeah, look who's here? I was really, who was that guy? The top button was halfway undone. He wanted to unbutton it. He was trying to come. You know, one of these years were going to have him come on and right as he sits down, Mario will unbutton the top button. See what he does.

But seriously, I thought that was great. And I feel better. I honestly feel better about doing that stuff now after talking to it. Both of them are really good. So good. All right. We're going to do players next. We'll have Zach Kousada.

Pete. What's Pete's first name? She us. Mr. Mr. Pete and Bush Hamden. This is next on KSR. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an Acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. And every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves.

Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife-Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance

I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist, and an Armenian. and businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long

can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all?

You're listening to learn the hard way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not

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