The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Deion Sanders Calls Out Tony Elliott For Tampering; Is Deion Just Being Loud Or Is There Merit?

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: Deion Sanders Calls Out Tony Elliott For Tampering Is Deion Just Being Loud Or Is There Merit To It? In A Must Win Year, Is Tampering Now Expected? 5 Burning Questions For Tony Elliott & UVA Who Will Be The UVA Hoops General Manager? How Would You Grade The Ryan Odom Rebuild? UVA Men’s Hoops 5-Year Seat Plan (2027 Start) Are Personal Seat Licenses Fair Or Aggressive? Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller were live on The Jerry & Jerry Show! The Jerry & Jerry Show airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11:15 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The Jerry & Jerry Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday morning guys. My name is Jerry Miller and thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry show. Our studio in downtown Charlottesville is less than two miles from the John Paul Jones Arena from Scott Stadium and the Virginia Athletic Department. And goodness gracious, the Virginia Athletic Department has been directly and indirectly in the news for a number of reasons. You have a Hall of Fame football coach, basically completely across the country,

and Deion Sanders in Boulder, Colorado, calling out UVA and Tony Elliott for tampering, trying to actively recruit his players by tantalizing the players with a bag of money, as if they were greyhounds on a track chasing a machine rabbit to Charlottesville, Virginia. We'll talk about that alleged tampering on the Jerry and Jerry show today.

We will talk on today's program, Ryan Odom, and the pressure that's been ratcheted up for Virginia Men's Basketball, as the athletic department has introduced some new licensing fees associated with the seats at the John Paul Jones Arena. Look, I understand this is the new era of college basketball.

The timing, however, is quite curious. The first sub-500 season in a very long time here in Charlottesville. A lot we're gonna cover on the program including playing that video from Deon Sanders for you the viewer enlistee. By now I'm sure you've seen it but hey when primetime has something to say about Charlottesville and UVA we'll do it a couple more times for you here on the Jerry Jerry show. Judah Wickower the director is behind the camera if you can go to the studio camera and then a two-shot as we welcome the director, is behind the camera. If you can go to the studio

camera and then a two-shot as we welcome the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. Hootie Radcliffe, it's a Tuesday morning. I get to sit across from you. That's truly my pleasure and it's great to see you today. Great to be with you and Judah as always. It's always something that's fun each week and interesting. You never know what we're going to be confronted with from our live audience out there. Absolutely. And prime time, putting Virginia in the national news cycle. We'll talk about that. We start the show with scatter shooting with Jerry Radcliffe, however. Well, you know, it's been interesting.

We thought that basketball was going to dominate the week in terms of headlines, but it turned out to be football instead. Virginia was quite active in the portal, maybe overly so in some people's view, but I don't know that may be much to do about nothing, but basketball was relatively quiet. They apparently they have, they're in the mix for a guy from the Houston team, the really good Houston team this past season. Terrence Archeno, 6'6 small forward averaged about seven points a game. Apparently it's down to Virginia and NC State. I think he might be visiting Virginia as we speak. And he played in all 40 games for the Cougars last year

and when he was in high school, he was considered one of the top small forwards in the country coming out. So that would be a nice get for Ryan Odom and his gang if they can convince him to come here instead of Raleigh. And they certainly are doing their best Virginia men's basketball and newly minted head coach Ryan Odom and reimagining the roster. And we will talk on today's show the ratcheted up pressure

associated with the newly announced licensing fees associated with seats at the John Paul Jones Arena. Goodness gracious, you guys got to make a boat load of money if you want season tickets for Virginia starting in the 2027 season. We'll talk about that. You give me a thumbs up when Deion Sanders that video is ready to go. And we got some time before we need that. Why don't we start with the licensing fees and I'm sure we're going to get back to it because it's all over the feed right now. Who do you rack live? I'm sure it is. I mean, anytime you pump up prices for the fans, it's going to have usually a strong backlash if nothing else. I mean, particularly in the tough economic times that most of us are going through, even

for those who aren't, it's still very inconvenient to have your ticket prices elevated to those kind of numbers because it's not just I mean if it's if you if you go to the games by yourself maybe it's not that big a deal but if you've got a wife or wife and two kids right here our kids yeah I don't know how you can afford it unless you're making some super bucks. I mean even the tough seats folks in the upper portions of the John Paul Jones arena are quite costly. I want to talk about that. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. What's that do from a pressure standpoint from Ryan Odom right out of the gate?

And here's a better question for you here and in college basketball today when a program like Louisville can gut its roster pay transfers to come and play for the Cardinal and compete for ACC championships and NCAA berths and year one of a coaches term or tenure is that the expectation now for whoever's hired to lead a program? It seems to be the case. And I mean, they've opened the Pandora's box. And there's just so many things in there

that people didn't anticipate that have developed and keep developing, just like the Tennessee quarterback that held out of spring practice and I was like a trade with UCLA yeah I mean I admired Josh Hypel for standing his ground and say well you know if you're gonna sit out spring practice and protest for more money, you can pack your bags. I think more coaches need to do that and maybe it'll put an end to some of this, but yeah, he ended up at UCLA for who knows how much money, but it's just every week we find a new development with NIL particularly and then if not that then the portal. And I mean what have they done to the game?

You've got guys with not only four or five years of experience coming into your program now, but some guys with six or seven years experience and it's four or five different schools in a five year or six year span. I mean it's it's insane. It goes back to the early nineteen hundreds when they said that college football was becoming losing its amateurism status, and it was more like pros with,

they called them vagabond football players who would drift from one university to another and play, and probably got a smaller bag of money on the side back in those days, but it's just totally out of control, and nobody seems to want to put the reins on it. The college football player today, a vagabond, a hired mercenary, any way you want to look at it. You saw it with UCLA as Hootie put it. They lose their talented quarterback. He holds out as if he's a veteran in the National Football League, says you're going to give

me more money despite me basically being under contract. He was under contract with the Tennessee collective. Yeah. And he said, I want more than you're paying me. My statistics indicate I get more than what I should get, especially with the kid going from Georgia to South Florida to the U where the rumor mill was $4 million for the Beck kid to play quarterback at the U. And Tennessee's head coach said, you know what?

Don't let the door hit you on the behind on your way out. And he finds his way to Los Angeles at UCLA. And the interesting thing is, then the quarterback UCLA recruited from Appalachian State said, well, if you're going to bring this guy in, I'm going to leave UCLA and I'm going to go replace him at Tennessee, despite me not taking a snap and already collecting about $200,000 for his time in Los Angeles, which was minimal. This is absolutely bananas, Hootie. But not that I think that it really matters, but Virginia's apparent third string quarterback, Gavin Frakes, who came in here from New Mexico a year ago, has hit the transfer portal, which probably a good move on his part because with- There's a logjam at that position.

There is now and with better quarterback. So I'm sure he'll find a more comfortable place to play and Speaking of Virginia football. How about the Tony Elliott news goodness gracious prime time Dion Sanders known for high stepping into the end zone from a pick six played for your San Francisco 49ers played for the Dallas Cowboys now Niners, played for the Dallas Cowboys. Now, probably the most known head coach in college football. I mean, it's got to be Dion or Bill Belichick, especially since Nick Saban is

out of the mix. Yeah, I would think so. Dion Sanders in practice and Judah, you have that video ready to go? All right, I'll call that to you here in a second. Hootie, you set the stage for what we're about to watch. He's going to play the sound in a matter of moments. Dion Sanders calling out Virginia football in a Colorado Buffalo's practice. Yeah, I think he called everybody off guard because it just came out of nowhere. He stopped practice and singularly pointed out Virginia accusing them of tampering with his roster and said

Virginia I'll let you get one but then I didn't say anything but come on now you offered our guy here and he pointed the guy out it was a defensive back a bag of money. So it turns out that the one that Virginia got that he didn't mention was the running back who signed with Virginia a few days ago. Pretty good running back. Very good running back. Colorado's leading rusher last season. I'll take it. And which is really a good really good pickup for Virginia. And then, but you know, in this wild wild west that we're in now, and all these players have agents. I don't know if Virginia

had reached out through an agent. I assume that they did the right protocol and then did that. And I guess it just irritated the Dion that somebody was coming after more than one of his players. It's, it's decided to make a scene out of it. He made a scene out of it in practice and it quickly went viral on the internet. And Jerry Ratcliffe.com covered it extremely well. We'll play that sound for you here. Dion Sanders in spring practice in Boulder, Colorado,

calling Virginia football out, asking for the camera for the call out. Judah, let's play that sound in three, two, one. Virginia, you got to stop. I let you have one. I ain't say nothing about it. Come on now. Come on. We let you have one. I ain't say nothing about it. It's another problem.

Absolutely unbelievable. Dion Sanders, ladies and gentlemen, calling out Tony Elliott. Is this tampering or is this fair recruiting? Well, we don't know because Virginia hasn't responded to that, which I assume that they – I'm assuming that they felt like that they did the right thing probably by going through the player's agent. But it would be nice to get a, some sort of a statement from Virginia.

Why haven't they responded? They don't respond to much of anything. Uh, and, uh, it's sad because, you know, if it was during the normal spring practice, we would have an opportunity to talk to Tony, but, uh, since they've been out recruiting, since the end of spring practice and spring game, they're really not around. So it would be nice to get an official statement from them though, to confirm that they did it the right way.

Absolutely unbelievable. And folks, speaking of Colorado, they're starting tailback. Their best running back is now in Charlottesville I mean it's now a Wahoo I mean I'm gonna butcher his last name is it Augustave I think it's August of August of Isaiah Gustaf he led Colorado and rushing last season as Jerry Radcliffe reported on Jerry Radcliffe comm and and on Easter Sunday, he committed to Tony Elliott's Cavaliers.

This is a pretty big tailback. Goodness gracious. Six foot two, 212 pounds from Naples, Florida, a four star prospect, the 19th best running back in the country and the recruiting class of 2023. And the good thing about it is you've got two years of eligibility remaining too. That's what I was gonna mention to you. This isn't just to fly by night.

This guy could be in the program for two years and he compliments the Xavier Brown skill set extremely well in the backfield. Yeah, I mean, he's like you mentioned, he's a big kid, got decent speed and the average four and a half yards of carry last season in a program that really doesn't run the ball that much. They throw it like crazy and they should have with the talent they had.

But he originally started his career at Arkansas and as a true freshman rushed for a couple hundred yards. Decided to cast his lot with Dion at Colorado and played there. But with him and Xavier Brown, as you mentioned, and Jamari Taylor, the kid that transferred up from North Carolina Central, had a nice spring game. Taylor, the kid that transferred up from North Carolina Central, had a nice spring game, had a nice spring period. They've got a pretty deep backfield at the moment.

Absolutely they do. So Virginia's reimagining its team and they must because it's a must-win season for Coach Elliott. This question's come in from Roanoke, Virginia, and we appreciate Doug Doughty Country watching the show over here. Yeah. And Roanoke. Donnie Lanter says this, how many games will we win in football hootie and how many does Tony Elliott need to save his job? Well, it's a good question. We have to just speculate on that. I would think he needs to win a minimum of six and get into a bowl game. I would think he's got to win six and one of those six maybe need to be Virginia Tech.

Yeah, some people believe he needs to win seven. I think that would certainly save his job. No question. There's no reason that they shouldn't have a at least a 500 season if not better with the schedule They're playing this year because they only face One of the one team on this year's schedule Louisville that finished among the top I think four or five in the conference last year, so there's no SMU. There's no Clemson There's no SMU, there's no Clemson. And they should be able to negotiate or maneuver their way through that schedule. Again, I think they didn't help themselves anybody schedule in Washington State, even though it's a home game, but it's still a 50-50 proposition. And Washington State has played some pretty good football. And one of your other

non-conference games is NC State on the road in Raleigh, which is no easy place to play. They haven't beaten NC State in a while. And if you were looking for an extra non-conference game, I understand the proximity. It's not going to cost you much money to play a game like that. But at this point, I don't think it's about the money as much as it is about getting wins. And you could have played somebody lesser than NC State and come up and had an extra win and make you come closer to that bowl of eligibility.

Well said. Vanessa Parkhill is watching the program in Earleysville. She is a die-hard Penn State football fan. Yes, she is. And she makes this comment, which is a very good point. All this college NIL money keeps flowing while university professors and associated researchers are faced with wage freezes and potential staffing cuts.

It's absolutely bananas what's happening right now in colleges and universities. Yeah, well, it makes you wonder where does it end? And can this sustain itself? And for how long? Because you would think at some point the bubble's gonna burst. And if they keep raising ticket prices all over the country, they keep televising more games.

Just about every game is on television somewhere now. And I would say the television, the viewing of a game on TV is, in a lot of cases, better than going in person. I have to admit, as big a college football fan as I am, some of my most enjoyable Saturdays this past fall was when Virginia had the weekend off, or had played on a Thursday or Friday night and I just sat there on my couch on Saturday and watched the Crème de la Crème play against each other and

didn't have to wander more than 10 yards away to get whatever I wanted to eat or whatever. What's on the Jerry Radcliffe menu on a college football Saturday? It just depends on what's in the fridge. I'm usually not too strategic about planning my things like a tailgate or anything. I agree with you. We set up two TVs. We're on the couch. I've got my wife's there. We're drinking some cold beer. We eat some chicken wings watching two important ball games Sometimes it's her game. Sometimes it's my game got the kids in the room next door or watching with us I mean, it's hard to beat that on a 75 inch television. Yeah surround sound thanks to my Good friend Scott German hooked me up with an incredible TV

deal I Can get just about every game in a country, no matter who's playing or where. And I used to have my choice of a couple hundred games, really. And I could just sit there from noon until, you know, whenever I decide to quit and exhausted. But yeah, I mean, they're making it harder and harder for fans to want to come. And I know they're doing all kinds of studies and things on trying to enhance the fan experience, but it's hard to beat sitting there on your couch on game days and with a bathroom close by and food and beverages close by and you don't

have to worry about parking or fighting crowds or any of that stuff and you know at some point the bubbles universe. you know, fans stop coming to games because they're fed up with all this stuff and I have a one of my best friends is a guy who's had season football and basketball tickets for I Would say 40 years or close to 40 years and he's not renewing either one this year because he's fed up are close to 40 years and he's not renewing either one this year because he's fed up with the NIL and Portal and all this stuff and it's hard to figure out who's on the roster from one season to the next. He just said I've had enough and you know I wonder how many people are in that

same boat and it's not just here I'm sure it's all over the country. At some point, you've got to start worrying about the fans. If you lose them, how are you going to get them back? Great question. Maybe this is a sociology study waiting to happen. The shift and fan mindset and the transfer portal and NIL era. Prior to the portal, I identified or I rooted for players in my program. Like I loved watching a you know, Ty Jerome, or a Kyle guy, who

started as two as true freshmen as first years. Yeah. And as true freshmen in Tony Bennett system and in college basketball and a talented ACC. They were overmatched but showed flashes of brilliance. Then we watched Jerome and guy go through the emotional hardship of losing to UMBC in the first round with Deandre Hunter sidelined and injured. Yep. Then we see Jerome and Guy and Deandre and Kea Clark and Diakite respond to that adversity and win a national championship in 2019 which continues to be the pinnacle of my athletic

fandom, my sports fandom, all sports. Yeah. That moment right there, the national championship. sports. Yeah, that moment right there. The National Championship. Now in the portal era, we're not going to watch these players go from first years that are overmatched physically to second and third years, overcoming adversity and then winning national championships. We're just going to see mercenaries in and out of the program. And we're going to have to root for the brand in the school first. and the players I guess maybe second maybe Yeah, are you ever?

Do you root for a player if he's there for one year? I mean, how do you even get to know the guy and what he's about? I Mean we knew Kyle guy. He wore his emotions on his sleeve and He buried his soul to us after that devastating loss to UMBC. I did a big summertime, it was probably the first big story on my website. And, you know, him talking about how tragic that was to him and how he had a picture of him sitting there sobbing on, I think as a page saver on his computer or something like that.

And maybe a poster on the wall or a picture on a mirror or something to remind him every day, but He shared those feelings with us we got to know what he was all about and drum a little bit in that way as well and You got to know these guys over a span of four years or three years and whatever and I wonder if that's gone now. I over a span of four years or three years and whatever. And I wonder if that's gone now. I mean, last week was a great reminder to me doing the Danny Wilmer Memorial Service, reuniting with so many football players

and coaches from the past. And then two days later, the Ralph Sampson portrait unveiling and so many players and coaches and other people surrounding the program from the past that I've known. And I got to know those players and coaches when they were here

and continued to know them through the years. I don't know if that's going to be the case anymore. The guys are come and gone. Some guys like the guy from Oklahoma committed here and was gone two or three days later and never even set foot in Charlottesville. I mean that fan player relationship even the media player relationship it seems to be something a thing of the past. Bob Shotta watching the program the mayor of Birdwood love seeing Bob Shotta the vice mayor of Avachi restaurant. Bob, I'll give

the mayorship of Avachi to our boy Keith Clark there. And Bobby Schade says, fellas, I go to tailgates to see friends and family, but I find it hard to sit inside for three hours to watch subpar play and boring opponents. While Al Goreau used to get spanked by some of his out of conference opponents having USC in Oregon in town was absolutely awesome. I was at that USC game. I was a sold out Scott Stadium, not an open seat. And I would bet you if the fire marshal was there, he would say we are way beyond capacity here. Probably so. Well, I remember I got to know John Oliver pretty well, the associate AD back then, and his philosophy was, and it backfired on him in the end, but he said he had gone back and

read a lot of stuff about Virginia football and he read a lot of articles that I wrote about the 95 season when Virginia lost so many of those close games. But they lost games to some of the top programs in the country. They lost by a point at Michigan in the opener. They lost by a point at Texas on the last second field goal by one of the greatest kickers of all time. They beat Florida State in the inches play down on the goal line.

They came back and beat NC State in a thriller-diller, and then they returned a kick in the Peach Bowl to beat Georgia. And that was against some of the top football programs in the country. And even though it wasn't a championship season, I mean, they won the ACC championship, but it wasn't like a national championship or anything like that. But it provided so many thrills and excitement.

And he said, well, you know, if we schedule some of the top teams in the country, and if we could somehow knock off one of those teams early in the season, it would get us immediate attention in the polls. It would get us immediate attention with recruits. It would get us immediate attention with fans and we'd put fannies in the seats.

Which was very logical if you could pull it off. They just didn't have the talent to pull it off. But I understand what he was trying to do and it ended up maybe backfiring a little bit because they couldn't win those games but and some of them granted weren't even close but I understood what he was trying to accomplish. And if they had pulled off a couple of those wins who knows what might have happened. Comments are coming in very quickly here. Ray Cadell, thank you for watching the show. And if they had pulled off a couple of those wins, who knows what might have happened?

Comments are coming in very quickly here. Ray Cadell, thank you for watching the show. Logan Wells-Clello, thank you for watching the show. This is coming from Scottsville, Virginia, and Mr. Philip Dowell. He says, I gave up my tickets several years ago and now set out on the deck and watch UVA and other games on my iPad with cold beer in my hands. I get the replays that you don't when you're at the games and it's just fine by him. Yeah, and there's thousands of other fans just like him out there. And I can't blame a fan for doing that.

I mean, especially if you've got to come from out of town and you have family and your wife's planning to tailgate and all that stuff. You got to get all that stuff ready. You got to get the kids out of bed, I'll assume, and hit the road. Even if you don't, even if you're local. I mean, just local, you're talking like a five or six hour day. Yeah, and so- Longer than a round of golf.

Absolutely, absolutely. And so, and then ticket prices, concession prices, and I don't know much about concessions, but people tell me that it's not the best in the world, but... That's an understatement. I'll take your word for it. That's an understatement. There's take your word for it. That's an understatement.

There's nothing like cold pizza or stale hot dog buns that cost you $9 for the hot dog and 14 or 16 bucks for the stale pizza. Yeah, I'm certainly not into that. But you know, who could blame a fan for staying home and watching it in the comforts of their home and doing whatever else they have to do and having all the comforts of home, food, beverage, etc. Like he said, a cold beer right there on his deck. It's hard to argue with that. Well, let's let's that's a perfect segue into the licensing fees, the jacked up licensing fees that are going to roll out

in the 2027 season for Virginia men's basketball. I mean, let me just put these things in perspective here. You talk about putting pressure on a head coach that hasn't coached the game yet. Ryan Odom, this is what Ryan Odom's got to do. He's got to follow in the footsteps of Tony Bennett. He's gotta take over a Virginia basketball program where fan base expectation is at a level 10.

He's got to do this at a time in the John Paul Jones Arena where the athletic department in 2027 is rolling out a licensing seating plan, whatever they want to call it, I call it pay extra money for your seats is what I call it. Yeah, tens of 1000s of dollars. The guys pressures through the roof right now. First, your thoughts on this, and it kind of broke during last week's Jerry and Jerry show. Yeah, it came out then, and neither of us

had super amount of time to digest it, because it just came out. But Hootie, we're talking like some of these seats, you're paying a licensing fee over a five year period of time. That is, the median family household income for this area and a calendar year, and the median family household income for this area in a calendar year. And the median family household income for this area is $125,800 according to HUD. And that's what some of these licensing fees over a five-year period are at.

Yeah. I didn't, when we addressed this last week, I hadn't seen the numbers since gone back and saw the chart. I think you have the chart, right? The seating chart for UVA. Can you put that on screen if you have? Look at Judah Woodcower. Is there anything he can't do? He is the man. Look at that. He's already got it on screen. Thank you. I mean, those prices are staggering to me, but I'm sure to some people wouldn't cause

them to blink, but the majority of us, I don't think could afford that. And especially if it's just you by yourself, that's one thing, but if you're taking a spouse or kids or anything to the games with you that my goodness I don't know how you afford that but you know I understand where people say that it's pressure on Ryan Odom but I don't think he's gonna be fazed by this as much I think he's just worried about coaching the team, and he'll let Carl Williams and the other people worry about filling the seats.

I know he bears some responsibility for that by creating excitement and being competitive in the ACC and outside the ACC and filling the seats up. But I don't think he's going to be worried about who shows up and who doesn't, as much as he is just trying to beat whoever's out on the floor. But at some point, it's got to apply some pressure. If particularly if you're not living up to the stand, the expectations of the fans and I mean Tony Bennett put a pretty high bar up there. Big time.

Big time. I don't know if the expectations are to that level at this point considering they're coming off their first losing season in 13 or 14 years. Well, that's a good starting point for a conversation. What are the expectations for Ryan Odom and Yohan? I'd like to hear what some of the fans have to say about that out there. If they're expecting him to come flying out of the tunnel and get the program back up into the top three of the ACC again, or if their expectations

are a little lower just to be more than competitive in the league and try to get into the upper half of the league again and back to the NCAA tournament. Viewers and listeners, what are your expectations for Ryan Odom in year one? What are your expectations for Ryan Odom in year one? Put it in the feed. I will relay it live on air.

Kevin Yancey and Waynesboro highlights that licensing plan is on par financially with some non-competitive Professional sports teams and what they require of their season ticket holders Can you put the chart back on screen? I don't doubt that the seating chart this this puts it in perspective This is from the wahoops Instagram account which I follow they do a good. If you, it's on screen now, thank you, Judah. If you want two tickets in the pink section, look at the screen, viewers and listeners.

Those are behind the baskets. Behind the baskets. And not close to the floor. If you want two tickets in the pink section, you're gonna pay $27,500 over five years for two tickets in the pink section. That's more than 5K a year. Right. That's just for one seat. That's two tickets. Two tickets in the pink section. Okay. 27,500 over five years. If you want two tickets in section 112, That's right above, you know, front row. That's unbelievable seats. Two tickets in the yellow section, guys, in the yellowed

section. You're gonna pay a hundred and forty two thousand five hundred dollars over five years if you want two tickets in the yellow section of this floor chart. A hundred and forty two142,500 over five years. That is what? Just under $30,000 a year. You're gonna be paying a private school tuition, more than a private school tuition. If you want season tickets to UVA basketball.

I mean, I don't see how that just doesn't jack up the pressure for Odom in having to put a competitive product on the floor from year one. Does it say what the seats are in the upper levels? The upper levels on this seating chart are not, as far as it goes, is the pink level. The pink level.

It does not go as high as the upper decks are. All right, I think those are the ones that they really have to worry about because if they run those, those are the people that sit in have to worry about because if they run those, those are the people that sit in the upper levels at JPJ I think are akin to the football fans that had their seats bought out at Scott Stadium back in 06 or whenever it was and they never came back because they felt like they had lost, had been betrayed by the school.

And they can't afford to lose those people in the upper decks because they show up rain or shine. Right, you're 100% right. Comments are coming in very quickly. This comment on expectations for Virginia and Ryan Onom's first year, the expectation is what we saw at Louisville. He's got what everyone is reporting, one of the top NIL war chests in the country.

He's got a top arena. The expectation is what Louisville did in year one. I think a lot of people feel that way. Yeah Well, yeah, that's great to have those expectations Yeah, and maybe Ryan has those expectations too. I'm assuming that he does But right now he's got a Philly's roster and he's got a lot of work to do. John Blair watching the program in Stanton. John, we love when you watch the show. The Cavalier Connection is watching the show. Good fellas.

They say, we enjoyed your article on Curtis Staples, Jerry Radcliffe, for the general manager job. Why do you think he has not been interviewed? Any talks on going there? Could you offer insight into Curtis Staples and the general manager job? Your coverage from JerryRackliffe.com. I just know that Curtis wants to come back. He and I have talked a few times and he's, I think he's had his fill of high school coaching. He's won state championships, won a national championship. He's done everything that he could probably do as a high school basketball coach. And he went back to law school to earn a degree there and wants to advance his career.

And he would love to do it at his alma mater and certainly he was a beloved figure, the three-point king of not only UVA but the NCAA. He set the record for three-point shooting makes that stood for seven or eight years until JJ Reddick came along and broke it. And two guys that essentially grew up playing high school basketball in Roanoke. But Curtis would love to come back and I know it had been reported that he had been here and interviewed, but that was not accurate. He hasn't been interviewed, and he would love to be interviewed.

Some people would love to have him back. There's been a few people that said that they don't feel like that he's administration figure that one out, but certainly it'd be nice to have him back in the fold if he fits the bill. The interesting thing for me about the general manager job, and we touched on this some last week, is this GM position is going to be an under link to the head coach. So this GM position is got to be someone that has the personality and understands the dynamic that Ryan Odom is the boss. Absolutely. And I'm curious if hiring a one of UVA's, you know, legends,

I'm not putting him on the Mount Rushmore, but he's right there at the base of Mount Rushmore, is someone that Odom is going to want when the pressure is this high out of the gate. And I've got to imagine, I'm going to ask you this question that Ryan Odom is going to be very influential in this hire, if not call the shot on this hire. Yeah, you would think he would have a strong influence one way or the other and

yeah, I don't know. I don't know if he has an association with Curtis or not. I think he I think he yeah, the Odom's were I I think, already at Wake Forest when Curtis came around, I believe. But you know, I don't know. I mean, they need somebody that's basketball savvy and knows, has contacts in the basketball world who understands the finance end of it, the NIL portion of it, the street agents, AAU part of it, all the above because there's so many facets that are involved now in recruiting.

And I don't know how much of a business acumen you might have to possess to flourish in that role or if there's more just common sense and a solid background in basketball. I don't know. I don't know any GMs except, well, I know one guy was a former GM in Wally Walker, but. And by former, this past year. He's pretty sharp. Yeah.

Yeah. So I don't know. I don't know where Curtis fits into their description of the job, if there is one. So I think everybody's kind of playing things by ear at this point. Curtis Staples is fine by me and certainly a stand-up guy in any book of mine. Ryan Odom expectation from Philip is this is gonna be a rebuilding year for Ryan Odom. Kevin Yancey says rebuild for Ryan Odom this year. Then we got on other social channels win at all costs this year. I mean it's it's just a completely different mindset. But it's going to, I know what Louisville did was special.

And that's hard to replicate because, I mean, you're starting over with, the one good thing is that he has a coaching staff that's been together so they know how each other thinks. So there's a lot of cohesion in that respect. But they're going to be working with a totally new team that not only doesn't know the coaches, but they don't know each other. And that's what, when they get here in the middle of June for summer classes and start playing pickup games and getting some coaching from the staff

they'll try to gel and that's what that's what that's what will take place I would think it's going to be more of a rebuilding year, unless something magical just happens. But I think it's tough to bring in, essentially, 15, 14, 15 new players and compete for the top three or four spots in the ACC right off the bat. I think it's going to be quite a challenge. This question is coming in from YouTube and it's from Cliff Daisy.

I believe he's a first time commenter on the show. Cliff, is this your first comment on the Jerry and Jerry show? And thank you very much for watching. He's listening from, and you're going to have to help me with this pronunciation, Onacocke, Virginia and Accomack County. It's down near the river I think. Yeah, right. He says I'm a multi-year season ticket holder at Scott Stadium

and I find the seat licensing prices at the John Paul Jones Arena basically says they're unattainable. I think a lot of people feel that way. prices at the John Paul Jones arena. Basically he says they're unattainable. Um, I think a lot of people feel who is the audience they feel will pay these fees. Are they trying to target Northern Virginia and that fan base? I don't know who they're trying to target, but if you're trying to target Northern Virginia, you're just going gonna be a lot of nights when some of those seats are empty because people aren't gonna just come on a weeknight

on a regular basis. I don't think from Northern Virginia to Charlottesville to watch a basketball game when it's on TV. Especially if the team's not performing at the top of the conference clip. I mean, if you looked in the arena this year when they're when it wasn't full most of those seats were over there Behind those yellow seats you talked about in that one particular section where a lot of out-of-town Fans come

On those tickets and just simply didn't show up and apparently didn't resell them either. So I don't know what their target is. And they certainly didn't reveal that when they rolled out that plan, but we don't know. Okay, I'll try it. The South Lake Department doesn't really say what it's, give much explanation as to what it wants to do.

It just rolls out the numbers. Right. So they take it or leave it. I'll try it from the athletic department's perspective. Yeah. So far we've covered it from the fans' perspective. Right. Maybe we'll take a look at it from this viewpoint, the athletic department's perspective. This is what the department has to do to compete with the blue bloods of college athletics

that have a war chest of money, in particular the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten, who have much more favorable and lucrative television deals in place, and revenue sharing with their conferences in place. True. Do we stand up for the school and the athletic department and say they have to do this because

the fan base is telling us that they want to compete with SEC and Big Ten standards? That's a good question. I don't know the answer to that. Do you have to do it? I don't know that you have to do it. A lot of schools are doing it. Maybe their prices aren't as high as Virginia's appear to be, but at some point you've got to consider your fan base and you know, how much strain is this going to be on them? I mean they're already asking them to give money for scholarships and give money for NIL, etc. And now you're, I don't know if it's doubling up the price on some of these people, but that's not your,

your average fan, I don't think can handle that. I just, I just don't see it. And maybe the ones in Northern Virginia can, but again, are those ones gonna show up every night or just show up when they feel like it? That's great. I mean, what we're basically seeing is a, and this is not unique to UVA, okay, so this is not unique to Charlottesville

and the University of Virginia, it's everywhere. We're basically seeing universities and colleges and their respective athletic departments leveraging the fandom and the passion that people have for their programs and hoping, leveraging that fandom to encourage wallet opening and even more money passed along to the department

to maintain performance standards. And the irony of all this, the curious irony, some would say the disheartening irony of all of this, it's happening at the same time where on the academic side of the universities and colleges, budgets have been frozen. The University of Virginia is not gonna offer its staff the 3% cost of living raise, is not offering performance-based bonuses, and has frozen discretionary spending.

And the scuttlebutt in Charlottesville is that UVA may actually ask a lot of staff to take pay cuts because federal funding is in peril and because the Board of Visitors is talking about slashing the budget from the annual operating budget, slashing that by some have said 8 to 10 percent. So it's just very curious timing that all this is happening. Especially coming off a sub 500 season. Yeah, well, I think the football reseating came at a time when the program

had started to dip as well. And that we saw the results of that. It just kept getting worse and worse. And those fans didn't come back. And now we're going to a half empty or, or maybe more than half empty Scott stadium, every home game. I say it's 60% empty. Yeah.

So, um, could that happen to JPJ? I don't know. We're talking about a lot less seats and a lot less people, but still, and maybe there's a huge demand for those seats that we're not aware of the people that can't get them because there was a waiting a long waiting list for the longest period of time for season tickets and maybe I don't know maybe some of those people have dropped off in the last couple of years since the program hasn't been electric like it was.

Maybe there were more seats available and they've used that as a time to seize the moment and find people and give people who's been on those waiting lists an opportunity to buy tickets and decide, well, if we're going to do it, we might as well as to go all in. Again, UVA never really explained itself very well when it comes to things like of any controversial nature. You just, it's there and you have to take it for what it is. You just take it. Yeah. Cliff Daisy confirms his location. This is his first comment. He says we're watching on the eastern shore of Virginia, east of the

Chesapeake Bay. Oh, east of the Bay, okay. And watching the program. Frank Stake is watching the show. I think this is his first comment as well. Fantastic show, Jerry's. JR, Jerry Radcliffe, would you trade all the success from non-revenue sports over the next decade for consistent top 10 football and basketball teams? I'll hang up and listen. You are the absolute GOAT, Hootie. The greatest of all time. Thank you, Frank. You know Frank Stank? I recognize him.

He's contacted me on Twitter many times over the past. I'm not sure I know his true identity. He's watching on YouTube right now. But I've always appreciated his comments. Would I personally? Yeah, I would personally, because I'm a football, basketball first guy and I think most fans are. I think they are either football fans or basketball fans, some or both. Would I trade that? Personally, I would. No, I know that's not for everybody. But I'm a football guy. And I

thoroughly enjoy good football. We also should caveat this. A lot of the non revenue head coaches are some of the most accessible of any of the coaches in the department. They're great. They're great people. Brian O'Connor is a friend, you would say. It's a friend. And I don't throw any shadow on anything. What they've done is remarkable. Remarkable.

I mean, you're talking about the winningest program in college baseball. Yeah. And you look at the swim program, the tennis program, I mean, lacrosse and all the other stuff, it's been phenomenal. Golf? Tennis? Golf, yeah.

I mean, and I don't want to diminish anything they've accomplished because it's been fun covering that too. And some people enjoy that more than they do football and basketball. Not everybody's a football and basketball fan, but personally I would, just because that's what turns me on as a sports fan, is football and basketball. And I think that's what creates excitement in a sports program and creates headlines and everything else involved. Revenue, excitement, fan participation, networking, etc. I think some of the most fun times of my career here was covering the

Ralph Samson era when you knew they were going to win just about every time you showed up in an arena anywhere in the country. You just didn't know by how much. And some of the George Welsh years in football, when they were among the best in the ACC, and number one in the country for a brief period of time, in 1990, those were magical times that nothing can compare to. The march to the national championship was exciting.

But, you know, that's me. I'm speaking just for myself, but a lot of fans would not trade that, I don't think. But I think the vast majority probably would would you? Yeah yeah I think most fans and in a moment yeah and and my favorite sport to play right now is squash and I love the squash program and they're a top-10 program and I love racket sports and seeing these tennis guys go on to pro careers. We got professional golfers at UVA. I love golf.

I love you. Die hard golf. Yeah. Yeah. We legitimately have professional golfers on the UVA team. Absolutely. They're that good. Yeah. We have the most, our swimming team is basically the US Olympic team. Essentially, yeah. I mean, think about that, folks. The women's swimming team is a the US Olympic team. Essentially, yeah.

I mean, think about that, folks. The women's swimming team is a lot of ways the Olympic team here, but in a heartbeat with football and basketball. Yeah, I think most fans would. I may be wrong about that, but that's, I think I have a good finger on the pulse. You do, I think you absolutely.

I mean, there's a reason Scott Stadium seats 60,000 people and there's a reason Squash Program seats 200 people, 250 people. For that reason. And that's I hope anyone that's watching this program does not think we're diminishing any non-revenue sport. Because these coaches... I would never do that. I would never do that either. These coaches in a lot of ways have become friends because they're the most accessible, because they want the coverage.

And they're just good people. And they're good people. Yeah. They're just good people. But it's, it's, it's, it's, I mean, football and basketball is, is, is apple pie. Yeah. It just, especially football. It's the king. It's the king. It's the king Holly Foster watching in Henrico. I enjoy football and basketball

But think about all the other sports the swim team has Olympic swimmers The baseball team is always good UVA is great sports that don't get the press they deserve And and and she says but this show does give them the press and support. And she says, but this show does give them the press and support, and I appreciate that from watching this show. That's Holly Foster. And we should say this, both can be done. There are schools where both are done.

Tennessee is a great example of this. A lot of schools in the SES, Florida. Texas. Yeah, SEC schools. Because they have the money that comes from the success of football and basketball that is then able to trickle over into the non-revenue as is the fandom. When the football and basketball are at the pinnacle, the fandom and the donations and the money trickles over to non-revenue which also yields success.

Absolutely. No question about it. Show flies by with you Hootie. What's in the hopper at JerryRackliffe.com? We're just keeping... What's not in the hopper? Well that's true. We're keeping a close watch on the portal and football is certainly not done and they're out there beating the bushes for high school talent right now and I expect the basketball portal to light up big time sometime soon. I know they haven't signed a lot of people at this point, but if you'll recall Last year at this time. I don't think Tony Bennett had hardly anybody in the fold and all of a sudden that exploded and we

Turned out that the class wasn't quite as good as we anticipated it was going to be But or was it, or was it because some of these guys ended up going to some big time programs. Good point. Um, Oh, and congratulations. I say Wilkins who, uh, was hired by California as an assistant coach yesterday, uh, belief and, uh, happy for him at Cal, right? Yeah. Cal. So he's right? Yeah, at Cal. So he's still in the ACC.

Yep. But that, you know, we'll be doing that and whatever else comes our way. Would love to see Chase Coleman now land a job. Would love to see Jason Williford if he wants one, land a job. Yep. And beloved or genuinely great guy Ron Sanchez landed a job.

If he wants one. I'll close on this from James Watson, who's a Wahoo through and through. He said, I took my kids to see track and field at UVA this past weekend. Beautiful weather, great facilities. Many folks don't realize how great the facilities are here now for the Olympic sports and how many of them are free

or very inexpensive to experience with the family. Sometimes you can catch baseball lacrosse and softball all on the same day at UVA. Yeah as a former high school trackster myself I have a passion for that and high hurdles 400. I was a miler and a eight and a half miler. I didn't know I was sitting across from Steve Prefontaine here. I was a little bit shy of his numbers, but that was that was what I did and I've always had a soft spot in my heart for track and field and their coach is sort of the Mike Sieszewski of college track and field. I mean he did incredible things at Oregon and he's put this program certainly on the map and he's done a great job and

not only with the track and field, but to cross country too. And he's right, usually those events are free and provide plenty of excitement. It's nothing like watching somebody that you're rooting for back in the pack and have an incredible kick on the last lap to the winter race. So they provide a lot of entertainment. Hootie Rackliff, truly a pleasure. Jerry Rackliff, namesake website, jerryrackliff.com. Absolutely all over, ladies and gentlemen, the transfer portal and the reimagination and rebuilding of UVA men's basketball. So much to cover. What's next? I mean, I just wait with bated breath as I visit Jerry Radcliffe on Twitter and his website to see what's next.

Check out his website online. Judah Wickauer had the Dion Sanders video ready to go and the seating chart ready to go within less than 20 seconds of us asking for each. I told you he's a wizard. Absolutely unbelievable. Thank you, Judah Wickauer, the director and producer of this show and the I Love Seaville Network. The I Love Seaville Show guys is up at 1230 PM. Thank you kindly for watching the program. That's awesome.