The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - How Do You Grade Odom's Roster Right Now?; Is Current Roster An Upgrade vs Last Year?

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: How Do You Grade Odom’s Roster Right Now? Is Current Roster An Upgrade vs Last Year? Kyle Guy Will Coach At University Of Nevada Elijah Saunders To Maryland, TJ Power To Penn Elijah Gertrude Only Returning Scholarship Player Will Chance Mallory Be The Starting Point Guard? Why Did Duke Miles Commit To UVA Then Leave? UVA Spring Football Game: What Stood Out? 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. We appreciate your viewership and your listenership of our talk show. And today's show has more news than we have slots for headlines on screen. If you look at the screen on whatever platform you're watching upon and the program airs on every single one and in some cases like Twitter and Facebook, it's airing on 15 Facebook pages right now and 15 Twitter pages, the the headlines we have eight slots, eight topics that we think that are important for you. Well we have so much news today that we have more headlines than slots

to hold them. For example, Tain Murray has found a home in the Australian Basketball League. The NBL, the National Basketball League, which is a very good league. We need to talk about the event that honored Ralph Sampson over the weekend at Newcomb Hall. Hootie Radcliffe was there. We need to talk a memorial for Danny Wilmer, one of the best recruiters from a football standpoint, a guy who bleed orange and blue. And ladies and gentlemen, of course, we got to talk about the spring football game that happened this past weekend

in front of a few hundred fans at Scott's Stadium. We'll get Jerry Ratcliffe's perspective on what happened. Of course, basketball is still the topic du jour as Ryan Odom reimagines his program. I'm going to ask Jerry Ratcliffe, are the additions to Virginia basketball an upgrade for last year's roster. I'm gonna ask Jerry Ratcliffe, why are the players committing to Ryan Odom's program from mid-major schools,

while the Sanchez and Tony Bennett players left for power programs? And of course, we'll talk Kyle Guy, heading to the University of Nevada, whether Chance Mallory will be the starting point guard, and the fact that Elijah Gertrude is the only returning scholarship player from the Tony Bennett era. So much to cover. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera. If we can go to the studio camera, then a two-shot and welcome the star of our show. My friend, we start the program every single,

every single time by asking you to scatter shoot with whatever is in that big beautiful brain of yours. Well, you know, incredibly busy weekend with all those events that you mentioned. And it was glorious for me and a lot of other people who attended both because we got to see some of the legends in Virginia sports history at least going back for the last 40-some years with the Ralph event drawing people from his heyday here and Danny Wilmer going back to the early years of George Welsh and all the people that came to salute him in the spring game was a typical spring game. Excuse me, about your character.

Is that a tax for boring? Is that what you're usually pretty boring most of the time because the coaches, they may say they're not going to be vanilla, but they're vanilla and they purposely, especially when you get down toward the red zone, they're going to not show a lot of stuff to the televised. Absolutely. And uh, so, you know, and then some of the first, there's a lot of people injured and not playing and recovering from surgeries and not playing. And so, um, a lot of schools chose not to even have a spring game. I'll give Tony Elliott credit for putting one together. And the two quarterbacks that people were interested in, the two new quarterbacks, Chandler Morris and, and, uh, Kaylin from Nebraska. Uh, they only played a half each.

So we got glimpses of them, but, um, it's hard to get a lot out of a spring game. Um, Virginia football spring practice now behind us, Tony Elliott. How would you characterize the importance of this year for coach Tony Elliott? It's major importance. It's his fourth year coaching for his job. Is that fair? Unquestionably coaching for his job. I mean. You look back the past three seasons, 11 wins is the lowest win total of any coach in power football and so.

He's got some ground to make up this season there's no question it's got to at least get to a bowl game and if not some people believe even more than that. The big-time offensive tackle that transferred to Virginia football unfortunately gone for the year with a knee injury we heard the scuttlebutt on the Jerry and Jerry show. And you and I had heard the scuttlebutt elsewhere as well. It's beneficial, and that's a big time loss. Arguably one of the most important pieces of the transfer portal for Tony Elliott.

Oh, no question. He was probably slotted in at left tackle, offensive tackle, which is the guy that has the quarterback's blindside and supposed to keep the major pass rusher in at Bay. And it's not like they're bankrupt there. I mean, Mikael Bolle has played there a lot in two seasons, so he could step right into that, but I think they had plans for this guy to be a power blocker. Virginia now in a quiet period when it comes to its football team, as its head coach is looking to not only try to climb the ACC rankings, not only preserve a job, but showcase what a portal can do to revitalize a program.

The football program has been backed by significant donation dollars and as of this point those benefactors have offered Elliot the autonomy to craft the roster as he sees fit. But if this year starts off slow the heat is going to rise very very quickly and we know in the transfer portal area anything can can happen from a win-loss record and from a rebuilding of a program. So now that's what Tony Elliott is entrusted to do. I think we should segue to basketball and scatter shoot your brain on Ryan Odom's roster makeover.

What are you seeing with the guys coming here to Charlottesville? Well he's only part of the way into it at this point. I think they have like five guys, something like that, one decommitment. He's got some guys, as you mentioned earlier, that fit his style of basketball. And they can get up and down the floor, they can press on defense. They can get down the floor on offense on the fast break. They can shoot the floor, they can press on defense, they can get down the floor on offense on the fast break, they can shoot the three, every one of them is proficient at shooting the three, which is to me that's one of the key things now in college basketball is you've got to have guys who can shoot and last two years we've

seen what happens when guys don't shoot very well and we expected them to but they they never lived up to expectations so I think it's going to be a completely different brand of basketball than what people have been accustomed to but he seems to have the the working parts right out of the gate that they're going to make this happen. He's got a lot more slots left open on his roster to fill. The portal window closes the 24th, so they've got a lot of work to do in this next week. Fans are concerned about a lack of depth in the frontcourt.

Renee Pettiford watching the program. She loves the work that Ryan Odom is doing. We have folks watching that are driving a FedEx truck right now. All right. Hugh Haynes watching the show. Thank you. Folks in Crozet, Charlottesville watching the program. Louisa Orange, Northern Virginia. We have

folks in Dallywood, Tennessee, the Dallywood area watching the program. Our fans in the Triangle, the Charlotte, and Western North Carolina areas are watching. What's going on with front court depth? Well they're in the mix for some guys, including one big guy from Florida State. I haven't checked on him the last couple of days to see where he might be going. But I know they're in pursuit of some front court guys. It's just a matter of whether they can corral them or not. Certainly he's gonna have to come up with some because right now they only have two front court players and one of those is gonna to be a true freshman when he comes in so

Who initially committed to VCU? Yeah, Silas Barksdale and the newest guy Devin Tillis is a 6'7 guy from UC Irvine who had some nice numbers and Again a guy who can shoot to three even though he's a front court guy. Do we worry that these are mid-major programs, players from mid-major programs coming to Charlottesville or is that just the nature of college basketball now? I don't think that should phase people a bit because if you look at the roster makeup of most every power five or four conference in the country. Now they're, they're dotted with guys that were mid major players.

They were the best of the mid majors and that's why mid major basketball is in trouble because the big guys come along and take your best talent and, and bring it up to the next level, so to speak. So I don't think that should bother anybody at all. Elijah Gertrude, the sole returning scholarship player from the Tony Bennett and Ron Sanchez era, and Gertrude's coming off a serious knee injury, suffered on a rent a

scooter that he was riding around grounds and around Charlottesville back to back knee injuries back to back knee injuries for Gertrude who? His basketball game is based on explosiveness. Yes and leaping ability and and and being a dynamic athlete Gertrude only returning basketball player anywhere anywhere you want to go on that scholarship returning player Yeah, Doug Doug Smith fresh as they used to call him and still do, I guess. The player for Jeff Jones told me back during the recruiting process that he's the most

explosive player that's come to Virginia. Even more explosive than Jesson Anderson was, which is hard to buy that. But after watching some of his video, the guy can leap and he is explosive. Hopefully the knee injuries have not hampered that ability to attack the basket the way he did, but I'm anxious to see him play and hope that he comes back 100%. play and hope that he comes back 100%. What is his position, Eliza Gertrude? Well, not the most marksman shooter from downtown. He's an attack the rack guy, but does he have the handles and distribution to be a point

guard? Is he a true point guard? I think he could probably describe more as a combo guard, but I think he probably has the skills to be a point guard From what I saw of his highlights Now I don't know his game like Doug Smith does and some of the other people and we haven't seen him play at all Since he's been here because he had the knee injury his Senior year in high school and then he played a little bit yeah yeah yeah he did he did um that's right we did see that explosiveness i forgot about that yeah uh so yeah he uh he he can attack the basket. I'm hoping the second knee injury hasn't hampered that because he's a fun guy to watch.

Donnie Lanter, watching in Roanoke, Virginia. Donnie, thank you for watching the program. If you have a question for the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, put it in the feed. I will relay it live on air. Chad Wooden, Crozet, in a lot of ways, Mr. Crozet, Chad Wood says, how many point guards do we need, Hootie Radcliffe? Well, probably a few because with this style of basketball, it's difficult for guys to play 30 minutes in this system and play at the pace that Ryan Odom likes because, again,

they're expending a lot of energy on the defensive end of the floor, pressing three quarters court or sometimes full court instead of transitioning back like Tony Bennett's teams did out of the pack line and getting the defense set. So they're gonna have to burn some energy on that side of the ball and then be able to move around and find the shooters or create their own shots or drive to the hoop

if they're point guards. And so it's going to take, it's going to drain their energy. And so it's going to be good to have people that can come in and spell you to let you get a little bit of your breath back. There's a friend of mine, and he and I were bantering back and forth this past week, die hard Virginia fan, knows college basketball inside and out. We got a prop bet percolating as it applies to Chance Mallory. And he's willing to bet any dollar out there that Chance Mallory will not start a game this coming year.

I was close to jumping on that prop bet because I'm very bullish on Chance Mallory. And I think the guy could start a game. I also remember a good friend of yours Ralph Sampson Joining us on the show saying that Chance Mallory would have been a starting point guard on this pass Basketball team he did say that now that could have been I don't think that was tug-and-cheek. I think he said that straight-faced Your thoughts on Chance Mallory the st. Ann's Belfield product four-star recruit and he's going to get serious minutes and or crack the starting lineup. Well yeah, it depends and

Duke miles is now gone. Yeah he's definitely here for a cup of coffee in Charlottesville. He never even made it to Charlottesville. He didn't even visit the campus. But yeah, it's hard to say at this point. There's some other guys that certainly are capable of starting with the college experience and unless chance just flat beats them out in the summer pickup games and that sort of thing, it may be hard for him to overcome that kind of experience.

But I wouldn't be shocked if he started some games. that sort of thing. It may be hard for him to overcome that kind of experience, but I wouldn't be shocked if he started some games. I wouldn't even be shocked if he started all the games really because the kid's so talented. But again, he's a freshman and he's going to be playing with guys that have been in the game. He's going to be playing with guys that have been in the game. He's gonna be playing against men. Yeah, for a couple years. But you know, Chance has been starting at St. Anne since he was in like the seventh grade or something.

And he's mixed it up against some pretty good competition over the years. I wouldn't, I might hedge my bet on that one. Um, that's why I went and asked you get some Intel from you before I put some money down over there. Uh, we got, uh, some viewers and listeners like John Allison watching the program. I believe he's watching in the state of Texas. Um, John, give us the exact location where you're watching John Blair

watching in Stanton right now. We love when John Blair watches the show. watching and Stanton right now we love what John Blair watches the show. Hooty, the roster has a boatload of talent and it needs to have a boatload of talent with this new seeding, how do I characterize what they're doing with the seeding? Re-seeding policy? Re-seeding, okay, you said it much more politically correct than I did. New re-seating policy that frankly speaking is going to its most loyal fans, a lot of its most loyal fans, the folks that go to the arena to watch the game and saying,

you need to cough up a lot more money if you want to keep your seats. That's what's happening. Essentially, yeah, they tried to paint it a different way, but that's essentially what it boils down to. It's reminiscent of what they did in football during the Algrove era. And I hope it doesn't turn into that kind of fiasco because that's something that has marred the football program ever since.

I don't know what the waiting list is like at Virginia now. A couple years ago, they had a big waiting list for season tickets. People couldn't get them, but I don't know where that stands today. But certainly, if you want season tickets in this new alignment or whatever you want to call it, it's going to cost you some big bucks. Here's the interesting aspect of what they're doing. And I understand that this is what basketball is about now. If you want to compete with the Blue Bloods, you're going to have to raise a lot of money.

And eventually, eventually there's going to be a salary cap of what athletes can get paid by schools. I believe it's 20 and a half million that's coming down the pipeline, 20.5 million. The timing of it all though is curious, because the basketball program has been down in this past year especially was a bitter pill to swallow. Revealing this new seating policy campaign in such close proximity to

a struggling team over the last five years seemed curious to me. Yeah, I mean, if you go back to when they did that football, Virginia was enjoying some pretty good success under Coach Grow. And I mean, I think most of the largest 10 home crowds in UVA history were during most of that span. One game that comes to mind was when Southern Cow came here and they were number one or number two in the nation and came in and the place was bonkers sold out and then I think they introduced that receding

policy either during the season or after that season and it uprooted as we've talked about on this show many times, hundreds if not thousands of long time loyal Virginia fans who lost their seats to people who essentially bought them out. And they've never really recovered from that. I would hate to see the same thing happen with Virginia basketball. I don't think it will Because I think I think they've got some good leadership in the basketball program And I think that they're gonna be able to attract players a lot easier than football does but It's gonna cost a premium Price if you want those seats and it's some people are willing to do that

and some can't afford to do that. It's an interesting day to be a college basketball fan comments are coming in quickly. Jeremy Wilson's watching in Tennessee. He said and Hootie our program has never recovered from the Algrove era. I don't think it was can pin that on Algrove. Definitely not. We definitely cannot pin that on Algrove Definitely not we definitely cannot pin that on Algrove. I mean there were things I don't think he means that though Oh, I hope not. Yeah. Yeah, because Algrove was promised some things by some of the people here at that point and they never lived up to their end of the bargain and

that hurt the football program as much as anything did. And they later admitted that. But he's right, after things declined, they've been trying to catch up ever since. Bronco had it going a little bit. They were bowl eligible for four or five years in a row. Didn't go to a couple of them because of COVID and et cetera. But, uh, he had it on the right track, but then, uh, they had to start all over again. Uh, it's just never been quite the same.

John says this is the Scott stadium apocalypse all over again. I could, it could be, I don't know that it will be, but it could be if they don't handle it properly. I want, I want to, I was wanting to go this way and John, thank you for your comment, I want to compare and contrast it to what happened at Scott stadium with the new reseating policy. When asking the OG fan, the diehard fan for more money to keep their seats. I mentioned, uh, in previous shows, this

is basically season ticket gentrification what's happening here. You see this in real estate when neighborhoods turn, as developers go into neighborhoods, oftentimes marginalized neighborhoods, buy up properties that are dilapidated, either knock down the houses altogether and rebuild. And when these neighborhoods get rebuilt, the tax base on these units becomes so expensive

that the families or the couples or the individuals that have been in the neighborhood for long periods of time can't afford to stay there. So they sell out and then the neighborhood turns. That's basically what's happening with season tickets here. Gentrification of season tickets. I wanna compare and That's basically what's happening with season tickets here. Gentrification of season tickets. I wanna compare and contrast it to what's happening with Scott Stadium.

Here are the differences from my standpoint, but you're the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. With Scott Stadium, you have to fill 60,000 seats. With the John Paul Jones Arena, you have to fill what? 14,000. Yeah, that's a big difference. Oh, it's huge. Finding 14,000 that can afford it versus finding 60,000 that can afford it is two very different

things. On top of that, with Virginia, you can put a basketball product or you should be able to put a basketball product on the floor that's competitive from a top 25 standpoint or an ACC championship standpoint because the roster requirements are so much smaller than football where you need depth and you need much more numbers, robust numbers. So that's another difference. And then frankly speaking, I hate to say this because I love college football. I'm not sure UVA is a college football school anymore. I know it's a college basketball school because of the national championship at Tony Bennett. I don't think it's a college football school anymore from a fan base standpoint.

I just don't think the fan base cares like they once did. No, there's too much apathy and there's been too many disappointing seasons to turn that around and who knows when that will end. But excuse me, I've got some of the stuff that's going around. It's the pollen. Yeah. the stuff that's going around. Oh, it's the pollen. Yeah.

But looking back at all that with football, you got to remember when they expanded Scott Stadium thanks to Carl Smith's incredible gift, Carl and Hunter Smith. I remember breaking that story because I had heard it through the grapevine and I wrote Carl Smith letter and I said I know about this and I won't write about it until you would like me to but can you promise to give me the story when it breaks and he was impressed by me doing that instead of just jumping the gun and writing the story without the facts. And I was at the US Open and he called me out of the blue and told me that he was getting ready to drop the gift.

And so instead of writing about the open that day I wrote about the this expansion to Scott Stadium and I remember asking him how big does do you want Scott Stadium to be and he said one more seat than Carolina because Carolina had just revamped their Kenan Stadium. And Virginia was incredibly competitive at that point in time. I mean they were coming off some glorious years under George Welsh and they had everything going in the right direction. So Al Groh was able to keep that going for a while and then he promises were not fulfilled and

he lost a lot of his initial coaching staff which I thought hurt the program as well. And things were never quite the same and then they got the whammy of the season ticket sales. But basketball obviously is quite different in the numbers you pointed out. They only had to fill 14,000 seats and the program has been so good that there's been a line waiting outside the door to get in for most of those seasons. And it's so much easier to turn a basketball program around than a football program. I mean, we've seen Louisville this past season, Kansas State two years ago,

lost its entire roster and ended up in the final four. Because you can go out and you can buy players. You couldn't do that kind of stuff back then. And so even if they lose some loyal fans in the basketball base, there's probably not going to be as hard to replace them as it was in football. Comments are coming in very quickly here. I see the bitterness, creeping in with fans. All right, I'll get to the comments here.

Every school does it. I know this isn't you. I see it from both sides. Yeah, I see it from folks. I straight up said this and this still comes up and create is a pain point for my family. My family was driving up from Williamsburg since we were, my brother and I were little kids and sat in the same seats for 20 years with the same people through thick and thin. My mom loved

coming up here because she loved hanging out with her boys, my brother and I and our dad. She loved tailgate and she loved being around her friends. She really didn't care what happened on the football field. Right. My dad, my brother and I, we care what happened on the football field. And coming up and seeing the people and the same fans six or seven times a year was what it was all about. She got dressed up, she put the earrings on. Yeah. Had fun. Then they asked for- Almost like a small family. Small family. Of- 20 years.

Of the people you sit around. Yeah, exactly. Then they asked for more money, they couldn't afford it, had to give away the tickets and it still creates sadness for our family. So I know exactly what everybody is going through here. Kevin Yancey and Waynesboro, you'd think UVA would have learned that generational loyalty will outpace seats up to the highest bidder. Long-haul fans will outspend flash-in-the-pan supporters. I get that perspective. I really do. I really, really do. But the mindset is this. How can you compete against the other programs that are doing it and creating a war chest of money to pay players? If you can't do that, you're not going to win. So it's a double-edged sword.

Yeah. It's professional sports that have come down to the college level and it's been going on around the country for For years now just about every school at some point is forced into doing that just to be able to keep up with the Joneses so to speak They're looking for ways to other avenues for added revenue and that's one of the ways they do it and As hurtful as it is They're almost forced to do it unless they can find some of the way to produce the revenue they need to compete and

Fair or not and and it's not fair to the loyal ones who? not and it's not fair to the loyal ones who don't want to give up their seats but they're essentially forced to. It's a sad situation but it's unfortunately it's the reality of today's sports world not only on a professional level but we're seeing it now at the collegiate level and I hurt for those families because I've been contacted over the years by hundreds of them who have never been back to a Virginia football game and they had been coming for 25, 35, 45 years through the worst times in Virginia football history and stuck with the program and felt like they were stabbed in the back when that football receding policy came and they like they were stabbed in the back when that football

receding policy came and they lost their seats and they lost their connection with all those people that they warmly sat with and became part of their own family over the decades just like your family did. Folks I empathize with the comments that are coming in here. We totally understand what is going on and how you are frustrated. But as I just respond to one commenter that's watching the program, I think it's an Allentown. I said it's an unnecessary evil, unfortunately,

in today's college athletic ecosystem, where amateurism is no longer the priority. He's right. Yeah that was my response to him he said this is BS. I responded to him in that way. Oh yeah. Amateurism. Well he's right too. It is BS. Yeah. It's just the world we live in now. Yeah. It sucks but you know what I don't know what you're gonna do you can't continue to Be status quo. I don't think I don't think most people can maybe the programs that Aren't very good and don't don't draw well to begin with can remain

Status quo, but I think the ones who are trying to compete at the highest level they're always searching for a new revenue avenue and that's one of the ways they do it. And if there's a positive from this, if there's a positive, the folks that do get the season tickets may or may not have the affinity for the program or the loyalty to the program. So those tickets could come up in the online ticket exchanges for diehard fans to potentially get onesies and twosies or individual games at below market rates. That could be a positive. If the people will do that.

If the people will do that. Yeah. Mr. Brown says the timing is terrible. We haven't had a good team in basketball in six or seven years and now you want to shake down fans Totally understand the position the last good. Yeah, I do too. We understand it. I feel bad for the fans. I really do and I Saw how it just tore things up in football and then and whoever mentioned that earlier that they never have really recovered from that I don't think that will happen in basketball because again

We're dealing with less numbers in terms of attracting personnel They have a solid program even though they haven't won an NCAA game since the national championship but Their war chest for NIL is as competitive as anybody's in the ACC now so they shouldn't have any trouble acquiring talent they really shouldn't and I think I think we'll see that in you know flurry of activity over

the next week. You really do? Yeah I think they'll bring in some pretty good players maybe not the headliners like the guy from the big center from Kansas, Hunter, whatever his name Dickinson. But I think they'll bring in some guys who can play and fit that system. Folks are lamenting today's college athletic situation with the pay to play. It's a mess. Yeah, we're with you. We're completely with you.

We are not disagreeing with you here. I think they have ruined college sports as we know it. It is completely ruined. Amateurism is no longer a priority. And if folks think the Cinderella is going to be a reality in the NCAA tournament, it's not going to happen, folks. You may have a couple of mid-majors make it to the Sweet 16, but the era of a mid-major having a little bit of a legitimate chance of winning an NCAA tournament,

it's just not gonna happen, because the talent from the mid-major is gonna get broken down and head to the blue bloods, because they're gonna be able to pay to play and give them more exposure. And that's sad, because there's nothing more than I love than seeing Shaka Smart, the VCU Rams make it to the final four or

George Mason make it to the final four. We all love that, but that's just not what's happening here. John Blair on LinkedIn, the secret sauce to UVA success and football in the 80s and 90s and early-grow years was in-state high school recruiting. In the NIL era, there is no such thing as in-state high school recruiting in the same sense. I agree, UVA should effectively give up on football, just put a team out there, but the idea of winning in this day and age is not realistic. I'm sad to say that as a football guy, but it's true. You want to touch on that, Hootie, from a guy that coaches some football himself and John Blair?

Well, I don't think you can afford to give up on it but it's going to be interesting to see if they can become competitive again. I mean they're competitive but I mean it in the upper echelons of the ACC where it really means something like they did during the certain portions of the 80s and 90s and in early 2000s under Al. I mean Bronco took him to what the Orange Bowl? He took him to the Orange Bowl. Championship. Yeah I think that avenue might be somewhat cut off now since they ended divisional play. Yeah that screwed UVA. Yeah I still can't believe that UVA went along with that and voted for it. Yeah maybe it was good for the conference overall but it wasn't good for UVA went along with that and voted for it. Yeah, maybe it was good for the conference overall, but it wasn't good for UVA.

Why good for the conference overall? Because it puts, if one division's top heavy with talent, at least the two best teams have a chance to play in the championship. Is that why? Yeah, that's precisely why. Yeah, but it diminishes the, I mean, it diminishes parity. If you're below, if you're in the lower division or lower half of the ACC.

You got no shot. Perennially, you got absolutely no shot at doing that. Yeah. Of making a bowl game. And if you think about it. I've got a magnitude. The coastal was set up great for Virginia. Yeah, it was.

I mean, for years, the coastal was there for the take. And what do we have like eight different champions in eight years or something? You didn't have Clemson in your division. Historically, Florida state's very competitive. They've been down of late. They were on the other side. Right. I mean, that was a good thing.

Yeah. I mean, and it was, um, it was there for the taking. If anybody had the initiative to go after it and it's a shame that they don't have the divisions now particularly with an expanded league right I mean they're they've been choked off as far as getting to the ACC Championship game unless they come up with some magic that I'm not saying I still see it happening yeah I don't see it happening. Yeah, I don't see it happening either.

So what is good for Virginia football now? Is it a 500 season as we temper fan expectations? Is that what we have to do? No, I think if you can, some people are not gonna like this, but I had a long conversation with John Oliver about this one time, and he was the associate AD at Virginia, a very forward-thinking guy, brilliant in some ways, even though a lot

of people... Can't tanker us in a lot of ways. Can't tanker us to some degree. He thought that if Virginia could average seven to eight wins a year, kind of like they did under the Welsh era over a 16 year period, I think it was. If you could average that kind of thing and every now and then win nine or ten games and get into a really good bowl game, that should keep the fan base happy.

Now it didn't with George, it did for a while, but then they, all of a sudden that wasn't enough. And so they ran him out of the business, which was- Travesty. Unforgivable in my opinion. But, and I essentially wrote that and then some powerful boosters saw that and had a backlash and called John Oliver and said, if that's the best we can think, then I'm withdrawing all my money. And so that just goes to show what the administrators are dealing with out there.

I mean, some people have unrealistic expectations. I think if Virginia can win average seven wins a year over a 10-year period. I take that right now every day and twice on Sunday. Yeah, because you're going gonna be in a bowl game. You're gonna win most of your games. Every now and then you're gonna put a team together that can win nine or ten games and be pretty competitive, get into a really good bowl game. If they're thinking that they're gonna finish in the top three in the ACC

every year, even with the money they're spending over there, it's just gonna be awfully, awfully hard to do. I'm doing this for the history book of Virginia football, so I've researched the heck out of this. Yeah, you're the man. You're the Oracle here. If Virginia wins seven games in football regularly, that would create momentum heading into basketball, where the team can overachieve.

And then if the team overachieves in the basketball season, contends for ACC championships, NCAA deep runs in the dance, then that drives even more momentum into the spring, where arguably it has its most well-rounded talent, with lacrosse, with baseball, with tennis, with golf. And then you just have this momentum domino effect going. Right now, what's happening with football is the team has struggled so mightily of late,

especially in the Tony Elliott era, that apathy is an understatement and then it's leaked into basketball and the team has struggled since winning the national championship in basketball and the apathy is very much resonating in spring sports as fans have lost interest. I was having a conversation with some of the hotel years,

which I will not mention whom, and they said that when football and basketball have struggled as they have, that the weekend occupancy rates during football and basketball games and during whole basketball games during the week are so low that it's not helping them carry the down days on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,

when there's not stuff going on. So it's not just impacting what's happening in the field, the core of the gridiron, it's impacting economy locally. Because when I- I'm sure the restaurants are feeling that too. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, that the restaurants are feeling it. Seven wins, I'd take that in a heartbeat.

I don't know who wouldn't. I'm sure there's some people out there that wouldn't be satisfied with that, but they're the same kind of people that caused George Walsh to retire earlier than he wanted to and biggest mistake that Virginia ever made. Philip Dow I feel like we can turn the football program around with a good coach he's watching at Scottsville Mr. Dow is. Tony Elliott was an extremely bad hire he was hired with no head coaching experience we need to clean house. Thank

you for the comment, Philip Dow. This one's come in from the Panhandle in Florida here. Is there such a thing of in-state high school recruiting anymore in major college athletics? Not so much anymore because recruiting's become such a national thing now and particularly with the NIL I mean if you look at Clemson's roster there's probably not nearly as many people from the state of South Carolina on that

roster as there is from other states so and and Dabu Dabu coach Sweeney has committed to not building a program through the portal. Now he's he's having to come around a little bit but he doesn't want to be a portal based program and I can I can understand that but you know he's also in position to where he may not have to as much as some other schools have to rely on that. Although a lot of schools are going away from that now and then.

As Leonard Hamilton said in his last game here, a lot of the high school kids are getting hurt by the fact that people would just rather go to the portal now instead of waiting on a high school kid to develop. They're bringing in guys who have already developed and know how to play college football or basketball. Rick Patino said that and he said it he said it's particularly hurting the black high school athletes. Why is it particularly hurt the black high school athlete? He just I don't know know, he didn't really explain himself, but that was his opinion. And I trust Leonard has some good knowledge of that. But it's, again, it's the crazy world we're living in and nothing really makes sense anymore. If you look at Virginia's recruiting in the past nine or

ten years, there really hasn't been many, a lot of Virginia recruits brought into the Virginia program. That might be one of the reasons that they've struggled because George Wester's best teams and Al Groh's best teams were filled with big time players from the state of Virginia who are now going elsewhere. But it's, I think there were some years where Bronco had one or two Virginia recruits in their recruiting class. And Tony Elliott's had four or five, six, something like that, but it's nothing like it used to be

in the older days. And I wonder if some of that is just gone now and you just have to recruit nationally or regionally to fill your roster. Mr. Allison says, it's probably time for college football to adopt a premier soccer league model where the top 30 or 40 go off on their own and the rest can go back to amateurism. We're almost there with the SEC and the Big Ten anyway. That's an interesting model.

I've heard other people float this idea where where when you make it to the Premier League based on performance and not falling in the bottom three teams of the league. And soccer in the Premier League, if you finish in the bottom three teams in the standings, you get demoted to a league, a sub-tier league. Then the top three teams from the sub-tier league directly below the premier league gets promoted.

And that maintains the best of the best fighting to stay in the premier league. I don't think college football or college basketball are close to going that way though. Because if you were not one of the premier teams, why would you choose to go back to an amateurism model where your athletic department and your school would suffer mightily from what it really counts at least from a sports standpoint, a money standpoint? Yeah and from the fan base

standpoint. Yeah I don't know if that would happen but there are a lot of models being discussed out there and I think it will eventually become one big league. And some of the schools will get left out. If you're not financially able to compete, there may be 30, 45, 60 schools or something like that in that major conference, if you will, and it might be broken up somewhat like the NFL in the various divisions,

and then there'll be a league on a lower level to that, and it'll be up to each school if they wanna pay to play ball, and that model has been discussed heavily And I think it's probably being driven by the SEC in the Big Ten but I Don't I don't know about the the dropping down into Because of performance if you drop down and you I think that could kill your program

Absolutely kill your program and and returning back to the top league would be extremely difficult for some of these teams that do get dropped Down I don't see them ever be able to get back This is a great question. Have we named a general manager for basketball yet? Not to my knowledge I've talked I've talked to a couple of people and again I think there's been some, I don't know if misinformation is the right word, but I think some people expect Virginia to hire a general manager the way that some schools have that operate more like a professional level GM. That would be the GM reporting to the athletic director as opposed to the head coach.

Yeah, and I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think that's going to happen. I think it's going to be more of a sort of like the operations manager like Ronnie Weidman was for Tony Bennett all those years and help with scheduling and help with travel and help with They'll have a little bit more responsibility with the NIL and the portal And that sort of thing but they Unlike pro sports for the coach Reports of the GM. I think it'll be more like the GM reports to the coach reports to the GM. I think it'll be more like the

GM reports to the coach. Unless there's some special deal made. I know a few colleges have made it where the GM reports directly to the idea. I just don't think that's going to happen here. From what I gather, talking to some of the insiders about it. There's some scuttlebutt linking Curtis Staples to the job. Yeah, I know Curtis Staples really, really wants the job and certainly would be qualified to do so. He's very passionate about it.

He'd like to return to UVA and help. And I just don't know where that's standing. I haven't talked to Curtis in a week. So I know he was really hoping to get an interview and I don't know if anything has happened on that wavelength at this point. Questions are coming in guys, we're gonna try to get to as many of these as possible on the show right now. This is an interesting question.

How much of the Tony Bennett legacy will be prominent at the John Paul Jones Arena moving forward? We're going to have a court naming after Coach Bennett. I don't know. I kind of think that there won't be. Wow. I don't think UVA is into that sort of thing. They're not into statues of people.

I think as good as it gets is to have your banner raised in the arena like Terry Holland and Tony Bennett did. Unless somebody maybe forks over a ton of money for naming rights to the floor or something. And puts Tony Bennett's name on it or Terry Hollins name on it or Debbie Ryan's name on it or all three of them's names on it. I don't think that's gonna happen. This question is an intriguing one. The federal funding that's in limbo with the Trump administration, could that

impact the university and its athletic department in any way? That's above my pay grade You might know more about that than I do very interesting question that's come in I Would say at this point no, I will say this though that Jim Ryan has hired has written a letter to the university about Cost-of-living raises they're frozen the 3% cost-of The 3% cost of living raise, it's frozen now. The performance-based bonuses, they're frozen now. Discretionary spending tied to research or academics or department expansion, that's frozen right now.

And they're not hiring new positions, that's frozen right now. I was chatting with a surgeon over the weekend, the UVA health system, and he said that they're all fearful of not just pay freezes, but budget cuts and how it could impact the health system. And the yearly UVA budget is $5.8 billion, $5.8 billion, $5.8 billion. And one of the Board of Visitors that got fired, Bert Ellis, was trying to slash 500 million or about 10% off that budget,

and there was talk about that on the board. And that's all happening at the same time that federal funding and the University of Virginia is number one in the Commonwealth with federal funding received of any institution in the Commonwealth, that's in limbo. So there are some significant headwinds, guys, when it comes to financing this operation.

But as of now, I would say that the athletic department is safe, because a lot of the money that comes in from the athletic department is from private donors. Right, exactly. And the league. Yeah, and the league, TV contracts, et cetera. I'd like to salute you and Judah for the work you've done.

Oh, thank you. And your other programs besides this one, because I think you've kind of replaced the Daily Newspaper in terms of the entire spectrum of covering central Virginia, and you guys should be saluted for your work. Thank you, and thank you for that. I sincerely appreciate that, and I learned that from you. With what we're trying to do with the 1230 show is basically be the 2025 version of the newspaper, where you have the various sections of the newspaper.

And I learned that from Hootie Racklett, folks, the Virginia Sports All-Famer. All right, back to sports, and I appreciate those kind that from Hootie Racklett, folks, the Virginia Sports All-Famer. All right, back to sports, and I appreciate those kind words, Hootie. Do we touch on spring sports here? I mean, so much with basketball right now. It's just dominating the new cycle here. Oh, I know.

It was, there's not a lot really great going on in spring sports right now So I don't know we could probably table that for another week or another week, but I Had so much fun Friday and Sunday Fun may not be the right word because part of it. I was speaker at the Danny Wilmer memorial celebration of Life last Friday. At Bryant Hall. And it was so great seeing some of the former players coming back and

former coaches coming back and some of the JMU people coming over. The coach with Danny and played for Danny, including Charles Haley, who flew in from Dallas just to speak for 10 minutes and got back on a plane to Dallas for an obligation. Charles Haley, the stalwart standout defensive player for the Cowboys flew in for 10 minutes. Yeah, 49ers. I mean, he was there for the whole ceremony, but just to speak in Danny's honor.

And that speaks volumes. Yes, it does. During my portion of the speaking thing, I recalled in 1996, covering the Super Bowl in Phoenix, between the Cowboys and the Steelers and Charles Haley had made a significant play and I wanted to talk to him and I couldn't find him at the postgame podiums So they said you have to go in the locker room I hunted down Charles in the locker room and he was standing over the locker by himself

And I approached him and he had had a reputation for not thinking highly of sports writers so I was a little nervous and I said Charles and he gave me kind of a menacing look and I would introduce myself and obviously he wasn't impressed and so I figured I've got to find a way to break the ice here. And I said, Danny Wilmer told me to congratulate you on the win. And he immediately lit up and he said, you know Danny Wilmer? And I said, yeah. And he said, if it wasn't for Danny Wilmer, I wouldn't even be in football.

And that just shows you how much he loved Danny and now all of his players love Danny to that degree. It was quite fun. And then the Ralph thing Sunday again drew hundreds of people from all phases of his life and some former players and coaches. Ryan Odom was there and they unveiled a special portrait of Ralph taken at his room at the lawn. And I think they've only done that for a couple of people over there. I think Katie Couric might have been one of those but it's gonna hang hang in

perpetuity or whatever that word is But Yeah, it's quite a few days here just seeing all these people from the greatest days in in Virginia Sports history really how's Ralph spirits Ralph was? Happy as a as a it be. He was surrounded by family. He had a daughter, I think, and grandchildren flying in from Dubai and just surrounded by family and friends

and people going back to his days growing up in Harrisonburg and then his career here and then the NBA. and friends and people going back to his days growing up in Harrisonburg and then his career here and then the NBA and it's he was quite happy. And one of the little gifts they gave everybody and Ralph mentioned it on our show was little packets of his new coffee brand that apparently he's coming out with. Fantastic Ralph Sampson from basketball Hall of Famer to Hall of Fame entrepreneur, Ralph Sampson.

What do you have in the hopper at jerryracliff.com? Wow. Well. What don't you have in there? That's a good question. Well, we've got a week left in the basketball portal. So I expect a flurry of activity coming up in that area and the football portal reopens on Wednesday.

So I know that Tony Elliott is still looking for some other guys to fill out his roster perhaps some defensive backs running back. Couple other positions maybe linebacker, maybe even offensive line. I'm not sure with a couple of injuries he's suffered. And if we can get through all that and just the mundane day to day stuff that's going on. I have a really good story about the Odom family and a story on Chandler Morris, the quarterback and a story on Chance Mallory and what he brings to the table.

So hopefully I can get to that this week if I'm not covered up with breaking news. I think breaking news might be in the hoppers. Like it might be Jerry Radcliffe is a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. He is a man I look up to and his website Jerry Radcliffe calm. I'm on it every single morning with my my my coffee in my hand, probably one of my kids sitting on my knee. And whatever was for breakfast that morning. Today it was a special K with slices of bananas.

How much of that did your dog get? This time none. Although our two and a half year old that was sitting on my left knee tried to knock the special K cereal bowl on the floor as the dog was lurking and he pounces. Bob, the two and a half year old has quickly become Max the German Shepherd. He likes the two and a half year old the most and it's directly attributed to the amount of food that hits the floor. I'm sure. Or from the high chair. Yes.

Because the kid just throws everything on the floor and then Max just laps it up. This guy is fantastic, Jerry Radcliffe, guys. Visit his website, jerryradcliffe.com. Judah Wickhauer is fantastic. He's looking sharp in a, is that a new V-neck sweater? I don't think I've ever seen you wear that. Looking sharp. Nice look.

Looking great, Judah Wickhauer. The I Love Seville Show, guys, is up at 12.30 p.m. And we're grateful for your viewership and listenership of the Jerry and Jerry Show. So long, everybody. Take care.