The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Ricky Stokes Joined Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller Live On The Jerry & Jerry Show!

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

Ricky Stokes, Senior Associate Commissioner of Men’s Basketball for the Mid-American Conference, joined Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller 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. It's an absolute pleasure to connect with you guys through the I Love Seaville Network on a program by offering your thoughts, your comments, and your suggestions, your ideas, and whatever platform you're watching upon. Our software will aggregate your comments, and I will then relay it live on air. It is the Elmer's glue of this team. Every team needs a, maybe the stats don't show up in the box score, but goodness gracious without the glue guy the team does not win. And Judah Wickhauer is that man. I have significant respect and appreciation for what he does for this team. Judah, if you could go to the studio camera and welcome our star Jerry Hootie-Rackliff, who I think is 51 straight ACC men's basketball tournaments, a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, a man that's gotten more

hardware than anyone I know on his trophy case at his home and and he's always dapper and distinguished. Jerry Hootie Radcliffe, the show is yours my friend. Hell of a guest you've got in studio today. Yeah thanks. We've had tremendous guests on the show for the last two years and this just adds to the list of great guys and not only is he a great guest but he's a great human being and I've known him and his brother Bobby who's a doctor here in town. My doctor. I think it's your doctor. Yeah, actually my doctor. Keeping me ticking upright and just both of them are just

wonderful people and credits to the community and your family must be so proud of you guys. Ricky Stokes. Thanks Jerry. It's a pleasure to be here on this show and I figured it was a slow slow day when I got invited to be on this journey. No way. Absolutely not. It's the summer and nobody else, everybody else is on vacation. That's not true. You're being too modest, as always. Ricky Stokes, take a moment and introduce yourself

to the viewers and listeners. Well, Ricky Stokes, native from Richmond, Virginia, and went to Huguenot High School. And a little known fact the schools consolidated my going into my senior year of high school and that was 19 graduated 1980 so 1980 three schools in the city of Richmond the superintendent had this grand idea that the enrollment was decreasing so they formed Thomas Jefferson, Huguenot-Wythe, Huguenot-Jefferson-Wythe.

And so three high schools. Powerhouse. Were gonna form one high school. Well, unfortunately, my high school coach, George Lancaster, who's a legend in Richmond, Virginia, did not get the job, the complex job. So he got the high school job at Highland Springs High School. in Richmond, Virginia did not get the job, the complex job. So he got the high school job at Highland Springs High School.

And so Bob Booker, our rival, got the complex head job. Well, I was a rising senior, recruiting was paramount, and my family just decided, you know what, we're gonna move out to to Holland Springs High School. So we relocated to Holland Springs. I played for George Lancaster at Holland Springs, which he said that was his worst basketball team ever at Holland Springs. And they went on to win championships, state championship.

But I actually graduated from Holland Springs High School out by the airport. So that's awesome. I didn't know that fact. And it wasn't recruiting before recruiting, but our family just made a decision. It was an important time. And I give a lot of credit to my high school coach, George Lancaster, and they're doing a short documentary on Coach Lancaster this Saturday, a film festival in Richmond, Virginia. It's a black tie event in Churchill at the theater. So I'm looking forward to going back with a lot of high school teammates

to honor our high school coach. That'll be a fun time for sure. You guys are gonna kick out of this. Olivia Branch is watching at Keswick Hall and she goes, I am stoked for Stokes on the show today. Viewers and listeners, give Ricky Stokes some props, put him in the feed. Hootie, this is, and we gotta correct respectfully

our guest here, a red carpet guest is in studio with Ricky Stokes here, a red carpet guest, Hootie. Absolutely. And it must have been really easy for Virginia to recruit you after Bobby kind of paved the way. You know what, my brother had a great career. Bobby played here from 75 to 79.

And we went to different high schools. He graduated from King William High School. And we made the move. My dad took a new job with the State Department of Education. And so that's how I was able to go to Richmond, which I was so glad. My brother had big footsteps. He was prolific scorer in high school.

He averaged probably 35 points a game. Wow. And I didn't want to follow his footsteps, so I was glad that we moved to Richmond. And so I never wanted to come to UVA I wanted to and I probably I was recruited by Richmond VCU and I thought I was gonna go to one of those two fine schools and lo and behold I came up here to a camp in the previous year They had won the NIT

year they had won the NIT. That was Ralph's first year and great player Jeff Lamp, Jeff Jones, but there's one thing missing out of that team. There was a lack of quickness or in the backcourt. I'll never forget Coach Holland when he recruited me. He said, he signed my teammate, best friend Othell Wilson, he said one of you would play a lot, one of you wouldn't. And so naturally, everyone thinks they're going to play. But the first practice, I saw Othell play. I quickly knew who was going to play a lot and who wouldn't. He was far superior.

And I'll never forget, two great calls. I called my dad. And I said, hey, dad, I think I made the wrong call. I think I should go back to Richmond or VCU. And I'll never forget he said, you know, he valued it was a free education. He said, you're not going further than college, so just stick it out. And my second call was my second father, my high school coach, George Lancaster, And his advice was just continue to prepare and your time will come.

And when your time comes, you have to be able to seize the moment. And so there, Lon. And you certainly seized the moment. And you and Othell, with your quickness, and with a guy like Ralph in the back, you guys could gamble a little bit out front, if I recall.

And you guys went on to be nicknamed the Blitz Brothers, right? You know what, Jerry, it was a great time because, I'll tell you, I could play here because of great players that we had. I couldn't have played here if it wasn't for Ralph Sampson, Jeff Lamp, Lee Raker, Jeff Jones, Othell Wilson, Craig Robinson. I mean, those guys were just, they enabled me to have the opportunity to play. And like you said, Othell and I, one of the great things, whenever we went somewhere, whether it's in the outdoors, indoors,

we always played together. So we had a great, great great brother ship kinship annoying what to do and where the other one were going to be at all times so it was just a great time Rick Harlow, Kent Nealon that's the thing when you start naming guys you leave some guys out Jimmy Miller and Jimmy would kill me I just saw him yesterday Jimmy Miller, Dan Maryfield, Tim Mullen but yeah just a great great time to be here. That was a fun time for me as a sportswriter to cover you guys because you were so much fun to watch.

As a sportswriter, it was kind of cool. Everybody says, what was it like covering those teams with Ralph? And I said, it was kind of like covering the Beatles because everybody wanted a piece of you guys. Well, let's just say Ralph. Let's be honest, Jerry. They didn't want a piece of everybody else. They were part of the band too, though. You guys were in the band. It was nice being around the star. Put the mania into perspective. Give us like a story, a behind-the-scenes story, a firsthand perspective story of the mania.

Because to say this is the Golden Age is almost an understatement with what was going on. Well put it in a big stage I guess Ralph was 7'4 recognizable, phenon, athletic, skilled, number one player, high school, college, there was nowhere that he could hide but if just every arena that we went to it it was sold out. And you can imagine, as Jerry says, the Beatles, if we went somewhere after the game, there would be 100 girls by the bus in the locker room looking for the big man. And we got so much fun just hanging around and being with him. But I mean, just the Georgetown game just comes to stand out was just an epic, epic

game of I think two warriors, two great players, two great centers. And just the buildup, I can remember just being in the locker room and the tension. The game of the century. The game of the century, yeah. And they had the organ. I never forget, you know, I'm dating myself, but there was an organist and you could sit in the locker room and just hear the electricity. I never said, I've never been to a heavyweight fight, but that's what I felt like two guys going to battle. And just knowing the fear. I mean, Georgetown put fear with their pressure 40 minutes long.

I mean we were practiced with seven to eight guys pressing you because you knew you were gonna be against a lot of pressure. They were coming at you and it was just a great battle. It was great to win that game. And I think one of the most undervalued or underrated wins of all time came immediately after that. When you guys flew to Tokyo, I went over there with you guys. I actually got there a day ahead of y'all cuz you got snowed in at the airport. We got snowed in in DC.

But I got there early and got on the last plane out of town but you guys upset 5 slam a jam without Ralph in Tokyo and that was that was one hell of a win. And let me thank you Ralph for all that he I mean can you imagine being 18 years old having a trip to Tokyo? It was it was just an unbelievable experience and that's the first time because because being so far away, you got to visit with the other players. And that's the first time we figured out Houston was in NIL before NIL.

So they couldn't believe that we weren't getting it. We can't believe we weren't getting anything at the time. But I never forgot the shock when the coaches told us that Ralph wasn't gonna play It could be he was our he was our guy And they said he wasn't gonna play this particular game. He was sick and I can remember the shock in our face What do you mean? He's not gonna play but we were able to somehow muster enough to

win that game and You left off we forgot then we went to Chaminade and forgot about that game so yeah yeah so anyway what a great I forgot left this on my kitchen table this morning I had I have a copy of a Tokyo newspaper I think I think I gave Bobby a copy of that to give you a couple years ago, but it's got Ricky Stokes prominently on the photo doing a breakaway layup over in Tokyo. Oh, wow. I don't know if you... No, my brother hasn't given it to me.

Well, I'll give it to you because it means more to you. Well, the Japanese, I was the only guy their size. They had to put me on the picture. Everyone else was Craig, 6'9", Jeff Jones. I identified with every Japanese guy over in Japan. You guys talk about Ralph being larger than life. We saw it a few months ago here in the studio. Ralph came on the show, and when the show was over, he walks out the front door of the studio, has to duck to get under the doorway, and he gets to Market Street right about the sidewalk.

There's public transportation, the bus, Charlottesville-Almoral Transit coming one way, two cars going the other way on Market Street. The bus stops in the middle of the road. The two cars stop in the middle of the road. The two cars stop in the middle of the road on the other side. The bus driver and the two drivers of the cars on the other side of the road get out of their vehicles

to take selfies with Ralph in the middle of the road as people are blaring their horns, like what the hell is going on here? I mean, still to this day, larger than life. And you know, you played for a coach also that in a lot of ways was larger than life. Terry Holland I mean so much respect for coach Holland Terry Holland stories for the viewers and listeners. Yeah coach was he seemed like this the general gentleman which he was most of the time on the sideline

and I tell people they said did he ever get mad I said with Ralph we only lost probably two or three times each year. Yeah. And the year after, I lost more games the year after Ralph than we had three years with Ralph. So he didn't get upset that often. So but he was, and I go back to the guys we had, I mean, Jeff Lamb. I don't know if he gets enough credit how great he was. I mean, at the end of the game, we didn't need a play. You just get the ball

to Jeff Lamb. He was a little bigger than most forwards and bigger than most guards. And Lee Raker and Jeff Jones and I mean, that's just a great setup for a little guy from Richmond, Virginia to come in and play a few minutes and just run around and try to steal the ball and then go back and sit down and wait for your next number to be called. Well again he's being too modest. He was the national, Naismith National Player of the Year for guys under six feet. Yeah, you know we just come back and the funny story about that Jerry, I didn't even know about this award. We just lost

The second Final Four there two guys that go to two Final Fours Othello and I we lost the first one in 81 That was a for the trivia guys. That was the last year that they had a consolation game, right? Thank goodness We lost we actually beat LSU Yeah, and the Presidents was shot in the semifinal game. We didn't know if we would play that game or not. Reagan was shot and we lost to Houston in overtime in Seattle in 84. And coming back, Coach Holland and Coach Odom had mentioned that we had to go to the Hall of Fame that had won this award for National Francis Palmer, the best player on the six feet tall that we had to go.

And everyone joked it was a half a trophy. And so they gave me a hard time about being a little trophy, but it was a great honor and a lot of small guys have gone up to, I think Kihei Clark, did he win that? He should have won it. I think he did. Okay. Yeah. A lot of did. OK. Yeah.

A lot of great guys won that award. A perfect segue into Kihei. Eclipse one of your records, Kihei Clark. We were figuring this out before the show started. At one time, viewers and listeners were watching the program. This man had the record for UVA with career games played at 134. Now, we need to caveat this, and I hope

Kiye comes on the program, and no shade at Kiye at all. Kiye got his games played and wins. He also holds the record for most wins. And six years of wearing the UVA jersey, COVID, all that, he got the extra years. You didn't do it in six. Well, if I had two more years, I think, and you know what a fun fact, when I broke that record,

I broke my brother's record. So he had the most record for the most games played at 116. And once again, I thank all my teammates. And I tell people I never started, but I found a way to get into every game. So that was kind of cool. So if you go back, I played one minute maybe some games or two minutes some games, but it was nice to get into every game.

You made some big minutes, I'll tell you that. Oh, one thing that Tim back in gosh, I guess when Virginia won the national championship in 19, and I did a perspective story back to the 84 tournament, when you guys knocked off Syracuse and Indiana. And I was interviewing Tim Mullen and he mentioned something that I wanted you to verify because you and Othell are thick with each other. He said that Othell was just dominated

Pearl Washington so much in that game that he was crying and asked to come out of the game. Is that true? Sure, things embellishes over the years as we know. I don't know that. But I can honestly say we were ready to play. You know, you get to a point where I think people, though we didn't have Ralph, we had some guys that had played a lot of NCAA experience. And funny, we didn't know if we would get in. In 1984, we thought we had to win our first round game at the ACC tournament.

We played Wake Forest, and we lost. And so we didn't even get together. We thought for the first time, we were going to the beach and we're going to enjoy a spring break, which is always when the NCAA happens. And lo and behold, we got in. And we had to wait until it was announced. And so it was kind of, we were kind of excited.

And we played, I think we played Iona, then we played Arkansas, and New Jersey, then we went to Atlanta. And we just got tired. I will say we got tired of hearing how great Pearl Washington was. And we were ready to play Pearl and we were and then Indiana played North Carolina with Michael Jordan. And let me just tell you we wouldn't have beaten North Carolina. We weren't even close to, I mean Carolina beat us pretty handily those two times. So we were watching that game. And funny thing, we played the first game and I'm probably dating myself, but by the time we got out of the locker room, it was halftime. And it was a halftime of the North Carolina Indiana game.

And I turned to my left, it was Dean Smith and he was cupped a cigarette and he was smoking the cigarette and back in the, I guess, those days, you could smoke in the arena and especially in the ACC tournament. And I guess, you know, as a just a senior, just my eyes, Dean Smith smokes, oh my God, the God of all gods and coaches,

but just images were so vivid and lo and behold, Indiana beats North Carolina, thankfully, because we couldn't have beaten North Carolina, and we go on to beat Indiana and ironically, I don't know if Jerry remembers this, I didn't box out, rebound comes long. I get the rebound and I race down court. And I throw the ball up and then I thought, oh my God, I might want this ball. So here I am trying to retrieve the ball and I finally got the ball and away to go.

We went to Seattle. And that Indiana team was pretty loaded. Yeah. That was no joke. Oh yeah, that was a really good Indiana team. Yeah. Well, you've got comments already coming in here. This is an intriguing comment coming from Lynchburg

from Jonathan. He says, for your guess, who's the best college basketball player he played against? And give us a story about playing against him. Who's the best player that I played against? I would say there's a guy at Wake Forest named Frank Johnson. Oh yeah. That was really good and tell me, let me just say the ACC was tremendous. You're really putting me on the spot to

pick one player but Frank Johnson was the epitome of just quick, fast, strong. He was really good at going 100 miles an hour, stopping on a dime and elevating and being too high. And maybe my freshman year, the sky was falling. We lost to Notre Dame in Chicago. We had the ball up one with five seconds to go. We couldn't inbound the ball. Notre Dame gets the ball up one with five seconds to go. We couldn't inbound the ball. Notre Dame gets the ball.

I think Alandra Woodward hits a shot. We lose that one. Our next game we play at Wake and we lose a second game. And oh my God, geez. We thought the sky was falling. And in that game, Frank Johnson stole the ball from Jeff Jones. And I have never ever seen anyone stole the ball from Jeff Jones. And I have never ever seen anyone steal the ball from Jeff Jones.

And we go on to lose that game. And we right the ship naturally and end up going to the Final Four and losing to North Carolina. And I've often said, no disrespect to all the team, the 81 team that I played on was the best team that I played on. I mean, that was by far, I mean, they were talented and Jeff Jones and I, it's a big debate,

which team all of us, Jeff, I think Jones picked another team, Jimmy Miller naturally picks his team, but I think the 81 team was a special team. We just lost to a hot Elwood, which was a difficult position. 6'6", smooth, silky forward who I think he had like 30. 34. Thank you.

Thank you, Jerry. Jerry's knowledge here. I say 30. Jerry corrects me, 34. But he was a little too big, a little too small. And I think we could have. I think we could have. We would have played Indiana, Azeah, we would have played Indiana, Isaiah,

which would have been a huge Isaiah Thomas in Indiana. He'd been a huge task as well, but that was our best team. My best team, I guess I should say. My favorite player growing up, Isaiah Thomas. 5'10", 5'11", point card, Detroit Pistons, leader of the Bad Boys. I mean, he's fantastic. Frank Johnson's a blast from the past.

If memory serves, he played for the Phoenix Suns. He backed up Kevin Johnson. He was a first round draft pick. Had a cup of coffee in the NBA as a head coach for Phoenix as well. He's a hell of a player. Hell of a player. Mark Price. And I'm just talking about people I had to guard. Mark Price couldn't miss a jump shot. Couldn't miss a jump shot. Unbelievable shooter. And a trivia fact, when they came in, and this is dating the ACC, when Georgia Tech came into the ACC, that was the first arena that I went into that wasn't sold out. And I can remember looking around, where are we? Who let them into the ACC? Because I'm going

to tell you what, there were some great, great arenas in the ACC. Carmichael was, I mean, I know we have bigger and better, but Carmichael was fun. The old Reynolds with the wolf, the lights were, that was fun. Cole House, their fans were the worst. They were the meanest. And that's when I knew we were going up north. Wake was always a tough, Rod Griffin. That old arena they had.

That old arena was a dive. How about a Cameron story? Cameron. You know what, Cameron was, Duke was not Duke when we played Duke, though they had some really good players. He used to kill them. Jerminsky, Sponarkle,

but there was not the rivalry that the North Carolina, I would say Wake was a little more dominant than Duke back when we played. Clemson had some really good, it was always fun, that was always a tough, they had really good players, a tough place to play. They had football players right on the fridge, Perry sitting right on the baseline, so that was always fun place to play. And I thought Othell had the greatest steal. We always talk about the greatest steal at Clemson. We were down one.

He had his back turn and he spun and got the layup and scored. I think it was one of the greatest steals in Virginia history. Yeah. So. Comments continue to come in here. And we'll get to this comment. It's all over the feed. Please ask your guest what he thinks of college basketball

today with NIL and the transfer portal where it's headed. We could spend goodness gracious hours on that one alone here. Could be here all day. How about before we get to that one, your segue into coaching? I mean, you epitomize basketball in so many ways. You're a leader of young men as a coach as well. Put that in perspective, your history in coaching.

You know what, it was a nice segway into coaching. I went into the business sector after I finished in Northern Virginia. I called Coach Odom, I said, hey, I respect bankers and banking, but this, I knew there's something else to do. He said, well, go back, get a master's degree, be a high school coach. I went back to VCU, got my master's in counseling. I tell people that is great, especially when you have a young daughter, a teenage daughter growing up that was put to use. And then I got into coaching. Jim Lerone they hired me. Bowling Green was my first job. I've been very fortunate.

Dave Odom got the wake job. So, been a lot of great places. I'm glad I'm in the other side administration because my hat's off for what the young coaches coaches and I say young are doing today and what they have to navigate. I was sitting next I went to very fortunate Ryan Odom invited me to Jimmy and coach Odom to practice yesterday and we were sitting with coach Odom he said man things are different as far as going

to the home with home visits, selling the university and the academics and the academic village. That's not the first question Jerry Jerry these days now. It's the going rate in the market. So I'm all for, you know, naturally college athletics is big money. So I'm all for student you know, naturally college athletics is big money, so I'm all for student athletes getting paid. So I'm sorry they weren't paid when I was

coming through. But in sense, you know, Jimmy and I were talking the other day, that probably would have changed us in some respect. Just having that much money at that stage and leaving one of the great things is about relationship and the teammates that I played with is the lifelong memories that we make on that we still cherish today. I mean, we're all on chat. We all get together. We go to Jeff's Jerry came down that last year. We go to Jeff's for a holiday for a gathering so I don't know if that you know still to be seen if that will be

the same but you can argue having three million in your bank account when you leave how much money would Ralph with that in college unbelievable yeah unbelievable so so you weigh that to the start that you get these days that these kids have. And I got to believe that their education is financial management and saving. But you hear some horror stories about their agents that are taking 20% on lifetime earnings too. Bob Schotta watching the program, the whole Stokes family absolute legends. Randy Clark watching the program. This is just pure fun listening to Ricky Stokes here. You mentioned that you're not, and neither am I, not opposed to the college players getting

paid. I think so too. How about the regulation around it? It seems like the term Hootie uses is Wild West out here. You know Jerry's kind of like Pandora's box. I just don't know how you get it back, you know. Coaches leave. No one's relegating their salaries. Nobody's saying how much the football coach at Alabama or Nick Savings or the Georgia's and I'm all for, so you know, I'm torn. I don't know where it ends or where it begins. You need a program every time you go to a game every year.

I went to practice yesterday, and there were two guys that I saw at UVA last year, Gertrude, and I think one of the walk-ons. Carter Lang. Yeah, Carter Lang. Yeah. And maybe one other walk-on. But I mean it's you know I had to introduce myself to and man it was a lot of energy. You know one good thing and Jimmy and I talked about this last year in the olden days there were such such a pecking order. Like when you're a freshman, I was a freshman, I knew I had to wait behind the sophomores,

the juniors, and the seniors. So, you know, I'm gonna wait my time, I'm gonna get better, I'm gonna learn for those guys. As I said in the gym yesterday, there were 12 or 13 new guys, and everyone thinks. They're the guy. They're the guy, you know, or they're gonna play, and they were born into play right away, and they're they're the guy. They're the guy. Yeah. Or they're going to play and they were born in the play right away and they're going to

be the answer. And a lot of them are. It's a lot of them are. And that's where credit to all the coaches that they're going to have to massage the egos, they're going to have to massage the salaries and how much you make and how much I make. And man, that guy shouldn't you know there was always I can do better because you know I Think I should be playing but now is that guy really worth that much money? Yeah, you know, I'm worth less and so

well, you mentioned being a practice yesterday you shared a picture of One of my favorite people of all time, Dave Odom was at practice with Ryan. You sent me a picture of those two guys together. Dave has so many fans still in Charlottesville. How's Dave doing and what did you see at practice yesterday? Well, Dave Odom is one of my, you know, I worked for Dave in two stints at Wake in South Carolina.

Right. What about, you know, I worked for Dave in two stints at Wake and in South Carolina. And Dave came in my junior year, third year. Coach Littlepage left to be the head coach at Penn. He went back to his Elbow Modder. So it was Coach Littlepage, Coach Larry Nega, Coach Hollen. So you can imagine. Pretty good coaching staff. Pretty good. So when Coach Little Page leaves

as an African American player, I'm thinking we lose a black coach, we're gonna get probably another black coach. And when I see this little white guy come in, Dave Odom, I'm thinking, who is he? It's Dave Odom, my new coach. And a friendship form right then. He was the blue team's coach, and I was a lifer on the blue team, the second team. So we were always blue and they were always white or orange. I was a lifer and we formed a great bond and you can, and David's such a players coach so to speak and

he told this story yesterday while he Walker was sitting there. We had a practice, I think we were playing, he said North Carolina or Duke and only I did this when I knew I was a third year, fourth year. Practice, in my own mind, was going really long. And at the end of the year, at the end of the practice, we would do a lot of depressing. And in my mind, we were going too long. And Dave was just on me. You know, he, only he he could be Ricky, what are you doing? Come on, you got to move. He was just on me on me. So subsequently, I got somebody sub into me and I turned to Dave, I said, Hey, Dave, do you want me to sweat today? Or do you want me to sweat tomorrow? You persuaded to go to tell coach Holland, like, that's enough. That's a

wrap. go to tell coach Holland, that's enough. That's a wrap. It's a great story. Right. How about some behind the scenes stories of the coaching, the assistance that you just rattle off? I mean, these are house hall fame coaches here. We got Larry Nega hall fame coach, Odum hall fame coach, right? I mean, little page hall fame athletics director. He's come on the show. Behind the scenes stories of those guys. Man, they were all characters in themselves.

Coach Little Page would always, he's a huge Phillies fan. As you know, he's from Philadelphia. So he would always wear his Philly helmet and we would play softball as a team. Until one time we had softball, I hurt my knee going back to me first and second and that was the end of our softball. They figured I could get hurt but Ralph couldn't get hurt so that ended our softball game but coach Larry Nega was always fun. He was a garbage coach but just so many great memories and I tell people we won. So naturally all the stories were great

when you win. I mean we probably would Ralph lost once a month if that and you know after Ralph left we lost a lot more and it wasn't as fun but we were able to savage the season and but those guys are quite the pranksters. It was always a lot of fun and when winning, winning breeds success and it was a good time and I tell people just sound of the times we would end practice and we would drive from practice individually to the airport. And I just tell that to tell you the accountability to type of guys. Because that wouldn't happen now. That wouldn't happen now. You have a bus and probably liability and everything, but guys were, and truth be told, you just had to beat

Ralph because the bus or anything wasn't gonna leave with Ralph not on it. So there was one guy you had to beat was Ralph. You know, Ralph, when Ralph got there we were ready to go. But it was just a different time, a different era and a neat place. In U-Haul, I know JPJ is a great great place, but I love U-Haul. It was a neat place and it was always sold out and people sitting right close to you and it was a hard ticket with Ralph it was always a hard hard ticket. And yeah with coach Odom and coach Holland both being

North Carolina natives they used to everybody used to kidding kid them being called them Andy and Barney because Terry was like Andy Griffith and Dave was like Barney smaller Sidekick but Those were great guys. I still I have a great picture at home somebody took a Dave and Terry and I guess Terry and I guess, I guess, they're in there. They were sitting on the bench with their warm up jackets on and they were doing like the three monkeys things like, see no evil, speak no evil, with their hands over their

mouth and eyes and stuff. But they were, they were pranksters. Didn't Terry used to have a gorilla suit he would break out and scare the people to death? You know it's funny things that people got, and I forget, I try to do yoga. One of the best things that I do, I was in yoga class at ACAC. Shout out to Mike Battle who runs and jailed the downtown and Phil Wendell. Great facility. jail to downtown and Phil Wendell great facility and a young lady who was in my class had a poster that she gave to me in yoga class that she had 40 some years

ago who has a poster from 40 years ago she said she was at her mother's house it was in the basement and I can't tell you how faded it was but it was a one of those character posters of us in oh yeah I remember that tell you how faded it was, but it was one of those character posters of us in. Oh yeah, I remember that poster. Thank you to the lady who's in my class who provided, who's a graduate, the poster. So every once in a while, there's someone still living that remembers the golden years back in the 80s.

What do you make of the full circle moment of the Ryan Odom hire? I loved his stories at the press conference, the initial press conference, where he said, I remember growing up and doing Spend the Nighters at the Laer Nega House, going to the Laer Nega House for popcorn and movies. Now Ryan Odom, the head coach of UVA,

I mean, his roster looks absolutely loaded. The expectations are high. What's adding to those expectations is what is it in 2027, then you see licensing fees are rolling out when they're asking fans for a little bit more money, a lot of it, a lot of it more, tens of thousands of dollars more. Let me be realistic here. So the expectations are high, the the Odom higher and everything that went through your mind there. Man, you know, they're like, you know, I worked for his dad.

His dad was my assistant coach. I worked for him eight years away, two at South Carolina. It's like family. And I remember Ryan as a ball boy. I don't even know if he went to school. He was always in the gym and he was fetching balls. He was, you know, he was just a gym rat and everyone's little brother and

I was so excited and he has done all the right things. Kudos to Carla Williams, I thought. It was a home run. He's been successful wherever he's been and I I tell you, he's really reached out to all the basketball alumni. He had a Zoom with everybody, the door is open. I was so excited watching the guys. I'm gonna tell you what, they are super skilled, shoot the basketball,

pass the basketball, playing fast. So they play faster than I think I could play. So I think it's going to be excited. I'm sure there will be some bumps along the way, as there are always the bumps. But they like you said, it's it's a talented roster. And that's minus the two foreign guys that weren't out there yesterday. But it'll take me a time to say, I was like, who's that? And who's that? To get the names. But I'm going to tell foreign guys that weren't out there yesterday but it'll take me a time to say I think who's that and right to get the names but I'm gonna tell you the ball went in the basket and they were super super quick and athletic yesterday

was an offensive day and defensive day but I was excited and excited for what lies ahead and Brian has done a great job recruiting and his staff. I think he's, I mean, as a head coach, you're only as good as your assistants. And I think you've got a great staff. And I look forward to the season. I hope I can get some tickets. Do you want to offer some insight on, is it Deritter,

on where we at now? Because you've done some great reporting with him. The last I heard that he's in the United States he was on campus supposedly this week well he was on campus this week. I understand there's no issues with him in admissions at UVA they're just waiting on approval from the NCAA is the word on the street. I don't know if there's anything beyond that or not. That's the latest we've heard.

But if he does come and it sounds like since he pulled his name out of the NBA draft process, projected second round draft choice. I mean, this guy's a stud. And you got the big German who's also a second round, some projected second round draft choice. This guy's a stud. And you got the big German who's also a second round, some projected second round draft choice who's not in the NBA. I mean, you got those two guys in your front court,

that's pretty powerful. That's your five and four. He would slot in probably at four. And then you got the big guy that transferred the seven footer who is just a beast on the boards. I mean, this team is loaded. I going to tell you what, I saw yesterday you were talking about the kid, the big kid, seven footer from Kansas State. Yep, that's right. And then the freshman looked good yesterday, the kid from Newport News. Is that Barksdale? I don't know names.

Yeah, he initially committed to VCU and followed Ryan to Charlottesville. And I'll tell you who else looked good yesterday was the kid coached by a friend of mine, Russell Turner, the guy from Irvine. OK. The undersized, but knows how to play and really skilled. And not to mention all the guards. They looked good and quick yesterday as well. The first thing that you said when you walked in

when we started talking about the team was shooting. They can all shoot, offer some insight for the viewers and listeners. You know what it was for a guy who couldn't shoot. I couldn't shoot at all Jerry. So and I didn't try to shoot other than layups. I like guys who can shoot the basketball and I'll tell you what that he has a symbol. I think as you look at most of the guys on the team, they're at least high 30s or 40% shooters. Matter of fact, I think the kids, St. Louis, a kid from Toledo, didn't shoot a shot and Ryan said, hey, you're a 40% shooter if you open shoot the basketball. So I think it goes along with instilling confidence on all those guys who can shoot the basketball, shoot the basketball. So I think it goes along with instilling confidence on all those guys who can shoot the basketball, shoot the basketball. So I just saw a lot of shots knowing that it is June. So take that with a grain of salt, defense will get better. But I like what I initially saw. I think the fans who are in for a

treat here and I love Tony Bennett I love his style of play loved winning as a guy who bleeds orange blue love winning love winning ACC Championships regular season championships national championship. This is a completely different style of play that's coming to the John Paul Jones arena Absolutely. I mean fast-paced offense Defensively quick. Yeah, it'll be Yeah, absolutely. Kudos to Coach Bennett, his staff. He also hired my daughter to be a basketball manager who

graduated in 18. So kudos to Coach Bennett. I'm forever indebted. Jason Williford, all those guys. I'm so happy. Orlando Early, I'm probably going to getting to age. I always forget somebody but those two guys were terrific

Nice to see Kyle guy get a job And I'm forgetting somebody Sanchez got a job Sanchez got a job. Yeah, I said Baylor and yeah I say is it Cal I hope Coleman gets a job. Have we heard anything about Coleman getting a job? I haven't. Me either. I hope he gets a job. And I'm sure Orlando will get a job as well. Yeah.

One thing I wanted to ask you about, and you mentioned it, was that Ryan had a Zoom with former players. And I had heard some players from the past say that they didn't feel the connection the last several years with the program that that they had hoped to and Ryan it seems like it's important for Ryan to Bring that back and have all you guys Back in the Virginia basketball family. What does that mean to you as a former player?

Would you it's it's a hard job. mean, a head coach has a lot of different things on his plate. You would know. You've been one. And I give a lot of credit for Coach Ben. He has always been welcoming. Right. And Virginia basketball has spanned a long time.

So it's hard to, you kind of mesh with your era, so to speak. I've heard from guys from the Pete Gillen area that they don't mesh with the early 80s or Jeff's guy. Jeff Jones has done a marvelous job of, naturally when Jeff was a head coach, it was easy. Jeff was a former player. He's a connector.

He's a connector. So, and now Jeff has continued to build on that with outreach at his home in Norfolk. But Ryan- Has a home in Charlottesville too. He just bought a house in Charlottesville. So Ryan has done a great job with that. He has a person who has hired for community outreach with former players, whatever. So it's a dedicated position, which probably is needed to be able to do that.

So I think all of that, does it really matter? I think it does, but to what degree? Yeah. So- Just to feel good. It's a feel good. And so naturally being a former player, you want to be connected. You want to be have an opportunity to come back

and feel good, especially with all the blood, sweat, and tears. And you never know when you can help. And in this day and age, you need all the help you can get. So I think it's just advantageous to have an opportunity to do that. No question. This comes from Martinsville.

How would he fix or does he think college basketball needs fixing? If so, how would he do it? If I had that answer, I would go to Vegas. I want to say to the Lynchburg caller, I was born in Lynchburg. My birth certificate, we were traveling. We used to live in Bart certificate, we were traveling. We used to live in Bartlett. And we were traveling and I was born in Lynchburg.

So my birth certificate said Lynchburg, but we ended up living. So just another fact. But I have no idea. I don't know. Congress has biggest issues to deal with, as we know. So I know that's one avenue that we're looking into or college athletics.

I don't know if the NCAA, they have their own issues. So I have no idea. There are two big super conferences, the Big Ten and the SEC, that a lot of people have the theory that they're gonna take the ball one day and go and form their own league. So I don't think I was speaking out of term to say

that that's out there. Especially as you follow the college football. That worries me as ACC fan. As you look at whether they being able to expand college football and if they can get the automatic qualifiers that they would like to get the auto those two conferences, so And there's a new Sports Commission. That's I

Guess it's going to usurp the NCAA With an commissioner. Yeah, and I'm anxious to see what kind of an impact that's going to have on college athletics. You know, it's kind of fascinating too. There's some states that are passing laws that supersede what the guidelines the NCAA is putting down, a la Tennessee, that their legislation, we don't have to abide by what the new NIHELT legislation, because we have a law that says you can exceed, and I'm sure Florida, I'm sure all the SEC legislators, the states, Georgia, Alabama, the state of Texas.

How much is football driving all of this? The money from football? Oh yeah, I mean, you know one of the things, the theories that we have is why, and I don't think it's a revelation, ACC basketball is not where I think any of us would like to see from a conference level. Definitely taking a dip. It's taking a dip. Would that be safe to say? 100%. Which is sad. Which is sad. But probably what I've read or what I heard is because we were a little behind in the curve as it related to the NIL to the SEC and some of the other conferences

that were used to the NIL concept of diving right in when they could. I mean they were basically doing the NIL when you couldn't do the NIL. You couldn't do it. You're absolutely right. Yeah. It's football money. Yeah.

So it's a new day and I think you really have to wrap your arms around this is the way it is. I mean I have to pay, not that I have to, I am going to pay this student athlete one million, two million, the quarterback at what, Tennessee won it, four million? Yeah. Yeah. It's absolutely unbelievable what's going on. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. We'll put them in the feed. This is an interesting comment that's come on on the show for Ricky. Best UVA player you've ever played with

besides Ralph Sampson? That's the toughest question he's going to get right here. The toughest player. Best UVA player not named Ralph Sampson you play with? Jeff Lamb. Okay. Yeah, Jeff is pretty darn good. And he has a jersey. But often I will say Othell Wilson, I think he's underrated. I think he's one of the top point guards ever to play at UVA. I don't think he gets his due. He was terrific, strong. I think his numbers would have been better if he hadn't have played with Ralph Sampson,

Jeff Lamp, Lee Raker, Jeff Jones. If he had the opportunity to play with some bad teams, not that I want him to play with some bad teams, but if he played in some lean years, his numbers would have been significantly higher. He would have been the guy. He was so tough, so athletic. So tough, so athletic. Caught out for the Cleveland Browns, if I recall. And you know what? If I was going to war, if I was going in the bunker, he had a little edge.

Would that be safe to say? Absolutely, absolutely. And you know what, I like guys with a little edge. And you knew he was, if he was in your, he had a way with the officials, if he didn't like to call, he would stare down the officials. This was before you were born, Jerry,

but he would stare down the officials. And I guess it was before you were born, Jerry, but he would stare down the officials, and I guess it was before officials would give you technicals and sportsmanship. But he was tough as nails, athletic, tough, but Jeff Lamp would get my nod as the best player that I played with. How about your, and he's beloved, he's come on the show, Jeff Jones. Oh my God, Jeff. Jeff's the guy too.

Jeff is a guy. Jeff was the most trash talker of anybody. Everybody's, Oh my God, Jeff Jones. He was the biggest trash talker. Jeff talked more trash than anybody. He could back it up. You know, when I came here, we had all these big guards, you know, just think of, I was 5'9", wet, 5'9", tall and probably 1'65". We had this drill one-on-one. I had to defend Jeff Lamp, 6'5", Jeff Jones 6'5", Jeff Klein 6'4", Doug Newberg, Othell. I was like, man, I'd never

get a break. I mean, they were just big, strong. But Jeff had great hand-eye coordination, could see the court, a coach, but talked a lot of smack. Talked a lot of smack and could back it up. How about the Charlottesville community? What Charlottesville means to you? You know, being from Richmond, my parents made every, my brother played in 116 straight games. I played 134. They never missed a home game. And kudos to my dad and mom. He would take me out of high school practice to come up to see a home game.

And what a great time. And they had great teams. He still needed me. We didn't win the ACC Championship. They did in 76. And I sat by Wally Walker because I would watch all those games Billy Langlo, Dave Kesters, Mike Owens, Garland Jefferson, Steve Castellon, Otis Fulton. So and I asked about Billy Langlo who's a great guard

from DeMatha and Wally said he remember he hadn't really talked to Billy Langlo, who's a great guard from DeMatha. And while he said he remember he hadn't really talked to Billy Langlo, but that was a great time to come see that error as well. You know we only took one set of clothes and they played in Landover and they kept winning three times. We had to keep going. I'm sure we went to Kmart or JCPenney back in the day to get clothes to stay another night. What a great run that they had in 76. My brother was a freshman, Wally was a senior. Knocked off three nationally ranked teams

in less than 72 hours, I think. 72 hours. That's amazing. And fast forward, we couldn't do it one time. But just tells you how hard the ACC and the number of talented, talented teams back in the 80s. And it really values, puts into perspective, and it's my favorite sports memory, the 2019 National Championship. I mean look at all the talent that was on the roster when you played and you guys didn't win a national championship.

Yeah. And for Virginia to do it in 2019, it puts in perspective how hard it is to do. Absolutely. I mean, look at me. Ralph Sampson's on the roster and there's no national championship. Look how many shots Dean Smith had at it. Right. And only won a couple, I think. But a little caveat about Dean Smith smoking cigarettes.

He would smoke like a fiend before games. Before games. Outside U-Haul, he would go outside, you know, back there, the back parking lot. He would go back there and smoke. He didn't want kids to see him smoke, so he didn't want to give a bad impression. I love him. So he would do it out of sight. And he used to bum cigarettes off of Colton Tudor, a sportswriter from Raleigh, if Tudor was

at the game. And don't you have a Dean Smith story when he was driving his, was driving a car down 29? Oh yeah, it was in 89 when Richard Morgan went wild in that game and scored 31 points I think and he hit like three or four threes in a row and came down the press road doing like this. Blowing out his six-shooter. That's another great name, Richard Morgan. three or four threes in a row and came down the press road doing like this, blowing out his six-cooter.

That's another great name, Richard Morgan. And Dean had driven separately from his team. I guess he was recruiting and he was in his Cadillac and he was so hacked off for losing that game, they were ranked number one or two in the nation and just got ambushed up here. And he was clocked at 90 miles an hour. And I think it was either Nelson County or Amherst County. I know the spot.

I think it was Amherst. I know the spot. I almost got pulled there once myself. But, and he got, so he got pulled for speeding. They didn't give him any break. And the Duke students got a copy of the speeding ticket and made big posters of it and brought it to the ACC tournament.

Just to taunt Carolina. You know, I kind of miss the, and I guess I'm dating, I'm old, but I miss the ACC tournament just being in Greensboro. Just because- Me too. He says that all the time. Never move anywhere but Greensboro. He says that all the time. Never move anywhere. I mean just his story and I like coming out and I'm sure you can't smoke there anymore. You know in Winston-Salem there's a smoking tobacco

which you would come out and lock a room and they dim the lights and it'll be smoking. I'm sure there's secondhand smoke over the years, but you know, moving around, I'm just an old, you know what, but I just kind of, you know, sometimes I shake my head when I'll see Maryland play, could be playing Michigan in January, and I say, why are they playing a non-conference game in January? Hell yeah, that's right, they're in the Big Ten, so. It's strange. But then I see Stanford playing.

Yeah. UVA. SMU, Cal, Stanford. I mean, I just don't even recognize it anymore. This has been absolutely amazing. Is it 52 straight or 51 ACC tournaments? God, I've lost track, to tell you the truth. I think it's like 51 or 52 for this man.

My first one was in 74, so however many that is. Wow. Congratulations. Has not missed a single one. Unbelievable. And let me give you your congratulations. Hootie's a legend. He's a legend. He's always been a gentleman and fair and honest.

And he's always been around. You know Jerry. My first professional boss I've ever had, this man, while a rising third year at UVA, went part-time working for him as a stringer sports writer, and then after UVA worked for him full-time, and he's the best boss ever. And how can you say no? Whenever he's asked me to do something, sure. But I knew you guys had no one else today. Everyone counseled.

That's not true. And I said, you know what? It is June. I never saw, I never saw when he was my boss, who'd he lose his temper, never disrespect anyone on staff, did whatever he could for his team, just like class, like the class of leadership. This was a phenomenal interview. It's always fun being around Ricky and his brother Bobby. Like I said, two of the great members of our community.

And we're lucky to have them around. Absolutely. And thank you for your time. Thank you, guys. It's been fun. I know it's your down season. It is down. It is down, but it's a lot of fun.

It's always great to go down memory lane. And I'm excited about UVA basketball and very appreciative of what coach Bennett and those guys accomplished as well and nothing stays the same you know it's it keeps moving. Hopefully the ACC will make a climb back in the right direction this year. I hope so. New coaches and some new blood. I mean what's the last few years we're only gotten three four teams in the NCAA tournament. Yeah. So I mean, what's the last few years when we only got in three, four teams in the NCAA tournament?

Yeah. So. I mean, but it makes sense with the retirement of the Hall of Fame coaches like they've had. It's in transition. Ricky killed it, guys. He absolutely killed it today. For the viewers and listeners that are asking,

it's archived wherever you get your social media or podcasting content. Archived at jerryrackliff.com, iloveceeville.com. Judah Wickauer behind the camera. He's the wizard. He's at JerryRackliff.com, ILoveSeaville.com. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera. He's the wizard. He's the wizard, Mr. Wizard. Thank you kindly, Judah. And thank you guys for watching the program.

We appreciate you checking out the Jerry and Jerry show. And the I Love Seaville show, guys, is up at 12.30. So long. That was awesome. That was absolutely awesome. He's going to tell us when the mics and cameras are off. It'll be off in like 10 seconds..