The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Virginia Baseball Will Host Another Regional; 11 Regionals In 21 Seasons For UVA Baseball

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: Virginia Baseball Will Host Another Regional 11 Regionals In 21 Seasons For UVA Baseball Legacy Of UVA Baseball Coach Brian O’Connor Maryland Pounds UVA Lacrosse In Final Four Shellenberger & Cormier’s Careers Now Over Grading 2023-24 UVA Sports Performance UVA Basketball: News, Notes & Quick-Hitters UVA Football: News, Notes & Quick Hitters 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. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show. We are live wherever you get your social media or podcasting content, a show that talks Virginia sports, the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the news, notes, and quick hitters of today. A lot we're going to cover on today's show, including more great news from Virginia baseball. 11 regionals in 21 seasons for Brian O'Connor's program. Yet another regional here in Charlottesville. We'll talk Brian O'Connor's legacy and where he stacks up as one of the greatest coaches in Virginia athletics history. We have the end of another fantastic career as the spring season is coming to

a close. Connor Schellenberger, his career now over. Mr. May, a tough loss against the Maryland Terrapins on championship weekend. We'll talk Schellenberger. We'll talk Virginia lacrosse and just try to put their tenure into perspective. We'll talk 2023 to 2024, the year that was, and try to put a grade on the athletic department's performance this year. And of course, basketball and football are always atop Hootie's mind and my mind on this show. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera as the

director and producer. If we can welcome the star of the program, Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe to the show. Hootie, my friend, good Tuesday morning to you. Great to see you and happy Memorial weekend. Hope you had a good one. I had a great one. One of my favorites, the start of pool season, which is especially important when you have a six-year-old and an 18-month-old in your house. They love to splash around. But, my friend, we've got to talk baseball. Eleven regionals in 21 seasons. You had a conversation with the skipper, Brian O'Connor, himself.

Yeah, I mean, that's just 11 host regions, not to mention all the ones that they played on the road. So I don't know what the total number is, but I haven't looked at that, but it's phenomenal. We were just sitting there kind of talking after the press gathering yesterday, and even he was more than proud, I think just honored to have 11 having hosted 11 regionals here and i said i wonder how many other uh programs that can stake a claim to that and he said i don't know but it's got to only be a handful and so i did some research, and there's only four that have hosted more regionals in the last 21 years.

Florida and Florida State have hosted 13, LSU probably the best program in the country, 12, and Carolina 12, and then Virginia at 11. And that's some pretty high cotton there for the Cavaliers to have hosted 11 times in 21 years. That's something for the community to be proud of. And we need to highlight this. This man followed this program closer than anyone. I remember when I was working for him at the newspaper, he sent me to Brian O'Connor's press conference on his first day in the job. You need to put into perspective where the program was when Brian O'Connor took over in his 30s.

I mean, this program was on the cusp of becoming a club sport. Yeah, I mean, at that time, like many institutions, I guess Virginia was, their athletic department was having, was struggling financially a little bit. And they were considering taking a number of sports to the club level and baseball was one of those. I mean, the program was not in very good shape at that time. I mean, they were playing on one of the worst fields in America. There really wasn't much of a stadium. They were playing okay, but they certainly weren't a powerhouse by any stretch of the imagination. And I remember distinctly back then

that John Grisham, my favorite author, who obviously has a home here, and he was filming a movie of one of his sports books called Mickey. It's a fictional book. And they were doing the filming down at his facility in southern Albemarle County. And I went down. He had a sort of a press event. And I went down and was standing up at the top of the facility. There's a little tower there that you can go in and talking to him. And at that time, I can't remember if his son was a part of Virginia baseball or was about to be.

Ty Grisham in the building right next to ours. Oh, really? Yeah, an attorney. That's cool. And following in his dad's footsteps, I see. And I've never seen John Grisham as upset as he was that day about the prospects of them taking Virginia baseball to a club sport. He was livid.

And that just shows you the passion of some of their supporters at that point in time. If they could do anything, they were going to prevent that from happening because they felt like baseball was worth preserving. And several of them did get together and put a lot of money into the program. I know that Grisham was given a lot of credit for that. He deflected that credit and said that some other people should probably get more credit than he did, including Phil Wendell, who never takes credit for anything. But I know Phil was a major force behind rescuing Virginia baseball. Phil, the owner of ACAC, and he's got business interests in a number of things. I believe he exited, if memory serves correct, World Strides as a founder,

and then exited, had a nice payday, and now owns the ACAC gym chain. Yeah, Phil was a high school, I think, coach up in Chicago and made his fortune in that business world strides. And he's been a very, very generous guy in this community over the years and a big UVA supporter, but particularly basketball and baseball. And so they helped rescue the sport. They helped build Disharoon Park along with several other major businessmen

in the community. A lot of people got behind Brian O'Connor when they brought him in here including Les Dishoon, who had helped develop Camden Yards. In fact, I got to know Les, had lunch at his house a few times before he passed, and he was kind of chiefly responsible for Camden Yards being where it is. The city didn't want to put it there, but he convinced them that was the place.

And what a great idea that was. But that shows you the kind of thinking that they had behind the baseball program with a lot of successful businessmen doing whatever they could to make it a program to be proud of, and certainly they have. And they hired an incredible coach who has taken them to levels that I guess no one could have dreamed of at that point in time. The Virginia baseball team, folks, 11 hosted regionals in 21 years. Pretty impressive statistic right there.

We're putting in perspective Brian O'Connor's legacy and what he has meant to this program as it has matured and developed under his watch. We need to highlight the fact that the attendance keeps growing. They keep adding seats, and people keep coming to fill those seats. They've done a fantastic job of appealing to the youth at a time when baseball is not as appealing to the youth as when I was growing up or when you were growing up. When I was growing up, when you were growing up, I came home from school, I watched TBS, I watched the Atlanta Braves play.

My brother was a Cubs fan because of WGN. Now you come home from school, the games aren't on as often as they used to be in the afternoon. So you're seeing that next generation of kids not falling in love with the American pastime. So what Brian O'Connor, Coach O'Connor is doing here in Charlottesville and Central Virginia is getting that youthful, that next generation of sports fans and athletes to fall in love with the sport, not through television per se, but actually coming to the park. And I think that is significant, especially as a young

father watching, you know, my oldest in particular fall in love with baseball. Yeah, I mean, they want to make it a fun family experience and they do everything they can to enhance the atmosphere at that park. It's got bounce houses at the park. I mean, yeah. And even though it's college baseball, it has a major league atmosphere at the park with the organ music and the other music that they play, all the, like you said, the amenities, they have a sports club down there along first baseline that people can join if they want to sit there beside the dugout to get close up on the action. They can go back into the clubhouse there and the restaurant, watch the game on TV while they eat if they want to. They've left that gap open for the kids on the hill down the third baseline where they can chase foul balls and roll down the hill and interact with each other.

They have great concessions. It's just an incredible atmosphere for college baseball. And, of course, it's good baseball. So what else could you ask for from a community? It's wholesome fun. It's affordable fun. And you're watching one of the premier baseball programs in America year after year. Virginia baseball, guys, has got a super bright postseason.

What do you make of this team? Obviously a prolific offense. We have to start there. Your thoughts on the postseason, your thoughts on what's in store for we hope would be a nice little run over the next month yeah the last two years the offense has been uh incredible breaking records left and right uh like we've mentioned before the they obliterated the season home run record this year with well over 100. I think they had 20 in the last 10 games, maybe less than 10 games. So they're knocking the cover off the ball.

And, you know, as long as you can do that, you usually have a chance. And I would say going into this regional with Penn and Mississippi State and St. John's, a nice field, I think a lot of it's going to come down to pitching, as it often does this time of year. And while this hasn't been the strongest pitching staff that they've had, they are getting some guys that have stepped up in the last couple weeks and solidified their game a little bit. So I think a lot of this weekend and the rest of the season

is going to rely heavily on whether those arms can get the job done, particularly against Mississippi State. They're a pretty good hitting team themselves. That was my follow-up. You got the Cavaliers at 42-15. First pitch Friday against Penn. The Quakers are 24-23. Virginia is heavily favored in this matchup.

St. John's and Mississippi State in the night cap, as you highlighted on your website. 7 o'clock first pitch. I would imagine Mississippi State is the primary opponent to be concerned about in this region. Yeah, no question about it. I mean, they come from the baseball-rich SEC, who tends to dominate the postseason. And Mississippi State's a solid ball club. They have a nice history, and they can hit the ball too. So it's going to test Virginia's pitching staff.

And it's always fun this time of year to see how the coaches manage their pitching staffs because, you know, you're in a lot of interesting situations where you may be playing two games in one day and you're trying to figure out what pitchers are going to work best against what lineups you're going to be facing. And, you know, a lot of teams do some unusual things that they haven't done all season long in the postseason. We've seen Virginia do that with bringing in guys to pitch

that haven't pitched maybe all season or since early season and do some unusual things. Don't know what's in store for this weekend, but I imagine we'll see Blanco and Savino and Woolfolk as probably the three primary starters should they not need to use some of those guys out of the bullpen or something. But I think a lot of it may come down to the pitching staff and how these guys can perform.

And the main thing is to try to give their teams, you know, five to six innings of solid baseball. I want to highlight this as well. In the dog days of summer, late May and June, the impact of what Brian O'Connor is doing is not just within the lines or on the diamond. He's having an impact on the local economy. When you host a regional, you are seeing thousands of additional fans and not just locals come to Charllottesville and they're booking hotel rooms they're spending money at local restaurants and bars and they're driving an economy when the

student population is gone one of the friends that watches this show the jerry and jerry show and our i love steve-o show at 12 30 is someone you know, Derek Bond at Moe's Barbecue on Ivy Road. Great guy. Great guy. And he's highlighted that baseball keeps that restaurant busy. I know that's the case for Vivace. I know Foods of All Nations gets a boost. I know Ivy Provisions on Ivy Road.

All those restaurants and bars in that Charlottesville-Ivy corridor are getting a boost because of this baseball team. The Corner gets a boost. Downtown Mall gets a boost. So that's something that should not be under the radar, Hootie. Yeah, no question about it. I mean, that's part of what college sports does for a town. And like you said, particularly this time of year when the students are gone, it helps boost the economy, no question about it.

And as to the atmosphere, it's been fun watching some of the other fan bases that you don't normally see come into Charlottesville over the past 20 years from as far away as California and Oregon. And, you know, they're fun-loving, passionate people and love the sport of baseball or they wouldn't be here. The positive of having a team like Mississippi State and Charlottesville is, as Hootie highlighted, their fan base is rabid. So you would expect them to travel well. John Grisham's alma mater. That's absolutely right.

John Grisham's alma mater is in the house. So I would imagine you're going to see Mr. Grisham, who we often see in downtown Charlottesville at the ballpark. Hootie's going to be there? I will. Put in perspective what you enjoy about covering this baseball team in late May and June, Hootie's going to be there? I will. Put in perspective what you enjoy about covering this baseball team in late May and June, Hootie. It's just fun because everything is on the line. It's obviously double elimination, so if you lose, you if you can get off to a two and oh start

in any of these tournaments it weighs heavily in your favor uh in terms of advancing but like o'connor said yesterday you got to go one and oh before you can go two and oh so all of their emphasis is on pin um it's just a fun atmosphere. The Virginia fans are really into it. The ones that show up at the ballpark are very supportive, and they're very loud, boisterous, supporting crowds, and it's been fun watching that grow over the years. They're one of the top programs in the country in terms of season attendance. I don't know if they have broken their all-time record already this year or are on the verge of it. It just goes to show how the community responds to the program

and vice versa because they have put, I think, at least $20 million into Davenport Field District Park over time, and they try to make an improvement in some aspect every year to the park. Sometimes it's not always for the fans. Sometimes it's for the players, and fans don't always get to see some of that because it's down under the stadium. But they try to make that stadium

as fine a facility as they possibly can, and I imagine they will continue to do so over the years. Roderick Mullins, the content creator himself, Brian O'Connor is a class act. It says a lot when one of his players' father passed away and the team attended the service in respect to the Buchanan family. He is truly a class act coach. That leads me into this question.

Where does he stack up in some of the greatest of all time? With 21 years of resume and tenure, we're starting to be able to compare and contrast them to some of the greatest ever. What's that short list look like for you? It's pretty unusual to have coaches last 21 years in any sport, particularly these days. And you've got to take your cap off to him. I mean, I don't like the concept of Mount Rushmore's, but because I think you're always going to leave somebody out that's deserving. But certainly he'd be a candidate for Virginia's because, I mean, you look at his success.

They're in the NCAA tournament almost every year. It's not just the 11 home regionals, but in 21 seasons. They've made it, gosh, have they made it 20 times? I'm not sure. I know the one year they had COVID, so there was no tournament. But, I mean, he's taken these guys to incredible heights and to five college World Series, won the national title. He's in the top, I think, eight in career wins among ACC baseball

in ACC baseball history. He's closing in on 900 wins. Probably get there next year. I mean, what hasn't he done? And not only that, but I mean, he's always been a great ambassador of the University of Virginia. He's a guy that I role modeled for his players and for other coaches and also in the community. I mean, this guy, we had him on the show here a few weeks ago.

He was amazing. In the studio. Yeah. We talked about him going out and tossing flapjacks for community clubs here and selling hot dogs and going to little league games. He's part

of the fabric of this community. I mean, how could you do it any better? Very well said. This is from Rob Neal, Dyer JMU fan. He sends an infographic to us. Schools who made, I'm going to rattle off the schools. These are universities and colleges who made a bowl game, talking football, the NCAA basketball tournament, and the NCAA baseball tournament. A lot of these expected.

For example, North Carolina made a bowl game, the NCAA basketball tournament, the NCAA baseball tournament. A lot of these expected. For example, North Carolina made a bowl game. The NCAA basketball tournament, the NCAA baseball tournament, Clemson Tigers, the Crimson Tide of Alabama, Arizona, NC State Wolfpack, Duke Blue Devils, Tennessee Volunteers, the Longhorns of Texas, Oregon, Texas A&M, UK, Kentucky. One of them that may surprise some people, James Madison University, JMU. What do you think of that one? That's a great stat and very deserving. I mean, what they've done with JMU's program is incredible. I mean, it should be a national story, the success they've had.

And I know now it's almost like they're starting a new chapter in their sports history with a new AD, a new head football coach, and a new head basketball coach, trying to build off what they have accomplished over there in the last few years. Moving up, I think, into another conference has probably been a great thing for them. And, I mean, they just continue to thrive. And I'm very happy for them. It's great to thrive. I'm very happy for them. It's great to see. The baseball team, guys,

will watch this weekend as Coach O'Connor makes another postseason push. One postseason that's come to an end is the Virginia lacrosse team. A tough loss to the Terrapins, a team they beat earlier in this year, championship weekend, could not come out of the gates with firepower. Maryland on the flip side came out with energy, winning ground balls, winning 50-50 balls, scoring.

So many times this season, Virginia lacrosse looked like it was playing one-on-one instead of team offense. And that's tough when you're running into teams that have pretty good defenses and strong defenders. Open-ended question, what do you make of the season? Well, another successful season. I know it's disappointing the way it came to an end, but they've been in the postseason, what, four of the last five years? To the final four, I think, four of the last five years. And it seems like they run into Maryland every year, and they've been on the losing side more times than they would prefer, I'm sure. And, I mean, they're one of the elite programs in the country,

and it's just a matter of whether you can survive that weekend or not. Them and Maryland and Notre Dame, it seems like they're there almost every year. Duke has certainly been there their share of times. But what an incredible career for Schellenberger and a local kid. We know his family. Great people. And a salute to him. He was able to set the NCAA scoring record during that tournament,

even though they lost and Maryland somewhat contained him. But that was by design. I hear nothing but plaudits for Coach Tillman up at Maryland, who a lot of people feel like he's the mastermind in NCAA lacrosse right now, although you've got to look at Kevin Corrigan up at Notre Dame. Oh my gosh, two consecutive championships. Those guys are unbelievable. I think all of men's lacrosse has nightmares of the Cavanaugh brothers. They're dynamic. You had one in the stands that was a national champion, two playing

for a national championship, best players on the field. I'm ready for the Cavanaughs to leave South Bend. Good Lord. Of course, Corrigan grew up here in Charlotte. Right. His dad, Gene, was a great friend of mine, one of the great college administrators of all time. And his brother, Boo, is the AD at NC State,

doing a terrific job down there. So what an athletic family those guys are. But Tillman has been known as a master strategist and strategist, and he certainly put together a good game plan to contain Virginia's offense. And somebody mentioned the other day that they got a T-shirt. They're a big lacrosse fan, and I think it was said January, February, March, April Tillman because Tillman seems to own May to some degree, although it really belongs to Corrigan right now. But I'm sure they put all their defensive efforts into it.

They knew that you had to contain Schellenberger and the talented freshman, or Virginia was going to run away with it. And you had to salute them. They did a great job. Schellenberger leaves UVA as the ACC's all-time leader in assists with 192. He's got 35 NCAA tournament goals, which are the most in UVA program history. 32 assists, ranks third in NCAA tournament UVA history. He's the school's only three-time, is it Territon trophy?

Territon. He's a three-time finalist and the number two overall pick in this month's professional draft. I mean, you're looking at a guy that has made lacrosse, which is already rich in tradition here in Charlottesville and amongst the fan base of UVA, and he's taken it to a completely different level. Part of the reason is he's been here five years, his first year the COVID year. So we've really had an opportunity to get to know him. Then you throw in the local dynamic with St. Ann's Belfield, and you have a community that's fallen in love with Mr. May with number one. He's got to be the hero of every lacrosse kid in the community over that span of time and probably will continue to be so for

quite some time. Great kid, again, great family. He does everything the right way and what a role model for all the lacrosse playing kids in this community and all over the state, really, but particularly the Charlottesville community. Lacrosse guys the season is over so it's a natural segue into us grading the 2023-2024 sports season we know that there's still some teams alive and part of that grade could be influenced if baseball goes on a deep run here, if the golf team brings some hardware, they're in the match play component. They're playing as we speak.

As we speak. Against the number one ranked team in the country, Auburn, out in California. So that will be a true test. But if they could bring them down, wow, what a statement that would be for Bowen Sargent's golf program. How do you look at this year? Look, we had difficulty with football, and basketball was a disappointment, but there's a lot to celebrate.

You've got a basketball team, women's basketball team, that seems to be turning the corner. They've got a point guard on the women's basketball team that looks like she's a superstar in the making. We have spring sports that have deep runs across the board. Where do you want to begin on the season that is about to conclude? Well, I guess you've got to start with the women's swimming program, which is they've developed a dynasty over there,

and there's been very few of those in women's swimming over the past 30, 40 years, I think, and certainly they've got one going. You've got to hand them all the credit in the world, and I don't know if they're going to slow down any time soon or not because they've got superstars in the program, and I think the men's program is starting to come on as well so i i guess you got to start there because they're they're filling up that trophy case over uva they're going to build a new one i think to house all these uh hardware all the hardware yeah it's unbelievable so you

know hats off to them but uh so many spring sports are taking it into the postseason. Softball for the first time in more than a decade. Tennis did well. Again, baseball. Track brought home their first men's ACC championship ever, I believe. The golf team's doing great. The rowing team has been successful. Some of the other programs during the winter and fall have done well.

Also, I guess the big disappointment, even though they did make the NCAA tournament and finish third in the regular season, was the basketball team because people had higher expectations. But it was a disjointed offense that never really found itself, and I'm sure that will be a short-lived experience. I think next year the program will return to its normalcy. I certainly think so too. Football obviously has been a struggle for years.

I think they made a couple of strides this year. It ended on a sour note. It left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. But that may have spurned some of the supporters to get even more behind that program and the athletic program in general in terms of NIL. Sometimes an embarrassment will do that for you because people don't want that to happen again. And so, as we've said before, I think football has a chance this year to make some strides. Again, it's against a very challenging schedule.

Had they scheduled wiser, I think this team would have been, I'm not saying they can't make a bowl game, but I think if they had played a much softer schedule coming up, that this would be a bowl team without question. They opened with the Richmond Spiders, SMU on the schedule, Notre Dame on the schedule, Virginia Tech, of course, on the schedule, Clemson on the schedule. I mean, Hootie has said this numerous times,

you have to make hay early with this schedule because the back end is just brutal. Yes, no question about it. If you can make hay early and get yourself in position for a potential bowl game, you build confidence. Maybe you can pull off an upset somewhere in that back end. It's going to be challenging for sure. But again, you know, had they played a softer non-conference schedule,

I think it would have weighed heavily in their favor in getting this program turned around. But you got to be smart about that. You look at what Wake Forest and NC State and Duke did to turn their programs around several years ago, and that's how they approached it. They played some of the worst teams they could find and became bowl eligible.

If you win all your non-conference games, you only have to win two conference games to get bowl eligible. If you win all your non-conference games, you only have to win two conference games to get bowl eligible. So I think you've got to be smart about that. You can kill yourself with scheduling, and it makes no sense to me to go out and play teams that you have no chance of beating just for a paycheck. Comments. This one is a good one.

Renee Pettiford, one of our favorite viewers and listeners, she talks basketball. How does Coach Bennett land a 2025 commitment when there's only two years left on the contract? What does he need to do to secure a commitment down the stretch? This is a topic that's all over social media. Let's one-shot Hootie on this because I think this is going to be good commentary. Well, Rene, that's a great question, and it's one that everybody's asking. I'm stunned at the silence coming out of the McHugh Center, because nobody knows what the future holds. Certainly, there's two years left on Tony Bennett's contract.

There's plenty of time for him to sign a new deal. Although, from what we've gathered through Chris Graham's excellent reporting in his FOIAs, there has been no movement from either side about an extension or a new contract. And Chris Graham continues to pursue that like nobody else. And he has found out that since last week that Jason Williford's contract runs out at the same time as Tony Bennett's. Ron Sanchez's contract runs out the year after. We don't know what's behind that. Again, it leaves the door wide open for tons of speculation and tons of opportunities for opposing programs recruiting against Virginia to use that in what lefty Drizelle used to call negative recruiting, some of that negative recruiting. But, you know, other coaches use that.

Why would you go to Virginia if Tony Bennett's going to leave after two years? I mean, that's going to happen. It's going to happen. It's probably happening right now out there on the recruiting trail as people go through evaluations of all these kids playing AAU ball. So, again, it leaves open speculation that Tony may be leaving. He may be retiring. He may be wanting to move on to another profession. He may be moving on to the NBA. Who knows? He may sign a multi-year lifetime contract, for all we know, with Virginia.

But right now, the silence is deafening. Why not communicate more if you're the athletic director? If you're Carla Williams, I would imagine you manage the story by communicating with the press and the fan base as opposed to allowing the story to continue to hang in purgatory, which is where it is now. Carla's a wonderful person.

If I have a chief criticism of her, it's the lack of communication. Especially on something of this importance. Yes. She will never be known as the great communicator with the media. Most of her predecessors, not all of them, but most of them were really good about dealing with media. I'd say Mr. Littlepage was.

On and off the record, you could call them, text them anytime, day or night. They'd get back to you. They would share information that they felt like you needed to know. You maybe couldn't always use it or print it, but for your knowledge, it helped you do your job and it helped you have a greater insight into what was going on with the UVA program. Again, I frankly think that she has a failing grade on that in terms of communicating with media. Maybe that's by design. I don't know. It certainly hasn't been the Virginia way. In my 40-plus years here, going back to the days of Dick Schultz.

And even though I didn't cover him when he was the AD here, Gene Corrigan was certainly very open with media, as most of the ADs have been here over time. I think that's something that would enhance her position if she would become a little bit more open and communicative with us.

Because we are the linchpin between her and their fan base. And their fans deserve to have some knowledge as to what's going on. Certainly they shouldn't know everything, but I don't understand the silence on not just that,

but there's a lot of things that she has been quiet about over time, and she only talks when it suits her, which is not very often. Greg Redfern, thank you for watching the program. I see the comments coming in. The Bennett comments are coming in left and right here. We neither, I mean, I don't want to speak for Hootie. The man doesn't have a crystal ball. Folks are asking you what's going to happen here. Try to stand up for here. I wish I knew. If he knew, if he had a crystal ball, he'd be playing the lottery

right now. You know I'd be giving you the scoop if I had it. I don't. I don't know if anybody knows. I don't think anyone knows. Outside of the inner circle over there. Do we think Carla knows? Or is this strictly A.D. Williams knows? She knows more than we know. I don't know if she knows what Tony Bennett's final outcome is going to be.

Maybe she does. Maybe he has shared it with her. Maybe he has not. Maybe he's not even sure himself. Maybe it's something he's pondering as to whether he wants to continue in this profession, which has become more challenging than it's ever been. And that's why we've seen some of the superstars in college football and basketball step away. Because they don't like where college sports is headed.

I don't like where college sports is headed. I think most fans don't like where college sports is headed. It think most fans don't like where college sports is headed. It's becoming insane. It's becoming insane. Yeah. And how it sustains itself, I don't know. At some point, it looks like to me that it's just going to explode. And I hate to see that day coming, but I hate what it's turned into. I would

be interested in our fans and viewers out there is how they feel about college sports right now. Are they turned off? Are they losing interest? Because when football kicks off in a couple of months, are they going to be glued to their TV sets like they have been over the years? Are they losing interest because these guys are getting paid better than some of the pros are? I wish I knew what was going on inside Tony Bennett's head, but I don't. I imagine he and his family and maybe his closest coaches and friends know. But, again, maybe he hasn't even decided himself. Maybe he has, and they know it,

and they're just not ready to come out with a statement at this point. Here's a tough question here. I think you and I both want to see and I don't want to speak for you, but Tony Bennett in the head honcho seat for as long as he wants and certainly much longer than two years. I'd love to see Coach Bennett coaching into his 60s and 70s like we've seen Krzyzewski do

like we saw Roy Williams do for example who would you be I have to ask this question who would be your short list of successors obviously Sanchez is on the short list because he's got head coaching experience

and he followed Coach Bennett from across the country to this job. Who else would be on that short list? You know, I haven't even put a single thought into that. That's something I'll have to do over the next week. I'm sure that Carla, like any good AD, has a short list for almost every coaching position in her department. That's what ADs do. And if they don't, they know agencies who do that for them. But, wow, that's a great question. That just blew me away because I don't have an answer for that. I haven't really thought about if he steps down and they don't go to Sanchez or Williford, who they might go after.

That's a great question because this is a really good job. He's made it a really good job. It didn't used to be. But that's an intriguing prospect just to think about. I mean, you're five, six years removed, 2019, from an NCAA championship. You're routinely contending for ACC regular season and tournament titles. You have one of the best arenas in college basketball. You've got a fan base that is loyal and diehard.

No question. Is the NIL money there? Not yet. But we know that, was it Lowe Davis is trying to drive the name, image, and likeness ship, if you may, forward. Wally Walker. Wally Walker, yeah. And I'm seeing television and radio ads and social media ads for the collective to get the fan base involved.

I would expect that's going to pick up. I see a job that is coveted, that is potentially coveted. We have the new legislation in the state that we don't know where that's going to pick up. I see a job that is coveted, that is potentially coveted. We have the new legislation in the state that we don't know where that's going, but that could open up some doors that... Which was driven in part by an associate AD within UVA. Yeah, which could make UVA king of the hill if they want to be. Exactly. From what I've been told.

Yeah, I mean, it's a heck of a job opportunity. I would imagine they would be flooded with people wanting to take that position. That's mind-boggling. I really don't know who they would go after or even what the short list would look like. I don't know if they would go after somebody who's been an assistant coach at a major program, a head coach at a major program, or a head coach at a mid-major, an up-and-comer.

But that's a fascinating thing to think about over the next week and try to come up with a short list of some kind. I'm seeing it all over the feed here about the short list. We'll follow it closely. I understand the position where the viewers and listeners and the fan base are in. How do you recruit long-term with two years now on the contract, two years left on the contract? That's something that's going to be a hot button as we head into basketball season

and throughout the summer. Football, any news and notes you want to get there? Quick hitters on football you want to get out? There's really not much going on with football right now. I think they're getting ready to have their summer camps and continue to try to gain some commitments. I think they have around 13 or so at this point. But there's not much going on there to report at this point in time.

Ladies and gentlemen, we'll follow the team closely. We'll follow basketball closely. And we encourage everyone to visit jerryratcliffe.com. If you see Hootie at the ballpark, say hi. He's going to be in the press box. How's the summer shakeup for you? Is this kind of a rest period for you? It gives you a chance to catch your breath and kind of decompress

because once football starts, I think most media guys call it the grind. It starts and it doesn't stop until this time next year. But the intense months are certainly August through March when you've got football and basketball back-to-back and those other seasons cross over. There's no break in between. So, yeah, it gives you a chance to uh get a little downtime and uh although we you know you still have to uh create content what are you working on uh we're working on lists of potential stories for when things uh quiet down so right now we're just going to follow baseball and golf until

the end. And then we'll worry about the rest when we come to it. He's Hootie Ratcliffe guys. His website, JerryRatcliffe.com The namesake of the website we're on every day, JerryRatcliffe.com Guys, maybe we talk next week. A short list of potential

candidates. The viewers and listeners are asking. Follow JerryRackliff.com for all your baseball coverage. We certainly will be. We'll be at the ballpark, and we'll be reading the coverage on his website. You guys do a hell of a job. Hootie? Yeah.

Well, thank you. We try. Viewers out there, send me your list, your short list. I'd be curious as to who you'd like to see come in, should there be a coaching change. I would think that would appeal to some head coaches with some significant experience. You would think so?

I mean, you're talking the ACC, and you're talking a talent-rich program. Time will tell. We'll talk about this potentially next week on the show. Judah Wittkower behind the camera, the director and producer of the talk show. Mr. MVP. Hootie Ratcliffe, the star. I'm Jerry Miller.

Check out JerryRatcliffe.com and the show airs wherever you get your social media and podcasting content. The I Love Seville show is up at 12.30 p.m. today. So long, everybody, and thank you for joining us. Thank you.