Latest / Podcast on the Brink / POTB 540: Anticipation for IU basketball and IU football's 4-0 start with Rick Bozich

Transcript

POTB 540: Anticipation for IU basketball and IU football's 4-0 start with Rick Bozich · Podcast on the Brink

0:18
Speaker 1: Welcome back to a new episode of Podcast on the
0:21
Speaker 1: Brink Thursday, September twenty fifth.
0:24
Speaker 2: Took last week off.
0:26
Speaker 1: But we're back this week with my favorite guest on
0:30
Speaker 1: Podcast on the Brink. A little bit biased in that regard.
0:33
Speaker 1: He's my dad, so he has to be my favorite,
0:35
Speaker 1: but joining us, I think for the first time on
0:38
Speaker 1: the show since his retirement. Before we get to today's conversation,
0:42
Speaker 1: if you enjoy the show, please leave us a five
0:44
Speaker 1: star rating and review over on Apple Podcasts. Leave us
0:47
Speaker 1: a five star rating over on Spotify. Also, if you're
0:50
Speaker 1: watching on YouTube, like the video, please subscribe to the channel.
0:54
Speaker 3: Really appreciate it.
0:56
Speaker 1: We've seen a lot of growth on the subscriber numbers
0:59
Speaker 1: over on YouTube, so I really appreciate that everyone falling
1:02
Speaker 1: over there.
1:03
Speaker 2: A lot of good stuff there.
1:04
Speaker 1: Kurtz Signety's press conferences every week is postgame press conference
1:07
Speaker 1: is getting a lot of views and as they should.
1:09
Speaker 1: With Indiana football is four and oh start before you know,
1:14
Speaker 1: we get into the nuts and bolts of the IU
1:16
Speaker 1: football IU basketball discussion. We're gonna touch I think briefly
1:19
Speaker 1: on both this week. How how is it, what's it
1:22
Speaker 1: been like for you the last couple of months not
1:25
Speaker 1: having to cover college football and you know, stay up
1:30
Speaker 1: to date on it, maybe as much as you have
1:31
Speaker 1: been in the past.
1:34
Speaker 3: Quite relaxing and enjoyable.
1:35
Speaker 4: I could pick and choose the games I want to
1:37
Speaker 4: watch every weekend and scandal hop and don't have to
1:42
Speaker 4: deal with crowds and all that other good stuff.
1:44
Speaker 3: So I've enjoyed myself.
1:46
Speaker 2: How much IU football have you been watching?
1:49
Speaker 4: Watch every game four for four. We'll see what happens
1:54
Speaker 4: as they move forward, but yeah, it's an entertaining product.
1:57
Speaker 4: And I remember listening to IU football games in the
2:03
Speaker 4: late fifties early sixties when they had guys like Earl Faison,
2:08
Speaker 4: Marv Woodson. A little bit later, Richie Betar was the quarterback.
2:14
Speaker 4: So when you've been going out as long as I have,
2:17
Speaker 4: you just keep going year by year.
2:21
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna talk about football later in the show,
2:23
Speaker 1: but I want to start with with basketball. Obviously, that's
2:25
Speaker 1: the main thing we cover with the site of the podcast.
2:28
Speaker 1: You know, a couple was, what three months ago, we
2:31
Speaker 1: had a chance to go up and talk to Darren Debrees,
2:34
Speaker 1: you and I and him in his office for about
2:36
Speaker 1: thirty five forty minutes. I don't think we've you've talked
2:40
Speaker 1: much about that conversation, at least not on this show.
2:44
Speaker 1: I'm just curious for your big picture takeaways from from
2:47
Speaker 1: talking to him, what you maybe learned from that conversation
2:51
Speaker 1: and his vision for how he wants to run this
2:54
Speaker 1: program and how he wants.
2:56
Speaker 2: To build this team.
2:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, the thing I learned that he just
3:00
Speaker 4: seemed like a normal person who loves basketball. He didn't
3:03
Speaker 4: seem like he was.
3:07
Speaker 3: Paranoid.
3:07
Speaker 4: He didn't seem like he was trying to tell us,
3:11
Speaker 4: you know, a new washing machine or something.
3:13
Speaker 3: He just was a guy who loved basketball and talked about.
3:16
Speaker 4: Some what of his philosophies are, where he came from,
3:19
Speaker 4: what he likes, what he wants to do, what the
3:21
Speaker 4: challenges are. And he's a very relaxed and normal conversation.
3:24
Speaker 4: I didn't feel like he wasn't trying to tell me
3:28
Speaker 4: a bunch of stories or funny you know, anecdotes or
3:30
Speaker 4: things like that. He was just a basketball coach. And
3:33
Speaker 4: I've heard from other people since then that have encountered
3:36
Speaker 4: him around Bloomington that they get the same feel. I
3:38
Speaker 4: think at home football games, I've seen pictures that he's
3:42
Speaker 4: outside the cook hall playing cornhole and people walk by,
3:48
Speaker 4: and he's willing to go over and take pictures with him,
3:52
Speaker 4: and I know that stuff.
3:54
Speaker 3: You know, in the end, what.
3:55
Speaker 4: Matters is whether you win or lose. But he seems
3:57
Speaker 4: like somebody who's very comfortable just being you know, Dared Devrees.
4:02
Speaker 1: How I mean, I think maybe sometimes us in the
4:05
Speaker 1: media make too much of that in terms of like
4:07
Speaker 1: how he'll handle the job. And obviously he's he's undefeated
4:11
Speaker 1: right now, so it's it's easy to kind of go
4:14
Speaker 1: out and do those things when there's no one criticizing you.
4:16
Speaker 1: Everyone Usually when there's a new coach, everyone's excited for
4:19
Speaker 1: the future. Everyone thinks it's gonna work out. But just
4:22
Speaker 1: having kind of that even keel temperament, do you is
4:25
Speaker 1: that maybe a built in advantage for when some of
4:28
Speaker 1: that adversity does come, because any coach is gonna have
4:31
Speaker 1: scrutiny and people questioning things they do. But it seems
4:35
Speaker 1: like his the way he kind of handles things and
4:38
Speaker 1: the way he talks to people and addresses the media,
4:41
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like he's gonna maybe get too far
4:45
Speaker 1: either direction in terms of you know, when things get
4:48
Speaker 1: if they win a big game, I don't think he's
4:49
Speaker 1: gonna get carried away with that. But if they lose
4:51
Speaker 1: a tough game, I don't think it's really gonna maybe
4:53
Speaker 1: get to him as as much as some other coaches
4:56
Speaker 1: we've seen.
4:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it would appear that way, but not
5:00
Speaker 4: going to know until he, you know, goes through a
5:03
Speaker 4: losing streak. And looked at the schedule last week. There's
5:06
Speaker 4: their stretch where they play four out of five games
5:10
Speaker 4: on the road and the home game is Purdue. That
5:13
Speaker 4: includes the West Coast trip, so that looks like a
5:16
Speaker 4: really difficult part of the schedule. Well Salari racks if
5:19
Speaker 4: they don't do well during that stretch, But I think
5:23
Speaker 4: it's more important to look at the other signs of
5:25
Speaker 4: I got the email this week that they're having another
5:28
Speaker 4: open practice coming up, So that's two open practices, and
5:32
Speaker 4: I can't think of another ide basketball coach who's opened
5:36
Speaker 4: up two practices to.
5:38
Speaker 3: All of the media.
5:39
Speaker 4: I mean, I go back tonight, maybe Mike Davis did,
5:43
Speaker 4: I don't remember. He was pretty cooperative with the media,
5:48
Speaker 4: but definitely since Cream, there hasn't been a coach who's
5:51
Speaker 4: opened two practices to the media. So It tells me
5:55
Speaker 4: he's not super paranoid. It also tells me he's investing
5:59
Speaker 4: in trying to diop a you know, a reasonable relationship
6:02
Speaker 4: with the media instead of you know, Woodson really felt
6:08
Speaker 4: unbattled and had diminishing interaction with the media in his
6:12
Speaker 4: last year. I think Archie did a lot of it grudgingly,
6:18
Speaker 4: or he did it, but he wasn't really into it.
6:21
Speaker 4: And you know, hopefully this will be different.
6:24
Speaker 1: Why why is it important in your I mean, you've
6:26
Speaker 1: been doing this for as long as you know, anybody
6:30
Speaker 1: that we have on the show. You've started at the
6:33
Speaker 1: IDs obviously covered a ton of different coaches.
6:35
Speaker 3: But I think.
6:38
Speaker 1: As as time has gone on, obviously there's been I
6:41
Speaker 1: don't want to say an attack on the media, specifically
6:43
Speaker 1: sports media, but I think in a lot of the
6:46
Speaker 1: eyes of a lot of people, our role has been
6:47
Speaker 1: maybe diminished. But why is it important for a coach
6:51
Speaker 1: to maybe give that access and give an opportunity for
6:55
Speaker 1: the media to get in there and kind of see
6:57
Speaker 1: practice and be able to maybe tell stories that the
6:59
Speaker 1: other wise wouldn't if they weren't given that access.
7:03
Speaker 4: I think it humanizes the coach and it humanizes the program,
7:07
Speaker 4: and I always go back to a covered grip. Patino
7:11
Speaker 4: many many years, and he always had an open locker room.
7:16
Speaker 4: He always made his players talk to the media win
7:19
Speaker 4: or lose, and he famously would make players get off
7:22
Speaker 4: the team bus and come back in the locker room
7:24
Speaker 4: and talk to the media after a loss. And he
7:27
Speaker 4: always told his players to view interactions with the media
7:30
Speaker 4: as an opportunity to make a commercial or sell a
7:33
Speaker 4: commercial about yourself. And I think it's good because in
7:38
Speaker 4: many ways, the media is a conduit to the fans
7:41
Speaker 4: and they can tell stories about the team instead of
7:44
Speaker 4: you know, just what you get in press conference situations,
7:47
Speaker 4: which usually isn't very insightful. And I think it's also
7:50
Speaker 4: important for the players as part of their development as
7:56
Speaker 4: young adults. It'll serve them well in the business world
7:59
Speaker 4: if they learned, they get put in situations where they're
8:02
Speaker 4: answering questions that they don't expect and how to answer them,
8:04
Speaker 4: and they become more self assured, more confident people. You know,
8:08
Speaker 4: it doesn't translate to winning losses, no, but I think
8:12
Speaker 4: it helps the product. I mean, let's be honest. In
8:14
Speaker 4: many ways, this is an entertainment business and you're selling yourself.
8:19
Speaker 4: You want people to invest in your product. And I
8:22
Speaker 4: think if you like that story that came out two
8:25
Speaker 4: weeks ago about Wilkerson taking some of his NIL money
8:29
Speaker 4: and giving it back to Sam Houston State that came out,
8:33
Speaker 4: I guess from an interview that did a field of
8:35
Speaker 4: sixty eight and then the Athletic wrote about it, everybody
8:39
Speaker 4: else wrote about it. Brings a lot of good publicity
8:41
Speaker 4: to him to debrees into IU basketball. So you can
8:45
Speaker 4: always turn those media opportunities into a positive for yourself
8:50
Speaker 4: and your school.
8:52
Speaker 1: Looking ahead to the actual season, you know, I've heard
8:56
Speaker 1: people obviously based on where we live down in out
9:00
Speaker 1: down in Louisville, but southern Indiana, a lot of AU fans.
9:02
Speaker 1: But you know, there's also a lot of attention in
9:04
Speaker 1: this area on the Louisville Kentucky programs, and people look
9:08
Speaker 1: at what Pope and Kelsey did last year and they say,
9:10
Speaker 1: can DeVries do the same thing? And you're one Obviously,
9:13
Speaker 1: the situations are different. And the one thing I've cautioned
9:16
Speaker 1: people against what the Louisville comparison is not to take
9:19
Speaker 1: anything away from what they accomplished last season. Had a
9:21
Speaker 1: really good season, blew the doors off Indiana down in
9:24
Speaker 1: the Bahamas, but the conference that they played in had
9:27
Speaker 1: a lot to do with the record they were able
9:29
Speaker 1: to accumulate.
9:30
Speaker 2: So people have.
9:30
Speaker 1: Asked me, you know, can can Devrees have the same
9:33
Speaker 1: impact as Kelsey and you're one, it's not an apples
9:35
Speaker 1: to apples comparison because he's going into a Big Ten
9:38
Speaker 1: that's ultra competitive, and I think what Louisville played in
9:40
Speaker 1: last year with the ACC was obviously a pretty light
9:44
Speaker 1: schedule in terms of conference opponents and a chance to stack.
9:46
Speaker 2: A lot of wins.
9:46
Speaker 1: And we saw saw when they got into the tournament
9:49
Speaker 1: playing Creighton didn't go so well in that first NCAA
9:53
Speaker 1: Tournament game. But what in your mind would be a
9:56
Speaker 1: good season fair expectations for Derees in Indiana basketball going
10:00
Speaker 1: into year one of his senior.
10:04
Speaker 3: That's a great question.
10:05
Speaker 4: I think probably middle of the pack in the Big
10:07
Speaker 4: Ten and probably a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament.
10:14
Speaker 4: You know, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't make it.
10:16
Speaker 4: I'd probably be a little surprised if they do make it.
10:20
Speaker 4: But that's what I think is a fair forecast because
10:25
Speaker 4: they really have a brand new team and they got
10:32
Speaker 4: You know, when you look at the portal, I don't
10:35
Speaker 4: think the group they got out of the portal was
10:38
Speaker 4: as good as the group Kelsey got out of the portal,
10:41
Speaker 4: mainly because they don't have a Chucky Hepburn. Chuckie Hepburn
10:45
Speaker 4: was fantastic for Louisville last season. He's a guy who
10:49
Speaker 4: started from as a freshman at Wisconsin. Then many of
10:52
Speaker 4: them started for three years and he came into Louisville
10:54
Speaker 4: and he had a really good He was the second
10:57
Speaker 4: best player in the ACC after Cooper Flagg and Kentucky
11:01
Speaker 4: had you know the kid the Butlers that wasn't that
11:04
Speaker 4: his name? The kids from San Diego State who played
11:06
Speaker 4: in the Final four. Oway was a really good player.
11:09
Speaker 4: I'm not sure Indiana has as much talent on this
11:12
Speaker 4: roster as those two teams had last year. And your
11:14
Speaker 4: point as well taken that people talking about Kentucky seed
11:18
Speaker 4: and they had a good season. They did go to
11:20
Speaker 4: Sweet sixteen, but what did they finish in the SEC?
11:23
Speaker 4: Weren't they like fifth or six They weren't one of
11:25
Speaker 4: the top teams in the SEC. Louisville was the second
11:28
Speaker 4: best team in the ACC. But would the ACC get
11:31
Speaker 4: in the tournament three teams or fourth the most, I
11:33
Speaker 4: don't remember exactly what it was. And their schedule was
11:37
Speaker 4: very fortuitous. They played Duke one time here and they lost.
11:41
Speaker 4: I think they played Carolina only one time here and
11:43
Speaker 4: they won. Pretty sure there was another good team in
11:47
Speaker 4: the ACC they only played one time, so they had
11:50
Speaker 4: a very favorable schedule.
11:54
Speaker 3: Yeah.
11:54
Speaker 1: That I mean that to me is, you know, it's
11:57
Speaker 1: obviously natural to make the comparisons of a first year
11:59
Speaker 1: coach taking over and people being excited about what they
12:03
Speaker 1: could accomplish, But I do think it's important to keep
12:06
Speaker 1: real expectations realistic when you look at this team in
12:09
Speaker 1: terms of how they're going to play. What Deres talked
12:12
Speaker 1: about when we just from interviews and when you had
12:14
Speaker 1: a chance to talk to him, what do you think
12:16
Speaker 1: are the major Obviously we know that there's going to
12:20
Speaker 1: be a more up tempo, free flowing offense with more
12:23
Speaker 1: three pointers, But what do you think are some of
12:25
Speaker 1: the other differences that we're going to see this year
12:27
Speaker 1: in terms of the OnCore product compared to what we've
12:30
Speaker 1: seen maybe the last couple of coaching tenures.
12:35
Speaker 4: Faster paced, for sure, less thrown the ball into the
12:41
Speaker 4: low post and playing out of the low post, maybe
12:46
Speaker 4: a more flexibility in the lineup. I think that's one
12:49
Speaker 4: of the things people always were missed about. Woods says
12:53
Speaker 4: he had his five that he picked and usually wrote
12:56
Speaker 4: them all the way, no matter how they played.
12:58
Speaker 3: I think Devrees might mix that up a little bit.
13:01
Speaker 4: Uh And obviously you know, uh, Botre's more willing to
13:06
Speaker 4: actually spot the three point shot and incorporated into the offense,
13:11
Speaker 4: not just as something that is used when other options
13:14
Speaker 4: break down, or whether you've fallen behind in the game
13:17
Speaker 4: and you have to try and catch up in a hurry.
13:18
Speaker 4: It's going to be a that's gonna be good or bad,
13:20
Speaker 4: because there's probably gonna be nights they don't make them,
13:22
Speaker 4: and it's gonna when you don't make them, it looks
13:26
Speaker 4: a team looks really bad and people.
13:27
Speaker 3: Say, oh, they're you got tired.
13:29
Speaker 4: Legs, or they're not into it or tonight. I mean,
13:32
Speaker 4: the three point shot shapes fans opinions in so many ways,
13:35
Speaker 4: because if you get through a four in a row,
13:37
Speaker 4: everybody says it's the most exciting basketball they've ever seen.
13:41
Speaker 4: So I think those are the main differences.
13:45
Speaker 1: In terms of players specific players. Is there anyone that
13:49
Speaker 1: you're intrigued to see when the games actually start from
13:52
Speaker 1: a roster perspective, any any guys that you think maybe
13:55
Speaker 1: you could be an X factor for this team.
13:58
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm intrigued to see all of them, because
13:59
Speaker 4: they haven't seen any of them that much. I mean
14:01
Speaker 4: Tucker Devrees I saw in person in Albany when Drake
14:05
Speaker 4: played in the NCAA tournament and was very impressed. And
14:08
Speaker 4: I watched him play last year when he had his
14:12
Speaker 4: team down there with the Bahamas and he was good.
14:16
Speaker 4: I want to see Wokerson because he's His three point
14:18
Speaker 4: shooting seems to be proven, and he's a more experienced
14:22
Speaker 4: player and he was highly sought after in the portal.
14:25
Speaker 4: I want to see Connorway because he's going to be
14:28
Speaker 4: the point guard and we know that point guard is
14:29
Speaker 4: a very critical position. I want to see Cecily because
14:35
Speaker 4: he's the main recruit. And I'm curious about the two
14:39
Speaker 4: European guys to see if they're going to actually be
14:43
Speaker 4: able to contribute at all, If not at the beginning
14:45
Speaker 4: of the season, maybe by you know, February or something,
14:48
Speaker 4: so those would be the main ones.
14:51
Speaker 1: The one guy that I've then I think people are
14:55
Speaker 1: gonna love just from talking to him and talking to
14:58
Speaker 1: Devrees about him a little bit, and just seeing some
15:01
Speaker 1: interviews with them the Field of sixty eight interview Connor Enright,
15:05
Speaker 1: because Indiana hasn't really had a player like that in
15:09
Speaker 1: terms of talent. He's not going to be the most
15:11
Speaker 1: talented guy on the court, but a player that can
15:14
Speaker 1: do the little things and get under the skin of
15:16
Speaker 1: the opponent. Indiana's lacked that for quite a while. I mean,
15:20
Speaker 1: I can't really remember the last player to have a
15:23
Speaker 1: player that kind of remind you maybe of Michael Lewis,
15:27
Speaker 1: the guys in the Wisconsin you know, the guys that
15:29
Speaker 1: Wisconsin drove Indiana fans that Brad Davis and Ben brust Right,
15:32
Speaker 1: those guys have driven big ten in Indiana fans nuts
15:36
Speaker 1: for a long time. I think he's going to be
15:38
Speaker 1: someone that when you look at the end of the
15:40
Speaker 1: game at the stat sheet, maybe he's not filling it up,
15:43
Speaker 1: but from just doing the little things of competing, I
15:46
Speaker 1: think he's going to bring a lot. And Reed Bailey
15:48
Speaker 1: is another guy that I look at and say he's
15:50
Speaker 1: going to have to play a pretty big role for
15:52
Speaker 1: this team because they're not big in the post and
15:54
Speaker 1: don't have a dominant shot blocker. But he can create
15:58
Speaker 1: some matchup problems with his ability to pass out on
16:00
Speaker 1: the floor and maybe it makes some three pointers. So
16:03
Speaker 1: him and Sam Alexis, I think two or are pretty
16:05
Speaker 1: big keys. Just in terms of college basketball in general
16:10
Speaker 1: with the portal era, do you think before we move on,
16:14
Speaker 1: I obviously want to talk to you about AU football,
16:15
Speaker 1: but do you think as a whole the portal has
16:18
Speaker 1: been a net positive for the sport, just in terms
16:21
Speaker 1: of drumming up more year year round interest and how
16:25
Speaker 1: do you think maybe it's impacted fan interest and you know,
16:29
Speaker 1: specific teams with all the turnover on a year to
16:32
Speaker 1: year basis.
16:36
Speaker 4: I mean, like it depends on where you're talking about.
16:38
Speaker 4: I think it's a been mostly a positive for you know, a.
16:43
Speaker 3: Lot of the upper era, upper.
16:46
Speaker 4: Tier Division one schools because they can rebuild quickly and
16:51
Speaker 4: get veteran players in there to replace the guys who've left.
16:56
Speaker 4: I think it's been detrimental to the lower mid major
16:58
Speaker 4: lower major schools because their top players are leaving as
17:05
Speaker 4: soon as they do well. And if you're a fan
17:08
Speaker 4: of those kind of one of those schools. That's got
17:10
Speaker 4: to be tough. They are coach at one of those
17:12
Speaker 4: schools of they've gone out and find somebody that the
17:15
Speaker 4: other recruiters overlooked or dismissed and they've developed them into
17:19
Speaker 4: a solid player. As soon as they do their rewards
17:22
Speaker 4: for that isn't you know, two or three more seasons
17:25
Speaker 4: of productivity.
17:26
Speaker 3: It's see later.
17:31
Speaker 4: There's not really a program like that that I really
17:34
Speaker 4: follow that closely. I mean, bellarm has lost a few
17:36
Speaker 4: guys that got hurt by it last year, but I'm
17:39
Speaker 4: sure there are programs around the country where that's the case.
17:42
Speaker 4: And you know, for every Reed Bailey that comes to Indiana,
17:46
Speaker 4: then Davidson fans take a hit. For every Lamar Wilkerson
17:49
Speaker 4: that's Sam Houston State, they take a hit. Where was
17:54
Speaker 4: Connorway at Troy. I'm sure they'd love to have him
17:57
Speaker 4: for another year after they went to the NCAA Tournament
18:00
Speaker 4: last year, but they don't. So you know, those are
18:05
Speaker 4: the drawbacks that I see from it.
18:08
Speaker 1: So Shifting Gears obviously don't talk a ton of value football,
18:11
Speaker 1: but with covering it this season on the site, Josh
18:15
Speaker 1: has done a terrific job. He's actually going to be
18:17
Speaker 1: in Iowa City at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday to cover
18:20
Speaker 1: that game. Looking forward to his coverage, I know he's
18:22
Speaker 1: excited to get there. It's been just a lot of
18:25
Speaker 1: fun to read everything that he's put out so far
18:28
Speaker 1: this season, and now I've written a little bit on
18:31
Speaker 1: football this year too for the first time. Been a
18:32
Speaker 1: lot of fun to follow, a lot of fun to watch.
18:35
Speaker 1: This team just seems so relentless in terms of how
18:39
Speaker 1: they play every play, with with everything that Kurtz Signette
18:44
Speaker 1: has been able to do the first year and four games.
18:49
Speaker 1: You've covered college football for a long time, Is there
18:53
Speaker 1: anything comparable that you can remember to a coach coming
18:57
Speaker 1: into a program and taking it from basically the bottom
19:01
Speaker 1: for a long time to going to the playoff in
19:04
Speaker 1: year one and then having you know, a top what
19:07
Speaker 1: top eleven, top twelve ranking four weeks into the season.
19:11
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not the historian on college football, haven't
19:13
Speaker 1: covered the sport in depth at all, but it just
19:17
Speaker 1: seems like this is one of the more improbable turnarounds
19:19
Speaker 1: that college football seen in a long time, if not ever.
19:24
Speaker 4: No, nothing comparable, nothing, Cause Indiana really, in many ways
19:28
Speaker 4: was the worst of the Power four programs in terms
19:32
Speaker 4: of one boss record and losing seasons and not winning
19:34
Speaker 4: a bowl game, not sending guys to the NFL and
19:37
Speaker 4: all those different things. People like talking about Kansas State
19:41
Speaker 4: and what Bill Snyder did, but that wasn't like, you know,
19:44
Speaker 4: he didn't go from zero to one hundred in one year.
19:47
Speaker 4: It took him two or three years to get it going.
19:50
Speaker 4: And I don't think, well, there wasn't a twelve team
19:53
Speaker 4: playoff back then. They were going to bowl games, but
19:55
Speaker 4: they I'm not sure they would have been.
19:56
Speaker 3: In the playoffs.
19:59
Speaker 4: I mean, Clemson was mediocre under Tommy Bowden and then
20:02
Speaker 4: they became great under Dabo Sweeney, but they ever were
20:06
Speaker 4: down as far as Indiana was down. Florida State was
20:10
Speaker 4: pretty bad back in the seventies, I think before Bobby
20:14
Speaker 4: Bowden went there.
20:14
Speaker 3: But they weren't Indiana bad. I could.
20:18
Speaker 4: West Virginia had a rise under Don Neelan from mediocrity.
20:21
Speaker 4: Louisville had a major rise, but it didn't happen overnight.
20:26
Speaker 4: People Howard Schnelberger had three or four losing seasons before
20:30
Speaker 4: they broke through in nineteen eighty nine, and what a
20:33
Speaker 4: Fiesta Bowl and they had some They had a down
20:36
Speaker 4: season under Ron Cooper and John L. Smith brought him back.
20:39
Speaker 4: So they've had some rises. But to me, considering Indiana's legacy, Uh,
20:45
Speaker 4: this is the most dramatic one I've seen, because not
20:48
Speaker 4: only have they won games and made the playoff last
20:51
Speaker 4: year and go Fournoh this year. Now they're selling out
20:54
Speaker 4: the stadium which.
20:56
Speaker 3: They never did before.
20:57
Speaker 4: They're getting you know, primetime game on TV, they're getting
21:02
Speaker 4: better recruits, and they're investing in the program and so
21:08
Speaker 4: it's it's a it's a phenomenal story.
21:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's obviously there's the caveat of having the
21:16
Speaker 1: portal and you know some of those older stories where
21:19
Speaker 1: it was going to take longer. But the thing is
21:22
Speaker 1: is that it's not like they're doing it with a
21:24
Speaker 1: bunch of all four and five star recruits. I mean,
21:27
Speaker 1: he's he's found guys from obviously brought some JMU guys,
21:31
Speaker 1: but also in the portal, he's found players from Obviously
21:34
Speaker 1: Mendoz's a really talented player. Pat Coogan the center came
21:38
Speaker 1: from Notre Dame. But he's also found some under the
21:40
Speaker 1: radar guys that he's been able to plug in and
21:43
Speaker 1: it seems like everyone that he gets is committed to
21:48
Speaker 1: being a part of the system and being part of
21:50
Speaker 1: the culture. And it's just it's been fascinating for me
21:54
Speaker 1: to watch just how they've been able to how they
21:56
Speaker 1: present themselves in terms of press conferences.
21:59
Speaker 2: Everyone's nighted in the same message.
22:01
Speaker 1: Obviously there's not been a lot of adversity, so there's
22:03
Speaker 1: a lot of positive, positive speak.
22:05
Speaker 2: But what do you think it.
22:07
Speaker 1: Says about just Signetti in the way he runs his
22:10
Speaker 1: program that he's been able to kind of keep this
22:14
Speaker 1: positive momentum for such a sustained period of time now,
22:17
Speaker 1: which not hitting any bumps in the road, and we'll
22:19
Speaker 1: see if that changes. But and also just drawing the
22:24
Speaker 1: fan base like he has so quickly. You know, a
22:27
Speaker 1: lot of places it would take time to change the culture.
22:30
Speaker 1: Obviously winning has a lot to do with it, but
22:32
Speaker 1: even the fact that they had a completely sold out
22:36
Speaker 1: Memorial Stadium for the Illinois game and the atmosphere. I
22:39
Speaker 1: wasn't there, but to see it on TV it looked
22:41
Speaker 1: like I mean, if you would have if you'd have
22:43
Speaker 1: told me two years ago that this is that Indiana
22:45
Speaker 1: football was going to be, like, I would have told
22:47
Speaker 1: you were crazy.
22:49
Speaker 3: Yeah.
22:49
Speaker 4: I mean, he's really good at what he does in every.
22:52
Speaker 3: Aspect of it. He's good at messaging. He knew exactly
22:56
Speaker 3: what he was doing.
22:58
Speaker 4: He sized it up real quickly on how I'm tridden,
23:01
Speaker 4: I you fan base was. And so when he made
23:03
Speaker 4: that first appearance at the basketball game and made the
23:06
Speaker 4: comment about Purdue Michigan Ohio State, people responded to it
23:10
Speaker 4: because there's a there was a hunger for success in football.
23:16
Speaker 4: And he kept it up with the Google me and
23:19
Speaker 4: all the other comments he made. And you know, he
23:23
Speaker 4: how many times every game do the show him on
23:24
Speaker 4: the sideline frowning if they're up by fifty points, and
23:27
Speaker 4: they always say, this is a guy he's never happy,
23:30
Speaker 4: And so that's a message he wants out there. He's
23:32
Speaker 4: never happy, he's never satisfied. And after the game he
23:35
Speaker 4: usually has got some pithy comments on the field that
23:39
Speaker 4: usually resonate pretty well. They probably annoy the other team.
23:44
Speaker 4: And he's really good at organization. I think the part
23:47
Speaker 4: of it that sometimes has overlooked is that it wasn't
23:51
Speaker 4: just that he brought players from James Madison. He brought
23:54
Speaker 4: his staff from James Madison. He brought the strength and
23:57
Speaker 4: conditioning coach, who brought the offensive defensive coordinator, he brought
24:00
Speaker 4: a couple of other position coaches, and those guys are
24:04
Speaker 4: already proven to him and they know what he wanted
24:08
Speaker 4: and they could deliver it and coach it the way
24:10
Speaker 4: he wanted and they've been able to maintain it. That'll
24:14
Speaker 4: be one of the next challenges going forward, because at
24:17
Speaker 4: some point Haynes, especially or Shanahan, will be a guy
24:22
Speaker 4: who will get a head coaching job. But you know,
24:25
Speaker 4: when you're good, that's what happens. Coaches lose their Ohio
24:28
Speaker 4: State lost their both their coordinators after last season, so
24:32
Speaker 4: that's that's a good problem to have. But that's the
24:34
Speaker 4: main thing. He's really organized, he's smart and knows what
24:37
Speaker 4: he's doing, and they're good at telling the evaluation from
24:42
Speaker 4: the standpoint of they can look at guys and say
24:45
Speaker 4: he's not great now, but if we get them in
24:46
Speaker 4: the weight room and we train him, he'll be great.
24:49
Speaker 4: And the best example of that is this Mario Landino
24:52
Speaker 4: guy who was committed to James Madison but never played there,
24:56
Speaker 4: and then he changed his commitment and came to IU.
24:59
Speaker 4: I think he's just the sophomore true sophomore, and he
25:02
Speaker 4: had a bunch of big plays against Illinois, And you know,
25:05
Speaker 4: he's sort of like the next Camara where they can
25:07
Speaker 4: find these guys and say, he's a little bit undersized,
25:11
Speaker 4: but we can put weight on him. He's got a
25:13
Speaker 4: good first step, or he's competitive, he's good in another
25:16
Speaker 4: sports or whatever it is. Let's get him and make
25:19
Speaker 4: him into something. Let's just not we don't have to
25:21
Speaker 4: get the four or five star recruit. We can turn
25:23
Speaker 4: a three star recruit into a four or five star producer.
25:29
Speaker 1: Is that Do you think that's sustainable long term just
25:31
Speaker 1: in terms of being able to compete at the top
25:33
Speaker 1: of the Big ten, being able to find these under
25:34
Speaker 1: the radar guys and or do you think they're gonna
25:36
Speaker 1: have to maybe get their toes and try to get
25:38
Speaker 1: some higher rated I mean, they've obviously the high school
25:41
Speaker 1: recruiting has improved, but do you think they can continue
25:45
Speaker 1: to get these type of results with under the radar
25:47
Speaker 1: players and work in the portal Maybe for some under.
25:50
Speaker 3: Recruited guys, It's hard to say.
25:53
Speaker 4: I mean, you probably at the end to get to
25:56
Speaker 4: the very top of the mountain, you need some of
25:58
Speaker 4: the you need some of the really talented guys. I mean,
26:01
Speaker 4: Ohio State won last year with the mostly four or
26:04
Speaker 4: five star lineup. The year before, Michigan won with mostly
26:08
Speaker 4: a four or five star lineup. Alabama has won an
26:12
Speaker 4: LSU has one, or Clemson has one. They had really
26:15
Speaker 4: talented players who went on to go and playing in
26:18
Speaker 4: the NFL. So to get to the very top of
26:20
Speaker 4: the light of the Mountain, you probably have to have
26:23
Speaker 4: more of those guys, because you know, not all of
26:26
Speaker 4: them when you're not all the five stars work out. Anyway,
26:29
Speaker 4: look at Clemson right now, they've got more recruiting. Every
26:32
Speaker 4: recruiting service in the country would tell you that their
26:35
Speaker 4: talent is miles and miles and miles above Indiana's. Uh,
26:39
Speaker 4: but yeah, they're probably gonna have to get a few talent,
26:41
Speaker 4: more talented guys, and I think they're trying to. But
26:45
Speaker 4: you know, he's got his system and he's really confident
26:49
Speaker 4: in it and he sells it, and uh, I'm not
26:52
Speaker 4: gonna question him.
26:54
Speaker 1: You mentioned the fact that there's probably gonna be a
26:57
Speaker 1: time where, you know, Brian Haynes at the offensive coordinator, Shanahan,
27:01
Speaker 1: other coaches are going to be targeted I know Indiana
27:03
Speaker 1: has made a huge financial commitment, you know, locked him
27:06
Speaker 1: up with the extension last year. Is there any concern
27:09
Speaker 1: do you think from the AYU side that if some
27:12
Speaker 1: some of these sec jobs potentially opening the offseason, that
27:15
Speaker 1: he would be a candidate?
27:17
Speaker 3: Do you think?
27:17
Speaker 2: Do you think best age and kind of yeah, Signetti.
27:20
Speaker 4: People are already pumping the Florida thing. What's he making
27:24
Speaker 4: eight million? I mean I think they could raise him again.
27:28
Speaker 4: I don't know him well enough to know it's just
27:30
Speaker 4: a guess. I would think he would stay. He seems
27:32
Speaker 4: more of a Midwestern guy. He seems to like the
27:35
Speaker 4: Big ten. I think he likes the role that he's in.
27:39
Speaker 4: I mean, he's doing something at Indiana nobody's ever done.
27:42
Speaker 4: He's doing something in Indiana nobody's done in college football.
27:45
Speaker 4: That's a really good way to make your name. What
27:48
Speaker 4: Kirk's next? If you go to Florida Urban Meyer won
27:51
Speaker 4: at Florida. Steve Spurger one at Florida. You know you
27:55
Speaker 4: can win at Florida. He seems to be the guy
27:59
Speaker 4: of a guy who's Indiana is a good fit for him
28:02
Speaker 4: because everybody's talking about him and what he's doing and
28:05
Speaker 4: nobody else has done this.
28:08
Speaker 1: The challenge that they'll have this Saturday going to Iowa.
28:12
Speaker 1: How significant is that challenge? And obviously their favorite going
28:16
Speaker 1: in is it? Do you do you kind of agree
28:18
Speaker 1: with this is the game that Indiana should win and
28:21
Speaker 1: maybe what are maybe in your eyes two or three
28:23
Speaker 1: things are gonna have to do to well to prevail.
28:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they.
28:28
Speaker 4: Should be favored over because of the way they played
28:30
Speaker 4: last week. Do I think this should be an overwhelming favorite. No.
28:34
Speaker 4: I was really hard to beat in Iowa City. They
28:37
Speaker 4: had an impressive win themselves last week at Rutgers, scored
28:41
Speaker 4: more points than they're used to scoring.
28:44
Speaker 3: On the road.
28:45
Speaker 4: Maybe that quarterback they got from South Dakota or whatever
28:49
Speaker 4: is you had three or four games now and is
28:51
Speaker 4: more comfortable in the role. And I was always really
28:54
Speaker 4: good on defense. I looked it up over the last
28:57
Speaker 4: I don't know, it's the last two plus or three
28:59
Speaker 4: plus seasons. Only one team's gone into Iowa City and
29:03
Speaker 4: beaten io Will by more than seven points.
29:06
Speaker 3: And I use favored by seven.
29:08
Speaker 4: So even if they lose at home, it's usually by
29:11
Speaker 4: two or three points, So I expect it's going to
29:12
Speaker 4: be a close game. The key thing to me, it's
29:15
Speaker 4: an obvious thing. It's nothing incredibly insightful. Is just turnovers
29:20
Speaker 4: because that's what Iowa thrives on. We're going to run
29:24
Speaker 4: the ball some They're going to try and shorten the game.
29:27
Speaker 4: It's not going to be a high scoring game because
29:30
Speaker 4: it never is against Iowa.
29:33
Speaker 5: So and I go back to twenty twenty one when
29:38
Speaker 5: there was a lot of build up before Indiana went
29:40
Speaker 5: to Iowan panics through an interception on this third or
29:43
Speaker 5: fourth pass of the game and it went downhill from there.
29:46
Speaker 4: It's the kind of environment when things go bad, it
29:49
Speaker 4: can get hostile. So I think I got'll be a
29:51
Speaker 4: really competitive game. It'll come down to the fourth quarter.
29:54
Speaker 4: And you know, I think I thought I read that
29:58
Speaker 4: Iowa was down one of their TI up running backs,
30:01
Speaker 4: So I don't know how much that'll play into it,
30:03
Speaker 4: but I think it'll be a Yeah, it's one of
30:06
Speaker 4: the better and a weekend when you've got Alabama plane
30:09
Speaker 4: Georgia and you've got Penn State playing in Orion, it's
30:13
Speaker 4: probably the third best game on the card this weekend.
30:17
Speaker 1: One thing it just came into my mind. I wanted
30:19
Speaker 1: to ask you about earlier because I know you voted
30:20
Speaker 1: in this for a long time, the Heisman. Obviously there's
30:23
Speaker 1: been some early we're super early to be talking about that,
30:26
Speaker 1: but a lot there's been some. I think Kirk Farrence
30:30
Speaker 1: mentioned Mendoza as a potential Heisman candidate in his press conference,
30:35
Speaker 1: obviously talking up the opponent. But I'm just curious from
30:38
Speaker 1: your perspective, I'm not sure if you're still going to
30:39
Speaker 1: vote in the Heisman now that you're retired, but you
30:41
Speaker 1: voted for it for a long time. When when do
30:44
Speaker 1: you start thinking, like as a voter, when do you
30:46
Speaker 1: start thinking about that? And like, how soon do you
30:50
Speaker 1: start to form opinions based on different players. Is it
30:54
Speaker 1: too early to even have that discussion or is it
30:57
Speaker 1: something that voters around the country will take notice of
30:59
Speaker 1: a game like what he had against Alinoli and that'll
31:01
Speaker 1: put him in their mind at least to be considered
31:04
Speaker 1: as the season moves along.
31:07
Speaker 4: I think I put him in the mind that people
31:08
Speaker 4: saying that somebody need to keep track of week by
31:11
Speaker 4: week and all the different Heisman polls and high Heisman updates.
31:14
Speaker 3: Will do that.
31:15
Speaker 4: I mean, I didn't really start paying serious attention until November.
31:21
Speaker 4: Because if you're going to win it, you got to
31:23
Speaker 4: sustain it pretty much for the whole year. Your team
31:25
Speaker 4: pretty much has to win across the whole year, and
31:28
Speaker 4: you probably have to have one or two signature moments
31:31
Speaker 4: and people.
31:31
Speaker 3: Say, why did you see that or that guy he
31:35
Speaker 3: did something nobody else can do.
31:37
Speaker 4: So, I mean, Mendoz is in the mix right now.
31:39
Speaker 3: It can change from week to week.
31:41
Speaker 4: You gotta stay healthy, you got to stay productive, and
31:43
Speaker 4: you got to win games.
31:45
Speaker 3: But yeah, he.
31:46
Speaker 4: Deserves to be right in the top five or six
31:49
Speaker 4: guys that everybody's talking about. And if he can, let
31:52
Speaker 4: plenty of opportunities to prove that he's a worthy candidate.
31:55
Speaker 4: If he can beat Iowa at Iowa, if he can
31:56
Speaker 4: play well at Oregon, that he can play well at
31:59
Speaker 4: Penn State. Now you keeps winning, he'll he'll be in
32:01
Speaker 4: the mix. No, was Anthony Thompson the last guy they
32:05
Speaker 4: have who really was a candidate. I don't think Antoine Randall.
32:09
Speaker 4: He was well regarded and played well, but I don't
32:12
Speaker 4: think he was a heisman. Anthony Thompson was the last
32:15
Speaker 4: one get to get invited to New York.
32:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, his next opportunity, obviously, as you said, will be
32:21
Speaker 1: Saturday afternoon, three thirty Eastern time kickoff on Peacock. I'm
32:26
Speaker 1: sure that's going to go over well with the fan
32:28
Speaker 1: base having a game behind the Peacock paywall. But if
32:31
Speaker 1: you want to see that game, you'll have to just
32:33
Speaker 1: subscribe to Peacock. Thanks for thanks for coming on taking
32:37
Speaker 1: the time out of your busy retirement day. How's it, Uh,
32:45
Speaker 1: how's the thing's been so far?
32:49
Speaker 4: You know, I've got plenty of things to do these days,
32:51
Speaker 4: so still haven't decided what I want to do. We'll
32:55
Speaker 4: figure it out, and just getting ready for Post c
33:00
Speaker 4: In baseball.
33:02
Speaker 1: Who's who's the favorite going in? What I mean are
33:05
Speaker 1: the time I didn't check the scores last night the Tigers.
33:09
Speaker 4: And again they're behind Cleeve when they're tied with Houston
33:11
Speaker 4: for the last wild card spot.
33:15
Speaker 3: I don't know.
33:16
Speaker 4: If I had to pick a team right now, I'm
33:17
Speaker 4: going to go with Philadelphia, but we'll see. The Yankees
33:21
Speaker 4: are playing pretty well right now.
33:25
Speaker 2: All right, Well, thanks for making the time to come on.
33:27
Speaker 1: We'll hopefully have you on again once the Once the
33:30
Speaker 1: season begins and there's some actual.
33:33
Speaker 2: Hoops to talk about.
33:34
Speaker 1: It's it's hard to believe the first exhibition game is
33:36
Speaker 1: October seventeenth, So what twenty two days, three weeks from tomorrow,
33:41
Speaker 1: we'll have Indiana basketball against mary And University and Pat
33:45
Speaker 1: Knight in Assembly Hall. Crazy to think about, but the
33:49
Speaker 1: fall has it used to be?
33:53
Speaker 3: You know?
33:53
Speaker 1: It would it would be IU fans would be suffering
33:56
Speaker 1: through the football season in the fall, waiting for basketball
33:59
Speaker 1: to arrive. Now it's they're excited about this football team,
34:01
Speaker 1: as they should be, and who knows, basketball maybe an
34:04
Speaker 1: afterthought at the beginning of the season for several weeks.
34:07
Speaker 1: If football keeps playing the way it does, so not
34:10
Speaker 1: a bad problem to have. If you're Scott Dolson, I
34:12
Speaker 1: think there's a ton of excitement for both programs. Thanks
34:15
Speaker 1: again for listening everybody to this week's show. If you
34:18
Speaker 1: enjoy the show, please leave us the rating review on
34:20
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts. Leave us a five star rating over on Spotify.
34:23
Speaker 1: If you're watching on YouTube, as I said earlier, please
34:25
Speaker 1: like the video, subscribe to the channel, and we'll be
34:27
Speaker 1: back soon with another episode of Podcast on the Brain.