Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Former Valley AD Brad Rose joins Trent with a look into High School Sports today, plus Cyclone talk with Eugene Rapay

Transcript

Former Valley AD Brad Rose joins Trent with a look into High School Sports today, plus Cyclone talk with Eugene Rapay · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:04
Good afternoon and welcome in Miller and Condon on the air
0:07
with you on a football this Friday.
0:10
Sadly, football season has come to a close.
0:13
Glad to have you aboard with us here today as we talk the world
0:16
of sports up until 2:00. Ken on vacation.
0:19
He's got one more week to go, but in his stead, we have a new
0:23
guest host today on the microphone for the first time.
0:27
Well, at least in these studios, but not the first time ever.
0:29
Former athletic director at West Des Moines Valley, Brad Rose
0:33
hanging out with me today. Rosie, what's going on?
0:35
Oh, not much. I really appreciate you having
0:37
me on. I'm looking forward to it.
0:39
Going to have a lot of fun conversations.
0:40
We're going to talk about obviously everything happening
0:42
in the world of sports as we do each and every day.
0:44
We got some guests lined up for today.
0:46
We'll kick things off at the bottom of the hour talking
0:48
Cyclones and their huge matchup tomorrow at Hilton as Eugene
0:52
Rappay is going to stop by from the Des Moines Register.
0:54
We'll talk with Eugene about the Cyclones coming off the loss of
0:57
the bounce back factor and the Kansas team playing about as
1:00
well as anybody and what they're going to see and what we're
1:03
going to see on that front coming up at Hilton tomorrow.
1:06
That comes up at 12:30, one o'clock hour.
1:08
We'll kick it off with Hawkeye talk as Tom Caker will join us
1:11
in his normal Friday spot talk Hawks with Tom.
1:14
Take a look at the men and the women as they get ready for the
1:17
week ahead. The women don't play until
1:19
Monday. They're off this weekend and
1:21
11:00 AM Presidents Day special over in Lincoln.
1:24
They did that a year ago against Ohio State.
1:26
So it'd be an odd time and we'll be on the air for that one on
1:29
Monday, at least the second-half of that one coming up.
1:31
We'll talk some men as well as they look to bounce back after
1:34
their worst loss of the season against Maryland with Purdue
1:37
coming to town tomorrow for the Hawkeyes.
1:39
And then at at the bottom of the one O clock hour 130, Mike Palm
1:42
and his standard spot. We'll talk to Mike Palm about
1:45
everything happening with the Olympics, what's happening on
1:48
the gambling spots there. I talk a little Major League
1:50
Baseball as we look forward to the future, what the
1:53
expectations are for the Cubs, the Twins, the Royals, the White
1:56
Sox, all the local teams here around here.
1:58
Cardinals. There's not a whole lot of high
2:01
expectations for the Cardinals. Rosie, I know you're Cardinals
2:03
guy and almost all of us have had to deal with this at some
2:07
point. It's been a rarity for the
2:08
Cardinals that yes, they are in full rebuild mode.
2:11
It's our year. I'm just.
2:12
Telling. You everybody's looking over us,
2:14
everybody's overlooking us. Like the optimism, we'll talk
2:17
about that and a whole lot more coming up here with Mike Palm.
2:19
He'll join us at about 1:30. Well, Brad, before we get into
2:23
kind of deep diving into the world of sports, one of the
2:26
reasons that I was most excited to have you in here is just in
2:29
general, as I'm sure most of our listeners know out there, I do a
2:33
ton of high school sports. It's something that really enjoy
2:36
doing. It's something that I think is
2:38
important even in a community our size to still be able to
2:41
spotlight on the radio these student athletes and what
2:43
they're out there doing each and every time.
2:45
And you've done it for a number of years, but this is your first
2:47
year in retirement. So I want to start right there
2:51
with you. ICU doesn't matter what game I'm
2:54
doing with Valley. Doesn't matter if I'm doing a
2:56
Valley game on the road. I usually saw you there.
2:58
The amount of time that goes into being an athletic director
3:01
and certainly doing it at the biggest school in the state.
3:05
And now you're retired. So what are you doing?
3:06
How are you filling your time? Because it was not 40 hour work
3:10
weeks. I know for you.
3:11
Yeah, believe it or not. Yeah, well, I know I go into a
3:14
lot of games. I'm still going to a lot of
3:16
games. I went to almost all the
3:17
football games this fall and I've gone, my daughter's a
3:20
senior, so I'm still going to the basketball games and looking
3:24
forward to the softball season as it when it comes up as well.
3:27
I did a lot of volunteering. I just my wife convinced me to
3:30
kind of make sure I took time to get away and kind of take care
3:34
of myself and exercise and I volunteer out the Van Meter
3:39
veterans cemetery. I mow out there.
3:41
I'll help the Knights at Columbus who do the volunteering
3:43
out there. Even though I'm not a member of
3:45
the Knights Columbus, they let me jump in.
3:47
I'm one of the young guys. So push mow around all the
3:49
stones out there and it's really a awesome facility.
3:52
If you've never been out there, it's it's worth going out.
3:55
Then I help with a few of the funerals and then I do some
3:57
volunteering and other other places as well and just kind of
4:02
picking up some odd jobs here and there.
4:04
But really just being available for my family this first year.
4:06
And then when my daughter heads off to college next year, then
4:09
I'll probably look at maybe doing something a little more
4:11
full time. I've watched your daughter at
4:15
the high school level couple of different times, Softball field,
4:17
basketball court. Just saw her on Friday night and
4:20
she's going on to play Drake next year, playing D1 softball
4:23
next season. It's absolutely incredible to me
4:25
and seeing the amount of talent as my daughter has started to
4:28
get into softball and and seeing what it is.
4:31
I remember a couple years ago the first time we went over to a
4:33
Valley game and and showed her what high school softball looked
4:36
like. It was an IO, but the experience
4:38
for her, she's got a lot of work to go in order to get to that
4:41
kind of level. But when we talk about high
4:42
level athletes and you think across what we have here across
4:46
the state of Iowa and the guys that we see and, and what you
4:48
have seen certainly in West Des Moines in itself, it's
4:51
incredible the amount of high level talent that happens here
4:53
in the state of Iowa. It's it's really is impressive.
4:57
I mean, just in the cimo alone, and I know there's the other
5:00
leagues are our talent as well, but you think about Eli
5:03
Reardon's going to get drafted here, you know, out of Notre
5:05
Dame tight end we had and you think about the couple of the
5:08
kids over at Dowling and obviously Caitlin Clark and that
5:11
whole phenomenon. But you know, we got Marin
5:14
Heller, who's down playing softball at Florida State,
5:18
Anybody in our league, you know, I tell people they'll ask me who
5:21
the best athlete was. And I think of like Maddie
5:23
Kubik, who played for Nebraska in volleyball and what a great
5:26
leader. I mean, throughout the entire
5:29
league, every Tuesday night and Friday night, it's it's pretty
5:33
incredible the level and if people really want to see really
5:36
good softball and baseball, any night the CIML is playing,
5:40
someone's playing each other. If you're, if it's Valley
5:42
Johnson, Dowling, you know, Waukee, Northwest Waukee, either
5:46
one, it's it's, it's an incredible match up.
5:49
I mean, I think about the kids that you know, like Cooper
5:51
Nicholson's, the starting third baseman, North Carolina, you
5:54
know, Dowling kid that I coached when he was a little young kid.
5:57
I mean, it's just there. There's talent all over the
5:59
place. You know, that's something
6:01
that's really interesting because we go back in, both of
6:04
us go back a while now, but for years and years, the knock
6:07
against the state of Iowa is we do it the right way.
6:10
We actually play baseball during the summertime.
6:12
We play softball during the summertime the way that it
6:14
should be. You know, I have friends and
6:15
cousins that grew up in Minneapolis, you know, suburb up
6:18
there, Brooklyn Park. They went to Champlin Park High
6:20
School. They were lucky to get 11
6:22
varsity games in during the winter or spring season that
6:25
they played up there. It just wasn't the same.
6:27
And they went into Legion baseball.
6:28
But the knock was, well, it's going to hurt these kids.
6:31
They're not going to have the same opportunities.
6:32
They're not going to have the chances to go on play D1
6:35
baseball, play collegiate baseball really anywhere yet.
6:38
That hasn't proven to be the case.
6:41
Is it the infiltration though of perfect game, those kind of
6:45
things, at least for softball and baseball and and the other
6:47
things out there that kids from the state of Iowa, they're going
6:50
to be able to be seen. It's not just that you happen to
6:53
play your baseball softball season during the springtime.
6:55
Yeah, 100%. I think the access at a young
6:58
age to go to these different showcases and those kinds of
7:02
things that be seen. I think like Alex Honolulu from
7:05
Valley that went to Missouri was an All American and played on
7:08
the collegiate Olympic team. You know, she she did some of
7:12
that travel softball, but she also stayed true and played her
7:15
and Willemus, who was also from Johnston, who was an incredible
7:19
shortstop athlete, both played at Missouri at a very high
7:22
level. You know, they they balanced it
7:25
out being able to play high school ball as well as playing
7:28
some of that travel ball to get recognized.
7:30
And Alex also played basketball was on our state championship
7:32
basketball team. And, and, you know, I just
7:35
really have a lot of admiration for those kids, but certainly
7:40
practicing every day in the summer and playing, you know, a
7:43
40 game schedule, I don't know how that could hurt you in the
7:45
sport of softball or baseball. And, and there's a lot of young
7:50
talent in the CIML and baseball as well getting seen.
7:53
And that has a lot to do with the people from Iowa who promote
7:56
it. Perfect game and and all the
7:58
different different outlets. You know, one interest
8:02
interesting angle to that though is we're seeing more and more,
8:05
and we saw it last year during the Women's College World Series
8:08
for softball, is the young lady from Texas.
8:11
Kevon. Didn't play with Dolly though.
8:15
She went to Dolly. She didn't play on the varsity
8:17
team and she's not alone. This is a knock on her
8:20
individually, but this is becoming more and more.
8:23
It's happening more often. I guess it's probably the
8:25
correct terminology to use. I personally don't like it, but
8:28
I guess I'm a little bit old school in that.
8:30
What are your thoughts on that? I'm sure you've seen it a ton
8:33
and heard the stories about the kids that just make the
8:35
decision. I'm not going to play with my
8:37
high school team. Well, obviously as a high school
8:40
guy, I believe in the, in the, in representing your school,
8:43
representing your town. If you're from Red Oak or
8:46
Fairfield or any of those types of towns represent your school.
8:48
But I do understand there's a lot of opportunity out there,
8:52
but it's expensive. I mean, it's really, I mean,
8:55
expensive to do all those travel ball things.
8:59
But like Kevon, you know, she's incredible talent at Texas and,
9:02
and, you know, obviously at a very young age, she was super
9:06
talented and, and jumped into that circuit.
9:09
It, it worked. I mean, obviously people will
9:11
tell you now with the NIL money that they should be doing it.
9:14
You know, I, I see the benefits of, of watching my own daughter
9:18
and other kids grow up playing two or three sports and
9:20
represent present in their school.
9:21
And it is getting harder and harder to play multiple sports
9:26
at our level, at the 5A level. But I, I certainly hope, I think
9:31
they, I think there's a happy medium.
9:32
I think there's a way for coaches to work with kids if
9:36
they want to go to a tournament. We have some volleyball kids
9:39
that'll leave. I know we played Northwest the
9:41
other night in basketball and two of their girls volleyball
9:44
state champion girls were at some tournament in Minneapolis.
9:47
And I, I'm not a big fan of it, but I understand if the, if the
9:51
coach in the, in the community have it worked out where you can
9:53
do both fine. I would just, I feel like it's
9:57
only 2 1/2 month season, you know, play the high school
10:01
sport, you can play that, you know, the rest of it all year
10:03
long, you know? The good part about that though,
10:07
and something that I'm really surprised by, certainly at the
10:10
big schools and for the most part, I cover the suburban
10:12
schools, do some City Schools stuff from time to time.
10:16
And I want to talk a little bit more about that growing divide
10:19
that we're seeing on that front maybe a little bit later on.
10:21
But the good news is I'm always surprised the multi sport
10:24
athletes you guys have, because we always hear about, well, it's
10:28
about you got to specialize, right?
10:29
You got to find that sport and that's why you got to dedicate
10:32
yourselves year after year after year.
10:33
And it doesn't matter if it's a Valley or the Walkies or the
10:36
Yankees or SE Folk or Johnson or Urbandale, any of the suburban
10:39
schools. How many of these kids that you
10:41
see on the football field and then they're right out there on
10:43
the wrestling mat or on the basketball hardboard, then
10:45
they're out there in the summer playing, being a multi sport
10:47
athlete. It's been said for a long time,
10:50
yet there was this growing sediment.
10:51
No, no, just specialize. That actually doesn't work.
10:54
Your best athletes, for the most part, they play a lot of sports.
10:57
Well, in the, the question is, are they able to play multiple
11:00
sports because they're such a great athlete or are they a good
11:03
athlete because they're playing multiple sports?
11:05
I think at a young age, if you have an 8 year old out there,
11:08
let he or she play as much as they want, you know, and I
11:12
remember our daughter saying, Hey, how come I don't play
11:14
soccer anymore? You know, I was like, well, she
11:16
just kind of, she kind of hung on to, I mean, you couldn't play
11:19
7 sports, you know? Right she was.
11:21
Doing everything, the true tomboy running around, just just
11:25
loving sports, you know, but I think of like an Anthony Nelson,
11:28
you know, they they eliminated us in sub state basketball at
11:32
Johnston one night. And Jacobson was kind of their
11:35
main guy. But they had this Rose kid that
11:38
was a golfer and they had the Allen boys that were, you know,
11:41
kind of football, basketball kids, but he kind of took over
11:44
that game rebounding wise. I think of like Campbell at
11:47
Cedar Falls, we had them beat and they had an NBA player, the
11:52
kid from you and I, the AJ Green AJ Green was in foul trouble and
11:55
I thought here we go. We're going to take off.
11:57
Well, they they, they took a bigger lead because Jack Jack
12:00
Campbell basically said every rebound's mine.
12:02
And these you got to have those kind of multi sport guys when
12:06
you if you want to win state titles, you know, Eli ridden,
12:09
people don't realize how good a basketball player he was.
12:12
You know he's an NFL type Titan, but you know, it's 66260.
12:17
Pretty nice kid to have inside in the lane as well.
12:19
So your first year away and now our buddy Zackson Rams running
12:23
things over there. And I've known Zackson's college
12:26
and I see him some days at the pickup line over at Western
12:29
Hills, or I see him at a game and just see that first year,
12:32
probably drag it on him just a little bit.
12:34
So your first year away, what do you miss most though about now?
12:38
Not being the athletic director? More times got to be great, more
12:41
time obviously with your family. Those are all wonderful things.
12:44
What's the thing that you're missing most though?
12:46
That's a really good question. Probably you know that I, I
12:50
enjoyed the practices as much as anything.
12:53
I enjoyed going to practice, watching the football team or
12:56
basketball team or, you know, getting to know the swimmers.
12:59
You know, our, our swim team just won the, the, the districts
13:03
and just sort of you sort of get disconnected really quickly from
13:07
the students. And that's when that's a part of
13:09
your life, you know, for 12 hours a day, every day.
13:14
I think just, you know, the new kids coming in to Valley that
13:17
don't know who I am already, you know, you know, you and you've,
13:22
I don't know if that may sound a little bit arrogant, but you
13:24
know, I fed off of getting to know those kids and having
13:28
relationships with those kids as much as possible.
13:31
You know, and I think that at the same time, I don't miss
13:35
getting done at midnight, you know, or 11:30 taking the money
13:40
to the bank and then 6:00 the next day setting up for a
13:43
wrestling meet. I mean, I I certainly enjoyed it
13:46
and I always wanted to be a really good host also meet, you
13:49
know, the other teams really get to know the other coaches and
13:51
other teams. But I guess for me it would be
13:54
probably I don't have as much interaction with the kids as I
13:57
as I normally would. Brad Rose joining us, former
14:00
athletic director at West Des Moines Valley.
14:02
If you have any questions for Brad, any high school topics,
14:04
anything that jumps to mind, you can join us as well.
14:06
5152845966515284 KX&O. The phone number dialed up right
14:13
now like Hawkeye, Andy did. Go ahead, Andrew.
14:17
Rosie, good to hear from you. Thank you, Andy.
14:21
Hey, who was the best Butcher Cup president?
14:24
You ever had? I'm just teasing that.
14:28
Well, I know who's not at the top of the list.
14:30
That'd be Hawkeye, Andy. That's weird.
14:32
That's doing a good job. Great stuff.
14:35
I just got to say I'm going over for change.
14:38
Some of the Hawkeye wrestling tonight, Hawkeye basketball and
14:41
going Tuesday. So big weekend for the Hawkeyes.
14:44
Got to bounce back, should be fun.
14:47
And I'm just going to say roll Tigers on Iowa go Hawks and go
14:52
Cubs go. Thank you.
14:54
Thank you, Andy. I Purdue and Nebraska
14:57
back-to-back after a tough loss with Maryland.
15:00
That's going to be a challenge for the.
15:01
Hawks it is. And then a road trip out to
15:03
Wisconsin after that. I mean, this three-game trip now
15:06
it felt like they have the easy portion of the schedule.
15:08
They win sixth straight and then the lost Tuesday against
15:10
Maryland almost put everything kind of back and saying, oh boy,
15:14
you got to find a way to win one of these two.
15:16
And if you just take a look at both these home games, they're
15:18
both going to be difficult. You know, Iowa played well
15:21
against Purdue that first time when they went out to West
15:23
Lafayette, had the lead into the second-half, had when I think it
15:26
was an 8 point lead with like 14 minutes to go before they
15:29
faltered in that one. That was also a game though,
15:31
where Cale Combs played really well.
15:32
He hasn't been playing great lately.
15:34
A lot of things went right in that game.
15:37
It doesn't feel like a great match up for Iowa.
15:39
And maybe the most concerning thing is Lawyer, who took, what,
15:41
23 pointers in their loss to Nebraska or their win against
15:44
Nebraska earlier in the week. He was like 4 of 20, something
15:48
like that. You got to figure he's going to
15:49
be hot there. So you feel good about the way
15:52
that Iowa played against Purdue the first time, but there's no
15:55
sure thing. And there's been too many times
15:57
recently in basketball over the last feels like 15 years where
16:00
Purdue I was got a little bit of momentum and Purdue always seems
16:03
to be the team that stops it. Yeah, and, and that Nebraska
16:07
Purdue game was something else, you know what I mean?
16:10
And so I'm looking forward to that Nebraska game too, because
16:13
the Iowa kids coming back, you know, and Sanford knows guys.
16:17
But that Purdue game, back to what you said there, you know,
16:19
just, it'll be interesting. I feel like we've become almost
16:23
too dependent on our point guard.
16:26
Obviously he's an incredible talent and I've really enjoyed
16:28
watching those guys when they were at Drake as well.
16:31
But it'll be interesting to see what we do defensively different
16:34
with Purdue in this one to try to, you know, keep it close and
16:38
maybe use our homecourt advantage to to get AW.
16:41
And then when Nebraska comes to town, it's always awesome having
16:44
Fred come back and that always seems like a like a great
16:48
rivalry game anyway. Should be fun.
16:50
Sanford coming back. I wonder what the student
16:52
sections going to have in store for him.
16:54
Hopefully something pretty good, right?
16:55
You gotta, you gotta razz guys a little bit.
16:57
And heck, you guys have seen that at the high school level
17:00
too. I mean, guys, there's a lot more
17:01
transferring that happens now at the high school level, and
17:04
you've seen it from both sides. Sure.
17:06
And we've, trust me, the Valley Valley match ups against the
17:11
Walkie and Walkie Northwest have been epic over the last, you
17:14
know, seven or eight, 910 years. You know, even going back to
17:17
Devries and those guys, I mean, just every game was a battle,
17:21
you know, a lot of fun. And the student sections love
17:23
it. Fired up, yes.
17:25
And I've, I've had to see you a time or two.
17:26
Stand in front of those student sections.
17:28
Maybe things are getting close to the line and Rosie will walk
17:31
over there and settle down just a little bit.
17:33
Well, we just don't want to make it personal.
17:34
That's right. Cheer on our team and have as
17:36
much fun as you can. But you know.
17:38
Let's get, let's get back to the phone lines right now.
17:40
We got Bob on the line. He's got a question for you,
17:42
Rosie. Bob, go ahead with your
17:43
question. Hey, I'd like to ask your guest,
17:48
I am a West Des Moines resident and both of my girls graduated
17:52
from Valley High School, but I'm from the South side of Des
17:56
Moines. And what what is going to take
18:02
for it to happen that Lincoln and other Metro schools can
18:06
compete with the valleys and dallings of the world?
18:09
Because right now there's a huge discrepancy between the two.
18:12
And I'm sorry to see my alma mater doing so poorly.
18:16
They can't even feel the team. You know what's it going to take
18:19
for City Schools to compete? Well, that's a great question.
18:25
I did my student teaching and my first job was at Lincoln High
18:28
back in the late 80s. That's how young I am.
18:31
And Bob, I don't have a great answer for you there because
18:34
economically, you know, sports has really become opportunity.
18:40
And I think the biggest thing that we've done at Valley as our
18:43
economics went from 4% free reduced lunch when I came in to
18:47
Valley 17 years ago to almost 45% is just don't lower your
18:53
expectations on what kids can accomplish no matter what, where
18:58
they're at financially in their lives, you know, trying to
19:00
provide an opportunity. I do think there has to be a
19:05
bigger or some type of the school probably needs to get
19:07
involved in the youth programs. You know, they've always had
19:10
really good baseball and softball over on the South Side
19:13
and those feeder programs have always been so important.
19:17
I think that that for those schools to compete in all
19:21
sports, you're going to have to have some type of parent LED or
19:25
community LED programs that feed and then you got to keep them
19:29
there. You know, I, I think that's one
19:31
of the things that really has hurt them over the years as kids
19:34
looking to go somewhere else before they even get out of high
19:36
school. So there's so many components to
19:39
this and my wife teaches on the South Side.
19:41
She's been there for 15 years now.
19:43
And one of the things that we've had these conversations a lot
19:46
and I bring up her elementary school that she is taught at and
19:51
I did a Lincoln game just a couple weeks ago.
19:53
I was over there at the Roundhouse, one of my favorite
19:55
places to call a game up there in the in the Catbird.
19:57
Love that place. Awesome place.
19:59
And I brought back the rosters and there wasn't a single kid on
20:04
their varsity rosters from her elementary school and her
20:07
demographics are 98% free and reduced.
20:10
It's. Is difficult and one thing that
20:12
I never realized until she brought it up is there's just
20:14
opportunities and we got all these great camps, right.
20:17
These camps are amazing. People are putting them on,
20:19
they're free of charge. That's wonderful.
20:22
How are the kids getting there? How are they getting home?
20:24
Because unless it's right next to where they are, that's
20:27
another component. We're still talking about a
20:29
city, a big city and getting these kids around.
20:31
And that's I never imagined in a million years that that would be
20:35
a hang up because I just don't think about those kind of
20:38
things. There are so many of those
20:39
little things, though, that we don't think about.
20:42
Yeah, so you have to be. You have to.
20:43
One of the things we did, Trent, you know, Zisa Far, you know,
20:48
he's the reigning state champ in soccer and one of the things we
20:52
did 10-12 fifteen years ago is like a Crestview Elementary.
20:56
He started taking his camps to the elementary.
20:59
Instead of having those kids try to travel.
21:01
We would bust, in fact, we bust kids from Crestview and Clive to
21:06
Valley High School football games.
21:08
A lot of times that was the first time some of those kids
21:10
have seen an American football game.
21:12
I know it sounds crazy to say that in West Des Moines, but
21:15
it's true. And I think you have to think
21:18
like you're saying, you know, there's also, you know, having
21:22
nutrition and having some, having some snacks and things
21:27
like that. After practice, a lot of kids
21:29
are going home and their parents are working at night.
21:31
Just just trying to understand your, your kids and, and what,
21:35
what they need to be successful. It doesn't mean that you're, I
21:39
don't know, I, I think you, you hit it on the head of your
21:41
wife's school. We, we tracked, we tracked all
21:44
the kids in every sport and what elementary they were at, if they
21:48
had been in, in West Des Moines district.
21:51
We did that over several years. And it was kind of interesting
21:53
to see where the soccer girls came from or where the boys
21:56
soccer kids, which schools had had the most input, which junior
22:00
high they they, they went to in each sport, football or
22:04
basketball. And so we use that information
22:06
to kind of help remind us that first of all, this school may
22:10
have a better, a bigger influence in this sport and this
22:13
school, you know, and how do we promote all sports, but also how
22:16
do we, how do we support that they, that they are more
22:20
interested in a particular sport?
22:22
And we have, we also have clubs, lacrosse and and archery and
22:25
those things too that have, have have grown out there as well.
22:29
I'm going to guess the Country Club sports are pretty good over
22:31
at like Jordan Creek Elementary, right?
22:32
That's, yeah, that's probably the good one, right?
22:34
The ones you think of, but yeah be you'd be surprised sometimes.
22:37
Ohh, absolutely. And, and the opportunity and
22:39
having those kids and kind of what we went to, this is a full
22:42
conversation coming back around giving these kids the
22:45
opportunity to play multiple sports.
22:47
And right away, well, you're not just going to be a soccer
22:49
player. You're going to have a chance.
22:50
And maybe you're going to find that kid and find the kid that's
22:52
going to be the next one that moves on and goes and plays
22:54
collegiately. Really good stuff.
22:55
Well, we got lots more with Brad Rose coming up here.
22:58
Coming up, we're going to get to know Rosie a little bit better.
23:00
I know him as the athletic director, but a little bit later
23:03
on, we're going to dive in deep. He's a Cardinal fan.
23:06
We're going to find out about the life of Brad Rhodes.
23:08
That's coming up here at about 12:45.
23:10
But next, it's time to talk Cyclones and we're going to set
23:13
the scene. It is Kansas coming to town.
23:15
Always a big one at Hilton. Eugene Repay is going to join us
23:18
next Talking Cyclones Miller Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio
23:22
Network. 12:30 on a Friday, Miller and
23:38
Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network taking up until 2:00
23:42
this afternoon. Brad Rowe is hanging out with me
23:45
today, the former athletic director at West Des Moines
23:48
Valley. Coming up next, we're going to
23:49
talk Cyclones with Eugene Repay. Had Brad on the line, a
23:53
different Brad, but he just dropped off.
23:55
We'll get right into the cycle and talk Brad.
23:56
You can check back in with us here just a little bit later on
23:59
as we're going to get to know Rosie in a different kind of way
24:02
than just the ad over at Valley. Let's get to Eugene Repay from
24:05
the Des Moines Register. He covers the Cyclones and
24:08
Eugene a tough road trip out to TCU 12.
24:11
Nothing run to end it out of the Horn Frogs as Iowa State takes
24:14
their first loss in a while. Doesn't feel like panic time
24:18
until boy, look at this schedule coming up and it is going to get
24:21
much more difficult here over the next couple of weeks.
24:23
Good to thanks for joining us as always.
24:25
Eugene, take us last last Tuesday and the loss to TCU.
24:30
Your take away from that one. Yeah, the one thing that stuck
24:33
out to me was just how uncharacteristic Iowa State
24:35
looked. Just First off, there were
24:38
sports where they played well. I thought they moved the ball
24:40
well. You saw them go out to that
24:41
early lead where they're up by 9:00, and then you thought, OK,
24:44
this is the part where they pull away.
24:45
But then TCU, to their credit, rumbles back.
24:48
Iowa State in the second-half looked shaky there.
24:51
There were a lot of turnovers, a lot of defensive lapses.
24:53
They got beat on the boards, but even as TCU led by 8, Iowa State
24:57
rumbles back again, takes the lead up by 5:00.
25:00
With about a little over 2 minutes ago you thought maybe
25:03
the Cyclones will close us out, but just an absolute collapse
25:06
there at the end. Three straight turnovers which
25:09
led to TCU putting together the game-winning run that go ahead
25:13
shot by Jaden Pierre. That was big time.
25:14
And then TCU hung on and 12O run over the last 2 1/2 minutes or
25:19
so. Definitely a disappointing one,
25:21
just an alarming one. But just how up and down Iowa
25:24
State look? But like you mentioned, a big
25:26
stretch ahead and this will be the real put up or shut up time.
25:29
17 turnovers in the game in that one.
25:31
You also go back to some of the losses earlier this year, just
25:35
untimely turnovers on top of it. Felt like a big part of that
25:39
one. And Joshua Jefferson had 9
25:41
assists, but six turnovers in the game.
25:43
Ball security, certainly against this Kansas team.
25:45
And we know the way the Bill Sells team is going to defend.
25:48
I'm going to guess that practices probably weren't very
25:50
fun these last couple of games up at Hilton.
25:53
No, no. And it was Neil and mom tilted
25:55
said there was a lot of urgency, especially we would lose to ATCU
25:58
team like that where they were held to a season low 55 points,
26:01
the 17 turnovers. Like you mentioned, Joshua
26:03
Jefferson did not look great out there.
26:05
He looked pretty uncomfortable, looked like TCU had a great game
26:08
plan for him. And then you look back to that
26:10
first Kansas game where they really kept Jefferson in check.
26:13
They kept them uncomfortable. They clogged the pain.
26:15
They were able to stick some hands in there, pick his pocket
26:18
or just really apply the pressure on him.
26:21
So I'm curious to see how I was able to adapt.
26:22
Will it go back to being able to swing it and making better
26:25
decisions again? But yeah, just just a real sense
26:29
of urgency. But of course, they can talk
26:30
about it. But will they able to be execute
26:33
and do what they need to do to get back on track on Saturday
26:36
and avenge that loss? We'll see.
26:39
Well, Eugene, it is Kansas and he got the Darren Peterson
26:42
situation. He doesn't play Monday in their
26:44
win against #1 Arizona, you know, the Wildcats, their first
26:47
loss of the year. You don't know he was going
26:49
through pregame warmups and he's sick.
26:51
He got the other components with the leg injuries at the cramping
26:54
and the hamstring issues that he has dealt with here.
26:57
Does that make it more difficult for Iowa State?
26:59
Just a game plan going into this game and your mind just not
27:02
knowing. He's an incredible talent.
27:03
We know when he's out there how good he is.
27:05
But if he doesn't go, kind of has to change the way that you
27:08
certainly go against this Kansas team.
27:10
In a way, does this maybe put Iowa State a little bit behind
27:13
the 8 ball not knowing what Peterson's availability is going
27:15
to be and probably won't even know till tip off?
27:17
Yeah, I. Totally agree with that.
27:20
But I know that coaches and and players, they'll say we're
27:23
focused on ourselves, we're focused on what we want to do,
27:25
we're focused on the details. But I feel like a player like
27:27
that is caliber when you don't know or you do know you, you
27:31
have to prepare for all the different contingency plans, all
27:33
the different lineups that may come because even though Iowa
27:36
State largely kept them in check, kept in a six of 15
27:38
shooting in that first meeting, you have a dynamic talent like
27:41
that. You saw his athleticism.
27:42
He made some big plays in that game, had I think 16 points.
27:46
It was. But when you have a player like
27:48
that on the floor, it definitely makes it more dynamic.
27:50
Now you look at that Arizona game and what they were able to
27:53
do and upset them and give them their first loss without Darren
27:56
Peterson. You think, wow, that's that's
27:58
amazing. But if when he is out there, he
28:00
definitely makes them better. I'm sure there's a lot of
28:03
speculation. I'm sure that Kansas fans are
28:05
looking into the conspiracy theories.
28:07
But there's no doubt that when he's there, he makes them
28:09
better. But also scary and also worth
28:12
noting to see how much steam Kansas is picking up and how
28:15
much confidence that they have knowing that they can win, beat
28:18
Arizona without the projected number one overall pick or
28:22
number one overall pick candidate.
28:24
So right now I would say it's going to have its work cut out
28:26
for them, but I think they have to be even more prepared for all
28:29
different scenarios in all different lineups.
28:32
Eugene, Brad Rose, I enjoyed watching the games.
28:36
Question I have, do you think that, I mean, obviously these
28:39
coaches are so skilled at watching tape and doing things.
28:42
Are these type of games like what TCU is able to do?
28:46
Is that going to help Kansas prepare for Iowa State?
28:49
I felt like they got Jefferson kind of off his game and they're
28:53
able to kind of limit Iowa State's outside shooting.
28:57
Are there, are there things like that, that you see that people
28:59
are starting to make better adjustments against Iowa State?
29:03
Yeah, like, I, I think that what TCU did to really put the
29:06
pressure on on Jefferson and really defend the the off ball
29:09
movement and the cuts around them, I felt like what TCU did
29:12
definitely made Iowa State uncomfortable.
29:14
You you hold them to 55 points and you know, whether you're
29:18
Bill Self or whether another coach in the league, you're
29:20
definitely your eye definitely pops.
29:22
You definitely want to see what that tape looks like.
29:24
What did they do effectively? I'm not sure.
29:27
We'll have to see if this is the start of a pattern kind of like
29:29
last year where there were little blueprints here and
29:32
there. But was it truly the start of a
29:35
pattern where teams were starting to figure out Iowa
29:36
State? We'll see.
29:37
I'm on Saturday. But you look at it that game and
29:40
just what TCU was able to do just kept them uncomfortable all
29:44
throughout. I thought that there were points
29:45
where I would say did have some good looks from deep or where
29:48
they were able to move the ball. Like you think back to that
29:50
second basket, you know, I'm on kill of a Chad top of the key
29:53
shot clock winding down. Just great ball movement there.
29:56
But then TC was able to adjust the, I think when Iowa State is
30:00
not moving the ball, when they're not getting that ball
30:02
movement, would it become just one-on-one or what it when it
30:04
sticks too much, that's when they're not at their best.
30:07
So I would like to see if Iowa State is able to get back to
30:09
that great ball movement that we saw in that five game-winning
30:12
streak before they lost at TCU. But definitely worth noting to
30:16
see is, is this going to be the start of a real pattern here or
30:19
is this going to be the start of teams really figuring out what
30:22
the cycles are trying to do, how they adapt, but then taking away
30:25
that option B or that option C as well.
30:28
This stretch coming up for Iowa State, I don't think there's a
30:31
more difficult one in college basketball than what they're
30:33
facing in terms of the opponents, Kansas and Houston in
30:37
a three day span with a big Monday game against the Cougars
30:40
after that. Then you go out to Utah, you
30:42
take on BY and Utah in altitude back-to-back before coming home
30:45
for Texas Tech. Then you have to go on the road
30:47
again to take on Arizona on Big Monday on March 2nd.
30:51
This six game stretch, the Utah game is by far the easiest.
30:54
They're not very good, but it's in the back end of a long road
30:57
trip out to Utah. This is going to be incredibly
30:59
difficult. It doesn't feel like because
31:01
let's be honest, the schedule has not been exactly daunting
31:04
here over the last three weeks. This is the time we're really
31:07
going to find out what this, I would say, team is made of. 100%
31:11
You look at the first half of conference play, there were a
31:14
couple of tough ones there like having to go to Alan Fieldhouse.
31:17
Obviously that's never easy, but now you have 5 ranked teams in a
31:21
in a six game stretch. You look at what's coming up
31:24
this weekend in the 72 hour time span, we're going to have Kansas
31:27
and Houston, like a lot of these marquee matchups, a lot of the
31:31
games that fans and media and people were looking forward to
31:34
once the schedule was first released.
31:36
It's finally here. This is the finally we're going
31:38
to see the stretch. How can Iowa State, how are some
31:42
of these other Big 12 teams as well?
31:44
How are they going to be able to manage the types of gauntlets
31:47
like this where it's a heavy hitter, it's a it's a big time
31:50
match night in night out. I'm very excited about about
31:53
this. I feel like anyone who, whether
31:55
you're a fan, whether media, you got to be up for this.
31:58
Jamarian Bateman said that as a competitor, this is these are
32:01
the types of situations, these type of games you get up for,
32:04
you get excited for, for these tough stretches like this.
32:07
And fortunately it's going to be in the regular season.
32:10
It's not yet the do or die the postseason, but we're definitely
32:13
going to learn so much about this team and really see where
32:15
they truly stand in the Big 12. We'll get you out on this.
32:18
I know you had an opportunity earlier this week to talk to a
32:20
bunch of the offensive staff of the new coaching staff there
32:24
with Jimmy Rogers and company up at Iowa State.
32:26
Give us a take away or two after meeting a number of those
32:29
coaches. Got to meet the the defensive
32:32
staff and, and one thing that I love and they're going to say
32:37
the things like they want to be multiple, they want to be
32:39
versatile on both sides of the ball.
32:41
But one thing that really stuck out to me is you look at this
32:43
coaching staff, both sides of the ball, There's a lot of
32:45
younger guys there. These guys are super hands on.
32:49
Like when I was talking to Pete Manage today, the safeties
32:51
coach, he was talking about how all the position coaches really
32:55
get in there and get mix it up with the guys.
32:57
They're getting bruises, they're taking hits out there.
32:59
They're getting hands on in their demonstration.
33:01
And when you have a young coaching staff like that, that
33:03
type of energy seems to be translating to this new look
33:06
roster. They even said that Jimmy Rogers
33:08
will get in drill sometimes and, and, you know, lay down hits or
33:11
shoulder check a couple of guys and really set the tone on what
33:15
he wants that physicality to look like.
33:17
So when you see that type of investment and a young coaching
33:19
staff that's honestly like, I, you know, I don't know if John
33:23
Haycock was putting on pads or getting out there and drills.
33:26
I don't know if Eli Rashid was getting down in the trenches
33:28
with some of the lineman. But just to see that kind of
33:31
enthusiasm early on on a new staff that's really trying to
33:34
make their mark here that that's got to be you got to love to see
33:36
that kind of passion. Now, what will that translate to
33:39
in the spring or the summer? We'll see.
33:42
But just seeing that type of willingness to just get in
33:45
there. And it's all position coaches,
33:47
Jimmy Rogers included as well. You love to see that.
33:50
Eugene Repay joining us from the Des Moines Register.
33:53
And yeah, I really got a kick out of imagining John Haycock
33:56
out there. Tried to throw a shoulder at
33:57
somebody if I wouldn't go go well for coach.
34:01
That is great stuff, Eugene. Appreciate the time as always.
34:03
We'll talk again next week. Thank you guys, have a good
34:06
weekend. Eugene Rope joining us from the
34:08
devoid register as he does on a weekly basis here on Fridays.
34:12
Get you to set for the Cyclone weekend ahead Time right now for
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you to chance for you to win $1000 in our nationwide contest.
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You go to the website right now, KX and o.com.
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34:31
Brad Rose hanging out with me today.
34:32
Trent Condon on Miller and Connon QuickTime out on the
34:35
other side. We're going to dive deeper into
34:37
the world of Brad Rose. Find out about the background
34:40
and what led him to central Iowa.
34:42
That's next. It's Miller and Condon on the
34:44
Iowa Sports Radio Network. Miller and Condon continues on
34:53
the Iowa Sports Radio Network. Trent Condon here this week and
34:57
next, minus Ken on vacation down in South Carolina.
35:01
Can't wait for his stories when he gets back because something
35:04
always happens when he goes on vacation, so that is always a
35:06
good thing. But I got Brad Rose hanging out
35:08
with me today, former athletic director at West Des Moines
35:10
Valley. But that wasn't all before we
35:12
get to the life in doing it, in about 5 minutes of Brad Rose, we
35:17
got a phone call that's been waiting on hold.
35:18
Steve's been waiting in with us. Steve, take it away.
35:20
What do you have? Hey, Rosie, this is Steve Boss.
35:27
I coached Dowling for several years, actually a lot of years,
35:32
and I go back to the days where we battled you in Ottumwa and I
35:40
don't want to step on your toes or steal your Thunder as far as
35:44
some of your topics, but those were some great battles.
35:48
Well, coach, I'm really glad you called in.
35:51
I think you're about A 45 year veteran of coaching at Dowling.
35:56
If I if I'm not wrong, I think you're late 70s grad there.
35:59
I know our times go back with Coach Morrow and both Coach
36:04
Morrow's and those guys coaching and we had some.
36:08
I used to schedule when Matt Mccree and that group was coming
36:11
around. I used to schedule Dowling our
36:13
first. You'd come down to our
36:15
tournament or our opening day and we'd have about 9 coaches,
36:18
college coaches in the crowd. We had a couple good throwers
36:21
and of course you had about 8 college players on that team and
36:25
we had, I can remember. This is how coaching goes,
36:28
Steve. I remember throwing Mccree out
36:31
at second base, but we didn't hold on the ball and then Klein
36:34
got a base hit and we lost the game like 4 to 4 three.
36:39
And then I think we maybe won the nightcap.
36:41
Brian Trenton, a kid that got drafted for me, maybe threw a
36:44
good game the second game, but it seemed like Eddie always
36:47
wanted my pitching and I always wanted your pitching.
36:50
So that I think that's a compliment to both teams.
36:53
I I would say so. It was always a War I and very,
36:58
very seldom many runs scored. Very good defence, very good
37:04
pitching and yeah, it's kind of what we hung our hats on.
37:08
But we did have a good group that those years though, and it
37:13
was a lot of fun to be honest. It was we looked forward to.
37:16
I think our kids knew each other pretty well too, because Otumwa
37:19
had an extensive Legion program. In fact, they didn't have high
37:23
school baseball in Otumwa until 1977.
37:26
They played all Legion. So then when I took over in the,
37:29
in the mid 90s, you know, I'd played Legion ball there, Rick
37:33
Heller and all those guys from from where he's from, from
37:36
Cardinal Velden had played Legion ball and at some one, but
37:40
we, I think Eddie had started or someone at Dallin had started a
37:44
Legion program as well. And so they, they already had
37:47
about 5 or 6 games in against each other each each spring.
37:50
So it wasn't like our lineups didn't know each other either,
37:53
you know? That is, that's for sure.
37:57
I just wanted to call in first of all and congratulate you on
38:00
your your retirement. And yes, I did just retire from
38:03
coaching this this past year. And it's quite an adjustment, to
38:09
be honest, that you hit it right on the head is the interaction
38:12
with the kids. That's what I missed the most as
38:15
well. Well, I have tremendous respect
38:18
for. One thing I always appreciate is
38:20
you were very complimentary to other teams, players as well and
38:24
always willing to help. I went to a lot of Don Morrow
38:28
camps back in the day and so a lot and I, I was coached by
38:32
Kapadic and Sirianni as well. So a lot of Dowling ties on my
38:36
end of things. Yeah, there's a long history.
38:41
My my first year at coaching with a varsity program at
38:46
Dowling was 1982. And that was I was lucky enough
38:51
I played for Don Morrow. And not only that, but I got a
38:55
chance to to coach with him and and then moved on to Eddie.
38:59
And then after Eddie was Tim O'Neill.
39:02
So kind of a long run, but it was fun.
39:06
I just had a Pepsi with Tim O'Neill the other night and it
39:09
was great to see him again. Coach O'Neill gave me my best
39:12
quote ever that I cannot say on the radio airwaves.
39:16
Loved coach. Hey, appreciate the phone call,
39:18
Steve. Thank.
39:19
You. Thank you.
39:20
Good fun going down memory lane. So you are first because when I
39:24
talk to Brad, Rose is going to be hanging out with me Friday.
39:27
I swear. The graduating classes at
39:29
Simpson had to be in the 10 to 20,000 every single year because
39:33
every single Oh yeah, Newham from Simpson, Newham from every
39:36
person I know. And it doesn't matter people my
39:38
age a little bit older. Oh, that clan, that clique, that
39:41
mafia, the Simpson about, that thing is deep here in central
39:44
Iowa. Yeah, we call it the Red Shoe
39:46
Gang. OK, the Red Shoe Gang?
39:47
Yeah. Yeah, we've had a lot of fun
39:49
over the years, But there was a there was a time down there, you
39:52
know, the connections that I was just talking to Steve about, you
39:55
know, Jim Way, when John Sirianni hired Jim Williams,
39:58
that really opened up athletics at at Simpson back in the in the
40:02
80s when I was there. And Ricky Gales and those kind
40:04
of athletes, Joe Blake and those kind of guys.
40:06
Ryan Cooley came down there and you know, Travis Young, who's at
40:10
there's a lot of lot of CIML and in central Iowa kids as well as
40:15
the the small town kids that said, hey, that's a real place I
40:18
can go. You know, and when I was playing
40:20
baseball down there, we had three or four pitchers drafted,
40:22
you know, Joel Johnson and David Teske and Cronin, who's a a
40:27
retired, well, I don't know if he's retired police officer,
40:29
but. He's a police officer here in
40:31
Des Moines and, and just really good arms.
40:33
They got a lot of good players in back there.
40:35
But yeah, there's a lot of connections, especially in this
40:38
area when you when you do that. But I I think because I talk a
40:42
lot, I get to know a lot of people.
40:43
Yes, He I've noticed that too. You're always talking to
40:45
somebody, no doubt, which having a microphone in front of your
40:48
face works out pretty well. Well, we are wrapping up our
40:51
number one. We're going to get a little bit
40:52
deeper into things. A lot of questions that I've got
40:55
from people want you to Stew on this one just a little bit
40:59
though. You've seen so many great
41:00
athletes. I want to hear your a best
41:04
athletes that you've seen, but also a little bit later your
41:07
favorite athletes to watch. We'll have valley ones and yes,
41:10
you'll probably make some people mad and then, but now you're
41:13
tired so you can make people mad and then we're going to talk
41:15
about the ones from some of the other schools.
41:17
We'll do that a little bit later on.
41:18
But we kick off our number 2 with Tom Caker from
41:21
hawkeyereport.com. Can I will bounce back against
41:25
Purdue to big home stand coming up for the Hawkeyes.
41:29
Nebraska coming up on Tuesday as well.
41:32
Hawkeye talk to kick off our number 2 on the Iowa Sports
41:34
Radio Network.