Speaker 1: 0:14

hey guys, john mcnamara, host run in vegas. We're talking local sports, business, real estate. If you guys like what you see today, like subscribe, follow us on Running Vegas Podcast on Instagram. And today we got a special guest myself we had a guest that was scheduled on. Shout out to Jewel. We're excited to have you on in three weeks. Fortunately she's got a bad cold. We hope you get well soon.

Speaker 1: 0:47

A newcomer at Virtue Real Estate Group. She won a newcomer award. She's breaking in real estate, doing great things, excited to dive into that pod in about three weeks that we got it re-scaled. So today we're going to be talking UNLV football, basketball, college realignment, little Raiders and at the end we're going to be talking a little bit what's going on with real estate, what to expect with the spring market that's coming up here. So it's going to be a little bit more informational base.

Speaker 1: 1:22

I got some awesome questions for you audience out there today and let's go over Question number one Will UNLV join the pack? So the big news this week has been about the pack pursuing UNLV football right. The last three to four months UNLilv I'm sure a lot of you guys know has decided to stay in the mountain west. Um, they got a big deal by the mountain west for a lump sum of 10 to 14 million and an extra 1.7 million annually to stay. This was about three months ago, and Mountain West and PAC have started their expansion plans. This week, though, the big news has been PAC is still pursuing UNLV, so this is a really important question I want to go over with you guys, because I believe most UNLV fans out there want to be at the PAC, and I understand it. So I'm going to dive into I'm going to do a deep dive of the positive, negatives of being part of the mac or pack, excuse me or staying in the mountain west. So let's get into it right, and I'll give you my final thoughts at the end of what I believe Unilvy will ultimately end up doing. So. Four months ago, unilvy signed a grant of rights, which is binding through 2032, to stay in the Mountain West, so this is really something important to note. So they're legally saying they're staying, they're getting the lumps up of money, they are going to get the extra $1.7 million. So right now because this really comes down to money, right, the PAC has added San Diego State, fresno, colorado State, boise, utah State, gonzaga in basketball, and then obviously they have Washington State and Oregon State right. So pretty good football conference for the G5. A little bit more exciting with the Mountain West has and very exciting basketball conference. So when you hear those names you know a lot of UNLV homers gravitated that.

Speaker 1: 3:51

Now Harper, the athletic director of UNLV, decided with UNLV I'm sure the presidents as well to stay in the Mountain West, which was actually a surprise. They got an invite. Now, if you are to leave the Mountain West which was actually a surprise, they got an invite. Now, if you are to leave the Mountain West, there is an exit fee. I believe it's about $18 million. I don't have that in front of me right now. That's pretty big. So the Mountain West, I give them a lot of credit. They were able to keep Unilvy at the last minute, negotiate the monies to keep them here. Now the evaluation right now and this is going to be a really important part of what actually ends up because it really just comes to dollars and cents right, the PAC evaluation for media rights right now is somewhere between nine to $10 million a year. Mountain West is somewhere between five to six. So we're talking about anywhere from like two to three million excuse me, three to $4 million difference. And remember, unilv will get an additional 1.7 a year, so they're probably going to be ending up about 7 million a year if they stay in the Mountain West somewhere between nine to 10. So there's not really a big difference in terms of financially with the Mountain West staying. So this is a really important part of the process.

Speaker 1: 5:12

Now the Mountain West has been very proactive with their expansion as well. They have added Grand Canyon in basketball, olympic sports, up and coming program, which is good. They've made Hawaii a full member. They were just football only. They're going to have a new football stadium in 2028, I believe they added Utah, so El Paso, which is actually a very big market out there, an up and coming football program. They've been around for a while in the recruiting rankings though the last two years they've been making waves. They also added UC Davis in Olympic sports and I think eventually that will turn into adding their football as well. They have this stadium into phases. The athletic director actually came on. I watched a YouTube that they're looking to upgrade their football program to eventually move up. There's a lot of lawsuits going on right now. So uc davis is, it's gonna, they're gonna be eventually a full member, but right now it's just a blip. This olympic sports uc davis, by the way, in the bay area.

Speaker 1: 6:21

I don't know if you guys are seeing a trend of how the mountain west is going after its targets. The other one, football only northern illinois, one hour away from chicago. So mountain west has been extremely strategic of the areas. They're all top 50 markets with big populations, so a lot of folks thought the Mountain West was actually going to implode and the commissioner has done a great job to retain an ad. I do believe these are my predictions right now.

Speaker 1: 6:54

The Mountain West will also add North Dakota State and football only, which is a big brand. Out of the FCS. They've won like I don't know, 13 national titles in the last 20 years, something like that. That's not an exact number, but uh, they do have a brand they really remind me of like a younger boise state program, if that makes sense, kind of the middle of nowhere, but they win games. So, and the other one that not a lot of folks are talking about is tarleton state, who's been making waves. They're about to build a brand new basketball arena. It's going to hold over 7,000 people in it, and on top of that, I believe they're bringing in over 20,000 fans a game for football. So this is an FCS. They have a lot of money. They're part of the A&M Texas academic programs. So a lot of money there, because NIL is a really important part of the process. So, in a nutshell, my take is at the end of this, umlv is going to be staying in the Mountain West. So let me know your guys' thoughts, comment on YouTube, dm me, send me a text. I am a super college realignment, unlv nerd, so love to debate or agree, and anyone out there that wants to come on the pod as well, hit me up if you want to talk college realignment or UNLV.

Speaker 1: 8:26

So next question UNLV football. Did the UNLV football roster improve this offseason? So most of you know back at home that big hire has been Dan Mullen, new coach of UNLV football. To give you a little background on Dan, he was the offensive coordinator of Florida when they won all those national championships under Urban Meyer. He coached Mississippi State as a head coach and Florida for a couple of years as well. A lot of success with his programs. So I feel like I almost came to this Did. My first question was to be? My thoughts were you know, what did people think of the hire, about Dan Mullen? I feel like it's 99% of people think it was a good hire. So better question is what do we think about the offseason? Because Barry Odom did an amazing job with this program, the best in the history of UNLV football, and he took a lot of those players with him, as he should. And good luck to Barry in Purdue and thank you, barry, for putting UNLV back on the spot, the spotlight in terms of football. So Dan Mellon he had a pretty big challenge.

Speaker 1: 9:42

I will say this. I would say Dan has come into probably by far the best situation with UNLV football, allegiant Stadium, the practice facility they have. Odom has really recruited well in terms of high school prospects that have been developing over the years that we haven't really seen play all of them yet, uh. So this, this roster, um isn't bad, but I think we had about 25 to somewhere in that range that either transferred out, graduated after graduation too it's probably somewhere in between, it's probably more like after graduation about 50 kids that have left and transferred. So big number, right, really scary Guys. This is like just the new way college football works. So here's the good news. Dan Mullen was able to retain 13 of Barry Odom's high school recruits as of now and add three of his recruits as well. He has also added 35 transfers from the portal. So he has brought in gosh. It's about a month give or take, but he has brought in about 50 kids.

Speaker 1: 10:52

So I'm going to kind of give you my takes of the offseason. After this, I want your thoughts of you know. Are we going to be a better roster going to next year? Are we going to be around the same? Maybe we take a step back, but let's go through it. My big takeaways is Dan is going to run a run-powered offense. Dan is going to run a run-powered offense.

Speaker 1: 11:16

So the two obviously everybody likes to talk quarterbacks. The two recruits that he added that transferred is Alex Orji from Michigan and Anthony Colandrea from Virginia Athletic kids. Alex from Michigan I watched a little tape of him. Man, this guy is a great athlete. I think he's like 6'3", 230 pounds, and he looks like he runs a 4'4". I don't know how great of a passer he was. Most of the highlights were him running and this guy can run as much as we saw Hodge and Saluka last year and how well they run. This guy is even a different type of athlete. So Anthony from Virginia, a little bit smaller quarterback, I believe. He's like 5'11", 200 pounds give or take. He looks like he can sling the ball and move around pretty well. So they brought in two transfer quarterbacks, cam Friel also, who's been on the UNLV roster for a while. He has decided to stay, so it looks like it's going to be a three-man competition. If I had to choose, it's probably Alex from Michigan, first up I believe he's going to be either junior or senior and then Anthony next up and then Cam. But I am rooting for Cam. Cam is definitely athletic, but he is probably the most pocket passer of those three, if that makes sense. So I see, as Dan in the past has really just to give you an idea, he has coached Tim Tebow, anthony Richardson he really goes after athletic quarterbacks to run his system. So we're going to see something like that.

Speaker 1: 12:59

The other things that stood out to me as well is he brought in some bigger running backs. Right now our running back, jaden Thomas. He is a great running back. He's 5'10" the jet, 5'10", 180 pounds give or take. He's a really good back. He's 5'10" the jet, 5'10", 180 pounds. Give or take. He's a really good running back for us. I think he was all Mountain West and you'll see there's a big difference of what Dan has recruited. So Jalen Glover, utah running back former four-star 205 pounds. Kevon Lee from Mississippi State former four-star, 205 pounds. Kevon Lee from Mississippi State Former four-star, 225 pounds. And then Emeka Megwa from Oklahoma 225 pounds. So the backs look like they are bigger.

Speaker 1: 13:49

And then he's brought in five offensive linemen and three out of those five offensive linemen are 6'5 and 325+. So he likes big backs, he likes big offensive linemen. He also brought a center from Chattanooga, a smaller guy, I believe. He won the Remington for the FCS. Remington is the best center award of the year. So it looks like we're going to have a different version of the office line. Last year it's been the strength of UNLV, I believe. Over the last four years we actually had nine office linemen leave and I feel pretty confident with the new additions he's made and the guys that are staying Ed Haynes, shout out to him. He is from Las Vegas. He was an up-and-coming talent who may be our left tackle next year. Austin Boyd and there's a couple other linemen that ended up staying. So there should be a good core, and I've said this a lot of times.

Speaker 1: 14:50

I always look at the offensive line and the defensive line to win championships, and I'll say this I'm super excited about what dan has brought to the offensive line and what has retained. I think we're going to have a very athletic, uh good running team. Um probably going to be doing a lot of rpos and plate action. He brought in four former star wide receivers that look super athletic. Three out of four of them are like 6'2 and taller. I think JoJo Earl. He is from TCU. He's about 5'10, 180 pounds. I believe he originally from Alabama too Another big-time recruit back in the day. So he's bringing in some athletes and get this. He brought in four tight ends as well, so I think we're going to be seeing, again, a run-powered offense. So these are my concerns. Overall, I'm happy with the roster.

Speaker 1: 15:48

The little concerns that I have had, though, is I haven't seen he's brought in four defensive linemen, and I think we need more of that. We need to bring more prospects in that area. He's done a really good job of bringing in a ton of linebackers and corners. They are going to be running next year, a 3-3-5. So, for folks that don't know what the 3-3-5 is, it's three defensive linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs. So it's really important to have great linebackers and defensive backs, and we saw Barry Odom kind of go in out of the 3-3-5. That was their base, so to speak. So the good news is it's going to be a similar defense. The good news is it's going to be a similar defense and what you can see from the recruiting, though, there has been a massive emphasis on getting better at linebacker and defensive backs, even though I think we have some pretty good returning players in those departments. So, excited about that.

Speaker 1: 16:57

Key signings on the defensive side Jake Pope, safety. He played at Georgia. I believe he was at Alabama at one point as well. And then Jayden Lee, defensive tackle at LSU. So that's a really good signing for the defensive line.

Speaker 1: 17:11

I just think we need a little bit more depth. My concern, though, in the offseason is a lot of these guys have not played. It's more based off of talent versus actual games played. So I would say, overall, my prediction, the roster has indeed improved with talent. Now we'll see if Dan Dan's been out of coaching for three years guys. So is there going to be a little bit of rust that needs to be shaked off in the first year. We'll see, but the talent looks like it's going to be good. It looks like Barry did a great job of probably bringing the most talent we've ever had at Unilever football. It looks like Dan Mellon's going to bring it to that next level and in the past he's coached very well. I hope that they continue. I just don't think it's going to be just that simple to turn over 50% of the roster and expect the same results, at least in year one, I think year two. I do expect Dan to be winning Mountain West Championships. I think he could compete this year, but we'll see, we'll see. I'm excited. My prediction is your roster has improved and I'm excited about the season. The first game is September 6th. We have UCLA at home, so that's going to be awesome and I'm definitely going to be at that game.

Speaker 1: 18:31

So question number next Unilever basketball. We talk a lot of Kruger on this and T-Don Thomas on this podcast, so this has been a rough year. So you probably don't know the answer to this question Will Kruger the UNLV basketball coach? Will he be the coach in 2025? So let's go through it. We are 11-10 right now. It's been a rough season.

Speaker 1: 18:56

This is Kruger's fourth season. He made the NIT last year. He's really kind of improved every year and I think everybody was kind of hoping he was going to not kind of. We were all hoping he would take that next step to an NCAA tournament and it's looking really doubtful right now. It looks like he's going to have to win the Mountain West tournament to get into the NCAA tournament. So there's been bright spots. Deidon Thomas has been amazing for the team. Henley has been really good. The three-point shooting has improved. I think this year we've lacked bigger bodies. I think Bear Cherry and our freshman center his name escapes me right now have done a really good job, but there just hasn't been, uh, really depth there. There's been a lot of inconsistencies. Health got off to a bad start again this year, which is kind of haunted Kruger for the last four years. So it's been rough.

Speaker 1: 19:49

I'm gonna be honest with you. I've been watching, you know, the basketball and football uh, for the last 17 years. You're a huge fan. This is probably like the second or third hardest season I've had to watch. Um, it kind of reminds me of menzies first year where you know we just were kind of like almost a 500 team give or take. We win a couple good games. You know, we had austin star shout out to austin star who was on the pod a couple weeks back and we did a breakdown of Unilever basketball.

Speaker 1: 20:23

There was a little hope and I really thought, man, I was like, you know, kruger's getting back on. They won at San Diego State. They beat Utah State who was ranked 22 in the nation at the time. Two quad one wins, which is huge for mca tournament. Not that I necessarily thought that they would get an auto bid or, excuse me, a um, uh, just get in to that, say, tournament based on their schedule. But they were showing promise and the wheels this last week just started to come off. They lost to to Wyoming at home and Wyoming is not a good team, definitely should have won that. They outplayed them. They just lost the three-point game, which is really huge, obviously in basketball. And then we lost to New Mexico at home by one point and they lost to Utah State and Utah State was basically up the entire. I think they were up the entire game and just really I think it ended up being a five-point game, but it wasn't close guys, so unfortunately, the wheels have kind of come off. I do have hope. So my prediction no fun in the prediction whatsoever.

Speaker 1: 21:37

I am a fan of Krueger, as I don't believe he will be the coach for 2025. I do have hope, though, because Eric Harper has done a really good job of finding head coaches. With Barry Odom, dan Mullen, we'll see what. Dan Mullen it seems like a home run hire, but you never know until it's wins and losses right, so it looks like he's going to have his first basketball head coach search this offseason. If Kruger cannot win the Mountain West tournament and get to the NCAA tournament, I'm assuming he would give him another year if he's able to do that. I would hope so anyways, I think you deserve that if you win your conference tournament, but Harper has done a great job of finding head coaches with experience and I think he will definitely go that direction this way as well.

Speaker 1: 22:24

Kruger had no head coaching experience. He has a Unilv legacy in his dad. Obviously, with Lon, it felt like it came a little too soon. I will say this as well, though Whoever takes on this program is going to have actually a pretty solid roster. Kruger has done I don't think he has done a great job for the exception of D-Don, obviously, thomas of getting highly touted recruits, but he does have an eye for talent. He's brought in some three-star kids that are really solid players. So I think, whoever the next coach is, that are really solid players. So I think, whoever the next coach is, they're going to have to bring in some big time recruits, some star power. The reality is we need two to three Deedon Thomas's give or take. You need about two to three great players on a roster to win championships. So either way, though I think it has a solid roster in tech, I think a lot of those kids will probably stick around and it'll be fun if that happens. We'll see. At the end of the day, I'm always going to root for UNLV to win, so right now I'm rooting for UNLV to win the Mountain West tournament. Kruger keeps the job and I'm sure we'll be going over that when the tournament starts.

Speaker 1: 23:40

So next question we're talking Raiders football. All right, did the Raiders make the right hire with Pete Carroll? So interesting hire in the offseason? Give you background Pete Carroll used to be the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, won a Super Bowl there and famously, has been the head coach of USC when, I believe, they won their last national title. They may have won two. I think one of them may have gotten taken away Can't remember now offhand, but a lot of success. The only thing with Pete Carroll, though he's 74 years old, he's an older coach and I don't know if you guys listened to the when he was introduced. The guy's got energy and he's funny and he's quick and he's going to bring fun. So I probably what most. I'm not a Raiders fan. I go to games. I'm a Las Vegas fan so I root for the Raiders. But I'm assuming probably most fans out there were kind of hoping Ben Johnson.

Speaker 1: 24:48

There was a lot of rumors that Ben Johnson, offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions, who has been one of the most impactful offensive coordinators in the NFL that I can remember since McVay, it seems like that would probably be the biggest slam dunk hire. He ended up going to the Chicago Bears, most likely because I believe he is from that area and also Caleb Williams is one of the most talented young quarterbacks in the NFL. So it makes sense why Ben went to Chicago. That was my prediction in the offseason, but there was a lot of rumors that Ben Johnson might be coming to the Raiders, which I was kind of surprised, because the Raiders do not have a quarterback and in this league you can have the best roster up and down. If you don't have a quarterback it's very hard to win games. So that didn't pan out.

Speaker 1: 25:43

Pete Carroll has come in and I was kind of surprised, honestly, that the GM got fired. He drafted Brock Bowers, who may go down as the greatest tight end of all time, at least from his rookie season. We'll see. But slam dunk draft pick. Everybody's freaking out that they drafted Brock Byers. To me it was a great pick and it ended up being a good pick. Great pick so. But they ended up firing the GM and they hired John Spitek from the Bucs.

Speaker 1: 26:15

So this has Tom Brady written all over it. He had obviously Tom Brady would play for the Bucs for a couple years won a Super Bowl there, and I don't mind it. If you guys know me, I'm actually a Patriots fan. Tom Brady is by far my favorite athlete out there and I think he's a really good leader as well, hardworking man. So I think with the Raiders I mean this roster is rough and they need a reset.

Speaker 1: 26:53

So overall, I like the hire Pete Carroll, because this is a change in culture that is needed and I think Pete's going to be great for that. Tom is going to be great. Spy Tech is going to be great. Spy Tech has done a really good job of help drafting some guys, not just in the first round but later rounds. They've had a lot of success in the NFL. So this is not going to turn around this year. It's probably minimum two years away. So this is not we're going to turn around this year. It's probably minimum two years away. So I'm excited. I think it was a good hire. Let me know your guys' thoughts, dm me, text me. And we have the six pick too this year as well, which I think will be either an offensive lineman or maybe a wide receiver McMillan, arizona or Campbell LSU. So excited about that. And one thing I like about Pete prediction is they're going to get back to the run game. They're going to play great defense and I don't think they're going to draft a quarterback on that day. I think they go veteran either. Russell Wilson, aaron Rodgers, kirk Cousins. So those are my predictions and we'll dive more into Raiders later this year.

Speaker 1: 28:03

All right, let's get into some real estate, real estate market update here for the spring, upcoming spring, so 2024,. We actually ended up appreciating 5.7%, so it was a healthier year. Inventory dipped down a little bit. So this was a really interesting year because between July and the election things just really came almost to a halt. Sales were down their lowest they've been in about 15 years and I will say this literally the Sunday after the election the market really picked up even after the first. So we are seeing a lot of healthier things. Our predictions for multiple factors that I don't have time to go into this I'll get a good lender to go into it there's multiple factors that most likely interest rates are going to be coming down this year.

Speaker 1: 28:49

I don't think it's going to happen as rapidly as folks thinks it's going to happen, but there's a lot of positive news. There's going to be more people buying, more sales and there is expectations and projections of more appreciation here in Las Vegas. So I bring this up because spring is around the corner. So if you're thinking about selling or buying right now, selling in the spring is the best time. Every year the market explodes. It's going to do it this year as well. And if you're a buyer, I really push you to consider buying now, before the spring hits, where you're going to have more competition and then where majority of that appreciation occurs. Cool thing is, when you buy right before the spring, you get all that appreciation, you get equity. So spring's coming up.

Speaker 1: 29:30

If you guys know of anyone looking to buy or sell real estate, let us know. And I saw a stat the other day that scared me. Know, and I saw a stat the other day that scared me 71% of agents didn't do a real estate deal in 2024. Crazy. So, guys, not to toot my own horn, our team did over 40 deals last year, which was considered one of the worst real estate markets in the last 25 years the real worst real estate markets in the last 25 years.

Speaker 1: 30:02

And I want to say this we have decided to grow our team moving forward. We have elite mentorship in training. So if you're an agent out there or you know somebody that wants to make real estate work and make it a full-time career, direct message me or call me. I want to sit down with you and do a strategy session of how we can get you there. We need to build up our real estate industry again and there's talent out there, people just need the help to get there, and the Mac team is there to help. So, guys, I'm going to wrap this up, and this is John McNamara, running Vegas and take care of yourselves today.