Speaker 1: 0:14

hey guys, john mcnamara hosts running vegas. We're talking local sports, business, real estate. If you guys like what you see, subscribe. Follow us on running vegas podcast on instagram. And today we got a special guest, ryan pulliam, sales manager tycord title.

Speaker 2: 0:36

Thank you so much for having me. I'm so stoked to be here. You got it, man. Thanks for being on. I'm stoked to have you on. Well, you know, it's funny, we're just. We're just talking about how real estate and sports is just something we're both very passionate about. So this was circled on my calendar for a couple weeks now.

Speaker 1: 0:49

Me too. Anybody who wants to talk UNLV, a little real estate that's. I can talk about it all day, Good deal, good deal. Cool, so I want to know more about you, your backstory. Where are you from?

Speaker 2: 1:10

I know some of these answers, but for the audience at home, no, yeah, absolutely so. I'm ryan polly, sales manager with tycor title company. I've been uh in las vegas my entire life, born and raised here. Actually, third generation born in las vegas. My grandmother was born here, both my folks were born here. I was born here, my son's born here, so las vegas is truly home. Um left for about a year and a half, took a promotion with the same parent company that I'm with, and that's our parent company FNF, and so I'm celebrating 27 years with the parent company this year, and the last six of those have been with Tycor Title Company in Las Vegas.

Speaker 1: 1:38

Wow, that's great man.

Speaker 2: 1:41

You have a ton of experience, that's great man, you have a ton of experience. It's funny because you know, growing up in the industry, I started when I was 18 years old in the title plant and just kind of seeing everything that's gone on and changed, especially seeing the market that's changed so much over the past 25, 26 years. There have been a lot of ups and some downs, so it's been a pretty wild ride.

Speaker 1: 2:05

Well, I love it because our stories they're not the same but they definitely there's parallels similar like my parents from real estate, so I'm third generation real estate, been in the business, kind of you know, for 20 years, so but yeah there's. I've only been here for 17 years, not my whole life, but I've seen a lot of shift with Las Vegas culture and real estate. So, and you went through the great recession too.

Speaker 1: 2:24

If you want to talk a little bit about that, that experience and the changes you've seen over the last 40 something years, yeah well, yeah, the funny thing is, you know, las Vegas has a tendency to reinvent itself every few years.

Speaker 2: 2:37

Every few years we go through this renaissance where, before you know, we were 99 cent shrimp cocktail and the buffets became a you know, a family destination. You know, you have the, the MGM Midway arcade and the theme park. In fact, my first job ever at 16 was at the MGM Midway arcade and Excalibur. So, you know, they wanted everybody to think that Las Vegas was a family destination and then they thought, well, maybe it's not really good when kids see their parents acting like degenerates. So then became you know. You know what happens with Las Vegas days in Vegas, what happens here stays here, and now it's. You know, las Vegas is the greatest arena in in the world. So, yeah, each time Las Vegas has reinvented itself, it almost mirrors that.

Speaker 2: 3:12

The real estate market has done the same thing and we're kind of a normal market. Then during the, the boom after 9, 11, and we really started to happen. And then we had the kaboom when everything really blew up and the recession happened and we're an REO market, a short sale market, kind of getting back to a normal market. Then covet hit and increased the market so much and now we're really a lot of luxury focused in Las Vegas, which before really wasn't the case. So I love that the story of Las Vegas has kind of grown as the real estate market has grown and just seeing those parallels it's been really fascinating to watch. One is a member of the community and two as a member of the real estate community yeah, it's been, uh, so I got here in 2008.

Speaker 2: 3:49

gotcha real smart yeah, I'm coming from New York.

Speaker 1: 3:53

I'm like I'm going to Las Vegas to sell real estate and the market's crashing. Yeah, it's depreciating three percent a month and I just doing short sales. Didn't know how I did like 40 short sales this year. I had no idea what I was doing. Made like I sold like 40 homes, made no money, so I'll take this market any day absolutely.

Speaker 2: 4:12

You know, if it's just steady, slow and steady wins the race sometimes oh for sure, yeah, but I'll uh.

Speaker 1: 4:16

Yeah, it's interesting because there are parts of that that I do miss, because it was different, the town was a lot small. I I act like a real local now I was like.

Speaker 1: 4:25

I remember when I moved here it was like, oh, the people coming in, and now I'm turning into that person a little bit, so I got to watch myself Absolutely. But there's parts of it I do miss, because it used to be cheap to go out, have a good time. And now it's like if you're reading the newspaper and it's like it's starting to turn a little bit into Los Angeles, which is it's not a bad or good thing. But there's parts of it I like is the money's coming in.

Speaker 2: 4:48

there's parts from like it's interesting shift because Las Vegas versus folks from Southern Cal there they're different people, so different cultures absolutely yeah, and I mean, I think we we were you know number of years ago we're still kind of the wild wild west, you know, the mob was running the joint. Now we're a legitimate city and, yeah, the the money's coming in, which is good, but then that means the money's going out too. We're spending a lot more when we go out. So there, there are pros and cons. I still have a struggle realizing you can't get everywhere in town in 20 minutes, so sometimes I'm like, oh heck, I gotta leave a little bit earlier, but bit earlier.

Speaker 1: 5:22

I know it's interesting because I've had some clients that I sold their house like seven years ago, and they come back and they're like what the heck happened to the traffic? Because back in the day it was easy 215, you get anywhere in 20 minutes, right. And now it's like you got to pick the part of the day you better not be going across town because that's 45, 60 minutes For minutes, for sure, for sure it's pretty nuts it is, so let's dive more into title.

Speaker 2: 5:46

Yeah, so what are uh, what are the challenges of title and and what are the things that you like best about it. So, um, you know, the thing that I love most about what we do on the title end and escrow in is we're kind of there at the tail end of the transaction when people come in to close and they're signing on their homes. And I love seeing first-time home buyers the smile they have on their face. I love when they bring their kids into the signing and you know we talk with them a little bit about how you're going to decorate your room, what's your favorite part of your new house, and just to see the joy in people's faces when they close on a transaction, buy a new house, that's something I absolutely love. And also, you know, somebody has possibly on the seller's end, has experienced a goal in real estate. Maybe they're selling their place to move someplace else, or they're downsizing because their kids have left and they're walking away with some coin there, so they're happy. So I love, at the tail end of it, being able to be a part of that moment in the people's lives. And, believe me, nobody remembers who their title company was at 15 minutes after they walk out the door. So but for that few moments. You know we really enjoy being part of their journey.

Speaker 2: 6:52

Probably on a macro level, the biggest challenges that we're seeing in the industry is the fraud, wire, diversions and then deed fraud for vacant land seller, you know, seller impersonation. So that's kind of on a macro level. And then the micro level locally. Here we're dealing with a lot of infusion of joint ventures and it's kind of becoming something where if there's a Zen diagram of what I'm kind of concerned about with college athletics and what I'm concerned about with real estate, that middle intersecting part would be a pay to play on both the NIL and then also the jv portion. Because you know, we truly believe that the consumer is best served if there's a neutral, independent, disinterested third party handling their escrow and the jv mark, the jv brand just doesn't work that way and so that's pretty much a struggle that we're dealing with locally right now.

Speaker 1: 7:43

Okay, interesting market of the moment I'm going to go back a little bit because it's interesting. I was just talking to my buddy about this uh, about fraud that we're hearing, and I've I've heard it from different sources, especially because I make a lot of uh, uh, prospecting calls all the time, right, and especially with land right, I'll call them up like hey, sorry a lot.

Speaker 1: 8:00

No, somebody was trying to sell my house, just pretend to be something. So do you have any advice out there for somebody who owns a property to maybe get around these things? I know one, not with land, but with one. You could just have a mortgage on it, don't it free and clear? Right after I learned that I'm like I'm never paying off a mortgage, I'll have like a little bit on there just for the security. Nobody tries to. You know, my house from under me. Yeah, we've actually seen people self encumber like they'll record a mortgage to themselves. They the security, nobody tries to you know take my house from under me.

Speaker 2: 8:24

Yeah, we've actually seen people self-encumber like they'll record a mortgage to themselves. They're the beneficiary, just so when we're going through the process we have to call and get that. Um, but fortunately in clark county I know you probably have a vast you know audience nationwide but in clark county the clark county recorder offers a great service that's free. It's called the recording notification service and you can plug in your ap and your address anytime anything's recorded on your property, you get notified right away that something's there, so you can at least try to jump in as fast as possible. Another thing it's it's interesting, but making sure your, your where the tax statements are being mailed is the correct address. So if you happen to move or maybe you purchase the property as your primary, now you're using as a rental and you're living elsewhere, the tax statement is making sure because we get that information we mail to the, the property address and wherever the tax records are are being set so then you can at least get hip to somebody.

Speaker 2: 9:21

Hey, some something's going on where we've opened a transaction on your property at 123 maple and then we also call. We've also taken steps. We've introduced technology called my tech that verifies everybody. I mean, we're really taking this seriously as as a corporation, because we see daily how big of a problem it is in the industry. Yeah, that's interesting. Okay, we'll have like three or four probably a month that are possibly fraudulent wow, that's crazy okay well, that's good to know.

Speaker 1: 9:49

So good information out there. Take that serious because it's going on I hear about all the time from lawyers, from people that I make calls to.

Speaker 1: 9:55

So it is a serious thing that's going on. Don't take that lightly. No, not at all. So there's a lot of title companies out there. There are. You know, you guys been, you guys have been around for a long time. You guys do a great job. I really appreciate. You guys have great communication Helps us out Because, like you said, it's like people kind of remember the title company then for like 15 minutes, but if anything goes poorly it's the agent's fault 99% of the time. So title companies are, I know they're crucial to us because they got to kind of make us look good at the end, if that makes sense. Right, you know what's your spin because there's a lot of options out. There's a lot of title companies. So what separates you guys from anybody else? Where you know if you're an agent that out there or a buyer out there. You know why why choose tycor.

Speaker 2: 10:40

There are and you know it's funny, when I started there was, we had maybe 12, 13 competitors. Now there's a ton more. So you're absolutely right, there's a lot of competition and what truly sets Tidecore Title apart is our people. Our taglines were the most resourceful people in town and we really do believe that we live by that and we're gonna do whatever it takes to get the job done. So we have an experienced staff, we have the tenure of the company I think our average tenure with the company is eight years. So we have a good core group of folks that have been together a long time, that know how to work.

Speaker 2: 11:14

And you talk about the communication and that's what it's key. I mean it really is trying to anticipate needs, understanding what could go wrong, and trying to kill monsters while they're small and really making us a reflection of you. I mean we don't want to be looked at as a vendor. We want to be looked at as a partner, like we're part of your team, because you're absolutely right. Something goes wrong. Somebody says, well, your title company, you chose the title companies, your title company right and reflect it reflects poorly on you.

Speaker 2: 11:40

So, yeah, we understand that your ability to garner uh, referrals after the transaction is so important that we don't. Ability to garner referrals after the transaction is so important and we don't want to do anything to mess that up along the way. So we keep that in mind when we're working on your transaction. That it's not just about us, it's not just about the buyer and the seller, it's about everybody. We want to make sure that we close and it's I mean I know you, chad gave on last week. I mean, moving is stressful. We're dealing with people in one of the most stressful times of their lives and one of the most stressful periods of their life and we want to make it as easy as possible. So, understanding that and having that mindset going in, you know that when a deal comes to Tycore Title Company, we're going to handle it professionally, we're going to handle it correctly and we're going to do our best to communicate effectively throughout the transaction.

Speaker 1: 12:22

I appreciate that. Yeah, because I tell my agents all the time, the two times, that clients like you the most is when they sign up with you and then the day they close, but in between. So if you, don't have that good ending, you're probably not doing business with that person again 100%, and our lifeblood for real estate is referrals. We understand that, yeah, and you guys do a great job, so I appreciate that. Appreciate that. So do you have any good stories you can share with us?

Speaker 2: 12:50

So you know, I know it's a family podcast, we'll share the really good ones. But you know, speaking of land fraud, this was a few years back when it wasn't as prevalent. It was kind of just creeping into existence. We kind of got to be part of a sting operation and you know, title and escrow is not the most exciting thing in the world. So this was really exciting for us. We had same thing vacant piece of land.

Speaker 2: 13:17

Now that we look back hindsight being 2020, it had every single red flag. You could have to say it was a fraudulent transaction. But again, back then we didn't realize this was gonna be the case. So we had a you know somebody called us and said I'm hard up for money, so I'm selling the property to you know somebody. It was. I think it was well below market value. Let's just say you know, it's fifty thousand dollars, nothing, nothing big at all. So they're selling it quick, close vacant piece of land ends up closing on the transaction and, um, about maybe a week or two later, we're in an admin meeting. Somebody comes in and says there's a gentleman in the lobby that says we, we sold his lot. He didn't sell his lot, he wasn't the seller. So I kind of started looking around. That's going to make your heart drop and so come to find out it was fraud.

Speaker 2: 14:09

It was the buyer and the seller on the transaction with the same person. They had sold it. And so when we called the escrow officer to ask you know, hey, can you send us everything from that file? We need to they said, well, the guy's here right now. He's doing a refi, he's going to pull cash out. He went to a hard money lender. It was going to pull cash out of the land, so he sold it to him himself and then it was going to access all the money with from a hard money lender and encumber the property. Because of this. We were able to get the authorities involved. So when the guy came in to sign for his loan docs for a hard money lender, fbi was there and we got to kind of be part of this thing. So we caught him. He went to jail. We were able to unwind the sale, happy ending all the way around. But that was kind of our first real, like real experience of holy smokes. There's some other things going on right now that's a.

Speaker 1: 14:59

That's a cool story. I got a flashback of myself because, doing I, you know, I actually run into like the cra and I'm assuming you too. I've had like I have the craziest stories being in real estate. I feel like it's not as crazy now as it used to be, especially back in the day here, right, you know, um and I I don't share all the stories, but actually gave me a flashback.

Speaker 1: 15:17

I was meeting a seller at a property to list it and I drive up and I just felt like this eerie energy.

Speaker 1: 15:25

But you know, we're just like it's quiet, something's going on, and you just feel the energy in the air. And I'm parked in front of the house and I hear I see a guy like a truck far away, john John, big guy like a truck far away, john John and I look around and there are cop cars like all like everywhere. They were about to do a sting operation oh wow, to go in on this property and he wanted to. I think they were trying to get somebody out and then he wanted me to look at it afterwards. I didn't think the timing was great on his end, like I would have waited, yeah, but he gave me no heads up and I'm just like sitting there and they're probably like get this guy out of here, like I am just sitting in the middle and I like you're on my way and I had to wait like 15, 30 minutes to get the guy out and I looked at the house.

Speaker 1: 16:08

I'm like that's a trip, yeah yeah, yeah anyways, but cool. So big knights fan. Yeah, what. How do you think they're gonna do in the cup this year?

Speaker 2: 16:21

man, you know, I was at the game on tuesday and, um, after that, first that first period, I thought nobody's gonna be able to beat us. I mean we were playing so well, and then I was a little concerned. Obviously we only got one shot on goal on the second period and then the third period just kind of fell apart. So I, you know, I I hope they use that as an eye-opener that they need to step up their game and really go. I know that second loss to the Wild was tough, but you know the NHL's tough. I mean a lot of parity in the league and the way the league's set up is set up that way. So every night is going to be tough, but I do believe, you know, believe the team that they've assembled is talented. There's a lot of talent on the team right now and they have the talent to go far. It's just going to see who's going to show up each game.

Speaker 1: 17:04

That's one thing I like, so I grew up originally from Northeast. I grew up being a New Jersey Devils fan Mark Berdour so I'm a Knights fan because. I grew up for for Vegas right and their expansion team, so it was cool. But one thing I love about playoff hockey it's not like the NBA or the NFL kind of a little bit, but it's it's the best team that wins right and it's whoever. What goaltender is hot.

Speaker 1: 17:32

That's why I'm very true that's one of the biggest things. So hockey and I love college hockey. But hockey is one of the biggest things. So hockey and I love college hockey. But hockey is one of my favorite sports just to watch because it's just like anybody can win any night.

Speaker 2: 17:43

Well, the funny thing is, growing up here, hockey was, and the only thing I knew about icing is it went on top of a cupcake and then so you know, it's kind of to be part of the infancy and it's really cool because the chairman of the board of our company is Bill Foley, so we've really seen it from the beginning on and we really support it. And obviously whenever the Knights have a home game, the whole company dresses out in their Knights gear, and so it's been fun to kind of adopt this sport later on in life. But I do. I love going to the games. It's so exciting. It's been great for the community because talk about culture.

Speaker 1: 18:15

We were talking about it before. Culture is very different in Vegas until expansion, team nights and, as you know, october 1st, right, and there was a complete shift in the community where just everybody kind of started talking to each other and it was a big culture shift which, you know, october 1st was obviously terrible as a community, though like overnight it felt different, you know, and just you and I can talk nights whatever.

Speaker 1: 18:41

It just changed. That's it. You know, it was something we could all bond on, because most people unless it's UNLV and there's not a lot of us out there, right? We're going to talk UNLV in a little bit, it's my favorite thing to talk about but most people they're not born and raised like you in Vegas, right? So they're not born and raised like you in vegas, right? So they're a la fan or a new york fan, whatever it is, so it's. Or just different cultures, and vegas is almost its own culture. It's itself. Because 100. Because when I moved out here, I thought everybody was nice. Yeah, coming from new york, I'm like biggest people are the nicest people in the world, but you meet somebody from the midwest, they're like these people are rude, right, you know? So it's it. I don't know. Vegas its own thing.

Speaker 2: 19:20

I love it, I love it. It's the best, it's absolutely the best city, yeah, so let's get some univ, let's go all right.

Speaker 1: 19:27

So what? I know? We were talking about the head coaching and, uh, josh pastner, how do we feel about the new head coach for UNLV basketball?

Speaker 2: 19:37

You know it's funny. I don't know how many times that a college has had both its football coach or basketball coach new for the exact same season. So typically you're kind of OK, what's this sport going to do new or what's this? Now we have both of them. You know, I'm excited.

Speaker 2: 19:56

Running Rebels are my first love and I tell my girlfriend they'll most likely be my last, but it's, um, it's, it's something where I will not miss a, a running rebel game. And yeah, it's funny she's, she's born and raised in hawaii. She came here when she was, uh, you know, in early elementary school, but she didn't grow up. She's also younger than me, so she didn't grow up with the town being the way it was. With the Running Rebel basketball. I mean, it was the sport in town.

Speaker 2: 20:22

So we're sitting at the MAC a couple of months ago now I'm looking up and I'm showing her all the banners for the Final Four. I'm like, you know, I was 7 years old, I was 9 years old, I was 10 years old when all town was about. It was that running rebel and they just took over everything. So I love them. So I'm excited about the program and I love how Josh Coach seems to be very, very excited. He has a lot of energy and I think if he can take the energy of the city, incorporate that into his own energy, it could really be a juggernaut and we could really do some big things. I'm giving him benefit of the doubt. The one thing he said during his press conference, I think, was that this was a dream job for him, and I appreciate that. But I would assume that if the University of Arizona calls he's gone, he's gone.

Speaker 2: 21:10

So you know, it could be a dream job, but you know, I mean I think with the transfer portal being the way it is with the NIL, it's changing the game and it seems like he's filling out a roster that might be looks like they're going to have an identity this year and I think. You know I thought Kevin was a great dude, wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Speaker 1: 21:30

Yeah, I think everybody liked Kevin. It's just he was just kind of a mediocre coach, mediocre recruiter.

Speaker 2: 21:36

He didn't do anything with NIL and the team didn't really have an identity. I mean, I like it when you know slapping the floor on defense, let's play tough defense and get out and run. So I'm always excited, so it's probably the first person to ask if you're excited about it.

Speaker 1: 21:50

I am excited. Every year I'm like this is it, this is it?

Speaker 2: 21:53

No no, we got this kid. He's going to be good, but no, I mean, I think you know you see a couple of the kids coming from different programs that are good, and I think that's one of the things with the transfer portal. Now you have a kid that's probably really good who maybe overshot and went to a big power conference, wasn't getting the playing time, so he wants to maybe come down and see some action. And then you have kids who maybe were at a lower conference, maybe had a really good jump from their freshman and sophomore season. Now I want to play at a higher level. I think it makes it interesting, but also, at the same time, it's like you want to see kids stick at a school for for at least three, four years. I think that's gone. Yeah, and that's the thing I think it's gone too, and it's.

Speaker 2: 22:35

It dilutes the sport a little bit, and that's the one thing. I'm a little, you know sad about.

Speaker 1: 22:40

You know, I had uh austin star on the on our show the other day. As a former runner rebel, I don't remember uh walk on um, but uh, he played high school basketball in town and he's in real estate. I don't know if you know austin or not, but we were kind of talking about that. It was like the first time watching the ncaa tournament and I was not excited. I was like 14 sec teams, yeah, ncaa tournament. I'm like this is lame. They ended up doing well. Like eight of them got to the next round, right.

Speaker 1: 23:08

It was kind of like the you know it's that cinderella story is not going to be as bad colorado state I think was the closest one, that it almost and and it's just you know that was the best part of college basketball. So I think they're I understand why the big programmers are doing it.

Speaker 1: 23:23

I mean you kind of have to do it yeah absolutely, but it does take something away from it where you know, at first, with Josh and I got here you know, luckily I'm a UNLV fan because I got in right when it was like the last time they were ever good. It was Dave Rice, a couple you know, not good like when you saw them Right, but they were getting like 23, 25 wins a year with Dave Rice. Lon moved over.

Speaker 2: 23:48

Rice couldn't recruit.

Speaker 1: 23:49

Couldn't coach but he could recruit, so we had a couple good years.

Speaker 2: 23:54

Anthony Bennett, like the place was Thomas and Mac was packed Mozilla, like the place was Thomas and Mac was packed yeah the student section was awesome.

Speaker 1: 24:00

Yeah, oh man, I used to love going to games. It was so much to this day. Any sporting event I've ever and I've gone to a ton football, hockey, everything Univ at Thomas and Mac when it's packed, is the most fun.

Speaker 2: 24:13

I tell you, I mean, even if there's, if that place can get loud, even if there's 5,000 people in there, yeah, and the Rebels get running and it gets loud and it's exciting. And you know, now we see the theatrics of other sports, but when that opening, when the lights please happen and the fireworks were inside, I remember when teams would visiting teams would go back into the locker room because it was so intimidating with the fireworks, the lights, the whole place clapping and singing the fight song. I mean it'd be great if we got back to those days and if we think about money coming in, things getting more expensive, I believe that you can still. A family of four could probably go to a Run Rebel basketball game, see a great product on the court for a reasonable price. Root for. Root for kids who are coming to play, not because you know, I mean they're probably getting somewhere. Root for kids that are coming to play for for the city and for the university.

Speaker 1: 25:05

So I think you know, get out and support them yeah, and I, you know, at first when josh got hired it was kind of like a meh hire for me. But then to see him and kind of do a little bit more research on him, he's defense's defensive. I'm a defensive guy, I'm like any sport. I played football.

Speaker 1: 25:19

I'm all about defense and it's kind of changed now. That's not necessarily true as much now, but I do like that defensive mentality and I kind of. You know, the narrative now is it's all money and recruiting doesn't matter as much, and I totally disagree. I think recruiting matters more now and totally disagree. I think recruiting matters more now and you need the money, yeah. So that's what I really like about josh, because you get best of both worlds, because the two guys we were supposed to land they're not recruiters, they're probably not going to be good at bringing in nil money.

Speaker 1: 25:48

So I think we got the best of both worlds and so far, it seems like we have the number one transfer class for g5. Yeah, and I like the kids he's bringing and I'm actually surprised how like I thought he did good and then he added, like all these other players that were at the transfer portal and I'll dive into another pod with those players. But I'm like, oh, we're pretty low, like we're like nine deep right now. Yeah, just on, that's just on paper. It could be a little bit more or less, but right, it sounds like we have at least seven guys that can play hard, score points and play defense.

Speaker 2: 26:18

So and coach tark said all you need is eight guys who play their hearts out, and four guys were on the bench screaming and cheering for him. There you go so love it.

Speaker 1: 26:26

So we gotta take a little football. Yeah, as you brought up the point, two coaches and it was because barry odom lat barry did a great job with the program. It was just. It was so great to see barry come. I'm I was such a barry fan when he came in because I'm like we need a culture guy that can build this, because they had no culture right, had no culture, and I couldn't stay in a royal like he was. Just, neither could I. I just, and I like everybody, I was like how did we? He was a good coach, he saw, he saw good talent, but it didn't seem like it was a leader, it didn't seem like he could build culture. He didn't build a defense.

Speaker 2: 26:59

It was just… Didn't get involved with the community at all, didn't embrace Las Vegas.

Speaker 1: 27:03

Seems like he wanted that power forward job. I'm like you got to win first. Yeah, he was in this rebuilding mode all the time. Right, right, you have an NFL stadium and a new practice facility. I feel like you're doing nothing with it.

Speaker 2: 27:14

Barry comes in, brings in like 50 new guys off the bat and just wins football games and like you said, he's a football guy that came in and had a vision and said this is what we're going to do. Again, talking about identity, this is what our identity is going to be and you know I think that you're absolutely right we have a premier facility with the Fertitta Football Complex, playing in a state-of-the-art NFL arena in the most exciting city in the world. It's like, how do you not get kids here? So when Barry was able to do that and kind of showed it really kind of reminded me what cheering for a winner was like, and I was like, oh my gosh, it's fun to cheer for now, just like, well, at least we covered the spread, you know that type of deal.

Speaker 2: 27:59

And so you know and shout out to Tony Sanchez too, because I think you know in Love Tony In. You know, some people are bridge builders, some people are conquerors, and I think Tony Sanchez really what he did with the Fertitta Football Complex built the bridge to the future of UNLV football. Barry Odom showed what could be done and I think Dan Malin is gonna come in and I Mean I'm excited, I was, I didn't know who we were gonna get. After Odom left. I thought, man, that was kind of like maybe a once-in-a-lifetime deal. Such a special team with Ricky white and and hajj Malik and, oh my gosh, dejesus, dejesus. Such a special team. He thought, okay, is that really just gonna? Is it almost like this lightning gonna strike twice right and um? So when odom left, obviously you have to take the bag if somebody's gonna offer you that much money 36 million guaranteed is that's generational wow, that's exactly.

Speaker 1: 28:46

Yeah, so you know, I was a little surprised with purdue, though I'm like I think it's easier to win here than it is purdue, but that is a lot of money.

Speaker 2: 28:52

That's it. I mean you can, you can fly back and forth las vegas as much as you want, you don't have to live in Indiana. But so I'm excited. I mean you know, I think and looking at the schedule, you know obviously UCLA is going to be a tough matchup and Boise obviously is going to give us a game, and unless there's something you can kind of surprise us in the Mountain West, I think it's going to be ours and Boise's to go. I don't see a whole lot of things going to maybe hold us up on that schedule. So I'm excited about football as well.

Speaker 1: 29:22

Yeah, it's interesting because it's literally the first time ever in Unilever football and I don't think they're going to go undefeated. But they could literally win every game on there. Every game is winnable. And just seeing the kids Because, dan, I think everybody thinks Mullen was A-plus higher I don't remember one person. But, like you know, and usually you know, we're tough to please, absolutely you know. But the guys he's bringing in are just monsters from the SEC and we saw Barry Odom do a kind of light version of that and the guys he's bringing in are bigger, faster, I think to me, and nothing's guaranteed. Everything's on paper. Right now it's like, okay, dan's been out of coaching for three years, he's got a new team. You know how long does that take? Does that take week one or a whole season? I think that's the big question mark because, for the exception of Boise State in the Mountain West anyways, there's not a more talented. I think they're going to be able to just run through people, you know yeah, so's going to be fun.

Speaker 2: 30:24

And just incorporating his, obviously, with Brendan Marion going to Sac State and being the head coach there, that go-go offense was a lot of fun to watch. Last year We'll see. I know Mullen's a big spread guy. I think he worked with Urban Meyer at Utah initially, so it'll still hopefully be kind of a fast-paced offense where they spread the ball around a little bit um, and as long as they can take care of take care of the ball and not get blown out on the on the defensive end, I mean, I think we're going to be able to fight with anybody. I think so too.

Speaker 1: 30:49

I think they're going to be able to run the ball well. They got big offensive linemen and, uh, big running backs, like I think this will be, and we've always had good running teams in the past. But I think this will be at another level and I think you hit on the nose. It's just like how can the defense kind of take that next step? And that may take a year Because I think there's questions on the defensive line going into the year. Linebackers and secondary look stacked from what I can remember in the past. But it's going to be a fun year regardless. I have more fun going to UNLV football than I go to Raiders, like I sell my Raider tickets and I go to the.

Speaker 1: 31:25

UNLV game.

Speaker 2: 31:25

Yeah, and again, talk about the money. What a great product, for you can go experience the same amenities as you do at Raider Stadium for a Raider game for an eighth of the cost. So I mean, I think, no excuse for the community not to get out and support the boys who do you feel is going to win out in the quarterback battle?

Speaker 1: 31:45

Great question, I think Orji's going to have to step up. Yeah, I mean, he's just a monster, he's a beast. I mean, have you seen him play Briefly? But he doesn't throw the ball real well though, does he no? And I think Dan's going to help him with that. But he is all 235 pounds, but the guy legitimately looks like he runs a 4-4. So I'm just like the RPOs are all day. He's only going to have to throw it 15, 20 times. But I do like the other guy too. He seems like he can move the ball and he seems like he's a better passer, right, I guess I better passer right, I think. Either way, like I guess I'm at this point of being a unity fan. I don't remember one season in 17 years of watching them where a unity quarterback has played the entire year, true, so I don't even go into it.

Speaker 2: 32:27

Who's the starter? I'm like who's healthy, you know who?

Speaker 1: 32:29

doesn't leave because the nidale got weird right. Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised that cam frill plays a little bit. Next year we'll see, you never know so. But either way it's gonna be fun because you know, what's cool too is to see I went to all the games last year but to be the Boise game and to go to the Reno game and there are 40,000 people out there, so much fun.

Speaker 1: 32:52

Because there's nobody going to Rebels games, at least last year. I think it's going to change this year, you know, to see 40,000 people out there. It was good to know that the UNLV fans are still out there. We just need to win, that's right. At 40,000, that's never happened before. 40,000 people will show up to watch UNLV and some are on the other side, I understand that, but they're still out there. We just got to win, that's right. But, ryan, hey, thank you for being on.

Speaker 2: 33:17

Thanks for having me, man. It was fun to talk to you, awesome. Anytime you want me to come on and talk to you, I'm down to do that. We got to do this together.

Speaker 1: 33:24

Absolutely, when we get a little bit more into the season and talk some football, some basketball. If you guys need a good title, company, ryan's your man, hit him up. Or if you see him at a U beer, all right, guys, we're out of Vegas, take care of yourselves today.