SPEAKER_01: 0:14

Hey guys, John McInmano host is Ronin Vegas. We're talking local sports, business, real estate. If you guys like to see you, subscribe and follow us on Ronin Vegas on the guys. Today, we got a special co-host in the house. Mr. Ryan Poole, I'm talking a little Unil V football, Unil V basketball at the end.

SPEAKER_00: 0:38

We're excited. Thanks for right now, man. Hey, uh John, thanks so much for having me on. Every time I get the call, like break, take a little break of the day and talk UNLV sports. I'm always in. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01: 0:46

I appreciate it. Sometimes it's it's uh because we always have a lot of guests built up for this, but some people, you know, get a little nervous be on the podcast, and I love that you're just like, I'm in. Let's go, let's go do this.

SPEAKER_00: 0:58

Let's go, let's chat.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00

So cool. So start of the season, UNLV football. Six and one.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08

It's pretty cool. I mean, when we when we kind of did the the pre-season forecast, I think, well, I had us at s at five and two by now. So six and one is obviously a little bit better. Um, and the team is really seeming to gel together, and I love that they just really kind of do that Vegas hustle. They they they're gritty and they find a way to win games. So watching the boys get the Ws is a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01: 1:29

It's been good. Yeah, it's been an overall, I would say, a good start to the season. Six and one. Boise game. What's your thoughts on it? It was to me, it was uh it didn't feel like it was very close. We didn't get uh run out of boys or anything, but it was it was a tough game.

SPEAKER_00: 1:45

It was, and especially the run-up to it, and I was a little bit worried about the Air Force game, and we can chat a little bit about that later, but when we when you see that, I was like, okay, well they'll bounce back. They that was maybe a look-ahead game for him, but just didn't seem like after that second half they came out of the locker room and just didn't get much going that second half.

SPEAKER_01: 2:01

Yeah, it's uh yeah, and I would say like six and one start from what I've seen, and you and I like text all each other on you know the game's like before everyone, but I thought six and one was a pretty good start because the offense looks electric. Um, the defense has been kind of wishy-washy. Even you and I, before the boise game, I'm like, let's see if the defense can make some plays, because you know, Boise's actually kind of, I feel on the raw on the schedule so far, the first real team that we've kind of played and was going to show what this team was. UCLA's looking good now, but they were not looking good when we played on that. Uh, but yeah, it kind of showed.

SPEAKER_00: 2:38

It it did. I mean, it's kind of one of those deals where we are to who they thought they were, or to whatever the whatever the quote was. Because I mean, I think at the beginning of the season, we did the defense was, I believe, was the biggest question mark, maybe aside from who's gonna start a quarterback, but the defense was a lot of a question mark. We had so many quality guys, all American guys leave and transfer out, and just a handful of them stayed. So it was gonna be something to where it's like, what is this gonna look like? And uh unfortunately, you know, it is what it is on a couple of those games.

SPEAKER_01: 3:05

Yeah, that's a great point to bring up too. Um, I think you were more optimistic than I was going this season, so I think you were I don't know what I was at. I was probably like four to three or something like this at this point, my projections, but um you bring up a great point. There was a lot of turnover. I think they brought in 55 new transfers. So overall, like the first year, Dan Mullen, it's been a good start. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: 3:27

No, I mean we're already bowling. We're already bowling and it's uh October. So we were bowling two weeks ago. Uh always a good thing when we can get one more game in December. For sure. So, what would you rate the offense for the beginning of the year? So I rated, I should say. Yeah, I think the offense gets an A. I am I mean they're exciting to watch play, and the nice thing about it, we have plenty of options, so it's not just the quarterback or the running back. We have plenty of options. We seem to spread the ball around a good amount, so it keeps the defense on their toll toes. And if we do kind of get a little bit stalled, we just gas up the Jet. I mean, he has uh you know 615 yards on 83 carries, and it's just it's nice that we've been able to pace him out, so it's not totally reliant on Jet Thomas or maybe one running back or excuse me, White out like kind of like a Ricky White was last year. So I love how they're spreading around, I love what they're doing, and uh uh Calandry is just a a great guy and quarterback.

SPEAKER_01: 4:20

Yeah, and you called that early on, you know, like the poor man Johnny Manzel. So I love it because he's been yeah, so this I gave it an A2. Uh it's been really explosive, fun to watch. Probably overall the best offense I've seen in Unilever in the last 15, 20 years or whatever it is, since I've been watching, so that's not the total history. But yeah, I I would say uh Anthony Calandria just, and that's clearly like my favorite player that to be able to watch, has just been insane. I was a little nervous, and you and I are texting at the Idaho Estate game, Idaho State game, because one thing why I did not give an A plus is the old line. The interior looks really good, the tackles look terrible. Um I didn't see in the in that game push, and I'm still not seeing push. You know, because that's what I always look. I'm like, does the offensive line move the defense, or vice versa, because that kind of dictates what's gonna happen. Right. And I love how you said Jed Thomas because probably the play, my favorite play of the whole Boise game was where he's in the backfield and he just skiff arm, skiff arm, breaks four tackles in the back to get like eight yards, whatever it was, maybe ten yards. He started out as a tackle for a loss, and he got he got positive yards out of it. Incredible what Jed Thomas has been able to do. And the offensive line just it's not really pushing any anybody around.

SPEAKER_00: 5:36

So in that Air Force game, you know, Air Force, yeah, I think you kind of have this connotation where they're smaller. We always think they're gonna be in in in uh in being pilots, so they're all small. They had some big boys, like those boys aren't gonna fit in the in a in a cockpit of an aircraft. So we'll see. I mean, we'll it was kind of interesting to see that and yeah, how that how their D-line was able to um really not dominate our offensive line, but didn't make it easy for us.

SPEAKER_01: 6:01

Yeah, so all right, so we both gave so the big question though what would you grade the defense?

SPEAKER_00: 6:08

Defense I gave a C minus. I know a lot of fans right now are up in arms, they're really upset about it. One thing that I kind of think about is uh we look we we've given up over a thousand yards the last two weeks. Air Force is tough, they run that triple option, and it's one thing to see it on film, it's a totally a different thing to see it on the field. And if you haven't uh defended against that offense, it's a little off. So you kind of have to say, okay, these are the like we said, turnover, a lot of new players, hadn't seen that on the field of play, so that's gonna take about a year or two to really click for a lot of those guys stick sticking around. Boise's obviously one of the classes of the league, so um, had we not if we'd given up a thousand yards to uh two different teams, I may have graded them a little, a little lower, but I'm gonna give them a C plus and give them the benefit of the doubt. C plus C minus C minus. I apologize.

SPEAKER_01: 6:59

Yes, yeah, C C minus. Thank you. Okay. Uh so I gave a C minus too. I was kind of big, I'm like, do I do the D plus? On the way over here. No, I did C minus. And the reason I gave him C minus, everything you just brought up, but um, you know, at the end of the day, we are 6-1. They've been really bending Brend Knot Break until lately. Um, and it seems like Paul Gunther just, I don't know. It's he's been interesting. And then it and I this I don't know if you've been seeing the reports, but there's reports that people are interested in Paul Gunther to be their head coach, Oregon State, a couple other ones, and I'm just like, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00: 7:40

So if they if they need to go do that, by all means.

SPEAKER_01: 7:42

I gave it a C minus as well. Um, I I think uh yeah, we definitely need to improve in that area. And I think a big part of that too is we we actually lost our our defensive coordinator in the beginning of the year. A guy was from Mississippi State. So I think we talked about him the last one, but it is showing. I think we need a legit coordinator that can kind of run some schemes, maybe some 3-3-5s, whatever it is. But it's not like that old school NFL mindset. Because Paul Gunther, and I thought he was a good, like, for considering what occurred, like cool, we'll take Paul Gunther. Absolutely, but it shows because he was always I remember him in the NFL, he was always a bottom third defense as a defensive coordinator. Like he never really had good defenses, but college and and NFL are so different. So different. Like college, you're rotating players, NFL. They're those guys are paid, they play the whole time, right? Like they're out there the whole time. So that's my rant on the defense. But, anyways. So so what does uh you call this? I I I have an idea who you're gonna pick here for who is uh your favorite offensive player to watch this year.

SPEAKER_00: 8:43

Oh well, the the dead we live in the desert, and the desert needs AC. Anthony Okalandria is just uh he's just awesome, man. He's he's a lot of fun. Um he's he's been great in the pocket. And if you break down, I mean you can see him go through his his his um you know his his options, then he'll take off and he's been able to scramble and get out. And I mean, aside from maybe three three errant passes, he really hasn't had a lot of those bad decision turnover turnovers that plagued him was you know when he was at Virginia and ended up getting him benched towards the end of his last season there. So I think it's just maturity. I think Dan Mullen working with him and mentoring him, you know, Dan Mullen has always done very well with that type of quarterback, and he's just fun to watch, man. So I'm I'm I'm a big AC fan, and uh I'm glad that uh that he's quarterback in our team.

SPEAKER_01: 9:26

Uh yeah, I love that. Okay. Yeah, AC is my favorite to watch too, and I think you predicted on this show that he'd be the star after the first game. So you were right. And yeah, I think it's interesting because I was thinking about this way over too. If I mean, I believe he's MVP. I think most people think that. But if we did not have him, I think this record would be looked very different because we don't have good offensive tackles. The pass protection has not been good, but he's been able to move around, create plays with his legs or passing. Um, it's been incredibly impressive. So he's been he's been my favorite offensive player too. And then Jet Thomas, I kind of threw him in there too, just because I they're not, and Dan Mollins always done this. He doesn't like overuse his best running back, which is good because if they go to the NFL someday, they're not beat up. But Jet has been really impressive too. The plays he makes with no space, and I'm just I'm I'm his contact balance is just insane. So I'm really interested to see if AC and Jet stay for next year. Hopefully, NIL can give them a good deal. Uh, but they have just been been crushing it. It's been a lot of fun watching them play that one-two punch. Yeah, it's been good.

SPEAKER_00: 10:38

So, what's been your biggest surprise on the offense this year? So, kind of I didn't know as much about Dan Mullen, about his his rotation on running back because I was so fixated on Jet Thomas at the beginning of the year, I really didn't give um uh Glover and Um Lee a a whole lot of I was like, oh, kid transferred from Utah is must be pretty good. But just to really have us have that three-headed monster that nobody, no matter who is in the backfield, if they get the ball, they're gonna move the ball forward. And so I think that's been my biggest surprise is just I really didn't those guys really weren't on my radar because I was so excited about Jet Thomas coming back that they've really opened my eyes about the running back by committee and just showing that, hey, you know, we've got three guys that can run the ball and you know, knock on wood, turnovers, fumbles haven't been an issue with them at all. And I think that's huge when you're playing these games where maybe the defense isn't as tight as you want it to be. We need to make sure we can move the ball and score points. And behind that three-headed monster, that's been the most exciting thing for me, or the most surprising thing for me to look at this year.

SPEAKER_01: 11:34

Yeah, I I agree with you too. I mean, it's been really I I would say the the running backs and the depth of it, uh, Dan has done a good job recruiting running backs because the running, the running game has been overall good with not a good offensive line overall. So it's been pretty impressive what they've been able to achieve. And I'm super excited. I just I feel like it was a miss by the coaching staff. I think they did the best availability to recruit the offensive line. It's just we're too far in the season. The problem, you know, you can't make trades in college, is what it is. I'm sure they're gonna shore up the offensive line going to next year and get like eight, seven, eight really good offensive linemen and kind of be able. It's gonna be fun to watch this run game in the future with these run potentially these running backs and an actual line that can push. I think they're gonna be even more explosive in the future. So that wasn't my surprise, but you brought up a really good point. My my surprise was Jaden Bradley, the wide receiver. Yeah. Um, I know we talked about like a bunch of receivers on the show last time, and he just really has just come out and made big plays, has been really impressive. Um, it seems like everything's kind of come together with him, and he's been fun to watch.

SPEAKER_00: 12:42

A lot of fun, and you're right. I don't think he was on my radar. I had the the three other guys I was really high on in the beginning of the season. And did you well, you you know, you you brought up well, you I think you did bring him up at the beginning of the season. Yeah, I think you did. I probably did. Um, but he's but I mean, yeah, he's been great. You know, you throw it out there, and I think he's missed missed two probably gimme type balls, but aside from that, he's been awesome. And it's it's so nice to be able to have a guy that if the ball gets thrown your way, you're gonna be able to elevate, make a play, and catch the ball for a bit of a few. Yeah, that's been cool.

SPEAKER_01: 13:10

Yeah, because I kind of thought it was gonna be uh Troy and then Urban, and I think we talked about Urban a little bit, but Bradley was kind of like my third fourth. So for him to come out and be the one, it's just been like it's been fun to watch. So who I don't who's been I have an idea who your favorite is on defense. Who's been your favorite defensive player to watch this year?

SPEAKER_00: 13:27

So just as you pick two on offense, I'm picking two on defense because defense hasn't been as exciting as as we'd hope, and there's been some some really big gash plays. Um Marcel McDuffie and Amarius Brown. Uh I call McDuffie McStuffy because you know he's a great linebacker, gets in there and he's had some um, you know, really big plays, fumble recoveries, uh interceptions, at pivotal moments of the game, and you need big playmakers like that on those uh pivotal points of the game. So McStuffy is uh is a big d and A B is just you know, I don't know if he's still leading the the college in uh interceptions, but again, making big plays when it's needed and when they count. So those have been my two most uh most favorite players to watch on defense.

SPEAKER_01: 14:05

Okay, cool. Uh so that I think those are kind of like the two shining stars under your pants. Um so uh yeah, McStuffy, which I love what you always say, was my favorite defensive player. A B has been my biggest surprise. I knew they brought in, they brought in like 10 transfers. Right. And it sounds like with A B, they just kind of put him in a place where uh he could be more versatile. Um, but he's been super impressive, make creating big plays. He was one of those guys I was really hoping maybe he can make a big play and boys and kind of make that momentum play just didn't occur. Uh, but yeah, do you have a surprise player defense, or you're just those are your two guys?

SPEAKER_00: 14:41

Yeah, those are those are my guys. I mean, I think the whole defense has been a surprise. Uh maybe good or bad, but um, I think you know, those guys, like I said, they've really stepped up in in those big moments, and that's been a pleasant surprise. Okay. Maybe one guy who surprised me he's not making more of a difference, if I could go negative, is Jake Jake Pope. He, I mean, he's there, he makes some tackles, but I was really high on him at the beginning of the season, and it just doesn't seem like he's at by now living up to his billing. Um, and there very well may be some things he's doing great on the defensive end that I'm just not I'm not saying or paying attention to. Sometimes, you know, defensive players don't get as much spotlight as offensive because you you have the ball or you don't on offense, and then defense, they're doing things that I don't even know about, forcing plays one way or the other. So, but layman's term, maybe he's not as uh as excited as I thought he may be.

SPEAKER_01: 15:27

Yeah, I I agree. Uh Jake Pope, he's made a lot of tackles, but he just hasn't made like big plays. And we'll see, he's still a young player. I think PFF has him graded pretty low. And you know, like people go back and forth with PFF grades, you know. Um, but either way, that is kind of a red flag when he's graded that low. And kind of like you too. Like, I'm a fan. I played football back in the day, but at the end of the day, like I don't know football like the coaches and the players do, right? So it might be things that we're just not seeing. Um, but yeah, that's I thought he was gonna be making more of an impact too. So we'll see. So what has been the biggest disappointment this year?

SPEAKER_00: 16:05

Uh we'll we'll address the blue elephant in the room, and that's Boise State. Obviously, with them, with them vacating the conference next year, this was kind of our last, that was our last time to to play them in conference on the Smurf Turf. We'll see what happens with the Mountain West Championship game if if we get there. But it's just, you know, they kind of are like the SDSU of basketball, where it's just they've been the class of the league for so long, and we've it we want to be the number one team in the Mountain West Conference, and to be the best, you gotta beat the best, and we just have not been able to do that. So obviously the biggest disappointment is uh the loss to Boise State.

SPEAKER_01: 16:36

Yeah, it was I yeah, going into that, I didn't I I thought we had a chance, but it just it wasn't very much a close game. I was kind of hoping too, even if we didn't win the game, I was hoping to see progress. Yes, especially after the Air Force getting gashed in that sort of 500 or something yards. It there wasn't progress, you know, because what we played Boise four times now in the last two years. Uh yeah. Is that true? No, three times? Excuse me. Yeah. And uh yeah, so unfortunately they're leaving, they're gonna always have that over our heads. It doesn't matter if we go undefeated next year and we win the Mountain West and they go 10 and 2 in the pack. You know, they they will have that over our heads for sure. Yeah, we know how that works. So, yeah, and then we already kind of touched on it too. The disappointing is for me has been the defense, Paul Gunther, and good segue because last year our defense looked really good. This year they're ranked 11th in the Mountain West, which is crazy to me because you and I have seen some really bad defense with Dion L. Right. I mean, they've always just historically been terrible, but to see this much talent and to be the 11th ranked defense in the Mountain West to me is like that. That is just uh to me, that's unacceptable. It's a huge disappointment. You're absolutely right. You've got to be like at least middle of the pack with the with the with the with the talent that they're bringing in. So um, so Segway then. How would you compare say say tomorrow, this week, since we get we're on a bye week. We are Unal V last year versus Unal V this year.

SPEAKER_00: 18:05

Hootie got I think last year's team wins solely because of of the defense. I think offense would be pretty close. Um we you know there's some studs on offense last year with with Hajj and Ricky White and De Jesus. Um obviously Jett was still there, he's still here this year. But I think the defense, our cornerbacks and our secondary were much stronger last year, and even if those guys were uh covering the wide receivers down the field, you had Woodard right there in the line. So then you put a spy on put a spy on Anthony Collandro with with Woodard, and I think that he would probably cut down a little bit of his playmaking ability. So I'm gonna go last year's team by a touchdown.

SPEAKER_01: 18:42

Ooh, a whole touchdown. Okay. I was gonna say last year's same three points. Um, I agree with you. It just it felt like it was a more well-balanced uh offense. Um, not as explosive as this year, but definitely the the the running game looks stronger. Um and the defense definitely was better, probably the best defense than I've ever ever been watching from UNLV. So to be fair though, that was Barry Odum year two. Correct. So we'll have you on the show next year for sure, talking to MLV football, and we'll see Dan Mullen year two versus Barry Odum year two, and we'll have that discussion again. Uh, but yeah, I think last year's team was just more well balanced. They kind of they did a really good job, but they they had a year to build the culture too. So that's true. There's something to be said about that as well. Yeah, that offseason's important with the guys just gelling and being knowing who's playing next to you. Yeah, and it's hard. When you bring in so many new kids, you're gonna have misses. And unfortunately, yeah, like we talked about when the season starts, you can't make trades, you can't, your team is who it is. And to bring in 55 new kids and think you're gonna get them all right or a position group all right, it's tough. So I'm excited to see who comes back next year and how they're gonna kind of uh fix their weaknesses because I I could see Dan Ball's a good coach, he's gonna be able to to uh get that figured out. So, okay, we're gonna go through the end of the year, we're gonna go through predictions.

SPEAKER_00: 20:05

Um, let's go through New Mexico. Who do you got? Uh New Mexico's win since we're playing at home, they a little bit more of a surprising team to me this year than I thought they were.

SPEAKER_01: 20:13

Yeah. Um I'm gonna take a win too. One thing I'll say about the end of this year, because when I looked at the schedule too, I don't know if I was like not excited about the schedule except for the UCLA game. But New Mexico, Utah State, and Hawaii look way better now than they did in the beginning of the year. So I'm kind of excited for the second half of the year. I don't think like New Mexico is just an automatic win. I think it'll be a good game. I do pick uh Unal V though. Okay, at Colorado State.

SPEAKER_00: 20:40

At Colorado State, it's a wild card. They just fired their head coach, haven't been having the season that they want to, so I think that should be a W.

SPEAKER_01: 20:45

I think that's a W too, yeah. Interesting Norvell. It just never worked out there. He did such a good job at Reno. I know. Uh it was interesting. But, anyways, uh okay, we got uh Utah State at home.

SPEAKER_00: 20:57

Utah State at home, I think we're gonna we're gonna beat those guys. I don't think they've I've just and I haven't followed them closely. However, nothing I've seen in their stats or their record show that they're gonna be anything that's is not of cupcake by any means, but I think we get to W there.

SPEAKER_01: 21:10

I got W too. I think they're kind of middle pack Mountain West team this year. I I don't think that's a gimme either. Um if turner turnover was going the wrong way, they could stay in it. But I'm gonna have a win for us as well. And then Rivalry game at Allegiance Stadium.

unknown: 21:27

Hawaii.

SPEAKER_00: 21:28

The Battle of the Ninth. You know, I think the this is gonna be an exciting game, and this is probably the game that I have most concerned about. Um the Rainbow Warriors come in, and Timmy Chang and his uh his air raid offense. Uh, our secondary may get blown up that game, so we just have to make sure that we score more points than the Rainbow Warriors do. So I think it's gonna be a shootout. I think it's gonna be an exciting game. I think the Hawaii fans that live on the Ninth Island are gonna come shout out, support their boys. So we need to hear everybody out of the Legion to make sure the Rebels feel like it's a home game. But Rebels take home the pineapple and win the Ninth Island showdown. You're such a better fan than I am.

SPEAKER_01: 22:06

I I do think we are the better team. I just feel at the end of this year, we're gonna have a loss somewhere. I think it'll be New Mexico, Utah State, or Hawaii. Hawaii by far looks like the best team, and it's rivalry, like you said, like it's kind of it's gonna be a little bit of a bowl game kind of atmosphere to it because Hawaii fans show up. Absolutely. I mean, you know, when we've gone to some games, Hawaii's been bad, and there's 10,000 Hawaii fans in the sands. Like, they are passionate. And one thing I saw about Hawaii, which I was surprised, they have a really good offense, obviously. They have a really good defense. Top three in the Mountain West. So I'm gonna say this is a game where Unal V, I hope they don't, but this is the potential game when they slip up. I'm gonna do a loss just because I think it's really difficult to get another five wins in a row here. Very fair. Um, and then I'm assuming, since you're wearing the colors today, at Reno. I know.

SPEAKER_00: 22:58

I do this every time I need to quit this. At Reno. The City of North, uh, Rebels win handily. Fremont Canvas stays red, and that's your thing.

SPEAKER_01: 23:07

All right, you're gonna just rip up when you got Unile underneath or something. This is the time to do it. This is it. I gotta get you going a little bit every time we're in Reno. Uh uh, yeah, I think that's an easy win. Um, I'm thinking about actually going that game. I've never been at Reno before. So, all right, so you have them going 5-0, and I have them going four and one. So um, so are you thinking you're thinking that we're in the Mountain West championship game?

SPEAKER_00: 23:28

Yeah, I mean, I think we do have the one loss. I think we're gonna play at Boise State, and unfortunately, uh my fandom can't be too Pollyanna-ish. I think we're in blue. I'm still wearing blue. Um, I do think that we lose at Boise State in the Mountain West Championship game.

SPEAKER_01: 23:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 23:42

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 23:43

If we make it, um, I would say they lose at Boise too. So um, either way, good year so far. It's been a fun first half. I hope they can finish strong. I hope they go with a 5-0. It'd be great. I love it. I love that. So, okay, cool. Uh, big question though, does there's already rumblings? Already. That Dan Mullen is in talks, or not in talks, people are talking about him potentially going to some other programs. What do you what do you think? I know you may say it another day, but what do you think? Is he back for year two?

SPEAKER_00: 24:14

Yes, I think he's back for year two. By no means do I believe Dan Mullen's gonna be the longest tenured head coach at UNLV. Yeah. Um, because you're right, they're already rumblings. I mean, Arkansas was rumbling so much that there was he had to actually tweet that, hey, that that that's nothing going on. Um, I do think that if he stays one more year with who's vacating the conference, I think the Mountain West Conference is ours for the taking. He could possibly get uh secure a playoff berth next year, and then that he may be able to parlay that into a maybe a larger gig. We know you know money talks and coaches walk, we saw that with Odom. But the one thing that I am concerned about, there's some high profile programs that have openings already in the middle of the season. They've made some coaching adjustments. So that's something that's definitely there on the back of my mind. But I think Dan Mullins and the Scarlet and Gray on the sidelines year two. Okay, I like it.

SPEAKER_01: 25:02

I do too, but you're right, like the there's already a huge uh domino with Franklin getting fired from Penn State, and obviously that is just a great job to take over. Um, but yeah, I think Dan does stay here for another year. He's kind of made his money, so to speak. You can always make more money, of course, but um I think he actually enjoys being in Vegas. Is this the right situation for him? It's a it's a good way to build a program. I think we'll get him for year two. I think we're lucky if we get a year three. I think there's a possibility of that. I also thought there was a possibility of Barry Odum saying for year three. Um, but yeah, I think if we get him for year two, good, year three amazing, and then you know, they'll yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 25:45

Anything after that. But hopefully we'll secure ourselves at some where we're a we're a destination now that people want to want to come. And in harp, in in harp, I trust. So if if there does, if there has to be another coaching change, you know, two, three years down the road, I I trust Eric Harper and uh all my faith is in him.

SPEAKER_01: 26:01

Yeah, Harper's doing a good job. He doesn't get enough credit. Well, now he does a little bit. There was a time there where he wasn't, but uh yeah, I think the good it's a this is a way better situation. Yeah, and then I think just establishing a winning culture in football, so huge it's gonna continue being a destination now for head coaches. Now, is ULV basketball a destination for coaches? I don't know, but we got Mr. Pasner in the house now. I like the hire. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00: 26:30

Yeah, I mean, I like the hire when it happened. It wasn't something that made me jump out of my seat and think this is absolutely amazing, but he's made me a believer, and I'm I have running rebel fever again, and I love how he's reaching back out to the history of the program, bringing Stacey Ogman back, bringing Justin Hawkins back, bringing Anthony Marshall back, because I truly believe that the history of the program is so important to who we can be going forward. I love he loves Las Vegas, he's using that energy, and um, and I kind of like how he rocks the shirt and tie. I watched the I watched the exhibition game at Washington on Sunday. He rocks the shirt and tie, doesn't use you know, he's not real casual, he takes it serious, so I dig that about him too.

SPEAKER_01: 27:06

Yeah, I I love you bringing it up. He's got some rice vibes, Sean. Right. I don't know if that's good or bad. Is that it? But he does, I mean, he's scheduling well. Yeah. Um it and that's a little scary for year one because we basically have a completely new basketball team going into this year. Um, you hit on the nose. Uh yeah, he's recruiting well. Um he's he's walking the wall, you know, he's talking the talk. The one thing I and I don't think he's gonna be a Rice because I don't I liked Dave Rice. Absolutely, we all did. Um, I don't think he was a good coach. No. Um in terms of X's and N's as a basketball coach. I think he was a good person. I thought he did good things overall for the basketball program. He just couldn't win big games. Passenger is a proven winner. Um, and he's not like an A plus coach, maybe, but he's definitely a very good coach. I think he I like how competitive he is. He wants to run the ball. He's saying all the right things. He's saying all the right things. He knows how to get us fans riled up. So we'll see. Because everybody kind of says this and the season starts, and then they're not running, and you know, we're not winning those big games, but I'm I I love the hires so far. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, and I like I like that he wants to be here. He understands because I don't know, unless you've been watching Unilv basketball about 10, 15, 20 years ago, you don't really understand like the you know, the the culture and what it can be. And so for him, somebody who went back in time, played Arizona, played Unal V, he understands it. So I think he's been a he's overall a good hire. So what do you think about the overall on the roster?

SPEAKER_00: 28:38

Uh, you know, uh on paper they look great. I'm glad that he was able to recruit and get guys who fit his scheme. We're long, we're athletic, but can they play together?

SPEAKER_01: 28:47

Yeah, yeah, big thing. It we're basically like ten new players gonna be playing, so it's gonna be interesting. I saw that Steven, uh, manually Steven's gonna be out for six to eight weeks or something. Yeah. That is not good because we don't have a lot of size. I was a little disappointed that he filled those last two scholarships because I felt like we needed another big man. Absolutely. And him going down, I think it's definitely gonna hurt because going into schedule, Memphis, Maryland, Alabama, at Stafford. We got St. Joe's at home, beginning of the year. What's that? What are the games you're looking forward to?

SPEAKER_00: 29:17

Uh, you know, I'm actually looking forward to Stanford most. I bought my ticket, I'm gonna fly up, go to the game, fly back. So it's gonna be fun. I want to check out the campus. Um, so that's one of the games I'm looking forward to. All the players era tournament games are gonna be exciting. So you're right. There's some juggernauts on the schedule that we need to make sure that we at least compete at to build that foundation that Pasner wants to build on uh to make us a program going into um then C2A tournament at the end of the year. Yeah, it's gonna be fun to watch. And do you have a player that you're looking forward to the most? Man, Kamani Hamilton, uh, he's just I watched the exhibition game, like I said, on Sunday, and that kid has one of the quickest first steps that I've ever seen. So I'm excited about his athleticism, his explosiveness, and we'll see how he does uh fitting in the passenger scheme.

SPEAKER_01: 29:57

Yeah, Kamani Hamilton looks super interesting. Big uh He's like 6'869, 225 pounds. I think he's gonna they're gonna run through him. Uh no pun intended, but yeah, it's get it's gonna be fun to watch. So guys, we're gonna wrap this up. Ryan, thanks for being on, brother. Appreciate you. You see this guy the Legion say, buy him a beer, go run to Vegas. You have a good day.