Best of the Bus: Tony Vitello: "In Between The Lines There Are No Rules"

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of the Bust and Spring Football Tour. I know we've been talking about football, spring ball, but coming to the University of Tennessee, we had to get on the juggernaut. We had to get on Coach Vitello. Oh correct, Tony Vitello. Yeah, yeah, young gun. I mean, look at him, handsome before we get into before we sit here and melting our couches. This thing is brought to you by the Chevy Silverado, the hardest working truck on the planet, Dependable, durable, just like the people who drive them. You and Coach v uh. But we had to get the baseball guys on. You guys are crushing it. I hate that you guys just lost one last night because you guys were on an eleven game win streak.

00:00:37
Speaker 2: You're thirty and two now, is that correct?

00:00:39
Speaker 3: Thirty one and two?

00:00:40
Speaker 1: Thirty one and two? I forget that one. And Jack was Jack is a huge Tennessee guy.

00:00:45
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:00:45
Speaker 1: And everybody's to school here, yeah, and everybody's been talking about Tennessee baseball. And I'm on my phone last night late at nice scroll and see all your guys highlights and everything else. And Coach Eckler's giving me a background on you guys. You guys are kind of like the Detroit Pistons, the bad boys of SEC baseball, college baseball raiders.

00:01:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, would you agree with that? Is that fair to say?

00:01:03
Speaker 2: Is that a good assessment?

00:01:05
Speaker 3: I mean, I kind of like that now at this age. I grew up.

00:01:07
Speaker 4: My old man's from Chicago, so I grew up a Bulls fan, and I hated the Pistons. But I think if you're a competitor, that's kind of the way it should be. You should love the guy if he's on your team, or you should love your team if they're yours, and then you want to be hated. If you know, if you walk into an opponent's building, you don't want them to like you because that means they're thinking easy victory.

00:01:25
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:01:25
Speaker 5: Yeah, but baseball in a lot of ways, Like you don't see guys hitting grand slams and going halfway to first base, going that ship in the air like.

00:01:34
Speaker 3: It's fucking nothing Like you.

00:01:36
Speaker 5: Did you walk into the team meeting room and dangle, Hey, here's a deal.

00:01:39
Speaker 3: Fuck these guys, all of them. It's just us pirate ship. No.

00:01:43
Speaker 4: I mean, I do think we've got a certain attitude about us, but you have to in order to survive in our league. But people man, yeah, sorry, any power five league. But then we had a non Power five team put it on us last night. So no, again, at the end of the day, it's all about competition and you got to be who you are. And that guy in particular you're speaking of as one of our team leaders, and he's just very unique. He's he's a gentleman off the field, and he's an assassin on the field. And sometimes I do my best to control them, but sometimes I can't. Yeah, yes, Drew Gilbert, he's a fan fan favorite, and again, anyone that's got to know him as a person would love him.

00:02:22
Speaker 3: But immediately when we go into another place.

00:02:25
Speaker 4: We're in Oxford, Mississippi recently, and it took their fans about two outs in the first inning and he was just on deck to understand that he's not the one to like. But you know, our guys do got a little bit of way about him that you know, again, if you're cheering for us, I think you enjoy and if not, you may question it. But I don't think anyone ever goes over the line to do something disrespectful to the opponent.

00:02:46
Speaker 3: It's just in baseball, you got to be a personality.

00:02:49
Speaker 4: If you look at like the most fun teams since we've been alive, like the Phillies back in the John Crook era, Darren Dalton and those guys, and the Red Sox when Malar was on their team. I mean, it's it's long days as a baseball player. You got to have some stuff going on in the locker room to bring you together and also keep you entertained or in all those all those hours.

00:03:08
Speaker 3: So this is your fifth season with the volunteers.

00:03:10
Speaker 5: Is this like something that's kind of built over time or is it for whatever reason this year. No, it's kind of just you guys to become like the bad boys of the SEC.

00:03:17
Speaker 3: No.

00:03:18
Speaker 4: I think last year without last year's team, this year's team is not having the success they are. And then if you go back to our first year, our pitching coach and I were joking about how we're just starving for any win possible, and that's how we were handling our pitching was just one day at a time, we just need as many wins. So it's been you know, without going into the whole long story, it's been a gradual deal. And I'll tell you what, when the fans got on board, and you know how crazy our fans are, that's what kind of helped catapult this whole thing.

00:03:45
Speaker 1: I think what's cool too, is like you guys, it's clear about your gut, you guys having fun it. Like you said, if you're an outsider and you don't cheer for the for Tennessee, you might question it or whatever. But baseball, for the most part, is a very uniformed, bund up sport. And knowing that you have a team like you do having the fun and bringing out their personalities and having their unique style about them, and then you have a young coach like yourself who kind of embraces it.

00:04:06
Speaker 2: The whole my Concho story, the whole my Concho bit is hilarious.

00:04:10
Speaker 1: Is this something you're conscious of You kind of just let it fly and tell the boys, like, hey, we're going out here to have fun. Who gives a shit like the opinions that are out there about the sport of baseball.

00:04:18
Speaker 2: It's kind of like you guys are bringing a flavor to the game.

00:04:20
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:04:21
Speaker 4: I think that's something you try and set the tone from day one. And manage what you think your culture's kind of overused word, but what your style or brand name is going to be. And when we first got here, Tennessee's had great players for quite a while. I mean Nixon Zel was a second pick in the draft before we got here. I mean, they've had talent, but they hadn't had kind of a flavor that Arkansas, where I came from, you could stereotype their baseball team. And again we talked about Mississippi or Vanderbilt. And now I think we've kind of created our own brand name. And along the way, I've kind of felt like we introduced some ideas to them. They've run with it, and now we just got to make sure that fired unburned too bright. Sometimes those boys get a little out of control. And again there is a line to walk. What's what's the right way to do it? And what's not My question is why is they're allowed to walk?

00:05:05
Speaker 3: Why not just right in the sunset?

00:05:07
Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying, grab the chariots, be like Inchorest, do you go to the sun?

00:05:10
Speaker 3: Sure?

00:05:10
Speaker 4: Well, you know we're on uh, we're televised here and you fellas are popular, so you got to make sure you don't say the wrong thing too many times. But no, it's it's the in between the lines. To be fair what you're saying. There are no rules, so I know in baseball, yeah, I mean there's different versions in football and baseball. If somebody bunts when they're winning up by six runs, or someone throws inside, I mean, where's the rules. It's you're between the lines and it's killer be killed. And then at the end of the day, kind of like UFC guys do when they dab each other up, it's like, how the hell are they doing? They just try to kill each other, but it's a mutual respect for you know, hey, what just went on here? There was something pure there and almost kind of primal that we are getting, you know, getting into it.

00:05:52
Speaker 3: And now it's over.

00:05:53
Speaker 5: When you say, like Bunny, when you're of six round of six runs, like, what are some of the like.

00:05:58
Speaker 3: Unspoken rules of you just don't do that? Maybe maybe you guys do.

00:06:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what's interesting, you know, Like you said, why is there align that they're unwritten so there is no actual book. So it's it's kind of gentlemen's game party that's kind of all up to perception. And you know, I don't think you know, you want to be sending guys from second base on a borderline call to score if you're already up ten twelve runs. I think it's just you know, not putting to the pedal of the metal too much if it's.

00:06:26
Speaker 3: You know, a big league blower team.

00:06:27
Speaker 4: But you know, otherwise, you know, it's like Batista hits that homer against the Rangers and throws his bats. If you don't want him to throw his bath, then don't give up a home run, you know, if you had to ball that far in that situation. To me, you can do whatever you want. And if you're the opponent and you don't like it, then do something about it.

00:06:44
Speaker 3: Well, they do do something about it.

00:06:45
Speaker 5: The next time he's up at bet next time you guys plays touches little chin music one in the ribs real quick.

00:06:52
Speaker 3: When is the time that do you in baseball? Is like that?

00:06:54
Speaker 5: In college baseball? Do you guys kind of give him the Hey, this dude's been.

00:06:58
Speaker 4: Talking no one, No, it really doesn't go on on at our level. I mean I saw one of our juco commits. I went down and watched him, and he actually hit a kid in the helmet and the first base coach yelled, what the I think I can say.

00:07:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, Gause, what the fuck are you doing?

00:07:11
Speaker 4: And he basically stormed onto the field, and you know, the kid just had one get away. I mean these guys that that's just not a part of our game as much now. I think in the big leagues maybe a little bit. You saw Lindor get hit in the head, but I really don't feel like there was intent there.

00:07:25
Speaker 3: There's too much money involved.

00:07:26
Speaker 4: Plus nowadays, instead of like George brutt Brett.

00:07:29
Speaker 3: Playing for the for the Royals his whole career, you might.

00:07:32
Speaker 4: Get traded the next day and be on that guy's team that you just threw at.

00:07:35
Speaker 3: So you know, it's wild like that.

00:07:38
Speaker 5: The trades are crazier like in football. I don't know when the trades are, but when football is week A by week A, you can't trade anybody anymore.

00:07:46
Speaker 4: So how's it working baseball? No, it's deeper into the year in baseball. And two, when you come up through the minor leagues, you might have played with all these guys because there's a bunch of trades that may go on throughout a guy's career, just trying to make it up, you know, through the ranks and then to now all these guys like Bryce Harper. First time I ever saw him was at the Area Code games. It's where all the best players go. Well, they all become buddies, especially on social media now too, so as intense and competitive is as much money as there is out there.

00:08:14
Speaker 3: I think at the end of the day, all these guys are kind of buddies. I mean Drew.

00:08:17
Speaker 4: Gilbert again, maybe the most hated or the villain leader of our team. Yeah, trust me, you would, but he played on Team USA. So there's the best player from Florida and the best player from Georgia and they all get to know him and they all like him.

00:08:30
Speaker 3: You know.

00:08:31
Speaker 2: The my concho bit is that something that was premeditated?

00:08:34
Speaker 1: Is did you just watch Talladega Knights recently or was that just off the top and you're having fun.

00:08:39
Speaker 4: No, I need to watch Talladega Knights, but soon, but you haven't seen. I feel it's proper to visualize or see that every month or so.

00:08:48
Speaker 3: You know.

00:08:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, but those in game interviews like I can't believe, like a guy like Saban, like the halftime interview or right before kickoff, but I know they have to do it.

00:09:01
Speaker 3: But it's cool when you're watching on TV.

00:09:04
Speaker 4: But when you have to do it in the dugout and like your guys are hitting or pitching it, it's pretty it's distracting. And so I had a lot of emotions boiling in my body and that was just kind of what came out. I say a lot of dumb things sometimes because you got the Italian temper going.

00:09:20
Speaker 3: You got that, you got just Italian.

00:09:26
Speaker 2: Issues.

00:09:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's it's a good it's a good alibi. Yeah, no, nothing premeditated, just question. And Chris Burke, who was a legendary player here, works for ESPN. He was the one conducting the interview, and I just have a level of comfort with him. So it's kind of like us sitting here, average talking.

00:09:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I got.

00:09:45
Speaker 4: That's my first f wort. I think with me, that kind of feels good. Let's just started letting him fly.

00:09:49
Speaker 5: Now you know what I'm saying, you know, all the stereotypical thing doing, he's just disrespecting.

00:10:00
Speaker 3: He can't help, but he's just telling you exactly.

00:10:02
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:10:04
Speaker 3: There, anytime you have an interview, we'll pioneer that for you.

00:10:06
Speaker 2: Nobody get mad at him. Just we do your interview, and just what.

00:10:10
Speaker 4: I appreciate that if you do a little history, you probably need to pass some things up between uh, a fast food restaurant and myself.

00:10:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, what is that?

00:10:18
Speaker 2: You dive into that?

00:10:19
Speaker 4: Well, you know, after a game and my stomach was in notts kind of like you you know, would be. If you ate it up, you can pick whichever one you want. I you know, and I said that out loud. And they happen to be one of our sponsors.

00:10:31
Speaker 3: So that's so you don't want to say the name because there's still a sponsor.

00:10:35
Speaker 4: No, I've already written enough apology rhyme with uh No, I don't want to say raising Kenes, not not at all, love Kenes right right up the road, and so are we able to say we can leave it at that?

00:10:47
Speaker 1: From that that is a smart move. Hey, you already apologize to me already back there. He's got to he's got to stay true.

00:10:54
Speaker 4: I gotta find a way to get to make up with last night's empire.

00:10:57
Speaker 3: So that's on my to do list. But we're gonna I don't you.

00:11:00
Speaker 5: See him pretty frequently the same ones?

00:11:02
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, you do?

00:11:03
Speaker 4: And no it is, and and you'd like to think like, hey man, when you're in your you know, garb you're wearing or whatever, and I'm in uniform. Were these characters and then outside like I don't really care. I don't know how you guys were as teammates. But you know, sometimes it's hard to differentiate. You know, maybe you don't respect a teammate as much, but off the field, you know, he's a civilian or he's just a dude. You know.

00:11:28
Speaker 1: I love that a civil Yeah, I tell you what he's got the Italian and he reminds me like Coach Bo. He kind of blacks out as he's out there coaching. I don't know if you're familiar with Coach Bo Palini very very you guys probably running the same, you know, mob guys and stuff like that. I didn't know where I was going with that, making.

00:11:45
Speaker 5: I do want to know a little bit something about you were bringing up Bonterio, Missouri, where will when we went to school?

00:11:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, before this, I want to hear a little he.

00:11:53
Speaker 1: Goes you went to North County and I'm like, how the fuck do you know about North County?

00:11:56
Speaker 2: And then you're like, stop, save it.

00:11:58
Speaker 4: Well, I'm from Saint Louis, and so the big thing there, right or wrong, is where'd you go to high school? That's the first question everybody asked someone in high school.

00:12:05
Speaker 3: So I know where you guys went.

00:12:07
Speaker 4: And because the recruiting rules, I can't speak too much about your high school.

00:12:11
Speaker 3: But oh.

00:12:14
Speaker 4: There are studs out there very good relationship there with their best player.

00:12:19
Speaker 1: Why. Okay, you can't speak too much about his school because of what kind of rules school.

00:12:24
Speaker 4: If a kid commits but he's not signed, you can't say anything.

00:12:28
Speaker 1: But I can say, so there's a kid who's committed at the said school. But we can't say the school.

00:12:31
Speaker 3: Can I say the school? You can't go to school. We can't say school. Shepperl High School. Okay, yeah, that's a great school. We just can't say from Shepperal. Studs out there, well, he can't say shepherd can't We can't even ask that. We just say we're just we can't talk about it.

00:12:46
Speaker 2: But you went to Shepperal. I went to chper got you outstanding school.

00:12:50
Speaker 3: A lot of good players out of that, A lot of.

00:12:51
Speaker 5: Good players in that area. Arizona baseball solid.

00:12:54
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, it's a nice deal. Out, so Ian I coached at University of Missouri. Ian Kinsler was on the first team that I coached and what the years in Missouri? Yeah, ninety nine two is a player and then I was there until eleven as a coach.

00:13:07
Speaker 2: Were you there with?

00:13:08
Speaker 3: Uh?

00:13:10
Speaker 4: That's why we were gonna bring up so he has a coach hype recruiting story.

00:13:15
Speaker 3: He doesn't know you.

00:13:16
Speaker 4: Said his name. I wasn't gonna say this. I was gonna go fast forward. We can believe we can bleep that out too. The reason we bleep it out here's why. So his dad, I'm very familiar. I'm very familiar with that family. His dad was my football coach growing up. He would was a stud player in high school. I'm sure, like obviously he went and pitched.

00:13:33
Speaker 1: At Missou, But basically I was like in fourth, fifth, sixth grade just terrorizing the fields of Bonte, Missouri.

00:13:40
Speaker 2: I mean I was a savage and.

00:13:43
Speaker 1: Uh savage and every Friday or if it was a Saturday day game, Uh, his dad would take me. He would drive a couple of US players to go watch them play North County play because North County was a good football team too. But it was like that dude in high school or believe was that dad dude in high school?

00:14:03
Speaker 3: Said?

00:14:04
Speaker 5: Was that dude in high school? As a player or was he like slant what we talking about here?

00:14:08
Speaker 1: As an athlete, He's a good good football player, good baseball player, small, smaller to could sling it like you wouldn't think he could sling it.

00:14:15
Speaker 2: I have a fastball and stuff because he's not tall and linking all that.

00:14:17
Speaker 1: But he was just a stud stud person that he had like a he had a story that we can.

00:14:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, you asked coach Hype about a recruiting story. I was fortunate enough to be listening in, and I immediately thought, because you were the one asking the question, well I got a recruiting story for you.

00:14:32
Speaker 3: Because I'm really young.

00:14:33
Speaker 4: I begged the coach to let me be the volunteer coach, you know, just unpaid coach. And after a year, a recruiting coordinator leaves and I eventually get the job at a really young age, don't know what I'm doing, and I take the baton from him. From this kid we're recruiting, He's like the first thing you need to do is kind of finish the task getting this guy committed. So I don't want to say he's the first player I recruited because I don't want that label.

00:14:58
Speaker 3: But he went to that high school, North County.

00:15:01
Speaker 4: You're the one saying his name, so he was a part of You're the one. He was a part of the first recruiting class we ever had, along with Max Scherzer and some other stood. Maxim actually threw a combined no hitter against Texas Tech.

00:15:17
Speaker 3: The only problem is later in the year stabbed a guy.

00:15:22
Speaker 4: Ship That was a twist I didn't see and like, no, ship stabbed again like a good slider, and like, hey, I stabbed him. That's a baseball term with a knight he used to and he stabbed it trying trying.

00:15:36
Speaker 3: To take a life party right yes, out in the lawn. Fortunately I wasn't there. I was still That was a that was for us.

00:15:45
Speaker 1: That was a monster deal because again I'm close with that family. Like this player that we're talking about, I like his dad would say, hey, uh, he would say, hang with Wilford day, take me along with him.

00:15:58
Speaker 2: I'm a younger cat looking up to this dude.

00:16:00
Speaker 3: When this all happened, when I'm thinking, holy shit, when he stabbed the guy and you're like, maybe I gotta stab it.

00:16:04
Speaker 6: Yeah, Like if I'm around if I Yeah, I'm saying if I'm around him in high school, I'm like, as a young kid, I'm wanting to think, Oh, he's like an older brother type guy to where I can fit in and hang around everybody else.

00:16:14
Speaker 3: Okay, So he was at a house party and he stabbed somebody.

00:16:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, there was the person. The person did not die, No, they did not. And the altercation was over a girl.

00:16:23
Speaker 3: I think.

00:16:23
Speaker 4: So you gotta assume like it's kind of getting away lady night and there's beverages. It was one of those deals where this is the main house party, but there's kind of some offset ones, you know, where you cross the street and so there's some sort of back and forth between the house. But I'll tell you what, that's a tragic deal. Fortunately the person didn't die. We're a University of Texas and we get a big third out and our guys are hooting and hollering out of the dugout and it kind of gets quiet for a second and some some old fan for Texas goes which one of you boys now and there stabbed.

00:16:53
Speaker 3: That poor kid.

00:16:55
Speaker 2: And he's sitting on the bench there in the.

00:16:57
Speaker 3: Dug point he had been excused.

00:17:00
Speaker 4: It is later in the year, and just like he was excused, he was pulled out of his ass, was pulled out of there.

00:17:06
Speaker 3: That poor that poor boy.

00:17:07
Speaker 4: And uh it, it was comedy in a in a weird way.

00:17:11
Speaker 5: So yeah, uh yeah, like the Joker comedy for sure, that's wild, that's fucking crazy. But so did he get convicted?

00:17:19
Speaker 3: Is he in jail now? He among us?

00:17:23
Speaker 4: Charges were dropped, So he really didn't stab somebody allegedly just from the story, just like netted anybody.

00:17:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's having a good old time right now.

00:17:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'll tell you he's a stud. I'm talking engineers, very smart. I mean you recruited almost murdered he's very smart boy. Yeah, yeah, for sure he did. But he didn't murder anybody.

00:17:44
Speaker 3: What a fucking story, man, did you recruit Aaron Blunt? Yeah?

00:17:49
Speaker 2: He was at he was.

00:17:55
Speaker 3: He was one of those cats. He was a lefty lank.

00:17:57
Speaker 1: He was a stud, but just didn't one of those dudes that's like he had a huge opportunity and that he was like a hem, was like a too cool of a guy, like went too hard, partied way too hard, way too much me that information ahead of time? What have if you would have recruited me to play baseball at missoo. No, I mean I played baseball growing up, but I wasn't at this level that there. I mean I wasn't baseball player. Worked pretty well for you, Yeah, yeah, we went was the right sport. We played at the.

00:18:21
Speaker 4: Old Nebraska Baseball Stadium the last year was there. It was a piece of crap and it was next right next to the football stadium. Yeah, And we pulled into the parking lot and we were able to sneak in. We were waiting for the coaches to meet coach Da Van Horns, a legend. He was there at the time.

00:18:37
Speaker 3: I worked for him at Arkansas.

00:18:38
Speaker 4: And we're waiting on the coaches to decide if we're going to play or not in the rain, and we snuck into the football stadium and played. We had an empty soda bottle and we played like a kind of I mean, we wanted to play in that place. The history was insane, Oh yeah, especially for guys at our age.

00:18:52
Speaker 3: One of the most story progress.

00:18:53
Speaker 1: What a small world, Yeah, what a small world talking just just hair.

00:18:57
Speaker 2: But yeah, BoNT Missouri.

00:18:58
Speaker 3: The place to man.

00:18:59
Speaker 1: I wish Aaron would have been a He was a stud. I'm yeah, he was awesome. I just feel like, in my opinion, he probably party too hard. You might know more once he got to college, but he was just a study. He was like an All American in high school. He could sling it, bro, he could hit, he could do all the stuff lefty, so you know, he had movement on the ball. You know, you know all the language. I don't know all the language, but yeah, I mean it's some.

00:19:21
Speaker 3: I don't know. It's interesting.

00:19:22
Speaker 4: A lot of guys, you know, maybe follow the Tom Brady method and never eat a carb or any of that thing.

00:19:28
Speaker 3: But I gotta believe.

00:19:32
Speaker 2: Moment.

00:19:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, when Tom Brady comes on, we have to it.

00:19:36
Speaker 2: We take a moment of silence.

00:19:38
Speaker 4: Well, you got to be able to manage that deal. I mean you got to be able to have fun, but you also got to be able to handle business. Yeah, it's been interesting coaching some guys that maybe can't do both and other guys, you know, are good at keeping everything organized the handling it.

00:19:50
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:19:51
Speaker 5: Can you usually tell when you were in a recruiting process and you hear things about kids like, oh, hey, this kid likes to get after.

00:19:56
Speaker 3: It a little bit. Does that worry you or you kind of like, I just got to make sure I keep an eye this kid once he gets here. Yeah, no, I don't mind using the kid's name.

00:20:02
Speaker 4: Nick Schmidt was a kid in high school from Saint Louis, and every time I called him, he was at a part like maybe it was just a basement with twelve, but there was always girls and guys in the background, and he was kind of that personality. It was my first year coach when I was young, and he walked by me at the field and I'm supposed to be the coach, coach fight Tello and he's the recruit and he smacked me on the ass. It's like, what's up, coach, b oh.

00:20:23
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:20:24
Speaker 5: So imagine having that kind of confidence with the coach.

00:20:26
Speaker 2: I know, dude.

00:20:27
Speaker 4: So we passed on Nick Schmidt because of that, or I did. He was the first fresher, but well just the whole he was a first rounder, but I was I was accurate in my read. He went to Arkansas and a guy named Dave Jorn was a pitching coach and he had to kind of heart to heart with him and basically kind of saved the kid's soul a little like.

00:20:50
Speaker 3: I don't think he became you know.

00:20:52
Speaker 4: Where he never had another beer or anything, but really kind of got more. So I was kind of accurate in my read, and he went to the right place a lot of times. With the recruiting, it's about and up with the spot that was meant for you to be at, not necessarily the best place in the world.

00:21:04
Speaker 3: Whatever helps you sleep for missing on that first round, the first round, or he ain't the only one. So yeah, no doubt. That's a wild deal.

00:21:11
Speaker 5: As far as atmosphere goes, I've been I've only been a one college baseball game that was an LSU. Yeah, phenomenal time. I think I'm a big LSU fan sure because of that. What's the atmosphere like here? If stands packed, but then after it's bananas. I mean, it's a hornet's nest over there. I think a lot of it has to do with our field.

00:21:30
Speaker 4: You see where we're at, We're kind of landlocked, so everything's real close and quaint if you want to call it that. And then our fan base, you can stereotype LSU's fan base is going to tailgate and they're going to do this and that, and they're going to have crawfish occasions.

00:21:43
Speaker 5: Do it a little different. Yeah, the open container law, they're allowed to do whatever they want.

00:21:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.

00:21:47
Speaker 4: And I think each team in our league has phenomenal fans, but they're all again, you could kind of describe them in four or five words and be fairly accurate. And our fans are just rambunctious, maybe more than anybody in the league. I mean, you guys were talking about the game against Mississippi.

00:22:01
Speaker 1: Did you love that? You're not you're not a football coach. You can kind of he Yes, he's got to tew the line a little bit more.

00:22:06
Speaker 2: Are you watching your life?

00:22:07
Speaker 3: You're free to say whatever you want. Okay, Okay, I'm gonna words. Yes, social media, he'll just be canceled in the morning. Yeah, okay, a couple of days, a couple day.

00:22:23
Speaker 4: Here's what I was thinking when you guys talked about it with the coach hype is I don't think anyone in the world wants objects thrown at another individual because you never know what crazy thing could happen. But you could see where the fans frustration came from. If you were watching so they acted, you know, a little bit out of line, or they acted out of line.

00:22:40
Speaker 3: Bottom line. Here's what I'll say about vall stands.

00:22:44
Speaker 4: If if the referees at any point And again I don't coach football. I don't know who those guys were, so you can't as sue.

00:22:49
Speaker 2: Me or that's right, sponsor.

00:22:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, all I had to say was the next thing that's thrown on this field were penalized in Tennessee fifteen yards and no one would have moved an inch.

00:23:00
Speaker 3: That's how our fans are.

00:23:01
Speaker 5: Yeah, but what about Mississippi fans that might be there'd be like, oh, easy, that's that.

00:23:05
Speaker 3: Is that's a good point, and that's true.

00:23:07
Speaker 4: But I think they're gonna get a haymaker thrown to the jaw off if they throw something and the next like that, Hey.

00:23:12
Speaker 3: That's the Italian of them.

00:23:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's gonna get a baseball back to the news.

00:23:21
Speaker 3: That was my take on it.

00:23:22
Speaker 4: I mean, there's always a counter argument, but that would have been my perfect solution. To call me down our fans because they're rowdy, but they don't they they don't want to hurt our team.

00:23:31
Speaker 3: I can tell you that. Yeah, volunteer fans world deep.

00:23:33
Speaker 5: They were, ah, we're part of this thing with barstool with it's like if your seed makes it into the sweet sixteen in basketball, that we we you get a certain amount of money. And I we were playing Michigan was playing Tennessee, and Michigan beat Tennessee to go in to the Sweet sixteen. And I tweeted them like the haters are sick right now with Juwan Howard slapping the tee I caught, I caught fucking hands via Twitter. I was catching hands left in right now. I was biting the hand that fed me. Because obviously a lot ofvolunteer fans are Tennessee Titan fans, but they go hard in the paint where I almost had an issue, like an apology, like hey listen, you guys roll deep like that.

00:24:08
Speaker 2: It's a formal apology, formal like he's it the sponsor.

00:24:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think.

00:24:12
Speaker 4: Better than the apology is just wearing that hat that's a class is nice big time?

00:24:16
Speaker 3: Was that?

00:24:16
Speaker 2: What was it?

00:24:17
Speaker 3: Pete's.

00:24:18
Speaker 5: We're at pete Yeah. Also great food at Pete's. And this kid he asked for a photo and I was like, I love your hat. He's like thanks, and I said I'll give you a hundred bucks for that hat, and he said yep, and it was made done.

00:24:32
Speaker 3: Deal like that, he took it off his head. I readjusted the hat because the boy's got a bit of a dome.

00:24:36
Speaker 5: Smacked that thing on top and it was It's been smooth sailing with this hat ever since.

00:24:40
Speaker 3: Other than Hijahan.

00:24:41
Speaker 5: A couple of your questions as far as like when stadiums go, what's in the sec take the volunteers out of it? What's the most hype place to play?

00:24:50
Speaker 4: Well, Arkansas was where I worked before I came here. Their fans are like Cardinal fans, uh, just they know the game.

00:24:56
Speaker 3: Well, they're really losing. Sam Louis is really getting lots of shout out right now.

00:25:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's a massive, massive stadium. But really, I mean there's other there's other towns that could throw out arguments. Starkville probably has the second or the first, you know, nicest stadium, and.

00:25:14
Speaker 3: Then Oxford where we just played.

00:25:15
Speaker 4: I mean it's not normal to go in there and win and Lane Kiffin comes and throws out the golf ball and they're they're going crazy. Yeah, I think I think he took some heat for that, but I think it was all in good fun and.

00:25:30
Speaker 3: Via social media because he's not scared and respect.

00:25:34
Speaker 2: I respect that.

00:25:35
Speaker 4: It's one of the reasons he's a good coach. I mean, you know, he's on the edge at all times, and I guess you're not. You're taking up too much space?

00:25:41
Speaker 2: Should we do the Duke Cannon question of the day?

00:25:45
Speaker 3: Run? Sure?

00:25:47
Speaker 2: Home run coat?

00:25:48
Speaker 3: What is okay?

00:25:48
Speaker 5: So?

00:25:49
Speaker 4: What is the home run coat? Fan question from Jack McPherson's shout out.

00:25:52
Speaker 1: Jack, No free shout outs coach Eler. What's the question Jack? It's it's coming from Jacket's.

00:25:56
Speaker 4: Coming from Jack. Coach home run cove. Yeah, a coat coat lay guys. You know, it all started with the Rangers. I think with Josh Hampton's on our team. If they hit a double, they would kind of do a sign and now all of a sudden, I don't think it was a gang sign.

00:26:15
Speaker 3: It was more of just a gesture, gotcha.

00:26:17
Speaker 4: And uh ever since then, if you hit a double, you got to do something, and it turned into Batista's you know, batflip, and now everyone's got to do something.

00:26:24
Speaker 3: They had a home run. It seems like so.

00:26:25
Speaker 4: Our guys came up with a hat they would wear, which became really popular.

00:26:29
Speaker 3: The fans wanted to see it stay.

00:26:31
Speaker 4: This team wanted to be kind of their own team, have their own identity, so they carried over the hat theme but added on to it by having this.

00:26:38
Speaker 3: Fur or mink. I've never even touched it.

00:26:40
Speaker 4: It's got to be nasty by now, but it's a it's a it's a coat. There could be a woman's or a man's coat. You know, they could wear in a seventies party.

00:26:49
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:26:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, and they throw it on the guy who hit the home run. When he does so, he kind of looks, you know, pimped out or whatever you say. And they love it. I think the fans like it. You see little kids wearing these, you know, mocked up coats now so is awesome. Yeah, it's something that's unique to their team, and the fans have caught on and again if opponents got things they do when they celebrate nowadays, if you're wasting.

00:27:08
Speaker 3: Energy on that, you're you're wasting energy.

00:27:10
Speaker 2: What's the what's the heat? Say?

00:27:12
Speaker 3: Daddy hat, daddy? You get a daddy daddy hat? Yea swim there you go right there, that's bought this. Have a guy fore hundred dollars to Actually you're gonna be they they print more every day, Coach, they print more every single day. That's true. We're out here hunting.

00:27:28
Speaker 4: I'd like to know where what that kid's gonna do with this hundred boney game this morning? What kind of think Jack?

00:27:33
Speaker 2: No questions bow tonight?

00:27:36
Speaker 1: He literally he was so stoked to meet and he's like there was like, hey, dude, I love the heck kind I bought off you And he was like sure, He's I'll give you a hundred dollars.

00:27:43
Speaker 2: He's like, okay, Yeah, that was it.

00:27:45
Speaker 3: There was no made zero bargain.

00:27:47
Speaker 4: You feel like I could have got away with fifty, but you've asked for change and he got it, and it's like it becomes a hold.

00:27:53
Speaker 2: Ask for change, Well, yeah it's fifty.

00:27:55
Speaker 3: I gotta got hundreds on me.

00:27:56
Speaker 2: Yeah you get you know what I mean? Yeah.

00:28:03
Speaker 3: Last question today brought to us by actually have a question too, but go ahead. Last segment of the.

00:28:07
Speaker 1: Day Less segment of the Day brought to us by Duke Cannon Not for clowns.

00:28:10
Speaker 2: We have an insane and il deal for you.

00:28:12
Speaker 1: We're bust with the boys, are sponsoring you with Duke Cannon Deoduran. You're looking at it right now, the dry ice, and I'm not shooting you.

00:28:18
Speaker 2: You put that on your pits.

00:28:19
Speaker 1: It's like cool little breeze missed throughout the entire day, if you're the entire day.

00:28:23
Speaker 3: How this smells? It smells, how you look fantastic?

00:28:26
Speaker 2: There you go.

00:28:26
Speaker 1: That's exactly whats like going off of your recruiting stories. Obviously it's hard to it's hard to top the stabbing one. But what else you're telling us about a kid getting mugged when you're on a recruiting trip. Do you have something in the bank that you like to tell outside of what we've already discussed.

00:28:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was a That was a coach one where we sent him to get a gatorry and he never came back.

00:28:47
Speaker 3: Poor fella. You know where were you preface?

00:28:50
Speaker 2: Where were we at?

00:28:51
Speaker 3: We were at the same place, coach I Will said he was at. I I think coach I've said University of Houston. We won't ask the university.

00:29:00
Speaker 4: I got buddies worked there. Actually, that gas station is no longer there in the area has been renovated. It's gentrified. Yeah, yeah, so this is this is a while bat it happens, but no, no, recruiting in general is wild. I wish I had one that that really really stuck out. I know, you know, for me, it's always interesting when you get the kids on campus and they're walking around and then you know, they go off with the guys, and then the next morning you see who maybe hung out with the guys a little too late at night. Yeah, and uh, I've been a part of some morning meetings where guys can't stay awake. But nothing, nothing sticks out too crazy or where I'd want to throw anyone under the bus. Although mister Scherzer I was not a full time coach when I took him around on his official visit.

00:29:43
Speaker 3: You were having a low. It was half fun, half coach.

00:29:45
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:29:45
Speaker 4: And so you guys went to Petez Diner. We went to the diner in Columbia, Missouri, which is just the diner. Yeah, and that is a lot to be And that's the place that sealed a deal for arguably the best picture in the world.

00:29:57
Speaker 3: Wow, sealed the deal because of the night that you guys. Yeah, we did. We did have a good one a little bit. Yeah, strippers and cocaine type of vibe or no, that was that was that inappropriate? I don't know, not know it would have been nights, but it would have been.

00:30:22
Speaker 4: They made me so uncomfortable. Anytime I've ever been in a strip club, it's like do you want to dance?

00:30:25
Speaker 2: It's like not really, you're for a dollar?

00:30:29
Speaker 3: Oh you're so cute? Like okay, maybe, but like leave me alone.

00:30:32
Speaker 4: It's just I feel like I feel like it's when a man comes on too strong to a woman at a bar. It's the same thing. It's like, please let me breathe, you know, let me work for it. A little bit type of deal strippers, Am I right?

00:30:42
Speaker 3: Uh?

00:30:42
Speaker 5: My question glitterally for a uh college world series? What would you do to bring that to the Tennessee volunteers? What lengths would you go to?

00:30:54
Speaker 4: I don't know if I do what coach Vrabel did, Although I'm I really liked watching him as a player. He's a little too and so I don't want to cut off any appendages.

00:31:02
Speaker 3: That I'd like to maybe use Italian. He's got dark hair. Vrabel's kind of a I mean, he would know he's got the dark hair, the tan skin, the big he's got that, you know he does. I forget. It's an Italian thing to do, but it's also a very Ohio thing to do too.

00:31:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, very smug he he uh. And I feel like he used your appendage much more than Rabel does. What I'm saying, he just absolutely put this kind of boxes and playing.

00:31:26
Speaker 3: Boy, he's just getting after it. He uh.

00:31:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's got a son that's a really good baseball player. Yeah, Carder, Yeah, you think should come here and play. I don't know, you know, sometimes it's about body count in recruiting. We we do things so in advance, like Champarrelle, that's way, that's young.

00:31:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, he said to school. I would not go Verabel.

00:31:43
Speaker 4: I'd go Ronnie Lot I would I would let a finger be taken off to go to the mall and a.

00:31:48
Speaker 3: Certain finger, like would you go middle?

00:31:49
Speaker 2: Would you go any of them?

00:31:50
Speaker 3: Would you for pinky? I don't want to lose the middle because would.

00:31:52
Speaker 5: You go it's off too much? It makes your hand look a way small. I'd probably go ring finger that you keep the whole.

00:31:57
Speaker 3: With yea in that pinky you can really just do without really, Yeah, I don't know. I kind of like this little guy. If you're a you can put your toes on your thumbs?

00:32:08
Speaker 2: Would you take your thumb off?

00:32:10
Speaker 3: I don't think I go to It takes you down the evolutionary.

00:32:12
Speaker 2: You can't do that, no offensive thumb.

00:32:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, people, it's a it's a big thing.

00:32:17
Speaker 2: It's a big crazy cancel.

00:32:18
Speaker 5: Would you donate your entire salary to busting with the boys? If you guys won a world serious speaking, just to win the World Series for the volunteer for a national championship, I would do that.

00:32:28
Speaker 3: All right?

00:32:28
Speaker 2: Then what do you make before Texas?

00:32:33
Speaker 3: You guys got to set up another one of these with the A D. I don't even know. I don't even care. You don't know what you make? Oh he knows all we know what you make.

00:32:42
Speaker 2: We don't know what you make?

00:32:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, I love it. Though you have been outstanding. I appreciate you being a good sport.

00:32:47
Speaker 4: Well, you guys make it easy my morning coffee after a loss last night.

00:32:51
Speaker 3: So hopefully we got good karma going into the weekend.

00:32:53
Speaker 2: Awesome.

00:32:55
Speaker 5: We need bigger bat flips, We need more fans talking ship. Yes, bring baseball back to what it needs to be and all the.

00:33:00
Speaker 1: Little kids and need to be buying the oversized coach. We got to break the home run.

00:33:04
Speaker 3: We got it. We got to make a bust in baseball shirt for the boys. Uh balls.

00:33:09
Speaker 2: We gotta do something.

00:33:11
Speaker 3: We got we do something for football. We gotta do some for baseball.

00:33:13
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. I am too.

00:33:14
Speaker 3: I'm gonna start watching them. You cannon come in my way, so we'll get you guys set up. All right, cool man, that is a fair trade off. That sounds right. You should give us something.

00:33:22
Speaker 2: Coach shakes a lot.

00:33:23
Speaker 3: Thank you, appreciate you.

00:33:24
Speaker 2: I appreciate it.