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Speaker 1: Kentucky Athletics Director and Mitch I'll start with this a

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Speaker 1: very simple question. You have a new coach, I assume

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Speaker 1: and it's Mark Pope. Tell me how you ended up

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Speaker 1: getting there and why you ended up picking him.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a long question. The processes are.

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Speaker 3: Complicated and all these things and they move rapidly, and

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Speaker 3: obviously on Saturday night, we didn't anticipate being in this

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Speaker 3: kind of search this week, and so obviously you start

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Speaker 3: on Monday and when you get news that things are moving,

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Speaker 3: so you've always you're prepared in terms of things that

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Speaker 3: people that you might want to talk to and in

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Speaker 3: conversations you might want to have. But at the end

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Speaker 3: of the day, I think people have this notion at

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Speaker 3: the pool is massively big, and it's really more like

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Speaker 3: a puddle of names because the folks that do it

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Speaker 3: would could want to do a job like the University

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Speaker 3: of Kentucky is smaller than you would would surmise, And

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Speaker 3: so you get to that and then you begin the

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Speaker 3: process of working your way through availabilities and people that

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Speaker 3: you want. You've got a lot of big personalities involved

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Speaker 3: in these things, and that includes not only the coaches

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Speaker 3: but the representatives as well, and so you're working your

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Speaker 3: way through all that, and and then obviously you've got the.

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Speaker 2: Media and the public piece of that.

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Speaker 3: So a lot of moving pieces, and we sort of

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Speaker 3: vetted a few, not a few several folks and then

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Speaker 3: walked through it and and got to a spot where

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Speaker 3: I had a really good conversation with Mark Pope, which

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Speaker 3: we've we've known Mark for for years from the times

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Speaker 3: that he's been back around our campus and he and Leanne.

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Speaker 3: We had a chance to visit with Leanne. She was

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Speaker 3: in Houston, and so we had an opportunity to bring

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Speaker 3: her into the conversation and I really enjoyed the opportunity

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Speaker 3: to spend more time with them. And I felt like

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Speaker 3: he had the energy and the passion and understands this

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Speaker 3: place at a really, really high level. There's not a

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Speaker 3: lot of people that can say they captained a national

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Speaker 3: championship team into any sport, and he did that for

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Speaker 3: the University of Kentucky. And he brings in amazing passion

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Speaker 3: and energy for this place. And then he has got

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Speaker 3: the skill set that goes with it in terms of

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Speaker 3: the offense and style of ball that he plays and

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Speaker 3: the things that he does in the relationships that he

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Speaker 3: has here. And once Mark gets here, and we're hopeful

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Speaker 3: to get him here in the next day, hopefully tomorrow,

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Speaker 3: and in some way, shape or form, and get him here,

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Speaker 3: people get to see him and see his heartbeat for Kentucky.

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Speaker 3: He's one of ours and that means a lot to

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Speaker 3: all of us and to the players that played here

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Speaker 3: and the people who saw what he did as he

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Speaker 3: represented as his student athlete. He'll do that and more

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Speaker 3: as a coach.

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Speaker 1: When you if I'm a fan that's listening right now,

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Speaker 1: and I'm saying, Mitch Barnhart, give me one thing to

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Speaker 1: get really excited about about Mark Pope as the next

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Speaker 1: coach of Kentucky beyond the fact that he played here.

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Speaker 4: What would it be?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, I think there's there's two pieces to the puzzle.

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Speaker 3: So if if you said one, I'd probably go two

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Speaker 3: different sides of the coin. You know, one is the

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Speaker 3: personality side and the other is is the technical side.

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Speaker 3: When you talk to the people in the basketball community,

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Speaker 3: they talk about the unique offense City runs and the

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Speaker 3: way he forces teams to defend, and then he makes

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Speaker 3: them defend all the way out. Twenty seven by fifty,

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Speaker 3: so they come all the way out and the way

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Speaker 3: they break it down and they shoot the threes they have.

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Speaker 3: They led the third in the country and made threes

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Speaker 3: the first they were first, and I think few three

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Speaker 3: point field goal percent or three point field goal percentage,

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Speaker 3: so they were up there at least in the top

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Speaker 3: five all year. Their offensive efficiency is high level. They

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Speaker 3: were eighty one points a game. So when I talk

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Speaker 3: about why that fits in today's landscape of college basketball,

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Speaker 3: obviously we had a team that was up in the

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Speaker 3: upper eighties this year, and sometimes on the defensive end,

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Speaker 3: we didn't get as much on the defensive end as

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Speaker 3: we used to. And so I think what Mark does.

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Speaker 3: He brings a little bit of his style as a

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Speaker 3: player when he was here, and he's matched it with

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Speaker 3: some nuances to the offense that I think are really

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Speaker 3: really cool. And we talked technically a lot about the

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Speaker 3: three on one side.

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Speaker 2: Of the court and two on the other.

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Speaker 3: It's a new move of the NBA and where the

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Speaker 3: NBA is going and some of the things that they're doing,

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Speaker 3: and the players like to play that way, and he

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Speaker 3: has already put that in his stuff and it's really good.

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Speaker 3: And so as you talk to some of the basketball

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Speaker 3: I we'll say junkies, but if you talk about some

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Speaker 3: of the people that are sort of the nuances of

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Speaker 3: the game, Mark's on the cutting edge of those things.

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Speaker 2: Offensively and defensively.

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Speaker 3: He likes to do some of the things that his

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Speaker 3: team was famous playing for and how they put pressure

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Speaker 3: on people and turn them over. So from a technical perspective,

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Speaker 3: I'd say you're going to see a little bit of

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Speaker 3: a throwback to some of the things that that look

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Speaker 3: like the team that is that Mark played for, and

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Speaker 3: not exactly the same because he's tweaked it a little

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Speaker 3: bit and put some of his own stuff in there.

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Speaker 3: And then on the other side of the coin, Matt,

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Speaker 3: I think what he has done is he brings the tenacity,

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Speaker 3: the toughness, and the positive energy.

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Speaker 2: He is a positive guy.

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Speaker 3: You're you can't be around Mark Pope very long if

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Speaker 3: you don't hear the positivity in his voice. He used

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Speaker 3: his words like we're crushing it, We're gonna crush that,

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Speaker 3: We're gonna you know it, gets to get after it,

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Speaker 3: and let's you know, his positive energy for anybody that

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Speaker 3: comes into contact with him is contagious, and I think

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Speaker 3: you know if you back. I went back and looked

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Speaker 3: at a couple of his pressors from other things that

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Speaker 3: he'd done. Words like relentless and tenacity and toughness roll

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Speaker 3: off his tongue easily, because that's what his teams do.

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Speaker 2: And he went to some really in.

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Speaker 3: A league that arguably, maybe right or wrong, you can

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Speaker 3: say arguably they were the best basketball conference this year.

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Speaker 3: In the deal, that's what they all said, and went

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Speaker 3: in on that Big Twelve did not have anybody in

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Speaker 3: the final four, but they had a lot of teams

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Speaker 3: in that conversation in terms of of the NCAA tournament.

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Speaker 3: And he went in to the venues and hosted teams

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Speaker 3: in the meanings and in his first year in that

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Speaker 3: league and probably should have been named Big Twelve Coach

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Speaker 3: of the Year. He did not get that, But he

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Speaker 3: went places, he beat teams that we didn't beat, and

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Speaker 3: he beat teams that were people that we interviewed. So

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Speaker 3: you know, it's I just say he has a lack

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Speaker 3: of fear of the situation. He is ready to take

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Speaker 3: everything on and he knows how big this job is

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Speaker 3: and he knows how important it is to this state.

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Speaker 3: And so that's more than one, it means a lot

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Speaker 3: to him.

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Speaker 1: Then well, let me ask you this, because I'm going

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Speaker 1: to give you if the average fan sort of thought

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Speaker 1: concern I've heard, and maybe you can address some of them.

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Speaker 1: I think that school he was at has unique challenges

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Speaker 1: in recruiting. Do you believe he can bring the best

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Speaker 1: talent to Kentucky? I think most people believe in his

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Speaker 1: exes and o's. Can't he get the players here that

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Speaker 1: people think you need to win a title?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Well I think I think that the person in the

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Speaker 3: putting obviously we got to go get that done. But

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Speaker 3: so I get off the phone with him last night

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Speaker 3: and he already talked to me about two players that

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Speaker 3: he couldn't get to come to have a conversation with

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Speaker 3: him at BYU that already called him back and said, coach,

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Speaker 3: I'll come to Kentucky.

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Speaker 2: So it is about the name on the front. It's

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Speaker 2: about the name on.

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Speaker 3: The front of the jersey, right, and there's something about

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Speaker 3: that brand. So if you go back and you look

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Speaker 3: at that, if you look at just in the social

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Speaker 3: impressions from Monday at three o'clock until Tuesday at three o'clock,

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Speaker 3: the University of Connecticut won the national championship, obviously, and

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Speaker 3: they had seventeen million.

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Speaker 2: Impressions in that twenty four hour period of time.

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Speaker 3: Kentucky basketball coming off something that everyone would agree is

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Speaker 3: not where we want to be. In the same twenty

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Speaker 3: four hour period of time, we had thirty seven million

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Speaker 3: impressions over double So my point is the brand is real,

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Speaker 3: and it is really really important, and we've got to

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Speaker 3: effectively use it, and we use it. We combine some

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Speaker 3: things in recruiting with the tenacity and recruiting a staff

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Speaker 3: and recruiting the brand that we have, and then the

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Speaker 3: NIL space, and we've got some people that have already

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Speaker 3: sped up over the last twenty four hours. We've got

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Speaker 3: several donors that have stepped up to put over four

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Speaker 3: million dollars in our in our NIL portfolio for coach

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Speaker 3: to work with to get some of.

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Speaker 1: That was reported earlier. You can confirm that's true. I

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Speaker 1: can confirm that's true, gotcha. So that's all right. That's

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Speaker 1: hugely that's hugely important for us as we go forward.

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Speaker 3: Obviously in terms of roster management of the current roster

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Speaker 3: as in the roster management going forward, everyone talks what

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Speaker 3: we can we can say that these are weird conversations.

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Speaker 3: This is stuff we've really never talked about on the

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Speaker 3: air before. It's new, but it's real and so yeah,

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Speaker 3: so that is part of our deal now we and

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Speaker 3: we continue to move forward.

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Speaker 2: We've got we've got more coming.

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Speaker 3: If people want to get involved, we can tell them

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Speaker 3: how to do that through our avenues.

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Speaker 4: Okay, well can you I mean, how can you do it?

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Speaker 4: You want to do that?

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Speaker 3: Here your club Blue. Yeah, you can do it through

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Speaker 3: Club Blue. If you go to Club I put it

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Speaker 3: on my social. There's a link to Club Blue if

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Speaker 3: you want to go to that. All you do is

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Speaker 3: is you can go to I'm not plugging my Twitter

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Speaker 3: pace because I really don't you know, that's not my deal.

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Speaker 3: But there's if you go there, you'll find on my

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Speaker 3: social there is a link to Club Blue.

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Speaker 1: I'll put it out later that way people can can

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Speaker 1: get it yours.

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Speaker 2: It's popular in my partner.

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Speaker 1: Well, thank Let me ask you this question because this

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Speaker 1: is going to be this is going to be what

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Speaker 1: people are going to talk about. There is that over

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Speaker 1: the last few years, everybody knows what it has been like.

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Speaker 1: Do you feel like, what are some things in the

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Speaker 1: last couple of years that were weaknesses maybe around the

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Speaker 1: program that you think Mark Pope makes better with his presence.

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Speaker 1: Everybody knows the strengths of the cal era. What about

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Speaker 1: some things you think will get better with Mark Pope

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Speaker 1: as the coach?

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't.

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Speaker 3: I think as we you know, look forward, and that's

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Speaker 3: why I want to be really focused on that.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's where you're headed to. Man.

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Speaker 3: I I really appreciate march desire to bring the big

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Speaker 3: nation and all of us together as we galvanized, to

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Speaker 3: go back and be who we want to be. And

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Speaker 3: when I tell you the first thing when we sat down,

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Speaker 3: he says, Mitch, thanks for the opportunity to sit down

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Speaker 3: with you.

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Speaker 2: That place changed my life.

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Speaker 3: He says, the trajectory of Mark Pope's life changed the

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Speaker 3: day I walked on the campus at the University of Kentucky.

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Speaker 3: He said, that place means more to me than you

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Speaker 3: can possibly imagine. That no one can replicate that DNA.

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Speaker 3: No one can, and so it's passionate and it's emotional,

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Speaker 3: and that's what you get when he told I don't

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Speaker 3: want to see all of his stories, because he's got

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Speaker 3: some great stuff. But when he talks about the autograph

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Speaker 3: signing line after the national championship and what it meant

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Speaker 3: to the people was they stood in line to catch

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Speaker 3: a chance to have a glimpse of a national champion.

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Speaker 3: That's the heartbeat of all of our fans from border

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Speaker 3: to border in the state and Mark gets that, and

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Speaker 3: that's what I want to make sure that we galvanize,

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Speaker 3: that we galvanize our department around that. There's been, you know,

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Speaker 3: some things that have happened that we need to we

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Speaker 3: need to be banded together better. And I've challenged Mark

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Speaker 3: to really be thoughtful of how we do that, and

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Speaker 3: that's important to me. That helps us as we create

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Speaker 3: culture within our department and culture within our team and

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Speaker 3: our locker room. And we've become a program that walks

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Speaker 3: out with that name on the front of the jersey

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Speaker 3: and we walk out there representing the Big one nation

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Speaker 3: and the four million people in our state and worldwide.

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Speaker 3: That is so important. That's what I think. I'm hopeful

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Speaker 3: that we can be as a department better and that's

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Speaker 3: on me and as a as a as a basketball

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Speaker 3: program that that people feel that I want them to

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Speaker 3: feel that when they walk in we understand the goal

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Speaker 3: and we're going to have the pressure in Reperina.

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Speaker 2: It's going to be in Reperina and it is very bad.

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Speaker 1: You guys a press conference in Reperena. Do you know

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Speaker 1: what day that'll be their work? They're working on the

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Speaker 1: logistics on that. Probably Sunday, Matt, probably Sunday. So we're

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Speaker 1: working on that, probably Sunday. So we'orking working trying to

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Speaker 1: get all the details pulled together. There's an event and

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Speaker 1: up on mind.

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Speaker 4: Well that be like for the public, like the public.

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Speaker 2: Can come absolutely absolutely all right.

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Speaker 1: So that that's the first time I can remember that

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Speaker 1: being the case that that that that so that that

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Speaker 1: that will be on Sunday. All right, So again I'm

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Speaker 1: trying to apologize apologize the media on that. It's not

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Speaker 1: a great day for that.

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Speaker 3: But we're trying to get everything going, to get everybody

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Speaker 3: going and he needs obviously the task at hand is

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Speaker 3: is rosters and recruiting. Yeah, all right, so let's let's

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Speaker 3: see other thing one other things. That one of the

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Speaker 3: thing that everybody understands, the process has to move really

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Speaker 3: quickly because the dead period ends, you know, and so

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Speaker 3: all of a sudden, how everybody's out and recruiting too.

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Speaker 3: That was critical mass as we move forward in terms

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Speaker 3: of so you.

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Speaker 4: Didn't feel like you could wait for someone. Am I right?

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Speaker 3: You can't wait long in this process because a lot

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Speaker 3: of things happened. You know, people are you know, all

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Speaker 3: of a sudden, you got people making decisions in the

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Speaker 3: transfer world and that kind of stuff that that are uh,

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Speaker 3: you know are critical to rosters and uh and you know, yeah,

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Speaker 3: we'll just give us, give us time. And no one's willing.

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Speaker 3: No one's going to give you time. I mean that's

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Speaker 3: not a that's not in the they don't care who

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Speaker 3: you are and that in that deal. It's it's it's

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Speaker 3: moving quickly.

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Speaker 1: Do you think there will be have you all reached

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Speaker 1: out to or do you think there will be any

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Speaker 1: players that were either currently on the team or potentially

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Speaker 1: committed that you can be able to get to still

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Speaker 1: be at Kentucky play for Kentucky under Mart Pope.

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Speaker 3: Well, and certainly, you know, obviously those are coaches calls,

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Speaker 3: and he's got to he's gonna make those calls.

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Speaker 2: But I certainly hope that everyone gives this staff.

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Speaker 3: An opportunity to be able to have a conversation before

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Speaker 3: they do it. That's why getting it done quickly was

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Speaker 3: really really not getting it done quickly, getting done efficiently

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Speaker 3: and being ready to go was really really important because

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Speaker 3: those were not crazy. But this notion that no one's

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Speaker 3: quote unquote tampering with your roster, that's that's gone. I mean,

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Speaker 3: that's and says, you know, please call us if you

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Speaker 3: hear that's happening. I don't know that they can handle

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Speaker 3: the number of phone calls that it happens on a

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Speaker 3: daily basis from sport to sport. It's it's not a

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Speaker 3: not even something they can track. So yeah, I mean

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Speaker 3: it's you've got to be You've got to jump in

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Speaker 3: the middle of this pretty pretty heavily and get to

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Speaker 3: your your roster and manage that.

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Speaker 2: And and and he's doing it. He's going to do that.

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Speaker 3: That's that's that's job number one, position number one, roll

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Speaker 3: number one, whatever you want to talk about. That's the

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Speaker 3: first thing on his list, amongst other things. They've got

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Speaker 3: connected with our fan base.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure if you if you if you moved

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Speaker 1: or something, but you're a little harder to hear. So

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Speaker 1: for the last question and go back to where you

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Speaker 1: were before that question. That would be easier I want

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Speaker 1: to give you one I want to say one last thing. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so I got online last night when this got announced,

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Speaker 1: a lot of skepticism, a lot of frustration, a lot

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Speaker 1: of worry. To be honest with you, seems much better

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Speaker 1: this morning, but that's still out there. Part of as

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Speaker 1: an a d you want everybody to rally the troops.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to get you to put on your colonel

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Speaker 1: you know, Mitch Barnhardt hat rally the troops. Why is

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Speaker 1: Mark Pope going to be successful at Kentucky.

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Speaker 3: I don't know that you can ever describe what it

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Speaker 3: feels like to put the sea on a shirt and

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Speaker 3: captain a group of guys to a championship. We're going

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Speaker 3: to roll out at Ruppellen and we're going to have

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Speaker 3: a spotlight on on the banners that represent this place.

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Speaker 3: There's very few people that can stand on a podium

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Speaker 3: and say they were a part of that, and they

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Speaker 3: captain the team and now they're ready to leave the ship.

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Speaker 3: This is our time, you know, not bicker. We've been

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Speaker 3: bickering awhile about what we should do not do. Is

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Speaker 3: time to say this is our guy, he's one of ours,

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Speaker 3: and it is time to roll in, get behind this guy,

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Speaker 3: and let's go win something together, and let's make sure

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Speaker 3: that we have a heartbeat of what's on the front

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Speaker 3: of that jersey the right way. And this guy can

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Speaker 3: do it. He's got an unbelievable passion for this program.

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Speaker 3: He's got an intelligence about the game, and he is

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Speaker 3: absolutely most positive people I have ever been around. And the

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Speaker 3: players they're going to be at that pressure that have

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Speaker 3: come out, they believe in him. And so if I

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Speaker 3: don't ever want to cast away the opportunity to say,

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Speaker 3: you know what, ours aren't good enough to go lead

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Speaker 3: our program, they are and this guy's great enough to

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Speaker 3: lead our program. And he is, and we can go

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Speaker 3: win championships and we will.

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Speaker 4: It's bart Art. Thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate appreciate you calling in and I will see

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Speaker 1: you Sunday.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Matt, appreciate