WEBVTT - Crazy If You Do, Crazy If You Don’t with Bernadette McGlade 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:02.960 Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're headed 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:06.240 to Austin to hang at the iHeart Podcast Hotel at 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:11.680 south By Southwest. Yeehaw, howdy, Let's get roostered, Pardner that 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.800 means drunk. It's Friday, March seventh, and on today's show, 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.800 we'll be chatting with Atlantic ten Commissioner Bernadette mclade about 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:22.600 leading by example, overcoming failure, navigating the nil era, and the. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:24.440 Secret to her longevity at the conference. 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:29.480 Plus an NWSL Championship rematch, Unrivaled is stacking up semi finalists, 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:32.280 and an update from Alexa Philippoo on the Diana Tarassi 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.159 Rice Crispy Mystery. It's all coming up right after this 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:52.159 welcome back. Here's what you need to know today in 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.680 soccer news, We've got our first NWSL on field action 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.400 since November. Tonight, the league's Challenge Cup kicks off at 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:01.840 eight pm e Eastern, featuring a rematch of the twenty 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.440 twenty four championship between the victorious Orlando Pride and runner 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:06.640 up Washington's Spirit. 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:08.920 Will we get our first look at Barbara. 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:13.679 Banda, Marta, Trinity Rodman, maybe even Croy Bethune. Time will 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:16.440 tell how each side manages playing time. But no matter 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:20.320 who we see, the thing that matters is NWSL Soccer 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:24.880 is back. You can catch that contest streaming live on 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.080 Prime Video. Oh and the four part docuseries for the 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.640 Win NWSL that follows the twenty twenty four playoffs is 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:33.839 now streaming on Prime Video as well. 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:35.880 Go check it out more soccer. 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.680 The prosecutor in the case of former Spanish Soccer Federation 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:42.360 president Luis Rubialis is requesting a retrial, even though in 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:45.440 February Rubialis was found guilty of sexual assault and find 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:49.040 over ten thousand euros. Prosecutor Marta Dorontes believes a greater 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.200 punishment should have been levied Rubialis for kissing Spanish women's 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:55.040 national team player Jenny Hermoso on the lips during the 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.080 twenty twenty three World Cup award ceremony without her consent. 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.760 Per Reuter's reporting, Contes is asking that another judge be 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.360 assigned to the case, citing the fact that the guilty 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.760 sexual assault ruling should have constituted a one year sentence, 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.399 the penalty she requested, and arguing that evidence and many 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:13.959 of her questions were not admitted. She also wrote in 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:16.960 the appeal that the judge's conduct during the hearing compromised 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:20.320 quote the appearance of impartiality end quote, and that the 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:23.239 minimal fine and three thousand euros awarded to Hermoso or 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.079 quote offensive to the victim and to the victims of 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:30.720 sexual assault undoubtedly a bad precedent end quote. For his part, 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:35.040 Rubialis has said he'll also appeal the ruling. To college hoops, 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:38.040 Stanford fell to Clemson sixty three forty six in the 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:41.240 first round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday night, severely 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.880 damaging their chances of making the NCAA Tournament. Stanford is 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:48.240 sixteen and fourteen this season, and before that game, they 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:52.160 were in bracketologist Charlie Crem's last four out. That means 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:55.000 the Cardinal needed a strong showing in the ACC Tournament 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:57.520 to prove it belonged in the sixty four team NCAA 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:01.160 Tournament field. Now slightly that Stanford will miss the Big 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:04.840 Dance for the first time since the nineteen eighty seven season. 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.080 The program's thirty seven year streak is the second longest 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:10.840 in women's college basketball, and it could end in the 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.360 first season of Cardinal hoops since the retirement of the 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:17.760 winningest basketball coach in Division one history. Tara Vanderveer, Tennessee 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.400 has the longest existing streak with forty two straight tournament berths, 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:23.960 and though the Balls last to Vanderbilt in the SEC 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.640 Tournament yesterday, they're a pretty safe bet to make a 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:28.520 forty third appearance this season. 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:29.919 To Pro hoops. 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:33.120 Unrivaled is entering its last regular season weekend of play. 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.400 There are two games tonight, Phantom BC versus Lace's BC 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:40.080 at seven Eastern, followed by Lunar Owls BC versus ROSEBC. 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.080 Then there will be four more games split between Saturday 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:45.800 and Monday. Once these last couple games wrap up, we'll 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.920 know who all four semi final contenders are. Right now, 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:51.400 the Lunar Owls have clinched the number one seed and 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:53.600 Rose has clinched a spot in the playoffs, but not 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:57.920 a seed. There's also PVF, PWHL and Love Action happening 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.400 tonight and over the weekend too, so we'll to those 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.720 league schedules in our show notes. And In tennis news, 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:08.040 the Women's Tennis Association is introducing paid maternity leave. According 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.640 to Thursday's announcement, more than three hundred WTA players are 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.680 now eligible for paid leave twelve months for those who 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:17.400 become pregnant and two months for players who become parents 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.520 via partner pregnancy, surrogacy or adoption. The leave is financially 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.520 supported through a program sponsored by the Public Investment Fund 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:28.080 of Saudi Arabia, which will also provide grants for fertility treatments, 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.640 including egg freezing and in vitro fertilization. The fund is 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:34.600 retroacted to Jan one, but the WTA didn't reveal how 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.839 much money is involved. It's good news, but a maternity 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.839 leaf fund supported by Saudi Arabia. It's kind of like 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.320 that meme slash click hole headline heartbreaking. The worst person 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:49.359 you know just made a great point. All right, We 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.360 got to take a quick break when we come back. 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:54.560 Yesterday I caught up with A ten commissioner, Bernadette McGlade. 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:56.640 She joined us from Richmond, Virginia, where the A ten 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:00.160 Women's Basketball Conference tournament is currently in full swing. That 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:10.840 conversation is coming up next. Joining us now, she's the 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.200 Atlantic Ten commissioner and one of the few women leading 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.400 a Division one athletic conference. She's the longest tenured commissioner 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:18.920 at one league and served on the NCAA Women's Basketball 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:21.919 Selection Committee, chairing it in nineteen ninety nine and two thousand. 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:24.800 A former player herself, she still owns the all time 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:29.680 rebounding record for men and women at UNC. It's Bernadette McGlade. Bernadette, 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.200 thanks for joining us. Thank you, Sarah. It's great to 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:34.200 be on your show. Appreciate the invite. 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:36.400 I have to start with that rebounding record. 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.359 Are we a Dennis Rodman type angles and elbows or 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.159 were we just about long arms and size? 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:43.240 What were we doing in there? I don't know. 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:45.479 I think it was about long arms and size or 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:50.000 something like that. I'm amazed that that record hasn't been unbroken, 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:52.680 but a lot of fun me in my playing days 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:54.000 at UNC in Chapel Hill. 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:55.440 Yeah, that's incredible. 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.919 Your kind of longevity at a job in sports is rare. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.120 Seventeen years at the A ten. 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:02.400 What's your secret. 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:05.040 I don't know that there's a secret to it. I 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.359 think I've been really fortunate and blessed. I've had really 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:11.320 only three jobs. I was seventeen years at Georgia Tech 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:13.520 and then I was another eleven years at the ACC, 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:18.240 and I just am amazed as the time has flown 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:21.200 I would say that the President's Council, who I report to, 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:23.839 and our athletic directors in the Atlantic ten have been 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.240 just fabulous, you know, very willing to take risk, and 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:31.840 we've been able to really accomplish some unbelievable milestones in 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.520 the last you know fifteen almost twenty years. 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:36.719 You mentioned Georgia Tech. 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.760 So shortly after you finished your playing career and finished 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.480 up your courses for your master's degree, you were almost 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:46.160 immediately offered a Division one head women's basketball coaching job 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.360 at an ACC school, Georgia Tech. You were just twenty 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:51.640 three years old. Why did you feel like you were 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:52.760 ready to take on the job. 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.880 Well, at twenty three, doesn't everybody feel like they're ready 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.080 to take on the world. Yeah, I was, you know, 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:02.080 I had finished my masters and I was just very 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:05.599 focused on getting gained full employment. And there were a 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.000 few folks at the time that said, you know, you're 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:10.559 crazy if you take the job, but you're also crazy 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.120 if you don't take the job when you have it offered. 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:17.200 So you know, I took the leap and jumped in 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:19.720 with both feet and was fortunate to work for an 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:24.080 unbelievable boss, Hama Rice, who recently just passed away this 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:28.200 past year, but just a fabulous name and an icon 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:31.760 in intercollegiate athletics and had a great run at Georgia Tech. 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:34.440 What's it like to grow up on a job like that? 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.880 We've had some very young coaches on the show here 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:40.880 that started coaching right after they graduated, so they feel 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:42.720 like they're the same as the players, but have to 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:46.000 immediately sort of establish I'm an adult. Now I'm different, 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.280 I'm a coach. And then over time you are organically 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:51.840 growing away from the players that you're working with and 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.200 trying to stay relatable and understand them even as you 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:54.760 get older. 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.239 What's it like to be in that space and evolve 0:07:58.280 --> 0:07:58.800 and adjust? 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.160 It is a union experience, so I have to admit there. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:04.040 I had one player on the team that was actually 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.880 a year older than me when I took the job. 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:09.960 I'll tell you a story that's even funnier. We only 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.000 had a measly three thousand dollars to recruit, and I 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:14.640 spent a big chunk of it to go up to 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:17.080 New York. And I flew into the airport and went 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.040 to the rental car and the woman said, oh, I'm sorry, 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:21.880 miss We can't rent to the car. And I was like, 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.440 why I have a reservation and she says, oh, she goes, 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:29.200 you're not twenty five, and I was panicked. I'm in 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:31.880 New York City with not able to get a rental car, 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:33.960 and I'm thinking, I just spent like half of my 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.760 recruiting budget and I can't get a rental car. 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:38.240 So how'd you make it work? 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:40.520 You know those guys that stand in the airport with 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:41.680 a sign saying like. 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:42.600 Do you need a ride? 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:44.760 Do you need a ride? I grabbed one of them 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:46.080 and I said, Hey, I have to get to this 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:49.240 high school. So it went from it went from there. 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.079 I wasn't going to lose the trip, trust me, when 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:56.000 you're recruiting your own a mission. But it you know, 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.880 I was, you know, still just recently having played, and 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.720 so I would, you know, work out with my team 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.160 and play with my team and run with my team. 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.640 And I think a lot of that showing by example, 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.240 Georgia Tech was a very young program in the early eighties, 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.160 and I think that went a long way in terms 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.760 of establishing a rapport with the student athletes. And I 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.360 just went back to Georgia Tech. Mel Fordner did a 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.800 marvelous fiftieth anniversary celebration, and many of my student athletes 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:28.760 were there from the early days and it was a 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:32.440 really fabulous event. So it was a great evolution, but 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:35.200 trust me, it was a learning experience every day. 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:39.920 You've talked in previous interviews about learning on the job 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:43.240 and the importance of failure, of really understanding that failing 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:45.880 is not always just about failure. There's a lot to 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:47.880 learn from that, and there's a lot of growth in there. 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.680 I love talking to successful people about failure because I 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:52.800 think too often we hear from successful people and they 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.080 tell all the good stuff, and the folks looking up 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.400 and wondering how it gets done, think, well, I couldn't 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.360 possibly do that. I make too many mistakes or I've 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:01.880 had too many, you know, moments of failure in my life. 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.560 I love when folks who are really successful can share 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:05.560 that they've had stumbles. 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:06.960 Can you tell us of a good one? Do you 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:08.800 have a good story of just falling on your face? 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:14.520 Yeah? There was a time when I was had my 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.120 team and the bus we were on the way to 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:18.319 a game, and you know, you know the cadence and 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.640 when you're arragging on campus, and I had this terrible 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:26.120 feeling when we were approaching the campus that it didn't 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:27.240 look like a game day. 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:29.720 Oh no, and it was a road trip. 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:35.360 And we actually arrived and the team that we were 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:38.160 playing failed to mention that it was a doubleheader with 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.800 the men's game, and we were scheduled to play in 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.120 the first game and the men in the second, And 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:46.560 obviously it was too close to the men's game to 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:48.800 be able to play a women's game, so we actually 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.840 had to stay and wait till the men's game was over, 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:53.880 and we had to play the women's game after the 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:54.480 men's game. 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.280 So because you weren't early enough, you were looking at 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:01.840 the schedule at the men's time thinking exactly exactly, and 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.800 so obviously we had a lot of staff huddles after that. 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:07.400 Yeah, a little bit of a night cap game. 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:09.920 Yeah, a little bit. And I think that, you know, 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:12.880 failures just it's really not the fact that you feel, 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.840 it's really what you do afterwards. And you know, you 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.560 can't linger on things too long. You can't beat yourself up, 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:20.480 you can't beat your players up, you can't beat your 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:24.840 staff up. You know, everybody has to take a you know, 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:26.880 a lesson that they've learned and they're going to get 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:30.840 better and you move forward, and sooner or later those 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:34.280 become some great stories that you tell and shows like. 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.679 You have Yeah, right, the once the shame and embarrassment 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.600 goes away, then it's pretty funny. Exactly what's the toughest 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:42.040 part of your job as commissioner? 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:44.640 I think right now one of the toughest part that 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.760 myself and my colleagues in this role are dealing with 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:50.840 is the massive changes that are happening as a result 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:54.360 of once the House Settlement gets approved on April seventh, 0:11:55.240 --> 0:12:00.400 the entirely new environment with nil in the league office. Obviously, 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.520 we don't have teams, we don't have student athletes, we 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.600 don't have coaches. We have members, but our members are 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:09.480 so focused on being able to adapt to the new environment, 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:13.520 be able to provide additional financial benefits to student athletes. 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:18.000 So we're trying to change as rapidly as the environment's changing, 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.160 while we still have to focus on the day job. 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:23.720 Like we have a championship going on right now that 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.319 are very important to our teams, and somebody's going to 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:30.679 earn the automatic qualifier into the women's NCAA Tournament and 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.400 the men's tournament. Is next week, So we can't be 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.440 so focused on how we're going to manage an il, 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:39.120 how we're going to manage all of the new regulations 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.960 with the House settlement, and ignore kind of current business, 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.960 because this is very meaningful to our current coaches and 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:52.640 student athletes. So juggling those two environments or two worlds 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.719 is probably the most challenging thing on this day. 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.079 And Age, yeah, you mentioned that House ruling. 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.880 So for those unfamiliar, last made, the NCAA voted to 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:06.800 settle the lawsuit regarding past pay for players or revenue 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:10.280 sharing models. So two point seventy five billion dollar lawsuit 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:13.440 that will allow member institutions to distribute funds up to 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.120 twenty billion dollars to Division one athletes who have played 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:22.560 since twenty sixteen, and the settlement decision the amount that 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.880 will go to different athletes and sports and teams is 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:28.199 a big issue right now as people try to figure 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.720 out whether Title nine is at play and whether women 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.400 athletes and women's programs will be deeply affected. Do you 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:35.840 have any say at all as commissioner as to how 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:40.120 your member team's schools spend the money that they're allotted. 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.439 Now, we can only be a resource right now, the 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:50.239 actual court rulings as settlement actually published a percentage distribution 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:55.280 of the dollar amounts that would be quote unquote allocated 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:59.520 to the sport of FDS football student athletes, to men's 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.920 basketball student athletes, to women's basketball student athletes, and then 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:07.240 to others. And you're exactly right in your analysis and 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.440 your comments related to it that there's a lot of 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:14.679 controversy whether you know those percentages are actually very fair 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:19.040 or equitable at all. There's two separate areas. You have 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.480 the back damages that are basically allocated by the courts, 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.960 and then you have what's going forward, which will be 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:29.200 I think what you're referring to of how much our 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:33.000 schools are really allocate to their male athletes versus their 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.400 female how much they allocate to say, a sport of 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:39.840 basketball versus their Olympic sports, and all of those decisions 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:44.400 are being meticulously worked through right now individually on each 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:48.120 campus because we have small private institutions in the A 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:52.320 ten and we have large land grand institutions, and so 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:56.760 every athletic director and board and president is looking at 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.040 it a little bit differently on their campuses. 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:03.520 Yeah, it feels like there's you also mentioned the NIL 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:08.960 era is part of your purview making sure that teams 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:12.760 or schools are abiding by the rules when it's still 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.200 sort of a wild wild West, or is that technically 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:16.560 NCAA compliance. 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:22.000 It's a combination of both, but we are absolutely trying 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:24.320 to certainly encourage all of our schools doing it the 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.880 right way. As you know, you know, your true nils, 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:32.240 whether they're sponsorships or endorsements or whatever, are controlled by 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:36.280 mostly third parties, and most of the institutions are educating 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:38.880 their student athletes and trying to prepare them to be 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:42.720 better spokespersons for themselves to be able to secure these deals. 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.640 So we're really trying to advocate that, you know, you 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:48.680 do it equal, fair and equal with both your male 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.760 athletes and your female athletes. That you're just not coaching 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:55.080 up your male student athletes, but you're coaching up your 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:58.720 female student athletes, because there are as many upsides and 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.680 opportunities for the female student athletes as there are for 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.600 the men if they can have that opportunity to take 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:05.280 a shot at it. 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:07.760 So you've got name image and like this NIL, You've 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.800 got house verses NCAA, you've got transfer portal stuff, which 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.360 is relatively new, and you've got the age old issue 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.040 of trying to get competitive matchups for your teams, trying 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:18.440 to get them in prime time facing off against some of. 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:21.120 The best teams across the country. How's that challenge been 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:21.360 for you? 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:24.840 The challenge has been good. We have partnerships with three 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.800 of the best media companies in America. We have a 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:31.480 huge media contract with ESPN and all of their platforms, 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:37.040 with CBS and also with NBC. So being able to 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:42.640 come out of three major media companies kind of stables, 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.760 so to speak. It's amazing how many people have said 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:47.360 to me every time I turn on the TV, I'm 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:51.560 seeing an A ten team, And that's really kudos to 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:54.640 our partners and to the partnerships that we have in 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.920 our media rights deals for each one of those those 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:04.160 partners and I think that it's really added to you know, 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.840 even the boom and women's athletics, because we've been able 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:12.360 to put you know, more on TV, whether it's streaming wise, 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.960 and most times even with the streaming process right now, 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.240 you know, the difference between cable TV, network TV and 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:25.880 streaming is negligible. So it's just how fans consume sports, 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:29.639 right now and we're trying to be at every level 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:31.000 and on every platform. 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:34.600 Yeah, you were one of the first advocates for awarding 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:38.720 financial units to the women's NCAA tournament. Part of you 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:40.640 were also part of getting that across the finish line. 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:42.600 So for those who aren't familiar, can you explain what 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:45.760 financial units are and why it took so darn long 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:47.360 for the women's game to get them. 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.480 Yeah, I don't know why it took so long, but 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.320 you're right. I was the chair of the Women's Basketball 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.119 Committee back in two thousand and ninety nine or nineteen 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.000 ninety nine and two thousand and one of the initiatives 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.320 out of our committee was really making a hard push 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:07.800 for a NC Double, a revenue distribution unit for participation 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:11.800 and advancement in the NC Double A championship that had 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:16.119 been in place for the men's tournament. As most folks 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.960 in America know, when teams are selected in March madness 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.720 to the bracket, and then as they advance, there is 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:26.919 a unit, a financial amount that is distributed to that 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:31.359 institution or that conference for that participation and also for 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:35.679 that success. So we can just you know, fast forward, 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.600 hard to believe twenty four years later, and it had 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.400 come up many times, and the rationale was always that, 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:45.560 you know, well, there's not a clear accounting for the 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:50.640 revenue generated by women's basketball because women's basketball was combined 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:56.000 in a very big, bundled media package most recently, and 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.119 I give a lot of credit to the president, Charlie 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:03.000 Baker and the bundling of the women's basketball media rights, 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.400 and so there became a clear revenue stream that could 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:12.600 be identifiable and associated with NCAA Women's Basketball tournament. So 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.360 the advent and the approval of that by the governing 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.280 boards has been fabulous and it's actually going to be 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:20.359 distributed that for the first time this year. 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.800 Yeah, for those who don't remember, this is all sort 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:28.120 of in part because of the social media messages from 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.760 Sedona Prince and some coaches and others during the NCAA 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.440 tournament pointing out the discrepancies and the treatment of men's 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:38.439 and women's teams during March Madness tournaments. And as a result, 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:41.720 there was an independent study that really for the first 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:44.440 time looked at the fact that, to your point, women's 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.240 basketball and women's basketball tournament were bundled with all the 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.840 other championships as part of a larger television deal and 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:53.240 were extremely undervalued, and it made it really easy for 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:55.920 folks to say that they were money losers when in 0:19:55.960 --> 0:20:00.439 fact they hadn't materially renegotiated the rights in over twenty years, 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:03.720 and they were estimating it to be worth something around 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:06.920 sixty million dollars a year upwards of one hundred and 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:10.000 twenty million a year in coming years if they actually 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:12.520 treated it like they did the men's property. And so 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:14.719 as a result of all of that fallout and all 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.200 the numbers that came out of getting actual data behind it, 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:20.960 they were able to negotiate for a television rights deal 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:23.880 that actually made sense based on the value of the tournament, 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:26.239 which then, to your point, gives them the numbers that 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:29.120 they need to say this makes money, and we can 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:31.520 award money to the teams that move forward. And this 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:34.959 is huge because what it does is it tells those programs, 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:38.040 we are validating you for investing in your women's team. 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.680 Here's the reward you get for investing and caring about 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:44.800 your women's team. I wonder in the NCAA awards the 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:47.360 units to the conference, and then the conference awards them 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:49.800 to the specific schools. Do you know yet how the 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:51.960 A ten will be distributing those women's units. 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:55.600 Yeah, we all do it in the very same formula 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:57.880 that will do it for the men. Like, for example, 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:01.840 this year, when any team gets selected into either of 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:06.199 the NCAA brackets, will automatically provide that institution with a 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:12.560 fifty thousand dollars supplemental distribution because, as you know, as 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:15.600 soon as you get into the NCUBA tournament, there's an 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:19.520 entourage that develops and there's a lot of expenses that 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:23.480 aren't paid by the reimbursements that the NCUBA ultimately will 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:27.080 send to a school a few months from now. But 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:30.280