11.2.22 - JR Interview with Wale Ogunleye

It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio right now we got a guest on the line This is someone who has been an all-pro.

This is someone who is going to a pro bowl He has played in a Super Bowl You might remember him from the Dolphins You might remember him from the Bears an 11-year NFL veteran who went and got his NBA after his playing career was done And is now in charge of sports and entertainment at UBS a global financial firm It's my main man from New York, Wale Ogunliye. Wale, how are you, man? I'm good. I'm good.

I should have known when I heard that DMX in the beginning. I said it's gonna be fun It's gonna be a fun one. Oh, we don't do anything but fun here on the JR Sport Brief Show, Wale Yeah, man.

No doubt about it. Listen, man. We gotta we gotta start unfortunately with something that probably isn't too much fun We're gonna talk more about your role at UBS and and some of the ventures that you're working on Especially as it relates to programming and players TV right before we we got to break and opened up the show We updated the world on Kyrie Irving and his $500 donation to the Anti-Defamation League knowing that you manage money Knowing that you advise folks What advice would you give to Kyrie Irving right now? Oh, man, that's uh It's a good question.

I like at the end of the day. I think you know he I think any athlete they need to just have some trusted advisors that can help them think through some of the decisions that they make and some of the things that they say and And realizing that listen at the end of the day We we don't live in a vacuum and because athletes have a platform At the end of the day, sometimes it's it's they get more credit than they should and they get you know more uh Microphones in their face than they should than the regular person But we need to understand that that's the the nature that we live in Um in this era of of social media, I think all athletes need to have a brain trust of people around them that Um can tell them like, you know You're going to affect the way certain people think um, I know there's a a freedom of speech in this country, but um, sometimes words hurt people right and uh, we've got to be real careful on on on how we say things and how things are perceived and um You know, I just hope that uh, he does, you know have, you know some sound people around him at least trying to advise him to To do and and say the right things and at the end of the day not hurt people So former quarterback wrecker walley ogundiye is here with us on cbs sports radio when you talk about having uh proper advisors around you We talked about the double standard, you know players not necessarily calling out players It's rare that you see the same thing with owners calling out owners. We know in the nfl.

We just saw jim ear say Uh, he called out dan snyder and we learned earlier today that dan snyder amongst all the investigations is Is likely exploring a sale of the team. What do you think about that double standard when it comes to to owners and Being afraid to call somebody out because you might be next Yeah, I think I think at the end of the day, it's it's I think when it's just when it comes to players, I think it's like you got this lock room mentality where You know, it's us against the world and that's kind of what you've been taught from you know You know literally or or pwe like it's us against the world and Don't let outside distractions, you know, get in the way and I think that In itself leads to the the culture of not calling people out and then also because we live in a world where um, it feels like Everyone's waiting for you to to fall or make a mistake if you do say something Some people are waiting for that opportunity to wear like ah, we got you Right. So people tend to to be afraid of of of falling into that gotcha moment But if a society that has to do better and be better we have to be, you know grown and mature about calling people out especially when when things aren't going well and uh, and when it comes to the owners if you you know, it's a It's a small fraternity of men that have uh have the opportunity to to own these teams and And they don't want anybody in and um, and and the only time that you're ever going to have someone say something Negative about another owner is if they're messing Uh with the bottom line and I think with with Dan Snyder, I think people are Um owners are starting to feel like listen, you're messing up our product and then that's when they start to speak out Yeah, then when you start messing up the money, it's going to be time for you to go while a man you you Started off your career with the dolphins down in miami coming off of your knee injury undrafted You made your bones then went out, uh to the bears but down in miami right now They just picked up a pass rusher. They added bradley chubb from the denver broncos and now we hear tuatanga veloa He's like hey, i'm not afraid to talk super ball. What do you think about the dolphins the additional chubb and where they realistically can end up this year?

You know, it's so crazy, man. If you look at the whole, you know, afc east and you see, you know with the dolphins and um I was you know always a fan of of tuah uh, I I felt like we we tend to Grade these quarterbacks a little too too soon, um and Everybody wants instant gratification and with him being hurt, you know, you know the beginning of his career and um, and now with the coaching chain, he's going to take time and i'm glad that uh, he's Found himself and um, he's Has this city on fire? Uh dauphin fans are extremely excited about what they're seeing out there the weapons that he has And then now you're adding a defense, which you know, i'm a defensive player and you add a guy like chubb Um, of course people are going to start talking, you know, uh, super ball around here. So it's uh, it's a good time to be Uh here in miami. Um, it's a good time to be in amc east because you know Some crazy you couldn't tell me that the jets were going to be five and three or or even miami after last year We're going to be five and three right now in buffalo six and one and doing the four and four So it's it's the best thing about the nfl like, you know every year. It's a different storyline and um Right now the things about storyline here in miami's, uh, things are looking up Things are looking up walley agundier here with us the chair of sport re-show cbs sports radio You might have played and started off with the dolphins afterwards You went up to chicago you were a bear man. You you were in the super bowl We know that's somewhere that the bears are trying to go back to they're rebuilding.

They have fields They just added clay pool. They have picks to build into the future when you look at fields and what they're preparing around him Is he the long-term answer? Do you think he can stick around and be that guy finally for the next? I don't know five to ten years Yeah, you know that I think the verdict is still out but you know, I I go back to my previous statements like we've got to give these cute these cubies some time to to to adjust and I tell you know people all the time like It takes 16 games for Um a defense so defensive coordinators to understand quarterbacks That's why a lot of times you see these quarterbacks have like that that first year like oh my gosh I think they're going to be amazing and then defenses and defensive corners catch up to these quarterbacks and the quarterbacks that are able to out study and out practice and and and and beat the coordinators are Are the paint managers of the world all the time brady's of the world there are the jubies of the world that? Um year after year they're able to outsmart and stay at least one step ahead of some of these defenses And that's what you have to wait and see with these quarterbacks Hopefully in off seasons. They're getting there. They're studying in they're practicing. They're realizing the mistakes They're making they're they're able to see uh, their strengths and their weaknesses and they're working on that stuff.

So it takes time um, but in this um Era of instant gratification is hard. I do I think he he can he has the talents to be you know A five ten year quarterback. Absolutely um, but let's see how hard he's willing to you know, stay in a in in in study study room and And hopefully he stays healthy and it looks like the bears are trying their best to um Unload some talent so that they can have some talent for him, you know down the road Yeah, not everybody's going to wake up and be patrick mahomes or lamar jackson wally a goonier here with us We know the average career of an nfl player is what now three three and a half years give or take and You you had an 11 year career You've been able to transition over into the business and financial world at ubs What prompted you to get involved on the business side post retirement and go ahead and get your masters Yeah, you know, I think you know everyone here says everyone says that, you know, nfl stands for not for long and that's the truth truth no matter and um, I was lucky enough to play 11 years and During that time. I made a you know, considerable amount of money I think when I got done playing I realized that I was risking a lot of my my Income and and revenue that i've created through my hard work because I didn't understand what my financial advisors were saying to me Right. I had a four-year Four-year degree from india university. I played in nfl for 11 years. I had millions of dollars in the bank And I still didn't understand simple terminology.

So I said, you know what? I'm going to take advantage of this nfl program that helps pay for graduate program, right? And I got in that and I went to get my nba just so I could understand Just so I could ask the right questions to scare These unsavory advisors away and as I realized like in the process that This is probably the biggest key to helping our athletes, especially nfl players like get past those years of financial distress soon after they get done playing and if they have the knowledge and Um have the resources to help them um Stretch the amount of money that they had um It works out like at the end of the day if you're going to play nfl for four years The truth of the matter is you're probably going to have to have another career and there's no shame in that Um, but a lot of times these young men are not ready for that and then also not having the financial, you know Um literacy behind that gets people in a lot of trouble And I realized that that got my degree that reputable firms firms like ubs that at the end of the day, they their reputation is just as high as a Patrick Mahone's or as a um, Peyton Manning like places where they want to Lose out on business because they're doing things the wrong way and that's why I felt like Me teaming up with a firm like ubs with a win-win situation, right? We've got a firm that is super expert at managing money And then me having the the experience and the guidance and an actually passion to help these young men and women On both sides of sports and entertainment understand their finances But then also make sure that the firm understands who these young men are who these young women are And why is it important for them to build legacies once they're all done with their sports career? While they're going from the field up into the office head of sports and entertainment at ubs global financial firm You guys have also teamed up with with players tv, which is pretty much a A wide selection of professional athletes who have gone together to you know Kind of push their own narrative from a content perspective You've also now been been tasked with hosting a new series called the long game explain that for us Yeah, I mean you hit it right on the head. It's it's athletes, you know controlling their own narrative And what we've done with these shows is we've kind of tried to dispel some of the stereotypes and biases that come into play When when society looks at clients, I mean it looks at athletes and that whole just shut up and dribble stuff Or to shut up and run the rock Um, this the shows that we have when it comes to front office where we're you talked earlier about having that brain trust of athletes um, great sense of advisors around these athletes while front office Um, it's kind of molded in this in a in this form of shark tank, but it shows how Athletes should look at deals that come their way and when I played sports and even today Every day I had either a family member or a friend or even a total stranger coming to me With an idea and the only thing that they needed to make this idea work was my capital, right? So with that being said we're teaching and we're showing the world how we would love our athletes to sit down Have trusted advisors around them and look at who these deals the right way And that's really a good good standpoint for these athletes to show other athletes The new ones the rookies the and even the older ones to show how do you do business the right way?

Can we have a show called long game where we're talking about life after right? we're dealing with the jackie johanna cursheys of the world the um, isiah thomas and we even have dame liddon on there and talk about things that they're doing off the field a lot of it has to do with some of the philanthropic stuff that athletes do when it comes to society whether it's you know, um dealing with george floyd issue that happened last year or giving some of the political stuff that happens in the country sometimes our athletes are looked at as As advocates and then voices of which way do we turn? And this show touches upon a lot of stuff that these athletes are doing outside of their careers that help build their new legacy So i'm super excited about the content. We're breaking down barriers But more importantly we're dispelling a lot of stereotypes and notions with these shows and i'm excited about the partnership Awesome walleye, where can people find out more information about what you're working on and to see some of this content? Well as far as you can go to ubs Uh ubs.com slash legacy And you can see all the stuff that we've been created i've been working here now I mean, it's crazy like my three years now that i'm i've been at this at this And we've been super successful in all the content we had you can check it out at ubs Dot com slash legacy and you see all the stuff that we have from players tv to Our conversations to anything we have to do with financial education. It's uh, it's all there for you to see Right.

That's a beautiful thing walleye you talk about philanthropic work. We do a lot of work here with special olympics and and also cbs sports radio I'm gonna highlight you myself about some amazing ideas. So stay tuned on that. Okay Sounds good for sure. Absolutely No doubt about it. Tell everybody one more time where they can follow you You can follow me at uh, again ubs dot com slash legacy And uh, you know if you if you want to Uh, my personal account on on instagram is walley uh, ogula at uh on instagram and ayo the prince 93 on twitter, so Uh, follow me there and um, you know, we can chop it up Appreciate it a big shout outs to walley egulier for joining us here the jr sport brief show on cbs sports radio Being able to go from the field Uh to the financial world to giving advice it's also giving and producing content throughout the 60s and 70s