The Miz: Pat McAfee Has Been Amazing For WWE

This is the Rich Eisen Show. We got Love and we got Tua.

If only Love's name was Hawk, it would have really just gone really viral. Hawk Tua. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

People who think it's not Tua's world, he's really good. Earlier on the show, Chargers General Manager Joe Ortiz, Basketball Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski, co-host of Good Morning Football, Kyle Brandt. Coming up, WWE superstar The Miz. And now, it's Rich Eisen. That's right, hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Man, what a fun show we are having. We had the General Manager of the Los Angeles Chargers, Joe Ortiz, in studio hour one. Kyle Brandt just spent all of hour two in studio with us. Coach K is about to zoom into the show, but right before that, one of the best in his business. The Miz is right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Wow, thank you very much for that intro. Best in his business. Okay.

You are definitely that bro. SummerSlam streams live on Peacock. This very Saturday taking place in Cleveland at Browns Stadium. My hometown.

You are hosting that. My hometown. On Saturday night.

It's crazy. When I was a kid, I grew up going to Cleveland Browns Stadium and now I'm performing in that stadium that I watch the Browns play. Usually lose, to be honest. When I was a kid, we lost a lot in that stadium, but now I feel like we're on the right track. Have you been underneath in the stadium?

I've been around. I've been around that stadium. Last year, we do a guitar break to intro the Browns. That's kind of what we do. That's our thing. Because we're the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

They have this kind of amplifier and you bash a guitar over it and that's how you get the crowd up to get ready for, and I did that for the game opener last year. So I got to go in the VOM, got to go out, got to lead the Browns out. We beat the Bengals our first game out, so it was kind of nice. Well, Browns fans will tell you they have Joe Burrow's number. We're going to the Super Bowl. We do have his number. Absolutely.

100% all day. I feel bad for Joe Burrow when he comes to Cleveland. I feel bad when we go to Cincinnati. He's not going to win.

Do you really feel bad, though? I don't care if he looks like Slim Shady or not. We're kicking him all over the place. I was going to ask you what you thought of his look, huh?

Look, he can look any which way he wants. He's a fantastic quarterback. He's fun to listen to in interviews, and look, he's great, but if he sees us in the playoffs, he's done.

Cash him in. See you. Bye. Man, you're just living your best life right now. I mean, again, you're hosting SummerSlam in the Browns, in the home of the Browns and Brown Stadium. Did you just get the key to your city? I got the key to the city actually a couple of years ago, Parma, Ohio. I was doing a show called Miss and Misses, and I do know that show.

Yes, that show. And we did a thing where like I got the key to the city and I was like, wait, I'm getting the key to the city. Like, yeah, they're giving you the key to the city.

And I didn't realize it was a whole thing. Like we did a whole like almost concert venue at my old high school, Normandy High School, and there was thousands of people that show up and my dad kind of surprised me. He didn't tell me and they gave me the key and I had to do a speech.

I didn't realize there was a speech involved. So I kind of just had to talk for like 20 minutes and kind of just gave a rah rah. Like I truly believe I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't grow up and we're around the people that have supported me for so long. And that's the reason I am here today.

I think where I'm at in WWE and where I've done what I've done with being able to do with my career. I think the city taught me a work ethic that is unmatched by anywhere else I would have grown up. I know you love your town. You love your home state. You love your home city. You love Cleveland. And it's going to be, again, the hall of fame in Canton during the day and SummerSlam at night. That's right.

How about that? I know I was talking to Pat McPhee about it. I was like, what are you going to do? You know, your buddy's going in like, yeah, Frini's going in and he's like, I'm going to try and get there.

I'm like, he's going to, he's going to, he's going to be on commentary during our show. And then I think he's literally picking up and going right to Canton. He should be able to make it because it starts around noon and Frini's first up. Oh, is that right? Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, he should be able to make it. He should be able to make it for sure. It's really cool. Pat is awesome. Pat's one of my favorite people. He's been amazing for us in WWE.

Just a, he's a ball of energy. You know, he, he usually flies in cause he does his show and then he'll fly right in and he'll do our show. And it's very difficult to do. Like a lot of people are like, Oh, color commentary. It's not that hard, right?

It's very difficult. It's a whole different mindset. And the way he's been able to come into WWE and really just take the bull by the horns and really go out there and do just a fantastic job with storytelling. Like that's what we do. We tell stories and the way he's able to communicate that to our audience is unmatched. I mean, he's been doing a great job at it. Well, I mean, and, and it's not an act.

I mean, the guy that you meet is the guy that you see. Yeah, exactly. That's it. Exactly.

And he's just having a great time doing it. Yeah. So he'll be able to pull it off. Yeah.

Frini's first up. He doesn't strike me as a man of many words anyway, Dwight. So you'll see him go in and then we'll be at SummerSlam. It'll be at SummerSlam. Easy. He doesn't need any time to prepare either. I don't think Pat does much preparing cause like he usually flies in. It's like he'll fly in. He gets there a half hour before the show and he just goes right in there and just goes. And it's not, I don't know if he prepares himself on his private jet or whatever, but you know, he's a, he definitely, you know, just goes in there and rocks it. I think he does some prep on his private jet. You think so? Yeah.

Maybe just not, you know, like research. I think he just knows the stories and he just talks. He's a great talker.

I think he, I think he preps, you know, it's just Pat. So there'll be times where you just probably don't even see him until you look over and then you see him at the mic. Yeah. Talking smack about me usually like, cause I, cause like when, when Arch, I'm with a, in a tag team called awesome truth and with our truth who wraps to the, to the ring. I don't know if you know this, but I'm not a rapper. Like I don't rap, but truth was like, yeah, you're going to, since we're coming out, you need to do stuff like you need to do stuff on the mic. Right. So I have ears in so I can hear my voice.

I don't know why I honestly, I'm not a rapper, so it must help though. Yeah. Very, very, I'm very good at what I do. Let me tell you.

So truth is out there. Let me just say, what's up? And I'm like, yeah, what's up?

What's up? You know, getting everyone into it. And then on the ears, like Pat doesn't know I can hear him in my ears and he's just talking smack about me. Like, listen to ms like rapping.

He can't wrap, blah, blah. And I'm listening to him while I'm rapping by the way, because I can hear his feed in my ears and I'm like, all right, all right, dude. Thanks man. You know, I, I I'd like a little bit of like, you know, Hey, you're doing a great job. At least you're trying, at least you're trying. Cause that's what I'm doing. I'm trying. And while you're trying, I'm always the guy that is like, I'll try something. I'll try anything once, twice, three times.

And even if I fail, I'll continue doing it because maybe just once I'll succeed. So while you're trying, he's making fun of me with Michael Cole down there without me, like talking smack about me, not just like, like literally talking smack about me and I can hear him. And you're trying to wrap through it.

Yeah, I'm trying to wrap through it. It's not nice. What the hell Pat? What's up? Come on. A little help. Fantastic. The Ms here on the Rich Eisen show.

All right, TJ, you got, you had a question for the Ms. What do you got for him? Well, I got a question for you, Ms. First and foremost, your biography A&E was spectacular, bro. Two and a half hours, two hours, right? It was two hours.

Thank you. There was only supposed to be one actually. Really? Yeah. So it was, it was scheduled to be one. And then we started doing all the interviews and they were like, this needs to be two hours. And I was like, really?

Okay. It's my life. So my life, I just look at it like, this is my life.

Like this is what I've done day to day, you know, no big deal. But then when they put it together and they did it on A&E and the first time I ever saw that it was called like biography, WWE legends. I was like, Oh my God, I'm a legend. I'm a legend. They consider me a legend, not a one hour legend. You were too.

I'm still there. So I feel like I'm young. Like I'm in my prime of my career and I'm already considered like a legend. I mean, pat on the back to me. And you know what, if you weren't a Ms fan before you watch that, I think that changed a lot of people's opinions to see everything that you had to go through to get to where you are today, man.

And it was, it was pretty impressive. But the question being, we know that there's been some changes at the top, right? Of WWE. And it kind of shows bro, with the people that are getting, you know, more exposure, more title shots, even from the camera shots, wrestlers coming to the ring. And I'm just wondering, man, like, how is it backstage? How has it changed? It seems like everyone's a lot more happy and things are different.

Or am I reading this wrong? Well, we're always evolving as WWE superstars, whether you're a superstar or a company in total, like we're always trying to make sure that the audience gets what they, what they need. Like, you know, we want to give them the best form of entertainment we could possibly give them. And right now the locker room is at an all time high of positivity. I think that Triple H has really took the reins and has made this show incredible, has given chances to people that may have not gotten gotten chances before.

And you see what's happening. I'm looking at, I've never seen WWE so popular in my 20 years career that I've been here. I've never seen so many superstars that we consider what we call over, which means when they come out into the crowd, the crowd goes static. It's whether they're booing them or they're cheering them.

They're highly engaged. And there are so many superstars right now. It's hard to get on a summer slam card.

Like right now, getting on a PLE is very, very difficult to have a match. I mean, you look at the matches that we have. I mean, you have Cody Rhodes, who is our champion, who is our face right now.

I would say of the company who has done a tremendous job of telling his story and getting the fans involved in his story. And he's going up against Solo, who is, you know, when Roman Reigns kind of went when Cody beat Roman Reigns, Roman hasn't been around. And now Solo has taken the reins from Roman Reigns. And now he's going up against Cody for the title. You have, you know, CM Punk, who's just come back, who I didn't think ever would step in a WWE ring ever again is now back. And he's taking on Drew McIntyre with Seth Rollins as the guest referee. This story, man, you know, Drew feels like he, CM Punk came back in the audience is just like, yes, he's back.

All right. But what about the fact that he left you? He left us, you know, high and dry.

And Drew has been fired and has come back bigger and better than ever. And he's always been there for the fans. So his story is like, why are you cheering this guy?

When I've been here, I've done everything I could possibly do to get you guys to come and join me and cheer me. But you're not. So he's upset about that. So he's going to take it all out on Punk.

I mean, we have all these other, right? The three of them hate each other. They all don't like each other. So the referee doesn't like either one of them. So that's the type of match we're having at SummerSlam where the referee doesn't like one, either guides and neither of the guys like each other and neither them like the referee. So it's like, welcome to WWE, baby. Or, you know, Scott Foster, Chris Paul, and just fill in the blank. No, no.

If you want to go NBA. No, but in all seriousness, though, you talk about the WWE has never been more popular. And I think this in terms of the television industry and in terms of the broadcast industry, streaming industry, the fact that Peacock would for anything stop its Olympic nonstop coverage and whatever they're placing on their home screen. I mean, you turn on Peacock right now, you see the five Olympic rings. The fact that Peacock would stop that train for anything is huge.

And clearly SummerSlam is going to be a feature Saturday night, August 3rd on Peacock. And that's not a mistake. You know what I mean? Like that's real.

It's real. And by the way, I can't think of many other sports or entertainment entities would say, we're still going to hold our thing during the Olympics. And we'll be fine. Of course we will be fine because we have a loyal fan base who, you know, maybe have two TVs that maybe want to watch, you know, the Olympics on here and WWE on here. Or they don't.

Or they just want to watch SummerSlam or they just want to watch the Olympics. The fact is we've always been that way, right? We'll take on anybody. We'll take on Monday night football every single Monday night.

We'll take on whoever we have to take on because we feel we have the best product out there. And so we're putting out SummerSlam and I truly believe there are going to be moments that will last a lifetime. Like that's the one thing that I always set out to do, right? As the host of SummerSlam, people are like, what's your job? What are you doing? Well, I'm hosting.

Well, what does that consist of? So I've been a host where literally I just opened the show and do a couple of comedy things and we're done. I've also been a host where I've had surprise matches where I had to take on Pat McAfee at one, lost to him. And then, uh, then the next night I was hosting again and had stoop dog give me a people's elbow, you know, so people are like, so what do you, what do you have in store? This? I don't know. Like you never know what WWE we're always filled with surprises, but you know that when I go out there, my goal is like whenever I see a kid and a father or a mother and they go home, I want them to talk about a moment they shared at SummerSlam 10 years from now, 15 years from now, like they could be sitting there and you know, saying, remember that time?

Sure. The Miz did this. Remember that time that Cody did this. Remember that time?

That's what we set out to do each and every time we have a show. The Miz here on the Rich Eisen show. Before I let you go, I would be remiss if I did not put NFL films music in front of you and the Cleveland Browns schedule in front of you.

The one loss game for the Cleveland Browns with none other than WWE superstar and diehard Browns fan, the Miz. What happens when the Cowboys come in week one? They're done.

Cash him in. See you. Bye. See you. Bye. At the Jacksonville Jaguars.

We do whatever Jacksonville is like, I don't think they're going to be very tough. Okay. Is that an AEW slide as well? Can we start that one? No, not at all. It's just a Jacksonville Jaguars. I think. Okay. I don't think they're the team.

I don't think they're quite the caliber of maybe, maybe the playoffs, maybe the first round in the playoffs they can make, but I'll tell you what, the Browns are going to the Superbowl this year, baby. Okay. That's one for the giants. By the way, have you been watching hard knocks?

Cause I have, and man, that has been very, very interesting. I'm going to say we're going to beat the giants because they lost Saquon Barkley and that was their main offense. Mara's really upset about that. Okay. 3-0 at the Raiders. Yes. Is that a win? It's a win.

Okay. At the commanders. A win. That's 5-0 at the Eagles. Eagles. I mean, they did get Saquon, you know, Jay, I mean, but they've been loose. They, they lost a lot in that, that tail end. So who knows if they can spiral back. So I say, when 6-0 home for the Bengals, Bengals, we always beat the Bengals.

A bro cannot handle us or contain us. And he's going to lose 7-0 home for the Ravens. We're even though they got Derek Henry now and who knows how that explosion is going to be with Lamar and Henry. And so I'm going to say, we're going to beat them. That's an 8-0 start. Home for the Chargers.

Oh yeah, absolutely. We're going to beat the Chargers. 9-0 off the bye. You're going to the bye.

9-0 Harbaugh and beat them both. At the Saints. At the Saints off the bye.

At the Saints. Yeah. I mean, it's yeah, we're done. I mean, we're coming off a bye. We're going to feel really good about ourselves going undefeated. And now we're going to go to week 11 and we're going to win again. 10-0 against the Steelers at home.

Oh my God, the Steelers. I mean, who's going to be, who's going to be quarterbacking at this time of the year? I mean, will it be, will it be Russell Wilson or will it be Justin Fields?

I think it's going to be Justin Fields at that time and he's going to lose. 11-0 at the Broncos. The Broncos. He's the quarterback for the Broncos.

Do we even know? 12-0 at the Steelers. Then we beat them again. 3rd and 0 home for the Chiefs. The Chiefs. This might, yeah, we're going to take on the Chiefs and we're going to defeat the Chiefs. 14-0 at Cincinnati. Cincinnati can't handle us. The Miami Dolphins trying to fend. You kidding me?

You just spat on that thing. 16-0 at the Ravens. We win again.

Supervening season. Kevin Stavanski is leading us to an undefeated season. Cleveland Browns are going all the way to the Super Bowl.

You heard it here first, baby. The Miz says it'll be a perfect 20-0 season for the Browns. That's the way to SummerSlam into the NFL season. Check out SummerSlam hosted by this man live from his home stadium in Cleveland Brown Stadium on Peacock Saturday, August 3rd at 7 Eastern time. And check out his WWE Legends biography.

Two hours worth. Great to see you, Miz. You're the best bro. Thank you for having me.

The Miz right here. Coach K, when we come back, that's how we roll on the Rich Eisen Show. Rich Eisen here for Sleep Number. They say opposites attract, and that's why the Sleep Number Smart Bed is the best bed for couples.

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Just go to the App Store or Google Play Store and download the free Ibotta app to start earning cash back and use my code E-I-S-E-N. That's I-B-O-T-T-A in the Google Play or App Store and use my code IZEN. I represented a costume manufacturer against Barney the purple dinosaur. They sold this thing called Hillary the hippo, which looked exactly like Barney.

It was just being rented for people to do parties for their kids and all that. We wanted to settle the case right away, but they wouldn't settle it because they wanted to make an example out of it. We went to federal court and won.

No kidding. We won. Then it went to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. I had to argue about Barney the purple dinosaur one step away from the United States Supreme Court. The funniest part, because the case is over, I can say this now, I had had the costume, the evidence of the trial, I had the costume at home for some reason.

My wife and her friends used it to have a birthday party for some of our kids, for some of the kids in the neighborhood. This was back before cell phone pictures and all that. I had pictures of all this.

I'm like, what are you doing? Do you realize this could end the trial right here? If the other side got a hold of this, I subpoenaed Barney to the trial.

Honest to God, I subpoenaed Barney to the trial. The other side said, you know, your honor, you know, we can't do that. There are only three of these costumes in existence.

It's on the road doing this and hardship of bringing it in. And the costume is six foot eight inches tall, weighs like 250 pounds or whatever. And I stood up, I said, your honor, I'm six eight and I weigh about 240.

I got in there just fine. And so the judge ordered the costume and they brought it, they brought it, opened up this big truck and they wouldn't let anybody see it unless somebody was in it. Barney pops out of the back of a truck onto the loading dock. The judge came down, all the court reporter and every employee of the federal building was there to see it. It's celebrity, right?

It was the dumbest thing you'd ever seen in your life. The great Jay Billis, love whenever he's appeared on our program. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgranger.com or just stop by. That's one of the many reasons I love doing this show. Hour number two, all with Kyle Brandt, then to the Miz. Now to the winningest coach in the history of men's college basketball and for the purposes of this time of year, three time gold medal winning coach, Mike Krzyzewski here on the Rich Eisen Show. How are you, Coach K? Yeah, it's great to be on.

Thank you for having me. Yeah, and I'm just sitting here, like all my memories of back in the day when I used to have hair and did sports center kind of is rushing my way. I remember meeting you for the first time at a Jimmy V golf tournament in North Carolina with Stuart Scott just chatting it up with you before I destroyed the golf course in a bad way. I just those memories are coming back to me right now, Coach.

So, you know, it's ironic that you're saying that I'm getting ready to head out to Napa. I post the V-line celebration there for 20 years. It's really a huge event. We raised 21 million dollars last year.

Hopefully we'll raise between 10 and 12 at least this year. And the V Foundation's done an amazing job and it got kicked off by having golf tournaments and things like that. So thank you for helping us get started. Oh, no, I just remember all of those events and those were great times and obviously in support of something that I kind of can't believe, to be honest with you, Stuart Scott is kind of in the same sentence as Jimmy V because of speeches that they both gave, riddled with cancer at the ESPY awards, you know, and that Stuart did pretty much what Jimmy did and it's his spirit that lives on and I'm sure will be mentioned at this event that you're talking about in Napa. Yeah, and Stuart, they have events honoring his great memory and his family has been terrific in support and really Jimmy and Stuart showed incredible courage and the ability to show themselves at that time when they're fighting and there was not a cure anymore but they were visible and those type of things are uncommon and you're talking about two really amazing guys in Jimmy and in Stuart. When did you first meet Jim Valvano?

Let's hit the way back machine. I played against him. He was at Rutgers and I was playing at West Point and then I coached against him and he was at Iona and I was at West Point. We came down together to North Carolina the same year and once he stopped coaching, we became like great friends and during the last six months of his life, we were like brothers and so he recruited me to be on the V team and I've been on it for three decades now and the V Foundation's done wonders. I bet.

No question about it and Hosanna's to you for that. Coach K here on The Rich Eisen Show. So what is the challenge of coaching a men's national team at the Olympics with all of the greats that are at your disposal on the bench and to start coach? Well I think the main thing Rich is the fact that there's only one outcome that you can have that is you have to win and that's what I told all of our teams that don't worry about minutes, scoring and whatever. People are only going to ask you one question. Did you win?

And if you can answer yes, we'll be a very happy guy and we'll be a very happy team. I think it's a different game. It's 40 minutes. The ball is different.

It has two extra panels. It's administered a little bit differently and FIBA, the Federation for International Basketball, it's a different game and you have to learn. You can't impose your game on them. You have to learn to play their game and so these teams are really good. One quarter of the NBA are international players and so it's not like there's not this off factor that like the dream team had in 92 or while we're playing the U.S. team. These teams look at it as a number of these guys that I play against them in almost 100 games during the NBA season and it's an opportunity for them. In one game, I think the mentality to have like us in the NBA, they can be the seventh game.

You can be three and three. Each game once you get into the medal round is the seventh game. The quarters, the semis and obviously the finals.

It's one and done. Yeah I know and again, even when the showcases were going down just a week ago and the close call to South Sudan and the showcases were close, close calls. I'm sitting here at this desk and I'm not saying that the men's national team isn't as good as it should be. I'm looking at the other competition. I'm looking at say like Team Canada.

SGA and Jamal Murray and RJ Barrett. They're not looking at Team USA going uh oh, we got trouble. That's an NBA team in its own right right there in Canada. Right and some of these teams are being coached by NBA coaches and you know they're look the world is really good and so winning is not winning is never easy but winning in the Olympics is difficult and so Steve Kerr and his staff have done a really good job and they have two more pool games to play. Puerto Rico and South Sudan and then the Olympics are different than when I coached in that it's always 12 teams but it used to be two six team pools and then the top four from each you know it would go forward.

Now you have to there are three, four team pools and so six of the teams are one and two in each of those pools and then the third two third place teams will make it based on point differential. So it's a little bit it's different and it's different but after these next two games it'll really be different because it's one and done and I feel good about our team. You know the thing Rich that we do we can do better than any country in the world is play defense and if we defend the three and don't put them on the foul line I think we'll win. And obviously having you know a deep roster coach K helps what did you what did you think when you heard Steve Kerr say he felt like an idiot giving Jason Tatum his first DNP CD perhaps in his life coach? Well it is difficult because it's 40 minutes and you know we you know you can't play 12 guys and have continuity and so whatever rotation they decide on and hopefully the players they're all in tune to that you have to have some level of continuity. These other teams have continuity they don't play 12 players they play eight, nine maybe and they play more minutes together and so it's a difficult assignment and we usually ended up with a rotation of about nine players and three others would play limited minutes or not play at all and whatever happens for the team you accept it because again you get back to that one question did we win okay this is the way we have to do it as long as we win I'm okay with everything there are no individual accolades it's got to be a collective effort and a collective accolade when our team is standing on the podium they're getting gold medals around their necks and the national anthem is being played it'll all be worth it so everyone's got to just buy in and do what their coaching staff wants them to do although in any of the Olympic games coach did you ever during a game look down at the bench and go oh that's right that's an all-time great I haven't played a single lick yet did you ever have moments like that no I never I never did that and you know of recent when we got together we would you know create standards for our team of how we're going to live together and and I asked each one of my players on each of the teams I said you have to pledge to me that you'll do anything that we ask you to do in order to win the gold medal and like and they did and so I never I was never worried about about that we had great guys and this team has great guys you know we I think you make too much of something you know the main thing we should make too much of is how we're going to beat South Sudan how we're going to be Puerto Rico and not get caught up and all the other stuff you know we didn't have social media during that time which probably helped not probably it did help because then there are just too many opinions you know and really you have to blank out all those other opinions and just say what's our opinion not my opinion in other words be a team of plural pronouns what what are we going to do what's our our mission and Mike I can tell you I loved you know we won five straight championships so three Olympics and two worlds you know and the guys that were on those teams were terrific they were unbelievable Coach K here on the Rich Eisen show I don't know if you heard during the broadcast of the men's teams victory to open the Olympics against Serbia Dwayne Wade at the microphone told a story about scrimmaging prior to the the oh eight games in Beijing and how you put Kobe and LeBron on the same team and how Dwayne Wade and the guys on the other team kind of took a little bit of notice of that I'm wondering what what your perspective on that story is I don't remember exactly doing that but it's probably the team that I was going to coach so I've always been a decent recruiter Dwayne has done an amazing job I think so too yeah and on that team Rich you know Dwayne was hurt that spring we weren't sure if he was going to play and then I said you got to play and he he did and I said I'm going to bring you off the bench and and he did he came off the bench he was our leading scorer and he came off the bench with Chris Paul Darren Williams and Chris Bosh not all usually we sub the four of them and I called Dwayne during that time rocket man when he came in he was amazing and not good and but we had a continuity there and and then at the end of games we had wasn't a starting team you you tried to create a closing team you know who would the five or six guys in the last five minutes of crunch time you know would work together the best and the beautiful thing about our players is they're positionless you know you can you can have five players out there who really don't have one position they just know how to play basketball and that's that's kind of the way we try to to coach them so your favorite Kobe story what do you have your favorite branch but what do you have a bunch of yeah I'll tell you he's the best prepared player I've ever seen and coached or heard about two days before we started training camp in Las Vegas I was with my staff and there was a knock on the door and it was Kobe he came two days early and and he said I need to have a coach I need to have a meeting with you I thought he was gonna drop out my heart dropped and we went into a room and and he looked at me said I need for you to do me a favor and I felt good I said okay he's still with us and and I said of course I can do you a favor and he said I I want to I want to guard the best perimeter player on every team that we play and then he paused and Richie leaned forward then you know he had these penetrating beautiful eyes and he said coach I promise out I promise I'll destroy him and I wanted to put out a contract right there but I didn't and so every practice he wanted to be the best defensive player and in his mind this is how he worked he knew that in order for us to win the gold medal we wanted to the two best teams in the world besides us were Spain and Argentina and that he would have to we would have to beat Argentina and he wanted to guard Ginobili and that's his vision and finally we played Argentina in the semis and we're beating them by 20 points and Ginobili got hurt and after he got hurt they they came back with a 10 points of us because Kobe needed to be motivated like that and remember at that time he was the best player in the world and the leading scorer in the NBA and he wanted to show everyone that I'll do the dirty work and I'll play defense he said he was a magnificent a magnificent player and competitor and guy I love it a few minutes left with coach K here on the Rich Eisen show talk a little bit about the the here and now by going in the way back machine what's the first time you rent you met Dan Hurley coach well when we recruited his brother yeah yeah in their home Bobby was really one of the great college players of all time and led us to two national championships and three final fours and but I knew their father you know Bob it's one of the great coaches of all time and a great guy and so and then Danny went on to play play at Seton Hall for PJ Carlessimo and we've kept up a friendship actually be quite frank with you he and I had a long talk on the phone last night because we're I'm working with the NBA now we're trying to form a little bit of an alliance with college basketball to upgrade what's happening in our country with with basketball with shot clocks with play the game the same way and Danny's going to be the collegiate game I think needs to change and access and maybe and how they play the game and a lot of coaches feel that way so we're trying to anyway it's a process but Danny will be a huge part of that with all the success he's had and and his feel for for the game well and obviously he could have been in the NBA chose not to so man there's so many different ways I can go here right now is it true that were you part of the Lakers search process in any way yeah before you were no no I was no I know obviously when JJ was involved I'm going to be involved because he's one of my former players and so we're going to talk and I know Rob Palenka he's been a friend for 25 years but I was not a consultant or anything like that I'd give an opinion you know if JJ asked for something or Rob said what do you think of JJ and you know but not as a consultant that's that's stretching it so and obviously though Dan kind of went if you will in a similar path as you yeah where I didn't talk I'm rich I didn't talk to Danny during that process at all and I he didn't if he would have called I would have obviously he's a good friend but I you know I felt you know I think Danny Hurley can handle that by himself and it you know he would have been a great hire for the Lakers but I think JJ is a great hire also of course no doubt about that and I do want to hit your two cents on that before I do let you go but were you surprised that Dan stayed in UConn knowing where the college game is is is NIL transfer portal happening during the NCAA tournament you know I mean where we're we're obviously there there are trappings in the pros as well but you could move to Los Angeles coach LeBron James for the Lakers you had an opportunity to coach the Lakers but stayed in college so I'd love to get your perspective on what what Dan Hurley eventually decided to do well I think instead of looking at all the problems and it is a landscape that needs to be navigated intelligently and collectively for college college basketball but their their the Hurley family has been committed to the game of basketball forever I mean their father is really one of the great guys and great coaches and and the whole family is basketball and so I think he understood his commitment one is he understood his commitment to Connecticut and and he and what a great institution and program that Jim Calhoun started there and it's it's continued and I think he likes that challenge and he loves college and I think he really loves the East Coast you know they're they're firmly entrenched there in the New York Connecticut New Jersey area so I think his commitment to the game was part of the reason that he he stayed and he's he's as he's one of the leaders right now for college basketball maybe the top leader at least one of the top two or three and you have a responsibility you know you can't you can't just accept you know you can't just win trophies although those are nice to win yeah you you have to make a commitment to the game and he's a lifer his family are lifers yeah they have a huge commitment to to basketball and I love them I don't like them I love them so before I let you go what what what are your two cents for for JJ Reddick if you're willing to to share them with us that you have imparted to him I think JJ is a great hire and he is surrounded he's surrounding himself with good coaches I you know JJ is a great competitor not a good one and he's really smart about the game I think he's smart outside the game too and and and he wants to coach he has a passion to coach and he he has learned a lot I think by having a 15-year NBA career he has empathy for players he's been exposed to a lot of coaches and then in his the podcasts he's done and the work he's done on tv he's got you know he's learned even more and I think it's a really good hire and you know obviously I'm pulling for him I love I love JJ and he made me many of the plays that I put in work because JJ was the main guy in those plays he you know he's as good a shooter as has ever played in the Atlanta Coast Conference Coach K what a pleasure to catch up with you I'd love to do this more often if you're if you're willing certainly if you ever find yourself in Southern California I know again you're going to be in Northern California for the fundraiser v.org is where you can go and donate to learn more about the V Foundation coach appreciate the time sir always no I enjoyed it thank you so much for having me on right back at you you bet that's Mike Krzyzewski getting set to head up again for yet another V Foundation fundraiser in the midst of the Olympics right here on the Rich Eisen Show total delight let's take a break when we come back we'll check on the news on who's not playing in the preseason in New York City that's next this is the Rich Eisen Show teams he's just rare in just about everything he does sideline to sideline end zone to end zone this was good for everybody just search believe that's BLEAV podcast wherever you listen all right let's try to fit well win-loss game in before the radio audits returns YL in Pennsylvania you there what's up you there YL oh unfortunately Tim in Cincinnati you there yes sir all right bro let's get you you're on the clock and you know Pittsburgh's already lost because he wanted to do the win-loss game here we go fast here we go let's see if we can do it Tim wants to do a win-loss game for the Cincinnati Bengals what happens at home for the Patriots ugly win at the Kansas City Chiefs at the loss home for the commanders on a Monday night win at the Panthers win three and one home for the Ravens win big win four and one at the Giants another win five and one at the Browns loss five and two home for the Eagles win six and two home for the Raiders win seven and two at the Ravens on a Thursday night that's gonna go off seven and three at the Chargers win eight and three off the buy home for the Steelers when nine and three at the Cowboys on a Monday night we can't beat them lost nine and four at the Titans when ten and four home for the Browns on a Thursday night when the miss isn't that right the miss isn't that right 11 home for the Broncos when 12 and four at the Steelers lost 12 and five says Tim in Cincinnati that's lost of the year thank you Tim okay he says they win the Super Bowl I like it by the way also like the back slap of the miss I appreciate that sort of Buckeye state bile against one another that was that was dynamite doing it unbelievable back on the Rich Eisen show radio network what a show huh Joe Ortiz the general manager of the Chargers comes across the street down the street says hello we say goodbye and then Kyle Brant comes in from down the street NFL media group in Inglewood hangs out for the hour he says hi to the Miz who sits down Miz takes off and then we zoom with Coach K oh fun win-loss games we started with overreaction Monday on a Tuesday what a show wow it's a full show to quote Erica Badu what a day what a day very good here coach I don't know what that meant I just like it either well speaking of A.A. Ron look at you that's what I was doing okay okay so uh we heard earlier in the show Matt Everglue saying the uh the starters aren't playing in Canton Ohio sorry Canton yeah you're gonna see the backups of the Bears and uh so Robert Sala Jets head coach was asked how much are we going to see of Aaron Rodgers in the pre-season we haven't really talked about it um my my instinct right now as I stand here is uh we'll see your instinct is we'll see my instinct is no but uh but I want to leave it open that uh that third game is the one where what we're deciding so I I they he definitely won't play the first two but um the discussion on the third one we just haven't quite had yet yeah uh I I like Robert Sala's instincts but uh I think the reason why he's leaving any room for uh for changing that is if Rogers says to him I I think my first snaps shouldn't be yeah against Nick Bosa in San Francisco my first snap since my Achilles snap shouldn't be against Nick Bosa in San Francisco and on Monday night right then the Jets will say okay yeah let's just hand it off a few times you make a quick throw here quick throw there and let's get you out against the Giants and the snoopy bowl of that's still calling it that just a few game reps just a few I don't I just a few live arrows before you know but um that's a great instinct if Rogers is like I can handle it I've been through enough that I can wait till Monday night football that'll be my first snaps since that awful moment on the previous Monday night appearance then that's the way it should be what are you you want to get Brian Burns a free shot is that what you want Kayvon Thibodeau free shot in a game that's yeah give me a shot not gonna be able to do it no in a game that means nothing except just getting getting a good sweat on yeah good point I don't think so no that's uh that's what I interpret solace saying we'll see and then go my instinct is no but leave it open Rogers needs says I think I should get some snaps and fine great get out there hand it off to Breece Hall three times and that'll be the night fun Tuesday show back on the Roku channel to wrap it up in a sec how it's going to keep going and then how they would somehow settle it binge seasons one through four of talk bill before season five begins wherever you listen