JJ and the King (Hour 1)

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And of course, streaming live on YouTube 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27 is the number to jump on in 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. You could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter X at Zach Gelb that's C A C H G E L B. Lance Leipold is going to stop by 40 minutes from now. The head football coach at Kansas coming off a nine win football season, which is unbelievable for that program. We'll do a little college football fix with him today. And we got a whole lot more to do as a rock and roll it all the way up until 6 PM Eastern 3 PM Pacific, Ryan Botcher and moist Mike here with us as well.

I want to start the show today talking about rich Paul and some of his comments. And I'll just say it right out of the gate. I think there are a few dominoes that are going to fall here. I don't know which order that they're going to fall. But in all likelihood, when the season starts in Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James is going to be back in the Lakers uniform. Bronny James is going to be in the same locker room as his old man. And I do believe the Lakers will ultimately snag JJ Redick as their next head coach. Now, if you had to say to me, Zach, in terms of the likelihood of those three things happening, how would you rank them one, two and three? I think it's number one, most likely LeBron James is resigning with the Los Angeles Lakers whenever he officially opts out of the contract and then elects to resign them. Two, I would then say it's Bronny James getting drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers and three would be JJ Redick. I think the Lakers are content with signing JJ Redick. I think they are fine with allowing him to be their next head coach. I wonder if, I don't even want to say cold feet. It would just be ego.

Let's be real about it. Why JJ Redick wouldn't take the job, but I'm very confident that we're going to have not only LeBron, but his son Bronny in the same locker room next season. And I saw Rich Paul gave an exclusive interview to ESPN and he said LeBron is off this idea of having to play with Bronny. Paul told ESPN, if he does, he does, but if he doesn't, he doesn't. There's no deal made that's guaranteed that if the Lakers draft Bronny at 55, then LeBron will resign. If that was the case, I would force them to take him at 17. We don't need leverage. The Lakers can draft Bronny and LeBron doesn't resign. LeBron is also not going to Phoenix for a minimum deal. We can squash that now.

It's like kind of twofold. You're like saying you don't need leverage and Bronny is going to get drafted. I don't think he'll be a first round pick. I think he'll be a second round pick, but it's not as if there's this great demand for Bronny James. And what I think this is, is this continues to allow Rich Paul and LeBron James to keep really, I guess you could say a juvenile, petulant guessing game continue. It's like, I could sit here and I think LeBron should go to Philadelphia.

I don't think he will. Like I could talk about maybe LeBron going to Dallas, but I don't think he will. Like, yeah, there's five destinations at least. And we've done this before. That would make 110% more sense than the Los Angeles Lakers. Like the Lakers are going nowhere right now. The Lakers at best next season, I don't care what moves they make this off season. I can't envision a world where the Lakers make enough moves and they're big moves that make me drastically change my opinion that at best the Los Angeles Lakers next year are playing in the second round of the playoffs. Like a few years ago, I know two years ago, they got to the Western Conference Finals.

I thought that was a fluke and they ended up getting quickly swept off the court by the eventual defending, by the eventual champions in the Denver Nuggets. So I don't, whoever the third player is, LeBron and Anthony Davis, and who that third player is going to be, I don't see that being a championship team, let alone a team that just gets to a Western Conference Finals. So for LeBron, do you want your career to end where whenever you say you're walking away, we're all going to give you a standing ovation.

We're all going to say how great of a player you were, you know, top three player, top two player of all time, and you'll get your flowers obviously. But do you want to keep on playing with no shot of winning a championship? And if you stay in LA, it's for reasons other than winning a championship. Because there's no logical argument that you could really make to me with how the team is constructed right now, or even how you project the team to get constructed for this upcoming season in the offseason, that would say to me, okay, I believe in the Los Angeles Lakers to get through the Western Conference and have a shot to go compete for an NBA championship.

I just don't see it. So I do believe that this is a giant guessing game. And Rich Paul and LeBron James and Bronny James, they think they have like this great leverage and they think they have us sitting on the edge of our seats, waiting in great anticipation to see what's going to happen until LeBron gets serious about winning again. And I know LeBron, he went out of his way to respond to a tweet last week. All people don't know me that say I'm not serious about winning like we all know LeBron wants to win.

But do your actions reflect you actually wanting to win? And staying in Los Angeles does not mean the priority is winning a championship. It just doesn't. So LeBron, until he says whether he's gonna opt out, but until you see LeBron sign with another team, I'm going to believe that LeBron is back in Los Angeles. So that's why this like guessing game with Bronny and LeBron, I kind of just roll my eyes at it. Because even if, let's say, come next week, the draft starts on Wednesday, and it's they're spreading this out, which is a dumb thing. You know, Wednesday and Thursday. So round one, because we all care about the NBA draft, right?

Out should be attendance in Wednesday evening, they're sending me for work. But Wednesday, you're gonna have the NBA first round. And after like the first three, four picks, as it goes every year, everyone's gonna be like, who gives a rat's ass? But the biggest story after that is going to be on night two, is Bronny James gonna go on that Thursday?

And when is he going to go? But you hear rich Paul in this interview with ESPN say, there are other teams that love Bronny, for example, Minnesota, Dallas, Toronto, if it's not the Lakers, it will be somebody else. Minnesota would love to get Bronny, but I don't know who their owner is going to be.

Nico Harrison, the math general manager is like an uncle to Bronny. If the Lakers don't take him at 55, Dallas would take him at 58 and give him a guaranteed deal. Masai Ujiri, the Raptors president loves him. They could take him without even seeing him at 31.

Workouts aren't everything for these teams. So I'll play the rich Paul, LeBron James, Bronny James game. If Bronny gets drafted by let's say the Toronto Raptors, is any jackass getting on the radio the next day or getting in front of a TV camera and saying, Oh, LeBron's going to go sign with the Toronto Raptors. No. You know, if he gets drafted by Dallas, you'll have, you already had LeBron to the Mavs takes.

So maybe you'll get them again. You know, if Minnesota signs a draft Bronny, are people going to be saying LeBron going to the Timberwolves? I don't think so. So it's like all this noise and we're starting to drum up all this noise.

What does it lead to? I truly do believe regardless of where Bronny goes on Thursday, cause he's not going to go in round one. I don't think it impacts the decision of LeBron James. And that's the biggest part of this conversation on where will LeBron James be playing next year. And I fully believe that LeBron James is going to be playing with the Los Angeles Lakers. So I think this is all noise. I think this is all hype. And I kind of rolled my eyes at everything that rich Paul said when discussing Bronny James to ESPN, like he may not be wrong that LeBron is off the idea of having to play with Bronny. If he does, he does. But if he doesn't, he doesn't like that's the one thing that I actually believe that he's saying they're not related.

That's the thing that they're not related right now. So what's the point of all this drama and noise? What are you saying to me right now? One second, one second. We're just looking to confirm 100%, but it's going to be big, big breaking news. Oh, you guys are like, oh, look at your phone. Look at your phone. Maybe you're looking to confirm big breaking news.

Does it have to do with basketball? We have breaking news on the Zach Gelb show. Is this actually confirmed? I have not seen the news yet. I mean, the news is coming from 6.4 million follower, Adrian Wojnarowski.

So if it is a fake account, they've done a great job in getting 6.4 million followers. So does the news have to do with something that I was just talking about? It sure does. Is the news J.J. Redick's the next coach of the Lakers? That is correct. J.J. Redick has agreed on a four-year contract to become the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. Rob Felicca offered the job this morning and Redick started working on the stands to surround himself with experience. Oh, and 82.

That's what I hope happens. Oh, and 82. Follow-up tweet, Felicca became sold on Redick's ability to connect with players at his basketball IQ and believes surrounding him with a complete coaching staff will help to shorten the learning curve into his first coaching job, sources said. Yeah, also Dan Hurley. So no Bob D. Williams, the Los Angeles Lakers, and now we have a done deal that it's J.J. Redick on a four-year contract to become the next coach of the Lakers. So that's the first dominant to fall.

Now I'll continue off of this. The first domino is off the board. That's J.J. Redick.

It is now falling. Now LeBron will opt out and he'll re-sign with the Los Angeles Lakers and there's no doubt about it in my mind as we started the show and now we'll continue with the breaking news that J.J. Redick is the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, that Bronny is going to get drafted on Thursday evening in the second round by the Los Angeles Lakers. So you will have J.J. Redick, LeBron James, and Bronny with the Los Angeles Lakers next season. And I have nothing against LeBron. I have nothing against Bronny, but quite frankly, I am not rooting for J.J. Redick. And I don't think J.J. Redick deserves to be the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

I don't. And he's going to walk into that building, right? We know is he going to continue the podcast with LeBron James too? And the thing that's going to be fascinating to watch is J.J. Redick doesn't do a good job when people push back at him and when people question him because he was a great college basketball player.

He was a solid, good NBA player. But I've never seen an arrogance to someone that I've seen with J.J. Redick. And I can't wait for those press conferences with the big spotlight with LeBron and Anthony Davis in the latter years of LeBron James's career. You know, Bronny sitting on the bench when is he going to get playing time when J.J. Redick gets annoyed and fed up with reporters and just how obnoxious he's going to present himself to the media.

Now, here's the good news. You get you get J.J. Redick off that ESPN booth. And here would be my first thought on that one, because I'm sure they'll keep Doris Burke with Mike Breen. I hope they add Tim Legler to that booth.

Legs is phenomenal. And he would run circles around J.J. Redick for that number one team. I didn't think J.J. Redick did a good job this past year when covering basketball, doing the games with Mike Breen and Doris Burke. So Lakers fans, you got yourself a coach. You got J.J. Redick.

And that's the big news of the day. It's kind of funny how we started off the show, Samter, talking about Lakers, talking about LeBron, talking about Bronny, even said in that segment, you know, there's no doubt about it. In my mind, three things are to happen this offseason. J.J. Redick's going to be the coach of the Lakers.

LeBron's going to be back with the Lakers and Bronny is going to get drafted by them come Thursday night. What's your instant reaction there, Samter, to J.J. Redick being the next head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers? There's a lot of reason to doubt J.J. Redick as a coach, but we have seen enough guys go straight from the booth or straight from the microphone to coaching Steve Kerr being one of them. Steve Nash obviously didn't do well, but he was another disaster. So there's but that necessarily wasn't Steve's fault. That was Kyrie and KD.

They were a disaster and he just couldn't do anything about it. So I look at it and I say, listen, he doesn't have the experience. So the odds are likely that he's not going to work. But there are just some guys who are smart basketball minds who are leaders of men who know how to corral locker rooms and how to handle talent.

And maybe he's one of those guys. So I'm not looking at it right now as a flop. I'm not looking at it as a bad hire. I'm saying, you know, it's a risky hire, but a risky hire that could absolutely work out. And clearly he has a great relationship with LeBron. And so much about being a head coach is about corralling talent and having them understand and listen to you. And so right now, LeBron, because of the relationship with JJ, if this doesn't work, you can't blame JJ because LeBron, why not?

You can. But what I'm saying is like LeBron, this was a kind of like LeBron's but they always say, oh, LeBron had no say in this process. We all roll eyes. So here's the bottom line. I don't like the hire of JJ Reddick, the Los Angeles Lakers.

I think there's a bigger take to it. The take is the Lakers just had a very public search. They didn't offer Dan Hurley a Godfather offer. They could have made him a 90, 95, a hundred million dollar offer.

They didn't elect to do so. They offered him $70 million over six years for Dan Hurley. So in this case, not a lot of people that the Lakers interviewed or the Lakers talked to were like blow away candidates outside of Dan Hurley. And the Lakers didn't do enough to make Dan Hurley say yes, the Lakers are a mess right now. LeBron's going to be back, but LeBron's not winning another championship. Anthony Davis is a very good player, but he's constantly in and out of the lineup and he needs to now become the face of the franchise. And I don't think you win a championship when Anthony Davis is the face of the franchise. This is just the move where basically JJ Reddick is a LeBron guy. They'll tell you, Oh, LeBron had no say in this process.

We all roll our eyes to it. This is just a holdover kind of title for JJ Reddick. He's the coach as long as LeBron is there. And eventually when LeBron does retire, we'll see what the stock is and the feel is of JJ Reddick. You know, maybe he gets a year after that and he's going to have to be imperative in player development and right with this brilliant basketball mind. But my biggest question about JJ Reddick is not only what is he still going to be the coach when LeBron is gone, but more so what happens in a big spotlight situation when something's not going JJ Reddick's way.

And there's a lot of times that he's very arrogant. And can you relate to guys in the locker room outside of LeBron James, who we know he loves right with the podcast and all that, but can you relate to the younger guys on the roster when maybe there becomes a contentious situation and how does JJ Reddick navigate some contentious situations that can brew naturally through the course of an 82 game regular season. It is the Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network. How do you react to the Lakers according to Adrian Rojanowski getting JJ Reddick as their next head coach. We'll take a time out.

We'll come on back 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Lance Leipold is going to join us coming up in 15 minutes. It is the Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network and the breaking news that we reacted to right out of the gate about 10 minutes into the show is that JJ Reddick has agreed to a four year contract to be the placeholder coach until LeBron James does retire from the Los Angeles Lakers. And we'll see if he's still the coach once LeBron James does walk away whenever that is. You know, I remember there was a story we talked about it like maybe a month, month and a half ago.

That's when I'll assume that we talked about it. But there was an article about Jeff Van Gundy who is now going to be an assistant, the lead assistant with the Clippers and Jeff Van Gundy this past year was in some advisory role with the world champion Boston Celtics. And in the article it discussed how ESPN or it claimed sources claimed which one of those roll your eyes kind of conversations that Jeff Van Gundy, the reason why he was let go at ESPN was because ESPN had this fear that he was going to get back involved in coaching.

Now we all know that was bull crap. And they just can't admit that the reason they got rid of Jeff Van Gundy is because he was critical of the league and he was critical of the officials and dare a broadcaster in the year of what was last season 2023 actually just be opinionated honest and tell you that the product isn't good. But it's so funny to me that that's what ESPN sources said why Jeff Van Gundy was no longer there is because they thought he was going to get back to coaching and he was going to get the itch to coach again and he was going to get a job. But then ESPN originally hires Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers didn't even make it half a season before you had the Milwaukee Bucks fire their coach and now Doc Rivers is the coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. So then ESPN had to scramble to fill Doc Rivers spot and they elected to do so with JJ Redick. JJ Redick finished out this season did so with the postseason and now he's leaving the booth like a half year three quarters of a year into the job being the number one analyst for ESPN basketball coverage. And now he's off to to the NBA to be a head coach. Now you can't bring Jeff Van Gundy back because Jeff Van Gundy is now going to be the lead assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers.

I don't think they're bringing Mark Jackson back. As I said earlier I would just promote from within and Tim Legler does a great job with Scott Van Pelt. I know he's not the biggest name but he is a phenomenal broadcaster and that would instantly give Mike Breen someone that Mike Breen we know is a legend. He's a phenomenal play by play guy but you could tell the chemistry wasn't there just listening to it. It was never a flaw with Mike Breen Doris Burke and JJ Redick because how quickly I had to put that team together.

I think if you put Tim Legler involved in that mix legs who doesn't really have an ego legs was like the antithesis of JJ Redick. I think Tim Legler would do a phenomenal job in that booth but it's like you look at the Lakers and this is what I'm just trying to figure out where are they heading to like you had to hire a coach right. It was getting to a level that it was embarrassing because you failed to give Danny Hurley the contract that he deserved and that Monty Williams became available.

You had a chance to hire Monty Williams a few years ago but you were cheap. The funniest part is if they would have just given Ty Lue a four-year deal instead of a three-year deal. Ty Lue would still be the coach of Los Angeles Lakers because LeBron James and him are buddy buddy and Ty Lue is a heck of a coach with LeBron and without LeBron. So the Lakers have had such a sloppy process and there became a point where Los Angeles just had to hire somebody because Samta could you imagine if the draft rolls around next week and let's just be honest the NBA draft isn't covered like the NFL draft. Like we actually know the players in the NFL draft there's actually like an analysis about the players of the NFL draft. The NBA draft is all right we'll talk about the players obviously and react to it but what storylines can we form a free agency right around the corner after that?

What are the rumors and what are the talking points? There's no way the Los Angeles Lakers all right and the Pistons probably will head into next week without a coach when you have the draft on Wednesday Thursday because the Monty Williams thing happened the other day but there's no and like let's be real the Pistons don't resonate nationally. You know this is not the early 2000s when you had Larry Brown, Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace, Rashid Wallace, Tayshaun Prince. This is not the early 2000 Pistons.

This is the Detroit Pistons in the year of 2024. So the Pistons not having a coach after just getting rid of Monty Williams the other day come Wednesday night is not like a big national talking point. But could you imagine what would have been said in that broadcast, Samta, on Wednesday if the draft was there and it's not like a draft where like last year the draft was overtaken by Victor Wenbunyama.

A few years ago was overtaken by Zion Williamson. There's not a player like that or projected to be like that with that buzz and that hype in this year's draft. There's no way the Lakers after not getting it done with Hurley and Reddick still being out there and reportedly Reddick was the guy that Chauncey said right after the NBA season like he's their target and then whoa started with Danny Hurley and we know the Danny Hurley thing hey it progressed to an interview and him turning down the job and him getting a contract six years seventy million dollars which he said was not enough money for him to leave UConn where he's won back-to-back national championships. But there's no way Mike that the Lakers could have waited another week and waited until after the draft because they would have got slammed. They would have got they would have been the biggest talking point on Wednesday of the draft. Oh the Lakers don't have a coach and then Thursday when they inevitably draft Bronny James then they would still be the biggest talking point. They had to they had to hire a coach before this draft on Wednesday Mike and that's what they did today where I don't even know if JJ Reddick was their guy from the start and if he is like they clearly wanted Danny Hurley but how much they really want Danny Hurley but Mike the fact that they had to hire JJ Reddick and like that's the best the Los Angeles Lakers could do it shows you that the Lakers right now from a brand standpoint I would think they're desirable right the Los Angeles Lakers wow you know think about that name and what that means being the coach of the Lakers but the actual duties of the job shows me that it's not that desirable if JJ Reddick is the guy that you get after this long lengthy search. I mean I I don't want to believe that he was their top candidate uh but maybe they just really zeroed in on him and like they feel really happy about this like James Borrego has experience and everyone's talking about James Borrego doesn't move the needle right that's what I'm saying like who outside of Danny Hurley who spurned them and he spurned them not because he wasn't interested in the job he spurned them because of the money yeah so it wasn't like it was like a godfather offer right but so it wasn't like he was like I don't want this job I don't like the organization I don't want to coach LeBron in AD no he just said you just didn't give me enough money to change my life sure so okay fine so it doesn't feel like he was it's not like you know a girlfriend or girl turning you down because she's not interested it's a girl turning you down because you know her friends have to leave and she's going out of town and she's not coming back Danny Hurley swiped with them they they had a cup of coffee and he was like I'm not feeling the romantic connection no but see I don't think that was it I think he was saying I feel like you're not the connection you're making me pick up the tab on the date that's pretty much what he said to them it's like I find you attractive I'm interested but um you don't make enough money for me like that's really what it was so it's not really like you're being spurned it wasn't like they were but if if and Danny Hurley didn't seem like a legitimate candidate until at the very end so maybe the Lakers like listen JJ is our guy but if we can get somebody like Danny Hurley let's go for it there wasn't a lot of other well up until now Monty Williams wasn't available he just signed a five year 65 million dollar contract so and you had new president of basketball operations in I don't think that caught a lot of people in the league as surprised yesterday that that Monty Williams got let go caught us by surprise well I was just the fact that to pay that kind of money it's surprising because we know the Lakers are cheap these days could have gotten a discount with how much money that the Pistons are going to go to give them sure but anything Monty Williams is the greatest coach in the world but with the draft a week away to have to start the entire interview process again with Monty Williams it would be very tight to get him in in time for the draft why not go take the the Nuggets top assistant the Nuggets have kicked your ass the last two years for the same reason that James Borrego didn't get enough of a nod it's because it's not flashy the Lakers need something flashy right and so the the Nuggets top assistant doesn't move the needle James Borrego doesn't move the needle you needed something move the needle JJ Redick moves the needle Danny Hurley moved the needle talking about it sure but it doesn't mean it's a good hire like Danny Hurley would get us talking about it and oh even though I have questions about Danny Hurley fitting in the NBA he's deserving of the opportunity yeah but you know what though I mean guys like Darvin Hamm and Luke Walton they were those kind of like assistants and by the way Darvin Hamm there's no doubt about it now back with the Bucks he will eventually replace Doc Rivers he's a Giannis guy wouldn't that be funny man watch you'll have Bucks Lakers in the championship in Lebron's final season and Darvin Hamm will get his revenge that would be funny hey look at the western conference I know we gotta take a break because we gotta get to Lance Leipold but just right now going into next season Thunder are better than the Lakers Nuggets are better than the Lakers Timberwolves are better than the Lakers the Clippers we'll see if Paul George is back but I would say they're better than Lakers Mavericks are better than Lakers Suns are better than Lakers and we'll see if the Kings get back moving the right direction you know the Warriors bounce back Los Angeles Lakers right now they're playing tournament team that if everything goes right for them maybe they could win one round so you got Lebron there and Lebron's really the coach he does everything in that organization so you hired a friend of Lebron James that's what the Lakers did and they'll sell you on why he's qualified and why this was not a Lebron hire and all that stuff you roll your eyes at it that's the bottom line it is Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network one of the best coaches in college football is Lance Leipold and what he has done at Kansas in three years is unbelievable he'll join us next for a little college football fix but first up with the infinity sports network update is the act man Rich Ackermann Angie's list is now Angie and we've heard a lot of theories about why I thought it was an eco move for your words less paper no it was so you could say it faster no it's to be more iconic must be a tech thing but those aren't quite right it's because now you can compare upfront prices book a service instantly and even get your project handled from start to finish sounds easy it is and it makes us so much more than just a list get started at angie.com that's angi or download the app today call from mom answer it call silenced instacart knows nothing gets between you and the game that's why they make ordering from your couch easy stock up today and get all your groceries for the week delivered in as fast as 30 minutes without missing a minute of the game you have 47 new voicemails download the app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last minimum ten dollars per order additional terms apply start your summer road trip at mitis and get up to 30 off your next repair service plus get a free closer look vehicle check to make sure your road trip ready so if you need a break service an alignment check or tune up hit up mitis for up to 30 off for more details request your appointment at mitis.com you're listening to the zach geld show we miss college football bill rose stands in he throws into the end zone it's caught by isaiah bond in the corner of the end zone touchdown alabama we can't wait for the 2024 season hands it off to ever to about sit outside donovan 40 donovan 30 donovan everest is in the clear his second touchdown run in the ballgame this time for 46 yards and michigan has taken a 13 to 3 lead on the second touchdown of the night from the man who was not tripping and we're counting down the days to kick off here is your college football fix only on the zach geld show 70 days away until kansas kicks off its football season up against lindenwood and now joining us is the head coach of the kansas j hawks who's done a sensational job in his first three seasons and that is lance leipold you know from 2010 to 2020 kansas only had 21 wins in football lance leipold got there and they have 17 wins they were two and ten in year one six and seven in year two and last season had a sensational year going nine and four and coach leipold's kind enough to join us right now coach thanks for the time appreciate it how you been i'm doing well zach how are you it's a pleasure to be with you well i'm doing fantastic and i really appreciate you coming on so i'll ask you a simple question out of the gate but i know it's not so simple and it speaks to uh really what your staff has brought to kansas but how the heck have you turned around kansas uh from when you first got on to campus to now be in a team with some high expectations this year well you know we're really proud of what's been able to transpire in a short period of time and and you have to give you know credit to our to our assistant coaches and our players you know we we inherited a very young football team um and we kind of went through the growing pains but but they you know and we're able to build trust and and they saw some love at the end of the tunnel and we've been able to really in this new environment retain a roster we had under 10 guys leave through the portal and we're going to have a large senior class about 30 30 seniors and i i think uh those are some kind of really some blessings for us that we're able to kind of go about it um you know i arrived in we arrived in may of 2021 right after travis golf was appointed as athletic director and and so fortunate to work with him and chancellor doug girard and it's really been about the best alignment uh from top to bottom than i've ever really been a part of and and for us to be on the same page and invest in this program um has really kind of helped us sustain and we're excited to get this thing kicked off next uh in the next couple months you know i'm a graduate of temple university so i saw what matt rule was able to do and and his first season as the head coach of temple they only had two wins but the team just looked different and there was a belief did you see the belief did you see the buy-in i know there's so much change now like you talked about in college football but did you see that buy-in right away uh in year one well you know we're you know there are some things culturally that that we found you know if if we were down 17 at half which is all always tough but just the the lack of confidence that that this program had was really tough and i think it's been well documented the you know we're able to get an upset win down in austin texas that i really think you know kind of was a shot in the arm for this program of confidence of being able uh towards the end of the season we're one and eight and we go down there and could have been pretty easy just to play it out and try to look forward we've only been there five months as a staff we could all say yeah it's going to get better but that group kept working to get better and then i think the trust was starting to happen we started to get some confidence we lost the last two and some close games but those games and really through jaylen daniels that quarterback really catapulted us into an off season that this program could get better and and it has we all know how sensational your quarterback is jaylen daniels as right now lance leipold's here with us the head coach at kansas we know he struggled to stay on the field at times because of different injuries last year it was the back where is he right now as you get set for a season to kick off at about 70 days yeah jaylen daniels is doing everything that everyone else in the program is doing in the summer program he's he's on he's on part of on part of and of course to be right there for training camp we expect him to be fully ready to go from day one and we're excited you know it's been a it's been a bumpy road for jaylen but he is such a quality young man and he's been a great teammate throughout this you know kind of going through it and i don't know it's a lot of guys would have cracked and and he keeps kind of fighting through it he's there for his teammates when he's not available to play and you know i guess there's a spot in my heart that not just for this team's sake or anything but for him i'm really pulling for him that he can really put to put it all together and really show the country what he's all about for for 12 regular season games do you guys kind of draw a little inspiration from the story of michael penix jr just wondering because he was in like a similar spot i know he had to transfer and wind up at washington but he was a guy that was defined by injuries and then really the last two seasons he was as good of a quarterback as anybody in college football when he was finally able to stay healthy um you know i haven't given that a lot of thought but it's a good comparison and and things that that could happen um you know it's it's just been so unfortunate that that i don't know we just kind of focus what's happening here but yeah i i think there's there's a chance for somebody like him to really take off and and show my much like penix did and uh when he was reunited with kaelin debor we all know what he's capable of on the field like that's not a question to people it's just can he stay healthy so like when you have stuff like that go down you know i think the mental health part of it and how you keep the spirits up uh is a big part of the conversation that sometimes doesn't get talked about so as a coach that uh loves the player for not only what he could do on the field but obviously knowing who he is as a man and and a young adult like how do you what was kind of your message to him as he got ready to go through this off season with all the ups and downs and everything that surrounds him in the conversation yeah when you're around him and you see his smile and and how he goes about it with his teammates and things you you're just inspired about his positivity um it's more through the bumps when talking either to his family or or or providing the right availability for the professionals that that he may want to bounce things off because it's not easy to walk in the building every day when you're when you're not able to go and people aren't asking you why and all those all those all those different things so uh as i and it's easy to say in in these situations as good a player as jaylen daniels is he's a better person and he's really fun to be around and he's been an inspiration a lot of different ways for this program and like i said i i'm just anxious to see him back out there and if he could stay healthy through this year you got a pretty special one-two punch in that backfield with not only your quarterback but then devin neil who's been with the the program for a while and man he keeps on getting better and better and put it up big time seasons coach yeah he does and again another quality young man that you know when when you're looking to you know we're fortunate as coaches step into this situation here but he was a true freshman at the time but to watch him work and grow and and and become such a steady player but you know he was you know he's born and raised right here in lawrence and he and he's been loyal to this community and university and uh he's definitely been impactful on and off the field for us to build this program and uh you know he's he's you know really ready to kind of take it another step as well so yeah you're right it's a one-two punch uh you know and we're excited about him and really all the surrounding talent that we have at the skill positions on the offensive side of the ball and then you look at the defense we talk about the one-two punch on offense man in your secondary you got a great one-two punch that those are definitely be two kids that are going to be ready to be in the nfl this time next year it feels like yeah again uh you know kobe brian's been one that's been a first team all big 12 performer last two seasons and an extreme competitor not the biggest guy but he's physical he's great ball skills and anticipation mellow dachshund i think from the last you know probably two-thirds of the season played as well as anybody uh and again those guys have played a lot of football for us and uh and and they went through those growing pains as as freshmen and and uh the two and ten season and now we're you know not now they're kind of crafty better and so we're we're excited about them we've got some questions and we've got to keep answering and probably use the rotations of things in the front seven but uh i i think again there's enough experience along the line that we have a chance again to to be very good over there wrap it up at lance light pulled the head coach at kansas they've been sensational under his tutelage the last few seasons uh so andy was with you for a long time obviously now he's the the oc at penn state jeff grimes uh comes in everything i read is that the offense is going to look similar you're not going to notice that much uh different you know how different is the offense going to be from last year to this year from a scheme standpoint yeah i don't think you'll see us line up in the wishbone or anything when uh you know but uh yeah you know and first of all andy cold nikki did an outstanding job you know i've been fortunate as a head coach andy was here for 11 years i mean and uh and brian boreland will be going on year 18 as the defensive coordinator so to have that kind of continuity at those positions was definitely a big plus for us every every step along the way but uh i you know great respect for jeff grimes when he was at baylor i can remember we came into this league we were picked 10th they're picked 9th they win the big 12 and and again jeff knows the talent of the what what he's stepping into in the surrounding pieces um and and that was part of the interview process is that we don't want to vary too much from what we're doing and what has made us successful and uh at the same time i know he's going to put his stamp on it as well it should make us even better and i'm excited about uh him being our offensive coordinator obviously you want the big expectations because it means your program's in a in a big spot but you know there's talk about winning a big 12 championship this year there's talk with the playoffs going to 12 with you guys beating the mix for that how do you kind of sense if if your guys uh can handle uh the the spotlight and the more attention that naturally comes with those big expectations yeah great question because it's you know and and from my chair it's something i i kind of try to try to balance i want this team to be proud of how far it's come and how it's been mentioned i want that to build confidence because they've gone out and earned that at the same time it can't lead to complacency because um our conference everybody always says it across the board but when you really watch the matchups in this conference will be as equal as anywhere in the country and there's going to be a lot of tough games on this schedule so though though that's flattering in june and july you've got to be able to go to work each and every day in the off season and be ready in camp otherwise you're you're gonna you're gonna have a big letdown so it it's a balance but i'm i'm excited that uh it's sure better than what it used to be that's for sure when you start talking about pre-season expectations of this program and i i think uh one is from the head coach position i've got to learn to handle and make sure we're on course but uh it's exciting times you know this uh our university our chancellor athletic director we're adding you know we're we're in the phase one which is 450 million dollars of redoing our football facility and and a portion of our stadium with another phase to to come and you know people question about if kansas was going to be serious about football and i think our administration fans and alums have stepped up to help us take the necessary steps and i only got a minute and a half left coach but it's cool that you stayed you know if you would have left everyone would have under like i would have understood it uh your big name well respect to coach now in college football but it's neat that you ended up staying how tough of a decision was that for you very easy very easy because it's about fits not about logos um my wife and i and family are extremely happy here we've been treated well and we have unfinished business and uh you know there's you know the you gotta have faith and and trust that that's going to be put in the right places at the right time and uh we certainly were and uh and and though though sometimes your name can be mentioned for certain things it doesn't always mean that they're factual or if it's even the right fit so we're excited we're we're we're locked in and we're ready to go coach good luck appreciate it's been awesome to see what you've been able to do the last few years at kansas thank you i appreciate it great to be with you again rock chalk there you go love how we always get the ending like that whenever we bring on the the college coaches rock uh rock chalk j-hawk ku uh great stuff there from lance lightpole joining us and hey when you go from 2010 to 2020 a program that twice had no wins total of 21 wins he comes off from buffalo and he was a good coach at buffalo i watched them buffalo because my sister and my cousin are alums of the university university at buffalo city bus buffalo and to go two and ten then to six and seven to nine and four i can't wait to see what the next chapter is this upcoming season for lance light bulb at kansas with some big expectations tune in is the audio platform with something for everyone news in order to secure convictions in a court of law it is essential that we conclusively sports the step back three music and even podcasts whatever you love hear it right here on tune in go to tunein.com or download the tune in app to start listening start your summer road trip at mitis and get up to 30 dollars off your next repair service plus get a free closer look vehicle 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