Jay Jacobs Show: The history of Auburn’s apparel partners with Nike on the horizon

Former Auburn AD Jay Jacobs returns to his biweekly show The Auburn Undercover Podcas where he dives into Auburn’s upcoming shift from Under Armour to Nike. Jacobs shares insights into past apparel deals, the reasons behind choosing Nike, and his views on alternate and throwback uniforms. Learn why Auburn values tradition in its uniforms and what’s ahead for the Tigers in this exciting new era.

Tags: #Auburn #AuburnFootball #WarEagle #Nike #UnderArmour #JayJacobs #SEC #CollegeFootball #Uniforms #AuburnTigers

[Music] Welcome back everybody. Another edition here of the Auburn Undercover podcast on the 247 Sports Network. My name is Nathan King, joined here by Ronnie Sanders and our bi-weekly guest Jay Jacobs, former Auburn athletic director. Got a lot to get into today, but uh Jay, first just want to talk about uh on Monday. I know you and I were both there at uh at Bruce Pearl’s annual uh for the children golf fundraiser event. Just talk about what it was like getting to catch up with Bruce again. And uh obviously, you know, for for Children’s Harbor and uh and Children’s of Alabama, that’s just been a tremendous uh a tremendous cause that that Bruce has been at the forefront of for quite some time now. It it has been, Nathan. It’s it’s good to be with you and Ronnie and to war, everybody. Yeah, the uh uh the the the Bruce Pearl Family Foundation has partnered with Children’s Harbor um at Lake Martin. And if you if you’re not familiar with Children’s Harbor, um it is a place they’ll have they’ll have starting I think this next weekend, they’ll have about 5,000 um children um with some type of disability or illness or ailment um there at Children’s Harbor um enjoying some time at at at beautiful Lake Martin. And so what Bruce has partnered with them is to raise money and uh I think to date they’ve raised over a million dollars for Children’s Harbor. And um I believe it’s about 41,000 people have been able to use the facility in Birmingham so that when a family can stay there so that when your child is being treated there in Birmingham um at Children’s Hospital or or wherever it may be they can stay there at Children Harbor um facility. And uh Bruce has a you know he has a huge heart for this ministry in this mission. And it was a lot of fun yesterday playing golf at the the new um Wicker Point Golf Course uh by Russell Lands at at Lake Martin. I never had been out there before. Went out and played yesterday and uh had I think 26 teams play in that. Um, but it was it was a beautiful day and a great cause. And um, at the end of that, Bruce’s Family Foundation gave $50,000 to the ministry that Chad Puit and his wife Tanya started um, uh, a couple of years back that they go on college campuses and have a one night revival uh, to bring college students in to um, celebrate and worship Jesus Christ. So, um, Bruce Bruce got him off to a good start because we’ve all heard in the last week that Chad is moving away from men’s basketball. He’s been doing it. He’s been a he’s been a coach in in basketball for 30 years. And we all know what a grind that is. So good for him to, you know, the God has laid this ministry on him and he’s going to he’s going to walk away from from Auburn basketball, but not walk away from Auburn obviously, but go and um try to help change this world by changing lives each day um with their ministry. So great day yesterday at Wicker Point and u grateful for Children’s Harbor and grateful for the Bruce Pearl Family Foundation and and all those that were a part of that and contribute to a great cause to to help others that they that can’t help themselves. That’s what that’s what that’s all about is to boy when people are ill or having a hard time you know sometimes just a little bit helps and uh what uh what they’re doing um is a little more than a little bit but every little bit helps. So, it’s such a such a blessing to be a part of that. Matthew, go ahead. Oh, yeah. I mean, I was just going to say, you know, it’s we were talking about before we got rolling. Um, it’s wild to think that Bruce has been here for for so long. Now, he’ll be going into his 12th season um at Auburn. But, you know, that the the off the court impact he’s made here has almost been as as large as on the court. I mean, anytime you have a conversation with him, he talks about, you know, how many players they’ve graduated, their graduation rate. Um, I know that’s something that that’s something that he takes pride in. I know some, you know, we, you and I, all of us on this podcast, Jay, have had conversations about, you know, why you guys decided to hire him. Um, and, you know, that that passion for not just the game of basketball, but, you know, for wherever he’s going to be. I know that was a big part of things as well, because he’s he’s fully embraced Auburn and and made it his place. Yeah, there’s there’s there’s no doubt about it. He, you know, he epitomizes what the Auburn Creed’s all about. You know, he has a spirit that’s not afraid. He loves human human mankind and um he loves people and uh he he believes in work and hard work and uh he does it he does it every day, but it is hard to believe that it’s been over a decade since he came to campus, but his involvement, it’s just so important to the Auburn people. I mean, we we certainly want to win and u that’s why we want to be, you know, not an everything school. We want to win everything that we do and we can talk about it later, but the men’s golf team is headed to Carl’sbad. They’re already out in Carlsbad, California, defending their national championship over the next week or so. Um, but uh Bruce, he he really epitomizes what the Auburn Spirit’s about. He, you know, he he he just I’ll never forget one of the first u public meetings I was in with him. Um he gave everybody in the audience his cell phone number. And so I thought, “Holy smoke, how’s he going to do this?” But he is just he just has a passion and a uh just intuitive for him. He just connects with people. and you know not only for for helping those who can’t help themselves but you know he is a proponent of what’s going on in Israel u because he has a tremendous history and knowledge of that land and um and that that religious region and what it means to him and his family and he goes about it the right way. I mean, he’s speaking, you know, he was in New York this week speaking. He’ll be in different places speaking truth about what is happening around the world and how that would impact, you know, our generations behind us. And uh he’s just a he’s just an unbelievable ambassador. I don’t know of uh you know, there’s probably some people listening that would have a better sense of it. I don’t know who that would be, but maybe. But I don’t know of any two athletic hires that we’ve had people in athletics than Pat Dy and Bruce Pearl that have impacted the trajectory of Auburn University. Not just athletics, you know, we’ve hired some really great coaches that have really impacted their program and Auburn athletics, but um nationwide and even with Bruce globally um the positive impact that that he’s had um for Auburn University. Um, so he’s he’s a he’s a real blessing and um I don’t see him slowing down anytime soon and uh um when he does he’ll have to find something to do because there’s no onoff switch with him. It’s uh it’s his is full tilt, but uh just a lot of fun to to watch and be a part of and it’s certainly you know to get a chance to go to the final four. Oh, that’s hard to do and u they’ve been twice. So, um, and he’s having to reload this year, you know, and NIL comes into play. So, it’s just, uh, it’s interesting times, but fun times and just such a blessing to have him and all of our other current head coaches at Auburn leading leading the program and leading these young men and women. Um, they have such a huge impact on them in a positive way. Talk a little bit about, you know, you mentioned the impact Bruce has had and how he’s gotten into the community and all those things. You know, we had a Pete Jenkins on the podcast last week and he was talking about he said, you know, there’s there’s something about Auburn. He said, you know, he said people people come back to Auburn. You know, Jack Hines, he said, living back in Auburn now. Um he said, people get fired at Auburn, they move on, then they come back when they retire. He said people don’t come back to Baton Rouge. He said, you know, talk a little bit about the Auburn community and how it’s different. um why people come back and why they stay. Yeah. Um you know, I’m I’m one of those that came back. We were at the University of Florida for five years and we came back a little over a year ago and uh somebody made the comment said Auburn’s a sticky place. It’s hard to it’s hard to get away from it. It is. And it’s not just for you know people like um you know coaches and administrators in athletics in the university. I mean look at the place the way it’s growing. It has a lot to do with the university. you have a lot to do there in the culture of the university, you know, the leadership with uh President Chris Roberts. It is it is a um um I I don’t think this is an overstatement, but it is a it is a pure transparent university. Um there no undercurrents and those type things you have to worry about. It’s a safe campus. It’s a great place. You get an education. There’s a lot of passion. Um and you know I think that has a lot to do I think the I think the uh you know what the leadership the civic leadership has done with all the uh you know with the school system is a great place to raise a raise a family with the school system and the community and the values that we all have there. Um we have to you have to work hard to protect those. Um you know it takes 3 to 5 years to develop a culture. It takes about 30 or 60 days to destroy one. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have issues. I’m not I’m not saying there’s not issues, but the majority, the overwhelming sense of it is it’s a great place to live. Um great place to get out on the streets and go to Tumor’s Corner or College Street and uh different places, even even Opaikica, Tiger County, what they’ve done downtown. Um it is just a really um I think one way to say it is a wholesome environment. I’m not saying other other places don’t have that. I’m just saying that’s what that’s what we have at at Auburn. And uh and it starts, I believe, with the with the town and gown. Starts with the city and the university, you know, being lock step with what those values are. And it’s just a it’s just a great place. It’s a great place to be because there’s so many things to do as well is that when you come back to Auburn, there’s so many different events you can do. um go attend um you know with the with the good center now as well um just just a lot of different things to do and it’s a it’s a really um positive environment you may not know but I um how many former head coaches are are living back in Auburn now I know I know there are a lot of there are a lot of them I know I know I guess Sunny Smith still lives in town and Chisik and um I know there a bunch of they’re a bunch of guys that are still found. Yeah, I mean, uh, you know, G Jean Jean still lives there, spends, you know, a lot of time in Auburn. Um, Coach Smith, he and his wife, they live there. Coach Mike Griffin, our former golf coach, he still lives there. Um, Eric Shaw, our former tennis coach, he’s still there. Um, goodness, Karen Hoa, our recent retired soccer coach, you know, she’s there. I mean, so it’s a it’s a it’s a lot of people that that’s that either stay there or come back. It has a lot to do with the community, how how people how people care about each other in Auburn. Um, yeah, certainly we’re passionate. We want to win. Um, but people still have that kindred spirit, that spirit of u being polite and courteous and realizing that they’re more important things than than athletics. um you know being being kind to your fellow man, treating people the way you want to be treated. So, but there you know um Ronnie there’s a lot I’ I’ve never thought about it but there are a lot Kim Evans our former women’s golf coach she’s there and very much involved in the community. So, a lot of different people that uh that I’m familiar with from athletics live in Auburn. Um either have have continued to live there or they came back. So, it’s pretty cool. Pretty cool place to be. As we’re Go ahead, Nathan. You had a question. I was just going to make a point of uh this is a little bit off topic, but I was downtown on Sunday night seeing some family and walked past the team shop and it said 50% off sale, all Under Armour. Isn’t that Isn’t that bizarre to think about? I guess it guess it makes sense. But in a couple months time, they’ll be um they’ll be entering a new a new apparel era. It’s just it’s still strange to think about. Yeah, it is. And uh you know, it was to some people it was strange that that we picked Under Armour. We had been with Russell Athletics for 75 years. And um when we we we saw the the different um trajectory of Russell Athletics at the time um even though they had still had MLB um and we went out to market just to see how you know how well our brand could do because we’re continuously trying to generate revenue to support our student athletes. You can’t just always do that with increasing the ticket prices. But, uh, when we went out there in in ’05 and, um, Nike, um, which is not unusual for them. They’re they’re, you know, they were the top of the market. Um, you know, their response was, “If you want to, you know, if you’d like to do business with us, let us know and we’ll do it, but we’re not going to be part of an RFP or bid process.” Um, and that’s where they were. But um Kevin Plank, the founder and CEO of Under Armour, he came to town and uh sat and visited with us. It was interesting guys how um some of our listeners will remember the first commercial you may remember with Under Armour where all those young people on a bus with uh their football uniforms on except their shoulder pads and their they were slapping on their thigh pads. um you know that chant and um it was it it was so interesting y’all. We were holding those meetings over in the louder academic building and I came out of one of those meetings about four football players standing there and said, “Richard Jacobs, we got to go with Under Armour.” I said, “Why?” He said, “The commercials are so cool. Everybody’s going to Under Armour. Let’s go to Under Armour.” And um and as we went through the process, more of those guys were saying that there were some problems, you know, that we had to overcome. uh the shoe issue and you know some um uniforms they didn’t have like gymnastics but uh man thank goodness that that we went with them and you know people were fussing that you go with under arour. Well the only reason you go with Nike is people people implied that you know you could get players. Well if you’re getting players through a shoe deal then somebody’s doing something that’s not right. But um I’ll never forget talking to Bruce about it after when we were hiring him. I said, “Uh, hey, you know, we’re in Under Armour.” And he said, “Well, the next player I get from Nike will be the first player I got.” So, and then, you know, a few years later, two of the final four teams, Auburn being one, are wearing Under Armour tennis shoes in the final four. So, but people just use that excuses, but Under Armour stepped up to the plate now. They uh they had some issues with their shoes and contractually we had it built we had a basket built in and if the shoes didn’t work for us, we could go buy whatever shoes we wanted to. We just didn’t had a great contract. But it is interesting. It’s good time to to talk about change and and sometimes change is good. So, um I was at the University of Florida and we had Nike and actually we actually we had Jump Man, which is a completely different um segment of the market for Nike. We had the Jump Man. At the time there’s only like five schools that had Jump Man. That sort of set us apart. So, um, but today’s day, I’m not sure that matters at all to a prospective student athlete. They’re more concerned about, or at least their parents are more concerned about how much money they’re going to get and then they go buy their own shoes they want to. And I know that there’s a school or two um that are considering just completely doing away with shoe deals and letting the student athletes pick whatever shoe they want to and just go with it because they can make money off NIL, then why not? So, um, anyway, different time, things have changed, but Under Armour provided great finances for our athletics department so we could do a lot of things and, uh, win a lot of championships and, you know, things change and that’s changing and wish Under Armour and Nike nothing but the best. How how difficult a decision was that knowing that it had been 75 years with with uh with with Russell? It it it was challenging particularly u when you get a call from the governor. Um Governor Bob Riley called me. He said, “Jay, what you got going on down there?” I said, “You know, well, we’re we’re shopping our apparel rights, governor.” And he said, “You know, Russell’s been in this business and in this state for working with y’all for over 75 years. And you know, as a governor, I need to call and just reach out and let you know their importance.” And I said, “Hey, nobody understands it better than you, and now I understand as well as you do, Governor, but I got to do what I think’s best for Auburn. And if um Under Armour can provide some financial support that others can’t, then we’re going to go with Under Armour or Adidas or Nike, whoever it may be.” And he said, he said, “So, you’re going to make a a business decision?” I said, “Absolutely.” He said, “I can support that 100%.” You make a good business decision what’s best for Auburn, Auburn Athletics, then I can support that. I just want you to I just want you to be aware of how I felt about Russell. I said, “Yes, sir. I feel the same way.” And we all do and still do. So, um, anyway, that was a that was a tough decision. It was such a big change for everybody, but we were wearing People don’t realize we were wearing Nike shoes, Russell football outfits, you know, and we didn’t have anything across the board. Um, people make, you know, people may not realize that today because everything’s, you know, one brand. Um, I see where Tennessee is going to market, you know, and talking about what they’re going to do. Um, but it was it was a to answer your question, Ron, it was a tough decision because it impacted so many people. You know, the people live 45 minutes away in Alexander City at Russell Mills. Um, but you know, you know what we had to decide, what I had to decide was, you know, what’s best for these, what’s best for Auburn. What gives us the best opportunity to move forward financially and with a brand that we were going to be their top brand. We’re not going to be one of many. We’re going to be their top brand. And you all may remember that, you know, they had a commercial with Tubberville and all different kind of things they did. and what they did for us at the national championship in 2010, you know, all the advertising out there in Phoenix, it was really great for the Auburn brand. More people learned about Auburn um through going to championships and through the advertisement that Kevin Plank and Under Armour put out there than than you could ever afford to do. Nathan. Yeah. I mean, it’s just it’s it’s going to be interesting to see, like you mentioned, the impact of of Nike coming in just because it’s such an unknown for like an Auburn sphere. you know, it seems like everybody else um you know, around the SEC has maybe toyed with it once or again, but um you know, I think Bruce Pearl has touched on it before, like you mentioned, Jay, of like if if if a shoe brand is the reason that a player is between one or two schools, then it’s probably not the right, you know, tree for you to be barking up anyway. Um and and look and you know Bruce and this roster and Auburn’s you know football recruiting under Hugh Fes have have had no issues with the with the current apparel deal. But at the same time I think like you mentioned you know with with Auburn you know having championship you know viewpoints with Under Armour. I think they will try to maximize those first couple months. And I think it wouldn’t be insignificant for Auburn football to have a nice season this fall in the new in the new Nike threads and jerseys just to kind of just kind of get that going off on the uh on the right foot. Yeah, exactly. And and you know, just just to remind everybody, we wore Nike shoes back in the 80s and 90s. We wore we wore Nike cleats and shoes um back then. So um hey, it it’ll be great. It’ll be great because um you know because they’re going to make it great. They’re going to be great business partners and um I can I’m I’m I’m confident that Auburn has made a deal that is really good for Auburn and the student athletes and it’s going it’s going to be great. Um, and Under Armour was great for us at the time that that they they stepped in and made us their number one premier school. And um, but you know, Kevin Plank, his leadership and what it meant to Auburn and Auburn Athletics gave us a gave us a a catalyst and boosted us along and it was most helpful. And I know that that Nike will do the same. It’ll be it’ll be fun to watch and get it’ll be fun to get new apparel. Speak speaking of new apparel, there’s a constant debate on our message board about alternate uniforms. Talk about that a little bit for football. Yeah, I I was uh I was never in favor of that. Um me either. Well, the reason the reason I wasn’t I’m not I mean the reason I wasn’t is that um now at Florida we did some alternative uniforms. We did some black and did some did some different things. I I always liked your traditional idea and and and for you younger listeners, don’t let traditional scare you to death. I like the idea of being able to turn the television on and look without hearing anything and know that’s Auburn playing because we were consistent with our uniform. And it was a clean, it was a very clean look. Um, you know, the white jerseys or the blue jerseys and that’s it. you know, we we quit wearing those orange jerseys in in 1980 when Tennessee beat the brakes off of us um there at home. I guess it was 44 to nothing or something like that at halftime and that’s how the game ended. But um Coach Barfield’s last year, but I I’ve just I’ve just I’ve never really embraced that. Um um it’s not to it’s not to my liking. I’m not sure that uh you know Nathan, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d say probably 95% of our message board agrees with Jay. Yes, I think that’s I think that’s right. Yeah. Now, what we what we did do sometimes, it’d be interesting to hear what your your people message board say. What we did do sometimes was do a throwback uniform, you know, throwback and and you know, put the numbers on the side of the helmet. We did I think we did that a couple of times, you know. Um but but it was a traditional Auburn uniform. Um I just, you know, if you’re trying to do something marketing wise, man, don’t screw around with the uniform. Just be really just win ball games. Um that helps marketing more than anything else. But I’ve uh I just like the traditional white on white and blue on white and and here we go. Um but if you did a throwback occasion, that’d be that’d be that’d be fun to do. But other than that, I I’ll tell you this. So, um, one year people, here’s my rationale. I put a bigger logo for a day on the side of our helmet. Okay? I didn’t tell anybody. Okay? Because the helmets had gotten a lot bigger. And I thought, well, the AU is the same size, so why don’t we put a little bit bigger one on there? Well, I put it on there for that Saturday. And the equipment room people, they started telling people about it. And all of a sudden, there’s this upgra we’re changing the logo. And I said just okay, forget it. Even though I was doing it from a branding standpoint, so you could, you know, the logo was proportional to the size of the helmet because back in, you know, back in the 70s and 80s, the helmets weren’t as big as they are now. That’s just a fact. And uh so I thought, let’s just make the logo on the side of the the block AU same age. Just make we made it a fraction bigger. Not even a half an inch. Maybe it’s a quarter of an inch. Anyway, so you know, the lesson with that is don’t be screwing around with Auburn uniform. Don’t do that. just just win ball games, don’t worry about it. I mean, you know, Penn State, Nebraska, Texas, all those guys, they won a bunch of ball games, not messing with the uniform. But there are other schools that that change them up pretty regularly. Um, like a Florida, and they’ve won championship after championship. So, um, it’s just never been my my deal. So, anyway, I I wanted to bring up the thing about the logo on the side of the helmet. can’t remember what year that was, but uh somewhere between uh probably 08 and 15, something like that. I don’t remember what year we did that. You know, it’s interesting. There are only a handful. You know, you mentioned a couple of them. You got USC, I guess, Auburn, Alabama, Penn State, not not many more that kind of that never change. Yeah. LSU, they’ll wear a white sometimes or a white element. Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. That’s exactly right. And you always you always wear you always wear, you know, they always wear their their their dark color when they come to your place, too. So, that’s right. Yeah, that’s an interesting. Yeah, it is interesting. It’s interesting, you know. So, we all voted, okay, we’ll let them do that. We don’t I mean, does it really matter, you know? Um, and you know, the same thing with the cowbells, Mississippi State. You know, we all voted, okay, let let them let them give it a try and see if they can make this thing work, keep their tradition, which is, you know, it they’ve done a great job with it. It’s it’s not a distraction, but boy, at one time, those cowbells made those whatever it is they had in that stadium, 50 or 60,000 sound a lot more. But, uh, it’s a great tradition for Mississippi State. So sometimes um you know you have to hear the whole side of the story before you understand what’s happening. And you know one of my sayings is is I try to do is understand before being understood and u that’s just a that’s just a good life lesson in anything that you do. So anyway I like our uniforms. I do too. I didn’t like I didn’t like it when we did the shadowing the number shadowing. You were probably there. know the drop shadow, huh? I was a lot of people didn’t like it. I I didn’t mind it, but I you know, I was uh I was there. I remember Tequo Tequo’s uh uniform, you know. I remember that’s one that pops out at me. Whole team was wearing it obviously, but um yeah, I I’m I’m as I’ve gotten older, I’m more a fan of the uh of the traditional the the drop shot. I’m not sure whose idea that was, but it uh it didn’t last very long. Yeah, I think it was the head coach’s idea, but it didn’t last long. It just it looked it looked a little But I mean, you know, you have to understand, I mean, they’re they’re trying to do different things. So, anyway, talk a little We got the baseball tournament coming up. Yeah. Talk a little bit about Let’s preview that and talk a little bit about Butch Thompson. Oh, man. What a what a great guy. You know, the key the key to the baseball right now is being one of the top eight seeds. So, that if you win your regional, you get to be a super regional host. And so, boy, there’s just a lot of teams on the bubble in there um in that on that baseball committee. He’s gonna have to make a decision here next week after the SEC tournament as to who the top eight seeds are. And um I I really don’t know where um Auburn stands in that with the top eight. You guys may know, you know, we were number two in the nation in a couple of polls going into the Old Miss weekend. And uh you know fortunately you know what you what you can’t allow to happen is get swept on the road and uh so they didn’t and so they won one out of three there and um have a buy uh this week as they move to the SEC tournament. So um whether they whether they win a game or get a couple of wins, I don’t know. But the key is um in all likelihood we’re going to host a regional. Um, I think it’d be really odd not to, but to be a one of the top eight seeds, so you could host the next weekend if you come out of your regional as a winner, be the super be the super regional, which I know all the listeners know that just be two teams. It’d be Auburn and one other team playing the best two out of three. So, fun time. It’s uh I think the world of Butch Thompson, he he stands for everything that’s right about Auburn and people and man, just class and character and integrity. Just just a great guy. and he finally, you know, with the help of on to victory, finally got some NIL money coming into this year. You It was interesting talking to him before this year. Um, I know a school that’s Butch had a number for NIL and I know one school, they used all that same number just for their pitchers. So, baseball was way behind last year in NIL. And I know that, you know, some traditional fans are tired of talking about NIL. Fact of the matter is is that it’s just the way it is. You know, Charles Barkley had a big saying about that here recently about, you know, paying players, but the fact of the matter is that is the world we’re in right now. And so, you know, you either either get in it or you don’t. And um so anyway, but butch is it seems to have gotten some some funding so you compete at the level of the SEC. If you can compete in the SEC, you can compete nationally. Um, so I’m excited. I’m excited and uh um excited to hopefully be a national seed and definitely um watch some NCA tournament baseball here in a week and a half. Yeah. What does it say about you, you mentioned Butch a little bit, but you know, last year just felt like such a blip for him and and you sort of knew that that Auburn baseball was going to get back to this point. I mean, it’s almost not almost, it is more impressive now for him and and this program to be at this point when you consider the SEC is where it is and bringing in Texas and Oklahoma. I mean, Texas is right here having their first season and and they’re the number one team in the country going into going into the postseason. And so, I mean, for them to have had such an improved season in the SEC, I mean, it applies to all sports, but it’s it’s tougher nowadays, not only Oklahoma and Texas, but it just seems like quality of SEC competition across the board is is better in every single sport. And yet, you know, somebody like Auburn baseball, we mentioned Auburn’s men Auburn men’s golf is able to, you know, sort of rise above that. Nathan, it all goes back to it all goes back to coaching and evaluation and having the resources you need to to bring in the right guys. When I say resources, I don’t necessarily mean just NIL. I mean, you know, having a place that uh that the culture fits a fits a young man or a young lady. And uh it’s it’s recruiting and leadership and it’s it’s coaching. It’s what it’s what we call coaching. And Butch to to be able to turn it around like he did um as you’re mentioning is phenomenal. That just doesn’t happen. I mean, you know, um it’s it’s is challenging to do that, but it’s because of the culture that he’s established within his program. Um it it didn’t erode. You know, we’ve seen programs that um they have a bad year and the complete complete foundation of that culture and what they’re trying to do erodess and it takes a few years to build it back. Um I think the best I think you described it the best of all. It was a blip on the radar because we didn’t have the competitive we didn’t have the competitive athletes at the same level as others in the SEC did last year. That’s just that’s no that’s just a fact. We couldn’t it it meant something to those guys to go to another school because they were going to get more NIL money. That just it meant something to their family and that’s just the way it worked out. But for for Butch to hold all that together and not compromise his integrity or values of Auburn, I mean, it just it’s it’s it just speaks volumes to the kind of man that he is. And uh and everybody listening, everybody knows what kind of man Butch is if you paid any attention at all. and then um to turn around and look at men’s golf. You know, I don’t know how many matches they’ll have to play to win a national championship, but we need to I I intended to look at that before this before this visit today, but they’ll start playing Friday and it doesn’t conclude until Wednesday. And they play golf every day and on some days they play two rounds of 18. There’ll be 30 teams out there and individuals and you have to win every day to get to Wednesday to play for a national championship. I don’t know I don’t know of an NCA championship that’s more brutal but you know it’s it’s fair. I guess you know everybody has a chance so here we go. But um that’s a that’s a long that’s a that’s a long week, you know, to be playing God, huh? You talk about an impressive group that they are. They are impressive. They are and good good people. And Nick, man, he is a he is just on top of everything. He is just a uh man, he was born to be an Auburn man. He he uh he just he’s just relentless recruiter and not only a recruiter of athletes of prospective athletes in his current team but of Auburn people. He is just so personable and and intentional about his relationships with people um regardless of where they are. It could be it could be you know the trillion dollar donor. It could be somebody just comes out casually. It could be somebody working in the building. Nick just cares about people. That’s, you know, those three guys we’re talking about, there are others, too. But those three guys talking about Bruce and Nick and Butch, that’s their that’s their that’s their DNA. They’re just they’re just good people, love people, and treat people right. And um you know, and and you can do that and win ball games. Um when win golf matches, you’re in a pretty good spot. And those guys are obviously at the highest level. And um it’s a blessing to to have them at Auburn. And there others as well. Um some that have been brought on since I’ve left. I know that that uh they have the same values. If they don’t, that they won’t they won’t be at Auburn long. Well, Jay, it’s been great. Yeah. Thank you. Hope everybody has a has a great um Is it okay? I hope everybody has a great Memorial Weekend. I I was saying that thinking maybe this would air before then. I don’t know if it will or not. So, I hope I didn’t screw you up there. It’ll go up tomorrow. It’ll go up tomorrow. Okay. Tomorrow. Okay. All right. Well, everybody be blessing. Ronnie, take care of yourself, man. Holy smoke. I will. I’ll be all right. I just Are you coming? Are you coming to uh to the back to to Hoover? I’m not. Okay. I’m not get lunch if we are. Okay. Well, thank you. I’m I’m not I’m not going to be there, but thank you. I’ll call you next time I’m in town. Hey, please do. I’d love I’d love to catch up. And And Nathan, same time. Next time we’re still in this area area zip code together. So, let me know, man. I’d love to say hello. I know you were you were deep in conversation with the man of the hour, so I didn’t want to Okay. didn’t want to interject. I was probably giving some advice on, you know, three-point shooters or something. I don’t who knows. Probably. Yeah. Yeah.