David Thetford and Gary Ashby are joined by Sean O’Hair to talk about the PGA Tour, Wes Kittley to discuss how Texas Tech Track & Field is doing at the NCAA Championships and NIL, and Antonio Huffman to talk about his work with Texas Tech Football.

[Music] sports Talk Conversations with a good laugh mixed in this is the Sports Talk with Bedford and Ashby podcast from DoubleT973 presented by KEX Roofing and Construction i’m Mike Heert owner of Kantex Roofing and Construction every day is game day and we’ll get it right when it comes to your roofing construction windows and mirrors call Roofing and Construction today together we are one serving you all American Eery out on Highway 87 the Toka Highway in about 85th Street if you’re coming from Love it go out to 98 swing underneath and it’ll be down there on your right easy to get to and great food you’ll love the fact that you’re there and uh Gary what give me those times that they’re open in Wolth now they’ve reopened out in Wolth it’s on Tuesday through I have no earthly idea you had it last week i had it last week it was on a piece of paper and that piece of paper is no longer in my possession oh it’s not so he took it away but they are open and you need to take care of them out there because they they’ve got great food and daily specials and one of them’s meatloaf and we don’t ever go I think meatloaf’s like Wednesday we don’t go out on Wednesday but catfish on Friday uh so anyway daily specials out there one of them one of one of the specials is steak night and uh and catfish night yeah so anyway it’s great it really is doing a great job with the All-American Eery all righty and they’re open in Wolforth we just don’t know what days i think it’s Tuesday through Saturday but I could be wrong i’m just remembering what you said last week that sounds right and I don’t know the time what’s the finger up for that’s the time who do we have we have Sean already did I say Oh wow he must have got an earlier teacher sean what are you doing i thought we were doing 10:20 did I write down 9:20 no we were doing 10:20 i know it’s 10:20 Eastern time i know i don’t I have 10 20 backyard in my hot I was in my backyard in my hot tub and got Well can you do it now Sean or you want us to call you back no no absolutely i can do it right now i saw Brennan in there call talking on the phone i wonder who’s talking to cuz you were and Brennan messed up is what happened but that’s okay we don’t if you can do it hey buddy it sounds like you’re doing pretty good yeah yeah you know what i’m I’m I’m loving life right now so I’m I’m just uh it’s Saturday and and uh it’s all good are you golfing today i’m not golfing today i uh I was supposed to um but we couldn’t get a we couldn’t get a good game going so I’ve been playing quite a bit so I I kind of need a a couple days off my mom’s actually moving uh moving here from Atlanta oh wow that’s great are you excited i am i am excited i haven’t uh actually haven’t been around my mom much since I was about 13 years old you know I’ve been on the road and she’s always kind of been in different places so uh so we’re both excited and and um Tell me your mom’s name again brenda uh Brenda brenda yeah yeah i worked with Brenda at Meil Lynch and Brenda’s a sharp lady and you’ve got a you’ve got an aunt or something here that is uh seems like another family member sheila sheila sheila sheila yes yeah sheila yeah mhm see I grew up I grew up across the alley from your dad and your aunt and your grandparents and then uh worked with your mom so we’re almost kin folk there you go don’t be telling me that so most Yeah most of the family’s uh is here now which is nice how long have you been back in town um I two Thanksgivings ago so um but yeah what almost uh year and a half or a little bit more so it’s been nice um it’s good to be home isn’t it you were born here but you left you left and went to Arizona and then to Florida right yeah went to Arizona then Florida went to uh the Le Better Academy uh down in Florida and was never really a Florida fan and I mean I I know there’s there’s some good good parts of it but um you know I always kind of wanted to move move back to Lach um you know I got married at a young age um got separated uh back in 2022 and then ended up getting divorced and moved uh actually moved from Philadelphia to um back to Scottsdale and uh met the girl I’m with now and and she uh she liked me enough to move back to love with me ah that’s good does she like Luk she does she does she’s from Loi California so um she said it kind of reminds her of of Loi so uh I guess Loi is pretty flat and you know farm farming community um and uh but she likes it here people you know she’s always saying the people are great here and uh she’s a pretty good golfer spent some time in Loi it’s near Stockton it is it is i’ve done time in Loi what about now i think I met her Sean at the you know I ran into you at the course one day and she was I hate to say this but she was actually carrying Sean’s bag hey I remember that day because I’m I’m over on one I’m over on a green and I see down this fairway I see this guy and he’s walking like he knows what he’s doing and he’s got his he’s got his I’m assuming wife or girlfriend carrying his bag i said I said I have not seen that guy swing the club but I guarantee you he’s good and I’ll be darn you uh she uh um she carries for me every now and then and uh not all the time not all the time not all the time but you know what she’s she’s the one person that I can kind of rely on to take a look at my swing and it’s like it feels a little bit off you know I can’t something well yeah I met her she she seemed great well she’s a good golfer too yeah she’s great she’s great she shot uh yesterday we played she shot one over with a triple and a double so she’s at le country club yeah yeah mhm oh my gosh well that’s embarrassing for me i’ve got the triple and the double down but Yeah that’s our favorite well I I was telling we were Go ahead i I got to make sure I don’t give her too many shots you know she’s always like “Yeah you don’t give me enough shots.” I’m like “Well that’s for a reason.” You know I don’t want to get beat so I never hear the end of it uhhuh okay you talk about don’t want to get beat you play out there with the locals at Love Country Club how often How often do you get beat um I get beat you know I got I I give I give give them shots but you know I get beat fair a fair share i mean no one no one’s really beating me on their own ball but uh so zero would be the answer if they’re close to doing that I might break their kneecap with my with my seven iron but but uh but yeah you know I I like playing i got my my group at Love Country Club we play pretty much you know three four times a week i mean if I’m home um and uh we got our game you know I give I give you know certain guys a certain amount of shots and we go out and have a good time and it’s pretty competitive i mean it’s you know these guys they they don’t like to lose so Well and they’re all good they’re guys we would enjoy playing with because we like them but they wouldn’t enjoy playing with us because we’re not any good because we can’t find our ball yeah yeah they they they’re hustlers though i got to be careful because they’re they’re a lot better negotiators than I am but um I think he’s talking about Chad anyways we have a good time you talking about Chad yeah Chad Williams and uh we get some other guys uh Lee Lewis play with you does Does Lee Lewis play lee Lee Lewis plays with us uh Mike Edward Edward uh yeah mark Gilmore so we we we got a good crew that we kind of um play with and and uh and we have our we you know we we got a a whole bunch of stuff going we do individual stuff we do you know two guys versus me uh sometimes we do three guys versus me that’s when I really get beat pretty pretty good three guys yeah so so we we we we have fun all right this is the truth we could play a fivesome with our group we could have four against you and you wouldn’t have to worry about losing yeah it’d be over it’d be over early unless you let us play a scramble we might not win then sorry i saw him on on number nine one day he’s back at the tips you know the black te’s way back there he hits it past the big tree on the right hits it past the big tree from the tips yeah it’s a different game it really is that’s what I’m that’s what I’m swinging at it well it’s not always the case but but uh I tell you you know I mean you know it’s it’s kind of interesting because I mean I haven’t really played Love at Country Clubs since I was gone for so long and now that I’m back home you know I’ve joined there and you know playing a lot and it’s just like you know I forgot how tight of a golf course that place is yeah you know I mean nine’s got to be one of the tightest tightest holes that that you can find really i mean I mean you can’t really hit miss it right you’re you’re you’re either in tree trouble or in the water and miss it left you’re in the trees and and I mean it’s a it’s a fun track to play i mean it’s not the most challenging as far as distance or anything like that but I mean it’s it definitely um is good for me you know uh as far as challenging me off the tea to be straight all right speaking of that Oakmont have you ever played Oakmont i have i played the uh ‘ 07 US Open okay what did you shoot um I played decent the first day i think I shot one over maybe I shot I can’t remember exactly what I shot but I was I was inside the cut line and then I shot 80 the second the second day and um and miss a cut by a mile so uh you know I played I played that golf course a couple of times uh away from the competitive play you know just with some members yeah and that’s the only course that I know of that actually slows down their greens for a tournament so the green that those guys are playing the greens that they’re playing right now are slower than what the members play oh my gosh just just you know think about that for a second listen listen to this Sean this is from Mike Juan i don’t know if you know him he’s a USGA chief he said that there have been 1385 players have played a major championship on at Oakmont and 27 of them finished their four days underpar 27 pro golfers out of 1,385 i I believe it i mean it honestly from the moment you tee up um to the time you you’re done with your round i mean every single shot is a challenge and um when I played with the member uh there I I looked at him and I just said I I don’t know why you’re a member at this place i mean it’s beautiful uh but but you must you must hate yourself because playing this golf course is like is like torture well yeah for for Gary and I it would we would be out there six seven hours oh my gosh i mean that no you it’s really hard to explain it um you know I I know when people go to Augusta you know they always like oh my gosh I couldn’t believe how how undulating it was because you know you just don’t see that on TV and you know watching the US Open people don’t realize how thick that rough is people don’t see how deep some of those bunkers are people don’t see how challenging some of those putts are on the greens i mean it’s really hard to get a a feel for it when you’re watching it on TV um but when you’re in person it’s just like I I mean you’re talking about the best players in the world and they’re scratching their head on how how do you hit this shot you know and and we see I mean we pretty much see it you know every week where we you know can can figure out some kind of way to play a golf course but these guys this week I mean they’re just scratching their heads and survival yeah just trying to get through it it really is it’s survival of the fittest and you better have a really really good short game and and and good feel on the greens because that’s the only way you’re going to score out there because I mean if you’re in that rough um I think you know you’ve seen it over the last couple days it’s just it doesn’t matter how strong you are you can’t advance it yeah so um so yeah it’s it’s a it’s a challenge and I think mentally you need to be mentally strong too to where you just move on to the next shot and not get all upset that uh that you took that double bogey cuz there’s going to be some Yeah you know that’s that’s a good point i mean when you’re when some of these some of these guys are are are playing at such a high level um you know they’re already the best players in the world but they’re also you know at their peak you know and they’re coming in the tournament expecting to win and then all of a sudden they might not hit a great shot and and the thing is is like you know those fairways they’re pretty sloped you know they’re they’ve got a lot of angle to them so you know they’re already a tight fairway and it’s firm and fast and if you’re hitting the center of that fairway you’re missing the fairway you know so you could hit a great shot down the middle of the fairway and and being that thick rough i know that happened to me quite a bit in ‘ 07 and and it’s frustrating i mean it it really tests your patience and if you’re not mentally expecting that yeah um you know I used when I was playing at a high level I used to work a lot with Bob Rotella and he would always try and get me to kind of almost think about what can go right and what can go wrong and be ready for every situation mentally you know and and that that golf course if you’re not if you’re not mentally in the right place it’s going to be a short week for you i’m looking here Sean at your career you turned professional in 1999 and uh you’ve won you’ve had nine professional wins fi four on the PGA Tour and five others um your highest ranking was number number 12 in 2009 and you were the rookie of the year in 2005 and the the Masters you tied for 10th the PGA Championship 12th tied for 12th and US Open tied for 12th and the Open Championship is uh you tied for seventh and uh it was 2010 was that the Tell tell everybody what you’re doing now are you going to play more in these big tournaments or what kind of what you’re planning you know uh so I got I got hurt in 2019 um my oblique uh tore off and so I had to get get surgically repaired and and I was out for almost two years with COVID and all that stuff happening kind of at the same time um and so it’s kind of been a challenge for me to get my status back um when I came back you know I only had a limited amount of events to play to to earn my card back and I just haven’t been able to do that and um so I’ve been trying to play still uh this year is the least amount that I’ve played um on the PJ tour really period um and just you know the tour is making some changes i mean they’re cutting they’re cutting jobs next year and uh it’s harder and harder to get in events and so I you know I’ve been playing off past champion status which you know three years ago you could probably get in about 20 events with that status and and this year I’ve gotten in one so it’s it’s been difficult um you know just from that standpoint I’ve been doing a little bit of teaching um I’ve been doing some teaching over at Love Country Club um and uh but you know still still want to play um I’ve got actually some men tour stuff coming up i’m thinking about uh stay open let me ask you something can you stay Can you stay over through this break we have a hard break so we’ve got to take it yeah yeah absolutely we’d love to talk to you some more if you can abs absolutely all right we’ll be back after this break you’re on Sports Talk with Fedford and Ashby sports Talk Conversations with a good laugh mixed in this is the Sports Talk with Bedford and Ashby podcast from DoubleT973 presented by Kex Roofing and Construction all right welcome back to Sports Talk with Betford and Ashby and uh we have Coach Wes Kitley on the phone with us from Eugene Oregon coach thank you for taking the time to do this hey good morning guys you’re welcome it’s uh it’s early here but it isn’t that bad well my main concern was the pollen that’s really what I wanted to know about well we got ahead of that and you need to take this down you if you’ll take a teaspoon of honey days before you come to all the pollen you won’t have a You won’t have any issues well is that one teaspoon total or is that a teaspoon a day is a teaspoon every hour a teaspoon a day i’ve been taking one a day i haven’t had anything and I always do when I come here so it’s somehow that’s the magic of how those bees and that pollen and all that stuff with that honey it counteracts it that’s great news coach yeah did it rain on you no but it’s it sprinkled it sprinkled but we It was We never saw sun yesterday it was a dreary day but uh and it was cold it was 58 to 60° but uh today’s going to be 73 and the sun’s shining so it’s going to be a little better day for the women so and this will finish it up today what the men are through the men are through in Arkansas i mean&M and USC tied for the championship they did are you good friends with those co I know you’re good friends with&m coach what’s his name henry or something yeah Pat Henry yeah no I get along with USC usc had really really the best team on on paper but uh you know those things happen and and they won the indoor championship and and then of course they tied you don’t see ties very often no it’s hard to do it has happened yeah and then Arkansas was just one point back yeah it all came down to the the 4×4 mile relay and and USC ran terrible they should have they had a seven-point lead going into it but they got eighth and really hurt them is eighth last yeah eighth is last isn’t it yeah eighth is the last point yes correct oh wow now they run nine so they do run okay there was somebody so somebody doesn’t get a point yes that’s correct that is correct well do they get to be all Americans that they do not no that would really suck to finish n you got to score you got to score wow okay well coach I’m looking here we finished 16th with 16 points tied with North Carolina is that correct we did you know with with eight sophomores and five juniors and one senior we we’re just a little bit young you know we we lost we won the national championship last year with our three big guns oh yeah seniors and and we’re just we’re reloading and I’m not disappointed we got fourth in the quarter hurdles with our one senior Oscar Edund and then we got fourth with the 400 with our junior uh boy and uh you know we we didn’t score in the discus but it was the they set the NCAA record the greatest discus throwing competition ever in the history so uh you know uh I wasn’t uh of course I’m never happy when we when we get when we when we finished uh out of the top 10 but I knew coming in we had lost a couple of kids at the Big 12 we kind of paid a price by winning four Big 12 championships and really working our kids really hard through Big 12 and then we got a couple of them with slight hamstring strains and then they didn’t get out of regional oh and they’re the best in the country my hurdler Malachi Snow he had the fastest time but he didn’t he fell down at&m uh for the regional so we were a little bit you know shy on the man we knew that coming in but we were just going to try to get a bunch of all-Americans and and uh What about Ernest ernest Cheriot well Ernest got third you know on the 10K but then uh he’s to try to run the 10K and the 5K with a one day rest here that’s pretty tough is tough and he was running really good he got a big old knot in his calf about four laps to go which is not uncommon cuz he had to run the 10K you know unreal fast to you know within 40 hours earlier and so we were just hoping we qualified him in both and we knew the 10K was going to be his bread and butter and he did he got third and then he’s a sophomore you know we’re just really young really young so I’m I’m not I’m not disappointed we We just got to get you know we’re going to grow these guys up they got some experience and know we’ve got a really good recruiting class coming in and hopefully uh we’ll have a really good team next year he got he got third by two and a half seconds yeah I watched I watched that race that was it was good all right let’s be perfect here real quickly you blink men and women have they always alternated or did they used to run them together no in the old day they didn’t and I’m the old school guys i like them on the same day yeah they want to give the women their own day and they want to give the men their own day but it’s mostly about the women getting their own day and it makes it really hard on coaches because we’ve got the men on one day then boy then the women on the next day then the men on the next day then the women on the next day it’s just a constant uh you’re down here for a week and it’s a long week main thing is coach we’ve been watching it on ESPN and and uh the main thing is we got to it’s important that you that SEC gets a lot of recognition and that’s that’s what Gary and I like is for SEC to get a lot of recognition yeah I bet y’all do well that’s we all live with that all the time i know so uh it’s just the way it is but uh I’m excited for today our women uh we you know Shelby won second in the hammer on the first day and then we’ve got really good Timmy Top in the high jump today who’s national champion indoors we’ve got Zoe and Shelby in the discus today and then we’ve got Tama and Victoria in the triple jump and we’re really good in those events so what are you thinking oh I think we can score 30 to 35 points today or or 25 today with our T or eight we already have so that’s top five isn’t it it could be top five yes it could it’s not going to win but it’s going to be it’s going to be up there so okay great be really big for our women were you surprised that 41 won the men’s well everybody’s so good but yeah I was telling we won it with 60 and then we won it with 50.5 indoors so everybody’s beating each other up more yeah you know it’s just really hard to get those points people don’t realize i mean we had if we we had we were 16th in the country and if we’d had Malachi just finish the hurdles like he’s ranked well then we’re we’re sixth in the country i mean one little deal is just And if you notice 16 and a half was above us and then 17 and then 18 it’s just it’s just minute minuscule one little thing go wrong and you you drop from top 10 to top 15 you know it’s just it’s just like that coach we’ve been talking about NIL and all that stuff today you’re talking about everybody’s beating everybody and all that and I think some of this is supposed to you know have some parity uh how do you see the NIL and all the you know the budgetary things i’m assuming our budget’s going to be similar to everybody else’s budget uh do you see it making it even more even playing field or do you see us having an advantage or disadvantage or I think or you know I’m going to get in trouble for saying stuff but good you know I think for football you know football’s got 16 million and most everyone’s got 16 million yeah and basketball’s going to get four million and everyone’s going to have four million now the outside NIL stuff and all that I can’t argue where they’re where it becomes really uneven is for for me and and track and baseball and those sports because a lot of people are going double and triple our scholarships okay we’re not and so you know I don’t want to be negative i’m just saying that’s what that’s that’s my worry as track coach and uh uh you I would think Tadlock has the same feelings but I don’t want to speak for him but uh you know the judge ruled in the NCAA ruled that you can have endless scholarships up to 35 for women in my sport and 40 I’m sorry 45 for women and 35 for men and a lot of the power schools are doing that but Texas Tech Well how are the how are they doing that are they doing that with outside money or do they just have the 20.5 million they they are very um cocky I guess I could say if you’ll read Georgia they’re taking 13.5 million for football instead of 16 it comes out of football and basketball but they’re all their sports to do it by taking just 2.5 million from the other sports that sounds like something that would certainly help our track and field and our baseball and Oh yeah absolutely but I mean we got to win in football and you know I don’t disagree with that and that’s where we’re putting the money right now and hopefully in the future things can get better but you know we have 12 scholarships in the men and 18 in the women and now people are going to go to 35 and 45 wow and baseball is similar that’s tough yeah it’s like it’s it became the most uneven for my sport and baseball probably in the history of the sport and that’s what’s sad about it is the halves are going to have it and the have nots are not well and the SEC is is the halves when it comes to baseball cuz they they really emphasize baseball over there and I’m assuming that their budgets are going to be maybe double ours you know I don’t think the budgets a big deal i think the scholarships are the scholarships are are incredible when you can get three to one you know when someone’s got double your scholarships and can load up on pitchers or load up on you know anything then it just it hurts you I think but we’re going to see we got to we’re going to fight it i know Tadlock will and I know I sure will uh got to stay with it and do the best we can do the scholarships not come out of the budget they do they come out of the football money if you give scholarships the first 2.5 million of that of that settlement of the 20.5 if you raise scholarships it comes out of that the first 2.5 million of it and what Texas and&m and all the SEC chose to do because they feel like they can win with 13.5 million in football they don’t need 16 it’s their it’s their cockiness of Yeah I see we’re going to help all the other sports and be the best and get the maximum in all our sports instead of just football because the people want to come here anyway so we don’t that’s not going to matter $2.5 million over 105 football players is not going to matter i see yeah so they just feel like hey those kids will walk on they don’t whether they get a scholarship or not because we’re so good next year remember that goes up 4% so then they get some of that back and then the next year it goes up 4% again so it’s like 22 million then 24 million and then it just keeps rising well I think our concern is of course that’s a lot of money we’re having to raise every year yeah it is a concern and you know and and we want to win in football and basketball you know it’s great i want to win at everything coach it’s not hurting some sports and it’s going to not I want to win at everything and you know like softball did this year can you believe these kids were getting in softball through the draft portal it’s like Christmas yeah yep it’s it’s a whole different world yes it is when you can go and go and get them but but that’s a this year this basically this next couple of months it’s a this month thing isn’t it after this month it’s go back to the old yeah well it had to be done by the day the judge signed it so Oh all the contracts were in house before she signed off wow okay so that July 1st numbers that’s out out the window july 1st is when the new You have to have it paid by then okay it’s got to be all paid by June July one but the contracts had to be done well if they’ll take a check we’re You had to know you were getting them before the day the judge signed and I can’t remember the day that was but it’s last week coach did you ever dream in a million years that these are the kind of things you’d be dealing with as No no no i’ve never never seen anything like it you know since in my 41 years of coaching this is it’s a it’s rodeo out there now and then it’s really changing the this is going to be unbelievable interesting in the next couple of years to see how this all plays out coach I I think you would sort of a agree with me on this that I’m I’m for players getting compensation you know enough similar to a regular student that’s working because I consider it they’re working yes but but I mean we’re gonna have a basketball player with $4 million i mean come on yeah i think what all of us you know with that just look at it you know it’s it’s paying it up front that’s that’s the part that none of us got wherever we are uh we never got it up front you know I had to prove to be a a winning coach before I got more salary you know and that’s that’s the thing that’s very different about this is uh you know I hear the the deal on saving that you know he made 10 million and he can leave anytime he wants why don’t they pay the athletes that is true but Sabin moved like 16 17 times starting as a GA yeah you know so he didn’t he he developed that he didn’t get all that money day one and and you know me and y’all believe this i had I was head coach at Abene Christian for $10,000 when I had first job yeah we do believe it so 41 years later yeah I make more than that now but you know they didn’t pay me big until I won some national championships i never got paid big that much well and and you know you had to earn it is my point and I think that’s the biggest problem that you worry about with the young people is I’m for them getting stuff but you know to give it all up front and uh hopefully they can manage it well well I’m I’m more of a $25,000 to each each athlete that we have and then when they want to be pro quit college and go be pro yeah if you want to get your education you go to college and we’re gonna give you $25,000 or whatever the number is so that so that it’s not a burden upon you and your family we’ll give you your education $25,000 and then the moment you want to be a pro you sign and you quit college and go be a pro yep that that plane has flown now that ain’t that ain’t going to happen is it coach no no it really hasn’t now now you know in my sport and things like that it’s not it’s not rampant but it’s it’s there it’s definitely there oregon has really big NIL but you know we’ll see how that changes you know where you can’t just hand it out like like everyone’s been doing you got to go through the clearing house now for the and of course the outside like Mad Door Club goes away as we know it but it’ll be joined with the Red Raider Club but it’s still going to be different you can’t just go pay kids what you want to pay them you got to get permission and it’s got to be going raised mhm uh let’s get back to the women today coach cuz what time do y’all what time do y’all start where’s your fun uh which is here 12:30 we start off early zoe is in the first fly of the discus and then Shelby’s in the second and then we go straight to the high jump with Timmy Cop and then the third then right behind that we go to the triple jump with Victoria and and um Tama so easy day coach let’s just get them going let’s get them in that top five yeah we’re going to try i’m I’m excited i think the girls are ready to to do well well we believe in you and we believe in our track and field program i can tell you that you y’all are a proven commodity we’re proud of you and we appreciate you guys hey tell Amy tell Amy Herd that uh you’re looking forward to listening to her next week on the show okay yeah she’s here eating breakfast yeah go over and tell her you’re looking forward to it all right coach thank you West Kley everybody appreciate you thank you very much head track and field coach Texas Tech and national champions and Lady Raiders today sports talk conversations with a good laugh mixed in this is the sports talk with Bedford and Ashby podcast from DoubleT973 presented by Cantex Roofing and Constructionico of West Texas give I’m serious give them a call and get her done and I’m fixing to give you the phone number it’s 806 3684736 over 40 years Keith Peele and the bunchco has been in West Texas and I know you’ve been thinking about doing it terry and I thought about it forever and we finally did it and we wonder why on earth didn’t we do this for 40 years ago no more hard water no more hard water all righty love okay let me tell you about the love of truck sales because these guys support this is the Kinsey family Cody Kinsey and they support Texas Tech football that’s what they do because they get those big old trucks and haul the equipment all over everywhere and uh we appreciate them and all their great support of Texas Tech and our show and if you got if you’re a trucker or you need new stuff or service they’ve got a 26 base service department first class operation at Love Truck Sales just outside the loop on the Sllayton Highway all right Antonio Huffman is on the phone with us antonio thanks for doing this uh no problem thanks for having me on and listen Gary and I were talking because I told Gary you were going to be on and I said you know he he was chief of staff and I thought well that sounds more important to me than associate athletic director chief of staff that sounds important i would go with whichever one pays more there you go there you go that’s what he did I bet how you doing buddy this great these are exciting times at Texas Tech aren’t they yes sir it is it is very exciting times for Texas Tech uh athletics as you know and then and also football but uh yeah it’s uh we’re looking forward to this season and you were of course a great player at Tech did you know that i guess I was all right i was all right former defensive back for the Red Raiders and now how many years is this now is this six seven years on the staff uh yeah I came back in in 2019 uh after I did seven years at Washington State um so yeah I’m going on my seventh season since I’ve been back since 2019 man we’re glad you’re back i hear so many great things about you and uh what you’re doing and uh did you ever dream you’d see what’s going on through the draft portal and what Texas Tech has done and uh and you’re you’re out there you get to see them when you go out to practice do you go “Oh my gosh what who are these guys?” Yes sir yes sir you know uh our recruiting staff and our scouting department they’ve done a heck of a job as you guys know in the transfer portal but uh I can tell you we do look a lot different um and so uh we got we’ve you know we’ve brought in uh 16 transfers and we’re fired up by every single one of them and along with that was you know 20 20 high school kids so uh we’re going to look a lot different uh you know come this season so 36 people 36 players that weren’t here last year are here new new people is that right yes sir okay and a good-looking bunch good-looking lot oh man yes sir i’m so impressed i can’t wait to see what’s going to happen now your job it says here that you’ve expanded your administrative duties to now you’re in charge uh legislation uh pertaining to name image and likeness as well as facility improvements now we’ve been talking about that a bunch today we’re trying to figure it out nil we don’t get it but here’s the good part about Antonio Gary is that he used to be in charge of compliance didn’t you didn’t you coach didn’t you used to be in charge of compliance yes sir i was a liaison with our program and compliance so still somewhat doing that as well but it’s so changed we used to couldn’t do anything antonio you remember that don’t you couldn’t talk to them got to be a lot easier now you just do whatever you want to do yeah yes you know a lot lot has changed since then and and a lot of keep changing you know in the world of compliance and and college athletics uh you know every year is is something’s always changing so um we have a heck of a uh compliance department led by Jennifer Basher Justin Arman i mean they they keep us up to date and on on all the new changes and new rules so are things changing for the better Antonio i believe so i really do um you know from from when I played you know back in the early 2000s to now um I I think um the student athletes definitely have uh uh you know I guess more control uh for you know what they want to do and um they have more flexibility obviously um where you know they can transfer anytime they want and so uh you know we didn’t have that back then and so I think it is changed for the better um you know so like like I said before it it’s always changing so next year maybe look a little different but we’ll keep moving forward as it does as well tell everybody I’m about this uh Huffs Huggables huffs huggables huffs huggables yeah hugable yeah so uh yeah that that came about um you know I believe maybe my junior year um here at Tech uh I I I had a well my girlfriend at the time she’s my wife now she had a bunch of stuffed animals and uh you know I was thinking like yeah I’ll give them to you know maybe Goodwill or something like that and I said I you know I I got an idea that’s probably uh we can do something with that so I called um uh local police department and talked to the police chief at the time and and uh ask them did uh they ever have any uh you know um like stuffed animals that was in squat cars so when police officers get you know domestic calls or anything like that where there’s a you know maybe a child in the home but parents are not getting along um you know you take that that huff hugable that stuffed animal to to kind of just uh you know calm the the child down and let them know that everything is going to be okay and so that’s kind of how the idea brought up and and so we we would bring uh stuffed animals to the police department they’ll put a bunch of uh fuzzy animals in the back of the squad car so if they ever had a call like that they’d be ready to go now did you think of that i did wow that tells me something about you it does something really really good is what it is oh I thought it was you he’s been in trouble with the law that he’s been in the back of a lot of police cars and he wished he’d had a huggable that No what Gary said it tells us a lot of It really does yeah great you Great that’s That’s tremendous you came up with that well and then and then followed through on it yeah yeah you know who else he he went and coached with at East Carolina oh uh yeah you do ruffin yeah ruffing McNeel one of our favorites that was fun i bet oh it was you know Ruff and uh you know I mean you you guys know when Ruffin was here at Texas Tech uh I believe like you know maybe six or seven of us went there to East Carolina with him and uh man what what a what a great uh coach to work for um a better human being um you know players coach type type coach and uh you know we we we had some good years there at East Carolina under Russell McNeel he’s completely out of coaching isn’t he yeah is he he’s uh I believe he’s uh NC State oh okay kind of consulting to the head coach so he’s doing that good deal yeah yeah he’s he’s there in North Carolina so he’s he’s close to home all right just so everybody knows we’re talking to Antonio Huffman who’s now an associate athletic director in charge of football or I don’t know what all they gave all this long he used to be Hey what exactly is on your on your card when you hand somebody your card what does it say on it it says associate athletic director football administration okay all right so you know I I I just put it like this people like well what does that mean you know what does that mean i I would just put it in in in coach Magcguire’s uh terms you know uh my main job is Coach Magcguire’s the the head coach on the field i’m the head coach off the field so kind of oversee everything that’s off the field so chief of staff i like chief of staff that’s There you go that’s that’s good all right now Antonio was a three-year starter at defensive back for Texas Tech and ended in 2006 with 189 tackles four interceptions and 25 pass breakups he was named the defensive MVP in his final game as a Red Raider after picking off a crucial interception at Tech’s 441 come from behind victory over Minnesota that was absolutely one of the most unbelievable comebacks in the history of Tech that cost a coach’s job too it did it did yeah i tell you that that game was uh always be a fun memory um you know a good you know talking piece at the table with with some of my old teammates uh you know obviously defensively we didn’t start that game as well and uh you know I remember going into halftime and uh you know coach Lee just basically said hey look guys we’re going to go ahead and we just going to have to keep playing like we got to wait till you know we keep playing till the clock says 0000 but we’re going to take it one play at a time um defensively I know we just started blissing we haven’t blissed nobody all year and so a desperate act we started blissing and and and uh getting the ball back to the offense as soon as as soon as possible and uh we you know had to come back you caught them off guard didn’t you hey I think they’re blitzing yeah we they they we definitely caught them off guard because they didn’t have anything on tape to prepare for so well let me ask you this question Antonio cuz y’all every time we try to get a Tech football coach on and Matt Dowy is absolutely great at helping us i mean he’s the best but uh y’all always got recruits in town i’ve never seen anything like it every time is that we’re recruiting or we got recruits or You got recruits in town now don’t you we sure do we sure do we got We got We got eight guys in right now uh you know we we we we got official visits during the week we got them on the weekend we got camps on the weekend uh basically Sunday so every Sunday in June pretty much the 1st the 8th the 15th the 22nd we got camps um you know it’s it’s June it’s I call it the June gauntlet you know we got we got a lot going on a lot of good things going on with the team as well yeah uh where we’re doing you know football school Monday Wednesdays and we’re doing team runs on Fridays and then you know what we call our coach Wednesdays we’re doing that on on Wednesday afternoon meeting with our guys and just you know doing some leadership development type stuff but uh yeah June is fun it it’s a lot going on but uh it’s it’s a great time to develop our uh our team as far as trying to find new talent and then develop our current players as well all right you talk about camps on the weekend is this primarily high school kids that are sort of like trying out or it’s not like little elementary school kids is it no and so so we do uh uh high school camp so those those guys that are in high school 9th through 12th grade and then uh Jo age as well uh can also uh attend these camps that we have on Sunday we do have a youth camp um on the uh on June 18th uh and and 19th so Wednesday and Thursday of this this month and so uh those grades are the uh more elementary school kids in middle school okay all right but that Red Raider brand and I know you know it about as well as anybody is strong all across this country you know when you show up now you could show up in Pennsylvania it’s recruiting a linebacker and he would know Texas Tech wouldn’t he he would he would you know it’s it’s say you said Pennsylvania cuz I was in Pennsylvania about a couple years ago and and uh having you know Red Raider stuff on as I usually do and just walk around and all you hear guns up wreck them and uh it was like four or five people you know on on two different days so it was awesome red Raiders are everywhere they are they are you know when I we used to travel around a little bit go to different countries and I had my text I always wore my tech stuff everywhere I go had a tech cap on i can’t remember where we were in Italy or somewhere and at the at the airport and this guy that couldn’t even speak English he saw my tech cap he goes “Bobby night Bobby Knight.” This is all part of the brand yep that’s it and Patrick Mahomes you talk to Patrick much i I don’t uh personally talk to him much but uh I get to um see him when he comes in town obviously and coordinate with his team you know on special events and things like that yeah how about coach Blanchard is he doing okay he’s doing awesome he’s doing awesome he’s uh he’s he’s you know he got his all white on right now because we got a big recruiting weekend so he’s he’s he’s hard on the phone and hard in meetings right now guy that turns down Notre Dame who came with big money didn’t they said “I’m staying Texas Tech.” That’s kind of That tells you a lot right there coach tells you a lot you know what we have going on here with Texas Tech athletics and Texas Tech football and and just you know uh the type of staff we have you know Coach McGuire is has has done an elite job in bringing in you know great people we have a great culture everybody I mean we’re a big huge family everybody loves being around each other you know um you know our coaching staff and our support staff you know women and men i mean coach has just done a heck of a job you know as far as finding individuals that want to put the players first you know that’s a big thing for him and and and making the players the best version of themselves you know um that’s that’s big for him but the ultimate deal is they fit in our culture and our family and so uh I think that was a big huge part of of of why Blanchard you know wanted to stay and and continue building a legacy here i agree with you we don’t get y’all in here one of these days if you’re not of course you’d have to bring recruits with you because they’re always attached to you that’s right that’s you know I wanted to ask you one other thing uh Antonio and that was is Joy Maguire and he gets this a bunch is he that way all the time like he is so fired up and excited and so much energy he is i mean and that’s that’s that’s no lie he is like he always bringing energy in the juice as a staff like we have to match that energy you know and uh uh it’s it’s it’s hard to match sometimes cuz he’s just always on the the top of the tea with it but uh you know I I that’s what we love about him i think that’s what our players love about them they know when they walk through the doors this is going to be the best part of their day is walking through those doors um and and being developed and making themselves the best version they can here uh in these facilities and so you know coach is is being here in the building it’s his sanctuary you know he he makes it a part where he’s always wanted to go down to the lift groups and greet the guys and see the guys you know no matter what’s going on you know outside of the walls of these facilities you know good or bad but the sanctuary is here in the in the facility and that’s and that’s and that and and then we want our players to feel that and so I think that’s why he’s always bringing that energy and our staff does as well hey Antonio we’ve only got a minute left but I saw a video I saw on Facebook last night that the Tech football players are calling another football player and saying hey man I didn’t where are you i just called to tell you I want you to have a good day today and I love you do you know about that ain’t that awesome i I love I really love that that is you know uh but that that just tells you what type of family we have we have a big huge family and it’s authentic it’s real and uh you know for those that’s that’s seen it i mean our recruits they feel it too you know and and the biggest part about about love is is getting those recruits here Lick and and our our family our city the fans it it sells itself we just got to get them here to Love antonio thank you buddy you got it you were great thank you get after that recruiting we’ll see you buddy we will all right you’ve been listening to the Sports Talk with Theford and Ashby podcast from T973 catch the show live Saturday mornings from 9 to noon ont973 FM or on the T973 mobile

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