Foster and Friends
Foster and Friends
Foster and Friends Vol 142 Irish Eyes
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This week Bud takes us inside his Irish vacation to the land of castles and Dublin pubs. Plus, Bud breaks down the Virginia Tech hire of Brian White as Athletic Director.
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SPEAKER_01That's going to be the best way I can help Coach Franklin win. That and get the trenches with him and be a partner and support him in every other way I can. But resources is the most significant factor for sure.
SPEAKER_06From the NSB Radio Network, Foster and Friends. Here's Bud and Mac.
SPEAKER_11Welcome in. Happy July 4th. It's Foster and Friends on a July 4th weekend. And there he is, the one, the only uh Bud Foster. Thanks to Chip Tarkington, who filled in last week. Couple of segments. We had a great conversation with Chip, but this guy has traveled, I don't know, five, six thousand miles, right? Gets back and he sends me a text. He goes, I'm back. I says, I gotta take off with Brian White, our athletic director. So we're gonna get into it. It's good to see you. How was the trip?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, good. Well, no rest for the weary. Yeah, you know back and uh uh but uh no the trip was phenomenal. I mean, phenomenal. We great group of people that went. We you know a bunch of hokies that went with us, uh some of our top donors. Uh but we um stayed in just um you know some incredible properties. And uh the player I didn't play golf because I mean I know I don't play golf anymore, but the uh the golfers played uh at least three uh maybe the top courses in have to be top ten in the world or top five in the that caliber. But um the weather was incredible. Uh we were expecting anywhere from 50 to 70 degrees with a high, and as everybody's probably seen on the news lately, that Europe is having a heat wave. And that kind of came through uh Ireland while we were there, but it wasn't uh like it is there now, like they're talking about at 90 plus. It was probably 80 degrees, uh, which was perfect. There was you know no to low humidity. Uh they were saying that hey, the uh uh Irish folks were dying uh because of the heat. They're not used to this, and we thought it was incredible.
SPEAKER_11But they just have to add ice to the drink.
SPEAKER_05But um, I didn't, you know, the thing, they don't have any air conditioning. So the hotels do, luckily. But I evidently the homes and because of the you know the lower you know, degree temperatures, uh, they don't have uh they don't have air conditioning. So uh but we I saw a beautiful countryside. We weren't in the city very much. We went to Bell, we were in Dublin for just a few hours at one point of the trip, actually midway, because we stayed in this one area called Adair, which we stayed in. This it's rated the number one.
SPEAKER_11I know. As I said, I'm doing a whole segment, so don't give me too many details.
SPEAKER_05Okay, well, I won't then I won't because we we'll get into this. Yeah, uh, but no, we stayed, we'll we'll talk about it. But yeah, the scenery was beautiful. The um uh it just like I said, it was uh and the the cool thing was this was Whit Babcock's kind of send-off as well.
SPEAKER_11Oh, how about that?
SPEAKER_05So um it was great to spend uh quality time with him. Uh he's made such a you know, I know people have mixed feelings about Witt. I'm a Wit Babcock fan. He's you know, he left this place better than when he got it.
SPEAKER_11There's no doubt.
SPEAKER_05And um, and you know, and but I was able to give a toast to him on our last night. Uh you know, so uh but uh no, it was a it was an incredible trip. Uh, like I said, with some great hokies, but it was really cool to um to be able to send Wit off the right way in the way he deserves when it's all said.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, good stuff. All right. Well, this is a good place to transition. We'll go to break. Also, uh, speaking of Brian White and the new AD that happened while Bud was gone. Bud knew about it, I'm sure, and then uh uh and took a trip with him this week. We're gonna talk about that. Also, the the Dusty May move in college athletics, and yeah, the NCAA's at it again. And also, what are you doing July 4th? So, all of that coming up as we celebrate uh 250 years. It's hard to hard to believe. All right, we'll go to break more with Bud Foster and his trip to Ireland. Some details. How was that castle bed? I can't wait to find out. This is Foster and Friends, and this is the NSB Radio Network.
SPEAKER_05Hi, this is Bud Foster for Envision. For over 30 years, my good friends, Dr. Scott and Becky Mann, have built a practice that truly cares about their patients.
SPEAKER_00I can just remember being pregnant with my first son over 30 years ago, and we bought the practice from Dr. Henry Stewart, who'd had it for 50 years. Was scary, but we moved forward and we're actually in the same location, and now we're up to seven doctors and over 25 staff in the two locations.
SPEAKER_10The technology is amazing. Uh we used to take pictures on literally Polaroids, and now we went to digital, and now we have widescreens, and um, we can do things today. 10 years ago, we're only images you could only generate maybe at a teaching hospital. And now we can do those chair side when our patients come in.
SPEAKER_00We joke about it, it's been an overnight success in 30 years.
SPEAKER_05Go see your award-winning Envision team. They have two locations, Salem and Christiansburg. They will meet all your eye care needs.
SPEAKER_06Foster and Friends is presented by Brick House Pizza in Radford, serving traditional wood-fired favorites.
SPEAKER_04We've gathered down a McConaghan's bar for laughter tunes and cards. The fiddles played, the ale was cheap, the jokes were flying far.
SPEAKER_11Welcome back, Foster and Friends. And yes, the Irish eyes were smiling. Just a little Irish jig for Bud as we I wanted, I wanted to take because we uh a lot of times we rush through some stuff. It's my fault, but we, you know, we get into this and that. We're trying to catch this story and that story, and we don't have time just to kick back. And uh, and I really won't be able to sit down with Bud for a day or two where you know to find out about his trip. So, anyway, you would you'd recommend going to Ireland whether you're playing golf or not, right?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, very much so. Very much so. Uh the people were incredible. We did end up in Belfast. I'll jump to this first and then follow back. Uh, one of the cool things that we did um at the end of the trip uh on the sight scene. I was on the sight scene group, you know, which was pretty cool. There were several guys and most of the wives. Um, but the last thing we did was uh visit the area, they call it the Troubles. That's where I don't know if you remember when the IRA, oh yeah, the Protestants and the Catholics were fighting. Yes. And uh we had some folks that uh were involved in that, took us around to um, you know, kind of ground zero where all that started and took place. It's incredible in today's world that they still have a 40-foot wall. I don't know exactly how long it goes, but that separates the Protestants and the Catholics.
SPEAKER_11Seriously. I I would have never guessed that still. Anyway, go ahead.
SPEAKER_05But they they close the gate at 10:30 at night and open the gate at 6 30 in the morning. Now, you can get around it, but you'll have to travel like 40 or 50 miles to get around it at various spots. Wow. But you know, you just don't think about that, you know. You you know, it was like I remember Reagan saying, you know, uh, let's take the wall down, you know, and uh but um uh it's just something that's there, and um it was just an interesting to see those struggles and the battles that they had, and that just that whole, you know, the Irish are extremely Catholic, the British are extremely Protestant. And uh so people need to research the and and follow. I'm not gonna go into great detail, but uh, you know, we I you remember probably it was on the news on a regular basis. The IRA was in uh place battling for the for the Catholics, and because uh Protestants were trying to burn the Catholics out of Ireland, and um so bottom line, it was just we we got a chance to see that story, and all the um it's just amazing the um the murals and things like that that are painted on the wall. And I got a chance to we got a chance to sign the wall, you know. To be honest, that's kind of a big thing for people to go through here, and you know, but uh that was a pretty cool part. But anyway, to go back with that, the guy, our tour guide who was in the middle of all this stuff, he said, you know, we really as Irish people, people think of us as very angry, you know, people, not very friendly people. He said, We're extremely friendly, we just don't like each other, you know, and so uh, but that's what you kind of you felt that way a little bit while you were there as a a guest. They really took great care of you, and when they were around each other, you know, it's just kind of like a little rough and gruff, you know. But uh um, but that was in Belfast, that's where we're meant. But we started the trip, we flew into Shannon, which is um an airport oh in the mid-west, mid to west of um of Ireland. And and Belfast is in Northern Ireland, so that is part of the UK. Ireland is its own country, where Northern Ireland, which is part of Ireland, is part of the UK with Scotland, England, and Wales. You know, so that's that's a whole different, you know. We went to a different country when it was all said and done at the end. But Adair, we stayed at a in Adair and we stayed at this uh luxurious castle, you know, now it's a resort, but it know it probably only sleeps 90 people or so. I don't know. It's not a huge, I mean it's a huge place, but not right a huge uh property to uh sleep people.
SPEAKER_11It's not a Marriott.
SPEAKER_05No, it's rated the number one place in the world. Now, uh the golf course there is rated well, what they say they call the Adair Manor Golf Course, which they're playing next year's Ryder Cup.
SPEAKER_11Oh yeah, right.
SPEAKER_05And uh they're playing, but they call that the Augusta of Europe. And I'm just telling you, the grounds were just incredible. I mean, everything's just manicured. I mean, there's trees that look like they're a couple hundred years old on you know on the property. I mean, it's just huge. Everything's just you don't see a uh a uh blotch of grass, it's not there, you know what I mean? It's just like what you see in August, it just looks like carpet. And uh it's um a gated, obviously, area. Um but the little town of uh you know of Adair was just was you know beautiful, little little cute little town, you know. I had my my first Guinness when I got down there. I had two Guinness.
SPEAKER_11Of course.
SPEAKER_05Uh to start to start the week. We had to do I had to do that, you know, had that for lunch.
SPEAKER_11But did you count? Did you count for the trip? Did you keep a tally?
SPEAKER_05Well, I had I uh I just said I had two Guinness, and after that, I had numerous Irish whiskies. That was kind of my my drink of choice. I I found uh and I we were there in in Dublin before a couple years ago when we went on a trip to Croatia, and uh we were able to uh try a variety of whiskies, and uh I kind of fell in love with this one. It's called Red Breast. You can get it in the States. Some of these uh whiskeys you can't get in the States, but this I read this, and I don't know if you can get this one. It's uh it's Redbreast 15. Wow, so it's age 15 years. That is so smooth, man. It was so good. And that was my I think I had several a day, you know, when it was all said and done.
SPEAKER_11So that's a vacation.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's a vacation. Um, but so while we were in a dare, we were there for three days. The um the players, the golfers played um uh trolley, which is uh was on the west coast, which was and we went over that way to see a castle as a tour group. Um it was you know back in the 1500s, 1400s, something like that. It wasn't where it was livable, but you could see just see uh uh some pretty cool things. But the coastline was incredible, and like I said, the weather was fantastic. So we weren't getting the winds and the rain that you can kind of get on that shoreline to see the the the waves crashing against the the beautiful coastline, you know. You kind of think of it in the in America, maybe the west coast with the the mountain or the Rockies, uh, you know, and or the the the high mountains in the in the ocean hitting the rocks and uh that like in northern California or whatnot, you know. But uh it was just beautiful. It was. Uh every field, they're but their big, let me say their produce is like um their big um export is cattle and sheep. So when we're traveling through the countryside, you see, I mean, there's I don't know how many thousands of sheep, you know, and uh they all look like they've been shot by a paintball gun. And because they're all got they all have different but that's how they determine know whose property it is because they run in some areas the the fields are so vast that they um they intermingle. And so um you that's how the the owners can kind of tell who they are when they get ready to share them or whatever they're gonna do, or lamb, you know, have a little uh, you know, some kind of lamb chop or whatever you get, you know, which I had some lambs too, it was really unbelievable. Um but uh the cool thing was every piece of property is uh you know, they they mark it off and it's all done in stone. And it's not stone that they carry it up to that. You know, everybody thinks of Ireland is so green and it is, but underneath that green is a bunch of rock, you know. That's an i a rocky island, and they were they they chipped all this rock and made these fence rows. I mean, incredible in the man hours that it took to have to do these, but they're all over the place, you know. And then if you see some grass, it's just because they've been there so long that grass and trees have grown, you know, through that rock and whatnot. But it's uh to me that was you know, that was pretty amazing. And we saw some old um huts that were built that they because they'd use that when they were doing their farming or cattle, you know, or cattle or doing whatever they're doing that were built back like in you know a thousand AD that are still standing and some things. But uh, you know, that part was pretty cool. The players, like I said, play Trelee, which is in the top 100, I think it's ranked 87th in the country. They did play a dare manor the second day. Um, and uh we went to the Dangle uh whiskey distillery. Now they you know that was a sm that's a small distillery. So in Irish whiskey, obviously you hear about it's it's very very good. It's maybe a little mellower than our our whiskey or bourbons here, uh, but it's aged much longer. And um, so at Dingle, that's a smaller distillery, but uh so they were setting on their barrels, obviously, of whiskey, but they were making uh fresh uh gin. And I'm like, oh man, that was some of the best gin and tonics I've ever had. I will say that. That's the only time I broke away. I had two Guinness and I had a few uh gin and tonics over at the uh over the uh lamb stew and yeah, yeah. But so then we we stayed in Adair for three nights. And uh one of the exciting things in Adair was Tom Brady flew in by helicopter and landed on the property. Um we were on a tour, but our group of golfers there were there, they saw him come in and land. Uh he brought his dad over to play uh Adair Manor on Father's Day, you know. And uh but uh I didn't get a chance to see him. He was in a room right next to us, but it was closed from we when we ate dinner that night. Um, but there were several of our golfers got pictures with him. He was kind enough to take a picture of those guys. Um cattle, sheep, and the goat. I didn't go be a fanboy, you know, and I know Scott Leffler, who was on our staff, was good friends, and they played together, and you know, I could throw his name out there and we could have a good conversation, but I didn't want to go do that, you know. And uh but I think that was a highlight for them. But he flew in on some helicopter, they said it's it wasn't just your normal helicopter, it was something that came in like the president would come in on, you know.
SPEAKER_11The goat flies, yeah. The goat knows how to travel.
SPEAKER_05We were there, but this or Dare Manor, like I said, is the number one ranked um resort, if you want to call it that, in the world. And um, but just incredible. Uh and then we left there and went to uh Dublin for a couple hours. I went back and uh Jesse and I found the old Irish whiskey bar that we and had a couple there before for a couple hours. Then we went to Belfast. And then there the golfers played Royal Port Rush, which they had played the British Open in 2019 and 2025.
SPEAKER_11Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Then they played Royal County Downs, which is rated the number one golf course in the world. Wow. And they all said both those places were incredible. They were linked style courses, so was the Trey Lee uh golf course, and then um the Adair Manor was more like an American course, you know, you know, it's how what we see, not your not your links course, you know. But it was just incredible. And uh we got a chance. I know we're running out of time for this segment, but went to the Titanic Museum, which was an incredible uh experience as well. And then we capped it off with the um, you know, going to the Troubles area, you know, when they we had their their battles.
SPEAKER_11What a vacation.
SPEAKER_05So it was really in a week, it was pretty incredible trip.
SPEAKER_11Man, I guess. Well, well, Bud was uh, you know, tasting uh stew and and drinking gin and tonics and uh a whiskey after dinner. Brian White was sitting down and doing more interviews than, and as I said, he we uh actually have something in common, so we'll talk about that. Brian White, the new AD at Virginia Tech, and Bud is back and rested. This is Foster and Friends, and this is the NSB Radio Network. When you walk into a restaurant, say your favorite pizza place, what's the first thing you notice? The way it smells, the vibe, maybe the party atmosphere. If you're traveling in Southwest Virginia or lucky enough to live in the Radford area, hopefully you have visited Brickhouse Pizza, a staple since 1972. Brickhouse Pizza has become a legendary stop. Jeff and Diane's Main Street attraction features artisanal wood-fired pizza with fresh ingredients prepped every day. Brickhouse's pizzas are made with flour imported from Italy. Throw in the recipe for their homemade brew, and you have the recipe for fun. Brickhouse Pizza is open Tuesday through Friday at 3 30, Saturdays at 11.30, and the Sunday brunch begins at 10. Fresh food, cold beer, great times. That's Brickhouse Pizza, 311 West Main Street in Radford. It is Foster and Friends, and this is the NSB Radio Network. And uh, Bud back from his Irish vacation, you just heard the voice of Brian White, who was named athletic director at Virginia Tech officially. And uh boy, the white name, Bud is so, so prominent, you know, when you thought about his dad and his brother and his co, you know, the the white family has just been entrenched in college athletics. Um, how did this how did the Brian White hire come about?
SPEAKER_05You know, I know I know, and I wasn't involved in the search committee here with this. And I I talked to several uh candidates. You know, James Franklin was on the on the search committee. He asked me to talk to a couple guys, uh, but Brian was one I did not talk to. I had met his brother um when we played in the um the uh the Chick-fil-A kickoff classic. You know, we opened up with South Carolina, Tennessee, played Syracuse, and there was we I represented Virginia Tech football at the at a Hall of Fame uh or at the kickoff classic uh uh dinner that night and went over and introduced myself to his brother Danny. But you're right. I mean, um uh the pedigree in the family is incredible. Um, you know, dad was a um Very successful uh long time A D himself, um Notre Dame and Duke. Um but I think in the end, my take on this is that um we had several outstanding candidates. Um Brian was obviously one of them. Uh I think his pedigree was a big part of this, and particularly um just the connections from the family tied into some uh commissioners, a variety of things that I and I think and and he is an up-and-coming star, there's no doubt about that, you know, in his own right. And I got a chance to see that firsthand, uh, you know, being with him this last week. Um but um I just think in the end of the day, I heard good things about him. I think he uh presented well, and then I do think the the connectivity of the family with as as college athletics moves forward. I think um in the in the big picture, I think our committee felt like he might be the best person and best fit as we move forward, you know, in the next whatever three or four years when the TV contracts open up, if there's other talk about expansion, all those kind of things. I think um, and besides what his track record was, I mean, you know, as as a fundraiser at FAU, he really kind of, you know, that program's kind of come out of nowhere. He's um he had you know, Dusty May has hired him and they had a great run and went to the final four, you know, at FAU and basketball. And basically he kind of was involved with that program from the start almost, you know. And uh um now this is a big step for him uh because I think already just in our conversations, the things that we have in place compared to what they had in place, we're farther, much farther ahead. But at the same time, you know, we're getting ready to take another big step. And I think so you've got a good connection in a in particular between James Franklin and Brian White as younger guys that are evolving that are grasping this next phase of college athletics instead of running from it and bitching and complaining, they're uh, you know, just uh open their arms and and uh let's let's move forward with it.
SPEAKER_11Well, the interesting thing, Chip and I, and Chip and I talked about it last week. He took Florida Atlantic from $2 million fundraising to 26, okay, which at Florida Atlantic, you know, that's a that's a pretty good jump. And all the teams in the American Athletic Conference are winning titles, volleyball, beach volleyball. I mean, uh his athletic department, not to mention the you know, the final four run a couple of years ago. I mean, but when he in all the interviews, I'm gonna play a couple of bites for you, bud. In all the interviews he did, definitely talked about the the Virginia Tech mission, alignment, and of course, resources and how important they are. He is a business guy. Here he's talking about the brand of Virginia Tech.
SPEAKER_01Virginia Tech's all in. They're taking it seriously. You know, I think that they um, you know, that it not all places have alignment. And I think for um, it's obvious to me as an outsider to see that this place has incredible alignment and a big brand and a commitment to win championships. And that's the type of place where you want to be.
SPEAKER_11And when so he talked about so alignment is one of those words that you know you hear a lot, but also resources. And he talked about it being a reality and definitely being more important now than ever.
SPEAKER_01You know, we need to work together and and try to do what we can to generate more, more revenue, more resources. Um, that's just a reality of uh it's always been a reality of college sports, but it's hyper important now. It's more important now than it ever was. Um, and so you know, just the the more we can do to generate more revenue, more resources, that's gonna be the best way I can help Coach Franklin win that and and get in the trenches with him and be a partner and and um and support him in every other way I can. But but but resources is is the most significant factor for sure.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, definitely a business guy. And uh, and but interesting enough that um uh he mentioned in an interview talking about Ben Sutton. He said, Ben Sutton and his dad, and Ben, of course, I worked for at Wake Forest, and I was with Ben when Ben eventually cut, and it took a while, but Virginia Tech was the first other school besides Wake Forest that ISP Sports launched. And for people who don't really know, Ben Sutton took ISP in a merger with Learfield, and overnight they they added 150 schools to their you know brokerage to their roster. If anybody understands resources, it's Ben Sutton. And so when you mentor a guy like Brian White, and Brian White totally gets it, and I think is gonna be so uh uh let me summarize this for you and and get your comments on because now look what Virginia Tech has done. You know, the the whole uh uh the whole initiative a year ago announcing all right, we got to raise money, you hire James Franklin, you get a $75 million donation, now you get brought and and bud social media and all the pundits and outside what guys they call insiders have literally sat up and take and are sitting up and taking notice now about what Virginia Tech is doing.
SPEAKER_05Well, they are, and but that I will say this, and that's where we gotta uh in our fan base and our our senior administration across campus have to understand, yeah, we're making a commitment and we appreciate that. I mean, by our by our by our university, um, and then obviously our fans are extremely excited and our our and our our uh commitments financially are are at at a high level. There's just so much enthusiasm. But I just want to guard, you know, the the people we're getting ready to play against, they're not you know setting still.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, they're not sisters of the poor.
SPEAKER_05No, and they're not they're they're not gonna sit there and wait on Virginia Tech to catch up to them in their mind. They're gonna keep their foot their foot on the gas.
SPEAKER_11Right.
SPEAKER_05And that's the one thing I just want to guard our people. That you know, this commitment from our university is is for a few years, obviously, and I'm hoping for a long time because uh, I mean, uh athletics is the most oh noticeable uh piece of your institution, you know, whether they were gonna hear that or not. Sure. I mean, it's the front porch of your of your college, you know, of your institution, of your university. And you want athletics to be successful, but we can't ever be satisfied anymore. We got satisfied, that's why we were in this position in the first place, where we were really good and then we, you know, we became very average for a couple years. We can't let that happen. That's where I'm I'm just you know, as a as somebody who lived it, who was through it at the high times and who also saw it as we as we didn't keep our foot on the gas when everybody else did and got passed by. We can't let that happen. And Brian, and I think the alignment with Brian and I think and and James is perfect that way. And then I think it's gonna be critical that when we hire our next hire, which is the the president of the university, yeah, that that person feels that athletics is extremely important, you know, to the overall uh feel of the institution, in my opinion, because it is the front porch, you know. I don't care any major institution across America, you know. You just think about it. You know, what do you think about when you hear about University of Alabama football? You know, yeah, it used to be University of Indiana was basketball, but now it's football.
SPEAKER_11Now it's okay.
SPEAKER_05You know, or that type of thing. And not to take away from academic, not at all. Because in all of our talks, you know, with all this NIL and all the other stuff, it still comes down to, you know, creating a great experience for these young people.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, Brian said his comment was, and it was really good. He goes, uh, my I I feel I'm the guy that can move the needle. I mean, he couldn't have he couldn't have said it uh any better. All right, we'll go to break because we're gonna transition with what Bud was just talking about in Michigan and Dusty May, and then the problems because a story came out this week about uh the president of the University of Michigan saying, okay, we've got some issues because Dusty May had issues. And is that move to the Mavericks a red flag for college athletics? We'll research that when we come back. Foster and Friends, NSB Radio Network. Stay with us.
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SPEAKER_09Michigan fans, you might be a little hurt right now, but some of what I've seen here, he he did it, and he did it a quick period of time. I gotta give him a you gotta give him a ton of credit, and you should be grateful for that. There's a there is some hostility coming in. I guess you could expect that.
SPEAKER_06Foster and Friends is presented by the River City Distillery in Radford, makers of Win Vodka in Gentleman's Journey Bourbon. Once again, here's Bud and Mac.
SPEAKER_11Welcome back. It's Foster and Friends, and good to have Bud back from his Ireland vacation. And Irish Eyes are smiling, by the way. Uh, so that Irish Eyes was the title of our show today. Bud doesn't know that yet. Uh the bump you heard coming in was Dusty May talking about the move to the Mavericks and what it did, it prompted their president, who um uh Domico Grasso, Dominico Grasso, and I probably bought uh botched his first name three times, is the Michigan president hired his interim a year ago, and he spoke up the minute that Dusty May said, you know, after the national title, and then he was very intrigued by the Mavericks and whatever. But Dom Dominico said, and I've blown it three times. Yeah, just call him Dom. Dom, yeah, Dom Grasso. There we go. Dom said, and here's a quote Coach May told me that among his reasons for leaving were uncertainties and pressures involving the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness support for student athletes. Quote, Grasso said, he and I agreed that the future of college sports is headed in the wrong direction. And so and Grasso said he he's got some objections to the Protect College Sports Act, which is you know getting ready to probably a bill that's gonna be that's gonna be eventually passed. So with all that but saying, the Dusty may move and a coach like that who realizes, you know, I gotta play the money game, and he moves to the pros just like that. Is that a red flag for college athletics?
SPEAKER_05Well, I think it is. I think he's just part of that line that you've seen guys that have stepped away from the Nick Sabins and you know, other coaches around the country that have kind of you know stepped away. And uh and I and I think that it is uh college athletics, and I don't, you know, what he did last year, he had uh his whole roster was they weren't even at the University of Michigan. Uh I'm sure they're they said, you know, my understanding is their payroll was somewhere of 10 million plus. You know, um and I think that's that's hard to sustain that that that kind of um oh level of play and that that roster management. I think that's you know, you're it's a crapshoot all the time. And um, you know, can you sustain that uh payroll? And then you know, if you live by the portal alone, I think that you're you're you're kind of playing Russian roulette a little bit because you just unless you know those people really, really well, you just don't know the chemistry and how that and luckily it all came together for them this last year. Um but with all that being said, I mean you're going to a pro sport, which now you have a true GM staff and that type of thing, and he can just coach ball and not have to worry about you know who's getting what and what they're paying. You know, that I'm sure he's involved heavily in those decisions when you're only dealing with you know, it's totally different in football when you're dealing with a 105-man roster as opposed to uh in college anyway, and then a 15 or 14 man roster in the NBA.
SPEAKER_11Well, think about this. I hate to interrupt you, but think about this. It was a couple of years ago when, and you and I have been doing the show now, and we're in our fourth year. It was a couple of years ago when we had football coaches and people that were associated with college athletics, and the football coaches are complaining about dealing with agents, and basketball coaches were were, you know, Tony Bennett leaves uh because he didn't want to deal with agents, Jay Wright leaves. Okay, we we all know those stories, but now what did college athletic departments do? They added GMs. So what you are saying, and what you're saying is exactly right. Dusty May goes to the Mavericks, they got a staff of you know, how many people in that front office? They got you know, they got owners and general managers and the assistant general manager and assistant to the assistant GM. And so they're dealing and doing all the homework and dealing with players' contracts, and who do you want? Now, Dusty May say, hey, we're drafting fourth. I really like the kid from XYZ University. Okay, right. But you're right about now, but it's filtered down to the college model is you gotta have a GM. Well, if you have a football and basketball, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and then the other thing, you're the other thing that you know, I think college coaches, whether it's football or basketball, that are going, you know, to the NFL or to the NBA, you know, you're all the things we just talked about, those issues, but then they don't have to deal with academic requirements, academics. Good point, all those different things. Basically, you're a surrogate parent too. You know, we forget about all this. We're talking of money and up the portal and all this stuff, but particularly at the college level, you know, Dusty's team was a little different this last year. I think they were very experienced, but most cases, you know, you're you're trying to develop, and particularly in football, you're trying to develop a roster, but you know, you're still having to deal with you know a variety of things. And then when you go to the NBA or the NFL, you know, those are grown men. If they don't do what you want, you cut them. You know what I mean? Yeah, and then sometimes you just can't do that. You don't have a you don't have a uh a waiver list to just pull people off when uh you know, or an injured reserve list, so to speak, that you can just pull pull guys from, you know, and that's the one thing you don't have in college athletics.
SPEAKER_11No, good point. What what is it, the sticky note on the locker? Uh, you need to go see the GM, you know, yeah with training camp and everything. And you say something, but Dusty May, I'm gonna I'm gonna play this real quick. So, Dusty May, you know, the the move shocked a lot of people, Michigan people were outraged, but he liked what he saw with the mat.
SPEAKER_08Whenever we were talking about our guys, we had three guys in the lottery. It was mentioned that would I have any interest in this job? And my eyes went up, and instantly I said, This one checks all the boxes. I said, There's certain criteria for any job that uh that we coaches have. Mine's always been a little bit different, but this job checks all of them.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, I'm sure. And I'm sure, and so it was uh Dom Grasso who said, quote, we're not gonna sacrifice the competitive advantage that we have built for more than a century. And think about Michigan, what's happened to them the last couple of years when you look at the Sharon Moore story, the uh the spy gate, you know, whatever you want to call it, the spy gate and the stealing, the sign stealing uh thing. But he he is a guy, as a president at least now, who's stepping up a little bit and saying, okay, look, we gotta, you know, we gotta make some changes or whatever. And what happened again? I'm gonna transition to this. So now the NCAA oversight committee is at it again. All right. But college football, now the FBS oversight committee, they've proposed replacing spring football and summer workouts with 21 on-field practices, two time periods, reducing preseason camp practices from 25 to 21, and they're gonna shrink the 15-day winter portal now to 10 days. The oversight committee won't stop. They they just, you know, so are all these moves. Is it's good where we sit as far as what's happening?
SPEAKER_05Well, I I would hope and I'd like to think that that's been communicated through you know the head coaches too, you know, when it's all said and done. I you know, I think I obviously I would think that a lot of those recommendations would come from the American Football Coaches Association.
SPEAKER_11Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um, you know, who we've we've had those guys on the show. Um, Craig Ball.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, the cra the Craig Baldwin coach, yeah.
SPEAKER_05The former Craig has been very open and transparent and been very doing a been doing a great job communicating, you know, with the with the coaches to um I think what's what's what's best for college football? What's the best time frame for the portal? What's the best, you know, what's the best operation and you know for spring football? Because in college you still need to work and find out and develop, guys. It's not like the NFL. You got young kids coming in, you know, that are that are not seasoned, you know, like sometimes the NFL is. And so I still think it's important to have spring practice. And they're doing more OTAs now in the summer, but I think just trying to combine those and and do it maybe on the front end as opposed to maybe on the back end, you know, just prior to the season, I think it's is kind of maybe what they're looking at because they can extend that period through the summer then.
SPEAKER_11No, good. So anyway, the committee is gonna vote in August to see if uh any of that stuff passes uh that we just talked about. Well, it is July 4th, and that means a few of you are gonna be kicking back. Bud's probably letting a couple of his organs dry out. But anyway, we'll get back to that and celebrate July 4th. We come back. This is Foster and Friends, NSB Radio Network.
SPEAKER_05Hi, this is Bud Foster for Envision. For over 30 years, my good friends, Dr. Scott and Becky Mann, have built a practice that truly cares about their patients.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, we just try to do everything with the patients in mind. Everything we do is from the patient's point of view, and we try to put them first and really have state-of-the-art equipment and technology and then old-fashioned personal care and attention.
SPEAKER_00Oh, well, I think it's mainly about the relationship and that we care. We care for them and they become family. Women we've been in that office now for over 30 years. So it's it's more like a family environment and that we do care about providing the best vision care available.
SPEAKER_10Over 30 years ago, we started with one office, one staff member, one doctor, and we've just kind of grown from there. The community's been great in supporting us, and now we have two locations. Uh we're getting ready to add our six and seventh doctors and about 25 staff.
SPEAKER_05Go see your award-winning Envision team. They have two locations, Salem and Christiansburg. They will meet all your eye care needs.
SPEAKER_13Oh man, that old man, spend its life living off the man.
SPEAKER_06From the desk of former coach and great Bud Foster, this is Foster and Friends on the NSB Radio Network.
SPEAKER_13We're at the car.
SPEAKER_11That's the song he did live, made in America. And we do get to celebrate uh the 4th of July. I Bud's gonna be out on the lake. He has his big party. I'm sure he has a July 4th playlist. Now you can go one way with the you know, Credence Clearwater Revival and Born in the USA from from Bruce, which are more or less anti-America songs, or like Lee Greenwood, God bless USA. Proud to be there's some pretty good stuff. So, but it is kind of a weekend of a playlist, isn't it, bud?
SPEAKER_05It is, it is, and you know, I don't know if I have a just a um a set July 4th playlist. Yeah, but I do have some, you know, I I have got you know some songs that uh are important that I love, you know, and particularly with uh Jesse being by my side. I mean, it's grand funk. Um very good wonderful having my woman by my side. But I will say this, I think another song for that reminds me of my youth and uh was is kid rock all summer long.
SPEAKER_11Oh, that's true.
SPEAKER_05You know, that's you know, that's just about American kids, man.
SPEAKER_11Absolutely. It was summer middle time. That's it.
SPEAKER_05That's what I'm I'm gonna try to be a kid again at heart uh yeah over these uh next few days and and so enjoy this uh and celebrate America's 250. Man, my God, you know, or I know it seems Seems like a lot, but we're still babies. And you know, and you and I, man, we've seen a big part of uh just 250 years.
SPEAKER_11Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Well, you can have a lot of whether we want to admit to it or not.
SPEAKER_11Exactly. Of course. Uh American Art by Faith Hill. Waylon Jennings did a song called America, Brad Paisley, American Flag on the Moon. I mean, there's just a lot. We're gonna close today with uh Mike Peavy, who's a writer from Nashville, uh 250 years in America. Before I let you go, uh you the grandpa and the the father who launches things, you know, you you go to the fireworks tent and and drop a drop a C note and pick all the stuff.
SPEAKER_05I've already been, we've got our place, the lady and we go to West Virginia where you can uh you can get all kinds of explosives in West Virginia. That's true. But um whether or not we're going there, we see this lady, a buddy of mine, we share that's part of our we have a friend that does the pig roast for us and all kinds of we have been doing since my 50th birthday. So this is uh this is seven seventeenth year in a row. Wow, and so um, but uh we usually have a band or something, but this year we're not in but and I usually get that, but we've kind of people wanted to kind of get away from that a little bit. So I've invested in fireworks, and uh we've always done that. But uh I don't launch them. I'll tell you that. We've got some young, yeah, we've got some young people, not too young, and they don't want to put anybody in harm's way. Yeah, Jesse's uh Jesse's youngest boy, he's a police officer, and his couple of his buddies have committed to launching the fireworks. So uh good as that.
SPEAKER_11So you're doing it.
SPEAKER_05We're gonna have a nice little show.
SPEAKER_11Oh, okay. I want video for sure. All right, as we uh as we leave you, and it's uh great to have Bud back. Um well this is uh as I said, Mike Peavy, 250 years in America. Have a good weekend. I'll talk to you next week. More to cover.
SPEAKER_05All right, have a great weekend, my friend. Happy 250 for America.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, happy 250 for Bud Foster. I'm Mac McDonald, and that's Foster and Friends, and this is the NSP Radio Network.
SPEAKER_02In the summer of 76, on a hot Philadelphia night, the world changed forever when they signed that paper right. Thirteen colonies stood tall and said enough to a king across the sea. They lit a fire in the hearts of folks like you and me.
SPEAKER_06Foster and Friends is presented by Envision. Locations are in Christiansburg in Salem, Virginia. For the best in eye care and fashion, it's Envision by the River City Distillery in Radford, makers of Win Vodka. It's a good day to enjoy a win. And by Brick House Pizza. Brickhouse Pizza means good times.
SPEAKER_03For the farmers and the fighters, for the dreamers and vibes.
SPEAKER_02The US Day From the Trail of Tears to the underground rail lines, to the beaches of Normandy, where the bravest gave their lives. We opened up our arms to the tires and the fore, built the skyscrapers, highways, and kept reaching for more.
