bob-sabin_1_09-21-2024_164853: 0:00

Welcome everybody to Crackin the Cats Special Edition. We're here in Missoula following the unfortunate loss, but well played by the Catamounts. I got Dr. Brown with me. Dr. Brown, tell me your thoughts following this game. I tell you what, our guys played with all heart. Are you not kidding me? This is one of the loudest FCS stadiums in the country. And we showed them who the Catamounts are today. We are very excited. We didn't come through, but our guys showed up with heart and we played very hard. Everybody knows who Western Carolina University is in the FCS as of today. Thanks so much. We appreciate your time. Go Cats!

bob-sabin_2_09-21-2024_165056: 0:41

It's a beautiful afternoon this afternoon, and the cats were in it most of the way. And my next guest is gonna be Chad Garrity Senior Associate Director, Athletic Director, and he should be down here for That the referees were horrible, but I can certainly say it. We had so many bad breaks, so many missed calls, so many unfortunate calls. But, on the other hand, our team, as Dr. Brown said, really showed well here. The loudest football game I've ever seen outside of a serious SEC contest.

bob-sabin_3_09-21-2024_165454: 1:27

Welcome back to tracking the cats. We are here this afternoon with the senior associate athletic director Chad Garrett. You can tell my voice is a little rough. I'm standing here on the sidelines here on row six for an amazing game this afternoon. Chad, I wanted to talk to you briefly. I'm glad you can join us. Tell us a little bit what you thought about the game and how the Catermouths performed. You know, I'm just and I hope you Catamount Nation feels the same way, just really proud of their effort today, you know, they played so hard, got an early lead, but you can tell right away that, hey this is going to be a game to the wire, and that's exactly what we showed today tough not getting a win, but I think a lot of huge positives out of, out of this road trip, now we got a week off to get ready for starting conference play. Yeah, I was looking at it and I'm thinking two missed field goals and an interception. Pretty much made the difference in the game, what do you think? Yeah, there was you know, a few plays you'd love to have, have back like you do often with, with different games. But I tell you what just the grittiness and toughness of Cole Gonzalez today, too. In fact ran into the AD from Montana, Ken Haslam, in the second half. And he, he had a lot of really positive things to say. and just his toughness and accuracy. And just he was really impressed in the time he saw him today and so many other catamounts played well for us today, but again, just proud of the team and really look forward to having a lot of people come out to our upcoming games for home games lap, but catamount nation makes a huge difference at our games. And so we, we really want to see a lot of people out. This team is it's fun to watch and I think if you come out, you're going to enjoy it and want to come back. I agree. And I'm not going to put you on the spot to talk about the referees. I think coach had his own thoughts and it cost him twice, but I was not happy and I, everybody here, how many people would you say were here from Western today? You know what the ticket sales were? Yep. We were right around 200 that we were aware of, but I tell you what, walking through the tailgate area before the game, a lot of people I didn't recognize, I'd go up and introduce myself and A lot of people that live out west that might be alums came to the game. People from Idaho, people from Washington. I heard someone from Utah make the trek out. And so, you know, I've always been impressed with how much pride people that graduate from Western Carolina, how proud they are. And that shows when we go on road trips, we always travel well. And it's just fun to see a lot of purple out here and a place so far away from home. I agree. I didn't get to go to the Hawaii game, but I've been looking at this one for five years. Saying, I can't wait. And my wife who's holding the camera would definitely agree that, that we were on top. So one more question for you, Chad. You got promoted in January of this year to senior associate athletic director. Tell us a little bit about your job and your responsibilities. Sure. And I really appreciate Alex Gary doing that. For me, I, I've been here almost 11 years. Absolutely loved it. I raised my our kids, grew up. Going to Smokey Mountain High School is a great place to raise the family. And so I've just loved living here. My wife's loved living in, in Cullowhee as well. And for me, what I really enjoy about the job is I feel like I can help make a difference. And there's a lot of variety to my job. You know, one day I might be working in ticketing, next day I might be doing some marketing, but we got a, a great external team here and they all make it happen. And so I can't say enough good things about the staff that, that I work with. It's a lot of long hours, but. There's a passion there and there's nothing better than having a great crowd at a game, a great atmosphere and the Catamounts getting a victory makes it all worthwhile. And I think everybody that works in external kind of shares that same, same passion. It makes it, makes it worthwhile. Well, you've been on staff 11, 10, 11 years, 11 years in October, seeing the good, the bad and the ugly, you know, things just seem to be going better and better right now across the board, not just with football, but our other sports. Yeah, it's it's been fun to see our our team find success and it continues to grow. Women's soccer winning the SoCon championship last year, not only the, the championship game, but the regular season. It's a huge first time in school history. They're off to another great start this year, but all the teams, you know, encourage people if you haven't been to any other sport and you come to football games, hey, we'd love to see it in some of these other sports that we have. And I know our student athletes really appreciate that when, when you get a lot of fans there, it makes a huge difference. So love to see people come on out and cheer us on and all this stuff. Well, I appreciate your time this afternoon. Thanks for all you do. Thanks so much, man. Folks, as usual, the Tracking the Cats podcast is brought to you by Stanbury Insurance on East Main Street in Silva. Swing by there, say hi to Kevin. He was here today. Got a chance to say hi to him. We will look forward to seeing you on the next Tracking the Cats podcast. Go Catamounts! Woo! Go Cats! Good job, you're gonna make it!