bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 0:00

Welcome to Trekking the Cats. This episode is with your host Bob Saban and Steve White. We have got a great episode planned for you all today. We are sponsored as usual by Stanbury Insurance with offices in Highland, Silva, and Waynesville. This week we're going to talk a little bit about football and then we're going to get to our guest which is the Women's Soccer Coach at Western Carolina. Chad Miller, and I think we'll have some real good and interesting comments from him. But first we wanted to get started talking about a little bit about football because that's the big thing right now as far as most Catamount fans are concerned. And we wanted to find out Steve, your thoughts on this past game Saturday with Furman.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 0:51

It did my heart good, Bob sticking it to Furman like we did. of course, after that, they're talking about running up the score on us, running up the score, how unsportsman shop that was Bush, blah, blah, blah, blah. Their coach let a little contentious meeting with coach Bell at mid field after the ball game. And again, I wish I'd had a piece of paper to take a minute and show them the scores from some of the Furman Western games over the years where they beat us by three, four touchdowns. Last year out there dancing, pointing at our fans after the game. I actually trashed our locker room.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 1:29

That's what I heard, all 11 of our, all 11 of

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 1:34

So I don't want to hear anything about it from the Furman fans, but yeah, I'd tell you what a complete game we turned in, you know, I had a few little glitches here and there, like the kickoff return and a couple of little small breakdowns on defensively, but offensively. Oh my goodness, Cole Gonzalez was just, was on his game and his receivers. It was a, it was a mismatch for the entire game in the secondary. Our receivers just I guess, just out playing out doing everything over the the firm and secondary. Just, just exciting. Yeah.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 2:14

My goodness, I'm looking at the stats here, and we had Three receivers with more than 100 yards of six, Isaiah Johnson, Zion Booker, and Jay Boyd, all, and then we had a bunch of others with pretty good yardage itself. You know, you have a 49 yard game for Calvin Jones, and that's not bad, but to add up to 652 yards of receiving, which is a school and Southern Conference record, right? Yeah.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 2:48

right. Exactly. And I tell you, Bob, a lot of people don't realize this, that how impactful that is. The Southern Conference goes back to the 1920s. We're talking about over a hundred years ago, we've been playing Southern Conference football. And at that time, you know, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina Duke South Carolina, Clemson, all those teams were in the Southern Conference and it's evolved all the year, but those football records still stand.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 3:14

Yes,

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 3:15

you just think about all the quarterbacks that have come through the Southern Conference and all the offensive teams to be able to post those records. Oh my gosh, Cole Gonzalez what a ball game, 620 yards, 801 yards of total offense. That is just, that is truly just a significant eye opening numbers.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 3:37

the total offense that goes back. That record goes back to 1977. Is that right?

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 3:43

Well, for us, we broke the old record against Chattanooga in 78, I

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 3:48

78. Okay.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 3:49

but Southern Conference record, breaking that, that's, I'd say over a hundred years those records have been around.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 3:56

And some of those games back in the day were mismatches, right? So it was,

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 4:01

definitely.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 4:02

you know. Easy to roll up big yards if you had North Carolina playing Catawba or stuff like that.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 4:10

But, you know, even back in the early days of the Southern Conference in the 20s, the pass had not been invented yet. Very few people really threw the ball back at that time. You know, it didn't really become a huge factor until probably the 60s, the passing game, where it was, I guess a lot of people say, maybe that's the major part of their offense as opposed to the running game. And it evolved in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and today. game is actually probably more predominant than the running game, but you've got to have a good running game to win ball games.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 4:43

Yeah. And we did have what we had a hundred and 81 yards of rushing, of which let's see, Branson Adams who also had a pass reception had 70 yard of running. So, and we had five. rushers that accumulated those almost 200 yards of rushing.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 5:04

exactly. But just, just that just got a lot of people's attention being, you know, Cole being the national player of the week getting a lot of exposure. ESPN saw several things last night. Our rival well, excuse me, the Greenville TV station and the Spartanburg TV station, Made a big deal out of it. And they're back down in Furman country with, with Cole winning the national player of the, of the week award. But again as a little bit different coming up this week, we are going to play the number one defensive team. They were what? Ranked six or seven categories. They were number one in the nation. Mercer's defense before last weekend and they're still up there in a lot of categories. So a little bit different defense we're going to be facing this week.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 5:50

But as coach said both last night and after the game, it was a total game and our defense stood out as well with the Furman game. I mean, I'm, I'm looking at some of those statistics and you had, man, he had a lot of guys in there. tackles assists. So they stepped up big, particularly that goal line stand coming in on the one yard line, getting four downs. And we helped them held them to turnover at that point after four downs.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 6:23

yeah, like I said, a lot of people got to play. That's another significant thing. I don't know what the total number was, but we had to have probably 70, 75 players actually saw action in that ballgame

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 6:36

Well, it looks like we had about 20 guys on Ooh, more than that. It looks like our defensive team was had probably about 25 players. I can't count them all now, but

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 6:48

yeah.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 6:49

on the field. So, yeah, everybody we, we got full use of the Too Deep concept.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 6:55

deep there at late in the ball game on the offensive and defensive lines. We really did. And even in the secondary.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 7:01

Yep, and quarterbacks. We get we had three different quarterbacks the action too. Well, tell me a little bit about Mercer. You had mentioned that earlier. I know that they've had a great start to the season, but also when you look at their strength of schedule, some of those early games like Presbyterian, you would expect them to come away with big wins.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 7:23

Yeah, but here again, a thing. Now you talk about their schedule. Look what they did to Chattanooga a few weeks ago. They held Chattanooga's offense without a touchdown. Only gave him a field goal in that ballgame. So that tells you that sort of takes away myth about their their schedule. I wouldn't say a myth, but I guess disparaging remarks about their, about their schedule, but yeah, it definitely is not as nearly as tough a schedule as we have played, but you cannot deny those numbers. You know, you look what they've done and their Citadel game, the Wofford game these were very pretty impressive wins for them against the Southern Conference teams. Now, Saturday, I cannot explain what happened to them Saturday. Sanford, Sanford had been mediocre at best. And especially defensively, you're probably one of the worst Sanford defenses that they've had down there and offensively, nothing like they've had in past years. Hey that's that's what you got to come to play every Saturday. And that's where it's gonna be this week. And we've had our problems bob down in Macon. What it was eight years since we've won a game down there. I was there. I remember that one. Fortunately, I missed the last couple of games down at Mercer, but that's a tough place to play for some reason for us. It's very tough. Well,

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 8:50

here in Atlanta and I have yet to get to a Mercer game. Some something, whenever we're playing down there, it's happened in this weekend. I'm going to be with the Grants down in Florida doing some baby chores, but having a great time. We'll have the game on both ESPN and the Catamount Sports Network. Try to sync those up so we can listen to Gary and watch the game. Especially when we're on the road and we don't have our announcers like Hook doing the game.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 9:17

She watches ESPN plus turns the sound down and turns up Gary on the play. We'll play. And she said, Oh, it's much better.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 9:25

Absolutely. Particularly, you know, my, my biggest complaint about announcers that traditionally has been the Wofford announcers. They've been such homers when, when we're playing at Wofford and you're watching it on TV and it's like, oh

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 9:41

You

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 9:41

man,

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 9:42

Daniel, Daniel Hooker a lot of credit. He does a great job as our color man on there over the over the years and he gives you a lot of information. So it's nothing's lost in there that that's a that's a pretty darn good team with Jeff and and Daniel Hooker and Gary.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 9:59

well, I love that hook is loyal to colorway because I think he could go other places. I think both of us, Gary and Daniel, could be at other schools with a bigger name and a bigger audience, but glad that they are so loyal to Western and Colorado.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 10:16

yeah, he started out as one of a student assistant with me back in the 90s, the late 90s. So the boy's come a long way and I think I trained him well.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 10:26

Well, he's got a great sense of humor too. I went to a baseball game a few years ago and I was standing in the stands and I look up and I wave at him to make sure he knew I was at the game because I had to drive up from Atlanta. And come the seventh inning stretch, Hooker says, Now we're going to sing Take Me Out to the Ballpark, led by Bob Saban. And I was like, what? And I'm the only person in the stand singing, you know, in the

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 10:59

Yeah, you remember the words though, did you? Yes.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 11:02

Thankfully, yes.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 11:03

Yes.

bob-sabin_2_10-22-2024_093551: 11:05

Well I think we got Chad coming on here in just a second, so let's make room for a good conversation with Bob Saban. with Chad Miller, the women's soccer coach. They're doing extremely well leading the conference again this year. And let's move on over and make some room and have a good conversation with Chad.

squadcaster-ji8j_2_10-22-2024_093550: 11:27

That's great.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 11:27

​And we're welcoming to the Tracking the Cats podcast, Coach Chad Miller, the women's soccer coach here at Western Carolina. Coach. Thanks for joining us today.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 11:39

Are

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 11:40

So you have been with the school for a little while, and your family has been in Cullowheath for a while. Steve, you got a question for

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 11:51

Right. Yeah. I've got a question for you here. I'm gonna give a little bit of background on you in just a minute, but you knew your wife Stacy's our senior woman administrator here at WCU athletics for several years and now our director of alumni engagement. She was an all American soccer player at Barton College a few years back. Maybe a little bit more than a few years. Does she ever offer suggestions to you on strategy, critique your decisions? Do you get any feedback from her?

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 12:22

you kidding me right now? Steve, every day, all the time. Now it's we actually met coaching against one another and a conference Carolina, she was coaching at Barton after she played and I was at Pfeiffer. And that's how the friendship started. And it's grown from there. Obviously when we to get married, we knew we wanted to have a family and we didn't want to try to do this with two coaches, so she kind of. Wanted to stay in athletics, but not be a coach. And so that led us to Western and just absolutely loved our time here. But to answer your question, yes, after games, I get all the things I did wrong. And no, it's a lot of fun. I mean, she's, she's the mom of our team. She really loves the game as much as I do. And makes it fun. But she does. She gives her input daily. In fact, last night I was downstairs watching film and she's texting me from the bed like, did you see this? What do you think about this? Nice. So, yeah, it's ongoing.

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 13:16

Okay, well, your 14th season at Western Carolina 23 seasons, you've been a collegiate soccer coach at three schools Western Carolina, of course, Pfeiffer, Catawba. You were an assistant here for three years before you left to become the head coach at Catawba. Then returned in 2010 as our head coach. And you've steadily brought this women's program into prominence culminated last season with that exciting championship game over Sanford our first championship since 2008, winning both the regular season and the tournament championship. It was a super scene and a super atmosphere down at the Catamount Athletics Complex for that championship game over at win over Sanford. And Very, very exciting coach. I'll tell you that, that that was, that was just a wonderful atmosphere down there last season. We want to do that again.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 14:09

Yeah, no doubt. It was it was really special. I think not only the community, but our alumni just came out in droves. And of the unique parts of our program here in terms of the alumni base is when they got rid of men's soccer. in the mid 80s, rather than those guys turning a cold shoulder to Western, they've adopted our program as their program. And so when we have an alumni event in the spring, just about every spring, I mean, we have, I think the least amount we've had since I've been here is probably 60, 65 people. And probably half of those are, are the men. And really special. And just that, that part of the championship, all the, all the alums coming back, both men and women made it unbelievable, unbelievable.

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 14:55

Yeah. A lot of those guys, I know those guys well, and I remember it was really, I wasn't happy about what happened to the men's program and a lot of my good friends, people like, you know, Brad Bradshaw, Jackie Adkins, and Hank Komodowski was my graduate assistant here for a couple of years. And so. Pretty close to a lot of those guys. Duck Thomas, you name them great bunch of guys, a great bunch of guys.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 15:15

absolutely.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 15:16

Yeah, and to that point I am a soccer lover and I've never played the game, Chad. I, when I graduated in 1975, I took a job down at Camp Lab School, Cullowhee High School at the time, and they told me that I was going to be the soccer coach. And I knew it had something to do with a ball and a net, right? Well, the guys from, including Hank and another guy, John Shireman, From back in the day came down and they I was kind of like the faculty sponsor and they were the coaches and they helped the color. We high school co ed team. There were 2 or 3 girls on the team back then. And we were playing Asheville school, Christ school one of the schools from Charlotte in a spring season, and they actually did pretty well. I was. very pleased. And because of that, I'm a lifelong soccer fan. My boys played soccer. I have season tickets to the Atlanta United Major League Soccer program. So I credit those guys from back in the seventies and eighties. Great program. And I echo Steve's reports on I wish that we could have continued with men's soccer.

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 16:27

I tell you a tremendous start this season, coach 11, two and three record. Amazing 11 shutouts. That's just phenomenal. Undefeated at home, leading the conference of six Oh and one record two point lead over second place Sanford two matches left, both on the road with two very good teams at Furman this Thursday and over Chattanooga on Sunday to wrap up the regular season. Then the tournament, which we, I think we're in pretty good position to maybe host a couple of matches here at Western. Your thoughts, I guess, maybe on the, the, the season ending week here for your team.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 17:05

Yeah. Challenging. I mean, on the road, it's always, tough. Don't think SoCon women's soccer gets the appreciation that it probably deserves. Not, not, not from the universities here, but I'm saying around the country. We have a really, really good league. I mean, right now we have six teams in the top 200 of the RPI. I think we're sitting about 120. I think Sanford's one, one 15, one 16, something like that. And there's four others, four others in the tops, 60, one 70. So really, really good league. So going on the road is challenging. We put ourself in a great position where we kind of control our own destiny, which is really nice. But we have to, we pick up a tie in the next two games we at least have a share of the title we will host. If we win one of the last two, it's ours. It's over. regular season will host if we drop both, going to depend on other results to kind of, if we get, I think, I think the worst we could do is third but we're not satisfied with that. We want to want another championship. So game at a time really try to stay focused on that. Furman's a really good team. I would say in our league attacking wise. Mercer, us, and Furman probably have the most firepower up top. so I think Thursday night game's gonna be a, just a shootout. I mean, I do not think it'll be a one goal game. I think it's gonna be a multiple goal game and, two teams really going at it. I mean, Furman's still playing first shot to win a title as well. So, in my mind, Thursday's like a championship game.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 18:41

I was looking at the statistics, the conference statistics, and we have four ladies in the top six as far as So not just with scoring, but also with defense. Tell us your on how well balanced the team is this year.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 19:03

Yeah, I mean, coming into the season, returned of our attack from last year. So it felt really good about. Having the ability to score goals and continue that, that kind of that we had last year in terms of an attacking team. The big question mark for me was the back line. I mean, we lost, we had two ACLs in the tournament. We had one in the semifinal, one in the final, then we had one graduate. So we were looking at a back four of three new players. Out of the four and they've excelled. I mean, they've shined. I mean, to have, that amount of shutout, we've only given up one goal in conference. So it's, they shined and done extremely well. I think we're ninth in the country right now in goal scored out of 340 teams. So the balance has been, I think, top 15 defense in terms of shutouts. it's, it's been, it's been both. I mean, you gotta, you gotta be able to do both to, to be successful. And I would, but to answer your question, the biggest surprise to me and the most unknown going was, was the backline and the defense. And they, they've really gelled and grown and exceeded the expectation big time.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 20:11

your keeper, Leanne, is also solid and I've not had to look at how many saves she has compared to others. But tell us about her.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 20:21

Yeah. Leanne's obviously a junior. She's had some experience. She was our starting goalkeeper through the run last year. So she's got a lot of confidence. is really tough really mentally tough. Loves the train, wants to train all the time. She's the kind of player as a coach, you have to kind of pump the brakes on a bit and tell her to not do as much, which doesn't happen a ton with young people these days, but she's just a gym. I mean, she's, she's a soccer junkie. She loves it. She can't get enough of it. And she's been really good.

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 20:52

Coach, this area of the country is not known for its high school or club soccer, as some call it, remote part of the world yet you have ladies from several state and a bunch from Canada. What is the challenge for recruiting women's soccer to Kolohe? The minuses and the pluses, the challenges of a recruiting?

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 21:15

Time here, I've felt like the toughest part of my job is getting somebody to, to come visit. Once I get somebody to come visit place sells itself. The demographic we recruit, I mean, usually, you know, really, really good academic I mean, most, most of the ladies that play club soccer in this country are very, very good academically. So you sell the academic piece, which are standard. academically is really a lot of people don't know, but probably more impressive than winning a championship. I mean, we've had 11 semesters in a row over 3. 7 GPA, which is absurd. And our girls take some of the toughest majors here at Western. I mean, they're in nursing, they're in engineering, they're in pre med type stuff. So you sell that piece, the education piece, which is ultimately why you go to school is to play the game that you love and Get a great education. So we sell that. And then I think the strength of our program and what we built is the people in our program. Our program is all about the people. And we just have some outstanding young ladies in our program that they get it right and do it right. And I think that sells big time when players come and visit and meet them and kind of see their drive and what their goals are and the way they carry themselves. And then Western Carolina, and it's just a beautiful place. And we sell the academic piece, a great soccer program. And then one of the most beautiful places in the world, in my opinion.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 22:41

To that point, recruiting is, is difficult no matter what sport you're in and on the D 1 level. What do you look for when you're out reviewing all of these ladies that are interested in the program?

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 22:54

Yeah. I mean, soccer is a little bit different than a lot of sports because, you know, not knocking anybody, but track and golf and tennis, you look at rankings, you look at times. is, you know, watching games and finding what, what things you like. I mean, obviously the first thing that jumps out to you when you go watch a game is athleticism. You don't have to know a ton about soccer to pick out one of the best athletes on the field. And so the athletic piece is always the first attraction. I feel like to be a successful division one player, you have to be a pretty good athlete. And then beyond that, the most important thing for me is the character pieces, which is the hardest thing to figure out when you watch 45 minutes of a half. I always tell recruits for me, the best time I could ever see you play is when you're getting your butt kicked. I'd love to see you losing like six, nothing. They look at you funny. And I'm like, well, that's, that's where I found out what you're about. You know, how do you interact with teammates? How do you interact with the referee? How do you interact with your coach? You know, all those things matter. it's the toughest part of my job is finding out the character pieces, but the initial attractions, obviously. You know, physical ability, athleticism, and then a good player. And then beyond that is getting them to visit and meeting their family, getting to know them as people. we've had several recruits that we loved on the road and they came in for a camp and our assistants and I look at each other and we're like, not a good fit. It's not going to work. She's not who we are. So it's the combination of all of it. The most important piece for me is the, is the personal part, the drive, the good teammate part. We're not, our team is very blue collar. We have players that get a lot of recognition, players of the week and stuff, but they don't act any different on our team than anybody else. And that's what makes our group so great.

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 24:39

Yeah.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 24:39

So, I don't know if that answers your question. That's very wide range. But character, character traits is what's most important to me and probably the hardest thing to figure out, just

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 24:47

I

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 24:47

game on the sideline.

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 24:49

know what you're talking about, Chad. I see a lot of those young ladies up in the dining hall on Friday night. That's a tradition for us. Me and my wife, our big night out, we go to the Catamount Cafe and we see those young ladies up there and I always go over and talk to them and they're just so accommodating and so nice and just really, you know, they don't mind talking to old people. So yeah, there's a lot of character there with that team and I agree with you 100%.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 25:17

You know, one of the things that I've been watching over the years is you know, bringing my own boys into soccer is the development and how much much improved soccer has become over the years. What do you see, you know, you've been in it for a long time starting with the younger kids. What do you think about the development programs out there?

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 25:41

It's been unbelievable in my lifetime. I mean, I've played since I was, or five years old and then, went to college and played and then got the opportunity to coach. And so soccer has been my life pretty much to be fair. But just the growth of the game. I think the biggest part is the opportunity. There's just so many more opportunities for players to play and develop than there were when I was younger. And on the women's side in particular, I mean, it's just, Every since the 99 team won the World Cup and on that huge stage on TV, I mean, it's changed. You could argue it's changed a lot for women's sports in this country, but certainly on the soccer side of things, it's just grown so much that the female players in this country have an opportunity. more than they ever have. And it just continues to grow professional level. There's more leagues than there's ever been. And so just, I think opportunity has allowed the game to grow and allowed players to get better training. Whereas, you know, maybe 10, 15 years ago, there was very limited to them to get good training. And now I would say there's opportunities for anybody that's really wanting or interested to do it. so yeah, that's what I've seen over my time is just more opportunity, just, just more, more expansion and a lot more fans. I mean, a lot of people in this country 20 years ago, didn't know a whole lot about soccer. And now I would say, don't know percentages or numbers, but I would say the vast, there's a huge percentage more that follow soccer and know about soccer.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 27:09

Absolutely. Do you see the potential for more of the Southern Conference ladies to be able to move on to pro if they have that desire? And I know even in football, a lot of folks just look at it as, okay, I'm going to wrap it up in college. But are you seeing any of that from any of these ladies?

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 27:27

Yeah, most, most definitely. We had in the last women's world cup, we had two SoCon players playing on the world cup. Yeah. can't think of her name off the top of my head. But Jermaine from Sanford. She was South Africa's captain. And then Sarah Zazerzel from ETSU. She was playing for Austria. And so, yeah, I mean, it's happening. We, we, I don't know, Steve, if you remember Valentin Percy that played here a couple of years ago, she's, she's playing over in England. And then Natalie Manali is playing in Finland. And most of our team, I don't know exact numbers, but a good chunk of our team plays in like the semi pro leagues over the summer. And that usually runs from mid May to first, first, second week in July. And so, yeah, I mean, it's, it's happening a lot more. We have, we have at least three or four players in our current program that have aspirations of signing pro contracts and trying to play beyond Western.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 28:26

Well, stepping back to wrapping up the season with these last two games, and you have a game in hand over the other teams. Pretty much everybody else has one game left, Furman has two, we have two, because of the reschedule there for the hurricane. That helps us in the standings, and, you know, like you said one tie gets us at least tied for the The conference crown, but if we can pull off a win, it's gonna wrap it all up. Correct.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 28:55

Yes, sir.

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 28:56

And I can't, I can't think of anything better, Chad, than having your homecoming weekend, next weekend, having the semifinals and the championship game here on our campus. You couldn't ask for a better formula.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 29:08

no, it's a take a lot of pride in playing at home. I mean, we talk about it a lot as a program. One of our goals this season was to to be really good at home and we were undefeated, which I think is like the second time in program history. So, we take a lot of pride in playing here. We think we're really good here. We think we're really hard to beat here. And so hosting for the obvious reasons of sleeping in your own bed and all that. But beyond that, I mean, program has established itself as people don't want to come here and play us. And so hosting would be massive. and then just, like you said, Steve, just being homecoming and the atmosphere makes my job a lot tougher. You know, we're playing on a Friday night and Halloween's Thursday, and then you get the football on Saturday. So I get my job is going to be, My staff's job is going to be extremely important to keep everybody leveled and focused, but now it'd be, we're really looking forward to it. It's something, something that we was one of our goals going into it was to try to host and we just got to close the door. It's it's stressful for me because when you get to this, if you told me in the beginning of season, you have two games left. And you have to win one. I'd be like, sign me up. I'm good. And now that I'm here, I'm like, we just got to close the door. We can't let this opportunity pass us by. So excited about it. I think the girls are very driven and very focused on their goals. And we're excited. We look forward to the challenge. No, it's not going to be easy, but I believe in this group and I believe we'll get it done.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 30:29

Well, you've been solid on the road so far in conference play and, and that's good. I'm ashamed to say I haven't caught a match yet this year, but I will be up next weekend, so I'll look forward to seeing. least one, hopefully two, two matches next weekend.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 30:45

Yeah, we host we'll be playing on Friday night at seven. I believe

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 30:49

Right.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 30:49

win that game. We'll be playing Sunday at I believe

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 30:53

You can't miss that, Bob.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 30:56

Nope. That's true. Well, thanks for your time. We

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 31:00

Yeah. Thanks for having me.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 31:02

And we are going to wrap up this edition of tracking the cats things, all things cat amounts. Brought to you by Stanbury insurance with offices in Highlands, Silva and Waynesville and coach Miller. We wish you the best of luck and go cats.

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 31:19

And we'll,

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 31:19

you.

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 31:20

and we'll critique see if what Stacy says about your performance doing on the podcast to see what she has.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 31:25

have some comments.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 31:27

Tell her I said, hi, we'll see her next week.

chad-miller_1_10-22-2024_100019: 31:29

We'll do take care

squadcaster-ji8j_3_10-22-2024_100018: 31:30

Thanks a lot.

bob-sabin_3_10-22-2024_100019: 31:31

guys.