bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 0:13

Welcome to Tracking the Cats. We've got another edition today. I've got Steve White, my co-host. I'm Bob Saban. Got a great show for you today. We're bringing in a gentlemen that a lot of y'all already know Chad Garrity. Some of you may not know him'cause a lot of times he works in the background. But he is our senior, and I always have to look at this. Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs. been with us for over 12 years now, and I've known Chad for six or seven of those years. One time. Of times you've really helped me out. But I remember going to a baseball game on a chilly day in Knoxville. And all of a sudden I was treated by royalty, got tickets to get in, got snacks, and you became a lot higher on my checklist. He's been around for a while. He is been to worked similar positions at Akron and Weber State in Utah. Do you say Weber or Weber?

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 1:13

It is Weaver State.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 1:15

Weber.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 1:15

thought.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 1:16

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 1:17

you've worked at east Tennessee, but you're from Erie, Pennsylvania. My wife's from Buffalo. It's a good thing you didn't end up in Boone where you would've felt right at home climate wise,

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 1:29

Yeah, we, we see a little lake effect snow up in Erie from time to time.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 1:33

oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, welcome. Steve, you wanna talk a little bit about baseball before we get started? With Chad.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 1:39

Yes, I'm a little bit down. This morning after yesterday's game, we were going for the sweep, which would've taken care of a lot of things for us. Sort of our destiny would've been in our own hands. But now we're looking at a situation. We're going to Greensboro this weekend for our three game series, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And we've gotten to the point right now that we're probably going to have to sweep. UNCG down there and then hope that East Tennessee beats the Citadel a couple of twice, say at least twice down in Charleston. Now that you know, east Tennessee's arguably the best team in the league, I don't think there's any argument about that. They are, and, but the citadel's shown that they can come back off of the mats to, to win a ball game, but. The whole thing is we're trying to finish in fourth place right now. We've got Mercer and Citadel tied for that, that spot right now. With the same record. We have the tiebreaker with Citadel. We do not have it with Mercer. So Mercer would maybe help us out if they could lose three to Sanford this weekend, but those games are in Macon, so probably not gonna happen. What we're trying to do is avoid playing. That first day, the Wednesday of the, the week for Wednesday, the tournament, excuse me, that would be two weeks. Well, it'd be a week from this coming Wednesday down in Greenville. That's a single elimination. The bottom four teams play in a single elimination mini tournament, and then the top four teams do not have to play until the next day. In fact, the number one and number two teams in regular season get a double buy, do not have to play. They sit around and watch us. Everybody beat up on everybody there for a couple of days, but that's important. Now when you look at your pitching staff, and granted we've got two outstanding starting pitchers right now. And, but our depth is maybe a little bit on the shy side as far as going to a third starter or a bullpen right now. And that, I mean, I, I think our success. In the Southern Conference tournament hinges on what happens this weekend. But I'm not saying you can't come out of that bracket and win it. It's, I know Waffer did it back in 2007. They were dead last in the league and came up and won the tournament, went the NCAA tournament. We were number one. We lost two ball games and we, we weren't even around for the semifinals that year. So I know strange things can happen. Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 4:12

it sounds like you were yelling a little bit. Your voice

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 4:15

Yes.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 4:15

as good as it usually is.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 4:17

Not that I would ever get excited at a baseball game or anything, or, or talk to anybody.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 4:23

Well, well, Chad you've, you've feed in here, but I've been impressed with the way the cats have been playing in the last couple of weeks. They've, they've come on strong. They didn't get clobbered except for one game by at Georgia Tech. They've been beaten up on other teams, UNC Asheville and Gardner Webb, and had a real good weekend last weekend. So your thoughts.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 4:45

Yeah, I think when you look at the results especially recently, you know, really been playing, well throw out the, the Georgia Tech weekend, which obviously that's a tall task going into Atlanta, but have been playing really good ball and, you know, you always, you always like to see that teams playing. I. Playing their best going into the conference tournament.'cause you know, at the end of the day, you win the tournament and you're, you're going to the NCAAs, which is what, it's what it's all about. But you know, a lot of the, the bats really heating up for us and everything. And I guess from my perspective too was really pleased with the crowds this year at at baseball. I thought we had some of the best crowds in the time I've been here. And we were just crunching some numbers this morning and had our best year to date on record financially. Ticket sales, whether it be season tickets or, or single game tickets. And so definitely saw a lot of people coming out to the games and I, I probably attribute it to a lot of different things. I think one thing that that really helped was that Maryland series was early in the year, had pretty decent weather for, for February, and took two out of three, two of those games in dramatic fashion. And it seemed like it kind of planted a seed with a lot of people that, hey, these. These games are a lot of fun. And so I think it was kind of a catalyst for the rest of the rest of the season. And then the weather really helped us out too. Had some, some great great weather. Especially for some of our biggest promotions. We did a big promotion with Little Leagues and had had one of our biggest crowds we've had in years. We played Appalachian, stayed at home on a weekday game and, and gave out some some replica jerseys. But it was it was just a really fun season from a. Fan's perspective, and I credit a lot of the, the staff here for working so hard, whether it be Tyler Pope and Marketing to Michael Gilbert and Ben Frederick and, and ticketing to our media relations staff with Daniel Hooker and Cattle Mountain Club members coming out. Just a lot of people do a great job of, of putting on these home games. And so a lot of effort went in, but really felt we had some great crowds. We sell beer now at the ballpark and that seemed like beer sales were up as well. And so,

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 6:45

I am shocked. I tell you, I'm shocked. That's great. I didn't know that. I haven't been to a game all year, unfortunately.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 6:54

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 6:55

got up there a couple, few weeks ago about what, six weeks ago. And they were, was on days that they weren't playing at home. But Steve, you got Chad a hair on the hot seat far away, sir.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 7:06

Well, you know, he's probably the busiest person and probably one of the most visible members of our athletic staff and supervises all the marketing, the corporate sales ticket office, even media relations. Good. portion of our game operations about everything that you can do to help fill the seats at Whitmar Stadium in the Ramsey Center and the Henan Stadium and the Catamount Athletic Center. And Hooker might debate a little bit with me about who the busiest man is in the athletic department, but their offices are right next to each other, so we, we know all about that. give us, say an idea maybe. you do on a game day, like a game day scenario whether it be football, basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, just what, what it's all about in your area on game days.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 7:58

Yeah appreciate the, the kind words and for having me on today, guys. You know, on my end there's just a lot of variety with those areas that I'm involved with. You know, anytime like an issue might come up on game day, I'm usually working with whoever our director is in those, in those different areas. Trey Fisher here, overseas game management. So some of the. Real specifics on game day, sometimes with dealing with the umpires or officials some of those types of things, field conditions you know, Trey and and his staff are, are working through those things and they, he does such a, a good job on that front too. But on my end, it's kind of a lot of the things that our fans will experience on game day. So just trying to make sure people have an enjoyable time when they. Times we'll have a lot of promotions or sponsors tied to a game. So just making sure those you know, all those elements of of game day go go, well, whether it be a, a white out with some type of t-shirt giveaway to maybe some special groups coming out to the game. Just you know, really making sure everybody comes, has a good time. Home field or home court advantages that we possibly can. And then, you know, you want people to come have such a good time that they want to come back again and you know, the fans make such an impact on, on our environment, at the games, you know, the home court or home field advantage, we always hear student athletes or. Coach is talking about how much it means to them when the place is packed and it's loud and it, it really provides the team with just some, some extra you know help in, in hopefully getting, getting the victory. But definitely a lot of variety and, and, you know, you kind usually. Like for football, for example, I'll plan out every, every minute basically of of game day what I'm, what I'm doing. I'll have a punch list before things really start getting busy and gates open. But I'll have a list of things we need to get done leading up to when Gates open and then kind of another list when Gates do open the things we'll wanna do. A lot of times too, I'll work on. During the games, just all the like on field on court promotions as well, whether that be a promotion with a sponsor to some type of recognition. If you come out to games, you'll see where we're recognizing a lot of, a lot of folks, whether it be alumni that are back you name it. But just kind of coordinating all that. And the one thing I would tell you too is. You know, it's, I really enjoy it. The, the pressure's on, on game day. That's kind of where the rubber hits the road. But like, you know, if you plan some event out on the field and for some reason it doesn't happen when it's supposed to happen, you don't get that time back. So you gotta be like really buttoned up. And you gotta make sure you get in and out of those promotions pretty quick too.'cause the last thing you wanna do is get like a technical foul for something going over or get a a 15 yard penalty for something not going right. And those things can sometimes happen. So you just gotta really you know, kind of utilize the time that you do have and just be really organized. But we wanna have a lot going on, on game day.'Cause that's what makes, makes things fun. Whether it be something the band's doing, the cheerleaders are doing, or some on field or on court promotion.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 10:57

So, have you ever had like a complete meltdown or mess up that you're like, oh my gosh, what, what are we gonna do now? Tell us about something like that.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 11:07

Yeah, we've, we've had, we've had several, fortunately nothing, knock on wood too, too crazy here. We've had. A few things I remember at Weber State two things happened that were really unique. We had a someone sneak a dog in and he got off the leash and started running around the field during one of our football games, and it was a fast dog and we were trying to figure out, you know, it's delay in the game and everybody's laughing is, you know, you see the,

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 11:35

Oh.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 11:36

the. Finally one of my, one of the staff members he, he went and grabbed a hot dog, which was quick thinking and that.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 11:51

That sounds like an ESPN top

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 11:54

Yes, yes. But then one time at a basketball game at Weber State, we ended up we had ROTC repelling down the game ball, and they were jumping out, like, kind of by the, the jumbo tron, like where the catwalk and, and all that was up on the roof. And they repelled down in their cord. Got nodded up. So they had the game ball and they were swaying about 25 feet above the court and were stuck. And so a bunch of ROTC members had to go up and, and lift them back up onto the catwalk, but it ended up delaying the game about 10 minutes. So, but people still talk about it to this day. So sometimes the things that don't go right end up being some of the most memorable things.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 12:37

That's great. And that kind of reminds me of when our great 83 season we were in the playoffs and went down to Furman to meet them for the second time this year, that year. And we beat them in Greenville and we tore down their goalposts.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 12:53

And that cost us$1,800 to have that. I don't know. I don't know what it would be today, but we had to pay for the goalpost. The conference made us pay for on the opposing team feel.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 13:06

love it. I thought that was one of the classic moments of,

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 13:09

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 13:10

Western,

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 13:11

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 13:11

Mishaps, let's

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 13:12

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 13:13

So what about season tickets? Let's talk a little bit about what you do and promotions you get. And I know football's going really well. I don't know about the other ones. I'm also, I got another ques follow up question for you on that.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 13:28

Okay. Yeah. So season tickets are on sale. Our deadline for people that had season tickets last year to renew their same seats was the end of April. So just not too long ago. But we'll continue to sell season tickets all the way up through. Through that first home game. And so just encourage people if you don't have your season tickets to reach out to the ticket office here, you can also buy online. A lot of people nowadays just go online and buy their season tickets, but we're getting close to having the season ticket books all completed. So we send that to a print company. So if people buy their season tickets here in the next day or so, that's kind of the, the deadline for us to be able to actually print season ticket books after that folks that, that buy will receive those season tickets digitally. But you know, we have tickets starting at just$99 for adult general admission seats. And we have six home games this year. We haven't had. Six home games since since I believe it was 2019. And so you know, it's nice to have six games in EJ Whitmeyer Stadium. And I think quite frankly, it's one of the best home schedules we've had in the time I've been here. We've got our two non-conference games are against schools in the state with Gardner Web and, and Elon coming in. And then a really good conference schedule as well that we have. And so definitely a lot of excitement. Season tickets have been in an all time high the last few years and we're pacing ahead of, of last year's all time records. So just encourage people that have been thinking about buying season tickets to get'em. It's definitely more affordable if you buy season tickets than if you wait for single game. That being said, you know, our prices are across the board pretty f. Pretty affordable. You know, even if you're, if you're buying single game, but you'll save the, the most money if you buy season tickets and you also lock in the same for the.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 15:15

And you get preferred parking if you get your season tickets. I know I got my tickets. I think Steve got his, we both sit in the old guys section, section kk, right? Steve?

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 15:24

Right.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 15:25

The average age up there is about us.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 15:30

Yeah. Yep. If you buy buy season tickets join the Catamount Club, then you can buy the, the season parking for Catamount Club members. And those, those lots are the closest ones to the stadium.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 15:43

Yeah, that's real interesting. This year they're gonna, we're gonna lose those West side parking. There's about 120 some 30 parking places right behind the west side stands, and they've all been sort of re reassigned over into the field house lot and in the, I guess the what to call the Ramsey Center a lot. So it, it's gonna work out well. I think everybody will be, will, maybe not 99% be happy, but then most people are gonna be happy with the situation. I've, I've seen what it looks like and, but they've gotta understand with this construction going on, it's, we're gonna have and they've everybody's gotta be on board with that too. And hopefully it's just a one year scenario.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 16:23

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 16:24

we're losing a couple hundred seats. Sorry, Chad. We're losing a couple hundred seats. Those last two rows on those west side stands right.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 16:31

Yeah, all the way across the top of the west stands for this upcoming year. Those will be blocked off. So we're, we're losing those or we're moving, moving folks that were in those top two rows to as comparable as seats as possible that they can, they can have. We've been told that we should get those back at the start of the 26 season. When construction's done as long as everything, you know, goes smooth with, with all the construction and the dates and, and the weather cooperates and all so yeah, that's the plan. We are encouraging people though, if they are sitting on the east side, which is the, the larger side where the current press block sits, that if people have seats over there, that they enter on the east side this year, on the west side will still be accessible. But the width of that concourse is gonna be about half as wide as normal because of construction fence and, and you know, the work that they're doing on the, on the New Western Sky Box or Sky Suites area that that's gonna end up being impacted where it's gonna be a little bit tighter quite a bit tighter on that west side. They have told us that. Concessions restroom will still be accessible, which is, is really good too. But we're gonna try get as many people to just enter on the side. If their seats are on the east side, just it is gonna congested over on, on the.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 17:45

And, and the,

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 17:46

affect tailgating? And I'm sorry,

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 17:48

oh, that's, no, no. I was just talking about the promotions this year. Some of the promotions we've got going on. You know, we got our first night game in quite some. Some time. And homecoming, a great southern conference schedule This year, the, the, what you would call the contenders are all coming to Colory this year. And you might wanna elaborate on especially that first, that first ball game.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 18:10

Yeah, we've got a lot of, a lot of great promotions coming. We'll be putting out a press release here soon. But first game as Steve mentioned night game. We haven't had a night game since 2021 when we played Eastern Kentucky here, but excited for a night game a lot. So I know they're really fired up about it, but it's Labor Day weekend, so really encouraging people. Hey, mark your calendar. I think Labor Day weekend's one of those, Hey, you gotta give people plans or they're gonna make plans on their own. So anybody who's thinking about Labor Day spend it here in Colory for our home opening against Gardner Web. We'll be kicking off in the evening. And then our plans are to have fireworks that evening as well. And so we'll be putting out some, some hype videos and and such here shortly in regards to that. But really excited to kind of start it with that. Hopefully get a lot of students and community and alums back for that home opener. And then second game we're gonna do our white out whitmeyer, which has always been really well received. A lot of people wearing white. Looks awesome when you look back at photos. Seeing a sea of white looks great on game day and we're gonna do our freshman run. On that September 13th game as well. So we'll start with evening Game and fireworks. Next game will be Elon and that'll be more than likely be a, an afternoon game with freshman run and and white out Whitmeyer. And then we turn around and play Sanford the next week's September 20th. And that's family Weekend, which traditionally is our, our biggest crowd of the year. It's kind of surprising that. Sometimes that's a bigger crowd than homecoming.'cause we get a great crowd at homecoming as well. And then we're off to, to fall break when we, we have Furman here on October 11th and we traditionally have done our hero's day salute. So we'll honor first responders and we'll end up also honoring all the military on that game against Furman. And it's fall break, so a lot of students will be gone. We'll also celebrate EBCI and invite E-E-B-C-I community out for that game as well. Then we turn around. You're gonna be tested on this at, at the end of the show here. Get all this down. The, the next game is gonna be. Homecoming, which is November 8th against Mercer. So you got the top two teams from last year in the standings playing each other for homecoming on November 8th, which will be a huge game. And then we turn around for the Blue Ridge border battle against ETSU on November 15th. So just a really, really good schedule with a lot of great, great promotions planned. So we're, we're fired up about it.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 20:32

I think that's gonna be the, a huge game with East Tennessee State. I, I can see where they're coming on and could be the Southern Conference Championship game in, in my mind, of course, I think of. A lot of things that other people don't think of.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 20:47

Well, speaking of opponents we've got some interesting games that we schedule further out. We can't of course, do the SoCon schedule more than this coming season, but we've got some, teams that we've scheduled. Tell us a little bit about upcoming opponents that are out of conference in future seasons.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 21:08

Sure, yeah. We've got you know, obviously we try and get to at least one money game scheduled every year. And so you know, this year we play Wake Forest. The next year in 2026 we play Cincinnati, which we haven't played them in a, in a while, but excited to to play them. And then in 27 we've got east Carolina on the schedule as a money game. And then in, in 28, as y'all know, probably very well since

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 21:32

yeah.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 21:35

Appalachian State up there,

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 21:37

was that? Who, what's the name of that school?

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 21:41

So we got that in in 2028. And then we're still working on some future money games in 29. Had some dialogue with some folks in 29 and 30, and then but nothing officially signed just yet. And then in 31 we'll play the, the Georgia Bulldogs down in Athens in 31. So I'm excited about some of these upcoming money games. I think our fans will really, really enjoy some of these road trips. So.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 22:08

Plus Chad, we've got the, we think we're gonna have a 12 game schedule from here on out starting. It's been, you know, the alpha you, you know, you can explain that about the number of, you only play most of the year 11, unless the calendar gives us a break like this year. But we hope this legislation happens and we'll be playing 12 games every season.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 22:30

Yes, that's correct. So yeah, most, most years you're only allowed to play 11. And then as you said, Steve, it's just based on how the calendar falls with how many weekends you have between like Labor Day and, and Thanksgiving. Weekend, you know, FCS plays the first round of the playoffs, the first weekend of of, well, Thanksgiving weekend ends up being the first round of the FCS. And so if this legislation passes, then we'll be able every year to play 12, 12 games and they'll actually put that. That game in week zero so that every team still has a buy. During the season, if they choose to end up having their bi-week be not in week zero, but what'll end up happening is you know, we'll end up having more than likely a game in week zero, which is the week before Labor Day. And that could happen as soon as the 2026 season. And so it'll be interesting to see. There'll kind of be a mad scramble if this gets approved for, for teams trying to find a game in, in week zero. You don't necessarily have to play in week zero. You could still play 12 games that that season. But the negative to not playing in week zero would be your bi. You know, you'd end up putting your bi week in week zero. So I know a lot of, a lot of coaches would prefer having their bi week somewhere in the middle of the of the season works out best. And so you know, looking forward to seeing how all that'll play out. There's a lot of things going on right now. With with scheduling a lot of SEC schools are, are kind of waiting to see, not all of them, but a lot of'em are waiting to see if they're gonna have eight conference games or nine conference games. If they have nine conference games, that takes away one, one non-conference game. Not to say that they still won't play FCS, but some of those schools are kind of waiting to see how, how it all shakes out to figure out some of their future scheduling.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 24:14

Well there are the teams that we've been playing outside of the conference that are FCS schools like Campbell and Elon, where we've gotten into that. And I like that. Gardner Webb most of those schools are. East of us. And that's good because a lot of our fan base is based in North Carolina. But living down here in Georgia, I like the idea of maybe picking up say Tennessee Tech or north Alabama or West Georgia. Have we looked at any of those schools and, and once we start playing 12 games every year, is that a possibility that that's up to football? But you're tied into that, so you might know.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 24:52

Yeah. And we, you know, myself and our athletic director and the coaches and Todd Sheeley, our Director of football operations. We talk quite a bit about, you know, the schedule and, and our philosophy and, and what we wanna do. Obviously there's a financial component with the money game. You know, you try and avoid too many games in a row on the road. But you. Thinking through the, the schedule and everything, but there's a program called Gridiron out there. That's how all the schools kind of track schedule. So I can go into Gridiron and look and see. Tennessee Tech when they might have availability in in future years. And we've, we've had some dialogue with with Tennessee Tech. We've had some dialogue with west Georgia. And so those are teams that, you know, are definitely a, a possibility in the, in the future, especially with this 12th game being added. North Carolina Central's another one that you'll probably end up seeing on the schedule here sooner rather than later. As well another, you know, conference team. But as you mentioned, it is nice if you can again, schedule some, some team on the road especially that's got a lot of cat mounts nearby and you know, west Georgia just went division one not too long ago and they're, they're a pretty easy trip as well. But it's always nice if you can make it a, a fairly easy trip for our for our team and if there's a lot of alums in the area, that also helps.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 26:15

Coach. Tell us about a little bit about your family here. I know when I was working in the athletic department of course my kids were very involved with what was going on. They did the ball, boys, bat boys, everything like this. Anybody in your family maybe trying to, or talking about falling in your foot, your footsteps?

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 26:34

Yes. And boy, I tell you what you know, obviously busy times working in athletics. Definitely couldn't do it without a very supportive wife. My wife Kristen she is a trooper. She'll help out A lot of times too, on game days if I'm like, holy cow, we, we need some help. She's, she's always willing to lend a hand, which I really appreciate. And then, our daughter is just finished college and is working in Charlotte, and she had thought about going into sports, but she's in the event planning side of things for the company she works for. And really enjoying it getting a first full-time job, which mom and dad really appreciate. Our daughter, Peyton, having her first full-time job. But she she really likes that, but loves, loves sports. And then our son Tanner. Is a business finance major. And he just finished his sophomore year at at NC State, but also is interested in potentially going into sports on the business finance side of things. So I think, you know, Steve, as you were talking about when you work in college athletics, you know, your kids are just kind of coming to the games all the time.'cause that's the best way to see mom or dad if you got someone working in, in college athletics. But it's just kind of been our. Or way of life and a lifestyle for the family. And so you know, I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's been, it's been awesome. And it gives them a chance too, to, to kind of see the, the country too, going on road games and, and everything as well. So they enjoy it. And, and now that they're, we're kind of empty nesters, they'll constantly be, you know, shooting me a text to how the cat amounts looking. And so they'll, even though they're not here, they're following it pretty close when they're not here.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 28:04

That's great.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 28:05

So one last double question here is basketball. We've been, coach Kraft's been doing a great job communicating, sending out emails got the fundraisers and he's doing pretty well with the NIL. Has he wrapped up his recruiting? Do, do we have a pretty full roster going into this?

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 28:26

I know we're, we're close. There's, I know there was a, a recruit here on campus this past week, and so and he was a tall one too. I'll tell you that. Very, very tall.

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 28:35

foot and a quarter inch.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 28:37

Yes. And he looked every bit seven foot too, so that could be some nice shot blocking right there and rebounding. But I know he is pretty close. I haven't heard if he's officially done yet or not, but I know you know, there's been several folks that we've signed and we've got a big core of them that's that's back as well. And Steve, you may be able to even share more details'cause I know you were in the, the meeting on Friday with the Catamount Club board of Directors where Coach Kraft talked about the team. Some, but I know he is excited about the new additions and I know he is also really excited about so many of our, our players that are coming back this upcoming year, which in this day, in college sports, you know, you, you never know from year to year how many, how many folks you are gonna be able to,

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 29:19

yeah, I've heard nine. He's got nine players retained from last season and there'll be six newcomers coming in, whether it be portal players or actually high school seniors that are becoming be freshmen here. Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 29:32

Yeah. One guy I saw last week that signed with us is six eight, so we got some height, hopefully that it's always needed,

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 29:39

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 29:40

in Colory for some reason. We should be, I, I'm, I wake up every morning thinking, is today the day we're gonna hear on the, our new ad?

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 29:52

Yeah, I think we're getting pretty close on that. From a timing standpoint, I would think in the next couple of weeks if everything goes as planned, maybe even sooner, that we will we'll know who, who the new or who the athletic director is for the CAT amounts. So should, should know something very soon.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 30:08

Great. Well, Steve, you have anything else

squadcaster-5ec8_1_05-12-2025_125954: 30:11

I think that pretty much covers everything. We I think we've hit a little bit of of everything today. And Chad, it's always good. You're so knowledgeable, everything that's going on in the world of athletics at Western Carolina and, and I appreciate you and thank you for joining us today.

squadcaster-4675_1_05-12-2025_125954: 30:28

Well, I really appreciate the invite and really appreciate you guys doing, doing this as well. It's a great way for Catamount fans to hear what's going on and just really appreciate all yours. Your efforts. And I tell you what, it's this place is a great, great place. It was everything I was hoping it would be when we got here. Family environment, great fan base. And, you know, I've always been impressed just with how much pride everybody has that, that went to school at Western Carolina. And it it, it just shows on game days. It's just fun, fun to be a part of. I'm really honored to work here.

bob-sabin_1_05-12-2025_125954: 30:58

Well, we definitely appreciate you and since you are in the promotion area, if you come up with some ideas to spread the word on tracking the cats, we would appreciate it. Always good seeing you and on behalf of our sponsor Kevin Stanbury and Stanbury Insurance, who I forgot to mention at the beginning of the show, he would appreciate it if we get more viewers and listeners too. So Stanbury Insurance in Silva, Waynesville and Highlands we really appreciate their support. It funds what we do here with this software and, and getting it up and running. And Chad, thanks again. We will see y'all again next time in about two weeks. Thanks so much for following Track the Cats.