bob-sabin_7_06-13-2025_155919: 0:12

Hey folks, it's tracking the cats. I'm Bob Saban. We've got a great. Great show today. It's gonna be probably about 20 minutes long. Got interviews with folks from the groundbreaking on Thursday, June 12th at Whitmeyer Stadium in Colory. So that's gonna be good. But we also have an opening with Steve and me, Steve White my co-host, however, the video didn't turn out very well, and so please bear with that. But we talk a little bit about all things Catamount and then go into groundbreaking ceremonies. Hope you enjoy it, and we will talk to you soon.

Bob Sabin: 0:51

Along with my co-host Steve White here on a very interesting week coming up in a few minutes, we're gonna have some one-on-one interviews with dignitaries who were at the groundbreaking this week. June. 11th. 12th rather. And so you're gonna get to see some of that. But first we're gonna start off by thanking our sponsor, Stanbury Insurance, with offices in Silva, Waynesville, and Highlands for all your insurance needs. Kevin Stanbury is a great supporter of Western Carolina and we appreciate. His support here on the, the podcast. To get things started, Steve things around campus baseball season is wrapped up. But we've got some good prospects looking for next year. I. Right. We sure have again, we're, we could have as according to what happens here in the Major League draft coming up after the College World Series and so forth. But I don't, I just don't know. I know Dusty s is a hot commodity and I'm sure he is gonna be drafted. I'm not sure people like Trent Turner and. Tyler Holton and some of these, these other guys, what their status is going to be as far as the draft is concerned. But on paper it looks pretty darn good next year. And, you know, these junior college players that came in two years ago have a third year of eligibility. Now because of the new rule, you you actually could play five years, two years, junior college, and then three years on the division NCAA division, one level. And not sure how many are gonna choose. To do that, we'd just have to wait and see. But basically a good core coming back next year, especially in our batting order. Of course, the whole thing is pitching. We know about that. That was our Achilles hill this year was our pitching because we were one of the better hitting teams, not only in the Southern conference, but in the nation. And we've got some. Like some local kids off of the TC Robertson State four, a championship team. They won their third consecutive state four a championship this year. And Micah Simpson whose dad, Mike Simpson played football at Western from over in Franklin. One of the top players in the state, Allstate player is still. Committed to come to Western Carolina and he had a sensational career over there. But we'll just have to wait to see how that comes. Yeah. You know, with the portal and with all of that NIL money floating around, you just never know until they land on campus. Well, you know, one of the things that, that I'm looking at now, that the playoffs, the NCA is have advanced and they're heading to the College World Series, is my frustration over overlooking. Some of the better teams that are not in the Southeastern Conference Big 10. I mean, you, you look at the College World Series, right? And you know, you've got Coastal Carolina in there. You've got Murray State in there that that's worked through the regionals and the super regionals, and. By golly, you know, the NCA is so frustrating not picking a second team and not saying that Western deserved it this year, but certainly Sanford might've done some damage if they got into a decent regional. Yeah. Bob, the, the College World Series is really interesting. I think that just shows you contrary to where all the money's being spent. Only two Southeastern conference schools made it. Exactly Final eight for the College World Series. And so seven conferences are actually representative and two of them are, would be mid-level conference, the Missouri Valley and the Sunbelt coastal Carolina from the Sunbelt, Murray State from the Missouri Valley Conference. And yeah, interesting. A lot of teams in there, about half of the field, you wouldn't expect them to be in the College World Series. But one of these days, I'm gonna get back to that event. I was there about 14 years, 15 years ago, and it was a great experience, except for one thing, I had a, a little medical problems while I was out there, but I survived that. Yeah. Made it, made it back alive. But yeah. That, that's, that's really, but it's, that's just sort of a, a contrary to what's going. Going on around in college analytics when you look at the field for the college World Series this year. Yeah. Which starts today. Yeah. Yeah. And looking at the other major sports particularly as Western is concerned, we got basketball. Those guys are mostly on campus. I think I, you understand, you stated. Yeah, I think Coach said that there were two still missing and they would be here over the weekend. Right. And so he will have his complete teams and they're able to work out as a team four hours a week, and they can be in the weight room together four hours a week. And, but other than that, they can do all the pickup games they want to and play, but you just, no coachings. Supervision except for those, those times, those two, four hour blocks each week. So that, that's encouraging. That's really great. That's quite different from the back in the old days when you could, you couldn't even start practice till October the 15th. Yep. Well, nothing in the summer. Promoing our, our upcoming podcasts that we know that the next one, it's already in the can. We've interviewed Coach Kraft. And one of the us, the basketball players, a special guest who will be introduced on that show. Hopefully we'll be re releasing that podcast in the next week or so once we get coach's approval on that. So yeah, that, that was a good one. We had good times talking to coach. What a good guy. Yeah, he is, he's a super guy and I, I really think he has us headed on the right path, and it's just gonna take a little patience a couple of years because so many things have happened since he became the head coach here with the portal and the a lot of other, the NIL and so forth. So, yeah, so really excited about having Coach Kraft last thing football, that most of those guys are on campus and they're gonna be starting their summer warmups as well, right. They're working out. I've passed by the stadium and see them out on the field a lot. I think there's over 90 on campus right now, and a few more are gonna be coming next week. Some, some of the high school kids but that, that I'm really excited about what it looks like for our football campaign to schedule Bob. We've said this before, it's the most favorable schedule I've seen in a long time. When you see we got three of the top perennial, top four Southern Conference teams coming to Colory this year. And the way it falls and looks to me like the coaching staff has really plugged Coach Odom, coach Bell have really plugged the spots that they were worried about, the ones we lost in the portal. And especially on the defensive side. That's, that's what really excites me.'cause we know that Coach Bell's gonna have great wide receivers that can run and catch the ball and quarterbacks that can throw it. And we're about five deep and quarterbacks right now, so I'm excited about that too. Well, I'd love to have Coach Odom back on. Hopefully we'll get him back on before the season starts. But I saw a blog post this week, some guy that does North Carolina football, and he said, of, of all the teams in North Carolina right now, we look like we are posed, poised to be the best in, in their conference between the different a CC schools big South. And our school, the Southern Conference they picked us, number one as the best team in North Carolina. So let's just cross our figures and hope we put it all together this year. Well, I've, you know, I'm, I'm ready to be number one. I, I told you my, about my conversation. I don't know if I've talked about it here on the podcast, but. A conversation with coach Bell a couple months ago and I said, coach, you know, I've been around Western Carolina football for over 60 years and waiting for that first conference championship. It's been what, 1949? Since the last time we won a conference championship. And there's a lot of weird, and I was telling him about all the weird things that have happened to keep us from winning, take, getting us back to the playoffs, this type of stuff. Thing. And, and he was like me. He says, now how old are you? I said, well I'll be 83 my next birthday. And he says, dang, we better hurry. So, so I appreciate it. So there's a sense of urgency there. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well my biggest heartburn over the last 10 years was Wofford. Oh yeah. You know? Ugh. Anyway we won't go back into that'cause we could spend 10 minutes talking about that game that kept us outta out of the playoffs. Yes. Yes. So I wanna get started on yesterday's groundbreaking. Give me your thoughts on it.'cause I was there wandering around, seeing all these dignitaries, seeing folks who are giving money not just to the athletics program, but also to the university for other projects, academics and services buildings. Yeah, I'll tell you, it was it was exciting to see all of those people there for this event. Two, 300 people at least. I don't know what your estimate was, but you know, they accused me of being a little large on my crowd estimates. But it was, it was a full house up there on the northwest, the northeast patio of the, of the Ramsey Center. And a great event. I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in 20 years and old explayers and supporters. I know it was hard keeping up with you every time I turned around you, you had somebody else in your pocket. I loved it. But, but it was, it was an event. And, and like I say, the, all the donors were invited not just from athletic donors, but of the scholarship donors, endowed scholarships and so forth. So you know, you know the, you know, the reason, you know, they're there is they're trying to stimulate the athletics upgrade fund there bill. Oh yeah. Athletic facilities, which is about. Four or five phases. We're just now getting underway with phase one and there's a lot more to come if the money comes. And that's the reason we were all there is to stimulate some, some more giving. And there were a lot of pointed remarks toward that. Yeah, I liked James Hogan standing on the podium saying, I will go to lunch anywhere with anyone at any time, and it will be on me. We just need to talk about some funding. That's exactly right. So he said, catch me afterwards. And, and, and I'll be glad to go to lunch with you, but they also said that between committed funds and actual raised funds for all projects,$218 million. Now obviously I think we're, we're at somewhere around 50, 60 million for athletics. You know, so we've got a ways to go there. Hint, hint, you know, if you got an idea, you wanna throw a few bucks there, they will take a$10 don donation. Oh yeah, definitely. Definitely. We're at that point. Now we're gonna not say, well, we're only interested in, you know, and a hundred thousand dollars or$50,000. They're, they're interested in anything that you can commit to. We've got, you know, I forget how many hundred how many thousands of, of alumni there are mostly in North Carolina. You know, let's go, but, oh, well that's for another thing. Anything else you want to talk about? Yeah, that problem is that alumni or alumni number, so many of'em get spread away from colorway. It's not like being at NC State or Carolina or these people where they end up working in that area and everything like that. We know, the landscape in Callie and where we're, we're the remoteness of it and so forth. And so not many of them live within an hour of campus or maybe even two hours of campus. Well, you're, you're a great example of that. I'm one of the unusual ones that live. I can see three fourths of the campus from my kitchen window every morning. Yeah. But that's a little tougher for you to stay connected. A little tougher. But I made a day trip, you know, it was a couple hours up and back, you know, let's, let's I, I love making that trip. But yeah, yeah. Not many corporate centers here, Bob, you know? No. About that. That's big deal. Business centers and so forth. And so that's, that's one of the things, but still, it's a, it's a great place to, to, to go to school and to be connected with and being an alumni. Absolutely. It was a, it was a great. Mix in with a lot of folks and meeting some new folks yesterday. So although I sat down at lunch and somebody, everybody at the luncheon had a little golden shovel in front of their place and I. Mine had disappeared before I even sat down. I didn't get my golden shovel, so well, I put that on the table and somebody I think absconded it. You know, it's, I, I couldn't find it afterwards either. I did get those cute cookies though. Anyway, so. I think that does it. We're gonna move on into our presentation. I've, I got some one-on-one interviews with folks yesterday. We are gonna start coming up. The next one will be with Shane Stovall. He is director of the office of Emergency Management at WCU, and he has special jobs that he's gotta do whenever there's an event like this or a football game. We also have interviews coming up with. Hooker, Daniel Hooker. We got Dr. Kelly Brown for a few minutes. And we have one other that you'll be seeing in the next 20 minutes or so. Enjoy the podcast. We will see you in a couple of weeks with Coach Tim Kraft and his special guest, one of the new players on the team. Thanks folks. We'll see you all soon.

bob-sabin_1_06-12-2025_113642: 14:14

Hi. I am with Shane Stovall. He is the Emergency Operations Coordinator for Western Carolina. He's up here at the groundbreaking this morning, and I have a couple of questions for you, sir. Sure. Tell us if you would a little bit about what game day preparations are different for you guys, particularly during football season. Well, the, the safety of our, our students, our visitors, anybody that's in the football game, our players referees, it's our utmost priority steering C. So we operate emergency operation center where we monitor what's going on in crowd around the stadium traffic, things like that. Just to make sure that everything flows smoothly throughout the operation. If there's something we need to respond to, we send the right resources to it. So the new facility. Is that gonna change what you guys do? Make your jobs any harder? What are y'all looking forward to as far as this new the upgrade for the facilities here? Oh, it, it, it, it's a fantastic opportunity for Western and, and I don't, it's not gonna change our, our operations a whole lot. We, we always, we're real flexible here. We always adapt. So it shouldn't pre present too many more challenges. So we're, we feel pretty comfortable with it. We're excited about the upgrades to the athletic. Facilities. Okay. Well we appreciate what you guys do. Always keeping us safe here on campus and responding to any emergencies that need be. Thank for your time, James. Thank you. Appreciate it.

bob-sabin_3_06-12-2025_114956: 15:37

Hey, I'm joined now with a man who needs no introduction. The voice of the counter mouses are one of them that voices the counter mounts, along with Gary ERs. This is our good buddy hook, Daniel Hooker. Actually taking a minute for us, Bob. Always appreciate it. So tell me your thoughts on how things went down today. Oh, it's great to see that many people wearing purple's. Always good to have a beautiful day. It's always fun. And to see this project starting to go, how many times we've seen the plans, how many times we've talked about it, how many times we have seen the need. But to see things starting to grow really is big. And it's just great to see all these people that are involved and there's still opportunities for more people to get involved. And that's what's great about this whole project. So what are you looking at as far as being displaced or how are things gonna look up there behind the stop? This fall, is that gonna be any different or still hot and heavy? Yeah, this fall will be the same. I dunno what we're gonna do. I, I've jokingly said, when we get the new building, I'm still gonna use the stairs just for old time sake, not using the elevator. For all the years we've had to walk up that as Steve White used to always say, the elevator's still broken every fire stadium. But but no, this fall, everything will be basically the same. And then as we start, we'll see the project across from us. And that's gonna be exciting to be able to look down and say, all right, that's what's next. That's what's coming next. So we're looking forward to that project. Sounds good. Well, appreciate your time this morning. Always, sir. Always appreciate you. Thanks sir.

bob-sabin_2_06-12-2025_114610: 16:57

Okay, we're here with Dr. Brown, chancellor of Western Carolina. We just got through with the groundbreaking ceremonies. Dr. Brown. Tell us a little bit about your thoughts on how this day rolled out. This was amazing to have all these friends of the university here celebrating a momentous occasion here at EJ Whitmeyer Stadium, the first and 50 years of any renovations that we've had in our athletics facilities. To bring out this many community members, alumni, friends, students, faculty and staff that were here. Incredible event. And I'm just so delighted. This is the first of many groundbreakings for athletics facilities. Well, I'm looking straight out about a hundred yards of where it's all gonna be next year. This time next year, we're gonna be looking at it and just the, I I'm so excited for what it's gonna end up being like. What are you seeing as far as the number of people who are joining and coming in to help for provide for this project? Well, you know, it's been incredible the number of people. You figure almost$9 million have been raised for this project. Right now we have over 2,400 Oun Club members. This is so important. We need more and more members of Panama Club to help really. Encourage these kinds of events that are happening. Help us with our athletics, our student athletes, the fundraising for them. These athletic facilities. Continue to become a Catamount Club member. Continue to come to these kind of events. Get your season tickets for football. This year we got six home games, so it's exciting. This could be the year folks, and you don't wanna miss it. You wanna be right here, cat Mount Country. When we play football, I saw something yesterday where. One blogger said that we look like the number one best team in North Carolina for football this fall. Awesome. That is great. And you know, we play Wake Forest and I would love to be able to go to Wake Forest and beat Wake Forest. So can you imagine what that would be for our cat mounts to be able to beat Wake Forest? We've got a lot of exciting things that are happening here. A lot of excitement here in Callway and Catamount Country. Thanks again for your time. I appreciate it. As always, we'll see you again soon. Go Ka.

bob-sabin_4_06-12-2025_115239: 18:49

And finally we've got Coach Bell with us here at this groundbreaking today. This is really a great day. Your thoughts, sir? Well, it's just excitement, you know, company called We, anytime you get new new facilities finish a project like this and now you start on it and see it's being constructed. It's exciting for our facilities, for our programs here, for all these student athletes. And we're gonna make the most of it. Hopefully have a great year. I have one word for you. Recruiting. Yeah. How's that gonna help? Well, anytime you can you know, show athletes that you're committed, that this program's committed, this university's committed to, to student athletes, that's a positive and we definitely will be able to show that with this new project. And then, and then just the facilities, you know, be able to have meetings and more meeting rooms for our players. So be more efficient as a staff to be able to go out and really play at a high level. Well, I appreciate your time coach. I know we're all looking forward to it and we'll see you in the fall. Alright, thanks a lot. Appreciate it. Yes sir.

bob-sabin_5_06-12-2025_123241: 19:45

I'm here standing on the steps to the Ramsey Center, looking back at the construction site, and as you can see, it's well underway. They've already put in underground pipes and drainage systems, so they've dug it up and then refilled it back in. But there's obviously a fair amount of work that's gone on here. Been a pretty exciting day here for the entire Catamount family for this groundbreaking, official groundbreaking, but obviously it's been going on for a few weeks now. Looking forward to getting this thing out, and we will talk a little bit more later.