bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 0:12

Welcome to Tracking the Cats. I'm Bob Saban, along with Steve White, my co-host, my esteemed we are here every couple of weeks, brought to you by Stanberry Insurance, offices in Silva, Waynesville, Highlands, and Clyde. And this is a different format for us today. All the spring sports are wrapping up so Catamount sports are in a lull right now. There's a lot of activity in the weight rooms and on practice fields, but no official practices or anything like that going on. But we do plan on keeping the podcast going over the summer months. We don't have a guest today, but I think we're packed with information. Hope you all enjoy that. We may have a couple of surprise guests, but we'll stay on schedule and aim for every two weeks during the summer until things get rolling with football and the other fall sports in the fall. Also wanna thank WWCU, the campus radio station at Western. They carry us l- on Saturday mornings. Every Saturday morning at nine o'clock, you can hear them, hear s- Tracking the Cats in the Cullowhee Valley area. And if you have any ideas or suggestions for upcoming shows, particularly during the summer, there are multiple ways to reach out to us. You can drop us a comment on our YouTube channel or we have our social media, Tracking the Cats, on Instagram and Facebook. And lastly, we do have an email address trackingthecats@gmail.com. So reach out to us with any suggestions or anytime you see any of our posts on social media. Steve, let's get this thing started. Do you wanna talk a little bit about the start out with football and just go around the horn for the year?

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 1:57

Yeah, just a, a wrap-up of all our sports through the year and the good, bad, and maybe some ugly or indifferent. I'm not sure what you would call that.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 2:06

a

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 2:07

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 2:07

unfortunately

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 2:08

yeah. Especially that la- last game down at Greenville in the baseball tournament, and I don't know if you I sent you the picture and yeah. That- that's another story. That's another story,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 2:20

that.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 2:20

yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 2:21

see that,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 2:21

All right.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 2:22

talking about it later in the

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 2:24

Yeah. Yeah. Just football, just another sign that I think we're getting closer, Bob, to that elusive Southern Conference championship and back to the playoffs maybe for the first time in 44 years. We're picked to win it in a couple of the polls preseason polls. A lot of enthusiasm what Coach Bell has returning from last season, that second place finish in the SoCon, plus the upgrades to our football facility which has got to create some enthusiasm amongst not only the fans, but the players. Should help recruiting too which we might talk about a little later on. And and then maybe even see a few pictures from what's what's going on down at Whitmire Stadium

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 3:07

Yeah, I think we've got some pretty fresh images that you dropped me yesterday, so we're gonna pop those up too. Let's talk about how the team looks for the upcoming season. Last year we h- you know, had started out slow because we didn't have a tried and true quarterback and started out the season not where we wanted to be, down three games and the, all that about made the difference as to whether or not we made the playoffs, let alone the loss to Mercer there.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 3:39

That's exactly right. But again the sort of somewhat untested quarterbacks to open this season but one of them has had some experience, Isaac Lee, and Lex Thomas transferring from NC State. I was impressed with him in the spring. And,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 3:55

Yeah

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 3:56

yeah, Jordan Martin-Derma is still lurking in the bushes there, so as to speak. He might could play offensive line with us. I think he's up to over 250 pounds now, at about 6'3" to 6'4", and can run and throw. So we'll just, like I say, and then we have a freshman coming in from Michigan that Coach Bell is very excited about and says you're really gonna like him. So I think our quarterback situation is in very good shape. Maybe better than when we started the season last year, but we'll just have to see

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 4:27

thought as to whether Isaac Lee, who got some action for us last year, or Lex Thomas, the NC State transfer those look like the top two vying for the field,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 4:37

Yes. Yes. And Isaac has improved. He's taken up a couple of notches from where he was last year, and Lex maybe has a little bit more experience than him. And again, Isaac, the taller of the two. Lex is about Tiger Dickens' size, really, about the same size, even though they list him a little bit more. And a lot of people say that he might have been the starting quarterback at NC State had he been 6'3", but maybe a little bit stronger runner. But he can throw the football

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:09

It sure didn't matter to Tiger, right?

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:12

No. No. He wa-

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:13

rate,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:14

that's another world

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:14

the

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:15

is.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:17

seeing f- folks down the field was, for his size,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:21

yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:21

he was exaggerated at 5'11" too,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:24

Yes. Yes, he was. Yeah, but yeah I'm excited about it. Of course I'm always excited to enter a new season, and I usually stay, and I stayed last year until the last play of the Mercer game, and I rejuvenated a little bit more. Yeah. But,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:40

Embarrassed to say I was jumping up and down thinking we had won, but

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:44

Yeah. The this is true, but I was I was watching that referee's hands and oh my goodness. Never mind. That's wa- water under the old Tuckasegee River Bridge. That's right.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 5:53

Yeah, I hear you. Looking at other folks, one our skilled players look pretty good coming up for this fall

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 6:01

Yeah, we're good, and I think our running back situation is gonna be its best in a while ever since probably the Desmond Reed days. We've a couple of guys that I thought were really in- impressive in the spring. And again, the offensive line doing a little bit of rebuilding, but they seem to think they're just as strong or stronger than they were last year. And you never worry about wide receivers at Western Carolina. Coach Bell's gonna have, a really a stable full as a, so as to speak, and they're all gonna be, we're in 5'10", 5'11", and 165, 170 pounds, but they can fly and catch the ball. So we- I'm not worried about the wide receivers

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 6:39

and as you mentioned offensive line, I was looking yesterday. Apparently there are 16 O-line people of which are 300 or greater,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 6:52

Yes

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 6:52

of the rest are 285 to 300. Same on the D side, the D-line. Not as many 300 pounders, but I think we have eight on the D-line that are

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:04

Yeah. Yeah. The,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:06

speed

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:06

an improvement

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:07

important, speed and strength on that D-line, so

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:11

And a new defensive coordinator that I've been very impressed with watching him in the spring and the players. There's a really a nice vibe on the defensive side of the ball. And look, going back to the offense again, we've got about three tight ends that I am really impressed with right now, and so I think you might see more of that tight ends. You saw some of it last year increase in finding those tight ends, and I think it's even gonna be more this year

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:40

And that's something that fans were saying for years.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:44

Yes.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:44

we utilize these tall, big tight ends that we

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:48

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:49

who are standing open several

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:51

You're right

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:52

The-- And to be able to start seeing those being used more by our offensive coordinator is great, so

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 7:58

Yes. You're gonna see that, I'm sure. Yes

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 8:00

And you mentioned the defensive coordinator, Nick Raves we wanna get him back on. I'd like to see Wells, OC on, and and Bell, of course later on in the summer as we get things going. Why don't we switch gears and talk about the other fall sports? Volleyball didn't do real well last year, but apparently they've picked up a couple of good players

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 8:22

Yeah, the that was a rebuilding year last year. And of course we got, like Katie Boney was the SoCon Setter of the Year, and Tatum Sharpe was the co-Freshman of the Year in the league, so that bodes well for you right there. And there's some other additions and so forth, so I think you're gonna see a comeback there by our volleyball team next fall, yes

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 8:42

That's good. 'Cause they had a couple of decent seasons, hadn't pulled a really pulled a championship, but they'd done well. I think it was in 2024, they

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 8:51

Yes.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 8:52

second and had a chance to move on.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 8:56

Yeah. So that that I think that'll be on the back. Coach Karen Glover is an excellent coach, and I'm sure that she's not sitting on her hands about this thing. She's working at it.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 9:05

And when we move to cross country, when you think of Western Carolina athletics, you don't think of cross country, but it seems like we've pulled in a couple of distance runners. They certainly did better in distance in the spring in track and field, so they can make that, what is it, three and a half miles or five miles On the course, tr- cross

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 9:28

and C- Coach Jesse Norman's made a lot of inroads last fall, as you said with his distance runners. They were, in the spring and the winter season, both the winter season and the spring season track and field the, these distance runners really stepped up. They were in the, we scored more points, I think, in distance events in the indoor and outdoor season we have in many years. So that'll translate into the track and field season, yes.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 9:54

both sides, men and women,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 9:56

and of course, we got got soccer in the fall. Yes Coach Chad Miller, he has really I think been our most consistent program over the last few years past four or five season. Southern Conference champion, what, three years ago, runner-up two seasons back, second place in regular season last year. He was hit hard by graduation but he's recruited six impressive transfers and nine freshmen who have got some very impressive credentials after losing, problem was 75% of his top players, the minutes played last season off of that outstanding team

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 10:34

Yeah. Yeah, it was disappointing that we could not finish out Either first place in the conference or winning the championship, but it's a tough league.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 10:44

Yeah, it is soccer. You're right

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 10:46

ladies do well, so

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 10:48

Yeah I don't worry about our soccer program. Chad Miller's gonna keep us... We're gonna always gonna be a contender. No, no doubt about that

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 10:54

thing that I like is I'm seeing fans out there that we haven't seen in the past. He's building a fan group, to come out and watch these matches, or shine, and we had our

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 11:05

Yes

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 11:05

of rain on the home matches this year.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 11:08

You're right. You're exactly right, Bob. It's but it's a good atmosphere there at at the Catamount Sports Complex on those Sunday afternoons and Friday nights. It is getting, gaining more and more popularity ar- around Calloway. And, Calloway you would n- think would be a big soccer stronghold. It's not like in the big cities where you have professional teams and so forth. Yeah, it's coming along nicely. Yes, sir

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 11:34

Yep. Let's switch to the wintertime and talk a little bit about basketball, because basketball came a long way this past season, and it looks like this coming season, we dropped how many guys entered the portal and left? Most of the team, right?

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 11:54

Yeah. Actually, I think we've, we lost 10 players actually total, and then I'm not saying that all of them were high contributors, but got hit very hard. There's only one starter's returning Dada and in the middle, and he's they're glad to have him back, along with two others who saw action all on the floor, maybe an average of five minutes a game, something like that. So 10 newcomers on their way into Calloway, six transfers, four freshmen coming in next year. And like I say, this recruiting class has... Like I say, this is early. You're looking for things, indications. But like I say, one guru says the best recruiting class in the Southern Conference when you use all the metrics. Yeah. Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 12:41

I've been watching and seeing some of these guys pop up both on Jerry Love's comment page, but also on social media, and some of these guys look pretty good.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 12:50

Oh,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 12:51

schuh is-- looks good. He's small, he's a freshman,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 12:55

Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 12:55

I think he's got a lot of talent. we got a couple of tall guys, Sedipo, and then who's the... Oh, Prunty is another guy that looks like he's got some good talent for us.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 13:07

yeah. You talk about, Donovan Raymond, who's 6'10" 220 out of Old Dominion. And again, that's pretty solid program. He, he didn't score that much, but I'm not sure how, big guys figure into coach's offense. They're there for a reason, and scoring is secondary. They need to make things happen and so forth. But yeah, there's Antonio McCoy Sodipo just among those. I'll tell you one that really impresses me is Malachi Brown, the transfer from Georgia State. This guy played a lot of basketball, like averaged, what 12, almost 13 points a game during his career down at Georgia State and that's not bad basketball at all. But Traveal Bryson out of Charlotte, a high school player. So I tell you, it's there's some impressive looking people coming in next year. As you said Prunty and Jayden Roberts high school kid Jose Martins out of Katy, Texas Jacob Zu out of Atlanta freshman. These guys have got a lot of credentials,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 14:08

yeah and I'm looking where they transferred from. You mentioned Old Dominion, Georgia

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 14:13

Yeah. Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 14:15

University

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 14:16

You're right

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 14:16

Is good. Sam Houston State, College

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 14:19

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 14:19

Hofstra. Come on, man. We-- He did a good job. Tim's done a great job,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 14:24

Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 14:25

picking up guys this year, and I think his biggest challenge, of course, is gonna be able to get them ready to play. And who do we have on that schedule already?

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 14:33

Yeah. Ca- Nor- University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Yeah. I don- I always call 'em UNCCH. Yeah. And Virginia. Butler. I would, I really hate that Tha- Thad Matta retired. He retired last year as the head coach at Butler. I would love that match up. But we'll be playing in Hinkle Fieldhouse. Remember the home where they made the Hoosiers, the movie The Hoos- Hoosier? That's, that'll be exciting

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 14:58

one year? I think during Larry Hunter's era, didn't we go up to

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 15:03

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 15:03

win?

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 15:04

we played him at when he was at Ohio State, and also played him, I think, when he was at Xavier. Played against him when he was head coach at Xavier. But I know definitely when he was at Ohio State, we played him when Larry w- Larry was coaching. Yeah. But that would've been nice. And I, the rest of the schedule I don't know who we're gonna have that challenge with, the other conference challenge yet, whether it's gonna be the OVC or which league it's gonna be this year. I have not seen that where you play the home and home with, play a couple games with, like last year it was Lipscomb and, McNeese the year before and so forth. So we'll have to see how that is. But it'll be a challenging schedule

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 15:42

what I thought there might be two challenges, ASUN and is it the OVC, UAC or whatever.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 15:48

Yeah, the, yeah, there's

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 15:51

I think we

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 15:51

no

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 15:52

involved in two challenges

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 15:54

Yeah. So we'll see how that works out. But again you've got to play those money games. I've heard all kinds of figures on what those, just those three games would produce and and I know Coach, Coach needs that money his pro- But this is gonna be a way of life. You talk about 10 new players coming in. I'm not saying it's gonna be this way every year, but it's going to be until something happens, I'm not sure what it's gonna be that you're gonna have... your play comes along, you're gonna develop those players one year, two years, they're gonna be gone more than likely, unless somebody, a millionaire comes in and lays a, a billion dollars on our program, something like this, where we can pay these guys the kind of money that's gonna attract them to go to another school

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 16:38

to my Rolodex. I think I know a couple of guys.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 16:43

Yeah. Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 16:44

And the younger people watching this are going, "What's a Rolodex?"

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 16:48

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, like electric typewriter. That was true.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 16:54

o- one thing I wanna see is more butts in the seats this year. Purple Thunder and the entertainment, just the quality of the games this past year

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 17:04

Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 17:04

more people coming into Ramsey. So I'd love to see that

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 17:09

And I think consistent winning will, it'll be a part of that. And another problem is, we're playing those weeknight games in there, like on a Wednesday night, and I know our students just have so much going on. A lot of people, have classes at night, and it seems like every home game during the week it was raining

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 17:28

Yeah.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 17:29

or something snowing or something like this. Just maybe an excuse not to... I don't know. But yeah, you're looking for ideal situations, and I don't know if we're gonna have that. We're just gonna have to adjust, I guess

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 17:40

If we if we show up and we got a decent record and a fun team to watch, then that's, it's gonna help. Let's move on quickly. We've got a lot to cover in about another 10, 15 minutes here. But women's basketball had a really tough season last year.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 17:55

did

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 17:56

Coach Sipp was excited about the season when we talked to him early on, the key injuries w- was,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 18:03

yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 18:03

the biggest issue, I believe. He had

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 18:06

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 18:06

ladies out at one time,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 18:08

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 18:09

including

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 18:09

just an unbelievable, Bob, an unbelievable number of injuries just destroyed this team. There's no doubt about it. I'm not making excuses, but it was unbelievable there. You'd come out there sometimes we'd have six players r- that could play. Maybe have seven or eight dressed out, but they just were there for as long as you went to dressing because they couldn't, they weren't able to play. So yeah, it would've been nice to see us being able to go the whole season with everybody that was available. And I think they would've won a l- a lot of ball games last year, but it just didn't happen. Just a weird thing. We do have Allie Holifield's sister Kate joining us from UNC Wilmington and no doubt about Allie Holifield's probably our best returning player, and now her sister Kate is right up there with her, so that'll be an interesting back court combination next year.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 18:59

Yeah. Hopefully we'll see real improvement and be able to be pretty proud of what they do. 'Cause I know Sip's a great coach a good guy, and he's got a good staff. So if we can keep these ladies healthy, hopefully

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 19:14

yes.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 19:14

in a much better area this year. Other things that we've got going on, golf, we talked they just wrapped up and they had a very good season.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 19:24

Yes

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 19:26

we- we've got really good players in one, Ace, who Tyler Jones didn't have the greatest regional tournament at down in Clemens last week. But overall he really shined throughout the season

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 19:40

Yeah, he was fini- he was third the first day down at Bermuda Run in that NCAA regional, and was looking great even after the second day when he slipped a little bit of getting into the NCAA tournament as an independent. The top independent gets in, and he slipped a little bit. I think he ended up the number three independent and didn't make the NCAA tournament. And but Tyler was the first Catamount to make the NCAA regional since JT Poston, I think that was what? 2015?

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 20:12

Yeah

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 20:12

yeah. Yeah, and so that's been a little dry spell, about 11 seasons since we had made someone. And I tell you another is Jace Butcher had a good year. Little inconsistent, but finished up there in the top 10 in the conference tournament. And I tell you, I really think the future looks really good for Coach Tim Ekberg and Catamount Golf. The practice facility we have over at Waynesville Country Club is a real asset, and that, that's got to be impress, impress some of our recruits, that facility they have over. And I really a- appreciate those people over at Waynesville Country Club being able to utilize, us being able to utilize their excellent facilities over there. We'll just see how this works out. Yep

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 20:56

And hopefully the ladies can recruit and improve over the year. They were not a strong team this year, but hopefully we can get them, tennis back on board and move us up some in the conference in

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 21:11

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 21:11

sports.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 21:12

Yeah, they had a rebuilding year this year after losing again, the portal jumped and bit them hard losing two or three real good players. But he's ha- he's got a solid base coming back, some very impressive players, and four very impressive newcomers coming in. So I think Brett Beavers will get it going again and maybe challenge next year like he did last season, the season before,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 21:36

all right. We we just recently talked to track and field a couple weeks ago and with Jesse Norman they had a phenomenal season, both sides the best in many years. I really like to see what he's been doing over the last three or four years to put this all together

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 21:54

Yeah this last year, the women's team finished second in the indoor season, and we all know they won the Southern Conference Outdoor Championship, which was held here in Cullowhee. Finally, their old nemesis there, Samford, overcoming them for the first time in about eight years. And the men made some progress too. They were third in the indoor season and second in the outdoor season. Really coming along right now, and I think next year it's even will be better for Catamount track and field. Jesse Norman, of course, was Southern Conference Women's Coach of the Year too. That's he's an old Catamount that's coming around and totally gender Danny Williamson, so he knows what it takes to win

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 22:33

And I sent him a note and asked him, we have anybody move on to the NCAAs, and that's a really tough sport

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 22:42

yes

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 22:42

get. And it's almost all-- you're not gonna see a team going into

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 22:47

No

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 22:47

super strong. But you're looking for your individuals to get those times, to get those distances to qualify for the NCAAs. And he said, the strong teams can load up. You got a Georgia, you've got Carolina, and they can

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 23:02

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 23:02

two or three people in one position go, move on

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 23:06

Yeah. Yeah, the SEC with what are they up to? About 16 teams now, and with all the money that they spend, the ACC not quite that many. What's ACC now? 14, 15 teams now in the ACC?

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 23:17

14,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 23:18

Yeah, so that's a lot of competition right there from a lot of people with a lot of money in their programs.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 23:23

So speaking of the NCAA, let's roll it over to baseball and talk a little bit about the disappointment there at the end of the season with that one.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 23:34

Yeah. Yeah. That's Bob, our best regular season in what? 12 years, I guess 12 seasons, 36 wins, second place finish in the regular season. That's the highest since, in 12 years, and things didn't go well. I know what we're going to talk about here in the Southern Conference tournament in Greenville and when the Cats' regular season hot bats cooled off down in Greenville. And the same thing happened for our regular season champion, Mercer as they were eliminated lost two games to the sixth place team the Citadel Bulldogs, who went on and won for the first time, I think that was their first championship since 2010, and they're playing this weekend in the regional down in your town, down in Atlanta at Georgia Tech

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 24:20

If I wasn't going to a wedding, I would be there. it-- apparently with Georgia Tech and Oklahoma, and then is it

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 24:31

Lipscomb, I think. No. Yeah, Chicago. Yeah, that's where it is. It's yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 24:35

They they sold those tickets out in two hours.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 24:38

Yes. Yeah, and that's common

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 24:40

so gonna be a fun weekend. I hope that Citadel... Citadel's paired up against Oklahoma, the number two versus the number three seed,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 24:48

Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 24:49

and then Tech being number one against Illinois Chicago. But yeah, that'd be good. And if they keep playing the thing that really impressed me during the Southern Conference tournament is they stayed in the winners bracket and ran it all the way through. They had to come from a play-in,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 25:09

Yes, they had to win,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 25:10

they won every

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 25:11

yeah. They beat VMI the first day, and the loser goes home in that game, Citadel-VMI. So VMI went home, and it could've been The Citadel going home. If they hung in there and just put together a great streak, and, having to come out of that first-day bracket, that lame- single elimination bracket, and winning that thing you gotta hand it to them. They, the, they did. It's like what Wofford did back in 2007. I'll never forget, they were dead last, number 10 at that time in the Southern Conference, had to win a play-in game, won five straight games, went to the NCAA championship. We were eliminated after two ballgames that year, but got an at-large bid and went down to Carolina and had some success. Almost won that tournament.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 25:57

Yeah. Talk a little bit about at-large in a second, but, for Western, I was either watching or listening. I didn't get to Greenville, but I was watching or listening most of those games. I got all the way through until the rain delay on Friday, last Friday afternoon, and Daniel was saying, "I don't know if, when we'll get this thing in." Apparently it

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 26:21

Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 26:21

back up around 10 o'clock and what the heck happened? We were-- You know, it was tied one to one, we're in the 11th, and then they come back to finish out at 10 o'clock

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 26:32

Yeah. And one of the weirdest things I have seen in a long time was that alleged home run. Now, I'm not saying that would have, we would have maybe won the ballgame without that, but it would've given us a much better chance. Even if it was called a ground rule double, they only score one run. Instead they get three runs, and that just blew the game up. Talking about the game with Samford.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 26:54

see the picture right

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 26:56

Oh my goodness

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 26:57

it up on on the on the YouTube, so you're gonna be able to see the ball sitting what appears to be outside of the foul territory

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 27:06

It's in a hole. It's in a gap. What that gap's doing there, why that was not covered, I can't, But there's no way that ball could have gone in there and been a fair ball. There's no way. That's just physically impossible. But yet the umpires somehow, they could not get a clarification on the rules, the ground rules for that stadium. And why they did not know this going into, I don't know, Bob. That's another story. But again just a cat amount of luck or bad luck, like a missed field goal in football.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 27:41

the last thing on that is poor Mercer having a great season, 45, 44 wins ranked 28th in RPI and not get-- that's a travesty. And

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 27:53

It is a travesty.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 27:55

that we both read

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 27:56

Yeah, Baseball America just ripped. Now Baseball America is the bible of college baseball, and they just ripped into the NCAA selection committee about w- this is what you say you've got to do. Mercer checked all the boxes. They did it with what they were doing. God, everything. And they were just... I thought they were a shoo-in for an at large regardless of what happened in the Southern Conference tournament

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 28:20

Five Sun Belt teams get in

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 28:23

I

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 28:24

that's not-- that was ranked very close to us in conference RPI

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 28:29

And how about the, what the ACC got seven, the SEC, was it 11? 14, 14 teams. You ought to be able to have to finish in the at least top half of your league to get into the tournament. I think the top quarter or something like that even be considered. And oh that's a, that's another argument for another day. But yeah, very disappointing and it needs to be looked into. It really does. Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 28:55

I, yeah, but, I don't-- I have no faith in the NCAA these days, so

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 28:59

N- no, it's... excuse me, it's the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference. That's what it is. Yep. That's the NCAA right now.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 29:05

Exactly.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 29:06

Yep.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 29:06

We wanna finish out with softball and then talk a little bit about the new facilities

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 29:10

Yeah. The softball, a very solid season, Bob. Coach Jim Clift and our team, 34 wins, the most in a long time. Third place finish. They slipped the last weekend of the season down to third place, and they broke 11 season records, hitting records this year. And word is that Coach Jim Clift has recruited a couple of very highly regarded pitchers to join this hitting machine that he had this year. And these, a lot of people are very surprised that Western Carolina got these two high school players the pitchers, and he says, "I am fired up. I'm excited." I saw him the other day and talked to him about it. But yeah, that, the softball program is in very good shape and moving right along, yes

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 29:54

Offensively, we were in the top 40 in the NCAA in Hitting, in RBIs, and home runs.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:00

Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:01

w- help us with some pitching, and we knew that going into the tournament. That's

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:05

You're

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:06

you and I both

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:06

right.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:06

about is, We didn't feel good about being able to get through four or five games in the SoCon

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:14

Yeah, just the opposite from the men. And I was worried about our pitching, and it was our hitting that failed us. Pitching was good enough to win in the men's tournament and so forth. Yeah, you're right

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:25

Yep. Yeah, the pitching really stood up.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:27

Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:27

so let's finish out and talk a little bit about the improvements to the football stadium. We've got some photos to throw up here that you kindly took the other day to see the progress. It's pretty exciting to see everything happening over there

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:42

And there's just work going on constantly down there. There, there are more holes being dug than, I don't know than the

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:49

New York

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:49

g- grou-

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:50

Department.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 30:51

in my front yard, but yeah the skybox itself is really coming along. The most- looks like most of the exterior work is done. Now the big emphasis, I saw maybe 20 guys working inside yesterday when I was taking those pictures. And I think it's, what, 90 days now till our kickoff or close to it, right at 90 days left. And I asked, I said are we on schedule?" "We're on schedule." I said, "Are you, we gonna be finished for the first time?" We think so." But,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 31:21

I do not want to be driving to Richmond on Saturday before Labor

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 31:25

no. No. But they-- I think everything-- now with everything basically indoors and the weather's not gonna be a factor and I feel pretty confident. But yeah that and like I say $1.10 will buy you a senior citizen coffee at McDonald's or something like that.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 31:42

Oh,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 31:42

But yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 31:43

remind me. I gotta go to my men's group tomorrow morning,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 31:46

Yeah. Yeah, but,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 31:48

be

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 31:48

yeah, they, it's looking good. The turf, I was out walking on the turf yesterday, and that's just like walking in, deep plush carpet in your living room. It is, it's a completely different feel, k- different look. It's sand-based as opposed to rubber base now, and very attractive. The light poles, you see some pictures of the light. And I said, "Those lights are gonna do..." And they say they are the latest digital, by golly, they'll just, that place will be like daylight in there and with... And I think we're,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 32:17

lights we got hanging will be half of what we had before, if not less,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 32:21

And so that's that's... And then they the new digital board, I think that'll be going in probably the second half of the summer and with that, which will be very nice. And my only thing is that I want them to take that net down during the game. Yeah. Yeah. Have somebody down there like it used to be. You'd pull it up when they were gonna kick field goals. You let it down when you're not kicking an extra point or a field goal.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 32:46

Didn't we

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 32:46

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 32:46

AD Kyle Peiffer about that when he was on? He

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 32:49

Yeah, I don't think he realized it.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 32:51

that." And it's "Not for the entire game, sir."

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 32:54

That's right. That's right. I understand why you have it, but

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 32:58

kinda squiggly W- when

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:00

it's got pulleys on it. It's got hand pulleys. You can do it, and just I'm not sure anybody even realizes it.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:07

Watch a game on TV,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:09

Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:09

And you'll see the nets come up and down. Only ours won't say Allstate on them.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:13

Yes. That's right. Yeah, that's right.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:16

But yeah, I'm excited, really excited about the lights and the board how it feels. And, you mentioned the sand versus the black rubber pellets that,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:25

Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:25

They have those at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, and the soccer players, you would see them slide and pellets would go f-all over the place.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:34

Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:35

it'll be nice not to have to deal with those, I'm sure, if you're a player,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:38

But it's first class.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:40

of your teeth.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:40

Oh, yes. Yes.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:41

All right, man. I think that closes everything out. I wanted to talk a little bit about Tennessee Tech, but we'll get to them in another program. We're running out of our what we like to keep it under 40 minutes here. You-- Last thing, you're getting on a plane to Las Vegas in a week and a half, and you're

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:58

Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 33:58

be honored as somebody nationally known, which I think is amazing for you, for the university. But everybody's really proud of your service as a sports infor-- what was the Sports

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 34:13

used to call them sports information directors. Now they're college sports communicators,

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 34:18

Correct.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 34:22

And I'll be going out now a week from Sunday to Las Vegas. My youngest son and my daughter are gonna be joining me out there. And a lot of people, Western Carolina, several of my former assistants a lot of, several of my colleagues th- through the years are gonna be there. A good contingent of Western Carolina people. Our athletic staff's gonna be out there with our AD, and associate AD, the deputy AD, and Daniel Hooker and his crew. We're gonna be out there and and just really enjoy that. That really is. It's the, I'm going in the sort of the veterans group of the the Hall of Fame for College Sports Communicators. Used to be called the College Sports Information Directors Association when I started in the business about 60 years ago, it seems

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:08

being in Vegas, hold on to your pocket change, and I don't mean the slot machines. For dinner time.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:14

Yes

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:15

The restaurants out there are outrageous. They-- Used to be, 40, 50 years ago the restaurants were saying, "Free all you can eat

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:23

The

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:24

fries,"

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:24

Buffets. Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:26

And you eat free." And now it's, no, everything's,

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:29

No. Yeah, there's no free lunch. No free lunch.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:32

Bring that plaque and have it to-- for us to see when on the next pod. Forward to that.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:37

Y- yeah. Holly Rowe's gonna be introducing me and asking me questions from college football halftime shows and pregame shows.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:44

sir.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 35:44

Yeah, that's exactly right. And Jim Nantz says he might be there. He did ha- he did his first feature for CBS Sports in Cullowhee at Western Carolina in 1988, Coach Bob Waters, and we've just stayed in touch over the years and he's gonna-- he's got a conflict, but he says he would try to work it out, but I don't think it's gonna work out from what I understand.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 36:07

Masters all the time?

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 36:08

Oh, yeah. You know that. Yeah.

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 36:12

Oh, brother.

squadcaster-gi6i_1_05-28-2026_155907 36:14

Yeah

bob-sabin_1_05-28-2026_155907 36:14

have a great trip. We'll look forward to seeing you back then. We will see everybody else out there in two weeks on our next "Tracking the Cats." Be looking for it. And like I said, send us your thoughts as to who you would like to see as a guest or topics we'd like to cover over the summer, 'cause we got two more months yet before football practice starts and three months till the first game starts. Everybody, from Steve and I, we wish you all a great couple weeks. We will see you back here then. As always, we are sponsored by Stanberry Insurance, offices in Silva, Waynesville, Clyde, and Highlands. Until then, this is "Tracking the Cats."