Austin Price: Hello everybody. Welcome in for another episode of Vol Club Confidential. I'm your host, Austin Price, Tennessee, playing at Missouri, coming up on Saturday. That will be a big one for the Vol seven and two as they travel for their final road game of the regular season before coming home to play Georgia and Vanderbilt to close out the season, let's bring in volunteer clubs, James Clawson. James, we've got Coach Eckler on the show tonight. He's a ball of energy, so I expect you to bring the energy. James Clawson: Alright, I'll do my best Austin Price: As we talk about another successful weekend, last weekend, ball Club tailgate this weekend, a portion of the Vol Club members will be a part of a tailgate at Missouri. James Clawson: Yeah, Argent, Tennessee members information should be going out in email, but we'll be in Columbia. Look forward to a big game for the Vols. You Austin Price: Come home, you have two big tailgates. The following week you'll have that Georgia game. It's a three 30 game, so you kind of have enough time to tailgate on the front end and should have a lot of potential celebrities at that type of tailgate because you have former players coming in for a big game against Georgia who will likely be ranked number one. James Clawson: Yeah, it's going to be a great day. We will get started early, probably similar like we did against Texas a and m. We have some live music that day and we'll wait. We'll tease that a little bit longer, Austin Price: But James Clawson: We're going to have some, so it should be a fun day leading up to that game. Austin Price: David Trent coming to town for that. James Clawson: I don't know, not David, but Austin Price: I'm not singing Volunteer V. James Clawson: Somebody Austin Price: Got the signing day celebration coming up in December. We'll get full details about that coming out as we go along through the season. But another chance for Vol fans to hear from Coach Hippel about this year's recruiting class and then potentially meet a lot of the newcomers. James Clawson: Yeah, absolutely. It's a great event. Last year we got so much great feedback from last year's event. It was one of, I think a lot of people would say it was one of the best events we've done so far. Having that whole freshman class there under the same roof and giving fans their first access to those guys was pretty cool. So hopefully we can replicate that almost in the exact same way Austin Price: He is. James Clawson. We'll see you next week and as we get ready for the Georgia game now let's bring on Coach Mike ler. How we doing, man? Good, how are you doing great. I knew you were going to bring the energy. Shoot. You kidding me. Very role Coach Heckler. You're a Midwest guy, man. Nebraska, Kornfield and all that, that entails. You played your college ball at Kansas State. What drew you to Knoxville though? Mike Ekeler: Just Josh Heel. I've known hype. Started off in coaching as you said. I played at Kansas State and then was in private business and got into coaching at Oklahoma in 2003. And I was the defensive ga, hype was the offensive ga, and so the coaches were on floor three hype and I were on floor two, so we basically were office for a year there and really got to know him, got to really appreciate him as a person and obviously a great coach and we kept in touch all these years. So anyway, it didn't work out at a previous stop, just the timing wasn't quite right and so when he made the call and offered me a position here at Knoxville, it was too good to be true. Austin Price: I know that Tennessee's a place you've always kind of admired from afar, and so I remember talking to you the night that you're coming this way and you were stoked just to be a part of the place. What have you found since you've been here? Mike Ekeler: I'd coached here a few times before, a couple of previous stops in the SEC and each time that I came in here, I thought, number one, it was an amazing setting and just, well, I'll backtrack a little bit. When I was coaching at LSU, we pulled in here and it was mid-October and I can't even remember exactly where we stayed, but I went out for a run, it was 11 o'clock at night and I had one of those little GPS run trackers on And I just kept running and just kept running. And it was two o'clock in the morning when I get back and I'd gone 18 miles. And so I felt like I pretty much ran all around Knoxville, got a pretty good feel for the area, which I enjoyed a lot of the hills and everything. But anyway, going to the stadium and the crowd and the atmosphere in Neland Stadium, I mean it's one of the most beautiful settings in college football, in football, period. And I always told myself one day I'm in my career here and I'm going to ski into work and drive my boat into work and I haven't quite done that yet, but that's on the bucket list. Austin Price: You do have the boat, you got that after about a year when you first got here, and then of course you get injured and you almost had to miss the whole ski season there. How hard was that? Mike Ekeler: It is what it is. I mean I was just glad, very thankful to get that injury taken care Austin Price: Of. Sure. I mean, Mike Ekeler: For those that don't know, I got a lot in common with Peyton Manning had the same neck surgery he had. And so what was cool about that is I got operated on at three o'clock in the afternoon, drove myself home that night and was at work and on the practice field running drills at 7:00 AM So it kept me down really for about seven hours, which was a little bit discouraging, but I'm out there, Hey, I'm out there and I got a dog on, they glue you where they slit your throat and I'm out there blowing a whistle and yelling and hollering and the players were like, man, heck, you're nuts, man. Shoot, you tell me you got a little nick, you got a ding. I mean, come on man. I just had neck surgery, I'm out here. So I did it kind of the proof of point. Austin Price: You have so much energy and you just kind of have that zest for life. When you get in a quiet room and it's just you, what are you like? Are you catatonic at that point? What are you like when you're just all alone, the lights are out and it's just you late at night. Do you go to sleep easy or do you sit there and think about things? Mike Ekeler: No, I don't sleep a lot to be honest. And I get some thoughts in my mind and a lot of times it's football related and I'll come up with some good ideas at night and I'll get up and I'll write 'em down and I'll get a few solid hours probably each night. But shoot, I got plenty of time to sleep when it's all over with Austin Price: Coaching special teams, what's your favorite part of special teams? Is it kick return? Is it pun? Mike Ekeler: Oh, the favorite Austin Price: Unit? Yeah, as far as Mike Ekeler: It's definitely a kickoff cover. Austin Price: Kickoff cover. Yeah. Mike Ekeler: I mean it is that right there. That is a game's game. That's a grown ass man's game. I mean you got to go down and you get to teach the guys every aspect of football because think about this in football it's pretty simple. 99% of the time you're either defeating a block and making a play on tackling somebody or you're blocking somebody. The only other option is you have the ball in your hand. So you're either, what you get to do in special teams in general is you get to teach fundamentals and techniques of how to set up blocks and defeat blocks. So you block destruction and you get to teach 'em how to block people. So you get to teach, all we talk about is transferable skills and how it transfers over to being a defensive player, being an offensive player. And so when you talk about kickoff, it's so cool because football's all about relationships. It's all about time and space ball me man. And where the ball is. So you get to teach guys, okay, there's a ball, right? I'm running my flying 40. Simple concept. Somebody's got their eyes on you, somebody is over there targeting you to block you. Austin Price: Well, Mike Ekeler: You might like to put your eyes on them. So we talk about if you come to our special teams meetings, it's like a, I mean I'll say one word and a hundred guys will chant out, they'll finish the sentence in unison. I mean it's how we've trained them. So I'll say, we'll make a full and they'll say as speed decision, let's say some of these buzzwords, I probably can't say on air, but anyway, but it's all about concepts, right? Talk about physical and they'll say physical ass leverage. I mean like pads under pads, Austin Price: Right? Mike Ekeler: And alignment, leverage and call side and ball side leverage. I mean just teaching 'em all these different terms and techniques. But at the end of the day it's not rocket science. I mean at the end of the day we're not out there curing cancer or anything. I mean we're out there defeating blocks and we're blocking people. So there's base fundamentals and techniques that you've got to understand. And back to kickoff, when you really think about it, when you're covering a kickoff, you know where the ball is, we call, we're kicking it left deep, left right, deep, whatever. And right off the foot you see where the ball is. So that's, Austin Price: Or with turbo hill just to the back of the end zone. Yeah, no Mike Ekeler: Joke. I mean by being a third row, but so you know where the ball is, right? So as you're sprinting down, run your flying 40, we time 'em by when they hit the 35 to the 25, it's 40 yards. And so we got guys sprinting down, that's free money. You're making your money in that zone. And we got guys running four flats, four ones, I mean like flying. And within that flying 40, you got one job to do, identify who's targeting you, and obviously they've got a good idea through practice and what we've shown them, but the fact of the matter is they can run anything. It shouldn't matter. Somebody's got their eyes on you. It's your job to decipher who's targeting you. Now. It's time and space, it's balmy man relationship and it's about taking 100% of your attention to that block, using one of your tools and defeating that block and going and making the play. I love that aspect of it because it's speed, it's collision, it's pulling the pin. It's all those different things that making those full ass speed decisions that turn you into a really good football player. Austin Price: When he said Gam, the only thing I could think of was that's what you might call your grandmother like gam gam. And then it's fantastic. More difficult for you as an old special teams guy busting up a wedge or walking your three daughters down the aisle. Mike Ekeler: Geez, I don't know about that one. Now I'm going to be a wreck when that happens. I'll tell you what I mean. Three little girls. It's my littlest our youngest 16th today. And I'm telling you, it's amazing being a girl dad. Shoot, that's hard work now. Austin Price: It is. I've got two myself. And they always say mama's boy and daddy's girl and buddy. That is so, so true. Mike Ekeler: Oh my gosh. I could say one wrong word, not even have any idea what I was saying when they were little and tears would be fine. So that's going to be hard on me. That's going to be hard. But they're unbelievable young ladies and couldn't be more proud of 'em. But as far as a wedge goes, I mean that part was fun. I didn't go through 'em, I just jumped over. Austin Price: So you are so high energy, you're so personable. Do the girls, and I don't want to leave out the sun too, but do they ever go, dad, when you're out in public, I'm sure people come up to you, right? I mean, you're one of those guys and you're so personable and infectious. They were like, dad, seriously, can you turn it off for five seconds? Mike Ekeler: Their personalities are very similar to Austin Price: Mine, so they're like you. Mike Ekeler: Yeah, I mean they're extremely loquacious and they can go into a room and we've lived in 11 different houses. We've lived from coast to coast. Austin Price: Yeah, Mike Ekeler: I mean I broke a lot of huddles over the years and what's really cool about that is I'll never forget when I was coaching at Southern Cal Lane got fired on the tarmac, I was part of that staff and I came home and I said, all right, kiddos, family meeting. And Abby, the one who plays volleyball Austin Price: Here Mike Ekeler: Now, she looks at me and she was in, I think she was in second grade at the time. She goes, ah, dad, we're moving again. Austin Price: Didn't even know just right there. Mike Ekeler: Yeah, after I said family meeting. And I said, yeah. I said, you know what? I didn't want you guys to see it on tv, but Coach Kiffin got fired and we will have to see how the end of the season goes, but chances are we probably will be. And she goes, you know what, dad? That's all right. I've got friends here, not great friends. She said, all that matters is we're together as a family. And to this day she claims she didn't say it, but she said it Austin Price: Because Mike Ekeler: I won't never let her forget that. It is pretty special. Austin Price: What's your favorite part of coaching? Is it practice? Is it games? What is it? Mike Ekeler: I love Austin Price: Meeting time. Mike Ekeler: I love going in every day, and you're chasing greatness every single day. It's about gaining a little and a little knowledge perfecting a technique. I'll give you an example. Today we go out there and we do a brand new drill and special teams on kickoff cover that no one's ever done. I mean, we sat there and discussed it and roll it out there, and then you do something new like that and you don't know exactly how it's going to play out and you have to tinker with it a little bit and stuff. And then there's so many unintended consequences that come about in good and bad ways. Austin Price: And Mike Ekeler: So we're watching this drill after practice this morning and I'm going, holy cow man, I didn't really see how they would react in this way and wow, it really teaches this or really teaches that and if we tweak the alignment here and do this. So it's about coming up with different things, thinking outside of the box. We do some things punt return wise, and again, I say they've never been done, but I mean I guarantee they haven't that just different ways that you think about things and different ways to teach guys and put 'em in situations and maybe take as much of the running off of them, but put 'em in. We call 'em like finisher drills at the point of attack, but teaching 'em. And so they fully understand the techniques and how to apply 'em. And again, I'm kind of rambling a little bit, but that's what really really lights my fire is just finding a, all we are is teachers and just finding a better way to teach it. Austin Price: We've had so much change in college football, of course NIL one time transfer, but the one thing that I wish they could go put the toothpaste back in the tube on is all the conference rea alignment. I mean, you're an old Big 12 guy. I mean, I like that. Colorado's going back to the big 12, right? I don't like this little Oregon UCLA going to the big 10. I'm not even Texas. Oklahoma's fine coming to the SEC, but I mean I still wish that they were part of the Big 12, right? I mean, I'm more of a traditionalist on those type of things. Is that kind how you feel on those things? Mike Ekeler: I really do. I couldn't agree with more with you, but the landscape of college football has just changed so much in the last few years and people get caught up in all the changes. The transfer portal, the NIL and this and that, and the way I look at it as a coach, I can't waste time thinking about all those things because I have zero influence or effect on those. Austin Price: All I Mike Ekeler: Can do is control what I can control. And the fact of the matter is, at the end of the day, you can have all the bells and whistles and do this and that, but a true football player, they want discipline. They want to be coached, they want to be developed because you can sound, be a used car salesman and hey, come to Tennessee and this and that, and you can't develop you. You're worthless, man. You're worthless to 'em. And the day I got here, I stood in front of those guys and I said, Hey, I got three things for you. Number one, it's my job to earn your respect. If I can't make you the best football player you can be, then I'm worthless to you. You don't need a 90 year old buddy. You need damn coach. You need a mentor, right? It's my job. Turn your trust. And that doesn't happen overnight. That happens when you're at Alabama and something bad happens. Am I going to point a finger? Am I going to point a thumb? Are we in it together? Are we really in this thing together? So it takes time, right? And then the third thing, once you got those two things and once you figure out to actually care about you, I love you. Now we got something. And that's really not to speak for hype, but that's how he is. I mean, he's just a genuine RLD man, real live dude. And those kids, you can't fake it because I know tons of people out there that in those positions that they're front runners when things are going great, oh hey, great job. And then the minute something happens, it's like I told you and come on, man. I mean, you're either coaching it or allowing it to happen. And so to me, when those guys do something that it's wrong or they do something and a bad play, it's on me, man. I'll take it. I want it. And when they do something great, that's on them. But we're obviously going to coach it and say, Hey, look, now understand this. And I've told guys a million times in teams meetings and stuff, I said, look, that's on my tab, but now I want everybody in here in this room. You lock in now and we all learn from this because the next one that ain't on my tab. So I mean, I think those guys, they respect that and they know that I'm going to stand up there and I'll take the bullet. But at the end of the day, again, that's my job. Austin Price: Alright, we got R lds. We got gams. What's your favorite acronym? Mike Ekeler: Shoot, I got too many of 'em. I've hashtag a lot of stuff, man. The dizzle. I like the dizzle. Now, RLD is a real live dude, Austin Price: Right? Mike Ekeler: And a dizzle that's a step above it. Dude. dle, when you go to Dairy Quinn, you're a little kiddo, man. You get the ice cream comb with the sprinkles on top of it that Chi's Dizzle Chi is French for. You know what? Austin Price: I knew this was going to be a blast. Greatest impact on you from a coaching standpoint was who? Mike Ekeler: Wow. There are a lot of them, man. Bill Snyder, hall of fame head coach absolutely had such an incredible impact on me. I mean, that man, he's amazing. And I'll never forget, probably one of the most special moments of my career as a player. He called me in for my senior year and he said, Michael, he goes, never done this, but I'm going to name you team captain for what you've done for this place. And so that was my one, probably my biggest shining moment that, I mean, I was not a great player. I wasn't. But I'll tell you what, I set an NC two, a record. Nobody ever played this game. Had more fun and nobody, period. I mean, I'll go to war with anybody who tells me they had more fun than I did playing this game. And I just enjoyed the process and enjoyed everything about it. Austin Price: You occasionally see that player that comes back for a game or practice or whatever they look like they still got a player or two left in 'em. You still got one special teams left, play left in you. Mike Ekeler: No, I got, I probably got a good game in me. Austin Price: A good game. Mike Ekeler: Yeah. Yeah. Not one play, man. I'm not a one and done. Austin Price: Have you ever thought about putting the pads on during practice to demonstrate? Mike Ekeler: Oh, I've done it. Austin Price: Oh, you have? Oh yeah. Mike Ekeler: Oh yeah. Austin Price: Big cleat. You're not a cleat guy in practice though, are you? Mike Ekeler: No. I mean I have before, but no. I'll tell you one funny story. A few years back, one of our guys in spring ball, he picked one off in the end zone and I was running with him stride for Stride, and he was going to run it back a hundred yards, made it to the 50 him, stride for stride with him. And he looks over at me and I looked over at him, he hit another gear, I hit another gear, made it to the 20, my quad exploded. I had no idea what happened. It was like a sniper hit me and I was down literally on my face and I got up and I was like, I still didn't know. It felt like there was a watermelon, my quad, and it Austin Price: Exploded. Mike Ekeler: So I get up and practice is still going on down. We're in red zone and I'm like, son of a gun, man. So I just kind of jogged down my quad was blown up and finished practice Austin Price: This guy. What's your goal? What do you want to accomplish? Mike Ekeler: Well, I want to join the senior professional water skiing tour. Austin Price: Is there such a thing? Mike Ekeler: Yeah. Austin Price: How old do you have to be to do that though? What's the senior? Mike Ekeler: Well, I think Austin Price: You have to be the age. Mike Ekeler: I think you have to be over 50. And that's why I stay in shape, man. I like staying in shape. Austin Price: And how old are you right now? Mike Ekeler: I just turned, I'm up there, man. Yeah, I'm ready to roll. I'm ready to turn that sucker on. Austin Price: Yeah, you don't act 50 nor to look it for that matter. Mike Ekeler: Well my, Austin Price: Whereas I think Jerry Mack looks like he's 60 and he's like 40. I tell him that all the time. Mike Ekeler: What's really crazy, and I'm going to say this just because I'm passionate about it, but a lot of people don't know this, but back in 2017, my wife got diagnosed with breast cancer and the short version of it is she did it holistically and she went out and got three degrees in nutrition. And where I'm kind of going with this is since then we've, as a family, we've eaten clean and I'm telling you what man, there's some great books out there like Food Lies and things like that. And I'm just passionate about it. I truly believe if people really understood what they were eating and all the crap that's in it, if they ate clean, I'm telling you, you have more energy, you don't eat as much. And I've heard the saying that you can eat your food as medicine or later on you can eat your medicine as food. That's real. That's RLS real life chi. Austin Price: So when you go out to eat, there are places that you just don't go eat or take me through what that's like when you go out with your wife for a dinner date. I mean is that Mike Ekeler: We'll go places where they've got organic food and that's really what I eat today. I mean, I eat sushi from Whole Foods. That's what I have for lunch. And I mean that's kind of what I do, man. Austin Price: How important is she to the Mike Eckler experience? Mike Ekeler: Barbie? Austin Price: Yeah. Mike Ekeler: Oh geez, she's unreal. I mean, when I met her, the moment I met her, I came up with this theory, it's called the no but theory. And I tell our players, I tell everybody, I said, you married the first person without a butt. And when I met her, it was like every other girl I'd ever dated was like, well, I like her, but this and, but that all these butts and Barbie had no butt. So yeah, she's unreal. She, she's probably the most kind hoarded person I've ever met. I mean, she's amazing. Austin Price: What do you admire most about her? Mike Ekeler: Just her pure heart and she just loves people and she could care less about material things. I mean, it's just all about just experiences. I mean, she can quote every line in the Bible and she's deep water. Austin Price: Speaking of experiences, when Mike Eckler's got a brief moment in time to go do something with the family, what do you guys like to do Mike Ekeler: To drop the hammer, man, get outside and go like to go boating, get out in the water. That's probably my favorite thing to do. Go Austin Price: To beach. Mostly lakes and rivers or do you like to go out the deep sea? Mike Ekeler: No, just lakes and rivers. Austin Price: Gotcha. Mike Ekeler: Yeah, we like to ski and wakeboard and surf, all those things. Austin Price: One fear in life you have is what? Mike Ekeler: Claustrophobic phobic. And that happened when I got an MRI, right when I was done playing and I was actually sick at the time, and you have to stay in that machine and it's like being in a coffin Austin Price: And Mike Ekeler: You hear all the dinging. And then I had a bunch of congestion, it was running down my throat and I was like, my gosh, I felt like I was in a coffin. And so at that moment, I'd never been claustrophobic before. And now in an airplane, if there's three seats, I can't sit by the window. If there's two seats, I'm good. Three seats, nah, I'm out. Deuces. Austin Price: My dad was like that. He had a little bit of a hard deal. I had to have a stent put in, and after that he got claustrophobic. I mean, you put him in, we can be having dinner at Chili's and if we're in a booth, he's not sitting on the inside. Now, granted, I mean he could literally stand up in the booth and crawl out, but he does not go for that. He doesn't like elevators. I mean, it's a thing. He's never flown. Mike Ekeler: When you say go to Chili's, I think of Talladega Knights going to kick. Austin Price: Oh, Mike Ekeler: That's right. Okay. Yeah, let's go get kicked out of an Applebee's. Austin Price: Reese Bobby. What a guy. Now he's on NCIS. What? What's something the most people don't know about you? Mike Ekeler: Man, probably a lot. I like to read. Yeah, I like to read books and to biographies and so that's probably something that a lot of people don't realize. Austin Price: Fiction, nonfiction? No, just Mike Ekeler: Biographies. Austin Price: So you like real life stuff? Yeah. Mike Ekeler: Yeah. I like Austin Price: A history guy. Mike Ekeler: Yeah, I enjoy history, but I like a lot of sports books, to be honest. I'm not that deep. Austin Price: If you could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be? Mike Ekeler: Wow, that's really hard. Probably it'd probably be four. Probably be both sets of grandparents. I miss 'em man. Austin Price: Dude, listen to quote Stepbrothers, another Will Ferrell movie. We've just become best friends. Grandparents are the best, and people hear me talk about this all the time. Big O's got not only his grandmother, but he's got a great grandma that's still alive and grandma's are by far the best. My grandma's grandpa's, my grandfather was a barber. My other grandfather, he was a restaurant owner. And I miss the fried chicken. I miss the pork chops, the homemade french fries, all the different stuff that the pound cakes. Mike Ekeler: Oh yeah, I miss my grandma. I could do no wrong. I could have no wrong in her eyes. They're just special. I mean, they just, I love, I miss 'em. Austin Price: How long did you have 'em Mike Ekeler: Up Austin Price: Until, Mike Ekeler: Shoot? My grandma Martin passed two years ago. Austin Price: Wow. Mike Ekeler: Yeah. Austin Price: Well, I lost my last one. It'll be three Mike Ekeler: In Austin Price: February, actually, three in March. Sorry, early March. All my grandparents died in February. So the running joke with my grandmother, she was the last one. I'm like, every year I'm like, well, you just got to make it through the month of February. And she did. And literally six days later, I think it was March 6th, she passed away. So yeah, grandparents. Grandparents are the best. If you could go back and tell 15 year old Mike Eckler how this whole journey was going to happen, what do you think you'd say? Mike Ekeler: Where do I sign up? I mean, literally h and I joke about that a lot. We'll sit around and we'll be like, man, can you believe we're coaching at Tennessee? I mean, we were always like, man, if you would've told me this when I was a little kid, I would be, come on man. This is too good to be true. I mean, think about it. I mean, we're living a dream, literally. I mean, yeah. Is it hard work? Yeah. Do we get home at three 30 in the morning from Kentucky and back at work at 9:00 AM and work till 9:00 PM Yeah, that's kind of what you sign up for. I mean, it is a meat grinder this time of year and you put your head down and you go. And really what drives you as a coach is a fear of being unprepared. And so you don't even think about it. You just put your head down and you go. But back on that deal that I've had some amazing experiences in my life. I grew born and raised, as you mentioned in Nebraska, had an opportunity to go back there and coach there. It was my first full-time job back at the University of Nebraska. Roll in there. And I'll never forget roll in and walk in the stadium, it's midnight. And I'm sitting there and my grandma and Grandpa Eckler used to sit in the first row every game, never missed a game. And I used to go to every game when I was a kid and I'm sitting in there looking down where they used to sit and they had passed before. And I mean, I was just sitting there crying my eyes out to have an opportunity to go back there and experience that. And with Tom Osmond was the athletic director and all the other journey places I've been, I wouldn't change anything if some of them been jacked up. Heck yeah. I mean, if I worked with some people that maybe I didn't really enjoy at times, but I learned so much along the way and again, I wouldn't change. I wouldn't change. I mean so many different characters. I mean Ed Orson, I mean working with O and understanding him and just a different guy, right? Austin Price: Sure. Mike Ekeler: And understanding that a lot of people, in my opinion, it's just my opinion, but that guy's wired different. If you're not the best at what you do, he's going to try you and he going to freaking tear you up and spit you out and you're going to be done. But once you earn his respect and he feels like, and he knows you're the best at what you do, you're good. But it takes time. Right? Austin Price: Sure. A hundred percent. Mike Ekeler: It takes time to understand 'em too. How bet. Austin Price: You already been Mike Ekeler: In 15 schools, boy, you used to roll them ball the butcher eyes. Yeah, that's my old for you. Austin Price: When he was coming to Tennessee next time we talked to hubs, when Hubs did the interview about him coming, he literally was at dinner with his wife and he wrote it down on a napkin. He wrote down all the quotes on a napkin and then type it up many, many moons ago when Ed was coming here with Lane Mike Ekeler: For Austin Price: That 2009 season. Fantastic. Last question. We'll go out the door and I ask every show, I did ask it last week to Cooper Mays, but he had been on with Darnell last year as a tandem, and he gave his answer then Jordan or LeBron Mike Ekeler: Jordan, hands down, Austin Price: Ask your kids that. They all say LeBron. A few of 'em say Kobe G said, who do you think G said Mike Ekeler: Jordan, Austin Price: Dr. J. Mike Ekeler: Really little Julius, huh? I Austin Price: Respect that. Of course. G's cousin as Charles Barkley. Yeah. He loves to talk about Barkley. I need to get Barkley up here to talk to the team. Mike Ekeler: Mj I coached at North Carolina. Austin Price: MJ Mike Ekeler: Was around a little bit and it was pretty cool. I was at the Carolina Duke game and he comes out there and he's actually talking. Our head football coach was out there with him at halftime at mid court, and he's talking about how you quoted, he's talking about Carolina football. He said the ceiling is a roof. Think about that. Chew on that one. Austin Price: Yeah. Mike Ekeler: Yeah. And so the next day there's all over the ceiling is a Austin Price: Roof Mike Ekeler: For Carolina football. Austin Price: That's why he is the goat. Mike Ekeler: Yeah, that's Austin Price: Right. He is Mike, expert coach. We appreciate you coming out and peeling back the layers and letting us get to know you a little bit. And we'll see you over in Missouri on Saturday. Mike Ekeler: Hey, sounds awesome. Thanks for having me. Austin Price: Appreciate you.