00:00.07 SIDcast asked what that is yeah but um i was trying to rack my brain the last time you and i talked and yeah you are at college of charleston i was in my dorm room at usi like i was still in in college and now like it's been i don't even know how many years but like 00:19.75 SIDcast like a lot changed obviously we live in michigan now so we live in metro detroit um that was brought here by jobs um ah had I was an assistant AD at NAI school, then I moved to D1 and did did Oakland. 00:32.77 SIDcast um And then I was recruited to come over to to an n NIL agency. And then, like I told you, laid off um yeah a little over a month ago. So yeah, a lot has changed since we last spoke. 00:45.40 SIDcast i should I should probably look that up real quick. How many years ago that was? I don't even know if you want to know, but I'm going to look it up anyway. 00:52.27 Marlene Navor It has to be. don't 00:57.59 Marlene Navor know if it was my last year at Charleston or not, but you know, it's crazy. i you know, you went to USI, so that's Southern Indiana, right? 01:05.91 SIDcast Yeah. 01:06.45 Marlene Navor Yeah. 01:06.65 SIDcast yeah hey 01:06.65 Marlene Navor That's coach Pearl's, uh, Previous stops. i be prepared A lot of schools. 01:10.20 SIDcast Yeah. 01:11.55 Marlene Navor That's where he began his career. His coaching career. So it's crazy. Well, my first... 01:16.25 SIDcast Yeah. There's some people I just look. Yeah. It's pretty awesome. I actually really liked that, that they did that. um I think it does a lot for that universe in particular. Like if you ever, you should convince Bruce to go back and play an away game at USI. 01:34.75 Marlene Navor they my part 01:35.01 SIDcast and just see what he thinks. 01:36.88 Marlene Navor my My first year, we played them um in exhibition because Coach Stan Gerrard is one of his former players as the head coach there. 01:39.79 SIDcast Mm-hmm. 01:44.24 SIDcast Mm-hmm. 01:45.16 Marlene Navor And I think it was Stan at the Final Four. 01:45.70 SIDcast Yep. 01:47.15 Marlene Navor He had come there. So, um you know, i like I know a lot more about the school because of Coach and and the ties to the university there. And I think, oh, shoot, I forgot if there's like a place, like a restaurant or a bar in town that has like a seat, like with his name on it. 02:04.71 SIDcast Oh, Nate, probably. Yeah, it's probably on the west side somewhere. 02:08.13 Marlene Navor Yeah. 02:08.36 SIDcast um i was I didn't really when I was in college. i never my I was always the designated driver for my wife and her friends and everything. So there probably is, and i would probably she probably would have frequented it and have no idea that but that was him. 02:21.99 Marlene Navor Mm-hmm. 02:23.92 SIDcast Even like when I was in the Horizon League, some of the staff would talk about him being at Milwaukee. you know, um they would always bring that up. And every single time, and you know, when we were on long bus rides from Milwaukee or Green Bay, you know, we would have games on the TV and it was always Auburn was the priority to watch. 02:41.65 SIDcast Yeah. 02:42.65 Marlene Navor That's so cool. 02:42.97 SIDcast So. 02:43.49 Marlene Navor Yeah, like I said, ah because ah of my four years here, i I've gotten to know a lot of people at all of Coach's different stops because we've done interviews with them. 02:44.33 SIDcast Yeah. 02:52.28 Marlene Navor so um And then he remembers, the the best thing about Coach Burrell is he remembers people and their names, which is amazing to me that he knows so much. And, you know, obviously he's met so many people in his life that he can remember ah things like that. 03:06.29 SIDcast Mm-hmm. 03:07.87 Marlene Navor So um that's cool, the connection. 03:11.19 SIDcast Does he have a system that he remembers, or does he just have a really good memory? 03:14.93 Marlene Navor He just has a really good memory. I never asked him about a system, but yeah, i I'll say this to, um you know, the late Lawrence fan who was the San Jose State SID that did job seekers committee and things. 03:23.38 SIDcast Mm-hmm. 03:26.77 Marlene Navor When Lawrence had passed, I believe that was my first year at Auburn. and You know, coach had seen that I had tweeted about, you know, Lawrence passing and how it affected me because, you know, he was one of my mentors and somebody I looked up to. 03:39.26 Marlene Navor And he called me and and it was a game day too. I forgot who we were playing that day. And coach called me, um you know, while we all went home after pregame, you know, shoot around and pregame meal and called me to say, you know, Hey, I knew him. 03:50.32 SIDcast Thanks. 03:54.38 Marlene Navor you know, i remember him um because coach was an assistant coach at Stanford um at the time. And, and I just thought that meant so much, you know, that, like I said, coach remembers a lot of people in their names and for him to call me because they you know, he and his son just knew from the way I was tweeting um how upset I was that day. And I couldn't stop crying actually um during our game as well, because it really just happened. The news had just happened there, but just, that's just something that stood out to me that, you know, someone like Lawrence, well, Lawrence was always a, you know, um he always stood out though. 04:32.03 Marlene Navor And he 04:33.25 SIDcast I've met him i met him twice and I remember him very vividly. 04:33.10 Marlene Navor i mean Right. And his personality, you know, it stands out and the kind of person he was and and the things that he did um during his time um in in his career in in San Jose State that, you know, he always stood out, you know, between, you know, him baking his fan cakes. 04:36.41 SIDcast yeah 04:52.89 Marlene Navor um I never got to enjoy one of those, but, you know, to the media and, you SIDs and things like that. So, um you know, just, you know, i wouldn't be here um in my career because Lawrence was a big part of it, of um getting me involved and and job seekers. And as far as when a job was open, you know, and he thought it if fit well for my experience and and things like that, that, you know, Lawrence was a major part of where I am today. 05:24.02 SIDcast Yeah, I think there have been very few people that ever turned me down for an interview, and Lawrence was one of them. And his reason was there's just so many other so so many other people you could be speaking with. And he gave me a whole list of people. I remember that. It was but years ago, but I remember that. He was like, don't speak to me, speak to these people. 05:43.57 SIDcast And I did. So, yeah, I mean, it's that's great about Coach Pearl, though, yeah because I feel like, 05:52.83 SIDcast I feel like sometimes with staffs, there might be, you know, because I would have had staffs in the past that would have not even bothered, you know, to to take the extra step just to say, like, are you all right? Like, or just, you know, have someone to talk to. I think that's really special about Coach Pearl. 06:11.42 Marlene Navor Yeah, then that's the thing. ah and A lot of people, you know especially Illinois fans, they can't get over his days at Iowa. 06:18.49 SIDcast Yeah. 06:20.21 Marlene Navor But i just that man really cares about people. And and like I said, that was one of my that was my first year at Auburn with the program. And I didn't you know tell anyone about it, you know like I said. It's just because I think they saw me retweet. 06:36.09 Marlene Navor I think ah the San Jose State post. And then I might've liked everything that night of anybody being tribute to him. 06:42.00 SIDcast Oh, yeah. 06:43.26 Marlene Navor And it might've went on his feet cause he's very active. And, and I, like I said, I remember though, that I couldn't hold back tears during the game. And you know, it's crazy. 06:53.76 Marlene Navor Maybe it was USI. I just don't remember who we played. 06:57.45 SIDcast It was in November. It was in November. 06:59.21 Marlene Navor Yes. It could be that we played USI because they were our exhibition game that my first year. 07:00.85 SIDcast Yeah. 07:05.65 Marlene Navor And so I, like I said, and he coach had pet um some of his former players like Stan coach Stan that's there currently there um in the stands and it was such a special game. And then, you know, they did a ah picture on the video board of their championship, the national championship team as well. So, um but yeah, no, I've been fortunate in my career that I've worked with really great coaches and staff and student athletes. So, 07:34.60 Marlene Navor that, you know, and as you know, to being with your teams as well, and and how much we travel um with our our teams that you really get to know them more than just co-workers and and students that are attending school. 07:51.29 Marlene Navor um it's It's your family. 07:54.34 SIDcast Yeah, i I don't take this the wrong way about Auburn basketball, but sometimes, sometimes when I was working in athletic communications, okay, I was in a bubble. 08:07.12 SIDcast form from, and I was men's basketball contact and I was in a bubble from basically October so mid-March. And all of a sudden I'd come out and this was years ago when this happened. So all of a sudden I come out of this fog and it's like softball season. I'm outside. It's not, well it's still cold up here, but I'm outside. And all of a sudden Auburn is good at basketball. 08:30.52 SIDcast And I didn't know years ago, i was like, when the hell did that happen? So, um yeah, i always it was always funny to me. There was always something like that. This last year was a little bit different considering, you know, like I don't work per se in athletics still, but there was always one team that kind of came out just of the blue almost for me because I never paid attention to anybody else other than my team. 08:54.50 SIDcast But Auburn was always my – I hate to say it was always my joke. 08:58.76 Marlene Navor I assume, is it Louisville behind you? 09:01.91 SIDcast Yeah. 09:02.95 Marlene Navor So Louisville's your team? 09:03.49 SIDcast Yeah. 09:03.82 Marlene Navor Thank you. 09:05.78 SIDcast Louisville. I worked in Indiana after I met with you in 2017. So which I looked it up. That was the last time we talked. So we're we're damn near 10 years almost since we spoke last. Yeah. 09:20.54 SIDcast So I worked in Indiana after that. I was there um with what's his face. He's at Rhode Island now, Archie Miller. And then they they had, um, 09:33.31 SIDcast They just hired someone new. I think they're trying to do the, the Kurt Signetti thing, but on the basketball side. So, but yeah, Louisville, I grew up Louisville fan. Yeah. 09:42.37 Marlene Navor So it's crazy because Coach Kelsey, I worked with him a couple of months before I left Charleston. And he's been, you know, and I knew he would um bring that program back. 09:53.66 SIDcast I love him. 09:53.60 Marlene Navor ah 09:54.68 SIDcast Yeah. 09:54.75 Marlene Navor Yeah. 09:54.96 SIDcast Personally. 09:55.43 Marlene Navor It's crazy because, um you know, we were – um You know, Charleston was playing in the same regional in Spokane two years ago when we were shipped out back to my home state. 10:08.41 Marlene Navor ah Obviously, we lost to Yale, um and Charleston was playing Alabama um in the next game. But I remember, you know, speaking with Coach Kelsey and some of his assistants, even though, you know, we only spent a couple months together, um that man just knows how to market his team and um his program and get people on board and the energy level. 10:30.12 Marlene Navor And so when he went to Louisville, you know, i knew he and his staff would build, you know, the same thing that they did at Charleston in their short time there. And yeah. um And then we were in the same site this past year when we played up in Lexington. 10:46.63 Marlene Navor um You know, Louisville was playing Creighton, who we ended up playing in the second round. 10:52.07 SIDcast Yeah. Yeah. 10:54.63 Marlene Navor And so I really didn't get to see Coach Kelsey. I just saw some of the assistant coaches in the hallway. um but I you know I was i actually was rooting for them um against Creighton and they had a great although Louisville fans were packed there in Rupp Arena um so I don't think we would have wanted to play Louisville in the next game um because they had all their fans um and I'm sure Kentucky no Kentucky fans probably would have rooted for us possibly I don't know I think people were debating 11:20.07 SIDcast yeah 11:24.00 SIDcast Oh, definitely. so So it's a it's a biblical experience to watch one of those two teams play. Unfortunately, unfortunately unfortunately i have seen those two teams play each other in the tournament. 11:36.76 SIDcast And they can get nasty because I was in high school and I took my little brother and we saw the first game. was in Indianapolis and it was a ah it was a second round game. I think because you're going to Sweet 16 next. 11:50.77 SIDcast It was Michigan-Tennessee and then it was Kentucky-Louisville. And I was done, you know, me and my brother were, my brother doesn't like sports. Sorry, Max. I don't even know if you listen to this, bro. um You know, black and red, you know, sit down there and the instant, these guys were drunk before they already got here. 12:08.24 SIDcast And they just proceeded to just say terrible things to a high school kid about it. So yeah, I don't know if you would have wanted to listen to that at all, first thing. 12:18.37 Marlene Navor well they kind of were they were getting at us though because we would peek um outside um to see how the game was going because we're the game after and some of the louisville fans were saying you know stuff to our guys and things like that so um 12:33.31 SIDcast Isn't it like wild to you? Because even when I was at Oakland, I had Jamal Kaine. He's my one and only NBA guy. Okay. I have a few MLS, but he's my one and only NBA. 12:44.60 SIDcast And there was one time after a game, like he was averaging, he was the only player in the league to average, you know, a double-double. um and he was averaging something to the effect of like 22 points a game and then 10 rebounds, and like barely 10 rebounds. 12:58.06 SIDcast But he showed me one time his DMs after a loss and after a game to where he scored maybe 16, 15 or 16 points, and he showed me his DMs. And it's weird to me how grown men in particular can put so much blood pressure into what a 22-year-old kid is doing. 13:21.21 SIDcast That's strange to me. Why are you mad at him for losing the money that you already worked hard for? Like that's, that's what gambling is. There's no need to tell him to go do something to himself. You know, that's weird to me. 13:32.35 Marlene Navor Yeah, you know, um that was kind of my advice this year to the guys um because we were number one and had, you know, more attention on us probably more so. And I'm i'm so grateful our freshmen, one of our freshman point guards during March Madness, I'm like, I think I was telling the older guys, you know, hey, you guys need to probably just ignore it um right now, you know, have thicker skin because, you know, these are people that, 14:02.83 Marlene Navor just like to do this stuff. They like to troll. And, and I remember to hot Pettiford, our freshmen was like, I'm not even on social Marlene. So I don't, I don't even know what, you know, people are saying, I'm like, great. I'm so glad that you aren't on there. 14:16.50 Marlene Navor And so you won't even have to worry about what, you know, people are saying. And it's just brutal. 14:21.22 SIDcast what could be said. 14:22.78 Marlene Navor I really wish there was a better way, you know, and I get it. 14:23.21 SIDcast Yeah. 14:25.46 Marlene Navor Cause you know, our kids and our, our staff, they're in the spotlight and, you know, but I don't think that's fair, even to celebrities too, of what they go through, you know, movie stars, whatnot, that I just, and I've gone after trolls and I probably got in trouble for doing so, you know, like I got fed up last summer of, of somebody kind of trolling and, and went after them and maybe it was unprofessional, but like at some point though, that, 14:41.39 SIDcast Yeah. 14:53.29 Marlene Navor it's wrong. I mean, especially don't like it when you don't take ownership, like it's not the real person, it's a fake picture, you know, what those kinds of accounts. 15:00.18 SIDcast Yeah. 15:02.73 Marlene Navor I'm like, you know, if you really want to say these things, you need to say it with your, you know, real person who you are and stand behind it, you know? And that's what frustrates me with, with social um when it's, you know, people like that attacking our players and our coaches you know, that normally wouldn't say it in person, you know, if, you know, they were there in front of you, like you're they're hiding behind these accounts. 15:19.73 SIDcast yeah 15:27.71 Marlene Navor And if you are, you need to back it up and, and be who you are, but they know it's because they probably could lose their job or, you know, get doxxed or whatever it may be. 15:33.15 SIDcast Yeah. 15:38.07 Marlene Navor So then why would you say it then? You know, if you thought you could risk losing your job or your reputation, I just, it's gotten out of hand, but I'm glad that there are student athletes like that. 15:49.13 Marlene Navor that, you know, turn it off, um you know, and don't get involved in all of it. 15:56.06 SIDcast Yeah. I also like the the same goes even for the student athletes too. Cause like I used to have a football team with, when was at Madonna and every year I would, I would talk to them just kind of as a welcome back thing. 16:10.90 SIDcast And I would be like, Hey, I i monitor your social media. Like I look at it. Like if if you're saying something, I'm going to find it. Like um and ah my, ah my thing was always like, 16:23.32 SIDcast if I made you, if I printed off your tweet or I printed off your Snapchat or whatever it is, if I printed it off and I would call you into my office, would you have said that to my face? Or would you have, you know, just anything to anybody, or would you have said it to your mom's face? 16:36.20 SIDcast You know, like the same, same goes for them too. Cause I feel like even with the new stuff kind of coming out, but like, and I think Oklahoma has like said that this isn't real, but like John Matiers leaks about his Venmo transactions on sports betting. 16:52.99 SIDcast You know, like there's there's a there's a level here of like, we got rein the stupidity in because there's just so much like everybody's watching now. You can't get away with this at all. 17:05.58 Marlene Navor Yeah, i am I'm glad the SEC this past year, it was, we did it reporting. 17:06.09 SIDcast Don't. 17:11.42 Marlene Navor Like, so football, it started with football and then basketball started where we had to, you know, do our injury report one the night before and the morning of. So I feel like that helped as far as people, you know, trying to figure out what's going on. 17:24.35 SIDcast Hmm. 17:26.63 Marlene Navor And, um you know, I know the NCAA as well is doing things like that, but, or monitoring, but like, Even during March Madness this year, they had asked us to input all of our kids' handles for all their different social media accounts before the training started so they could monitor it. 17:42.75 SIDcast no 17:46.08 Marlene Navor So this was the first year that ever asked us to do that. And even down to the walk-ons, you know, just everybody involved um adding. And I don't, I never really, um you know, got a complaint, I guess, of nobody from the NCAA, you know, 18:02.11 Marlene Navor got back to any of us or for myself of anything that they may have seen. But um I'm glad that was a step this past year that they started to do monitoring during March Madness. 18:13.51 SIDcast Yeah. um Speaking of social, can you confirm or deny that you have a fan club on social of Auburn fans? 18:20.49 Marlene Navor You I ah never wanted it really. 18:24.42 SIDcast Yeah. 18:24.31 Marlene Navor Our fan base, I mean, 18:25.11 SIDcast yeah 18:28.64 Marlene Navor And I've actually met a lot of them in person too, especially ones that, you know, may have a, you know, fun photo, um not their real name um that are anonymous and things. 18:39.18 Marlene Navor And, you know, the, there are wonderful people, you know, and i I'm glad. And honestly, the funny thing is I never wanted, wanted to interact with our fan base. 18:50.22 SIDcast Okay. 18:50.85 Marlene Navor It was because of my first year and, you know, coach Pearl is such a great um marketer and knows, you know, like has it in his brain of how to reach different people, you know? 19:03.17 Marlene Navor And I remember he had asked me to engage some of them, you know, DM them, contact them, uh, to help us, I guess, um, spread the word, you know, um, 19:16.58 SIDcast okay 19:17.23 Marlene Navor At the it was kind of funny. I don't really, don't know if I want to say it publicly of why, but at the time we were trying to get one of our players, he was not listed on a certain list for, I guess, newcomer of the year or whatever it may be, or most improved or best transfer. 19:33.62 SIDcast It 19:37.43 Marlene Navor And he kind of was upset about that. And he was like, Hey, Marlene, why don't you rally the Twitter army? You know, and that's, that's really how it began. I think it was my first month. 19:49.44 Marlene Navor And, you know, like I said, our player, one of our players wasn't listed on one of these lists. And then he got a moment, you know, because we had everybody go after, go after the journalists or whatever the account. 19:57.03 SIDcast worked. and work 20:03.40 Marlene Navor And why is, you know, so-and-so not on this list? So that's really where it all started it. Um, um Obviously, they've been like this before I even came to Auburn. 20:16.20 Marlene Navor And, you know, I had fun with a lot of them. And we invited them my first year. i know the coaches asked me. We had our team banquet at the end of that first year. And they're like, Marlene, why don't you invite some of the folks, you know, from Twitter to come down to our team banquet? 20:32.21 Marlene Navor You know, because we have it. It's really only invite only with our donors, our top level donors. So I chose, you know, I asked, you know, can I ask six to eight? people to come and just in case some people can't come because it's a drive for them. 20:45.80 Marlene Navor And yeah, it was crazy that they all that we chose, you know, some of our top people that really engaged with the program. 20:46.06 SIDcast Yeah. 20:54.80 Marlene Navor And they all showed up to the banquet. And that's where I met them in person. Like, you know, well, no, you know what, I forget. I did meet some of them on the road that year as well, because I might have like, 21:05.99 Marlene Navor gotten them tickets or whatnot. um But, and then they got to meet all the guys and then, you know, but taking pictures with them after and like, hey, I'm so-and-so. And they're like, oh yeah, I but like you know It's so funny that um that's really how it started. 21:25.33 Marlene Navor um you know i think I think in our roles, I know you know our roles have expanded. We should be just dealing with the media, but that's not the case anymore. We have so many other stakeholders that we have to like get back to and respond to. 21:40.15 Marlene Navor So I always thought it was more of a customer service of, you know, interacting with the fans because obviously our fan base can help spread the word for us, you know, ah in a good way. 21:53.97 SIDcast Yeah. Naturally. 21:55.15 Marlene Navor Cause most of them want you want to do that for Auburn, you know, and I get it that there are the negative folks out there, for but for the most part, all of our fans love Auburn, want it to do well. 22:07.28 Marlene Navor And there's really, you know, unless there's some Alabama, you know, they get into it a lot with the Alabama fans online. 22:14.15 SIDcast naturally 22:14.98 Marlene Navor But just, yeah, it just was never, that was never supposed to happen. And I'm very grateful to everyone I've met um here. um it It made my experience special ah to have the crazy Auburn Twitter following behind us. 22:32.43 SIDcast Yeah, I was wondering if you were, you were you know, Auburn demigod status or not. But that's that's pretty interesting. You know, it's funny that you say that because because I'm sitting here and I'm going to be honest with you. 22:44.62 SIDcast And, you know, my, I'm still young, I'm 30. But like in my youth, you know, i I might not have engaged with anybody for that. I thought that there was, maybe there might be a stigma behind some of these, you know, super fan accounts that, you 23:03.03 SIDcast that they might be, you know, a little overzealous. 23:05.21 Marlene Navor Thank you. 23:05.52 SIDcast They might, they might do a little bit more harm, but but you guys seem to have a lot more trust in that. and And I like how you put it, that it's more of a customer service than it is, you know, you're just dealing with something, you know, you're just, you're just taking it. 23:19.30 SIDcast So like when I was at Oakland, we we would have super fan accounts, but it was like three of them. And I could, you know They were there every single game and they had a seat on the media row every single game because there was only three people that applied for credential that year. 23:32.06 SIDcast um But you know we your fans I guess your fans are hungry and you're feeding them. And that's a good thing, obviously. And you're using it and they're kind of going out weaponizing Auburn fandom on their own too. 23:46.08 SIDcast And they're informed in their own way as well with the access. 23:49.24 Marlene Navor Some of them know things before I even know you know. 23:50.07 SIDcast That's pretty cool. 23:52.29 Marlene Navor It's just kind of crazy, um especially recruiting um and things like that. um But like I said, it's a you know last football season, i I kind of did more. 24:03.33 Marlene Navor you know We're expected to work all home games in our office, no matter unless we have like our own games that we have to travel or be at. 24:09.17 SIDcast Yeah. 24:10.69 Marlene Navor And I remember we were waiting um for Chick-fil-A to be delivered um for the press box for our media meal. And so I'm outside at one of the security gates waiting with some of my coworkers and our students. 24:24.08 Marlene Navor And I see one of our best, you know, Auburn Twitter personalities, because I know what he looks like. And he was with his family. And I'm like, hey, like, you know, and so we're interacting. And then I ran into somebody else while we're still waiting for Chick-fil-A to be delivered. 24:39.25 Marlene Navor And they're are like, you know so many people. And I'm like, well, you just don't know. 24:43.82 SIDcast Thank you. 24:44.41 Marlene Navor Those are Auburn Twitter people that are anonymous that no one knows what they look like except for me and a couple other people. So they just were amazed that, you know I'm standing out there and they're just random people walking by. 24:55.73 Marlene Navor And I'm like, hey, you know, so it's if I'm not going to give up their identity or anything. But that's just... like It's been funny that that's the way I've i've met fans through through Twitter. And even we have a thing called Tiger Walk um that we do every game. and Especially like football, it's you know part of the ceremony, pregame ceremony. And for basketball, it it began um just because obviously our popularity. I mean, those were that's something that sticks out to me is that how many fans come on the road to see us because it's hard to get a ticket at home because we're sold out every game. 25:31.22 Marlene Navor And the fans that would meet us at the hotel to line up for Tiger Walk to send us off to the game on the road. And it was like, we it was crazy. Like, it was like, I always say to coach, like, it's like, you know, kids don't know what who this is, but like the Beatles, like people are literally at the hotel, they're lined up from the elevator to the bus. um And it's, but you know, I feel bad for any regular hotel person staying at the hotel where we're at Like what the heck is going on? 26:01.76 SIDcast They just don't care. Yeah. 26:03.28 Marlene Navor You know, and you can't move. 26:04.48 SIDcast Yeah. 26:05.02 Marlene Navor You can't. And then it is crazy because our fans are also cheering for people that are just walking down through that are normal, you know, people. And that's how crazy, you know, Auburn basketball has become and what coach Pearl has built here um on the plains that, and and that's because, you know, coach is a great ambassador, not for just the program and the department, but, 26:28.64 Marlene Navor the whole university that in his personality as well as to reach as many people as he can. And he gets back to, i mean, shit. Oh shoot. Oh, I'm cussing. um He has lots of emails and texts and phone calls and he still gets back to people, which is crazy to me of, of the amount of people that reach out to him. And even if it's, you know, a text message for a birthday, um ah yeah he does his outlive cancer um initiative through his foundation. 26:57.99 Marlene Navor that he'll send ah ah cancer a video to a cancer patient as well to you know keep continuing to fight. And so i am you know I think that's where, it like you said, you didn't know Auburn basketball existed in the past. 27:12.25 Marlene Navor I mean, honestly, although my teams in the past had played Auburn, you know at Charleston we played Auburn twice um with the previous staff, but it didn't never never stood out and it's just crazy 27:13.15 SIDcast Yeah. 27:19.03 SIDcast yeah 27:26.56 Marlene Navor how in the four years that I've been here of, you know, it's the best in program history ah of the times that I've been here. So I'm sorry I went on a tangent, but just, it's crazy to see how it's grown, you know, that it's at the level of Kentucky basketball in the SEC, you know, um and Kentucky is still the standard in this league as well. 27:44.23 SIDcast Yeah. 27:49.36 Marlene Navor And, you know, coach Pope's actually, you know, doing a great job there as well. 27:54.87 SIDcast Yeah. 27:55.77 Marlene Navor So. 27:57.42 SIDcast What is your trust in the fan base and your openness and willingness to meet with them and bring them on, give them access? What does that do for others in your department? 28:06.70 Marlene Navor um Well, Coach has its open practice, so it's open to anybody if they know what our schedule is. um know So fans, donors, students, any alumni, anyone's welcome. Media. 28:22.14 Marlene Navor Now, the media note, um you know the policy of you know whatever you're seeing, it's not from the message boards or reporting and things like that. So that's the thing that they've never stopped since they've been here. 28:36.96 Marlene Navor of having it because he never wanted to change it because, you know, obviously he did it to draw people to cover the program. And now that we're, you know, so much, you know, popular and and at a high elite level, he didn't want to change that. 28:44.82 SIDcast Yeah. 28:50.99 Marlene Navor Cause I, I tried to convince him actually, cause I, you know, it's harder nowadays with, with um Twitter. I'm sorry, it's X now on all the social and message boards, you know, that you can't hide things like, especially players are injured. 29:07.17 Marlene Navor or things that may happen at practice. So, but for the most part, people respect coach, you know, fans, media of if they're, if he's going to allow access that they're going to respect the rules that we have. 29:20.78 Marlene Navor and and And honestly, in my four years, there really has only been maybe twice the rules have been broken by our media that cover us. 29:21.34 SIDcast yeah 29:28.18 Marlene Navor So, um so yeah, I think that access helps us, but it obviously in our profession, it's hard because it's hard to contain information, especially when it comes to injuries and maybe disciplinary things within the team. 29:44.54 SIDcast Yeah. Yeah. There have been times to where, I think you said this earlier, there have been times to where um I'll be at a game and a media would come up to me. media. um I'm keeping it in. A media came up to me and just said like, hey, how is so-and-so feeling with his knee? 30:01.39 SIDcast And um I was at practice every day. Like that was my my break in the day. i would go in and I had no idea that so-and-so so hurt his knee during that time i like How did you know that before I did? 30:14.12 SIDcast So I'm sure there's, there's absolutely people like that in trench with y'all, but I kind want go back to just um the league a little bit here. Cause, cause it's definitely become somewhat of a, of a new standard of college basketball. And I would, I would, you know, you always have your blue bloods, what everybody says, right. 30:36.12 SIDcast But those blue bloods, especially, and I'm happy as Kentucky too. Sorry y'all. Um, those blue bloods have kind of pretty well been dethroned by an orange and a red and some other, the new bloods. 30:47.86 Marlene Navor Yeah, the new bloods. We're one of the new bloods. 30:51.58 SIDcast That's not what it's called. Is that what they you call yourselves? 30:54.11 Marlene Navor no or No, it's just something that I think that in the media that they called us one of the new bloods. 30:59.66 SIDcast Yeah. But talk to me about kind of, managing this, this, or just being involved in this new era. 31:11.31 SIDcast ah And something that, as we just mentioned, is is starting to become kind of this new movement of new blood within this sport and and how you're navigating that um as this league continues to just get deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper. Apparently Mississippi state was ranked as one. 31:28.48 SIDcast I don't know who's good anymore. I just kind of watch the games and go. So what does that look like? 31:32.56 Marlene Navor Yeah, we had probably one. 31:34.00 SIDcast and what does that feel like for you? 31:33.93 Marlene Navor yeah We obviously had the most teams ever in league history to advance to March Madness. Obviously, we had ah multiple teams in the top 25 this past season. and And, you know, um Kentucky will always be, you know, they have a large following. It's it's kind of the game you know on the calendar, no matter what, you know, it could because you know it's, you know, tickets are going to be sold out. 31:58.60 Marlene Navor Media, there's going be more media that want to attend and cover And they obviously have a very large media base that covers them. So I would say, you know, for Auburn and, you know, Florida and and Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, probably with Cal there are too. So those are like teams there that have large media that that cover them and and on a national scale. And then it's due to because of the coaches that are coaching these teams. 32:31.06 Marlene Navor you know, Rick Barnes, John Calipari, you know, Bruce Pearl, you have these high profile coaches that actually do a lot of media as well. 32:31.84 SIDcast have to. 32:40.08 SIDcast yeah 32:40.49 Marlene Navor and 32:40.92 SIDcast you have to 32:41.09 Marlene Navor ah And do a lot of non-traditional media as well. You know, their their personalities, you know, um tend to get more people interested outside of sports as well. 32:52.41 Marlene Navor And so, um you know, obviously it's the best league in the country this past year. And obviously it showed with two teams in the Final Four, yeah, Florida, Florida was just really good. 33:04.01 Marlene Navor I mean, they didn't lose after they beat upset us at home, which is a crazy run, you know, and um sorry, that was my security run, but um it's just, it's just crazy that, you know, coach Pearl talks about, even when he was at Tennessee and, and, you know, what the commissioner, the commissioners have built, you know, 33:08.88 SIDcast Yeah. oh 33:15.08 SIDcast You're right. 33:29.18 Marlene Navor and with the eighties had built the emphasis on not just football that, you know, men's basketball and women's basketball too. Shoot. It's a hard league on the women's side as well, up and down, but you know, that they put more resources into not just football in this league. 33:45.19 Marlene Navor I mean, although Auburn, I mean, we're, we call ourselves in everything school cause we're really good at it most, you know, pretty much every sport, but just it's, it's, you know, I grew up watching the ACC. 33:52.39 SIDcast Yeah. 33:56.69 Marlene Navor I grew up watching the pack. 12, it was Pac-10 back then. And then I also, my first job and out of college was in the Big East at UConn, you know, when it was at its, you know, highest level of competition in the Big East. 34:10.00 Marlene Navor And, you know, I'm sorry about the alarm. It's probably going to go. 34:14.35 SIDcast It's all right. she's She's afraid of that noise too, so she's shaking like a leaf. 34:18.88 Marlene Navor Oh, no. 34:19.10 SIDcast Yeah. 34:20.10 Marlene Navor I wonder if I can disarm it. 34:20.90 SIDcast She's all right. It's all 34:21.89 Marlene Navor But, um, But yeah, no, it's like even my coworkers in the leagues, like my friends and colleagues that, you know, it's just how good, you know, every game, no matter if you were playing the team that was in last place, anybody could beat you, you know? 34:39.30 SIDcast Yeah. 34:39.27 Marlene Navor And it was just like, I felt bad for some of the teams, you know, I think South Carolina this past year. I mean, they were really good, you know? And it's just that, 34:48.46 SIDcast Exactly. And what sucks is that like sometimes I don't make, you know, whenever go out, I'm just going to use this as an example. Sometimes, you know, before prior to being pregnant, you know, my wife and i would go a winery and we would have four things. They were all excellent, but it's like, someone's got to be last. 35:06.37 SIDcast Right. It's the same thing. Yeah. 35:09.49 Marlene Navor Right. And so like, and I'm going to go outside actually. I'm sorry. 35:13.51 SIDcast Sure. That's all right. Let me pause it real quick. Okay. So you don't have to 35:17.10 Marlene Navor Um, that's nice about right now. Um, yeah, it's just, I never, you know, come in Auburn, you know, I never knew, I guess that I would see that replication of, of top to bottom, like I saw in the big East. 35:35.82 Marlene Navor um the That's the old Big East, too, back almost 20, 30 years now when UConn was in the league. Or guess they are still now. They went back. but um And then the ACC. 35:47.69 Marlene Navor And then actually when I was in school, when the Pac-10, I mean, we had Arizona, Cal, UCLA, Stanford. 35:53.32 SIDcast Thank you. 35:55.34 Marlene Navor um Just everyone was so good that that's how it felt. Like this past year that it was on the like same level as those, you know, 36:06.28 Marlene Navor leagues at their prime that I grew up watching. 36:08.62 SIDcast yeah 36:09.85 Marlene Navor and its It was fun to be part of, too, because no game was, you know, it always came down to the wire. 36:10.42 SIDcast yeah 36:17.07 Marlene Navor There really weren't a lot of blowouts this year. um And so, the yeah, it just made it fun, and it it showed that, you know, why the SEC got so many teams in this past year, too. 36:31.54 SIDcast I think you made a point ah little bit ah but a little bit ago. I think, do you feel like coaches, when they come into these high-profile jobs at a certain level, have to be have to have more personality, such as Coach Pearl? 36:46.11 Marlene Navor Yes. And, you know, obviously that's an SID's dream too, that you want to have a coach that wants to do all these, you know, media interviews and, and out in the community, selling their program and engaging, you know, fans to want to support their program. 37:01.64 Marlene Navor Cause it's just a recipe for success, you know, because honestly, if you don't have success on the floor, you know, you're going to have to keep people invested in interest in your program, even in when you have a down year, hopefully you don't have one, but, um, 37:16.33 Marlene Navor you know, at this level, you know because your football coaches are, you know, high profile and high profile programs that it matches, you know, like I, I, there are a lot of great and coaches in this league. 37:23.22 SIDcast Mm-hmm. 37:32.17 Marlene Navor um And, you know, and coach Pearl's like not, not the only guy that, you know, came from division two or mid-major in this league. And it's awesome to see that You know, these guys work their way up to where they are now. 37:47.41 Marlene Navor And think that's one thing I appreciate with Coach is that he never forgot his Division II roots, you know, or Milwaukee, his mid-major roots. 37:55.49 SIDcast Yeah. 37:58.42 Marlene Navor And that's something if I – I guess for me it was great that I, you know, I try not to forget to. Even though I started off, you know, power at a power conference, you know, I went to mid-major – You know, i I have appreciation, just like my kids that have transferred from mid-major. You know, my my national player the year candidate, he came from Moorhead State and worked his way up, you know, to be who he was, you know, this past year and got drafted. 38:25.55 Marlene Navor And so I just love that, that that the system is there um in place, that you can, you know, start your career wherever you ever you are and make it this big, you know, to a league like this and to a job like this. 38:40.08 SIDcast Yeah, you might be one of the so I'm gonna be honest, because you might be one of the few people who have kind of appreciated the new system, the way things are with the transfer and everything. Because you're absolutely right. 38:52.75 SIDcast Yeah, it gives them a chance. 38:53.66 Marlene Navor Well, 38:54.21 SIDcast And I know that there's there's kind of give and take with it, obviously, but 38:56.94 Marlene Navor I hate it. You know, my so my former school, you know, because I go back a lot to Charleston and I, you know, hate that this is the system, you know, that these kids are getting picked up. You know, it's like a minor league baseball system. 39:09.58 Marlene Navor You know, they're working their way through the minor leagues to get to. 39:10.36 SIDcast Yeah. 39:12.82 Marlene Navor the P4. But I mean, you know, now that, you know, kids are getting paid, I mean, you can't fault kids for, you know, looking at their future and their future for their families and things, you know, and and Charleston actually, they, they pay their, 39:24.47 SIDcast Exactly. 39:28.04 Marlene Navor you know, they have NIL because basketball is their only, you know, their top sport there. So they can compete, but it's just, you know, the TV deals and being on TV yeah all the time, you know, ICC network, it it makes sense, you know, but like, I know my guys, you know, that have come through but transferring from their programs, they always are still wearing like their, their Moorhead state or whatever, and talking to their former and their teammates and still repping them. 39:40.95 SIDcast Yep. Their gear. Yeah. 39:52.69 SIDcast they're geary yeah 39:55.77 Marlene Navor You know, if they made the tournament, they're rep and insuring for them too because they don't forget where they came from. 40:02.77 SIDcast Yeah, I think it kind of goes and it's interesting because it kind of goes both ways. We were talking a little bit earlier about i went to USI University Southern Indiana, which Coach Pearl was coaching and there's still people there who remember Coach Pearl, too. 40:16.15 SIDcast And, you know, when the thought process behind moving up and OVC is they wanted more kids from the St. Louis area, the Nashville, Tennessee area. 40:26.86 SIDcast And now they're therere playing opponents in those you know respectable regions that that might be able to see to see see the school and the brand and and might consider it otherwise. 40:33.30 Marlene Navor Thank you. 40:39.97 SIDcast you know if If these kids are coming up from the Moorhead States and the College of Charleston and everything like that, you know if somebody at their current place is, the situation just isn't working too far from home, whatever, 40:53.61 SIDcast have that exposure to those mid-major programs, and that might be a little bit better for them too, just by having, you know, teammates who might've come from there. 41:01.83 Marlene Navor Right, right. That it's a you know good place to be if you want to get called up kind of in a way that they you know develop kids and things like that. 41:07.14 SIDcast Yeah. 41:10.70 Marlene Navor and you know i And I know people were talking about how March Madness wasn't as fun this year because you didn't have a lot of Cinderella's. But honestly, you did because you had kids like Florida. 41:23.17 SIDcast ah Exactly. 41:23.05 Marlene Navor You know, Clayton Jr. 41:24.58 SIDcast Yeah. 41:24.69 Marlene Navor came from Iona or you know in I believe, or wait, wasn't that right? but they were made up of kids too, that, um, we're playing for the first time ever together. 41:36.27 Marlene Navor and and that's a, you know, a great story that all those teams that were playing, those kids were all mid-major, kids mostly, or D2 kids. 41:46.61 Marlene Navor Um, you know, and that's a great story. I know I hate it too. Cause I, I miss the Cinderella stories as well in March Madness, but you know, most of the teams that made it had kids, um, 41:59.25 SIDcast yeah 41:59.60 Marlene Navor um all these different schools to have their one chatting moment you know because you know you're you're you know I used to hate it being in a one-bid league I hated it for my program my kids because it it was hard you know you work all year have a great record um you make the championship game or the semis and that's it you know a fortunate though for my teams we still went to the NIT um because we had the you know the wins and 42:01.67 SIDcast Yeah, yeah, kind of a hodgepodge. Yeah. 42:26.82 Marlene Navor you know, the power wins and the RPI are at the time or the net. um But yeah, I used to hate it um for my kids that that was it. know, you had a great year and just because you're in a one bid league, that was going to be the end And then you're you're in a power league and you may have teams under 500 still make it. 42:46.75 Marlene Navor But now I see the other end of it is when you have haveb teams in a league like the SEC this year, um maybe if they were under 500, it makes sense because it was so strong, you know, and you're playing ranked teams every week. 43:02.82 Marlene Navor and And at the time too, there were, I forget how many of us were in the top 10, but you're, you're playing top 10 teams, not even top 25, the best of the best. 43:13.24 Marlene Navor So it's, it's, some you know, and I know people talk about expanding March Madness, that some want to add more teams and some don't, you know, but I don't know. i actually think that maybe they should. 43:26.29 Marlene Navor Not a lot, but just a couple more to get some of the people that probably would have gotten an automatic in their conference championship game that they deserve to go. 43:37.89 Marlene Navor you know? 43:38.13 SIDcast yeah Um, just, it this just gave me, cause you, you mentioned that this year was kind of, everybody was like, oh, there's no real Cinderella and everything. Do you remember, which do you prefer this year or a couple years ago when every single Cinderella made the final four? it was like FAU, San Diego state, like all of them, which, which would you have preferred? 43:58.58 Marlene Navor Well, you know, I worked that final four too, because f FAU was one of the teams I worked closely with up until they lost. And then I went to UConn after um as one of my teams that I hosted. 44:11.92 Marlene Navor And i you know, that was a fun one. I, I really enjoyed that tournament. I mean, the fans showed up too, like San Diego State had a ton of people there. FAU did, you know but I think San Diego State probably had the most fans there in Houston that year. in you know Obviously, this year, you had you basically had the teams that were supposed to make it. 44:33.12 Marlene Navor you know We knew all your life. 44:33.45 SIDcast Correct. Yeah. 44:34.68 Marlene Navor For us, everybody was like, yeah, you guys going to win it all, or you're going to the Final Four. so I felt like you know this year, it was basically the best four teams that throughout the whole year. 44:46.70 Marlene Navor That's who everybody thought, and it did. You know, um so i guess I guess it just depends. Like, I think it was still exciting, though, because you did have the four best teams and in the country playing it out for who should be, you know, the final number one. 45:03.91 Marlene Navor Whereas, I guess, the Houston year, it was, you know, like, no one knew it was going to be. 45:11.60 SIDcast Yeah. yeah 45:13.10 Marlene Navor Although, you know, UConn obviously won consecutive titles and things. But, yeah. I don't know. I guess both were fun. and and Maybe it's because, you know, obviously I was involved with one of the four teams. 45:24.34 Marlene Navor um But, you know, it's crazy because who knows? you ne me You may never go back. like Like we have this these meetings, you know, before you make ah like transition meetings. So when you win in the Elite Eight or you win in the Sweet 16, you have a transition meeting before the Elite Eight game. Like, hey, if you advance, this what's going to happen to get you the Final Four. 45:46.56 Marlene Navor know, behind the scenes stuff. 45:48.73 SIDcast Right, gotcha. 45:48.64 Marlene Navor i And in the past, it used to be scary for me. Like I've been on a women's team where I've had that meeting and i'm like, oh crap, you know, my life's about to get like so crazy if we advance, you know, and that was my first time at the time. 46:03.39 Marlene Navor And then this time around, I'm like, it didn't really face me. 46:06.77 SIDcast You're a pro, yeah. 46:06.99 Marlene Navor yeah so They all like scared, like, oh no, how am I going to get through this? You know, in such a short short turnaround, you know, and um But, you know, at the final four, you meet with all the administrators, the selection committee, and they're like, hey, welcome to the final four and enjoy the moment. 46:25.82 Marlene Navor Because you never know when he could go back. Now, you know, teams like Duke, they've been there forever. You know, like, not saying that the Duke people acted any any different in these meetings. 46:31.39 SIDcast Yeah. 46:35.30 Marlene Navor But, like, I was soaking it in because you never know, like, you know, when it when it could happen again. And Coach Pearl, I think, was the same way, even though he's been to one here. That was before my time at Auburn. But, you know, i was just like, yeah, you just, it may not happen again. 46:52.26 Marlene Navor You hope it will. um And so I would hope for those teams back in, you know, 18, was that 18 or 19 in Houston? No, that was that. 47:03.38 SIDcast think it was after, um not quite sure. 47:05.38 Marlene Navor 21. No, it's 22. 47:05.80 SIDcast I remember being in my apartment. 47:05.82 Marlene Navor It was 22. And, um, twenty one no 47:08.63 SIDcast That's all I remember. 47:09.36 Marlene Navor and no it wass twenty two it was twenty two 47:11.26 SIDcast Yeah. 47:12.21 Marlene Navor and 47:12.48 SIDcast It was before yeah 47:14.57 Marlene Navor But i I still think a team like that could still make it. Because in and who you draw and how you play that day. Like, it really, truly is. And and we know that because we lost Yale in Spokane last last season. 47:33.52 Marlene Navor There ended in, and you know, I... um i was happy for it. you know I felt bad. Like I, I hated it for our team, but I was happy for y'all. was happy for the Yale SID because in the tournament, they seat you next to the other SID. 47:48.11 Marlene Navor And so I was like, I tapped him on the back, like, Hey, you know, good luck, you know, win it all kind of thing. 47:48.76 SIDcast Yes. Yeah. 47:55.43 Marlene Navor He's like, no, no, there's still time. I'm like, no, I just know, you know what mean? 47:59.29 SIDcast the 47:59.95 Marlene Navor and And it was, it's, so it's been great, you know, like, being next to the other, like Florida, when we lost to Florida, and luckily I knew, you know, Denver, the Florida SID, and I'm like, man, go win it all for us, you know, um because he is a good friend as well, that if it wasn't going to be us, then I wanted it to be them, you know, although I know the other SIDs too, for the other two schools as well, um but yeah, that's, you know, you root for 48:31.77 Marlene Navor e wrote For me, i root for my friends and colleagues in the business, too, because, you know, I really wanted it for Houston, too. Like, I know Jeff Conrad, their SID, and since they've been before, you know, and Coach Sampson is just a wonderful human being. 48:46.82 Marlene Navor I really wanted it for them, too. You know, I was bummed out for them as well. So I'm sorry I've been just talking in a tangent. 48:56.32 SIDcast That's why we have two tracks yeah on this thing. So you're perfectly fine. we know One last question as we're bumping up against time. you know Kind of going back to that, you know when you were at College of Charleston, you said that you had a bit of a fear kind of going into it. I had something similar-ish when I was at Oakland. We won the Horizon League for softball. We went to Northwestern. i was like, we're going get shelled. 49:17.32 SIDcast I know this already. um And then they tell you to pick two student athletes to meet with the broadcasters. And you think you picked the greatest two student athletes ever. And they give one word answers the whole time. But, you know, kind of going back to that fear, what is is the the remedy for that by you just kind of breathe and enjoy the moment because because you don't know when you're ever coming back to this ever again. 49:42.48 Marlene Navor You know, it's crazy. Like, I didn't enjoy it till the end. It was such a stressful year. you know, wonderful year. 49:48.61 SIDcast Okay. Yeah. yeah 49:50.47 Marlene Navor You know, we were fortunate enough to be number one for a long time this year. And we won, you know, in-season championship, the Maui Invitational. Like, I don't think I really breathe until the end. And I wish I had enjoyed them. 50:04.54 Marlene Navor and I said this on social too. Like, i I really wish I enjoyed it. So, cause I was so stressed out. Like, you know, cause it's such at a high level. um and And like I said, the CBS, like TNT, 50:17.51 Marlene Navor like they're just wonderful, like Tracy Wolfson, Grant Hill, just wonderful, Jim Mance, you know, a couple years ago, like they're just wonderful people to work with, um and not saying that all the broadcasters aren't, but just at that level in March Madness of working, they they made it fun too, like, because I think they even saw I was so serious as well, and like Marlene's going to be okay, you know, when things didn't go right, you know, like, 50:45.48 Marlene Navor or we were behind schedule to get to the press conference, you know, and I had friends there obviously working the final four other SIDs where I've been in the position of, of helping the, you know, final four SIDs. 50:57.63 Marlene Navor And they're like, Marlene, it's all right. We got you, you know, and I thank everybody too. All the, the SIDs that volunteer to work the final four every year, they made it so much seamless and, and calm me down because they're like, we got you, you know? And I think that's with anybody in our profession too. We're willing to help anybody else, but, um, 51:15.68 Marlene Navor Having those folks there, you know my boss was there to help as well. And as far as our staff, you know we obviously take more staff as we advance. So they were able to help me breathe more and enjoy the moment as much as I could ah because it was such a whirlwind experience of of travel, um meeting deadlines you know every week. We also were a CBS confidential team that we had the cb CBS crew embedded with us. 51:43.01 Marlene Navor as well that became stressful to you, but wonderful stories that came out of it. But just having to handle that as well on top of the game coverage. um We had some other documentary things happening as well with other media groups that we had signed on with. 51:59.57 Marlene Navor But just, it just, it'll be so obviously something I'll remember for the rest of my life because that was the dream, you know, was to obviously be there someday with a team and experiencing it. 52:10.83 Marlene Navor But don't think I really fully enjoyed it till after and looking back at it that I wish I had just enjoyed the moment more during instead stressing out. And I apologize. There actually were some media members like national and then some of the Florida media members. i actually knew them from the past from my days in Charleston because they were our local TV guys. 52:30.37 Marlene Navor And some of them were like, hey, Marlene, great to see you. And I just was stone faced. And like didn't say hi because I was so stressed out to keep on schedule with my my players and coaches that I didn't fully enjoy those relationships. 52:37.73 SIDcast yeah 52:44.35 Marlene Navor And I probably I i haven't reached out to some of them, um too. But, you know, hopefully they understood of the amount of stress that I was under, that it wasn't not me being not friendly. 52:55.34 Marlene Navor It was just me trying to get through ear because it's just a lot. It's fun, but it's a lot. 53:01.76 SIDcast yeah 53:02.80 Marlene Navor And i you i'm I'm grateful that I was able to experience it oh here at Auburn. 53:10.50 SIDcast Awesome. Bracket advice for everybody. Always pick your SID friends. That's clearly going to win you your bracket pool every single time. 53:18.43 Marlene Navor That's what I always tell people. 53:18.99 SIDcast So. 53:19.71 Marlene Navor Now, I'll be honest, I'm not going to call it root for Alabama. 53:24.72 SIDcast Yeah. Yeah. 53:25.36 Marlene Navor and Stephen, and you understand, because I know Stephen probably wouldn't be rude for me either. But... um 53:30.02 SIDcast yeah 53:30.69 Marlene Navor But just, yeah, it's, or Washington. I probably wouldn't root for Washington. That's my rival, my my alma mater's rival, too. But just, you know, you always want the best. And that's the thing. Like, I got messages from a lot of people around the country as well, which was nice, too, that, you know, and I did that, too, probably when, you know, I had friends that were in it as well. 53:53.29 Marlene Navor Like, good luck, or or even made the tournament. um you know, enjoy the ride, you know, enjoy it because, you know, there's only so many teams that make it a year um and you never know when you're going back again. So, but I'm glad i you know, did you work with coach Greg at Oakland? 54:13.18 SIDcast Yeah, Campy. Yeah. 54:14.11 Marlene Navor Yeah, that's when I coached it. 54:15.12 SIDcast Yeah. If you do you really want to make this. So let's let's do this because because you swore earlier. So let's really make this an E rating right right next to the podcast. i You know, the first thing Campy ever said to me was three words. 54:26.15 Marlene Navor oh 54:28.07 SIDcast OK, so I resigned from Adana, which is an NAI school here in Metro Detroit. This story is for everybody. OK, and if you have little ones in your car. Be advised. So I resigned from Madonna. 54:39.97 SIDcast I finished our home basketball invitation on a Saturday. Okay. The very last opponent I worked with was Mount Vernon Nazarene University. And if y'all know where that is, congrats. You get all the money in my wallet, which isn't like a whole lot of money. 54:54.24 SIDcast That Tuesday was my first ever game because I was in the middle of the season. That Tuesday was my first ever game where the Detroit Pistons play at Little Caesars Arena against Michigan State. 55:06.10 SIDcast So clearly, yeah, clearly two of the same kind of programs that that I was like playing against, I guess. And I go down there and I walk on the floor, I shake Campy's hand and he gestures up to the the arena and he looks at me and he goes, don't fuck up. 55:23.28 SIDcast And then he walks away. Yeah. 55:26.95 Marlene Navor I've heard stories about him. Obviously, Coach knows him well. And I'm like, man, that guy's a character. I love it. And I love watching his interviews with Izzo. I think their combined interview that they did. 55:36.63 SIDcast They're best friends. 55:37.49 Marlene Navor Yeah. 55:37.85 SIDcast Yeah. 55:38.05 Marlene Navor it's And I hate that, you know, we beat Michigan State because I like Coach Izzo. as well, but just, those are just the good guys. Like, that's what I appreciate. we You know, you're fortunate. 55:48.84 Marlene Navor I've been fortunate too to work with coaches like that because like I like coaches that are going to tell you the truth and be honest and be and be who they are. 55:55.62 SIDcast Oh, yeah. 55:57.64 Marlene Navor They're not going to hide who who they are, you know, and and they usually treat you the best too. The guys that are going to be like that or women. There's women too. I've had women's coaches as well, but um man, you you were lucky to 56:09.89 SIDcast Oh yeah. 56:12.29 Marlene Navor to work with a legend, you know, i see his names, you know, cause he's coach pearls right behind him and wins a career wins. And it just, man, it's going to be a sad day too. When, you know, guys like Izzo and, you know, it started already, you know, all the, all the the good guys are that have been coaching a long time are retiring. 56:32.21 Marlene Navor And I hope the new wave of coaches, I hope the new wave of coaches follow the lead of these, these, you know, 56:32.69 SIDcast Yeah. New Bloods. 56:39.38 Marlene Navor guys that came before them and how they treated people, treated the media, treated fans and, and their staff, you know, like those are the guys. And I've been fortunate, like coach Pearl's not the only one, you know, that I've been fortunate to work with um that have done so. And they just keep it real. 56:59.23 Marlene Navor I think that's the biggest athletics is that if you keep it real, you know, you're going to get the best out of people, you know, that, 57:00.03 SIDcast yeah 57:07.96 Marlene Navor Truly, people are going jump on board to be with you and and follow your lead on on things. And I think that's this why there's success with all the programs that I've been with. 57:18.74 SIDcast Yeah, absolutely. There's something that, especially during this time to where there's a lot of uncertainty with myself and my household. you know, there was one time i and I still this is probably the only thing I remember with Campy. 57:31.09 SIDcast And there was one time I went down. It was after a particularly bad loss. OK, there was there was a lot of media. There was a lot of people upset on social blah, blah, blah, blah. And I went down to go get him at the locker room. 57:42.53 SIDcast And I said, like, do you still want to do this press conference? Because we were the only only program on campus that did a press conference. You know, we we did it every once in a while with women's basketball, depending on who you're playing, who was showing up, bla blah, blah, blah. 57:53.59 SIDcast So I went down and I said, do you still want to do this? And he took the stat sheet from me and he goes, I'm not a coward. And he started walking toward the, walking toward the the press conference room. So yeah, yeahre we're going to lose, we're going to lose some great ones. that I absolutely hope that this new blood coming through is a, 58:11.26 SIDcast gonna be the same way and keep it around but Marlene thank you very much it only took eight years for you to come back for part two so I very much appreciate you coming on for anybody new listening or perhaps some old listeners who are thrilled that this is back how can they get in contact with you 58:29.88 Marlene Navor Well, obviously, I'm on Twitter at 58:35.62 Marlene Navor at Marlene Navor. um i do check my DMs on that. That's probably my most public way. And then obviously my email address, which is public as well. So, um you know, i love I love talking to young people and people that are interested in our business. And, you know, even those that have been in our business too. 58:57.08 Marlene Navor Any way I can help, please reach out. 59:00.22 SIDcast Awesome. Thank you very much for coming on once again to SIBCast. 59:04.76 Marlene Navor Right. Thanks, David.