Boomo Bugg Show 081026 (UNA Media Day w/ cohost Benjamin Ray)

[0:00] Now, get ready to roll, Shoals, Decatur, Athens and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tide, Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, the score. And welcome into the Boomo Bugg Show. Brett Beaird in for Harold Bugg. Boomo Bugg is going to be joining us again tomorrow, but we are absolutely delighted to be hosting UNA Media Days for 2026. And my partner in crime today is going to be the voice of the UNA Lions, Benjamin Ray.

B.R., welcome into the show today, buddy. I look forward to an entertaining two hours. Man, it is always an honor to be with you, B.B. We always appreciate you coming out here for Media Day. I mean, you guys have been coming out to Media Day for a long time. It feels like the official start of fall having you all out here, right? Fall and August, as we always say. We've got three good-looking football players we're about to talk to. But before we do, have you ever anticipated a UNA Athletic year more than this one?

I have not. Maybe you go back to 2018, the first year of Division I. That's the only one I can probably think of. But the excitement and buzz around what's happening on Pine Street with Bank Independent Stadium. And every day, something new. I mean, you go, well, you can't drive down Pine Street right now. But you go up to the church parking lot, and you see the turf down. And they're about to put the Lionhead down at midfield. I had somebody stop me and say, how cool is it that you've got branding in the end zones?

I think it says Roar Lions in the two end zones. We've never really had that before. Dr. Looney posted something on his social media this weekend where he's the AD. He can do some things. He was out in the middle of the field, and he just did a little panoramic shot spinning around and kind of gave me chills thinking about what that place is going to be like when there's 10,000 fans packed in there. I mean, it's something truly special for the Shoals. It's going to be absolutely incredible.

Brent Dierman is going to join us in the next segment. He is addressing the crowd in the utter room. The banquet room is more or less, I call it. Let me let you have the honor of introducing three very talented UNA Lions. That's right. We're here with us. I'll go right to left. We've got number 44 here, Jaheim Ingram, a senior from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He's done this a time or two. We've got quarterback Destin Wade back for his second season here at North Alabama. QB won number five, right?

Yes, sir. And then the last one we've got over here from Florence, Alabama, Leo Glover. Third year in the program, Leo? How long have you been around now? Third year, right? And what number are you now? Twenty-two. Twenty-two. I didn't know if you were still rocking twenty-two. So you've got defensive back, quarterback, and defensive lineman in the house. All right. Muscle Shoals, Florence, local guys, what's it like to have a new stadium? Jaheim, let me start with you. For me, you know, a new stadium is kind of special, especially growing up, going to old UNA games.

So I think it'll be, you know, more than an honor to be one of the first ones to run out of that tunnel in front of all those people there. That's one of the things I've been looking forward to the most this season. I can't wait for it. Leo? I'm going to go off what Jaheim said. You know, I grew up going to UNA games, and then I also played football at Florence, so I also played in Brawley. Yep. So just having that new stadium and starting over fresh and something that's brand new, that's a state-of-the-art, it's going to be absolutely awesome and a dream to play in.

And then, Destin, your perspective, man, you've been in the SEC, Kentucky, you've been at Colorado. You've played at some great cathedrals, right? I mean, how cool is it to get to break one in for the first time? Oh, yeah, this is a great experience. It's basically making history. So I'm just excited to make history with these guys and run out of the tunnel, and it's going to be fun. Absolutely. Leo, Brent Dierman said, it hasn't been hot enough on the practice field. Now, was he joking when he said that?

How hot has it been? It's been very, very hot. I mean, it's terrible. It really is, but we need it. It makes us tougher. He's smirking right now. Jaheim, one of the things we've heard said about this team is how much stronger you guys got in the line, offensive and defensive lines. What kind of mindset did those two sides of the football have heading into the offseason? I mean, we knew every day was going to be a grudge match, but, you know, we kind of approached it together as competition.

Like, at the end of the day, we're pushing each other to get stronger, and that's how we looked at it throughout. We got the, you know, the weight room numbers with the measurements. So, some days we'll go in there and kind of treat that as a competition to push guys harder and get that extra step in. Destin, year two, as far as a starting quarterback, that means a lot. Talk about your preparation, leadership. What goes into year two for you? Yeah, I'm just blessed to have this opportunity to lead these guys, and just a lot of preparation comes with it.

[5:12] You know, I had to be a better vocal leader, just lead by my actions, too. Just know that everyone's looking up at me on the offensive side of the ball and defensive side of the ball. Just to mentor the young guys, too, but I've been stepping in that role, and I feel like I've just got to show out this season. So, yes, sir. Leo, new defense. Coach Bowen has come in. What's it been like learning this new scheme? It's been awesome. I mean, he knows what he's talking about.

He's been everywhere. He's the smartest coach I've probably ever had, and it's been nothing but good. I mean, he's very smart, like I said, and he leads us in the right direction, and I think we've got a good chance to really do some good things on defense this year. Jaheim Fieldsteel, you probably heard this. In fact, we have him on our show once a year. His preseason magazine is only 370 papers. I don't know how he does it. I just don't know. Yeah, I just don't know if you're information.

You and Colin Wright are one of the seven UNA players on his preseason magazine. I think it's – we were talking about most of the shows. Florence, talk about having a teammate and Colin Wright being on the Fieldsteel preseason magazine list. I mean, honestly, that's really just a shout to our high school. Absolutely. It shows the work that we put in from middle school on and, you know, how serious we take sports over there. Sports is kind of like a second nature over there. You know, we've got the facility.

So everything is just – you know, it's serious over there. Like, I came from over there to over here, and it wasn't really a drop-off. Like, what they were expecting was, it was kind of like I was coming into a second college. I'm just looking. Eleven players from Florence, Alabama. Four from Florence High School, I believe, including Leo. Four players from Muscle Shoals on the roster. We've got some Rogersville, Red Bay, Alabama, Phil Campbell. North Alabama is really represented well on this roster. How much high school smack talk is there amongst you guys in the locker room?

I know that me and he have our talks every now and again because our games was always like the one game we look forward to every single year. But sadly, we – Florence feels short every year I was there, but it was always a really good game looking forward to it. Yeah, we definitely have our trash talk in the locker room. Yeah, I can go back to one moment. I think it was my senior year, Leo's junior year. He was playing quarterback. And I took a free shot on him because he was right there.

That's a late hit. Yeah, it was a 15-yard penalty, but it was definitely worth it. Let me ask you about a coach that's no longer there, but Shane Basin was the coach for 18 years at Muscle Shoals. What did you learn from him? Coach Basin really, he taught me almost everything I know about football. But outside of football, he taught me how to be a man. That was one of the main things he put in his program. He wanted all his players to walk away with something.

If you had no lick of football knowledge at the end of the day, you knew how to be a man when you graduated high school. I'm so laughing about what Jaheim just told us, Leo. Do you remember that? I sure do. I bet he does. Destin, offensively, man, what's the first week and a half, two weeks now of practice been like? It's been hard, you know, just learning all the new installs. We have an install basically every day. But we've just got to be consistent. I feel like we have a great squad.

I believe in my squad. And, you know, just create points so the defense has an easier job. Let me ask you about your offensive line. That's one of the things we talk about with him on the show. If you can win the line of scrimmage, you can win every football game. You know that. Talk about your offensive line this year. Oh, yeah, they're great. I believe in each one of them. I think we have a lot of depth. And going against these guys like Jaheim, they just make us better.

So, I believe in them, and I think we have a great squad. So, I know they're going to be good in the trenches. Leo, what's it been like going up against Destin so far in practice there in the secondary? It's been good. I like when he throws them to me, but I've got to work hard for those. But, no, it's been good. He has his days where he comes out there and just throws it all over us, and we have our days. We come out there, and we do good against him.

It's just competing, and we're competing right now at a really high level. We just got to stay consistent at that. Leo, let me ask you about the schedule. It's amazing in September. You begin at the renovated Joe David Stadium with Sanford. Then you're going to Fayetteville, Arkansas, Louisiana. Then come back here for the debut at home. Is there just a little bit of excitement for the September schedule? Oh, absolutely. I know we're looking forward to every game, but right now we're really just focused on us.

But I know that when those games get here, we're going to be ready. It doesn't matter who we play. We're going to give it our all. For any one of you, we've been in this United Athletic Conference for a while now. What's the feeling or level of familiarity now amongst this conference now that it's not really new? We kind of know everybody. I think that the main thing is we know every Saturday when we step on the field, it's going to be who shows up, who wants it.

[10:26] Because this conference is probably the most competitive conference in the FCS. We've seen that. And it's just a lot of talent here. So, you know, you wake up on the wrong side of the bed that Saturday morning, you can't. Like, you've got to snap out of it. You've got to get ready to go because it's coming. Guys, what message do you want to send UNA fans, UNA alumni? You've got a new conference. You've got a new stadium. It's one of the most exciting years ever. Let me start with you, Leo, and go across the board.

What message do you want to send to UNA Nation? We're going to win some football games this year. We're going to do something that hasn't been done right here in a long time. Yeah, we're going to make history, win games, and we just need everyone's support. I'm just looking forward and excited for the season. We're making a splash. We're coming hard. And we're going to bring that old-school purple swarm with a little bit of new-school swag. So I can't wait to show you all. There you go.

Jaheim, you mentioned you've been thinking about running through that tunnel. And it's going to be pretty cool when you guys come out of that tunnel for the first time. But are you carrying a sledgehammer, American flag? Are you coming out just how you normally do? Have you felt that much about it? I haven't thought it through, but right now I think I'm coming out as me because that's the best thing I can do. You know, the emotions, the energy is going to be high with all the guys.

So I think I'm going to just let everybody enjoy the moment because we've all earned it. That's right. Yes, you have. Guys, thank you so much for coming by. God bless all of you. I know you're working as hard as you can. No matter what he says, it's hot as h*** outside. So keep trying to work. But listen, we all appreciate you. God bless you and good luck this season. Thank you, sir. Thanks for having us. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Wonderful job. Now you see why the potential of this football team, Benjamin Ray, these are three great examples.

I always say one of my favorite things of our job is getting to talk to these young men and building relationships with them, and you fall in love with them, and it makes you root for them all the more harder. Absolutely. Talking Brent Dierman, the – yeah, nearly said the voice of the UNA. Yeah, he is. When we come back on the Bumo Buck Show on 93.9, let's go. Bush Light is cold and smooth and waiting for you to get out there. Everyone knows that the classic taste of Bush Light is brewed for the outdoors.

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The score. The score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The score. Hey, welcome back to the Boomo Bugg Show 2026 UNA Media Days. Brett Beaird, co-host Benjamin Ray, the voice of the UNA Lions, joined by Brett Dierman, head football coach at UNA. We want to talk ball with you, but the three guys that were just in front of us, they're the leaders of this team. Tell us a little bit more about these guys on and off the field. You know, two of the three are local guys.

You look at Jaheim Ingram. Jaheim's been a three-year starter for us at defensive line, which is a tough task to ask a D lineman to come in and play as a freshman. And he stepped up the plate and did it. And just the face of this community. I mean, he's always doing the right things, doing community service. He's going to graduate here in the next few months. But me and him are going to have a sit-down talk at the end of the year. He's one that's going to get affected by this fifth-year rule where he can come back next year.

Wow. So, exciting time for Jaheim when I thought he was going to be just a senior. Leo Glover was a high school quarterback at Florence and had a pretty good career as a quarterback. But we saw something in him that we thought he was a defensive player. We thought he was something else. He was an athlete. And it's really, this offseason, it's really kicked in. He's always been a great kid. You know, he's the son of a firefighter here in town. Great work ethic. But you're seeing him, his labor is coming out on the field now.

The seeds of what all he's been putting in is starting to show. And then Desto Wade, our starting quarterback. I mean, this is the first time since I've been here that we've named a starting quarterback in the spring. And there's not a battle in the fall camp. That's because he's clearly won over his teammates. He's won over the coaching staff. And any time you go into media days where the starting quarterback is named, it's usually a good sign. Yep. You know, Coach, you've got, what, 50 newcomers, 50-plus newcomers on this team.

But that's typical in this transfer portal era. But then you look. I mean, these guys that we had here today, three-, four-year guys. What does it mean that they have wanted to be invested in this program and stick around? You know, two of the three. You know, Leo, this is going to be his first year to really come on the scene here. But the other two, I mean, Jaheim Inger could have went in the portal and could have been playing probably anywhere in the country. The fact that he's been a three-year starter at defensive line, the experience he has, the girth he has, he could have went somewhere else and played.

And probably got paid a lot of money to do it. Desto Wade has got starting experience, won games at our level with his legs, with his arm. Same deal with him. He could have went somewhere. And both of them wanted to come back here. It meant a lot to both of those two guys to finish what they started here. And it means a lot to this team, this coaching staff. It means a lot to UNA for those guys to be as committed as they are. And in a tough transfer portal era that's in college football now, that guys don't make that decision very often.

And the two of them did. You told us a story last week that at one point during the season, you were looking at your defensive line eye-to-eye. The whole defense. And you said, we need to change this. The whole defense. Talk about some transfers that have come in that have changed that. I can tell you the exact time. It was the third quarter against Abilene Christian last year. And they were putting it on us pretty good. And we called it defense timeout. I went out in the defensive huddle, and the 11 guys that were on the field, I was looking eye-to-eye with all 11.

And I said, this is our problem right here. So we made a huge deal this offseason to get bigger in the box especially. And, you know, the biggest one our fans are going to see in game one, Josh White is a transfer defensive lineman. He wears number zero, too, so it stands out already that he's in a single-digit number. But he's 6'4", 320 pounds. We haven't had a guy since I've been here that looked like him. Mon Cole's another 300-pounder on the defensive line. Donovan Nevels, Tavian Cox, both are about 280, 285.

Avery Howard is a guy that we've developed here that's been here for three years that's up to 255. He played defensive end last year at 230. He's gotten up to 255. He looks like an NFL defensive end. And then on the offensive side of the ball, we brought in, you know, Isaac Ruse, a Muscle Shoals guy. Brought him back home from Middle Tennessee. We've added Coach Johnson's son, Levy Johnson. Both those two guys are about 6'5", tackles. We've added a couple of junior college tackles and guards. We just look like a Division I football team in the box now.

[20:49] And then, Coach, strength coach Steve Herring has talked to me about the weight gains that the trenches have seen on the offensive and defensive lines. I think you told me the linebackers have maybe the second or third highest gain after them. I mean, seeing that much emphasis from players in the box in the weight room, have you seen that early on in camp? No, I'm a little partial now. You know, my second job is the running back coach. And the greatest gain in the weight room this offseason was in the running back room.

But we just don't have as many. But our running backs had, I think, a 9% increase in weight between bench, squat, and power clean. But offensive line was right there with them. I think we gained about 70 pounds per player on bench press, about 80 pounds per squat. But to see the work that these guys came in in January and sold out to of getting bigger, faster, and stronger in the weight room, buying into what we were doing in that weight room, it's just not what happens anymore. Players think they're mercenaries now in college football, and they just come in just to play ball.

And you don't find as many guys that love the weight room that you used to. And I think our team came in and bought in, and we're seeing the benefits of it now. In fact, Ben was going through some of the local players. I understand your situation. You had to bring in a significant number of transfers. But you have told us from day one, you're going to recruit the state of Alabama. And he went down a list of Red Bay, West Morgan, Florence, Muscle Shoals. Once again, talk about the importance of having in-state kids.

It's important to have in-state kids, number one, because we wear the state's name on our jersey. I mean, that's a big deal to me. We play with the state's tax dollars as well. And a lot of people from this state are going to be the ones that buy season tickets that are going to fill that stadium. But not only is it important that we fill the state with state players, we've got to fill the team with local players. And I remind this to our high school coaches in this area all the time.

You know, high school recruiting is hard. My brother's a high school coach. My dad was a high school coach for 42 years. Everybody loves their own players and tries to push them on us. But we've got three Muscle Shoals players on our team. We've got three Florence players on our team. We've got three Mars Hill players on our team. We've got four players from Brooks on our team. We've got a West Morgan. We've got an East Limestone. I mean, I could go through. We've got two from Central.

I mean, I could go through the list of local guys. And I'm already up to about 20 already right there. So Alabama's important. But the north corner of the state is big because those are the people that are going to come out and support us the most. From players to coaches, I have the unique perspective. I get to watch you guys at practice. And then I get to see you guys in the office as well. And since last spring, I've noticed you've got a lot of new coaches.

And there's always players in their offices. And one of the things I've heard your players say is how close everybody is right now. What's it been like? You've got new players. You've got new coaches. What's it been like seeing that buy-in and seeing guys get on the same page so quickly? Well, I felt like January and February was almost like the dating game where you're trying to figure out who's on the other side of the window or other side of the wall. Because we brought in 30 transfers in January.

And now I've got seven new coaches as well. So we're all learning each other. But since day one, you know, I learned from a lot of good coaches in my life. But Rick Stocksteel had a – his mission was love, serve, and care. Our job is to love, serve, and care for our players. Number one, my AD is second. My wife is probably somewhere high on that list too. My university, my president. But the number one thing that we're here to do is love, serve, and care for our players.

And I think we've got coaches on our staff that have bought into that and say, you know what, I don't care what I'm doing. If we've got a player in the building, we're going to put down what we've got going on and we're going to pour into these players. Because at the end of the day, that's our product. That's what we're putting on the field. We need to love on them. And as bad – we in this business, we are quick to chew out, yell, scream at players.

I want to get excited just as much, if not more, for players doing it the right way than I am just yelling at kids for doing it wrong. Where are you in summer camp? Scrimmages, pads. Obviously, you're going to be playing in what I call week zero. But where are you now as far as the schedule for summer camp? That's a good question in fall camp. I forget some days what day it is in fall camp. If I didn't know that we went to church – That may be a good thing.

If I didn't know we went to church yesterday as a team, then I wouldn't have known today was Monday. I can tell you that. But we finished – and I know this because this was a challenge this morning to our team and our team meeting. We just had a scrimmage on Saturday night. That was our first true scrimmage. It was day nine of practice, first live bullets that were happening, a lot to coach up. And then we had an off day. And then today on Monday was day 10.

[25:49] Day 10, there's nothing exciting about day 10. It's not the first day in helmets. It's not the first day in shoulder pads. It's not the first live day. It's not the first scrimmage day. So the challenge is on those just boring, mundane days, can you still show up, put your hard hat on, and go to work? Because every day at a normal job, you've got to show up and go to work. So that's where we're at right now. We've got a big special team day tomorrow where we start putting in some special situations, how to punt out of the end zone, how do you punt after a 15-yard penalty on kickoff.

Like those are the type of things we'll hit tomorrow. We've got another scrimmage next Saturday where we're actually going to go out to the sportsplex and do it on grass because we don't ever get to play on grass, and we've got two grass games this year. And grass is a little bit easier on your body than that turf sometimes, a little bit cooler. So we've got that one more scrimmage Saturday, and then we'll start kind of fine-tuning some things and start moving our attention to North Sanford.

Coach, gosh, we're three weeks away, I guess, from that ball game. Three games in, and then you get to open up Bank Independence Stadium. We talked to Jaheim. He said he's been dreaming about running through that tunnel. Have you spent much time talking to the team about the significance of that game yet? Not so much that game as it is this season, probably. You know, this is a historic season. The fact that you're going to be the first team ever to step foot in that stadium, the first team ever that is going to run out of that tunnel.

And there's so many more before us. You know, me and you talked about a cool dream I had one time of Bobby or Cody or Ronald coming out of the stadium, leading us into that. Man, I think I woke up one night with that dream in my head. But there's so many greats that came before these guys. We got to play in such a way we honor them, too, in this big moment. So that's why it's important to me, as long as I'm here, all of our jerseys will always have North Alabama on the front.

Because everywhere we go, we wear the university on the front of our jersey. And we got to represent this school. We got to represent this community this year, especially walking into that new stadium. I was literally about to ask you if you had a message to give to UNA Nation. I think you just gave it. I tried my best. You know, we got to wear – I don't care if I'm in Walmart. I don't care if you're at church. I don't care what you do. Our job at UNA Football is to wear the logo and to make this community proud.

And then after we make the community and the school proud, then it's my job to make the last name on the back of my jersey proud. The people that are going to come sit in those seats on Saturday. But our theme this year, our motto this year, is pound the stone. And it was a book that I read this off-season that just talked about just over and over and over taking that sledgehammer and pounding that stone. You never know when it's going to break. But you got to keep pounding it.

The first hit and the hundredth hit all had the same impact on the stone. The hundredth hit made it crack. But the first hit, sometimes you don't realize it. That actually is probably the biggest crack that may have caused it. So you just got to keep showing up every day. Do your job. Be a professional. And good things are going to happen. Great message. Listen, we always enjoy talking with you. You've got a lot of stuff to do. A little bit. Thank you again. God bless you and the team.

Talk to you on Wednesday. Absolutely. Listen, have a great week. Absolutely. Thank you so much. God bless you. Brent Dierman, head football coach at UNA, giving a message for UNA football. When we come back, talking a little volleyball at UNA Media Days, when we return to Lost Pizza on 93.9. Let's go. It's summertime in the shoals, which means sunshine, hot weather, and a lot more bugs. Ants, mosquitoes, termites, they love this time of year just as much as we do. That's why so many homeowners and businesses trust Southern Pride Pest Control, locally owned and operated right here in Muscle Shoals.

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Atlanta Braves were winners yesterday as they beat the Yankees 2-1 in 10 innings. Both teams had four hits in a ballgame. The Braves now 71-47. In preseason NFL action this week, the Titans will play at the 49ers on Thursday night. The Falcons are home on Friday night to host the Broncos. Saints will host the Jaguars Saturday. On the NASCAR Cup Series yesterday, Ty Gibbs was the winner in Iowa. Christopher Bell came in second and Ryan Blaney was third. Josh Berry and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.

PGA Tour wrapped up its regular season yesterday. Michael Brennan got the win at the Wyndham Championship. That sets up the FedEx Cup playoffs, which get underway this week in Memphis. The sports update brought to you by Progressive. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo and save with Progressive. I'm Tony Dazzieri on 93-9 The Score. Now at Lowe's. Faster quotes. Start at the Lowe's Pro Desk. Got a material list handwritten on a sticky note or saved as a photo? Perfect. Bring it to us and get a quote in minutes.

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And I said we were going to talk volleyball, but we have called an audible. That's sports, right? We have called an audible. You've got to be flexible. You've got to be flexible. Introduce some incredible young ladies. We're still talking some football. We're talking some soccer, actually. We've got some members of UNA's soccer team here. We'll start with Lily Ford in her second season. We've got Charlotte Sobotka in her second season. And the veteran, Lily. Lily, I'm sorry. I'm looking at my sheet. I'm looking at you as I'm talking.

Adeline Spate in the house. This is her second time at Media Day. She was here last year. She's the veteran, so she gave them all tips on what to say. Yep, yep, yep. Adeline, if that's the worst thing you get called this year, you're going to be in pretty good shape. Oh, yeah. Talk about the season. Are you looking forward to it? Yeah, we're super excited. We have a great group of girls. We got here two weeks earlier, so we've been able to get really close on and off the field.

And so I think that's going to really help us get results and get that ring eventually. Lily, second season. What's the difference for you from year one to year two? I think just coming into a leadership role this year compared to last year, I just want to be there for my teammates and show them that I'm committed and I'm ready to take it all the way this year. Charlotte, what have you been working on in the preseason to get ready to have to get that ring as she was talking about?

Yeah, kind of what Lily said, too. This is my first time being captain this year and just a leadership role and leading this team to a ring as well. And I'm just excited to be out there with everybody and just try 100% and give it it all. Addie, you've been around for a while, four years. Hard to believe that. You've been playing a lot since you were a freshman as well. But this year's team, I'm looking up and down the roster, you've got a lot of names that we recognize.

[36:08] You've got some fresh faces as well. What's it been like for everybody mixing these last couple of weeks since you got here? It's been really good. We've been doing a lot of team bonding just at people's houses and been able to just know each other more, get to know each other, and off the field is super important. I think that plays out, too, on the field. So I think we've been able to really do some good bonds there, and I think that's just going to really help us take all the way.

Let me ask all three of you this question. The World Cup, indirectly, and again, we know directly or indirectly, how did the momentum of the World Cup indirectly help UNA soccer? Oh, I think that got us all excited. I mean, it was such a fun atmosphere, no matter where you are in the U.S., honestly. But I think that just makes us all super excited because we all got a taste of, you know, winning and rooting for somebody. So I think that helps also the fans get into it as well.

Yeah, not to dig on actual American football, but we got actual soccer on the board a little bit this summer. And, yeah, we just love watching soccer as a team, too. Yeah, it was fun. Right when the last couple games were happening is when we all came back here together in Florence. So we were able to have some team gatherings and watch the last couple games, and it was just fun. And I think it's just amazing how soccer can bring so many people together, especially with social media these days.

You go online, and you see how everyone's traveling to the U.S. just for this huge event, and it's just so important. And, yeah, just bringing more recognition to soccer in the U.S. is just amazing. Now, I got to ask this. Have you guys done the conditioning test yet? Yeah, we have. All three of you, whoever wants to take it, take people through what that conditioning test is, because I think they'd be blown away at what you have to do. So we have two. One of them is called the beep test.

It's, like, called the Nike Spark beep test, and it's, like, a YouTube video of this guy's voice. And he is kind of, like, telling you what to do. So it's, like, 22-ish yards apart. It's, like, 21.8-something. And we have to go there and back within the beep of the sound of the test. And with every level, it gets faster and faster. And we're regulated to get about 32 other teams that can vary. But it is – it's brutal. We got lucky this year because the morning we ran it, it was raining and it was cloudy.

And so we lucked out, for sure. But it is brutal. It's very mentally challenging, I would say, more than physically. You have to really push your mind and your teammates to keep going and to make it to that next level. For sure. 32 beeps. It's a lot of running. It's a lot of running. They're in back. They're in back. We did have one player get 51. Oh, wow. Who? Parker Martin. Wow. Yeah, she's a beast. She's crazy. Yeah. What's your message to UNA fans as far as you need, you know, in particularly some good-looking guys?

But let's get some UNA fans out to watch you. What's your message this year on the season? Yeah, this year is going to be different. We're all super pumped. We're motivated. And we need everybody else to come and help us. Support, scream, heckle. We don't care. Just be there. We need you. And we're getting that ring. So we need all the support behind us. Especially in the new stadium this year, we're excited to have more of the students on campus come to our games. Yeah. Yeah, I think the location will help a ton.

Being at Cox Creek is great, and we're super grateful, but it's just a little bit off campus, so people don't think as much to head out to the games and stuff. So the fact that it's right outside the dorms, just right in the center of town is going to be great, and hopefully it's just more convenient and easy for people to stop by. Absolutely. Ladies, thank you so much. Thank you. We're going to get you coaching here for just a few minutes. God bless all of you.

Have a great season. Thank you. Thank you. Chris Walker can be joining us. 14th year, the dean of coaches at UNA. I thought it was either 12 or 14. Chris Walker has been here for 14 years now? Yes. It's been a while. I had to look it up. He did. The only thing that helps me, I've got a 12-year-old, and this is all he knows is Florence, so it's been a great place, and we love it here. I think about, oh, he's been here 14 years. Oh, well, I've been here 12 years now, so it puts it all in perspective, but your 14 years, you've seen so much change.

What about for soccer, going from where the little field was that you first started to not really having a home for a brief moment to the turf field over at Cox Creek to getting to play in probably one of the best soccer stadiums in our region? Oh, it's unbelievable. My first year here, my current office now was the weight room, and it's now soccer suite, and then obviously we went to the turf field outside, the practice field, then we've gone over to the sportsplex, and now to Cox Creek.

[41:11] Well, getting to Bank Independent Stadium is going to be unbelievable, just being back on campus, near the dorms, near the cafeteria, allowing all the students to be there, but then just allowing our girls to walk out the weight room, walk out the locker room, down the tunnel. Into the stadium is going to be fantastic. Yeah, isn't it amazing at what you have seen on this campus in 14 years? Oh, I mean, the growth has been unbelievable. I mean, credit to President Kitts and Josh, I think their vision of where they want everything to go has really come to fruition.

I think when I got here on my interview 14 years ago, we talked about the Division I move, and is it the OVC, or what will it be? And, you know, then it went on the back burner for a little bit, but now it's obviously picked up steam over the last few years, and the stadium, when Josh first mentioned it, I was like, yeah, we've been there, done that before. And he was like, no, this is happening, and, you know, and I was like, I'll believe it when the shovel goes in the ground, and it did, and it's unbelievable now.

People may not realize it, but just having a video board for soccer, how big is that? No, it's fantastic, especially in the days now with social media where they all love seeing everything on there, and just having the graphics, having replay, just the interaction with the fans on the game day experience is going to be so much better than what we've had before, and just even the lights flashing and everything else, all the video, the video replays is going to be great to have. How many places would you say you go that have a video board, especially in our conference?

To be honest, there's not many at all, maybe one or two, if you play some of the power fours, I think we played at Alabama, and they've got a big one there, but only because it came out of the football stadium, and it went to the soccer field, so it's very few places have got one, so it'll be a fantastic opportunity to get in Bank Independent Stadium, and have that as our home stadium, and really make it a tough place to play. It's obvious this is a talented team, how good can they be?

No, I think it's fantastic, I think moving into the UAC is going to make it obviously interesting, just playing a couple of new teams, but then playing some familiar faces, we played EKU twice last year, and we tied them, they got the first place votes for this year, we're in second right behind them, so I think it's a league that anyone can beat anyone on any given day, which is great, we can go out there and win it, but we've just got to make sure we do the right things as well, because it could quickly go the other way as well, but the talent we've got on the group, as long as we don't find a way to get in the way of it, you know, the senior led group between the three captains is fantastic, so between that we've got a couple of non-conference games that will get us ready for when we get into UAC play, and I think we'll be ready and raring to go by the time the middle of September rolls around.

Listen, every time I do this, and we've been doing it 10 years now, I look forward to talking to you, you're so easy to talk with, optimistic, I know you're looking forward to it, I know you've got to go, thank you so much, listen, God bless you, the team, the coaches, have a great year. I appreciate it, thank you. Absolutely, and listen, now we've got volleyball coming up. Volleyball next. We've got volleyball next when we come back to the BMO Buck Show at Lost Pizza for 2026 UNA Media Days, when we come back on the BMO Buck Show 93.9, let's go.

All right, grab some buds and listen up, grilling season's here, now we find out what we're made of. Are we going to fold under pressure and overcook the burgers, or are we going to nail the carne asada and the brisket and pack the coolers with ice cold Budweiser and Bud Light, because that's the difference between winning and losing, between flipping burgers and grilling like a pro. This summer, grill like a pro, with Bud and Bud Light, stock up today. Anheuser-Busch Budweiser and Bud Light Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

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That's 800-575-6759. Tax Relief Advocates. Real solutions for real people. The Score. We're now back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. And welcome back to UNA Media Days at Lost Pizza. Brett Beaird in the voice of the UNA Lions. And listen, this is just a cast of characters walking up and talking with us. We're going to talk to one of the best sponsors for 93.9 The Score, UNA, Florence, The Shoals. And it will take me 20 minutes to introduce them, but we don't have enough time. But Ike Fowler is here.

And you don't need an introduction. Hey, buddy. How you doing? Well, I appreciate it anyway. I'm doing great, Brett. It's just awesome to be here. A lot of excitement. I think that Chuck McCarty and Marcy and Lost Pizza just do a fabulous job of promoting everything. The coaches show, I know you've promoted and be coming up soon. And I don't know. You know, I've been to these things before where it was quiet. But that's not what you want. You know, you want people. You want background noise.

You want it to be what it is. So awesome atmosphere and can't wait for North Alabama's season to get kicked off. Let me ask you, before we let you go, what does UNA mean to you? Well, I go back to 1974 as a player and student athlete there. I played baseball. Came back later, coached football for four years. Did the radio broadcast for 10 and just have a long history. Met my wife in the Galat Center. Is it still called the Galat Center? Yeah. Met her right there.

I could walk to the spot that we met 50 years ago. So, you know, I owe a lot to UNA. And I don't think anything that we ever do, Lee and I, with our company or whatever, I don't think I could ever repay North Alabama. Yeah, and I'll tell you one thing, your company's helped a lot of people as far as Medicare insurance, including one you're looking at right now. Thank you so much for coming by and saying hello. Thank you, and good luck to everybody. Of course, Johnson, good luck to you guys and look forward to watching you.

Thank you. Ike Fowler, who has quite a history with UNA, would you do us the honor and introduce this august body in front of us? We've got our head volleyball coach, Tristan Johnson, in year number five. Man, how crazy is that? We've got Reese Ricketts, former A-Sun freshman of the year, third team All-A-Sun last year, one of the top outside hitters in the league. And then Kinsley McGowan, All-Conference selection last year, busted out across the A-Sun, led the league in total assist. A lot of excitement for this UNA volleyball team heading into this season.

Tristan, let me start with you. That's exactly my question. So much momentum, so much excitement with the new stadium, et cetera. What does this year mean for you? Yeah, I mean, I think for me, it's, you know, I mentioned the press conference, but, you know, this is the, last year was the first year being here where all the players on the team were kids that we had recruited in here, not girls that either were in the previous staff or any of those things. And so we were able to bring just about every one of those girls back this year.

So we return almost every starter from our roster last year we have again this year. And so we're really excited about that, a lot of experience. Last year I felt like we were a little young in some key areas, including these two, even though Reese had a lot of experience her freshman year. And so I thought we dropped a few matches last year that we shouldn't. And I think that experience is going to pay off really well for this group. So just, you know, really excited about this group and the investment they've made, not only on the court, but really in each other.

[51:25] I think that's been, you know, we've talked a lot about their relationships with one another and how much that's going to pay off when things get hard. And they've done a good job of that. Reese, let's start with you. You're third year now, right? Freshman of the year, year one. Last year, third team all-A, son. I thought they held you back a little bit. I thought you should have been a little bit higher. But what's your mindset been like now that people really know who you are?

Bouncing off of that, Tristan always says that they know who you are, they know how you're going to play, so they're going to come after you. And that just challenges me to score better and be better overall. Kinsley, talk about what are you working on? I know you're looking forward to the season. What have you been working on? And everybody here, I mean, you can just feel the room of excitement. I think recently, personally, I've been working on being in really uncomfortable situations. It helps, doesn't it?

Yeah, putting myself in really uncomfortable situations and taking risks now because nothing happens from it. So making sure I take those risks now so when it happens later on, I'm ready. I've been through it before. And then as a team, just competing every day, I think we've done a really good job of constantly competing in the gym. So we're super excited to be able to compete with another team. You know, I can't believe you've been here five years. It does not feel that long. But for you, seeing that this core wanted to come back together, I mean, how big was that?

Yeah, it was huge. I mean, I think given the portal era that we live in, to be able to keep this group together, I think said a lot about, you know, what we're doing here and the culture that we have and the culture that we've built. And I think, quite frankly, our culture is in the best place that it's ever been in the five years that I've been here, even with success and failures and wins and losses. I think from a leadership in the locker room perspective, from a relationship perspective with the girls and myself, I think just all together, we made a huge investment in that over the spring.

And I think that honestly is what excites me the most because the talent's been there. We have talked about it with them a lot is we've had the talent to succeed at a high level and we've done some really good things, but, you know, we want more. And so I think that that area was something we really needed to really push and the girls have done a really good job of that. So, yeah, five years flew by pretty quick, but I'm really excited about this year.

I told the girls the other day I haven't been this excited about a group in maybe my whole career, but in a long time. You know, I really love coming to the gym every day with them, and that makes coaching that much more fun. It makes a difference, doesn't it? Big time. Absolutely. Listen, guys, thank you so much. God bless you. Good luck this season. Let's get some good crowds out to see everybody. Good luck on year five. Thank you so much for coming by and saying hello.

Thanks for having us. Appreciate it. Roll lines. Thank you. Thank you, guys. That's going to take care of a busy first hour. When we come back, going to be talking to the boss, Josh Looney, going to be talking also cross-country, a lot more U&A. When we return to U&A Media Days at Lost Pizza on 93.9, the score. J. Jeffcoat here with the AHSAA Radio Network, inviting you to join us for another fantastic season of high school football on the AHSAA Radio Network Scoreboard Show. Every Friday from 10 to midnight, we'll bring you all the scores and analysis from our team of experts across the state.

Presented by the Alabama Department of Transportation, Russell DeWitt Center, the Alabama Community College System, the Alabama National Guard, and Southeastern Land Group and the Southeastern Land Show. Join us Friday nights for the AHSAA Radio Network Scoreboard Show, right here. Begins Friday night, August 21st, after Florence Falcons football. Brought to you locally by Lost Pizza, John Saylor, attorney at law, and the Courier Journal. The Florence Falcons are about to soar. 93.9, the score presents Florence Football Night. Every Thursday night, the Falcons and Braves are playing from 6 to 7, live at Lost Pizza.

Join the voice of the Falcons, Kevin Johnson, and head coach Kenny Morson, as they break down all the Florence football action. Florence Football Night. Presented by 93.9, the score. Beginning August 20th, right here on your home for Florence Falcons Athletics. 93.9, the score. 1819 News. Alabama's largest Second Amendment organization is weighing in on the Congressional District 1 race. Bama Carey is endorsing Austin Sidwell as he runs in that special primary election, which will be held this coming Tuesday. Alabama Carey Vice President Taylor Rhodes said that Sidwell is a pro-gun candidate who will not back down to the pressures from the D.C. swamp.

Sidwell celebrated this endorsement, saying there is no need for any government oversight on how someone chooses to protect their family. Tonight's special primary election involves a winner-take-all election with no runoff race possible. Tomorrow's special primary election involves Congressional Districts 1, 2, 6, and 7, and will be using an old Congressional District map from 2023 after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year cleared the way for the state to do so. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Mark your calendar for November 6th. The Albert Patterson Gala returns to the Barber Motorsports Museum featuring United States Senator Tommy Tuberville.

[56:32] We've sold out two years running and tables are already filling for 2026. If you believe in a thriving Alabama built on truth, courage, and accountability, this is your night. Don't miss your chance. Visit 1819news.com slash gala. That's 1819news.com slash gala to get your table today. A pedestrian died in Huntsville this morning after being hit by a vehicle on University Drive. The pedestrian has been identified only as a male who died at the scene. An Albertville police officer has now been terminated from his job after he was discovered to be using law enforcement databases to track his ex-wife's movement.

Jeremy Hanna was arrested after the Marshall County District Attorney conducted an investigation. Hanna is accused of accessing multiple databases to look up the information on his ex-wife and her family members. He's being charged with violating the Alabama Digital Crimes Act. I'm Andrea Theis. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Previously on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network. 2-0 clubbed in the air. Deep right field. That's back to the wall. That's good! He just hit a bullet over the right field wall.

And Matt Olsen puts the Braves on the board. Blackburn fires. And a ground ball to the right side and threw up in the middle into right center field. Kim's around third. He's going to score. And Michael Harris, the second, comes through. Big clutch RBI. Braves on top. 2-1. And the delivery. Swing and a miss. Struck him out. Ball game over. Tyler Kinley blew him away. And earns his first save of the year. And the Braves avoid the sweep and win in 10 innings, 2-1. Join us tonight as the Braves welcome the New York Mets.

Right here on 93.9 The Score. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shores. Sports Radio 93.9 The Score. Evan Canty and Michelle are on Sportsman Life. I struggle to see a world where the Pittsburgh Steelers with this roster and with that quarterback can actually contend for a Super Bowl. What exactly is the win for the 2026 season? Because it doesn't feel like they have a viable path to actually holding up the Lombardi Trophy at season's end. On Sportsman Life. Weekday mornings starting at 6 Eastern. On ESPN Radio and on ESPN2.

This is Jerome from Birmingham, previously from Paul Feinbaum Show. We're proud of our institution, but apparently you are not proud of anything to do west of the Mississippi River or anything north of the Mason State. That makes it, what is it, may, may, may, may. John, do you have your medical alert button on in case something happens here? The Paul Feinbaum Show. Weekdays at 3 Eastern on the ESPN app and on the SEC network. 93.9, the score weather. Today, a 30% chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms with a high around 95.

Tonight, partly cloudy with a 20% chance of showers overnight and a low near 75. Tomorrow, mostly sunny with a 40% chance of showers, possibly a thunderstorm, high around 90. Tomorrow night, partly cloudy with a low near 75. And for your Wednesday, mostly sunny with a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms with a high around 90. Your weather from 93.9, the score. Now, get ready to roll, Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. New exclusive inside track to the Tide, Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC.

Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, the score. And welcome back to the Boomo Bugg Show. U.N.A. Media Days for 2026. Brett Beaird with my co-host, the one and only voice of the U.N.A. Lions, Benjamin Ray. And we're going to be talking cross-country now. You were telling me you run, what, five miles a day? Is that what it is? I try to get a minimum of five, maybe two miles a day. Man, we'll put the miles in. Do me the honor in introducing our next special guest.

We've got head coach Connor Callahan, who just two years ago was being introduced here. A lot of us have had a few miles a day. Female runners with them, Audrey Becker in the house, and then Mary Anna Trimble, the Lion legacy here as well. Tell me about the excitement, new stadium, new conference. Isn't it amazing to be a part of this? What do you expect in 2026? Yeah, it's one of those that I think the special thing for me is when I got hired, everything was still old.

[1:01:50] So I got to see literally, they all saw it for a long time. I got to see it for like days, and then it was gone. And now the stadium's here and everything like that. And then you add in the track on the other side. So those kind of things to bring students on campus and to show them how it is truly growing and not just saying it. And to tell them where the track is. Tell them we have a home course. It's a lot of excitement around here.

I'm sure we'll get some strides in on that football field. It won't go to waste. You know, we were joking about how little we all run, but for you two, everyone wants to go first. Give people perspective. I mean, how many miles are you putting in a day and a week? For me right now, it's about three to four miles a day. But at my healthiest point, I was doing five to six a day, like 30 to 35 miles a week, just depending on what kind of mileage we're doing.

I'm currently doing about eight to nine a day, just depends on if it's a workout day, easy day. But yeah, we're getting up there in mileage. Easy eight-mile day. Now, you mentioned, are you recovering from an injury? Are you coming back from one? I am. I had surgery in January. I tore my hip labrum. Oh, my goodness. And so I was out until early April is when I started back being able to run. And so ever since then, I've just been building my mileage back. So…

I would imagine the rehab with that wasn't fun, was it? Not too much fun, but it definitely helped me build back to where I am now. So definitely feeling a lot healthier than I was before the surgery, so… Coach Callahan, we talk about all the changes at UNA, the excitement of the stadium. But for your program, something as little as the track being installed last year, I believe it was, around the Cox Creek Parkway complex. Just how beneficial was that for the program? It's huge. We would have practice at McFarland, for example, and I knew it was going to rain in the past.

If it rains, McFarland gets… It's not the most fun, and we're having a workout the next morning, and I was able to make the call the night before. And I didn't have to call a high school athletic director. I didn't have to really worry about anything. I text Ryan. I said, hey, we're going to the track at 6 a.m. He said, okay, you're good. So to have that, I mean, we were there twice a week in the spring. We were there really once a week. Once my son was around, I was a little lazy.

I was like, well, just go to the track. So we use it a ton. It's one of those. It's beautiful. It's perfect. Talk about the schedule, some of the teams that you're playing, and I know you've alluded to this. How much has UNA Cross Country grown over the years? Yeah, with our schedule, our couple home meets will be a little bit smaller. The first one, just a 5K, but not as many teams as we've maybe seen in the past. Second one will be a little bit more competitive.

I still think it will be a smaller meet, but more competitive. Some better teams, Jack State coming in, UT Southern, and some different schools coming in for that. So that will be a good race for us. But to go to the Southern Showcase over in Huntsville, you're going to get SEC. You're going to get anybody and everybody. That's a huge one for us. And then just the growth of the program. I think it's one of those that our guys are slowly developing and our girls are realizing, like, we belong here.

It's not, you know, they never, and I never did either. Like, we've been D1 since I've been here. So it's one that you go back and get to see kind of the history of everything. I had a recruit on campus a couple weeks ago. His mom actually ran here with Sherry. So it was kind of cool to hear just the differences that she's seen and where the program's going. But to have 17 girls and 30 guys, that's a big thing for the university, but also for our team as well.

Audrey, a freshman last year, ran in all six meets. What's the jump like for you from year one to year two been like? So I've definitely, I feel like, tried to take on more of a leadership role on the team. I really want to be kind of an encourager for the freshmen coming in, be able to kind of help guide them through their first year. Because it can be a jump, it's really different than high school. You know, you're traveling more, the load at the school is more.

So just making sure that they can help adjust to that as best that they can. Let me ask you what seems like a dumb question, which is nothing unusual coming from me. But when you think about it, though, how do you run cross-country? I mean, you've got athletes who run all the time, baseball, football, basketball. But there's a difference in running cross-country than it is running the other sports. Talk about that. Yeah, so compared to other sports, I mean, running's honestly their punishment a lot of times.

Yes. For us, that's it. That's our lifestyle, basically. I don't know life without cross-country, so I couldn't imagine not ever running, really. But, I mean, it's definitely fun. You never know, like some days you feel great on a run, some days you don't. It's just, I mean, it's honestly more of like a lifestyle than a sport to me, honestly. So it's so mental. It is. And a lot of people don't realize that, but I feel like half the battle with running is mental. And, you know, having the confidence to step out there and realize, like, I do belong here and I do belong on the, like, starting line and stuff.

[1:06:58] I feel like that's a lot of what goes into running and, like, a lot of people may not realize that as well. Hey, Mariana, with that, Lion Legacies, I called you earlier. Your dad coached the program for a long time. He ran here as well. Your mom played basketball at UNA. How cool is it following in their footsteps? It's really special to me getting to share that experience with them and getting to know we all three went here. And making my decision to run in college, they, you know, ultimately left that up to me.

But when I decided to go here, I know they were very excited, and it's just special getting to share that with them and know that they also had the same experience playing a sport here. It's just, that's a very, like, special moment for me. Talk about your training. Obviously, again, duh, you run, but weights, stretching, plotties, I mean, what do you do? Yeah, there is a lot more to running than just the actual runs. Especially, I mentioned I'm doing pretty high mileage, so it's really been important to me this summer to do a lot of stretching and stuff on the side.

I actually went to hot yoga a lot with my mom over the summer, and that, like, really felt like I would feel a lot better. I'd go a lot after my long runs on Saturdays, so I'd, you know, do 12 miles in the morning and get to go do, like, a hot yoga, and that would really help, and you'd feel a difference. It can be a lot on the muscles. Coach Callahan, obviously, over on the men's side, highlighted by Brian Bett. Talk a little bit about that team and Brian and the expectations for him.

Yeah, when you bring Brian, Vincent, Sammy, Aiden, Brent, Gruber, Owen, Cole, Jackson, I'm sure I'm missing some, but we bring back every single guy. I don't know any guy that competed, Thomas Sheik, any guy that competed for us, they're back with us this year. So they make my life a little harder and making decisions on travel and things like that, but that's what I'm here to do, you know, make hard decisions, and it's one that I want them to put me in that spot. I want to have a really solid team, and that group of guys, it's going to be fun.

I think our upperclassmen, I'm really leaning on them. I've got, not that I don't have expectations for our freshmen, but I'm really leaning on our upperclassmen to handle the load, and if we get a freshman that can break out, then that's just an added bonus this year. Well, yeah, it may be a challenge to see who's going on the beach, but they know your expectations, they know your standards, they know what you want from them day in and day out. Does that help? A hundred percent.

If you don't set the standard, then what is the standard? You've got to be able to set the standard, and I think that's going to change a little bit this year. We bring back so many guys that the standard continues to change, and it's only getting better. It's not, you know, the standard is set, and that's the standard. You've got to either be in it or be out of it, and that's kind of the conversations we're going to have here on Friday and Saturday and into next week when the team moves back in.

Fans are probably interested to know about track and field coming to North Alabama. Tell us what we need to know. I think the biggest thing that I'm seeing on the recruiting side is it's distance only. It's 800 meters and up, so I get a lot of sprinters and things like that. I think that could come down the line, but right now with it is every guy and girl that's on the team. So all 30 guys and all 17 girls will run track, and we'll have indoor meets. We'll probably go down to Birmingham a lot, and then our indoor conference is at Eastern Kentucky, and then outdoor will kind of vary it up.

We've been to Ole Miss in the past. We've been to Montevallo. We've been to Tuscaloosa, and then our conference meet is actually in Abilene Christian, out in Texas. So that will be one that we've got to go out there. We've got to go in the heat. We were looking at schedules on a coach's call the other day. So for us, we're going to continue to grow. Our women's team is going to continue to grow for sure, but we're going to have fun. That four-lane track over on Cox Creek, it's ours.

I think that's the special thing about it is it's ours, and we're going to have some success with it. But a chance to compete more. I think that's the biggest thing is we get a chance to compete more. We didn't know rules were coming out, and Audrey was like, do I register, do I not? What do we kind of do? And runs 18.07 in track, and then I think you go back and look, and it's like she broke 19 one time in high school. So to be able to do that this past year, it's going to make us better.

I think the reason you see the summer she's had is because of the spring she had, and now we get that with everybody. There's no ifs, ands, or buts. You've got a whole entire year, and when you can stack a week, a month, and a year over year with minimal injuries. I think she left out that she had mono at one time, and it's like, oh, gosh, is the outdoor season a wash now? Nope, we come back and have the best season we've had. So it'll be fun to kind of see the progression we can make.

How much do your facilities compare to John Hunt Park, Abilene, others across the south, across the nation, as far as comparison? Yeah, with our four-lane track, I jokingly tell people, like, I don't care to host a track meet. It's a lot of work, so I'm cool with a four-lane. You've got to have eight to nine lanes to host. So that's kind of the big difference there. Nobody really has an indoor facility, so we've got to go to Lexington for conference. And then Austin Peay's coming down to one of our meets at home, so it's one that we have that home course advantage, but we also have such a strong connection with Huntsville that we can go over to John Hunt.

[1:12:19] So I think we can get to what we need, the facilities, the athletic trainers, the staff, the social media, all that kind of stuff. We're right there. I don't think many people, cross-country coaches, are talking to the media and things like that. Yes. So I applaud you guys. I appreciate it. I know our athletes appreciate it as well. Well, Mary Ann, Audrey, expectations for this upcoming year? Who wants to go, Audrey? I'll go. I think we definitely really want to continue the close-knitness of our team.

You know, we had a pretty small team in spring, but I think that did allow us to, you know, the girls who were healthy and running. We got really close, and I think we're really excited to continue that, bring that into cross-season, because even though it is, you know, some would say more individual sport, it is a team sport. And, you know, the atmosphere that the girls have on the morning of meet, like that matters, our attitude matters, and that's going to affect all season. So I'm really excited to hopefully expand the friendships we have and just keep that going into fall.

Go ahead. Yeah, I would agree with Audrey, too. Definitely, you know, have our closest as a team. The returners have definitely grown, like, close over the past year due to us having a small team this past year. So I'm excited to bring in the transfers and the freshmen and be able to grow our friendship with them and all become really close, because I feel like that is especially important with cross-country, is to have each other to lean on, especially when the workouts get hard and stuff like that.

So definitely having that close-knitness as a team is something that me and Audrey both really want. No matter the sport, you've got to mesh. Yes. You've got to jail. Talk about that. I know we talk about preparation, training, but you've got to get along with each other. You have to. And it's one of those that you're going to beat a teammate one day, and they're going to beat you the next. And what is that kind of – are you guys making each other better, or are you looking at each other like, oh, my gosh, I can't stand you now.

I've got to beat you the next week. So having that kind of mindset of we have to work together, and I tell everybody, in order for you to be at your best and the team to be at its best, you have to be there. You've got to be ready to go. So you've got to be at your best for the team to be at its best. And that's where cross-country really becomes a team sport of like, hey, somebody might not be having their best day, but somebody steps up.

I'll go back to Sammy. Sammy Sang at our conference meet. He hadn't really done anything during the season, but he passed, I think it was like close to 20 people in the last mile to half mile, and that is why we finished fourth. I'm a firm believer that if he had not made that jump, we would not have been fourth at the conference. So just seeing the guys rally around each other, seeing the girls rally around each other, like they said, we're much bigger this year. We're about double size, but we're going to be stronger as well, and it's going to be – the competition's going to be better.

I said earlier, like Sandra, I think, made Audrey a lot better in the spring. She set the standard for her and helped her out, and Audrey was huffing and puffing, and Sandra was laughing. So it's one of those making your teammates better, it's huge. It's one of the greatest things. When it all comes together, it makes it all worth the training and all the other stuff worth it. Guys, thank you so much for coming by, saying hello. Speedy recovery. I know you're working on it. Great to talk with you.

God bless you all. Have a great year. Thank you. We appreciate it. We're Lions. Right, absolutely. A little cross country. When we come back, the boss. The boss man. Join us to talk about UNA. Josh Looney. We return to the Bumo Buck Show for UNA Media Days 2026. It doesn't matter if you're running grills at the park, playing pickup on a Saturday, or sinking the final putt. When you compete with your friends with Michelob Ultra on the line, competition isn't that friendly. The trash talk. Next level.

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We are now joined by the boss, Dr. Josh Looney, Athletic Director at U-N-A. I've been doing this now 10 years, and Ben and I were nearly joking about how time flies. I can't tell you how much I am impressed with the athletes, the coaches, they handle themselves well. They're great representatives of U-N-A. I see it year in and year out. Great leadership, and we just love our head coach's room and what they're doing with our athletes on and off the fields and courts. And they give us a lot to be proud of here locally, and glad you and everyone on the show gets a chance to experience this year.

I appreciate you. You're heading into what, year six? Year six, yeah. It's almost been five actual years. That's the academic math there. I counted my sixth football season. Yeah, it's going to be the sixth football season. It'll be five full years September 1st, so you do that math, right? So this five-year run, six-year run, have you seen this place grow into what you envisioned it would be when you took the job? It's been special to see, and I think it goes back. I mean, you mentioned 10 years, Brad.

I think of the people that were here a decade ago, if you go to fall 2016, and that was about the time that North Alabama put the action behind the Division I piece, and obviously there was still a run-up to that 2018 season until the process started. But if you just sit back and say, okay, what did UNA, just not even athletics, just the institution, the campus, athletics look like 10 years ago to what it looks like now? I mean, really, it's unbelievable, the growth from enrollment, the growth in the academic recognition that the university receives, and, of course, athletic facilities in Division I, that all goes through it.

But it's really neat to see, and, yeah, I've seen the latter five to six years of it, and that's incredible. But I can't imagine those that had the courage and the ambition to transform UNA to what it is a decade ago. It's really neat to see, and a story you don't see that often throughout the country in higher education. I think that is the thing, Dr. Looney, that I have seen and heard in the last couple of years. I can't tell you how many people I know who are UNA alumni.

They're fans. They've been coming to games for years, and they've been hearing, well, we're going to get a new stadium. We've been hearing that 30 years, and we're going to go to Division I. We've been hearing that forever, and now it's here. It's here, and, you know, you look at the stadium, you say, we've been hearing that forever. Yeah, it was in the 1974 media guide, right? Yes, it was. And this is our 78th football season since we restarted, and it gets a little fuzzy from – I know.

[1:22:29] But since we restarted in 49, and this will be the first year of a lot of things. We've never tailgated on campus at UA. Absolutely. That'll happen for the first time. Of course, we've never played in our own stadium. That'll happen for the first time. So it really is a special time to be here. You know, former athletic director at UNA and just retired at South Alabama, Joel Erdman, gave me a piece of advice about two years ago. We went down to look at Hancock-Whitney Stadium, and he was showing us different things, and we were taking notes for our design.

And he said, you know, going from Ladd Peebles to Hancock-Whitney and knowing Brawley and going to your own, he said, just do yourself a favor. Building from the ground up, it doesn't happen. Renovations happen, but it just rarely happens. And so enjoy it. Don't take it for granted. And you don't really know what you have until you have it. And so each day for the last two years, I've gone to the office. I've gone to College View Church of Christ parking lot where you can oversee both of it.

I've had my coffee. I start there. I take a sip. I take his words in. I appreciate it. And now we're just so excited that here in about 45 days, we'll get to welcome everybody in to fully appreciate it. It's a really special time. You kind of just mentioned this, but we've been talking about this a lot internally. I mean, UNA football has accomplished everything from conference championships, All-Americans, national championships. There's no box that this program has not checked except for playing a football game on campus.

And it's incredible to think about how campus is going to come to life. But just how thrilling is it to know that Saturdays in the fall are going to look a little different on the campus of the University of North Alabama? The pulse and vibrancy of a college campus is just different on a fall Saturday, right? And we've had that here, but not to what now it can be where you're tailgating on campus and walking through campus showing kids and friends, hey, this is where I had a class in this building.

This is, you know, this is where Leo and UNA have been, all of those things. And now we get that. And I think it brings also from just a non-athletic piece of it, just for the campus every day, it brings a sense of legitimacy. When you go to a campus and let's say you're on a junior visit day and it's someone we're competing with academically and they start in that on-campus stadium and they get fired up and then they go to the biology department and the chemistry department.

You know, we haven't been able to do that and that student may never go to a UNA football game or UNA soccer game. We hope they do, but they may not. But if it gives them the sense of legitimacy of that chemistry program at UNA is just as good, if not better, than UAB and Troy and Jacksonville State, then we've won on that, right? And then this facility, we can't wait to see what the imagination comes as it's built to be a 365-day-a-year facility. Of course, people talk concerts, we talk festivals, but I'm sure there'll be all sorts of events we're able to host at this stadium.

That we haven't even thought of. But right now we're putting all of our work into figuring out how to host a football game because we've never done that before on campus either. And we've had a lot of great work on our staff in getting to this day. I think that's the other great thing about this is you will be able to keep concessions, parking, premium seating, luxury boxes that a lot of people take for granted. You have either had to share or probably get none of it, depending upon where the venue is.

But to be able to bring it on campus, as you mentioned, that's going to open so many more doors for you. Yeah, we've really had nothing other than general ticket sales in our past time. And now we'll have parking, we'll have concessions. The city council expanded the downtown entertainment district to include the stadium, which will bring that vibrancy and help with business development downtown. And we have nine different areas of seating, multiple premium opportunities, and just things that have been normal for our peers. We're getting for the first time.

And now that's our big job is to, one, maximize experience that people want to come back and enjoy it and there's something for everyone on a football game day. And then, two, be as efficient as we can in maximizing our resources to continue to grow our programs because we haven't had those revenues. And it will make a big difference between now and at the end of this year of what we've looked at in past years. But it's not good enough just to take what everybody else has.

Now we need to take it to another step further. So that's a big focus for us, for sure, this upcoming year. We're on radio, but I'm playing a video on my phone right now that you posted on your social media where you're standing at midfield and you're just kind of doing the panoramic shot of the stadium. And I got chills when I watched it for the first time after you posted it. But it's a beautiful shot. Everybody should go to your social media and watch it.

But it really puts into perspective how this stadium is going to feel. But what is your favorite unique item about this stadium? Yeah, well, first off, that turf we're standing on, it's pretty neat. It's a no-infill turf base. We're the first FCS school to put it in and just the fourth in Division I. All that's happened within the past year. We're behind Rice, Louisiana Tech, and Missouri State. So it's a great company. This has none of the infill. No rubber, no sand, no coconut. It is supposed to play just like natural grass.

[1:27:32] It's much better on the athletes. And it's the only FIFA-approved turf overseas. So we're excited about that and to have a next-generation product in the stadium. You know, I think there's something for everybody at the stadium. Everything from the cheapest seat that we have is an upgraded experience. You can get a $100 season ticket. We have six home games. That's about 16 and some change for a chair-back seat. Where it's cheaper than what we had probably with a standard bench seat, right? So we wanted to have that.

And then, of course, there's different premium spaces. My probably favorite part of the stadium, and I think everyone will be able to find their own, is the outdoor stadium club element. It's an element that you see really only at SEC-type schools and NFL stadiums that have been renovated in the last five or six years. And it's this open-air outdoor club that's off of the main stadium club where there will be TVs and fans, and you can hear the game. People are socializing. You can look down on Pine Street and talk to someone tailgating.

And, you know, we'll have to make sure they're not throwing things from Pine Street up to there. It's just a really unique piece. I see, you know, receptions, business events in that space, and just an awesome spot for the community to enjoy. I've had a couple people ask me, and I know you're probably still working out the details, pre-game, post-game, how will that change in the new stadium? It'll change from the vibrancy on campus, of course. I think what everybody's most excited about is bringing Spirit Hill to Pine Street.

And then there was a fan vote, and it'll be known as the Pines, which I think is pretty cool. That takes, like, the Grove and the Quad type of feel. And so what will happen on game day is we'll have reserve parking at the Kilby Lod and the GUC and by the stadium, but you'll start to see the street shut down through traffic right around Irvine and Pine Street. And then once you go down Pine, it will be fully shut off from about the College View Church of Christ to that main entry at Bank Independent Stadium.

And there will be – we're already sold out of the tailgate spots, but it's come everybody, right? If you don't have a tailgate spot there, it doesn't matter. There will be bands. There will be jump houses for the kids, but they'll line both sides of Pine Street. And then for our students, I think there's actually views from tailgating into the stadium. And I think that some people say, well, you know, do you want to block those views? What if they never come in? I said, that's phenomenal.

Let's have them spend a day. Plenty of people are going to come into the stadium. But if we see them lining up the street at Pine Street in the game, that's incredible too. And then under the scoreboard, I think there's a unique feature that – Ben, goes back to your last question that will be unique. We have a tiered berm that is general admission seating, and we're going to allow people to bring in their own lawn chairs. So we'll have an end zone that has a grass-like baseball berm and atmosphere with people bringing in their own lawn chairs.

You don't see that at college football much. I think that's going to be a fan favorite, especially those like my family who have little ones that like to run around. It's just going to be a great experience, and there's something for everybody. September 19th, first game. We're going to learn a lot that first game. It's going to be a great deal. I'll tell you, I get a little jealous sometimes. I think about it. I'm going to be up in my broadcast booth, and I'm not going to get to experience all the bells and whistles.

But one of the coolest things, I think, is the concourse area. You go to concessions, you never lose sight of the field. Yeah, but we wanted to design that. I think that was a cool thing of building the stadium, boil down. So you come in at grade, and someone could have a ticket and never go to their seat and can go through the entire venue. And the concourse will have three different primary concessions. You'll have two of the traditional, we'll have a grab-and-go kind of mart in the end zone.

And then we have vendors we'll announce here in the coming weeks that restaurants that people on the Shoals are familiar with that will have points of sale across the concourse. I think there's 26 different points of sale options. The concourse can get really wide in some areas to where you kind of have that beer garden patio feel in different elements of the stadium. So we're excited, and I'm sure there's a lot of bars for people to lean up against without seating that are around that stadium bowl.

I fully expect there will be people that have a ticket to the stadium, never get to their seat, and enjoy, and socialize, and stand up and watch that game. Kind of like we saw at baseball. Yeah. With kind of the rails where it's easy seating, it's easy leaning. You can have your hot dog, you can have your Coke, you can have your beer, whatever it is, and talk to people and just enjoy the atmosphere. You know, I think Josh Looney needs to get a little more excited about the upcoming season.

Listen, we've got to let you go. Thank you so much for taking a few minutes. Momentum, excitement, a buzz, whatever word you want to use, it's there. Yeah, it's a great time to raise the roar. We're excited. So we'll see everybody. First, we'll see you in Huntsville for our opener on week zero, but then we'll see you a few weeks later as we do something for the first time. Before you go, if you want to make a donation, if you want to find out about your favorite team, get more information about whatever, where can you get online and get it?

Warlines.com. It's the one-stop shop, and it'll take you anywhere you want to be. Listen, great to see you again. Thank you so much. Yes. Glad to be a part of it. Josh Looney talking to UNA. We've got some special guests coming up when we return to UNA Media Days 2026 at Lost Pizza on 93.9 to score. Indeed presents, hires you can't afford to get wrong, like a social media manager. Did you just post our Q4 earnings to your personal social media? Oh, yeah. Used a trending audio and everything.

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Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurance. Not available in all states or situations. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. And welcome back to the Boomo Bugg Show. Brett Beaird and the voice of the UNA Lions, Benjamin Rudd. Welcome in to UNA Media Days. How are you doing today? Hey, we're doing great. How about you? Listen, tell us a little bit about the business to begin with. Yeah, so the Carriage Wine and Market has been around since 2014. We're about to celebrate our 12th anniversary of business.

Wow. Actually, this Friday, in fact. So come out and have a glass of wine. We started as a wine shop and have grown into something that is much more than that. We're proud to stock about 1,000 different selections of wine with the largest selection of champagne in the state of Alabama, right here on Mobile Plaza. And we also offer a variety of craft beer, artisan cheeses, specialty grocery items, and more. And then, in addition to that, we're also a full-service wine bar, well, wine, cocktails, and craft beer bar, right next door here to Lost Pizza.

[1:37:57] So it's a great place to come with your friends, hang out, grab a cold glass of something that you like on the patio and enjoy. Edward, isn't it amazing how much the Shoals has grown? UNA has been a leader. They've got a new stadium. They're building the excitement here. Talk about your experience with the Shoals. It really is a neat place. I absolutely agree. I moved here about 14 years ago, so I'm not a native. And what I have seen in the last 14 years has really been impressive.

The amount of people and excitement that has come with, let's say, UNA going D1 has brought its own excitement. All the new construction happening on campus that's allowed for everything to grow. And then, of course, as you just mentioned, the new stadium. It's actually kind of in my backyard, so I can't wait to get this football season started. And what a beautiful stadium it has turned out to be. You know, the other thing, Caleb, about the Shoals, the businesses work together. I know the Better Business Bureau, the Convention of Visitors Bureau, a lot of people just know each other.

Again, it's not so much a country town. Maybe they've outgrown that in some ways. But, you know, both of you work with businesses downtown in the Shoals and in North Alabama. I'll tell you one thing, Huntsville, and I moved here four years ago, and I see it every day now. Talk about the growth you've seen in North Alabama. Sure. Well, I mean, going back to what you were saying about the businesses working together, it's so great to have a support network of good neighbors, just like our friends here at Lost Pizza.

Chuck and Marcy couldn't be better folks or better neighbors. And it's so great to have a symbiotic relationship where we're both rooting for each other and wanting the whole area to grow. And that's something special that we've got compared to other neighboring towns. There is a sense of community spirit here where everybody's wanting the boats to rise with the tide. UNA has been a huge driver of this, I'd say, through the last 10 years, specifically with their emphasis on growth and all the changes with D1. And it is interesting for me as a graduate of the University of North Alabama to see it today comp to what it was when I was there back in the 2008-2012 year range, where it was a great place to be.

It was exciting, and I loved my time as a Lion. But I think what the students today, and specifically as it relates to the athletic culture at UNA, what they are getting to experience now is a totally different league. Yes. Intentionally. And I think that's exciting, and I can't wait to see what that does for us as a business, for Lost Pizza, for Rivertown and all of our friends around to continue to see that increased foot traffic in downtown and beyond. It's really exciting. Yeah, I agree.

And to the credit of Downtown Florence Alliance has had a huge part to play in bringing us all together. Chris Stangle, who is the head of that, is an incredible guy to work with. He's always down. He's a yes man. He wants to help out in any way that he can, in any way that Alliance can. And that's been huge for us, too, putting on events. I mean, Mobile Street, Mobile Plaza is closed almost every other weekend because there are events going on out here. And how special that is that we all can benefit from that with our entertainment district, where we can, you know, sell a cold beverage and send people out onto the plaza to enjoy those events.

And soon enough, we're tailgating, I think, all the way down on Pine Street to the Champions Plaza, right? That's right. So you'll be able to stop in at the carriage, load up for your tailgate, or just grab a to-go cup and walk on down to the stadium. It's exciting. That was my next question before I let you go. How do we, as far as getting online, looking at your inventory, what you sell, how do we get in touch with you guys? Absolutely. So we are, everything we do is online.

So you can visit carriagewine.com. That's C-A-R-R-I-A-G-E-W-I-N-E.com to visit, to check out everything that we're doing, to see lifetime inventory of everything on our shelves. So you can go on there, click in advance, and we'll have it ready for you to pick up in 15 minutes, chilled and ready to go. We also do lots of free tasting events, weekly wine tastings every Monday. You can sign up through our website there, or you can follow us on Instagram at the underscore carriage, and you'll see all the exciting things we're doing.

Oh, that's incredible. Tell us again at the online website. carriagewine.com. By the way, you mentioned Chuck and Nancy McCarty. Aren't they incredible? They're just the best. All of the, all of the, what they do for UNA every day, but certainly for 93.9, but as far as helping the community, fundraisers, get-togethers, whatever the occasion is, they're incredible. Again, tell us where we can get, we got a moving audience, where can we get online and get all your good stuff? Yeah, carriagewine.com slash shop, and you can pick up anything you want.

[1:43:02] We got you covered there, and then I'll give you one other shameless plug before we have to go. We are the founding sponsors of Florence Wine Fest, which is a huge community event that happens every February, And we are excited to be finalizing the plans for that right now, with tickets launching on November 15th to the public. So stay tuned, so stay tuned. It's going to be an exciting time, and save the date for 2027. It's February 19th, 20th, and 21st, right here in the heart of downtown Florence.

Very nice meeting both of you. Yeah, it's a pleasure to have you on there. Look forward to working with you, and have a great weekend. Roar lions, right? Roar lions, roar. Have a good one. Thank you so much. Thank you, guys. Edward Speaker, Caleb Banks, talking a little bit about the carriage winding market. When we come back, we'll be wrapping up UNA, talking about some special stuff, and get Benjamin Ray's thoughts, maybe even on the Atlanta Braves. Hey. Well, we return to the Boom O' Boat Show on 93.9, the score.

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Please drink responsibly. Shohei Ohtani's interpreter was fired today. Ipe Mitsuhara ran up gambling debts to a Southern California bookmaking operation. The inside story of the biggest scandal in modern baseball. He was absolutely bananas the amount of bets he was making. I've never seen anything like it. From 30 for 30 Podcasts, this is The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani. Presented by Gusto. Episodes 1 and 2 available now. Listen wherever you get podcasts. Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Boomo Bugg, Kirby Smart, the big dog in Georgia, at least when it comes to radio, is Bill Shanks.

Who have you got on the show today? I know you're talking about trade, deadline, options, talking about Alabama, beating Georgia on October the 10th. Where can we get online and listen in this afternoon? Let me tell you, I have no guess whatsoever. I'm Rush Limbaugh. I'm open phone Friday. I have a rundown, and I might just have to recite and read the rundown over and over. I have no clue. I've been working. I've had to do orders for a month's c***. I had to appear on this Penny Annie show.

So I had all kinds of stuff to do. H***, I may be calling you two to go to the four block hours. It's all that come on my show. I mean, I have no freaking clue what I mean. I'm walking into a boardroom naked as a jaybird, not knowing what. So all you, all you, I'm going to take those five seconds from the Boomo Bugg show to call my show. There you go. The Boomo Bugg show. Weekdays, noon to two, on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.

And welcome back into the Boomo Bugg show, the final segment for UNA Media Days. We have had a blast. Now, before we get to Mike Ezekiel and the voice of the UNA Lions, Katie McDonald is here representing Lost Pizza. There is not a better place in downtown Huntsville. Downtown Huntsville. Downtown Florence, Steve. You can tell I was raised in Huntsville. Talk about Lost Pizza and what you've got here and specials for UNA tailgating. Yeah, so we've been in Florence since February of 2022, and it just has not stopped growing ever since we've opened.

[1:48:07] It's been awesome. I've seen it all through the four and a half years that we've been here. It's been so awesome. Lunch, dinner, Friday, first Fridays, second Saturdays, everything's always, always bumping around here. So for the fall, obviously, we've got the new stadium on Pine Street. So we will be partnering even more with UNA, having some tailgating specials that we'll be able to deliver about every 30 minutes down to Pine Street. We'll have kind of a mixture of wings and pizzas and other things that you'll be able to order, and we'll bring it straight over there to you.

Coach's show, tell us about it. Right here at Lost Pizza, and I've got to tell you, I've been doing Coach's shows for 10-plus years. Lost Pizza does the best job of any Coach's shows. Mondays, 6 to 7, we can't wait to have everybody here. Coach's shows are always awesome, basketball, football, whatever's going on. It always brings in a crowd, and it's super fun to have hosted here. So we love it. Now tell us, days open, hours, and I know a lot of people know this, but tell us again, as far as online, coming down here, location, et cetera.

Yeah, so we are 201 North Seminary Street, right on the corner where the Shoals Theater is, across from the post office. We are open seven days a week, 11 to 9 every single day. Yeah, online is ordering. We've got online ordering straight through us. We use DoorDash. We use Uber Eats. I think Grubhub as well. So always plenty of options to come hang out, grab a pizza or two and some drinks and have fun. You just make it easy for us, don't you, Katie? It's always easy over here.

Dear, thank you so much. Have a great week. Thank you for hosting us today, too. It's been so much fun as always. Absolutely. All right, you two, we're going to wrap it up. Mike on the mic. Where did you come up with that twiddle? This is Mike Ezekiel, the SID of UNA. Where did you come up with that? B.B., I have no idea. I mean, it happened probably 15 years ago. And I think somebody at UNA, maybe somebody I worked with or a student, was like, hey, there's Mike on the mic.

I was like, I don't like that. I'm going to steal that. I'm going to make that my Twitter handle. And MIC was taken. So I took Mike on the M-I-K, Mike on the mic. And then it's kind of become like a, hey, let's do a mic'd up with Mike Ezekiel segment. It's been a lot of fun. Summarize the day for us. Oh, it's been a lot of fun. This is one of my favorite events of the year, B.B., first of all, because you get to be here with 93.9 The Score.

And you guys do a tremendous job of talking to our student athletes and coaches. But Lost Pizza, also a tremendous host. And we have a lot of local media come out from Huntsville, our TV stations, WAFF, and Fox 64, we're here today. And AL.com came out today, Thomas Ashworth, Matt St. Charles from Times Daily was here. And just our local media coming out, talking to our athletes and coaches. And, of course, we do a show with the Royal Lions Productions, which is something Ben has really taken on this year.

And it's just a special day for our community and our media to interact with our teams. Let me ask you both, and we talked about this when we had you on the show a couple weeks ago, varsity network for all the sports, YouTube. In a lot of ways, you're trendsetters as far as now the way the media is going. Talk about both of you, what you and Abe, when we get into the actual games, coaching show, et cetera, where can we find it? Yeah, you're going to be able to find everything on your phone.

And that's what we wanted to accomplish. We wanted to be where people are. You spend so much time scrolling social media, Facebook, Instagram. So let's be where the people are, right? And then for traditional radio listeners, we're on the varsity network app as well, which is easy to download. It's the home of any college football game out there, any athletic event. You're going to be able to hear it right there. But our Royal Lions Productions, we launched it last year, had over 300,000 total views across all the platforms combined for everything we did.

So we're very pleased with those numbers. We feel like it's something that we're going to be able to grow. You see Mike and I on air a lot on that, but behind the scenes, Braden Rogers, Grant Wakefield, they do a lot of driving the ship. And they do a phenomenal job. Those young kids, they are so tech savvy. I just said, hey, guys, can we do this? They said, yeah. And I said, cool. And then I got out of the way. Next thing I know, we're on Twitch.

I don't know what Twitch is. I've had a Twitch. You tell me. You tell me, Mike. Mike, you tell me. But they tell me you can catch our games on Twitch now. And I always laugh at that. It is amazing at how UNA has grown in the athletic department, academically, everything else. I know you're incredibly excited about the upcoming seasons. Talk a little bit about the buzz, the momentum, the excitement. Well, in the press conference earlier, I think there were three things that I really hit on that I think are so important for this 2026-27 season.

I'd say the first one is Bank of Independence Stadium. I know you've heard a lot about it. September 19th, the grand opening for football. October, soccer will be playing there. And I think it instantly becomes maybe the best soccer environment in the nation for Division I. I mean, it's going to be tremendous playing in that stadium for them. Football, it's obviously going to be one of the top in FCS. Number two, I'd say adding new sports. I mean, that's going to be exciting with women's flag football coming online.

[1:53:10] Absolutely, yes. You've got men's and women's track expanding that cross-country program. I think that's so important. And number three, what was my third one, Ben? Oh, the move to the UAC. I think that's a big one. Just this conference and how special it's going to be, adding Little Rock. Even in football, renewing a rivalry with West Florida, Abilene Christian and Tarleton coming in for other sports. And those were D2 teams that we played back in the day, too. So, very excited for the UAC as well.

Again, if you want to donate, ticket information, game information, the whole nine yards, where do we go? Go online. I'd say roarlines.com, and you could just surf everywhere and find your inside athletics, go to tickets, get those season tickets for sure. And then, as far as donations, una.edu, and you could probably find it on there somewhere. But you've got a lot of momentum going on at UNA right now. Just so much excitement. We're growing. BB, when I was in school about 10, 15 years ago, our enrollment was about 7,000.

Now we're at about 11, too. Incredible. I mean, it's grown every single year, and people love UNA, and this community supports it. This has been a vision that a lot of people saw back in the 70s and 80s that is now coming to fruition, and I know y'all enjoy being a part of it. Thank you for letting me come in here with you two characters. Have a great season. We'll be talking from time to time. Thank you for having co-host this with me today. Hey, it's always the highlight.

I appreciate you having me, BB. And, hey, we appreciate you and Harold and what you do for this community with sports and how you guys embrace UNA and all of our coaches. I know Coach Dierman jokes, hey, I'll talk to you on Wednesday. But we love the coverage you guys give us, and at all the media here, we've got great media. We're very fortunate, UNA. A lot of our peer schools don't have this, and so we are super appreciative of the likes of you, Bo Carter, everybody that Mike rattled off.

But you guys do great coverage of us, and we're very appreciative of that. Our pleasure for doing that. Been a great show. Been a lot of fun. Boomo Bugg will be back tomorrow. We've got Paul Feinbaum coming up, and I appreciate James Moody doing an absolute great job once again producing the show. That's going to do it for today for James, Greg, Harold, and Blair. Have a great day. Paul Feinbaum coming up next.