Speaker 1 00:00:11 Hello and welcome to the Roundhouse Podcast with Paul Sutro of Wichita State University Strategic Communications. We appreciate you listening. Today, we're gonna delve into Rice Athletics with Matthew Bartlett. Matthew is the director and managing editor of The Roost. You can find stories, podcasts, they're getting into, uh, uh, rice Football previews in June. Uh, the website
[email protected], T H E R O O s, troo roost.com, and you can find their work on Twitter at at the roost. Matthew, thanks for your time. We appreciate it. Uh, rice is one of six schools, which will join the American Athletic Conference on July 1st. Rice located in Houston, uh, joins the a a C after being a member of conference U S A since 2005. Before that, it was in the Western Athletic Conference and the Southwest Conference. So, Matthew, give us an overall view. Describe the state of Rice athletics as it moves into the new conference.
Speaker 2 00:01:14 Well, I think everybody, for the most part is excited. Right? How can you not be with, uh, you know, with everything that's going on with, with realignment or whatever that means anymore in college sports today, anytime that you can sell to your fan base, that you're, you're going up a level, getting a promotion, it's a good thing. So Rice has had a, a decent amount of success in conference U s A, uh, across several sports that I think we'll we'll get to later. But, uh, a new challenge in getting it to do it on a, a bigger stage, I is something that I think across the board from the athletic department to the teams, to the fans, everybody is really excited about.
Speaker 1 00:01:51 So, we know football is a driving force for this move from, uh, a conference standpoint. Many of the school standpoints. Tell us about rice football and how it fits in the American.
Speaker 2 00:02:02 I think it's really interesting because you have the Exodus right, of Houston, Cincinnati and U C F, which, you know, for the most part were the big powers in football in the American for the past couple years. And so there's kind of a perceived, uh, power vacuum from a lot of schools. So everybody is gonna hope that year one, they come in and they put their stamp on their new league. So Rice has the, uh, deepest team that they've had in quite a long time. Their current head coach, Mike Bloomgren, has signed four of the highest, has signed the highest rated recruiting class in school history four times in the five years that he's been there. He's won, upped himself several times. So the talent is there and Rice is hoping this will be their breakthrough year after going bowling for the first time, uh, in, in six years last year. So, continued progress is the aim.
Speaker 1 00:02:56 I think people are well aware of Rice's outstanding academic reputation, and I would imagine that comes with some, uh, prevents some, some headwinds for athletic department teams. Give us an idea about, you know, how ath academics and athletics fit together and maybe what, what challenges or what opportunities and advantages that presents for Rice.
Speaker 2 00:03:17 I think it's a little bit of both. You know, when I, when I first got under the beat, I kind of had bought into the general idea that the pool is so much smaller for Rice to recruit from. You don't have any, you know, basket weaving majors on the football team. You have future astrophysicists because why not? But obviously there aren't many of those laying around. But it's also really interesting cuz I think it's really helped Rice, especially when it comes to, uh, the transfer portal and things like that. You can go and recruit guys that may or may not be interested in playing, you know, dropping down from the P five level, so to speak, but say, Hey, you can get a Master's at Rice. And that carries a lot of weight for people that, uh, most in most sports aren't going pro across the board. So, uh, it, it does change the pool that Rice gets to pick from a little bit, but it does have some advantages because that rice degree still has a lot of value for the people making the decisions and the parents for sure.
Speaker 1 00:04:13 So it seems like the AAC is a good fit for Rice by linking up with S M U Tulane and Tulsa, who I would consider kind of similar schools. Is that part of the connection for Rice?
Speaker 2 00:04:26 Yeah, I think it is. And what, what's really interesting is you had the move from the wac, which you mentioned to conference U s A, that initial 10 years or so of conference. U s A, I think was really formative for the new identity of what Rice Athletic is and the, the teams that they play. So the, you mentioned, you know, games against Tulsa, uh, Tulane, S M U, things like that. The rivalries kind of built up when conference U s A fractured, I guess the first time. I don't know what iteration we're on to U S A at this point, and a bunch of those schools, you know, Houston left and, and went to join the AAC Rice has ended up playing teams like, you know, Louisiana Tech and Florida International that they didn't really have much comradery with or any relationship whatsoever. So I think the biggest, uh, of, of the, the jump up in leagues and standing and stature is big for Rice fans, but they're really excited to, you know, play Tulane and, and play S M U and play a bunch of those teams that, uh, the, you know, the last iteration, like 2008 ish when Rice was really a power, uh, those were the teams that they were playing.
Speaker 2 00:05:35 And so to get to be back to those teams, uh, rivalries, they care about, uh, you know, no disrespect to the teams they're leaving, but, you know, trips to Murfreesboro and Huntington, West Virginia aren't appointment viewing for rice. So it, it's gonna be exciting just to have the names that, and the helmets that fans recognize.
Speaker 1 00:05:53 Yeah, that's definitely been the downside of all the realignment is fracturing those, those relationships and those rivalries. Uh, so we have Florida Atlantic, we have Temple and we have Rice. Will there be some sort of competition to determine who has the best owls, mascots, some sort of sweepstakes standings among those three schools?
Speaker 2 00:06:12 We've already, me and a couple guys on the beat have already started drumming up. We need, we're talking about the idea of an AL Trophy and we would like to formally submit, uh, to Michael Rusko when we see him on the potential list to bring people in because we need all of the ALS at this point. It's a, it's a funny fit, but we're up for it.
Speaker 1 00:06:33 Yeah, yeah. Makes sense. Uh, who is the most famous for Rice former athlete?
Speaker 2 00:06:41 Oh, man, that's a good question. There's a lot of options.
Speaker 2 00:06:47 Oh, and no matter which option I'm gonna upset some current or, uh, former generation. So, uh, let's go, let's go active because I think that'll at least give me a save my face a little bit. I'll probably say Anthony Randon probably, uh, world Series Champion Anthony Randon, uh, with the Angels now was a big rice. You can't, I mean, the fa most famous rice athlete has to be a baseball player, right? I feel like that's on brand. So I'll stick with that. Anthony Redone, he's a name folks know and is doing pretty well for himself.
Speaker 1 00:07:19 Sure. I guess Lance Berkman would've been another one. Uh,
Speaker 2 00:07:22 I, I could have Jose Cruz Jr. Their current baseball coach. I'm, there's a long list, which is a good thing. But
Speaker 1 00:07:30 There are, there are a lot of, shocker, a lot of Wichita State people in Houston. There's some connections with NASA and aerospace engineering, all that kind of stuff. So if you get Shocker fans coming to a basketball game or baseball game at Rice, where should they eat? What's the best, best food option maybe around campus?
Speaker 2 00:07:48 What I think is really, really exciting for the area of town that Rice is in, which just West U and Rice Village, uh, it's actually got a, a wide selection of whatever you want to find within walking distance that's right there by campus. Um, so you can go, you want go get Indian food, Mexican food, Italian food, grapes, uh, it's all, I mean, you can't really go wrong, uh, burgers, it's all there. So that's one of the nice luxuries that Rice has being in, uh, a full city and versus a college town, you know, maybe not have to drive out and pick, you know, a handful of spots. You got everything right there, uh, in the village just a couple blocks away.
Speaker 1 00:08:28 Who is Rice's biggest rival?
Speaker 2 00:08:32 Ooh, Houston. I think that would be the slam dunk answer. And that's kind of one of the things that Rice is excited about with the move because hoping to restore some rivalries because there just wasn't an enough, uh, teams you hated in Conference USA. And, uh, Houston of course is gone, but that rivalry stay and they're hoping to bring back those games. Like SMU is one, uh, rivalry developing with North Texas, U T S A. A lot of those Texas schools, they'll be on the schedules.
Speaker 1 00:09:02 So Rice basketball last made the NCAA tournament in 1970. Uh, take us through the difficulties building that program.
Speaker 2 00:09:10 I think that has been really interesting to watch with, especially how basketball has been impacted by the transfer portal, because it's a little bit different than some of the other sports Rice had. Uh, when they went to Scott Perra hired him a couple years ago, they had a, an Exodus one season where they had several of and, and move on and run outta eligibility and others end up transferring elsewhere. So they'd kind of, you know, built up their diamond in the roughs, recruited and, and developed. And then you have guys like, uh, like Trey Murphy, who's now with the Pelicans in the b a played for Rice, but spent his last seasons at Virginia. Uh, drew Peterson ended up at USC playing on NCAA tournament team. So that was rough and that was a, a, you know, a speed bump in what head coach Scott Perra, I think has done pretty well is he's figured out a system that can find the right pieces and plug and play, and that plug and play, uh, ability has been huge for them. So their win total ha has gone up, uh, a little bit. The last three or four seasons under him, uh, have made the, the, uh, what the C B I and back to back years won, won a tournament game last year. So things are going up. They got a lot of returning pieces and, uh, just signed, uh, I guess this past cycle, the highest rated recruit, basketball recruit in program history. So a lot of good things, but the, the transfer portals certainly made things a lot more interesting.
Speaker 1 00:10:38 So there are not, not a lot of connections between Wichita State and Rice. Uh, one of them would be former AL'S coach Scott Thompson. Uh, he came to Wichita State, took the, that Wichita State job in 1992. Uh, so tell us a little bit more about Scott Perra, the ALS 19 and 16 last season, uh, played in the C B I describe his style of play.
Speaker 2 00:11:01 Uh, they coined a term, I think going back before, uh, not this past season, but but the one prior to it, uh, green light, you and it, it's exactly what it sounds like. He gives his guys the green light to take just about any shots. So they will shoot a lot of threes. They're a volume team. They also have a lot of movement that sets up good shots and they have a lot of shooters. So, uh, when you play rice, you are not going to be in a 60 to 56 dog fight. You are going to be in a 100 to 90, uh, slug fest. And that's kind of how they like to play. Defense has been the major, uh, I mean, bugaboo, <laugh> to, to put it light lightly the last couple years, uh, they just have not been able to consistently stop anybody. And that's kind of been the game and the rub and, you know, we'll see what happens there. If they fix that aspect of their game, they can get a little bit better there. I think we can see that record pop up in a, the win column go up.
Speaker 1 00:12:00 So last season, the owls they won at North Texas. North Texas had a, had an excellent season winning the N I t took Texas to, uh, to overtime. So they're, they had some, had some good results, uh, last season. Uh, rice baseball, uh, very prominent, uh, there would be another connection there. The last time Wichita State went to the College World Series, they defeated rice to, to win the Midwest Regional. In 1996, Lance Berkman would've been on that team. So Rice Baseball, great History won the NCAA title in 2003. Part of a great run under Wayne Graham, the former coach. It's been a struggle in recent seasons. They were 21 and 37 this season. Uh, tell us how the owls are trying to, to rebuild baseball.
Speaker 3 00:12:57 Hi, this is Rick Mema, president of Wichita State University. Check out the latest episode of the Forward Together podcast. Each episode I sit down with different guests from Chara Nation to celebrate the vision and mission of Wichita State University. Listen, wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 00:13:26 Well, it's been interesting. They went out and they hired Matt Bragga, uh, after Wayne Graham, uh, retired and, uh, from Tennessee Tech, he had the team that took Texas to the Wire, their last out in a, uh, that regional game back. Well that would've been 2018. And he was brought in, but there was never really a culture fit, um, with him. Like, like we kind of talked about Rice is a a different place, how, how things are done. Uh, just the limitations and the people, uh, is kind of unique. So they made the decision to move on from him and brought in Jose Cruz Jr. Uh, former Rice. Great. And it's been kind of an interesting process the past now two seasons under him. There's been a lot of work done off the field. His connections with the City of Houston being from here, planet, uh, in town has been really important.
Speaker 2 00:14:22 There's been a lot of, uh, uptick around the program just from donations and interest. Uh, they redid the field this past year, put in Al Turf. And so that piece, uh, the batting, uh, the batting paint, the pitching, uh, pin that they have kind of engineered with all the advanced tech and stats and numbers. And if you want analytics, uh, you know, big league guys come back and use it in the off season, uh, to kinda watch their stuff. So they've done all of the infrastructure building that they realistically can at at this point and that was something that they just needed to get caught up on. And now it's onto the field. And the challenge for, uh, Jose is gonna be bringing in talent, which is something that we've seen, uh, in parts here. Uh, Ben Royo was I think an whole freshman team selection and conference u USA this year, a freshman. They brought in, they have a lot of guys, uh, Parker Smith is, is going to try out with the national team this summer for, for the, for USSA NA Nationals. And the pieces are getting there. The, the kind of problem this year was the inconsistency and not enough depth of guys that weren't true freshmen earning their stripes. <laugh>, I think in the, in the rotation in in the bullpen that kind of came, came back and bit 'em.
Speaker 1 00:15:37 So that 2003 Rice team, that would be another connection between the two programs cuz Wichita State came down to, to Wrecking Park, uh, that was at Rice team that had just some great arms. Uh, Wade Townsend, David SMA and Rice beat Wichita State twice on their way to super regional. They beat Houston, then they beat Southwest Missouri State outta the Missouri Valley conference in Omaha and went on to win the, uh, win their national title that year. Uh, other sports, women's basketball, volleyball, very strong at Rice. Uh, Jenny Volpe is a long time, uh, volleyball coach. Been a regular in the NCAA tournament. Uh, women's basketball won the W N I T in 2021. Won conference titles two 19 in 2020. Describe those, those coaches and, and how they're able to have success.
Speaker 2 00:16:28 Uh, well we'll start with Jenny and, and volleyball and that is, has probably gotta be the model of consistency for sports at, at Rice right now. Um, that program has just been a, a juggernaut. They bring in talents, they develop it, um, and they, they play at such a high level, um, funnest thing. Watching them play is just how tactical they are and everything they do, they plug in somebody else and, and it just works. So, uh, they went 13 and one in conference last year. Only lost was to Western Kentucky was the top 25 team. And then went back and beat him in the conference tournament, won the conference title and uh, went back to the NNC ncaa. So they have just so many high level players and programs and like you said, uh, seeing an NCAA tournament without rice in it is odd right now.
Speaker 2 00:17:18 And that's, that's a really exciting place to be on the basketball side. Uh, it's kind of interesting cuz those conference, uh, championships and those seasons you mentioned were actually under a previous head coach, Tina Langley, who went to Washington. Uh, those teams had Nancy Mulkey, who I think it was six 10 maybe. Uh, so having the tallest woman on the court in a basketball game, a women's basketball game kind of changes the odds. I believe she's the NCAA leader in block shots. Uh, or at least she, she left Rice as that. And then you had, um, Erica Mke, both her sisters playing the W N B A, she was in W N B A draft pick. Those, uh, ladies were both on those teams and, uh, they were, I think they went like 45 and two over a two year period in conference. So new head coach, uh, Lindsey Edmonds, uh, joined the owls two years ago.
Speaker 2 00:18:16 Uh, covid year was interesting. The roster was so thin after the turnover with players and Co that they had seven active players for most of the year and had to play a student manager that they suited up, uh, over a weekend to put into a live basketball game that counted. So she kinda got started there and last year signed the highest rated recruiting class in conference U s A and, uh, made a, made a good run, had a lot of progress and, and, and done pretty well. So they're really high on that program and they're pretty excited. They think they can get back to where that program has been in recent years.
Speaker 1 00:18:54 So there are five other schools that are joining the American all Out of conference U s A along with Rice. Uh, give us the rice view of maybe some of the, the o the other schools. Is there one that is a juggernaut? Is there one that we should pay attention to for particular reasons? We've got North Texas, Florida, Atlantic, U A B, Charlotte and U T S A.
Speaker 2 00:19:18 Uh, I think U T S A is probably one that's worth talking about because obviously the football program is very new, but along with that push and that rise in and just notoriety with their football team, there's been a lot of investment done within that entire athletic program across the board. And it's kind of gonna be interesting, you know, all these programs moving, moving up to the American are, are making a bet in, in some, you know, instances that, that they can be better and they can take that jump, uh, in tier and prominence and success. And I think U T S A is one that I'd circle, I think is interesting because they're, they're very fresh and new to a lot of this and they're making those investments and nobody was really quite certain where they're gonna end up. So if those investments pay off, they make the right decisions, I think they could be interesting. And then UAB is another one just across the board, um, has a lot of success, has done really well, uh, obviously in basketball is one that's, uh, gonna be difficult and they seem to just keep loading and, and running and, and in NCAA tournament caliber team, uh, for the past couple seasons under Andy Kennedy. So, so those are two that, you know, Wichita State will probably run into in some sports and could make things interesting.
Speaker 1 00:20:37 Matthew Bartlett is the director managing editor of The Roost, where you can learn all about Rice Athletics Stories podcast. Matthew, we
Speaker 4 00:20:46 Appreciate your time.
Speaker 0 00:20:49 Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 5 00:21:02 Thank you for listening to the Roundhouse podcast, courtesy of Wichita State University strategic communications. We encourage you to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more roundhouse
[email protected].
Speaker 4 00:21:18 It's over. It's over. Ladies and gentlemen. Say it slowly and savor it. Wichita State is going to the final four for the first time in 48 years.
Speaker 6 00:21:32 Unbelievable. What a scene folks. The shocker fans are just going crazy in the stands,
Speaker 4 00:21:38 Just may be the greatest win in the history of Wichita State Basketball.
