Speaker 1 00:00:12 Hello and welcome to the Roundhouse Podcast with Paul Sutro of Wichita State University Strategic Communications. Thank you for listening as we continue to look at the six schools joining the American Athletic Conference. Today's guest is Greg Luca. Greg covers UTSA Athletics for the San Antonio Express News. You can read his
[email protected]. You can follow Greg on Twitter at at Greg Luca, g r e g l u c a, where his profile picture is one that all sports writers can relate to. He is sitting in a hallway typing out a story. He is probably on deadline. Perhaps he's worried that he's been locked into a stadium. Greg, were you locked into a stadium when that picture was was taken?
Speaker 2 00:00:54 That was at Rice, so no, they, you know, it might not look like the most glamorous setup there. I think at times you're even in conference usa, you were kind of just making it work with what you could, but the real concern was those pants, I don't know if they ever recovered from whatever kind of dirt or whatever you might've picked up sitting on the ground to get your story done. But you gotta do what you gotta do.
Speaker 1 00:01:12 That is a vintage sports riding picture. We've all been, we've all been locked in a high school stadium after deadline at some point. Had to climb fence. Yes,
Speaker 2 00:01:20 No doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 1 00:01:21 Okay. The University of Texas, San Antonio is one of six schools that will join the American Athletic Conference on July 1st. U T S A obviously located in San Antonio, had been a member of conference U S A since 2013. UT T S A started its athletics program in 1981 with a men's basketball game against Arkansas. Played its first football game in front of 56,743 fans at the Alamo Dome in 2011. So Greg, let's start with football. We understand the significance of that sport to the school and to the conference. Roadrunners have been in three straight bowls. Uh, they've beaten Illinois, they've beaten Baylor in recent seasons. I think they will be one of the favorites in the American this fall. Why has U T S A been so successful so quickly with this football program?
Speaker 2 00:02:09 Yeah, it's really interesting because when I started here it was 2018 season and at that time it was still kind of fledgling, I guess you could say. And Coach Frank Wilson was floundering a little bit at times and they were on some, some losing seasons. And when they got, they made the change to bring in Jeff Trayer, the coach there now, you know, comes in with a high school pedigree of, he coached at Gilmer High School here in East Texas for about 15 years and won a few state championships and then, you know, bounced around the college ranks a little bit and you know, rising up as an assistant for a few years and then landed this job. And so I think that there was some questions about what he would bring to the table and how that would impact the program. But the culture that he's brought is something the players have really bought into.
Speaker 2 00:02:51 And we saw the results pretty quickly in terms of the first season that they were, uh, seven and five I believe, and started back on a winning trend. And then to have the last two years have the kind of success that they had with the conference championships. And at one point, you know, cracking the top 25 both years and being in the mix for things like that has totally changed the perception of the program. And it probably helped enable a move to the, to the American just because the profile is so much higher than it was even just a couple years ago based on the success and trajectory of that program. And you know, being a young program, I think they had always hoped that they could, could find some kind of upward movement like that. And the attendance has started to come around a little bit.
Speaker 2 00:03:28 You mentioned the 56,000 for the opener. Obviously that was kind of a spectacle and there were times where that average for the year, it dips closer to 20 or, or borderline maybe even under that. And now they're back close to 30 again. So if they can get 30,000 in the AMO do pretty consistently for U T S A football, then that's only gonna help they continue to grow. So that's obviously the driver of any athletic program. And here's no different, I think football is what people latch onto the most and they've rewarded them for it in recent years.
Speaker 1 00:03:53 There appears to be investment going on in athletics, I'm sure driven by football. Uh, in 2021 they, the school opened the Road Runner Athletics Center of Excellence, 41.5 million project, lot of football stuff going on there. Describe the, the environment, the ambition for athletics at at U T S A.
Speaker 2 00:04:17 Yeah, it's kind of tough for the program because obviously they hope to continue to grow it and with this move to the American, they have to be able to push it to a higher level. They, the budget in terms of like the revenues and expenses was close to 40 million for the 2022 fiscal year, which was much higher than where they've usually landed. They've been kind of in the 20 to 30 range, uh, prior to that. And I think now we're seeing that the university is committed to pushing that forward. But I think that we have to find out if they have the support around the city and if they have the alumni base to do it. I mean the, the athletics program and the university itself, the university itself is only, you know, I think it was founded in the sixties ish, you know, so they don't have a lot of the longstanding tradition in some of the donor base that, that some of these schools have.
Speaker 2 00:05:07 Um, either in the American or just even like up their road at Texas State. They just, they just started a new facility and obviously U T S A thinks of Texas State and they think of each other as rivals for a pretty good portion of the year. And you know, Texas State just has a larger donor base cause they have more alumni and they've had football for longer and things like that. So U T S A is striving to try to get up to that level. And I think over time, you know, the alumni base is only gonna grow the, the investment in football is growing as the success has come along. So you can see where some of these current student tickets might transition into season tickets and transition into donors over time. But for now they're sort of fighting an uphill battle to get up to the level that they wanna be at with a lot of that.
Speaker 2 00:05:46 And it's happening internally though, I mean the university is willing to commit more to making athletics thriving. I think like so many presidents around the country, the university president at uts a S A describes it as the front porch of the university, which I think is, you know, everybody's heard that phrase before, but here they believe in that to a pretty strong extent that they're willing to help bolster the program and try to throw that financial backing behind it. So until they can start to raise that more naturally philanthropically the university and the types of systems seems willing to support them.
Speaker 1 00:06:15 So we would know the Spurs are a big deal in San Antonio. I would assume the Cowboys are a big deal. It's also 80 miles from Austin, it's about 180 from College Station. Would you consider San Antonio a pro town or a college athletics town?
Speaker 2 00:06:30 That's an interesting question. I think the Spurs are obviously central to everything that happens here, but you might find that the Cowboys are just as popular as anybody else. I think it's one of the biggest markets for cowboys support and that's why when in this, in San Antonio, we're always constantly having the conversation about bringing more pro sports teams here and they would love to have an N F L franchise. And I think they've been in the mix for that. But that would never fly with Jerry Jones. And, and the amount of support that the Cowboys have here, and we've seen, they had a team in the Alliance of American football in 2019 that was well supported. They have an XFL team now that was pretty well supported and you know, they had some conversations maybe flirtations with the MLS and that ended up landing in Austin.
Speaker 2 00:07:10 So it's always a conversation about how does San Antonio become more of a pro town. And I think that certainly the Spurs drive everything, but U T S A is trying to get a piece of the pie in the sense of saying, if you don't have an NFL team, maybe you can just throw all your support behind us. You know, we're putting a pretty good product on the field and the same building in the OG do. And hopefully that we're, we're playing an exciting brand of football, which they do that. I mean, they've played so many close games and thrilling finishes over the last few years that it would, it would be, you understand why they make that push to try to get the city behind them, but I think the city thinks pro sports first.
Speaker 1 00:07:44 I I joining the American Athletic Conference. Why is this a, a good move, an important move for U T S A?
Speaker 2 00:07:53 I think a lot of it, when they made the decision just came down to the financials of it. Obviously the media rights they expect to be able to claim in the distributions from the American are higher than what they were getting in conference u s a and I think that it's just constantly that upward mobility. Now it's, it's interesting because, you know, they have aspirations of being in the Big 12 or, or some other larger Power five conference like everybody else does. But I think they understand that it's a long process to get there. And just the way the winds of change in college athletics were working at that time for there to be those openings in the American and that six schools were, were gonna get scooped up and there was gonna be this huge transition. If you don't take part in that, then you're kind of in no man's land.
Speaker 2 00:08:33 So they sort of didn't really have much of an option in it. They were, they were, uh, but it made sense at that point. I mean, you have Texas schools that you're gonna be staying with. You keep with North Texas, you can add SMU as a rival. You continue to be connected with rice. And so, uh, it, it, it fit in a lot of different ways. And then there's, there's gonna be other aspects of the program, maybe some of the other sports non-football where they're still gonna be playing catch up, especially cuz they might have already been behind the ball and, and even in conference u s a in that sense. But football is the one that everybody's gonna look at first. And so they certainly are a fit there, like you mentioned, I think they'll be one of the favorites in the league in football. And so if they, you know, come out and win or even contend for the conference championship and the first year, then you know, any other concerns just get pushed to the bottom.
Speaker 1 00:09:14 Who is UTSA's most famous alum former athlete?
Speaker 2 00:09:20 Well, so they actually are, because it's football and because they are kind of starting to make these waves now later. Uh, they just last year had the defensive, well, second place defensive rookie of the year, Tariq woolen with the Seattle Seahawks placed cornerback for them. And I think the name that most people probably heard, U T S A first was when Marcus Davenport got drafted, uh, in the first round by the Saints, uh, defensive end. I don't, I think he's a, he was a free agent. I don't know where he ended up signing, but, um, I think those are the names athletically that, that you're, that are gonna stick out. There haven't been a ton of huge standouts in the other sports.
Speaker 1 00:09:55 So there are a lot of Wichita State alums and people down in Texas. So I would imagine there will be some showing up at, at basketball games, so forth. Uh, give us a restaurant recommendation if you're, if you're going to a game at, at U T S A,
Speaker 2 00:10:09 Wow, that's, that's a big ask. I mean the people here take their food very seriously, I would say, uh, you have to look barbecue. I would say that's probably a good thing to do. I, although I know isn't, you guys have a pretty, uh, strong barbecue scene in that region. Am I making that up or isn't that something Kansas
Speaker 1 00:10:23 City is quite proud of? Its barbecue. Wichita has barbecue. Uh, it's not as, not as well known, not as promoted Kansas City is. Yeah, they would consider themselves the barbecue capital of the world and they would fight anybody who says otherwise,
Speaker 2 00:10:37 But I would recommend Pinkerton's to those people. It's a downtown place. So you'll get to swing by some of the, the sites and sounds over there as well. Before you head kind of up north to u t UTSA land,
Speaker 1 00:10:47 Do we go to the Riverwalk or do we avoid the Riverwalk?
Speaker 2 00:10:51 I think it's worth, I mean I, I, you know, it's the touristy thing to do, but I think that it's a touristy thing to do for a reason. It's, it's very scenic, especially if you're coming around basketball season, you might be, they, they do it up pretty nice for the holidays, so you get a lot of lights and different things like that. So if you're here, uh, when it's, when it's still Christmas time-ish or if some of that stuff is lingering once we get into conference play and in January or February, then that's definitely worth taking a walk through there.
Speaker 1 00:11:17 Uh, what school is UTSA's biggest rival
Speaker 2 00:11:20 That you could, you could start an hour's long Twitter debate over that one? I think that's a tough call. You know, Texas State is probably the one where they butt heads the most, but just because U T S A has kind of, uh, gotten the better of that rivalry, especially in football, I think people wanna look past them. So, uh, north Texas is the easy answer. They've had some really, really contentious games in conference U s A and that's why I think when the, when the scheduling model came out, U T S A, I think they're paired with rice and North Texas is paired with SMU and you get why because North Texas and SMU are essentially neighbors. But I think U T S A would rather have your either one of those rivalries. I think SMU was kind of an aspirational rival. They might be a bit step, a bit of a step up and a bit farther ahead.
Speaker 2 00:12:02 But North Texas and U T S A have had some, some crazy games just a couple years ago when U T S A was 11 and oh and they were trying to finish off a perfect regular season, they went into North Texas and got smashed like pretty decisively. And so I think that just added another layer to it. And there have been some last minute drives, you know, just last season U T S A beat them on a last second touchdown catch. So it seems like every game between those two comes down to something insane. And so I think that, uh, that's the rivalry that I think will get people going the most.
Speaker 1 00:12:32 I think that's one good thing about some of this reshuffling and how the American has adapted. You are restoring or getting or preserving some, some regional rivalries where fans can travel and, and all those kind of things. I think that is uh, that's, that, that's a plus. Was that U T S A, do they like that aspect of it being in a conference with several Texas schools?
Speaker 2 00:12:53 Oh yeah, absolutely. I think it's always easy because even with the small alumni base, you have a lot of 'em who are in the Houston area and a lot of 'em who are in the Dallas area. And so being able to have not just the opportunity to come to down here and catch a game, but if you can go when U T S A plays at RICE to be able to just, for some people that's really, really convenient in Houston or if it's North Texas or smu, then they are allowed to be able to touch with all of their alumni base even though it's not the largest and it's mostly in Texas, it's more opportunities for those people to not have to make the drive to San Antonio to see em.
Speaker 1 00:13:22 So Kansans will be very familiar with Steve Henson, uh, coach of U T S A men's basketball. He was a great, uh, basketball player and a decathlete at Kansas State, also at McPherson High. Uh, he started in 2016. He has three winning seasons to his credit, uh, including a C I T appearance in 2018. The roadrunners have gone 10 and 22 each of the past two seasons, uh, update us on basketball and, and maybe why it's difficult to win at U T S A.
Speaker 2 00:13:52 Yeah, it got pretty bleak for Henson in the, the end of this most recent season. I think there was a lot of conversation around whether he would be brought back or not. He has one year remaining on his contract and ultimately the athletic director, Lisa Compost, put out a statement that said Henson would be back for his final year. And, you know, when you have to do that, that there certainly were some questions and conversation around it. But he's proven to be an effective coach at different stages of his career. I mean, he was the common USA coach of the year a few years back and has led this team to some pretty good finishes, probably better than they've had, uh, through a lot of stages of the program's history. But they had two really dynamic scores in, uh, a couple guards, Keaton Wallace and Jevon Jackson.
Speaker 2 00:14:29 And since they left the program a couple years ago, just kind of ran out of eligibility, it's been hard for them to sort of reload, uh, and find other guys who can be those ball dominant scores or just reinvent themselves and find a different style of play. So that's why I think we've seen the last two seasons that they've floundered a little bit and especially in the new era with, with N I L and how the transfer portal works, maybe roster construction is a little bit different, so it just sort of remains to be seen if Henson can get the program back on track. But it is an uphill battle trying to do that here. They play in the, it's a UTSA's convocation center, but it's, I mean, it's not much better than a high school gym if it is better than a high school gym.
Speaker 2 00:15:04 It's a, you know, multipurpose on campus, um, facility and the, you know, even like parking and things like that. It's just not what you would think for a division one program that aspires to be at a much higher level. So that's a struggle and they are working on building, it's the next big project that they have planned, but who knows how long it'll take to get funded a a basketball and volleyball practice facility. So that'll, that'll be a game changer. You talk to the coaches and they would rather have a, a standout training facility than a standout competition venue because that's where they spend most of their time. So, you know, it's counterintuitive for fans who go watch and play at the, at the actual arena, but that's something that would be a huge priority and make a difference for the program if they can recruit to this new practice facilities.
Speaker 2 00:15:46 So who knows whether it's, whether it's henson's kind of resurgence and if they get that project off the ground or if this is just Henson plays out the last year of his contract and then they're looking for somebody else who perhaps they can hire to a, a greater standard because that new facility is in the works. Or just because the program's trajectory, perhaps they feel like they can get a, a strong candidate if it comes to that. But, so this is gonna be a very interesting year and you know, even then the roster given some of the turmoil around the program and the questions around Henson status obviously had to be rebuilt almost from scratch. They only have a couple of different returners, so it'll be a question of how well the transfers fit together, how well some of the, the new freshmen that they're bringing in fit together and just if they can put opening program together outta what they got there.
Speaker 1 00:16:31 So the Roadrunners have been to four NCAA tournaments most recently in 2011 as a member as the Southland Conference. Uh, women's basketball last had a winning record in 2015. Karen Aston is entering her third season as coach this fall, uh, women's basketball. Where's that program at? At U T S A?
Speaker 2 00:16:51 Yeah, it's been an interesting development the last couple years because they were last or near last in Commons u s A for a few seasons before Karen Aston's arrival and bringing her in was a significant commitment for the program. They ended up paying her, I think, triple or more of what the previous coach was making. It was just a new level of interest and and investment into trying to make women's basketball successful here. And she, coming from Texas where they've made a, I think she made a few Elite Eight appearances and things like that, just has a pedigree of not only high level performance at the division one level, but doing it in the state and some of the recruiting ties that come with that. And so there's a, it's really increased even before the results have started to show, it's really increased the interest level in the program and the demand for, for coverage and content and how their attendance shakes out at some of these games.
Speaker 2 00:17:37 It's still not like packed houses or anything by any means, but it got pretty bleak there for a while and they're starting to trend in a positive direction. And last year they had, uh, Jordan Love a transfer from from U S C who ended up being, uh, Jordan. Jenkins, sorry cuz Sydney Love is a freshman from the local area who's been very strong. But Jordan Jenkins, a transfer from USC was a conference player of the year and, and was really the spark for that team. But then those freshmen like Sydney love that Karen Aston is recruiting, is bringing a higher level of recruiting to the program and she had some success in her first year and I think everybody's coming back for the season. So there's hope within that, that unit that they can continue to take steps forward and that U T S A women's basketball can be a relevant programming, competitive even in a, in a higher level conference.
Speaker 1 00:18:19 Road runners baseball 38 19 this spring, number 75 in the rpi. So they will, uh, fit nicely into the American coach Pat Hallmark. He played at Rice, uh, he played in the Royals organization so he seems to be, uh, moving in the right direction with that program. He's had 38 win seasons, the past two. Uh, how's he building the baseball team at U T S A?
Speaker 2 00:18:41 Yeah, it was interesting. He actually came to this job just from across town at Incarnate or the FCS program, uh, just down the street. And it was interesting to see how he took over and started to bring in a mix of, you know, developing the guys who were on the roster. There's a couple of transfers who are like Power five bounce backs if you will. Like they played for him at Incarnate Word and then they tried their hand at at at Baylor and Texas a and m, then they ended up at U T S A when he got the job there. And there's some transfers and JUCO guys like any other coach that he brought in from different parts of the country and it's all formulated into a really strong roster. I know last year they very much thought that they deserved to make the tournament.
Speaker 2 00:19:17 They did one of those, you know, gather to watch the selection show media event kind of things like they were right on the bubble and ended up not making the field. And you know, you think that it's not necessarily the end of the world but the, you know, the team that was the last team in ended up winning the whole thing last year, right? So they, you know, they know that they were kind of in the mix and had a shot at that if they really were able to cross that threshold. And then this year they were out to kind of a record setting pace and sort of floundered down the stretch, lost a couple of games late in the regular season, then uh, flamed outta the conference tournament in just two games. But they really would've had a shot to make it as an at-large this year as well.
Speaker 2 00:19:51 I think that was something that was very, very much on their radar with a couple of months to go in the year. And they were even talking about like, what do we have to do to get our r p up and checking the rankings every day and really feeling like that was something that they could target realistically. And so we'll see as he continues to build here. If, if just some of these guys that he had, I mean it was a very experienced team this year, so losing some of those guys is not gonna be a guarantee up upward trajectory just cuz you have to find new talent to replace the guys that you've built the last few years. But certainly he seemed like the right coach for the job having kind of taken this program, uh, right to that cusp pretty quickly.
Speaker 3 00:20:37 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 1 00:21:05 U T S A track finish second in the conference, U s a outdoor meet on the men's side. Third on the women's side, uh, women's golf has won some conference titles recently. Uh, what else stands out about the Olympic Sports at U T S A?
Speaker 2 00:21:19 Yeah, it seems like every year you got in a couple of track qualifiers or people who make some waves nationally and at least get to the NCAA regional meets and have a chance to show some stuff there. And you mentioned golf, I think women's women's golf. Uh, Cameron Carone is someone who is a local from San Antonio, so she's obviously got a level of interest in support here and she won the n c regional at, uh, just down the road at TPC San Antonio by like six or seven shots, like really dominant showing and you know, it had the advantage of being on a home course, but you still have to go out there and do it. And so I think that she's coming back for another year. It'll be her fifth year and she's got a chance to really make some waves nationally. I think that they aim to compete on a national stage and actually show well at that NCAA championship meet.
Speaker 2 00:22:02 So we'll see what she's able to do. But yeah, a lot of these smaller sports, you know, like women's soccer's been on an upward trajectory. Um, softball could end up being a situation similar to women's basketball where they had a really rough season last year, but they're bringing in, they're gonna be bringing in a new coach and who knows if that leads to just a greater level of commitment to the program and some, some upward trend there. And volleyball's a similar thing there. They changed coaches just a year or two ago and are, are thinking that they can get a higher level of production out of the program. So I think there is an understanding that going to the bigger league is going to require a little bit more commitment and that you have to hire a different level of coach who can produce a different level of results.
Speaker 2 00:22:40 But for these programs at U T S A, it's all about the facilities I talked about, you know, basketball, uh, needing a huge upgrade. Baseball is perhaps even worse. The players and coaches admit that it's not as, not even as good as a lot of the high school stadiums that they've seen around here that they come from. And, and softball is in a similar state. So, you know, volleyball obviously shares the gym with basketball, so they need help too. And the, the track and field is actually off campus. They, well not technically there's a Park West campus, it's like a secondary area, but they've been working to sort of centralize athletics around that new hub that you mentioned. And the track and field part is separate from that and so is soccer. So I think that there's still a lot of work to be done to get those facilities up to par, especially if U T S A aspires like they do to potentially be a Power five school one day. There's, there's, there's stuff that you know, below just the surface level of looking at football that has to come around to get to that level. But they're certainly trending the right direction.
Speaker 1 00:23:35 So U T S A along with Charlotte Rice, north Texas, UAB and Florida Atlantic will join the American in July. Anything jump out at you about those other five schools? Is there one that has impressed you with its, uh, ambition or a particular program? What else should shocker fans maybe know about some of the other additions?
Speaker 2 00:23:56 Yeah, I think UAB has been, especially cuz we think football first, but even in basketball has been a huge barrier for U T S A in recent years. Not that, especially in football. U T S A has been able to get the better at them a couple times lately on these championship runs that they've had. But that's always a team that they're kind of circling on the calendar and in basketball there they seem to be, uh, head and shoulders above. And I remember in some of those other schools at the time, I think it was a little bit surprising, like nobody was sure if necessarily Rice would get a look like that, but obviously having kind of the academics that they have and what else they bring to the conference stage, it makes sense. And so that's a team that the good news for U T S A is they've competed with a lot of these teams before obviously.
Speaker 2 00:24:34 So yes, it is a big transition and a lot of the schools that were already in the American have bigger budgets and more resources and a lot more history and things like that. But at least half of the teams they'll be playing in a given schedule seem to be teams that they've met and dealt with before. So like I said, UAB stands out in North Texas, has been a chief rival for U T S A as well so that those, you know, it's kind of like an arms race pretty frequently between U T S A and North Texas. But people have always said the North Texas program has a lot of potential, especially in football being in Dallas, whether it's basketball too, there's a lot of fertile recruiting ground there. And I know that they've made some commitment to their, in their facilities as well. They have kind of a new, uh, at least for football, I know they have a new kind of athletic training in indoor practice field that they've built within the last couple years. So if they're making that kind of development in athletics from that location, and obviously basketball has had some success the last few years. So I think that that's one to look out for too, that they could continue to sort of emerge as one of the powers of the league.
Speaker 1 00:25:30 Greg Luca covers UTSA Athletics for the San San Antonio Express news. You can read his
[email protected]. Greg, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate you giving us a look at u ts a athletics.
Speaker 2 00:25:43 Thank you Paul. I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 4 00:25:56 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 5 00:26:11 Bradshaw into Windgate. Wingate's Gonna dribble it a couple of times and throws it in the hands of snar, threw it away. Kuznar to Ryan Martin for the dog. The shockers are gonna the Sweet 16. It's all over the shockers Up seven three seconds. Two chapter by Smith is no good. Wichita State to the Sweet 16.
