HOUR 3: Utah AD Mark Harlan on Whittingham future | College football kickoff | Utah NIL + MORE

your home for the best college football coverage in Utah is on the KSL Sports s the Cougars kick off the 2024 season with a home battle against Southern Illinois your home for the best coverage of cougar football is right here on 975 the KSL Sports Zone this is H Olson and Scotty gen presented by Mountainland Supply on 975 the KSL Sports Zone [Music] hands and Scotty 975 the KSL Sports Zone final hour of the program fun show today it's even going to get a little bit better is Mark Harland athletic director for the University of Utah expected to join us coming up today at 2:30 so we'll chat with the ad at Utah remember tomorrow show hands we officially transition into the preview shows uh cougar preview show will begin tomorrow at 1:00 and then uh on Thursday our good friend Frank Dolce will be in here he'll make fun of us and say really rude and inappropriate things but also we'll break down the youths better than anybody else so speaking of those stupid moments where you're out of the country and you're on rides that probably aren't monitored yes by certain officials to make sure that they're operating properly Amanda and I were on the island of Nas which is in the Caribbean okay and Amanda hates Heights and she hates the ocean she loves the beach but she won't get in she won't even get her feet in apparently when she was growing up in California she had a little shark Brush by her off one of the California coasts and so now she thinks that she going to get her leg eaten off Yeah by a great white when she steps into the Sands of Huntington Beach so she probably didn't help with that when at one point you called her saying oh Rock's been eaten by a shark I no I didn't do that I did tell her that we were in Jeopardy we fell through the ice and yeah Rock was his life was in danger but I was joking and quickly told her that so we're in just this crazy Caribbean island and I talk her into Paras selling with me oh okay all right well I say I talked her into it I never really talked her into it she's like nope not doing it and I was like come on and I kind of put my armor around her I'm like let's go it's a tandem Parell it'll be romantic it's only 350 fet like it's not I'm not asking you to jump out of an airplane and I'm kind of leading her over to the Paras selling thing they had a really nice deal it was 100 bucks for two for a nice 20 minute parisel ride I'm like it's great price we'll never find anything like this again we'll get to see the magesty of these Caribbean Islands from the sky you're going to love this and at the time I'm 300 lbs and so we hook up to this thing and she tells the guy don't don't put us all the way up which is 350 feet I think was the max height and then as the turns and you're like I'm like put us up I'm not paying 100 bucks to go up F all the way send us up there yeah so the dude starts to you know they they hook us into these belts in these seats and they start to send us up and she's got her eyes closed she already doesn't like it because she doesn't want to be around the ocean and she doesn't want to be up high and I'm starting to get a little bit nervous because she's getting Shifty and starting to lose her mind a little bit and I'm like oh jeez and we're only at 100 feet and then we're at 150t F feet then we're at 200 ft and she's really starting to panic like are we done going up yet and I'm like no we're not so she's starting to close her eyes I look up above me and there's a PVC pipe I'm not even lying to you now that PVC pipe might have been surrounding a steel pipe that was holding the wires on but it was a PVC pipe and either end of the PVC pipe it was duct tape to this uh to this cable oh boy and I look up and I'm like oh my gosh oh and then and then I panicked and I started to hyperventilate AIT a little bit but I'm trying to hold it together because she's losing her mind and you know we've got a good 8 to 15 minutes left up there like we're up there and we finally hit the max height and it kind of jerks us and we're you can see the whole like the entire Island and she had a full-on meltdown a panic attack and there was nothing I could do you can't yell I'm waving they can't see you you're up too high but I'm waving like you got to get us down from here because I'm too heavy it's PVC pipe the it was it was a budget purchase to get on this thing needless to say we will never parel it ever again on this continent or any other continent I I hated every second of it she the only thing I could do is pull out the camera I did take pictures of her in full panic mode oh boy I bet that went over well it didn't yeah it didn't it's worse it's worse than so that picture is not your ABY no it's no I got do you still have them or did you delet yeah I still have them okay she was more mad about those pictures than the the baby birth pictures you know where you're feeling all bold when you're in that first baby birthing mode and like oh yeah let's well let's get a picture of the Majesty of baby birth yeah and then your wife's like what what no what are you doing are you kind of idiot look like the first 10 minutes of Saving Private Ryan down there looks like somebody ate something bad in the movie Alien yeah so it was uh that was a a learning moment of what our marriage can and can't with with with stain withstand yeah I just and again that's it's no disrespect to our friends to the South but when I think of a ride like that and I don't think of a lot of government overreach now I'm not a big fan of government overreach but when it comes to amusement park safety protocols I'm all for them yeah and let's have a standard yes let's have a standard and I don't know what that standard is in Mexico so if I saw this ride and I was hey you want to come on this ride it's great and I'd be like dude we're we're in Mexico City no I'm not I'm not going to doesn't doesn't look right I I only paid $20 for my ticket to be yeah yeah and what and there's nobody Manning it so what do I get on and I press this button and it takes me up have you seen the uh have you seen the footage of the guy who runs an amusement park ride he's got this Instagram account and uh anyway he uh he's got this little hidden camera and it's these people are on this thing that just drops and it just drops him yeah and and he'll be like oh oh yeah yeah I've seen and this guy be like oh oh I forgot to get your uh your seat belt or this this this light's coming on saying that your seat belts aren't connected and then he hits the button and you hear these people just like he does he tells them oh hold on just a second that's this is Mal I gotta readjust your seat bels and then they fall yeah yeah I've seen and they freak out now I don't know if it's staged or if it's real but it's really funny I do but even that guy like I can't imagine he can't get himself in a little bit of trouble doing that I do like those adrenaline thrill seeking moments I I do think that's why I enjoy calling football games too though but people always wonder why I don't sit I can't sit I can't by the way seen so fidgety have you seen Jake hatch's latest tweet no yeah I don't think you should what' he do well you know how Lloyd puts a little uh GIF on his tweets about the daily rundown yeah uh Jake hatch did something similar and it has you in it [Laughter] so what in the world where did he where did he pick up that clip yeah yeah I don't even know where that came I've never seen that before it's you freaking out about something that you saw during a game it actually looks like I just ran my toe into a wall yeah I don't know if it's anger or happiness or just pure excitement or pure because you get one thing I one thing I love about you and also makes me extremely nervous when I'm watching a football game with you is that good football and bad football make you very physically active they do like bad football when you watch bad football you want to hurt somebody I do and you don't want to be next to H olssen when he wants to hurt somebody because he does not discriminate on who he hurts it could be his dad it could be me it could be somebody he doesn't like it could be anybody if you're in his way and he W watches uh you know a pulling guard whiff on a block yeah and that guy makes a tfl a receiver drop a ball on a third and eight yeah or a quarterback throws a pick six on first and goal from the one yard line thanks Oklahoma thanks rlof for delivering that nightmare of a moment yeah in fact I'm wondering if that's from that could I think that that might be from from the pick six I actually think it I think that is there was a video I want to say that this came from that the BYU put out of the excitement in the booth on some a play like that they put like a longer version of the video yes that whatever happened here is a ridiculous moment thanks for that hatch appreciate you I would never do that to you yeah I'm sure yeah because he's not on a horse if he was on a horse making that face you would put it as your avatar and I'd put him right on top of my dog yes you're right all right hands with Scotty 975 the KSL Sports Zone it's game week for the cougars cougars and the zone is getting you ready for kickoff the Cougars open the season at level Edwards Stadium as they welcome in Southern Illinois listen all week long for the best coverage of kougar football and your chance to win tickets to the game then catch the cougar pregame show this Saturday five with a postgame show immediately following the game your home for the best coverage of cougar football is live on air online and on the KSL Sports Z Yeah Boy this is 975 the KSL Sports Zone your home for the best college football coverage in Utah is on the KSL Sports s it's a season opening home game for the Aggies as they welcome Robert Morris to Maverick Stadium your home for all the play-by-play coverage of Aggie football is right here on 975 the KSL Sports Zone this is H Olson and Scotty gen presented by Mountainland Supply on 975 the KSL Sports [Music] Z I am still living with your ghost lonely and dreaming of the world West Coast hands in Scotty 975 the KSL Sports Zone let's not waste any time he is the athletic director at the University of Utah as the UTS get set to open up the season just about 48 hours from right now as they welcome in southern Utah Mark the season is here let's go fired up yeah no we we're really fired up here always a pleasure to talk to you guys but uh yeah a lot of energy a lot of excitement on campus it's so fun to have you and we appreciate you taking some time out of your busy day to jump on with Scotty and I and go over a few of these things I I wanted to start with this because just talking about the energy talking about the excitement talking about the momentum you guys unleash This Ring of Honor and you announce Alex Smith as the first member of the Ring of Honor and all Scotty and I could do is look at each other like oh my gosh that had have been a really tough decision what went into the decision to make Alex Smith the first first partner of the Ring of Honor yeah no it just overall really excited to to launch the the Ring of Honor something I noticed back in 18 when I was here that uh we really didn't have a display of our greates now if you go over the eeko football Center we celebrate a lot but that's not a really high traffic public area so it kind of began a journey of of uh talking about it thinking about it and I tked Jeff Rudy our our fabulous overseer of football and you know working with wit about how we wanted to do this and anyway out came a very high bar bar as it should be uh to display these names in perpetuity um and once that high bar was set you know the the group that works around Jeff Rudy on this you know came forward with with the concept to have Alex be our inaugural member and to me it just made a lot of sense it's hard to separate the great from the great but I think his um you know upcoming entry into the college Football Hall of Fame was was a big moment for this University and I think that uh the fact of the matter is he just made sense and so honored to do that one of the greatest things since I've been here was to place that call to Alex a few weeks back to let him know and man he was really emotional about it you know it it was an awesome uh experience for me to talk talk to him about it he just you know he loves this place just like people love him so really excited hea's family are coming out tomorrow we're going to have a fun celebration tomorrow night and then celebrate with the entire community on Thursday at halftime it's going to be terrific Mark Harlin athletic director of the University of Utah joining us um we we joked a little bit in the past there's no uh athletic director for dummies in the middle of nil and everything else that's going on in your world right now plus a transition into a new conference let's talk about that move into the Big 12 just from a semantic standpoint and the execution how do you feel like you and your staff have been able to handle that as you kick off your first year in the Big 12 yeah I feel really really good about it I feel like we we we did the work that was necessary and appropriate to do to be to be game ready uh for our teams uh to be subject matter ready for the key priorities of the Big 12 that that can merge into what our priorities are I think we were uh benefited by the the schools that went in last year so the Big 12 staff really was seasoned on transition um I don't know if I'm allowed to say this publicly but who cares BYU was really helpful Tom was really helpful on on providing a lot of of of helpful hints along the way of what they learned uh when they went through it the year prior so all of it came together which led us to this this this moment you know in August where we got the official uh entry day and then you know with our teams uh beginning now so feel really good about it feel like we're a really good match in here feel like our teams are prepared to to get in and get after it and U you know still still keep all the things that are important to us which is you know just having the best student athlete experience you possibly can um the last thing I'll say about it really really have enjoyed the meetings uh whether they be Ed meetings or coaches meetings some really really good people uh led by a commissioner who's really Innovative and high energy which is really important right now so it's really been a good experience for us I know Chris Hill was in that office in the Pack 12 transition but you have people that come up to you and kind of bump you in the arm and say man this was a lot easier than that mount West Conference to pack 12 transition well no question I mean that was that was a huge step up in in budget you know and and obviously we go in with equal shares and we go with a pretty healthy budget in the Big 12 but but you're right I mean Chris Chris walked me through that a lot and certainly talking to coaches including Kyle that were here I mean that was a whole different deal so going from a power four to a power four it doesn't make it easy but certainly a whole different uh level of preparation than we had to go through 12 plus years ago Mark Harlin kind enough to join us here on 975 the KSL Sports Zone do you know where you and you don't have to share the rankings but do you know where you rank in terms of nil and compared to other schools or do schools kind of keep that number close to the vest that's a great question I I there's no like you know real public document that I trust I mean there's some firms that put this out and put that out I mean I think you know I think what we've seen is just our growth and our accelerated growth During the period has enabled us to do what we need to do and that's really all that matters I mean we've had you know we had a gigantic G gain IM men's basketball this last year in terms of nil around the team and really helped us get this next group of young men in you know football has really grown and in this last year of of of you know nil in its form before we get into the settlement uh I'm really proud of of everybody's efforts and the and the authentic work that's really gone in I don't know if it's ever enough you know um because our our coaches are are are so good at recruiting and they go after the very best but I'm really proud I mean look at the football team we're going to field on on Thursday night and along with a bunch of our other roster so I feel real good about it and as we head into the next phase of of the settlement piece you know we'll be right where we need to be as we as we manage the changes ahead so Mark you've been doing this a lot of years and I go back into the 90s when I jumped into college football played into the early 2000s in college football and I felt like every every time I asked compliance about something they'd say no absolutely not can't do that and I'm just curious in the evolution of compliance where we are with nil how much are you guys having to filter and stop like how much do you you have to say nope can't do that nope uhuh that is not that we can't do that or does it does it feel in your years of watching this evolve does it feel like there's less of the Nos and more of the yes well I think really it goes to the the rule book has just transformed so much you know when when when I was a part of the football program in the early 90s at Arizona I mean I know it's a joke but it was true I mean literally you couldn't put bagels and cream cheese together yeah I mean it's you know it's a joke but that's exactly true well so we've evolved right from there I guess that's a good the rules now that that that we're seeing um you know being taken seriously are the ones that they should be you know significant tampering type allegations and or you know nil cont contracts that are pay for play I.E contracts that maybe how many touchdowns do you score those kind of things and some of those you know early on in the nil era there was confusion and and all that but what I do like about um you know what what the the environment were in a little bit more of and then certainly going to get is like rules that dramatically affect the outcome of games right or or those nature if we focus on there and I think the settlement is going to have some real teeth in terms of enforcement we need to see how that plays out mean that's where we should be the other silly stuff was just that silly I mean gosh I think about times I couldn't even take students in my car down to the practice facility you know what I mean I mean that's just you know so I feel like we're getting a little bit better with there and now we just got to build up enforcement on the stuff that matters so I was talking to an athletic director a while ago and they mentioned to me that uh you might see a world where people go universities go all in on football men's basketball women's basketball volleyball like four or five sports and then other sports are really going to get cut back and and uh especially your Olympic sports may end up being club sports and and like there's going to be a heavy emphasis on really funding your Revenue generating Sports and I thought okay well that that that seems a little crazy but then Ohio State you know there's there's some Rumblings that they might be doing just that is that a a a future of what we may see College athletics look like here in the near you know four or five years I suppose it's how each University is going to approach this settlement you know it's permissive in nature you don't have to distribute money uh it's permissive uh to student athletes and that's 22% of the of the power for annual revenues are you know starting next year if the settlement holds will be able to distribute so Case by casee University by University you bring up uh Ohio State and you know in the Big 10 you see a lot of universities that have 30 plus Sports you know we saw that a little bit um in our in our Pack 12 times with with you know Callum Stanford having 30 plus Sports I can't really say for sure for certain what what those schools will do um but I but I I can say that the work we're doing here is to be really smart about how we stay whole and prosper right I mean there is going to be a cap I think our estimate estimations or between 20 and 21 million will be the first year and so how do we distribute that in in a in a in a way that continues our momentum as a department so I'm nowhere near thinking oh Club sport or this sport that sport are some sports going to get more than others or of course but we see that now right in the way we fund the sport so we're being really diligent about it we got a lot of smarter people than me working on this bringing stuff forward looking at Title 9 looking at value of students and and all the things that that that that book you mentioned the ad for dummies probably doesn't have a chapter yet on it um but we're going through it all and and we're going to be really smart about it and and we're going to make it really work here at the University of Utah so we can stay at the top of this conference so Mark I wanted to address some things that were I I guess a bit of speculation out there from Utah fans when the Morgan scl contract was put together for a head coach in Waiting where people thought oh this must be the last year for Kyle Whittingham and I kind of want to clear that up a little bit with this contract I'm not so sure it stated that but if I'm wrong please correct me but help me understand why this contract was done now and what it means in relation to Kyle Whittingham as the head coach at Utah yeah well it was actually done um oh gosh I want to say it was done near the end of the season before we went to Vegas Bowl maybe it was right after so so I'd have to check there but once I had determined that that this is what I wanted to do and and certainly met with the president and the folks around me that I need to talk to about these things it just made sense and then you know obviously talking to Morgan and wit about it it all made sense uh to do that right a lot to do with Morgan just being who I want and and someone I think will be terrific for the institution um and I also felt like from you know in this day and age of of so much transition in college football I thought this was a different approach um and I and an effective appro especially when you know the person you want so that's the way it was done I mean I knew publicly once it once it was released which we did there would be speculation about wh and he and I talked about that but nothing changes as it relates to him I mean when he's ready he's going to let me know and our plan now is to do what we've we've done here with with Coach SC so you know that that could be whenever it could be it could be at any time as it relates to how he's feeling and he's been very very public at media day uh about you know the things that he goes through but you know if it's years down the line or or whenever we have a plan that I think will be really really great for the University of Utah well we appreciate your time thanks for hanging out with us and uh let's enjoy this season should be a lot of fun obviously it's football but you got all the other sports going off and getting underway uh should be a fun year up there at Utah well I appreciate that but hold on for a second you guys gonna be there on Thursday you guys going to come over oh yeah uh you know it you gotta you got to be at this one you gotta be at the opener it's at Southern Utah well I good I'll be up there on the top floor sixth floor and come by and say hello appreciate you guys well I will say this when you come up to Logan I call those Utah State Games make sure to stop in that booth and say hi there too we'd love to catch up with you no I forgot we just we just scheduled that game it's coming coming in a couple weeks it'll be great yeah looking forward to seeing you up there all right guys appreciate you you got it there he is Mark Harlin athletic director at the University of Utah two days away Utah opener gives me chills let's do it football's here and it's great to catch up with Mark hardland um he's done a good job Scotty yes when you think about all the things he had to kind of take on and take in when Chris Hill left that seat and he came in it's been a pretty seamless transition we there hasn't been a lot of there's been some there's been a lot of okay um there's a lot of things that happened behind the scenes there were a lot there was a lot of movement there was a lot of Shifting in philosophical beliefs in how business was ran at the University of Utah but it didn't affect what you saw publicly product operations product operations here's what I really admire about Mark Harland look you want to run your operation the way you want to run the operation and there were people that weren't overly thrilled with some of the Personnel behind the scenes decisions that he made but you're going to upset anytime you come in you want to run things your way that's completely your right and I it's not me to make any judgments one way or another on that um but what he did realize is that he's been around College athletics long enough to know if you have a really good football coach you don't do anything to screw that up you don't mess with it you let them do whatever they can whatever you can to make sure that they're happy and how many extensions and how many alterations is he already given Cy Winningham on his contract Mark harlin's been there what five or six years and that thing's probably been adjusted three times maybe four three I think yeah and because he realizes look having stability and having quality at your football coach is so rare in college athletics you don't screw with it okay here's a question for you you're Scotty G athletic director extraordinaire one of the more sought-after athletic directors out there okay would you rather be called in to Utah State right now as it currently stands with the in the coaching situation I'm going to say all things all things considered either you're the same group of fire or whatever or where you got a head coach that owns the university and you become that athletic director because you can put your stamp on one but you become the brand of another yes uh give me the brand because that's easier to Parlay into another job just don't mess that up just don't mess it up it's like you got a Ferrari you just don't grind the gears on it and just let that thing roll and and cruise and and you get a good chunk of the credit for what happens because that is not Mark harlin's Athletic program that's that's athletic prog just like it was lvll Edwards Athletic program and Rondo felberg and valel and all of those ads they knew that they had had to know that yeah but what ultimately but okay you and I you and your NFL experience and radio experience me and radio experience those are two very volatile jobs when it comes to job security now we've been very lucky to be able to hold on to our jobs but we understand that we have chosen businesses that can be very volatile in terms of employment so we come from a mindset of what can I do to put myself in a situation that's going to give me the most stability yeah and if you're an athletic atic director you know what gives you the most stability as a in employment is a winning football program and if you can find a coach that provides you a winning football program that gives you and your family Employment Security and gives you a nice paycheck for a lot of years and and as long as you win football you can be bad in basketball you can be bad in a lot of other sports but if you're continuously top 25 in Conference champions in football you'll be there you'll be there the rest of your life as long as there's not weird scandals yeah exactly yeah I mean you can't the abuse scandals and weird things you know and every athletic director goes through something yeah I mean even Chris Hill went through the swimming thing and but yet they were winning in football and yeah he did and and one other I he's he went through a couple of things that I think were pretty tough but and if they were bad in football he may not have survived that may not but Mark Carlin I think he's done a really good job you know he he looks like a duck on water maybe the feet are going crazy underneath it but he looks like he's smooth and calm on top of that water all right an and Scotty will wrap this thing up give you up to JJ and Alex next 975 the ekl Sports Zone we it's game week for the agies and the zone is getting you ready for kickoff Utah state will kick off the 2024 season with a battle at Maverick Stadium against Robert Morris listen all week long for the best coverage of Aggie football and your chance to win tickets to the game that catch all the play-by-play action beginning with the Aggie pregame show this Saturday at 5 on 1280 The Zo your home for all the play-by-play coverage of Aggie football is live on air online and on the KSL Sports app this is 975 the KSL Sports Zone your home for the best college football coverage in Utah is on the KSL Sports it's a Thursday night opener for the youths as they welcome in southern Utah to rackle Stadium your home for the best coverage of Utah football is right here on 975 the KSL Sports Zone this is H ssen and Scotty CH presented by Mountainland Supply on 975 the KSL Sports [Music] Z with the wi [Music] all right wrapping up another edition of the show hands in Scotty 975 the KSL Sports Zone big thanks to Mark harand who joined us for exactly 13 minutes and it was great man it was fun to be able to catch up with him we have the college football Round Table you're headed down to JCW's right now y I'll be there from 4 to 5 you'll be there from 5 to 6 I'll be there in the round Roundup hour and you're going to be holding it down 4 to 5 and we'll be eating burgers and wings and talking football with all the football insiders and experts across the state bringing you every bit of football insight and information you could ever imagine you didn't even know you needed it and then some JJ and Alex next right here on 975 the ekl Sports Zone