Portions of this show are recorded. Strap in
and be prepared. Room for error is much slimmer
in basketball. You lose one player and it changes
your entire team. It's not like that in football.
It's just not. It's not. Interesting guests.
Kelly Graves, Mike Parker, Coach Mark Waskowski,
Noah Eagle, Melissa Lombardi, Kenyon Barnard,
Jonathan Stewart. Sharp opinions. Dana Altman
probably earned a pass for a down year after
almost 20 years. of what he's done for Oregon
basketball. And some smiles. Guys, I was stuck
in a car wash. Sounds like an R. Kelly song.
It's not an R. Kelly song. It's Danny Havel.
I can't remember, and I've been doing this for
longer than you've been alive. which is really
horrible that I have to say that, but it's the
truth. Justin Grossweiner. It's like the saying
in Alaska that you don't have to be faster than
the bear. You just have to be faster than your
friend. Danny and Justin starts now on Fox Sports
Eugene and Fox Sports Newport. Sitting in for
Danny today, it's Goose, Steve Mims. Welcome
in to the Danny and Justin show on Fox Sports
Eugene, Fox Sports Newport. This is Steve Mims
filling in for Danny. Danny is just checked in.
He's just passed Hood River, heading out to Pendleton
to be the voice of the USAA at the Class 2A Boys
and Girls Tournaments out at the Pendleton Convention
Center. So, Danny, drive safe. If you get to
Cascade Locks and you get tired, Thunder Island
Brewing is a great place to stop and maybe grab
a bite to eat. And enjoy the safe trip out there
and a good time out in Pendleton. Justin, it'll
be me and you for three days this week and three
next week, as next week I think Danny continues
his OSA tour up in Portland area. Yeah, and today
we have a lot to talk about, which is always
good. It feels like whenever you're in here,
we always have some good things to talk about.
And yeah, I better get used to it because it's
going to be the Justin and Steve show over the
next three days. It will be for the next three.
You mentioned we have a great guest today, a
longtime friend of mine, Josh Wilcox. number
48 in your hearts, or number 48 in your program,
number one in your hearts, as they say, former
Oregon tight end. He's coming on, and he's got
some news to break. He sent me over a text this
week and told me something was going on, and
I said, hey, let's save this for the radio. I'm
on radio this week. I can make some news. So,
folks, it'll be fun to chat with Josh Wilcox.
We'll chat about what he's got going on and about
Oregon Ducks. He'll join us here at about 2 .20.
So stay tuned to listen to one of the definite
fan favorite of Oregon Duck fans, Josh Wilcox,
one of the first to start up kind of the run
of tight ends that the Ducks have put out. And
then tomorrow we are going to be track town centric.
We're going to be out at the track town offices.
Not the pizzeria, sadly. That's my favorite track
town office is the pizzeria. But we're going
to be at the general's office, and we are going
to be doing some interviews with a couple of
athletes. It's kind of a media day as they promote
some of their upcoming events and have some of
that. So tomorrow will be all track all the time.
Today is going to be baseball. football, and
basketball, and softball. So we're going to start
off and talk about Oregon State, Oregon, baseball
last night, softball tonight. We'll get into
basketball in the final segment. And like I said,
Josh Wilcox in the middle. Justin, you were out
at PK Park last night, yesterday afternoon, actually,
3 .05. It was a decent little weather day. Oregon
State gets the win, 10 -6. They knock off the
Ducks. You and Danny were talking about kind
of yesterday who this was more important for.
It turned out to be a really big win for Oregon
State. Maybe a missed opportunity. What did you
see from your vantage point out there at PK?
Well, just going back to your previous point,
I definitely think that this was a big game for
both of these teams for different reasons. Danny
had some great points of why he thought Oregon
State was a little bit more important for it.
But I thought, like you're saying, for Oregon,
I think they had a little bit to prove here.
And pitching -wise, it wasn't great for them.
Miles Gastola, he was a bit spotty. Two earned
runs. The bullpen. Gave up a couple runs per
reliever as well. And it's funny because Oregon
State all season long, they haven't really hit.
And all of a sudden against Oregon, they're hitting.
So there was some interesting small ball tactics
that I thought were really good for Oregon State.
Again, stuff that I thought maybe we'd see actually
a little bit more of heading into the season.
But just, you know, Jacob Galloway puts down
a bunt with a couple guys on, which was... surprising
to me because he's their three -hole hitter but
that just goes to show that there's confidence
in the guys behind him um overall i mean just
it felt like oregon state was just a little bit
deeper oregon had a few chances but they didn't
really threaten except for late in the game when
they kind of brought a few runs on uh they had
runners left on base for sure but you know it
just it just wasn't the ducks game and it did
really give a good impression of me of what the
Beavers are doing because they did look like
a really solid overall team. Yep. You mentioned
Oregon takes the lead, gets a run on the first,
but then the Beavs come back, get two in the
third, three in the fifth, two in the sixth.
So by then they're up 7 -1. Both teams kind of
tack on a little bit there. For the Beavers,
like you mentioned, it's been a rough go of it
offensively, but Josh Proctor goes three for
five with a couple RBIs. You mentioned Galloway,
the catcher, goes two for three with three RBIs.
First career home run for Paul Vasquez. And so
for the Beavs, 10 runs. Runs 10 hits. Pretty
efficient there. Oregon gets seven hits led by
Angelia. Two for four with three RBIs. Angelia,
by the way, is... was the one sitting next to
my wife at the first pitch. Yeah. And it has
been a real takeoff for him ever since he met
my lovely wife. It has been. I'm not sure. I
keep my wife doesn't pay that much attention
during baseball, but I keep sure. And look what
Angel's doing. And so maybe some of the credit
comes to that. Yeah, no, definitely. That was
our first introduction to him. And as I was saying,
I don't know if I said this to you, but when
I first met him, I thought he was a pitcher or
something like that because he's just a very
big dude. He's a big dude. And I think this is
actually not a big game in terms of like, I think
that the Oregon program. knows how good this
guy is and obviously he's played really well
but to me this was kind of a big game for this
really the whole team for Oregon as I was kind
of saying before but for a guy like Angel we
just haven't seen him against competition like
this he's been playing really well but to me
you know he gets a home run he gets a triple
halfway to the cycle that to me actually really
cemented how I feel about Angel and just his
start. It's like, okay, yeah, this guy is definitely
for real. He plays good defense out there in
right field as well. So, yeah, Angel is definitely
for real. He got the tough half of the cycle
taken care of. He got the hole in the triple.
He just couldn't get the single and the double.
But, yeah, Laia has been a real revelation for
Oregon. He's been a great start, a great kid,
too, and a really interesting story. I think
he told us he had committed to Oregon, like,
freshman year, that basically he knew he wanted
to come here. So kind of before he was on, and
then he kind of took off on the recruiting circuit
after that, but stayed loyal to Oregon. So he
gets the two hits and then two hits from Ryan
Cooney. For Oregon now, so Oregon's 10 -2. The
reason that I think this is a missed opportunity
for Oregon is just their schedule is not going
to present enough opportunities in the Big Ten
to get a lot of ranked wins. I know that there
has been some consternation. I believe your esteemed
co -host, Mr. Havel, is one of them. I think
you're... Your wintertime or your fall co -host,
Mr. B -Ban, is also one on Twitter. People, why
aren't they ranked? They're 10 -1. Rank them,
rank them. Well, they're not ranked because they
beat George Mason in four games and they beat
Youngstown State in four games, and both at home.
And those just aren't great baseball programs,
so you're not going to get a lot of credit for
those. Then they go to Vegas. They beat Arizona.
Not their problem, but Arizona's having its worst
season in a while. And they beat Vanderbilt,
traditionally a top -five team that's just having
a down year now. And then their loss is to UC
Irvine, which is not ranked. So yesterday was
kind of the first chance for them to get a win
over a ranked opponent, and it's Oregon State.
So that's where I think it's unfortunate that
they fall flat in that opportunity because getting
them at home. You know, the Beavs, they're going
to face them, I think, only one more time, and
it's at Oregon State. Two more times. Two more
times. Because they played that other game that
they announced. Oh, that's right, the one in
Portland area. So they'll play them three, a
home away and neutral. Correct. So here's my
thing. And Oregon, I think, is going to be the
– well, UCLA. But Oregon's going to be right
there with them in the Big Ten. I don't look
at Oregon as having a hard time making the NCAA
tournament this year. And I said this last year,
and it's to no fault of Oregon. They went to
the Big Ten for football, but in baseball, it's
not a real strong conference. So the issue they're
going to have is they're playing Nebraska, Illinois,
Penn State, UW throughout the season when some
of these other teams are playing really good
ones. Their best chance to get a ranked win now,
now they do have three at UCSB later this month,
UC Santa Barbara. There are actually 43 college
baseball polls. People may not know this, but
there are 43 different college baseball polls,
and UC Santa Barbara is ranked in 26 of them.
So they're kind of right around there. A little
bit of exaggeration, but not to say that there
are a lot of polls. But UC Santa Barbara is getting
some votes in some polls. So there's a chance
to get three on the road. That's a nice one there.
Other than that, the two Oregon State games in
April, really Oregon's next chance to get a ranked
win is they're going to have to go to UCLA, who
is an absolute. wagon right now and ranked number
one in the country, and then they finish up with
USC at home, which again, USC getting votes in
some of the 47 college baseball polls. So it
just, I think that these Oregon State games are
important to them because, especially when they're
at home, because Oregon's going to be at UC Santa
Barbara and at UCLA, and those are probably the
two most likely teams to face. That might have
been the only ranked team they play at home all
year long, and to miss that opportunity is an
unfortunate one. But so like I say, I think with
Oregon that people need to, you know, the record's
great, it's 10 -2. and just the way that they
had scheduled it, having George Mason and Youngstown
State, if they're not popping into polls and
people are frustrated, they're going to need
to rack up some good wins, and yesterday was
a chance to do that that just didn't happen.
Yeah. No, I completely agree, and the thing about
it, too, is that it's only one game, which is
the hard part, is that it's really, there's so
much randomness to it. They didn't throw out
each of these teams, their best pitchers. It's
a midweek game. It's tough to play those teams
on them. You're playing your ranked team on a
midweek because neither of you are starting one
of your top three starters by definition. It's
a midweek game. Yeah, exactly. And so there was
talk beforehand. Danny and I were kind of debating,
like, are they going to throw Dax Whitney out
there? And I was like, I don't know. This is
a midweek game. Like, it depends how much they
valued it. And clearly, they were just going
to have—Dax would have been on four days rest,
I think. And they just don't usually do that
in college. He's getting, like, a whole week,
basically. They don't get off stride like that.
No. So I agree. It definitely is unfortunate
for Oregon because the next time, like you said,
that they're— They're going to play at home a
ranked team, potentially, at least by that point.
We're projecting a little bit here is I think
it's May 14th. That is a long time from now.
Correct. Correct. And like you say, the Oregon
State one. So then they're going to play them.
The 14th, which is a Tuesday, and the 22nd, which
is a Wednesday. So, again, they're not going
to ever face Oregon State with their best arms
on the mound or, again, seeing Dax Whitney and
Oregon State's either because those guys are
always going to be the weekend ones. So, you
sit there and say, hey, well, you didn't throw
your best arm at them. But these games all count
in the rankings and against your record. Your
lineup's going to be the same, but it's hard
to get that fourth pitcher, but that's kind of
a key in college is to try to get that fourth
guy, A, because a lot of times, like Oregon's
first two, Series of the year were four -game
series, so you needed that fourth guy for that.
And then you need to have a weekday guy in. Like
you mentioned, Myles Gastola got the start, gave
up two earned and three innings. Michael Mechna
comes in, gives up a run and two. Josh Hollis
gives up four and one and a third. So this is
where you need to kind of put together. You need
to kind of put together. It's the old Johnny
Holstaff. You've got to try to get four or five
guys to give you an inning or two, and it just
didn't go that way for Oregon yesterday. Yeah,
and none of those guys looked comfortable. Oregon
State was doing a really good job of taking close
pitches. And they were getting hit by some batters
as well. Kind of just thinking out loud here,
it does seem like it's more important for Oregon
to have those midweek guys and the depth because
their conference schedule and the Friday, Saturday,
Sunday games are going to be against teams that
they should win. Obviously, you want to still
have guys that you like against teams that you
should win because you never know. But it does
feel like, hey, you're going to be playing some
of these bigger games in the midweek. So you've
got to figure out who those guys are to be able
to get the ball and be successful because it's
not going to be your Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
starter. Yep. So up next for Oregon, they go
to Purdue. That is a homecoming for Mark Wasikowski,
who spent a couple years as the Purdue head coach
in between his Oregon tenures as an assistant
before coming back to leave the Boilermakers
to be the Oregon head coach. And Purdue has beaten
Oregon State this year. So while you look and
say, hey, Purdue not great, you're going there
for three, that would be a really impressive
sweep. Even getting two out of three is probably
good. And, again, might not be a ranked team,
but Purdue has shown they can step up and get
the big boys with Oregon State. So that's your
baseball update. Softball Civil War is tonight.
At least I'm assuming. Last time I looked outside,
the rain did not look like it was in a great
place for softball. But this is the start of
a week for Oregon where they are going to face.
Oregon State at Oregon State tonight at 6 o 'clock,
and then they have the Jane Sanders Classic,
which features Oregon State, and they'll play
them at home on Friday. But tonight it's Oregon
at Oregon State. Ducks are 13 -6. They are ranked
number 18 in the country right now, and they're
coming off a nice weekend there where they swept
some games at home against Stetson, Idaho State.
And Samford. Boy, Stetson -Samford. Try to say
that four times fast. Maybe get Stanford. Maybe
next year we can try to get Stanford in for that
tournament, too. And we'd have Stetson -Samford
and Stanford. But they already played Stanford
and lost that game. But, again, softball tonight.
It's a big one. Oregon State's not in the middle
of a great year. Oregon State's 9 -12. But they're
going to get them tonight on a Wednesday. Now,
in softball, you don't worry about the midweek
because your pitcher can throw. Yes, exactly.
A little different, the midweek games in softball
as compared to baseball. But Oregon, Oregon State.
And it's now again from. Oregon State is 9 -12,
Oregon 13 -6. This sets up as a week when Oregon
should have some success, starting with the two
against the Beavers, and then their home for
the Jane Sanders against Sac State, Nevada, playing
both those teams twice. So actually it's a weird
schedule. They play Oregon State twice this week,
Sac State twice this week, and Nevada twice this
week. So that's the setup there. But a big one
tonight to kind of get it started when Oregon
goes on the road for the only one of those when
they're in Corvallis. Yeah, and they need to
just get it going. I think that this is in a
way almost similar to what Oregon State baseball
has done, where their schedule was front loaded
and Oregon played a bunch of good teams and they
had mixed success early in the season, but didn't
get basically blown out by anybody for the most
part. So, yeah, I mean, I think this is a. These
next few games, no matter kind of who you're
playing to me, are big games because you want
to get the offense going. They did that last
weekend. You want to be able to get your – I
think this is an opportunity to get some of the
pitchers that are not at least Kolsky and Lindsey
Grein some innings and some experience as well.
Maddie Millhorn has been pretty good in her appearances
that she's had. Spencer Taylor is obviously experienced
as well. We've seen a little bit of Rowan Thompson.
So I'd like to see them get some innings as well.
And for Oregon State softball, I think it's going
to be about J .A. Butler. If J .A. Butler is
going to be able to carry this team, I think
they're going to be able to be competitive. But
if Oregon can shut her down, the lineup is so
J .A. Butler -centric. I think that's just going
to be really tough for them. But they are playing
up in Corvallis, so you never know. Yep. The
final non -conference weekend for Oregon, and
then kind of like the baseball team, softball
not great in the Big Ten either. So they open
with Penn State, Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern.
Not exactly a murderer's row there. All right,
before we head to the break, we have that special
segment that everybody looks forward to. It is
Justin's Wednesday Word of the Week. So, Justin,
what is our Wednesday Word of the Week? The Wednesday
Word of the Week this week, which it all started
out with dynamicism, which Danny didn't believe
was a word, so that's how we got to this point.
This week it is acquiesce. And the reason, first
of all, the definition of acquiesce is to accept
something without protest. So I think where this
word came to my mind was Wayne Tinkle. with the
mutual sounds like decision between Oregon State
and himself to part ways it sounds like in a
little bit of a way he acquiesced to the situation
and figured out that I don't know if you heard
the interview with John Canzano that sounds like
there isn't as much money as that they expected
and he thought coming into next season first
season in the Pac -12 so It was a time for him
to sort of accept his situation and move on,
which was going to be best for him. So I think
he acquiesced. So that's your word of the week.
I'll give you the acquiesce. I'm not going to
say it was mutual. It sounded like Scott Barnes
told him to go away and that Wayne wasn't very
happy about it. And so he acquiesced. And so
at that point, he acquiesced. He didn't acquiesce
the job. He acquiesced, yes, and came back. I'll
just give a quick, and I put some out there.
Of all the coaches I've covered in my career,
Wayne Tinkle was as enjoyable as anyone. The
best was if you got him at, like, a Pac -12 tournament
or a Pac -12 media day and you just had time
to sit down and BS with him. I remember you would
love this. He's a big Cubs fan. Oh, yeah? So
a big time when the Cubs were making that World
Series run was, like, right around the time of
Pac -12 media day. because they would do it in
October before the season. So I remember seeing
him, and he was just chatting Cubs all the time,
and we would talk Cubs. I was obviously the duckbeat
reporter. A lot of times an Oregon State coach
then thinks, oh, they're on their guard for the
Oregon reporter to come around. Wayne couldn't
have been kinder to me. I would run into him
at airports. We'd sit down, and he'd be a great
guy to sit down and have a beer with. So I get
that after 12 years they thought it was time.
I thought the timing was really weird. We always
hear coaches say, you know, when coaches leave
in the middle, we always hear, oh, he didn't
finish the season. He's supposed to finish, you
know, and Wayne will, but it feels to me like
Scott Barnes didn't finish the season. Scott
Barnes told, you know, basically pulled the rug
out. Your team's playing well. You're going into
the tournament. You know, let these guys run
it out and then make any changes after that.
And if you're going to tell me, well, we had
to get started on the search for him, I don't
buy that much either. So I'll just say if you're
out there listening, Wayne, I always enjoyed
every time spent with you, and I wish you luck
down the road. It sounds like his Kinsana. He's
going to keep coaching somewhere and try to get
his son, Trace, to coach with him as well. But
a first -class human being and, you know, had
a wild ride there to get to that Elite Eight.
A couple other nice years as well. A couple fell
off. So, yeah, like I say, if people want to
sit there and judge, and I thought Wayne was
really honest, too. He talked about some of the
years that weren't that good. But you're right,
he didn't have all the resources he needed either.
And good coach, great human being. So he did
acquiesce, though. You are correct. But he is
not yet. He will not acquiesce until maybe potentially
he makes another big run in a conference tournament
and tries to get himself to an NCAA tournament.
All right, we're going to head into our first
break. When we come back, Josh Wilcox. You know
him as the former great Oregon tight end. He's
going to come on and break some news, let us
know what he's up to. We'll chat about that and
what his thoughts on kind of everything that's
been going on at Oregon. He's your 1995 Rose
Bowl hero for the Ducks. I think he had 12 catches
from Danny O 'Neal that day. When we come back,
we'll have Josh Wilcox. You're listening to the
Danny and Justin Show. This is Steve Benfield
and it's for Danny on Fox Sports Eugene and Fox
Sports Newport. Welcome back into the Danny and
Justin show. This is Steve Mims filling in for
Danny, and we are now joined by a longtime friend
of mine. He and I were chatting this week about
a lot of life experiences that he has lived.
He has been a Rose Bowl star, 11 catches, 135
yards in your 1995 Rose Bowl, played in the NFL,
played or was in professional wrestling. Actually
hosted sports radio for a while up in Portland,
and now he is adding to his repertoire and his
resume. Joined now by Josh Wilcox. Josh, thanks
so much for coming on, man. I really appreciate
it. Yeah, any time. I appreciate it. So, I mean,
you guys must be scraping bottom of the barrel.
No, come on. Well, we heard the news that's out
this week, so we will let you put the breaking
news banner up there. Let everybody know what's
coming up in the Josh Wilcox world. Yeah, add
it to my list of accomplishments or feats, the
things I get to do. But I'm taking my other Josh
Wilcox, Jay Wilcox is jumping into the head coaching
job. So I'm going to be the head coach at the
Harrisburg. That's awesome. Go Eagles. Yeah,
man. All right. Such a good opportunity. Small
town stuff. Scott Bazaar, ZAD, old Oregon guy.
You know, his son's a four -time state champ.
Wrestling program, it's going to help. You know,
with the football program, I'm just, it's such
an awesome opportunity. I'm very blessed and
lucky to get it. Yeah, that's awesome. And obviously
you were back at your alma mater last year, Junction
City. But I think about you when you were in
high school. I mean, you were in the glory days
when you had Mark Henderson, Craig Rothenberger,
guys who were devoted to the school, were there
forever. High school football was fun. It wasn't
transferring and NIL and all about going on to
college. Feels like Harrisburg is the kind of
place where you can kind of replicate maybe the
experience that you had at Junction City in the
90s. Oh, by far. I mean, you know, we kind of,
when I was there, we helped start it for Henderson.
But, you know, Harrisburg wants to help build
a program. The small town values are something,
of course, that appeal to me. Knowing that people
can go play out of small schools, you don't have
to transfer, that's a big thing for me. But,
you know, just to build a program, help the community,
give these kids, you know, a chance if they want
to go to the next level, but a chance to have
success, coach them up. I'm going to get a bunch
of great assistance. But, yeah, the whole place
to me is the opportunity to kind of, you know,
do what my parents did in Junction City and my
brother and I had a chance to do to help the
town. And now I get to go down river or up river,
I should say, about two miles and help Harrisburg.
Yeah, that's awesome. I've known you for a while.
I never thought that coaching was kind of in
your blood. Was this something that you had thought
may come or did this kind of come out of the
blue because of the enjoyment you had in Junction
City last year? Oh, yeah. No, this is like. Everybody
is just as shocked as I am. It was a 1 % chance
that I helped Junction City last year. Everything
fell into place. And then, you know, I did find
– and credit to Coach Rauscher and Bart Rothenberger
for allowing me to help out. But I found something
that, you know, made a difference in my life.
And the opportunity at Harrisburg, it's like
a no -brainer to me. Yeah. So it was very impactful
last year getting to coach in Junction City,
help the community. I had some awesome kids.
You know, again, the coach with Coach Rauscher
and the other assistants, you know, Bart gave
me an opportunity. So I'm very blessed, you know,
for all those things. But saying that, you know,
we want to play them. And I know Ty wants to
get it done. So it's going to be on Bart to get
it done. We'll do it anytime, anywhere. So we
want to do that. Sounds good. A little bit of
the wrestling came out there. Anytime, anywhere,
we'll do this thing in the parking lot, whatever.
You know, a little bit. You talked about Harrisburg.
Last year was nine -man. Now it's coming back
up to 11 -man this year. Have you got your digging
all your plays in the dirt? You got an offense
ready to sprawl out on some folks? Yeah, I mean,
we're looking at some things, kind of what we
can do. I was just nerding out on huddle. I mean,
again, I never thought in March I'd be watching
huddle film, high school football. But, yeah,
I mean, we got some great players. You know,
Chase Herrera is our stud. Everybody's going
to key on him. I think Brody Phillips and Parker
Jordan, I coached Parker's brother at Junction
City last year. Those are my two tight end guys.
And so I think they're kind of – it looks great
and sounds great, but they're in a world of hurt
if I'm coaching them. Yeah. Yeah, it'll be. There's
a lot. Yeah, I'm moving up to 11, man. We're
in a different league. We're going to play like
Jervis, Sio, Newport, some other teams like that.
So it's, you know, the chance to go out there
and compete. The last time they won a title was
2016. We got over 15 seniors. You know, we can
go maybe do something what Junction did last
year where, you know, it was a senior -laden
team. There's some talent out there. The cupboard
isn't bare. The community wants – everything's
lined up for this program, for myself to have
success, the entire team, all the coaches. Again,
it's like one of these beautiful scenarios where
everybody's in alignment and we're all going
forward, which is unusual now in football. Sure.
It definitely is, especially in today's age.
But Josh, first of all, congratulations on the
opportunity. Second of all, you mentioned your
staff. Any thought about maybe bringing your
brother in to be a defensive coordinator, something
like that? Well, I mean, he's still holding out
for bigger money. You know, imagine the kids
like shock on their face when they thought it
was Jay Wilcox and they got right. You can't
sell yourself like that. Yeah, he's actually,
you know, he's certainly excited for me. I'm
not going to lie. He helped us a couple of times
or gave us some advice last year or some thoughts
before we played Marist, which were helpful.
But it was, yeah, I mean, Justin's super excited.
for myself to get this opportunity. I think he's
good to take a break for a second, too. I mean,
he's been doing that 25 years. he can kind of
figure out who wants to do. And like I said,
he'll be all right. You know, they gave him a
little nice little package to go away. And just
for yourself, obviously high school football,
it's not going to be glamor all the time. You've
got to do, you know, some of the dirty work,
obviously be in there every day, work with these
kids. You know, you already mentioned you're
kind of already grinding on the huddle tape,
which I love. How much of this is just a commitment
to the passion of the game for you? Obviously
you've been so involved with the game your whole
life, but you know, this is an opportunity to
pass some of the things you've learned down to
some of these kids. Like how much of it is a
commitment to that passion for you? Oh, honestly,
it's a lot. I mean, I love the game, and it's
given me in my life opportunities that Steve
mentioned before. All those opportunities came
because of football and sports and the community
I grew up in and my family. And so a lot of that's
given back to the kids, given them an opportunity.
And then I just want to make sure, and this is
kind of where, as I had these experiences and
I had some awesome coaches, I want to make sure
I come back and teach these kids a couple things.
make them better players and as i as i learned
last year junction it could just be one or two
small things but once it clicks and that light
bulb goes on the confidence and that's the fun
part man showing them one or two things it's
not like a huge like one thing on a route or
one thing when you're blocking and and when they
get that and they get the confidence that's the
best part about all of it yeah This sounds like
a long -term deal for you, too. I mean, we see
a lot of times at small schools you get somebody
who comes in and, you know, does it for a year
or two and then gets run out or, you know, decides
that it's not worth it. This sounds like you
want to build something, I don't want to say
a Mark Henderson -length tenure, but this sounds
like this could be a long -time run for you out
there. Oh, yeah. I mean, there would be no other
place that I would rather, you know. I wasn't
going to go coach anywhere else. You know, I'm
a small -town guy. jokingly like 25 minutes to
Sheldon's too much for me. Right. But yeah, yeah,
I just, it's the opportunity. And again, like
I never thought I'd be a head coach, but it's
just looking at the opportunity, my experience
last year with the kids and the coaches and helping
that out, the community out and, you know, lined
up perfectly, you know, within my career. And
so it's, yeah, the opportunity to build something,
do something and leave this place better. Like
end of the day, that's what matters most to me.
We've seen a lot of teams are running, you know,
12, 13 personnel. Could we get to like a 16,
17 personnel where you just got tight ends throughout
the field? Yeah, we were going to kind of just
maybe hike it to the tight end. So, yeah, I think
that's the worry is we have some skill players.
And so they hear this guy who loves tight ends
and they're kind of like, oh, they're grabbing
some of their, you know, friends to make sure
we do a little bit of spread or. some certain
kind of fly sweeps or things like that. Sounds
good there. Sounds like you've got no time for
an announcement yet, but some names, maybe some
familiar names we've heard of before from come
out and join your staff out there? Yeah, I'm
working feverishly over the phones, talking to
agents, trying to offer up some Dairy Mart NIL
deals. We're working all angles here to get everybody
we can. The salary structure in high school football
is a little bit different district to district,
but We're putting some young guys together and
then some studs locally and around the state.
Then I'm going to try to add some guys that have
been in a long time to help mentor those coaches
and mentor myself. It's kind of new for me. I
want to have people that have done it before,
have been in those situations, and can help everybody.
I'm calling Rich Brooks and Mike Belotti, and
I'm sure those two would probably be as surprised
as anybody to find out that you're coaching.
But you call those guys and say, hey, I decided
to get into this. Can I get some tips? Yeah,
I mean, I hit up Dirk Cutter and then Gray Woods,
so they both said no. If I had Ditka's number,
that would be way different. But last year when
I was coaching at Junction City, I told one of
my kids, I said, Mike Ditka was my coach. And
he looked at me and said, who? Oh, no. Yeah,
you know. So, yeah, plenty of coaches in my Rolodex
to call, but it's, again, you know. I got to
work on that Dairy Mart to get me some more biscuits
and gravy money for breakfast. That's true. Yeah,
Dairy Mart and there's some subways out there.
We can, I know, I know the subway. Oh, Abbey's.
We're going to work Abbey's, you know, hardcore
on that one. The subway out in Harrisburg, I
know does pretty good business out there with
some of the businesses in the schools. So you
should, you should be able to hit them up. And
yeah, I've seen, I've seen Jordan Kent and some
people on like Abbey's commercials. You could
have your own Abbey's commercial talking about
that's the place we went after high school football
when we beat Marist all those years ago. Oh,
yeah, exactly that. And, you know, I think one
of our big fundraisers is we're going to have
parking spots for tractors and combines. So we're
going to charge a little bit more for those.
Ladies and gentlemen, he is the new head coach
at Harrisburg High School. Go Eagles. And if
you want to make some donations to help him put
together a top -notch staff, you can find him
on Twitter at RealJoshWilcox. Josh, it's been
great to run into you a couple times recently,
and I'm stoked for you on this opportunity. And
it's cool to hear your passion for it and how
much you want to do it. And I look forward to
catching up soon and chatting more about it.
But really appreciate you taking a few minutes
to come on and help me try to get through an
hour of radio. You know, this isn't what I'm
good at either. To have somebody who can talk
for a few minutes to help me get through the
hour was really appreciated. No, always, man.
You guys are the best. I appreciate everything,
Steve. Thanks, man. Sounds good, man. Josh Wilcox.
He is, again. Rose Bowl hero for the Ducks. 11
catches for 135 yards in the game against Penn
State. And he's the one who started what has
become George Reitster to now Kenyon Sadiq to
many in between. But it was kind of Josh who
got the tight end position going for Oregon.
And just an all -around is hopefully you could
tell from there, great dude. All right. We are
going to come back. When we come back, we will
chat about some Oregon basketball. The men fell
last night on the road. The women begin what
should hopefully be a nice run through the Big
Ten tournament tonight. on the men and look ahead
to the women when we come back. This is Steve
Mims. I'm building it for Danny. This is the
Danny and Justin show on Fox Sports, Eugene and
Fox Sports, Newport. Welcome back into the Danny
and Justin show and really, really appreciate
Josh Wilcox coming on. That's a fun dude. Yeah,
great interview. Both are the brothers. I mean,
really fantastic guys. For my first time talking
to them, but like you said, you can definitely
tell he's a really good guy. Yeah, good dude,
good family, and really excited for him. He is
fired up for that Harrisburg thing. Like I say,
it's great when a community like that doesn't
just get somebody who comes in and maybe wants
to do it for a minute or something, but actually
is going to commit to the job and try to build
that program. Kind of reminds me a little bit
of... Ty Rosher, we got a chance to talk to him,
and you could tell immediately the enthusiasm,
the passion. I think that that was the same things
that I got from Josh right there. Yeah, Ty, who
had played at Junction City, kind of like Josh,
then went back last year. my understanding was
that it was Ty's first time as the coach. So
they had said, hey, let's try to help him out.
And they brought in, like, I think Mark Henderson,
the old Junction City coach, came and helped
out. Josh helped out. Like I said, Justin actually
was – my understanding was called and gave him
some ideas. And so they kind of brought some
old players back to kind of, hey, let's help
the first -year guy. And that, like I say, in
all my years knowing Josh, I never thought he
was going to be getting into coaching. But it
sounds like that really sparked it. And like
I say, not a guy who wants to go to 6A or someplace
where he's going to have to deal with a – bunch
of BS on the side. He wants to kind of go do
some old school football. Right. I guess my question,
because I don't have as much experience with
him. You've said that a couple times. He said
that a couple times. What do you mean by that
exactly that you didn't expect him to get into
coaching? Oh, I think everybody always thought,
oh, Justin's the cerebral one over there, and
Josh is the funny one. I mean, he was in pro
wrestling. He hosted a radio show for a while.
So I think it was always like he's kind of doing
these things over here, but you need the X's
and O's guy. That's the Justin one. And Josh
has always obviously been really smart about
football. And like he said there, I think he
kind of looked a lot of times at high school
football these days. You look from afar. And
it's like, man, that just doesn't look right.
It's not like the good old days. You know, you've
got to deal with so much BS and this and that.
And I think he needed to find a place like a
Harrisburg that's like, hey, we want you to come
in and coach football, be part of this community,
stay here and build something, and we're not
going to run you out if one parent thinks that
you're not playing their kid enough type stuff.
So I think that's what it was there. So thanks
to Josh. All right. Basketball, Oregon, Illinois
last night. It was another rough one for the
Ducks. Down 20 at the half, 41 -21. Didn't get
much better against... The Illini top, I think,
ranked 11th right now. For Oregon, Wei Lin was
a late scratch. We're still not exactly sure.
At least I didn't see what exactly happened to
him. Nate Biddle, as usual, leads the way, 15
points, although only one of seven on threes.
Kwame Evans, 13 points, although only one of
six on threes. So Oregon shoots five of 29 on
threes and manages only 54 points, falls to 11
and 19. 4 -15 in conference play, and they head
into their finale, and I hate to say it, against
Washington, 8 o 'clock on a Saturday night. That
is not what you want for your senior night because
it's going to have a hard time maybe getting
some fans out at 8 o 'clock for a battle, although
it's the Huxkies and the Ducks, so hopefully
they'll get some people out to say goodbye to
Nate Biddle, who's certainly been a great all
-time Oregon senior, and Oregon normally does
their senior day activities after the game. because
they don't like to kind of mess with the emotion
beforehand, as Ben Daniels thinks. So have some
coffee before you head out to the game for an
8 o 'clock tip, and then a senior day afterwards
that will showcase. I say Nate Biddle. Honestly,
I look at the rest of these guys, and I'm like,
I'm pretty sure that it's senior night for Takai
Sinkins, but these days, you just never know
if it's senior night for Sinkins. Maybe even
Nate Biddle gets a seventh year. We'll never
know. I know it'll be Nate Biddle. I don't know
who else is going to get a senior day there.
But anyway, for Illinois, it was Andrei Stojakovic,
who originally played at Stanford. 21 points
as well. Cal, yeah. And his dad, of course, Peja.
21 and 12, 19 points from David Merkovich. And
then Keaton Wagler, the potential lottery pick,
had 11 points in that one there. And you were
watching it. And, again, I'm going to give you
the last names of the players at Illinois. We
have Merkovich. We have Ivasich. We have Stojakovic.
We have Hummersich. We have Ivasich. We have
Petrovich. Your thoughts on the Illinois roster
construction, Justin? Well, they're a really
interesting team to me. I think I saw a clip
one time that they, at times, have an all -European
lineup that doesn't speak any English, which
is kind of hilarious. But I think that they're
very representative of how good teams at this
point build their rosters in college basketball.
Listen, they're in the Big Ten. Obviously, the
program historically has been pretty good, had
some success, made some tournament runs. But
it's not North Carolina or anything like that.
that. But this is a program, we talk about the
Ivicic brothers, both 7 -1 and 7 -2. They both
played professional basketball since 2019 in
Croatia. I mean, these are professional basketball
players, basically. Mirkovic, who you mentioned,
also played professionally in Montenegro since
2022. Stajakovic, he was a guy that was recruited
out of high school. You mentioned he went to
Stanford and then transferred to Cal, now transferred
to Illinois. And then they have guys, though,
that aren't those professional players as well.
Kylan Boswell. He was recruited to Arizona in
2022. He was actually the youngest player in
college basketball, completed his freshman season
at 17 years old in the Pac -12, by the way. He
played, I remember his freshman year, he hit
a big shot to help Tommy Lloyd beat Oregon at
Oregon. Right. So he's been around for a while,
obviously, but he was born in Champaign. So they
still do some of the local guys, obviously. And
then you have their four -star prospect like
Keaton Wagler, who's just a guy from Kansas.
So it's not like there's any sort of connection
there. It just comes down to being. good program
so it just sort of makes me think about we've
talked so much about dane altman and his future
and a lot of it's been down to hey how do you
how do you build a roster now and is that the
thing that i don't have any doubt what the x's
and o's with dane altman at any given time but
the roster construction has it wasn't there this
season for sure so i look at illinois and i wonder
can oregon you don't have to do that exact thing
but do you have to replicate that sort of thing
you're getting some local guys you're going to
be able to And Ariza is a good example of you're
getting your five -star that doesn't have any
local ties to Oregon. But then you have these
basically professional players that they're bringing
over from Europe. Like Wei Lin, I guess, is sort
of an example of that. But Illinois is doing
that with six, seven guys. They have a few guys
that are from the local area, but many of these
players are just from Eastern Europe or something
like that. So I just think it's very interesting.
And they tend to be some of the big dudes. These
aren't normally the guards. Exactly. And it's
the same thing with Arizona. Arizona's got a
couple Europeans. Tommy Lloyd, since his days
at Gonzaga, has focused on that, and it's paid
off for him at Arizona. Now, Oregon, for a long
time, had the Canadian connection. Oregon had
a lot of success. Dylan Brooks. with Jason Caliste
when he came over. They had all sorts. Mike Menega
was kind of the connection there. He had some
Northeast ties. So Oregon was getting a lot of
players from Canada to come over. That's dried
up a little bit recently. Boucher. Barthelmy.
Yep, Barthelmy. Quincy Garrier. Thank you, thank
you, thank you. I've got you. Thank you. No,
I appreciate it. For a guy who covered the team
for seven years, I should have been able to remember
a few more of the Canadian players. But that
was definitely a big spot for them was to get
those guys. And then they filled it in with some
five stars. You know, I mean, there was a year
where it was Lou King and Bull Bull. And there
was a year where it was Troy Brown. And there
was a year, you know, a couple years ago where
it was Biddle and Shelstead. So they've been
able to kind of have this connection to Canada
to really get some players out of there. Richard
Amardi was another one. from there, and then
filled it in with some high school guys, and
it was kind of a nice mix. And people forget,
when the grad transfer thing first came in, Dana
was one of the first ones to really get after
that hard. And he brought in a lot of guys like
that when others were not quite kind of moving
into that yet. It'll be interesting to see. I'd
be curious to see what Oregon's roster construction
looks like next year. Now, A, it starts with
retention. How many of these guys come back?
And we discussed this before. Like I said, we
know Biddle can't come back. The other ones,
I'll let the compliance department decide which
guys don't have, or the Supreme Court. Eligibility.
Or the Supreme Court determine that. But, you
know, if you could bring back a Kwame and a Jackson
Shelstad and a Sean Stewart. and, you know, mix
in the Ariza, you know, and maybe a transfer
or two. There's certainly a team that you could
look at next year and think, hey, they're right
back in it. If some of those guys transfer out,
which just happens everywhere at this point,
you know, then you're going to have a tougher
build. So I think that's the curiosity for next
year. I think we've gotten past the is Dane Altman
coming back. Dane Altman wants to come back,
and Dane Altman's earned the right to come back,
and we'll be back. The question is what this
roster looks like next year, because if next
year's 11 and 19, that's when the realistic questions
jump in and say, hey, how much longer can we
do this? If something's gone to where, again,
whether it's they don't have the Canadian connection.
You know, he's gotten his guys, Tony Stubblefield,
who was one of his ace recruiters, came back
a couple years ago. So he's kind of got his group
back together. It'll be interesting to see what
the recruiting, you know, first off, who they
retain, and then from there, who they can bring
in, because next year now becomes a huge, huge
year for Ori. You know, it's kind of like Kelly
Graves. two years ago they had the down year
and he gets them right back in the tournament
the next year that's kind of what dana's going
to probably need to do to kind of rebuild some
of the faith in this fan base definitely and
to me it's going to be what's that aha sort of
move right because right now we've talked about
this before i wouldn't be surprised if there
wasn't a single guy back from this roster now
i do i think that's likely Probably not. There's
probably at least one or two guys, at the very
least, that you'll bring back or will stay. But
I wouldn't be completely shocked if it was almost
a complete overhaul of this roster. And so it
becomes, where are you going to get that piece?
And obviously, there's the four -star recruits,
the five -star recruits, there's the transfer
portal, like you mentioned. Where is that? Because
it's all about the roster when it comes down
to it. Dane Altman can be as good of a coach
as he wants. He can't go out there and do the...
plays for these players so where is that which
wouldn't be very good either it was not seven
year old you don't want that you don't want that
so where is that going to come from like it doesn't
necessarily have to be one place like you can't
just go well this is has to be a transfer or
this has to be a high school guy it just needs
to come from somewhere yep yep no doubt um we
mentioned what kelly graves has got done and
now after after his down year it looks like he'll
be back in the institute tournament for a second
year in a row we think Probably be nice to get
a win tonight over Purdue to solidify it. I mean,
I think they're in, but if you finish up with
a loss to Washington and then a loss to Purdue,
we'll see. Big Ten tournament starts tonight.
Women's basketball tournament, and this one is
at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Oregon
is the finale tonight. The tournament is underway.
Indiana and Nebraska are playing right now. Wisconsin
and Illinois start. It is expected to start around
3, which means everything goes according to time.
Oregon -Purdue likely starts around... 5 .30
tonight. Although anytime you're the third game
of a tournament, just build in 30 minutes and
say one game is going to go over time or run
long. So probably closer to 6 o 'clock on Peacock
tonight. Oregon's the 11th seed. Purdue's the
14th seed. So like I say, I think for Oregon,
you don't want to leave the committee with the
last loss being to the 14. So a big one, I think
a win tonight certainly locks it. I think they're
in the tournament either way. But I certainly
would want to take one more win on there and
avoid a loss like that. So I think it's an important
game tonight for Oregon and Purdue. I think so,
too. I would say that they're in the tournament.
That's just my sense. When we talked to Kelly
last week, it was sort of the same. The way he
put it was that they're probably in, and obviously
I don't think he wants to just lose every game,
but that it's more about how much can we help
ourselves at this point, which is probably fair,
and that's the mindset I'd like my head coach
in. So they played Purdue last week, and it was
a little bit closer of a game than you might
have liked. It was 71 -65 on the road, so maybe
now a neutral site. Well, not neutral, exactly.
Well, kind of neutral. It's technically neutral.
I know, I know. But it's more neutral than...
Actually on the Penn State or the Purdue home
court, right? Yeah, and I doubt, like, Purdue's
going to have a massive following. It comes out
to follow their 14th seed Boilermakers. They
should win this game. This is one that they should
win. Not that I put in stock in this, but I'm
not too worried about them in this game. But
then they play potentially Maryland next. They
beat Maryland earlier this season. And then I
didn't try to get the bracket in front of me.
Michigan would be after that. And they obviously
played very competitively with Michigan. I don't
hate the way that the bracket sets up for them.
No. I mean, UCLA, which is the undefeated teams
on the other side, like you say, they've beaten
Purdue. They've beaten Maryland. They took Michigan
into overtime at home and really had some shots
to win that one. Should have won that game probably.
But even if you win tonight, if you lose to Maryland,
again, now you've lost a top 20. team that's
the eighth seed. It doesn't leave a tough loss
at the end for the committee to look at. So I
think once you get tonight done, then you're
kind of playing, you know, like you say, to kind
of help yourself. And the help yourself part
is also every time I look at these bracketology
things, it's got Oregon in the 8 -9 line. That
sounds great, except that means round two, you're
probably playing at UConn, at South Carolina,
at UCLA, or at Texas. That's not what you want.
So if you could get yourself up to even like
a sixth seed, where now you're playing at the
number three seed. instead of one of the ones.
So if you make a nice little run here, yeah,
I mean, get two or three wins in this tournament.
Even if you get knocked out in the semis, maybe
you moved yourself up to the sixth line and really
helped yourself in what that tournament would
look like. So like you say, Purdue tonight, the
winner of that takes on Maryland. Winner of that
takes on Michigan. And then... You would not
have to face UCLA. UCLA is in the top half of
the bracket, so they wouldn't face UCLA until
the championship game, which is Sunday. And these
brackets are so wild these days. I was so accustomed
to the old Pac -12. It was just simple and easy.
I mean, there were four first -round buys. Now
it's like every tournament I look at, I'm like,
God, there's double buys, triple buys. We got
three games tonight, five games tomorrow, four
games the day after that. It's like the Pac -12
just used to be. Four games a day. It was nice
and simple. It was easy. You know what you're
doing. And nowadays, it's just hard to figure
out. But Oregon does not get a bye. One of the
six teams that did not, actually the last team
to not get a bye as the 11th seed. So they will
have to win five games. They would have to win
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
to get it done. But like I say. Give me three
of them, and I think you probably moved yourself
up in the bracket and put yourself in a better
spot. I think so, too. And I've been conditioned
enough now with women's basketball that whenever
I see the 8 -9, I'm like, uh -oh. Yeah, yeah.
So it's definitely not the best seed to beat.
It's so weird how that works that way. You almost
would rather be a 10, right? I'd rather be a
13. I'd rather have to go beat a 4 and a 5 rather
than having to be at UConn. Because, again, it's
not you're just facing the one seed. You're facing
them on their home court in front of what's probably
going to be a sellout crowd. So that's where,
and we did this the other day with Eric Skopel,
kind of went, okay, projecting a little bit,
but if Oregon, say they win two games or they
win the first game and then they get... Again,
against Maryland, they lose. Then at that point,
maybe you're the 8 -9. If they can win that first
one and then they lose to the number one seed,
it's exactly where you were last year, except
for the fact that last year's team was kind of
the pinnacle of whatever that team was. And then
this year, it seems like, okay, the main parts
of your team are these sophomores. You've got
Ahisa Tute, you've got Katie Fiso. And can you
build on the end of this season to project yourself
or put yourself in a good position for next season?
So I think, to me, that's what it's about. I'd
love to see them get a little bit higher than
that 8 -9. so you don't end up in that situation.
But I do think that, unfortunately, if they end
up in that 8 -9, I think they have a good shot
against that 8 seed, and there's not a lot of
teams out there in that level that I think, okay,
they're not going to be able to compete with
Oregon. But they've had a little bit more trouble
with the teams that are going to be those No.
1, the No. 2 seed, the No. 3 seed, the No. 4
seed. So it would be a big deal for them if they
were able to win a game against one of those
teams, in my opinion. Yeah, definitely. So, again,
a reminder, if it says 5 -30, you probably can
get home at 6 and probably still be around for—
tip off. You do have to have Peacock, though,
which I don't have, and which I learned last
night when I tried to watch the Oregon -Illinois
game that I don't have Peacock. So I might have
to go find a local establishment that has TVs
that I can watch and see that. Because, you know,
I'm back in tomorrow, Justin, and we have to
have some expert analysis on the Danny and Justin
show. We can't just scoreboard watch and try
to pretend like we watch games. We've got to
really watch games. And tomorrow... As I said,
we are going to have a Tracktown Day. We are
going to be out at the offices of Tracktown USA,
which I assumed was at Hayward Field, and I just
was informed by the general is actually over
at Oakway Center. So we are going to be on remote
tomorrow, and you and I are going to be over
there interviewing a few athletes and a couple
of bigwigs at Tracktown talking about the upcoming
schedule for what track and field is going to
look like. this summer out there. So we get to
break out of the office. I think Blaze is going
to be holding down the fort or he'll be there
with us. I think so. I think he'll be here. Okay,
well, we're going to be out tomorrow. It's going
to be all tracks. So we will obviously recap
the Oregon women's game and Oregon softball,
Oregon -Oregon State softball in the first segment,
but then we will get into a lot of track tomorrow,
and then I'll be back here on Friday. As again,
Danny is, if you're wanting to hear Danny's voice,
if you miss him and you miss that voice, you
can go to osa .org and tune in to some of the
two -way basketball tournament. out at Pendleton
starting tomorrow. So Danny will be there, so
I will be coughing and filling in Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday this week, Wednesday, Friday
next week. Appreciate you having me here. Yeah,
fun. It was fun. It always is, and we'll have
you back tomorrow, and we'll dive into some track.
Sounds good. And big thanks again to Josh Wilcox
for joining us. It was great to catch up with
him, and excited to hear about what he's got
going on out of Harrisburg. Go Eagles, as he
said, and appreciate him coming on and giving
us the update on that one there. All right. Well,
we appreciate you tuning in. Like I say, join
us tomorrow. We will be track heavy tomorrow.
And then Friday we will be bet heavy with big
bets. This is Steve Bims. I'm filling in for
Danny. Listen to the Danny and Justin show on
Fox Sports, Eugene and Fox Sports, Newport.