1 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,960 You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home 2 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:23,520 Field Apparel. All right, folks, welcome back 3 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:25,360 to Crimson Cats got here with you. 4 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,880 I'm joined as always by Galen and we have a very special guest 5 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,080 if we're watching on video, you know, if you're listening, you 6 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:34,160 won't know for a couple more minutes, but very excited about 7 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:35,560 this one. This one's going to be awesome. 8 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:37,720 Galen How you doing, my man? Doing. 9 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:40,560 Great, You know, still recovering from that Pacers game 10 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:42,480 in person last night. That was wild. 11 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:48,600 It was a great day in Indiana sports history as we get an all 12 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,320 time game out of Tyrese Halliburton and we get the re 13 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:56,080 establishment of an iconic figure within the IU or the 14 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,440 Indiana sports landscape. So it's good day all the way 15 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:00,280 around. It was I I had the moment at the 16 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,280 game where I'm looking down like I'm like, that looks like Jelly 17 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:04,800 roll. And it's like, no, that is Jelly 18 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:05,720 roll. It's like it's one of those 19 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:07,960 where like if that was a normal regular season game against the 20 00:01:07,960 --> 00:01:10,280 Kings, like that's not, it's just a guy with face tattoos. 21 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:12,120 But you get to the Eastern Conference finals and it's like, 22 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:14,000 Oh, no, that's actually who I think it is. 23 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:16,920 Yeah, He was he was popular, $0.50 was there. 24 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,560 It was it was big times. Yeah. 25 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,440 But before we get going, let's let's reach out to our sponsors, 26 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,480 Home Field Apparel, who has been a proud sponsor of Crimson Cast 27 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:28,080 and the Back Home Network for years. 28 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:29,880 You can catch out all their great stuff. 29 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,360 Even though the race is over, they still have tons of great 30 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,400 racing gear you can pull up. And, you know, it all started 31 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,160 for for us. Our Home Field Apparel journey 32 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,760 started when Galen and I went to a Pacers game and Galen was 33 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,080 wearing this hoodie, this Bison hoodie which will come in a 34 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:46,680 little bit in our discussion today. 35 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:48,680 And he's like, this is the most comfortable hoodie I've ever 36 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:50,520 owned. And I was like OK and it also 37 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:52,280 looks good, but it's comfort is great. 38 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:55,280 So I bought one it's awesome and that's where it all started. 39 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:58,600 Unfortunately we didn't have the promo code home 23 at the time, 40 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:00,480 but you do for your first purchase. 41 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,640 You can get 15% off your first purchase using the promo code 42 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:05,720 home 23. They have tons of great stuff 43 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:07,840 and probably like your your best. 44 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:10,199 Stop for the Bison hoodie I would say. 45 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,560 Absolutely. Also don't forget we are on 46 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:16,080 YouTube. What were we at 8000 subscribers 47 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,520 now? 85. 100 your project 8000 by the 48 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:21,040 end of June, so let's make it happen. 49 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:23,240 Let's keep going, people. If you tell a friend and have 50 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,280 them tell a friend and have them tell their parents and get them 51 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:27,720 to subscribe to YouTube. We're also on sub stack, 52 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:31,600 substack.crimsoncast.com where you get VIP videos, but also 53 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:33,880 just get a nice little e-mail reminder every time something 54 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:37,040 Crimson Cast is posting. I think I think that's it. 55 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:38,400 So I did my job. Good job. 56 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,440 Thank you very much. Well, we are excited to have on 57 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:45,200 again Jeremy Gray, the Indiana senior associate athletic 58 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:46,640 director. That's a mouthful. 59 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:48,360 It's a long business card, but it's nice. 60 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,480 We had Jeremy on earlier in the year in October where he and I 61 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:56,160 talked about the, the history of the, the rally towels that we're 62 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:57,840 going on at Memorial Stadium, which is fun. 63 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:00,320 And so I got to ask the question. 64 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:02,240 Now you have something, some great stuff coming out. 65 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:04,720 But I'll, I'll start with this, Jeremy, are we going to get a 66 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,560 Bison rally towel for the, the upcoming season this year? 67 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:12,840 You know, we have not designed the towels for next year, but I 68 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:17,560 find it an impossibility that one of the seven will not be a 69 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:22,440 bison themed towel. We are leaning into it and I can 70 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,720 just tell you that that would be fast track approved by Coach 71 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:28,120 Signetti. He is. 72 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,760 He is Team Bison all the way. So we wanted to have you like 73 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,440 this is something Galen has been talking about for years, bring 74 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,000 back the Bison. But if you don't know, you know 75 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,400 what kind of spurred this? This podcast is there was just 76 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,320 an absolutely awesome video just released by IU Athletics kind of 77 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:46,800 letting us know that the Bison is coming back with some great 78 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,160 aerial shots of IU student government. 79 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:51,800 But I thought we'd start here, Jeremy, if you could give us a 80 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,720 little bit of the history of like the Bison and Indiana 81 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,200 University athletics. It's not just I would love to 82 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:00,440 say it's just Galen started this and just started saying bring 83 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:02,960 back the Bison. It it's not there is a longer 84 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:05,840 history of Bison and IU connections. 85 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,320 Yeah, it there are several tracks to this. 86 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:13,960 So one, it goes all the way back to the founding of the 87 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,120 university where, you know, it's, it's part of the state 88 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:20,920 seal. There are things like, you know, 89 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,840 our ROTC regiment, that's the Bison Battalion. 90 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:25,600 They're the Bison Battalion cadets. 91 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:31,480 You will find imagery of the Bison in obscure places located 92 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:34,920 around campus. And then there's been athletics 93 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,440 involvement in it. Most famously, from 1965 to 69, 94 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,600 the Bison was a mascot here at IU. 95 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:44,280 It failed for a couple of reasons. 96 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:47,680 One, the suit was especially cumbersome. 97 00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:53,040 The head was gigantic, it was difficult to see out of, and it 98 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,840 was just poorly executed. And a cheerleader had to 99 00:04:56,840 --> 00:05:00,160 actually walk that bison onto the field with a leash so it 100 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:01,880 wouldn't trip and fall over itself. 101 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:04,520 And if you if. You take the Rose. 102 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:07,240 Bowl out of it, which is a massive moment, of course, in 103 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:11,280 the history of IUIU athletics. Actually, the mid to late 60s 104 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,160 were a pretty rough time for Indiana athletically. 105 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:17,680 You know, there, there there were some things that were going 106 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,280 on coming off of probation. Basketball at that point in time 107 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:24,000 had waned a little bit. Yes, there was the Rose Bowl 108 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:25,920 year and the great dock Councilman teams. 109 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:28,840 But there there was a lot of faltering otherwise. 110 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:33,960 And so with all of that, it just kind of disappeared in 1969. 111 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:37,880 But it remained as a staple of the branding of, you know, 112 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:42,760 Nick's English Hut. It remained on various T-shirts 113 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,000 that have been produced over the over the years. 114 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,240 And it was something that just remained a low hum for a long, 115 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:51,480 long time. And then about 10-15 years ago. 116 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,120 Fred Glass, go ahead. Real quick, so you said just 117 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,200 want to go back one second. So in the 60's, the the mascot, 118 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:00,360 the person wearing the costume had to be like a leash. 119 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:02,720 It wasn't a live bison. It was like an actual person had 120 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:04,000 to be walked around with a leash. 121 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:07,800 Yes, and they had it had a giant head, it could not see out of it 122 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,800 and so it literally had to have a cheerleader. 123 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:14,200 Like all the photos you see of it, there's a cheerleader with a 124 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,600 rope and the cheerleader standing no further than 3 125 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,360 inches away from it at all times because it might trip and fall 126 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:22,520 at any time. So it's just poorly executed. 127 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,320 And it and it died. And then they they tried Mr. 128 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:31,640 Hoosier Pride, which failed kind of every test of mascot hood 129 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:33,960 possible. It had terrible eyes, so it 130 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,400 terrified children. It did not accentuate the brand 131 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,080 of the school and actually harmed it in some ways. 132 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:42,480 It was totally associated with losing. 133 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:45,480 So it went away as well and then? 134 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:47,880 Galen, When Galen and I were going to school, they had like 135 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:50,760 the inflatable. Just people, just like an 136 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,040 inflatable guy who was an IU fan. 137 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:56,360 That was a late 90s thing that will have that will always be 138 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:58,920 difficult to explain to people in future generations. 139 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:02,360 It'll be up there with Zuba's pants and the appeal of MC 140 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:04,600 Hammer, but. I feel like, I feel like the 141 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:07,600 further we get away from the 90's the harder they are to 142 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,200 explain to anybody, like they make no sense. 143 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,320 Yeah, no question. Yeah, like that, that the baggy 144 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:16,600 corduroy pants, like all of it was just totally impractical. 145 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:20,040 But it went away there and then Fred Glass. 146 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,160 And I think he deserves more credit than than what he is 147 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:24,920 going to get through this process. 148 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:30,440 Fred Glass like the idea of having a mascot and there were 149 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:34,280 some videos that preceded IU football games about 10-15 years 150 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:36,840 ago that included some bison imagery. 151 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:41,600 They were computer generated animation and they've actually 152 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,040 kind of endured in the memory of the fan base and I think some 153 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,520 key ways. And then and you have one of the 154 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:51,280 central characters in the drama Co hosting with you here today. 155 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:56,320 But there is the bring back the Bison campaign on campus and 156 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,240 we'll we'll get to their involvement actually in one of 157 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:04,160 the five videos in a bit. And while we all love Galen, I 158 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:08,160 think doctor Gautier is is really kind of the George 159 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,440 Washington of that enterprise and and fought the good fight in 160 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:15,240 a lot of ways, really summoning up energy behind the idea, 161 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:19,480 creating things that actually got cease and desist letters, 162 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,600 you know, over time. But that kind of kind of spurred 163 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,240 it on for a bit. And then various student groups 164 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:30,960 over the last three or four years have really picked up 165 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,840 momentum behind the idea. And then all of the stars really 166 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:38,440 aligned in the last 12 months or so to to to make it possible. 167 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:41,159 Yeah, That was a long answer, no. 168 00:08:41,159 --> 00:08:44,240 No, that's great. I'll, I'll chip a couple other 169 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:47,080 things in there. First of all, that hoodie you're 170 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:49,720 wearing that you mentioned in the intro, I was texting with 171 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:53,720 Connor Hitchcock from home Field and he reminded me, 'cause I 172 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:55,120 asked him, I was like, when did that come out? 173 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:58,400 And he said it was 2017 and it was actually before home field 174 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:03,000 became home field, it was still a company called Hoosier Proud, 175 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:05,240 which if you listen to assembly call, you know, the Hoosier 176 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:07,320 Proud banner moment. That's where that comes from. 177 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:13,720 But I, I'll always credit that hoodie kind of on the heels of 178 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:17,680 the, the Pat Kraft LED Bison video that popped up in whatever 179 00:09:17,680 --> 00:09:22,040 that was 2010. I think that I think put the 180 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,880 bison back in the minds of a lot of people. 181 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:29,040 And I know for me, you know, we've had talks on and off 182 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:32,360 about, oh, you know, the bison that used to be the mascot, but 183 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:38,840 I don't feel it got serious. I would agree that that I think 184 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:40,240 was really kind of a Seminole moment. 185 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:42,160 And it's interesting, like what's happened since then 186 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:45,240 'cause that was only 8 years ago, but an idea that was kind 187 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:48,600 of DOA across multiple presidents. 188 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:51,320 And, you know, always seem to get a lot of resistance from 189 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:55,760 certain segments of the, the, the, the university branding 190 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,560 team and, and certain pockets of alumni. 191 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:01,280 Suddenly there started to be a lot more momentum that picked up 192 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:05,040 across the board on it. Do you think it's just merch? 193 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,680 Like what do you think changed? Because for, like you said, for 194 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:10,960 years, there was kind of a, you know, we don't need a mascot or 195 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:13,720 even like almost pride in that. We don't have a mascot. 196 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:15,680 We don't need that. We're, we're, you know, we are 197 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:18,560 who we are. And, and as a fan too, just a 198 00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:21,400 fan as a podcaster, I definitely felt the change over the last 199 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:23,560 couple years. What what do you think kind of 200 00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:25,960 helped make that movement, you know, go forward? 201 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:29,360 I think, I think a couple of things and I think we, we have 202 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:33,000 to look at this with a certain degree of humility too, that 203 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:38,080 the, the pinstripes work for the New York Yankees because they're 204 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:42,880 the New York Yankees and they can hold on to kind of this 205 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:47,160 never changing thing. I, I would say there's a desire 206 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,040 a little bit for a fresh start, because a lot of things that 207 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:53,400 have been attempted over the last 25 years as a, as a 208 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:55,880 pertains to the basketball program have kind of gone 209 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:59,440 through fits and starts. So I think the appetite for 210 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:04,160 trying something new as a department is greater than it's 211 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:09,320 been ever in my in my time here. I think you couple that with a 212 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:13,800 year of great latitude and experimentation in football, 213 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:19,200 where almost all of the gambles paid off and then it was backed 214 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:21,280 up by a highly successful season. 215 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:27,360 I think those things LED people to to be willing to give this a 216 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:29,760 chance. I do think the hoodie that 217 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:32,520 you're wearing is part of the story. 218 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:37,120 People, you know, buy their relatives Nick's English Hut 219 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:40,920 glass mugs for Christmas. They like that image. 220 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,720 And then I think technology has helped where people were able to 221 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:50,400 make their own AI generated graphics and they were 222 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:54,880 ridiculous, You know, a chain smoking bison disembowelling a 223 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,400 Spartan or whatever, you know, But like people were able to 224 00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:00,080 make that and people really kind of rallied behind that to a 225 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:05,640 certain degree. And then I think students look 226 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:09,600 for moments and this was really student LED in a lot of ways. 227 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:16,680 And I do think having Lee Corso back here for college game day 228 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:22,000 and him picking IU to win. And this is no disrespect to the 229 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,520 baseball cap that he wore. It felt like it was this great 230 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:29,840 coronation of the program, the school, the reuniting of this 231 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:32,560 iconic figure in college football with the school that 232 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:37,320 kind of helped make them. And we put on a baseball hat 233 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:42,160 instead of instead of something that really kind of established, 234 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:45,040 established the brand. I think all of those elements 235 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:48,520 played into people really wanting to, really wanting to do 236 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:51,040 this. So the, the other piece that as 237 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:54,120 a fan that I'll throw in there that I thought was a moment as 238 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:58,560 well as I, I do think that year 2015, 2016, whenever the 239 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:02,200 football team released like 9 different jerseys for one year 240 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:05,520 was just like, whoa, this is what like as a fan, like this is 241 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:07,360 the athletic department just doing something totally 242 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,840 different, including the Chrome striped helmet, which, you know, 243 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:13,400 at least from my perspective, seemed to get a very positive 244 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:15,240 fan reaction. It felt like that was also a 245 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:18,520 moment where it's like, hey, we can we can monkey with uniforms 246 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:20,680 a little bit and really have something cool here. 247 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:24,520 I agree. I think I, the other part about 248 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:28,680 it is, you know, I'm a, I'm almost 50 years old. 249 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:33,040 More of my beard is Gray than it is brown at this point. 250 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:36,840 So I'm technically one of the old guys now. 251 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:40,600 And I, I, I do think these things change. 252 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,920 So people, you know, there's always kind of a fear of certain 253 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:50,000 segments of the fan base. Well, you know, I'm 50 years old 254 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:53,920 and I, I, I grew up with hip hop music and liking mascots. 255 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:57,240 And so I I think maybe the demographics of the fan base 256 00:13:57,240 --> 00:13:59,400 have changed some. Yeah. 257 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:02,440 I mean, I think it's interesting because you mentioned that 258 00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:05,880 desire for a new start across the board. 259 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:10,040 It's something that with football, you're almost asking 260 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:13,960 for a start period, because it never really felt like football 261 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:17,560 ever got its own thing. I mean, at its most successful 262 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:21,800 points, as you mentioned, like the late 60s, that season came 263 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,280 out of nowhere and then was gone just as quickly. 264 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,440 So there was never really a chance to build on that 265 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,520 momentum. And even in the Mallory era, it 266 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:33,320 was overshadowed throughout that entire time period by Bob Knight 267 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,880 and IU men's basketball, which had their own very staid 268 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:40,960 traditions that essentially enveloped the entire athletic 269 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:42,480 department. I mean, the one time football 270 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:46,480 tried something different, it resulted in the Oval, which is 271 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:49,200 still probably, Jeremy. Would you say the single most 272 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:52,200 divisive thing that's ever been associated with IU athletics? 273 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:56,720 It's up there. I mean, like, I can tell you 274 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:59,480 it'll be the next person who has my job, who brings it back. 275 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:01,680 I'm scared of it. Yeah. 276 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:04,920 What would be? What would be easier for you to 277 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,840 do, bring back a new mascot or just bring back the ovals a full 278 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:11,840 time uniform? But but I mean, you know, now 279 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,800 especially and you know, it's, it's weird how this all synced 280 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:17,360 up. And Jeremy, this is maybe where 281 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:20,160 I'd love to hear you talk about the timing and the sequencing of 282 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,800 all of this because, you know, as recently as a a couple of 283 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,960 years ago, I'm having, you know, a chat with Paul Goutyar, who's 284 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:32,240 giving me bison merch to pass out guerrilla warfare style to 285 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,680 people on campus, you know, which I dutifully did. 286 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,280 I've still got a box like half filled with that merch in my 287 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:41,560 office. But you know, all the way up to 288 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:43,920 the top of the university. The idea is, well, we're never 289 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:46,200 going to have a mascot. Like it's not what we do. 290 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:50,840 And then it, you know, it almost felt like little things happened 291 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:53,560 along the way. I'll give Trent McGee some 292 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,840 credit, who's no longer no longer with IU, but was at the 293 00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:02,680 time, you know, at IUSF, at the Student Foundation, they bring a 294 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:07,240 kind of a junior version bison mascot to the little 500 races 295 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:11,800 in 2024, I think it was. And I think Ryder is the name of 296 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:14,120 that mascot. It ends up riding around with 297 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:17,120 President Whitten in a car and there's like pictures and 298 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:21,560 everything, but it was like the the ice melted and then the dam 299 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:23,680 broke. So like, what has this process 300 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:26,320 been like over the last 18 months as the momentum's picked 301 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:27,680 up on this? Yeah. 302 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:32,640 And I think I, before I go into that, I do think for very 303 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:35,880 understandable reasons and I, and I hope that this doesn't 304 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:39,120 sound like judgment of frankly decisions that I had a part in 305 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:45,240 before and what people I worked with before made for very 306 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:50,000 understandable reasons. After about 1998 until about two 307 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,320 years ago, this is a risk averse athletic department. 308 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:59,360 There were very controversial things that had happened, the 309 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:06,400 firing of the most iconic coach of all time, the probation 310 00:17:07,599 --> 00:17:11,480 hyping up football teams that then immediately underwhelmed 311 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:15,720 and, you know, scared of saying win today. 312 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:19,880 So it was a risk averse athletic department in a in a lot of ways 313 00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:24,440 and for understandable reasons. And frankly, Kurt Cignetti threw 314 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:28,160 that all out the window. And I will give my boss a lot of 315 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:31,880 credit. I got this kind of marketing 316 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:36,560 fell into my area responsibility really this time last year. 317 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:40,800 And he said do whatever you want, like you can figure out 318 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:42,600 what you want to do with this football program. 319 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:44,080 Whatever we've been doing hadn't worked. 320 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:47,480 And so we changed a lot of things and a lot of them ended 321 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,520 up working out because we ended up winning as well. 322 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:53,200 Like those two things worked in concert together. 323 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:58,680 So I think we are finally through a 20 year period where 324 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,720 everybody was scared of how other people would react because 325 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:04,240 of how angry they were about different situations. 326 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,480 So getting rid of that or getting through that, I think 327 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,440 changed a lot of the appetite for this. 328 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:19,680 But you mentioned the IUSF, Trent McGee, the little 500 part 329 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:24,280 of this, the guerrilla warfare of Bring Back the Vice and 330 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:28,080 passing out little foam bison out in the parking lot of 331 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:30,920 football games and seeing koozies appear out of nowhere, 332 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:33,440 crazy hats, all of that kind of stuff. 333 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,840 I do think that made the release of this much, much better. 334 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:42,040 I would have been happy when we started this process process and 335 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:44,600 when we determined we were going to do it if we got a 6040 336 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:47,240 reaction. I that's what we expected. 337 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:49,680 We looked at what happened when the Cubs introduced Clark and 338 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,080 other new mascot reveals. It's like a lot of people are 339 00:18:52,080 --> 00:19:00,320 going to hate it at first. I think it's 95.5 because the 340 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:05,480 ice melted some of it. We did little video board 341 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:10,840 graphics, the schedule cards with horns on it, leaning into 342 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,840 it a little bit. Some of it are home filled 343 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:17,040 sweatshirts. Some of it are the AI generated 344 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:22,080 graphics by fans. You know, some of it is seeing 345 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,280 IUSF adopt it and giving the plush toys to the wing riders of 346 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:29,080 the little 500. I think all of that made the 347 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:33,240 reveal of it much more palatable to the to to the to the fan 348 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,960 base. But I think winning in football, 349 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:40,840 a series of meetings with everyone from student athletic 350 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:45,680 board to the Board of Aeons to the student body president made 351 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:48,360 people feel that the students really, really wanted this. 352 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:53,480 Seeing what we could have done with football had we had a 353 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:55,720 mascot, but we're unable to do so. 354 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,040 Kind of what the appetite of maybe some people who were 355 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:04,520 initially reluctant to the idea. And then December 16th, 2024, 356 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:06,560 when the student government officially passed that 357 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:09,920 resolution to bring back the bison, I think everybody at that 358 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,360 point in time was on board of we got to do this. 359 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:16,360 And then we just waited for the suit to be created. 360 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:18,840 And we realized once we got the suit. 361 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,720 More than three people can't keep a secret, so we got them. 362 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,280 We got to reveal this thing. And so that's how the videos 363 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,440 came to pass. I, I will say I, I did notice 364 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:31,280 the little bread crumbs and I, I think it was important, but I 365 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:34,080 think it was, it was almost, I felt like the athletic 366 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,160 department winking at us, not, not us, you know, the fans 367 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,360 because you obviously I, I knew Galen was talking about I, I, I 368 00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:42,280 knew kind of some of the swag going around. 369 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,520 But then, like this year at football games, you know, in 370 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,160 between plays, there was kind of a, a red backdrop of little 371 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,240 logos all over the place, like I the state of Indiana. 372 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:54,000 And like there was this logo as part or a bison type logo in 373 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:55,600 there. And it's like, oh, that they're 374 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:57,920 aware, like they, they know people are talking about like 375 00:20:57,920 --> 00:20:59,440 threw it in there. So. 376 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:01,600 So I like that. We actually did that to see if 377 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:03,400 people would complain. Oh, OK. 378 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:06,160 It was it was one of the IT was like a trial balloon. 379 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:09,240 Like we met with some students. There's momentum behind this 380 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:10,600 idea. We're going to put this up there 381 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:13,680 and if people complain and actually we got the opposite 382 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:18,760 where it's why didn't you make the whole video that which was a 383 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:22,160 great leading indicator for us. I do I I respect you have to 384 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:24,000 like take all complaints into there, but it's like if 385 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,160 somebody's like goes to a game, it's like I it was a great 386 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,240 experience, but during one of the video replays, there is an 387 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,240 image with five images up there. One of those I I disagree with 388 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:35,040 like that would be an insane insane. 389 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:37,800 I'm going to say you'd. Be amazed at what comes your 390 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,800 e-mail. OK, fair, very fair, but. 391 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:43,200 I I I do. I don't want to get too wonky or 392 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:45,320 in the weeds, but I am curious like, so I use student 393 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,120 government passes a resolution like bring back the bison. 394 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:51,840 You know, I'm just, I'm curious, what are the next steps? 395 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:53,520 Like who has votes in that process? 396 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:56,680 Because it's not as simple as, hey, the student government said 397 00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:58,480 it like, OK, we're put in a mascot. 398 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:00,040 Like it's going to be, you know, because they can just be like, 399 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:02,560 we want marshmallows. Our mascot like, you know, there 400 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,000 has to be like, you know, does does Witten get involved? 401 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,840 Like I'm just, I'm curious kind of from a just procedural point 402 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:09,920 of view. Once it's like this is something 403 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:12,960 I think we're actually going to go down, you know, as much as 404 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:15,960 you can talk about like who, where, what are the next steps? 405 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,840 Who has the next steps, who has the votes, who's in the room and 406 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:22,640 like, who has the vote to actually veto it if they wanted 407 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:26,280 to? Yeah, so that's a great 408 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,640 question. And I want to make sure I keep 409 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:32,960 this vague enough that I'm I'm right enough about this. 410 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:40,520 But let's just say in September, I convinced Scott that it was a 411 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:43,440 good idea. Not me, yes. 412 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:47,920 Mark Skirvin has always been for this idea. 413 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,240 We gave kind of the rationale of why we think it's important and 414 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,280 we'll talk about maybe that a little bit later. 415 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:03,760 I think the president really got excited about it when she heard 416 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:05,760 how excited the students were about it. 417 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:09,840 She has positioned herself as a student focused president. 418 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:13,880 It's been something that she's declared in every communication 419 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:18,240 since she became president. And once the student government 420 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,400 decided that this is something that that they really wanted. 421 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:25,960 And you couple that with the justification that Scott brought 422 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:29,680 to her of how it can increase revenue, it can increase fan 423 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:32,560 loyalty, especially amongst young people, How we do need to 424 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,040 try some new things to, to, to modernize, you know, the 425 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:37,840 presentation of some of our programs. 426 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,360 She, she then she then was all in. 427 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:42,080 So that that was kind of the process of it. 428 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:45,440 I'll, I'll also note, I mean, it's been palpable the 429 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:47,640 excitement students have had about this. 430 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:49,520 And it kind of feeds into something that you were talking 431 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:55,040 about earlier, which is for this generation of students, many of 432 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:59,160 them grew up as IU fans, I think it's important for them to feel 433 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,560 like they've got something that's their own, that that 434 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,440 feels like it's from their era. And I mean, whatever you want to 435 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,480 say about IU athletics, and you mentioned like it's been kind of 436 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,680 a a rough 25 years in terms of like overall successes. 437 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:14,280 A lot of it it's that has left a void. 438 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:16,680 And it's not too different from what occurred during that exact 439 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,000 same period that you were talking about from like the mid 440 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,640 1950s until really when Bob Knight got on campus. 441 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:27,280 And that that period right there led to a bunch of established 442 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:29,760 traditions and norms that carried through Handy. 443 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:34,960 Stripes the under 8 timeout Martha's intro of basketball the 444 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:39,840 script Indiana the block eye like yes. 445 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:42,760 That's what we're all new at one point. 446 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:46,000 Yeah, we we've just been playing the hits for a long time and you 447 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,040 know, a new album would be nice. Well. 448 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,240 I think this is where a lot of not, this is not just an IU 449 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:52,160 thing. This happens with a lot of 450 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:54,240 athletic departments, a lot of institutions. 451 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,280 And, and you mentioned like being kind of getting to that 452 00:24:57,280 --> 00:24:58,640 age where you're one of the old people. 453 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,400 Like I'm in the same boat. And it's like at some point you 454 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:05,360 realize that you're allowed to create your own culture and 455 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:07,960 you're allowed to modernize the culture around what the, the 456 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:11,040 tastes and the expectations are of people at the time. 457 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:15,120 And so it's, does this happen 10 years earlier or, you know, is 458 00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:17,360 this still shadows that you're living in at that point? 459 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:20,320 I think it's an open question. Yeah, I, I I do too. 460 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:25,640 And and you live history in real time. 461 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,880 And it's hard to actually describe to somebody who just 462 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,000 started working here how contentious things were 15 years 463 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:34,560 ago. Yeah, yeah. 464 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:40,160 So I'll, I'm also curious, just so all right, we, you know, 465 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,560 we're, we're going through the process, the, the students have 466 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:44,320 voted for it. It's gone up the chain. 467 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,360 I'm assuming that both both coaches are are in favor of 468 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:49,480 this. Like you said, Signetti is very 469 00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:52,240 they're a fan of this as well. So like Signetti is in, you 470 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,320 know, President Whitney is in and Devries is in. 471 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:58,920 So now I'm curious like what the next steps, You know, you, you 472 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,160 can't put a bison out there. Like let's get the helmet with 473 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:02,480 the chain and go back to the 60s. 474 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,760 Like do you have to consult with a mascot? 475 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:08,200 You know, I know there is like I've saw like real sports, like 476 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,920 there's like mascot schools, there's mascot creation 477 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,160 consultants. You know what, what are the next 478 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:14,920 steps of like, alright, we're going to put a, you know, a 479 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:17,520 bison mascot. You know, we, we, we haven't 480 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:19,040 seen it in full. We've seen kind of, you know, 481 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:20,680 aerial shots. We know kind of what it might 482 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:22,200 look like. And that might even just be a 483 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:23,120 teaser. Maybe there's something else 484 00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:24,680 coming out there. But I'm just curious, like at 485 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:26,520 that point, do you need to like, we're going to hire a mascot 486 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:28,240 consultant to take the next steps? 487 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:30,520 Yeah, so there's a couple things that we've got to do. 488 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:36,280 So one, there is going to be a coach assigned to it, somebody 489 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,960 to to, to run the mascot program, working in consultation 490 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:42,520 with the with the the spirit squad, the cheerleaders. 491 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:47,200 There is a mascot camp and we will send the people who will be 492 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:51,600 wearing the suit to mascot camp. We have to determine what is 493 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:54,560 this mascot going to do? Like how is it going to be 494 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:58,080 introduced? What does it perform? 495 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,560 I think on a more granular level, something that's really, 496 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,760 really important, especially to what I think and maybe, you 497 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,560 know, everybody, everybody tells me it's a great idea because 498 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,880 they feel that I participated in the idea and maybe behind my 499 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,040 back they say other things. But for judging from, and I, 500 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,800 I've looked around even at, at the negative, I, I feel like 501 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:24,400 it's about 95.5 the, the 5% often the, the objection is what 502 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:25,600 does this have to do with Indiana? 503 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,600 And I think on a granular level, rather than just saying state 504 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:32,800 SEAL over and over again, or we used to have it or the Bison 505 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,520 battalion or look at you've been to next, right? 506 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:40,040 I think we need to tie this to the state of Indiana in 507 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:44,080 fundamental ways. And so I think you'll see that 508 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:48,760 on social media, tying it to other traditions within the 509 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,120 state to make it feel like it's feel like it's ours. 510 00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:55,160 I think is a is an important thing to do as we roll this 511 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:56,280 thing out. Yeah. 512 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,440 I mean, I've heard that a lot as well, this idea of like, well, 513 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:00,840 what does the Bison have to do with Indiana? 514 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:04,360 And there is a ton of historical stuff, but it's also, it feels 515 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:06,760 like to me, and I think maybe this leads into some of the the 516 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:10,240 revenue and merchandising aspects that that obviously fit 517 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,720 into this. If you look at college football, 518 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:18,240 it's far more important to have a mascot, something that you can 519 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,200 point to other than just your logo in college football. 520 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,200 I mean, the college football video game for years had a 521 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,520 mascot only game that you could play within it. 522 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:30,960 I mean, these these are things that are part of the culture of 523 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:33,880 college football. And since IU has really gone all 524 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,400 in on taking college football seriously there, there's a big 525 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:40,040 need there, and you want something there that can 526 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:42,760 represent the spirit of what you're doing. 527 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,480 And I think as Zach Osterman pointed out in that excellent 528 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,200 piece that he wrote, which he obviously realized on you for a 529 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,240 lot of interviews for what is a Hoosier, we've been asking that 530 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:53,960 since the formation of the state. 531 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,600 That's a hard thing to represent by itself. 532 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,720 And the fact that the state of Indiana's got a historical 533 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:03,720 animal that's, you know, it's, it's, it's powerful, it's regal. 534 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,240 It's not a lion or a tiger or, you know, anything that you'll 535 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,240 normally see. It's unique. 536 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,560 And it also does have a tie. I think all that really fits 537 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,320 into it quite a bit. I I only too and there's there's 538 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:19,440 a mountain of research in it. It's true for me anecdotally, in 539 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:23,000 my own personal experience, there's a ton of research out 540 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:27,240 there that says your fandom, if you choose that team prior to 541 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:31,320 the age of 6, is much deeper and much more loyal than a favorite 542 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:33,480 team you pick after the age of 6. 543 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:38,200 And my insane devotion to the Saint Louis Cardinals and the, 544 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:41,760 you know, Indiana basketball and all that kind of stuff, I think, 545 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:43,600 you know, it kind of tells that tale. 546 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:47,840 So connecting the program with children I think is really, 547 00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:50,720 really important and making this a kid friendly mascot. 548 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:55,160 And so the constitution of its eyes, soft eyes, make it 549 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:57,280 approachable. All of the mascots you put out 550 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:01,200 there on like the 10 creepiest mascot list, they have bad eyes. 551 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:04,000 The vacant stare of Purdue Pete, for instance. 552 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:06,040 So having soft eyes is important. 553 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,240 But then you also have to understand your competition. 554 00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,960 We're in the Big 10 conference. You've got Sparty out there, you 555 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,520 got the turtle out there. What whatever its name is, I 556 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:16,800 don't really care. You got the sad thing from Penn 557 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:21,200 State, the world's weakest lion. I wanted it to look like a 558 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:23,400 Marvel character, so it's got soft eyes to make it 559 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:26,520 approachable to children. But as I said in the Zach 560 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:30,000 article, tough enough to win a play fight against a turtle at 561 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:34,000 halftime, you know. What I also love, you know, I 562 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:35,360 think everything you're saying is great. 563 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,080 I, I do think to me, it's like, I want to turn this around and 564 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:42,000 it's less about what's the connection with the bison where 565 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:43,920 we should just look at Purdue and be like, hey, man, what's a 566 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:46,120 Boilermaker have to do? The state of Indiana, like ours 567 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:48,520 is the flag. Like what you guys really suck. 568 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:50,400 Like you just have a weird vacant stare. 569 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:52,680 Purdue guy who has like there's no connection to Indiana. 570 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,400 Yeah, yeah. And it's it's, you know, like a 571 00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:58,200 Tar Heels, a Civil War soldier that didn't back up. 572 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:01,560 But they're symbols, a ram. It's the Crimson Tide, and 573 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:06,520 they've got an elephant. It's, this is less unusual than 574 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,600 I think it's being portrayed, but it's our job to explain it 575 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:11,560 and it, and people can feel about it however they want to 576 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,040 feel about it. But I think it's important for 577 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:15,640 us to kind of establish that connection. 578 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:18,360 And I would also go further and I'm, I'm from the state of 579 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:19,800 Indiana. I love Indiana. 580 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,160 I've lived all but three years of my life in Indiana. 581 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:33,160 The people have been able to represent Hoosier, that phrase 582 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:36,280 in the ways that they have chosen and not necessarily in 583 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:39,040 the way that people from Indiana would have chosen. 584 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:43,880 There are old pictures of Big 10 mascots from the late 1970s and 585 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,760 the other 9, back when it was a ten team league, represented 586 00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:49,920 those schools the way they wanted to be represented. 587 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:53,520 And they have a shoeless person in a straw hat sitting down with 588 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:56,000 holes in their jeans as a representation of a Hoosier. 589 00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:59,680 So we can maybe change the way we define ourselves a little 590 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:01,760 bit, and that might be pie in the sky and a little too 591 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:05,640 aspirational, but this is a representation of the Hoosiers 592 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:08,000 when when they're putting it in cartoon form. 593 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,320 I wanted to get in as we kind of, you know, wrap up here, a 594 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,280 little bit like the dramatic arc of the reveal. 595 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:18,480 You know, you obviously had a big hand in this and the videos 596 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:22,080 that came out really did a good job of teasing this back. 597 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:24,440 I think people kind of figured out early on where it was 598 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,000 headed, but it was still fun. And we see this in a lot of 599 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,480 these social media comments for people to ride along with that 600 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,560 over the four or five episodes. So like, what was the creative 601 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:36,440 process for you and for the the Cuban Center video team and 602 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,640 Andrew Brown and that whole group in figuring out how you 603 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:42,280 were going to do this, what the best way to reveal it was, and 604 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,520 then obviously like ultimately executing that? 605 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:49,600 So really it started with Scott Dolson, who got really excited 606 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:53,520 about the idea of this thing being in a coffin, rising from 607 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:55,200 the dead and the hand peeking out. 608 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:58,240 And that's how he wanted it to start. 609 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,440 From there we we had to look at what are our objectives. 610 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:08,520 So Objective 1, mascots are supposed to be fun, so we need 611 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:10,520 to have fun with this in some way. 612 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:13,520 Objective 2, we got to let everybody know that this is for 613 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:15,680 all of our sports and not just football. 614 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:18,280 So we needed to communicate that. 615 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:23,600 We need to make it look playful and approachable over the arc 616 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:27,520 itself. And so it ends in a much happier 617 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:32,120 place. And then a little bit of mystery 618 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:35,480 to to keep people talking, I think think was important. 619 00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:39,000 And so we kind of outlined it out. 620 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:42,880 And I promise I'm not running to the front of the parade on this, 621 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:45,440 but I, I'm big into movies. Galen knows this. 622 00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:48,520 I actually used to be a movie critic. 623 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:52,000 So I'm, I'm into it. So I, I love movies. 624 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:55,080 And so I started to think of tropes from some of my favorite 625 00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:57,280 movies that were widely seen by people. 626 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:01,400 And so the box in the first one glows, right? 627 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,120 And it's got a title card. And it's clear that we're going 628 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:08,080 to tell this story out of order. So it's got the Pulp Fiction 629 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:11,400 briefcase that glows story told out of order with a bunch of 630 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:13,880 title cards. And then I always loved the 631 00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:17,679 scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where he keeps telling everybody 632 00:34:17,679 --> 00:34:19,880 how dangerous it is and they say, well, it's going to be 633 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:23,320 taken care of by top men. So I sent Nate and Sean, who are 634 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:26,480 the two maintenance people who are working in the video itself, 635 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,760 and they made the crate to look like the Raiders of the Lost Ark 636 00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:32,040 crate. Plus that ends up getting open 637 00:34:32,199 --> 00:34:34,480 and, you know, kills all the Nazis, you know, whatever. 638 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:37,679 And then the third part of that one was Silence of the Lambs, 639 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:42,719 the way too casual night watchman doesn't listen to what 640 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:44,679 he's told and lets Hannibal Lecter out. 641 00:34:44,679 --> 00:34:46,480 Right. So I'm the idiot who opens the 642 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:47,920 the case and lets this thing out. 643 00:34:48,639 --> 00:34:52,960 And then then the second one, it's Alien. 644 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:56,800 So Sydney Parrish's Ripley. She's a tough woman who sees 645 00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:00,040 something and none of the none of the other people around her 646 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,960 believe her. And then the Doc Yagli 647 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:06,920 Montgomery McCracken is an ode to our 4 great coaches. 648 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:08,960 But really it's the Richard Attenborough character in 649 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:13,240 Jurassic Park who sees nothing but opportunity and profit in 650 00:35:13,240 --> 00:35:17,240 this scientific discovery. And then the third one, which is 651 00:35:17,240 --> 00:35:19,680 kind of my favorite one, we were going to have Sig do the Roy 652 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:22,360 Schneider scene from Jaws, you know, where he turns around, you 653 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:24,120 know, he's got the bucket of chum or whatever. 654 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,000 He's like, Nah, I'm going to say something else. 655 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:31,080 And we're like, OK, and he just, he just did his own thing and it 656 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,440 it was a perfect eight second. It was just totally on brand for 657 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:35,680 him. And what this is about, like 658 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:39,480 this is an approachable animal. And then in the fourth one, we 659 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,520 did ET, you know, ETS in the house, the toys start flying 660 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:46,920 around, the plants grow again. And so they can't figure out 661 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:51,480 what's going on in their house. So basically, ET solves our 662 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:53,240 shooting problems in assembly Hall. 663 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:57,040 You know, that's kind of that. And then the fifth one, 664 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:59,440 obviously the Star Wars Scroll, but because it's return of the 665 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:04,920 Bison, we say it's Episode 6. And then the flashback sequence 666 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:09,240 from the Usual Suspects shows like why all of this is supposed 667 00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:10,720 to make sense. And that it was really the vote 668 00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:12,840 of the student government that brought this creature to life, 669 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:14,960 that started all of the events that we had. 670 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:17,520 And then I'm like, all right, this thing's coming back. 671 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:20,200 What's the most what's the greatest return in the history 672 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:22,240 of the world? It's like Michael Jordan 673 00:36:22,240 --> 00:36:24,760 returning to the NBA with the two word press release of I'm 674 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:26,960 back. And so we're like, let's put it 675 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:29,040 on Scott's desk that he says he's back. 676 00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:32,840 And then we find him on the top of his domain, you know, peering 677 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:36,120 out over over what he's going to oversee over these next year. 678 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:40,480 So we had a good time with it. And Trevor Bowens and Will Kirby 679 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:42,040 was the guy in the suit for all the videos. 680 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:44,040 He got stuffed in a crate. That's not easy. 681 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:46,640 That's definitely in other duties as a sign on his 682 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:49,600 employment agreement. And then Andrew Brown did a 683 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:50,840 great job with the videos as well. 684 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:53,280 So we had a lot of fun. It it came through. 685 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:54,880 I mean, the, the, the, they were awesome. 686 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:56,680 The last one was great. Although all I can think of is 687 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:59,040 like alt, you know, the the internet's gonna have fun with 688 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:01,320 his like alt cuts of like other Pulp Fiction. 689 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:03,680 You know, see, if you do from that, it's like, you know, the, 690 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:07,440 the, the fight with the, the thing that, you know, stabbing 691 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:09,360 them in the chest with the, the, the shot. 692 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:11,120 And yeah, there's some wild stuff for sure. 693 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,320 And actually, Galen and Dr. Gautier were Marvel movies. 694 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,560 So Stan Lee, you know, always is ordering a slice of pizza and 695 00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:21,000 Spider Man 2 or whatever. They were the fake faculty 696 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,920 advisors, you know, So we had to put the people we started 697 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:27,040 bringing back the bison as kind of the Stan Lee little Easter 698 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:29,200 egg in there. So it was fun to have them be a 699 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:30,480 part of it. That's awesome. 700 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:32,200 No, the the the videos were were awesome. 701 00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:35,120 As a wrap up, I have a couple of kind of random questions I just 702 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:36,920 want to throw out there that people have asked me. 703 00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:39,720 So I'll just put these in no particular order. 704 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:44,760 One, any plan on a real bison on the field, like kind of like 705 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,080 Colorado? OK. 706 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:50,160 That's a great question and it's one that we actually wrestled 707 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:52,120 with over the the course of the process there. 708 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:53,840 There are a lot of challenges to it. 709 00:37:54,240 --> 00:37:59,480 And if you look at the live mascots, other than dogs, the 710 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:03,480 live mascots, the hard to train, fundamentally very dangerous 711 00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:11,200 animal mascots, those have a really long legacy to find 6 712 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:17,040 people every year to run this thing on the field, to feed it, 713 00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:19,040 to pay for it, all that kind of stuff. 714 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,880 It just feels too cumbersome. I'm not saying that there isn't 715 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:26,240 a day that that could potentially occur, but, but, but 716 00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:29,560 there are no plans for it now. We have had actually a lot of 717 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:36,080 people who run bison farms have in 24 hours invited Hoosier to 718 00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:40,160 come out and visit and they talk about calves that are being 719 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:43,320 bottle fed right now and would be perfect companions to the 720 00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:45,440 mascot. So you never know, We'll keep 721 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:48,360 the door open on that. Nil stuff, you know, goes wild. 722 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,960 Like, you could have, you know, players promoting bison farms 723 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,040 around the state. And I would say this, this is 1 724 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:58,800 surprising element, how excited the athletes are about this and 725 00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:01,960 have been from the start. They actually put some Bison 726 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:06,520 imagery in the weight room like four or five months ago as the 727 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:08,800 video started. I would get text messages from 728 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:11,160 track coaches and field hockey coaches, like when is it going 729 00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:12,080 to happen? You know, when's it? 730 00:39:12,720 --> 00:39:14,320 Because their athletes were asking him. 731 00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:16,640 So the athletes have really responded to this. 732 00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:19,240 I mean, Sydney Parish was over the moon to be a part of it. 733 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:23,640 So All right, next question. The the other, the other one 734 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:27,320 that I have is, is his mind, my mind immediately went to this 735 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:32,760 are are we going to see integration of a bison logo in 736 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:36,200 football, basketball jerseys, alternate jerseys, you know, is 737 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:38,440 that, is that something that's being thought over on the road 738 00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:39,720 map? Because I just I can imagine, 739 00:39:39,720 --> 00:39:41,720 you know, a helmet with bice. You know, they used to have 740 00:39:41,720 --> 00:39:44,200 like, you know, the, the IU on one side and the, the state logo 741 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:46,200 on the other side was cool. You know, a bison logo. 742 00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:48,200 I'm thinking of, you know, the basketball shorts, like having a 743 00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:50,440 bison on there. Just I'm curious if that's been 744 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:54,480 thought of, you know, using it within uniforms and or complete 745 00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:57,760 all uniforms based on the logo? Well, we're still finishing up 746 00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:01,840 the process on the artwork for whatever that logo will be. 747 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:05,640 So we don't have anything in the design stages. 748 00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:08,280 I would say it's it's an absolute possibility and a high 749 00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,920 likelihood that it would occur again to the athletes excited 750 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:13,720 about it. We've had three programs already 751 00:40:13,720 --> 00:40:17,280 reach out about putting the Bison on their warm up shirts. 752 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:20,760 So, so they're into it. I, I would, I would assume that 753 00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:23,320 it will make its way onto apparel that the that the 754 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:25,560 players and the athletes will wear in the field of play. 755 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:28,400 That's awesome. And last one is. 756 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:32,280 A for us, our podcast Galen came up with some new imagery. 757 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:34,760 It's our it's our logo. Are we good to still use our 758 00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:37,680 bison that we have on Crimson Cast or are we are we going to 759 00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:39,240 see a little approval or we got the change? 760 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:43,320 Go for it. I do think you I do think you 761 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:46,920 need a new sign off Galen. I'm actually we need to workshop 762 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:48,960 this. I'm I'm a little, I bet. 763 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:52,240 I've gotten probably 80 people have reached out in the last 24 764 00:40:52,240 --> 00:40:55,320 hours saying some combination of hey, Congrats and it's always 765 00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:57,600 like how are you going to sign off on the podcast now? 766 00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:00,760 And I have, I have 0 idea and don't open source it. 767 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:02,560 I can tell. You from experience in a very 768 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:08,440 short period of time, I've gotten 7278 recommendations on 769 00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:11,360 what song we should play during the third quarter and no two are 770 00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:15,800 the same from any two people. And you tangentially 771 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:22,320 participated in the naming of the Bison process and nine 772 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:24,880 people came up with 9 different names that they preferred. 773 00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:27,720 So, you know, write your own sign off. 774 00:41:27,720 --> 00:41:29,920 Don't open source it, make them live with it. 775 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:34,880 That gives me one more question. Can you so name is Hoosier, 776 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:35,880 right? Hoosier the bison. 777 00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:39,680 Can you throw out any other names that were considered or 778 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:42,720 that didn't make the cut? And you don't need no no 779 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:45,560 attributation needed. So I. 780 00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:50,600 Will say this one, we we wanted it to be unique. 781 00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:58,600 So I think that was important. Two, we opted not to go the 782 00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:01,480 route of someone who was once a living figure. 783 00:42:02,720 --> 00:42:05,040 I do find it and I it's endearing because I mean, who 784 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:08,400 doesn't as an IU person have great deal of respect for the 785 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:10,280 Bob Knight years. I'm like, I can't think of 786 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,520 anything Bob Knight would want less than to. 787 00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:15,520 Have a mask got named. After him. 788 00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:18,520 So we opted not to do living figures also because I mean, 789 00:42:18,520 --> 00:42:21,840 we've, we've seen around our own campus that history has a way of 790 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:26,800 changing things And you just don't want to be 20 years from 791 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:30,280 now and you name it after a person and something is looked 792 00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:32,200 at at a different lens and you got to change the name. 793 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:35,760 So we, we steered away from living figures and then we tried 794 00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:41,680 to think of truly IUE things and every alley we went down. 795 00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:45,360 And Galen had a suggestion that he can offer on his own. 796 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:49,360 Every alley we went down, there were two or three people brought 797 00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:53,320 up an objection. So this felt like the safest 798 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:57,560 choice, which I know is not what people want to hear. 799 00:42:57,560 --> 00:42:59,760 I just don't think we had an obvious one at IU. 800 00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:04,480 And redefining Hoosier seemed appealing. 801 00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:07,760 And I really wanted to nail the reveal in the suit. 802 00:43:08,480 --> 00:43:11,920 I'll let other people determine whether or not we did the suit 803 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:15,080 well and nailed the reveal. Well, the early return seemed 804 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,440 pretty good. And I think they'll, I think 805 00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:20,560 they'll warm to the name. And I actually think little kids 806 00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:23,120 yelling Hoosier, Hoosier, you know, to get a picture, I think 807 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:24,920 will work. I, I agree with that. 808 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:27,800 I I. Was not sure about it at 1st and 809 00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:30,280 the more I thought about it I was like it actually makes sense 810 00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:34,720 it it ties it a lot more closely to directly to the university 811 00:43:34,720 --> 00:43:37,640 and it needed to be redefined anyway. 812 00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:39,960 So I think that all the IT it ends up hitting all the marks. 813 00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:41,920 No, I don't think anybody's going to complain about it. 814 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:43,320 That's the thing. No, I agree. 815 00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:45,280 I I like it hearing. Your thought process makes 816 00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:46,840 sense. I mean, as you were thinking, I 817 00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:48,680 was like trying to think who what, you know, you go like 818 00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:51,360 Herman Wells, like Wells is not a fun like, hey, Wells, it's our 819 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:53,040 mascot like that. Then you have to hold, have 820 00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:55,280 another whole back story. I think that all makes sense. 821 00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:55,800 Yeah. Yeah. 822 00:43:57,280 --> 00:43:58,560 Excellent. Well, I'm glad you guys are 823 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:01,160 excited about it. I'm ready for the merch to come 824 00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:04,040 out and I'm ready to see this thing come to events this 825 00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:06,440 upcoming fall. And by the way, we have a lot of 826 00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:08,800 interchangeable uniforms and outfits for it. 827 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:13,000 So it's it's going to hit the mark when it goes to a tennis 828 00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:15,480 match, a field hockey game, a football game, obviously the 829 00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:19,560 basketball games. I I think it's exciting and I, I 830 00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:22,800 also think, you know, back to the humility. 831 00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:25,800 We've got to reconnect our basketball program to our 832 00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:29,680 student body. It has been broken and we've got 833 00:44:29,720 --> 00:44:32,960 to to re establish that. And I think, I don't think that 834 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:35,640 this is a a cure all for that, but I think it's a step in the 835 00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:38,080 right direction that we're going to try to do new things with 836 00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:40,160 student engagement in in basketball. 837 00:44:40,720 --> 00:44:41,880 Yeah. No, I, I think I. 838 00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:43,640 You're you're doing great stuff. It's awesome. 839 00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:47,720 I as again part of the old guy new the new old guy club. 840 00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:50,280 I am all for it. I like it. 841 00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:52,800 So Jeremy, I appreciate it and look forward to to more rally 842 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:54,680 towels. And you know, what's what's 843 00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:57,880 great is, and I mean this in a very positive way, like we've 844 00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:01,640 now had you on twice in six months because of really unique, 845 00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:05,360 interesting, fun things at the university and the athletic 846 00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:08,720 department are doing that are getting fan interest, engagement 847 00:45:08,720 --> 00:45:11,560 enough so that it's like, I want to talk to Jeremy for an hour 848 00:45:11,560 --> 00:45:13,680 about how did this happen, how are we doing this? 849 00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:16,480 I mean, that that is awesome. And so appreciate everything 850 00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:19,200 guys are doing and looking forward to a great season with 851 00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:21,840 Signetti, with Devries and with Hoosier, our new mascot. 852 00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:23,520 Yeah, really, really excited about it. 853 00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:25,600 And last time I was on this show, I complimented your 854 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:28,200 sweatshirt and your mom. My mom got it for me for the 855 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:30,080 holidays because I said something nice about your 856 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:32,560 sweatshirt. So I made sure that I didn't 857 00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:36,360 mention anything you're wearing or in the background so that I 858 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:38,160 get the gift cards that I want next year. 859 00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:39,800 Well, I mean, yeah, we have. We have a. 860 00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:42,120 Millennium Falcon, so you know, Mama Gray, if you want to, you 861 00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:45,000 know, get Jeremy that we can look at that for for Father's 862 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:46,720 Day coming up. We have some some really cool 863 00:45:46,720 --> 00:45:48,880 like gear right there. Anyway, No. 864 00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:51,560 Well, Jeremy, thank you so much for joining Galen, as always. 865 00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:53,880 It's awesome having you on. Want to thank everybody for 866 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:56,000 listening and for Galen for Jeremy. 867 00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:58,840 This is Scott saying we brought back the bison. 868 00:45:58,840 --> 00:46:11,000 Let's go along, everybody. Thank you guys, dude. 869 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:12,040 Thanks man. Awesome.