Nobody's Safe with Brady Laber

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is former NKU basketball great Tyler Sharpe. Tyler is from Mount Washington, Kentucky and was on the varsity basketball team at Bullitt East High School for five seasons. Tony Barr was the head coach of the Chargers and brought Tyler up to the varsity to lean from upperclassmen Derek Willis, Rusty Troutman, Trey Rakes and Elliott Young. Tyler was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in middle school and he describes how its effected him and his journey living with this medical condition. Tyler is part of a great class at Bullitt East that takes over as sophomores. He becomes the leading scorer for the Chargers and Bob Blackburn comes out of retirement to take over as head coach. Tyler also talks about Ernest “June Bug” Rakes who was an assistant coach and his son Bailey is one of Tyler’s best friends growing up. Tyler talks about the recruiting process which was not very good for him as he finds himself continually being overlooked for scholarship opportunities. After a long and winding road he decides to attend the University of Louisville as a preferred walk-on. After a season playing very sparingly for the Cardinals (2016-17) he decides that he wants to explore other avenues in hopes for a change at more playing time. One of his former AAU teammates Mason Faulkner directs him toward NKU where again he would have to be a walk-on. Head coach John Brannen explained that the roster is loaded coming off a Horizon League championship team but he would earn his way into playing time if he put in the work. Although things are rough in the beginning, Tyler starts to see time as a role player mostly becasue of his defense. He eventually becomes a solid rotation player that is a threat to make three-point shots on the offensive end of the floor. NKU earns a number-one seed in the Horizon League tournament but losses in the first round to Cleveland State. However, the Norse are invited to play in the NIT and are match with Tyler’s former team the Louisville Cardinals. Tyler returns for his junior season and starts 32 out of 35 games for a Norse team that wins the Horizon League tournament. He talks in depth about the game winning shot Drew McDonald hits to beat the buzzer against Oakland winner the semifinal game. NKU qualifies for the NCAA tournament and Tyler talks about the selection process and the lead-up to that first round game against Texas Tech. After the year head coach John Brannen leaves for the University of Cincinnati and he is replaced by Darin Horn. Tyler talks about the process of Brannen leaving and Horn taking over for his senior year. Senior year was an up-and-down year for the Norse becasue of injuries to key players Jalen Tate and Dantez Walton. Tyler is also injured at times but somehow finds a way to play through it. By February the full compliment of players are back in time for NKU to win another Horizon League tournament championship. Unfortunately. the NCAA tournament is canceled due to COVID-19 and that is how Tyler’s career comes to an end. But that is not the end of the story. Tyler applies to for a waiver to NCAA to get the year of eligibility back from his time at Louisville where he player just 11 minutes total as a walk-on. He goes into detail about the process and the results which is disappointing to say the least. You can also follow Tyler for basketball purposes on Twitter @TylerSharpe_15 Cover photo was provided by Northern Kentucky University Athletics Communications and taken by Chloe Smith. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Jeff Hetzer the Associate Athletic Director and former head baseball coach at Thomas More University. “Hetz” got his start growing up on The Westside attending Our Lady of Victory parish and graduating from Elder High School. He played on the Panthers baseball team for head coach Mark Thompson. Thompson had just begun his head coaching career at Elder while Hetzer played for him in the early 1990’s. Thompson was former great player and assistant coach at crosstown rival Western Hills High School. After high school, Hetz played his first two years of college baseball at Wittenberg University. He was an all-conference second baseman for the Tigers but decided to transfer when you realized who much it costs his parents for him to attend the private Division-III college. Hetzer transfers closer to home and attends Division-II Northern Kentucky University playing for the late great Bill Aker. Like everyone, Hetz has great stories about his former head coach that are very entertaining. Even though Aker was tough to play for at times, Hetzer gives him credit for being man’s man and treating everyone as an equal which made the players play hard for him. After his player career was offer, Hetzer stayed on the staff first as a graduate assistant and then as a full-time assistant coach. After four seasons on Aker’s staff, Hetzer was presented the opportunity of a lifetime to become the head coach at Thomas More at the age of 26 years old. Hetz explains how Aker set him up for the job opportunity for him to move over to Thomas More upon his own retirement after the 2000 season. Hetzer was not only the head baseball coach at Thomas More but he was also the assistant men’s basketball coach. In early 2004, athletic director and head men’s basketball coach Terry Connor has a precarious situation on his hands when the women’s basketball team is in need of a head coach mid-way through the season. He turns to Hetz who is also beginning his baseball season at the same time. Hetzer talks about his storied career as the head baseball coach at Thomas More where he won a school record 484 games while making seven NCAA tournament appearances and winning five Presidents Athletic Conference titles. After the 2019 season, Hetzer was promoted to Associate Athletic Director in charge of facilities and retires as the head baseball coach after 19 seasons. Hetzer was grateful for his time as the baseball coach, embraces the new challenge as an administrator while handing the reigns of the baseball program to his longtime assistant coach Jeremy Martin. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special episode of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber as we dedicate the show to a season preview for the Northern Kentucky University Norse men’s basketball team. On this episode of Nobody’s Safe we have a season preview of the Northern Kentucky Norse men’s basketball program. This is the Golden Season of NKU basketball, year number 50 and although it's a shame that the pandemic will not allows Norse fans to celebrate the way that they expected. However, we will do the best we as I have the NKU radio play-by-play announcer Jim Kelch and his analyst Rick Broering as my guest on the show. I bring on Jim first and he explains how everything has changed about how he is able to broadcast the game because of the protocols but into place becasue of the pandemic. Jim also looks back on the Horizon League tournament from last season which coincides with the beginning of the COVID-19 era. Rick Broering gives his recollections of that fateful March time in Indianapolis as well. We also talk about the current roster and the preseason poll in the Horizon League. To keep up to date on everything that involves Northern Kentucky University Athletics visit the website nkunorse.com or follow the women’s basketball program on Twitter and Instagram @NKUNorseWBB If you want to follow Jim Kelch on Twitter his hande is @KelchJim and if you want to follow Rick Broering its @RickBroering You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special episode of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber as we dedicate the show to a season preview for the Northern Kentucky University Norse women’s basketball team. My guests are Matt Sexton and Rich Hoyt the ESPN+ broadcast team for the NKU women’s basketball program. We begin the season preview with a look back to the end of last season when the Norse earned its first 20-win campaign in the Division-I era. NKU hosted and won two games in the Horizon League Tournament advancing to the semi-finals against Green Bay at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Matt and Rich called the home games in the conference tournament but traveled to Indianapolis to watch the NKU vs. Green Bay in person. They share not only the recollections of that game but how the COVID-19 outbreak happened while they were and the aftermath after their return home. We move forward to a season preview talking about the change in the coaching staff. Assistant coach Lester Rowe moved on to go to work at Xavier University and head coach Camryn Whitaker replaced him former University of Kentucky point guard Anthony Epps. Next we break down the roster from top to bottom. We talk about in order of class starting with the seniors and finishing up with the new freshman class. We talk about what kind of adjustments not only the NKU coaching staff but other staffs around the country will have to in order to adjust during this season that will be dominated by the COVID-19 virus. We finish up but taking a look at the Horizon League preseason polls and all-league teams. To keep up to date on everything that involves Northern Kentucky University Athletics visit the website nkunorse.com or follow the women’s basketball program on Twitter and Instagram @NKUNorseWBB You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special episode of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber as we dedicate the show to a season preview for the Thomas More University Saints women’s basketball team. We begin the show by interviewing head coach Jeff Hans about how last season ended, summer workouts after the quarantine ended and breaks down roster and the return of Sydney Moss as an assistant coach. Thomas More began the season with a 94-71 win over the IU-East Werewolves… We have coverage of the post game press conference in which Coach Hans is joined by players Hayden White and Courtney Hurst addressing the media. The Saints picked up a game against the #7 ranked Southeastern University Fire that was not previously scheduled. In the pregame interview with Coach Hans, I asked him to walks us through the process of bring Southeastern to the Connor Convocation Center on short notice. As it turned out the Saints were more than prepared to extinguish the Fire by a score of 85-47. Coach Hans along with Zoie Barth and Emily Simon provide us with their postgame thoughts. Thomas More finished it’s busy week with a Saturday afternoon game against Indiana Wesleyan. The Saints recognized its three seniors in order to take advantage of the opportunity and not risk that something happens down the road and not be able to have the ceremony. Before the game Coach Hans reflected back on the career and contributions of Kylie Anderson, Hayden White and Briana McNutt. The Saints won a 67-59 dog fight over Indiana Wesleyan to complete the week with a 3-0 start to the season. Afterwards Coach Hans, Briana McNutt and Courtney Hurst look back on the victory over the Wildcats. The Voice of the Thomas More Saints Nate Metz joins me on the show. We summarize the first week of the regular season, evaluate the Mid South Conference preseason poll and take a look at the NAIA national rankings. To keep up to date on everything that involves Thomas More University Athletics visit the website thomasmoresaints.com or follow the women’s basketball program on Twitter and Instagram @TMWBasketball Please credit Thomas More University Athletics for cover art picture. Also wants to give thanks to Don Owen from the NKY Tribune for helping ask questions during the press conferences. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special episode of Nobody’s Safe with Brady Laber as we dedicate the show to a season preview for the Thomas More University Saints men’s basketball team. We begin the show by interviewing head coach Justin Ray about how last season ended, summer workouts after the quarantine ended and breaking down the upcoming season's roster. Also, we insert his pregame interview in preparation for the season opener against Taylor University. Next, we bring in Nate Metz, the voice of the Thomas More Saints. Nate and I talk about the Saints 65-59 win over the Trojans. The format for the postgame interview has been changed this season to a press conference setting. You can now consume clips from those interviews on the men’s basketball Twitter account (click here) and Instagram account (click here) both are @TMUMensBBall. On this episode we have the entire press conference which includes comments from players Ryan Batte and Garren Bertsch as well as head coach Justin Ray. After the press conference, we bring back Nate to talk about some of the highlights from the press conference. We also further break down the Thomas More roster. We then turn our attention to the Mid South Conference preseason polls with Thomas More picked to finish third in the league. Also, we briefly go over the NAIA national preseason poll in which Georgetown is ranked #1 and the University of the Cumberlands coming in at #15. Thomas More and Shawnee State were the other two schools in the conference to receive votes for the poll. To keep up to date on everything that involves Thomas More University Athletics visit the website thomasmoresaints.com or follow the women’s basketball program on Twitter and Instagram @TMWBasketball Please credit Thomas More University Athletics for cover art picture. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rick went to school at St. Thomas High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. There was a teacher and coach there that gave Rick his first break and turned out to be a life long mentor. That man was future NKU men’s basketball coach Kenney Shields. Rick also attended high school with another future NKU coach Nancy Winstel. Nancy was a standout volleyball player and went on to be a three-sports athlete at NKU as well as a Hall of Fame coach. Rick began as a student at Northern Kentucky State College in 1972 which was the second year of the athletic department’s existence. Thanks to Kenney Shields, Rick became at stats person for head coach Mote Hils whom Kenney played for at Covington Catholic High School. While in college Rick is hired as writer and reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer and covers a number a great sporting events during his time with the paper. When Rick graduates in 1977 he is hired to be the first full-time Sports Information Director at NKU. Over the course of his career Rick eyewitnesses so much history at NKU and he shares some of those stories. He talks about when Regents Hall opens it was not only the home of the basketball and volleyball programs but they also held concerts performed by national acts including Sly and The Family Stone. Rick was there to watch Bill Aker build the baseball doing everything from building the field to recruiting players out of the student lounge. NKU was one of the first state colleges to offer full scholarships for women athletes. This lead to early and long standing success including being the first women’s basketball team to win a game at Rupp Arena against the University of Kentucky. In 1978, the men’s basketball team coached by Mote Hils defeated Xavier for the first of two consecutive wins against the Musketeers and it puts NKU athletes on the map. Thanks in part to the win against Xavier, NKU was its first trip to the NCAA Division-II tournament. Unfortunately, the athletic director at the time Lonnie Davis turns down the opportunity for NKU to host the Great Lakes Regional. Head Coach Mote Hils was less than happy and he has a legendary interaction with his boss that Rick was in person to witness. In 1981 a major budget cut forces NKU to leave the NCAA and go NAIA. In fact, there was discussions to actual shut down the athletic department entirely. Rick was there and describes how that all happened as well as NKU returning to the NCAA as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Jane Meier is hired as the athletic director at NKU after at one time or another coaching women’s basketball, volleyball and softball. By the 1990’s, Rick becomes the SID for the Great Lakes Valley Conference and the league becomes a dominant force in men’s basketball including NKU making back-to-back appearances in the Divsion-II national championship game. Rick was also working at NKU during the failed attempt to start a football program which was a very polarizing subject on campus. The conversation goes back to men’s basketball and Rick explains the transition in the late 1980s from head coach Mike Beitzel to Kenney Shields. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don Weber is a legendary figure in Northern Kentucky for his coverage of all the local sports teams. He worked for the local cable company which provided programing in a three county radius which expanded to six counties by the late-1990s and early-2000s. This included two colleges, Northern Kentucky University and Thomas More University, and at its peak 22 high schools. Don covered high school sports in Northern Kentucky for 25 years making him synonymous with every school in the area. Not many people know where he attended high school in the area but the answer is Campbell County. He graduated in 1976 and we talk about some of the coaches for the Camels while he attended the school. He attended Northern Kentucky University starting in 1976 which was the very early days for the Highland Heights campus. One of his professors in the radio and television department was Dick Murgatroyd. “Murg” was a legendary figure himself working with Ruth Lyons and being the executive producer of the Bob Braun Show. While at NKU, Don developed a further love of sports by working on shows and events covering the sports teams. He was mentored by Mote Hills as well as developing friendships with Bill Aker, Jane Meier and Nancy Winstel. Upon graduation in 1980, Don gets his start as an intern in the sports department and later as an employee at WLWT-Channel 5. He worked under Bill Brown who was a sports anchor for the station and the television play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Reds. In January of 1983, Don is hired by Storer Cable and worked his way up the ladder. Eventually Don becomes the sports director and in 1987 he produces a season preview for the high school football season and that was the beginning of it all. This morphed into a weekly sports highlights show, a Friday night scoreboard show, coaches shows, call-in shows as well as covering the local college teams within the viewing area. In today’s media world of covering news and sports the job listing is commonly referred to as multimedia journalist. This is a newer trend but Don perfected this skill starting in the 1980s and it was referred to in the industry at the time as the “one-man band.” Don came up with a call-in show called The Press Box along with Tom Gamble from the Kentucky Post and Chris Gramke the sports editor of the Recorder newspapers in Northern Kentucky. The most memorable topic was an episode that happened on the day that the NKU Board of Regents voted on establishing a football program. This branches off into a conversation about Thomas More University starting its football program in the early 1990s. Don had inside knowledge of the circumstances and tells some stories of the early growing pains and how its turned into a small college football power. We also talk about two of the great high school basketball tournaments in the area’s history. The Famous Recipe Holiday Classic and the All-A Classic both were high profile local tournaments. The All-A evolved into a statewide tournament and now involves virtually every sport available to small schools in Kentucky. In addition to all the game coverage and preview shows, Don covered the awards banquets and eventually the cable company hosted its own awards show in the studio to recognize all of the players-of-the-week. You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Terry Connor has strong ties at Thomas More University thanks to his father the legendary Jim Connor. Jim had a great career in the coaching world before he arrived at Thomas More in 1978. Jim’s greatest notoriety in the Northern Kentucky area comes from his time at Newport Catholic High School. In 1966, his Thoroughbreds team was headlined by Dave Cowens. Cowens would go on to become an All-American at Florida State and later an NBA Rookie of the Year and World Champion for the Boston Celtics. Cowens wasn’t the only superstar athlete Jim Connor coached during his career. He coached David Justice in both baseball and basketball at Thomas More in the 1980s. After a successful run at Bellarmine University and Boone County High School, Jim Connor came to Thomas More in 1978. He was hired to be the athletic director, head baseball coach and head mens basketball coach. He was virtually a one-person athletic department at the time. This included a need to help increase the budget with fund raising efforts. He comes up with the idea of holding a weekly Bingo Night that helps build the Connor Convocation Center. We transition into talking about Terry coming to Thomas More and playing baseball for his dad. This is towards the end of Jim’s career at Thomas More. Jim’s final game as coach is also Terry’s final game as a senior on the Saints baseball team. Terry follows his dad in the coaching game starting as a high school coach at Bishop Brossart High School on the basketball team under head coach Jeff VonHanDorf. Terry moves over to Dixie Heights High School where he is on Donnie MacFarland’s basketball staff and Dale Maxwell’s baseball staff. Terry comes to Thomas More as an assistant men’s basketball coach and takes over in mid-season when head coach Larry Cox steps down. Terry is hired to replace Cox after the season ends. He takes over as the athletic director at Thomas More in 2000 when Todd Aslaon is hired to succeed Bill Aker as the head baseball coach at Thomas More. Terry tells a funny story about hiring Jeff Hetzer to replace Asalon as the Thomas More baseball coach. After hiring Hetzer, Terry’s first assignment to his new coach was working the weekly Bingo event. Speaking of Hetzer, Terry tells the story of how he has “Hetz” finish the 2004 season as the women’s basketball coach. Hetzer leads the program to the NCAA Sweet 16 while simultaneously coaching the baseball team in an early season tournament in Florida. Terry continues to hold both positions of athletic director and mens basketball coach until 2006 when he jokingly says he fired himself to concentrate on being a full-time athletic director of the now growing department. We talk about some of Terry’s accomplishments as the Thomas Athletic Director. These include building a football stadium, entering the Presidents Athletic Conference after years as an Independent, the national success of the women’s basketball program and reclassification into NAIA. As we wrap up the conversation Terry talks about the culture within the Thomas More athletic department. It is well know that it’s a tight knit community with a family atmosphere that generates a loyalty thanks to appreciation shown by the people in leadership positions. Terry along with most of his family at Thomas More graduates. The cover art photo for his episode is of Terry presenting an award to his son Braden who plays on the men’s basketball team for the Saints. You can follow Terry Connor on Twitter @TMUAD_Connor and keep up with Thomas More Athletics on their website thomasmoresaints.com You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Drew McDonald has a strong lineage when it comes to athletes in his family especially on his mom’s side of the family. It starts with his grandfather Tom Freppon who played basketball at Newport Catholic High School and Xavier University during the late-1950’s and early-1960’s. Tom Freppon had four children and at least four grandchildren that all played college athletics: * Son Tom Jr played basketball at Thomas More * Tom, Jr.’s two daughters Kaela Jo (Xavier/NKU) and Mikah (Lewis) both played college volleyball * Daughter Pam (Wurtz) played volleyball at Western Kenutcky * Daughter Debbie (Zegarra) played volleyball at Midway * Daughter Christie (Drew’s mom) played basketball at NKU * Christie’s daughter (Drew’s sister) Rachel McDonald currently plays volleyball at SIU-Edwardsville Drew’s father Jeff McDonald was a tennis player at Northern Kentucky. Young Drew McDonald didn’t get toys from Santa Claus as a youngster, instead he was left sports equipment under the tree each Christmas morning. Growing up Drew was a fixture in the basketball gym. While his mom Christie coached the girls basketball team at Newport Central Catholic he started as a water boy, became a team manager and eventually a practice player all before he was in high school. He followed his family by attending Newport Central Catholic High School and playing basketball for head coaches Grant Brannen and Hall of Famer Ron Dawn. During his time on “The Hill” Drew’s teams won three All-A Classic state tournament championships. Like his parents, Drew signed to play basketball at Northern Kentucky University. He committed to Norse head coach Dave Bezold but he was let go before Drew’s senior season. NKU hired another New Cath alum, and older brother of his high school coach, John Brannen. Brannen reassures Drew that he wants to build the program with Drew as a key contributor. After a tough freshman season where the Norse only win nine games, NKU puts together a dream season in 2016-17. The team becomes just the second team to advance to the NCAA tournament in its first season of eligibility since 1970. Drew talks about the unlikely Horizon League tournament championship run and playing Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament. In 2018, NKU had an incredible run where they won 17 home games on its way to the Horizon League regular season championship. Unfortunately, the Norse, as the number-one seed, get bounced in the first round of the league tournament. After the loss to Cleveland State, NKU is invited to play in the NIT against another in-state opponent the Louisville Cardinals. After briefly considering either playing basketball professionally or returning to NKU for a 5th-season of eligibility on the golf team, Drew decides to officially retire from active competition. You can follow Drew McDonald on Twitter @atmcdonald34 You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected] Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices