You know, how with your experience did this come to fruition and how and why does this matter?

Brother, I really wish that it was as prolific of a reason as there's a 25th anniversary.

We have Mission Creep.

I wish I could give you all of these, like, Great answers.

The reality is, is I'm just like a dumb infantry guy.

And when and we only have eight years to be in this job because we have term limits.

And so those eight years and we're only in session for two months.

As an elected official, how do you make that sales pitch?

So in the Big West being there still, how good is that for you and how good the program and the conference is?

Yeah, it's been a great program ever since I've been involved.

At first it was really – just us and Long Beach kind of competing for championships in the early days of the beach volleyball programs.

But Cal Poly, the last three or four years, has kind of really, really taken on the mantle of one of the powers in the country.

And I think the last two years, they finished third in the country in the national championship.

And then adding to the mix next year is Grand Canyon, and they're a perennial team.

top 10 to top 12 team in the country.

How is that entirely looking for next year?

So tell me, how do you go down the road of becoming a pinstriper? And how does it go from something that's a hobby to something that you realize that you can create and be part of this hobby?

Right, right.

Well, I started pinstriping model cars when I was like 13, 12, 13 years old.

Custom painting model cars.

That got too boring because when you stripe something, you take all this time to paint it and you play with them on the carpet or on the sidewalk or whatever.

Then you're done.

What else can you do? You can't get it and drive it.

old

Thanks, Cliff.

Well, thank you, everybody, and thank you for being here.

As I stand here listening to the stats and the numbers, I have my wife ringing through my head.

And she has this saying that says, leave the judging to Jesus.

And I'm like, well, I ain't Jesus.

And I fall very short on a regular basis.

It turns out I'm an extremely judgmental person.

never accept it, and we will find you.

What do you end up walking away with as far as a degree? Oh, this is a

little bit funny.

So in high school, I had worked at the Miami Herald.

They had this program for high school kids that they wanted to kind of give a chance to.

And then I won this scholarship and worked for the Miami Herald for over seven years.

They paid my way through college.

And so remember I told you I failed Loyola, right? And so I wasted the opportunity there and I thought it was over.

How do you get developed as an infantry officer once you graduate in our commission?

How much more difficult is it going to be to get to Gulf Shores for your program?

Definitely it's going to be tough.

Just like any sport, and you can see with our larger sports, we're competing against budgets that are a lot bigger than ours.

But I feel like Hawaii has some special qualities.

We've got great weather, we've got great beaches.

I think our student-athletic experience is unbelievable, just with our surroundings.

I want to say the coaching staff's good.

i do too

When you look at athletes indoor versus outdoor, how much does the indoor side really come into play recruiting-wise?

You know, it plays a huge part.

You know, typically the beach athlete through the years that plays pure beach is typically a little smaller.

They've been kind of transitioned from indoor to beach.

They're a little bit smaller.

So when we go indoor for us, for, you know, University of Hawaii, to look for a little more size, the indoor game just has bigger athletes.

And so when we look at Alope...

How much more difficult is it going to be to get to Gulf Shores for your program?

Yep.

Uh, because as we mentioned with Pete, the quality of the at bats that he's taking, it's what tells me more.

Even...

I mean, you, you can take away the grand slam or the homers, whatever, the at bats that he's taking, I think he's, uh...

It, it's off the charts and, and, and it's well above average.

Mm-hmm.

So I think Stowers right now is, is that guy.

Uh, and I would say, obviously Max Meyer on, on the, on the pitching side.