Frank Boal, Kansas City Sportscaster on NCAA Tournament Previews, Plus V for Villanova! | 3-20-26

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It is a feature Friday on KCMO Talk Radio, no one better than Frank Boll.

Of course, long time Kansas City sportscasters are still doing a great podcast that you can find on YouTube.

There's just something about Kansas City, and he's got his Villanova gear on this morning.

As do I 50 years in the business, you're celebrating Frank. Good morning.

Good morning. Thanks Pete. Thanks for having me in drag the old man in early out of bed.

I tried to find my way around over here.

What are you doing? Shutting the streets off.

Wait, we're trying to confuse the old guy or what?

It's dragging the old man. I thought you guys wake up at like 3 a.m.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not this guy.

Not that you're asleep in kind of.

I'm sort of a sleeping guy, which is weird. It's unusual.

Now, are you one of these guys that's up to like midnight or one in the morning?

No, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm probably 11, 11 ish, which is weird.

We always read when we first go to bed and all that sort of thing.

We'll watch the news.

Yeah. We'll go to bed.

Well, you look great.

Thanks.

You look great. Good.

Feel good. You look good.

You've obviously covered sports in this town for 50 years.

We're getting ready for the NCAA tournament.

KU's playing tonight, Mizzou's playing tonight.

When you think back in all your years of covering sports in this town,

where does this tournament, this time of year,

and our local team stack up with like great memories in Kansas City sports for you?

Yeah, I think the biggest, I know Kansas is one there's share of NCAA tournaments.

I think the big year was 88.

Okay, when Kansas won at the Kemper, the beat Oklahoma and it was a terrific basketball game

and just up and down to close.

It was just a great basketball game.

It was in Kansas City.

Kansas won it.

They beat one of the rivals from the big eight, big 12 type big eight then.

So I think that was maybe one of the highlights as far as all the local people in

time and certain now.

I know they covered other championships, but they were in other cities as well for

the University of Kansas.

We all know that poor Mizzou, then there have been no final four.

So that's been a problem with them.

And K states had their runs in college basketball.

And I think I think there's a tremendous basketball tradition here in Kansas City,

which I didn't know about until I got here back in 1981.

I didn't realize how big it was despite the fact we did not have a team here.

A college basketball team here.

They're, I mean, Lawrence is right down the highway and Mizzou and K state.

They're, they're close.

But nobody is here.

Yeah.

So that is a situation just not.

Oh, don't worry about it.

Well, we'll take care of you.

We'll take care of you.

So with that, with that being the case, you know, you talk about the history of college basketball.

We've got the Hall of Fame sitting right next to T-Mobile.

Right.

Yeah.

We've got the big 12 tournament.

We've got the NAIA tournament going on right now at municipal.

There is a history here for the sport that probably doesn't get a lot of attention

around the country.

Is there a way that you think Kansas City can highlight that better?

You know, I don't think so.

I think just, I don't think they can because they don't have a team.

Yeah.

I don't, I'm not sure you can highlight any better anyway.

Because of the fact that, you know, keeping the tournament here

these years and Kathy Nelson doing, you know, we've heard this saber rattling about moving

at the Vegas.

You know, let's do that.

That'd be the dumbest thing ever.

And nobody going to Vegas.

The Vegas is dying as far as I'm concerned.

When you have all this online gambling stuff, like Vegas is.

I think here's when I downward slope.

If the big 12 went to Vegas, I think the first couple of years would be big because people

who have never been to Vegas who are fans of their team would go for like a year to be

like, all right, I'll watch my team and I'll check out Vegas.

But I think after a couple of years, it would lose its luster.

That's what I think would ultimately happen.

Oh, I agree, too.

Yeah.

And then here, you know, you know, you've got built in audiences with KU and I was state.

I mean, they killed his, killed my god of business.

Well, I mean, I was state, if we lose, I was state fans.

I'll tell you what, I mean, power and lights are already getting subsidized by the taxpayer.

They would have to double that that subsidy.

If Iowa state fans aren't here drinking their bush lights, they come down here for spring break.

So you're right.

It's a big part of the Kansas City culture and, you know, KU's kind of viewed as that team.

But Mizzou still has good basketball history.

I know they haven't, you know, gotten to a final four, but I think they're on the upswing.

They got a huge recruiting class coming in next year.

We'll see how they play tonight and what that looks like.

It would be great to have Mizzou basketball being pretty darn good again,

even though they're not in the big 12 anymore, wouldn't it?

Oh, yeah, right.

And I remember years when I was working on a channel four in 41, where we'd have to send

crews to three places because you'd have Kansas, Kansas state and Missouri, all in the NCA tournament.

And I think it'd be important now Missouri is left.

Of course, obviously they're in the SEC now, but I think it would be very important for

all their fan bases here in Kansas City for the three of them to bring it all back.

You know, K state's got a new coach now and they're going to try to get their act together

a little bit.

And we'll see how that happens.

But if Mizzou can win today, great to play, you know, to move on to the next round and

just see if they face Purdue, that'd be great.

They're playing in St. Louis.

Yeah, they played on their court before.

Yeah, come on now.

Let's, let's crank it up and go.

Frank Bowel, longtime Kansas City sports guesters joining us on a feature Friday on KCMO,

of course, NCAA tournament.

Everyone's excited about that.

Today's the first day of spring.

This is always to me, the unofficial start of spring.

Today, it just happens to be the first day of real spring as well.

The old big eight, you know, I hear from, and I like talking to people who live through

that cover that experience that they'll say that the old big eight was the best college

basketball conference.

Maybe along with the old big east, you go back to the 80s and 90s as a villain of the

guy.

But that old big eight, when you think about college hoops, the rivalries between teams

and coaches, just how good was it?

Oh, it was awesome.

It was just incredible.

I mean, you had Billy Tubbs, you had Norm Stewart, you had Roy Williams.

I mean, it was great.

I forget it.

I'm blank right now.

I can see him.

He was fantastic.

I got Iowa State for years.

My brain's fried at the moment, but he was great to, they're quotes.

I mean, you guys just would say anything off the top or, or, or, or, yeah, Johnny, yeah,

there you go.

Thank you very much.

John Anthony's, John Anthony's writing the name to the window there.

Look at him.

Johnny or I mean, they were just terrific, you know, I remember Billy Tubbs, one time he's

lost the Kansas set at KU, which happens a whole lot of people.

And we're in trying to get an interview and he's all dressed and now he's, he's walking

out, you know, and we're all going Billy, Billy, he says, we guys better, there's

not talking.

There's not asking questions because I hit that door.

I'm on a bus and I'm out of here, who is sit down norm, you know, the chin down field

ass was always terrific in the game, a rocking chair when he retired and put him in a

muller court.

So it's pretty interesting.

That's just, it was.

There were characters then.

Well, characters, that's the word, right?

I mean, it was just, you just don't get that everything's so much more corporate and, and

there's a reason for that.

But the characters that you got at that time, as someone who, you know, was a little kid

for it, but didn't really have any memory of it, it just seems like it's unlike what

we get today in the college sports landscape, which is very corporatized and much more

buttoned up.

Yeah, it is.

I think it's really shame.

And I know we're villain over guys.

So when Jay Wright stepped down, I think the two leading voices in college basketball

were Bill, self and Jay, right?

I mean, they were the guys, when you had an interview with those guys, they told you

something.

Yeah.

It wasn't coach speak because they, they were very, you know, that they felt very safe

in their own skin.

They just felt very, can say what I want.

I know I'm a good basketball coach.

I know we're doing great things.

I'm not arrogant.

I'm just going to tell you exactly the way it is.

And, you know, I, you just don't see that from hardly any coaches anymore.

They were kind of like the de facto commissioners.

Yes, they were.

I didn't have it.

And I think they're both worried about the NIL and transfer of portal and that's why

Jay got out.

Jay got out of you.

61 years old.

He's only 64 now.

Yeah.

He still works at Illinois.

He's a fundraiser now.

But the deal is he, he was a young guy still for all practical purposes.

Great basketball team.

He's recruiting great.

But the NIL and the transfer of portal just did not sync with him.

He said, look, I'd like to get my kids in here as freshman.

I teach him what the Villanova atmosphere is all about.

What our, you know, what our game plan is, who we are, not just on the court, but in the

classroom, whatever.

And those days are gone.

Yeah.

That's just gone.

Well, to his credit, he saw what was coming and he said, I want no part of it.

Nope.

And I think that bill self has struggled with this era, even though he's got like a

Darren Peterson, you just, you can't coach these guys like you used to because they can

walk out the door.

And I think that's, that's difficult for some of the old school guys still hanging around.

And like you said, a lot of them have left the sport.

They, they, they knew what was coming.

Now J right left earlier than a lot of these guys would have a 61, but they just said,

this is not the sport I wanted to be a part of.

And I'm done and I'm out and to his credit, he saw the writing in the wall.

Yeah.

And Bill self has a coaching philosophy too.

And I think his philosophy was a lot like J's, you know, get my kids in his freshman.

We train and I teach them to play defense, I get them prepared.

If they looked like they're going to be professionals, I get them prepared to play professional

basketball.

And now it's in and out.

The fans don't go get to know the kids.

Yeah.

Think about a guy like Melvin Council.

I mean, KU fans love that guy.

And he went Wagner, St. Bonaventure, now KU.

But he's done.

I mean, you get one year of Melvin Council.

And that's the kind of kid who, if he had been here four years, he'd be, he'd be a fan

favorite right up there with, you know, Frank Mason and, and guys like that.

He'd be an enrafters.

Yeah.

He'd be an enrafters if he had spends all this time with the Bill self.

Yeah.

There's no doubt.

And they do love him.

He's just one of those kids.

He sort of says what he feels.

And I'm a dog and they all do the woof woof woof woof when he's playing and all that.

And he's an animal player and a great kid, looks like just a terrific kid too.

So I think they're the kind of guys you can latch on to, but they're here.

Then two years now, you go, hey, who was that kid that was really popular that spent

six months here?

Exactly.

You're right.

You're right.

Here's, here's how to worry about.

This is what kills me.

I'm an old man.

So we got, we got, between Sarah and I, we got 10 kids, right?

The, I worry about them when these kids who are not going to end up in perfect making

money in their sport of basketball.

Where are they as far as college is concerned?

All of these transfers, how many of Melvin council's courses at St. Bonneventure transferred

to University of Kansas?

Where is he academically?

You know, is he a sophomore?

Is he a junior?

Is he going to get a degree?

What's the situation?

What are these kids going to do?

And I know, well, the kids making a million, I said, that's like making a hundred thousand

dollars a year for 10 years and that's before taxes.

Yeah.

Okay.

Don't tell me it's not retiring.

It's not going to last when the rest was like, he's got to find something to do.

And I don't know, we don't know exactly what all these kids are making.

There are reports out there, but you know, a lot of these guys, we think might make

a million.

They might make 200 grand.

Yeah.

It's not good money, but one year of your life, it's not going all that far when you stack

it up over several years.

Plus, they're single.

Yeah.

They're paying 38 or 39 percent taxes.

Yeah.

And once they buy the car, they've got 50 grand left.

Let's be honest.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Frank Bol is here on KCMO.

We're going to take a quick break, come back with Frank, who's now also a commercial star.

We'll talk to him about that more coming up next.

We've got longtime Kansas City sportscaster Frank Bolin for our feature Friday segment on

KCMO.

Check out his podcast.

There's just something about Kansas City.

We'll get to that here coming up in a few minutes.

You know, ring doorbell.

Frank, you got a ring doorbell by chance.

No, man.

Okay.

All right.

Well, I just got this notification.

Well, I got a ring doorbell notification here.

And I see, and you know, you can kind of see what goes on on the front porch.

My wife just walked outside to put up the American flag, and I had the Villanova flag up.

I put it up this morning, and you can hear them to the ring doorbell.

So I just hear my wife say, oh, he's got the Villanova flag up today.

So she walks back inside it with the American flag.

I said, you know what?

One day you're the American flag is not going up on the front porch.

It's okay.

It's all right, baby.

V for Villanova today.

That's right.

That's right.

Yeah.

So you were, you were, obviously, as a Villanova guy, very much involved.

Only 16 when they won the national championship.

You were still in the business.

Right.

Obviously, you know, we'd be covering Kansas Missouri, Kansas State.

We were not covering Villanova, but I did watch the game at the Grand Fallon.

We had a room upstairs.

We still have the old Villanova club here, right?

Yeah.

There are a lot of people from Villanova, graduating Villanova, whatever, old guys like

me, whatever.

We had the upstairs of the Grand Fallon.

Okay.

The upstairs was North Carolina.

And so every time North Carolina did something, yeah.

And every time Villanova did something, yeah, from both, from both ends of the bar.

So it was, uh, it was fun.

Chris Jenkins hit the hit.

Of course, the North Carolina guy hit the shot, yeah, falling out of bounds, you know, the

other way.

Then Chris Jenkins came down and hit the shot.

They just did.

It's been 10 years ago now.

Since, of course, that 2016 national championship, true TV did a 30 minute documentary.

Yes.

I DVR did.

I've not watched it yet.

This week on, uh, on that game, 2018 Villanova beats Kansas in the final four.

Then they blow out Michigan and the championship.

Right.

That was my first week here in Kansas City.

Oh, you're kidding.

I was walking around that Monday of the Michigan game was my first day at work here in

Kansas City.

Oh gosh.

So I'm walking around power and light on the Saturday playing Kansas in Villanova gear.

I have not done a show here.

I don't know anybody here.

My wife's not here yet.

And they thought it was a K state fan just trolling the KU fans.

This one, these drunk guys woke up to me.

They say, oh, yeah, where's Villanova?

Yeah.

And I said, well, it's in Villanova, Pennsylvania.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

They thought it was a K state fan just screwing with everyone.

Yeah.

But you were down there at the game in Houston, right?

I was there, which was great.

Chad Boger, who's our president over at eight, ten.

He knew Villanova, obviously qualified, Kansas going, we're going to go cover Kansas anyway.

He sent me along and I helped do some of the interviews.

In fact, I got Jay Wright one on one, uh, the day before the Kansas game.

And he came after he'd done all the other interviews with, I mean, everybody.

And he took five minutes out with me, just a one on one, it was just awesome.

And then, uh, and then, of course, they beat Kansas.

And normally we'd go home, okay, send us home.

And Chad said, stay, he said, just stay and watch the championship game.

You're there.

Just come back on Tuesday morning or whatever.

Don't worry about it.

Have a great time.

You don't have to do anything.

So I go and I see a bunch of my friends there, a lot of people from Villanova there.

So they win, they're cutting down in nets.

And Jay's the last one up and he cuts down in net and weighs it.

And he walks down and you're, and they have all the media behind a rope on the, uh, on the,

uh, on the basketball court and we're also in behind a rope.

And Jay comes down off the ladder and he sees me and all the Philadelphia media are right beside me.

And I have my phone and I'm taking pictures and then I just pop on my recorder.

And Jay walks around and goes, hey, Frank, what do you think about that?

But that was awesome.

And that was some of these Philadelphia media people were just going bad.

Because you're not allowed to interview anybody on the basketball court.

You got to wait until they go do their post game and he's talking to me.

We, we, by two or three minutes, he just did, and they were bad.

They go, who is it?

God, what's the interview for?

Where's he from?

That's great.

It was really cool.

That's, I mean, Jay's the best.

He's just the best.

Um, he, he did interview with me my freshman year when I was doing student radio.

No, no reason whatsoever to have to do it.

It was like a Saturday morning in September.

And he's calling me in live for a radio show with a freshman that he's never met and

couldn't pick out of a lineup.

That's just the kind of guy that he was.

A real quick.

I want to get to a couple of other stories.

Where were you in 85 for the national championship?

85 hours and four Myers, Florida spring training, cover in the royals.

They played Georgetown and they'll no play Georgetown.

Three big East teams were in a final four.

St. John's was there as well.

And Memphis was the other team.

So we're watching in this bar.

Okay, Monday night in a bar in Fort Myers, Florida.

And you know, nobody there is really watching the game.

So I'm in there and I'm the Villanova guy and I'm cheering going crazy.

And everybody hated Georgetown.

He hated John Thompson, the hated Georgetown, whatever.

And by the time we left that bar after Villanova beating him, everybody in a bar was singing V for Villanova, you know, V for victory.

It was great.

We had a great time.

So it was a lot, a lot of fun.

That's awesome.

Frank Bull, I got a couple of minutes.

Two things I got to ask you about the team mobile.

You are a star.

You're a commercial star now, man.

You are in a team mobile commercial.

My wife and I, you're wife and I in a team mobile commercial.

People are going to see it during the tournament this weekend.

How did this happen?

My wife Sarah is, she works with exposure.

They are an agency that sends out talent and she, she sings.

She does voiceovers.

She is in the commercials.

And in fact, she tells me she's been married to 15 other guys.

Okay.

On the commercials, right?

This time they actually wanted her husband to be on a commercial with her.

So ended up being on three of my grandkids are on there as well.

So that's great.

It's just awesome.

Yes.

Beautiful.

The look for Frank.

He's got national team mobile commercial.

It's, it's a lot of fun.

That's awesome.

And then the podcast, there's just something about Kansas City.

What's going on there?

You're having a lot of success with it.

I see it pop up all the time.

So what's what's coming up there?

Everything has been just terrific.

Sarah's idea.

It's her brainchild and she's worked so hard for this.

And we're so working.

You know, we're 501 C3.

So there's just something about Kansas City.

If you want to, you know, become one of our guardian angels, so to speak.

Just, you know, join us and it's been terrific.

We have not had anybody say no.

It's just it's, you know, if or when or when a schedule hooks up,

but it has been absolutely incredible.

You done a great job with it.

Thank you.

Great job.

Yeah.

Thank my wife Sarah was all hers.

Well, hey, it's keeping you busy too.

Yeah, it is.

Frank Paul, V for Villanelle, the baby, go catch V for victory.

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Hi, this is Alex Cantrowitz.

I'm the host of big technology podcast, a long time reporter and an

on air contributor to CNBC.

And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial

intelligence is changing the business world and our lives.

So each week on big technology, I bring on key actors from companies

building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where

this is all going.

They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and plenty more.

So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices and

meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to big

technology podcast or ever you get your podcasts.