Nebraska Tennis season so far, going forward in 2026: March 10th, 2026, 9:35am

After I transitioned from the military, I joined the CIA.

Now I conduct strategic operations and intelligence activities globally

as a directorate of operations officer.

Keep serving our nation.

Visit CIA.gov slash careers to apply.

The American Express corporate program is more than a card.

It's a complete solution.

Apply for the right card for your employees.

From everyday spenders to frequent travelers,

issue virtual cards to suppliers or project teams

for added security and flexibility.

Simplify accounts payable with American Express 1AP.

Helping your company automate supplier payments.

The American corporate card program grows with you.

Terms apply.

Enrollment required and fees may apply,

including an auto renewing monthly platform access fee.

Suppliers must be enrolled and located in the United States.

Fonsored by the downtown Lincoln Foundation,

on 93-7 the ticket.

Welcome back.

It is Tuesday, Bob, right?

That's great.

Yeah, I'm out of the loop.

I'll get focus and reconnect it.

We were just talking during the break about officiating,

and I found that there were things

that, again, I'm practicing learning.

Coach, you just described,

you just gave a definition in the description

of how officials are found for tennis at Nebraska in the Big 10.

Share with the listener where officials are found

and where they come from and who sanctions them.

Yeah, well, it kind of depends on where you are in the states.

There's some areas of the states that have more officials to pull from,

but a lot of them are pretty regional or local,

you know, coming from the Nebraska area,

or the areas surrounding, whether it be Iowa or Missouri,

or Kansas, every now and then,

we'll have to fly one in from further away

if we can't find six or seven officials

that can all work at the same time.

So it's a battle and we work closely

with our regional chair on finding officials,

but there's a couple of them from right here in Lincoln

that'll do a handful of our matches,

and then there's other times where we have a whole new staff.

During the Big 10 season, the Big 10 takes care of all that,

and they're the ones that hire everyone,

so it's not really up to us anymore,

but for the out-of-conference schedule,

it's kind of on me and that person to kind of piece together,

the officials to make sure that we have enough

for the matches coming up.

Yeah, I would imagine, and I would just imagine it's the same

for high school tennis here.

Yeah, I don't honestly don't know.

I think the NSA, they have their way of doing it.

I think the officials, I would assume,

are all from Nebraska for the high school state tournament

in high school tennis,

but I don't think they're flying anyone in from Virginia

to do tennis here in Nebraska,

but I know in college that will happen from time to time,

if the officials are in high demand every Friday

and Sunday, every university is playing matches,

and every match needs six officials in the power five,

at least, so sometimes they're easy to find,

sometimes they're not, just depending on what's going on,

and then there's also the ATP tour and the WTA tour

where officials will go and work those,

and sometimes our schedules overlap

with tournaments that are in the states,

like Indian Wells this week, out in California,

though there's a whole host of officials

that need to be out there doing that,

and the next week down in Miami is the same thing.

So there's always a push and a pull,

and luckily we have a good base of officials

that we can rely on and count on and can be here

and do both the men's and the women's matches here in Nebraska.

Through all of it, you have...

I'll ask it, and then, and not infer it.

Is there friction?

Is there ever friction between coaches and officials?

Is the sky blue?

It's blue today, it looks like.

Yeah, I mean, it's just...

I mean, you name a sport,

there's, you know, football.

It just seems like a thing that you do.

You yell at the officials, basketball, there's a tip ball,

you know, there's just so many variables,

it's the least,

think job in sports, I think, is being an official.

I think it's a really tough job to have,

and to do, to want to do.

I know you get to be up close in front to some amazing stuff,

but when there's a lot of these decisions are made,

a blink of an eye, or half a second,

and you got to make the right decision,

and just sometimes you don't,

and that's kind of how it is in sports.

So I don't know what the, what the futures,

I know in tennis,

I think we're going to have electronic lines

calling here in the future.

Whether it's the next year or the year after that,

I think that's going to be,

that's going to happen.

I think that's going to alleviate a lot of the problems

in college, tennis.

To make the whole mass experience much, much better.

And that would absolutely help the issue of coaches

and officials arguing.

Do they know how that would work?

I've seen it volleyball.

How would that work with the six tennis courts?

Yeah, so there's a, there's,

I have, I've yet to see it,

but some of the universities have it now,

they have it for all the,

the championships, the national indoors,

the big, they'll have it at the big 10 championships this year.

Oh, hi, California.

They'll have it at the NCAA tournament.

And they set up a device on the court.

I think it's on the net actually,

and I don't know how, how it works exactly,

but some kind of Bluetooth thing where

they can see the whole court,

all the lines and it caught, you know,

the players will still make the call.

And if there's a, if there's a call that they think,

isn't right, they'll talk to,

they'll challenge the call with the official,

and the official has like an iPad,

and they'll click the button,

and it'll tell if it's in or out.

So I think then, at least you have some,

a third party that

everyone can be like, hey,

like it's probably not 100% perfect,

probably 90, 95% there,

but at least it's a non-biased thing.

The biased, the biased part.

The biased part.

Non-biased thing that can give you a good, accurate call.

Man, that everyone can be happy with.

It is crazy.

It's a weird march.

And after I transitioned from the military,

I joined the CIA.

Now I conduct strategic operations

and intelligence activities globally

as a directorate of operations officer.

Keep serving our nation.

Visit cia.gov slash careers to apply.

Recently, our company softball team lost the big game

by one run.

Then Dale tried to console us with the quote,

winning isn't everything.

Dale's a loser.

I played a win,

like early payout from bet365.

If my team goes up big,

I could pay it out instantly,

even if they blow the lead later.

Sound familiar, Dale?

Bet365.

Winning is everything.

Gamely problem call 100 gambler,

21 plus only,

must be physically located in Virginia,

TNC supply, in app only.

If you're a podcast host,

listen up this once for you.

My name is Ali Jackson.

I'm the host of Finding Mr. Hyte,

a dating and relationship podcast

that I've been doing for four years now,

sharing my positive and practical approach

to dating that's built on my own life experience.

And I wanted to share another experience

that I've had,

my secret behind monetizing my show.

It's called Red Circle.

And I was just telling my colleague

about how much I love their platform.

With Red Circle,

not only am I getting a seamless hosting experience,

but I also love the support I receive in AdSales.

It's not just typical AdSales either.

It's targeted opportunities based on my show and my life.

And the platform is super simple.

You just set your preferences

and Red Circle matches you with sponsors

that align with your show.

You can vet every opportunity

and their platform gives you great analytics.

More recently too,

my Red Circle team has brought me opportunities

outside of my podcast on social media

to really augment the podcast partnerships,

bring them full circle.

I just can't recommend them enough.

If you want to give it a try,

go to redcircle.com to get your free trial.

That's redcircle.com for a free trial.

I'm going to ask you from the coaches standpoint

to go into some of the other sports vacuums.

To maybe help the way we process

and think about this thing.

That March madness in basketball is about tournament play.

Right, finalizing your season,

figuring out who, as you said,

figuring out who you are as a team and as a program.

And then managing the moments within the tournament play.

Do you land on be who you are all the time

or do you ever get into manage the situation?

Manage the situation.

So there are folks that would say this is what we normally do.

But in a tournament where there's finality, right?

And one point could determine whether your season extends

or doesn't extend.

Do you stay within your coaching self

and your athletic self or do you play to the moment?

Yeah, I think you have to start with a process and identity

and who you are as a coach and then also as a program.

And I think those are your fundamentals

that you never go away from ever.

And then I think yeah,

it's really hard to separate each game and each play

and things like that.

But you have to try to create each,

to give the same value to each match and to each point

and to each player.

So when those big moments do show up,

I feel like you're more prepared.

I think if you play the game like,

hey, this is a huge match.

Sometimes you get too hyped up for it or you're,

there's a whole different,

a whole host of things that can happen.

So I think if you can just treat each match the same way

at the end of the day, it's a game

and you still have to go out there

and hit the ball between the lines

and you hit it over the net.

And you gotta be the hardest competing guy out there.

So for me, it's all about the process

and the things that you do well

and do better than other teams.

But yeah, I mean, if you're playing for a big time,

a big 10 championship or if you're in a position

to have a huge win,

like those thoughts always creep in your head

and then it's how well can you handle those moments?

And I think it all comes back to how you train

and how you prepare and how you tackle each day

as a program.

Is there a common,

so Nebraska basketball is working in this thing

that they had struggles,

they had the great start to the season.

Then you had that meat grinder gauntlet

that they went through where things got tough.

And then you figure out a way to beat Iowa,

which in any Nebraska sport is a highlight to the season,

but it also sends you into the postseason.

At your highest point almost,

I would imagine being number two,

walking into the big 10 tournament.

How do you handle that?

So let's say end of 10 a season,

for some reason for whatever circumstances,

you're the number two seat going to the big 10 front.

What do you use that for?

Is that a cautionary tail?

Is that a celebration?

Are you talking about the two seat

or are you really just eliminating that

and talking about what you want the players to think about?

Well, I think red's probably happy.

They get an extra day off.

I think so that's probably the most important thing

going on in the basketball world right now is,

hey, we get an extra day off,

we get an extra buy,

we get to kind of watch a little bit

some of these games, see some films,

see if they've made any adjustments.

It also gives you a look internally and say,

hey, do we need to get a couple of these guys some more rest

or do we need to add maybe a little wrinkle to one play?

Do we need to add in?

We have time now where maybe we can add something.

I don't know exactly how much time they have.

I would assume it starts the tomorrow, the big 10.

The tournament starts today, right?

Back to the lower seats today.

And then, yeah, you don't have a whole lot of time.

So that extra day off is huge.

And then, you know, the team that they started with,

you know, at the beginning of the season,

it's just a whole, you know, it's the same guys,

but it's a whole different team, different energy.

Everyone has a real good feel for what everyone's doing.

Not just in their locker room,

but all the teams really know everyone pretty well

at this point.

So playing a team a second time or a third time,

you know, is really tough.

Everyone's gonna know everyone really well.

There's not gonna be really too many surprises.

And it's gonna come down to execution and toughness.

And, you know, I think I saw a quote that says,

yeah, it usually comes down to toughness,

rebounding and defense from Coach Hoyberg there

that I would assume that for me that translates a lot

to tennis and probably translate a lot to a lot

of other sports, you know, doing the things

that you can control well, you know,

are always gonna be in favor of you doing well.

Especially if the offense isn't clicking.

So, I don't know, I would love to dive deeper

into basketball, basketball is one of the sports

that I love and I played all the way through high school.

And it's great to see Fred and the guys doing really well

is here at, you know,

there's not a harder working guy than Coach Hoyberg

and his staff and to see the fruits of their labor

come to the top of the, you know, the cutting board here.

This year's been pretty cool to see.

Yeah, I mean, it's that part that I think

peeking behind the curtain as a coach,

I would ask you when you look at Nebraska basketball

and it's success, what do you think it comes from?

What are the things, what can you say,

what can you see about how business is done,

how things are handled that in your mind says,

that's some really good coach.

Yeah, I think it starts with Fred and his vision

for what he wants the program to be.

And I think they have, you know,

they have guys that fit his vision this year really well.

You have some really stable, like veteran players,

one being a son, that, you know,

I feel like he can really just count on every single game

which I think is, you know, a coach's best friend

is consistency and reliability

and knowing what you're gonna get.

It allows you to game plan much, you know,

with a much finer comb and to do some things

from game to game that you wouldn't be able to do

if you didn't, if you had a point guard

that, you know, turn the ball over three to six times a game.

So, you know, it's the exact opposite with Sam.

I think it's one turn over for every five or six assists.

So having a point guard, I think that can really control

the flow of the game and, you know,

he's not gonna give the, you know,

turn it over to the bad guys.

Very often allows you to, to do some things

that you normally can't do.

So that's my very uneducated guess onto what's,

Oh, you're a baller, stop that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm not gonna pretend to know the ins and outs

of college basketball, but I think when you watch him play,

if you know sports and you know what good coaching is

and they have great players, but they have great coaching,

I think the, the defense of coach doesn't get as much love

as I think he deserves, I think his name's Nate.

I think he's, yeah, unbelievable.

I mean, their defense doesn't get talked about enough.

I think that's also been, you know,

a thing that they've been really building

the last couple of years and now they,

I think their defense is something they really hang

their hat on each and every day when they play.

So I think it's just a whole, the whole circle's coming together

and you're seeing what Nebraska basketball can really be like.

It's an interesting time in sports

because a lot of things are fluid.

Things are changing and the ability to adapt

and adjust to your situation is coming into play.

Coach, we're gonna break, when we come back

and we're gonna ask about, there's some conversation

that I was having with listeners and fans

and they said the difference between getting

the experience players, players would come to your program,

stay in your program, develop in your program

and then succeed in the program

versus going and getting more talent

and putting them into the program

and trying to elevate the program there.

Let's ask you your thoughts.

How does that play out in tennis?

Is it get old and stay old from within?

Or is it putting somebody into the soup

that's the missing ingredient?

How do you think about it?

How does the fact, Husker, tennis?

We'll get that from Coach.

We'll come back.

Watch live on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch.

Your list need a one on one with D.P.

odd 93 seven the tickets and the ticket FM.com.

If you're a podcast host, listen up this once for you.

My name is Ali Jackson.

I'm the host of Finding Mr. Height,

a dating and relationship podcast

that I've been doing for four years now,

sharing my positive and practical approach to dating

that's built on my own life experience.

And I wanted to share another experience that I've had,

my secret behind monetizing my show.

It's called Red Circle.

And I was just telling my colleague about how much

I love their platform with Red Circle,

not only am I getting a seamless hosting experience,

but I also love the support I receive in AdSales.

It's not just typical AdSales either.

It's targeted opportunities based on my show and my life.

And the platform is super simple.

You just set your preferences and Red Circle matches you

with sponsors that align with your show.

You can vet every opportunity

and their platform gives you great analytics.

More recently too, my Red Circle team

has brought me opportunities outside of my podcast

on social media to really augment

the podcast partnerships, bring them full circle.

I just can't recommend them enough.

If you want to give it a try, go to redcircle.com

to get your free trial.

That's redcircle.com for a free trial.

Why walk the aisles when you can skip them

with Safeway drive up and go?

Grocery shopping is as easy as order, pull up, done.

Just choose the pickup time that fits your day

and a Safeway associate will do your shopping with care

and bring everything right to your car.

Get the same prices as in store

and save your steps in time for everything else.

Fresh, fast and convenient.

Try drive up and go from Safeway.

Grocery shopping made effortless.