Gwynn & Chris On Demand
Aztecs Athletic Director JD Wicker joins Gwynn & Chris to talk Pac-12!
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You get style, you get quality, you get beeps and boops and dings and whomps and thousands of dollars in savings. Everyone's winner when you dare to compare with Bob's discount furniture. Shop in store at mybobs.com to play now. And long last yesterday came the news that the Aztecs were in and J.D. Wicker, athletic director, San Diego State joins the program. First of all, thank you so much for your time. I don't know how you have the time to fit us in. Seriously. But congratulations, J.D., first and foremost. Chris, great to appreciate the time and the well wishes. It's been an eventful couple of weeks, but excited to have this behind us. And now the real work begins. Yes, indeed. I think all of us could hear the emotion in your voice yesterday. I didn't get a chance to get out to the press conference at the show, but listen to it and just could hear how much this not only meant to you and San Diego State, but you could tell all the work that went into doing something like this. And it's got to be very gratifying to get it done. Yeah, no, I mean, this is, you know, yesterday was a culmination of, you know, gosh, eight years, it'll be eight years in October. I've been athletic director and you think about all the ups and downs that we've been through. Initiatives contract negotiations, COVID stadium builds, you know, really warm days when stadiums open, you know, the Pac-12 imploding a national title game. It's just a lot of ups and downs and to get to this point and to be able to, you know, just have such a positive impact on the San Diego State fan base, our institution, our community means a lot to me. And yeah, it means a lot to all of us. And I think I'm speaking for most Aztec alumni when I say that J.D. Wickers with us, the athletic director at San Diego State. J.D., how do you kind of view this, you know, development in your mind going forward? Or is it too early to tell? I can't believe you haven't thought about it. I know you have. I've thought about, you know, where this may or may not lead you in the Aztecs. Kind of, how do you couch it at this point? Yeah, I mean, you know, our goal is to play at the highest level to have that opportunity. And this is the next best step in realizing that goal. So, you know, we'll finish putting together a great Pac-12. We think we'll for sure be the fifth best conference out there. And with goals of, you know, reeling in the big 12 in the ACC over time and provide our student athletes, our coaches, our staff, our fans, our alumni, those opportunities still compete at the highest level and to be successful while doing it. We're talking to J.D. Wicker, the Aztecs Athletic Director here on 97-3, the fan. And you just started answering what I'm about to ask, but is San Diego State going to be involved with the process of recruiting or maybe talking to schools about getting into the conference? Yeah, this is the six of us are, you know, working on all details as it relates to 2026 and beyond. So, obviously, membership is part of 2026 and beyond. So, you know, we've now begun the process of working with the conference office and consultants to, you know, figure out who those next schools would be that we would reach out to and hopefully have them join the league. And, you know, you do that and then you get ready to get a television deal done. It's a great time to be in the market. CW and Warner Brothers Discovery, T&P, TVS True, TV are all kind of new players in the market to go with, you know, the other ones that you know, ESPN, Fox, CBS, NBC. So, we're excited for the opportunities in front of us and think this was a great move. J.D. Wicker, San Diego State, the Aztecs and the Pac-12. It really does sound pretty good after all this time. J.D., I mean, we all felt so bad when it fell apart to no fault of San Diego State's. Just everything happened at once. And this school left and that school left and everything. And you guys were almost in. Did you ever get to a, you know, how low did you get at that point? And did you ever think you could get back to this point? Because I got to be honest, this came as a little bit of a surprise to a lot of people. I don't think we were expecting to hear this news, you know, right now. Yeah, you know, I guess fourth, 2023 will definitely be a date. I won't remember. That was a really tough day for, you know, myself and everybody else. I was, you know, I've said it a number of times I was in a hotel room in Canton, Ohio, as we were there for the induction of, you know, Aztec and Charger legend, Donna Corielle, you know, such an exciting weekend to then, you know, get your, you know, feet cut out from my knees. So, it was hard. It was a good, you know, it really took a while to recognize that, you know, it was a grieving process that we were going through, but our staff rallied. Our coaches, our student athletes rallied and, you know, we had a really good year last year. And, you know, something was going to happen. Oregon State and Washington State are two phenomenal programs, great brands out there. And, you know, we knew that we wanted to be associated with them and, you know, we're excited with what we've got now. Talking to J.D. Wicker here, Aztec Athletic Director about joining the Pac-12 here in 2026. And I want to ask about the sports individually, but it's going to be great for every sport within the school. It's going to help everything grow. But I think many people are very excited about the Aztec basketball team getting into a conference like the Pac-12. What can that do to help move the basketball team now? Maybe into one of those programs where people are talking about it throughout the entire country. Yeah, you know, I think in the makeup of the league, again, you know, we're obviously the standard bear, the Mountain West, but Boise State, who, you know, it's kind of been our, kind of our biggest foe as you look at wins and losses over the last couple of years in such a great rivalry, Colorado, but they've been at NCAA Tournament, Colorado State's been in the NCAA Tournament. The Cougs were in the tournament last year, and Oregon State made an elite eight run a couple of years ago. So you've got good programs, and then, you know, it is something that is important football, as we know, is the driver within the NCAA. The basketball is a huge component, and that certainly will play a role as we, you know, look at who's next as we fill out this actual conference. JD, I read your comments about the big 12, and where that all was, and in reading those comments, it made perfect sense to me why you wouldn't want to join under those kinds of circumstances. Can you just explain? I wanted to give you the platform to kind of explain it to some people that say, well, they could have gone into the big 12, but you really couldn't go into the big 12 under what they were offering. Yeah, we would have been at such a competitive disadvantage, and, you know, some people say, well, you'd had to see the table, but it would have been at the Little Kids table. So you have to, by the time, you know, we would have potentially gotten a full share, it would be, you know, six to eight years behind, everybody else that much further behind, and you're competing against those people day in and day out for those resources, whereas, you know, we have a better shot, you know, currently in the Mountain West, and then going into the Pac-12 to get that group of five CFP slot, we probably have a better shot than 40 of the A4 schools out there. So we're thrilled with what we've got right now. We're going to keep building it, you know, everybody we talked to, I told, I was like, look, we deserve a full share. You look at all that we've done at San Diego State. We've got a $310 million football stadium. We've got the best combined record of, you know, football and men's basketball of anybody in Division One. We went to the national title game. We've been to, you know, 12 out of 13 straight years, I think, for 11 out of 12 actually went to ball games. We were eligible during the COVID year and didn't go. So why wouldn't we deserve a full share? 28, you know, largest DMA. We own our, you know, we got San Diego from, you know, that football and basketball standpoint. So we're, you know, that's what we felt though, you know, we weren't going to go into a place that we couldn't be successful. Not that you need this JD, but you have my full support to go now around the country and steal a bunch of teams from everybody else's conference since they stole them all from our conference to begin with. So good luck, happy hunting out there. We are excited and can't wait for this. I, you know, being in the PAC 12, it's a great stuff for San Diego State and I, and I have the confidence with you and everybody else putting this thing together that, you know, it's, you're going to pick up five or six other schools and they're going to be fun and it's going to make a great conference that we all can be proud to be in. Thanks for the time. Appreciate you squeezing us in. Now go back to work. Yeah. All right, guys, I appreciate it very much. Appreciate the time. It has been a minute since we got together. So glad I got to spend some time with y'all. And now we'll go see if we can figure out how to beat the cow bears this weekend. Yes, good luck this weekend for sure. Absolutely. Thanks. JD Wicker right there. Athletic Director at San Diego State Aztec for life. JD has done it, done all right. And look, Jimster came in and, you know, I think he helped get the corner turned a little bit along with Steve Fisher's work. As a parent, you always want to set your child up for success. So when they're struggling in school or they need help with homework, you try your best to step up. But sometimes you might not be equipped to answer. And it's better to leave that to the experts from Ixcel Learning. Ixcel Learning is an online learning program for kids. It covers math, language arts, science, and social studies. Ixcel can help your child really understand and master topics in a fun way with positive feedback. Powered by advanced algorithms, Ixcel gives the right help to each kid no matter the age of personality. And when you sign up, one subscription gets you everything you need for all the kids in your home, from pre-k to 12th grade. Ixcel is used in 95 of the top 100 school districts in the U.S., with one in four students across the country using the program. So don't wait any longer. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get Ixcel now. And listeners can get an exclusive 20% off Ixcel membership when they sign up today at Ixcellearning.com/audio. Visit Ixcellearning.com/audio to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B. But with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get a $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to linkedin.com/results to claim your credit. That's linkedin.com/results. Terms and conditions apply. Linkedin. The place to be. To be. From the mind of a two-foot tall talking Spongebob, it comes this year's biggest challenge. It's time for Bob's dare to compare. The hottest game show on TV that asks, "What happens when you compare Bob's to the competition?" You get style. You get quality. You get beeps and boops and dings and whoops and thousands of dollars in savings. Everyone's winner when you dare to compare with Bob's discount furniture. Shop in store at mybobs.com to play now.