00:00we got a hall of famer in the building right now be very clear let me tell you anytime i can sit
00:09across from db derrick brooks hall of famer who is now the chief operating officer of usf
00:18athletics man if you don't let me tell you first of all i i damn near followed this man to tampa
00:26because we were in talent hole together and and i i when he was number 10 okay and now he is the
00:31yellow jacket that is sitting across from me and to bring that kind of expertise to usf yes sir
00:37talk about how big that is how has this affected the db life well first of all uh it's in a great
00:45way to be honest with you uh obviously my relationship with usf goes all the way back
00:51you know when i first got here uh under leroy selvin yes and him bringing the football program
00:57to usf and inviting me over to come to these trailers to talk to his coaches and now a stadium
01:04is being built on where those trailers were back then so it goes all the way back just that connection
01:10point with usf then and then at the same time you know just over the years just continuing to build
01:17whether it was you know relationships in the community you know with all the leadership over
01:23those years to really really focusing in probably the last seven years with my role at vennix sports
01:30group absolutely when we took on the multimedia rights for usf athletics then uh under bill abercumbry
01:37that's when i really got into the weeds uh in the business relationship with usf and the athletic
01:44program and during that time you know my my daughter decides to go there and play softball
01:49you know three years ago oh so this was a tuition play
01:54not exactly no discount there
01:58but it's coming
02:01it's a discount she is on the full scholarship
02:05yeah so uh yeah so rob higgins already negotiated hey any stipend i get goes to her
02:11so obviously so now working there under vsg and multimedia rights and as well as uh the facilities
02:20management agreement with the english center i was present always on campus and going there sitting
02:27in this as a dad watching my daughter you know play so the relationship was there so when rob
02:33really uh went sat down and he and i as soon as michael took the job we went to lunch and he was like
02:40all right do you want the job do you want to go out of the job i said no rob uh i'm not in the space
02:46this is not the right time for me no i do not want to be you know at the athletic director at usf
02:51he said i want the job wow so then it was a real push again to really help him get this job from
02:59strategy planning interview air just going through that whole thing with him as his friend
03:05yeah rob and i had tremendous success which we'll get into at the sports commission
03:09and working with him so fast forward he lands the job so every every day you know i'm talking to him
03:16because i had intimate knowledge of usf athletics absolutely that he didn't so every night it was
03:24kind of a download whiteboard session i'm just doing this as you know a friend support your support
03:29and we still even though we were not the mmr rights holder anymore as of june 30 we still manage
03:36the yingland center so i'm still involved so just you know helping him so i guess throughout this uh
03:42time he started he has a conversation with steve griggs uh our ceo at vinnick sports group yep uh i know
03:48mr griggs very well his daughters his daughter danced with my daughters for years yeah so we so rob you
03:55know me knowing who rod he covered all those bases so he talked to steve he talked to others before he
04:01approached me so steve obviously said hey you know he thought it was a good idea if you had a
04:06conversation with me so rob approaches me hey there let's go to you know go to lunch i like talk with
04:12you talk to me about what i said i'm in the middle of my day we don't talk to the night
04:18time when i'm done with everything he said no i just want to have a conversation with you about
04:22about a few things and i could tell him to sign his voice he was i said oh what's going on he said i
04:30really need to talk to you you know what i'll come see you oh you knew it was real then i said but i
04:37didn't know what yeah i just knew it was something so what goes up to his office and he just started
04:44laying out his plan i was like i know the plan i helped you put it together no but you got a
04:48position in this like you're going through the through your deck i i know your deck better than
04:54you he said uh i said so he said i really uh think he said i really know i need you here with me
05:03absolutely i said rob i i'm helping he said no no no you're the one person man i really really
05:11trust and as i started this vision of mine here i need someone here that i could trust
05:19inside and out i said rob
05:23this is a whole different conversation now because i love my job at vsg so this is not a matter of
05:32you have you go i love my job what i do at vsg so this is totally you know different yeah and so
05:40he said here's here it is so he laid it out hey the ceo role how i see it and the bandwidth i know
05:51what i see is probably going to be totally different from what you see because that's how we work well
05:55together but i want you here so whatever that means let's figure it out so uh guys i go in the
06:02next conversation i have is with steve i said man it's a good meeting i'm intrigued got a lot of
06:07questions uh i want to talk to mr vinny so steve had already told mr vinny about the potential this
06:14conversation and god i can't tell you how amazing jeff vinny is oh man we know we you i know we know
06:21from the outside in but just the inside out amazing amazing man so very the most visionary person that i've
06:30ever met still today so he lays this out for me he's like hey derrick i'm talking to you as a friend
06:38not as you know an employer that wants to keep you because god knows we're gonna if you leave we're
06:44gonna miss you and it's gonna be a really big void but i owe it to you because i gotta keep it real
06:50and lando he just laid out factors of influence importance and he took me back to our conversation
06:58in 2011 when they hired me and i had to imagine what downtown was going to be like looking at
07:05sawmeals right yes the one word that he said the one word he used that resonated with me is
07:11he said derrick when we got here todd and i this community didn't trust us they didn't know us
07:17and all our data and research say you are the person that we need to bring on board
07:22that the community trust you had a community equity and will be in a position to give us a
07:29great foundation to start he said you arrived together has that but he needs you to help
07:39take him to the next level with that absolutely because he trusts you yeah that's you that but
07:46we've talked about this so many years where i'm like people trust you i used to tease you i'm like
07:51is it gonna be mayor is it gonna be governor is it gonna be like i would tell you though your next
07:55job and you just laugh like no i'm just doing what i'm god's calling me to do that's it it is
08:01still that but but they do trust you i just want to make sure we give you your flowers because these
08:05people in it not just the athletes because you're going to change their lives you're going to you're
08:10nil's and all the things that come with that and your experiences you're going to be able to walk
08:14these gentlemen in through and and get them there but this city looks at it differently when you're
08:20standing there with the horns up you know thank you orlando for that because it to me it's the
08:27work that speaks for me it's not you know derrick brooks just another human being just like all you
08:32guys but a bad human being it is simple as that to me but what we do share in common is we got a
08:40willing heart to change this community absolutely you guys are doing that every single day with your
08:45platform and your voice that people like me are listening in and not just looking for an
08:52entertainment piece but an influence piece to change the whole attitude and the mindset
08:57absolutely you think about when people put this so on on their drive in we don't know what mood
09:01they're in but you guys could help influence that mood in a positive way not to give them a
09:07distraction but give them a different direction of the day and when you guys understand the power of
09:14what that means from all ages you know from someone like me who's just a teenager you know to others
09:22you know but it's touch points of everybody and you guys no matter you know what the competitors
09:31say with all the other morning shows you guys have lasted the test of time that's that's locally
09:37born bred and fed all these other shows are syndicated in yeah come on talk that talk you
09:44guys that's exactly why they gave you the job by the way i'm just telling you everybody in here like
09:49man i got goosebumps right now you guys are homegrown this is you guys have been through the fire to
09:56fight for this space and place here obviously some other shows you know part of the family and some
10:01that are not that are in this space but when i look at the space of of hip-hop quote-unquote the
10:08urban music space and y'all are killing all those barriers every single day it's not about space
10:13everybody you guys stand the test of time so when i see that same fabric of me you guys are doing the
10:18same thing you got a willing heart you work your butts off to get it done it every single day you
10:24know you're going to change your life man well that's my that's my you just made my day i mean
10:29for real i mean and let me tell you i've always i mean i know we got you know a whole bunch of
10:33places you got to go because everybody's looking at the clock but i i just wanted because i mean
10:38the thing i mean because it's just it's it's a comeback and i'll sit down here for you yeah i mean
10:43you are absolutely you absolutely gonna come back because we're gonna we're gonna spend some more
10:46time we stole you away from a couple of other shows but i just want to i told everybody there's no way
10:51that this man is walking by here and i'm not gonna pull him in here and say hey i'm proud to
10:57you because i've never even seen for for you to be the person that they create like i've never seen
11:02a ceo and a coo of athletics yeah so this shows that it's so different in how this is being pieced
11:09together and that stadium mock-ups that i've seen that y'all gonna have lord like i mean it's just
11:15there are big things coming to tampa and you've mentioned jeff vinnick and everything he's done and
11:19we've seen him transform downtown you guys are going to transform the experience for the bulls and
11:25i just want to say i'm proud of you and i always look you in your eyes and tell you i have been
11:30proud of you since we've been way back up on up on the hill in tallahassee so you know i mean
11:36bumping you at guthrie's so i gotta tell you i'm proud of you and i know you're gonna do some big
11:42things because i remember when me and dolly were standing in brooks the bartolo and i was
11:46and i was looking around he said you want your kids to go to this school don't you i'm like yeah
11:50i do i do i'm like man he killing it in here so so i know i gotta i got a feeling that you are
11:56gonna do some major things and i can't wait to see it well thank you and obviously uh i'm saying this
12:01in front of your colleagues this is something he and i have talked about offline that we're gonna do
12:06some event here with his his platform this show my foundation some from the kids we were almost there
12:14with a holiday skate party or two years yeah we are and we're gonna do it we could do the logistics
12:19but uh we owe each other that opportunity now sitting in this seat obviously you guys are partner
12:24of uss we owe it to each other man to do something that's a great idea we're gonna put it together and
12:29now we're just gonna include all the bulls hall of famer db 55 the the buccaneer that is in
12:39everybody's heart because they just named him they just named him the number one buccaneer that's
12:43a lot of buccaneers that's probably in his text like really really really no but you the one all
12:50right brother we appreciate you and i know you got to go because i know your country qik's walked
12:55by it four times they like where is he at he's supposed to be five minutes oh man come on this
13:00family all right you know what it is it is wild 94 one and i am proud of you so y'all look up
13:05and y'all will see them horns up with db 55 derrick brooks the new coo of usf athletics all right
13:13let's go it's wild 94 one thank you for watching this video if you want to support like share and
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