Hour 1: World Cup Stars Shine Bright, George Pickens Extension Debate, plus Hurricanes HC Rod Brind’Amour

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1:00Rich Eisen:This is The Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash richeisenshow and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. That's it! First career World Cup hat-trick! What a bet! That's another one! From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Today's guests. Hurricanes head coach, Rod Brindamore.

1:48Indiana head coach, Kurt Cignetti. Broadcasting legend, Marv Albert. Emmy award-winning actor, Henry Winkler.

1:57Rich Eisen:And now, Rich Eisen. Well, that's correct. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. I'm not going to lie to you. I got my hands full today. We've got not one, but two champion head coaches. Rod Brindamore of the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes is first up. And then because I'm a very patient man, I've been knocking on the door of Indiana football ever since they won the national championship against the Miami Hurricanes. And after a while, I think I might have finally worn this man down because I am obsessed with him. The head coach of Indiana football, Kurt Signetti, gave us this date about a month ago.

2:36Rich Eisen:Google me. And we finally have arrived on the date. Kurt Signetti will join us in the middle of this show. And then in hour number three of all the people I wanted to know, his thoughts on the Knicks winning their first championship in 53 years. I brought his name up. I invoked his name to Mike Breen the other day when Mike joined us on Monday's show to kick off the week. I'm wondering, what does Marv Albert think? And he said, yes. To our invitation. I'm assuming that's what he said or how he said it. And it just so happens he's going to be joining us on this day, the 32-year anniversary of number 32 going on a slow speed chase down to 405.

3:23Rich Eisen:And Marv was at the mic of the NBA finals between the Knicks and the Rockets on that day. So of all days for Marv to join us, he will join us in hour number three. And then, hey, listen, we're going to go full 70s flashback because after Marv, we hang up with him. The Fonz will be here. Henry Winkler with the return engagement here on the Rich Eisen Show. And he is an absolute delight. And every single time he is here, it is great. And that's how our third hour will hit. That's our guest list today. So stay where you are. Don't go anywhere. Like I said, my hands are full for all these interviews.

3:59Rich Eisen:And then there's you at 844-204-RICH number to dial. It's a Wednesday, so I've got a POW rankings. I power ranked the top NFL defenses recently. So today it's the top NFL offenses. And then, of course, the phone lines will be open for you. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. Hey. Nice. Good job. Who is the man near left? Who is he? Hold on. Hey, there he is. Mr. World Cup working the faders for the World Cup himself. I love it. We finally sprung him loose from Pico Boulevard where Fox Sports is doing its excellent coverage of the World Cup. A couple days off. What's up, TJ and Mikey D?

4:35Rich Eisen:I miss you guys. We miss you too. Mike Del Tufo is here. Is that Dan Whipple? Well, we'll ask him that question. And for those who don't know what that question means, you shall. What's up, TJ Jefferson? How are you, sir? What's up, boys? What up, man? What up, man? Oh, yeah. It's always lit. Man, I don't have one. I'm so sports-stop right now. Well, you know what? Yesterday was awesome. The neat part about it, and listen, you know, we're big baseball fans here. Love talking baseball. Love talking the national football league. What sport is that again? Baseball? Love talking about, obviously, the Knicks winning the NBA finals.

5:07Rich Eisen:Love talking with you. And then you forget every time the World Cup comes around just how awesome it is. And I know a lot of folks might be like, how do you forget that? Well, it's every four years. And the thing I love about the World Cup is just how big it is worldwide. And then we just get a little piece of it here in the United States normally. But this year, we've got a big, huge piece in the fact that we are one of the three nations hosting the World Cup and the lion's share of the matches of the World Cup. And it's every day. It is a Super Bowl for every single nation playing on that day.

5:54Rich Eisen:And it's three, if not four times a day, every day for damn near two weeks. And it doesn't stop. It keeps going and keeps going and keeps going. And then one by one, the biggest stars of the sport, of the biggest sport on planet Earth that everyone shares, show up on this stage. and yesterday Chris before we left our audience you gave you know a heads up hey today France is out there and Kylian Mbappe is out there and then hey Norway's playing Iraq later and Norway is in the World Cup for the first time since 1998 and they've got a Norse Viking looking god in Erling Holland out there. Keep an eye out for him.

6:48Rich Eisen:And then the big finish, even though there's another match between Jordan and Austria later on to finish up the four-pack, Lionel Messi gets out there for Argentina. And he's in Kansas City. And sure enough, the three guys you mentioned scored a grand total of seven combined goals. Outrageous. It was so awesome. And one by one, the stars showed up and showed out. And Mbappe being first up. And his goals against Senegal for France, including the finisher, in extra time, was a missile that he sent from way downtown. bang to use the phrase that you know ko always mentioned back in the day this was truly a remarkable performance by mbappe who now has 40 goals 40 goals in the 25 in the last couple of seasons um 25 in la liga 15 in the champions league for real madrid and then he adds two more to the list 14 world cup goals is a record for france and you know i'm so happy for all those who root for him and root for france and next up for france is iraq which got a good look-see at the six foot five erling holland i think smidge said it best in our group text it's like if gronk was playing song that's a great now i think gronk has more weight yeah a little more beef bigger deal a little more beef to him um you know you never really can tell when you're who's listed and how they're listed right um but he's 6 '5 205 and in the same way that again that i once upon a time brought uh my then 12 year old son in cooper he's now 15 to a king's oilers game and i'm like conor mcdavid's the best player on the ice and he goes who's conor mcdavid and i'm like just look at the ice he'll stand out and a minute later he goes oh that's conor mcdavid didn't even see his name on the back.

9:17Rich Eisen:Holland is the same way. And he scored twice. The first Norwegian to do that in the history of the World Cup. Again, they haven't qualified since 98 and now they've won a match. And he's the first one to brace as they say. And he his first goal was terrific. The second one, I think he scared the crap out of me. I think you're totally right. You know, the Iraqi defense made a bad mistake and he hopped on it and the goalie made an initial save. But Holland knocked in the rebound. Yeah. And you just look at him. By the way, how great is the Norwegian kit, by the way? It's pretty tight. And if this is your first exposure to Holland, I mean, he's ever since he's joined the Premier League four years ago, he's led the Premier League in goals three of the last four years.

10:11He was hurt two years ago, and so he was only third in goal score. But this guy is an absolute machine at putting the ball in the net. And like you mentioned, Norway didn't qualify for the last World Cup go around.

10:23Rich Eisen:So, you know, the world stage really hasn't, and the casuals haven't really seen this dude. And for him to announce his World Cup presence with authority like he did yesterday was awesome to see. yeah and the people at met life and um pardon me the people at new york new jersey stadium and the people at what is it boston stadium calling it boston stadium okay it's very far from boston not close they got a close-up look yeah and then i gotta be honest with you So, Lionel Messi coming up with a hat trick, a hat trick to surpass Ronaldo for the most goals scored in World Cup history and to tie the great Miroslav Klose.

11:17Rich Eisen:Brazilian Ronaldo. What did I say? You said Ronaldo, but it's Brazilian Ronaldo. Okay, so to do that, okay, to do that in Arrowhead, oh, pardon me, in Kansas City Stadium, or are we allowed to call it Arrowhead? No, it's covered. I don't know, I mean. The name's covered. I think everything in the city. But for him to do that, okay, it's up there with the greatest moments in the history of that stadium. And Mahomes was there watching it with his wife, Brittany. And the place was going nuts because Kansas City is the home of Argentina in the World Cup. It's their home base. When I was there for the big slick, you already began to see a lot of the fans of Argentina show up there in Kansas City.

12:14and the scene outside of arrow kansas city stadium was remarkable the scenes that you are seeing

12:25Rich Eisen:outside of sofa los angeles stadium after the united states won it's open it's crazy against paraguay what you're seeing outside of all of these states rob stone has fans sitting in his I know. It's like high five at them. You know what I mean? It's nuts. And so the stars are showing and the fans are showing, and it is nothing short of awesome. Just simply terrific for us to see here and feel through the television set. And then one of the greatest days, I think, for certainly the United States in soccer. I understand what we saw from the men's national team on Friday night, but for Mbappe, Holland, and Messi to do that all on the same day in New York, New Jersey, Boston, and Kansas City, and the stars doing that, and the fans showing up and showing out, it, yesterday, might have been the greatest day in the history of soccer in this country.

13:39Rich Eisen:and again, in Arrowhead, we're obviously rightfully talking about what Mahomes does there and Kelsey does there and what they've done in a dynastic run for the Chiefs, but Messi, World Cup hat-trick, first of his career, to tie him for the most goals scored in the history of the tournament in that stadium, it's up there, man. Pretty wild, yeah. And it's pretty great. That's great. And then one last moment for Starr to score and hit the bullseye scoring, was Zlatan doing what he did to Lalas on television? That was outstanding. Boy, he hit the back of the net there. I think we know what. Lalas said something along the lines of it was potential arrogance by the French to play the way that they did and then come back.

14:25Rich Eisen:And Zlatan's like, you know, it's confidence. You know, ignorant people call it arrogance. Intelligent people call it confidence. He shoots, he scores. oh and then the uh the look of uh on the the meme created by uh thierry sitting on the set like

14:48Rich Eisen:so i've enjoyed the fox coverage it's been great uh the announcers are superb meeting the moment ian dark as you know is one of our favorites we had him on our podcast before this show was born years ago because of how terrific he is calling matches um i'm i'm loving every second of it yesterday was incredible harry kane yeah the star power continues today portugal's ronaldo ronaldo in 45 minutes in texas and then england croatia oh sorry yeah and houston and then england croatia in arlington at jerry's world harry kane so let's see what the what they do today speaking of england before we take our break returning to the u.s men's national team and i know this is kind of like an overreaction potentially on a Wednesday.

15:36Rich Eisen:But it's not out of the realm that the United States beats Australia on Friday, the only other team currently with a win in their first game in their group. So if the United States wins that one, they would look really good to advance, right? And then if they win their group, and if England wins, it's their group. Okay. It's not an it's, it's a there. And then I saw this online yesterday. If the U.S. wins its group and England wins its group and then wins their first knockout match. What? They would face each other in the round of 16 on July 4th in, of all places, Philadelphia. No way. Where, as you know, the first knockout round match took place between the United States and the Brits.

16:33Rich Eisen:Come on. And, you know, a Revolutionary War rematch would take place in Philadelphia Stadium between the United States and England on the 250th birthday of this great nation. Get your tickets now. crazy that is entirely feasible for the u.s and england to face off in the round of 16 on july 4th in philadelphia holy ben franklin batman we need this to happen that would be lit tickets for that game are already at 2100 i bet just to get in i bet i bet and then if it does in fact as i say happen you know so that's what's up in the world cup and that rhymes let's take a break and the man with the stanley cup is the head coach of the carolina hurricanes rod brindamore will join us to kick off our day of champions from Rod Brindamort or Henry Winkler and Kurt Zignetti and Marv Albert in between.

17:59Rich Eisen:The Rich Isis Show Podcast.

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20:06Rich Eisen:Rod Brindamore here on the Rich Isenshaw Radio audience just returned. the head coach of the Stanley Cup champion, Carolina Hurricanes, here on the program. How does that sound to you now, just a couple days into being exactly that, Rod? Yeah, well, listen, a lot worse than you could be called. That's about, you know, that's the top of it right there, top of the food chain, and we're here, at least for now. And pretty, you know, it's pretty special. And what's special is that it's for life now, right? Like that photo, those guys, they'll be brothers for life. And, you know, we talked about it a lot going into this and you got to win it.

20:44You know, like second place, no good. Right. We got to we got to finish the deal and really proud of the guys for being able to find a way.

20:52Rich Eisen:I'm sure you've been asked this, but not by me. So let me hit it. What is the difference between winning it as a player, as you did for the Hurricanes and winning it as a coach, as you just did for the Hurricanes? What is the really? Yeah, I have been asked that. And it is different. and you know as a player man my whole life growing up listen that's all i want to do is win the standard cup so since i was five years old put skates on i'm like i want the cup you know and i wanted it kind of for me you know like i was obviously my teammates and everything but it was like i got to win this thing and and obviously we did in 2006 and then as a coach now you you want that you know how great a feeling this is and you know what it does for you it changes your life and so you want it for the guys you're coaching like you want them to have that feeling and And that's always kind of watching it through different eyes and a lot more gratitude for it.

21:43Like you're, I don't know, it's more rewarding to actually want it for other people. You know, like, and just kind of like watching your kids, you know, whatever they do, you're proud of them and you want them to excel. And that's kind of what's for me, sitting back behind the bench, just watching these guys and just extremely happy that they are, you know, able to accomplish their dream.

22:04Rich Eisen:Well, every champion coach I know, regardless of sports, is a control freak. What's it like for you to not be fully in control of, you know, obviously you put guys in a position. You swapped goalies, which I want to talk about in the middle of this Stanley Cup. But what's that like for you to not be fully in control of the puck yourself, Rod? Well, that's why you're the best, Richie. That's a great question. And, you know, it is tough being a coach in that regard. Like when I played, I worried about my mistakes. You know, I'd come home and I'd be like stressed out about, oh, I should have done that play different.

22:39And now as a coach, you got 20 guys. You come home and you're like, why did that guy do that? And you have 20 guys you're worrying about. And there's really not much you can do other than, you know, prepare them as best you can. I've learned to do this. Once, you know, the game goes, it's on them. You know, you're going to make your adjustments here and there. But you got to have them prepared going in and then turn them loose. and it is what it is at that point.

23:03Rich Eisen:And so the decision that you made to replace Frederick Anderson with Brandon Bussey in the middle of the Stanley Cup and Anderson was having a great playoff. Walk me through that decision, Rod. Well, a couple of things. Going into the playoffs, I had pretty much in my head thinking, I'm going to use both guys because that's kind of how we did it all year. And to be really up front, like Bussie was the number one. Just Freddie, you know, with the experience and the pedigree, it was kind of like, okay, we're going to start him and see where it goes. And he just ran the table for whatever many games it was.

23:45It just made it real easy to just keep going back to him. But we also knew, you know, he got worn down. And that was obvious. And so, yeah, he got a little nicked up. so it was really an easy decision because i'm not going to put a guy in at this critical stage when he's not 100 so it went in and then you had a guy just waiting there that you knew you had a lot of faith in so it was actually a very easy decision it was about a two-minute conversation with our goalie coach uh who runs the goalies i mean i asked him where are we at and he's like i think he needs to get out so okay let's go to the other guy you know it's that simple and thankfully uh you know bus even though he hadn't played in forever just came in like lights out yeah three

24:28Rich Eisen:straight to win the cup that's for sure um and then there's the um the similarities are you aware of the similarities i'm sure you are but i'll just run through them um between the 20 uh the 2006 cup and the 2026 cup 20 years later you were the captain then you're the coach now your current captain Jordan Stahl your Conn Smythe trophy winner is the younger brother of Eric Stahl who was a teammate on your team right? Oh yeah. The rookie goalie in 2006 was Cam Ward you got Bussey in this one I mean do you think the hockey gods were winking at you here? You know what I think they were there's a lot of things that lined up those kind of little things that you mentioned But, you know, you mentioned Jordan Stahl.

25:17Like, his brother, you know, was on the team that I played for. And then I coached, you know, I was assistant coach here for quite a while, too, and coached both of them. And then, you know, just watching Jordan Stahl play the way he did. First of all, that's how he plays every night. And I get to see it all the time for 14 years that I've been here. He's been here. and to him to shine at the biggest time, I'm just so happy for him because that guy is a beast. And he gets the toughest matchups, and he's got to take, you know, all the heavy lifting for this team. And, you know, it was great to see him get rewarded.

25:56Rich Eisen:What did you do with the cup in 06 when you got a chance to have it? What were you doing? Well, it was kind of, yeah, I got to, as the captain back then, the way they did it, you get to take it home that night after the celebration so that was kind of cool just that i mean you're there all night at the rink but then just kind of took it home my kids were in bed i stuck the thing in my my kids bedroom when they woke up that morning you know they're what you know what they have and then you get a day with it and you know you try to do something nice and took it back to where i grew up and had a little community thing and then you know you just let the people that that help you along the way you know celebrate so you just have a little celebration at home i'm not you know nothing nothing over the top or anything like that so um anyways a special special night for sure to have it and these guys do a little more crazy things now than i do i can tell you that and there's they're going at it they've been three days now i just saw the guys they were going for day four and they're on a bus going somewhere with it to keep going so i love it i love that they do that because this thing is so hard to win and we asked a lot of these guys for nine months and we've been going at it since September and you know now they can finally enjoy it so your kids were sleeping and yeah and and they woke up the next day and look what dad brought into the room yeah basically they woke up to the Stanley Cup next to him yeah yeah it was well my the kids it's such a everyone's involved right you're you and you sacrifice a ton yeah missing a lot of stuff being doing what we do and it was nice to just you know I mean I didn't get to bed but it just plopped it down and my boys woke up with it in their room and you know then we had everyone come over and you have a party at your house it it's it listen hockey is a very it is family and then you hear that all the time about team stuff but it takes everybody and so it's nice to be able to share with everyone that had a part in it yeah we had one of the keepers of the cup here on the show um you know i believe last year rod and we asked him what's the youngest um human that's ever been in the top of the cup and he said a newborn.

28:04Rich Eisen:He said basically somebody's been born and they place somebody's... It really is. I love that sort of stuff. When does a coach get it, though? When does the coach... Are you last in line, Ron? No, no. Well, maybe. It kind of just depends, but we actually went over that today, too, trying to figure out... It gets coordinated. The players get... You know, you got to run the list, and then it kind of goes geographical. If you live near so-and-so, if the European guys get it well if you're over there it just goes geographical but after the players get it then you run down the list and you try to make sure everyone that you know had a big part in what you're doing gets a day with it because it is that special i mean it is so so great for you and a few minutes left with rod brindamore the head coach of the uh champion carolina hurricanes here on the rich eisen show um listen you you know the history of this game names like toe blake hapday cooney Weiland have been around forever in a day and now your name is on that list of the only individuals to win a cup as a player and a coach for the same team yeah that's it man what how does that hit you well those those names you mentioned are way back I don't you know that's that but but what makes it special Rich is that you know not many coaches in sports get to do the way I get to do it and that is I've been here 26 years now I was you know I got traded here from Flyers way back when and it just became home and you know met my wife and my family's here like and I played for this team for a long time and then I'm now I'm still coaching it and it's kind of special it's it is home for me you know I don't just you know throw on the hurricane stuff and you know the next day you get gassed you're coaching somewhere else like it's it's just it just means a little more and that's what's special about it and you know I've been lucky to have the guys that I've coached here I've been here quite a while we've kept the group together which is rare in in you know in sports so it's kind of a unique situation I know coaches have a shelf life and you know mine's coming at some point but um been pretty fortunate to be able to do a job like this in my home you know where I live and so uh very special you know I'm no hockey historian Rod um and certainly you know I don't I think though I'm certain in saying that Toe Blake, Hapday, Cooney-Wyland the only other coaches to uh also win the cup as a player for the same team they most certainly did not look like this when they celebrated as a coach Rod that I can basically you know what I mean like Like, I don't, I don't, we were looking to see if we could see a Toe Blake shirtless shot.