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00:00All right, everybody, it's Adam Kaplan here for SportsGrid, and what a better way to start
00:04off midweek than having the voice of the Chiefs, Mitch Holthus.
00:09And Mitch, I know you've been calling their games for 31 years, but the big reason why
00:15we wanted to talk to you, other than you're obviously going to call the game, is you have
00:18a great perspective because you were there when Andy Rhee was hired as the Kansas City
00:22Chiefs head coach in 2013.
00:24Here's my first question to you right now.
00:28What did you, A, know about Andy, what were your expectations, because things had changed.
00:32Obviously, before Andy got there, he was let go.
00:35So what do you remember, and it's a long time ago, it's 2013, what do you remember about
00:38Andy and what were your expectations early on?
00:41I remember it was December 31, 2012.
00:45We were at the bottom of the ocean.
00:47We were dishes on the Titanic, and eight coaches got fired.
00:52And Andy, I watched, in our hallway, I watched Andy's final press conference in Philly.
00:56Now, what did I know about Andy?
00:58Andy had followed his career, obviously, followed the entire league, was always intrigued
01:01by him.
01:02Like, how does he get the Philly job without being a coordinator or head coach?
01:06And then he flourished in Philly.
01:07But I'm thinking, God, is there any way we could somehow get to first base?
01:13And little did I know, the wheels were already turning.
01:16But then, when he came to us, it was within a week and a half.
01:19Remember the old movie, Pleasantville, where everything's black and white, covered in coal
01:22dust?
01:23People start popping up in color?
01:24That was Andy Rhee.
01:25He started to change our culture within a week.
01:28And so, it's been phenomenal, really, an under-told story of just how much of a 180 Andy has meant
01:34to the organization.
01:35When you talk about culture changer, what does that mean?
01:38Like, from a guy who's been there now 31 years, what does that mean for the Chiefs and yourself?
01:43There is a flow, vertically and horizontally, of understanding, listening, respect, taking
01:52everybody's superpower and try to put it in collectively.
01:55And it's really a confident humility.
01:57And I say that, not as it's a contradiction, but as a cocktail.
02:01And that's what Andy brought.
02:04Within a couple of weeks, he came to me, he goes, dude, who are you?
02:06Like, I go, well, first of all, this is the first time in 19 years a head coach has asked
02:11me about me.
02:12Wow.
02:13But he wanted to know.
02:14Sure.
02:15So, Andy is a connector.
02:16And he gets, and he tries to figure out, you and me, what do we have as assets?
02:22That we put it all together can be the part of the greater deal.
02:26And I found out since then, Andy needed the Chiefs Kingdom as much as the Chiefs Kingdom
02:31needed Andy.
02:32I don't have to tell you.
02:33Because the last year was not, I mean, and to lose Garrett during training camp was brutal
02:39for them.
02:40And he and Tammy had to find, where's our next spot?
02:42Where do we go in the next turn in life?
02:44And he has to make a decision because six teams are rushing toward him, right?
02:48They want him.
02:49And so, but the Hunt family, he went back and told me about a discussion he had with
02:54Lamar Hunt when he got the Eagles job, because he literally was like the stepchild, right?
02:59Walking in.
03:00And one guy reached out to him and embraced him like he embraced, like Andy embraced me.
03:04And it was Lamar Hunt.
03:06So he goes, maybe this is where we go.
03:09And now look what it's turned into.
03:10But Andy's a culture changer because he tries to understand the assets that he has from
03:16every single person and respect that person no matter their job.
03:19I know it sounds trite, but it changed everything in our organization.
03:23I got to ask about number 15, Patrick Mahomes.
03:25Okay, so here's a guy that people said, oh, air raid offense, doesn't transfer to the
03:29National Football League.
03:30Obviously, Mitch, everyone's been wrong.
03:33When you're calling his games, give us just an idea of the excitement of calling a Chiefs
03:37game with him at quarterback.
03:38Well, you have to understand, and again, this is another untold story about how comprehensive
03:45this guy is.
03:47He has his own OTAs before we have OTAs.
03:50What does that mean?
03:51That means if you're going to play with Patrick Mahomes, you're showing up at his place in
03:55Dallas.
03:56He has a place in Dallas and he has his own camp before camp.
03:59Now, they have fun.
04:00They chop it up, right?
04:02Pat pays for all of it.
04:03But if you're going to be with him, because I got to get you up to speed so that when
04:06we hit OTAs, we attack it.
04:09Because when we attack OTAs means we're going to attack many camps.
04:11We're going to attack training camp.
04:13And look at what Andy's September record is.
04:16What Pat has become, Pat and Andy needed Pat, right?
04:19Yeah.
04:20Look what Pat has done for Andy.
04:22But Pat needed Andy.
04:24He was coming out of tech and the Alex Smith Apprentice Year that includes Matt Nagy and
04:29others.
04:30Basically, Pat played Augusta every day without ever playing the Masters.
04:35And that year of apprenticeship where he learns about Andy, Andy learns about him, Andy's
04:39given him algorithms and mathematical problems to solve.
04:44That's what's led to all this.
04:45It's really an amazing story, a long-term story.
04:47That is an incredible story.
04:48So basically, he has OTAs before OTAs.
04:52Yes.
04:53And if you're going to play with Pat, you better have your heart down.
04:56Yes, sir.
04:57All right.
04:58Now, we've got the rematch of two years ago.
04:59Philly versus Kansas City.
05:00What are your thoughts coming up for this game here?
05:02Well, Philly has just proven what a prevailing thought in the league is that you've got to
05:08throw a lot to win.
05:09No, they've just proven that.
05:11Because if you get big plays from Saquon Barkley, he's set an already an NFL record
05:15with six, seven 60-plus touchdown runs, basically, you replace the passing game with home runs
05:22in the run game.
05:23And so, I've been very impressed with them.
05:25The other thing, I'm going to give Harry Roseman some credit, is the fact of how well they've
05:29drafted, especially in the defense.
05:31I've sat there and watched these drafts, and I see them get, Quinion Mitchell might have
05:35been my favorite guy in the entire draft out of Toledo, right?
05:38I loved him.
05:39Or to get Cooper Dejean, who's like in our neighborhood, right?
05:42Ida Grove, Iowa, a little bitty town.
05:45And so, the point is, they've drafted well on defense.
05:48Offensively, they've become explosive in a different way than people go, oh, you can't
05:53win that way.
05:54Yes, you can.
05:55And then, so, I just think this is a really tough Philadelphia team, and they've proven
05:58it.
05:59All right.
06:00For the Voice of the Chiefs, I'm Adam Kaplan.
06:01We'll speak to you soon.