GBK’s Joe Iacono Shares His Favorite Podcast Guests
Over the past five years I have had the opportunity to interview a wide variety of guests at press conferences and on our GBK podcasts. I am extremely grateful for the hundreds of guests who have taken their time to sit down and talk with me over the years – from current Army football players and coaches; to coaches of other Army sports; to past players; to celebrities and dignitaries; and NFL players and sports executives. Many times, I have to pinch myself when I think about some of the people I’ve been privileged to sit down with over the years.
Of course, none of this would have been possible without the help of some key people to include Eric Szczepinski and Army’s West Point Athletic Communications team, and especially without the help and support of our Publisher, Charles Grevious.
I thought I would put together another “Top 10” list for the GBK subscriber base. This was a very tough task to narrow the list of guests down to a Top 10, and there are no objective criteria for this list. It’s just the podcasts I was proudest of or most excited about or felt like we had great chemistry with the guests.
*Disclaimer: I intentionally left HC Jeff Monken off the list as I have probably interviewed him as much as or more than anyone and he is always gracious and a great guest. However, I didn’t feel it would be fair to include him with the rest of my Top 10 – Coach Monken is in his own category.
I hope you enjoy the list and maybe you get to see some interviews you haven’t seen yet. I’ve always said it’s the guests who make the podcasts/interviews, not me. Some of these folks have been guests multiple times (repeat offenders) so we just picked out one key video for each of them.
Let us know who you want to see on in the future and we are confident that the quality of these guests and the interviews is a value-add that Army.
10. Katie Kuester, Army Women’s Head Basketball Coach
Even though Katie has only appeared on our podcast twice and we’re just getting to know her, her enthusiasm and positive attitude are contagious, and she has become one of my favorite interviews. If I had a daughter who was a high school basketball player, I would want her to play for Coach Kuester. Sometimes the best conversations are the ones that happen off-camera and Katie is no exception in that area.
9. Tina Cervasio, CBS Sports Sideline Reporter
I had the opportunity to interview Tina during the week of the 2023 Army-Navy game. I was still starting to “hit my stride” as an interviewer back then and was super nervous to be interviewing a communications professional like Tina. She was unbelievably gracious and a true professional, even giving me time as she was packing to head up to Foxborough or one of the other commitments she had. Her calendar would annihilate most of us.
8. Kalib Fortner, ILB and Co-Captain, Army Football (2023-2025)
Kalib was my favorite “current player” I got to interview in my five years. He is very engaging and has a great sense of humor and is solid in front of the camera. We’ve had Kalib on with his twin brother, Liam, by himself, and with fellow ILB and “Gremlin,” Andon Thomas. My favorite interview with Kalib was probably before the 2024 Independence Bowl when I was asking him about Shreveport, LA. He mentioned the casino in the hotel and that there was a “night club” (I’ll keep it PG) across from the hotel. He also mentioned that Coach Monken told everyone if he caught them going to the club, they could expect a one-way ticket back to West Point.
7. Mike McElrath, Gaylord Greene, Patmon Malcolm, and Chris Shaw – Class of 1993 Army football players discuss their 25-24 comeback win over Navy in 1992
OK, I’m biased. I’d call all these guys my personal friends and I hope they feel the same way about me. They’re my classmates and Shaw and Greene were company-mates. I spent significant time with all of them since graduation and commanded a company at Fort Jackson, next to McElrath. The conversation about the ’92 game was awesome and they all did a great job adding context to that memorable comeback win.
6. Alex Aukerman, former Army OLB (Class of 2018) and guest analyst
Alex has really helped me understand the game from the LB perspective and allowed our audience and me to “see what the defense sees.” He always provides great perspective and is a huge asset to our team.
5. Marquel Broughton, former Army Safety and 2-time Co-Captain (Class of 2023) and guest analyst
This is basically a tie with Alex. Having Marquel last year was such a win for our team. I heard from several subscribers about the value he added to the podcast, and being a Captain for Nate Woody gave him a super unique perspective into Coach Woody’s calls and defensive philosophy. I also enjoyed watching the Army-Navy game with Marquel from the sideline in the fourth quarter this year despite the outcome. He had some great insights that he shared with me.
4. Cody Worley, Offensive Coordinator/QB Coach, Army Football
We get to interview Cody a lot with the rest of the press corps after practice, but he is one of my favorites to get in a “long form” extended podcast 1:1. He loves talking football and offense and X’s and O’s and we have had some great conversations over the past two years about his scheme and offensive philosophy, as well as some of his star players.
3. Nate Woody, Defensive Coordinator (2020-2025), Army Football
The thing I enjoyed most about interviewing Coach Woody is he made my job really easy. I could ask him an open-ended question about a player, a scheme or philosophy, and he would go on a virtual defensive clinic for 10-15 minutes. I learned so much about defensive football from Coach Woody and really enjoyed talking with him on the podcast and on the sideline before games.
2. Matt Drinkall, former Army offensive line coach, TE coach, and current Head Coach at Central Michigan
The king of assistant coach interviews was definitely Matt Drinkall. I had a number of great discussions with Coach Drinkall about offensive X’s and O’s, the Army football program and culture, and his relationship with Coach Monken. I truly enjoyed my interviews with Coach Drinkall and was super sad (but excited for him) when he got the head job at Central Michigan last year. Coach Drinkall is a bright, young talent in the game and will have a very successful career in my opinion. A few times, Eric from Army Athletic Communications would set up the Zoom with Coach Drinkall, leave the room, and come back after an hour or more to find the two of us still talking.
- Andon Thomas and Cale Hellums “Faith Journey” Podcast – December 2025
This one was special for me. I really, really like college football and Army football in particular. But nothing on this planet is as important to me as my relationship with my Lord and Savior. When I came up with the idea of going in this direction, I wasn’t sure how it would be received. Charles was all in and I can’t thank him enough for the latitude he gave me to run with this one.
Many times, Army’s players are “buttoned up” and they basically have a script they have to use when speaking with members of the media. We all know the drill.
- “Do our 1/11th.”
- “Be the tougher team.”
- “The Brotherhood”
So, when I started with Andon and Cale, I asked them if they had been prepped since I was going to ask them to share some very personal information and wasn’t sure how comfortable they would be. When they said “no,” and I said, “we aren’t going to talk about football tonight” and told them which direction I wanted to go they were “all in.” Both great future leaders of our Army and ball players were very transparent and were as excited to tell their testimonies as I was to relay them to the fanbase at GBK.
I have probably gotten more compliments on this interview from other members of the media and people involved with Army Athletics than any other interview I have done so I am grateful to Andon and Cale for their transparency and message. This interview remains our highest viewed interview on YouTube that isn’t an Army/Navy postgame with over 1400 views.
Finally, I had some great interviews with the last two athletic directors, Mike Buddie and Tom Theodorakis. Both have also been very open and big supporters of our work here at GBK.
There were some other great “former player” interviews with NFL guys like Ali Villanueva and Cole Christiansen that were special.
I have also really enjoyed getting to know and interview many of the players’ parents over the past five years and thank them for their contributions to the podcast.
And I can’t close out this article without thanking GBK Subscribers Steve Kreipe, John Bruellman, Dave Warns, and John Griffis for adding their perspective on our subscriber podcasts.
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