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Speaker 1: M hey want to welcome and I'm dog Got Lab

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Speaker 1: and you are you downloaded, subscribe, hopefully rated and reviewed

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Speaker 1: all Ball. This is UH a podcast where we talking

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Speaker 1: about a lot of hoops and I have some hoop

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Speaker 1: thoughts for you. I'm gonna share one with you UH

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Speaker 1: in a second about the All Star name. But we

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Speaker 1: also share long form conversations, mostly inside the world of basketball,

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Speaker 1: but about people's lives are the basketball. This one is

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Speaker 1: no different, says I think part four of Chaka Smart

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Speaker 1: as we catch up with him through his season coming

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Speaker 1: off of a gigantic wind come from behind wind over Xavier,

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Speaker 1: but it's more a look back at his life and

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Speaker 1: what led him to take it on the to take

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Speaker 1: it on the challenge of coaching the Golden Eagles, and

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Speaker 1: we start to get into some Texas stuff in this one,

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Speaker 1: which is really interesting. But I also want to point

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Speaker 1: out that his um, his former coach and mentor, and

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Speaker 1: he went to Canyan College for and then um end

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Speaker 1: up working for at California University of Pennsylvania recently passed away.

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Speaker 1: So we caught him two days after that, and I

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Speaker 1: think he'll appreciate those thoughts as well. Before we get

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Speaker 1: to that. I did want to share this thought on

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Speaker 1: the NBA All Star Game. I understand that the All

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Speaker 1: Star Game in its heart, like if you wrote down, like,

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Speaker 1: what is the celebration of sport sport? Did I love one?

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Speaker 1: That's created pretty good life for me? Um And it's

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Speaker 1: a celebration of the best of the best of the best.

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Speaker 1: But there is something to the idea that like Jalen Brunson,

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Speaker 1: for example, is not an All Star and Kyrie Irving

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Speaker 1: is what are we doing right? Like Jalen Brunson has

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Speaker 1: completely changed, by my estimation and most people in the league,

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Speaker 1: completely changed the culture of the New York Knicks. He's

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Speaker 1: been steady, he's been solid. Actually, if you really want

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Speaker 1: to get down to it, kind of been spectacular. And

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Speaker 1: there's no look at me. There's simply a let's go

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Speaker 1: in every day and do O. Now, I would admit

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Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving he is more talented. And if I got

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Speaker 1: to win a game of one, and maybe maybe even

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Speaker 1: if I need to win an NBA Finals game, Kyrie

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Speaker 1: irvingkin he has He's a cheat cog uh in arguably

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Speaker 1: the best finisher of his size in the NBA, one

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Speaker 1: of the best finishers first size in the history of

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Speaker 1: the NBA. An NBA champion who stepped up, made big

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Speaker 1: shots in the NBA finals. But to let to put

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Speaker 1: it down, I mean, look, Terris Haliburton does not ranked

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Speaker 1: above that of oh Jalen Brunson. And if we take

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Speaker 1: how he played in Dallas, how he's led with New

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Speaker 1: York Knicks, I would put him ahead Acounty. But as

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Speaker 1: a guy who loves basketball celebration sports admits that all

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Speaker 1: these guys are more talented and more well rounded than

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Speaker 1: I ever could hope to be as a basketball player.

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Speaker 1: I don't watch the All Star Game because well, they

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Speaker 1: could actually play defense. They don't, and it's a celebration

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Speaker 1: and many times are the wrong parts of the sport.

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Speaker 1: Case in point, Jalen Brunson's don wall star Kyrie Irving

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Speaker 1: is all right, let's get back to our basketball discussion

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Speaker 1: with Shaka smart And we last talked with Shaka he

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Speaker 1: was coming off of the Final Four when we were

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Speaker 1: talking about how things change. I think you really appreciate

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Speaker 1: this portion of our conversation with Marquette head coach Chaka

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Speaker 1: smart Um and I don't, I we I haven't pre

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Speaker 1: asked you this or whatever. But while we're while we're

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Speaker 1: in the process of going through your your career, your

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Speaker 1: college coach, who you know, we spent so much time

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Speaker 1: in during this entire process talking about him, has passed away.

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Speaker 1: Um what what what's it been like? Ootionally when you

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Speaker 1: heard the niche it's you know, it's like any other

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Speaker 1: you know time where you know one of us loses

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Speaker 1: someone that it Uh, you kind of go through different

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Speaker 1: emotions and processing what happened. Um. You know, coaches not

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Speaker 1: been feeling the best for for the past several months,

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Speaker 1: been in a lot of pain. Um. But yeah, I

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Speaker 1: just brings back a lot of memories, a lot of emotions.

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Speaker 1: You know, you always feel like there's something that you

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Speaker 1: should have done more, should have done differently. Um. But

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Speaker 1: I think that probably would be the case no matter what.

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Speaker 1: You're doing your job as kind of the leader of

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Speaker 1: your program, and you're you become the as your coach

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Speaker 1: was the second father to and sometimes first father to

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Speaker 1: some of the some of the kids. Um, but you

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Speaker 1: have to process the loss of your own. He talked

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Speaker 1: about how he's he was like to bother you. How

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Speaker 1: do you how has that been in terms of you

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Speaker 1: gotta do a job, and yet you have all these

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Speaker 1: trying the best compartmentalize because the reality is the guys

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Speaker 1: that you're coaching they want to be in the moment.

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Speaker 1: You know, you always encourage them to be in the

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Speaker 1: moment and focus on on the task at hand. And

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Speaker 1: so even though as a coach you maybe dealing with

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Speaker 1: some other things, you owe it to them to pour

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Speaker 1: into them in this moment because you know, for us, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, we're like everybody else in late February, You're

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Speaker 1: just trying to continue to grow and move towards playing

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Speaker 1: your best basketball when it matters most. So let's trying

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Speaker 1: to try to focus on the guys when I'm around them.

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Speaker 1: Do you do you let them in at all? I mean,

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Speaker 1: do they do? They understand talked to a team a

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Speaker 1: lot about talked to some individual guys. I really I

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Speaker 1: hesitate to, you know, make anything that that I'm going

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Speaker 1: through any type of distraction for our guys, because you know,

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Speaker 1: we have a lot of guys on our teams that

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Speaker 1: are very empathetic, um, you know, very much feelers like

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Speaker 1: I am. And the last thing I want to do

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Speaker 1: is add anything to their plate because um, you know,

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Speaker 1: there's a lot already that we asked them to do.

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Speaker 1: I only I only asked because it's like, you know,

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Speaker 1: one of the things that I think we you and

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Speaker 1: I connect on and one of the things you've talked

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Speaker 1: about is you know, you just really want for your

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Speaker 1: players any sort of uh close experience to the one

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Speaker 1: you had in terms of player coach relationship and what

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Speaker 1: I've talked about in terms of my experience at my school, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: that's the that's the dream is to system plays, make

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Speaker 1: best friends play who compete at the highest level possible,

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Speaker 1: and then connections for life. I just didn't know, like

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Speaker 1: if the you know, if there's a lot of of

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Speaker 1: you know, let me explain why this man who meant

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Speaker 1: so much to me and it doesn't mean that I'm

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Speaker 1: going to mean that much to you. But that's actually

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Speaker 1: kind of the goal of this thing, right where I like, again,

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Speaker 1: in my mind, does that take pressure off of them

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Speaker 1: and help them understand like, look, we want to win

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Speaker 1: basketball games, but it's actually more important that we win

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Speaker 1: the life thing and the relationship thing. And maybe it

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Speaker 1: it takes some of the because you know, you guys

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Speaker 1: are if you beat creating on the road, you're gonna

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Speaker 1: win the Big East. You may probably win the Big

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Speaker 1: East anyway. And I don't know if if that brings

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Speaker 1: that kind of understanding to how you really think and feel,

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Speaker 1: and it may alleviate some of that pressure of the

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Speaker 1: Actually that's a good point. I mean, we always try

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Speaker 1: to use life stuff too to put the basketball games

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Speaker 1: and the basketball pressures in perspective. So, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: that's something something I may do. I tend to. I

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Speaker 1: feel like that kind of stuff is actually most effective

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Speaker 1: with one on one conversations or or with small groups

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Speaker 1: of guys, you know too, three four guys as opposed

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Speaker 1: to the whole team. Because the fascinating thing about coaching

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Speaker 1: is when you're talking to the whole team. And we've

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Speaker 1: got about six walk ons on our team. So we've

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Speaker 1: got you know, you're you're talking about eighteen or so

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Speaker 1: players in there. Uh, and you just got you got

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Speaker 1: guys all over the place from the standpoint of you

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Speaker 1: know what what what's on different people's minds. And you know,

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Speaker 1: you've got a guy who maybe scored twenty points last

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Speaker 1: night in a big game. You've got a guy who, um,

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Speaker 1: you know it isn't getting many minutes and you know,

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Speaker 1: it's thinking about everything surrounding that. So, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: I I really found it like getting with these we

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Speaker 1: do these class meetings, Doug that I really really like. Um,

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Speaker 1: So I meet with the freshman together, and then I'll

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Speaker 1: meet with the sophomores, and then I mean we only

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Speaker 1: have we got three third year players, and then we

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Speaker 1: have a grand transfer who injured his knee and has

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Speaker 1: been out for the year. So I meet with those

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Speaker 1: guys altogether. How often try to do it either once

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Speaker 1: a week or at least once every two weeks. Um,

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Speaker 1: I've been doing it with freshman's going back to v

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Speaker 1: c U. We call freshman orientation because I always felt

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Speaker 1: like the adjustment to college basketball, um is not complete

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Speaker 1: as a freshman until your freshman season ends. So I mean,

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Speaker 1: even know it's February, our freshman is still going through

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Speaker 1: that adjustment because, as you know, like their bodies and

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Speaker 1: their minds are like wow, like this is this is

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Speaker 1: a lot more intense and longer of a season than

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Speaker 1: what I'm used to. So we just started saying, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know, the other guys needed to and it's just

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Speaker 1: a good chance to kind of listen to them and

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Speaker 1: you know, get some feedback from them, and then we

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Speaker 1: always uh pick something that has nothing to do with

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Speaker 1: like putting the ball in the basket, but but has

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Speaker 1: everything to do with just how they're doing and processing

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Speaker 1: what they're dealing with. UM, when we when we when

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Speaker 1: we left off, you guys have been to the Final four,

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Speaker 1: and you had mentioned to me in the first episode

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Speaker 1: that outside of this team, the team you actually I

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Speaker 1: thought was the most cohesive. I believe you said was

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Speaker 1: the year after the Final four? What is it like?

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Speaker 1: And so many teams And I've actually kind of studied this,

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Speaker 1: which is post Final four has ruined coaches, ruined teams.

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Speaker 1: Jay Wrights first Final four. They have the number one

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Speaker 1: recruiting class in the country. But that was it, that

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Speaker 1: was the that was the downtime at Villanova. UM. Remember

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Speaker 1: when Georgia Tech went to the Final four. UM, if

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Speaker 1: you look what happened, they again number one recruiting class

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Speaker 1: in the country. They fell off Oklahoma State, No foe

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Speaker 1: goes oh five, number one recruiting class in the country,

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Speaker 1: and obviously other things brought that program down. But I

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Speaker 1: only think one of the kids actually signed showed up

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Speaker 1: on campus. So you know what happens at most places

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Speaker 1: and VCU probably no different, which is suddenly now you

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Speaker 1: can recruit a higher level kid than you ever could before.

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Speaker 1: But it doesn't mean and you and I talked about this,

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Speaker 1: that they actually fit with your program and fit VCU

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Speaker 1: after Final four. I mean, there's a lot there that

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Speaker 1: that that you just kind of brought up. I think

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Speaker 1: Number one, winning in general, whether it's a Final four

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Speaker 1: or other types of winning in sports, can really lead

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Speaker 1: you in two different directions. Uh, there is UH guy

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Speaker 1: used to work with Darren Horne, he's a head coach

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Speaker 1: at Northern Kentucky UM, and he had a great saying

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Speaker 1: he said he would say, there's a residue from winning,

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Speaker 1: and so the positive of winning, of course, and you

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Speaker 1: mentioned Villanova they've been probably the best example of this

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Speaker 1: over the last eight ten years is that, Man, there's

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Speaker 1: been a residue of winning there that has carried over

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Speaker 1: from you know, guys that have been there and played

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Speaker 1: well to the next guys, to the next eyes. And

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Speaker 1: it's a real inertia that is so powerful. Um. The

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Speaker 1: flip side of that is, and I think this probably

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Speaker 1: relates to some of the situations that that that you mentioned.

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Speaker 1: Billy used to say all the time, Billy Donovan, when

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Speaker 1: I worked for him, he used to say, and he

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Speaker 1: went through it. You know, after he won the two

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Speaker 1: national championships, he used to say, winning attracts ship and

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Speaker 1: what he was what he meant by that was when

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Speaker 1: you're able to create success, people want to be a

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Speaker 1: part of what you're doing for all the wrong reasons.

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Speaker 1: And that happened in some again some of the situations

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Speaker 1: that you just brought up, that happened at Florida to

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Speaker 1: some extent. And then because he was so good, he

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Speaker 1: was able to kind of build back the culture that

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Speaker 1: he wanted through just sheer force. And then he goes

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Speaker 1: back to the final four, you know, with this group

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Speaker 1: with with Patrick Young and those guys. But that's a

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Speaker 1: great point, right, like the two thousand final four. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I know that team because I played against that team.

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Speaker 1: That was my last college game. So I mean you

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Speaker 1: look and dudes across the roster, like, dudes, h was

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Speaker 1: up Donal Harvey, right, he was a one and done.

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Speaker 1: I mean he was a free cathlete, right. Um, you

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Speaker 1: know all the way down to Justin Hamilton's obviously later

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Speaker 1: became a second round pick. Um, you know, at the

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Speaker 1: time Brett Nelson, people thought he'd be the next you know,

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Speaker 1: White and White Magic. They just had do I mean

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Speaker 1: three tremendous pros in Bonner who just stuck for a

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Speaker 1: long time, great culture guy, right, and then obviously Mike

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Speaker 1: Miller who was a star, and then you Donnis Hassling.

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Speaker 1: I mean guys three on a on a team. Um,

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Speaker 1: what happened there? There you go? Um, But you know,

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Speaker 1: like you said, like we don't attract ship is a

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Speaker 1: very because now everybody wants a piece of that, right,

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Speaker 1: everybody wants a piece of that. And then then the

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Speaker 1: program was disappointing for a couple of years, and then

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Speaker 1: the one that went to won national championships, Like those

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Speaker 1: weren't the highest recruited guys. You know. It's one of

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Speaker 1: the things that really really amazing is we had two

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Speaker 1: players that signed with us at VCU in the fall

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Speaker 1: prior to the Final four, a guy named Briante Webber

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Speaker 1: and trey Vian Graham. So they were recruited and signed

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Speaker 1: with us when we weren't, when we weren't really anything

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Speaker 1: before all that. They you know, I love the year

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Speaker 1: like after a guy signs because like you're building this relationship.

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Speaker 1: He's part of the program, but he's not there yet. UM,

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Speaker 1: but he's coming and he's so excited about it, and

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Speaker 1: you're excited about him. It's just pretty cool. So those

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Speaker 1: guys while we went to the Final four, we're in

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Speaker 1: the midst of that year and they come in and

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Speaker 1: they had a hunger and a humility about them that

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Speaker 1: we we just missed out on the Final four. We

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Speaker 1: weren't here yet, but we want to go do something

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Speaker 1: like that, you know, we want to be successful. They

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Speaker 1: ended up probably being you know, a couple of guys

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Speaker 1: will get mad at me, but probably the two best

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Speaker 1: guys we had there, you know during my time. You know,

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Speaker 1: maybe Um, Bradford Burgess is up there, who was a

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Speaker 1: junior on the Final four team. UM, But Briante Weber

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Speaker 1: and Treyvillan Graham came in as freshman after that, UM,

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Speaker 1: and Bradford Burgess was a senior when they came in.

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Speaker 1: That team was so connected and so hungry. We started

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Speaker 1: off really really poorly, UM, and we started like like, man,

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Speaker 1: these guys are not gonna be any good after losing

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Speaker 1: the guys from the Final four team, and we just

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Speaker 1: kept getting better and better and better, and we end

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Speaker 1: up setting a school record for wins. What about you personally? Right, Like,

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Speaker 1: I mean, the thing the humility that I've that I've

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Speaker 1: come to appreciate. How did you check yourself personally? Because, um,

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Speaker 1: we always called the Nasmith complex? Right, guy gets the

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Speaker 1: point four, he thinks he's James R. Naseman and really

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Speaker 1: just they won a couple of games. Did you check yourself?

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Speaker 1: I learned a lot of things from Billy Donovan. One

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Speaker 1: of the best things that I took from him is

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Speaker 1: he has this way of one of the biggest things

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Speaker 1: he takes from success is humility. And it's really cool.

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Speaker 1: It's a rare trait because, like you said, most guys,

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Speaker 1: you know, when something when they do something been good,

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Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, I'm great. But you know that's that's

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Speaker 1: when he's like the most humble and so I always

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Speaker 1: thought that was really really is it? Is it? Is

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Speaker 1: any part of it fake? I mean not not one

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Speaker 1: iota of it. In fact, he's almost got like a

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Speaker 1: blind spot two. How special he is in a lot

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Speaker 1: of ways. But um, yeah, I just think that Final

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Speaker 1: four team, like we weren't even supposed to be in

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Speaker 1: the tournament, and so I think again, one of the

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Speaker 1: things I took from him was you realize when you

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Speaker 1: go through something special like that, how much of it

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Speaker 1: is out of your damn control, Like, and you're just

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Speaker 1: like at different moments and you don't want it to end.

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Speaker 1: You're just so grateful to be along for the ride. Um.

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Speaker 1: Even though in college basketball, the way that our sport

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Speaker 1: is looked at and covered the coach and then the

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Speaker 1: best like one or two players are the ones that

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Speaker 1: like all the the praise is heaped onto them when

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Speaker 1: the team does good things. Um, we all know that

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Speaker 1: the coach isn't really as good as everyone says during

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Speaker 1: those moments, and the coach isn't as bad as everyone says,

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Speaker 1: you know, in the down moments. And I've been through it,

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Speaker 1: I mean as you know, like I've been. Um, I've

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Speaker 1: gotten a lot of praise, you know, times like that,

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Speaker 1: and then I've gotten a lot you know, when I

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Speaker 1: was in Texas, I was at times the worst coach

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Speaker 1: in the country. So, UM, you know you're sitting there like, well,

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Speaker 1: I don't really feel any different, but uh, people treat

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Speaker 1: you different and say different things. So hopefully that you

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Speaker 1: know you can learn to take things with a grain

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Speaker 1: of salt when you go through that. What was it

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Speaker 1: like because the next year you play and you win

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Speaker 1: a game of the tournament and then you lose to Indiana? Right,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't you weren't having by any means down years, right,

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Speaker 1: actually having more likely like more success, more consistent success.

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Speaker 1: So I'm sure all these schools are beaten down your door.

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Speaker 1: What was it like? What was the thought process like

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Speaker 1: in terms of do I stay, do I go? Let's

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Speaker 1: let's go. I'm I'm sure what was in those years

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Speaker 1: post Final four? The next couple of years I never

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Speaker 1: thought process? It was funny. I think I might have

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Speaker 1: told you this, There's no way I would have left

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Speaker 1: after that, like immediately after the yeah, there's no way,

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Speaker 1: like what like we did it togather and like there's

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Speaker 1: no way. And I remember I had a couple assistants

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Speaker 1: that were mad at me about that. Um, and then

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Speaker 1: the years after that, I told you about the two

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Speaker 1: guys that came in, trey Vian Graham and Briante Weber.

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Speaker 1: There's no way I was leaving those two guys specifically,

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Speaker 1: never Um, those guys. You couldn't. You couldn't there was

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Speaker 1: never a thought I can just take those guys with me.

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Speaker 1: I mean, transferring wasn't as much a thing then. I mean,

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Speaker 1: obviously they were still transfers. But um, yeah, I guess

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Speaker 1: I wasn't sophisticated enough to look at it that way.

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Speaker 1: But uh, we just take them to a big school.

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Speaker 1: You're good. They're good enough to they could have played anywhere,

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Speaker 1: but it's it's Fox Sports Radio has the best sports

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Speaker 1: talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows

345
00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,720
Speaker 1: at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I

346
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,720
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.

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Speaker 1: By by the way, By the way, this is an aside,

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Speaker 1: and I'm sorry if I'm disturbing your thought process, but

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Speaker 1: can you imagine you being in that same situation now

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Speaker 1: where your team is great and you have to worry

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Speaker 1: about the reality is, if you're a VCU, you have

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Speaker 1: really good players, they're gone the next year because you

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Speaker 1: can't afford to keep them. Right, kids transfer up, like

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Speaker 1: these guys should play at a higher level. Yeah, Now

355
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Speaker 1: the SEC comes in and offers them crazy amounts of money,

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Speaker 1: and some kids maybe will stay that. But it's really

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Speaker 1: really hard to tell a college kid like, hey, dude,

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Speaker 1: stick with me. I'll give you some money, even though

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Speaker 1: they'll give you a you know, a six figure salary.

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Speaker 1: Can you imagine being in that position today? Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: I was actually thinking about that earlier this morning. It's

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Speaker 1: a really tough position that that players get put in

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Speaker 1: because what they're forced to do in today's era is

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Speaker 1: make a dollar value valuation if that's a word of

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Speaker 1: their college experience, the relationships they have with their teammates

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Speaker 1: and their coaches, how much they're growing and developing as

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Speaker 1: a person and as a player, and then they have

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Speaker 1: to kind of measure that up to N I L,

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Speaker 1: like compare it to N I L. And as you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean you talked about this almost like emotionally with

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Speaker 1: with your experience, you can't really put a dollar figure

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Speaker 1: on I mean, if you if you're able to have

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Speaker 1: a great experience with your teammates, your coaches, with winning

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Speaker 1: all those things, you can't put a price on that.

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Speaker 1: Like that's it's beyond any dollar amount that you can

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Speaker 1: that you can say. But at the same time, like

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Speaker 1: you said, a lot of these kids like I did,

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Speaker 1: came from you know, came from a home, like their

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Speaker 1: families like struggling and and their their their mom is

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Speaker 1: going check to check, and it's like, what, like you're

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Speaker 1: gonna tell me I should shouldn't look at this or

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Speaker 1: shouldn't look at that. So it's tough. I can't imagine it.

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Speaker 1: So Okay, So you weren't going to leave those two guys. Okay,

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Speaker 1: this is this is a question that you can now answer. Okay,

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Speaker 1: you know at that point in time in your career,

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Speaker 1: what was the job that you said, I don't want

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Speaker 1: to take any job, but this is the one that

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Speaker 1: I've always wanted. Uh No, I'm not gonna answer that.

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Speaker 1: Uh that's good. UM, I'll say this. I I probably

390
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Speaker 1: would still be at VCU if our athletic director hadn't

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Speaker 1: left me under the cover of darkness. So nor would

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Speaker 1: t who who Uh you know, I still communicate with

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Speaker 1: And I really appreciate and he obviously went through uh

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Speaker 1: and and and did you know some dumb stuff at Minnesota. Um,

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Speaker 1: he hired me at bc U, and I was the

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Speaker 1: third assistant at Florida. I mean he you talked about

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Speaker 1: sticking your neck out. I really really benefited from being

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Speaker 1: part of the same coaching tree that Anthony Grant was

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Speaker 1: part of I mean, let's let's be honest, like that's

400
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Speaker 1: a big part of why I got the job. Um So,

401
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,879
Speaker 1: and we as uh A D and Coach had a

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Speaker 1: really really really special relationship kind of like brothers where

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Speaker 1: you know, we would go back and forth and we

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Speaker 1: fight sometimes, but we would always have each other's backs.

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Speaker 1: And um he just had a unique, unique understanding I

406
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,520
Speaker 1: think because he had been a part of a college

407
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Speaker 1: basketball coaching staff what the plight of a coach is.

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Speaker 1: And you know, we talked all the time about like

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Speaker 1: and I'm not going anywhere if you don't go anywhere,

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Speaker 1: and I'll never forget. I got a call from our

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Speaker 1: our president, Dr. Row. I was on the road recruiting.

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Speaker 1: It was like, I don't know, two thousand thirteen or

413
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Speaker 1: somewhere in there, and he said, what's going on with Norwood?

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Speaker 1: And I said, I don't know what you're talking about.

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Speaker 1: I'm in Pittsburgh at an AU tournament. And he said

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Speaker 1: he's I just got a call from the the chancellor

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Speaker 1: of the president at Minnesota and he's leaving. And that's

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Speaker 1: how I found out. And you know my history with

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Speaker 1: uh you know, coach Brown leaving my we talked about

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Speaker 1: that after my freshman year in college, and um, that

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Speaker 1: was that was really really hard for me, and so

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Speaker 1: I probably never would have left you if he wouldn't

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Speaker 1: have left your last year there. Um, you guys actually

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Speaker 1: weren't playing that well down Well, there's a reason for that, Doug,

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00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:09,600
Speaker 1: because Brian got hurt. Both they both got hurt. So again,

426
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Speaker 1: arguably the two best players in the six years hours

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Speaker 1: of VCU that we had, Trey Vian Graham Briante Webber.

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Speaker 1: We beat Rhode Island early in January at Rhode Island

429
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 1: in a really really just a hard fall game. Danny

430
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:26,720
Speaker 1: Hurley was a coach. He was in the midst of

431
00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,080
Speaker 1: building a heck of a program that ended up winning

432
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,280
Speaker 1: the eight ten a couple of years later. Um. So

433
00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 1: we go up there and and you know, we like

434
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,879
Speaker 1: to divide the game up into rounds, like every four minutes.

435
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,640
Speaker 1: A lot of coaches do that. So there's ten rounds. Yeah,

436
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:49,480
Speaker 1: and so we our theme for the game was, uh,

437
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:51,040
Speaker 1: you know that that this is gonna be a ten

438
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 1: round fight, and so we're keeping track every round and

439
00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 1: we we had this like scorecard like a boxing deal,

440
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:04,080
Speaker 1: and somehow we lost every round in the first half

441
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,120
Speaker 1: except for one. So we lost four out of five

442
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,760
Speaker 1: and we lost every round in the second half except

443
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 1: for the last round, and we still won the game somehow.

444
00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,760
Speaker 1: We we actually I think we were ranked like I

445
00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:23,639
Speaker 1: don't know, twenty four or something. We were in the

446
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:28,159
Speaker 1: top And they had actually given us this script before

447
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:32,760
Speaker 1: the game for what was gonna happen if we lost

448
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:37,679
Speaker 1: and the fans stormed the court, and so Briante Webber,

449
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,600
Speaker 1: who was like our emotional leader, was like, hell no,

450
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:43,560
Speaker 1: there's no way, like we we ain't letting them storm

451
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:46,920
Speaker 1: the court on us. Well, in that game, Travion Graham

452
00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 1: sustained a high ankle spring and he was never the same.

453
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:54,800
Speaker 1: Like he'll tell you he was playing on one leg.

454
00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 1: I mean, he lissed. He missed probably four or five games,

455
00:28:57,960 --> 00:28:59,760
Speaker 1: and he came back and he played, but he just

456
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,240
Speaker 1: was not the same. And he still was able to

457
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,360
Speaker 1: lead us in scoring. That's how good he was. UM

458
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 1: and then Briante Webber at the end of the month

459
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:13,280
Speaker 1: January worst seven and oh we're playing Richmond seven. Oh

460
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:16,520
Speaker 1: in the league. We're playing Richmond and UM at home.

461
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:19,440
Speaker 1: They come in there playing well. They did a great

462
00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:21,560
Speaker 1: job against us and he tears his A c L

463
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:26,760
Speaker 1: and in coaching one of the worst days of my life.

464
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:30,840
Speaker 1: I mean, um, I've never seen I've never been around

465
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 1: such an emotional player as him. And when the doctor

466
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:37,600
Speaker 1: told him that night after he got the m R

467
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 1: I that he had torn his A c L, M

468
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: c L and meniscus, it was like a morgue. I mean,

469
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 1: it was like it was like a funeral where like

470
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,680
Speaker 1: everyone like loses their mind and there was like, I'm

471
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:55,479
Speaker 1: teen people in there like crying and moaning, and I'm like,

472
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:57,440
Speaker 1: what the hell we love? We had lost the game

473
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 1: to Richmond that day, so yeah, that's why we didn't

474
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,960
Speaker 1: play as well down the stretch dog those guys. No

475
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:05,600
Speaker 1: I did. I don't know. I did the A ten

476
00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,240
Speaker 1: championship game. I called the game at Barclays. But what's

477
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,920
Speaker 1: remarkable is, like, again, you still found a way to

478
00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:17,680
Speaker 1: win the win the league right when the league tournament, um,

479
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:20,120
Speaker 1: and you know, I mean like you're using Doug Brooks,

480
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 1: You're you're just kind of figuring out guys that you

481
00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 1: can fit into that spot. And the thing about Beyonte

482
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,640
Speaker 1: is it's not just he's an emotional leader. The whole

483
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:32,000
Speaker 1: way you play is putting pressure on the basketball and

484
00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:35,080
Speaker 1: he's in any conversation at the best that there has

485
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,720
Speaker 1: ever been at doing that in college bat Like literally,

486
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:41,600
Speaker 1: if you you ask, like, there's never been a do

487
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:46,360
Speaker 1: that like that? And you talk about humility, you want

488
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 1: to hear the most humbling thing as a coach, and

489
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,360
Speaker 1: and and most of us coaches, if you coach long enough,

490
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:56,320
Speaker 1: you've been through this is you have a style of play,

491
00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:00,480
Speaker 1: or you have an offensive or defensive system or even

492
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 1: a specific play call that you like, and your team

493
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 1: is really good at it, and then there's an injury,

494
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:16,320
Speaker 1: and what happens is you're not as good and it's like, wow,

495
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:23,200
Speaker 1: that play or that style or that system, it needs

496
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 1: to change. But it really ain't ship if it's not

497
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,280
Speaker 1: for those dudes, you know what I mean. So that

498
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 1: that was definitely a reminder. We went from I think

499
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,200
Speaker 1: we lead the country and scoring or no side not

500
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:44,440
Speaker 1: scoring and steals and turnover margin Briante's freshman, sophomore, and

501
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,320
Speaker 1: junior season. That's hard to do three years in a

502
00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 1: row and lead the country and and and and turnover margin.

503
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:56,160
Speaker 1: And then he goes out and of course we don't

504
00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:01,840
Speaker 1: turn teams over as much twilightly. I mean Jonathan Williams,

505
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:04,120
Speaker 1: he used he was just a freshman. Terry Larry was

506
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 1: a freshman. He came in and gave us. I mean,

507
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,000
Speaker 1: we really won that eight ten championship with a super

508
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:14,440
Speaker 1: young group out there, and you know, I should have

509
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 1: been smart enough to know, hey, you know, even though

510
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,200
Speaker 1: I wasn't as close to those young guys as I

511
00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:25,480
Speaker 1: was to tray and and breathe. Um, those guys were

512
00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 1: gonna become you know, those older guys in time. But

513
00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:33,480
Speaker 1: I'll tell you I was. And this happens with coaches.

514
00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:41,680
Speaker 1: I was like so emotionally bothered that that team I

515
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 1: wasn't able to go do what I thought we could

516
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 1: have been able to go do had those guys been

517
00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:51,680
Speaker 1: healthy and had everything gone right. And that just really

518
00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 1: bothered me. Did it really upset me? But the reality is,

519
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 1: like you gotta get over that, Like get over that.

520
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 1: It's it's not like it only happened to you. It

521
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 1: happens every year all around the country. Um. I remember

522
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,600
Speaker 1: when Kenyan Martin went out, since that he had the

523
00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,440
Speaker 1: best team in the country, and then Kenyan Martin goes

524
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,080
Speaker 1: out and they don't you know, it just it happens.

525
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:18,200
Speaker 1: Did you know the Ohio State game was gonna be

526
00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 1: your last game? No, absolutely not. I I thought we

527
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,239
Speaker 1: were gonna win the game, first of all. But now

528
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:31,960
Speaker 1: I I really I never and I I'm glad that I,

529
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,640
Speaker 1: as a younger guy, was I had to where with

530
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:39,160
Speaker 1: all to think this way. But I never put any

531
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:48,320
Speaker 1: time whatsoever into any job stuff before the season got done.

532
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 1: What do you remember about that game? DeAngelo Russell? Uh

533
00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 1: was terrific. I remember that trey Vian Graham had a

534
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:01,600
Speaker 1: shot to win it for us. I think at the

535
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:07,719
Speaker 1: end of regulation, um practice, and I just remember we

536
00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:11,640
Speaker 1: did a pretty good job on Russell early. The kid

537
00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:17,680
Speaker 1: you mentioned, Doug Brooks, who was like a Tasmanian devil. Um.

538
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:19,879
Speaker 1: He was a freshman, didn't really know what he was doing,

539
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,840
Speaker 1: but he tried really hard. And then he got a

540
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:25,480
Speaker 1: couple of files and had to go out, and then

541
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:27,800
Speaker 1: we had another guy that went on him and Russell

542
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:32,640
Speaker 1: got loose, and then it was it was it was

543
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 1: tough from there, but I mean it was they had

544
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:38,600
Speaker 1: tap kid, it's in the NBA now had a good

545
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:42,640
Speaker 1: team and we we we went all the way down

546
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:45,040
Speaker 1: to the wire. I mean, Doug if you look at

547
00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 1: our n C a tournament loss is the last several years.

548
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:55,600
Speaker 1: I mean we uh we we We've We've been in

549
00:34:55,719 --> 00:35:00,759
Speaker 1: some some devastating games. But you know what, uh we

550
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:05,080
Speaker 1: also had the good fortune in two thousand eleven um

551
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:08,080
Speaker 1: to even make the tournament and make the run we did. So.

552
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:10,640
Speaker 1: I think if you coach long enough, you go through both,

553
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:18,960
Speaker 1: you get back to Richmond, you lose in Portland, Um,

554
00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:21,520
Speaker 1: how did it all take place? I was just in

555
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:25,840
Speaker 1: a dark place. I mean, I think this probably applies

556
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:28,160
Speaker 1: for a lot of coaches. There's like a mini depression

557
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:34,840
Speaker 1: that you have after the season gets done for several reasons.

558
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:38,319
Speaker 1: You know, one, your routine is kind of broken up,

559
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:42,719
Speaker 1: so you're you're you're in a pretty good routine of preparation, practice,

560
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:46,120
Speaker 1: you know, whatever you do with your guys, and and

561
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:48,960
Speaker 1: and then the games of course, and then that abruptly ends.

562
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:55,759
Speaker 1: And then you know, when you lose special players, like

563
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:59,439
Speaker 1: when their careers come to an end. Usually it's not

564
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:02,000
Speaker 1: more than one guy at once. Like in terms of

565
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:05,000
Speaker 1: like when I say special, I don't just mean like

566
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:09,600
Speaker 1: special guys, but like special players, guys whose numbers go

567
00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:13,560
Speaker 1: up in the rafters. So we had to but that

568
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:16,040
Speaker 1: we you know that we lost that at that time,

569
00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:20,640
Speaker 1: and it's like, you know, season ends. Um, so I

570
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,840
Speaker 1: just I was in I was in a bad place,

571
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:27,680
Speaker 1: pretty pretty bad place. And then but so so okay,

572
00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:33,920
Speaker 1: so what what? But but you're almost always a um,

573
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:36,400
Speaker 1: A positive dude. So when you say dark place, like

574
00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:39,399
Speaker 1: that means different things to different people. Does that mean

575
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,600
Speaker 1: you just get quiet? Does that mean you you stay time,

576
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:45,680
Speaker 1: you stay away from the office, and you're more with

577
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:47,960
Speaker 1: your wife and with your daughter, Like what is what

578
00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:50,640
Speaker 1: is it? Or is it really dark? Like what is

579
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:53,839
Speaker 1: a dark place for shock? A smart lae. Well, I

580
00:36:53,920 --> 00:37:00,080
Speaker 1: am a very very positive person. I tried to and

581
00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:04,719
Speaker 1: more so this is after you know, my my experience

582
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:15,360
Speaker 1: UM at Texas. UM gratitude is something that hopefully keeps

583
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:17,880
Speaker 1: me from getting in a dark place or pulls me

584
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:19,919
Speaker 1: out of a dark place if I if I ever

585
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,120
Speaker 1: get in one. Um, And I'm better at that now

586
00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:25,520
Speaker 1: than I was in two thousand and fifteen the time

587
00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:30,200
Speaker 1: you're talking about. But um, I you know, like a

588
00:37:30,239 --> 00:37:35,879
Speaker 1: lot of us, I have a family background of anxiety

589
00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:40,920
Speaker 1: and you know, um, I have family members of that

590
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,800
Speaker 1: was severe depression and you know, so a lot. You know,

591
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:45,880
Speaker 1: a lot of us have that kind of in our blood,

592
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:51,960
Speaker 1: and so, um, yeah, I was just I was down.

593
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:55,600
Speaker 1: I was I was upset that we lost. Um, you know,

594
00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:58,960
Speaker 1: you're mad at yourself a little bit. Um. You know,

595
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:02,320
Speaker 1: you're you know, you're just down. You're that you're losing

596
00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:05,080
Speaker 1: some guys and you know you didn't you just other

597
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,560
Speaker 1: things going on that you know. It's it's just easy

598
00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:12,000
Speaker 1: to kind of see the glass half empty at that point.

599
00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:16,200
Speaker 1: But you know, again, the benefit of time since then,

600
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:20,120
Speaker 1: it is the glass was it was full. I mean

601
00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:23,239
Speaker 1: it wasn't. It wasn't even half full. But uh, yeah,

602
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:25,239
Speaker 1: you're kind of going through that. And then I guess

603
00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:30,560
Speaker 1: to answer your question, Um, you know, you get a

604
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,720
Speaker 1: call from a search firm about you know, in this case,

605
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:39,759
Speaker 1: Texas and are you interested and um, it was a

606
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,520
Speaker 1: bunch of conversations that occurred. Um, for whatever reason, I

607
00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:45,840
Speaker 1: decided out you know that I was, I was interested

608
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,880
Speaker 1: in that. And you know, the more I listened to

609
00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 1: it and uh you know, heard about it, the more

610
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,000
Speaker 1: interested I was. It was the first time I really

611
00:38:55,000 --> 00:39:00,919
Speaker 1: took one of those things seriously. I remember a couple

612
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:05,600
Speaker 1: of years before, Um, there was a you know, potential

613
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:10,000
Speaker 1: opportunity with U c l A. And I remember somebody

614
00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:14,040
Speaker 1: telling me like, hey, don't go too far down that

615
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:16,000
Speaker 1: road because you're you're gonna end up taking that job

616
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:19,319
Speaker 1: if you do. And so I didn't. I didn't go

617
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:23,600
Speaker 1: down the road. Um why not? Why not? It's U

618
00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:33,200
Speaker 1: c l A. Trey, Vian Graham, and Briante whateber Um.

619
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:35,719
Speaker 1: Those guys were probably like sophomores or something at the time.

620
00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 1: Um So anyway, I just I just I listened, you

621
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:43,560
Speaker 1: know more, and and uh kind of went down the

622
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:48,399
Speaker 1: road and um so so okay, So but but help

623
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,800
Speaker 1: me out with this. How does how does your mind

624
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:52,840
Speaker 1: work with it? Because I think this part is fascinating

625
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:56,840
Speaker 1: because I've I've dealt with changing jobs as well. Um,

626
00:39:56,840 --> 00:40:01,760
Speaker 1: how early in the process did you tell your wife immediately? Yeah, okay,

627
00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:06,279
Speaker 1: so what when you originally told her? What was what

628
00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:10,719
Speaker 1: did she say? Well? Listen, Um, I've tried to get

629
00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:15,160
Speaker 1: better at this, but I used to say that I'm

630
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:18,440
Speaker 1: not very good with change. I don't like change. So

631
00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:21,040
Speaker 1: I've tried to change that. But definitely two thousand and fifteen,

632
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:23,839
Speaker 1: that's that's me, Like I don't like change. I don't

633
00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:27,319
Speaker 1: like changing a pair of shoes that I wear every day.

634
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:31,800
Speaker 1: I don't like changing anything. My wife is the best

635
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:37,560
Speaker 1: with change, and so she is there's something that comes up,

636
00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:42,960
Speaker 1: all right, let's go, let's let's do it. Um she uh.

637
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:46,160
Speaker 1: So when that came up, she was, hey, let's take

638
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:48,440
Speaker 1: a look at it. That's that's that sounds exciting, it

639
00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:55,280
Speaker 1: sounds interesting. So so it's interesting because you know, I think,

640
00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:58,600
Speaker 1: and again I'm not I'm good with change. There's been

641
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:03,120
Speaker 1: a lot of change in my life, some good, some bad. Um.

642
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:04,799
Speaker 1: But one of the things when you look at a

643
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:06,719
Speaker 1: new job is, all right, when do we start looking

644
00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:09,759
Speaker 1: at real estate? Let me start looking at schools? Right

645
00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,719
Speaker 1: when we go to realtor dot com? And so do

646
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:16,240
Speaker 1: you remember in the process when my wife lives on

647
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,759
Speaker 1: real realtor dot com. She lives on that. That's a

648
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:24,040
Speaker 1: hobby for her. So I mean, it's the best look

649
00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:25,839
Speaker 1: at look at the look at the market, and look

650
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:28,879
Speaker 1: at the market. She On any given night, we might

651
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:33,400
Speaker 1: be like sitting in the bed and this was two fifteen,

652
00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:36,880
Speaker 1: or it could be any time, and it might be hey, uh,

653
00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:41,000
Speaker 1: you know when when we're done coaching, Uh, you know,

654
00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:44,200
Speaker 1: it might be cool to live in San Diego, and

655
00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:46,680
Speaker 1: then she'll pull that up and like, no, it's like

656
00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:50,279
Speaker 1: look at real estate there. So yeah, she she lives

657
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,600
Speaker 1: on that, so it's not even really you know, a

658
00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:54,880
Speaker 1: job comes up and she looks at she's probably already

659
00:41:54,880 --> 00:42:01,040
Speaker 1: looked at it. Um, did you think it was your floor? Uh?

660
00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:04,759
Speaker 1: And I mean that because you're you're you speak in

661
00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:11,040
Speaker 1: revered tones towards Billy. Um. And and like there's a

662
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:16,920
Speaker 1: lot of similarities there, right, football school, big crowd state school,

663
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:19,880
Speaker 1: good academic school, but basketball has never been. On the

664
00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:22,560
Speaker 1: other hand, like a lot of people thought Texas the

665
00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:25,239
Speaker 1: best job in the country, not just because the resources,

666
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:28,919
Speaker 1: because people care, but they don't really care. And while

667
00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:31,160
Speaker 1: that can suck, especially in the non conference and the

668
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:34,520
Speaker 1: place isn't always full, it allows you to, you think,

669
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:36,560
Speaker 1: it allows you to do your job because they don't

670
00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:40,160
Speaker 1: pay attention until football is over, Right, So there's some bonuses.

671
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:47,360
Speaker 1: Was was that part of the exactly and what Billy

672
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:50,239
Speaker 1: had done it at Florida and Billy Billy was still

673
00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:55,320
Speaker 1: at Florida at the time he had he hadn't left yet. Um,

674
00:42:55,400 --> 00:43:00,120
Speaker 1: it was absolutely a template, Like, wow, it'd be it

675
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:04,960
Speaker 1: would be cool too, try to go do something like that.

676
00:43:05,239 --> 00:43:07,520
Speaker 1: I wasn't not eve enough to think I could do

677
00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:12,280
Speaker 1: exactly you know what he did. But absolutely the comparison

678
00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:18,720
Speaker 1: of those schools for sure, what about Texas in terms

679
00:43:18,719 --> 00:43:22,400
Speaker 1: of it's a different place. So I'll let you And

680
00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:26,400
Speaker 1: so this was when you took the job. Um, I

681
00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:28,880
Speaker 1: had a back forth, my closest friend that I played

682
00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:31,359
Speaker 1: with the two of them, one of his guy Brian

683
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:35,360
Speaker 1: mottin aughty, his son's the top five freshman the country

684
00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:37,680
Speaker 1: and now he's a high school coach. And Joe Atkins

685
00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:39,919
Speaker 1: is my two guard. And we got I'll never forget.

686
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:44,440
Speaker 1: We got in this like heated debate and I said like, man,

687
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:46,640
Speaker 1: I ain't gonna work and they're like why, and I said,

688
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:49,399
Speaker 1: because you know, it's Texas, so they're gonna take all

689
00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:52,560
Speaker 1: those five star Texas big dudes. And that ain't who

690
00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:55,520
Speaker 1: Shoka is. Like Shaka's got Junkyard dogs. And my boy

691
00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:57,279
Speaker 1: Joe was like, yeah, but if he just takes the

692
00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:00,120
Speaker 1: junkyard dogs, there's That's how they play in Texas US

693
00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:02,080
Speaker 1: in high school. They go up and down. They just

694
00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:04,160
Speaker 1: get after it. It's not they don't really coach him

695
00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:06,040
Speaker 1: in high school, it's like if he takes the right

696
00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:09,839
Speaker 1: and I said, that's interesting. It really changed my perspective

697
00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:12,360
Speaker 1: on it. And then Brian was kind of in the middle.

698
00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:14,800
Speaker 1: He's like, look, man, you can play that way with anybody.

699
00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:17,440
Speaker 1: It's just about the coach and about getting getting I

700
00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:19,880
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, but it's it's hard because like you

701
00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:22,759
Speaker 1: guys know, Texas different, like they get dudes, and those

702
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:25,640
Speaker 1: guys are worried about going to league and I don't.

703
00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:28,600
Speaker 1: I don't know. So that was that was our kind

704
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:33,040
Speaker 1: of internal debate as fans of yours and also you know,

705
00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:36,040
Speaker 1: like we're Oaklahoma stake guys were worried about os U

706
00:44:36,239 --> 00:44:39,680
Speaker 1: versus versus Texas. In your mind, what do you think

707
00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:42,800
Speaker 1: it was gonna look like? I was really naive. I

708
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:49,080
Speaker 1: didn't even I think that much about uh, those sorts

709
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:52,840
Speaker 1: of things. So what did you? What? What? What? What is?

710
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:59,040
Speaker 1: How does it work? In your brain? There's a certain

711
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:06,480
Speaker 1: way at we go about coaching and trying to build

712
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:11,520
Speaker 1: a program and trying to help players grow and get better.

713
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:16,799
Speaker 1: There's a way we go about recruiting, and there's a

714
00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:21,000
Speaker 1: way we go about cultural building and those sorts of things.

715
00:45:22,600 --> 00:45:27,800
Speaker 1: And let's go see if that works down there, boots

716
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:31,040
Speaker 1: on the ground first time. What's what's that like? Because

717
00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:35,160
Speaker 1: now it's very different. The first time you're hired, you like,

718
00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:38,480
Speaker 1: it happened really fast. You weren't expecting. Now you've been

719
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:40,640
Speaker 1: in a place, you know, more than half a decade,

720
00:45:40,719 --> 00:45:44,960
Speaker 1: you've had storage success. It's Texas. You know, you're throwing

721
00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:53,160
Speaker 1: up the horns. What do you remember about that first day? Well, listen,

722
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:57,800
Speaker 1: and I told you, I told you before all this, um,

723
00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:02,040
Speaker 1: and one thing I would never do is, you know,

724
00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:05,680
Speaker 1: speak in any negative way towards anyone or any place.

725
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:10,680
Speaker 1: Texas is a wonderful place. Um. There's great, great people there.

726
00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:13,560
Speaker 1: I wouldn't trade. And my wife says this all the time.

727
00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:19,920
Speaker 1: The experiences we had there, the people that we met, UM,

728
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:23,359
Speaker 1: the folks we were around, some of the things that

729
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:26,920
Speaker 1: we learned. I mean you talk about learning from experiences.

730
00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:37,520
Speaker 1: We had, um, three different presidents, we had, let's see,

731
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:42,920
Speaker 1: one to three different a d s Um. You know.

732
00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:48,640
Speaker 1: I was around guys like Mac Brown, guys like Augie Garrito,

733
00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:54,759
Speaker 1: who's maybe the best college baseball coach of all time. UM,

734
00:46:54,800 --> 00:47:00,160
Speaker 1: And so it was just phenomenal. I'm so grateful for

735
00:47:01,239 --> 00:47:03,600
Speaker 1: most importantly the players I was around there. But it

736
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:06,880
Speaker 1: was like from the beginning, like just a shock, like

737
00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:14,560
Speaker 1: it wasn't necessarily what my naive mind may be expected. Um. Okay,

738
00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:18,560
Speaker 1: so here here's here's the question. Okay, when was the

739
00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:24,640
Speaker 1: moment that you thought, I, that'sn't fit. That's pretty stubborn.

740
00:47:24,719 --> 00:47:27,160
Speaker 1: So I don't know if there was every ever one

741
00:47:27,239 --> 00:47:35,719
Speaker 1: moment with that. Um. I think that was a I

742
00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:43,719
Speaker 1: think slowly learning that there's maybe a different way that

743
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:50,480
Speaker 1: needed to be followed to to create success there. And um,

744
00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:56,120
Speaker 1: I'll never forget this was kind of a a down

745
00:47:56,200 --> 00:47:58,680
Speaker 1: moment for me there. I was in my second year

746
00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:03,879
Speaker 1: and and there was a coach there that had been

747
00:48:03,960 --> 00:48:08,920
Speaker 1: really really successful in another sport, um, not not men's basketball,

748
00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:13,640
Speaker 1: but another sport. And she came into my office and

749
00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:19,319
Speaker 1: she shut the door and she was very direct. She said, Look,

750
00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:24,279
Speaker 1: she said, I like you, I respect you, and she

751
00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:27,480
Speaker 1: said I even really respect the way that you go

752
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:32,120
Speaker 1: about things. But I'm just here to tell you that

753
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:37,319
Speaker 1: it doesn't work like that here. I said, well, what

754
00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:43,760
Speaker 1: do you mean? And she said this whole relationship thing,

755
00:48:43,920 --> 00:48:48,239
Speaker 1: you know, Um, like you making it just about that

756
00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:51,920
Speaker 1: like that? It doesn't work that way. And I so

757
00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:55,040
Speaker 1: she left and again I'm I'm stubborn. I'm like, yes

758
00:48:55,080 --> 00:49:01,640
Speaker 1: it does, Like that's that's not true. Um. And but

759
00:49:01,680 --> 00:49:04,640
Speaker 1: it always kind of stuck with me the point that

760
00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:07,919
Speaker 1: she was trying to make. Um. And I don't think

761
00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:11,279
Speaker 1: it's a it's a black and white, cut and dry thing.

762
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:13,480
Speaker 1: I don't think it's like it does or it doesn't.

763
00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:20,560
Speaker 1: But it's just more difficult, it's more it's it's more transactional.

764
00:49:20,719 --> 00:49:24,000
Speaker 1: Is that is that there's more complexity to it. And

765
00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:29,680
Speaker 1: you know, and listen, we're talking about an evolving time

766
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:33,759
Speaker 1: to in college basketball. I mean, even where college basketball

767
00:49:33,880 --> 00:49:37,360
Speaker 1: is now versus where it was in two thousand fifteen,

768
00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:43,840
Speaker 1: two thousand and sixteen is much much different. Um, Kevin

769
00:49:43,880 --> 00:49:49,560
Speaker 1: Durant has got to be the finest college basketball player,

770
00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:53,880
Speaker 1: you know, if you just in terms of like a

771
00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:58,560
Speaker 1: basketball player since guys, you know, since the one and

772
00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:05,879
Speaker 1: done era started and he was so good to us

773
00:50:06,120 --> 00:50:09,439
Speaker 1: in the program and it was crazy, like how how

774
00:50:09,560 --> 00:50:14,920
Speaker 1: kind he was, our giving he was, Um, yeah, they

775
00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:19,840
Speaker 1: didn't play for you is unbelievable. I mean, this guy's heart. People,

776
00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:24,200
Speaker 1: people should really appreciate, you know what type of person

777
00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:28,400
Speaker 1: this guy is, and and and also just the enjoyment

778
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:31,560
Speaker 1: he had for just hoops. He would come back and

779
00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:34,120
Speaker 1: the thing he would enjoy the most is just sitting

780
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:37,200
Speaker 1: in the locker room with the guys and like for

781
00:50:37,600 --> 00:50:41,280
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes being one of the guys, like not having

782
00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:45,200
Speaker 1: to be This'll give I'll give you, I'll do you

783
00:50:45,239 --> 00:50:48,359
Speaker 1: give you my favorite Katie's story. Okay, so I'm very

784
00:50:48,360 --> 00:50:52,120
Speaker 1: close to Scotty Brooks. Scotty was, Uh, he was one

785
00:50:52,120 --> 00:50:55,520
Speaker 1: of the guys I grew up idolizing. He played at

786
00:50:55,600 --> 00:50:59,520
Speaker 1: UC Irvine, which is tenants from my house, and they

787
00:50:59,560 --> 00:51:01,279
Speaker 1: used to have big summer run with all the U

788
00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:03,120
Speaker 1: c I guys and they had a lot of pros

789
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:06,400
Speaker 1: back then, and every once while early on they let

790
00:51:06,440 --> 00:51:07,600
Speaker 1: me hop in a couple of games and then I

791
00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:11,400
Speaker 1: started play and it was it was awesome. So he

792
00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:15,160
Speaker 1: told me because after the first time they went to

793
00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:20,799
Speaker 1: the playoffs, they lost to the Lakers, and uh, he

794
00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:24,120
Speaker 1: had exit meetings with the guys the next day and

795
00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:25,759
Speaker 1: he said, Kevin, what are you what are you doing?

796
00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:27,279
Speaker 1: And He's like, well, you know, I just you know,

797
00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:28,919
Speaker 1: I gotta get in the lab. I gotta get to work.

798
00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:31,320
Speaker 1: I want to. You know, He's like, listen, here's the

799
00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:34,600
Speaker 1: number for a travel agent. Okay, I need you to

800
00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:38,560
Speaker 1: not touch a basketball for three weeks. Because as as

801
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:41,239
Speaker 1: I'm sure you know, like they didn't, he had to

802
00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:44,279
Speaker 1: manage practicing knowing that k D one would come in

803
00:51:44,360 --> 00:51:47,200
Speaker 1: on his own and then too after practice all the

804
00:51:47,239 --> 00:51:51,120
Speaker 1: guys would stay and because he would keep working. So

805
00:51:51,360 --> 00:51:53,879
Speaker 1: he actually like, you need to take at least two

806
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:56,840
Speaker 1: of not three weeks and not touch a basketball. I

807
00:51:56,920 --> 00:52:00,520
Speaker 1: got you, coach, I got you. Call him kick. He's like,

808
00:52:00,560 --> 00:52:02,799
Speaker 1: I'll call him for you. So he set him up.

809
00:52:02,840 --> 00:52:07,080
Speaker 1: He's going to some island whatever. Um, so you know,

810
00:52:07,160 --> 00:52:09,320
Speaker 1: I gotta fly home for a day or two. The

811
00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:13,480
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go on this trip. Okay, call me tomorrow. Hey,

812
00:52:13,520 --> 00:52:18,200
Speaker 1: at like eleven o'clock. So eleven o'clock the next day comes,

813
00:52:18,520 --> 00:52:20,640
Speaker 1: they can't get ahold of him. Five in the afternoon,

814
00:52:21,600 --> 00:52:24,080
Speaker 1: he calls me. It's like, Kevin, where you've been. He's like, A,

815
00:52:24,239 --> 00:52:25,480
Speaker 1: you know, I went to my old you know, I

816
00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:30,960
Speaker 1: was hooping. It's like we just lost yesterday, you know,

817
00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:35,200
Speaker 1: just just hooping, just just a hooper. So so the

818
00:52:35,239 --> 00:52:41,480
Speaker 1: reason I bring him up is he from a recruiting standpoint,

819
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:48,080
Speaker 1: was one of the best things about Texas basketball. Obviously.

820
00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:54,919
Speaker 1: I mean, you got guys who revere him and they're

821
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:57,840
Speaker 1: making a college back, they're they're making a recruiting decision,

822
00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:01,560
Speaker 1: and we are at the time where Kevin you know,

823
00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:10,440
Speaker 1: Texas is Kevin Durant School and um. But so juxtaposed

824
00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:16,120
Speaker 1: that with every year in the off season, he would come,

825
00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:19,720
Speaker 1: and he would he would usually come once or twice

826
00:53:19,760 --> 00:53:25,680
Speaker 1: a year and play pick up with the guys and sometimes,

827
00:53:26,719 --> 00:53:30,640
Speaker 1: you know, we might sometimes uh, all of our guys

828
00:53:30,640 --> 00:53:32,799
Speaker 1: would be in their playing sometimes there might even be

829
00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:35,160
Speaker 1: like a recruit company maybe there. It may have come

830
00:53:35,200 --> 00:53:40,920
Speaker 1: and he may have played, and we're not allowed to

831
00:53:40,960 --> 00:53:44,560
Speaker 1: be in there as coaches, but you would hear about

832
00:53:44,600 --> 00:53:49,000
Speaker 1: what happened. And every year there would be one or

833
00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:54,000
Speaker 1: two players from the team that literally thought they could

834
00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:57,120
Speaker 1: guard Kevin Durant like and they would kind of challenge,

835
00:53:57,120 --> 00:54:00,320
Speaker 1: you know, I'm you know, try my heart list and

836
00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:04,879
Speaker 1: go after this. And it kind of dawned on me

837
00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:12,080
Speaker 1: that one of the challenges of being there is those

838
00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:15,480
Speaker 1: guys don't know that they're not him. And I know

839
00:54:15,600 --> 00:54:20,520
Speaker 1: that sounds crazy because it doesn't you know, he's one

840
00:54:20,560 --> 00:54:22,960
Speaker 1: of the top five players probably to ever play the game.

841
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:30,360
Speaker 1: But um it, in some ways it was it was

842
00:54:30,520 --> 00:54:36,640
Speaker 1: hard for guys there two and even families around them

843
00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:39,200
Speaker 1: to let go of the fact or come to grips

844
00:54:39,239 --> 00:54:43,799
Speaker 1: with the fact that, yeah, you know, like that, that

845
00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:48,760
Speaker 1: that's not your path. And there's a lot more there

846
00:54:48,800 --> 00:54:51,960
Speaker 1: to that that affects a guy's career and affects the

847
00:54:51,960 --> 00:54:54,600
Speaker 1: team and affects winning and all those things. But I

848
00:54:54,680 --> 00:55:02,000
Speaker 1: just bring that story up as an example of maybe complexity.

849
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:07,000
Speaker 1: The greatest pride you have in your time of Texas

850
00:55:08,200 --> 00:55:15,800
Speaker 1: is what player or what moment? That's a great question

851
00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:24,719
Speaker 1: of Huh, It's hard to pick one. I mean, there's

852
00:55:24,800 --> 00:55:29,480
Speaker 1: so many guys that, um it was. It was so

853
00:55:29,600 --> 00:55:34,600
Speaker 1: much fun being around. I would say this might be

854
00:55:34,600 --> 00:55:38,040
Speaker 1: a cop out, but if you if you take some

855
00:55:38,160 --> 00:55:42,400
Speaker 1: of the special players, um that that I got to

856
00:55:42,520 --> 00:55:45,279
Speaker 1: coach down there, and you just kind of put them

857
00:55:45,320 --> 00:55:49,680
Speaker 1: all together, the the moments that they had on the

858
00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:54,719
Speaker 1: court where you're standing there as their coach and then

859
00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:58,680
Speaker 1: they go do something crazy like in a good way

860
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:03,840
Speaker 1: and you're like, wow, like that was really cool, Like

861
00:56:04,440 --> 00:56:08,640
Speaker 1: and he came in, um, you know, eight months ago

862
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:12,719
Speaker 1: and was crying in the first workout and now he's

863
00:56:12,760 --> 00:56:16,600
Speaker 1: doing that, you know, so that that was that was

864
00:56:16,640 --> 00:56:23,640
Speaker 1: pretty awesome. You know, we we we had some just

865
00:56:23,800 --> 00:56:26,719
Speaker 1: unbelievable winds, you know that that there were so much

866
00:56:26,719 --> 00:56:29,040
Speaker 1: fun to be a part of. And then again some

867
00:56:30,920 --> 00:56:33,480
Speaker 1: ten out of tend devastating. You know if a ten

868
00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:38,840
Speaker 1: is the most devastating um losses that that you know

869
00:56:38,880 --> 00:56:42,600
Speaker 1: a coach or a team can go through. How do

870
00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:48,120
Speaker 1: you deal Andrew Jones gets cancer? Right, Like, there's a

871
00:56:48,160 --> 00:56:52,760
Speaker 1: lot of stuff college coaches go through, but as you said,

872
00:56:52,880 --> 00:56:56,480
Speaker 1: relationships are everything to you. You get extremely close to guys.

873
00:56:57,120 --> 00:57:00,160
Speaker 1: If you've ever met Andrew Jones, you know, like he's

874
00:57:00,160 --> 00:57:04,640
Speaker 1: a special kid, right, special kid. But what what is

875
00:57:04,680 --> 00:57:11,239
Speaker 1: that like for you to go through life changing? Um?

876
00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:18,160
Speaker 1: When he was diagnosed, I mean, just as a coach

877
00:57:18,240 --> 00:57:23,320
Speaker 1: had never been through any type of uh, you know

878
00:57:23,440 --> 00:57:26,680
Speaker 1: player I coached having that severe of an illness and

879
00:57:26,720 --> 00:57:34,080
Speaker 1: it happened so fast. Um, and then did he remind me?

880
00:57:34,120 --> 00:57:36,080
Speaker 1: Did he get hurt in the game? And that's how

881
00:57:36,080 --> 00:57:38,120
Speaker 1: they that's how they did a bunch of tests on him.

882
00:57:38,320 --> 00:57:43,520
Speaker 1: Well he got hurt. We played at VCU actually um,

883
00:57:43,560 --> 00:57:47,560
Speaker 1: and he he broke his wrist and so he was out.

884
00:57:48,880 --> 00:57:54,080
Speaker 1: And then when he came back and got cleared, he

885
00:57:54,160 --> 00:57:59,720
Speaker 1: started practicing and he just didn't have much energy at all.

886
00:58:01,600 --> 00:58:06,920
Speaker 1: And it was like, man, it's it's weird, Like he

887
00:58:06,920 --> 00:58:09,800
Speaker 1: he wasn't out that long to to to have gotten

888
00:58:10,240 --> 00:58:17,000
Speaker 1: you know, gotten that far out of shape. And eventually

889
00:58:17,120 --> 00:58:21,880
Speaker 1: it took it took some time, but eventually, um, he

890
00:58:22,000 --> 00:58:28,080
Speaker 1: ended up getting you know, the testing required too, you know,

891
00:58:28,160 --> 00:58:31,000
Speaker 1: to to to get the diagnosis that he got. And

892
00:58:31,040 --> 00:58:34,800
Speaker 1: then when when the diagnosis occurred, like I said, it

893
00:58:34,880 --> 00:58:40,400
Speaker 1: just it went so fast. He also had like triple pneumonia.

894
00:58:40,680 --> 00:58:42,200
Speaker 1: I don't even know if that's possible, but he had

895
00:58:42,200 --> 00:58:47,760
Speaker 1: like three different types of pneumonia and he just and

896
00:58:47,880 --> 00:58:52,040
Speaker 1: he Andrew Jones is one of the toughest guys I've

897
00:58:52,120 --> 00:58:57,920
Speaker 1: ever seen on and off the court. And the way

898
00:58:57,960 --> 00:59:02,240
Speaker 1: that he battled and fought after like what was happening

899
00:59:02,280 --> 00:59:07,080
Speaker 1: inside of his body, there's nothing in basketball and sports

900
00:59:07,120 --> 00:59:10,400
Speaker 1: that can compare to that. But he was able to

901
00:59:10,520 --> 00:59:16,480
Speaker 1: use basketball and you know, the striving to return to

902
00:59:16,600 --> 00:59:20,960
Speaker 1: plane as such a powerful motivation. I mean, I never

903
00:59:21,440 --> 00:59:26,040
Speaker 1: forget I tried to go visit him once a week.

904
00:59:26,960 --> 00:59:29,000
Speaker 1: And you know, because he got he got moved to

905
00:59:29,120 --> 00:59:31,280
Speaker 1: m D. Anderson, which is one of the best cancer

906
00:59:31,320 --> 00:59:34,440
Speaker 1: hospitals in the country, which is in Houston, is part

907
00:59:34,440 --> 00:59:38,240
Speaker 1: of the UT system, and it was we're so thankful

908
00:59:38,320 --> 00:59:40,720
Speaker 1: that that he was moved because and I learned this

909
00:59:41,920 --> 00:59:46,520
Speaker 1: the treatment protocol they put him on there, it was

910
00:59:46,600 --> 00:59:49,000
Speaker 1: like night and day different than what they had him

911
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:52,280
Speaker 1: on at the previous hospital, which is it's kind of scary,

912
00:59:52,560 --> 00:59:57,120
Speaker 1: you know. Um. And but when I would go visit him,

913
00:59:57,120 --> 01:00:00,360
Speaker 1: like he lost all this weight and I mean, he's

914
01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:03,440
Speaker 1: sitting there, it's hard for him to get up. But

915
01:00:03,520 --> 01:00:07,640
Speaker 1: he just had this this determination to him that now

916
01:00:07,680 --> 01:00:11,400
Speaker 1: I'm coming back and we're like Andrew, like, man, don't

917
01:00:11,400 --> 01:00:14,720
Speaker 1: even worry about basketball right now. But it was actually

918
01:00:14,720 --> 01:00:19,840
Speaker 1: helpful for him to utilize that as as a driver

919
01:00:20,680 --> 01:00:22,920
Speaker 1: to to to fight through all the things he had

920
01:00:22,960 --> 01:00:26,080
Speaker 1: to fight through. And you know, he he taught all

921
01:00:26,120 --> 01:00:30,840
Speaker 1: of us so much. The last thing, I know, you

922
01:00:30,880 --> 01:00:37,240
Speaker 1: gotta go, um, how do you how do you apply

923
01:00:37,400 --> 01:00:39,560
Speaker 1: that as a coach? Right, because it's a it's a

924
01:00:40,320 --> 01:00:43,480
Speaker 1: it's a you know, you don't want to do the

925
01:00:43,720 --> 01:00:46,160
Speaker 1: do it for Johnny, right or do one for the one,

926
01:00:46,200 --> 01:00:48,160
Speaker 1: one for the gipper. On the other hand, it is

927
01:00:48,360 --> 01:00:50,160
Speaker 1: on your mind and it is a part of it.

928
01:00:50,320 --> 01:00:52,880
Speaker 1: How do you It's kind of like today losing your

929
01:00:52,920 --> 01:00:55,240
Speaker 1: own coach, Like how do you how much do you

930
01:00:55,320 --> 01:00:57,320
Speaker 1: drawn it? Did you draw it? Like? What? What? What

931
01:00:57,400 --> 01:00:59,680
Speaker 1: was that like to still do your job knowing one

932
01:00:59,720 --> 01:01:02,120
Speaker 1: of your players, which is like one of your sons,

933
01:01:03,160 --> 01:01:05,800
Speaker 1: is in a hospital in Houston, all you guys are

934
01:01:05,800 --> 01:01:11,640
Speaker 1: trying to win games. Well, maybe the most emotionally intense

935
01:01:11,760 --> 01:01:15,720
Speaker 1: moment that I've ever been part of with a team

936
01:01:17,560 --> 01:01:25,320
Speaker 1: was a couple of days after he got diagnosed UM.

937
01:01:27,200 --> 01:01:33,560
Speaker 1: His dad gave us the okay to tell the team

938
01:01:33,600 --> 01:01:37,840
Speaker 1: because all our guys knew at that point was that

939
01:01:37,960 --> 01:01:43,800
Speaker 1: he wasn't around UM, and but they didn't they didn't

940
01:01:43,800 --> 01:01:46,880
Speaker 1: really know what was going on. They knew something was

941
01:01:46,920 --> 01:01:50,320
Speaker 1: wrong obviously, but they didn't know what it was. And

942
01:01:50,440 --> 01:01:55,160
Speaker 1: so I'll never forget. Like we we had a younger team.

943
01:01:55,160 --> 01:01:58,600
Speaker 1: We didn't have any seniors that year, so almost all

944
01:01:58,640 --> 01:02:01,280
Speaker 1: of our guys, I think every one of our guys

945
01:02:01,560 --> 01:02:04,920
Speaker 1: lived in the dorm, like the same dorm, and so

946
01:02:07,200 --> 01:02:10,120
Speaker 1: there was this lounge in the dorm. We got them

947
01:02:10,160 --> 01:02:12,919
Speaker 1: together that night. We had practiced earlier in the day.

948
01:02:14,160 --> 01:02:20,120
Speaker 1: This was over the holiday break. Um, we had practiced

949
01:02:20,160 --> 01:02:21,760
Speaker 1: earlier in the day, and we got we got them

950
01:02:21,760 --> 01:02:29,480
Speaker 1: all together, and there's no right way to communicate something

951
01:02:29,520 --> 01:02:33,520
Speaker 1: like that. And so we get the guys, the coaches

952
01:02:33,560 --> 01:02:38,560
Speaker 1: are in there and we tell them about the diagnosis

953
01:02:39,480 --> 01:02:48,480
Speaker 1: and wow, like they it was so immense, emotionally intense,

954
01:02:48,920 --> 01:02:55,400
Speaker 1: and how upset they were. It was crazy. Um. And

955
01:02:55,440 --> 01:02:59,320
Speaker 1: again it's it's a it's a reminder of as you've

956
01:02:59,320 --> 01:03:05,520
Speaker 1: talked about, how close the bond is between guys on

957
01:03:05,640 --> 01:03:09,880
Speaker 1: a team that go through you know, unique experiences together.

958
01:03:11,320 --> 01:03:13,919
Speaker 1: And then we were i think getting ready to play

959
01:03:13,960 --> 01:03:18,880
Speaker 1: TCU like the next night at home, and it was like,

960
01:03:18,920 --> 01:03:24,120
Speaker 1: how the heck are we gonna do this? Um, But yeah,

961
01:03:24,120 --> 01:03:27,160
Speaker 1: that was what we said to the team. That's how

962
01:03:27,160 --> 01:03:31,120
Speaker 1: we communicated to the team, and um, those guys kind

963
01:03:31,120 --> 01:03:35,200
Speaker 1: of took it from there. I mean, it was it

964
01:03:35,320 --> 01:03:40,880
Speaker 1: was absolutely like, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're

965
01:03:40,880 --> 01:03:43,920
Speaker 1: gonna honor him. But at the same time, there was

966
01:03:44,000 --> 01:03:47,000
Speaker 1: like all these different emotions that they're going through. So

967
01:03:47,120 --> 01:03:48,840
Speaker 1: you mean, you want to honor him, you want to

968
01:03:49,360 --> 01:03:52,920
Speaker 1: you want to win for him, but you also like

969
01:03:53,040 --> 01:03:57,560
Speaker 1: there's you know, those guys really related to him as well,

970
01:03:57,600 --> 01:04:04,080
Speaker 1: and you know, m you don't necessarily feel like going

971
01:04:04,160 --> 01:04:07,240
Speaker 1: and playing a college basketball game with some of those

972
01:04:07,440 --> 01:04:14,520
Speaker 1: emotions going through. Well, you had obviously some emotion there

973
01:04:15,200 --> 01:04:19,920
Speaker 1: and really kind of thoughtful perspective, and maybe you're gonna

974
01:04:19,920 --> 01:04:24,480
Speaker 1: look into why he ultimately left Texas and found a

975
01:04:24,560 --> 01:04:29,120
Speaker 1: home at Markette. That I believe is our final portion

976
01:04:29,320 --> 01:04:32,760
Speaker 1: of the Shaka Smart discussion, which you'll just have to

977
01:04:32,800 --> 01:04:35,760
Speaker 1: wait in bated breath in the meantime. This is a

978
01:04:35,760 --> 01:04:38,240
Speaker 1: good one to remind you that one that show is

979
01:04:38,320 --> 01:04:42,160
Speaker 1: daily three to five Eastern time on Fox Court Radio

980
01:04:42,280 --> 01:04:44,520
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app. That's Eastern time, of course,

981
01:04:45,160 --> 01:04:49,520
Speaker 1: twelve to two Pacific Ghost time. And a reminder that

982
01:04:49,760 --> 01:04:52,200
Speaker 1: the other parts of the Shot to Smart conversation are

983
01:04:52,920 --> 01:04:55,240
Speaker 1: probably in your queue and you can definitely search some

984
01:04:55,320 --> 01:04:58,960
Speaker 1: and find them equally good as he's equally open and

985
01:04:59,160 --> 01:05:02,040
Speaker 1: kind of been remarkable one how open he's been about

986
01:05:02,080 --> 01:05:04,760
Speaker 1: his career and how much time he shared with us

987
01:05:05,280 --> 01:05:07,560
Speaker 1: during a college basketball season where Marquette has been a

988
01:05:07,560 --> 01:05:11,959
Speaker 1: perennial top five, top two. All right, more to come

989
01:05:12,240 --> 01:05:15,880
Speaker 1: on on the Shaka smart side. I hope you enjoyed listening.

990
01:05:16,560 --> 01:05:18,600
Speaker 1: I'm Doug got out Lee. This is all part