Speaker 1: The volume. The draymond green show is presented by a
Speaker 1: Fan Duel Sports Book. There's no better place to bet
Speaker 1: the action than on Fanduel sports book during the football season.
Speaker 1: It's easy to use, it's safe and secure. You get
Speaker 1: payouts and as fast as two hours. There's so many
Speaker 1: bet types. My favorite same game parlay bets. There's live betting,
Speaker 1: player props, futures. If you're new, just download the fanduel
Speaker 1: sports book APP to get started now. Sign Up. Please
Speaker 1: use the PROMODE CODE COLUMN C O L I. An
Speaker 1: Fan Duel Sports Book makes it easy. What's up everybody?
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the draymond bringing show. As you can see,
Speaker 1: I'm in the same place that I was in last week.
Speaker 1: This is part two of our series. What what brought
Speaker 1: me back here to Michigan State was obviously the hall
Speaker 1: of fame, but whether the hall of fame happened or not,
Speaker 1: I was coming back anyway. Last year Travis Walden and
Speaker 1: Austin Thornton started an incredible thing here at Michigan State
Speaker 1: and it's our Michigan State Ground Week. And what that
Speaker 1: is is, you know, we come in for a few days,
Speaker 1: we bring all the pros back, we bring everybody back.
Speaker 1: It's a basketball reunion for not only the pros but
Speaker 1: guys who played in this in this program Um, for
Speaker 1: men and women that worked in this program it's an
Speaker 1: opportunity for all of us to come back, and so
Speaker 1: I would be here anyway. Nonetheless, the Hall of fame
Speaker 1: did happen and it's something that I'm so thankful for.
Speaker 1: Uh is such an incredible honor. But I'm excited as
Speaker 1: hell about this next interview because without this guy there
Speaker 1: is no hall of fame. Without this guy, there is
Speaker 1: no podcast that you care about, because I would never
Speaker 1: have the platform that I have and been afforded with
Speaker 1: if it wasn't for this man sitting to my right.
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer, and if you he was a hall
Speaker 1: of Famer in my book before he became a hall
Speaker 1: of Famer. Nonetheless, he is national champion Guy who's Lad
Speaker 1: so many kids, young guys, young men like myself, to
Speaker 1: live out their dream, and it's one thing that would
Speaker 1: stick with me forever. He would always say to me,
Speaker 1: I'm living my dream. My only thing that I want
Speaker 1: for I've been successful enough, I've been lucky enough to
Speaker 1: live my dream. I just want to see you live
Speaker 1: your dream, and that's such a rare thing, because people
Speaker 1: get ahead and they don't really look out for for
Speaker 1: those behind them. They don't really care to see you grow.
Speaker 1: They always want to see you grow, but never bigger
Speaker 1: than them, and it's so it's such the opposite with
Speaker 1: this guy to my right. It's my coach, but more
Speaker 1: than the coach, he's a father figure to me. He's
Speaker 1: a friend to me and you know, I think that's
Speaker 1: one thing that stuck with me. As soon as I
Speaker 1: finished playing, he said, Hey, man, I'm no longer your coach,
Speaker 1: I cannot really really be your friend, and he's still
Speaker 1: by that at times that I would go through my
Speaker 1: ship with with with my team, I'll get in trouble.
Speaker 1: First person to Bob called, first person that Steve called,
Speaker 1: is this man to my right. I'm honored and it's
Speaker 1: a pleasure. Coaches, though, thank you for coming on the show, draymond.
Speaker 1: That is as well said as you could say it,
Speaker 1: but it's kind of interesting. I wouldn't be in the
Speaker 1: hall of fame without you. You know, it was you guys,
Speaker 1: it was my teen Um players. Coaches get credit, coaches
Speaker 1: get blamed, but players play the game. You know, and
Speaker 1: I've said a million times. I'm so happy that you remember,
Speaker 1: but a couple of those things, because it is important
Speaker 1: to me that you, uh, you get to live your dream,
Speaker 1: because you're gonna find out what your own kids you
Speaker 1: found out, what your own team you found out what
Speaker 1: the players you followed here and helped us recruit that Um,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's almost more fun to watch other people following
Speaker 1: your footsteps and do get to live their dream. And
Speaker 1: I've said it, you quoted it. I believe it. I
Speaker 1: think you believe it. Now that you have kids and
Speaker 1: all the things, you're gonna even see it even more,
Speaker 1: no doubt. So take take let's let's let's let's go
Speaker 1: back a little bit. Take me on this journey. Um,
Speaker 1: you come to Michigan state as a graduate assistant. Your
Speaker 1: work what two or three years as a graduate assistant,
Speaker 1: you leave for Tulsa. That was short lived. Taken me
Speaker 1: on that journey. Well, I was. I first of all,
Speaker 1: I came here as a Grad assistant at twenty six,
Speaker 1: but you're supposed to do that at two. But I
Speaker 1: was up in a a little different up there and
Speaker 1: I couldn't get out of there. So I kept begging
Speaker 1: judd and I said I'll come as a g A.
Speaker 1: said you're overqualified. I said I just want a chance,
Speaker 1: and so I was a three year g a. As
Speaker 1: you know, they're two year G A. So it took
Speaker 1: me a little longer. That's why I believe in process.
Speaker 1: But I did and I was about to get out
Speaker 1: of it. I was going to take a job at
Speaker 1: Michigan Tech University Division to school up in the U
Speaker 1: P H. It was out of money. I didn't make
Speaker 1: any money as a G A and I got a
Speaker 1: chance to get a job at the University of Tulsa.
Speaker 1: I went there for six weeks and Mike Dean left here.
Speaker 1: That the number one guy and jed heard me back
Speaker 1: and that's where my journey really started. I guess you know.
Speaker 1: I was thirty years old. I had the break of
Speaker 1: a lifetime. Then had another break when jed retired, and
Speaker 1: the rest is history, history. It is history Um for you.
Speaker 1: When you look over the program, Judd had had success,
Speaker 1: Judd had magic. Obviously you were a part of that Um,
Speaker 1: and then the success kind of tell spike. It went
Speaker 1: down a little bit. Then Smitty came in and Smitty
Speaker 1: brought the program back to relevance but lost in the
Speaker 1: elite eight and then you take over to take over
Speaker 1: the program where it's not in the best space. What
Speaker 1: was it for you that helped you turn that corner
Speaker 1: and ultimately build what we know Michigan State is today? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it's funny because when I came back from
Speaker 1: Tulsa I went down to Detroit. Um they didn't recruit
Speaker 1: the state very much. And here I'm from the up
Speaker 1: you know, and not a very diverse area. And yet basketball,
Speaker 1: as we know, is uh higher percentage of African American
Speaker 1: players and kids from the inner city. So I went
Speaker 1: down to look at a kid named Eric Wilson who
Speaker 1: ended up a set and forder. went to Minnesota and
Speaker 1: I saw the skinny little guy over there and it
Speaker 1: was Steve Smith. I came back, I told Jed, I said, Hey,
Speaker 1: it's a guy down there, man, he's six four or five,
Speaker 1: he's skinny but he's got great skills. And Jed went
Speaker 1: down there. He found in love with Steve and we
Speaker 1: recruited Steve. And that was in six right after we
Speaker 1: lost Scott skiles, Sam Vincent, Kevin Wills, really good players,
Speaker 1: all pros, but we didn't have great teams and back when.
Speaker 1: You know, listening to you and Mateen Talk Um, leadership
Speaker 1: is a big key, you know. And Uh, you don't
Speaker 1: have leadership, you don't have anything. You know, likership doesn't
Speaker 1: make it. It's leadership that makes it. It's not what
Speaker 1: everybody likes you, and that's why it's been so much
Speaker 1: fun to watch your career. Battle with a few teammates,
Speaker 1: battles with a few coaches. Me and you had some
Speaker 1: credible halftimes, incredible time outs, and yet man always knew
Speaker 1: the same thing you guys talked about when he was
Speaker 1: important to you. And so when I the job over,
Speaker 1: Um got Steve Smith when I was an assistant and
Speaker 1: it just made me realize how important state is. And
Speaker 1: then the Fab five came a little after that at Michigan,
Speaker 1: and uh, I just said, when I get this job,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna win with in state players. You gotta put
Speaker 1: a fence around your area, you know, and our area
Speaker 1: was that I could get kids up as freshman and Sophomores,
Speaker 1: I could get him the football games, you know, I
Speaker 1: could get to see him more often. So I thought
Speaker 1: being within this three four hour radius was very important
Speaker 1: and believe it or not, nine of my career. That's
Speaker 1: what I've done. And then, you know, and I went
Speaker 1: to flint to look at Morris Peterson. He wasn't ranked
Speaker 1: in the top two hundred, and Tonio Smith. He had
Speaker 1: brothers that played football. He wasn't really ranked, but I
Speaker 1: thought I had to get my feet in and those guys,
Speaker 1: especially Antonio, brought toughness. Plus I knew his best friend
Speaker 1: was matine. So I was recruiting for the future president.
Speaker 1: And then when we landed him, Um, you know, it
Speaker 1: really started to take off. And then flint and then Saginaw.
Speaker 1: You know, as you're a guy, Jay rich, and yourself,
Speaker 1: and we had other guys and we missed it on
Speaker 1: a few guys, but it was special and and and
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Think about MOA's mother. She
Speaker 1: was insane. Your mom, she was insane, you know, but
Speaker 1: they were like all in. I gotta stand around here.
Speaker 1: There's no such thing as being half pregnant. Okay. Well,
Speaker 1: I love guys that are all in, and you guys were,
Speaker 1: your families were. It didn't mean that we didn't have problems,
Speaker 1: and that's what I've you know, I listened to you
Speaker 1: guys talk about me, but I listened to you guys too,
Speaker 1: and I don't think anybody realizes that I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: half as good. I mean, I fought what the team morning,
Speaker 1: noon and night. So it was easier dealing with you
Speaker 1: because I fought with him morning, noon and night. And
Speaker 1: yet I did promise him we'd win a championship and
Speaker 1: we stood on that floor and and we said we
Speaker 1: did it, and he's right. You know, nobody believed it.
Speaker 1: Then you came along. You know, you think about leaders.
Speaker 1: You had magic Johnson in the late seventies, then you
Speaker 1: had Steve Smith in the late eighties, okay, and then
Speaker 1: you had the uh, you know, really the cleaves, in
Speaker 1: the late nineties, and then you in the late you know,
Speaker 1: Travis Walton and you. We always had a running mate.
Speaker 1: Guys did. It was you and Trav in the two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine ten elevens, you know, and then Denzel
Speaker 1: did a pretty good job. So you know, you you
Speaker 1: look at it, but it's scary because of all those
Speaker 1: years I can only name four or five guys. That's
Speaker 1: how special you guys are and how few there are
Speaker 1: of you that are good enough to be respected but
Speaker 1: strong enough to use your platform. No doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Um for you, uh way, coach keeps
Speaker 1: saying the U P for you. None Michigans. That's the
Speaker 1: upper peninsula of Michigan. For you, are you per um
Speaker 1: to become who you've become? And Be Right, there's coach K,
Speaker 1: there's Roy Williams, there's Dean Smith, there's legends and there's
Speaker 1: you with those legends. How how does that feel like?
Speaker 1: I haven't, I haven't reached a pinnacle of what I do.
Speaker 1: So few people get to really reach the pinnacle, the top,
Speaker 1: the very top, of what they do, and you've done that,
Speaker 1: Mr March, all the all the magic that you've created
Speaker 1: in March. How does that feel like to just be
Speaker 1: one of them, guys? Well, it feels humbling and it
Speaker 1: feels I appreciate that. It wouldn't been down without you. Guys.
Speaker 1: You know I am not stupid. I mean you, you
Speaker 1: last in this because you're not dumb. And better players
Speaker 1: make you a better coach. So I know Steve Kerr
Speaker 1: thinks that because we've had many talks about you. And
Speaker 1: better players doesn't always mean the greatest player, it means
Speaker 1: the greatest winner. You know when when they came calling
Speaker 1: about you. Oh He's too small, oh he's too this,
Speaker 1: oh he doesn't shoot it well enough. You know what,
Speaker 1: I hate to tell you this. I said, you're right,
Speaker 1: you're right, you're right. Now, he's not great, you're right,
Speaker 1: not a great defender. On with with the quickness. You're right.
Speaker 1: Well then, what does he do? Why should I draft him?
Speaker 1: He wins, I said. As a freshman he didn't play
Speaker 1: a ton and by the end he was leading us
Speaker 1: to the final four because in winning time he played
Speaker 1: and in winning time he played. I'll never forget one
Speaker 1: of my favorite games with you. Um We went to
Speaker 1: Gonzaga and UH Jud heathcote lived there and he said,
Speaker 1: why are you playing in the Kennel? Why don't you
Speaker 1: play down town? Nobody wins in the Kennel. And you remember.
Speaker 1: It was crazy and I think you had thirty six
Speaker 1: you hit about five threes. You did so many things
Speaker 1: and we won by a couple and you have always
Speaker 1: done what it takes to win. We make tapes of
Speaker 1: this guy on setting screens, on getting rebounds, on playing
Speaker 1: offside defense, does all the little things. You know, not
Speaker 1: steph curry shooting a hundred threes, not clay Thompson, not
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, not Lebron James, doing what they do. It's
Speaker 1: called the dirty work, but dirty work, if you're a coach,
Speaker 1: are the guys that win for you. And that's why
Speaker 1: so many great players haven't won four NBA Championships, you know.
Speaker 1: And and if a REF would have made a good call,
Speaker 1: you would have won a national championship. That is a fact.
Speaker 1: I got the I got the fucking tape and I
Speaker 1: don't say that much on TV, so sorry, but whatever,
Speaker 1: but I do and uh, you know, it hits you
Speaker 1: in the arms with six seconds left or down one,
Speaker 1: we lose the game and we would have beat Duke
Speaker 1: that in the championship game and you would have had
Speaker 1: your national championship there. You would have had your one
Speaker 1: at the warriors. You would have to one in the
Speaker 1: Olympics and but your yours is going to be complete
Speaker 1: when you get in the hall of fame, Not Michigan States,
Speaker 1: but the national one that's around the corner after a
Speaker 1: few more championships. Yes, sir, no, I appreciate it and
Speaker 1: obviously that's the goal, Um, that that I am chasing.
Speaker 1: Number One, you look you look as great as I've
Speaker 1: seen you look and ten years like. You just look
Speaker 1: like you're not stressed anymore. You look like you're rejuvenated.
Speaker 1: You look happy, which makes me happy because I worry
Speaker 1: about you sometimes. I know how much ship you take on,
Speaker 1: and there was a period four or five years ago,
Speaker 1: but they also tried to leave you for dead and
Speaker 1: they tried to write you off and lump you into
Speaker 1: something that had absolutely nothing to do with you. And
Speaker 1: one of the things that I love and respect about
Speaker 1: you is, no matter what, whether it's your ship, whether
Speaker 1: it's my ship Um, whether it's someone else's ship that
Speaker 1: they just try to throw on you because you are
Speaker 1: the big name, because your time is though, you stand,
Speaker 1: tintoes down and you still tintoes down and you still
Speaker 1: here and you made it through that. But what did
Speaker 1: going through that do for you coming out on the
Speaker 1: other side? I know it was hell going through it
Speaker 1: for you, but coming out on the other side of it,
Speaker 1: what did going through what you went through do for
Speaker 1: you and got you into place that you're in today? Well,
Speaker 1: somebody very seldom talk about but I'm with you. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about it. It's it was one of the hardest
Speaker 1: things I ever went through and it was hard for
Speaker 1: some of the people went through some of the things
Speaker 1: they had to go through. But never been in that
Speaker 1: position before and I I did what you guys, I
Speaker 1: hear you guys time. I believed in myself. I knew
Speaker 1: what I had. I knew there were very few, thank God,
Speaker 1: for some of you that some of my best friends,
Speaker 1: some of my best friends in the media. I mean
Speaker 1: they thrown me to the wolves and I resented that.
Speaker 1: It's why I have a greater appreciation for what you
Speaker 1: guys do every day. But I hung in there and
Speaker 1: I believed in what I thought was right and I
Speaker 1: did the best I could and it wasn't easy. There
Speaker 1: was no blueprint for it, Um, but I did hang
Speaker 1: in there and and and I went through even a
Speaker 1: tough time. You know, we won three big ten championships,
Speaker 1: went to a final four. But even when you had
Speaker 1: your Jersey retire, remember your whole team came back, your coaches,
Speaker 1: your owner, and we embarrassed ourselves against Duke and you
Speaker 1: came into my office at about eleven thirty that night
Speaker 1: after my meeting and sat down and said, you know,
Speaker 1: you told me some things. You didn't think I was
Speaker 1: doing right, and you know, people will never appreciate that
Speaker 1: because I'm the old man, you're the young kid and
Speaker 1: we're supposed to bill tell you what you do wrong,
Speaker 1: but I think I don't. I'm not your coach, no more.
Speaker 1: Definitely I am your friend. You treat me like a friend.
Speaker 1: I don't hope I treat you like a friend if
Speaker 1: I think you're doing something that's gonna hurt you. I
Speaker 1: think I got the courage to tell you that night
Speaker 1: in one of my toughest losses at home in the
Speaker 1: history of my program. I mean you went at me
Speaker 1: a little bit and one of the things you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get younger. We gotta do this, we gotta
Speaker 1: do that. And, as you noticed, I listened and Um,
Speaker 1: and I feel comfortable about that, and I I listened
Speaker 1: and I, you know, learned to listen. Listen to learn
Speaker 1: is what we use around here, and I think I
Speaker 1: did listen to learn and I appreciate it and that's
Speaker 1: why I know that they used the Kleaves has dismissed.
Speaker 1: There's certain guys, not a million of them, a lot
Speaker 1: of good guys that I love. Not a million guys.
Speaker 1: Will tell me what I don't want to hear. I
Speaker 1: don't think there's a million guys anymore that tell players
Speaker 1: what they don't want to hear. And Uh, but when
Speaker 1: you do it, that's real love. That is real love.
Speaker 1: When I speak of rejuvenation, I think it's it's it's
Speaker 1: showing on your face, but where it's definitely showing is
Speaker 1: in the recruiting classes that you started to pull in again, Um,
Speaker 1: and I think to me, I think that's because you're
Speaker 1: just all you. You're back all in, like you've you've
Speaker 1: teetered with retirement for a few years now. I don't
Speaker 1: hear you talk about it at all anymore. Do you
Speaker 1: think that's been the key, until you getting back into
Speaker 1: on the recruiting trail and bringing in the classes? Now
Speaker 1: that we're bringing in like we're starting to bring in
Speaker 1: top ten classes again, do you do you contribute some
Speaker 1: of that to your rejuvenation and just feeling like no,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm in this thing like I don't even I
Speaker 1: don't even ask you anymore, coach, how much long are
Speaker 1: you gonna do it, because I feel like at this
Speaker 1: point now you're just gonna do it till you die.
Speaker 1: Don't you die on us. I need you so Um, like,
Speaker 1: how has that really had? Did that? I think? I
Speaker 1: think it was the eighteen season when we had jaren
Speaker 1: and miles and we really had a good team. I
Speaker 1: mean we were thirty, thirty one and four or five,
Speaker 1: and maybe we had a good team and we're playing
Speaker 1: the first round and that Troit. But it was also
Speaker 1: the time of my darkest moments, when I was going
Speaker 1: through those things that our whole university and everybody was
Speaker 1: going through. And that game ended at beat by Syracuse,
Speaker 1: by one, and the game ended and I thought that
Speaker 1: team was good enough to win a national championship and
Speaker 1: I kind of felt relieved I didn't have to go
Speaker 1: to another press conference, I didn't have to answer things,
Speaker 1: and I lived at that for a while. Then I
Speaker 1: thought what a WHIMP, you know, like, what am I doing?
Speaker 1: You know, and and that started the process, you know.
Speaker 1: And then, you know, a lout of nights we had
Speaker 1: talks and and you know, Mattina and I had talks
Speaker 1: and you just kind of realize, and I love what
Speaker 1: you guys were talking about when I heard you, is that, Um,
Speaker 1: only certain kind of people are built for certain kind
Speaker 1: of things, and I do think I'm one of those
Speaker 1: guys that want to take on problems and help out
Speaker 1: and make others better. You know, he said great players
Speaker 1: make other players better. I don't think great players do.
Speaker 1: I think those are the elite players. Great players play great,
Speaker 1: but elite players make other guys that aren't that good better.
Speaker 1: That's what I watched. You do you know everybody. You
Speaker 1: Know How many times you score over ten points, but
Speaker 1: the consistency and the way you you know, I always
Speaker 1: joke with people, and I told step this at your wedding,
Speaker 1: that Um, you know the Lineman, the great running backs,
Speaker 1: they always buy the Lineman a rolex or something when
Speaker 1: they have a thousand yards season. You know, uh, those
Speaker 1: guys better buy you something. A number of screens and
Speaker 1: a number of passes, you said that lead to their baskets.
Speaker 1: They better buy they better buy you a house, because
Speaker 1: they make more money than those, than those running backs.
Speaker 1: They do a lot more money than running backs. So
Speaker 1: now that I did say that, how much longer do
Speaker 1: you want to coach? You know, I know one thing
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do. I've watched some guys Um, stay
Speaker 1: a year or two too long. You know, Um, I'm
Speaker 1: not into anything, but the day that I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm I don't want to take red eyes, I don't
Speaker 1: want to go out recruiting, I don't want to have
Speaker 1: meetings in my office like some of the ones we had.
Speaker 1: I'm gone. I mean I I and if I'm not,
Speaker 1: I know you'll tell me. I know Mo will tell me,
Speaker 1: and nosty, you know, I got some guys that will
Speaker 1: tell me. It's time, you know, but you are right.
Speaker 1: I am rejuvenated. You know, right now the campus Um,
Speaker 1: it's it's electric right now. You know, mal has done
Speaker 1: an excellent job. We're putting seventy million into football. We
Speaker 1: just put a bunch into hockey. We got cranes in
Speaker 1: the sky again. We got students walking. You know, two
Speaker 1: years of Covid two and a half years, we had
Speaker 1: nobody walking around. I got an office with windows in
Speaker 1: it so I can watch people walking. There's nobody walking.
Speaker 1: So I'm like energized by that. You know, I love
Speaker 1: the students, I love the place, and we have six
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thou living the Lums, and yet we
Speaker 1: have guys like you. That being pride. You know, heard
Speaker 1: more talk about Matt, you know, and Matt Calsey says
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get all the guys from the championship team.
Speaker 1: WE'RE gonna GO WATCH draymont. You know, I came out,
Speaker 1: my wife and I for the first two games and
Speaker 1: UH had fun out there, and then we went to
Speaker 1: Boston and you know the Boston Garden. My first time
Speaker 1: I'm there, all the things you hear about it, and
Speaker 1: I watched my guy win a championship on their floor.
Speaker 1: That was special, and then he spent time when us
Speaker 1: after the next morning, you know, and Uh we were
Speaker 1: with all of our guys. It was all your Michigan
Speaker 1: State guys, all my Michigan State guys, and uh, that
Speaker 1: like revives you. I mean that energizes you. You can
Speaker 1: keep winning championships. Time for us to win another one.
Speaker 1: Spend a little bit of that next contract money when
Speaker 1: you get it, fly out to that game that night
Speaker 1: and uh, that's that would be utopia for me. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And before we get out of here, because we have
Speaker 1: we can get back to Um. There's been a big
Speaker 1: change in college sports. Athletes are now being paid for
Speaker 1: their likeness. I being someone who was really pushing for that,
Speaker 1: I still don't think it's what it should be like, okay,
Speaker 1: we're allowing people to make on off their likeness. Now
Speaker 1: I think it's still time to pay the athletes. You're
Speaker 1: you're providing a service, you're bringing millions of dollars into
Speaker 1: these places and then the N C A and they
Speaker 1: just grab it. And I want to know how have
Speaker 1: you had to adjust as a coach? Like these guys
Speaker 1: are making real money now. Like I was talking to
Speaker 1: Travis yesterday. I walked in and I was just standing
Speaker 1: there looking at a j I said, traph just dude
Speaker 1: got money now. Like I saw Aj took a vacation
Speaker 1: to Jamaica. That's incredible. Like, how have you had to change, Um,
Speaker 1: some of the some of the ways that you coach now,
Speaker 1: because when you add it to money, that's a different thing.
Speaker 1: When you give someone money, it changes things. How have
Speaker 1: you seen things changed in the professor? Well, first of all,
Speaker 1: let me say this. I do agree with you. I
Speaker 1: wish they would have come up with some kind of stipend,
Speaker 1: some kind of better thing. I'm all in favor than
Speaker 1: name in Aage and likeness. So if you're worth something
Speaker 1: that you can do the pay a player without contracts,
Speaker 1: without you know, the ability. That I mean you can't
Speaker 1: be a free agent every year. These guys are free
Speaker 1: agents every semester and so that creates some problems. So
Speaker 1: what I call it is this and some day me
Speaker 1: and you're gonna sit down off the air and then
Speaker 1: we'll go back on the air, but and just talk
Speaker 1: about it. You know, what are the unintended consequences of
Speaker 1: these things? This year there were over four hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty college basketball players that put their name in the
Speaker 1: portal and don't have a place to go. Uh. Four
Speaker 1: dred of those are probably African American kids. Now are
Speaker 1: not going to get an education. So there are more
Speaker 1: things to this whole thing. Can we do a better
Speaker 1: job taking care of the players? Can we figure out
Speaker 1: ways that, like my thing, a coach leaves, okay, this
Speaker 1: and that, it but to be a free agent every year.
Speaker 1: If they were paying them, then there should be contracts,
Speaker 1: and contracts mean you don't get to leave every year.
Speaker 1: There's gotta be some work done on this. Dray, and
Speaker 1: maybe guys like you have a platform, but I think
Speaker 1: if you saw both sides, I just worry about are
Speaker 1: we really helping to educate these kids? Four years we've
Speaker 1: had guys go to four different schools. Now they're not graduating.
Speaker 1: You can't do that. I mean you know when you
Speaker 1: transfer from one school the other, a lot of credits
Speaker 1: don't transfer. Changes and and and then you know, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna hit you with this one because I really believe it.
Speaker 1: You have the most unique team in basketball. I think
Speaker 1: you're a big reason. I remember the Kevin Durant thing.
Speaker 1: I remember you almost recruiting them. You know, I know
Speaker 1: what you did. But steph clay, Draymond, um iggy um,
Speaker 1: even looney. Now Steve Bob. You're talking seven, eight to ten,
Speaker 1: twelve years. Where does that happen? It doesn't. Well, does
Speaker 1: think about college in this reunion you're at this weekend.
Speaker 1: Where would most of those kids go? I brought back
Speaker 1: Corey Lucius, who left after two years. You helped me
Speaker 1: during his troubled times and he didn't listen to us
Speaker 1: and he'd be the first to tell you. But he's
Speaker 1: back because I brought him back. How many coaches are
Speaker 1: gonna be there long enough? So where are these guys
Speaker 1: gonna go when they leave and have three different schools?
Speaker 1: There's unintended consequences and I think Um me and you
Speaker 1: would be great to sit down and talk and you'd
Speaker 1: be great to talk to the N C A. There's
Speaker 1: there's so many things we got to do a better
Speaker 1: job with, but let's make sure that we understand that
Speaker 1: these kids are losing out too. You know, you after
Speaker 1: your freshman year now, you might have said goodbye and
Speaker 1: you turned out okay. Absolutely, and you did a lot
Speaker 1: for this university and this university does some things for you,
Speaker 1: but you did a lot for this place and you
Speaker 1: gotta admit giving makes you feel good. That's why I
Speaker 1: do so. I just worry about where it's headed, Um,
Speaker 1: and that's something that maybe, maybe that'd be you and I.
Speaker 1: That would be a good thing for you and I
Speaker 1: to because I've got enough power in that. Not that
Speaker 1: we have any power as coaches, you have as a player.
Speaker 1: Maybe we can get the two sides together and really
Speaker 1: do what you and Mo talked about, helping other kids
Speaker 1: get to where they want to go the right way.
Speaker 1: I love and appreciate that answer because I think when
Speaker 1: speaking of a transfer protract, I worry about that and
Speaker 1: I don't worry about it because I do think, Um,
Speaker 1: I do think. You know, there are situations where kids
Speaker 1: should be able to transfer. You have the hardship thing.
Speaker 1: That just high if a coach. I think kids should
Speaker 1: be able to transfer for that too. But the portal
Speaker 1: thing is little tricky because, like you said, when you
Speaker 1: can throw your name and every year, I talked about
Speaker 1: in my press conference yesterday before the Hall of fame ceremony,
Speaker 1: we won a game at Ohio state my freshman year.
Speaker 1: It's a big deal. They were really good. We were
Speaker 1: going on a road we were destroying everybody that year.
Speaker 1: We won the most games in the road games in
Speaker 1: the big ten. We won the big ten by the
Speaker 1: largest margin in big ten history that year. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if that still stands, but it was at that
Speaker 1: time and I got on the bus after that game.
Speaker 1: I didn't play. I'm piste off at you about that
Speaker 1: because I just heard something last night that said I'm
Speaker 1: tied for the most games playing. If you played me
Speaker 1: that game, I'd be ahead. So but I didn't play
Speaker 1: that game and I called my mom Ryan and I said, mom,
Speaker 1: I gotta get the funk out of here. I didn't
Speaker 1: say that because my mom would slap me. I said man,
Speaker 1: I gotta get out here and she told me, yeah,
Speaker 1: what's going on? It's like, I didn't play, like you mean,
Speaker 1: what's going on? We just had a game. I didn't play.
Speaker 1: She's like, okay, so how you feel my I didn't play.
Speaker 1: Like okay, I need to get out of here. She said, well,
Speaker 1: you made your bad you gotta lay in the Click. WHOA,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't happen anymore and that. But I when
Speaker 1: I think about that, I think about how different my
Speaker 1: life would be if I did leave right then, like
Speaker 1: all the things that's happened for me in my life,
Speaker 1: how great you've been in my life, how great this
Speaker 1: university has been in my life. I still think this
Speaker 1: is the best decision I've ever made in my life,
Speaker 1: was to come here, because it's set me up for
Speaker 1: the rest of my life. I met my wife here, Um,
Speaker 1: and I think, I think about if I had transferred,
Speaker 1: how that would have turned out for me. It wouldn't
Speaker 1: have turned out to say so. I I do worry
Speaker 1: about that portal a little bit, for sure. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: that's and then the portal turns into they just free
Speaker 1: agent it and look for the best deals. And and
Speaker 1: you know what, when you're eighteen, nineteen, the best deals,
Speaker 1: I mean you gotta get nurtured. Yet you're a grown
Speaker 1: man now. You you've made decisions. You can make decisions.
Speaker 1: At Eighteen, I made bad decisions, you made bad I mean,
Speaker 1: we all made that decisions, and that's why you either
Speaker 1: gotta have great parents or parents hand their kids off
Speaker 1: to the coach. If you've had three or four different coach,
Speaker 1: and I agree with you, by the way, a percent
Speaker 1: the coach leaves, the players should be able to leave
Speaker 1: and be eligible immediately. But I think how many guys
Speaker 1: weren't happy as freshman? Hell, I was, asn't two players
Speaker 1: unhappy as a plash because you all scored a bunch
Speaker 1: of points. That's why you got recruited by schools, and
Speaker 1: almost nobody does that in college. Yeah, I'm gonna Average
Speaker 1: twenty two points a game in college. Nobody does that.
Speaker 1: So they're all unhappy and now you've got more people
Speaker 1: pecking on them to leave and this and that. It's
Speaker 1: really hard on the kids. I think Mel told me.
Speaker 1: I think there's like eight hundred football players don't have
Speaker 1: a home, and that doesn't include the people dre that
Speaker 1: put their name in the portal. They don't even have
Speaker 1: to talk to the coach anymore and then they end
Speaker 1: up going to a school that's less than the one
Speaker 1: they thought they'd go to because nobody was really recruiting them,
Speaker 1: you know. Or they go to a school and then
Speaker 1: don't play hardly at all and they were playing thirty
Speaker 1: five minutes a game at the other. You know, I
Speaker 1: just worry about it. I mean, I'm gonna stick with this,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to stay out of the portal. It's
Speaker 1: gonna probably get me, because I'm gonna believe in the
Speaker 1: guys that I recruit and I'm gonna be homegrowning when
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stick with him. And you know, you weren't
Speaker 1: a start when you got to the the warriors. Some
Speaker 1: people stuck with you and they're damn happy they did.
Speaker 1: And whenever you have one of your bad times and
Speaker 1: they call, it always ends up with yeah, but boy,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't win without him. I mean, it always ends
Speaker 1: up with that. So I'm giving it away to those
Speaker 1: guys that call me, because you are special, and I
Speaker 1: don't say that you have toughness, you have leadership, you're
Speaker 1: not afraid of your voice and maybe the most important
Speaker 1: thing and anything you do in your life, winning is
Speaker 1: important to you when you're transferring around, when you're looking
Speaker 1: at just money and you're especially your eighteen, winning is
Speaker 1: not the most important thing. You're making decisions because I
Speaker 1: get a little more and I ail money there, and
Speaker 1: making a decision because somebody promised me something there. It's
Speaker 1: not the same man. I worry about. I said this,
Speaker 1: I'M gonna survive. I worry about the guys and some
Speaker 1: people have said, you know, you really do. I really do,
Speaker 1: and I can say that honestly. So I don't like
Speaker 1: everything about it. I think we've got to make some adjustments,
Speaker 1: but I think it's gonna take people like you and me,
Speaker 1: a player that maybe doesn't see it exactly like I do,
Speaker 1: to talk about it instead of these people at the
Speaker 1: N C and people that aren't involved in the basis
Speaker 1: stuff that are making the decisions. That's what I stroke
Speaker 1: with a government, whether it be administrators, come on down
Speaker 1: to the basement with me and then make the same decision,
Speaker 1: I don't think they'd make it. Absolutely. I agree on coach.
Speaker 1: I can sit here actually a million questions. I can
Speaker 1: sit here and talk to you for hours, as we
Speaker 1: do often Um, but the reality is we got a
Speaker 1: program to continue to get better. So we'RE gonna get
Speaker 1: back out here with our recruits, with our family enjoy
Speaker 1: this weekend. But I want to thank you, and not
Speaker 1: for it in down and doing this. I want to
Speaker 1: thank you for everything that you've done in my life,
Speaker 1: for for taking an eighteen year old kid from sagging
Speaker 1: or that thought I had the answers, and showing me
Speaker 1: how to become a man and then, once I thought
Speaker 1: I was a man, still continuing to show me, hey, man,
Speaker 1: just because you're twenty two years old now and you're
Speaker 1: making a little money, you're still not a man, and
Speaker 1: continuing to guide me in my life. Um, being a
Speaker 1: father figure to myself so many other guys, being a
Speaker 1: close friend that I can call when everything is going
Speaker 1: wrong and I feel like my life is erupting in
Speaker 1: everything it's just chaos, being a guy I can call
Speaker 1: for getting on a flight to come see me six
Speaker 1: hours away for four hours and coming back. That stuff
Speaker 1: doesn't go unnoticed. I appreciate it. I turned around and
Speaker 1: I look at this like none of none of this
Speaker 1: happens for me without you, and I'm so thankful to
Speaker 1: have you in my life. It's one of my biggest
Speaker 1: bragging points in the NBA. Your coach Ain't fucking like
Speaker 1: my coach, that your coach will never be like my coach.
Speaker 1: I love telling guys that, but the reason I love
Speaker 1: saying is because I know I can say it and
Speaker 1: I can make every argument, every valid point, to show
Speaker 1: a guy that is true. And the reality is most
Speaker 1: guys don't argue because there are many guys like you.
Speaker 1: You're so different. I thank you, I love you, I
Speaker 1: would do anything for you. I'll give my right arm
Speaker 1: for you. Well, let me close this part for me
Speaker 1: by not just saying Ditto. But it's not a love fest.
Speaker 1: It's not like we've had more arguments than love fest.
Speaker 1: Respect and appreciation and I know I wouldn't be here
Speaker 1: without some of you guys. There's four or five a
Speaker 1: year and, let's face it, smitty third is some of
Speaker 1: it for me, and then Mo and then you and
Speaker 1: Trav and and you know, and the beat goes on,
Speaker 1: and a lot of other great players. But you know,
Speaker 1: as coaches we look for difference makers. You're a difference maker.
Speaker 1: You're a difference maker in the League. You're a difference
Speaker 1: maker when when you argue with Charles and and and
Speaker 1: what you do there and I call him and I
Speaker 1: laugh and it always ends up the same, whether I
Speaker 1: talked to Steve or Bob or Charles or somebody else. Um,
Speaker 1: everybody can have one opinion and at the end of
Speaker 1: the comment it is God, you gotta love that Kid. Huh. God,
Speaker 1: that guy has done so much for you. Right, I
Speaker 1: said so. I'm in my sixties and you were in
Speaker 1: your twenties or you're in your thirties now. But Um,
Speaker 1: I still learn from you. I want to learn more
Speaker 1: from you. I do want to talk to you about
Speaker 1: how we can make college basketball better. I do want
Speaker 1: to talk to you about what we can do around
Speaker 1: here to make it better. We got some years left,
Speaker 1: most of us. So I love you. Um, I love
Speaker 1: your family. I appreciate you, and even your mom. Remember
Speaker 1: now she said that it freshman your software or she
Speaker 1: was mad at me all the time and I came
Speaker 1: in and told you you gotta get your mom off
Speaker 1: twitter match killing me. And yet on senior night she
Speaker 1: gave me a plaque like keeping my office in my house.
Speaker 1: That was the most endearing plaque and I love your mom.
Speaker 1: You know I mean it just it's it's a family
Speaker 1: affair and I appreciate you, brother, and I I wouldn't
Speaker 1: still be here if it wasn't for you. I mean that.
Speaker 1: I and most done a lot for me and but
Speaker 1: you kind of carry this torch and you carry it
Speaker 1: because how you are in the NBA. Everybody laughs that
Speaker 1: I want to coach guys that are tough and it's
Speaker 1: a football team on hardwood, they used to call my teams.
Speaker 1: You're still doing it, man, you're in your thirties, ye're
Speaker 1: still doing it and you're winning championships and you got
Speaker 1: some more to win. Absolutely, but I got another one
Speaker 1: to win, so let's do it together. No Dog, I
Speaker 1: love your coach. I appreciate you. That's a rap. Michigan
Speaker 1: State is Raymond Green Show Up Peace