Speaker 1: This is kJ Live with Chris Johnson. Allen and Chris
Speaker 1: is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
Speaker 1: entertainment in a strain. Now here's Chris Johnson. You're now too,
Speaker 1: then kJ Live Today's guest show the show is the
Speaker 1: head coach of the Minnesota Golden Golfers of the Big
Speaker 1: Ten Conference men's basketball. Let's welcome Ben Johnson to the show. Coach,
Speaker 1: what's good? Not much? Man? What's going on? Shot man?
Speaker 1: I mean anything and everything. I can imagine that you
Speaker 1: have had a pretty busy off season with recruiting and
Speaker 1: things of that nature. Can just talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about what your first off season has looked like as
Speaker 1: a head basketball coach in the visual one left, I
Speaker 1: can tell you this, it's a lot more enjoyable than
Speaker 1: about a year ago. Uh, when I first got the job,
Speaker 1: and you're trying to navigate everything and build a whole
Speaker 1: roster from the ground up and staff and you know,
Speaker 1: figure out your exactly you know, philosophy and how you
Speaker 1: wanna you know, start this program from day one. So
Speaker 1: I'm unfortunate, you know, we we had a really good
Speaker 1: group that uh, you know, we had on the on
Speaker 1: the team this year and and fund kids that built it.
Speaker 1: And we've got a lot of kids returning that were
Speaker 1: a big piece of what we were trying to do
Speaker 1: and the foundation we're trying to lay. And we're fortunate
Speaker 1: enough to get some some four key high school kids, UM,
Speaker 1: and so we didn't have to jump in the portal
Speaker 1: and get a crazy amount of guys like last year.
Speaker 1: But we're able to definitely add a couple of pieces
Speaker 1: with with Dawston Garcia and Tar Samuel's who's who's from Dartmouth, UM,
Speaker 1: just to kind of add some veteran leadership, UM and
Speaker 1: some older bodies to our to our roster. And so
Speaker 1: right now, UM, you know, we just finished up with
Speaker 1: with the spring semester, so our guys are on break
Speaker 1: right now. UM. Then we'll we'll look forward to getting
Speaker 1: kicked in gear here for summer in about two weeks.
Speaker 1: You brought up last year the challenges with not only
Speaker 1: inheriting a program that being a first year coach, but
Speaker 1: inherited program that lost around nine ten guys. Just talk
Speaker 1: to us about how challenging that was and the methods
Speaker 1: in your process that you went about to fill that
Speaker 1: roster with a quality roster that would be able to
Speaker 1: compete in the Big Ten. Yeah. So you know, when
Speaker 1: I first took the job over, um, you know, I
Speaker 1: knew it was the first year of the Portals, So
Speaker 1: there were gonna be kids that we're gonna make decisions
Speaker 1: based off that. They were gonna test it because it
Speaker 1: was new, something exciting. I totally understood it with a
Speaker 1: coaching change, you know, I also get that piece of it.
Speaker 1: They didn't know me, I didn't know them, they didn't
Speaker 1: owe me anything. Um, A kind of end of the
Speaker 1: year tough and so there are a lot of decisions
Speaker 1: that you know, I just had to assume we're going
Speaker 1: to be made. And when I met with the team,
Speaker 1: you know, my biggest thing was to get a feel
Speaker 1: for them and for them to get a feel for me,
Speaker 1: to figure out if if this relationship was gonna work.
Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure that from day one I
Speaker 1: was able to lay a foundation, um that I was
Speaker 1: comfortable with and the one that was gonna be able to,
Speaker 1: through wins and losses, be sustainable and set the tone
Speaker 1: for years to come. And so um, you know, after
Speaker 1: about a couple of weeks in and meeting with guys,
Speaker 1: and guys making decision. I ended up keeping one player. Um,
Speaker 1: so it was from the from the whole crew, the
Speaker 1: whole crew. There was there was one kid that stayed
Speaker 1: and um Isaiah and and and to his credit, um,
Speaker 1: you know, it was a cruiting process. I mean it
Speaker 1: was about a two or three week deal where you know,
Speaker 1: I was meeting with him daily and working them out. UM.
Speaker 1: But he he decided to stay two feet in and
Speaker 1: and the kid was playing really good basketball. UM. Was
Speaker 1: was confident, was energetic, was was kind of really embracing
Speaker 1: the change. And no lie the first week, I think
Speaker 1: the first day in the summer school towards a c
Speaker 1: L and so we legitimately put a team on the
Speaker 1: floor with no players that had that had really played,
Speaker 1: UM minus Eric Curry who decided to come back midsummer. Now,
Speaker 1: Eric was a kid I recruited out of high school
Speaker 1: that had a really really bright future and just had
Speaker 1: battled injuries. And Eric was playing on one foot um
Speaker 1: you know, the year before and and he got the
Speaker 1: bug to come back and play. So I had Eric,
Speaker 1: and then I recruited Peyton Willis, and Peyton I recruited
Speaker 1: out of high school. He had you know, kind of
Speaker 1: been at a couple of schools in Minnesota being one
Speaker 1: of them. Uh, those are the only two players that
Speaker 1: had ever played high major basketball. Everybody else that we
Speaker 1: took or we added was either a freshman or somebody
Speaker 1: that came from Division two um or a low major
Speaker 1: a mid major level. And so just kind of the
Speaker 1: challenge of making sure I got it right with the
Speaker 1: players that were in our locker room that was gonna
Speaker 1: be huge. Again your first year, when you're when you're
Speaker 1: that heavy into the portal, you don't know the type
Speaker 1: of talent that you're gonna get that's that's gonna translate
Speaker 1: to to like Big ten success, right, You don't know
Speaker 1: if you're gonna get that all lead type players. So
Speaker 1: I just say, Okay, we gotta get the talent, but
Speaker 1: more importantly, we gotta get guys that we can lose with.
Speaker 1: We gotta get guys that we want to go to
Speaker 1: battle with every single day and practice. They're gonna fit
Speaker 1: the culture, They're gonna set the tone. That's gonna be
Speaker 1: examples on and off the floor that are gonna be
Speaker 1: able to be coachable, that are gonna be able to
Speaker 1: show our fan base, you know, the type of basketball
Speaker 1: that we're gonna play, the type of program that we're
Speaker 1: gonna be offensively, defensively and yet still be competitive. And
Speaker 1: so that was kind of challenge. But to get it
Speaker 1: right with the with the right DNA, with the right
Speaker 1: makeup was huge. I think we did that and we
Speaker 1: we definitely set the tone and the foundation for years
Speaker 1: to come. Yeah, it's establishing culture. Year one is the page.
Speaker 1: It's like playing seeds and the page it's diver ends
Speaker 1: later on down the line because you got recruits and
Speaker 1: other people that are watching this, watching the energy, watching
Speaker 1: the home games, looking at the crowd, seeing how engaged
Speaker 1: wins and losses sometimes become secondary. We all want to win, coach,
Speaker 1: don't make no mistake, but if you lose a certain weight,
Speaker 1: it's encouraging versus losing another ways, you know, getting blown out.
Speaker 1: Every dog gone night. I December one, I want to
Speaker 1: talk about this seventy five sixty five at Michigan. Would
Speaker 1: you say that that was one of your biggest wins
Speaker 1: of your first year? Yeah, I would say without a doubt. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it was a game that that I'll never
Speaker 1: forget for a lot of reasons. Um, you know, one.
Speaker 1: We haven't won at Michigan and traditionally very often, and
Speaker 1: and so to win there, to win against the team
Speaker 1: that I have a ton of respect for a program
Speaker 1: I have a ton of respect for. Jawan does a
Speaker 1: great job. You know, they have a ton of talent.
Speaker 1: For are guys to be able to battle that environment.
Speaker 1: Our first true Big ten road game was was phenomenal. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, you never know, uh, you know, how guys
Speaker 1: are gonna respond, especially guys that are new to the
Speaker 1: big tent um, and and for them to respond the
Speaker 1: way they did and for guys to step up and
Speaker 1: play the way they did with special I hadn't really
Speaker 1: thought about this. So after the game, um, you know,
Speaker 1: coach sent me a text and he just was, you know,
Speaker 1: saying congrats and and I hadn't even processed that, like
Speaker 1: this was my first Big ten win. And he was like, man, congrats.
Speaker 1: I always remember where I was the first team, first
Speaker 1: time I won my first Big ten game. It's your
Speaker 1: first Big ten road game. On top of that, and
Speaker 1: and then I started process like, you know what, day,
Speaker 1: He's right, it's kind of cool, you know, to be
Speaker 1: able to win at a traditional powerhouse, you know, a
Speaker 1: national brand like Michigan against again a program of the
Speaker 1: team that I really respect. Um, you know, it was
Speaker 1: great for our guys just to see them, you know, happy,
Speaker 1: and then the locker room and and celebrating. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, as a as a player, like those are
Speaker 1: special moments. And it goes back to your point when
Speaker 1: you when you have a team of guys that you
Speaker 1: can lose with with the right type of character. Dudes,
Speaker 1: when you win games like that and that bus ride,
Speaker 1: in that plane ride, there's nothing like it. The sweet satisfaction. Uh,
Speaker 1: winning at Michigan, I liken it to us winning at Arizona. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, going into these you know these dog fights
Speaker 1: where it's you know, the odds just insurmountable, it seems,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna take your best game because hey, you
Speaker 1: can't hear as much. You can't hear each other. So
Speaker 1: now it's definitie can't hear coach, so we gotta just
Speaker 1: look at the board and be just signed language like
Speaker 1: a So you know, all those factors kind of covered
Speaker 1: to play in those type of games, and so it
Speaker 1: makes the w at the end of it, at the
Speaker 1: end of the fight that much sweeter. When I was
Speaker 1: looking doing some background research on your coach. I saw that,
Speaker 1: you know, you're from the state of Minnesota. But the
Speaker 1: thing that stood out not only were you all stay
Speaker 1: in basketball? Okay, you was top twenty in football or state?
Speaker 1: Is that? Did I read that right? Or what? Yeah? Yeah? No,
Speaker 1: I uh I had I had a little football in me. Okay,
Speaker 1: what position? So I went to Dealings South of High School,
Speaker 1: which is normally like a traditional football army basketball kind
Speaker 1: of power. Um, so we didn't have the numbers with football.
Speaker 1: So the best part about is back then, man, you
Speaker 1: got to play everything. So you was a wide receiver,
Speaker 1: you were. I was a cornerback. I was a kick return.
Speaker 1: I was a punt return. I was a kickoff. I
Speaker 1: was still go protect like we we did everything. Um,
Speaker 1: and so uh you know I would I would definitely
Speaker 1: could admit that football probably was my first like love,
Speaker 1: like there's nothing like high school high school football, uh
Speaker 1: you know, and and and definitely enjoyed the times of playing.
Speaker 1: But then I quickly realized as I was becoming a
Speaker 1: recruitable athlete that I don't know if I loved the
Speaker 1: lifting weights year round, the seven on seven, you can't
Speaker 1: just go to a to a field and play pick
Speaker 1: up football. Um, you know the practice, you know, five days,
Speaker 1: only played one day a week, and so my decision
Speaker 1: kind of became a little bit easier. And then, um,
Speaker 1: on top of it, you know college football, you've got
Speaker 1: some big boys. Man. Yeah, nobody loves to get hit.
Speaker 1: So um ended up sticking with basketball on that one.
Speaker 1: And you chose Northwestern out of high school? What made
Speaker 1: you decide to go to Northwestern outside of you know,
Speaker 1: obviously one of the greatest academic institutions, but what about
Speaker 1: the program the school made you decide to choose there?
Speaker 1: So um, you know, I was recruited by Kevin O'Neill
Speaker 1: KYO so KO and KO and and then his assistant
Speaker 1: Brian Gregory were the two guys that recruited me. So Printon,
Speaker 1: she's not actually the head coach at South Florida, got it?
Speaker 1: So um, so b g recruited me and those guys
Speaker 1: wrong me since my sophomore year, and just the relationship
Speaker 1: that developed with Ko, um, you know, it was really strong.
Speaker 1: He was a lot like my high school coach, State
Speaker 1: Dorson was now all my staff, just kind of a
Speaker 1: no nonsense, tough, hard nose, and that's kind of what
Speaker 1: I was used to. Selfishly, I knew I was gonna
Speaker 1: be able to play right away as a true freshman.
Speaker 1: I was one of the kids I was just used
Speaker 1: to playing. Man. I wanted to be on the court,
Speaker 1: and you know, knowing that i'd be able to start
Speaker 1: and big b B be a big pieces as a
Speaker 1: true freshman was intriguing. And we had a young court.
Speaker 1: We were the youngest team in the country. We had
Speaker 1: some really talented freshman in my class. There were six
Speaker 1: of us that I really thought down the line we
Speaker 1: could be really good. And it was in the big tent,
Speaker 1: and it was not too far from home, and so
Speaker 1: kind of all those opportunities. But really the relationship I
Speaker 1: had with with Ko probably put it over the top.
Speaker 1: And what made you decide to transfer back to Minnesota.
Speaker 1: So after my freshman year, um so b g left
Speaker 1: before I even got there, and he went to Michigan
Speaker 1: State with Is. I would kind of hurt KO left
Speaker 1: and went with Van Gundy to the next And now
Speaker 1: I'm looking around and I loved my teammates and I
Speaker 1: have great relationships, but I'm like, dang, you know, the
Speaker 1: two big pieces of what I came here just took off,
Speaker 1: and you know, it kind of made me think, um,
Speaker 1: you know, all right, I gotta I gotta reevaluate and
Speaker 1: coach Karbody end up coming from from the Princeton's system,
Speaker 1: and I love Coach Karbody. I think, Um, I learned
Speaker 1: a lot from it, but it just kind of wasn't me.
Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: after my sophomore ended up making a decision to transfer
Speaker 1: back home and playing for coach Musson. Now, did you
Speaker 1: have league aspirations or professional basketball aspirations at this time?
Speaker 1: I did, you know? After my my freshman year, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I just sit down with with Ko and
Speaker 1: and UM, I was fortunately I had a pretty solid
Speaker 1: freshman year, and so there were some teams that were intrigued.
Speaker 1: And at that time, you know, um, when you're young,
Speaker 1: as you know, if you're kind of on the radar,
Speaker 1: you're in a good position. And so, UM, you know
Speaker 1: I was excited looking forward to that. Um. As I
Speaker 1: got older, UM and started to play more, you become
Speaker 1: a little bit more realistic and like, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the dreams always there, but you get older and you realize,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm good, but I don't know if
Speaker 1: I'm that good, right, And so the dream never faded,
Speaker 1: but I think reality quickly hit me that I better
Speaker 1: get my butt into coaching if I wanted to stay
Speaker 1: around the game. Um. And so that's kind of when
Speaker 1: I when I made the move to the other side
Speaker 1: and decided to try to to help the young guys
Speaker 1: that were that were more talented me get to that
Speaker 1: get to that level. I'll tell you what, though, coaches,
Speaker 1: it takes a level of maturity and forceight to to
Speaker 1: stop chasing the dream, if you will. Sometimes it's hoopers.
Speaker 1: We kind of you know, well, we'll chase that character forever,
Speaker 1: and you know, you'll miss out on a lot of life,
Speaker 1: miss out on a lot of opportunities. And so it's
Speaker 1: important to recognize where you are and be real self evaluation.
Speaker 1: Did you have somebody in your life at that time
Speaker 1: that kept it real with you or did you kind
Speaker 1: of just make this decision where you you were kind
Speaker 1: of operating on your own and you saw what time
Speaker 1: it was and was like, look, I'm gonna do the
Speaker 1: coaching thing. Yeah, you know, I'm pretty I'm pretty. I
Speaker 1: tried to find myself on being self aware. I think
Speaker 1: your point, I think that's huge and anything you do
Speaker 1: and we all have ego, and I think that's healthy.
Speaker 1: But then you also got to be smart. And you know,
Speaker 1: one of my one of my good friends is J. B. Bickerstaff,
Speaker 1: and so he was actually an assistant. He was a
Speaker 1: directive operations my last year at Minnesota, and I knew
Speaker 1: he was getting into coaching. Part of it was he
Speaker 1: had some injury so he was forced into get in
Speaker 1: there a little bit earlier. Um, I knew he was
Speaker 1: gonna get into coaching, and just the way he talked
Speaker 1: about it and the way we would kind of talk
Speaker 1: about it. I had kind of always noticed high school
Speaker 1: something I wanted to do. And then I think I
Speaker 1: just realized, like, Okay, I'm young, I don't have a
Speaker 1: ton of responsibilities right now. I can start from the
Speaker 1: bottom up. I can take my time. I don't have pressure.
Speaker 1: Was of a wife for a family. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: as you know the beginning stages, you're not making money. Um,
Speaker 1: you you're you could live wherever you want to and
Speaker 1: it it didn't matter. So I said, you know what,
Speaker 1: like let's do it. And it was it was one
Speaker 1: of those things where You're always gonna miss playing, you
Speaker 1: know it, like you could be fifty years old, right,
Speaker 1: You're always gonna miss playing. That's never gonna go. So
Speaker 1: I said, why would I live a feeling that's never
Speaker 1: gonna leave me prevent me from diving in early and
Speaker 1: getting the head start on what I want to do.
Speaker 1: And so, um, it was a hard decision, but I
Speaker 1: know it was the right one for me, and I
Speaker 1: was able to get in the coach and bug and
Speaker 1: dive in at a young age. Fox Sports Radio has
Speaker 1: the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
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Speaker 1: within the I Heart Radio app search f s R
Speaker 1: to listen live. And and your first stop as a
Speaker 1: grad assistant was with University Dayton and then ut Pan American, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Northern Iowa with Ben Jacobson to Nebraska with ten miles.
Speaker 1: Just if you could take and I know this might
Speaker 1: be a little much, but take each stop that you
Speaker 1: had and tell me something that you learned that made
Speaker 1: you better as a coach from each stop or the
Speaker 1: man that you might have been mentored under. What I was,
Speaker 1: I was very fortunate. Um, I worked under unbelievable people
Speaker 1: that gave me a lot of responsibility and and you
Speaker 1: not know, like that's not that's not rare. You know,
Speaker 1: sometimes guys that look like us can easily get pigeonholed
Speaker 1: or you're not giving freedom to to coach or the
Speaker 1: learner to grow. And I didn't have any of that.
Speaker 1: I was lucky. So I got my first job as
Speaker 1: a g A for Brian Gregory. He was head coach
Speaker 1: at Dayton at the time, and so he got me
Speaker 1: into coaching. And you know on that staff was Reggie
Speaker 1: rankin scout scouting, yeah, with Golden State, Billy Schmidt who
Speaker 1: is now with with coach Donovan with the Chicago Bulls,
Speaker 1: by Buyer, who was a long time NBA assistant coach.
Speaker 1: I had an unbelievable tree. You know, those are guys.
Speaker 1: Billy was at Northwestern, Bible was a Northwestern, and Big
Speaker 1: was a Northwestern. So those were guys that all knew me.
Speaker 1: I knew them, um, so it was a great fit.
Speaker 1: You know. I learned like unbelievable work ethic from from
Speaker 1: my stop at Dayton um to understand and respect to grind.
Speaker 1: It was old school. I learned the right way from
Speaker 1: b g On just how you operate every single day,
Speaker 1: how everything matters, the details matter, how perception is reality. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, he really kind of molded and gave me
Speaker 1: a good understanding at the early age of like, you know,
Speaker 1: you start from the bottom up and you you work
Speaker 1: with no ego, no expectation, and it's all about the
Speaker 1: program and the players. I was fortunately after one year
Speaker 1: to get on with Tom Schubert at what used to
Speaker 1: be U T p A which now I think Real
Speaker 1: Grand for two years and it was the funnest I've
Speaker 1: ever had. And we were we were the lowest. It
Speaker 1: was independent Division one basketball, so it was like it was,
Speaker 1: you know, you're not even in the league. So we
Speaker 1: made up to our guys this fake lead that we're
Speaker 1: in there with all these other independence I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: years sold, making eighteen thousand dollars. Um. I'm in charge
Speaker 1: of designing our gear, like legitimately the logos we're gonna
Speaker 1: have on our practice uniforms, on T shirts, on our hoodies.
Speaker 1: I'm designing the colors of our gear. I'm ordering our shoes,
Speaker 1: I'm doing film deck to deck um. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: recruiting all the time, which for the first year guy,
Speaker 1: the freedom to recruit. I mean that was everything to me. Um.
Speaker 1: I'm able to have a skill group and individual and
Speaker 1: do actually do on the court, coaching and be in
Speaker 1: charge of the perimeters at twenty five years old, I'm
Speaker 1: able to make decisions and calls, and the head coach
Speaker 1: me that, and so Tim shoot with that. I'm forever
Speaker 1: grateful man Um. And you're able to make mistakes. I
Speaker 1: think that's the best part. Like I was at this
Speaker 1: in a situation where again everybody wants to win, is competitive,
Speaker 1: but you're at a level where everybody's growing. All right,
Speaker 1: the A D S young, your s I D s young.
Speaker 1: These people at the scorers table are all first your graduates.
Speaker 1: The whole stat like everybody in the department is young.
Speaker 1: You're all growing together. And you know, there's nothing like
Speaker 1: you're getting on the six am flight. You're connecting in
Speaker 1: Houston to get to Salt Lake City. And we didn't
Speaker 1: even have we couldn't afford the charter vans, so you're
Speaker 1: driving the fifteen passenger buses. So I got one bus
Speaker 1: another since and coaches got another. We weren't licensed to
Speaker 1: drive those things. We're going to drive those things, you know,
Speaker 1: getting it done, get it done, coach, And this is
Speaker 1: after you got up at four thirty, so like you're
Speaker 1: trying not to fall asleep as you'r you know, hits
Speaker 1: mid afternoon. But man, all those things were awesome. And
Speaker 1: then you're recruiting kid were all they wanted was a
Speaker 1: chance of Division one. So you're recruiting kids that were hungry,
Speaker 1: that just were there for all the right reasons. Like
Speaker 1: it was just pure and you know, the valleys an
Speaker 1: unbelievable place. Love living there. It's eighty five degrees every day,
Speaker 1: it's sunny at eight in the morning. Um, it was awesome.
Speaker 1: So I'm there for two years. Um that I'm fortunate
Speaker 1: enough to get on with Ben Jacobson in Northern Iowa
Speaker 1: and that really kind of changed the landscape for me. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, phenomenal coach. We went to the Sweet sixteen.
Speaker 1: Remember I remember that. I remember that was number one
Speaker 1: in the Countryman, this shot you know, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was you know, we won an unbelieva amount of
Speaker 1: games about four years. We went to the tournament twice,
Speaker 1: won the league twice, won the league tournament twice. But
Speaker 1: to experience that Sweet sixteen was the first taste of
Speaker 1: like the big stage, Like it's different. As you know,
Speaker 1: you walk out like the first round games are cool.
Speaker 1: You start getting that sweet sixteen of leade eight, the
Speaker 1: lights hit a little bit different. Get hot, coach, you're
Speaker 1: living on press row. It's a little bit different faces
Speaker 1: on press rows. You start getting there, and and to
Speaker 1: get a taste of that at a young age, it
Speaker 1: was like, man, this is what I want to be.
Speaker 1: This I knew, you know what, this is the right choice.
Speaker 1: You get that bug, this is what I want to
Speaker 1: get back. You get that thirst. I need to get
Speaker 1: back to this point. And um, you know, from there,
Speaker 1: I was able to get on with Tim Miles at
Speaker 1: Nebraska and that was my first He gave me my
Speaker 1: first opportunity at a Power five job, and that was
Speaker 1: you know, I was on cloud nine, you know, to
Speaker 1: be able to be and I think it was at
Speaker 1: that time one years old as a Power five assistant
Speaker 1: coach in the Big ten. Um, I was awesome and
Speaker 1: worked with a guy that I had known. You know,
Speaker 1: Tim was a Division two coach in Minnesota when I
Speaker 1: was in high school. He recruited my high school starting
Speaker 1: point guard. So I've known coach Miles forever. And then
Speaker 1: when I was at pan Am, he was a since
Speaker 1: he was the head coach at North Dakota State, so
Speaker 1: they were also independent. So we were battling each other
Speaker 1: for those two years as independence. So I knew. I
Speaker 1: knew what Miles was about. Phenomenal coach. I knew offensively,
Speaker 1: he was gonna challenge me, and he was gonna teach
Speaker 1: a different style of different brand that was new to me.
Speaker 1: It was excited about it. Was there with him for
Speaker 1: a year and they will never forget Man, this is
Speaker 1: just the type of guy. Is um. I me at
Speaker 1: my house in the spring and Tubby had just gotten
Speaker 1: let go, and he calls me and says, hey, man,
Speaker 1: you know I don't want you to go, but I
Speaker 1: also want to be you know, true to you. You
Speaker 1: gotta you gotta start thinking about trying to get on
Speaker 1: at Minnesota with this new coach. And I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: you know, and it ain't too many coaches that are
Speaker 1: gonna do that. You know, He's just trying to build Nebraska.
Speaker 1: I was. I was in there in the fight with
Speaker 1: him and he's telling me, look, man, I don't want
Speaker 1: to lose you, but like you might have a really
Speaker 1: good opportunity to go home and being assistant for the
Speaker 1: program that you played at. And I didn't know Richard
Speaker 1: at all. Um. I think Richard was looking looking for
Speaker 1: a local dude. You know we met at the final four. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, got a chance to meet with him for
Speaker 1: the first time. The true chest was his dad was.
Speaker 1: That was what moving was in the National Championship Game.
Speaker 1: So I meet with him in Atlanta. We talked, We
Speaker 1: have a really good conversation. He's like, look, man, I
Speaker 1: think I want to hire you, but you gotta meet
Speaker 1: my dad. And I'm like, all right, great. You know
Speaker 1: how is this gonna go? You hear everything all these
Speaker 1: rumors about you know, coach p and and this and that.
Speaker 1: So you know his dad plays in the name champihip game.
Speaker 1: They went it. Richard gets me called. He goes, hey,
Speaker 1: I need you to fly down to Miami to meet
Speaker 1: with my dad at his house. And I'm like, all right, cool.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what to expect. You don't know
Speaker 1: how that goes. I go fully sooner it's just gonna
Speaker 1: be you know what conversation of meeting and he calls
Speaker 1: me just says, hey, man, just how wide Like it's
Speaker 1: gonna be easy. He's on cloud nine. He just won
Speaker 1: a national championship. So you know, I flow down there
Speaker 1: for a day and a half and met with Rick
Speaker 1: and at his house and could have been a better guy.
Speaker 1: I mean, we sating there and talked to old school basketball,
Speaker 1: We talked from a mashburn, We talked NBA Kentucky. You know,
Speaker 1: he talked about Louisville, he talked about Minnesota and explained
Speaker 1: Richard and kinda style of play and this and that,
Speaker 1: and it was pretty cool. So was it sitting with
Speaker 1: Richard for five years and then went with coach Steele
Speaker 1: at Xavier for the last three and was fortunate enough
Speaker 1: to get this job here at Minnesota. So it's very rare.
Speaker 1: I'm a guy that I've seen the program from a
Speaker 1: young kid growing up, so watching it, to being recruited
Speaker 1: to it, to playing for it, to being an assistant
Speaker 1: and now to be a head coach. I understand the position,
Speaker 1: I mean and and blessed, but it doesn't happen that often. Man, No,
Speaker 1: it doesn't. And you definitely are in a unique position.
Speaker 1: Why do you feel that kind of focusing on the
Speaker 1: local talent, local recruits and making sure that they stay home.
Speaker 1: Why is that important to build your program? I think
Speaker 1: if you look across the country, but especially in the
Speaker 1: big ten, the programs that are able to sustain success
Speaker 1: the ones that we're striving to be. If you look
Speaker 1: at their rosters, it's a lot of in state or
Speaker 1: regional local talent. I think there's a different sense of
Speaker 1: pride um, there's a different sense of ownership, um of
Speaker 1: buying with local kids. And I don't care where you're at,
Speaker 1: you could be at U c l A, U s C.
Speaker 1: I mean those guys in l A. They grow up
Speaker 1: watching you know, you would think if the program is good,
Speaker 1: they're really good U c l A teams. So like
Speaker 1: U c l A should mean more to an l
Speaker 1: A kid or a Southern California kid than a kid
Speaker 1: from Tampa, Florida. Right, you see it all the time.
Speaker 1: You've got a family member that maybe you went there.
Speaker 1: And then on top of that, we have really good
Speaker 1: high school coaches, we have really good high school basketball.
Speaker 1: You have really good talent, and talent that's good enough
Speaker 1: and it's proven to help you win on the biggest
Speaker 1: scale in the biggest arena. And so whenever you can
Speaker 1: get it's a lot easier to get a kid that's
Speaker 1: enough that can help you move that you know, twenty
Speaker 1: minutes away, and if I got to hop on a
Speaker 1: flight and connect the dots and meet people and go
Speaker 1: out of area or just go deep further in the region.
Speaker 1: So I think whatever program you're at, you know, you
Speaker 1: gotta do a really good job in your backyard to
Speaker 1: get those kids that are local that can help you,
Speaker 1: and and do a really good job in the in
Speaker 1: the community that you're at to build those relationships. Absolutely. Uh.
Speaker 1: When you look at U c. L A twenty something
Speaker 1: years ago, our national championship team which we won in
Speaker 1: ninety five, we had probably one guy that wasn't from
Speaker 1: l A on that on two Cameron Dollar from Georgia.
Speaker 1: I can want go from Houston, Texas, but you know
Speaker 1: ten guys that are l A bound and it and
Speaker 1: it does something with the fans because these fans have
Speaker 1: been watching us. We're watching us through our our high
Speaker 1: school and the youth career, and there's like this level
Speaker 1: of allegiance and you know these guys and so you
Speaker 1: just have this loyalty. Is that am I hitting that on?
Speaker 1: I mean and think about too, like those hands grew
Speaker 1: up reading about you, right, and so they followed your
Speaker 1: career all the way from maybe even junior high and
Speaker 1: especially if you have you know, we have a lot
Speaker 1: of former players who who's kids I either recruited that
Speaker 1: played for me when I was an assistant with The
Speaker 1: other cool thing you saw now is like you have
Speaker 1: some lineage. You know, I coached a Mirror Coffee and
Speaker 1: recruited a Miror Coffee. His dad played at Minnesota. So
Speaker 1: now you have fans and boosters and season ticket holders
Speaker 1: who watched dad. Now they're watching the Mirrors. Now you
Speaker 1: have that buy in, you have that lineage, and so um,
Speaker 1: that part is cool. But without of doubt, you know,
Speaker 1: that's what fans do. Fan fans. They want to win
Speaker 1: at the end of the day. So I could have
Speaker 1: a team for the kids from Alaska we win in
Speaker 1: can matter, but uh, you know what I mean. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, it's sweeter for them when they
Speaker 1: feel connected to the team because it's oh man, that's
Speaker 1: that's so and so that I used to watch in
Speaker 1: high school or when you know, my family grew up
Speaker 1: you know, knowing and reading and hearing about that name
Speaker 1: or that's Mr Basketball. You know, brain Carrington. Oh Man,
Speaker 1: I get to continue to watch him grow and become
Speaker 1: an end and play for our state school. I think
Speaker 1: that's powerful. It is powerful. It's just that with the
Speaker 1: transfer port portal, the n I L and this game
Speaker 1: notoriety of the transfer portal, it seems like coaches like
Speaker 1: yourself are in a conundrum. They have a choice to make.
Speaker 1: Do you go and try to get older quick because
Speaker 1: everybody's doing it and we're trying to win and we're
Speaker 1: trying to you know because because because you got to
Speaker 1: compete against everybody that's doing it, or do you keep
Speaker 1: in mind that, hey, we can still have to develop
Speaker 1: some young guys. We still gotta keep our ties into
Speaker 1: the local community, the grassroots aspect. We can't just go
Speaker 1: top heavy with portal guys. How do you what side
Speaker 1: of the equation do you land? Yeah, that's a great question. Um,
Speaker 1: it's a tough balance because I believe that you do
Speaker 1: you wanna you wanna develop a program from the high
Speaker 1: school stages. Um, you know, you put time in recruiting
Speaker 1: those kids. Hopefully they're with you for extended period of time.
Speaker 1: You're invested in them, you're able to develop them the
Speaker 1: right way at the same time, though, the leagues are
Speaker 1: forever changing, and you might be forced to do more
Speaker 1: portal because if you can't stay old and everybody else is,
Speaker 1: that could be right. So they might force your hand,
Speaker 1: Like you might not want to the old league is
Speaker 1: staying old, you don't have the timeline to pay fan
Speaker 1: base and a d I'm gonna take a couple of
Speaker 1: years to develop these guys. They don't want to hear that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So if the league is
Speaker 1: going old, it might force your hand to go older
Speaker 1: more than you want. I think we're gonna try to
Speaker 1: have a balance, you know, I don't want to do
Speaker 1: portal where every year we're trying to go in there
Speaker 1: and get three or four kids. But I'm also realistic
Speaker 1: and knowing you know, the likelihood of us getting one
Speaker 1: or two every year, it's probably real, and so you're
Speaker 1: trying to navigate that. But at the same time, it's
Speaker 1: it's not losing focus on At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: we want to build from the high school ranks on up,
Speaker 1: and we want to be able to use that. The
Speaker 1: also benefit of the portal is we have a lot
Speaker 1: of kids that Okay, maybe you don't get them on
Speaker 1: the first time that are from Minnesota or that a
Speaker 1: good pleasure recruited. Well, maybe you can use the portal
Speaker 1: and if they end up going in there, you you
Speaker 1: get them on the back end. Yeah. So there's a
Speaker 1: lot of ways to do it. Um. I just think
Speaker 1: each coach is just up to kind of what their
Speaker 1: philosophy is. Yeah. I found it funny. I was watching
Speaker 1: one of your older press conferences and you describe the
Speaker 1: way that you pay attention to the portal as a sickness. Uh,
Speaker 1: you have me rolling on that because he and you
Speaker 1: said you got guys dedicated to it, and you know
Speaker 1: you might be on the recruit you might have a
Speaker 1: visit or something, the staff meeting, and you might get
Speaker 1: hit on your phone like yo, so sos in the
Speaker 1: portal and you gotta respond. But that's that's sort of
Speaker 1: the new reality for college coaches and nowadays with with
Speaker 1: the new transfer portal and all this availability, you gotta basically,
Speaker 1: it's it's the wild wild West, and you gotta jump
Speaker 1: on things asap. Hunh. You do because it's it's it's
Speaker 1: speed dating. You know, it's it's recruiting on steroids. You know,
Speaker 1: you you don't you're not. You don't have the leucture
Speaker 1: of having a process of okay, you know, we'll be
Speaker 1: able to get to know him and and court them
Speaker 1: a little bit. Like No, you gotta These kids want
Speaker 1: to be recruited right away. They want to feel the
Speaker 1: love right away. Then the minute they're in the portal
Speaker 1: that they're gonna have you know, five programs already talking
Speaker 1: about official visit dates. You know. Part of that is
Speaker 1: because when kids go on to portal, there's not a
Speaker 1: lot of guesswork because you can quickly go on Synergy
Speaker 1: and they have stats that back up what they've done. There.
Speaker 1: There's equity, so you know what you're gonna get, so
Speaker 1: you can you can already say, look, let's get this
Speaker 1: kid on campus. We know what he is, he fits,
Speaker 1: there's here's his numbers, here's the data that backs it up.
Speaker 1: This is a no brainer. There's less risk, so you
Speaker 1: gotta be quick on it. You gotta have. That's why
Speaker 1: it's kind of that sickness. The kids like trying to
Speaker 1: hear the talk earlier. They want to know coach might
Speaker 1: come to campus or not. You know, some of these
Speaker 1: kids have already been recruited there over that which is
Speaker 1: a good thing. They're ready to get down to the
Speaker 1: nitty gritty. They're ready to get down to the the
Speaker 1: nuts and boats and they want to see the place.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you gotta be on it. And I've had guys. Honestly,
Speaker 1: it would be a week courtship, which is is rare.
Speaker 1: But like they might know, boom this, I hit it
Speaker 1: off with this coach. They have a need for me.
Speaker 1: Let's get it done. So again, you're you're sped up
Speaker 1: because you don't have the luxury of having time on
Speaker 1: your side. No, wow, was that a right roller? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I can hear. I hear it, I hear I hear
Speaker 1: the grab. Yeah, I know exactly. I used to have
Speaker 1: a right while when I was when I was a youngster.
Speaker 1: He ended up passing away. But I grew up with
Speaker 1: right so yeah, I know what's up. Beautiful dogs man,
Speaker 1: beautiful beasts. Um. Staying on sort of these new developments
Speaker 1: in college basketball. The n i L has been in
Speaker 1: the news as of late. Coach Nick Saban, coach Jim
Speaker 1: bow Fisher kind of had award words. Um. We've seen
Speaker 1: n i L deals done all over the country. University
Speaker 1: of Miami, Kansas state. I even saw university specific got
Speaker 1: a guy off a n I L twenty five tho dollars.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on the n I L and
Speaker 1: how much do you use that in your recruiting present day?
Speaker 1: You know it it. It's one of those things where
Speaker 1: if you don't figure it out in your own individual way,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be left behind. UM. I really think it
Speaker 1: comes down to each coach gonna navigate it differently. I
Speaker 1: don't know if there's a right way or a wrong
Speaker 1: way to do it. I just feel like you gotta
Speaker 1: be comfortable as a coach with here's how I'm gonna
Speaker 1: handle and I'm either gonna be Some guys might go
Speaker 1: all in and might say, look, I want to get
Speaker 1: guys crazy deals and and and be able to go
Speaker 1: down that route. Other guys might say, I don't want
Speaker 1: to touch it, I don't want to deal with it.
Speaker 1: Other guys might say I want to deal with it,
Speaker 1: but I want to get everybody kind of the same
Speaker 1: so my locker room, I'm not having to also deal
Speaker 1: with a salary differential amongst my guys. And that's where
Speaker 1: I kind of I lay where I'm realistic and who
Speaker 1: we are right now where we are as a program,
Speaker 1: who I am as a coach, Um, I'm not as
Speaker 1: veteran as a John Calipari, right, Mick Cronin guys that
Speaker 1: have done it. And if our Hall of Fame type
Speaker 1: guys that are able to maybe have a different salary
Speaker 1: because of who they are, they can handle that type
Speaker 1: of locker room, it's it's more accepted. I gotta know,
Speaker 1: as a younger coach, I gotta focus on the things
Speaker 1: that are gonna help us and help our program, and
Speaker 1: I can't have a bunch of outside distractions and we're
Speaker 1: just not built like that. So for me, in an
Speaker 1: ideal world, UM, I love all our guys that kind
Speaker 1: of be on an even play field. You know. That's
Speaker 1: where kind of everybody talks about the collective um, which
Speaker 1: I think could be a good thing. You know, if
Speaker 1: you're able to get a collective where you know, I'm
Speaker 1: all for guys being able to use name, image, likeness
Speaker 1: to generate money. I I completely get it. I think
Speaker 1: it's fair. I want to help our guys do that.
Speaker 1: At the same time, you know, I don't want to
Speaker 1: locker room when one guy is making you know, X
Speaker 1: amount of money and another guy is, and then I
Speaker 1: got a new guy that hasn't even played a minute
Speaker 1: my program getting money, and I've got a guy that
Speaker 1: has been tributed it and has played and is getting
Speaker 1: either a little or nothing. Right to me, that's not
Speaker 1: I'm not balancing that. I think so much to college basketball,
Speaker 1: you have to win your locker room. And if you
Speaker 1: can't win your locker room, you can win. But I
Speaker 1: think you have a ceiling and and I don't want
Speaker 1: to have to worry about that. So I'm gonna navigated
Speaker 1: probably a little bit different and and find the guys
Speaker 1: that understand that. And I think at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, no matter where you go, I don't care
Speaker 1: if you have a big deal or not. If that
Speaker 1: takes precedence over winning and getting better as a player,
Speaker 1: well then you've got more problems than than you think.
Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, every coach want
Speaker 1: guys to be there for something bigger than an n
Speaker 1: I L deal or bigger than money that they have.
Speaker 1: They want to be there to get better, to improve,
Speaker 1: and to win. Yeah, I mean, you know it's sort
Speaker 1: of old school versus new school. Now, coach, we have
Speaker 1: that old school way of Hey, guys are getting better.
Speaker 1: We need to win a championship with getting our degree,
Speaker 1: and then there's a new school. I'm trying to get
Speaker 1: paid coach. Um. But one of the biggest unintended consequences
Speaker 1: that I that I've I've heard you talk about and
Speaker 1: you talked about it right here is the locker room.
Speaker 1: What happens when the guy that you just got on
Speaker 1: the n i L deal comes in and you've got
Speaker 1: a guy for your contributor, blood, sweat and tears for
Speaker 1: the program, fan favorite, not getting nothing. It's the dynamics
Speaker 1: between the players. Now you have sort of a pro dynamic.
Speaker 1: And and my question to you is, and this is
Speaker 1: the last one in the n i L when you
Speaker 1: have if if you were a coach and you had
Speaker 1: that dynamic in your program the University Minnesota sort of
Speaker 1: the salary cap nature of guy the best guys getting
Speaker 1: n i LS. Do you take more of the pro
Speaker 1: would you take more of a pro approach and coaching
Speaker 1: these guys or do you stay true to your guns
Speaker 1: and and you know they either buying in or it's
Speaker 1: not gonna work. Yeah, I think you gotta have a
Speaker 1: little bit of balance, Um, But I also think you know,
Speaker 1: I'm all about having to talk early. Um, guy's got
Speaker 1: to know. Look, if if with much as given, much
Speaker 1: as expected, right, And I'm all for guys getting their
Speaker 1: money and getting deals, but they also understand that there's
Speaker 1: gonna come with a certain amount of price and it's
Speaker 1: not put on me. It's been going to be put
Speaker 1: on like the general public. If there's a dollar amount
Speaker 1: attached to your name and it's public, we all know
Speaker 1: you got to produce. And if you don't, that's where
Speaker 1: you worry about. These aren't professional athletes. These are college athletes,
Speaker 1: but we're putting them in a professional forum. And so
Speaker 1: now what happens if you're the beat writer or you're
Speaker 1: the columnist, or you're the fan, and you know a
Speaker 1: dollar amount that's pretty high is on a player and
Speaker 1: their production isn't where it needs to be. How is
Speaker 1: that now being handled? I need to have that talk
Speaker 1: with that player and say, look, man, I'm gonna protect
Speaker 1: you as much as I can, but this with with
Speaker 1: that with money, money changes a lot of things, and
Speaker 1: and and we're gonna have to work together to navigate
Speaker 1: through good and bad. And as you know, there's so
Speaker 1: many presures in college basketball as is with social media,
Speaker 1: take take the money out of it, which just social
Speaker 1: media right with how it is in today's day and age. Um.
Speaker 1: That's why I think Dion Sanders made a great point.
Speaker 1: He talked about if we're gonna go this route, we
Speaker 1: better hire men or people male or female that know
Speaker 1: how to handle what all is about to come with money.
Speaker 1: Once you bring large amounts of money, the mentality in
Speaker 1: the mindset of everything changes. We better have staffs in
Speaker 1: at let departments that are equipped to handle and help
Speaker 1: these young men and young women navigate this new world.
Speaker 1: You know, we can't expect that we can give them
Speaker 1: all this and there's not gonna be some side effects
Speaker 1: to it. And I think there's a lot of truth
Speaker 1: to that. Support is mando in these situations for the athletes,
Speaker 1: especially when you when you're seeing large sums of money,
Speaker 1: like financial literacy and money management. I think me of
Speaker 1: like some of the responsibilities should be on the college
Speaker 1: athletic department to offer the resources. Now, whether or not
Speaker 1: the athlete uses them or not, that's on them, but
Speaker 1: at least to offer those resources would be great. Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Speaker 1: Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot
Speaker 1: com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
Speaker 1: s R to listen live. Last thing, I was talking
Speaker 1: months ago to ESPN's College Basketball and on the Shan
Speaker 1: Farnham and he and I asked him that a similar
Speaker 1: question I asked you, coach, which is, I asked him,
Speaker 1: would he cover guys differently if there's the dollar amount
Speaker 1: associating if this guy now is a paid for professional athlete.
Speaker 1: He said yeah, He said, yeah, he's gonna he have
Speaker 1: to cover them differently because now the dynamic is different.
Speaker 1: And I found that. I found that very interesting. Um,
Speaker 1: let's move on and kind of talk about the prospects
Speaker 1: for next season. Uh, you're coming off the heels of
Speaker 1: a in my opinion, a very good first year third
Speaker 1: teen in seventeen, which the record is deceiving. You started
Speaker 1: ten one. Uh, you you filled in the roster nine
Speaker 1: ten guys. Now fast forward a year, you got a
Speaker 1: full year under your built, You went through the the
Speaker 1: the the gauntlet of the Big Ten Conference. You picked
Speaker 1: up some recruits, got some transfers out of the port
Speaker 1: or what or your season goals realistically for the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Golden Golfers. Coming into next year. I couldn't be more
Speaker 1: excited about in year two the guys that we have
Speaker 1: in our locker room. You know, I think we hit
Speaker 1: a home run with the four high school kids that
Speaker 1: we took. Um. I think they all bring a talent
Speaker 1: level that you need as you know, uh in the
Speaker 1: big tent. They bring the physicality, they bring the athleticism,
Speaker 1: which is what we needed to size the measurables. We're
Speaker 1: able to get a couple of key transfers um that
Speaker 1: all fit what we're trying to do, and then we
Speaker 1: have kids returning that that we're trying to do. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna have death Like this past year, we just
Speaker 1: didn't have a bunch of depth. Um. You know, I
Speaker 1: only was able to play about six seven guys tops.
Speaker 1: Really this year we're gonna be you know about too
Speaker 1: deep at every spot. So that's gonna help with practice.
Speaker 1: You know, if you can have competitive practices, it's that
Speaker 1: iron shop from is iron. Everybody gets better those competitive
Speaker 1: juices start flowing, you're able to to to develop as
Speaker 1: a team. Um, So that's gonna be exciting, you know.
Speaker 1: I think the challenge for us is to not lose
Speaker 1: focus on the big picture, I think it's obviously everyone's
Speaker 1: going to make the Instant double A tournament, to try
Speaker 1: to win a Big ten championship, to try to make
Speaker 1: a second third, fourth weekend in the instan double A tournament.
Speaker 1: So the question is how do you do that? To me,
Speaker 1: it's not worrying about that, that's the obvious. It's being
Speaker 1: built into the everyday grind, right, how do we get
Speaker 1: better today knowing that, like some days are always gonna
Speaker 1: be great, you might not always get all the way better,
Speaker 1: but then you gotta be able to respond on and
Speaker 1: come back the next day. So you're not doing this
Speaker 1: or you're not plateau and you're slowly getting better. So
Speaker 1: that's the challenge. Man. I take a lot of pride,
Speaker 1: and I'll watch the Miami Heat a lot. I do
Speaker 1: a deep dive into's just how they go about. You
Speaker 1: look at the Heat, you look at the Spurs, you
Speaker 1: look at Mike Thomlin, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sometimes it's methodical,
Speaker 1: it seems boring, it seems basic, elementary, But those programs
Speaker 1: do it every single day consistently, and I think that's
Speaker 1: the reason why you see them always contending for championships
Speaker 1: or going for on the playoffs, and that's what we
Speaker 1: try to do. We try to do the the boring stuff,
Speaker 1: the monotonous stuff, the fundamental stuff that can every single
Speaker 1: day to get a little bit better each day. And
Speaker 1: I just tell like that that's our only going if
Speaker 1: we if we can blow it out and get better
Speaker 1: individually as a team a little by little every single day,
Speaker 1: and not get bored with that process, then we'll have
Speaker 1: a chance to have a fun season. If we get
Speaker 1: caught up and looking too far down the road, or
Speaker 1: trying to win the Big Ten in the summer, or
Speaker 1: just getting consumed with like the pressures of that of
Speaker 1: making the tournament, I think it delays installs you being
Speaker 1: able to get better as a program versus if you
Speaker 1: just worry about the day to day and and get
Speaker 1: better today and maximize him today. Tell me about Jamison Battle.
Speaker 1: I I saw, you know, he's a six seven wing.
Speaker 1: I watched a little bit of him, but as a
Speaker 1: coach coaching him up where some of his best attributes
Speaker 1: and are they enough? You know, the Big Ten player
Speaker 1: of the year next year. You don't have to answer that, coach, Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting man um when you looked at James.
Speaker 1: I've known Jen was since high school. Um, when you
Speaker 1: look at guys in the portal and you see the
Speaker 1: numbers like Jamison average sixteen at g DUB, which is,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, a really good league. Very rarely do
Speaker 1: those numbers and stats transfer, especially when you're going upper level,
Speaker 1: and Jamison's circumstance, they transferred, and and that is rare.
Speaker 1: And what I come to find out about him is
Speaker 1: he's a warrior, um competitive is all get out. One
Speaker 1: of the best tough shot makers I've been around. And
Speaker 1: I think that's a skill. Like his ability to make
Speaker 1: contested tough threes and twos is off the charts. And
Speaker 1: if he's gonna be an NBA player, I think that
Speaker 1: is gonna be one of the things that helps him
Speaker 1: be an NBA player, because to me, that's what the
Speaker 1: NBA is. You gotta have guys. If you're a score,
Speaker 1: you know you know how good I mean, defenses are
Speaker 1: obviously really good, like you have to make shots to
Speaker 1: score versus really good defense maker. And that's where he is.
Speaker 1: He's a tough shot maker. And so now his challenge is, um,
Speaker 1: you know, he played a lot of four for US
Speaker 1: now he's gonna play the four quote the four and
Speaker 1: the three to be able to make that transition, to
Speaker 1: be able to make the transition not only offensively, but defensively,
Speaker 1: which he took great strides in. He's done a really
Speaker 1: good job with his body physically, he's in the best
Speaker 1: shape of his life. But he's got an ug believable attitude.
Speaker 1: He wants it all in the right ways. Uh. He's
Speaker 1: a team first guy through and through. Um, he's a
Speaker 1: guy that you want nothing but the best for and
Speaker 1: you want him to reach all of his individual and
Speaker 1: team goes because he's just he earns it and he
Speaker 1: works for it every single day. Yeah, when you guys
Speaker 1: start working out for summer workouts, So we will start.
Speaker 1: Guys will get here June five. We'll kind of give
Speaker 1: him that first week to do some physical testing and
Speaker 1: they start class on that Monday. Um, they'll do all
Speaker 1: you know stuff that's non regulated and then we'll start
Speaker 1: that that next that next week, I leave on the
Speaker 1: twelfth or thirteen? Is it? Is it so you're on
Speaker 1: the court with them a lot in this summer or
Speaker 1: is that we can get yea, so we can get
Speaker 1: eight hours a week between basketball and strengthen conditioning. So
Speaker 1: we'll do um, you know, kind of like many stuff
Speaker 1: up with him on the court, in the in the
Speaker 1: and the allowed time that we're allowed to have on
Speaker 1: them have with him. And now it's you know, kind
Speaker 1: of the balance. You know, it's old school. Back when
Speaker 1: I when I'm my freshman year, we weren't you know,
Speaker 1: when I was playing, we weren't allowed to you didn't
Speaker 1: see coaches, you know. So now it's that balance of
Speaker 1: as a coach, you want to be greedy, but I
Speaker 1: also don't want the summer to feel like January, you know,
Speaker 1: because at some point I don't want our guys to
Speaker 1: hit that wall and now in January when we need
Speaker 1: them their shot because we've been grinding crazy hearts since
Speaker 1: August or since June or since July. And so it's
Speaker 1: kind of having that balance. So we'll mix up, you know,
Speaker 1: making a competitive summer will probably play a lot. Uh.
Speaker 1: Let these guys get going up and down. We'll work
Speaker 1: on some skill stuff, but keep it loose, but just
Speaker 1: developed that work ethic and that love for being in
Speaker 1: the gym. To me, that's the biggest thing. If we can,
Speaker 1: especially with the new kids. Uh, freshman and transfers really
Speaker 1: established the culture of the work of love to be
Speaker 1: in the gym and putting in extra that I think
Speaker 1: it's a it's a success. Do you have it so
Speaker 1: with this time that you're able to get in the
Speaker 1: gym in the summer, especially with the new guys and
Speaker 1: the transfers. Is it something and this is kind of
Speaker 1: a strategic type of question, is it something that you
Speaker 1: might want to look to implement or lay the foundation
Speaker 1: of offensively and defensively, maybe not full you know, going
Speaker 1: all the way one hunted, but to kind of some
Speaker 1: principles and this is what we do here. Yeah, no, exactly.
Speaker 1: So you know, I don't know if we'll do a
Speaker 1: bunch of like close out drills and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: but you know, you definitely you want to give them
Speaker 1: a sense of like, okay, fellas, Defensively, here's kind of
Speaker 1: our core main principles UM. And then offensively, this is
Speaker 1: how we're gonna play. This is how we're gonna play
Speaker 1: in transition, off makes off mrs, and then in a
Speaker 1: half court. I'm big on I want to teach these
Speaker 1: guys basketball. I'm not a guy that wants to come
Speaker 1: down and hammer out a set every single time, like
Speaker 1: just how my brain thinks and operate. So teaching them
Speaker 1: how do we call it flow? How to play and flow?
Speaker 1: Teach them on how to space and play that's the
Speaker 1: fun part um to to kind of play with that freedom.
Speaker 1: But I do I do think you learned that through
Speaker 1: a lot of up and down four or four or
Speaker 1: five on five. But teaching them you know, how to
Speaker 1: play in space and and we'll do a ton of that. Um,
Speaker 1: both on both sides of the ball. No, that's that's
Speaker 1: that's great. Those are the best, not the best, but
Speaker 1: one of the best methods. I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: because guys earlier you get them in there and you
Speaker 1: lock it in, you know. Then you come you get
Speaker 1: around fall in October and you know we're already up
Speaker 1: to speed. Uh, coach, one more question then I then
Speaker 1: I'll let you go. UM. I wanted to talk to
Speaker 1: you briefly, just get a comment briefly about just the
Speaker 1: George Floyd situation in the state of Minnesota and if
Speaker 1: if you feel any responsibility as an African American person
Speaker 1: of color and high profile position in that state, is
Speaker 1: there any possibility for you that you feel to to
Speaker 1: speak out or is it something that you let you know,
Speaker 1: the nick kind of run its course, I just wanted
Speaker 1: to get your thoughts on that. Yeah, and also another
Speaker 1: really good question. Um, I feel it's like my responsibility
Speaker 1: because I want to flip the narrative. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: it hits home with me different because in the credit
Speaker 1: area that I grew up in, I got a you know,
Speaker 1: a sister that lives blocks away from where it happened. Um,
Speaker 1: it could have you know, I'm a minority. I deal
Speaker 1: with those same feelings that all of us deal um
Speaker 1: at certain times in our life. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I want to be a voice because I want to
Speaker 1: let everybody know I don't care what nationality you are,
Speaker 1: what race you are, where you grew up. If you
Speaker 1: see social injustice, you should say something about it. Hopefully,
Speaker 1: you know we start to rail guy, is that we
Speaker 1: are all are a lot more similar than different at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, and that if we're going
Speaker 1: to change this, that we all, when there is injustice
Speaker 1: and inequality, are brave enough to speak on it and
Speaker 1: to be a voice for people who might not have
Speaker 1: that voice, and to show strength when it's hard to
Speaker 1: show strength. You know, for my players, I want them
Speaker 1: to know it's important for them to see me fight
Speaker 1: the fight because they need to know that I am
Speaker 1: just like them. You know, we talked about that. Like
Speaker 1: I said, Fellas, you know, when you get pulled over,
Speaker 1: I I have the same feelings and anxiety that you
Speaker 1: might have um circumstances I've been through you might go through.
Speaker 1: We can relate on that note, but like you also
Speaker 1: need to understand that it comes down to just being
Speaker 1: a good person. You know what, I think we kind
Speaker 1: of lose cited that we all want to categorize stuff,
Speaker 1: which I get and and and sometimes it needs to
Speaker 1: be categorized because if it if it happens to a
Speaker 1: certain demographic, a lot like it needs to be addressed.
Speaker 1: But also at the end of the day, if you're
Speaker 1: a good person, none of that stuff should matter. It
Speaker 1: should just matter because you know it ain't right. And
Speaker 1: I think just trying to get our team and community
Speaker 1: to understand, you know, we can change it, but we
Speaker 1: all have to almost approach it from that standpoint of
Speaker 1: if you're a good person, this is what you do.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't care what the situation is if
Speaker 1: it deals with the female, it deals with the gay
Speaker 1: lesbian community, if it deals with a different you know, nationality,
Speaker 1: different demographic, you know, different financial situation. Like good people
Speaker 1: help good people. When you see something that's that's right
Speaker 1: and you applaud it, when you see something that's wrong,
Speaker 1: you stand up for it, and um, you know, that's
Speaker 1: all I try to do. And you know, thankfully, I
Speaker 1: am in a position where I do have a voice,
Speaker 1: and I've just told anybody that will listen, you know,
Speaker 1: I am here to help. I think that's one thing
Speaker 1: that's cool about being in my position is you know,
Speaker 1: I've gotten here because people have helped me. I didn't
Speaker 1: get here on my own, and I wouldn't have gotten
Speaker 1: here on my own. Somebody saw something in me and
Speaker 1: pushed me to to get to where I am, and
Speaker 1: somebody opened the door for me. So now that I'm
Speaker 1: in this position, I want to be able to help
Speaker 1: the next person, whether it's one of my former players,
Speaker 1: whether it's maybe somebody in the community that I don't know.
Speaker 1: But if I can be that voice and I can
Speaker 1: help somebody and navigate a situation, or help somebody achieve
Speaker 1: a certain goal, or be a voice for you know,
Speaker 1: a different organization. UM, you know, I want to be
Speaker 1: able to do that because I think it's important when
Speaker 1: you're in a position that that that has you know, power,
Speaker 1: big time, big time stuff. Coach will let you go
Speaker 1: on that note, I appreciate you taking the time out
Speaker 1: from your busy schedule today and best of luck this
Speaker 1: year to the Gophers. I I appreciate it, man. I
Speaker 1: love your show, love what you're doing, and I appreciate
Speaker 1: you having a Midwest guy on man. Yes, sir, thank
Speaker 1: you so much, ladies and gentlemen. Coach Ben Johnson