WEBVTT - Wisconsin Coaching Legend Bo Ryan Talks Coaching Path, System, Final Four Runs 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:09.720 Hey, welcome. It s Doug gollib here and you are 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:11.960 listening to all ball, all basketball, all the time. Got 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:15.680 a great conversation with Bo Ryan, Hall of fame coach 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:21.079 Wisconsin Badgers u W Platt pille W Milwaukee, his entire 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:23.840 path that took him to Wisconsin, and the thoughts of 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.439 that championship game against the Duke Blue Devils. Would he 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.120 do anything differently against Tyas Jones defensively? Wait till you 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:33.000 here we do you hear our discussion. Quick up, a 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.160 little note for you. Daily Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:38.840 Sports Radio available on Fox Sports Radio, the I Heart 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:40.960 Radio app, Fox sport Trader dot com. You're streaming, we 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:42.839 can download that like a podcast, just like you can 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:45.839 download this one. We talk all sports, not just hoops there, 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.440 but do talk some hoops, baseball, ton of football, Getting 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.080 ready for the NFL Draft. That's three to sixt Eastern, 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.480 twelve to three Pacific on your iHeart radio Apple, Fox 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.240 sports Trader dot com or download the podcast. All right, 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:59.360 let's get to it. Here's my conversation with Bo Ryan. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.240 Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.800 Gottlieb Show weekdays at three p m. Easter Noon Pacific 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:09.080 on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.640 Let's start in Chester, Pennsylvania. Okay, Um, I've only heard 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:17.840 stories about your dad, Butch, I don't. But there are 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:20.520 stories from other people, and occasionally you've sprinkled them in 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:25.080 in in other interviews. Um, what's your what's your first memory? 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:27.840 Your dad coached kids like growing up, So what's your 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:34.520 first memory of of basketball? First memory of basketball? Um? Well, 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:41.880 I know your dad had you surrounded, uh by a 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.800 lot of things basketball wives growing up. So my dad 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:49.840 would take me to this hole in the wall, Jim. 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.440 It had a root that had a heater up in 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.960 the corner. I can remember this because I was like 0:01:56.160 --> 0:02:00.480 four years old, um, and there was no place to 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:05.240 stand while my dad and all these other guys were playing. Um, 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.799 So I would go up by the heater and sit 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:12.240 on a plank and watch these guys play, and then 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:15.000 as soon as the game is over, a quick pop down, 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:18.960 grab a basketball and start shooting. That's my first memories 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:24.800 of being in a so called jim. It was a 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.640 poor excuse for jim, but that that was that's my 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:36.800 first exposure. What was it called, Well, it was in Upland, Pennsylvania, 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:42.200 which is a burrow right outside of Chester. UM. And 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:44.320 I can't tell you what it was called, because I 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:48.760 don't think it had a name. Uh. They just said 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.320 let's go to the gym. And it was right next 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:56.440 to a Baptist church that we were members of. UM. 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:00.600 So I can I can see it to this day 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:05.600 exactly what it looked like. UM. But that's my first 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.520 time being in a gym that I can remember. And uh, 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.000 and shooting a basketball that way. Now. Otherwise we had 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:19.360 like Carton's mail, two telephone poles in the alley where 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.800 we would throw not regular basketballs, and we would throw 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:28.640 any round ball we could. But that was that wasn't 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:34.360 a gym that was outside sure Umber. Okay, you you 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:38.120 played quarterback and you were a point guard, A very 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:40.160 good point guard at high school? Were you were you 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:45.200 better at quarterback? No? I was not a very good quarterback. 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:51.200 M I. Uh. I didn't throw interceptions, believe it or not. 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:55.080 I didn't turn the ball over. Uh. Kind of like 0:03:56.200 --> 0:04:00.480 that's how we tried to coach UM. I was trying 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:02.400 to inject a little Humber there, Doug. But I don't 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.920 I got it. I got it. I believe it. But football. 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:08.400 But football looked different, like look, football look different even 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:11.040 when I was in high school. I can only imagine 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:12.480 there was a lot of three yards in the cloud 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:14.760 of dust. I just didn't know, if you exactly right. 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.919 I love it. I love it atin We had a 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:25.520 button hook. UM. My top receiver was a guy named 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:30.359 Donald Wesley. His son ended up playing at Baylor and 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:35.760 in the NBA. Uh, David Westley m So that was 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:40.400 my that was my tight end. UH. My center was 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:44.640 Teddy Catrell, who was a defensive coordinator for four or 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:50.400 five different NFL teams. And we won one game in 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:55.839 three years in football because everybody just got ready for basketball. 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:01.440 That's the way Chester was. Football was not um a 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:06.120 sport that got any attention because everybody just waited until basketball. 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:09.120 See it. Why did you go to Wilkes University will 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:16.200 Wilkes College? Uh? I went there because Ron Rainey, my 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:22.239 high school coach, took the job. UM. And what happened 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:24.920 was I had been talking to Temple and Rectors and 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:29.120 a few other places, and uh it sure made it 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:32.120 easy when the person you were playing for for three 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:36.279 years is going to take you for another four. Um. 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:39.960 But there were no scholarships that way. What I did 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:45.440 was stilled out the application, and having been captain the 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.280 three sports and president of my class, I ended up 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:54.479 getting a leadership grant which paid for most of it. 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:58.000 But I had to do fifteen hours a week of 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:02.120 work study. So I had some different jobs. I had 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:06.159 some interesting jobs. One year I worked in the post office. 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:10.920 One year I worked in the dish room UH. One 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:15.040 year I worked UH doing the LNG picking up sheets 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:19.320 and pillar cases and then distributed in the clean ones. UH. 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:21.840 And then the final year I had I was in 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.280 charge of in the rules. So worked up pretty well. 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.800 It's it's amazing. It leads me to what I want 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:30.599 to get to. When you first started coaching high school 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:34.320 and then started coaching UH in college, So how how 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:38.719 good were you at Wilkes Well, I got to play 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:42.640 as a freshman. That was the other advantage back then. UM. 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:45.640 The other guys that went to say Temple, for example, 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:50.799 you couldn't play as a freshman, So I being a 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:56.920 type A, UM, it's not playing as a freshman just 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:01.040 didn't seem right or you know, not had a full schedule. 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:06.120 Freshman did play, but nothing like the varsity UM, and 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:09.120 so What happened was I got to shoot the ball 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:14.360 more again in in college because they needed scores. They 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:18.000 had not had a very good record UM prior to 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:24.960 coming prior to uh US going there, So I did 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:29.800 score more. So I ended up in double figures two 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:33.400 or three or four years. Having been a point guard 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:37.040 at Chester, I was a distributor UH and we had 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.840 five of us and kind of average between nine and 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:45.800 sixteen points at Chester. UH. But it works. My teammate 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.680 and I a young man by name of Ruben Daniels, 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:54.440 my roommate the first year UH, he and I were 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:58.120 two of the top scores because they definitely needed help. 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.920 You mentioned I got to shoot more. You mentioned you 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:04.960 you played for the same coach in college that you 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.280 did in high school. That okay, So you have you 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.000 have your dad as your formative years. Then you have 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:14.240 this coach who coaches you for you know, all these 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.120 kind of growth years. What what were there? Like, Let's 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:19.800 start with your dad. What was his how did how 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:22.680 did he coach? What was his style? Going way back 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:28.840 when that's a good question because my answer will tell 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:33.560 you a lot. He had He coached football and he 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:37.640 probably won ring out of every ten games. He coached, 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:44.960 He had three plays. His team's blocked and tackled better 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:51.320 than everybody else for thirty years. Um fundamentally sound as 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:57.000 you can get for a youth football program. Um. In basketball, 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:03.760 same thing. He kept it pretty soap, but they screamed, rebounded, 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:09.120 and took care of the ball better than anybody else. Um. 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.360 So he was very successful coaching and biddy league basketball, 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:18.679 you football, Uh, and in baseball you talk about a 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.599 percentage guy. He played the percentages that that's where he 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:27.920 coached Billy White, Hughes Johnson, m American and Agian baseball. 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:34.480 And he only used Billy basically as a finch runner 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:39.400 in late innings. But he was he was his sound 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:43.280 fundamentally is And I didn't think much of a thing. 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:51.199 I just thought that's the way everybody is supposed to coach. H. Yeah, 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.880 it's interesting, Yeah, you know it's it's interesting though because 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:57.720 um just a little little snapshot. My dad obviously is 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.679 uh was is uh kind of you know, brought like 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:03.680 same way, like all of our practices when I was 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.520 a kid, like you know, we'd start out with you know, 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.480 we didn't do ball handling as much as everything was passing, 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:11.800 you know, like monkey in the middle, drill bolling the 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.760 ring drill two men, you know, two men jump stopped 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:16.720 passing all the way down, like all these kind of 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:20.440 basic fundamentals and fundamentals with spacing, and I just thought 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:24.160 that's how all practices were kind of interesting. Fast forward 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:28.840 to our recently canceled uh bronco league. My son's just 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:33.280 turned to Levins ten, just turned eleven. Basically, I know, 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.360 I know he loved it. I want to tell me 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:39.200 tell you how um so he he. I've been like 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.880 the assistant coach because I travel around during March so 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:44.400 much for baseball for a couple of years. Finally this 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:46.880 year is like, you know, like next year, he's probably 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.120 gonna be club the whole year. I don't coach him. 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.280 In club, we let a professional, but in this one 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.280 I want to coach him. So I wasn't even there 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.200 for the first game, but I had run practices and 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.640 all the parents like, man, you draft a really good team. Gosh, 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.400 we're gielding really well. First game, like we made no errors, 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:06.080 and so my wife is like, well, you'd be really 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.200 proud of of how you drafted. I said, I did 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:11.480 think I drafted a good team, but all we did 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:15.160 in practice was groundballs and throws the first and back 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.679 in and up and that's basically it. You know, we 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.840 worked because the expression I use is the fundamentals are 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:25.080 the fundamentals. Like for any sport, the basics are the basics. 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.920 And until you can do the basics, it doesn't matter 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.320 what plays you run or you know what creative things 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:35.439 you can find if in basketball you can't dribble, pass, 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.640 not just shoot, but also catch, right like, catching is underrated, 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:44.839 catching the basketball with balance on that catching a start, 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:49.880 it isn't it isn't. No, no, you're not free flowing 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.760 conversation just whatever. Um. But but it's it's amazing that, 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:56.880 uh that as much as we'd like to think our 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:01.000 sports have advanced, like things that your dad taught still work. 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:05.160 They work in every sport at every level. And we 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.719 we get we get law. Sometimes we get lost as 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.000 guys who love our sport, and we get way ahead 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:17.360 of ourselves. Jump stop, pump fake you you mean for university, 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:19.679 that's that's when a lot of people referred to us 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:26.120 at Wisconsin and and look at and by the way 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:29.000 team and and and by the way, who who plays 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.760 like that? In addition, to Wisconsin now going over right, 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.400 Like Jay has done a lot of things, but Jay's 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:37.439 teams are incredibly fundamentally they jump, stop in the lane 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.200 and make plays and make the extra pass and pass crisply. 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:44.040 That the best bounced pass team I've ever seen, UM, 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.760 because all they do in practices throw bounced passes like 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.240 it's really a beauty to what. Okay? So then what 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:53.160 was your your high school coach that became your college coach? 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:57.480 What was his name again, Ron Rainy? Okay? So what 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:02.280 was Ron Rainey's state in the fifty uh also played 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:05.280 baseball and was the captain and played in the College 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:10.440 World Series in the late fifties and tenth state. UM. 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:14.120 And then he took the job at Chester And that 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:16.839 was my sophomore year. We had four junior highs that 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:21.840 fed into one high school, UM, so we we all 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.880 came in as sophomores. And it was Rainey's first year. 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:33.360 And after three games, our sophomore team killed people. We 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:37.720 were like by thirty each game and the varsity was struggling. 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.120 And he figured his first year what he was gonna 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:42.640 do was may as well get the guys that I'm 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:44.839 going to develop for down the road. So he brought 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.360 three of us up from the sophomore team and then 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:54.080 we started every game the rest of the way. But 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:57.840 he was he was fundamentally sound as a coach. You 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:01.800 guys play fast one him. I went behind my back, 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:06.240 uh and made a pass on a on a fast 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.600 break at the next time out. He just looked me 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:15.480 in the eye and said, it better get there. You 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.040 can do it, but a better get there. Right. Yeah, 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.040 I got your coach. Yeah, No, Coach Sutton was. Coach 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:24.320 Sutton was much the same way. Um, okay, so you 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:28.240 get you get done playing. Did you have a plan? 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:30.000 Did you know what you wanted to do? Did you 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:31.880 want to be like your debt? Like, what was the 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:35.880 what was the take me back? You graduate from Wilkes 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:41.360 College in nineteen sixty nine, What was all right? I mean, 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:45.240 in a crazy time in society, you're getting done with college? 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.640 What what were you thinking? What I did? Here's what 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:55.360 I did. I actually, um did an interview. I looked 0:14:55.400 --> 0:15:01.840 at the FBI, UM met with really just to see, 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.960 you know, just to get an idea if it would 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:10.480 be something, um that I'd be interested in. But I 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:15.600 had a degree in business economics marketing. Uh, and Arco 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:20.880 Atlantic Richfield had hired me, offered me a contract, So 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:26.000 I signed with Arco. Was ready to start working for them, 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:30.280 and you know, become a CEO eventually or become envisional 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:34.560 manager whatever, you know, trying to move up in the 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:38.960 business world, that way, corporate world. And uh, then I 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:42.960 got drafted. Um, and I always kid. I got drafted 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:48.760 by the team in green and people go, oh, the Celtics. 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:53.720 The Army. Um. So I went in the Army and 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:57.760 it's amazing talking to you because I know about your family, 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.840 your dad. So I'm an the Army and I'm not 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:06.120 playing basketball. I'm not playing team sports for the first 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:09.200 time in my life. But I'm on a team, the 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:14.520 Army team, but not the basketball team. So I get 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:19.560 stationed at Fort Lordon, Georgia, and I get in some 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:22.080 pickup games and the guy comes up to me and says, 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:27.800 WHOA where did you play? What it? Uh? What? Why 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:30.920 don't we know about you? I slo, I'm a draftee. Well, 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.480 we're gonna have you on the team. Uh you want 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:38.160 to play? We go and play a different basis and 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:41.640 you travel And I said, are you kidding me? Yeah, 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:46.120 I'd love to well, my commanding officer because of the 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:52.280 MLS that I had working with prisoners in the stockade UM, 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:57.280 they said they couldn't afford to have me go td 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:03.120 Y temporary duty and play basketball off for the post team. 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.280 So I was crushed, you know, I thought it be 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:11.720 you know, something I really enjoyed, and so I couldn't play. 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:14.480 So there I am in the Service. I didn't know 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:15.919 if they're I was going to get sent to now 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:23.040 sixty seventy one, that was a pretty hot spot. UM 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:25.359 in the country are in the world as we know. 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:29.000 So I didn't get sent and I stayed at Fort 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:33.960 Gordon for my two years. While I was in the Service. 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:38.760 Do the things about my dad working with kids and 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:46.399 developing young people, Well, I decided to teaching coach. So 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.720 with a business degree, I didn't have the student teaching 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:54.159 and a few other UM courses that you needed to 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:58.800 be certified in Pennsylvania. So I took a year did 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:02.800 that after getting out the Service, got my teaching certification 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:07.240 and started coaching and teaching in junior high school. What 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:12.840 you sevent two? So you so you showed what what 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:15.040 was it? What was the name of the junior high 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:19.560 Brooke hadn Junior High right outside of Chester. It's right 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:23.200 next to Chester. It's Uh, one side of the street 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:25.720 is chest to the other side of the street is Brokaven. 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.399 So say you're Brooke Haven Junior High School. And then 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:34.200 from there, didn't didn't you go? Didn't you go to 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:36.639 to Wisconsin for a like a what was it a 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:39.159 girl's job? What was the what was the job that 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.400 you went to next? Like Dominican College? It was an 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:46.840 n A I a school in Racine, Uh, Dominican College. 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.959 And what happened was I went there with Bill Cofield. 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.840 Bill Cofield had been coaching at Prairie View and had 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.639 done a pretty good job at Prairie View, but he 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:03.760 won to come up north. He was from Illinois, UM, 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:09.399 so he actually interviewed he actually interviewed for the u 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:14.280 w ND job, and uh, he didn't get it. But 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:17.040 when he was in the airport to fly back to Texas, 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:21.600 he met the gentleman who was the president of Dominican College, 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.480 and then the guy says, hey, we're looking for a coach. 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:29.440 Our guy just left. So he ended up he ended 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:32.679 up taking the job. And then he had also coached 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:37.520 at Lincoln University which is in Lower Merian and Lower 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.159 Merian was our one of our big rivals when I 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:44.800 was a Chestain. And so what happens is he he 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.399 ends up calling a couple of guys that had played 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:52.640 for him, and these couple of guys say, hey, coach 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:55.240 coke Field, but we know you remember that guy Ryan 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.040 to play Blah blah blah. One thing led to another. 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:02.120 He calls me up my interview over the phone. Take 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:07.600 the job and go out to the scene Wisconsin and 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:13.440 coach there for one year, and then the school folded financially. 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:21.640 Uh and Cofield took the assistance job at Virginia. Cofield 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:23.960 was the first black assistant coach hired in the A 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:29.200 SEC basketball. You know when we caught a good break, 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:34.840 Terry Hone Uh to this day, Um, it was one 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:39.560 of the nicest gentleman I've ever met. Oh. And he 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:42.119 had amazing staffs when he was at Virginia, just really 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:44.320 remarkable guys that went on too great things. I wanted 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:46.600 to ask you, So you get to Dominican College and 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:49.399 I think you did something that my dad told me. 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:51.960 I remember his his first college job, he coached high 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:59.160 school basketball all over Death Valley High school in Colorado Springs, Um, 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:03.040 you know, and like all all these towns, uh, Dylan Vale, Ohio, 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:05.640 which is close to where John havel Check grew up. 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.639 He was there for a year anyway. His his first 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:14.840 college job was at Quinnipiac under a man named Burt. Come. Yeah, okay, 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:16.879 so he coaches don A. Burke on. So Burt says, listen, 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:21.000 I need an assistant, but you gotta coach soccer, and 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:24.560 you got to coach golf. Right. And my dad, though 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:26.840 you know Jewish from Hewlett, New York, he was actually 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:28.720 from the Bronx. They moved out to HeLa when he's thirteen. Like, 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:29.960 he never played golf a day in his life and 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:32.240 never played soccer day in his life. So I was like, 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:33.879 how are you gonna He's like, not only did I 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:36.080 have to learn how to coach? I bought books. I 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:37.800 went to the library and I got a couple of 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:39.960 books and how to coach soccer, how to coach golf, 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:41.480 but also how to line the fields. I had to 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:45.359 line the fields for for for the games. Now, I 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:47.800 know your dad was a baseball coach, didn't you coach 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:51.840 baseball Dominican as well? I did, And I don't know 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.359 if you're set me up. But I don't want I 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:58.359 don't want you to think I'm patting myself on the 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:01.359 back here. But yes, I did coached one year in 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:05.960 college baseball and got Coach of the Year. Um. We 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:09.800 actually missed by a game to go to the Phoenix 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:14.960 for the n A i A National Championships. Um. But 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:21.199 I had played baseball, played shortstop, leadoff hitter. But again, 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:28.399 all we practiced were the fundamentals and basketball practice. I 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:31.359 would grab a peanut butter and jelly fane which and 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:35.639 then the baseball guys would commit at night and we 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:40.439 would go through situations. Um. You know how important to 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:44.720 cut off man is, how important uh it is to 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:48.960 you know with the personal second nobody out. Are we 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:51.360 bunning or we're not bunning? Who's who can bunk? Who 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:55.560 can who's you know what? All these different situations. The 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:58.960 same thing that I did coach in basketball was at 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:02.240 the end of every practice this do x number of 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:07.199 possessions of up to one minute down to you know, 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:12.600 go through the whole scenarios. Um. So we ended up 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:15.680 having a great year, fun bunch of guys, and uh 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:20.680 I was doing it while I was collecting unemployment because 0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:26.760 the school said they would not fund the coaching position 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:29.680 or that the only people that were going to get 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:32.200 paid were the people who were teaching classes to end 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:39.080 the semester. So I did it while collecting an unemployment check. Uh. 0:23:39.680 --> 0:23:43.640 And we had fun. And we that that group of 0:23:43.880 --> 0:23:49.440 young men UM paid for their own gas as we went, 0:23:50.440 --> 0:23:54.159 you know, from different parts of Illinois and Wisconsin and 0:23:54.200 --> 0:23:58.280 Iowa wherever we played h and they ended up having 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:01.640 the best year they ever had. Really had some fun. 0:24:02.040 --> 0:24:07.000 But yes I did and had the line in the field. 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:12.760 It was catches catch kid, so to speak. You know, 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:16.600 it's it's interesting we're in this era now where um 0:24:16.760 --> 0:24:18.560 and and we get into a little later if you want, 0:24:18.680 --> 0:24:22.240 we don't have to, you know, about players and compensation 0:24:22.400 --> 0:24:25.080 and and coaches and their level of compensation. And when 0:24:25.119 --> 0:24:28.000 I try to tell people in my profession in the media, 0:24:28.920 --> 0:24:31.639 is I understand that people in the media, many of 0:24:31.640 --> 0:24:33.679 them are are by their own accounts and by many 0:24:33.720 --> 0:24:36.600 pills accounts, underpaid, and that there there is a great 0:24:36.600 --> 0:24:39.280 disparity between some of these coaches. But gentlemen like yourself 0:24:39.320 --> 0:24:41.359 that by the end of your career, you're well compensated, 0:24:41.400 --> 0:24:43.800 Like it's like people forgotten the first ten years of 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:45.880 your professional life when you made no money at all 0:24:46.359 --> 0:24:48.840 and line the field like right, like it's it's like 0:24:48.840 --> 0:24:50.720 a business, like everybody only looks at well, this guy 0:24:50.720 --> 0:24:52.520 in the business, he's killing it, Like yeah, okay, but 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:54.840 what about the ten businesses that failed in the first 0:24:54.880 --> 0:24:57.199 five years where he was mortgaging everything of this new 0:24:57.240 --> 0:24:59.480 business before it actually took off, Like they're not all 0:24:59.760 --> 0:25:02.399 You just wake up become a college basketball coach and 0:25:02.400 --> 0:25:04.520 you're making a million dollars a year, Like that's not 0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:07.440 the way it works. Just like basketball players, you kind 0:25:07.440 --> 0:25:09.120 of gotta earn your way up. And here you are, 0:25:09.560 --> 0:25:12.520 you know, coaching junior high school basketball. For being in 0:25:12.560 --> 0:25:15.760 the army for two years, getting your master's degree, and 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:18.720 then you're coaching in a college that becomes a defunct college. 0:25:18.920 --> 0:25:22.560 You're coaching a basketball but also coaching baseball, lightning the field, 0:25:22.760 --> 0:25:24.280 and then you got to find a new job while 0:25:24.280 --> 0:25:28.760 collecting on employment. Okay, so so you go back to 0:25:29.680 --> 0:25:32.600 what Sun valuation. Myself lucky because it's where I met 0:25:32.680 --> 0:25:38.720 my wife, so in in in in in Racine, in Recene. Yeah, 0:25:38.880 --> 0:25:44.560 she's a South Chicago girl. But she was graduating from 0:25:44.840 --> 0:25:50.800 UH Dominican and Uh, I was able to we were 0:25:50.800 --> 0:25:55.040 able to meet and did it at got married the 0:25:55.040 --> 0:25:59.840 next year. How did you meet her? Um? She worked 0:25:59.840 --> 0:26:04.760 in the athletic department. There was only one secretary. Uh 0:26:06.960 --> 0:26:12.240 And I mean it's kind of kind of common knowledge 0:26:12.240 --> 0:26:15.800