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Speaker 2: Hey they're Sixers fans, it's your TV play by play
Speaker 2: announcer Kate Scott. Welcome to my office. I'm so incredibly
Speaker 2: excited to welcome you all to the Blueprint. Like the
Speaker 2: name implies, we're gonna be chatting with folks here that
Speaker 2: are either in sports or from Philly, or maybe, like
Speaker 2: our guest today, a little bit of both, about their blueprints,
Speaker 2: their guides, their plans that have gotten them to where
Speaker 2: they are today, and oftentimes in doing so, they've laid
Speaker 2: the groundwork for others to follow in their footsteps. And
Speaker 2: as far as guests are concerned, we are starting right
Speaker 2: at the top today. Now, mind you, this is just
Speaker 2: a snippet, just a small piece of this women's awards
Speaker 2: and accolades, national high School Player of the Year right
Speaker 2: here in Philly before she headed to the University of
Speaker 2: Virginia and was named the two time National Player of
Speaker 2: the Year. She's a six time WNBA All Star, a
Speaker 2: two time ABL All Star, a Hall of Famer. She's
Speaker 2: won three Olympic gold medals as a player before she
Speaker 2: of course, led Team USA to the gold medal as
Speaker 2: their head coach in Tokyo. She's coached the South Carolina
Speaker 2: women's basketball team to three national championships in the last
Speaker 2: eight seasons, and she is the first person to win
Speaker 2: the prestigious Naysmith Award, which is given to the best
Speaker 2: player and coach in college basketball each season, she's the
Speaker 2: first win it as both a player and a coach
Speaker 2: and oh yeah. As of a little over a week ago,
Speaker 2: she's now a New York Times best selling author as
Speaker 2: her memoir Uncommon Favor, Basketball, North Philly, My Mother, and
Speaker 2: the Life Lessons I Learned from all three, it's selling
Speaker 2: like hotcakes. Don's Daily. Don Staley, thanks so much for
Speaker 2: joining us on the blueprint, and congratulations on the early
Speaker 2: success of your memoir.
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Nice T
Speaker 3: shirt too, nice t shirt?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I had to wear my Don's Daily T shirt.
Speaker 2: Is it awkward, Don, when you see your name in
Speaker 2: multiple faces of yourself on somebody's T shirt that's interviewing you.
Speaker 4: Oh not. I think it's pretty cool.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's pretty cool. What'd you get it from? Uh?
Speaker 4: I'm going to keep my.
Speaker 2: Sources private, okay on the internet.
Speaker 4: But it wasn't.
Speaker 2: It wasn't a female designer, So I'll leave it to Dony.
Speaker 2: You start the book talking about the introverted, quiet, youngest
Speaker 2: of five, shy kid you were years ago growing up
Speaker 2: in North Phildy. If she heard all the things I
Speaker 2: just listed off about you, what would she say?
Speaker 4: No way, like really no way. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 4: it's it's weird.
Speaker 3: But I will say being an introvert and being someone
Speaker 3: that didn't talk a whole lot, there there's a lesson
Speaker 3: in that that you you get discernment, you get you observe,
Speaker 3: you're able to see, you you're able to read the
Speaker 3: room because you know, other people who are talking aren't
Speaker 3: reading the room.
Speaker 4: They're just talking, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the people that are taking into information and
Speaker 3: watching the reactions to other people are are really getting
Speaker 3: a really great life lesson. And for me, that's that's
Speaker 3: what came out of it. And then when I was
Speaker 3: able to find my voice, to be able to find
Speaker 3: your voice and to be able to read the room,
Speaker 3: I think it's a great quality to have as a coach,
Speaker 3: it's a great quality to have as a leader. It's
Speaker 3: a great quality to have just as someone who wants
Speaker 3: the best for everyone. So being an introvert actually has
Speaker 3: worked out in my favor as as an older adult.
Speaker 3: Now you've been working on the book for a couple
Speaker 3: of years. How did it start and and what did
Speaker 3: the process of writing it look like? It started from
Speaker 3: three years ago when we won a National Championship, went
Speaker 3: on a whole press tour, ended up in New York,
Speaker 3: went on the Breakfast Club Show with Charlemagne the guy.
Speaker 3: He's actually from South Carolina, so he's always proud to
Speaker 3: have a South Carolinian on the show. After the show,
Speaker 3: he was like, you should write a book, right, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Mean I've heard that. I've heard that, like I've heard
Speaker 4: it like so.
Speaker 3: Much over the years, but I don't even know why,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, and I probably reacted the same way.
Speaker 4: Yup, you're probably right, right, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 3: And then he just kept he just kept reaching out
Speaker 3: and being persistent and pushing to write a book. And
Speaker 3: then finally when we won in twenty twenty four, when
Speaker 3: we won had to undefeated season, I'm like, and I
Speaker 3: think I mentioned uncommon favor after during a postgame interview
Speaker 3: and I you know, and then I was like, this
Speaker 3: is too good to be true, like like this is
Speaker 3: this is the time I did give them a soft yes,
Speaker 3: you know, I did between twenty two and twenty four,
Speaker 3: and it was a soft yes. And then you know,
Speaker 3: we started just talking about the book, like I don't
Speaker 3: want to give the process. I don't want to shorten
Speaker 3: the process because there were a lot of people working
Speaker 3: on the book prior to me even being motivated to
Speaker 3: write the book. So it was Charlemagne. It was a
Speaker 3: soft yes, and then everybody started. All of our team
Speaker 3: just started working on setting everything up to what we
Speaker 3: want the book to be about to, you know, just
Speaker 3: just figuring out how we lay it out and how
Speaker 3: we get it done. And I think I do believe
Speaker 3: that once I have a deadline, I work a lot better.
Speaker 4: Like if it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would
Speaker 4: get done with me.
Speaker 3: So after we won, I'm like, Scott appit, like, let's
Speaker 3: let's get moving on it. For me, it was easy
Speaker 3: for them, it was probably not so easy. Everybody else
Speaker 3: is doing everything to make it a New York Times bestseller,
Speaker 3: and that is its constant work for them. For me,
Speaker 3: it's just they streamline it to hey, let's do this,
Speaker 3: let's do that, and then we're like okay.
Speaker 4: I'm like okay, Like that's that's easy. You need to
Speaker 4: sell books, that's easy.
Speaker 2: Well, it's a really easy to digest read on. It
Speaker 2: feels just like right now, just like you're having a conversation.
Speaker 2: And I've been lucky enough to interview you before, and
Speaker 2: I felt like I was just listening to you sitting
Speaker 2: in a chair, telling your life story. Because each chapter
Speaker 2: is a lesson. This truly is your blueprint. Now, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to get into each chapter, but since we
Speaker 2: can be biased here towards Philly and the Sixers, I
Speaker 2: want to ask you about a couple of Philly and
Speaker 2: Sixers stories. I think a lot of us had the
Speaker 2: story about after you won your first settle at South
Speaker 2: Carolina in twenty seventeen, you took pieces of the net
Speaker 2: and sent it to every black female coach in Division
Speaker 2: I basketball. But I didn't know until I read the book, Dawn,
Speaker 2: that you also came back to the Hank Gathers Rec
Speaker 2: Center in North Philly and you gave them a replica
Speaker 2: of the NCAA championship trophies that are sitting behind you
Speaker 2: to display in their welcome area. Why was that important
Speaker 2: to you? It was important to me because.
Speaker 3: Hope is one thing that you can give people that
Speaker 3: cost you nothing.
Speaker 4: Right, I.
Speaker 3: Hold my skills to achieve my goals in the Hank
Speaker 3: Andasenter like that was my spot, like that was my
Speaker 3: safe haven and everything that I've accomplished derived from that
Speaker 3: gym from when I do explain, I do mention it
Speaker 3: in the book, just not being able to play on
Speaker 3: a big boycourt and having a play on the side
Speaker 3: and having a their down one end run over, get
Speaker 3: you a layup in, you know, or a jump shot
Speaker 3: and hope that it goes in so you don't interfere
Speaker 3: with the with them coming back down the court. Like
Speaker 3: there are there are young people that are that are
Speaker 3: in my my old neighborhood and the projects that only
Speaker 3: need hope, like they only need hope, they they only
Speaker 3: need need to see something tangible that somebody from this
Speaker 3: neighborhood accomplished.
Speaker 4: I think it it just lends itself.
Speaker 3: Hope that theyn't need to continue because it really isn't.
Speaker 3: It's hard, it's hard, it's competitive, it is you know,
Speaker 3: you don't have very much like you got people in
Speaker 3: the neighborhood that really understand and they will take care
Speaker 3: of you in the neighborhood.
Speaker 4: But but how do you how do you get opportunity outside.
Speaker 3: The neighborhood, and how do you how do you driving
Speaker 3: those opportunities. It is just that that will allow them
Speaker 3: to see outside of the neighborhood and go out and
Speaker 3: try to accomplish something, something that they can bring back
Speaker 3: to the to the neighborhood and pay it forward to
Speaker 3: the next generation of talent that comes through the Hank
Speaker 3: at the center.
Speaker 2: Someone who I'm pretty sure can relate to that. Alan
Speaker 2: Iverson from Virginia, you obviously starred at Uva. Ai obviously
Speaker 2: start for your hometown team, he said years ago. I
Speaker 2: loved this part of the book that you were his
Speaker 2: favorite player. Where did y'all first meet? What was that
Speaker 2: first meeting between you two?
Speaker 3: A You know, I don't think I met Ai until
Speaker 3: he was with the Sixers, you know, you know, being
Speaker 3: you know in school in Virginia. You see him on
Speaker 3: the news and all that you hear about, you know,
Speaker 3: the great talent he was, and then he comes to
Speaker 3: my hometown and he really just changes the culture of
Speaker 3: the league. He was magnetic and the fact that he
Speaker 3: was he was so Philly like like some you know,
Speaker 3: some some Philadelphians love him and hate him all at
Speaker 3: the same time.
Speaker 4: But at some point you've loved him.
Speaker 3: At some point you've loved him because he was just
Speaker 3: a blue collar give it all, don't care what people
Speaker 3: think or say that I'm gonna make you love me regardless.
Speaker 4: You know, so that is that is so Philly, Like
Speaker 4: he's so Philly. And and I just you.
Speaker 3: Know, I had I had a podcast. I had him
Speaker 3: on the podcast. He's just him, like AI is just him.
Speaker 3: He is unapologetic, He is so sure of himself.
Speaker 4: He is non judgmental.
Speaker 3: Like when you have somebody that's like that, you can't
Speaker 3: help but the but the love them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well a lot like you, don a lot like you.
Speaker 2: And speaking of Ai, I'm sure you've seen the rumors,
Speaker 2: the screenshots of those old black jerseys that he in
Speaker 2: that two thousand and two thousand and one NBA final
Speaker 2: squad made famous. Now, I can't confirm if and when
Speaker 2: they're coming back just yet, but if they do, down
Speaker 2: I've seen you coaching in some other Philly sports gear.
Speaker 2: Might we see you in that jersey?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 3: You know you know who's gonna have them is Mitchell
Speaker 3: and ess our Philadelphia own. I mean I have to, like, like,
Speaker 3: I don't think i've worn anything. Sixers on the sideline,
Speaker 3: y'all got Sixer's got to give me something. I mean,
Speaker 3: I got to you got to give me a reason
Speaker 3: to wear it, right, I wear it when we got
Speaker 3: super Bowl. We lead it up to the Super Bowl, right,
Speaker 3: but maybe bringing back the black jerseys will be the
Speaker 3: thing that will put us over the top.
Speaker 4: Right, Okay, mm hmm, I could see that.
Speaker 3: I still believe in the sixes though, just so you know,
Speaker 3: I am die hard.
Speaker 4: I am die hard. Okay, Well let's get into that.
Speaker 2: We got some pretty fun from AI to our pretty
Speaker 2: fun young guards. We got now Tyres MAXI right, Jared McCain,
Speaker 2: Philly Kidd, like you, Justin Edwards, who just had a
Speaker 2: great rookie season. What have you seen from our young guys?
Speaker 4: I mean, I mean Maxie is I mean he's.
Speaker 3: Elevated himself, like like he's a top guard in the
Speaker 3: you know, in the in the league, Jared, we ain't
Speaker 3: see enough of them, but what we saw of them,
Speaker 3: what our future is bright, brighter than his singernail polish
Speaker 3: right right, His future is bright. And Justin I think
Speaker 3: I just think we have you know, we just gotta
Speaker 3: we gotta get We got to get the big fella healthy.
Speaker 3: I mean, there is nobody like Joe Well, like, there
Speaker 3: is no other big man in the in the in
Speaker 3: our in our like Joel where he's healthy and God
Speaker 3: bless him. He tried to fight through it this year,
Speaker 3: like he fought through and fall through, gave it all
Speaker 3: he had. And I hope, I hope he's healthy and
Speaker 3: moving and and and and getting us to a place where,
Speaker 3: you know, I don't have to I don't have to
Speaker 3: cheer for the Knicks in the playoffs. I know, I know,
Speaker 3: But I know Jalen, like Jalen and and Rick brunts
Speaker 3: and their family. They went to Rick with the temple,
Speaker 3: you know, So if the Sixers can't be in it,
Speaker 3: it's whoever's closest to family.
Speaker 4: And I know I know that the Sixers fans aren't
Speaker 4: gonna like that. I think we're good.
Speaker 3: I think coach Nurse is gonna do a tremendous job.
Speaker 3: I think he's a great coach. I think he's the
Speaker 3: perfect person to coach our team. I think health is
Speaker 3: wealth in any sport. So I hope the Fellas are
Speaker 3: are getting healthy and make a run for this championship
Speaker 3: because you know the city.
Speaker 4: You know the city, the city wants it.
Speaker 3: You know, we don't just want the Eagles to be
Speaker 3: the only championship team. We need the Sixers, because when
Speaker 3: the Sixers are in a great place, we want more basketball.
Speaker 4: We want more When they're not, we don't want more basketball.
Speaker 4: We want our.
Speaker 3: Teams to be successful. And I do feel like when
Speaker 3: we were peaking, I think the interest will be, you know,
Speaker 3: a lot quicker to bring a WNBA team to Philly.
Speaker 2: Speaking of peaking, the w is finally having its moment
Speaker 2: twenty eight years after it began June nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 2: What is it like for someone like you who's played
Speaker 2: such a huge part in not just the success of
Speaker 2: the league but women's basketball.
Speaker 4: Is there Jealousy? Is there?
Speaker 2: Pride? Is there a combination scene where women's pro hoop
Speaker 2: is right now?
Speaker 4: No, it's only pride.
Speaker 3: Like I've only wanted women's basketball to get what what
Speaker 3: we deserved, whether that's doing my era or not. But
Speaker 3: the fact that I'm coaching, and I'm coaching young people
Speaker 3: that have only known it to be a w n
Speaker 3: b A.
Speaker 4: Like their entire lives.
Speaker 3: They grew up, they were born with the with the
Speaker 3: women's professional league in the w n b A. And
Speaker 3: I think that's super cool because we're seeing the impact
Speaker 3: of the league through younger players, and.
Speaker 4: And and girls.
Speaker 3: They're picking up, they're picking up a basketball a lot
Speaker 3: sooner than they than they would have if they didn't
Speaker 3: see women, if they didn't see a profession, if they
Speaker 3: didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 4: Like we were playing blindly on on.
Speaker 3: Just pride, like if it meant nothing was no paycheck,
Speaker 3: it was none of that. And now these are going
Speaker 3: to be the glory days for them because we're we're
Speaker 3: gonna have a multimillion dollar player in a w sooner
Speaker 3: than later, a lot sooner than later. We're gonna have
Speaker 3: where you know, you're gonna have to pick and choose
Speaker 3: whether you're gonna play overseas, you're gonna play in.
Speaker 4: The double like.
Speaker 3: There's gonna be an ultimatum when it comes to it,
Speaker 3: and that's when the money gets to a place where
Speaker 3: women won't have to, you know, beat their bodies up
Speaker 3: like to to make ends meet.
Speaker 4: It'll be a choice. It'll be a choice whether.
Speaker 3: The double dip on playing a double union plan overseas.
Speaker 2: And what would it mean to you don We got
Speaker 2: into it a little bit before, but if if that
Speaker 2: player a girl from North Philly whose dad didn't want
Speaker 2: her hoop and all those years ago, right because it
Speaker 2: wasn't something girls did. What would it mean if that
Speaker 2: player was playing for a W team here in Philadelphia.
Speaker 3: I do think the city wants it. I think everybody
Speaker 3: in the city wants it. I do think the mayor
Speaker 3: wants it. I do think fans want it right. But
Speaker 3: I do think we need to be it has to
Speaker 3: be right, so we get so we can stand the
Speaker 3: test of time. But when they say yes, it's a
Speaker 3: full commitment, and you know, it has no room besides
Speaker 3: to grow and.
Speaker 4: To be to be great.
Speaker 2: And I often get asked on because of my position,
Speaker 2: if and when that happens, what the team's name should be.
Speaker 2: We got the New York Liberty, we got the Phoenix Mercury,
Speaker 2: we got the Seattle Storm. So it just makes sense
Speaker 2: to me that we would call it the Philly Dawn.
Speaker 2: I don't know, you know, I mean of a new era.
Speaker 2: It's always darkest before the dawn. Like the slogans are
Speaker 2: just writing themselves done.
Speaker 4: I don't know about that one. Ah, that's too much
Speaker 4: pressure right there.
Speaker 3: Like I have so I have a name equity, and
Speaker 3: if I am name equity, I'm going all in.
Speaker 4: And you know, we go in as Philly fans, we
Speaker 4: go all in.
Speaker 2: I think that's what we're all hoping for. All right, Uh,
Speaker 2: you've accomplished so much as I started the interview, what
Speaker 2: do you still hope to achieve?
Speaker 3: I mean, my, my, my biggest accomplishment is really being
Speaker 3: a dream merchant for my players, like my my, Like.
Speaker 4: I'm good. I cannot coach it still be good, right,
Speaker 4: you know? But I just.
Speaker 3: Feel like like I feel like, oh basketball, Like I
Speaker 3: I'm for real life. I'm paying off of debt to basketball,
Speaker 3: and the best way for me to do is is
Speaker 3: just on the ground with young people, right, So I
Speaker 3: want that selfishly, I do have something that I wanted
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 4: I want to be in. I want to be in
Speaker 4: a Nate Smith Hall of Fame as a coach.
Speaker 3: I mean here, air's why, Like because of this game,
Speaker 3: because I started to play the game, other like aspirations
Speaker 3: come out of it, like you you want to be
Speaker 3: amongst the great of our game. And I'm fortunate that
Speaker 3: I meant as a player. But then I didn't think
Speaker 3: I would be coaching for this loan. So it even
Speaker 3: it ain't even dawned on me to want to want
Speaker 3: to be a Nasmith's Hall of Fame inductee as a coach.
Speaker 3: But then when you're like, okay, this is year fifteen
Speaker 3: and year twenty and now this twenty five, Like.
Speaker 4: We're here, so let's let's see what we get. We
Speaker 4: can get it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what happens when he started coaching. When you're
Speaker 2: sixteen done, you know, and you get into it a
Speaker 2: little bit at the end of the book. This is
Speaker 2: a tease once again to get people to get the
Speaker 2: book because it's incredible. But just the name of our
Speaker 2: podcast is the Blueprint, And you talk a little bit
Speaker 2: about how the players are different now than when you
Speaker 2: were playing, but also the parents are a little bit difficult.
Speaker 2: And I just want to give you the opportunity because
Speaker 2: I talked to so many coaches in every college sport,
Speaker 2: women's basketball, football, and they often reflect that the parents
Speaker 2: are the most difficult. So any any blueprint you'd like
Speaker 2: to leave for the parents here who want their kids
Speaker 2: to grow up to be a Dons daily a Tyrese Maxine.
Speaker 3: I would say this as a as a coach that
Speaker 3: that is or a mentor that is involved in a
Speaker 3: young person's life, I would say include their parents I
Speaker 3: know a lot of times we want to say, ah,
Speaker 3: right here, we don't want to deal with include them.
Speaker 3: Here's why because young people nowadays they talk to their
Speaker 3: parents a lot every day every day, Like it is
Speaker 3: the weirdest dynamic. Like I've never I never talked to
Speaker 3: my parents unless I need the money.
Speaker 4: That was it.
Speaker 3: Their parents are younger now, so they're they're closer to
Speaker 3: the a of their their children, so so they have
Speaker 3: a really strong, good relationship. And I feel like once
Speaker 3: once you let the parents in on it, like in
Speaker 3: on the process, they're your They're your biggest messengers. Like
Speaker 3: they are. Like if I'm talking to the parents, I
Speaker 3: know she's gonna go back and tell her daughter what
Speaker 3: I said right now. We may agree to disagree at times. Well,
Speaker 3: for the most part, we're all working for the same thing.
Speaker 3: It's just the player is the principal, and we want
Speaker 3: the principal to move forward to be successful.
Speaker 4: Do it together. Agree to agree to.
Speaker 3: Disagree agreeably and and build that trust with the with
Speaker 3: the parents because they're gonna be in their children's lives forever,
Speaker 3: so you gotta work with them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, don uh, I got I got a good
Speaker 2: feeling that that Nate Smith Hall of Fame as a coach.
Speaker 2: I got a good feelings waiting for you. Thank you
Speaker 2: so much for sharing your blueprint with us today, and
Speaker 2: congratulations on your already New York Times bestseller uncommon Favorite
Speaker 2: Basketball North Billy, my mother. You have so many wonderful
Speaker 2: lessons from your mother and the lessons you learned from
Speaker 2: all three. There was great chatting with you. Don great
Speaker 2: to see you again.
Speaker 4: Congratulate you can't appreciate, appreciate you always love your energy.
Speaker 2: Back at you go, Sixers, baby, that's right