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Speaker 1: Hey, when I welcome in, I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is

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Speaker 1: all ball. You're gonna love this. We're dropping it the

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Speaker 1: day of Day two of the NCAA tournament. So this

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Speaker 1: we recorded this during day one a mirror abdur Rahim,

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Speaker 1: the head coach of Kennesaw State. We spent about hour

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Speaker 1: and a half chatting. Again, this is the night before

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Speaker 1: his first NCAA tournament game. And if you don't find

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Speaker 1: yourself rooting for a Mer and Kennesaw State at the

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Speaker 1: end of this interview, then you actually didn't pay enough attention.

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Speaker 1: Way Gears answer when I asked him how he felt

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Speaker 1: about not getting the Georgia Tech job. Remember he's from

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Speaker 1: Atlanta coach to Georgia Tech. Coach did as an administrative

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Speaker 1: guy with Brian Gregory, coach to Georgia, has built this

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Speaker 1: Kennesau program from one win to an NCAA tournament team

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Speaker 1: with where they got twenty three wins. I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: it's crazy to exsu me twenty six wins, twenty six wins.

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Speaker 1: But wait to hear his answer and and you'll find

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Speaker 1: out what coach. The reaction means. You're gonna this is amazing.

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Speaker 1: I do want to offer a quick thought, and I'm

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Speaker 1: a huge key Hey Clark fan. You go back to

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Speaker 1: the national championship year and he was a guy who

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Speaker 1: was seen as two small can't shoot, and yet they

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Speaker 1: went and won a national championship. They didn't have key

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Speaker 1: Hey Clark. And of course he made that incredible heady

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Speaker 1: play from the back court throwing to the front court too.

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Speaker 1: I think that forced overtime against Purdue and one of

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Speaker 1: the great college NCAA tournament games we've ever seen. And

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Speaker 1: what's what's amazing about yesterday's meltdown against Furman. The first

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Speaker 1: thing is Furman's really good. The reason I picked Furman

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Speaker 1: was I thought they were really good, really skilled offensively.

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Speaker 1: If you can hit shots, you can make occasionally make

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Speaker 1: Virginia get out of out of self if you will,

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Speaker 1: but to kind of steal the game. And he wasn't

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Speaker 1: the only one, but there are two consecutive players in

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Speaker 1: which he didn't steal the ball. But he was so

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Speaker 1: tough and aggressive without fouling that Ferman literally lost the

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Speaker 1: ball twice and Virginia had the ball. Okay, there they're

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Speaker 1: up three and he gets fouled. He makes the first

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Speaker 1: misses the second they foul on a dunk a tept.

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Speaker 1: They found a fifty percent front. The shooter makes both.

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Speaker 1: He takes the ball in bounce and it isn't all

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Speaker 1: key Hey, Clark's fault. I don't like. There's a lot

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Speaker 1: of college coaches that have a lot of bad press breaks,

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Speaker 1: and Virginia, I think is one of them. I understand

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Speaker 1: that you have three across so when you throw it

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Speaker 1: in and he catches it, you have the three options

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Speaker 1: to throw too. And part of it is in terms

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Speaker 1: of spacing. You always want to have fifteen eighteen foot spacing.

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Speaker 1: A guy catches it and you want to have three options.

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Speaker 1: That way, if you get double teamed, you're not going

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Speaker 1: to leave the guy in the back. And I think

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Speaker 1: he probably misread it, and some of it comes down

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Speaker 1: to that he was small. But I don't like a

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Speaker 1: guy just standing in the middle of a press with

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Speaker 1: his hands up, nor did his teammates come back to

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Speaker 1: meet the basketball. But at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: it's his fault. He choked. You get the ball, your

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Speaker 1: fifth year player, a four year starter at point guard

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Speaker 1: for a former national championship team. You've got to know

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Speaker 1: time and score, and you have a time out, be

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Speaker 1: able to count to five. Worst case scenario up to

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Speaker 1: eat the basketball. There's like two and a half three

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Speaker 1: seconds left to go. They got the ball out of bounds,

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Speaker 1: and you guys got to get a stop and you

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Speaker 1: run him up to three and you make him take

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Speaker 1: a tough two if they want to make it into overtime.

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Speaker 1: Worst case scenario, which you don't do is what he did,

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Speaker 1: which is to give up. I'm just gonna chuck it

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Speaker 1: deep and hope the clock runs out sort of thing.

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Speaker 1: And that's what he did. And then of course Furman

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Speaker 1: now he gets the ball but advance it and then

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Speaker 1: hits the damn three. I mean, it's it's amazing, but

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Speaker 1: there's so many teaching points from it. There's so many

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Speaker 1: takeaways from it. I thought Furman went to a zone

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Speaker 1: and probably stayed in the zone a little bit too long.

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Speaker 1: I thought Virginia made some great plays that should have

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Speaker 1: won them the game. I thought there's some things that

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Speaker 1: went against them that were just unlucky and as dependable

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Speaker 1: as key Hey Clark is in that particular instance, I

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Speaker 1: think he screwed it up. And then and then you

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Speaker 1: have Princeton who full disclosure Sky Eton and if you

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Speaker 1: want to hear a great pod, searching your queue for

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Speaker 1: my pod with sky Ett and I think it's a

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Speaker 1: two or three partner. Sky is the defensive coordinator and

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Speaker 1: assistant for Princeton. It was it was his scout and

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Speaker 1: he told me the night before, like, we feel really

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Speaker 1: really good, we feel really confident. We think if we

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Speaker 1: make some shots, you know, we know how to defend them.

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Speaker 1: We're good enough, We're tough enough. They're not gonna low

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Speaker 1: our doors off. We'll be right there. They didn't even

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Speaker 1: make shots. They didn't This is a shot making team

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Speaker 1: and they didn't make shots, but they defended. And I

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Speaker 1: thought Arizona was I thought Arizona was arrogant. When I

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Speaker 1: say arrogant, I just mean like they they just acted

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Speaker 1: like they had the game one acted like Princetone's gonna

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Speaker 1: roll over. The guards weren't gritty, they weren't tough. We

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Speaker 1: saw that throughout the year, and that totally reared its head.

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Speaker 1: And in a year which Pete Kill passes away before

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Speaker 1: the season began in a place like Sacramento, where Pete

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Speaker 1: Krill famously coached for the Sacramento Kings back when they

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Speaker 1: were really really good. That was an amazing moment to

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Speaker 1: watch Princeton take down an Arizona team who like the

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Speaker 1: way you thought you could beat Arizona is if you

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Speaker 1: just stout out. Princeton didn't. They outfought him on the boards.

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Speaker 1: They made just enough plays and they got a kind

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Speaker 1: of stops that is the impressive. We can get to

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Speaker 1: more recap of day one, and we'll do more after

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Speaker 1: day two, but I thought you'd enjoy this. A mirror

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Speaker 1: abdur Rahim. Now, I've known Shariff since I was in

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Speaker 1: high school. We're the same graduating class. Shiff's an amazing guy.

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Speaker 1: Haven't gotten him on the pod yet. It's a goal.

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Speaker 1: But what I know about Shreef and the parts that

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Speaker 1: I know about Shrie from my brother Greg being at

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Speaker 1: cow is he's about the right things. I know why

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Speaker 1: he left his G League head coaching job. I know

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Speaker 1: that he got his degree while he was a superstar

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Speaker 1: at in the NBA. He went back quietly, and also

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Speaker 1: I think he went and got his master's as well

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Speaker 1: from cal Again, all while he's playing in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: He's done some remarkable things. So I assumed a mirror

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Speaker 1: the same type of guy and I called some people

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Speaker 1: and they're like, dude, a Mirror is the best. You've

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Speaker 1: got to have him on the pod. So I had

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Speaker 1: reached out to him once before, and you know, then

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Speaker 1: they win the Sun Tournament. I'm like, man, ain't no

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Speaker 1: way he's coming on. So now here's my sit down

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Speaker 1: with a mirror abd right here. The night before this

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Speaker 1: is last night. Listened the friday of the first round

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Speaker 1: of the tournament, the night before they took on Xavier.

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Speaker 1: What was what was Billy Kennedy like to play for

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Speaker 1: when you're at cluh? B K was the best, you know,

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Speaker 1: and I think you noticed background. BK was an assistant

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Speaker 1: at Berkeley when Sharif was there, so I know coach

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Speaker 1: since I was thirteen, and so he when when I

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Speaker 1: was coming out of high school, recruited me like I

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Speaker 1: had no scholarship office. He was just gonna take me

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Speaker 1: on the strength of our family. Well, I ended up

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Speaker 1: going to junior college for a couple of years at

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Speaker 1: Garden City, and they recruited me. They stayed, They stayed

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Speaker 1: true kind of to who they were, and so man,

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Speaker 1: when I got there, you know, Doug, like, I think

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Speaker 1: they never told me the record the year before I

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Speaker 1: got there, Like, so I just was just going to

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Speaker 1: because the coach and man, when I got there, man

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Speaker 1: like he was the best. Like he gave me, you know,

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Speaker 1: he gave me a ton of freedom, but he coached

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Speaker 1: me at the same time. You know, our first year

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Speaker 1: we weren't. My first year with him weren't very good.

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Speaker 1: So I had I had a ton of freedom. And

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Speaker 1: I best best thing you ever told me one time. Man,

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Speaker 1: We're at mcnei State and he goes, hey, Man, in

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Speaker 1: order for us to win, you're gonna have to take

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Speaker 1: bad shot. You're gonna have to take some bad shots,

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Speaker 1: but we need you to make them right. And I'm like, oh, man, yeah,

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Speaker 1: like let's go then right and uh. But then like

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Speaker 1: the next few years, you know, the next two years,

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Speaker 1: we got better. You know, we got a little bit

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Speaker 1: more talented, we got better players. And that's where you know, honestly, man,

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Speaker 1: I thought he was the best because he helped me

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Speaker 1: understand that. You know, as your team changes, right, you

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Speaker 1: get better, there are certain things individually you're gonna have

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Speaker 1: to sacrifice. And I've been able to share those same

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Speaker 1: experiences just with some of my guys here at Kinnasau

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Speaker 1: and and like, hey, man, I've been through that before.

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Speaker 1: I get where you are, but you know, now we've

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Speaker 1: got to be there. So b K was the best.

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Speaker 1: But it wasn't just the freedom he gave me, man,

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Speaker 1: as much as you know how he helped shape me

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Speaker 1: as a man. You know how he helped shape me.

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Speaker 1: You know his wife Mary uh and you know, she

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Speaker 1: literally does. She traveled to every game, I think in

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Speaker 1: twenty some years of him being the head coach. She

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Speaker 1: missed one game. And I never realized how much of

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Speaker 1: an impact that had on me until I have my

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Speaker 1: own family and just seeing her on those busses and

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Speaker 1: at the game supporting him. Man, it was. And the

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Speaker 1: dude has been the best example ever. He Man, he

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Speaker 1: actually got here tonight and he'll be here tomorrow. So

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Speaker 1: and that's my guy. Yeah, that's that's that's a special

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Speaker 1: part about playing college that people don't realize when you

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Speaker 1: get the right guy and becomes kind of like a

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Speaker 1: second father to you. It was just an incredible, incredible,

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Speaker 1: incredible bond. YEA, What was it like for you though?

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Speaker 1: Like your like Garden City from it, you know, from

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Speaker 1: coming from Atlanta, right, You're going to Garden City and

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Speaker 1: then Southeast Louisiana's and where Hammon Louisiana. It's like in

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Speaker 1: the middle of New Orleans and bad Rouge okay, which

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Speaker 1: is not not terrible right now, it's not great from

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Speaker 1: Garden City. None that it's respect to Garden City, but

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of places Garden City, Jai Conference, great

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Speaker 1: junior colleges. Okay, but but but but not great. You

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Speaker 1: get done, okay, big bros in the league. Okay, But

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Speaker 1: I know education a huge part of your family, of

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Speaker 1: your of your family and your background. What was the

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Speaker 1: decision like did you immediately say I want to coach?

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Speaker 1: What was the decision? Like what you want to do?

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Speaker 1: It's crazy, you know, like any kid that plays in college,

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Speaker 1: you want to go try to play overseas right well,

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Speaker 1: and you know, my dad maybe used to always say

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Speaker 1: to us, you know, we can play, we can play,

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Speaker 1: but God is the best of planners. And and July July,

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Speaker 1: you know, early July, after I get done with college. Man,

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Speaker 1: I'm in a workout one day as Sharif. He had

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Speaker 1: this gym built onto his house and it had rained

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Speaker 1: the night before, and you know, we didn't realize it

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Speaker 1: was a leak in the ceiling and I go to

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Speaker 1: cut it's water on the floor, slip sprain my mcl

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Speaker 1: So I'm on the shelf for six months. Well I'm

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Speaker 1: sorry for about six weeks. And man, like make a

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Speaker 1: long story short, like it didn't go the way I

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Speaker 1: wanted it to go, you know. So I knew, you know,

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Speaker 1: I had a business degree in undergrad and I'm like, man,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna get my MBA. I'm gonna go beyond entrepreneur.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna figure this thing out on my own. Right. Well,

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Speaker 1: uh goes back to b K right. Man, he's an

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Speaker 1: assistant at Miami at the time. Okay, Now, I was

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Speaker 1: supposed to go be a GA for him at Southeast Louisiana. Well,

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Speaker 1: things change, he goes to Miami. I still go to

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Speaker 1: Southeastern that year as a GA, and it was cool.

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Speaker 1: But I didn't, you know, I didn't know like it

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Speaker 1: was Uh. Jim yarbro was the head coach. They had

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Speaker 1: hired him from from Valdosta State and and and you know,

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Speaker 1: it was like no disrespect to coach Yarbrough, but it

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Speaker 1: was just like you're this guy. I want this guy, right, Okay,

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Speaker 1: And so but he was, you know, at the same

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Speaker 1: time he was good for me. But make a long

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Speaker 1: story short. The next year K B. K gets uh

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Speaker 1: the job at Murray State, and you know he said

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Speaker 1: to me, goes hey, earlier that year he was at Miami.

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Speaker 1: He said, Hey, we're gonna have a GA spot here

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Speaker 1: at Miami. You know, do you want to do it?

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Speaker 1: And I'm like, man, yeah, like coach, I'd love to

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Speaker 1: come down there with you guys. You know, I mean,

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Speaker 1: who don't want of the South Beach. But anyway, man,

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Speaker 1: the dude is like, he gets the job at Murray

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Speaker 1: and he goes, hey, if you still want to go

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Speaker 1: down there to Miami, you know, I'll help you out.

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Speaker 1: I'll put in a good word for you. But man,

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Speaker 1: i'd love for you to come up here to Murray

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Speaker 1: with me. And I said, no, coach, I'm rolling with you.

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Speaker 1: And when I got the DOUG, I again, I had

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Speaker 1: no interesting coaching, like I just wanted to get my

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Speaker 1: master's degree. And man, I don't know what it was.

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Speaker 1: I lived with two players that year, Ed Horton and

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Speaker 1: Dwayne Paul and man, just sitting there having conversations with

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Speaker 1: them guys about you know, the future, what they wanted

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Speaker 1: to do. You know, all these guys they want to

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Speaker 1: be pros, right, And man, I had been fortunate to

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Speaker 1: be around Reef for so long that I knew what

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Speaker 1: it looked like. I knew the work you had to

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Speaker 1: put in. And so these guys would talk about wanting

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Speaker 1: to do this, but their habits didn't match up. You know,

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Speaker 1: they put so much into the game, and I'm like, nah.

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Speaker 1: Man Like, Reef would always say, Man, you use the

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Speaker 1: ball as a tool. That ball would take you anywhere

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Speaker 1: you want to go and to get you anything you

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Speaker 1: want to do if you use it right way. And

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Speaker 1: that was when I got the bug, man Like. It

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Speaker 1: was just wanting to be able to share experiences, give back,

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Speaker 1: you know, and let guys know that the ball wasn't

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Speaker 1: the end all be all. It was a tool to

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Speaker 1: kind of help helped them shape themselves as men, you know,

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Speaker 1: going forward, because the same work ethic they put into,

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Speaker 1: you know, being a good player, it's gonna be the

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Speaker 1: same work ethic they put into, you know, whatever they

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Speaker 1: decided to do. You know, you know, it's just what

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Speaker 1: it was. So man, that's how I got into coach,

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Speaker 1: and I had no desire to do it at all,

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Speaker 1: you know, And that was kind of how I got

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Speaker 1: into it. What was what was next after Murray? So

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Speaker 1: after Murray man, uh, so I'm a gat Murray I graduate. Uh,

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Speaker 1: there's no there was no openings on the staff, right,

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Speaker 1: So I go back to I go back to Atlanta

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Speaker 1: for man. I think it was about and I was

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Speaker 1: probably back home for about two months and Jamal Walker,

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Speaker 1: who's now an assistant at Grand Canyon, left to go

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Speaker 1: to Ohio with John gross Well. Steve Promee, who was

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Speaker 1: an assistant coach for me when I was in college,

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Speaker 1: was on staff Isaac Chos at New Mexico. Now I

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Speaker 1: was on staff. I'm at my little brother's wedding in

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Speaker 1: the virgin I and they called me like, hey, Jamal's

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Speaker 1: going to Ohio. If you want this job, it's yours

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Speaker 1: or like, and we told b K we want you

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Speaker 1: to be on staff. He's gonna call you. And coach

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Speaker 1: calls me maybe about forty five minutes later, and he's like, hey,

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Speaker 1: if you want this job, it's yours. I'm like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'll do it. So I go back to Murray for

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Speaker 1: three years as an assistant, and then I leave young

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Speaker 1: kind of dumb Doug, Honestly, I leave Murray as a

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Speaker 1: full time assistant to go to Georgia Tech as the

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Speaker 1: director of player development with Brian Gregory. Did you want

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Speaker 1: to get back to Atlanta? Man, you know what, Doug.

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Speaker 1: To be honest, man, it may have been the best

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Speaker 1: worst decision I ever made, right because I don't know

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Speaker 1: why I left, to be honest, like, if I'm being truthful,

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Speaker 1: like it was it was just yeah, like I wanted

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Speaker 1: to get back to Atlanta. I'm thinking, oh, man, it's

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Speaker 1: Georgia Tech. It's you know, like you know, this is

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Speaker 1: the next step, you know, not realize not realizing that

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Speaker 1: I'm leaving what my true passion is of being on

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Speaker 1: the court, being on the road to now like I

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Speaker 1: can't be on the court, I can't be on the road.

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Speaker 1: But what it did for me going to Georgia Tech

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Speaker 1: was like, man, I realized that everything was more about

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Speaker 1: growth than it wasn't necessary necessarily status. Man. You know,

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Speaker 1: I tell people at the time, young like young assistant

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Speaker 1: coaching coaches who asked me, I said, Man, nothing can

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Speaker 1: ever be beneath you in this business, Like whatever it

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Speaker 1: helped the program, you gotta be willing to do man.

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Speaker 1: I used to roll a white board the every day.

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Speaker 1: It was like a white a big white board wheels

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Speaker 1: rolling from the locker room to the practice gym every

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Speaker 1: day and I would keep like stats during practice at

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Speaker 1: Georgia's Tech. A year before Man, I was doing scouts,

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Speaker 1: I was recruiting. I was doing player development. And it

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Speaker 1: was humbling, but it's it's what BG is, what Brian

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Speaker 1: Gregory asked me to do. I was trying to start

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Speaker 1: my role. And you know, even though it was crazy

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Speaker 1: to me, like I, I got frustrated at times, you know,

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Speaker 1: it was you know, it was the same thing we

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Speaker 1: were brought up on. You know, our parents taught us

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Speaker 1: was whatever that job is, you gotta do, you gotta

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Speaker 1: do that job. And so I was there for a

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Speaker 1: year with Brian Gregory, and I went to Charleston with

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Speaker 1: Doug Wojick for two years and that was great. Learned

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Speaker 1: a ton there. It's probably where my OCD comes from, honestly,

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Speaker 1: just because the way we had to do scouts. You know, man,

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Speaker 1: you had to know everything. Man, you know, you had

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Speaker 1: to know you know which play like, you know, it

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Speaker 1: was a certain player right, how many times they ran

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Speaker 1: it right? How many times they ran it left, you

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Speaker 1: know how many times. You know, it's just what they did,

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Speaker 1: and it was how we scouted. I was there for

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Speaker 1: two years and then got back with b K at

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Speaker 1: Texas A and M. And Man, my time at A

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Speaker 1: and M was great, you know, because you know, it's

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Speaker 1: at a high level. It's where the guy you trust,

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Speaker 1: a guy that's about the right things. And you know,

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Speaker 1: it just was a like a cherry on top. You

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Speaker 1: got the coach dudes like Alex russo, you know, so

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Speaker 1: that was cool. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports

342
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Speaker 1: talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows

343
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,399
Speaker 1: at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the iHeart

344
00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:17,440
Speaker 1: Radio app. Search f SR to listen live. What was

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Speaker 1: BK like the second time around, because you know, I'm like, look,

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Speaker 1: that was when he started to know he had the

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Speaker 1: health health issues as well, Right, But you guys also

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Speaker 1: had a killer staff with guys that have all, like yourself,

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Speaker 1: gone on to be head coaches. Like it's different, Like

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Speaker 1: it's different. You'd kind of gone to finishing school going woes,

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Speaker 1: right right, you kind of like, what was that like

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Speaker 1: the second time around? Man? You know, the second time

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Speaker 1: around was you know, initially it was kind of I

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Speaker 1: don't want to say rocky, but it was different because

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Speaker 1: you know, Poch had only seen me as two things,

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Speaker 1: one as a player and two as a young assistant

357
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Speaker 1: like that was trying to figure his way out, right,

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Speaker 1: then he turns into and then it goes to this

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Speaker 1: thing where it's you know, it's you know, like man,

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Speaker 1: like you said, I went to finishing school in a sense, right,

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Speaker 1: and you know I ended up growing a lot in

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Speaker 1: those and those I guess it was four years that

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Speaker 1: I was away from him, right, and so when when

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Speaker 1: I got back to him, I was it was probably me,

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Speaker 1: you know, it was probably me being ready to prove

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Speaker 1: to him that I was a good assistant. Like I

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Speaker 1: was ready to you know, take on more responsibility and

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Speaker 1: you know, uh, you know, do some different things that

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Speaker 1: you know, like the first time I was with him,

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Speaker 1: like I didn't necessarily you know, I wasn't necessarily prepared

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Speaker 1: to do and so, uh, you know, I had to

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Speaker 1: learn to trust him. He had to learn to trust me.

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Speaker 1: And I think when we did that, you know, when

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Speaker 1: we came together in that way, we were able to

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Speaker 1: do you know, some really special things. I was able

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Speaker 1: to help him, you know, do some really special things

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Speaker 1: that and him and so it was, Man, it was

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Speaker 1: great that second time around because like most people people

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Speaker 1: would say, like, yeah, he had the health issues, but

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Speaker 1: like I would tell people all the time, like, man,

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Speaker 1: I thought he was as sharp. I thought he was

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Speaker 1: as sharp then, you know, as ever before. You know,

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Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because he you know, he

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Speaker 1: felt like you know, people were looking at him differently

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Speaker 1: because of the health issues and he wanted to be better,

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Speaker 1: or if it was just like I thought, he was

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Speaker 1: just really good man, you know, and again he had

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Speaker 1: good people around him. But man, it was it was

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Speaker 1: it was a it was a learning process, I think

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Speaker 1: for both of us. Who who who founded Cruso. So

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Speaker 1: Caruso was a college station kid, like he grew up there.

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Speaker 1: His dad that is that was dad played for my dad.

393
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Speaker 1: Oh wow, I never knew. Yeah, and then his dad

394
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Speaker 1: was like you your color guy, right, his dad, his

395
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Speaker 1: dad like worked in the department and would do like

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Speaker 1: just again, he was a good team and he'd do

397
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Speaker 1: he'd do whatever you needed to be done. And you

398
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Speaker 1: know at A and M. Right, So did you like

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Speaker 1: the did you did you like them? A and M?

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00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,480
Speaker 1: Thing is it's a little different different, it's different, No,

401
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,200
Speaker 1: one hundred percent is different now like it's uh, it

402
00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:15,680
Speaker 1: can almost be like cultish I was, I was gonna

403
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Speaker 1: use the word. Everybody used the word, but I just

404
00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:21,639
Speaker 1: didn't know, like we're good, but the word it's like

405
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Speaker 1: it like it. But you know what, dope. I loved

406
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Speaker 1: it simply because, you know, man, for a kid that

407
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Speaker 1: played mid major basketball, you always wondered what it was

408
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Speaker 1: like to be at a place like that that they

409
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Speaker 1: love like they love that place and resources to unbelievable

410
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Speaker 1: resources like I used always tell. I told people like, man,

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Speaker 1: I think it's one of the best jobs in the country,

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Speaker 1: you know, simply because whatever you need, whatever you want,

413
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Speaker 1: you're gonna get right. And so I enjoyed it just

414
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Speaker 1: because I had never really been in that type of environment,

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Speaker 1: you know. And when you drink that kool aid, you

416
00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:59,080
Speaker 1: drink the cool like this is no. My oldest daughter

417
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Speaker 1: is seven, Okay, she was born in College Station, and

418
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Speaker 1: she didn't remember A and M like that. She she

419
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Speaker 1: was two when we left or three when we left. Doug.

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Speaker 1: If she sees tex seeing them on TV, football, basketball,

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Speaker 1: whatever it is, she's like texes A M and I'm like, dang,

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Speaker 1: she drunk the kolai like she drenk koolai. Didn't you

423
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Speaker 1: go to didn't you go to Georgia for one year

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Speaker 1: before he got the job? Yep, yep, we went to Georgia.

425
00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:31,880
Speaker 1: Uh let me tell you this. You'll enjoy this right here.

426
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:35,320
Speaker 1: You'll like you asked this question about Caruso. Right. I

427
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:38,840
Speaker 1: remember getting there and it's like the summer going into

428
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,480
Speaker 1: Caruso's junior year. Okay, And I had watched them before

429
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,000
Speaker 1: because I would watch coach all right when they were

430
00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:47,760
Speaker 1: you know, on TV or whatever. And I never forget this. Man.

431
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:50,200
Speaker 1: I used to beg Caruso Doug like, hey, man, let's

432
00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:51,800
Speaker 1: get into let's get in the gym. Let's get in

433
00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:54,800
Speaker 1: the gym. But again, he was from college station like

434
00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:57,080
Speaker 1: so he had all his buddies back home. They pulling

435
00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,280
Speaker 1: at him. He you know, he golfing, you doing all

436
00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:03,280
Speaker 1: this stuff, and man like man by July, I said, man,

437
00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:05,320
Speaker 1: you know what I'm a I'm an quit asking him.

438
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just wait till the season starts, all right.

439
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:10,400
Speaker 1: But I never forget I told him. I said, Russo, man,

440
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:12,840
Speaker 1: you are jump shot away. You're a three ball away

441
00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,280
Speaker 1: from being a pro. All right, two story asking, I said,

442
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:18,520
Speaker 1: you're three away from being a pro, but you gotta

443
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:21,800
Speaker 1: put the work in. Well, that summer, he wouldn't. He wouldn't,

444
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:23,920
Speaker 1: you know. He's like, oh, man, I gotta go do this.

445
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,359
Speaker 1: I gotta do that. All right, cool, No problem. So

446
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:31,120
Speaker 1: that that year, every day, either before practice or after practice,

447
00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:33,440
Speaker 1: I make him stay, you know, and make you know,

448
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,639
Speaker 1: fifty to one hundred three's okay. Well, the next summer

449
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:39,800
Speaker 1: going into the senior year, man, he's hitting me every day, Hey,

450
00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:41,840
Speaker 1: what time were getting in the gym? What time we're shooting?

451
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:44,359
Speaker 1: And I think he goes from shooting like twenty eight

452
00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,760
Speaker 1: percent as a junior, so I think around thirty seven

453
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:50,639
Speaker 1: or thirty eight as a senior, and you know, the

454
00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,480
Speaker 1: rest is kind of history, you know. So I didn't

455
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,359
Speaker 1: I didn't develop Alex Caruso or anything like that. But

456
00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:58,720
Speaker 1: I tell my players here all the time, the thing

457
00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:01,720
Speaker 1: that makes Alex Caruso Caruso, it's for two years I

458
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,560
Speaker 1: coached him. I never had the coach's effort, never had

459
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,680
Speaker 1: the coaches energy, never had the coach's attitude. The dude

460
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:11,320
Speaker 1: was a pros pro. I mean he was the best,

461
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,159
Speaker 1: right and so you know, he was great. And so

462
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:17,000
Speaker 1: I'm at a him for four years and I leave

463
00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,280
Speaker 1: and I go to Georgia for for a year with

464
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 1: coach Kreen's first year there. First year yep, And man

465
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,679
Speaker 1: that that year was fun too, because you know, up

466
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 1: until that point and I had worked for like, like

467
00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:36,000
Speaker 1: quote unquote defensive coaches. You know, k was a defensive guy.

468
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 1: Doug was a defensive guy. Brian Gregory I thought was

469
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,639
Speaker 1: a defensive guy, and coach he could carry it. Now.

470
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 1: He could care less about defense. But like man, he

471
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:49,600
Speaker 1: wanted to score. Like he you know, player development. Player

472
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,879
Speaker 1: development was a big part of what he does. You know,

473
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:56,680
Speaker 1: And I tell people to this day, I remember Nick

474
00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 1: Claxton as a freshman at at George and when I

475
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:01,960
Speaker 1: was at A and M, and man, he was just

476
00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:05,640
Speaker 1: around the basket. He very rarely came outside the three

477
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 1: point line. And man, what coach Crean deal with that

478
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:14,720
Speaker 1: kid From June first until he declared for the draft.

479
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:18,520
Speaker 1: I've never seen anything like. Man. He would have that dude,

480
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 1: Doug and Nick would be hissed right like in the summer,

481
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,320
Speaker 1: because man, he had him handling the ball full quarter

482
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:28,320
Speaker 1: against our guards. You know, we might be playing three

483
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,240
Speaker 1: on three, four and four and these dudes are turning

484
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:34,280
Speaker 1: them taking the ball from him, and Nick would literally

485
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,600
Speaker 1: be like, man, I don't know why I'm doing this

486
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:39,320
Speaker 1: when I'm not gonna be doing it in the game.

487
00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,040
Speaker 1: And Coach would be like, no, you're wrong, you will

488
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:45,440
Speaker 1: be man. That dude started six games at US, six

489
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 1: games for US at the point that year, like no Joe,

490
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,600
Speaker 1: and you know that, like that's when you know, like

491
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:54,239
Speaker 1: that Like the thing I always tell people I took

492
00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:57,920
Speaker 1: away from Coach Krean was just thinking more outside the box,

493
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,480
Speaker 1: not being so traditional when it came the development, just hey,

494
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:03,960
Speaker 1: this is this is why, this is who we're gonna

495
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:08,160
Speaker 1: be with. We're gonna kind of focus on each guy's

496
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:12,240
Speaker 1: individual development in the summer and then the spring. You know,

497
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:14,320
Speaker 1: that really helped him get better. And that year was fun.

498
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 1: Got to recruit Anthony Edwards, which was big time, man,

499
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:19,920
Speaker 1: you know, get to recruit the best player in the

500
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 1: country to the next number one pick in the drive.

501
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,240
Speaker 1: And but that was you know, that was three or

502
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:28,679
Speaker 1: four years into making Did you did you? How did

503
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:32,639
Speaker 1: he get convinced to didn't? He didn't he reclass When

504
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:36,800
Speaker 1: did he reclass? So he reclassed like the like. So

505
00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:40,440
Speaker 1: if it's his the end of his sophomore year going

506
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 1: into his junior year, he reclasses like the spring, the

507
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,359
Speaker 1: spring or I'm sorry, the summer, going into his junior

508
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 1: year to where he was gonna come out a year early.

509
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,600
Speaker 1: And I had recruited Anthony even when I was at

510
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 1: Texas A and M like I couldn't, you know, it

511
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 1: was the rule when they were like sophomores or whatever,

512
00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:02,640
Speaker 1: you couldn't call them. So I never forget this still

513
00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 1: to this day. It's the best high school workout I've

514
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,280
Speaker 1: ever seen of a kid in my you know, however

515
00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,520
Speaker 1: many years I've been coaching. Right, it's six am, and man, Doug,

516
00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:14,720
Speaker 1: I swear you would have thought it was Game seven

517
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,119
Speaker 1: of the NBA Finals. This is how hard this kid

518
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:19,920
Speaker 1: is going, all right? And I walk out of that gym.

519
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,359
Speaker 1: I never forget calling this travel coach went for Jordan

520
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 1: and I said, hey, man, you got one. I said,

521
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:26,880
Speaker 1: he may be the best player to ever come out

522
00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 1: of this state. And that's it. I got Like that

523
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:31,400
Speaker 1: says a lot. I watched my brother, I watched Dion Glover,

524
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:33,560
Speaker 1: Martise Moore. I mean, I could go on and on

525
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 1: and on, and I was just like that, dude is

526
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,560
Speaker 1: the real deal. But I would Anthony would call me

527
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,639
Speaker 1: every Thursday. I think it was every Thursday at like

528
00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,399
Speaker 1: seven thirty his time, and man, we talked and just

529
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,280
Speaker 1: ended up building a really cool relationship, really cool bond.

530
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,560
Speaker 1: And before I took the job, I never told nobody this.

531
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:54,479
Speaker 1: Before I took the job at Georgia, I called him

532
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,560
Speaker 1: because his whole mind said he wanted to get out

533
00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:59,399
Speaker 1: of Georgia initially, and I said, man, I gotta I

534
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,120
Speaker 1: might become I'm back, you know, home to take a job,

535
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,040
Speaker 1: but I don't want to do it if you know,

536
00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:06,680
Speaker 1: if you're not gonna you know, if you're not gonna considered.

537
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:08,480
Speaker 1: I know, we've always talked about you getting out of

538
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:10,639
Speaker 1: the state. And he goes, where is it at and

539
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:12,960
Speaker 1: I told him Georgia. He goes, oh, yeah, he was like, man,

540
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:17,360
Speaker 1: I'll do UGA. I like UGA. So yeah, it was cool. Man,

541
00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,680
Speaker 1: that's awesome. At what point in time did you know

542
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,200
Speaker 1: that KENNI saw job was coming up. Man, this is

543
00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:27,639
Speaker 1: and this is the first time I've ever seen that happen.

544
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,080
Speaker 1: But you know, like the January that so I guess

545
00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 1: it was January two, nineteen. They had put out a

546
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,400
Speaker 1: press release that Al Skinner wasn't coming back next year,

547
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,239
Speaker 1: like he coached the rest of the season and they

548
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,400
Speaker 1: were like, he's not coming back, and this is how

549
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,880
Speaker 1: small the world is. So Eric Hyman, who was the

550
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,520
Speaker 1: athletic director at A and M when I was there,

551
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:54,320
Speaker 1: my ad now Milton Overton, worked for him at I

552
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:57,880
Speaker 1: think it was at A and M, and uh, you

553
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 1: know he I called, it's the Hymen and I said, hey,

554
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,960
Speaker 1: this job is gonna come open to your mind making

555
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,520
Speaker 1: a call for me. He said, yeah, man, no problem,

556
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:11,520
Speaker 1: anything you need. Made the call for me. And that

557
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:16,080
Speaker 1: was like the introduction. And you know a few months

558
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,600
Speaker 1: later and I was named head coach. Here was there

559
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:23,400
Speaker 1: any negotiation for for like salary and anything like that.

560
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,200
Speaker 1: Not really like because they could only pay you what

561
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,239
Speaker 1: they could pay you right right right. And I mean,

562
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:32,720
Speaker 1: you know, you hear coaches all the time. The one

563
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,520
Speaker 1: thing I always appreciate about coach Crean was, you know,

564
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:37,280
Speaker 1: he asked me, he goes, hey, if you really want

565
00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 1: the job, I won't throw any more money at you.

566
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,320
Speaker 1: You know, I don't want to confuse you think it's

567
00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:44,360
Speaker 1: a good job for you, then you know, go do

568
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,000
Speaker 1: what you know, go go try to get it and uh,

569
00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:48,880
Speaker 1: you know, but you know how it is. It's only

570
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,280
Speaker 1: a few jobs Doug as an assistant that you can

571
00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 1: get where you're gonna make more money than you're making.

572
00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:56,160
Speaker 1: And you know, Sharif probably gave me the best piece

573
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,280
Speaker 1: of advice I could I could have heard at that time.

574
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 1: And he said, hey, man, like you need to go

575
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 1: bet on yourself. He said, because in four years, who

576
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,920
Speaker 1: knows you would have doubled the money you could have

577
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,560
Speaker 1: made that Georgia or can of saw, go bet on yourself.

578
00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:12,280
Speaker 1: You're ready, And you know that was it. But I

579
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:14,600
Speaker 1: was just I was excited about the challenges, to be

580
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:19,080
Speaker 1: honest with you, So you get there, yep, what was

581
00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 1: it like? It was like nothing I'd ever seen Doug

582
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:26,760
Speaker 1: or heard. Okay, like and that's not a knock on

583
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,240
Speaker 1: coach skinner or the staff or anything like that, but

584
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:34,680
Speaker 1: it was, man, I had never seen like a culture

585
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:42,200
Speaker 1: in an environment be volunteering, right, meaning like no, Joe,

586
00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,600
Speaker 1: I sent like the first so I get the job.

587
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 1: It's like the first day I'm on campus, I sent

588
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 1: out a text to the team say Fellas tonight, team

589
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:57,920
Speaker 1: workout six pm. One of the kids text back, Hey,

590
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:02,040
Speaker 1: it's this mandatory. Well I kept one of I kept

591
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,320
Speaker 1: like the director vobs from the staff that year, and

592
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 1: I just went to them and I said, hey, man,

593
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,680
Speaker 1: why why would he? Uh? Why would he? What would

594
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:12,560
Speaker 1: possession him to text that back? And the guy kind

595
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:15,640
Speaker 1: of put his head down and he just goes man, coach.

596
00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 1: Spring workouts were voluntary or come to find out, like

597
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:23,680
Speaker 1: so we're weights, you know, they were voluntary. Like it

598
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:28,200
Speaker 1: wasn't any like Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday Thursday. Like

599
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:30,160
Speaker 1: if they wanted to lift, they could lift in the spring.

600
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:32,560
Speaker 1: If they didn't want to lift, it was no consequence

601
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 1: or anything. So man, it was Man, it was like

602
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:39,800
Speaker 1: this really cool place right that had a lot of

603
00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 1: you know, it had good bones to it, you know

604
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 1: that you could really sell to recruits. But man, the

605
00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:54,280
Speaker 1: environment and what was okay? And it was crazy. It

606
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:56,480
Speaker 1: was so so so help me out in the city

607
00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 1: of Atlanta, right because because having worked some a turn,

608
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:02,960
Speaker 1: I've seen Georgia State just explode right in terms of

609
00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 1: the campus. Of course, you know, they made they got

610
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:08,440
Speaker 1: to the tournament, won a game a couple of years ago. Right,

611
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:12,560
Speaker 1: what's what's where does kennisof it in the landscape of

612
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,360
Speaker 1: things in Atlanta? Manu, And I say this, I'm not

613
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 1: this is not a I'm the coach at Kennisov and

614
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:23,320
Speaker 1: I want to sell my university, right like I truly believe. Man,

615
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,880
Speaker 1: it's it's got the best set up of any of them.

616
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:29,480
Speaker 1: Meaning it's like I'm thinking, like if I'm a parent, okay,

617
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:31,320
Speaker 1: or if I'm a coach and I'm selling this to

618
00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,520
Speaker 1: a parent. You know, with Georgia State and Georgia Tech,

619
00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:38,040
Speaker 1: they're right there in the heart of everything, right, and

620
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:41,160
Speaker 1: so you know, not like both of them have you know,

621
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:44,560
Speaker 1: campuses where you can know you're on campus, but from

622
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,120
Speaker 1: a safety standpoint, like you're in the city. Man, Like

623
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:49,800
Speaker 1: you're you're right in the heart of everything. You know,

624
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:53,360
Speaker 1: being at Georgia You've got this great college town, great campus.

625
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:56,160
Speaker 1: I mean it's beautiful as it gets. But you're fifty

626
00:32:56,240 --> 00:33:01,840
Speaker 1: minutes you know from uh, not civilization, but anything. You know,

627
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 1: You're you're yeah, you're means coach, coache you say it

628
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:10,560
Speaker 1: put State University's far as in from as possible, right, right, right,

629
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,440
Speaker 1: so you're you're forty five, you know, thirty five, forty

630
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:16,080
Speaker 1: five from the suburbs, fifty to an hour from the city.

631
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,760
Speaker 1: From the city, well saw, you know, you're we got this.

632
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:24,120
Speaker 1: I think it's in a great you know area, uh

633
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 1: safe area, great campus. It's like as big as any

634
00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,000
Speaker 1: of the you know, it's just as big as Georgia's campus,

635
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:34,479
Speaker 1: forty three thousand students. But you also thirty minutes from

636
00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:37,400
Speaker 1: downtown Atlanta. You're twenty minutes from where the braves like

637
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:41,200
Speaker 1: at the battery, you know, so socially, for a kid,

638
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:43,400
Speaker 1: they can get the best of both worlds. You know.

639
00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:45,719
Speaker 1: For a parent, you can drop your kids off at

640
00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:49,240
Speaker 1: this at this campus and you know, man, it's you know,

641
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 1: it's really safe. It's nice, and so that's you know,

642
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,960
Speaker 1: I think. But the problem is is this people won't

643
00:33:56,000 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 1: come that far up seventy five to pig year out. Hey,

644
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:03,840
Speaker 1: this is you know, like, man, it's a lot going

645
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,080
Speaker 1: on up here. This is I saw your championship game.

646
00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:07,520
Speaker 1: There are plenty of people that came up with that one,

647
00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,680
Speaker 1: but that's that was all people like right there and

648
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,239
Speaker 1: Kenne saw act Worth, Kenton that came up. I don't

649
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,480
Speaker 1: know how many of those people were from, you know,

650
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,160
Speaker 1: south of Bear Parkway, you know, and it was but

651
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,399
Speaker 1: it was rocking in there. It was rocking in there.

652
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:26,440
Speaker 1: So okay, your first So how did you put together

653
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:30,880
Speaker 1: your first step? Man, I'd tell you how crazy it is.

654
00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:34,359
Speaker 1: I knew I wanted guys, and I promise you does

655
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 1: like not even knowing that on the first year would

656
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:42,719
Speaker 1: be the way it was. But I knew we had

657
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:47,880
Speaker 1: to have guys that had great energy, but they cared

658
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,359
Speaker 1: about like kids, Like they got in it for kids.

659
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,360
Speaker 1: So now I probably talked to you know, fifteen to

660
00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 1: twenty guys, you know, when trying to figure it out.

661
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,000
Speaker 1: But like the one question and the first question I

662
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,719
Speaker 1: started with was like, hey, you know when you got

663
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:06,319
Speaker 1: it's what you get into the business for, you know why?

664
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:09,480
Speaker 1: It was like what was your reason? And you know,

665
00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:13,040
Speaker 1: you had guys start with man, I just love the game,

666
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,040
Speaker 1: you know, but they like the guys that started with

667
00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:19,480
Speaker 1: like man, you know, I really enjoyed like giving back

668
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:22,680
Speaker 1: the kids and these were like for me. I kind

669
00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:25,279
Speaker 1: of knew Ben Fletcher was gonna be a great fit

670
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:29,040
Speaker 1: because I had known being for probably fifteen twenty years.

671
00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:31,600
Speaker 1: We played against each other in college, but his head coach,

672
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:35,239
Speaker 1: Don may Street, who he played for at Troy, was

673
00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:38,280
Speaker 1: on our staff at a m as a special assistant

674
00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:40,760
Speaker 1: to the head coach, So we would talk about Fletch

675
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:42,440
Speaker 1: all the time, and he like they had just got

676
00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:44,719
Speaker 1: let go at Troy. He needed a job. So it

677
00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:49,520
Speaker 1: was a simple, simple fixed or simple simple higher persian Williams,

678
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:53,120
Speaker 1: who I think is I'd say outside of myself, you know,

679
00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:55,520
Speaker 1: but I think the dude knows the state of Georgia

680
00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:59,400
Speaker 1: better than anybody out there. And I knew we wanted

681
00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:02,800
Speaker 1: to recruit that state and he could do it. He

682
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:04,759
Speaker 1: could help me do it. But also he could take

683
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:07,359
Speaker 1: some of those, you know, some stuff off my play,

684
00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:08,960
Speaker 1: you know, whether it was with you know, some of

685
00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:11,840
Speaker 1: the local coaches that you know would need certain things,

686
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:14,080
Speaker 1: some of the players, whatever it is. And I knew

687
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:18,120
Speaker 1: he would get young kids to our campus, right. And

688
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:21,880
Speaker 1: then from there I hired Tanner Smith, who's now Stephen F. Austin,

689
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:24,800
Speaker 1: and we were just really lucky to get William Small.

690
00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:27,760
Speaker 1: William Small had been at Iowa State with Steve Prone,

691
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:31,400
Speaker 1: but Small was one of he recruited me. He was

692
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:35,239
Speaker 1: like the lead recruiter when K was recruiting me at Southeastern,

693
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:39,759
Speaker 1: so they had got let go at the end of

694
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,200
Speaker 1: our second year, and man, I just dow it. It

695
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 1: was like a shot in the dark. I'm like, hey, man,

696
00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:48,279
Speaker 1: I got this. I got to open and want to

697
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:50,800
Speaker 1: come do it. And he was like yeah, I'm like

698
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:53,319
Speaker 1: for real, I'm thinking he's gonna want to go try

699
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:55,960
Speaker 1: to find another hot major job. And he Man, he

700
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,200
Speaker 1: came and and joined us, and it's been it's been great.

701
00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:02,400
Speaker 1: What were you like, you lost twenty in a row,

702
00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:04,959
Speaker 1: You won one game, you lost twenty in a row. Yeah,

703
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,040
Speaker 1: what were you like? What were you like as a

704
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:12,400
Speaker 1: coach in your one when you guys are losing manyec

705
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:19,799
Speaker 1: like just you know, man, it had been we had

706
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:24,239
Speaker 1: been so long built since I had lost you know

707
00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:27,520
Speaker 1: what I mean, player or coach that and then But

708
00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:29,719
Speaker 1: I guess a head coach, like you know, I could

709
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:33,280
Speaker 1: pay attention to everything b K did or coach Crean

710
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:39,000
Speaker 1: or Woad or whoever. But I still had to be myself.

711
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:42,440
Speaker 1: And the thing that I didn't know as a head

712
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:44,600
Speaker 1: coach the first time head coach is being honest. Man,

713
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:50,080
Speaker 1: I was so result driven that it was crazy right,

714
00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:53,680
Speaker 1: Like I could say, hey, we got to build a foundation,

715
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:55,879
Speaker 1: we got to build a culture, we got to build

716
00:37:55,920 --> 00:38:01,120
Speaker 1: a standard. But I wasn't living those words, like as

717
00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:04,640
Speaker 1: as as soon as, like, you know, something went wrong, man,

718
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:06,440
Speaker 1: I would, man, I you know I think I did.

719
00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 1: My first year, I would I would be talking to

720
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:12,320
Speaker 1: the officials more than I was coaching, right, I was like,

721
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,799
Speaker 1: it was crazy and as I'm talking to them, I'm

722
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:17,560
Speaker 1: not coaching my team. Three players that went by and

723
00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:21,000
Speaker 1: I don't even know what happened. So during that time, man,

724
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:24,759
Speaker 1: like honestly, like I was, you know, I was very impatient,

725
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:31,880
Speaker 1: very results women. And it's probably why we lost twenty

726
00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:34,439
Speaker 1: games in a row because as the leader, I wasn't

727
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,560
Speaker 1: focused on the right things. What did you do? How

728
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,120
Speaker 1: did you decide to change it? Like? What was was

729
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:44,040
Speaker 1: it your off season? Year one? Off season year two?

730
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:47,319
Speaker 1: How did you decide to change become more process work? Yeah?

731
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:51,680
Speaker 1: I would probably say nah, man, because I was still

732
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:56,320
Speaker 1: pretty result driven even in year two because in this

733
00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:59,480
Speaker 1: that was with this core group of guys, right, and

734
00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:04,560
Speaker 1: we won five games that year. And this is the

735
00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:07,080
Speaker 1: part I feel like when I think about it, I'm like, man,

736
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:09,719
Speaker 1: you you had you needed to be better. We were

737
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:12,680
Speaker 1: the fourth youngest team in the country that year. You know,

738
00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:16,319
Speaker 1: we were playing we were playing seven freshmen we had

739
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,640
Speaker 1: we were playing literally nine guys that were new the

740
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:23,279
Speaker 1: division one. But because we were more talented than we

741
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:26,239
Speaker 1: were the first year, I'm thinking, ah, man, like it's

742
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:28,239
Speaker 1: got to happen like it should. We should be better

743
00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:31,920
Speaker 1: than what we are. Again, results driven, and so I

744
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:37,600
Speaker 1: would honestly say it was the off season after year

745
00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 1: two and again this is you have good people around

746
00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:43,839
Speaker 1: you have been fleshing. My associate head coach. He said

747
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:45,359
Speaker 1: to me, he goes man, you got to be better,

748
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:48,520
Speaker 1: you know. And again I know him fleshed fifteen twenty

749
00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:51,800
Speaker 1: years and I know he's not gonna tell me anything

750
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:57,680
Speaker 1: that's not for the better to better me. It's not

751
00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:00,200
Speaker 1: gonna you know, it's not gonna hurt me. And you know, man,

752
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:03,680
Speaker 1: you gotta be better, he goes man. You know your response,

753
00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:06,279
Speaker 1: you know, to what they do has to be better.

754
00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:08,920
Speaker 1: We've got to be better. And hearing that from him,

755
00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:11,920
Speaker 1: it really made me a lot of self reflection. And

756
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,279
Speaker 1: you know, man, I I grew up a little bit,

757
00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:17,920
Speaker 1: you know, but I thought I took the biggest step

758
00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:21,680
Speaker 1: this past offseason win. And again I told the guys,

759
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:24,280
Speaker 1: I said, hey, next year, it's not gonna be about talent.

760
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:28,120
Speaker 1: It's not gonna be about ability, right, It's gonna be

761
00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:32,040
Speaker 1: about short connection. And Fletch came to me again and

762
00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:34,520
Speaker 1: he goes, hey, you're you're one hundred percent right what

763
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:39,040
Speaker 1: you're telling the guys. But again, your response to how

764
00:40:39,239 --> 00:40:42,200
Speaker 1: to what they do, it's gonna, you know, determine how

765
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:44,759
Speaker 1: good we can really be. And I think, you know,

766
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:47,440
Speaker 1: we want a ton of close games this year, and

767
00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:51,000
Speaker 1: it's because these guys they've lost together, they've learned how

768
00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:53,840
Speaker 1: to win together. But man, you know, we started a

769
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,000
Speaker 1: game out at Bellament, they're up twenty four, twenty six

770
00:40:57,080 --> 00:40:59,839
Speaker 1: seven on us, and I don't blink. I just hey,

771
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,480
Speaker 1: let's keep doing Let's do it Google, Let's get get

772
00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:06,319
Speaker 1: you know, focused on the things that we focused on them.

773
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:10,560
Speaker 1: How did you get them more connected? In the users?

774
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:13,080
Speaker 1: What was was? Was there any exercises you did on

775
00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:15,960
Speaker 1: the special things that you did, anything that you changed? No? No,

776
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:19,200
Speaker 1: for sure. So I read the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, right,

777
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:21,960
Speaker 1: and I wouldn't know had them sit there and read

778
00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:24,120
Speaker 1: book with me, right, But I read the book and

779
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:26,439
Speaker 1: at the end of the book, it's a survey in there, right, Doug.

780
00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:30,160
Speaker 1: And the survey, you know, basically take the survey and

781
00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:33,719
Speaker 1: it tells you where you're you know, where you dysfunction them. Well,

782
00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:36,200
Speaker 1: before I gave him the survey, I actually I actually

783
00:41:36,200 --> 00:41:37,680
Speaker 1: each one of them, I say, guys, do we have

784
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:41,200
Speaker 1: an absence of trust on it in our group? Oh? No, no, no,

785
00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:45,680
Speaker 1: you know, okay, do we have a peer conflict? No? No, no, no, no,

786
00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:49,560
Speaker 1: what about what about an avoidance of accountability and attention

787
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:51,719
Speaker 1: to results? And they go on, all of them saying no,

788
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:54,480
Speaker 1: no joke, all of them to a man, say no, well,

789
00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:57,880
Speaker 1: I give them the survey and now nobody can know

790
00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:01,400
Speaker 1: their hands, that is, they give it back to me.

791
00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:06,399
Speaker 1: We tally it all up, and no joke. We were

792
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:11,800
Speaker 1: just functional all we had all all right, and so

793
00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:13,520
Speaker 1: when you give it? When I gave each one of

794
00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:16,000
Speaker 1: them their surveys back, and I said, hey, just take

795
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:18,520
Speaker 1: Chris young Blood for example, I said, see why you

796
00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:21,360
Speaker 1: said we didn't have any of this stuff in our program,

797
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:24,680
Speaker 1: Like what's you know? But on your sheet you said

798
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:28,480
Speaker 1: we our absence and trust is like a two or yeah,

799
00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:31,000
Speaker 1: I said, our fear of conflict. You know, it's as

800
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:33,520
Speaker 1: high as kids, you know, and you're you know, based

801
00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:35,640
Speaker 1: on what you say, so on and so forth. So

802
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:40,200
Speaker 1: it was just opening their eyes too. They don't like

803
00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:42,680
Speaker 1: think about the fear of conflict. They didn't want to

804
00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:44,600
Speaker 1: say in front of each other that they didn't trust

805
00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:46,800
Speaker 1: each other. They didn't want to say in front of

806
00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:49,839
Speaker 1: each other that I could like like, you can't hold

807
00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:52,040
Speaker 1: me accountable, right, so on and so forth. And so

808
00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:54,839
Speaker 1: we started with that and then I told him, I said, guys,

809
00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:57,319
Speaker 1: you got to get more intentional about your relationships off

810
00:42:57,360 --> 00:42:59,640
Speaker 1: the court. You got to spend more time together. And

811
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:03,160
Speaker 1: Brandon Stroud, who you know, man do was a social butterfly,

812
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:07,480
Speaker 1: you know, man he was really the leader. You know,

813
00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:11,960
Speaker 1: he'd organized team Bowling Knights, Organs, team Dinners. They just

814
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:14,880
Speaker 1: they would just spend a lot more time together and

815
00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,200
Speaker 1: that's what led to their connection, you know, being even

816
00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:20,480
Speaker 1: better than it was on the court. How do you

817
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:25,480
Speaker 1: not spend too much time because there there is a

818
00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:28,640
Speaker 1: limit there to where they tune you out. There is

819
00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:30,840
Speaker 1: a point there to where you get too close to

820
00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:33,360
Speaker 1: them and it comes harder to coach him. How do

821
00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:35,919
Speaker 1: you balance hey, I want this thing to be a unit,

822
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:38,880
Speaker 1: but I can't be that close. And sometimes you guys,

823
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:40,759
Speaker 1: like you know how it was when you played, Like

824
00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:42,359
Speaker 1: a lot of times you get in fights with your

825
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,399
Speaker 1: best friend in practice because you spend too much time

826
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:47,480
Speaker 1: around him. How do you balance that out? Well, I'll

827
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:50,040
Speaker 1: tell you this though, Like I told these guys, each

828
00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:51,920
Speaker 1: one of them, when we recruited him, I told him,

829
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:55,680
Speaker 1: I said, hey, look, if you're coming here just for basketball,

830
00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:59,040
Speaker 1: don't come all right, I said, because we're going to

831
00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:03,560
Speaker 1: be pushing you guys in areas that you know you

832
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:05,600
Speaker 1: right now, you don't think about it. And I said,

833
00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:08,000
Speaker 1: and if I care about your development, not only as

834
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:10,799
Speaker 1: a player, but as a person more than you, I'm

835
00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:12,719
Speaker 1: gonna get on your nerves, you know, I said, Man,

836
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:15,680
Speaker 1: I'm here to have a real relationship with you, to

837
00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:18,800
Speaker 1: spend real time with you. And so you know, I

838
00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:21,080
Speaker 1: kind of put that out there to start, so they

839
00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:23,400
Speaker 1: kind of had an idea what to expect. But then

840
00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:25,680
Speaker 1: to balance it out, like I told him last summer,

841
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:28,600
Speaker 1: I said, they look, you know, going back to it's

842
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:30,959
Speaker 1: not gonna be about ability, it's not gonna be about talent.

843
00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:33,680
Speaker 1: It's gonna be about your connection. I said, if I'm

844
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:37,760
Speaker 1: still the one getting, you know, yelling because Brandon Stroud

845
00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:40,680
Speaker 1: it takes some twenty minutes to get going a practice,

846
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:43,680
Speaker 1: then you know, guys, we won't reach our full potential

847
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:47,279
Speaker 1: if I'm still the one yelling, because you know, our

848
00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:50,879
Speaker 1: attention to detail isn't where it needs to be. We're

849
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:53,160
Speaker 1: not gonna reach our full potential. It has to become

850
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:56,160
Speaker 1: a player driven program. Because when it becomes a player

851
00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:59,280
Speaker 1: driven program, now I can take my hands off because

852
00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:02,839
Speaker 1: you know, I trust that. You know, hey, Terrell, you're

853
00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:05,080
Speaker 1: gonna handle this, or Alex Peterson, you're gonna handle this.

854
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:09,840
Speaker 1: And truthfully, like they got tired of me yelling, you know,

855
00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:12,160
Speaker 1: and because we coach them, Doug, I coach him. I

856
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 1: coached they butts in the summer. Man, I'm just telling you,

857
00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:17,040
Speaker 1: and I would tell them like, all right, I guess

858
00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:19,840
Speaker 1: it's gonna be like this all year, and you know,

859
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,440
Speaker 1: y'all make the decision. And again we got great kids. Man.

860
00:45:23,719 --> 00:45:26,759
Speaker 1: We were We were really intentional too, you know, those

861
00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:29,640
Speaker 1: first couple of years kind of you know who we

862
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:32,600
Speaker 1: wanted to bring in our environment, you know who we know,

863
00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:35,000
Speaker 1: We were intentional about it, and so the way we

864
00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:38,760
Speaker 1: balanced it out, Like I really pushed them and encouraged

865
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:43,239
Speaker 1: them to make it more their program. There, you know

866
00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:46,560
Speaker 1: what they wanted out of it, then what I wanted

867
00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:49,800
Speaker 1: out of it, because naturally I'm gonna care about it

868
00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 1: more than they do. Right, So what what guy on

869
00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:56,400
Speaker 1: your current team do you take the greatest pride in

870
00:45:57,280 --> 00:46:01,120
Speaker 1: turning and changing and evolving him to L Burton? Not

871
00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:04,040
Speaker 1: a question I started, Okay, so first so so first

872
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:06,799
Speaker 1: time you saw him, as were man, I I seem

873
00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:10,680
Speaker 1: Terrell Burton probably since he was a sophomore in high school,

874
00:46:12,200 --> 00:46:15,759
Speaker 1: played at Campbell High School in Smyrna, Georgia. It's right

875
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:18,719
Speaker 1: outside it's like twenty minutes north of Atlanta, right there

876
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:22,120
Speaker 1: in like kind of in Cole County, and uh man,

877
00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:25,720
Speaker 1: Terrell was always this like the little the little guard

878
00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:28,960
Speaker 1: that was super athletic. You know, he could maybe about

879
00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:31,640
Speaker 1: five ten and he could dunk and do all this

880
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:34,920
Speaker 1: stuff and could really score the ball. But his team's

881
00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:38,360
Speaker 1: never like they never won a ton when he was

882
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:40,640
Speaker 1: in high school, right, so he was I messed with

883
00:46:40,760 --> 00:46:42,120
Speaker 1: him all the time. I made you just a good

884
00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:44,839
Speaker 1: player on a on an average team, right, I telling

885
00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:47,640
Speaker 1: him and so I had known him. I had known

886
00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:49,520
Speaker 1: of him since he was a sophomore in high school

887
00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:53,200
Speaker 1: and his trainer, a guy named Mark Edwards, you know,

888
00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:56,560
Speaker 1: had tried to get me to recruit him at Georgia

889
00:46:57,360 --> 00:46:59,839
Speaker 1: because Coach Green had had so much success with Yogi

890
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:03,560
Speaker 1: Pharaoh and we didn't need a point you know, because

891
00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:09,880
Speaker 1: we had already taken Savvier Wheeler and we had we

892
00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:11,920
Speaker 1: had a guy coming back. I can't remember who it was,

893
00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:14,480
Speaker 1: but anyway, So when I got the job there, like

894
00:47:14,680 --> 00:47:19,880
Speaker 1: Terrell was like my second recruit, Armonty Harrison was our first.

895
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:23,200
Speaker 1: And I take the most pride in watching how much

896
00:47:23,239 --> 00:47:26,759
Speaker 1: he's grown and changed because our first year, this dude

897
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:31,160
Speaker 1: wouldn't talk. Like I could give him a play like, hey, real,

898
00:47:31,239 --> 00:47:35,360
Speaker 1: we're running, you know, horns down right, and he would okay,

899
00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:37,480
Speaker 1: And he's walking the ball up the court and the

900
00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:39,480
Speaker 1: other four guys are looking at the bench like, hey,

901
00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:41,640
Speaker 1: what are we running? And I'm like, real, you gotta

902
00:47:41,680 --> 00:47:44,680
Speaker 1: tell him to play right, like, you know, man, as

903
00:47:44,719 --> 00:47:48,240
Speaker 1: a point guard, you've got to have command and your voice.

904
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:50,719
Speaker 1: You gotta your voice has to be coming in, man.

905
00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:53,960
Speaker 1: And the dude would not talk, and I would, man,

906
00:47:54,040 --> 00:47:57,279
Speaker 1: I was on him every day the every day and

907
00:47:57,440 --> 00:47:59,520
Speaker 1: to the point where now like, man, we'll go on

908
00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:03,080
Speaker 1: a huddle, you know, like saying one of the media timeouts,

909
00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:05,960
Speaker 1: and like, for example, in our Liberty game, the last

910
00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:08,359
Speaker 1: three huddles, all I had to do was give them

911
00:48:08,760 --> 00:48:12,120
Speaker 1: either the defensive assignment or the offensive assignment. So real

912
00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:14,319
Speaker 1: was in there, like, hey, man, this is where they

913
00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:16,920
Speaker 1: hurt us. They keep beating us on this backside, and

914
00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:19,280
Speaker 1: we got to clean this up. He's the most vocal

915
00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:25,040
Speaker 1: do on our team now and like just watching it, man,

916
00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:30,120
Speaker 1: it's cool. It's really cool. You know, there's nothing in

917
00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:35,440
Speaker 1: the world like the electricity of a full gym, no doubt, right,

918
00:48:35,480 --> 00:48:40,120
Speaker 1: there's nothing like it. What was that Like? I went

919
00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:44,040
Speaker 1: to the game, but when you walk out there and

920
00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:46,560
Speaker 1: I don't know if you in your mind could do

921
00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:49,839
Speaker 1: the juxtaposition of your first home game at Kennesaw when

922
00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:53,800
Speaker 1: it's friends and family only, right, yeah, yeah, right, I'm

923
00:48:53,840 --> 00:48:57,239
Speaker 1: guessing a couple hundred people, right and maybe one hundred

924
00:48:57,280 --> 00:49:02,160
Speaker 1: and fifty. What was that like? There your guys are

925
00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:04,440
Speaker 1: woming up, you're playing Liberty to go to the intentro.

926
00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:09,759
Speaker 1: What's that like for you? Personally? Man? It just it

927
00:49:09,920 --> 00:49:13,759
Speaker 1: was special. It's fairly and I don't know how many

928
00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:16,480
Speaker 1: head coaches do this right. And I'm not saying I'm

929
00:49:16,560 --> 00:49:19,520
Speaker 1: more special, better than anybody else, but Persian Williams was

930
00:49:19,520 --> 00:49:21,880
Speaker 1: on my staff. We talked about it bottom earlier the

931
00:49:22,200 --> 00:49:25,880
Speaker 1: last year. All right, think about this last year before

932
00:49:26,080 --> 00:49:27,920
Speaker 1: you know, we had this special year we're having now.

933
00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:31,759
Speaker 1: He and I I would I would literally go buy

934
00:49:32,040 --> 00:49:33,959
Speaker 1: T shirts. Just say, I buy one hundred and fifty

935
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:39,319
Speaker 1: T shirts, get Kennesaw State basketball printed on them. And man,

936
00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:42,719
Speaker 1: we would go on game day, we walk around and

937
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:45,640
Speaker 1: hand out T shirts to students. Just hey, man, come

938
00:49:45,680 --> 00:49:47,759
Speaker 1: to the game and game to night, you know. And

939
00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:50,960
Speaker 1: I never forget a kid said to me in the cafeteria.

940
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:53,759
Speaker 1: He said, man, y'all ain't got no marketing team. You

941
00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:56,120
Speaker 1: the head coach? What you Why are you handing? Why

942
00:49:56,120 --> 00:49:58,359
Speaker 1: are you handing out T shirts on game day? Right?

943
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:04,120
Speaker 1: And so to see it where it was that Liberty game,

944
00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:06,640
Speaker 1: And I never I turned the person. I just I

945
00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:09,600
Speaker 1: can't game like a little fist pound. I say, hey, man,

946
00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:12,000
Speaker 1: hell of a job, man, hell of a job. You know,

947
00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:16,560
Speaker 1: just because you know, it goes back to there can't

948
00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:19,040
Speaker 1: be anything that's beneath us, not if we're trying to

949
00:50:19,120 --> 00:50:22,239
Speaker 1: do something special, right like, you know, hell, I'll do

950
00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:24,600
Speaker 1: the laundry. If I got to, you know, I'll you know,

951
00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:26,440
Speaker 1: I'll be the first one to you know, man, it's

952
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:28,040
Speaker 1: a west spot on the floor. They told me that

953
00:50:28,120 --> 00:50:29,960
Speaker 1: tow I'll wipe the west spot up. But how do

954
00:50:30,040 --> 00:50:32,360
Speaker 1: you but how do you maintain that? Because that's actually

955
00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:36,040
Speaker 1: my question with even even now at Kennesaw right is

956
00:50:36,880 --> 00:50:38,640
Speaker 1: the guys that are there. Now, you got guys that

957
00:50:38,680 --> 00:50:41,080
Speaker 1: have been there for one win and five wins or whatever,

958
00:50:41,719 --> 00:50:44,160
Speaker 1: right whereas guys are coming now they think this is

959
00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:45,720
Speaker 1: how it is, like No, no, no, you do understand,

960
00:50:46,040 --> 00:50:48,320
Speaker 1: You don't understand. How do you how do you maintain that?

961
00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:52,239
Speaker 1: You gotta have you gotta have people that tell your story, right,

962
00:50:53,120 --> 00:50:55,560
Speaker 1: terreal burden Armande Harris. I told you our first two

963
00:50:55,600 --> 00:50:58,600
Speaker 1: recruits during that one win season. Does we lose our

964
00:50:58,719 --> 00:51:01,759
Speaker 1: last game at home to n j I T And

965
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:05,160
Speaker 1: as they're walking off the court, I grab them right

966
00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:07,400
Speaker 1: and I put my arm around both of them, and

967
00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:10,200
Speaker 1: both of them and I say, hey, it's not gonna

968
00:51:10,239 --> 00:51:15,080
Speaker 1: always be like this, right. Well, more importantly, y'all have

969
00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:17,719
Speaker 1: to tell the story you know, of what it can't

970
00:51:17,719 --> 00:51:20,560
Speaker 1: be like to those incoming guys, you know, because they

971
00:51:20,640 --> 00:51:23,920
Speaker 1: don't know any better you guys do. And so you know,

972
00:51:25,360 --> 00:51:29,160
Speaker 1: even like Chris young Blood, you know, and in Brandish Stroud,

973
00:51:29,320 --> 00:51:33,160
Speaker 1: those guys have had a lot of you know, success

974
00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:35,440
Speaker 1: or not a lot, but they've had decent success, more

975
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:39,080
Speaker 1: than Terrell and our money, you know, more than Terrell

976
00:51:39,160 --> 00:51:42,320
Speaker 1: and our money have, and even them, they have to

977
00:51:42,360 --> 00:51:44,920
Speaker 1: be able to be the storytellers, you know. As you know,

978
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:46,920
Speaker 1: we got a big kid from Iowa coming in next

979
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:49,560
Speaker 1: year named Daniel Tobin LoVa. Right, they got to be

980
00:51:49,640 --> 00:51:51,880
Speaker 1: able to tell Daniel the story of what to expect.

981
00:51:52,040 --> 00:51:54,400
Speaker 1: They got to tell Daniel the story of you know,

982
00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:57,120
Speaker 1: this is our standard, this is our expectation. So I

983
00:51:57,160 --> 00:52:01,160
Speaker 1: think that's how you you maintain it. It's one thing

984
00:52:01,239 --> 00:52:03,759
Speaker 1: to walk into that full gym. It's another thing to

985
00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:06,960
Speaker 1: win and win in the way that you was. Like

986
00:52:07,080 --> 00:52:09,279
Speaker 1: you said, the last three huddles, you didn't have to

987
00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:12,839
Speaker 1: saying things at the defensive signment, right that buzzer strikes zero.

988
00:52:13,680 --> 00:52:21,480
Speaker 1: Yeah you did it? Yeah, what went through your mind? Man? Honestly, Doug,

989
00:52:21,560 --> 00:52:25,040
Speaker 1: I thought about my dad and my dad passed away

990
00:52:26,320 --> 00:52:31,360
Speaker 1: in July of twenty right as depending was, you know,

991
00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:35,320
Speaker 1: just strong, going right and die passed from you know,

992
00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:39,440
Speaker 1: complications of COVID and uh, you know, it's like crazy,

993
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:44,280
Speaker 1: like you never realize, you realize how much your parents

994
00:52:44,360 --> 00:52:47,080
Speaker 1: mean to you. But even as at the time I

995
00:52:47,160 --> 00:52:50,160
Speaker 1: was thirty eight thirty nine year old, man, right, and

996
00:52:50,360 --> 00:52:54,960
Speaker 1: you never realize steal how much you need your dad, right,

997
00:52:55,160 --> 00:52:59,160
Speaker 1: like just sometimes like a word and right. And so

998
00:52:59,520 --> 00:53:02,000
Speaker 1: then my dad passed and you know, you just started

999
00:53:02,520 --> 00:53:04,759
Speaker 1: going through certain things. But man, I found it. I

1000
00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:10,239
Speaker 1: found this voicemail from Man. It was literally after our

1001
00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:14,160
Speaker 1: creeking game. All right, my first year, your first year,

1002
00:53:14,719 --> 00:53:17,959
Speaker 1: that's your first game, was first game, our first game,

1003
00:53:18,680 --> 00:53:23,040
Speaker 1: and man, I didn't even realize I still had this tech,

1004
00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:26,680
Speaker 1: this voicemail. But in the voicemail, Man, he's saying he

1005
00:53:26,840 --> 00:53:29,560
Speaker 1: was like he starts out, He's like, yes, sir, yes, sir.

1006
00:53:29,840 --> 00:53:32,920
Speaker 1: He goes Man, He's like, man, I love you boy.

1007
00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:34,759
Speaker 1: You know, it's like he just you know, my dad

1008
00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:36,800
Speaker 1: was like the king of It's a running joke between

1009
00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:38,600
Speaker 1: my brothers and sisters. And not like Man, he just

1010
00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:42,160
Speaker 1: leave these long voicemails talking to you like as if

1011
00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:45,040
Speaker 1: you were having a conversation with him, right, no question,

1012
00:53:45,239 --> 00:53:47,920
Speaker 1: all right, it's like they're the best. But you know,

1013
00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:50,399
Speaker 1: at one point in this voicemail, he goes, yeah, man,

1014
00:53:50,520 --> 00:53:54,319
Speaker 1: that's just one. You know, that's just one. But man,

1015
00:53:54,440 --> 00:53:58,120
Speaker 1: I can see you in some years, they belong to you. Man,

1016
00:53:58,239 --> 00:54:00,239
Speaker 1: you've been there before, You've done it before, or you

1017
00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:02,720
Speaker 1: he goes, you know, you know you've been there before.

1018
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:05,480
Speaker 1: You know what to do. Look, I listened to this

1019
00:54:05,600 --> 00:54:10,239
Speaker 1: voicemail every game day, all right, every game day, And

1020
00:54:10,560 --> 00:54:15,160
Speaker 1: when that buzzer struck zero, man, I'm sitting there thinking

1021
00:54:15,840 --> 00:54:19,480
Speaker 1: and how did this dude? Nope, how did he know?

1022
00:54:20,040 --> 00:54:23,480
Speaker 1: Like after after our first game, you know, he says, yeah,

1023
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:26,400
Speaker 1: that's just one, but I can see you in some years,

1024
00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:32,640
Speaker 1: they belong to you, you know, Man, I was messed up, man,

1025
00:54:32,800 --> 00:54:36,680
Speaker 1: like you know, just man, my brother was there. Man,

1026
00:54:36,800 --> 00:54:39,720
Speaker 1: it was man. My brother was there, and my sisters

1027
00:54:39,800 --> 00:54:42,239
Speaker 1: were there. My sisters, one of my oldest sister was all.

1028
00:54:42,360 --> 00:54:46,000
Speaker 1: She had flew in from Little Rock that day, and man,

1029
00:54:46,239 --> 00:54:51,120
Speaker 1: just to see them in the stands, man, I like,

1030
00:54:51,239 --> 00:54:54,440
Speaker 1: you know, I'm am. I would consider myself an amen. Guy,

1031
00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:56,239
Speaker 1: I kind of wear my heart on my sleep, right.

1032
00:54:56,760 --> 00:55:01,080
Speaker 1: But man, that's literally went through my head was how

1033
00:55:01,160 --> 00:55:06,400
Speaker 1: did this dude? No, you know? And uh, man, I

1034
00:55:06,440 --> 00:55:11,080
Speaker 1: couldn't have been more happy. But then just very similar,

1035
00:55:11,120 --> 00:55:13,720
Speaker 1: you know, I'm very similar to my dad. My mind

1036
00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:18,840
Speaker 1: goes to, all right, what's next because the message you

1037
00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:21,560
Speaker 1: get to these guys, it's gonna set the tone for

1038
00:55:21,719 --> 00:55:24,360
Speaker 1: these next two weeks or so leading up to this tournament.

1039
00:55:24,960 --> 00:55:26,920
Speaker 1: And I walked, you know, I walked in the locker

1040
00:55:27,040 --> 00:55:30,440
Speaker 1: room after we got done with all the celebration and

1041
00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:33,120
Speaker 1: I said, they fellas man, really proud of you guys,

1042
00:55:34,880 --> 00:55:37,960
Speaker 1: but job not finished because you guys are good enough

1043
00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:40,960
Speaker 1: to go win in this tournament. And I said, I'm

1044
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:43,040
Speaker 1: not just telling you that, like I've seen it before,

1045
00:55:43,719 --> 00:55:46,000
Speaker 1: like the makeup. You know who we are and how

1046
00:55:46,080 --> 00:55:49,600
Speaker 1: we go about our business. We can go do something special,

1047
00:55:49,719 --> 00:55:53,360
Speaker 1: but you've got to believe it. And man, it was

1048
00:55:53,480 --> 00:55:59,719
Speaker 1: just it's crazy. It's crazy when you you saw your

1049
00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:04,800
Speaker 1: name appear and you show up Xavier, ye what what?

1050
00:56:05,280 --> 00:56:07,279
Speaker 1: What what is America going to see when they see

1051
00:56:07,320 --> 00:56:10,640
Speaker 1: your team? Then I think they're gonna see a group

1052
00:56:10,680 --> 00:56:14,880
Speaker 1: of guys that play with a big time chip on

1053
00:56:14,960 --> 00:56:18,520
Speaker 1: the shoulder. You know. The one thing I told I

1054
00:56:18,640 --> 00:56:21,880
Speaker 1: told our group, you know, was you know, guys, you

1055
00:56:22,040 --> 00:56:24,880
Speaker 1: got to a point where you're gonna play in a

1056
00:56:24,960 --> 00:56:31,120
Speaker 1: tournament and there won't be any bad teams. There won't

1057
00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:34,800
Speaker 1: be any bad teams, guys, all right, So like the

1058
00:56:35,040 --> 00:56:39,080
Speaker 1: chip on our shoulder, Okay, it has to be massive,

1059
00:56:39,680 --> 00:56:44,680
Speaker 1: you know, and you it has to be like hopefully

1060
00:56:44,800 --> 00:56:48,439
Speaker 1: that chip, you know, is the same chip on each

1061
00:56:48,560 --> 00:56:53,839
Speaker 1: guy's shoulder, because we gotta be fighting for the same thing, right,

1062
00:56:54,480 --> 00:56:57,879
Speaker 1: Because Savior's gonna be good, all right, You're gonna play

1063
00:56:57,920 --> 00:57:02,279
Speaker 1: a good team, right, So when we see that matchup, man,

1064
00:57:02,360 --> 00:57:05,760
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, right, I just watched them against Marquette

1065
00:57:05,760 --> 00:57:08,719
Speaker 1: in the Big East Championship and knew they were a

1066
00:57:08,800 --> 00:57:11,160
Speaker 1: lot better than they played that game. You know, Marquette

1067
00:57:11,200 --> 00:57:14,640
Speaker 1: was really good. But I said, okay, like cool, like

1068
00:57:14,760 --> 00:57:19,080
Speaker 1: we're like, you know nothing that this won't overwhelm us

1069
00:57:19,120 --> 00:57:22,480
Speaker 1: in a sense, you know. I was more concerned about

1070
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:27,440
Speaker 1: the like them letting, like the bright lights and the

1071
00:57:27,520 --> 00:57:31,880
Speaker 1: magnitude of it being an NC double a tournament make

1072
00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:34,440
Speaker 1: them up, get them out of character in a sense,

1073
00:57:34,920 --> 00:57:37,040
Speaker 1: you know. And so we were able to get them,

1074
00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:39,040
Speaker 1: you know, I think they're focused now. I think they're

1075
00:57:39,320 --> 00:57:42,320
Speaker 1: they're locked back in and they're gonna treat this thing like, hey,

1076
00:57:42,520 --> 00:57:45,480
Speaker 1: this is the next game. It's about getting better, right,

1077
00:57:45,560 --> 00:57:48,600
Speaker 1: and if we focus on really getting better like each possession,

1078
00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:52,560
Speaker 1: and I think America will see a team that, man,

1079
00:57:53,040 --> 00:57:56,080
Speaker 1: regardless of what happens, these kids ain't gonna quit. They

1080
00:57:56,080 --> 00:57:59,240
Speaker 1: ain't gonna back down. They're gonna be there. I promised that.

1081
00:58:00,520 --> 00:58:05,320
Speaker 1: As you said, you know you and one person you stay.

1082
00:58:05,320 --> 00:58:08,240
Speaker 1: You feel like you know Georgia better than anybody. Yep,

1083
00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:11,760
Speaker 1: Tech just came open. They offered it to Damon. They

1084
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:15,720
Speaker 1: offered it Damon. Yep, not not not to you. Yeah,

1085
00:58:15,920 --> 00:58:20,000
Speaker 1: well how'd you handle that emotional? And I'll be honest

1086
00:58:20,080 --> 00:58:23,280
Speaker 1: what you've done? Man, I was so hyped for Damon,

1087
00:58:24,280 --> 00:58:27,360
Speaker 1: like my right hand, my right hand of guy, my wife.

1088
00:58:27,400 --> 00:58:29,720
Speaker 1: I came home that day and you know, the one

1089
00:58:29,720 --> 00:58:31,320
Speaker 1: thing I got to mess with Coach kreen and Coach

1090
00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:34,600
Speaker 1: Kennedy about is this. And they never told me, like,

1091
00:58:34,760 --> 00:58:39,320
Speaker 1: how tired you'll be a week after winning the winning

1092
00:58:39,360 --> 00:58:41,960
Speaker 1: the winning the conference? Man? Like you know, because man,

1093
00:58:42,240 --> 00:58:46,360
Speaker 1: your emotions are oh man like and it's like and

1094
00:58:46,440 --> 00:58:48,720
Speaker 1: then now you like and especially for us because our

1095
00:58:49,160 --> 00:58:52,480
Speaker 1: our conference, our conference tournament is a week before everybody else.

1096
00:58:52,960 --> 00:58:55,320
Speaker 1: And so now like we're sitting there a week without

1097
00:58:55,360 --> 00:58:57,560
Speaker 1: even knowing like who you're playing in and yeah you

1098
00:58:57,640 --> 00:58:59,520
Speaker 1: can go in there is like a fight to get

1099
00:58:59,640 --> 00:59:02,000
Speaker 1: those who's to come in there, and you know, really

1100
00:59:03,200 --> 00:59:05,919
Speaker 1: lock in, lock in for the hour and fifteen minutes

1101
00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:07,160
Speaker 1: you're gonna be in there, because they're like, man, we

1102
00:59:07,160 --> 00:59:08,760
Speaker 1: don't even know who we're playing, we don't know where

1103
00:59:08,800 --> 00:59:11,040
Speaker 1: we're going, we don't know this. So I gotta give

1104
00:59:11,120 --> 00:59:14,520
Speaker 1: coach Kreen Kennedy a hard time about that. Uh, you know,

1105
00:59:14,680 --> 00:59:20,160
Speaker 1: after everything is done. But I went home the day

1106
00:59:20,240 --> 00:59:23,160
Speaker 1: they hired Damon and I was tired, man, And I

1107
00:59:23,240 --> 00:59:25,840
Speaker 1: guess my wife, you know, she like looks at me

1108
00:59:25,960 --> 00:59:28,880
Speaker 1: and she's like, hey, okay. I'm like, yeah, just tired.

1109
00:59:28,960 --> 00:59:31,439
Speaker 1: She goes nah, like are you okay? And I said,

1110
00:59:31,640 --> 00:59:33,360
Speaker 1: what do you mean? She goes, I saw Georgia Tech.

1111
00:59:33,800 --> 00:59:36,720
Speaker 1: I said, Manna, like, I'm hyped for Damon, right because

1112
00:59:37,920 --> 00:59:43,200
Speaker 1: you know, Damon played with my brother in Portland, so

1113
00:59:43,400 --> 00:59:47,320
Speaker 1: I've known Damon since I was twenty six. Like we

1114
00:59:47,440 --> 00:59:50,880
Speaker 1: went to we went to the Bernard Hopkins Struments and

1115
00:59:51,080 --> 00:59:55,120
Speaker 1: Taylor the first middleweight championship fight that those guys fought

1116
00:59:55,320 --> 00:59:57,320
Speaker 1: in Vegas. And then I do let us hang out

1117
00:59:57,360 --> 00:59:59,160
Speaker 1: with him, you know me and let me and my

1118
00:59:59,200 --> 01:00:00,800
Speaker 1: little brother hang out with him that night. It was

1119
01:00:00,880 --> 01:00:04,400
Speaker 1: like the like the night of our young lives at

1120
01:00:04,440 --> 01:00:09,160
Speaker 1: that time, right, and uh. And he's been an unbelievable friend,

1121
01:00:09,520 --> 01:00:11,600
Speaker 1: like big brother to me over the years. And so

1122
01:00:12,280 --> 01:00:16,280
Speaker 1: I knew what Damon had built at Pacific, right and

1123
01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:18,520
Speaker 1: he and he and I think just like you, just

1124
01:00:18,720 --> 01:00:22,680
Speaker 1: like you. Yeah, it was a nothing and then one

1125
01:00:22,720 --> 01:00:25,560
Speaker 1: coach did nothing. Yeah, and one coach did here and

1126
01:00:25,800 --> 01:00:28,040
Speaker 1: so he you know, he leaves and he takes that

1127
01:00:28,160 --> 01:00:32,120
Speaker 1: deal with the Celtics. And I mean, you know, Robert

1128
01:00:32,160 --> 01:00:35,200
Speaker 1: Williams the third play for us that Texas see them,

1129
01:00:35,480 --> 01:00:38,640
Speaker 1: and so like I would see and like every now

1130
01:00:38,680 --> 01:00:42,840
Speaker 1: and again, talked to Robbing Man man Dame like just

1131
01:00:43,160 --> 01:00:46,080
Speaker 1: the impact he was having on him. So to see

1132
01:00:46,480 --> 01:00:50,360
Speaker 1: Damon get that opportunity at Tech, you know, uh. And

1133
01:00:50,520 --> 01:00:52,760
Speaker 1: I learned a long time ago, I should say, Sharif

1134
01:00:52,920 --> 01:00:54,680
Speaker 1: told me a long time ago. Actually when I was

1135
01:00:54,800 --> 01:00:58,800
Speaker 1: interviewing for this job. I interviewed this job and william

1136
01:00:58,840 --> 01:01:01,000
Speaker 1: and Mary, and the truth of it was was I

1137
01:01:01,160 --> 01:01:03,640
Speaker 1: wanted to William and Mary job because it was in

1138
01:01:03,720 --> 01:01:06,520
Speaker 1: the c AA. It was it was in my eyes,

1139
01:01:06,600 --> 01:01:09,720
Speaker 1: more of a basketball league. Basketball ready, it was more money,

1140
01:01:09,800 --> 01:01:13,720
Speaker 1: all of this stuff. And man, I never forget. I'm

1141
01:01:13,720 --> 01:01:15,960
Speaker 1: waiting on to hear back on both jobs, and I

1142
01:01:16,360 --> 01:01:20,200
Speaker 1: let myself become consumed by it. And shreef, Man, I

1143
01:01:20,320 --> 01:01:21,600
Speaker 1: never forget. I was on the road. I was in

1144
01:01:21,680 --> 01:01:25,080
Speaker 1: between Athens and Augusta, Georgia. I went recruit and I

1145
01:01:25,240 --> 01:01:27,520
Speaker 1: was talking to Shrive. He's like, man, good. I'm like, man,

1146
01:01:27,720 --> 01:01:30,200
Speaker 1: just and his job, and I ain't hurting nothing back.

1147
01:01:31,000 --> 01:01:33,320
Speaker 1: And he goes, hey, man, what God got for you?

1148
01:01:33,440 --> 01:01:36,080
Speaker 1: He got for you? You know? He said, Man, it

1149
01:01:36,200 --> 01:01:38,560
Speaker 1: can be a million people trying to keep something from you,

1150
01:01:39,040 --> 01:01:41,280
Speaker 1: but if he wanted, if he has that for you,

1151
01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:44,920
Speaker 1: he's gonna remove those, you know, those people out of

1152
01:01:44,920 --> 01:01:47,160
Speaker 1: the way. He said, you can want something so bad,

1153
01:01:47,680 --> 01:01:50,480
Speaker 1: you can want something so bad that like you just

1154
01:01:51,200 --> 01:01:53,600
Speaker 1: you know, you just want it. But if he doesn't

1155
01:01:53,640 --> 01:01:55,560
Speaker 1: want it for he's gonna protect you from it. You

1156
01:01:55,640 --> 01:01:58,240
Speaker 1: don't realize ever since then, Doug, I promise you, man,

1157
01:01:58,280 --> 01:02:01,440
Speaker 1: I've just been on you know, some and I like, truly,

1158
01:02:02,240 --> 01:02:05,160
Speaker 1: you know, I just and I tell God every day,

1159
01:02:05,240 --> 01:02:07,680
Speaker 1: like I told him during Games, man, like this year, Hey,

1160
01:02:07,720 --> 01:02:09,400
Speaker 1: whatever it is you got for us, I trust you.

1161
01:02:09,920 --> 01:02:12,760
Speaker 1: I trust you my right hand of God. I've literally

1162
01:02:12,840 --> 01:02:15,920
Speaker 1: said that throughout games and so again I just go

1163
01:02:16,040 --> 01:02:18,120
Speaker 1: back to it, like when it came over and it

1164
01:02:18,240 --> 01:02:22,680
Speaker 1: was like, okay, cool, you know, but when Damon got it, man, shoot,

1165
01:02:22,760 --> 01:02:24,920
Speaker 1: I was probably more happy. I was right, just as

1166
01:02:24,960 --> 01:02:26,480
Speaker 1: happy that he got it as if I would have

1167
01:02:26,520 --> 01:02:30,400
Speaker 1: got it, because he's very deserving of the opportunity. How

1168
01:02:30,520 --> 01:02:34,480
Speaker 1: do you, let's say, you stay to me, you stay

1169
01:02:34,480 --> 01:02:36,720
Speaker 1: for another year, but now all of a sudden, your

1170
01:02:36,800 --> 01:02:41,280
Speaker 1: dudes have an extra year, and and everywhere you go

1171
01:02:41,840 --> 01:02:45,000
Speaker 1: it's an unofficial recruiting visit for them, right, and they

1172
01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:47,160
Speaker 1: see all the stuff that and they know all the

1173
01:02:47,240 --> 01:02:50,520
Speaker 1: numbers that are being thrown around. What is that like

1174
01:02:50,720 --> 01:02:53,600
Speaker 1: to coach in this era when this is something you built.

1175
01:02:53,760 --> 01:02:56,440
Speaker 1: These are guys that you believed in, and now they

1176
01:02:56,560 --> 01:02:58,800
Speaker 1: finally got into the place where you told him if

1177
01:02:58,840 --> 01:03:01,280
Speaker 1: they bought in, they would get And yet now other

1178
01:03:01,360 --> 01:03:04,080
Speaker 1: people are I'm sure gonna try, and you know I'm

1179
01:03:04,120 --> 01:03:08,400
Speaker 1: gonna try and poach them. Well, they've already done that, man.

1180
01:03:08,560 --> 01:03:12,120
Speaker 1: You know, after Christian Blood's freshman year, we're driving back

1181
01:03:12,200 --> 01:03:15,160
Speaker 1: from Jacksonville, Florida. It was like the COVID here, and

1182
01:03:15,240 --> 01:03:17,720
Speaker 1: so they did that. They did the tournament in a

1183
01:03:17,760 --> 01:03:19,840
Speaker 1: neutral site, or not a neutral site, but just at

1184
01:03:19,880 --> 01:03:23,000
Speaker 1: North Florida where everybody could get to. And man, I

1185
01:03:23,120 --> 01:03:25,560
Speaker 1: never forget this. Man. The kid walks up to me

1186
01:03:25,640 --> 01:03:27,400
Speaker 1: on the bus. He taps me on the sho shoulder.

1187
01:03:27,480 --> 01:03:30,200
Speaker 1: He takes his phone. He gives me his phone and

1188
01:03:30,320 --> 01:03:33,600
Speaker 1: it's another assistant coach from another university, like, hey, man,

1189
01:03:33,680 --> 01:03:36,520
Speaker 1: I saw you guys lost. Man. I was just curious, Man,

1190
01:03:36,640 --> 01:03:38,760
Speaker 1: you're gonna, Man, you're gonna stay at Kinnesau. Man, you know,

1191
01:03:38,880 --> 01:03:40,840
Speaker 1: like you're too good of a player, you know, to

1192
01:03:40,880 --> 01:03:43,280
Speaker 1: be going through all that losing. And the kid looked

1193
01:03:43,320 --> 01:03:45,240
Speaker 1: me dead, all right, and he said to me, like coach, Man,

1194
01:03:45,480 --> 01:03:47,560
Speaker 1: I just want you to know, Man, I ain't going nowhere.

1195
01:03:47,680 --> 01:03:49,200
Speaker 1: Like I don't care what none of these dudes say,

1196
01:03:49,720 --> 01:03:51,880
Speaker 1: but Doug, he goes back to what I said to

1197
01:03:51,960 --> 01:03:55,280
Speaker 1: you before. You know, we were intentional about who we recruited,

1198
01:03:55,280 --> 01:04:00,480
Speaker 1: we brought into our environment so much so like I've

1199
01:04:00,520 --> 01:04:02,600
Speaker 1: said to I told these guys in the recruiting process,

1200
01:04:02,720 --> 01:04:04,600
Speaker 1: there's no joke each one. I'm gonna tell you. I

1201
01:04:04,680 --> 01:04:06,120
Speaker 1: told him. I said, hey, look, man, I get it.

1202
01:04:06,280 --> 01:04:09,400
Speaker 1: You know, transfer por those this transferred poles that I said.

1203
01:04:09,440 --> 01:04:10,960
Speaker 1: But the truth of it is is this, Hey, we

1204
01:04:11,080 --> 01:04:13,080
Speaker 1: get to a point two three years from now, all

1205
01:04:13,160 --> 01:04:17,920
Speaker 1: right where you're interested in transfer that guys, I think

1206
01:04:17,960 --> 01:04:20,200
Speaker 1: you've got to hit it, hit off right because you're

1207
01:04:20,280 --> 01:04:23,439
Speaker 1: right like they see it all right. And I said,

1208
01:04:23,480 --> 01:04:27,720
Speaker 1: you're interested in transferring that means two things. One, we've

1209
01:04:27,760 --> 01:04:30,080
Speaker 1: had a lot of success here, and I said it

1210
01:04:30,080 --> 01:04:31,760
Speaker 1: would just I said, I'm gonna treat it just like

1211
01:04:32,280 --> 01:04:34,720
Speaker 1: you know, if you were trying to go pro. Okay,

1212
01:04:34,840 --> 01:04:36,919
Speaker 1: we're gonna sit down, we're gonna talk about what's best

1213
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:38,960
Speaker 1: for you, you know, so on and so forth. But

1214
01:04:39,120 --> 01:04:42,600
Speaker 1: if you think it's in your best interest transfer, if

1215
01:04:42,600 --> 01:04:45,000
Speaker 1: you feel like you need something else, like man, then

1216
01:04:45,040 --> 01:04:46,560
Speaker 1: we'll sit down and we'll figure out where the best

1217
01:04:46,600 --> 01:04:49,440
Speaker 1: place for you is. I said, But I guarantee you

1218
01:04:50,520 --> 01:04:53,280
Speaker 1: you won't need that. I said, because how we'll go

1219
01:04:53,360 --> 01:04:56,640
Speaker 1: about your development as a person as a player, you know,

1220
01:04:57,000 --> 01:05:00,320
Speaker 1: how we'll go about your growth, like you'll know, grass

1221
01:05:00,400 --> 01:05:02,919
Speaker 1: and greener somewhere else. You don't. Like, you don't need

1222
01:05:03,600 --> 01:05:07,200
Speaker 1: a bigger conference or a bigger, bigger name, you know,

1223
01:05:07,560 --> 01:05:11,400
Speaker 1: to uh, you know, to become a pro like pros

1224
01:05:11,400 --> 01:05:14,800
Speaker 1: a pro no matter where, you know, like George. The

1225
01:05:14,880 --> 01:05:16,040
Speaker 1: other part too, it is and I don't know if

1226
01:05:16,040 --> 01:05:18,960
Speaker 1: they get this is if they leave. As much as

1227
01:05:18,960 --> 01:05:21,680
Speaker 1: they're a part of your culture, it's really hard to

1228
01:05:21,840 --> 01:05:24,520
Speaker 1: consider them part of your culture after they're gone and

1229
01:05:24,560 --> 01:05:26,920
Speaker 1: they're going to a place where they're not really part

1230
01:05:27,000 --> 01:05:28,840
Speaker 1: of that new brotherhood because they're only going to be

1231
01:05:28,920 --> 01:05:31,600
Speaker 1: there for a short period of time. So then they

1232
01:05:31,640 --> 01:05:34,560
Speaker 1: become a dude without a home. They they have an

1233
01:05:34,560 --> 01:05:37,280
Speaker 1: Alma monitor, but no real place to call home. Hey

1234
01:05:37,320 --> 01:05:39,600
Speaker 1: what what what what was the movie with? Uh? With

1235
01:05:40,560 --> 01:05:45,120
Speaker 1: what Clinty's what's my guy? Man? I can I can

1236
01:05:45,200 --> 01:05:49,760
Speaker 1: see as unforgiven? No was it? No? No no country,

1237
01:05:49,800 --> 01:05:54,320
Speaker 1: no country girl men? Right, And you know, like that's

1238
01:05:54,360 --> 01:05:57,040
Speaker 1: how I think about the transfer portal sometimes. Right, It's

1239
01:05:57,080 --> 01:05:59,160
Speaker 1: like these dudes are leaving, you know, like some of

1240
01:05:59,200 --> 01:06:01,160
Speaker 1: them are leaving when they're young, but a lot of

1241
01:06:01,240 --> 01:06:03,720
Speaker 1: them are leaving after two or three years where they've

1242
01:06:03,760 --> 01:06:06,400
Speaker 1: been at schools, and you know, these schools have helped

1243
01:06:06,480 --> 01:06:09,680
Speaker 1: them grow and become who they are. You know these stats, right,

1244
01:06:09,960 --> 01:06:12,640
Speaker 1: and then they leave thinking that, oh, I can go

1245
01:06:12,760 --> 01:06:16,560
Speaker 1: over here. And in the recruiting process, you know, people

1246
01:06:16,600 --> 01:06:18,680
Speaker 1: are gonna just tell you whatever they want you, whatever

1247
01:06:18,720 --> 01:06:21,080
Speaker 1: you want to hear, and you go over to this

1248
01:06:21,240 --> 01:06:25,280
Speaker 1: new place, and uh, it's not what you think. Like,

1249
01:06:25,400 --> 01:06:26,720
Speaker 1: it's just like, because I was looking at this the

1250
01:06:26,800 --> 01:06:29,640
Speaker 1: other day of I think the kid declared I can't remember,

1251
01:06:29,720 --> 01:06:32,640
Speaker 1: but I think Casey Alexander at Belmont does one of

1252
01:06:32,720 --> 01:06:35,840
Speaker 1: the best jobs in the country, right, and the kid

1253
01:06:36,000 --> 01:06:40,600
Speaker 1: and Shepherds from Georgia. All right, Ben Shepherd's from Georgia. Dude,

1254
01:06:40,640 --> 01:06:44,800
Speaker 1: his first team All Missouri Valley All defense averages like

1255
01:06:44,880 --> 01:06:48,360
Speaker 1: eighteen a game, I forty something from three. I remember

1256
01:06:48,480 --> 01:06:50,360
Speaker 1: Ben Shepherd coming out of high school and he was

1257
01:06:50,440 --> 01:06:52,320
Speaker 1: a you know it was a cutter, he was a slasher.

1258
01:06:52,400 --> 01:06:55,480
Speaker 1: He was a good defender. But he stayed at Belmont

1259
01:06:55,560 --> 01:06:59,320
Speaker 1: because he knew he was getting developed. He stayed at Belmont.

1260
01:06:59,760 --> 01:07:02,920
Speaker 1: And now this dude, like if you went back and

1261
01:07:02,960 --> 01:07:05,000
Speaker 1: looked at his high school class in the state of Georgia,

1262
01:07:05,000 --> 01:07:06,360
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna do it. When all this is over

1263
01:07:06,440 --> 01:07:08,640
Speaker 1: and I got time, I want to look at who

1264
01:07:09,040 --> 01:07:11,600
Speaker 1: was ranked ahead of him and where they are now

1265
01:07:11,680 --> 01:07:13,920
Speaker 1: compared to where he is now, because I guarantee you

1266
01:07:14,040 --> 01:07:16,480
Speaker 1: who was ever in front, whoever was in front of him,

1267
01:07:17,200 --> 01:07:20,640
Speaker 1: that dude has surpassed the majority of them because he

1268
01:07:20,880 --> 01:07:25,200
Speaker 1: stayed where she was being developed and he was being coached.

1269
01:07:25,600 --> 01:07:28,960
Speaker 1: So I have like these like again, like the we

1270
01:07:29,080 --> 01:07:32,640
Speaker 1: got real, real relationships with these dudes. And I tell him, like,

1271
01:07:32,840 --> 01:07:34,920
Speaker 1: you know, I had the same conversation with Barndon Stroud

1272
01:07:34,960 --> 01:07:36,280
Speaker 1: a year ago. I mess with him all the time.

1273
01:07:36,280 --> 01:07:38,320
Speaker 1: I was like, hey, man, yeah, you like you liked

1274
01:07:38,760 --> 01:07:41,760
Speaker 1: the cloud, you liked the you know, the lights. I said, man,

1275
01:07:41,840 --> 01:07:44,120
Speaker 1: if we didn't have this relationship that we have with you,

1276
01:07:44,520 --> 01:07:46,920
Speaker 1: like you being a transfer reporter already, And he gets

1277
01:07:47,000 --> 01:07:51,640
Speaker 1: this big smile on his day, like, you know, what

1278
01:07:51,720 --> 01:07:56,320
Speaker 1: do you have to do to be Xavier? Man? We

1279
01:07:56,400 --> 01:07:59,720
Speaker 1: gotta we got a really good transition defense. Uh man,

1280
01:07:59,760 --> 01:08:01,800
Speaker 1: I think they're one of the best. You know, for

1281
01:08:01,920 --> 01:08:04,680
Speaker 1: whatever reason people they think, uh you know, when you

1282
01:08:04,760 --> 01:08:07,480
Speaker 1: think Sean Miller, you think he says half court execution,

1283
01:08:07,560 --> 01:08:08,840
Speaker 1: so on and so forth, which they are really he

1284
01:08:09,080 --> 01:08:11,880
Speaker 1: used to it, you know, he used to Mary. I'm

1285
01:08:11,920 --> 01:08:14,480
Speaker 1: telling you, like it was like he had to come

1286
01:08:14,560 --> 01:08:18,800
Speaker 1: to Jesus with himself during his year out almost right

1287
01:08:19,000 --> 01:08:22,400
Speaker 1: where they like he's always pushed and running transition, but

1288
01:08:22,640 --> 01:08:25,599
Speaker 1: his offense has changed, his philosophy has changed. Like that's

1289
01:08:25,920 --> 01:08:27,600
Speaker 1: that's the thing that guys don't do enough when they

1290
01:08:27,680 --> 01:08:30,040
Speaker 1: get fired. Right, he didn't get fired really for performance,

1291
01:08:30,400 --> 01:08:33,920
Speaker 1: but is they don't if you take another job right away,

1292
01:08:34,000 --> 01:08:36,280
Speaker 1: you don't take stock and figure out. Okay, I gotta

1293
01:08:36,680 --> 01:08:38,600
Speaker 1: like you said, from year one to year two to

1294
01:08:38,720 --> 01:08:41,639
Speaker 1: year three, right, you've got to change. If guys don't change,

1295
01:08:42,240 --> 01:08:46,719
Speaker 1: he's changed, you bet you better be better be self

1296
01:08:46,760 --> 01:08:48,760
Speaker 1: assessing as you're going through it. I think that's the

1297
01:08:48,800 --> 01:08:51,040
Speaker 1: biggest thing I've learned, like and not just with like

1298
01:08:51,080 --> 01:08:54,840
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it changed, like your philosophy every year, right,

1299
01:08:55,240 --> 01:08:59,519
Speaker 1: but you better be adjusting, like with the game, because

1300
01:08:59,520 --> 01:09:01,599
Speaker 1: the game is always evolving, Right, That's what I should

1301
01:09:01,600 --> 01:09:05,240
Speaker 1: be saying. You better be able to evolve with the game.

1302
01:09:05,680 --> 01:09:08,320
Speaker 1: And so like watching them now, you know between Suele

1303
01:09:08,520 --> 01:09:11,479
Speaker 1: Boom kicking their head to whether it's Kunkle for threes

1304
01:09:11,640 --> 01:09:14,200
Speaker 1: or Kobe Jones for drives or you know, they got

1305
01:09:14,320 --> 01:09:17,360
Speaker 1: that big rim running and our transition defense has to

1306
01:09:17,400 --> 01:09:20,599
Speaker 1: be really good. And then I think once they get

1307
01:09:20,680 --> 01:09:22,920
Speaker 1: to the half court, we've got to do a really

1308
01:09:23,000 --> 01:09:26,400
Speaker 1: good job of limiting paint touches. And that's whether through

1309
01:09:26,479 --> 01:09:29,519
Speaker 1: the post, right like with the duck Ins and you know,

1310
01:09:29,640 --> 01:09:31,679
Speaker 1: and that's where you know, if you look on paper,

1311
01:09:31,800 --> 01:09:35,200
Speaker 1: their advantage is their size, right. But I mean we

1312
01:09:35,479 --> 01:09:38,640
Speaker 1: you know, again, I think we played you know, a

1313
01:09:38,800 --> 01:09:41,880
Speaker 1: number of teams with size very similar to theirs, and

1314
01:09:42,040 --> 01:09:44,880
Speaker 1: outside of our trip to San Diego State, which was

1315
01:09:45,439 --> 01:09:51,800
Speaker 1: it was bad scheduling by me. Uh, you know, we've

1316
01:09:51,920 --> 01:09:56,800
Speaker 1: done a pretty decent job, you know, of we've done

1317
01:09:56,840 --> 01:10:01,280
Speaker 1: a pretty decent job of defending the to paint, you know,

1318
01:10:01,439 --> 01:10:04,920
Speaker 1: with playing four guards. But we got to limit them

1319
01:10:04,960 --> 01:10:06,960
Speaker 1: the one shot too. You know, we can't give them

1320
01:10:07,240 --> 01:10:10,400
Speaker 1: you know, second chances, you know, once we get that stop.

1321
01:10:10,479 --> 01:10:12,519
Speaker 1: So I think if we can be good in those

1322
01:10:12,600 --> 01:10:15,479
Speaker 1: two areas defensively, and then I think if offensively we

1323
01:10:15,640 --> 01:10:17,400
Speaker 1: just do the things that we've done all year. You know,

1324
01:10:17,479 --> 01:10:20,120
Speaker 1: we average right around fifteen or sixteen assists the game,

1325
01:10:20,439 --> 01:10:22,639
Speaker 1: and we do a really good job of sharing the ball.

1326
01:10:22,760 --> 01:10:26,439
Speaker 1: You know, our bat Like, I think our balance is key,

1327
01:10:26,680 --> 01:10:30,120
Speaker 1: even though you know Chris young Blood is our leading scorer,

1328
01:10:30,200 --> 01:10:33,000
Speaker 1: but I mean Terrell Burden has had games of twenty

1329
01:10:33,080 --> 01:10:37,280
Speaker 1: five plus, Brandon Stroud to score twenty plus, Kayson Jennings,

1330
01:10:37,400 --> 01:10:41,200
Speaker 1: Chris young LUs and Sir Rogers, Demon Robinson. Our strength

1331
01:10:41,720 --> 01:10:45,439
Speaker 1: is our numbers. Our strength is our balance. So we

1332
01:10:45,720 --> 01:10:48,880
Speaker 1: can't again, and I don't see my group doing this.

1333
01:10:49,280 --> 01:10:52,760
Speaker 1: We can't let it be Oh it's marsh madness. Let

1334
01:10:52,840 --> 01:10:56,120
Speaker 1: me get mine right. Like we we've talked about that enough.

1335
01:10:56,760 --> 01:10:59,559
Speaker 1: Like that San Diego State trip, we were like, man,

1336
01:10:59,680 --> 01:11:01,800
Speaker 1: it was are literally like man, dudes, We're just out

1337
01:11:01,840 --> 01:11:04,160
Speaker 1: there trying to get theirs and we got pounded right,

1338
01:11:04,520 --> 01:11:06,360
Speaker 1: and we were like, all right, you want to play

1339
01:11:06,400 --> 01:11:08,240
Speaker 1: that way. If you want to play that way, guys,

1340
01:11:08,280 --> 01:11:10,920
Speaker 1: this is gonna be the result. I'm telling you right now, Okay.

1341
01:11:11,320 --> 01:11:14,599
Speaker 1: And ever since that game they had played that way.

1342
01:11:14,640 --> 01:11:16,640
Speaker 1: So we've got to do a really good job of

1343
01:11:16,760 --> 01:11:20,080
Speaker 1: letting that ball find energy tomorrow. What's your pregame speech,

1344
01:11:21,920 --> 01:11:24,960
Speaker 1: same old born habits. I've said it a number of times.

1345
01:11:26,960 --> 01:11:28,880
Speaker 1: Last year. I used to have to try to, you know,

1346
01:11:29,080 --> 01:11:32,800
Speaker 1: pump them up. They're ready, man, you know they're ready.

1347
01:11:32,880 --> 01:11:35,679
Speaker 1: There again, when when you become a player driven program,

1348
01:11:36,439 --> 01:11:38,479
Speaker 1: it's not a whole lot you have to say anymore,

1349
01:11:38,720 --> 01:11:40,360
Speaker 1: you know, But I just want to, like, you know,

1350
01:11:40,520 --> 01:11:43,160
Speaker 1: the thing I'm gonna tell him tomorrow is, hey, man,

1351
01:11:43,439 --> 01:11:47,760
Speaker 1: I love you guys. You know most people they talk

1352
01:11:47,880 --> 01:11:50,559
Speaker 1: about you know what a player means to a coach.

1353
01:11:51,200 --> 01:11:53,320
Speaker 1: I'm sorry what a coach means to a player. I'm

1354
01:11:53,360 --> 01:11:54,880
Speaker 1: gonna talk to him about what they mean to me.

1355
01:11:55,320 --> 01:11:58,240
Speaker 1: You know, what they've given me? Uh, you know, like

1356
01:11:58,360 --> 01:12:01,400
Speaker 1: I'll be I'll be sitting here lying if I said that,

1357
01:12:01,640 --> 01:12:04,920
Speaker 1: you know, during that first year when we won one game,

1358
01:12:05,200 --> 01:12:08,560
Speaker 1: and I'm like, dam like, can I coach? Like? Am I? Like?

1359
01:12:08,680 --> 01:12:11,840
Speaker 1: Am I question? Right? Right? Crisis and confidence at some

1360
01:12:11,880 --> 01:12:16,800
Speaker 1: point right right? A question? And what these guys gave me,

1361
01:12:17,280 --> 01:12:19,360
Speaker 1: you know over the last two or three years was

1362
01:12:19,439 --> 01:12:24,400
Speaker 1: that all right? Like I can't coach? But more importantly, man,

1363
01:12:25,920 --> 01:12:28,680
Speaker 1: having sixteen young guys looking back at you every day

1364
01:12:29,000 --> 01:12:36,559
Speaker 1: for guidance, for confidence, for for you to help them

1365
01:12:36,960 --> 01:12:41,120
Speaker 1: find themselves, and they listen to you and they follow you. Man,

1366
01:12:41,360 --> 01:12:44,800
Speaker 1: I think it's one of the greatest gifts a person

1367
01:12:44,880 --> 01:12:47,560
Speaker 1: can have. And so they've given me that that that

1368
01:12:47,960 --> 01:12:51,000
Speaker 1: energy and that confidence even in myself that the way

1369
01:12:51,080 --> 01:12:53,960
Speaker 1: I'm doing the way we're doing it as a staff,

1370
01:12:55,200 --> 01:12:57,360
Speaker 1: you can win doing it. You know, I say the

1371
01:12:57,479 --> 01:12:59,439
Speaker 1: right way. I'm not saying that anybody else is doing

1372
01:12:59,520 --> 01:13:02,560
Speaker 1: it the wrong way. But you can do it have authentic,

1373
01:13:02,840 --> 01:13:06,160
Speaker 1: real relationships with these students, you know. It's it's it's

1374
01:13:06,200 --> 01:13:09,200
Speaker 1: fascinated to bringing up because you're obviously about the right

1375
01:13:09,280 --> 01:13:13,800
Speaker 1: things right, and I believe that there's a much higher

1376
01:13:13,840 --> 01:13:16,240
Speaker 1: percentage of people who are about the right things in

1377
01:13:16,320 --> 01:13:21,080
Speaker 1: the business than the average fan would things like if

1378
01:13:21,080 --> 01:13:23,000
Speaker 1: you said right, if you walked into a room and

1379
01:13:23,120 --> 01:13:24,840
Speaker 1: like what do you do? Like I'm a college basketball coach.

1380
01:13:24,880 --> 01:13:28,559
Speaker 1: It's almost like the old used car salesman thing, like, oh, really, right,

1381
01:13:29,720 --> 01:13:39,120
Speaker 1: how do we change that narrative? That's a great question, man,

1382
01:13:39,200 --> 01:13:41,840
Speaker 1: that's me great. I mean, it's it's a it's a

1383
01:13:41,920 --> 01:13:44,720
Speaker 1: real it's a real thing because because that's what a

1384
01:13:44,760 --> 01:13:47,160
Speaker 1: man like. Look. I was just in on a job

1385
01:13:47,200 --> 01:13:49,760
Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't get and and and they asked

1386
01:13:49,800 --> 01:13:51,240
Speaker 1: me all the time, like why do you want to

1387
01:13:51,280 --> 01:13:54,040
Speaker 1: do this? It's like because the experience I had in

1388
01:13:54,160 --> 01:14:00,479
Speaker 1: collegue is what I want for thirteen scholarship athletes every year.

1389
01:14:00,720 --> 01:14:02,840
Speaker 1: Those are my brothers, those are my best friends, are

1390
01:14:02,840 --> 01:14:05,200
Speaker 1: from all over the country, all over the world. That's

1391
01:14:05,240 --> 01:14:07,439
Speaker 1: what I want. Okay, I want just like you said,

1392
01:14:07,439 --> 01:14:10,320
Speaker 1: with your assistance, I just want to help kids experience

1393
01:14:10,400 --> 01:14:13,000
Speaker 1: what I experience. Are a token of what I experienced.

1394
01:14:13,439 --> 01:14:16,000
Speaker 1: And I think there's a lot more people. But again,

1395
01:14:16,760 --> 01:14:21,439
Speaker 1: whatever we've done as a basketball culture has taken it

1396
01:14:21,560 --> 01:14:25,000
Speaker 1: away from it. You know. The best way to answer

1397
01:14:25,040 --> 01:14:28,479
Speaker 1: this exist and I'm and I'm not perfect many anyway,

1398
01:14:28,560 --> 01:14:31,760
Speaker 1: So I'm not pointing a finger or saying I'm better

1399
01:14:31,840 --> 01:14:35,280
Speaker 1: than anybody else. But I think two things have to happen.

1400
01:14:36,240 --> 01:14:41,439
Speaker 1: And I think hep like like administrators have to give.

1401
01:14:42,280 --> 01:14:47,920
Speaker 1: They have to have to put a value, more value.

1402
01:14:48,240 --> 01:14:52,240
Speaker 1: They have to put your value on like they say,

1403
01:14:52,360 --> 01:14:55,040
Speaker 1: are higher education. And we're trying to think this is

1404
01:14:55,120 --> 01:15:01,240
Speaker 1: what it's about. But the way they hire these doesn't

1405
01:15:03,040 --> 01:15:06,000
Speaker 1: equate to that, right, and not only the way they hire,

1406
01:15:06,560 --> 01:15:09,240
Speaker 1: but even the way, you know, the time that they

1407
01:15:09,360 --> 01:15:11,960
Speaker 1: give doesn't equate to that. And again, I get it,

1408
01:15:12,840 --> 01:15:15,720
Speaker 1: people want a winner. Okay, I get that part of it,

1409
01:15:16,560 --> 01:15:19,040
Speaker 1: but they are only a handful of places that have

1410
01:15:19,280 --> 01:15:21,200
Speaker 1: go back to what we talked about it and that

1411
01:15:21,360 --> 01:15:25,519
Speaker 1: have the resources and the things you need to be

1412
01:15:25,640 --> 01:15:28,759
Speaker 1: able to flip it like that. It's only a handful

1413
01:15:28,800 --> 01:15:32,120
Speaker 1: of places that can do that. And but there are

1414
01:15:32,160 --> 01:15:34,840
Speaker 1: more jobs out there that then. You know, I keep

1415
01:15:34,880 --> 01:15:36,880
Speaker 1: telling people, Man, it's like the law to farm. Right.

1416
01:15:36,960 --> 01:15:38,479
Speaker 1: It's like, man, you got to plant the seeds, you

1417
01:15:38,560 --> 01:15:41,960
Speaker 1: gotta water it cultivated to reap that harvest. Man, the

1418
01:15:42,080 --> 01:15:46,280
Speaker 1: crop doesn't grow in in a month, you know, like

1419
01:15:46,479 --> 01:15:48,880
Speaker 1: it just doesn't try and cheat. And when we try

1420
01:15:48,920 --> 01:15:52,879
Speaker 1: and cheat those steps, that's when you get all these issues,

1421
01:15:53,439 --> 01:15:57,599
Speaker 1: no question. So like this is nothing against like like Kroger, right,

1422
01:15:57,680 --> 01:16:00,200
Speaker 1: but it's the reason why people in Atlanta or or

1423
01:16:00,240 --> 01:16:02,960
Speaker 1: around the country're gonna go to whole Foods because the

1424
01:16:03,800 --> 01:16:07,479
Speaker 1: product that whole food, you know, it's been grown properly,

1425
01:16:08,040 --> 01:16:10,479
Speaker 1: you know, and it's taking time, and you're gonna get

1426
01:16:10,720 --> 01:16:14,160
Speaker 1: a really good piece of fruit or vegetable whatever it

1427
01:16:14,240 --> 01:16:16,640
Speaker 1: may be, you know, comparative if you go to the

1428
01:16:16,680 --> 01:16:19,840
Speaker 1: Piggli wiggly right down down the street or whatever it is.

1429
01:16:20,240 --> 01:16:22,160
Speaker 1: And so I think it's the same way. So I

1430
01:16:22,200 --> 01:16:24,439
Speaker 1: think the way you know, we get to that is

1431
01:16:24,520 --> 01:16:26,799
Speaker 1: by you know, the people that are in these positions

1432
01:16:26,880 --> 01:16:29,400
Speaker 1: to hire. You know, they they've got to stop trying

1433
01:16:29,439 --> 01:16:31,960
Speaker 1: to win the press conference, right and be about what

1434
01:16:32,080 --> 01:16:34,320
Speaker 1: they say they're about in higher education, you know, and

1435
01:16:34,400 --> 01:16:36,800
Speaker 1: in collegiate sport, because at the end of the day,

1436
01:16:37,680 --> 01:16:40,360
Speaker 1: you know, these these young men and these young women,

1437
01:16:41,240 --> 01:16:43,560
Speaker 1: and we say, I can even take kids, man like,

1438
01:16:44,479 --> 01:16:47,120
Speaker 1: they're at a very impressionable stage in their life when

1439
01:16:47,120 --> 01:16:49,240
Speaker 1: they get to us, and it's gonna go one way

1440
01:16:49,320 --> 01:16:51,920
Speaker 1: or another. You know, they're either gonna fall in love

1441
01:16:52,280 --> 01:16:56,479
Speaker 1: even more with getting better with the game and they'll

1442
01:16:56,600 --> 01:16:59,519
Speaker 1: learn life through the game, or they're gonna be like

1443
01:17:00,040 --> 01:17:02,080
Speaker 1: and all this dude care about her. All she cares

1444
01:17:02,120 --> 01:17:05,479
Speaker 1: about is you know how many points I score a

1445
01:17:05,560 --> 01:17:07,640
Speaker 1: percentage of shooting. If I don't do what she or

1446
01:17:07,680 --> 01:17:10,240
Speaker 1: he wants me to do, then I'm on the outs.

1447
01:17:11,000 --> 01:17:15,960
Speaker 1: Very transactional relationship, very relationship, very much so. All right,

1448
01:17:15,960 --> 01:17:17,800
Speaker 1: I want you to do something. They'll exercise for me.

1449
01:17:18,160 --> 01:17:20,760
Speaker 1: You are walking out to the court in Greensboro tomorrow. Ye,

1450
01:17:22,040 --> 01:17:24,320
Speaker 1: and let's just pretend her second, your pops is there

1451
01:17:24,840 --> 01:17:27,240
Speaker 1: and he grabs you and pulls you aside, right before

1452
01:17:27,320 --> 01:17:32,559
Speaker 1: you walk out to be with your team. What he said, coach,

1453
01:17:32,880 --> 01:17:37,800
Speaker 1: the response, right, I mean, so you know it's the

1454
01:17:37,840 --> 01:17:41,920
Speaker 1: old saying, it's not about what happens but how we respond, right.

1455
01:17:42,479 --> 01:17:44,920
Speaker 1: And I think, like going back to my first year,

1456
01:17:45,120 --> 01:17:48,360
Speaker 1: I got I coached way too much would happened right

1457
01:17:49,000 --> 01:17:52,160
Speaker 1: so where they couldn't move on, you know, And my

1458
01:17:52,320 --> 01:17:55,040
Speaker 1: dad was my first coach, and I can remember vividly

1459
01:17:55,200 --> 01:17:57,960
Speaker 1: him saying like I've missed a laya man, next play.

1460
01:17:58,600 --> 01:18:01,160
Speaker 1: I yeah, it's like I could hear I'm saying it.

1461
01:18:02,280 --> 01:18:04,320
Speaker 1: And so I think, if I'm walking out, if I'm

1462
01:18:04,320 --> 01:18:06,880
Speaker 1: walking out to that court tomorrow, man, he grabbed me.

1463
01:18:07,000 --> 01:18:10,200
Speaker 1: He said, I'm not I'm not a junior, right, But

1464
01:18:10,360 --> 01:18:12,200
Speaker 1: like if you would have saw my dad, like we

1465
01:18:12,400 --> 01:18:16,000
Speaker 1: resemble each other, and he say, jimior coach, the response,

1466
01:18:16,240 --> 01:18:19,280
Speaker 1: ain't about what happens, but how we respond. And you know,

1467
01:18:19,600 --> 01:18:23,639
Speaker 1: March is great man, right, and things are gonna happen tomorrow.

1468
01:18:24,479 --> 01:18:27,160
Speaker 1: Good things are gonna happen. Still got to coach that response.

1469
01:18:27,200 --> 01:18:29,920
Speaker 1: It's still hey, hey, great job, next play man, All right,

1470
01:18:30,040 --> 01:18:32,720
Speaker 1: next play, We're gonna turn the ball over at some point.

1471
01:18:32,720 --> 01:18:34,880
Speaker 1: We're gonna miss a shot. We normally make hey, man,

1472
01:18:35,160 --> 01:18:39,240
Speaker 1: this shot, next play, Man, next play, because I know

1473
01:18:39,640 --> 01:18:43,240
Speaker 1: if those guys can get focused on what's next, the

1474
01:18:43,360 --> 01:18:45,680
Speaker 1: thing they've done all year done, and these dudes are

1475
01:18:45,720 --> 01:18:49,439
Speaker 1: responding all year, no matter what happened, they've responded, and

1476
01:18:49,560 --> 01:18:51,760
Speaker 1: so I think that's the message you getting me in

1477
01:18:51,880 --> 01:18:54,360
Speaker 1: and he say, hey, go have fun with it, and

1478
01:18:54,479 --> 01:18:59,320
Speaker 1: that's what I'm gonna do, man, coach response, I have

1479
01:18:59,600 --> 01:19:02,280
Speaker 1: fun with it. And I am honored that the night

1480
01:19:02,360 --> 01:19:05,400
Speaker 1: before your first NCAA Terament game, first of many, you

1481
01:19:05,520 --> 01:19:07,840
Speaker 1: spent it with me and I can't wait to see

1482
01:19:07,840 --> 01:19:10,120
Speaker 1: you guys against Davior tomorrow. I appreciate you joining us.

1483
01:19:10,439 --> 01:19:12,920
Speaker 1: Let's let's catch up soon in person. Absolutely thanks for

1484
01:19:13,040 --> 01:19:14,840
Speaker 1: having me on. Man, this was awesome and I've watched

1485
01:19:14,880 --> 01:19:16,840
Speaker 1: the show. I watched these a number of times. Man,

1486
01:19:16,920 --> 01:19:19,080
Speaker 1: they are always fun. It's it's like, because you can

1487
01:19:19,200 --> 01:19:21,519
Speaker 1: you talk it right like you talk the game, you

1488
01:19:21,640 --> 01:19:25,240
Speaker 1: talk you talk life, you talk to business like you know.

1489
01:19:25,280 --> 01:19:28,439
Speaker 1: It's an authentic it's an authentic conversation and I just

1490
01:19:28,520 --> 01:19:31,360
Speaker 1: appreciate it. We're all we're all on the people business right,

1491
01:19:31,479 --> 01:19:33,760
Speaker 1: and we all love hoop and we all. I think

1492
01:19:33,800 --> 01:19:36,800
Speaker 1: most of us love kids, love the journey, and if

1493
01:19:36,840 --> 01:19:39,000
Speaker 1: you just share that, you just share your story, like

1494
01:19:39,520 --> 01:19:40,920
Speaker 1: people get to know you. They get to love you

1495
01:19:41,040 --> 01:19:44,280
Speaker 1: because you become real to them, not just you know

1496
01:19:45,280 --> 01:19:47,559
Speaker 1: the mirror right heem, No doubt, Man, I've been people

1497
01:19:47,560 --> 01:19:49,400
Speaker 1: have been texting me like hey, man, I know you're busy,

1498
01:19:49,560 --> 01:19:51,720
Speaker 1: and I'm like, nah, man, like yeah, I'm preparing, but

1499
01:19:51,840 --> 01:19:53,680
Speaker 1: which like these are people I talk to you every

1500
01:19:53,720 --> 01:19:55,600
Speaker 1: day Like nah, man, like I got time to call you.

1501
01:19:56,080 --> 01:19:57,360
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. So when you when you

1502
01:19:57,479 --> 01:19:59,720
Speaker 1: sit there, I'm like, mannah, like I can do it,

1503
01:19:59,800 --> 01:20:01,320
Speaker 1: Like I ain't gonna do nothing but go up to

1504
01:20:01,400 --> 01:20:03,080
Speaker 1: the room. Anyway, My son is gonna be kicking me

1505
01:20:03,120 --> 01:20:05,280
Speaker 1: in the back for an hour trying to fall to split,

1506
01:20:05,479 --> 01:20:07,439
Speaker 1: so I might as well see if he could fall

1507
01:20:07,479 --> 01:20:10,000
Speaker 1: asleep before I get up there. Man, this is a

1508
01:20:10,080 --> 01:20:12,599
Speaker 1: really cool conversation and I appreciate you having me on Man,

1509
01:20:13,280 --> 01:20:18,920
Speaker 1: pleasure is mine. Good luck tomorrow, Thank you? How good

1510
01:20:19,040 --> 01:20:21,880
Speaker 1: was that? How much do you want to see his

1511
01:20:22,000 --> 01:20:25,960
Speaker 1: team play and hope his team wins? Unless you're a

1512
01:20:26,080 --> 01:20:28,720
Speaker 1: next fan, less you're a Savior fan. I'm guessing right

1513
01:20:28,760 --> 01:20:30,800
Speaker 1: now you're thinking, man, I really like to see kess

1514
01:20:30,840 --> 01:20:34,240
Speaker 1: Off in a game as I listen to that that conversation.

1515
01:20:34,800 --> 01:20:37,439
Speaker 1: Thanks Tomira for joining me, Thanks for Kennisto's state, for

1516
01:20:37,439 --> 01:20:39,439
Speaker 1: allowing that not to happen. Mind of the Doug Gallan

1517
01:20:39,520 --> 01:20:42,280
Speaker 1: shows daily three to five Eastern time on Fox sport

1518
01:20:42,320 --> 01:20:45,720
Speaker 1: Tune of the iHeartRadio app. And there are hundreds of

1519
01:20:45,840 --> 01:20:50,120
Speaker 1: these conversations in All Ball if you just want to

1520
01:20:50,160 --> 01:20:52,160
Speaker 1: go back and look, there's hundreds of We're gonna try

1521
01:20:52,200 --> 01:20:54,160
Speaker 1: and line up even more in the days to comments.

1522
01:20:54,240 --> 01:20:57,519
Speaker 1: This tournament goes on because it's really about it's really

1523
01:20:57,560 --> 01:20:59,639
Speaker 1: about the people. It's really about the players, really about

1524
01:20:59,640 --> 01:21:03,400
Speaker 1: the coaches, but about their stories. I'm Doug Gottliebs in

1525
01:21:03,439 --> 01:21:03,800
Speaker 1: All Ball