Shaun Newman Podcast - #780 - Rustlers Pt.4

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

On December 5th Lakeland College fired Chris King from his duties as coach of the women’s basketball program. Chris is a six-time ACAC Coach of the Year and a two-time CCAA Coach of the Year, not to mention they were on a 34 game unbeaten streak and a National Champ. In Part 4, I’m joined by three of his players Sarah Dacuycuy, Bethany Montebon and Andria Stitt to discuss what has transpired since they left the college for Christmas break, being back on campus, whether a new coach was hired, forfeiting the season and what happens next. Cornerstone Forum ‘25 https://www.showpass.com/cornerstone25/ Contribute to the new SNP Studio E-transfer here: [e-mail] Get your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500 Substack:https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcast Silver Gold Bull Links: Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/ Email: [e-mail] Text Grahame: [phone]

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and leave a review. You're watching on Axi. I'm pointing at you. You can't see me yet. Make sure to give it us a retweet, all right? Okay. Let's get on to the tale of the tape. All three played for the Lakeland Rustlers Women's Basketball Program.

I'm talking about Bethany. Montaubon, Sarah Dekoi Koi, and Andrea Stitt. So buckle up, here we go. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast today. I'm joined by Bethany, Montabon, Sarah Dekoi, Koi, and Andrea Stitt. So hopefully I got that right this time around. Ladies, thanks for coming in studio and doing this. Yeah, thank you.

Now, for the listener, the last time we talked anything to do with the Lakeland Women's Basketball Team, it was right before Christmas, and a lot has. happened since then so I thought maybe what we just do real real quick is you can just say your name how many years or what year you're at in basketball with Lakeland or you know just a couple of quick things so people can get used to your voice and then and then we'll hop right into what has gone on between basically you know December 23rd to now where we sit here in the middle of January and the season's supposed to be starting

January 17th. So Beth, we'll start with you and we'll work away around the table. Okay. So I'm Bethany Montaubon. This is my third year of eligibility, but I've been here for four years playing for Chris. Last year I sat out due to an ACL injury. So, yeah, I've been in the university transfer program, just getting my Bachelor of Science, and then eventually I was going to go into nursing. So we'll see how that goes. And where's hometown for you? Estevan, Saskatchewan. Oh, yes. Estaban, yeah. Okay. I mean, If Lloyd is a bustling metropolis, sorry, Estevan. I think you got you.

Maybe. I don't know. Maybe. I'm Sarah de Koi Koi. I'm in my fourth year of eligibility and fifth year in Lakeland. I'm also in UT. I'm taking a collab degree trying to finish my Bachelor's of Science degree as well. I'm in Jersey State.

I'm from Alabama. I'm in my last year of eligibility. This is my first year at Lakeland. All right. Well, with that out of the way, let's talk about it. What is going on in that time frame? Because last time I talked to any of you, you were all heading home for Christmas.

Andrea, I wasn't even sure you were coming back to Lloyd Minster. So to have you in studio, I don't know if it shocks me, but it surprised me a little bit at least that you're here. So I guess ladies, feel free. Like this isn't, forgive me. I use the ping pong analogy. It doesn't always got to come back to me. You three have been living this out.

Feel free to hop in whenever you want. But let's just start. What's going on in the last, you know, over Christmas, did you just kind of turn off the phone and not worry about it? Or has this been an ever-evolving situation? Over Christmas break, I think a lot of us wanted to just go home and kind of just get away from things and have that as our break. but we had initially said as a team that we were going to try to make a decision before Christmas

to see how things would turn out. But it obviously looked like it was going to end up this way no matter what kind of thing. But yeah, then when we came back, we ended up confirming that we weren't going to have enough for a team, obviously. A lot of us have kind of opted out of that decision. And so, yeah. How many girls came back? well all of us all of us I came back but a couple are two internationals other than

than Dree have left now our one roommate just left as well she's from Pintra Creek so she went home as well but the rest of us are still here in Lloyd some of us are most of us are online a couple of us are still going to Lakeland but yeah I feel like a lot of our decision was already made before we even left for the break and I think everyone kind of knew that based on what we had felt throughout this whole situation. So, yeah. Yeah, I went home and kind of just, like, tried to forget about it. It didn't hit me until I got back to Lloyd.

Like, dang, we really not going to be playing. Chris is really not our coach. Like, this whole thing is, like, for real. It didn't hit me until after New Year's. Yeah. Yeah. And even then, like, we still don't really know what we're doing. Like, I felt so many different emotions.

Like, leaving home, I was like, there's no way I'm going to. make it through January. Now I'm like, okay, maybe I'll stick it out for a couple more months just because I love my job here. I'm a server. So, yeah, I don't know. It's just hard because everything just kind of like hangs in the middle of nowhere right now. And we just have to kind deal with things day by day. So if you ladies don't mind, the thing that stuck out to me over the, you know, I think this was four days ago at the time of reading this, that Lakeland made their announcement, because there's, you know, I think this was four days ago at the time of reading this, that Lakeland made their announcement, because there's been a ton of rumors just swirling all over the place.

So if you'll allow me, I'll see if I can read through it here. This is what Lakeland College posted online on their website. It said, the season for the Lakeland College, Rustlers' women's basketball team has ended, following a decision to forfeit the remaining games of 2024, 2025. A letter was submitted to the Alberta College's athletic conference, indicating the women's basketball team will not be competing for the remainder of the season. And then it's quoted, we have met with the team over the last number of weeks together. They're input on continuing with the season in the end.

It is believed that the decision to forfeit is the best interest of the team, says Alan Rogan, Director of Athletics at Lakeland College. While regrettable, we support the health and well-being of our student athletes and will continue to support them throughout the transition. They are our main priority. That's what's quoted. And then it continued on to say over the past several weeks, Lakeland Senior Leadership has met with the student athletes.

to hear their concerns, has offered counseling support, and has let the players know the college will honor all second semester scholarships. The majority of women's basketball team has returned to Lakeland this semester to continue work toward their academic goals, and then went on to say Lakeland will start the search for a new head coach for the Rustlers Women's Basketball Team with hopes of having one in place before the end of February to begin recruiting for the upcoming season. Lakeland will apply to the ACAC for reinstatement of the Women's Basketball Program for the 2025-26. season. When you hear the college release that statement, I don't know, you're the girls they're

talking about. What are your, what comes to mind? What are your thoughts? Where do you begin? It just kind of leaves us all. Like, there's just so much more to everything. And I feel like a lot of the things that people don't understand is like, we've heard from a lot of people like, oh, it's crazy to cancel your season on this. Like, just play for each other. And And like, yes, we love each other and I still love all the girls to death. And I wish that obviously none of this would have ever happened. But with what Chris built for us was like a culture of like trust and respect for each other. And I feel like not like a lot of that not was necessarily lost, but it was like a lot of it was damaged.

And like how do you even begin like? Being on a team is more than just being teammates, you know? So, like, you need to have that trust and respect. And I feel like going into the second semester, no matter what, even if Chris got reinstated, like, it's hard to play for a team where you can't be all on the same page. So I think, like, that's probably, like, one of the hardest parts, like, people expect us to do. But there's so much more to just being on a basketball team, especially on a collegiate level, and especially one as, like, a national champion.

And the reason why we were so successful last year was because everybody was on the same page. You know, we were all out to go get that chip. Like, and this year, like, we weren't on the same page. And like, this is what happens when you aren't. So, yeah. At the most extreme level. Yeah, yes, when you're not.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's why our team is so different compared to other teams. Like, I feel like we're more emotionally intact with each other compared to other teams, not to say that other teams are like that, But I think compared to any other teams, and Andrea, you could probably compare your past teams, but we're probably the closest teams in the ECC League or in general.

And that's exactly why we're so good. And again, if we were to come back next semester or this semester, like, it's going to be so different playing again. And, like, people just won't understand that, and we'll never understand that. Yeah. You need good relationships to build. Like, obviously, like, yes, it's,

not possible for us to all be best friends, obviously. And we always say that every year. Not every one of us is going to spend every single hour of every second of the day with each other. But obviously some of us are going to be closer friends than others. But above all, we're all on the same page. And like, you know, like these relationships are what builds team chemistry. That's why we're so good.

And so, like, for us to not have that, like, that's obviously going to hinder how we play, no matter who we're playing for in the second semester. So, kind of, very good. Oh, sorry. Like Beth said, like we gave up a ring. Another chance at a ring, to be honest, we were unstoppable. So it was kind of hard to just be like, oh, yeah, let's not play.

Like it did take like some, let's sit down and let's talk. Like, yeah, we forfeited the two games. I legit thought that was it, to be honest. I think a lot of us was like, okay, this would be over after Christmas, plan to still go to Montana, Christmas tournament, whatever, be back on the 26. And then that's when things started to unfold after unfold. started pushing the date back. Then that's when it slowly started hitting.

Like, I'm just like, dang, like. This is it. Yeah. This is it. Like, it hit for me when our, when Missy left. Like, I'm like, dang, she's going home. Like, we really not playing. Like, this is, it's still hitting me.

I'm just like, dang, well, what am I doing? Yeah. You know, a lot of us still trying to figure that out. What are, what are we doing? Yeah. And I feel like every single day since, like, since when we were told that he got suspended. That one was so hard because like we had no guidance and like we couldn't be told anything. And then like every single day since then we've been told something new. We just keep

finding out new things. And it's just like when does it ever stop? Like so that's why it was nice to go home. But even then it's just like we all knew we were coming back here to figure things out. What is there to figure out? We don't even know like we're still left and so so much of the unknown. What is like I assume you've been, Like, from what I understand, the team has met with the athletic director, correct? Yes. And I assume you've been like, listen, like, what is going on or some version of that? Yes.

Yes. I think when we met with them, they had nothing else to say because what else could be said when everything was finalized? You know what I'm saying? It's like undoing a piece of paper that you can't undo. Like, it's already stapled and printed and sealed. And I feel like that's just where it was when we met with them. Like nothing we said could have fixed anything at that point. And it sucked because we was sitting there in the meeting like, dang, it's nothing we can say.

It was tears. It was people were heard about, yeah. You walked out in some of them. It was shouts. People were pouring out their heart about this program. And it was still like. The meetings were basically like useless to say. Like they're, I feel.

like in that statement, it was like, oh, these girls are our main priority and whatnot, but we're just like, we told you what we want. We have these feelings, but yet like nothing is being done to it. So the statement, it is believed that the decision to forfeit is in the best interest of the team. Like that one, and we talk about it now. Like, I mean, again, we're like, oh, it sucks that we're not going to be able to play and it's so hard like with all the rankings coming out like I mean last week before any of the games really played like we were still third in the nation now we're like completely removed yeah now we're I don't know like so like from a sports side of things ladies you can see the last championship I won although albeit folks it was

senior hockey to be nationally ranked to be like I don't know it's almost unheard of what's going on yeah and and I I since this is gone you know one of the things I want to clear up again and I think having his players in here would be really really important to bring this point to home one of the things that people if they haven't listened to any of this they equate coach female team removed no like no like I don't know even the word trial comes to mind just like no public forum is they equate it to sexual yeah I want to maybe just get your thoughts of that isn't the case because you're the ladies that were playing for Chris and people have like I just

heard it again this morning yeah I got asked when you three were coming in like the first question was well isn't sexual right I'm like have you listened to nothing oh okay well let's maybe hammer this home yeah no no it's nowhere near like that nothing near yeah that topic ever yeah That's actually where people say that, like, y'all are sick. Yeah. In the head. Yeah. I think it's, honestly, I think it's maybe a commentary on where our world's at.

Yes. Yes. For sure. For sure. For us, men in powerful situations with women players. It's not that, like, in my lifetime, I know of women's basketball coaches who end up marrying one of their players. And so, like, right?

Like, you go, it's a sad state. But that's where people went immediately. And when the college didn't put out of like a real in-depth of this is why he's been removed, since they've been so coy and there's not a bunch of information. People assume it's sexual in nature. Just men and women coming together over sports, they see national champ. They go, well, it can't be his record because he's obviously a great coach. It must have been something he did otherwise.

And when they don't specify it, they jump to one of the worst conclusions, which has become very normal in our world. Yeah. No, like it wasn't anything like that. Because it's just like a brother father figure to all of his prayers. I feel like I've never been. Yeah. I've never thought of him like that. He has kids too.

Yeah. And he makes it very clear. Like he opens like I mean, Courtney comes and watches our practices. We go over there. We talk to Courtney. We see her everywhere around the college. His kids come into practices.

We talk with them. We play with them. And like, I mean, we haven't seen them in so long. But like, and that's also a hard part too. Like we hear about all these stories about,

oh, his kids miss us. And like, they're always asking about us. When can I see the girls? And I'm like, well, yeah, no. It was nothing like that. It was nothing sexual. It was literally just about he was being a coach and he was unjustly fired because of it. Yeah, that was it.

Literally. Well said. How about, forgive me, Andrea, for coming back to you. Because I can't remember. I know for sure it's your last season. Sorry, ladies. You still have eligibility? Yeah.

I'm on my third, so I've technically got two years after this. She's still got one. I have one left. Yeah. you can all comment by all means but giving up a year of eligibility as a former college athlete i get you know you get the short window and and and to give up your final year after not playing for the team and not having the championship and and on and on uh is there a well one i assume there's a possibility of getting the acac to be like obviously you can have one more year i don't

you know after everything that's gone on maybe that's not as easy as i think it should be yeah um But I think a lot of people are wondering, you know, like giving up a year of eligibility, your final one. I assume this is not how you thought your career would go with coming to Lloyd. No, like I transferred here for this program. This is not only my last year. I literally transferred from a school I was at for three years to just come play for this program, like to be with the girls. I came up here in April, came on a visit, instantly connected. And it was just off to the races after that.

I was excited to come. we were on uphill when all this happened let's not forget we were on the uphill like number one in the nation we're doing we were about to finish off the calendar year and like um obviously when this all went down initially like we all felt really really shitty about the situation and i mean we were exhausted and like our coaches took that in you know they gave us a couple practices like just light skills kind of deal um and then you know it did bond us a lot together for the most of us for the majority of us and we were like that's it it's done and over with we ran put it in the past season started we were 8 and oh like we were all so psyched and just like the most fun that we've ever had playing

basketball and same was dre like she always said it like i haven't had this much fun in such a long time and so now for all of it to just like disappear it's just been insane to give it yeah it's a lot to give it but you got you got to stand on what you stand on it that's just how it is that's just how life play out You know, unfortunately, this is just how it went this time. But hopefully we get our year back and we do what we need to do next coming season. And we just, that's just all we can hope for. ACAC, like, I'm not doing this for no reason. This is not, this is my life.

You know, this is everybody's life who's involved. From the coaches to the players, to the fans, to the community, to Who Factory, to everything. Like, everything's affected. Like it's a dark cloud here. I know people feel it. Like people look at us and just turn their head now. Like I don't want to talk to y'all either, but it's still kind of like sad. Like, dang, like we used to talk about games every time I saw y'all.

I was just like nothing. You put your head down. Yeah. I know from the city of Lloyd's standpoint, if you take all the winning out of it, because certainly there's been a lot of that, Chris is a local guy. Yeah. You know, grew up in this area, comes back to this area. Yeah.

puts his life in this area, brings his family as this area, creates business in this area. And then if you come from the sporting aspect, you start to understand how many years it takes to build a culture and have that grow and then have the talent come and everything. And what shocks me still to this time is like the fact that college has remained, I would call it silent. And they're pulling something that shouldn't be in Lloyd Minster out. You know, like I love Lloyd. I mean, obviously I'm sitting here. I brought my family here too and grew up in this area.

But if it was a guy from Toronto, no offense, Toronto, and it got pulled out, I think it would have less of an impact on the community. Just from a psychological standpoint, this is somebody who's born and raised here and has put, from my eyes, I don't know, you ladies played for him. It just feels like everything that he built affected the community. Like my kids loved coming to the camps and everything and being around the. girls and like it was just so well ran yeah it was insane to watch as a parent actually you know like and to realize that's gone yeah and by looks of it never coming back yeah yeah i know and that was like the one thing that had hit a lot of us at the start too when when we realized that he got suspended and like we had hopes that he was going to be coming back like we weren't sure what was going to

happen with all the camps and stuff like that and that was a big part because we had been doing that for how long now like i only remember doing it my second year second year till now i i don't know I've been doing it since my first year. Yeah, okay. So, like, it's been going on for a long, long time, right? Like, our RYB program. And we were just so upset because we were like, well, what do we do about all these kids? And, like, I don't know, like, knowing those, like, some of those kids, like, come to these programs, to our programs to get away from their living situation.

Like, that's their only kind of outlet. Or, you know, like, it brings them closer together. But now, like, what do we do with these kids who, like, still want to continue to play basketball and don't have these opportunities anymore? Yeah, that's the thing. Like, Chris has built this program, not just. within the wrestler program, like within this whole city. And like, that's exactly why basketball is so big now here is because of him and the program that he's created here.

And like with him building his family here, like not being able to see the kids, the kids have grew up to watch and to be in that gym all the time and now they don't get to do that. And it does hit a little bit hard on us and it hit homes for sure. Yeah. I think it's wild. I think back to my college years, we used to, as hockey players. We used to go into the schools and a big thing in hockey. I think Nigel does a

pretty good job or maybe even, I might say, fantastic job in town of like being involved in the school programs and getting in the classrooms and helping teachers and et cetera. And I assume that stems from the hockey culture because back when I played junior, that's what we did. Almost every week we were gone to one or two schools and we were really involved in kids' lives. but never did I see a program like run all year round, right? And on game, like I assume, am I wrong on this? No, no, you're right. You go and work with kids and then at night you go play a basketball?

Yes, yes. That's odd to me. I mean, I've actually thought about, I should bug and Chris about it, because I'm like, normally in most places, the game day is like sacred. Maybe you come shoot, I don't know how it works in basketball. Maybe you come in, you kind of warm up the hands and the legs, and then you go back and I don't know. Is it afternoon nap to basketball?

I don't know. But instead, you're, like, running basketball camps. And you're the top of the nation. Yeah. And it's, like, supremely well done. It's ran so, like, nobody says any bad words about that camp. Everyone's like, why are you doing that? My kids play, hockey, three days a week.

And the fourth day, we stick them in that. Why? Because it's fantastic. It's, like, really well ran. From a college athlete perspective, you coming from a different program, was everybody doing that? And like my world, being a college athlete, the game day was like sacred. You don't touch that.

And here's a basketball program doing the complete opposite. It's something you fall in love with. That's easy to fall in love with. Some days used to be harder than others. Especially if you have early morning shifts, you'd be like, oh. Then you see the kids and they're running up until you, yeah. You'd be like, okay. Only an hour or two.

It'll be okay. Because a lot of these kids come to our games. and they come to our program, and so we got to give back to them too. So, like, it's really nice to, like, be able to do that before our game and, like, seeing them there. And it's just, like, a nice other part, aside from basketball. Like, you know, like, we're integrated into the community that way, too. Like, it's not just our team and it's not just Chris's family that we're in touch with. It's not just the other athletes and our teachers and our profs.

It's literally the whole community. We talk to everyone in the whole community. So, yeah, it's definitely, that one was definitely hard to let go of, too. Yeah, even when we go out to like other basketball games or stuff you still have kids coming up to us like hey You just yes Yeah, we watched there was a Holy Roseberry tournament this past weekend that we all went to and so many of the kids there we've coached before Or like we had parents come up to us we had kids come up to us like she said like it just yeah no it's Yeah, like I can't go anywhere in this town without somebody wanting to talk about it and I assume you guys living it

You ladies living it It's got to be times about 50 so I can just imagine the world that you're in. Was there ever a point in time where there was the possibility of continuing on the season with a different coach? And the reason I bring it up is because I got a ton of time for what Taylor Weaver's been doing in the Meridian Source here, the local paper. And one of the things he wrote is the college has not communicated any information on a new coach, but multiple unnamed sources have told us, King's replacement is Todd Augie, who is wife Janice, who happens to be the dean of Lakeland Schools's

health and wellness. I bring it up because nobody's really talked a whole lot of names, and not that it matters, just that it's been written in the paper. I'm like, I don't know, you three, maybe none of it was ever conveyed, and we can go, oh, there was never the possibility of a new coach and them trying to get you to meet somebody to, to try and find a way to finish off the season or a goal for the championship, et cetera. And so I'm just curious, was there any talk from the college of like,

maybe we got a coach in line? There was no confirmation of names. Yeah, like we were never really told any names. Like, they had obviously told us we're trying to get a coach for you to try to finish off the season, if that's something you guys are interested in. But as for names, we were never told anything. Like, we were supposed to know, like, a week and a half ago.

And, like, potentially meet. potentially meet with them if there were enough players willing to play. And so obviously there weren't. And that's why we ended up forfeiting, obviously. Like, yeah. So it's just, I don't know. Yeah, there is, I don't know, no confirmation at all. Not like that.

In my opinion, not like I wanted it. Like, I wasn't. Yeah. We pretty much said what we stood with the new culture. Like she said, it still would have been the unstable. imagine a championship team who just got their coach fired for something we didn't agree on for the majority and then played with a new coach who we've never seen before I've never heard of trying to get a college banner for a college that doesn't listen to you yeah that's crazy and a lot of us are hardheads like that's a lot to come on to like me I would have been like

there's a couple others who I know would have been like yeah who are you no we're running this this is what Chris, this is what we had. You're going to have to get with the program. I just, I personally wouldn't want to want to deal with it. I want that person to deal with it. That's just. Yeah. And like, again, like that's hard too because, yeah.

So when people ask, oh, like, why couldn't you just, like, play for a new coach and all this stuff, right? Like, again, broken team or damaged at least. And just, you know, if a coach was to come on, again, some people wouldn't want to hop on to, like, who knows what they could have proposed for us, right? Like, who knows if we would have had to carry our team and, like, still applied our principals, teach them about our principals, or if they would have put us onto something completely new and started from scratch. So either way, no matter what, it was going to be really, really hard. But on the bottom line of everything, we were all struggling mentally so, so bad.

Like, it was so hard to do any schooling. And, like, even right now, like, we're just trying to take it day by day. It is really, really hard. You know, a couple of us went home, gained some weight. I just started touching the ball again. Like, holy airball and the layup. It's insane. But it's okay.

Yeah. We'll try to get back into it slowly, but surely. But it's hard when you don't know. And also have no motivation. Yeah. It's hard to people like, just go train yourself. That's what we're basketball players do. Like, okay, but it's different when you went from playing on championship level and practice

to get your own rebounds. Yeah. Yeah. For real. Well, the situation, you know, like a coach being fired is not unique. That happens in college sports among all sports all the time. Like it's not unique. What is unique is being defending national champ on an unbeaten streak of 34.

My memory serves me correct. A chance at like repeating. And then on top of that. As far as I can tell, you know, and maybe I'm wrong on this, ladies, once again, but like 17 years of him coaching, there's not this laundry list of like, oops, oops, suspension, oops, oops, oops, you know, on and on and on. And so then I assume all of that, even if you could square that away and be like, you know what, let's go play for Tori or Marissa or, you know, like let's find a way to have a chance.

then senior leadership, which I can surmise, met with part of the team or most of the team, won't listen to you, won't address any of your concerns. So I assume that's kind of the nail in the coffin. There's one final rumor swirling around right now that I don't know how much you can talk to, but certainly I would appreciate if any of it is even factual. And that is the person who started the complaint that got all this thing rolling, is transferred, is about to play. in basketball in the ACAC again.

Is it any of that true? Not in the ACAC, but out... Out in the Maritime. Oh, sorry, not the ACA. Yeah, ACA. Yeah, ACA. Yeah, same league as ACA. Same level.

That's a more than college. Just different area. Yeah. So just so I'm clear then, and I think I said it right, the lady who started this off has transferred to a different, same level of college,

but different league. Institution, yeah. Thank you. and is about to suit up for first game. Yeah, we've heard. Yeah, and I don't think, like, everybody on our team has heard. No, yeah. But, yeah, no, I was, as soon as I heard that,

because I wasn't, I wasn't supposed to know. I had just seen a text, like, on someone else's phone pop up, and I was like, what is this about? And I was just like, are you kidding me? Like, it's just so insane because it's, I don't know. I don't understand why we have to be the ones who suffer. Yeah. So this is a lot of emotions towards that for sure.

Especially the ones who are very much affected about this whole thing. Like, it does really, really suck that that person can touch a court and we can't, you know? Like, yeah, it's frustrating knowing that for sure. Drew's about to yell Crash out It's just bold That's all I got to say Because I don't want to say too much

On camera but she's bold Yeah and well the thing is Like we only found out Because players That play university Coming home And we're telling people All this stuff

And like they had found out So yeah honestly though I never would have known If someone else didn't tell me So yeah I don't know I just A lot of hidden

Yeah and things in that side. And of course, someone had to sign off on it, which is also wild to me. Because in order for a player to transfer to another school. In the middle of the year. Yeah. Someone in the institution would have to sign that person off.

And it's not like she didn't play. She wasn't a red shirt. Usually a coach would. Usually a coach would sign off. Right. We have no coach. Obviously, we have no coach. So, like, yeah.

So she has a chance at a ring and we don't. Yeah. That's just what it's giving. She has a season we don't. She ruined our lives and her lives keep going. That just doesn't make sense to me. It's the audacity to kind of even make that choice to go play this semester is a lot coming from that person. It's bug.

And she know we're not playing, so I think that's why she planned. I wonder if they'll sign off for me to go play somewhere else. Probably not. yeah that's why you any final thoughts to any of the listeners you know college king Lloydminster I don't know I did the same thing the first go around ladies obviously Beth this is your first time on but you know like I don't want to cut it short I say that every time obviously I want to make sure that everybody knows you know the story and knows what's going on and there's two different parts to this that have already been

And actually, that's a lie, three different parts, forgive me, that have been released. I had three of the players on. And then we had the assistant coaches on. And then we had part of the community, I guess, on to talk about it. And every part just brought more things to the story where I'm like, you know, to hire an own sign investigator. I mean, which is basically what the podcast is at this point, just asking questions and letting everybody talk. It's like you can start to see something that's going on that doesn't add up to what they've, they've put out. And the fact the college won't come out and

add to it or talk directly to it allows, well, for a lot of imagination to run, to be honest. And, I mean, but then the stories continue to come and it just doesn't make any sense. And if there's anything you want to add, ladies, fire away because the floor is yours. I just wish there was more fight in it from

obviously like the institution. I don't think there wasn't a lot of that and obviously statements came out and people just have to know there's a lot more to it than that and you realize that's politics though one-on-one right oh yeah like i probably don't need to explain that to you but like what the podcast turned into from sports to covering um politics they're using a lot of things that whether they realize it or not i assume somewhere they do because to release things on a friday afternoon is one of the oldest tricks in the book the biggest mistake they made ladies if there was one was was not firing Chris after your final two games

because they don't want to went through Christmas break and and I say there's lots people like myself would have been hard pressed to get off the couch in between Christmas and New Year's or that time for him because that's when I spent time with my family yeah and once again you guys would have all been at home with your family yeah and so you can go like that was probably a big oops because if they'd had three weeks for this to cool off how many people would even tuned in I mean, like, it just cascades. Instead, it's right before all that. Yeah.

And now them, I assume, them saying, we cannot talk about it, is a very political move of like, if we don't talk about this, this will slowly go away. And it slowly will go away if the fight doesn't, you know, like the city of Lloyd wants answers. But when you go to try and talk to the institution, and they say they're not allowed to talk, right? Well, what can you do?

Well, the thing is there's a lot of support. that we get from, like, other people in the institution. Yeah, that is one thing that I wanted to talk about that, too. Like, it was hard leaving Lakeland or even, like, when this whole thing blew up and started and people, you know, were going after Lakeland. It was really hard because we have a lot of staff members that we care about, a lot of the athletes that we still care about there. You know, there are people that we care about their students.

Who care about us, too. Yes. And so it was really hard just, like, even, like, talking badly about the place you've you've been there for so long and just like I yeah representing them for so long and you know I guess certain people just even now it's really hard to talk about it yeah well once again and I hate to hop in and give my thoughts but like I think of the Chicago blackhawks right they had the big scandal they remove all these guys because of an incident right and it puts a real cloud of shame over the organization.

But it isn't the entire organization. When you draw it back to Lakeland College, there's lots of wonderful people in that. Lots. But you've worn and bled and sweated for a logo, and they believed in you to bring you in. And so there's a sense of pride in what you're talking about. But when it came push to shove at the worst possible time,

the organization, and I would assume select individuals in the organization, have tried to distance themselves from this entire thing, to just get it pushed out and their job is going to continue on your lives will continue on but your basketball season and your attempt to do something that very few teams do that's not only win a national championship but then go back to back is erased from you know this story yeah in years to come will be one of the oddest things in lloyd history probably the nation's history yeah pretty much I don't know. I think just some people just don't understand that a lot of lives were ruined.

And like the extent of things. Like me personally, I failed classes. And like now I based my five years of eligibility around here in Lloyd. And now I'm like, what do I do? What do I do with my schooling? And, you know, like a lot of people feel that way too. Some people are here only for basketball purposes. And now what are we going to do with that?

I mean, Chris's life just got completely uprooted and like shoved to the sides. So, yeah, I don't know. And all 13 of us have to, or 15, 16. Yeah, 16. I have to figure it out for ourselves now. While she got hers figured out. Yeah. Yeah.

She's got to move on, you know. One of the things that I firmly believe, the only thing I look directly at you, Andrea, is, you know, being your last year of eligibility, I go, man, I really hope they give you an extra year. Because for the girls who have a shot at another year, you're on an undefeated national champion team, any coach in the right mind would be going like, she's available. And for Chris, you know, the hope is, and maybe I'm wrong, and maybe Chris will call me and set me straight. But you have all the praises of everyone around and the community and everything.

Lloyd is losing an absolute gem. And somebody out there is listening going, that guy's available. and same thing goes for assistant coaches and everything. I truly believe that better days are ahead of all of you. Even from a basketball standpoint, it just in the moment right now. It's hard to see. And you're undefeated. It's just something that doesn't happen to the winning side.

You do this when you're 0.14. You go, that coach has got to go. Heck, some of these girls got to go. Not the opposite way around. It's... Yeah. I know. It's so unfortunate knowing that we could have won this whole thing once more,

and then now it's just back to zero. Not knowing what to do next, so. Yeah, we've gotten some support from other teams in, like, all over CCWAU Sport. Like, obviously, like, a lot of other people have spoken up about it, too. So that was really nice to see. I think, like, we're also very upset because us being the competitors that we are, we're like, obviously that should have been us. And that was going to be us. And, like, now some teams are going to either be like, screw it. They're out of the way. Fine. We'll take it. We'll run with it. Some other teams are, like, playing for us. And, you know, it just. Well, if you were number two in the nation, your odds of winning it just got a heck of a lot better. Oh, yeah. Heck, if you're a top five, if you're even in the conversation.

Yeah. You guys, I keep saying guys, you ladies have a huge bullseye on your back for the championship, and it just got removed in the worst possible way. As a competitor, I would argue that every team should be annoyed because you want to beat, in order to win, you want to beat the best. You want to beat the best team, exactly, yep. Yep. And we hope every team feels that way.

Yeah. I don't know. It's just, it feels unreal still. It doesn't feel real. It's like knowing that we were supposed to play this Friday. That's our first first game of this semester. We got to get you out of the city. Don't stay here.

Yeah. Yeah. I have to work. Oh. Yeah. Like it's really hard. Like thankfully, like Sarah and I are going to end up coaching our high school girls team in Regina. So our Estaband team is going to come up to Regina.

We're going to go down and we're going to go and coach and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But obviously for some people who have worked, like it's, it's a hard thing. And to get through your head and to like watch us just be completely removed from the rankings and just. Yeah, I don't know. I just keep seeing posts about everything.

I know already unfollow everything. I just, I don't want to see it anymore. A lot of, but a lot of people cope in different ways. I know like Susan and Sarah were talking about it last night and they were like, I've been reminiscing and watching game tape a lot. And I'm like, oh, not me. Like I haven't watched a single piece. I'm like, I don't want to. It's just, I don't know.

It is really hard. And it's just crazy to think that like the amount of fun. that we were having before everything had ended and blew up. Like we were all ready to just go kick some button, like win that Briar Crest Med Hat weekend. We were ready to end the year off. Yeah. It's such a good note.

And we were going through it too. Yeah. Like it was, you know, it was final season coming right up. Midterms just ended. Everyone was sick. Everyone was exhausted. Yeah. But we were still ready to go out there and give it all.

But unfortunately, our energies had to go someplace else. So, yeah, no choice. We had no choice. Yep. Now we're just thriving and kind of see where we have. Surviving. Not thriving. Surviving.

Surviving. Trying to. Yeah. They're nice. Yeah. It was hard. It was really hard during that whole, like, just when that whole thing happened. And, like, I said it to multiple people.

And, like, we, when we were trying to find. supports like we were all grieving and like it was hard because like we weren't sure whether or not like a lot of us still had hope but we were all grieving we were grieving you know for lakeland for the season of what could have been we were grieving for the community and like we're still here and we're still grieving and every single day we just keep finding out new things and it just it doesn't stop and it's hard because we wanted to stop we want to stop talking about it but we know we can't um yeah like stand on what you got to stand on right so Yeah, I don't know.

We're tired, we're exhausted. We don't, yeah, we don't want to live this reality, obviously. But unfortunately, that's just the way things unfolded. So, yeah. I'm just, I don't, I'm struggling with it. I don't know. It's just, what can you say now? Like, I'm just stuck, just sitting in the motion.

It's like I'm just on the boat. It's wherever the waves go. I'm just crashing with the waves. Unfortunately, hopefully some will spike up. Maybe when we get the good news, we get our year back or something. Right now. Only up from here. Yeah.

Is there anything, as far as getting a year back, is there anything the public can do to help with that? Or is that just sitting in the ACAC inbox of like, yeah, it's all about the ACAC and their decisions. We can't really say anything about it. That's hope for the best. Yeah. Yeah. And I hope they know what we've been going through. Like I really hope, like, they know everything, what we feel and how we feel about this whole thing.

Like, I just hope the league knows. Yeah. Somebody hear us out. Yeah. Well, ladies, I appreciate you coming in. Thanks, thank you for having us. I really hope. People listen to it and know everything.

Well, if they've gotten this far, just make sure you share it with one friend, folks. It helps, you know. You know, I don't know, did I tell either of you to this? I probably haven't. But, you know, the podcast in 2024 had a lot of interesting guests. And in about a week's time, 125, well, the last time I tracked 125,000 people had listened to it. And it was the number one episode of 2024. I mean, in a very dark,

way. But it was talking about this story. So I think people are listening. I think people are wanting to help and try and find some way to help because they hear you and they're like, okay, well, what can we do? You know, like, I think there's a lot of people willing, wishing they could do more. Because they hear the story and you can see the

effect you've all had, not just Chris, but the basketball teams that have this year and the years before have had on the community. It's quite impressive, to be honest, from a community member standpoint, right? A young father on this side and a business owner now in town to see the impact that a group of ladies have had on our city is, I don't know, is wild, to be honest. Like, it's, it's really, I can't escape this conversation anywhere I go. Everywhere I go, you know, I just took the wife for lunch the other day and run into a guy and we start talking about it. And they want to talk about it. They want to find ways to help.

But, you know, once again, if there's ways or if someone knows of a way, obviously, I think it'd be great to talk about on here. Because we want to help the team as much as we can to make sure that, I don't know, if it's a year of eligibility back, obviously everybody's hope, I think, was getting Chris reinstated. Let's just get the girls heard by the college, right? Like that should be. And from what I've heard today, and some of the rumors going around, it doesn't seem like it matters what the team says. They've made, as you've pointed out at the start, it's signed sealed, delivered,

and they're not taking it back, which is, feels like our federal government at times, to be honest, that's kind of a government move again, where you make a position. And instead of taking all the facts in after and maybe taking a step back, they don't want to do that. They've made their position or their bed and they're going to, they're going to lane it no matter what. Well, we just want to let everyone know how grateful we are for all the support that we've gotten. Like, it's been great to know that they have our backs no matter what. And don't forget to say hi to us.

Yeah, especially as the kids that we coach. Yeah, we miss those guys a lot. And hopefully we can get something up and running up soon. Yeah, I guess we have a golden ticket. But yeah, so, yeah, obviously, maybe not this topic. but please feel free to reach out to us about anything else. Send us a joke. Yeah.

Thanks ladies. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.