The Herd with Colin Cowherd - All Ball - BBB Deserves Lonzo Injury Blame; Expect Clips Reg Season Struggles; Guest: Cal Baptist HC Rick Croy on Program Building

Episode Date: September 5, 2019

This week, Gottlieb looks at Lonzo Ball admitting the BBB were holding him back, and why the Clippers will face more regular season struggles than most people expect. He talks with Cal Baptist Head Coach Rick Croy on leading his program in just its second year in Division I, coming up through the coaching ranks, coaching Matthew Dellavedova at St. Mary's, and his program building philosophy. Make sure you download, rate and subscribe here to get the latest All Ball Podcasts! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season, and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. you just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

So listen to Point Game on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, all-ball community, I'm about you make your holidays even happier. Get the Epson Eco-Tank cartridge-free printer because you know it's not festive? Cartridge Connipions. Those panic freakouts that happen when those pricey ink cartridges

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At State Farm, they know what it takes to ensure your home and ride with surprisingly great rates. That's why it's a good idea to consider State Farm, because with State Farm, you don't have to give up what you love for great insurance. For surprisingly great rates, like a good vecino, State Farm is there. My grandmother had posters on her wall of old school matches at the Carlos Colon Arena in San Juan. And we would watch American wrestling and Lucha Wrestling pretty much every day. And she, as did many back then, was fully convinced that wrestling was 100% real. Listen to the My Culturra Podcast Network, available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, what up? Welcome in. I'm Doug Gottlieb, and you are listening to All Ball. All basketball, all the time. I think this part is hilarious. We're going to get to our special guest, Rick Croy, head coach at Cal Baptist. Amazing rise to prominence as he's taking Cal Baptist from a Division II program in Division I. They were competitive first year, middle of the pack in the whack. And an interesting guy, he's actually married to a former elementary school classmate of mine.

We'll talk some Cal Baptist, St. Mary's, and West Coast hoops with Rick Croy in mere moments. I saw this. Lanzo Ball admitted that the big baller brand shoes fell apart. He said, can I get a quarter in? We got to switch them every quarter. His shoes literally fell apart every quarter. And I'm telling you that the Lakers told him last year the Reader. reason he hurt his ankle was because his shoes were not well made. And it's one of these things that we do with athletes where we just assume you take the biggest

check. And I get the idea of, you know, when you're bidding something in your house, you want to take the lowest bidder. The lowest bidder is the lowest bidder for a reason. Well, in this particular case, remember, he had a chance to sign with Nike, and ultimately obviously did so this offseason. but I don't care what shoe company you like, right? If you're a Nike guy, you're Adidas guy, you're somebody else guy.

There is something to the R&D that the big time shoe companies spend on. They want to make sure that their best athletes are in shoes that don't collapse. Obviously, Zion Williamson's shoe is the exception to that. But it's interesting to hear Lanzo Ball finally come clean that the big Boller brand was they were shitty shoes. Right? Like, yeah, no, duh. That's what Lakers would say. That's why they have him work out in Kobe's,

and then he had to play in the big baller brand shoes, but he wouldn't want to. It was his dad saying this was the way in which they could sell shoes. And ultimately, it derailed his career with the Lakers, and probably one of the big reasons he ended up being traded is the shoes. Crazy, right? Really crazy. Be sure to catch live editions of the Doug Gottlieb show weekdays in noon Eastern 3 p.m. Pacific

on Fox Sports Radio and the I-Hard Radio app. All right, I got one more thing for you, is I think kind of fun. Have you guys seen some of the futures for NBA over unders or wins? Have you guys seen any of these? Yeah, like if you go online, you can find some. Who doesn't like future lines? And NBA futures are interesting because there is this assumption that,

you know, all of a sudden now the clippers are going to be the team to be. Right? the clippers because of their personnel. And look, I think that the clippers are ultimately going to be a very competitive team and may well win an NBA championship. But it should be pointed out that Paul George is coming off of dual shoulder surgery. Kauai Leonard wasn't right in the finals and he's coming off a season where he only played 60 games. and they're also going to have two new stars on their team, which, let's be honest, that's kind of hard to deal with.

Now, they have most of their core back. But the fact is that you add two new pieces to that core, it's going to be bumpy early on. Their over under is 56 and a half wins. And while that may seem low considering the two stars that they've added, I'd actually think that's high. I would take the under. Why? Paul George is probably not going to be right until, what, December, and the team's not going to be cohesive until January or February. And once you get to late in the season, they're going to be resting players anyway.

My guess is that the Clippers' regular season is a little bit more underwhelming than you would think. All right, let's get to Rick Croy. He's the head coach of Cal Baptist. They've only been Division I for one season. His rise of prominence is awesome. His perspective on coaching basketball is really, really interesting. Rick Croy, head coach of Cal Baptist, joins us. Walnut Creek is the tough side of the tracks up there where you grew up, right? What division was Northgate High School? Because we graduated, I think, same year, right? 95.

No, you graduated 96, but 95 you guys won the state title. What division was that? Yeah, no, graduated 95. We were Division 3 at the time. So who'd you beat in the state championship? We beat Artesia in what was then called the Oakland Coliseum where the Warriors played. We beat a really good Artesia team. They had, you'll probably remember these guys.

Kevin Daly went to UCLA, I think finished at Nevada. Kevin Daly? Yep, Kevin Daly. He ended up being. He went to UCLA. 95. Ended up becoming one of the great Globetrotters. No way.

Because 95 was my year, and they signed Brandon Lloyd. And they had the previous year was a couple of my AAU teammates. J.R. Henderson, Christon Johnson, right? Those guys were freshman on the national championship team. Toby Bailey, right? Those guys were 94. 95, I forgot Kevin Daly. Okay, go ahead.

Kevin Daly. And they had a big name Jonathan Nelson. Sure. Those were there. He went to Oregon. Those were their two best players. This was before the shot clock. We had a great point guard.

named Frank Alaco, Jr., the son of our head coach. And we did a great job using clock and had a really good group. It was a special time. The community was completely behind the journey that our team was on. It was really like a unique time when I look back on it. In the NorCal final, we beat Eddie House, who we only had two losses that year. That team was 34 and 2, and one of our losses came at St. Mary's College. We got beat by Eddie House's Hayward team, and it was an incredible game.

He did one of our games last year at CBU at Fox Sports, and we talked a lot about that game, and we were reminiscent, and the thing I remember about that game was he hit like 18 pull-up two-point shots. He really wasn't a three-point shooter than he was more of like a pull-up guy, like one of the all-time high school performances in the Bay Area. But at that time, and I think it's still the same now, if you got beat in the section final, you advanced. Yeah, we got beat by Dominguez, so we advanced and then we lost in the state. Yeah, so we were able to get to compete against Hayward again a few weeks later,

and that's what we beat them in the local coliseum and got a chance to play Artesian in the state final. Now, Frank O'Laka, the head coach, did he then leave and go to De La Salle? Is that right? Or is that what happened? He did. Yep. It was an interesting move at the time because De La Salle was one of our rivals. You know, I know you had Sean Farnham on a few weeks ago.

I listen, I'm a big fan of the podcast. Sean was Class of 96. But at the time, we were the public school beaten De La Salle and had great games. games with them. So it was kind of an unusual move for coach to head over to De La Salle. But we really, the players, the alums supported the move. Coach Alacca has been an incredible influence, not only for me, but so many guys that are coaching collegiately now, Marcus Schroeder at St. Mary's, Greg St. James with the Lakers. I mean, just an incredible mentor, life teacher. So we really supported his move to De LaSalle and a bigger platform.

And he went on to win two state championships at De LaSalle. Okay, so you finish up and you go to San Francisco State, right? Yep. Yep. Okay, so San Francisco State, who is the head coach? Charlie Thomas, who played at Virginia Tech. He was a tough guy, demanding leader. It had a great experience at San Francisco State.

We had, you know, just a great group of guys, and S.F. States, a unique university, kind of a commuter school, but we were able to form a tight-knit group, and I look back with a ton of fond memories. And really, you know, I talked to guys that played at bigger schools, and they don't have the same relationships. I mean, we've got really got a tight group that we still text all the time and try and stay in each other's lives, and even, you know, 20-plus years later. is San Francisco State.

It's on the back side of the city by, it's actually almost closer to daily city than it is to downtown. But you're going to have, you're going to have to ignore Cal guys. You're going to have to describe it to the rest of the world, right? Like you're like, oh, it's close to the daily city. Like, oh, close to the daily city. You know. Fair enough, Doug.

I'm on geographically challenged. So once you get over the bridge, you keep going towards. Pacifica and you it's the last stop that's considered San Francisco so got it so so like where so where did you live when you went to school there did you live on campus I lived on campus uh for a year and then most of us moved off campus and it was it was one of those times where you know you shared a room with maybe one other guy if you were lucky I mean most of us where it was seven guys or six guys in a two-bedroom because even at that time, the city was expensive and you had to scrap it out.

Yeah. And again, it was a special time. But for the golfers out there, it's right by. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month,

I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, We get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person.

Join me, Keer Gaines, is we have real. conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. What's up guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of

stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42.

Hey, Brett. My mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest. player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't

have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Go State is right by the Olympic Club. Yeah, where they had the, was it the PGA or U.S. Open a couple years ago? Yeah, so amazing. They've hosted some majors. Yeah, so, like, how did those guys even live now? Like, I don't know. How are you, I mean, San Francisco's most expensive city in the country.

Obviously, the tech industry in the mid-90s and the tech industry now, like, the city has, is, like, ridiculous. But I don't even know how they function. So what was, it was, is D2, right? Division two, we start. When I got there, in 95, 96, we competed in what was the northern. California Athletic Conference. And the power at the time was UC Davis, who was coached by Bob Williams. Sure, they won the National Championship.

And they won, I mean, this is how good they were, they won the Division II National Championship without any scholarships, which is, I mean, to think about that now, having coached the Division II level, incredible. I mean, unbelievable. So that they were the power. and then eventually San Francisco State moved my senior year to the CC2A. That was at a time where a lot of schools that were CC2A schools were transitioning to Division I, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Northridge, those were teams that were in the CC2A,

and those transitions kind of created an opportunity to make it one big conference where they kind of combined all the schools from Northern California and Southern California into one Division 2 conference, and that's still a great conference to this day. Betrivers Sportsbook wants to invite you to discover the complete sports betting experience. The foundation of that experience is a massive number of betting options on nearly every regular sporting event around the world. Add on top of that live streaming of sports every day. There's almost always a live match to watch on BetRer's Sportsbook right in your phone.

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I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm printing nonstop through the holidays. You got cards, gift tags, lists, cookie receipts, mostly cookie receipts. Plus, you got to get these reimbursements. And nothing will ruin the fun like good old-fashioned cartridge conyption. That's when your printer's pricey ink cartridges run out of ink at the worst possible time. and you can't help but lose it a little. Or a lot. It's frustrating. But, all-ball community.

You know what we do around here. We bring you tech solutions. And the Epson Eco Tank cartridge-free printer is a great solution. Epson Eco Tank uses big ink tanks and comes with a ridiculous amount of ink. Go ahead. Add some people to your holiday card list. No more running out of magenta when you're trying to make the season merry. No more having to apologize to your house guests after having a total cartridge connipion.

with Epson Ecotank, kiss expensive cartridges goodbye. You can just feel and chill. Who doesn't want some more chill around the holidays? Epson Ecotank. Learn more at Epson.com slash all ball with Doug. What up? It's Dramos. You may know me from The Recap on LATV.

Now I've got my own podcast, Life as a Gringo, coming to you every Tuesday and Thursday. We'll be talking real and unapologetic about all things like, Latin culture, and everything in between from someone who's never quite fit in.

Listen to life as a gringo on the Iheart radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. So you get done in 1999. What were your thoughts on your future? Well, I knew I wanted to coach. I had had such a great experience learning under Coach Alaco and saw the impact that he was able to have.

And I still remember, I really didn't understand how college basketball worked until I was in it. I remember, you know, seeing the lifestyle that my college coach had and the assistant coaches. I remember thinking, gosh, this would be something I'd really like to do.

But I didn't know how the whole thing worked and started having conversations with Coach Alaco and started working camps. The summer before my senior year, I went and worked every camp that I could. I worked UNLVs camp for Bill Boehno. Dave Rice was actually running the camp and was really good to me. I worked superstar basketball camp. I worked camp for a guy named Michael Lagarzo, who's one of the great leaders and great junior college coach of all times.

I was just trying to get as many reps as I could, and I thought maybe that would help you down the road and started doing the letter writing thing, and it studied Steve Lavin and things like that. But I wasn't having a ton of luck. I think I got one interview at the Division I level. I was telling me, you know, you've got to get to Division I. I had one interview in Macon, Georgia at a school called Mercer. The head coach's name was Mark Swannaker. I went out there, and I thought they were going to hire me.

And, you know, you think about how God blesses the broken road. I mean, I don't know if I would have survived out there when I look back on it, but thankfully they didn't hire me. And I told my high school coach, I said, I just want to be. want to, you know, I want to be around excellence. I want to be around the best leader I can. I asked him, can I come back and work for you? So I had graduated a semester early, so when basketball finished, when my senior year finished, I went back and started coaching at Dela Salle with him. He had a great staff, and he was great for me. He said, you know, he really believed in me as a leader

and said, Rick, I'm all good with you coming back, but you've got to promise me that you're going to keep your dream of coaching college basketball, that even if you don't get an opportunity right away, a year from now, we got to move you on. And, you know, at the time, it didn't seem like that much of a powerful statement. But when I think about it, he just had vision. And again, that great belief in me that I could make the college basketball journey happen. And then in August, UC Riverside and John Macy called me and said, hey, our grad assistant just left. He was an Orange County guy named Jeff Hopkins, who I saw a few weekends ago. Great guy.

I played in Santa Margarita. And he was going to move on. Hopkins was the grad assistant at UCR. And his departure opened the opportunity for me to head down in August. And I really didn't want to lead to Elis Alba. But again, Coach Alacko came back and said, Rick, you've got to go. go do this. You know, you've got to get in it at an early age, and that

was just a blessed opportunity for me. I mean, working for John Macy, who you know, one of the great coaches, over 450 wins, and just the kind of man that he is to jump into a program like that right away, and he gave me a lot of responsibility

and I couldn't have asked for a better start. Okay, so you get through UC Riverside. They're D-2 at the time, right? It's like the other kind of UC school. Everybody thinks of UCLA. Some people think of UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine. There's the UCSDs. Obviously, UC Davis, which had won a national championship.

What was it like to go from, I mean, in really kind of short order, you're playing at Division II level. Now you're super young and you're coaching at the Division II level. What was that like? It was great, and it was an exciting time. And, you know, obviously I couldn't imagine what I'd be doing now in 2018, 2019, in a transitioning Division I program. But UCR at the time was transitioning from Division 2 to Division 1. So my first year at UC Riverside in 99, 2000, we were D2, and then the next year, we were Division 1.

And at that time, you were considered an independent. So you really weren't even in a conference. Like we didn't join the Big West conference. We were just playing against anyone that we could get a game with. So it was kind of a crazy schedule. The schedule had gaps in it. The NCAA, it wasn't, the transition wasn't as organized as it is now. Now, like for us at CBU, before we became a Division I member, we had to be accepted

into a conference. So we got the invitation from the Western Athletic Conference. And all of that was kind of a seamless process and very, very organized. So at UCR, there was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. Coach Macy had built a dominant Division II powerhouse. They had played in the national championship game against Southern Indiana. Bruce Pearl was the head coach. They had a great fan base support. from the community. And it was an exciting time. And I was, you know, I was just enjoying it, learning from all of the coaches.

We had a great coaching staff. And I just kind of jumped in and was trying to get better every day. How did you guys play? We played motion offense. Coach had shaped the motion offense. And he was one of the first coaches to really nationally, to utilize the three-point shot. They had beat, they had played in the tournament in Hawaii, I believe in 1989, one of the first years where the three-point shot was in play, and they made, I don't remember the

specific number, but it was well over 23s to beat a great Iowa team. Like Iowa was top five, BJ Armstrong, Roy Marble, an incredible team. I've watched the film a few times, but he was on the, he was on the forefront of utilizing the three-point shot and relying on it and recruiting to it. So they played four out, one in motion, and they took a ton of threes, and then very, very solid man-to-man defense principals. Coach was, coach Mason is an old-school coach and ran a great practice, loved being in the gym, loved mentoring young guys, and and really knew how to build a program. You go from there to Citrus College,

and so for people who aren't familiar with Southern California, so UC Riverside and Calabaptists, where you are now, they're both in Riverside. Riverside's in the IE, Inland Empire. They produced Reggie Miller, obviously most recently, Kauai, Leonard. It is a wellspring of talents, very blue collar. It's also very hot, smoggy, kind of dusty. Citrus College is a little bit closer to L.A.

It's in Glendora, which is, is, I don't think, it's not really in the Lent Empire there, right? That's like San Gabriel Valley there, I think. Yeah. And that's, of course, where Adam Jacobson, who you just hired as your assistant at CBU, Tracy Murray, of course, famously played there. So did all of the Jacobson brothers. Casey Jacobson was an All-American and went on to Stanford in the NBA.

What was the decision like to go from being a Division II to become Division I assistant coach to becoming a junior college coach in its interest college. in Glendora. Well, to backtrack a little bit, you know, just in terms of accuracy on the journey, it was kind of crazy because I actually left. Well, you went to Concordia first, right? You went to, you coached under Ken first. Yeah, I left UCR.

I was the graduate assistant, and, you know, I really wanted to get out and recruit, and Ken was, Ken Ammon was at Azusa Pacific, and he got the Concordia job. It was his first head coaching job, and it was one of the, you know, and it was one of the, of the best moves I made because there's so many things that I do today as a leader that I learned from Ken. You know, you pick up so many things along the way, but it was a special year. We, we titled that year the end of the innocence. It was like the last year in coaching where the players didn't have cell phones. We were in like our own little bubble and we were just, you know, trying to figure things out. And at the end of that year, it was probably one of my first tough

decisions and coaching because Coach Macy lost his top assistant, Reggie Howard, because Larry Reynolds got the head coaching job at Long Beach State, and said, hey, Rick, I'd like you to come back. You know, you've got great familiarity with the players. You recruited some of these guys. And, you know, you know, the program. Would you come back? And, you know, I started to learn a little bit more how the coaching game worked. And I thought, gosh, I better take this opportunity. So I went back to UC Riverside. I was there for three more. years. And at that time, we were in the Big West, and we had some good players. You know, we suffered some, we went through some adversity. We lost the, Nate Carter was Big West freshman in the year.

He transferred to Oklahoma. That was a setback. We had a really good player. Villene Morton was Big West defensive player of the year. And we, you know, when you're coaching mid-major basketball, one of the most difficult things is to weather adversity, because it's, you know, It's very, very difficult, I think, especially in the journey, to get depth. And we didn't quite have enough depth to create the kind of success that the athletic director thought we should have at the time. And the school made a very, very tough decision. And so they let our staff go.

And it was one of those crucible moments in coaching where I had a chance to potentially stay on with the guy, the coach that they brought in, who was a guy named David Spencer, or it was time to find another opportunity. And my wife and I, Jamie, had our first baby on the way. And there was a junior college opening at Citrus College, but it paid like $15,000. It was part-time. But I thought the opportunity to be a head coach at that age. I think I was 27.

I thought that was a pretty good opportunity. My wife was teaching. We could make it work financially. How did you make it work financially? Well, she was teaching, and she was the breadwinner, and she was getting it done. You know, I took the coaching stipend, and the AD got me a couple classes to teach, and we scrapped it out. I mean, it was tough, but when I looked back on it, that was, I mean, probably one of the best experiences I've ever had coaching,

And I hired a bunch of guys that had just gotten done playing. And it was like it had to work. And we were learning by doing. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsClice comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source. the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsClyce brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsClace on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12. and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host,

and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth?

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose

on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free. iHeartRadio app search learn the hard way and listen now what's up guys this is clivert taylor the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker you know these kids linebacker walks up to me he goes hey ref my mom wants you to wave at her what time out look quarterback on office blue 42

hey rep my mama want you to wave at her what Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliffer Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate. the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends

stopped by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the bar like, I think. You go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, I had a pretty good idea of how we wanted to guard and how we wanted to play defensively. But, you know, offensively, we were kind of a mess.

You know, I thought, gosh, we just, we need to run sets because you don't have these guys for very long. and I kind of got away from the principles of how I grew up playing, going all the way back to Coach Alaco with, you know, player movement and ball movement and just believing in the fundamentals. And my second year, this was kind of a really neat part in the journey. I knew I needed to get better, especially on the offensive side of the ball. So I was thinking, gosh, who can I bring in that I can really learn from? And Jim Sia was the inner.

head coach at SC, when a crazy set of circumstances, it was like Henry Bibby, then Rick Majeris, and Sia took over. It was like Gabe Pruitt, Nick Young, those guys, he was playing those guys as freshmen. And Jim was, Jim was out of the game. He was, you know, just looking, looking for an opportunity, and I called him up. I didn't know him that well, and I said, hey, would you, would you come on board and mentor me at Citrus, you know, you only got to come a couple days a week, and I just want to watch you, you know, put in some offensive principals and teach me.

And that was big because it really helped me get back to believing in some of the things that I originally believed in. And, you know, we started playing with great pace and then, you know, kept getting better defensively. And we were able to build a really strong program at Citrus. And, you know, you gained so much confidence. from having to run practice every day and just in getting to build a program. Yeah, and then you end up winning a state championship in your third year. You got to the regional finals.

You got to the final four in 2010 in your last year. By the way, for people who don't know, I've actually known your wife way longer than I've known you. I grew up in the City of Orange, your wife, then Jamie Schein. She was a stud athlete, right? She played volleyball at St. Mary's. She actually went to St. Mary to play basketball, and then when she finished playing hoop, she played a fifth year of volleyball. So, yeah, she reminds me often, you know, where the athleticism in the family is for sure. But, yeah, we've talked all the time about, you know, the Gottlieb's, the Gottlieb should have been leading the El Medina boys to championships.

but, you know, you had to go over to Tustin and do it and do your thing over there. Yeah, it was kind of interesting. You know, my brother was coached by a guy Tim Tivenin. Yeah. And Tim actually did a really, his senior year, they were awesome. They were like, I don't know, I'm going to say like 28 and 2 or 3 or something. They got upset early in the tournament by Cajon. Weird thing, you're a top seed, and you get a buy, and then you play your first game on the road, and they got beat.

but it just El Medina, it's interesting that she made it out of El Medina. My sister, you know, kind of made it out of my brother. You know, there's some Robbie Gordon made it out of El Medina. There was a lot of people. There's like a guy here that was, what's named Gibson? It was the starting center for Tom Rinovich at USC. So there was guys. Yeah.

But there just wasn't, like it wasn't really a sports school. And so when I stayed back, we tried to pick the best public sports school. That's why we picked Tustin. And it's interesting. that, you know, like, I really, it, it speaks to me for guys who transfer, and even as a guy myself who transfers and in college basketball, in that it's really different your relationship with your teammates if you grew up with those guys, you know?

Like, it is something that I, it took me several years at Tustin to feel connected to the guys I was, by my senior year I was, because we'd all kind of played together, lost together, one together, whatever, but there were really three years where I wasn't really connected with those because I didn't live in Tustin. And it does speak to me for transfers. There's a recipe for getting your car running just right. And whatever you're cooking up in the garage, you'll find what you need at eBay Motors.com.

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So for you, what is one thing that you think makes our culture so special? When thinking about this question, the first thing that comes to my mind is the food aspect of it. I mean, whether that's menudo on the weekend. or, you know, Sopa de Fideo for breakfast. Like, I feel like living in Los Angeles, I am blessed and fortunate to be around so many other Latinos, whether that's Mexicans, you know, Ecuadorino, Cubanos, you know, people from all different types of walks of life.

Food is the one thing that truly ties us all together. Support Coutura all year long by listening to the MyCotura podcast network, available on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. CareerBuilder is made for people who have that thing. You know, those superpowers that make you good at your job, the skills you bring to work. And CareerBuilder knows those skills make you right for other jobs too. Higher paying jobs with benefits. Jobs you never thought of trying.

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And you decide to go to St. Mary's where she's an alum of to work under Randy Bennett. Why? You know, kind of a myriad of reasons. but number one, I had to really think about, I had applied for a few jobs at the four-year level. You know, and that's where coaching's tough is it's a little bit, the platforms are slightly fractured. Like, even if you're, I think this holds true even more so today, even than it did in 2010. If you wanted to move up, sometimes that success, wasn't truly recognized.

You know, there was, I think you really had to have NCAA success and experience under your belt. So I was applying for a few jobs and, you know, had to kind of assess, okay, was I a realistic candidate? And so that was, that was part of the decision was, okay, do I want to coach at the community college level? I can keep having an impact. I've had mentors that had done that and really enjoyed it. Steve, Coach Emilio, up at Diablo Valley College, I had some conversations with him. And, you know, he said, you know, you kind of got to make that decision early in your career. And I desired to coach at the Division I level.

So it was one of those crucial moments where I had to make a tough decision. And thankfully, was able to do it in an incredible program. like St. Mary's College, Randy had built an amazing program and was able to step in there and learn underneath him. Then the other reason I left was, you know, the thing I love most about coaching

is being on a staff. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games,

from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are, in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose. on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys?

This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office, Blue, 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode.

The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Polisic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney.

My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here.

Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabram. most on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast when you coach at the junior college level there's really only one guy getting paid and that's the head coach and not that you're getting paid extraordinarily well um but the assistance you just there's no benefits there's basically you know stipend pay and i really felt like gosh we got to a great coaching staff. I'd love to be in a situation where one day we could, you know, have five, six guys on good salaries and they could raise their families through this passion.

So those were some of the reasons. And then the other reason just being the amazing opportunity that was presented to me from Randy. I see. You get there. And your first year, you had Mickey McConnell, who was a stud, right? supposed to go to New Mexico. And when that coaching job changed, he ends up going to, he ends up going to St. Mary's. You have Delhi. Delhi is only a sophomore at the time. And you also had Mitchell Young, Rob Jones as well, who transferred him from San Diego. So what was, like all of a sudden, you go from coaching all these other places, and you appreciated Randy New.

What was it about those St. Mary's team? teams. I know you guys didn't win an A&CA tournament games when you were there, but those were great teams in a great conference against Gonzaga that, I mean, every year you guys were in the finals against Gonzaga. What was it like to step into St. Mary's after being at the junior college level and the Division II level? There was great momentum. I mean, they were coming off a Sweet 16 appearance. The enthusiasm surrounding the program, I think everyone knew Mickey was about. about to do something special in his senior year. I don't know if anyone could have predicted the kind of year that he was about to have. I mean, Mickey, his senior year, he was MVP of the West Coast Conference.

He was sensational from start to finish. And then, you know, you just, Delhi, you knew there was something special happening with his leadership and his ability to make everyone around him better. You know, it's interesting about Delhi. So I spoke at Randy's kickoff banquet the year before. Right. So this is in 2009. And I think that was right after Patty Mills left, right?

And I remember I was like, all right, who's the next one? Right? Because when I had gotten there, it was like, when I first started calling games, it was kickert. And then, you know, then it became all losses, right? And Patty Mills. And then, you know, it was, and then Mickey. And I was like, who's the next? next one.

And he's like that guy right there. And if you've ever seen Delhi now in person is obviously an incredible shape. Yeah. But then he was kind of built like a block. I just remember super thick, super hairy legs, right? Like super, super hairy, hairy wolfman legs. And I was just like, no fucking way, Randy. No way.

And he's like, I'm just telling you, just watch him play. Like he just, he goes, he's tough as shit. He makes shots. He runs a team. He goes, he doesn't have to go by anybody. He just reads a pick and roll. He's going to be so good. And even the first year I saw, I was like,

eh, maybe. And he just got better and better and better. When you showed up there, did you go like, oh, that guy's going to be a pro? Probably not. I mean, like you mentioned, I mean, it's funny to look back at some of the pictures. What you see now is a much cleaner version. And he was scrappy, but he had this will that you felt. And he challenged you as a coach.

We had a new staff. I mean, we have so many great memories from those coaching staffs. But we were a new staff. Our staff was myself, Ron Gannott, who's the head coach, Hawaii, Adam K-Porn, who's an assistant for the boomers, the Australian Olympic team. Tyler Ogin, the associate head coach at Northern Arizona. And, you know, the program had had so much success, and we didn't want to screw anything up.

So we were really learning from Mickey and Delhi and Rob Jones. There were all these great leaders that were in place, and we were just excited to compete with those guys. But there was such a chemistry, and it was just some of the things that were going on around the country you were in this bubble in Maraga where there was great appreciation. Guys were in the moment. They were just enjoying college basketball.

So the professional thing, that really wasn't the focus. It was like you knew Delhi wanted to play in the NBA, but he was just trying to make St. Mary's better every day. And some of that stuff sounds cliche, but when I think back to my experiences with him, that's truly what it was. the guy was, if somebody, you know, criticized him in some area or said, hey, you know, I know one of the things early was, man, I don't know if he could slide his feet. He got on this slideboard and we would finish lifting and, you know, everyone else would head to the cafeteria and he would put in like 15 to 20 minutes of like this hyper-focused work on this slideboard.

And sure enough, a couple months later, no one could go buy him. And he would do that in all these different areas, free throws, three-point shooting, you know, passing out of the pick and roll. He would just, he would hunt down all these details at the game. And the longer you spent around him, it was like there's no way he's not going to make it. And he just won't be denied. And I remember watching that draft with my son and daughter. And I fully believe that somebody was going to recognize the excellence in the draft.

even if it was in the second round. And I remember my son crying as the final pick was announced and Dele won undrafted. But even in that moment, you're like, nope, he's going to get on a summer league team. And he'll do whatever it takes. He'll get in somebody's training camp. You'll do whatever it takes. And, you know, just an amazing story. Yeah, no, truly, truly an amazing story.

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That's geico.com. Imagine the biggest secret of your life. Now, imagine trusting that big secret with the entire world. That is exactly what Tony Morrison did when he made the brave decision to share his HIV positive status in an open essay on Good Morning America's website. Hi, I'm Zach Stafford, host of In The Deep stories that shape us. In this episode, we sit down with Tony to talk about his identity as a Filipino American, his work as a producer, and the role trust plays in our own journeys. Because sometimes, the road to healing can feel like a retrograde, forcing us to take a pause and reflect about what comes next. Listen to In The Deep

Stories That Shape Us An IHeartRadio original podcast Coming to you on the Iheart Radio app Apple Podcasts or whatever you listen to podcasts The next chapter in your story includes knowing your status Learn more and press play on your future at know my status.com

sponsored by Gilead This clip is brought to you by State Farm At State Farm They know it's important to ensure the things you love They also get that everyone has a budget That's why they have options like insuring your car and your home, getting you great rates on both. It's a good idea to consider State Farm.

For surprisingly great rates, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Call or go to StateFarm.com for a quote today. If you could talk to me a little bit about the process you went through, and I think it's good to not pat yourself on the back, but to put it out there so other people can kind of hear what it takes. Like, I don't know. I always look at like this. Like, what do I want?

I wanted to be at WWW. Superstar. All right, what does it take to be a WW Superstar? What are the tools I will need to give me every possible opportunity I can get? And so I took the tools of acting classes, improv classes, wrestling school, everything I possibly

can to knock on the door of WWW. The people of the, everyone on that real world show would wear my t-shirts, would always ask me to do the MIS. Like, they were so supportive. Like, you don't get it that very often. You really don't. Listen to the My Culturra podcast network available on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

podcasts. What is it about? And some of it is the Aussies, right? They're just wired differently. I don't know how they do it at the Australian Institute of Sport, but they do get guys to be in the moment, play for the team, play for each other, right? Like, it's real, the Aussie thing is a real thing where they, they, and it's interesting that Ben Simmons hasn't necessarily been connected with it because he, even though he does

like to share the basketball. He's not really like those guys. How much of it is their makeup? How much of it is Randy's coaching that's allowed St. Mary's to continue? Because I don't know if people understand, like, how big and upset it is, that they're continually successful. Like, they've redone the McKinion Pavilion and made it nice,

but it's still a tiny school, you know, in a beautiful part of the country, but not one that they're like, they're not able to go and out recruit Cal or Stanford, right, right in Northern California. Yeah, no. Right, like, how much of it is the Aussies, how much of it is Randy that allows them to be successful?

Yeah, well, to your point, you know Jim Shaw, he's associate head coach at Washington State. He's been a great mentor to me, but he's been all over the country, he's competed in, you know, probably 15 NCAA tournaments, Oklahoma, Washington. He's been at all these Power Five schools. He calls it the Miracle in Maraga, because you see St. Mary's College basketball on TV, but it's a different deal when you're there. You know, it's a small school, but there's just, you know, there's something,

Randy's built something that's incredibly special. I think it's a combination of both. It's a great, it's a great platform, you know, for the Aussies, for their culture. Those guys would say, you know, they kind of draw the correlation or use the metaphor of growing up watching footy, you know, their Aussie rules football, compared to our football.

You know, I think in the NFL... Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.

Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games,

from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist. Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my

own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Destin, Ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust i want you to just really be a good person join me care gains is we have

real conversations about healing growth fatherhood pressure and purpose on my new podcast learn the hard way open your free iHeart radio app search learn the hard way and listen now what's up guys this is cliver Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, the Clivert Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker

walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.

He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. He running up the court,

licking his fingers, why he got the bar. Like, you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out. real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the balls. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, a guy scores a touchdown.

There's a lot of self-glurification, you know, the celebrations. It's all about, you know, who put it over the goal line. They would say that in their sport and footy, a lot of times it's the hand pass, it's the assist, it's the hockey assist that led to. Yeah, you know, the guy kicking it through and scoring the points. And the celebrations, you know, and being over there this summer and getting to watch one of those games in person, it's real. Like, there's not as much attention drawn to self.

It is more about team. There are so many people out on the pitch at one time. The head coach is in the booth. It's the team culture, I think, is emphasized more at a younger age. The grassroots level, the attention of fundamentals is more acute, and it translates. And these guys get to college and they know what it means to be a teammate. And I think, you know, how to work at it and not panic if your freshman year isn't going exactly the way that maybe you had built it in your mind's eye. Yeah, well, it's funny.

So my last, one of my last big college basketball shows at ESPN, okay, so this is in 2012. I was, it was one of the days where a team, it was where I think they beat Gonzaga in the WCC finals. And I was on with a guy named Adrian Branch. Now, Adrian Branch is a great player and really, really funny. And I have a great relationship with him. But I was trying to make the point about the miracle of Maraga. And, like, he actually cut me off. And I was like, I don't think people understand what Randy Bennett took over.

The gym was terrible. The school's tiny. They won two games a year before he got there. And I started to go into the stats. He's like, why are you talking? Basically, he was basically like, why are you talking shit about same areas? And I was like, and I actually said, can you please stop talking? I'm not done.

Right? And I was, and forever, like, I, we actually had, like, meetings about it. and I probably, you know, I just should have just kept going and I ended up still going, but I shouldn't have said it that way. It was I was trying to relay just how amazing it was. What about Randy? If you were to give one or two takeaways, because I've said, you know, like one of the great things about my job is, like, I get to watch these practices. And I'm going to just tell you, like, I remember they were in, I don't know if you were there.

You might have been there. Yeah, out in Hawaii. and I was doing a game and we did the Diamond Head Classic and did you coach when you guys were in the Diamond Head Classic? I'm trying to think what year is. No, no, that was I think the year after I came down to CBU. Okay, so I remember watching,

and I had done his clinics before and I'd spoken to the camps before, whatever, and I'd done his games before, but the way it worked there was you land and you actually had maybe a two days of practice before you played depending on where you flew in from. And I remember watching his practice and be like, I mean, I've seen 200 teams practice. Okay, maybe not 200 schools, but 200 different coaches coach practice probably in 15 years of broadcasting.

And I actually have probably seen more. And of the most impressive practices, Brad Stevens in Hawaii was the first time I saw it, Randy Bennett, Tony Bennett, Tony Bennett and Randy would be three of the end. what stuck out to me was that the start of every practice was passing, catching fundamentals, as well as everything else, right? And we do operate in the assumption everybody does it, but everybody doesn't do it. What about him as a coach, if you were to relate to other coaches to listen to this pod, like this is the secret sauce other than getting those players from Australia who have those

fundamentals but also are willing to sacrifice themselves? Yeah, I would say a couple things. One, you've already alluded to. Incredibly consistent. I mean, the consistency in his program, in his leadership, and what he brings to the table every day, special, special. And then he studied every detail of the profession. from scheduling to shooting, to building a culture, to team building, to down to the last detail,

graphics on the hallway. He wants to get better in every area every year. And he's incredibly passionate about it. And the last thing I would say is Greg Popovich has this line that, that says, you know, coaching is like, I can't remember what percent he used, but call it 85 percent force of personality. And, you know, Randy has never tried to be anyone else. He's maybe not the most charismatic or demonstrative, but there's a force to his leadership and guys believe in it. And there's an incredible consistency behind, consistency behind it.

He's all about the team. He's all about the staff, cares about his guys. If you look at the success of the assistant coaches that he's had move on, I mean, it's becoming just a great tree. I think that's something he's proud of. And then, you know, I think within his personality, you can see why he stayed where so many other guys, when they have that success at the mid-major level, or in a conference like WCC, they've left.

And, you know, he's not, he's not trying to be anyone else. He, he knows who he is. And he believes in the way they do it. And I think the players, the players feel that, St. Mary's feels that. And he's constantly trying to improve. So it's really, you know, I think the, the math, in it is in the simplicity. He doesn't get knocked off balance by anything, and he's, you know, nothing slips by

him. He's going to be on top of everything. He loves to watch film, loves to scout, you know, loves to teach guys how to scout. So it was an incredible place to study at. And, you know, I'm very, very fortunate that I had the opportunity to lead with him for, for the three years that I did. Okay, so how did the CBO job come to be? How did it happen?

We were playing in the NCAA tournament. It was Mitch Young, Delhi, those guys' senior year, and we beat Middle Tennessee in the playing game. Then we played Memphis in Detroit, and we got beat. Real low-scoring game, both teams struggled

to score points. And we were flying back, and I got a message from the VP here at CBO, Kent Dacus, who's become, you know, a great mentor of mine. And that's when I found out there was an opportunity here. It was interesting because when I was coaching at UC Riverside, I had known about CBO, and I'd been on the campus before coaching at Concordia, and I thought there was great energy on this campus and they were looking to improve their basketball program.

So I flew down, and when I flew down, I was blown away because the campus and everything going on at CBU had changed so much. There had been so many improvements that had been made. That's when I met the president here, our president, Dr. Ron Ellis, and was able to spend some time with him and, you know, really see, get a chance to, you know, hear some of the things that he had in store for CBU in the years to come. And I just thought, man, what an incredible opportunity to build a basketball program.

You know, we were transit, this school was transitioning from NAA to Division II. There were no promises being made about Division I. There were no promises made about the CBU event center that we're playing in now. but there were some things foreshadowed, forecasted, but you had to jump in on the belief train that they were on. And I did. I mean, I really felt the leadership. So that's kind of how it came about.

It happened very quickly. And before I knew it, it was time to get down here and start going to work. This clip is brought to you by State Farm. At State Farm, they know it's important to ensure the things you love. They also get that everyone has a budget. That's why they have options. like insuring your car and your home, getting you great rates on both. It's a good idea to consider State Farm.

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1, been a part of St. Mary's. What's the process like of selecting a staff, of finding the players, and, and of building it really from scratch? Yeah, that, that was kind of some of the most. enjoyable parts about the journey were some of the decisions that I had made prior to in my career. You know, it was like everything was manifesting itself. So I just hired the same guys that I was coaching with at Citrus. And I just felt like we could lead together.

We could build something. I had so much confidence in those guys. When I left Citrus, they had gone other places to continue to prepare themselves for an opportunity. like we were about to undertake. And so it didn't take long and we put our staff together very quickly. And, you know, I think that's where getting the head coaching job at a young age

at Citrus paid off because ultimately, you had the belief that you could run a practice, that you could get guys to believe in a vision. And you didn't spend a lot of time worrying about some of the things that weren't in place. I mean, one of the first things that I was asked when I was on campus at CB at the time that we had the Van Dyne Gym, which was a great old school venue, but they asked point blank, did you think you can win big with our current facility?

Well, my experiences, coaching college basketball were all from at institutions where we didn't have the greatest resources or facilities. So I was like, yeah, it has nothing to do with that. It's all about the people. But I wasn't having to, like, talk myself into that or convince myself with that. My experiences were just, they were that. So we just jumped in and we were very blessed.

There were seniors here that were dying to be a part of something special, and they were all in. I mean, there was, they jumped all in from day one. And then we were able to, there were a few guys. that we were recruiting at St. Mary's, that, you know, the St. Mary's situation was so solid. And, you know, at that point, you were only going on the best of the best. I mean, we were signing, like, the Oregon three-time player the year. So there were guys on our list that were never going to probably get offers at CBO.

And we were able to get a few of those guys on visits at CBO and speak to the enthusiasm that was, that was in place and kind of say, hey, here's our vision for what we're doing. And we had a few guys jump in. And we got it rolling right away in large part because of the buying of those seniors. Okay. So you fast forward to this year, right? Yep.

And this year, November 13th, it's your first game as a full-fledged member Division I, right? And you're playing at Oral Roberts. What do you remember about the experience? of, is it any different knowing that you're a full-fledged member of Division I? I want to get to how the game ended, but just the walking out there, having been through the process, having a new arena, having built a program from essentially from scratch, what was that, did that game feel any different being a D1 member?

It's surreal because, I mean, you know you competed for so long, Doug. There's very few times as a competitor, are you going to not deal with expectations? But, you know, for the few years leading it up to our opportunity to compete at the Division 1 level, we were scrimaging Division 1 teams, and we were playing in exhibition games, but that's a different deal because it's all a bonus-type situation. You know, if you beat one of those teams, everyone says, great job, man, you guys are, you guys are building something special, but if you get beat, you kind of get a pass. and so this was our first time competing where the scoreboard you know somebody was going to

somebody was going to get a win and somebody was going to take an L it was going to be on the bottom ticker we were representing CBOU which has a great product and we've been blessed to be you know kind of the front porch of the university in terms of representing the school nationally athletically. So there was a lot on it. It definitely felt different. And of course you win on a half-court shot, right? And in a place at Oro Roberts where, you know, it says on the floor,

expect a miracle you guys win your first Division I game, you win on a half-court shot. What was that experience like? Oh, it was amazing because we played well. I think we only turned the ball over four times in the game. We made some shots. We had different guys step up, but as you know, competing on the road in college basketball, you got to play a full 40 minutes.

And we had probably the last, you know, three and a half minutes of the game, we struggled to score. We gave up a few threes. You know, and it looked, it was coming down the wire. It looked like, gosh, is one of those games where you play tough on the road, but you just don't, maybe you just don't quite have enough to get it done. And so we needed one stop. I thought we played pretty good defense.

They hit a contested three to go up two. We snap an outlet. Our guys imbounded. Our mantra for the year that we had put in place was fearless, because that's how we wanted to enter the spirit of the season was just fearless. You know, let's go into every game, you know, believe when we can get it done. If we don't get it done, let's put everything into it. if we don't get it done, let's reset mentality.

Let's go after the next one. So we snapped the outlet pass, and our point car, Malano, I think, took one, two dribbles, and he shot it like he was supposed to make it. I mean, he had a fearless mindset, and the ball goes in, and it's just one of those moments where you're like, oh, my gosh, I mean, this is, you couldn't have scripted it any better. You guys, after that, you had a losing streak. You lost four in a row. Tulsa. Obviously, you stayed in Tulsa and lost that a close game.

He had smacked in Nevada. They were an elite team with, you know, older team. You lose at home to Pine Bluff and 3-O-T. You lose to Howard. But then you start kind of reeling some off, including a win over crosstown, you know, crossed down, not really a rival, UC Riverside. That was kind of your season, right? Go on a winning streak, going a losing streak. Go on a winning streak, going on a losing streak. at the mid and frankly low major level, how do you handle that?

Like you're a competitive dude. You've won a lot of games at St. Mary's, at Citrus, you know, at other stops as well. How do you handle the fact that, like, look, you're going to lose a bunch of games. That's just going to happen. How do you not let it kind of bring you down and get into a negative vortex?

Yeah. And I think additionally, we were, you know, we were coming out of a really good run at the Division II level. where our locker room expected to win. And I was, you know, I was thinking going into the season and really praying about it, okay, is that something that can really be good for us, that winning culture,

or is that going to make what you're talking about even tougher? When you do get beat, you know, or you trip, you fall down, you know, you go through a tough stretch, are we going to, Are we going to be able to keep our resiliency? And I think at the end of the day, it did pay off for us because we were winning those games at the Division II level because we had put a huge emphasis on recruiting character. And I think, you know, Dick Bennett talked about this a lot when they got the Washington State job. And I've heard it mentioned a little bit over the last two years.

People have come back to this. said, you know, you've got to, sometimes you've got to get guys that you can lose with first. And I think really what he's talking about is you've got to get character. And we had good, really good character in our program, and we had a great leader, senior leader in Jordan Heading. And his, it was, we were kind of playing off his resiliency. You know, he triple overtime loss to Pine Bluff. All right, let's go.

Let's go get something done. see if we can go win at UC Riverside, you know, or we went through a tough stretching conference. Okay. You know, there's great things available for us. You know, let's go try and make the CBI or the CIT. Let's try and do it better than anyone's ever done before. We knew the record for wins at the Division I level in the first year was 15. So we weren't afraid to talk about some of those tangible things,

but I think it's easier to talk about the tangible things when you do trust. the character in the locker room. So that paid off huge for us. You know, I think if we had put a bigger emphasis on just recruiting talent as we were making the transition, I think we could have fallen victim to exactly the things you're talking about, which are you're going to take some bumps. And if you're just trying to get the best player you can possibly get... Those guys have never lost.

I've never been told no. All right, I got, I got like three more for you. and then we both have to go. Greatest player of all time is who? Michael Jordan. Why? The ability to own the moment. I saw some statistic that somebody was talking about the other day

that Jordan had like some ridiculous stretch. This will require accountability, but some ridiculous stretch where he never lost more than two NBA regular. season games in like a seven-year stretch. I just think his, the individual ability combined with the fortitude to get his team to compete at his level, second to none. The greatest coach, the best coach you've ever coached you've ever coached against.

That's a great question. Probably, gosh, Mark Fuick, Gonzaga. I mean, the battles that we had with them when I was at St. Mary. So look, they got really good players, but why? What about Fuey as a coach? Did you guys, because there is a rivalry there. St. Mary's guys and Gonzag guys don't usually say nice things about each other. What is it about them as a coach that you think makes them special?

I think their teams find a way to keep getting better every year, like throughout the season. And I don't think people really realize how difficult that. is to repeat year after year because it's such a long season and we've made it longer. I mean, I think the NCAA has done a lot of great things with instituting the summer hours and, you know, more work, more hours in the fall.

We get four on the floor now and I think those trends are great. I think that we should continue to build towards more time with our student athletes, but I think the flip side of that is the season is longer. So to consistently, and every year, create a culture where your team is playing with tremendous energy and buy-in and camaraderie and obviously execution. Yeah.

Pretty special stuff. When you compete against them, you definitely feel it. Rick, this has been great stuff, man. I can't wait to see your team play. I know you had your first practice yesterday. Milan is back as a point guard. He had some huge nights, the 30 against New Mexico State. that probably your biggest win of your year.

I really appreciate you join us in the All Ball podcast. Thanks for the time. A huge fan of the podcast and grateful to be on it. Be sure to catch live editions of the Doug Gottlieb's show Weekdays at noon Eastern 3 p.m. Pacific. Wow, that was great stuff from Rick Croy. Remember he's head coach at Cal Baptist, C.B.U. Out in Riverside, so as you're watching CBU, I think the Lancers.

you'll go like, oh, that guy, rising star in the coaching profession. My thanks to him. And, of course, if you want to listen to the Doug Gottlieb show daily, 3 to 6 Eastern, 12 to 3 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, IHeart Radio app, series XM 217 and 203. You can also follow me on Twitter at Gottlieb show. Maybe next week we'll take some questions, and I'll give you some answers on the pod.

In the meantime, enjoy the hoops conversation, and we'll continue to have great guests. I'm Doug Gottlieb, and this is AllBall. Do you own or rent your home? Sure you do, and I bet it can be hard work. You know, it's easy, bundling policies with GEICO. GEICO makes it easy to bundle your homeowners or renters insurance along with your auto policy. It's a good thing, too, because you already have so much to do around your home.

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