The Herd with Colin Cowherd - All Ball - College Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee Tom Penders Talks 40 Years in Coaching, Texas Run, Recruiting, Philosophy

Episode Date: December 10, 2020

In this episode, Doug is joined by College Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Tom Penders to discuss his incredible 40 year coaching career at 7 schools, including his memorable run at Texas, why he played up tempo, his days as a basketball and baseball standout at U Conn, and why he passed on a possible major league baseball career to pursue coaching. 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. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show.

This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians,

and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember all those big dreams used to have? And then life made other plans. With a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, it's time to bring those dreams back. Start your own business or commit to van life with a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van. Now, you could win the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter mode four by four that was.

We have enter the Dan Patrick show Ultimate Camping Rigs Sweepstakes. To enter, get official rules. Visit Danpatrick.com or Fox SportsRadio.com. Have to do it by February 2nd for your chance to win. Are you ready for the big day? Not your big day. Her big day. Valentine's Day. Celebrate the one who caught your heart. Go to FTT.com to save 15% through February 14th with code crush 15 on fresh. Flores delivered flowers for your sweetheart. See website for details. FTT.

Give with Meaning. What up? Welcome in. This is all ball. All basketball. All ball all the time. My guest in this episode is Tom Penders, legendary head coach at Texas, Houston,

Columbia, Rhode Island, Tufts, right? Bridgeport Central, an old Yukon basketball and baseball player. Wait to you hear what sport he actually played while coaching in college, while coaching in college, he was a national champion in another sport. Pretty amazing stuff that I had no idea before we started the conversation.

I do want to hit you at this. Can we please take a breath on the, we need to stop college basketball because players are safer when they're at home. No, they're not. No, they're not. You know what you don't do when you're in college and you're at home? You don't go see a doctor or a trainer several times a week to get tested. or if you're not feeling well. You're sick, you sweat it out at home, right?

That's what you do. So in addition to not having the medical care, it's not like an 18 to 24 year old. You send them home for a month is not going to go out. So you have one of the supervision of your medical experts at school. You have money to the supervision of your coach so they can't go out. Plus, most college basketball players are used to this time of the year being alone on a campus anyway. It's the men's team, the women's team, and only the football team.

if they're playing in a bowl game, other than otherwise, you've got the campus to yourself. This is very normal. Are the games abnormal? Sure. Does it feel weird to be playing when so many things are shutting down?

I'm sure it does. But you have to consider the alternative. The alternative is either going home to take whatever you have home with you or to catch whatever is at home. And you're going to go out in public if you're home. Don't tell me these kids are going to go home

and stay inside the room and isolate and quarantine. Like, it's not happening. So I love the coaches that are thinking about everybody and what the best decision is. I would also point out that that's not actually the best decision. And by the way, it's weird. College basketball and Kentucky kind of stinky, Duke kind of average. Kansas, well coached, beat Creighton.

He's, Bill Self is going to go down as one of the more underrated coaches of all time. But that's not a super talented team. North Carolina, okay, right? Okay. Like, you almost feel like college basketball in, needs those teams or one or two of those teams to be awesome to get our grab America's attention. In the meantime, they're not. And we somehow have games, sometimes don't have games, didn't have Baylor Gonzaga.

We're caught in the should we be playing? Should we not be playing? Like, look, if you get to play, keep playing. If you can't, you shut down, you start back up, you get back after it. But I think the idea of sending kids home, that's not actually a safer. It's an interesting thought. Put it up as a brainstorming. All right, what are our options here, guys?

send him, what about sending him home? Not really a great idea. That's how I'd look at it. You can download the Doug Gottlieb show on your Iheart radio app. You can listen to the podcast version of it, or you can listen to it on Fox Sports Radio or Fox Sports Radio.com anytime. Before we get to Tom Penders, just want to remind you, that's at 3 to 6 Eastern, 12 to 3 Pacific.

He is a college basketball hall of famer. He has that kind of legendary curly hair. He is never short with his opinions. And you're going to love my sit down. with soon to be inducted, college basketball hall of famer, Tom Penders. Obviously, he's a Hall of Famer. That's just one of the myriad of reasons.

We're having him on. Additionally, if you look over his left shoulder, if you're watching this on IG, or on YouTube, he's also an author. He's been a college basketball analyst, college basketball head coach. He's Tom Penders.

He joins us in the All Ball podcast. And let me start with this, coach. I know you've known for a while. I know these classes were not just announced when it became, but where were you when you, found out and who is your first call to? That's two questions. So I learned in early January of last year, right at the beginning of January, I got a call

from the NABC that I was being inducted into the class of 2020 along with the other members. I didn't know who the other members were. And at that point, I really didn't care. I was just elated and are you sure? Who voted? How did I get in this thing? Because I really didn't have any idea, you know, how one gets elected to that. So they just said, no, it's your peers.

You have to be recommended by a couple of people that are on or in the Hall of Fame. And then it goes to a committee. And then there's a secret society. of coaches, ex-coaches that pick the candidates that go in. So the first one I called my daughter, my daughter, Carly, who's up in Rhode Island at our Rhode Island Beach House. She's taking care of things up there, living up there during this pandemic. And we're here in Miami Beach.

I'm recovering from back surgery, which I had in late August. and my surgeon was down here at the University of Miami. So we're here, and it's a nice place to rehab. I can think of worst places to be at this time. Take me back, Kay. Stratford, Connecticut is where you grew up, and you play basketball at Yukon. And it's interesting if you told people you play basketball at Yukon now,

it's a very different image than what Yukon basketball was, What was it like when you arrived on campus and stores? Well, I was a full baseball scholarship athlete. The coach that committed a scholarship to me was Hugh Greer, and he had a very weird thing happen. He died on a racquetball court in early February of my senior year in high school. I was leading the state and scoring, and I had a lot of schools chasing me,

but I always wanted to go to Yukon. I used to listen to their games on radio as a kid growing up, I think, from the time I was 10 years old. And my older brother was there as a baseball player. The baseball coach said, if you want to try out for basketball, you'd go ahead. I think he didn't think I could make the basketball team. But the coach who came in in the springtime,

Fred Shable, his name. He went on to fame and other things. He was an executive vice president of Comcast in Philadelphia. He's still alive. We're still in contact. He was the second guy I called after I found out. And anyway, I went to Yukon and I went out in the fall after our baseball workouts were finished around the 25th of September. and I played pickup with the guys in the gym, and we played games of half court four on four, and I stepped right into it, and I felt that I was the best point guard out there.

We were called playmakers in that era. The point guard term didn't come until the early 70s, and it came from a coach who's also in the Hall of Fame, Hugh Durham. He had two little guys running that position, and he called won the point. They ran a one-three-one offense, and then the wings. And then he designated the four and the five in other ways.

But that's where that term came from. So I was thinking to myself, you know, going into my freshman year that I could not only make the varsity, but I could play. And that's exactly what happened. The team in my freshman year, they finished like 16 and 11. They weren't very good.

In our scrimmages we used to have, we were quicker, we were deeper, and like five guys from that team were in the rotation in my sophomore year. But we were basically an undefeated team that year. Our only two losses came when we didn't have our All-American Center, Toby Kimball, who was out.

He averaged 20 points and 21 rebounds a game. And he played about 11 years in the NBA as backup for Bill Russell, Karima, Bill Jabbar, and then a couple of other well-known centers in the league. He ended up out in San Diego with the San Diego Rockets. I remember going out there when I was in the final forum watching him play. And I checked them out when they were playing in Boston when I was at Yukon. he was out. They thought he had some heart problem. It just was a chest muscle spasm. We were in Buffalo in the tournament, but we lost to Holy Cross, which was a big rival in those days. We played them

twice a year, and they should have been in a conference with us, but they chose to be independent along with Providence and Boston College and go for the ECAC bids. In those days, they It was very different than today. It was a regional sport. We were one of the few teams that had trips. We went to Texas and played Baylor and SMU during my junior year. In my sophomore year, we traveled to that tournament in Buffalo, we lost Toby Kimball.

And it was a, you know, the gyms were packed. Yukon basketball was, you know, as big. in the state of Connecticut, as it is now. You know, there were like 14 state newspapers that covered us. And it wasn't unusual to have seven or eight of them show up for practice. And our coach was one of those who, you know, he's very organized. And he, you know, he had his rules about talking to the media. But he allowed us, you know, like once a week to spend time with the media.

So I got used to doing that as a sophomore. But, you know, it was an opportunity that I'm so glad I had. I had opportunities to sign baseball contracts. I was offered a lot of money out of high school, but I wanted to go to Yukon, play baseball and basketball. In those days, you couldn't be a pro baseball player and play college basketball. So that was out. The draft started in my sophomore year in 1965, and we were in Omaha, Nebraska,

playing in the college world series. And a bunch of scouts were pounding me about would I sign if I was drafted? And I said, no, absolutely not. You know, I want to play basketball. I was the leader of the team already. And I enjoyed it so much. And Yukon, if you're on the basketball team, if you're a starter on the basketball team, or, you know, in the rotation, you not only get fame, but you get attention.

and when I finished playing ball at Yukon, I played pro baseball for one year, and during the off season, I was offered a head high school job. And I loved the experience. I had a team of, we were called the Mighty Midgets. We came from a four-win season with the same kids,

and we turned it around and won 14 games and lost six and got to the state quarterfinals. I was hooked. I turned down Cleveland's offer to come back. I made an all-star team as a first-year player. I was elevated to AA and was going to go back to AA. And we negotiated all the way through the spring and half the summer. But I decided to make my career in college basketball.

We were high school at that time. I really wasn't thinking about college basketball. I just loved coaching. and teaching. Okay, so you went, you coached two high school. The second one was Bridgeport Central, which by the way, my mom grew up right down the street. I think she attended a leadership camp or something with you

when you guys were both in high school. She was in Bridgeport, you were in Stratford, right? How did you make the jump from Bridgeport Central to Tufts? Well, a guy who covered our team at Yukon for the Willamantic paper, which is right next to Storbs, Connecticut, a guy named Dave Estridge. He moved up to Boston and became the sports writer for the Medford Daily newspaper,

which is where Tufts is located, which is just like five miles from Boston Garden and a beautiful campus. But Dave called me up. He was the Sports Information Director at Tufts, while he was writing up there for a small paper in Medford. He just called me out of the blue in the late spring of 1969, 69 and 6970 had to have been 71.

Nobody's ever asked me that question. But it was after my third year at Central, and we were like the number one team in New England. We averaged over 100 points a game, and the state of Connecticut had just great basketball, in that era. Calvin Murphy played there, John Bagley, West, Matthews, Charles Smith.

They all came from the Bridgeport area. But Hartford and New Haven also put out excellent basketball teams and players during that time. And I was a little bit hesitant about making the move, but he just said, Tom, I've talked to the AD, I've talked to the assistant AD. I've talked to somebody in the faculty council, and the job is yours that you've got to come up here for an interview.

So I said, what the heck? I went up there for an interview. I spent like five hours up there on campus, and I had the job. So I said, I think I lost a few thousand dollars by going to Tufts, but it was a college job. They didn't tell me I had to, to coach another sport.

So I chose, they gave me a choice between baseball, where I played professionally, and soccer, which I had never played in my life. But it was in the fall before basketball started because, you know, you got to recruit in the spring in basketball. And I knew that. And I also knew that I'd be exhausted at the end of the season like I always was, even in high school coaching. So I was a.

soccer, JV soccer coach. And our very first match was against Harvard, over at Harvard, next to the football stadium where they played a varsity game that day. And I coached against a guy named Seamus Mallon, who was the voice of American soccer for years here. He did the Olympics, the World Games. And he asked me after the game, it was a one-one tie. you know Tom what style of soccer was that and I said that's the way we play it in

bridgeport Connecticut he looked in me kind of funny he said like imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged it's the enhanced games some call it grotesque others say it's unleashing human potential either way the podcast's superhuman documented it all embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year within probably 10 days I'd put on 10 pounds I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care where you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Cliverts Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you're. need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Hey, I'm Jordan Ardano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, hope from a hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice.

One ring is too scary. Oh, cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is help from a hair. Hippocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coutura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know

there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows,

including the Real House Wise franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it. I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, when people are at home, they want entertainment. to hear this and more.

Listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Where's that? What does that have to do with soccer? But anyway, we full court... So I don't know if you know that.

So my dad's first college job was it Quinnipeak? No, true. For Bert Con. Hamden. Yes. And kind of same thing, where Bert hired him to be

the JV, at the JV coach, varsity assistant, freshman coached as well, and he had to coach soccer. And he had no idea. So he went to the library, checked out a book on how to coach soccer. He had to line the fields.

He didn't know how to line the fields at all, right? And that's very, like again, a very, yeah, very, very, very, very different time. I knew your dad. He never told me that one. His story of the rose is a story of love. from farms to our florists and right into the arms of sweetheart savoring a date night in

best friends showing their galantines how much they adore them and those giving themselves a little love go to FtD.com and save 15% through February 14 with Code Crush 15 and celebrate your love story with iconic roses, florals and gifts from FTD. What grows in the forest? sure. Know what else grows in the forest? Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too.

Because when we disconnect from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. If I could be you... And you could be me for just one hour. Have you could find a way to get inside. Each other's mind. Walk a mile in my shoes.

Walk a mile in my shoes. Walk a mile in my shoes. We've all felt left out. And for some, that feeling lasts more than a moment. We can change that. Learn how it belonging begins with us.org. Brought to you by the ad council. You had incredible success at Tufts in a short period of time.

How did you do it? Like we think of these turnarounds. and it takes time, why was it so easy for you, or at least seemingly so easy, you transitioned to a college game. And then, you know, you guys were very successful at Tufts. How did you do it? Well, it was the wild 70s.

The 1970s, you know, make this time of our lives look like a very calm time compared to the 1970s. You know, the 1968, the V-Santis. Vietnam War was still going on strong. Nixon was our president. Everybody was protesting. Everybody was demonstrating. And that is what happened to the coach before me, Doug.

He, you know, he allowed his players to go and protest here and protest there. And then basically, the black players just quit on them. And, you know, I was not only hired to build a program, but, you know, to correct what was going on within the basketball program and even the athletic department at that time. And that, you know, was easy to me because I did that at the high school level. You know, first you have to build a team. You know, everybody talks about culture. That word was never used during my time.

But, you know, I learned how to do that. And, you know, I had some really good mentors. And at that time, I was very close to Red Aurobeck because he drafted Toby Kimball. And I got to know him when Toby was playing for the Celtics. And also, when I moved to Boston, the first thing I did, the first practices when they opened was I called somebody in the Celtics front office and asked them if I could go and where was it. And the guy basically picked me up on campus and brought me to the site. It was in an area of Boston, I would never be able to find. It's the most difficult city in the country to find your way around Boston.

It's ridiculously hard. It took me three years to figure it out, and then I was on my way to New York. But, you know, I had some, there were some players there. There was a kid named Dennis Mink from Hartford Weaver, who I coached against in the tournament in Connecticut, in the state tournament. And they knocked this out. or, you know, maybe we split again. It was one of our only losses in my two years at Central. But Dennis was a 6-7 forward.

He was recruited by some Division I schools, but he wanted to go the academic route. And there was another young man named Reggie Freeman. I mean, not Reggie Freeman, Reggie Graham. Reggie was another 6-7 forward that was being recruited by Yukon, Boston College, and NYU.

Lou Rossini was their coach. And he decided to go the academic route in those days. He was advised by people in his high school. He was a real smart kid. And he didn't even play basketball as freshman year. So that started it off. And then another incoming freshman was a guy named Eddie Tapscott, who ended up being the GM of the Knicks, the Wizards.

And he was also an executive vice president. for the new Charlotte Bobcats under Bob Johnson. So I have two guys that were general managers that played for me that became NBA general managers and Eddie's won. He also coached when they fired Eddie Jordan. He became the bench coach for the rest of that year. And we're real close. He's a former captain of mine.

He couldn't play during that first year. Dennis Mink couldn't play during that first year because freshmen could not play varsity basketball. So I knew I had them in my program, and then it was up to me to put a team together from the scraps left over from the year before where they went one and 19. And, you know, it was a team with a lot of internal issues.

But I, you know, I was able to straighten them out. I was able to get kids on the court who wanted to focus on basketball and not the president. office and dedicate themselves to each other and what they were doing. And in our first year, we went 12 and 8. We were New England's most improved team. They didn't do nationally most improved in those days.

And we were a college division team. We didn't have three divisions during those years of Tufts. They later became Division III. We didn't have basketball scholarships, but we had. need scholarships like the Ivy League. And believe not that team, but in my second year, we were 22 and 4 and one in New England, ECACs. We upset Jim Calhoun's northeastern team.

We were as good as most Division I schools, including Yukon in that time, because Yukon was really down in that period of time. So, you know, I just. had better players as I was learning how to coach. When you went to Columbia, one of the things that is, I do think that, and this year will be interesting with Nob Ivy League basketball, but we were close a couple years ago to getting into the discussion of where the Ivy League was, as I've been told, in the late 70s when you were there, where it was cool for high-level recruits on the East Coast to not only

stay home, but to play for these unbelievable institutions, right? Is that, is that a fair? Like, there was NBA caliber players playing in the Ivy League in the 70s when you're at Columbia. Is that accurate? Right. There wasn't much said about top 25. It was more like top 20. Well, during my years of Columbia, which is four years, there were always two Ivy League teams in the top 20. One was Penn and the other was Princeton. One year of Princeton would be stronger. They had some really outstanding ball clubs. And, of course, Pete Carill was their coach.

They played a little faster style. They were able to play speed up basketball if they had to. I remember going to a game when they beat Notre Dame by 20 points. And Notre Dame was like a top 10 team at that time. Notre Dame tried pressing them and Princeton went right through their defense. but Penn had some really outstanding players, and they had this unknown coach named Chuck Daly. Nobody's ever heard of them before or since.

And that's what I found myself coaching against my first year at Columbia. The Ivy League was very good, and I had to recruit and recruit very well to get up to their level. And in my second year at Columbia, where I had a chance to recruit for a whole year, I was able to get four players from the West Coast, all from Northern California, the San Francisco Oakland area, and they were outstanding players. And I sold to them, you know, go east.

You love New York. And San Francisco kids were not afraid of going to New York, where I could go to New Jersey and try to get the best players in New Jersey, and they'd laugh at me. You know, it was like trying to hand out subpoena. as when you're going to an all-star game, you know, in the Northern Jersey area. But I was able to recruit well. You have to recruit well. It took me in my third year there to win.

I didn't do that in the first year because nobody did that in the Ivy League. You couldn't do it. You had to wait. You had to wait for your class to come up. I didn't have a chance at the end of April, Doug, when they gave out the scholarships or the grants and the academic awards and all those things, when kids were deciding whether they would go to an Ivy or not, it was already decided.

And I wasn't even allowed to bring a new applicant into the pool. So I had to accept what came. And in my second year, we had one junior and the rest 11 players were sophomores. And that was a really tough year. but that was the year we made our name because we had to play against Bob Knight and his great Indiana team that went undefeated in the holiday festival. And I got to do an article for Dick Schap, who was the sports of it, who became a very dear friend of mine. He used to help me recruit. That was part of a kid's visit to go to lunch with Dick Schap and walk around the better spots of New York.

and I sold New York. It couldn't sell it to local kids except for one player. And his name was Ricky Free. He was at Boys and Grows High School. He was the best player in the city. And he won the most valuable player at the only All-Star team that was played in the postseason. It was Pennsylvania against the U.S. Dapper Dan, right?

Sonny Vicaros, Dapper Dan tournament. And I wrote about it in my book about out recruiting Joe B. Hall for Ricky Free. Ricky was the MVP, hands down. He got it. He got the award. And then after that game, Kentucky put the full court press on. Chuck Daly from Penn was recruiting him. But I went to every one of his high school games. And over at Boys and Girls High School, they didn't allow fans. I mean, not even parents could get in to watch their kids play.

They were afternoon games because of violence after high school games. But their coach, Frank Mickens, because I went to practices and got to know him, he said, just show up. The games are at three. Show up at 2.30. I'll meet you in the back. Don't park your car in front of the school to be gone in 15 minutes or you won't have any tires. Come around the back.

We'll lock your car in the back. So anyway, I went to every one of this games. and got a commitment out of him. And that was my best recruiting story in my entire career. Here's my, I'll share my late father's, my favorite recruiting story he has is he takes over Jacksonville, about the same times. This is 19, maybe a little bit earlier. It's 1974 takes over. That's when I went to Columbia.

Right. So he takes over. You know, he's a New Yorker. and he had been at Creighton under Eddie Sutton and at Kansas Dayton and Jack Hartman. And so when he gets the job, the president calls him in and says, now, coach, our previous staff had a little bit different grant and aid program. Joe Williams, sorry. Right.

And it was Tate's Locke, wasn't it? I think it was, yeah, Tate's Lock was the previous coach. And Joe Williams before that. Yes. And they also had artist Gilmore. Yes. Yes. So.

So some footer. They had two seven footers on that team. So, and they'd gone to the final floor. So he's brought in to clean up. So the president calls him and says, listen, your top recruit is Ricky Coleman.

My dad, he played in the dapper. My dad saw him playing the dapper Dan game after he took the job. But he cannot bring his Cadillac to campus. That catalypt. was not purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Coleman. So my dad flies up to Detroit, you meet the parents, and he says, you know, had a lovely evening.

And at the end, he says, listen, this is not my call. And all I can tell you is you just can't bring the Cadillac. You can keep the Cadillac. You just can't bring to campus. No problem. So first day of school, everybody shows up. There's a team meeting in the locker room.

And Ricky Coleman walks from his dorm. to the team meeting. When he gets there, he realized that every other kid on the team has a Cadillac. And so he's like, you know, Coach, can I?

Yes, second semester. Anyway, so good. Then you fast forward to second semester and Ricky Coleman is flunking out of school. So at the time, I think there's 18 scholarships.

My dad had like 17 kids on scholarship. And he takes his best manager and he says, look, I'm going to put you on scholarship. But here's the deal. You have to get up every morning, get Ricky, walk Ricky Coleman,

two class, picking up after class. Welcome back. in his next class, et cetera. He is not in every class. You lose your scholarship. Otherwise, so at the end of that semester,

Ricky Coleman goes from ineligible to on the dean's list. The manager flunked out. That's the downside thing. Who is on scholarship flunked out. So anyway, everybody, I want to go to Texas. And I'm not skipping over Rhode Island,

which I know is very near and dear to your heart, because it is fascinating how you, you're born and raised and can, well, you had Fordham, right? So, okay, so why go from Columbia to Fordham? Well, I didn't have scholarships in the Ivy League and Columbia anyway. They were starting to make the financial aid package where every player, no matter how good he was,

was going to have to pay a certain part or work to make. If he made $5,000 in the summer, he probably had to put $4,000 of that toward his degree. And I saw that as a red flag coming. That wasn't an Ivy League rule. That was in Columbia. It sure wasn't going on at Penn and Princeton. You know, Princeton went on to win the NIT in 76, and that's when the NIT was good because only one ACC school played in the NCAAs.

And it was, you know, really good basketball at that time, the NIT. So I went to Fordham because I saw the potential there, and they had a good reputation when I was growing up. They had a great player named Ed Comlin who played for Philadelphia Warriors with Will Chamberlain. He was an outstanding player there. And we played for them when I was at UCon. And in three games, they beat us once. And they had Johnny Bach coaching who went on to coaching the NBA as Phil Jackson's assistant and the Warriors.

He was there. I think Al Adels was the head coach. Johnny was announced Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Cliverts Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or we're you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet.

Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself.

And on my new podcast, hope from a hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful, solutions. Sike!

I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream.

Cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coultera podcast network available on the I-HartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives' show. I think it looks like to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King,

recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it, I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, when people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more,

Listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Standing coach and a respected NBA coach. So I knew it could be done it for them where you could win. But their team was not, it was going to need a, maybe I could win a few games my first year, but I thought I could recruit the New York area. I was trying hard at Columbia.

I had Ricky Free. and I got to know all the coaches in the Catholic League in New York, which was a real strong basketball league. Every coach in the country was trying to recruit there. So I thought I could do well with basketball scholarships. And we went over there and we didn't win in our first couple of years. We didn't have a winning record. But in year three, we won 19 games and went to Dayton in the NIT,

He lost a triple overtime game to a guy named Roosevelt Chapin. He was an All-American from Brooklyn. Roosevelt and Don Donahar was their coach there. It was one of the best basketball games I had ever been involved in as a coach. And Don Don Donahir said the same thing on the other side. So that was my first experience in the NIT in year three. And we went on to go four more times. One time I was in N.

NBC, when NBC was doing the NCAA selection Sunday, I was in studio with Bill McAtee all Sunday afternoon, and about six favorites got beat at the smaller level. So, you know, the automatic bid got in. And then the second place bid got in from maybe the Ohio Valley. We didn't have a national reputation at Fordham. We should have because we played the national schedule. We played Notre Dame when they were number one. The same year, we went out and played UCLA. That was on our way to Hawaii, where everybody was fighting over who was going to play us.

That was my first year. And I got my 100th win out there, my very first year at Fordham. And the kids were wondering why now I was celebrating after we lost Hawaii in the opening round. That was number 100. I didn't know if I'd ever see 200. A story of the rose is a story of love. Go to FtD.com and save 15% through February 14th with Code Crush 15 and celebrate your love story with iconic roses, florals, and gifts from FD. Adoption of teens from foster care is a topic not enough people know about and we're here to change that.

I'm April Dinwiddie host of the new podcast, Navigating Adoption, presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Each episode brings you compelling real-life adoption stories told by the families that live them with commentary from experts. Visit adoptuskids.org slash podcast or subscribe to navigating adoption presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the Ad Council. Look through your children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face of a wizard.

with arms outstretched to the sky. They see treasure and pebbles. They see a windy path that could lead to adventure. And they see you. Their fearless guide is this fascinating world. Find a forest near you and start exploring at discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. But take me to Texas, though, because everything you had done in your life have an east coast.

You traveled. You know, you'd play professional baseball elsewhere. you traveled as a coach, but to take on the Texas job. You show up 1988 in Austin, Texas. How did you get that job? The only time I'd ever been in Texas was in 1972. I was playing fast-pitched softball. Our team won the national championship.

And where the Cowboys play now. Wait, wait, wait, you played fast-pitched softball while coaching high school basketball? College basketball. Did you're coaching the tough at the time? Yeah, I played major. fast-pitch softball, which is the highest level of amateur softball. And I refused to even consider a job when I was coaching unless it was in the Northeast where I could play for the Ray Besta's Cardinals, our team.

It later became the Franklin Cardinals, a guy named George Franklin. How did you do this? I did it until I was 39. Okay, but how? Like, you only practice late at night? Was it once a week? How do you stay sharp? I have so many more questions about this than about Fordham.

Doug, real quickly, we couldn't even watch the kids practice back in that era. Fast-fits softball started in late May and went through the summer and ended in the middle of September. We played 100 games. We played on Wednesday nights. We played on Friday nights, Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon. and we traveled the U.S. most of the time. So I did some recruiting while I was doing that when I was at Columbia. We played everywhere, even Canada back then, because we were the U.S. champions.

I loved it. You know, I was a baseball player. Fast-fitch softball is baseball on steroids. Seven-inning game, one run can be huge in a fast-pitch game. and we had four of the best pitchers in the world. So, you know, it is in my hometown of the Stratford, Connecticut, which is a sister city or brother city with Bridgeport. And I was probably closer to the Bridgeport City Hall than I was the Stratford City Hall growing up.

But the Rebestos Cardinals and the Rebustus Bricketts on the women's side dominated fast-pitch softball from 1969 to 1984. when I played. So I wouldn't consider a job in anywhere outside of New York, all the way from New York, maybe New Jersey, all the way up to New England while I was playing. And I was able to retire after, you know, about 15 years in the game. And I made that Hall of Fame in 2016. But the truth of that story, I was probably the eighth guy on our team that got into the Hall of Fame. We were such a dominant team that, you know, I got in probably because I was a key player on three championship teams and I played on five national championship teams. So I wasn't afraid to go to Texas at all. And when I went to Rhode Island, we go to the Sweet 16 in my second year,

I was, I guess, a hot coach in those days. And the only school that really was after me was Redkers. They had been after me one of the time when I was at Fordham and they chose Craig Littlepage and that was fine with me. I really didn't chase the job at all. But then it changed. They started paying really big money. At Rhode Island, I was one of the lowest paid coaches in the country. I was making 47,500 from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. 87, 88. They gave me like a $2,000 raise in our sweet 16 year. And then all of a sudden, Rutgers was offered me like $300,000,

which seemed like $3 million at the time in the late 80s. So I was all set to go to Rutgers. I was going to have a final interview with their athletic director at the Final Four in Kansas City. and then I got a call from Texas, and their assistant athletic director was the guy who made contact with me at the Saturday games.

I just happened to be with some coaches. He knew who I was. He introduced himself. And then later on, I got a phone call from him, and then later the athletic director, the lost Dodd's call. So it all happened so fast. And before the weekend was over,

I was offered the Texas job for a lot more than Rutgers was talking. So it was a combination of it being a challenge because Texas had no tradition in basketball. You had to go back to the 40s. They had two pennants on the wall last time I was in the gym or in the arena. It said, Final Four, 1943, and 47 was the elite eight, first elite eight. In 1943, only eight teams were chosen to play in the NCAA. Everybody was in the elite. Yeah.

And the NIC wasn't even the bigger tournament. Everybody wanted to go to the NIT. Okay. So, but you did show up and you inherited pretty good talent, right? That's like one of the things that's interesting about it that I think Bob Wetlitz was the coach before you got there. But it wasn't a terrible team in terms of what, what you, it was. what Travis Mays was there, right?

And Lance Blanks was there as well. Lance and Joey Wright, who were at BMW, Blanks, Mays, and Wright. They became very famous, at least in Texas. Everybody had BMW shirts, and they were the triplets of our era.

A great bunch of players, great kids. Well, Lance Blanks had transferred from Virginia. He sat out, the year before I came there. Joey Wright was at Drake. He averaged about a half a point of game. Mo Iba was an assistant coach there, I believe.

And Mo told him that he wasn't a Division I player. And Lance averaged like two minutes a game and scored eight points during his two years of Virginia. You can look that stuff up. But after like, I'm looking it up as we speak, by the way. Go ahead. Yeah. After a week of practice, I sat Joey Wright down and Lance down and I said, I don't care what you guys did at your previous schools. I said, you guys have a chance to be one of the best back courts in the country along with Travis. I said, we'll go with three guards, two guards, whatever, and rotate you guys.

But you're going to be the heart and soul of this team. and, you know, I know talent. And I just had to work with Joey and Lance on their range on their shot, learn how to use your legs and your shot and hold to follow through. Well, I played. I was a player. And as a young coach, I had to teach kids how to shoot. And after a while, you get pretty good at it.

And that's the one thing I did as a U-Com player. I could shoot. was a very good foul shooter and I was a very good shooter. My points were scored, you know, sometimes beyond what was the NBA arc. I was a long distance shooter and I would drive and kick to my teammates. Instead of a motion offense, it was me going around my defender, penetrating and hitting the open man or throwing short lobs to my big guy. And anyway, I learned how to teach it. I had a great high school coach. My father was an outstanding basketball player or he knew how to shoot.

So I learned at a very young age of fundamentals of shooting. And I can spot kids. I can go and watch a guy shoot free throws for 10 minutes. And I can tell you what he has to improve on, what he's doing wrong. And even to this day, you know, I can watch a game and see the kid. I see the rotation on the ball, watch his follow through. You know, is he set before he gets it? Is he already started his shooting motion before or just as he's catching the ball?

Or does he wait, look for the basket and then go through? He's lost all of his rhythm by that time. And sometimes that's the difference between being a great three-point shooter and being a 25% three-point shooter. And, you know, I've helped kids since I retired, you know, from all over the country, improve their shooting. When I was in Texas last winter, I talked with Matt Coleman a lot about using his legs and not shooting jump shots from out, you know, long range in the fourth part of the game, you know, four minutes ago, your legs are dead, you're wide open, but you don't have the strength to get it up there. So anyway, these players didn't have reputations or the history of being that great.

Travis Mays was the center of his high school team at Ocala, Florida. And his high school coach told me when he called me up, he said, you know, we had to use them at center. We full court pressed, and he's great at that no matter where you put him. And, you know, you're going to have to work with him a little bit. Well, he was an easy study, and he picked things off right away. He was one of those guys that every coach should have. You know, he was glued into everything you said.

He took it home, wrote notes, and then you come back to next day with a couple of questions. He was that way about everything. He was conscientious the whole bit. What was it like to coach your son? That was tough. Probably a lot tougher on me than it was for him. He's had opportunities to talk about it, and he just cracks a smile and a joke. Dad should have played me more.

He knew I was the best player. on the team. But Tommy knew what he was getting into. You know, we had great guards at Texas when he came. We had B.J. Tyler, who was the third team All-American. You had Roderick Anderson. And Reggie Freeman was like a foreman on that team. And Terrence Rensher, the all-time leading scorer, who wasn't a scorer.

He was like 15 points a game in high school. he got all the awards for, you know, he's team won. But Terrence was a reluctant score. You know, I had to, you know, kick him in the rear end a few times to get him to shoot more. But Terrence was a great player, all-around player. Defensively, he's now at Creighton, working with their guards. And I thought that was a great place for him to go. He's been around.

He's jumped around, you know, he tried to work his way up as an assistant. and coach with hopes of someday maybe going back east and coaching in the big east somewhere. So Creighton's a great spot for him. I agree. Tommy agreed to play there. And I told him, I said, Tom, do you realize who's in front of you? He said, yeah, but dad, you know, I want to be part of winning. I want to be part of the whole deal.

And it was just great to be around him every day. I mean, you know, that was a godsend for me. I loved it. And maybe I could have played him more, but I played him when it counted. He was always on the floor. He was a finisher, great foul shooter, great open three-point shooter. But he wasn't Terrence Renscher or BJ Tyler or Roderick Anderson. So he knew that.

Your teams, and obviously if people are watching on the video form, you can see the running horns. You guys used to really run, really push the basketball. and that was one of things that freed some of these players up to have better college careers than even at high school careers, right? Is you were, and Southwest Conference did play fast, but everywhere you went, you played fast. If you were to give some. Only two schools in the Southwest Conference ran. That was Arkansas and Texas. The rest of them were walking it up the floor.

And on their weekly telecast on Saturday afternoon, all you heard were bouncing basketballs and squee. sneaking sneakers, kind of what we have to watch today with no crowd and, you know, there's no noise like they had at the NBA. Why do you think more coaches don't play fast? Well, I agree with my mentor, Red Arbach, and I asked him this question when I went to George Washington. He, that's where his home is. Right.

And he just said, he just thinks that coaches are paid too much money and they have to justify the half, you know, this five million a year. They have to stand up and act like they're calling every play, calling every possession. And, you know, the kids are locked in and they're not allowed any freedom. They're not allowed to do what they can do best in many cases. The exceptions are Gonzaga, Creighton, who I saw yesterday, sometimes Kansas lets their guys go a little bit. You know, I watched North Carolina last night. Nobody's allowed to drivel. You know, you have to pass it and cut. Pass it and cut. And bad teams can stay with a great team like that, great talent. You know, Roy Williams last year, won 14 games doing the same thing,

pass and cut, pass and cut. And probably two guys from that team will eventually play in the NBA. and now this team, you know, they're doing the same thing. These kids, they come out of high school. They're great players in high school, but, you know, they're thinking too much. They got a pass and they're looking for a guy to screen or cut. So, you know, I just think that's the case. I believe Red Arborback is right. You know, coaches now, they're control freaks again.

Back in the 90s when we were playing up-tempo, you also have. had UNLV averaging 90 something points a game. You had Duke averaging 94, 95 points a game. You had Loyola Merriman averaging 109 points a game. You know, we coaches of that era, we all came from that school where we got into coaching, not for the money. And we thought of any money we got as bonus money. You know, we got ears on our contract.

Oh, my God. You know, we're used to the handshake and the three-page contract, basically one page for your signature. And now you have to have a lawyer, you know, and an accountant, go in and speak to the people at the university. It's gotten so the A.Ds and the coaches are so separated at most of these schools now. And the A.D. It's making maybe one-tenth of what a coach is making.

And that doesn't make for a great, job situation. Anytime you have people under making more money, there's a disparity there. The president's making $3 million and the basketball coach is making $9 million. I don't see how that doesn't lead to trouble and a good argument for paying the players. You know, where do I fit in here, coach? That's why they talk about it. It's because of the coach's salaries. Now, I'm not trying to, you know, talk it down.

But I think that's more reason for these coaches to let the kids go, you know, play. That was that era, late 80s and all the way up until almost 2000, maybe a little over 2000. You had kids staying in school. I mean, Shaquille O'Neal, we played LSU for three years in a row. He was there all three years. He didn't leave until after his third year. Chris Jackson, who was on that team, All-American, high-scoring guard. He didn't leave until after his third year.

And that was the case. Nobody left early. So it was the greatest era, the most talent ever in the game. And today's sport is still a good sport because kids are getting opportunities and you've got a lot more parity in the game. You've got great coaches, a lot more guys who really learn how to coach defense and switch defenses. And their scouting reports are exceptional.

You know, my former manager, Chris Beard, is the head guy at Texas Tech. He was my manager for four years. And then his last year, I asked him to do all the filming. And we had a scholarship for him. And he said, yes, sir. And he wanted to be a coach. So anyway, Chris has done pretty well for himself. He's an amazing coach.

Yeah. He's learned the communication and the team building stuff, I believe, from being around me. and then Bob Knight was the opposite of the many ways, but he's a great defensive coach. And, you know, he knew how to run the motion offense, which I believe is obsolete today to a certain extent. But Chris has figured out a way to include ball screening and he keeps good spacing, usually with guys,

shooters in the corners and all the actions in the middle of the floor. I got two minutes for you, two minutes for you. If somebody wanted to encapsulate your basketball philosophy and say, this is who Tom Pender's was as a Hall of Fame basketball coach, former player, with this incredible path to success, what would it be? Well, I think I was king of mission impossible. You know, in some cases, I was the only applicant for a job. You know, like Columbia and Fordham.

Even toughs. Nobody wanted those jobs. Rhode Island, it opened up in September, and they came after me. I didn't know the job was even open. I was very happy at Fordham, but, you know, my wife cried when we left New York City to go up to Rhode Island. But, you know, a builder of good programs, but even more important, you know, I really believe, is my relationships. I've got seven families of college kids

from seven different universities and every single one of them, you know, the guys who played for me, they stay in touch. And Dean Smith had that one family that everybody used to hear on every telecast. I have seven of them. And, you know, I expect a few of them

to show up to my funeral too. If you could, if you change one thing, thing about college basketball, would it be that guys would just let their guys play? Would it be paying their players? What would that last thing be? I think move it to 24 seconds, just like the pros, and move the three-point shot out a little bit. It's getting too easy.

It can't go much deeper in the corners. But, you know, move it out a little bit. So there's more action, more driving, the middle's open, which you're seeing more of, which was the intention of the rule. but you know you have to keep tweaking basketball is the kids are going to make it at the next level you know you have a right as a coach you have a choice as a coach rather to help the kids along so they're used to playing NBA basketball

and international basketball they have a 24 second clock I've coached it I've had the privilege of playing international coaching international ball and you know the faster the game is, the more entertaining the game is. Nobody wants to see a 40 to 38 score. Nope. I mean, you know, I saw a score yesterday. Tennessee and somebody and it was like 48. I didn't even, yeah, I mean, come on. To watch. Nope, yeah. Well, listen, that's going to the dentist. Well, listen, you're always entertaining. You're always welcome here. Let's do this again as the

season goes on and just talk ball, not talk as much about you. because your opinions are great on it. But in the meantime, congratulations to you and your family, and your seven basketball families in a college basketball Hall of Fame. And thanks much for joining it. Thanks so much, Doug.

All right, the last thing here, my thanks to Coach Penders for join me for what was nearly an hour conversation. My last thing is this, I love this James Harden's story, right? Like, the organization has done everything in their power to make it easier for him to win a championship. Now he's disgruntled over the,

their ability to compete for a championship because they got rid of Russell Westbrook because they didn't seem to get along on the basketball floor. And he's mad. And even if you are mad, even if you do want to be traded, my advice to any professional athlete is show up to work and have those conversations in confidence, not filter it through your agent and, you know, and throw one of these hissy fits. And I don't blame the Rockets for going like, yeah, we know you want to be traded. It doesn't matter.

Play for us. Because he's an incredible talent. incredible talent. Does he play defense? No. Does his style work in the postseason? Not really. And I think some of that is he doesn't play defense.

And then the postseason, he tries to play a little bit more defense. And he just doesn't have the energy for it to do what he does on offense. He dominates that. That style is great in regular season. It doesn't work in post season. But that's not even the point. The bigger point is, why isn't he there? You got a new head coach, new general manager.

The owner wasn't the one who acquired you or whatever. Like, just show up and put on the brave face and smile. and if you want to be trained, you can say as much. But that organization is on everything in their power to try and create a winner around you. It hasn't worked as of yet. And by my estimation, James Hardin is as much the problem as any of the guys that they've jettisoned. And I think he's an incredible, spectacular talent. Not just scoring, a passing the basketball as well.

All right, that's it for All-Ball reminder to download or check out the Doug Gottlieb show 3 to 6 Eastern, 123 Pacific, Fox Sports Radio.com, Fox Sports Radio, Iheart Radio app. Thanks to Tom Penders, and thank you for listening. I'm Doug Gottlieb, and this is AllBull. The story of The Rose is a story of love. Whether it's a date night with your sweetheart, a Galentine's Day with friends, or showing yourself a little extra love.

Use code Crush15 at FTT.com through February 14th and save 15% on florist-crafted bouquets, plants, and specialty gifts. See website for details. FTT. Give it meaning. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L'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.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced. games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at a Podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. Eighty-4 was big to me.

Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. Listen to The Cliford show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.