The Herd with Colin Cowherd - All Ball - College Hoops' Elite Talent Drain; NBA Christmas Overreaction; Iggy's Lakers Fit; U of San Francisco HC Todd Golden

Episode Date: December 25, 2019

This week, Gottlieb looks at the shortage of elite talent in college hoops, why the problem isn't going away, if Andre Iguodala potentially fits into the Lakers rotation, and why fans shouldn't overreact to NBA Christmas Day games. This week's guest is U of San Francisco Head Coach Todd Golden on his path from walk-on to St. Mary's to assistant under Bruce Pearl, to taking over the program that Bill Russell put on the map, and how he's approaching building his program as the third youngest head coach in Division I. 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. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played. with and just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to listen to learn

the hard way on the iha radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast 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 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 with 42. Hey, Rhett. My mama want you to weigh better.

What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifferts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 4x4 that 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. Thunderstruck, adjective.

Shocked and amazed by the power of fun on Carnival. Riding Bolt, the world's first roller coaster at sea. Brian got thunderstruck so hard, his 93-year-old grandmother felt it 3,000 miles away in Nebraska and immediately booked a cruise. Hooray! Get thunderstruck starting at 289. Carnival. Choose fun.

Cruise is running U.S. dollars per person double occupancy. Taxes, import expenses, additional restrictions, apply. Full details on carthel.com, ships, registry behind us Panama. Hey, welcome in. I'm Doug Gottlieb. And you are listening to All Ball, the All Basketball podcast. Our guest this week is Todd Golden, the Golden Child. The head coach of the University of San Francisco.

He's got all his hair. He's the fourth youngest coach, Division I basketball. He's got a beautiful young family. And he's coaching at one of the great historic programs and one of the greatest cities in the country. Not a bad gig, right? We'll get to his story. Former Walk-on, became a starter at St. Mary's,

played overseas for two years. And then, of course, was at Columbia, then at Auburn. Then at San Francisco as an assistant before becoming the head coach just this last spring. First, I want to get to two different things before we get to Todd Golden. The first is comments made by Bill Self, and I believe Jay Wright as well, in that the reason anybody can beat anybody in college basketball is that there aren't as many great players anymore.

Well, duh, yeah. I mean, it's the poorly kept secret of all poorly kept secrets is that college basketball at the very top level doesn't have nearly the town, especially. see of older players. And now you're starting to lose even the younger players, right? Now you're starting to lose even some of the freshmen, whether they're going to play in Australia. They'll probably be some that eventually try the G League thing. You know, the James Wiseman deal lasts a couple of games.

You know, between losing, if you lose three or four players overseas every year and then you lose a couple of these guys to suspension, you know, or to they play a couple of, Cole Anthony. he plays some games and then gets injured, just like Zion Williamson did last year. Like, you know, you're cutting off the top 10 kids in college basketball. I think it's not just that there aren't as many great players. I also think that the next level of guy stays the second year and then he leaves, or he transfers and sits out. The talent is really spread out. It's just not that many players that you can have 350 teams.

Everybody wants to play right away. and think they're all going to go to Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, UCLA, Indiana, etc., etc. So I, in Kansas, I don't, I think they're both right. I don't think the elite level, I mean, guys, nobody stays past year two, let alone year three or four, and a lot of them don't stay past their first year. What's interesting is it makes for a really good watch because you honestly have no idea who's going to win in any given game, not just any given week. we talked earlier this year about DePaul and all the transfers and older players and how allows them to be competitive because they got older kids.

Look at the teams that were successful going back to last year. Even Virginia had some older guys, but some of the Texas techs of the world, yeah, grad transfers, four-year transfers. Those are older players. Whereas the one and done guys, it's really hard to win with them. hard to get into buy-in. They don't make as many shots. And then they're here and they're gone. I do think there's a way in which we can word it

to feel better about the players we have. And look, I'm just as responsible as anybody for saying that college basketball isn't as good as isn't as talent at the top. But for high major college coaches that have won a combined three national championships, probably the better wording would be, look, the great players don't stay long enough.

some really good players can become great college basketball players, but even they're becoming harder to keep happy because they don't want to sit on the bench. But it is true. The college game has become a little bit watered down and spread out. And then that's after we cut out the top four or five guys who may go to college, may not go to college, and at the first sign of injury, Darius Garland last year, they bail and they sit out the rest of the year.

Look, I'm not going to defame college basketball. I mean, I think if we, look, if we go through the Big 12, for example, and we look at this Kansas team as opposed to other Kansas teams, are there lottery picks in the team? I don't think there are. Sometimes though we do look at past teams, and when we look at past teams, we have a greater view of who they might be,

but there is no Joel Embed on this team. There is no Paul Pierce on this team. There is just not. And yet Kansas, before they lost to Villanova this past weekend by a point, late claimed to be the number one team of the country. I've said, hey, what about San Diego State? Like, this San Diego State team is really good. It's not as good as their team 10 years ago.

Couple things. One, you don't have to beat any of the teams five years ago, 10 years ago. You'll have to beat teams in front of you. Two, we do have a tendency to look at other teams. Older, you know, teams that occurred that had success previously and think they're way more talented because they became great NBA players, right? Where the truth is, if they're 18, 19 years old and they weren't great then, it was only because they were 18, 19 years old.

The hardest part is that this is kind of, it gives way to my argument, which you've heard, and you're probably tired of, which is the value of the brand. And the greatest way to point that out is, like, look, when you work in television, the brands that sell, the brands that rate the best, Duke, Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse actually rates very, very well in comparison to others. You know, those are the ones. I mean, Gonzaga out rates everybody else in the Pact 12 or the West Coast, with the exception maybe of Arizona.

It doesn't actually have to do with how good a team is in a year or two or three years. It has to do with what most of the country that doesn't pay attention on a day. basis thinks, and that's based upon name recognition more so than who's actually playing for your team. And the problem with the spreading out of talent with the multiple transfer, red shirts, et cetera, is you're going to get some of these non-traditional names deep into the NCAA tournament, and that doesn't help the ratings. So in addition to the sport not being as good at that level as it used to be, it won't be viewed as as as popular as it used to be because not as many people will watch when non-traditional name brands play in the NCAA tournament. Fair? Good.

As for who actually is the best team in the country? I don't know. I don't. I mean, I think Kansas is very good. They just don't shoot it well enough. I think Baylor could be really good. I'm just not sure that they're as good at the point guard position as Kansas is. And it feels like they never beat Kansas. Even when they do beat him, they never sweep Kansas. But then there's Butler who only lost to Baylor by one point, has beaten everybody else. they in some people's mind lay claim to be the number one team. Then there's Duke. Are we going to make Duke the number one team in the country when they lost it home to Stephen F. Austin and lost Cassius Winston? Probably not. We saw what happened in Virginia. Arizona's taking Ellis before. It's really hard to decide who's elite and who's not.

It makes it more fun to watch, but harder to decide who's, frankly, better than anybody else because there's just such a mixed bag of good wins and bad losses. I want to get to the NBA here real quick as Christmas Day is upon us. You're listening to this. You're listening to this. You're like, oh, break down, I'm not breaking down the Christmas games. I'll only tell you this. If we used last year as our guide, last year, when the Lakers go in to beat the Warriors and LeBron James got hurt in that game, what does it tell us?

It tells us that this is kind of like a, you ever take the pre-SAT? That's what Christmas Day. basketball is like. It's like the pre-SAT. It basically tells you like, yeah, you're pretty good right now. Does that mean that's how you're going to score in the SAT? No. It just means that on this particular test, you're decent, but the rest of the regular season is really based upon health. And the post-seed is based upon how good you are. And this has nothing to do with post-season basketball. Don't believe me last year, the Lakers go into Golden State and get a win on Christmas Day. LeBron gets hurt. The Lakers are the sixth seed, and then their season collapses.

The Warriors, had they been healthy, they probably win another NBA championship, and they could not have looked worse in the second half of that game. These early season, Kentucky games, Kansas games, Duke games, etc. They're a nice guide. They're a pre-SAT. They're your initial participation, like your initial quarter report card. Semester and final grades is what matters. Your quarter report card doesn't. That's what Christmas Day basketball is.

you know, whether it's that first report card you get that doesn't actually count as your grades or whether you want to say it's your pre-test for the SAT, whatever it is, let's not act like this, the end-all be-all. But having seen the Lakers lose the last couple of games, I still believe they need, in addition to Andreogadal's length and versatility on defense, because right now they don't have anybody in guard Kaui Leonard. Maybe Danny Green, maybe. But against elite level wings like that, you have to have more. multiple defenders. They don't have it. That's why Andrea Godala becomes really important.

But Andrea Godala was only successful with the Warriors offensively when he was playing the center position. They were playing small ball. But Andre Godala hadn't played at all this year and asking him to hop in and play at the Lakers in a new system. I know that he and Palinka go way back. I'm not sure he's as much the answer as other people will think. We'll see when they get him in. As for the Clippers, I continue to believe that pummeling the Lakers at every opportunity is really, really important. Even if you're not going to convince anybody other than yourself that you're better than the Lakers,

it does convince yourself that you're better than the Lakers, and that couldn't be more important. Be sure to catch the live edition of the Doug Gottlieb show weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific, on Fox Sports Radio and the I-Heart Radio app. Before we get to our conversation with Todd Golden, head coach the University of San Francisco, I want to tell you about Hello Fresh,

America's number one meal kit. Get easy seasonal recipes and pre-measured ingredients delivered right to your door. All you have to do is cook and enjoy. You'll have everything you need to get a wow-worthy dinner on the table in just 30 minutes. Say goodbye to endless grocery store trips and take out food. Hello, Fresh has you covered. There's something for everyone, from family recipes to calorie smart and vegetarian.

A fun menu series like Hall of Fame and Kraft burgers, add extra meals to your weekly order, as well as yummy add-ons like garlic bread and cookie dough. You can even change your delivery days, food preferences, and skip a week, whatever you need. Look, I have a house with three kids. They all play sports. I get home. The last thing my wife wants to do is figure out what are we going to do for dinner? Who has to go to the store?

We both like cooking, whether it's getting the ingredients or cutting things up or figuring it out. This just makes it easier. Plus, the ingredients are fresh. The portions are substantial. And you feel like you know you're getting high quality. stuff before you ever even take a bite because those freshly open packages smell incredible and make the house sound and feel and taste and smell like a gourmet chef lives there. Get nine free meals with HelloFresh by going to hellofresh.com slash all ball nine.

Remember that's all ball nine because you get nine free meals. See what we did there? Hellofresh.com slash all ball nine. Use the code all ball nine. Try it. You'll thank me. Let's welcome him in. He's the head coach of the San Francisco Don's,

the fourth youngest head coach in the country. He's Todd Golden. He joins us in the All Ball podcast. Do you know the three who are younger than you? Only one personally. We actually played against him this year. The guy Brian Mullins is at Southern Illinois. It's funny because we actually played against each other.

When I was at St. Mary's, he actually played at Southern Illinois. It was really good on some tournament teams. but that's the only one I've come across so far. Yeah, that's interesting. I think Greg Paulus is another one, right? Greg Paulus, he got named the head coach. That's right. Yeah, I think we might be the same age or he might be a year younger.

I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm not sure Patrick Beeline who resigned right before the year was younger than you, and then you became like the co. Maybe it's going to come down to birthdays. I don't know. This is what SIDs do. This is what SIDs do. All right, so here's kind of what I want to do, right?

we're, I don't know, I don't know if it's, it's not really midway, but like to basketball people, you get through the non-conference part, like we used to call it, remember we used to call it preseason? I don't know, I don't know why, right? You used to be called, even though, and like you try and explain it to a TV person, like, well, it's all the season. Like, no, the season is the league, and this is the preseason. So you get done with what we used to call the preseason, and now you get ready for conference play, and your conference appears to be ridiculously formidable. Your first year as head coach, what have you learned so far?

A lot. A lot. It's just, you know, as an assistant, obviously, you form strong opinions, and, you know, it's very easy to second guess in that role. But obviously, as a head coach, you know, your decisions come under fire a lot more and try not to second guess yourself. But, you know, in a sense, I'm kind of learning on the go. I've been fortunate, man.

really good staff. And, you know, they help quite a bit in terms of game planning and obviously player development and things along those lines. But it's the biggest challenge is trying to figure out, you know, where to focus the most of your attention and time to and realizing there's some things that are important to you that you got to delegate and let go. But definitely learn on the fly from that regard. And knock on wood, it's gone well so far.

Okay. So we can do the Sonoma State game, but I want to do more of the. let's do the Yale game. And here's why I think it's interesting, right? You as a player and as a point guard and a good one, you know, you process things and you think about things. As an assistant coach, same thing. But what do you remember about the Yale game

in terms of your own personal decision-making that you liked and that you'll do differently next time? It's a great question. And honestly, I picked up something really, really good from that game. It was kind of a crazy situation, but we ended up getting fouled, going to the line with about 15 seconds in regulation. We were up two at the time, and one of our players made the first free throw to go up three. And I remember at the time, I was just sitting there, and I really wanted to use a timeout because I wanted to get organized defensively. And I wanted to make

sure that we knew, you know, once the ball got to the front court to use one, if, you know, we're up three or, you know, or just obviously let them play if we're up four. But I hung on to it, and I said, you know, he looked really comfortable in his first free throw. I didn't want to ice my own shooter, and I figured, hey, I'm going to, you know, lean on this 70% foul shooter and make it, and that way we'll be up four, and we don't have much to worry about. Sure enough, he misses it, right? They come down, hit a game tying three with two and a half seconds left because we weren't very organized defensively, and we go to overtime.

And, you know, knock on wood, we ended up making some big shots and ended up beating an incredibly good Yale team. They don't lose anymore. I think they've won eight or nine in a row. But, you know, at that time, I joked with my staff, I said, hey, I'm burning that time out next time. I'm using that thing. I don't care if I ice my shooter. We just got to be organized defensively. But there's little things like that.

You know, you can obviously second guess yourself depending on the outcome, but it's trying to be consistent with the process that it sometimes is the most challenging thing. It's fantastic. How come he didn't foul when you're up three? I would have liked to, and it's something that we talk about in practice, but really we just weren't organized, and it was on me. You know, I should, like I said, should use that timeout. And then once the bog was live in play, you know, it's just really hard to get your players to understand the timing

and when to take it and everything like that. So it just turned into a scramble situation. Ended up having a great defense possession. The guy kind of bobbled it to his team, and he just threw it in. from about 30 feet, but I would have loved a foul, and I just didn't have the proper opportunity to communicate that with our guys. I mean, a little tip, right? Don't you shouldn't you have just like a call, black, green, purple, you know, where is there?

But hey, on the miss. On the miss, we're in green. Oh, hey, we're on the miss. We're in green. I know you don't want to plant that in your shooter's head, even the word miss, right? And that's exactly why I didn't use the timeout. Right, but if you have it, but you have a, you have a, you have a, call.

You have a call. Look, these are the things we all, you only learn by doing, and you're like, oh, damn. Right. Okay. How are you like Randy Bennett, who you play for? Oh, man. I think the best way to answer that is, you know, when playing for Coach Bennett and Kyle at St. Mary's, you know, the one thing that we always talked about, and you could tell

through the five years that I was there in terms of the foundation or a program, I'm always stressing, rebounding, defending, and taking care of the ball. I think those three messages in those three areas of the game, when you express that to your team, if you can be good in those areas, it just gives you a really good chance to be good. And so, you know, we're trying to implement some new things this year, just always trying to center myself around making sure we're good in those areas. And honestly, we just haven't been great defensively yet,

but we've been pretty good on the board. who did really, really good taking care of the ball. And, you know, just having that solid foundation, I think, has given us a great push in terms of the start that we've had. Okay. How are you most dislike him? Or unlike his. Dislike means, you spent time at Columbia as an assistant, right? Which makes you, like, by proxy Ivy League guy.

You realize that, right? Like, you were at Columbia. You recruited Ivy League kids. You were around. technically you're a part of the Ivy League faculty, so you have to break down my grammar issues. I understood what you're getting that. I'd say the thing in terms of how we're different,

how we operate, we play faster. You know, St. Mary's has 15 years now almost, always had a really, really good pick and roll point guard, and they've been able to be incredibly efficient in the half court. And, you know, that's a luxury. You know, it's really hard to execute and be efficient in half-core, but they've played a really slow, grinded-out pace. They've been able to play bigger because of that. And I think that that's just how he feels the most comfortable, whereas for me, especially with this group that we have this year, I think we're best when we're out in transition.

You know, I think this is a group that is quick, is pretty long, is athletic, good in the open floor, and definitely able to play better in space. So we try to get out and play in the first 10 seconds of the clock quite a bit more and not as reliant upon our half-court execution. Okay. Some of that is also from coaching under Bruce Pearl. Sure. What was that like, right? Like your experience now, for people who don't know, you played for him with the Maccabi games team.

So you played for him. And I guess I want to get into that. Was that your first college? No, you went and then played overseas right after that, right? You played... Correct. You played from a cup. Right.

Right. And, but what was it like to work for Bruce Pearl? Honestly, it was one of the best experiences I've had around the game of basketball. And the reason why I say that is because I was, I've been incredibly fortunate. I played for a great high school coach, Phoenix, Dan Manix, who, you know, won over 700 games in Arizona State High School Hall of Fame. And then I got to go play for Randy and Kyle for five years. And then go after, you know, getting... getting back in to coaching to go work with Kyle for two at Columbia.

And just going to work for Bruce at Auburn, it just opened my eyes to the game being taught in a completely different way. You know, I think when you look at Kyle Smith and then you look at Bruce Pearl, they're both incredible coaches in their own way, but they're both remarkably different. Kyle's obviously very analytical in his processes. He's very structured, very calculated. you know, preparation is huge for him, and he's very even keeled, whereas Bruce is opposite.

He's very emotional. He's an incredibly gifted leader. You know, I always felt like no matter what the circumstance, he was able to get our guys. And Bruce has a little bit of a nutty professor to him where, you know, a lot of people, he doesn't get, basically does not get the credit he deserves in terms of how good he is as a basketball guy. I know a lot of people think he's raw, raw, and all about recruiting and things like that. But a lot of his processes and a lot of what he does is really savvy. It's just done with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.

You know, just the way he plays, the way he subs and games, his preparation for games is great. He watches a ton of a ton of film. But, you know, he's a lot different than Kyle. He does a lot of things a lot different than Kyle. and for me being able to merge has been really beneficial for me. You mentioned, okay, so give me one thing, like, that you're like, when you're sitting around, you guys are having beers and you're like, give me one thing that makes Bruce that's unique about Bruce Pearl. I mean, obviously the nutty professor, and he is far brighter.

He, you know, he'll try and dumb down and act like he's an awshucks guy when he's super, super bright with how he does what he does. But give me one thing. I think where Bruce is one of the most amazing that I've ever seen is the way he manages and handles personalities in terms of his players is incredibly it's just it's unique it's he's not afraid to do what he knows is best for each individual guy and playing for Randy and Kyle they were they're pretty hard in a good way they expect a lot out of you they coach pretty much everybody the same way they're not managing different personalities different,

but where Bruce was amazing is he could, you know, with the point guard, he might feel like he has to coach him a certain way where he might have to give him some more slack and not be as hard on him, but then there might be another guy on the floor that he knows that he has to cuss out to get the most out of him. And he has the ability to form those relationships with each individual player where they trust him and they're going to take his coaching regardless of how he does it. And for me, that's really hard to do.

You know, you've got 13 guys on scholarship, usually 15 guys on the team. And, you know, I just always felt like Bruce was able to squeeze the most out of each individual guy that he could, which is awesome. Okay. Kyle, Kyle Smith, now the head coach at Washington State. What was that like you had played for him? He was an assistant coach at St. Mary's. You get done playing at Israel, and you go work for him. What was that relationship like?

It was great. He's like a combination of a father and a big brother, if that makes sense. You know, he was the one that led on my recruitment back in, you know, 2002 going to St. Mary's. And, you know, I appreciate he's done a heck of a lot for me. He gave me the opportunity to walk on at St. Mary's. I know he was fighting for me to get me in the rotation there as a player. Obviously gave me my first job in basketball. And, you know, I think we were really good for each other, too. You know, I think I was able, he didn't have any other St. Mary's guys with him at Columbia.

So as he was trying to instill his culture, instill his style and everything along those lines. You know, I think when I got there, I was able to support him in doing that and was able to kind of help be a backbone for the program. And, you know, at Columbia, I would say he was still, our relationship was definitely still coached player. He was not afraid to get on me and be really aggressive with the way he was. coaching me even as a young coach. And then over, you know, the three years between working with him at Columbia and then getting back to work with him at USF, we kind of saw that relationship changed, more of a, you know, more of a man-to-man relationship.

There is a lot more understanding and respect in that way. And I've just learned so much from him and very appreciative of, you know, the opportunity that he's helped get here at San Francisco. All right. So let's work our way. Let's go backwards. usually what I do is I start at the beginning and then I work towards where you are now. I wanted to kind of change it up a little bit.

So you grew up in Phoenix. You grew up in Phoenix and you play for a legendary high school coach. What was, you know, were you all, were you little? Like did you grow late? What was your progression like as a player? You know, I had a really interesting experience. So I played baseball too. And I was, I never had played AU because I was always playing.

baseball with my junior high or high school team, and then I played summer travel baseball in the summer as well. So I only played one year of AAU basketball, and I was going into my senior year of high school. And honestly, when I went to the tryout for the Arizona Stars, who was the Nike team back then in Phoenix, when I first tried out, when we had just want to stay championship my junior year, I made the two's team. I didn't even make the main sponsored team. So I was playing on the lower deal, the lower circuit, traveling around, and then a couple guys, one guy got hurt and one guy left to go play for another U-U team, so they kind of brought me up and got to go play at the Kingwood Classic in Texas. And then I can't remember what

the tournament in Vegas was at the time, whether it was big time or whatever it was. But it had some good experiences there. And, you know, I was 6-2. I weighed 150 pounds. And, you know, I was a facilitating two guards. That was kind of my game. And it took, you know, playing with four or five other D-1 guys to, you know, have the opportunity to be seen by different schools. But, you know, really, it was same areas as a walk-on or, believe it or not, Columbia. And, you know, there's no scholarships offered in the Ivy League. It's on need-based financial aid. So there wasn't a lot of money going to be coming our way from that opportunity. So, you know, Kyle and Randy just offered me that the invited walk-on spot, and I was young and dumb enough to think that I'd have a chance

to earn my role. And it's kind of funny how those things happen and how it worked out, but I wouldn't have changed it for anything. I can promise you that. So what would your parents do for a living? My dad is an attorney, and my mom was an elementary school librarian. So when they said, you're like, look, you can either pay, I don't know what it was, back then to go to Columbia, or how much was it to go to St. Mary's? A lot, about 50 grand.

What was that conversation like? That's why my parents are the people that I owned all too, my friends. You know, Randy and Kyle said, here's the deal. You come, you know, you pay for a year and, you know, earn your way into the rotation, we'll put you on scholarship, yada, yada, yada, and like I said, I was unreasonably confident that I'd be able to do that. I don't know why. I just felt like I'd be able to go in there and find a way to scrap it out. But they're like, if you red shirt, then you're going to have to pay for two. And then, you know, we'll give you three.

And my dad was, you know, my dad was a hoops guy. He played freshman ball at UMass when Julian Turner was on the varsity team. It was a big part of his life. 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 Hardway and listen now. 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 athletes 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 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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? Come out. Quarterback on office blue with 42.

Hey, Rhett, Mom, I want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah.

This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the Hipsons High School. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later. We're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips, wider. This is a podcast.

We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drink. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white collar or something here? Just hit it.

Oh, what are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album? Oh, I would. Come on. I would buy it. Cuts through the defense like a. Hot knife through sponge cake.

That sounds delicious. Oh, you're lucky. I'm not a drug addict. You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You are. I'm lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team, and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh.

Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've grown up in White Plains, New York. And, you know, he just made it. where he gave me the opportunity to do it. And, you know, at the time, I definitely didn't appreciate or realize the investment that they were making and looking back on it, that's why, you know, I'm incredibly grateful that he was willing to do it.

Was there a, now everybody does a present a walk-on with a scholarship video? Was there a moment where Randy called everybody in and goes like, hey, here you go? Not at all. I had to pin him down just to make sure he actually gave me the scholarship. I had to chase him, you know, after the last team meeting in the spring to make sure that he's going to throw me on for the next fall.

But I'm only half joking, but it was nothing like that. Times were a little different. And I know you know Coach Bennett really well, and he's not one for the bells and whistles. So there's kind of a silent scholarship, so to speak. But we definitely got three years, and it was three of the best years of my life, for sure. If you love to be remembered as the person who gives the best birthday gifts, I'm here to tell you that 1800flowers.com is your ultimate birthday gifting destination. 1,800 Flowers has thoughtful and artfully created options that are guaranteed to deliver the best birthday surprise.

Shop thousands of unique gifts at 1800flowers.com for exclusive offers and great values. To order today, visit 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. That's 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. 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 discover the forest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. Your senior year, Patty Mills arrived. And he was somebody that I think most of us who covered the game new because of the AIS, Australian Institute of Sport. You play with Daniel Kickart your first couple years. Maybe you're just your freshman year as well.

What was that like when you're the point guard, it's your team, and now all of a sudden some. a guy who everyone's been talking about from Australia arrives. Yeah, it was honestly, you know, I think some people in that situation might be discouraged. And you're right. Like, we knew, you know, we knew Patty was really good when he was coming in. And I just kind of thought that it'd be an opportunity. Hey, let's figure it out.

And obviously the first couple times playing pickup with this guy, I knew he was going to be playing 35 minutes a game. I mean, he is who he was back then, and he was dominating. and so I had to still coach me. Hey, I'm more than happy to move over to the two, if that's what you want me to do. Just let me know. I just want to be out on the court.

So it was honestly a great experience, you know, getting to play with him more than anything. But I thought we played off each other really well, too. He took obviously a ton of pressure off me as the primary ball handler and was able to operate as a one-man press break and really started our offense nearly on every possession. but I moved over to the two and had a lot of freedom to just shoot the ball and was really comfortable in that role. I think 87 assists, 23 turnovers on the year or something like that.

Yep. To being able to facilitate from that. You just happen to know those numbers? You just happen to know those numbers? You just happen. I think it was one of the best in the country, and that was one of the things that I have on the resume. But, you know, playing with a guy like that made everything so much easier. and what Patty's is a special dude.

He's really unassuming. He came in, willing to learn, willing to kind of move into our system as opposed to making us adjust to him. And, you know, he had some growing pains, but at the same time, I think in his fourth college game, he had 37 on Oregon when they were number 11 in the country on ESPN. So, I mean, this guy came in and was just awesome off the bat, and I'm really appreciative he did because it gave myself and our teammates

It's just a great experience that last year making it to the tournament. Yeah, do you want to know his stats? In the tournament, you guys, what, lost to Miami? Is that right? Yeah, we lost to Miami, yeah. How'd you play? I mean, I have the stats in front of me, but if you want to know.

I played okay. I think I hit a couple threes. Didn't, I think, two for four from the line or something like that, which was not great. But, you know, I know we were up at halftime by five, and we felt good going into it. And then Jack McClinton, I think, at 32 in the second half. I was responsible for the first five of the second half,

and then Coach Bennett quickly moved me off of him, but it made me feel better, you know, looking back on it years later, knowing that I wasn't the only one that couldn't guard that dude. For, yeah, when you played in Israel, did you only play for Haifa or did you play for somebody else as well? Yeah, no, I played two years for Maccabi Haifa, right when they moved up to the first division there, yeah.

So for people who haven't been to Haifa, it is absolutely stunning. Port City, northern part of Israel. And, of course, you went there and played the Maccabi Games team and won the gold medal before you ever played in Haifa. What was your living experience like there? It was amazing. Absolutely amazing.

I tell people all the time, I regret not taking more advantage of it. I was a little bit homesick, a little bit of a homebody. I wasn't as social as I should have been. but you hit it on the head with Haifah. I mean, it's one of the most beautiful places that I've ever been to. It's right there on the Mediterranean, you know, five-minute drive from our gym, and we were on the beach. Just great people, great food.

Really, and Haif is a melting pot. There's a lot of different races, and obviously a lot of Jewish people, a lot of Muslim people there in the city. And while I was there, everybody got along great. It was a great time. to be over there. And, you know, and Haifa was a great organization to be a part of at the time as well.

Our owner was a guy named Jeff Rosen, whose family owned Rose Art, the Kran Company, and he came into a lot of money and bought the team and just treated us really, really well. And we had some really experienced Israeli guys on our team, play with some awesome American players. Like Devon Jefferson from SC, who I'm sure, you know, basketball junkies remember.

I mean, that guy should have been in the NBA. I mean, he's just incredibly talented. Carmelo Anthony type score. Why wasn't he? Like I did this thing. My dad told me when I was in the USBL. I was in the USBL and I had I had Bubble Wells who led the country in scoring

at Austin P. I had Willie Burton. I had like if you kind of go through it, I had Galen Young who was a second round pick out of UNC Charlotte. Who else did I have? Like you go through it and we had guys who were had had cups of coffee.

You were like, Willie Burton scored 50 points in NBA game. And so my dad was like, look, son, there's always a reason, right? And I was like, what do you mean? He's like, there's always a reason a guy doesn't make it or a guy isn't still there, right? There's just one reason. And I never forget this. And I'm only to tell you the story because I love Bubba Wells. He was a great dude.

He's a second round pick of the Dallas Mavericks. For people who remember, he had either stress fractures or reactions in both, legs. He actually had metal rods in both legs. And so people thought that was the reason that he couldn't make it in the league or didn't hang in the league. He was like an undersized four at the time. Might have been undersized five now, but really didn't defend. Anyway, we go through like training camp and I'm like, man, this fucking guy's unbelievable, right? Like, he's like a mini Barclay. He's so good. Right. But if we go two a day's second practice, he was always dragging ass. And anyway,

We had our first game, and I'd never forget this. We had our first game, and we were staying at the Holiday Inn at the edge of town, and there was literally a strip club in the parking lot. So a lot of those guys, you're like, why don't you just pay the strip club instead of pay the guy? The money's going there anyway. Anyway, so I get my truck, and I drive from the holiday into the Mark Price Arena. And I'll never forget, like, on my way to the game, there was one guy's car parked in the strip club parking lot. There was Bubba Wells.

that he was parked in the sonic parking lot, like getting like cheese tots and a burger and a Coke. And I just remember thinking, like, the guy who's in the parking lot of the guys at the strip club, that's his reason he's not in the league. And, you know, Bubba Wells is the food, right? Just couldn't control his diet. Right.

Why was Devon Jefferson not a pro? Dave on Jefferson was, well, here's, offensively, he was. I mean, he was everything he needed to be an NBA player because he, I don't think anybody could defend him, threes, fours. If threes, he would just big boy him, fours, he was, he had an incredibly quick first step would be able to get by and put him in the basket and shot it well enough to keep him honest.

You know, a couple things, number one, I think he struggled defensively. Obviously, he just wasn't able to move, and he wasn't a very physical defender, so at times, I think that might have been an area that, you know, teams would be worried about. And also, you know, at the time, and I can't speak for him much after this because I haven't stayed in touch with him. But he was young. He was really immature. He was 18 years old.

He, you know, what he practices, his ass off every day. That's one thing I remember and had a great level respect for him about was he really liked to compete. But, you know, I just think he didn't understand. at that time what it took to be a pro. And I think that probably held him back. You know, he did make a lot of money and had a really, really good career in Europe.

So, you know, I don't know if once he got, like I think he played in Russia for a couple years. He played in Greece for a little bit. I know he was making upwards of half a million dollars for a couple years. So I think Knock on what he did really well for himself, but just a little bit of maturity and probably a little bit of just being a man without a position and someone to defend is probably would ultimately kept him out of being in the league for a while.

Much of your coaching comes from playing European basketball. Because, like, look, you have a really interesting background now, right? It wasn't just you played at St. Mary's because I remember when Randy first got the job, he just did four-out, one in around kicker. Right. And there wasn't even really a ton of structures teaching guys how to play, and they were really good at passing, catching, and shooting. It was kind of very simple.

And then, as you pointed out, and probably started more with Patty. 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, or 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, our heart radio app,

Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. 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 SportsSlice 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. What's up, guys? This is CliverTaylor 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 walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever. wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a perimenopausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast.

How hard can it be with Deanna Maria Riva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell? is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that Ness was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How hard can it be? How can it be? Getting naked at 50 with the new guy. That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with

laughs, tears, or tears of laughter, and dive into it, unfiltered and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out last. I'm not loud in public. Listen to how hard can it be with Diana Maria Riva as part of my Coutura podcast network available on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And then after Patty, you know, when you had, or, you know, when Mickey was there as well with Patty, they were same year, you had kind of the ball screen stuff and the actions off the ball screen.

Bruce is Dr. Tom Davis, right? I mean, you press and it's kind of a frenetic style. So you have the combination of playing with the Aussies, playing for Randy, playing in coaching at Auburn, but also playing in Israel, which has a little bit of pure European ball, but also has a lot of some Americanism to it. Like how much of what you do and what you run and how you play comes from that? Honestly, our early game, our early game action is very European and what we ran in Haifa, the first year that we were there.

And we've made some tweaks to it where we have some. some wrinkles and some different actions that we run out of it. But just that continuity ball screen action, we call it Bulldog motion because Gonzag has gotten so good at it. It's just the throw and trace ball screen up the top, trying to get middle penetration, and then depending upon your other big, you either bring them higher, you just smash it down low, trying to get middle rips. But we ran that continuity ball screen action in Israel.

And I never thought it was very complicated, but we were always able to get good looks, whether it was REM twos or kick out of it. So my associate head coach, Kevin Hovey, who is actually a really, really gifted offensive coach and has a great feel and great understanding of how to teach. I kind of asked him to look at it. Another team that runs it really, really well is Yale, believe it or not, and Coach James Jones has dominated over the last 20 years.

They just finished top four in the Ivy every year, and they just win 20 games, it seems like. But really just trying to get middle off that continuity ballstream, That's the main thing that we've taken from Israel and from the European game, for sure. And then take the look at how we play, you can kind of see a little bit of all the guys that I've either worked for or played for, whether we're starting to repressed a little bit like Bruce would just trying to get the offense slowed up, trying to get them operating uncomfortably late clock. And then we do have some ball screen stuff similar to St. Mary, similar to how we,

We played here last year with Frankie Ferrari. So we try to, you know, blend all these things together, have different, you know, actions that we can do against different opponents. And knock on wood, I think it's part of the reason why we started off so well. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this valentines with 1800flowers.com. From classic roses and bouquets to decadent chocolate-covered berries, gourmet treats, and more. Surprise your Valentine with 1-800flowers.com. Right now, get the 1800.

stem enchanted rose medley for $3999 or upgrade to 24 red roses for $10 more. Go to 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. That's 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. 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

through 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. And we're live here outside the Perez family home just waiting for the... And there they go.

Almost on time this morning. Mom is coming out the front door strong with a double-armed kid carry. Looks like dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh, but the dog's. diaper bag wasn't closed. Typhers and toys are everywhere.

Ooh, but Mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who looks to be about nine or ten, has secured herself in the booster seat. Dad zips the bag closed, and they're off. Ah, but looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still on the roof of the car, and there it goes. Oh, that's a shame. That mug was a fan favorite. Don't sweat the small stuff. Just nail the big stuff. Like making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right seat for their age and size.

Learn more at NHTSA.gov slash the right seat. Visit NHTSA.gov. Slash the right seat. Brought to you by Nitzha and the Ad Council. The Frankie Ferrari story is pretty amazing. For people who don't know, okay? So he, so remind me here, okay? So he plays a couple years, then you guys get the job.

and he wants to transfer, and then you talk, like, take me through the actually. No, no, no, so here's the exact way this happened. So Rex Walter signed him. Okay. He played for Rex as a freshman. And then Rex basically, you know, for the lack of a better way to explain it, you know, didn't think he was good enough. And ran him off.

Told him, you know, his career wasn't going to be there. So Frankie transfers to Kenyata College up here in the Bay. and ends up sitting out a year at Kenyatta sits out. And that was Rex's final year here at San Francisco. That was Kyle's last year at Columbia. So Kyle gets the job. I come here about two weeks after he gets here, and we have a point guard in our program named Devin Watson,

who I'm sure you know really well. He averaged 20 a game here as a sophomore, and everybody's telling us, hey, you've got whatever you do, you've got to keep Watson, you've got to keep him. He's the key to your deal, da-da-da-da. And where Kyle is amazing is he won't bend for anybody. He's a, his culture is so important. Environment is so important to him.

And I respect the hell out of him for it. But Devin, you know, simply wasn't willing to buy in on what we're trying to do. And so Kyle said, hey, you know, you're more than willing to give you a release and for you to go see what's out there. And when Devin transfers, you know, people thought that that we were doomed. You know, they thought we weren't going to be able to. able to win a game. And so we were sitting around just saying, you know, we, first of all, we'd need a point guard. You know, we got to find somebody who we could, you know, have run the team. And we had one guy who did a good job, just a solid player. And we're like, you know,

what's Ferrari doing? Where's he at? You know, and so figured out, he sat out at Kingana, and we're like, shoot, you know, this guy, he's finally getting older. He's going to be his third year out of high school, and he's going to have three years to play. But let's take a look at him. And there's a rule called the tryout rule where, you know, if a guy's exhaustive eligibility, you can work him out. So we brought him up, and he worked out, and we're like, dang, he looks pretty good. And then he played pickup with our guys. And one of our returners who was about to be a senior said, coach, this guy can really play. Like, you know, we could use him.

So we had about five scholarships open because we had, I think, three or four guys leave as soon as we got the job. So we just brought him And we got him back as a sophomore And to be honest He got beat out that year By a guy that we didn't think was Was better than him But just did a better job in the preseason

Keeping us organized And it was more solid Less volatile But to Frankie's credit Even after coming back And not getting the job You just stuck with it It was really really tough

And really scrappy And had some really really good moments That sophomore year And then going into the junior year Kyle just said hey You know here you go It's your time. You're 22 years old.

You know, we trust you. We'll let you play out of the ball screen. Let you be aggressive. And, you know, he turned into a two-year all-league, West Coast Conference player. He got, you know, a G-League offer from Utah or Exhibit 10 offer from Utah, when decided to go play in Europe and was absolutely tearing it up in Spain, playing in the top division in the ACB over there. And unfortunately, he broke his foot.

So he's back home, you know, having surgery. and getting healed. But the guy's an incredible offensive player. He's as comfortable in the pick and roll as you'll see. You know, he's like, he's not as big or as tall as Delvedoba, but he has the same poise where you get the defender on his hip and read the whole floor. And, you know, make sure life a lot easier as a coach

because all you do is you have different actions to get into your ball screen and then you just let them play. And, you know, it was just a great, story of maturation, a great story of a guy who stuck with it. And a great reminder in this time of won and duns in the transfer era where, you know, you can just stick with it and get to the later part of your career in the same place. There's a great chance that you're going to have success. And by the way, and you don't have to say this.

I can. Devin Watson, who statistically very successful at San Diego State, but they didn't win like they normally did. And since he's been gone, now they're back winning again. So we'll just, you know, like, look, sometimes guys, sometimes guys can really score and can really play, but they just don't know how to win basketball games or how to, especially the point guard spot, like, you just, you either have the winning factor or you do not. Let me, how hard is that to identify in the way in which we recruit nowadays?

It's really hard. I mean, I'm just, I'm serious. It's really hard. And I think it's not getting any easier. You know, this past year, they took away some recruiting. opportunities from us to see the 2020 class. And it concerns me because, you know, we've only seen these guys a handful of times alive. And now we're asked to make, you know, $60,000 decisions, you know, on these guys in terms of giving them scholarships and, you know, making sure

they're good fits. But, you know, I think the transfer issue is not going to go away under these new circumstances because we just don't have a good enough opportunity to know these guys. 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, or 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 Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. 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 SportsSlice 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. What's up, guys? This is CliverTaylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. 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, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, 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 Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Boe.

On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. 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 Tabramos on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. You know, we try to evaluate them the best we can,

but it's not an exact science, obviously. And to understand what you're talking about, you know, whether a guy has that winning way about him, you know, it takes about five or six times at a minimum of seeing them play full games live to start getting a good understanding of that. There's also, and you tell me if I'm wrong because you live it,

and I only cover it, which is, you know, it's my dad used to tell stories about how, like, you know, when you go recruit a kid, like he'd just go and set up shop in the kid's hometown and you knew everything about him.

Whether it's the calendar, the number of dates, the fact that we have these assistants, that can only be out certain number of days or whatever, or the lack of ability to communicate. You know, I think that we hurt our, like, you want to know what you're getting, right? You really, really want to know what you're getting. And so when a lot of times, yeah, it's both ways, right?

Yeah, it works both ways, right? Like, players need to know. Yeah. I mean, like, look, I'll just, you know, I'll never forget when I was, when I signed a Notre Dame, so I had to sign. was in November, right? And my only, the only time I remember seeing Notre Dame play was against UCLA, or maybe Indiana and UCLA like the year before.

And I don't really remember the UCLA game. I remember them beating Indiana. And like everything else is kind of taking everybody's word for it, you know. Right. I'd signed, we go to see them play Loyola Marymount, and they win in overtime. Like, all right, I go and see them play San Diego, and they're down 31 at the half. And I was like, I turned to the look at my dad and was like, what do we do? Like, what did we, what do we do?

And I think it works for both ways, where players don't know necessarily, coaches, players don't totally know the program. And things change so much between the fall and the spring night. You got to sign guys early as you have, you got them in your back pocket. But it's such a hard thing to sign a year in advance when so much changes in a basketball program. No doubt. And to your point, for me, philosophically, I actually am not big on. signing guys early. We signed two kids early this year. We have one

that we just left open. You know, one of the guys we knew is going to fill a need that will be losing in graduation. The other guy is more of a project. But to your point, I want to gather as much information as

possible about these guys before we bring them into our program. And I don't know if it's just here at San Francisco, and maybe it's different at the high major level. you know, obviously when I was at Auburn is a little different. We started recruiting kids early. And I guess, you know, with top 75, top 100 guys,

it's a little easier to identify their skill level early. But to your point earlier about the winning piece, it's not easy to identify that, even in the top 75, 100 guys, too. You know, it takes time to see them and say, all right, this guy's talented, but, you know, like we were talking about with the example of Devin Watson, like, are you going to really be able to take you to the next level? You know, like, okay, he's going to be able to score for me, but will he be able to guard his position?

Will he be a good teammate? Things like that. So for me, in our staff here, I've really kind of asked our coaching staff to, the only way we want to sign a guy early is if we think he's going to be all league. If we think he can be an all-league guy, then we'll take him early and, you know, have those 12 months of gray area until we get him on campus. But other than that, I want to wait until the spring. I think because there's so many kids transferring, obviously the fifth-year market is one that teams have to take a hard look at to fill needs. And obviously in the fifth-year market, it's a much more known commodity.

What you're getting, you get four years, three or four years of data on them in terms of performance. And then in terms of how they do in a classroom, obviously you can talk to professors, you can talk to coaches, You can talk to compliance people, whoever it may be, to get a good pulse. You can get way more information on those guys than you can on the high school kids. And I think it's what's hurting the high school kids in terms of their opportunities coming out. It's hurting, you know, why you're seeing a lot of these guys leave their institutions after one season. But just gathering as much information as possible is the most important thing for me in terms of recruiting student athletes right now. What grows in the forest?

Trees? 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 If you could find a way

To get inside Each other's mind 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 at belonging begins with us.org Brought to you by the ad council What grows in the forest Trees? 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. Last thing, the WCC is a beast. And, you know,

obviously Gonzaga and St. Mary's have always been good. I feel like Mark Pope has a chance, and he should, you know, this year now they get childs back. Like, BYU should have been better. Like, they were really well coached, but when they're right, that's a high major-esque program. And then, you know, you look around the league in UOP, Damon Stoddemeier, I think has done a very good job. Again, that's a hard to go from not just probation, but also playing in the Big West to

playing in the WCC. It's a massive step up these days. Yeah. You know, look, it's a really good league. So, but the problem is, you know, the problem has always been like, you're not going to beat Gonzag. I mean, you got one shot to beat him at home. St. Mary, like, you're fighting, everybody else is fighting for third or fourth place. That's the presumption from the outside. From the inside, and especially as well as you know St. Mary's, and you know these programs,

what is it like to be one of those schools fighting? to get kind of at that other level. Yeah, it's, you know, I think for me, when I got the same areas as a player, you know, we were working to kind of get into that upper echel. And it was much different, right, because at that time, the league only had 18, and it was just Gonzaga. You know, they had gotten good. They were in the tournament every year.

And then you had other good programs like Pepperdine with Paul Westall was always really talented. You know, Santa Clara with Dick Davie. always had really, you know, grimy, gritty teams. But we were, you know, working our way from being in the bottom of the league, you know, two years before I got there, you know, St. Mary's only a two wins that only one division won one win. You know, then Randy got nine his first year, then 15. And then my first year there, we won 19 when I retorted.

So I kind of was a part of that process getting to the top. So, and I might be naive. I might, you know, be a glass, have full guy, but I kind of feel like the heavy. lifting here at San Francisco has been done, and Kyle deserves a ton of credit for that. You know, we've won 20 games the last three years. We've built a very solid, stable culture. We have great kids in our program. So to me, a lot of the heavy lifting, a lot of the tough part is done.

Now, what we have to do is simply recruit just one level up in terms of student athlete and skill and talent while maintaining the integrity of the culture and an academic piece of our program. And then honestly, I think we're knocking on the door. You know, we have two really talented kids sitting out right now in DeMarie Milston and Isaiah Hawthorne. We bring back a bulk of our group from this team for next year. We lose our starting center, which will really hurt. But other than that, you know, Jordan Retino has been a really subtle bit.

I think we have guys that are equally, if not a little more talented, ready to step in there. So I feel like we're right there. Now, we've got to hit and get some little more talented caliber student athlete. But I think right now we're teetering somewhere between the top 50, top 75 team. I do think we're going to make a little jump here getting through the holidays as we get a little healthy, you know, because some guys are just playing at an insanely high level, and I think we'll be able to maintain some other guys, you know, lifting up. But it's a challenge.

It's crazy. One thing that I joke about, and I told my dad this, we had our WCC conference meetings in June. It was about a month and a half, two months after I got the job. And I'm sitting there at the conference office in our meeting. I'm looking around, and, you know, there's Mark Few across from me. Coach Bennett and I are sitting next to each other. You got Lorenzo Romar there. You got Herb Sendeck there.

You already alluded to coach Mark Pope, Damon. Two Terry Porter's there, a guy that's coached NBA teams. Yeah. Our league is no joke. I mean, it's top to bottom. There's incredible coaches, I think four of the coaches have won over 400 games. You know, in a way, I do think our league in a way is better than the PAC 12. I think the PAC 12 has more raw talent, but our league is older.

I think our league is a little tougher. You know, I think if you put a team from our league in the PAC, they're going to finish right about where they'd finish in our league. So it's a challenge, but, hey, you know, it's really hard to be good. It's definitely not going to be easy. you know, you just take what you're given and see if we can find a way to catch up with those guys. Well, you're 1-1 in Pack 12 play. Wins over Cal, lost to Stanford. Well, we lost to Arizona State, too.

So you actually, it may not play out the way that in your own mind, like that's, you're saying you'd be 1 and 2 in WCC play if you play that level of team. I'm going to politely disagree with you. I do think, you know, the bottom of the pack has been way down. But, you know, U-dub, you know, obviously UCLA is not. not as good as they should be. USC is more, I think, what you're talking about, super talented. Arizona's, again, very young, but very talented, kind of to your point.

Right. Which is, it's fascinating. And then, you know, Gonzaga's better than everybody in that league. So, although Oregon's pretty talented when they get everybody eligible and everybody healthy. Listen, um, marry everything to you and your family. And, and happy Hanukkah.

And, uh, what a blessed life it's been for you so far. And, dude, we, we wish you nothing but success. Doug, I appreciate you having me on. I appreciate you, man. You've always been great to me, and it means a lot. Both you and Greg have been awesome. And happy Hanukkah to you too, my friend, and hope to catch up with you soon. Thanks, Todd.

Take care. Be sure to catch the live edition of the Doug Gottlieb show weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific. Last thing is this, I want to share with you a couple of holiday memories. As you get ready for Christmas, or maybe you're celebrating Christmas, or you're driving, to another family member's house, an in-laws house, your dad's house, whatever. Christmas is a great day for basketball. And somehow, you know, football has turkey bowls and people play, but we always play a basketball game when me and my brother around, either organized pickup game or find other people

that have it going on. We got to play when I was a kid at Miles Square Park in Fountain Valley, California. That was where I learned to play basketball. And my dad would take us there on Christmas and we all have our new gear on and everybody else is playing. We'd usually have new shoes on or maybe new shorts on. Now, it was outside. It was the dead of winter. But in California, that doesn't matter.

Then, of course, we'll have NBA and college hoop on TV. I hope you enjoy all of it, all of it. But more than anything, watch the games, play the games, and enjoy listening to us talk about the games. My thanks to Todd Golden Head Coach of San Francisco. Make sure you listen to my daily radio show. Three to six Eastern on Fox Sports Radio, the IHeart Radio app. You can also listen to us on Sirius XM. Same channel as Dan Patrick.

I think that's 203 and 217. I'm Doug Gowley. And this is All Ball. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this valentines with 1800flowers.com. From classic roses and bouquets to decadent chocolate-covered berries, gourmet treats, and more. Surprise your Valentine with 1-800flowers.com. Right now, get the 18-stem enchanted rose medley for $3999, or upgrade to 24 red roses for $10 more. Go to 1,800flowers.com slash tune in.

That's 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. 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 SportsSlic. 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 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. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kier Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing.

How many men carry a suit or armor. It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.