The Herd with Colin Cowherd - All Ball - KD Dominance, Rick Carlisle Exit -- Pt. 2: Georgia Tech HC Josh Pastner on Coach Cal's Shadow, Pressure, Leaving for Tech

Episode Date: June 18, 2021

In this episode, Doug gives some quick takes on KD's dominant performance against the Bucks, and Rick Carlisle's sits down with Georgia Tech Head Coach Josh Pastner for the second part of a three part interview, where they installment of a multiple part interview, where he goes inside the whirlwind process that ended with him getting the Memphis job, how he established his own identity, the pressure of following Coach Cal, and why he decided to take the Georgia Tech job. 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 Iheart 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.

For 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 we had.

have enter the Dan Patrick Show Ultimate Camping Rigs Sweepstakes. To enter, get official rules. Visit danpatrick.com or foxportsradio.com. Have to do it by February 2nd for your chance to win. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this valentines with 1,800 flowers.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 1,800 flowers.com slash tune in. Hey, what up? Welcome in. I'm Doug Gottlie. And this is the newest all ball. At the time of this recording, Kauai Leonard out for the year with a torn ACL. Yet the clippers find a way to win a game. that's crazy. Rick Harlisle just resigned. What else? Oh, Kevin Durant said, I'm Kevin Rand.

Don't you know who the F I am? I'm Kevin Durant. And that game's going to be played tonight. So this is going to be, this is going to drop the morning after Kevin Durant has a chance to eliminate the bucks with one more Hercules and Effing. Look, I've been on this train for a long time. I thought he was the best player going back, what is it, five years ago. I understand. I understand. understand how good LeBron is. The difference is KD has that Kremead Abdul-Jabbar, unblockable shot, unstoppable offense. You've got to hope he misses or get super physical with him, obviously. And I just, I thought he's been the best player. That's why he went to Golden State. People get a twisted all the time, like, well, 73 wins. They didn't win a championship.

They were a flawed team. And that era of the Warriors was about strength in numbers. He basically had to take the place not just of Harrison Barnes, but like three other dudes they had to jettison. I've been trying to tell you I thought he's the best player. And what we saw the other night was about as good as it gets. Now, look, he may be terrible after I record this. But Kevin Rand's seven feet tall can handle pass, starting to learn to be a better passer. He's not LeBron. He'll never be LeBron's a pastor.

But starting to be a much better pastor. He's always been a good rebounder. always. And defensively, he improved during his time in Golden State. And the other night, he was incredibly important, not just with the first utility, but his rim protection at times. So if they can get by the Bucks with a hobbled hardin and without Kyrie Irving and all, remember, this is not like LeBron with the Cavs. And he was great. Obviously, his first time when they got to the finals and he had the 25 straight points against the Pistons. But, but LeBron team as many times in his prime were built around him. That's not how this was built. This was built

for three guys and then just a bunch of parts. You take away two other stars where you have it's a very different team, a very different way of playing in short order. Now the bucks, kind of like the jazz. It's hard to adjust on the fly if you play against such a different team. So they'll probably win game six and jazz will probably win game six. But I still got to tell you, the things that you see Kevin Rand doing are other world league. As to Rick Carlisle, I think it's pretty obvious you're seeing a trend around the league. I hope Jamal Mosley gets the gig. He's been a friend for a long time.

He played for my dad in New in Colorado. I think you're going to see a lot more 40-year-old former player on some level, mostly NBA, but Jamal was an NBA player. 40-year-old, more relatable guy coaching these teams. I think that's what you're going to see. and I'm fascinated. There's going to be massive, massive movement in the NBA. And there's like look around the league now.

You're talking about Boston is open, Dallas is open, New Orleans is open. These are teams with big time players, right? Now, big time players are harder to coach and Portland is open. Think about that. I think Tyloo has done an incredible job, incredible. Is there anything they run X and O wise? No, but in terms of figuring out the matchups and figuring out how to win the series, going small against Utah. Look what he did with Dallas.

The adjustments he made from, you know, stop playing Rondo, Trey Man, the Five. Tailu's been really good. There'll be more guys like Tailu on the sidelines, I feel like, next year in the NBA. All right, let's get you to our part two of Josh Paster. Okay, so when we last talk to Josh, last talk to Josh, he had just gotten the Memphis job. Now, keep in mind to get the Memphis job, he thought they were trying to retain the assistant he planned on going with Coach Caliperty, Kentucky, and he walks in the Athlete Department Director's Office, and he offers him, do you want the job?

He thinks he means the head assistant job. We'll let Josh take it from there. A reminder, you can listen to the Doug Gottlieb show daily, 3 to 6th Eastern Time, 12-3 Pacific on iHeartRadio app, Fox SportsRadio.com, series text M217 or 203, or on Fox Sports Radio. Here's Josh Pastert, part two.

Okay, Josh, so when we last spoke, you had just gotten the job. Okay, so, and you walked in, the AD was like, do you want it? And you thought he was talking about being the assistant coach. Turns out he's talking about being the head coach. Now, here's what I heard.

And you, again, put truth to room. I heard that it got done so quickly that you actually have the same contract as John Calipari. The only difference was like the monetary compensation, right? That they like in the, there's a bunch of fine print stuff like, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's just get the deal done. Any accuracy to that? Doug, it happened. I was, everything happened so fast. Doug, I got the job.

There was, and God blessed that I got the job because, as I mentioned before, I was just at the right place, right time. I skipped 150 steps. A million people are more deserving to be the head coach at Memphis than I was. So when I got the job, there wasn't an interview process. It was just, do you basically want the job? It was just because they had to hire somebody at the time because, you know, so many coaches got raised. You know, because nobody wanted to follow Calipari. They all said, yeah, I'd be interested.

Then all of a sudden, their current school would give them a big raise. So I say all that to say, it happens so fast. There's a lot of truth to that rumor that I was not making the same financial packages, Coach Caliperi. But it was all basically the same thing because it's just, you just had to shift everything over and change the name from John Calipari to Josh Paster. A couple of monetary figures were a little less. but you just needed to go right in to become the coach, you know, and how I got the job. It was just, like I said, it was just basically do you want the job in a sense? And it just happened that quickly, that fastly, based on everybody else getting pursued for the job, said no.

So you're 31 years old. And you mentioned like your recruiting class, the blood soes and the DeMarcus cousins of the world and the John walls that they all go to Kentucky, right? You could together. They all wanted to play for John. They were never, the entire time in recruiting, it was John Caliperry, John Calipary, John Calipary, John Calipary. So, and, and I, there was no, people were asking about that, where is there any, no, no,

none whatsoever. If at the time, if my son had a chance to play for Josh Pastor 31 or John Calopary in the future Hall of Fame or at the time, he's now obviously in the Hall of Fame, go play for John Calipari. I got it. Like I totally understood it. There is, I got the whole deal.

Okay. So look, you dreamed of this your whole life. And he played for Lute. You'd worked under K.O. At Arizona, Kevin O'Neill in Arizona. And you obviously worked under,

under Coach Cal. Your first year. What's your persona like? Like, I put it a practice plan together. You can do that. Okay. But in terms of how you carry yourself. When you come to the, like, when were you, as an assistant coach, when would you get to work?

You know, what was great was, as an assistant coach, I worked for guys who were very, even though they were all different, they kind of let you, they wanted you to get the job done. So you had to be self-motivated. You had to be just, you know, motivated, driven internally to go get to get the job done. They maybe didn't have a set office hour time. I enjoyed getting in there early. I'm an early morning guy. Under Cal, do you guys, did you guys have like a recruiting meeting every day or a staff meeting every? A lot of times we'd meet at dinner, we'd go to dinner or a late night thing. He, you know, he would drink Duncan Donuts coffee all the time.

And at night, we'd have a late night, you know, meeting late in the evening, you know, or getting a meal going to get a bite to eat. You know, a lot of our meetings were, I mean, we'd meet sometimes during the day, but a lot of the meetings were in the evenings. and we would just do that. Where Coach Olson, a lot of the meetings were in the late mornings early afternoon. But, you know, what was interesting in the meetings, both those guys, they wanted to meet to be organized, but there wasn't a lot of waste of time either.

They kept moving. Both guys were very busy. At the level, John Caliperi, Lut Olson were at, they had other things going on in their life at a very high level, you know, other than just basketball at the time. What did, and I miss this honestly in our first one, but I do, I want to circle back to you. I thought, here's what Eddie Sutton did,

what I thought was genius to, I mean not relate to the players, but to get to know the players. We had a rule. If you were in Stillwater, you had to come to the office once a day. You had to come in and sign a piece of paper that you made eye contact with somebody,

on staff. If they were there, if not, you just come to the front and sign to see Mary Lee Draper who ran the office, right? And I thought it was great because you always, they felt like they always knew where you were. They always had a handle on what was going on your life. And a lot of times you wouldn't really talk about anything special, just like, hey, what's going on with you up to today? You know, maybe are you getting in the gym, are you getting one in, getting a workout in or whatever? But a lot of times, not even that, just kind of, kind of BSing around. But I thought that was a way. And then every once in a while,

coach would come and sit on the couch in our locker room and watch like we like Beavis and Budhead or Martin was on back in the day, right, like Martin Lawrence. And they would watch that stuff and he would ask questions. And maybe only like five, 10 minutes, but you would feel like he would know what was going on your life. What, like Lut Olson, John Calipari, how did those guys connect with the younger generation?

Well, what was interesting, was at Arizona. Arizona was a different setup at the time than Memphis. Arizona offices were over. There was no practice facility at the time when I was at the University of Arizona. The offices had a big glass window that looked down onto the floor. Everything was in the Kale Center. McCale Center was where we played our games.

But in McKale Center was the academics, was the food, was practice, was the weight room, and the game floor. So you had everything right there besides the living quarters, you had to be in the kale. So just by that, that, you know, the locale of where everything was, you were going to be seeing the coaches no matter what. And guys were going to pop up into the office

to see the coaches and that coach Olson. you know, again, things were different than they are now. In the summer, we weren't allowed. There was no allowed individual skill instruction. Guys sometimes would go home. You know, there wasn't allowed. By the way, and we'll get to this later, easily the dumbest rule in the history of man,

that you have the best coaches in the world who recruit kids to play for them, but you're not allowed to coach them out of the season, you know, in the summer, which that rule made. no, you're like, you're begging third parties to get involved if you do it that way. And it's changed. Now, it's obviously changed now. But at that time, you're correct. So it was a, it was a little bit different. And so when got like when summer happened, what was interesting, people would just go home. There wasn't a lot of people staying, the guys went staying around at the college campuses during the summer, unless they had to for an academic reason. Most

people went home. So that was a little different. So the guys were able to see the office, you know, you'd see guys within the facilities at McKale Center when we're there. What was interesting at Memphis, Doug, was the fact that our offices were not at the location of the practice facility, nor were they in our academic center. Our office were totally a separate building. So it was a total separate building. Now, and I always thought that was made it tough. And I remember when I became the head coach at Memphis using that same thing that coach Sutton did about making him come to the office daily to see them.

Otherwise, if it was not a practice day, like where you're practicing, you know, if you're out of season, you might not see the guy. You could go multiple days without seeing your team because unless you have to literally go search them because a lot of the guys wouldn't come over to the office because there was just no, it was just as such out of the way. So, but Coach Cala Perry 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 what 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 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 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall.

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

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcasts presents Soccer Moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since 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? They had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white collar something here? Just a second.

What are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album? Oh, I would. Come on. How did you believe? 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. You're lucky. I'm not a killer. I love this team. And I'm a lot. I love this team. And I'm a 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. You know, he did a genius thing by he had this house where he lived. He lived literally 30 seconds from campus. And obviously he was a beautiful home. But he lived 30 seconds from campus. And he had us over there all the time. When I say us, I was part of the staff.

but he would have the players over there all the time. And he did a tremendous job of just connecting with the players by the time and effort he spent with them at his own home. And I think that was a big difference and how he did that. Whereas at Arizona, everything was in the facility. And we still went to Coach Olson's home for recruiting visits and stuff like that. But for Coach Caliperi's home, we guys would go over there a bunch just randomly. because he literally lived next to campus. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.

Catch all of our shows at Fox SportsRadio.com. And within the IHard Radio app, search FSR to listen live. When was the last time you seriously considered your dream? Did something never thought you would do. How about live the van life in a totally customized Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van? You could tour the country, whatever you want to dream up. And we're talking about Mercedes-Benz van here. Expect innovative safety features like crosswind assist and blind spot assist.

Expect performance and reliability with that MBUX voice command system. You're going to get five-star dealer network available with a gas engine. Now you could win your very own Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Mode 4x4. You enter the Dan Patrick Show Ultimate Camping Rigs sweepstakes. You go to Danpatrick.com or Fox SportsRadio.com and there you enter, get official rules for a chance to win this beautiful Mercedes-Benz sprinter van. Danpatrick.com or foxportsradio.com and you have to do so by February 2nd. Your dream is waiting for you. Danpatrick.com, Fox SportsRadio.com. Some equipment described

is optional. Hey, all-ball community, listen up. Two of three men experienced some form of hair loss by the time you're 35. And it's one of those deals where you're like, what do I do? How do I avoid this thing? Is it smart? Don't be a statistic. If you're a little bald or a lot bald, fix it in a simple stress-free way. Try Keeps. K-E-E-P-S. What you do is a virtual doctor consult at keeps.com. And then the medications are delivered straight to your door. It's low cost with treatment starting at just 10 bucks a month for FDA-approved medications and they can prevent hair loss. Keeps is more five-star reviews than any of its competitors. And don't walk around with pattern baldness. We all know it's not cool. It just doesn't feel right. Prevention is, in fact,

the key. So if you're ready to stop messing around, you got a new year, a new energy, towards fixing the little things like hair loss. You want to prevent a hair loss, go to k-e-e-e-p-s.com slash all-ball. You get your first month of treatment-free. That's k-e-e-e-ps.com. Keeps.com slash all-ball. 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. Okay, but taking over a job where you were an assistant. And, you know, Cal is the guy, right? Like he just, he's a force of nature. How do you go about, making it your program without being a jerk, right?

Without being on the other hand, like, look, you're the head coach now. And, but that 18 inches is the biggest move ever. Plus, you're 31 replacing like an all-timer, a Hall of Famer. How did you go about getting into the job for, first for the, of the players that remained, right? And then obviously in Memphis as a, as a city that loves basketball, but it's a tough place.

Not just a tough guy to follow. It's tough on whomever, right? Like fucking tubby Smith is unbelievable, right? And like that place ate tubby up. So how did you go about making that move mentally? There's only three coaches in the history of Memphis who have not, who've been a head coach there has not been fired, who've left on their own.

Gene Bartow, John Calopari, and Josh Paster. I mean, that's how hard. you know, you're right. I mean, like, think about Larry Finch, who I think they should be a 30 for 30 on Larry Finch, what he did, how great of a player he was back in the day. I don't know how many people really understand about Larry Finch. One of the great players in history of college, an incredible player, incredible shooter, chose Memphis during an, just a time. He was during all the, you know, where Dr. King was assassinated. It was a lot of race riots during that time period. And it, and a lot of things going on in Memphis.

And he chose Memphis at the time, which really brought the city together. You know, of every background came together because of basketball, partly because of what Larry Finch choosing to stay home during a really hard time in Memphis with a lot of issues going on. And so, and then he became the head coach and was the winningest coach in the history of Memphis until John Calipari eventually surpassed him. That being said, I mean, the guy's a hero, Larry Finch. He's a legend.

He's incredible. And they were so tough on him as a coach. It was unbelievable. You know, and that just showed you how tough that job is. And, you know, I still say if people should look at the story of Larry Finch or should be a 30 for 30. But I say all that to tell you that you're 31 taking over and you're right, Doug, what makes it hard is you can't be John Caliperi. I had to be myself. I went around to more speaking engagements because, and when you're talking about the office, about getting in early,

you know, I felt when I became the head coach there, I, look, I love being in the office and I love working. I love my job. But I really felt in that first year, I had to get out to as many, like, people I could go to speak. I couldn't live in the office. I had to get out there and in the community and just like keep everybody connected in some way. Like give me the most random place you popped in. I was just going there. I mean, Doug, there was not a speaking engagement I said no to. There wasn't anything.

I was, I was just and I was talking to everybody. I mean, it didn't matter. Restaurant. I was just, I was trying to rally the city because there was such an upsetness in the city for John Cala Perry at the time leaving. Because he would, they loved. him so much. He was so successful. They took it personal that he decided to take the Kentucky job because they loved them. And the win, and he won so much. And he did so much for the community

and city. And I think the idea is like, hey, if you can compete for a national championship here, why do you need to go to Kentucky? Those of us who we've, we've kind of been outside of, you know, far enough from the forest seed of trees, understanding it's been different at Kentucky, right? Like, he's been able to select, not necessarily to recruit as much for a long time at Kentucky. But I do understand that you like if you're happy and we're going to pay you whatever.

They were going to pay him whatever. He would probably made more money at Memphis than Kentucky. You know what I mean? So, you know, literally we'll pay you whatever, whatever it takes. And so, and so and so going around. And so my message was the entire time was, look, this has got to be like we've got

to, it's got to be, you know, our team, our city, our program, because I said, I can't be John Caliperi. Because I said, the only way to, I said, John Calipari, the only way to get John Calipari, you're going to need to hire John Calabary back. I kept saying that. I can't be John Calipari. So everyone's going to have to, is going to have to back me, support me, be behind me. Because I said the guy, he was winning 35 games a year. That's not happening. It's not, John Wooden didn't do some of the things. Mike Shoshesky, Bob Knight,

he was in a class of his own in those last four years at Memphis. It was the most wins in a four-year time period in the history of the NCAA. So I kept telling people, if you want to repeat that success, you need to get, the only way that's going to happen is get John Calgary back, but everyone's going to have to come to the acceptance that he's moved on to Kentucky. And so I was trying to send that message that we've got to rally behind me in a sense and the program to keep the thing moving forward. Was that if you could do it again, would that be your message?

Well, it's not that if I could do it again. No, I would probably, I think at the time I had to do that because we had a rally that, you know, the city was hurting. And I thought it was the right message. And so, you know, if I knew what I knew now, I would say, hey, everything's going to be okay. I would probably wouldn't have stressed as much and just said, and I would have just, you know, I would have known. If I knew what I knew now, I know what we would have run off. defensively, defensively, that's obviously part of growing. But at the time, the city was, they, they love, I'm telling you, because I'm telling you, Doug, Doug, I was there with the people loved John.

They loved him in that city. And when he left, and I told Calvus, I told Coach Cala Perry this, because they loved him so much, they were hurt when he left. I mean, look, you know how it is. A lot of times when people leave or they get fired, you know, the fans are, they're ready to with him. There was such a love affair. And because he had not only had he won a lot, he had done a lot of good in the community. There was a lot of positives.

He had made a lot of positive differences in the community. So when he left the fans or hurt, to kind of get the excitement back and the enthusing back, I say, hey, we got to rally around the program, you know, and that's what we got to do. So I don't think there was any other message you could do because unless they wanted John Calipari to be coming back and walking through that door, which wasn't happening, I think they had to accept that at that time. When you got there, I don't think he was doing the dribble drive motion, right? I think that had gone away some. I don't know if it was part of what you guys did. Did you like that?

Did you like that style? You know, I think, again, and we talked about this last time. What makes Coach Calipari a genius is the fact that he could look around the corner and see in a corner spot in a shopping center and say, man, if I had a pizza place right there, you know, you can make just an unbelievable amount of money, just having a, and charged this by the slice, get in it, call it. And I think the same thing, because Vance Wahlberg deserves a lot of credit, but with the dribble drive. I think, you know, and he, he's the one that kind of started it, Vance Walberg. Coach Cala Perry got it from Coach Walberg, flew out there, met with them, brought him in, all those things. And Coach Cala Perry, the genius that he was, or is, then took the dribble and marketed it in a way that it was, you know, it was incredible. You know, and now, again, he had to coach it. He did some things to his own liking and stuff, but he tailored it to what he

felt was best for him, but then his marketing, his ability to market. I mean, think about it, Doug, you know, and I say this, I mean, you know, really, you know, a lot of the things that, you know, he made the dribble drive, obviously, like I said, Coach Vance Walbert started it, but he, Coach Caliperi made it famous. Coach Calaparri started the pro days. You know, he kind of started the one and done thing, you know, where it's, you know, there's a lot of things. He didn't start it with this marketing. Here's the beauty tool, okay? This is, again, we both have the same thing with Cal. We both think he's amazed.

But like we also understand like Shriph Abdurahim had been a one and done. There's been, you know, Duke had had a couple of, but it wasn't marketed, Doug. It was. That's the point, right? Where it's really amazing. And you see that in business as well, where it's like, you know, there are plenty of coffee companies that have done what Starbucks had done. But Starbucks founds a way to kind of.

get it and almost claim it as their own. And you're like, wait a second. You know, it's Aerosmith says this. And Aerosmith says, Amateurs borrow professional steel in terms of, you know, music grips and whatever. Right. And that's, that's, that's cow. Like he finds something he's like,

not only does he understand it and get it and go like, that'll work, but it'll go like, all right, then I put my stamp on it and I market it my way. And it kind of becomes my thing, even if it's not my thing. Like, that was brilliant. No, there's a lot of brilliancy with that. And obviously, which then attracted many great players. And as we talked about, he's a great coach. But then it's just like the having like Drake become part of like Kentucky program.

Do you know what I mean? I mean. It's like so many coaches push away thing like, man, I don't want to, you know, I'm like, right? Or he's just, come on. Like come on. Like he gets like LeBron engaged. it gets straight. Like it's,

okay. So, okay, so now you're managing all the stuff. You're putting together a roster. Did you have Elliot Williams sitting out or did you get him to transfer? No, Elliot Williams,

and I, you know, he came to Memphis because of the reason, and it was a sad reason. His mom, unfortunately, had breast cancer and didn't have a long time. And so he went,

and he's from Memphis, Elliot. And so he came back home. You know, he wanted to have his mom. his family to be able to see him play in person with the amount of time she had. And he had a great year for me. And thank the good.

Okay. So you got Elliot Williams, the Duke transfers, brilliant kid. Yeah. As your point guard, your leader, you said you got to figure out how to play. And I mentioned you had, you know, you got Caliper, you got loot, you got KO. And like, look, K.O, I'm sure we could do another pod on working for KO. maybe that airs maybe it doesn't like because there's a lot going on there but the brilliant basketball guy i don't think anyone would would argue otherwise um and he's had his own i got to do a

problem with him like he's had his own like the people he's worked with amazing how did you decide how you want to play like did you just go sit in a dark room did you watch film did you have your staff how did you decide i'm josh pastor how i want to play year one at memos you know Doug you know here's I would tell you, this is part of, you know, I've been a head coach now for 12 years. And so, you know, I was fortunate, you know, that I really believe I have gotten better each year as a head coach, which is just natural growth. I've had really good assistant coaches that have worked for me that I've learned so much from. I've been very fortunate in that area that I've been able to improve and get better because I've had good people that I've worked, you know, that have worked with me.

And then on the same time, I've really tried to be a student of the game and be open-minded and continue to evolve. And so one of the things that I didn't do a good enough job on early at Memphis is I felt I did not have a certain style of how I wanted to play both offensive and defensive and defense. I thought I was changing year by year. And I look back now, we won a lot of games and thank the good Lord. we won a lot of games. And the reason we won a lot of games was because I had great players and great assistant coaches, you know, and who covered for me in both areas. But I really looking back in my position that I didn't do a good enough job in making sure

that we stayed consistent of our style of play. Yeah, you're going to make 20. So you want so, so again, in now 12 years in, again, if you could go back, we're all like, you know, you get people like, well, you can't. can't look back like, of course you do. You look back and you learn from the past and you try and make a better future, right? So if you could go back, you would have installed a system and stuck to that system? Yes. Yes. And as much as we won, Doug, we would have won even more. I really believe that. Here's the problem with that. But here's the problem with it. Okay. This is,

outside of perspective. I believe you're right. I believe that's the way to do it. I think you get more out of less. And you can also recruit to a system instead of constantly. And I understand that the challenge in trying to evolve and fit something to the personnel that you have. It's like the Belichick thing, which is like, hey, let's just go try and win this week. And then next week, we'll try and go win next week. And they're amazing at it. But I tend to agree with you. especially if it's a system that you know and that you believe in. And, I mean, I think it's a Wisconsin thing. Like, I don't love their system, but they recruit to their system and they coach to their system.

And guys understand, like, you want to play, this is how you're going to have to play. You know, we'll tinker with some things. We'll adjust some things. They become a, but I do think that that's, but it's also hard when you're, again, like, even though you're on the staff, that's like trying to reprogram somebody else's stereo. Like you don't, shit, I don't know how to, this is not me. This is not what I would do. And it's not how, okay, so what did you do your first year?

What was your, you know, and you're right. And so I had it as the head coach, I was trying to making sure that we were good in things that the guys knew how to be good at that we, that they just had been doing for a few years in the previous years. For example. Well, like, for example, like, you know, we did do a lot of dribble, drive stuff. We did do a lot of driving kick and things like that. But I also came, I also, at my time at Arizona, we did what was interesting. And it's gone away now. And I still think it's one of it's a tremendous offense. But we ran a lot of three out two in with a flare screen, re-screen type of action. It was emotional offense. It was really good. It was excellent. But it's

different now because, you know, not everyone's playing with a true four and a true five. You know what I I mean, the game has evolved. But it's like Bill's stuff with the high low. You can evolve it into. No, exactly. We might have changed offensively. We might have put the no map with me. And there's two things.

We were excellent at high field goals being assisted. We were always one of the best in the country or in the best in the league. Our ball movement and the way we moved the ball. And my whole saying was our go-to man was the open man. The open man was the go-to man. I said that every day all day. So we always move the ball. And I told, and I used people to say, well, your offense looks like, then you just scrap something.

I said, how? And I would always take that personal because I said, you know, that's a shot to our players because they played so unselfish. Because you look at our assist. And we celebrated the hockey assist. We celebrated the assist. We celebrated whatever it took to get. Our ball movement was great. That was one. And two, we were really good defensively. We were always good defensively. Now, you could say that, man, your offense got stagnant here or you didn't do this here or you didn't use this guy the right way here. I get that and I look back and saying, you know, there's some things like maybe I should have used a different type of ball street action or I should have done this or that. But we were good in those two areas with all that being said and because we played unselfish.

And that was something that we were on about all the time about finding the open man, turning down a good shot for even a great shot. So but I think we could have even, you know, so I try to going back to your question, I tried to combine the two, but it was an evolving process, Doug, because in my first year there, we signed the number one recruiting class in the country. And so I had been trying to fit things coming in as a bunch of young guys, and I kind of changed some things in my second year on how I played offensive in my first year. It was just, you know, and then we were a high turnover team. As much as we were having high assist, we also had high turnovers.

And part of that I look back that we didn't have a, I changed year and you're out with some of our system stuff offensively, which probably wasn't. the right thing to do. What I was really proud of our staff, and we had a lot of guys leave Memphis to become head coaches. Jack Murphy became the head coach at Northern Arizona, and he did a great job at Northern Arizona. He's now the associate coach at Arizona. Damon Stadamire left Memphis from me and became the head coach at Pacific. You know, I had, Willis Wilson was the head coach, as I mentioned, and came to me and then became the head coach at Texas. Did I tell me a Willis Wilson story? Tell me Willis Wilson story. This is the best one. This is the best one. So I was doing a game. Man, Willis Wilson, incredible human being.

Incredible man. Okay. Incredible man. I have one of my first guy ever, when I did an audition at ESPN and my first games at ESPN, and then he was a studio host for me. He's a guy named Dave Revston and stuff. He's basically the face of the Big Ten network. So we're doing a rice game.

Okay. And God, he had a big guy who was like six four, six five, like short arms. I can't remember his name. But he ended up making the NBA. And I thought the only negative I could tell you about Willisville's. One negative as a human being and as a coach is I didn't think he was good at substitutions. I didn't. But people should look back at what he did at Rice considering.

Not only was it a bad facility at the time, but there was a curtain behind one of the baskets. And they had a badminton court. Yep, yes, yes, that's great. And kids were playing fucking badminton while they're playing a college basketball game. right? You're like, how do you recruit to a place where they're playing badminton while you're playing a college basketball? Okay, but so here's where Willis Wilson is an absolute gem of a human bit. I got to remember who they're playing. Playing somebody towards the end of the year, it's a big game, decent crowd. It went, kind of almost subbed himself out of the game,

but they end up winning. And after the game, you know, he takes out for headsets and he comes over and, you know, like, I'm a big handshaker. When any, and it's every win I ever had at Oklahoma State, everyone ever had at Notre Dame, I shook my head coach's hand and congratulated him. I always shake the other coach's hand, big of shaking hands. And so I go to shake his hand. He's like, you know, I'm a little out of the weather.

Like, let's just elbow bump. Now this is like, I'm going to go, 2000 and like six or something, right? This is way before anybody did the elbow thing. And Dave Rebson's a bit of a germaphobe. And we go walking out and he goes, Is that Willis Wilson? What a hell of a guy, right?

Like how thoughtful of it is he, that he would, anybody else would just, I'm not feeling great, but I just won a game and I'm shake your hand. I'm even giving you a hug and he does the elbow thing. Willis, not a germapope, but just smart and understanding. Like that was that we, Revston and I always talk about Willis Wilson. We're like, great guy didn't shake hands because he wasn't feeling great. That's awesome. That's, okay.

Okay, so you're trying to figure some stuff out. what's it like, what's it really like to recruit in the city of Memphis, right? Because Memphis, here's the, again, outsider.

You've lived it, you've done it. Outsiders perspective of it. Man, that shit is wild, right? Like, because Memphis has some great basketball,

great basketball players, but you almost feel like you take Memphis kids. There's just expectations that are so beyond what their actual tape walk. If you take them, you have to play them. If you don't play them, everybody's going to kill you in the community. If you do play them, they might not be either ready or have played the type of college basketball at both ends that you need to win. There's also conflicting alliances, right?

Not everybody. Just because you're from Memphis doesn't like me, you like everybody from Memphis? Like, that shit's got to be wild. What was it actually like to recruit Memphis kids in Memphis? No, there's, Doug, there's a lot of intensity being recruiting kids from Memphis. Memphis. And again, let me just be very clear. I love my time at Memphis. The job was awesome. And I love recruiting in Memphis. That being said, there was a lot of high expectations that come with it. Now, it is hard for someone to come in and get a Memphis kid. Now, like John Calaparry prior to me,

he was able, especially those last four years, he was able to get guys outside of Memphis because he was, you know, national. He can go pluck guys anywhere. I really, when I got the job really locked in and try to focus on some of the local talent there. And there were some great guys coming up. And we were fortunate that we were able to get some great players. And we were also able to get a guy like Will Barton. And in fact, his brother, Antonio Barton, who ended up helping me win a lot of games early on as well, too.

But I say all that to say, there was a lot of expectations. And a guy like Joe Jackson, who was a great player, and it was a McDonald's All-American. And so much the pressure that was put on Joe from being in that city, in that locale, and he's a great player, Joe. And four straight years, you know, going to the NCAA tournament, one of the top five in Memphis history in points, rebounts, points, assists, steals, wins,

just an incredible player. You know, he, I could see it on the pressure on him. And we had other guys on the team as well, two from Memphis. What was interesting, Doug, two things. One, I can remember multiple times, late game situations, because the way that the guest tickets were always behind our bench, you know, like the players' tickets were,

or the players' guests were behind our bench. I can't tell how many times late games or something, you know, the different coaches in the stands and the AAU coach would be screaming, what you got, coach, what you got, you know, give it to my guy in this situation. You better give it to him over. You know, they all wanted their guy to have the last,

I mean, it was unbelievable. And you can hear it in the background. And you're second team, right? You got your second year. You got Will, you got Joe Jackson, Black. You got Chris Crawford as well from really good, really good. Right. You got Drew Barham as well. Like you got all these, and not only they're Memphis dudes, but they're freshmen. Yeah. They're, they're freshmen. And, and I think people, people think that they're supposed to just,

just come in. So how do you, how do you navigate that, right? Like, is it every time you get done with the game, is their phone calls be made? Or they're meeting. Oh, no, it was, it was, it was all the time. Yeah, there was just, it was, it was constant management. the entire time. And so, yeah, you were dealing that a lot with a lot. You know, as I evolved into, as I kept, you know, moving a couple more years into my career as a head coach, after games, I would just eventually just say, hey, when we won the game, I'd be like, hey, look, winning is hard. And that's the COO thing. That's CO's deal. And I think he took it from Larry Brown. I don't know, but chaos. And so I used to always say that at Memphis. How, and people get on, I say winning.

is hard. Winning one game is hard. And I literally would tell her to we've got, I was trying to win every possession. I was coaching every single possession. But after the game, we have a win. I know I wouldn't, I would see it. My phone would be having mess. And I learned that man, I'm not dealing with. I'm going to enjoy the win. I'm going to savor the win. I'll deal with it tomorrow. Because I just know there was going to be complaints. There's going to be stuff. But listen, that's not a Memphis issue. And I tell people this all the time that I've, you know, winning it, like I said, winning is very hard. You don't take it for granted because it's, it's very hard to do. The other teams are very well coached. We've got a lot of good players. And we all deal with it.

That when you, when you're dealing with, you know, a kid or didn't play as much. And even if you win the game, that young man could be upset. Their coach, and they're going to want to know what's going on. That happens all throughout. I've just learned how to be better at dealing with it through experience. And I've been at a high level because I've been at a high level. I've been at a high level at the University of Arizona. You know, at the very high, that's the very highest level. Even previously between the before University of Arizona, I was with the Houston Hoops, my AU team that I was coaching or then playing, which was the highest level of AAU teams.

Then I was at Memphis, which was the highest level, both as an assistant and a head coach. And then become the head coach of Georgia Tech, which is in the AC. which is the highest level. So in college basketball or grassroots basketball, I've been fortunate that in my entire time I've been at a very, very high level, Doug. And I'm saying that, not saying that again, I've been very clear that I've been very lucky. And I've had a, I've been gotten so many open breaks and people are more deserving to be the head coach at Memphis and Georgia Tech than I ever was and could ever will be. I mean, I just, you know, that being said, I understand players, especially at the high level, because I've been around it, I've seen it,

I know what goes on with it, I know how they get, how parents, the coaches, I understand it. I have a real, like I call it the get factor. I get it. And that when someone maybe doesn't play as much, kind of how some of the feelings are going to be, I understand it because I've been around this type of level in my entire, and I'm not saying, I'm sure this happens even at all levels. and I know it does, but I understand it at this, at the highest level in college athletics. I, if I were to, if I were to have advised you at the time, okay, and now obviously hindsight is,

is so 2020, I would have said the messaging could, it should have been, okay, I love Coach Cowell. But do people, I want you to understand, it really was like a five-year built. to get to be an elite program. It's like a five-year bill. Third year, you got the NCAA tournament. Fourth year, you won a game in the NCAA tournament, I think. But it wasn't until a fifth or six year that you actually hit. And so what people have to understand is, like,

if you want a short-term, like, we want to just try, let's just go and, and now obviously it's changed with the transfers. You want a short-term, but if you believe in me, or if you believe in this program and how to build, it and I'm here and I'm telling you I'm here for the long run. Trust me, but because we lost our whole recruiting class, we're going to have to have a couple years of a build and there'll be some ups and downs, but I believe it can get, because that's actually what happened, right?

It was, like, your fourth year, your fifth year, you end up having that incredible season where you go undefeated in league play. And that's, honestly, that's, for the most part, at a program at the level of Memphis, which is a very high level, but it's not Kentucky, right? Kentucky should and can win 30 a year or close to 30 a year with like once every four or five years, you're going to have a down year. And once every four or five years, you're going to have a national championship year. Memphis, if you're doing it right, it should be a build.

And then hopefully stay as consistently at the top. And again, occasionally you're going to have injuries, whatever. Like I think that's, I don't know if people want to hear. year realistic positivity, but that's the realistic positivity. And I understand that. But I was very clear with everybody that, hey, look, I mean, because I obviously, everybody knew, you know, I told everybody how, you know, hey, Coach Caliper, I mean, what he did is that has never been done in the previous four years.

So the only way to repeat that probably is to try to get him to come back. 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. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skisks of a win. hits, 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 Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. This is my best friend Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since 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 drinks. 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 want. How did you believe?

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're 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. Oh. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam, it's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game.

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

we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to point.

game on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And I don't think he's coming back. So we're going to have to, like, move forward. And, and I was more just like hitting the kind of hitting the elephant in the room. Like, look, Coach Caliperi is going to be in the Hall of Fame. I haven't coached the game. And so, you know, and my job is to try to rally. I felt it was, I had to rally the city. I was like, not only running the program, I was, you know, I wasn't, you know, in a sense, when you're the basketball coach at Memphis, you're almost like the mayor. And I was sort of rallying this.

I was trying to rally everybody because a lot of people were upset. Not because they didn't like Coach Cal because they loved him. They were mad. They were, they felt hurt that he left because they loved him so much. Obviously, you know, as time goes on, they look back and things are different. But, you know, but at that time, that's what, how the feeling. So I thought I had to really rally everyone to. And then when we had our first, I thought, you know, we called it Memphis Madness to start open our season.

in October, we had the place sold out. I didn't know if you didn't get a thousand. We had the fire marshals had to shut, it was an overflow of crowd at the FedEx Forum. That's, and I really told some people, you know, again, then we had to start playing some games eventually, but, but we really rallied the city. And the city got behind. Everybody started, you know, coming. And that, you know, because they, they, I had, I felt we did a good job of rallying the, the city and continue to keep them enthusiastic. and and keep them excited. And let me just say this, you know, during the Memphis job,

the job has continued to change because Memphis was originally in, I think it was Conference USA with like Marquette, Louisville, South Florida, all those schools, they all eventually left to go to the Big East. Memphis stayed. Louisville was in that initial. And then Memphis was just dominating. I mean, you remember Memphis had like a 60-some-odd game winning streak in conference play of never losing.

I happened to be, when I took over, I won some games to allow us to continue that streak. Eventually, we ended up losing it. But that was an amazing, I mean, for four years, Coach Talaparry never lost a conference game. Think about that. I mean, 18 and 0 or whatever, 16, 16, 16, 16, plus the three games in the so 19, 19, 19, 19,

for four straight years. Who was it like when you lost that game? Oh, I was sick to my stomach. I felt terrible. The city was upset. Everybody was upset. Everyone was really upset because it was the first time they had lost in a long time. I felt responsible.

It was a long, sleepless, many sleepless nights after that. But when you look back at that and you say, man, the streak that he had created to do that was just amazing. And so I think that was, but the league has changed. So then when I was there, we eventually moved into the big AAC, the AAC, which had all the teams, if you remember, Had like Cincinnati, Yukon. Cincinnati, Yukon, Louisville, Louisville won national championship that first year. Correct. So the job changed.

And then some of those teams left to go, you know, obviously Louisville and the ACC, Yukon back to the Big East. You know, South Florida stayed in there. I mean, South Florida went from the Big East into the AAC. So things changed. And so it has changed. Houston then came in. So things had changed through that time, you know,

because of the amount of times the league has, Memphis has changed leagues or teams moving in and out of the league. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this Valentine's 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.

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. 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 in your world. you and start exploring at discover the forest.org brought to you by the united states forest service and the ad council what actually happened why did you think well look Doug i think for seven years i was there for seven years and i really think what happened was you know we did a we did a lot of good like i said i had such great players great staffs great people that i worked that worked with me and it was just you get to a seven year you're following john caliperi i mean you know you get to the point where probably every loss, if a loss, you couldn't, I couldn't go outside. I couldn't, I would, I couldn't go to a restaurant that the upsetness for people. And I took it personal because I wanted to win so bad.

I was so attached to every game, every possession. It probably was unhealthy. I'm better now, but because I knew what it meant to the city. And, and, and so when I, when the Georgia tech job opened, I, from afar, I was looking like, and that's a great job. It's, it's, It's in Atlanta. They just, you know, I mean, you know, the coach that had been there before I took over was Brian Gregg who did a really good job. He's a very good basketball coach. He's at South Florida now.

But I looked at maybe the program needed a shot of energy. And then you're in Atlanta. You're in the ACC. So I felt, man, this is a good opportunity. And I just felt it was the time. And fortunately, I had an opportunity to take this job and get the job. And like I said, when I came in here, I've said it. many times. Brian Gregory did a great job with, you know, I was in a coming in, you know, as much as I

had, you know, we had to build some things back. He, he left it in a great position. It just needed a little shot of energy. The culture was great. We had some great players coming back. And then boom, you know, we had some, you know, we've been able to continue to build on that from that. So, it's just one of those things, Doug, that, you know, you know, you know how it is. It's, it's hard to stay at a place overly long now these days, I think, you know, if, if that's the case. But I part of it was also how because of where we started we started taking something over at the very highest of high levels and trying to sustain that um you know is it's not an easy thing. my thanks to josh pastor it's just been crazy like i don't even know if you go to bet rivers

how you bet on some of the stuff other than trying to just have the feel with you know like i the second i saw kawai was out though i thought the clippers no chance of winning the championship they were a three-point dog. I thought they had a very good chance of winning, and sure enough, they did win. But the NBA playoffs have been intriguing, and then what happens next in the rest of the league? Fascinating.

Part three coming of Josh Past, and we'll drop it in two days. I'll give you some more NBA nuggets. The meantime, I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is all ball. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this valentines with 1-800flowers.com. From classic roses and bouquets to decadent chocolate covered berries, gourmet treats, and more.

Surprise your Valentine with 1800flowers.com. Right now, get the 18-stem enchanted rose medley for $39.99, 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. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guide, not quite. on Humor 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'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. On the Look Back at a podcast. In 1979, there was a big moment for me. 84 is big to me I'm Sam Jay 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 It 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 A win is a win A win I don't care what you'll say 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 Clifford 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 IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at Tickford.

podcast network on TikTok.