Doug gives his reaction to the surprising trade sending Dame Lillard from the Blazers to the Bucks, if Lillard’s offense makes Milwaukee the title favorite, and why the Blazers refused to accommodate Dame's wish to return to Portland after a Miami deal fell through.
Then, he’s joined joined by University of Nebraska Omaha Head Coach Chris Crutchfield to discuss his hoops background growing up in Kentucky, how he ended up playing college ball at Omaha, how he moved into coaching, his climb up the coaching ladder, including his first head coaching job at Tyler Junior College in the highly competitive Texas JUCO scene, and the invaluable lessons he learned as an assistant under the legendary Lou Henson.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hey, want to welcome in. I'm Doug Godlig.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is All Ball and with the Chris Crutchfield head
coach in Nebraska Omaha upcoming. In the meantime, we do
have some actual basketball gan at basketball, but a gigantic
trade in basketball to start with. Chris Crutchfield is my
signature guest for the next two All Balls. He's the
head coach of Nebraska Omaha. It's his alma mater. A
(00:29):
really interesting kind of mer curial journey back to a
place that he once played. And you'll hear about the
changes at Nebraska Omaha going to Vision one and all
the other things upcoming.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I think you'll love it.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
But Damian Loward is now Milwaukee Bucka. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
With Drew Holliday.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
What's fascinating to me about this trade is a couple
of things. And please excuse the language, but this feels
like a big old fashioned fuck you from Portland to
both Lillard and Miami Heat, because the reports are the Heat.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Whatever you think of.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Their offer or what you thought their offer was with
Tyler Hero that they were picks. There were players and
pretty good picks and pick swaps for the players, but
it feels like it.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
It doesn't feel like it just seems like it is.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Although I don't want to take what is being reported
as the absolute truths, I think it's more likely than
not to have happened the way in which it's reported,
because again, some of the reporting is from people that
have ties to either side, and you painted in the
(01:35):
rosier tones for whomever gave you the information. So here's
what's fascinating to me about the f you to both
Lillard and the Heat. Think about it your Portland Now,
it looks very vindictive, right, doesn't it. It looks vindictive
that Portland would say, hey, oh, if it's not Miami,
(01:58):
you want to come back. No, we don't want you back.
That's what's been reported. But again, look at it from
Portland's perspective. Wait, you force your way out of Portland
said you wanted to trade that you don't want to
be a part of rebuild, but only for the Miami Heat.
And Jimmy Butler can go on social media and say
it's tampering, but man, that is not a great look
(02:20):
for the Heat. And again, if you're poor and you're like, okay,
this was an inside job with the Heat and Damian
Lillard's saying he wants to play for a winner, but
if it only if it's the Miami Heat, that doesn't
that feels very personal or maybe it was a lifestyle decision.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
That's the part to where I go. I can't say
one hundred percent. But here is the one thing that well, first,
I actually like that.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
It's ape. If you're running a basketball team, you have
to do what's in the best interest in the basketball team.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And I will tell you I think that ultimately they'll
end up better. Deandrean's a good player. You got to
pay somebody because with the salary cap, you not just
have a ceiling the befloor and oh yeah, by the way,
you got to put some sort of team out there.
And though I don't believe you can win a championship
with Laton because he's not really a defender, but he
is a big time scoring five man, like he'll be fine.
And Phoenix was trying to get rid of that contract
(03:11):
ever since they signed that contract, having to match the
deal when.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
He was restricted free agent. I think with in the end.
But the big part to this is that the Milwaukee
Bucks will absolutely be better because they have Damianlonton. I've
been thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
They're now the odds on favorite to an NBA championship,
and I understand they've been very good even without him
as a more of a defensive minded team. And they
did win a championship going back a couple of years ago,
and they did so with Giannis, you know, scoring fifty
in the deciding game. And the thought is that they
didn't have Middleton and then they didn't have Giannis for
(03:48):
two of the games against the Heat this year. If
they have Giannis for the whole series, they beat the
Miami Heat. And none of this is even a question.
And this is not necessarily a shot at Damian Lillard,
but we can all he's not a great or even.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Maybe good defensive player. So you're changing the entire construct
of your team. You don't just at some point in
your thirties decide, hey, I'm going to become a high
level defender, you know, and it's taken.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Have the Golden State Warriors won two championships with Steph
Curry as their best player? They have, they have, but
it's been hard because he's constantly attacked in the postseason, constantly.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Why I'm not saying attacked. I'm not saying get Bayless
or people like me or Steven A. Smith.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I'm talking about at the defensive end. He's the focal
point of what you want to do offensively. And Drew Holliday,
though there's a drop off as a shooter, I think
Drew Holliday is as good a ball a handler, probably
a better passer, and a far superior defender, even if
he's not the shooter scorer of Damian Lillard. So I
(05:01):
just they're a completely different team with Damian Lillard as
opposed to Drew Holliday.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
And oh yeah, by the way.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
You know, you lose a pretty good six or seventh
man off the bench as well as part of the deal.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
So I do I like what Portland did. Yes, I
frankly like what Phoenix did you know?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Spreading that money around to a and get Nurkis, who's
not the overall player of Ayton. But they don't need
anybody who needs to score on that team. They have
plenty of scoring. Now they still need a point guard,
but they have plenty of scoring. What they needed is
somebody who will just play defense role, you know, score
(05:46):
when the ball is given to them and not say
a word and never have a play run and that's
what Nurkicch is and then they kind of filled out
their roster with some other decent pieces off the bench.
So I really like it for Phoenix, I understand it
for Portland, and I don't dislike it for Milwaukee because
at some point you're like that.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
But I don't think Milwaukee was that far off.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Giannis is healthy, and maybe they let Giannis guard Jimmy
Butler and none of this ever happens. Instead, you go
from a defensive juggernaut who just shuts off people's fladder
to a team that should be good defensively, but you know,
now you're most of your best players are in your thirties,
although Drew is in his thirties, dude, but not great
(06:32):
defenders and a really more of an offensive minded guard
substituting for Drew Holliday who's a great shooter, great shooter score,
but hasn't played deep in the playoffs and has never
shown a ferocity defensively.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
And again, one other part about Dame and.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
If you go back and track even back to when
he was drafted, I've always been a huge Damian Lillard
fan and proponent. But if we're honest about Dame, even
if he's on the I'm a big team a couple
of years ago, he wasn't great in that setting, and
he wasn't great.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I don't think it was the pressure of it.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I think it's the fact that he's small and he
wasn't the focal point of what they were doing, and
that's not what he's used to.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
If he's a focal point of what they're doing, then
why would you take the ball out of Ganis's hand?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And then he becomes more of just a shooter. He's
a great shooter, but he's used to.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Being ball dominant and he's used to not having to
play defense, and all this is going to change.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
All right, let's get to part one.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
This is Chris Crushfield, good friend of mine, awesome human being,
really really good human being, who, by the way, just
so happens to be a talented head coach at his
ala water the University of Nebraska Omaha.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Here's the beginning of his journey.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Crutch your first memory of playing basketball is You're how old?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
And where is it?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Ooh? I'm probably about eight, maybe maybe nine, and I'm
on the outside court right up the street from my
house AND's where all the big boys was playing at.
And you had to wait till the end to get on.
And I really never got on until I was about
eleven or twelve, So so I just hung around and
(08:15):
just shot the ball and shot the ball and stayed
up there for three or four hours. And at the end,
all when all the good players was tired and done,
I jumped home.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Some idea was my dad would take me to a
park YEPS, Milescript Park in Found Valley, California, and the
early guys played like I think it was like seven am,
and so we get there like six forty five, and
you know, like you got a call game, and so
there might be fourteen guys there.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I was like fourteen, but I would have the fourth game.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Because dudes would call game like, well you got your five, like, no,
my five are coming, and they would rather pick guys
off the court than pick me because I was so little.
So he would stay with me and make sure that
I got my game YEP, and then I play. And
then usually after you play one game, like when you're decent,
(09:11):
you can.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
You know, stay on.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
But that's how my dad would it and then he'd
leave me five bucks. I'll come back and get you whenever,
you know, and they all day well, because there was
different there was different waves, right. There was like the
early wave, there was like the lunchtime way, it was
like the afternoon waves.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
And when I was a kid, like, I.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Had no idea what got why guys were going back
to their car in.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Between games, right.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Like I thought they were just they had like food
in there or something like that. And you know, guys
drinks and a couple of drinks come back out and
who you know. And so when you get that those
afternoon guys, uh, the tempers could get a little get
a little much. I actually I actually broke my nose.
My nose was broken right before my first day of
(10:03):
high school. Kind of saying that I was playing in
the afternoon and I hit a shot and some dude
was you know, some guy my team was talking trash
to him because I.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Was not yet in high school, right, I was skinny,
little kid.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Oh, and then I hit a couple of shots in
the guy and some guy you know, kind of came
down the lane and intentionally got me.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Where'd you go to high school?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Small town Hopinsville, Kentucky. Okay, yep?
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Was it Hopsinsville High School?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Hopkins Field High School? Yep? Yep?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Who's who's your coach?
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Daryl Hallmark?
Speaker 1 (10:35):
What was he like?
Speaker 3 (10:37):
He was hard? He was hard, We pressed, we ran. Uh.
He wanted to make sure he was in shape, so
we ran a lot. We had a good team, won
state championship as a sophomore, finishing the quarterfinals as a junior.
And it's funny. We had the number one team in
the state and got the first round of our district
as a senior. Wow, yeah out yeah, yeah no. It's
(11:03):
a couple of guys that was probably was the third best.
A couple of guys went to play at Austin P
and Murray State.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Who what's your names?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Wendell Qualls and Lamont Ware. Lamont played at Austin P.
Wendle played at Murray.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
How'd you decide to go to Omana?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
I actually went to JUCO first. I went to Noka
Ramsey Community College up in Minnesota, and uh, and this
it all worked out. Doug. It's funny because I was
supposed to go to Austin P. But I was a
prop forty eight. This is first year of prop forty eight.
I was the eighty seven graduate of high school. So
the assistant coach, Steve Hill was putting me and my
(11:43):
teammate at Austin P. We're gonna hide you guys up
in this juco up in Minnesota for two years. Then
we're gonna bring you guys back to Austin P because
we both were non qualifiers. Hey Lake, Kelly, I don't
know if you remember the late Lake Kelly Sure, Lake
was the head coach at Austin P. So late get fired.
Going into our sophomore year at junior college. Whole staff
(12:06):
gone blown, the whole thing up, and we're out there
just trying to figure it out, and the thing kind
of fell apart. Recruiting kind of took a different route.
I end up coming to Omahall Division two because, uh,
it's the only offer that I had really that in
Saint Cloud.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Well it's junior college like in Minnesota for you, I mean,
Kentucky's not it gets cold, but not like Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Oh no, no, it was totally different. It was a
culture shock for me. Now, trust me out in October
it never snows in Kentucky in October. So in Minnesota
it's snowed a lot. First time I ever seen it.
Lightning and snowing at the same time.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
What lightning and snow Yeah, yeah, you know that.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Was part It's possible.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Who'd you play for in juco?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
God by name of Alfonso scandret and Alfonso was the
New York guy, had been around for a long time
coaching the junior college rankings, coach Division two, end up
being an administrator. Uh was the a d at assistant
ady at Texas Tech and Buffalo a bunch of places.
Now he's retired.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
But yeah, how'd you guys play there?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I was a little more controlled half court half court offense.
He he wanted call sets, so we ran a bunch
of sets, which is a typical of junior college basketball.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Sure, right, like how you played in high school? It
seems like how most teams played exactly how you playing?
How you playing junior college? Like at any point in
this journey, were you like, man, I want to coach.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
No, no, not until I got out of college.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So we'll get to that to say, so you get
to Omaha, yep, right now, Omaha. Now, obviously Division one
facilities have changed, you know, massive investments the stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But what was it like that.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Small, small time basketball. We played on a tartan floor. Uh,
the league was really good. North Central Conference was really good.
And all those schools are now in the summit, which
was North Dakota State, South Dakota State, North Dakota, and
South Dakota. Northern Colorado was in the league back then.
(14:24):
School called Morningside in Iowa, Augustana in South Dakota which
is now still Division two, a really good Division two program,
but it was it was US and uh those schools
I just mentioned, and it was a really really good league.
Did you bus everywhere everywhere except it's up to Northern Colorado?
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Right? What is the bus rides in that league? Like
you're in college.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
It's hard. It was hard, you know why because it
was cold everywhere you went, doug right, right, and then
you got humidity inside the windows, so it's starting to
create ice on the inside of the windows. That's how
coldy was in North Dakota.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Okay, so this is this is like early nineties. Yeah, Okay,
so early nineties, I guess you would have you'd have
the probably the Sony Walkman, Yeah on the bus YEP,
YEP and and a mixtape. So Chris Cutchfield in college
with one of those waterproof yellow Sony Walkman, what was
(15:27):
on the what was what was in your years?
Speaker 1 (15:29):
What was on the mixtape?
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Said? I'm probably had some Rob bass. Uh oh, that's
a long time ago. Man, you're making me go back now.
I know for sure, Rob Man.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I just wondered what a Kentucky what a Kentuck what
a Kentucky boy would listen to when you're on the road,
like you know, I remember I would? I mean I
think that was not yet that was probably that was
like the in California.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
That was like the nw A era.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, no doubt, that's exactly right. That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So you had you had the beginning to short too short.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I was a big too short cut huge too short,
gut too short. Actually he toured with Stipid Dog in
the summer. I was like, man, how did I miss
that one? That was that's right up my alley?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
You did see you in California.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
No, the day that he was out, he was near me. Actually,
this is a true story.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
My first concert, my first concert I ever went to,
was with my parents in Vegas. My dad was coaching
my brother or some team in Vegas, and we went
to Jeffrey Osborne in Vegas. Me, my mom and my
dad like Jeffrey Osborne anyway, so so uh and then
(16:54):
but my first concert without a parent was Miles Simon
and I went to Bobby Brown and Tony Tony Tony
in San Ana.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
It was it was, it was.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Subject it was wild, wild days.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yes, yes, thank thankfully I never went backstage.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
How good were you guys when you played.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Probably five hundred, probably on the back end of my
head coach's career. Just so, we were just okay, got
the first round of our regional tournament. But I had
a lot of fun. I had fun. I also played football. Here.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I know you're a two sport athlete. I was like, so,
but did you play football and junior college?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Yep? Yep?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Well position receiver? So what what was what was that?
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Like?
Speaker 1 (18:01):
So did you touch a ball during the fall? Like,
how did you? How did that all work?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
After practice? I would go into the gym because it
was right next to each other. And I was going
and shoot around, mess around a little bit. But I
did in high school. I did in high school. And
when I got to Juco, they asked me to come
and play and I said, okay, I ain't doing anything.
I go play and uh and I end up playing. Man,
it was. It's the weirdest thing. But back then you
could do that. Like now, even at Division two, you
(18:28):
couldn't do it now because it's a year around sport,
both football and basketball.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
What were you Which were you better at?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I don't know. It's pretty pretty hard man thinking. But
this way when I got here, there was thirsty games
where I scored four touchdowns. You probably like you lying.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
You bush. There has to be records. I tell me
what ran four or four? I was like, well, I was.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I won't say his name, but I once hurt the
radio show with a guy who said he ran a
four four and I said, my man, you ran a
four four.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
You would not be sitting next to me right now.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
No, I was four six, but I was six three
six three one ninety. Wasn't that many big receivers?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Like why did you play back? Why did you? I know,
why did you keep playing basketball? Why?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Growing up growing up in Kentucky. That was your first love. Yeah,
that was the first love. And I was good at it.
And that's the only reason I did it.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
That's that's every that's every football player wants to be
a basketball player. I know all of them want to
play basketball.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Players, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
They all do.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
You go to the student rec center, there's always football
players and they beat you up, correct, correct, and and
dribbling like they're ripling on their with their elbows.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
What. Okay, So how did you guys play at u
n o uh?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
We played? It was it was fast. It was fast. Well,
I also ransom some motion, ran a lot of motion.
That's the four round one error. And you know you
were just it was freelance basketball.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
You get done playing, okay, now what what was what
in your mind?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
What did you think? And then what actually happened?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
So when I got done playing, I had my degree
in criminal justice. Right, So I did this internship with
juvenile probation here in Omaho, and they actually gave me
a bunch of cases. Right, I'm doing the internship and
they give me twenty four cases. I got my own
(20:41):
kids that I have to go see and maintenance, right,
and I do this for six months, Doug, and finally
I realized. I said, I can't do this anymore. I
can't help these kids because I saw what they was
going back to. Right, A couple of them you had
to take back home. And once you realize, like, because
I always want to help kids, and I said, no,
(21:02):
this is not the right error. So I'm walking through
our rec center one day playing noon ball, right, I
run into a coach. He said, Crutch, you ever thought
about being a GA? I said, no, what's the GA?
He said, a graduate assistant coach. I was like, well,
I don't know. I never thought about that. I said,
I'm doing juvenile probation right now. I'm not liking that
(21:24):
very much. But he said, come and see me tomorrow.
Let's talk about it. So I go into the office
talk to him. This is what a GA is. So
I just got married, right, So my wife wanted to
know how much money did it pay? I said about
eight dollars a month, but you get free tuition. He
was like, hell, no, we're not doing that. But we
(21:45):
end up doing it and the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
How did you turn it from hell no to this
is what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Well, I just told her. You know, I got to
give us a shot, because what I'm doing now, I
know I don't want to do for a career, and
I know I didn't want to be a police officer.
So I said, I got to give it a shot.
If it don't work out. I mean, we're young enough.
I was twenty three years old. We can gonna do
something else. She had and she was a school teacher,
(22:14):
and uh it worked out.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
How'd you guys meet.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Here in college? On campus?
Speaker 1 (22:23):
She was just walking and you went up and all that.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Actually, actually we was in this. It was a it
was a bowling alley that in the night time we
turned into a club. So so I saw her in this,
in this in this lounge, slash bowling alley, slash club.
And I can't remember the host. I think I asked
her to dance, and we end up dancing. Next thing,
(22:46):
you know, we was dating. Three years later married. We
was married three years later.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
I did you ask her married?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
She she kind of forced me into a corner. She
told me, we go get married and we're gonna break up.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I mean, there's there's it's not not dis similar to
recruiting tactic, right.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Right, We got we got other dude. We got other
dudes that want to take the scholarship.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Now you had to commit.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
You had to commit, or we got to move on
down the road.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
That's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
That's that's what happened with me and Notre Dame. I was.
I was like on the fence and like, look, Jeff
Billett is that Christian Brothers.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Academy in New Jersey. It's a Catholic school. He's a
Catholic kid. He wants the scholarship. So you got three
weeks otherwise he's going to visit. He's gonna take it.
And we got to like week two and a half.
I was like, I'll take it. I'll take it. So
I I understand, I understand your wife's tactic.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
And it clearly worked.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, worked for both of us, didn't it? Yes?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
So okay, So what was the experience like of being
a GA because you had just got done playing?
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Right? Did you?
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Did you? Would you hop in practice with coach usual
on the on the scout team?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Nope? Nope, we had enough guy, And what I would do?
We did all the scouting ports back then, we had
to write them all up. You know, it wasn't it
wasn't no diagrams on the computer. So you wrote up
all the scouting ports and you have to do the
VHS clips the play and Paul's play. Paul's play. That's
(24:20):
how you made the clips back then with the old
JVC VHS machines. You remember that, And uh, it's a
lot of time watching film. But I really learned a
lot about the game that I thought I knew until
I started clipping clips out and putting together edit take
(24:42):
for the team, and you started seeing the game for
what it was really really worth as you did that.
So and that gave me the passion that really really
wanted to coach.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
What was the decision?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Like Lee? It was easy. I don't know if you
remember Tim Carter. Tim Carter was was here, Uh four years.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
He got the the UTSA job, right.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yes he did. And the next year he brought me
to UTSA with him.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
But then you were but you were on staff though
you weren't. You were in a GA. No.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
I was on staff as an assistant coach back then
it was the restricted earning position. You did everything. You
just couldn't go on the road recruiting. And uh, I
was there for a year with him. Then I left
with Kyle Keller to go to Tyler Junior College to
his assistant because I needed recruiting experience. And I was
(25:33):
with Kyle for two years. Kyle goes up on the state,
I get the head coaching job at Tyler. This is
ninety nine and uh then then I'm there for two
years as the head coach.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Okay, so now what was the biggest adjustment you had
youth or what was the what was most I don't
know the interesting takeaway when you go from UNO Division
two level two U T s A.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
What was what was that adjustment?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Like I think basketball was the same, Doug. It was
just you. You was dealing with a different caliber athlete.
You know, the guys was I mean, the whole team
was athletic. Guys was bigger. They all came from different places.
We had a bunch of guys from Chicago, and our
teams gots from from Birmingham, Alabama. They were small over
(26:27):
the country in San Antonio. So you got a chance
chance to really really see better athletes, better players.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
What was it like to be on staff?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
But what it was obviously different, you know from being
a GA when you're cutting up tape when you restrict
your earrings, how'd your rule check?
Speaker 3 (26:42):
It was? It was fun because I was on the road.
We still did scout reports. Was I was in charge
of all their own campus recruiting, so when all the
kids brought them on campus, I was in charge of
the dinners, the visits, the campus tours, and all that
kind of stuff, which gave me some hands on experience.
And I worked with Kyle Keller. He was one of
the assistants, Jeremy Cox. What's the other assistant coach? And
(27:06):
it was myself and and didn't coach Carter.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
So so you go to Tyler. So now you've been
in junior college. But Texas junior college different than Minnesota
junior college. Yep, what's that experience like?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Oh, there's two different levels of basketball. I mean, Minnesota
was a bunch of form kids playing playing community college basketball.
At Tyler, it was it was the best of the
best that couldn't go to Vision One. All the guys
that that didn't go D One, that was don qualifiers,
they all came to the best junior college and Tyler
was one of them. I mean, you talk about that league,
(27:44):
it was Tyler, Trendy Valley Kilgore Parish, who's won national
championships Like it was. It was the best of the best.
I here talking about guys like Sean Kemp that came
through Trendy Valley, Robert Pack that came through Tyler, all
these guys that pla in the NBA, Sam Caselle that
played at Saint Jack. I mean, it was just so
(28:06):
many guys that came through Larry.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Larry Johnson was Larry Johnson was was yeah, yeah, well
now what was keep an eye on the kids?
Speaker 1 (28:15):
The guys like right? Oh oh.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
I stayed in the dorms every night till about nine thirty.
I would leave my office, I go hang out in
the courtyard in the dorms. When they come back from
eating dinner, I'm right there with them and we're just
shooting the ship, watching TV. And I'll leave at nine
thirty to go home.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
I'm sure your wife like that.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Like I didn't do it every night, but three out
of four nights I was up there with him.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
I mean, when things go wrong, what did what did
you guys do that? How was your what was your
what was the way when Kyle handle it?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
It was a lot of early morning runs. What made suspensions.
We didn't. We didn't suspend many guys if I can't remember,
but but it was a lot of running. I knew
a lot of running, and a lot of a lot
of stadium stairs, a lot of stairs being ran.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Who's your favorite guy from Tyler who you felt like
the whole thing changed his life? Like he ended up?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
He was one guy coming in and then you know,
now look at him now, he's.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
A great question. Probably Demetrius Kilgore.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Tell me about him.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
He's from West Lafayette, Indiana, non qualifying of high school.
Six ' five guard, it was about six eleven wingspan,
could really play and really shoot it. Big time athlete.
So end up going back to Purdue, going to Purdue,
played for coach Katie for two years, ended up getting
(29:51):
his degree. And now he lives in Dallas and he's
the the CEO of a charter school and he has
his own school and he's doing a really, really good job.
And he's one of those guys that you know, had
it been a different junior college than Tyler, I don't
know if he had survived.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
It, why what what what were you guys? What'd you
guys specifically do that allowed him to be successful.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Well, I think Cayle cal his whole culture was about
the players. It was about making sure sure they got
their AA degree to move on. And he was big
on pushing academics. He was big on being holistic as
a as a player and a person and as a student.
And I think guys like that. I think guys they
(30:40):
get there, they don't know, they have no idea what's
really all about until you getting doctrinated into that culture
and realize that, you know, I could be more. I
mean he didn't. He didn't think he was a high
major player even when he got there. But we knew, like,
this kid is really talented, and it worked out for him.
But it's so many stories like that, Doug, especially in
the junior college ranks. I mean, brang up Emanuel McElroy
(31:04):
who grew up in Port Arthur, Texas. That was poor.
The kid came to college with a garbage bag of
stuff that was his stuff and he ended up playing
for Bobby Huggings at Cincinnati and played overseas for fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Some mark garbage bags. No no, no, nor no, my.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Rong garbage bags. But it's a shocking thing. You've seen this.
I drive down to pick him up for school. Right,
and that's back in the old big suburbans. Right. We
drive down to pick him up. He comes out of
the house with two black garbage bags and Kyle looks
at me and says, that's just all this stuff and uh.
He gets in the car and we drive back to
(31:47):
Tyler and the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
What do you remember about the day your name head coach?
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Oh? It was word how it happened? Because you're like
this thory because you're connected with some of these people. Hey,
Kyle leaves right and takes the job at you mean
at Tyler. Yeah, at Tyler. Cayle leaves takes the job
at Oklahoma, stay with coach Sutton. Right, Sure, Scott Sutton
gets the or Robbers job at the same time. So
(32:19):
Scott has wanted me to come up be as assistant. Right.
So I go up interview for the job. I tell
Scott give me a couple of days because I'm trying
to figure out I can get the head coaching job
at Tyler. Right, So I wait around way around the ad.
Don't ever say anything to me if I'm getting the job.
Just be patient, Crutch, be patient, be patient, I said,
(32:40):
I gotta tell coach Sutton something here pretty soon. Now
I'm gonna lose this opportunity. Now I'm not gonna have
a job at all. Right, So the next day the
president call said can you come over and talk to me.
I went over to see the president at Tyler Junior College.
Bill Crow was his name, and we talked for fifteen
minutes and he comes. His last question was do you
(33:05):
want to be our head coach? I said yes. He said, well,
he looked at his watch. He said, can you go
home and put on a suit and be back up
here in two hours? We got a press conference. That's
how it happened, just like that.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
What'd your wife say?
Speaker 3 (33:23):
She was happy when she worked on campus in the
Career Career Assessment building, and I went over and told her.
On my way back to my office, I stopped and
told her what had just happened, jumped in the car,
went home, got dress, came back and did the press conference.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
What's that like to now you're calling the shots first
time in your career, first time in your life. Now
you're putting together not just a roster, but I actually
coaching kind of every game. What's that experience like?
Speaker 3 (33:54):
It was fun. It was fun because you know, at
that time, I hadn't had that much experience Doug right,
and my experience was watching Tim Carter, you know, watching
Kyle Keller and h and being around you know, Coach
Sutton as much as I was around Coach Sutton and
just watching him working those camps and that kind of stuff.
(34:16):
So I had That's the only experience I had as
a head coach. So I mean, I didn't know what
I was doing. I just kind of copied some of
the things that Kyle did, added my own flavor to it,
and we end up winning twenty one games that first
year in junior college.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
One of the remarkable things about you as a friend
but as kind of an outsider is like, you know
how guys get when they had some success, You win
twenty one games their first year, and they get, well
we used to call it the Natesmith complex.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Yep, yeah, well they think they think they invented the game.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
But You've always had this a way about you where there's.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
A lack of e go.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
What was that like, like you'd never done this before.
Now you win twenty one games. How were you able
to keep your ego in check?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Because I didn't know. I was so naive and what
twenty one games meant back then, I really didn't know.
Like twenty one games, Okay, he won most of your games, Okay.
Then we got to beat second round of our tournament
by Sam Jack, who ended up winning the national championship
that year, and go to Hutch like the ultimate goal
was to get the Hutch to the national tournament. Right.
(35:29):
We didn't make it, So in my mind, it wasn't
a successful year. Right, But for your first year as
a head coach, I now know you won twenty one games.
That's a pretty good deal, right. But the next year
I came back, I think we won seventeen.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
What what was the decision like to go to New Mexico State?
Speaker 3 (35:51):
It was easy. It was easy. I just had my
second kid and we needed the financial boost and worked
for a Hall of Famer coach like Lou Henson who
had so.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Like what so, so what were you making at Tyler?
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Uh? Probably forty five?
Speaker 2 (36:10):
And then and then your wife worked there too, So
then when you when when you get to New Mexico
State job, were you able to get that as far
as the package or she because she had her second one,
she was gonna work.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
No, no, no, she she ended up working. She ended
up working. So she got a job at the school
at the school district in Las Cruises, And Uh, I
was there working.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
For lou What's what was coachession?
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Like unbelieved, unbelievable, great basketball mine. Uh could walk into
any room and win it over in the first ten minutes. Man,
he was the first guy that I saw that was
as was a coach and a politician. I mean, he
just had that knack for being able to go and
(36:58):
talk to people, win people over. He was so likable
and I learned the business of coaching right there under him. Uh.
Just the way he maneuvered and the way he did things.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Well did he did he? Did he tell you these things?
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Or you just like what did he call you in
and you talk about it you talk about on the
road or is it just something things that you had
to pick up on.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
You just had to pick up on. You just had
to be aware of everything that was happening. And at
that time, now I was I was young. Mean, I
was not even thirty years old, and I was just
trying to like, Wow, if I really want to do this,
I got to learn how to do this like guys
like him. I got to watch this guy really close,
and myself and coach Stubblefield Tony was on the same
(37:42):
staff together and we just we just watched and observed
and took notes and you'd be surprised what you learned
in four years being around a guy like that.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
No question, no question. And then you left he retired, Yep, yep?
Did he did? He give you the heads up like,
how did that?
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Well, you know, going into that that last year, he
got sick, he got really sick and was in a wheelchair.
You know, he decided he was coaching from a megaphone
in the wheelchair for the last part of the season.
And at the end of the year where a new
a d come in and it was time. It was
(38:26):
just time and we we all knew. And uh they
brought in Reggie Theis that year, and Uh, I was
lucky enough to get on at at UH at TCU
with Neil Doherty uh and and Tony. Tony Stubblefield was
one of my best friends. He ended up staying with
with Reggie for that next year. But it was a
(38:50):
good time as one of my one of my best jobs.
I tell people this outside of Oklahoma. Last cruises was
one of my one of my best jobs. Why is
that just at the time, you know, we had two
young boys and the weather was great. It was a
great time. It was wasn't a high pressure job at all,
(39:10):
and we had a lot of friends that was on
the football staff that was had tied to Nebraska, so
we just had a chance to hang out with a
lot of people that we had knew already and working
for Lou was the best.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
All right, that's it for part one of Chris Crutchfield
doing In a part two, why did he decide to
leave Oklahoma and go to Arkansas? And then from Arkansas
he took a Division two job? And then why leave
a Division two head coaching job to get back into
Division one? And how did he become the head coach
(39:53):
in his own money? All that's upcoming. Thanks so much
for listening. Remember to download, subscribe, review, and rate. I'm
Doug Gottlieb. This is Oval
Hey, want to welcome in. I'm Doug Godlig.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is All Ball and with the Chris Crutchfield head
coach in Nebraska Omaha upcoming. In the meantime, we do
have some actual basketball gan at basketball, but a gigantic
trade in basketball to start with. Chris Crutchfield is my
signature guest for the next two All Balls. He's the
head coach of Nebraska Omaha. It's his alma mater. A
(00:29):
really interesting kind of mer curial journey back to a
place that he once played. And you'll hear about the
changes at Nebraska Omaha going to Vision one and all
the other things upcoming.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I think you'll love it.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
But Damian Loward is now Milwaukee Bucka. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
With Drew Holliday.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
What's fascinating to me about this trade is a couple
of things. And please excuse the language, but this feels
like a big old fashioned fuck you from Portland to
both Lillard and Miami Heat, because the reports are the Heat.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Whatever you think of.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Their offer or what you thought their offer was with
Tyler Hero that they were picks. There were players and
pretty good picks and pick swaps for the players, but
it feels like it.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
It doesn't feel like it just seems like it is.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Although I don't want to take what is being reported
as the absolute truths, I think it's more likely than
not to have happened the way in which it's reported,
because again, some of the reporting is from people that
have ties to either side, and you painted in the
(01:35):
rosier tones for whomever gave you the information. So here's
what's fascinating to me about the f you to both
Lillard and the Heat. Think about it your Portland Now,
it looks very vindictive, right, doesn't it. It looks vindictive
that Portland would say, hey, oh, if it's not Miami,
(01:58):
you want to come back. No, we don't want you back.
That's what's been reported. But again, look at it from
Portland's perspective. Wait, you force your way out of Portland
said you wanted to trade that you don't want to
be a part of rebuild, but only for the Miami Heat.
And Jimmy Butler can go on social media and say
it's tampering, but man, that is not a great look
(02:20):
for the Heat. And again, if you're poor and you're like, okay,
this was an inside job with the Heat and Damian
Lillard's saying he wants to play for a winner, but
if it only if it's the Miami Heat, that doesn't
that feels very personal or maybe it was a lifestyle decision.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
That's the part to where I go. I can't say
one hundred percent. But here is the one thing that well, first,
I actually like that.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
It's ape. If you're running a basketball team, you have
to do what's in the best interest in the basketball team.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And I will tell you I think that ultimately they'll
end up better. Deandrean's a good player. You got to
pay somebody because with the salary cap, you not just
have a ceiling the befloor and oh yeah, by the way,
you got to put some sort of team out there.
And though I don't believe you can win a championship
with Laton because he's not really a defender, but he
is a big time scoring five man, like he'll be fine.
And Phoenix was trying to get rid of that contract
(03:11):
ever since they signed that contract, having to match the
deal when.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
He was restricted free agent. I think with in the end.
But the big part to this is that the Milwaukee
Bucks will absolutely be better because they have Damianlonton. I've
been thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
They're now the odds on favorite to an NBA championship,
and I understand they've been very good even without him
as a more of a defensive minded team. And they
did win a championship going back a couple of years ago,
and they did so with Giannis, you know, scoring fifty
in the deciding game. And the thought is that they
didn't have Middleton and then they didn't have Giannis for
(03:48):
two of the games against the Heat this year. If
they have Giannis for the whole series, they beat the
Miami Heat. And none of this is even a question.
And this is not necessarily a shot at Damian Lillard,
but we can all he's not a great or even.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Maybe good defensive player. So you're changing the entire construct
of your team. You don't just at some point in
your thirties decide, hey, I'm going to become a high
level defender, you know, and it's taken.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Have the Golden State Warriors won two championships with Steph
Curry as their best player? They have, they have, but
it's been hard because he's constantly attacked in the postseason, constantly.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Why I'm not saying attacked. I'm not saying get Bayless
or people like me or Steven A. Smith.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I'm talking about at the defensive end. He's the focal
point of what you want to do offensively. And Drew Holliday,
though there's a drop off as a shooter, I think
Drew Holliday is as good a ball a handler, probably
a better passer, and a far superior defender, even if
he's not the shooter scorer of Damian Lillard. So I
(05:01):
just they're a completely different team with Damian Lillard as
opposed to Drew Holliday.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
And oh yeah, by the way.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
You know, you lose a pretty good six or seventh
man off the bench as well as part of the deal.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
So I do I like what Portland did. Yes, I
frankly like what Phoenix did you know?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Spreading that money around to a and get Nurkis, who's
not the overall player of Ayton. But they don't need
anybody who needs to score on that team. They have
plenty of scoring. Now they still need a point guard,
but they have plenty of scoring. What they needed is
somebody who will just play defense role, you know, score
(05:46):
when the ball is given to them and not say
a word and never have a play run and that's
what Nurkicch is and then they kind of filled out
their roster with some other decent pieces off the bench.
So I really like it for Phoenix, I understand it
for Portland, and I don't dislike it for Milwaukee because
at some point you're like that.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
But I don't think Milwaukee was that far off.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Giannis is healthy, and maybe they let Giannis guard Jimmy
Butler and none of this ever happens. Instead, you go
from a defensive juggernaut who just shuts off people's fladder
to a team that should be good defensively, but you know,
now you're most of your best players are in your thirties,
although Drew is in his thirties, dude, but not great
(06:32):
defenders and a really more of an offensive minded guard
substituting for Drew Holliday who's a great shooter, great shooter score,
but hasn't played deep in the playoffs and has never
shown a ferocity defensively.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
And again, one other part about Dame and.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
If you go back and track even back to when
he was drafted, I've always been a huge Damian Lillard
fan and proponent. But if we're honest about Dame, even
if he's on the I'm a big team a couple
of years ago, he wasn't great in that setting, and
he wasn't great.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I don't think it was the pressure of it.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I think it's the fact that he's small and he
wasn't the focal point of what they were doing, and
that's not what he's used to.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
If he's a focal point of what they're doing, then
why would you take the ball out of Ganis's hand?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And then he becomes more of just a shooter. He's
a great shooter, but he's used to.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Being ball dominant and he's used to not having to
play defense, and all this is going to change.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
All right, let's get to part one.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
This is Chris Crushfield, good friend of mine, awesome human being,
really really good human being, who, by the way, just
so happens to be a talented head coach at his
ala water the University of Nebraska Omaha.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Here's the beginning of his journey.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Crutch your first memory of playing basketball is You're how old?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
And where is it?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Ooh? I'm probably about eight, maybe maybe nine, and I'm
on the outside court right up the street from my
house AND's where all the big boys was playing at.
And you had to wait till the end to get on.
And I really never got on until I was about
eleven or twelve, So so I just hung around and
(08:15):
just shot the ball and shot the ball and stayed
up there for three or four hours. And at the end,
all when all the good players was tired and done,
I jumped home.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Some idea was my dad would take me to a
park YEPS, Milescript Park in Found Valley, California, and the
early guys played like I think it was like seven am,
and so we get there like six forty five, and
you know, like you got a call game, and so
there might be fourteen guys there.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I was like fourteen, but I would have the fourth game.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Because dudes would call game like, well you got your five, like, no,
my five are coming, and they would rather pick guys
off the court than pick me because I was so little.
So he would stay with me and make sure that
I got my game YEP, and then I play. And
then usually after you play one game, like when you're decent,
(09:11):
you can.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
You know, stay on.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
But that's how my dad would it and then he'd
leave me five bucks. I'll come back and get you whenever,
you know, and they all day well, because there was
different there was different waves, right. There was like the
early wave, there was like the lunchtime way, it was
like the afternoon waves.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
And when I was a kid, like, I.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Had no idea what got why guys were going back
to their car in.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Between games, right.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Like I thought they were just they had like food
in there or something like that. And you know, guys
drinks and a couple of drinks come back out and
who you know. And so when you get that those
afternoon guys, uh, the tempers could get a little get
a little much. I actually I actually broke my nose.
My nose was broken right before my first day of
(10:03):
high school. Kind of saying that I was playing in
the afternoon and I hit a shot and some dude
was you know, some guy my team was talking trash
to him because I.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Was not yet in high school, right, I was skinny,
little kid.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Oh, and then I hit a couple of shots in
the guy and some guy you know, kind of came
down the lane and intentionally got me.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Where'd you go to high school?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Small town Hopinsville, Kentucky. Okay, yep?
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Was it Hopsinsville High School?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Hopkins Field High School? Yep? Yep?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Who's who's your coach?
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Daryl Hallmark?
Speaker 1 (10:35):
What was he like?
Speaker 3 (10:37):
He was hard? He was hard, We pressed, we ran. Uh.
He wanted to make sure he was in shape, so
we ran a lot. We had a good team, won
state championship as a sophomore, finishing the quarterfinals as a junior.
And it's funny. We had the number one team in
the state and got the first round of our district
as a senior. Wow, yeah out yeah, yeah no. It's
(11:03):
a couple of guys that was probably was the third best.
A couple of guys went to play at Austin P
and Murray State.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Who what's your names?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Wendell Qualls and Lamont Ware. Lamont played at Austin P.
Wendle played at Murray.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
How'd you decide to go to Omana?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
I actually went to JUCO first. I went to Noka
Ramsey Community College up in Minnesota, and uh, and this
it all worked out. Doug. It's funny because I was
supposed to go to Austin P. But I was a
prop forty eight. This is first year of prop forty eight.
I was the eighty seven graduate of high school. So
the assistant coach, Steve Hill was putting me and my
(11:43):
teammate at Austin P. We're gonna hide you guys up
in this juco up in Minnesota for two years. Then
we're gonna bring you guys back to Austin P because
we both were non qualifiers. Hey Lake, Kelly, I don't
know if you remember the late Lake Kelly Sure, Lake
was the head coach at Austin P. So late get fired.
Going into our sophomore year at junior college. Whole staff
(12:06):
gone blown, the whole thing up, and we're out there
just trying to figure it out, and the thing kind
of fell apart. Recruiting kind of took a different route.
I end up coming to Omahall Division two because, uh,
it's the only offer that I had really that in
Saint Cloud.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Well it's junior college like in Minnesota for you, I mean,
Kentucky's not it gets cold, but not like Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Oh no, no, it was totally different. It was a
culture shock for me. Now, trust me out in October
it never snows in Kentucky in October. So in Minnesota
it's snowed a lot. First time I ever seen it.
Lightning and snowing at the same time.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
What lightning and snow Yeah, yeah, you know that.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Was part It's possible.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Who'd you play for in juco?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
God by name of Alfonso scandret and Alfonso was the
New York guy, had been around for a long time
coaching the junior college rankings, coach Division two, end up
being an administrator. Uh was the a d at assistant
ady at Texas Tech and Buffalo a bunch of places.
Now he's retired.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
But yeah, how'd you guys play there?
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I was a little more controlled half court half court offense.
He he wanted call sets, so we ran a bunch
of sets, which is a typical of junior college basketball.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Sure, right, like how you played in high school? It
seems like how most teams played exactly how you playing?
How you playing junior college? Like at any point in
this journey, were you like, man, I want to coach.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
No, no, not until I got out of college.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So we'll get to that to say, so you get
to Omaha, yep, right now, Omaha. Now, obviously Division one
facilities have changed, you know, massive investments the stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But what was it like that.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Small, small time basketball. We played on a tartan floor. Uh,
the league was really good. North Central Conference was really good.
And all those schools are now in the summit, which
was North Dakota State, South Dakota State, North Dakota, and
South Dakota. Northern Colorado was in the league back then.
(14:24):
School called Morningside in Iowa, Augustana in South Dakota which
is now still Division two, a really good Division two program,
but it was it was US and uh those schools
I just mentioned, and it was a really really good league.
Did you bus everywhere everywhere except it's up to Northern Colorado?
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Right? What is the bus rides in that league? Like
you're in college.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
It's hard. It was hard, you know why because it
was cold everywhere you went, doug right, right, and then
you got humidity inside the windows, so it's starting to
create ice on the inside of the windows. That's how
coldy was in North Dakota.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Okay, so this is this is like early nineties. Yeah, Okay,
so early nineties, I guess you would have you'd have
the probably the Sony Walkman, Yeah on the bus YEP,
YEP and and a mixtape. So Chris Cutchfield in college
with one of those waterproof yellow Sony Walkman, what was
(15:27):
on the what was what was in your years?
Speaker 1 (15:29):
What was on the mixtape?
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Said? I'm probably had some Rob bass. Uh oh, that's
a long time ago. Man, you're making me go back now.
I know for sure, Rob Man.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I just wondered what a Kentucky what a Kentuck what
a Kentucky boy would listen to when you're on the road,
like you know, I remember I would? I mean I
think that was not yet that was probably that was
like the in California.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
That was like the nw A era.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, no doubt, that's exactly right. That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So you had you had the beginning to short too short.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
I was a big too short cut huge too short,
gut too short. Actually he toured with Stipid Dog in
the summer. I was like, man, how did I miss
that one? That was that's right up my alley?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
You did see you in California.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
No, the day that he was out, he was near me. Actually,
this is a true story.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
My first concert, my first concert I ever went to,
was with my parents in Vegas. My dad was coaching
my brother or some team in Vegas, and we went
to Jeffrey Osborne in Vegas. Me, my mom and my
dad like Jeffrey Osborne anyway, so so uh and then
(16:54):
but my first concert without a parent was Miles Simon
and I went to Bobby Brown and Tony Tony Tony
in San Ana.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
It was it was, it was.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Subject it was wild, wild days.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yes, yes, thank thankfully I never went backstage.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
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Speaker 1 (17:30):
How good were you guys when you played.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Probably five hundred, probably on the back end of my
head coach's career. Just so, we were just okay, got
the first round of our regional tournament. But I had
a lot of fun. I had fun. I also played football. Here.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I know you're a two sport athlete. I was like, so,
but did you play football and junior college?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Yep? Yep?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Well position receiver? So what what was what was that?
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Like?
Speaker 1 (18:01):
So did you touch a ball during the fall? Like,
how did you? How did that all work?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
After practice? I would go into the gym because it
was right next to each other. And I was going
and shoot around, mess around a little bit. But I
did in high school. I did in high school. And
when I got to Juco, they asked me to come
and play and I said, okay, I ain't doing anything.
I go play and uh and I end up playing. Man,
it was. It's the weirdest thing. But back then you
could do that. Like now, even at Division two, you
(18:28):
couldn't do it now because it's a year around sport,
both football and basketball.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
What were you Which were you better at?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I don't know. It's pretty pretty hard man thinking. But
this way when I got here, there was thirsty games
where I scored four touchdowns. You probably like you lying.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
You bush. There has to be records. I tell me
what ran four or four? I was like, well, I was.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I won't say his name, but I once hurt the
radio show with a guy who said he ran a
four four and I said, my man, you ran a
four four.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
You would not be sitting next to me right now.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
No, I was four six, but I was six three
six three one ninety. Wasn't that many big receivers?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Like why did you play back? Why did you? I know,
why did you keep playing basketball? Why?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Growing up growing up in Kentucky. That was your first love. Yeah,
that was the first love. And I was good at it.
And that's the only reason I did it.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
That's that's every that's every football player wants to be
a basketball player. I know all of them want to
play basketball.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Players, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
They all do.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
You go to the student rec center, there's always football
players and they beat you up, correct, correct, and and
dribbling like they're ripling on their with their elbows.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
What. Okay, So how did you guys play at u
n o uh?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
We played? It was it was fast. It was fast. Well,
I also ransom some motion, ran a lot of motion.
That's the four round one error. And you know you
were just it was freelance basketball.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
You get done playing, okay, now what what was what
in your mind?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
What did you think? And then what actually happened?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
So when I got done playing, I had my degree
in criminal justice. Right, So I did this internship with
juvenile probation here in Omaho, and they actually gave me
a bunch of cases. Right, I'm doing the internship and
they give me twenty four cases. I got my own
(20:41):
kids that I have to go see and maintenance, right,
and I do this for six months, Doug, and finally
I realized. I said, I can't do this anymore. I
can't help these kids because I saw what they was
going back to. Right, A couple of them you had
to take back home. And once you realize, like, because
I always want to help kids, and I said, no,
(21:02):
this is not the right error. So I'm walking through
our rec center one day playing noon ball, right, I
run into a coach. He said, Crutch, you ever thought
about being a GA? I said, no, what's the GA?
He said, a graduate assistant coach. I was like, well,
I don't know. I never thought about that. I said,
I'm doing juvenile probation right now. I'm not liking that
(21:24):
very much. But he said, come and see me tomorrow.
Let's talk about it. So I go into the office
talk to him. This is what a GA is. So
I just got married, right, So my wife wanted to
know how much money did it pay? I said about
eight dollars a month, but you get free tuition. He
was like, hell, no, we're not doing that. But we
(21:45):
end up doing it and the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
How did you turn it from hell no to this
is what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Well, I just told her. You know, I got to
give us a shot, because what I'm doing now, I
know I don't want to do for a career, and
I know I didn't want to be a police officer.
So I said, I got to give it a shot.
If it don't work out. I mean, we're young enough.
I was twenty three years old. We can gonna do
something else. She had and she was a school teacher,
(22:14):
and uh it worked out.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
How'd you guys meet.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Here in college? On campus?
Speaker 1 (22:23):
She was just walking and you went up and all that.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Actually, actually we was in this. It was a it
was a bowling alley that in the night time we
turned into a club. So so I saw her in this,
in this in this lounge, slash bowling alley, slash club.
And I can't remember the host. I think I asked
her to dance, and we end up dancing. Next thing,
(22:46):
you know, we was dating. Three years later married. We
was married three years later.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
I did you ask her married?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
She she kind of forced me into a corner. She
told me, we go get married and we're gonna break up.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I mean, there's there's it's not not dis similar to
recruiting tactic, right.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Right, We got we got other dude. We got other
dudes that want to take the scholarship.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Now you had to commit.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
You had to commit, or we got to move on
down the road.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
That's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
That's that's what happened with me and Notre Dame. I was.
I was like on the fence and like, look, Jeff
Billett is that Christian Brothers.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Academy in New Jersey. It's a Catholic school. He's a
Catholic kid. He wants the scholarship. So you got three
weeks otherwise he's going to visit. He's gonna take it.
And we got to like week two and a half.
I was like, I'll take it. I'll take it. So
I I understand, I understand your wife's tactic.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
And it clearly worked.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, worked for both of us, didn't it? Yes?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
So okay, So what was the experience like of being
a GA because you had just got done playing?
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Right? Did you?
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Did you? Would you hop in practice with coach usual
on the on the scout team?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Nope? Nope, we had enough guy, And what I would do?
We did all the scouting ports back then, we had
to write them all up. You know, it wasn't it
wasn't no diagrams on the computer. So you wrote up
all the scouting ports and you have to do the
VHS clips the play and Paul's play. Paul's play. That's
(24:20):
how you made the clips back then with the old
JVC VHS machines. You remember that, And uh, it's a
lot of time watching film. But I really learned a
lot about the game that I thought I knew until
I started clipping clips out and putting together edit take
(24:42):
for the team, and you started seeing the game for
what it was really really worth as you did that.
So and that gave me the passion that really really
wanted to coach.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
What was the decision?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Like Lee? It was easy. I don't know if you
remember Tim Carter. Tim Carter was was here, Uh four years.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
He got the the UTSA job, right.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yes he did. And the next year he brought me
to UTSA with him.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
But then you were but you were on staff though
you weren't. You were in a GA. No.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
I was on staff as an assistant coach back then
it was the restricted earning position. You did everything. You
just couldn't go on the road recruiting. And uh, I
was there for a year with him. Then I left
with Kyle Keller to go to Tyler Junior College to
his assistant because I needed recruiting experience. And I was
(25:33):
with Kyle for two years. Kyle goes up on the state,
I get the head coaching job at Tyler. This is
ninety nine and uh then then I'm there for two
years as the head coach.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Okay, so now what was the biggest adjustment you had
youth or what was the what was most I don't
know the interesting takeaway when you go from UNO Division
two level two U T s A.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
What was what was that adjustment?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Like I think basketball was the same, Doug. It was
just you. You was dealing with a different caliber athlete.
You know, the guys was I mean, the whole team
was athletic. Guys was bigger. They all came from different places.
We had a bunch of guys from Chicago, and our
teams gots from from Birmingham, Alabama. They were small over
(26:27):
the country in San Antonio. So you got a chance
chance to really really see better athletes, better players.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
What was it like to be on staff?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
But what it was obviously different, you know from being
a GA when you're cutting up tape when you restrict
your earrings, how'd your rule check?
Speaker 3 (26:42):
It was? It was fun because I was on the road.
We still did scout reports. Was I was in charge
of all their own campus recruiting, so when all the
kids brought them on campus, I was in charge of
the dinners, the visits, the campus tours, and all that
kind of stuff, which gave me some hands on experience.
And I worked with Kyle Keller. He was one of
the assistants, Jeremy Cox. What's the other assistant coach? And
(27:06):
it was myself and and didn't coach Carter.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
So so you go to Tyler. So now you've been
in junior college. But Texas junior college different than Minnesota
junior college. Yep, what's that experience like?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Oh, there's two different levels of basketball. I mean, Minnesota
was a bunch of form kids playing playing community college basketball.
At Tyler, it was it was the best of the
best that couldn't go to Vision One. All the guys
that that didn't go D One, that was don qualifiers,
they all came to the best junior college and Tyler
was one of them. I mean, you talk about that league,
(27:44):
it was Tyler, Trendy Valley Kilgore Parish, who's won national
championships Like it was. It was the best of the best.
I here talking about guys like Sean Kemp that came
through Trendy Valley, Robert Pack that came through Tyler, all
these guys that pla in the NBA, Sam Caselle that
played at Saint Jack. I mean, it was just so
(28:06):
many guys that came through Larry.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Larry Johnson was Larry Johnson was was yeah, yeah, well
now what was keep an eye on the kids?
Speaker 1 (28:15):
The guys like right? Oh oh.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
I stayed in the dorms every night till about nine thirty.
I would leave my office, I go hang out in
the courtyard in the dorms. When they come back from
eating dinner, I'm right there with them and we're just
shooting the ship, watching TV. And I'll leave at nine
thirty to go home.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
I'm sure your wife like that.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Like I didn't do it every night, but three out
of four nights I was up there with him.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
I mean, when things go wrong, what did what did
you guys do that? How was your what was your
what was the way when Kyle handle it?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
It was a lot of early morning runs. What made suspensions.
We didn't. We didn't suspend many guys if I can't remember,
but but it was a lot of running. I knew
a lot of running, and a lot of a lot
of stadium stairs, a lot of stairs being ran.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Who's your favorite guy from Tyler who you felt like
the whole thing changed his life? Like he ended up?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
He was one guy coming in and then you know,
now look at him now, he's.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
A great question. Probably Demetrius Kilgore.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Tell me about him.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
He's from West Lafayette, Indiana, non qualifying of high school.
Six ' five guard, it was about six eleven wingspan,
could really play and really shoot it. Big time athlete.
So end up going back to Purdue, going to Purdue,
played for coach Katie for two years, ended up getting
(29:51):
his degree. And now he lives in Dallas and he's
the the CEO of a charter school and he has
his own school and he's doing a really, really good job.
And he's one of those guys that you know, had
it been a different junior college than Tyler, I don't
know if he had survived.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
It, why what what what were you guys? What'd you
guys specifically do that allowed him to be successful.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Well, I think Cayle cal his whole culture was about
the players. It was about making sure sure they got
their AA degree to move on. And he was big
on pushing academics. He was big on being holistic as
a as a player and a person and as a student.
And I think guys like that. I think guys they
(30:40):
get there, they don't know, they have no idea what's
really all about until you getting doctrinated into that culture
and realize that, you know, I could be more. I
mean he didn't. He didn't think he was a high
major player even when he got there. But we knew, like,
this kid is really talented, and it worked out for him.
But it's so many stories like that, Doug, especially in
the junior college ranks. I mean, brang up Emanuel McElroy
(31:04):
who grew up in Port Arthur, Texas. That was poor.
The kid came to college with a garbage bag of
stuff that was his stuff and he ended up playing
for Bobby Huggings at Cincinnati and played overseas for fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Some mark garbage bags. No no, no, nor no, my.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Rong garbage bags. But it's a shocking thing. You've seen this.
I drive down to pick him up for school. Right,
and that's back in the old big suburbans. Right. We
drive down to pick him up. He comes out of
the house with two black garbage bags and Kyle looks
at me and says, that's just all this stuff and uh.
He gets in the car and we drive back to
(31:47):
Tyler and the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
What do you remember about the day your name head coach?
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Oh? It was word how it happened? Because you're like
this thory because you're connected with some of these people. Hey,
Kyle leaves right and takes the job at you mean
at Tyler. Yeah, at Tyler. Cayle leaves takes the job
at Oklahoma, stay with coach Sutton. Right, Sure, Scott Sutton
gets the or Robbers job at the same time. So
(32:19):
Scott has wanted me to come up be as assistant. Right.
So I go up interview for the job. I tell
Scott give me a couple of days because I'm trying
to figure out I can get the head coaching job
at Tyler. Right, So I wait around way around the ad.
Don't ever say anything to me if I'm getting the job.
Just be patient, Crutch, be patient, be patient, I said,
(32:40):
I gotta tell coach Sutton something here pretty soon. Now
I'm gonna lose this opportunity. Now I'm not gonna have
a job at all. Right, So the next day the
president call said can you come over and talk to me.
I went over to see the president at Tyler Junior College.
Bill Crow was his name, and we talked for fifteen
minutes and he comes. His last question was do you
(33:05):
want to be our head coach? I said yes. He said, well,
he looked at his watch. He said, can you go
home and put on a suit and be back up
here in two hours? We got a press conference. That's
how it happened, just like that.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
What'd your wife say?
Speaker 3 (33:23):
She was happy when she worked on campus in the
Career Career Assessment building, and I went over and told her.
On my way back to my office, I stopped and
told her what had just happened, jumped in the car,
went home, got dress, came back and did the press conference.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
What's that like to now you're calling the shots first
time in your career, first time in your life. Now
you're putting together not just a roster, but I actually
coaching kind of every game. What's that experience like?
Speaker 3 (33:54):
It was fun. It was fun because you know, at
that time, I hadn't had that much experience Doug right,
and my experience was watching Tim Carter, you know, watching
Kyle Keller and h and being around you know, Coach
Sutton as much as I was around Coach Sutton and
just watching him working those camps and that kind of stuff.
(34:16):
So I had That's the only experience I had as
a head coach. So I mean, I didn't know what
I was doing. I just kind of copied some of
the things that Kyle did, added my own flavor to it,
and we end up winning twenty one games that first
year in junior college.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
One of the remarkable things about you as a friend
but as kind of an outsider is like, you know
how guys get when they had some success, You win
twenty one games their first year, and they get, well
we used to call it the Natesmith complex.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Yep, yeah, well they think they think they invented the game.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
But You've always had this a way about you where there's.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
A lack of e go.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
What was that like, like you'd never done this before.
Now you win twenty one games. How were you able
to keep your ego in check?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Because I didn't know. I was so naive and what
twenty one games meant back then, I really didn't know.
Like twenty one games, Okay, he won most of your games, Okay.
Then we got to beat second round of our tournament
by Sam Jack, who ended up winning the national championship
that year, and go to Hutch like the ultimate goal
was to get the Hutch to the national tournament. Right.
(35:29):
We didn't make it, So in my mind, it wasn't
a successful year. Right, But for your first year as
a head coach, I now know you won twenty one games.
That's a pretty good deal, right. But the next year
I came back, I think we won seventeen.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
What what was the decision like to go to New Mexico State?
Speaker 3 (35:51):
It was easy. It was easy. I just had my
second kid and we needed the financial boost and worked
for a Hall of Famer coach like Lou Henson who
had so.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Like what so, so what were you making at Tyler?
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Uh? Probably forty five?
Speaker 2 (36:10):
And then and then your wife worked there too, So
then when you when when you get to New Mexico
State job, were you able to get that as far
as the package or she because she had her second one,
she was gonna work.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
No, no, no, she she ended up working. She ended
up working. So she got a job at the school
at the school district in Las Cruises, And Uh, I
was there working.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
For lou What's what was coachession?
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Like unbelieved, unbelievable, great basketball mine. Uh could walk into
any room and win it over in the first ten minutes. Man,
he was the first guy that I saw that was
as was a coach and a politician. I mean, he
just had that knack for being able to go and
(36:58):
talk to people, win people over. He was so likable
and I learned the business of coaching right there under him. Uh.
Just the way he maneuvered and the way he did things.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Well did he did he? Did he tell you these things?
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Or you just like what did he call you in
and you talk about it you talk about on the
road or is it just something things that you had
to pick up on.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
You just had to pick up on. You just had
to be aware of everything that was happening. And at
that time, now I was I was young. Mean, I
was not even thirty years old, and I was just
trying to like, Wow, if I really want to do this,
I got to learn how to do this like guys
like him. I got to watch this guy really close,
and myself and coach Stubblefield Tony was on the same
(37:42):
staff together and we just we just watched and observed
and took notes and you'd be surprised what you learned
in four years being around a guy like that.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
No question, no question. And then you left he retired, Yep, yep?
Did he did? He give you the heads up like,
how did that?
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Well, you know, going into that that last year, he
got sick, he got really sick and was in a wheelchair.
You know, he decided he was coaching from a megaphone
in the wheelchair for the last part of the season.
And at the end of the year where a new
a d come in and it was time. It was
(38:26):
just time and we we all knew. And uh they
brought in Reggie Theis that year, and Uh, I was
lucky enough to get on at at UH at TCU
with Neil Doherty uh and and Tony. Tony Stubblefield was
one of my best friends. He ended up staying with
with Reggie for that next year. But it was a
(38:50):
good time as one of my one of my best jobs.
I tell people this outside of Oklahoma. Last cruises was
one of my one of my best jobs. Why is
that just at the time, you know, we had two
young boys and the weather was great. It was a
great time. It was wasn't a high pressure job at all,
(39:10):
and we had a lot of friends that was on
the football staff that was had tied to Nebraska, so
we just had a chance to hang out with a
lot of people that we had knew already and working
for Lou was the best.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
All right, that's it for part one of Chris Crutchfield
doing In a part two, why did he decide to
leave Oklahoma and go to Arkansas? And then from Arkansas
he took a Division two job? And then why leave
a Division two head coaching job to get back into
Division one? And how did he become the head coach
(39:53):
in his own money? All that's upcoming. Thanks so much
for listening. Remember to download, subscribe, review, and rate. I'm
Doug Gottlieb. This is Oval
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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