Doug is joined by University of Nebraska Omaha Head Coach Chris Crutchfield to continue their discussion on his climb up the coaching ladder, including what he learned as an assistant under Lon Kruger at Oklahoma, Eric Musselman at Arkansas, and Dana Altman at Oregon, and why he jumped at the chance to take the head job at his alma mater Omaha.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey, what welcome in on Doug Godlie, this is all ball. Well,
welcome in. And if you listen to part one of
Chris Crushfield, you're like, man, that guy is a great guy.
What an interesting story and interesting journey. Part two, well
it gets even more interesting. Why leave being an assistant
coach and at highly paid one at Arkansas to take
(00:30):
a Division two head coaching job somewhere in Oklahoma? Oh yeah,
and then how do you get the I guess dream
job of being the head coach is on? Maaa, all
that's in here. Let's get to part two with Chris Crutchfield.
You're a noble.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So you go to TCU. Was what was Neil like?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Oh he came from Roy Williams. I mean they won
a lot of games at Kansas when he was there,
so he was sharp. He was smart. Played for coach
k at West Point, so I mean you can only
know what what that characteristic was like. So he was
real detail oriented and uh and I learned. I learned,
(01:10):
you know, Kansas basketball. I learned the North Carolina transition break.
I learned a lot of things about basketball that I
thought I knew, but I learned even more just been
around him. Those two years.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
When you're at New Mexico State, you guys won a lot, right, Well, yeah,
what about it at TCU? I think you guys struggle, right,
that was in the Mountain West, I think right, correct,
that's correct, And that was before they did all the facilities.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
That was before they threw a bunch of money into
the program.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Exactly right. Not easy, hard job.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yes, TCU is a very very which funny because now
TCU is not an easy job.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
But now it's the place, it's kind of that's kind
of a hot place. Right.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Well, they changed. When you change facility and you got resources,
it's amazing what you can do.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, yes, completely. And then okay, so now you're moving around.
You guys get let go at the end of your
second year.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Actually I left to go to or Roberts and they
stayed around for another year. They kept Neil for another year.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So now you go work for Scott correct? What was
that like?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I was shocked that the or Roberts job was better
than the TCU job at that time, I believe it
or not. When I tell people that, they're like, no,
no way, oh yes, way, yes, way from salaries all
the way up into all of it, just what the
program was. Scott had done an unbelievable job there. I
(02:48):
replaced Corey Williams and went in there and we won
the conference championship the first year. I mean just ran
through it. And I ended up going to any state
tournament and if I'm mistaken, we end up going to
two more and say tournaments and another postseason play while
I was there. But I was there for four years
with Scott. Scott was great to work for, and we
(03:10):
had some really good players and I had a lot
of fun. I really enjoyed living in Tulsa. Then I know,
I got blessed and had the opportunity to go to
home after that.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Uh at or Roberts.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
At the time, though as much as it's a better
job in terms of resources support, you're working for a
good dude.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
It's not a yeller, screamer, curshort, you know whatever.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Right, But like did kids still I had to wear
a tie to go to class, right, you still have
you know, you still have an honor code. There's still
you know, there was a time there where we recruit
kids with tattoos.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Like that's not easy, No, that's not easy.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
No, what you didn't have to wear ties back then
they just released that. But you had to wear a
collar shirt. So a polo A polo did work, and
you have to wear pants, you couldn't wear shorts. Uh,
and you had to go to chapel twice a week.
So I was able to put a spin on that, Doug.
I mean, anytime you're going to do a home visit
(04:15):
and you're talking to a mom, sure, there's nothing wrong
with going to church, yes.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And yeah, So it's it's yeah, it's all. It's all
about the players in their hands.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
It's like that's.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Theer is like no, no, no, no no. And mom was like,
I want you to go to Old Robbins because you're
gonna go to church three times, two times a week.
That's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
How did you How did you uh get out with
coach crude? That? How that all go down?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Actually? Uh, my good friend Lou Hill Uh. Lou Hill
uh and i've been friends since my time that Tyler
Junior college and we've always kept a relationship. And it's
funny I tell people this story, Dug. Every time I
was at or Roberts, we would play Southern Utah. So
you're flying in Vegas and we would stay in Vegas
(05:12):
and then drive up for the game and come back.
For four straight years, I would always go and see
Lou and see Coach. And at the time I didn't
know Coach, but Lou introduced me to him and we
go to lunch. When it's suitable, we go to dinner.
I stopped by the office and just talk for four
straight years. Then when they get the job at Oklahoma,
(05:33):
when he called me and asked me, he said, Crutch,
it is Oklahoma a good job. I said, why you asked?
He's like, I think coach. They offered coaches job, but
he turned them down. I said, well, it's probably one
of the better jobs in the state. I mean they've
had success. Now they got some problems because you know
what's going on there now, but Coach is good at that.
(05:56):
He specialized in turning things around. And don't see another
worry about it. Two weeks later he gets the job
and and then he called he said, would you have
any interest? Coach wants someone that knows Texas and knows
Oklahoma recruiting. I said, well, I have out of interest. Yeah,
I'm on my way. You tell me I can get
the job. I go interview and it goes well, he
(06:20):
called Scott and I'm waiting by the phone. Man One
day he said, he called Scott and tell Scott he's
gonna offer me the job. Right, and this is about
nine o'clock in the morning. He said, he's gonna call
you on your school on your on your desk phone
by about noon. I said, okay, I'll be here. We
(06:41):
used to go to lunch every day with our staff
at the or Robertson that day, I didn't go to lunch.
I'm waiting at my desk by the desk phone back
then there, you know, you had desk phones back then.
End Up, he called about twelve forty five and offered
me the job.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
It's interesting about that is my dad.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Actually, you know, got a chance to coach coach Kruger
in college on the freshman team, and then he was
assistant on the varsity at k State.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I didn't know that fun.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, no way with Jack Hartman, uh huh, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And then I nearly went to play for him at Florida.
Oh and Miles Simon is my best friend, right, So
Miles was the class before me, and they recruit us
hard Man. Why am I forgetting Oh? Man oh. He
(07:43):
had an assistant who actually, like Lou passed away last year,
Ron Stewart yep so. Ron basically lived out in Orange
County trying to recruit the two of us. So Miles
went on a visit the year before and loved it
and then got on a plane to come home and
he was like, it's too far.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I can't do it. I love Florida.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
They went to the Final four in ninety four and
I was like, all in. And but they had been
on me for so long. I think they were just
they were just like worn down with the fact that,
like I want to take my visits, and I started
to get interested interests from other people and anyway, but
you fast forward to when coach took that job.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I'll never forget.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
I was in Connecticut and Josie actually I reached out
to Joe Cie to see where he was with the
coaching search, and he said, what do you think? Because
I had done my brother was at Santuli State and
I had done a bunch of unov games, he said,
what do you think about coach Krueger?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I said, you can't find a better guy to turn
a running program.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
You know, And and as you know, for what, for
what that place needed where to let people in, you know,
to be kind of a man people. Plus you know,
they love golf and he loves golf and all that stuff.
So when he didn't get him the first time, you know,
he was kind of going through his list with me.
He didn't use a committee, he didn't use a search
(09:14):
firm or whatever. He was just doing his own thing.
So he's kind of I was like, I said, why
did Krueger turn you down? He said, you know, I
don't know, well how much. It's like, why doesn't she
just offer more money?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
And he did?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
And you know, coach Kruger to this day would say,
you know, you know, he was in bad financial shape.
He knew they couldn't match, and and and Vegas says,
you know, never been the same, Like obviously now Kevin's
trying to save it, right, but it literally never been
the same. And okay, so what is it about Lon Kruger, Like,
(09:48):
what's the what's the magic, what's the secret?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Sauce? There? I just at the at the horn of
it all, he's a good man. He's a good man,
that carabob key. And he's smart. He's really really smart
and I think when you got those things going for you,
you're going to be successful no matter what you do.
(10:13):
And he treats people right. He treats everyone right, from
a billionaire donor to the manager. He's going to treat
you the same. And I enjoy that a guy with
his statue, just watching how he maneuver through the office.
When strangers came in the office, he would row off
(10:36):
the red carpet for him like he knew him for
twenty years. And he was just treating everyone so sincere,
so genuine about the way he went about things, very
professional with the staff, and he was demanding for the players,
but he was fair and he was firm. But he
(10:56):
was a good coach. I mean, he knew he was.
I tell people this today. He's one of the best
basketball offensive minds in the game of basketball. And the
time he put in watching film, the way he could
dissect a defense to squee squeeze out the extra six
to eight points a game, he was really good at that.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, I know, he just he had great, great basketball
mind the building of that Final four team and obviously
didn't end great in the Final four. But that's kind
of a mood point, right, the building blocks of it.
Talk to me about how you guys and recruiting put
that together.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Well, it started off. We knew we needed better guards
in that twenty twelve class right and where we were
we really couldn't get involved with any high major guys.
So so luckily I had a relationship with Buddy Hill
for my time at Oor Roberts from you know, in Bahamas.
(12:01):
We kind of helped put him at sun Rise at
that time. At that time, we had no idea he
was going to be what he's going to be. We
got lucky with Buddy. Lou picked up Isaiah Cousins from
Mount Vernon High School in Mount Vernon, New York, who
was getting some A ten fields, but no one really
pulled the trigger. Only only reason Lou took him because
(12:23):
he kind of reminded Lou of himself and he was
from Mount Vernon. And then we end up getting a kid,
Jelan horn Hornbeck from Dallas. He was a highly recruited kid,
maybe rise out of the top one hundred. We was
able to convince Ryan Spangler to come back home from Gonzaga,
(12:45):
who was a really good high school player in Oklahoma,
and we took a kid by the name of DJ
Bennett was a junior college kids from Indian Hills Junior
College by way of Chicago, And that was our first
recruiting class, and we thought we had all the right guards.
We thought we had a big time piece in Ryan Spangler,
and we just thought DJ was a good enough athlete
(13:07):
to play in the Big Big twelve. He was a
backup in the Big twelve. What he was. And the
whole thing was, if we keep this group together and
can plug in a couple of pieces along the way,
we would have a chance to be really, really good.
We didn't think we would be, you know, Final four good.
We didn't think that. But but as luck have it,
(13:31):
everything fell into place, Everything fell into place. Those guys
got bigger, stronger. But he turned himself into a great shooter.
Isaiah turned itself into a playmaking guard at six y four.
And of course Ryan Spangle did all the dirty work.
He was the best rebounder, he was the best position defender,
(13:52):
and he just did all the things that brought everything together.
He was the perfect blue guy on that on that
Final fourteen. But it is amazing the competitive uh spirit
that Buddy had, that Isaea had, and that was the
core of the whole thing, man, because we built around
(14:14):
those two guys.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah, the Buddy, the buddy heeled effect, right, It is
infectious personality.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
What's that like to be around on a daily day.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
It was fun. It was fun because I remember him
as a freshman telling all the older guys that we
had and heard it in our program that they were
soft and they went tough and you know, I can't
wait till you guys leave. You know, he was like that,
and uh I knew then. I was like, this guy
is crazy. He's crazy or he's serious, Like like he's
(14:52):
telling these upperclassmen that they're soft and they know they're
not competitive. And this is freshman year in college. And
he didn't have a great freshman year, of course, but
he was a like I told you, he was a
every day he brought it. He played hard, and he
had this competitive spirit about him that that was so contagious,
and eventually it just bled into those older guys. We
(15:13):
ended up being a ten seed in the tournament its
first year, end up getting beat by San Diego State,
But we had jumped in year two from not making
the tournament in year one to year two with that
twenty twelve class of being a ten seed, and we
(15:33):
felt like we had jumped a year in our rebuilding.
So you go to it's funny that you go into
the next year, which is year three. We luckily we're
a five seed. I don't know how that happened. We
ended up getting beat first round by North Dakota State
and spoke in and that was kind of the.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I was there.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I called the game all the game, you're up, like, yeah,
you're up with like a minute minute thirty to go.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yep. When ended up going overtime yep, miss free throws.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah, misstreet throws. I think DJ fouled out. Somebody filed
out to something. It was myster throws, a couple of
dumb plays and foul out whatever.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
You know, Like, yeah, I tell you what happened is
your cousins found the kid on a three point shot.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
That's what it was.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Yeah, did he found out? Yeah? Exactly right. So so
that that game, that game though, kind of was the uh,
the gas for for for the program, the competitive spirit
even more because those guys were so upset that they lost,
(16:56):
uh the way they lost it, because they knew they
gave the game away and and those guys all played
a big part. Buddy, Isaiah, Julyan, they all played a
big part in that game, Ryan Spangler. So they worked
up but off that off season and I knew. I
knew that. I told Coach Lou, and Lou always say
(17:16):
like like that loss was good for us. We had
made the tournament. Everybody was happy, but that loss was
good for us because now we had to grow up
and be serious about the game of basketball. And that
off season, I think I think we added a couple
more pieces. We added a shooter kid by the name
(17:39):
of Frank Booker came in and uh, because we needed
more shooting to space the floor. And that junior year
was the year we ended up going to Sweet sixteen,
you know, getting beat on the last second shot by
Michigan State on the offensive rebound. And we really felt
like that was a year that we that we we
grew up to the point where we knew we had
(18:01):
something here and we kept them all together. Man, that
was the key to the whole thing. Those guys that
played one hundred and nine games together, Riy Spangler, Buddy Hill,
Isaac's cousin, and Jordan Wood. Those guys play one hundred
and nine games together and that was that was the
team that ended up going to the Final four, just
(18:23):
because we had chemistry, we had a connection, and we
were talented, of course, but when you keep a group
together that long in this day and age, you're probably
gonna win.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
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Speaker 1 (18:46):
What do you remember? Let's say the good memories, So
what do you remember? You know, Hopkinsville, Kentucky to Junior College,
to U n O, to Utsa to junior college. In
my show, what do you remember about walking out seventy
five thousand people are in Houston to watch your game?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
It was unbelieved experience. I get deals right now just
thinking about that, because and the good part about it,
they would take my boys with me on the floor
and they was probably probably fifteen thirteen, fourteen fifteen, and
you know it just when you're that age, you know,
(19:28):
everything is big, and had a chance to get them
on the floor and hang out for the practices and
they're on the bus, you know, and you know what
kind of escorts you get when you're in the final four.
So it was an unbelievable experience man for them to
be able to be a part of that and see
that and experience that, because as a coach, that is
(19:49):
the ultimate goal.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Man.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
So many years we go to the coaching convention and
you always dream of being in the final four as
a coach, like you go, you go to the practices,
you go to the games, but the ultimate goal is
I want to be on that floor one day. You
see see what that's like, and you know, we have
the opportunity to do that. And one of those memories
that last forever.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
The other side too, was jeanov was amazing that right?
Uh and you had beaten them earlier in the year.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yeah, I I.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
You know, But how do you how do you?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
How do you in the moment, you know, not lose
your mind because you did make the final four, right
like you get beat by forty four. But on the
other hand, there's so much good. What's like the juxtaposition
of emotions, what's that?
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Well, what's that like?
Speaker 3 (20:43):
I think no one could have handled that better than
coach Krueger and the way he came into the locker
room after the game even at halftime. It was he
was down twenty at halftime, and no one thought the
game was over because we came back out we cut
it to nine and thought had some But it's one
of those nights, man. We just didn't make a shot,
(21:04):
the shots that we had been making a week before
in Anaheim. We couldn't get those shots. Then, of course
Villanora made everything, and on top of it, we beat
them pretty convincingly in December in Hawaii, and we beat
them pretty bad. I mean, we was up twenty eight
at one time on them, and I think that helped
(21:24):
them a little bit, get a little more focused. And
it was a tough one. It was a tough one
to sit down there and watch that thing transpiring in
front of all those people. But in hindsight, you made
it to the biggest stage and a lot of teams
would love to trade places with you. And I hated
for those guys to have to go out that way,
(21:44):
but they had a fantastic career at Oklahoma. And to
this day, Buddy says he's never watched the.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Game shot what was leaving Oklahoma like.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
It was time? It was time. I had been there
eight years, and uh, I interviewed probably seven times for
head coaching jobs in the last probably two three years,
and never could get a shot. And I just felt
like it was time for me to leave. It was time.
I've done all I could do here and coaches coach
(22:20):
was great. I just thought that it was time for
me to move on and do something different or be
around someone else to learn something different about basketball. So
I made the jump to Arkansas with Eric Musselming.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
And I've had Eric on I've known Eric a long time.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
He is there are no two more different people in
terms of energy like he make he can make coffee
nervous with his level of energy.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
What what is that? What's that like for you to
go to.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Work where it's so different in terms of your boss
than the guy you worked for for eight years?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
You know what I tell people all the time that
it was fun. Because I say this, I've been really
blessed to be around the people that I've worked for,
from lou Henson to Neil Doherty to Scott Sudden to
Lawn they all had that same personality, you know. They
was all kind of laid back, mild mannered, not yellow streamers,
(23:22):
good people. And then I go to work for Eric,
who is high energy, high obtained. I mean he's impulsed,
and uh, it was just quite it was quite different.
It was quite different. But he's he's he's unbelievable in
his game prep. He's unbelievable in practices and the way
(23:45):
he run a practice. And I still use some of
the stuff that he I learned under him today with
my program here at OMAH like like some of I mean,
it's unbelievable me. I've kept practice schedules. I got him
in my desk right here. Like he's he's good. He's
a good coach, and I knew he was going to
be successful when we won twenty games that first year
(24:05):
with some talent, but not a lot compared to what
people had in the SEC.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Sure, what was the like what was coaching in the
STC Like it's very different for the Big twelve, very
different from you know, when you're in the Pac twelve later.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Oh, I tell people all the time, like the athletes
they're bigger, faster, jump higher, and they're not as skilled
as guys in the Big twelve. But the athleticism was
off the charts. I mean everyone had seven eight big
time athletes and that's what's the difference. And the teams
that had the really good guards though, those are teams
(24:44):
that won, you know that, Kentucky's, those are teams that
did well in the tournament.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Then you made the decision, Hey, I'm gonna I want
to coach my own team, our own program.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And it was.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Back to do what was what's that? Because there was
a lot of people like, what are you What are
you doing?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Man? Oh yeah, what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Oh yeah? Oh yeah. And that was one of those
coming to Jesus moments and when you sat down with
your with your wife and say, hey, we got a chance.
And it's funny it was it was after COVID. COVID
was just coming into play, right, right, I had no
idea what college basketball was going to be like the
next year, right because we shut down in the conference
(25:28):
tournament in Nashville, Tennessee. We beat Vanderbilt. The next day,
We're getting ready to play South Carolina. Boom shut down,
and I had no idea what was going to happen. Like,
we couldn't go on the road recruiting in the spring.
In the summer, so I mean my boys was home
with me, uh they both one was in junior college
when one was at Stetson down in Florida, and they
(25:49):
was home with.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Us for the four months playing for Corey.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Right, yeah, sure did. And so I was like, no,
I missed I missed your kids being around because they
had been gone with empty nesters. And I say, you
know what, I put all this time into other people's kids.
I need to coach my mom. And we decided to
take a huge pay cut and moved to Ada, Oklahoma,
(26:15):
and our boys came down there with us and we
coached them. And that was the best year I'm telling you, Doug,
I had. I had so much fun and it was
great to be aby take a back seat to all
the riff raff of powerful basketball and really really coach
and be involved with my guys. And we still couldn't
(26:39):
go recruiting back then, so I was home every day,
I mean every Saturday, the kids would come over, we
would watch football, we eat Sunday dinners together, and it
had been a long time since we'd done that. And
you know, you know how important that it is with family,
especially once they're gone then they come back. You really
(27:01):
missed that. I thought that was a crucial time for
me in my basketball career just to be able to
take that time. It's kind of like a sabbatical almost
because it was all basketball. It was all basketball and
all family, and it gave me a great work life
balance and I really enjoyed that year.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
But joined it for a year, all right, it was
it was it was literally a year sabbatical. Then you
go work for Dana. Ye who's that's kind of back
to the what you're used to, right, He's an all
all time, all time are great dude, and all things
kind of circling around.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Omaha, How the how did the Dana job coming? Stubbs?
I was sure, I'm sure set you up there, right,
no doubt.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Stubbs and Coach Kruger, you know, they go back. Dana
worked for Line A K State and been connected for years,
and then then Stubbs was with Dana for you know,
eleven years. So we've been all in the same family,
you know, since I've been with Coach Kruger forever. Me
and Stuffs played here together, so we've been best friends
(28:04):
since I hosted him on his official visit, so that's here.
So we've been friends for a long time. So when
he called, I didn't I said no. I said no,
And I was like, Dana, I can't. I can't do
that right now my kids going into their senior year.
I told him I was going to coach him. And
(28:25):
then Coach Krueger called and said, Crutch, you've been you've
been busting your butt trying to be a Division one
head coach. You think you're going to get the Vision
one job from from East Central. He was honest, and
he was brutally honest with me, and I said, you're right, coach,
you got a point there. So I thought about it
for a couple of days and went home and talked
to the family and you know, shed some tears and
(28:46):
talked about it the morning the more and end up,
end up, it worked out me making the move to Oregon. Uh,
just because if I don't make that move, Doug, I
don't get this job here no more?
Speaker 2 (29:02):
What what? What? What? What's your biggest takeaway from working
for Dan Alban?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
It was different. It was different the way he ran
his practices. He was the only one that had to
practice sheep.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah, he does all that's his baby, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
And it would be like on a little note card
like this running back and uh, okay, you get to
see it. Every now and then he'll show it to
you and say, go down, go down and take that
group and go do this, this and this and uh.
He would run the whole practices and it was fun.
It was energetic, and he was He's smart and count
(29:46):
remind you a little bit of Coach Kruger a little bit.
But he was big on defense and he would get
down in the stands and do defensive slides with the
guys and Uh. I really enjoyed it to the point where,
you know, like it was har art. If it wasn't
for a head coaching job, I'll probably still be at
organ right now.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
The U n O job comes open. You're a lum,
you'd be looking for head coaching job.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Yeah. Give share with me the memories, if you will
how it came to be.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Do you remember where you were when you found out
when they told you it's coming open.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah. I was in my office and they walked in,
and you know, he had had a conversation with his
former boss, Bruce Ratbinson, and uh he said, I think
I think you and O is gonna make a move.
The new ad came from creating worked for Bruce, and
I think they're gonna make a change here the next
(30:44):
day or so, but you have interest in the job myself,
of course I want the job. Well, I didn't hesitate
one minute. I said I want the job. And I
mean two days ago, by it, three days ago, by
nothing happens. Right, I'm like, oh, maybe ain't gonna come open.
I left it alone, and that Sunday night it came
open and Dana called and he said, well, I don't
(31:08):
know what's gonna happen, but you're gonna be one of
two or three guys that they're gonna talk to. And
when he said that, I didn't think I had a change,
because you know, I knew there was a couple of
guys at Creighton that had ties to the A D
that probably had a better chance of getting a job
than me. Then, to be honest with you, Dana went
to work for me. I mean he fled out, went
(31:29):
to work. He called some people here in omahall he's
got some things moving, and yeah, we was in the
conference tournament, and we zoomed. We had a zoom interview
and uh two days later they flew to uh Portland
to see me. And that's how it happened.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Did the president give you two hours to go home
and get a student and take a job like he
did at Tyler.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
No. But after after they left and we was on
our way to the n I T. And I didn't
know what was going to happen. So it's funny. We
take off to go to N I T. And we
go play at Utah State and we win. We go
play at text and M and I'm on the road
when Adrian actually called and said, we want you to
(32:18):
be our next head coach, and we're gonna do a
press conference here this day. This day, I'm like, oh, man,
I don't have any I don't have a suit with me.
I don't have anything with me to do the press conference.
And I'm on the road right I'm recruiting. Then I'm
going to College Station for the game. So I had
to call my wife and you know, can you put
a suit in the mail? Can you ship this stuff
(32:40):
to me? And I go directly from College Station to
Omar and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
So what's the place like now comparison what it was
like then?
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Oh, it's totally change. It's totally changed. It's a whole
new city. And I left her in ninety six ninety six,
and we've been back because her family, my wife is
from Omaha. Her family is still here and we've been
back and forth to visit and stuff like that, but
we haven't lived here since then. And like downtown has changed,
(33:17):
the city has grown out west economically, it's a whole
different city. Brookshire Had the Way has has boomed in
this city and they call them the Brookshire I Had
the Way babies. There's so many companies here, it's so much,
(33:38):
so many resources here. The city has changed, This university
has changed. I mean we've grown to two campses now
instead of one campus. Yeah, we've got an unbelievable facility
that we play in where our guys live and it's
a major entertainment area of Obsarvant and there's hotels, restaurants, bars,
(33:58):
you name it right there where live and it is
walking distant from the arena and we're we're we're really close,
Doug from this thing being a really really big time job.
We're practice facility away from this thing being a really
really special place.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Okay, So at your level, at your level, facilities still
really important because you know, at the power five level,
they're like it's just the nil. Just get us the nil,
right right? What is what is recruiting like in the
summer League.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Well, I think I think it's really good. It's not
an nil deal. I mean our our our nil will
come down to retention more so than recruiting, because you're
always going to have power fives trying to take your
best player away. Right, So it's gonna come down.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
To how do you manage that?
Speaker 3 (34:53):
You can't. You can't. If you have success and you
have a player that's average fifteen plus points a game,
it's likely that he's going to move. He's going to
go somewhere and uh, and that's okay. You got planned
for it. You plan for it. You recruit like like
it's going to happen, and uh, because you know it's
(35:13):
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
So you're recruiting out of the portal Huko High School?
What's your focus?
Speaker 3 (35:23):
First? The first year, we went after high school kids
and we took four junior college kids that had three
years of Eli's ability left. And that was on purpose
because we want I wanted guys that that wanted to
be here. I wanted guys that that that I could
build a culture around, and build a culture with that
(35:44):
wasn't going to leave. And uh, we've been really good
because we flipped the roster. We only got one player
that was on the roster when I took the job.
But we've been able to keep a nucleus of guys.
Eight guys from last year team, that's what are still
and we plugged in one transfer to high school kids
(36:04):
and a junior college kid, and that's that's our team
outside of our walk on. So so that eight nucleus
guys that we're bringing back, that's the core of our team.
And they all played quality minutes forts last year. Even
though he wasn't very good, they grew a lot of experience,
and we wanted to take guys that that wasn't going
(36:28):
to be looking down their nose at Omaha or un O.
We wanted guys that was going to be proud of
coming to a place like this to build something special.
And that's why we didn't go to the transfer portal.
We turned down. We turned down. I'm telling you right now,
we probably turned down five Power five guys the first
year because I didn't think you could really build a
(36:50):
program at this level with transfers right away.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Who are you most like when you're on the sideline, Like,
of all the guys you work for, played for, who
do you saying this.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Is who I'm most like?
Speaker 3 (37:05):
Probably line in one way, well, because I'm constantly thinking
what's next. I mean, he's always been a guy that's
always been two or three plays ahead of what's happening.
And uh, And I tried to kind of emulate that
a little bit, because you can't. It's an emotional game,
(37:25):
but you have to have You've got to be in
control of emotions all the time. If not, you can't think.
And there's a lot of things going on around you.
If you get caught up in the emotions of the
game or what's going on, you'll lose track and then
then you lose, and you'll lose four possessions and I
won't even know it. So I try to stay mild.
(37:48):
I try to stay real, real low key. I don't
get too high, don't get too low. And I'm always
thinking about what's next. You know, what's next offensive, what
next defense, what's next? Substance? Us Like, I'm always two
minutes ahead of what the clock says.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Who's the guy in your league that you're like, you
know what this guy's really good, and I wish more
people knew how good he was. I don't take my players,
but he's really really good in our league.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Yeah, it's been some good ones.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Now.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
I thought Paul Mills is pretty good. He's gone.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yea.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Eric Henderson is really good. That's South Dakota State. Uh,
got a lot of respect for David Richmond and North
Dakota State. All those guys do a really good job
in their locations. Oh, that's probably it is there.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Any way, you guys can get the tournament out of
the out of the Dakotas, right, Everybody at least.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Like many like we got to go up and win
a tournament in Dakota's.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
I'm glad you said that. A lot of a lot
of people talking about that in the last couple of
couple of months. And h it's funny. Uh, twenty twenty six,
it is open. We'll be it, so we'll see what
happens yet to know.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Ma, all right, last thing, who's the Chris cutch Field
out there, the longtime assistant that man, This dude needs
a shot right right. This may not be your ultimate shot,
but it's your first division one head coaching job.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Who's the guy who you've been out in the road with,
you know, is really good. Great dude, But man, this
guy's got to get a head coach.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
That's a good one. That's a really good question right there.
I'll give you probably two or three names. Okay, give
me a wye for each of the Okay, one will
be Yah Fat King. Who's that Tulsa right now. He's
(39:55):
been at the low mid major levels, mid plus experience,
living in some major cities, got some recruiting contacts, worked
for some really good guys, Tim Jenkovich, people like that. Uh,
he's one Power five job away from from being a
Division one head coach. James One Okay, Emanual Dildy, who
(40:21):
I had an opportunity to coach at New Mexico State,
and he's been the same. He's bounced around from place
to place, Eastern Illinois, Northwestern, spent some time in Oklahoma,
and now he's at Duke. H he's going to get
the head coaching job here in two or three years. Okay,
got ties in Chica. Great recruited, great personality experience. The
(40:46):
last one I would say this Chris Carwell at Duke.
You remember Chris as a player, sure, of course. Uh,
he's got experience. I think he's been around, but spend
some time in Marquette. Now he's that duke. Uh, experienced,
well minded guy, understands basketball, gat recruiton ties all across
(41:10):
the country. Uh and he's a duke guy. Uh so
he's he's another guy that's that I think is ready.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Those dookies, I don't think they're gonna need help. They
need the help, dookies, they don't.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
They don't.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
They're all on TV in the n b A doing
doing what I want you that Duke family, You're you're
in a really good place.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Your favorite part about the job as well.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Me here or just coaching?
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Yeah no, right here? Well either well.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I think in a place like this, Doug, when you
when you this is your school, the amount of pride
and the amount of ownership that you have as a
head coach to try to build something because because when
you build it and you go to the NSA Tournament,
it's going to be the first. And that's what I'm
(42:01):
excited about every morning I wake up. I'm excited about
that process, Like we're going to build something special that
everybody's going to remember that day on all name is
called on selection Sunday, and that's the ultimate goal and
that's what excited is all.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Hey, man, it's great to catch up.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
I know you're super busy, but your story is an
awesome one and you're somebody who everybody who brubs shoulders
with you just feels better because of it. So I
always need it to catch up and I appreciate you
joining me.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
Thank you for having me. Man, it's been fun. Hanging
out with you for a couple of hours. Seemed like
a right.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
We'll talk soon, all right, buddy, that's it for all ball.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Remember to check out The Doug Gottlieb Show. It's a
radio show but also available podcast form where you download
this podcast or wherever you download podcasts on the iHeart
Radio app, and of course you can listen to it
live on Fox.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
Sports Trader or Fox sport Trade dot com.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Or the Iheartio app daily three to five Eastern time.
And we also have a daily pod called in the Bonus.
There's lots of different stuff that I can annoy you with.
My overall sports takes. My thanks to Chris scrutching up
for all of this time. Thanks to you for listening, downloading,
and reviewing.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
Rating. I'm Doug Gottlie, this is all ball.
Hey, what welcome in on Doug Godlie, this is all ball. Well,
welcome in. And if you listen to part one of
Chris Crushfield, you're like, man, that guy is a great guy.
What an interesting story and interesting journey. Part two, well
it gets even more interesting. Why leave being an assistant
coach and at highly paid one at Arkansas to take
(00:30):
a Division two head coaching job somewhere in Oklahoma? Oh yeah,
and then how do you get the I guess dream
job of being the head coach is on? Maaa, all
that's in here. Let's get to part two with Chris Crutchfield.
You're a noble.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So you go to TCU. Was what was Neil like?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Oh he came from Roy Williams. I mean they won
a lot of games at Kansas when he was there,
so he was sharp. He was smart. Played for coach
k at West Point, so I mean you can only
know what what that characteristic was like. So he was
real detail oriented and uh and I learned. I learned,
(01:10):
you know, Kansas basketball. I learned the North Carolina transition break.
I learned a lot of things about basketball that I
thought I knew, but I learned even more just been
around him. Those two years.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
When you're at New Mexico State, you guys won a lot, right, Well, yeah,
what about it at TCU? I think you guys struggle, right,
that was in the Mountain West, I think right, correct,
that's correct, And that was before they did all the facilities.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
That was before they threw a bunch of money into
the program.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Exactly right. Not easy, hard job.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yes, TCU is a very very which funny because now
TCU is not an easy job.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
But now it's the place, it's kind of that's kind
of a hot place. Right.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Well, they changed. When you change facility and you got resources,
it's amazing what you can do.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, yes, completely. And then okay, so now you're moving around.
You guys get let go at the end of your
second year.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Actually I left to go to or Roberts and they
stayed around for another year. They kept Neil for another year.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So now you go work for Scott correct? What was
that like?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I was shocked that the or Roberts job was better
than the TCU job at that time, I believe it
or not. When I tell people that, they're like, no,
no way, oh yes, way, yes, way from salaries all
the way up into all of it, just what the
program was. Scott had done an unbelievable job there. I
(02:48):
replaced Corey Williams and went in there and we won
the conference championship the first year. I mean just ran
through it. And I ended up going to any state
tournament and if I'm mistaken, we end up going to
two more and say tournaments and another postseason play while
I was there. But I was there for four years
with Scott. Scott was great to work for, and we
(03:10):
had some really good players and I had a lot
of fun. I really enjoyed living in Tulsa. Then I know,
I got blessed and had the opportunity to go to
home after that.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Uh at or Roberts.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
At the time, though as much as it's a better
job in terms of resources support, you're working for a
good dude.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
It's not a yeller, screamer, curshort, you know whatever.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Right, But like did kids still I had to wear
a tie to go to class, right, you still have
you know, you still have an honor code. There's still
you know, there was a time there where we recruit
kids with tattoos.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Like that's not easy, No, that's not easy.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
No, what you didn't have to wear ties back then
they just released that. But you had to wear a
collar shirt. So a polo A polo did work, and
you have to wear pants, you couldn't wear shorts. Uh,
and you had to go to chapel twice a week.
So I was able to put a spin on that, Doug.
I mean, anytime you're going to do a home visit
(04:15):
and you're talking to a mom, sure, there's nothing wrong
with going to church, yes.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And yeah, So it's it's yeah, it's all. It's all
about the players in their hands.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
It's like that's.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Theer is like no, no, no, no no. And mom was like,
I want you to go to Old Robbins because you're
gonna go to church three times, two times a week.
That's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
How did you How did you uh get out with
coach crude? That? How that all go down?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Actually? Uh, my good friend Lou Hill Uh. Lou Hill
uh and i've been friends since my time that Tyler
Junior college and we've always kept a relationship. And it's
funny I tell people this story, Dug. Every time I
was at or Roberts, we would play Southern Utah. So
you're flying in Vegas and we would stay in Vegas
(05:12):
and then drive up for the game and come back.
For four straight years, I would always go and see
Lou and see Coach. And at the time I didn't
know Coach, but Lou introduced me to him and we
go to lunch. When it's suitable, we go to dinner.
I stopped by the office and just talk for four
straight years. Then when they get the job at Oklahoma,
(05:33):
when he called me and asked me, he said, Crutch,
it is Oklahoma a good job. I said, why you asked?
He's like, I think coach. They offered coaches job, but
he turned them down. I said, well, it's probably one
of the better jobs in the state. I mean they've
had success. Now they got some problems because you know
what's going on there now, but Coach is good at that.
(05:56):
He specialized in turning things around. And don't see another
worry about it. Two weeks later he gets the job
and and then he called he said, would you have
any interest? Coach wants someone that knows Texas and knows
Oklahoma recruiting. I said, well, I have out of interest. Yeah,
I'm on my way. You tell me I can get
the job. I go interview and it goes well, he
(06:20):
called Scott and I'm waiting by the phone. Man One
day he said, he called Scott and tell Scott he's
gonna offer me the job. Right, and this is about
nine o'clock in the morning. He said, he's gonna call
you on your school on your on your desk phone
by about noon. I said, okay, I'll be here. We
(06:41):
used to go to lunch every day with our staff
at the or Robertson that day, I didn't go to lunch.
I'm waiting at my desk by the desk phone back
then there, you know, you had desk phones back then.
End Up, he called about twelve forty five and offered
me the job.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
It's interesting about that is my dad.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Actually, you know, got a chance to coach coach Kruger
in college on the freshman team, and then he was
assistant on the varsity at k State.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I didn't know that fun.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, no way with Jack Hartman, uh huh, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And then I nearly went to play for him at Florida.
Oh and Miles Simon is my best friend, right, So
Miles was the class before me, and they recruit us
hard Man. Why am I forgetting Oh? Man oh. He
(07:43):
had an assistant who actually, like Lou passed away last year,
Ron Stewart yep so. Ron basically lived out in Orange
County trying to recruit the two of us. So Miles
went on a visit the year before and loved it
and then got on a plane to come home and
he was like, it's too far.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I can't do it. I love Florida.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
They went to the Final four in ninety four and
I was like, all in. And but they had been
on me for so long. I think they were just
they were just like worn down with the fact that,
like I want to take my visits, and I started
to get interested interests from other people and anyway, but
you fast forward to when coach took that job.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I'll never forget.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
I was in Connecticut and Josie actually I reached out
to Joe Cie to see where he was with the
coaching search, and he said, what do you think? Because
I had done my brother was at Santuli State and
I had done a bunch of unov games, he said,
what do you think about coach Krueger?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I said, you can't find a better guy to turn
a running program.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
You know, And and as you know, for what, for
what that place needed where to let people in, you know,
to be kind of a man people. Plus you know,
they love golf and he loves golf and all that stuff.
So when he didn't get him the first time, you know,
he was kind of going through his list with me.
He didn't use a committee, he didn't use a search
(09:14):
firm or whatever. He was just doing his own thing.
So he's kind of I was like, I said, why
did Krueger turn you down? He said, you know, I
don't know, well how much. It's like, why doesn't she
just offer more money?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
And he did?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
And you know, coach Kruger to this day would say,
you know, you know, he was in bad financial shape.
He knew they couldn't match, and and and Vegas says,
you know, never been the same, Like obviously now Kevin's
trying to save it, right, but it literally never been
the same. And okay, so what is it about Lon Kruger, Like,
(09:48):
what's the what's the magic, what's the secret?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Sauce? There? I just at the at the horn of
it all, he's a good man. He's a good man,
that carabob key. And he's smart. He's really really smart
and I think when you got those things going for you,
you're going to be successful no matter what you do.
(10:13):
And he treats people right. He treats everyone right, from
a billionaire donor to the manager. He's going to treat
you the same. And I enjoy that a guy with
his statue, just watching how he maneuver through the office.
When strangers came in the office, he would row off
(10:36):
the red carpet for him like he knew him for
twenty years. And he was just treating everyone so sincere,
so genuine about the way he went about things, very
professional with the staff, and he was demanding for the players,
but he was fair and he was firm. But he
(10:56):
was a good coach. I mean, he knew he was.
I tell people this today. He's one of the best
basketball offensive minds in the game of basketball. And the
time he put in watching film, the way he could
dissect a defense to squee squeeze out the extra six
to eight points a game, he was really good at that.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, I know, he just he had great, great basketball
mind the building of that Final four team and obviously
didn't end great in the Final four. But that's kind
of a mood point, right, the building blocks of it.
Talk to me about how you guys and recruiting put
that together.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Well, it started off. We knew we needed better guards
in that twenty twelve class right and where we were
we really couldn't get involved with any high major guys.
So so luckily I had a relationship with Buddy Hill
for my time at Oor Roberts from you know, in Bahamas.
(12:01):
We kind of helped put him at sun Rise at
that time. At that time, we had no idea he
was going to be what he's going to be. We
got lucky with Buddy. Lou picked up Isaiah Cousins from
Mount Vernon High School in Mount Vernon, New York, who
was getting some A ten fields, but no one really
pulled the trigger. Only only reason Lou took him because
(12:23):
he kind of reminded Lou of himself and he was
from Mount Vernon. And then we end up getting a kid,
Jelan horn Hornbeck from Dallas. He was a highly recruited kid,
maybe rise out of the top one hundred. We was
able to convince Ryan Spangler to come back home from Gonzaga,
(12:45):
who was a really good high school player in Oklahoma,
and we took a kid by the name of DJ
Bennett was a junior college kids from Indian Hills Junior
College by way of Chicago, And that was our first
recruiting class, and we thought we had all the right guards.
We thought we had a big time piece in Ryan Spangler,
and we just thought DJ was a good enough athlete
(13:07):
to play in the Big Big twelve. He was a
backup in the Big twelve. What he was. And the
whole thing was, if we keep this group together and
can plug in a couple of pieces along the way,
we would have a chance to be really, really good.
We didn't think we would be, you know, Final four good.
We didn't think that. But but as luck have it,
(13:31):
everything fell into place, Everything fell into place. Those guys
got bigger, stronger. But he turned himself into a great shooter.
Isaiah turned itself into a playmaking guard at six y four.
And of course Ryan Spangle did all the dirty work.
He was the best rebounder, he was the best position defender,
(13:52):
and he just did all the things that brought everything together.
He was the perfect blue guy on that on that
Final fourteen. But it is amazing the competitive uh spirit
that Buddy had, that Isaea had, and that was the
core of the whole thing, man, because we built around
(14:14):
those two guys.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah, the Buddy, the buddy heeled effect, right, It is
infectious personality.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
What's that like to be around on a daily day.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
It was fun. It was fun because I remember him
as a freshman telling all the older guys that we
had and heard it in our program that they were
soft and they went tough and you know, I can't
wait till you guys leave. You know, he was like that,
and uh I knew then. I was like, this guy
is crazy. He's crazy or he's serious, Like like he's
(14:52):
telling these upperclassmen that they're soft and they know they're
not competitive. And this is freshman year in college. And
he didn't have a great freshman year, of course, but
he was a like I told you, he was a
every day he brought it. He played hard, and he
had this competitive spirit about him that that was so contagious,
and eventually it just bled into those older guys. We
(15:13):
ended up being a ten seed in the tournament its
first year, end up getting beat by San Diego State,
But we had jumped in year two from not making
the tournament in year one to year two with that
twenty twelve class of being a ten seed, and we
(15:33):
felt like we had jumped a year in our rebuilding.
So you go to it's funny that you go into
the next year, which is year three. We luckily we're
a five seed. I don't know how that happened. We
ended up getting beat first round by North Dakota State
and spoke in and that was kind of the.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I was there.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I called the game all the game, you're up, like, yeah,
you're up with like a minute minute thirty to go.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yep. When ended up going overtime yep, miss free throws.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah, misstreet throws. I think DJ fouled out. Somebody filed
out to something. It was myster throws, a couple of
dumb plays and foul out whatever.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
You know, Like, yeah, I tell you what happened is
your cousins found the kid on a three point shot.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
That's what it was.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Yeah, did he found out? Yeah? Exactly right. So so
that that game, that game though, kind of was the uh,
the gas for for for the program, the competitive spirit
even more because those guys were so upset that they lost,
(16:56):
uh the way they lost it, because they knew they
gave the game away and and those guys all played
a big part. Buddy, Isaiah, Julyan, they all played a
big part in that game, Ryan Spangler. So they worked
up but off that off season and I knew. I
knew that. I told Coach Lou, and Lou always say
(17:16):
like like that loss was good for us. We had
made the tournament. Everybody was happy, but that loss was
good for us because now we had to grow up
and be serious about the game of basketball. And that
off season, I think I think we added a couple
more pieces. We added a shooter kid by the name
(17:39):
of Frank Booker came in and uh, because we needed
more shooting to space the floor. And that junior year
was the year we ended up going to Sweet sixteen,
you know, getting beat on the last second shot by
Michigan State on the offensive rebound. And we really felt
like that was a year that we that we we
grew up to the point where we knew we had
(18:01):
something here and we kept them all together. Man, that
was the key to the whole thing. Those guys that
played one hundred and nine games together, Riy Spangler, Buddy Hill,
Isaac's cousin, and Jordan Wood. Those guys play one hundred
and nine games together and that was that was the
team that ended up going to the Final four, just
(18:23):
because we had chemistry, we had a connection, and we
were talented, of course, but when you keep a group
together that long in this day and age, you're probably
gonna win.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 1 (18:46):
What do you remember? Let's say the good memories, So
what do you remember? You know, Hopkinsville, Kentucky to Junior College,
to U n O, to Utsa to junior college. In
my show, what do you remember about walking out seventy
five thousand people are in Houston to watch your game?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
It was unbelieved experience. I get deals right now just
thinking about that, because and the good part about it,
they would take my boys with me on the floor
and they was probably probably fifteen thirteen, fourteen fifteen, and
you know it just when you're that age, you know,
(19:28):
everything is big, and had a chance to get them
on the floor and hang out for the practices and
they're on the bus, you know, and you know what
kind of escorts you get when you're in the final four.
So it was an unbelievable experience man for them to
be able to be a part of that and see
that and experience that, because as a coach, that is
(19:49):
the ultimate goal.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Man.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
So many years we go to the coaching convention and
you always dream of being in the final four as
a coach, like you go, you go to the practices,
you go to the games, but the ultimate goal is
I want to be on that floor one day. You
see see what that's like, and you know, we have
the opportunity to do that. And one of those memories
that last forever.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
The other side too, was jeanov was amazing that right?
Uh and you had beaten them earlier in the year.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yeah, I I.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
You know, But how do you how do you?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
How do you in the moment, you know, not lose
your mind because you did make the final four, right
like you get beat by forty four. But on the
other hand, there's so much good. What's like the juxtaposition
of emotions, what's that?
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Well, what's that like?
Speaker 3 (20:43):
I think no one could have handled that better than
coach Krueger and the way he came into the locker
room after the game even at halftime. It was he
was down twenty at halftime, and no one thought the
game was over because we came back out we cut
it to nine and thought had some But it's one
of those nights, man. We just didn't make a shot,
(21:04):
the shots that we had been making a week before
in Anaheim. We couldn't get those shots. Then, of course
Villanora made everything, and on top of it, we beat
them pretty convincingly in December in Hawaii, and we beat
them pretty bad. I mean, we was up twenty eight
at one time on them, and I think that helped
(21:24):
them a little bit, get a little more focused. And
it was a tough one. It was a tough one
to sit down there and watch that thing transpiring in
front of all those people. But in hindsight, you made
it to the biggest stage and a lot of teams
would love to trade places with you. And I hated
for those guys to have to go out that way,
(21:44):
but they had a fantastic career at Oklahoma. And to
this day, Buddy says he's never watched the.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Game shot what was leaving Oklahoma like.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
It was time? It was time. I had been there
eight years, and uh, I interviewed probably seven times for
head coaching jobs in the last probably two three years,
and never could get a shot. And I just felt
like it was time for me to leave. It was time.
I've done all I could do here and coaches coach
(22:20):
was great. I just thought that it was time for
me to move on and do something different or be
around someone else to learn something different about basketball. So
I made the jump to Arkansas with Eric Musselming.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
And I've had Eric on I've known Eric a long time.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
He is there are no two more different people in
terms of energy like he make he can make coffee
nervous with his level of energy.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
What what is that? What's that like for you to
go to.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Work where it's so different in terms of your boss
than the guy you worked for for eight years?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
You know what I tell people all the time that
it was fun. Because I say this, I've been really
blessed to be around the people that I've worked for,
from lou Henson to Neil Doherty to Scott Sudden to
Lawn they all had that same personality, you know. They
was all kind of laid back, mild mannered, not yellow streamers,
(23:22):
good people. And then I go to work for Eric,
who is high energy, high obtained. I mean he's impulsed,
and uh, it was just quite it was quite different.
It was quite different. But he's he's he's unbelievable in
his game prep. He's unbelievable in practices and the way
(23:45):
he run a practice. And I still use some of
the stuff that he I learned under him today with
my program here at OMAH like like some of I mean,
it's unbelievable me. I've kept practice schedules. I got him
in my desk right here. Like he's he's good. He's
a good coach, and I knew he was going to
be successful when we won twenty games that first year
(24:05):
with some talent, but not a lot compared to what
people had in the SEC.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Sure, what was the like what was coaching in the
STC Like it's very different for the Big twelve, very
different from you know, when you're in the Pac twelve later.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Oh, I tell people all the time, like the athletes
they're bigger, faster, jump higher, and they're not as skilled
as guys in the Big twelve. But the athleticism was
off the charts. I mean everyone had seven eight big
time athletes and that's what's the difference. And the teams
that had the really good guards though, those are teams
(24:44):
that won, you know that, Kentucky's, those are teams that
did well in the tournament.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Then you made the decision, Hey, I'm gonna I want
to coach my own team, our own program.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And it was.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Back to do what was what's that? Because there was
a lot of people like, what are you What are
you doing?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Man? Oh yeah, what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Oh yeah? Oh yeah. And that was one of those
coming to Jesus moments and when you sat down with
your with your wife and say, hey, we got a chance.
And it's funny it was it was after COVID. COVID
was just coming into play, right, right, I had no
idea what college basketball was going to be like the
next year, right because we shut down in the conference
(25:28):
tournament in Nashville, Tennessee. We beat Vanderbilt. The next day,
We're getting ready to play South Carolina. Boom shut down,
and I had no idea what was going to happen. Like,
we couldn't go on the road recruiting in the spring.
In the summer, so I mean my boys was home
with me, uh they both one was in junior college
when one was at Stetson down in Florida, and they
(25:49):
was home with.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Us for the four months playing for Corey.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Right, yeah, sure did. And so I was like, no,
I missed I missed your kids being around because they
had been gone with empty nesters. And I say, you
know what, I put all this time into other people's kids.
I need to coach my mom. And we decided to
take a huge pay cut and moved to Ada, Oklahoma,
(26:15):
and our boys came down there with us and we
coached them. And that was the best year I'm telling you, Doug,
I had. I had so much fun and it was
great to be aby take a back seat to all
the riff raff of powerful basketball and really really coach
and be involved with my guys. And we still couldn't
(26:39):
go recruiting back then, so I was home every day,
I mean every Saturday, the kids would come over, we
would watch football, we eat Sunday dinners together, and it
had been a long time since we'd done that. And
you know, you know how important that it is with family,
especially once they're gone then they come back. You really
(27:01):
missed that. I thought that was a crucial time for
me in my basketball career just to be able to
take that time. It's kind of like a sabbatical almost
because it was all basketball. It was all basketball and
all family, and it gave me a great work life
balance and I really enjoyed that year.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
But joined it for a year, all right, it was
it was it was literally a year sabbatical. Then you
go work for Dana. Ye who's that's kind of back
to the what you're used to, right, He's an all
all time, all time are great dude, and all things
kind of circling around.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Omaha, How the how did the Dana job coming? Stubbs?
I was sure, I'm sure set you up there, right,
no doubt.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Stubbs and Coach Kruger, you know, they go back. Dana
worked for Line A K State and been connected for years,
and then then Stubbs was with Dana for you know,
eleven years. So we've been all in the same family,
you know, since I've been with Coach Kruger forever. Me
and Stuffs played here together, so we've been best friends
(28:04):
since I hosted him on his official visit, so that's here.
So we've been friends for a long time. So when
he called, I didn't I said no. I said no,
And I was like, Dana, I can't. I can't do
that right now my kids going into their senior year.
I told him I was going to coach him. And
(28:25):
then Coach Krueger called and said, Crutch, you've been you've
been busting your butt trying to be a Division one
head coach. You think you're going to get the Vision
one job from from East Central. He was honest, and
he was brutally honest with me, and I said, you're right, coach,
you got a point there. So I thought about it
for a couple of days and went home and talked
to the family and you know, shed some tears and
(28:46):
talked about it the morning the more and end up,
end up, it worked out me making the move to Oregon. Uh,
just because if I don't make that move, Doug, I
don't get this job here no more?
Speaker 2 (29:02):
What what? What? What? What's your biggest takeaway from working
for Dan Alban?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
It was different. It was different the way he ran
his practices. He was the only one that had to
practice sheep.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah, he does all that's his baby, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
And it would be like on a little note card
like this running back and uh, okay, you get to
see it. Every now and then he'll show it to
you and say, go down, go down and take that
group and go do this, this and this and uh.
He would run the whole practices and it was fun.
It was energetic, and he was He's smart and count
(29:46):
remind you a little bit of Coach Kruger a little bit.
But he was big on defense and he would get
down in the stands and do defensive slides with the
guys and Uh. I really enjoyed it to the point where,
you know, like it was har art. If it wasn't
for a head coaching job, I'll probably still be at
organ right now.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
The U n O job comes open. You're a lum,
you'd be looking for head coaching job.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Yeah. Give share with me the memories, if you will
how it came to be.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Do you remember where you were when you found out
when they told you it's coming open.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah. I was in my office and they walked in,
and you know, he had had a conversation with his
former boss, Bruce Ratbinson, and uh he said, I think
I think you and O is gonna make a move.
The new ad came from creating worked for Bruce, and
I think they're gonna make a change here the next
(30:44):
day or so, but you have interest in the job myself,
of course I want the job. Well, I didn't hesitate
one minute. I said I want the job. And I
mean two days ago, by it, three days ago, by
nothing happens. Right, I'm like, oh, maybe ain't gonna come open.
I left it alone, and that Sunday night it came
open and Dana called and he said, well, I don't
(31:08):
know what's gonna happen, but you're gonna be one of
two or three guys that they're gonna talk to. And
when he said that, I didn't think I had a change,
because you know, I knew there was a couple of
guys at Creighton that had ties to the A D
that probably had a better chance of getting a job
than me. Then, to be honest with you, Dana went
to work for me. I mean he fled out, went
(31:29):
to work. He called some people here in omahall he's
got some things moving, and yeah, we was in the
conference tournament, and we zoomed. We had a zoom interview
and uh two days later they flew to uh Portland
to see me. And that's how it happened.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Did the president give you two hours to go home
and get a student and take a job like he
did at Tyler.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
No. But after after they left and we was on
our way to the n I T. And I didn't
know what was going to happen. So it's funny. We
take off to go to N I T. And we
go play at Utah State and we win. We go
play at text and M and I'm on the road
when Adrian actually called and said, we want you to
(32:18):
be our next head coach, and we're gonna do a
press conference here this day. This day, I'm like, oh, man,
I don't have any I don't have a suit with me.
I don't have anything with me to do the press conference.
And I'm on the road right I'm recruiting. Then I'm
going to College Station for the game. So I had
to call my wife and you know, can you put
a suit in the mail? Can you ship this stuff
(32:40):
to me? And I go directly from College Station to
Omar and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
So what's the place like now comparison what it was
like then?
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Oh, it's totally change. It's totally changed. It's a whole
new city. And I left her in ninety six ninety six,
and we've been back because her family, my wife is
from Omaha. Her family is still here and we've been
back and forth to visit and stuff like that, but
we haven't lived here since then. And like downtown has changed,
(33:17):
the city has grown out west economically, it's a whole
different city. Brookshire Had the Way has has boomed in
this city and they call them the Brookshire I Had
the Way babies. There's so many companies here, it's so much,
(33:38):
so many resources here. The city has changed, This university
has changed. I mean we've grown to two campses now
instead of one campus. Yeah, we've got an unbelievable facility
that we play in where our guys live and it's
a major entertainment area of Obsarvant and there's hotels, restaurants, bars,
(33:58):
you name it right there where live and it is
walking distant from the arena and we're we're we're really close,
Doug from this thing being a really really big time job.
We're practice facility away from this thing being a really
really special place.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Okay, So at your level, at your level, facilities still
really important because you know, at the power five level,
they're like it's just the nil. Just get us the nil,
right right? What is what is recruiting like in the
summer League.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Well, I think I think it's really good. It's not
an nil deal. I mean our our our nil will
come down to retention more so than recruiting, because you're
always going to have power fives trying to take your
best player away. Right, So it's gonna come down.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
To how do you manage that?
Speaker 3 (34:53):
You can't. You can't. If you have success and you
have a player that's average fifteen plus points a game,
it's likely that he's going to move. He's going to
go somewhere and uh, and that's okay. You got planned
for it. You plan for it. You recruit like like
it's going to happen, and uh, because you know it's
(35:13):
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
So you're recruiting out of the portal Huko High School?
What's your focus?
Speaker 3 (35:23):
First? The first year, we went after high school kids
and we took four junior college kids that had three
years of Eli's ability left. And that was on purpose
because we want I wanted guys that that wanted to
be here. I wanted guys that that that I could
build a culture around, and build a culture with that
(35:44):
wasn't going to leave. And uh, we've been really good
because we flipped the roster. We only got one player
that was on the roster when I took the job.
But we've been able to keep a nucleus of guys.
Eight guys from last year team, that's what are still
and we plugged in one transfer to high school kids
(36:04):
and a junior college kid, and that's that's our team
outside of our walk on. So so that eight nucleus
guys that we're bringing back, that's the core of our team.
And they all played quality minutes forts last year. Even
though he wasn't very good, they grew a lot of experience,
and we wanted to take guys that that wasn't going
(36:28):
to be looking down their nose at Omaha or un O.
We wanted guys that was going to be proud of
coming to a place like this to build something special.
And that's why we didn't go to the transfer portal.
We turned down. We turned down. I'm telling you right now,
we probably turned down five Power five guys the first
year because I didn't think you could really build a
(36:50):
program at this level with transfers right away.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Who are you most like when you're on the sideline, Like,
of all the guys you work for, played for, who
do you saying this.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Is who I'm most like?
Speaker 3 (37:05):
Probably line in one way, well, because I'm constantly thinking
what's next. I mean, he's always been a guy that's
always been two or three plays ahead of what's happening.
And uh, And I tried to kind of emulate that
a little bit, because you can't. It's an emotional game,
(37:25):
but you have to have You've got to be in
control of emotions all the time. If not, you can't think.
And there's a lot of things going on around you.
If you get caught up in the emotions of the
game or what's going on, you'll lose track and then
then you lose, and you'll lose four possessions and I
won't even know it. So I try to stay mild.
(37:48):
I try to stay real, real low key. I don't
get too high, don't get too low. And I'm always
thinking about what's next. You know, what's next offensive, what
next defense, what's next? Substance? Us Like, I'm always two
minutes ahead of what the clock says.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Who's the guy in your league that you're like, you
know what this guy's really good, and I wish more
people knew how good he was. I don't take my players,
but he's really really good in our league.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Yeah, it's been some good ones.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Now.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
I thought Paul Mills is pretty good. He's gone.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yea.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Eric Henderson is really good. That's South Dakota State. Uh,
got a lot of respect for David Richmond and North
Dakota State. All those guys do a really good job
in their locations. Oh, that's probably it is there.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Any way, you guys can get the tournament out of
the out of the Dakotas, right, Everybody at least.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Like many like we got to go up and win
a tournament in Dakota's.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
I'm glad you said that. A lot of a lot
of people talking about that in the last couple of
couple of months. And h it's funny. Uh, twenty twenty six,
it is open. We'll be it, so we'll see what
happens yet to know.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Ma, all right, last thing, who's the Chris cutch Field
out there, the longtime assistant that man, This dude needs
a shot right right. This may not be your ultimate shot,
but it's your first division one head coaching job.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Who's the guy who you've been out in the road with,
you know, is really good. Great dude, But man, this
guy's got to get a head coach.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
That's a good one. That's a really good question right there.
I'll give you probably two or three names. Okay, give
me a wye for each of the Okay, one will
be Yah Fat King. Who's that Tulsa right now. He's
(39:55):
been at the low mid major levels, mid plus experience,
living in some major cities, got some recruiting contacts, worked
for some really good guys, Tim Jenkovich, people like that. Uh,
he's one Power five job away from from being a
Division one head coach. James One Okay, Emanual Dildy, who
(40:21):
I had an opportunity to coach at New Mexico State,
and he's been the same. He's bounced around from place
to place, Eastern Illinois, Northwestern, spent some time in Oklahoma,
and now he's at Duke. H he's going to get
the head coaching job here in two or three years. Okay,
got ties in Chica. Great recruited, great personality experience. The
(40:46):
last one I would say this Chris Carwell at Duke.
You remember Chris as a player, sure, of course. Uh,
he's got experience. I think he's been around, but spend
some time in Marquette. Now he's that duke. Uh, experienced,
well minded guy, understands basketball, gat recruiton ties all across
(41:10):
the country. Uh and he's a duke guy. Uh so
he's he's another guy that's that I think is ready.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Those dookies, I don't think they're gonna need help. They
need the help, dookies, they don't.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
They don't.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
They're all on TV in the n b A doing
doing what I want you that Duke family, You're you're
in a really good place.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Your favorite part about the job as well.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Me here or just coaching?
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Yeah no, right here? Well either well.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I think in a place like this, Doug, when you
when you this is your school, the amount of pride
and the amount of ownership that you have as a
head coach to try to build something because because when
you build it and you go to the NSA Tournament,
it's going to be the first. And that's what I'm
(42:01):
excited about every morning I wake up. I'm excited about
that process, Like we're going to build something special that
everybody's going to remember that day on all name is
called on selection Sunday, and that's the ultimate goal and
that's what excited is all.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Hey, man, it's great to catch up.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
I know you're super busy, but your story is an
awesome one and you're somebody who everybody who brubs shoulders
with you just feels better because of it. So I
always need it to catch up and I appreciate you
joining me.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
Thank you for having me. Man, it's been fun. Hanging
out with you for a couple of hours. Seemed like
a right.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
We'll talk soon, all right, buddy, that's it for all ball.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Remember to check out The Doug Gottlieb Show. It's a
radio show but also available podcast form where you download
this podcast or wherever you download podcasts on the iHeart
Radio app, and of course you can listen to it
live on Fox.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
Sports Trader or Fox sport Trade dot com.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Or the Iheartio app daily three to five Eastern time.
And we also have a daily pod called in the Bonus.
There's lots of different stuff that I can annoy you with.
My overall sports takes. My thanks to Chris scrutching up
for all of this time. Thanks to you for listening, downloading,
and reviewing.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
Rating. I'm Doug Gottlie, this is all ball.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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