September 26, 2025 • 37 mins
Azzi and Ashanti bring Coach Geno Auriemma into the FAFO studio, and he shows a side fans usually don't get to see. Geno opens up about what Azzi is really like in practice, why he rarely has to yell at her, and what he hopes to see from her in her last season.
The crew mix laughs with real talk — diving into NIL, the transfer portal, and how the game is shifting — before putting Geno through a no-escape lightning round. Expect shimmy debates, his thoughts on his TikTok edits and Azzi's on court moment that made him say 'What The Fudd?'"
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, guys, welcome back to another episode of Futt Around
and find Out. Today is a special episode. Every episode
is a special episode, but today is special. We're in
a different location for those of you that can see us,
for those of you that can't, we are in the
iHeart Studio in Hartford because we have a special guest,
coach Riama, joining us today. How do you feel about
(00:24):
interviewing your coach? I'm excited. I'm excited. You look a
little scared. No, it's just it's different.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, I don't think he's ever done something like this before,
So you're special and I'm excited for it too.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's gonna be fun. All right, let's get to it.
Bring him in, let's go. Hello, coach welcome right here? Yes, ah,
coachlo right there?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
What's up, guys? Hi, welcome, I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Were you surprised to hear that Easy had a podcast? Uh?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
No, everybody has a podcast today. I'm actually, you know,
talking to people that want me to have a podcast,
So I'm kind.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Of surprised you don't have a podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Well, I had. I had a podcast before podcasts were popular,
and it was, you know, just me and my office
talking to guys like Kobe and Tiger and people that
I liked.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I think you should bring our podcast, but.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Well there's a push to do that, so we're we're
working on it.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
What was the name of your podcast?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I don't know. I don't think it has a name yet.
Oh what's the name of this one? Fight around and
find out. Yes, I don't know that it's going to
be that catchy.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
You know, can't be that cool.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I don't think it can be. I don't think it
can be.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So that's surprised that you had a podcast. I also
heard you had a cooking show.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Oh wow, now you're going way back. Yeah, we did.
It was in conjunction with one of our local markets
that we shop at, and we try to show people
how you shop for certain things and then how you
take those things and what goes into making certain dishes
and so yeah it was good.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Okay, Chef Gino, Well.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I wasn't doing the cooking. I was just I was
just there welcoming every like you, you know, hey, welcome
to our podcast, and then everybody else does do it.
That's kind of how it works.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So can we call you Gino our.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Coach, call me whatever you like I'm scared to you.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I'm going to say, coach, it feels safe, coach.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Just safe. Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So Asy's been back on campus for a couple of
weeks now, So how's that been for you guys.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
For us as a team or me personally.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Or both, however you want to answer.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
There's a sense of excitement. I think at the beginning
of school, people haven't seen each other for a while,
so everybody's anxious to get caught up and do all that.
They haven't been on the floor together, so that's exciting.
You know, everybody wants to show off like what they
did during the summer. You know, this is the new me,
or this is the new and improved me, whatever the
case may be. So you know, A'sy's always been easy.
(03:02):
She's always ready to go, She's always in great shape.
You can count on her. You know she's reliable. You're
not going to get any surprises, generally speaking, good in bed, yeah,
good embed The surprises are always good. You know, I'm
always pleasantly surprised that there's a more grown up version,
which is the way you want it to be. You
want each year for kids to come back a little more.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Grown up so then let's take it back really quickly.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
When you were first looking at as like recruiting her,
what did you see in her?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
It may have been in Chicago, and you may have
been like in eighth grade, maybe eighth grade going into
ninth grade, maybe something like that. Were you playing for
the Fairfax Stars back then or so? Yeah, it was
unusual for someone that age to be playing with sixteen
seventeen year olds, So that was number one. And then
you know, her skill level was different than everybody else's.
(03:51):
So it didn't take long to realize why was there
a big crowd at her games? Because I'm not sure.
I don't even know who else was on the team.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Was on the team, It was easy. My point guard
was Carl Rivera. She went to Columbia. The big man
was Malush Tanga. She went to u n C. A teamate,
went to Harvard A teammate.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, no disrespect, but no disrespect. But
I don't remember any of them.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
It was just easy out there.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, I only had eyes for oh Asy.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
What do you remember about meeting coach? I remember you
coming to an open workout at Saint John's like in
the fall, and I remember being in the bathroom before,
really nervous, and my teammate was like, you're fine, you
got this, but I don't really remember like interacting with you.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Well good, I'm glad to say that because we weren't
allowed to interact with the flyers, you know, so we
kept it legal. Always always, Yeah, yeah, I remember that.
I remember that workout. I was sitting here in the bleachers.
There's a basket over here to my right, and there's
a basket down here to my left, and you worked
out at the basket down to my.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Left for bat making. That just no way you remember.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I do remember. I do remember that. And I walked
I went back and I said, you know, I just
watched like an hour workout, and I tried to keep track,
but I think like in that hour, maybe you missed
like five shots in that whole. Yeah, Like I tend
to remember guys who make shots, the guys who missed,
like the guys that were on your team that I
(05:22):
don't remember. I don't remember those guys.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
That's crazy. Actually, after that workout, I had two of
my teammates. They ran to the locker room, changed and
put their uniform back on, and like ran to the
parking lot to try to catch you and get a
picture with you. But they put their uniform back on.
See what know, they were just practicing. You didn't see them.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Actually, oh wow at that part. I don't remember that part.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I don't so. Coach.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
You've been coaching for many years, very successful. Now in
this new age of nil, what's been different like for you?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Well, everything's different really. I mean we've gone from I
can't talk to a kid when I go watch them
work out, which is kind of dumb, to now we
are allowed to give them money, you know, and everybody
wants to say, like it's nil. Everybody throws that word
around like nil. How many people in here know what
nil means? Okay, the people that really work in the
(06:16):
business now, So it means name, image and likeness. Okay.
So what's different is let's take your recruiting a player
from high school and you could tell them, Okay, listen,
if you come to Yukon and you want to sell
T shirts with your name on it, Wow, that's great.
You can do that now and you can make money
on that. Wow. We want to put your name on
a poster, Okay, now you can make money on that.
(06:37):
We want to do TV commercials. You can do that.
Now you can use your name, your image, and your
likeness to make money. That was the way it was
intended to be. Now it's listen, if I give you
this much money, will you come to Yukon? So what's
different about it? Yeah, it's kind of confused the issue
a little bit. Now. Kids aren't necessarily picking schools because
(06:59):
that's where I want to go to school because I
really like the coaching staff, I love the program, I
love the school, I love everything about it. Now it's
how much you're paying me, and that's where I'm going
to school. So yeah, it's kind of not as much
fun now, but I'm all for it. I'm all for
the kids getting paid. I like that. I do.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So what would you say, out of the teams you've had,
the dynasties you've had, which era would not survive the
nil era that we have now.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I think Diana would have probably played at four schools
in four years. I think she would have gone to
the highest bid or every year. And I laugh about it,
but obviously people listening or watching, however they take in
this podcast, have no idea how good those players were
and how much if you go by money, how much
money those guys would have commanded and we would not
(07:47):
have been able to afford them if they were looking
for the kind of money that they deserved. There's no
way that we would have been able to do that,
No way, because some of the money that kids are
being paid today, it's like paying a hundred hours for
a cup of coffee. It's really not worth a hundred dollars.
But these guys are you know, so yeah, that group
of players, when you think about the Sue, Sveta, shay Tamika,
(08:13):
Asia Swin, you know, you got four Olympians on the team,
Like I don't know the last time I coached four
Olympians on the same team, actually five, because Atlanta was
on the Russian Olympic team twice.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Expensive expense, They're very expensive. Okay, so let's pivot to
the Fud family. So, coach, what do you think of
the Fud family?
Speaker 3 (08:39):
The Fud family? Generally speaking? You don't want to fudd
around and find out about the family, you know, Generally speaking,
I think it's uh, you know, people throw the word
unique around a lot, you know, or like special, Oh,
that kid's special, And I always ask like what's the
special about. Well, they're really good basketball players. That doesn't
make you special, right, that just makes you a good
(09:00):
besketball player. I think Aisy's family is unique because of
how how it's not your traditional put together family that
you would go, oh, isn't that isn't that special? Well,
in their case, if you if you think about her
mom's journey and her dad and brothers, grandparents, like all
(09:28):
the people that are part of her inner circle, they
all have like a unique journey that involves the family
together and also involves their own special journey separate from
the family. And to me, that's a little bit different,
and it's a little bit unique. That's how I would
describe them. They're different. They're different, and I think would
be the first to say it, which she did, that
(09:50):
it's a different dynamic, and uh, it works. It works
great for them, it works great for Asy, and it
works great for us. And they're passionate. I would describe
them as exceptionally passionate, passionate about everything that they do,
and certainly passionate about easy. Yeah, they're very passionate. You
could hear their passion a lot of times. You could
(10:12):
hear their passion before you see.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
It, especially Papa, Oh for sure, hold on, Ezy, what
do you mean by that?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Especially Papa. Papa's loud. They're all out with Papa's love.
Papa loves Coach too, he does.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
You know, just a long line just saying but it
may not be as long as the people who don't
love me, but it's still a long line.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
So, Coach, what do you think about the internet referring
to as as the People's Princess.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I hear that you have a lot to do with
that nickname.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I do. Yeah, I don't know. We were talking yesterday
and she's got a water bottle it says Princess Aisy.
So I didn't realize she was the People's Princess.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I mean I heard you don't yell at her at practice.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I don't know if that's completely true. Do you think
that's completely I don't.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Get yelled at that much. You said that was going
to change this year.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Yeah, I don't know. There's really not a lot to
get upset about and yell about. As I said at
the beginning of this, easy comes ready to go every
single day. There isn't any day where you go and
complain about her effort or her concentration level or anything,
any of that I wish every player had that. She's
(11:24):
in the weight room, she's doing the best. She's giving
you the best version of herself in the weight room.
She's on the court, she's doing the exact same thing.
You know. Sometimes I get upset with her about her
lack of adventure. I call it generally speaking over the years,
she's not a risk taker. Asy's not going to be
the one to put herself out there and take a
chance unless it's already been calculated and it's going to work.
(11:46):
Last year, especially in the final four, she took some
risks and they paid off, And maybe that's going to
be like, hey, I can be you know, someone said
recently the biggest risk a person could take is not
take a risk. So I think that's the next step
for her is to be a risk taker, not not
(12:08):
like page.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I was just about to ask.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
You know, I don't like you. No, you can't be
like that, you know. So yeah, no, I don't go
around practice. You only get screaming easy. I just go
home and do it.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
What kind of risk do you want to see me take?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yes, Well, there's various kinds of risks. You know, should
I go for that steal or not. So whenever we're
practicing and we're going to practice our press or we're
going to do something, I'm always thinking, where the hell
are we going to put her? Because when you're pressing
and you're really aggressive and you're going you need people
that are going to take a chance. If you're watching
football and you're a defensive back, you can either just
run around all the time or you could actually take
(12:47):
a chance and go for an interception or something. So
she's just very very conservative, I guess is the word,
so that take a risk defensively, you know, like she
did in the Final four. She goes for a steal,
she strips the kid, gets a layup, you know, in
the passing lane, steal a couple. It's funny because Ashton
Shade on our team is just a younger version of Asy.
Like with her, everything's got to be perfect, everything's got
(13:08):
to be just right, you know, Like it's almost like
they play like, well, I know most of your audience
is like fourteen year olds. They probably don't know Marcel Marceau,
you know, but that's kind of like huh huh, like
nothing like crazy, take a shot when you've missed five
shots in a row, and when younger Asy would go, well,
I already miss the last five. I'm not taking this one.
(13:29):
Well in my mind, it's like you just miss five.
In my mind, I think you're going to make the
next ten.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Come on.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
So that's I kind of like to see her think
that way, you know, even in her personal I don't
know her personal life as well as people closest to
her do. It's same thing if you ask Azy a
question or shit, and again younger Asy when she was
eighteen seventeen eighteen, So Asy, what do you think? You
have to leave half an hour for the answer, So Asy,
what do you think? Let me see? Is not what
(14:00):
I was like, Oh my god, are you kidding me?
Oh my god? You want me to get on the
phone now and call everybody that's ever met you? Hazy,
what would you like to have in your coffee? Let
me see? I'm kind of like, you know, I kind
of like two sometimes I like swim milk, and I
don't know what if I picked the wrong one, I
(14:22):
don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I'm working on my DECI So that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Yes, Yes, just kind of like go with the go
with your gut instinct man, like you know. So these
are things that I think people that are so disciplined
like she is, that are so boom boom like I'm
going to get it right every time. I think that's
the biggest obstacle or hurdle that they eventually have to
go over. Is when do you let go and just
(14:47):
let it let your natural ability and natural instincts take
over instead of having everything have to be exceptionally well
thought out. That is a time and place for that.
Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Well, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised here.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Oh wow, good because now the more risk you take,
the more you're gonna screw up, and the more I
can get pissed.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And the more he can get I love it.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
I'm excited already too. Yeah, yeah you should. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Any any more responses to that? You rise to the challenge?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Okay, let me think if I have any responses to that?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I was waiting. Okay, a little bit of a pivot.
So as has compared you to the grandpa, the grandpa
from the movie Up.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Oh, oh, the movie Up.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Okay, how about now still.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Somebody give him a balloon?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Oh? I think he's a cool guy. No, yeah, yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
If you had to have a cartoon character, that would
be easy. Who would you pay?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Oh jeez, like a Mary Poppins kind of type, you know,
not that she's a cartoon character, but if you turn
Mary Poppins into a young Mary Poppins and it was
a cartoon, that would be easy, like practically practically perfect
in every way, you know, like all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I haven't seen that movie in so long. That's a compliment.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
That's a compliment.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah right, yes, that was.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
She was practically perfect in every way. You would be
like a young CD andn that make you happy?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Is that.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
A compliment? That's probably not a compliment. But but young
CD was was kind of fun to be around, and
I mean an old CD now is probably fun to around.
I think CD middle middle c D was not fun
to be around.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
How long was that little gad?
Speaker 3 (16:54):
About fifty of hers years? She's a little bit older
than fifty. I don't want to get into hell she is.
She's a little over than fifty.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Okay, So the first game we're going to play is
we're going to draft our Yukon dream teams with former
Yukon players and we're going to draft teams that we
want to win, and we're going to go back and
forth trading picks. And you can start because you're the guest.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I get one, then you get to, then I get one.
That's how it goes.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
We go one like of all time, yes, of all time,
of all time?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Okay, like all time? Dream team to win or to
have fun with whatever you want. Well, now you have
to give me the rules of the game. If it's
to win, that's maybe different. Then let's have fun. I
got the team I would want to coach for six
months and have the most fun ever, or the team
that we want to win with.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Okay, let's have fun.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Oh fun team, Yeah, you do both.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Why can't you have fun and win?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Why can you have fun? And Well, because some guys
that you know you can win with ain't no fun
to be around, and I've been around them, so and
then other guys there's just a lot of fun to
be around. But I don't think you can win with them.
But all right, so we're trying to win. Okay, we're
trying to win. All right. I'll take d maya good pick.
I'll take uh. We'll start with the back court I'll
(18:23):
take so So I got two Hall of Famers so far.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Have that hurt me? That one hurt I'm gonna take Stewie.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
That's a good one. I'll take Tina. I got three
Hall of Famers? Crazy only five?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Okay, five, I'm taking Fee.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Oh damn, that's a good one. Oh wow, Wow, that's
a good one. Mmmm. I'll take Swin mm hm oh.
Now I got four Hall of Famers.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I'm taking Page.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
You're taking Page yup a, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's
see what do I have. I got two guards. I
got Sue, I got d I got Swin, I got Tina,
Sue the Swin Tina. Oh, and I'll take Tamika. So
(19:21):
I'm just taking I just took the starting lineup with
the greatest basketball team that ever stepped foot on the floor,
which you and Page were not on. So whatever you pick, well,
you can't beat us, but you got to pick a fifth.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Go ahead, Wait, it was Page Maya.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Picked the legendary team. You can't even remember who. I'm
just taking all the other players. If you're out there listening,
I'm just doing this for the hell of it. That's
not maybe who I would really pick, but that's who
I picked for this. So don't text me and get
your panties in a bunch because, uh, you know you
didn't get picked. Go ahead, m.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I'm gonna choose.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Say, I'm gonna choose me. See that's the way you
need to like start thinking.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Okay, I'm gonna go with me.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
You're going to go with you? Yeah? Good, good, there
you go. That's a good team. You page fee Stewie
Maya Maya who. That's a hell of a team there, man,
that's a really really good team. Huh.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
So every team you make with former UK players is
a good team.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Yeah. Yeah. We played this game a lot when we
would be, you know, just sitting around and we would go, hey,
pick the five best players you think the five best
players on and you can and somebody would pick the
five best that they thought were the five best, and
then somebody would say, okay, I'll take these five, and
I think we would beat your five. Now, most schools,
(20:53):
after you got the five, there would be no other picks,
you know. So we're very fortunate that we can and
we can put together three or four teams because there's
a lot of future Hall of famers we didn't pick
I like that. That was a good exercise there.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Okay, we have another game.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
All right, what's the other game? Now?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Let's play Gino in the hot seat. Azy gets to
ask Gino anything.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Lightning round you?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Ready?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yep?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Okay? So the starting five from last year, where will
they be in thirty years? We'll start with page Where
will she.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Be in thirty years?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Some thirty years, some home for junior delinquents, juvenile delinquents,
maybe as a like a counselor or something, trying to
teach kids don't be like I was.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Okay, kaitlynd Chen.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Caitlyn Chen show on fifteen at those places? Jenna, Jenna,
where will Jana be in thirty years? She can't be
a princess like you, so she can't be a princess
in Egypt or anything like that. How will I be
in thirty years? Uh? That's see, that would be one
hundred and one. So, Jenna, in thirty years, I think
(22:07):
she'll be sitting on my shoulder, yelling at me in
my ear to try to get back at me for
all the things I've said there since she's been in Yukon.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Okay, where would.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
I be here in thirty years? Trying to figure out
which question I asked.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Anyway, Who is the most famous person in your phone? Oh?
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know. You're supposed to divulge stuff
like that.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I mean that bad. Okay, name one that you can say.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Most famous person? Well, if you ask them page.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
No, we got somebody else in my phone. Someone we're
gonna expect, singer, rapper, a rap chef. Do you have
any rappers? Do you know any rappers?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I do not.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You're here here first, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I mean I don't know. I don't know person I
don't know personally, although anybody can just start saying stuff
into a mic and say, I'm a rapper. You know
my famous ones? I don't. I don't. I wish I knew.
There's a couple I wish I knew, but I don't.
So most famous I know a former president. That that's
(23:21):
all my that's in my phone.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
That's up there.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah, I think you think that's up there.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Definitely got it.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
There's a real famous golf for on my phone, and
there's a real famous basketball player on my phone.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
So there's plenty. Okay, they use our imagination, though, Have
your grandkids ever try to make you do a TikTok
with them.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
No, we're not old enough. My oldest is fifteen.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
That's old enough.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Yeah, but he's he's got more sense than that.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Good for him. Good for him.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
He's got more sense than that.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I would love to see.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I only have one juven juvenile that asked me to
do talks.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Is okay? What are your thoughts on the TikTok edits
of you?
Speaker 3 (24:09):
I I'm really not privy to my TikTok edits.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yes you are, because KK showed you them the other day,
the videos of you dancing.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Oh that's that's TikTok. I mean I got a kick
out and I left. You know, I like the fact
that I'm coaching kids. I like the fact that I'm
coaching kids whose moms could be my kids. That means
(24:38):
I've been around a long time. Huh, all right, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Where did you get your signature shimmy moved from?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Oh? I don't know. Yeah, no, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Can we see it?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
I know I used to be like really really really
really skinny, like when I was when I was playing
in high school. When I was in college, I was
worried that like I was, and I just built like
page more like really skinny, like I mean I had
more muscle than she did, but I mean you could
(25:09):
tell the difference between my arms and my legs, not
like with her. Right when she was you know, freshman's supple.
Every muscle in her body was the same, like her
arms or hamstrings or caves, they were all the same size,
you know.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
So oh, cry the pages you're listening. We love you,
We love you, girl.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I'll tell her that. Everybody tells her that. Don't tell
her that. So I don't know. And I used to
kind of be more fluid.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
So this is like one of your go to moves from.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
I don't know if I have a go to move.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
I was always like you. I was always very self
conscious of what people thought of me. So I really
didn't act out like that. I didn't do that kind
of stuff. Do you do that kind of stuff?
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I might try it this year. I might take that
risk and sim.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Yeah, see you go, there you go. Yeah. I was
a lot like that, like you, like, very very conservative
when it came to that stuff, very much.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
So everyone knows what my pregame ritual is. Do you
have one.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Pregame ritual?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Routine, pregame anything, I'd like to.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Be by myself and just listening to some music or
lay down, take a nap. I think it depends on
how I'm feeling, what kind of team we have. Sometimes
I'm on my knees praying and begging that we that
we play good.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Last one, Are you ever going to retire? And when
you do, when you stay in Connecticut or move somewhere else?
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Am I ever going to retire? Of course you heard
it here first. This could be my last podcast ever,
So there you go. I just almost retired. Am I ever?
Of course? I mean, of course, that'd be like me
asking you, are you ever going to not play basketball anymore?
Of Course, we all come to a point where we
stop and move on to something different. Will I stay
(27:01):
in Connecticut? Yeah, I'll probably always live in Connecticut. You know,
it's my family, is my grandkids and everybody. That's where
I've built, you know, built a home for for us.
Will I want to travel a lot? I mean I
already do, But will I want to travel even more
than I do right now? Of course? But I like,
you know, I like I like living here, and I
like the people, And I'm not going to be a
(27:23):
gamble pavilion, sitting on the fifty yard line staring at
the new coach, going, what the hell you doing? You know,
I'm not going to be that guy, but I'll be
calling in to all the talk shows and complaining about
the players. Maybe you should coach the next team, Maybe
you should become the coach when I retire.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I think I might respectfully decline.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Take a risk, Take your risk.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Okay, maybe we'll see there you go.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Maybe some of the games you can be guest coach
this year.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Oh gosh, okay, we'll see.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
What do you think you can be a coach? You
can do this institutions. Okay, then you'll see how hard
of a job that is.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I believe your job is hard.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
My job is hard. My job is hard. It's hard
because and you know this as well as I do.
It's hard because in the world that we live in today.
You asked about West one of the biggest things. Parents
are so delusional to agree with that. Yeah, they're so delusional.
Every one of them thinks their kid is like better
(28:29):
than my, better than Stewy, better than Page, better than anybody,
and that they should, you know, play thirty five minutes
every single game, and so these kids, they are like
under so much pressure that if they don't live up
to that, they're not having any fun, you know. So
(28:50):
I think what makes my job hard is trying to
make sure that these kids all understand that it can
be a lot of fun, but it's got to be
everything's got to be perspective, you know. And I think
sometimes the hardest part of my job is we've all
kind of lost perspective of how all this works and
what it means winning games and all that stuff that's
not that's not hard and all that. But we're lucky.
(29:14):
We have a really good group of really good group
of kids this year. They're fun to be around, they
enjoy each other's company, and they want to win. They
want to work hard, and so I'm looking forward to
the season. I'm looking forward to the the new you,
the new Easy, the you know, the next podcast that
(29:34):
we have book. We'll have a clips. We'll have clips
of all the risks you took going for steals that
you didn't get them and you gave up layups, and
then we can all bitch.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Iman about those perfect I look forward to that. I
can't wait.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Okay, so we're going to get into the what the
fun of the so basically of what the fut of
the week would be. What made you something that might
have happened this week that made you go, what the fun?
Yours is specific to a Z, So what's something that
Asy has done during a game that made you say?
Speaker 3 (30:15):
What the fuck? Well? This involves easy, so you know,
so I have to put it together. We just we
stalked about it yesterday. So we're playing USC in the
final eight to go to the final four. Really tight game,
really big moment. There's a timeout and one of the
(30:36):
coaches might have been Tomorrow or somebody, I don't know,
but we're sitting around the coach and saying, you know,
you've been playing around with this one play we call
two up. We ran and when Rebecca played so and
Jamel played actually, so said why don't we run two up?
Coming out of a timeout? And it involves like a
(30:56):
couple of screens and then a three point shot by
one of our by one of our shooters. So I'm
drawing it up on the board and I'm drawing up
for her to shoot it now. Meanwhile, she's oh for
one hundred during that game. One Okay, she did make
a lab she was one for a hundred in that game.
So we come out and as we're going out onto
(31:17):
the floor, I think a couple of the coaches looked
at me and went seriously because they thought I was
going to draw it up for page and instead I
drew it up for her. So they were saying to me,
what the fuck are you doing? Right right? I said yeah,
and she knocks it in and the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, faith in you, girl. I could flip that back
to you. And in the moment I was like, what
the fuck is he doing? Well? Why is she trying
the suburb?
Speaker 3 (31:44):
See? See, I have more faith in her than like anymore.
She doesn't think.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I don't think that anyone. That was the old one.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Now if I don't draw it up for her, she's
going to pull like a Scottie Pippen and knock go
out on the court. If it's not for me, I
ain't playing.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I've never do that. Okay, Coach. Before we wrap, we
have a special guest that wants to come on and
say what's up. Stephanie Dolson, welcome, Hey, what's up? Coach?
Speaker 3 (32:10):
What's up? Are you big girl? Are you good?
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Okay, Steff, we heard you have a hot question that
you want to ask coach, so you feel like you
can now that you're ten years out.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
H Okay, I feel like the only question I would
have is did you baby me when I was in
college because I cried so much? No?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
I did not. I did not.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Are you sure?
Speaker 3 (32:36):
I'm absolutely one hundred percent positive because this is no exaggeration.
Either you can pull up CD and she'll agree with
me if you don't even tell her what the question is,
or just tell her what the question is and don't
tell her what I said. You were there for four years,
(32:57):
and you figure out how many practices do we have
in four years? How many games do we have in
four years? How many road trips did we have in
four years? And I would say that I didn't baby
you because I treated you the way I treated you,
Because in those four years, I remember exactly two days
(33:18):
when I thought you didn't show up as Stephanie Dawson
two and in four years that every single day, the
loudest voice, the first voice, the most consistent voice, the
happiest person, the most outgoing, the best teammate in the
in the building, was always stopped, always NonStop, every single
(33:42):
day on the bus, on the plane in the hotel, always, always, always,
for four years.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
There we go.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Well, great, I'm glad to know. But I also want
my teammates to know that because they all thought that
I was being babied because I was emotional and I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Well yeah, I mean just because you're emotional, that's not bad.
Just because they were a bunch of stumps, you know,
you know, stumps on a lot. They had no personality,
some of those guys, or they were annoying. All right,
thanks for the question, Steph. Great to see you. I'm
(34:21):
not baby. I'm not babing you. Now get off.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
Bye, don't I don't get babied anymore, although I was
never a baby.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Bye, coach, thank you bye?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Is that it?
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yo?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
He ran, he's gone, he's he's actually yes, yes, like
girl be head phone left.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
I literally though I didn't even have a question on it.
I thought you were asking me questions. That was the
best I could come up with in ten seconds.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Well it was good. It was a good question. Was
that what you thought he was gonna say?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Yes and no?
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I mean I cried a lot, so I actually did.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
He did baby me though, like he didn't baby me
but I was suck up, so he was really like
everyone used to say that I was his favorite, and
how annoying it was because he'd always be like, you know,
just I don't want to say, take it easy on me.
But before I got there, I remember watching him do
sprints and if they didn't make it in time, they
had to do it again, even the slowest person. And
(35:18):
I think in my four years, I made it maybe
once and we never had to redo it because of me.
So like, I don't know, I tried really hard.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I mean, you showed up by yourself, as he said, yeah, yeah, Anyway,
I digress. I was wondering, what differences have you seen
from coach from how he was when he coached you
and how he is now.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
I mean, I've only been to a few practices, but
it does seem a little bit more lenient. I think
everyone says that obviously he's gotten a little bit older,
so I think he lets a lot more go than
he used to. But even when I was there, he'd
let more stuff go than the years prior. I think
as time has gone on, I'm sure he's just he
(36:04):
just knows how good you guys are at basketball. But
he definitely is a lot nicer to you guys than
he was tough.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I think that's a common answer, so everyone says, yeah, yeah,
but I wish we could go back and watch how
he was with you guys.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Yeah, practices were crazy back then, like and the stories
that we even heard from the years prior was like
the amount of times they had practices with no balls, right,
they were just doing sprints. It was just some crazy
stuff that we heard. So I'm sure it's just gotten
a little bit better with each generation.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I can only imagine. Yeah, yeah, all right, Well, Steph,
I know this is quick, but thank you so much
for joining today. This is a lot of fun having
you having coach on and to everyone listening and watching,
don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to fut Around
and find Out wherever you get your podcasts, and we'll
see you next week. Fut Around and find Out is
(36:58):
a production of Iheartwhen in Sports and Unanimous Media. Executive
producers are Jesse Katz, Eric Payton, Charla Sumter Brugette, and
Stephen Curry. Co Executive producer is Kleana Maria Cutney. Producers
are Mike Costcarelli and co producers are Kurt Redmond, Maya Howard,
and Jacqueline Schoeninger. This podcast is edited by Mike Coscarelli
and hosted by me Aisy Fudd and Ashaunty Plummer.
Hey, guys, welcome back to another episode of Futt Around
and find Out. Today is a special episode. Every episode
is a special episode, but today is special. We're in
a different location for those of you that can see us,
for those of you that can't, we are in the
iHeart Studio in Hartford because we have a special guest,
coach Riama, joining us today. How do you feel about
(00:24):
interviewing your coach? I'm excited. I'm excited. You look a
little scared. No, it's just it's different.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, I don't think he's ever done something like this before,
So you're special and I'm excited for it too.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's gonna be fun. All right, let's get to it.
Bring him in, let's go. Hello, coach welcome right here? Yes, ah,
coachlo right there?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
What's up, guys? Hi, welcome, I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Were you surprised to hear that Easy had a podcast? Uh?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
No, everybody has a podcast today. I'm actually, you know,
talking to people that want me to have a podcast,
So I'm kind.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Of surprised you don't have a podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Well, I had. I had a podcast before podcasts were popular,
and it was, you know, just me and my office
talking to guys like Kobe and Tiger and people that
I liked.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I think you should bring our podcast, but.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Well there's a push to do that, so we're we're
working on it.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
What was the name of your podcast?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I don't know. I don't think it has a name yet.
Oh what's the name of this one? Fight around and
find out. Yes, I don't know that it's going to
be that catchy.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
You know, can't be that cool.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I don't think it can be. I don't think it
can be.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So that's surprised that you had a podcast. I also
heard you had a cooking show.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Oh wow, now you're going way back. Yeah, we did.
It was in conjunction with one of our local markets
that we shop at, and we try to show people
how you shop for certain things and then how you
take those things and what goes into making certain dishes
and so yeah it was good.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Okay, Chef Gino, Well.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I wasn't doing the cooking. I was just I was
just there welcoming every like you, you know, hey, welcome
to our podcast, and then everybody else does do it.
That's kind of how it works.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So can we call you Gino our.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Coach, call me whatever you like I'm scared to you.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I'm going to say, coach, it feels safe, coach.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Just safe. Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So Asy's been back on campus for a couple of
weeks now, So how's that been for you guys.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
For us as a team or me personally.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Or both, however you want to answer.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
There's a sense of excitement. I think at the beginning
of school, people haven't seen each other for a while,
so everybody's anxious to get caught up and do all that.
They haven't been on the floor together, so that's exciting.
You know, everybody wants to show off like what they
did during the summer. You know, this is the new me,
or this is the new and improved me, whatever the
case may be. So you know, A'sy's always been easy.
(03:02):
She's always ready to go, She's always in great shape.
You can count on her. You know she's reliable. You're
not going to get any surprises, generally speaking, good in bed, yeah,
good embed The surprises are always good. You know, I'm
always pleasantly surprised that there's a more grown up version,
which is the way you want it to be. You
want each year for kids to come back a little more.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Grown up so then let's take it back really quickly.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
When you were first looking at as like recruiting her,
what did you see in her?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
It may have been in Chicago, and you may have
been like in eighth grade, maybe eighth grade going into
ninth grade, maybe something like that. Were you playing for
the Fairfax Stars back then or so? Yeah, it was
unusual for someone that age to be playing with sixteen
seventeen year olds, So that was number one. And then
you know, her skill level was different than everybody else's.
(03:51):
So it didn't take long to realize why was there
a big crowd at her games? Because I'm not sure.
I don't even know who else was on the team.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Was on the team, It was easy. My point guard
was Carl Rivera. She went to Columbia. The big man
was Malush Tanga. She went to u n C. A teamate,
went to Harvard A teammate.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, no disrespect, but no disrespect. But
I don't remember any of them.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
It was just easy out there.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, I only had eyes for oh Asy.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
What do you remember about meeting coach? I remember you
coming to an open workout at Saint John's like in
the fall, and I remember being in the bathroom before,
really nervous, and my teammate was like, you're fine, you
got this, but I don't really remember like interacting with you.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Well good, I'm glad to say that because we weren't
allowed to interact with the flyers, you know, so we
kept it legal. Always always, Yeah, yeah, I remember that.
I remember that workout. I was sitting here in the bleachers.
There's a basket over here to my right, and there's
a basket down here to my left, and you worked
out at the basket down to my.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Left for bat making. That just no way you remember.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I do remember. I do remember that. And I walked
I went back and I said, you know, I just
watched like an hour workout, and I tried to keep track,
but I think like in that hour, maybe you missed
like five shots in that whole. Yeah, Like I tend
to remember guys who make shots, the guys who missed,
like the guys that were on your team that I
(05:22):
don't remember. I don't remember those guys.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
That's crazy. Actually, after that workout, I had two of
my teammates. They ran to the locker room, changed and
put their uniform back on, and like ran to the
parking lot to try to catch you and get a
picture with you. But they put their uniform back on.
See what know, they were just practicing. You didn't see them.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Actually, oh wow at that part. I don't remember that part.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I don't so. Coach.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
You've been coaching for many years, very successful. Now in
this new age of nil, what's been different like for you?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Well, everything's different really. I mean we've gone from I
can't talk to a kid when I go watch them
work out, which is kind of dumb, to now we
are allowed to give them money, you know, and everybody
wants to say, like it's nil. Everybody throws that word
around like nil. How many people in here know what
nil means? Okay, the people that really work in the
(06:16):
business now, So it means name, image and likeness. Okay.
So what's different is let's take your recruiting a player
from high school and you could tell them, Okay, listen,
if you come to Yukon and you want to sell
T shirts with your name on it, Wow, that's great.
You can do that now and you can make money
on that. Wow. We want to put your name on
a poster, Okay, now you can make money on that.
(06:37):
We want to do TV commercials. You can do that.
Now you can use your name, your image, and your
likeness to make money. That was the way it was
intended to be. Now it's listen, if I give you
this much money, will you come to Yukon? So what's
different about it? Yeah, it's kind of confused the issue
a little bit. Now. Kids aren't necessarily picking schools because
(06:59):
that's where I want to go to school because I
really like the coaching staff, I love the program, I
love the school, I love everything about it. Now it's
how much you're paying me, and that's where I'm going
to school. So yeah, it's kind of not as much
fun now, but I'm all for it. I'm all for
the kids getting paid. I like that. I do.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So what would you say, out of the teams you've had,
the dynasties you've had, which era would not survive the
nil era that we have now.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I think Diana would have probably played at four schools
in four years. I think she would have gone to
the highest bid or every year. And I laugh about it,
but obviously people listening or watching, however they take in
this podcast, have no idea how good those players were
and how much if you go by money, how much
money those guys would have commanded and we would not
(07:47):
have been able to afford them if they were looking
for the kind of money that they deserved. There's no
way that we would have been able to do that,
No way, because some of the money that kids are
being paid today, it's like paying a hundred hours for
a cup of coffee. It's really not worth a hundred dollars.
But these guys are you know, so yeah, that group
of players, when you think about the Sue, Sveta, shay Tamika,
(08:13):
Asia Swin, you know, you got four Olympians on the team,
Like I don't know the last time I coached four
Olympians on the same team, actually five, because Atlanta was
on the Russian Olympic team twice.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Expensive expense, They're very expensive. Okay, so let's pivot to
the Fud family. So, coach, what do you think of
the Fud family?
Speaker 3 (08:39):
The Fud family? Generally speaking? You don't want to fudd
around and find out about the family, you know, Generally speaking,
I think it's uh, you know, people throw the word
unique around a lot, you know, or like special, Oh,
that kid's special, And I always ask like what's the
special about. Well, they're really good basketball players. That doesn't
make you special, right, that just makes you a good
(09:00):
besketball player. I think Aisy's family is unique because of
how how it's not your traditional put together family that
you would go, oh, isn't that isn't that special? Well,
in their case, if you if you think about her
mom's journey and her dad and brothers, grandparents, like all
(09:28):
the people that are part of her inner circle, they
all have like a unique journey that involves the family
together and also involves their own special journey separate from
the family. And to me, that's a little bit different,
and it's a little bit unique. That's how I would
describe them. They're different. They're different, and I think would
be the first to say it, which she did, that
(09:50):
it's a different dynamic, and uh, it works. It works
great for them, it works great for Asy, and it
works great for us. And they're passionate. I would describe
them as exceptionally passionate, passionate about everything that they do,
and certainly passionate about easy. Yeah, they're very passionate. You
could hear their passion a lot of times. You could
(10:12):
hear their passion before you see.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
It, especially Papa, Oh for sure, hold on, Ezy, what
do you mean by that?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Especially Papa. Papa's loud. They're all out with Papa's love.
Papa loves Coach too, he does.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
You know, just a long line just saying but it
may not be as long as the people who don't
love me, but it's still a long line.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
So, Coach, what do you think about the internet referring
to as as the People's Princess.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I hear that you have a lot to do with
that nickname.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I do. Yeah, I don't know. We were talking yesterday
and she's got a water bottle it says Princess Aisy.
So I didn't realize she was the People's Princess.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I mean I heard you don't yell at her at practice.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I don't know if that's completely true. Do you think
that's completely I don't.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Get yelled at that much. You said that was going
to change this year.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Yeah, I don't know. There's really not a lot to
get upset about and yell about. As I said at
the beginning of this, easy comes ready to go every
single day. There isn't any day where you go and
complain about her effort or her concentration level or anything,
any of that I wish every player had that. She's
(11:24):
in the weight room, she's doing the best. She's giving
you the best version of herself in the weight room.
She's on the court, she's doing the exact same thing.
You know. Sometimes I get upset with her about her
lack of adventure. I call it generally speaking over the years,
she's not a risk taker. Asy's not going to be
the one to put herself out there and take a
chance unless it's already been calculated and it's going to work.
(11:46):
Last year, especially in the final four, she took some
risks and they paid off, And maybe that's going to
be like, hey, I can be you know, someone said
recently the biggest risk a person could take is not
take a risk. So I think that's the next step
for her is to be a risk taker, not not
(12:08):
like page.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I was just about to ask.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
You know, I don't like you. No, you can't be
like that, you know. So yeah, no, I don't go
around practice. You only get screaming easy. I just go
home and do it.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
What kind of risk do you want to see me take?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yes, Well, there's various kinds of risks. You know, should
I go for that steal or not. So whenever we're
practicing and we're going to practice our press or we're
going to do something, I'm always thinking, where the hell
are we going to put her? Because when you're pressing
and you're really aggressive and you're going you need people
that are going to take a chance. If you're watching
football and you're a defensive back, you can either just
run around all the time or you could actually take
(12:47):
a chance and go for an interception or something. So
she's just very very conservative, I guess is the word,
so that take a risk defensively, you know, like she
did in the Final four. She goes for a steal,
she strips the kid, gets a layup, you know, in
the passing lane, steal a couple. It's funny because Ashton
Shade on our team is just a younger version of Asy.
Like with her, everything's got to be perfect, everything's got
(13:08):
to be just right, you know, Like it's almost like
they play like, well, I know most of your audience
is like fourteen year olds. They probably don't know Marcel Marceau,
you know, but that's kind of like huh huh, like
nothing like crazy, take a shot when you've missed five
shots in a row, and when younger Asy would go, well,
I already miss the last five. I'm not taking this one.
(13:29):
Well in my mind, it's like you just miss five.
In my mind, I think you're going to make the
next ten.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Come on.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
So that's I kind of like to see her think
that way, you know, even in her personal I don't
know her personal life as well as people closest to
her do. It's same thing if you ask Azy a
question or shit, and again younger Asy when she was
eighteen seventeen eighteen, So Asy, what do you think? You
have to leave half an hour for the answer, So Asy,
what do you think? Let me see? Is not what
(14:00):
I was like, Oh my god, are you kidding me?
Oh my god? You want me to get on the
phone now and call everybody that's ever met you? Hazy,
what would you like to have in your coffee? Let
me see? I'm kind of like, you know, I kind
of like two sometimes I like swim milk, and I
don't know what if I picked the wrong one, I
(14:22):
don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I'm working on my DECI So that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Yes, Yes, just kind of like go with the go
with your gut instinct man, like you know. So these
are things that I think people that are so disciplined
like she is, that are so boom boom like I'm
going to get it right every time. I think that's
the biggest obstacle or hurdle that they eventually have to
go over. Is when do you let go and just
(14:47):
let it let your natural ability and natural instincts take
over instead of having everything have to be exceptionally well
thought out. That is a time and place for that.
Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Well, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised here.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Oh wow, good because now the more risk you take,
the more you're gonna screw up, and the more I
can get pissed.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
And the more he can get I love it.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
I'm excited already too. Yeah, yeah you should. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Any any more responses to that? You rise to the challenge?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Okay, let me think if I have any responses to that?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I was waiting. Okay, a little bit of a pivot.
So as has compared you to the grandpa, the grandpa
from the movie Up.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Oh, oh, the movie Up.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Okay, how about now still.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Somebody give him a balloon?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Oh? I think he's a cool guy. No, yeah, yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
If you had to have a cartoon character, that would
be easy. Who would you pay?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Oh jeez, like a Mary Poppins kind of type, you know,
not that she's a cartoon character, but if you turn
Mary Poppins into a young Mary Poppins and it was
a cartoon, that would be easy, like practically practically perfect
in every way, you know, like all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I haven't seen that movie in so long. That's a compliment.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
That's a compliment.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah right, yes, that was.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
She was practically perfect in every way. You would be
like a young CD andn that make you happy?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Is that.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
A compliment? That's probably not a compliment. But but young
CD was was kind of fun to be around, and
I mean an old CD now is probably fun to around.
I think CD middle middle c D was not fun
to be around.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
How long was that little gad?
Speaker 3 (16:54):
About fifty of hers years? She's a little bit older
than fifty. I don't want to get into hell she is.
She's a little over than fifty.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Okay, So the first game we're going to play is
we're going to draft our Yukon dream teams with former
Yukon players and we're going to draft teams that we
want to win, and we're going to go back and
forth trading picks. And you can start because you're the guest.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I get one, then you get to, then I get one.
That's how it goes.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
We go one like of all time, yes, of all time,
of all time?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Okay, like all time? Dream team to win or to
have fun with whatever you want. Well, now you have
to give me the rules of the game. If it's
to win, that's maybe different. Then let's have fun. I
got the team I would want to coach for six
months and have the most fun ever, or the team
that we want to win with.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Okay, let's have fun.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Oh fun team, Yeah, you do both.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Why can't you have fun and win?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Why can you have fun? And Well, because some guys
that you know you can win with ain't no fun
to be around, and I've been around them, so and
then other guys there's just a lot of fun to
be around. But I don't think you can win with them.
But all right, so we're trying to win. Okay, we're
trying to win. All right. I'll take d maya good pick.
I'll take uh. We'll start with the back court I'll
(18:23):
take so So I got two Hall of Famers so far.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Have that hurt me? That one hurt I'm gonna take Stewie.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
That's a good one. I'll take Tina. I got three
Hall of Famers? Crazy only five?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Okay, five, I'm taking Fee.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Oh damn, that's a good one. Oh wow, Wow, that's
a good one. Mmmm. I'll take Swin mm hm oh.
Now I got four Hall of Famers.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
I'm taking Page.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
You're taking Page yup a, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's
see what do I have. I got two guards. I
got Sue, I got d I got Swin, I got Tina,
Sue the Swin Tina. Oh, and I'll take Tamika. So
(19:21):
I'm just taking I just took the starting lineup with
the greatest basketball team that ever stepped foot on the floor,
which you and Page were not on. So whatever you pick, well,
you can't beat us, but you got to pick a fifth.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Go ahead, Wait, it was Page Maya.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Picked the legendary team. You can't even remember who. I'm
just taking all the other players. If you're out there listening,
I'm just doing this for the hell of it. That's
not maybe who I would really pick, but that's who
I picked for this. So don't text me and get
your panties in a bunch because, uh, you know you
didn't get picked. Go ahead, m.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I'm gonna choose.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Say, I'm gonna choose me. See that's the way you
need to like start thinking.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Okay, I'm gonna go with me.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
You're going to go with you? Yeah? Good, good, there
you go. That's a good team. You page fee Stewie
Maya Maya who. That's a hell of a team there, man,
that's a really really good team. Huh.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
So every team you make with former UK players is
a good team.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Yeah. Yeah. We played this game a lot when we
would be, you know, just sitting around and we would go, hey,
pick the five best players you think the five best
players on and you can and somebody would pick the
five best that they thought were the five best, and
then somebody would say, okay, I'll take these five, and
I think we would beat your five. Now, most schools,
(20:53):
after you got the five, there would be no other picks,
you know. So we're very fortunate that we can and
we can put together three or four teams because there's
a lot of future Hall of famers we didn't pick
I like that. That was a good exercise there.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Okay, we have another game.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
All right, what's the other game? Now?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Let's play Gino in the hot seat. Azy gets to
ask Gino anything.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Lightning round you?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Ready?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yep?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Okay? So the starting five from last year, where will
they be in thirty years? We'll start with page Where
will she.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Be in thirty years?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Some thirty years, some home for junior delinquents, juvenile delinquents,
maybe as a like a counselor or something, trying to
teach kids don't be like I was.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Okay, kaitlynd Chen.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Caitlyn Chen show on fifteen at those places? Jenna, Jenna,
where will Jana be in thirty years? She can't be
a princess like you, so she can't be a princess
in Egypt or anything like that. How will I be
in thirty years? Uh? That's see, that would be one
hundred and one. So, Jenna, in thirty years, I think
(22:07):
she'll be sitting on my shoulder, yelling at me in
my ear to try to get back at me for
all the things I've said there since she's been in Yukon.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Okay, where would.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
I be here in thirty years? Trying to figure out
which question I asked.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Anyway, Who is the most famous person in your phone? Oh?
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know. You're supposed to divulge stuff
like that.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I mean that bad. Okay, name one that you can say.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Most famous person? Well, if you ask them page.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
No, we got somebody else in my phone. Someone we're
gonna expect, singer, rapper, a rap chef. Do you have
any rappers? Do you know any rappers?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I do not.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You're here here first, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I mean I don't know. I don't know person I
don't know personally, although anybody can just start saying stuff
into a mic and say, I'm a rapper. You know
my famous ones? I don't. I don't. I wish I knew.
There's a couple I wish I knew, but I don't.
So most famous I know a former president. That that's
(23:21):
all my that's in my phone.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
That's up there.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah, I think you think that's up there.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Definitely got it.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
There's a real famous golf for on my phone, and
there's a real famous basketball player on my phone.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
So there's plenty. Okay, they use our imagination, though, Have
your grandkids ever try to make you do a TikTok
with them.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
No, we're not old enough. My oldest is fifteen.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
That's old enough.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Yeah, but he's he's got more sense than that.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Good for him. Good for him.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
He's got more sense than that.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I would love to see.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I only have one juven juvenile that asked me to
do talks.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Is okay? What are your thoughts on the TikTok edits
of you?
Speaker 3 (24:09):
I I'm really not privy to my TikTok edits.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yes you are, because KK showed you them the other day,
the videos of you dancing.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Oh that's that's TikTok. I mean I got a kick
out and I left. You know, I like the fact
that I'm coaching kids. I like the fact that I'm
coaching kids whose moms could be my kids. That means
(24:38):
I've been around a long time. Huh, all right, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Where did you get your signature shimmy moved from?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Oh? I don't know. Yeah, no, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Can we see it?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
I know I used to be like really really really
really skinny, like when I was when I was playing
in high school. When I was in college, I was
worried that like I was, and I just built like
page more like really skinny, like I mean I had
more muscle than she did, but I mean you could
(25:09):
tell the difference between my arms and my legs, not
like with her. Right when she was you know, freshman's supple.
Every muscle in her body was the same, like her
arms or hamstrings or caves, they were all the same size,
you know.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
So oh, cry the pages you're listening. We love you,
We love you, girl.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I'll tell her that. Everybody tells her that. Don't tell
her that. So I don't know. And I used to
kind of be more fluid.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
So this is like one of your go to moves from.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
I don't know if I have a go to move.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
I was always like you. I was always very self
conscious of what people thought of me. So I really
didn't act out like that. I didn't do that kind
of stuff. Do you do that kind of stuff?
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I might try it this year. I might take that
risk and sim.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Yeah, see you go, there you go. Yeah. I was
a lot like that, like you, like, very very conservative
when it came to that stuff, very much.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
So everyone knows what my pregame ritual is. Do you
have one.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Pregame ritual?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Routine, pregame anything, I'd like to.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Be by myself and just listening to some music or
lay down, take a nap. I think it depends on
how I'm feeling, what kind of team we have. Sometimes
I'm on my knees praying and begging that we that
we play good.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Last one, Are you ever going to retire? And when
you do, when you stay in Connecticut or move somewhere else?
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Am I ever going to retire? Of course you heard
it here first. This could be my last podcast ever,
So there you go. I just almost retired. Am I ever?
Of course? I mean, of course, that'd be like me
asking you, are you ever going to not play basketball anymore?
Of Course, we all come to a point where we
stop and move on to something different. Will I stay
(27:01):
in Connecticut? Yeah, I'll probably always live in Connecticut. You know,
it's my family, is my grandkids and everybody. That's where
I've built, you know, built a home for for us.
Will I want to travel a lot? I mean I
already do, But will I want to travel even more
than I do right now? Of course? But I like,
you know, I like I like living here, and I
like the people, And I'm not going to be a
(27:23):
gamble pavilion, sitting on the fifty yard line staring at
the new coach, going, what the hell you doing? You know,
I'm not going to be that guy, but I'll be
calling in to all the talk shows and complaining about
the players. Maybe you should coach the next team, Maybe
you should become the coach when I retire.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I think I might respectfully decline.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Take a risk, Take your risk.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Okay, maybe we'll see there you go.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Maybe some of the games you can be guest coach
this year.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Oh gosh, okay, we'll see.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
What do you think you can be a coach? You
can do this institutions. Okay, then you'll see how hard
of a job that is.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I believe your job is hard.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
My job is hard. My job is hard. It's hard
because and you know this as well as I do.
It's hard because in the world that we live in today.
You asked about West one of the biggest things. Parents
are so delusional to agree with that. Yeah, they're so delusional.
Every one of them thinks their kid is like better
(28:29):
than my, better than Stewy, better than Page, better than anybody,
and that they should, you know, play thirty five minutes
every single game, and so these kids, they are like
under so much pressure that if they don't live up
to that, they're not having any fun, you know. So
(28:50):
I think what makes my job hard is trying to
make sure that these kids all understand that it can
be a lot of fun, but it's got to be
everything's got to be perspective, you know. And I think
sometimes the hardest part of my job is we've all
kind of lost perspective of how all this works and
what it means winning games and all that stuff that's
not that's not hard and all that. But we're lucky.
(29:14):
We have a really good group of really good group
of kids this year. They're fun to be around, they
enjoy each other's company, and they want to win. They
want to work hard, and so I'm looking forward to
the season. I'm looking forward to the the new you,
the new Easy, the you know, the next podcast that
(29:34):
we have book. We'll have a clips. We'll have clips
of all the risks you took going for steals that
you didn't get them and you gave up layups, and
then we can all bitch.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Iman about those perfect I look forward to that. I
can't wait.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Okay, so we're going to get into the what the
fun of the so basically of what the fut of
the week would be. What made you something that might
have happened this week that made you go, what the fun?
Yours is specific to a Z, So what's something that
Asy has done during a game that made you say?
Speaker 3 (30:15):
What the fuck? Well? This involves easy, so you know,
so I have to put it together. We just we
stalked about it yesterday. So we're playing USC in the
final eight to go to the final four. Really tight game,
really big moment. There's a timeout and one of the
(30:36):
coaches might have been Tomorrow or somebody, I don't know,
but we're sitting around the coach and saying, you know,
you've been playing around with this one play we call
two up. We ran and when Rebecca played so and
Jamel played actually, so said why don't we run two up?
Coming out of a timeout? And it involves like a
(30:56):
couple of screens and then a three point shot by
one of our by one of our shooters. So I'm
drawing it up on the board and I'm drawing up
for her to shoot it now. Meanwhile, she's oh for
one hundred during that game. One Okay, she did make
a lab she was one for a hundred in that game.
So we come out and as we're going out onto
(31:17):
the floor, I think a couple of the coaches looked
at me and went seriously because they thought I was
going to draw it up for page and instead I
drew it up for her. So they were saying to me,
what the fuck are you doing? Right right? I said yeah,
and she knocks it in and the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, faith in you, girl. I could flip that back
to you. And in the moment I was like, what
the fuck is he doing? Well? Why is she trying
the suburb?
Speaker 3 (31:44):
See? See, I have more faith in her than like anymore.
She doesn't think.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I don't think that anyone. That was the old one.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Now if I don't draw it up for her, she's
going to pull like a Scottie Pippen and knock go
out on the court. If it's not for me, I
ain't playing.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I've never do that. Okay, Coach. Before we wrap, we
have a special guest that wants to come on and
say what's up. Stephanie Dolson, welcome, Hey, what's up? Coach?
Speaker 3 (32:10):
What's up? Are you big girl? Are you good?
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Okay, Steff, we heard you have a hot question that
you want to ask coach, so you feel like you
can now that you're ten years out.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
H Okay, I feel like the only question I would
have is did you baby me when I was in
college because I cried so much? No?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
I did not. I did not.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Are you sure?
Speaker 3 (32:36):
I'm absolutely one hundred percent positive because this is no exaggeration.
Either you can pull up CD and she'll agree with
me if you don't even tell her what the question is,
or just tell her what the question is and don't
tell her what I said. You were there for four years,
(32:57):
and you figure out how many practices do we have
in four years? How many games do we have in
four years? How many road trips did we have in
four years? And I would say that I didn't baby
you because I treated you the way I treated you,
Because in those four years, I remember exactly two days
(33:18):
when I thought you didn't show up as Stephanie Dawson
two and in four years that every single day, the
loudest voice, the first voice, the most consistent voice, the
happiest person, the most outgoing, the best teammate in the
in the building, was always stopped, always NonStop, every single
(33:42):
day on the bus, on the plane in the hotel, always, always, always,
for four years.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
There we go.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Well, great, I'm glad to know. But I also want
my teammates to know that because they all thought that
I was being babied because I was emotional and I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Well yeah, I mean just because you're emotional, that's not bad.
Just because they were a bunch of stumps, you know,
you know, stumps on a lot. They had no personality,
some of those guys, or they were annoying. All right,
thanks for the question, Steph. Great to see you. I'm
(34:21):
not baby. I'm not babing you. Now get off.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
Bye, don't I don't get babied anymore, although I was
never a baby.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Bye, coach, thank you bye?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Is that it?
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yo?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
He ran, he's gone, he's he's actually yes, yes, like
girl be head phone left.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
I literally though I didn't even have a question on it.
I thought you were asking me questions. That was the
best I could come up with in ten seconds.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Well it was good. It was a good question. Was
that what you thought he was gonna say?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Yes and no?
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I mean I cried a lot, so I actually did.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
He did baby me though, like he didn't baby me
but I was suck up, so he was really like
everyone used to say that I was his favorite, and
how annoying it was because he'd always be like, you know,
just I don't want to say, take it easy on me.
But before I got there, I remember watching him do
sprints and if they didn't make it in time, they
had to do it again, even the slowest person. And
(35:18):
I think in my four years, I made it maybe
once and we never had to redo it because of me.
So like, I don't know, I tried really hard.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I mean, you showed up by yourself, as he said, yeah, yeah, Anyway,
I digress. I was wondering, what differences have you seen
from coach from how he was when he coached you
and how he is now.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
I mean, I've only been to a few practices, but
it does seem a little bit more lenient. I think
everyone says that obviously he's gotten a little bit older,
so I think he lets a lot more go than
he used to. But even when I was there, he'd
let more stuff go than the years prior. I think
as time has gone on, I'm sure he's just he
(36:04):
just knows how good you guys are at basketball. But
he definitely is a lot nicer to you guys than
he was tough.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I think that's a common answer, so everyone says, yeah, yeah,
but I wish we could go back and watch how
he was with you guys.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Yeah, practices were crazy back then, like and the stories
that we even heard from the years prior was like
the amount of times they had practices with no balls, right,
they were just doing sprints. It was just some crazy
stuff that we heard. So I'm sure it's just gotten
a little bit better with each generation.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I can only imagine. Yeah, yeah, all right, Well, Steph,
I know this is quick, but thank you so much
for joining today. This is a lot of fun having
you having coach on and to everyone listening and watching,
don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to fut Around
and find Out wherever you get your podcasts, and we'll
see you next week. Fut Around and find Out is
(36:58):
a production of Iheartwhen in Sports and Unanimous Media. Executive
producers are Jesse Katz, Eric Payton, Charla Sumter Brugette, and
Stephen Curry. Co Executive producer is Kleana Maria Cutney. Producers
are Mike Costcarelli and co producers are Kurt Redmond, Maya Howard,
and Jacqueline Schoeninger. This podcast is edited by Mike Coscarelli
and hosted by me Aisy Fudd and Ashaunty Plummer.
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