Episode 33: Keith Urgo - Fordham Rams Men’s Head Coach

Chris shares his observations on how this reshaped Nets team has been gelling together (0:00) before being joined by Fordham University men’s basketball head coach Keith Urgo to discuss the Rams’ push to make the NCAA tournament (12:00).

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey, what's going on? This is the Voice of the
NETS podcast. I'm Chris Carino, Fordham University, class of nineteen
ninety two. You know, I got to call the NCAA
Tournament as a student broadcaster in nineteen ninety two, not
knowing that the Fordham University basketball team would not get

(00:34):
back to the NCAA Tournament. They have still not played
an NCAA Tournament game since I called that game back
in nineteen ninety two. But things are starting to look
up for the Fordham Rams. In fact, this season they've
won twenty four games. It's the most games they've won
since my junior year, the nineteen ninety ninety one team that,

(00:57):
by the way, won the Patriot League title, but because
it was the first year of the league did not
have an automatic bid, so they had to play a
play in game against the winner of the Northeast Conference
and had to go on the road to Laredo, Pennsylvania
and play Saint Francis and they lost that game. They
were favorites, but they lost and end up having to

(01:20):
settle for the NIT. But I am a proud for
hum alum and it is a basketball school and this
year the basketball team has energized the rose Hill campus
up in the Bronx. The historic rose Hill Gym has
been sold out night in and night out. And Keith Ergo,

(01:43):
their head coach, is mostly responsible and he'll give all
the credit to his players and his staff, of course,
but he has fired up the fan base, the alumni,
the students. He's get him to show up and this week,
we hope everybody will show up at Barkleys Center as
the A ten tournament takes over Barkeley Center. And we're

(02:04):
gonna talk with Keith Ergo. He's got a really interesting story,
some great stuff on how we became a coach, things
that happen in your life that transform your story, and
what makes him laugh, cry, think all that stuff. And
we'll get to Keith Urgo in a minute. But of course,
just a couple of minutes here on the Nets and

(02:25):
they're heading out at a five game road trip right
now because the A ten tournament is taking over Barkley
Center as we begin the March madness. The Nets have
to clear out of town and go out on the road.
As we release this tonight, they'll be in Uston to
start this five game road trip. They're going on the
road trip having won two games in a row. That

(02:47):
was after losing four straight. The game that really has
turned things around for this team, we'll see how far
it extends how much they've been able to turn it around,
was TD Garden in Boston and the Nets found themselves
down by twenty eight points in the first half of

(03:08):
the game. A NET team that had lost four straight games,
was coming off a loss at Madison Square Garden where
they got thoroughly handled by the Knicks. And I think
it's the team was starting to doubt itself a little bit.
And you've got all these new players, and there's been
four new guys in the starting lineup. When you look

(03:30):
at Dinwoodie Finney Smith, Cam Johnson and mclbridges starting alongside
Nick Claxton. When you look at that group, it's supposed
to be a top level defensive group. You've got five
excellent individual defenders. And you thought that if this team

(03:54):
was going to struggle, maybe be on the offensive ent.
But there's no excuse for this group to struggle the
way they've struggled on the defensive end of the floor.
And before that game in Boston, I do my pregame
interview with Jacques Baughn, and I asked him because I
had it in my mind and I and I had

(04:15):
a reference that I wanted to see if he if
he was going to reference the same thing. I asked him,
at what point do you think this group looked the best?
And he answered that first game they all played together,
the home game against the Philadelphia seventy sixers, were I

(04:36):
think the Sixers didn't end up getting to one hundred,
but the Nets, you know, couldn't score down the stretch.
Sixers came back won that game, but the Nets played
an outstanding defensive game against a good offensive team. And
Jacques referenced the fact that because it's the first time
they were all together there, they didn't put any real
schemes in there. They just said, everybody just go out

(04:58):
there and just play in instinctively on the defensive end.
Since that time, they try to scheme the way they
want to do things, and there have been times they're
putting Nick Klackson a little bit more drop, and they've
got to try to change the way they switch and
don't switch everything because you sometimes have the matchups you want,
and what ends up happening is you've got guys who

(05:21):
were on the previous Net team. Guys are on Dallas,
guys are on Phoenix or all speaking different languages. Defensively,
their instincts are a little different, the principles are a
little different. And this team was getting torched offensively. Teams
are torching them. And it almost hit rock bottom in
the game in Boston. They're down by twenty eight points.

(05:43):
It's fifty one to twenty three, and Jacques Baun just said, listen,
forget it. Let's just go out there now, switch everything,
play instinctively and just go at it defensively, like I
know you can stop thinking about it and just go defend.

(06:07):
And the Nets ended up allowing just forty one points
in the second half to the Celtics force twelve second
half turnovers. Came back and won that game. First team
in the NBA this year to come back from as
many as twenty eight down to win a game match
the franchise record done a couple of other times. And
then they compound that go out on Sunday against the

(06:28):
Charlotte Hornets, held the Hornets to forty one points in
the second half, held in the eighty six points in
the game, and we'll see if this will continue this trend.
And yes, you would love to be able to put
in some schemes that you feel would fit this team
and the personnel the best and optimize your level of winning.

(06:51):
But sometimes you know you don't. It's not the beginning
of the year. You don't have a training camp, you
don't have preseason games, you don't have time to kind
of find out who you are. You're under twenty games
to go, you're fighting for a playoff spot. Perfect is
the enemy of good. It's not going to be perfect
right now, but find out the way it can be best.

(07:14):
And after that game in Boston, Jack Baun said, you know,
we finally just said, let's just get back to basics.
Let's keep it simple, and let's do simple better. Jack
Baun has used that term a lot since taking over.
Try to simplify things, do simple better. This team had
to had to just get back to playing instinctively. They've

(07:38):
got a lot of really good individual defensive players, and
that defense can then stark their offense. They play at
a high pace. When they get that pace going, when
they defend get stops, they can get out and run
and move and you know, it's like it reminds me
that the movie Sea Biscuit. Everybody remember Sea Biscuit, a

(08:01):
great movie about the horse, and Chris Cooper played the
trainer and they were they had bought the horse right
and he had been kind of a training horse. They
saw something in him, right, There was a little feistiness
in him. They liked him. There was a competitive streak,
and they really saw something in him. They buy him,
and now they got to train him, and he's kind
of disappointing as he's running around there there they're timing

(08:23):
him doing his laps and he's disappointing, and Chris Cooper said,
we gotta get this horse out. Let just let him
run because he goes. Sometimes this this horse has been
running around in circles so long, he forgot what he is.
He goes, and sometimes a horse has just got to

(08:44):
learn to be a horse again. I remember he has
Toby McGuire just go out and ride him in the woods,
and Sea Biscuit kind of gets his gets his swagger back,
remembers to be a horse again. Just go out there
and run. Turned everything around for so maybe that day

(09:07):
that night in Boston when the Nets turned a twenty
eight point depisode into a ten point win. Perhaps that's
where these net defenders, like hard playing competitive guys like
Dorian Finney, Smith mckel Bridges and Cam Johnson, Spencer, Dinwittie,

(09:28):
Nick Claxton, it learned again to be who they are.
Even in that game down the stretch, they closed that
out offensively by just finding the weak link. In this
case in Boston, it was Al Horford and just attacking him.
Spencer did what he said after the game, told us
in an interview, No, we went big game hunting. We

(09:49):
just went hunting. Simple, too simple, better, It's very simple.
For the Fordham Rams this week in the Atlantic ten
tourn they have to double buy. They're the three seed,
so they go right to the quarterfinals and if they
can win three games, they win the A ten tournament
and they will be in the NCAA Tournament for the

(10:11):
first time since nineteen ninety two. Now it's not going
to be easy. BCU is the one seed, Dayton number
two the two seed. Probably a one seed league, a
one bid league. See. Probably the winner of the tournament
is going to go to the NCAA Tournament. So for him,

(10:34):
they believe, they believe because of Keith Urgo, he has
energized that campus, as we mentioned, and he's a he's
a you know, obviously you can imagine a busy week
for Keith Urgo with the A ten tournament coming up
at Barkley Center. He was he was kind enough to

(10:55):
give us a good chunk of his time, but we
wanted to carve out a spot for him. So on
his commute to the rose Hill campus in the Bronx,
we were able to chat with Keith Urgo while he
was driving, which, as you're going to find out here
in this interview, there have been some there have been

(11:16):
some transformative times in Keith Urgo's life that have happened
while he was driving or because he was driving. So
stay tuned for that and what makes him laugh, cry, think,
and in some very poignant stuff from the head coach
of the Fordham Rams. The talk of the eight ten

(11:37):
as they get ready for the tournament at Barkley Center.
And we want to see everybody show up at Barkley
Center this week. Make this a home court advantage for
the Rams in Brooklyn this week. Here are the voice
of the Nets, the head coach of the Fordham Rams.
And then stay tuned for a little post game here's
Keith Urgo. Keith Urgo. I was courtside for your last

(12:05):
home game there at rose Thrill as they're calling it now,
the rose Hill Campus at Fordham. And you know, I've
done a lot of things in my broadcasting career that
could impress my son, who's a freshman at Fordham. And
it just to feel that the pulse I have of
the campus right now. You walked over to me right

(12:26):
before the start of the festivities to say hello. And
I don't like to generally bother coaches and players right
before it all starts, but you you kind of saw me.
You walked over across the baseline said hello. Of all
the things I've done in my career, I don't know
if my son was ever more impressed. And at that moment,
as the kids would say, call a little flex that

(12:46):
you came over to say hi to me. That's how
much of a kind of a rock star you are
on campus right now. I don't know about that part.
I think it has to do it. I'm more I
know it was more of a flex for me to
be able to walk over and seek your head. Quite honestly,
for most people out there who who know all you've
done and and what you what you meant to Fordham

(13:09):
and uh, what you've meant to do or sports and
so I just you know, it's a flex for me
and I'll make sure your son knows that. But now,
the energy, the energy on campus right now is fantastic.
It's it's something that's uh honestly, it's why you want
to get the college athletics. You want that incredible community.

(13:32):
The environment right now pros thrill and a shirt of
the third. And when we took the job at at Fordham,
we wanted to try to create something that was going
to last a long time, not just the one in
Wonder And in order to do that, you need everybody.
You need the entire community, specifically the student body um
to be engaged or else it's just it's not gonna work.

(13:55):
And they've jumped on board. They've embraced me, they've embraced
my family, they've braced our staff and our obviously our
players and our players are absolutely loving it. They like
getting out into the community on campus right now. There's
there's a lot to be thankful for. So we're gonna
try to wide ride the wave as much as possible.
But we wanted to be something. We wanted to create

(14:18):
some traditions in rows thrill. Yeah, we want, you know,
the freshman student body to have something now forever kind
of you know, propel us to what we think could
be just an incredible home court advantage for years to come.
And the only way you're gonna get something sustainable is
to create that environment that's not just this one season,

(14:39):
but continues to take place from now and so hopefully
a long time. Yeah, they've got the they wear the
Ergonomics uh T shirts. They chant your name. Um. You
know it's funny. When I was bringing my son to
visit the campus a couple of years ago, m Eddie Cull,
you're great athletic director who will we'll talk about in

(15:00):
a minute here. You know, not a not one of
those Ivory Tower athletic directors. He's a guy that's right
down there in the trenches with you. Right. We love
Eddie call but so so I I told him I
was going to be there and and and I bring
my son around, and Eddie brought out a lot of
the a bunch of the young guys from your staff
a couple of years ago. Um, and and they were

(15:22):
kind of asking me because I was there in the
late eighties, early nineties and and and the nineties, especially
my junior year that ninety ninety one team I was
a student broadcaster. They won more as more games than
any Fordham team had won until this one. And the
next year I went to the tournament and so you're
the young guys on the staff were asking me, well,

(15:42):
you know what was the gym like back then? You know,
did you did you get the campus come that were
the crowds? And I said, you know what those teams.
I was so fortunate those four years I was there
that Jim, you used to have to shoehorn people into
that gym and wait, they were in the MAC. And
when you played teams like I own them Manhattan, you know,
the big East teams used to come in there. Saint

(16:03):
John Ceton Hall would come in and we used to
beat him every year I was there, and they stopped
coming because that's how it was. They were like, we're
not going there to play. And I said, if you
guys could start to win, it can get like this again.
They are longing to pack that gym, and I think
you're finally seeing that again this year. I mean it's

(16:24):
look for years and years they've said, regardless of whether
or not they're fans, crazed fans or not, it's a
very difficult place to play regardless. Yeah, it's loud, no
matter how many folks are in there. You know, we
had some opportunities to play certain teams nobody. You know,
it's difficult right now to schedule out of conference regardless

(16:45):
because just time majors, in almost every high major team,
their season right off the bat has twenty games in
a league you know when to talk in ACC, Big East,
Big Ten, Big twelve or anything, you know, so and
then most of them have an MC to get some
to twenty three and then they have one or two
a one off games because of their league, like the

(17:08):
Big tenn ACC Challenge, whatever, And by the time they
get to their non conference scheduling, they got about five
or six games they're gonna fill. They want nothing to
do with FLORIDAM or any other Atlantic ten team, and
they definitely don't want to do at home at home
and come into our building. You know, Danny Hurley said it.
You know, when he was at Rhode Island, he struggled
and when they played floridam because you know, the gym

(17:28):
is so so difficult to play after gardless, so you know,
it's very difficult to get anybody to come and play
there because they know without anybody in the gym, it's difficult.
With the fans, it's amazing. And you know, we had
some big time coaches come in there, Travis Ford, Frank Barton,
Mark Schmitt, all these guys, Archie Miller, I mean Archie

(17:50):
Miller an alumni hall. I was Penn State ten years
that played there. Every year I was an assistant or
associated a coach of Penn State. And I'm telling you,
you know, the alumni all is in crunt right. It's
one a lot of places in America. He flat out said,
this is as good of a college environment as I've
ever been a part of them. And when you have
a posy team back two coaches that have played huge

(18:14):
arenas of fig time programs talking about the advantage we
having that building, Man, it's evident. You know, it's it's
pretty powerful, and I think so. Honestly, the other night
was as loud as it's been since since I've been
there for short if that's very crowded. The other night was.
It was electric. It was electric. And when our team
starts playing as well as they played the other night,
it's tough to stop. Absolutely, And you know, so let's

(18:41):
go back here another year. So you came in as
an associate head coach with Kyle Neptune and the program
was in a dark place there. The basketball program was
not doing well. And yeah, Kyle Neptune came in and
energize things and you got to five hundred, and that's
where it kind of started. That was the ramp up

(19:03):
to this year. But I'm if people listen to this program,
they know I think almost every week I bring up
this stoic philosophy and the title of the Great Ryan
Holiday Book, the obstacle is the way. It's a kind
of a philosophy that I live in my life. You know,
you go through these challenges and sometimes you think it's
the end of the world, but it can be the
way through. And Keith, I'll tell you right now, we

(19:27):
were the fan base who was excited, the alumni were excited.
Last year. You guys win two A ten tournament games,
get to the court of finals, you're five hundred. The
juice is starting to flow. We're getting behind Kyle Neptune,
and I'll never I remember this. Now. I'm up in
Boston for Game two or the net Celtics series in
the playoffs last year, and I'm just about to get

(19:50):
on the air and i had my son doing staffs.
He was sitting next to me, and I get the
the Wogan notification on my phone that all us NBA
we have we're glued to the Woes notifications and it
said Jay Wright is stepping down at Villanova. And immediately
my mind went, no, don't, don't say it. And then

(20:12):
I look and it said expected now Kyle Neptune to
take over at Villanova. And I turned that show it
to my son and and we're literally going on the
air at that point. It bummed me out, put me
in such like a bad mood at that moment. And
you know you're thinking right there, all right, this is
the this is the worst thing that could happen. But

(20:33):
the obstacle is the way and it took a little doing,
but you stuck around and and now you're where you
are right now. Um, at that moment, what were you
thinking when Kyle Neptune decided to go back to Villanova. Well,
first of all, I mean, how cool is it that

(20:54):
your son's next to you doing stats. That's I mean,
that's just I mean the obstacles away. I mean that
about as cool as being a father. I mean, that's incredible,
by the way, but that is pretty fantastic. But he
doesn't get it yet. I'm sure but he will sum
up how amazing that opportunities. But I was, um, I'll

(21:15):
never forget it. Obviously, myself and Ronald Ramon were down
in Florida visiting our you know, huge price for fruit.
Angel Martez, who's a freshman with us now tremendous talent,
wasn't able to play this year because of injury, but
gob be back soon. He's already started to work down.
He's tremendous. But we were down in Orlando getting ready

(21:37):
to go see him at his graduation graduation party that
Kyle calls me. I think it was a Wednesday afternoon
and he was leaving Villanova. I didn't know he was
at the time. He said, yo, by yourself. I said, well,
I'm with ron He said, well, why don't you step
away for a second. I said, okay, said listen, assas

(22:00):
to stay between us for the next three hours. But
it's gonna get out. We have to have a team
meeting in about four hours. I'm like, what, he goes,
I just accepted the job of Collanova. I can't necessarily
say on the air when I When I responded, I
was like, I just didn't believe. I was like, hey,
what are you talking about. Let's go. I don't have
a ton of time here coach for He's like, no, no, no,

(22:22):
that's serious. I just accepted the job at Villanova. Jay
Wright retired, and there'll be a press conference later today.
We have to have a team meeting. And I'm like,
wait a second, I'm like, are you I was, I
was in shock. He said no, we gotta gather ourselves.
We gotta figure out you know, you gotta get this job.
And I'm like, well, you know, obviously I need you
for that and the players things of that nature. I

(22:44):
was like, I still didn't believe it. You know, you
hear rumblings about Jay at the Final Four and I'm
around the Villanova prow I sat, you know, with all
my Villanova former coaches and players. I was there on Saturday,
you know, new oral and set the team, and you
hear all this stuff, but nobody ever believes anything, right,

(23:05):
I just I didn't expect him to actually retire, and
I certainly didn't expect what happened to happen. So I
was just kind of a shock with them right then
and there we got into let's figure out the next step,
and we had a team meet meeting and be a
zoomed and like seven or seven thirty that night, and
I didn't say a word, and you know, one of

(23:26):
the seniors, I think him out of the Darius stepped up.
It's like when we want her going to be the coach,
and Kyle's like, listen, I don't make those calls, but
that's what you want, you guys gotta you know. That's
all you guys. And then that was that. And then
next thing I knew, at about eight thirty that night,
we had a we had a zoom of that goal

(23:46):
and the team at a time, and then you know,
that's kind of how they started unfold. You know, that
was Wednesday, and by Monday I was high as the
head coach. And one of the reasons why things had
to happen quickly was that made first deadline for the

(24:09):
transfer portal. That's really kind of right time, right place.
For me because some of the guys were thinking about
putting their names in the portal and then you know,
the leadership for the bad to make a decision. Well,
we don't make a decision here. Then we have to
understand what the future could be if we do go
with our go there's a good chance most of these

(24:30):
stents will stick around. That's kind of assisted they had
to me. Unfortunately, in the college world, that's kind of
what you think. That's immediately when there's a coaching change.
It's not just the guy that's on the sideline making
the calls. It's also you start to immediately think, well,

(24:53):
we got all excited about these recruits that came in.
Who's coming in? You know, you had freshmen coming in,
You had a like a Will Richardson, you know, just committed,
and you're going, oh, man, are these guys gonna stay?
That's where your mind goes immediately, especially in the college
world today, the way it is guys can move around. Yeah.
And to my fortunately, the way we do recruiting and

(25:16):
the way we've done it, although it's always at Villanova,
but stayed here at Fordham. You know, thankfully Kyle and
I same same coaching tree. Right. So the way we
do recruiting is everybody's involved. So the relationships for something
like this, whether or not an assistant, thieves or so
and so forth. Like, we all have incredible relationships with

(25:37):
our players and our recruits, and that way, it's not
just one guy, and if that guy's not around, then
the kids like, well, I don't have a relationship with anybody.
I gotta joke off. Fortunately, that's why our staff and
then the way we run our program is a little
bit unique in that Thankfully I had great relationships, so
did the current staff with our many players as well

(26:01):
as our current players. Yeah, and the fact that the
team went to bat the players who wanted you to
come in. I would imagine that's the kind of camaraderie
that started what you have this season, right, that relationship
You could tell the love that you have for them
they have for you. That's genuine and that's what translates

(26:24):
into twenty some odd wins this year. There's no question
our team is just connected as any that I've been around,
you know, and you know, you have some really talented teams.
Sometimes just they don't get for whatever reason, they just
don't have that connection. You know, yeah, they show up,
they play, they leave, and they separate. And you have

(26:46):
some talented teams that you know are incredibly connected and
those are really special. And then you have teams that
are just not incredibly individually talented, but they're talented enough
and and so connected that they have a chance to
do something really special well that most people don't believe.
And I think we're right there in that category. And
the relationships are unique on our staff. We have incredible

(27:07):
relationships with people with each other. And then you know
that locker room is as connected as I've ever been around.
And we knew the difference between last year's team and
this year's team. Last year's team was more of a
top down that organization from our coaches, Coach Neap two
and our staff down into the locker room. This year,
we knew we needed some leadership within, and we've had

(27:28):
guys step up and hold each other accountable. And that
leadership in that locker room is coming from within. Dari
Spizzberry that Poor and Trope, Charles and Kyle Rose have
taken it upon themselves to to really push each other
as well as our younger guys, and I think that's
been the biggest difference in our staff. We have incredibly
wonderful people in our program. They're guys that are a

(27:52):
little bit older that have earned their way into the business.
They're not not no disrespecting younger guys just gas. But
they're not just former players who just immediately got into coaching.
Their life experiences, their mentorships. For these kids, the relationships
they've developed off the court, the bonds that they have,
They're gonna last the next forty years, not the next four.

(28:13):
And I think that is the biggest difference with this
program right now, because our staff and the relationships we
have with each other and our players. Keith, your connection
to Fordham goes back to your father. I know he
was a Fordham alum, right, Fordham Law School alum as well.
But but you grew up in the DC area, correct,

(28:33):
the Washington DC area. I did. I grew up into mcgerland,
but I went to Kenzaga High School in Washington, DC. Yes,
and so my mother and father from Brooklyn. Yeah, the
father went to Brooklyn Prep with chie Pa Turno. And
it's a lot of the greats who came to Fordham,
you know, Kenny Charles, a number of others right, so,
and then he came to Fordham to play basketball in

(28:54):
nineteen fifty four. But you know back then you played
freshman and the academics were so Inte said he couldn't
continue to play. So for him, it's it's a true coach. True.
For me, it's a true co true. That's great. And
I know you're one of Uh. You've got a small family.
You're one of ten children. Yes, right, I'm one of ten.
I'm the eighth of ten, nine boys and one girl.

(29:16):
The first five children my sisters right in the middle.
They were born in Brooklyn slash Pellabaria and then uh.
And then the second five, which was all boys. Is
me on the eighth or board of the TC Metropoud area.
And now we have thirty grandchildren. Phone, it's like the

(29:37):
old the good Will hunting, Like, can you name them all? No?
I know, I only joke. Um, and one sister I
asked me birthdays. Don't ask me birthday that's true, yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah. But one girl out of the ten siblings,
I can't did did she did anybody that was going
to date her ever come to the house at that point?

(29:59):
You know what, I gotta be honest that they were
a little nervous. But you know, the guy she married
fits he almost fits too good. It's it's like fake.
He might as well have been one of our brothers, right,
but when you're you know, it's it's the largest gap
is two years between me and the one right above me.
So she grew up with a guy in front and

(30:19):
back where I could I could promise you all the
friends were where you know, Yeah, they love to come
over and yeah, is that maybe where you get your
competitiveness from just uh having all those brothers around and
you know, the way brothers can battle each other. Yeah,
we weren't the nicest, sweetest kids in the world. I

(30:39):
mean we were we we we were trying to be
nice off the court. But you know, between us, there
was never a game that actually finished. If the game
was up to eleven, it wasn't. Getting getting past seven
just was what it was. Yeah, and there was you know,
there were no cell phone social speeding cameras, and my
mother by the time she got to the second five

(30:59):
was like, if you got to her bedroom door, you
might be saved, but if it was closed, you got caught.
Before that, I just had to take the beating unfortunately,
uh the scouting report, I got us and then you
now you you eventually work your way. You said, Gonzaga
High School there in uh in Washington, DC area? Um

(31:21):
were you? Were you a good player at Gonzaga? I
was okay, I was tough. You know, we had a
great team. We won the uh the Washington Catholic goth
On a conference my seed in year in nineteen ninety seven,
beat Tamatha who was incredibly talented and it's like Joe
Forte and Keith OGINs, two pros. And then we played

(31:42):
in the championship Archbishop Harold who had a seven foot
of boom Chet Boochet who ended up Georgetown an NBA player.
But you know, we had the GATORAD Player of the
Year in Albert Brown, who ended up going to receive
her A number of other guys we actually had, you know,
Raissan Johnson played at MOMS player of the Year of
the conference mom if I think in two thousand once

(32:03):
the nc DOUBAA tournaments leading scoring the conference A player
of the year. He was on our team as well.
So we hadn't really talented team that was very connected
similar to this team, not as talent to his other
team's our league, but so connected. I'm very close for
the all to this day champion staffs. Incredible Dick Myers

(32:26):
who was a famous city you know, high school coach
um kind of rivaled at Morgan Bouton. I'm sure you're
familiar with, kind of like the Bob Earley of the
DC DC basketball scene. And we had guys like Paul
Evans who was a former head coach and pitt he
was on our staff. Bill Whittaker who Runts of Washington
Jesuit Academy. Just a big time high school basketball staff

(32:47):
all high level, could have could have coached college. So
we had a great staff. But I was a pretty
good player roll it was a good point guard. But
you were not recruited to play in Fairfield, right? You
end up going to Fairfield as a basketball player. You
played lacrosse, didn't you? I did? I was. I played
a basketball lacrosse at KATAG and then went on to Fairfield.
I actually was went to Fairfield too to uh play

(33:10):
lacrosse as my main sport and walk on fir walk
on at field inspected um and as a result, I
didn't play anything two years how to get uh you know,
as a young kid. I had to learn. I learned
the ropes, learned how to be a little bit more responsible. YEA. Unfortunately,

(33:32):
like you said, obstacles the way, I got a pretty
bad car accident. Um he ended up my freshman year
just kind of woke me up a little bit, and
I just spend my sophomore year getting getting my life
together in order to be eligible enough to play as
a junior, which I did. And your your coach there,

(33:52):
Tim O'Toole was a ga at Fordam I think I
want to say when I was a freshman he come
from the four was Yeah, he was he Um, I
played for similar tool and he handed up um after
he was the head coach, you know, came back as
a I got his master's degree from Fordham. He got

(34:14):
and was also a professor teaching classes and Fordham while
working on SNY doing games before getting back in and
becoming a director of operations, Sarahcuston jumping on staff Stanford
and Cal and now he's searching that coach. Yeah, and
and so there's there's a lot going on here. I
want to I want to get back. You're but the

(34:37):
car accident, you feel like that having to go what
was it about that experience, UM that had an impact
on you? Well, I was. I was just I was
getting involved in the wrong things. Um, I was spending
too much of my time. UM, not necessarily a own people.

(35:00):
I don't blame other people for my decisions, but I
was just making the wrong decisions. Wasn't on the right
path at the time. And it just woke me up
a little bit and made me realize the opportunities and
the blessings that I had been provided up and to
that point, and I had to I had some decisions
to make them, whether or not I wanted to get
my life back together and start to do things the

(35:20):
right way and um, and utilize you know, the opportunities
that I was given. And so it just kind of
woke me up, and it got me back on track
and understand the value of my education and fair and
field take advantage of it and utilize the opportunity to
play sports to kind of keep me occupied. So I
didn't fix in with the wrong situation or crowd. And

(35:44):
that's kind of what it what it was able to
UH to do for me. So I was I was
grateful and I had some family that you know, I'll
never forget. I'm in a hospital and I was pretty
beat up and one of my brothers came in, my brother, Brian.
Everybody else was telling me, you know you're gonna be okay,
everything's fine, blah blah blah. He came in and he

(36:04):
gave me some really tough love. You know, they gotta
got after me a bit. It wasn't like, oh, you're
doing okay, how you feeling. It was don't du no,
you better get your planks together. Uh, this is this
is this is your fault. Don't look at no pity
party you Now, you wouldn't be in here if you
didn't make the wrong position that you better get it together,
right blah blah blah. So the family dynamic having tough love,

(36:29):
bubble and hungry really, uh really will be up. So
I'm grateful. Well, luckily you haven't. You have enough brothers
that at least one will have that perspective for you
at that point. Um, now you you you you you
go through that experience, you get out of college, you
don't get into coaching right away, right you uh think
you your family is in the uh in the hotel business? Right?

(36:52):
Was that was that a path that you may have
considered at some point one I hoped um. I was
a part of a nonprodate organization that do sports, specifically
basketball as I mean some conflict resolutions called it was
at the time peace Players, or it was called Playing
for Peace, but now it's Peace Players International. And I

(37:13):
had the opportunity to go to South Africa and and
travel around Southern Africa with the foundation, and then I
moved as soon as I graduated. That was between my
junior and senior year the summer, and then I wanted
to do it again. So upon graduation, myself and four
and others moved to Northern Ireland and we started the program.

(37:33):
I lived in Dungannon, which is a little town forty
five miles west of Belfast, and we used the game
of basketball to bridge divide between Protestant and Catholic I did.
I was there for a year and when I got home,
I wasn't sure what I was gonna do. So I
got involved in my family's business. And in high school

(37:54):
I had studied French. I couldn't speak it, but there's
a Canadian operation within my family's company and there were
some hotels I can and I said okay, and it
was closer to where my my my my wife, but
my girlfriend at the time lived in Sarah Sarah. Sarah
took a Springs, New York, so it was perfect because
it was just a short three hour drive from her.

(38:15):
I said, Okay, well, maybe this is my niche and
the family. I'll try to continue to learn French, really
dive in and I can be kind of the Canadian
you know. Hece on for Urgo hotels, and so I
moved up there and tried to I lived in a
Mount Troum, Black, Canada, where my family had two hotels
on a on a ski resort, which is beautiful. Um,

(38:37):
and I was it was incredible. Uh. And I was
learning French and I was working in the hotels. But
I got another car accident and I hit a sheet
of black ice on a Saturday morning going to go
to work and I hit a tree and uh, I
broke some ridge and stuff. So I had to I
had to come home as a result of that accident.

(38:59):
And when I was home, I was approached by Steve Turner,
the current head coach from Denzaga High School at the time,
who asked me if I was interested in moving home
and getting involved in high school basketball, and at that
time I decided to do it. So I moved back
home and got some odd jobs, got my real estate

(39:22):
licenses and started coaching the freshman team. And I felt
head over heels in love with coaching. And that's what
I made a decision. Whatever I have to do to
make money in order for me to keep coaching, I
was gonna do. So I bounced around real estate and
I got involved in teaching while coaching. Get benzag a
freshman at varsity for four years before. Yeah, getting the

(39:46):
incredible opportunity to build up. I hopefully the next good
thing that comes in your life doesn't involve another car accident. Yeah, yeah, right,
And I talked to you while you're in the car.
It's a little un nervou I hope. So now, but

(40:08):
you're trying to make the transition to college. I know
you can introduce to Jay Wright, who was at Villanova
and things are just starting up for him, and you know,
it sounds like you had a great thing there. Ergo
hotels and you have opportunity to have a stable life.
We know going in as a video coordinator in college
is not the most glamorous of jobs. Did Jay Wright

(40:30):
try to talk you out of coaching. Oh, I'll never
forget it, you know. And back then that the video
internships were it was at ten thousand dollars internship with
four taxes. Now they're full, full, full physicians for you know,
well over fifty percent of the programs that they're paid.
And he did benefits. I was twenty seven years old,

(40:52):
married just fout. I was civil spring Marrier, Maryland, and
I moved up to Villanova and lived in Rosemont dormitory.
And he said, you really want to do this? Said
you don't want to do this. This isn't a life
for a for a young guy who's trying to start
a family. And you know, I'm gonna tell you, I'm
gonna try to do everything. I kind of talk out
of it, and he does that and he kind of

(41:12):
tests you to see if this is truly what you
want to do. You have to understand because what he
doesn't want to do, he doesn't want to feel guilty
or you know, for for for when you do get
involved and you start realizing the time commitment, what's necessary.
Because most people think they know what college basketball is,

(41:32):
but quite honestly, you know eighty percent of what you
do is not even on the court. And he was
just trying to make sure you understood, Look, this isn't
you know You're gonna you're gonna be involved in more
of the business aspect than the than the exos and
oos and on the court like you were in high school. Um,
And he was very very real and honest. Well, I
wasn't having it. I wasn't saying another of that. You

(41:55):
had a chance to be on a on a staff
of a fledgling blue blood program, which is what they
Zach turned out to be. And then how did you
end up leaving there? I was a video interned for
about for for a year. Just again, right time, right place.
We went to the Sweet sixteen. The associated coach at

(42:15):
the time, Right Gunning, I think ran around August or
something like that, decided he was going to make the
jump to the NBA and they bumped everybody up. Jay
Wright moved Patrick Chambers up to the associated coach and
at that time we were given the responsibility Pat Chambers
and I who Pat Chambers is the baby to twelve.
He and I were extremely close, the first guy I

(42:35):
met on my interview at Llanhova. We never looked back
We became best friends and he gave us the response.
Jay Right gave us the responsibility of replacing. I was
moved to the operations spot of replaces the internship, and
at that time we hired kyl Ne two and I
was the OPS for two years. In two thousand nine
we went to the Final four. Patrick Chambers became the

(42:58):
coach at PU. I stayed with the coach Right one
more year is the OPS that I was bumped up
to an assistant and then Patrick Chambers. After two years
of bet you got that coaching job at Fenn State.
So I met with Coach Wright and I wanted to
learn how to build a program from scratch. We had
learned it Villanova by the time I got there. Villanova,

(43:21):
we went to they had just gone to the Elite eight.
We went to the Street sixteen. Then we went to
the Final four. The next year. We had the hottest
start in twenty ten. I think in the history of
Villanova twenty two and one, the program was already built
and it was already established, and we were just sustaining it,
helping sustain it. I wanted to be a head coach
and I wanted to learn how to build something from scratch.

(43:42):
So he and I talked and said, well, there's no
better opportunity to learn how to build a program than
coach Shams and East the height of the Big East,
best being East in history, you know at that time
last year and the Big East was ten teams I
think in the in the NCAA tournament, Timba Walker's Magical Rum.

(44:07):
They were the ninth scene or something like that in
the Big East tournament and up winning the National Championship.
So it was the height of the Big East. And
then so I went to the Big Ten to work
with Patrick Chambers and it was just a totally different
experience from a league standpoint. And then obviously we literally
had to learn I had to learn every single facet
of the business, from marketing to budget, to a student engagement,

(44:34):
to alumni to obviously excess and those But it was
just a totally different experience and we literally had to
learn everything from scratch and build a program from scratch. Unfortunately,
six months after we got the job, everything the craziness
Fenn State happens because of eleven and then it kind
of set us back about two or three years in recruiting,

(44:55):
but we managed to overcome and so you're experienced now.
I guess all that has prepared you for what you're
going through now at Fordham, where you take a bigger position.
Kyle Neptin brings you in as an associate head coach,
but it's more of hands on, you know everything. It's
a you know, Fordham is a mid major in the

(45:18):
middle of a huge city, but obviously an opportunity to
use some of those skills that you learned at Penn
State and Villanova to what you're doing right now, no question,
And that's the conversation. That's the Kyle and I had beauty,
and the genius of Kyle Neptune, in my opinion, is
this humility. He knew, you know, he had left Philanova

(45:41):
to go to Niagara with Joe Mahaleck, but she'd already
been established. He did a great job with Joe Mallick there,
they won, and he ended up going a Hofster for
a few months before going back to Villanova. But he
wanted to. He knew it was important to have someone
who had been through kind of a building process, and
we talked openly about me coming in and kind of

(46:01):
just understanding little things like having to get out into
the student center and jump on table, start t shirts out,
try to start some fan engagement along with engaging the alumni,
along with fundraising, all of the things that you know,
he didn't necessarily have experience with it because he didn't
have to do. He went right from the internship in

(46:22):
Balanova to an assist a position. When you skip the
operations position, you don't have as much knowledge of the
budget and the transportation situation and the day to day
operations within the program the community at large. So he
knew how important that was and that was kind of
my kind of co head coach role as he called it.

(46:44):
And so that's kind of how we worked together last year.
And he was incredibly He gave a lot of responsibility
and I appreciate that. And then he also brought Dave
Balson on as a as a consultant, an older guy
who ad coach for twenty seven years to also help
with us UM, who was incredibly and valuable. And Kyle

(47:06):
Nepsom was so humble, he knew what he didn't know.
That that was the changestive to him being just an
effective leader. It seems like you've got so much in
terms of you know, first of all your your hotel
background probably helped prepare you for a lot of what
you do. When you say you talk about operations and
budgets and and just you know, fundraising and how that

(47:30):
the people experienced there. Um, you have the head coach
and then you've got to kind of have a philosophy
of how you want to play. I mean we haven't
really even talked a lot of basketball right now. Um.
I know when Jock Vaughan took over from the nets,
he talked about just kind of making things a little
more simple, and he is the term the other day,

(47:50):
do simple better. I know your your philosophy when I
as much as I know about it, and watching your team,
I feel like you embodied that a little bit as well.
You know, run basic stuff, but really do it well,
play off each other and then just really play hard
and play with energy. And if there's a kind of

(48:11):
a calling card I think of your team this year,
it's that playing hard and playing with energy, and it
means a lot, there's no question. Um that's that's the
beauty of Jay Wright is it's simple. Keep it simple,
There's no need to complicate it. The more coaching you do,
the less connected and bet that your team is in

(48:31):
our minds, um and you know, it's really about the players.
It's not about the you know, the old cliche, it's
that that that the excess and knows it's the Jimmies
and the joes. And we use that a lot actually
in my life in the locker room. H and the
guys laugh, but it's true. You know, we believe that
if we have incredibly unique and authentic relationships with our

(48:52):
players off the court and we don't focus as much
on the court, they're willing to do things they never
thought they would on the court. They're willing to literally
run through a brick wall for your staff and for
each other because we spend so much time off the
court with them, and then you can simplify when there
is connected you can simplify some things on the court

(49:13):
because you don't need to run as much. Right, So,
you know, we try just to, you know, keep things
as simple as possible. And I have really high IQ
players that can feed off one another and stay connected
and learn kind of more driving space situations rather than
just set plays. So you got to have really good

(49:33):
players and really smart players and guys that love playing
with each other in order to do it. But it's
really about defending and rebounding and being tougher and more
nasty and more together than your opponent as much as
you can, and that that'll carry a lot more weight
than having any tricky plays or anything like that. You
talked about, you know, sustainability, that's how you sustain it.

(49:55):
I mean, if you're if you're trying to run, you know,
you try to run an elaborate, you know, intric system
now that they if a player goes down or you
don't get a certain player, then it can change. But
it seems like what you're talking about becomes more sustainable
for whoever you got in there running it. There's no
doubt and if we just create you know. And the
best part about this team and the most important piece

(50:17):
and the biggest impact I think our seniors will have
on this program is the younger guys that we have
who are extremely talented, are learning. They have examples in
front of them like Darius, like Yantrelle and Kyle and kalidmore.
They're able to witness and watch and kind of not

(50:38):
fall in line is not the right word, but you know,
they're watching these guys in their fourth and fifth years
of college, do things that they've never seen or never
thought that these upperclassmen would do. Dive on every loose ball,
take charges, you know, repeat what the coaches are saying
every time, kind of echoes, so to speak. You know,

(50:59):
buy into what we call attitude, an attitude club, and
all the little things because these guys, these guys understand,
they've been in college sports long enough to realize every
team's got a leading score, every team's got a leading score.
You know, the worst teams in sports or college basketball
have a leading score. But what wins games is all

(51:20):
of the other little things. And to have seniors buy
into that, and then you have no choice but to
do it as a freshman, and you know that the
only way you're going to really establish yourself in the
program is to follow suit. To do with these guys.
You're doing to play as hard as they are, to
buy into the things. And obviously, when you start winning,
it's a lot easier the proofs of the pudding. So

(51:42):
if you do these things, you're gonna win. You know,
that took a long time at Penn State. Fortunately, we
saw some of the some of the fruits of our
label last year and carried onto this year, guys are
more out to pay attention and you use the term
attitude and O Jay Wright wrote a book about you know,
your program has to have have an attitude. It funny
because I did the NCAA tournament for Westwood one back

(52:04):
in I think it was twenty and fifteen or twenty
and sixteen, and uh, and I had Villanova and I
got a chance to talk to Jay and I mentioned that, uh,
you know, he knew my my radio partner on the nets,
Tim Capstraws an old coach and he said, Kapper used
to come out to Hofstra when he was coaching there.
And I said, what did you ever learn from Kapris said, well,
Kapri told me our program, you gotta have a program's
gotta have an attitude. You know, you gotta have a

(52:26):
swagger about you. And then you wrote a book about it.
Kaper's still waiting for the residuals on that book. Um,
but no. But it's like, Jay, Yeah, that's a that's
a thing, right, Like you want your program to have
an attitude. And it's amazing. I think it's amazing about
what you've done at Fordham. I think I know it
goes back to last year with Kyle a little bit too,
but you've been able to establish that relatively quickly there

(52:49):
at FIDAM. Yeah, you know, we're not um Fordham University,
in my opinion, is just such a special place. It's
more like a Villanova. It's more like a little Chicago
organ Zagate's um. We're not looking for the most talented players.
That that's different we need. We want. We want guys
that want to be a part of something much bigger

(53:11):
than themselves. The community. Um, you got a top fifty
academic institution in the world. You got the greatest city
in the world. The community is really special, as we're
starting to see right now. We want guys that want
to be a part of the entire piece to the puzzle.
We don't want guys we're just going to come in
and just say I want to play basketball and that's it.

(53:31):
You know. I'm We're perfectly fine with those types of
of of student athletes, but it just wouldn't work with
us because we want something bigger and as a result,
we were really seeking out student athletes that want to
embrace and be a part of a lot more than
just the basketball games and practices. So in recruiting, that's

(53:53):
really what we seek. And as a result, those types
of guys are willing to buy into all of the
other little things that we're asking him to do. It's
not easy to come in and just buy into diving
on the floor. Yeah, by into just doing all these
little things, and you know, and the other thing part

(54:15):
of it, I think, you know, and there's always been.
And then also when it comes to recruiting, I was
hoping you had a couple of recruits at the game
on Saturday to see what one of our guys, yeah,
you know, to to see what that environments like because
somebody people say all the time, oh when I you know,
people that don't know or haven't been in the rose
Hilk gym, they'll go, well, you know, you need a
you need a better facility, you need to be And

(54:38):
I had this conversation with that he cull a lot too,
Like you know, the arms race can be the place
where they spend most of their time, the the place
to the lounge where you work out that kind of stuff,
But that gym could be such an advantage to you Yeah,
and uh, you know, and the environment. Who who wouldn't
want to play in front of that environment and then

(55:00):
you go play a couple of games at the garden
or Barkley Center, whatever it may be. If you get
to be a big program. Um, I just I want
to I want to end it with this. I know
I'm gonna be worre of your time. Before you do that, Chris,
don't get too crazy. I mean we want some upgrades
and facilities. Listen, I sighted it up a little bit
or or or you know, set up the lounge though

(55:21):
the lounge and the place that they hang out. Let's
let's continue to work on that. We don't want to
we don't want to shut that out. Absolutely, You're right
what it is it could be. It's it's like when
you go to Duke. I mean we did training camp
Duke one year and the facilities they had rivaled any
NBA facility there where they practiced, where they met and
all that. It was this huge thing. You were thought

(55:43):
you were in the NBA. And then they playing Cameron,
which is this little bandbox of a place. You know,
I love it. That's exactly what we want to hear.
So before I let you go, they I do this
thing with it with all my uh my interview subjects
here at the end. You remember the Jim Balvano speech

(56:03):
at the spis never cop right. That's something that I've
always meant something to me in my life. Um so
I he said in his speech, to have a full life.
Everybody's drew three things every day, laughing, cry, think all right?
So the laugh part of it? What makes Keith there go? Laugh? Oh? Man,

(56:25):
I I scare someone on our staff every or a player.
So I'm just a you know, I hide behind walls
and scared Dave Pulse and I was getting a heart
attack every day we're on we don't go on a
road trip. Everybody knows I'm hiding behind a corner. I
scare players. They're coming to jokes. Oh I love it
that that cracks me up. I love making people free

(56:47):
because it's just laughing is amazing. We joke around and
you can't. You gotta thick skin in our program, and
you gotta have a thick skin in my family. So
laughing is something we do on maybe too much. People
think we're crazy. I'm big into laughing attacks. I had
a lot of them with my sister. But so I'm
a big in a laugh pretty much a practical joke.

(57:09):
Anything they do cracks me up, and I try to
do the same. What moves you to tears? What's something
that gets your emotions stirred up in a positive you know,
I like to keep it in a positive way. I know,
I know. I say one thing. Can I see one thing?
The game the other night? The other day it was
senior night, senior day. Yeah, And I know, so I

(57:31):
know one thing and then you can give me something else.
But when when Quissenberry, who was your your grad student
senior two thousand points scorer, came out of the game,
you had a long embrace with him, and then I
saw you kind of wiping your eyes a little bit.
So I know that made you emotional one percent. The
relationships to me are everything in life. I've learned a

(57:51):
lot in my forty three years, uh, in this profession
recently in the last couple of years, Like you said,
obstacles the way, um my family and my relationships those
wore can kind of give me some tears every once
in a while. You know, the other night, I embraced
my father after the game. I've only seen my father
cried twice once in my entire life. Last year we

(58:12):
beat g W here in this gym in a packed
house the only time they allowed fans last year because
of COVID and at center court after the game. Was
the first time my father had been in Rossiale for
any event since he left Fordham in nineteen sixty two.
And he was crying for the first time while we
took a picture. I got really emotional the other night.
I'm walking off the court and we gave him a hug.

(58:35):
And when you're one of nine boys and you have
a kidnect you with your pops. It's not what we
don't have Like, we didn't grow up like I love you,
I do it, you know, hugging my parents. It wasn't
like that. And uh not that we had it hard.
We were spoiled, but there wasn't like a lovey dovey
type situation. Back to my mommy, I loved her. She'd
be like, you know, kids having a business to run. Yeah.

(59:00):
So when I embraced my dad, he was trying. I
was trying. I'll never ever forget that that moment for
the rest of my life, and I am incredibly grateful.
People don't quite understand what this means to me when
I say it's not coach speak. When you're part of
a big family like that and you have a connection
with your father, I cherish it. I will never take

(59:21):
it for granted. And I'm incredibly grateful that my mother
and father get to sit courtside right now and watch
some of this. It's it's that that makes me you're
thinking about it gets me emotional. Four kids yourself? I
have four children. How are you? Yes, two boys? Are
you with your kids? You talk about that relationship with
your with your parents or having ten? How are you

(59:41):
with your kids? Are you emotional with them? I am?
I get I get a little bit emotional, like, for instance,
this morning, my daughter, my seven year old daughter, she's
my third child, she's Down syndrome, and she's having surgery
this morning on her ears. And then it'll get me emotional,
even though it's just a routine procedure. But you know,
I get a little bit more emotional than my parents.
And for sure, I want my kids to see, you know, empathy.

(01:00:03):
I want them to grow up with empathy. And I
think it's really important with other other families that go
through that with a with a child with Down syndrome,
what's the what's the message you'd give them. I mean,
just understand that that there's no there's no disability that
prevents um anything. But honestly, you said obstacles the way

(01:00:26):
there is no bad day. And my daughters, I mean,
she's smiling all the time. I think she I think
they're smarter and understand and see the world in a
light that we all wish we could. And I remember
just looking at her every day, She's like she's just
always happy and smiling for the most part, other than
loud noises. And I just constantly remind myself, man, I

(01:00:48):
wish I was I wish I had her thought process.
And when I walk in the door and she gives
in a hug and my other daughter gives zog, I'm like, yeah,
no matter what has happened throughout the day, that's that's
fulfilling enough. I'm good to go. The final part of
this was the think part. I always use the term
you're gonna be going into that eight ten tournament at
Barkley Center, and outside Barkley Center there is an oculus.

(01:01:10):
They caught a video a kind of a circular video board,
and it could be seen by anybody walking in or
just coming out of the subway or walking around there
a flatbush in Atlantic, so many people see it. If
you could put a message up on that board for
people to think about, what do you think that might be.
It's a great day to be a ram. I just

(01:01:35):
you know, I live by the golden rule in my house.
Well constantly said a golden rule to my kids. They
have to repeat it. Treat people the way that you
want to be treated and whatever happens after that. You know,
life usually works out that way. And I think our
seniors are seen the success they're having because they're incredible

(01:01:56):
people off the court and they work really hard. And
when you treat people the right way most of the time,
not all the time, but most of the time, great
things happen. I think the think part is probably the
only thing that I haven't I don't fill every day
that message, but um, it's just I would say, try
to live by the golden rule, and that's that's in
our house. That's true. People the way you want to

(01:02:17):
be treated, and most of the time good, great things
are going to happen to good people. Well, let's hope
there's a lot of Fordham alum and New York City
basketball fans who are going to come in and make
Barkley Center like the extension of Rose Thrill. This week,
you guys start seven thirty the quarterfinals Thursday night. Hope
that they packed that gym and at Barkeley Center. My

(01:02:41):
home office becomes your home office this week. Chris, thank
you so much. I appreciate you having me on you.
You're an inspiration to a lot of people, and um,
we appreciate the Barkeley Center and obviously you know, we
hope Rose Thrill transports everyone within three hundred miles of
Trust State or even more. Come these kids. These kids

(01:03:03):
love it. It creates an incredible environment and energy. Why
not turn Barclays into Rose Throw the South and let's
see where it takes us. We got a long road
ahead of us. We've got a tough team, so we're
gonna have to play. But I think if we stay
connected and we play as hard as we possibly can,
we'll have a chance to compete. Well. As a Fordham
alum class of ninety two, I appreciate everything you've done

(01:03:25):
for the for the school this year and when Eddie
cull your athletic director, has done and hopefully it you
compared Fordham to Villanova a little bit. Let's hope that
we're still having this conversation fifteen years from now with
you and Eddie running things there at Fordham. Don't go anywhere.
I would absolutely I would absolutely love it. I think

(01:03:46):
he's one of the best in the business. His relationship
and his desire to do what the vision is in
the alignment between the Board of Trustees, President at Low
and Eddie Cole and our basketball program has never never
been as tough knit and headed in the right direction
as it currently is right now. I've shast to be
a part of it during an incredible time, so I

(01:04:09):
hope to be here for a long time. Keith go
get him this week. Thanks so much for joining us
to take it the time, buddy, Thank you so much
for having me. Great day, a day to be a
Ram and once a Ram, always a Ram, as you
like to say as well. Thanks Keith. All right, my

(01:04:30):
thanks to Keith Ergo. The Fordham Rams getting set to
go Thursday night, seven thirty at Barkley Center in the
quarter finals, their opponent to be determined just yet, and
see if they can make a run and get to
the NCAA Tournament. I'm excited as at Fordham alum, and
I hope everybody turns up there. Go to Barkley Center

(01:04:50):
dot com or the Barkley Center box office to get
your tickets and let's pack the house for the Fordham
Rams in the A ten tournament coming up. Keith Urgo
has everybody believing at Fordham. And if you aren't already

(01:05:11):
watching the show ted Lasso, you should be. Season three
coming out very shortly. The trailer just came out, and
of course, you know, believe is the thing and ted Lasso,
you're seeing that yellow sign with the blue writing Believe.
So much of what coaching is about is making your

(01:05:32):
team believe they do simple better. It's not always about scheme,
it's about motivation. It's about getting the best out of
your team and making them believe that they can accomplish anything.
So of course, my my, my recommendation for what to

(01:05:54):
watch is the season three coming up of ted Lasso.
So if you haven't already watched, go out and watch
the first two seasons. And I was so excited that
the trailer of the new season has a song from
one of my as you know, if you listen to this,
one of my favorite artists, Frank Turner. He has a

(01:06:15):
song called I Still Believe, and they used that in
the in the little, the little trailer piece thing to
their season three not the not the trailer where they
show up parts of the show, but this little um,
this little video they did to get you excited per
season three, they used this song by Frank Turner and
UH and his his Apple and Spotify. UH streams went

(01:06:39):
through the roof. So I'm so happy about that. And
and I'll give you a believed song today could have
gone with you know, don't Stop Believing My Journey, which
of course used at the end of The Sopranos, kind
of changed that a little bit. Got Frank Turner, I
Still Believe. Mumfernensians has a good song Believe. But a

(01:07:00):
band that I really got into this year and an
album that I loved called Lavender Days. There's a song
from the band camp c A A MP two a's
c A A MP camp Believe My song recommendation for
the day. I believe in you, baby, and I'll always

(01:07:24):
be around. I believe in you, baby. I won't let
you hit the ground. I believe. Let's go forward them,
Let's go rams, Let's go nets. My Thanks to our
producers Steve Goldberg, Tom Dowd, engineer Isaac Lee. Thanks to

(01:07:47):
our guest to Keith Ergo, and thank you all for
listening and subscribing to the Voice of the Nets. I'm
Chris Carino. Talk to you next year.