April 1, 2025 • 36 mins
Tim Cates sits down with Fullerton College basketball coach Perry Webster to talk about his journey from player to coach. After being named the head coach at Fullerton College at the age of 26, he has won multiple Conference Championships and State Championships over the last decade while leading the Hornets. Perry is the only person in California Community College history to win state championships in three different roles - head coach, assistant coach and player. He talks about the importance of getting his MCAA from Concordia University Irvine for his coaching career.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
At the age of twenty six, he was hired as
the head coach at Fullerton College. He's the only person
to win a state championship at the juco level as
a player, an assistant, and a head coach. He is
Perry Webster and he joins us now on episode seventy
nine of the Masters in Coaching podcast. Let's Go Well,
(00:24):
welcome into episode seventy nine yes of the Masters in
Coaching Podcast here on iHeartRadio wherever you are watching, downloading, listening,
and viewing. We appreciate that we are so excited to
talk to this week's guests. He just finished his ninth
season as the head coach ten years at Fullerton College.
When he started, he was twenty six years old and
(00:45):
one of the youngest coaches in all of California at
the collegiate level. Six time Conference Coach of the Year,
four time State Coach of the Year. He's also a
graduate of the Masters in Coaching Athletics Administration Program back
in twenty thirteen. He is Perry Webster and joins us
now here on the Masters and Coaching podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Harry, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm good. I like your energy. You bring a lot
of energy to me. This morning. I need that well.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I feel like I got a rise to the occasion.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Coach, I know you're a high energy guy when you're
out there on the court with your team. First off,
this season, how did it go for you guys at
Fullerton College?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, we won thirty games, went thirty and four.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Unfortunately a couple weeks ago we lost in the state
championship game, but you know, not going to hang our heads.
Really successful season, I thought got a lot out of
our team. Won a league championship, won a league tournament championship.
We were the number one seed in the Southern California
playoffs for the fourth straight year, had the Conference MVP,
the Conference Defensive MVP, and four other guys were All Conference.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So a lot of awards and accolades, a lot of success.
It was a good year.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
How do you maintain that success every single year at
coach at the JC level and it's turning it into
that level at the Division one level as well with
nil every year your roster can look different, bringing guys
in on a year to year basis, and then you know,
thankfully seeing them go off to and do things at
the next level. How hard is that for you to
(02:11):
coach year to year basically.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
I it's funny because I get asked this a lot
now by a lot of Division one, Division two coaches
because they're dealing with the turmoil of the transfer portal.
For me, it's really all I've ever known, because I've
coached at the JC level as an assistant and head
coach the last twelve thirteen years. So there's a few
key things I think in order to be successful. I
think you have to have some kind of keeping your roster,
(02:40):
some guys within your roster that are staying year to year.
They don't need to be your upper echelon top guys,
but if you can keep your culture from year to year.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
We've used the gray.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Shirts and the red shirts over the years to get
guys accustomed to how we do everything on a daily basis,
how we run to practice, how we run a scout,
how it looks in the weight room, how it looks
on the campus, outlooks in study hall, just so they know.
And then and then we kind of bring other guys
in that are going to be here for ten months.
We call it a ten month track. You're you're here
to ball out, you know, try to be all league,
(03:13):
try to win as many games as you can and
then get a scholarship out you know, I think the
message for us every day to our team and to
our program is we know you want to get out
and we support that, but you have to enjoy every
minute here. You have to spend every every day trying
to prepare to be a better player here and then
(03:35):
everything else will take care of itself.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Winning. Winning is extremely important for.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
You to get a scholarship out here, and so that
message is delivered to those guys every day.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I think it's something that the Division one coaches, as
you mentioned, Division two coaches are are learning. I know
Norfolk head coach Robert Jones was just talking about it
and said, hey, we're a D one team, but we're
a mid major and there's no way we're going to
survive with the NIA and getting poached every year.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And you know, he.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Said, we're basically a glorified JC right now because of
the year to year, our best guy off to the
next team, off to the highest bidder at the NIL
and the Division one level. For you now, I think
this opens up the JC world even more coach to recruiting,
to opportunities for players is that something you could sell
even more to potential student athletes that want to come
(04:24):
into your program for that As you said the ten months, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
I mean we've taken a ton of transfers over the
year since I've been here. We've always kind of hung
our hat on bringing in Division one or Division two
transfers that are going to be doing that ten month deal.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
You know, I think for coach.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Jones or any of those guys the low mind major level,
as many guys as they're losing that are transferring.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Up, there's also guys that are up that.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Need to transfer down right, And so you as a
head coach finding the right niche of guys that are
out of place and doing your evaluations early, having a
good good high school evaluations and knowing I mean, there's
plenty of times where my assistant coaches and I we
see a kid is signing a scholarship somewhere and we go, okay,
(05:09):
that's keeping on them. In twelve months, you know, we're
going to be after him because he's probably not ready
for that, He's probably he probably shouldn't be going there,
And and guys are older and you look at Auburn
starting lineup, you look at a lot of these guys
starting lineup. They're starting twenty two, twenty three, twenty four
year old and that's how we want to be too.
We want to start twenty twenty one, twenty two year olds,
(05:30):
and we do a lot of the time. So that's
because we're taking guys on the bounce that they're coming back,
and you know, we are just preaching opportunity.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Some guys are getting really.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Upset because they're somewhere and they're just sitting the bench,
and all they really want to do is just get
back to loving the game and having opportunity to play
this kid's game.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Right, we played it our whole lives.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
So we are always preaching, hey, come here, be a dude.
You're gonna play twenty five thirty minutes and then and
then you go back, but let's come back and get
kind of your sweat back and get your confidence back,
and then you can move on to the next deal
for you guys.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
This year, you had a player on your team.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
And I bring it up because I've known Adrian wolf
Sharowski for about twelve almost thirteen years in the radio world.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
He was an NBA insider.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
We used before he became WOJ and all the WOJ
bombs that he had, and now he's at Saint Bonaventure
as an essence, their general manager, and I know, all
the way on the East Coast, he found you out
here at Fullerton College and found one of your guys,
and now he's off to play Division one basketball, right.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Yeah, No, it was a crazy situation how it all
came about.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
You know, we got Big Joe.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Big Joe Grahovic had kind of been floating around Orange
County for a few years and you know, there were
a lot of jcs that tried to get him, an
aigh schools that tried to get him, and he kind
of had just given up on himself. And we got
a tip on him, my assistant coach did, and we
got him up for a visit, and you know, our
message to Joe was, hey, man, you stick to this.
(07:01):
We're going to change your life. It's all going to
happen for the better. You know, just you just got
to dig in and you got to do it. There's
no more excuses, there's no more you know, coaches too
hard or this situation is too hard. Just you know,
you're old enough, you're mature enough. Now let's just dig
in and do it. And credit to Joe. I mean,
as talented as he is, as good of a player
as he is, he's more coachable than any than anybody
(07:21):
like he He was like a sponge. He came with
a great energy every day. So I got a text
from from WOJ in the fall, and you know, I
knew who ooj was. Obviously we all know basketball, people
know who og is. And the first text that I
got from immedia that I go, this dude must have
heard about Big Joe because Joe had kind of just
burst onto the scene, played his first time in front
(07:43):
of college coaches.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
And Woj is.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
My Joe, and my experience with Woj is this is
just a normal person, a normal guy.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
He treats people well, he's not full of it.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
He speaks honestly and transparently, and that's how I am,
and that's how I've always communicated and talked to people.
And I think sometimes that, you know, honesty and transparency
sometimes can rub people the wrong way. It's almost like
people sometimes want you to be full of nonsense and
and that's not how I am, and that's not how
WOJ is, and that's not how Joe is, so I think,
you know, we we developed a strong rapport with each
(08:22):
other and everything Wode said that he was going to do,
He's done everything.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I said to WOJ that I was going to do.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
I've done everything Joe said to WOJ and me that
he was going to do, He's done. And I think
just that combination of everybody being on the same page
and being reliable led to, you know, Joe going out there.
Joe and I flew out there on a red eye.
It was a sponsored trip by a by Baller TV.
It was a part of an NIL package for Joe.
(08:50):
Sandy Pingarani came with us. He's the owner of Baller TV,
or one of the co owners, and we did the
trip and Joe was leaning there the whole time. But
I said to Joe, I say, hey man, you gotta
go and you got to see it, and you got
to be in the snow. He never been in snow before,
he never been on a plane before. So I say,
you got to experience all this before you commit. You
got to go and you got to experience this and
(09:12):
see it. And WOJ agreed. You know, there's no point
in him committing to something. You can't really do yeah,
And Joe loved it and we had a great trip.
Me and San Deep had a great trip and we
came back and I made Joe sleep on it for
a week and then he made the call.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
That's awesome. Awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Perry Webster is our guest head coach at Fullerton College.
Before we go back to when you got into coaching
and how you got to Fullerton College quickly, you said
it a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I wanted to bring it up before I forget.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
You talked about being honest with your basketball players, and
I think that's important in the era we're in in
athletics at any level, really, because Mick Cronin, who always
talks about this and sometimes it rubs people the wrong
way because of how honest he is as a head
coach in twenty twenty five, because some coaches will just
(10:01):
tell you the fluff and just want to get you there,
and you know, they just tell you what you want
to hear, and you very much seem like Coach Cronin
and that you know, I'm gonna tell you the truth,
whether it's it's good or bad, for you take it
how you want, it's the truth and it's gonna help
you in the long run.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
How important is that?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And I think, you know, coaching guys at the JC level,
you have to be honest with them, right because some
of these guys the last ditch effort. Some of these
guys need to know where they stand going to the
next level, and they need to be coached at a
certain way and they need either hear the truth at
that point in their life. And I think it's a
refreshing coach to hear you be like that, like a
Mike Cronin and there's other coaches that are in this
(10:39):
day of era of athletics, just honest with these guys.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
No, that's like my number one. My number one deal
with my staff and with my players is we're gonna
be honest. And we tell them that in the recruiting visit.
We say to them, Hey, you know, it's gonna be honest.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
You may not like it.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Some days you're not gonna like what you hear, but
at least you're gonna know where you're dan. There's never
gonna be any confusion about But how things are. I
come from a strong family. I have a mom and dad.
I have three brothers. You know, so there are four
boys in the house growing up, and uh, we all
are protective of each other. To this day, we're all
(11:17):
best friends. And I think my honesty approach came from
home from my mom and my dad and and learning
how to handle each other, and learning how to fight,
not physically, but learning how to argue and and and
move move forward and continue to love. And when you
have two older brothers like I have, like you know,
there there's no bs, and you know they're gonna tell
(11:39):
They're gonna tell me exactly how they feel, whether I
liked it or not. And you know, I've kind of
taken that on with my players. I have seen the
other side of it. I've seen the coaches that that
you know, fluff and and it's just not a It's
just not the way.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I ever want to be.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
I think that when when coach coming and recruit my guys,
I point that out to my guys.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I say, hey, you know.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Do you feel he's being honest with you? Do you
feel do you feel honesty transparency from him? Because you
need that. And our guys as they're leaving here, they
have their radar up. They can tell when the coach
is giving them some bs, and they don't want to
hear it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And so.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Honesty is a virtue. Honesty is a virtue, And it's
hard to be honest. It's hard to tell the truth.
But I'd much rather tell the truth and get myself
caught up in lies. I'm not smart enough.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
To be a liar, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
I'm not smart enough to be able to have all
these different lies in my head that I have to
own up to or try to pretend like I remember,
you know, it's easier for me to just keep things
straight and honest and in my relationship with my wife
and my relationship with.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
My kids and everything. So it is what it is.
But that's how I'll always be. I'll never change from that.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
I love it. And here you are. You know you've
mentioned it.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Ten years at Fullerton College, nine seasons. You got the
job when you were young. I mean you go back
to twenty fifteen when you got the job, even go
back before that, Perry. I mean, you're a player, you
played at the JC level. You go to cal State
Fullerton when you got done playing. Yeah, did you know
coaching is my next step? Or where is there a
(13:18):
transition period? Or is there a period of like, all right,
maybe something else outside of basketball when you got done playing.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
What was your idea at that time?
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Yeah, So I knew I was going to be a
coach my whole life. Like since I was a kid,
I knew I wanted to be a coach. My dad
coached me growing up. It's just always been in my
blood to be a coach. I love being part of
a team. I love I love competing. Those are the
you know, those are things I love. So my decision
after I graduated from cal State Fullerton was how do
(13:49):
I want to get into coaching?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
What do I want to do? What level do I
want to get to?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
And my whole thought as a twenty four year old
at that time was just like, go where you're going
to have importance, Go where you're going to be able
to get on the floor and coach, and and go
where you're.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Gonna be able to learn. And so for me, that
was easy.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
That was go back to saddle back and work for
Andy Brown, because Andy is a tremendous coach and a
legend at this level, but really a legend across the
country at any level because he's so detail oriented and
he's so good especially on the defensive side of the ball,
and he won so many games and so and also
he was a.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
He was a really good recruiter. He really knew knew
how to get players.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And so going back there, I was able to learn
every part of coaching. It wasn't I wasn't put into
a box. You know, I wasn't going to go be
a director of operations and schedule travel and and you know,
if I'm lucky, you get to rebound for the guys. No,
it was I was in the thick of things doing scouts,
(14:57):
and I was helping coach make decisions on who should play,
on what the practice plan should look like. And so
I learned how to coach, and I learned the whole thing.
And I thought, I think those three years at Saddleback
were the best possible years I could have done right
out of college. We were on the same wavelength, to like,
(15:18):
we saw the game the same way and we still do.
So it just was a natural fit for me. And
I think you know, some people you know recommend Hey,
you know, if you want to be at the Division
one level, we got to start the Division one level.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You want to be the Division two level. We got
to start the Division two level.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I didn't think to myself that at thirty six I
was going to be a JC coach. I thought to
myself that, you know, I would do the thing at
saddle back. And then I tried to get up to
a Division one staff, but the Fulletson job came open
and I went for it, and here we are.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
How did you know, after a couple of seasons as
an assistant at saddleback, how did you know the time
was right when that Fullerton College job was Yeah, just
some of you fell. Did you think, Okay, now I'm
ready to take that next step? What led you to
make that decision?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Then?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
I don't want this to come off as arrogant, but
I'll just you know, I'll just say that in twenty fifteen,
my third year at Saddleback, we won the state championship.
I recruited the best players on that team. I did
every single scout I called the offensive sets. Andy gave
me the reins my third year there. He said here
it is, and he let me do it, and he
(16:29):
kind of just oversaw it. And so I had all
the confidence in the world that I could go and
be successful at Fullerton after those after that year because
we were like I think we were thirty two and
one or thirty thirty three and two or something like that.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
We had an unbelievable year.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
We had Division one players and I just I just
knew right then and there, like there was an opportunity
for me to go be a Division one assistant that
year too, there was kind of two jobs I was
involved with, and I just knew, like, I'm ready to
be a head coach.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
I could do this.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
I'm young, but like, who you know who wouldn't kill
to go be a full time instructor and head basketball
coach at Fullerton JC as a twenty six year old.
And so I went into the interview room and I
went with full confidence, and by the grace of God,
they hired me.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
What was your initial thought about the program when you
took over, when you go into that meeting, Well, if
you athletic department, what was your pitch, like, I can
get this program to this level? Now, this is my
goal the first year, my goal the first three to
five years. What kind of plan did you have going
into that first year?
Speaker 4 (17:39):
Well, I just told, you know, I just told them
straight up, I said, look, you know, I don't think
anybody in this interview. I'm twenty six, you know, I
remember saying this is the elephant in the room. Like
I'm twenty six. The other people in this are ten
fifteen years older than me. I'm twenty six years old.
But none of them have two state championship brings at
this level behind them. None of them have. None of
them have been in this conferen for instance, coaching this
(18:00):
conference and recruited conference players of the year in this
conference or state players of the year. I've done all that,
So you know, take me for what I am, don't
take me for what my age is. And I think
the you know, the primary message to them, and and
I think we've done a good job of it is
our guys are not just gonna be good basketball players.
(18:21):
It's not just you know, hired guns that are gonna
be good basketball players and gonna run amuck on campus
and and get themselves into trouble and do a bunch
of stupid stuff. That's not what we do. We're getting
good players who are good people, who come from good families,
and they're being successful on the court, but they're also
being successful in the community and in the classroom. And
(18:41):
that was My message to them was that, you know,
I promise you I'm gonna do it the right way.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I'm gonna do it way that you guys will be
proud of.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
And I you know, I'm very proud of that that
part of what we've done with the guys we've recruited
and the class of the people that we have around us.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
That first year was it like did it go as plan?
And if not, were you prepared for those those slings
and arrow was coming at you and at your program
and maybe some of the ups and downs of that
first year?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Did how did you handle that?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (19:14):
So the year before I got there, they won four games,
and I think my first year we won twenty two
or twenty three, So it was a big increase in wins.
But I think that there was a lot of stress
and there was a lot of issues. And I mean
I brought I brought three Division one transfers in that
year in a national JC transfer and all four of
those guys ended up being first team All Conference players.
(19:37):
We finished second in the league to saddle Back and Andy.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
But it was it was tumultuous, you know, it was
it was not easy.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
I think that, like we talked about off the court
stuff was stressful, just managing the team and managing the
personalities and the parents and not to get too far
ahead but back I think that kind of led me
in my second year where it even became.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
A little bit more of that.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
And my second year we lost in the state championship
game at the Buzzer, and that team was really good.
It might have been one of my most talented teams.
And I just my wife and I just had our
first son. We lost up north in Livermore to San
Diego City, and I got on I got in the
car with her. The team got on the bus, and
(20:26):
I got in the car with her and I just
said to her, I can't. I cannot continue to do
this like we got. I gotta fix the character. I
gotta fix what we're doing here. I got to get
better people, better families, better everything around me, more support
from the campus, more assistant coaching support. Like there was
(20:49):
just a it was a come to Jesus moment of
like if I do it like this forever, I'll be
out of it quick. And I gotta I have to
kind of recalibrate. Yeah, everybody saw, oh Perry's in the
state chain which the game is. The second year, you know,
what a great job he's doing. And I remember just
going back and evaluating and saying, you know, the basketball
guard basketball gods didn't want us to win. You know,
(21:10):
I say that to our guys, the basketball gods of
you know, did we go about it really the right
way where our guys really putting in the right work
and the right energy. I didn't think they were, And
so we kind of needed to recalibrate after that year.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
What you're talking about is culture in a program.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, and you had the talent, obviously you had the success,
but the culture wasn't there. What I'm interested what did
you do then after that year or two and having
that that light bulb go off about having to build culture?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
What did you then implement? What what then change for
you in your program?
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Just I think the primary thing was the character of
the individual that we were going to recruit. There was
one guy in particular that that kind of changed our deal,
and that was a kid named Roderick McCobb. Roderick was
a CF Player of the Year out of Colony High School,
and I was connected to a lot of his people
and just getting to know Roderick through the recruitment process,
(22:04):
I realized, Wow, this guy is a really good dude
and really special individual, and I think he could be
a leader within our program and.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
A really high character guy. And so.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
We got him committed, and that next year we kind
of took a step back. You know, we were I
don't know, twenty one and nine or something. Maybe we
didn't make it to the state tournament, but we had
a couple guys sitting out, and we had Roderick and
a couple other guys that are really high character, and
I kind of just felt like, Okay, now we're back.
(22:39):
I've got this culture thing right now, let's go go
for it. And in the following year we won the
state championship in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And that was roderick sophomore year.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Is it Is it hard?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I mean, as a coach, you want to win and
you're talking about balancing winning and having a culture and
eventually it comes together, But initially is it hard to come?
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Man?
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I can grab a kid here and I know he's
gonna help me on the court, but maybe it's not
a good fit for my program. On what I'm trying
to do is that I imagine it's got to be
hard because your mind's telling you your heart's telling you
kind of to do two different things with your program.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Right.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yeah, I've been taught a lesson by some mentors, and
that lesson is, it's not about the kids you don't.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Get, it's about the kids you do get.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Right, And like you may miss on a talent to recruit,
but some guys you just don't want. It's just not
gonna help you win. And we are so good now
at just saying no, you know, bring.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
A kid on a visit.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
We had kid last year on a visit, really talented guy,
just the worst visit ever. Just we just we just afterwards,
I looked at my assistant coaches and I just said,
you know, we're not We're not going on him.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
And he was the he was everybody's top recruit.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
Everybody in the in the state was going after him,
and and everybody thought we were going to happen.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
If we wanted to have them, we would have them, sure,
And we.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Kind of just said, nah, we'll go get somebody else.
And that worked out a lot better for us than
a different him and where he ended up.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Building a culture.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Winning is part of what you do at your level,
but also getting kids maybe to the next level if
that's what they're obviously trying to pursue. And I know
that's something you take a lot of pride in. You've
had thirty nine guys move on to four year institutions,
getting fourteen players who have gone on to D one scholarships.
I know that's important for you, it's for the players.
It's important as a coach. Are you constantly building relationships
(24:39):
with those D one, D two, D three coaches out there?
And how important is that then to have that kind
of communication pipeline when you have a player who maybe's
under the radar, or a player at the JT level
that's not getting that national attention that you think, hey,
I know we can play the next level, whatever the
level of that b and be yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
I think that goes back to our original discussion about
honesty and really just having honest conversations and honest relationships.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
With coaches at the four year level.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
I really believe that, like in my in my years here,
every guy that should be a Division one player is
signed Division one, right, Like, there's nobody that's been here
that should be a Division one player that didn't get
signed Division one.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
You know, we we don't over hype our guys. We
just and we also try to look for the right
fit for our guys.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I don't try to I don't try to plug a
you know, plug him into places that they don't fit.
I think that that would be that would be a
disservice to the player and to that coach. So yeah,
having those relationships, but also I think that the way
that we run our program is appealing to Division one
schools is saying, Okay, that kid's been coached, he's been
(25:48):
he's been yelled at, he's had Perry screaming at him
and making him jump stop or making him, you know,
play with his teammates. And you know, you don't get
recruited out of the junior college level. You know, the
Division one school aren't recruiting you at this level to
come and shoot the ball twenty times, right, You're not.
You're not leaving here to go to Long Beach State
to shoot the ball twenty times.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Right.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
You have to be able to know how you fit
into an offense or fit into a program. So we
try to make sure all our guys understand that and
do their best to fit in here so that when
they go to the next level, they'll be in a
they'll be able to fit in and get on the floor.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I want to ask you about your coaching philosophy eat
at a young age, when you become a young head
coach in too now, how much is it borrowed, kind
of grab from different places from as you mentioned, your
dad coached it for a long time, and other coaches
and mentors as you were playing, and then as an
assistant coach at saddleback. Well, you think about it now,
(26:45):
how much did you kind of borrow from all of
them to make who you are as a coach.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
I borrought a ton obviously from my father. My father
coached this hard growing up, but he coach us with love.
My friends that are still my friends to this day.
Still every time they see my dad, they go and
give him a hug and they love to see him.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
He was.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
He was somebody who believed in the team aspect of
the game and the fundamentals and and playing the game
the right way, defending rebounds, sharing the ball, and then
from an exit and those standpoint I just turned. I
learned a ton from Andy Ground, especially on the defensive
side of the ball. You know, I Andy has this
this this formula for you know, building his defense, and
(27:36):
it starts on the on the first or the first
day of the second week of practice, and it starts
with your defensive stance and you build it up from there.
And it's a daunting task, it really is. Every year
to do it. But if you don't do it, you're
setting yourself up for failure. And I don't know how
many people have ever really put the time into learning
it from Andy, but we do it every year, and
(27:57):
I think and I always text him every year and
I just always say, this is daunting, but I know
we got to do it. So learning, you know, just
the defensive fundamentals and the defensive schemes because that's kind
of where we hang our hat.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
We're always one of the top defensive teams in the state.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
And then offensively, you know, I I'm.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Not the same team every year.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Offensively, I really try to play to our strengths as
a roster. I think that one thing you know, for
your schools now at this point in time, with their
rosters constantly in flux, I think that you need to
be malleable about how you go about running offense. And
you can't just be the same system every year. Now,
(28:41):
if you're Alabama or Duke or you get to get
to pick what players you want and how they fit. Sure, yeah, okay, sure,
but you know, for me, I don't always get to choose,
you know, the guy that I want.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
So I have to be able to.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Change from year to year with some core tenants about
you know, how we move the ball, how we space,
and you know, we jump stop and we play under
control and we and we try to limit turnovers and
limit mistakes. And you know, in order to beat us,
you have to beat us. We're not going to beat ourselves. Yeah,
and so I've learned a lot, you know through that.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
All Right, You're you're done playing.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
You're getting as an assistant coach, and I think the
timeline works out right if I'm correct. You also pursue
your Masters and coach Athletics Administration degree from Concordia University.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
You're vine while you're at saddleback. Yes, as an.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Assistant right, yes, yes? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Process for you?
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yeah, you know, it was a it was a tremendous
experience for me. I learned a lot, you know, the
school work mostly online I was so excited because the
school work was finally like something that I wanted to do,
something that I that was really geared towards what my
profession was. I remember having Coach Hamrose class in purpose
(29:58):
in person. I learned a ton from But I think
the most rewarding thing, or the thing that helped me
the most, was my final master's portfolio, my project I
did that.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Rhiner Wolf was my overseer of that.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
And it's funny because Reiner Wolf coached my older two
brothers in high school and I went to Reinol Wolf's
camps when I was seven eight years old, so I've
known him and he's known my family forever.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
And I remember, right, I.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Think it's eighty six or eighty eight pages, and it's
a it's a master's portfolio, and it's my final project
and the title of it is building a success building
a successful college basketball program. And it's eighty eight pages
ins and outs of everything that I would have done
or that I would do.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
To build a program.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
And I kid you not, every summer I go back
and I read it and I just I do that
to just remind myself, why are you doing this?
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Why did you get into this who are you? What
are you going to be?
Speaker 4 (31:07):
And I'm serious, Like I could share that with you
right now and you would be like, God, that's the
guy I just interviewed. Like I've pretty much held to
a t who I wanted to be when I was
twenty five when I was doing that, about making it
bigger than basketball, keeping character at the forefront, how we
play style, toughness and competitiveness, and how I build my staff.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
It's been.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
It was really an eye opening experience and a rewarding experience.
And I think Ryaner for that, and I think the
Master's program because I don't you know, I would have
never done that if.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I wasn't in the Master's program.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
And getting that master's and having this job now because
of that Master's has been a godsend.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Where do you see yourself in a few years as
you get into a year, let's say you're fifteen, as
a head coach, is it still a desired to maybe
move on to a different school, a different level, or
where you're at, where you're comfortable, where you've been successful,
a good spot for you.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
I get asked this question all the time, and I
give different answers to different people. But since this is
a public radio interview or something, I'll tell you about
my answer. No, But I'm just I'm thankful and I
love my current life. I have a wife and four children.
(32:32):
I love living word Placentia, right next to Fullerton. I
love living here. I love being instructor on campus. I
love Fullerton College.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
It's been a very.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Rewarding place for me, and if I coach here the
rest of my life, I think I'll be happy. That
being said, I'm very, very competitive, and I believe in
myself and my ability, and I would love the opportunity
(33:02):
to be a head Division one coach. That has always
been my dream and that has always been something I
really want to do. It hasn't left me. It still
is my dream and still something I want to do.
But I'm not going to be I'm not going to
chase something that doesn't fit me and who I am
and what my family and so when the right time comes,
(33:25):
I'll know it. I think earlier in my career I
was trying to be a little bit more aggressive about
getting out of here, and now having four kids obviously
that complicates things.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
But I've been blessed.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Like the Darius record song, all the ones you don't
get or all the all the prayers you don't get. Like,
there's a lot of times where I thought, hey, I
want to I want this job, I want to go,
I want to go, and then I don't get it.
And then I sit back and go, thank God I
didn't get that job. Thank God I'm still right here.
I love my staff, I love this this area and
this place, so I'm happy. But at some point in time,
(33:59):
hopefully something comes up that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Well, Perry, you remind me a lot of a guy
who I got to know when he was done playing
in college and got into coaching, and he was under
Loud Olsen right away.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
And that's Josh Passingers now at UNLV.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
And I see the fire, I see the energy, I
see the youthfulness you're still in you. And I was like,
the entire time I'm talking to I'm like, you remind
me of Josh Pastor so much. And I mean, I
love catching up with you, love hearing your story, love
what you're doing at Fullerton.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
And all the success you have.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
I know the listeners enjoyed it, and how important it
is for you to have culture while winning is something
I think is important, especially in this day and age
when success and winning is what people see and they
can get, you know, overlooked a lot. The culture and
the right way to do it and how to build
a proper program sometimes gets pushed to the side just
to chase that championship for a year or instant success.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
So love what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
I know you got big things ahead of you wherever
you're gonna be in the next few years, and you college.
Just don't forget the little people back here in southern
California when you're off coach, And thank you so much
for the time.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, thanks, Tim, I appreciate you. Well.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
There he goes Perry Webster, head coach at Fullerton College
at decade now as the head coach since he was
hired at the age of twenty six, six time Conference
Coach of the Year, four time State Coach of the Year,
a Master's in Coaching Athletics Administration graduate back in twenty
thirteen when he was assistant coach at Saddleback College.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
He's been at Fullerton.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
College now for the last ten years doing great things,
winning state championships and sending kids on to the next
level in college basketball.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Thanks to Perry.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Great to hear his story, his coaching philosophy, and how
culture was an important thing for him that he had
to learn in his first years as a head coach
at Fuller teen College.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Hope you enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
To find out more about the Masters in Coaching Athletics
Administration program, go to CUI dot edu slash coaching that
CUI dot edu slash coaching, find out about all the
different start times throughout the year and if the program
is the right fit for you in your career path.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Thanks to Coach Webster for joining us.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Thanks to you for listening and watching episode seventy nine
of the Masters in Coaching podcast and now in the books.
Until next time, Tim Kate saying so long everybody,
At the age of twenty six, he was hired as
the head coach at Fullerton College. He's the only person
to win a state championship at the juco level as
a player, an assistant, and a head coach. He is
Perry Webster and he joins us now on episode seventy
nine of the Masters in Coaching podcast. Let's Go Well,
(00:24):
welcome into episode seventy nine yes of the Masters in
Coaching Podcast here on iHeartRadio wherever you are watching, downloading, listening,
and viewing. We appreciate that we are so excited to
talk to this week's guests. He just finished his ninth
season as the head coach ten years at Fullerton College.
When he started, he was twenty six years old and
(00:45):
one of the youngest coaches in all of California at
the collegiate level. Six time Conference Coach of the Year,
four time State Coach of the Year. He's also a
graduate of the Masters in Coaching Athletics Administration Program back
in twenty thirteen. He is Perry Webster and joins us
now here on the Masters and Coaching podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Harry, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm good. I like your energy. You bring a lot
of energy to me. This morning. I need that well.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I feel like I got a rise to the occasion.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Coach, I know you're a high energy guy when you're
out there on the court with your team. First off,
this season, how did it go for you guys at
Fullerton College?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, we won thirty games, went thirty and four.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Unfortunately a couple weeks ago we lost in the state
championship game, but you know, not going to hang our heads.
Really successful season, I thought got a lot out of
our team. Won a league championship, won a league tournament championship.
We were the number one seed in the Southern California
playoffs for the fourth straight year, had the Conference MVP,
the Conference Defensive MVP, and four other guys were All Conference.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So a lot of awards and accolades, a lot of success.
It was a good year.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
How do you maintain that success every single year at
coach at the JC level and it's turning it into
that level at the Division one level as well with
nil every year your roster can look different, bringing guys
in on a year to year basis, and then you know,
thankfully seeing them go off to and do things at
the next level. How hard is that for you to
(02:11):
coach year to year basically.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
I it's funny because I get asked this a lot
now by a lot of Division one, Division two coaches
because they're dealing with the turmoil of the transfer portal.
For me, it's really all I've ever known, because I've
coached at the JC level as an assistant and head
coach the last twelve thirteen years. So there's a few
key things I think in order to be successful. I
think you have to have some kind of keeping your roster,
(02:40):
some guys within your roster that are staying year to year.
They don't need to be your upper echelon top guys,
but if you can keep your culture from year to year.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
We've used the gray.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Shirts and the red shirts over the years to get
guys accustomed to how we do everything on a daily basis,
how we run to practice, how we run a scout,
how it looks in the weight room, how it looks
on the campus, outlooks in study hall, just so they know.
And then and then we kind of bring other guys
in that are going to be here for ten months.
We call it a ten month track. You're you're here
to ball out, you know, try to be all league,
(03:13):
try to win as many games as you can and
then get a scholarship out you know, I think the
message for us every day to our team and to
our program is we know you want to get out
and we support that, but you have to enjoy every
minute here. You have to spend every every day trying
to prepare to be a better player here and then
(03:35):
everything else will take care of itself.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Winning. Winning is extremely important for.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
You to get a scholarship out here, and so that
message is delivered to those guys every day.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I think it's something that the Division one coaches, as
you mentioned, Division two coaches are are learning. I know
Norfolk head coach Robert Jones was just talking about it
and said, hey, we're a D one team, but we're
a mid major and there's no way we're going to
survive with the NIA and getting poached every year.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And you know, he.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Said, we're basically a glorified JC right now because of
the year to year, our best guy off to the
next team, off to the highest bidder at the NIL
and the Division one level. For you now, I think
this opens up the JC world even more coach to recruiting,
to opportunities for players is that something you could sell
even more to potential student athletes that want to come
(04:24):
into your program for that As you said the ten months, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
I mean we've taken a ton of transfers over the
year since I've been here. We've always kind of hung
our hat on bringing in Division one or Division two
transfers that are going to be doing that ten month deal.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
You know, I think for coach.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Jones or any of those guys the low mind major level,
as many guys as they're losing that are transferring.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Up, there's also guys that are up that.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Need to transfer down right, And so you as a
head coach finding the right niche of guys that are
out of place and doing your evaluations early, having a
good good high school evaluations and knowing I mean, there's
plenty of times where my assistant coaches and I we
see a kid is signing a scholarship somewhere and we go, okay,
(05:09):
that's keeping on them. In twelve months, you know, we're
going to be after him because he's probably not ready
for that, He's probably he probably shouldn't be going there,
And and guys are older and you look at Auburn
starting lineup, you look at a lot of these guys
starting lineup. They're starting twenty two, twenty three, twenty four
year old and that's how we want to be too.
We want to start twenty twenty one, twenty two year olds,
(05:30):
and we do a lot of the time. So that's
because we're taking guys on the bounce that they're coming back,
and you know, we are just preaching opportunity.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Some guys are getting really.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Upset because they're somewhere and they're just sitting the bench,
and all they really want to do is just get
back to loving the game and having opportunity to play
this kid's game.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Right, we played it our whole lives.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
So we are always preaching, hey, come here, be a dude.
You're gonna play twenty five thirty minutes and then and
then you go back, but let's come back and get
kind of your sweat back and get your confidence back,
and then you can move on to the next deal
for you guys.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
This year, you had a player on your team.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
And I bring it up because I've known Adrian wolf
Sharowski for about twelve almost thirteen years in the radio world.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
He was an NBA insider.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
We used before he became WOJ and all the WOJ
bombs that he had, and now he's at Saint Bonaventure
as an essence, their general manager, and I know, all
the way on the East Coast, he found you out
here at Fullerton College and found one of your guys,
and now he's off to play Division one basketball, right.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Yeah, No, it was a crazy situation how it all
came about.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
You know, we got Big Joe.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Big Joe Grahovic had kind of been floating around Orange
County for a few years and you know, there were
a lot of jcs that tried to get him, an
aigh schools that tried to get him, and he kind
of had just given up on himself. And we got
a tip on him, my assistant coach did, and we
got him up for a visit, and you know, our
message to Joe was, hey, man, you stick to this.
(07:01):
We're going to change your life. It's all going to
happen for the better. You know, just you just got
to dig in and you got to do it. There's
no more excuses, there's no more you know, coaches too
hard or this situation is too hard. Just you know,
you're old enough, you're mature enough. Now let's just dig
in and do it. And credit to Joe. I mean,
as talented as he is, as good of a player
as he is, he's more coachable than any than anybody
(07:21):
like he He was like a sponge. He came with
a great energy every day. So I got a text
from from WOJ in the fall, and you know, I
knew who ooj was. Obviously we all know basketball, people
know who og is. And the first text that I
got from immedia that I go, this dude must have
heard about Big Joe because Joe had kind of just
burst onto the scene, played his first time in front
(07:43):
of college coaches.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
And Woj is.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
My Joe, and my experience with Woj is this is
just a normal person, a normal guy.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
He treats people well, he's not full of it.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
He speaks honestly and transparently, and that's how I am,
and that's how I've always communicated and talked to people.
And I think sometimes that, you know, honesty and transparency
sometimes can rub people the wrong way. It's almost like
people sometimes want you to be full of nonsense and
and that's not how I am, and that's not how
WOJ is, and that's not how Joe is, so I think,
you know, we we developed a strong rapport with each
(08:22):
other and everything Wode said that he was going to do,
He's done everything.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I said to WOJ that I was going to do.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
I've done everything Joe said to WOJ and me that
he was going to do, He's done. And I think
just that combination of everybody being on the same page
and being reliable led to, you know, Joe going out there.
Joe and I flew out there on a red eye.
It was a sponsored trip by a by Baller TV.
It was a part of an NIL package for Joe.
(08:50):
Sandy Pingarani came with us. He's the owner of Baller TV,
or one of the co owners, and we did the
trip and Joe was leaning there the whole time. But
I said to Joe, I say, hey man, you gotta
go and you got to see it, and you got
to be in the snow. He never been in snow before,
he never been on a plane before. So I say,
you got to experience all this before you commit. You
got to go and you got to experience this and
(09:12):
see it. And WOJ agreed. You know, there's no point
in him committing to something. You can't really do yeah,
And Joe loved it and we had a great trip.
Me and San Deep had a great trip and we
came back and I made Joe sleep on it for
a week and then he made the call.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
That's awesome. Awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Perry Webster is our guest head coach at Fullerton College.
Before we go back to when you got into coaching
and how you got to Fullerton College quickly, you said
it a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I wanted to bring it up before I forget.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
You talked about being honest with your basketball players, and
I think that's important in the era we're in in
athletics at any level, really, because Mick Cronin, who always
talks about this and sometimes it rubs people the wrong
way because of how honest he is as a head
coach in twenty twenty five, because some coaches will just
(10:01):
tell you the fluff and just want to get you there,
and you know, they just tell you what you want
to hear, and you very much seem like Coach Cronin
and that you know, I'm gonna tell you the truth,
whether it's it's good or bad, for you take it
how you want, it's the truth and it's gonna help
you in the long run.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
How important is that?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And I think, you know, coaching guys at the JC level,
you have to be honest with them, right because some
of these guys the last ditch effort. Some of these
guys need to know where they stand going to the
next level, and they need to be coached at a
certain way and they need either hear the truth at
that point in their life. And I think it's a
refreshing coach to hear you be like that, like a
Mike Cronin and there's other coaches that are in this
(10:39):
day of era of athletics, just honest with these guys.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
No, that's like my number one. My number one deal
with my staff and with my players is we're gonna
be honest. And we tell them that in the recruiting visit.
We say to them, Hey, you know, it's gonna be honest.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
You may not like it.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Some days you're not gonna like what you hear, but
at least you're gonna know where you're dan. There's never
gonna be any confusion about But how things are. I
come from a strong family. I have a mom and dad.
I have three brothers. You know, so there are four
boys in the house growing up, and uh, we all
are protective of each other. To this day, we're all
(11:17):
best friends. And I think my honesty approach came from
home from my mom and my dad and and learning
how to handle each other, and learning how to fight,
not physically, but learning how to argue and and and
move move forward and continue to love. And when you
have two older brothers like I have, like you know,
there there's no bs, and you know they're gonna tell
(11:39):
They're gonna tell me exactly how they feel, whether I
liked it or not. And you know, I've kind of
taken that on with my players. I have seen the
other side of it. I've seen the coaches that that
you know, fluff and and it's just not a It's
just not the way.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I ever want to be.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
I think that when when coach coming and recruit my guys,
I point that out to my guys.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I say, hey, you know.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Do you feel he's being honest with you? Do you
feel do you feel honesty transparency from him? Because you
need that. And our guys as they're leaving here, they
have their radar up. They can tell when the coach
is giving them some bs, and they don't want to
hear it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And so.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Honesty is a virtue. Honesty is a virtue, And it's
hard to be honest. It's hard to tell the truth.
But I'd much rather tell the truth and get myself
caught up in lies. I'm not smart enough.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
To be a liar, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
I'm not smart enough to be able to have all
these different lies in my head that I have to
own up to or try to pretend like I remember,
you know, it's easier for me to just keep things
straight and honest and in my relationship with my wife
and my relationship with.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
My kids and everything. So it is what it is.
But that's how I'll always be. I'll never change from that.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
I love it. And here you are. You know you've
mentioned it.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Ten years at Fullerton College, nine seasons. You got the
job when you were young. I mean you go back
to twenty fifteen when you got the job, even go
back before that, Perry. I mean, you're a player, you
played at the JC level. You go to cal State
Fullerton when you got done playing. Yeah, did you know
coaching is my next step? Or where is there a
(13:18):
transition period? Or is there a period of like, all right,
maybe something else outside of basketball when you got done playing.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
What was your idea at that time?
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Yeah, So I knew I was going to be a
coach my whole life. Like since I was a kid,
I knew I wanted to be a coach. My dad
coached me growing up. It's just always been in my
blood to be a coach. I love being part of
a team. I love I love competing. Those are the
you know, those are things I love. So my decision
after I graduated from cal State Fullerton was how do
(13:49):
I want to get into coaching?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
What do I want to do? What level do I
want to get to?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
And my whole thought as a twenty four year old
at that time was just like, go where you're going
to have importance, Go where you're going to be able
to get on the floor and coach, and and go
where you're.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Gonna be able to learn. And so for me, that
was easy.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
That was go back to saddle back and work for
Andy Brown, because Andy is a tremendous coach and a
legend at this level, but really a legend across the
country at any level because he's so detail oriented and
he's so good especially on the defensive side of the ball,
and he won so many games and so and also
he was a.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
He was a really good recruiter. He really knew knew
how to get players.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And so going back there, I was able to learn
every part of coaching. It wasn't I wasn't put into
a box. You know, I wasn't going to go be
a director of operations and schedule travel and and you know,
if I'm lucky, you get to rebound for the guys. No,
it was I was in the thick of things doing scouts,
(14:57):
and I was helping coach make decisions on who should play,
on what the practice plan should look like. And so
I learned how to coach, and I learned the whole thing.
And I thought, I think those three years at Saddleback
were the best possible years I could have done right
out of college. We were on the same wavelength, to like,
(15:18):
we saw the game the same way and we still do.
So it just was a natural fit for me. And
I think you know, some people you know recommend Hey,
you know, if you want to be at the Division
one level, we got to start the Division one level.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You want to be the Division two level. We got
to start the Division two level.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I didn't think to myself that at thirty six I
was going to be a JC coach. I thought to
myself that, you know, I would do the thing at
saddle back. And then I tried to get up to
a Division one staff, but the Fulletson job came open
and I went for it, and here we are.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
How did you know, after a couple of seasons as
an assistant at saddleback, how did you know the time
was right when that Fullerton College job was Yeah, just
some of you fell. Did you think, Okay, now I'm
ready to take that next step? What led you to
make that decision?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Then?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
I don't want this to come off as arrogant, but
I'll just you know, I'll just say that in twenty fifteen,
my third year at Saddleback, we won the state championship.
I recruited the best players on that team. I did
every single scout I called the offensive sets. Andy gave
me the reins my third year there. He said here
it is, and he let me do it, and he
(16:29):
kind of just oversaw it. And so I had all
the confidence in the world that I could go and
be successful at Fullerton after those after that year because
we were like I think we were thirty two and
one or thirty thirty three and two or something like that.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
We had an unbelievable year.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
We had Division one players and I just I just
knew right then and there, like there was an opportunity
for me to go be a Division one assistant that
year too, there was kind of two jobs I was
involved with, and I just knew, like, I'm ready to
be a head coach.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
I could do this.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
I'm young, but like, who you know who wouldn't kill
to go be a full time instructor and head basketball
coach at Fullerton JC as a twenty six year old.
And so I went into the interview room and I
went with full confidence, and by the grace of God,
they hired me.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
What was your initial thought about the program when you
took over, when you go into that meeting, Well, if
you athletic department, what was your pitch, like, I can
get this program to this level? Now, this is my
goal the first year, my goal the first three to
five years. What kind of plan did you have going
into that first year?
Speaker 4 (17:39):
Well, I just told, you know, I just told them
straight up, I said, look, you know, I don't think
anybody in this interview. I'm twenty six, you know, I
remember saying this is the elephant in the room. Like
I'm twenty six. The other people in this are ten
fifteen years older than me. I'm twenty six years old.
But none of them have two state championship brings at
this level behind them. None of them have. None of
them have been in this conferen for instance, coaching this
(18:00):
conference and recruited conference players of the year in this
conference or state players of the year. I've done all that,
So you know, take me for what I am, don't
take me for what my age is. And I think
the you know, the primary message to them, and and
I think we've done a good job of it is
our guys are not just gonna be good basketball players.
(18:21):
It's not just you know, hired guns that are gonna
be good basketball players and gonna run amuck on campus
and and get themselves into trouble and do a bunch
of stupid stuff. That's not what we do. We're getting
good players who are good people, who come from good families,
and they're being successful on the court, but they're also
being successful in the community and in the classroom. And
(18:41):
that was My message to them was that, you know,
I promise you I'm gonna do it the right way.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I'm gonna do it way that you guys will be
proud of.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
And I you know, I'm very proud of that that
part of what we've done with the guys we've recruited
and the class of the people that we have around us.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
That first year was it like did it go as plan?
And if not, were you prepared for those those slings
and arrow was coming at you and at your program
and maybe some of the ups and downs of that
first year?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Did how did you handle that?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (19:14):
So the year before I got there, they won four games,
and I think my first year we won twenty two
or twenty three, So it was a big increase in wins.
But I think that there was a lot of stress
and there was a lot of issues. And I mean
I brought I brought three Division one transfers in that
year in a national JC transfer and all four of
those guys ended up being first team All Conference players.
(19:37):
We finished second in the league to saddle Back and Andy.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
But it was it was tumultuous, you know, it was
it was not easy.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
I think that, like we talked about off the court
stuff was stressful, just managing the team and managing the
personalities and the parents and not to get too far
ahead but back I think that kind of led me
in my second year where it even became.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
A little bit more of that.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
And my second year we lost in the state championship
game at the Buzzer, and that team was really good.
It might have been one of my most talented teams.
And I just my wife and I just had our
first son. We lost up north in Livermore to San
Diego City, and I got on I got in the
car with her. The team got on the bus, and
(20:26):
I got in the car with her and I just
said to her, I can't. I cannot continue to do
this like we got. I gotta fix the character. I
gotta fix what we're doing here. I got to get
better people, better families, better everything around me, more support
from the campus, more assistant coaching support. Like there was
(20:49):
just a it was a come to Jesus moment of
like if I do it like this forever, I'll be
out of it quick. And I gotta I have to
kind of recalibrate. Yeah, everybody saw, oh Perry's in the
state chain which the game is. The second year, you know,
what a great job he's doing. And I remember just
going back and evaluating and saying, you know, the basketball
guard basketball gods didn't want us to win. You know,
(21:10):
I say that to our guys, the basketball gods of
you know, did we go about it really the right
way where our guys really putting in the right work
and the right energy. I didn't think they were, And
so we kind of needed to recalibrate after that year.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
What you're talking about is culture in a program.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, and you had the talent, obviously you had the success,
but the culture wasn't there. What I'm interested what did
you do then after that year or two and having
that that light bulb go off about having to build culture?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
What did you then implement? What what then change for
you in your program?
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Just I think the primary thing was the character of
the individual that we were going to recruit. There was
one guy in particular that that kind of changed our deal,
and that was a kid named Roderick McCobb. Roderick was
a CF Player of the Year out of Colony High School,
and I was connected to a lot of his people
and just getting to know Roderick through the recruitment process,
(22:04):
I realized, Wow, this guy is a really good dude
and really special individual, and I think he could be
a leader within our program and.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
A really high character guy. And so.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
We got him committed, and that next year we kind
of took a step back. You know, we were I
don't know, twenty one and nine or something. Maybe we
didn't make it to the state tournament, but we had
a couple guys sitting out, and we had Roderick and
a couple other guys that are really high character, and
I kind of just felt like, Okay, now we're back.
(22:39):
I've got this culture thing right now, let's go go
for it. And in the following year we won the
state championship in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And that was roderick sophomore year.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Is it Is it hard?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I mean, as a coach, you want to win and
you're talking about balancing winning and having a culture and
eventually it comes together, But initially is it hard to come?
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Man?
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I can grab a kid here and I know he's
gonna help me on the court, but maybe it's not
a good fit for my program. On what I'm trying
to do is that I imagine it's got to be
hard because your mind's telling you your heart's telling you
kind of to do two different things with your program.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Right.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yeah, I've been taught a lesson by some mentors, and
that lesson is, it's not about the kids you don't.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Get, it's about the kids you do get.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Right, And like you may miss on a talent to recruit,
but some guys you just don't want. It's just not
gonna help you win. And we are so good now
at just saying no, you know, bring.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
A kid on a visit.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
We had kid last year on a visit, really talented guy,
just the worst visit ever. Just we just we just afterwards,
I looked at my assistant coaches and I just said,
you know, we're not We're not going on him.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
And he was the he was everybody's top recruit.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
Everybody in the in the state was going after him,
and and everybody thought we were going to happen.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
If we wanted to have them, we would have them, sure,
And we.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Kind of just said, nah, we'll go get somebody else.
And that worked out a lot better for us than
a different him and where he ended up.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Building a culture.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Winning is part of what you do at your level,
but also getting kids maybe to the next level if
that's what they're obviously trying to pursue. And I know
that's something you take a lot of pride in. You've
had thirty nine guys move on to four year institutions,
getting fourteen players who have gone on to D one scholarships.
I know that's important for you, it's for the players.
It's important as a coach. Are you constantly building relationships
(24:39):
with those D one, D two, D three coaches out there?
And how important is that then to have that kind
of communication pipeline when you have a player who maybe's
under the radar, or a player at the JT level
that's not getting that national attention that you think, hey,
I know we can play the next level, whatever the
level of that b and be yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
I think that goes back to our original discussion about
honesty and really just having honest conversations and honest relationships.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
With coaches at the four year level.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
I really believe that, like in my in my years here,
every guy that should be a Division one player is
signed Division one, right, Like, there's nobody that's been here
that should be a Division one player that didn't get
signed Division one.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
You know, we we don't over hype our guys. We
just and we also try to look for the right
fit for our guys.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I don't try to I don't try to plug a
you know, plug him into places that they don't fit.
I think that that would be that would be a
disservice to the player and to that coach. So yeah,
having those relationships, but also I think that the way
that we run our program is appealing to Division one
schools is saying, Okay, that kid's been coached, he's been
(25:48):
he's been yelled at, he's had Perry screaming at him
and making him jump stop or making him, you know,
play with his teammates. And you know, you don't get
recruited out of the junior college level. You know, the
Division one school aren't recruiting you at this level to
come and shoot the ball twenty times, right, You're not.
You're not leaving here to go to Long Beach State
to shoot the ball twenty times.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Right.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
You have to be able to know how you fit
into an offense or fit into a program. So we
try to make sure all our guys understand that and
do their best to fit in here so that when
they go to the next level, they'll be in a
they'll be able to fit in and get on the floor.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I want to ask you about your coaching philosophy eat
at a young age, when you become a young head
coach in too now, how much is it borrowed, kind
of grab from different places from as you mentioned, your
dad coached it for a long time, and other coaches
and mentors as you were playing, and then as an
assistant coach at saddleback. Well, you think about it now,
(26:45):
how much did you kind of borrow from all of
them to make who you are as a coach.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
I borrought a ton obviously from my father. My father
coached this hard growing up, but he coach us with love.
My friends that are still my friends to this day.
Still every time they see my dad, they go and
give him a hug and they love to see him.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
He was.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
He was somebody who believed in the team aspect of
the game and the fundamentals and and playing the game
the right way, defending rebounds, sharing the ball, and then
from an exit and those standpoint I just turned. I
learned a ton from Andy Ground, especially on the defensive
side of the ball. You know, I Andy has this
this this formula for you know, building his defense, and
(27:36):
it starts on the on the first or the first
day of the second week of practice, and it starts
with your defensive stance and you build it up from there.
And it's a daunting task, it really is. Every year
to do it. But if you don't do it, you're
setting yourself up for failure. And I don't know how
many people have ever really put the time into learning
it from Andy, but we do it every year, and
(27:57):
I think and I always text him every year and
I just always say, this is daunting, but I know
we got to do it. So learning, you know, just
the defensive fundamentals and the defensive schemes because that's kind
of where we hang our hat.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
We're always one of the top defensive teams in the state.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
And then offensively, you know, I I'm.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Not the same team every year.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Offensively, I really try to play to our strengths as
a roster. I think that one thing you know, for
your schools now at this point in time, with their
rosters constantly in flux, I think that you need to
be malleable about how you go about running offense. And
you can't just be the same system every year. Now,
(28:41):
if you're Alabama or Duke or you get to get
to pick what players you want and how they fit. Sure, yeah, okay, sure,
but you know, for me, I don't always get to choose,
you know, the guy that I want.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
So I have to be able to.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Change from year to year with some core tenants about
you know, how we move the ball, how we space,
and you know, we jump stop and we play under
control and we and we try to limit turnovers and
limit mistakes. And you know, in order to beat us,
you have to beat us. We're not going to beat ourselves. Yeah,
and so I've learned a lot, you know through that.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
All Right, You're you're done playing.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
You're getting as an assistant coach, and I think the
timeline works out right if I'm correct. You also pursue
your Masters and coach Athletics Administration degree from Concordia University.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
You're vine while you're at saddleback. Yes, as an.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Assistant right, yes, yes? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Process for you?
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yeah, you know, it was a it was a tremendous
experience for me. I learned a lot, you know, the
school work mostly online I was so excited because the
school work was finally like something that I wanted to do,
something that I that was really geared towards what my
profession was. I remember having Coach Hamrose class in purpose
(29:58):
in person. I learned a ton from But I think
the most rewarding thing, or the thing that helped me
the most, was my final master's portfolio, my project I
did that.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Rhiner Wolf was my overseer of that.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
And it's funny because Reiner Wolf coached my older two
brothers in high school and I went to Reinol Wolf's
camps when I was seven eight years old, so I've
known him and he's known my family forever.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
And I remember, right, I.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Think it's eighty six or eighty eight pages, and it's
a it's a master's portfolio, and it's my final project
and the title of it is building a success building
a successful college basketball program. And it's eighty eight pages
ins and outs of everything that I would have done
or that I would do.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
To build a program.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
And I kid you not, every summer I go back
and I read it and I just I do that
to just remind myself, why are you doing this?
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Why did you get into this who are you? What
are you going to be?
Speaker 4 (31:07):
And I'm serious, Like I could share that with you
right now and you would be like, God, that's the
guy I just interviewed. Like I've pretty much held to
a t who I wanted to be when I was
twenty five when I was doing that, about making it
bigger than basketball, keeping character at the forefront, how we
play style, toughness and competitiveness, and how I build my staff.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
It's been.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
It was really an eye opening experience and a rewarding experience.
And I think Ryaner for that, and I think the
Master's program because I don't you know, I would have
never done that if.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I wasn't in the Master's program.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
And getting that master's and having this job now because
of that Master's has been a godsend.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Where do you see yourself in a few years as
you get into a year, let's say you're fifteen, as
a head coach, is it still a desired to maybe
move on to a different school, a different level, or
where you're at, where you're comfortable, where you've been successful,
a good spot for you.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
I get asked this question all the time, and I
give different answers to different people. But since this is
a public radio interview or something, I'll tell you about
my answer. No, But I'm just I'm thankful and I
love my current life. I have a wife and four children.
(32:32):
I love living word Placentia, right next to Fullerton. I
love living here. I love being instructor on campus. I
love Fullerton College.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
It's been a very.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Rewarding place for me, and if I coach here the
rest of my life, I think I'll be happy. That
being said, I'm very, very competitive, and I believe in
myself and my ability, and I would love the opportunity
(33:02):
to be a head Division one coach. That has always
been my dream and that has always been something I
really want to do. It hasn't left me. It still
is my dream and still something I want to do.
But I'm not going to be I'm not going to
chase something that doesn't fit me and who I am
and what my family and so when the right time comes,
(33:25):
I'll know it. I think earlier in my career I
was trying to be a little bit more aggressive about
getting out of here, and now having four kids obviously
that complicates things.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
But I've been blessed.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Like the Darius record song, all the ones you don't
get or all the all the prayers you don't get. Like,
there's a lot of times where I thought, hey, I
want to I want this job, I want to go,
I want to go, and then I don't get it.
And then I sit back and go, thank God I
didn't get that job. Thank God I'm still right here.
I love my staff, I love this this area and
this place, so I'm happy. But at some point in time,
(33:59):
hopefully something comes up that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Well, Perry, you remind me a lot of a guy
who I got to know when he was done playing
in college and got into coaching, and he was under
Loud Olsen right away.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
And that's Josh Passingers now at UNLV.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
And I see the fire, I see the energy, I
see the youthfulness you're still in you. And I was like,
the entire time I'm talking to I'm like, you remind
me of Josh Pastor so much. And I mean, I
love catching up with you, love hearing your story, love
what you're doing at Fullerton.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
And all the success you have.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
I know the listeners enjoyed it, and how important it
is for you to have culture while winning is something
I think is important, especially in this day and age
when success and winning is what people see and they
can get, you know, overlooked a lot. The culture and
the right way to do it and how to build
a proper program sometimes gets pushed to the side just
to chase that championship for a year or instant success.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
So love what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
I know you got big things ahead of you wherever
you're gonna be in the next few years, and you college.
Just don't forget the little people back here in southern
California when you're off coach, And thank you so much
for the time.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, thanks, Tim, I appreciate you. Well.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
There he goes Perry Webster, head coach at Fullerton College
at decade now as the head coach since he was
hired at the age of twenty six, six time Conference
Coach of the Year, four time State Coach of the Year,
a Master's in Coaching Athletics Administration graduate back in twenty
thirteen when he was assistant coach at Saddleback College.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
He's been at Fullerton.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
College now for the last ten years doing great things,
winning state championships and sending kids on to the next
level in college basketball.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Thanks to Perry.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Great to hear his story, his coaching philosophy, and how
culture was an important thing for him that he had
to learn in his first years as a head coach
at Fuller teen College.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Hope you enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
To find out more about the Masters in Coaching Athletics
Administration program, go to CUI dot edu slash coaching that
CUI dot edu slash coaching, find out about all the
different start times throughout the year and if the program
is the right fit for you in your career path.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Thanks to Coach Webster for joining us.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Thanks to you for listening and watching episode seventy nine
of the Masters in Coaching podcast and now in the books.
Until next time, Tim Kate saying so long everybody,
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