October 18, 2024 • 13 mins
Hear from Texas Women's basketball coach Vic Schaefer at the SEC Media Days as he talks about the growth of Madison Booker, the return of Rori Harmon, the additions of a few key players, and the rise of SEC basketball.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Before we hear from Texas women's basketball head coach Vick Schaeffer.
This news broke late in the show yesterday and we
did bring it up on the program, but it's well,
I guess you could use the word bizarre in description.
(00:20):
Tony Bennett, the Virginia men's basketball coach, announced yesterday his
sudden retirement three weeks before the start of the season,
and it threw everybody off. He'd been at the ACC
tip off media day thing before, so it was quite
(00:40):
a stunner for a lot of folks. So we had
a news conference this morning and was asked why now
and all this, and he described the as he called it,
current environment in college sports as one of the driving
forces behind his decision to retire. His quote was the
hardest thing to say is when I looked at myself
(01:02):
and I realized I'm no longer the best coach to
lead this program in this current environment. If you're going
to do it, you got to be all in. If
you do it half hearted, it's not fair to the
university and those young men. So in looking at it,
that's what made me step down. He's been a guy
who for many years has complained about the direction of
college athletics and increased emphasis on the transfer portal and nil,
(01:26):
he said, I think it's right for student athletes to
receive revenue. Please don't mistake me. The game and college
athletics is not in a healthy spot. It's not and
there needs to be change, and it's not going to
go back. I think I was equipped to do the
job here the old way. That's who I am. It's
going to be closer to a professional model. There's got
to be collective bargaining. There has to be a restriction
(01:48):
on the salary pool, there has to be transfer regulation restrictions.
There has to be some limits on the age and
involvement to these young guys. And I worry a lot
about the mental health of the student athletes as all
of this stuff comes down. So he said he actually
originally gave some thought to stepping down when the season
ended last year, and the decided not too, but then
(02:09):
it changed his mind on all of that. There are
some coaches who are better constructed to deal with this.
Nick Saban regularly admits he's not one of the better
constructed guys to deal with this. Dabo Sweeney is raging
against the machine. He's working against transfer portal, so we're
(02:33):
seeing its effect throughout the course of college athletics. If
you talked to Vick Schaeffer, the Texas women's head coach,
he'll tell you that the challenge is certainly there and
he understands what it's like. But he credits having a
youthful staff around is helping to bridge that gap quite
a bit. And he still connects very tightly with his players.
(02:55):
He did so again in talking about them at SEC
Basketball Media Days this week, and he had Madison Booker,
the National Freshman of the Year, with him, and he
had Rory Harmon, who had been a preseason All American
last year a point guard before having the knee injury.
Rory got cleared yesterday, officially got cleared to go full
on with everything, and that was good news. But Vick
(03:16):
was asked what to this point has he not seen
from Madison Booker and what he expects Rory Harmon to
bring back to the team.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
You know, I think last year I saw a little
bit of everything from Madison, you know, as a freshman,
as a young player early in her career. Having that,
we'll be blanket in Rory Harmon. Who's your point guard
running your team. And I said this earlier. I thought,
I thought Rory was really really good last year, was
(03:47):
on pace to have a first team All American season
as well. But I thought she created Madison created a
lot of opportunities for Rory, and of course Rory being
a point guard, she is opportunities for everybody. And then
when Rory went down.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Most of the.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Time, y'all in basketball, when your point guard goes down,
your two guard is who you might lean on. We
went to our three player in Madison. But I knew
after recruiting Madison her entire high school career and knowing
my team that I had last year, Madison Booker was
(04:29):
the answer.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
It wasn't a tryout. That's who was going to be
our point guard.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And while we had some bumps in the road along
the way early, the kid has so much presence for
such a young player. She had tremendous presence on the floor.
She nothing rattled her her first three or four minutes
in that very first game against Baylor, when we only
(04:56):
had three days to get ready, that was the worst.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Of the worst.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
After that, I took her out, and then when we
put her back in, I never saw that again, she
was just she was really ready to embrace the role
that she was in and so you have to give
the kid a ton of credit what she was able
to do leading that team. That team won thirty three games.
(05:23):
In the history of Texas women's basketball, they've only won
more games one time, and that's when they won the
national championship in nineteen eighty six and they were thirty
four to oh But that team would not have been
that if it hadn't have been for Madison Booker embracing
being the point guard. So now you fast forward to
where we are now, Madison Booker. There's nobody more excited
(05:45):
on our team that Rory Harmon's back than Madison Booker
because she wants to go over there and get on
the wing where she's really comfortable, and I just think
that it allows us as a team. We've got a
lot of flexibility there. And we have a special freshman
in Brionna Preston who's going to be an unbelievable point
(06:05):
guard for us.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
But Rory just.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Rory's presence, how hard she plays, the energy that she
plays with permeates through my team every day, every game,
and I think she really is a settling influence on
my entire team, and it gives my team a lot
of confidence. And I ain't know this, it gives her
(06:32):
head coach a lot of confidence to know that we
have her back on the floor leading our team. And
so it's a really good feeling to know we've got
great guard play. You win with guard play in basketball.
You have notes. You can have all the size you
want in the world, but if you don't have guard play,
you got no chance. We've got guard play this year,
(06:55):
and I've got depth at guard play with Brie and
in Jordan Lee to exceptional freshmen. Leilophilia y'all is a monster.
She's gonna be so good. Shay Holly has been the
glue to my program for the last few years. So
(07:16):
I just named off five six guards that they're all
gonna play every night, and they're gonna play a lot,
and they're all gonna impact our team.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
And so.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think our team, our future is in really good
shape at the guard spot. And this year's team, we
finally have some depth. I just haven't had it the
last couple of years. And give those teams credit, they've
learned how to stat a foul trouble and play play
through some issues. But this year's team, we finally have depth.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Those would be obviously the most celebrated returning players to Texas.
There are new faces on this team, among those Michigan
Trends Forer guard Leilophelia, and Vic was asked what he
believes Leyla can bring.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
To this team.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Well, Layla. Layla's is really She's perfect for how we
want to play, how I like to play. She's a
great teammate, she's a great kid. She's tough and competitive.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Man.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I would have loved to have had her for four years.
You know, I'm blessed to get her for one year.
But she just brings so much to the table. She's
she's she's really an aggressive offensive player. She cares defensively.
She's trying to learn a new system, you know, get
a crash course in that. She's had some injuries this
(08:46):
summer which have kind of slowed her, but she's finally
healthy and has really looked and this last week she's
looked really good, like a million dollars and she really
looks good. And I've even played her at some points
because she is really good reading reading Boss Green defense.
So she brings a lot to the table. And you
(09:08):
know she's she can scored all three levels. She's smart,
she's heady, sees the floor extremely well. She's going to
be a great compliment to my other guards. But she
and along with Shay, that's two veterans, two seniors. You know,
we lose Shaley Gonzalez and those two I can plug in.
One of them is going to start, and one of
(09:30):
them is gonna be six, have a chance to be
six Player of the Year because they're that good. And
that's a great, great it's not a problem. I hate
to say that, you know, it's not a problem. It's
a great thing to have. And so again excited about
the opportunity to coach her. And again she's a great
kid man. She's just really, really a perfect fit for us.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Vick was asked then a couple of questions about other coaches,
coaches that he knew coaches have been former assistants or
players under him. One of those is, you'll let me
fee mckun who has been turning around the old miss program,
and he was asked for his thoughts on mckewn.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Well, I think you said it.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I mean where they are today and where they were
then it's way different, you know. And I haven't been
in the league since then, and I've had my own
problems and concerns and my own league that I was
in the kind of and I haven't paid that much attention.
So I know that she was very successful where she
was before she went to Mississippi, and uh, so I
(10:31):
does it surprise me. No, she was very successful where
she was, and I think that obviously, when you finish
in the top four or three years in a row
in this league, you're doing something and h and so again,
the bottom line is it all comes down to recruiting,
you know, for all of us, And uh, I think
she's done.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
A great job.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
And again, we all recruit to a fit, and I
think she's done a great job.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
The secret to our success has been recruiting a fit,
retaining our student athletes, and developing them. And over the
course of time, we've been pretty successful in all three
of those phases. So for her, it doesn't surprise me
at all, and certainly happy for her. I know, I
know that blood feud in that conference in that state,
(11:18):
and I know how that is, and you know, I
lived it for eight years, and there's no middle ground,
and I know the competition and the competitive spirit that
she has as well as Sam Now we had when
I was there.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
It's really special. So I'm really happy for her and
her staff.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
And again that's what happens when you work hard and
you have a plan.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
He also is not surprised at all and seeing what
Johnny Harris, his former assistant who was with him actually
one year in Austin, is starting to do with the
Auburn program to turn in around.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Yeah, no, it's no surprise.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I mean, she was with me, you know, all eight
years in Mississippi State, and you know she's lived it.
She's seen it every day and she was a big
part of the big reason why we were able to
do it. We did, so, you know, when I was
recommending her for that job, there was no question in
my mind she was ready and she could do it.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
And she knows what the recipe is.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
When you start interviewing with people and talking to people
and you've got to take over, there's nothing harder.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
And y'all in this room, you either you should know it.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
If you don't, I don't care what sport it is
in the Southeastern Conference.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
You want to take a dawning task.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Go take over one of the bottom teams in this
league and whatever sports you're going to take over and
try to build it and pass people up.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
It's almost impossible. It's so daunting.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
And so again, she was a big part of what
we did.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
At Mississippi State, and it doesn't surprise me that she's
able to do it at Auburn. And I knew she could.
I knew she would, and she.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Knows what the recipe is, and I'm certainly happy for her.
And so it's we were together a long time. We
had a lot of we had a lot of good
times together. Not enough time of the day for me
to share them, but we had a lot of good
times together.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
All right.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
There it is some more from Vick Schaeffer there coming
up next, we bring you today He's edition of Inconceivable
of Friday edition on sports Radio AM thirteen under the
zone of the iHeartRadio app.
Before we hear from Texas women's basketball head coach Vick Schaeffer.
This news broke late in the show yesterday and we
did bring it up on the program, but it's well,
I guess you could use the word bizarre in description.
(00:20):
Tony Bennett, the Virginia men's basketball coach, announced yesterday his
sudden retirement three weeks before the start of the season,
and it threw everybody off. He'd been at the ACC
tip off media day thing before, so it was quite
(00:40):
a stunner for a lot of folks. So we had
a news conference this morning and was asked why now
and all this, and he described the as he called it,
current environment in college sports as one of the driving
forces behind his decision to retire. His quote was the
hardest thing to say is when I looked at myself
(01:02):
and I realized I'm no longer the best coach to
lead this program in this current environment. If you're going
to do it, you got to be all in. If
you do it half hearted, it's not fair to the
university and those young men. So in looking at it,
that's what made me step down. He's been a guy
who for many years has complained about the direction of
college athletics and increased emphasis on the transfer portal and nil,
(01:26):
he said, I think it's right for student athletes to
receive revenue. Please don't mistake me. The game and college
athletics is not in a healthy spot. It's not and
there needs to be change, and it's not going to
go back. I think I was equipped to do the
job here the old way. That's who I am. It's
going to be closer to a professional model. There's got
to be collective bargaining. There has to be a restriction
(01:48):
on the salary pool, there has to be transfer regulation restrictions.
There has to be some limits on the age and
involvement to these young guys. And I worry a lot
about the mental health of the student athletes as all
of this stuff comes down. So he said he actually
originally gave some thought to stepping down when the season
ended last year, and the decided not too, but then
(02:09):
it changed his mind on all of that. There are
some coaches who are better constructed to deal with this.
Nick Saban regularly admits he's not one of the better
constructed guys to deal with this. Dabo Sweeney is raging
against the machine. He's working against transfer portal, so we're
(02:33):
seeing its effect throughout the course of college athletics. If
you talked to Vick Schaeffer, the Texas women's head coach,
he'll tell you that the challenge is certainly there and
he understands what it's like. But he credits having a
youthful staff around is helping to bridge that gap quite
a bit. And he still connects very tightly with his players.
(02:55):
He did so again in talking about them at SEC
Basketball Media Days this week, and he had Madison Booker,
the National Freshman of the Year, with him, and he
had Rory Harmon, who had been a preseason All American
last year a point guard before having the knee injury.
Rory got cleared yesterday, officially got cleared to go full
on with everything, and that was good news. But Vick
(03:16):
was asked what to this point has he not seen
from Madison Booker and what he expects Rory Harmon to
bring back to the team.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
You know, I think last year I saw a little
bit of everything from Madison, you know, as a freshman,
as a young player early in her career. Having that,
we'll be blanket in Rory Harmon. Who's your point guard
running your team. And I said this earlier. I thought,
I thought Rory was really really good last year, was
(03:47):
on pace to have a first team All American season
as well. But I thought she created Madison created a
lot of opportunities for Rory, and of course Rory being
a point guard, she is opportunities for everybody. And then
when Rory went down.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Most of the.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Time, y'all in basketball, when your point guard goes down,
your two guard is who you might lean on. We
went to our three player in Madison. But I knew
after recruiting Madison her entire high school career and knowing
my team that I had last year, Madison Booker was
(04:29):
the answer.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
It wasn't a tryout. That's who was going to be
our point guard.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And while we had some bumps in the road along
the way early, the kid has so much presence for
such a young player. She had tremendous presence on the floor.
She nothing rattled her her first three or four minutes
in that very first game against Baylor, when we only
(04:56):
had three days to get ready, that was the worst.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Of the worst.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
After that, I took her out, and then when we
put her back in, I never saw that again, she
was just she was really ready to embrace the role
that she was in and so you have to give
the kid a ton of credit what she was able
to do leading that team. That team won thirty three games.
(05:23):
In the history of Texas women's basketball, they've only won
more games one time, and that's when they won the
national championship in nineteen eighty six and they were thirty
four to oh But that team would not have been
that if it hadn't have been for Madison Booker embracing
being the point guard. So now you fast forward to
where we are now, Madison Booker. There's nobody more excited
(05:45):
on our team that Rory Harmon's back than Madison Booker
because she wants to go over there and get on
the wing where she's really comfortable, and I just think
that it allows us as a team. We've got a
lot of flexibility there. And we have a special freshman
in Brionna Preston who's going to be an unbelievable point
(06:05):
guard for us.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
But Rory just.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Rory's presence, how hard she plays, the energy that she
plays with permeates through my team every day, every game,
and I think she really is a settling influence on
my entire team, and it gives my team a lot
of confidence. And I ain't know this, it gives her
(06:32):
head coach a lot of confidence to know that we
have her back on the floor leading our team. And
so it's a really good feeling to know we've got
great guard play. You win with guard play in basketball.
You have notes. You can have all the size you
want in the world, but if you don't have guard play,
you got no chance. We've got guard play this year,
(06:55):
and I've got depth at guard play with Brie and
in Jordan Lee to exceptional freshmen. Leilophilia y'all is a monster.
She's gonna be so good. Shay Holly has been the
glue to my program for the last few years. So
(07:16):
I just named off five six guards that they're all
gonna play every night, and they're gonna play a lot,
and they're all gonna impact our team.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
And so.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think our team, our future is in really good
shape at the guard spot. And this year's team, we
finally have some depth. I just haven't had it the
last couple of years. And give those teams credit, they've
learned how to stat a foul trouble and play play
through some issues. But this year's team, we finally have depth.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Those would be obviously the most celebrated returning players to Texas.
There are new faces on this team, among those Michigan
Trends Forer guard Leilophelia, and Vic was asked what he
believes Leyla can bring.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
To this team.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Well, Layla. Layla's is really She's perfect for how we
want to play, how I like to play. She's a
great teammate, she's a great kid. She's tough and competitive.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Man.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I would have loved to have had her for four years.
You know, I'm blessed to get her for one year.
But she just brings so much to the table. She's
she's she's really an aggressive offensive player. She cares defensively.
She's trying to learn a new system, you know, get
a crash course in that. She's had some injuries this
(08:46):
summer which have kind of slowed her, but she's finally
healthy and has really looked and this last week she's
looked really good, like a million dollars and she really
looks good. And I've even played her at some points
because she is really good reading reading Boss Green defense.
So she brings a lot to the table. And you
(09:08):
know she's she can scored all three levels. She's smart,
she's heady, sees the floor extremely well. She's going to
be a great compliment to my other guards. But she
and along with Shay, that's two veterans, two seniors. You know,
we lose Shaley Gonzalez and those two I can plug in.
One of them is going to start, and one of
(09:30):
them is gonna be six, have a chance to be
six Player of the Year because they're that good. And
that's a great, great it's not a problem. I hate
to say that, you know, it's not a problem. It's
a great thing to have. And so again excited about
the opportunity to coach her. And again she's a great
kid man. She's just really, really a perfect fit for us.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Vick was asked then a couple of questions about other coaches,
coaches that he knew coaches have been former assistants or
players under him. One of those is, you'll let me
fee mckun who has been turning around the old miss program,
and he was asked for his thoughts on mckewn.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Well, I think you said it.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I mean where they are today and where they were
then it's way different, you know. And I haven't been
in the league since then, and I've had my own
problems and concerns and my own league that I was
in the kind of and I haven't paid that much attention.
So I know that she was very successful where she
was before she went to Mississippi, and uh, so I
(10:31):
does it surprise me. No, she was very successful where
she was, and I think that obviously, when you finish
in the top four or three years in a row
in this league, you're doing something and h and so again,
the bottom line is it all comes down to recruiting,
you know, for all of us, And uh, I think
she's done.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
A great job.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
And again, we all recruit to a fit, and I
think she's done a great job.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
The secret to our success has been recruiting a fit,
retaining our student athletes, and developing them. And over the
course of time, we've been pretty successful in all three
of those phases. So for her, it doesn't surprise me
at all, and certainly happy for her. I know, I
know that blood feud in that conference in that state,
(11:18):
and I know how that is, and you know, I
lived it for eight years, and there's no middle ground,
and I know the competition and the competitive spirit that
she has as well as Sam Now we had when
I was there.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
It's really special. So I'm really happy for her and
her staff.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
And again that's what happens when you work hard and
you have a plan.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
He also is not surprised at all and seeing what
Johnny Harris, his former assistant who was with him actually
one year in Austin, is starting to do with the
Auburn program to turn in around.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Yeah, no, it's no surprise.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I mean, she was with me, you know, all eight
years in Mississippi State, and you know she's lived it.
She's seen it every day and she was a big
part of the big reason why we were able to
do it. We did, so, you know, when I was
recommending her for that job, there was no question in
my mind she was ready and she could do it.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
And she knows what the recipe is.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
When you start interviewing with people and talking to people
and you've got to take over, there's nothing harder.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
And y'all in this room, you either you should know it.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
If you don't, I don't care what sport it is
in the Southeastern Conference.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
You want to take a dawning task.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Go take over one of the bottom teams in this
league and whatever sports you're going to take over and
try to build it and pass people up.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
It's almost impossible. It's so daunting.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
And so again, she was a big part of what
we did.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
At Mississippi State, and it doesn't surprise me that she's
able to do it at Auburn. And I knew she could.
I knew she would, and she.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Knows what the recipe is, and I'm certainly happy for her.
And so it's we were together a long time. We
had a lot of we had a lot of good
times together. Not enough time of the day for me
to share them, but we had a lot of good
times together.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
All right.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
There it is some more from Vick Schaeffer there coming
up next, we bring you today He's edition of Inconceivable
of Friday edition on sports Radio AM thirteen under the
zone of the iHeartRadio app.
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