November 17, 2024 • 52 mins
Going from the court to the sideline is a massive change for any athlete. Listen to the voice of Clayton Dykhouse, the new Junior Varsity Boys Basketball Coach at West Ottawa High School, as he shares his inspiring journey from the courts of Hope College to the classrooms and gymnasiums of West Ottawa. Clayton brings a dynamic blend of passion and discipline to his roles as both a coach and physical wellness instructor, reflecting on his final carefree summer before diving into these challenging yet rewarding responsibilities. His energy and commitment leap off the page as he discusses this next stage of life and fully embracing the West Ottawa community.
Clayton opens up about the multifaceted experience of teaching physical wellness and coaching at the high school level, where mentorship and teamwork thrive. He discusses the joys and hurdles of transitioning from player to coach, emphasizing the importance of imparting both skills and values to young athletes. Through stories of his own development, Clayton underscores how character growth and interpersonal relationships are as crucial as technical prowess in shaping well-rounded athletes. His reflections on mentorship and fostering a collaborative atmosphere reveal a compassionate and thoughtful approach to education and coaching.
Travel back with us to the days of the Fab Five and explore how Jalen Rose influenced Clayton's identity and team first mentality. His personal stories of relationships forged at Hope College highlight the significance of truly investing in people around you. As Clayton steps into his role at West Ottawa, he focuses on building a supportive culture where belief and trust among players are paramount. The episode is a heartfelt appreciation of Clayton's growth as a person and player, as we look forward to witnessing the positive impact he makes on and off the court.
This episode was recorded on November 16, 2024.
Podcasts now dropping at 5pm every Sunday evening for that late weekend chill, or listen Monday AM during that morning commute or workout. Please like, follow, subscribe, or leave a review. Even share with someone who might like to listen. Thanks for taking the time to get to know each other a little bit better. The people who make West Ottawa Athletics what it is. Go WO!
Special thanks to Laura Veldhof Photography.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I can't wait to see you work today.
Three, that was the number thatI wore.
I can't wait to see.
I'm excited to watch you playand that totally elevated me as
a basketball player.
The belief that other peoplehad in me as a young player was
something that I don't think I'mever going to forget, and it's
something that I implore ourguys to show to each other, and
(00:23):
it's something that I tried toshow to every one of the
freshmen that stepped on campuswhen I got to Hope.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hey everybody, this is Rodney Valinga with the West
Ottawa high school athleticprogram and you're listening to
the 29 one podcast 29 sports,one team, the show that brings
you into the lives of studentathletes, coaches and other
faces in the Panther sportscommunity, bringing you the
stories you might otherwisenever hear.
(00:53):
Join myself and AthleticDirector Bill Kennedy as we dive
in with you to get to know eachother a little bit better.
Ever sit down with someonewhose energy and passion for the
thing they love is so authenticand genuine that you can't help
but buy in.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Today we sit down with one of the newest coaches
here at West Ottawa JV headbasketball coach, Clayton
Dykhaus.
A standout at Hope College,Clayton has joined the teaching
and coaching staff here at WestOttawa and is bringing energy
and enthusiasm in everything hedoes.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Clayton joins the staff with head coach Jared
Riddell and assistant BrianPalmer as they work together to
build a competitive program inthe ever-difficult OK Red.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Clayton Dykhouse up next on the 29.1 podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Let's get it hey everybody, welcome back to the
29.1 podcast.
It is a great day to be in WestMichigan.
It's about that time.
Gray and brown are now yourdominant outside colors.
(02:02):
It's dark outside when you getup and it's dark outside when
you get home and there's onlyone thing left to do, which is
throw on those sneakers and getto the gym.
Today we sit down with a youngman who has been a steady
presence in basketball over thelast count them nine years in
the Holland Zealand area.
You've seen him in the yellowand Brown as an opponent.
(02:22):
You've seen him in the orangeand brown as an opponent.
You've seen him in the orangeand blue as a Division III
college standout and soon to bein the black and white as a JV
high school boys basketball headcoach here at West Ottawa.
He'll be on the sideline in alittle over a week as the
Panthers open up their season onTuesday, november 26, at home
(02:42):
here against Godwin Heights.
And I got to say we are reallyexcited to ask who is it?
Clayton.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Dykhaus.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Clayton Dykhaus, or otherwise known as Mr Dykhaus.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Mr Dykhaus.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
And otherwise known as Coach Dykhaus or just Coach.
Are you getting used to thosetitles yet?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, they're definitely a little different
coming off of being a player,but no, being at Harbor Lights
and being in the middle schoolthere, that was definitely the
first thing that I noticed andhad to get used to, for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, it's Mr Now or it's Coach.
You probably don't get Claytonvery much anymore.
Not at all.
No, not at all.
It's my pleasure to actuallywelcome you to this club of
former athletes.
So you can still run 10Ks, youcan enter cornhole tournaments,
you can play pickleball withfriends and probably find that
men's basketball league.
Are you still hooping a littlebit here and there?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Here and there?
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Do you go back to Hope and play at all, or where
are you playing?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Me and a couple of my former teammates will go play
at intramurals, which are a tonof fun, and then we're playing
in some men's leagues.
I saw this upcoming winter too.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
All right, so not being away.
Has it hit you that that youare now the ex college athlete?
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Oh yeah, absolutely Seeing the the incoming freshmen
that I maybe watched play lastyear in high school, or even
like watching watching the theseniors that are that are at
hope right now, and like thoseguys were freshmen when I came
in because of COVID andeverything that happened, so
really like wow, yeah, I'm upthere.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I'm up there 23.
23.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
23.
Old to be 23 again.
Well, clayton, we're so luckyto have you here at West Ottawa,
as you were kind of goingthrough your student teaching
last year, obviously with CoachMetz, who was a close friend of
mine, runs our tennis program,does a great job with that.
(04:31):
He couldn't say enough goodthings about you.
And then the fact that we justhad that kind of perfect
opportunity to add a physicalwellness instructor down at the
middle school.
Everything kind of timed up,perfect.
What is it like to kind ofingrain yourself in the West
Ottawa community now, reallybeing in year two here?
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, no, this is the place that, after student
teaching here, for sure that Iwanted to be being around the
West Michigan area.
When I was in high school, theathletics here at West Ottawa
were second to none in the area.
Basketball team was amazing, alot of really solid football
players, and then we could listthe sports and list the athletes
(05:08):
volleyball as well.
So it's really cool to be ableto give back to a school that I
have a lot of respect for andcompeting against, and now being
able to serve them and workwith the students here yeah, I
couldn't be more grateful.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's kind of been a whirlwind.
Right, you graduate fromcollege, boom full-time job.
I'm jumping into it.
Have you had time to breathe?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
This summer a little bit.
So I've been working as a campcounselor over the previous
summers and this summer juststepping away and then making
sure that I was being able tokind of enjoy we joked around me
, my parents like this is thelast kid's summer that you're
ever going to have.
So being out with my friends,going to the beach, making sure
(05:54):
that we were just balancingprepping for the upcoming school
year and then enjoying thisamazing area.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It is great to have you here.
I'm so pumped that West Ottawadid that $50,000 for first-year
teachers.
I'm sure you are too.
You graduated.
I graduated Hope this past Mayand played your last college
game in March for Hope.
How is your life differenttoday from just one year ago?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
One year ago today I would have been probably the
first one in the training roombecause I was the old guy Right
away getting prepped for ashoot-around.
That's not going to happen fora couple hours.
Just different.
Just being so committed andfocused on, like a team success
and team goals To have that kindof flip and be the role model
(06:41):
or the one that's instigatingother guys thinking about that
and encouraging my students andthen my athletes to really just
like buy it.
I've been a part of some greatteams and I want that same
experience for every one of myplayers and every one of my
students how long has it beensince you didn't have to get
ready for a November opener as aplayer?
(07:02):
they make the jokes.
Today, my teammates would makethe joke that our former
teammates uh, half a decade.
So five years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Five years ago today, you are getting ready for
another home opener, of course,but let's go back to kind of
what you're doing for a littlebit here, Cause you are teaching
, and you're teaching at Harborlights middle school.
You're in physical wellness.
What's that been like teachingkids already it's been awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
I have a really good mentor teacher she's amazing.
Amy Bishop Funk she does awonderful job, she's so
supportive, she's so encouraging.
And then also, at Mac Bay, theother two PW instructors, jeff
Van Fossen and then Drew Andry.
They've opened their arms to mein terms of the support, in
(07:45):
terms of everything from lessonplanning to instruction.
And also Carrie Lahaki, whoworked in the middle school for
a long time.
She took over my last year atHope in the PW department.
So being able to get A lot oftie-ins here.
Yes, being able to have so manyconnections of people who have
done it or who are doing what Iwant to be really great at.
(08:06):
It's awesome.
I feel super supported.
My principals administrationare amazing.
All the coworkers there havebeen nothing but accepting and
you know, every day I get to goto work and it's a joy Like I
genuinely wake up every day andI love it.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I love that.
You said I get to go to work.
It's not, I have to go to work.
That's when you know thatyou've found your niche and
you've found something that youcan do for a long period of time
.
Right, I have the opportunityto go to work today.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I don't have to go there, great place to be, if you
can find it.
Tell me about the kids.
What different grades are youteaching, what classes?
And then what specific thingshave you been teaching so far?
In the fall, Absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I have.
I've had every middle school.
I've had every middle schoolgrade.
So six, seven, eight.
I've had health courses.
So I've had two health classesthat I've been in charge of
teaching, and then PWI, whichwould be physical wellness
indoor, and then PWO, which isphysical wellness outdoor.
Along with this second quarterso the middle school splits it
(09:09):
up into quarters we introducedboys strength and conditioning.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
That's been awesome.
So I've got a wide range ofstudents, right from athletes to
non-athletes to everything inbetween, and it's been really
cool to see the growth in mydifferent classes.
I don't think I have a singleclass or a single student.
Honestly.
That goes about each day thesame and that makes every hour
super special.
(09:34):
That makes every day differentand unique.
But yeah, I love it and some ofthe units that we've covered or
we're covering we're currentlyin our swimming unit for all my
PW classes, my health class isin its nutrition unit and then
the boys' strength andconditioning.
They're on their third I wantto say the third round of like
(09:56):
the program that we're in thatsome of the coaches up here at
the high school helped puttogether Frank, mr McKenzie, I
think Newton was involved inthat too.
So it's been really really coolto watch how each different kid
student class approaches eachdifferent topic that we're
learning about.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Getting Panther strength down at the middle
school level is something that Iknow has been a real passion
project for Frank Lurchin.
I think I saw you in some ofthose photos as you guys were
kind of setting up that weightroom at Harbor Lights and really
giving those kids a space to goand train and start to develop.
What was that process like?
I know that was a lot of heavylifting, a lot of dusty days.
(10:34):
It's not always the nicest areaup there, but you guys have
really put lipstick on the pigup there.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, no, it was so cool.
The amount of guys that cameback from the high school a lot
of freshmen, a lot of sophomoresto come back and help set that
up, get all the equipment setwhere it needs to go.
Joe DeCavers was awesome interms of kind of orchestrating
and pinpointing that wholeoperation and the guys and girls
in Ms Bishop's class.
(11:01):
They love it.
They've totally just taken toit with a really cool energy and
the way that they encourageeach other and support each
other.
While I'm up there, but thenalso while I'm teaching another
class, I can hear her studentsup there super loud, super
supportive, getting after it.
It's a cool thing to hear kidsencourage each other without
(11:23):
maybe a teacher forcing that onthem.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
That's good stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
You're taking that same energy, that same
connectivity with kids andyou're now taking it to
basketball because you are goingto be the junior varsity head
coach of boys basketball comingup, you've spent much of the
past week in tryouts with boysuniversity and I know you
practice together a lot with thevarsity team.
I think you guys are courts arereally right beside each other.
How has it been for you beingon the other side in this last
(11:50):
10 days or so as a coach ratherthan a player?
Speaker 1 (11:54):
at the high school level.
This would be kind of maybe alittle bit new.
So I was fortunate enough tocoach some AAU basketball.
They were what grade would theybe in now?
They would be sophomores rightnow.
I was also fortunate enough tocoach some of my teammates at
Hope.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
So this is how you coach your teammates at Hope?
Yeah, I can explain that one.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So I'll name them right now.
Brett Boltzma, parker Hovey andnow he is actually at Calvin
Parker Schwartz were all on thefirst AAU team that I coached
when I was a junior at Hope.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You're kidding I helped coach.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, I helped coach them, so then I got to play with
both two of them and thenpotentially maybe would have
played against one of them ifhe'd gone to Calvin earlier.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Did they call you coach on the court?
Speaker 1 (12:35):
No, I got a lot of grandpa and unk jokes.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
None of the others.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I don't see any gray yet, so we're coming um, but no,
just it's.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
It's so cool to be on that other side and take all
the information that I'vereceived, all the coaching that
I've received from some amazingcoaches, and be able to pour it
into these dudes that likethey're, they're so, they're
right on the the precipice offiguring it all out right.
We've, we've kind of grown andI've seen the culture grow even
(13:05):
this in this last couple ofweeks, right, with guys coming
back from football and justwelcoming them in and really
recognizing that, like, in orderto do this, we've got to do it
together and we've got to do itthe right way, and that's going
to take work, and they recognizethat and they're, they're
excited these, uh, these kidsare not much younger than you,
do you still show them things,if you know what I'm saying?
(13:28):
Every once in a while Every oncein a while, I think.
Sometimes I'll remind them whyI'm their coach jokingly.
No, I'll hop in and play withthem sometimes, but again, I had
younger coaches that did thatand I loved it.
As a player, I thought it wasreally cool to see my coach
demonstrate what he was talkingabout, right?
So it's not just scoring, it'snot just playing, but like when
(13:50):
I do play with them, like I'lltalk and I'll guard really hard
defensively, like I was playingin a game, like it was it was my
season.
So they see that, hey, like, inorder to do things the right
way, doesn't matter if you'veplayed college basketball,
doesn't matter if you're a coach.
This is how the game's supposedto be played.
And recognizing that some kids,in order to maybe gain that
respect, they need to see you doit.
(14:11):
And while I'm still young,enough to do it.
I'm happily going to do it.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, seeing that up close as a player so you can
teach this and teach that.
But also you and I are rubbingshoulders and you're covering me
right and you got your littleelbow on the side of my ribs,
just a little bit a little pushoff here and there, a little
fake, a little head fake.
They're left in the past.
Whatever it is, that is as muchteaching as anything else.
Right, those little nuances ofbasketball.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, one of the things I've noticed I've, you
know, come in and out of the gyma couple of times throughout
the course of the week just tokind of check in on things, see
how the boys are doing.
One of the things I've noticedis energy level in the gym.
At practice, with the JV guysand the varsity guys next to
each other, the energy is offthe roof.
Energy off the roof, probablyisn't it?
(14:54):
Off the charts?
Off the charts, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Through the roof, through the roof.
That took way too long.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
The energy is through the roof.
What are you trying to do withpractice and trying to, I guess,
really create that energy?
What are you kind of goingabout and what are you doing in
that situation?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, I would.
I would say from.
From my standpoint, I think thebest thing I can do is take the
the fact that I was just intheir shoes and really really
try to like apply that to them.
Like I was a few months ago,like I was a player, I did have
to bring energy.
I didn't have to talk all thetime.
I was essentially making surethat my guys would do their job
(15:33):
for a coach and so now justpouring that into them.
You know, they've got two reallysolid coaches, especially when
we all combine.
So the end of our practice iswhen we combine.
We've got Coach Riddell andCoach Palmer there with those
guys and not that I don'tprovide X's and O's, and I just
think in certain situationsthere I'm trying to help them
recognize, like, what it's goingto take to play at that level,
(15:56):
like you're going to get coachedhard, and they both do.
Those other two coaches do areally good job of pushing that.
So then my job is essentiallymaybe keeping that energy up and
making sure that other dudesare like hey, this is, this is
what it's like, right it's, it'sloud, it's quick, it's fast,
it's so great for my JV guys too, cause then they get to see
like hey, there is another step.
(16:16):
Like you, you took that stepfrom freshman to JV and it got
faster.
Maybe it's a little bit morephysical.
To be a good, solid varsitybasketball team, that's going to
take every day.
We're competing Every day.
It's loud, right.
I talk a lot about like you canbe quiet off the court.
You don't have to be anextrovert as soon as we are
between those lines, like hey,you've got to have your
(16:37):
teammates back defensively,offensively, you've got to know
what we're doing or what we wantto see.
And, yeah, trying to be youknow, high fives, yelling guy
scores I shouldn't be, but I'mprobably one of the loudest guys
in the gym when somebody doessomething well and just making
sure that they feel like hey,like I recognize the work you're
putting in and it's super cool.
(16:59):
I love the way we end practiceswhere I get to essentially just
be like their hype man in termsof hey, we put all this work in
.
Now we get to go show it.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
And you've got.
We've got a number of guys thatare going to kind of float back
and forth between the JV andthe varsity.
You talked a little bit aboutthe speed of the game.
Talk to us, maybe, a little bitabout what it's going to be
like for those guys that aregetting some run on varsity
games and then all of a suddenthey're going to be stepping
into the JV games.
It's going to elevate theirgame for your team.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, I think 1 through 13 on the varsity really
really solid, really reallyimportant in getting them to
believe that message is going tobe huge, because that's what it
takes to win and that's what ittakes to compete.
The JV guys they recognize theunique situation that we're in
with our team with some of theunderclassmen.
(17:48):
It's been communicated withthem.
Their attitude's been awesome.
So just recognizing that itmight feel a little bit
different there might bepractices where we don't have
four of our teammates, or wehave two and we don't have
certain guys with us andimplementing them into gameplay
and making sure that everyonewho's playing is getting the
(18:13):
reps and the work that they,that they need.
Certain guys need to be put insituations where there's a lot
expected of them.
Other guys need to figure outhow to play with other guys and
so just making sure as a coach,I think the one thing that I
really appreciated from myreally good coaches was the
honesty and the directinformation that I was receiving
as a player, and that's exactlywhat I'm going to try to apply
(18:36):
to my guys as the season goes on.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
You were a three-year varsity player at Zealand East,
I believe right, and graduatedin 2019.
But at one point you were thelittle kid trying out for your
first team as a freshman.
What do you remember aboutbeing that kid?
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I remember being super excited and really nervous
at the same time.
I remember showing up early andI was shooting and I was
working out and tryouts startedand I was like, oh my goodness,
I'm tiny.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
These guys are so fast, they're so quick.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I don't know how I'm even going to compete and I
remember thinking theupperclassmen really just being
positive and encouraging me.
That was one of the biggestthings that I recognized as a
freshman.
I had seniors who weren't evenin my tryout walk by and it
wasn't something big, it wasn'ta whole speech, but it was like
can't wait to see you work today.
(19:38):
Three, that was the number thatI wore.
I can't wait to see, I'mexcited to watch you play.
And that totally elevated me asa basketball player.
Like the belief that otherpeople had in me as a young
player was something that Idon't think I'm ever going to
forget and it's something that Iimplore our guys to show to
(20:00):
each other and it's somethingthat I tried to show to every
one of the freshmen that steppedon campus when I got to Hope.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You developed into a player who could get to the rim
a lot.
So I watched a lot of yourhighlights went to those those
huddle senior highlights, andyou could get to the rim a lot.
You also have that incrediblehigh arcing shot that you like
to shoot from the three.
And of course, the hold theexaggerated hold on the Clayton
Dykhouse three was something Inoticed too.
What are a couple of things inhigh school that came to you
(20:29):
easy and what are some otherthings you needed to work at,
either on or off the court?
But you know, as that youngfreshman becoming that senior
maybe talk about that a littlebit.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Um, my ability to handle the basketball.
I would.
I would love to be able to givekids drills and I think I can
to get better at that.
That was so natural.
I was really, really fortunateto be able to just.
The ball always feltcomfortable in my hands and I
never felt like I needed to lookat the basketball, which is
what made I think me, in highschool and at Hope, a good
(21:02):
passer.
It always felt reallycomfortable.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Notice that too.
Lots of good passing.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
What I needed to work on.
I couldn't have hit.
I couldn't hit the broad sideof a barn with a jump shot
growing up.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Like mid-range or deep threes Mid-range I couldn't
shoot the ball.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I had.
Really I shot it from my chestand the reason I hope you're
listening, dad, because you'regoing to get your credit right
here the reason that I do holdit, or did hold it, was because
my dad drilled into me, likegetting the ball away from my
chest and we would shoot formshots.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
So that's why it's there.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
And I didn't like it.
I didn't like it, but thank you.
Thank you for listening, dad.
No, the ability to find guyscame easy on the basketball
court.
The ability to handle thebasketball came easy.
I couldn't shoot the ball and Icouldn't lead.
I had no idea how to lead inhigh school, which is why, if
you look at the highlights, Ithink I look like a pretty good
(22:01):
basketball player.
If you look at our team recordswith the athletes that we had,
I did see that too.
They were not where they neededto be.
I had no idea how to manage agame.
I had no idea how to get guysto want to compete that didn't
love basketball because I lovedit.
So for me there was no.
(22:22):
Why aren't you trying?
Or why are you not puttingeffort forth, like we're playing
this is game time when I didn'trecognize that, hey, this might
be another guy's third sport orsecond sport.
And so when I got to Hope, thatwas a huge, huge learning curve
for me.
And then you got to lead olderguys.
So I think I was reallyfortunate Coach George came in
(22:48):
and he helped a lot with it.
But other than that, you know,I saw what good senior
leadership looked like at Hope,like I saw Preston Granger and
Matt Zanstra and Ryan Gam andJay Coner my freshman year do an
unbelievable job of investingand doing things the right way.
So by the time I became asenior, it was a no-brainer what
(23:10):
I was going to do and how I wasgoing to help these younger
guys.
But then also I had someincredible leaders with me Brady
Swinehart, evan Thomas, harrisHawkins, tj McKenzie.
They all did a really good jobof collectively coming together
and being like, hey, this is howwe're going to invest.
And it's stuff off the courttoo right.
(23:31):
The way we talk to each other,the way that you interact with
your professors or your teachers, the way that you talk to your
classmates, the way that you goabout acting or carrying
yourself with the West Ottawalogo or the Hope logo or
whatever you have on your chest,like all that matters, and I
don't think I had that figuredout in high school at all.
I got to Hope and really,really quickly I was like, oh
(23:51):
yeah, like in order to be awinner or in order to compete
and do things the right way,it's so much more than just
putting a ball through a basketand that's something that I
definitely want, like our guys,to recognize and see and learn
and pick up way before I did.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Preach it, clayton.
I love hearing that.
I have one other question,basketball related.
I've noticed you're a reallygood passer.
Do you feel like you have areally good peripheral vision?
Is that?
Speaker 1 (24:16):
part of it.
I would say that's part of it.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I also would say I just see so many kids that don't
see something Like they'regoing in this direction and the
play is just off, to their right, the wide open, and they just
don't see it.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I would say a lot of kids when they start watching
basketball and this is going tobe weird.
A lot of kids when they startwatching basketball, they watch
highlight tapes right.
Naturally, we didn't have a TVgrowing up To my family we
didn't have a TV.
Growing up at all, grandparentshad a TV, but their TV didn't
(24:47):
have cable, so they didn't havelive games.
So, in order to watch live games, we'd have to go out to eat,
and you only do that so much asa family.
We would go over to ourgrandparents' house a lot,
though, and they had the FabFive games on VCR.
My grandpa was a huge Michiganfan.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Our whole family.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
So the first guard that I watched was Jalen Rose,
and I watched how Jalen Rosemade everybody better.
He's my favorite player.
I have a picture my dadprobably has it somewhere in his
classroom right now that Iwrote all the Fab Five names
down and I'm the number five.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I wrote my name Because Jalen Rose is, I think,
one of the first basketballcamps I went to when I was
little.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I said Jalen Rose is my favorite basketball player
and the person running the campwas like how do you even know
who that is?
I was like, oh, I just watchedhim play and you didn't learn it
from 2K either?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
No, not at all.
Well, look what we got righthere.
Not at all.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
No, so I yeah, he was the first point guard that I
watched.
I watched a pass first Pointguard I also.
If you've watched me play, I'vealso.
I think that's where the whenmy teammates do something well,
if you pay attention which somepeople don't I love to celebrate
their success, like if you wereto watch a game at Hope and you
(26:00):
were to just watch me duringthe game and it was a game maybe
where Gabe Killen had 25 orMarcus had 17 or TJ had 20 or
whatever the case may be.
I would try to implore that Irecognize what they were doing.
So if that was yelling, if thatwas a high five, if that was a
chest bump, if that was talkingto them as they're walking to
the huddle and hyping them up, Isaw Jalen Rose do that to all
(26:24):
his guys and that was reallyimpactful, I think at a young
age, and I was like, yeah,that's how you win, and I saw
them win.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
I love that I'm sitting here with a dude that's
23, and we're talking about theFab Five.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Let's go, because the Fab Five.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
They were freshmen at Michigan, my freshman year of
high school.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
No kidding.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
So I had some long baggy.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Michigan shorts.
I wore black socks on thebasketball court Absolutely
Black socks, black shoes.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
I was a big Chris Webber guy but loved the Fab
Five so good.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
They were the.
I don't know, they were justthis brand new thing that came
on the scene and they did changebasketball.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
We went from short shorts to like to you could
actually cover your leg.
Now we've gone in reverse.
It did go a little too far Ifyou go back to some of those 90s
where it's mid-calf on some ofthese guys and it doesn't help a
short guy.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I'm only 5'10", you're 5'11" Long.
Shorts on guys like that, theydon't work.
They don't work at all.
You have something on yourschedule on December 10th.
Do you know what that is?
Have you circled that date?
Because I know what it is.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I think I know what it is.
I don't think I've circled it,though You're going to say it
and I'm going to be fun.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
At Zealand East, you get recruited to play at Hope
College.
What do you remember aboutwanting to play at the next
level and then getting thatopportunity?
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I remember that being the goal.
You know a lot of kids myfriends included right they
wrote down like when you'relittle I want to be in the.
Nba.
I want to do all of this.
I think in sixth, seventh gradeit was like I want to be a
college basketball player.
I was also under the impressionyou could do that forever.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I watched guys like Aaron Kraft be at.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Ohio State for forever and I was like, oh, this
is going to be your job.
Found that out really quicklyJeff Carlson, who's currently
the head coach at Zion East.
He reached out along with GregMitchell and a couple of the
other members of their staff,and I went on a visit and, in
(28:37):
all honesty, I totally checkedout.
I was like this is way tooclose to home.
I don't want to do this.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
We've heard this one before.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
I cannot believe.
I'm right down the road.
All my friends, like myfriends' houses, are right here.
Like I, this isn't going tocollege, I'm just going to
another high school.
And so I that first visit kindof cast to the side looked other
places.
I visited Alma.
I was supposed to visit Trine.
A couple months down the linethere were A couple months down
the line there were otherschools that I had talked to.
(29:05):
None of them really felt right.
You know, I felt like I was areally good college basketball
player, like I could be a reallygood college basketball player.
I was super small, I didn'tshoot it well, I had all these
glaring red flags in my game orholes in my game, and went on
another visit and this time Iwent with the players rather
(29:25):
than with an admissions rep andI was just totally immersed in
the Hope culture.
For a day.
I was at their house.
I went to practice, they wentto class, I went and sat outside
their class.
We went to lunch together.
I watched them work out, I sawwhat it looked like and the
entire time which this isamazing the entire time they
(29:49):
kept coming back to me andmaking sure I was okay while
they were going through theirday.
I noticed that immediately.
So Preston and Matt both werehey, man, are you good?
Do you need this?
Do you want to go shoot?
You can go shoot right overthere.
And they did not need to dothat at all.
I was essentially just taggingalong, I was the annoying little
kid for the day and they wereamazing.
(30:11):
Went home.
I was talking to my parentsabout it.
I was like, hey, if you canmake this work, if we can make
this work, I would love, love,love to go play at Hope.
We figured it out.
I called.
I remember this.
I was in the gym at East.
We figured it out.
I called.
I called.
I remember this.
I was in the gym at East.
We played the next day.
We had a game the next day, soit was right before practice.
(30:32):
And I called Coach Mitch and Iwas like, hey, I'm coming to
Hope.
And he was on the bus with theguys because they were headed to
a game and the whole bus justlike went crazy.
I don't think I'm ever going toforget it.
Like I could hear them on thespeakerphone.
I can't wait to play with you,Clay.
And yeah, that was it.
As soon as I got to campus, Iwas like, yes, this is the place
(30:54):
I want to be.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I'm going to invest here and yeah, you know of all
the of all the bright lightsthat could have brought you to
Hope College.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
it was the relationships it was the
relationships, absolutely,absolutely, no question about it
.
So, speaking of relationshipsgood segue I've got a long time
relationship with a, with a guythat's a coach over at hope
college, ken george awesome dudehad the opportunity this
morning to talk to them, asthey're in a hotel in ohio.
(31:22):
I said we're gonna sit downwith Clayton today and you know,
give me a couple of tidbits.
What do you, what do youremember about the kid?
And he?
First thing he said was he wasa skinny kid who showed up, but
he trusted the process and thenhe became the face of Hope
College basketball.
What's that mean to you?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Considering that I was never the best or most
talented player on my team, thatmeans a lot.
I played with some unbelievablebasketball players.
Evan Thomas, first off, comesto mind.
He doesn't get hurt probably afirst-team All-American.
Tanner Wigger, who's a WestOttawa graduate, went from
(32:06):
average role player Talkingabout skinny.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yeah, I was going to say you're talking about skinny
kid.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
No, he went from average role player to we needed
to run the ball through himevery possession.
He legitimately needed to touchevery possession.
You got Marcus Warman thereright now who, lightning quick,
could guard anybody you wanted,and I could list the guys that,
in terms of pure basketballskill, probably are ahead or
(32:31):
have surpassed where I was atand what I did.
But to hear your head coach saythat, after you've tried to do
things the right way for yourentire career, it's never once
been about me.
I've never gone into a game ora season thinking about my
individual success and, yeah, tosee that recognized, that means
(32:52):
a lot.
That, that that, yeah, morethan more than you guys know.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
So you brought up a name there, marcus Warman.
That also came up in myconversation with coach and he
talked a little bit about the,the mentorship.
Really you kind of took Marcusunder your wing and kind of
helped him grow and develop intothe player that he is now and
he's kind of in those shoes now,right as the leader of the team
.
They also talked a lot abouthow, when recruits would come in
(33:19):
and maybe this goes back to theexperience you had with the
basketball guys when you showedup there as a recruit that you
wanted to be the point person,you wanted to be the guy to have
those high school kids sit downwith you at lunch.
Was it really just because ofthat experience that you had
with those guys?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Yeah.
So I would say the point aboutMarcus like I saw everything
that our team needed and he wasa freshman the first day he
stepped on campus.
And sometimes you know it getsawkward right when you bring in
somebody who essentially isthere to when you're gone or
even while you're there,potentially take your job.
(33:58):
And I never looked at it likethat, like I recognized how
talented he was and how much hecould help our team when he's at
his best.
And to see where he's at now,even a lot of the time last year
, before you know, maybe hisfoot injury like really, really
unbelievable basketball player.
When he gets back healthy thisyear, like the work he put in
this summer, it's going to showand it's going to be amazing.
(34:20):
And his leadership too, likethere's there've been so many
positive steps and he's he'sdefinitely going to be one of
the better guards to ever wearthe orange and blue.
The freshmen, so the incomingrecruits, I would say, yeah,
you're already uncomfortable.
I tried to make their visit asnormal and comfortable so they
(34:42):
could see what campus would belike with their authentic selves
.
I loved it.
It was so fun to me to watchkids come in, go on a visit and
then I'd have to look at theroster.
But I think that all thereturners.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
At one point I had lunch with as incoming recruits.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I think right now all the returners yes.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Coach Mitchell so they happened to be in the hotel
room together.
When I was on the phone withthem, they put me on speaker and
they were kind of talkingamongst each other.
They're like I think every guyon our roster right now had
lunch with.
Clayton.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
That's because you like Chick-fil-A, I'm sure,
that's what it was.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Hey, well, they're paying too.
Come on now.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
So when I was in college and we would host
recruits, I lived with a numberof other football guys and
recruits would get sent to us.
When we would get thosecommitments from guys that we
hosted, we would go crazy Likewe sold this kid.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Oh, like big win.
Like we would be going crazy in.
Like big win.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Oh yeah, like we would be going crazy in the
locker room because we felt likewe, as hosts, had an impact on
bringing those guys in.
Oh and you did.
And then, when they would showup the next year, we'd give them
crap about like oh yeah, you'rehere because of us.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I may have gotten a few of those jokes up.
Yeah, here because of us, I mayhave gotten a few of those
jokes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
One thing.
So when I, when we do thesepodcasts, I go on a little data
data surge, right.
I just go online, read as muchas I can and I went through all
your stats at hope college, sothis one through every year kind
of looked around.
What I found very, veryinteresting is in cause you were
there for five years, cause youput up some big games Okay so
(36:28):
games, some high 20s.
I think you had a 31-point gamewhere I don't know if you
barely missed a shot fromanywhere.
But then what I also noticed asyou got into your junior and
senior years, those big gamesreceded a little bit, but your
minutes and your contributiondid not.
You had more players come ontothat team who were capable of
doing that and your minutesdidn't drop your.
(36:50):
When I looked at that, I wasshocked at the amount of minutes
you put in for every game.
Talk about how you, as a matureathlete, recognize the change
in your team and then doing alittle step back or say, hey,
I'm gonna affect the game inthese areas 100.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Um well, if you ask the coaches, they'll make the
joke that I didn't learn how toplay defense until my fifth year
.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
So that may be why Exactly Just outscoring them,
just outscoring them.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
No, junior year.
Junior year we had a uniqueteam.
We had very distinct roles onthat team.
We had two scorers, a big, andtwo really good defensive wings.
We all recognized it.
(37:34):
Nobody said it, but that's justkind of how it worked out.
My senior year, winger Inc madea huge jump and then you had
Marcus.
I immediately recognized thatin order for us to be successful
, I'm probably losing shots, I'mprobably going to lose a couple
shots, but, more importantly,like I need those guys to be
(37:56):
really, really good, really good, especially before or after
Evan ended up getting hurt.
And so just recognizing thatyou know, basketball is a 100%
five on five and seeing thatwe've got all these options,
we've got all these guys thatcan play, that can score, that
can guard, I've got to get thebest out of my dudes and my game
(38:19):
will be just fine.
Right, we win by 20, I end upwith eight and I'm celebrating,
like I just said, 50.
Like we're, it was so about theteam and when you build a
culture where that's the case,right, you've got guys coming in
, guarding really really hard,coming on out and then other
(38:40):
guys just recognizing andcelebrating that and just really
buying into those differentroles.
I think you know one thing I'mI'm pretty proud of is I I never
, afterwards I did, after I wasdone, I looked at my numbers.
I won't lie to you.
During while I was playing, Iwould look at Of course you're
going to.
Yes, I would look at mypercentages.
I would look at my percentagesand then I would watch my
(39:03):
turnovers.
Those were.
That was what I watched duringfilm.
If I was watching myself, Iwasn't scouting, I was watching
like the shots that I took, so Iwould rate my shot selection
and then how many times I turnedthe ball over the points, the
everything else that basketballplayers kind of judge themselves
off of.
I just I wanted to, I wanted towin.
I had never won.
(39:23):
I didn't win at East.
We barely won my freshman yearand when I got to Hope and it
was really go time the onlything, there were games where I
played really really welloffensively and I was probably
miserable to talk to afterbecause we lost.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yeah it's not fun.
This is what a lot of goodathletes go through.
They go through a time wherethey arrive at a place and they
establish themselves and it'slike I'm going to go do my thing
, and you do it for a while andguess what?
You're losing.
And that's not fun.
And then you figure out what,like you did, you ended up being
on a team that played like ateam.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
And when you're sitting in stands and sitting
with other fans or parents,whatever one of the biggest
refrains you hear, they don'tplay together, they don't play
as a team, they're not a group.
And when you do have it, that'swhat it looks like.
Let's go to one of the bestparts about being part of the
flying Dutch.
Is that hope, calvin rivalry.
You were on the good side ofthat in your time there.
(40:20):
What's it like being on thefloor in those games a game
starting tip off all that, oh mygosh.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
That.
That, oh my gosh.
That's the.
I've been in some cool athleticenvironments that's got to be
top three, if not number one.
Like that's the feeling ofgoing to Manor and playing there
, winning there, winning theremight be the best one, winning a
conference championship thereunbelievable.
That's such a cool, fun,special rivalry, some things
(40:51):
that maybe people don't know,and this is sweet.
So Vincent Overway is one of mybest friends and has been for a
long time.
The Overway family is amazing.
Jay was the little kid thatwe'd mess around with.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
And these are Calvin players.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
These are Calvin basketball players.
Yes, that would mess aroundwith us when we'd go play 21 or
we'd go shoot around and then toget to play against Jay and
watch him turn into the playerthat he has been A force, and to
get to compete and talk trash.
And then a couple months ago wewere all hanging out and it was
like we were back in highschool together just catching up
(41:27):
.
So that's really really coolthat not only you get to compete
and you're in this rivalry andthere's a lot of trash talk and
it's super, super fun andcompetitive, but then you get to
kind of step back.
As a senior I appreciated itmore being done.
It's really really cool to seeall those guys, whether that's
they're out at the beach or justrunning to each other while
(41:48):
we're just out, kind of livingin the same area, and to have
these conversations with themand like relive those moments
and those battles whether that'sAdam Macker or whatever the
case may be and just get to talkto him and talk hoop with him,
like it's.
It's such a cool special.
I mean, it is the rivalry LikeI.
I challenge anyone to findanother rivalry aside in the
(42:09):
state of michigan I don't thinkespn says anybody's better no, I
it's, it is.
It's so cool, like for the forthe night, for that night you
feel like you're, you're playingin a big time like espn college
basketball game and those thevenues oh my gosh play into that
right I mean devos and vannoort are two of the absolute
best venues you could go into Ithink what two years ago too,
(42:33):
they filmed a like a minidocumentary about it.
That was really cool to be apart of that.
So then, like it really feltlike we were you know, we had
cameras following us around inthe weight room and stuff and
that was.
That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
So you were the inspiration for quarterback and
receiver not at all.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Maybe they'll upgrade in a couple years and they can
do that.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Yeah, they'll go to a wellness teacher.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Hey, I don't think I'm going to be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
I was joking around with Ken the other day.
We want to do an AD Just followhim around with the camera.
Come on, there's some stuffgoing on right there, there's
some stuff.
You were under some greatcoaches at hope college, just to
name a few uh, greg mitchell,ken george, ryan clingler.
Who is to watch ryan clinglerplay, if you did you ever watch?
Speaker 1 (43:16):
any of his tapes?
Did you watch him?
Speaker 2 (43:18):
one of the craftiest of crafty really fun to watch
him play and there's morecoaches in that there.
What has it been like?
What do you take from them asyou move into your coaching role
here at west ottawa?
Speaker 1 (43:28):
yeah, I.
I think the the biggest thingI'm going to take away from them
would be like like you needplayers, like you need players
to believe in what you're doing,which means you need to, you
need to put in the work like Isaw them I saw coach carlson, I
saw coach george, I saw coachmitch like work every single day
, watch film, watch hours offilm, talk each other,
(43:51):
communicate and really justinvest in us as basketball
players and as people.
You know they cared about usoff the floor more than they did
our production on the floor.
Like I felt like I had peoplethat had my back in terms of
school, in terms of just reallyeverything right, they totally
(44:12):
took us all in.
I mean, I think one through 15,if you'd asked our guys and
they were sitting in this chair,they would say the same thing.
I mean that's something that I'mabsolutely going to try to
bring to my teams in the futurehere and this season as well.
Just that you know it's morethan about basketball.
But then also like, also, I'mgoing to push you, I'm going to
challenge you because I believein you, and it's not out of a
(44:34):
place of animosity, but it's allbelief, love, support.
I see greatness in you and Iwant you to believe that and see
that.
And once they in my experience,in our experience, once that
happened if you watch a lot ofthose games late in the year
they're just kind of sittingback and watching us do our
(44:54):
thing.
I mean that would be the dream,with these guys right To push
them to a point to wheresomebody throws a bad pass and
before I can even stand up andyell Like I've got three guys
being like hey, you got atwo-stop there, let's get back
on defense.
Like that team brotherhood feel, yeah, it's so special when
you're a part of it.
And I saw coaches create thatwithin our guys, because I don't
(45:16):
think everybody I mean, I'll behonest, myself included, I
don't think we all were that waslike what we were going to do,
and to watch them kind of buildthat within us was really,
really special.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
So you talked a little bit there about investing
in players on and off the court.
As I was talking with coachesthis morning, Coach Mitchell
mentioned a mission trip thatyou guys took to the Dominican
Republic and the impact that hesaw that trip have on you.
Can you just kind of share withus kind of what it was about
that trip that really impactedyou and made you who you are
(45:47):
today?
Speaker 1 (45:48):
Yeah, no, I've always had high expectations on myself
as a basketball player.
I think that was like therewere games where I maybe I
didn't play to the standard thatI felt I played and I would
beat myself up about it and I'dbe angry and I'd be upset and
I'd probably be a little hard totalk to.
But that's just.
I knew that's who.
I was Going on that triptotally like I wish I was able
(46:13):
to go on that four or five timesbut to see the joy and the love
that those kids had for notonly each other but then the
opportunity, like at some points, basketball at hope.
There were days where I would.
I would get into modes where Iwas like, okay, like this is a
job, like we're 10 and 3.
(46:34):
We need to get to 15 andwhatever.
Because I want to seed, like Iwant to be seeded, I don't have
to wait on the conferencetournament and last year we had
fallen short of that right.
So then it really was like,okay, we got to win this
tournament to get into thetournament, got to win our
conference tournament to getinto the national one.
And then it was just sorefreshing as that part of my
(46:56):
basketball career is over, toget to go to a place where it's
100% a game.
Again.
I don't know how much he toldyou, but really quick, the first
day we got down there and againI can't get into over this now
because I'm done.
And again I can't get introuble for this now because I'm
done, we're down and we're atthis place and it's a center for
kids, right, and they're goingover the rules with us and
(47:17):
they're explaining.
I'm like, okay, so this iswhere the basketball courts are
and this is where the baseballfields.
As soon as I heard basketballcourts, I was like, yeah, I'm
going to be there all day, youguys can worry, this is the
baseball fields, where thevolleyball court is.
And he's talking, the leader'stalking, the little kid kind of
pulls on my shorts and I turnaround and he's got a ball.
And my Spanish is very, veryaverage, but I can understand.
Like I knew what he wanted todo and he like looked at me and
(47:38):
he was like we'll playone-on-one, like one-on-one, and
then there's like a group of 10of us and we're all.
I slowly started to take a fewsteps back and then we started
playing one on one and then he'slike alright, guys, you guys
are good to go.
He's like where's Clay?
I was already like full sweatplaying one on one with this kid
, and so that whole day we werethere for 4 or 5 hours and then
(48:04):
just totally watching howbasketball made me go from this
complete outsider to being onthe butt of their inside jokes.
It was so refreshing to be like, okay, yes, this is exactly why
I want to be around this gameand I love this game because
this is what it looks like atits purest form.
You've got 40, 50 kids.
(48:25):
They've got a scoreboard, theirown makeshift scoreboard.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
Come on, it was the coolest.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
I have pictures, a scoreboard, their own makeshift
scoreboard.
Come on Like it was the coolest.
I have pictures After this.
I can show you it was thecoolest.
That's why I said Calvin's topthree, because this one's up
there.
And then there's one more.
It was the coolest basketballenvironment that I'd ever been
in.
They're keeping their own score, they've got quarters, they're
playing for time.
They would use, like they hadone phone.
(48:50):
The phone was like the time itwas so cool and like to watch
the smiles.
Someone hits a three, everybodylike they're not even on a team
, like they're just waiting toplay next and they all like it
was so fun.
It was, yeah, the joy thatthose kids had for being able to
play a game with a really beatup ball and broken rims and the
(49:11):
court's not very like it was.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
It was amazing this is amazing yeah gives you a
little perspective, oh my gosh.
Yes you are bringing that joyof basketball to practice.
Right now you're working withvarsity head coach jared riddell
and assistant brian pal.
What's it been like workingwith them so far?
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Awesome they.
The way that they've wrapped mein encouraged me to have like my
own voice, you know, and totalk and to really implore, use
the basketball knowledge that Ihave, even though I'm a little
younger than both of them hasbeen awesome, you know they've.
As a young guy, it's really easyto maybe kind of sit back in
(49:49):
these coaches' meetings and nottalk or share your opinion and
think like, oh, it's just goingto kind of get pushed to the
side, but it's been cool to see.
It makes me feel validated as acoach to see some of the things
that I've brought up orsuggested be implemented into
practice and that just instillsconfidence in myself.
And I think they recognize thatand they do an awesome job of
(50:13):
providing me little nuggets whenI'm maybe leading a drill or my
positioning when I'm coachingor watching guys or all the
things that as a basketballplayer maybe you don't think
about.
But as a coach it's reallyreally important to teach
different things and breakingdown certain things and Palmer
was just texting me the othernight about like how to go about
communicating with certain guysright that maybe he has a
(50:33):
relationship with.
So not allowing me from justnot making me start from like
the bottom of the mountain butallowing me to, like they're
offering their hand down andkind of helping me up, and it's
been really, really cool andpositive and the way that they
push their guys while stillgetting them to believe,
(50:54):
especially with this young groupbecause it is a younger team
aside from the three seniors.
I believe it's so cool to watchtheir response and I think that
comes because of the way thatPalmer and Riddell have operated
and have built that trust withthese guys.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
November 26 West Ottawa High School, godwin
Heights.
I believe it's a Tuesday.
It's a Tuesday night.
Yep, you'll be on the sidelines.
Has he got you your uh coachingswag yet?
Speaker 3 (51:20):
what's it look like?
Yes, he does, it's coming.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
Some of it, some of I've got the.
What do I the?
The hoodie?
What do you give me then?
The like the quarters, thatt-shirt, we got, I've got.
I've got the hoodie.
The quarter zip t-shirt, I'vegot a few of them.
Speaker 3 (51:33):
Coach Riddell's got a nice little pack put together
for the coaches.
We're going to look good.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
All right, well, I'll be shaking your hand.
We'll be at the table.
Bill Might be running music.
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
But it's going to be really fun.
It has been truly, truly, truly, truly, an absolute pleasure to
sit down with Clayton Dykhaus.
You bring the energy, you bringthe love.
We are so glad to have you atthe school.
I want to see you old and graywith a belly in about 40 years
and we're going to be back here.
It won't be me or Bill, butit'll be somebody else and you
(52:02):
can play some of this.
Thank you, clayton Dykhaus.
Speaker 1 (52:05):
Thanks so much, man.
Thank Clayton Dykhouse.
Thanks so much, man.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
I can't wait to see you work today.
Three, that was the number thatI wore.
I can't wait to see.
I'm excited to watch you playand that totally elevated me as
a basketball player.
The belief that other peoplehad in me as a young player was
something that I don't think I'mever going to forget, and it's
something that I implore ourguys to show to each other, and
(00:23):
it's something that I tried toshow to every one of the
freshmen that stepped on campuswhen I got to Hope.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hey everybody, this is Rodney Valinga with the West
Ottawa high school athleticprogram and you're listening to
the 29 one podcast 29 sports,one team, the show that brings
you into the lives of studentathletes, coaches and other
faces in the Panther sportscommunity, bringing you the
stories you might otherwisenever hear.
(00:53):
Join myself and AthleticDirector Bill Kennedy as we dive
in with you to get to know eachother a little bit better.
Ever sit down with someonewhose energy and passion for the
thing they love is so authenticand genuine that you can't help
but buy in.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Today we sit down with one of the newest coaches
here at West Ottawa JV headbasketball coach, Clayton
Dykhaus.
A standout at Hope College,Clayton has joined the teaching
and coaching staff here at WestOttawa and is bringing energy
and enthusiasm in everything hedoes.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Clayton joins the staff with head coach Jared
Riddell and assistant BrianPalmer as they work together to
build a competitive program inthe ever-difficult OK Red.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Clayton Dykhouse up next on the 29.1 podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Let's get it hey everybody, welcome back to the
29.1 podcast.
It is a great day to be in WestMichigan.
It's about that time.
Gray and brown are now yourdominant outside colors.
(02:02):
It's dark outside when you getup and it's dark outside when
you get home and there's onlyone thing left to do, which is
throw on those sneakers and getto the gym.
Today we sit down with a youngman who has been a steady
presence in basketball over thelast count them nine years in
the Holland Zealand area.
You've seen him in the yellowand Brown as an opponent.
(02:22):
You've seen him in the orangeand brown as an opponent.
You've seen him in the orangeand blue as a Division III
college standout and soon to bein the black and white as a JV
high school boys basketball headcoach here at West Ottawa.
He'll be on the sideline in alittle over a week as the
Panthers open up their season onTuesday, november 26, at home
(02:42):
here against Godwin Heights.
And I got to say we are reallyexcited to ask who is it?
Clayton.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Dykhaus.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Clayton Dykhaus, or otherwise known as Mr Dykhaus.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Mr Dykhaus.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
And otherwise known as Coach Dykhaus or just Coach.
Are you getting used to thosetitles yet?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, they're definitely a little different
coming off of being a player,but no, being at Harbor Lights
and being in the middle schoolthere, that was definitely the
first thing that I noticed andhad to get used to, for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, it's Mr Now or it's Coach.
You probably don't get Claytonvery much anymore.
Not at all.
No, not at all.
It's my pleasure to actuallywelcome you to this club of
former athletes.
So you can still run 10Ks, youcan enter cornhole tournaments,
you can play pickleball withfriends and probably find that
men's basketball league.
Are you still hooping a littlebit here and there?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Here and there?
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Do you go back to Hope and play at all, or where
are you playing?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Me and a couple of my former teammates will go play
at intramurals, which are a tonof fun, and then we're playing
in some men's leagues.
I saw this upcoming winter too.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
All right, so not being away.
Has it hit you that that youare now the ex college athlete?
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Oh yeah, absolutely Seeing the the incoming freshmen
that I maybe watched play lastyear in high school, or even
like watching watching the theseniors that are that are at
hope right now, and like thoseguys were freshmen when I came
in because of COVID andeverything that happened, so
really like wow, yeah, I'm upthere.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I'm up there 23.
23.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
23.
Old to be 23 again.
Well, clayton, we're so luckyto have you here at West Ottawa,
as you were kind of goingthrough your student teaching
last year, obviously with CoachMetz, who was a close friend of
mine, runs our tennis program,does a great job with that.
(04:31):
He couldn't say enough goodthings about you.
And then the fact that we justhad that kind of perfect
opportunity to add a physicalwellness instructor down at the
middle school.
Everything kind of timed up,perfect.
What is it like to kind ofingrain yourself in the West
Ottawa community now, reallybeing in year two here?
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, no, this is the place that, after student
teaching here, for sure that Iwanted to be being around the
West Michigan area.
When I was in high school, theathletics here at West Ottawa
were second to none in the area.
Basketball team was amazing, alot of really solid football
players, and then we could listthe sports and list the athletes
(05:08):
volleyball as well.
So it's really cool to be ableto give back to a school that I
have a lot of respect for andcompeting against, and now being
able to serve them and workwith the students here yeah, I
couldn't be more grateful.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's kind of been a whirlwind.
Right, you graduate fromcollege, boom full-time job.
I'm jumping into it.
Have you had time to breathe?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
This summer a little bit.
So I've been working as a campcounselor over the previous
summers and this summer juststepping away and then making
sure that I was being able tokind of enjoy we joked around me
, my parents like this is thelast kid's summer that you're
ever going to have.
So being out with my friends,going to the beach, making sure
(05:54):
that we were just balancingprepping for the upcoming school
year and then enjoying thisamazing area.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It is great to have you here.
I'm so pumped that West Ottawadid that $50,000 for first-year
teachers.
I'm sure you are too.
You graduated.
I graduated Hope this past Mayand played your last college
game in March for Hope.
How is your life differenttoday from just one year ago?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
One year ago today I would have been probably the
first one in the training roombecause I was the old guy Right
away getting prepped for ashoot-around.
That's not going to happen fora couple hours.
Just different.
Just being so committed andfocused on, like a team success
and team goals To have that kindof flip and be the role model
(06:41):
or the one that's instigatingother guys thinking about that
and encouraging my students andthen my athletes to really just
like buy it.
I've been a part of some greatteams and I want that same
experience for every one of myplayers and every one of my
students how long has it beensince you didn't have to get
ready for a November opener as aplayer?
(07:02):
they make the jokes.
Today, my teammates would makethe joke that our former
teammates uh, half a decade.
So five years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Five years ago today, you are getting ready for
another home opener, of course,but let's go back to kind of
what you're doing for a littlebit here, Cause you are teaching
, and you're teaching at Harborlights middle school.
You're in physical wellness.
What's that been like teachingkids already it's been awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
I have a really good mentor teacher she's amazing.
Amy Bishop Funk she does awonderful job, she's so
supportive, she's so encouraging.
And then also, at Mac Bay, theother two PW instructors, jeff
Van Fossen and then Drew Andry.
They've opened their arms to mein terms of the support, in
(07:45):
terms of everything from lessonplanning to instruction.
And also Carrie Lahaki, whoworked in the middle school for
a long time.
She took over my last year atHope in the PW department.
So being able to get A lot oftie-ins here.
Yes, being able to have so manyconnections of people who have
done it or who are doing what Iwant to be really great at.
(08:06):
It's awesome.
I feel super supported.
My principals administrationare amazing.
All the coworkers there havebeen nothing but accepting and
you know, every day I get to goto work and it's a joy Like I
genuinely wake up every day andI love it.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I love that.
You said I get to go to work.
It's not, I have to go to work.
That's when you know thatyou've found your niche and
you've found something that youcan do for a long period of time
.
Right, I have the opportunityto go to work today.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I don't have to go there, great place to be, if you
can find it.
Tell me about the kids.
What different grades are youteaching, what classes?
And then what specific thingshave you been teaching so far?
In the fall, Absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I have.
I've had every middle school.
I've had every middle schoolgrade.
So six, seven, eight.
I've had health courses.
So I've had two health classesthat I've been in charge of
teaching, and then PWI, whichwould be physical wellness
indoor, and then PWO, which isphysical wellness outdoor.
Along with this second quarterso the middle school splits it
(09:09):
up into quarters we introducedboys strength and conditioning.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
That's been awesome.
So I've got a wide range ofstudents, right from athletes to
non-athletes to everything inbetween, and it's been really
cool to see the growth in mydifferent classes.
I don't think I have a singleclass or a single student.
Honestly.
That goes about each day thesame and that makes every hour
super special.
(09:34):
That makes every day differentand unique.
But yeah, I love it and some ofthe units that we've covered or
we're covering we're currentlyin our swimming unit for all my
PW classes, my health class isin its nutrition unit and then
the boys' strength andconditioning.
They're on their third I wantto say the third round of like
(09:56):
the program that we're in thatsome of the coaches up here at
the high school helped puttogether Frank, mr McKenzie, I
think Newton was involved inthat too.
So it's been really really coolto watch how each different kid
student class approaches eachdifferent topic that we're
learning about.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Getting Panther strength down at the middle
school level is something that Iknow has been a real passion
project for Frank Lurchin.
I think I saw you in some ofthose photos as you guys were
kind of setting up that weightroom at Harbor Lights and really
giving those kids a space to goand train and start to develop.
What was that process like?
I know that was a lot of heavylifting, a lot of dusty days.
(10:34):
It's not always the nicest areaup there, but you guys have
really put lipstick on the pigup there.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, no, it was so cool.
The amount of guys that cameback from the high school a lot
of freshmen, a lot of sophomoresto come back and help set that
up, get all the equipment setwhere it needs to go.
Joe DeCavers was awesome interms of kind of orchestrating
and pinpointing that wholeoperation and the guys and girls
in Ms Bishop's class.
(11:01):
They love it.
They've totally just taken toit with a really cool energy and
the way that they encourageeach other and support each
other.
While I'm up there, but thenalso while I'm teaching another
class, I can hear her studentsup there super loud, super
supportive, getting after it.
It's a cool thing to hear kidsencourage each other without
(11:23):
maybe a teacher forcing that onthem.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
That's good stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
You're taking that same energy, that same
connectivity with kids andyou're now taking it to
basketball because you are goingto be the junior varsity head
coach of boys basketball comingup, you've spent much of the
past week in tryouts with boysuniversity and I know you
practice together a lot with thevarsity team.
I think you guys are courts arereally right beside each other.
How has it been for you beingon the other side in this last
(11:50):
10 days or so as a coach ratherthan a player?
Speaker 1 (11:54):
at the high school level.
This would be kind of maybe alittle bit new.
So I was fortunate enough tocoach some AAU basketball.
They were what grade would theybe in now?
They would be sophomores rightnow.
I was also fortunate enough tocoach some of my teammates at
Hope.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
So this is how you coach your teammates at Hope?
Yeah, I can explain that one.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So I'll name them right now.
Brett Boltzma, parker Hovey andnow he is actually at Calvin
Parker Schwartz were all on thefirst AAU team that I coached
when I was a junior at Hope.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You're kidding I helped coach.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, I helped coach them, so then I got to play with
both two of them and thenpotentially maybe would have
played against one of them ifhe'd gone to Calvin earlier.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Did they call you coach on the court?
Speaker 1 (12:35):
No, I got a lot of grandpa and unk jokes.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
None of the others.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I don't see any gray yet, so we're coming um, but no,
just it's.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
It's so cool to be on that other side and take all
the information that I'vereceived, all the coaching that
I've received from some amazingcoaches, and be able to pour it
into these dudes that likethey're, they're so, they're
right on the the precipice offiguring it all out right.
We've, we've kind of grown andI've seen the culture grow even
(13:05):
this in this last couple ofweeks, right, with guys coming
back from football and justwelcoming them in and really
recognizing that, like, in orderto do this, we've got to do it
together and we've got to do itthe right way, and that's going
to take work, and they recognizethat and they're, they're
excited these, uh, these kidsare not much younger than you,
do you still show them things,if you know what I'm saying?
(13:28):
Every once in a while Every oncein a while, I think.
Sometimes I'll remind them whyI'm their coach jokingly.
No, I'll hop in and play withthem sometimes, but again, I had
younger coaches that did thatand I loved it.
As a player, I thought it wasreally cool to see my coach
demonstrate what he was talkingabout, right?
So it's not just scoring, it'snot just playing, but like when
(13:50):
I do play with them, like I'lltalk and I'll guard really hard
defensively, like I was playingin a game, like it was it was my
season.
So they see that, hey, like, inorder to do things the right
way, doesn't matter if you'veplayed college basketball,
doesn't matter if you're a coach.
This is how the game's supposedto be played.
And recognizing that some kids,in order to maybe gain that
respect, they need to see you doit.
(14:11):
And while I'm still young,enough to do it.
I'm happily going to do it.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, seeing that up close as a player so you can
teach this and teach that.
But also you and I are rubbingshoulders and you're covering me
right and you got your littleelbow on the side of my ribs,
just a little bit a little pushoff here and there, a little
fake, a little head fake.
They're left in the past.
Whatever it is, that is as muchteaching as anything else.
Right, those little nuances ofbasketball.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, one of the things I've noticed I've, you
know, come in and out of the gyma couple of times throughout
the course of the week just tokind of check in on things, see
how the boys are doing.
One of the things I've noticedis energy level in the gym.
At practice, with the JV guysand the varsity guys next to
each other, the energy is offthe roof.
Energy off the roof, probablyisn't it?
(14:54):
Off the charts?
Off the charts, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Through the roof, through the roof.
That took way too long.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
The energy is through the roof.
What are you trying to do withpractice and trying to, I guess,
really create that energy?
What are you kind of goingabout and what are you doing in
that situation?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, I would.
I would say from.
From my standpoint, I think thebest thing I can do is take the
the fact that I was just intheir shoes and really really
try to like apply that to them.
Like I was a few months ago,like I was a player, I did have
to bring energy.
I didn't have to talk all thetime.
I was essentially making surethat my guys would do their job
(15:33):
for a coach and so now justpouring that into them.
You know, they've got two reallysolid coaches, especially when
we all combine.
So the end of our practice iswhen we combine.
We've got Coach Riddell andCoach Palmer there with those
guys and not that I don'tprovide X's and O's, and I just
think in certain situationsthere I'm trying to help them
recognize, like, what it's goingto take to play at that level,
(15:56):
like you're going to get coachedhard, and they both do.
Those other two coaches do areally good job of pushing that.
So then my job is essentiallymaybe keeping that energy up and
making sure that other dudesare like hey, this is, this is
what it's like, right it's, it'sloud, it's quick, it's fast,
it's so great for my JV guys too, cause then they get to see
like hey, there is another step.
(16:16):
Like you, you took that stepfrom freshman to JV and it got
faster.
Maybe it's a little bit morephysical.
To be a good, solid varsitybasketball team, that's going to
take every day.
We're competing Every day.
It's loud, right.
I talk a lot about like you canbe quiet off the court.
You don't have to be anextrovert as soon as we are
between those lines, like hey,you've got to have your
(16:37):
teammates back defensively,offensively, you've got to know
what we're doing or what we wantto see.
And, yeah, trying to be youknow, high fives, yelling guy
scores I shouldn't be, but I'mprobably one of the loudest guys
in the gym when somebody doessomething well and just making
sure that they feel like hey,like I recognize the work you're
putting in and it's super cool.
(16:59):
I love the way we end practiceswhere I get to essentially just
be like their hype man in termsof hey, we put all this work in
.
Now we get to go show it.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
And you've got.
We've got a number of guys thatare going to kind of float back
and forth between the JV andthe varsity.
You talked a little bit aboutthe speed of the game.
Talk to us, maybe, a little bitabout what it's going to be
like for those guys that aregetting some run on varsity
games and then all of a suddenthey're going to be stepping
into the JV games.
It's going to elevate theirgame for your team.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, I think 1 through 13 on the varsity really
really solid, really reallyimportant in getting them to
believe that message is going tobe huge, because that's what it
takes to win and that's what ittakes to compete.
The JV guys they recognize theunique situation that we're in
with our team with some of theunderclassmen.
(17:48):
It's been communicated withthem.
Their attitude's been awesome.
So just recognizing that itmight feel a little bit
different there might bepractices where we don't have
four of our teammates, or wehave two and we don't have
certain guys with us andimplementing them into gameplay
and making sure that everyonewho's playing is getting the
(18:13):
reps and the work that they,that they need.
Certain guys need to be put insituations where there's a lot
expected of them.
Other guys need to figure outhow to play with other guys and
so just making sure as a coach,I think the one thing that I
really appreciated from myreally good coaches was the
honesty and the directinformation that I was receiving
as a player, and that's exactlywhat I'm going to try to apply
(18:36):
to my guys as the season goes on.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
You were a three-year varsity player at Zealand East,
I believe right, and graduatedin 2019.
But at one point you were thelittle kid trying out for your
first team as a freshman.
What do you remember aboutbeing that kid?
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I remember being super excited and really nervous
at the same time.
I remember showing up early andI was shooting and I was
working out and tryouts startedand I was like, oh my goodness,
I'm tiny.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
These guys are so fast, they're so quick.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I don't know how I'm even going to compete and I
remember thinking theupperclassmen really just being
positive and encouraging me.
That was one of the biggestthings that I recognized as a
freshman.
I had seniors who weren't evenin my tryout walk by and it
wasn't something big, it wasn'ta whole speech, but it was like
can't wait to see you work today.
(19:38):
Three, that was the number thatI wore.
I can't wait to see, I'mexcited to watch you play.
And that totally elevated me asa basketball player.
Like the belief that otherpeople had in me as a young
player was something that Idon't think I'm ever going to
forget and it's something that Iimplore our guys to show to
(20:00):
each other and it's somethingthat I tried to show to every
one of the freshmen that steppedon campus when I got to Hope.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You developed into a player who could get to the rim
a lot.
So I watched a lot of yourhighlights went to those those
huddle senior highlights, andyou could get to the rim a lot.
You also have that incrediblehigh arcing shot that you like
to shoot from the three.
And of course, the hold theexaggerated hold on the Clayton
Dykhouse three was something Inoticed too.
What are a couple of things inhigh school that came to you
(20:29):
easy and what are some otherthings you needed to work at,
either on or off the court?
But you know, as that youngfreshman becoming that senior
maybe talk about that a littlebit.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Um, my ability to handle the basketball.
I would.
I would love to be able to givekids drills and I think I can
to get better at that.
That was so natural.
I was really, really fortunateto be able to just.
The ball always feltcomfortable in my hands and I
never felt like I needed to lookat the basketball, which is
what made I think me, in highschool and at Hope, a good
(21:02):
passer.
It always felt reallycomfortable.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Notice that too.
Lots of good passing.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
What I needed to work on.
I couldn't have hit.
I couldn't hit the broad sideof a barn with a jump shot
growing up.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Like mid-range or deep threes Mid-range I couldn't
shoot the ball.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I had.
Really I shot it from my chestand the reason I hope you're
listening, dad, because you'regoing to get your credit right
here the reason that I do holdit, or did hold it, was because
my dad drilled into me, likegetting the ball away from my
chest and we would shoot formshots.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
So that's why it's there.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
And I didn't like it.
I didn't like it, but thank you.
Thank you for listening, dad.
No, the ability to find guyscame easy on the basketball
court.
The ability to handle thebasketball came easy.
I couldn't shoot the ball and Icouldn't lead.
I had no idea how to lead inhigh school, which is why, if
you look at the highlights, Ithink I look like a pretty good
(22:01):
basketball player.
If you look at our team recordswith the athletes that we had,
I did see that too.
They were not where they neededto be.
I had no idea how to manage agame.
I had no idea how to get guysto want to compete that didn't
love basketball because I lovedit.
So for me there was no.
(22:22):
Why aren't you trying?
Or why are you not puttingeffort forth, like we're playing
this is game time when I didn'trecognize that, hey, this might
be another guy's third sport orsecond sport.
And so when I got to Hope, thatwas a huge, huge learning curve
for me.
And then you got to lead olderguys.
So I think I was reallyfortunate Coach George came in
(22:48):
and he helped a lot with it.
But other than that, you know,I saw what good senior
leadership looked like at Hope,like I saw Preston Granger and
Matt Zanstra and Ryan Gam andJay Coner my freshman year do an
unbelievable job of investingand doing things the right way.
So by the time I became asenior, it was a no-brainer what
(23:10):
I was going to do and how I wasgoing to help these younger
guys.
But then also I had someincredible leaders with me Brady
Swinehart, evan Thomas, harrisHawkins, tj McKenzie.
They all did a really good jobof collectively coming together
and being like, hey, this is howwe're going to invest.
And it's stuff off the courttoo right.
(23:31):
The way we talk to each other,the way that you interact with
your professors or your teachers, the way that you talk to your
classmates, the way that you goabout acting or carrying
yourself with the West Ottawalogo or the Hope logo or
whatever you have on your chest,like all that matters, and I
don't think I had that figuredout in high school at all.
I got to Hope and really,really quickly I was like, oh
(23:51):
yeah, like in order to be awinner or in order to compete
and do things the right way,it's so much more than just
putting a ball through a basketand that's something that I
definitely want, like our guys,to recognize and see and learn
and pick up way before I did.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Preach it, clayton.
I love hearing that.
I have one other question,basketball related.
I've noticed you're a reallygood passer.
Do you feel like you have areally good peripheral vision?
Is that?
Speaker 1 (24:16):
part of it.
I would say that's part of it.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I also would say I just see so many kids that don't
see something Like they'regoing in this direction and the
play is just off, to their right, the wide open, and they just
don't see it.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I would say a lot of kids when they start watching
basketball and this is going tobe weird.
A lot of kids when they startwatching basketball, they watch
highlight tapes right.
Naturally, we didn't have a TVgrowing up To my family we
didn't have a TV.
Growing up at all, grandparentshad a TV, but their TV didn't
(24:47):
have cable, so they didn't havelive games.
So, in order to watch live games, we'd have to go out to eat,
and you only do that so much asa family.
We would go over to ourgrandparents' house a lot,
though, and they had the FabFive games on VCR.
My grandpa was a huge Michiganfan.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Our whole family.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
So the first guard that I watched was Jalen Rose,
and I watched how Jalen Rosemade everybody better.
He's my favorite player.
I have a picture my dadprobably has it somewhere in his
classroom right now that Iwrote all the Fab Five names
down and I'm the number five.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I wrote my name Because Jalen Rose is, I think,
one of the first basketballcamps I went to when I was
little.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I said Jalen Rose is my favorite basketball player
and the person running the campwas like how do you even know
who that is?
I was like, oh, I just watchedhim play and you didn't learn it
from 2K either?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
No, not at all.
Well, look what we got righthere.
Not at all.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
No, so I yeah, he was the first point guard that I
watched.
I watched a pass first Pointguard I also.
If you've watched me play, I'vealso.
I think that's where the whenmy teammates do something well,
if you pay attention which somepeople don't I love to celebrate
their success, like if you wereto watch a game at Hope and you
(26:00):
were to just watch me duringthe game and it was a game maybe
where Gabe Killen had 25 orMarcus had 17 or TJ had 20 or
whatever the case may be.
I would try to implore that Irecognize what they were doing.
So if that was yelling, if thatwas a high five, if that was a
chest bump, if that was talkingto them as they're walking to
the huddle and hyping them up, Isaw Jalen Rose do that to all
(26:24):
his guys and that was reallyimpactful, I think at a young
age, and I was like, yeah,that's how you win, and I saw
them win.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
I love that I'm sitting here with a dude that's
23, and we're talking about theFab Five.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Let's go, because the Fab Five.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
They were freshmen at Michigan, my freshman year of
high school.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
No kidding.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
So I had some long baggy.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Michigan shorts.
I wore black socks on thebasketball court Absolutely
Black socks, black shoes.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
I was a big Chris Webber guy but loved the Fab
Five so good.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
They were the.
I don't know, they were justthis brand new thing that came
on the scene and they did changebasketball.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
We went from short shorts to like to you could
actually cover your leg.
Now we've gone in reverse.
It did go a little too far Ifyou go back to some of those 90s
where it's mid-calf on some ofthese guys and it doesn't help a
short guy.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I'm only 5'10", you're 5'11" Long.
Shorts on guys like that, theydon't work.
They don't work at all.
You have something on yourschedule on December 10th.
Do you know what that is?
Have you circled that date?
Because I know what it is.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I think I know what it is.
I don't think I've circled it,though You're going to say it
and I'm going to be fun.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
At Zealand East, you get recruited to play at Hope
College.
What do you remember aboutwanting to play at the next
level and then getting thatopportunity?
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I remember that being the goal.
You know a lot of kids myfriends included right they
wrote down like when you'relittle I want to be in the.
Nba.
I want to do all of this.
I think in sixth, seventh gradeit was like I want to be a
college basketball player.
I was also under the impressionyou could do that forever.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I watched guys like Aaron Kraft be at.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Ohio State for forever and I was like, oh, this
is going to be your job.
Found that out really quicklyJeff Carlson, who's currently
the head coach at Zion East.
He reached out along with GregMitchell and a couple of the
other members of their staff,and I went on a visit and, in
(28:37):
all honesty, I totally checkedout.
I was like this is way tooclose to home.
I don't want to do this.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
We've heard this one before.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
I cannot believe.
I'm right down the road.
All my friends, like myfriends' houses, are right here.
Like I, this isn't going tocollege, I'm just going to
another high school.
And so I that first visit kindof cast to the side looked other
places.
I visited Alma.
I was supposed to visit Trine.
A couple months down the linethere were A couple months down
the line there were otherschools that I had talked to.
(29:05):
None of them really felt right.
You know, I felt like I was areally good college basketball
player, like I could be a reallygood college basketball player.
I was super small, I didn'tshoot it well, I had all these
glaring red flags in my game orholes in my game, and went on
another visit and this time Iwent with the players rather
(29:25):
than with an admissions rep andI was just totally immersed in
the Hope culture.
For a day.
I was at their house.
I went to practice, they wentto class, I went and sat outside
their class.
We went to lunch together.
I watched them work out, I sawwhat it looked like and the
entire time which this isamazing the entire time they
(29:49):
kept coming back to me andmaking sure I was okay while
they were going through theirday.
I noticed that immediately.
So Preston and Matt both werehey, man, are you good?
Do you need this?
Do you want to go shoot?
You can go shoot right overthere.
And they did not need to dothat at all.
I was essentially just taggingalong, I was the annoying little
kid for the day and they wereamazing.
(30:11):
Went home.
I was talking to my parentsabout it.
I was like, hey, if you canmake this work, if we can make
this work, I would love, love,love to go play at Hope.
We figured it out.
I called.
I remember this.
I was in the gym at East.
We figured it out.
I called.
I called.
I remember this.
I was in the gym at East.
We played the next day.
We had a game the next day, soit was right before practice.
(30:32):
And I called Coach Mitch and Iwas like, hey, I'm coming to
Hope.
And he was on the bus with theguys because they were headed to
a game and the whole bus justlike went crazy.
I don't think I'm ever going toforget it.
Like I could hear them on thespeakerphone.
I can't wait to play with you,Clay.
And yeah, that was it.
As soon as I got to campus, Iwas like, yes, this is the place
(30:54):
I want to be.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I'm going to invest here and yeah, you know of all
the of all the bright lightsthat could have brought you to
Hope College.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
it was the relationships it was the
relationships, absolutely,absolutely, no question about it
.
So, speaking of relationshipsgood segue I've got a long time
relationship with a, with a guythat's a coach over at hope
college, ken george awesome dudehad the opportunity this
morning to talk to them, asthey're in a hotel in ohio.
(31:22):
I said we're gonna sit downwith Clayton today and you know,
give me a couple of tidbits.
What do you, what do youremember about the kid?
And he?
First thing he said was he wasa skinny kid who showed up, but
he trusted the process and thenhe became the face of Hope
College basketball.
What's that mean to you?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Considering that I was never the best or most
talented player on my team, thatmeans a lot.
I played with some unbelievablebasketball players.
Evan Thomas, first off, comesto mind.
He doesn't get hurt probably afirst-team All-American.
Tanner Wigger, who's a WestOttawa graduate, went from
(32:06):
average role player Talkingabout skinny.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yeah, I was going to say you're talking about skinny
kid.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
No, he went from average role player to we needed
to run the ball through himevery possession.
He legitimately needed to touchevery possession.
You got Marcus Warman thereright now who, lightning quick,
could guard anybody you wanted,and I could list the guys that,
in terms of pure basketballskill, probably are ahead or
(32:31):
have surpassed where I was atand what I did.
But to hear your head coach saythat, after you've tried to do
things the right way for yourentire career, it's never once
been about me.
I've never gone into a game ora season thinking about my
individual success and, yeah, tosee that recognized, that means
(32:52):
a lot.
That, that that, yeah, morethan more than you guys know.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
So you brought up a name there, marcus Warman.
That also came up in myconversation with coach and he
talked a little bit about the,the mentorship.
Really you kind of took Marcusunder your wing and kind of
helped him grow and develop intothe player that he is now and
he's kind of in those shoes now,right as the leader of the team
.
They also talked a lot abouthow, when recruits would come in
(33:19):
and maybe this goes back to theexperience you had with the
basketball guys when you showedup there as a recruit that you
wanted to be the point person,you wanted to be the guy to have
those high school kids sit downwith you at lunch.
Was it really just because ofthat experience that you had
with those guys?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Yeah.
So I would say the point aboutMarcus like I saw everything
that our team needed and he wasa freshman the first day he
stepped on campus.
And sometimes you know it getsawkward right when you bring in
somebody who essentially isthere to when you're gone or
even while you're there,potentially take your job.
(33:58):
And I never looked at it likethat, like I recognized how
talented he was and how much hecould help our team when he's at
his best.
And to see where he's at now,even a lot of the time last year
, before you know, maybe hisfoot injury like really, really
unbelievable basketball player.
When he gets back healthy thisyear, like the work he put in
this summer, it's going to showand it's going to be amazing.
(34:20):
And his leadership too, likethere's there've been so many
positive steps and he's he'sdefinitely going to be one of
the better guards to ever wearthe orange and blue.
The freshmen, so the incomingrecruits, I would say, yeah,
you're already uncomfortable.
I tried to make their visit asnormal and comfortable so they
(34:42):
could see what campus would belike with their authentic selves
.
I loved it.
It was so fun to me to watchkids come in, go on a visit and
then I'd have to look at theroster.
But I think that all thereturners.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
At one point I had lunch with as incoming recruits.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I think right now all the returners yes.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Coach Mitchell so they happened to be in the hotel
room together.
When I was on the phone withthem, they put me on speaker and
they were kind of talkingamongst each other.
They're like I think every guyon our roster right now had
lunch with.
Clayton.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
That's because you like Chick-fil-A, I'm sure,
that's what it was.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Hey, well, they're paying too.
Come on now.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
So when I was in college and we would host
recruits, I lived with a numberof other football guys and
recruits would get sent to us.
When we would get thosecommitments from guys that we
hosted, we would go crazy Likewe sold this kid.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Oh, like big win.
Like we would be going crazy in.
Like big win.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Oh yeah, like we would be going crazy in the
locker room because we felt likewe, as hosts, had an impact on
bringing those guys in.
Oh and you did.
And then, when they would showup the next year, we'd give them
crap about like oh yeah, you'rehere because of us.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I may have gotten a few of those jokes up.
Yeah, here because of us, I mayhave gotten a few of those
jokes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
One thing.
So when I, when we do thesepodcasts, I go on a little data
data surge, right.
I just go online, read as muchas I can and I went through all
your stats at hope college, sothis one through every year kind
of looked around.
What I found very, veryinteresting is in cause you were
there for five years, cause youput up some big games Okay so
(36:28):
games, some high 20s.
I think you had a 31-point gamewhere I don't know if you
barely missed a shot fromanywhere.
But then what I also noticed asyou got into your junior and
senior years, those big gamesreceded a little bit, but your
minutes and your contributiondid not.
You had more players come ontothat team who were capable of
doing that and your minutesdidn't drop your.
(36:50):
When I looked at that, I wasshocked at the amount of minutes
you put in for every game.
Talk about how you, as a matureathlete, recognize the change
in your team and then doing alittle step back or say, hey,
I'm gonna affect the game inthese areas 100.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Um well, if you ask the coaches, they'll make the
joke that I didn't learn how toplay defense until my fifth year
.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
So that may be why Exactly Just outscoring them,
just outscoring them.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
No, junior year.
Junior year we had a uniqueteam.
We had very distinct roles onthat team.
We had two scorers, a big, andtwo really good defensive wings.
We all recognized it.
(37:34):
Nobody said it, but that's justkind of how it worked out.
My senior year, winger Inc madea huge jump and then you had
Marcus.
I immediately recognized thatin order for us to be successful
, I'm probably losing shots, I'mprobably going to lose a couple
shots, but, more importantly,like I need those guys to be
(37:56):
really, really good, really good, especially before or after
Evan ended up getting hurt.
And so just recognizing thatyou know, basketball is a 100%
five on five and seeing thatwe've got all these options,
we've got all these guys thatcan play, that can score, that
can guard, I've got to get thebest out of my dudes and my game
(38:19):
will be just fine.
Right, we win by 20, I end upwith eight and I'm celebrating,
like I just said, 50.
Like we're, it was so about theteam and when you build a
culture where that's the case,right, you've got guys coming in
, guarding really really hard,coming on out and then other
(38:40):
guys just recognizing andcelebrating that and just really
buying into those differentroles.
I think you know one thing I'mI'm pretty proud of is I I never
, afterwards I did, after I wasdone, I looked at my numbers.
I won't lie to you.
During while I was playing, Iwould look at Of course you're
going to.
Yes, I would look at mypercentages.
I would look at my percentagesand then I would watch my
(39:03):
turnovers.
Those were.
That was what I watched duringfilm.
If I was watching myself, Iwasn't scouting, I was watching
like the shots that I took, so Iwould rate my shot selection
and then how many times I turnedthe ball over the points, the
everything else that basketballplayers kind of judge themselves
off of.
I just I wanted to, I wanted towin.
I had never won.
(39:23):
I didn't win at East.
We barely won my freshman yearand when I got to Hope and it
was really go time the onlything, there were games where I
played really really welloffensively and I was probably
miserable to talk to afterbecause we lost.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yeah it's not fun.
This is what a lot of goodathletes go through.
They go through a time wherethey arrive at a place and they
establish themselves and it'slike I'm going to go do my thing
, and you do it for a while andguess what?
You're losing.
And that's not fun.
And then you figure out what,like you did, you ended up being
on a team that played like ateam.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
And when you're sitting in stands and sitting
with other fans or parents,whatever one of the biggest
refrains you hear, they don'tplay together, they don't play
as a team, they're not a group.
And when you do have it, that'swhat it looks like.
Let's go to one of the bestparts about being part of the
flying Dutch.
Is that hope, calvin rivalry.
You were on the good side ofthat in your time there.
(40:20):
What's it like being on thefloor in those games a game
starting tip off all that, oh mygosh.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
That.
That, oh my gosh.
That's the.
I've been in some cool athleticenvironments that's got to be
top three, if not number one.
Like that's the feeling ofgoing to Manor and playing there
, winning there, winning theremight be the best one, winning a
conference championship thereunbelievable.
That's such a cool, fun,special rivalry, some things
(40:51):
that maybe people don't know,and this is sweet.
So Vincent Overway is one of mybest friends and has been for a
long time.
The Overway family is amazing.
Jay was the little kid thatwe'd mess around with.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
And these are Calvin players.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
These are Calvin basketball players.
Yes, that would mess aroundwith us when we'd go play 21 or
we'd go shoot around and then toget to play against Jay and
watch him turn into the playerthat he has been A force, and to
get to compete and talk trash.
And then a couple months ago wewere all hanging out and it was
like we were back in highschool together just catching up
(41:27):
.
So that's really really coolthat not only you get to compete
and you're in this rivalry andthere's a lot of trash talk and
it's super, super fun andcompetitive, but then you get to
kind of step back.
As a senior I appreciated itmore being done.
It's really really cool to seeall those guys, whether that's
they're out at the beach or justrunning to each other while
(41:48):
we're just out, kind of livingin the same area, and to have
these conversations with themand like relive those moments
and those battles whether that'sAdam Macker or whatever the
case may be and just get to talkto him and talk hoop with him,
like it's.
It's such a cool special.
I mean, it is the rivalry LikeI.
I challenge anyone to findanother rivalry aside in the
(42:09):
state of michigan I don't thinkespn says anybody's better no, I
it's, it is.
It's so cool, like for the forthe night, for that night you
feel like you're, you're playingin a big time like espn college
basketball game and those thevenues oh my gosh play into that
right I mean devos and vannoort are two of the absolute
best venues you could go into Ithink what two years ago too,
(42:33):
they filmed a like a minidocumentary about it.
That was really cool to be apart of that.
So then, like it really feltlike we were you know, we had
cameras following us around inthe weight room and stuff and
that was.
That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
So you were the inspiration for quarterback and
receiver not at all.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Maybe they'll upgrade in a couple years and they can
do that.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Yeah, they'll go to a wellness teacher.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Hey, I don't think I'm going to be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
I was joking around with Ken the other day.
We want to do an AD Just followhim around with the camera.
Come on, there's some stuffgoing on right there, there's
some stuff.
You were under some greatcoaches at hope college, just to
name a few uh, greg mitchell,ken george, ryan clingler.
Who is to watch ryan clinglerplay, if you did you ever watch?
Speaker 1 (43:16):
any of his tapes?
Did you watch him?
Speaker 2 (43:18):
one of the craftiest of crafty really fun to watch
him play and there's morecoaches in that there.
What has it been like?
What do you take from them asyou move into your coaching role
here at west ottawa?
Speaker 1 (43:28):
yeah, I.
I think the the biggest thingI'm going to take away from them
would be like like you needplayers, like you need players
to believe in what you're doing,which means you need to, you
need to put in the work like Isaw them I saw coach carlson, I
saw coach george, I saw coachmitch like work every single day
, watch film, watch hours offilm, talk each other,
(43:51):
communicate and really justinvest in us as basketball
players and as people.
You know they cared about usoff the floor more than they did
our production on the floor.
Like I felt like I had peoplethat had my back in terms of
school, in terms of just reallyeverything right, they totally
(44:12):
took us all in.
I mean, I think one through 15,if you'd asked our guys and
they were sitting in this chair,they would say the same thing.
I mean that's something that I'mabsolutely going to try to
bring to my teams in the futurehere and this season as well.
Just that you know it's morethan about basketball.
But then also like, also, I'mgoing to push you, I'm going to
challenge you because I believein you, and it's not out of a
(44:34):
place of animosity, but it's allbelief, love, support.
I see greatness in you and Iwant you to believe that and see
that.
And once they in my experience,in our experience, once that
happened if you watch a lot ofthose games late in the year
they're just kind of sittingback and watching us do our
(44:54):
thing.
I mean that would be the dream,with these guys right To push
them to a point to wheresomebody throws a bad pass and
before I can even stand up andyell Like I've got three guys
being like hey, you got atwo-stop there, let's get back
on defense.
Like that team brotherhood feel, yeah, it's so special when
you're a part of it.
And I saw coaches create thatwithin our guys, because I don't
(45:16):
think everybody I mean, I'll behonest, myself included, I
don't think we all were that waslike what we were going to do,
and to watch them kind of buildthat within us was really,
really special.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
So you talked a little bit there about investing
in players on and off the court.
As I was talking with coachesthis morning, Coach Mitchell
mentioned a mission trip thatyou guys took to the Dominican
Republic and the impact that hesaw that trip have on you.
Can you just kind of share withus kind of what it was about
that trip that really impactedyou and made you who you are
(45:47):
today?
Speaker 1 (45:48):
Yeah, no, I've always had high expectations on myself
as a basketball player.
I think that was like therewere games where I maybe I
didn't play to the standard thatI felt I played and I would
beat myself up about it and I'dbe angry and I'd be upset and
I'd probably be a little hard totalk to.
But that's just.
I knew that's who.
I was Going on that triptotally like I wish I was able
(46:13):
to go on that four or five timesbut to see the joy and the love
that those kids had for notonly each other but then the
opportunity, like at some points, basketball at hope.
There were days where I would.
I would get into modes where Iwas like, okay, like this is a
job, like we're 10 and 3.
(46:34):
We need to get to 15 andwhatever.
Because I want to seed, like Iwant to be seeded, I don't have
to wait on the conferencetournament and last year we had
fallen short of that right.
So then it really was like,okay, we got to win this
tournament to get into thetournament, got to win our
conference tournament to getinto the national one.
And then it was just sorefreshing as that part of my
(46:56):
basketball career is over, toget to go to a place where it's
100% a game.
Again.
I don't know how much he toldyou, but really quick, the first
day we got down there and againI can't get into over this now
because I'm done.
And again I can't get introuble for this now because I'm
done, we're down and we're atthis place and it's a center for
kids, right, and they're goingover the rules with us and
(47:17):
they're explaining.
I'm like, okay, so this iswhere the basketball courts are
and this is where the baseballfields.
As soon as I heard basketballcourts, I was like, yeah, I'm
going to be there all day, youguys can worry, this is the
baseball fields, where thevolleyball court is.
And he's talking, the leader'stalking, the little kid kind of
pulls on my shorts and I turnaround and he's got a ball.
And my Spanish is very, veryaverage, but I can understand.
Like I knew what he wanted todo and he like looked at me and
(47:38):
he was like we'll playone-on-one, like one-on-one, and
then there's like a group of 10of us and we're all.
I slowly started to take a fewsteps back and then we started
playing one on one and then he'slike alright, guys, you guys
are good to go.
He's like where's Clay?
I was already like full sweatplaying one on one with this kid
, and so that whole day we werethere for 4 or 5 hours and then
(48:04):
just totally watching howbasketball made me go from this
complete outsider to being onthe butt of their inside jokes.
It was so refreshing to be like, okay, yes, this is exactly why
I want to be around this gameand I love this game because
this is what it looks like atits purest form.
You've got 40, 50 kids.
(48:25):
They've got a scoreboard, theirown makeshift scoreboard.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
Come on, it was the coolest.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
I have pictures, a scoreboard, their own makeshift
scoreboard.
Come on Like it was the coolest.
I have pictures After this.
I can show you it was thecoolest.
That's why I said Calvin's topthree, because this one's up
there.
And then there's one more.
It was the coolest basketballenvironment that I'd ever been
in.
They're keeping their own score, they've got quarters, they're
playing for time.
They would use, like they hadone phone.
(48:50):
The phone was like the time itwas so cool and like to watch
the smiles.
Someone hits a three, everybodylike they're not even on a team
, like they're just waiting toplay next and they all like it
was so fun.
It was, yeah, the joy thatthose kids had for being able to
play a game with a really beatup ball and broken rims and the
(49:11):
court's not very like it was.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
It was amazing this is amazing yeah gives you a
little perspective, oh my gosh.
Yes you are bringing that joyof basketball to practice.
Right now you're working withvarsity head coach jared riddell
and assistant brian pal.
What's it been like workingwith them so far?
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Awesome they.
The way that they've wrapped mein encouraged me to have like my
own voice, you know, and totalk and to really implore, use
the basketball knowledge that Ihave, even though I'm a little
younger than both of them hasbeen awesome, you know they've.
As a young guy, it's really easyto maybe kind of sit back in
(49:49):
these coaches' meetings and nottalk or share your opinion and
think like, oh, it's just goingto kind of get pushed to the
side, but it's been cool to see.
It makes me feel validated as acoach to see some of the things
that I've brought up orsuggested be implemented into
practice and that just instillsconfidence in myself.
And I think they recognize thatand they do an awesome job of
(50:13):
providing me little nuggets whenI'm maybe leading a drill or my
positioning when I'm coachingor watching guys or all the
things that as a basketballplayer maybe you don't think
about.
But as a coach it's reallyreally important to teach
different things and breakingdown certain things and Palmer
was just texting me the othernight about like how to go about
communicating with certain guysright that maybe he has a
(50:33):
relationship with.
So not allowing me from justnot making me start from like
the bottom of the mountain butallowing me to, like they're
offering their hand down andkind of helping me up, and it's
been really, really cool andpositive and the way that they
push their guys while stillgetting them to believe,
(50:54):
especially with this young groupbecause it is a younger team
aside from the three seniors.
I believe it's so cool to watchtheir response and I think that
comes because of the way thatPalmer and Riddell have operated
and have built that trust withthese guys.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
November 26 West Ottawa High School, godwin
Heights.
I believe it's a Tuesday.
It's a Tuesday night.
Yep, you'll be on the sidelines.
Has he got you your uh coachingswag yet?
Speaker 3 (51:20):
what's it look like?
Yes, he does, it's coming.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
Some of it, some of I've got the.
What do I the?
The hoodie?
What do you give me then?
The like the quarters, thatt-shirt, we got, I've got.
I've got the hoodie.
The quarter zip t-shirt, I'vegot a few of them.
Speaker 3 (51:33):
Coach Riddell's got a nice little pack put together
for the coaches.
We're going to look good.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
All right, well, I'll be shaking your hand.
We'll be at the table.
Bill Might be running music.
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
But it's going to be really fun.
It has been truly, truly, truly, truly, an absolute pleasure to
sit down with Clayton Dykhaus.
You bring the energy, you bringthe love.
We are so glad to have you atthe school.
I want to see you old and graywith a belly in about 40 years
and we're going to be back here.
It won't be me or Bill, butit'll be somebody else and you
(52:02):
can play some of this.
Thank you, clayton Dykhaus.
Speaker 1 (52:05):
Thanks so much, man.
Thank Clayton Dykhouse.
Thanks so much, man.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
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