September 22, 2025 • 32 mins
Drew and the Denver Pioneers have won multiple conference championships in a row and arguably one of the best mid-major teams in the country. We break down everything from what he looks for in recruits to the importance of hiring a good assistant to the importance of hosting and playing PTT events.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, special guest today again, I have a
great friend of mine, head coachat Denver University.
Drew welcome on. How we doing James?
Thanks for having me. How's the weather today up there
in Denver? It's good, it's good.
(00:22):
I mean, everyone thinks it snowsall the time and we cross
country ski to to work every day, but it's it's been very hot
and it's it's very nice and sunny.
So yeah, it's been a warm, it's been a warm summer and now get
into the fall, which is my favorite time in Denver.
But yeah, it's it's nice and it's actually very confusing.
It's DU, but it's actually University of Denver.
(00:45):
Very, very confusing. Nobody outside of Denver or
Colorado gets it. So completely understandable,
but it's very confusing. It took me like a year to get
used to that. That's a mistake on my end, so I
apologize about that. Look, I want to, I want to delve
right in. OK, I've got one question for
you about The Ohio State University 1.
(01:07):
You had some teammates that weregreat friends of mine, still
great friends of mine. Can you explain to everyone the
situation with those teammates and how many of them are still
coaching and where? Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of
them. I don't know if I can name
everyone and I'm hopefully I don't leave one off because I
(01:29):
could get some, some heat for that in the group chat.
But yeah, I guess none of us maybe besides Scott Green could
get a real job and be a real contributor to society.
So we all got into college coaching and but in all series
of snow, we a lot of us got intocollege coaching, especially in
in my years. And I think we were all very
(01:51):
passionate about our experience and you know, the the
relationships that we built and you know, everything that our
coaches did from us from Ty to to Dave Schilling to Chris
Gardner. So yeah, I mean, you know, you
got you got Ross Wilson who's atGCU now.
You got Ty Schaub who's who's atMichigan, you got Brian Konieko
(02:11):
who's at Central Florida. You got Todd Wojkowski who's won
a national title at D3 at Case Western, shouting out the
coaches. Chris Gardner is is at Navy.
You know, Dave Schilling just won a national championship at
Dennis. So shout out to Schills at
Dennison and everything that he's done there.
(02:32):
Who am I forgetting? Wow, incredible.
Anybody. Incredible.
But yeah, it's, it's quite the laundry list and obviously
myself at Denver, but yeah, it'sa, it's a good group and we had,
we had a lot of fun and good times at Ohio State and a lot of
success. And yeah, just trying to carry
that on to our programs that we're at now.
(02:54):
That's amazing. OK, so first real question I
have for you by the way, for thepeople that are listening, the
reason why I started this is notonly do I want to have great
conversations with great coachesand great players, but I also
want people listening to actually get in the car one day
(03:14):
and, and, and laugh and, and, and enjoy a conversation
listening to the people that come on here.
So there is a there is a social element to these conversations
too. But the first question I have
for Drew here really is, Drew, if you go to any recruiting
event and you have all these different types of players, all
(03:38):
these different types of game styles, all good enough to play
for you at Denver, What sort of player attracts your eye where
you say, oh, that's that's more of my type of player.
Is there something specific? Because personally I had
something I liked. But my question is to you, what
(03:59):
do you see and and what attractsyou to Denver?
Yeah. I mean, I think the first thing
is hoping that most of the recruiting events that we're
going to, we kind of have previous relationships with them
and we've spoken with them. But as you know, you watch them
to compete at the events, whether it's a future, whether
it's Kalamazoo, whether it's a tournament in Europe is, you
(04:19):
know, you want to see guys that are competitively engaged and
focused and you could tell that it means a lot to them.
And you know, for some people it's kind of hard to tell.
And for sometimes for me, it's very hard to tell.
So, you know, I want guys that when I watch them play and
compete and even practice that they're out there running hard
for every ball. And you can kind of see in their
(04:40):
eye and their body language and their meant that, you know,
these guys want to compete. They enjoy being out there and,
you know, they kind of believe in what they're doing.
You know, from a tennis standpoint, obviously we'd all
like, you know, big, strong, physical, fast, you know, big
forehand, which, you know, is shocking because I had one of
(05:00):
the worst forehands ever and Ty still took me.
So, you know, I see he, I don't know what he saw, but he saw
something. But yeah, I mean, I, I think
also too, something that we're trying to get recently is guys
that we feel that we can adapt them to our double system
quickly. And, you know, I think size and
physicality and, and skill obviously has something to do
(05:21):
with that. But yeah, when, when we're, when
we're at these tournaments, I mean, we want to see guys that
are well composed out there. And, and, but you know, I feel
like nowadays, you know, I went to Kalamazoo this year.
I feel like every, all, a lot ofthe kids nowadays are, are very
serious and straight laced. I kind of want to see some guys,
you know, chirping up out there and, and fire it up and
(05:41):
themselves up and, and bring some energy in, in a, in a
professional, respective, you know, respectful way.
And, you know, if we can see some of that, I kind of like it.
But I think the biggest thing for us at Denver is, you know,
we want people who want to be here.
You know, I don't, I don't want to, you know, beg and plead
somebody. And if I have to chase them too
hard and they're not, you know, reciprocating.
(06:03):
I, I think it's tricky. So I think you you want to get
people that that want to be partof our program and you know,
want to be part of what we're selling and, and that's what
we're looking for. And so, you know, but out there
on the court, I mean, we want tosee some guys that just love to
compete. And so that's what we're looking
for. Well, if you don't know, I I've
(06:24):
tried to read exactly how many titles in a row you have won,
but Denver have essentially dominated.
They have absolutely dominated their conference.
So Drew, you have, you were an assistant coach and you were
also, you are also now a head coach.
What is the difference there in terms of being an assistant and
(06:47):
now taking that role as a head coach?
I'm sure there's a lot of coaches out there who are
assistants who do want to becomehead coaches one day.
What's that like? Yeah, I think there's two big
things. I mean, the first thing is going
to sound kind of funny, but I I think it's very serious.
I think you got to hire good assistants, you know, and I hope
I was a good assistant to to Danny and Ricardo Rubio.
(07:08):
And, you know, I think we we're on our third assistant now in
five or six years. And I feel like they've just
been incredible. So I think it's super important
that you have people on your team, from players to parents
and, and obviously the coaches that believe in what you're
selling and what you're pitching.
And so, you know, I kind of started this thing six years ago
as the head coach and you know, the first person I hired was
(07:29):
Mitch Stewart from Arizona. He was the assistant and I just
thought he was a stud and, and he he really helped me get this
thing off the ground and kind ofget it going.
And then, you know, we had Will Davies, who was incredible and
just that, you know, a 10 out of10 and, and, and now on the
Aneesh Reneketh too, who played for us for two years as our new
(07:50):
assistant. So I think it's, it's very
important as a first time head coach to understand that, you
know, a lot of people talk aboutculture and everything.
In my opinion, culture is the people that you bring on board,
you know, and so I think it starts with the assistants and
the people around it, from the strength coach to the second
assistant to the athletic trainer.
I think those things are super important, you know, and I think
(08:12):
I think the second thing is thatI think about now is you, you
know, kind of being a head coachas long as I've been an
assistant, is you have to make the decisions and the decisions
that you make, you know, is, is how the program will go from,
you know, who hires assistants to what you want your recruiting
philosophy to be, to how you want to run practices, to what
(08:34):
you know, how you schedule. You know, you have to make those
decisions and you have to be confident and, and stand behind
those decisions and, you know, make sure that you get your
message out for why you want things done a certain way to the
people on the team. Because you know, if you don't,
you know, get your message across and you don't kind of
tell everybody why you do thingsand what you're thinking.
(08:56):
You know, I think it can it can be tricky, But you know, I think
as an assistant, you know, the main focus that I want our
assistants focusing on is recruiting, player development.
I want them to be in with the guys.
I want them to to, to really be their, their, their biggest, you
know, advocate and, and our guyshave done a great job with that.
And, you know, obviously nowadays being a head coach,
(09:20):
there's a lot more administrative stuff that comes
with it. But I think, you know, really
focus on the things that you cantry to control, which is your
team and your player developmentand your recruiting and how you
schedule some of the other stuffyou you can't control.
And so I really try to focus on that and try to work more
efficiently and effectively, which I feel like I've done much
(09:40):
better now and in my in my last couple years than I did my my
first two years. I was kind of running around my
hair on fire the first two years.
So, yeah, I think those are the two big things.
I think going from, you know, anassistant to a head coach, I
think sometimes it's hard for assistants to have exposure to a
lot of the decision making, you know, making the final call and
recruits, you know, making the final call and scheduling,
(10:03):
having the hard discussion with a parent or a player, you know,
that's on the head coach. And so, you know, you got to
really be, you know, believe andtrust in your decision making
and what your philosophies are. So talking about you as a coach,
I'll give you 2 different scenarios.
OK, middle of the fall and it's it's work.
(10:24):
You're you, you don't have the tournaments coming up and you
guys are working right. And then scenario 2 is it's
Tuesday and you have a dual match on Friday.
What are those practices lookinglike for you and the program?
Yeah. I mean a lot of our practices.
I mean, we do a lot of individual work where we do a
lot. Of we.
(10:44):
Can specific stuff related to mechanics and technique and form
with our guys and and more one-on-one time in, in
practices. I like double s and I like
cheating, You know, I mean, you know, we, we're, we're very
simple. We're very black and white with
our stuff. We don't, we don't make it too
complex, but like a lot of the times when it's we got everybody
(11:05):
at practice and we got 2 1/2 hours.
Like I want to roll it out and put something on the line.
And you know, on the last Saturday, on this past Saturday,
we had I coached one team and, and Anish coached another and
it's 4 verse four and, and losing team had to do some
conditioning to make themselves fasteners, including the
coaches. So I ended up on the learning on
(11:25):
the learning team, had a learning experience.
So I ran a 17, which I was pretty proud about, did it in 54
seconds. So that was fun.
But no, I mean, I want, I want to see these guys compete in
team practice, you know, keep fun, keep it fresh.
I think sometimes it can get a little repetitive team practice.
If it's, you know, 2 cross one line or two, you know, 2 on
(11:47):
ones, it can get a little boring.
I think there's a time and placethat stuff and we certainly do
that. But I think, you know, if, if
we're playing, if we're practicing Tuesday and we got
the Drake Bulldogs coming in on Friday, I'm I'm rolling the
balls out and I want to see whatour guys can do.
So a lot of competing, a lot of double S get the energy up and
(12:09):
in the, in the individual stuff,it's much more calm, it's much
slower pace, it's much more focused on specific stuff.
But yeah, we like to compete and, and, and much more double s
too. I think my first two years I
didn't do enough double s. I think I just assumed that they
understood what I was telling them because that's how I, I was
coached and you know, I, that's how I liked it.
(12:32):
And I don't think I did a good enough job explaining some of
the double stuff to them, which was definitely on me.
And so now we were so much more on double S and exactly what
we're trying to get through so. That's great, I love it.
Switching gears a little bit, itis.
If you didn't know, it's Ryder Cup week here.
I I'm nervous. I'm nervous that that Team
(12:54):
Europe scares me. I don't know.
I'm not sure. Here's me the only.
Thing I like is it's at New York.
That's the only thing. I like Yep, I will actually be
attending on the Sunday of the Ryder Cup, so if you see anyone
in the crowd, bring. In Are you going to have the
face painted? Are you going face?
Painted, No, no face paint, but I will be there.
(13:15):
But switching gears, I absolutely love the game of golf
and it was a hobby of mine. Outside of coaching, what do you
do with your guys? Outside of tennis, what do you
do and what do you do with the team?
Yeah, we play padel a lot. Of other.
Guys like playing padel. My, when I was assistant with
Danny, we played floor hockey a couple times, which I thought
(13:37):
was awesome because I love hockey.
But now I, it gets a little chippy and I feel like some guys
might get injured or something. But we take them to Red Rocks in
Denver because Red Rocks is really cool.
So we take them to like check out Red Rocks.
I actually did today where I gave the guys today off practice
and that and we took them aroundCherry Creek, especially some of
the freshmen, they haven't been around there and seen it because
(13:59):
used to be on campus. So I like to take them to
Rockies games. We play Paddell, We've done some
golf. Spike ball is a big one.
Platform tennis, which I don't know if many people know what
platform tennis is. I used to play that pretty
competitively. So I've taken a couple of guys
out to play that. They love it in the winter time,
but padel is like the new thing in Denver and with our guys are
(14:22):
obsessed. So we'll go, we'll go chop it up
and some padel and they love it.You have two or two young kids
or three. 21 on the way in December, so we got 1/4 year old
daughter and then one on the wayin December.
Congratulations. How do you balance for other
coaches out there? How do you balance family life
(14:43):
with coaching? Is there, is there anything you
do? Do you get your family involved
with the team? Do you bring them on the court?
What? What sort of things do you like
to do? Yeah, I mean, I definitely don't
have the answers. I call my buddies and coaches
who, you know, buddies who are coaches who have more kids.
I say, what the hell is going onhere because, you know, I don't
know. But you know, we're lucky here
(15:05):
in Denver. You know, we've got a lot of
help with the family and stuff. My sister's here, my parents are
here, you know, my wife's familyis here.
So we have a lot of help and andsupport, which is nice.
I think, you know, I think one thing that I try to do is work,
you know, more effectively and efficiently when I do have my
time and realize that, you know,I only have a couple hours, you
(15:26):
know, at certain things, whetherit's practice or, you know,
recruiting or, you know, per day.
And I have to organize that verywell and, and, and make it very
efficient and effective. And so I think, you know, I try
to balance it very well with, you know, the family time and,
and, and the work time. And, you know, I think it's good
(15:46):
sometimes too, to take a break from college tennis because it's
all-encompassing. And I think you have to be if
you want to be elite and you want to be good at this thing,
you know, which we do and I do. And so it, it, you know, it, it
requires a lot of help. And, and our guys are patient
with it too. They know sometimes if you know,
I have to go pick up my daughter.
Like our guys are understanding of it and they're aware.
(16:07):
They, they, they know how to do things.
So they, and what the expectations and standards are.
And I rely and put a lot on our assistant coaches to be honest
too. Like I, you know, I don't
micromanage them. I trust them, I believe in them.
I have, I have a lot of confidence in them.
And so do our guys. So, you know, a lot of the
responsibility and and a lot of the things I put on them and and
(16:29):
they, you know, they do an amazing job.
So, you know, I think just trying to be balanced and and
not to get too high, too high orlower thing with things, as you
all know, can be tricky, especially after like a four
three loss on the road or something and get a little dark.
But just just get back on the track and just keep going.
(16:50):
So to any player out there that is listening that is considering
going to Denver, they have a choice between Denver, a school
on the West Coast, a school in the South, and a school in the
East Coast. Why?
Why Denver? Why is this place?
Because I've been to Denver multiple times, the place is
(17:12):
amazing. Unbelievable city.
Never actually specifically beenon campus, but why should they
come? Yeah, it's a beauty.
It's a beautiful city. You know, it's a very popular
city, especially since COVID. The campus is pretty and
beautiful. You know, the weather is great.
Again, like I said, I was kind of joking earlier on.
I mean, but it's kind of seriousas people think, you know,
(17:35):
Denver mountains and skiing, butthat stuff is 2 hours away.
You know, Denver itself is a pretty deserty, warm climate.
But yeah, I mean, again, we're pretty direct and, and honest
with what we're looking for and how we run our program.
You know, we're intense, we're competitive and we have high
expectations for our guys. And, you know, our guys want to
(17:56):
win and they want to get better and they want to put in the work
and they, you know, they want to, you know, get something out
of it. So, you know, we, our goal is to
win conference championships andbe Top 40 in the country and,
and get guys in the NCAA tournament.
And, you know, that's the goal every year.
And we've, you know, we've come close to, to doing some of that
stuff. And, and so I think also too,
(18:17):
like a lot of our guys, I think are best recruiters as well as
the coaches. I think, you know, when, when
recruits and parents and, and people get around our players
and our team and our atmosphere,they, they realized it's kind of
a family atmosphere. And you know, it's, it's a good
group of guys that all have kindof similar goals and aspirations
as, as do the coaches. And so, you know, we want people
(18:39):
that want to be here. And if they don't want to be
here, they can go somewhere else.
But you know, we're, we're, we're circling guys that fit the
priorities that we're looking for, which is we want them to
have, we want a lot for their tennis.
You know, we want them to play 12 months out of the year.
You know, that's why we love the, the, the PTT events and
we've started that up, you know,3-4 years ago.
I think that's been monumental change for our program and our
(19:01):
development of our players having the options, you know,
during the breaks. We have a really long winter
break. We go, we have a unique one.
We go all the way from the day before Thanksgiving and New
Year. So our guys have 8 weeks.
You better believe we're out there competing.
So you know, same thing in the summer, in the summer.
So, you know, we want guys that play 12 months out of the year
and, you know, want to do this thing, you know, all year round.
(19:24):
So, you know, we attract ourselves towards those types of
recruits and and vice versa. And I feel like we've been doing
a really good job here lately, you know, targeting the right
ones and, and identifying the right ones and, you know, taking
the time to really build those relationships.
And we have a lot of good relationship with the recruits.
And, you know, Will and Mitch were incredible recruiters.
(19:46):
Will was incredible. You know, everybody liked him,
everybody knew him and same thing with a niche now, you
know, with a niche coming on board.
So, you know, I think we we build a lot of strong
relationships. And if you want to win
conference championships and youwant to play in the N Splay
tournament and you want to get developed and you want to play
Top 40 in the country tennis, you know this is the place and.
(20:06):
You know, and you're going to, you're going to have to work
hard and you're going to have tocompete and you're going to have
to, you know, give it every single day.
And if that's not what you're looking for, then this isn't the
place for you. And, you know, we also want guys
that do well in the classroom aswell too.
We can't, you know, if they, they aren't committed to their
school work and, and take their,their grades and, and school
work seriously, then it's also not going to work.
(20:28):
But you know, we've had some good success lately.
I mean, two years ago we went undefeated in the regular
season, which is the problem since 2013, you know, and I
think it was Virginia, the last team to do that.
And they had a bunch of pro players, top 200 guys on their
team. So, you know, that was a huge
accomplishment. And we put two players in NCAA
championship last year, which was a big deal.
(20:49):
And you know, Ralph Papagek, ourour number two player from last
year, you know, who came in as 11-4 UTR and kind of under the
radar and, you know, kind of struggled his freshman year to
his junior year getting finals of regionals and, you know,
beating a guy from Texas down atNC Blaze and, you know, being
linked all season. I think it shows that if you
want to get developed and you want to overachieve, you know,
(21:10):
which is what I got out of my experience.
You know what Ohio State and youknow what Ty helped me do, you
know, I want to do that for our guys.
I and the experiences that I had, I want to share that and
give those guys, our guys the opportunity to have that.
Massive pressure moment in a dual match.
Are you play calling or are you stepping away?
(21:32):
That's a good question. It's very situational, I mean.
Are you, are you, are you naturally I need to, I need to
play call this or do you, do yousay, you know what?
My assistant's got it or he's orhe's got it.
I'm going to step away. You've got to naturally be one
or the other. It's funny, my first like 2
(21:52):
years, I wasn't a play caller atall.
And thank God I wasn't because some of the plays I called, I
mean, the players gave me some looks like, are you serious?
And I felt so bad after. I was like, God, these guys are
giving it all out there and I'm calling this horrific play.
But lately I've actually called some pretty good plays and been
pretty successful with it. So, but we, I let our assistants
(22:16):
do a lot of that during the matches.
And I kind of relate to the assistants and I, I like to kind
of have a bird's eye view on things, but I'm, I'm in there.
I mean, if I, I'm more, I'm moreso kind of chime in when I see
something that I don't like whenI kind of see a guy struggling
or kind of lacking some awareness or ability to make
adjustments. I'm, I'm kind of getting in
(22:38):
there where I kind of like to give the messaging for specific
play calls and, and, and, you know, strategy to our assistance
to kind of pass that along. But again, I don't, I don't want
to be calling too many plays outthere.
A micromanager Guys do much. I want them to play fast.
I want them to play aggressive. So you know, I haven't been
calling too many plays lately. What bothered you, by the way?
(23:02):
Again, I feel bad sometimes for the people that come on here
because I don't really give themmuch of prep.
I don't, you know, e-mail over alist of questions and say, hey,
this is what I'm going to ask you.
I just kind of feel it as I go because quite honestly, I
absolutely love this. This is this is very interesting
to not only people listening. It's very interesting to me,
(23:23):
right? But like a situation where you
come to practice or you come into the program one day, what
bothers you? Like where are you?
Like, oh gosh, that just really gets me.
And it's not obviously losing bothers you, but there are
things that occur that will get you what what are they?
(23:46):
Yeah, no, good question. I would say excuses and people
feeling some sort of entitlementfor what, getting what they
want, but they haven't earned ityet and they haven't put in the
work. Those are two big things, you
know, over expectations too, which is totally understandable.
(24:08):
I'm kind of seeing that a lot lately with parents and recruits
and players and other coaches and other.
I think it's easy to get caught up in expectations.
So, you know, again, excuses. I can't stand it.
I don't let any of our guys or coaches or myself make excuses.
You know, we have everything that we need at our program at
(24:30):
DU to be successful and our administration and our AD
supports us. And you know, he wants us to
win. So he, you know, if he's at that
mentality, we need to have that mentality.
And you know, I tell our guys all the time, if, you know, we
come up short, I don't go into my boss's office and make
excuses about the weather, the, the line judge or whatever it
(24:51):
might be. So our guys don't do the same.
And a lot of credit to our guys the last couple of years, they,
they just, they put their head down, they go to work, they're
tough. They, they face adversity head
on. You know, I think I get a little
frustrated when some people think that they can skip corners
or, you know, kind of they're entitled to something.
And we let them know that they're entitled only to work as
(25:13):
hard as they possibly can. And, you know, we'll see what
happened and comes from that. But yeah, and I think, you know,
giving, putting too much expectations on themselves
because I think when people put unrealistic, you know, result
oriented expectations of themselves, I think it's a bit
of a cop out and they're trying to kind of hide from the fact
that they don't really want to lay it all out there.
(25:36):
So we kind of, we speak about that with our guys a lot.
And, and credit to our guys the last two or three years, I mean,
they've just done an incredible job.
I mean, they, they deal with my BS sometimes And you know, I'm,
I'm intense and I'm competitive.So some, some days, you know,
especially if I'm a little sleepdepressed with the kids, you
know, they're like, what is whatis true talking about?
Like he's it's making much sense.
(25:56):
But they they do it for each other and they have a lot of
pride for the program and it means a lot to them.
So again, I mean, it kind of goes back to the recruiting
question. Like we want guys that that want
to be here and we'll have a lot of pride when it comes time to
representing our team in the university.
So yeah, that the excuses stuff.Really.
Really. Bothers me.
(26:17):
But our guys, I'll tell you what, the last couple of years,
they haven't made many excuses, if any.
Love it. Three things that you think are
the most important to winning a national championship.
I will tell you ours were at Tennessee as you're thinking.
Ours were double S fitness and keeping the ball in play.
(26:42):
Those are our three things. What do you think are the three
ultimate factors now with deciding points playing?
Let's whole new college system of of the rules and and whatnot.
What do you think it is? Yeah, I like those three from
the Tennessee, from your Tennessee crew.
I mean, you guys did it well. You guys were incredible.
(27:04):
So I think that that sounds a lot like kind of our some of our
Ohio State stuff. I mean, having really, really,
really good players doesn't hurteither, which, you know, I think
everyone's, I mean, it sounds kind of basic and, and kind of
repetitive, but I mean, you know, I don't know too many
elite coaches that don't have good players that are great that
(27:26):
year. You know, you got to you got to
have great players and you got to have great people with high
character for your, for your systems, your double systems,
your practice systems, your competitive systems to work
right. And when I say systems, that's
essentially how you guys do things.
Yeah. And I think that's another thing
too at Ohio State, where during our time we played for national
(27:47):
championships. We played for national
championships at national indoors and at NC Blaze and an
individual event. So I think that's one thing
that, you know, kind of maybe separates me from some other
coaches and, you know, the guys on our team have now and they're
coaching is that we saw it and felt it actually means and what
it actually looks like, you know, And so I think, yeah, I
(28:09):
think physicality nowadays is a is a huge thing.
I mean, watching Alcoras play and see how physical he is, you
got to have strong, fast physical guys, especially with
how the conditions are slowing down.
Balls are getting a little bit slower.
You know, courts are being made slower.
So you got to have guys that arewilling, you know, to be smart
and and not miss balls in the net.
(28:31):
And yeah, you got to have good double SI mean you hit it on the
head. I mean, if you ain't winning
double S points on the road, it's not easy.
So I think we got to have good double S and that's what we're
trying to identify in the recruiting process.
Guys that want to play double S,guys that want the ball.
But I think, yeah, I would, I mean, not to not to copy yours,
but I think all three of those things make sense for winning
(28:52):
national title. And you got to have the players.
I mean, you got to have the players with the blue bloods of
this thing. And you know, the Virginias, the
Texas, the TCU's, the the Ohio States of the world.
I mean, they're those rosters. If if you're an 80 Power 6 UTR
team and you know you're a 75, looking at the 80s, you know,
(29:12):
it's, it's going to be tricky. It's going to be tricky.
So you got to have the players and you got to have the group of
guys that want to go get it. Love how you brought up Power 6
there. Last question for you, Drew, I
apologize for taking so much of your time, but based on your
team this year, where you are returners, newcomers, Power 6
(29:33):
rankings, what goals, aspirations, where do you see
your team this year? Yeah, it's a good question.
It's always a stressful time of year trying to figure out what
you have and what it looks like.You know, we've had some very
good teams in the past, we've had some very good players and I
(29:57):
really like our group. Now we need some recruiting
logistics stuff to work out for us in January for us to be as,
as really good as we can be, which I think if we get that
stuff figured out, I think we can be very, very good.
You know, we're a little thin right now, only having seven
guys were projected to have 8 or9 come January.
(30:17):
So I, I think, you know, again, I think all the goals that we
look towards from a result standpoint are attainable, you
know, be Top 40 in the country, win our conference championship,
playing the NCAA tournament and put some guys in the NCAA
individual tournament in the fall.
So I think all those are attainable.
And you know, Ralph is back and,and so excited for his senior
(30:38):
year. And we've got some guys, some
seniors with some experience that have won some matches and
we got some younger guys that are that are ready to go.
And you know, again, like I said, hopefully some January
guys it can it can work out. But yeah, I mean, we don't try
to do too much result expectations or rankings,
everything. But I'll tell you, it's there's
so many good teams out there andyou know, there's so many good
(31:01):
players. And so it's it's going to be
another challenging year, but our guys are up for and they're
ready and we're eager to compete.
I love it Drew, appreciate your time.
Thank you very much. All the best to you and your
family. Europe or USA this weekend,
please. Oh my gosh, that's a great
question. I mean, I just look at the Team
(31:21):
Europe and I just see horses allover the place, guys that are
ready to win team team events. You know, I like Team USA, but I
some of those guys just make me a little nervous.
Tommy Fleetwood's playing incredible right now.
I mean, we got to get on Scheffler's back and he's just
got to carry us. Justin Thomas will be a dog out
there. You know, I went to, I went to
(31:43):
the Ryder Cup in 2012 at Medina in Chicago, my hometown, when we
absolutely stoked. And I remember after that
Friday, I mean, we had a nice little celebration after the
lead we got, you know, and, and,and the, the adult beverages
were tasting good after that day.
And then that Sunday was just dark, you know, And then last,
you know, what was the last one in France?
(32:04):
I mean, that was just an, I mean, that was a beating.
I, I think it's going to be really good.
I mean I I love the captain pickfor Team USA.
Agree. I I love that pick.
I think, you know, I think he's edgy.
I think he's going to bring an edge.
He wants to win. He ain't messing around, you
(32:28):
know, and so we'll see. But Scheffler, Scheffler is a
stud. He's the Alcharez of golf right
now. So, but I'm excited for you to
be out there and you got to giveme some text updates and, and
let me know what you you think and feel out there.
Absolutely. Drew, thanks for your time and
good luck this year. Thanks, James.
Ladies and gentlemen, special guest today again, I have a
great friend of mine, head coachat Denver University.
Drew welcome on. How we doing James?
Thanks for having me. How's the weather today up there
in Denver? It's good, it's good.
(00:22):
I mean, everyone thinks it snowsall the time and we cross
country ski to to work every day, but it's it's been very hot
and it's it's very nice and sunny.
So yeah, it's been a warm, it's been a warm summer and now get
into the fall, which is my favorite time in Denver.
But yeah, it's it's nice and it's actually very confusing.
It's DU, but it's actually University of Denver.
(00:45):
Very, very confusing. Nobody outside of Denver or
Colorado gets it. So completely understandable,
but it's very confusing. It took me like a year to get
used to that. That's a mistake on my end, so I
apologize about that. Look, I want to, I want to delve
right in. OK, I've got one question for
you about The Ohio State University 1.
(01:07):
You had some teammates that weregreat friends of mine, still
great friends of mine. Can you explain to everyone the
situation with those teammates and how many of them are still
coaching and where? Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of
them. I don't know if I can name
everyone and I'm hopefully I don't leave one off because I
(01:29):
could get some, some heat for that in the group chat.
But yeah, I guess none of us maybe besides Scott Green could
get a real job and be a real contributor to society.
So we all got into college coaching and but in all series
of snow, we a lot of us got intocollege coaching, especially in
in my years. And I think we were all very
(01:51):
passionate about our experience and you know, the the
relationships that we built and you know, everything that our
coaches did from us from Ty to to Dave Schilling to Chris
Gardner. So yeah, I mean, you know, you
got you got Ross Wilson who's atGCU now.
You got Ty Schaub who's who's atMichigan, you got Brian Konieko
(02:11):
who's at Central Florida. You got Todd Wojkowski who's won
a national title at D3 at Case Western, shouting out the
coaches. Chris Gardner is is at Navy.
You know, Dave Schilling just won a national championship at
Dennis. So shout out to Schills at
Dennison and everything that he's done there.
(02:32):
Who am I forgetting? Wow, incredible.
Anybody. Incredible.
But yeah, it's, it's quite the laundry list and obviously
myself at Denver, but yeah, it'sa, it's a good group and we had,
we had a lot of fun and good times at Ohio State and a lot of
success. And yeah, just trying to carry
that on to our programs that we're at now.
(02:54):
That's amazing. OK, so first real question I
have for you by the way, for thepeople that are listening, the
reason why I started this is notonly do I want to have great
conversations with great coachesand great players, but I also
want people listening to actually get in the car one day
(03:14):
and, and, and laugh and, and, and enjoy a conversation
listening to the people that come on here.
So there is a there is a social element to these conversations
too. But the first question I have
for Drew here really is, Drew, if you go to any recruiting
event and you have all these different types of players, all
(03:38):
these different types of game styles, all good enough to play
for you at Denver, What sort of player attracts your eye where
you say, oh, that's that's more of my type of player.
Is there something specific? Because personally I had
something I liked. But my question is to you, what
(03:59):
do you see and and what attractsyou to Denver?
Yeah. I mean, I think the first thing
is hoping that most of the recruiting events that we're
going to, we kind of have previous relationships with them
and we've spoken with them. But as you know, you watch them
to compete at the events, whether it's a future, whether
it's Kalamazoo, whether it's a tournament in Europe is, you
(04:19):
know, you want to see guys that are competitively engaged and
focused and you could tell that it means a lot to them.
And you know, for some people it's kind of hard to tell.
And for sometimes for me, it's very hard to tell.
So, you know, I want guys that when I watch them play and
compete and even practice that they're out there running hard
for every ball. And you can kind of see in their
(04:40):
eye and their body language and their meant that, you know,
these guys want to compete. They enjoy being out there and,
you know, they kind of believe in what they're doing.
You know, from a tennis standpoint, obviously we'd all
like, you know, big, strong, physical, fast, you know, big
forehand, which, you know, is shocking because I had one of
(05:00):
the worst forehands ever and Ty still took me.
So, you know, I see he, I don't know what he saw, but he saw
something. But yeah, I mean, I, I think
also too, something that we're trying to get recently is guys
that we feel that we can adapt them to our double system
quickly. And, you know, I think size and
physicality and, and skill obviously has something to do
(05:21):
with that. But yeah, when, when we're, when
we're at these tournaments, I mean, we want to see guys that
are well composed out there. And, and, but you know, I feel
like nowadays, you know, I went to Kalamazoo this year.
I feel like every, all, a lot ofthe kids nowadays are, are very
serious and straight laced. I kind of want to see some guys,
you know, chirping up out there and, and fire it up and
(05:41):
themselves up and, and bring some energy in, in a, in a
professional, respective, you know, respectful way.
And, you know, if we can see some of that, I kind of like it.
But I think the biggest thing for us at Denver is, you know,
we want people who want to be here.
You know, I don't, I don't want to, you know, beg and plead
somebody. And if I have to chase them too
hard and they're not, you know, reciprocating.
(06:03):
I, I think it's tricky. So I think you you want to get
people that that want to be partof our program and you know,
want to be part of what we're selling and, and that's what
we're looking for. And so, you know, but out there
on the court, I mean, we want tosee some guys that just love to
compete. And so that's what we're looking
for. Well, if you don't know, I I've
(06:24):
tried to read exactly how many titles in a row you have won,
but Denver have essentially dominated.
They have absolutely dominated their conference.
So Drew, you have, you were an assistant coach and you were
also, you are also now a head coach.
What is the difference there in terms of being an assistant and
(06:47):
now taking that role as a head coach?
I'm sure there's a lot of coaches out there who are
assistants who do want to becomehead coaches one day.
What's that like? Yeah, I think there's two big
things. I mean, the first thing is going
to sound kind of funny, but I I think it's very serious.
I think you got to hire good assistants, you know, and I hope
I was a good assistant to to Danny and Ricardo Rubio.
(07:08):
And, you know, I think we we're on our third assistant now in
five or six years. And I feel like they've just
been incredible. So I think it's super important
that you have people on your team, from players to parents
and, and obviously the coaches that believe in what you're
selling and what you're pitching.
And so, you know, I kind of started this thing six years ago
as the head coach and you know, the first person I hired was
(07:29):
Mitch Stewart from Arizona. He was the assistant and I just
thought he was a stud and, and he he really helped me get this
thing off the ground and kind ofget it going.
And then, you know, we had Will Davies, who was incredible and
just that, you know, a 10 out of10 and, and, and now on the
Aneesh Reneketh too, who played for us for two years as our new
(07:50):
assistant. So I think it's, it's very
important as a first time head coach to understand that, you
know, a lot of people talk aboutculture and everything.
In my opinion, culture is the people that you bring on board,
you know, and so I think it starts with the assistants and
the people around it, from the strength coach to the second
assistant to the athletic trainer.
I think those things are super important, you know, and I think
(08:12):
I think the second thing is thatI think about now is you, you
know, kind of being a head coachas long as I've been an
assistant, is you have to make the decisions and the decisions
that you make, you know, is, is how the program will go from,
you know, who hires assistants to what you want your recruiting
philosophy to be, to how you want to run practices, to what
(08:34):
you know, how you schedule. You know, you have to make those
decisions and you have to be confident and, and stand behind
those decisions and, you know, make sure that you get your
message out for why you want things done a certain way to the
people on the team. Because you know, if you don't,
you know, get your message across and you don't kind of
tell everybody why you do thingsand what you're thinking.
(08:56):
You know, I think it can it can be tricky, But you know, I think
as an assistant, you know, the main focus that I want our
assistants focusing on is recruiting, player development.
I want them to be in with the guys.
I want them to to, to really be their, their, their biggest, you
know, advocate and, and our guyshave done a great job with that.
And, you know, obviously nowadays being a head coach,
(09:20):
there's a lot more administrative stuff that comes
with it. But I think, you know, really
focus on the things that you cantry to control, which is your
team and your player developmentand your recruiting and how you
schedule some of the other stuffyou you can't control.
And so I really try to focus on that and try to work more
efficiently and effectively, which I feel like I've done much
(09:40):
better now and in my in my last couple years than I did my my
first two years. I was kind of running around my
hair on fire the first two years.
So, yeah, I think those are the two big things.
I think going from, you know, anassistant to a head coach, I
think sometimes it's hard for assistants to have exposure to a
lot of the decision making, you know, making the final call and
recruits, you know, making the final call and scheduling,
(10:03):
having the hard discussion with a parent or a player, you know,
that's on the head coach. And so, you know, you got to
really be, you know, believe andtrust in your decision making
and what your philosophies are. So talking about you as a coach,
I'll give you 2 different scenarios.
OK, middle of the fall and it's it's work.
(10:24):
You're you, you don't have the tournaments coming up and you
guys are working right. And then scenario 2 is it's
Tuesday and you have a dual match on Friday.
What are those practices lookinglike for you and the program?
Yeah. I mean a lot of our practices.
I mean, we do a lot of individual work where we do a
lot. Of we.
(10:44):
Can specific stuff related to mechanics and technique and form
with our guys and and more one-on-one time in, in
practices. I like double s and I like
cheating, You know, I mean, you know, we, we're, we're very
simple. We're very black and white with
our stuff. We don't, we don't make it too
complex, but like a lot of the times when it's we got everybody
(11:05):
at practice and we got 2 1/2 hours.
Like I want to roll it out and put something on the line.
And you know, on the last Saturday, on this past Saturday,
we had I coached one team and, and Anish coached another and
it's 4 verse four and, and losing team had to do some
conditioning to make themselves fasteners, including the
coaches. So I ended up on the learning on
(11:25):
the learning team, had a learning experience.
So I ran a 17, which I was pretty proud about, did it in 54
seconds. So that was fun.
But no, I mean, I want, I want to see these guys compete in
team practice, you know, keep fun, keep it fresh.
I think sometimes it can get a little repetitive team practice.
If it's, you know, 2 cross one line or two, you know, 2 on
(11:47):
ones, it can get a little boring.
I think there's a time and placethat stuff and we certainly do
that. But I think, you know, if, if
we're playing, if we're practicing Tuesday and we got
the Drake Bulldogs coming in on Friday, I'm I'm rolling the
balls out and I want to see whatour guys can do.
So a lot of competing, a lot of double S get the energy up and
(12:09):
in the, in the individual stuff,it's much more calm, it's much
slower pace, it's much more focused on specific stuff.
But yeah, we like to compete and, and, and much more double s
too. I think my first two years I
didn't do enough double s. I think I just assumed that they
understood what I was telling them because that's how I, I was
coached and you know, I, that's how I liked it.
(12:32):
And I don't think I did a good enough job explaining some of
the double stuff to them, which was definitely on me.
And so now we were so much more on double S and exactly what
we're trying to get through so. That's great, I love it.
Switching gears a little bit, itis.
If you didn't know, it's Ryder Cup week here.
I I'm nervous. I'm nervous that that Team
(12:54):
Europe scares me. I don't know.
I'm not sure. Here's me the only.
Thing I like is it's at New York.
That's the only thing. I like Yep, I will actually be
attending on the Sunday of the Ryder Cup, so if you see anyone
in the crowd, bring. In Are you going to have the
face painted? Are you going face?
Painted, No, no face paint, but I will be there.
(13:15):
But switching gears, I absolutely love the game of golf
and it was a hobby of mine. Outside of coaching, what do you
do with your guys? Outside of tennis, what do you
do and what do you do with the team?
Yeah, we play padel a lot. Of other.
Guys like playing padel. My, when I was assistant with
Danny, we played floor hockey a couple times, which I thought
(13:37):
was awesome because I love hockey.
But now I, it gets a little chippy and I feel like some guys
might get injured or something. But we take them to Red Rocks in
Denver because Red Rocks is really cool.
So we take them to like check out Red Rocks.
I actually did today where I gave the guys today off practice
and that and we took them aroundCherry Creek, especially some of
the freshmen, they haven't been around there and seen it because
(13:59):
used to be on campus. So I like to take them to
Rockies games. We play Paddell, We've done some
golf. Spike ball is a big one.
Platform tennis, which I don't know if many people know what
platform tennis is. I used to play that pretty
competitively. So I've taken a couple of guys
out to play that. They love it in the winter time,
but padel is like the new thing in Denver and with our guys are
(14:22):
obsessed. So we'll go, we'll go chop it up
and some padel and they love it.You have two or two young kids
or three. 21 on the way in December, so we got 1/4 year old
daughter and then one on the wayin December.
Congratulations. How do you balance for other
coaches out there? How do you balance family life
(14:43):
with coaching? Is there, is there anything you
do? Do you get your family involved
with the team? Do you bring them on the court?
What? What sort of things do you like
to do? Yeah, I mean, I definitely don't
have the answers. I call my buddies and coaches
who, you know, buddies who are coaches who have more kids.
I say, what the hell is going onhere because, you know, I don't
know. But you know, we're lucky here
(15:05):
in Denver. You know, we've got a lot of
help with the family and stuff. My sister's here, my parents are
here, you know, my wife's familyis here.
So we have a lot of help and andsupport, which is nice.
I think, you know, I think one thing that I try to do is work,
you know, more effectively and efficiently when I do have my
time and realize that, you know,I only have a couple hours, you
(15:26):
know, at certain things, whetherit's practice or, you know,
recruiting or, you know, per day.
And I have to organize that verywell and, and, and make it very
efficient and effective. And so I think, you know, I try
to balance it very well with, you know, the family time and,
and, and the work time. And, you know, I think it's good
(15:46):
sometimes too, to take a break from college tennis because it's
all-encompassing. And I think you have to be if
you want to be elite and you want to be good at this thing,
you know, which we do and I do. And so it, it, you know, it, it
requires a lot of help. And, and our guys are patient
with it too. They know sometimes if you know,
I have to go pick up my daughter.
Like our guys are understanding of it and they're aware.
(16:07):
They, they, they know how to do things.
So they, and what the expectations and standards are.
And I rely and put a lot on our assistant coaches to be honest
too. Like I, you know, I don't
micromanage them. I trust them, I believe in them.
I have, I have a lot of confidence in them.
And so do our guys. So, you know, a lot of the
responsibility and and a lot of the things I put on them and and
(16:29):
they, you know, they do an amazing job.
So, you know, I think just trying to be balanced and and
not to get too high, too high orlower thing with things, as you
all know, can be tricky, especially after like a four
three loss on the road or something and get a little dark.
But just just get back on the track and just keep going.
(16:50):
So to any player out there that is listening that is considering
going to Denver, they have a choice between Denver, a school
on the West Coast, a school in the South, and a school in the
East Coast. Why?
Why Denver? Why is this place?
Because I've been to Denver multiple times, the place is
(17:12):
amazing. Unbelievable city.
Never actually specifically beenon campus, but why should they
come? Yeah, it's a beauty.
It's a beautiful city. You know, it's a very popular
city, especially since COVID. The campus is pretty and
beautiful. You know, the weather is great.
Again, like I said, I was kind of joking earlier on.
I mean, but it's kind of seriousas people think, you know,
(17:35):
Denver mountains and skiing, butthat stuff is 2 hours away.
You know, Denver itself is a pretty deserty, warm climate.
But yeah, I mean, again, we're pretty direct and, and honest
with what we're looking for and how we run our program.
You know, we're intense, we're competitive and we have high
expectations for our guys. And, you know, our guys want to
(17:56):
win and they want to get better and they want to put in the work
and they, you know, they want to, you know, get something out
of it. So, you know, we, our goal is to
win conference championships andbe Top 40 in the country and,
and get guys in the NCAA tournament.
And, you know, that's the goal every year.
And we've, you know, we've come close to, to doing some of that
stuff. And, and so I think also too,
(18:17):
like a lot of our guys, I think are best recruiters as well as
the coaches. I think, you know, when, when
recruits and parents and, and people get around our players
and our team and our atmosphere,they, they realized it's kind of
a family atmosphere. And you know, it's, it's a good
group of guys that all have kindof similar goals and aspirations
as, as do the coaches. And so, you know, we want people
(18:39):
that want to be here. And if they don't want to be
here, they can go somewhere else.
But you know, we're, we're, we're circling guys that fit the
priorities that we're looking for, which is we want them to
have, we want a lot for their tennis.
You know, we want them to play 12 months out of the year.
You know, that's why we love the, the, the PTT events and
we've started that up, you know,3-4 years ago.
I think that's been monumental change for our program and our
(19:01):
development of our players having the options, you know,
during the breaks. We have a really long winter
break. We go, we have a unique one.
We go all the way from the day before Thanksgiving and New
Year. So our guys have 8 weeks.
You better believe we're out there competing.
So you know, same thing in the summer, in the summer.
So, you know, we want guys that play 12 months out of the year
and, you know, want to do this thing, you know, all year round.
(19:24):
So, you know, we attract ourselves towards those types of
recruits and and vice versa. And I feel like we've been doing
a really good job here lately, you know, targeting the right
ones and, and identifying the right ones and, you know, taking
the time to really build those relationships.
And we have a lot of good relationship with the recruits.
And, you know, Will and Mitch were incredible recruiters.
(19:46):
Will was incredible. You know, everybody liked him,
everybody knew him and same thing with a niche now, you
know, with a niche coming on board.
So, you know, I think we we build a lot of strong
relationships. And if you want to win
conference championships and youwant to play in the N Splay
tournament and you want to get developed and you want to play
Top 40 in the country tennis, you know this is the place and.
(20:06):
You know, and you're going to, you're going to have to work
hard and you're going to have tocompete and you're going to have
to, you know, give it every single day.
And if that's not what you're looking for, then this isn't the
place for you. And, you know, we also want guys
that do well in the classroom aswell too.
We can't, you know, if they, they aren't committed to their
school work and, and take their,their grades and, and school
work seriously, then it's also not going to work.
(20:28):
But you know, we've had some good success lately.
I mean, two years ago we went undefeated in the regular
season, which is the problem since 2013, you know, and I
think it was Virginia, the last team to do that.
And they had a bunch of pro players, top 200 guys on their
team. So, you know, that was a huge
accomplishment. And we put two players in NCAA
championship last year, which was a big deal.
(20:49):
And you know, Ralph Papagek, ourour number two player from last
year, you know, who came in as 11-4 UTR and kind of under the
radar and, you know, kind of struggled his freshman year to
his junior year getting finals of regionals and, you know,
beating a guy from Texas down atNC Blaze and, you know, being
linked all season. I think it shows that if you
want to get developed and you want to overachieve, you know,
(21:10):
which is what I got out of my experience.
You know what Ohio State and youknow what Ty helped me do, you
know, I want to do that for our guys.
I and the experiences that I had, I want to share that and
give those guys, our guys the opportunity to have that.
Massive pressure moment in a dual match.
Are you play calling or are you stepping away?
(21:32):
That's a good question. It's very situational, I mean.
Are you, are you, are you naturally I need to, I need to
play call this or do you, do yousay, you know what?
My assistant's got it or he's orhe's got it.
I'm going to step away. You've got to naturally be one
or the other. It's funny, my first like 2
(21:52):
years, I wasn't a play caller atall.
And thank God I wasn't because some of the plays I called, I
mean, the players gave me some looks like, are you serious?
And I felt so bad after. I was like, God, these guys are
giving it all out there and I'm calling this horrific play.
But lately I've actually called some pretty good plays and been
pretty successful with it. So, but we, I let our assistants
(22:16):
do a lot of that during the matches.
And I kind of relate to the assistants and I, I like to kind
of have a bird's eye view on things, but I'm, I'm in there.
I mean, if I, I'm more, I'm moreso kind of chime in when I see
something that I don't like whenI kind of see a guy struggling
or kind of lacking some awareness or ability to make
adjustments. I'm, I'm kind of getting in
(22:38):
there where I kind of like to give the messaging for specific
play calls and, and, and, you know, strategy to our assistance
to kind of pass that along. But again, I don't, I don't want
to be calling too many plays outthere.
A micromanager Guys do much. I want them to play fast.
I want them to play aggressive. So you know, I haven't been
calling too many plays lately. What bothered you, by the way?
(23:02):
Again, I feel bad sometimes for the people that come on here
because I don't really give themmuch of prep.
I don't, you know, e-mail over alist of questions and say, hey,
this is what I'm going to ask you.
I just kind of feel it as I go because quite honestly, I
absolutely love this. This is this is very interesting
to not only people listening. It's very interesting to me,
(23:23):
right? But like a situation where you
come to practice or you come into the program one day, what
bothers you? Like where are you?
Like, oh gosh, that just really gets me.
And it's not obviously losing bothers you, but there are
things that occur that will get you what what are they?
(23:46):
Yeah, no, good question. I would say excuses and people
feeling some sort of entitlementfor what, getting what they
want, but they haven't earned ityet and they haven't put in the
work. Those are two big things, you
know, over expectations too, which is totally understandable.
(24:08):
I'm kind of seeing that a lot lately with parents and recruits
and players and other coaches and other.
I think it's easy to get caught up in expectations.
So, you know, again, excuses. I can't stand it.
I don't let any of our guys or coaches or myself make excuses.
You know, we have everything that we need at our program at
(24:30):
DU to be successful and our administration and our AD
supports us. And you know, he wants us to
win. So he, you know, if he's at that
mentality, we need to have that mentality.
And you know, I tell our guys all the time, if, you know, we
come up short, I don't go into my boss's office and make
excuses about the weather, the, the line judge or whatever it
(24:51):
might be. So our guys don't do the same.
And a lot of credit to our guys the last couple of years, they,
they just, they put their head down, they go to work, they're
tough. They, they face adversity head
on. You know, I think I get a little
frustrated when some people think that they can skip corners
or, you know, kind of they're entitled to something.
And we let them know that they're entitled only to work as
(25:13):
hard as they possibly can. And, you know, we'll see what
happened and comes from that. But yeah, and I think, you know,
giving, putting too much expectations on themselves
because I think when people put unrealistic, you know, result
oriented expectations of themselves, I think it's a bit
of a cop out and they're trying to kind of hide from the fact
that they don't really want to lay it all out there.
(25:36):
So we kind of, we speak about that with our guys a lot.
And, and credit to our guys the last two or three years, I mean,
they've just done an incredible job.
I mean, they, they deal with my BS sometimes And you know, I'm,
I'm intense and I'm competitive.So some, some days, you know,
especially if I'm a little sleepdepressed with the kids, you
know, they're like, what is whatis true talking about?
Like he's it's making much sense.
(25:56):
But they they do it for each other and they have a lot of
pride for the program and it means a lot to them.
So again, I mean, it kind of goes back to the recruiting
question. Like we want guys that that want
to be here and we'll have a lot of pride when it comes time to
representing our team in the university.
So yeah, that the excuses stuff.Really.
Really. Bothers me.
(26:17):
But our guys, I'll tell you what, the last couple of years,
they haven't made many excuses, if any.
Love it. Three things that you think are
the most important to winning a national championship.
I will tell you ours were at Tennessee as you're thinking.
Ours were double S fitness and keeping the ball in play.
(26:42):
Those are our three things. What do you think are the three
ultimate factors now with deciding points playing?
Let's whole new college system of of the rules and and whatnot.
What do you think it is? Yeah, I like those three from
the Tennessee, from your Tennessee crew.
I mean, you guys did it well. You guys were incredible.
(27:04):
So I think that that sounds a lot like kind of our some of our
Ohio State stuff. I mean, having really, really,
really good players doesn't hurteither, which, you know, I think
everyone's, I mean, it sounds kind of basic and, and kind of
repetitive, but I mean, you know, I don't know too many
elite coaches that don't have good players that are great that
(27:26):
year. You know, you got to you got to
have great players and you got to have great people with high
character for your, for your systems, your double systems,
your practice systems, your competitive systems to work
right. And when I say systems, that's
essentially how you guys do things.
Yeah. And I think that's another thing
too at Ohio State, where during our time we played for national
(27:47):
championships. We played for national
championships at national indoors and at NC Blaze and an
individual event. So I think that's one thing
that, you know, kind of maybe separates me from some other
coaches and, you know, the guys on our team have now and they're
coaching is that we saw it and felt it actually means and what
it actually looks like, you know, And so I think, yeah, I
(28:09):
think physicality nowadays is a is a huge thing.
I mean, watching Alcoras play and see how physical he is, you
got to have strong, fast physical guys, especially with
how the conditions are slowing down.
Balls are getting a little bit slower.
You know, courts are being made slower.
So you got to have guys that arewilling, you know, to be smart
and and not miss balls in the net.
(28:31):
And yeah, you got to have good double SI mean you hit it on the
head. I mean, if you ain't winning
double S points on the road, it's not easy.
So I think we got to have good double S and that's what we're
trying to identify in the recruiting process.
Guys that want to play double S,guys that want the ball.
But I think, yeah, I would, I mean, not to not to copy yours,
but I think all three of those things make sense for winning
(28:52):
national title. And you got to have the players.
I mean, you got to have the players with the blue bloods of
this thing. And you know, the Virginias, the
Texas, the TCU's, the the Ohio States of the world.
I mean, they're those rosters. If if you're an 80 Power 6 UTR
team and you know you're a 75, looking at the 80s, you know,
(29:12):
it's, it's going to be tricky. It's going to be tricky.
So you got to have the players and you got to have the group of
guys that want to go get it. Love how you brought up Power 6
there. Last question for you, Drew, I
apologize for taking so much of your time, but based on your
team this year, where you are returners, newcomers, Power 6
(29:33):
rankings, what goals, aspirations, where do you see
your team this year? Yeah, it's a good question.
It's always a stressful time of year trying to figure out what
you have and what it looks like.You know, we've had some very
good teams in the past, we've had some very good players and I
(29:57):
really like our group. Now we need some recruiting
logistics stuff to work out for us in January for us to be as,
as really good as we can be, which I think if we get that
stuff figured out, I think we can be very, very good.
You know, we're a little thin right now, only having seven
guys were projected to have 8 or9 come January.
(30:17):
So I, I think, you know, again, I think all the goals that we
look towards from a result standpoint are attainable, you
know, be Top 40 in the country, win our conference championship,
playing the NCAA tournament and put some guys in the NCAA
individual tournament in the fall.
So I think all those are attainable.
And you know, Ralph is back and,and so excited for his senior
(30:38):
year. And we've got some guys, some
seniors with some experience that have won some matches and
we got some younger guys that are that are ready to go.
And you know, again, like I said, hopefully some January
guys it can it can work out. But yeah, I mean, we don't try
to do too much result expectations or rankings,
everything. But I'll tell you, it's there's
so many good teams out there andyou know, there's so many good
(31:01):
players. And so it's it's going to be
another challenging year, but our guys are up for and they're
ready and we're eager to compete.
I love it Drew, appreciate your time.
Thank you very much. All the best to you and your
family. Europe or USA this weekend,
please. Oh my gosh, that's a great
question. I mean, I just look at the Team
(31:21):
Europe and I just see horses allover the place, guys that are
ready to win team team events. You know, I like Team USA, but I
some of those guys just make me a little nervous.
Tommy Fleetwood's playing incredible right now.
I mean, we got to get on Scheffler's back and he's just
got to carry us. Justin Thomas will be a dog out
there. You know, I went to, I went to
(31:43):
the Ryder Cup in 2012 at Medina in Chicago, my hometown, when we
absolutely stoked. And I remember after that
Friday, I mean, we had a nice little celebration after the
lead we got, you know, and, and,and the, the adult beverages
were tasting good after that day.
And then that Sunday was just dark, you know, And then last,
you know, what was the last one in France?
(32:04):
I mean, that was just an, I mean, that was a beating.
I, I think it's going to be really good.
I mean I I love the captain pickfor Team USA.
Agree. I I love that pick.
I think, you know, I think he's edgy.
I think he's going to bring an edge.
He wants to win. He ain't messing around, you
(32:28):
know, and so we'll see. But Scheffler, Scheffler is a
stud. He's the Alcharez of golf right
now. So, but I'm excited for you to
be out there and you got to giveme some text updates and, and
let me know what you you think and feel out there.
Absolutely. Drew, thanks for your time and
good luck this year. Thanks, James.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.