April 22, 2024 • 8 mins
After an insanely successful run as the Women's Basketball Head Coach at Thomas More, Jeff Hans is taking over the women's program at NKU. He joined us on ESPN1530.
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Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Follow on Twitter: @MoEgger
Email: mo@espn1530.com
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It is twenty three away from fiveo'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty on
Oleger Northern Kentucky University as a newwomen's head basketball coach, and quite again,
Jeff Hand's time at Thomas Moore wasincredible. He won nearly ninety percent
of his games, multiple national championships, eight conference tournament titles, eleven tournament
(00:23):
berths, three time National Coach ofthe Year. Takes an unbelievable resume to
Highland Heights to a takeover the NKUwomen's basketball program, and I'm sure on
what's been a big day for himkind enough to give us a few minutes
to talk about the job change.Normally when a new coach gets hired,
we say something like welcome to thegreater Cincinnati area. We don't have to
(00:44):
do that here. Nonetheless, congrats, thanks moo. I appreciate it.
What attracted you about this opportunity?The opportunity to be here at in KU
and not have to move kind oflike what you're talking about there in the
opening was a big thing. SoI was here before with coach Winstel as
(01:06):
an assistant coach from two thousand andeight to twenty eleven and just that opportunity
the people here at North Kuch University, through the administration, the area,
the opportunity to make this place intoa contender year and a year out in
the Horizon League is something I thinkthat we can do and looking forward to
(01:26):
that challenge. It's a challenge,and it's a challenge. Any job is
a challenge. The timing of thisright, it's late April. Typically coaching
changes happened much earlier. Just theway the process unfolded. The timing is,
I guess one might argue less thanideal. Kind of walk me through
the specific challenges just related to gettinghired kind of late in the process.
(01:49):
Yeah, it is because the timingbecause we don't have two weeks left the
school here, so we can't doany workouts with our players here this year.
We got wait till summer. Notbeing able to get out there and
get to know them, work withthem on the court a little bit in
the spring will set us back goingforward. But also the recruiting piece with
the transfer portal and trying to bringin more players to hear to help us
(02:14):
rebuild this. You know, we'rejust we're just behind a little bit.
But it's still at portal. Imean, you hear it all the time
you deal with sports. You seeit, you go, you see in
those games, and I mean there'sall kinds of players out there. So
we'll try to see what we cando to make sure the roster is full
and ready to go come November.Yeah, you know that the word whirlwind
is often used when a coach atany level, uh takes over. I
(02:36):
can't imagine for for you specifically whatthe next just a few weeks are going
to have to be. Like Iguess the good news is you don't have
to move, but still it's goingto be really busy and really different it
is MO And we have to geta staff put together, get those uh,
those guys in here so that we'reready for June, to make sure
that they're help us, to putus in positions to be successful, to
(03:00):
finish out the roster, you know, and make sure we finished finish out
with our current players, finish outthe academic you're strong, so that we're
ready for May recruiting evaluation weekend andthen also summer workouts come June, and
and ready to start putting in oursystem. And you know, we'll really
work on the chemistry part of it. That's that's a big piece for us.
(03:21):
Uh. You mentioned working for coachWinstall and and such a huge figure
in the history of n k Uathletics. There aren't that many that that
lotum larger than than Coach Winstall.Give us an idea of some of the
things you learned from her while workingfor a lot of philosophies from x's and
o's, some things to run,how to defend, and but a lot
(03:43):
of a lot of how to talkto players and run a program. You
know, how you treat everybody fromcustodians, janitors to administration and making sure
that you're you're with everybody and andeverybody feels like a little piece of family
to you. You leave a placeand to say that you left an indelible
(04:04):
mark, and Thomas Moore would bean understatement. It's a it's a program
that you you didn't just win,you ushered him into two different higher levels
of intercollegiate athletics. Kind of takeus through the decision to leave a place
that I know you love working at. It was a tough decision to leave
Thomas Moore with everything we've done forthirteen years there and you know, I
(04:26):
talked about the people here at atNOI Kentucky University the same as this said
about the administration Terry Conner, JeffHetzer, the athletic administration at Thomas Moore
and the respect and love that Ihave for those guys and what they allowed
us to do on a women's basketballfront there and to be successful. It
wasn't easy by any means. Andyou know they'll they'll get somebody in there
(04:48):
and do very well and continue thatthat tradition, probably better than what I
did, which is what I hopeand so that they can leave their mark.
But you know, it's just thisopportunity here, you just one you
can't pass up if you have achance to take it. And I just
felt like it was the right time. What is it like working in women's
(05:09):
college basketball when the sport is atits peak of popularity? It's great?
Right now? That is great?You know, the everything you saw during
the Insway Tournament was pure, thegame and how it's played. The stars
that you have there, you know, they translating. And then you see
(05:31):
what happens with Caitlyn Clark going toIndiana Fever and selling out her jerseys like
overnight. You know, it's justmaybe we can try to be a small
part of that here at NKU andbuild for the future. Yeah, I
certainly hope. So. I knowyou have a lot going on, So
I do appreciate you joining us.Congratulations, and hopefully we can chat again
(05:51):
before the season begins. Thank youso much. Thanks Ma, I appreciate
your time anytime. Jeff Hands,the new women's basketball coach at NKU after
a remarkable run at Thomas Moore takesover in Highland Heights. It is seventeen
away from five o'clock. Breneman andJones on baseball is coming up. Also,
(06:13):
the baseball coach at you see,Jordan Bischell, is a team having
a very good season in a yearone of the Big twelve will chat with
him coming up at five twenty.More phone calls are welcome. Five one,
three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty. Ellie de la
Cruz was awesome this weekend. TheReds beat a bad team three straight.
Now the hard work of well runningthrough the next few weeks begins, starting
(06:35):
with the Philadelphia Phillies tonight. StuartFairchild's batting leadoff, I don't know,
I don't know. I mean,like, I don't know, I don't
know what to say about that.The Stuart Fairchild and it's it's reflective of
(06:56):
where the roster is and illness andwho they I mean, I get it,
but wow, story Fairchild's best.Ellie Dela Cruz, I'm I think
if there's if there are if there'sanything we've established on this show over the
years, it's that I don't spendas much time growsing about the lineup or
where guys hit in the batting order. But like, Ellie Dela Cruz is
having a very good season, He'sbatting sixth. The protection is going to
(07:19):
be Santiago Espinal. That's that's that'sthe guy who's going to be protecting Ellie
Dela Cruz. Like, what's It'sit's basic math, right, the earlier
you hit in the order, themore likely you are to come to the
plate four or five times right overthe course of a season, Over the
(07:42):
course of a game, these topthree hitters hit more frequently than the hitters
in the lower half. If youwill, of a batting order, why
would be why would anybody right nowbe opposed to Ellie Dela Cruz batting as
much as possible, and they're hittingthem sixth Like I'm a David Bell.
Dave Belle's good manager, man,so I just don't want to take gratuita
(08:05):
shots at David Bell. I askedto understand the batting order is it's a
reflection of a collaborative effort. EliDeether Cruiz is betting sixth? Does somebody
make that make sense? On ESPNfifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station when it
It is twenty three away from fiveo'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty on
Oleger Northern Kentucky University as a newwomen's head basketball coach, and quite again,
Jeff Hand's time at Thomas Moore wasincredible. He won nearly ninety percent
of his games, multiple national championships, eight conference tournament titles, eleven tournament
(00:23):
berths, three time National Coach ofthe Year. Takes an unbelievable resume to
Highland Heights to a takeover the NKUwomen's basketball program, and I'm sure on
what's been a big day for himkind enough to give us a few minutes
to talk about the job change.Normally when a new coach gets hired,
we say something like welcome to thegreater Cincinnati area. We don't have to
(00:44):
do that here. Nonetheless, congrats, thanks moo. I appreciate it.
What attracted you about this opportunity?The opportunity to be here at in KU
and not have to move kind oflike what you're talking about there in the
opening was a big thing. SoI was here before with coach Winstel as
(01:06):
an assistant coach from two thousand andeight to twenty eleven and just that opportunity
the people here at North Kuch University, through the administration, the area,
the opportunity to make this place intoa contender year and a year out in
the Horizon League is something I thinkthat we can do and looking forward to
(01:26):
that challenge. It's a challenge,and it's a challenge. Any job is
a challenge. The timing of thisright, it's late April. Typically coaching
changes happened much earlier. Just theway the process unfolded. The timing is,
I guess one might argue less thanideal. Kind of walk me through
the specific challenges just related to gettinghired kind of late in the process.
(01:49):
Yeah, it is because the timingbecause we don't have two weeks left the
school here, so we can't doany workouts with our players here this year.
We got wait till summer. Notbeing able to get out there and
get to know them, work withthem on the court a little bit in
the spring will set us back goingforward. But also the recruiting piece with
the transfer portal and trying to bringin more players to hear to help us
(02:14):
rebuild this. You know, we'rejust we're just behind a little bit.
But it's still at portal. Imean, you hear it all the time
you deal with sports. You seeit, you go, you see in
those games, and I mean there'sall kinds of players out there. So
we'll try to see what we cando to make sure the roster is full
and ready to go come November.Yeah, you know that the word whirlwind
is often used when a coach atany level, uh takes over. I
(02:36):
can't imagine for for you specifically whatthe next just a few weeks are going
to have to be. Like Iguess the good news is you don't have
to move, but still it's goingto be really busy and really different it
is MO And we have to geta staff put together, get those uh,
those guys in here so that we'reready for June, to make sure
that they're help us, to putus in positions to be successful, to
(03:00):
finish out the roster, you know, and make sure we finished finish out
with our current players, finish outthe academic you're strong, so that we're
ready for May recruiting evaluation weekend andthen also summer workouts come June, and
and ready to start putting in oursystem. And you know, we'll really
work on the chemistry part of it. That's that's a big piece for us.
(03:21):
Uh. You mentioned working for coachWinstall and and such a huge figure
in the history of n k Uathletics. There aren't that many that that
lotum larger than than Coach Winstall.Give us an idea of some of the
things you learned from her while workingfor a lot of philosophies from x's and
o's, some things to run,how to defend, and but a lot
(03:43):
of a lot of how to talkto players and run a program. You
know, how you treat everybody fromcustodians, janitors to administration and making sure
that you're you're with everybody and andeverybody feels like a little piece of family
to you. You leave a placeand to say that you left an indelible
(04:04):
mark, and Thomas Moore would bean understatement. It's a it's a program
that you you didn't just win,you ushered him into two different higher levels
of intercollegiate athletics. Kind of takeus through the decision to leave a place
that I know you love working at. It was a tough decision to leave
Thomas Moore with everything we've done forthirteen years there and you know, I
(04:26):
talked about the people here at atNOI Kentucky University the same as this said
about the administration Terry Conner, JeffHetzer, the athletic administration at Thomas Moore
and the respect and love that Ihave for those guys and what they allowed
us to do on a women's basketballfront there and to be successful. It
wasn't easy by any means. Andyou know they'll they'll get somebody in there
(04:48):
and do very well and continue thatthat tradition, probably better than what I
did, which is what I hopeand so that they can leave their mark.
But you know, it's just thisopportunity here, you just one you
can't pass up if you have achance to take it. And I just
felt like it was the right time. What is it like working in women's
(05:09):
college basketball when the sport is atits peak of popularity? It's great?
Right now? That is great?You know, the everything you saw during
the Insway Tournament was pure, thegame and how it's played. The stars
that you have there, you know, they translating. And then you see
(05:31):
what happens with Caitlyn Clark going toIndiana Fever and selling out her jerseys like
overnight. You know, it's justmaybe we can try to be a small
part of that here at NKU andbuild for the future. Yeah, I
certainly hope. So. I knowyou have a lot going on, So
I do appreciate you joining us.Congratulations, and hopefully we can chat again
(05:51):
before the season begins. Thank youso much. Thanks Ma, I appreciate
your time anytime. Jeff Hands,the new women's basketball coach at NKU after
a remarkable run at Thomas Moore takesover in Highland Heights. It is seventeen
away from five o'clock. Breneman andJones on baseball is coming up. Also,
(06:13):
the baseball coach at you see,Jordan Bischell, is a team having
a very good season in a yearone of the Big twelve will chat with
him coming up at five twenty.More phone calls are welcome. Five one,
three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty. Ellie de la
Cruz was awesome this weekend. TheReds beat a bad team three straight.
Now the hard work of well runningthrough the next few weeks begins, starting
(06:35):
with the Philadelphia Phillies tonight. StuartFairchild's batting leadoff, I don't know,
I don't know. I mean,like, I don't know, I don't
know what to say about that.The Stuart Fairchild and it's it's reflective of
(06:56):
where the roster is and illness andwho they I mean, I get it,
but wow, story Fairchild's best.Ellie Dela Cruz, I'm I think
if there's if there are if there'sanything we've established on this show over the
years, it's that I don't spendas much time growsing about the lineup or
where guys hit in the batting order. But like, Ellie Dela Cruz is
having a very good season, He'sbatting sixth. The protection is going to
(07:19):
be Santiago Espinal. That's that's that'sthe guy who's going to be protecting Ellie
Dela Cruz. Like, what's It'sit's basic math, right, the earlier
you hit in the order, themore likely you are to come to the
plate four or five times right overthe course of a season, Over the
(07:42):
course of a game, these topthree hitters hit more frequently than the hitters
in the lower half. If youwill, of a batting order, why
would be why would anybody right nowbe opposed to Ellie Dela Cruz batting as
much as possible, and they're hittingthem sixth Like I'm a David Bell.
Dave Belle's good manager, man,so I just don't want to take gratuita
(08:05):
shots at David Bell. I askedto understand the batting order is it's a
reflection of a collaborative effort. EliDeether Cruiz is betting sixth? Does somebody
make that make sense? On ESPNfifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station when it
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