Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
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(02:09):
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(03:00):
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(03:22):
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And now for the man of the hour,the man with the power.
Too sweet to be swap, too sweet to be sour.
(03:42):
Rochermel Jones from the 1999 UConn national champions.
Did I say it right? Yes, you.
Said it perfect my brother. Thank you.
Very much. For the exception.
Thank you, yes, yes. And it's it's amazing because I
always, I always get nervous talking to basketball players
(04:05):
because you guys were so much better than the football
players. So yeah, I, I just, I, I panic
and anytime I get with a basketball player, but let me
tell you. You know the football guy I was
with my brothers, so you. Know yes, I got.
I got much love for them. Yes, yes.
And it's great because I, I don't know your story or
(04:25):
anything. So this is going to be a
wonderful learning experience for me and I'm really excited
about it. So where initially are you from?
Oh, you. Know I come from a few places.
I like that. I come from a few places.
I was born in Port Chester, NY, that's out in Westchester
(04:45):
County. Yeah, OK.
Yeah, I'm from New York. Good.
As a baby, as a child, you know,probably 2 years old, moved out,
went to the Bronx. I lived in the Bronx for over 15
years. Wow, so.
Then after I left the Bronx, I moved to Mount Vernon and that's
where I pretty much. You're a Mount Vernon guy.
(05:07):
Oh my God. Wow, I had no.
From Mount Vernon. I had no idea you were a Mount
Vernon guy. Now were you recruited to go
there? Is that is, is it AII?
Couldn't remember if it's a private school.
No, it's a, it's a regular high school.
It's a public high school, MountVernon High School.
(05:29):
But no, I ended up going to Trinity Catholic.
I was. Stanford, Connecticut.
Oh, OK, OK. Wow.
Yeah. So you you were from multiple
places. I'm literally from.
Multiple places. I used to take the train from my
to Stanford, Connecticut for four years in high.
(05:52):
School. Oh my God, how far how how long
of a train ride was that? I would get on the seven O 6 in
the morning and I would get to Stanford about 8:15.
That's that's crazy. You were riding the train and
school. Bus.
Yeah, meet. Me at the train.
(06:12):
Station and take you to the school Oh did you do that like
from from high school on were you doing that Wow that's that's
amazing like so I played I played football over in NFL
Europe and Germany and I I couldnot ride the trains to save my
(06:33):
life one time I it's a long story, but I accident not
accidentally I drank absinthe. They they they it's like
initiation. They make you drink absinthe
over there That's the the liquorthat makes you like hallucinate
and yeah well, you know most people you take two shots and
(06:55):
you're good and you go to the bar.
I didn't think anything of it. I took six shots.
So I got to the bar and, you know, drink some more.
By 3:00 in the morning, they wanted to go to another bar and
they're like, we, we can't leaveyou here.
I, they, they, they said, listen, just don't get on the
next train. Let it pass.
(07:15):
Get on the next one. That'll take you back to the
hotel. I don't know what happened.
I got on the train. It felt like 10 minutes.
I passed out. Felt like 10 minutes.
I wake up, it's dawn and I'm on a train and I hear a conductor
saying over the loudspeaker, getyour passport ready.
(07:38):
Passport said something about passport, Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, I start freaking out.
I start going nuts and like, I made this team, I'm going to get
cut. I'm going to be late for the
meeting. I'm I'm screwed.
So I'm running up and down the train trying to find someone who
spoke English. Either, you know, everyone
speaks English over there. They probably thought I was
(07:59):
crazy and didn't want to talk tome.
Then I started speaking Spanish.I took five years of Spanish in
high school, San Habla, Espanol,all this.
Finally, I got one guy that spoke English, and I asked them
how far I was from. I was in Cologne, and I asked
them how far I was from my hotel.
He looked at me like I had 10 heads.
(08:19):
And I said, I thought you spoke English, Sir.
He goes, Yeah, I speak English. You're about four hours from
Cologne. You're 2 stops. 2 stops from
Austria. Austria.
Austria. 2 stops from Austria. Yeah.
Woo. So I and now I don't, I have no
(08:40):
idea how to get back, so I'm depending.
So I asked this guy like, so howdo I get back?
He could have sent me to Israel for all I know.
I could have ended up in Russia.But.
He gave me directions like I hadto switch trains.
And I I made it back like 10 minutes, 15 minutes before the
team meeting. And I walked in the team meeting
(09:02):
room and everyone just turned around and they just started
dying laughing. And I said, you motherfuckers,
you made me drink absent. I almost wound up in Austria.
Never again. I know.
Yeah. Yeah, plenty.
Of time, but it ended up, you know, coming from trying to be
Stanford. Yes.
(09:23):
And, you know, practice lift weights and fell asleep.
Oh. You missed stop.
Oh wake up, I'm in Grand Central.
I did not forget about it over 20 times.
That's crazy. You know, after I was done
playing, I, I was up 3, three years ago.
(09:44):
I was coming back from Manhattan.
I live. I live in Bridgeport.
Oh, OK. So I have too many to drink and
I ended up in New Haven and it was already no more trains.
It was the last train so I had to catch a Uber.
That's great. That's great.
No more trains? No.
(10:06):
More train. I'm done with the trains.
No, I love New Haven. My friends, my friends live
there. My friends getting married there
on the 24th, so I get to come back out there.
But man, that's, so, that's wild.
That's just such a long day. So you're basically like getting
up at 6:00 AM and then getting 5, you're getting up at 5,
(10:28):
getting all packed and dressed, showered, and then you got to
catch the train. Then you're at school practice.
I mean, were you getting home atlike 9:00?
You know, some nights, you know,I met a lot of good people up
there. So a lot of the nights, you know
a lot of the parents. Oh, they let you.
It's. Too late for you to be coming
(10:50):
back home, You know, let me justcall your dad.
They were smart. Yeah, Yeah.
So a lot of times I stayed out there with some friends, but
there were plenty of nights I came back 11/30/12 midnight,
especially after a game, you know?
Yeah, yeah. Up in Danbury somewhere.
Oh my God. You know, I don't get back to
(11:11):
Stanford till about 10:00, you know, catch the train and you
know, late. By the time you get out, yeah.
It's crazy. So did you.
I mean, I know you moved. You were in the Bronx and you
moved around a little bit. Did you take the basketball at
an early age? Did you play when you were
young? You did.
(11:32):
I started at the age of 6, well,not with a team.
My uncle, he, you know, he introduced me to the game, took
me out to the park. Yeah, he trained you.
Shoot, I didn't join my first team until I.
Was 13. Wow, really?
Yes. So from. 6.
Until. 13 I just played inside the parks.
(11:54):
Well, so yeah, he was like making you a Navy SEAL of
basketball. You were like a hired gun.
So by the time you joined the team, they're like, who the hell
is this kid? And he comes out of nowhere.
That's. Exactly what?
It was so when you were thirteen, were you still in the
Bronx? 13 I was actually in Mount
(12:15):
Vernon at. 13 You were in Mount Vernon, OK.
I was in Mount Vernon at 13, so you know, I'm going to 4th St.
Park. That's the big park in Mount
Vernon. Yes.
If you don't go to 4th St., you're nobody.
Right, right. That's that's I I've heard
legendary stories about it as. As.
A youngster. You know, 678 by the time I got
(12:36):
1112, the grown men started picking me on their teams.
Oh, that's when you know, when they start picking you they
used. To call me Horse, that was my
nickname of a young age horse. Horse.
Horse that I was. A.
Jumper Oh, oh, because you couldjump.
OK. I was going to say because you
could shoot, but. It was like, man, you jumped
(12:58):
like a horse. So that's what they used to call
me as a youngster horse. So you know, so you.
Yeah, that's crazy. You were playing against better
competition exactly then you would have at school by playing
on the streets like that. Wow.
So you joined your first team at13.
(13:18):
How did you like that? I mean, because it's got to be a
different atmosphere going from,you know, playing pick up to
that. Yeah.
You loved it. I loved it because the coach I
had got in George Chino out of Colchester, New York, he
actually, that was his team. It was called the Down Box Old
Community Center. Oh wow.
Yeah. So Don Bosco is a welcome.
(13:40):
Jim, you've been at some legendary places.
Yeah, yeah, really. So, you know, Giorchino took me
under his wing, started to, you know, travel around with Joe all
around New York. We're beating, you know, New
York City teams. We're beating our state New York
teams. And you got you got to hammer
(14:01):
upstate New York. Yeah, 'cause you know,
Westchester's there. We're our own little island.
Out there? No, I know you are.
I know Westchester and Upstate. So, you know, we were.
Beating both Yeah, new. York City.
And upstate. And this would be AAU, right?
Would this be an AU? Oh, it wasn't.
(14:21):
It was called CYO, the Catholic Youth Organization.
But they would travel that far. They would come upstate.
Would they come to like Syracuse?
Albany, we went as far. As Albany yeah wow that's that's
crazy that's impressive so when you started were you initially
(14:42):
put is a is a guard did they putyou right at guard they didn't
well well because I'm sure because you you you were taller
probably than everyone back thentell.
People this I started dunking inthe 5th grade I I.
Believe it. I mean and.
I I was at 13, I probably was 6 feet at 13 and I wore a size 13
(15:06):
shoe. Oh my God, You were like me.
I was the same age as my shoe size.
Yeah. And I was the biggest kid out
there and it was time, you know,second quarter coach took me out
because we were up 3040 points and coach would Take Me Out so.
Yeah. You know, that's how I got my
basketball training under Joe, under Joe Archino.
(15:30):
And then after Joe, I had a great mentor who was actually my
gym teacher, coach Richard Albanese.
So where was he at? Well Coach Al started at
Trinity. Well, started in Port Chester as
the varsity football coach. OK.
Then he went to Trinity, he got that's all.
(15:50):
I got to Trinity because of coach Al.
Right, OK. Then he left Trinity and went to
Greenwich and won a few state championships.
Ricky Greenwich. Jesus.
Yeah. That's one of the top programs
in the country now. My God.
So this guy could coach. You know my original first love
is football. Of course we lost.
(16:13):
We lost you. I went.
To Trinity to play. Football.
Really. That's that's why.
Did you play football when you were younger too?
Or no, Never. Played a day of football there
because the basketball coach. They would they they wouldn't
let you. Nearest you know, I I I started
as a bargaining on the freshman team, on the basketball team.
(16:34):
Yeah, I figured you would. Yeah.
You know, coach came to me, I'llnever forget coach the football.
I mean, the basketball coach is right.
I'm excited that you got for football.
I said zero to my knowledge, he said well here, look at this and
throw me a glove back in the. Car of letters. 200 schools.
(16:57):
Oh my God. Was a Georgetown letter these?
Guys want me as a as a freshman,as a freshman, that's amazing.
So, he said listen, take that football bullshit and throw it
out the window. Yeah, yeah, You got to throw it
out the window. I agree.
That's what. He said to me, and I regret it
to this. Day.
No, you can't regret it. I mean, come on by the time.
(17:21):
You see me, my coach, Coach Al, he says.
You know you were supposed to bein the NFL.
Well, I mean, you obviously would have been a star receiver
because you're so athletic. You would have picked it up.
I have. Hands.
I have hands. I have, yeah.
Gorilla Blue hands. Yeah, yeah, with your
athleticism, with the way you could run, absolutely, I'm sure.
(17:43):
But I mean it when you're getting letters as a freshman
back in that era, because I'm around the same era as you, they
didn't offer kids early. They didn't send letters early.
Back then, it was rare. Like now it happens like 7th
graders get offered, but that's crazy.
(18:03):
My question is, I just, I, I, I know that you obviously your
coach was your mentor. I just know the reputation Mount
Vernon had. You could have gone to Mount
Vernon, correct? Of course my my baseball coach
Coach Bob Cimino was the head coach.
(18:24):
OK. Wow, I played baseball too.
So he was the head coach of the varsity.
And that you know what that's the also that's the also fit.
Also the other thing I love because kids today it, you know,
they get forced in it a lot, butit, they're, they're so sport
specific and you know, they got to play one sport and it ends up
(18:44):
going year round. You know, whether it's
basketball, hockey, whatever, you know, even now flag football
is popular where it's year roundwith tournaments.
And I, I, I am a proponent of kids playing multiple sports
because they work on different muscle groups and it, you know,
it builds toughness if it buildsa little grit.
(19:07):
And then you can decide junior, senior year what you want to
focus on. I don't think you need to do it
as early. You know, I, I agree.
I totally agree. Yeah.
I, I talked to my friend yesterday.
He has a nine year olds who wereplaying on a travel baseball
team. They are going to a tournament
(19:28):
in Long Island and the season runs until July.
And I'm like, they're nine yearsold.
Like, is this really necessary? And he told me that the coach
was a college baseball coach for15 years.
So he's like super strict. And I'm like, they're taking
(19:48):
these 9 year olds and they're they're, they're, I just, I
worry about them getting burnt out, which I've also seen
happen. But that's, that's great.
It's good that you played other sports.
I think it keeps you fresh. Two, that you're not always on
one thing. The thing was, you know.
Especially back then, you know, I can't speak for a lot of
(20:08):
everybody else, but I know in myposition, everything that I got
into, I got into because I wanted to, yeah.
You weren't pushed, Father. My father never took me out in
the gym, right? Never said, you know, Never
said, hey, you should do this. Nope.
That's that's what the difference was.
(20:29):
We played outside exactly. So we weren't on playing inside
because that's. What all the kids were doing,
Yeah, Yep. Absolutely.
That's old school. Absolutely.
(20:50):
Across town, they're into the basketball.
All the boys on, you know, otherside of town, they're into the
baseball so. That's awesome.
Baseball, Football, Basketball. Yes.
Sir, what position did you play in baseball?
I was a pitcher in shortstop. Oh.
You were a pitcher. How did you get clocked?
Do you know how hard you threw? I was throwing in Babe Ruth.
(21:13):
That was from. Probably 8th grade.
Yeah, Yeah. I was throwing 85.
Wow. At 14, no bullshit.
I actually. Had a tryout with the Pittsburgh
Pirates. George Foster was the pitching
coach. George Foster was the pitching
coach. Came down to my practice.
Sold pitch and I was told like Isaid the the Max at that time
(21:37):
was 85. You know I was born 7980 range.
Yeah, but for a 14 year old, I mean, yeah, you're you're you
would have hit in the 90s by thetime you were a senior.
Easy. But you got to understand, I've
been the same size as I am now since right 6-4, since 14.
Right, right, right. Right.
(21:58):
Right. Now I get you.
You got the curse. I never grew an inch.
But did you like pitching? I love.
It. Yeah, you love the control on
the mound. I love.
Short stop, too. I love short stop.
Yeah, Anything in the infill, I was trying to get it, but
pitching was my thing. I love pitching.
(22:20):
That's crazy. That is so crazy.
So again, like Mount Vernon legendary.
What was it strictly the coach that made you go to the other
school because he was your mentor?
No. No.
He was not. A gym teacher as well.
(22:41):
Oh, John was my middle school gym.
Teacher OK, and that's, and he he went.
Day after school he got me into Trinity.
Wow. Just like that.
He said, hey, he said, what are you?
He said, what are you doing? It was eighth grade year.
I'm in the eighth grade and accepted me.
Where are you going to high school at?
(23:04):
I said, well, it's either out ofMount Vernon or Port Chesterton.
And he said, well, listen, I gota new job up in Connecticut.
I think that it'll be a good situation for you if you used to
come up here with me. And I'm like, well, where he was
like Stanford. I never heard of Stanford
before. Yeah, You know, I'm like, well,
(23:24):
he's like Wash. I'm going to the school
tomorrow. You want to talk?
So this is a true story. I ended up going with him the
next day to visit Trinity. The varsity basketball team was
playing in the gym. So Coach Al says, hey, Rosh,
hang up here with the basketballguys.
I have to go downstairs and talkto the principal or somebody.
I'll be right back up. So as I'm not watching, the
(23:46):
basketball coach says to me, hey, you want to run?
I knew that was good. I knew you were going to say
that. It was a setup all along.
Yeah, I'm ready under my. Butt hands.
I have my shorts. Yeah, I'm ready to go.
Yeah, first. Play of the Game.
Divide, take a shot, I get to rebound, I go coast to coast and
(24:06):
I dump on there 6. You dumped.
That is making a statement that is freaking making.
Senate. He was 65.
That, that is, that is as big a statement as you can make.
Talk about a first impression. So the kids, they stop playing.
Game Over helped on them. They were like, what high school
(24:30):
you go to? I said, well, I'm only in the
middle school. They couldn't believe it.
That was Coach Wall's face rightthere, what you're doing.
Oh my God. Middle school.
Yeah, A. Coach, I was bringing it to a
high schooler. Yeah, it's, it's unbelievable.
It's. Unbelievable.
Long story short, Coach John never took me home that day.
(24:52):
The basketball coach took me home.
Yeah, I I'm sure he did. I'm sure he didn't let you out
of his sight. Now, was it?
Was it a private school? Because, OK, so that's why you
could go because it was private.They can take whoever they
wanted. Did they have housing on campus
at all or no? No, no housing.
(25:13):
OK, OK. But the parents were smart
enough to know that if it was late, they'd let you stay over.
They weren't going to put you onthe train.
So your freshman year, you, you you obviously got a ton of
letters and you played and you started.
(25:33):
What was your experience like asa freshman?
I mean. It was a great experience.
You know, you were, you were treated well by the
upperclassmen. There wasn't any very well.
That's awesome. They kind of made me the leader
as a freshman. Yeah, they made the leader.
So that's huge. You earn their trust, I.
Don't know if you know Ben and Salvatore NBA.
(25:56):
Rep Legend. Oh, of course, of course.
I went to school at his sons allat his.
Sons. Oh my God, I didn't know they
went to Connecticut. All of those guys like, so I was
saying that people houses like that.
Wow. And, and Stanford is known.
I mean, Stanford's the city thatworks.
(26:17):
And I'm going to say this and it's going to sound lame.
I don't care. The only reason I love Stanford
is because I'm a big WWE fan, soit's my dream to go to Titan
Towers and see everything. Yes, Sir.
But man, I just can't imagine how.
I mean, it must have been grueling, the brides with the
(26:38):
trains every day in season offseason that that's such a
long trip. Like you're getting home.
Yeah. I mean, you got to try to get
your homework done, then you gotto go to bed and then you're up
at 5 AMI mean that that's that'stough it.
Was a journey. It was a journey that I enjoyed.
(26:58):
It's a. Journey.
That it didn't toughened you up.Maybe who I am today.
Absolutely. You know, like now, especially
when I got to college, you know,a lot of you know, you know, a
lot of you know you're. Not, oh, I know, 8:00.
Classes you know you're not usedto getting up for them. 8:00
classes. I've been getting up for five
(27:19):
get ups at 5:00. O'clock 8:00 was sleeping in for
you, my God. My roommate was Jay.
Bosco Oh, I just talked to Rennell.
Jump Rennell is his Rennell Green Street Trust.
He's one of my sponsors. He works with Jake.
So, Jake. Was that's, that's my brother
right there. So he was my roommate.
(27:40):
He's like, what the hell are youdoing up so early?
Fucking 5:00 and you are fuckingwatching TV.
Yeah, that's what you, that's what you're used to.
There's nothing you can do. That's that's hilarious.
Exactly. So it was.
A beautiful thing, you know, especially, you know, as a
freshman, just the older guys looking at me like the leader.
(28:06):
As a freshman, I was invited to Nike camp out in Wow.
Those were the big camps. The Bulls practice facility, it
was the top 100. So this is where I got to meet
Alan Allison. The Vince Carter's, the Jerry
Stack houses. Oh, that was that class.
Holy shit, Jason Kids, you and David, they were all at Nike
(28:29):
Kid. Yeah, that because that's, I
remember that's where everyone got recruited at those big
camps. And so that was beautiful.
This was at. Was this after your freshman
year? This was this was the summer
time my freshman year going to my.
Sophomore. That's amazing to get invited to
that camp so young out of. The whole New England, it was
(28:54):
myself out of Connecticut, Stephon Marbury representing New
York. Right.
And Randall Jackson, he played at Floor to Sleep 611 was out of
Boston. Those were wow, that's crazy.
The. Three from this area.
So, I mean, you were already getting recruited as a freshman.
(29:18):
Your sophomore year must have obviously been better.
Where What position were you playing as a sophomore?
Played all of. Them they, they just put you
everywhere. I mean, you could because you
could do it all. I mean, I would.
Literally I was like LeBron in high.
School. You could bring it up.
Yeah, I would. Get the rebound and bring it
coast to coast. And then Duncan he was.
(29:39):
Already back, you know, I'm starting offense, so I I played
all the positions. And the coach trusted you to do
everything because you were responsible and you did
everything the right way. You weren't combative.
You did what you were told that.That's amazing.
And and plus, I had AD one pointguard, my point guard, Earl
Johnson played at Rutgers. Yes.
(30:01):
Wow. So you guys had a squad, You
were the number. One in the state of Connecticut.
Oh my God, I didn't even know that.
So yeah, you did. You win the state championship.
We lost to New London my senior year.
Ah, New London. They're stay, they cheat.
Don't worry about New London andmy and.
And because my my guy only had five points that game so they
(30:23):
tell us him below his number, then I have to I got 35 and then
really end up losing by. 5 New London is always good in
everything. They always cheat.
Don't worry about it. They are my guy, my guy.
Tyson Wheeler from out there. The legend from New London.
Oh my God. So your junior year comes around
and that's got to be when recruiting picks up and, you
(30:48):
know, you start, did you start taking visits, looking at some
schools? Did you know you wanted to stay
in Connecticut? Phone calls OK.
Phone calls, my first. It's funny, I was talking to my
my old agent last night. Yeah.
And he, he was like, he was likeI said, yeah, he did the I think
(31:09):
3 minutes, so my friend told. Me 3 minutes.
Literally, he called me Bob Knight my junior year,
summertime, the first day that coaches can call you.
Hey, Jones, this is Coach Knightfrom Indiana.
I'm like, wow, how you doing, coach?
He's like, listen, I love how you play.
(31:30):
I love your defense. That's what really, you know, I
like about you that you have a lot of energy.
So are you coming to Indiana? I said, well, Coach, to be
honest, you're the first coach that called me.
He, he called and offered you and basically said, are you
coming to Indiana on the on the first day, first day?
(31:51):
Holy, I would say coach, you first want to call.
Me. Yeah, after.
You decided that, he said. Listen, I need, I need players
who want to be Hoosiers. Oh, you, you can't put, you
don't want to be a Hoosier. Have a nice career.
You cannot put that on a kid that young.
(32:14):
That's crazy. The first day, First day.
And then you got your first offer.
You got an offer from it from Indiana and Bob Knight, and then
he hung up on you. That's the best story ever.
I only want Guy. He gave you 2 seconds to make a
decision, a decision to affect to a decision that affects the
(32:36):
rest of your life. He gave you 2 seconds.
You want to be a Hoosier or you don't.
You don't. Bye.
Click Next. Have a nice career.
That's it. He did tell me that.
Well, that was nice of them. That was nice of them.
Wow. Wow.
So who else was calling you? I mean, you must have.
Your phone must have been ringing off the hook.
Yeah, I mean, I've got calls. I was getting looked at by
(32:58):
everybody. Only school that I can say that
wasn't really recruiting me hardwas Duke.
Mike Cheschowski wasn't really. Good, you don't want to go to
Duke anyway. Carolina playing for a few
games. Did Syracuse?
Did Bay Hun? Yeah, good was.
On me, I mean, all the biggies, the whole biggies, but the
(33:18):
schools I decided on was Boston College, Yep, UMass, Florida
State, Syracuse and UConn. So did you end up taking all 5
official visits? No, we end up, believe it or
not, I only took one official visit.
(33:40):
You only took. And now it's to UConn.
You were like me, I took. One I wasn't there to, you know,
all trying to go to the if I knew I wasn't going to come to
your school, I wasn't going to waste their time.
Yeah, no, I I understand that. And it's funny because everyone
says that on their visit. There was just something about
(34:03):
the people at UConn, your teammates, the other athletes.
There was just like a camaraderie.
Everyone supported each other. There were no like clicks.
Everyone got along, had fun. Nobody had a bad time.
And I, I, I hate the word because people misuse it all the
time. The culture at Yukon was
(34:25):
exceptional. Culture's a buzzword that people
throw around and it drives me nuts and I get mad.
But the the culture at Yukon wasreally something special at that
time. Yes, it was.
So who who who did you end up staying with?
Who? Who was your host it?
Was Rudy, Rudy, Johnson and Ray?OK.
(34:47):
And Ray, Oh my God, wow, did they they take you to Ted's or
Huskies or they take you to a party?
No, they've not. We stayed.
Actually, we went out to Rudy was staying Rudy, Jeff Calhoun
and Travis Knight, they were roommates.
Travis Knight, right, Right. Yeah.
(35:08):
I mean, those guys, I mean, I'm sure they couldn't go out.
They were freaking celebrities. So you, you had a good visit.
You liked everything you saw. Had you been up there before?
It wasn't even a visit though that did it for me.
Yeah, I can see that obviously it.
Was my grandmother Really It wasmy grandmother because the day
(35:30):
that, well, first I had Callum Perry in my house.
John Caliper. John Caliper, walk through your
door. Walk.
Through the door, sitting in theliving.
Room. Oh my God.
Just when he was at UMass. Yeah.
You know he's giving me the sale.
You're going to, you know, you and Marcus Canby, you're going
to be the best in the Atlantic 10.
(35:51):
Absolutely. You're going to be the rookie of
the year, blah blah blah. So by the time he was done, my
grandmother says, you know, thatguy sounded like a Carl Sells.
Me he he looks like one too. I'll.
Tell you, that's what my grandmother said.
So literally the next day, Calhoun was kept.
Calhoun came the next day. And Calhoun?
(36:14):
Calhoun doesn't necessarily loveup recruits.
I mean he tells it like it is. And this is what he said to me.
My father asked him. My father said, well, is he
going to play? Is he going to get played in
time? Co says.
Well, I got a guy by the name ofRay Adam of you.
He said if your son works hard, he may see a couple minutes.
(36:36):
Right, right, right. So he, I mean, he was honest,
yeah. He was honest, he said.
My sister was all about who practiced the hardest.
If you practice hard, you play. Absolutely and.
That's all I need to hear. And after he left, my
grandmother said that's where you need to go right there.
Yeah, because he, he was going to get the best out of you.
(36:58):
He was going to push you, you know?
Each each, you know, every school had a video tape.
You know some VHS are still popular.
Yeah, yeah, each. Each each guy had the VHS tape
and introduced me as the starting guy in the line out.
Coach Calhoun had none of that. No.
(37:19):
He had none of that. You know.
Other guy you know, starting that freshman rational Jones
and. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He he didn't do any of that, coach.
Said that he works hard, he may see some time.
That's amazing. That's.
What he said. You know, he's he's the top guy
(37:41):
that I'm looking at because coach only brought in that year.
It was 2 two guys, right? Yeah.
Ricky. Yeah, I just, I just talked to
him. I'm supposed to have him on next
too. So you was you and Ricky?
Yeah, yeah, that is crazy. So you went on your visit, but
(38:03):
you already knew you were going there and did you, did you
commit before your visit or did you commit on your visit?
I'll. Wait till.
I got you waited till you got back home.
You just the. Whole press conference and all
of. That and you, you know, talked
it over, but you knew that was home.
Yeah, I. I I knew I was going to go.
To UConn, did you ever visit? I mean, because you you went to
(38:25):
high school in Connecticut, did you ever visit UConn?
Oh, I went to numerous games. OK, OK.
Yeah, yeah, I figured you did. I figured you did let.
Me tell you though, my first, myfirst game that I actually went
to was Florida State. This was this was 94.
OK, they. Were playing Florida State.
(38:47):
That's when Florida State had Charlie Ward, Charlie Ward, Bob
Serra and was man from the NBA man Sam Cassell.
Sam Cassell, that's right. He was Florida State, OK.
By 40. By 40, Oh my God, man, I'm
(39:11):
sitting there. I would not have want to be in
that locker room. Listen, when I went downstairs
and I'm just looking at everybody, everybody's quiet
here. They're on mute.
They're like don't talk, don't say nothing.
We couldn't talk, don't say nothing.
So I'm just listening, Coach Ripped.
(39:32):
Him, I'm like, oh, I said, well,yeah, he is.
He was known for his tirades. My roommate in college was Mike
Woodward, who was a he was a walk on.
So I heard many stories. A Mecca Okafor the the first
(39:53):
time a Mecca Okafor touched alcohol was because of me.
We picked them up. They they lost to Texas to go to
the final four. I think it was 2002 and Woody
called me and Woody said we're going to I want to go to
Providence. One of my best friends from high
school went to Providence. So he would always take us out.
(40:16):
So he's like, I, I want to go out.
I'm really fine. He's like, no, you're coming to
pick me up at the airport. We drove to Bradley and pick
them. They literally walked off the
Learjet and Amaca would always come to our apartment.
We lived in Hilltop Apartments. He would just come to do his
(40:37):
laundry and the study that, that, that, and that's what he
did. That's what he did.
And meanwhile, my friend Ed and I, we'd be sitting there just
being slobs eating no shirts on playing mad.
And I'm not going to be doing his laundry and study.
So we get in the car and a Meccacomes.
(40:58):
I'm like, is this right? Are we, are we taking him to
campus? And he's like, no, he wants to
go out. I'm like, Mecca, are you, you
sure you want to go out? I mean this, this is, you know,
we, we go out pretty hard in Providence.
He's like, I, I want to go out. So I, I took him.
We go to my friend's house. My friend had a keg of beer.
(41:23):
He's handing them out to I, I think we brought 2 car loads of
the football guys and, and Woodyand Mack and he handed a Mecca
beer and a Mecca goes. But I don't, I don't drink beer.
My friend took the cup of beer, throws it against the wall, says
Steve. Who the fuck is?
(41:43):
This guy. Who do you who did you bring
here that doesn't drink beer? What the fuck is this?
I'm like rich, do you know who this is?
This this is a Mecca Okafor. I don't I don't give.
I don't care if he's the president.
He doesn't drink beer. Fuck him.
So that was his introduction. And then and then we so then we
(42:04):
go to we go to the bar. It was called prime time.
That was our favorite place. We walk in and we immediately
get booed because they see a Mecca and they boom because it's
Providence. So as I said, I'm a pro
wrestling fan and I decided to be a pro wrestler that night.
(42:28):
The I took the microphone away from the DJ and I said, hey
everyone in this bar, you listenthe fuck up.
You see that man right there? That's a Mecca Okafor.
He's going to make more money inone day than everyone in this
bar combined will make in their entire fucking lives.
And then all hell broke loose. They all went nuts.
(42:52):
So the the owners of the bar at closing time said, listen, you
guys stay and hang out here, because if you go outside,
there's going to be a brawl. I'm like I'm I'm ready.
Let's go. We got we got eight guys.
We'll take on whoever like, no, just stay you we'll, we'll give
you drinks for free. You can stay.
(43:12):
So we hung out and drank for free.
But that was that was and Mecca was a mess.
That was the first time a Mecca drank and I was fully, fully
responsible for that. That's funny.
So your your freshman year was was 959596?
(43:33):
Yeah. OK.
How? How was that experience?
I was playing with black Jesus. Reality.
I know, I know. You know.
Yeah. You I'm playing with.
The Israeli God you know, JeromeShepherd.
Yes, yes, playing with. The the Utah legend Travis
Knight. Travis Knight was still there.
(43:53):
That's right. I hated Travis Knight so much I
was a circuit. Fan that team was.
I thought that team should have won the national title.
Yeah, they were amazing. They were amazing.
I was a die hard Syracuse fan and they they beat Syracuse
twice and I hated Travis Knight so much.
Did they have Donnie Marshall back then?
(44:14):
No, Donnie. Already left.
Already. OK, Donnie had left.
That was Donnie left. Danielle left.
OK. OK.
That was a year so. You know, it was just like Rudy
Johnson, Travis Knight, Kurt Kane.
Right. And you and Ricky.
(44:35):
Ricky, we had flavor, another freshman, but he was 611.
Right we. Got the same function 69 out of
Mississippi. So that was, you know, Ericsson
Ward 69. 50 and that team. Was a veteran team and you know.
(44:57):
That must have been an experience.
It's like Jesus. To.
This day he what he had about you.
Stitches in my mouth like, you know, you know how practice went
like, yeah, it's to start five verse the next 6 and 10.
So I have the guard ready. So, you know, coach used to be
like, you got to come. Off you got to make them work
(45:20):
yeah so if. You can ever speak to Ray Allen
and ask him how many jerseys didRoss Jones RIP off your back?
I ripped about 5 off his back, blown off the traffic screens.
Oh my God, ripped the. Whole Jersey let me go get.
This shot off Oh my. God, that's how I mean it's a
him. So when he got in games, you
(45:42):
know, it was nobody was going toguard him like.
That and that's that's why he lasted so long.
Yeah, you know, he's guarding me.
So now I get my room. So, you know, still shopping,
still so like. I said it does.
Awesome learning experience. And then the following year
(46:03):
9697, Yep, you I mean that was. More like a down.
Year, there was a transition year, right that.
Was a transition year. Rick comes in as a fraction that
year. I I actually came to lead this
forward that year. Was was Khalid on the team that
year? No.
He can be my junior year. OK, so that sophomore year I'm
(46:27):
leading, the team is scoring. I've been getting curved down
the stretch where I had basically tore my cartilage in
my knee. So I missed like 5 games and
pretty much that's where a lot of me coming off the bench comes
from. Right, because they had the
limit your your wear and tear you.
(46:51):
Know you know, once you hit the bench, you're not playing.
Yeah, when? The Pendleton's playing went
through the roof and you know, it's hard to get back in the
rotation, you know, and tell that player start to not play
good again. Right, right, right.
So, you know, that was that whole sophomore, well midway
through then the junior year that Khalid comes.
(47:12):
In right. So you know, you know, we're
running two point guards, Khalid, Ricky went at the wing.
Wow, the same thing at the powerforward.
And right, Freeman was a free, Freeman was a power forward.
Oh, I, I didn't know that. Wow.
Because I mean, he's another like you guys were all so
(47:32):
athletic and you, you could do it all that.
Coaches, you know that that was just like secret weapon in the
sense, you know, because like you said, K Free was side wise.
He's a small forward. Yes.
Or shooting guard. Exactly.
So he's getting rebounds with the the festival, he's getting
(47:55):
it sprinting out the floor, quick layups down the other end.
So, you know, that was a secret weapon and no power.
Follow can keep up with Kevin Friedman.
No, no, no. I I believe that wholeheartedly.
Yeah, it's impossible. So you know, that's how that's
how he played. He just wanted to run teams to
sleep, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I mean, and that's
(48:16):
'cause you know, when when I watched them this year, they
didn't do that. They were more of a half court
offense with the with the two big guys, with Reed and Johnson.
They didn't run like that. Yeah, 'cause I always remembered
I used to go when Woody played and it was run up and down, up
and down. And Hurley is a lot slower, so I
(48:39):
noticed that. So 9899, that was the year.
That was when it all came together.
That's when it all clicked. You guys had experience, you had
guys who could do it all, ball, handle, play defense, shoot,
rebound. Yeah, yeah, 100%.
(49:02):
And and you were, you were so much fun to watch.
So much fun, you know. What really made it click for us
that year, The you know, the last year was the year before
when we lost North Carolina. Yeah.
Late, yes, and the Elite 8. You know, 'cause after that
loss, we, we got back in the locker room and we was like,
(49:23):
listen, you. Know that's it.
We told each guy, we looked at each other.
We was like each man, you know what, you got to do this.
You're accountable. Prepare yourself for the next
season to come. And did you stay during the
summer and train? We.
All stayed. You all stayed.
You were like us. OK, That's right.
We don't have. To go to summer school.
(49:44):
Yeah. Never went home, No.
Christmas, No. I know, I know we didn't.
Have a spring break I helped spring.
Break. Yeah.
We, yeah, we did have a spring break.
We did have a spring break. Yeah.
You guys, I remember because we watched you.
We watched you in the tournamentwhen when we were on spring
break. Yeah, you not what the thing we.
(50:05):
Had was the spring weekend. That's all we.
Had we did have spring weekend, well, I have to say we we
made-up for a lot of it during spring weekend.
We made-up for a lot of it during spring weekend.
But the other thing about when you played, you had such a
tremendous coaching staff, you know, with it was Calhoun.
(50:29):
It was more the guy that ended up at was he the Hobbs?
Was he the one that went to DePaul?
No, that was Coach Lado. Oh, that was Dave Lado.
OK, Yeah. Yeah, Dave Lado.
Yeah, you had such an incrediblestaff.
And Coach Dickerman, remember, we had my freshman year, we had
Coach Dickerman who went to Central.
(50:50):
Wow. OK, I didn't know that.
So yeah. But that should be a ship year.
It was just Lado Hobbs more. More.
Coach. And who kind of did what as far
as the coaches like, what were they responsible for?
Because I, I never understood basketball.
What assistants did I'm I'm. Going to give a lot of that
(51:12):
credit to the guy who's still onthat bench right now about UConn
coach Moore. Coach Tom Moore, Yeah.
No, I mean, he's, he's a legend,yeah.
Coach Moore. He kept it together.
Not even that. He he didn't want to keep it
together. He was the one who actually
prepared us. When I say his.
Film sessions After his film sessions, the team wasn't going
(51:38):
to score the film sessions. Let me just say that much.
I remember when we played Michigan State, when the team
cleaves and all. Yes, yes.
At home at Gamble, the team cleaves had two points.
She just completely shut him down.
(51:59):
Oh, hold on one second. So you're talking about Mateen
Cleaves? You held them to two points.
Tom Moore was the defensive mastermind a lot.
Of that credit, you know, to Coach Moore.
Yeah. Just his his knowledge of the
game, his preparation of literally he could watch another
(52:22):
offense and probably know betterthan their coach.
Yeah, 100%. And he knew all, not just the
first option. He knew every all five of their
options. He knew how to stop them.
Was bananas. Do you think that he would have
been a good head coach? Well, he was a head coach,
(52:44):
remember? He had the job at Quinnipiac.
Oh, I didn't know that. That's right.
OK, Yeah. He was the head.
Coach at 20. He came from 24.
Seasons. Right.
That's right. He left and went with Rhode
Island with. Carly right.
OK, I forgot about that. I forgot about that.
So. You know Philippia, you know the
(53:06):
major school. So, so that season, everything
clicked. You went on such a great run.
You had so much talent. And I the, the thing that stuck
out to me was just the chemistry.
You just had such a chemistry together because you played
(53:27):
together for years. You.
You trusted each other. You knew where the person was
going to be. You know where everyone was
going to be. And you look like you were
having fun because Coach Calhoundidn't always make it easy to
have fun out there, but yeah. And.
(53:47):
Any guy that can tell you that when you play for Coach Calhoun,
you know what to expect. Yes, yes.
If you bust your ass and go 120 mph, he's not going to say
anything to you. No.
It's when you, it's when you don't bust your ass, it's when
you go 506075 you're going to. Hear that's when he's going to.
(54:12):
Chew your ass out. Yeah, absolutely.
You know. When you're doing what you have
to do, been on the floor for loose balls, he's going to be in
your corner. He's going to back to you.
I'm talking about not just on the court, but off the court.
So talk to me about the Duke game.
Just because one of my best friends, I was a senior in high
(54:33):
school and that was, you know, one of the reasons I came to
UConn. They had a great football season
and then basketball. My best friend went to Duke and
I was just you. You guys were, I were heavy
underdogs, I believe. And you beat Duke and I was so
happy. I just got to rub it in his
face. What was that like?
(54:56):
Because you, you know, from riding a bus for years from that
to working your tail off beyond belief for four years, the
culmination of everything ends in the national championship
against Mike Schefsky and Duke. That atmosphere must have been
(55:21):
like none other. That game must have been like
none other. And I mean, did you, were you
confident going in? Like, did you know, like this is
our year. We're we're taking this.
They're not stopping. Us, we knew.
We knew going in. Yeah, all year long, that's all
we talked about. Yeah.
Duke was #1. We were #2.
Yeah, Yep. And all year long, you know,
(55:44):
everybody's like, oh, UConn can't be do this and that.
And the one thing we said we tougher to them.
You were 100%. That's what it was, no?
One's going to fuck you guys. No, we.
Talking to them. Do and yeah.
What did it was, you know, it was the night before the game.
Really. Where?
Night before the game where we just literally had our scouting
(56:07):
report, we just had our chalk talk.
So you know, coach has given us the sale.
You know, guys get some good night's sleep tonight.
So coaches leave. All the players are me and
Ricky. We share the room so you.
Had like a team meeting a players only meeting it.
Wasn't even a. Meeting.
Oh, OK. Oh, ESPN zoomed in to Durham,
(56:35):
NC, to a gas station. Oh no.
Inside this gas station, it was selling T-shirts and newspapers
that said. Dude, national champion,
national title. Oh my, I would.
I would have lost my. I would have lost my mind that
that did it. We're looking at each other
like. Are you kidding me?
(56:57):
Respect that he's. Like ESCN should be ashamed of
themselves. Absolutely.
That is total disrespect, Total disrespect.
So that that night, literally. Asked Ricky when you talk to.
Ricky, I will. Did you kick everybody out the
(57:22):
room after that? We got a business to take care
of tomorrow, so. So that set the tone.
That set the fucking tone. Wow.
Wow, that's amazing. Our anthem that, yeah, was being
that song. The Rough Riders.
Rough Riders, yes, yes. So that was our.
Anthem. We sung that in the game.
It's a classic, Yeah, so. Before that Duke game, it was a
(57:42):
little extra. Yeah, So I love it.
I love it. I love it.
I love it. I love it.
We own Duke anytime we play Duke.
Duke. Five guys.
Off of that team that went to. The No, I know they did.
That's why they were. That's why they were, you know,
Jesus's team. It was ridiculous.
(58:02):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Exactly.
Exactly. And but you guys were the better
team. You'd played together longer,
work together longer, knew each other longer.
And you loved it. And you.
Yeah, you wanted it more. We wanted it more and we, you
know, just we, we played with Coach Allen's.
(58:24):
Attitude. Hell yeah you did.
I remember they. They they played with Coach
Chesky's laid back attitude. The white collar?
Yeah, you pounded them into the ground.
With Coach Calhoun's Boston. Yeah, that's that crazy fuck
you, Boston attitude, pound you into the ground.
Yes, 100%. So that.
(58:45):
I mean, my God, you got your ring.
It was unbelievable. It was his first championship.
You must have been in all your glory.
I mean, that must have been nexttime.
It was. It was a dream come true, and it
was also it was. Almost been a sweet because it
was the end. I know.
(59:06):
So tough, yeah. So tough that, you know I had
other entities on the outside that wanted me to transfer.
Really. Yeah.
Yeah, it was like, why don't youleave?
Like you can be over here, Like,why don't you sit on that bench
you were starter, Like why are you on invention?
(59:27):
And one thing I told him, I said, listen, I've been there
for three years already with youto leave something.
I've started to go somewhere. Yeah.
You're not a quitter. I'm not a quitter.
No, no. And I made a decision.
I said you know what, either I'mgoing to pick about 6 man's ever
to play at this university. Yeah, yeah.
(59:50):
You made a difference. That's what counts.
You made an impact. That was my mindset and that was
my mindset. So for me to go out as a senior
winning the national title, my mind, I was like.
Sometimes I still can't believe it.
I, it's, I can't believe it. I mean, that's a storybook
ending for everything that you went through and endured through
(01:00:11):
your career from high school andon up and even younger.
That is AI mean you can write a movie off of that.
That's a movie script. Oh, you got a book coming out
OK. So we'll plug it 2026.
OK, what's what's, what's the title, you know?
It's not a story untitled right now, but if it's pretty much
(01:00:38):
know about my life from the beginning, that's awesome.
All the way up until we actuallywon.
The national title, did you, didyou write it or did you have a
ghost? You wrote it yourself.
Congratulations. That's that's that's amazed.
That's an amazing accomplishment.
Not a lot of people can do that.So I will definitely purchase.
(01:00:58):
It just talks about my journey, what I just talked about with
you, you know, Yeah. That's why I can't believe, I
mean that for a kid to have thatdiscipline to get up at 5:00 AM,
get on the train, go to practice, go to games, get on
the train and go back, do your homework, get up and do it all
(01:01:19):
over again. My God.
I mean, there's not a lot of teenagers that would have the
discipline, the dedication and the motivation to be able to
accomplish that. You.
Know just coming from Alford. It's just remarkable.
Seen too many? You know no, I know that that
cutter woulda shutter. They always got a story.
(01:01:40):
I love those to a. Lot of them are close to me, you
know, a lot of older guys who I knew, who my uncles knew and you
know, and to, to see that livingtruth, I'm like, you know, I
want to do. That yeah, I, I hear you.
I, I remember. So, yeah.
So. When I'm travelling on the
train, you know, my whole motivation is like I'm leaving
Mount Vernon, you know, I'm getting out of Mount Vernon for
(01:02:03):
the day. Yeah, you.
Know I'm going to Connecticut. It's a lot of paper.
It's a lot cleaner, you know, and that's how my thinking was.
Yeah, you were. You were.
You were moving up absolutely 100%.
And it's funny you say that because I was at an NFL workout
and there was a tight end there who was talking about he got cut
(01:02:27):
from a team because the quarterback was hanging him out
the dry. He wasn't throwing them good
passes made him look bad. So I I didn't, I was just
listening and I just happened asalso, who was the quarterback?
It goes, oh, it was Peyton Manning.
I'm like, yeah, sure, OK. Yeah, Peyton Manning hung you
out to dry and was throwing balls all over the place, and
(01:02:49):
that's why you got cut. I'm sure that's exactly what
happened. The greatest quarterback ever.
Yeah, sure was. Sure, sure.
He was. He was just firing them into the
wall. I'm absolutely.
So did you, did you play professionally after?
Yes, I ended up going over. My first contract was in
(01:03:09):
Manchester Palace in England. Awesome, I.
Went over to Australia, I was in.
Oh my God, Came over there as well.
Yeah. Came over.
There as well. I always wanted to go to
Australia. Did you like Australia in?
Queensland. I was in Kansas.
Did you like it I. Loved.
It I loved it, I've still. Got friends there to this day
(01:03:33):
that call me we still talk. You were like the crocodile
hunter living over there. You know, it's funny you say
that. They wanted me to get out there
because they wrestled crocodiles.
I know they do. It's it's nuts.
You know, obviously you get two Americans on each team.
You know how? Yeah, I, I've seen, I've seen
it. I, I would never do it, you
know? I just needed my guy.
(01:03:54):
Guy named Andre. He's from.
Chicago, you did it. No, I.
Didn't. Do it OK the all.
Americans actually play with TimHardaway.
That's how old this guy is. He's still playing over there.
So they was like, hey, why don'tyou come it up?
We're going crock wrestling. I said what?
We're going crock. Wrestling I.
Said who the. Fuck, that's the greatest thing
(01:04:15):
I've ever heard, He said. No.
We don't do the big ones, we just jump on the baby.
Back, yeah, I said. OK, let me see your baby.
It showed me a fucking baby. The baby was 10 C I'm.
Like get the fuck and and did they actually do it and you
watch it? Oh my God, no, I know they do.
(01:04:41):
I know, I know. That's how I played over in
Germany and in NFL Europe, and that's how it was always in the
locker room. It was crazy.
They they would drink. So you played and then you
(01:05:05):
eventually came back to the States.
Tear my knee up again, the same.Thing that I.
Entered in UConn, I ended up just tearing it up completely,
ACL everything. So that was in 2004.
OK. So I came back home team.
I actually had about 6 more credits to finish from my
(01:05:27):
degree, so I went back to you. Finished up.
Yep. I was a student assistant.
Oh. That 2005 team with Charlie
Villanueva, Rudy Gay. Yeah, Dan Brown.
Yes, John Phone Man. Yeah.
Yeah, I was. A student assistant with that
team. Right, right, I got you.
(01:05:48):
That was a squad. Yep, got my degree after that.
You know I've been pretty much. You used the service bill.
Ever. Since and you you stayed in
Connecticut. Yeah, I'm a social.
Worker Oh OK I. Mentor kids.
You know, young adults. Oh that's great adults.
I work with people. Did you major in Sosh?
(01:06:10):
Were you a sociology? I was a.
Social. Major.
That's what I was too. We, we called it majoring in
graduation. Well, because the I don't, I
don't know if you knew our football coach, Randy Etzel.
Of. Course Coach Etzel like if you
wanted to major in engineering or something, it was just like,
no, you're not you can't major in engineering because there's
(01:06:32):
the. Second one, forget about.
I did too. I did too.
But yes, I want because I wantedto, you know, do broadcasting.
But but the communications, it was communication science.
It had nothing to do with broadcasting.
I was thinking like linguistics.I'm like what the hell is this?
(01:06:55):
And yeah, yeah, that was me. So I thought I'd have been like
midway through my first semester.
Yeah, So the, the options I had to switch were like sosh or poli
sci or, or econ or econ, I think.
And there's no way I was going to do econ.
(01:07:15):
I didn't really know anything about politics.
So I was like, all right, I'll do sosh.
And I, I ended up loving it. I ended up loving it.
I did, I, I did, I learned so much and it like opened my eyes
to a lot of things. I, I tell everyone I took the
only white racism class offered in the country.
(01:07:40):
Noel Kasnav taught it, it was, it was called white racism and,
and he basically explained how white people were innately
racist. Whether we know it or not,
whether we try to be or not, it's just kind of boring in us
because of our upbringing before.
And, you know, we try not to be,but it just happens.
(01:08:03):
So I, so I, I, I went up to him after a class.
I'm like Professor Kasnav. I feel really bad.
I don't want to be a racist. Is there anything I can do?
He said, no, sorry. That's the name of the that's
the name of the course, right? White racism.
Let's name that for a reason. I tell everyone that I was like,
(01:08:25):
I don't, I don't want to be a racist.
Is there anything I can do? I mean, do what can I volunteer
somewhere? I mean, what can I do?
So that's great. So you're work, you're working
with kids, you're helping kids. And are you, are you, are you
married too? I'm working.
With kids, I'm actually working.I've actually.
Switched OK, I'm. Working.
(01:08:47):
With the elderly population, oh that's even better.
They they need so much support. Yeah, so, so pretty much what I
do now is I go around the state of Connecticut.
When I go around, you know, I get calls from all throughout
the state of Connecticut, peoplewho want in, you know?
Yeah. For their mothers, yeah.
Grandparents. Yeah, you know who's looking for
(01:09:08):
help to pretty much help Take care.
Of them, yeah, that's amazing. You know, we're, we're all about
keeping people in their homes. We don't want to send them to no
nursing. Right to no, you know, no.
Elderly House. Yeah, comfortable.
The services you know PCAA to cook for them do their monitors.
(01:09:31):
Help help their meds and everything Yeah take.
Them for walks. That's amazing.
Place for. Them, I mean, you got such a big
heart to do that and it it's a population that gets ignored and
it you know, and you're right, half the time people just stick
them in a home. And it's good that you are there
(01:09:53):
to make sure that doesn't happenand they get to enjoy the last
years of their lives and the happiness.
It's amazing that you do that. Did you get married?
Do you have a family? No.
No, sorry, I was years ago, but I was young.
Yeah, it's a marriage is a failed institution.
That's what I always say 3. Kids, you know, two boys and a
(01:10:16):
girl, do they? Oldest 23.
Oh wow, he taught. He actually was an Uber as well.
I saw. I saw Ricky Skid play.
I saw Ricky skid through his hair.
With me when like his sophomore.Year OK, cool so you.
Know now he's into the music he's doing.
Music. Oh, that's great.
Yeah. Yeah, he's traveling around the.
(01:10:38):
Country. Oh, he's in a band.
Holy crap. So my daughter, you know, she's
a brilliant. She's going to be doing
something that they're a lawyer or.
Something. Yeah, something with a
briefcase. My.
My little. Guy my 8 year old oh OK so he
he's keeping you nice and young that's.
It that's that's the one that's keeping me young.
Because I mean, you don't look aday over 35, so I'll give you
(01:11:02):
that. Appreciate you.
I appreciate you. Thank you.
Thank you. 8 years old and the the daughter and the son.
Wow. So what's the name of the band?
We'll give the band a plug. Oh, we got Chanel is the oldest
one. OK.
Then Genesis is my daughter. Genesis is the daughter.
And then my youngest son is supreme.
(01:11:23):
OK, and what what's the name of the band that he plays?
We the. Joneses we the.
Joneses. The Joneses.
I love it. I love it.
I love it. I love it.
I love it. Well, just quickly your thoughts
on the season this past year andI'm going to ask about the NIL
(01:11:47):
and the transfer portal because I have to.
I'll tell you, you know, if the Foreign Council wins state this
year, we might be champions. I agree with you.
I mean that that that it was theone missing piece.
And, you know, we, we do a show called Husky Hoops where we
(01:12:08):
covered the team all year. We had Joe d'ambrosia on and,
you know, he said the same thing.
You know, Liam Mcneely was special.
Caravan was kind of, you know, on and off and he's coming back.
And if they if they had that onemore piece that they they could
have made a run. We.
Didn't. Plate maker stolen.
(01:12:30):
Yeah, yeah. Plate maker that can get his own
shot down the stretch or create something for somebody else.
Yeah. If if Steph has steady I, we, we
beat Florida and we. Go.
I agree. You know.
If we I 100% if we had beaten Florida, no one would have
touched us. I think we would have, I think
(01:12:51):
we would have walked through andthat that was disappointing to
see. I love, I love Terrace Reed.
You know it's it's. Very interesting to see the
money that's being made now. It's crazy.
It makes me, it makes me. It makes me want to throw up.
It does it. Does.
(01:13:11):
You know, I just, I, I have no problem with the money.
I just wish they would put a limit on it.
You know, if they put a limit onit, then I then I'd be OK with
it. But you know, when, when I'm
reading about the the Tennessee quarterback who leaves the day
before the spring game because he wants a raise from 2 million
(01:13:33):
to 4 million like that, like I want, I want to drive to
Tennessee and punch the kid. Like you're, you're getting paid
$2,000,000. He was getting paid as a senior
in high school. And it's, it was ridiculous.
Like if they put, you know, somepeople have suggested putting it
into a trust. And if they stay four years,
(01:13:55):
they get more. If they don't, they get less.
But putting some sort of cap on it to kind of limit it because I
don't think you can give 18 and 19 year olds millions of
dollars. If I if, if, if I got 8, if I
had $1,000,000 when I was 19, I would have thrown $1,000,000
party I. Might, I don't know I.
(01:14:18):
Might not be living right now ifI got a million.
Exactly right. I agree.
I I agree that that's the thing.I I just, I just wish the NCAA
would do something. But you know, I mean, you got to
understand and see where all of this comes from and where it
stems from. Oh I know.
I, I, they've made money off us,the players for years.
(01:14:38):
Not. Even that it's still from when
LeBron went to the NBA because the NCAA.
The NCAA almost sued the NBA because of LeBron.
Going to the league. Oh, because they they wanted
they wanted you to go for at least one year.
That's right, That's right. So, so the NBA.
(01:14:59):
NCAA came to an agreement, NBA said OK, we won't take him at 18
no more. We'll do it at. 19 right so you
so that's where you get the one and done what?
The NCAA said was OK, now we gotthat 19 year.
Now let's let's let them make money.
Now these stars are going to want to come to college.
They're they're, they're making more money than they like Paige.
(01:15:21):
Becker's Paige is making more, was making more at UConn than
she's making NBA. Yeah, it's crazy.
And that's how the NCAA set it up.
So you know, and with this portal.
Oh I hate. The portal.
I hate the portal it. Makes me sick because you've got
(01:15:42):
players who you know, they come in, recruit, they're man, things
don't go any way. They're gone.
Hey, coach, you got over there. I want to get out of here, you
know, like no accountability, nonothing.
Yeah, and that was the one thingat UConn, at least with
(01:16:05):
football, we always developed players because we never got
3*4* recruits. We always developed kids and you
know it. I didn't.
I didn't. I played a little bit as a
freshman, but I knew that if I wanted to play, I had to get
better and work. I, I, I, I wasn't going to just
(01:16:25):
abandoned ship and go to a different school because I
wasn't a starter or didn't thinkI was going to be a starter.
I, I wanted to work. I wanted to develop.
I wanted to prove that I was good enough to play.
I wanted to show loyalty to the coaches that believe in.
And now there's none of it. And I was looking at the NFL
(01:16:47):
draft and the top 10 picks. Every kid has been to three
schools. Yeah, it shows that they what
they hear, hear, hear, hear, hear, hear.
I'm like, what is going on? And the only, the only way
anything's going to happen is ifCongress steps in and legislates
(01:17:09):
it because the NCAA, if they try, they they always get sued
and lose. They always I'm hearing.
Things I'm, I'm hearing things to the nature where you know,
they're trying to get rid of Division 3.
They are, yeah. They're 100%.
Are you insane? They are, yeah.
They're, they're because of the,the finances, because of the
(01:17:31):
cost and because Division Three can't get NIL money.
That's, that's just how it is. And you know, the FCS schools
like New Hampshire, Maine, they're trying to get NIL money.
They're setting up collectives. And now that they're getting
paid a portion of the televisionrevenue, it's capped at 20
(01:17:54):
million. But the only conferences that
make that are the SEC in the Big10.
So they're going to get 20 million from television revenue
on top of the nil money they raise.
So they're going to have forty $50,000,000 to spend on these
kids. And it scares the hell out of
(01:18:15):
me, like, and I, I just want to ask the next five years, do you
think UConn needs to leave the Big East and go into a
conference? No, You think they you think
they can survive without being in like the ACC or.
(01:18:38):
You know the way it's coming. You know, if you don't have a
football program, yeah, you're going to drink.
You are 100%, 100% as much as. I see, you know, the ball
driving the St. John's, the City Hall.
You know, the Big East is still here, you know?
(01:18:59):
Yeah. Those schools don't have
football programs. No, we're we're an independent.
I mean, we went 9-4, but we didn't play anyone.
So in the next 5 years, you know, I think the Big East
probably going to dismantle I, I, I can see it.
And you know, UConn, they going out to the ACC, maybe out West
(01:19:22):
somewhere. Who knows where they, they may
end up. Yeah, well, they won't even go
on to the ACC. Yeah, they, they've wanted to,
yeah, BC had blocked them, but I, I think the ACC, they could
compete eventually in football, in the ACC, the the Big 12, no
way. The Big 10, no way.
I mean. If they were to get into the ACC
(01:19:43):
conference then they may start recruiting.
Some of the kids, yes, yes. But I mean, the biggest thing is
we got to raise the money. That's the biggest thing, Mark.
Mark Demilio has done a tremendous job.
Burton has done a tremendous jobtrying to raise on IL money.
They just started a fund ran fundraising campaign through the
(01:20:06):
UConn Foundation. So I tell you what, I hope they
get there. Calhoun was still there.
That NIL money will be through. The roof it'd be yeah, 2
seconds. All you have to do is look at
you and and the money would be pouring. 2 guys.
And some of those games, 2 billionaire brothers, that's the
every UConn game. But I guess they're not putting
(01:20:27):
nothing out because coach is noton.
That is not the heck on no more.But.
Really, brothers? They they got.
Oh, God. And and they're not donating.
That's what we work for when we were at Utah.
Oh. Oh, OK, I know you.
(01:20:50):
I know you're talking about now.I know you're talking about now.
OK yeah. I mean, I, I try to donate what
I can. I joined store central.
I just, you know, as far as. Early, I think early is going to
really have to get out there a little.
Bit more. He has to fundraise.
(01:21:11):
I that's what I said. I said the same thing I said
forget recruiting as soon as they lost.
He should be on a plane seeking every major donor that we have
at UConn and get money because we don't.
We're not going to have a chanceunless we can pay players.
Exactly. And Connecticut has the money.
(01:21:33):
They do. We just, we don't, we, we don't
ask for it. We, we haven't been aggressive
enough with our fundraising efforts.
And I really, I really hope thatchanges because we have a
beautiful basketball facility, beautiful football facility.
They have the soccer facility, avolleyball facility and a hockey
(01:21:53):
facility. It's amazing.
Question as far as you getting the football?
Yeah. Will you kind of survive more in
as far as football wise in the ACC or yeah, Big 10, Big 12?
They'll get they'll, I mean, they'll get more money in the
Big 10 and Big 12. They won't win the ACC.
(01:22:15):
They would at least have a chance to compete.
You know, they could, they couldwin five games, six games.
The Big 12, the Big 10, the SEC,no way.
It's just being an independent is just frustrating because when
you look at the schedule and this was something Joe D
Ambrosia brought up, we don't have anyone that we're playing
(01:22:38):
at home that draws people in. And I looked at the schedule
from last year, we only broke 30,000 fans in two games out of
seven. That's that's embarrassing.
We have a $40,000 seat stadium and you know, we're getting
28,000 fans a lot of the time. We broke it when we played
(01:23:01):
Merrimack and I think we broke it when we played Georgia State.
There was, those were the two games that we broke 30 or no
Wake Forest. Wake Forest was the other one.
So that's, that's the, that's the only thing that that's
disappointing. They're they're playing teams
that competitively they can playwith.
But I'm happy that they added they have Syracuse, BC and Duke
(01:23:25):
on their schedule this year. If they can play well against
those three teams, they'll have a chance to get into a
conference. But I think I.
Just saw Let me. Just pick up a floor.
I gave you this, Florida Who? I thought, I thought.
I just saw you turn. Oh, oh, they might have.
(01:23:48):
I know. That today I think I saw that.
I'll check that out. I know they I know they they
played they play Florida, Florida International.
But yeah, I'll check that out. That that's great if they do.
Yeah, that's that's huge. I mean that that that's what
they need. And I think that Benedict
(01:24:09):
Benedict has to be more aggressive about getting into a
conference. He he really is kind of been
passive about it. But I, I've kept you long
enough. You have been exceptional.
This is going to be a banner episode.
You're on, you're on Facebook, right?
Instagram, all that. OK, so I will post it there.
(01:24:33):
It'll be posted everywhere. All I ask is that you share it
and it'll be on Spotify as well.So for the man himself, Rashamel
Jones, did I say it right? Perfect part of the 1999 UConn
National championship team. Amazing, amazing story.
(01:24:54):
Thank you so much for being withus, Steve.
Appreciate. You brother, you, you.
Take care. And remember when life gives you
lemons, don't make lemonade. Take two oranges.
Throw them right back at life.