June 4, 2025 • 53 mins
Husky Talk returns with special guest Stacey Nasser, who is a high school administrator, along with being an assistant at Western Connecticut State University for Head Coach Maria Conlon.
Stacey was born and raised in Trumbull, Connecticut, always had an interest in sports. From an early age, she played soccer, softball, basketball, and also danced. She loved being competitive, she had a coach's mindset from the start.
Basketball developed as her love, although she was an exceptional talent in soccer. It becomes very challenging to play multiple sports as we get older because each one has expectations that require an extended commitment, which roll into other seasons.
At 5'9, Stacey was competing at a position for girls who are traditionally over 6 feet tall. She did not see herself as a dynamic athlete, but loved basketball so much, she decided to walk on at UConn.
She found her calling as a manager who really transformed into more of a student coach during her last few years. Stacey majored in Sports Management, and it is an amazing story. Stacey met Maria when she came back for a season to be a student assistant, however they interacted mostly in passing.
Tonya Cardoza was named Women's Head Basketball Coach at Temple University and offered Stacey the job as Director of Operations. She is pragmatic, analytical, and used the opportunity to obtain her Master's Degree. Temple was a different experience than what she had been used to and Stacey made the best of her time.
After leaving, Stacey became an Associate Athletic Director and crossed paths with Maria again. She would practice or help out whenever necessary, along with building a phenomenal AAU program.
In October, Maria was officially named Head Coach at Western Connecticut State University and Stacey came along with her. She has such a great mind for basketball, understanding the intricacies that go along with it, and I can see her passion for the game. They are also business partners in Square Peg Pizzeria, which I can't wait to have again. With a big recruiting class, 2025-2026 we should see a major improvement at West Conn. Thank you Stacey!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Husky Talk.I am your host, the best podcast
host in the universe, Steve Cully.
I'd like to thank our sponsors at Procyon Partners.
They are one of the top 50 fastest growing companies in the
nation. They specialize in employee
benefits, wealth management and retirement planning.
(00:23):
President Sean Rabinowitz, proudsupporter of Husky Talk and he's
going to get me a Tesla of it one day very soon.
Green Street Trust International, owned and
operated by Rennell Jump in WestPalm Beach, FL.
They specialize in tax plans forbusinesses large or small.
(00:46):
They will either save you money or get you a big fat return.
To schedule your free strategic tax planning session today, go
to www.greenstreettrust.com. Pete Finch and the Finch Law
firm. It was great to see Peter a
couple weeks ago. I love Pete.
(01:09):
If you have suffered any type ofpersonal injury, Pete is out of
Bridgeport, CT. A slip and fall construction
beam fell on you at a site. Your mother-in-law tried to run
you over with a car. The Finch firm is for you.
Pete has fought legal battles all over the state of
Connecticut. He is not afraid of insurance
(01:31):
companies and he will go to war for you to get every dollar you
deserve in compensation. All you have to do is go to
thefinchfirm.com and just remember, if you're ever in a
pinch, call Finch. Dynamic Human Performance, owned
and operated by UConn legendary running back Andre Dixon.
(01:54):
He trains boys and girls of all ages, play all sports.
He just started a new boot camp program.
Seven days a week, 6:00 AM. You want to get in shape, go
work with Andre. He also has an athletic
development program. Boys and girls, all ages.
You pick the sport of your choice, Andre will train you and
(02:18):
develop you from the ground up to be the best that you can be
and potentially get a chance to play in college.
Andre has sent boys and girls ofall sports to colleges on
scholarship for several different sports.
He is the best of the best, so if you want to work with Andre,
(02:42):
go to dynamichumanperformance.com.
Down South, we have Julius Williams in the trench mob.
Julius trains offensive and defensive lineman.
They compete in 5V5 tournaments,which is offensive versus
defensive lineman and they have a scoring system.
(03:04):
He is currently ranked second inthe nation and he disputes that
claim. He believes he should be first.
We also have the Trench Mob Showwhich is Fridays at 7:30 and we
feature the top lineman in the country.
After reviewing your film, you get a chance to be evaluated by
the Trench Mob and a chance to join them.
(03:27):
Julius has sent kids to Florida,Florida State, Miami, Clemson,
Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, just to name a few.
If you want to work with the best, if you want to become the
best and have a chance to play and get a nice NIL deal, Julius
(03:51):
Williams and the Trench Mob in Decatur, GA is for you.
And finally, for the lady of thehour, it is a pleasure to have
her on again. She joined us last week on
Maria's podcast, Miss Stacy Nasser.
(04:12):
Did I say that right? Yes, you said it right.
OK, sorry, I I'm very bad with pronunciations, pronunciate
pronunciations and enunciations I struggle with.
And that's funny, you know, being a podcast host that you
can't pronounce names. Well, you got that right, so.
I did. I did.
So that's a step in the right direction.
(04:34):
How are you? Oh boy.
No, you're fine. How, how?
How are you? How are you doing?
Can't complain. Doing well, yeah.
Yeah, very, very busy. Very busy, just got off of work
and yeah, so I'm just trying to get the end of the year all
(04:55):
situated and whatnot. Yes.
And I, I had an opportunity to meet you a couple weeks ago at
the lovely square peg that you are own and operate with Maria,
a wonderful place and just getting to, to meet you, talk
(05:17):
with you, kind of understand your philosophy.
I, I felt that we kind of have asimilar view on sports and just
had a, a really interesting conversation and you were very
nice to me, which is unusual. So I, I always take that as a
plus. But no, I had, I had a lot of
(05:40):
fun talking with you and I, I regret that I didn't get to talk
with you with more at the Hall of Fame ceremony.
So now I got you in the hot seat.
So you're, you're, you're in trouble now.
So Stacy, I didn't know this. Are you originally from
Connecticut? Yes, I'm from Connecticut and
(06:03):
then lived there except for a brief hiatus.
Well, more than brief hiatus. I was in Philly for a little bit
bothering that I've been in Connecticut.
OK, so now obviously, I mean, you love sports.
Did you play sports early on as a kid?
Yeah, I played. I did a good amount of stuff.
(06:25):
I did soccer for a while, basketball, softball.
I did dance, yeah. And then I kind of focused more
on basketball when I got deeper into high school.
Yeah, yeah, 'cause my God, my friends, kids do gymnastics and
dance and I just can't believe the time commitment that goes
(06:47):
into that. Yes. 3 hours a day.
They, they go like four days a week and then they have their
little gymnastics, they have tournaments on the weekends.
So I, I can't even imagine what would you say drew you to
basketball? Because it seems like you're,
(07:09):
you're a natural athlete. Like, you could have played
soccer, you could have played softball, but you you seem to
always have a connection to basketball.
I, I think about this a lot. I think it's a lot of the
strategy that that excites me and the fact that it's quick up
(07:32):
and down. Like I do like soccer, but I
mean, this is going to sound stupid.
I like really well played soccer, but I like really well
played basketball. Like I like really well played
any sports, but soccer, you know, I think for me at times,
depending on what kind of team you have or opponent you're
playing, you could be a little bit bored.
(07:53):
Whereas in basketball you there's no chance to get bored.
If you are bored, you're doing something wrong.
No, you're running out of time. Yeah.
Yeah, so I think like when I watch schematics or like when I
watch people drop a play or comeup with a defense to combat
somebody else, like, I don't know, it's like it can.
It sounds so sappy, but it's just like beautiful to me, you
(08:15):
know? Would you say that you had a
coach's mindset from a young age?
Did you? Did you always have that
mindset? I think I'm just very observant.
You are very observant, yes. So like, I started into
basketball when I was like 6 years old.
My dad would watch the Knicks and I was like, oh, what's this
(08:37):
here? And he would to me what was
going on and stuff. And I knew all about the
players. I knew all about playing.
I knew all about. That's kind of I, I don't know
if necessarily from the beginning, I I guess, yeah, I
guess really when I got to college, I was like, man, I'd,
(08:58):
I'd probably make a pretty decent coach.
Right, right. When you were in high school,
did you continue to play softball and soccer or
basketball Took up everything because AAU and everything.
Yeah, I think my freshman year Iplayed for like a local select
team, but I never like I had a coach that kind of scared me
(09:18):
about playing soccer and was like, well, you can't do both.
And if they make States and it gets into basketball season,
that's going to, you know, And he said that to my dad and my
dad kind of worried me about it.So I didn't play soccer in high
school, though. I, I wish I had.
And I, I'm sorry I dropped something.
I with dance, 'cause I, I did dance into my freshman year and
(09:41):
then my way through, I quit 'cause I was like, you know,
I've had enough. I just want to play basketball.
So yeah, softball, softball, I hate to say that bored me a
little bit. So I only played like one or two
years when? I was younger.
But I like watching it now. Yeah, yeah, No, I, I agree.
I agree. You know, we started doing a a
show on the UConn baseball team and it really became fun just
(10:05):
watching the success that they had.
So you're playing high school basketball, your journey to
that. Did you play 7th and 8th grade?
Did you play freshman and JV andthen varsity?
How was your trip up to the varsity?
(10:27):
Yeah, I freshman year I played freshman JV primarily.
I practiced a lot with the varsity and then my sophomore
year kind of like, so I'm a big even though I'm only like 5-9
and there were some girls who were a lot taller that were
(10:49):
ahead of me. So again, got a lot of JV reps
for stuff. I'm always just a, a really like
hard worker. So even like my senior year I
was really like 6th man, which Idon't mind.
Like, I don't, I don't mind coming in, doing some dirty work
and like, you know, I'll come in, set some really hard
screens, grab some really hard rebounds and then kind of like,
(11:12):
you know, whatever, whatever is needed for the team, that's who
I am, yeah. Yeah, you were, you were a team
player, did you? Did you have aspirations to play
in college at all? Did you look at that or was it,
you know, UConn or bus? Not really.
I I mean, I guess when I was younger I always thought like I
(11:32):
would be like highly recruited to go somewhere.
But the problem is, again, I'm short and I'm slow, so I wasn't
going to go anywhere. And then I kind of thought like
I was always a big UConn fan andI had a lot of family that went
there. And I kind of figured, like, you
know, I'm going to go to UConn, I'm going to try and walk on for
the team. What do I have to lose?
(11:53):
And so that had kind of been my mindset.
And unfortunately it led to whatI ended up doing with the team
and working with them and kind of help guy where I'm where I am
now. That's an amazing mindset to
have that you know you're going to walk on to a team that's won
national championships and. Only two in a row when I got
(12:14):
there, or three in a row. I'm sorry.
Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm picturing myself like if I walked on to
Alabama, if I would have lasted 2 days or not.
But that's, that's just amazing that you did.
So what was the walk on experience like?
Because I know it's different insome situations.
(12:37):
I know that like for football, we had preferred walk ONS where
you would get invited to come totraining camp and be with the
team. If you weren't a preferred walk
on, you would go when the seasonstarted and start practicing and
you know, hope you made the teamor not.
What was? What was the situation with you?
(13:00):
So I was allowed to go to like preseason workouts and stuff.
So I was going to all of those. Like I was waking up at 5:00 in
the morning, going to lift in the morning, going to
conditioning, and I was dying. Like, don't get me wrong, I'm
not an elite athlete playing pick up.
You know, it was obviously a faster pace than what I had been
used to. Although some of my high school
teammates were Division One athletes, division two athletes.
(13:23):
So it wasn't like, you know, I also think basketball was
different back then. What high school go to?
I'm sorry, Trumbull High over here.
Oh, you're Trumbull. OK.
That's that's OK. So you were right by Matt Noozy,
OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We were pretty decent. And so, you know, I was doing
all that, and then the first dayof practice was rolling around
(13:45):
and I just didn't hear anything in terms of what the tryout was
going to be. And me being a dumb freshman, I
didn't want to ask anybody. So I ended up going home for the
weekend. And then again, my dad knew
someone who knew Ko Toriyama whowas like, well, she was doing
it, but she quit. She never showed up.
So when I heard that, I didn't love that because I don't quit.
And you know, I went and found him.
(14:06):
So you just didn't know that they were practicing over the
weekend, You didn't like know what the protocol was?
Yeah, I didn't know what the protocol was.
I didn't. I don't think I knew what the
time was and I don't think I knew to just show up.
And honestly, there was a girl also from Connecticut who her
team beat mine in the quarterfinals of state my senior
year. And I had heard that she was
(14:29):
kind of going to be the walk on for the year or for from
Connecticut because they typically had one, although
Stacy Marin, I think was still playing then.
So part of me knew that and partof me was just like, you know
what? No one said anything.
I have no idea what's going on. They haven't told us anything
about a a tryout, like forget it.
And, you know, after I spoke to court Coach Auriemma and he's
(14:51):
like, well, it's too, you know, it's too late now.
But, you know, if you want to get involved being a practice
player, go talk to Jamel Elliott.
So I did that. And she's like, yeah, if you
want to be a manager, go talk tothis kid, Chris.
And then that's kind of how thathappened.
So. Yeah, right, right, 'cause they
only take a couple walk ONS, correct.
Maybe usually one I would say. Yeah, yeah.
(15:14):
Is the Chris you're referring tomy Chris?
Chris the size? No Chris Kono.
OK, OK. Yeah, Chris Desitis is with them
now. That's that's why I gotcha.
I harass him all the time because he's the equipment
person for the men's and women'steam and he's got the easiest
life. He used to do football.
So I just rag on him a lot. So I mean, that just takes such
(15:42):
incredible willpower, desire, determination, dedication.
Like I want to be a practice player, I want to be a part of
this and I want to make an impact.
And that's kind of the mindset you had going in, you know,
being a practice player because,you know, you obviously knew
(16:03):
that you weren't going to play and did they didn't travel you
did they for games. Not, not my freshman year, then
technically I was a manager, butyou know, I would step in if
there weren't, if there weren't enough guys there to play,
because obviously they play against the guys.
They would have me step in and do stuff.
(16:23):
And also they let me play at Midnight Madness my sophomore
year. That's so cool.
Which was a great experience. I had a lot of family and
friends, like come up for it andstuff.
And I remember like Elena Delladon and Maya Moore were
recruits at the time. And when I came out like nice
dog girl, like all the, you know, so it's kind of funny.
(16:43):
But yeah, I ended up getting to travel quite a bit junior and
senior year, which is fantastic,very memorable.
I can't remember if I told you this, the my brief story of when
I got to play against the girls.Did I or didn't I?
I. Did I think you did?
I think you did. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(17:05):
Swing cash. I, I, I, I think she's forgiven
me by now, but I, I, I busted her nose pretty good.
I well, for the record, I didn'twant to play.
I was, I was told to go in. I was just walking through the
field house and you know, I'm not athletic either.
And you get what you get. Did they put me in And you know
(17:28):
that that's what they got. So when did you start taking on
more of a viewing it from a coach's perspective?
Was it like your your junior year, your sophomore year, where
you started seeing the X's and O's?
Probably my junior year, you know, I would often as when
(17:53):
you're a manager it, it's funny.Like, it's weird describing it
to somebody because we all had our like, little jobs that were
so important, but to the averageperson seem like nothing.
Like bringing the stool out for coach, grabbing his jacket when
he takes it off me. Like I would always grab the
clipboard after he was done writing and just watching him,
(18:17):
like, think about what it was, drawing it up, putting it in.
I mean, you know, as a manager, we were set on practice days
that we had to be there, but we were always allowed to go any
other time. And I was there every day.
You. I did and and I tried to step in
drills when I could, even if I was just rebounding, I tried to
(18:37):
be in it as much as I could. And I think then to like junior
year, I kind of took over. We had a intramural franchise of
the managers that I took over inmy junior year.
And not that I was coaching or anything, but I definitely kind
of made like I'm I'm kind of a jerk sometimes when I play
because I'm just so competitive.Yeah, there's nothing wrong with
(18:59):
that. So you're here, you're out here,
you're, we're doing this like, you know, and that I just feel
like I took on kind of more of aleadership role.
So that kind of helped too. You know, I'm a football guy, so
it's a little bit different. Basketball is, I mean, they,
they go in with a set offense and a set defense and I know
(19:23):
they obviously have plays that they execute plays off the
inbounds. How much of it is drawn up on
the spot where you may not have practiced it that much?
I guess it depends on the coach,you know, like part of me when I
(19:45):
think, oh shoot, I'm not ready to be like a head coach is
'cause I watch Maria and she just comes up with something
right on the spot. That's like brilliant and it
makes so much sense. I think a lot of more so like
end of game stuff could be drawnup a little differently or a lot
(20:05):
of out of bounds plays with us, with our kids too.
Like we really want them to readand react.
So we may have a play that's just supposed to get it, get
them moving, and then we want them to play off the screen or
read the way the defense is going.
And honestly, it's getting harder and harder.
They want to go to the spot thatyou told them to go, and we're
like, why would you go there when that part's wide open and
(20:27):
it's OK to read that? Yeah, yeah, it did it.
I the saying I used to use as common sense isn't so common
with with with my guys. You know, they, they would do
the same thing, you know, because you drop a play and they
would just see the line on the sheet of paper and they would
(20:49):
just do what that line told themto do as opposed to adjusting
and executing based on what you were seeing from the defense.
So I totally know what that's like.
But you, you clearly gained the confidence of the coaching staff
as your years went on, I would say, right?
(21:12):
At UConn, yeah, Yeah, for sure. I mean, I was a coaching and
administration major, and that was under Joe Maroney, who is
the, you know, legendary soccer coach at UConn.
And I had to do an internship mysenior year.
And luckily, you know, I'd ask Tania Cardoza if she would let
me intern under her for the second part of my senior year.
(21:36):
And she let me do it. And, you know, I kind of went
and maybe found a lot of the stuff for myself to learn, but
she would give me like, like video and stuff of her scouts
and be like, all right, write meup a scouting report.
Tell me like what? You see, And you know, not that
she'd use it necessarily, but I remember like the first one I
(21:57):
gave her, she was like, OK. Alright, you, you know what
you're doing, Yeah. Yeah, and I would start breaking
down another film and like doingstuff like that.
So yeah, I feel like it's interesting.
It's an interesting group because they have to be a little
bit close knit, probably a lot. And also when you just come off
winning 3 championships, you gotto be wary I guess.
(22:18):
And once you kind of gain their trust, it's, you know, I, we
always felt like it was an important thing.
So you would say that you definitely developed a good
relationship with the players? Yeah, for sure.
That's awesome. That's awesome.
Where where did you live on campus?
(22:40):
I was in Northwest, then I went to West, then I went to Alumni
and then I went to Hilltop Apartments.
Oh, you didn't get there till the end.
No, the very end. And I was with three randoms
because two of my very good friends got kicked off campus
and not kicked off, but didn't get in the lottery.
So I was kind of on my own. I was like, all right, great.
(23:02):
Just for the record purposes, I was one of the first people to
live in Hilltop Apartments. And yeah, we didn't even know
what it was. My friend signed this up for it,
said, oh, this looks good and wewere all supposed to go for the
(23:23):
interview. I, of course, didn't go.
Two of our other friends didn't go.
So it was our one friend who made-up a lie, basically.
I think my car broke down, someone's flight was delayed and
it was crazy and we still got accepted.
And yeah, it was funny because our our our football coaches
(23:47):
always used our apartment for recruiting tours.
So that meant on, you know, Sunday mornings we would have to
have our apartment clean and themajority of the garbage would be
thrown in my closet. So that's, that's how, that's
how that happened. Yeah.
(24:09):
Yeah. It was fun.
So you graduated with a degree in what?
Coaching and administration. Was coaching and administration
OK? So did you end up sticking
around afterwards? Because I I know you got your
masters. Yeah, no, at the time they
(24:33):
didn't really have grad assistance.
Oh, that's right, they didn't have G as you're right.
Yeah, they would only, you know,so my freshman year, Maria and
Morgan were like student coaches.
So I think only players were really kind of allowed to come
back at the at the time. And so I went for the summer
and, you know, I was, I was thinking, what about getting
(25:00):
into physical therapy 'cause I thought I'd be decent at it.
And I was going to work for my dad, who, you know, was working
for a law firm or whatever. And I, I remember signing up for
Southern to get the G, the Gen. Ed credits that I needed.
And then that's kind of when I got the call about if I was
(25:21):
interested in taking the GR ES to go work for Tanya at Temple
University 'cause she had just gotten the head coaching job.
Right, right. When did your relationship with
Maria kind of start? Did it start that year that she
was the the student coach or whatever?
Yeah, so I was a freshman. I was I'm very typically very
(25:42):
quiet, like in, you know, unknown situations and but.
You're. You're.
Very knowledgeable. You're very knowledgeable.
Thank you. Thank you.
So I met her that year and she was really friendly.
I had a trip in Hartford or a game I was working in Hartford
and we went out to dinner the night before as a team and she
was sitting with us. And when she found out, I was
(26:04):
kind of close to where she lives.
And we were chatting a little bit about that.
And then I would bump into her from time to time when I would
come home or she, I think she maybe came to a couple Temple
games. And then really when I moved
back here, we, I joined the CrossFit gym that she was at.
And that's when I'd say that we really, you know, started
(26:27):
actually, yeah, hanging out and being friends and things like
that after that. So you, you took the GR ES not
not the easiest test in the world.
You obviously did did well enough and you got a position
with Tanya at Temple, correct? I moved down within one weekend.
(26:51):
And Temple, I just recall, was not in the nicest area.
It was in a tough spot. And your role within the
program, I mean, you were a trueGA.
I was was called a a grad X turnand the the difference is that
(27:15):
my schooling was not paid for but I did get like a stipend.
A stipend, right? You know, which most people
like, would hear it and they're like, oh, great, so your stipend
will cover your tuition. And I'm like, you know, like I
have to live in Philly, you know?
Yeah, the expenses. Yeah.
Absolutely my parents. Aren't paying for that.
(27:37):
Yeah. No, no, no.
Did you were you able to live like in the on campus housing or
did you have to live off? You had to live off campus.
Wow. Yeah, most, funny enough, like
most seniors don't even live on campus at Temple.
Like I think you're guaranteed housing maybe like your freshman
year or something. And so I lived actually it was
(27:59):
like 8 miles away in what was called Chestnut Hill my first
year or first two years when I was a grad extern.
And it would it could take me upto like an hour and a half to
get to campus like the traffic was an.
Absurd nightmare. Nightmare.
Did you enjoy your experience asa grad?
X Kern. Yeah, I liked.
(28:22):
I was doing a lot of video. That's pretty much what I was
the. Video you you like doing the
breakdown stuff? Yeah, and I'm, I'm good techie.
I'm good at like make it. I would make highlights and
things like that and it just wasso different than UConn.
Like we were traveling commercial, we were staying in
that aside the. Flights were the flights were
(28:42):
commercial. Not only that, most of them had
stopovers. Like I mean, we were having 6
hour bus rides like in, you know, my senior year when I was
with UConn, we we flew to Villanova.
So I'm like, wait, what? Well, didn't I thought Yukon had
like a Learjet? Didn't they have a private plane
or they chartered everything? OK.
(29:02):
Yeah, they chartered. Temple.
Wow, they actually flew commercial?
So. Anyways.
Possible, Yeah, I was there eight years total and I think my
last two years we finally were allowed to charter.
We had a specific budget that wecould charter and it was usually
weighed out to one or two trips.That was it.
(29:23):
Wow, wow. Which was still.
Better than nothing. No, it is I I like it.
I I could not imagine flying commercial.
I I just picture myself being inthe middle seat with just two
assholes. I don't know if I can do it.
(29:44):
So after your grad externship, was that a two year program?
Two years, yeah. OK.
So you were obviously offered the opportunity to to stay on as
part of the staff. As director of Operations.
Yep, Which is huge. The the DF, the well football's
(30:06):
DF goal, but the. The.
Director of Operations is everything.
I mean, that's that's what makesthe program run.
Did you enjoy that position? I did.
I'm very detail oriented. I, you are very organized and
(30:27):
I'm, I'm logistically minded, soyou know.
You're you're, yeah, pragmatic. Yeah, I I could get.
It that's the right word. And I yeah, so I, I liked it.
I mean, it could get exhausting,Don't get me wrong, you know.
Sometimes one person. Yeah, of course.
And like trying to herd 25 people onto a plane and I'd be
(30:50):
like, why is so and so not? Why are they at Chick-fil-A
still? Where we going, you know?
Yeah. Absolutely.
But generally speaking, yeah, I,I, I enjoyed it.
And how many year, how many years were you working in OPS?
Were you in OPS the rest of the time you were there?
Yeah, six years. And, you know, working with
(31:10):
Tanya, she was a legend at UConn.
He did what she could at Temple.And obviously, you know, it's
not the best situation being in the A10, not having the budget,
like you said, you know, flying commercial and the bus rides.
And I'm sure recruiting was difficult, You know, getting top
(31:31):
talent to come there. I mean, it's an uphill battle.
Even my first couple years we didn't have like we played out
of the Leah chorus center, but we didn't practice there
regularly. We were rotating between like 3
or so other like. Facilities.
Facilities that weren't great, if we're being honest, it was
just like a gym. So we, you know, to try and sell
(31:53):
that too, It's tough. Yeah, no, 100%.
I, I know exactly what that's like.
I, I recruited in, in Texas and when I would bring recruits to
Holy Cross and they would get tosee their basically high school
(32:15):
stadium was larger than our stadium and their facilities
were better than our facilities.It's, it's, it's, it's a tough
sell. So I completely understand that.
And you know, we, we both, we both kind of talked about the
recruiting aspect of everything,how, how it's changed
(32:38):
dramatically now, especially with the portal and, and NIL
deals. And you know, I, I, I would, we
did our UConn football show today and I, we were going
through the roster and there's 40 transfers and 12 freshmen and
(32:58):
it's like, my God, it's a completely different team every
year. I, I just, I don't know, I, I
don't know how you handle that. It, it, it's so crazy.
And I, I know you and I talked about how it's going to blow at
some point and somebody has to step in and do something to
(33:20):
regulate it because it's just getting out of control with the
money players leaving. I always go back to the
quarterback from Tennessee who no showed the day before the
spring game, the spring game, because he thought it was going
to give him negotiating leverageto double his salary.
(33:44):
And he was the first player everwho was getting an IL money his
senior year in high school. And that was a precedent set.
But he was seeing all these other quarterbacks getting NIL
deals higher than his. So he wanted to renegotiate.
And his form of doing that was just not showing up.
(34:06):
And now he he's at UCLA and he'smaking less money than he was
taking at Tennessee. So it's just kind of crazy how
it works out. You ended up leaving Temple.
You came back, You were. Is that when you became an
(34:28):
associate athletic director? Yes.
Yeah. Which is an amazing job.
I mean that that's so much work to, to, to do that.
And then you jumped on with Maria.
Were you working with Maria on her high school team previously,
(34:48):
her AU team previously, or? So a little bit.
So I was at, I was associate athletic director, which didn't
give me a whole lot of free timebecause I was at literally every
sport like all the. Time you got to make
appearances. And not only that, people expect
you to be in two places at once.So, you know, and she she got
the head. So, you know, she got the head
(35:10):
coaching job at Notre Dame, who is technically the high school
that I work for. They're like rival.
But if I had like a snow day andsomehow she was still allowed to
practice or on a rare occasion that I didn't have something
that I had to do, she would ask me to come practice with her
against her team. Or, you know, I would try to go
to the games. Or I remember one time I had the
(35:32):
night off, I got to leave my game after JV, the other AD was
going to cover. And then I get a text like I
have no one to do my book in Pomparag.
And I was like, all right, I'll be there in like 30 minutes.
I went and did her book for her.So I would help.
I would help with the Notre Dameteam.
And she was just as supportive as the school, you know, of the
(35:53):
school that I worked for in their team because I was close
with them. And then I remember I took the
job I have now just because it afforded me some other, just
some more downtime and whatnot. And we were in the car, we were
going to Louisville because we had started AAU that year.
And so we were going to watch our teams in Louisville.
(36:14):
And I said, hey, I think I'm going to get this job.
And she goes great. Like I, you know, I think I'm
getting this other high school job.
You want to coach for me. And like within an instant, all
my free time in the winter went away.
Yeah, but that's perfect for you.
I mean, because I you, you love coaching.
I mean, and did you, were you able to maintain a relationship
(36:40):
with Maria throughout the time you were at Temple?
Like, did you keep in touch? Not really.
No. You didn't, Not at all.
Maybe, maybe I'd see her here and there when I was old, like
bump into each other. But no, we, we didn't have that
kind of relationship. It really kind of developed
after I moved back. That's cool how how it developed
(37:03):
and that just Maria just has such a chill personality and
she's so cool. She's just like, hey, whatever,
let's let's do it. Let's coach.
Let's get rolling. And that's awesome.
And what was great is like, you know, even though I had been on
the coaching staff, you know, I,I had developed kind of into the
administrative person. So you.
Know both sides. I was nervous about being on the
(37:27):
court doing things and like she's just so.
She she's laid back. She's so laid back and she, she
wants like us to, to talk and togive input and to do what we
want to do. And like, you know, so it like,
I'd be like, is this OK? Oh, yeah, that's OK.
Like, OK, great. I'll run with it.
(37:49):
I I 100% agree. I think the worst coaching
Staffs are made-up of yes men. I think, you know, being able to
give input, have a discussion. I worked for an offensive
coordinator who was phenomenal. And, you know, we would have
(38:10):
discussions over, you know, plays we wanted to put in or
plays we wanted to run in certain situations.
And we would at least have a discussion about it, come to a
conclusion and then, you know, have a united front presented to
the players. And I always felt that was the
(38:30):
way to go. Like, I wish I had all the
answers. You wish you had all the
answers. And it's good to learn from the
best. So that's that's incredible.
Did you like high school AAU doing all that stuff?
(38:50):
The AAU is, is actually a lot ofpressure.
You know, I again, I did a lot more of the, of the
administrative stuff, but I alsofielded a lot of the complaints
via e-mail and I also kind of dealt a lot with the coaches
just because of my nature of what I've done in the past.
And Maria was feeling it too, inperson, because she would go
(39:13):
with her daughter and. Were you were you having to like
make films for kids? Would they want like highlight
tapes done? And.
We would help a little bit, you know, certain kids like it's
especially in the beginning, we had a lot of kids that we knew
personally. So we would try and help.
We ran some like Zoom calls where she would try and go over
(39:37):
how best to get recruited. What are things you should be
putting out there? Like so we kind of tried with
that. It just, you know, people always
feel like they're getting slighted and and they're paying
you, you know, they expect, well, I should, you know, like I
remember we got an e-mail once of, you know, my daughter should
(39:57):
play on both teams. That's it.
I'm having her play on both teams and we're like, no, you're
not. You're on the team that we set
you on. And like she's not taking
minutes away from somebody else because you're mad that
whatever. Like, you know, and you just,
it's crazy how you have to bringthem down a little bit.
So AAU for me is it's not easy. I mean it's.
It's more the parents, though. I mean, the, the kids are the
(40:19):
kids, but the parents have, I would say, unrealistic
expectations of where their kid belongs or where their kid can
go. And that can fuel the fire.
Or even why we make decisions like sometimes it's, well,
that's the B team. It's like it's not AB team, but
why would we put your kid on that team when they have a point
(40:41):
guard and she's a point guard? Oh, I didn't think about it like
that. No, you didn't, did you?
No, they don't. They don't.
No, there's there's no thinking involved.
So the Wescon job kind of came out of nowhere.
I, I just, I remember talking toMaria and she said that she may
(41:04):
have this opportunity and it came to fruition.
It was in September. It was a little late, I know.
Yeah, yeah. I remember first hearing about
it in August. We had a camp and she was
telling me all about it and yeah, it didn't actually happen
(41:24):
until like early October, correct?
Which was nuts because we started 2 weeks later.
That was it. The the story behind it was was
was it the coach that just retired or left or?
I think she she retired late in into the summer and a lot of
times with like colleges and universities, I'm sure you know,
(41:47):
like the process just takes a. Division Three, it takes a
little bit longer. Yeah.
They they don't bring, they don't bring someone right on.
Were you surprised that you had an opportunity to be a part of
Westcon? You know I'm always grateful
when she's willing to bring me along for the ride.
Well, I, I think you, I mean you, you've earned a modicum of
(42:09):
trust. I think that you have valuable
insight and knowledge and, you know, being able to handle OPS
as well as be a valuable coach, evaluator, scout.
I mean, that's a total package. I mean, your versatility, being
able to do everything, that's what makes you so valuable.
(42:34):
Yeah. And you know, when she brought
it up to me, I wasn't surprised that her name got put out there.
You know, it was a surprise in the sense that we had just had
this camp. You know, all of our athletes at
the high school have worked it. And, you know, we were talking
about how how good we thought wecould have been with them the
(42:55):
following year. And so that was a bit of a
surprise. But I mean, yeah, I wasn't
surprised her name got put out there.
I would have been surprised if she didn't get it.
You know, how did the high school team end up doing?
They did. They did well, they didn't win.
They kind of you. Think they underachieved?
(43:18):
They had some issues, like they had some injuries.
I don't want to say underachieved because they kind
of were where we were the previous two years, right?
I don't know. We just had this feeling that we
were going to get over that hurdle the next year.
But you know, the coach who tookover, he's phenomenal as well.
(43:39):
So we tried to help any way we could with that process too, you
know, without, without getting too involved or, you know,
trying to be respectful. So my question how did you get
involved in the Square Peg Pizzeria?
So. Which is phenomenal, by the way.
(44:00):
So Maria and Danielle, they, they owned CrossFit gym and I
helped out a lot doing social media.
And then I kind of helped with like with Danielle, I would do
like social events and get information out there.
And I just kind of got involved And there was a point where we
had considered if I was going tobe a partner and she ended up
(44:25):
opting to sell it. So around that, the CrossFit gym
and around that time we were talking about the AAU stuff and
starting that. And she had told me about her
and Danielle's idea for what wasSteady Habits.
And I thought that was phenomenal and initially just
(44:46):
listened as a friend like that sounds great, really cool like
this and that. And I remember we had a
conversation of, you know, hey, we're doing all this other stuff
together. Do you want to be in on this
too? And I'm like, I love that
concept. You know, I think it could be
really good. And so I was in and then you
know, recently we we were able to kind of transition and merge
(45:06):
with square Peg, which has been really good too.
Yeah. Would you say that you kind of
always had like an entrepreneurial spirit or did it
just kind of develop out of having these opportunities that
fell in your lap with Maria? Yeah.
(45:28):
Sorry, can you repeat that? You kind of went out.
Oh, I'm sorry. No, my fault.
Would you say that you always had kind of like an
entrepreneurial spirit where, you know, you wanted to own your
own business, run your own business?
Or was it more so Maria presented, you know, certain
ideas? And it's like, hey, I'd love to
(45:48):
be involved. That it was more the second
part. You know, I've never really been
one to have the guts to kind of start my own thing, yeah.
Me neither. Yeah, but you know, she, she
generally has good ideas and, you know, so to be able to be a
part of it and, you know, luckily our friendship has
(46:09):
lasted through them. Not to say it's always been
easy, but you know, at this point we're we still made it out
France, which is an important thing in my opinion.
Well, just amazing because you, you've known each other very a
long time and now I mean you, you, you've grown to become
close friends and confidants over the last few years and
(46:34):
you're building something reallyspecial at Westcon and you know,
especially bringing in the recruiting class that you have.
I think knock on. Wood well, do you, you, you have
close to was it close to 20 or 10 new faces coming in?
Yeah, we have like I think like close to 10 new faces coming in.
(46:56):
Yeah, and but that's good though, because it's your
people, it's your people, it's your people, and you're happy at
West Con you're able to do your associate athletic director job.
No, I'm, I'm the registrar now. I don't do associate athletic
director anymore. Yeah.
OK. Is it?
(47:16):
Is it in the same school district?
Same school, still very logistically focused.
It's basically doing what I had done previously with classes and
classrooms and teachers versus like buses and fields and
courts. So you know what?
What did you end up getting yourmasters in?
My master's was in sport management.
(47:40):
Wow. OK.
Yeah. So very sport focused.
No, 'cause I, I always, I, I thought you were, I thought you
were psyched for some reason that that's all 'cause you're,
you're, you're very highly intelligent.
So that that always I always getnervous around highly
intelligent people 'cause they can always read me.
I put on a good front. No, but you listen.
(48:02):
I, I commend you, man. I you really are the definition
of hard work, desire, dedicationand, and focus and, and what you
went through at UConn, you know,walking on, then becoming a
manager, then engulfing yourselfin OPS and coaching and, and
(48:25):
really, you know, filling in anywhere you need it, going to
Temple, having that opportunity,getting that experience with
Tanya for for eight years. That's something that's
something very, very special. And you know, I just meeting
(48:45):
you, I just, it seemed like you were very content and happy with
where your life is at. Yeah, I'd say so, more or less.
Like, like you seem happy, you seem like you got a good group
of friends, you're down to hang out and you, you have the
(49:10):
freedom to do what you want. So I, I just, I just commend you
on that because it's, it's not, it's not an easy Rd., it's not
an easy road and you've managed to navigate very well through it
and that's impressive. Would you say in the next 5
(49:31):
years if you stayed at Westcon, would that be something you'd be
happy with or would you aspire to work towards a higher level?
It's funny, like I'm not necessarily someone who's always
looking ahead to the next thing.That's how I.
Was, yeah, yeah. Like I feel very much like when
(49:53):
I'm in it, I'm in it. And when the time feels right to
do something different, that's when the time is right.
And I think you can't force it either.
No. So you can't, you know?
Right place, right time. It's very important.
Yeah, for sure. If, if at some point, you know,
I decide I want to be a head coach or I want to move to a
(50:15):
higher level than where we are than it is, I'll cross that
bridge when I get there. And I know Maria would be more
than supportive of either of those things.
But I could just say right now, like I'm thrilled where I'm at
and there's no need to try to think of if something's better
out there because that's where you you can't find joy and stuff
(50:35):
if you're always thinking that something's better.
You really can't and that's 100%true.
You're, you're never going to find that peace and that
happiness if you're always looking for something more.
Well, I just wanted to again, thank you for for coming on
Husky Talk and sharing your story and I got to know a lot
(51:01):
more about you. And I think I think you're in
the right place and I think you guys are going to do some great
things this upcoming season, having your own players and you
know, getting a chance to meet you.
That was fun. And I'm excited for I I get to
(51:21):
return in a week or two. We'll see how that goes.
That's going to be fun. But you, you made it through.
You sat through the hot seat. I did it.
He did. Thanks for having me.
Yeah, and we'll definitely, we'll definitely have you guys
on your, your WNBA experts. Now you're, you got all you got.
(51:45):
You got a lot of comments and questions thrown your way.
So we'll, we'll, we'll go over that.
I just have to mention Fresh himself, Ned Von Young, Fresh
Rolled laundry company right outside of Charlotte, no Chapel
Hill NC. They are a high end laundry
(52:05):
service. You book online, you schedule,
drop your laundry off, it's washed, dried and folded for you
at land speed records. You come and you pick it up.
They have deals for college students and they also have an
online subscription model weeklyor biweekly.
(52:28):
So check out Fresh Fold Laundry Company.
Their website is freshfold-laundry.com.
So for the great Stacy Nasser, assistant coach and operations
and you know, Jack of all tradesat Western Connecticut State
(52:53):
University and partner in SquarePeg Pizzeria, which I could eat
every day, it is phenomenal. Thank you so much for being on
Husky Talk. You were phenomenal.
And I am Steve Cully, the best podcast host in the universe.
(53:15):
Remember, when life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade.
Take two oranges. Throw them right back at life.
Hello and welcome to Husky Talk.I am your host, the best podcast
host in the universe, Steve Cully.
I'd like to thank our sponsors at Procyon Partners.
They are one of the top 50 fastest growing companies in the
nation. They specialize in employee
benefits, wealth management and retirement planning.
(00:23):
President Sean Rabinowitz, proudsupporter of Husky Talk and he's
going to get me a Tesla of it one day very soon.
Green Street Trust International, owned and
operated by Rennell Jump in WestPalm Beach, FL.
They specialize in tax plans forbusinesses large or small.
(00:46):
They will either save you money or get you a big fat return.
To schedule your free strategic tax planning session today, go
to www.greenstreettrust.com. Pete Finch and the Finch Law
firm. It was great to see Peter a
couple weeks ago. I love Pete.
(01:09):
If you have suffered any type ofpersonal injury, Pete is out of
Bridgeport, CT. A slip and fall construction
beam fell on you at a site. Your mother-in-law tried to run
you over with a car. The Finch firm is for you.
Pete has fought legal battles all over the state of
Connecticut. He is not afraid of insurance
(01:31):
companies and he will go to war for you to get every dollar you
deserve in compensation. All you have to do is go to
thefinchfirm.com and just remember, if you're ever in a
pinch, call Finch. Dynamic Human Performance, owned
and operated by UConn legendary running back Andre Dixon.
(01:54):
He trains boys and girls of all ages, play all sports.
He just started a new boot camp program.
Seven days a week, 6:00 AM. You want to get in shape, go
work with Andre. He also has an athletic
development program. Boys and girls, all ages.
You pick the sport of your choice, Andre will train you and
(02:18):
develop you from the ground up to be the best that you can be
and potentially get a chance to play in college.
Andre has sent boys and girls ofall sports to colleges on
scholarship for several different sports.
He is the best of the best, so if you want to work with Andre,
(02:42):
go to dynamichumanperformance.com.
Down South, we have Julius Williams in the trench mob.
Julius trains offensive and defensive lineman.
They compete in 5V5 tournaments,which is offensive versus
defensive lineman and they have a scoring system.
(03:04):
He is currently ranked second inthe nation and he disputes that
claim. He believes he should be first.
We also have the Trench Mob Showwhich is Fridays at 7:30 and we
feature the top lineman in the country.
After reviewing your film, you get a chance to be evaluated by
the Trench Mob and a chance to join them.
(03:27):
Julius has sent kids to Florida,Florida State, Miami, Clemson,
Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, just to name a few.
If you want to work with the best, if you want to become the
best and have a chance to play and get a nice NIL deal, Julius
(03:51):
Williams and the Trench Mob in Decatur, GA is for you.
And finally, for the lady of thehour, it is a pleasure to have
her on again. She joined us last week on
Maria's podcast, Miss Stacy Nasser.
(04:12):
Did I say that right? Yes, you said it right.
OK, sorry, I I'm very bad with pronunciations, pronunciate
pronunciations and enunciations I struggle with.
And that's funny, you know, being a podcast host that you
can't pronounce names. Well, you got that right, so.
I did. I did.
So that's a step in the right direction.
(04:34):
How are you? Oh boy.
No, you're fine. How, how?
How are you? How are you doing?
Can't complain. Doing well, yeah.
Yeah, very, very busy. Very busy, just got off of work
and yeah, so I'm just trying to get the end of the year all
(04:55):
situated and whatnot. Yes.
And I, I had an opportunity to meet you a couple weeks ago at
the lovely square peg that you are own and operate with Maria,
a wonderful place and just getting to, to meet you, talk
(05:17):
with you, kind of understand your philosophy.
I, I felt that we kind of have asimilar view on sports and just
had a, a really interesting conversation and you were very
nice to me, which is unusual. So I, I always take that as a
plus. But no, I had, I had a lot of
(05:40):
fun talking with you and I, I regret that I didn't get to talk
with you with more at the Hall of Fame ceremony.
So now I got you in the hot seat.
So you're, you're, you're in trouble now.
So Stacy, I didn't know this. Are you originally from
Connecticut? Yes, I'm from Connecticut and
(06:03):
then lived there except for a brief hiatus.
Well, more than brief hiatus. I was in Philly for a little bit
bothering that I've been in Connecticut.
OK, so now obviously, I mean, you love sports.
Did you play sports early on as a kid?
Yeah, I played. I did a good amount of stuff.
(06:25):
I did soccer for a while, basketball, softball.
I did dance, yeah. And then I kind of focused more
on basketball when I got deeper into high school.
Yeah, yeah, 'cause my God, my friends, kids do gymnastics and
dance and I just can't believe the time commitment that goes
(06:47):
into that. Yes. 3 hours a day.
They, they go like four days a week and then they have their
little gymnastics, they have tournaments on the weekends.
So I, I can't even imagine what would you say drew you to
basketball? Because it seems like you're,
(07:09):
you're a natural athlete. Like, you could have played
soccer, you could have played softball, but you you seem to
always have a connection to basketball.
I, I think about this a lot. I think it's a lot of the
strategy that that excites me and the fact that it's quick up
(07:32):
and down. Like I do like soccer, but I
mean, this is going to sound stupid.
I like really well played soccer, but I like really well
played basketball. Like I like really well played
any sports, but soccer, you know, I think for me at times,
depending on what kind of team you have or opponent you're
playing, you could be a little bit bored.
(07:53):
Whereas in basketball you there's no chance to get bored.
If you are bored, you're doing something wrong.
No, you're running out of time. Yeah.
Yeah, so I think like when I watch schematics or like when I
watch people drop a play or comeup with a defense to combat
somebody else, like, I don't know, it's like it can.
It sounds so sappy, but it's just like beautiful to me, you
(08:15):
know? Would you say that you had a
coach's mindset from a young age?
Did you? Did you always have that
mindset? I think I'm just very observant.
You are very observant, yes. So like, I started into
basketball when I was like 6 years old.
My dad would watch the Knicks and I was like, oh, what's this
(08:37):
here? And he would to me what was
going on and stuff. And I knew all about the
players. I knew all about playing.
I knew all about. That's kind of I, I don't know
if necessarily from the beginning, I I guess, yeah, I
guess really when I got to college, I was like, man, I'd,
(08:58):
I'd probably make a pretty decent coach.
Right, right. When you were in high school,
did you continue to play softball and soccer or
basketball Took up everything because AAU and everything.
Yeah, I think my freshman year Iplayed for like a local select
team, but I never like I had a coach that kind of scared me
(09:18):
about playing soccer and was like, well, you can't do both.
And if they make States and it gets into basketball season,
that's going to, you know, And he said that to my dad and my
dad kind of worried me about it.So I didn't play soccer in high
school, though. I, I wish I had.
And I, I'm sorry I dropped something.
I with dance, 'cause I, I did dance into my freshman year and
(09:41):
then my way through, I quit 'cause I was like, you know,
I've had enough. I just want to play basketball.
So yeah, softball, softball, I hate to say that bored me a
little bit. So I only played like one or two
years when? I was younger.
But I like watching it now. Yeah, yeah, No, I, I agree.
I agree. You know, we started doing a a
show on the UConn baseball team and it really became fun just
(10:05):
watching the success that they had.
So you're playing high school basketball, your journey to
that. Did you play 7th and 8th grade?
Did you play freshman and JV andthen varsity?
How was your trip up to the varsity?
(10:27):
Yeah, I freshman year I played freshman JV primarily.
I practiced a lot with the varsity and then my sophomore
year kind of like, so I'm a big even though I'm only like 5-9
and there were some girls who were a lot taller that were
(10:49):
ahead of me. So again, got a lot of JV reps
for stuff. I'm always just a, a really like
hard worker. So even like my senior year I
was really like 6th man, which Idon't mind.
Like, I don't, I don't mind coming in, doing some dirty work
and like, you know, I'll come in, set some really hard
screens, grab some really hard rebounds and then kind of like,
(11:12):
you know, whatever, whatever is needed for the team, that's who
I am, yeah. Yeah, you were, you were a team
player, did you? Did you have aspirations to play
in college at all? Did you look at that or was it,
you know, UConn or bus? Not really.
I I mean, I guess when I was younger I always thought like I
(11:32):
would be like highly recruited to go somewhere.
But the problem is, again, I'm short and I'm slow, so I wasn't
going to go anywhere. And then I kind of thought like
I was always a big UConn fan andI had a lot of family that went
there. And I kind of figured, like, you
know, I'm going to go to UConn, I'm going to try and walk on for
the team. What do I have to lose?
(11:53):
And so that had kind of been my mindset.
And unfortunately it led to whatI ended up doing with the team
and working with them and kind of help guy where I'm where I am
now. That's an amazing mindset to
have that you know you're going to walk on to a team that's won
national championships and. Only two in a row when I got
(12:14):
there, or three in a row. I'm sorry.
Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm picturing myself like if I walked on to
Alabama, if I would have lasted 2 days or not.
But that's, that's just amazing that you did.
So what was the walk on experience like?
Because I know it's different insome situations.
(12:37):
I know that like for football, we had preferred walk ONS where
you would get invited to come totraining camp and be with the
team. If you weren't a preferred walk
on, you would go when the seasonstarted and start practicing and
you know, hope you made the teamor not.
What was? What was the situation with you?
(13:00):
So I was allowed to go to like preseason workouts and stuff.
So I was going to all of those. Like I was waking up at 5:00 in
the morning, going to lift in the morning, going to
conditioning, and I was dying. Like, don't get me wrong, I'm
not an elite athlete playing pick up.
You know, it was obviously a faster pace than what I had been
used to. Although some of my high school
teammates were Division One athletes, division two athletes.
(13:23):
So it wasn't like, you know, I also think basketball was
different back then. What high school go to?
I'm sorry, Trumbull High over here.
Oh, you're Trumbull. OK.
That's that's OK. So you were right by Matt Noozy,
OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We were pretty decent. And so, you know, I was doing
all that, and then the first dayof practice was rolling around
(13:45):
and I just didn't hear anything in terms of what the tryout was
going to be. And me being a dumb freshman, I
didn't want to ask anybody. So I ended up going home for the
weekend. And then again, my dad knew
someone who knew Ko Toriyama whowas like, well, she was doing
it, but she quit. She never showed up.
So when I heard that, I didn't love that because I don't quit.
And you know, I went and found him.
(14:06):
So you just didn't know that they were practicing over the
weekend, You didn't like know what the protocol was?
Yeah, I didn't know what the protocol was.
I didn't. I don't think I knew what the
time was and I don't think I knew to just show up.
And honestly, there was a girl also from Connecticut who her
team beat mine in the quarterfinals of state my senior
year. And I had heard that she was
(14:29):
kind of going to be the walk on for the year or for from
Connecticut because they typically had one, although
Stacy Marin, I think was still playing then.
So part of me knew that and partof me was just like, you know
what? No one said anything.
I have no idea what's going on. They haven't told us anything
about a a tryout, like forget it.
And, you know, after I spoke to court Coach Auriemma and he's
(14:51):
like, well, it's too, you know, it's too late now.
But, you know, if you want to get involved being a practice
player, go talk to Jamel Elliott.
So I did that. And she's like, yeah, if you
want to be a manager, go talk tothis kid, Chris.
And then that's kind of how thathappened.
So. Yeah, right, right, 'cause they
only take a couple walk ONS, correct.
Maybe usually one I would say. Yeah, yeah.
(15:14):
Is the Chris you're referring tomy Chris?
Chris the size? No Chris Kono.
OK, OK. Yeah, Chris Desitis is with them
now. That's that's why I gotcha.
I harass him all the time because he's the equipment
person for the men's and women'steam and he's got the easiest
life. He used to do football.
So I just rag on him a lot. So I mean, that just takes such
(15:42):
incredible willpower, desire, determination, dedication.
Like I want to be a practice player, I want to be a part of
this and I want to make an impact.
And that's kind of the mindset you had going in, you know,
being a practice player because,you know, you obviously knew
(16:03):
that you weren't going to play and did they didn't travel you
did they for games. Not, not my freshman year, then
technically I was a manager, butyou know, I would step in if
there weren't, if there weren't enough guys there to play,
because obviously they play against the guys.
They would have me step in and do stuff.
(16:23):
And also they let me play at Midnight Madness my sophomore
year. That's so cool.
Which was a great experience. I had a lot of family and
friends, like come up for it andstuff.
And I remember like Elena Delladon and Maya Moore were
recruits at the time. And when I came out like nice
dog girl, like all the, you know, so it's kind of funny.
(16:43):
But yeah, I ended up getting to travel quite a bit junior and
senior year, which is fantastic,very memorable.
I can't remember if I told you this, the my brief story of when
I got to play against the girls.Did I or didn't I?
I. Did I think you did?
I think you did. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(17:05):
Swing cash. I, I, I, I think she's forgiven
me by now, but I, I, I busted her nose pretty good.
I well, for the record, I didn'twant to play.
I was, I was told to go in. I was just walking through the
field house and you know, I'm not athletic either.
And you get what you get. Did they put me in And you know
(17:28):
that that's what they got. So when did you start taking on
more of a viewing it from a coach's perspective?
Was it like your your junior year, your sophomore year, where
you started seeing the X's and O's?
Probably my junior year, you know, I would often as when
(17:53):
you're a manager it, it's funny.Like, it's weird describing it
to somebody because we all had our like, little jobs that were
so important, but to the averageperson seem like nothing.
Like bringing the stool out for coach, grabbing his jacket when
he takes it off me. Like I would always grab the
clipboard after he was done writing and just watching him,
(18:17):
like, think about what it was, drawing it up, putting it in.
I mean, you know, as a manager, we were set on practice days
that we had to be there, but we were always allowed to go any
other time. And I was there every day.
You. I did and and I tried to step in
drills when I could, even if I was just rebounding, I tried to
(18:37):
be in it as much as I could. And I think then to like junior
year, I kind of took over. We had a intramural franchise of
the managers that I took over inmy junior year.
And not that I was coaching or anything, but I definitely kind
of made like I'm I'm kind of a jerk sometimes when I play
because I'm just so competitive.Yeah, there's nothing wrong with
(18:59):
that. So you're here, you're out here,
you're, we're doing this like, you know, and that I just feel
like I took on kind of more of aleadership role.
So that kind of helped too. You know, I'm a football guy, so
it's a little bit different. Basketball is, I mean, they,
they go in with a set offense and a set defense and I know
(19:23):
they obviously have plays that they execute plays off the
inbounds. How much of it is drawn up on
the spot where you may not have practiced it that much?
I guess it depends on the coach,you know, like part of me when I
(19:45):
think, oh shoot, I'm not ready to be like a head coach is
'cause I watch Maria and she just comes up with something
right on the spot. That's like brilliant and it
makes so much sense. I think a lot of more so like
end of game stuff could be drawnup a little differently or a lot
(20:05):
of out of bounds plays with us, with our kids too.
Like we really want them to readand react.
So we may have a play that's just supposed to get it, get
them moving, and then we want them to play off the screen or
read the way the defense is going.
And honestly, it's getting harder and harder.
They want to go to the spot thatyou told them to go, and we're
like, why would you go there when that part's wide open and
(20:27):
it's OK to read that? Yeah, yeah, it did it.
I the saying I used to use as common sense isn't so common
with with with my guys. You know, they, they would do
the same thing, you know, because you drop a play and they
would just see the line on the sheet of paper and they would
(20:49):
just do what that line told themto do as opposed to adjusting
and executing based on what you were seeing from the defense.
So I totally know what that's like.
But you, you clearly gained the confidence of the coaching staff
as your years went on, I would say, right?
(21:12):
At UConn, yeah, Yeah, for sure. I mean, I was a coaching and
administration major, and that was under Joe Maroney, who is
the, you know, legendary soccer coach at UConn.
And I had to do an internship mysenior year.
And luckily, you know, I'd ask Tania Cardoza if she would let
me intern under her for the second part of my senior year.
(21:36):
And she let me do it. And, you know, I kind of went
and maybe found a lot of the stuff for myself to learn, but
she would give me like, like video and stuff of her scouts
and be like, all right, write meup a scouting report.
Tell me like what? You see, And you know, not that
she'd use it necessarily, but I remember like the first one I
(21:57):
gave her, she was like, OK. Alright, you, you know what
you're doing, Yeah. Yeah, and I would start breaking
down another film and like doingstuff like that.
So yeah, I feel like it's interesting.
It's an interesting group because they have to be a little
bit close knit, probably a lot. And also when you just come off
winning 3 championships, you gotto be wary I guess.
(22:18):
And once you kind of gain their trust, it's, you know, I, we
always felt like it was an important thing.
So you would say that you definitely developed a good
relationship with the players? Yeah, for sure.
That's awesome. That's awesome.
Where where did you live on campus?
(22:40):
I was in Northwest, then I went to West, then I went to Alumni
and then I went to Hilltop Apartments.
Oh, you didn't get there till the end.
No, the very end. And I was with three randoms
because two of my very good friends got kicked off campus
and not kicked off, but didn't get in the lottery.
So I was kind of on my own. I was like, all right, great.
(23:02):
Just for the record purposes, I was one of the first people to
live in Hilltop Apartments. And yeah, we didn't even know
what it was. My friend signed this up for it,
said, oh, this looks good and wewere all supposed to go for the
(23:23):
interview. I, of course, didn't go.
Two of our other friends didn't go.
So it was our one friend who made-up a lie, basically.
I think my car broke down, someone's flight was delayed and
it was crazy and we still got accepted.
And yeah, it was funny because our our our football coaches
(23:47):
always used our apartment for recruiting tours.
So that meant on, you know, Sunday mornings we would have to
have our apartment clean and themajority of the garbage would be
thrown in my closet. So that's, that's how, that's
how that happened. Yeah.
(24:09):
Yeah. It was fun.
So you graduated with a degree in what?
Coaching and administration. Was coaching and administration
OK? So did you end up sticking
around afterwards? Because I I know you got your
masters. Yeah, no, at the time they
(24:33):
didn't really have grad assistance.
Oh, that's right, they didn't have G as you're right.
Yeah, they would only, you know,so my freshman year, Maria and
Morgan were like student coaches.
So I think only players were really kind of allowed to come
back at the at the time. And so I went for the summer
and, you know, I was, I was thinking, what about getting
(25:00):
into physical therapy 'cause I thought I'd be decent at it.
And I was going to work for my dad, who, you know, was working
for a law firm or whatever. And I, I remember signing up for
Southern to get the G, the Gen. Ed credits that I needed.
And then that's kind of when I got the call about if I was
(25:21):
interested in taking the GR ES to go work for Tanya at Temple
University 'cause she had just gotten the head coaching job.
Right, right. When did your relationship with
Maria kind of start? Did it start that year that she
was the the student coach or whatever?
Yeah, so I was a freshman. I was I'm very typically very
(25:42):
quiet, like in, you know, unknown situations and but.
You're. You're.
Very knowledgeable. You're very knowledgeable.
Thank you. Thank you.
So I met her that year and she was really friendly.
I had a trip in Hartford or a game I was working in Hartford
and we went out to dinner the night before as a team and she
was sitting with us. And when she found out, I was
(26:04):
kind of close to where she lives.
And we were chatting a little bit about that.
And then I would bump into her from time to time when I would
come home or she, I think she maybe came to a couple Temple
games. And then really when I moved
back here, we, I joined the CrossFit gym that she was at.
And that's when I'd say that we really, you know, started
(26:27):
actually, yeah, hanging out and being friends and things like
that after that. So you, you took the GR ES not
not the easiest test in the world.
You obviously did did well enough and you got a position
with Tanya at Temple, correct? I moved down within one weekend.
(26:51):
And Temple, I just recall, was not in the nicest area.
It was in a tough spot. And your role within the
program, I mean, you were a trueGA.
I was was called a a grad X turnand the the difference is that
(27:15):
my schooling was not paid for but I did get like a stipend.
A stipend, right? You know, which most people
like, would hear it and they're like, oh, great, so your stipend
will cover your tuition. And I'm like, you know, like I
have to live in Philly, you know?
Yeah, the expenses. Yeah.
Absolutely my parents. Aren't paying for that.
(27:37):
Yeah. No, no, no.
Did you were you able to live like in the on campus housing or
did you have to live off? You had to live off campus.
Wow. Yeah, most, funny enough, like
most seniors don't even live on campus at Temple.
Like I think you're guaranteed housing maybe like your freshman
year or something. And so I lived actually it was
(27:59):
like 8 miles away in what was called Chestnut Hill my first
year or first two years when I was a grad extern.
And it would it could take me upto like an hour and a half to
get to campus like the traffic was an.
Absurd nightmare. Nightmare.
Did you enjoy your experience asa grad?
X Kern. Yeah, I liked.
(28:22):
I was doing a lot of video. That's pretty much what I was
the. Video you you like doing the
breakdown stuff? Yeah, and I'm, I'm good techie.
I'm good at like make it. I would make highlights and
things like that and it just wasso different than UConn.
Like we were traveling commercial, we were staying in
that aside the. Flights were the flights were
(28:42):
commercial. Not only that, most of them had
stopovers. Like I mean, we were having 6
hour bus rides like in, you know, my senior year when I was
with UConn, we we flew to Villanova.
So I'm like, wait, what? Well, didn't I thought Yukon had
like a Learjet? Didn't they have a private plane
or they chartered everything? OK.
(29:02):
Yeah, they chartered. Temple.
Wow, they actually flew commercial?
So. Anyways.
Possible, Yeah, I was there eight years total and I think my
last two years we finally were allowed to charter.
We had a specific budget that wecould charter and it was usually
weighed out to one or two trips.That was it.
(29:23):
Wow, wow. Which was still.
Better than nothing. No, it is I I like it.
I I could not imagine flying commercial.
I I just picture myself being inthe middle seat with just two
assholes. I don't know if I can do it.
(29:44):
So after your grad externship, was that a two year program?
Two years, yeah. OK.
So you were obviously offered the opportunity to to stay on as
part of the staff. As director of Operations.
Yep, Which is huge. The the DF, the well football's
(30:06):
DF goal, but the. The.
Director of Operations is everything.
I mean, that's that's what makesthe program run.
Did you enjoy that position? I did.
I'm very detail oriented. I, you are very organized and
(30:27):
I'm, I'm logistically minded, soyou know.
You're you're, yeah, pragmatic. Yeah, I I could get.
It that's the right word. And I yeah, so I, I liked it.
I mean, it could get exhausting,Don't get me wrong, you know.
Sometimes one person. Yeah, of course.
And like trying to herd 25 people onto a plane and I'd be
(30:50):
like, why is so and so not? Why are they at Chick-fil-A
still? Where we going, you know?
Yeah. Absolutely.
But generally speaking, yeah, I,I, I enjoyed it.
And how many year, how many years were you working in OPS?
Were you in OPS the rest of the time you were there?
Yeah, six years. And, you know, working with
(31:10):
Tanya, she was a legend at UConn.
He did what she could at Temple.And obviously, you know, it's
not the best situation being in the A10, not having the budget,
like you said, you know, flying commercial and the bus rides.
And I'm sure recruiting was difficult, You know, getting top
(31:31):
talent to come there. I mean, it's an uphill battle.
Even my first couple years we didn't have like we played out
of the Leah chorus center, but we didn't practice there
regularly. We were rotating between like 3
or so other like. Facilities.
Facilities that weren't great, if we're being honest, it was
just like a gym. So we, you know, to try and sell
(31:53):
that too, It's tough. Yeah, no, 100%.
I, I know exactly what that's like.
I, I recruited in, in Texas and when I would bring recruits to
Holy Cross and they would get tosee their basically high school
(32:15):
stadium was larger than our stadium and their facilities
were better than our facilities.It's, it's, it's, it's a tough
sell. So I completely understand that.
And you know, we, we both, we both kind of talked about the
recruiting aspect of everything,how, how it's changed
(32:38):
dramatically now, especially with the portal and, and NIL
deals. And you know, I, I, I would, we
did our UConn football show today and I, we were going
through the roster and there's 40 transfers and 12 freshmen and
(32:58):
it's like, my God, it's a completely different team every
year. I, I just, I don't know, I, I
don't know how you handle that. It, it, it's so crazy.
And I, I know you and I talked about how it's going to blow at
some point and somebody has to step in and do something to
(33:20):
regulate it because it's just getting out of control with the
money players leaving. I always go back to the
quarterback from Tennessee who no showed the day before the
spring game, the spring game, because he thought it was going
to give him negotiating leverageto double his salary.
(33:44):
And he was the first player everwho was getting an IL money his
senior year in high school. And that was a precedent set.
But he was seeing all these other quarterbacks getting NIL
deals higher than his. So he wanted to renegotiate.
And his form of doing that was just not showing up.
(34:06):
And now he he's at UCLA and he'smaking less money than he was
taking at Tennessee. So it's just kind of crazy how
it works out. You ended up leaving Temple.
You came back, You were. Is that when you became an
(34:28):
associate athletic director? Yes.
Yeah. Which is an amazing job.
I mean that that's so much work to, to, to do that.
And then you jumped on with Maria.
Were you working with Maria on her high school team previously,
(34:48):
her AU team previously, or? So a little bit.
So I was at, I was associate athletic director, which didn't
give me a whole lot of free timebecause I was at literally every
sport like all the. Time you got to make
appearances. And not only that, people expect
you to be in two places at once.So, you know, and she she got
the head. So, you know, she got the head
(35:10):
coaching job at Notre Dame, who is technically the high school
that I work for. They're like rival.
But if I had like a snow day andsomehow she was still allowed to
practice or on a rare occasion that I didn't have something
that I had to do, she would ask me to come practice with her
against her team. Or, you know, I would try to go
to the games. Or I remember one time I had the
(35:32):
night off, I got to leave my game after JV, the other AD was
going to cover. And then I get a text like I
have no one to do my book in Pomparag.
And I was like, all right, I'll be there in like 30 minutes.
I went and did her book for her.So I would help.
I would help with the Notre Dameteam.
And she was just as supportive as the school, you know, of the
(35:53):
school that I worked for in their team because I was close
with them. And then I remember I took the
job I have now just because it afforded me some other, just
some more downtime and whatnot. And we were in the car, we were
going to Louisville because we had started AAU that year.
And so we were going to watch our teams in Louisville.
(36:14):
And I said, hey, I think I'm going to get this job.
And she goes great. Like I, you know, I think I'm
getting this other high school job.
You want to coach for me. And like within an instant, all
my free time in the winter went away.
Yeah, but that's perfect for you.
I mean, because I you, you love coaching.
I mean, and did you, were you able to maintain a relationship
(36:40):
with Maria throughout the time you were at Temple?
Like, did you keep in touch? Not really.
No. You didn't, Not at all.
Maybe, maybe I'd see her here and there when I was old, like
bump into each other. But no, we, we didn't have that
kind of relationship. It really kind of developed
after I moved back. That's cool how how it developed
(37:03):
and that just Maria just has such a chill personality and
she's so cool. She's just like, hey, whatever,
let's let's do it. Let's coach.
Let's get rolling. And that's awesome.
And what was great is like, you know, even though I had been on
the coaching staff, you know, I,I had developed kind of into the
administrative person. So you.
Know both sides. I was nervous about being on the
(37:27):
court doing things and like she's just so.
She she's laid back. She's so laid back and she, she
wants like us to, to talk and togive input and to do what we
want to do. And like, you know, so it like,
I'd be like, is this OK? Oh, yeah, that's OK.
Like, OK, great. I'll run with it.
(37:49):
I I 100% agree. I think the worst coaching
Staffs are made-up of yes men. I think, you know, being able to
give input, have a discussion. I worked for an offensive
coordinator who was phenomenal. And, you know, we would have
(38:10):
discussions over, you know, plays we wanted to put in or
plays we wanted to run in certain situations.
And we would at least have a discussion about it, come to a
conclusion and then, you know, have a united front presented to
the players. And I always felt that was the
(38:30):
way to go. Like, I wish I had all the
answers. You wish you had all the
answers. And it's good to learn from the
best. So that's that's incredible.
Did you like high school AAU doing all that stuff?
(38:50):
The AAU is, is actually a lot ofpressure.
You know, I again, I did a lot more of the, of the
administrative stuff, but I alsofielded a lot of the complaints
via e-mail and I also kind of dealt a lot with the coaches
just because of my nature of what I've done in the past.
And Maria was feeling it too, inperson, because she would go
(39:13):
with her daughter and. Were you were you having to like
make films for kids? Would they want like highlight
tapes done? And.
We would help a little bit, you know, certain kids like it's
especially in the beginning, we had a lot of kids that we knew
personally. So we would try and help.
We ran some like Zoom calls where she would try and go over
(39:37):
how best to get recruited. What are things you should be
putting out there? Like so we kind of tried with
that. It just, you know, people always
feel like they're getting slighted and and they're paying
you, you know, they expect, well, I should, you know, like I
remember we got an e-mail once of, you know, my daughter should
(39:57):
play on both teams. That's it.
I'm having her play on both teams and we're like, no, you're
not. You're on the team that we set
you on. And like she's not taking
minutes away from somebody else because you're mad that
whatever. Like, you know, and you just,
it's crazy how you have to bringthem down a little bit.
So AAU for me is it's not easy. I mean it's.
It's more the parents, though. I mean, the, the kids are the
(40:19):
kids, but the parents have, I would say, unrealistic
expectations of where their kid belongs or where their kid can
go. And that can fuel the fire.
Or even why we make decisions like sometimes it's, well,
that's the B team. It's like it's not AB team, but
why would we put your kid on that team when they have a point
(40:41):
guard and she's a point guard? Oh, I didn't think about it like
that. No, you didn't, did you?
No, they don't. They don't.
No, there's there's no thinking involved.
So the Wescon job kind of came out of nowhere.
I, I just, I remember talking toMaria and she said that she may
(41:04):
have this opportunity and it came to fruition.
It was in September. It was a little late, I know.
Yeah, yeah. I remember first hearing about
it in August. We had a camp and she was
telling me all about it and yeah, it didn't actually happen
(41:24):
until like early October, correct?
Which was nuts because we started 2 weeks later.
That was it. The the story behind it was was
was it the coach that just retired or left or?
I think she she retired late in into the summer and a lot of
times with like colleges and universities, I'm sure you know,
(41:47):
like the process just takes a. Division Three, it takes a
little bit longer. Yeah.
They they don't bring, they don't bring someone right on.
Were you surprised that you had an opportunity to be a part of
Westcon? You know I'm always grateful
when she's willing to bring me along for the ride.
Well, I, I think you, I mean you, you've earned a modicum of
(42:09):
trust. I think that you have valuable
insight and knowledge and, you know, being able to handle OPS
as well as be a valuable coach, evaluator, scout.
I mean, that's a total package. I mean, your versatility, being
able to do everything, that's what makes you so valuable.
(42:34):
Yeah. And you know, when she brought
it up to me, I wasn't surprised that her name got put out there.
You know, it was a surprise in the sense that we had just had
this camp. You know, all of our athletes at
the high school have worked it. And, you know, we were talking
about how how good we thought wecould have been with them the
(42:55):
following year. And so that was a bit of a
surprise. But I mean, yeah, I wasn't
surprised her name got put out there.
I would have been surprised if she didn't get it.
You know, how did the high school team end up doing?
They did. They did well, they didn't win.
They kind of you. Think they underachieved?
(43:18):
They had some issues, like they had some injuries.
I don't want to say underachieved because they kind
of were where we were the previous two years, right?
I don't know. We just had this feeling that we
were going to get over that hurdle the next year.
But you know, the coach who tookover, he's phenomenal as well.
(43:39):
So we tried to help any way we could with that process too, you
know, without, without getting too involved or, you know,
trying to be respectful. So my question how did you get
involved in the Square Peg Pizzeria?
So. Which is phenomenal, by the way.
(44:00):
So Maria and Danielle, they, they owned CrossFit gym and I
helped out a lot doing social media.
And then I kind of helped with like with Danielle, I would do
like social events and get information out there.
And I just kind of got involved And there was a point where we
had considered if I was going tobe a partner and she ended up
(44:25):
opting to sell it. So around that, the CrossFit gym
and around that time we were talking about the AAU stuff and
starting that. And she had told me about her
and Danielle's idea for what wasSteady Habits.
And I thought that was phenomenal and initially just
(44:46):
listened as a friend like that sounds great, really cool like
this and that. And I remember we had a
conversation of, you know, hey, we're doing all this other stuff
together. Do you want to be in on this
too? And I'm like, I love that
concept. You know, I think it could be
really good. And so I was in and then you
know, recently we we were able to kind of transition and merge
(45:06):
with square Peg, which has been really good too.
Yeah. Would you say that you kind of
always had like an entrepreneurial spirit or did it
just kind of develop out of having these opportunities that
fell in your lap with Maria? Yeah.
(45:28):
Sorry, can you repeat that? You kind of went out.
Oh, I'm sorry. No, my fault.
Would you say that you always had kind of like an
entrepreneurial spirit where, you know, you wanted to own your
own business, run your own business?
Or was it more so Maria presented, you know, certain
ideas? And it's like, hey, I'd love to
(45:48):
be involved. That it was more the second
part. You know, I've never really been
one to have the guts to kind of start my own thing, yeah.
Me neither. Yeah, but you know, she, she
generally has good ideas and, you know, so to be able to be a
part of it and, you know, luckily our friendship has
(46:09):
lasted through them. Not to say it's always been
easy, but you know, at this point we're we still made it out
France, which is an important thing in my opinion.
Well, just amazing because you, you've known each other very a
long time and now I mean you, you, you've grown to become
close friends and confidants over the last few years and
(46:34):
you're building something reallyspecial at Westcon and you know,
especially bringing in the recruiting class that you have.
I think knock on. Wood well, do you, you, you have
close to was it close to 20 or 10 new faces coming in?
Yeah, we have like I think like close to 10 new faces coming in.
(46:56):
Yeah, and but that's good though, because it's your
people, it's your people, it's your people, and you're happy at
West Con you're able to do your associate athletic director job.
No, I'm, I'm the registrar now. I don't do associate athletic
director anymore. Yeah.
OK. Is it?
(47:16):
Is it in the same school district?
Same school, still very logistically focused.
It's basically doing what I had done previously with classes and
classrooms and teachers versus like buses and fields and
courts. So you know what?
What did you end up getting yourmasters in?
My master's was in sport management.
(47:40):
Wow. OK.
Yeah. So very sport focused.
No, 'cause I, I always, I, I thought you were, I thought you
were psyched for some reason that that's all 'cause you're,
you're, you're very highly intelligent.
So that that always I always getnervous around highly
intelligent people 'cause they can always read me.
I put on a good front. No, but you listen.
(48:02):
I, I commend you, man. I you really are the definition
of hard work, desire, dedicationand, and focus and, and what you
went through at UConn, you know,walking on, then becoming a
manager, then engulfing yourselfin OPS and coaching and, and
(48:25):
really, you know, filling in anywhere you need it, going to
Temple, having that opportunity,getting that experience with
Tanya for for eight years. That's something that's
something very, very special. And you know, I just meeting
(48:45):
you, I just, it seemed like you were very content and happy with
where your life is at. Yeah, I'd say so, more or less.
Like, like you seem happy, you seem like you got a good group
of friends, you're down to hang out and you, you have the
(49:10):
freedom to do what you want. So I, I just, I just commend you
on that because it's, it's not, it's not an easy Rd., it's not
an easy road and you've managed to navigate very well through it
and that's impressive. Would you say in the next 5
(49:31):
years if you stayed at Westcon, would that be something you'd be
happy with or would you aspire to work towards a higher level?
It's funny, like I'm not necessarily someone who's always
looking ahead to the next thing.That's how I.
Was, yeah, yeah. Like I feel very much like when
(49:53):
I'm in it, I'm in it. And when the time feels right to
do something different, that's when the time is right.
And I think you can't force it either.
No. So you can't, you know?
Right place, right time. It's very important.
Yeah, for sure. If, if at some point, you know,
I decide I want to be a head coach or I want to move to a
(50:15):
higher level than where we are than it is, I'll cross that
bridge when I get there. And I know Maria would be more
than supportive of either of those things.
But I could just say right now, like I'm thrilled where I'm at
and there's no need to try to think of if something's better
out there because that's where you you can't find joy and stuff
(50:35):
if you're always thinking that something's better.
You really can't and that's 100%true.
You're, you're never going to find that peace and that
happiness if you're always looking for something more.
Well, I just wanted to again, thank you for for coming on
Husky Talk and sharing your story and I got to know a lot
(51:01):
more about you. And I think I think you're in
the right place and I think you guys are going to do some great
things this upcoming season, having your own players and you
know, getting a chance to meet you.
That was fun. And I'm excited for I I get to
(51:21):
return in a week or two. We'll see how that goes.
That's going to be fun. But you, you made it through.
You sat through the hot seat. I did it.
He did. Thanks for having me.
Yeah, and we'll definitely, we'll definitely have you guys
on your, your WNBA experts. Now you're, you got all you got.
(51:45):
You got a lot of comments and questions thrown your way.
So we'll, we'll, we'll go over that.
I just have to mention Fresh himself, Ned Von Young, Fresh
Rolled laundry company right outside of Charlotte, no Chapel
Hill NC. They are a high end laundry
(52:05):
service. You book online, you schedule,
drop your laundry off, it's washed, dried and folded for you
at land speed records. You come and you pick it up.
They have deals for college students and they also have an
online subscription model weeklyor biweekly.
(52:28):
So check out Fresh Fold Laundry Company.
Their website is freshfold-laundry.com.
So for the great Stacy Nasser, assistant coach and operations
and you know, Jack of all tradesat Western Connecticut State
(52:53):
University and partner in SquarePeg Pizzeria, which I could eat
every day, it is phenomenal. Thank you so much for being on
Husky Talk. You were phenomenal.
And I am Steve Cully, the best podcast host in the universe.
(53:15):
Remember, when life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade.
Take two oranges. Throw them right back at life.
Popular Podcasts
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.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.