February 19, 2025 • 40 mins
His biography is filled with basketball. What’s not in Ricardo Patton’s bio is his childhood which included being raised by his grandmother after his mom left him and his sister when he was just 9 months old. His father wasn’t present either, so Ricardo figured out how to navigate life through basketball.
His college career at Belmont kept him close to home in Nashville. After college, he stayed in the south for many years as a middle school and high school coach and assistant coaching jobs at Middle Tennessee, Arkansas Little-Rock and Tennessee State. Then came his trek to Colorado where he started as an assistant and three years later, got his break as a head coach. From 1996 to 2007, Ricardo had three 20-win seasons and took the Buffs to the postseason six times. He also landed a huge recruit in Chauncey Billups who would go on to be a #3 overall draft pick.
Ricardo left CU on his own terms and continued to coach here and there, including a return to the state of Colorado when he was an assistant for Chauncey’s brother Rodney at the University of Denver. It seems Mr. Big Shot is never too far removed from Ricardo.
That trend continues today as Ricardo is now the Executive Director of the Porter-Billups Leadership Academy, where he loves the challenge of raising money to help young people from underserved communities become future leaders.
His college career at Belmont kept him close to home in Nashville. After college, he stayed in the south for many years as a middle school and high school coach and assistant coaching jobs at Middle Tennessee, Arkansas Little-Rock and Tennessee State. Then came his trek to Colorado where he started as an assistant and three years later, got his break as a head coach. From 1996 to 2007, Ricardo had three 20-win seasons and took the Buffs to the postseason six times. He also landed a huge recruit in Chauncey Billups who would go on to be a #3 overall draft pick.
Ricardo left CU on his own terms and continued to coach here and there, including a return to the state of Colorado when he was an assistant for Chauncey’s brother Rodney at the University of Denver. It seems Mr. Big Shot is never too far removed from Ricardo.
That trend continues today as Ricardo is now the Executive Director of the Porter-Billups Leadership Academy, where he loves the challenge of raising money to help young people from underserved communities become future leaders.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, we had a lot of very candid conversations
Chauncey and I and his parents and I. And one
of the questions I asked him was because Kansas was
recruiting him. I asked him, what can you do with
Kansas that has not already been done. What's a bigger
headline Chauncey helps Kansas speak Colorado or Chauncey helps Colorado
(00:20):
beat Kansas. He wanted the challenge. He thought that he
could come and change the fortunes of Colorado basketball and
he did.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired a podcast featured in
conversations with professional athletes and coaches who have sat down
to tell their stories of setbacks and how they were
able to move forward. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. This
episode's guest has connections to basketball in Colorado with two
different colleges, and is now reconnecting with the area as
(00:48):
an executive director of a nonprofit. Ricardo Patton was part
of the men's basketball program at the University of Colorado
from nineteen ninety three to two thousand and seven, first
as an assistant for three years and the rest as
the head coach. He took the Buffs to six postseason
appearances and had three twenty win seasons. He also recruited
Chauncey Billups to see you, which was huge for the
(01:10):
program and also their relationship. After leaving CU on his
own terms, Ricardo coached at a few other schools and
then returned to the state of Colorado as an assistant
with the University of Denver for three seasons, helping Chauncey's brother,
Rodney Billups. In twenty twenty four, Chauncey recruited Ricardo and
asked him to be a part of his leadership Academy
(01:30):
that's through Regis University. Ricardo said yes and is now
the executive director and loving the challenge. He also loves
horses and competing in something called Cowboy Mounted Shooting. Get
ready for an education. It was for me as was
learning about his childhood being raised by his grandmother and
not having much of a relationship with his mother or father.
(01:51):
He's a great coach and storyteller. Ladies and gentlemen. Ricardo Patton,
Ricardo Patten, how you doing? It has been so long
since I've seen you, and I swear you haven't changed
at all.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Well, thank you you being very kind.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Oh I'm serious. I bet you. I haven't seen you
probably since you coached at CU, because I was working
at nine News back then, and so i'd ended up
going to Boulder and seeing you then.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
So yeah, I left there in two thousand and seven,
and so yeah, it's been.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
A while, it has, and you've made your way back around,
and we're going to kind of go through all of
the places and things that you've done. And you are
a really good example of many different types of reinvention
throughout your career, which I think is cool. But let's
go back to your roots. You're born in Nashville. How
did you get into basketball where there are other sports
you played?
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I fell in love with basketball in the sixth grade.
It was somewhat of an accident. I had signed up
to being the band in the elementary school, and don't
know why I picked a trombone, but I did. So
I went home and I told my grandmother. I said, hey, mom,
I'm going to be in the band. But I got
back to school the next day and they were collecting
(02:59):
the money for the rental of the instrument. So that
was the end of my bank and I was devastated.
And after school ended. I was walking through the gym
and I guess someone had left a basketball out on
the court from PE class earlier, and I picked it
up and started shooting and never put.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
It down, no kidding. Oh that is truly by accident.
Oh my gosh. Wow. All right, So you go to
Hume Fog High School? Did I say that right?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
M falk?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Okay? And did you play other sports aside from basketball
or were you just all basketball?
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I was all basketball. I did do martial arts in
the ninth grade. So I started taking taekwondo lessons in
the ninth grade. Did that forever? Actually? My last fight
that I had was in ninety three when I came
to see you as an assistant coach.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Wow, and how old were you then? That was like
in your I.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Was thirty three. Probably. I enjoyed it. It was a
way of life. I ended up teaching martial arts. I
was actually an adjunct professor as a student athlete, really
teaching taekwondo as a PE course at Belmont. Initially I
went to a junior college in cater Alabama, John C. Calhoun.
(04:16):
But yeah, for all four long time and enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And did you incorporate that into your coaching because there's
so much discipline in the martial arts.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
The discipline aspect, the philosophy of martial arts. I would
give thought for the days that were primarily based from
my martial arts background. And so, yeah, the kids enjoyed it.
I think they still remember the thoughtful of the days.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I bet they did, so. Yeah, yeah, okay, you mentioned
the community college. You do that right after high school?
Was that because of offers? Is that what you got
for offers? Did you get a scholarship offer to play
basketball in college?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I had one, one scholarship to a four year school
out of high school, and it was too Cornell. Oh,
but I opted to go to the junior college because
the coach at Vanderbilt at the time was friends with
my junior college coach, Bob Sheldleworth, and Vanderbilt actually sent
me to the junior college. Oh. Interesting, by the time
(05:15):
I left, the coach was no longer there at Vanderbilt,
and I started to get more four year offers and
ended up staying home and going to Belmont University.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Okay, yeah, and that is in Nashville, right, Okay, all right,
so you stayed very close to home all this time,
didn't you.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I did, and it was not by design. I would
have been glad to go anywhere growing up the way
I did. Really no parents. My grandmother raised me. I
met my mom for the first time two years after
finishing college.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh my goodness, and.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
No relationship with my father, and so growing up I
just knew I wanted more than I saw around me,
and I was fortunate enough to have some great coaches
and some great teachers.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
When did you start living with your grandma? Like from
the beginning?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
From the beginning. Really, my mom left my sister and
I when I was nine months old and left us
with my grandmother, my father's mom.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Wow, so she raised you.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
She raised me, And it was by accident almost that
I ended up meeting my mom again. Two years after
I finished Belmont, I was in LA trying out for
an NBA team, and I met an uncle who called
my mom and I spoke with her the first time
I went to LA for three days. She said she
was going to come get me, introduced me to the
(06:28):
rest of the family, but she did in that first summer,
and then the second summer she did the same thing
for two days, and at that point my uncle just said, Hey,
you've come this far for the second time, you're going
to meet your mom, And so he just took me there.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And what was that like?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
That was? It was? It was very interesting. She was married,
had seven kids at the time in La.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Not including you and your sister.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And I later found out that the real reason she
didn't want me to come over that she hadn't with
her husband, that she had left two kids behind in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, So she wrote one letter. I wrote one letter.
That's been the extent of our contact. I have to
admit lately I've started to wonder if she thinks about
myself and my sister and how she feels. I've never
had any ill will or any anger toward you know
what happened. It turned out okay. And as I try
(07:23):
to tell young people, it's not how we start out,
it's how we end up very much.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So wow, very interesting. Ricardo had no idea. That's not
in your bio anywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
That's not in my bio. But I have told that
story too many young, young young people.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
And I'm sure it resonates with a lot of the
people that you've come in contact with, especially a lot
of the student athletes. So as we go back to
when you're at Belmont, you graduate there, you letter and
you get a degree in physical education. You're now in
their Hall of Fame too, so obviously you did pretty
well there.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I did the two years I went. I was a
small college, All American and had two wonderful years there.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
After you graduate, you go on to be a studio
cameraman for the CBS affiliate in Nashville. But then you
mentioned trapped for an NBA team, So are you still
hoping that you can get on somewhere professionally while you're
now starting actually a real career.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
At that point, I tried out for an NBA team
two years after finishing college. I had an agent that
wanted to send me to Ecuador, South America. But I
was married at the time. I've been married forty five
years and I got married my senior year in college,
and so I just decided, you know what, I'm not
going to chase this basketball. I'm gonna go get a job.
(08:34):
And the CBS affiliate there at the time they had
a print shop when everyone was printing in house, yea,
And so I had majored in printing in high school.
At the Votech high school. He was called that I
went to, and so I called my teacher from high school,
mister Walker, and said, hey, I need a crash course
(08:54):
running these printing presses. And I ended up getting the
job run the print shop at the television station. And
after six months I started training on the camera.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Wow. And then you did that for five years.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Did it for five years and just got the itch
to get back around the game of basketball. So I
went back to school, got certified to teach, taught one
year to middle school, one year to high school, and
after that I got to the collegiate level and started
out at Middle Tennessee State University in Murphysboro, Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
So your coaching career, though starts out coaching middle school
and high school, it does. How much different was that
then going from those two gigs then to the college game.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Well, it was different in that one. You could recruit obviously,
and the players were bigger, faster, stronger. I had a
lot to learn about the college game, but I was
still pretty fresh from playing college basketball right and the
team was already said. We were really good at Middle
Tennessee State. First year I was there, we get to
(09:55):
the tournament, we beat Florida State first round of the tournament,
and we were down eighteen and came back and beat
him eighteen. And they had a pretty good player by
the name of George McLeod at the time.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Oh yeah, I heard him.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah yeah, for an NBA player, And so we were
really good. And I stayed there two years and moved
on to Arkansas Little Rock for a year and just
decided that that wasn't a place for me at the time,
and moved back to Nashville and started working at Tennessee
State University, which is where Oprah Winfrey went to college and.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Also where you recruited Carlos Rogers, who went to tenth
overall in the ninety four Jeff.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
That's right, Yeah, that's right. And so at that point
I had developed a reputation of being able to get players,
and I had a decision to make between coming to
Colorado or going to Auburn University. Okay, And as I
flew out here and never been to Colorado before, I
just stepped out on faith and elected to come here.
And as they say, the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
That's a big leap of faith.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, Did you have any kids by then?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
We had two sons at the time. Yeah, they were
young and still in daycare at the time. My wife
was an English teacher and it's currently a guidance counselor
in Georgia where we live primarily.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
So you take the leap of faith, you come out
here and you become an assistant in nineteen ninety three, Yes,
you do that for a few years, and that's also
where you recruit the infamous Chauncey Billo.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, so I came out and worked for Joe Harrington.
You know what's interesting about the decision I made. At
the time, it was rumored that both coaches were going
to get fired, Joe Herrington at Colorado and Tommy Joe
Eagles was at was at Auburnett, Okay. And Bill Morote,
(11:39):
the athletic director of Colorado, convinced me that he was
going to stick with Joe, and so I believed him
and he did. And then after two and a half years,
Joe Harrington stepped down and they named me interim coach
to coach the last twelve games that would have been
probably ninety five, But my first assignment was as an assistant.
(12:00):
We have to get Chauncey Billers. Every staff meeting started
with that conversation.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I bet it did. So how did you get him?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Well, if you think about Colorado was a program that
had not been to the tournament for almost thirty years.
And when I first got here, we were in the
Big Eight. My first year as an assistant, the NCAA
took seven teams. Colorado was the only team that it
didn't take after Big Eight. And you know, we had
a lot of very candid conversations Chauncey and I and
(12:31):
his parents and I. And one of the questions I
asked him was because Kansas was recruiting him. I asked him,
what can you do with Kansas that has not already
been done? What's a bigger headline? Chauncey helps Kansas beak
Colorado or Chauncey helps Colorado beat Kansas. He wanted the challenge.
He thought that he could come and change the fortunes
(12:53):
of Colorado basketball. And he did. He did, he did,
And I still think that they're reaping the benefits of
that decision.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Oh absolutely well, and we'll get to where it's come
full circle now to where you're working with them with
the Port of Phillips Leadership Academy. But I mean him
being a head coach in the NBA, and I mean
everything will always come back to where he went to college.
And see you's right there.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, he's been a great ambassador for the university. And
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention his parents.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I've always they're awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Well they Ray and Faye did just a fantastic job
in raising their family and their sons and daughters. And
he is truly a great man.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Absolutely. The national championship team was just a few years
before that, but he really helped put CEU on the map,
especially for basketball, long before Dion and other splashing names
came through. It was that national championship team and him
in the nineties. Yeah, no, quite incredible.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, And for us to get to the tournament and
beat Indiana the first round, and of course becoming a
third pick in the draft behind Tim Duncan and Keith
on You know, one of the things I told recruits
after Chauncey left was regardless of where he would have
gone to school, third was the highest pick he would
(14:11):
have been. He could have gone to Duke. Tim Duncan
was going to be first, oh, absolutely, And Keith van
Horn had a well, yeah, of Utah, and so Chauncey
stepped out on faith as well, believed in what we
were selling, if you will, and worked out pretty well,
worked out pretty well everybody else.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You mentioned. You became the interim head coach, and then
it was just two months later that they then make
you the head coach. So then you're head coach for
eleven seasons.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Eleven seasons, yeah, and it was the longest tenure at
the time of any coach in the Big twelve. So
I'm very proud of what we accomplished there. And the
last three years we finished sixth, got to the tournament,
played Michigan State. That would have been two thousand and three,
and the very next year we finished fourth. We had
a team loaded with seniors, and then we got snubbed
(15:01):
about it turn day.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
That's right, fifth.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Place team, which was coach Bobby Knight at Texas Tech.
But yeah, we had some good times.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Absolutely. I was telling Dave Logan that I was going
to be talking to you, and he said, oh, I
used to do Ricardo's show, So that was a long
time ago when Dave was interviewing you for the show. Yeah. Funny.
So then you decide to step down in six you
you announced in October that this is going to be
my last season. What led into that was it just
time for change.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
A new administration came in and I didn't feel that
it was going to be a good marriage, and so
I decided to go out on my own terms and
just make the announcement that I would not seek nor
accept an extension. And I knew we were going to
be young, and we were going to struggle, but I
knew we were going to be very talented as well,
(15:53):
and I just thought it was time. And I just
believe sometimes when you stay at a place for a
long period of time, people want to see something different. Yeah,
and it was time. And again, I've never been afraid
to turn the page, if you will.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
And that's hard for people to do, because a lot
of people will stay, especially in sports. We see it
all the time where they'll stay a little bit beyond
then they go, you know what, I probably should have
been done a year ago, or I should have you know,
before the firing happens. That's right, they stay ahead of it.
That's very difficult to do, Ricardo.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
It is, you know. And one of the things I've
noticed about me is again, I can turn the page
very easily. And I was an avid golfer. I still
am an avid golfer, and I've played some really good
golf at times. But now I'm in the horses, and
I I can't wait to talk about love horses. And
so if if I had to turn the page on golf,
(16:47):
I could do it because I could say to myself,
you know what, I had my moment where I played
some really good golf. I'm happy about that. But now
it's a new.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Chapter, right, Well, and the horses, So let's talk about that.
Because when you leave see you you go to Northern
Illinois as their head coach from seven to eleven, and
that is also where you fall in love with horses.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Well, I actually fell in love with horses in high school, Okay,
growing up with my grandmother watching Westerns and just I
just fell in love with them. And so when I
went to the junior college, there was a stable near
the campus and I told some of my teammates, I said, hey,
let's go ride those horses. I had never been on one,
but I thought I'd watched enough Westerns to know how
(17:30):
to ride. Yeah, And so I did that, and just
every chance I got I went to ride horses, and
when I got to Northern Illinois, I wanted to really
get serious, and so I went to a barn and
they had an equestrin event called Cowboy mounted Shooting. So
I bought a horse. I bought my first horse, and
(17:51):
I bought my second horse, and I started competing in that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
And horses aren't cheap either.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
They're not cheap.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
They eat a lot, cost a lot well.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
And it's all the other things that go along with
ownership of a horse. You know, when you buy a horse,
you probably need a truck, a trailer, and a trailer
and you need saddles. Yeah, you got two horses, and
saddles aren't cheap, and so it's all the other things
that come along with the horse. Most of us that
are into horses say that the horse is the cheapest
(18:23):
thing you'll buy the rest of the stuff that comes
along with it.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
It's like having a jeep. My husband has a jeep,
and I'm like, all the crap you can get for
a jeep, I'm like, you don't need the axe on
the back. When you actually use that, you don't need it.
But yeah, everything that comes with it is most expensive.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, you can really trick a jeep out. I had
one once, and yeah, it's just endless of the things that.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I just throw the magazines away when they come, like,
you don't need to see all the accessories. No, you're done,
You're done, all right. So you get into horses and
we're gonna talk more about that. From Northern Illinois. You
leave there to become an assistant at Maryland Eastern Shore.
What happened in that transition?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
So new administration comes in at Northern Illinois after my
first year, wonderful young man hired me by the name
of Jim Phillips, who is now the commissioner of the ACC. Oh.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Yeah, I was like, I know that name.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Okay, interesting, But Jim left and I went to Northwestern
Prior to be company commission of the ACC but stayed
there four years, got paid for five and Frankie Allen,
who I worked for at Tennessee State, we had done
a great job turning that program around. At the time,
only two years that Tennessee State has ever gone to
(19:33):
the NCAA tournament was the time we were there?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Really?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Oh wow?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
And you mentioned Colos Rogers earlier. He was a young
man that helped make that happen. So I went to
Maryland Eastern Sure to try to help coach Allen and
only stayed a year. And as I told him, I
couldn't sell it. I couldn't sell Maryland. He's just sure.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
And I hadn't heard of it till I wrote it down.
When I was going through all of you, I was like,
I don't even I never heard of that one.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You know, it's tough to sell a program where you
have to fly into Baltimore and bus to or drive
two hours to get to the early Yeah, it's at
the end of the earth. And uh. So I left
after a year and actually went to Memphis, Tennesseee, my
wife's home, uh and coached high school basketball for three years.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I saw that, Yeah, it's kind of really back to
your roots of how you started coaching.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, And I had recruited Memphis forever and so I
had a presence there. The majority of the high school
coaches knew me from recruiting some of their players, and
so I had a great time those three years. And
then my wife and I was trying to decide where
we wanted to live. We had property in Greensboro, Georgia,
a place called Rentlds Lake o'coney formerly Rentals Plantation, and
(20:47):
I went and played in a golf tournament there and
I said, you know what, let's just go build on
our lot. And we did. So we rented a place
while we were building for a year and that's currently our.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
That's home right now. That's home, okay. But then you
end up after you're done with the high school job,
you come back here to be an assistant at DU
for a few years.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
You know, Chauncey had asked me if his brother got
a job Rodney, would I come back to help, And
so twenty sixteen I came to DU to assist Rodney
Phillips and stay till twenty nineteen. And I actually thought
I was going home and I was done with coaching
in twenty nineteen, and then I got a call to
go work with Jerry stack House at Vanderbilt, which was
(21:28):
my hometown.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And then you were a senior advice senior advisor, so
more admin or still kind of coaching.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
More admin? Okay, more admin?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
What was it like on that side of things? Did
you like that?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Well? I probably would have enjoyed it more when you're
the senior advisor, but no one wants any advice.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Makes your job a little difficulty.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
That's a little difficult. You know, you can stay and
make the money, but that that wasn't much fun for me.
And then and then COVID hit and then my wife
got six she had about with cancer and oh gosh,
she's doing fine now good okay, But so it was time.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
To go home, okay. So then now we come to
where we are now. Where in last year, in twenty
twenty four, you're announced as the executive director of the
Porter Billups Leadership Academy, which, for those that don't know,
Lonnie Porter and Chauncey Billups worked this leadership Academy which
I've been involved with several years with the Gael. It's
a really phenomenal organization helping kids, you know, really just
(22:26):
direction and schooling and discipline all like all the things
that you've kind of done as a coach. So what
led to that was that another chancey pulling you back in.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
That was another chancey and Lonnie Porter. There probably two
people here in Colorado that I can't say no too.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I can see why.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, one is Loniport and the other is Chauncey Billups.
And so when Chauncey approached me about Coach Porter stepping
back and the possibility of me coming aboard and being
the co executive director, I just couldn't say no. And
so I started last January and started.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
So it's four years, it's been a full year.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I started coming out and shadowing Coach Porter for that time.
And so after this this last Summer's events, I took
over officially in full time as executive director. Wow.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
And so what has that been like using all of
your background to kind of do because this is a
position that you haven't had before.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
I haven't. But recruiting is the same as raising money.
You're still trying to you're still trying to convince someone
to give or to become a part of something.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
That's a great way to look at that, Okay, and.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
So it's still recruiting. Yeah. And first of all, the
Portabille's Leadership Academy has done a phenomenal job their mission.
They've stayed true to We bring in two hundred and
twenty five kids in June for the academy and we're
teaching leadership skills, we're teaching personal finance. We have a
(24:00):
great curriculum things that they aren't getting in their normal
high school. And if a child goes from the fourth
grade summer to the eleventh grade summer, we scholarship them
to Regis University. And so we have three fundraising events
in July. We have the gala that's been at the
Gay Lord for the past two years, and we'll be
back at the gay Lord this coming July July. The
(24:25):
academy is in June, and the gala's in July. And
then we have a couple of golf tournaments that we
put on the race.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
From You probably love that, don't you. Oh?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I love that. The only probably with the golf tournaments
is now I can't play. That's true. I used to
come out and be on the team and play, and
so now I'm just gonna they.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Got a glad hand everybody and recruit. That's right question
for somebody. Yeah, well, I think that's great, And it's
a and coach Porter. I mean, he's just a legend
as far as his coaching time with Regis and what
he's done in the community. So I know, you have
to find the right people when you have something that's
going that well. And obviously Chauncey's coaching at an NBA team,
(25:01):
so he can't be here all the time. So I
think it was brilliant for them to bring you in
and be a part of it.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Well, thank you, I've enjoyed it. It's something that is
near and dear to Chauncey's hard to coach. Porter's hard,
and it's near and dear to my heart. And again,
when you grow up the way we did, we want
to give back. We want to help young people realize
that their true ability and their true dreams. And so
(25:30):
thanks to the people that have contributed to PVLA, because
it is truly a worthwhile organization.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Absolutely so. How often you mentioned that you tell the
story about you growing up. I'm sure you told that
to players, but now you have an audience that really,
really probably resonates with that because it is a lot
of the kids that go to the leadership Academy or
in similar situations to how you grew up. Probably no question.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
And prior to coming back here to Colorado, I was
dean of students at a high school.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Oh wait, I miss that.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I can't stop working.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
That's right, I get that now.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
My wife says I had too many expensive hobbies to
stop working. But yeah, I was Dina Students at Lake
Oconee Academy in Greensboro, Georgia. And as a Dina students,
you're dealing with discipline K through twelve every day all day.
And one of the things that I tried to speak
with the teachers about is that there's some kids that
(26:31):
are going home and feeling no love in the home.
I get that, you know, And I share my story
with teachers as well about I ran away from home
in eleventh grade. I heard some very cruel things from
my grandmam, and so I knew she loved me, but
maybe I was bad. She was mad and she just
(26:53):
lashed out. But still, young people having to navigate some
of the things that they hear at home can be
very difficult. And I say, I'm only here by the
grace of God. I could have gone in either direction.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Yeah, And so for me, it's about sending the right
message to young people that you're okay and you can
you can do whatever it is you decide you want
to work hard to do.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yeah, and your grandma, there's no excuse for how you
treat people sometimes, but she probably did not plan on
raising two children.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
She didn't. She had raised her four and she didn't
plan on raising my sister and I yeah, so, but
as it turned out, things worked out for me. I
was able to buy a house at one point before
my god, she lived until she was one hundred and four. Whoa,
I'm hoping I have some of those genes.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, I think you do. I think you do. Like
I said, you look fantastic. Okay, So now let's go
back to your horse thing. Because you were asking me
as we walked in. You know, it's stock showtime right
now when we're recording this, and so you're asking about
the stock show. You've already gone once you're going again.
You love your horses and this event Colorado Mountain Shooting Club.
Did I get that right? Yes, Okay, tell me about that.
(28:08):
I've never heard of it before.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
So Cowboy Mounted Shooting. There is a club or two
in every state, just and Colorado has two clubs. And
one of the first things I did when I came
back and got an apartment in June was to go
on the website and see when there was a local
shoot happening here in Colorado. And I actually went to
(28:32):
see an event a few months ago, and so it's
it's just a passion of mine.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
But you don't just watch it.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
You do it.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
You showed me some pictures and you're on a horse
doing it, so explain to compete.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
It's so you're riding as fast as you can. You
have two single action revolvers, because back in the Western
days the guns were single action. You had to cockpool cockpool.
When I first started, you had to address period correct
and then you had a handle or name. And my
handle is the Baptist. Love it and and my guns
(29:09):
are engraved with the Baptists on them. And so but
it's a rush, it really is. I like the game.
I love the horses. And even at the academy back
in Georgia, I would take young students out and just
teach him about grooming a horse, picking a horse's foot.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
There's a thing to eat, quine therapy. That is a thing,
no question. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
And there's so many kids growing up that have a fear,
and not just kids, but adults have fears of horses too.
And the fear is not unfounded. It's based on their
lack of information and knowledge about a horse. Most people,
the first thing is say don't walk behind that horse.
I hear parents tell their kids all the time, and
I explained to him, you can walk behind most horses
(29:53):
as long as that horse is not asleep and you
startle him, then they might kick out. But a horse
that's aware of where you are shouldn't kick just because
you walk behind it.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
And there's also they can sense fear right making sense fear.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
But what that fear does is it makes them nervous. Yeah,
So when they sense that you're fearful of something, they're
wondering what's going on? Should I be scared to you?
And they are fight or flight animals, and so their
first instinct is to take flight.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Okay. So when you're on the horse, and you've got
the two revolvers, so you have the reins and the
revolvers in your hands at the same time.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
While you're writing, you have the reins in one hand,
and that being a right handed person, you would have
your reins in your left hand. Okay, and shoot what
you're right and there may be a cross shot or
a strong shot. Strong shot will be on your right side,
a cross shot would be on your left and again
there are over one hundred patterns you don't know which
pattern you're going to run until shoot. You have ten
(30:54):
targets air balloons and some high, some low. There may
be one barrel or two three barrels. In a pattern,
you have to do a gun change. And so five
balloons would be of one color and another five would
be another. And so once you shoot those and sequenced,
then you hosted that gun. If you drop the gun,
it's a sixty second time. And so a pattern might
(31:18):
be some patterns. Maybe a good time would be twelve seconds.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Oh man, that fast?
Speaker 1 (31:27):
That fast you're running and you have to ride fast
and shoot clean?
Speaker 2 (31:30):
How fast are you riding? How fast is the horse going?
Do you know? Have you clocked it?
Speaker 1 (31:34):
No? It just depends on the pattern. Okay, that makes
And it depends on how fast you can ride, Yeah,
and maintain your seat.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Well and then also be able to shoot at something accurately.
That would be hard while writing something.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
It is. It takes a lot of practice. It takes
a great horse, because horses are fearful of just about everything.
If you walk the horse and he year a hundred
times in this studio a hundred times, and they became
familiar with it. But then all of a sudden. You
put a napkin on the floor, that horse would be
afraid of that napkin to come in interesting and you'd
(32:11):
have to push that horse through that. So you have
to have a really good horse. Most of them wear earplugs,
they do, They wear ear plugs. Oh, so it's the
noise that they have to get past. It's the smoke
and the fire coming from the barrel of the gun
that they see. Most people ask the question, well, what
about shooting someone in the stands. It's just a crimpshale
(32:33):
with enough powder. O.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
I did wonder about that too, Yeah, yeah, what about
the crowd?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
No, yeah, there's nothing that can go out into the ground.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Okay, so horses are not And I don't know enough
about horses, but you know what we see and you
said you grow loving Westerns, you know, and I just
watched Yellowstone and so. But they're not used to having
someone on them shooting at the same time and being
in like battles. That's not so you really have to
would have to get a horse used to doing something
like that, or they're going to they're going to freak out, right.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
You're going to blow up, right, And it takes about
thirty days to know if your horse will take to
the gunfight. Okay, not every horse will. I'm sure you
probably can get most to tolerate it, and not every
horse loves the game. And so the horse is the
main thing that has to be right. You have to
(33:23):
get really a good horse.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
So before you bought your horses, did you know they
were good at the game?
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I didn't. There's no way to know, there's not. So
I bought the horse again. I was in Illinois and
had the horse shipped to Galena, Missouri. There's a trainer there.
Speaking expenses, yeah, yeah, because I at the time I
didn't have a truck. I didn't have a trailer, so
I had to have it ship to hip the horse.
(33:49):
And then I had to get an airline ticket and
meet the horse there and arranged for the training.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
And h wow, where are the horses now?
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Then, Georgia. I just I went to get them when
I first came out to Colorado again. I took them
to Galena, Missouri so that they could stay ridden and
not just become pastor ornaments. And so that's an expense
of someone riding and training your horse. But the day
after Christmas, I left Georgia and drove thirteen hours to
(34:21):
go get my horses and bring them back and wow,
they're at home now.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yeah, okay, will they ever come out here?
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I had him here when I was with Rodney Billups
twenty sixteen to twenty nineteen. I had my horses here
and actually he and his wife on a horse and
some of their friends for the first time and had
some great pictures of their riding.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Yeah, oh that's great. That is really cool. Okay. And
then just catching up family wise, how are kids and
everybody doing?
Speaker 1 (34:46):
And two sons. Ricardo is the oldest. He's thirty seven,
and when COVID hit, he could move anywhere. He was
in New York and so he elected to move the Boulder. Okay,
then you changed jobs and so now he's in Denver
doing well working for Salesforce.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Good.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
And Michael, my youngest, who actually played for me at
Northern Illinois, just got a huge promotion.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
With a DP Okay payroll, Yeah that's who we use.
Actually I get emails from.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah. Yeah, So he's in management. Michael's in management and
just got a huge promotion. Had to leave Georgia and
go to New Jersey. But both boys are doing fine.
My wife is still back home. She's a goddess counselor
at L. Coconne Academy there, and so that's great.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Any grandkids, No grandkids.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Boys have girlfriends, but I don't. I don't know if
they even use any words to start with m like marriage.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
That generation is a little different, right, they are at different.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
And we've modeled forty five.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Oh got marriage, You've made a perfect model.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yeah. So but no, no grandkids.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Okay, that's all right, all right, very good. Okay, So
as we wrap this up for Cardon, this has been great.
I got a great education on horses that I had
no idea I was going to learn about today. But
you've had lots of, you know, ups and downs throughout
your whole life, starting from nine months old on. So
what do you kind of in a nutshell tell people
when they are going through a tough time of just
how to pick themselves back up keep moving forward, knowing
(36:20):
that there's more beyond this this bad time right now?
Speaker 1 (36:23):
You know. I think one of the things I believe
personally is that you have to have a great faith.
And I grew up with a great faith in God
and prayed for everything. One of the things that kept
me away from smoking and drinking as a child was
I had made an agreement with God in middle school
that if he would allow me to be successful in basketball,
(36:44):
I would stay away from drugs. And I hung out
with guys that smoke, that drink and I never did
and I could always say no, and they would offer
it to me, but I could always say no. They
never knew why I said no, But it was because
of this agreement that I made with God. And now
I tell people, is I meant I wanted to play
in the NBA, But I guess I wasn't specific enough
(37:05):
with God.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
His success and your success for two different kinds of successes.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
But if you think about it, the success I've had,
it's been through basketball, and.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Yeah. So, and even going to Vanderbilt, there was no
rhyme or reason why Jerry Stackhouse should have hired me
at the time. And when I was with Rodney du
I started to ask myself the question if my father died,
would I go to the funeral. So the first couple
of years, I said, you know, I don't know. I might.
We haven't spoken in several years, and I don't really
(37:41):
have anything, no closure that I'm trying to see. But
the last year I was here, in twenty nineteen, I
told myself that I wouldn't go. No, I probably won't go.
It won't spend the money, won't take the time. We
haven't spoken again in many years. And so then I
get the job at Vanderbilt. Father's dying and he asked
(38:02):
to see my sister and I the son that he raised,
ended up calling us and asking us to come by,
and so we did, and my father was eighty dying
of throat cancer, still smoking. Was just a tough He
was just a tough guy, but a mean guy. But
two weeks later he was dead. We took one picture
(38:24):
my sister and I am with him, and the video
that showed in the at the funeral had this one picture.
My sister has taken our childhood a little tougher than
I have, because again, she didn't play sports, she didn't
have anything to take her away from right from how
we grew up. But I was glad that I went
to the funeral, and I believe that that job had
(38:47):
vandy built. When I said that I wouldn't go, God said,
yes you will. And I'm so thankful that I did.
And so what I would say to people or young
people growing up or anyone that's going through some struggles,
One have someone hired in yourself that you look up
to for help and for guidance and belief, believe in
(39:09):
something hired in yourselves, and just be willing to try
to outwork the next person. I guess if I have
any gift, that has always been my gift is just
trying to outwork the next person. If you're willing to
do that, I think you got a chance to make it.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
It's worked out pretty well for you.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Well it has.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Thank Yeah, what great advice. Hey, this was so much fun, Coach.
I appreciate you coming in and I'm excited that you're back.
Like I said, as the executive director of PVLA, I
think it's great and I think you can do a
lot of really good work with them.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
And well, thank you, like.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
I said, smart, smart of them to bring you in.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Well appreciate It'll be good. Yeah, I'm enjoying it and
I'll look to be.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Around for a while, all right, perfect, Thanks coach, Thank you.
Thanks Ricardo. New episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired are
released on Tuesdays on nearly every podcas platform. Please follow, download,
and review this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. You
can get social and find out about new episodes on
Twitter and Instagram at ctfur podcast and check out the
(40:11):
website ctfurpodcast dot com. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. To
learn more about me, visit susiewargin dot com. Thank you
again for listening, and until next time, please be careful,
be safe, and be kind. Take care
You know, we had a lot of very candid conversations
Chauncey and I and his parents and I. And one
of the questions I asked him was because Kansas was
recruiting him. I asked him, what can you do with
Kansas that has not already been done. What's a bigger
headline Chauncey helps Kansas speak Colorado or Chauncey helps Colorado
(00:20):
beat Kansas. He wanted the challenge. He thought that he
could come and change the fortunes of Colorado basketball and
he did.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired a podcast featured in
conversations with professional athletes and coaches who have sat down
to tell their stories of setbacks and how they were
able to move forward. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. This
episode's guest has connections to basketball in Colorado with two
different colleges, and is now reconnecting with the area as
(00:48):
an executive director of a nonprofit. Ricardo Patton was part
of the men's basketball program at the University of Colorado
from nineteen ninety three to two thousand and seven, first
as an assistant for three years and the rest as
the head coach. He took the Buffs to six postseason
appearances and had three twenty win seasons. He also recruited
Chauncey Billups to see you, which was huge for the
(01:10):
program and also their relationship. After leaving CU on his
own terms, Ricardo coached at a few other schools and
then returned to the state of Colorado as an assistant
with the University of Denver for three seasons, helping Chauncey's brother,
Rodney Billups. In twenty twenty four, Chauncey recruited Ricardo and
asked him to be a part of his leadership Academy
(01:30):
that's through Regis University. Ricardo said yes and is now
the executive director and loving the challenge. He also loves
horses and competing in something called Cowboy Mounted Shooting. Get
ready for an education. It was for me as was
learning about his childhood being raised by his grandmother and
not having much of a relationship with his mother or father.
(01:51):
He's a great coach and storyteller. Ladies and gentlemen. Ricardo Patton,
Ricardo Patten, how you doing? It has been so long
since I've seen you, and I swear you haven't changed
at all.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Well, thank you you being very kind.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Oh I'm serious. I bet you. I haven't seen you
probably since you coached at CU, because I was working
at nine News back then, and so i'd ended up
going to Boulder and seeing you then.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
So yeah, I left there in two thousand and seven,
and so yeah, it's been.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
A while, it has, and you've made your way back around,
and we're going to kind of go through all of
the places and things that you've done. And you are
a really good example of many different types of reinvention
throughout your career, which I think is cool. But let's
go back to your roots. You're born in Nashville. How
did you get into basketball where there are other sports
you played?
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I fell in love with basketball in the sixth grade.
It was somewhat of an accident. I had signed up
to being the band in the elementary school, and don't
know why I picked a trombone, but I did. So
I went home and I told my grandmother. I said, hey, mom,
I'm going to be in the band. But I got
back to school the next day and they were collecting
(02:59):
the money for the rental of the instrument. So that
was the end of my bank and I was devastated.
And after school ended. I was walking through the gym
and I guess someone had left a basketball out on
the court from PE class earlier, and I picked it
up and started shooting and never put.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
It down, no kidding. Oh that is truly by accident.
Oh my gosh. Wow. All right, So you go to
Hume Fog High School? Did I say that right?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
M falk?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Okay? And did you play other sports aside from basketball
or were you just all basketball?
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I was all basketball. I did do martial arts in
the ninth grade. So I started taking taekwondo lessons in
the ninth grade. Did that forever? Actually? My last fight
that I had was in ninety three when I came
to see you as an assistant coach.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Wow, and how old were you then? That was like
in your I.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Was thirty three. Probably. I enjoyed it. It was a
way of life. I ended up teaching martial arts. I
was actually an adjunct professor as a student athlete, really
teaching taekwondo as a PE course at Belmont. Initially I
went to a junior college in cater Alabama, John C. Calhoun.
(04:16):
But yeah, for all four long time and enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And did you incorporate that into your coaching because there's
so much discipline in the martial arts.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
The discipline aspect, the philosophy of martial arts. I would
give thought for the days that were primarily based from
my martial arts background. And so, yeah, the kids enjoyed it.
I think they still remember the thoughtful of the days.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I bet they did, so. Yeah, yeah, okay, you mentioned
the community college. You do that right after high school?
Was that because of offers? Is that what you got
for offers? Did you get a scholarship offer to play
basketball in college?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I had one, one scholarship to a four year school
out of high school, and it was too Cornell. Oh,
but I opted to go to the junior college because
the coach at Vanderbilt at the time was friends with
my junior college coach, Bob Sheldleworth, and Vanderbilt actually sent
me to the junior college. Oh. Interesting, by the time
(05:15):
I left, the coach was no longer there at Vanderbilt,
and I started to get more four year offers and
ended up staying home and going to Belmont University.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Okay, yeah, and that is in Nashville, right, Okay, all right,
so you stayed very close to home all this time,
didn't you.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I did, and it was not by design. I would
have been glad to go anywhere growing up the way
I did. Really no parents. My grandmother raised me. I
met my mom for the first time two years after
finishing college.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh my goodness, and.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
No relationship with my father, and so growing up I
just knew I wanted more than I saw around me,
and I was fortunate enough to have some great coaches
and some great teachers.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
When did you start living with your grandma? Like from
the beginning?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
From the beginning. Really, my mom left my sister and
I when I was nine months old and left us
with my grandmother, my father's mom.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Wow, so she raised you.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
She raised me, And it was by accident almost that
I ended up meeting my mom again. Two years after
I finished Belmont, I was in LA trying out for
an NBA team, and I met an uncle who called
my mom and I spoke with her the first time
I went to LA for three days. She said she
was going to come get me, introduced me to the
(06:28):
rest of the family, but she did in that first summer,
and then the second summer she did the same thing
for two days, and at that point my uncle just said, Hey,
you've come this far for the second time, you're going
to meet your mom, And so he just took me there.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And what was that like?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
That was? It was? It was very interesting. She was married,
had seven kids at the time in La.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Not including you and your sister.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And I later found out that the real reason she
didn't want me to come over that she hadn't with
her husband, that she had left two kids behind in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, So she wrote one letter. I wrote one letter.
That's been the extent of our contact. I have to
admit lately I've started to wonder if she thinks about
myself and my sister and how she feels. I've never
had any ill will or any anger toward you know
what happened. It turned out okay. And as I try
(07:23):
to tell young people, it's not how we start out,
it's how we end up very much.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So wow, very interesting. Ricardo had no idea. That's not
in your bio anywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
That's not in my bio. But I have told that
story too many young, young young people.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
And I'm sure it resonates with a lot of the
people that you've come in contact with, especially a lot
of the student athletes. So as we go back to
when you're at Belmont, you graduate there, you letter and
you get a degree in physical education. You're now in
their Hall of Fame too, so obviously you did pretty
well there.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I did the two years I went. I was a
small college, All American and had two wonderful years there.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
After you graduate, you go on to be a studio
cameraman for the CBS affiliate in Nashville. But then you
mentioned trapped for an NBA team, So are you still
hoping that you can get on somewhere professionally while you're
now starting actually a real career.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
At that point, I tried out for an NBA team
two years after finishing college. I had an agent that
wanted to send me to Ecuador, South America. But I
was married at the time. I've been married forty five
years and I got married my senior year in college,
and so I just decided, you know what, I'm not
going to chase this basketball. I'm gonna go get a job.
(08:34):
And the CBS affiliate there at the time they had
a print shop when everyone was printing in house, yea,
And so I had majored in printing in high school.
At the Votech high school. He was called that I
went to, and so I called my teacher from high school,
mister Walker, and said, hey, I need a crash course
(08:54):
running these printing presses. And I ended up getting the
job run the print shop at the television station. And
after six months I started training on the camera.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Wow. And then you did that for five years.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Did it for five years and just got the itch
to get back around the game of basketball. So I
went back to school, got certified to teach, taught one
year to middle school, one year to high school, and
after that I got to the collegiate level and started
out at Middle Tennessee State University in Murphysboro, Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
So your coaching career, though starts out coaching middle school
and high school, it does. How much different was that
then going from those two gigs then to the college game.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Well, it was different in that one. You could recruit obviously,
and the players were bigger, faster, stronger. I had a
lot to learn about the college game, but I was
still pretty fresh from playing college basketball right and the
team was already said. We were really good at Middle
Tennessee State. First year I was there, we get to
(09:55):
the tournament, we beat Florida State first round of the tournament,
and we were down eighteen and came back and beat
him eighteen. And they had a pretty good player by
the name of George McLeod at the time.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Oh yeah, I heard him.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah yeah, for an NBA player, And so we were
really good. And I stayed there two years and moved
on to Arkansas Little Rock for a year and just
decided that that wasn't a place for me at the time,
and moved back to Nashville and started working at Tennessee
State University, which is where Oprah Winfrey went to college and.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Also where you recruited Carlos Rogers, who went to tenth
overall in the ninety four Jeff.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
That's right, Yeah, that's right. And so at that point
I had developed a reputation of being able to get players,
and I had a decision to make between coming to
Colorado or going to Auburn University. Okay, And as I
flew out here and never been to Colorado before, I
just stepped out on faith and elected to come here.
And as they say, the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
That's a big leap of faith.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, Did you have any kids by then?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
We had two sons at the time. Yeah, they were
young and still in daycare at the time. My wife
was an English teacher and it's currently a guidance counselor
in Georgia where we live primarily.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
So you take the leap of faith, you come out
here and you become an assistant in nineteen ninety three, Yes,
you do that for a few years, and that's also
where you recruit the infamous Chauncey Billo.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, so I came out and worked for Joe Harrington.
You know what's interesting about the decision I made. At
the time, it was rumored that both coaches were going
to get fired, Joe Herrington at Colorado and Tommy Joe
Eagles was at was at Auburnett, Okay. And Bill Morote,
(11:39):
the athletic director of Colorado, convinced me that he was
going to stick with Joe, and so I believed him
and he did. And then after two and a half years,
Joe Harrington stepped down and they named me interim coach
to coach the last twelve games that would have been
probably ninety five, But my first assignment was as an assistant.
(12:00):
We have to get Chauncey Billers. Every staff meeting started
with that conversation.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I bet it did. So how did you get him?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Well, if you think about Colorado was a program that
had not been to the tournament for almost thirty years.
And when I first got here, we were in the
Big Eight. My first year as an assistant, the NCAA
took seven teams. Colorado was the only team that it
didn't take after Big Eight. And you know, we had
a lot of very candid conversations Chauncey and I and
(12:31):
his parents and I. And one of the questions I
asked him was because Kansas was recruiting him. I asked him,
what can you do with Kansas that has not already
been done? What's a bigger headline? Chauncey helps Kansas beak
Colorado or Chauncey helps Colorado beat Kansas. He wanted the challenge.
He thought that he could come and change the fortunes
(12:53):
of Colorado basketball. And he did. He did, he did,
And I still think that they're reaping the benefits of
that decision.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Oh absolutely well, and we'll get to where it's come
full circle now to where you're working with them with
the Port of Phillips Leadership Academy. But I mean him
being a head coach in the NBA, and I mean
everything will always come back to where he went to college.
And see you's right there.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, he's been a great ambassador for the university. And
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention his parents.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I've always they're awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Well they Ray and Faye did just a fantastic job
in raising their family and their sons and daughters. And
he is truly a great man.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Absolutely. The national championship team was just a few years
before that, but he really helped put CEU on the map,
especially for basketball, long before Dion and other splashing names
came through. It was that national championship team and him
in the nineties. Yeah, no, quite incredible.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, And for us to get to the tournament and
beat Indiana the first round, and of course becoming a
third pick in the draft behind Tim Duncan and Keith
on You know, one of the things I told recruits
after Chauncey left was regardless of where he would have
gone to school, third was the highest pick he would
(14:11):
have been. He could have gone to Duke. Tim Duncan
was going to be first, oh, absolutely, And Keith van
Horn had a well, yeah, of Utah, and so Chauncey
stepped out on faith as well, believed in what we
were selling, if you will, and worked out pretty well,
worked out pretty well everybody else.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You mentioned. You became the interim head coach, and then
it was just two months later that they then make
you the head coach. So then you're head coach for
eleven seasons.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Eleven seasons, yeah, and it was the longest tenure at
the time of any coach in the Big twelve. So
I'm very proud of what we accomplished there. And the
last three years we finished sixth, got to the tournament,
played Michigan State. That would have been two thousand and three,
and the very next year we finished fourth. We had
a team loaded with seniors, and then we got snubbed
(15:01):
about it turn day.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
That's right, fifth.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Place team, which was coach Bobby Knight at Texas Tech.
But yeah, we had some good times.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Absolutely. I was telling Dave Logan that I was going
to be talking to you, and he said, oh, I
used to do Ricardo's show, So that was a long
time ago when Dave was interviewing you for the show. Yeah. Funny.
So then you decide to step down in six you
you announced in October that this is going to be
my last season. What led into that was it just
time for change.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
A new administration came in and I didn't feel that
it was going to be a good marriage, and so
I decided to go out on my own terms and
just make the announcement that I would not seek nor
accept an extension. And I knew we were going to
be young, and we were going to struggle, but I
knew we were going to be very talented as well,
(15:53):
and I just thought it was time. And I just
believe sometimes when you stay at a place for a
long period of time, people want to see something different. Yeah,
and it was time. And again, I've never been afraid
to turn the page, if you will.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
And that's hard for people to do, because a lot
of people will stay, especially in sports. We see it
all the time where they'll stay a little bit beyond
then they go, you know what, I probably should have
been done a year ago, or I should have you know,
before the firing happens. That's right, they stay ahead of it.
That's very difficult to do, Ricardo.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
It is, you know. And one of the things I've
noticed about me is again, I can turn the page
very easily. And I was an avid golfer. I still
am an avid golfer, and I've played some really good
golf at times. But now I'm in the horses, and
I I can't wait to talk about love horses. And
so if if I had to turn the page on golf,
(16:47):
I could do it because I could say to myself,
you know what, I had my moment where I played
some really good golf. I'm happy about that. But now
it's a new.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Chapter, right, Well, and the horses, So let's talk about that.
Because when you leave see you you go to Northern
Illinois as their head coach from seven to eleven, and
that is also where you fall in love with horses.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Well, I actually fell in love with horses in high school, Okay,
growing up with my grandmother watching Westerns and just I
just fell in love with them. And so when I
went to the junior college, there was a stable near
the campus and I told some of my teammates, I said, hey,
let's go ride those horses. I had never been on one,
but I thought I'd watched enough Westerns to know how
(17:30):
to ride. Yeah, And so I did that, and just
every chance I got I went to ride horses, and
when I got to Northern Illinois, I wanted to really
get serious, and so I went to a barn and
they had an equestrin event called Cowboy mounted Shooting. So
I bought a horse. I bought my first horse, and
(17:51):
I bought my second horse, and I started competing in that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
And horses aren't cheap either.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
They're not cheap.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
They eat a lot, cost a lot well.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
And it's all the other things that go along with
ownership of a horse. You know, when you buy a horse,
you probably need a truck, a trailer, and a trailer
and you need saddles. Yeah, you got two horses, and
saddles aren't cheap, and so it's all the other things
that come along with the horse. Most of us that
are into horses say that the horse is the cheapest
(18:23):
thing you'll buy the rest of the stuff that comes
along with it.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
It's like having a jeep. My husband has a jeep,
and I'm like, all the crap you can get for
a jeep, I'm like, you don't need the axe on
the back. When you actually use that, you don't need it.
But yeah, everything that comes with it is most expensive.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, you can really trick a jeep out. I had
one once, and yeah, it's just endless of the things that.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I just throw the magazines away when they come, like,
you don't need to see all the accessories. No, you're done,
You're done, all right. So you get into horses and
we're gonna talk more about that. From Northern Illinois. You
leave there to become an assistant at Maryland Eastern Shore.
What happened in that transition?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
So new administration comes in at Northern Illinois after my
first year, wonderful young man hired me by the name
of Jim Phillips, who is now the commissioner of the ACC. Oh.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Yeah, I was like, I know that name.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Okay, interesting, But Jim left and I went to Northwestern
Prior to be company commission of the ACC but stayed
there four years, got paid for five and Frankie Allen,
who I worked for at Tennessee State, we had done
a great job turning that program around. At the time,
only two years that Tennessee State has ever gone to
(19:33):
the NCAA tournament was the time we were there?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Really?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Oh wow?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
And you mentioned Colos Rogers earlier. He was a young
man that helped make that happen. So I went to
Maryland Eastern Sure to try to help coach Allen and
only stayed a year. And as I told him, I
couldn't sell it. I couldn't sell Maryland. He's just sure.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
And I hadn't heard of it till I wrote it down.
When I was going through all of you, I was like,
I don't even I never heard of that one.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You know, it's tough to sell a program where you
have to fly into Baltimore and bus to or drive
two hours to get to the early Yeah, it's at
the end of the earth. And uh. So I left
after a year and actually went to Memphis, Tennesseee, my
wife's home, uh and coached high school basketball for three years.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I saw that, Yeah, it's kind of really back to
your roots of how you started coaching.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, And I had recruited Memphis forever and so I
had a presence there. The majority of the high school
coaches knew me from recruiting some of their players, and
so I had a great time those three years. And
then my wife and I was trying to decide where
we wanted to live. We had property in Greensboro, Georgia,
a place called Rentlds Lake o'coney formerly Rentals Plantation, and
(20:47):
I went and played in a golf tournament there and
I said, you know what, let's just go build on
our lot. And we did. So we rented a place
while we were building for a year and that's currently our.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
That's home right now. That's home, okay. But then you
end up after you're done with the high school job,
you come back here to be an assistant at DU
for a few years.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
You know, Chauncey had asked me if his brother got
a job Rodney, would I come back to help, And
so twenty sixteen I came to DU to assist Rodney
Phillips and stay till twenty nineteen. And I actually thought
I was going home and I was done with coaching
in twenty nineteen, and then I got a call to
go work with Jerry stack House at Vanderbilt, which was
(21:28):
my hometown.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And then you were a senior advice senior advisor, so
more admin or still kind of coaching.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
More admin? Okay, more admin?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
What was it like on that side of things? Did
you like that?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Well? I probably would have enjoyed it more when you're
the senior advisor, but no one wants any advice.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Makes your job a little difficulty.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
That's a little difficult. You know, you can stay and
make the money, but that that wasn't much fun for me.
And then and then COVID hit and then my wife
got six she had about with cancer and oh gosh,
she's doing fine now good okay, But so it was time.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
To go home, okay. So then now we come to
where we are now. Where in last year, in twenty
twenty four, you're announced as the executive director of the
Porter Billups Leadership Academy, which, for those that don't know,
Lonnie Porter and Chauncey Billups worked this leadership Academy which
I've been involved with several years with the Gael. It's
a really phenomenal organization helping kids, you know, really just
(22:26):
direction and schooling and discipline all like all the things
that you've kind of done as a coach. So what
led to that was that another chancey pulling you back in.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
That was another chancey and Lonnie Porter. There probably two
people here in Colorado that I can't say no too.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I can see why.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, one is Loniport and the other is Chauncey Billups.
And so when Chauncey approached me about Coach Porter stepping
back and the possibility of me coming aboard and being
the co executive director, I just couldn't say no. And
so I started last January and started.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
So it's four years, it's been a full year.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I started coming out and shadowing Coach Porter for that time.
And so after this this last Summer's events, I took
over officially in full time as executive director. Wow.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
And so what has that been like using all of
your background to kind of do because this is a
position that you haven't had before.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
I haven't. But recruiting is the same as raising money.
You're still trying to you're still trying to convince someone
to give or to become a part of something.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
That's a great way to look at that, Okay, and.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
So it's still recruiting. Yeah. And first of all, the
Portabille's Leadership Academy has done a phenomenal job their mission.
They've stayed true to We bring in two hundred and
twenty five kids in June for the academy and we're
teaching leadership skills, we're teaching personal finance. We have a
(24:00):
great curriculum things that they aren't getting in their normal
high school. And if a child goes from the fourth
grade summer to the eleventh grade summer, we scholarship them
to Regis University. And so we have three fundraising events
in July. We have the gala that's been at the
Gay Lord for the past two years, and we'll be
back at the gay Lord this coming July July. The
(24:25):
academy is in June, and the gala's in July. And
then we have a couple of golf tournaments that we
put on the race.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
From You probably love that, don't you. Oh?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I love that. The only probably with the golf tournaments
is now I can't play. That's true. I used to
come out and be on the team and play, and
so now I'm just gonna they.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Got a glad hand everybody and recruit. That's right question
for somebody. Yeah, well, I think that's great, And it's
a and coach Porter. I mean, he's just a legend
as far as his coaching time with Regis and what
he's done in the community. So I know, you have
to find the right people when you have something that's
going that well. And obviously Chauncey's coaching at an NBA team,
(25:01):
so he can't be here all the time. So I
think it was brilliant for them to bring you in
and be a part of it.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Well, thank you, I've enjoyed it. It's something that is
near and dear to Chauncey's hard to coach. Porter's hard,
and it's near and dear to my heart. And again,
when you grow up the way we did, we want
to give back. We want to help young people realize
that their true ability and their true dreams. And so
(25:30):
thanks to the people that have contributed to PVLA, because
it is truly a worthwhile organization.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Absolutely so. How often you mentioned that you tell the
story about you growing up. I'm sure you told that
to players, but now you have an audience that really,
really probably resonates with that because it is a lot
of the kids that go to the leadership Academy or
in similar situations to how you grew up. Probably no question.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
And prior to coming back here to Colorado, I was
dean of students at a high school.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Oh wait, I miss that.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I can't stop working.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
That's right, I get that now.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
My wife says I had too many expensive hobbies to
stop working. But yeah, I was Dina Students at Lake
Oconee Academy in Greensboro, Georgia. And as a Dina students,
you're dealing with discipline K through twelve every day all day.
And one of the things that I tried to speak
with the teachers about is that there's some kids that
(26:31):
are going home and feeling no love in the home.
I get that, you know, And I share my story
with teachers as well about I ran away from home
in eleventh grade. I heard some very cruel things from
my grandmam, and so I knew she loved me, but
maybe I was bad. She was mad and she just
(26:53):
lashed out. But still, young people having to navigate some
of the things that they hear at home can be
very difficult. And I say, I'm only here by the
grace of God. I could have gone in either direction.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Yeah, And so for me, it's about sending the right
message to young people that you're okay and you can
you can do whatever it is you decide you want
to work hard to do.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yeah, and your grandma, there's no excuse for how you
treat people sometimes, but she probably did not plan on
raising two children.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
She didn't. She had raised her four and she didn't
plan on raising my sister and I yeah, so, but
as it turned out, things worked out for me. I
was able to buy a house at one point before
my god, she lived until she was one hundred and four. Whoa,
I'm hoping I have some of those genes.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, I think you do. I think you do. Like
I said, you look fantastic. Okay, So now let's go
back to your horse thing. Because you were asking me
as we walked in. You know, it's stock showtime right
now when we're recording this, and so you're asking about
the stock show. You've already gone once you're going again.
You love your horses and this event Colorado Mountain Shooting Club.
Did I get that right? Yes, Okay, tell me about that.
(28:08):
I've never heard of it before.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
So Cowboy Mounted Shooting. There is a club or two
in every state, just and Colorado has two clubs. And
one of the first things I did when I came
back and got an apartment in June was to go
on the website and see when there was a local
shoot happening here in Colorado. And I actually went to
(28:32):
see an event a few months ago, and so it's
it's just a passion of mine.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
But you don't just watch it.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
You do it.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
You showed me some pictures and you're on a horse
doing it, so explain to compete.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
It's so you're riding as fast as you can. You
have two single action revolvers, because back in the Western
days the guns were single action. You had to cockpool cockpool.
When I first started, you had to address period correct
and then you had a handle or name. And my
handle is the Baptist. Love it and and my guns
(29:09):
are engraved with the Baptists on them. And so but
it's a rush, it really is. I like the game.
I love the horses. And even at the academy back
in Georgia, I would take young students out and just
teach him about grooming a horse, picking a horse's foot.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
There's a thing to eat, quine therapy. That is a thing,
no question. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
And there's so many kids growing up that have a fear,
and not just kids, but adults have fears of horses too.
And the fear is not unfounded. It's based on their
lack of information and knowledge about a horse. Most people,
the first thing is say don't walk behind that horse.
I hear parents tell their kids all the time, and
I explained to him, you can walk behind most horses
(29:53):
as long as that horse is not asleep and you
startle him, then they might kick out. But a horse
that's aware of where you are shouldn't kick just because
you walk behind it.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
And there's also they can sense fear right making sense fear.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
But what that fear does is it makes them nervous. Yeah,
So when they sense that you're fearful of something, they're
wondering what's going on? Should I be scared to you?
And they are fight or flight animals, and so their
first instinct is to take flight.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Okay. So when you're on the horse, and you've got
the two revolvers, so you have the reins and the
revolvers in your hands at the same time.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
While you're writing, you have the reins in one hand,
and that being a right handed person, you would have
your reins in your left hand. Okay, and shoot what
you're right and there may be a cross shot or
a strong shot. Strong shot will be on your right side,
a cross shot would be on your left and again
there are over one hundred patterns you don't know which
pattern you're going to run until shoot. You have ten
(30:54):
targets air balloons and some high, some low. There may
be one barrel or two three barrels. In a pattern,
you have to do a gun change. And so five
balloons would be of one color and another five would
be another. And so once you shoot those and sequenced,
then you hosted that gun. If you drop the gun,
it's a sixty second time. And so a pattern might
(31:18):
be some patterns. Maybe a good time would be twelve seconds.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Oh man, that fast?
Speaker 1 (31:27):
That fast you're running and you have to ride fast
and shoot clean?
Speaker 2 (31:30):
How fast are you riding? How fast is the horse going?
Do you know? Have you clocked it?
Speaker 1 (31:34):
No? It just depends on the pattern. Okay, that makes
And it depends on how fast you can ride, Yeah,
and maintain your seat.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Well and then also be able to shoot at something accurately.
That would be hard while writing something.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
It is. It takes a lot of practice. It takes
a great horse, because horses are fearful of just about everything.
If you walk the horse and he year a hundred
times in this studio a hundred times, and they became
familiar with it. But then all of a sudden. You
put a napkin on the floor, that horse would be
afraid of that napkin to come in interesting and you'd
(32:11):
have to push that horse through that. So you have
to have a really good horse. Most of them wear earplugs,
they do, They wear ear plugs. Oh, so it's the
noise that they have to get past. It's the smoke
and the fire coming from the barrel of the gun
that they see. Most people ask the question, well, what
about shooting someone in the stands. It's just a crimpshale
(32:33):
with enough powder. O.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
I did wonder about that too, Yeah, yeah, what about
the crowd?
Speaker 1 (32:39):
No, yeah, there's nothing that can go out into the ground.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Okay, so horses are not And I don't know enough
about horses, but you know what we see and you
said you grow loving Westerns, you know, and I just
watched Yellowstone and so. But they're not used to having
someone on them shooting at the same time and being
in like battles. That's not so you really have to
would have to get a horse used to doing something
like that, or they're going to they're going to freak out, right.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
You're going to blow up, right, And it takes about
thirty days to know if your horse will take to
the gunfight. Okay, not every horse will. I'm sure you
probably can get most to tolerate it, and not every
horse loves the game. And so the horse is the
main thing that has to be right. You have to
(33:23):
get really a good horse.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
So before you bought your horses, did you know they
were good at the game?
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I didn't. There's no way to know, there's not. So
I bought the horse again. I was in Illinois and
had the horse shipped to Galena, Missouri. There's a trainer there.
Speaking expenses, yeah, yeah, because I at the time I
didn't have a truck. I didn't have a trailer, so
I had to have it ship to hip the horse.
(33:49):
And then I had to get an airline ticket and
meet the horse there and arranged for the training.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
And h wow, where are the horses now?
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Then, Georgia. I just I went to get them when
I first came out to Colorado again. I took them
to Galena, Missouri so that they could stay ridden and
not just become pastor ornaments. And so that's an expense
of someone riding and training your horse. But the day
after Christmas, I left Georgia and drove thirteen hours to
(34:21):
go get my horses and bring them back and wow,
they're at home now.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yeah, okay, will they ever come out here?
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I had him here when I was with Rodney Billups
twenty sixteen to twenty nineteen. I had my horses here
and actually he and his wife on a horse and
some of their friends for the first time and had
some great pictures of their riding.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Yeah, oh that's great. That is really cool. Okay. And
then just catching up family wise, how are kids and
everybody doing?
Speaker 1 (34:46):
And two sons. Ricardo is the oldest. He's thirty seven,
and when COVID hit, he could move anywhere. He was
in New York and so he elected to move the Boulder. Okay,
then you changed jobs and so now he's in Denver
doing well working for Salesforce.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Good.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
And Michael, my youngest, who actually played for me at
Northern Illinois, just got a huge promotion.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
With a DP Okay payroll, Yeah that's who we use.
Actually I get emails from.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah. Yeah, So he's in management. Michael's in management and
just got a huge promotion. Had to leave Georgia and
go to New Jersey. But both boys are doing fine.
My wife is still back home. She's a goddess counselor
at L. Coconne Academy there, and so that's great.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Any grandkids, No grandkids.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Boys have girlfriends, but I don't. I don't know if
they even use any words to start with m like marriage.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
That generation is a little different, right, they are at different.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
And we've modeled forty five.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Oh got marriage, You've made a perfect model.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yeah. So but no, no grandkids.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Okay, that's all right, all right, very good. Okay, So
as we wrap this up for Cardon, this has been great.
I got a great education on horses that I had
no idea I was going to learn about today. But
you've had lots of, you know, ups and downs throughout
your whole life, starting from nine months old on. So
what do you kind of in a nutshell tell people
when they are going through a tough time of just
how to pick themselves back up keep moving forward, knowing
(36:20):
that there's more beyond this this bad time right now?
Speaker 1 (36:23):
You know. I think one of the things I believe
personally is that you have to have a great faith.
And I grew up with a great faith in God
and prayed for everything. One of the things that kept
me away from smoking and drinking as a child was
I had made an agreement with God in middle school
that if he would allow me to be successful in basketball,
(36:44):
I would stay away from drugs. And I hung out
with guys that smoke, that drink and I never did
and I could always say no, and they would offer
it to me, but I could always say no. They
never knew why I said no, But it was because
of this agreement that I made with God. And now
I tell people, is I meant I wanted to play
in the NBA, But I guess I wasn't specific enough
(37:05):
with God.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
His success and your success for two different kinds of successes.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
But if you think about it, the success I've had,
it's been through basketball, and.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Yeah. So, and even going to Vanderbilt, there was no
rhyme or reason why Jerry Stackhouse should have hired me
at the time. And when I was with Rodney du
I started to ask myself the question if my father died,
would I go to the funeral. So the first couple
of years, I said, you know, I don't know. I might.
We haven't spoken in several years, and I don't really
(37:41):
have anything, no closure that I'm trying to see. But
the last year I was here, in twenty nineteen, I
told myself that I wouldn't go. No, I probably won't go.
It won't spend the money, won't take the time. We
haven't spoken again in many years. And so then I
get the job at Vanderbilt. Father's dying and he asked
(38:02):
to see my sister and I the son that he raised,
ended up calling us and asking us to come by,
and so we did, and my father was eighty dying
of throat cancer, still smoking. Was just a tough He
was just a tough guy, but a mean guy. But
two weeks later he was dead. We took one picture
(38:24):
my sister and I am with him, and the video
that showed in the at the funeral had this one picture.
My sister has taken our childhood a little tougher than
I have, because again, she didn't play sports, she didn't
have anything to take her away from right from how
we grew up. But I was glad that I went
to the funeral, and I believe that that job had
(38:47):
vandy built. When I said that I wouldn't go, God said,
yes you will. And I'm so thankful that I did.
And so what I would say to people or young
people growing up or anyone that's going through some struggles,
One have someone hired in yourself that you look up
to for help and for guidance and belief, believe in
(39:09):
something hired in yourselves, and just be willing to try
to outwork the next person. I guess if I have
any gift, that has always been my gift is just
trying to outwork the next person. If you're willing to
do that, I think you got a chance to make it.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
It's worked out pretty well for you.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Well it has.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Thank Yeah, what great advice. Hey, this was so much fun, Coach.
I appreciate you coming in and I'm excited that you're back.
Like I said, as the executive director of PVLA, I
think it's great and I think you can do a
lot of really good work with them.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
And well, thank you, like.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
I said, smart, smart of them to bring you in.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Well appreciate It'll be good. Yeah, I'm enjoying it and
I'll look to be.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Around for a while, all right, perfect, Thanks coach, Thank you.
Thanks Ricardo. New episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired are
released on Tuesdays on nearly every podcas platform. Please follow, download,
and review this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. You
can get social and find out about new episodes on
Twitter and Instagram at ctfur podcast and check out the
(40:11):
website ctfurpodcast dot com. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. To
learn more about me, visit susiewargin dot com. Thank you
again for listening, and until next time, please be careful,
be safe, and be kind. Take care
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