October 30, 2025 • 51 mins
🎙 Quentin Acree: Toughness Together — The Christopher Newport Standard
This week on the Significant Coaching Podcast, Matt Rogers sits down with Quentin Acree, Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Christopher Newport University
— one of the premier programs in all of Division III basketball.
Coach Q shares how CNU’s championship culture is built on humility, accountability, and daily consistency. From practice habits to personal growth, he reminds coaches everywhere that great programs grow great people first.
Matt also gives a special shoutout to RIT Men’s Basketball Coach — and Significant Coaching family member — Dominic Parker for introducing him to Coach Q, highlighting how strong relationships within the coaching community create opportunities for learning and growth.
And don’t miss this week’s blog at CoachMattRogers.com, where Matt breaks down what NIL really means — and how it’s impacting families, coaches, and universities across every level of college sports.
👉 Subscribe for free at CoachMattRogers.com for weekly coaching and recruiting tips, early NCAA updates, and exclusive previews of new books, tools, and schools to connect with — all designed to help you grow your program and your people with significance.
Learn more and connect with Matt Rogers here: https://linktr.ee/coachmattrogers
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Welcome back to The SignificantCoaching Podcast.
I'm your host, Matt Rogers.
Today we're heading to one ofthe premier programs in all of
Division three basketball,Christopher Newport University,
home of the 2023 NationalChampions, and a model for what
great leadership and culturelook like in college athletics.
My guest is assistant men'sbasketball coach Quentin Acre,
(00:32):
or as most know him, coach Q.
Coach Q is one of those risingstars in the profession,
thoughtful, grounded, and deeplyintentional about how he leads.
He doesn't just coachbasketball, he coaches people.
He's teaching players how to beconsistent, how to be coachable,
and how to take ownership oftheir journey, both on and off
the court.
I wanna start by thanking our ITMen's basketball coach and
(00:55):
longtime significant coachingfamily member Dominic Parker for
connecting me with Coach q Dom.
I appreciate you, my friend.
You are absolutely right.
This conversation is exactlywhat this podcast was built for,
learning from great people wholead with both heart and
purpose.
That's Coach Q.
If you enjoy theseconversations.
Do me a quick favor, favoritelike, and leave a comment
(01:17):
wherever you're listing.
It really helps more coaches andfamilies find the show.
And don't forget to subscribefor free@coachmattrogers.com,
where you'll get access to myweekly newsletter, exclusive
coaching and recruiting tips,early updates on NCAA rules and
recruiting changes, and firstlooks at new books, resources
and programs to help you connectwith the right schools and
(01:40):
coaches.
Also, check out this week's blogwhere I break down what NIL
really means and how it'simpacting families, coaches, and
universities at every level ofcollege sports.
Now let's get to it.
Here's my conversation withChristopher Newport, university
assistant men's basketballcoach, Quentin Acry, coach QI.
(02:01):
Coach q, and I'm gonna say yourname so everybody knows who you
are.
I know the players call youCoach Q, but Quentin Acree, you
are a rising star in our game,my friend.
So I'm thrilled to have you on.
I'm thrilled to pick your brain.
Tell me a little bit.
About some of the lessons you'velearned,'cause you got your own
hall of fame.
Coach K you work for Yeah.
(02:22):
Coach Korian.
Tell me some of the thingsyou've learned from being a part
of the Christopher Newportprogram.
Coming from Southern Virginia,which was a another D three
program to Christopher Newportnow under Coach KI think the
biggest thing that I learned isjust how much everything
matters.
Like people say everythingmatters, but when I got here,
(02:43):
like from knee.
Way we do walkthrough from theway we eat four hours before the
game every single time.
It's not a, it's anon-negotiable.
Like that matters to him.
Us, wearing the same shoes onthe bus when we travel, that
matters to him.
Having a basketball on the road,like even if we're not doing
anything, he always carries abasketball on the road for the
(03:06):
kids to have, it just matters tohim.
That's one thing that just likereally stuck out to me.
It's just like how much, what.
Some might say that's not eventhat deep or it is not
necessary.
It matters when it comes to themessages.
He's trying to send the,everything that he does just to
stack up when it comes to gamedays, preparation and things
(03:27):
like that.
Every single thing matters.
And that was just veryeyeopening coming from coming to
this program and under Coach K.
So what are you taking that.
To yourself.
When you get your first programand you're running your first
program, how much of this willyou take with you?
The one thing I would take isthe preparation on specifically
on the game days.
(03:47):
It didn't matter to me at first,but the four hours before.
Like after him explaining it,needing time for the food to
digest, it has a proper time forit to actually fully digest,
showing up to the gym an hourand 45 minutes before, not a
minute before or a minute after.
I do think those are some thingsthat like they always stick with
me, that I truly believe I'mgonna be able to take to
(04:08):
whenever I do have my ownprogram.
Because it's like things thatlike nobody ever thinks of, but
it stuck out to me so much thatI was like, ingrained into
myself.
Like when I'm doing the travelstuff, when I'm doing those
things like that, as a headcoach, if I get that
opportunity, I do truly feellike those little things will
carry on into my program.
So I, I remember going throughthat and I know I, you and I
(04:30):
talked I was a head collegecoach at 26.
You wanna talk about wet behindthe ears and over my heels and,
it took me a year of getting mybutt kicked.
Greatest lessons there.
Yeah.
And it was like, alright, thisisn't what I thought it was
gonna be.
This is a lot harder than ithas, than I thought it was gonna
be, and I have to start workingsmarter.
(04:51):
So those are the things you justdevelop as a coach once you get
in there.
I remember losing my first gameby 50 points.
There was a Hall of Fame coachat Hanover College.
They were ranked, they're alwaysranked in the top five in the
country at that point.
And I don't think they had a guyover six five.
I don't think they had anybodythat was just a great athlete.
(05:13):
They just beat us updefensively.
They gave you nothing.
They blocked five guys out everytrip on offense, and I know
that's how you guys run yourprogram.
It's just Oh, yes.
Yeah.
When it comes to that defensiveside of the ball, like that's a
bread and butter right here.
I like to characterize it as adefensive school that can score.
Yeah.
We are not the other way around.
(05:34):
We are a defensive school thatso happen to be able to score
the basketball sometimes, soYeah.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
Watching you guys play it isjust I, I watch a game, I'm
like, how would I attack this?
I'd have to move you, I'd haveto move your guys so much.
And there'd have to be so muchball movement to get consistent
scoring that, it's, and then.
(05:54):
Are we tough enough?
Even if we have a good offensivestuff, are we tough enough to
play 40 minutes with you?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love it.
A hundred percent.
That's our, toughing together isour two pillars, like the
backbone of what it is.
So like the toughness thing islike that's what we're gonna
bring no matter what on it on anightly basis.
For sure.
We don't bring anything else.
(06:14):
We're gonna bring a dog fight.
We're gonna bring a dog fight.
Yeah.
When did you know you wanted tobe a coach?
I think I always knew a littlebit going through high school
and stuff like that I didn'tplay as much.
I'm super short, super little,not the greatest athletic, but I
love basketball.
But one thing I always like.
Cater to is I knew every playfrom every position.
(06:35):
I used to talk to the highschool coach about, Hey, I think
we should do this, we should dothat.
Not really understanding it.
Back then, what I was doing, Ijust wanted to contribute, felt
like I was contributing'cause Iwasn't scoring baskets, but then
I would say truly probably aftermy sophomore year of college
basketball, because it wasCOVID, so my sophomore year was
1920.
At the end of that 20 yearseason is when COVID hit.
(06:56):
We didn't make the NCAAtournament, so it got canceled.
So we come back to school thenext year.
That COVID year didn't count.
Everybody's playing like six,these little scrimmages or
whatever.
And I just my, the head coach atthat time, which is Adam
Wardenberg, who really helped memake the transition from player
to coach at Southern Virginia.
He came into the locker room oneday with this little scrimmage
(07:18):
at St.
Mary's in Maryland.
I remember it.
He was like.
I never told anybody this.
He's dressed in a team in alocker room.
At the end, he's I never toldanybody this, but Coach Q's
gonna, he said he didn't sayCoach Q.
He said, Q is gonna make a greatcoach.
He's I hear him on the sideline,like he's knowing the plays
before everybody else.
He's you guys should definitelyjust take in what he's saying,
listen to him et cetera.
(07:39):
And then from that point I waslike, maybe I should take it,
serious.
So after that COVID year, Icould have came back and had two
more years.
I didn't even play after thatanymore.
I just transitioned right intoan a student assistant with the,
my head coach, Adam Waterberg atthe time.
He asked me, was able to makethat transition.
And then from there just been.
Hitting the ground running inthe business, that's awesome.
(08:00):
It's such a familiar story.
One of my former players almosttook the same path as you did.
Oliver Weissman.
He's the head women's coach atBenedictine now.
Oh, nice.
Oliver played for me for a year.
Second year I went to him andsaid, I don't know how much I'm
gonna play you, but you're sucha great part of this team.
You're so fricking smart and yousee the game.
How about you and I startworking on your coaching career?
(08:23):
I'll give you a choice if youwanna play, I still want you in
the program, but if you wanna bea coach, I'd love to start
getting going there.
So I love that you had a coachthat literally carbon copy,
probably conversation.
Yeah.
Quite literally a carbon copyonce you're part of the program
still, obviously I wanted tostill feel, like I was making an
impact further than just mescoring, which I wasn't playing
much.
So once he made that, thatoffer, I guess I was like, you
(08:45):
know what I might as well justdo it.
Good for you, man.
At what point did you know, Iwanna stay in the college game?
I'm gonna, I'm gonna go thatpath and try and get myself an
assistant job.
Since I like,'cause from aplayer to the student assistant,
I was already in college, I justfell in love with the D three
specifically that realm.
(09:06):
And me being like, I'm a collegebasketball junkie.
Like I really don't care aboutthe NBA.
So I love college basketball andthe coaches and the teams and
things like that.
So like I always knew college iswhere I want to be.
And then now as the years havegone entering my fifth year, so
it's not a lot of years, but mypatience is not the greatest.
So I was like, dealing with highschool probably won't be the,
(09:28):
won't be the greatest.
I do.
Commend all those high schoolcoaches out there because you
have tremendous patience and youhave to really sit down and do
some things.
So like I just feel like collegeis that, that good medium for me
where I got, I can potentiallyget some really good players,
but knowing that I still have arole in teaching them the game.
Yeah.
And not having to lose my mindtimes 20 versus just losing my
(09:51):
mind regularly.
Being a high school basketballcoach is definitely a special
skillset, lemme tell you.
Yes.
Facts.
I wanna talk about the, wheredivision three is right now and
you've got such greatperspective'cause you were a
player, a student assistant, nowassistant coach in a very short
amount of time.
(10:12):
What are still some of thosegreat things about being a D
three athlete that you subscribeto and promote to kids that
think they wanna play higher?
Yeah, the best thing for meabout being a D three athlete is
like you still get to be astudent, in my opinion.
I think when you get to thescholarship level, there's so
(10:35):
much going on that is sportrelated that you don't really
get the time, in my opinion, tobe a college student.
To have that experience, likefor us, like we like to say,
like we, we demand three hoursof your time.
Is for practice, film, all thatis within those three hours, but
outside of those three hours,they're able to go do other
(10:55):
things.
They're able to be with eachother, experience college, just
outside of just listening to ourvoices all the time.
I don't particularly think youget that a lot when it comes to
the scholarship level becauseessentially, they're paying you
to do a job like you'rebasically, you know what I'm
saying?
That's essentially what it is.
They're paying you to be there.
As when they say, as much asthey say D three is not like
(11:17):
that, like you still get thehigh level competitiveness,
competed at a high level.
There's many D threes that canbe D ones, whatever the case may
be.
But if you enjoy that, obviouslythe academic side of it and just
wanting to be a student, like Ithink that's the best, you get
the best of both worlds when itcomes to the division three.
And I like I, I really hope thata lot of people choose
experience just over.
(11:38):
I'm a D two athlete or I'm a Done Hey, congratulations that
you're the 15th man onindividual one team.
But you can play at a high leveland still be a really good,
college person and have thatgreat experience.
Yeah.
I don't know if I've ever met aD one guy that sat at the end of
the bench or gal that didn'thave a little regret about not
(11:59):
seeing how good they could havebeen at a lower level.
I don't think I've ever metanybody.
Said, yeah.
I love being the 15th man.
Love that.
I never gotta to see the courtfacts.
Like I, I don't and we, us beingat Christopher Newport,
truthfully we deal with fringescholarship players like we have
to do to maintain the level thatwe're at.
So like we have thoseconversations, we have lost kids
(12:20):
that wanted the title of, beingat a higher level.
And we've had some come backeven on that championship year,
I was not here.
But there was an individual byMatt Brody really good
basketball player coming out ofVirginia.
He went to JMU, didn't like hisexperience.
Yep.
He was one, he didn't play thatmuch, didn't like his experience
there at JMU.
(12:40):
That big school came back toseeing UD three, got to do his
thing and he won in nationalchampionship.
So like you see it, I think nowwith those guys, especially UAA
schools, there's a lot ofdivision ones that are now
coming.
To be a Division three athlete,not only to continue to play at
a high level, but they valuingthe academic side of it.
(13:01):
They're valuing that experienceof just being a student at these
schools.
And I love it.
I just think it's, it is a veryimportant level that we're at
and.
I just hope that everybodyreally, truly consider what what
it really means to be a d threeathlete.
It's pretty great.
I took it for granted, 30 yearsago when I was a D three athlete
and I wish I'd go back and shakethat kid a little bit and knock
some sense into him about howcool it is just to be a part of
(13:23):
that team and to have thatjersey and be a part of that
program and the community thatcomes with it.
It's really special.
Talk about the realities ofplaying at CNU.
What do you need to get yourguys' attention?
We're gonna talk recruitinglater, but I'm really intrigued
to see, hear.
What does it take to be a highlevel division three basketball
(13:47):
player?
Number one is obviously skillfor sure.
But I think that's the easy partof it.
But more specifically when itcomes to seeing you like.
Tough and together isn't just amotto that we like to say or put
on a t-shirt.
Like you have to be tough toplay, not only here, but I think
at any high level of basketball.
And I think that's a kind ofwhat we're losing a little bit
(14:10):
in this generation of recruitscoming up.
And I don't just mean, flyingaround getting every like that
goes into it, but like themental toughness.
And the focus to do things likeyou have to have it every single
day.
Like I, I already explained, wevalue three hours a day, like
for that three hours a day.
You have to have thick skin, youhave to want to be coached, and
(14:31):
you have to want to get better.
It's different between showingup, playing hard, and showing up
and competing, like those aretwo totally.
Sides of the spectrum.
And I think to be at this level,to be elite at CNU, like you
have to have the ultimatetoughness and the ultimate level
of focus to, to know that you'recoming in every day doing
something not for you.
(14:52):
Everybody see the banners, wesee all this stuff.
But like for Coach Kspecifically, it's about laying
the groundwork for those four,those guys that are coming here
the next four years.
So those are the big two thingsI would say.
Huge.
It's huge.
How do we get that 15, 16,17-year-old to understand.
The, what that toughness reallymeans.
(15:14):
How do we get them prepared togo on this journey?
Or do they, they have to getthere and suffer through it like
all freshmen do and learn thehard way.
Or is there a way they can startdeveloping some of those things
now?
I think it's a two way.
I think yes, they're gonna haveto go through it no matter how
prepared you think you are inhigh school.
Getting to the next level isalways gonna be a different
(15:34):
level of whatever it is.
But I do think right now it'sjust so much of these kids are
just getting fed what, how goodthey are.
I just don't.
Necessarily think that's superproper.
Like obviously you don't want tokill a kid's confidence, but you
want to get them through thereality of what it is because
they are good high schoolplayers.
(15:56):
But once you get to the nextlevel, like you're only gonna
just be a another player.
There's gonna be other goodplayers there.
Yeah.
So how can you separateyourself?
I don't think that's beingexplained.
A lot nowadays is thoseseparators versus just oh, you
already, you're a good player.
You already got it.
You don't got it.
You got a little bit of it, butyou, there's always more that
you can do.
And I think that mentaltoughness, that focus, like
(16:18):
those are the edges that reallymakes good players, great
players, it has little to dowith the skill that you possess.
I, I think a lot of times it'sjust the family listening to
people who are unqualified.
If you haven't coached at the Dthree level, the NAI level, the
D two level, the D one level,and you haven't done it for 80,
90 practices in a season, andyou know what?
(16:40):
Weight training and nutritionand classes and travel, all that
goes into it.
It's not just, can you dribblein, can you shoot and play
defense?
I think it's just so many peopleare listening to the wrong
people.
Yes.
It's not, what are they saying?
It's just who are you listeningto?
Yep.
Who told you're great.
Your teammate's, dentist,father, and everybody has their
(17:02):
own opinions.
Everybody has something to sayabout, like you said, that's
never been there.
That's different.
Like you gotta know, and that'swhat's like big for us just in
the recruiting process is thathonesty, that transparency for
what it is to be at an elitelevel here.
Yeah, it's obviously differentin different programs, but like
honestly at the elite level ofthese programs, there's three or
(17:23):
four qualities that are theabsolute same, so you have to
have those in order to be great.
And I think some of the thingsthat families don't understand
is if you go.
I'd love to come to yourpractice at some point, but I
just have an idea of what yourpractices look like based on
what?
I watch your games.
Yeah.
There's no making a bucket andlooking at the crowd and then
(17:45):
walking back.
You're sprinting back.
Every possession, you'resprinting up the floor.
Every offensive possession.
There's no, I'm on the floor foreight minutes and four of it.
I'm working hard and four of it,I'm not.
And you can get away with thatwith a u.
You can get away with that in alot of high school programs.
Hundred percent.
But you wanna go play to CNU.
Whoa.
(18:05):
You better have every, there'sno, there's not even a, oh, I
want to practice today.
I don't wanna, I don't feel goodtoday, or I don't feel like,
don't.
No, the competit, thecompetitiveness of elite college
basketball players, they bringit every single day.
You have to be a player that canwithstand that every single day.
That can bring that focus, thatcan go through that grind every
(18:26):
single day.
And that's on top of the stuffyou mentioned.
Yep.
Like training, nutrition,academics, all that stuff that
we don't even get into thatmuch, but hey, you gotta bring
it every day.
I've heard the rumors that CoachK is just a real sweetheart.
The greatest sweetheart ever.
Yes, he's, but he's not afraidto say what he's feeling and see
(18:49):
it, I've heard.
A hundred percent.
And I think that truth is whatplayers need, though.
That's right.
It brings the best out of you.
Yeah.
And you, like you said, you'vesaid this a couple times, you've
got to want to be coached.
And part of that is hearing somethings that you didn't want to
hear or maybe different thanwhat you think, right?
Take me into practice.
'cause we have a lot of highschool coaches that listen to
this and we have a lot ofcollege coaches that listen to
(19:10):
it, but I think it's reallygreat when a high school coach
gets to hear from a collegecoach.
What does, when you look at yourtwo and a half, three hour
practice, whatever you guys aredoing, I'm sure weight training
and nutrition and stuff are apart of that.
Three hours a lot of times andPIOs and that kind of stuff.
What does an average drill, howlong does that last?
(19:33):
So ours is set up, we got likepre-practice and then regular
practice or pre-practice is justlike what we're focusing on that
day specifically.
We go 60 to 70%, then we stretchand then we go into our
practice.
But like in terms of drills,it's not a lot of time because
the efficiency of our practice,like we only got three hours,
right?
So we have to be very efficientwith what we do.
So there's not a lot ofrepeating, I would say that.
(19:55):
Yeah, but it's a lot of playerled explaining things that some
player on the sideline may havenot gotten.
Just so we're able to move on.
I think the biggest thing thatyou, anybody will take away from
our practice, and I believe likehigh school coaches to continue
to make your team better, isthat you have to make almost
everything competitive.
That's right.
Whether it's a drill that you'rejust trying to teach, how to,
(20:15):
for example, us, how we guardball screens, we'll go over it,
we'll walk through it maybetwice.
Now it's competitive now.
Now they're learning.
Yep.
Now we're playing three V three.
We're playing two V two.
So now not only are theyobviously applying what we just
taught them, but they gotta doit in real, like real time, real
action is easy to just to walkthrough it.
So we make every single thingcompetitives.
(20:38):
Let's talk about, let's talkabout ball screens, because I
could talk to you an hour aboutball screen defense.
Yep.
Are you guys hard and fast onone way, or are you changing it
up depending on who you'replaying against?
We go into the game the sameway.
Okay.
No matter what.
So we're, no matter if they'vegot six guys that can shoot it
or uhhuh they got to at leastthree stem start at least.
What's that?
Yeah.
To start at least.
(20:59):
Okay.
So we you'll let down.
Yeah.
So his foundation is dropcoverage.
Yeah, like that's, that is his,yes, we play drop coverage.
Everybody in the country knowswe're gonna play drop coverage.
We go over the top of screens,et cetera.
Now, if we have a player, whichin my years that we have been
here, we had maybe two or threethat can come off that ball
screen and really do somethings, hit the dribble, pull up
can.
(21:19):
Put us in jail basically.
Yeah.
Then from there, coach K does anamazing job of, alright, we're
not going to obviously standhere and let him kill us the
whole game.
We're gonna make thoseadjustments and he puts us in
environments in practice we'lldo two minutes of this defense,
then we'll do two minutes of adifferent defense where we'll
just keep switching.
Keep switching.
Just so once they get into thegame, if we do have to make an
(21:40):
adjustment.
Yeah.
Our players have already knownhow to do that on the fly.
That's the great thing aboutgoing over top and pushing that
ball handler into space is youdon't see a lot of Jalen
Brunsons.
There's just not a lot of guyscome off that in a wonder
dribble, go up and knock down an18 footer consistently, or
(22:00):
bounce out and hit that 22footer.
So I, I love that approach andthat's how I was.
Do you hedge or do you guys stayflat?
We drop that, you drop offeverything.
Yeah.
We're gonna drop no matter whatbecause the mid-range for us we
strongly believe, and wedefinitely have, we're very
analytical program as well.
The mid-range shot is not thegreatest.
Yep.
When you go to our level,specifically at D three,
(22:22):
there's, like you said, there'snot many players that can just
come off too dribble.
Hit it at a 60% rate.
There is not.
So we would rather live withthat than anything else.
Absolutely.
I had this too.
There were four funnels on thefloor that we wanted every,
everybody's offense to go to.
'cause we knew analyticallythat's where the lowest
(22:42):
percentage was gonna be.
So it's just smart basketball.
A hundred percent.
What would you say, eight to 10minutes a drill.
Yeah.
Or less.
Yeah, probably.
Yeah.
It's probably like seven.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Probably yeah, seven, eight, Iwould say seven, eight.
We get through things quicklyand then we, most I don't know
how many programs do, but weplay a lot more than we do
drills.
Yeah.
So we learned by playing.
(23:03):
That's by one regret.
I wish I, I wish we played morewhen I was coaching.
I,'cause I wanted to teach somuch and I want us to be really
technically sound and then.
We play a lot of three on three,a lot of four on four, but
getting up and down and playingfive on five, I wish I would've
done more of that.
If I ever go back to coach againwe'll probably scrimmage 45
(23:23):
minutes of practice.
Yeah, like we scrimmage.
Yeah.
Basically 40, yeah, 40, 45minutes.
That whole back half of practiceis all we'll learn by
scrimmaging.
We just do three minutesscrimmages, like just the best
way for him.
Do you guys break it up thescrimmages or do you really do a
lot of teaching in that firsthour and a half, and then try
and scrimmage as much as you canon the back end?
(23:44):
Correct?
Yeah we'll, whatever we aregoing, whatever our focus is.
We'll try to get that done outthe way real quick, and then
we'll play a lot and then teachthrough there, but we don't stop
it in the middle of thescrimmage.
We have a, we record ourpractices.
IPad, nothing crazy, but we gota TV that we can go back and
like some days we'll do threeminute scrimmage.
All right, go back and let's gothrough it real quick on two
(24:06):
times speed.
Obviously, we ain't got the timejust to be sitting there
watching go on two times speedand just go over like, all
right, you made a mistake here.
Let's how we gonna fix this?
And then have them go playagain.
Because playing through them, atleast for our group, like them
playing through their mistakeversus being such a drill heavy
team.
It's just been vastly better forthis, especially nowadays.
Like it's just vast better.
Oh yeah.
This age group, this generation,we have zero.
(24:27):
They need to learn on the fly.
Yep.
I want to talk a little bitabout your scrimmaging a little
bit more.
Heard three minutes.
What's the longest you'llscrimmage in one stretch.
We go three minutes.
Now we go three minutes.
Before that has something to dowith our substitutions.
So we always go three minutesfor them to play as hard as they
can in those three minutes.
(24:47):
But before, I mean we used to,we did inner squad scrimmages
like a whole game before we'vedone that, invited reps to come
and do that.
That's big five minutes, but wenever go, if it's just us.
And the coaches are reffing.
Four minutes is max.
'cause it goes to the mediatimeout.
Like it doesn't, it's notbeneficial in our opinion for
them to go 10 minute scrimmage.
Because see I was co I wascoaching four media timeouts
(25:08):
really got, became big indivision three and now it's
pretty consistent.
So we would practice and I wouldrotate five out.
'cause I'd run two teams offives and we just try and run
teams off the floor.
Yep.
Because we weren't gonna get abreak in four minutes like you
guys are getting what does thatrotation look like for you guys?
How do you tackle that to keepguys fresh?
(25:29):
And what's the philosophy onhelping guys get into a rhythm
or guys playing together?
What does that look like fromyour guys' perspective?
I wish we knew our rotationright now.
That'd be great.
One of the questions.
Yeah.
It's still early.
So one of the question you got ascrimmage what end of the week?
Yeah.
Saturday versus Shaan.
We just scrimmaged this pastFriday.
And we have a scrimmage versusshaan like exhibition.
(25:50):
It's open exhibition didn't getthe answers you were hoping for
in the first scrimmage.
No, sir.
Did not.
I wish we did.
But we did not.
So I've been there.
Go back to the drawing board,today's practice.
And you mentioned earlierhearing stuff you didn't want to
hear.
Yeah.
Had a lot of that today, butyeah.
So in terms of the rotation,just keeping guys fresh.
I mean we, that's why we do thethree minutes right now.
(26:12):
We're just still trying tofigure out specifically is that
like for us right now, like wefound out that's enough time for
our guys to really make animpact.
Yeah.
And have them to actually playthrough mistakes.
Do some things like we play sofast, we have so many
possessions.
Like we play fast now.
Yeah.
The old CNU used to be, two bigson the floor at all times, three
out two ends, slower pace.
(26:34):
Now we're, we picked the tempoup times 50 comparative to what
it used to be when coach K firstgot here.
So we just found out like thatthree minutes is okay, they can
play you some mistakes.
They can have a chance to makeit up a little bit.
Yeah, get a little rhythm.
So that's why we are now at thethree minutes it's so funny
'cause Major League Baseball'skind of gotten that same
philosophy.
(26:55):
If you can get five innings outof a starting pitcher anymore.
You know that third time theygotta see batters.
Now all of a sudden that's wherethe trouble starts.
Yeah.
And it's what basketballplayers, they start getting
tired after three, three and ahalf, four minutes, and you
start getting drop off in theirenergy.
Stop getting drop off ondefense.
Yeah.
The rebounding.
(27:15):
So like that three minutes, likewe learn, like you can go all
out, you can for sure go all outin those three minutes and not
save anything.
And then That's right.
Figure out rotation from there.
So how do rotations work then?
Ideally, in a perfect world, youguys wanna play when you're
playing at that pace, whenyou're doing 80 to a hundred
possessions, how many guys aregonna see the floor in a game?
(27:38):
Minimum nine to 10 for sure.
Okay.
You're gonna have, you're gonnahave two minimum two rotations
somehow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We don't necessarily go five andfive, but there's gonna be 10
different basketball players atminimum on the basketball court
for sure.
I'm assuming you're trying toget a big off the floor faster
than everybody else.
Yeah, especially assuming foultrouble.
They're mostly the ones thatfoul, right?
(27:59):
So you gotta get them out.
'Cause we will start twoforwards not traditional
forwards.
One of'em is a traditional, oneof them is not.
And then we'll go, probably go alittle smaller with four
traditional guards than one postplayer.
You will?
Okay.
Yeah.
And then you can move a littlebit.
Yeah.
We got that's one thing aboutour team right now is we have so
many like pieces where like wehave a player that can play
(28:20):
point guard and could end up atthe quote unquote four.
That's amazing.
Fourth guard.
Yeah.
So we have that kind ofadaptability right now.
So we're, that's why ourrotation, we don't really like,
we're still trying to plug andfigure out Yeah.
Just exactly where they can bemost effective at.
Does coach like to pull a coupleguy, a couple starters off the
floor and put a couple benchguys in?
(28:41):
Yeah.
Mix'em.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then maybe your point guardand your shooting guard come off
together.
Your one and your three come offtogether at some point.
Yeah, I think the biggest thingis our point guard is probably
gonna be the last one to comeoff because that's the most
important for us.
He'll probably be the last onestarting point.
I'll probably be the last one tobe subbed.
But then, yeah, we'll go likethe five.
We'll always try to take outthat four, whoever the four man
(29:02):
is, whoever the four, outtafive.
Whoever's not playing well insome situations, or whoever's
tired the first.
If the five is tired, we'll takehim out and move the four down
to the five.
Yeah, put in another guard.
Try to increase the tempo now.
Yep.
When they're trying to playeight, nine minute rotations.
Correct.
'cause they're trying to play,they play like most teams play
like seven players.
Where we really feel like wehave that depth advantage this
(29:23):
year.
So we're gonna play with a lotof fun lineups, I think in our,
so I love that man.
There's nothing better.
Let's put five ballers on thefloor.
Yeah.
It's a good problem to haveright now.
Like we have, we got a lineupwhere we can put a six six
center out there.
That's right.
You gonna go from five 10 to sixsix and just let's play, let's
(29:43):
just hoop.
All right let's talk about whenyou wanna play fast.
Everybody's now trying to slowyou down.
So you have to then use yourdefense.
To create turnovers and to makethem have to play faster than
they want.
So what does that look like whenteams try and slow you down?
How do you get them movingfaster?
What are you trying to do on theother end?
(30:05):
When teams start slow us down,say it sucks for sure.
Yeah.
But one thing that we try to doand what we're gonna do more
this year is curate, like yousaid, curate those more
opportunities.
We don't necessarily turn teamsover'cause we're very sound
defense like we only average 12turn forced turnovers a game.
Still good, but not crazy.
Oh, the other team's onlyshooting 38, 30 9%, a hundred
(30:25):
percent.
So like we, that's tworebounding.
That's what we're gonna do.
Yeah.
But we just try, we're gonnastart putting in some stuff to
just force them to speed it up.
Yeah.
Not necessarily us trying tosteal the basketball or create
traps.
We're never gonna trap the ball.
Because we don't like puttingtwo on the ball and leaving a
three pointer open.
Yeah.
We're never gonna do that.
But we are gonna throw somestuff where it's just speeding
them up and maybe getting themoutta rhythm.
So instead of them running.
(30:47):
30 seconds off the shot clock.
'cause they wanna run, set up aplay.
Maybe they start running theiroffense with 12 seconds because
we sped'em up and doing somestuff.
And the point guard gotta comenow and get the ball back.
All that stuff.
We're trying to create that, notnecessarily turnovers, but just
like, all right, like we're notgonna sit here this whole time.
We're not gonna let you do whatyou want to do to get, yeah,
(31:07):
we're not gonna sit here thiswhole time for 30 seconds.
We'd rather sit here for 15seconds and now that's a less.
Time that you had on offense,but less time that we obviously
spent guarding for real.
So then we can go on the otherend.
What's that look like q Is thatforcing to a sideline?
Is that denial of a post entryor a wing?
What does that look like?
Yeah, it's more of us justgetting up into full court and
(31:28):
using our athleticism.
We got good size, goodathleticism it's just us getting
out.
Maybe we'll take out the pointguard and just let him figure
out how they're gonna do it.
Force their big man to dribbleup the court.
'Cause at most, like most foursand fives are not comfortable
even at our level dribbling upthe court because we've learned
and seen that everybody likes tojust have, get a point guard the
(31:48):
ball.
I let point guard the ball, comepoint guard, come get it, run
this play.
All that's right.
Let's try to take him out.
Let's force the big man todribble it up.
Maybe that wastes six secondsfor them trying to get the ball
across a half court in general.
Yeah, that's right.
So we try to mix some of thatstuff up and, figure it out from
there.
And hopefully we just guard for18 seconds now.
(32:10):
It's like taking the lead singerout of the band and making him
play the drums.
All of a sudden that band's notas good as it was when I got Oh,
yeah, a hundred percent right.
Or you try to come back.
It's not, it just don't soundthe same, just don't sound the
same.
Absolutely.
It's just making them do thingsthat they're not comfortable
with.
So I love that.
Just, it just, I gives megoosebumps thinking about all
that.
Ready to get back on thatsideline.
That's what it seemed like.
(32:30):
Geez, I gotta get these two kidsoutta my house before I gotta do
that.
But yeah I get excited havingthis conversation.
I always talked, I love talkingabout freshmen coming into
college and this is gonna beclose to your heart.
'cause people always ask me, howlong does it take for a freshman
to develop?
And I always thought as afour-year coach that if I could
(32:53):
get a kid 18 months into theircareer where they really
understood our defense.
Footwork pressure, the intensitywe're looking for.
I've done something good thatgets me two and a half years of
a pretty good ball player.
If I can get them there.
What do you see these kids,these young guys coming into
(33:15):
your program, how long does ittake for them to really accept
your teaching and your coaching?
I would say the whole year.
For sure the entire, it's gonnatake the entire year because of
just how detailed we are,especially on the defensive end.
Offensive for us is easy.
'cause we don't run plays, wehave no we just teach spacing
and how to make decisions inspace.
(33:37):
So that's still, intricate initself.
And that's hard.
It's a lot.
Yeah.
Even though it's very simple onpaper, it's still very intricate
in itself.
But it takes the whole year andlike for us, we are not a All
right.
Seniors have been here, so likeyou guys just do it and watch
the, now we throw the freshmanright into the fire.
Love it.
We mixed teams.
So like when we first startedthis year.
(33:59):
Freshman point guard starting toguard, start and center.
Like they're all mixed in withthe guys that have been here and
have played we're not doing theseniority thing or anything like
that.
So for them it's very hands-onand hectic at first because they
have zero clue what's going on.
They're just trying to learn byerror, which is what we like to
do.
We like to create thatenvironment.
(34:19):
So we got some that are.
Picking it up a little bit, butthen there's some that it's just
gonna take the whole year forthem to really understand what
we're trying to do.
And I wouldn't say, at least forour, from my experience, that
they're not trying to take thecoaching.
It's just that nobody teach.
Nobody, they just give the,right now in high school is, are
you the best player?
You have the ball, do whateveryou want.
(34:39):
That's it.
So there's no teaching.
What do you mean pass and cut,coach?
What?
What do you, what are you tryingto say?
Cut.
Where you want me to just floatover here and they're gonna
gimme the ball back?
Yep.
What do you mean don't run tothe ball?
Yeah, don't run to the ball.
Get out the way.
Please.
Move out the way.
You don't have to have the ballin your hand.
It's, what do you mean?
That's what I mean.
What do you mean rim line andget my butt flat.
What do you try to say there?
(35:00):
It's a lot.
It's, I tell kids all the time,just expect the first year.
Just go in and learn.
If you play great, if you pickthings up fast, great.
But just expect first yearyou're gonna get your hat taken
to you.
You're gonna get your, and ifyou come out of that with a
smile on your face and smarterand ready to go into next year
(35:21):
and put five, 10 pounds ofmuscle on you, you'll be going,
you're gonna start, you're gonnastart finding the reason why you
went there, but it's gonna takea year.
We had a freshman last year thatdid not play.
Yeah.
Probably played in nine games.
Yeah.
Come, turned the whole yearstruggled.
Had a good, pretty good summerand now this year he's in the
rotation top six.
Love it.
(35:42):
The sophomore jump like,'causehe just sat there.
He was like, all right, I'm notgonna play.
I just gotta absorb as much as Ican now.
I've had a whole summer applyingwhat I've learned.
And how it can help my game inturn to help the team.
But now you're in a bigger roleautomatically and that's just
good recruiting.
'cause at the end of the day,you feel good that you recruited
that kid.
Because they're all gonna be apain in the butt.
(36:02):
They're all gonna struggle,they're all gonna go through.
That woes me.
But if they can get to thatpoint and their freshman year,
they go, okay.
I'm just coming to practiceevery day.
Whatever happens.
Just I'm not gonna look at thescoreboard, man.
I'm just gonna, I'm just gonnago.
I get a uniform head down onteam, I'm still on the website.
Right, a hundred percent.
Put your head down and work.
You have that mentality.
(36:23):
You're gonna make it at a lot ofprograms.
That's right.
Talk to me about your olderguys.
You said you mix things up inpractices, so the freshmen are
intertwined with the older guys.
How do they handle.
The frustration of a kid that'snot getting it, yeah.
Coach, just let us play with thefive older guys.
Just let us play.
No.
You're gonna still have thosetwo freshmen.
(36:44):
How do your older guys handlethat?
As I mentioned earlier in thisepisode, it's coach K sold, like
player led and driven.
Yeah.
So as us as a staff, we don'teven care.
Like they're frustrated.
They're doing this, they'relike, he don't know what you
doing, whatever.
Because okay, are you going?
Yell to us or you're gonna havehim figure it out like you got
two options right now, right?
(37:04):
You gonna yell to us or you'regonna try to get him to a point
where he can at least still helpthe team do what they gotta do
in practice right now.
So like he is so big on playerempowerment from the players.
Like obviously as coaches we'regonna give it to him, we're
gonna tell'em what they need todo, but like he wants the
players to lead the playersbecause if you have a program
(37:25):
that is very player led.
Yep.
That has been his mostsuccessful years.
That is what he's built here.
That's the foundation he'sbuilt.
So like we just let him come.
Hey, complain all you want,y'all.
It is what it is.
I love it.
My, my best teams, the teamsthat went to the national
tournament and won conferencechampionships, I always had
seniors that would stoppractice, something be bad.
(37:47):
And they say, coach, I got this.
Yep.
And I could walk away, timeoutsend of the game, three seconds
on the clock.
I had guys that would say,coach, we need to run this.
This is what we need to runhere.
Let's do it.
You get to that point, you'rethat's what we, that's
definitely what we're continuingto build.
'Cause the last four years,those guys are out.
(38:07):
The national championship team,we have one left.
Yep.
So like now we're, it's, listen,this is what is required to be a
good team.
It can't just always come fromus.
Absolutely.
Don't get me wrong, QI only wentto the national tournament twice
in 13 years, so hey, that's twomore than a lot of coaches, so
you gotta, who's close?
You don't get thoseopportunities very often.
You don't get those teams thathave the ability to get there
(38:28):
very often.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Facts, yes, true.
Talk to me aboutnon-negotiables.
I know you guys have very, youexpect things from your guys.
They're just non-negotiablesthat you just won't deal with in
your program.
Are there expectations that youguys talk about that this is who
we are.
We're not gonna, we're gonna,we're gonna die on this hill.
(38:51):
This is who we are.
We're not gonna, we're not gonnabe any different.
We're gonna do it this way.
Yeah.
One big non-negotiable thatstarts with the recruiting.
Process is you cannot be in itfor the wrong reason.
And what we mean by that is weare a he is so team oriented.
Everything is about the team.
(39:11):
If you are about yourself, ifyou are about whatever your
parents think you are, if youare about trying to make it to
the league, we have players thathave tried to make it to the
league, go to the NBA, those arenon nego.
If we vet that out in therecruiting process it's done.
If we try to find that out, ifwe kind of sense that or find
that out during the year it willstart with a, we're not gonna
(39:32):
kick nobody off the team.
It'll start with a conversationabout buying into what we're
doing as a program.
If that does not change, thenyou are no longer a part of what
we are trying to build.
So that's the biggestnon-negotiable.
It's it's not about you, period.
No matter what.
It will never ever be about you,your stats, none of that.
And he does not deal with theparents.
Hey, my son isn't playing.
(39:53):
No it's a non-negotiable.
You are not coming up tocoaching staff.
You are not coming up to us.
You are not talking to us aboutthe pro.
It's about what we are doing tobuild the program, not what
we're doing to build littleJohnny.
That is not what we're trying todo here.
Do you think he can get awaywith that at the high school
level?
No, because the high schoollevel is I.
(40:14):
Yes, you have tryouts, so Iguess you get to pick a little
bit of your team, but I don'tknow, it's just different.
I can't even explain why it'sdifferent.
It's just like high school islike everybody has to play.
I feel like a little bit.
I don't know.
It's just different at highschool level.
'cause your parents are soinvolved.
They're young youngins, they'renot young adults at that point
either.
They're still young children, sothey probably don't really under
(40:36):
understand that aspect of iteither.
I think it's harder.
I don't think you can't do it.
I just think it's very difficultto have those messages and.
How much easier would our lifebe as college coaches if it was
happening at the 15, 16,17-year-old level where, oh,
talk to coach.
It would be good.
It would be a very easy vettingprocess.
(40:56):
A little bit.
Yeah.
I would say that we're preppingthem for what life is gonna be
like.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
You got a problem with yourplaying time.
There's only one guy you talk toand that's said, coach, you go
talk to coach.
Because he is the only one thatcan fix it.
Yes.
And I was always that point.
If I hear from your parents,this just tells me that you and
I don't have a good enoughrelationship.
The fact that you're not playingenough is that's where it
(41:19):
begins.
It ends.
If mom and dad have to talk foryou, then we got problem a
hundred percent.
And truth be told, those, if heeven gets to that point what
really is the indicator for us,I guess is can you look yourself
in the mirror and.
Understand why you're notplaying.
You know what I mean?
A lot of people complain aboutnot playing or the parents come,
Hey, why isn't we open practice?
(41:40):
Yeah, mom, if you want to cometo practice, you do coach, pay
open practice.
Open practice.
I had no idea.
Open practice.
If you would love to come upTexas, us, we will let you come
to a practice.
We will.
So you can see how he's doing.
See what he's doing.
See our, what we're doing.
If you notice how little Johnnyis not doing what we need to do
(42:03):
as a program, it's openpractice.
I'll tell you that.
How many take advantage of that?
Not a lot.
We'll say that.
I was gonna say that.
Not a lot that we have dealtwith.
I would say not a lot.
I would imagine the boys aresaying, mom, dad, no way.
This is, so if it gets to thatpoint now they're like, okay, I
got it.
Okay.
Just talk to me on why I'm notplaying.
(42:24):
Now they revert a little bit.
But yeah, see I was alwaysafraid to have open practices, I
didn't care if the ad wanted tocome in or high school coach
wanted to come in.
That was great.
But I had a problem with anybodyelse in my gym because I didn't
want one parent there.
And then maybe that week I movedthat.
(42:45):
Dad's son into the startinglineup might not have had
anything to do with that dadbeing there.
Oh, I did anything to show.
Didn't wanna show that.
Getting more attention.
Yep.
Yeah.
I didn't even ever want that tobe, even be, it just made my
skin crawl.
Yep.
So I think there's a lot ofcourage there, but I think Coach
K has been doing this longenough, he can get away with it
(43:05):
because it's like, all right,come to my practice.
But you're gonna see why likeyou said, you can see why
Johnny's not, see, yeah.
It is, it's apparent, yeah.
We I would say this Coach K isan amazing coach.
Like he's going to put.
The people on the floor,freshmen, senior, it doesn't
matter.
When I went to the Elite eight,my first year here, we had three
freshmen starting like it doesnot matter.
He's going to put those peopleon the floor who value seeing U
(43:28):
basketball.
Yeah.
Who's going to put seeing you ina position to win basketball?
It has nothing to do with theyear, has nothing to do with who
your parents are.
That's one thing that, likegoing through these years here
at Seeing U, that I'm just like,it does not matter.
The only thing that matters iswho was put in seeing U in a
position to help the program.
Yeah it's the right way, theonly way.
(43:50):
I love it.
Who's been the biggest coachinginfluence in your life?
That's a good question.
I would say who's got really gotme into coaching.
Pharrell is my high school coachwho I'm not even in contact with
anymore.
He doesn't even know.
One day I hope to return back toFlorida to sit down and talk to
him just about, the impact thathe's had on me.
But then since then, it's justbeen a whole plethora of, of a
(44:11):
family, I got Adam Denberg, whowas the head coach that I played
under and coached with.
Yeah.
Who's now the associate headcoach at Air Force, Dominic
Parker, who was the full-timeassistant at CNU when I was
part-time.
Yeah.
Who's the head coach at rt?
Obviously a member of thepodcast as well.
Yeah.
I got a lineage of former CNUSean Foley, who was at he's at
(44:33):
North Alabama now.
Yeah.
Got J Great.
J Jaron Dyson, associate headcoach at Army.
Yeah.
Logan Miller who Another podcastveteran.
Yep.
Another podcast.
Can you?
Yeah.
Logan Miller, who's Highland'shead coach.
Private school.
Really good.
He used to be assistant here atCU, it's cool.
It's just been a family in myopinion, and just everybody, I
(44:53):
just get information, absorbwhatever I can.
They've been really truthfullyhelpful to me.
Isn't great, just giving advicethrough all this.
So I would just say everybody'sbeen influencing me a lot when
it comes to that, and I just,I'm grateful that they're
willing to, gimme some time.
So exciting when coaches pass iton.
I love it.
What's your best advice for ayoung assistant trying to rise
(45:13):
in the profession?
I would just say you, you justgotta show up and be ready to
work.
I think a lot of people wantthe, what comes with being
assistant, at least at thedivision one level, nice was all
this good stuff whatever.
But to really be an assistantand to be a good one, like you,
you gotta show up every day andbe ready to work.
That was one of my best valuesthat even got me to move into
(45:34):
where I am.
Like nobody ever had to tell mewhat to do.
Yeah.
I see a job, I find solutionsfor my program, for my head
coach.
And I think if you're somebodythat can do that, it doesn't
matter where the journey willpotentially lead you, but like
you're gonna make a great impactwhere you are.
As long as you're making a greatimpact where you are, everything
else will take care of itself.
I literally never even talkabout what I'm gonna do head
(45:56):
coaching job or the nextassistant.
I have no care in the worldright now.
All I know is I'm at CNU.
I wanna do the best job I can tomake this program as best as I
can.
And whatever comes from that isgood.
But I show up every single day,same mindset, same time, and I
do the work here that, that isnecessary for us to be a good
program.
It's great advice and it'sobvious.
(46:16):
Q you embody that.
You embody the work ethic andthe character that a great
basketball coach has.
You, you've got it written allover you, my friend, that you're
well on your way.
Just keep doing that.
Truly appreciate that.
It's tell the kids.
Don't worry about thescoreboard.
You do your job scoreboard's.
Gonna take care of yourself.
Do your job.
Yes.
Do your job.
What leadership trait do youfeel like you're still working
(46:37):
on and you want to improve on?
I don't know about leadershiptrait, but one thing I still
want to improve on is just.
Being, even more vocal than whatI am and how to necessarily
deliver it in the right way.
Yeah.
'Cause as a coach, most coaches,they have frustrations, things
that bother them when it comesto the game of basketball, but
(46:57):
how you communicate that to aplayer.
Versus just openly, being superemotional, throwing at what I
call tantrums.
Yeah.
I think that's super important.
'cause the more, I don'tnecessarily, gotta be stoic or
whatever, but like the moreclear and composed and they know
that, alright, yes, we messed upon something here or whatever,
but coach knows I got you like.
(47:18):
Communicating that in a way thatthe player knows.
Like, all right, coach is here.
He gonna take care of it.
He gonna let us know exactlywhat we need to do, and we just
need to go do that.
I would say that's the biggestthing that I'm going to continue
to improve on.
And I think that Coach K has, heeven sat down and talked to me
about it this year.
He's gonna gimme moreopportunity and practice just.
Be that vocal leader to, towhoever I'm coaching in that
(47:39):
moment.
But that's the biggest thingthat I just wanna, I really
wanna harp on.
Great answer.
And it's great perspective,great introspection for you
there.
There's a, I'm gonna date myselfhere.
There's a great show from theearly two thousands, late
nineties called West Wing andthere's an episode where a
consultant is working with apresidential candidate and she
tells.
(48:00):
The guy that's working with him,he doesn't have his presidential
voice yet, and they're like,what the heck does that mean?
Yeah.
At the end of the day, it comesdown to authenticity.
You're speaking with conviction.
You say what you mean what yousay, but it's not coming from a
place where you're guessing.
It's coming from a place where,you know.
I can already hear it in you.
(48:21):
You've got it.
It's just believing in it.
It's believing that what youhave to say has value, and even
sometimes when you don't believeit, it's being able to sell it,
that this is important.
Yeah, a hundred percent right.
And there're being no doubt.
So that's it's, we all had to gothrough that.
Every coach that's ever coachhas to find that voice.
And it's tough when you're witha guy like Coach K who's been
(48:43):
doing this a long time and knowswhat he wants and knows how to
say it.
Now you've gotta find your ownpath.
And that's, understand that'sgonna be fun for you in that
environment you're in.
And you got a lot of greatmentors around you that are
still figuring that out and aregetting really good at it too.
Coach, this has been a blast.
I wanna come back and do about15 minutes where we just talk
(49:04):
about recruiting and give, getyour advice to parents and kids.
You down for that.
Yeah, for sure.
Recruiting.
That's the best of us.
That's my best tool right there.
I love that.
Yeah.
I'm, we're gonna dive into you.
This is a recruiter here, sothanks for doing this.
I'm just so impressed with youand so thankful that you and I
got to know each other.
No, for sure.
I appreciate the opportunity.
Thank you.
What a great conversation withCoach Quentin Acre from
(49:27):
Christopher Newport University,one of the most grounded and
authentic young coaches you'llfind in college basketball.
His perspective on culture,accountability, and personal
growth is exactly what the gameand our players need right now.
He's a young guy, but he's gotvery much, has an old school
brain and perspective onbasketball, so I love that I got
(49:48):
to know him and connect with himI love also how Coach Q talked
about developing people beforeplayers that the wins take care
of themselves when your programis built on consistency,
connection, and care.
That's leadership at its core,and it's why CNU continues to
set the standard for excellencein division three basketball.
If you haven't already, makesure you favorite like and leave
(50:11):
a comment wherever you'relistening.
It helps more coaches andfamilies find these
conversations and gives themconfidence to do the right
things for their future.
And don't forget to subscribefor free@coachmattrogers.com.
That's where you'll get accessto my weekly newsletter,
exclusive coaching andRecruiting Tips, early updates
on NCAA rules and recruitingchanges, and inside looks at new
(50:35):
books, resources and Schools toconnect with.
Also, check out this week'sblog.
It's a deep dive into what NIL.
Name, image likeness reallymeans and how it's changing the
landscape for families, coaches,and universities at every level.
Until next time, stay focused onwhat you can control.
(50:56):
Stay humble and keep chasingsignificance.
Welcome back to The SignificantCoaching Podcast.
I'm your host, Matt Rogers.
Today we're heading to one ofthe premier programs in all of
Division three basketball,Christopher Newport University,
home of the 2023 NationalChampions, and a model for what
great leadership and culturelook like in college athletics.
My guest is assistant men'sbasketball coach Quentin Acre,
(00:32):
or as most know him, coach Q.
Coach Q is one of those risingstars in the profession,
thoughtful, grounded, and deeplyintentional about how he leads.
He doesn't just coachbasketball, he coaches people.
He's teaching players how to beconsistent, how to be coachable,
and how to take ownership oftheir journey, both on and off
the court.
I wanna start by thanking our ITMen's basketball coach and
(00:55):
longtime significant coachingfamily member Dominic Parker for
connecting me with Coach q Dom.
I appreciate you, my friend.
You are absolutely right.
This conversation is exactlywhat this podcast was built for,
learning from great people wholead with both heart and
purpose.
That's Coach Q.
If you enjoy theseconversations.
Do me a quick favor, favoritelike, and leave a comment
(01:17):
wherever you're listing.
It really helps more coaches andfamilies find the show.
And don't forget to subscribefor free@coachmattrogers.com,
where you'll get access to myweekly newsletter, exclusive
coaching and recruiting tips,early updates on NCAA rules and
recruiting changes, and firstlooks at new books, resources
and programs to help you connectwith the right schools and
(01:40):
coaches.
Also, check out this week's blogwhere I break down what NIL
really means and how it'simpacting families, coaches, and
universities at every level ofcollege sports.
Now let's get to it.
Here's my conversation withChristopher Newport, university
assistant men's basketballcoach, Quentin Acry, coach QI.
(02:01):
Coach q, and I'm gonna say yourname so everybody knows who you
are.
I know the players call youCoach Q, but Quentin Acree, you
are a rising star in our game,my friend.
So I'm thrilled to have you on.
I'm thrilled to pick your brain.
Tell me a little bit.
About some of the lessons you'velearned,'cause you got your own
hall of fame.
Coach K you work for Yeah.
(02:22):
Coach Korian.
Tell me some of the thingsyou've learned from being a part
of the Christopher Newportprogram.
Coming from Southern Virginia,which was a another D three
program to Christopher Newportnow under Coach KI think the
biggest thing that I learned isjust how much everything
matters.
Like people say everythingmatters, but when I got here,
(02:43):
like from knee.
Way we do walkthrough from theway we eat four hours before the
game every single time.
It's not a, it's anon-negotiable.
Like that matters to him.
Us, wearing the same shoes onthe bus when we travel, that
matters to him.
Having a basketball on the road,like even if we're not doing
anything, he always carries abasketball on the road for the
(03:06):
kids to have, it just matters tohim.
That's one thing that just likereally stuck out to me.
It's just like how much, what.
Some might say that's not eventhat deep or it is not
necessary.
It matters when it comes to themessages.
He's trying to send the,everything that he does just to
stack up when it comes to gamedays, preparation and things
(03:27):
like that.
Every single thing matters.
And that was just veryeyeopening coming from coming to
this program and under Coach K.
So what are you taking that.
To yourself.
When you get your first programand you're running your first
program, how much of this willyou take with you?
The one thing I would take isthe preparation on specifically
on the game days.
(03:47):
It didn't matter to me at first,but the four hours before.
Like after him explaining it,needing time for the food to
digest, it has a proper time forit to actually fully digest,
showing up to the gym an hourand 45 minutes before, not a
minute before or a minute after.
I do think those are some thingsthat like they always stick with
me, that I truly believe I'mgonna be able to take to
(04:08):
whenever I do have my ownprogram.
Because it's like things thatlike nobody ever thinks of, but
it stuck out to me so much thatI was like, ingrained into
myself.
Like when I'm doing the travelstuff, when I'm doing those
things like that, as a headcoach, if I get that
opportunity, I do truly feellike those little things will
carry on into my program.
So I, I remember going throughthat and I know I, you and I
(04:30):
talked I was a head collegecoach at 26.
You wanna talk about wet behindthe ears and over my heels and,
it took me a year of getting mybutt kicked.
Greatest lessons there.
Yeah.
And it was like, alright, thisisn't what I thought it was
gonna be.
This is a lot harder than ithas, than I thought it was gonna
be, and I have to start workingsmarter.
(04:51):
So those are the things you justdevelop as a coach once you get
in there.
I remember losing my first gameby 50 points.
There was a Hall of Fame coachat Hanover College.
They were ranked, they're alwaysranked in the top five in the
country at that point.
And I don't think they had a guyover six five.
I don't think they had anybodythat was just a great athlete.
(05:13):
They just beat us updefensively.
They gave you nothing.
They blocked five guys out everytrip on offense, and I know
that's how you guys run yourprogram.
It's just Oh, yes.
Yeah.
When it comes to that defensiveside of the ball, like that's a
bread and butter right here.
I like to characterize it as adefensive school that can score.
Yeah.
We are not the other way around.
(05:34):
We are a defensive school thatso happen to be able to score
the basketball sometimes, soYeah.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
Watching you guys play it isjust I, I watch a game, I'm
like, how would I attack this?
I'd have to move you, I'd haveto move your guys so much.
And there'd have to be so muchball movement to get consistent
scoring that, it's, and then.
(05:54):
Are we tough enough?
Even if we have a good offensivestuff, are we tough enough to
play 40 minutes with you?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love it.
A hundred percent.
That's our, toughing together isour two pillars, like the
backbone of what it is.
So like the toughness thing islike that's what we're gonna
bring no matter what on it on anightly basis.
For sure.
We don't bring anything else.
(06:14):
We're gonna bring a dog fight.
We're gonna bring a dog fight.
Yeah.
When did you know you wanted tobe a coach?
I think I always knew a littlebit going through high school
and stuff like that I didn'tplay as much.
I'm super short, super little,not the greatest athletic, but I
love basketball.
But one thing I always like.
Cater to is I knew every playfrom every position.
(06:35):
I used to talk to the highschool coach about, Hey, I think
we should do this, we should dothat.
Not really understanding it.
Back then, what I was doing, Ijust wanted to contribute, felt
like I was contributing'cause Iwasn't scoring baskets, but then
I would say truly probably aftermy sophomore year of college
basketball, because it wasCOVID, so my sophomore year was
1920.
At the end of that 20 yearseason is when COVID hit.
(06:56):
We didn't make the NCAAtournament, so it got canceled.
So we come back to school thenext year.
That COVID year didn't count.
Everybody's playing like six,these little scrimmages or
whatever.
And I just my, the head coach atthat time, which is Adam
Wardenberg, who really helped memake the transition from player
to coach at Southern Virginia.
He came into the locker room oneday with this little scrimmage
(07:18):
at St.
Mary's in Maryland.
I remember it.
He was like.
I never told anybody this.
He's dressed in a team in alocker room.
At the end, he's I never toldanybody this, but Coach Q's
gonna, he said he didn't sayCoach Q.
He said, Q is gonna make a greatcoach.
He's I hear him on the sideline,like he's knowing the plays
before everybody else.
He's you guys should definitelyjust take in what he's saying,
listen to him et cetera.
(07:39):
And then from that point I waslike, maybe I should take it,
serious.
So after that COVID year, Icould have came back and had two
more years.
I didn't even play after thatanymore.
I just transitioned right intoan a student assistant with the,
my head coach, Adam Waterberg atthe time.
He asked me, was able to makethat transition.
And then from there just been.
Hitting the ground running inthe business, that's awesome.
(08:00):
It's such a familiar story.
One of my former players almosttook the same path as you did.
Oliver Weissman.
He's the head women's coach atBenedictine now.
Oh, nice.
Oliver played for me for a year.
Second year I went to him andsaid, I don't know how much I'm
gonna play you, but you're sucha great part of this team.
You're so fricking smart and yousee the game.
How about you and I startworking on your coaching career?
(08:23):
I'll give you a choice if youwanna play, I still want you in
the program, but if you wanna bea coach, I'd love to start
getting going there.
So I love that you had a coachthat literally carbon copy,
probably conversation.
Yeah.
Quite literally a carbon copyonce you're part of the program
still, obviously I wanted tostill feel, like I was making an
impact further than just mescoring, which I wasn't playing
much.
So once he made that, thatoffer, I guess I was like, you
(08:45):
know what I might as well justdo it.
Good for you, man.
At what point did you know, Iwanna stay in the college game?
I'm gonna, I'm gonna go thatpath and try and get myself an
assistant job.
Since I like,'cause from aplayer to the student assistant,
I was already in college, I justfell in love with the D three
specifically that realm.
(09:06):
And me being like, I'm a collegebasketball junkie.
Like I really don't care aboutthe NBA.
So I love college basketball andthe coaches and the teams and
things like that.
So like I always knew college iswhere I want to be.
And then now as the years havegone entering my fifth year, so
it's not a lot of years, but mypatience is not the greatest.
So I was like, dealing with highschool probably won't be the,
(09:28):
won't be the greatest.
I do.
Commend all those high schoolcoaches out there because you
have tremendous patience and youhave to really sit down and do
some things.
So like I just feel like collegeis that, that good medium for me
where I got, I can potentiallyget some really good players,
but knowing that I still have arole in teaching them the game.
Yeah.
And not having to lose my mindtimes 20 versus just losing my
(09:51):
mind regularly.
Being a high school basketballcoach is definitely a special
skillset, lemme tell you.
Yes.
Facts.
I wanna talk about the, wheredivision three is right now and
you've got such greatperspective'cause you were a
player, a student assistant, nowassistant coach in a very short
amount of time.
(10:12):
What are still some of thosegreat things about being a D
three athlete that you subscribeto and promote to kids that
think they wanna play higher?
Yeah, the best thing for meabout being a D three athlete is
like you still get to be astudent, in my opinion.
I think when you get to thescholarship level, there's so
(10:35):
much going on that is sportrelated that you don't really
get the time, in my opinion, tobe a college student.
To have that experience, likefor us, like we like to say,
like we, we demand three hoursof your time.
Is for practice, film, all thatis within those three hours, but
outside of those three hours,they're able to go do other
(10:55):
things.
They're able to be with eachother, experience college, just
outside of just listening to ourvoices all the time.
I don't particularly think youget that a lot when it comes to
the scholarship level becauseessentially, they're paying you
to do a job like you'rebasically, you know what I'm
saying?
That's essentially what it is.
They're paying you to be there.
As when they say, as much asthey say D three is not like
(11:17):
that, like you still get thehigh level competitiveness,
competed at a high level.
There's many D threes that canbe D ones, whatever the case may
be.
But if you enjoy that, obviouslythe academic side of it and just
wanting to be a student, like Ithink that's the best, you get
the best of both worlds when itcomes to the division three.
And I like I, I really hope thata lot of people choose
experience just over.
(11:38):
I'm a D two athlete or I'm a Done Hey, congratulations that
you're the 15th man onindividual one team.
But you can play at a high leveland still be a really good,
college person and have thatgreat experience.
Yeah.
I don't know if I've ever met aD one guy that sat at the end of
the bench or gal that didn'thave a little regret about not
(11:59):
seeing how good they could havebeen at a lower level.
I don't think I've ever metanybody.
Said, yeah.
I love being the 15th man.
Love that.
I never gotta to see the courtfacts.
Like I, I don't and we, us beingat Christopher Newport,
truthfully we deal with fringescholarship players like we have
to do to maintain the level thatwe're at.
So like we have thoseconversations, we have lost kids
(12:20):
that wanted the title of, beingat a higher level.
And we've had some come backeven on that championship year,
I was not here.
But there was an individual byMatt Brody really good
basketball player coming out ofVirginia.
He went to JMU, didn't like hisexperience.
Yep.
He was one, he didn't play thatmuch, didn't like his experience
there at JMU.
(12:40):
That big school came back toseeing UD three, got to do his
thing and he won in nationalchampionship.
So like you see it, I think nowwith those guys, especially UAA
schools, there's a lot ofdivision ones that are now
coming.
To be a Division three athlete,not only to continue to play at
a high level, but they valuingthe academic side of it.
(13:01):
They're valuing that experienceof just being a student at these
schools.
And I love it.
I just think it's, it is a veryimportant level that we're at
and.
I just hope that everybodyreally, truly consider what what
it really means to be a d threeathlete.
It's pretty great.
I took it for granted, 30 yearsago when I was a D three athlete
and I wish I'd go back and shakethat kid a little bit and knock
some sense into him about howcool it is just to be a part of
(13:23):
that team and to have thatjersey and be a part of that
program and the community thatcomes with it.
It's really special.
Talk about the realities ofplaying at CNU.
What do you need to get yourguys' attention?
We're gonna talk recruitinglater, but I'm really intrigued
to see, hear.
What does it take to be a highlevel division three basketball
(13:47):
player?
Number one is obviously skillfor sure.
But I think that's the easy partof it.
But more specifically when itcomes to seeing you like.
Tough and together isn't just amotto that we like to say or put
on a t-shirt.
Like you have to be tough toplay, not only here, but I think
at any high level of basketball.
And I think that's a kind ofwhat we're losing a little bit
(14:10):
in this generation of recruitscoming up.
And I don't just mean, flyingaround getting every like that
goes into it, but like themental toughness.
And the focus to do things likeyou have to have it every single
day.
Like I, I already explained, wevalue three hours a day, like
for that three hours a day.
You have to have thick skin, youhave to want to be coached, and
(14:31):
you have to want to get better.
It's different between showingup, playing hard, and showing up
and competing, like those aretwo totally.
Sides of the spectrum.
And I think to be at this level,to be elite at CNU, like you
have to have the ultimatetoughness and the ultimate level
of focus to, to know that you'recoming in every day doing
something not for you.
(14:52):
Everybody see the banners, wesee all this stuff.
But like for Coach Kspecifically, it's about laying
the groundwork for those four,those guys that are coming here
the next four years.
So those are the big two thingsI would say.
Huge.
It's huge.
How do we get that 15, 16,17-year-old to understand.
The, what that toughness reallymeans.
(15:14):
How do we get them prepared togo on this journey?
Or do they, they have to getthere and suffer through it like
all freshmen do and learn thehard way.
Or is there a way they can startdeveloping some of those things
now?
I think it's a two way.
I think yes, they're gonna haveto go through it no matter how
prepared you think you are inhigh school.
Getting to the next level isalways gonna be a different
(15:34):
level of whatever it is.
But I do think right now it'sjust so much of these kids are
just getting fed what, how goodthey are.
I just don't.
Necessarily think that's superproper.
Like obviously you don't want tokill a kid's confidence, but you
want to get them through thereality of what it is because
they are good high schoolplayers.
(15:56):
But once you get to the nextlevel, like you're only gonna
just be a another player.
There's gonna be other goodplayers there.
Yeah.
So how can you separateyourself?
I don't think that's beingexplained.
A lot nowadays is thoseseparators versus just oh, you
already, you're a good player.
You already got it.
You don't got it.
You got a little bit of it, butyou, there's always more that
you can do.
And I think that mentaltoughness, that focus, like
(16:18):
those are the edges that reallymakes good players, great
players, it has little to dowith the skill that you possess.
I, I think a lot of times it'sjust the family listening to
people who are unqualified.
If you haven't coached at the Dthree level, the NAI level, the
D two level, the D one level,and you haven't done it for 80,
90 practices in a season, andyou know what?
(16:40):
Weight training and nutritionand classes and travel, all that
goes into it.
It's not just, can you dribblein, can you shoot and play
defense?
I think it's just so many peopleare listening to the wrong
people.
Yes.
It's not, what are they saying?
It's just who are you listeningto?
Yep.
Who told you're great.
Your teammate's, dentist,father, and everybody has their
(17:02):
own opinions.
Everybody has something to sayabout, like you said, that's
never been there.
That's different.
Like you gotta know, and that'swhat's like big for us just in
the recruiting process is thathonesty, that transparency for
what it is to be at an elitelevel here.
Yeah, it's obviously differentin different programs, but like
honestly at the elite level ofthese programs, there's three or
(17:23):
four qualities that are theabsolute same, so you have to
have those in order to be great.
And I think some of the thingsthat families don't understand
is if you go.
I'd love to come to yourpractice at some point, but I
just have an idea of what yourpractices look like based on
what?
I watch your games.
Yeah.
There's no making a bucket andlooking at the crowd and then
(17:45):
walking back.
You're sprinting back.
Every possession, you'resprinting up the floor.
Every offensive possession.
There's no, I'm on the floor foreight minutes and four of it.
I'm working hard and four of it,I'm not.
And you can get away with thatwith a u.
You can get away with that in alot of high school programs.
Hundred percent.
But you wanna go play to CNU.
Whoa.
(18:05):
You better have every, there'sno, there's not even a, oh, I
want to practice today.
I don't wanna, I don't feel goodtoday, or I don't feel like,
don't.
No, the competit, thecompetitiveness of elite college
basketball players, they bringit every single day.
You have to be a player that canwithstand that every single day.
That can bring that focus, thatcan go through that grind every
(18:26):
single day.
And that's on top of the stuffyou mentioned.
Yep.
Like training, nutrition,academics, all that stuff that
we don't even get into thatmuch, but hey, you gotta bring
it every day.
I've heard the rumors that CoachK is just a real sweetheart.
The greatest sweetheart ever.
Yes, he's, but he's not afraidto say what he's feeling and see
(18:49):
it, I've heard.
A hundred percent.
And I think that truth is whatplayers need, though.
That's right.
It brings the best out of you.
Yeah.
And you, like you said, you'vesaid this a couple times, you've
got to want to be coached.
And part of that is hearing somethings that you didn't want to
hear or maybe different thanwhat you think, right?
Take me into practice.
'cause we have a lot of highschool coaches that listen to
this and we have a lot ofcollege coaches that listen to
(19:10):
it, but I think it's reallygreat when a high school coach
gets to hear from a collegecoach.
What does, when you look at yourtwo and a half, three hour
practice, whatever you guys aredoing, I'm sure weight training
and nutrition and stuff are apart of that.
Three hours a lot of times andPIOs and that kind of stuff.
What does an average drill, howlong does that last?
(19:33):
So ours is set up, we got likepre-practice and then regular
practice or pre-practice is justlike what we're focusing on that
day specifically.
We go 60 to 70%, then we stretchand then we go into our
practice.
But like in terms of drills,it's not a lot of time because
the efficiency of our practice,like we only got three hours,
right?
So we have to be very efficientwith what we do.
So there's not a lot ofrepeating, I would say that.
(19:55):
Yeah, but it's a lot of playerled explaining things that some
player on the sideline may havenot gotten.
Just so we're able to move on.
I think the biggest thing thatyou, anybody will take away from
our practice, and I believe likehigh school coaches to continue
to make your team better, isthat you have to make almost
everything competitive.
That's right.
Whether it's a drill that you'rejust trying to teach, how to,
(20:15):
for example, us, how we guardball screens, we'll go over it,
we'll walk through it maybetwice.
Now it's competitive now.
Now they're learning.
Yep.
Now we're playing three V three.
We're playing two V two.
So now not only are theyobviously applying what we just
taught them, but they gotta doit in real, like real time, real
action is easy to just to walkthrough it.
So we make every single thingcompetitives.
(20:38):
Let's talk about, let's talkabout ball screens, because I
could talk to you an hour aboutball screen defense.
Yep.
Are you guys hard and fast onone way, or are you changing it
up depending on who you'replaying against?
We go into the game the sameway.
Okay.
No matter what.
So we're, no matter if they'vegot six guys that can shoot it
or uhhuh they got to at leastthree stem start at least.
What's that?
Yeah.
To start at least.
(20:59):
Okay.
So we you'll let down.
Yeah.
So his foundation is dropcoverage.
Yeah, like that's, that is his,yes, we play drop coverage.
Everybody in the country knowswe're gonna play drop coverage.
We go over the top of screens,et cetera.
Now, if we have a player, whichin my years that we have been
here, we had maybe two or threethat can come off that ball
screen and really do somethings, hit the dribble, pull up
can.
(21:19):
Put us in jail basically.
Yeah.
Then from there, coach K does anamazing job of, alright, we're
not going to obviously standhere and let him kill us the
whole game.
We're gonna make thoseadjustments and he puts us in
environments in practice we'lldo two minutes of this defense,
then we'll do two minutes of adifferent defense where we'll
just keep switching.
Keep switching.
Just so once they get into thegame, if we do have to make an
(21:40):
adjustment.
Yeah.
Our players have already knownhow to do that on the fly.
That's the great thing aboutgoing over top and pushing that
ball handler into space is youdon't see a lot of Jalen
Brunsons.
There's just not a lot of guyscome off that in a wonder
dribble, go up and knock down an18 footer consistently, or
(22:00):
bounce out and hit that 22footer.
So I, I love that approach andthat's how I was.
Do you hedge or do you guys stayflat?
We drop that, you drop offeverything.
Yeah.
We're gonna drop no matter whatbecause the mid-range for us we
strongly believe, and wedefinitely have, we're very
analytical program as well.
The mid-range shot is not thegreatest.
Yep.
When you go to our level,specifically at D three,
(22:22):
there's, like you said, there'snot many players that can just
come off too dribble.
Hit it at a 60% rate.
There is not.
So we would rather live withthat than anything else.
Absolutely.
I had this too.
There were four funnels on thefloor that we wanted every,
everybody's offense to go to.
'cause we knew analyticallythat's where the lowest
(22:42):
percentage was gonna be.
So it's just smart basketball.
A hundred percent.
What would you say, eight to 10minutes a drill.
Yeah.
Or less.
Yeah, probably.
Yeah.
It's probably like seven.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Probably yeah, seven, eight, Iwould say seven, eight.
We get through things quicklyand then we, most I don't know
how many programs do, but weplay a lot more than we do
drills.
Yeah.
So we learned by playing.
(23:03):
That's by one regret.
I wish I, I wish we played morewhen I was coaching.
I,'cause I wanted to teach somuch and I want us to be really
technically sound and then.
We play a lot of three on three,a lot of four on four, but
getting up and down and playingfive on five, I wish I would've
done more of that.
If I ever go back to coach againwe'll probably scrimmage 45
(23:23):
minutes of practice.
Yeah, like we scrimmage.
Yeah.
Basically 40, yeah, 40, 45minutes.
That whole back half of practiceis all we'll learn by
scrimmaging.
We just do three minutesscrimmages, like just the best
way for him.
Do you guys break it up thescrimmages or do you really do a
lot of teaching in that firsthour and a half, and then try
and scrimmage as much as you canon the back end?
(23:44):
Correct?
Yeah we'll, whatever we aregoing, whatever our focus is.
We'll try to get that done outthe way real quick, and then
we'll play a lot and then teachthrough there, but we don't stop
it in the middle of thescrimmage.
We have a, we record ourpractices.
IPad, nothing crazy, but we gota TV that we can go back and
like some days we'll do threeminute scrimmage.
All right, go back and let's gothrough it real quick on two
(24:06):
times speed.
Obviously, we ain't got the timejust to be sitting there
watching go on two times speedand just go over like, all
right, you made a mistake here.
Let's how we gonna fix this?
And then have them go playagain.
Because playing through them, atleast for our group, like them
playing through their mistakeversus being such a drill heavy
team.
It's just been vastly better forthis, especially nowadays.
Like it's just vast better.
Oh yeah.
This age group, this generation,we have zero.
(24:27):
They need to learn on the fly.
Yep.
I want to talk a little bitabout your scrimmaging a little
bit more.
Heard three minutes.
What's the longest you'llscrimmage in one stretch.
We go three minutes.
Now we go three minutes.
Before that has something to dowith our substitutions.
So we always go three minutesfor them to play as hard as they
can in those three minutes.
(24:47):
But before, I mean we used to,we did inner squad scrimmages
like a whole game before we'vedone that, invited reps to come
and do that.
That's big five minutes, but wenever go, if it's just us.
And the coaches are reffing.
Four minutes is max.
'cause it goes to the mediatimeout.
Like it doesn't, it's notbeneficial in our opinion for
them to go 10 minute scrimmage.
Because see I was co I wascoaching four media timeouts
(25:08):
really got, became big indivision three and now it's
pretty consistent.
So we would practice and I wouldrotate five out.
'cause I'd run two teams offives and we just try and run
teams off the floor.
Yep.
Because we weren't gonna get abreak in four minutes like you
guys are getting what does thatrotation look like for you guys?
How do you tackle that to keepguys fresh?
(25:29):
And what's the philosophy onhelping guys get into a rhythm
or guys playing together?
What does that look like fromyour guys' perspective?
I wish we knew our rotationright now.
That'd be great.
One of the questions.
Yeah.
It's still early.
So one of the question you got ascrimmage what end of the week?
Yeah.
Saturday versus Shaan.
We just scrimmaged this pastFriday.
And we have a scrimmage versusshaan like exhibition.
(25:50):
It's open exhibition didn't getthe answers you were hoping for
in the first scrimmage.
No, sir.
Did not.
I wish we did.
But we did not.
So I've been there.
Go back to the drawing board,today's practice.
And you mentioned earlierhearing stuff you didn't want to
hear.
Yeah.
Had a lot of that today, butyeah.
So in terms of the rotation,just keeping guys fresh.
I mean we, that's why we do thethree minutes right now.
(26:12):
We're just still trying tofigure out specifically is that
like for us right now, like wefound out that's enough time for
our guys to really make animpact.
Yeah.
And have them to actually playthrough mistakes.
Do some things like we play sofast, we have so many
possessions.
Like we play fast now.
Yeah.
The old CNU used to be, two bigson the floor at all times, three
out two ends, slower pace.
(26:34):
Now we're, we picked the tempoup times 50 comparative to what
it used to be when coach K firstgot here.
So we just found out like thatthree minutes is okay, they can
play you some mistakes.
They can have a chance to makeit up a little bit.
Yeah, get a little rhythm.
So that's why we are now at thethree minutes it's so funny
'cause Major League Baseball'skind of gotten that same
philosophy.
(26:55):
If you can get five innings outof a starting pitcher anymore.
You know that third time theygotta see batters.
Now all of a sudden that's wherethe trouble starts.
Yeah.
And it's what basketballplayers, they start getting
tired after three, three and ahalf, four minutes, and you
start getting drop off in theirenergy.
Stop getting drop off ondefense.
Yeah.
The rebounding.
(27:15):
So like that three minutes, likewe learn, like you can go all
out, you can for sure go all outin those three minutes and not
save anything.
And then That's right.
Figure out rotation from there.
So how do rotations work then?
Ideally, in a perfect world, youguys wanna play when you're
playing at that pace, whenyou're doing 80 to a hundred
possessions, how many guys aregonna see the floor in a game?
(27:38):
Minimum nine to 10 for sure.
Okay.
You're gonna have, you're gonnahave two minimum two rotations
somehow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We don't necessarily go five andfive, but there's gonna be 10
different basketball players atminimum on the basketball court
for sure.
I'm assuming you're trying toget a big off the floor faster
than everybody else.
Yeah, especially assuming foultrouble.
They're mostly the ones thatfoul, right?
(27:59):
So you gotta get them out.
'Cause we will start twoforwards not traditional
forwards.
One of'em is a traditional, oneof them is not.
And then we'll go, probably go alittle smaller with four
traditional guards than one postplayer.
You will?
Okay.
Yeah.
And then you can move a littlebit.
Yeah.
We got that's one thing aboutour team right now is we have so
many like pieces where like wehave a player that can play
(28:20):
point guard and could end up atthe quote unquote four.
That's amazing.
Fourth guard.
Yeah.
So we have that kind ofadaptability right now.
So we're, that's why ourrotation, we don't really like,
we're still trying to plug andfigure out Yeah.
Just exactly where they can bemost effective at.
Does coach like to pull a coupleguy, a couple starters off the
floor and put a couple benchguys in?
(28:41):
Yeah.
Mix'em.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then maybe your point guardand your shooting guard come off
together.
Your one and your three come offtogether at some point.
Yeah, I think the biggest thingis our point guard is probably
gonna be the last one to comeoff because that's the most
important for us.
He'll probably be the last onestarting point.
I'll probably be the last one tobe subbed.
But then, yeah, we'll go likethe five.
We'll always try to take outthat four, whoever the four man
(29:02):
is, whoever the four, outtafive.
Whoever's not playing well insome situations, or whoever's
tired the first.
If the five is tired, we'll takehim out and move the four down
to the five.
Yeah, put in another guard.
Try to increase the tempo now.
Yep.
When they're trying to playeight, nine minute rotations.
Correct.
'cause they're trying to play,they play like most teams play
like seven players.
Where we really feel like wehave that depth advantage this
(29:23):
year.
So we're gonna play with a lotof fun lineups, I think in our,
so I love that man.
There's nothing better.
Let's put five ballers on thefloor.
Yeah.
It's a good problem to haveright now.
Like we have, we got a lineupwhere we can put a six six
center out there.
That's right.
You gonna go from five 10 to sixsix and just let's play, let's
(29:43):
just hoop.
All right let's talk about whenyou wanna play fast.
Everybody's now trying to slowyou down.
So you have to then use yourdefense.
To create turnovers and to makethem have to play faster than
they want.
So what does that look like whenteams try and slow you down?
How do you get them movingfaster?
What are you trying to do on theother end?
(30:05):
When teams start slow us down,say it sucks for sure.
Yeah.
But one thing that we try to doand what we're gonna do more
this year is curate, like yousaid, curate those more
opportunities.
We don't necessarily turn teamsover'cause we're very sound
defense like we only average 12turn forced turnovers a game.
Still good, but not crazy.
Oh, the other team's onlyshooting 38, 30 9%, a hundred
(30:25):
percent.
So like we, that's tworebounding.
That's what we're gonna do.
Yeah.
But we just try, we're gonnastart putting in some stuff to
just force them to speed it up.
Yeah.
Not necessarily us trying tosteal the basketball or create
traps.
We're never gonna trap the ball.
Because we don't like puttingtwo on the ball and leaving a
three pointer open.
Yeah.
We're never gonna do that.
But we are gonna throw somestuff where it's just speeding
them up and maybe getting themoutta rhythm.
So instead of them running.
(30:47):
30 seconds off the shot clock.
'cause they wanna run, set up aplay.
Maybe they start running theiroffense with 12 seconds because
we sped'em up and doing somestuff.
And the point guard gotta comenow and get the ball back.
All that stuff.
We're trying to create that, notnecessarily turnovers, but just
like, all right, like we're notgonna sit here this whole time.
We're not gonna let you do whatyou want to do to get, yeah,
(31:07):
we're not gonna sit here thiswhole time for 30 seconds.
We'd rather sit here for 15seconds and now that's a less.
Time that you had on offense,but less time that we obviously
spent guarding for real.
So then we can go on the otherend.
What's that look like q Is thatforcing to a sideline?
Is that denial of a post entryor a wing?
What does that look like?
Yeah, it's more of us justgetting up into full court and
(31:28):
using our athleticism.
We got good size, goodathleticism it's just us getting
out.
Maybe we'll take out the pointguard and just let him figure
out how they're gonna do it.
Force their big man to dribbleup the court.
'Cause at most, like most foursand fives are not comfortable
even at our level dribbling upthe court because we've learned
and seen that everybody likes tojust have, get a point guard the
(31:48):
ball.
I let point guard the ball, comepoint guard, come get it, run
this play.
All that's right.
Let's try to take him out.
Let's force the big man todribble it up.
Maybe that wastes six secondsfor them trying to get the ball
across a half court in general.
Yeah, that's right.
So we try to mix some of thatstuff up and, figure it out from
there.
And hopefully we just guard for18 seconds now.
(32:10):
It's like taking the lead singerout of the band and making him
play the drums.
All of a sudden that band's notas good as it was when I got Oh,
yeah, a hundred percent right.
Or you try to come back.
It's not, it just don't soundthe same, just don't sound the
same.
Absolutely.
It's just making them do thingsthat they're not comfortable
with.
So I love that.
Just, it just, I gives megoosebumps thinking about all
that.
Ready to get back on thatsideline.
That's what it seemed like.
(32:30):
Geez, I gotta get these two kidsoutta my house before I gotta do
that.
But yeah I get excited havingthis conversation.
I always talked, I love talkingabout freshmen coming into
college and this is gonna beclose to your heart.
'cause people always ask me, howlong does it take for a freshman
to develop?
And I always thought as afour-year coach that if I could
(32:53):
get a kid 18 months into theircareer where they really
understood our defense.
Footwork pressure, the intensitywe're looking for.
I've done something good thatgets me two and a half years of
a pretty good ball player.
If I can get them there.
What do you see these kids,these young guys coming into
(33:15):
your program, how long does ittake for them to really accept
your teaching and your coaching?
I would say the whole year.
For sure the entire, it's gonnatake the entire year because of
just how detailed we are,especially on the defensive end.
Offensive for us is easy.
'cause we don't run plays, wehave no we just teach spacing
and how to make decisions inspace.
(33:37):
So that's still, intricate initself.
And that's hard.
It's a lot.
Yeah.
Even though it's very simple onpaper, it's still very intricate
in itself.
But it takes the whole year andlike for us, we are not a All
right.
Seniors have been here, so likeyou guys just do it and watch
the, now we throw the freshmanright into the fire.
Love it.
We mixed teams.
So like when we first startedthis year.
(33:59):
Freshman point guard starting toguard, start and center.
Like they're all mixed in withthe guys that have been here and
have played we're not doing theseniority thing or anything like
that.
So for them it's very hands-onand hectic at first because they
have zero clue what's going on.
They're just trying to learn byerror, which is what we like to
do.
We like to create thatenvironment.
(34:19):
So we got some that are.
Picking it up a little bit, butthen there's some that it's just
gonna take the whole year forthem to really understand what
we're trying to do.
And I wouldn't say, at least forour, from my experience, that
they're not trying to take thecoaching.
It's just that nobody teach.
Nobody, they just give the,right now in high school is, are
you the best player?
You have the ball, do whateveryou want.
(34:39):
That's it.
So there's no teaching.
What do you mean pass and cut,coach?
What?
What do you, what are you tryingto say?
Cut.
Where you want me to just floatover here and they're gonna
gimme the ball back?
Yep.
What do you mean don't run tothe ball?
Yeah, don't run to the ball.
Get out the way.
Please.
Move out the way.
You don't have to have the ballin your hand.
It's, what do you mean?
That's what I mean.
What do you mean rim line andget my butt flat.
What do you try to say there?
(35:00):
It's a lot.
It's, I tell kids all the time,just expect the first year.
Just go in and learn.
If you play great, if you pickthings up fast, great.
But just expect first yearyou're gonna get your hat taken
to you.
You're gonna get your, and ifyou come out of that with a
smile on your face and smarterand ready to go into next year
(35:21):
and put five, 10 pounds ofmuscle on you, you'll be going,
you're gonna start, you're gonnastart finding the reason why you
went there, but it's gonna takea year.
We had a freshman last year thatdid not play.
Yeah.
Probably played in nine games.
Yeah.
Come, turned the whole yearstruggled.
Had a good, pretty good summerand now this year he's in the
rotation top six.
Love it.
(35:42):
The sophomore jump like,'causehe just sat there.
He was like, all right, I'm notgonna play.
I just gotta absorb as much as Ican now.
I've had a whole summer applyingwhat I've learned.
And how it can help my game inturn to help the team.
But now you're in a bigger roleautomatically and that's just
good recruiting.
'cause at the end of the day,you feel good that you recruited
that kid.
Because they're all gonna be apain in the butt.
(36:02):
They're all gonna struggle,they're all gonna go through.
That woes me.
But if they can get to thatpoint and their freshman year,
they go, okay.
I'm just coming to practiceevery day.
Whatever happens.
Just I'm not gonna look at thescoreboard, man.
I'm just gonna, I'm just gonnago.
I get a uniform head down onteam, I'm still on the website.
Right, a hundred percent.
Put your head down and work.
You have that mentality.
(36:23):
You're gonna make it at a lot ofprograms.
That's right.
Talk to me about your olderguys.
You said you mix things up inpractices, so the freshmen are
intertwined with the older guys.
How do they handle.
The frustration of a kid that'snot getting it, yeah.
Coach, just let us play with thefive older guys.
Just let us play.
No.
You're gonna still have thosetwo freshmen.
(36:44):
How do your older guys handlethat?
As I mentioned earlier in thisepisode, it's coach K sold, like
player led and driven.
Yeah.
So as us as a staff, we don'teven care.
Like they're frustrated.
They're doing this, they'relike, he don't know what you
doing, whatever.
Because okay, are you going?
Yell to us or you're gonna havehim figure it out like you got
two options right now, right?
(37:04):
You gonna yell to us or you'regonna try to get him to a point
where he can at least still helpthe team do what they gotta do
in practice right now.
So like he is so big on playerempowerment from the players.
Like obviously as coaches we'regonna give it to him, we're
gonna tell'em what they need todo, but like he wants the
players to lead the playersbecause if you have a program
(37:25):
that is very player led.
Yep.
That has been his mostsuccessful years.
That is what he's built here.
That's the foundation he'sbuilt.
So like we just let him come.
Hey, complain all you want,y'all.
It is what it is.
I love it.
My, my best teams, the teamsthat went to the national
tournament and won conferencechampionships, I always had
seniors that would stoppractice, something be bad.
(37:47):
And they say, coach, I got this.
Yep.
And I could walk away, timeoutsend of the game, three seconds
on the clock.
I had guys that would say,coach, we need to run this.
This is what we need to runhere.
Let's do it.
You get to that point, you'rethat's what we, that's
definitely what we're continuingto build.
'Cause the last four years,those guys are out.
(38:07):
The national championship team,we have one left.
Yep.
So like now we're, it's, listen,this is what is required to be a
good team.
It can't just always come fromus.
Absolutely.
Don't get me wrong, QI only wentto the national tournament twice
in 13 years, so hey, that's twomore than a lot of coaches, so
you gotta, who's close?
You don't get thoseopportunities very often.
You don't get those teams thathave the ability to get there
(38:28):
very often.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Facts, yes, true.
Talk to me aboutnon-negotiables.
I know you guys have very, youexpect things from your guys.
They're just non-negotiablesthat you just won't deal with in
your program.
Are there expectations that youguys talk about that this is who
we are.
We're not gonna, we're gonna,we're gonna die on this hill.
(38:51):
This is who we are.
We're not gonna, we're not gonnabe any different.
We're gonna do it this way.
Yeah.
One big non-negotiable thatstarts with the recruiting.
Process is you cannot be in itfor the wrong reason.
And what we mean by that is weare a he is so team oriented.
Everything is about the team.
(39:11):
If you are about yourself, ifyou are about whatever your
parents think you are, if youare about trying to make it to
the league, we have players thathave tried to make it to the
league, go to the NBA, those arenon nego.
If we vet that out in therecruiting process it's done.
If we try to find that out, ifwe kind of sense that or find
that out during the year it willstart with a, we're not gonna
(39:32):
kick nobody off the team.
It'll start with a conversationabout buying into what we're
doing as a program.
If that does not change, thenyou are no longer a part of what
we are trying to build.
So that's the biggestnon-negotiable.
It's it's not about you, period.
No matter what.
It will never ever be about you,your stats, none of that.
And he does not deal with theparents.
Hey, my son isn't playing.
(39:53):
No it's a non-negotiable.
You are not coming up tocoaching staff.
You are not coming up to us.
You are not talking to us aboutthe pro.
It's about what we are doing tobuild the program, not what
we're doing to build littleJohnny.
That is not what we're trying todo here.
Do you think he can get awaywith that at the high school
level?
No, because the high schoollevel is I.
(40:14):
Yes, you have tryouts, so Iguess you get to pick a little
bit of your team, but I don'tknow, it's just different.
I can't even explain why it'sdifferent.
It's just like high school islike everybody has to play.
I feel like a little bit.
I don't know.
It's just different at highschool level.
'cause your parents are soinvolved.
They're young youngins, they'renot young adults at that point
either.
They're still young children, sothey probably don't really under
(40:36):
understand that aspect of iteither.
I think it's harder.
I don't think you can't do it.
I just think it's very difficultto have those messages and.
How much easier would our lifebe as college coaches if it was
happening at the 15, 16,17-year-old level where, oh,
talk to coach.
It would be good.
It would be a very easy vettingprocess.
(40:56):
A little bit.
Yeah.
I would say that we're preppingthem for what life is gonna be
like.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
You got a problem with yourplaying time.
There's only one guy you talk toand that's said, coach, you go
talk to coach.
Because he is the only one thatcan fix it.
Yes.
And I was always that point.
If I hear from your parents,this just tells me that you and
I don't have a good enoughrelationship.
The fact that you're not playingenough is that's where it
(41:19):
begins.
It ends.
If mom and dad have to talk foryou, then we got problem a
hundred percent.
And truth be told, those, if heeven gets to that point what
really is the indicator for us,I guess is can you look yourself
in the mirror and.
Understand why you're notplaying.
You know what I mean?
A lot of people complain aboutnot playing or the parents come,
Hey, why isn't we open practice?
(41:40):
Yeah, mom, if you want to cometo practice, you do coach, pay
open practice.
Open practice.
I had no idea.
Open practice.
If you would love to come upTexas, us, we will let you come
to a practice.
We will.
So you can see how he's doing.
See what he's doing.
See our, what we're doing.
If you notice how little Johnnyis not doing what we need to do
(42:03):
as a program, it's openpractice.
I'll tell you that.
How many take advantage of that?
Not a lot.
We'll say that.
I was gonna say that.
Not a lot that we have dealtwith.
I would say not a lot.
I would imagine the boys aresaying, mom, dad, no way.
This is, so if it gets to thatpoint now they're like, okay, I
got it.
Okay.
Just talk to me on why I'm notplaying.
(42:24):
Now they revert a little bit.
But yeah, see I was alwaysafraid to have open practices, I
didn't care if the ad wanted tocome in or high school coach
wanted to come in.
That was great.
But I had a problem with anybodyelse in my gym because I didn't
want one parent there.
And then maybe that week I movedthat.
(42:45):
Dad's son into the startinglineup might not have had
anything to do with that dadbeing there.
Oh, I did anything to show.
Didn't wanna show that.
Getting more attention.
Yep.
Yeah.
I didn't even ever want that tobe, even be, it just made my
skin crawl.
Yep.
So I think there's a lot ofcourage there, but I think Coach
K has been doing this longenough, he can get away with it
(43:05):
because it's like, all right,come to my practice.
But you're gonna see why likeyou said, you can see why
Johnny's not, see, yeah.
It is, it's apparent, yeah.
We I would say this Coach K isan amazing coach.
Like he's going to put.
The people on the floor,freshmen, senior, it doesn't
matter.
When I went to the Elite eight,my first year here, we had three
freshmen starting like it doesnot matter.
He's going to put those peopleon the floor who value seeing U
(43:28):
basketball.
Yeah.
Who's going to put seeing you ina position to win basketball?
It has nothing to do with theyear, has nothing to do with who
your parents are.
That's one thing that, likegoing through these years here
at Seeing U, that I'm just like,it does not matter.
The only thing that matters iswho was put in seeing U in a
position to help the program.
Yeah it's the right way, theonly way.
(43:50):
I love it.
Who's been the biggest coachinginfluence in your life?
That's a good question.
I would say who's got really gotme into coaching.
Pharrell is my high school coachwho I'm not even in contact with
anymore.
He doesn't even know.
One day I hope to return back toFlorida to sit down and talk to
him just about, the impact thathe's had on me.
But then since then, it's justbeen a whole plethora of, of a
(44:11):
family, I got Adam Denberg, whowas the head coach that I played
under and coached with.
Yeah.
Who's now the associate headcoach at Air Force, Dominic
Parker, who was the full-timeassistant at CNU when I was
part-time.
Yeah.
Who's the head coach at rt?
Obviously a member of thepodcast as well.
Yeah.
I got a lineage of former CNUSean Foley, who was at he's at
(44:33):
North Alabama now.
Yeah.
Got J Great.
J Jaron Dyson, associate headcoach at Army.
Yeah.
Logan Miller who Another podcastveteran.
Yep.
Another podcast.
Can you?
Yeah.
Logan Miller, who's Highland'shead coach.
Private school.
Really good.
He used to be assistant here atCU, it's cool.
It's just been a family in myopinion, and just everybody, I
(44:53):
just get information, absorbwhatever I can.
They've been really truthfullyhelpful to me.
Isn't great, just giving advicethrough all this.
So I would just say everybody'sbeen influencing me a lot when
it comes to that, and I just,I'm grateful that they're
willing to, gimme some time.
So exciting when coaches pass iton.
I love it.
What's your best advice for ayoung assistant trying to rise
(45:13):
in the profession?
I would just say you, you justgotta show up and be ready to
work.
I think a lot of people wantthe, what comes with being
assistant, at least at thedivision one level, nice was all
this good stuff whatever.
But to really be an assistantand to be a good one, like you,
you gotta show up every day andbe ready to work.
That was one of my best valuesthat even got me to move into
(45:34):
where I am.
Like nobody ever had to tell mewhat to do.
Yeah.
I see a job, I find solutionsfor my program, for my head
coach.
And I think if you're somebodythat can do that, it doesn't
matter where the journey willpotentially lead you, but like
you're gonna make a great impactwhere you are.
As long as you're making a greatimpact where you are, everything
else will take care of itself.
I literally never even talkabout what I'm gonna do head
(45:56):
coaching job or the nextassistant.
I have no care in the worldright now.
All I know is I'm at CNU.
I wanna do the best job I can tomake this program as best as I
can.
And whatever comes from that isgood.
But I show up every single day,same mindset, same time, and I
do the work here that, that isnecessary for us to be a good
program.
It's great advice and it'sobvious.
(46:16):
Q you embody that.
You embody the work ethic andthe character that a great
basketball coach has.
You, you've got it written allover you, my friend, that you're
well on your way.
Just keep doing that.
Truly appreciate that.
It's tell the kids.
Don't worry about thescoreboard.
You do your job scoreboard's.
Gonna take care of yourself.
Do your job.
Yes.
Do your job.
What leadership trait do youfeel like you're still working
(46:37):
on and you want to improve on?
I don't know about leadershiptrait, but one thing I still
want to improve on is just.
Being, even more vocal than whatI am and how to necessarily
deliver it in the right way.
Yeah.
'Cause as a coach, most coaches,they have frustrations, things
that bother them when it comesto the game of basketball, but
(46:57):
how you communicate that to aplayer.
Versus just openly, being superemotional, throwing at what I
call tantrums.
Yeah.
I think that's super important.
'cause the more, I don'tnecessarily, gotta be stoic or
whatever, but like the moreclear and composed and they know
that, alright, yes, we messed upon something here or whatever,
but coach knows I got you like.
(47:18):
Communicating that in a way thatthe player knows.
Like, all right, coach is here.
He gonna take care of it.
He gonna let us know exactlywhat we need to do, and we just
need to go do that.
I would say that's the biggestthing that I'm going to continue
to improve on.
And I think that Coach K has, heeven sat down and talked to me
about it this year.
He's gonna gimme moreopportunity and practice just.
Be that vocal leader to, towhoever I'm coaching in that
(47:39):
moment.
But that's the biggest thingthat I just wanna, I really
wanna harp on.
Great answer.
And it's great perspective,great introspection for you
there.
There's a, I'm gonna date myselfhere.
There's a great show from theearly two thousands, late
nineties called West Wing andthere's an episode where a
consultant is working with apresidential candidate and she
tells.
(48:00):
The guy that's working with him,he doesn't have his presidential
voice yet, and they're like,what the heck does that mean?
Yeah.
At the end of the day, it comesdown to authenticity.
You're speaking with conviction.
You say what you mean what yousay, but it's not coming from a
place where you're guessing.
It's coming from a place where,you know.
I can already hear it in you.
(48:21):
You've got it.
It's just believing in it.
It's believing that what youhave to say has value, and even
sometimes when you don't believeit, it's being able to sell it,
that this is important.
Yeah, a hundred percent right.
And there're being no doubt.
So that's it's, we all had to gothrough that.
Every coach that's ever coachhas to find that voice.
And it's tough when you're witha guy like Coach K who's been
(48:43):
doing this a long time and knowswhat he wants and knows how to
say it.
Now you've gotta find your ownpath.
And that's, understand that'sgonna be fun for you in that
environment you're in.
And you got a lot of greatmentors around you that are
still figuring that out and aregetting really good at it too.
Coach, this has been a blast.
I wanna come back and do about15 minutes where we just talk
(49:04):
about recruiting and give, getyour advice to parents and kids.
You down for that.
Yeah, for sure.
Recruiting.
That's the best of us.
That's my best tool right there.
I love that.
Yeah.
I'm, we're gonna dive into you.
This is a recruiter here, sothanks for doing this.
I'm just so impressed with youand so thankful that you and I
got to know each other.
No, for sure.
I appreciate the opportunity.
Thank you.
What a great conversation withCoach Quentin Acre from
(49:27):
Christopher Newport University,one of the most grounded and
authentic young coaches you'llfind in college basketball.
His perspective on culture,accountability, and personal
growth is exactly what the gameand our players need right now.
He's a young guy, but he's gotvery much, has an old school
brain and perspective onbasketball, so I love that I got
(49:48):
to know him and connect with himI love also how Coach Q talked
about developing people beforeplayers that the wins take care
of themselves when your programis built on consistency,
connection, and care.
That's leadership at its core,and it's why CNU continues to
set the standard for excellencein division three basketball.
If you haven't already, makesure you favorite like and leave
(50:11):
a comment wherever you'relistening.
It helps more coaches andfamilies find these
conversations and gives themconfidence to do the right
things for their future.
And don't forget to subscribefor free@coachmattrogers.com.
That's where you'll get accessto my weekly newsletter,
exclusive coaching andRecruiting Tips, early updates
on NCAA rules and recruitingchanges, and inside looks at new
(50:35):
books, resources and Schools toconnect with.
Also, check out this week'sblog.
It's a deep dive into what NIL.
Name, image likeness reallymeans and how it's changing the
landscape for families, coaches,and universities at every level.
Until next time, stay focused onwhat you can control.
(50:56):
Stay humble and keep chasingsignificance.
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