July 18, 2025 • 50 mins
Significant Coaching with Jeff Gard – UW-Platteville Head Men’s Basketball Coach
This week’s episode is a courtside seat to the coaching journey of Jeff Gard, the longtime Head Men’s Basketball Coach at UW-Platteville. We talk hoops, leadership, and the incredible influence of the legendary Coach Jerry Petitgoue, who helped shape Jeff's values both on and off the court.
Coach Gard opens up about:
- Competing in the always-loaded WIAC conference
- Recruiting without an offer???
- How he builds a program that develops great teammates and even better young men
It’s a real, refreshing look at coaching with intention — and just the right mix of basketball talk and bigger-picture wisdom.
🎧 Stick around — Part 2 drops next week with Coach Gard’s best advice on college recruiting.
📚 Check out resources at coachmattrogers.com:
Significant Recruiting, The Recruit’s Journal, the blog, and the Significant Recruiting Launchpad online course.
Learn more and connect with Matt Rogers here: https://linktr.ee/coachmattrogers
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeartRadio, and all your favorite podcast platforms.
Did you like what you heard and want more?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
But again, I'm gonna stay trueto who I am.
(00:02):
I'm not gonna guarantee youanything.
The only guarantee is that I'mgonna give you an opportunity to
prove yourself.
What you do with thatopportunity is up to you.
If you don't wanna work hard inthe off season, okay then don't
be upset with me when you don'tmake the roster or if you're one
of my returners, you don't workhard in the off season.
(00:24):
Don't be upset when you don'tsee the playing time that you
want.
Welcome back to the SignificantCoaching Podcast.
I'm your host, coach MattRogers, and if you've ever
wondered what it's like to growup under the influence of a
(00:45):
coaching legend and then buildyour own legacy in one of the
toughest D three conferences inthe country, and recruit players
who bring substance and stayingpower, then you're in for a real
treat.
Today's guest is Coach JeffGuard head, men's basketball
coach at the University ofWisconsin Platteville.
Jeff doesn't just coach in theYAC, he embraces everything that
(01:06):
makes it one of the mostcompetitive and well-respected D
three conferences in the nation.
Now Coach Guard and I have apretty parallel coaching
history.
Even though we didn't spend alot of time with each other
growing up, we both share a lotof the same memories.
So we started the podcast bygoing backwards before we go
(01:26):
forward.
One of the most powerful momentsin this episode is Jeff's
reflection on the late greatcoach Jerry Peti youe, a mentor,
a legend, and a guiding force inboth of our lives.
You'll hear what it was like togrow up around Coach P, the
impact of the tri-statebasketball camps, and how those
early lessons continue to shapeJeff's coaching and leadership
today.
(01:48):
We also dive into what makes Yacbasketball such a tough and
respected league, the importanceof building a connected,
accountable, and resilientprogram culture and pay close
attention to how Coach Guardevaluates potential recruits and
how he handles offers torecruits.
It's a true testament to hisintegrity as a coach.
(02:09):
Okay.
Before we dive in, make sure tocheck out coach matt rogers.com
where you can find significantrecruiting.
The recruits journal, my weeklyblog, and the significant
recruiting launchpad, my onlineclasses that help families take
charge of the college recruitingprocess.
And if you're a high schoolprincipal or athletic director,
I'd love to speak with you andtalk to you about, coming to
(02:31):
speak to your families and yourstudents about what's next for
them after high school.
Now let's get to it.
Here's my conversation withCoach Jeff Gard.
Coach Guard, thanks for being onthe Significant Coaching
Podcast.
It's great to see you.
I wanted to have you on for alot of reasons, but both of us
lost a pretty important mentorand coach in our life in the
(02:56):
last month or so, and I wantedto get your thoughts on Coach
Jerry Pegu and what he meant toyou.
I think it's first off, Matt,obviously appreciate you having
me on and, excited to obviouslyspend some time with you today
talking, but yeah, you'retalking about an individual that
was a, a teacher first.
And both literally andfiguratively as well.
(03:19):
And I think obviously when youget into the game of coaching in
general, that's what coachingis.
It is teaching how do youconnect with every student or
every student athlete but thenalso the individuals that you
work with as well.
Yeah, I was fortunate enough, Ihad about.
Four three years that I was ableto be with Coach Pegu and,
working within that Cuba cityathletic department, even at the
(03:40):
junior high level where Istarted out at but.
Just being alongside him andjust looking at how he, he
operated on a day-to-day basis.
There's so many things from anxs and o standpoint that I took
away.
But I laugh about it too.
Even to the time when obviouslyI was here at Platteville and
(04:02):
later.
Coaches later years at Cuba Citywith some good teams that he
had.
And obviously we were fortunateenough to get a couple of his
student athletes to come playfor us as well.
Coach would always be popping inthe office and, he wanted to
pick your brain about, what doyou think about this?
What do you think about that?
We're gonna see a team that'sgonna have a two, three zone
coach.
What's the best way?
And I just look at him and Ikinda laugh.
(04:23):
I said, coach, your players areway better than theirs.
Don't worry about it.
But it wasn't so much the.
Preparation for the game.
It was just he was a continuouslearner.
Yeah.
And I think I've talked with alot of us that are close to
coach and it was one of thosethings when Joe Paw.
(04:45):
Retired at Penn State, howquickly he passed.
And I think that's, somethingthat was very near and dear to
coach and that was the concern.
He didn't have a lot of outsidehobbies.
This was what kept him ticking.
And that's why he was ineverybody's office, even when he
retired from Cuba City, hejoined the staff at Gina.
And I told him, I said, coach, Isaid, Hey, when you retire, you
(05:08):
got a seat on my bench.
Come on up here.
Sit in practice.
And he did.
He was at multiple practices,just watching.
Yeah.
But I think that's what kind ofkept him going.
But that's also something tothink about is, doesn't matter
if you're coach and just life ingeneral, be a continuous
learner.
'cause it's gonna keep youmoving.
It keeps you motivated.
It's like you're, I look at youalways trying to lose weight.
(05:29):
Okay, you gotta keep moving tolose weight, and it's gotta get
something that's gonna bemotivating.
What's your why behind all of itas well.
But it's those parts that I lotI learned from coach.
I said it in a tweet as well, ora post, a Facebook post or
something that I put out.
It was Faith, it was family.
It was Cuba City basketball.
Yeah.
(05:50):
And I look at that I've got twoyoung kids, a 9-year-old and an
11-year-old and they see thelittle.
Mannerisms, the little twetwerks, the things that I do.
And my daughter was asking methe other day, she goes, dad,
why do you do that all the time?
And all it was is just arecognition when you drive by a
(06:11):
Catholic church tip of your hat,yeah.
Little side of the cross on thechest, whatever it may be.
She asked, why do you do that?
And I'm like my dad used toalways do it.
Saw that, and then I always saw.
Coach Petty.
You do it too.
Yeah.
And it was, didn't matter wherewe were at it, but I think it
was just that what did you learnfrom him?
And it's those things that Ilook at that can I bring back to
(06:31):
the program that are gonna lasta lifetime.
These guys are gonna forget thex's and no's that I talk about.
But the type of person that youare.
Is again, and what you do andwhat you expose them to is going
to last a lifetime.
And again, it's not trying topush something, force something
upon somebody.
It's just when they see youbeing true to who you really are
(06:54):
and being comfortable in yourskin, they're more comfortable.
And I know we're gonna talkrecruiting down the road here on
this podcast as well.
But, I think it's those thingsthat I learned from coach that
be who you are.
Don't worry about what everybodyon the outside thinks.
As successful as coach was therewas a lot of people that
disliked him.
(07:15):
I kinda laugh about it too.
It's when I was with him earlyon as an assistant coach there,
I.
I tell the story I was gettingmy hair cut by this lady one day
and.
We got talking.
She goes what do you do?
And I explained and she goes,oh, I don't really like Coach
Petty gu.
He said, he cuts players.
And I'm like, oh yeah.
(07:37):
And she goes, michael Jordan gotcut from his high school team.
How many Michael Jordan's isCoach Pegu cutting.
And I'm like hold on.
And I'm also being carefulbecause mine is, she's got
scissors by my ear.
I don't really want my ear cutoff because she's mad at me now,
but I'm like, yes, I know coachcuts.
But you also have to kinda lookat the big picture.
(07:59):
Just because you interview for ajob doesn't mean you're going to
get the job.
You have to earn it, and it'sthe same thing as a player.
You have to earn the playingtime.
You have to earn the opportunityto be a part of the program.
And what coaches establishednow, the great thing is
everybody wanted to be a part ofit because he won.
So it's also being able tofilter that out.
(08:20):
How can somebody that maybe getscut from the team still be a
part of the team?
And may, let them experiencewhat the other student athletes,
the 15 other individuals weregoing through at that time as
well.
But like I said, there's anindividual that was in the city
of Cuba city that did not likeJerry Peti youe, and I think
there was wrestling coaches thatliked him more than than this
(08:40):
lady did.
But again, it's just, he wasgenuine.
He was one that did everythingfor everybody else.
His wife is a saint.
Yes.
The, is just unreal.
Yes, he will keep his legacycontinuing to go forward.
He's got a phenomenal family.
His daughter has two boys aswell.
And I just, it's, coach wasalways, he never looked at him
(09:05):
as a coach and I think every oneof his players would say the
same thing.
He was more like another fatherfigure.
Exactly.
Even as an assistant coach withhim, I kinda look at the way he
taught me some different things.
I got in a little bit oftrouble, obviously you're a
college student.
When I was working with him andhad a little altercation I was
(09:27):
more afraid to tell Coach Peguwhat happened than I was to tell
my mom and dad.
Yes.
And it wasn't what coach wasgoing to do to me.
I wasn't worried about that.
It was just like I did.
I lose respect in his eyes.
Yeah.
I was more concerned aboutupset, letting him down than
(09:50):
anything else.
His Yeah.
You didn't want to be disa youdidn't want him to be
disappointed in you.
Correct.
Correct.
'cause he did, he meant so muchto you.
Yeah.
And again I kinda look back atit and who you get to get
connected with along the way.
How are they gonna touch you?
Yeah.
And help you and establish youin your way.
And obviously I was fortunateenough to, parents that brought
(10:10):
me up the right way and whatthey instilled in me, my dad.
I can remember him even tellingme too, he is like, how excited
he was that I was working withJerry Pet because he knew the
type of man that Jerry Pet was.
Yes, he respected him as acoach, but he respected him even
more as a man because of the wayhe was.
Yeah.
And having a, having an olderbrother.
(10:32):
So my dad's got two sons thatare, were coaching with legends,
and Greg was with Bo at the timeand I was with Jerry at the time
as well.
And just how much.
Dad just loved the fact that Iwas with Jerry Pegu because dad
always said, he said, you lookat the best coaches.
Who are they?
And they got their priorities.
(10:53):
And like I said before, it wasfaith, it was family, and it was
your organization, so he talkeda lot about Lombardi, he talked
a lot about Shula, and then itwas the Jerry Pegu, so I was
fortunate, not knowing which waymy, my path was going to
eventually end up early ongetting a.
Front row seat to the way thingsshould be done.
(11:16):
And again it wasn't about howthings were done from an xs and
o standpoint.
Yes, I learned a lot from himand, it took things away.
But it was just more was learnedon life.
And just in general from CoachPet than probably anything with
an Nexus o standpoint.
Yeah.
It's what I'll miss the most isjust being able to pick up the
phone and call him and Oh,absolutely Hear that voice.
(11:37):
Hey, my friend.
My friend, how are you myfriend?
Yes.
That's the way he was.
And it was so great'cause we'dstart talking hoops, but we'd
spend another 40 minutes, wemight talk basketball for 10
minutes and be 40 minutestalking about his kids or
talking about the players.
You're talking about coachingand I would always be calling
for advice.
And I felt like you said weturned it into, Hey I'm thinking
(11:59):
about doing this.
What do you think about that?
Yeah.
And I just I was like, coach metalking to you about advice is,
it's like me trying to tell aplumber how to turn the wrench.
It just doesn't make any sense.
That's, and I remember tellinghim once I said, coach, he said,
you forgotten more about thegame of basketball than I know.
Yes.
And that's the way it was.
But yeah, like I said, he would,he'd come into practice and
you'd.
(12:19):
And I have him at practice toobserve and to give me feedback.
And then he'd walk out ofpractice and he'd have three,
four pages of notes.
And I'm like, okay, what do yougot for me, coach?
He goes, that was great.
Oh, that was awesome.
That was awesome.
I love that.
I love what do, why do you dothis?
How do you get this?
What are you looking for here?
And I'm like.
He was just a student.
He was looking at, this is anopportunity for me to learn.
(12:42):
Yeah.
And again, like I said, I thinkthat's what kept him so
motivated, kept him ticking allalong.
That's so great.
Yeah.
I could spend a whole podcasttalking about coach with you and
I'd love to get you and yourbrother just on one of these
just to talk together.
'cause I think we all have somany stories about Bo and Jerry
and the fact that, you look atall 50 states.
(13:03):
And the tree.
It's basically Bull Ryan andJerry Peti.
Youe, yeah.
Basketball coaching in the stateof Wisconsin.
I don't think you can say thatabout any state in the union
about what two men had an effecton for girls and boys coaches.
And what's taught, absolutely.
How many of us as a young coachran the swing for crying out
(13:24):
loud?
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
If you weren't running theswing, you felt out.
Yeah.
You were wrong.
Yep.
You were wrong.
You were wrong.
So it's No it's true.
It's so great.
It's such a great history and Igrew up in northern Illinois
where Coach Peti youe coached atLena Winslow High School when he
first started.
So that was so cool for me to beat Tri-State Basketball Camp as
a 12 or 13-year-old, knowingthat Coach Peti you, this great
(13:46):
coach coached at my high schooland I thought that was just the
coolest thing ever, and I thinkthat it's 60 years it is, and I
think it's.
Early on at a young age, evenwhen we were in high school.
And at the time that I was atIowa Grant playing, obviously
the league, the SWA had brokeninto SWA one, SWA two, or the
(14:06):
large and the small division.
Didn't, we didn't get to play'em.
But it, again, it was like.
You looked across the way and heis oh, there's that old guy,
he's, coach Petty.
I said, yeah, coach looked thesame for 40 years, but again,
and everybody laughs about it,but it's like they'd always ask,
how old is coach?
How old is coach?
Oh, I'm like, I'd say this.
And he is man, he looks a lotolder than that and or what
(14:29):
young, whatever it may be.
But I'm like, yeah, he just kepton going and yeah.
But again, I think it's as you.
It wasn't until I got out, Ithink Greg would say the same
thing when you got out and youactually got to know him, how
much more you respected him.
And then just, like I said, Iwas just fortunate enough to see
an ad in the paper that therewas a coach needed at Cuba City,
at the round school in theelementary.
(14:50):
And I applied for it and gettingto know him along that journey.
And then every year just.
He invited me to be more andmore involved within that
program as well.
And yeah, like I said, to thisday I told Ryan when we were
going through the visitation, Isaid, I am who I am today as a
coach because of your dad.
(15:10):
Yeah.
And I said, and again, I said,this has nothing to do with
excess.
No.
Yeah.
I am who I am today as a coachand how I operate because of
your dad.
Same here.
I think that kinda wraps it upright there.
It does.
It's great coach.
It's hard to believe, but you'vebeen at Ville for a decade now.
(15:32):
I got the gray hair to show ittoo.
You, that's why I wear the hat.
You really took a program thathad a great history at
Platteville, one of the best inthe country, and you have made
it yours.
The way your teams play, it's somuch your character.
It's still, I think, thetoughest league in the country.
What's changed the most aboutthe job over those 10 years for
(15:56):
you?
That's a good question becausewe had a meeting this morning as
a, as an athletic department,and we were talking about some
different things and I think thebiggest thing for me is over the
years from my first time of asthe head coach to where I am
now, I'm not as consumed andwrapped up in the outcome of a
(16:22):
game.
As I was early in my career,right?
Yes, I wanna win.
I'm not gonna lie about that.
I wanna win, but I also lookinto stock, into how are we
doing it?
So being really, ultimatelybeing more process driven than
outcome driven.
That's been my biggest change ofmy mo.
(16:43):
I think it's allowed me to enjoywhat's going on versus being so
stressed out.
Now don't get me wrong, we'vealso gotten phenomenal players
and I have an unbelievablecoaching staff.
And I think that's been a keypiece of it all.
And I think that's the biggestthing is just continue.
And when I took the job and I,or I was fortunate enough to get
(17:05):
the job Greg was at my pressconference.
And Ron Rainey, who was Bo'shigh school and college coach,
and was an assistant with Bo atPlatteville he was at the press
conference as well, and CoachRainey was a, is a very close
family friend and has passedaway a few years ago though.
But we got done with the pressconference and walking out of
(17:29):
the room and Greg and CoachRainey were standing up there as
well.
And the best advice that wasprobably given to me is from
Coach Rainey is be you.
This is your program.
This is don't be Bo.
And then I was fortunate thatgrowing up in Southwest
Wisconsin and coming to schoolhere, I kinda had a front row
seat across the way watching alegend in his own run, his
(17:53):
program and how not only runningthe program, but you got
everybody involved, thecommunity, everything.
The place was sold out all thetime.
And then obviously there was.
Transition period from when Boleft to go to Milwaukee.
Coach Landrum came in.
And then I was fortunate enoughwhen I left, went to Lakeland
College for two years and wasfortunate to come back with Paul
(18:15):
Combs at the time that tookover.
So there was been a gap of whenBo was here to when I got to
take over.
Yeah.
But again, it's knowing that howmuch Bo was.
An influence on coaches and justin Southwest Wisconsin, but also
me growing up like CoachRainey's comma is be you.
(18:35):
Yeah.
And I think that's the one thingthat's always stuck with me is
you can look what everybodydoes, and how, what makes them
successful.
It's ultimately is what arethey?
Where do they hold their, wheredo they hold their values?
From an offensive side ofthings, taking care of the
basketball, shot selection,efficiency from the defensive
end of the floor, the defensiveefficiency as well and taking
(19:00):
those things versus how doesthat person act on the sideline?
I think that's the one thing Isee with a lot of young coaches
is that they try to mimic.
What another coach is doing orhow they act and how they're
yelling at the officials or,some of that stuff is just
earned, that's right.
And, but again, then when you'retrying to be like that, your
players are seeing you besomebody that you're not.
(19:22):
And I think that's, as Icontinue to get more and more
comfortable with myself as ahead coach I became more and
more comfortable just being me.
And then again, not worrying somuch about, what others thought,
Hey, this is the way we're goingto do it, and I will say, that
about the midway point, and thiswas probably back in 20 15, 20
(19:48):
16, we were down.
We had back to back losingyears.
And I remember our interimathletic director at the time,
I'm sitting down in his office,he was a football coach, and we
were talking and he's I'm gonnatell you Jeff, he said the guy
at the top of the hill isn'thappy with what's going on with
the basketball program.
And kinda read between thelines, Hey, get stuff
(20:09):
straightened out or else you'reout.
Yeah.
And I didn't take that as athreat.
I looked at it more, it was,Hey, this is a challenge.
All right, now we're reallygonna find out where my values
sit.
Do I completely jump ship ofwhat I believe in to do
(20:30):
something that's gonna pleasesomebody else and do things just
to go unethical, bring kids inthat are gonna help you win
quick, but.
They're not gonna be the fix or,hey, stick true to who you are
and what you do, and let's justmake sure we're worried about
the process.
Yeah.
And it was that kind of an ahamoment that I'm like, I remember
(20:52):
sitting back, I'm talking toGreg on the phone and we're
going through some differentthings and I'm like, he goes,
what are you doing in practice?
He goes, are you holding'em tothe standard?
Is your are?
Are you doing what you want todo?
What you believe in?
If you are doing that, stickwith it because at the end of
the day, I was willing to godown with guns blazing, doing it
(21:13):
my way.
Yeah.
Versus trying to fall into whatsomebody else thought I should
be doing or doing it their way.
Which just made it a lot moreeasier.
And then really you can sit backand, the following year we go
from being dead last in theleague to winning the league and
losing in the Sweet 16 on abuzzer beater Yeah.
To the eventual nationalchampions.
(21:34):
And I'm like, it was abittersweet moment.
I wasn't gonna be the guy thatwas gonna turn to the.
The chancellor at that timekinda rub it in their face.
You wanted to get rid of me andthe very next year I turned this
thing around.
Words of advice.
Maybe I need a littlemotivation, but I also would say
too is that my players were alsohealthy.
Yeah.
The year that we finished deadlast, I lost my sixth man tore
(21:56):
his ACL in practice mill.
Nobody even around him.
Tears it.
And this is the second game,going into the second game of
conference play.
Lose my starting point guard inthe game, and then my backup
point guard gets hurt as well.
I'm like, sometimes you justcan't control those things.
No.
But at the end of the day, Ialso didn't let that panic show
(22:18):
panic to the guys.
I'm like, Hey, we're gonnacontinue to do what we do, and.
It was more of just continuingto build into that, being
process driven.
Yeah.
Versus outcome driven as well.
And I, I think that's the thing.
You can do everything perfect.
Yeah.
And still lose a game.
You can be god awful and win a.
(22:39):
That's right.
So at the end of the day, howare you measuring yourself?
What's your standard?
And like I said, I think that's,we talked about that a little
bit today.
It just be more process driventhan outcome driven.
And at the end of the day,process driven is gonna give you
longevity Yeah.
And sustainability within yourprogram.
(22:59):
And I think that's where we'reat right now.
And, our challenges is, stayingat the top.
Yeah.
So how do you continue to stayat the top?
You don't.
You gotta look at guys,everybody's coming at you.
Okay, what are we gonna do newthis year?
What's gonna be different?
Or at the end of the day, we canadd things that are gonna.
(23:21):
Help this team be even moresuccessful.
But at the end of the day, wecan't do those things until we
do the basics better.
Yeah.
And I think that's just that,that constant message that we're
driving home with our guys isthat, the climb to the top of
the hill isn't the hardestthing's when you're there and
you wanna stay there and showingthat sustainability and I think
(23:41):
that's also, that's a sign of agood program.
Absolutely you're gonna haveturnover.
And I think we were just talkingwith my staff, this afternoon or
this morning as well in ourstaff meeting here, just in
within the program.
And I said, you look at it, myassistant coaches have done an
unbelievable job in evaluatingthe talent that we bring into
our program.
(24:01):
And I say that not because wewin, but because we retain
everybody.
We're not a revolving doorwhere.
You know it's not the transferportal at Platteville.
That's right.
We look at the transfer portalas far as who we wanna bring in.
We don't really go after it thathard.
We want to build with what wehave in.
(24:23):
And then also I think it, ithelps when you have the national
player of the year, two times ina row, goes in the portal both
times just to see what the grassis like on the other side.
But both times he keeps oncoming back after being offered
division two scholarships andafter being offered a division
one scholarship.
Amazing.
And I think that it says about,the program that you have, but
(24:43):
also the people around it.
He loved the teammates that hehad, and that was, if he was
gonna leave, that was gonna bethe hardest thing, is to tell
his teammates I'm going.
Yeah.
And I think that's, again, yousurround yourself with the right
people, do things in the rightway.
Good things will happen for you.
You're finding Platteville kidsthat want to be there.
(25:04):
I'm sure you'll tell me that's abig testament to his parents too
and how he was raised.
Oh, a hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
And I think that's, that is theone thing is that, I always say
the apple doesn't fall far fromthe tree, that's right.
People, they, you hear a lot of.
A lot of people and in highereducation right now, we're
hearing it.
And I talk with differentbusinessmen as well and they
(25:25):
talk, kids have changed now.
Kids haven't changed, they'restill the same.
It's just where's the attentionat home given to'em.
That's right.
To make sure they're doingthings the right way.
And I laugh about it, last nightmy little 9-year-old Vince, who
likes to push my buttons alittle bit, and I climbed into
him a little bit, and then.
(25:45):
My wife Amy this morning beforeI, we left and Vince is in the
office with me today as well asHannah and Amy said, take it
easy on Vince.
You were really hard on him lastnight.
I said, no, mom, there'saccountability here.
Yeah.
All right.
You're nine years old, you haveresponsibility.
And I said, if I let this slidenow and I cover up for him, is
he learning a lesson?
(26:05):
And I think there's, we'realways able to teach lessons
that are gonna help somebodydown the road as well.
And like I said, beginning,going back to the conversation
with the beautician about,getting cut from the basketball
team.
I'm like, you're going to, Idon't wanna say everybody,
you're always gonna fail, butyou gotta prepare yourself.
Not, you're not always gonna getwhat you want.
(26:26):
And I think that's sometimes, asa parent, I I catch myself too.
I said, I give Hannah and Vincea lot, I let'em off a little bit
and then it's now I try to catchmyself and I remember.
How many times are Greg, Garyand I would always be mad at mom
and dad.
Yep.
They wouldn't always let us, wesee our friends or a guy down
the street or whatever.
(26:46):
He got it.
That's fine.
If he got it, that's not the wayyou're gonna earn it.
That's right.
And I think that now I look backand I have so much more
appreciation for what they mademe earn, and I think that's.
You know where we're at today.
I was, Greg and I were both incoaching, we're in a unicorn, I
(27:07):
say, where neither one of usplayed college athletics or
college basketball.
He was recruited to play or cameto Plattville, wasn't recruited,
came to Plattville to playbaseball and he walked on as he
said, he was asked to walk off.
I was on the flip side.
I came here for football gothurt.
Don't know where it would'vegone, but I also wasn't.
I had to take a different route.
(27:29):
Yeah.
But you look at a lot of guysthat, hey, I played college
basketball.
They got a great name tied to'embecause of their playing days.
That got'em a job.
Yeah.
But when they, something's givento'em, now all of a sudden it's
a different realm, and maybe yousee'em fail when they hit tough
patches.
And we talk about it.
(27:50):
A lot about you earn it, it'snot given to you.
And we'll get into therecruiting piece of it as well,
I know down the road, but wehad.
Have other programs on our, inour department as well as
obviously throughout our leaguethat do the offers to a division
three student athlete.
And I understand, obviously Iknow Sam's your relative there
(28:11):
as well, and she does the offersand we've talked about this,
I've actually picked her brain alot about the offer and what
does it mean?
I look at it this way and I'llsit with a young man on his, on
my couch, in my office with hisparents, and I'll say, I know
you're being offered by schoolsX, Y, and Z, and they're
division three schools.
(28:32):
I don't give offers.
And they'll kinda look at me alittle bit.
And I said, it doesn't mean thatI don't want you, you are here,
you're sitting in front of mebecause I think you're the very
best of the best.
I want you here.
However.
I was taught in and brought upin life that if you earn
something, you have a betterappreciation for it and you work
(28:57):
for it.
So if I tell you, Matt, I wantyou to come to Plava, I want you
to be a pioneer, but I'm notoffering you anything.
I'm giving you the opportunityto be a pioneer.
You have to earn that jersey.
What one's gonna make you workharder in the off season to get
that jersey something that, Hey,you're offered, you've got a
(29:19):
guaranteed spot on our roster asan incoming freshman, or you're
gonna have to earn it.
It's gonna push you more andmore.
And we've had some great playersthat have come through here, and
I've had guys that had divisiontwo offers out there as well.
And I've gone to'em and I said,listen, I said, you're good.
Yep.
I think if you read between thelines, you can see how you fit
(29:40):
within my program.
But again, I'm gonna stay trueto who I am.
I'm not gonna guarantee youanything.
The only guarantee is that I'mgonna give you an opportunity to
prove yourself.
What you do with thatopportunity is up to you.
If you don't wanna work hard inthe off season, okay then don't
be upset with me when you don'tmake the roster or if you're one
(30:02):
of my returners, you don't workhard in the off season.
Don't be upset when you don'tsee the playing time that you
want.
'cause at the end of the day, Isaid, you gotta feel to push
yourself.
You're your own motivator.
I talk a lot with our guys thatsaid, you self-evaluate, you
self motivate.
And when you can be honest withyour evaluation, that's the
hardest thing is to be true tohow you evaluate yourself.
(30:26):
I'll talk to'em on the phone.
I said, guys, I said how youdoing in your workouts this
summer?
Oh, everything's great.
I'm getting in the gym, fourdays a week and I'm in lifting
four days a week, and I'msitting there thinking bs.
I said, you right now, you'renot honest with your own
evaluation.
When you know, and you can sayto yourself, this is what I'm
struggle with.
(30:48):
It motivates you that much moreto be better.
And then all of a sudden whenyou're motivating yourself, and
that's where you raise the bar,and guess what?
When that freshman comes in andhe's chomping at the bit.
He's pushing.
When we get into practice nowI've got my junior that thinks
he's gonna coast well.
(31:08):
This freshman's pushing him.
The junior's saying, I ain'tgonna let that freshman beat me,
so I'm gonna work that muchharder.
That's right.
And we always tell our guys, Isaid, you come back, Logan
Pearson, you're the NationalPlayer of the year.
There's no guarantee that yougotta spot on this roster.
Now listen, I know, but I'mgonna say it out there.
Logan knows it.
Yeah, coach you're full of it.
But also Logan, I expect you tobe my hardest worker.
(31:31):
'Cause of what You have so muchcoming back here.
And again, I think it goes backto that you gotta earn it versus
just being given, and I thinkthat's the, sometimes it's
tough.
We don't always want to.
Put all the work in that comesinto it.
I say we live in a fast foodsociety.
Everybody wants thingsinstantly.
But I always tell'em too, Isaid, what's your best, what's
(31:52):
the best meal that you get?
My mom makes this.
I said, yeah, mom makes this.
And it takes mom a half an hour,45 minutes to make it.
That's why it's so good.
Alright.
It's gonna take time for you toget the best of the best, and I
think that's.
That's also part of the reasonwhy we have the transfer portal
is as crazy as it is.
(32:13):
Yep.
Not patient, we're not patientwith what's going on.
We want instant gratificationand like I said, it's a fast
food society.
It's, it speaks volumes to yourcharacter, your courage, your
conviction as a coach.
There's very few coaches thathave that type of conviction to
say, I believe in who I am.
I'm looking at you and tellingyou I believe in you, but you've
(32:35):
gotta come in.
And understand, this neverstops.
We don't stop working becausewe've hit, because we made it to
the national championship game.
We don't stop working because wewon.
The Yac last year, we don't stopworking'cause we got a starting
job.
I love it, coach, because it'sthe message.
Not enough families and notenough kids are getting on a
daily basis.
It's not getting pounded intothese high school coaches
(32:58):
because there's such a fear oflosing their job.
If they raise their voice orthey discipline too much or they
run too much.
And I think at the end of theday, we've lost that vision of
what greatness looks like orwhat significance looks like.
It's about saying, I'm gonna bedisciplined.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna give mybest every day.
(33:20):
I'm gonna be that 1% better.
Or I can expect I'm not gonnaget what I want in return.
Correct.
Correct.
And the more I can share JeffGuard with these families and
these coaches, the more excitedI am.
The better.
I sleep at night.
'cause I know more people arehearing your voice and saying,
okay, gosh.
D three is no slouch.
(33:41):
No.
Go watch.
Go watch UW Plattville.
If you're in the Wisconsin,Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota area,
make a trip.
Go watch UW Plattville play andyou're gonna go, holy cow, this
is Division iii.
This is what Division III lookslike.
Because I don't think that highschool kid understands how good
a basketball it's.
Correct, correct.
And, but I also, sometimes theyforget on how did you get there?
(34:04):
Again, it goes back to that workethic.
They're the best teams, and weall know the analogy.
The best teams don't play thebest.
They're not.
They're not where they are whenthe lights are on.
It's what they're doing when thelights are off, and it's all the
work that's being put in.
It's the competition.
I said, it's when we recruit.
(34:25):
Now, I said.
It's not about us recruiting tobeat team A or team B in the
WIAC, it's, we recruit to raisethe bar in practice.
And when that practice, andwe've been fortunate, over the
last few years now practice is,it's a joy.
(34:46):
And you walk in there and it's,Hey, we're boys, we're
roommates.
I.
All this, when you step betweenthe lines, it's war.
That's right.
I want the same thing you want.
And at the end of the day, Ithink that's what it's really
all about.
Yeah.
Is that we all come fromdifferent cultures, different
backgrounds, diverse, whateverit is.
We're coming to Platteville forone common goal.
(35:09):
We're all alike here.
We wanna win.
And okay, what's it gonna take?
And there's gonna becompetition.
And I said, you'll prove to notonly me, that you're worthy of
that spot, you are gonna proveto every one of your teammates.
Yep.
They're gonna say, yep, he needsto be on the floor.
And then most importantly, nowI've instilled that confidence
(35:31):
in you that, hey, when you're onthe floor, you're on the floor
for a reason.
And it's because of the workthat you put in.
You didn't just trip into thatspot, you had to earn it, and
again, what you put into it,again, go back to self evaluate,
self motivate, that's gonna getyou where you wanna be.
I, I remember my first practiceat co college, Darren Pint was
(35:51):
the senior point guard.
I was this wet behind the yearsfreshman.
He came at me so hard.
I felt like he was attached tome for two and a half hours.
He never quit pounding me.
He never quit beating me up.
And I was like, oh he must justbe wanting to teach a freshman
lesson.
Well, 82 practices later, hewas, he never stopped doing it.
(36:13):
How I trained after my freshmanyear compared to coming outta
high school was completelydifferent.
It was all because of Darren.
Yeah.
Coach set the tempo, but thatsenior.
Made me such a better player.
He made me such a better leader.
He taught me what my work ethiccould be.
And you're doing that from topto bottom.
You've got 20 kids in yourprogram that are all doing that
(36:35):
and that's why.
They're owning it and yeah.
And while you guys continue todo coach, so sorry.
Again, thank you so much.
The messaging is right on.
And your teams are fun to watchbecause of I'm so impressed.
I wanna do a little rapid firewith you before we jump into
some recruiting talk and just dosome fun stuff.
Just to share a little bit whoyou are, what's your favorite
basketball movie of all time?
(36:57):
It's gotta be Hoosiers.
Yeah.
Absolute.
That's a given, obviously it'sin Indiana, but it's also
Southwest Wisconsin.
Small town.
Yeah.
You Hey it's Platteville.
That's right.
My dad laugh about it.
We were two years ago down inRine in the Sweet 16 and we had
more people from Plattevillethan the other three schools
(37:17):
probably combined.
Yeah.
And our, one of our guys says,that's Platteville.
Pioneer Nation travels.
That's right.
I think when he said that, I hadthat vision of, they're on the
bus, traveling down the road andyou got the line of cars behind.
That's right.
The, I think that's the one,even, you love the movie,
obviously.
Again it's tough love.
(37:39):
Yeah.
Brought that team together andbuilt them up.
And again, you talk about acoach being who he was and I'm
gonna stick to it.
I got all the naysayers on theoutside.
I got the city council isgetting together.
They're gonna, they're.
Gonna get rid of me.
And you get Jimmy comes in andsaves the day for you.
And, it's but that's a, it's alifer, it is, it's a great one.
(38:01):
I get get upset when I talk toguys that haven't seen it, or I
know.
Me too.
So that's gonna be the firstmovie on the bus and the next
road trip, that's what we'regonna watch.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
We're starting with that one.
What's the most underrated skillin college basketball today?
Passing.
Yeah.
Passing.
A hundred percent.
Yeah, it, the reason I say thattoo, it's hard to, who's the guy
(38:26):
that's gonna go in the gym andby himself and work on passing?
Yeah.
You, you don't see that.
But it's also, it's the mostunderrated, but, and
unappreciated because.
When you throw a great pass andyou, if I throw a great pass to
you, Matt, and you bang a three,you're gonna get all the glory.
(38:49):
That's right.
If I throw a lousy pass to youand it goes down to your knees
and then you miss the shoteverybody's if Jeff would've
thrown him a better pass, hewould've made that.
Or you throw a pass, it goes outof bounds so there's not enough
credit and you gotta put peoplein the spots to be successful.
And that's what a pastor does.
Yeah, that, that was my game.
'cause I couldn't shoot where alick, and my dad, when I was six
(39:12):
years old, had me out in thegarage and, we taped a box in
the garage and I had to throw 50passes and hit that box with my
right hand, with my left handbehind my back, bounce pass.
And it, that skill got me tocollege basketball'cause it
surely wasn't my shooting.
I could offend and I could pass,yep.
Pre-game routine.
Do you have any superstition?
Do you have any tradition?
(39:32):
What I had one of my playerssaid, I don't have any
superstitions.
I have little tions, I've got afew of my, I guess my
superstition is I don't let thecat out of the bag, so yeah, I
got some.
All right, Matt, but I'm notgonna share'em with you.
And those are not even my wifeor my kids or anybody on my
staff.
No.
My little routines that I have.
Yep.
I laugh.
(39:53):
I do.
Carry the tradition.
Superstition, tradition.
I don't know.
So in our locker room, there isa drain in the middle of the
floor.
Yeah.
Now guard, mind you as well, wegot a carpeted floor, but there
is a Oh, a water drain in themiddle of it.
Yeah.
And I've heard always all theyears that when Bo was here,
(40:16):
he'd be pacing in the wa lockerroom talking to the guys.
And they said he would neverstep on that drain.
And even like when, last year Iwas with Bo and a couple of our
boosters.
We were out in Springfield whenhe was going to the Hall of
Fame, and that, that was theweekend of it.
And he got telling that story toour group as well, and about
(40:37):
never stepping on the drain.
And, the players there, theywere, he was hearing stories
from them later on about howthey were making bets that Okay,
is he, oh he's really close, buthe never stepped on it, I
finally told him, I said, coach,I said, I wouldn't tell that
story.
He goes what do you mean?
I go, you lose a lot ofcredibility as a coach when you
(40:58):
tell that story.
I said, because you're givingthese great talks.
Your players aren't even payingattention to what you're saying.
All they're worried about is,are you stepping on that dang
drain or not?
That's right.
So I'm like, he's telling, andI'm hearing the players and I'm
like, you gotta let, you got aNaysmith Hall of Fame coach.
(41:18):
That is talking to you andtrying to motivate you, and all
you're worried about is he gonnastep on the drain tonight or
not?
So I think that's, I'm not,that's teenage boys to a tee,
isn't it?
It is, right?
It is.
I, but I think that's one thing.
I don't step on the drain,whether it's not a super
superstition, it's a tradition.
I guess that's what I try tocarry on as well.
(41:39):
But yeah.
I love it.
And it's funny, I'm like thattoo.
Nobody knows what those 20minutes of prep before a game
are in, in my world.
I, my wife doesn't know it.
My kids, my players, myassistant coach don't know it.
There there's time for me beforethe game where it's just me I,
that I've gotta get myself whereI wanna be.
I've told my assistants as well,it is the loneliest 20 minutes
(42:01):
of your life.
It so is before, and now you putthat in there and you're looking
at 25 to 30.
32 times a year.
That's right.
I'm lonely.
And it's it seems like that 20minutes takes forever.
Yeah.
As well.
But like I said, I've got alittle routine and that I
constantly go through.
That helps me pass the time aswell.
Yeah.
(42:21):
I, I always tell people there'sanother 20 minutes at two
o'clock in the morning that whenI'm sitting at Denny's after a
game, looking at the stat sheetfor the 4000th time, trying to
figure out how we lost when weout rebounded by 10 and took 10
more free throws.
It's.
Every coach has that.
And it's always there becauseit's such a big part of our so
our soul.
It is.
It is.
Yeah.
And I think that's the hardestthing is to be able to turn it
(42:43):
all off too.
Last one coach, becauseWisconsin basketball is so
special.
I grew up just under the border,10 minutes under the border in
Illinois and we went toTri-State every year.
We played against Cuba Cityevery year.
'cause Coach Pegu and coach Ladyhad this, this great
relationship.
What's one word that definesWisconsin basketball culture and
maybe Wisconsin Plattevilleculture?
(43:08):
I just toughness.
Yeah.
There's that grit, thattoughness about, you look at you
look at athletics in general inWisconsin.
Yeah.
Farm boys, tough, hard nose,grinders.
Yep.
I look at the way our programoperates the years of the past
(43:31):
when Bo was here, even when Bowas at Wisconsin and at
Milwaukee you didn't have.
The five star athletes.
Nope.
You weren't running a highoctane offense and flying up and
down flying.
I always say, you wanna findthose guys that, that dunk make
dunking look like they'redunking on a Nerf hoop.
(43:52):
There wasn't a lot of thoseguys.
No.
We're just gonna root you outtathe way.
Yep.
But just that toughness about aWisconsin kid, and I think you,
again, you look at it.
It wasn't just in basketball, itwas like just your athletic, you
look at Wisconsin football.
Yeah.
It was ground and pound.
Yeah.
We're gonna, we're gonna beatyou up at the offensive line,
(44:12):
and then by the end of the day,we're gonna become, we're gonna
be winning.
Go back again.
Process driven.
Yeah.
And again, it's that littlepiece of it, but I would say
that's the one thing that.
When you look at Wisconsinbasketball in general, it's just
the toughness.
Yeah.
The athletic ability, obviously,yes, there's, they're there.
(44:33):
But maybe not as much as whatwe've seen in some other states.
Yeah.
At the bottom are the number ofhigh flyers that are coming
around.
You just got tough nosed kidsthat you know are efficient with
what they do.
It's so funny, I wrote a blogafter Coach passed and I wrote
it, for him, and I told thestory how I went to the
(44:55):
University of Notre Dame'sbasketball camp as a 13-year-old
and Digger Phelps handed me thebest camper award at the end of
camp.
I was just, I was blown away.
The next week I went toTri-State.
And I got my ass handed to meand I was probably the worst
player there'cause it was sophysical and it was so tough.
Everything I thought I was goodat these kids could do
(45:16):
blindfolded.
Oh yeah.
And I learned so much about myown character and how I needed
to work just by being at thatcamp, just surrounded by these
kids that all had these musclesthat, I was, I had Lani for
arms.
Yeah.
And I just got murdered becauseI wasn't prepared for that type
of basketball.
Yep.
I remember this was quite a fewyears ago when they were still
(45:37):
in high school, but like showWalter and Gosser.
Yes.
Guys.
They were playing for WisconsinSwing.
Yeah, so this is the WisconsinMadison kind of version.
Now there's obviously a lot ofAAU programs out there as well,
but I just remember.
Watching those guys play and wewere looking at a couple guys,
(45:58):
but obviously show Walter goesto Madison, Gosser goes to
Madison, like they had a coupleother guys that ended up, going
scholarship level.
They walk on the floor for an AUtournament and then they're
seeing a team out of New Jerseyor Texas and that, and it's like
the team outta Texas.
You could just read their mind.
They're like, look at thesechumps.
(46:20):
That's right.
It's kinda white man can't jump,yep.
You know who's the chump overthere?
And that's what they're lookingat, like the wis, all these
Wisconsin guys.
And when it's all said and done,Wiscon, Wisconsin Swing is
winning in by 20.
Yeah, that's right.
Against a team that is, yeah,they got, guys are going to
Texas, they're going all overthe place.
But again, they were the trueteam.
(46:40):
They were the toughness about'emthat, hey, we're gonna, you're
gonna stay with us, buteventually we're gonna wear you
down.
That's right.
And it said, it's like a goodrunning game in football.
We're gonna wear you down.
And when it.
Time comes to, to break thisthing open, you're gonna be too
tired and we've just, becausewe've beaten you up for so many.
Yeah, that gets me so excitedabout coaching.
(47:02):
Just talking about that, hearingyou talk about it because it's I
don't care how great of anathlete you are, I can block you
out every single trip.
I can force you to the sidelineand take away the middle floor
every single time.
I'm gonna make every life sohard for you.
And that's Wisconsin basketball.
Yeah we're gonna take care.
We're gonna just take awayeverything you think is great
about what you're capable of,and we're gonna make it a
(47:23):
thousand times harder.
Yep.
That's when I watch your teams,that's what I see.
It's just we can't do anythingwe wanna do.
Yeah, because you're making itso hard.
Correct.
And it's like I said, we, evenwhen we run the swing and we
still, we have our version ofthe swing.
Yeah.
And like coach Che will tellyou, coach, we don't run the
swing.
I'm like, we have guys in swingspots, so humor me a little bit.
(47:45):
Keegan humor me on this, but Igo.
What we do, we screen a lot.
Yeah.
And when you're constantlygetting hit in the back on a
screen, and That's right.
Does it help in the first fiveminutes?
No.
But eventually something's gonnabreak and you're like, I'm sick
and tired of this.
I just don't want to get hitanymore.
(48:05):
Now I'm lazy on a cut orCommunication's poor.
And the next thing you know,they're, you're seeing the easy
buckets and the That's right.
And the most crucial part of thegame as well.
And all of a sudden they stopseeing man and ball.
And all of a sudden that screenworks, that cut works.
And you give up two or threelayups and you're defeated,
you're deflated.
Exactly.
Exactly.
I love it.
Coach, thanks so much for doingthis.
(48:26):
Thanks for great conversation.
Appreciate you having me on.
That was a fantasticconversation with Coach Jeff
Guard F full of hoop stories,coaching wisdom and ideas for
raising not just great athletes.
But better humans from memoriesof Coach Pedigo to his insights
on life in the YAC.
This episode truly captures whatsignificant coaching is all
(48:49):
about heart connection andcoaching with purpose.
If you enjoyed today's chat,don't forget to head over to
coach matt rogers.com.
You'll find significantrecruiting the Recruits Journal,
our weekly blog, and thesignificant recruiting launchpad
designed to help familiesnavigate the college journey
with clarity and confidence Andhey.
(49:09):
Don't miss part two of myconversation with Coach Card.
That'll be coming this Monday.
Next time he's breaking downcollege recruiting from what to
look for in a program and how tobuild a plan that fits you, your
athlete, and your family.
Thanks for tuning in.
Take what you learned.
Keep building strong programs,and until next time, keep
(49:31):
leading with significance.
But again, I'm gonna stay trueto who I am.
(00:02):
I'm not gonna guarantee youanything.
The only guarantee is that I'mgonna give you an opportunity to
prove yourself.
What you do with thatopportunity is up to you.
If you don't wanna work hard inthe off season, okay then don't
be upset with me when you don'tmake the roster or if you're one
of my returners, you don't workhard in the off season.
(00:24):
Don't be upset when you don'tsee the playing time that you
want.
Welcome back to the SignificantCoaching Podcast.
I'm your host, coach MattRogers, and if you've ever
wondered what it's like to growup under the influence of a
(00:45):
coaching legend and then buildyour own legacy in one of the
toughest D three conferences inthe country, and recruit players
who bring substance and stayingpower, then you're in for a real
treat.
Today's guest is Coach JeffGuard head, men's basketball
coach at the University ofWisconsin Platteville.
Jeff doesn't just coach in theYAC, he embraces everything that
(01:06):
makes it one of the mostcompetitive and well-respected D
three conferences in the nation.
Now Coach Guard and I have apretty parallel coaching
history.
Even though we didn't spend alot of time with each other
growing up, we both share a lotof the same memories.
So we started the podcast bygoing backwards before we go
(01:26):
forward.
One of the most powerful momentsin this episode is Jeff's
reflection on the late greatcoach Jerry Peti youe, a mentor,
a legend, and a guiding force inboth of our lives.
You'll hear what it was like togrow up around Coach P, the
impact of the tri-statebasketball camps, and how those
early lessons continue to shapeJeff's coaching and leadership
today.
(01:48):
We also dive into what makes Yacbasketball such a tough and
respected league, the importanceof building a connected,
accountable, and resilientprogram culture and pay close
attention to how Coach Guardevaluates potential recruits and
how he handles offers torecruits.
It's a true testament to hisintegrity as a coach.
(02:09):
Okay.
Before we dive in, make sure tocheck out coach matt rogers.com
where you can find significantrecruiting.
The recruits journal, my weeklyblog, and the significant
recruiting launchpad, my onlineclasses that help families take
charge of the college recruitingprocess.
And if you're a high schoolprincipal or athletic director,
I'd love to speak with you andtalk to you about, coming to
(02:31):
speak to your families and yourstudents about what's next for
them after high school.
Now let's get to it.
Here's my conversation withCoach Jeff Gard.
Coach Guard, thanks for being onthe Significant Coaching
Podcast.
It's great to see you.
I wanted to have you on for alot of reasons, but both of us
lost a pretty important mentorand coach in our life in the
(02:56):
last month or so, and I wantedto get your thoughts on Coach
Jerry Pegu and what he meant toyou.
I think it's first off, Matt,obviously appreciate you having
me on and, excited to obviouslyspend some time with you today
talking, but yeah, you'retalking about an individual that
was a, a teacher first.
And both literally andfiguratively as well.
(03:19):
And I think obviously when youget into the game of coaching in
general, that's what coachingis.
It is teaching how do youconnect with every student or
every student athlete but thenalso the individuals that you
work with as well.
Yeah, I was fortunate enough, Ihad about.
Four three years that I was ableto be with Coach Pegu and,
working within that Cuba cityathletic department, even at the
(03:40):
junior high level where Istarted out at but.
Just being alongside him andjust looking at how he, he
operated on a day-to-day basis.
There's so many things from anxs and o standpoint that I took
away.
But I laugh about it too.
Even to the time when obviouslyI was here at Platteville and
(04:02):
later.
Coaches later years at Cuba Citywith some good teams that he
had.
And obviously we were fortunateenough to get a couple of his
student athletes to come playfor us as well.
Coach would always be popping inthe office and, he wanted to
pick your brain about, what doyou think about this?
What do you think about that?
We're gonna see a team that'sgonna have a two, three zone
coach.
What's the best way?
And I just look at him and Ikinda laugh.
(04:23):
I said, coach, your players areway better than theirs.
Don't worry about it.
But it wasn't so much the.
Preparation for the game.
It was just he was a continuouslearner.
Yeah.
And I think I've talked with alot of us that are close to
coach and it was one of thosethings when Joe Paw.
(04:45):
Retired at Penn State, howquickly he passed.
And I think that's, somethingthat was very near and dear to
coach and that was the concern.
He didn't have a lot of outsidehobbies.
This was what kept him ticking.
And that's why he was ineverybody's office, even when he
retired from Cuba City, hejoined the staff at Gina.
And I told him, I said, coach, Isaid, Hey, when you retire, you
(05:08):
got a seat on my bench.
Come on up here.
Sit in practice.
And he did.
He was at multiple practices,just watching.
Yeah.
But I think that's what kind ofkept him going.
But that's also something tothink about is, doesn't matter
if you're coach and just life ingeneral, be a continuous
learner.
'cause it's gonna keep youmoving.
It keeps you motivated.
It's like you're, I look at youalways trying to lose weight.
(05:29):
Okay, you gotta keep moving tolose weight, and it's gotta get
something that's gonna bemotivating.
What's your why behind all of itas well.
But it's those parts that I lotI learned from coach.
I said it in a tweet as well, ora post, a Facebook post or
something that I put out.
It was Faith, it was family.
It was Cuba City basketball.
Yeah.
(05:50):
And I look at that I've got twoyoung kids, a 9-year-old and an
11-year-old and they see thelittle.
Mannerisms, the little twetwerks, the things that I do.
And my daughter was asking methe other day, she goes, dad,
why do you do that all the time?
And all it was is just arecognition when you drive by a
(06:11):
Catholic church tip of your hat,yeah.
Little side of the cross on thechest, whatever it may be.
She asked, why do you do that?
And I'm like my dad used toalways do it.
Saw that, and then I always saw.
Coach Petty.
You do it too.
Yeah.
And it was, didn't matter wherewe were at it, but I think it
was just that what did you learnfrom him?
And it's those things that Ilook at that can I bring back to
(06:31):
the program that are gonna lasta lifetime.
These guys are gonna forget thex's and no's that I talk about.
But the type of person that youare.
Is again, and what you do andwhat you expose them to is going
to last a lifetime.
And again, it's not trying topush something, force something
upon somebody.
It's just when they see youbeing true to who you really are
(06:54):
and being comfortable in yourskin, they're more comfortable.
And I know we're gonna talkrecruiting down the road here on
this podcast as well.
But, I think it's those thingsthat I learned from coach that
be who you are.
Don't worry about what everybodyon the outside thinks.
As successful as coach was therewas a lot of people that
disliked him.
(07:15):
I kinda laugh about it too.
It's when I was with him earlyon as an assistant coach there,
I.
I tell the story I was gettingmy hair cut by this lady one day
and.
We got talking.
She goes what do you do?
And I explained and she goes,oh, I don't really like Coach
Petty gu.
He said, he cuts players.
And I'm like, oh yeah.
(07:37):
And she goes, michael Jordan gotcut from his high school team.
How many Michael Jordan's isCoach Pegu cutting.
And I'm like hold on.
And I'm also being carefulbecause mine is, she's got
scissors by my ear.
I don't really want my ear cutoff because she's mad at me now,
but I'm like, yes, I know coachcuts.
But you also have to kinda lookat the big picture.
(07:59):
Just because you interview for ajob doesn't mean you're going to
get the job.
You have to earn it, and it'sthe same thing as a player.
You have to earn the playingtime.
You have to earn the opportunityto be a part of the program.
And what coaches establishednow, the great thing is
everybody wanted to be a part ofit because he won.
So it's also being able tofilter that out.
(08:20):
How can somebody that maybe getscut from the team still be a
part of the team?
And may, let them experiencewhat the other student athletes,
the 15 other individuals weregoing through at that time as
well.
But like I said, there's anindividual that was in the city
of Cuba city that did not likeJerry Peti youe, and I think
there was wrestling coaches thatliked him more than than this
(08:40):
lady did.
But again, it's just, he wasgenuine.
He was one that did everythingfor everybody else.
His wife is a saint.
Yes.
The, is just unreal.
Yes, he will keep his legacycontinuing to go forward.
He's got a phenomenal family.
His daughter has two boys aswell.
And I just, it's, coach wasalways, he never looked at him
(09:05):
as a coach and I think every oneof his players would say the
same thing.
He was more like another fatherfigure.
Exactly.
Even as an assistant coach withhim, I kinda look at the way he
taught me some different things.
I got in a little bit oftrouble, obviously you're a
college student.
When I was working with him andhad a little altercation I was
(09:27):
more afraid to tell Coach Peguwhat happened than I was to tell
my mom and dad.
Yes.
And it wasn't what coach wasgoing to do to me.
I wasn't worried about that.
It was just like I did.
I lose respect in his eyes.
Yeah.
I was more concerned aboutupset, letting him down than
(09:50):
anything else.
His Yeah.
You didn't want to be disa youdidn't want him to be
disappointed in you.
Correct.
Correct.
'cause he did, he meant so muchto you.
Yeah.
And again I kinda look back atit and who you get to get
connected with along the way.
How are they gonna touch you?
Yeah.
And help you and establish youin your way.
And obviously I was fortunateenough to, parents that brought
(10:10):
me up the right way and whatthey instilled in me, my dad.
I can remember him even tellingme too, he is like, how excited
he was that I was working withJerry Pet because he knew the
type of man that Jerry Pet was.
Yes, he respected him as acoach, but he respected him even
more as a man because of the wayhe was.
Yeah.
And having a, having an olderbrother.
(10:32):
So my dad's got two sons thatare, were coaching with legends,
and Greg was with Bo at the timeand I was with Jerry at the time
as well.
And just how much.
Dad just loved the fact that Iwas with Jerry Pegu because dad
always said, he said, you lookat the best coaches.
Who are they?
And they got their priorities.
(10:53):
And like I said before, it wasfaith, it was family, and it was
your organization, so he talkeda lot about Lombardi, he talked
a lot about Shula, and then itwas the Jerry Pegu, so I was
fortunate, not knowing which waymy, my path was going to
eventually end up early ongetting a.
Front row seat to the way thingsshould be done.
(11:16):
And again it wasn't about howthings were done from an xs and
o standpoint.
Yes, I learned a lot from himand, it took things away.
But it was just more was learnedon life.
And just in general from CoachPet than probably anything with
an Nexus o standpoint.
Yeah.
It's what I'll miss the most isjust being able to pick up the
phone and call him and Oh,absolutely Hear that voice.
(11:37):
Hey, my friend.
My friend, how are you myfriend?
Yes.
That's the way he was.
And it was so great'cause we'dstart talking hoops, but we'd
spend another 40 minutes, wemight talk basketball for 10
minutes and be 40 minutestalking about his kids or
talking about the players.
You're talking about coachingand I would always be calling
for advice.
And I felt like you said weturned it into, Hey I'm thinking
(11:59):
about doing this.
What do you think about that?
Yeah.
And I just I was like, coach metalking to you about advice is,
it's like me trying to tell aplumber how to turn the wrench.
It just doesn't make any sense.
That's, and I remember tellinghim once I said, coach, he said,
you forgotten more about thegame of basketball than I know.
Yes.
And that's the way it was.
But yeah, like I said, he would,he'd come into practice and
you'd.
(12:19):
And I have him at practice toobserve and to give me feedback.
And then he'd walk out ofpractice and he'd have three,
four pages of notes.
And I'm like, okay, what do yougot for me, coach?
He goes, that was great.
Oh, that was awesome.
That was awesome.
I love that.
I love what do, why do you dothis?
How do you get this?
What are you looking for here?
And I'm like.
He was just a student.
He was looking at, this is anopportunity for me to learn.
(12:42):
Yeah.
And again, like I said, I thinkthat's what kept him so
motivated, kept him ticking allalong.
That's so great.
Yeah.
I could spend a whole podcasttalking about coach with you and
I'd love to get you and yourbrother just on one of these
just to talk together.
'cause I think we all have somany stories about Bo and Jerry
and the fact that, you look atall 50 states.
(13:03):
And the tree.
It's basically Bull Ryan andJerry Peti.
Youe, yeah.
Basketball coaching in the stateof Wisconsin.
I don't think you can say thatabout any state in the union
about what two men had an effecton for girls and boys coaches.
And what's taught, absolutely.
How many of us as a young coachran the swing for crying out
(13:24):
loud?
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
If you weren't running theswing, you felt out.
Yeah.
You were wrong.
Yep.
You were wrong.
You were wrong.
So it's No it's true.
It's so great.
It's such a great history and Igrew up in northern Illinois
where Coach Peti youe coached atLena Winslow High School when he
first started.
So that was so cool for me to beat Tri-State Basketball Camp as
a 12 or 13-year-old, knowingthat Coach Peti you, this great
(13:46):
coach coached at my high schooland I thought that was just the
coolest thing ever, and I thinkthat it's 60 years it is, and I
think it's.
Early on at a young age, evenwhen we were in high school.
And at the time that I was atIowa Grant playing, obviously
the league, the SWA had brokeninto SWA one, SWA two, or the
(14:06):
large and the small division.
Didn't, we didn't get to play'em.
But it, again, it was like.
You looked across the way and heis oh, there's that old guy,
he's, coach Petty.
I said, yeah, coach looked thesame for 40 years, but again,
and everybody laughs about it,but it's like they'd always ask,
how old is coach?
How old is coach?
Oh, I'm like, I'd say this.
And he is man, he looks a lotolder than that and or what
(14:29):
young, whatever it may be.
But I'm like, yeah, he just kepton going and yeah.
But again, I think it's as you.
It wasn't until I got out, Ithink Greg would say the same
thing when you got out and youactually got to know him, how
much more you respected him.
And then just, like I said, Iwas just fortunate enough to see
an ad in the paper that therewas a coach needed at Cuba City,
at the round school in theelementary.
(14:50):
And I applied for it and gettingto know him along that journey.
And then every year just.
He invited me to be more andmore involved within that
program as well.
And yeah, like I said, to thisday I told Ryan when we were
going through the visitation, Isaid, I am who I am today as a
coach because of your dad.
(15:10):
Yeah.
And I said, and again, I said,this has nothing to do with
excess.
No.
Yeah.
I am who I am today as a coachand how I operate because of
your dad.
Same here.
I think that kinda wraps it upright there.
It does.
It's great coach.
It's hard to believe, but you'vebeen at Ville for a decade now.
(15:32):
I got the gray hair to show ittoo.
You, that's why I wear the hat.
You really took a program thathad a great history at
Platteville, one of the best inthe country, and you have made
it yours.
The way your teams play, it's somuch your character.
It's still, I think, thetoughest league in the country.
What's changed the most aboutthe job over those 10 years for
(15:56):
you?
That's a good question becausewe had a meeting this morning as
a, as an athletic department,and we were talking about some
different things and I think thebiggest thing for me is over the
years from my first time of asthe head coach to where I am
now, I'm not as consumed andwrapped up in the outcome of a
(16:22):
game.
As I was early in my career,right?
Yes, I wanna win.
I'm not gonna lie about that.
I wanna win, but I also lookinto stock, into how are we
doing it?
So being really, ultimatelybeing more process driven than
outcome driven.
That's been my biggest change ofmy mo.
(16:43):
I think it's allowed me to enjoywhat's going on versus being so
stressed out.
Now don't get me wrong, we'vealso gotten phenomenal players
and I have an unbelievablecoaching staff.
And I think that's been a keypiece of it all.
And I think that's the biggestthing is just continue.
And when I took the job and I,or I was fortunate enough to get
(17:05):
the job Greg was at my pressconference.
And Ron Rainey, who was Bo'shigh school and college coach,
and was an assistant with Bo atPlatteville he was at the press
conference as well, and CoachRainey was a, is a very close
family friend and has passedaway a few years ago though.
But we got done with the pressconference and walking out of
(17:29):
the room and Greg and CoachRainey were standing up there as
well.
And the best advice that wasprobably given to me is from
Coach Rainey is be you.
This is your program.
This is don't be Bo.
And then I was fortunate thatgrowing up in Southwest
Wisconsin and coming to schoolhere, I kinda had a front row
seat across the way watching alegend in his own run, his
(17:53):
program and how not only runningthe program, but you got
everybody involved, thecommunity, everything.
The place was sold out all thetime.
And then obviously there was.
Transition period from when Boleft to go to Milwaukee.
Coach Landrum came in.
And then I was fortunate enoughwhen I left, went to Lakeland
College for two years and wasfortunate to come back with Paul
(18:15):
Combs at the time that tookover.
So there was been a gap of whenBo was here to when I got to
take over.
Yeah.
But again, it's knowing that howmuch Bo was.
An influence on coaches and justin Southwest Wisconsin, but also
me growing up like CoachRainey's comma is be you.
(18:35):
Yeah.
And I think that's the one thingthat's always stuck with me is
you can look what everybodydoes, and how, what makes them
successful.
It's ultimately is what arethey?
Where do they hold their, wheredo they hold their values?
From an offensive side ofthings, taking care of the
basketball, shot selection,efficiency from the defensive
end of the floor, the defensiveefficiency as well and taking
(19:00):
those things versus how doesthat person act on the sideline?
I think that's the one thing Isee with a lot of young coaches
is that they try to mimic.
What another coach is doing orhow they act and how they're
yelling at the officials or,some of that stuff is just
earned, that's right.
And, but again, then when you'retrying to be like that, your
players are seeing you besomebody that you're not.
(19:22):
And I think that's, as Icontinue to get more and more
comfortable with myself as ahead coach I became more and
more comfortable just being me.
And then again, not worrying somuch about, what others thought,
Hey, this is the way we're goingto do it, and I will say, that
about the midway point, and thiswas probably back in 20 15, 20
(19:48):
16, we were down.
We had back to back losingyears.
And I remember our interimathletic director at the time,
I'm sitting down in his office,he was a football coach, and we
were talking and he's I'm gonnatell you Jeff, he said the guy
at the top of the hill isn'thappy with what's going on with
the basketball program.
And kinda read between thelines, Hey, get stuff
(20:09):
straightened out or else you'reout.
Yeah.
And I didn't take that as athreat.
I looked at it more, it was,Hey, this is a challenge.
All right, now we're reallygonna find out where my values
sit.
Do I completely jump ship ofwhat I believe in to do
(20:30):
something that's gonna pleasesomebody else and do things just
to go unethical, bring kids inthat are gonna help you win
quick, but.
They're not gonna be the fix or,hey, stick true to who you are
and what you do, and let's justmake sure we're worried about
the process.
Yeah.
And it was that kind of an ahamoment that I'm like, I remember
(20:52):
sitting back, I'm talking toGreg on the phone and we're
going through some differentthings and I'm like, he goes,
what are you doing in practice?
He goes, are you holding'em tothe standard?
Is your are?
Are you doing what you want todo?
What you believe in?
If you are doing that, stickwith it because at the end of
the day, I was willing to godown with guns blazing, doing it
(21:13):
my way.
Yeah.
Versus trying to fall into whatsomebody else thought I should
be doing or doing it their way.
Which just made it a lot moreeasier.
And then really you can sit backand, the following year we go
from being dead last in theleague to winning the league and
losing in the Sweet 16 on abuzzer beater Yeah.
To the eventual nationalchampions.
(21:34):
And I'm like, it was abittersweet moment.
I wasn't gonna be the guy thatwas gonna turn to the.
The chancellor at that timekinda rub it in their face.
You wanted to get rid of me andthe very next year I turned this
thing around.
Words of advice.
Maybe I need a littlemotivation, but I also would say
too is that my players were alsohealthy.
Yeah.
The year that we finished deadlast, I lost my sixth man tore
(21:56):
his ACL in practice mill.
Nobody even around him.
Tears it.
And this is the second game,going into the second game of
conference play.
Lose my starting point guard inthe game, and then my backup
point guard gets hurt as well.
I'm like, sometimes you justcan't control those things.
No.
But at the end of the day, Ialso didn't let that panic show
(22:18):
panic to the guys.
I'm like, Hey, we're gonnacontinue to do what we do, and.
It was more of just continuingto build into that, being
process driven.
Yeah.
Versus outcome driven as well.
And I, I think that's the thing.
You can do everything perfect.
Yeah.
And still lose a game.
You can be god awful and win a.
(22:39):
That's right.
So at the end of the day, howare you measuring yourself?
What's your standard?
And like I said, I think that's,we talked about that a little
bit today.
It just be more process driventhan outcome driven.
And at the end of the day,process driven is gonna give you
longevity Yeah.
And sustainability within yourprogram.
(22:59):
And I think that's where we'reat right now.
And, our challenges is, stayingat the top.
Yeah.
So how do you continue to stayat the top?
You don't.
You gotta look at guys,everybody's coming at you.
Okay, what are we gonna do newthis year?
What's gonna be different?
Or at the end of the day, we canadd things that are gonna.
(23:21):
Help this team be even moresuccessful.
But at the end of the day, wecan't do those things until we
do the basics better.
Yeah.
And I think that's just that,that constant message that we're
driving home with our guys isthat, the climb to the top of
the hill isn't the hardestthing's when you're there and
you wanna stay there and showingthat sustainability and I think
(23:41):
that's also, that's a sign of agood program.
Absolutely you're gonna haveturnover.
And I think we were just talkingwith my staff, this afternoon or
this morning as well in ourstaff meeting here, just in
within the program.
And I said, you look at it, myassistant coaches have done an
unbelievable job in evaluatingthe talent that we bring into
our program.
(24:01):
And I say that not because wewin, but because we retain
everybody.
We're not a revolving doorwhere.
You know it's not the transferportal at Platteville.
That's right.
We look at the transfer portalas far as who we wanna bring in.
We don't really go after it thathard.
We want to build with what wehave in.
(24:23):
And then also I think it, ithelps when you have the national
player of the year, two times ina row, goes in the portal both
times just to see what the grassis like on the other side.
But both times he keeps oncoming back after being offered
division two scholarships andafter being offered a division
one scholarship.
Amazing.
And I think that it says about,the program that you have, but
(24:43):
also the people around it.
He loved the teammates that hehad, and that was, if he was
gonna leave, that was gonna bethe hardest thing, is to tell
his teammates I'm going.
Yeah.
And I think that's, again, yousurround yourself with the right
people, do things in the rightway.
Good things will happen for you.
You're finding Platteville kidsthat want to be there.
(25:04):
I'm sure you'll tell me that's abig testament to his parents too
and how he was raised.
Oh, a hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
And I think that's, that is theone thing is that, I always say
the apple doesn't fall far fromthe tree, that's right.
People, they, you hear a lot of.
A lot of people and in highereducation right now, we're
hearing it.
And I talk with differentbusinessmen as well and they
(25:25):
talk, kids have changed now.
Kids haven't changed, they'restill the same.
It's just where's the attentionat home given to'em.
That's right.
To make sure they're doingthings the right way.
And I laugh about it, last nightmy little 9-year-old Vince, who
likes to push my buttons alittle bit, and I climbed into
him a little bit, and then.
(25:45):
My wife Amy this morning beforeI, we left and Vince is in the
office with me today as well asHannah and Amy said, take it
easy on Vince.
You were really hard on him lastnight.
I said, no, mom, there'saccountability here.
Yeah.
All right.
You're nine years old, you haveresponsibility.
And I said, if I let this slidenow and I cover up for him, is
he learning a lesson?
(26:05):
And I think there's, we'realways able to teach lessons
that are gonna help somebodydown the road as well.
And like I said, beginning,going back to the conversation
with the beautician about,getting cut from the basketball
team.
I'm like, you're going to, Idon't wanna say everybody,
you're always gonna fail, butyou gotta prepare yourself.
Not, you're not always gonna getwhat you want.
(26:26):
And I think that's sometimes, asa parent, I I catch myself too.
I said, I give Hannah and Vincea lot, I let'em off a little bit
and then it's now I try to catchmyself and I remember.
How many times are Greg, Garyand I would always be mad at mom
and dad.
Yep.
They wouldn't always let us, wesee our friends or a guy down
the street or whatever.
(26:46):
He got it.
That's fine.
If he got it, that's not the wayyou're gonna earn it.
That's right.
And I think that now I look backand I have so much more
appreciation for what they mademe earn, and I think that's.
You know where we're at today.
I was, Greg and I were both incoaching, we're in a unicorn, I
(27:07):
say, where neither one of usplayed college athletics or
college basketball.
He was recruited to play or cameto Plattville, wasn't recruited,
came to Plattville to playbaseball and he walked on as he
said, he was asked to walk off.
I was on the flip side.
I came here for football gothurt.
Don't know where it would'vegone, but I also wasn't.
I had to take a different route.
(27:29):
Yeah.
But you look at a lot of guysthat, hey, I played college
basketball.
They got a great name tied to'embecause of their playing days.
That got'em a job.
Yeah.
But when they, something's givento'em, now all of a sudden it's
a different realm, and maybe yousee'em fail when they hit tough
patches.
And we talk about it.
(27:50):
A lot about you earn it, it'snot given to you.
And we'll get into therecruiting piece of it as well,
I know down the road, but wehad.
Have other programs on our, inour department as well as
obviously throughout our leaguethat do the offers to a division
three student athlete.
And I understand, obviously Iknow Sam's your relative there
(28:11):
as well, and she does the offersand we've talked about this,
I've actually picked her brain alot about the offer and what
does it mean?
I look at it this way and I'llsit with a young man on his, on
my couch, in my office with hisparents, and I'll say, I know
you're being offered by schoolsX, Y, and Z, and they're
division three schools.
(28:32):
I don't give offers.
And they'll kinda look at me alittle bit.
And I said, it doesn't mean thatI don't want you, you are here,
you're sitting in front of mebecause I think you're the very
best of the best.
I want you here.
However.
I was taught in and brought upin life that if you earn
something, you have a betterappreciation for it and you work
(28:57):
for it.
So if I tell you, Matt, I wantyou to come to Plava, I want you
to be a pioneer, but I'm notoffering you anything.
I'm giving you the opportunityto be a pioneer.
You have to earn that jersey.
What one's gonna make you workharder in the off season to get
that jersey something that, Hey,you're offered, you've got a
(29:19):
guaranteed spot on our roster asan incoming freshman, or you're
gonna have to earn it.
It's gonna push you more andmore.
And we've had some great playersthat have come through here, and
I've had guys that had divisiontwo offers out there as well.
And I've gone to'em and I said,listen, I said, you're good.
Yep.
I think if you read between thelines, you can see how you fit
(29:40):
within my program.
But again, I'm gonna stay trueto who I am.
I'm not gonna guarantee youanything.
The only guarantee is that I'mgonna give you an opportunity to
prove yourself.
What you do with thatopportunity is up to you.
If you don't wanna work hard inthe off season, okay then don't
be upset with me when you don'tmake the roster or if you're one
(30:02):
of my returners, you don't workhard in the off season.
Don't be upset when you don'tsee the playing time that you
want.
'cause at the end of the day, Isaid, you gotta feel to push
yourself.
You're your own motivator.
I talk a lot with our guys thatsaid, you self-evaluate, you
self motivate.
And when you can be honest withyour evaluation, that's the
hardest thing is to be true tohow you evaluate yourself.
(30:26):
I'll talk to'em on the phone.
I said, guys, I said how youdoing in your workouts this
summer?
Oh, everything's great.
I'm getting in the gym, fourdays a week and I'm in lifting
four days a week, and I'msitting there thinking bs.
I said, you right now, you'renot honest with your own
evaluation.
When you know, and you can sayto yourself, this is what I'm
struggle with.
(30:48):
It motivates you that much moreto be better.
And then all of a sudden whenyou're motivating yourself, and
that's where you raise the bar,and guess what?
When that freshman comes in andhe's chomping at the bit.
He's pushing.
When we get into practice nowI've got my junior that thinks
he's gonna coast well.
(31:08):
This freshman's pushing him.
The junior's saying, I ain'tgonna let that freshman beat me,
so I'm gonna work that muchharder.
That's right.
And we always tell our guys, Isaid, you come back, Logan
Pearson, you're the NationalPlayer of the year.
There's no guarantee that yougotta spot on this roster.
Now listen, I know, but I'mgonna say it out there.
Logan knows it.
Yeah, coach you're full of it.
But also Logan, I expect you tobe my hardest worker.
(31:31):
'Cause of what You have so muchcoming back here.
And again, I think it goes backto that you gotta earn it versus
just being given, and I thinkthat's the, sometimes it's
tough.
We don't always want to.
Put all the work in that comesinto it.
I say we live in a fast foodsociety.
Everybody wants thingsinstantly.
But I always tell'em too, Isaid, what's your best, what's
(31:52):
the best meal that you get?
My mom makes this.
I said, yeah, mom makes this.
And it takes mom a half an hour,45 minutes to make it.
That's why it's so good.
Alright.
It's gonna take time for you toget the best of the best, and I
think that's.
That's also part of the reasonwhy we have the transfer portal
is as crazy as it is.
(32:13):
Yep.
Not patient, we're not patientwith what's going on.
We want instant gratificationand like I said, it's a fast
food society.
It's, it speaks volumes to yourcharacter, your courage, your
conviction as a coach.
There's very few coaches thathave that type of conviction to
say, I believe in who I am.
I'm looking at you and tellingyou I believe in you, but you've
(32:35):
gotta come in.
And understand, this neverstops.
We don't stop working becausewe've hit, because we made it to
the national championship game.
We don't stop working because wewon.
The Yac last year, we don't stopworking'cause we got a starting
job.
I love it, coach, because it'sthe message.
Not enough families and notenough kids are getting on a
daily basis.
It's not getting pounded intothese high school coaches
(32:58):
because there's such a fear oflosing their job.
If they raise their voice orthey discipline too much or they
run too much.
And I think at the end of theday, we've lost that vision of
what greatness looks like orwhat significance looks like.
It's about saying, I'm gonna bedisciplined.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna give mybest every day.
(33:20):
I'm gonna be that 1% better.
Or I can expect I'm not gonnaget what I want in return.
Correct.
Correct.
And the more I can share JeffGuard with these families and
these coaches, the more excitedI am.
The better.
I sleep at night.
'cause I know more people arehearing your voice and saying,
okay, gosh.
D three is no slouch.
(33:41):
No.
Go watch.
Go watch UW Plattville.
If you're in the Wisconsin,Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota area,
make a trip.
Go watch UW Plattville play andyou're gonna go, holy cow, this
is Division iii.
This is what Division III lookslike.
Because I don't think that highschool kid understands how good
a basketball it's.
Correct, correct.
And, but I also, sometimes theyforget on how did you get there?
(34:04):
Again, it goes back to that workethic.
They're the best teams, and weall know the analogy.
The best teams don't play thebest.
They're not.
They're not where they are whenthe lights are on.
It's what they're doing when thelights are off, and it's all the
work that's being put in.
It's the competition.
I said, it's when we recruit.
(34:25):
Now, I said.
It's not about us recruiting tobeat team A or team B in the
WIAC, it's, we recruit to raisethe bar in practice.
And when that practice, andwe've been fortunate, over the
last few years now practice is,it's a joy.
(34:46):
And you walk in there and it's,Hey, we're boys, we're
roommates.
I.
All this, when you step betweenthe lines, it's war.
That's right.
I want the same thing you want.
And at the end of the day, Ithink that's what it's really
all about.
Yeah.
Is that we all come fromdifferent cultures, different
backgrounds, diverse, whateverit is.
We're coming to Platteville forone common goal.
(35:09):
We're all alike here.
We wanna win.
And okay, what's it gonna take?
And there's gonna becompetition.
And I said, you'll prove to notonly me, that you're worthy of
that spot, you are gonna proveto every one of your teammates.
Yep.
They're gonna say, yep, he needsto be on the floor.
And then most importantly, nowI've instilled that confidence
(35:31):
in you that, hey, when you're onthe floor, you're on the floor
for a reason.
And it's because of the workthat you put in.
You didn't just trip into thatspot, you had to earn it, and
again, what you put into it,again, go back to self evaluate,
self motivate, that's gonna getyou where you wanna be.
I, I remember my first practiceat co college, Darren Pint was
(35:51):
the senior point guard.
I was this wet behind the yearsfreshman.
He came at me so hard.
I felt like he was attached tome for two and a half hours.
He never quit pounding me.
He never quit beating me up.
And I was like, oh he must justbe wanting to teach a freshman
lesson.
Well, 82 practices later, hewas, he never stopped doing it.
(36:13):
How I trained after my freshmanyear compared to coming outta
high school was completelydifferent.
It was all because of Darren.
Yeah.
Coach set the tempo, but thatsenior.
Made me such a better player.
He made me such a better leader.
He taught me what my work ethiccould be.
And you're doing that from topto bottom.
You've got 20 kids in yourprogram that are all doing that
(36:35):
and that's why.
They're owning it and yeah.
And while you guys continue todo coach, so sorry.
Again, thank you so much.
The messaging is right on.
And your teams are fun to watchbecause of I'm so impressed.
I wanna do a little rapid firewith you before we jump into
some recruiting talk and just dosome fun stuff.
Just to share a little bit whoyou are, what's your favorite
basketball movie of all time?
(36:57):
It's gotta be Hoosiers.
Yeah.
Absolute.
That's a given, obviously it'sin Indiana, but it's also
Southwest Wisconsin.
Small town.
Yeah.
You Hey it's Platteville.
That's right.
My dad laugh about it.
We were two years ago down inRine in the Sweet 16 and we had
more people from Plattevillethan the other three schools
(37:17):
probably combined.
Yeah.
And our, one of our guys says,that's Platteville.
Pioneer Nation travels.
That's right.
I think when he said that, I hadthat vision of, they're on the
bus, traveling down the road andyou got the line of cars behind.
That's right.
The, I think that's the one,even, you love the movie,
obviously.
Again it's tough love.
(37:39):
Yeah.
Brought that team together andbuilt them up.
And again, you talk about acoach being who he was and I'm
gonna stick to it.
I got all the naysayers on theoutside.
I got the city council isgetting together.
They're gonna, they're.
Gonna get rid of me.
And you get Jimmy comes in andsaves the day for you.
And, it's but that's a, it's alifer, it is, it's a great one.
(38:01):
I get get upset when I talk toguys that haven't seen it, or I
know.
Me too.
So that's gonna be the firstmovie on the bus and the next
road trip, that's what we'regonna watch.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
We're starting with that one.
What's the most underrated skillin college basketball today?
Passing.
Yeah.
Passing.
A hundred percent.
Yeah, it, the reason I say thattoo, it's hard to, who's the guy
(38:26):
that's gonna go in the gym andby himself and work on passing?
Yeah.
You, you don't see that.
But it's also, it's the mostunderrated, but, and
unappreciated because.
When you throw a great pass andyou, if I throw a great pass to
you, Matt, and you bang a three,you're gonna get all the glory.
(38:49):
That's right.
If I throw a lousy pass to youand it goes down to your knees
and then you miss the shoteverybody's if Jeff would've
thrown him a better pass, hewould've made that.
Or you throw a pass, it goes outof bounds so there's not enough
credit and you gotta put peoplein the spots to be successful.
And that's what a pastor does.
Yeah, that, that was my game.
'cause I couldn't shoot where alick, and my dad, when I was six
(39:12):
years old, had me out in thegarage and, we taped a box in
the garage and I had to throw 50passes and hit that box with my
right hand, with my left handbehind my back, bounce pass.
And it, that skill got me tocollege basketball'cause it
surely wasn't my shooting.
I could offend and I could pass,yep.
Pre-game routine.
Do you have any superstition?
Do you have any tradition?
(39:32):
What I had one of my playerssaid, I don't have any
superstitions.
I have little tions, I've got afew of my, I guess my
superstition is I don't let thecat out of the bag, so yeah, I
got some.
All right, Matt, but I'm notgonna share'em with you.
And those are not even my wifeor my kids or anybody on my
staff.
No.
My little routines that I have.
Yep.
I laugh.
(39:53):
I do.
Carry the tradition.
Superstition, tradition.
I don't know.
So in our locker room, there isa drain in the middle of the
floor.
Yeah.
Now guard, mind you as well, wegot a carpeted floor, but there
is a Oh, a water drain in themiddle of it.
Yeah.
And I've heard always all theyears that when Bo was here,
(40:16):
he'd be pacing in the wa lockerroom talking to the guys.
And they said he would neverstep on that drain.
And even like when, last year Iwas with Bo and a couple of our
boosters.
We were out in Springfield whenhe was going to the Hall of
Fame, and that, that was theweekend of it.
And he got telling that story toour group as well, and about
(40:37):
never stepping on the drain.
And, the players there, theywere, he was hearing stories
from them later on about howthey were making bets that Okay,
is he, oh he's really close, buthe never stepped on it, I
finally told him, I said, coach,I said, I wouldn't tell that
story.
He goes what do you mean?
I go, you lose a lot ofcredibility as a coach when you
(40:58):
tell that story.
I said, because you're givingthese great talks.
Your players aren't even payingattention to what you're saying.
All they're worried about is,are you stepping on that dang
drain or not?
That's right.
So I'm like, he's telling, andI'm hearing the players and I'm
like, you gotta let, you got aNaysmith Hall of Fame coach.
(41:18):
That is talking to you andtrying to motivate you, and all
you're worried about is he gonnastep on the drain tonight or
not?
So I think that's, I'm not,that's teenage boys to a tee,
isn't it?
It is, right?
It is.
I, but I think that's one thing.
I don't step on the drain,whether it's not a super
superstition, it's a tradition.
I guess that's what I try tocarry on as well.
(41:39):
But yeah.
I love it.
And it's funny, I'm like thattoo.
Nobody knows what those 20minutes of prep before a game
are in, in my world.
I, my wife doesn't know it.
My kids, my players, myassistant coach don't know it.
There there's time for me beforethe game where it's just me I,
that I've gotta get myself whereI wanna be.
I've told my assistants as well,it is the loneliest 20 minutes
(42:01):
of your life.
It so is before, and now you putthat in there and you're looking
at 25 to 30.
32 times a year.
That's right.
I'm lonely.
And it's it seems like that 20minutes takes forever.
Yeah.
As well.
But like I said, I've got alittle routine and that I
constantly go through.
That helps me pass the time aswell.
Yeah.
(42:21):
I, I always tell people there'sanother 20 minutes at two
o'clock in the morning that whenI'm sitting at Denny's after a
game, looking at the stat sheetfor the 4000th time, trying to
figure out how we lost when weout rebounded by 10 and took 10
more free throws.
It's.
Every coach has that.
And it's always there becauseit's such a big part of our so
our soul.
It is.
It is.
Yeah.
And I think that's the hardestthing is to be able to turn it
(42:43):
all off too.
Last one coach, becauseWisconsin basketball is so
special.
I grew up just under the border,10 minutes under the border in
Illinois and we went toTri-State every year.
We played against Cuba Cityevery year.
'cause Coach Pegu and coach Ladyhad this, this great
relationship.
What's one word that definesWisconsin basketball culture and
maybe Wisconsin Plattevilleculture?
(43:08):
I just toughness.
Yeah.
There's that grit, thattoughness about, you look at you
look at athletics in general inWisconsin.
Yeah.
Farm boys, tough, hard nose,grinders.
Yep.
I look at the way our programoperates the years of the past
(43:31):
when Bo was here, even when Bowas at Wisconsin and at
Milwaukee you didn't have.
The five star athletes.
Nope.
You weren't running a highoctane offense and flying up and
down flying.
I always say, you wanna findthose guys that, that dunk make
dunking look like they'redunking on a Nerf hoop.
(43:52):
There wasn't a lot of thoseguys.
No.
We're just gonna root you outtathe way.
Yep.
But just that toughness about aWisconsin kid, and I think you,
again, you look at it.
It wasn't just in basketball, itwas like just your athletic, you
look at Wisconsin football.
Yeah.
It was ground and pound.
Yeah.
We're gonna, we're gonna beatyou up at the offensive line,
(44:12):
and then by the end of the day,we're gonna become, we're gonna
be winning.
Go back again.
Process driven.
Yeah.
And again, it's that littlepiece of it, but I would say
that's the one thing that.
When you look at Wisconsinbasketball in general, it's just
the toughness.
Yeah.
The athletic ability, obviously,yes, there's, they're there.
(44:33):
But maybe not as much as whatwe've seen in some other states.
Yeah.
At the bottom are the number ofhigh flyers that are coming
around.
You just got tough nosed kidsthat you know are efficient with
what they do.
It's so funny, I wrote a blogafter Coach passed and I wrote
it, for him, and I told thestory how I went to the
(44:55):
University of Notre Dame'sbasketball camp as a 13-year-old
and Digger Phelps handed me thebest camper award at the end of
camp.
I was just, I was blown away.
The next week I went toTri-State.
And I got my ass handed to meand I was probably the worst
player there'cause it was sophysical and it was so tough.
Everything I thought I was goodat these kids could do
(45:16):
blindfolded.
Oh yeah.
And I learned so much about myown character and how I needed
to work just by being at thatcamp, just surrounded by these
kids that all had these musclesthat, I was, I had Lani for
arms.
Yeah.
And I just got murdered becauseI wasn't prepared for that type
of basketball.
Yep.
I remember this was quite a fewyears ago when they were still
(45:37):
in high school, but like showWalter and Gosser.
Yes.
Guys.
They were playing for WisconsinSwing.
Yeah, so this is the WisconsinMadison kind of version.
Now there's obviously a lot ofAAU programs out there as well,
but I just remember.
Watching those guys play and wewere looking at a couple guys,
(45:58):
but obviously show Walter goesto Madison, Gosser goes to
Madison, like they had a coupleother guys that ended up, going
scholarship level.
They walk on the floor for an AUtournament and then they're
seeing a team out of New Jerseyor Texas and that, and it's like
the team outta Texas.
You could just read their mind.
They're like, look at thesechumps.
(46:20):
That's right.
It's kinda white man can't jump,yep.
You know who's the chump overthere?
And that's what they're lookingat, like the wis, all these
Wisconsin guys.
And when it's all said and done,Wiscon, Wisconsin Swing is
winning in by 20.
Yeah, that's right.
Against a team that is, yeah,they got, guys are going to
Texas, they're going all overthe place.
But again, they were the trueteam.
(46:40):
They were the toughness about'emthat, hey, we're gonna, you're
gonna stay with us, buteventually we're gonna wear you
down.
That's right.
And it said, it's like a goodrunning game in football.
We're gonna wear you down.
And when it.
Time comes to, to break thisthing open, you're gonna be too
tired and we've just, becausewe've beaten you up for so many.
Yeah, that gets me so excitedabout coaching.
(47:02):
Just talking about that, hearingyou talk about it because it's I
don't care how great of anathlete you are, I can block you
out every single trip.
I can force you to the sidelineand take away the middle floor
every single time.
I'm gonna make every life sohard for you.
And that's Wisconsin basketball.
Yeah we're gonna take care.
We're gonna just take awayeverything you think is great
about what you're capable of,and we're gonna make it a
(47:23):
thousand times harder.
Yep.
That's when I watch your teams,that's what I see.
It's just we can't do anythingwe wanna do.
Yeah, because you're making itso hard.
Correct.
And it's like I said, we, evenwhen we run the swing and we
still, we have our version ofthe swing.
Yeah.
And like coach Che will tellyou, coach, we don't run the
swing.
I'm like, we have guys in swingspots, so humor me a little bit.
(47:45):
Keegan humor me on this, but Igo.
What we do, we screen a lot.
Yeah.
And when you're constantlygetting hit in the back on a
screen, and That's right.
Does it help in the first fiveminutes?
No.
But eventually something's gonnabreak and you're like, I'm sick
and tired of this.
I just don't want to get hitanymore.
(48:05):
Now I'm lazy on a cut orCommunication's poor.
And the next thing you know,they're, you're seeing the easy
buckets and the That's right.
And the most crucial part of thegame as well.
And all of a sudden they stopseeing man and ball.
And all of a sudden that screenworks, that cut works.
And you give up two or threelayups and you're defeated,
you're deflated.
Exactly.
Exactly.
I love it.
Coach, thanks so much for doingthis.
(48:26):
Thanks for great conversation.
Appreciate you having me on.
That was a fantasticconversation with Coach Jeff
Guard F full of hoop stories,coaching wisdom and ideas for
raising not just great athletes.
But better humans from memoriesof Coach Pedigo to his insights
on life in the YAC.
This episode truly captures whatsignificant coaching is all
(48:49):
about heart connection andcoaching with purpose.
If you enjoyed today's chat,don't forget to head over to
coach matt rogers.com.
You'll find significantrecruiting the Recruits Journal,
our weekly blog, and thesignificant recruiting launchpad
designed to help familiesnavigate the college journey
with clarity and confidence Andhey.
(49:09):
Don't miss part two of myconversation with Coach Card.
That'll be coming this Monday.
Next time he's breaking downcollege recruiting from what to
look for in a program and how tobuild a plan that fits you, your
athlete, and your family.
Thanks for tuning in.
Take what you learned.
Keep building strong programs,and until next time, keep
(49:31):
leading with significance.
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