High Hopes and Hoop Dreams at RFA

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Coach Nick Medicis, the energetic head coach of the Rome Free Academy basketball team, joins us for an insightful conversation about his extraordinary journey to coaching success. At just 24, Nick's relentless pursuit of his dream position involved sending out an impressive 150 emails to athletic directors before landing his role in Rome. This episode offers an eye-opening look into how Nick overcame initial skepticism from the local community, transforming the RFA basketball program from the ground up.

Discover how Coach Medicis revolutionized the team's playing style by adopting a fast-paced, high-energy approach reminiscent of Loyola Marymount's iconic 1990s style, perfectly suited to a guard-heavy team. We dive into the rigorous conditioning and community support that have been crucial to the program's success. From nurturing young talent to creating a thriving feeder system, Nick shares how collaboration with figures like Bruce Harrison and Rick Campbell led to the revival of the program.

Explore the depth of dedication behind the scenes, with personal anecdotes about the camaraderie and resilience of the coaching staff, including family members who contribute to a strong coaching legacy. Nick shares the pivotal role of consistent staff and community expectations in building a foundation for ongoing success. Highlighting achievements across Rome's sports, including basketball, volleyball, and hockey, this episode is a testament to resilience, vision, and the power of a supportive network in achieving long-term goals. 

Join us for an inspiring listen that celebrates both individual and team accomplishments while looking forward to the future of RFA basketball.

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Episode Transcript

Intro 1 (00:39):
I'm going to go and victories are celebrated.
Touchdown.
This is your platform forauthentic conversations with
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more.
Every episode dives deep intothe highs, the lows and the
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(01:00):
triumph.
Ready, ready.
Whether you're chasing yourdreams, overcoming adversity or
simply looking for inspiration,you've come to the right place,
so let's climb together.
This is the Rockpile.

Rocky Corigliano (01:24):
Good evening everybody.
Welcome to the first liveedition on the Weekly Huddle.
I'm excited to talk to co-hostof the Mohawk Valley Sports
Watch friend of the show, coachNick Medesas, the man in charge
of state-ranked Rome FreeAcademy basketball.
They will open up play nextThursday night at home.
They'll get the winner of UticaProctor and Syracuse Academy of

(01:47):
Science.
We'll bring Coach on.
If you are listening onFacebook, youtube, linkedin,
twitter you got any questionsfor Coach, comments for Coach?
Put them in the comment box.
I'll bring as many over as Ican.
I just had to check the score ofthe hockey game as I was
watching that and when Coach andI were trying to plan this
thing, we were supposed to dothe show earlier in the week,
but then a lot of the games gotrescheduled so we had to kind of

(02:09):
mix and match and then tonightwe put it at 9, and I said to
myself USA Hockey's on at 8.
It's 1-1, I believe.
So if you're watching the show,I think it's going to be the
first intermission.
So tune in, catch us, catch ushere right now.
The podcast will be up on ApplePodcasts, spotify, iheartradio
and more.
I'll post that up here latertonight.
So without further ado, I'vegot to remember how to do this.

(02:30):
It's been a couple weeks sinceI've done a podcast.
Well, let's bring Coach on.
What's up?
Coach, what's going on?
Rock?
I'm a little rusty at this.
I took a couple weeks off hereto kind of uh, refreshing the,
uh, the backdrop and stuff here,and I'm clicking around on
these button and I was like,geez, how do I do this?

Coach Nick Medicis (02:52):
well, it's been a while since we've been
going on the podcast, especiallywith with us being so busy on
the weekends with the mohawkvalley sports watch.
So it's good to be back on,it's good to talk, it's
definitely good to talk somesports today.

Rocky Corigliano (03:05):
Yeah, heck, yeah.
Now, I told you prior in ourgroup text that I was probably
going to go tough on you.
I got some tough stuff for you.

Coach Nick Medicis (03:11):
You did say that.

Rocky Corigliano (03:13):
So I'm going to dive right into some of this
stuff here tonight, and again, Iappreciate everybody tuning in
tonight.
So first thing I got to ask youis when you got this job?
Um, you were young I think youwere 24 years old when you got
hired to be the head coach, andit's hard to believe that you've
been at rfa now for what?
18 years, 18 years.
So how did, how did this jobeven come up with you?

Coach Nick Medicis (03:37):
so, um, at the time I was coaching at cns
for my alma mater, um, with myold jb coach, coach Haas.
I was his assistant for twoyears and I was loving it.
I was loving being back on thesideline and being part of the
game and I really wanted to getinto coaching.
So I decided that I wanted tosee what opportunities were out

(04:01):
there.
So one weekend after a softballtournament in which I hurt my
knee so I was home doing nothingI decided to email every
athletic director in sectionthree.
So I sent out like 150 emailsjust asking what opportunities
they had available at the highschool level.

(04:22):
I was willing to do varsityassistant coach, jv, whatever
was available, but I wanted toget involved before the summer
because, as you know, the summeris a huge part of the
off-season and wherever I went Iwanted to make sure that I had
a full off-season.
So I emailed 150 schools and oneschool got back, which was Rome

(04:43):
.
Mr Stamboli got back andemailed me back and said you
know, if you're interested inthe position, email me back and
we can set up an interview.
I literally saw it andresponded right away and said I
am 100% interested.
I will meet at your soonestavailability.
We set up an interview withintwo or three days and within a

(05:06):
week I was hired as the newbasketball coach.
So I was commuting back andforth.
I was living in Liverpool, Iwas working in the Liverpool
school district as like apart-time adapted phys ed
teacher and a sub on the daysthat I wasn't working.
So I was commuting back andforth and expecting to do that

(05:29):
for a year and, lo and behold, aphys ed position opened up at
the last minute.
So I jumped at the opportunityand I'd say by the end of the
fall I got sick of driving backand forth and, you know, bought
a place out here, rented a place, and I've been here since.

Rocky Corigliano (05:46):
So I got to tell you, as a place out here
rented a place and I've beenhere since.
So I gotta tell you as a as arome guy here that's born and
raised when, um, and we were onsome hard times and we'll get
into some of that when you gotthis job and we'll talk about
all that.
But I remember, as a rome guy,when I heard there's a, there's
a kid, that's what people saidthere's a kid coming from
Syracuse coming to Rome to takethe RFA job.

(06:07):
And I think most of the Romans,as you know now that it's a
tough place to coach in anysport if you're not from here,
right, and I think a lot of thealumni, we were all like who's
this kid coming from Syracuse?
Like he's not even from here.
You know how much did you knowabout Rome prior to applying for

(06:29):
the job?

Coach Nick Medicis (06:30):
Well, I remember and it's funny because
I did a lot for Coach Haas Itried to help out and learn as
much as I could because Ithought he was just unbelievable
, one of the best coaches around, and so any opportunity he gave
me to help out whether it wasrunning his youth program on
Wednesday nights at the juniorhigh while he was doing the

(06:52):
varsity practices, to helpingwith the youth program, to any
of the stuff he was doing Ireally wanted to jump at the
opportunity.
Back then, team camps were verypopular and I can still
remember to this day going to LeMoyne team camp with CNS and we
ended up winning the tournament.
But all I could remember iswatching Rome play, and it's

(07:15):
funny because I still rememberto this day which kids were on
that team, Because it was a JVteam.
Cook was coaching.

Rocky Corigliano (07:24):
Yep.

Coach Nick Medicis (07:24):
And I remember certain kids that were
on that team because it was a JVteam, cook was coaching Yep and
I remember certain kids thatwere on that team and I remember
saying like man, I mean Rome'sgot so much potential on their
team, like they have some goodathletes, they have some height,
like if they ever got some morestructure within what they were
trying to do, and not to saythat they weren't doing anything
correctly, but just figuringout what actually worked,

(07:47):
because not everything workseverywhere.
It's not a one size fits all.
It's, you know, certain stylesfit in certain situations.
So if you could ever figurethat out, man, there is, and
those kids want to playbasketball.
So it was just you know.
I just remember, you know,watching that game and saying,
man, I just don't understand whythey struggle.

(08:08):
And you know me coming from CNSwhere it's just like expected,
like you played when you wereyounger.
There was a structure toeverything.
We had the Saturday morningprogram.
There was a lot of continuity,so I just assumed that
everywhere had that.
So I remember watching thatgame at the team camp and then

(08:30):
later that fall the year before,I remember going to the dome
and watching the RFA Auburnsectional final for football and
strangely enough we sat.
You know, me and my buddiesfrom Syracuse went to watch the
game because the whole Auburnstory was crazy in itself.
And I remember I sat in theRome section because there were

(08:52):
so many people from Auburn andSyracuse on the Auburn side, so
let's go sit in the Rome section.
So it was just.
It was weird how kind ofeverything aligned.
But I remember going andinterviewing for the position
and I interviewed with MikeStamboli and Coach Evans and I
think and I kid with Coach Evansall the time Like I think his

(09:14):
job in the interview was to tryto scare me and see if he could
run me out of there before weeven started and if I could kind
of withstand the interview.
Okay, maybe you know this youngkid's a little tougher than
than this application, becauseyou know I had on there CNS
varsity assistant coach and thatwas pretty much it and you know

(09:36):
so I did some youth stuff thatI threw on there but I didn't
really have a ton of experience.
So I remember I, coach Evans,would, would, would sit there
and and Mr Stamboy would be likeall right, what offense do you
like?
And I'd say, well, you know, Ilike this, we run this at CNS.
And he, ah, that's not going towork here, that will never work

(09:57):
this good.
And he just ripped aparteverything that I said.
And I, you know, I, I came inwith a game plan and you know I
said, well, I think this canhappen, you know.
And then I'd say, you know, forthe last two years I've been
part of the double A's, I'veseen what works.
I know that FM runs this onethrough, one that coach
Blackford has, and you know,hediger does this, and I was in

(10:17):
charge of scouting.
So I knew the league, I knewwhat worked, and I think I sort
of started to win him over alittle bit, just because he
understood that I wasn't just,you know, some random person
that applied.
Like I really worked at this, Iwas prepared, I had a game plan.
Sure, I was going to makemistakes as I was young, but I

(10:38):
came in with a year plan.
I came in with a five-year plan.
I came in with a feeder programidea.
Like I came in with a five-yearplan.
I came in with a feeder programidea, like I came in with new
ideas, and I think heappreciated the fact that I came
in and really wanted to, to, to, to jump in right away and and
see what I could do.

Rocky Corigliano (10:57):
Nick, I think we were on.
I think I texted you this, butI think it was my junior year.
We went and coach Baldwin wasthe head coach and I and I want
to you may know all the coaches,but I know, I remember coach
Baldwin, coach Ward Um and I Ithink there was what there was
coach Ward, coach Baldwin, coach, cook, coach.

(11:19):
Yes, there was like four orfive coaches before you got the
job in a really short time.

Coach Nick Medicis (11:24):
Yeah, coach Smith.
Coach Campbell took overmid-year.

Rocky Corigliano (11:28):
Yep, but again you come in as this young guy
into a really rich communitywhich, listen, coach Evans, back
in the day, friday nights washis show To watch his team come
out and warm up.
They had the band.
I mean the fancy suit he usedto wear, I mean they were the
best show in town.
And I said the other night as Iwas watching your game which,

(11:49):
by the way, congratulations lastnight on the win over New
Hartford.

Coach Nick Medicis (11:53):
Thank you.

Rocky Corigliano (11:54):
At one point we're sitting here saying we
have RFA, basketball isundefeated, the hockey team's
really good.
This is what it was like 100years ago and it really good.
This is what it was like ahundred years ago, right and it.
And it's nice to see the gymspacked again and it just it's
really nice to see.
But let's go back to you'rethis young guy that gets the job
.
What pressure did you feelcoming to a program that I don't

(12:17):
know?
I think we were on a hugelosing streak before you got the
job.
But I hit the game winner myjunior year, the last game of
the year against fm, and wefinished 1-15, and that was in
97, I believe it was.
So I don't know what it waswhen you got the job, but it was
like a 40-game losing streak,wasn't?

Coach Nick Medicis (12:33):
it.
Yeah, I think there was one winin 54 games.

Rocky Corigliano (12:37):
And I think it was my win.

Coach Nick Medicis (12:38):
I think it was after.
It was well after that, becauseI took over in 07.

Rocky Corigliano (12:45):
Oh, okay, yeah yeah.

Coach Nick Medicis (12:45):
So the one win was Coach Smith was relieved
of his duties after like fiveor six games and Coach Campbell
came in and his first game was atournament in Watertown and
they ended up winning that firstgame, which kind of broke the
long streak, and then they neverwon a game again, game which

(13:06):
kind of broke the long streak,and then they never won a game
again.
So yeah, I mean it was toughcoming in because again I had
these expectations of what Ithought everywhere was going on
and I was kind of put into myplace very, very soon.
You know, I came from a placewhere, if you said there's open

(13:26):
gym, there'd be 25 guys there,but when I came here there was
four.
So we worked with those fourand we we did stuff in the off
season.
We did a couple of tournaments,we won some games, we did a lot
of team bonding.
I took them out to Syracuse forsummer league.
We got our butts kicked, butyou know, we worked.
And then all of a sudden theseason started and six new kids

(13:49):
that I had never seen beforeshowed up.
So it was just this weirddynamic where there are certain
kids that only played basketballfrom November to the end of
February and then you never sawthem again.
And then you had kids that werearound all year, that had put
themselves.
So I was in a tough spotbecause it's, you know, do you

(14:10):
reward the kids that have beenhere the whole time or do you
reward the kids that you knowmight've been a little bit
better but weren't around?
And how does that dynamic workand how does the respect, uh,
you know, from the kids go ifyou go a certain way?
So I think early on I made a tonof mistakes, I screwed up many
times and I was lucky enough tohave a boss that let me learn

(14:35):
from all my mistakes.
And I think the situation thatthe program was in, where we
could kind of learn as we go andfigure out what works and what
doesn't, and allowed me toreally work on that youth
program and feeder program.
And you know, we started theTri-Valley Players with Bruce

(14:55):
Harrison, rick Campbell, we metand we came up with the AAU and
that really helped jolt theprogram a little bit.
But I mean, I came in as a 24year old who thought things
worked a certain way and I foundout really quickly that it
didn't.
And, like I said, you know, inother situations they they

(15:15):
wouldn't have, they wouldn'thave kept me around very long
because I made mistakes early on.
But luckily I had a, a boss andMr.
But luckily I had a boss, a MrStamboli, who really wanted this
program to succeed.
And we sat down many times andmade blueprints and ideas of
what we thought and what wewanted to do.
And then, you know, a yearlater we scrapped them and went
in a different direction becauseit wasn't working, because we

(15:39):
were both desperate to win, weboth wanted this program to
succeed.
And I give him a lot of creditfor the success that we're
having now because, you know, hehelped mold the feeder program
into what it is today.

Rocky Corigliano (15:53):
Nick, I think people forget that you know when
you win games, it's neverenough.
When you lose games, peoplewant you know, everybody wants
to get rid of you, and then, letalone, you're not from here.
So that always, I think, makesit even tougher, because it's no
different when I was the headcoach at Sequoia.
It's like, okay, you lose a fewgames and it's like, ah, he's
not from here, get him out ofhere and get one of our own in.

(16:15):
When you go back to when youstarted, I think people forget,
because you guys have had somesuccess here right over the last
so many years and I want to getinto this whole chaos thing and
I know where it came from, butI want you to kind of talk a
little bit about it.
But I think what people forgetis your first four or five years
.
You guys struggled.

Coach Nick Medicis (16:34):
Yeah.

Rocky Corigliano (16:35):
Well, you guys struggled big time those first
handful of years, right.

Coach Nick Medicis (16:38):
Yeah Well, I think you know I I pushed the
norm a little bit, I did thingsdifferently than how it had been
done in the past and I think Ilost kids in the program because
they wanted things done acertain way and I wasn't going
to do that.
I expected you to be atoff-season stuff.
I wanted to do off-seasonsummer leagues and tournaments

(16:58):
and I think that turned somepeople off who wanted to just
show up for four or five monthsand play basketball with their
friends and be done with it.
And I really wanted to build aprogram and had a vision of, you
know, rome competing, you know,not only in league but, you
know, at a higher level, and Ithink that, you know, was

(17:19):
frustrating.
I still remember Rockets, funny,I still remember it was my
first or second year.
Oh, I want to say we wereplaying Whitesboro and I subbed
a kid out and they went to thebench and I turned a high five
and I happened to look behind meand there was a grandmother you
know had to be, you know,retired age, older lady who

(17:43):
turns, sticks her finger out andsays go back to Syracuse, you
bum.
And I will never forget thatbecause you know it's just, I
wasn't a Roman, I wasn't fromRome, and you know we weren't
winning at the time.
So it was easy to just say,well, it's his fault that we're
not winning.
And you know, I got a lot ofthat early on and you go when

(18:05):
you're a coach you got to havetough skin.

Rocky Corigliano (18:07):
You really do so your first handful of years
and I was going through this andI mess messaged you uh, some of
these records, and I want toget into this chaos thing here
in just a minute.
So people that are watching andthe basketball folks probably
know what it is, but for thosewho don't, your first five years
, four and fourteen, three andeighteen, four and fourteen,

(18:27):
three and fourteen, 2011 youguys jumped into the tbl.
You go 13 and seven, and then II was listening to a podcast.
You were on two, three yearsago and I forget the name of it,
but I was listening to it theother night because I said, let
me see if nick was on any otherpodcast and it was a really good
podcast.
The guy who had you breakingdown, like your press and like

(18:48):
your whole background.
The guy did a really good job.
You introduced chaos to people.
So here you're you're.
You guys won 50 games beforeyou introduced chaos and since
you've introduced chaos, you'vewon 102 games, not counting this
season, right?
So for the listeners out therethat don't know what it is,

(19:08):
where'd you get this chaos stylefrom?

Coach Nick Medicis (19:12):
So I remember coaching AAU I had I
want to say it was the class of2017 and 2018.
2017 and 2018.
We had very limited size.
But because these guys were thefirst group of kids when we

(19:37):
started Tri-Valley, we startedwith a seventh and eighth grade
group the first year and then wewanted to build off it.
The next year we started with afourth grade team and that
happened to be this group ofjuniors that year.
So they had been part of theyouth program, the TVP, since

(20:00):
fourth grade.
So I had coached them probablyfour or five of those years.
Tj Engel had coached them,bruce had coached them.
Probably four or five of thoseyears.
Tj Engel had coached them,bruce had coached them and we
had one tall kid on the team andother than that we just had a
ton of guards.
So I remember sitting down withJohn Baldwin we were at Syracuse
ITC, we were at an AAUtournament and I remember him

(20:22):
saying I don't know how you gotto do it, but you got two
options with this group.
You either got to be the mostdisciplined Princeton style team
smartest can be, move the ball20 times a possession, backdoor
people to death, or you just gotto turn this thing into a ping
pong match, because I don't knowwhich one's the right answer,
but one of them has to be done.
So I remember watching us playthe AU tournament and thinking

(20:46):
to myself, man, we can't playlike Princeton, we just can't.
We can't defend in the halfcourt, we can't rebound with
them.
I said, but if we played fast,if we forced teams to shoot fast
that kind of sticks their bigman between the three point
lines, and now it becomes aloose ball fest and if we have

(21:10):
quick guards, uh, that can learnhow to shoot and play
unselfishly, this could be fun.
So, um, I researched the teamthat played the fastest and
scored the most points so LoyolaMarymount, back in the nineties
, and I watched probably 15 to20 of their games and, you know,

(21:34):
just did as much research onthem as possible and just kind
of, you know, settled on hey, wegotta, we gotta learn how to
play fast.
And that's kind of the way itstarted.
Um, with the lmu break andgetting into a lot of the lmu
stuff, I ended up getting incontact with the strength and
conditioning coach from that lmuteam and he went over the

(21:58):
conditioning program that theyhad.
So we implemented a lot of therunning conditioning that they
do.
So it started with that.
I had great buy-in with thegroup In the fall.
We used to go to the tracktwice a week, and this is again.
This is not counting the goinginto the gym and doing skill

(22:20):
stuff or scrimmaging or whatever.
We would go to the track twicea week and we would sprint the
track and do our intervalsprinting twice a week and I was
getting 20 kids at everything.
So I had the buy-in because Ihad coached these guys for a
while.
They were invested and theywanted to win.
So it wasn't until we got intosummer league and we played West

(22:43):
Genesee, who had been good fora while, and you know, we played
them the first week of summerleague at McChesney and I think
we lost to them like 84-82.
And this is a running clocksummer league in which most
scores are like 40-38.
And they end up having, I think, three Division I players on

(23:08):
that team.
So they were no slouch.
They end up winning the statetitle shortly after.
So they were no slouch.
And I remember them coming upto us after like what the hell
was that?
What did you just do?
And after the game the kidswere like, if we can figure out
how to do this, like no one'sgoing to play like us.
So they were bought in at thatpoint and we were at that point,

(23:30):
just all in on it.

Rocky Corigliano (23:32):
When you go back, like when you first
started and I think in theinterview that you did I was
listening to it you said whichreminded me of when I played is
you said you were a flex, youknow the flex offense and you
wanted to run the Euro ballscreens and all that and you
were the half court guy let's,you know, let's, motion, motion,
you know, let's, let's runsomething.
And now it's like when you putthis chaos into play, you've had

(23:54):
success with it and I think itfits perfect now for what you
have and even at the lowerlevels, right, I think, for the
kids you have coming up now.
It's great.
You had a 6'10 kid this yearbut we haven't had that here at
RFA.
So I think the style you'replaying is really fun and I
think a lot of kids want to playit.
But when you sit back now andyou think of the young kid that

(24:19):
got the RFA job years ago thatwas let's run the flex to now
where you're at today, you'rehaving success in a completely
new system.
How much have you grown as?

Coach Nick Medicis (24:28):
I don't even think I would recognize myself
right now.
I came in and I thought I wasthe smartest man in the room and
I had all the answers and Iknew everything.
Then I got put in my placepretty quickly.
I got former players that arecoming up to me at games and
like why did we get stuckrunning that boring offense?

(24:49):
Why couldn't we just get outand run like you guys?
I said you wouldn't last 30seconds.
The amount of conditioning andthe stuff that these guys do.
I mean it's great.
I think our system, you knowchaos.
I think it embodies Rome, likehardworking.
You know we're going to workhard for everything.
We're going to outwork you,we're going to outscrap you.

(25:10):
We got a chip on our shoulder,you know.
But I don't think peopleunderstand that.
You know our tryouts are threehours long.
The first half an hour and yougot to remember this is November
, where it's 20 degrees out,there might be snow out there,
it might not.
The first half an hour we'refinding somewhere and we're

(25:32):
sprinting, like this year we the.
The track at rfa is is is gonebecause they're putting the
baseball and softball field in.
We used to run the trackoutside.
This year we ran the bus loop.
The bus loops like I'd say,half a mile, a little less than
half a mile.
We are out there for 30 to 40minutes sprinting that, jogging

(25:54):
it, sprinting it, jogging it,sprinting it, partner running.
We're out there 30 to 40minutes before tryouts even
start.
They don't even touch abasketball and they've already
done 30 to 40 minutes ofconditioning no-transcript.
So I mean just surviving thatfirst week.

(26:16):
You know, says enough and youknow the amount of work that
these guys put in to get theirbodies into shape to be able to
press for 32 minutes and attackfor 32 minutes.
I mean it is chaos.
I mean that's what it is, it'scontrolled chaos.
I mean that's what it is, it'scontrolled chaos.
And somebody once said to meyou're either going to, we're

(26:37):
either going to beat you or, ifyou beat us, you're going to
remember us because we're goingto.
We're going to, we're going tostick out because we're a little
different.

Rocky Corigliano (26:44):
I will say that I think back in the day,
like the games where our fate wehad a chance to win is every
year we played in the Christmastournament at Hamilton College.
We'd either open up againstWhitesboro, which was always a
winnable game for us, and theother game would be Clinton
against New Hartford, which youknow it always ended up being us
against New Hartford.
Hartford was really good.
I had some good teams back inthe day.

(27:05):
But I look back at it now and Isay what if, like, we had some
really good athletes back in theday?
What if, like, we had somereally good athletes back in the
day?
What if we ran what you ranback in the day?
Could we have won more games?
Maybe?
But here's the question that Ialways get, and I know a lot of
people have said this about youguys, and you've heard this RFAs

(27:29):
had success when they enteredthe Tri-Valley League.
What would your answer to thatquestion be?
When somebody says, well, youguys are winning because you're
in the tri-valley league, whereyou're a bigger school, you
should be beating the teamsyou're playing.
Because people say that Iwalked out of one of your games
and one guy's yelling at mesaying, oh, our face shouldn't
even be in this goddarn league.
I'm like, okay, buddy, well, Ican't know anything about the
scheduling, about your just play.

(27:50):
But what's your answer whenpeople say that?
Because they say it.

Coach Nick Medicis (27:55):
I think we needed to try Valley League.
You know we were getting ourbutts kicked in Syracuse and you
know it's really tough to builda program when you're going an
hour and a half to Auburn on aTuesday night in the middle of
winter through a snowstorm,getting your tail kicked in, and
then not getting back to schooluntil 11, 30, 12 o'clock and

(28:17):
then expected to be at school,you know, at 7 o'clock the next
morning.
So I think, geographically itmade sense to get back in the
league and, yes, it definitelyhelped us.
But I mean, if you look I meanI'm sure you have the records
pulled up that first year wewent 13 and seven.
Uh, we were tri champs withNotre Dame and new Hartford, um.

(28:41):
But then the next couple ofyears, I mean we struggled, that
we went through a couple ofstruggling periods, like that
first group.
That first year, that was thefirst year of AAU.
Those were the seventh andeighth graders that we took.
That first year of AAU, thatwas the group that we kind of
focused on and said, all right,this has got to be a five-year
plan.
That fifth year we want to makea run.

(29:03):
Well, the fifth year we went13-7.
We hosted our first sectionalgame.
There was a lot of firstswinning record in a long time.
Um, you know, we took a couplesteps forward but then we, we
went backwards real quickbecause we, we screwed up the
way we handled things.
We didn't, we didn't focus onthe whole program, we focused on

(29:26):
a certain group for a littlebit.
We really put a focus on thatseventh and eighth grade group
and we need to do a better jobwith our youth program.
So, again, that kind of set inmotion we have to fix this youth
program, this has got to befixed, and it made the youth
program and the feeder program apriority.
And if something like thatdoesn't happen, then we probably

(29:49):
would have been stuck in that,you know 13, 12, 10, 8.
You know we're not pushingwhere we got to when we got to,
you know 17, 18 wins, because we, you know, at that point we
thought things were heading theright direction.
So, again, we needed a wake-upcall, we needed to learn that we
had to fix some things and, youknow, fortunately, we made some

(30:12):
adjustments to learn that wehad to fix some things.
And, you know, fortunately, we,we, we made some adjustments.
And again it goes back tohaving administrations back and
allowing you to to to figurethings out and run your program
without you know somebody.
You know telling you how to dothings and you know I'm forever
grateful that Mr Stamboli workedwith me and allowed me to, like
I said, screw up and learn fromit and, you know, make mistakes

(30:33):
.

Rocky Corigliano (30:34):
So you talk about that, the youth program
and you know I've been fortunateenough to be a part of it for
the last two or three years andI and I think one of the things
that always made me smiles, andwhen we used to go to
tournaments, you know coacheswould say man, I think this is
great.
You guys are just a Rome kids.
There's no other kids on yourteam from different teams, and

(30:56):
it's like these kids, if theystay together, they're going to
be exactly what you're talkingabout.
It's just these Rome kids aregoing to play together and get
better and better and better.
And when you look across thearea, you look and see some of
the teams that have a lot ofsuccess.
I think it's exactly whatyou're talking about teams that
have a lot of success.
I think it's exactly what you'retalking about is you got to
have a feeder program, right,and I think it's special to see
these kids that get theopportunity to play together.

(31:17):
Now they don't see it at theyoung age because sometimes they
go in these AU tournaments, asyou know, and you play you're,
you're playing all-star teams,right, but you have to sit back
and say you know what guysyou're competing against
all-star teams, we're, we'rejust a school team, right, and I
think that's special, I thinkthat's something that you've
developed and I and I think it'sdefinitely paying off for the
young kids well, I think youknow, when we first started we

(31:41):
we didn't really have thenumbers to even consider it.

Coach Nick Medicis (31:44):
I mean, it was definitely something we
talked about, but I mean we didnot have anywhere near the
numbers to do an all-rome team.
And what and that's why westarted TVP is to get you know
the Whitesboro and the NewHartford, the local kids to, you
know, join in and play with us.
And then you go back and youlook through and you're like,
all right, we had one team withJosh Gregory, terry Nichols,

(32:09):
ryan Schmadel these guys are,you know, they went out and
played, they were D3 All-icansand they were all on our team.
And then the worst part was is,you know, they would come in
and they ended up staying withus because they thought we were
doing a good job with au andtheir development.
And then they go and they score30 points on us.
It's like why are we spendingall this time getting josh

(32:29):
gregory better so that he couldscore 30 and knock down shots?
And he's like, I love playingat Stroud, we practice here
every day here in AAU and thenhe comes in and scores 30
against us.
So you know, we probably wouldhave continued on with TVP for
as long, I mean we might stillbeen going.
And then COVID hit and it justgave us a chance to kind of

(32:53):
reset and really reevaluatewhere our numbers were.
And we're like you know what,if we're really going to make a
push here, we got to kind of goour separate ways and kind of
push Rome.
And the hardest, the hardestpart about it is selling to the
parents that hey, listen, I knowthat we're at a disadvantage

(33:14):
going into these tournaments.
We're coming in with a schoolteam playing against you know
Q's hoops comes in with you knowthe best player from CNS
Liverpool, beeville CentralSquare.
I mean it's an all-star teamand we're coming in with a
school team.
But guess when it's going topay off in the winter when
you're playing with the schoolteam.
But guess when it's going topay off In the winter when
you're playing with your schoolteam.

(33:34):
And we've been playing togethersince fourth grade.
You look and you've beencoached by the varsity coach,
you've been coached by the JVcoach, you've been coached by
the freshman coach, you've beencoached by the modified coach.
They've all seen you play.
We can go through our coachingstaff and say all right, these
are the best second graders,third graders, fourth graders.
We know what's going on withinour town and I think it's

(33:57):
special.
One of my favorite things aboutAAU is we have our eighth
graders playing on court, one atAccelerate, and then the next
game is our fourth graders andthe fourth graders are warming
up and all the eighth gradersare sitting there cheering for
them.
You know, because they're fromRome, and having, you know, the

(34:18):
older guys go and support theyounger guys I think is one of
the coolest things about it.
It's a it's, it's really acommunity thing and you know
it's, it's Rome.
That's what we're about.

Rocky Corigliano (34:29):
And Nick, I want to fast forward to,
obviously, the season you guysare having this year and it's a
as a coach, I think you know inthe off season you say to
yourself we got a chance to bereally special.
And when you watch this team Imean I say it all the time you
have and I'm going to say three,but you really have four, but
you probably three of the bestguards in New York state.
I'll put them up againstanybody.

(34:51):
But did you know this?
After last year?
I think last year you guysfinished what's I'm looking at
my notes you guys went 17 andfive, I think last year.

Coach Nick Medicis (35:00):
Yeah, 17,.
Something like 18, 17.
I don't know, somewhere inthere yeah.
So fast forward it a year laterwhen last year season got over
with did you know you guys had areally good chance this year to
do something special.
Yeah, because I thought weshould have done that last year.
I mean, the reality is, and youknow I don't know how many
people know this Uzziah was hurtlast year.

(35:20):
He hurt his back at the end ofthe year.
We had no trainer and he was sotough that he toughened through
two games of sectionals.
You know, if we have him at ahundred percent, who knows what
happens in that CNS game?
I mean, they think they heldthem to 10 or 12 points and the
kid was so, so tough playingthrough that injury.
And you know, nobody knew aboutit and we're not going to make

(35:43):
any big deal about it, but weknew we were tough last year.
And then you look and you knowwe, we graduate, you know a
couple good players off our teamlast year, but you know the
reality was we returned our topseven or eight guys from last
year's team that you know we arewhat a basket away from beating
cns.

(36:03):
Um, and cns was a basket awayfrom beating liverpool.
So I mean we're one or twobounces away from, you know,
competing for a section titlelast year.
So knowing what we had comingback and, you know, really
challenging our guys in theoffseason.
You know we took them to Ionafor their team camp down there.

(36:25):
This is it's late spring, earlysummer and we played four
really good teams.
We played a team from Vermontand then we played three New
York City teams.
We went down there.
We went 4-0.
I think we turned some headsand I think that was kind of the
start.
I mean, it's not always the X'sand O's parts, it's also the

(36:47):
team bonding and how close yourteam is and the chemistry on
this team.
And you know, and how closeyour team is and the chemistry
on this team, and you know, Ithink the telling part about the
success of our team is nobodycares who scores.
I mean, uzziah's getting allthese points but if you ask him,
hey, you're going to score 30this night and we're going to
lose, or you score 10 this nightbut you win, which one are you

(37:09):
taking?
Like it's not even a questionon this team, we want you win.
Which one are you taking?
It's not even a question onthis team, we want the win.
I think the fact that theseguys are so unselfish and the
chemistry on this team is justsuch a close-knit team.
I think that has gone so far tohelp the success of this team
so far.

Rocky Corigliano (37:27):
The other thing people say in the area and
some of them were saying itlast night up in the stands is
this Rfa team this year issectional champs and beyond, or
or it's a disappointing season.
So, like, sectionals are bust.
And I know you don't want tolook ahead as a coach.
You go game by game.
You're just looking.
Hey do I play a proctor teamnext thursday who, by the way,

(37:48):
had you guys by double figuresand you guys came back and won
that game.
But I know as coaches you don'tlook ahead.
But for somebody that's outthere that says they got it,
he's got to win it this year.
If you don't win it this yearwith this team, it may be a
little bit of time before theywin it.

Coach Nick Medicis (38:04):
Well, I think there's two things All
right.
Number one I think the factthat the expectations are that
high in this community justshows how far the growth of the
basketball program has come.
Um, you know, I want to say sixor seven years ago we hadn't
won a sectional game in 30 years, and now the expectation is we

(38:25):
need to win a section title,which is fine.
I mean I love that.
The expectations are there andyou know the the goal is that
that's the expectation everyyear.
I mean, if you look at whereour program is right now, our
freshman teams lost three gamesin the last two years.
Kevin Campbell's done anoutstanding job.
Oh, I want to say he's like22-3 the last two years, and

(38:51):
that's not playing a TVLschedule, that's playing a
Syracuse schedule.
They play Liverpool, CNS, allthose guys.
That's their schedule.
Then you look at our JV programand Nasey Adolfi, I mean he's
28-2 in the last two years.
He lost two games this year byone point.
In each game he lost to NewHartford at third place when we

(39:14):
got down 24-2 to start the gameand they lost in double overtime
by one.
And then they played Liverpoolat Liverpool to open the year
and Liverpool ends up going 20-0, and we lose by one the first
game.
So I mean we're not goinganywhere.
This program's in great shape.

(39:35):
I think kids are playingbasketball and playing
basketball at a high level, andI love the fact that those are
the expectations.
That's what we want.
We want to be right up therewith everyone else.
You know, a couple years ago wewere talking about, you know,
West Jenny and all the.
I want them to talk about Rome.
We want them to talk about Romeas a contender year in and year

(39:56):
out, and that's been the goalsince I got here.
And I think you know I love thatthe expectations are there, but
at the same time you want tostop and say you know, this is a
team that just went 16 and 0,didn't lose a game in the
regular season.
They have the school's all-timeleading score.

(40:16):
They have a kid that's as ajunior.
Last night just passed DamianCall for number two on the
scoring list.
So Serafia is now number two onthe all-time scoring list and
DeAndre's climbing.
And you know, had he not gottenfour games taken away by the
weather, you could be arguingthat they have one, two and
three on the same team.
So I just think there's so manyindividual accomplishments and

(40:40):
team accomplishments.
I don't want to take away fromthat if, for whatever reason, we
don't reach our goal.
I mean, this has been a greatyear and you know, like I said,
the expectation is that we'regoing to continue to play as
long as we can play.
But I do love the fact thatpeople say like we're expected
to win a section title.
We want that pressure.
I know field hockey had justgot done saying pressure is a

(41:04):
privilege.
You know it's a privilege to bein that spot where they, you
know, expect you to win achampionship or expect you to
compete for a championship.
It's where we want to be everyyear.
That means our program's headedin the right direction.

Rocky Corigliano (41:17):
Nick, I know you always play a really good
and tough non-conferenceschedule and I think that's a
testament to your schedule andto get you ready for the run you
guys are hopefully going to goon here starting next Thursday.
But just talk a little bitabout the non-conference
schedule that you guys play yearin and year out.
You do play the Liverpools, youdo play the Baldensvilles, you

(41:38):
do play those schools and, likeyou said, you went down and
played some tough teams out ofdownstate too.

Coach Nick Medicis (41:45):
Yeah, I mean , again, I'm grateful that we've
had an athletic director that'sallowed us to challenge
ourselves.
I mean we've gone out toBuffalo and played Niagara Falls
and St Francis.
I mean Niagara Falls is aperennial powerhouse in this
state.
They're good.
Every year We've gone down tothe city and competed in

(42:06):
tournaments down there.
We've spent the night out there.
I mean this year we went toSpringfield, massachusetts, and
participated in the Hoop HallInvitational for the first time
and we're hoping that it becomes, you know, every couple years
type things or every year thing.
You know, if we continue to getinvited back and we're going to
continue to challenge our kids,not only because it's good for

(42:30):
us but it's also good for them.
It's good for them to play infront of different people, get
in front of different coaches,you know, see what opportunities
are out there.
It's also good to see whatother kids are out there.
I mean we think we're good here.
And then we went down to NewYork city and we got our butts
pushed all over the place andyou know, the first thing that
kids say when they get on thebus is man, we got to hit the

(42:51):
weight room, we just got pushedall over the place.
Yeah, we think we're tough here, but we got to get outside the
area and see what toughbasketball is, so exposing them
to, you know, differentopportunities.
And again, you know we want ourkids to move on and play in
front of as many coaches andopportunities as possible.

(43:11):
So we'll continue to travel,we'll continue to play tough
competition and then the teambonding, you know, on top of
that.
You know it's funny because yougo on these trips and these kids
don't remember the basketball.
They remember hanging out inthe hotel room, the bus ride.
Those are the memories and thefun things that they remember

(43:32):
about playing high school sports.
So, uh, just the memories andand enjoying the experience.
I mean, this year we went tothe hall of fame.
You know they walked around thehall of fame.
You know they're looking atdifferent like stuff, like that.
It just I think it's importantfor them, uh, and it's important
for their team to do that stufftogether Because, again, those

(43:53):
are the things they're going toremember when they get older.

Rocky Corigliano (43:56):
So I got to go back to you, know, this year
and I want you to talk a littlebit about your coaching staff,
because I think you got a greatstaff and it's always great to
have guys you can trust.
And I think it's great you gotdad on the bench with you.
And I want to ask you aboutthat because, as you know, I can
relate to having my dad with mefor my games.

(44:16):
I was his assistant, he was myassistant.
But I turn on the Bishop Luddengame on the video, the stream
site, and the first thingeverybody's saying Nick, you
were streaming or you weretrending on Twitter, if that's
the right way to say it.
And everybody's saying where ishe?
And I'm like what do you mean?
Where is he?
He's there and everybody's likehe's not on the sideline, he's

(44:38):
not coaching.
So I'm looking, I'm like, holyshit, mo's coaching.
Where's Nick?
I wonder if he got sick.
And then we find out you hadthe bug.

Coach Nick Medicis (44:55):
So how tough tough was it you for to watch
his game from home?
I I hope to never, ever, everdo that again.
I mean I had missed the gamebefore.
No, I take that back.
I think I missed one when mydaughter was born.
I think I missed one game, um.
So I had no plans to miss thatgame.
Um, my daughter had been sickwith the bug and I had been home
with her.
I was fine.
I was fine all day.

(45:15):
I showered, I got ready for thegame, I got to the school early
, I printed off my normal youknow papers for the game.
I got on the bus and it just hitme and I was like I literally
sat in the front seat, put myhead down, put my hands in my
head and I looked at Mo and Iwas like I'm going to, I'm going

(45:36):
to try to sleep and get throughthis bus ride.
And he's like, okay, soundsgood.
And literally like two minuteslater he looked at me and just
sweat is just pouring down myface.
I have, I have my hat on and Ihave my hat on.
I'm sitting there and justsweat is pouring down my face
and he looks at me.
He's like you, okay, and I'mlike, no, I'm just trying to

(45:58):
survive this bus.
And literally 30 seconds laterhe looks at me again.
He's like you got to get offthis bus, like now.
So he tells the bus driver canwe turn around and drop him back
off at the school?
And I'm like, yeah, it'sprobably for the best.
And I was like he's like it'sfour o'clock, the game's at 730.
We got an hour and 10 minutebus ride.

(46:20):
Go home, take a nap and we'llsee you there in an hour.
So I'm like, okay, this isperfect, I'm going to go home.

Rocky Corigliano (46:28):
I'm going to take a quick nap on the couch.
Um yeah, your wife says youwere fine.
Shake it on the bathroom floor.
I'm still going.
I just need five minutes.

Coach Nick Medicis (46:37):
That's all I kept on saying like I went home
and I literally made it twominutes up the road.
I'd pull over and I was juststruggling to the point where I
had dom with me.
He comes to the games and heturns and like I'm outside and
he comes up to me and he tasksme on my leg.
He's like I've never seensomeone throw up so much.
Thanks, bud, Get back in thecar now.

(46:57):
So I, I I remember I threw upand I I called Jess.
I was like hey, I'm not on thebus, I'm coming home.
I actually feel great now.
I feel I can do this.
I'm going to go home, I'm goingto take a quick nap and then
I'm going to go.
I made it home and then, yeah, Iwas on the bathroom floor for
like the next hour.
I couldn't move and I was likeI still got like five more

(47:21):
minutes and then I can stillmake it the hour drive.
I'll just roll the window down,get some fresh air and I'll be
good to go, Like I'm fine, Ijust got to get there and that
didn't happen.
So that was a struggle.
That was one of the hardestthings to do.
Thank God my wife took all thekids upstairs so I could stay

(47:44):
downstairs because the thingsthat I was yelling at the wall
and the computer as I'm watchingthat game.
It was so frustrating becauseyou're helpless, You're just
sitting there watching and I'mthinking to myself, oh, I would
be doing this and I thought Modid it.
Mo was unbelievable.
Mo did a great job.
He took over at 415 knowingthat he had to coach the biggest

(48:11):
game of the year in three hours.
It's a really good team.
He's got a bus ride to come upwith the game plan.
I mean he does most the subbing, so now he's expected to, you
know, run the show, call theplays, change the defenses and
do the subbing.
So, like all the coaches, kindof adjusted.
You know, eric um gets throwninto the wolves Nazy.

(48:36):
Our JV coach is now helpingwith the subbing.
My father, who sits at the endof the bench like the wise man
who's like he, all of a sudden Ilook and he's sitting at the
front of the bench.
Now he's right up there.
He's in the official's year andit was just.
You know, I can't say enoughgood things about the staff that
we have.
I mean, I think that's one ofthe strengths of the program

(48:58):
right now is, you know, you talkabout the cohesion of the
players, the cohesion of ourcoaching staff.
Right now, I mean we have agroup chat that literally goes
365 days of the year and we justtalk.
I mean it's not all basketball,but I mean there's just, it's

(49:19):
almost like a group of friendsthat just stay in contact, even
though they all kind of do theirown thing, I mean just
constantly talking and joking,and some of our staff.
Um, I mean, we're all on thesame page about 95% of the stuff

(49:40):
, and when we aren't on the samepage, you know, I can
appreciate that as a head coach,that I have people that I can
go to and they'll tell me ifthey think I'm wrong, or they'll
tell me if you know, they thinkwe should be doing something
different.
We don't have, you know, yes,men that just agree with
everything and kind of no, wegot different people that have
different opinions and we'regoing to talk things out.

(50:02):
But I think that's what makesour staff so good, is that we're
all on the same page and we allhave that common goal.
I mean, mo said it best Day one.
We're chasing perfection and wewant perfection every day in
practice.
We want perfection at everygame and we want perfection for
our season.
That's the goal and it's not.
You know, we're not looking bigpicture, we're looking at the

(50:24):
day, like we want to be perfecttoday and then the next day we
want to be perfect again.

Rocky Corigliano (50:34):
So, nick, I want to go to your dad part,
because obviously you know I canrelate pretty good with that is
I was my dad's assistant whenhe was at Waterville and then
when my dad retired he was myassistant, um, at Sequoia and
you know we used to, we used tohave the coaches meetings on the
weekends and you know we wouldalways we'd argue, we disagree
and blah, blah, blah.
And I always go back to one ofmy biggest games as a coach was
my first year.

(50:54):
We were at Dodgeville andDodgeville was ranked in the
state it was their hall of fameweekend and nobody really goes
in and beach Dodgeville atDodgeville on a Saturday on
grass and we were up late in thegame.
It was like a minute and a half, two minutes ago in a game and
it was like fourth and one andwe had the ball.
I don't know it might've been onlike our own 40 something yard
line and I called timeout and Isaid, dad, what do we do?

(51:17):
He goes.
Well, you're the head coach,you know make, you know make the
call.
And my dad always wanted me tomake the call, whether it was
the right call or the wrong call.
It was always that you got tolearn right.
You're going to have good timesas a coach, but having dad with
me was always special.
How, how special is it for youto look down on the bench and
there, and there's dad downthere.

Coach Nick Medicis (51:36):
Well, it's great.
I mean my father was the bestman at my wedding.
I mean, we're we're close.
We've been close our entirelife.
I mean I grew up in the gymbecause of him.
I mean he used to run theseSaturday morning basketball
leagues.
So, you know, you know, fouryears old, I was tagging along
with him as he was coaching histeams and running his league.
So, um, that's all I've knownis having my father there.

(52:01):
He, you know, just like you, myfather, coached me in all sports
growing up and, um, you know,just, uh, you know, when I first
got the job, I think he kind ofwanted to separate himself
because it's me, it's, you know,it's my program.
You know I want to do things acertain way.
But once the season ended forAAU, we always coached together

(52:29):
and I think once he got involvedand met more of the Rome kids,
he's like all right, I want tobe involved.
And I think his first year onthe bench was that first year in
the TBL when we won I think wewon that 13 games.
I think it was 2011, and wewent on that run and you know

(52:52):
he's been a part of, you know,rfa basketball sense and you
know I, I think he adds, youknow, such a dynamic to the, to
the bench and you know thewisdom at the end of the bench.
I like that he stays to theother end of the bench, um,

(53:14):
because he keeps an eye onthings.
Um, you know, if, if he sayssomething and I disagree, and
then he was right, I stay awayfrom that end of the bench
because I don't want him to belike, say, you got to listen to
me type of thing.
But you know I, I wouldn'ttrade it for anything in the
world.
Um, I think he's a huge part ofthe success that we've had and,

(53:37):
again, he's a huge part of thecoaching staff.
I think it's cool the way thatthe whole dynamic works and my
father still lives in Syracuseand drives out to coach at every
game, drives out all AAU tohelp out, and you would think
that he's at everything, the waythat he knows everything that's
going on, just based on the waythat we all communicate through

(53:59):
our group chat and it's justconstant with us.
We're I mean, we're alwaystalking and figuring out what
the game plan is and whatchanges we want to make.
And you know, sometimes thebest change is not doing
anything and keeping it in ourback pocket so we can use it in
a later date.
So I mean we're always talkingand you know it's nice to have
somebody that's been aroundcoached it.

(54:20):
I mean my father won a WorldSeries.
I mean the amount of experiencethat's on the end of that bench
is incredible, and you knowwe're very fortunate to have him
.

Rocky Corigliano (54:30):
So I got a couple of things here left for
you, so we're up against theclock.
But one of the things I wasgoing to ask you about you know
where you're at now, and whenyou first took this program over
18 years ago, did you everenvision the program would be?

Coach Nick Medicis (54:46):
where you're at today.
I mean that's always the goal,right?
When you took over at Sequoia,you didn't think.
You know I hope we're a fourand three team and we squeak in
the playoffs, right?
You think you know my goal isto get the program where we're
competing every year.
So I think the goal was alwaysto put Rome in a situation where

(55:07):
we can compete year in and yearout.
You know, at first, competingyear in and year out might've
been for a TVL title.
You know at first, competingyear in and year out might have
been for a TVL title.
But you know, the big pictureis we want to add to the banner.
We've had one sectionalchampionship in school history.
We don't want to just compete,we want to add numbers to that.
So that's always been the goal.

(55:34):
Again, I didn't know what thelong-term plan was.
I didn't know if this was likea stop for a couple of years and
I go back to Syracuse.
I didn't know if they weregoing to run me out of town the
way the first couple of yearswent.
But I mean I always.
You know, when I came in I hada long-term plan that you know.
We were going to turn Rome intoa basketball power and we

(55:57):
wanted to win and compete andbeat those same schools that
were winning all the time inSyracuse.
So to be where we're at rightnow is great, but we're not
anywhere near where we need toget to if we want to go to where
we hope to, we want to beconsistently fighting for a
section title and we want to winthem.

Rocky Corigliano (56:19):
So what's a tenured coach Medesas say to a
young 24-year-old coach Medesasfrom 18 years ago?
What would you say to yourself?

Coach Nick Medicis (56:30):
I would say you need to find the right
people and surround yourselfwith the right people.
I think that has been a hugepart of my success is, you know,
if you look at my first I don'tknow seven or eight years, I
had a different assistant coachevery year.
We had a different philosophyevery year, you know.

(56:56):
So it was just different.
Um, when things started to turnaround was right around the
time I met my wife and we gotmarried and I had a consistent
staff.
You know it started with tjengel.
He was my assistant for a numberof years and you know,
unfortunately, he, he moved onand he had he, he, he grew a

(57:17):
family and he had to step away.
And now Mo comes in and youknow, lucky to add Nasey to the
staff and you know Eric's been ablessing since we've added him
to the staff.
So I mean, it's just surroundyourself with the right people
that you know you don't have todo everything.
My first year I was, you know,running a summer league, running

(57:39):
an AAU program, coaching threeteams in the AAU program,
coaching four teams in thesummer league, coaching year
round, coaching summer league,coaching the JB summer, like I
was doing everything.
League coaching the jb summerlike I was doing everything.
So surrounding yourself withthe right people so that you can
kind of push some things andtrust them with what you want to
get done and you know,hopefully being around the right

(58:01):
people will help all right.

Rocky Corigliano (58:03):
Last question this team you have this year
goes as far as.
As far as what?
What does this team need to doto win a sectional title and
make a run in the regionals andthe state tournament?
What do you guys got to do?

Coach Nick Medicis (58:19):
This team needs to play winning itself.
We don't have to force.
I think we're at our best whenwe're unselfish and we play
chaos.
We play our system, we makethings difficult for them and we
attack on offense and the gamecomes to us when we don't have

(58:40):
to force shots and the shots youknow we're taking the right
shots, we're making the rightextra passes.
I think we're really tough.
You know, the improvement ofguys like Cordell Campo, stovall
, griggs, like all the guys thatdon't get the headlines the
improvement of them from gameone to now is tremendous.

(59:02):
I mean, I can't say enoughabout the growth in Cordell's
game and you know what he'sbrought to the table that we
haven't had for so long.
We were joking today atpractice.
He had a rebound today and assoon as he rebounded he chinned
it, got it above his head andoutletted it to half court and
we got a two on one.

(59:23):
And there's no way that firstgame we were even considering to
do any of that stuff.
We were getting the rebound andpivoting three times and
looking to hand it off to theclosest person.
So just the improvement of ourguys, you know.
You just got to trust thesystem.
We.
You know it's.
It's worked for 16 games.

(59:43):
It's worked in the off season,you know, and I think it can
work going forward, but we justgot to play our game.

Rocky Corigliano (59:53):
I think it can work going forward, but we just
got to play our game Well.
As an RFA alum, it's nice tosee the program winning.
It's nice to see the gymspacked again.
It's nice to just see some lifeback in the gyms again and
seeing the gyms packed andhopefully you get a good crowd
next Thursday, which hopefullyit'll be another Rome versus
Utica, which would be anotherfun environment for you.

(01:00:15):
But it's nice to see theprogram back to where it should
be.
Coach.

Coach Nick Medicis (01:00:19):
Well, it's nice to see all our programs
really succeeding.
I mean, you look at girls,volleyball won a section title.
Yep, I mean, bowling doesn'tget many recognition.
They haven't lost in like fiveyears.
The girls program this wassupposed to be a down year.
They won 15 games.
I mean, hockey has beenoutstanding now for a couple of
years and you know we're in agood spot right now as well.

(01:00:41):
So it's nice to see Rome sportsall together doing well this
winter.
And you know, I'm glad that wedon't play on the same night as
hockey as well, because all ourguys were bummed.
They all wanted to go to thehockey game Wednesday.
I had to talk them into comingand playing basketball.
Luckily, hockey plays Wednesdayand then we play Thursday.
Hopefully there's a great crowdfor their game on Wednesday.

(01:01:02):
Then everybody turns around andcomes and watches us the next
night, whether it's Proctor orSAS.
I think it's going to be fun.

Rocky Corigliano (01:01:15):
Well, coach, hopefully we can get the band
back together on a Sunday forthe Mohawk Valley Sports Watch,
but you're the first one todebut tonight on the weekly
huddle, so I appreciate youcoming on and keep up the good
work, and I know I'll be intouch with you.

Coach Nick Medicis (01:01:26):
All right, thank you, my friend, I
appreciate it.

Rocky Corigliano (01:01:28):
All right, man , we'll talk to you.
Thank you, appreciate it.
All right man, we'll talk toyou, thank you.
Sounds good.
So that was the voice of theman behind the RFA basketball
program, friend of the show,co-host of the Mohawk Valley
Sports Watch with me.
He started off as a guest hoston the Mohawk Valley Sports
Watch and he's turned into oneof the marquees on the lineup

(01:01:51):
with us.
Hopefully after the seasonwe'll get him back on Sunday.
So thanks to Coach for debutingtonight with me on the Weekly
Herald.
Thank you for tuning in tonight.
If you're catching us live heretonight.
I know the hockey game's goingon I think it's 2-2, so
hopefully you get a chance to goback and watch the third period
.
If you tuned in tonight onFacebook, youtube, linkedin, I

(01:02:13):
appreciate it.
Subscribe to the channel.
It'll be out.
On Apple Podcasts, it'll be oniHeartRadio, spotify and more.
So I appreciate everybodyfollowing me and all that.
I'll have some Rockpile hoodiesfor sale if anybody wants them.
Some more things coming here onthe Rockpile podcast.
So again, on behalf of CoachMedesis and myself, I appreciate
you tuning in tonight.

(01:02:33):
Have a.