March 16, 2025 • 59 mins
Damien Call's basketball journey reads like a local sports fairy tale - from RFA standout to college champion, all while staying true to his hometown roots.
In this revealing conversation, Call takes us inside his decision to remain close to home at Utica University rather than pursuing opportunities elsewhere. "I wanted to stay local, stay around my family, allow my family to watch me play," Call explains, highlighting how Coach Coffey's persistent recruiting and vision for his role in the program ultimately convinced him.
The third-leading scorer in Rome Free Academy history shares his most cherished high school memories, particularly the unforgettable upset victory against West Genesee when RFA, as a nine-seed, took down the top-ranked team in the section. This game, potentially the program's biggest win under Coach Medicis, showcased the foundation that would carry Call to collegiate success.
Call's four-year career at Utica University represents a remarkable evolution - from following upperclassmen's lead to becoming team captain during back-to-back championship seasons. His growth mirrors the program's ascension to elite status, compiling an astounding 80-15 record over his final four years. The championship atmosphere against cross-town rival SUNY Poly created what Call calls "easily the craziest atmosphere" he's ever played in, with standing-room-only crowds and electric energy.
Basketball fans will appreciate Call's analytical breakdown of how his game developed - adding a mid-range fadeaway, improving defensive versatility, and embracing leadership responsibilities. While his collegiate eligibility has ended, Call's basketball journey continues as he explores potential overseas playing opportunities while beginning his coaching career with youth players.
Have you witnessed a local athlete's journey from high school standout to college champion? Share your thoughts on how hometown support shapes athletic development and success!
Thank you for listening!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rocky (00:00):
no-transcript.
(06:46):
Hopefully that's back here.
I had some difficulties earlierso I appreciate that.
Hopefully I was talking thewhole time so nobody probably
heard me.
So I appreciate people weretuned in.
They said you're not gettingany sound.
Hopefully that's better, guys,and hopefully you can hear me.
But I was saying there's a lotof big jobs across college
basketball that are open.
(07:06):
And I'm talking about theIndiana job because I would say
if I'm the athletic director, Imake three phone calls.
One of them is to Brad Stevens,who's the GM for the Boston
Celtics, who turned it down andsaid not interested, and he went
on the great run at Butler whenhe was coaching in college and
I think he's a star and I'd loveto see him back coaching.
(07:27):
Number two I call Steve Alford.
Steve Alford played for BobKnight at Indiana.
I think it would be a dynamitehire, I think it would be a lock
for him.
He made some comments yesterday, I think after the Nevada game.
That's where he's at right nowand he might be one of those
coaches that hasn't been able toadapt to the portal.
So that might hurt becauseIndiana's got a lot of money.
(07:50):
And then the third name I wouldcall is Chris Beard, who's a
coach at Ole Miss, who was anassistant coach on Bob Knight's
staff at Texas Tech and he wasalso, I believe, an assistant at
Indiana, got himself in alittle bit of trouble at Texas
Tech, but here he is again.
He's resurrected the program atOle Miss.
So those would be the threenames that I would call for the
(08:15):
Indiana job.
So if you're listening, Iapologize.
I had a little bit of a michookup hiccup this morning.
If I'm getting sound now andyou're watching in the comment
box, um, thumbs up.
Sound is good to go.
So we'll get more into somecollege basketball.
But without further ado, I wantto bring on damien call.
So let's bring on, damien.
(08:36):
How you doing, my friend?
Damien (08:38):
how you doing, I'm doing well can you hear me?
Rocky (08:41):
I can hear you loud and clear.
Man, can you hear me?
Yeah, I can hear you all right.
So, man, can you hear me?
Yeah, I can hear you All right.
So listen, I appreciate youtaking the time.
This morning I had to reach outto Coach Medesis and see where
you were in the all-time scoringranks.
He said you're third.
So I want to go back to highschool for a minute with you
fast.
(09:01):
You were so fun to watch, play,play and I followed your entire
career, so it's been fun.
But I want to go back to yourhigh school career first, and
when you look at the programwhere it is today, um, even when
you played, you kind of gotthis thing going for coach
Medesas, but the C Rome FreeAcademy basketball where it is
today, back on the map, what'sthat mean to you?
Damien (09:25):
no, I mean, I think Medesas has been doing a good
job since you know, you know, um, since he got the job, since
you know a couple guys before melike TJ Balin, tristan
Hungzinger, ethan Powell, guyslike those, um, no, it's, it's
super awesome to see where theprogram is.
You know they're obviously youknow they were 17 and 0 and
didn't end up how they wanted tothis year.
(09:46):
But you know, I think, just youknow, having those offseason
workouts that Medesis is alwayshaving during the summer, you
know getting on the track.
I know he's still doing allthat stuff.
So I think you know himconsistently doing that stuff
has helped build that program towhere it is today.
And you know this year he had3,000-point scores.
So that just goes to show youknow the conditioning that they
(10:07):
put in and you know all theskill work and stuff.
But it's super awesome to see,you know he just keeps growing
and growing as a program.
You know trying to make thatextra push towards that section
title.
Rocky (10:18):
Damian, do you have a special memory from your high
school playing days that standsout to you?
Damien (10:24):
from your high school playing days that stands out to
you.
I mean, I would say probablyeither the Henninger win my last
year in sectionals where wewent to Henninger and won or I
would say the West Jenny win,you know, beating the number one
team in the section I don'tknow what they were ranked state
, but they were.
You know they were one in oursection and we were the ninth
seed, barely getting in.
So I think you know those twogames were the most memorable,
(10:47):
just playing with the team.
And you know just theenvironment uh, you know playoff
environment, especially westgenesee.
You know the gym being packedum and you're up against the
number one team in the section.
Rocky (10:58):
So I would say those two memories for sure yeah, listen,
I'd have to agree with you andI'd have to probably tell people
that when they, when they askme, because when I played
basketball we weren't very good,um, and I'm talking back in the
the late 90s, um, but I wouldprobably say that west jetty win
against.
They were number, they werenumber one in the sectionals and
I think they were top five inthe state.
Right, I'd probably say thatmight be nick's biggest win so
(11:20):
far in the history of theprogram yeah, that was, that was
a huge win.
Damien (11:24):
I mean to go, I mean to go into their place, especially
when they're number one and,like you said, I think they were
top five or something in thestate with Will, mika and
players like that, and thenthey're good coach kind of over
there, but yeah.
So I mean, yeah, they're justtough gym to play in, especially
with those rims in the studentsection sitting right behind.
You know their rim.
But no, it's definitely, Iwould say, is my most favorite
(11:46):
memory for sure.
Rocky (11:52):
So, damian, you graduate from RFA as one of the all-time
greats that come out of Rome andyou make the decision to play
here, locally at UticaUniversity, which, again, great
career and we'll get into that.
But what went into thedecision-making process?
I know you had some schoolsthat were looking at you, but
what went into your, yourthought process and how did you
end up deciding on Utica?
Damien (12:08):
Um, yeah, so I didn't.
I mean I didn't really knowwhat I wanted to do, where I
wanted to go.
Um, I know I played AAU ball,traveled a little bit, so, um, I
mean, I kind of knew what,playing out of the state or out
of the area, what it might looklike.
But you know, at coffee he,coach Coffey, was recruiting me
since I was a sophomore and thenhe kind of got away from me
(12:29):
just saying, like you know, oh,like I don't think you're going
to.
He said I don't really thinkyou're going to come to Utica.
I think I don't want to soundcocky or something, but he said
you might be too good for Uticawhen I was a sophomore.
And then we kind of linked upback around the end of my junior
year, senior year, as I wastrying to make a decision, and
he just I think I just wanted tostay local, stay around my
(12:52):
family, allow my family to watch, know, watch me play, watch the
team play.
Um, thank you know, thank godwe had all the success we did um
, through all that hard work andstuff.
But, um, I think you know, justcoach coffee, coming to a
majority of my games my senioryear, you know I want to say him
and the assistant coach made itover to.
You know, like I want to say,we had 20 games, they made it to
(13:14):
at least 15 of them.
So I know just the effort.
Um, you know, like I want to say, we had 20 games, they made it
to at least 15 of them.
So I know just the effort.
You know being valued, I, youknow I wanted to be valued, I
wanted to be, you know, putsomewhere where I could make a
difference.
You know, immediately, and thenyou know, kind of COVID messed
the whole first year up andstuff.
I think that was those were themain points.
You know, just coffee in theprogram, showing, you know
showing, um, you know what Iwould be able to do in the
(13:36):
program, um, and just stuff likethat.
But you know, just being downthe road from rome and allowing,
you know, my family to be there, and you know others that are
from around here, um, you know,allow, allow them to watch me
play and you guys have been on agreat run too.
Rocky (13:51):
Uh, in your time I think you guys have made it three ncaa
tournament appearances and youwent back to back this year in
the Empire eight and you guysfinished with 21 wins in an NCAA
tournament spot.
Talk to us about you know theyour career when you started at
UC to your senior year, andagain thousand point score,
which is fantastic to have athousand point score in high
(14:13):
school and then do it at thecollege level.
But from your freshman yearuntil your senior year, how'd
you develop?
Damien (14:21):
Um, yeah, no, I think I, I think I uh, developed a lot.
You know, my freshman sophomoreyear, um, you know, I was
younger guy.
Um, there's a lot of older guyson the team.
You know, I was just kind offollowing them, following their
lead, and you know, whether it'sgames or workouts or you know
whether we were hanging out orstuff, they were always good
guys to follow, especially inyou know, the basketball aspect
(14:44):
of stuff.
So I was just, you know, kindof following them, you know,
following their lead.
You know it was.
It was ultimately their team.
They were the juniors andseniors of that group.
They've been playing togetherfor four years so I was just,
you know, playing with them,developing.
You know, the COVID year was alittle weird, but then once I
got back into you know, mysophomore year, things started
to get back to normal.
But I think really after thatsophomore year I had the injury
(15:10):
where I tore my UCL in my thumb.
So I was out for like the firsthalf of my junior year and then
after that, you know, I think,finished that junior season.
I think we lost in the semis soour season was cut short, even
though we were the one seed.
But I think after that, youknow, through my freshman,
sophomore, junior year, you know, those years I was I don't want
to say following, but you knowI was just kind of.
(15:31):
I was just kind of there, youknow following the lead from
others, the older guys on theteam.
But I think after that, so mypast two years, I really had to
develop into a more completeplayer, kind of you know whole
floor, not just you knowoffensively or defensively, you
know doing all the little stuff.
And I also think I had to growinto, you know, more of a
(15:52):
leadership role.
Being the team captain the pasttwo years and then with Justice
and Tommy last year and thenjust by myself this year.
I think growing into thatleadership role has helped me,
helped the team.
So I think that would be one ofthe biggest changes.
But I think, developing wisebasketball, I think just
improving my ball handling Ithink I did that well over my
(16:15):
five years at Utica Shooting,adding a little mid-range fade
away, you know, instead ofsometimes when I can't get all
the way to the rim, stuff likethat.
And you know I think I improveda lot on the defensive side,
you know, being more versatileat the end of the season.
You know I'm a, I'm considereda forward or a wing.
You know, at the end of theseason I was stuck in the
playoffs guarding, you knowlittle guards running around,
(16:38):
six foot guards that are quicker, faster than me.
So you know, I think that'swhere I'm changed the mostly um,
defensively, um, and then youknow, just adding like that mid
range and you know, just tryingto take care of, take better
care of the ball, but um, alsothat leadership role, especially
the past two years that we won.
Rocky (16:56):
So take us through the Empire 8 tournament.
You guys played Nazareth whoyou guys I believe had split
during the regular season.
I think you beat them inovertime at home.
You beat Huffington 80-68.
And then I wasn't at thechampionship game but from
everybody that was at that gameagainst SUNY Poly, they said
that was one of the bestatmospheres at a college
(17:16):
basketball and I'm sayingDivision I, ii or III level that
was one of the best atmospheres.
Take us through first achampionship game and what that
atmosphere was like.
Damien (17:26):
Yeah, that atmosphere was crazy Easily the craziest
atmosphere I played in incollege, or I'd say ever really.
I mean you know RFA was prettycrazy too, but that was just a
whole different experience incollege, or I'd say ever really.
I mean, you know RFA was prettycrazy too, but that that was
just a whole differentexperience.
I mean, you know, coming outyou got an hour until tip off
and the gyms already, you knowthe poly side is already full.
They got there super early.
So you know you got people.
(17:48):
You know talking to students,they got their student section.
So it's just all it was all.
Obviously you're a a littlenervous, got a little
butterflies and stuff.
You know it's championship gameand I mean couldn't script it
any better against poly.
You know, in utica, rightacross the road, so, um, I think
, just walking out there, youknow seeing all the people how
loud it was, um, they had a lot.
(18:08):
Stop letting people in.
So I think just that experiencein itself, um, you know, was a
great experience for us and ourteam.
And you know Coach Coffey and Idon't think he's ever had an
experience that can quite liveup to that because it was just
insane.
But you know the game was crazy.
You know people screaming afterevery basket, after every play,
(18:30):
and you know playoffs, everypossession matters.
So you really got to lock inand um get through that whole
game, you know with your team,um, but it was just a crazy
atmosphere.
Um, you know we had a very goodfirst half.
You know scoring like 50something points, going on a
crazy run that really helped uswin the game.
Um, but it's super crazyatmosphere, I mean with coach
(18:51):
schoener and coach coffee, um,the two programs that they built
and then just everybody thatcame out.
No, it was easily the craziestatmosphere I've ever played in.
Ever.
Rocky (19:00):
So you guys win the Empire, you get a date in the
NCAA tournament.
Did you guys have a watch party, like you see on TV, with all
these colleges?
How was the watch party?
Damien (19:09):
Yeah, no, it was good.
Our watch party has changedfrom years to years.
We used to the pub, this littlepub spot at Utica on campus
where, like, other people couldcome and they put on the TVs.
But, um, this year we kind ofjust chilled with ourselves, um,
in the locker room, uh, justwatching it on the TV, having
like a watch party.
You know, I had some peoplefrom Utica there like, uh, you
(19:31):
know, like some photographers,some people that work media and
stuff, but you know, really justourselves, because you know we
were, we, uh, you know, thinkingin our head the season's not
done.
You know, we knew, um, we had ashot to make a chance, to make
a run in the tournament and weknew, like, once we got that
team, we were, um, you know, tofocus from there and focus on
them, um, but yeah, we did havea little watch party in the
(19:52):
locker room that day of so youguys get it.
Rocky (19:55):
Um, opening round game.
Um, well, you get montclairstate, who's really good, yeah,
um, in the tournament and youguys.
It looked like it was a tale oftwo halves, right, the first
half you guys were neck and neckand then they got up double
digits on you guys and you guys,I think, cut it to single
digits with about five or sixminutes left to play.
Right, um, talk to us aboutthat game.
Damien (20:16):
Yeah, I mean that game.
You know we had the whole weekto prep for it.
So I mean NCAA game.
We're traveling out to NewJersey Thursday.
So we're there Thursday, youknow, practicing in their gym,
getting ready, gettingcomfortable.
Then Friday we got tip-off.
I mean it was just them, youknow, studying what their
players do.
You know they, just like we didRFA in high school, we, they
press the whole game.
(20:37):
They like to play fast, shootthrees, get layups.
They had a kid transfer fromRutgers.
He was like number one inpoints per possession in the
country for D three.
So it was kind of crazy.
Shot like 50% from three, shotlike 300 on the year.
It was ridiculous.
But just playing against asystem like that super fast, I
mean you know how it is,especially with RFA.
(21:00):
You know just trying to takecare of the ball.
So I think in that first halfyou know we did a good job
taking care of the ball, takingour time.
Then I think in the second halfwe just kind of got away from
that and you know they, we justgot caught in their pace a
little bit at times.
You know they made some runs,some quick runs, you know,
turned the ball over.
They hit a three and then, youknow, turned it over again, it's
another three, that's asix-point swing.
(21:21):
So I think you know the firsthalf we did very well, you know,
taking care of the ball gettingwhere we wanted.
But then the second half, youknow, I think that pace got to
us, that press got to us.
You know we turned it over acouple times.
They capitalized on it and youknow they were the 13th team in
the country, so you knew theywere going to capitalize on it
and they've been doing this allseason.
You know pressing and stuff.
(21:42):
So just a crazy game to play in.
I mean, montclair State's a waybigger school than Utica out in
New Jersey, like 20,000compared to Utica's 3,000.
Well, I think we had it athalftime, like you said, we were
down one and we were neck andneck.
But second half they hit somethrees and you know just
couldn't crawl our way back fromthat 15, you know 15, 12-point
(22:04):
deficit.
Rocky (22:05):
I know as a young kid even myself today, and I'm not.
I wish I was a young kid againand I was just saying before I
came on the air.
I get all excited because I'm acollege football junkie, but I
love college basketball andtoday's the greatest day of the
year when we get the selectionshow and then we'll fill out the
brackets.
You know, at any level theplate at a high level, whether
it's Division I, ii, iii Ialways think it's special for
(22:27):
these tournaments and you got anopportunity in your college
career to play in an NCAAtournament.
What's that mean to you?
I'm sure you were a young kidfilling out brackets.
Get all excited for MarchMadness.
How cool was it for you to playin an NCAA tournament?
Damien (22:40):
Yeah, I mean it's awesome.
I can't even describe thefeeling you know, be able to go,
being able to go travelsomewhere, I mean with your
teammates and your coaches.
You know you're coming off,hopefully coming off that high
of, you know, winning achampionship and you got, you
know, motivation to go make arun in the tournament.
But I mean it's just a supersurreal feeling.
I mean once, once you just getthere, I mean once you enter the
(23:02):
month of March, it's just awhole different beast in terms
of basketball, like just everygame, every possession.
And then once you get to thoseNCAA games, you know it's it's
one and done so you got.
You got fans that are therecheering you on and stuff, and
then you just got to.
Really, I mean you, you gotthis one game scenario where
anything could happen.
You know you got to prepare forevery situation possible.
(23:23):
So I mean just playing in thosegames.
I mean means the world to me,the fact that I was able to do
it, you know, three times, andeven win a game a couple of
years ago back in Rowan againstBabson in the tournament, it's
just a super awesome feeling.
I mean just to be able to, youknow, go out there and compete
in the NCAA tournament wasawesome.
Rocky (23:45):
And I think, Coach Coffey , the run that you guys have had
over the last four years andI've had them on the radio show
and I'll have them on herepretty soon.
But I had to go back and lookat the last four years and these
numbers are crazy.
So in 2020 to 2021, you guyswere 10-2.
That was the shortened season,but I think you guys had a
really good team that year too.
That would have been a fun yearto see how that played out.
(24:07):
The following year, you guys go23-4.
Then you go 23-5, as you talkedabout, you guys got it at large
into the ncaa tournament.
You beat batson, which was agreat win for you guys, right.
And then 23 24.
You guys go 24 and four.
So over four years you guyshave won 80.
You're 80 and 15 in four years.
Like what that's?
Damien (24:28):
that's unheard of for a four-year run yeah, uh, yeah, I
mean, yeah, I mean, I think it'sjust from what coffee is built.
You know he's, uh, he's.
You know he loves basketball.
He played himself in college,uh, at oneonta, and then you
know, overseas, uh, in ireland.
But I think you know, I thinkit's really just it comes down
to him and you know the playershe recruits.
(24:48):
I know I think he looks forgood people, um, you know good
guys, not just people that areyou know going to be good on the
court for him.
I think he looks for peoplethat are, you know, good, good
guys, not just people that are,you know going to be good on the
court for him.
I think he looks for peoplethat are, you know, good overall
people, have good morals andstuff and you know are going to
get it done on the classroom andbe a good locker room guy.
I think it's just from reallywhat he's built, you know, from
the weight room to you know just, you know what he's.
(25:08):
You know putting into our guysall the time and effort, and
especially the assistant coaches, with Luke Fretzel, zach Zoll
Fretzel being from Westmoreland,another local guy.
But I think just you know them,you know really digging in, you
know putting in the time and youknow, as a player, you know you
might think it's a lot, but Imean, at the end of the day, if
(25:29):
you're winning championships andgoing on the records like those
and runs like those you'rehaving 21 seasons you know
you're definitely not going tocomplain at the end of the
season.
You know you might becomplaining in August when
you're running on the track, butyou might, you're not going to
be complaining in March whenyou're winning championships.
So I think it's just fromreally what he's built, you know
keeping guys accountable, youknow getting really getting the
(25:51):
maximum potential out of guys.
I really think it's just youknow him and what he's built
that has helped us, you know,lead to our success.
Rocky (26:00):
So I've interviewed over the last 10 years a ton of
coaches at every level and Ifeel like right now I'm sitting
here interviewing a coachbecause you're so well-spoken.
Any coaching into plans forDamien?
Damien (26:15):
Yeah, I mean I don't really know what I'd want.
You know there's there's acouple different routes, you
know, coaching or, like you know, if I wanted to do training
like train kids or um, you know,some people um have even talked
about like reffing, like tryingto make my way up into like
college reffing, um.
But you know, I actually justpicked up a job um, not a job
(26:36):
but just a a little coachingside gig with my teammate from
Frankfurt, levi Spina.
He was on my team this year.
So we're coaching just aseventh grade team right now for
AAU basketball.
It's called MVE Elite out inMohawk.
So it's just a little seventhgrade team doing a couple of
tournaments around here.
But you know, I don't reallyknow about after that coaching,
training, reffing, what I wantto get into.
(26:57):
But yeah, I don't really knowtoo much yet what I want to get
into, but just starting off withthat, you know, trying to help
develop some seventh graders,you know from the Valley.
Rocky (27:07):
So I'm assuming.
I wish we could say you hadsome more eligibility left and
we'd see you back for anotheryear, but any more eligibility
to keep playing, Nah, nah,You'll have to wish you back for
another year, but any moreeligibility to keep playing?
Damien (27:18):
No, no, I mean no more eligibility.
I mean you never know what.
I've had some teammates playoverseas.
Have a teammate play.
I have a teammate on the AlbanyPatroons team in the TBL,
albany Justice.
So you never know what's goingto present itself.
I'll probably try to put somefilms together, send it out, see
(27:42):
what will happen.
You know, never know, um, whatcan happen.
You know overseas or even inthe states, um, just figuring
that out, you know, I definitelythink there's a chance,
especially with the success I'vehad at utica and you know the
back-to-back championships.
I think the winning definitelyhelps, um, so you know, I don't
want to say for sure, it'sdefinitely like the last time
I'll play or it's my last yearof eligibility.
It definitely is for Utica, forcollege, but you know, after
that, you know professionally oroverseas or anything like that,
(28:03):
you know, only time will tell.
So, yeah, we'll see about that.
I'll definitely send some filmout somewhere.
Rocky (28:09):
Well, listen, man, you were so fun to watch.
Throughout your career I lovedwatching you play basketball.
I think all of us Romans thatare that are tuned in here this
morning would say the same thing.
And um, I remember your yourfirst game is is a high school
kid and then continuing on toUtica.
You've done some great thingsand I know Rome's proud of you.
Man, and um, best of luck toyou, keep in touch, and I I
appreciate you coming on thismorning with me.
Damien (28:30):
Yeah, no, I appreciate you, Rocky, always been there
since Sarfay.
I remember you alwayssupporting since then, so I
appreciate all the support.
Rocky (28:39):
Well, I appreciate it, man.
Best of luck to you.
Keep in touch, yep.
Thank you.
Scott (28:42):
I'll see you.
You got it.
Rocky (28:45):
So that was Rome's Damien call.
And you know when I say I'veinterviewed a lot of coaches and
I have, which is awesome, but Ifelt like I was talking to a
coach.
He's so well-spoken for he's atrue professional.
He represents Rome with so muchclass and I remember watching
him in his first game at Romeand then his career at Utica
(29:08):
University and I think it'sreally neat to listen to a kid
talk about what made him chooseUtica and how special it is.
And I say this all the time andthis isn't a knock to any
athlete in this area.
We've had a lot of goodathletes come through here and
not many of them have played atthe Division I level.
But I always say this If you'refortunate enough to get out
(29:30):
there and watch a Division IIIbasketball game baseball game,
softball, whatever it isDivision III is really good
basketball If you're fortunateenough to play at any level as a
high school kid especially theway the world is today with
college athletics and the NIL,you're not seeing a lot of high
(29:52):
school kids get recruited tosome of the bigger schools
because of the NIL and becauseof the transfer portal.
So if you haven't gotten theopportunity to watch any level,
especially Division III.
It's special and he had areally, really, really great
career and nobody did it betterwith class than with Damian.
So I appreciate that.
(30:12):
So we're going to jump from oneto the other.
We're going to jump now talksome Syracuse sports.
But one of my favorite guestswho's been on with me now I
think I was on sports watch onthe radio 10 years ago and I
think Scott was one of the firstguests that I that I had on and
he's always fortunate.
I'm always fortunate enough tohave him jump out at me when I
reach out to him.
So let's bring Scott on, talksome Syracuse sports.
(30:34):
Who knows where we're going totalk?
We might talk everything thismorning with Scott, but let's uh
, let's bring him on Scott.
How you doing, my friend?
Scott (30:43):
Pleasure to be on with you, my friend.
Rocky (30:45):
Well, I was just saying here I think I was on the radio
for I think I hit 10 years andthen I said to myself, let's,
let's do the podcast thing, justbecause my kids were getting
older and it was so hard tocommit to a live show every
weekend and this has really beena lot of fun.
But I think you were aroundwith me when I first started.
Scott (31:04):
I think it was one of the originals there.
So shouldn't we get a pin orsomething or some recognition
for that or whatever?
No, it's always great and Ialways enjoy.
You know how I feel abouthometown and I feel about you
and your family and stuff, soit's always a pleasure and
anytime you want me, just let meknow.
Rocky (31:23):
Well, I appreciate that, scott, and you know Syracuse
Hoops.
The season just ended and Iwatched the ACC tournament game
against SMU the other night andwe heard the news that Coach
Autry is going to be back.
I think, scott, scott, I wasone of those guys and Medesas,
and those guys give me, theyheckle me all the time because
they say, well, you're not aSyracuse guy, you always bad
(31:44):
mouth the program and I was onethat said, unfortunately, I
would move on, um, just becauseagain the the way of the
transfer portal, the NIL, um, Ijust think that he's really
struggled there, uh, the firstfew years that he's taken over
for Coach Boeheim.
Scott (32:01):
You know, I think there's a lot there.
I'm going to start out bysaying that I don't know if Red
Autry is a good head coach ornot.
I don't know if anybody does.
Right now it hasn't looked well, particularly this season.
This was a team that you knowplayed sporadically.
I think the you know theinjuries to Freeman and JJ
(32:22):
Starling.
You missed him for like.
I think, seven or eight games.
I think that really hurt.
But even if I was trying toproject, even if Freeman had
continued to play and not gottenhurt he was the highly touted
freshman, probably the, I think,the highest ranked incoming
recruit since Carmelo Anthony,let's say like he had continued
to progress, you know, and was adouble-double guy every night,
(32:47):
they would have probably hadless problems scoring, but they
still were a flawed teamdefensively.
But going back to this wholething, there's a lot at work
here now.
Rock, that wasn't a factor, youknow, several years ago.
And that is the whole NIL thing, the collective, how much money
you are paying guys, and youand I may not like this, and I
(33:09):
don't.
What college sports is becoming.
It's a big, big business nowand it's now.
It's just really chaotic.
But you know Red Autry, I willblame Syracuse, I will blame,
you know, john Wildhack andSyracuse for not being ready for
this.
Essentially in that, if youlook at I'll give you a
(33:30):
comparison If you watch lastnight's ACC championship game
between Duke and Louisville,right, well, if you remember
Rock last year, louisville wasterrible.
I mean, they were terrible.
They were the worst team in theACC.
And how did they turn it around.
They hired a new coach.
He brought in all his guys,essentially, and they also, if
you look at it, they had abudget, an NIL budget name image
(33:55):
likeness budget there of, Ithink, over $4 million to pay
their players.
Syracuse, meanwhile, was slow tothe game and I think their
budget was somewhere around the$2 million mark.
So look at the disparity youalready have, and again I don't
like it.
The disparity you already have,and again I don't like it.
(34:18):
But the reality is that youknow you better be.
If you want to play with thebig boys, you're going to have
to pay the big boys with the bigboys, and I don't think
Syracuse was prepared for that.
So I will cut red some slack asa result of that.
I mean, look at, you know, theguys.
They lost the kid to Duke.
The you got Richard is aprominent player for Rick Pitino
(34:39):
, right, and St John's, and StJohn's has a massive amount of
money that they paid for theirplayers this year.
So there's a lot at work there.
All that said, I don't like theway Syracuse played this year.
You know, there's certain thingsI think as a coach and Rick
Pitino is a perfect example Idon't particularly care for a
(35:00):
lot of his shenanigans away fromthe court and stuff.
He has not been an exemplaryperson necessarily, but he's a
great, great coach.
There's no denying that, andthe thing that I'm impressed
with is how hard St John's plays, particularly defensively.
So there's a couple of thingsas a coach and as a player that
you can always control right.
You can always control yourhustle, your amount of hustle.
(35:23):
That's an energy level.
You can control that regardless.
You know your shooting might beoff this and that.
And I think the other thingthat's an indication of a team
that plays hard is a team thatgets after it defensively.
You know defense is effort andwe see how many players do.
We see that are very goodoffensive players but can't play
(35:43):
on the other end.
So there's a lot at work hereand you know Red Autry has a
great class coming in next year,including Carmelo Anthony's son
.
He's got a highly, highly rated.
So we'll see.
But as a friend of mine said,like's son, he's got a highly,
highly rated.
So we'll see.
But as a friend of mine said,like, yeah, he's got a great
recruiting class, so don't makea change or whatever.
(36:04):
But can he coach?
And I go, I don't know.
I don't know he might be.
I've covered sports long enough, rocky, to know that there are
some people who are greatassistant coaches, great
coordinators are not headcoaches.
It's a totally different thing,as you well know, you've got to
be kind of the CEO of yourentire program and you've got to
(36:25):
be responsible for everything.
Whereas I'm a position coach orwhatever, or a coordinator, I
have a unit, and so that's, youknow, and it's a whole different
thing.
Rocky (36:34):
As you well know, scott, a lot of people say you know,
and that's a whole differentthing, as you well know, scott.
A lot of people say you knowSyracuse is, and, like many
schools, duke's done it.
They've kept it in-house withthese Duke guys and, uh, the
Syracuse guys, and you look nottoo far down the road.
You see, the year that JerryMcNamara had at Siena now he
didn't make the NCAA tournament.
I think GMAC won 14-15 games,which was a turnaround, and many
(36:55):
thought that he was the guythat would follow Boeheim with.
You know big favor on Syracusecan recruit.
Does this do anything for him,being that he decided to step
away from Syracuse?
Take his own program?
He had some success in year one.
If it doesn't go well for Autrynext year in year three, is
GMAC a possibility or do they gooutside the Syracuse norm?
Scott (37:24):
I had a very unpopular view of this whole thing last
year, in that I felt that youshould have conducted a national
search for a coach.
You know there's real dangersat times of staying in the
family, so to speak.
You know how many businesseshave we seen sons and daughters
(37:45):
have ruined, have taken down.
You know that they inheritedfrom from their father or mother
.
And I just think, I reallythink, despite all the
challenges that Syracuse isfacing, particularly with, you
know, getting money to payplayers and this is a big, big
issue throughout college sportsNow I really think it this is a
big, big issue throughoutcollege sports now I really
(38:06):
think it's still a very good job, a very you know, a very
attractive job in college sports.
You've got great facilities.
You play in a conference that'sdown, admittedly, you know, and
has some work to do in terms ofcatching up.
You know basketball has somework to do in terms of catching
up, you know.
You know basketball wise and infootball and stuff.
(38:28):
But and you have, you know youhave great television exposure.
So I think it's a great job andI would have opened it up for a
national search and I think youcould have gotten a brilliant,
you know young coach who couldhave done some things here.
Now again, that wasn't going tohappen because Jim Boeheim as
(38:52):
many people will say rightfullyso deserved to name his
successor.
I don't necessarily agree withthat, just as you know.
I mean, he saw Krzyzewski didthe same thing at Duke.
He saw essentially NorthCarolina do the same thing and
it's not uncommon for a legacycoach to demand that right to
pick his or her successor Again.
(39:19):
I think it's kind, conducted anational search and then you
came to the conclusion Rockythat well, red Autry's our guy.
Even after doing all that.
Fine, okay, you made thatdecision, but I think you could
have.
I think this is a plum job,despite the fact the program is
no question, the program's downand this has been kind of a
(39:41):
10-year decline or even more,and this has been kind of a
10-year decline or even more.
This is, you know, syracuse isessentially a 500 program in the
ACC, in the ACC play since theyjoined.
Rocky (39:53):
What was it?
Scott (39:53):
2013, I think, is when they joined the ACC, and you
know so they've got a lot ofwork to do, and so I guess this
has been a long-winded answer ofsaying that I think he deserves
one more shot, and that's it,Because you've got to move on
now.
The way things are changingrapidly in the landscape of
college sports.
Rocky (40:14):
Scott, if we go back to the play on the court this year,
they didn't shoot the ballfairly well at all.
I think they were just over 30%from the three-point line and I
think they were below 50%percent from the field in
general.
And they turned it over a lottoo at times.
And I know Starling had theinjuries and I thought he, when
he was healthy, played reallywell down the stretch for
Syracuse.
But little sloppy um playedduring the year.
(40:36):
They didn't shoot the ballfairly well.
I know that's something Autrycan't control, but you got to
shoot the ball to win games,right?
Yeah, I mean the I mean thenature of basketball.
Scott (40:45):
Right the way it's changed.
I call it the Steph Curryeffect.
Right, the three-point is it.
The three-point shot is such anincredible weapon.
Now I don't particularly likethe way the game's played as a
result of that, because you'vegot a lot of just chuck it up
and you're not running offense.
And Syracuse, you know, I don'tthink they ran the offensive
offense very well.
(41:06):
I don't really think.
You know, rocky, looking,looking back at the season, I I
just never felt they had a goodpoint guard.
You know a good quarterback ofthe offense and stuff to run it.
You know, or calm things downor know what to do, like,
instead of this.
There just didn't seem to beany structure to this offense.
You know how many times didthey get shot, clock violations
(41:29):
and or down to the last minuteand have to chuck one.
You worked all that time forthat, you know.
So that's an issue.
And if you want to pet peeve andthis goes back to Boeheim, this
drives me absolutely nuts as aformer, you know, youth league
basketball coach can you runinbound plays?
(41:53):
Syracuse has historically hadproblems getting the ball
inbounds.
It's a basic.
I'll give you a mimeographsheet with five plays to run
right, like, come on.
I'll give you a mimeographsheet with five plays to run
right, like, come on.
And if you know six and sevenand eight eighth graders can
comprehend that I think that youknow guys who've played their
entire lives travel ball on AAUshould be able to run an
(42:14):
inbounds play.
So anyway, but that's a littleaside.
That, you know, again, is partof like.
You know, when you get back tocriticism of coaching, like
that's a fundamentally unsoundteam, you know, um, but yeah,
that for I I can't remember thekids name, but they have a
really a great three-pointshooter coming in from australia
(42:35):
next year as part of this classwho's highly rated, and I I
think that, um, carmelo's kid isa very good three-point shooter
.
Will it translate in thecollege game?
You know, we'll see.
I mean, they played high levelAAU and high school basketball.
We'll see how it translates.
(42:55):
But yeah, there's a lot of workto do.
They need to become a betterthree-point shooting team and
that means not having onethree-point shooter out there.
You know you pretty much haveto have three or four shooters,
you know, in today's game to tobe effective and not be able to
take away those shooters.
(43:16):
You know what I mean.
Like you have strength innumbers, so to speak, and
defensively they were just theto me, or a horrible team that
faded in the second half.
Um, and you know it's acombination of things, right,
like you know, complementarybasketball, shooting the ball
well, playing defense, um,running an offense, um, you know
(43:37):
there's a lot of things, a lotof things there, and they were
you know they were not a greatfree-throw shooting team, so
that probably cost them ahandful of games as well.
Rocky (43:47):
Yeah, you mentioned since you were pretty much spot on
Scott when they came into theACC.
I got them at 99-88 in ACCplays.
So they're just over 500 sincejoining the ACC.
And you watch now the Big Eastwith Petito coming in there and
St John's who I keep saying ifhe had some shooters I, I mean,
(44:07):
st John's is really good thisyear, imagine if he had some
shooters how much better theywould.
They would be.
But you look at this Big Eastand you sit there and say, man,
wouldn't it be pretty cool tosee Syracuse back, bring the old
Big East back with Georgetownand and Villanova and all those
teams to see them?
But I know there's no chance ofthem ever going back to the Big
East, but man, it'd be fun.
(44:27):
The Big East has been good yeahit's been good.
Scott (44:31):
But you know, again I really worry, not merely for
Syracuse but for probably Idon't know however many hundred
of programs out there that youknow we're trending towards a
super conference or two superconferences.
You know, and unfortunately Ihave to place the blame on
greedy football coaches at thehighest level, you know, and
(44:55):
athletic directors at Big Tenand SEC schools.
They've really ruined this andthey're greedy.
Sec schools, they've reallyruined this and they're greedy.
And you know they're going toeventually get their comeuppance
.
Because if you go form, let'ssay, 220 team or 20 school super
conferences in sports, right ata big time level, well, I hate
(45:18):
to break it to you, but noteverybody's going undefeated.
You're still going to createthe haves and the have-nots.
I mean, let's say, let's say,for example, how is northwestern
going to compete in that superconference with, with the
dollars that we're seeing inohio?
And you know, I, I I've talkedwith friends about this and I
(45:40):
really think the state schoolshave such a tremendous advantage
because they essentially havethis enormous pool of money.
And think about how horriblethis is really if you, if you
really break it down, you know,sort of a Penn State or Ohio
State taxpayer money isessentially going to pay these
exorbitant salaries for, forfootball coaches and staff.
(46:02):
That's enormous and money, youknow, to pay the players and
whatever.
I mean.
What was it?
Ohio State's football budget orsomething was $20 million this
year.
They're the best team thatmoney could buy and I don't know
how a Syracuse, a smallerprivate institution or many of
these other schools can competedown the road.
(46:24):
It's a chaotic, uh, greedysituation right now on all parts
and uh, I I don't like it.
But I also realize, like atsome point you're going to have
to have, you're going to havelike, say, seven, 10 team
(46:46):
divisions and one bigconglomerate major college
sports league.
You know, like the NFL onlyhave 10 divisions or whatever,
or seven divisions of 10 teams.
You know, and a perfect thingthought that had the old East
Indies, which were footballschools that essentially you
(47:07):
were talking Penn State,syracuse, west Virginia, boston
College, pitt, maryland.
You could throw the Navy andArmy if you wanted For the
longest time.
That was the ECACU.
It was an independentconference but it made perfect
sense because you would havedecent football schools in there
(47:30):
, right with historic programsand stuff, and you know that
would have been the idealsituation and again, like Penn
State's not leaving the Big Ten,or what is it?
The Big 16?
Now Rocky, however many.
My math's not good and neitheris theirs, but that would you
know.
So do it geographically.
(47:52):
That made sense.
Come up with, you know, thisconglomeration of 70 schools and
I just throw that figure outthere and have things again.
Again, conferences makegeographic sense.
You know Cal and Stanfordplaying on the in an Atlantic
Coast conference, and how stupidis the whole thing really when
(48:15):
you boil it down to the um.
Think about it.
Rocky, the Olympic sports, thenon-revenue producing sports.
So I got to send my fieldhockey team, my women's field
hockey team or my men'svolleyball team to from Syracuse
to Cal, let's say, you know, ona Tuesday night.
How much is that costing me?
(48:36):
I mean, it makes no sense.
Plus, how much time am I takingaway from the student athlete
from class time just to?
get to the coast and even if Igo out, like okay, they're going
to go out and we're going tospend, we're going to play two
games out there, because,because Cal and Stanford aren't
that far away, even then it justmakes absolutely no sense and
it's all about greed.
(48:57):
And I'm really down on, youknow, on the athletic directors
and university presidents whoreally don't care, it seems at
the highest levels.
Like I got mine, I don't careabout the rest.
Rocky (49:11):
Well, you're seeing now in college I mean North Carolina
with Belichick, they brought ina GM and you're seeing more of
these schools now bring generalmanagers in and running it like
professional sports and reallyit is right because we're paying
the athletes Scott real fast.
I know a lot of Syracuse fanswant to talk Syracuse football.
Already they were ready to moveon.
You've got Syracuse lacrossethat's on right now and they're
(49:33):
always fun to follow too thewomen and the men's side of it.
I looked at the Syracusefootball schedule for this
coming year and I said FranBrown got a good one in year one
.
Scott (49:44):
Now year two, it's a much tougher schedule, uh, for the
football team yeah, this is, um,I think what was it ranked like
the 13th and the.
The only ones are maybe Big Tenand SEC schools who have to
play a number of their own uh,you know, under the new, new
arrangements and stuff.
But yeah, this is a brutalschedule.
Not only only is it tough, likewhen you're, I think they're
(50:05):
playing, while you're playingNotre Dame, you're playing Miami
.
Tennessee you'll open up within a neutral site, but it'll be
more of a Tennessee site.
It's facing down south inAtlanta.
Yeah, there's something likethey have like four playoff
teams, I think, and they're allon the road.
You're playing like Notre Dameon the road, you're playing
(50:28):
Tennessee, essentially on theroad, and it's brutal, it's
absolutely brutal.
And that's why I try to say,and you're doing it without Kyle
McCord, you don't really knowwho your quarterback's going to
be.
It's brutal and I try to tellSyracuse fans, who tend to be
impatient and want to run peopleout of town very quickly Look,
(50:51):
you better have patience withFran Brown and you better not
say because if Fran Brown I'mtelling you right now, rocky, if
Fran Brown goes six and sixwith that schedule, he really
merits coach of the yearrecognition.
I mean, it's brutal it's brutalyeah, look, it's brutal and it's
all on the road too.
Most of that the the major ones, I mean Syracuse fans will get
to see the hoodie.
(51:11):
Uh, bill Belichick come intothe room, that'll be kind of fun
, um, but yeah, uh.
So you know Fran's got a.
He had the largest, um highschool class in.
I think he's doing things right.
I think he's done a thing thatI really like, and that is he's
really rebuilding the bridgesthat were broken down by recent
(51:35):
Syracuse coaches in terms ofdeveloping relationships with
high school coaches throughoutthe state.
Got to do it.
Mack knew you had to do it.
Pasqualone knew you had to doit.
Pasqualone knew you had to doit.
And so there's Fran Brownparticipating at the Turning
Stone.
You know resort at the New YorkState coaches high school
football coaches concert.
You got to do that conference.
(51:56):
You got to do that, and I thinkhe understands the value.
You have to build relationshipswith coaches and you have to
give back.
You have to give back to thehigh school coaches as well.
So you've got to give the guytime.
I mean this could be, it couldbe a four win year and it would
be understandable.
But you're building somethinghere and he's got a lot of
(52:18):
really highly touted high schoolrecruits here.
You got to give them time tomature and, you know, physically
, mentally, emotionally, it justdoesn't normally happen as a
freshman, you know.
So you know, particularly withthe big boys up front, they got
to get physically stronger inorder to play at that level.
Rocky (52:36):
So, yeah, it's brutal, but give give Fran a chance to,
to, you know, to build somethinghere, truly build something so,
scott, favorite day of the yearfor me is is college football
and watching the new year's daybowl games, but today's probably
right there with it.
We get the selection show todayand then we can fill out the
brackets and, uh, we can startarguing who should have been in,
(52:58):
who's, who got left out, and soforth, without seeing a bracket
.
Who do you like?
Scott (53:05):
I still like Duke if Flag comes back off that ankle.
You know I watch them.
They're an exceptional team.
I mean, I'm very intrigued,rocky, to see are we going to
have 12, 13, 14 SEC teams?
And they will be deserving.
It's a super basketballconference right now who would
(53:27):
have thought that a footballconference?
But it also gets back to thatwhole general thing.
So I'm intrigued to see youknow which SEC schools.
They'll probably have a couplenumber one seeds, I would think,
and just how many are theregoing to be?
But if I really had to getpushed, and that's with the
(53:48):
caveat that you know flag Cooperflag is going to be healthy
enough to play on that ankle andmaybe you don't.
Maybe, if you're trying to buysome more time, rocky, you don't
play them in the first game.
It's always dangerous, ofcourse, but you know Duke should
be able to beat a 16 seedwithout.
I mean, look what they did lastnight without him.
(54:09):
That was a pretty impressive.
Rocky (54:11):
You know they gutted out a win in the championship game
yeah, I think, with him playing,even if he's 85, 90 and I'm not
a duke guy, but I think they'rethe best team, I think he's the
best player in the country onone of the best teams, so I I
think they make a good run.
I'm anxious to see what Patinodoes in St John's.
Like I said, if they can shootthe ball fairly well, I think
(54:32):
they can beat anybody.
But those SEC schools fromFlorida, auburn, alabama, I mean
Michigan State there's so manyteams I think that, seeded, one
through eight, maybe even onethrough 10, got a shot to win
this thing, depending on who youget paired up with.
Scott (54:47):
I'd open the never to be honest with you, even given the
domination of the SEC and soforth.
I think, yeah, I think it'sgoing to be really interesting.
And, patino, like you say, Ijust think that perhaps they
don't, you know, they just don'thave enough offense because
there's going to be.
But again, we talked about thisearlier that you know you can
(55:07):
always be consistent with yourdefense as long as you're not
getting whistles going againstyou too much, you know, and you
get some guys in foul trouble.
But I, the thing that's that'sthe thing that's impressed me
most about the job he's done atSt John's is he has.
You know that coaching is reallybeing a salesman.
You need to get your players tobuy into what you want and he
(55:31):
has gotten them to buy into.
We got to.
We got to play 40 minutes ofhell here on defense.
We got to.
Just, we're going to right fromthe opening tap.
We're coming at you and andwe're going to keep coming at
you and we're going to wear youdown.
That can take them on a run.
You know it really could.
But do they have enough?
When it comes to thatchampionship, when it comes to
(55:53):
the Final Four and you've got tomake some shots.
Man, it comes down to that.
You better have some offense togo with that, because unless
you're, you know you can't playthe Villanova stall stall
against georgetown.
You know there's a shot clocknow and you gotta, you gotta
have some offense come out ofthat.
But their defense does lead toa lot of offense too yeah, it
(56:16):
should be a fun tournament.
Rocky (56:17):
Uh, to see who gets in today.
I know I'll be looking forwardto that later.
I already told my wife don'tbother me for an hour while the
selection shows on.
And then she says well, theselection shows over.
Now I'm watching the guys breakdown who gets in and who gets
out.
So well, scott, listen, Iappreciate you coming on.
I know we'll do it again soon.
I always love talking to you.
I always say you're one of thementors for me, that if I can
(56:38):
follow in your footsteps I'll besuccessful.
Scott (56:41):
That's for sure, that's the kind of you to say and, like
I said, I always enjoy comingon with you and I wish you
nothing but the best and keep atthis.
This is great what you're doingand you've shown so much
initiative.
Just just keep at it, man, anduh, and just keep expanding.
Rocky (56:56):
Well, I appreciate it, scott, We'll talk soon.
Okay, take care, thank you.
So that was Scott Petoniak and,like I said, coming on, I think
Scott was one of the firstguests that I had on when I
joined the radio station here atWKAL 1450.
And anytime we talk Syracusebasketball, syracuse football, I
mean you name it I've alwaysreached out to Scott and he's
(57:19):
always been great to come on.
He's had a great career and,like I said, he's one of the
mentors for me, been great tocome on.
He's had a great career and,like I said, he's one of the
mentors for me.
Um, I keep saying I wish I wasa young guy, but, um, but he's
been fantastic.
So I want to thank scott for,uh, for coming on with me here
this morning.
I want to thank damien call,who was fantastic.
If you missed the interviews,I'll put them up later.
They'll always be on the socialmedia channels for podcast
(57:40):
listeners.
I'll have it up on spot HighHeart Radio, apple Podcasts and
all that a little bit later ontonight.
As I do some cut-ups, sorryabout the mute piece here, the
first two minutes of the show.
I had some mic problems beforeI jumped on here this morning,
but I appreciate you stayingwith me here, as always.
So, on behalf of the entirecrew which I promise we will get
(58:01):
you Pags, medesis and theStatmen on here at some point in
time.
We're all busy running aroundwith the kids and stuff, so we
will get us all on here andbring the gang back together.
On behalf of the entire crewhere at the Mohawk Valley Sports
Watch and the Rockpile, I wantto thank Damian Call for joining
me.
I want to thank Scott Petoniakfor joining me here this morning
(58:21):
and thanks to Coach Paggs,thanks to Coach Medesis and the
Statman.
Have a good weekend everybody.
I'm out.
no-transcript.
(06:46):
Hopefully that's back here.
I had some difficulties earlierso I appreciate that.
Hopefully I was talking thewhole time so nobody probably
heard me.
So I appreciate people weretuned in.
They said you're not gettingany sound.
Hopefully that's better, guys,and hopefully you can hear me.
But I was saying there's a lotof big jobs across college
basketball that are open.
(07:06):
And I'm talking about theIndiana job because I would say
if I'm the athletic director, Imake three phone calls.
One of them is to Brad Stevens,who's the GM for the Boston
Celtics, who turned it down andsaid not interested, and he went
on the great run at Butler whenhe was coaching in college and
I think he's a star and I'd loveto see him back coaching.
(07:27):
Number two I call Steve Alford.
Steve Alford played for BobKnight at Indiana.
I think it would be a dynamitehire, I think it would be a lock
for him.
He made some comments yesterday, I think after the Nevada game.
That's where he's at right nowand he might be one of those
coaches that hasn't been able toadapt to the portal.
So that might hurt becauseIndiana's got a lot of money.
(07:50):
And then the third name I wouldcall is Chris Beard, who's a
coach at Ole Miss, who was anassistant coach on Bob Knight's
staff at Texas Tech and he wasalso, I believe, an assistant at
Indiana, got himself in alittle bit of trouble at Texas
Tech, but here he is again.
He's resurrected the program atOle Miss.
So those would be the threenames that I would call for the
(08:15):
Indiana job.
So if you're listening, Iapologize.
I had a little bit of a michookup hiccup this morning.
If I'm getting sound now andyou're watching in the comment
box, um, thumbs up.
Sound is good to go.
So we'll get more into somecollege basketball.
But without further ado, I wantto bring on damien call.
So let's bring on, damien.
(08:36):
How you doing, my friend?
Damien (08:38):
how you doing, I'm doing well can you hear me?
Rocky (08:41):
I can hear you loud and clear.
Man, can you hear me?
Yeah, I can hear you all right.
So, man, can you hear me?
Yeah, I can hear you All right.
So listen, I appreciate youtaking the time.
This morning I had to reach outto Coach Medesis and see where
you were in the all-time scoringranks.
He said you're third.
So I want to go back to highschool for a minute with you
fast.
(09:01):
You were so fun to watch, play,play and I followed your entire
career, so it's been fun.
But I want to go back to yourhigh school career first, and
when you look at the programwhere it is today, um, even when
you played, you kind of gotthis thing going for coach
Medesas, but the C Rome FreeAcademy basketball where it is
today, back on the map, what'sthat mean to you?
Damien (09:25):
no, I mean, I think Medesas has been doing a good
job since you know, you know, um, since he got the job, since
you know a couple guys before melike TJ Balin, tristan
Hungzinger, ethan Powell, guyslike those, um, no, it's, it's
super awesome to see where theprogram is.
You know they're obviously youknow they were 17 and 0 and
didn't end up how they wanted tothis year.
(09:46):
But you know, I think, just youknow, having those offseason
workouts that Medesis is alwayshaving during the summer, you
know getting on the track.
I know he's still doing allthat stuff.
So I think you know himconsistently doing that stuff
has helped build that program towhere it is today.
And you know this year he had3,000-point scores.
So that just goes to show youknow the conditioning that they
(10:07):
put in and you know all theskill work and stuff.
But it's super awesome to see,you know he just keeps growing
and growing as a program.
You know trying to make thatextra push towards that section
title.
Rocky (10:18):
Damian, do you have a special memory from your high
school playing days that standsout to you?
Damien (10:24):
from your high school playing days that stands out to
you.
I mean, I would say probablyeither the Henninger win my last
year in sectionals where wewent to Henninger and won or I
would say the West Jenny win,you know, beating the number one
team in the section I don'tknow what they were ranked state
, but they were.
You know they were one in oursection and we were the ninth
seed, barely getting in.
So I think you know those twogames were the most memorable,
(10:47):
just playing with the team.
And you know just theenvironment uh, you know playoff
environment, especially westgenesee.
You know the gym being packedum and you're up against the
number one team in the section.
Rocky (10:58):
So I would say those two memories for sure yeah, listen,
I'd have to agree with you andI'd have to probably tell people
that when they, when they askme, because when I played
basketball we weren't very good,um, and I'm talking back in the
the late 90s, um, but I wouldprobably say that west jetty win
against.
They were number, they werenumber one in the sectionals and
I think they were top five inthe state.
Right, I'd probably say thatmight be nick's biggest win so
(11:20):
far in the history of theprogram yeah, that was, that was
a huge win.
Damien (11:24):
I mean to go, I mean to go into their place, especially
when they're number one and,like you said, I think they were
top five or something in thestate with Will, mika and
players like that, and thenthey're good coach kind of over
there, but yeah.
So I mean, yeah, they're justtough gym to play in, especially
with those rims in the studentsection sitting right behind.
You know their rim.
But no, it's definitely, Iwould say, is my most favorite
(11:46):
memory for sure.
Rocky (11:52):
So, damian, you graduate from RFA as one of the all-time
greats that come out of Rome andyou make the decision to play
here, locally at UticaUniversity, which, again, great
career and we'll get into that.
But what went into thedecision-making process?
I know you had some schoolsthat were looking at you, but
what went into your, yourthought process and how did you
end up deciding on Utica?
Damien (12:08):
Um, yeah, so I didn't.
I mean I didn't really knowwhat I wanted to do, where I
wanted to go.
Um, I know I played AAU ball,traveled a little bit, so, um, I
mean, I kind of knew what,playing out of the state or out
of the area, what it might looklike.
But you know, at coffee he,coach Coffey, was recruiting me
since I was a sophomore and thenhe kind of got away from me
(12:29):
just saying, like you know, oh,like I don't think you're going
to.
He said I don't really thinkyou're going to come to Utica.
I think I don't want to soundcocky or something, but he said
you might be too good for Uticawhen I was a sophomore.
And then we kind of linked upback around the end of my junior
year, senior year, as I wastrying to make a decision, and
he just I think I just wanted tostay local, stay around my
(12:52):
family, allow my family to watch, know, watch me play, watch the
team play.
Um, thank you know, thank godwe had all the success we did um
, through all that hard work andstuff.
But, um, I think you know, justcoach coffee, coming to a
majority of my games my senioryear, you know I want to say him
and the assistant coach made itover to.
You know, like I want to say,we had 20 games, they made it to
(13:14):
at least 15 of them.
So I know just the effort.
Um, you know, like I want to say, we had 20 games, they made it
to at least 15 of them.
So I know just the effort.
You know being valued, I, youknow I wanted to be valued, I
wanted to be, you know, putsomewhere where I could make a
difference.
You know, immediately, and thenyou know, kind of COVID messed
the whole first year up andstuff.
I think that was those were themain points.
You know, just coffee in theprogram, showing, you know
showing, um, you know what Iwould be able to do in the
(13:36):
program, um, and just stuff likethat.
But you know, just being downthe road from rome and allowing,
you know, my family to be there, and you know others that are
from around here, um, you know,allow, allow them to watch me
play and you guys have been on agreat run too.
Rocky (13:51):
Uh, in your time I think you guys have made it three ncaa
tournament appearances and youwent back to back this year in
the Empire eight and you guysfinished with 21 wins in an NCAA
tournament spot.
Talk to us about you know theyour career when you started at
UC to your senior year, andagain thousand point score,
which is fantastic to have athousand point score in high
(14:13):
school and then do it at thecollege level.
But from your freshman yearuntil your senior year, how'd
you develop?
Damien (14:21):
Um, yeah, no, I think I, I think I uh, developed a lot.
You know, my freshman sophomoreyear, um, you know, I was
younger guy.
Um, there's a lot of older guyson the team.
You know, I was just kind offollowing them, following their
lead, and you know, whether it'sgames or workouts or you know
whether we were hanging out orstuff, they were always good
guys to follow, especially inyou know, the basketball aspect
(14:44):
of stuff.
So I was just, you know, kindof following them, you know,
following their lead.
You know it was.
It was ultimately their team.
They were the juniors andseniors of that group.
They've been playing togetherfor four years so I was just,
you know, playing with them,developing.
You know, the COVID year was alittle weird, but then once I
got back into you know, mysophomore year, things started
to get back to normal.
But I think really after thatsophomore year I had the injury
(15:10):
where I tore my UCL in my thumb.
So I was out for like the firsthalf of my junior year and then
after that, you know, I think,finished that junior season.
I think we lost in the semis soour season was cut short, even
though we were the one seed.
But I think after that, youknow, through my freshman,
sophomore, junior year, you know, those years I was I don't want
to say following, but you knowI was just kind of.
(15:31):
I was just kind of there, youknow following the lead from
others, the older guys on theteam.
But I think after that, so mypast two years, I really had to
develop into a more completeplayer, kind of you know whole
floor, not just you knowoffensively or defensively, you
know doing all the little stuff.
And I also think I had to growinto, you know, more of a
(15:52):
leadership role.
Being the team captain the pasttwo years and then with Justice
and Tommy last year and thenjust by myself this year.
I think growing into thatleadership role has helped me,
helped the team.
So I think that would be one ofthe biggest changes.
But I think, developing wisebasketball, I think just
improving my ball handling Ithink I did that well over my
(16:15):
five years at Utica Shooting,adding a little mid-range fade
away, you know, instead ofsometimes when I can't get all
the way to the rim, stuff likethat.
And you know I think I improveda lot on the defensive side,
you know, being more versatileat the end of the season.
You know I'm a, I'm considereda forward or a wing.
You know, at the end of theseason I was stuck in the
playoffs guarding, you knowlittle guards running around,
(16:38):
six foot guards that are quicker, faster than me.
So you know, I think that'swhere I'm changed the mostly um,
defensively, um, and then youknow, just adding like that mid
range and you know, just tryingto take care of, take better
care of the ball, but um, alsothat leadership role, especially
the past two years that we won.
Rocky (16:56):
So take us through the Empire 8 tournament.
You guys played Nazareth whoyou guys I believe had split
during the regular season.
I think you beat them inovertime at home.
You beat Huffington 80-68.
And then I wasn't at thechampionship game but from
everybody that was at that gameagainst SUNY Poly, they said
that was one of the bestatmospheres at a college
(17:16):
basketball and I'm sayingDivision I, ii or III level that
was one of the best atmospheres.
Take us through first achampionship game and what that
atmosphere was like.
Damien (17:26):
Yeah, that atmosphere was crazy Easily the craziest
atmosphere I played in incollege, or I'd say ever really.
I mean you know RFA was prettycrazy too, but that was just a
whole different experience incollege, or I'd say ever really.
I mean, you know RFA was prettycrazy too, but that that was
just a whole differentexperience.
I mean, you know, coming outyou got an hour until tip off
and the gyms already, you knowthe poly side is already full.
They got there super early.
So you know you got people.
(17:48):
You know talking to students,they got their student section.
So it's just all it was all.
Obviously you're a a littlenervous, got a little
butterflies and stuff.
You know it's championship gameand I mean couldn't script it
any better against poly.
You know, in utica, rightacross the road, so, um, I think
, just walking out there, youknow seeing all the people how
loud it was, um, they had a lot.
(18:08):
Stop letting people in.
So I think just that experiencein itself, um, you know, was a
great experience for us and ourteam.
And you know Coach Coffey and Idon't think he's ever had an
experience that can quite liveup to that because it was just
insane.
But you know the game was crazy.
You know people screaming afterevery basket, after every play,
(18:30):
and you know playoffs, everypossession matters.
So you really got to lock inand um get through that whole
game, you know with your team,um, but it was just a crazy
atmosphere.
Um, you know we had a very goodfirst half.
You know scoring like 50something points, going on a
crazy run that really helped uswin the game.
Um, but it's super crazyatmosphere, I mean with coach
(18:51):
schoener and coach coffee, um,the two programs that they built
and then just everybody thatcame out.
No, it was easily the craziestatmosphere I've ever played in.
Ever.
Rocky (19:00):
So you guys win the Empire, you get a date in the
NCAA tournament.
Did you guys have a watch party, like you see on TV, with all
these colleges?
How was the watch party?
Damien (19:09):
Yeah, no, it was good.
Our watch party has changedfrom years to years.
We used to the pub, this littlepub spot at Utica on campus
where, like, other people couldcome and they put on the TVs.
But, um, this year we kind ofjust chilled with ourselves, um,
in the locker room, uh, justwatching it on the TV, having
like a watch party.
You know, I had some peoplefrom Utica there like, uh, you
(19:31):
know, like some photographers,some people that work media and
stuff, but you know, really justourselves, because you know we
were, we, uh, you know, thinkingin our head the season's not
done.
You know, we knew, um, we had ashot to make a chance, to make
a run in the tournament and weknew, like, once we got that
team, we were, um, you know, tofocus from there and focus on
them, um, but yeah, we did havea little watch party in the
(19:52):
locker room that day of so youguys get it.
Rocky (19:55):
Um, opening round game.
Um, well, you get montclairstate, who's really good, yeah,
um, in the tournament and youguys.
It looked like it was a tale oftwo halves, right, the first
half you guys were neck and neckand then they got up double
digits on you guys and you guys,I think, cut it to single
digits with about five or sixminutes left to play.
Right, um, talk to us aboutthat game.
Damien (20:16):
Yeah, I mean that game.
You know we had the whole weekto prep for it.
So I mean NCAA game.
We're traveling out to NewJersey Thursday.
So we're there Thursday, youknow, practicing in their gym,
getting ready, gettingcomfortable.
Then Friday we got tip-off.
I mean it was just them, youknow, studying what their
players do.
You know they, just like we didRFA in high school, we, they
press the whole game.
(20:37):
They like to play fast, shootthrees, get layups.
They had a kid transfer fromRutgers.
He was like number one inpoints per possession in the
country for D three.
So it was kind of crazy.
Shot like 50% from three, shotlike 300 on the year.
It was ridiculous.
But just playing against asystem like that super fast, I
mean you know how it is,especially with RFA.
(21:00):
You know just trying to takecare of the ball.
So I think in that first halfyou know we did a good job
taking care of the ball, takingour time.
Then I think in the second halfwe just kind of got away from
that and you know they, we justgot caught in their pace a
little bit at times.
You know they made some runs,some quick runs, you know,
turned the ball over.
They hit a three and then, youknow, turned it over again, it's
another three, that's asix-point swing.
(21:21):
So I think you know the firsthalf we did very well, you know,
taking care of the ball gettingwhere we wanted.
But then the second half, youknow, I think that pace got to
us, that press got to us.
You know we turned it over acouple times.
They capitalized on it and youknow they were the 13th team in
the country, so you knew theywere going to capitalize on it
and they've been doing this allseason.
You know pressing and stuff.
(21:42):
So just a crazy game to play in.
I mean, montclair State's a waybigger school than Utica out in
New Jersey, like 20,000compared to Utica's 3,000.
Well, I think we had it athalftime, like you said, we were
down one and we were neck andneck.
But second half they hit somethrees and you know just
couldn't crawl our way back fromthat 15, you know 15, 12-point
(22:04):
deficit.
Rocky (22:05):
I know as a young kid even myself today, and I'm not.
I wish I was a young kid againand I was just saying before I
came on the air.
I get all excited because I'm acollege football junkie, but I
love college basketball andtoday's the greatest day of the
year when we get the selectionshow and then we'll fill out the
brackets.
You know, at any level theplate at a high level, whether
it's Division I, ii, iii Ialways think it's special for
(22:27):
these tournaments and you got anopportunity in your college
career to play in an NCAAtournament.
What's that mean to you?
I'm sure you were a young kidfilling out brackets.
Get all excited for MarchMadness.
How cool was it for you to playin an NCAA tournament?
Damien (22:40):
Yeah, I mean it's awesome.
I can't even describe thefeeling you know, be able to go,
being able to go travelsomewhere, I mean with your
teammates and your coaches.
You know you're coming off,hopefully coming off that high
of, you know, winning achampionship and you got, you
know, motivation to go make arun in the tournament.
But I mean it's just a supersurreal feeling.
I mean once, once you just getthere, I mean once you enter the
(23:02):
month of March, it's just awhole different beast in terms
of basketball, like just everygame, every possession.
And then once you get to thoseNCAA games, you know it's it's
one and done so you got.
You got fans that are therecheering you on and stuff, and
then you just got to.
Really, I mean you, you gotthis one game scenario where
anything could happen.
You know you got to prepare forevery situation possible.
(23:23):
So I mean just playing in thosegames.
I mean means the world to me,the fact that I was able to do
it, you know, three times, andeven win a game a couple of
years ago back in Rowan againstBabson in the tournament, it's
just a super awesome feeling.
I mean just to be able to, youknow, go out there and compete
in the NCAA tournament wasawesome.
Rocky (23:45):
And I think, Coach Coffey , the run that you guys have had
over the last four years andI've had them on the radio show
and I'll have them on herepretty soon.
But I had to go back and lookat the last four years and these
numbers are crazy.
So in 2020 to 2021, you guyswere 10-2.
That was the shortened season,but I think you guys had a
really good team that year too.
That would have been a fun yearto see how that played out.
(24:07):
The following year, you guys go23-4.
Then you go 23-5, as you talkedabout, you guys got it at large
into the ncaa tournament.
You beat batson, which was agreat win for you guys, right.
And then 23 24.
You guys go 24 and four.
So over four years you guyshave won 80.
You're 80 and 15 in four years.
Like what that's?
Damien (24:28):
that's unheard of for a four-year run yeah, uh, yeah, I
mean, yeah, I mean, I think it'sjust from what coffee is built.
You know he's, uh, he's.
You know he loves basketball.
He played himself in college,uh, at oneonta, and then you
know, overseas, uh, in ireland.
But I think you know, I thinkit's really just it comes down
to him and you know the playershe recruits.
(24:48):
I know I think he looks forgood people, um, you know good
guys, not just people that areyou know going to be good on the
court for him.
I think he looks for peoplethat are, you know, good, good
guys, not just people that are,you know going to be good on the
court for him.
I think he looks for peoplethat are, you know, good overall
people, have good morals andstuff and you know are going to
get it done on the classroom andbe a good locker room guy.
I think it's just from reallywhat he's built, you know, from
the weight room to you know just, you know what he's.
(25:08):
You know putting into our guysall the time and effort, and
especially the assistant coaches, with Luke Fretzel, zach Zoll
Fretzel being from Westmoreland,another local guy.
But I think just you know them,you know really digging in, you
know putting in the time and youknow, as a player, you know you
might think it's a lot, but Imean, at the end of the day, if
(25:29):
you're winning championships andgoing on the records like those
and runs like those you'rehaving 21 seasons you know
you're definitely not going tocomplain at the end of the
season.
You know you might becomplaining in August when
you're running on the track, butyou might, you're not going to
be complaining in March whenyou're winning championships.
So I think it's just fromreally what he's built, you know
keeping guys accountable, youknow getting really getting the
(25:51):
maximum potential out of guys.
I really think it's just youknow him and what he's built
that has helped us, you know,lead to our success.
Rocky (26:00):
So I've interviewed over the last 10 years a ton of
coaches at every level and Ifeel like right now I'm sitting
here interviewing a coachbecause you're so well-spoken.
Any coaching into plans forDamien?
Damien (26:15):
Yeah, I mean I don't really know what I'd want.
You know there's there's acouple different routes, you
know, coaching or, like you know, if I wanted to do training
like train kids or um, you know,some people um have even talked
about like reffing, like tryingto make my way up into like
college reffing, um.
But you know, I actually justpicked up a job um, not a job
(26:36):
but just a a little coachingside gig with my teammate from
Frankfurt, levi Spina.
He was on my team this year.
So we're coaching just aseventh grade team right now for
AAU basketball.
It's called MVE Elite out inMohawk.
So it's just a little seventhgrade team doing a couple of
tournaments around here.
But you know, I don't reallyknow about after that coaching,
training, reffing, what I wantto get into.
(26:57):
But yeah, I don't really knowtoo much yet what I want to get
into, but just starting off withthat, you know, trying to help
develop some seventh graders,you know from the Valley.
Rocky (27:07):
So I'm assuming.
I wish we could say you hadsome more eligibility left and
we'd see you back for anotheryear, but any more eligibility
to keep playing, Nah, nah,You'll have to wish you back for
another year, but any moreeligibility to keep playing?
Damien (27:18):
No, no, I mean no more eligibility.
I mean you never know what.
I've had some teammates playoverseas.
Have a teammate play.
I have a teammate on the AlbanyPatroons team in the TBL,
albany Justice.
So you never know what's goingto present itself.
I'll probably try to put somefilms together, send it out, see
(27:42):
what will happen.
You know, never know, um, whatcan happen.
You know overseas or even inthe states, um, just figuring
that out, you know, I definitelythink there's a chance,
especially with the success I'vehad at utica and you know the
back-to-back championships.
I think the winning definitelyhelps, um, so you know, I don't
want to say for sure, it'sdefinitely like the last time
I'll play or it's my last yearof eligibility.
It definitely is for Utica, forcollege, but you know, after
that, you know professionally oroverseas or anything like that,
(28:03):
you know, only time will tell.
So, yeah, we'll see about that.
I'll definitely send some filmout somewhere.
Rocky (28:09):
Well, listen, man, you were so fun to watch.
Throughout your career I lovedwatching you play basketball.
I think all of us Romans thatare that are tuned in here this
morning would say the same thing.
And um, I remember your yourfirst game is is a high school
kid and then continuing on toUtica.
You've done some great thingsand I know Rome's proud of you.
Man, and um, best of luck toyou, keep in touch, and I I
appreciate you coming on thismorning with me.
Damien (28:30):
Yeah, no, I appreciate you, Rocky, always been there
since Sarfay.
I remember you alwayssupporting since then, so I
appreciate all the support.
Rocky (28:39):
Well, I appreciate it, man.
Best of luck to you.
Keep in touch, yep.
Thank you.
Scott (28:42):
I'll see you.
You got it.
Rocky (28:45):
So that was Rome's Damien call.
And you know when I say I'veinterviewed a lot of coaches and
I have, which is awesome, but Ifelt like I was talking to a
coach.
He's so well-spoken for he's atrue professional.
He represents Rome with so muchclass and I remember watching
him in his first game at Romeand then his career at Utica
(29:08):
University and I think it'sreally neat to listen to a kid
talk about what made him chooseUtica and how special it is.
And I say this all the time andthis isn't a knock to any
athlete in this area.
We've had a lot of goodathletes come through here and
not many of them have played atthe Division I level.
But I always say this If you'refortunate enough to get out
(29:30):
there and watch a Division IIIbasketball game baseball game,
softball, whatever it isDivision III is really good
basketball If you're fortunateenough to play at any level as a
high school kid especially theway the world is today with
college athletics and the NIL,you're not seeing a lot of high
(29:52):
school kids get recruited tosome of the bigger schools
because of the NIL and becauseof the transfer portal.
So if you haven't gotten theopportunity to watch any level,
especially Division III.
It's special and he had areally, really, really great
career and nobody did it betterwith class than with Damian.
So I appreciate that.
(30:12):
So we're going to jump from oneto the other.
We're going to jump now talksome Syracuse sports.
But one of my favorite guestswho's been on with me now I
think I was on sports watch onthe radio 10 years ago and I
think Scott was one of the firstguests that I that I had on and
he's always fortunate.
I'm always fortunate enough tohave him jump out at me when I
reach out to him.
So let's bring Scott on, talksome Syracuse sports.
(30:34):
Who knows where we're going totalk?
We might talk everything thismorning with Scott, but let's uh
, let's bring him on Scott.
How you doing, my friend?
Scott (30:43):
Pleasure to be on with you, my friend.
Rocky (30:45):
Well, I was just saying here I think I was on the radio
for I think I hit 10 years andthen I said to myself, let's,
let's do the podcast thing, justbecause my kids were getting
older and it was so hard tocommit to a live show every
weekend and this has really beena lot of fun.
But I think you were aroundwith me when I first started.
Scott (31:04):
I think it was one of the originals there.
So shouldn't we get a pin orsomething or some recognition
for that or whatever?
No, it's always great and Ialways enjoy.
You know how I feel abouthometown and I feel about you
and your family and stuff, soit's always a pleasure and
anytime you want me, just let meknow.
Rocky (31:23):
Well, I appreciate that, scott, and you know Syracuse
Hoops.
The season just ended and Iwatched the ACC tournament game
against SMU the other night andwe heard the news that Coach
Autry is going to be back.
I think, scott, scott, I wasone of those guys and Medesas,
and those guys give me, theyheckle me all the time because
they say, well, you're not aSyracuse guy, you always bad
(31:44):
mouth the program and I was onethat said, unfortunately, I
would move on, um, just becauseagain the the way of the
transfer portal, the NIL, um, Ijust think that he's really
struggled there, uh, the firstfew years that he's taken over
for Coach Boeheim.
Scott (32:01):
You know, I think there's a lot there.
I'm going to start out bysaying that I don't know if Red
Autry is a good head coach ornot.
I don't know if anybody does.
Right now it hasn't looked well, particularly this season.
This was a team that you knowplayed sporadically.
I think the you know theinjuries to Freeman and JJ
(32:22):
Starling.
You missed him for like.
I think, seven or eight games.
I think that really hurt.
But even if I was trying toproject, even if Freeman had
continued to play and not gottenhurt he was the highly touted
freshman, probably the, I think,the highest ranked incoming
recruit since Carmelo Anthony,let's say like he had continued
to progress, you know, and was adouble-double guy every night,
(32:47):
they would have probably hadless problems scoring, but they
still were a flawed teamdefensively.
But going back to this wholething, there's a lot at work
here now.
Rock, that wasn't a factor, youknow, several years ago.
And that is the whole NIL thing, the collective, how much money
you are paying guys, and youand I may not like this, and I
(33:09):
don't.
What college sports is becoming.
It's a big, big business nowand it's now.
It's just really chaotic.
But you know Red Autry, I willblame Syracuse, I will blame,
you know, john Wildhack andSyracuse for not being ready for
this.
Essentially in that, if youlook at I'll give you a
(33:30):
comparison If you watch lastnight's ACC championship game
between Duke and Louisville,right, well, if you remember
Rock last year, louisville wasterrible.
I mean, they were terrible.
They were the worst team in theACC.
And how did they turn it around.
They hired a new coach.
He brought in all his guys,essentially, and they also, if
you look at it, they had abudget, an NIL budget name image
(33:55):
likeness budget there of, Ithink, over $4 million to pay
their players.
Syracuse, meanwhile, was slow tothe game and I think their
budget was somewhere around the$2 million mark.
So look at the disparity youalready have, and again I don't
like it.
The disparity you already have,and again I don't like it.
(34:18):
But the reality is that youknow you better be.
If you want to play with thebig boys, you're going to have
to pay the big boys with the bigboys, and I don't think
Syracuse was prepared for that.
So I will cut red some slack asa result of that.
I mean, look at, you know, theguys.
They lost the kid to Duke.
The you got Richard is aprominent player for Rick Pitino
(34:39):
, right, and St John's, and StJohn's has a massive amount of
money that they paid for theirplayers this year.
So there's a lot at work there.
All that said, I don't like theway Syracuse played this year.
You know, there's certain thingsI think as a coach and Rick
Pitino is a perfect example Idon't particularly care for a
(35:00):
lot of his shenanigans away fromthe court and stuff.
He has not been an exemplaryperson necessarily, but he's a
great, great coach.
There's no denying that, andthe thing that I'm impressed
with is how hard St John's plays, particularly defensively.
So there's a couple of thingsas a coach and as a player that
you can always control right.
You can always control yourhustle, your amount of hustle.
(35:23):
That's an energy level.
You can control that regardless.
You know your shooting might beoff this and that.
And I think the other thingthat's an indication of a team
that plays hard is a team thatgets after it defensively.
You know defense is effort andwe see how many players do.
We see that are very goodoffensive players but can't play
(35:43):
on the other end.
So there's a lot at work hereand you know Red Autry has a
great class coming in next year,including Carmelo Anthony's son
.
He's got a highly, highly rated.
So we'll see.
But as a friend of mine said,like's son, he's got a highly,
highly rated.
So we'll see.
But as a friend of mine said,like, yeah, he's got a great
recruiting class, so don't makea change or whatever.
(36:04):
But can he coach?
And I go, I don't know.
I don't know he might be.
I've covered sports long enough, rocky, to know that there are
some people who are greatassistant coaches, great
coordinators are not headcoaches.
It's a totally different thing,as you well know, you've got to
be kind of the CEO of yourentire program and you've got to
(36:25):
be responsible for everything.
Whereas I'm a position coach orwhatever, or a coordinator, I
have a unit, and so that's, youknow, and it's a whole different
thing.
Rocky (36:34):
As you well know, scott, a lot of people say you know,
and that's a whole differentthing, as you well know, scott.
A lot of people say you knowSyracuse is, and, like many
schools, duke's done it.
They've kept it in-house withthese Duke guys and, uh, the
Syracuse guys, and you look nottoo far down the road.
You see, the year that JerryMcNamara had at Siena now he
didn't make the NCAA tournament.
I think GMAC won 14-15 games,which was a turnaround, and many
(36:55):
thought that he was the guythat would follow Boeheim with.
You know big favor on Syracusecan recruit.
Does this do anything for him,being that he decided to step
away from Syracuse?
Take his own program?
He had some success in year one.
If it doesn't go well for Autrynext year in year three, is
GMAC a possibility or do they gooutside the Syracuse norm?
Scott (37:24):
I had a very unpopular view of this whole thing last
year, in that I felt that youshould have conducted a national
search for a coach.
You know there's real dangersat times of staying in the
family, so to speak.
You know how many businesseshave we seen sons and daughters
(37:45):
have ruined, have taken down.
You know that they inheritedfrom from their father or mother
.
And I just think, I reallythink, despite all the
challenges that Syracuse isfacing, particularly with, you
know, getting money to payplayers and this is a big, big
issue throughout college sportsNow I really think it this is a
big, big issue throughoutcollege sports now I really
(38:06):
think it's still a very good job, a very you know, a very
attractive job in college sports.
You've got great facilities.
You play in a conference that'sdown, admittedly, you know, and
has some work to do in terms ofcatching up.
You know basketball has somework to do in terms of catching
up, you know.
You know basketball wise and infootball and stuff.
(38:28):
But and you have, you know youhave great television exposure.
So I think it's a great job andI would have opened it up for a
national search and I think youcould have gotten a brilliant,
you know young coach who couldhave done some things here.
Now again, that wasn't going tohappen because Jim Boeheim as
(38:52):
many people will say rightfullyso deserved to name his
successor.
I don't necessarily agree withthat, just as you know.
I mean, he saw Krzyzewski didthe same thing at Duke.
He saw essentially NorthCarolina do the same thing and
it's not uncommon for a legacycoach to demand that right to
pick his or her successor Again.
(39:19):
I think it's kind, conducted anational search and then you
came to the conclusion Rockythat well, red Autry's our guy.
Even after doing all that.
Fine, okay, you made thatdecision, but I think you could
have.
I think this is a plum job,despite the fact the program is
no question, the program's downand this has been kind of a
(39:41):
10-year decline or even more,and this has been kind of a
10-year decline or even more.
This is, you know, syracuse isessentially a 500 program in the
ACC, in the ACC play since theyjoined.
Rocky (39:53):
What was it?
Scott (39:53):
2013, I think, is when they joined the ACC, and you
know so they've got a lot ofwork to do, and so I guess this
has been a long-winded answer ofsaying that I think he deserves
one more shot, and that's it,Because you've got to move on
now.
The way things are changingrapidly in the landscape of
college sports.
Rocky (40:14):
Scott, if we go back to the play on the court this year,
they didn't shoot the ballfairly well at all.
I think they were just over 30%from the three-point line and I
think they were below 50%percent from the field in
general.
And they turned it over a lottoo at times.
And I know Starling had theinjuries and I thought he, when
he was healthy, played reallywell down the stretch for
Syracuse.
But little sloppy um playedduring the year.
(40:36):
They didn't shoot the ballfairly well.
I know that's something Autrycan't control, but you got to
shoot the ball to win games,right?
Yeah, I mean the I mean thenature of basketball.
Scott (40:45):
Right the way it's changed.
I call it the Steph Curryeffect.
Right, the three-point is it.
The three-point shot is such anincredible weapon.
Now I don't particularly likethe way the game's played as a
result of that, because you'vegot a lot of just chuck it up
and you're not running offense.
And Syracuse, you know, I don'tthink they ran the offensive
offense very well.
(41:06):
I don't really think.
You know, rocky, looking,looking back at the season, I I
just never felt they had a goodpoint guard.
You know a good quarterback ofthe offense and stuff to run it.
You know, or calm things downor know what to do, like,
instead of this.
There just didn't seem to beany structure to this offense.
You know how many times didthey get shot, clock violations
(41:29):
and or down to the last minuteand have to chuck one.
You worked all that time forthat, you know.
So that's an issue.
And if you want to pet peeve andthis goes back to Boeheim, this
drives me absolutely nuts as aformer, you know, youth league
basketball coach can you runinbound plays?
(41:53):
Syracuse has historically hadproblems getting the ball
inbounds.
It's a basic.
I'll give you a mimeographsheet with five plays to run
right, like, come on.
I'll give you a mimeographsheet with five plays to run
right, like, come on.
And if you know six and sevenand eight eighth graders can
comprehend that I think that youknow guys who've played their
entire lives travel ball on AAUshould be able to run an
(42:14):
inbounds play.
So anyway, but that's a littleaside.
That, you know, again, is partof like.
You know, when you get back tocriticism of coaching, like
that's a fundamentally unsoundteam, you know, um, but yeah,
that for I I can't remember thekids name, but they have a
really a great three-pointshooter coming in from australia
(42:35):
next year as part of this classwho's highly rated, and I I
think that, um, carmelo's kid isa very good three-point shooter
.
Will it translate in thecollege game?
You know, we'll see.
I mean, they played high levelAAU and high school basketball.
We'll see how it translates.
(42:55):
But yeah, there's a lot of workto do.
They need to become a betterthree-point shooting team and
that means not having onethree-point shooter out there.
You know you pretty much haveto have three or four shooters,
you know, in today's game to tobe effective and not be able to
take away those shooters.
(43:16):
You know what I mean.
Like you have strength innumbers, so to speak, and
defensively they were just theto me, or a horrible team that
faded in the second half.
Um, and you know it's acombination of things, right,
like you know, complementarybasketball, shooting the ball
well, playing defense, um,running an offense, um, you know
(43:37):
there's a lot of things, a lotof things there, and they were
you know they were not a greatfree-throw shooting team, so
that probably cost them ahandful of games as well.
Rocky (43:47):
Yeah, you mentioned since you were pretty much spot on
Scott when they came into theACC.
I got them at 99-88 in ACCplays.
So they're just over 500 sincejoining the ACC.
And you watch now the Big Eastwith Petito coming in there and
St John's who I keep saying ifhe had some shooters I, I mean,
(44:07):
st John's is really good thisyear, imagine if he had some
shooters how much better theywould.
They would be.
But you look at this Big Eastand you sit there and say, man,
wouldn't it be pretty cool tosee Syracuse back, bring the old
Big East back with Georgetownand and Villanova and all those
teams to see them?
But I know there's no chance ofthem ever going back to the Big
East, but man, it'd be fun.
(44:27):
The Big East has been good yeahit's been good.
Scott (44:31):
But you know, again I really worry, not merely for
Syracuse but for probably Idon't know however many hundred
of programs out there that youknow we're trending towards a
super conference or two superconferences.
You know, and unfortunately Ihave to place the blame on
greedy football coaches at thehighest level, you know, and
(44:55):
athletic directors at Big Tenand SEC schools.
They've really ruined this andthey're greedy.
Sec schools, they've reallyruined this and they're greedy.
And you know they're going toeventually get their comeuppance
.
Because if you go form, let'ssay, 220 team or 20 school super
conferences in sports, right ata big time level, well, I hate
(45:18):
to break it to you, but noteverybody's going undefeated.
You're still going to createthe haves and the have-nots.
I mean, let's say, let's say,for example, how is northwestern
going to compete in that superconference with, with the
dollars that we're seeing inohio?
And you know, I, I I've talkedwith friends about this and I
(45:40):
really think the state schoolshave such a tremendous advantage
because they essentially havethis enormous pool of money.
And think about how horriblethis is really if you, if you
really break it down, you know,sort of a Penn State or Ohio
State taxpayer money isessentially going to pay these
exorbitant salaries for, forfootball coaches and staff.
(46:02):
That's enormous and money, youknow, to pay the players and
whatever.
I mean.
What was it?
Ohio State's football budget orsomething was $20 million this
year.
They're the best team thatmoney could buy and I don't know
how a Syracuse, a smallerprivate institution or many of
these other schools can competedown the road.
(46:24):
It's a chaotic, uh, greedysituation right now on all parts
and uh, I I don't like it.
But I also realize, like atsome point you're going to have
to have, you're going to havelike, say, seven, 10 team
(46:46):
divisions and one bigconglomerate major college
sports league.
You know, like the NFL onlyhave 10 divisions or whatever,
or seven divisions of 10 teams.
You know, and a perfect thingthought that had the old East
Indies, which were footballschools that essentially you
(47:07):
were talking Penn State,syracuse, west Virginia, boston
College, pitt, maryland.
You could throw the Navy andArmy if you wanted For the
longest time.
That was the ECACU.
It was an independentconference but it made perfect
sense because you would havedecent football schools in there
(47:30):
, right with historic programsand stuff, and you know that
would have been the idealsituation and again, like Penn
State's not leaving the Big Ten,or what is it?
The Big 16?
Now Rocky, however many.
My math's not good and neitheris theirs, but that would you
know.
So do it geographically.
(47:52):
That made sense.
Come up with, you know, thisconglomeration of 70 schools and
I just throw that figure outthere and have things again.
Again, conferences makegeographic sense.
You know Cal and Stanfordplaying on the in an Atlantic
Coast conference, and how stupidis the whole thing really when
(48:15):
you boil it down to the um.
Think about it.
Rocky, the Olympic sports, thenon-revenue producing sports.
So I got to send my fieldhockey team, my women's field
hockey team or my men'svolleyball team to from Syracuse
to Cal, let's say, you know, ona Tuesday night.
How much is that costing me?
(48:36):
I mean, it makes no sense.
Plus, how much time am I takingaway from the student athlete
from class time just to?
get to the coast and even if Igo out, like okay, they're going
to go out and we're going tospend, we're going to play two
games out there, because,because Cal and Stanford aren't
that far away, even then it justmakes absolutely no sense and
it's all about greed.
(48:57):
And I'm really down on, youknow, on the athletic directors
and university presidents whoreally don't care, it seems at
the highest levels.
Like I got mine, I don't careabout the rest.
Rocky (49:11):
Well, you're seeing now in college I mean North Carolina
with Belichick, they brought ina GM and you're seeing more of
these schools now bring generalmanagers in and running it like
professional sports and reallyit is right because we're paying
the athletes Scott real fast.
I know a lot of Syracuse fanswant to talk Syracuse football.
Already they were ready to moveon.
You've got Syracuse lacrossethat's on right now and they're
(49:33):
always fun to follow too thewomen and the men's side of it.
I looked at the Syracusefootball schedule for this
coming year and I said FranBrown got a good one in year one
.
Scott (49:44):
Now year two, it's a much tougher schedule, uh, for the
football team yeah, this is, um,I think what was it ranked like
the 13th and the.
The only ones are maybe Big Tenand SEC schools who have to
play a number of their own uh,you know, under the new, new
arrangements and stuff.
But yeah, this is a brutalschedule.
Not only only is it tough, likewhen you're, I think they're
(50:05):
playing, while you're playingNotre Dame, you're playing Miami
.
Tennessee you'll open up within a neutral site, but it'll be
more of a Tennessee site.
It's facing down south inAtlanta.
Yeah, there's something likethey have like four playoff
teams, I think, and they're allon the road.
You're playing like Notre Dameon the road, you're playing
(50:28):
Tennessee, essentially on theroad, and it's brutal, it's
absolutely brutal.
And that's why I try to say,and you're doing it without Kyle
McCord, you don't really knowwho your quarterback's going to
be.
It's brutal and I try to tellSyracuse fans, who tend to be
impatient and want to run peopleout of town very quickly Look,
(50:51):
you better have patience withFran Brown and you better not
say because if Fran Brown I'mtelling you right now, rocky, if
Fran Brown goes six and sixwith that schedule, he really
merits coach of the yearrecognition.
I mean, it's brutal it's brutalyeah, look, it's brutal and it's
all on the road too.
Most of that the the major ones, I mean Syracuse fans will get
to see the hoodie.
(51:11):
Uh, bill Belichick come intothe room, that'll be kind of fun
, um, but yeah, uh.
So you know Fran's got a.
He had the largest, um highschool class in.
I think he's doing things right.
I think he's done a thing thatI really like, and that is he's
really rebuilding the bridgesthat were broken down by recent
(51:35):
Syracuse coaches in terms ofdeveloping relationships with
high school coaches throughoutthe state.
Got to do it.
Mack knew you had to do it.
Pasqualone knew you had to doit.
Pasqualone knew you had to doit.
And so there's Fran Brownparticipating at the Turning
Stone.
You know resort at the New YorkState coaches high school
football coaches concert.
You got to do that conference.
(51:56):
You got to do that, and I thinkhe understands the value.
You have to build relationshipswith coaches and you have to
give back.
You have to give back to thehigh school coaches as well.
So you've got to give the guytime.
I mean this could be, it couldbe a four win year and it would
be understandable.
But you're building somethinghere and he's got a lot of
(52:18):
really highly touted high schoolrecruits here.
You got to give them time tomature and, you know, physically
, mentally, emotionally, it justdoesn't normally happen as a
freshman, you know.
So you know, particularly withthe big boys up front, they got
to get physically stronger inorder to play at that level.
Rocky (52:36):
So, yeah, it's brutal, but give give Fran a chance to,
to, you know, to build somethinghere, truly build something so,
scott, favorite day of the yearfor me is is college football
and watching the new year's daybowl games, but today's probably
right there with it.
We get the selection show todayand then we can fill out the
brackets and, uh, we can startarguing who should have been in,
(52:58):
who's, who got left out, and soforth, without seeing a bracket
.
Who do you like?
Scott (53:05):
I still like Duke if Flag comes back off that ankle.
You know I watch them.
They're an exceptional team.
I mean, I'm very intrigued,rocky, to see are we going to
have 12, 13, 14 SEC teams?
And they will be deserving.
It's a super basketballconference right now who would
(53:27):
have thought that a footballconference?
But it also gets back to thatwhole general thing.
So I'm intrigued to see youknow which SEC schools.
They'll probably have a couplenumber one seeds, I would think,
and just how many are theregoing to be?
But if I really had to getpushed, and that's with the
(53:48):
caveat that you know flag Cooperflag is going to be healthy
enough to play on that ankle andmaybe you don't.
Maybe, if you're trying to buysome more time, rocky, you don't
play them in the first game.
It's always dangerous, ofcourse, but you know Duke should
be able to beat a 16 seedwithout.
I mean, look what they did lastnight without him.
(54:09):
That was a pretty impressive.
Rocky (54:11):
You know they gutted out a win in the championship game
yeah, I think, with him playing,even if he's 85, 90 and I'm not
a duke guy, but I think they'rethe best team, I think he's the
best player in the country onone of the best teams, so I I
think they make a good run.
I'm anxious to see what Patinodoes in St John's.
Like I said, if they can shootthe ball fairly well, I think
(54:32):
they can beat anybody.
But those SEC schools fromFlorida, auburn, alabama, I mean
Michigan State there's so manyteams I think that, seeded, one
through eight, maybe even onethrough 10, got a shot to win
this thing, depending on who youget paired up with.
Scott (54:47):
I'd open the never to be honest with you, even given the
domination of the SEC and soforth.
I think, yeah, I think it'sgoing to be really interesting.
And, patino, like you say, Ijust think that perhaps they
don't, you know, they just don'thave enough offense because
there's going to be.
But again, we talked about thisearlier that you know you can
(55:07):
always be consistent with yourdefense as long as you're not
getting whistles going againstyou too much, you know, and you
get some guys in foul trouble.
But I, the thing that's that'sthe thing that's impressed me
most about the job he's done atSt John's is he has.
You know that coaching is reallybeing a salesman.
You need to get your players tobuy into what you want and he
(55:31):
has gotten them to buy into.
We got to.
We got to play 40 minutes ofhell here on defense.
We got to.
Just, we're going to right fromthe opening tap.
We're coming at you and andwe're going to keep coming at
you and we're going to wear youdown.
That can take them on a run.
You know it really could.
But do they have enough?
When it comes to thatchampionship, when it comes to
(55:53):
the Final Four and you've got tomake some shots.
Man, it comes down to that.
You better have some offense togo with that, because unless
you're, you know you can't playthe Villanova stall stall
against georgetown.
You know there's a shot clocknow and you gotta, you gotta
have some offense come out ofthat.
But their defense does lead toa lot of offense too yeah, it
(56:16):
should be a fun tournament.
Rocky (56:17):
Uh, to see who gets in today.
I know I'll be looking forwardto that later.
I already told my wife don'tbother me for an hour while the
selection shows on.
And then she says well, theselection shows over.
Now I'm watching the guys breakdown who gets in and who gets
out.
So well, scott, listen, Iappreciate you coming on.
I know we'll do it again soon.
I always love talking to you.
I always say you're one of thementors for me, that if I can
(56:38):
follow in your footsteps I'll besuccessful.
Scott (56:41):
That's for sure, that's the kind of you to say and, like
I said, I always enjoy comingon with you and I wish you
nothing but the best and keep atthis.
This is great what you're doingand you've shown so much
initiative.
Just just keep at it, man, anduh, and just keep expanding.
Rocky (56:56):
Well, I appreciate it, scott, We'll talk soon.
Okay, take care, thank you.
So that was Scott Petoniak and,like I said, coming on, I think
Scott was one of the firstguests that I had on when I
joined the radio station here atWKAL 1450.
And anytime we talk Syracusebasketball, syracuse football, I
mean you name it I've alwaysreached out to Scott and he's
(57:19):
always been great to come on.
He's had a great career and,like I said, he's one of the
mentors for me, been great tocome on.
He's had a great career and,like I said, he's one of the
mentors for me.
Um, I keep saying I wish I wasa young guy, but, um, but he's
been fantastic.
So I want to thank scott for,uh, for coming on with me here
this morning.
I want to thank damien call,who was fantastic.
If you missed the interviews,I'll put them up later.
They'll always be on the socialmedia channels for podcast
(57:40):
listeners.
I'll have it up on spot HighHeart Radio, apple Podcasts and
all that a little bit later ontonight.
As I do some cut-ups, sorryabout the mute piece here, the
first two minutes of the show.
I had some mic problems beforeI jumped on here this morning,
but I appreciate you stayingwith me here, as always.
So, on behalf of the entirecrew which I promise we will get
(58:01):
you Pags, medesis and theStatmen on here at some point in
time.
We're all busy running aroundwith the kids and stuff, so we
will get us all on here andbring the gang back together.
On behalf of the entire crewhere at the Mohawk Valley Sports
Watch and the Rockpile, I wantto thank Damian Call for joining
me.
I want to thank Scott Petoniakfor joining me here this morning
(58:21):
and thanks to Coach Paggs,thanks to Coach Medesis and the
Statman.
Have a good weekend everybody.
I'm out.
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