March 25, 2024 • 22 mins
Seattle basketball legend, and father of WSU Guard Isaiah Watts, Donald Watts, joins the show to talk about the Kyle Smith news, the landscape of college sports and much more.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Now back to the Infranest show,brought to you by Snow Call me Casino.
We're going to Maulliwop at two o'clocktoday. Andrews is with me in
(00:23):
the production room over there, workinghard, getting ready for a mulliwap Monday.
That's always some heavy lifting for him. We'll check in with Donald Watson
just a couple of minutes as well. Lots of news today, lots and
lots of news in college basketball hereas we head into the Sweet sixteen of
the men's tournaments, the Husky's havea new head coach, Danny Sprinkle,
(00:45):
just led Utah State to an incredibleseason second round exit the tournament. Speaking
of second round exits, Kyle Smith'steam knocked out in the second round by
Iowa State, the two seed.Kyle Smith, Now, is it?
Stanford is their head coach? HI thought Vanderbilt was the one. Vanderbilt
was the one I was worried about. That's the one I thought they were
gonna go. I thought Vanderbilt wouldbe it, but nope, I was
(01:08):
wrong. Stanford it is. We'llhang out with the trees man A C.
C. Kyle, what are youthinking? Take the SEC job?
Yeah? I was take the secjob. You could win it. He
could win at Vanderbilt. I meanthe kids he recruits the one thing.
I think they'll be a little bitof a And I had Someboddy today telling
(01:30):
me, oh, how is hegonna be able to recruit at Stanford her
place? Recruit? It's not he'srecruited kids. Uh. I think uh
Chenelu was a pre med student.I mean, they've got some good students
on that team. But it's thetransfer. Is it just kind of an
integral part of what you do now? Uh, That's that's the hard part,
(01:52):
I think along the way. Soyeah, I don't know. It's
we'll see. I I some guysyou wish success to others others you don't.
But you know, we'll see how. We'll see how it turns out.
We'll mall you up on two o'clock. We'll get you ready for the
baseball season. Just two games off. They play at Petco Park a couple
I'm not sure why they do.I geink this strictly just to get pictures
ready, get some innings in.I think it's Miller Tonight Woo tomorrow are
(02:15):
the two starters for the Mariners.And then they open up with Castillo on
the Mound on Thursday, will bea Jimi's on first. All right,
joining us right now in the BeaconPlumbing Hotline. I have not spoken to
this gentleman for a long time,although I have, it feels like I've
seen him a lot over the lastcouple three months because he's He was a
fixture court side at Beasley and otherplaces watching his son Isaiah for Washington State
(02:36):
basketball. And he joined us rightnow to the Beacon Pumbing Hotline. Donald
Wats is with us. Donald,thanks for coming on man. How you
doing? Oh man, I'm tryingto hold it all together. Yeah,
trying to figure it all out,all the pieces to the puzzle. Let
me say this publicly before we getinto basketball, and I feel bad.
I lost my Twitter account so Icouldn't message in. I probably should have
(02:59):
just found a phone number before today. But first and foremost, it looks
like and sounds like I heard youwas Softy and Dick a couple of weeks
ago. You're doing well physically,You're hanging in there. How's how's your
dad doing? How is the Legendmy first ever superhero in sports? How
is Slick doing? He's doing allright. He's hanging in there. He's
been, he's been solid. Mysetback definitely, you know, created a
(03:22):
little bit of a momentum loss forhim, just because we were getting up,
going to the gym, and youknow, there were some some established
patterns that that were the quality ofhis life that that kind of had a
pause while I focused on getting allthe way back on my feet. So
I'm looking forward to getting back tothose things. And just you know,
he's he was enjoying watching his grandsonplay and and you know I was looking
(03:46):
forward to trying to get him overthere. Wasn't able to do that,
but you know, looking forward,looking forward to more, you know,
just keeping him going, keeping himmotivated, and and and uh and getting
back to doing some of the thingswe were doing as far as exercise and
some of the social stuff. Well, well, let's just make sure he's
ready to rock and roll when theybring the NBA back, Because when they
bring out all the ex sonics andthey start trumping all these guys out there,
(04:09):
when the NBA comes back in acouple two or three years, whenever
it is, there better be aguy wearing a headband with some wristbands that
go from his wrist to his elbowsand everything else, like like your dad,
the true icon that Slick is andour best go out to him.
So we want to see you andI appreciate that. Man. You're making
me smile and I need some smilestoday. I know you do. Hey,
listen, man, we all do. Misery loves company? Does it
(04:30):
not? All right? I don'tknow how this works. I heard there
was a team meeting call this morning, and you know, I don't know
where we start with this, butKyle going to Stamford, it felt it
felt like, listen, he wasgoing to be people are going to go
after him. There's no doubt youtake that school, that streak of not
getting the tournament to the tournament you'regonna get. You know, we see
it. Sprinkle going to UDUB todayas well. We saw those things.
(04:54):
When did your son When did theteam find out that Kyle was leaving?
And what was reaction this morning thismorning? Uh? Kind of when when
when everybody else found out? Hefound out on ESPN They were supposed to
be a meeting this morning, edam, And from my understanding that got
canceled. Now that might be thatmy son slept through it, you know,
(05:18):
kid, you know, but butwhen I talked to about nine thirties,
he's like, man, I wasjust been in bed, like for
real. I was like, well, you ain't know. Like he's like,
now they canceled. It was supposedto be meeting at two thirty.
So it's a wild, wild deal. I hit on it on Twitter or
(05:39):
whatever. You can anticipate, youknow that there's been chatter and talk and
you know you're definitely hopeful that youcan keep this thing together. But then
when it happens, it's just likeyou know, I mean, these kids
just came off a great run.They didn't get one day of school to
be loved on and you know,enjoyed and cherished their community. Uh before
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you know, this broke right,And so now the story is not what
the season was, but kind ofuh uh and celebrating what the season was.
But it feels more like a morningand like a question of like,
what's your life going to be likegoing forward? So you know, there's
just a ton of ton of impactand a ton of balls and dominoes that
(06:24):
drop once this this something like thishappens. You know, Donald, things
have changed since since you played thegame, because it used to be that
coaches have always left. They justthat's just how that's just how it works,
right, I mean unless just coachesleave, that that happens, and
and there, you know, Iwas kind of look at it like,
you know what, I they deservethat they've worked their way I mean,
(06:45):
guys like Kylie worked his way up. He was an assistant coach at a
bunch of schools, probably not makingany money. And then he was a
head coach at a couple of smallschools and probably not making a ton of
money either, especially in some ofthose markets. That he has success and
and you know, good, yougo, you go, do you The
problem is is that you know,the kids are left in the wake.
Now, the transfer portals a wholedifferent world. They can up and go.
I always kind of look at it, though. My kid's a small
(07:06):
college football player, so it's different. He's not, you know, making
money in an eye on and thatstuff. But I just know relationships matter.
He lost a couple of coaches earlyand just straught over it and then
said that's fine, I've got friends. Do you think there's any chance that
these guys can keep it together ifthey hire the right guy soon enough or
do you think there's going to bea mass exodus Impullman, I think that
(07:29):
there is a chance to keep ittogether. It's you know, it's really
about how much that you keep together. It's about what the guy, the
next guy that comes in, orwhoever's hired values, and like like you
said, it's about how fast itgets done. I think one of the
things that for me is really disappointingabout this situation, and not about Kyle,
(07:53):
but just you. The first gameI saw these guys, I was
like, oh, man, thisis a special group. Yeah, you
know. And then throughout the seasonyou get to know them and you see
how they pond together, and it'slike, Yo, these guys love each
other and being around college athletics somuch, I know how special that is,
how like rare that is. Andthen you have freshmen and you have
(08:15):
guys returning, and it's like,Yo, this this thing has the potential
to be great, you know,like it can go from special to like
great and go on a run,and the kind of run that that you
know that you know builds buildings,Alaska airlines, a hec arena, or
that you know universities overcome their financialproblems and become you know, world renown
institutions because of the brand that abasketball program is, Gonzaga Universe, like,
(08:41):
it has that kind of feel.And then it's like, oh,
well, well there's a you know, there's an additional hurdle right there.
It's not going to happen. AndI know I spoke to some of the
some of the big donors and stufflike that. I know that they they
tried to step up, and theyreally didn't want this to happen. They
saw their value of keeping Kyle thereand and and and put a real legitimate
(09:05):
offer on the table that they wouldthey hoped that he would stay and keep
but ultimately, you know, theStanford opportunity was the opportunity that he felt
like, you know, he neededto take advantage of it at this time
for himself and his family. Andand like much respect to that, you
know, shout of the Texas Day. Appreciate your coach. You know what
I mean, what we've gone tocollege for, we're experiencing at Pullman,
(09:30):
and that's our priority is to tryto try to maintain that right and that's
a transformational experience, not not justtransactional. Well, and I think that's
that's big, Donald, because Imean, I watch your son play,
and I watch I watch him,and I watch the joy that he has,
not just for himself. I findthis so rare in today's college sports,
(09:50):
and whatever whatever he decides to do, you know, like, I'll
root for this young man because Isaw a guy when he wasn't playing early
in the year. I'm like,Okay, first dude up off the bench,
first guy high fiving guys, firstguy cheering dudes on, million dollar
smile. That tells me what youjust said, though, there's relationships there.
And I guess that's the thing that'sweird. That's hard for me as
(10:11):
a parent to understand when we seechanges happen in college sports, like all
of a sudden, this mass exodus, like eight everyone's in the football,
basketball, doesn't matter, men's,women's, we're in the portal. We're
out of here. Like and Ialways think to myself, damn, did
you not develop any kind of relationshipswith your teammates, take the coaches aside,
whatever, your teammates, your roommates, whoever. It feels like,
(10:33):
you know, Isaiah and others havethat going and still have that going.
Maybe they can keep it going.But I don't know, as a parent,
I feel like that should be themost important thing. You're gonna get
yours, they're gonna they're gonna getthe nil's guys will step up for guys
that stay, I'm sure, Butit always feels like relationships are almost forgotten
this new process. Yeah, Ithink I think they're They're definitely undervalued,
you know, and and and inthe new in the new process. And
(10:56):
I've been talking about it and kindof stressing on it and HARKing on it.
It's just like the it's great thatthe athletes are able to get paid,
you know, it's great that they'reable to move and aren't stuck in
situations. But what's not great aboutit is the value of the experience itself.
And I think there has to bea you know, at some point
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it has to come to a head. I think that the money that we
talk about in college athletics is reallytruly based on tradition. If it's sustainable,
right, it's going to be basedon tradition. But too often in
these situations we see it over thatyou dubbed, right, like the tradition
is not being valued. Well,the money is coming from people who have
generational interest in these programs and schools, and so if they keep giving the
(11:45):
money to people that keep going justbouncing around, then ultimately it's going to
dry up, you know, andit's not going to be thrown around like
it is now. So I thinkthat there's a way in a place that
college athletics has to get to.But in the meantime, it's up to
you know, guys like myself andplayers and to figure out what they value
(12:07):
the most. And as long aslike, you know, you talked about
my son, you talked about hisenergy and effort like that. He really
loves being a cool you know.The conversation we had today is like that,
I don't want to be in thepo I don't want to hit the
portal now. At the same time, he realizes that if another coach comes
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in and that coach doesn't value you'renot going to stay there and be somebody
else's garbage, right, You're notgoing to stay there and be there for
somebody who doesn't value you. Sothat's kind of the our watch list,
right, like what's the next ball, what happens next? But the what
we're not doing is figuring out Okay, where do we go now? You
know, it's like there's a he'sstudying communications, one of the best communications
(12:52):
schools in the world. Is like, there's all of these other things,
right, he has teammates over therethat like that, you know, there
can nection doesn't travel right, Likeeven even the you know, coach Smith's
magic that he found here. Ittook him. It didn't just happen all
of a sudden. Took a whileto build it. But that's not going
to Stanford with him like that.It doesn't, you know, that's the
(13:13):
It's not it's like a it's anon transferable ticket, you know, I
know other thing you like. Peoplewill pay you because you've found the magic.
People will pay you because you've gottento the tournament. People will pay
you because you're a spart of partof a special group and you can hit
the portal and get those things.But those things aren't necessarily promised or even
(13:35):
likely to be where you're going next. And so that's what I mean by
transactional versus transformational. Are our prioritieshaving a transformational experience. I've seen my
son grow in tremendous ways and throughall the emotion of the day and all
that stuff. You know, Likeall I could say to Coach Smith to
day was thank you, appreciate you. You know what I mean. Now,
(13:58):
to the administration of Washington State University, it's like, okay, like
let's get this. Let's figure somethingout, you know what I mean,
Let's figure it out fast. Yeah, let's let's get the kids who are
here an idea of what the futurelooks like being here as a p so
they have something that as a asan individual's or as a collective that they
can say, Yo, let's keepthis thing going, or nah, I
(14:22):
gotta get out of here, youknow what I mean. But let's make
that happen as soon as possible,because as soon as it happens, find
the right person, as soon aspossibly. Sooner it happens, the more
likely it is to continue. Well, those guys, which is what our
priority is, well, and thosekids that those young men that are there
right now. You know, IsaacJones the only one that really you know,
of anybody that played, he's theonly guy that doesn't have I mean,
(14:43):
even jockal has somehow has eligibility left. He might be thirty, but
he's got eligibility left. Yeah,but uh, you know the but but
you know they they they keep ittogether, w c C will be no
problem. I'm sorry, sorry,all due respect Saint Mary's and like that,
that'll be. You got one ortwo teams to be get into the
(15:05):
Tournament's the goal, I think.For first of all, that's why I
don't get Kyle Ston go to VanderbiltStanford. You ain't getting anywhere. But
anyway you're playing the ACC. Man, you guys couldn't win in the pack
too, Like you're not gonna winthe ACC. But but you keep that
together. You've got you got youngpeople that will be forever legends in that
and big fish in a very ina smaller pond than normal. I think
(15:26):
that's like I always thought with TJ. Bamba and and DJ Robman. When
those guys left, I'm like,what are you guys doing? Like I
understand there might be opportunities, butyou got and if they would have stuck,
now we men, I got JalenWells, who knows, But but
you could be you could be youknow, you could be in the legendary
status of a place. And that'spretty damn cool because I know there's an
NBA player that might be a Hallof Famer that loves being a kup and
(15:48):
loves being like the guy, Likenobody likes being a guy. You know
the guy more than Clay, Andhe wouldn't been he would have been just
another guy at Duke, right,or are any other school? No?
No? Absolutely? And and youknow, I mean, I think the
bigger thing for the kids, Andwhen you have a conversation with the kids
and the families is it's kind ofhow we're making our decision, like,
well, what's the best place forthe momentum that you've created to continue,
(16:15):
right, and what gives you thebest opportunity to go on and fulfill your
dreams playing at the next level.And if this is a known commodity and
it's a known place, if yourmiles right, So if you average fifteen
points a game, well, ifyou put the ball in the basket two
more times a game, you're nineteenand you can fide yourself into the first
round of the draft. Well,where's the best place that that happens?
(16:37):
If you go to another school highmajor established players you have to compete with,
and you go down to baskets agame. Now nobody's thinking of it.
You play average an eleven points agame, and so it's that kind
of you know, I think forthe players, for the families, it
needs to be about you know whatcollege is supposed to be about, which
is how you set up best setup your future as opposed to how much
(16:59):
you can make now if you believeyou have a future in the game,
if you believe you have a futurein it, like is this the best
place for me to do that?And then you make your decisions from there
as opposed to you know, Ijust encourage guys, just don't you know,
like you said about Clay right,Like I say, hey, man,
if Steph would have played one yearat Davidson and then took five hundred
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grand to go to North Carolina andaverage ten points in a game, you
probably would have made five hundred milliondollars playing basketball, ye, right,
Because that development of being in thatposition with the ball in hand, you
being the one, you know,in a small pond where the winning and
the losing is dependent on you.That's what builds the games and the characters
of guys like Dame and you knowthese guys. So I just encourage kids
(17:45):
and families to think about that asthey go along this process, not just
who has what for me, Becausejust because of another person or another school
has more money for you doesn't meanthey value or you are going to utilize
you in the best way to setyou up for your future. I agree.
So, yeah, that's how adecision, you know, Like that's
(18:07):
what I encourage as well as youknow, being the tradition for school,
you know. I mean I hadthe opportunity to do it, you know,
at the University of Washington. I'vehad some questions like, oh,
you want your son to get overto the U. No, No,
No, that was my experience.He loves this experience, loves it.
I don't want that to be coloredat all by my past, right,
Like I'm here supporting him in thisand so that that's you know, that's
(18:32):
where it is, and that's howwe're rolling. Donald watched you on his
a couple more moments. One.Uh, so are they meeting as a
team today at two thirty? Isthat Pat Chun meeting with I mean,
I'm hoping that the University of AthleticDepartment they're not doing anything today. No,
I don't know, I don't,I don't. I really don't know.
My son said this morning that beforehe missed that eight o'clock ECON class,
that eight o'clock class. Hey,man, he's in good company.
(18:56):
I know this. I dropped thateight o'clock ECON class. Eight o'clock wasn't
on my repertoire. Now when hetalked this morning, he said it was
changed two thirty. Okay, whatthat means? I don't you know the
details of that. I have noclue. You know, you know the
coaching staff, I don't. Imean, I know we all know.
Jim Shaw. I mean, guy'sa legend. You know he does.
(19:18):
He doesn't want to be a headcoach. Again, I don't think he
wants to do what he does,and he does it damn well. You
know, but outside of Jim,are there guys on that staff that are
important to retain and have relationships andguys that really pat shunning Kirk Shuls need
to make sure, Hey, thosedudes are here. Those guys are helping
lead this thing until we get thisall figured out. Yeah, I mean,
(19:40):
I think that if you're gonna goanother direction, you got to go
another direction, and go another directionfast. If you're going to retain the
staff, you retain whoever on thestaff. You know, you can retain
retain, but I think it's difficult, and I know, I know Jen
Cohen did it with Will Conray whatever, but it's different quote to go into
(20:02):
a hiring process saying that, hey, you need to keep these guys,
right like, even if you evenif you know that you want those guys
to be a part of the process, you know, I think that's a
really difficult thing. So I thinkit's a decision where it's like, it's
important for us to retain these guysthat are on the past staff, and
(20:23):
this is how we're going to doit, and then they'll fill out their
coaching staff or we're bringing in newleadership, and then that leadership will determine
if you know, a Wayne Hunteror whoever is important to keep. If
they ask you, maybe they alreadyhave, would you be willing to help,
No, not to coach, notto coach. I don't think you're
(20:45):
coaching. I said no, butjust to kind of help with the process
and talk to I mean, Iwould hope they'd lean on some people that
have a bat I mean, you'reyou're mister Seattle Basketball. I would hope
they would ask you and others youknow, I hope Pat is willing to
do that and get some feedback fromyou and other people in this process.
Yeah, they haven't asked me,but you know, I mean what I've
(21:07):
tried. I care about the group, I care about the kids. I've
grown to have relationships with them,and so I've tried to kind of check
in on their pulse and where they'reat. I've you know, understanding that
this might be a possibility, youknow, like I've kind of tried to,
you know, say, hey,you know, like if I had
some good information about you know,where things were like nil wise, or
(21:32):
what were possibilities or who was comingin, and maybe I could help,
you know, hold this thing togetherin between, you know, just talk
to parents about hey, you know, here are the things to consider,
you know, here's what. Butbut I don't have any of that information.
Well listen, I hope they leanon you. I hope they lean
on you. It sounds like,if nothing else, you've been a pretty
good mentor for some of these youngmen in the program besides your son,
(21:52):
which I think is important. Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely, man, It's
sure this world don't we have collegeathletics. Let's it's something else. Your
son's your son, and that teamwill always be special to everybody that's a
Cougar fan. We waited a longtime to see him get back in there,
and for you know, for thelast couple of weeks, really for
(22:14):
the last few months. It's beena hell of a ride watching them play.
And I'm glad to hear Isaiah isenjoying it. I'm glad to hear
he wants to, you know,study communications. You probably know a place
he can come hang out if heever needs to during the summer months and
uh, you know, get alittle guys, get a little hands on,
keep him away from that three toseven show. Those guys don't know
what the hell they're doing. Butmiddays he'd be more than welcome in here.
So uh, you and I willkeep in touch, my friends.
(22:37):
Thanks for jumping on with us andgo Koogs. Thanks a lot. Man
really appreciate Donald. Yeah, thankyou. Goo
Now back to the Infranest show,brought to you by Snow Call me Casino.
We're going to Maulliwop at two o'clocktoday. Andrews is with me in
(00:23):
the production room over there, workinghard, getting ready for a mulliwap Monday.
That's always some heavy lifting for him. We'll check in with Donald Watson
just a couple of minutes as well. Lots of news today, lots and
lots of news in college basketball hereas we head into the Sweet sixteen of
the men's tournaments, the Husky's havea new head coach, Danny Sprinkle,
(00:45):
just led Utah State to an incredibleseason second round exit the tournament. Speaking
of second round exits, Kyle Smith'steam knocked out in the second round by
Iowa State, the two seed.Kyle Smith, Now, is it?
Stanford is their head coach? HI thought Vanderbilt was the one. Vanderbilt
was the one I was worried about. That's the one I thought they were
gonna go. I thought Vanderbilt wouldbe it, but nope, I was
(01:08):
wrong. Stanford it is. We'llhang out with the trees man A C.
C. Kyle, what are youthinking? Take the SEC job?
Yeah? I was take the secjob. You could win it. He
could win at Vanderbilt. I meanthe kids he recruits the one thing.
I think they'll be a little bitof a And I had Someboddy today telling
(01:30):
me, oh, how is hegonna be able to recruit at Stanford her
place? Recruit? It's not he'srecruited kids. Uh. I think uh
Chenelu was a pre med student.I mean, they've got some good students
on that team. But it's thetransfer. Is it just kind of an
integral part of what you do now? Uh, That's that's the hard part,
(01:52):
I think along the way. Soyeah, I don't know. It's
we'll see. I I some guysyou wish success to others others you don't.
But you know, we'll see how. We'll see how it turns out.
We'll mall you up on two o'clock. We'll get you ready for the
baseball season. Just two games off. They play at Petco Park a couple
I'm not sure why they do.I geink this strictly just to get pictures
ready, get some innings in.I think it's Miller Tonight Woo tomorrow are
(02:15):
the two starters for the Mariners.And then they open up with Castillo on
the Mound on Thursday, will bea Jimi's on first. All right,
joining us right now in the BeaconPlumbing Hotline. I have not spoken to
this gentleman for a long time,although I have, it feels like I've
seen him a lot over the lastcouple three months because he's He was a
fixture court side at Beasley and otherplaces watching his son Isaiah for Washington State
(02:36):
basketball. And he joined us rightnow to the Beacon Pumbing Hotline. Donald
Wats is with us. Donald,thanks for coming on man. How you
doing? Oh man, I'm tryingto hold it all together. Yeah,
trying to figure it all out,all the pieces to the puzzle. Let
me say this publicly before we getinto basketball, and I feel bad.
I lost my Twitter account so Icouldn't message in. I probably should have
(02:59):
just found a phone number before today. But first and foremost, it looks
like and sounds like I heard youwas Softy and Dick a couple of weeks
ago. You're doing well physically,You're hanging in there. How's how's your
dad doing? How is the Legendmy first ever superhero in sports? How
is Slick doing? He's doing allright. He's hanging in there. He's
been, he's been solid. Mysetback definitely, you know, created a
(03:22):
little bit of a momentum loss forhim, just because we were getting up,
going to the gym, and youknow, there were some some established
patterns that that were the quality ofhis life that that kind of had a
pause while I focused on getting allthe way back on my feet. So
I'm looking forward to getting back tothose things. And just you know,
he's he was enjoying watching his grandsonplay and and you know I was looking
(03:46):
forward to trying to get him overthere. Wasn't able to do that,
but you know, looking forward,looking forward to more, you know,
just keeping him going, keeping himmotivated, and and and uh and getting
back to doing some of the thingswe were doing as far as exercise and
some of the social stuff. Well, well, let's just make sure he's
ready to rock and roll when theybring the NBA back, Because when they
bring out all the ex sonics andthey start trumping all these guys out there,
(04:09):
when the NBA comes back in acouple two or three years, whenever
it is, there better be aguy wearing a headband with some wristbands that
go from his wrist to his elbowsand everything else, like like your dad,
the true icon that Slick is andour best go out to him.
So we want to see you andI appreciate that. Man. You're making
me smile and I need some smilestoday. I know you do. Hey,
listen, man, we all do. Misery loves company? Does it
(04:30):
not? All right? I don'tknow how this works. I heard there
was a team meeting call this morning, and you know, I don't know
where we start with this, butKyle going to Stamford, it felt it
felt like, listen, he wasgoing to be people are going to go
after him. There's no doubt youtake that school, that streak of not
getting the tournament to the tournament you'regonna get. You know, we see
it. Sprinkle going to UDUB todayas well. We saw those things.
(04:54):
When did your son When did theteam find out that Kyle was leaving?
And what was reaction this morning thismorning? Uh? Kind of when when
when everybody else found out? Hefound out on ESPN They were supposed to
be a meeting this morning, edam, And from my understanding that got
canceled. Now that might be thatmy son slept through it, you know,
(05:18):
kid, you know, but butwhen I talked to about nine thirties,
he's like, man, I wasjust been in bed, like for
real. I was like, well, you ain't know. Like he's like,
now they canceled. It was supposedto be meeting at two thirty.
So it's a wild, wild deal. I hit on it on Twitter or
(05:39):
whatever. You can anticipate, youknow that there's been chatter and talk and
you know you're definitely hopeful that youcan keep this thing together. But then
when it happens, it's just likeyou know, I mean, these kids
just came off a great run.They didn't get one day of school to
be loved on and you know,enjoyed and cherished their community. Uh before
(06:01):
you know, this broke right,And so now the story is not what
the season was, but kind ofuh uh and celebrating what the season was.
But it feels more like a morningand like a question of like,
what's your life going to be likegoing forward? So you know, there's
just a ton of ton of impactand a ton of balls and dominoes that
(06:24):
drop once this this something like thishappens. You know, Donald, things
have changed since since you played thegame, because it used to be that
coaches have always left. They justthat's just how that's just how it works,
right, I mean unless just coachesleave, that that happens, and
and there, you know, Iwas kind of look at it like,
you know what, I they deservethat they've worked their way I mean,
(06:45):
guys like Kylie worked his way up. He was an assistant coach at a
bunch of schools, probably not makingany money. And then he was a
head coach at a couple of smallschools and probably not making a ton of
money either, especially in some ofthose markets. That he has success and
and you know, good, yougo, you go, do you The
problem is is that you know,the kids are left in the wake.
Now, the transfer portals a wholedifferent world. They can up and go.
I always kind of look at it, though. My kid's a small
(07:06):
college football player, so it's different. He's not, you know, making
money in an eye on and thatstuff. But I just know relationships matter.
He lost a couple of coaches earlyand just straught over it and then
said that's fine, I've got friends. Do you think there's any chance that
these guys can keep it together ifthey hire the right guy soon enough or
do you think there's going to bea mass exodus Impullman, I think that
(07:29):
there is a chance to keep ittogether. It's you know, it's really
about how much that you keep together. It's about what the guy, the
next guy that comes in, orwhoever's hired values, and like like you
said, it's about how fast itgets done. I think one of the
things that for me is really disappointingabout this situation, and not about Kyle,
(07:53):
but just you. The first gameI saw these guys, I was
like, oh, man, thisis a special group. Yeah, you
know. And then throughout the seasonyou get to know them and you see
how they pond together, and it'slike, Yo, these guys love each
other and being around college athletics somuch, I know how special that is,
how like rare that is. Andthen you have freshmen and you have
(08:15):
guys returning, and it's like,Yo, this this thing has the potential
to be great, you know,like it can go from special to like
great and go on a run,and the kind of run that that you
know that you know builds buildings,Alaska airlines, a hec arena, or
that you know universities overcome their financialproblems and become you know, world renown
institutions because of the brand that abasketball program is, Gonzaga Universe, like,
(08:41):
it has that kind of feel.And then it's like, oh,
well, well there's a you know, there's an additional hurdle right there.
It's not going to happen. AndI know I spoke to some of the
some of the big donors and stufflike that. I know that they they
tried to step up, and theyreally didn't want this to happen. They
saw their value of keeping Kyle thereand and and and put a real legitimate
(09:05):
offer on the table that they wouldthey hoped that he would stay and keep
but ultimately, you know, theStanford opportunity was the opportunity that he felt
like, you know, he neededto take advantage of it at this time
for himself and his family. Andand like much respect to that, you
know, shout of the Texas Day. Appreciate your coach. You know what
I mean, what we've gone tocollege for, we're experiencing at Pullman,
(09:30):
and that's our priority is to tryto try to maintain that right and that's
a transformational experience, not not justtransactional. Well, and I think that's
that's big, Donald, because Imean, I watch your son play,
and I watch I watch him,and I watch the joy that he has,
not just for himself. I findthis so rare in today's college sports,
(09:50):
and whatever whatever he decides to do, you know, like, I'll
root for this young man because Isaw a guy when he wasn't playing early
in the year. I'm like,Okay, first dude up off the bench,
first guy high fiving guys, firstguy cheering dudes on, million dollar
smile. That tells me what youjust said, though, there's relationships there.
And I guess that's the thing that'sweird. That's hard for me as
(10:11):
a parent to understand when we seechanges happen in college sports, like all
of a sudden, this mass exodus, like eight everyone's in the football,
basketball, doesn't matter, men's,women's, we're in the portal. We're
out of here. Like and Ialways think to myself, damn, did
you not develop any kind of relationshipswith your teammates, take the coaches aside,
whatever, your teammates, your roommates, whoever. It feels like,
(10:33):
you know, Isaiah and others havethat going and still have that going.
Maybe they can keep it going.But I don't know, as a parent,
I feel like that should be themost important thing. You're gonna get
yours, they're gonna they're gonna getthe nil's guys will step up for guys
that stay, I'm sure, Butit always feels like relationships are almost forgotten
this new process. Yeah, Ithink I think they're They're definitely undervalued,
you know, and and and inthe new in the new process. And
(10:56):
I've been talking about it and kindof stressing on it and HARKing on it.
It's just like the it's great thatthe athletes are able to get paid,
you know, it's great that they'reable to move and aren't stuck in
situations. But what's not great aboutit is the value of the experience itself.
And I think there has to bea you know, at some point
(11:20):
it has to come to a head. I think that the money that we
talk about in college athletics is reallytruly based on tradition. If it's sustainable,
right, it's going to be basedon tradition. But too often in
these situations we see it over thatyou dubbed, right, like the tradition
is not being valued. Well,the money is coming from people who have
generational interest in these programs and schools, and so if they keep giving the
(11:45):
money to people that keep going justbouncing around, then ultimately it's going to
dry up, you know, andit's not going to be thrown around like
it is now. So I thinkthat there's a way in a place that
college athletics has to get to.But in the meantime, it's up to
you know, guys like myself andplayers and to figure out what they value
(12:07):
the most. And as long aslike, you know, you talked about
my son, you talked about hisenergy and effort like that. He really
loves being a cool you know.The conversation we had today is like that,
I don't want to be in thepo I don't want to hit the
portal now. At the same time, he realizes that if another coach comes
(12:28):
in and that coach doesn't value you'renot going to stay there and be somebody
else's garbage, right, You're notgoing to stay there and be there for
somebody who doesn't value you. Sothat's kind of the our watch list,
right, like what's the next ball, what happens next? But the what
we're not doing is figuring out Okay, where do we go now? You
know, it's like there's a he'sstudying communications, one of the best communications
(12:52):
schools in the world. Is like, there's all of these other things,
right, he has teammates over therethat like that, you know, there
can nection doesn't travel right, Likeeven even the you know, coach Smith's
magic that he found here. Ittook him. It didn't just happen all
of a sudden. Took a whileto build it. But that's not going
to Stanford with him like that.It doesn't, you know, that's the
(13:13):
It's not it's like a it's anon transferable ticket, you know, I
know other thing you like. Peoplewill pay you because you've found the magic.
People will pay you because you've gottento the tournament. People will pay
you because you're a spart of partof a special group and you can hit
the portal and get those things.But those things aren't necessarily promised or even
(13:35):
likely to be where you're going next. And so that's what I mean by
transactional versus transformational. Are our prioritieshaving a transformational experience. I've seen my
son grow in tremendous ways and throughall the emotion of the day and all
that stuff. You know, Likeall I could say to Coach Smith to
day was thank you, appreciate you. You know what I mean. Now,
(13:58):
to the administration of Washington State University, it's like, okay, like
let's get this. Let's figure somethingout, you know what I mean,
Let's figure it out fast. Yeah, let's let's get the kids who are
here an idea of what the futurelooks like being here as a p so
they have something that as a asan individual's or as a collective that they
can say, Yo, let's keepthis thing going, or nah, I
(14:22):
gotta get out of here, youknow what I mean. But let's make
that happen as soon as possible,because as soon as it happens, find
the right person, as soon aspossibly. Sooner it happens, the more
likely it is to continue. Well, those guys, which is what our
priority is, well, and thosekids that those young men that are there
right now. You know, IsaacJones the only one that really you know,
of anybody that played, he's theonly guy that doesn't have I mean,
(14:43):
even jockal has somehow has eligibility left. He might be thirty, but
he's got eligibility left. Yeah,but uh, you know the but but
you know they they they keep ittogether, w c C will be no
problem. I'm sorry, sorry,all due respect Saint Mary's and like that,
that'll be. You got one ortwo teams to be get into the
(15:05):
Tournament's the goal, I think.For first of all, that's why I
don't get Kyle Ston go to VanderbiltStanford. You ain't getting anywhere. But
anyway you're playing the ACC. Man, you guys couldn't win in the pack
too, Like you're not gonna winthe ACC. But but you keep that
together. You've got you got youngpeople that will be forever legends in that
and big fish in a very ina smaller pond than normal. I think
(15:26):
that's like I always thought with TJ. Bamba and and DJ Robman. When
those guys left, I'm like,what are you guys doing? Like I
understand there might be opportunities, butyou got and if they would have stuck,
now we men, I got JalenWells, who knows, But but
you could be you could be youknow, you could be in the legendary
status of a place. And that'spretty damn cool because I know there's an
NBA player that might be a Hallof Famer that loves being a kup and
(15:48):
loves being like the guy, Likenobody likes being a guy. You know
the guy more than Clay, Andhe wouldn't been he would have been just
another guy at Duke, right,or are any other school? No?
No? Absolutely? And and youknow, I mean, I think the
bigger thing for the kids, Andwhen you have a conversation with the kids
and the families is it's kind ofhow we're making our decision, like,
well, what's the best place forthe momentum that you've created to continue,
(16:15):
right, and what gives you thebest opportunity to go on and fulfill your
dreams playing at the next level.And if this is a known commodity and
it's a known place, if yourmiles right, So if you average fifteen
points a game, well, ifyou put the ball in the basket two
more times a game, you're nineteenand you can fide yourself into the first
round of the draft. Well,where's the best place that that happens?
(16:37):
If you go to another school highmajor established players you have to compete with,
and you go down to baskets agame. Now nobody's thinking of it.
You play average an eleven points agame, and so it's that kind
of you know, I think forthe players, for the families, it
needs to be about you know whatcollege is supposed to be about, which
is how you set up best setup your future as opposed to how much
(16:59):
you can make now if you believeyou have a future in the game,
if you believe you have a futurein it, like is this the best
place for me to do that?And then you make your decisions from there
as opposed to you know, Ijust encourage guys, just don't you know,
like you said about Clay right,Like I say, hey, man,
if Steph would have played one yearat Davidson and then took five hundred
(17:21):
grand to go to North Carolina andaverage ten points in a game, you
probably would have made five hundred milliondollars playing basketball, ye, right,
Because that development of being in thatposition with the ball in hand, you
being the one, you know,in a small pond where the winning and
the losing is dependent on you.That's what builds the games and the characters
of guys like Dame and you knowthese guys. So I just encourage kids
(17:45):
and families to think about that asthey go along this process, not just
who has what for me, Becausejust because of another person or another school
has more money for you doesn't meanthey value or you are going to utilize
you in the best way to setyou up for your future. I agree.
So, yeah, that's how adecision, you know, Like that's
(18:07):
what I encourage as well as youknow, being the tradition for school,
you know. I mean I hadthe opportunity to do it, you know,
at the University of Washington. I'vehad some questions like, oh,
you want your son to get overto the U. No, No,
No, that was my experience.He loves this experience, loves it.
I don't want that to be coloredat all by my past, right,
Like I'm here supporting him in thisand so that that's you know, that's
(18:32):
where it is, and that's howwe're rolling. Donald watched you on his
a couple more moments. One.Uh, so are they meeting as a
team today at two thirty? Isthat Pat Chun meeting with I mean,
I'm hoping that the University of AthleticDepartment they're not doing anything today. No,
I don't know, I don't,I don't. I really don't know.
My son said this morning that beforehe missed that eight o'clock ECON class,
that eight o'clock class. Hey,man, he's in good company.
(18:56):
I know this. I dropped thateight o'clock ECON class. Eight o'clock wasn't
on my repertoire. Now when hetalked this morning, he said it was
changed two thirty. Okay, whatthat means? I don't you know the
details of that. I have noclue. You know, you know the
coaching staff, I don't. Imean, I know we all know.
Jim Shaw. I mean, guy'sa legend. You know he does.
(19:18):
He doesn't want to be a headcoach. Again, I don't think he
wants to do what he does,and he does it damn well. You
know, but outside of Jim,are there guys on that staff that are
important to retain and have relationships andguys that really pat shunning Kirk Shuls need
to make sure, Hey, thosedudes are here. Those guys are helping
lead this thing until we get thisall figured out. Yeah, I mean,
(19:40):
I think that if you're gonna goanother direction, you got to go
another direction, and go another directionfast. If you're going to retain the
staff, you retain whoever on thestaff. You know, you can retain
retain, but I think it's difficult, and I know, I know Jen
Cohen did it with Will Conray whatever, but it's different quote to go into
(20:02):
a hiring process saying that, hey, you need to keep these guys,
right like, even if you evenif you know that you want those guys
to be a part of the process, you know, I think that's a
really difficult thing. So I thinkit's a decision where it's like, it's
important for us to retain these guysthat are on the past staff, and
(20:23):
this is how we're going to doit, and then they'll fill out their
coaching staff or we're bringing in newleadership, and then that leadership will determine
if you know, a Wayne Hunteror whoever is important to keep. If
they ask you, maybe they alreadyhave, would you be willing to help,
No, not to coach, notto coach. I don't think you're
(20:45):
coaching. I said no, butjust to kind of help with the process
and talk to I mean, Iwould hope they'd lean on some people that
have a bat I mean, you'reyou're mister Seattle Basketball. I would hope
they would ask you and others youknow, I hope Pat is willing to
do that and get some feedback fromyou and other people in this process.
Yeah, they haven't asked me,but you know, I mean what I've
(21:07):
tried. I care about the group, I care about the kids. I've
grown to have relationships with them,and so I've tried to kind of check
in on their pulse and where they'reat. I've you know, understanding that
this might be a possibility, youknow, like I've kind of tried to,
you know, say, hey,you know, like if I had
some good information about you know,where things were like nil wise, or
(21:32):
what were possibilities or who was comingin, and maybe I could help,
you know, hold this thing togetherin between, you know, just talk
to parents about hey, you know, here are the things to consider,
you know, here's what. Butbut I don't have any of that information.
Well listen, I hope they leanon you. I hope they lean
on you. It sounds like,if nothing else, you've been a pretty
good mentor for some of these youngmen in the program besides your son,
(21:52):
which I think is important. Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely, man, It's
sure this world don't we have collegeathletics. Let's it's something else. Your
son's your son, and that teamwill always be special to everybody that's a
Cougar fan. We waited a longtime to see him get back in there,
and for you know, for thelast couple of weeks, really for
(22:14):
the last few months. It's beena hell of a ride watching them play.
And I'm glad to hear Isaiah isenjoying it. I'm glad to hear
he wants to, you know,study communications. You probably know a place
he can come hang out if heever needs to during the summer months and
uh, you know, get alittle guys, get a little hands on,
keep him away from that three toseven show. Those guys don't know
what the hell they're doing. Butmiddays he'd be more than welcome in here.
So uh, you and I willkeep in touch, my friends.
(22:37):
Thanks for jumping on with us andgo Koogs. Thanks a lot. Man
really appreciate Donald. Yeah, thankyou. Goo
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