Episode 7: Mike Jarvis

Adam Stanco’s in-depth interview with longtime college basketball head coach Mike Jarvis. They discuss the coach’s early days as a player, including why he was ready to quit the game entirely and the reason he stayed with it. He reveals some of his early coaching experiences, such as working alongside a young Jim Calhoun and coaching Kyrie Irving’s father at Boston University. They take a deep dive into what Jarvis experienced while coaching Patrick Ewing at Cambridge Rindge and Latin. Jarvis explains what he learned from coaching a once-in-a-generation talent and shares some incredible stories about Ewing’s insane recruitment. Jarvis tells us why he gained even more knowledge about coaching great big men as he helped transform Yinka Dare into a fantastic college player. He also explains why a 5-foot-4 George Washington guard was the best pound-for-pound player he ever coached. And he takes us into the chaotic St. John’s locker rooms he shared with Ron Artest, Omar Cook, Erick Barkley, and many others.

Find out more at 40YearCoach.com and follow us on Twitter...

Adam Stanco: @naismithlives

40 Year Coach Podcast: @40YearCoach

Mike Jarvis: @coachmikejarvis

Sydney Smith: @SydGSmitty

Episode Transcript

(00:14):
This is the forty Year Coach podcast. I'm Adam Stanko. I am so
excited to get to our guests today, Mike Jarvis. But before I get
to Coach, just want to letyou know in case you're wondering why we're
called the forty Year Coach, It'sbecause we believe winning and personal development are
equally important for the complete coach.So as a coach, as a teacher,

(00:35):
as a leader, will your impactbe felt for four years or for
forty years? And if you enjoythis podcast, please rate and review us
on iTunes and subscribe. You donot want to miss some of the guests
we have coming up. If youdon't have an iPhone, you can always
check us out on spreaker or oniHeartRadio. And of course you should check
out our website forty Year Coach dotcom to learn more about what we are

(00:58):
doing. And now onto our guest, Mike Jarvis. He's done it all
coach Patrick Ewing in high school aCambridge Ridge in Latin and Massachusetts, had
a wonderful career at the college level, coaching at Saint John's, George,
Washington, Florida, Atlantic and BostonUniversity. I am thrilled to be speaking
to the coach. The author Aman I respect coach, Mike Jarvis,

(01:19):
coach, welcome to the forty YearCoach Podcast. Well, it's great to
be on. And you know what, I'm a forty plus year coach,
so guess what I think it's Iguess I'm a pretty good fit for the
podcast. I love it. You'reperfect, You're perfect exactly. Ridge Technical
High School nineteen sixty two, MassachusettsClass A championship team. What are your

(01:42):
memories from playing back in high school? Well, I remember in number one,
playing championship games in the Boston Garden. I remember the great teammates I
had, led by fellow by namea leader lad Leader Larry Stead, who
became a policeman and let me.After we won the state championship in the

(02:06):
garden in front of thirteen thousand andnine O nine, which to sellout crowd,
we took the fire engines and rodethose fire engines through the city at
Cambridge at midnight, and you wouldn'tbe amazed at how many people came out
of their homes to cheer on thechamps from Cambridge. Your career, after
playing high school, you move onto Northeastern. What were your aspirations at

(02:30):
that time in terms of what youwere going to do as a player.
Well as a player, I,like too many players, thought that I
was a lot better than I was. In fact, that was only through
the grace of God. After havingquit as a sophomore that my coach,
Dick Dukeshire gave me a second chance, and thank goodness, I went back.

(02:53):
My brother encouraged me to go backand beg for that opportunity. I
did, and after I graduated,I went back to my high school.
And so when I went back tothe team, I decided, you know
what, You're not as good asyou think, but you love sports and
love the game, why not becomea coach. And that's when I decided
I wanted to be a coach,and my dream job and my dream ambition

(03:15):
was to go back to the highschool, teach physical education and become the
boys basketball coach. So I wentback to my high school. I didn't
get the job, In fact,I didn't get it for ten years until
ten years later, but thank goodness, that same guy that I quit on
and gave me a second chance,coach Drushia, hired me as an assistant

(03:35):
coach. So while I taught inthe daytime, I worked as an assistant
for him, and then I movedover to Harvard and worked for four years
as an assistant for Tom sat Sanders, the former self the great who was
on I believed nine World Championship teams, and you know, learned a lot
from him. And then ten yearsafter coming out of college, I finally

(03:58):
got my dream job, which wasthe high school job. But it was
quite a journey, but it waswell worth the wait. Okay, so,
coach, before we even get intoto you taking that job back at
your alma mater, I do wantto ask you about about your time there
when you're at Northeastern, just workingalongside Jim Calhoun. What was that experience

(04:21):
like and what was he like atthat time? Well, it was it
was interesting. You know, Jimhas always been then not only a great
coach, but an interesting individual.And we had competed against each other in
college, I at Northeast and heat American International College, and we were
always enemies on the court. Andit's really funny, even when we worked

(04:42):
together, we were still coaching againsteach other because I was coaching the freshman
and sub Bosity teams and we wouldscrimmage, you know, the Vosity every
day. So even when we wereworking together, we were still competing in
that competition you know, went onfor years and years and years following that.
And uh but you know, Jimwas always a really good teacher and

(05:04):
a really good coach and a greatmotivator. But you know, I was
teaching open Cambridge and when I hadthe opportunity to go and just walk basically
from my high school through the HobvidYard, which would take about ten minutes
in total, to go to mysecond job, which was at the university
and work with Sat Sanders, whoI grew up watching as a kid.

(05:27):
You know, I couldn't say no. So I left my alma mater and
went to the other school in Cambridgeand it was pretty good in fact,
and I can thank Havid also forfinally getting the job I really wanted,
because when SAT's left to go tothe Celtics, I was so I thought
I was going to be the headcoach at Harvid, but they went in

(05:49):
another direction, and thank god theydid. I went back to the high
school to not only teach, butto coach, and you know, without
that I don't think I would havereally got the chance, probably to be
a head coach at the collegiate level. It's interesting how those things work out.
When when you were at Harvard duringthat time, coach Red hour back,

(06:11):
He's coming to watch watch practice.From what I understand it at times,
what did you learn from him?Well, I learned that Red knew
how to recruit great people. SatSanders was a perfect example, you know,
all those teams that read built infact. You know, my brother
took me to my first Celtics gameand I fell in love with Red and

(06:34):
the Celtics and Bill Russell. Isaw him play his first game and saw
him win all those championships in Boston. And you know, when I went
to GW Red, I found outRed was a graduate and ready used to
come to our practices and our gamesjust like he did at Habbit. And
we would talk about what it tookto, you know, to put a

(06:55):
championship team on the court. Veryreally did. We talk exes and ows.
But I just modeled at you know, how he could you know,
inspire, influence and motivate people andyou know, serve their best interest,
which was to try and you know, win championships. Incredible incredible man,
yes, for sure, for sure. And another incredible man who helped you

(07:17):
win some championships was Patrick Ewing.You you go to to coach Cambridge Orge
of Latin uh in nineteen seventy eight, and um, and you end up
at some point during your run there, Uh see, Well, I guess
the question is when did you firstlay eyes on Patrick Ewing? Well?

(07:38):
Once again another example how guard works. UM. I was teaching my physic
class and one fall morning of aroundnineteen seventy two or three, Steve Jenkins,
good friend and fellow teacher, comesinto the gym with this tall,
skinny kid who had just moved himfrom Jamaica and asked me if I would
work with him and work with Patrick, and we added working on basketball fundamentals.

(08:01):
Little did I know that four yearslater I would be as high school
coach and together we would almost goon defeated. We ended up seventy seven
and one, won three consecutive statechampionships, and we're ranked number one in
the country and it's you know,it's amazing. In fact, when I
moved to Florida, my pastor DavidNicholas would always say to me, Hey,

(08:24):
Mike, I thought you were agood coach, And I say,
yeah, it was pretty good,Rev. And he says, well,
how could you lose a game withPatrick Ewing? And one day I says,
let me tell you how I lostthe game with Patrick. I says,
Rev. One night Patrick was sickand we lost. And that was
it. It was the only timewe lost the game, because no matter
how tight the game was or howcontested it was, Patrick would always find

(08:48):
a way to pick the team up, put him on, to put him
on his back and carry us onto victory. And I learned very very
early in age that no matter howgood a coach you are. Read Araback
was a great coach, but heneeded Bill Russell. I was a pretty
good coach, and I certainly neededPatrick Ewing. Yeah, you had your
your Bill Russell. I know duringthat time people speak about the intimidation factor

(09:13):
when you guys would go to opposinggems. What did it feel like when
you were walking into gyms and havingjust a presence like Patrick Ewing and some
of the other talented players that werethere during that run. Well, you
know, it was more. Itwas it was more than that. I
mean this was during the time offorce busing and the height of segregation in
Boston and a lot of racial tension, and we went to so many gyms

(09:37):
and so many courts in the suburbsof Boston, you know, playing against
a lot of a lot of resentment. I mean when we went in,
they they didn't just want to theywanted to beat us like you couldn't imagine.
And there was a lot of tensionback in those days. It would
be a fist fight. I thinkevery game. We've had games where our

(09:58):
bus tires were slashed, our windowswere broken in all kinds of things.
You know, we yelled at ourplayers, But what it really ended up
doing for us as it ended upreally taking us to another level. I
mean it was it was like wewere going into a we would gladiates going
into the pit, and you know, seventy seven out of seventy eight times

(10:20):
we came out, you know,victorious. So it was incredible. In
fact, some day they're gonna there'sgonna be a movie about those mighty those
years in Cambridge, trust me,yeah, for sure, for sure,
I can't wait to sign me up. Okay, first ticket, the when
when you were going through that thatperiod and your players are dealing with that,

(10:45):
what kinds of things would you talkto them about and how did you
get them to, you know,manage their everyday emotions when that's what they're
dealing with, not just on thebasketball court, but all the stuff off
the court as well. Well.You know, one of the things that
we did was, you know,when I went back to the high school,
I decided, I want to wantto have, like me, a

(11:05):
really different kind of a program,especially for an inner city school, and
that is I wanted my kids tofocus on going to college. And during
the times the years they every oneof our kids except for two kids went
to some form of higher education.One became a policeman, the other one
a fireman. Everybody else went tocollege. I went to trade school,

(11:26):
went somewhere beyond high school. Andthat was our focus. So we we
spent our time really trying to bethe best team, the most fundamental team,
the most balanced team, and totry and be the best student athletes
that we could and just represent youknow, the city of Cambridge with a
lot of class and a lot ofgood basketball. And as we filled up

(11:50):
the gyms, people, you know, matter how much they rooted against us.
They respected how hard our kids play, how well they played together,
and how you know, just fundamentallysound they were. Coach from your experience
with the recruitment with Patrick Ewing,and I want to ask you just about
how intense that was and and someof the stories there. But I'm just

(12:11):
curious as to looking back now,Um, what kind of advice would you
have given yourself as as a youngercoach having a player that was a once
in a decade once you know,kind of talent. Uh, what kind
of advice would you give to toyourself as a younger coach or even a

(12:31):
coach now coming up that that hasa player that that is the number one
player in the class or the numberone player in the last ten classes.
What what kind of advice would youwould you offer up? Well, you
know what, Um, I wouldI would basically offer the advice up.
My advice would be to handle totreat that player um as if he was

(12:52):
your own son, um, andthat all you wanted for him was to
have the best opportunity to be witharound really really good people and to continue
to grow you know, physically,emotionally, spiritually completely and not to get

(13:13):
caught up in the hype and getcaught up in all the tension that goes
with, you know, with havinga player like that, because everybody in
the world wants them, and yeteverybody in the world it doesn't have the
same love and interest that you do. Fortunately for me, I had been
and that's why I think I wasan assistant for those nine years prior to

(13:37):
Cambridge, because I was being preppedand prepared to handle the recruitment of Patrick.
I don't think that I could have, so I guess my advice would
be, you know, to findan older, wiser person than yourself,
somebody that you can lean on,somebody that can mentor you, somebody that

(14:00):
would have experiences that you could nevergain until you've been through it. And
so you know, everybody needs acoach, and I would I would just
advise any young person to make surethey tried to find the best coach that
they could to help them with therecruitment. All that being said, how

(14:20):
wild was it? It was wild, but yet it was controlled because like
I said, I had been atthe college level. I had seen,
you know, the kareem of JulJabbaz when he was els Sindre and those
guys come along, and you know, we took little pieces of this and
pieces of that and we put togetherBasically, we developed a plan that not

(14:43):
only would give Patrick the opportunity tobe recruited by just you know, the
best colleges in the country, butalso keep it. Seeing his mother asked
me to make sure that, youknow, that their family life was not
interrupted. Patrick had as normal asenior year as he could. And so

(15:03):
we set up it. We hada system and you know, basically it
was a blueprint for how a bluechip, how the best player in the
country's recruitment should go. And itwas followed by the coaches because if it
wasn't, they were not going tobe allowed to recruit Patrick. They knew
it, and you know, sowe would. He was treated with the

(15:24):
utmost respect by the coaches and therecruitment process. I mean, honestly,
party went smoother for him than itdid for a lot of kids with less
talent. That's really interesting why Georgetownin the end. In the end,
it was Georgetown because it was theplace that Patrick felt the most comfortable.

(15:45):
Missus Ewing, if she had herway, she would she would have wanted
him to play for me, butI wasn't a college coach, but she
did. She wanted him to bewith a strong coach. If it happened
to be an African American, thatwas great. That that wasn't the you
know, it didn't have to be, but it just so happened that John
Thompson impressed her. Patrick liked Georgetownand Washington, DC because it had the

(16:12):
feel of a Cambridge and especially whenI think John took him to the local
bober hood shop, barber shop inthe hood. It made Patrick feel very
very much at home. And Johnwas a great recruiter and I'm sure that
you know he pushed all the rightbuttons as far as what food, you
know, the feet and everything else. But Patrick felt comfortable there. He

(16:37):
had great choices. I mean,he could have gone to Boston University and
played for Rick Pattino. He couldhave gone to Boston College and played for
doctor Tom Davis. Could have wentto Villanova and played for Rodie Massamino,
could have gone to UCLA and playedfor Larry Brown. But he chose Georgetown.
Those were his six final schools.And and I'll so forgot to mention

(17:00):
Dean Smith at North Carolina who youknow, he would have been on the
same team with Michael Jordan and JamesWorthy and Perkins and all those guys.
So he had some great choices.Remarkable too when you think about the fact
that the North Carolina team ended upbeating him in a National championship with the

(17:21):
shot from Michael Jordan. I'm curiousduring that time was any consideration thought about
making a leap directly to the NBA. No, not at all. Back
then, the very few kids wentto the NBA, and those were usually
guys that just didn't have any grades. But in Patrick's case, Patrick promised

(17:44):
his mother. His mother had comefrom Jamaica and worked at Master General Hospital,
brought the family members over one byone until everybody was in Cambridge,
and he promised her that he wasgoing to go to college and graduate.
And he fulfilled his commitment and hispromise to his mom. Well, Patrick
wasn't the only great player obviously thatyou that you coached during your time there.

(18:06):
And another standout that people certainly rememberas Ramal Robinson start of the nineteen
eighty nine Michigan National championship team.What kind of player was Romil Robinson when
you had him at Cambridge. Well, I mean, after Pat, he
was the best one that we everhad in Cambridge. And he was a
unique He was a power point guard. He was, you know, probably

(18:30):
the best guy in the country.And he was a man among boys.
And he was a great team playerjust like Patrick, and a great worker
just like Patrick. And in fact, Ramil's you know what I remember about
him, among other things, isafter every single game, whether we want
to last lost, he paped meon my backside and say, hey,

(18:51):
good game, Doc, good gamecoach. He used to call me Doc.
I guess he knew that someday i'dbe a you know, called that
at the college level as a teacher. But he was. He was special,
and I you know, just lovedthe time that we spent together and
the years that we were able tobe together, which was all but his
last year of high school because Ihad going to be you when he was

(19:12):
going to his senior year. Youyou mentioned um before we get to that
that time a b you mentioned that, you know, you had the three
straight states championships there seventy seven andone when you're when you're coaching Patrick ewing
Um and in nineteen eighty one,you also had the chance to coach him

(19:34):
in the McDonald's All American Game,which had a loaded roster that year,
Chris Mullen and Michael Jordan, Imean, the dream team before it was
the dream team. Was that theeighty one McDonald's game. What are your
memories from coaching that game? Well, first of all, Patrick didn't play
in that in that game in Wichita, the McDonald's Game, because he had
already played in his two All Stargames, so he couldn't play in that

(19:57):
game. He took the trip andwhat that did for us is it gave
us an undersized team. But therewas a kid on that team by the
name of Michael Jordan who made upfor it. And what I remember is
that we won the game ninety sixninety five, and the last five or
six possessions of the game, MichaelJordan scored the last basket, and I

(20:18):
knew if we had the ball atthe end, we would win. And
of course a year later I sawhim do the same thing to Patrick and
Georgetown in New Orleans when he scoredthe game winning basket. And that's that
was Michael Jordan. I mean,he basically tried to win and he did.
He won every single race running youknow, suicide that we ran.
And he was the guy that youknow, you wanted the ball to be

(20:41):
in his hands at the end ofthe game. Now Patrick had played,
the game probably wouldn't have been asclose, but it would have been because
the West had a great team aswell. But but you know, we
were undersized. We did have MichaelJordan Chris Mullins. I didn't know how
good he was until the next yearbecause the night that we played that game,
we had to go for speed andChris wasn't built for speed, but

(21:03):
boy he could shoot. So hedidn't play as many minutes as I'm sure
he would have liked. And aspeople expected, we went with a smaller,
quicker lineup that included guys like AdrianBranch and Milt Wagner and Buzz Peterson
and man go for Us from Louisvilleand Bill Wennington was our only really big
guy that we had in terms ofsize, and um, you know,

(21:26):
but we had a we had agreat team and back in those days when
you played the McDonald's game, youactually tried to play defense. And you
know, even though the score wasninety six ninety five, there was a
lot of defense played, and guysknew they had to had to get in
and play defense because we wanted towin the game. During that time,
seeing that roster and so many guyswho went on to play prominent roles in

(21:48):
college basketball and of course then onthe NBA, how much did you recognize
the talent that you were witnessing asyou as you coached them. Well,
you know what, it's funny whenyou are doing something like just like I
tell people, I never realized howgreat Patrick was totally was because I saw
him every single day, so Isaw a daily progression. Whereas if somebody

(22:10):
saw him one year to the next, they probably appreciate how much he improved
more than I. I probably appreciatedMichael Jordan's talent more because I didn't see
him every day. But you know, either way, I mean, you're
talking about guys who, even attheir I mean, no matter how good
they were, they always tried toget better, always worked on improving some

(22:34):
part of their game, and whetherit was physical or mental, they always
got better at their game. I'veseen a picture from from that game as
well, and your son is inthe picture. What kind of role did
he play with the nineteen eighty one. McDonald's say, well, I tell
you played a big role because AdrianBranch, who ended up winning the MVP

(22:56):
the game, could tell you thatbecause Mike, I was given the opportunity
to pick anyone that I wanted frommy assistant, and I said, you
know what I'm gonna ask. I'mgonna pick my son, my twelve year
old son, to be my assistant. I mean, I just it just
made me so proud to be ableto make the trip with him and to
have him on the bench with me. And he took it very seriously.

(23:18):
In fact, in the first coupleof minutes of the game, we're playing
and he hits me, you know, with an elbow, like he did
all through our years together, andhe said, hey, Dad, he's
not playing any defense. And Isaid, Mike, who you're talking about.
He says, Adrian Branch is notplaying any defense. And I looked
out there and I said, youknow what, You're right. So I
took Adrian out the game. AndAdrian probably hadn't been subbed out of a

(23:42):
game in his life, and hewas really upset, and he came storming
by me on the bench and hewent to the end of the bench and
like you know, slammed himself downthe chair. Well, my twelve year
old assistant got up out of hischair, went down, kneeled down in
front of Adrian and he said,Adrian, if you don't play defense,

(24:03):
my dad ain't gonna put you backin the game. And Adrian looked at
him like he was almost fell outof his chair. So Mike came back,
sat down next to me, anda couple of minutes later hit me
with another elbow and he said,hey, Dad, let's give Adrian another
shot. So yeah, so Isaid, why not. I wanted him
in the game anyhow, So Iput him back in the game. Adrian

(24:23):
played out of his mind. Imean, he played offense and defense.
And Adrian would be the first oneto tell you, hey, this coach
is crazy. He's expecting us toplay defense in an All Star game.
I didn't know any better. Okay, So Adrian went back in the game,
played his living butt off, andat the end of the game,
even to my surprise, he wasnamed the MVP over Michael Jordan. And

(24:48):
then what they really should have donewas they should have given co MVPs that
night because both guys deserved to beMVP. But what I knew that night,
Adam, that Mike, my son, Mike was going to be a
coach, and he was going tobe a great coach. Absolutely, absolutely,
and and and he certainly did justthat. Um coach, I'm curious,

(25:11):
you know, obviously you mentioned yourson is one of them. There's
so many people throughout every coach's careerthat that that that he's helped out by
along the way. And there's justdifferent roles that that people play, and
sometimes small ways and sometimes big andI think it's important to always mentioned some
of those people. And and theway that we're connected is um Tony Colanino,

(25:36):
who's a very close friend of mine. His father was a teacher at
at that school life and uh andand was a special assistant I think for
you, for you for for years. Uh. Can you can you tell
people about who Joseph Colanino was,Oh, Joe, I used to call
him jumping Joe. He couldn't jump. I licked. That's probably why I'm

(26:00):
jumping Joe, but Joe calling.You know, Anthony's dad was one of
the kindest, most giving persons thatI had ever met in my life.
In fact, in the late seventies, Joe had an idea and I and
I bought into it, hook lineand Sinker, and we started a youth

(26:21):
basketball program and it was the itwas. It was such a great program.
Was a co ed youth basketball programthat was born out of an idea
that I had at a criminal justiceclass when at BU. And what it
was was boys and girls playing ina basketball league starting in the third grade,

(26:42):
and it was co ed. Everybodyplayed the same amount of time.
We played sideline. We played anadapted game of basketball I took from my
visit class. We integrated. LikeI said, it was the boys against
the girls. Everybody played the sameamount of time and it was incredible.
We taught stacey, We taught fundamentalsbefore the kids played, and it's still

(27:07):
being The program is still going ontoday. It was our feed of program.
So in Cambridge, you got toimagine, now we're in a basketball
city. Kids are playing organized,structured, discipline, fundamentally sound basketball,
using smaller balls that we got madefor the program, lower baskets, adaptable
baskets that my dad rigged up tohang up over the backboards, and we

(27:33):
got kids playing real I mean real, solid basketball from the third grade all
the way up until they play inhigh school. And Joe and I ran
this program. We started in Wooburn. In fact, Anthony was one of
the first players ever to play inshoot Straight. And Anthony'll tell you the
kids to this day, you know, they're fifty years old now talk about

(27:56):
that program as being maybe the bestprogram and that they were ever in.
Not only for basketball, but wetaught sportsmanship. Kids gone along. They
were black kids, white kids,small kids, talk kids, fat kids,
skinny kids, and it was justit was It was a fantastic program.
And you know, I couldn't havedone it without Joe and Anthony.

(28:21):
In fact, it's funny. Iwas watching a tape. Anthony is a
great speaker, and he was speakingon mindset, growth, mindset and all
that, and he was telling thisgroup and I'm watching this video and all
of a sudden, he says,and you know, there was this guy
that came into my life at justthe right time. And his name was

(28:44):
coach Mike Javis, who I almostfell out the floor when he told the
story about how I had influenced hislife by doing some of the things that
I did. Very very basic,simple life skills kinds of things that reinforced
what his folks were trying to teachhim at home. And I love,
love Joe, loving Anthony, andhe's making a difference all across the country,

(29:08):
you know, helping helping grow teachersso they can help students grow.
Yeah, sadly Joe passed away atthe age of fifty seven, and that
was over a decade ago. Butlike you said, I mean, Tony
has been a wonderful influence for many, many people. And it's it's crazy
how basketball brings people together in thosein those instances, And I appreciate you

(29:32):
sharing that. If you take thejob at Boston University as their head coach,
and you don't see that much wherea high school coach goes on to
become a head coach. Obviously youhad gained a lot of notoriety with your
crazy success in high school. Buthow difficult was it to take the job

(29:53):
and how did that process all workitself out? Well, you know what,
it wasn't that difficult. And Isay that only because I had been
an assistant at the college level fornine years. I didn't have to move
my family. I just had todrive my van, my shoot straight van
across the bridge to to be You. I also had been able to watch

(30:15):
be You. Actually I used togo over to take my team over to
their practice. John Kuster was thecoach would be You, who read Arabac
had recommended, And I think Johnwas just a little young for the job.
He had just come from North Carolina, didn't have any coaching experience.
So when I took the job over, I inherited some good players, you

(30:37):
know, and you know he haddone a great job with the players.
In fact, one of the playersthat I inherited when I took the job
over was Kyrie Irving's dad, DrederickIrving, who was our leading scorer.
And then we brought in a coupleof freshman point guards, Jeff Timberlake and
Tony da Costa, And we hadsome other recruits from the Patino years and

(30:59):
Paul hen Diction, Tom Ivey,and Dwayne Vincent. I mean I had
a good team. In fact,we won twenty plus games our first year,
and you know, almost went tothe NAPA that very first year.
The only problem we had during thefirst three years of BU was that we
had to play against Northeaston and ReggieLewis. So every year we would lose
to them in the championship game andthey'd go to the NBA. We would

(31:22):
either go to the UNIT or gohome. And finally Reggie graduated and we
finally had a chance to go toa couple of naas after he graduated.
But those were those were some fantastic, fantastic years. And like I said,
the prep I had coming out ofcollege and working as an assistant for
all those years really really put mein a good position. In fact,

(31:48):
we had lost in the state semifinalsto Brockton, and this was like an
eighty five or eighty four whatever yearwas my last high school Yet last year
in high school we lost on ahalf court buzzer shot. We would have
been remeled Robinson's junior year and wewould have won the state championship easily if

(32:08):
we had won that game. Butwe lost, and it just so happened
that we had a trip already playedfor our high school team to go to
England and Wales. So we wentover to England and Wales, and when
I got back home, a fact, at the airport, I think I
saw where on the news that JohnCuster was being let go at BU,

(32:29):
And a day or two later,I got a call from sat Sanders and
he says, hey, Mike,how would you like to be the coach
at head coach at BU? AndI had pretty much given up on my
aspirations of being a head coach incollege at that time because it just weren't
They're only a handful of black coaches, sou but Satch, you know,
everybody loves Satch, and I thinkSatch had a relationship with the president.

(32:52):
And before you know it, I'mmeeting with Rick Taylor, the ad and
before you know it, he's offeredme the job. And my kids were
coming up, you know, andjust about ready to leave high school.
So I was able not only toget a great job as a head coach,
but also guarantee my kids would geta free college education. And it
was the best deal that money couldbuy. And so it happened, and

(33:14):
I was destined then to go toBU and then onward from there. But
it's funny once again how God works. And uh, you know, Sah
Sanders, you know, made madethe call in Satch. Actually the reason
why um, you know, hethought of me was because he was really
good friends with my brother in law. So you know, it's a what

(33:37):
is the six degrees of separation?I guess I think there was even less
degrees of separation between everybody. That'sincredible. Uh, for people that haven't
seen him. How good was Tyrieyour Ring's father, Well, he was
playing a bu Well, I'll tellyou what, if he was playing today,
he'd probably be a lottery pick.I mean, he was really really
good. His only his only hisachilles heal was his strength. He was

(34:00):
in fact when when he first wefirst got him, and I had a
great strength coach Mike Boyle, whoI think coaches most of the Bruins in
strength and conditioning, and and hewent from a kid that Billy could bench
press one hundred pounds to doing twicethat and every you know, he was

(34:20):
really good when I got him,and then he was even better when he
got stronger. I think he'd behe would have been the NBA if he
were playing today, because he hadthat kind of game. And you know,
I probably held him back a littlebit because of the way we played.
We were such a you know,team orientated tide of a game.
But in this game, a oneon one and beach off the dribble.
I mean he would have been heprobably would average thirty a game instead of

(34:43):
twenty. How much of his daddo you see in Kyrie Irving's game?
A lot more than anybody else,because I, like I said, I
saw Drederick play and most people hedid things that you know, when he
could that that most players just couldn'tdo. He's just he could handle the
ball like you wouldn't believe, andhe could score. And I mean I

(35:05):
see a lot of Kyrie Kaybee's alittle bit more. Hydredick was a was
an off guide. I tell youwhat I would have seen as the two
of them in the same backcourt specialspecial Yes huh so you're you're bu from
eighty five to ninety and then foundtremendous success at George Washington. And I'm

(35:27):
always curious, again, what promptsthe move having success at Boston University?
What prompts the move to say,you know what, I may take this
this next step here? Well,it was time I never ever really ventured
out of that great Boston area.And I looked at my wife and she
looked at me one night and wesaid to each other, you know,

(35:47):
why not? You know, lifeis shot. I never realized I'd lived
to be, you know, inmy seventies. But but anyhow, so
we said, listen, let's giveit a shot. I had been We
used to come. We play againstHotford, and at Hotford at the time,
they were playing the games in theHobwards Hotford Cynic Center because of a
guy by their vice president, BobChernach, who was a visionary, just

(36:12):
an incredible guy. And I remembera couple of years before I went to
GW, he invited, he invitedmy wife and I had to dinner with
him. He was recruiting me,and I didn't even know it, but
he did say. He said listen. He says, I'm not going to
be at Hotford forever, and ifI go to a bigger school, I'm
going to call you because I wantyou to be my coach. A couple
of years later he called me whenhe went to GW. Now GW hadn't

(36:35):
won they won one like one gamewhen he called me, and I says,
you know, I wish you onea few more games. He said,
don't worry about you. Come withus. We're going to win a
lot of games. And he recruitedme and he's one of my dearest friends
today, and in fact, hewas probably the best boss I ever had,
not probably he was the best bossI ever had. And you know,

(36:58):
he just he had a vision andanything that I needed, you know,
he would make sure that I hadand he gave me all the resources
and the tools to win. Andlike BEU, there were some good players,
they just weren't quite ready before Igot there. When I got there,
it was like it was their time. And we had great success.

(37:21):
And then we got blessed. Wewe recruited a kid that by the name
of Yinka Dare who ended up reallychanging the face of GW and uh,
you know, put help put uson the map. And my first my
son's first year out of college,he joined me, and you know,
and we went to the Sweet sixteenand actually almost beat the Michigan Fab five

(37:43):
that year. We I think wetook the game and lead a little too
early in that game with about fouror five minutes to go. And but
what a ride. I mean,that was probably the most the most fun
I've had coaching probably that and maybeyou know in high school. But what
a great, great time that was. Yeah, I've got I got so
much to ask you about that.So Yinka Dare just an outstanding center at

(38:09):
the college level and went on toplay in the NBA. What kind of
similarities did you see between him andPatrick EWINGI not a lot. Rienka was
a very different kind of player.I mean Patrick was when he was young,
was long and lean and incredibly athletic, and you know, he could

(38:29):
run the floor like a da.Yinka Dare was just one of the strongest
human beings. I mean he woulddunk and the whole gym would shake,
you know, I mean I sworeevery time he dunked, the backboard was
going to break. A different kindof player. Ya. Yanka's game was
like three footing in. Everything wasa dunk. Patrick could take you out

(38:50):
to the following if he had to. And you know, Patrick was a
much more all around complete player.But they were both they both dominated in
their own way. Um and Yinka, if he had stayed in college and
played another couple of years, hedrew up there. He only played basketball
a few years because when he cameover, you know, he went to
when he came from Africa, fromNigeria, he went and he played at

(39:14):
Milford Academy. In fact, heplayed in and one of the maybe reason
why I got him. He playedfor my one of my former players,
Scott Spinelli, who was the coachat at Milford. Scott's now coaching at
Boston College as an assistant, andso I had an in and I took
advantage of a trust me. Butwhen I went to see Yanca play,
um, you know, he playedmaybe two or three minutes and he'd come

(39:37):
out the game and he basically haveto lie on the floor, and you
know, so I was I didn'tknow what was he what was up with
the kid? And you know,there was a possibility maybe he had something
going on with his heart. SoI remember promising him, I said,
Yinka, the first thing we're gonnado when you if you come to g
W, we're gonna have you thoroughlyfully examined. And there's any problem at

(40:00):
all with your heart, you don'thave to worry, you won't have to
play, You'll still have a scholarship. It was worth the gamble. We
brought him, We took him tothe doctors, come to find out he
had asthma. So he got Inhalaand all of a sudden, it was
like I mean, he came tolife. Now he could play. Instead

(40:21):
of two minutes at a time,he could play twenty minutes at a time.
And he then really started to developbecause he was able to really stop
playing. He never really played afull game in his life. And so
once again we were blessed by havinggood doctors and you know, getting his
situation cured. Unfortunately for him,after he graduated and you know, things

(40:44):
didn't work out in the pros.He I think he stopped taking his medication,
maybe using whatever he was supposed tobe taken for his asthma. He
ended up having complications and he youknow, he passed away at the age
of thirty three. Heartbreaking story,it is. Um. Yeah, the
recalling all that is Yeah, Iremember when when all that went down.

(41:07):
It was just tragic. Um,it really was. Yeah. Coach Wood,
Um, having these two great postplayers who had different different games,
you had such a rare opportunity tocoach just special center talents. Um.
What what did you learn about aboutcoaching big men? Well, you know

(41:30):
what I learned was that if youtake the great big men before I had
the opportune to see the greatest tome, the greatest big man who ever
played the game, certainly the winningestbig man ever played the game. And
Bill Russell when I when I rememberone time saying to Patrick, you're going
to be the next Bill Russell.Patrick didn't tell me two years later he

(41:50):
really didn't know who Bill Russell was. But but because you know, he
didn't watch a lot of TV andall that kind of good stuff. But
I was. I mean, Iwas born and raised on Celtics basketball,
born and raised on Bill Russell andRed Aurback basketball. And if I could
take any big guy and try tomold them, I'd mold try to mold

(42:14):
them after Bill Russell, you know, because number one, you're gonna win
championships. Number two, you're goingto have an unselfish guy who's a leader.
And that's you know. But butevery play is different. In fact,
we had a third great big manat GW. We got we had
a Belarussian from Belarus, Cool,Alexander Cool, who came to GWU.

(42:36):
In fact, his story is crazy. I mean, where we've got an
exhibition game against the Belarussian team,I have no idea who's on the team.
They come to George Washington, andyou know, our school treats everybody
the same They treated them great.They fed them like kings, and I
think that's you know. And Alexanderwas being recruited by Kansas and a few

(42:57):
other people who weren't really quite sureabout them. Well, we were sure.
We wanted them. In fact,I remember going over to Belarus to
make a visit. But I tellyou, this kid, I think one
of the reasons why he came toGW was because of the food. I
mean, and I imagine this hesaid to me once, he said,
Coach, does my scholarship include food? I mean, are you gonna feed?

(43:19):
Are you gonna feed me when Icome? And I looked at him
and I said, could you imaginehe's not asking am I going to get
an automobile or money or whatever?Am I going to get fed? So,
you know, and the good thingis we fed him really good.
So we had we had such anadvantage because I don't the other schools they
had their exhibitions games that they maynot even fed them. So I'm glad
once again, Bob Chernach he fedthe Belarussian team. And it was a

(43:44):
kid that we didn't even know wewould recruit and that would come to us,
that was on that team. Andthat we ended up getting another kid
that if he was playing today,he'd be a lottery pick kid bya Miego
Michelliko about six seven sixty eight Belarusiankid. Oh, I mean, talented
as you could believe. So anyhow, we we I mean you talk about

(44:05):
one blessing after another, trust me, I mean, these are all these
things. They don't happen by amistake. That's a that's a good point.
It's a good, really good point. The um the runs you had.
You mentioned your Sweet sixteen run inninety three against that that Fab five
team playing in Sweet sixteen, butum, obviously you learn it's weird.

(44:27):
I went back and watched that game, and what's interesting about it is you
coundar didn't even score in that inthat game, you're still down to at
the half, which is unbelievable,Which is crazy. What coach wit um?
For coaches that haven't done it before, what is it like to coach
in the NCAA tournament? It's thebest, it's I mean, especially the
first time. It's great. Imean, and then if you can win,

(44:49):
I mean, you know, veryfew coaches get into the Double A
and very few win. And whenthey first get in, so I mean
it's it's special. I mean,and then you know, if you're not
a I seed, like we werenever a high seed until I got to
Saint John's, you're playing against youknow, the top seeded teams you're playing
and sold out arenas or national television. I mean, it's and the electricity.

(45:15):
I mean, that's that that thatthat that takes place, you know,
And I never realized how much Imissed or how great that felt until
I stopped coaching. I mean thatyou talk about a rush, you talk
about a high It doesn't get muchbetter than that. And the kids,
how do you keep the kids nervescome? You don't, You don't,

(45:37):
you don't. You just you justhope and pray that the game comes quick
so you can start to play,because that's about the only thing that'll take
care of the nerves is actually playingthe game. So you can't control that,
and if you try to, you'rewasting your time. You know what
you really should try to do.And the years that we did our best

(45:57):
for the years that I probably justthe kids really relax and enjoy it.
And but you know, the betteryou get, the more you try to
control things. Sometime and that's amistake. So my advice to a coach
going the Instable Tournament is try tofind as many different ways to enjoy it
as you can. I mean,take in a movie, if you can

(46:19):
practice a little bit less, youknow, and just just tell the kids,
you know what we're gonna We're gonnaplay as hot as we can.
If we do, we win nomatter what the score is. It's a
good way to look at it.You know. It's interesting you look back
at your career and you you're aname is synonymous with so many interesting players.

(46:40):
And obviously we've run through you know, the Ewings and Alexander Cool and
Yank Dara as all big men.You also had one of the most famous
little men in college basketball and SchanteRodgers too. For people that never saw
him play. How would you howwould you sum up the diminutive of Shante
Rogers? Oh, I would justsay inch for inch, inch for inch,

(47:06):
borrowing nobody, including Patrick and MichaelJordan in certainly no disrespect. Wow,
the best player I ever coached,inch for inch was Shanty Rogers.
And I'm gonna tell you his storyand this also will be in the in
the coach the movie. But ShantaRogers in his junior year, Okay was

(47:27):
our second leading rebounder. Okay averageseven rebounds a game. Okay at five
foot three. Now he would tellyou he's five to five. And I'm
gonna tell you his story in aminute. So he's the second leading rebounder.
He's averaging about twenty points a game. He's the MVP in the league.
In fact, his senior he wasthe MVP in the Atlantic ten which
still is was. He was evenbetter back then, but it's really good

(47:51):
now. But he was the MVPover lamar rodem Okay six ten hall,
you know, all style, lamarRod him. That's how good he was.
People compare him to a Muggsy Bows. I really think he was better
than Muggsy, and Muggsy was agreat player. And I say that only
because Chante could shoot the ball alittle bit better than Muggsy. But he
had everything else. I mean hewas I mean, he was a winner.

(48:14):
He was tenacious, he was strong, he was quick, he was
fast, he could score. Hecould do it all, and he could
he could change a game just likeMuggsy could on the defensive end. And
one day I called him into myoffice. I think he was going into
his junior year, and I said, you know, I know a sophomore
year. And I says, Chante, I got an idea because I used

(48:35):
to think I was a pretty goodmarketer. So I said, listen,
I want you to wear number fiftythree because every time people see that number,
I want them to think of you. He looks at me and he
says, Coach, I'm five five. What do you mean five to three?
I says, okay, Chante,come on over here, stand up
against the wall. And I mockedthe wall and then I measured it.
It was five foot three. Isays, but Chante, you know what

(49:00):
in America, so you know it'syour bargain. So tell you what.
Let's meet halfway. How about ifyou agree to be five foot four and
we're number fifty four. And hesaid fine, that's how come he wore
number fifty four because that was thatwas sort of his brand, that was
his that was what I wanted peopleto remember that this guy was five four.

(49:22):
And see, my thing is ifyou're not over six feet, your
mouths will be five feet because thatmakes you special. He was special,
and he went to France only becauseuh Steinbrenner, the owner of the nets,
said you know what, and heshould have made the nets, but

(49:45):
they didn't. But they didn't selectthem. And the reason is the owner
said, you know, I don'twant to have a midget on my basketball
team. And they he got cutfrom the Nets. He went to France
and I believe he's in the Hallof Fame and France. That's how good
he unbelievable, unbelievable talent. Lookhim up for anyone out there who hasn't
seen Chante's incredible finished in nineteen ninetynine, so now it's almost twenty years.

(50:12):
It's pretty pretty hard to believe thatthat we haven't seen him on a
college basketball stage, and you knowwe're in almost twenty years. Um,
so coach from there again, youryour success, I mean behind you know
all of those great players and KwameEvans and all these guys at George Washington
who played a major role for you. And I'm glad you mentioned Quome and
you know Quome Evans Born Jones,Sony Holland, Dirk Searles. I mean,

(50:38):
Alvin Piasaul, I mean we hadoh Yntoe Hi. I mean I
could go on and on and on. We had so many Nimbo Hammons,
we had so many great players.Yeah, and so you do this unbelievable
job recruiting and you're winning and it'srecognized and so um. Next thing,
you know, it's crazy how lifeworks. In full scum. You're tabbed

(51:01):
as as Saint John's head coach inin nineteen ninety eight, in playing in
the Big East, and you know, after you had basically transformed the Big
East. Why you know, PatrickEwing going there, you know, back
in the day. So it's it'sremarkable how how things work out. What
are your memories from for taking thatjob? Oh? Crazy? I had

(51:24):
I mean I had called Luke KaneSeca to recommend Bill Harry and my assistant
who had gone on to Drexel,and I recommend I was calling I you
know, I thought I'd put ina great recommendation. I talked to Lou
for over half an hour about Bill. Luke calls me back the next day
and says, hey, I reallyreally liked what you told me about Bill,

(51:45):
but how about you. Would youcome to Saint John's And at first
I said, now, I don'tthink so, because I was scheduled to
coach you know, part of theOlympic team, and so I I really
you know, I always said inNew York could be a great place to
visit, but a great place tolive. But then, you know,
I changed my mind and I gotcaught up in the lights like everybody else,

(52:06):
and I decided to take that shot. And I mean, I'm glad
I did, um, you know, because I wouldn't be where I am
today in terms of my walk,you know, my faith. But anyhow,
I'm glad I took the job becausethe time that we were there,
most of it was really great.Um. You know, you're playing in
Madison Square Garden. You've got someof the best players in America, you're

(52:30):
playing against the best teams. You'reyou know, you're you know, you're
going to be in the instable Atournament most years. It was. It
was quite an experience. It was. It was quite a It was also
very very interesting. I probably shouldhave left there after year one, definitely
after year two. Um, andyou know, done a movie on my

(52:51):
couple of years at Saint John's andI probably could have. You know,
I think we would have sold upthe year is because the stuff that went
on there, especially in the lockroom, behind the scenes, nobody would
believe. But it was a crazy, wild time. But we won.
And um, you know, whenyou're doing well in New York and they
love you, you know, itdoesn't get much better than that. You

(53:13):
never have to worry about paying fordinner. Um, you know, you're
you're you're living in style. Andbut there's a price, you know,
sometimes there's a price you gotta payfor anything. I guess, well,
you say, how how crazy itwas, what was going on in the
locker room. You had run ourtest on on some of those teams,
Eric Barle, Yeah, well,once again, you had a lot of

(53:35):
combative I mean you guys, Imean we It's amazing our guys were so
together on the court. You wouldthink that they were they were blood brothers,
they were they were from the sameyou would think they were relatives.
And yet off the court they fought. I mean there were there were there
were many a night when my assistanceand I had a break up. You

(54:00):
know, guys would get in I'mnot going to mention who fought against whom.
You know, there's one one,one instance probably as well recorded.
But you know, maybe when wedo the movie, I'll get more into
details about some of the locker roombrawls that went on, but I mean
crazy stuff. I mean, andyou know, just trying to sort of

(54:21):
like not control, but manage someof the personalities because those guys was just
so competitive. I mean at alltimes. I mean Ron a tests would
would get upset with the manager ifhe didn't think the manager was working hot
enough. But that's also what maderun so great. And when Ron was
in college, he hadn't been diagnosedas being bipolar, so you know,

(54:45):
people would often wonder. In fact, I remember Larry Bird called me and
asking me, how how did wemanage you know, Patrick, I mean
Ron during his college years. AndI remember telling him, I said,
hey, listen, I said,you're not gonna believe this. But what
we did was when things got outof control, we called time out,
bring the team out to half court. I would call the priest out.

(55:07):
We put our hands in and wewould pray. And most of the time
Ron would come back, you know, to his to the team and he
would then you know, calm downand we could go on. But boy,
when these guys played on the court, they played like they loved each
other because they loved to win.Yeah, for sure, for sure.

(55:27):
Um, the fact that you sawrun our test every day during a period
where you know, a college basketballfans knew who he was, but certainly
that the world didn't didn't know whohe was yet watching him every day.
What you know, you talk aboutsome of the mental issues he had,
but what about just on the courtand in practice? What what kind of

(55:49):
competitor was he? What kind ofplayer was he at that time? He
would be on that all time team, competitive team he'd be on. He'd
be on. He'd be there withPatrick or Meal. Um. You know,
those those three guys, Um,you know, probably practiced hotter than
any players that I've ever seen,I mean that I've ever coached. I

(56:12):
mean they just I mean every day, every minute of every practice, those
guys performed. I mean I neveronce with any of those guys, had
to ever ask tell any of themthey need to work hotter. Um.
But because they couldn't work any hotterthan they worked. I mean, they
just worked. They were workaholics,they were all three of them. Other
than our tests. Was there aplayer during that run at Saint John's And

(56:39):
you think about some of the names, I mean, you know, LeVar
Postel. But see Thornton, MarcusHatton, um Cook as as I mentioned
Eric Parkley. Is there any oneof those names that you felt like didn't
reach the potential that that you thoughtthat they would. Well, you know,

(56:59):
Trenty. Um, I don't thinkI realized how really good Bootsie Thornton
had become, and mainly because Ididn't respect his defense until the very very
end. And you know, buthe's but he became, Um, I
mean just one of the best collegeplayers there was. In fact, he

(57:21):
made a career playing overseas. Heplayed overseas for over ten years. Um,
and you know, one of thebest players in Italy. And so
he had a great career. ButI, like I said, I was
on him, on him, onhim, and you know, and I
think the night that I realized thathe had come totally all the way was
night he destroyed Bobby Franzis or notBobby Francis, but from Maryland Francis.

(57:46):
Yes, And I mean he justout, I mean he just killed him,
crushed him. And so he washe was a special, special player.
Um. Eric Backley was an intensecompetitive He could shoot a shot,
shot a little bit better. Hewould have lost it longer in the NBA.
Um Omar Cook just never could shootthe ball well enough to be in

(58:07):
the NBA. And that was theone thing we wanted him him to work
on, okay, was his shot, and he just he was just he's
you know, he was. Hewas a headstrong guy. I think his
head. Him being so headstrong helpedhim in many ways, but it hurt
him in others. And that isthe one thing that he really needed to
change, and he wouldn't allow meto help him change it, which was

(58:30):
his shot. But he's been playingprofessional ball since since Saint John's, so
I guess it's not all bad andum, but those guys I mean you
talk about and Lavapo Stell, heimproved so much. I mean when I
first went to Saint John's the firstyear, it was like, don't don't
you know, if we're being pressed, make sure he doesn't touch it at

(58:50):
ball because he really has his fundamentalskills were not really that good, but
he worked so hard at his gameand I mean eventually made the NBA.
And you know, you got togive that kid a trying of credit.
Absolutely, coach, I know,you gotta get going in a moment.
I just had two quick questions foryou, Okay. One was one is
that you had one of them,I think one of the most incredible weeks

(59:16):
in college basketball. In February oftwo thousand, you beat number nine Syracuse
at the time, two days laterbeat number eighteen Connecticut, and then five
days after that you win at numberthree Duke. When I mean, people
do not win non conference opponents donot win at at Cameron, and you

(59:39):
succeeded in doing all three. Whatare your memories from from that week?
Well, I hope Duke never losesanother home game to a non ACC team,
because this is two eighteen, thatwas two thousand. They haven't lost
a home game to a non ACCteam in eight team. It'll be going

(01:00:00):
on nineteen years. So guess whatI mean that that week. I mean
we didn't lose a game that monthand that that week, and it was
just the most incredible And and youknow, two of them were on the
road. Like you said, therewas a hot Saturday afternoon at Duke,

(01:00:21):
and you know, Duke's like theold God and you're reminded me of what
Reggie used to do in the Goden. He'd get the temperature up over one
hundred degrees and the other teams wouldwilt. But you know, and and
that, and we beat them.We had a six to four and a
half in center whose name I didn'tmention, and that was Anthony Glover,
the man child, and he dominatedthe game inside. And then Bootsy Thornton

(01:00:45):
and Eric Barkley and you know,Reggie Jesse and I mean, oh,
the guys just did a great job. And we just hung in there and
hung in there and hung in there, and then at the end of the
game, we were just tough thanthey were. And I mean, we
ended up we should have probably beena number one seed that year, but

(01:01:06):
we ended up getting the number twoseed. They ended up sending us out
west unfortunately, played two road games, one against Northern Arizona and then Gonzaga.
And the NBA beat us that year, trust me, um, and
they that was the year that theywere chasing after the AU guys, Barkley
and mcgetty and all those guys.They finally wore us down. They they

(01:01:27):
beat us. No team beat uson the court. They beat us at
the end of that year. Butguess what, Um, I couldn't have
been proud of of any team thanI was of that team. I guess
that the other big questioner and andrightfully so. Um, you said that
the NCAA was coming after guys atthat time, and and it was.

(01:01:50):
It was a weird period and justlike sort of we're going through another one
right now in college basketball. Um, at the time, any regrets and
anything that you think back on asto maybe I could have done this differently
in the position of head coach.No, the only regret I have about
that time when the instable A waschasing after those guys. I mean they

(01:02:15):
had made there a couple of peoplethat had made their mind that these kids
were not going to they weren't seriousabout graduating from college, okay, and
so they they they targeted about sixkids from around the country. Eric Barckley
had happened to be one of them. And what they did to those kids
during the year, I mean,we'd be getting ready to play a game

(01:02:37):
and five minutes before the game,someone would come in the locker room and
say, Eric can't play tonight,you know, or something like that.
I mean, what they did tothat kid and those kids that he was
criminal. And the only thing thatI probably wish I had done was been
even more outspoken against it. Imean, I you know, I spoke

(01:02:59):
again what was going on? Um, And you know I probably should have
even been more outspoken, to bevery honest with you. UM, that's
probably my only regret. How muchof that I think it was, you
know what I mean it I hateI hate to even talk about racial because

(01:03:21):
we live in a time, ina society. The minute anything goes wrong,
the first thing, you know,it's racial. Um, I think
it was. I don't know ifit was. If it was, I
don't know if it was racial,if that's the best word to use.
I mean, the only thing youcan say is I think all of the
kids happened to be black, Butyou know, the majority of the kids

(01:03:44):
playing at that level at that timewere black anyhow, So I think it
was it had more to do withpower. Like most things, it was
about. It was about power.It was about control, and it was
about the fact that you know,um, the ns double A wanted to
let everybody know that they were incontrol, that they had the power.

(01:04:08):
So I wouldn't say as much.I'd say it was more about power struggle
than it was about than it wasabout race. Well, last the coach
I just want to say with youobviously had success at Florida Atlantic. We
had Matt McCall on the podcast.You you've you've got a coaching tree.
You I mean, the people thatyou've influenced in your life, uh speak

(01:04:30):
so highly of you. And heum really spoke highly about you know,
your ability to take that program fromanother position just like GW that was that
was at the basement and and liftthem up to a new level. Um.
But in your in your posts coachingcareer, now you've written some books.
Um, I want to tell mewhat I was wondering when you're going

(01:04:54):
to ask me, Yeah, that'swhat. Of course, of course,
what have you written coach? Well, you know what. Just before,
in fact, my last year atSaint John's, I co authored my first
book, Skillsful Life, which isa life skill book. But then after,
at the end of my FAU time, I wrote a book Everybody Needs
a Head Coach, and I justcompleted the Seven Seas of Leadership and I'm

(01:05:18):
using that book as part of myteaching. I'm teaching leadership skills at South
Florida Bible College in Deerfiel, Florida. I'm working for an incredible president Mary
Dreybeck. I'm helping her also tryand build the school and build the brand.
So I am teaching and coaching tothis day and I'll do that until

(01:05:42):
the day I die. At theschool, you know Mike went in high
school, they used to call meDoc Doc. They gave me that nickname
years ago in high school, anda lot of the players, Patrick included
still calls me Doc. Well atthe college, Mary Drebeck has given me
the name Doctor coach. So I'vemade it all away from Doc as a

(01:06:03):
high school coach to doctor to coachat the collegiate level. I love where
I'm at. You know, Ithought I was going to coach until the
day I died, and I probablyI'm sure I would have if I kept
coaching. That's where I would haveprobably passed away on the court because I'm
seventy three, but I feel likeI'm fifty three, and you know what

(01:06:27):
I but I believe that God hasme right now where he wants me,
and what I'm trying to do nowis make a difference in the lives as
main people as I can, likeI've always tried to do, and I'm
also still doing some speaking and youknow, I want to travel and share
the knowledge and the wisdom, tellpeople about the things that I did right,
the things I did wrong, thethings that they can use to become

(01:06:48):
better leaders. And I think thatthe Good Lot has me right where he
wants me. So I'm happy andI'm looking forward to hopefully getting up to
mom on and doing it all overagain. Well, I greatly appreciate having
you on. A hundred wins overone hundred wins of Boston University, a
hundred wins at George Washington, ahundred wins at Saint John's, more than

(01:07:11):
a hundred wins I should say ateach of those schools. Just a fantastic
career, and you've been a greatambassador for the game and coach. I
cannot thank you enough for jumping onthe podcast. Well, I cannot thank
you enough for giving me this opportunityto just sit down like I did tonight
and just basically go through the MicJavis story. I mean, you know,

(01:07:34):
I when I have that opportunity,Adam, I realize how blessed I
am. And I thank you,And I also thank Anthony by introducing us,
and I hope to see you andAnthony in the not too distant future.
So again huge thanks to coach MikeJarvis. Remarkable to consider what he
accomplished during the course of his career. I really appreciate his candidness. Very

(01:07:57):
interesting to hear some of those stories, especially back in the Patrick You and
Cambridge Redge and Latin days. It'sfascinating. Special thanks to Tony Colannino for
setting that up and introducing us.Also, of course I want to thank
Sydney Smith, my partner here withthe forty year Coach, Mark Eisenberg as
always an r K, for editingthe podcast again. If you enjoy this

(01:08:19):
podcast, please rate and review uson iTunes ed subscribe you do not want
to miss our great guests coming up, and of course if you don't have
an iPhone, you can always checkus out on spreaker again, that's forty
year Coach on Spreaker, and ofcourse check out our website forty yearcoach dot
com to more learn more about whatwe were what we are doing in the

(01:08:40):
coaching community. That'll do it forus. This week, we'll catch it