November 13, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode of The Jimmy Rex Show, Jimmy sits down with one of college basketball’s true legends — Coach Jim Harrick, the mastermind behind UCLA’s 1995 national championship team. With a career spanning over two decades, Harrick reflects on his incredible journey through high school gyms, Pepperdine, UCLA, and beyond, sharing insights into leadership, recruiting, and the timeless lessons he learned from his mentor, the great John Wooden.
Coach Harrick opens up about the values that guided his teams — teamwork, discipline, and faith — and why the “John Wooden system” remains one of the most brilliant frameworks in sports. From stories about the O’Bannon brothers and Tyus Edney’s famous full-court game-winner to his thoughts on the NIL era and the collapse of the Pac-12, this conversation is a masterclass in coaching wisdom and integrity. Whether you’re a basketball fan, leader, or student of greatness, this episode will leave you inspired by one of the game’s most respected minds.
00:00 Introduction
01:20 Jimmy’s dad, faith, and UCLA memories
02:45 Coaching path: Morningside → Pepperdine → UCLA → NBA
05:30 Building the L.A. recruiting pipeline & keeping local talent
07:05 John Wooden’s system: teaching, defense & “share the sugar”
10:20 Motivation, discipline, and practice planning
13:55 Recruiting stories (Lamar Odom), camps & networking
17:10 Modern game: NIL, transfer portal & Pac-12 thoughts
22:50 Life after coaching: family, faith & grandkids
30:50 Tyus Edney’s 4.8-second play, legacy
34:35 Outro
Coach Harrick opens up about the values that guided his teams — teamwork, discipline, and faith — and why the “John Wooden system” remains one of the most brilliant frameworks in sports. From stories about the O’Bannon brothers and Tyus Edney’s famous full-court game-winner to his thoughts on the NIL era and the collapse of the Pac-12, this conversation is a masterclass in coaching wisdom and integrity. Whether you’re a basketball fan, leader, or student of greatness, this episode will leave you inspired by one of the game’s most respected minds.
00:00 Introduction
01:20 Jimmy’s dad, faith, and UCLA memories
02:45 Coaching path: Morningside → Pepperdine → UCLA → NBA
05:30 Building the L.A. recruiting pipeline & keeping local talent
07:05 John Wooden’s system: teaching, defense & “share the sugar”
10:20 Motivation, discipline, and practice planning
13:55 Recruiting stories (Lamar Odom), camps & networking
17:10 Modern game: NIL, transfer portal & Pac-12 thoughts
22:50 Life after coaching: family, faith & grandkids
30:50 Tyus Edney’s 4.8-second play, legacy
34:35 Outro
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Jimmy Rex Show. Today,
in the podcast, I sit down with one of the
all time legendary college basketball coaches, Jim Herrick, and most
people know him remember him. In nineteen ninety five he
won the national title with UCLA. He had the Obannon
Brothers and the Tias Edney, but also was the Coach
of the Year that year and went on to coach
had several other successful years, four time Coach of the Year,
(00:25):
award Pac Ten Coach of the Year on several occasions,
and so just a real pleasure and treat to be
able to sit down and hear from one of the
all time legendary coaches in all of college basketball, mister
Jim Herrick. Today's podcast is brought to you by Bucked
Up Supplements. You guys doing these athlete podcasts, it can
be a little bit draining sometimes because I usually do
(00:46):
five or six in a day. I got to la
and take advantage of my opportunity to be able to
get these amazing guests. And when I'm doing it, I'm
trying to stay hydrated, but I'm also trying to stay
in shape, and so Bucked Up Protein they come with me.
I actually found them at a gas stay out there
and took a few every single day.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
While I was doing these podcasts.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So as you listen today's podcast, just remember that it
is sponsored by Bucked Up Protein Anywhere Bucked Up Products
per Soul.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Appreciate you beat on the podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Your mom player.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well, it's funny, I you know, I remember when I
was younger, my dad he was a big fan of yours.
I don't even know if this is true, but he
always thought you were Mormon, and so he always cheered
for you because we grew up Mormon. I don't are
you Mormon by okay? He had always talk about it.
So he was a big us LA fan. When you
guys won the national title with the Abandons, he was
cheering for you the whole time, and that was the
one reason why. So I just kind of funny, really
(01:41):
love your dad. Yeah, I always thought that was kind
of funny. But you know, it's interesting. I remember those
times that some of the first NCLB tournaments I really
watched as a kid, you know, tyas Edney going court
to court and everything else. But those were really some
of those teams that helped define an era of college
basketball that I I feel like, really we don't have anymore.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It's just different back then.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I hate to agree with you, but it was different
back then than it certainly is now. I had a
marvelous run in coaching. I spent thirteen years in high
school at Morningside High School here in Inglewood, and then
I got an assistant job at Utah State and I
went up there as an assistant coach, was there four years,
(02:26):
came back to UCLA for two years as an assistant coach,
and I got the head coaching job at Pepperdine. So
you know, I've been My wife and I got married
and we left that night and came to California right
after I graduate from college. So I've been out here
sixty some years. And I was telling the guy the
other night on the pregame show, Dodger Show, I went
(02:48):
to the coliseum wants the moonshot. So that's how. But
you know, I spent nine years at Pepperdine and at
A UCLA and to a Rhode Island for Georgian was
with the NBA for five years and and I just
had a great, great run, and h certainly the run
at UCLA was very, very very special, and you know,
(03:09):
I got I think you know, I've been head coached
twenty three years and went to the tournament sixteen times,
and and guys, it was just the tournament is so
exciting and and uh they were certainly highlight days. Uh.
I looked back one time they were asked, man, I
think we looked it up. We had seventeen guys in
(03:32):
the NBA through that era right there, and so we
only had some really good players McLean and Murray's and
Butler's and Toby Bailey and I pooh, Richard ain't go
on and on now, And we had some really good players,
and you have to have good players.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, Well, in UCLA has always been able to track
that top talent, right, guys like Westbrook and everybody else.
It's been a little interesting since you were there, though.
I feel like the whole West Coast hasn't been able
to perform as well in the NCAA tournament. I mean,
I guess usually he's made the final four a few times.
I haven't really been able to get over the top
and get any championships. I think you say it was
the last I think he guys were the last championship.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
West of the Mississippi.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I grew up in southern California as a high school
basketball coach and knew all the coaches. Got there. Was
nine years in high schools, so you learn to you know,
you get around and play, and so I knew all
the coaches. So when I get in college, I just
started calling all the coaches in southern California because I
had a great feeling for this place. And I said, hey,
(04:35):
whenever you see a guy, call me, and they would,
and that's how I made my living. So I get
the Pepperdine job, and I just go right back to them,
I said hey. And I had my guys calling nerves, guys,
sleepers everywhere, especially after the early signing. Between early sign
end of early signing and the signing of the next year,
(04:56):
from November to February, how much guys improved. I mean,
it's absolutely incredible. So you got to keep your eyes
on those guys. And so my, you know, the high
school coaches I knew all all knew that and called
me and I get the U c l A job.
I want you, I want la guys. I want la guys.
I told my assistants, I said, hey, put a fence
(05:17):
abound l A and only the Inbay In.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, well, there's as much talent here as anywhere in
the country.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
And to answer your question, the last several coaches have
not done that at u c l A. Now Ben
Hollen did, but after Ben, nobody did. You know, they
just didn't get the l A. I mean, you gotta
be kidding me. You know, I saw list just the
(05:44):
other day of John Savage's U c l A said
how many guys are in the majors? And the list
and list and list and list, you know, and and
and I would think, how many guys are playing college
basketball from southern California. Yeah. I was a coach at
Georgia and they made a great announce the last twenty
(06:05):
one years in a row of Georgia player has been
on the Final four team. Wow. So I said, hey,
wait a minute, man, I got to close this gap
and get to get all these Georgia guys. And I
got a bunch of Georgia guys and we did really
won the eastern side of the Southeastern Comery. But I
have a great feeling for Southern California and the high
school players here. And if I were a coach here
(06:27):
at UCLA, I'd recruit southern California. Ye, once in a while,
you go out. I went to Czechoslovakia and got George
z Dick, and we went back east, and we were
recruiting a kid back east and nose Cameron Dollar and
signed him. But most of the time we were all
Southern California guys.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Was that a lot of pressure to come in?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I mean, you have so much history at UCLA, you know,
obviously the eleven championships with Wooden in years without losing
a game. Was there a lot of pressure coming in
as the head coach at such as Ostist School.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
I tell you, I started at morning Side High School
in nineteen sixty four, the year John Wooden championship, and
I looked up and saw those teams play, and I said,
I want my teams to play like that. So I
went to every clinic body's book, studied him like a master.
I got a PhD in John Wooden, and I thanked
(07:16):
the Lord every day for the John Wooden system of basketball.
Not the only way to play, just the best, and
it proved to me to be you know, I looked around.
He spent twenty eight years mastering and I'm saying, well,
who am I to change anything? And so I copied
everything he did and it's it's masterful the system of
(07:39):
basketball if you get enough players to run it and
run it well. And so consequently I had took it
to Rhode Island. I had Gatino Mobley and Tyson Wheeler
and we came with an answer going to Final four
with a group of guys that nobody ever knew. And
I went to Georgia and had Jarvis Hayes and a
(08:00):
bunch of guys, and those guys ran it to a
t and executed. It was just fantastic. And when guys
play together and share the ball, and it's amazing what
can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
How do you instill that in a team too?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Because I think your UCLA teams were known for that, right,
I mean, obviously you had the Oldbandon Brothers, but it
was just such a team that none of those guys
were stars in the NBA per se. You didn't have
that one, but you had so many just great players
that are probably.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Their biggest job of any coach is teaching your players
to share the ball, share the sugar, It's amazing what
can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.
You passed to me, and I'll pass to you. But
if you never passed to me, I'll never pass to you,
and our team will be all messed up. So it
(08:50):
comes back and start the first day. He was sharing
the ball and don't turn it over. Son, share the
ball and don't turn it over. And we'll go along
where you helped me on offense and help me on defense,
and I'll help you, and we help one another. We
always had a switching, scrambling, hustling defense, rotating defense, and
(09:12):
I think those are the best kinds of defense, where
you rotate and help and recover and chase and do
all the other I think that's the best defense in
the world. And that's what we always ran. And and
uh it just for me, it worked, And uh, I
don't see you know. You know, I grew up as
an English teacher in high school, and uh, I used
(09:36):
to snivel like a little rat because I had to
make lesson plan. Principal came out, I want to see
your lesson plan. I used to just go home and
tell my wife in vent like crazy. Then I get
to UCLA and john Wood and said, hey, you have
everything written down, you plan your practice and I'd already
done that. I had been doing that for years. And uh,
(09:57):
I tell you what happened. I learned how to teach,
because as a basketball coach, you are just a teacher
of basketball. The court is an extension of the classroom.
You got to have number one methods of how to teach.
You know, guys learn ten percent when they see it
(10:21):
and twenty percent when they hear it, but they learn
seventy percent when they do it. And the laws of
learning or explanation, demonstration, correction, and repetition, and you got
to know those kinds of things when you're teaching. And
then you've got to have a certain amount of discipline.
Discipline is what you do for someone, not to someone.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
And you've got to have an unbelievable amount of motivation
because on Monday, there's about three guys or four guys
on your team but don't want to practice because the
game's not on Friday. I mean, we know, but your
job is to motivate them to give their best every
single day so they can improve just a tiny bit
each day and bust and look in the mirror and
(11:06):
I say, hey, hey, I busted today. I did the
very best I could.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
How do you motivate people at that level?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Start every day? I had a moment of a motivation
every day. Inch by inch, life's a cinch. Yard by yard,
life is hard. Competitive greatness when they're going gets tough.
The tough gunt get going. It's a great great players
(11:35):
always love the excitement of a great battle.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Exactly say eight.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Players like to keep scoring. They like to be in
the mix. You know, they honor the competitor. That makes
them even that much better for.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
The I Dave Roberts was in the dorm with my
son at U C l A. And he was on
the team, and I got to know him real well,
and and we've carried that relationship till now. So I
go a lot of Yeah, I love the Dodgers, and
go a lot of games. And the year we wanted.
The next year was like Murphy's Law. What could go wrong?
(12:13):
Did go wrong? And I text him all the time
that he's going through that right now. Well, everything they
could go wrong has gone wrong. But you turn it
around and this Friday night and Saturday and Sunday is
a great battle for his team to go home and
lace them on tight, say hey, let's go play. Let's
(12:36):
go play, because this is exciting a series as where
we had one last year when they were up three
to two to one today some year and we shut
them out three straight games. And so they got a
memory of that too. But you know, things happened to
you when you when you win to gee. That's why
there's not very many teams that repeat, just very very hard.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
What was win your case? You know, you won the
national championship? What made it so difficult that next year?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Guys got sick, guys got hurt. You know, we'd lost
a lot of leadership and to get that back was
really very difficult. You have to wait for young kids
to mature and grow and grow into their leadership. Bard
and we didn't have a great leader that year. My
good players were Toby Bailey and j R. Henderson. And
(13:28):
although Charles O'Bannon had started on our national championship, you know,
he wasn't quite the leader Ed was, and that's not
but he was a great kid. But we just didn't
have you know, always said, you know, we've had three
seniors a year before who were great leaders and the
best workers, the hardest workers, and the best players. And
(13:49):
that takes you a long way.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
What did you do to be such a great recruiter?
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I know, even when you were at Rhode Island, you
recruited the number one recruit the nation that.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Year was lamar Oda.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
You always had an ability to recruit that top talent.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
You know. I uh, I call a lot of luck
into it. But I think that a basketball coach wears
a lot of hats. Sometimes you're a father, and sometimes
you're a preacher, and so most of the time you're
a psychologist and every day you're a fire by fighter
because you put out fires. Well, one of the most
(14:22):
important ingredients in any head coach is your ability to
to attract. You're an attractor. You attract people to you.
And and I've had a lot of good force. And
(14:42):
like I said, uh I started when I when I
started at Pepperdine, you know, I got all my high
school coaches to help me. And I'd played in a
in a summer league with Sam Sullivan out at Fremont
High School, you know, and he called me, hey, I
got this kid named Dane, you know, and he became
the all time leading scorer in the history of Pepperdine.
(15:04):
I think somebody broke it, but he was for a while.
It was just a great, great player for us and
just went on like that all the time. He kept on.
This guy. I just worked camps. I was the first
director of the John Wooden basketball camp, so we would
have six hundred kids. So I had sixty coaches in it,
you know, so I got to know them all real well.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Such an advantage for a career.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Oh yeah. And I'd sit here and coach wouldn't sit here,
and I'd tell the coaches, I'll say, ask him a question.
And we all got a master's degree in coaching. The
wet from the master. But from that, you know, there's
a guy that was in our camps all the time, working.
He's coaching out at Channel Islands High School calling coach,
I got a player, you got to come see me.
(15:48):
I got a player. Well, yeah, I played for me
for four years and started went the three NCAA tournaments.
He went overseas and played ten years. Wow. I got
him a job with the State Farm Insurance. He'd become
an absolute leading director. Went to send him back to
d C and he ran the d c Virginia area guy. Quality,
quality kid. But that's the way we were. They just
(16:10):
just called me. I hadn't seen him. They'd have summer
leagues like they do now.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Well, that shows the power of networking, right, and pouring
into other people. And you know, you're giving up your
time and just putting forth to help other people at
those camps for example.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
And you know, I came out here and I was
playing five nights a week Industrial League, and I'd meet
these referees and they're starting to referee. And then I
became a coach at high school as a JV coach.
I look around, there's the same coach was called my
and I became a head coach, and the same coaches
I get the Pepperdine job. Same guys they worked their
(16:44):
way up to colle so I knew a lot of
the officials. I knew all the high school coaches. So
I was more than prepared to be the Pepperdine coach
and the UCLA coach. And a lot of guys get
jobs where they're ill prepared. As you see around the country.
It's you know, it's funny. Uh. I was down at
(17:04):
Angel Stadium last night. I walked by a thing of
Jimmy Reese. Jimmy Reeve was eighty three years old coaching
in the major leagues. You know, I look at Pete
Carroll and I look at Bill BELLI checking you know,
guys that are you know, my age and coaching and
I love that. But doesn't seem like basketball does they
(17:24):
like to have a younger guy that it's not quite
as experienced. So, you know, so I don't know, I
don't know the answer.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
All what about with the modern game? You know, obviously
a lot is changed in college basketball. You have the
nil and you got the transfer portal. How much more
difficult would have it been to coach with guys could
have you know, transferred every year and we're being paid
the amount that's going out, you.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Know how sad? I don't really know a lot of
I don't know who's on the UCLA's basketball team, and
I'm a big UCLA and just it's sad because you know,
people used to come to our games. They'd follow Obamon
for four years and Edney for four years and they just,
you know, he's my guy. I love they game, and
(18:09):
their high school kids would come, their community would come.
A long beach Polly community would come, our teaser community
would come until we Bailey had to lieold group coming
and j R. Henderson had a lot of people in Bakersfield.
They all followed their guy. But there's none of that anymore.
There's you know, the NCAA's outlawed loyalty and they say, well,
(18:32):
your coaches can move. But that's a different thing. That's
a profession. That's guys with families and things, and and uh.
They had been so greedy and would never give kids
any money. If they'd give them to three hundred dollars,
I mean years ago, they'd have been happiest. Figs and slopping.
They were nothing with it. No one was said anything.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Well, a big part of the change came from one
of your most probably the most famous player you ever coached,
was ed Obanna.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Was really the.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Battles group of men and ex players and they needed
a modern name. And it started out he was just
a name that they gave, you know, but then he
got involved in it, and I'll never forget. He came
in my office after we want it and he says, coach,
I was over to bookstore and talk to the manager
and he's all excited he says, hey, ed, He says,
(19:19):
our bookstore made ten million dollars on you guys. And
he says, I look around, I see my jersey, says
obandon on people wearing it. And he says, I don't
think that's right, and it wasn't right. So they needed
they needed to check that box. But no to Greed.
He coach Greed kills everything, and I'm afraid he's going
(19:42):
to I don't know what it's going to do.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, it's interesting. I wonder if you know, I think
that they have to do contracts or something. There has
to be something so the players are committed to the
teams as much as that, you know, the teams commit
to the players otherwise.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I just I don't know how they fix it.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
I read in the paper today where a guy just
transferred to UCLA today from Hawaii. You know what I'm saying,
you can do that. Classes have nobody. It's probably been
practicing over there a couple of days. Then, like what's
going on, I'm leaving. Yeah, I mean, I don't know
how I would have I would have adjusted. I wasn't
(20:15):
have adjusted. Sure, I don't know how I would have
well as a coach.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I talked to a couple of their college coaches about this,
and they said they have to have multiple people on
their staff just to retain their own players, just to
make sure they're not transferring anywhere. You know. In the meanwhile,
you can scout almost every team because every player essentially
becomes a free agent every year.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I remember John Caliperi, who were back at the Final Four,
when and says, hey, I'll just go through the shake
up line and handle my card. He's kind of joking,
but that's kind of the way it's become. Yeaday, you know,
it's just crazy. Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
If you were, I mean put in charge of you know,
n C DELA today, what changes would you make to
make the game a little bit better.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Well, I tell you what I'd do. I tell exactly
what I do. I go to all the ABC, CBS, ESPN.
I say, you guys want a TV football? Do you
want a TV football? Yes? We do. Okay, here's the
way it's going off. I had the authority. Now I
don't have the authority, but if I had the authority,
(21:14):
say all right, here's what we're going to We're going
back to the Pac twelve. We're gonna have these power conference,
and I'm will choose using what schools and what conference,
but everybody gets paid equally. Because to break up the
PAC twelve is sinful. People should go to jail for that.
(21:36):
That's that's criminal. It's criminal. One hundred and eight year
conference and it breaks up over what money money greed
has gotten everything so involved, you know, And I talked
to Martin Jarmond. Now I try to close, slowly, bring
us up. Jimmy says, stop, well you had to do it.
We had to do it, And I understand.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
You seely kind of hate. It's usc jumped, right. Is
that pretty much what happened there.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
I don't know how much I know about it, but
from everything i've I've heard and talked to people that
the PAC twelve had a chance, yeah, to take Texas
and Oklahoma.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, they should have done that.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
From all my information, which is not nothing formal, s
C said no. And when that happened, the first shoe dropped.
And so I don't, I don't, I don't. I don't
get into that stuff. But I just become a fan,
watch games and enjoy life. And it's over.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
So I mean, once you're done, you know, you had
such a prestigious coaching career, won national championship.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
How do you spend your time?
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Like every so many people want your attention, your time,
your knowledge, everything that you know that you built up
over the years. How do you determine where you put
your time and effort at this point in your life?
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Uh, you know, I pick and choose. I don't really
like to travel so much anymore, but you know I've
got I got to go back to Georgia State and
do something for them, and they want me to come
to Missouri Saint Louis University. You know, it just it
just keeps keeps coming, and you have to you have
to pick through what you want to do, what you
(23:16):
can do. And and uh, but I enjoy it. You know.
That gives me just enough to keep my motor flowing.
And I got a granddaughter that plays at the University
San Diego, so I'm in at every one of those games.
And I got a high school football grandson that plays.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
And does your granddaughter come to you for advice on coaching?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Well, I'll tell you what I saw her play as
a third grader. And uh, and uh, we're sitting around,
my wife said, let's go watch Kyllie play, and I said,
you want me to go to a third grade girls
basketball game, that's what grandparents do. Let's go. So we
go and score sixteen tonight. Nothing. But she's got all sixteen,
(24:02):
so that just changes. Oh okay. And I've worked her
out a bunch of times, and I spent a lot
of time with her, and she earned a scholarship. God
bless her. She was one of the top hundred players
in the country. And she made life so enjoyable for
my wife and I. And now we got a high
school senior who plays both ways tight end and defensive
(24:27):
vand we're excited about watching him play. Got a granddad
plays high school volleyball.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Do you get more nervous watching those them play versus
when you were coaching, or more nervous when you were
the coach?
Speaker 3 (24:37):
More nervous watching them? Yeah, your son and I had
three sons that played high school ball, so it's it was, Yeah,
it's fun. It's for that we spent our time with grandkids.
And yeah, family and faith and friends are the things
we spend most of our time on now, and that's
that's the most fun.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah, we started with that a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
I told you how my dad, I don't even know
how he found that out, But that's was that something
that you ever, they didn't really come out a whole
lot while you were coaching or anything. Did you ever
like it's still those principles under the team or how
did you manage those different.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Well, we prayed before a lot of games, and I
don't know if anybody'll know, but the moment the national
championship was over, you'll see my team owing a circle
on her knee, saying a real quick little prayer. And
I never I never pushed it. I'm never you know
that that part of my life's personal. So I never
(25:33):
I never threw it at them. And but but I
always wanted always talk to them about being spiritual because
I think that that that that young kids who pray
have a better self image of themselves. They have someone
to talk to and someone to say something to and
and maybe get feedback sometimes and if they believe. And
(25:57):
I just believe that. And so you know, I always
thought about faith, Uh, without any knowledge of religion, any
kind of faith that I think is strong.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, I think that's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
What uh, what did you learn specifically from coach? Wouldn't
being able to have the access that you did to him.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
We have no, you have no time. You don't have
enough time for that. I mean that guy was was
the greatest. He was my teacher, my mentor, my advisor.
H I remember I called him one time. You know,
he's very structured and he'd sit there and forties on.
I said, coach, I need some advice, said Jim, I
(26:43):
don't give advice, but I do give opinions. He's funny
you and he loves to tease you. Or you get
him in a camp setting and he just teased me
to death as a director, you know, and he just
he just hammered me all day long and we'd laugh
and all other coaches would laugh. And he was funny.
He was good. He was there all the time. And
(27:05):
I became very very very close with him other than basketball,
and uh well we were he was. He was the master.
What I learned from him was just we don't have
enough time. That's that's a three days that's a three
(27:27):
day podcast.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Was he did he help you when you were interviewing
for the U c L A job was out?
Speaker 3 (27:32):
No? No, he did not, uh he he I don't
think he would step into anybody's what anybody's doing. I
was at Pepperdine and uh, I had been an assistant
at U C. L A. And the A D was
was in real director when I was there. Now he's
the A D. So he knows me well. And uh,
(27:56):
you know, it's kind of like a checker piece or
a puzzle. You put this piece here, Well, that doesn't work,
and you put this piania And at the end I
was the last piece and I fit right in the spot,
and so I got the job it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Do you have a favorite player you ever coached, or
what's a maybe one or two guys that just stand
out to you.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
No favorites. Coach my son, he'd be my favorite. But
Lamar Udham was the best basketball player I ever coached.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Really.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
He was a spectacular, spectacular college player who could see
plays ahead of time, was a genius on the court
and brilliant. He was one of two players ever had
that knew how to play basketball. Most guys don't know
how to play. Wow, they just played on how to play.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Who was the other one?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Gerald Madkins, who played at UCLA. He's just recently been
the assistant general manager of the Phoenix Suns and He's
been in the NBA for twenty three years as an
administrator scouting administrator, but he played four years and he
was a freshman All American in at UCLA and in
(29:05):
the summer I got the job. He's riding his moped
around west Wood and got hit by a car. They
put four screws in his pelvic and it cost him
a step and he just wasn't but boy, he was
a good player, even losing the step. He was a
good player.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And I love Gerald Mats So.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Fascinating how little things throughout a guy's career can change
the whole trajectory.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Right. You got to stay healthy.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
You've got to stay you know, just the situations you
get put in.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
You never know who.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
I talk to my players every single day. Are you
going to be there when I need you? Are you
going to be eligible? Are you going to be healthy?
Are you going to take a shower every day and
put a hat on when you go out in the
cool weather and I get a cold? Are you going
to eat right? Are you going to sleep right? Are
you not going to overeat? You're going to do everything
(29:57):
in moderation. Will you be there when I need you?
That's what I want to know and that that that
encompasses a whole bunch of things. And uh, I remember
the year we got, the year we got, the year
we wanted the next year. You know, j R. Henderson,
there's one two best players. You know, he goes down,
(30:18):
he's sick. He got the flu so bad he can't
get out of bed. I got a high ankle spring
on another guy, and we limped into the tournament and
got beat. That's what I'm worried about. The Dodgers limp
them into the tournament. But you know, you just can't
win it. Every year people have to understand it.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Well, it just goes to show you again, like just
how difficult that is to win a championship. And I
think you respect it and honor it that much more.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah, very much, so very much so.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I mean even there, you guys want it. You know,
you got that play against Missouri. It's the final final
seconds and just one ball goes the opposite direction and
you never know what could have been.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Four point eight seconds. Uh you know, I, uh, you
call that player? Was that? I called that play because
we'd had some things happen. I'd had those kids for
three years O'Bannon and Edney and z D and those guys,
and and uh, we'd gotten beat on a five second play.
Guy go on the length of the floor. Not with
that's group, but I had that before that happened. But
(31:15):
the first thing that happened, I watched Wes do that
in sixty five against the Knicks at the at the
at the sports Arena in a playoff game, go to
the length of floor in three seconds and scored. So
I'd come back and I'd give my guys four seconds
and we'd work on that. And I went to an
NBA camp and they had to give a guy a
ball and he's got to go to the length of
(31:36):
the floor in six seconds, you know. And a lot
of guys can do it, but they run be nine routes.
They get down there and they kick it out of bounds.
They get down there and make a great play and
missus shod but Ty said, and we do it once
a week. Ty said, And he's like a road runners.
Let me watch him. Okay, what rep play up? So
I had seen him do that play many times and
(32:00):
I told him, I said, you get the ball and
take it to the rim. They're not going to foul
you and we're on the bench. You go here, you
go here, you know, And I got up and I
put my arm around and walked him out the half court.
We're standing at half court together on arm around. I said, TAAs,
do you have a crystal clear understanding of what I said?
He says, you you want me to shoot the ball.
(32:21):
And right at that time, Ed O'Bannon walked by him
said give me the ball. And he looked at me
and I said, Tyus, I want you to shoot the
ball because we don't have enough time to pass. And
we had played Fab five in the NCAA tournament. We
had him down nineteen and the lockedness Monster brought him back.
(32:43):
Chris Weber. He had hands, the biggest hand I've ever
seen in my life. And they're up eight, and we
pressed him and tight caught him, stole the ball and
then he drives in to win the game and drops
it down to edel bannon because he's a point yard
and Jimmy King kicks it out of bounds of hitting
over time and beat us. So I remember that and
that's why I said, Tyas, I want you to shoot
(33:04):
the ball. And he comes up to the left side
and they double teamy. He goes left handed behind these
back full speed, takes two dribbles from half court and
lays it over a six' eight guy about that much
and banks it. In and you, Know i'm driving down the.
Street i'll never forget they're way down, there you, know
(33:25):
and The missouri, scored and the five guys call time
out and they all turn and it's riveted ten eyeballs
right through my head walking back towards the, play you.
Know AND i didn't think about much but that, Summer
i'm driving down the street and it hit me that
might have been the defining moment of my coaching career right,
there that moment that you're knowledgeable, enough you have enough,
(33:49):
poise you have enough character and emotion to tell your
team exactly what they want to do with with great.
Confidence AND i think that was That that was a big,
play and it's a big play in my life and a,
big big moment in my life and in. Coaching but you,
Know i'm sure some coaches have gone through, that but
(34:09):
not very.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Many, yeah thank you for sharing. That yeah it's. Beautiful,
well thank you so much for being on. Again such a,
Pleasure and, yeah it's one of those THINGS i remember
as a kid who's watching you guys win the national
championship and followed.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Your career because my, end my dad has always been your.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Dad still love he. Is, yeah well it's his.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Age he's seventy.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Eight good tell, HIM I. Stone, well they'll take a.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Picture he'll enjoy, that all.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Right, all thank, You, jimmy thank, You.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Thank you again for listening To The Jimmy Rex. Show
if you liked this, episode please give me a quick.
Favor just go, online leave us a, review subscribe to
our show both on, YouTube Apple, podcasts and On.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Spotify and if you would share this with somebody.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Else, also if you're looking to make a real change
in your, life or if you have a man in
your life that you, know could you know just use
a brotherhood or some men around him to help him
level up in every area of. LIFE i encourage you
to look at we are the. Day this is my
men's coaching PROGRAM i started several years, ago and we
have been able to help close to one thousand men
now that have joined this program and had a life,
(35:09):
changing transformational. Experience several of these episodes we talked to
members of this. Group we talk about this, group and
if you are interested in learning, more go to Join
What That's join watt dot com
Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Jimmy Rex Show. Today,
in the podcast, I sit down with one of the
all time legendary college basketball coaches, Jim Herrick, and most
people know him remember him. In nineteen ninety five he
won the national title with UCLA. He had the Obannon
Brothers and the Tias Edney, but also was the Coach
of the Year that year and went on to coach
had several other successful years, four time Coach of the Year,
(00:25):
award Pac Ten Coach of the Year on several occasions,
and so just a real pleasure and treat to be
able to sit down and hear from one of the
all time legendary coaches in all of college basketball, mister
Jim Herrick. Today's podcast is brought to you by Bucked
Up Supplements. You guys doing these athlete podcasts, it can
be a little bit draining sometimes because I usually do
(00:46):
five or six in a day. I got to la
and take advantage of my opportunity to be able to
get these amazing guests. And when I'm doing it, I'm
trying to stay hydrated, but I'm also trying to stay
in shape, and so Bucked Up Protein they come with me.
I actually found them at a gas stay out there
and took a few every single day.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
While I was doing these podcasts.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So as you listen today's podcast, just remember that it
is sponsored by Bucked Up Protein Anywhere Bucked Up Products
per Soul.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Appreciate you beat on the podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Your mom player.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well, it's funny, I you know, I remember when I
was younger, my dad he was a big fan of yours.
I don't even know if this is true, but he
always thought you were Mormon, and so he always cheered
for you because we grew up Mormon. I don't are
you Mormon by okay? He had always talk about it.
So he was a big us LA fan. When you
guys won the national title with the Abandons, he was
cheering for you the whole time, and that was the
one reason why. So I just kind of funny, really
(01:41):
love your dad. Yeah, I always thought that was kind
of funny. But you know, it's interesting. I remember those
times that some of the first NCLB tournaments I really
watched as a kid, you know, tyas Edney going court
to court and everything else. But those were really some
of those teams that helped define an era of college
basketball that I I feel like, really we don't have anymore.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It's just different back then.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I hate to agree with you, but it was different
back then than it certainly is now. I had a
marvelous run in coaching. I spent thirteen years in high
school at Morningside High School here in Inglewood, and then
I got an assistant job at Utah State and I
went up there as an assistant coach, was there four years,
(02:26):
came back to UCLA for two years as an assistant coach,
and I got the head coaching job at Pepperdine. So
you know, I've been My wife and I got married
and we left that night and came to California right
after I graduate from college. So I've been out here
sixty some years. And I was telling the guy the
other night on the pregame show, Dodger Show, I went
(02:48):
to the coliseum wants the moonshot. So that's how. But
you know, I spent nine years at Pepperdine and at
A UCLA and to a Rhode Island for Georgian was
with the NBA for five years and and I just
had a great, great run, and h certainly the run
at UCLA was very, very very special, and you know,
(03:09):
I got I think you know, I've been head coached
twenty three years and went to the tournament sixteen times,
and and guys, it was just the tournament is so
exciting and and uh they were certainly highlight days. Uh.
I looked back one time they were asked, man, I
think we looked it up. We had seventeen guys in
(03:32):
the NBA through that era right there, and so we
only had some really good players McLean and Murray's and
Butler's and Toby Bailey and I pooh, Richard ain't go
on and on now, And we had some really good players,
and you have to have good players.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, Well, in UCLA has always been able to track
that top talent, right, guys like Westbrook and everybody else.
It's been a little interesting since you were there, though.
I feel like the whole West Coast hasn't been able
to perform as well in the NCAA tournament. I mean,
I guess usually he's made the final four a few times.
I haven't really been able to get over the top
and get any championships. I think you say it was
the last I think he guys were the last championship.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
West of the Mississippi.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I grew up in southern California as a high school
basketball coach and knew all the coaches. Got there. Was
nine years in high schools, so you learn to you know,
you get around and play, and so I knew all
the coaches. So when I get in college, I just
started calling all the coaches in southern California because I
had a great feeling for this place. And I said, hey,
(04:35):
whenever you see a guy, call me, and they would,
and that's how I made my living. So I get
the Pepperdine job, and I just go right back to them,
I said hey. And I had my guys calling nerves, guys,
sleepers everywhere, especially after the early signing. Between early sign
end of early signing and the signing of the next year,
(04:56):
from November to February, how much guys improved. I mean,
it's absolutely incredible. So you got to keep your eyes
on those guys. And so my, you know, the high
school coaches I knew all all knew that and called
me and I get the U c l A job.
I want you, I want la guys. I want la guys.
I told my assistants, I said, hey, put a fence
(05:17):
abound l A and only the Inbay In.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, well, there's as much talent here as anywhere in
the country.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
And to answer your question, the last several coaches have
not done that at u c l A. Now Ben
Hollen did, but after Ben, nobody did. You know, they
just didn't get the l A. I mean, you gotta
be kidding me. You know, I saw list just the
(05:44):
other day of John Savage's U c l A said
how many guys are in the majors? And the list
and list and list and list, you know, and and
and I would think, how many guys are playing college
basketball from southern California. Yeah. I was a coach at
Georgia and they made a great announce the last twenty
(06:05):
one years in a row of Georgia player has been
on the Final four team. Wow. So I said, hey,
wait a minute, man, I got to close this gap
and get to get all these Georgia guys. And I
got a bunch of Georgia guys and we did really
won the eastern side of the Southeastern Comery. But I
have a great feeling for Southern California and the high
school players here. And if I were a coach here
(06:27):
at UCLA, I'd recruit southern California. Ye, once in a while,
you go out. I went to Czechoslovakia and got George
z Dick, and we went back east, and we were
recruiting a kid back east and nose Cameron Dollar and
signed him. But most of the time we were all
Southern California guys.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Was that a lot of pressure to come in?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I mean, you have so much history at UCLA, you know,
obviously the eleven championships with Wooden in years without losing
a game. Was there a lot of pressure coming in
as the head coach at such as Ostist School.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
I tell you, I started at morning Side High School
in nineteen sixty four, the year John Wooden championship, and
I looked up and saw those teams play, and I said,
I want my teams to play like that. So I
went to every clinic body's book, studied him like a master.
I got a PhD in John Wooden, and I thanked
(07:16):
the Lord every day for the John Wooden system of basketball.
Not the only way to play, just the best, and
it proved to me to be you know, I looked around.
He spent twenty eight years mastering and I'm saying, well,
who am I to change anything? And so I copied
everything he did and it's it's masterful the system of
(07:39):
basketball if you get enough players to run it and
run it well. And so consequently I had took it
to Rhode Island. I had Gatino Mobley and Tyson Wheeler
and we came with an answer going to Final four
with a group of guys that nobody ever knew. And
I went to Georgia and had Jarvis Hayes and a
(08:00):
bunch of guys, and those guys ran it to a
t and executed. It was just fantastic. And when guys
play together and share the ball, and it's amazing what
can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
How do you instill that in a team too?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Because I think your UCLA teams were known for that, right,
I mean, obviously you had the Oldbandon Brothers, but it
was just such a team that none of those guys
were stars in the NBA per se. You didn't have
that one, but you had so many just great players
that are probably.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Their biggest job of any coach is teaching your players
to share the ball, share the sugar, It's amazing what
can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.
You passed to me, and I'll pass to you. But
if you never passed to me, I'll never pass to you,
and our team will be all messed up. So it
(08:50):
comes back and start the first day. He was sharing
the ball and don't turn it over. Son, share the
ball and don't turn it over. And we'll go along
where you helped me on offense and help me on defense,
and I'll help you, and we help one another. We
always had a switching, scrambling, hustling defense, rotating defense, and
(09:12):
I think those are the best kinds of defense, where
you rotate and help and recover and chase and do
all the other I think that's the best defense in
the world. And that's what we always ran. And and
uh it just for me, it worked, And uh, I
don't see you know. You know, I grew up as
an English teacher in high school, and uh, I used
(09:36):
to snivel like a little rat because I had to
make lesson plan. Principal came out, I want to see
your lesson plan. I used to just go home and
tell my wife in vent like crazy. Then I get
to UCLA and john Wood and said, hey, you have
everything written down, you plan your practice and I'd already
done that. I had been doing that for years. And uh,
(09:57):
I tell you what happened. I learned how to teach,
because as a basketball coach, you are just a teacher
of basketball. The court is an extension of the classroom.
You got to have number one methods of how to teach.
You know, guys learn ten percent when they see it
(10:21):
and twenty percent when they hear it, but they learn
seventy percent when they do it. And the laws of
learning or explanation, demonstration, correction, and repetition, and you got
to know those kinds of things when you're teaching. And
then you've got to have a certain amount of discipline.
Discipline is what you do for someone, not to someone.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
And you've got to have an unbelievable amount of motivation
because on Monday, there's about three guys or four guys
on your team but don't want to practice because the
game's not on Friday. I mean, we know, but your
job is to motivate them to give their best every
single day so they can improve just a tiny bit
each day and bust and look in the mirror and
(11:06):
I say, hey, hey, I busted today. I did the
very best I could.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
How do you motivate people at that level?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Start every day? I had a moment of a motivation
every day. Inch by inch, life's a cinch. Yard by yard,
life is hard. Competitive greatness when they're going gets tough.
The tough gunt get going. It's a great great players
(11:35):
always love the excitement of a great battle.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Exactly say eight.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Players like to keep scoring. They like to be in
the mix. You know, they honor the competitor. That makes
them even that much better for.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
The I Dave Roberts was in the dorm with my
son at U C l A. And he was on
the team, and I got to know him real well,
and and we've carried that relationship till now. So I
go a lot of Yeah, I love the Dodgers, and
go a lot of games. And the year we wanted.
The next year was like Murphy's Law. What could go wrong?
(12:13):
Did go wrong? And I text him all the time
that he's going through that right now. Well, everything they
could go wrong has gone wrong. But you turn it
around and this Friday night and Saturday and Sunday is
a great battle for his team to go home and
lace them on tight, say hey, let's go play. Let's
(12:36):
go play, because this is exciting a series as where
we had one last year when they were up three
to two to one today some year and we shut
them out three straight games. And so they got a
memory of that too. But you know, things happened to
you when you when you win to gee. That's why
there's not very many teams that repeat, just very very hard.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
What was win your case? You know, you won the
national championship? What made it so difficult that next year?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Guys got sick, guys got hurt. You know, we'd lost
a lot of leadership and to get that back was
really very difficult. You have to wait for young kids
to mature and grow and grow into their leadership. Bard
and we didn't have a great leader that year. My
good players were Toby Bailey and j R. Henderson. And
(13:28):
although Charles O'Bannon had started on our national championship, you know,
he wasn't quite the leader Ed was, and that's not
but he was a great kid. But we just didn't
have you know, always said, you know, we've had three
seniors a year before who were great leaders and the
best workers, the hardest workers, and the best players. And
(13:49):
that takes you a long way.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
What did you do to be such a great recruiter?
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I know, even when you were at Rhode Island, you
recruited the number one recruit the nation that.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Year was lamar Oda.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
You always had an ability to recruit that top talent.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
You know. I uh, I call a lot of luck
into it. But I think that a basketball coach wears
a lot of hats. Sometimes you're a father, and sometimes
you're a preacher, and so most of the time you're
a psychologist and every day you're a fire by fighter
because you put out fires. Well, one of the most
(14:22):
important ingredients in any head coach is your ability to
to attract. You're an attractor. You attract people to you.
And and I've had a lot of good force. And
(14:42):
like I said, uh I started when I when I
started at Pepperdine, you know, I got all my high
school coaches to help me. And I'd played in a
in a summer league with Sam Sullivan out at Fremont
High School, you know, and he called me, hey, I
got this kid named Dane, you know, and he became
the all time leading scorer in the history of Pepperdine.
(15:04):
I think somebody broke it, but he was for a while.
It was just a great, great player for us and
just went on like that all the time. He kept on.
This guy. I just worked camps. I was the first
director of the John Wooden basketball camp, so we would
have six hundred kids. So I had sixty coaches in it,
you know, so I got to know them all real well.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Such an advantage for a career.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Oh yeah. And I'd sit here and coach wouldn't sit here,
and I'd tell the coaches, I'll say, ask him a question.
And we all got a master's degree in coaching. The
wet from the master. But from that, you know, there's
a guy that was in our camps all the time, working.
He's coaching out at Channel Islands High School calling coach,
I got a player, you got to come see me.
(15:48):
I got a player. Well, yeah, I played for me
for four years and started went the three NCAA tournaments.
He went overseas and played ten years. Wow. I got
him a job with the State Farm Insurance. He'd become
an absolute leading director. Went to send him back to
d C and he ran the d c Virginia area guy. Quality,
quality kid. But that's the way we were. They just
(16:10):
just called me. I hadn't seen him. They'd have summer
leagues like they do now.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Well, that shows the power of networking, right, and pouring
into other people. And you know, you're giving up your
time and just putting forth to help other people at
those camps for example.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
And you know, I came out here and I was
playing five nights a week Industrial League, and I'd meet
these referees and they're starting to referee. And then I
became a coach at high school as a JV coach.
I look around, there's the same coach was called my
and I became a head coach, and the same coaches
I get the Pepperdine job. Same guys they worked their
(16:44):
way up to colle so I knew a lot of
the officials. I knew all the high school coaches. So
I was more than prepared to be the Pepperdine coach
and the UCLA coach. And a lot of guys get
jobs where they're ill prepared. As you see around the country.
It's you know, it's funny. Uh. I was down at
(17:04):
Angel Stadium last night. I walked by a thing of
Jimmy Reese. Jimmy Reeve was eighty three years old coaching
in the major leagues. You know, I look at Pete
Carroll and I look at Bill BELLI checking you know,
guys that are you know, my age and coaching and
I love that. But doesn't seem like basketball does they
(17:24):
like to have a younger guy that it's not quite
as experienced. So, you know, so I don't know, I
don't know the answer.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
All what about with the modern game? You know, obviously
a lot is changed in college basketball. You have the
nil and you got the transfer portal. How much more
difficult would have it been to coach with guys could
have you know, transferred every year and we're being paid
the amount that's going out, you.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Know how sad? I don't really know a lot of
I don't know who's on the UCLA's basketball team, and
I'm a big UCLA and just it's sad because you know,
people used to come to our games. They'd follow Obamon
for four years and Edney for four years and they just,
you know, he's my guy. I love they game, and
(18:09):
their high school kids would come, their community would come.
A long beach Polly community would come, our teaser community
would come until we Bailey had to lieold group coming
and j R. Henderson had a lot of people in Bakersfield.
They all followed their guy. But there's none of that anymore.
There's you know, the NCAA's outlawed loyalty and they say, well,
(18:32):
your coaches can move. But that's a different thing. That's
a profession. That's guys with families and things, and and uh.
They had been so greedy and would never give kids
any money. If they'd give them to three hundred dollars,
I mean years ago, they'd have been happiest. Figs and slopping.
They were nothing with it. No one was said anything.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Well, a big part of the change came from one
of your most probably the most famous player you ever coached,
was ed Obanna.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Was really the.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Battles group of men and ex players and they needed
a modern name. And it started out he was just
a name that they gave, you know, but then he
got involved in it, and I'll never forget. He came
in my office after we want it and he says, coach,
I was over to bookstore and talk to the manager
and he's all excited he says, hey, ed, He says,
(19:19):
our bookstore made ten million dollars on you guys. And
he says, I look around, I see my jersey, says
obandon on people wearing it. And he says, I don't
think that's right, and it wasn't right. So they needed
they needed to check that box. But no to Greed.
He coach Greed kills everything, and I'm afraid he's going
(19:42):
to I don't know what it's going to do.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, it's interesting. I wonder if you know, I think
that they have to do contracts or something. There has
to be something so the players are committed to the
teams as much as that, you know, the teams commit
to the players otherwise.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I just I don't know how they fix it.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
I read in the paper today where a guy just
transferred to UCLA today from Hawaii. You know what I'm saying,
you can do that. Classes have nobody. It's probably been
practicing over there a couple of days. Then, like what's
going on, I'm leaving. Yeah, I mean, I don't know
how I would have I would have adjusted. I wasn't
(20:15):
have adjusted. Sure, I don't know how I would have
well as a coach.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I talked to a couple of their college coaches about this,
and they said they have to have multiple people on
their staff just to retain their own players, just to
make sure they're not transferring anywhere. You know. In the meanwhile,
you can scout almost every team because every player essentially
becomes a free agent every year.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I remember John Caliperi, who were back at the Final Four,
when and says, hey, I'll just go through the shake
up line and handle my card. He's kind of joking,
but that's kind of the way it's become. Yeaday, you know,
it's just crazy. Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
If you were, I mean put in charge of you know,
n C DELA today, what changes would you make to
make the game a little bit better.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Well, I tell you what I'd do. I tell exactly
what I do. I go to all the ABC, CBS, ESPN.
I say, you guys want a TV football? Do you
want a TV football? Yes? We do. Okay, here's the
way it's going off. I had the authority. Now I
don't have the authority, but if I had the authority,
(21:14):
say all right, here's what we're going to We're going
back to the Pac twelve. We're gonna have these power conference,
and I'm will choose using what schools and what conference,
but everybody gets paid equally. Because to break up the
PAC twelve is sinful. People should go to jail for that.
(21:36):
That's that's criminal. It's criminal. One hundred and eight year
conference and it breaks up over what money money greed
has gotten everything so involved, you know, And I talked
to Martin Jarmond. Now I try to close, slowly, bring
us up. Jimmy says, stop, well you had to do it.
We had to do it, And I understand.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
You seely kind of hate. It's usc jumped, right. Is
that pretty much what happened there.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
I don't know how much I know about it, but
from everything i've I've heard and talked to people that
the PAC twelve had a chance, yeah, to take Texas
and Oklahoma.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, they should have done that.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
From all my information, which is not nothing formal, s
C said no. And when that happened, the first shoe dropped.
And so I don't, I don't, I don't. I don't
get into that stuff. But I just become a fan,
watch games and enjoy life. And it's over.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
So I mean, once you're done, you know, you had
such a prestigious coaching career, won national championship.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
How do you spend your time?
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Like every so many people want your attention, your time,
your knowledge, everything that you know that you built up
over the years. How do you determine where you put
your time and effort at this point in your life?
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Uh, you know, I pick and choose. I don't really
like to travel so much anymore, but you know I've
got I got to go back to Georgia State and
do something for them, and they want me to come
to Missouri Saint Louis University. You know, it just it
just keeps keeps coming, and you have to you have
to pick through what you want to do, what you
(23:16):
can do. And and uh, but I enjoy it. You know.
That gives me just enough to keep my motor flowing.
And I got a granddaughter that plays at the University
San Diego, so I'm in at every one of those games.
And I got a high school football grandson that plays.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
And does your granddaughter come to you for advice on coaching?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Well, I'll tell you what I saw her play as
a third grader. And uh, and uh, we're sitting around,
my wife said, let's go watch Kyllie play, and I said,
you want me to go to a third grade girls
basketball game, that's what grandparents do. Let's go. So we
go and score sixteen tonight. Nothing. But she's got all sixteen,
(24:02):
so that just changes. Oh okay. And I've worked her
out a bunch of times, and I spent a lot
of time with her, and she earned a scholarship. God
bless her. She was one of the top hundred players
in the country. And she made life so enjoyable for
my wife and I. And now we got a high
school senior who plays both ways tight end and defensive
(24:27):
vand we're excited about watching him play. Got a granddad
plays high school volleyball.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Do you get more nervous watching those them play versus
when you were coaching, or more nervous when you were
the coach?
Speaker 3 (24:37):
More nervous watching them? Yeah, your son and I had
three sons that played high school ball, so it's it was, Yeah,
it's fun. It's for that we spent our time with grandkids.
And yeah, family and faith and friends are the things
we spend most of our time on now, and that's
that's the most fun.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah, we started with that a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
I told you how my dad, I don't even know
how he found that out, But that's was that something
that you ever, they didn't really come out a whole
lot while you were coaching or anything. Did you ever
like it's still those principles under the team or how
did you manage those different.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Well, we prayed before a lot of games, and I
don't know if anybody'll know, but the moment the national
championship was over, you'll see my team owing a circle
on her knee, saying a real quick little prayer. And
I never I never pushed it. I'm never you know
that that part of my life's personal. So I never
(25:33):
I never threw it at them. And but but I
always wanted always talk to them about being spiritual because
I think that that that that young kids who pray
have a better self image of themselves. They have someone
to talk to and someone to say something to and
and maybe get feedback sometimes and if they believe. And
(25:57):
I just believe that. And so you know, I always
thought about faith, Uh, without any knowledge of religion, any
kind of faith that I think is strong.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, I think that's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
What uh, what did you learn specifically from coach? Wouldn't
being able to have the access that you did to him.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
We have no, you have no time. You don't have
enough time for that. I mean that guy was was
the greatest. He was my teacher, my mentor, my advisor.
H I remember I called him one time. You know,
he's very structured and he'd sit there and forties on.
I said, coach, I need some advice, said Jim, I
(26:43):
don't give advice, but I do give opinions. He's funny
you and he loves to tease you. Or you get
him in a camp setting and he just teased me
to death as a director, you know, and he just
he just hammered me all day long and we'd laugh
and all other coaches would laugh. And he was funny.
He was good. He was there all the time. And
(27:05):
I became very very very close with him other than basketball,
and uh well we were he was. He was the master.
What I learned from him was just we don't have
enough time. That's that's a three days that's a three
(27:27):
day podcast.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Was he did he help you when you were interviewing
for the U c L A job was out?
Speaker 3 (27:32):
No? No, he did not, uh he he I don't
think he would step into anybody's what anybody's doing. I
was at Pepperdine and uh, I had been an assistant
at U C. L A. And the A D was
was in real director when I was there. Now he's
the A D. So he knows me well. And uh,
(27:56):
you know, it's kind of like a checker piece or
a puzzle. You put this piece here, Well, that doesn't work,
and you put this piania And at the end I
was the last piece and I fit right in the spot,
and so I got the job it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Do you have a favorite player you ever coached, or
what's a maybe one or two guys that just stand
out to you.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
No favorites. Coach my son, he'd be my favorite. But
Lamar Udham was the best basketball player I ever coached.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Really.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
He was a spectacular, spectacular college player who could see
plays ahead of time, was a genius on the court
and brilliant. He was one of two players ever had
that knew how to play basketball. Most guys don't know
how to play. Wow, they just played on how to play.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Who was the other one?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Gerald Madkins, who played at UCLA. He's just recently been
the assistant general manager of the Phoenix Suns and He's
been in the NBA for twenty three years as an
administrator scouting administrator, but he played four years and he
was a freshman All American in at UCLA and in
(29:05):
the summer I got the job. He's riding his moped
around west Wood and got hit by a car. They
put four screws in his pelvic and it cost him
a step and he just wasn't but boy, he was
a good player, even losing the step. He was a
good player.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And I love Gerald Mats So.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Fascinating how little things throughout a guy's career can change
the whole trajectory.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Right. You got to stay healthy.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
You've got to stay you know, just the situations you
get put in.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
You never know who.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
I talk to my players every single day. Are you
going to be there when I need you? Are you
going to be eligible? Are you going to be healthy?
Are you going to take a shower every day and
put a hat on when you go out in the
cool weather and I get a cold? Are you going
to eat right? Are you going to sleep right? Are
you not going to overeat? You're going to do everything
(29:57):
in moderation. Will you be there when I need you?
That's what I want to know and that that that
encompasses a whole bunch of things. And uh, I remember
the year we got, the year we got, the year
we wanted the next year. You know, j R. Henderson,
there's one two best players. You know, he goes down,
(30:18):
he's sick. He got the flu so bad he can't
get out of bed. I got a high ankle spring
on another guy, and we limped into the tournament and
got beat. That's what I'm worried about. The Dodgers limp
them into the tournament. But you know, you just can't
win it. Every year people have to understand it.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Well, it just goes to show you again, like just
how difficult that is to win a championship. And I
think you respect it and honor it that much more.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah, very much, so very much so.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I mean even there, you guys want it. You know,
you got that play against Missouri. It's the final final
seconds and just one ball goes the opposite direction and
you never know what could have been.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Four point eight seconds. Uh you know, I, uh, you
call that player? Was that? I called that play because
we'd had some things happen. I'd had those kids for
three years O'Bannon and Edney and z D and those guys,
and and uh, we'd gotten beat on a five second play.
Guy go on the length of the floor. Not with
that's group, but I had that before that happened. But
(31:15):
the first thing that happened, I watched Wes do that
in sixty five against the Knicks at the at the
at the sports Arena in a playoff game, go to
the length of floor in three seconds and scored. So
I'd come back and I'd give my guys four seconds
and we'd work on that. And I went to an
NBA camp and they had to give a guy a
ball and he's got to go to the length of
(31:36):
the floor in six seconds, you know. And a lot
of guys can do it, but they run be nine routes.
They get down there and they kick it out of bounds.
They get down there and make a great play and
missus shod but Ty said, and we do it once
a week. Ty said, And he's like a road runners.
Let me watch him. Okay, what rep play up? So
I had seen him do that play many times and
(32:00):
I told him, I said, you get the ball and
take it to the rim. They're not going to foul
you and we're on the bench. You go here, you
go here, you know, And I got up and I
put my arm around and walked him out the half court.
We're standing at half court together on arm around. I said, TAAs,
do you have a crystal clear understanding of what I said?
He says, you you want me to shoot the ball.
(32:21):
And right at that time, Ed O'Bannon walked by him
said give me the ball. And he looked at me
and I said, Tyus, I want you to shoot the
ball because we don't have enough time to pass. And
we had played Fab five in the NCAA tournament. We
had him down nineteen and the lockedness Monster brought him back.
(32:43):
Chris Weber. He had hands, the biggest hand I've ever
seen in my life. And they're up eight, and we
pressed him and tight caught him, stole the ball and
then he drives in to win the game and drops
it down to edel bannon because he's a point yard
and Jimmy King kicks it out of bounds of hitting
over time and beat us. So I remember that and
that's why I said, Tyas, I want you to shoot
(33:04):
the ball. And he comes up to the left side
and they double teamy. He goes left handed behind these
back full speed, takes two dribbles from half court and
lays it over a six' eight guy about that much
and banks it. In and you, Know i'm driving down the.
Street i'll never forget they're way down, there you, know
(33:25):
and The missouri, scored and the five guys call time
out and they all turn and it's riveted ten eyeballs
right through my head walking back towards the, play you.
Know AND i didn't think about much but that, Summer
i'm driving down the street and it hit me that
might have been the defining moment of my coaching career right,
there that moment that you're knowledgeable, enough you have enough,
(33:49):
poise you have enough character and emotion to tell your
team exactly what they want to do with with great.
Confidence AND i think that was That that was a big,
play and it's a big play in my life and a,
big big moment in my life and in. Coaching but you,
Know i'm sure some coaches have gone through, that but
(34:09):
not very.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Many, yeah thank you for sharing. That yeah it's. Beautiful,
well thank you so much for being on. Again such a,
Pleasure and, yeah it's one of those THINGS i remember
as a kid who's watching you guys win the national
championship and followed.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Your career because my, end my dad has always been your.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Dad still love he. Is, yeah well it's his.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Age he's seventy.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Eight good tell, HIM I. Stone, well they'll take a.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Picture he'll enjoy, that all.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Right, all thank, You, jimmy thank, You.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Thank you again for listening To The Jimmy Rex. Show
if you liked this, episode please give me a quick.
Favor just go, online leave us a, review subscribe to
our show both on, YouTube Apple, podcasts and On.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Spotify and if you would share this with somebody.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Else, also if you're looking to make a real change
in your, life or if you have a man in
your life that you, know could you know just use
a brotherhood or some men around him to help him
level up in every area of. LIFE i encourage you
to look at we are the. Day this is my
men's coaching PROGRAM i started several years, ago and we
have been able to help close to one thousand men
now that have joined this program and had a life,
(35:09):
changing transformational. Experience several of these episodes we talked to
members of this. Group we talk about this, group and
if you are interested in learning, more go to Join
What That's join watt dot com
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