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Exploring Women's Basketball with Coach Charles Marshall · Let's Talk with Carl Lee

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Yeah, you gotta work. You gotta work. Cry sign. It's mine
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gotta show everybody is my sign. You gotta work. Cry shin another mind,
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whom taga die this day line, don't tell you gotta work. Let
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the conversation begin. This is let's talk with your host, Carl Lee.
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Hello, ladies and gentlemen, This is Carl Lee, and this is with
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let's talk and we have a well let me let me. Let me set
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the stage, holland before we before we go into this, we if you
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watched the girls basketball women the women's basketball championship last night, yes, okay,
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And and when I was on Day Show, he's saying it was like
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twenty four million people viewers to the game. And when you start talking about
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that, that beats everything other than football, basically football. I think the
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Olympics, and I think there might have been one more, but no professional
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sport, college sport, no other sport out produced got that many viewers to
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watch. Yeah, I mean, And and you can you can try to
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blame it on individual players and say that that was the draw, but I
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think the game itself was the draw. It's I mean, and watching those
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individual players be great, yes, one, because I think what's happening with
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women's college basketball is that you're seeing the best of the best. You're seeing
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continuity. You're seeing faith Sis, Kaitlyn Clark, You're seeing Don Sai.
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You're seeing those individuals come up through that program. You know what I'm saying.
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Even in South Carolina where they have the new starting five, a lot
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of those players we've seen for the last couple of years and on court performance,
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it just the game flows. Well, it's just how long have you
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watch How long have you have you been a fan of Caitlyn, Cause,
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like I just got to her, Like I just got to her. I
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mean, I like Caitlyn car She a dog. You know, I'm by
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you, Barbie, you know that that's rolling with But uh but no,
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because I'm not watch's to watch the ers I've been watching. Yeah, see,
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I wasn't like I'm not interested in like watching sports anymore. You know,
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I'm I'm kind of burnt out on it. But the very first time
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that I I saw her play, I was like, oh and that was
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that was that was the turn on. But before we go any further,
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all right, we got coach Charles Marshall from West Virginia State university's the head
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football or the head basketball, women's volleyball basketball coach, and he's here today,
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and we want because I need expert I need expert opinions on on the
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female game, you know, I want someone who can can talk about like
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what's the process? Like, like how do you Because we were talking off
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air before you came in and I said, I don't know any coach who's
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going to be okay with a somebody shooting a shot ten yards ten feet past
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the three point? How do how do you get comfortable with that? So
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coach, tell us a little bit about where you, you know, give
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us a little bit of background on being a West Virginia State and what you
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how you viewed the game. Well, first of all, first of all,
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guys, thank you so much for having me on today. It's a
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huge honor to be here and I'm excited looking forward to the conversations that we're
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gonna have today. We did have a good time already before we even got
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on here. But man, a little bit about myself. I'm originally from
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Louis, Kentucky. Being here at West Virginia State this will be this was
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year eight, so I've been here for a while. This is home.
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I might as well be from West Virginia now as long as I've been here.
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You know, I was at Glennville before I took over at West Virginia
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State, so I've kind of been around the block and I've been had some
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pretty good success along the way, thanks to players that we've had that we
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have had, and just just looking to continue to grow the game. Man,
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I think right now you're talking about the game last night, I definitely
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was tuned in. I don't know how you can be a women's basketball coach
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and not be tuned in to women's women's sports in general. It's funny because
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I made a post on Facebook the UH after that game against Yukon and our
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the other day, and our head official he sent me a message because I
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didn't agree with the call on that and I just in that moment and the
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call was the correct call to be made. It is the right call.
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They made the right decision, So you know, you can't be mad.
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They got an officials got a job to do. But I think in the
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man's game, they let a lot of that stuff go and they don't call
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tiki tac stuff. But in that moment, I just thought, you gotta
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let that play play out because to me, the defensive player didn't have an
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advantage, and it didn't it didn't take advantage away from the defensive player,
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and it didn't create a huge enough advantage for the offensive player. That's just
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me looking at it from from that view. Uh. Now, if I'm
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on the other side, yeah, call that offensive foul. We want it.
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I want it. Let me ask me this, Let me see this
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because because because I was, I was on Facebook and I was hitting people
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back. No, it is a bout, and I get and I get
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it was it was what three seconds left? Yeah, and and and to
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me, I'm thinking, Okay, that ref wasn't even looking at the clock.
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I'm sure he knew that that time was short. But I could and
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again, I can't. You know, I don't know nothing about basketball,
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so I can't. I can't. I can't help neither. I can't out
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do nothing, either one of you or But I was like looking at that,
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and I was like, Okay, that's definitely a foul, And how
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do you not call that? Just I don't know, if you make it
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that moment, maybe you let it play out on court. But I've heard
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that I've heard that forever. That's always been kind of the conversation. You
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don't make that call because it's it's late in the game where you know it's
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late in the half. But what either way the ref loses unless they just
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lose the shot. So if you know, he doesn't call it, she
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doesn't call it, they make the shot, they win the game, they're
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gonna be in a losing position. But before you say that, coach,
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you are being modest because, like I said, you are the head coach
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of the West Virginia State University women's basketball team. You have back to back
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National Division two tournament appearance. We was in the conference championship this year,
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and we've had some what three years twenty win season something to that effect.
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Yes, last two years back to back. I'm sitting here looking at that,
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you know, I'm looking coach being a little modest, and okay,
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give us, give us the give us some more good stuff. Okay,
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you know, because part of having you on is talking about your success that
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you're having at West Virginia State, and if for the folks who don't know
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it, we want to make sure that they get it, and then we're
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gonna then We're gonna pick your brain and get your expert opinions on other stuff.
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So come on and give us a little bit more of kind of the
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what you've done at West Virginia State, how you've done it, how you
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built You know, people have been talking about culture and all this kind of
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stuff. Tell us a little bit, get into in depth parts of that
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and kind of help us with you know, what are you doing with the
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girls to make them play the way that they play play together? Because that
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part of that teamwork is critical. You know, you can see it in
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those games last night. It's critical when you're a team like you. It's
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hard to beat a team, you know, when everybody's playing, ain't nobody's
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selfish, It's hard. So give us a little bit about that. Well,
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you know, when I first took over the program, we didn't have
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a whole lot of tradition. You know, they had had some success in
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the past two thousand and four, they had made it to the national tournament.
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One thing that I was excited about when I when I initially took over
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the program was it was gonna give me an opportunity to come in and build
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something and put them on the on the map so to speak for West Virginia
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State in the conversation. Uh, one thing I didn't like about when I
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when I came on my visit, uh to the to the university, when
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Nate Burton brought me in with who is a tremendous athletic director, it was
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no pictures of anything women's basketball in that building. And that still bothers me.
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Uh. You know, but you gotta win. You know, you
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gotta win championships. You got to you got to be successful. Uh.
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And and that's one of the main things I preached to recruits. That's one
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of the main things I preached to our players. We're trying to be the
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first. We're trying to be the first. And I we have a acomplished
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a lot in these eight years that you know. I told we had six
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seniors that we're gonna lose this year, and what I told them at last
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game was that you guys are the most accomplished seniors toide who to have ever
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played at West Virginia State women's basketball, the most accomplished and that's that's very
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huge. You know, broke first team to crack the top twenty five,
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which was last year, first team to knock off of number one ranked team
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ever know that game. We've just first team to put up the most points,
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first team to set school records for three pointers made in a game.
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We have done so it's so much I can't even I can't even name them
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all. But I'm proud of where we started. And it goes back to
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the those those first those first couple teams, because we didn't get off to
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the start that I thought we would. You know, coming from Glenville,
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where there is tradition, there was already a blueprint kind of set in place,
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very support from the community. We had to build that here, I
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believe, and it took some time. It didn't happen as quickly as I
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wanted it to happen. Again, coming from Glenville, I thought I was
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just gonna come back and come in here and row I guess after the basement.
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Yeah, and we definitely want to touch on that experience with coaching under
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coach Carwell, who just got the job at Tennessee. But when we look
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at what's going on the explosion of women's basketball, not only nationally but even
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here within the state. I mean we had West Virginia State University. You
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see Fairmont. I think they all made y'all made the national tournament. And
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not only that, but Marshall and wv you made the NCAA national tournament.
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So we had five schools within the Litlo state in West Virginia make national tournaments
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and make national news when we had a coach to get a premier job.
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So what would you contribute to the explosion and just the what's going on with
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women college basketball? Let me make a correction. Uh, I didn't work
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for coach call Will. She was as a when I first got to Glennville
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as an assistant. She was a player. So I coached that's bigger and
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so had I got to get that out. I've never worked for But we
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all under that same tree. Okay, I saw apologize about that, but
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she is. I got an opportunity to coach her my first year as assistant
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coach at Glenville Wow, which was a tremendous experience. I always knew that
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she would be special, and she'll tell you that because I told her that
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when she was a player. But the guy that brought me in and gave
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me my shot, even at my school that I graduated from brill College,
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where I got my first shot at NAI school. Bunkie Harker role my mentor
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to to uh still today. He just called me a few minutes ago,
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amazing guy, but that he's one of the He's the reason why I play
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the way that I play. He started it gave me. That's how I
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got my start into coaching, and that's and I just ball into that philosophy
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and I just feel like that's the way to go for women's basketball. And
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we definitely want to talk about your system, but back to but what would
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you contribute to the explosion of women's college basketball right now? Man, I
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think it's it's a combination of players getting better on their own, players having
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more resources, players being able to get in the gym and work with trainers,
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and I think all of that plays a factor into where we are now.
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But I also think we just got good coaches too right now that can
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motivate, that can help push kids to get to where they're trying to go
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to is it for the for for the women's game? It's see when when
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I watch it, And again, I'm self proclaimed not a sports guy watching
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sports, Like I'm not gonna sit down and watch a bunch of sports,
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but I'm locked into the to the women's game right watching it. It's it
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looks different to me. It's it's the passion in which I see on the
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court is amazing to me. I don't know, you know, And to
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me, coaching that passion has to be it has to be a great thing,
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because you know, when those ladies are out there on the court,
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they gonna give you everything, everything that you spent time on in the week,
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They're gonna put that time. They're gonna put that passion into that to
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try to get that out on the court. Am I Am I seeing something
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wrong? Or is that? Is that? Is that true? I don't
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think you are. And I can't I can't speak as far as on the
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on the man's side, because I've never coached man, right, you know,
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I can only talk from a player's perspective and just kind of what I
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see, uh when I'm walking past our man's practice on campus, uh as
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I'm heading home. But for for the women's men, I think it's they
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they do work hard. I think they do care. Uh. But I
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think I think man cared too, and I don't think that they don't care.
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And Holland, I'm curious about how you see that. I don't think
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that that we don't care. I think though, but we're quick to jump
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individualized for credit, okay, or passing blame. I think that I think
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part of the men's is we don't want to take all that credit. We
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don't we want the we want the fame in it. And it doesn't look
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that way to me. For in the women's game, most most women that
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I've came across, and I've that I've been blessed to coach, they want
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to strive for perfection and they want to make sure they're doing it right.
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And I think that's why you probably see a little more passionate, a little
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more fight, uh when you're watching their games. Uh. And and they're
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not gonna be more athletic than a man, but in some cases in them
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because we got we got women dunking them man, and and that changes the
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game. Uh. But you know, I got a young lady on our
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team who can who can get up and grab the rim with these you know.
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So it's they work just as hard, so they have they have a
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lot to prove as well, and and they lay it all out on the
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line. Man. You know, we we don't we don't hold anything back,
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we don't sugarcoat anything, and and we work them. We work them,
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and they know what they have to do and they try to go out
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and execute that to the best of their ability. And I would think,
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just from my opinion, I think it's the corporatization of sports. And I
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think particularly basketball, where you're seeing and I'm just strictly talking on the men's
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side, where you're seeing these young men almost like get the lunch pell and
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sort of go to work at early ages, right, they're getting attention younger
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and younger, thinking about how to monetize those skills, younger and younger and
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younger. And I think to your point when you talk about just being an
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individual, I think that's how they're starting to look at theirself. I mean,
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when you jumping from AAU to AAU team, you're going to school to
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school, you're thinking about the game just on into itself, where women maybe
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not now moving forward, but at least in the past, they might be
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playing in front of half empty gyms and then everybody comes to the men's game,
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you know, so you're playing for the team, you're playing for the
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coach, you play for the love. And I think that whatever happens moving
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forward women's basketball at all levels have they got to work extremely hard to keep
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that passion and that energy right in the bubble so it doesn't turn into kind
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of what the men's game. And then again, and I ain't taking nothing
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away. I mean, they're tremendous athletes. I just don't think the team
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thing is there how it used to be well, And and I watch and
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I watch. You know, I work at the Trust Community Center, so
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I walk in and I see dads working, working their kids out. It
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doesn't matter boy girl. But in most cases it's shooting. Most cases it's
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dribbling. And I know that you can't do you can't really do defense if
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you're doing that, but I think that takes when you're doing that. It's
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good for the offensive side, but it's it's it's challenging for that defensive side
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because now you do you where do you get that from? If you're not
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getting it, I think you laid it out though, you get it from
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that passion, you get it from the love of your coaches, your team
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defenses. It's just I mean, there is some skill set to that.
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I'm not saying it's not, but I think even though maybe a butter skill
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set, you just got to have that dog in that heart and that want
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to to really again crash out in order to have ultimate team success, because
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taking a charge ain't glorious. Now they gotta I forget the woman's name she
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played in the tournament. They was just they were talking about how many charges
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she take a game. I forget, I forget her name, but they
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was just talking about she she she's a professional charge taker. And how you
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don't see that. You know what I'm saying. You got girls, you
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know, I got on one of my players. Uh. We was in
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a meeting and she officials meeting and I'm not gonna say her name, but
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she was in a meeting and she told the official he was going over charges.
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She said, I'm not I don't take charges, and I kicked her
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out of min get their out. He still talks about that. But it
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was one of those things, man like, everybody is not built for that,
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you know, every it's certain things to be a good defensive player.
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Everybody's not built for that because it's hard. It's hard to be a good
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basketball player, it's hard to be a good teacher, it's hard everything anything
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you want to do it, you gotta practice and you gotta work at it.
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And you know, but I say that, I say I tell you
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that just because it's for people who truly want to be special and want to
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be great. They gotta put in the work, man, They got to
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put in the work and to get out what they want. And I always
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tell our players, especially on this level Division two, this is more for
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your memories, more for your family's memories than anybody else. Yes, in
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the moment, we're gonna make people happy, but at the end of the
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day you're gone from here. Nobody's gonna care. But you at the end
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of the day, nobody's gonna care how many points you score. Nobody's gonna
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care that you was an All Conference player. Uh. You know, you
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may get fortunate enough to be inducted into the Hall of Fame ten, fifteen,
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twenty years from now, then people will care again for that moment.
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But while you're in it, you got to enjoy it. You gotta give
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it everything you got. And I think on the women's side, that's where
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the love comes in to play more because they not most of them, are
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going professional. You know, they they they plan for they get to get
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a degree and to try to be successful in this, in this, in
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this instant. Is that better? Is that a better mindset than what most
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young men who automatically maybe even parents are even thinking that they're gonna go to
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D one, D two, D three? Is it better to think that
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you are or you aren't? You know, how do you how do you
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inject that into the right amount into a too an athlete? It's hard because
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you don't want to shot at somebody's dream. Man. You know, I'm
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not I'm not trying to sit here and say, you know, don't shoot
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for if you want to go professional and play professional. No, that's a
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dream you gotta have. But the reality of it is that's not gonna be
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the case. So you got to be in it for that moment and get
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out of it what you can while you're in it. Uh, but you
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got to be able to to make sure you're doing the work if you want
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to still wreak the accolades and the and get the rewards and and and get
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the benefits from it and because it's not gonna be given to and I think
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and I think that's what we're seeing right with coach Cayler Perry at Kentucky where
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he just resigned from Kentucky and he went to Arkansas, and I would imagine,
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without having any you know, knowledge of the situation, I believe probably
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was a conversation hey, because you know he was the whole one and done
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guy, right, he bring him in, you know, churn them and
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Burnham and after a while, and what we're seeing now is of late,
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that's not working. And I think that it depends on your mindset because I
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think if to the overall health we're just specifically told about college basketball to the
23:21
overall health and even college football to a degree to the overall health of the
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game, that's not necessarily a good mentality. Overall health of the game is
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to have ultimate team success and then like coach said, if you work,
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you do the things you're gonna do, then you'll have the individual success.
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Well, so I think it's that play out. But it's hard in the
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in the times that we're in. Facts, it's hard to get kids to
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play and see it as a one unit versus individual And you gotta be a
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special coach. I think you got to be a special motivator. I think
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you got to figure out what the needs of the of the of of that
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individual kid is to try to implement it and and get them to believe that
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and buy into the overall team success. And if and what always tell our
24:14
players, man, if we get on the wall, if we win a
24:15
championship, we all on the wall all that and they like and as good
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as as what we've been and I'm proud of what we've done, we still
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don't have a team on the wall. And and and as much as as
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much success as we've had the last few years, those kids are not going
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to be remembered because they're not on the wall. I like that. Yeah.
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And that's just as when I'm walking through the you look at all the
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all the softball players, all the tennis teams. That's one champions. The
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man's teams, that's one champion. The volleyball teams on the wall on the
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wall, you can remember them. People see and and and to and to
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his point on the wall, I you know, we have a we have
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what's called a ring of honor in Minnesota, Okay, and it and and
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it's it's a it's kind of a boted on thing. And in my head
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I feel like I had fit the bill. But I ain't on the wall,
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and and and it bothers me because I don't have another game to play,
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you know, I don't have another season. And there's gonna be guys
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coming in that that's gonna be playing. They gonna get more interceptions, more
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tackles, and and and and maybe be better and all this kind of stuff.
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And I'm like, well, hold on, like, you know,
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because I'm going to Minnesota this summer. Who I need to talk about,
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who I need to meet with. I'm gonna assume that's gonna be the president
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somebody, because you know, because it was one of the things like even
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going to Marshall. When I walked in the Marshall as a recruit, I
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saw I saw Fuzzy Pizel's jersey number twenty seven, and I was saying,
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Okay, my goal is I want to get my jersey retired when I leave.
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Well, now they don't retire jersey, and you know, and so
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every every level when you get there, you know, for me, I've
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always tried to make it like, Okay, I want to get to that
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thing, you know, and that ring of Bonder thing has just been like
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it's been, Yeah, I've been talking about that for some wh Wow.
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Now, But ladies and gentlemen, we'll be right back. We're gonna take
26:33
a quick break. Follow us on Facebook at Let's Talk Carl Lee, visit
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Contact Carl Lee at Let's Talk at promessage dot com, del Cooper at d
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27:10
Now back to the conversation. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're
27:12
back, and we're talking sports and women's basketball primarily, but really the structures
27:22
of the game itself or that particular game and how it produces greatness and teamwork
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and all of those kinds of things. And Hollis on the break, you
27:34
were saying you wanted to talk about you wanted to bring up a couple other
27:37
things for sure, because you mentioned something just about you know, coach,
27:42
about being ready, hardworking and to run your system that you run. Not
27:48
only do you have to is it physically taxing because you run a fast paced
27:53
game. It's also could be a little mentally taxing. You run a ten
27:57
women's system, you five in five out every two minutes. I've never seen
28:04
this until West Virginia State. Now when Kim Carwell was at GLENBA. She
28:08
ran it. And it's the most exciting way to watch basketball. And I'm
28:15
a huge West Virginia State University women's basketball fan. I come to y'all's game
28:19
and I leave during the halftime at the men's game. Appreciate, but tell
28:27
us, just tell us about the system and how do how in the world
28:33
do you get buying from that. It's it's challenging, it can be very
28:37
challenging, but I think it can be rewarding. I think it can be
28:40
fun. I think for the women's game, I think it's for me again,
28:45
this is this is since I got my start in coaching. This is
28:49
all I've been around. Coaching wise, I just think it's the way you
28:55
gotta play. I think it gives you the best advantage. I think it
28:59
gives kids. It's the opportunity to play that normally wouldn't play in another system
29:04
again, we go, we go ten twelve deep, ten twelve deep,
29:07
and he exaggerated ten to twelve players playing again, I'll play everybody if I
29:14
have to, and that that's not gonna happen everywhere. If you, if
29:18
you look at it and know most most people's going seven eight deep, maybe
29:26
I mean you cond of went what they play six and granted they had some
29:32
kids hurt, but you kind of I mean even like that's what they say
29:34
in South Carolina's by seven eight deep and that was kind of a wild thing.
29:38
Yeah, so you it's definitely a different way of thinking. Uh,
29:44
it's a h you. You gotta sell it to your kids. And for
29:48
me, I'm just upfront, uh and tell them what they getting themself into.
29:52
I don't sugarcoat it. Uh you know we but I tell them,
29:56
you're gonna have fun, You're gonna have an opportunity to play none. It's
29:57
gonna be up to you and on how much you play, because other factors
30:03
come into play, your work ethic, if you're producing. If you notice
30:07
I started lineup, it's never the same, never ever the same, because
30:14
he's he's almost and that's because it's all based off of production. So it's
30:22
so basically, so you go into your week and the work ethic that that
30:33
the top five players have and some of that top ten top ten are going
30:40
to be the five that are likely to start based off of the reality of
30:44
positions. Also, like you got to have point guards, you got to
30:47
have a center, that type of thing. Yeah, So the way for
30:51
us, the way work, we always want to have a point guard,
30:52
We always want to have a post and we always want to have a two
30:57
sugars in kind of the philosophy behind it. But it's you. You gotta
31:06
get the kids to see it beforehand and understand. And I think we where
31:15
we are right now, and and just traditionally and and some of the success
31:19
that I've had, they know it works and it's been successful. All right,
31:26
So let me let me question. I got I got one to to
31:33
to that. To that point, I so my daughter is coming to you,
31:38
and and and and I know, I mean the benefit of her coming
31:45
to you is I know she's gonna play. Potentially, she's got a chance
31:52
to to play because that's the structure that you have. So I, in
31:56
one sense, I see that being a huge positive of me saying, yeah,
32:00
we can, we can come here. You know the other side of
32:04
that is I've got a really talented daughter and she she gonna be in five
32:12
out five And I'm like, well, hold on, yeah, you know,
32:15
have you had that kind of Have you had to have that kind of
32:19
conversation with with the recruit family so or do they just automatically know because they
32:24
see it? Most people, It's funny that you asked that. I have
32:28
not to be honest with you most people when I explained it, because most
32:32
people say, that's I did that in AAU. That's how I play AU.
32:37
And kids, kids, they look at steph Carry, they look at
32:40
Golden State worrying what they've been able to accomplish. People want to play fast,
32:45
they want to shoot shots, you know, and I tell kids,
32:50
we're gonna shoot up one hundred shots a game. That's one of the game
32:52
goes, we're gonna shoot forty five. Three is a game, you know,
32:55
the last like that. The last two years we have led the country
33:00
in offense of rebounding, and you gotta recruit those type of players. Thirty
33:06
three is an absolute a dog and that person, that person has that mindset
33:15
that that's what I'm here to do, and that's what I'm gonna do.
33:19
And when you can sell that, yeah good. So so we and we
33:22
just talked about and we just talked and I just talk about what the system
33:27
entails and how you can benefit in it, and then I let them make
33:30
the decision because okay, so coming from a fan perspective, the positive,
33:36
as you just mentioned, when it's on and you got them five coming in
33:40
coming out, it's the best fan viewing of a game about you can have
33:47
because it's the blistering pace. If you're not there, if you if you
33:52
get to the game, if it's really going, if you get the game
33:54
ten fifteen minutes late, that might be halftime because that thing is rolling.
33:58
You know what I'm saying. Shots is going up, you're getting up and
34:00
down the court. However, are are there situations because you have to spread
34:07
that maybe who you would starting a traditional set that five. You kind of
34:10
got to spread that five amongst the two teams essentially you do. So are
34:15
there situations where you might find yourself and like we used to rolling this way,
34:20
but now I want to go back into that traditional bag and just roll
34:24
with these because you know, there's critical situations and That's another way I present
34:30
it too, is you know, once once you get coach game games on
34:34
the line, we'll go best five, go try to win the game,
34:37
is what we typically do. Sometimes it works out that way, sometimes it
34:42
don't. Sometimes your best five is who's hot that game game, And that's
34:45
that's the beauty of it too. Yeah, but it's hard because and that's
34:51
why the way we practice it's different every day. You because we will pour
34:58
people out and throw them into another group, and because it's it's really no
35:02
two groups. Because if you get in foul trouble, we plugged somebody else
35:07
saying you gotta be able to keep it rolling. And I think it makes
35:09
it I think it makes everybody be ready. Yeah, that's a fact,
35:15
that's uh. And and sometimes we've had I've had kids that that have a
35:20
hard time accepting the role too, because if we do get in foul trouble,
35:28
and if it's if it's a post player, uh, and we don't
35:31
have a post player that we can sub plug in, we gotta throw somebody
35:35
else who's not a post in that spot to try to make it work.
35:38
And sometimes we're not ready for that. And that's why I was just saying,
35:42
like to run that system, and we'll talk about coach Carla because she
35:45
runs y'all run something similar. And I'll just say to watch that game when
35:50
Glennville came to State, and to watch State and Glennville go at it.
35:54
It was an absolute chess match they both. I'm telling you, bro,
36:00
it was the best game I've seen in the last probably five ten years,
36:05
like far as just being there in person. But what I was going to
36:07
say is that, like I said, I think in order to run your
36:12
system and the players you're recruiting, the players you got to have that's going
36:15
to be successful as you've been, they have to be so manally tough because
36:21
I could be hot for that two minutes that I'm out there, but that
36:23
two minute buzzer golf and I'm coming out, and I got to come out
36:28
and I got away from other two minutes to go back in. So you
36:30
got to be not only flexible in position and how you're you know, and
36:37
tough you got because that's gonna be a challenge if I'm that one that that's
36:42
hot hot, you know, okay. And sometimes and this is where I
36:46
think I've gotten better as a coach. Sometimes we leave that person in yeah.
36:52
Yeah, and in the past when I first, when I first,
36:57
Yeah, it's this is how I'm doing it, and I'm not changing it.
37:00
And I think I've gotten better over the years with making it. I'm
37:04
happy here. I'm happy here, but I ain't I'm you know, you
37:13
got Miss Debbie right, Miss Anderson. She gives me an ear for after
37:17
that game. You gotta go inside. You gotta go inside one coach,
37:22
you got going side. But I think you be you know, these last
37:24
couple of years, because we have had post players who can score inside,
37:29
we have we have gone inside out. We're inside first, then out where
37:34
it used to be. We're going We're shooting the three first and then we
37:37
weren't about and with the results, said Wenna, argue, with the results,
37:42
we win it in today's game. If you're not shooting the three,
37:45
yeah yeah, I mean you you. I don't know how you're gonna win
37:49
if you ain't shooting the three. And we had a but all are the
37:52
whole ten twelve we played can shoot the three a little bit, a little
37:53
bit work. It's about three. We got the two three from rebound of
38:00
defense. But the other ones can get it up But that's another beauty of
38:04
the of the system. Now, we got some kids like that, they
38:08
know they're not supposed to shoot. Yeah, but everybody for that place,
38:14
for me, ultimately has the green light. Sometimes that's bad, but I
38:19
think that's what keeps them engaged and come in ready to work hard. You
38:22
should be coach. Like when we was copping in the room back there,
38:27
you were saying the shot like I couldn't take a shot. I would rather.
38:30
I would rather you take a bad shot than turn the basketball over.
38:35
At least again, we've been leaving the country and rebound. At least,
38:37
I know we got try to get in the rebound. And what I love
38:39
about the system too is like like I said, I mean, if you
38:43
if you watched State the last two or three years, I mean we got
38:46
shooters, we got big women. We got a defensive specialist who's an elite
38:52
athlete. I believe number twenty five she's got a special athlete. I think
38:57
she should run track. I think she should. I think it was our
39:00
most improved she's an elite athlete, defensive specialist. She is thirty three rebound.
39:07
I'm talking about rebound attacks. She had twenty rebounds last season during the
39:12
tournament game. I mean, it was just she liked that. That's what
39:15
we were talking about you just the other day about you know, and these
39:19
are D one major in championships, talking about twenty rebound. Yeah, I'm
39:22
telling you. So you you had like I said, I had, I
39:28
had my facts wrong. So you coached card Well, So what do you
39:31
think about her mattur ration? Like I said, y'all was battling US State.
39:35
She at Glenville, she won a national championship. Glenville goes to Marshall,
39:38
uplifts that program, and now she at the And I think what people
39:43
have to realize is that Tennessee and women's basketball, that's literally like going,
39:49
like coach tough, going from Marshall to Alabama to LSU to Florida State to
39:54
know there, Dame, it is the tippy tippy top of women's sports.
40:01
For her to be doing what she's doing in such a short period of time
40:07
is absolutely amazing. Uh, it's I'm proud of her. I'm I'm I'm
40:15
honored that I was able to coach her for a year and and that I
40:20
know her. I truly believe and I've always said this, and and people
40:28
look at me like I'm crazy. But I think what we do and what
40:30
she does is a little bit different from how how we do it. She's
40:34
tweaked in and she she's gone on to do some amazing things. But I
40:39
think it can work if you got the similar, same type of athletes.
40:45
It's still basketball at the end of the day. If you got those athletes,
40:50
I think it. I think it'll be fine. Is the recruiting,
40:53
Yeah, yeah, with with with this system, the recruit tell us a
40:59
little bit about the recruitment of it, because to me, it seems like
41:05
it frees you up a little bit when you go to recruit, like I
41:08
can I can recruit this this woman and this position and maybe it can be
41:14
multiple positions or so. So I don't really get like, how, like
41:17
are you targeted for point guards, big inside those type of things. The
41:25
key key spots you gotta have. You gotta have a really really good point
41:29
guard. Yeah, you gotta have a really good shooter, and you gotta
41:34
have somebody who's willing to do the dirty work and rebound at basketball. Those
41:37
are the key positions that you tell us a little bit about those positions.
41:40
So specifically what you're looking for handles all that kind of stuff. What what
41:46
we look for and what I call positions is it's based off our our press.
41:52
We want to have a person on ball, We want to have two
41:55
wings. We want to have an interceptor, and we want to have a
41:59
back player. The back players are protector interceptor. You typically want that to
42:02
be your point guard because they're gonna be smart, they're gonna be quick,
42:06
they're gonna be agile, they're gonna be able to make plays. And your
42:07
wing players you want to at least have your wing players to be able to
42:13
be knocked down shoeles or a score. Uh. You want your own ballperson
42:16
to be somebody who is athletic and who just can get after it, now
42:21
whether they'll score or whether they just a defensive specialists. And that's what Latifa
42:27
is. She's more defense than she is on the offensive side, which again
42:31
she's gotten tremendously better on the offensive end since she got here as a freshman.
42:37
But you gotta have those those positions field for it to be successful and
42:43
for it to work at a high level. I truly believe that, but
42:45
I also think the way we do it, and you know, I had
42:50
a large roster. This year, I probably had one of the largest in
42:53
the country. We had twenty on the rosters was full, brom saying,
43:00
so it also gives players an opportunity to play that probably wouldn't get opportunity somewhere
43:09
else too, just because you got you gotta have large numbers because you got
43:15
to account for injuries. You got to have at least fourteen to finish the
43:20
season with, and if you don't, that's when you can get If it
43:24
gets down to the season and you only got eight players, that's where you
43:28
can kind of where you've been playing this high octane offense off season, it
43:32
can mess you up. So you actually dress them that number. Yeah yeah,
43:37
bench is full, Like I was about to ask them about that twenty
43:42
deep. Yeah yeah. I typically like to have eighteen. Mostly this year
43:47
we had we had twenty of the eighteen that if you had it perfectly at
43:53
the eighteen do you have a number of point guard number bigs do you do?
44:02
You? Like, what is the perfect scenario if you would go out
44:07
and recruit how many of this and how many of that would you have?
44:12
You typically want to have at least two really good point guards and then a
44:15
backup point guard, so three, and then you want to have at least
44:17
two good post players, and you need to the post players are the post
44:22
players, and the point guards is probably the most important pieces to have because
44:28
the point guard has got to be able to direct and get us into the
44:32
offense as well as play good defense. We're asking our point guards to do
44:38
more than anybody because they got more ground to cover and I give them more
44:44
freedom on the defensive side, and they gotta be able to knock down some
44:46
shots too. They gotta be able to knock down shots, which that's where
44:50
we haven't been that strong at with our point guard has been able to make
44:55
shots from behind the arc. But I just think that that's going to be
45:00
I think we're gonna be better at that moving forward. So specifically, you
45:04
know, we lost a lot this We're gonna lose a lot this uh coming
45:07
up season in twenty four to twenty five. So what are you looking to
45:10
recruit this offseason? Who were looking not specifically players, but what type of
45:15
you know, like coach said, what are we looking for as far as
45:17
position this time, we're looking to bring in a score. Uh, gotta
45:21
bring in at least another post player, which we we're gonna we gotta.
45:23
We got a really good kid that was sophomore this year. She heard a
45:30
knee a freshman year, so she she gets that year back. I'm looking
45:34
for her to come in and be be special for us next year. Uh.
45:37
So I'm looking to bring in another post player. Uh. And we're
45:43
gonna have to bring in another shooter and a kid that can just that's just
45:47
a freak athlete, and somebody who can put the ball in the hole.
45:51
Those are the three key uh positions that we gotta. We gotta feel we've
45:57
done a great job already. We've we've signed to freshman uh and got a
46:02
Juco commitment as well, so she'll she'll be signed. So and we talked
46:08
to Nauseum on this on this transfers. So what do you are because I
46:15
know I talked to coach penn Is one of my best friends, So we
46:17
always talked about he's gone into that portal deep. So is that something you
46:22
looking and explore or how do you change that? Yeah, we're in it.
46:27
Uh, I'm and and and I'm probably uh I'm torn about it,
46:32
uh big, but I've utilized that. It's it's been beneficial for the last
46:38
last couple of years. Yeah, you know, our two of our key
46:43
players were Division one transfer, one from Betune Cookman and one from Eastern Kentucky.
46:47
Uh. They they was they was huge and our success conference. Yes,
46:53
And so for for the poor in itself, you know, I don't
47:01
like it because it gives the kids too easy of a way out if it's
47:07
not going well the way the way they think it, the way they think
47:15
it should go, legitimizing And that's the part I don't like about it,
47:21
instead of because the reality of it is, we we're playing twelve players,
47:28
it's still gonna be somebody who's not going to play. And even within those
47:32
twelve, there's still going to be somebody who's not getting the minutes that they
47:37
think they deserve. So that so the transfer Portland, instead of those kids
47:44
going back in the gym and working harder to prove that they need to be
47:46
out on the court, it gives it gives them away. It gives them
47:51
away out now, just like coaches, just like anything else, some situations
47:59
are just not good for kids. Some it may not be the right fit
48:04
for that that kid. Uh. Some coaches are are could could just be
48:08
mistreating kids too, and a kid needs to get out of that situation.
48:14
And sometimes especially on the on the Division I level, sometimes they take kids
48:22
that because they got more scholarships and they can take a chance on a thirteen
48:29
fourteen, fifteenth player knowing that they probably not gonna play, and that kid
48:35
is a pretty good player. That kid would be a great player on Division
48:38
two level or lower. And sometimes that kid they may not get an opportunity
48:44
until their senior year in a lot of cases, and that kid may want
48:49
to just get out just so they can have an opportunity to play. But
48:53
you can't. You can't file a kid for taking the opportunity to go to
48:57
the highest level and that and that's just what they going to do. But
49:01
it still goes back to you. It's no difference from a coach taking another
49:13
job either and speaking of that. So that's why I'm touring on speaking of
49:17
that coach. I mean, you know what I'm saying. You don't have
49:20
some great seasons here at State, got the Marshal job open up, you
49:24
got connection to Tennessee. Now, coach, you know, don't like I
49:30
want to see I want to see you in that black and go right now.
49:37
I want to see him the black and gone. Ain't no doubt in
49:38
my mind because I think we can win the NAST Championship. That's just I
49:43
agree. We're close. I think we can win it. We're close.
49:46
And and to to Hollis's point about me and you being on the same page
49:52
on the transfer issue, sometimes I think sometimes it's it's it's a parent perspective
50:05
because the kids not getting, you know, the time that they think they
50:09
should get. They not scoring the way you the way they used to score,
50:15
and and and and literally almost every basketball player scored points in high school.
50:22
You know they're playing in college, they're likely have scored points or played
50:27
great defense or got tons of rebounds. And all of a sudden, you
50:31
get to college and now you ain't you ain't you ain't getting that that green
50:37
light to take that to take those shots. Now we got a problem.
50:44
We don't have a problem with the system, We don't have a problem with
50:46
the coach other than we just ain't getting enough playtime. How frequently do you
50:55
do you see that? And or have you experienced some of that where kids
51:00
wanted to leave. Some of the young ladies wanted to leave because they just
51:06
they weren't part of that system of the rotation. Yes, I've experienced it
51:14
and and no I haven't experienced and then let me explain. So I've experienced
51:20
it from a standpoint of our system and how we play. Like the last
51:30
couple of years we haven't had any bad going to the Parlam, which I
51:36
think that's that's amazing. I think I think it goes back. I think
51:38
it goes to show the success that we've had. But it's also good.
51:43
It speaks to you, thank you. Yeah. But I think it shows
51:47
that the kids genuinely like each other. I think it shows that they like
51:52
the university. And so it's a it's a combination of of of those things
52:00
on on why we have and the success that we have had, on why
52:04
those kids haven't gone. But I think kids too are are smart nowadays and
52:08
they understand that once you go in there, you know, it's not guaranteed
52:15
that you're gonna be that's the garanteed, not now not And and it's and
52:22
this is another reason why I don't like it, uh because and COVID has
52:28
played a part of it in it too, which this is the last year
52:30
for for COVID, so that a that a. It will help once we
52:35
don't have any more COVID kids still playing. So, but what I was
52:43
gonna say is it it's affecting transferred portal, is affecting high school recruitment tremendously,
52:52
it's affecting junior college recruitment tremendously, and along with the COVID. It's
52:59
just it's because coaches are going they they're going to take a player that's got
53:02
experienced before they take a high school kid. So sports, that's all sports,
53:09
that's yeah, it don't matter if it's swimming. Yeah. Yeah,
53:14
you mentioned far as like what we're looking for in twenty twenty four, twenty
53:17
twenty five. So what do you have coming up that if a parent or
53:22
child is interested in the program, how can they get in contact with you?
53:27
You got any camps or anything that you like to put out that that's
53:30
coming up. Yeah, go. Our camp dates are not set yet.
53:34
We're still working on that finalizing that, but you can go once they're gets
53:37
set. You can go to our athletic website on the school's web address to
53:44
find that under the women's basketball page, or you can just give me a
53:49
call. That's West Virginia State university. But that's how you can get in
53:54
contact with me. And I'm all over the place, man, and you
53:59
know I'm I'm looking for good people, good character, people that that that
54:04
want to work hard, that's going to do the right things. I tell
54:07
parents all the time, I'm here to help your kids. I'm not here
54:10
to hold their hands. It's it's their job to want to go out and
54:15
get their their degree. At the end of the day, that's what it's
54:17
about. Uh. We will will hold them accountable. Uh, but we
54:22
we're not going to hold their hands and and and make sure they that they're
54:28
where they're supposed to be at this point. You you got to be able
54:30
to do that. And that's an interesting approach. That's an interesting approach because
54:36
if I heard it correctly or took it right. So your role, you're
54:42
saying, your role is is basketball, the women's basketball and all the things
54:47
that come with that, but that that that woman has to that female has
54:57
to put herself in the eight places at the right time for classes and doing
55:01
all those kind of things, because at that point, they know, they
55:07
know they got an eight o'clock class, they know they got a two o'clock
55:12
class, they got a night class. They know they got workout. They
55:15
eleven o'clock, they know they got left at two thirty. So you know,
55:20
they know it's huge. They know the schedule, and they got to
55:22
know the accountability. Yeah, and they got to know the opportunity that exists
55:28
now. Like I said, with women's college basketball, it's on the right.
55:32
And again we talked nationally, it's here. I'm it's here. It's
55:37
here, and it's in the state. Like I said, we have five
55:40
teams go to a national tournament out of West Virginia alone. That's just West
55:45
Virginia. And I would tell anybody, and I'm a little bit of a
55:49
fan boy, but if you have not seen West Virginia State women's basketball,
55:54
you need to make a trip to institute to see it. Is the most
55:58
exciting brand about itaketball you will see. I'm telling you, well, coach
56:02
that that's gonna that's gonna get me there, you know. So I'm gonna
56:06
have to jump one. Look, i ain't been back here for that matter,
56:14
so but I'm gonna I'm gonna return the favor for you coming to the
56:19
show to come to the game. So so we got a deal on that
56:22
I'm holding you too, okay, no doubt, no doubt. Ladies and
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gentlemen, We appreciate the time, and we'll get back to you again next
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