Latest / Johnny's World / Episode 8-Coach Vic Schaefer

Transcript

Episode 8-Coach Vic Schaefer · Johnny's World

0:29
SPEAKER_01: Johnny World Podcast.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: We are this is BW here, and we have Johnny with us with us here today.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: And we have a very special guest with us.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: We have Coach Vic Schaefer, former Mississippi women's basketball coach and now current Texas basketball coach.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: So how are you doing today, Coach?
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Really good, guys.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for coming.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: So how are you liking being in Texas, back in your home state, right?
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, I've lived here 45 out of 59 years of my life.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: And uh I'm 65 miles from where my parents are buried, uh, where my grandmother lived, where I grew up on weekends, and uh in um about two and a half hours, three hours from my sister, who's 14 and a half years older than I am.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: She was actually my kindergarten teacher.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: And uh was my reading and spelling teacher from the first through the eighth grade.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: So I'm closer to her and uh again, uh really familiar with uh with this part of the country, and of course, really at a at a at an incredibly prestigious university and uh that has a tremendous uh deep uh tradition, rich tradition of women's basketball.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: So very honored and humbled to be here.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's beautiful there.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: My uncle actually lives there in Dripping Springs, and uh so I've spent some time there.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: He used to live in Lake Way.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: So the last time I went, he was still in Lake Way.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: So um, but every time I go, it's grown so much.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my son lives uh up close to Lake Way.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh we live fairly close.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: We're up in Barton Creek, so but it's uh it's 66 degrees, not a cloud in the sky today.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: So it's a beautiful day.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: Did y'all lose power from the ice storm and some of that stuff?
2:15
SPEAKER_00: We did.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: We had we had five days of uh of no power, and um we um we probably had some real significant damage to some shrubbery and uh landscaping, and um I had probably ten thousand dollars worth of damage to my swimming pool.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: But uh other than that, um I think we stayed in hotel three nights.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: We slept up here at the office one night, and um uh even the hotel we stayed in lost uh lost water um uh one night.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: And then the the third night that we went back after leaving after two nights, we stayed up here the third night, went back the fourth night.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: I think our room only got to be about 62, 63 degrees.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not sure what happened with the thermostat, but I slept in my warm-up that night.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: I know that.
3:05
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: Was that pretty tough to deal with practice?
3:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean, how did that affect your your schedule and everything?
3:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you have that kind of weather down here.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: We're just not we don't have the infrastructure, we don't have the equipment, um, things come to a screeching halt, and uh roads were uh almost impassable.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: They were impassable a lot.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh I have four-wheel drive, so I was able to to get around and um but uh we did not practice for four days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, we did not practice, we didn't want our kids out.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: Um I have four kids live off campus, but even my kids that lived on campus.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was a treacherous, icy um you know, walk or slide down the hill from where they live on in the dorm.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: And so it just wasn't worth it.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: And um so we we had you know, we had a little bit of a break and uh um came back, practiced Friday, Saturday, and played on Sunday, and uh Sunday looked like we've been off four days.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: So, but uh you know it's it's what what the times warranted and uh we got through it.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: That time off might have been really good.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: We have a very limited uh roster where we play a very um limited um um group, and so they probably could use a little bit of downtime, and it was it was probably good for them.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, we play about seven kids most nights.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: Well yeah, it's you you don't want to risk anybody getting hurt coming into practice.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I we got a good bit of it here in Memphis and and I was coming in the back door and I just slipped, just my feet came straight out from under me and I just landed right on my back.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's like out of three stooges or something like that.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: And so yeah, it's uh yeah, we had some of that going on too.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: Well, I know John Clark wanted to ask you a little bit about uh your time in Starkville and some things like that.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: So you want to ask a few of those things, John?
5:09
SPEAKER_02: Well, well, just kind of uh I guess start from the beginning.
5:11
SPEAKER_02: What what what made you get into coaching?
5:13
SPEAKER_02: We kind of want to hear about that.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, John Clark, uh yeah, I I I played uh basketball, baseball, football through high school, and it's probably a better baseball player than I was a basketball player, but basketball was my passion.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: And I went to junior college and played two years of junior college basketball.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: I ran out of ability really quick.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh and so you know, I went to AM.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's where my dad had gone to school.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: I'd grown up going to football games there since I was five years old uh with my father, mother.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: And so that's kind of where I always wanted to go.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, be quite honest after junior college, uh, I think I had a 3.07 GPA in junior college, which was really good for me because I wasn't a very good student in high school.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: I just I wanted to play sports, you know.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: I was always involved, football, basketball, baseball, all the way through every season.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: And so um went to AM and uh I'm pretty sure the colonel, uh my father, had to make a phone call to get me in, uh, and uh got in and um thought I was gonna be a government major.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh and don't know why, other than I made two A's in government and junior college.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: So I thought, man, that might be for me.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: Um and got there, and the first words out of the out of the lady's mouth that day that was giving us the orientation for government was 24 hours of math.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: Man, I was out the door before she could put a period on that sentence because I was smart enough to know I'd had three hours of college algebra, had made a C in it in community college and was glad to get it.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: And if I was going to take 24 hours of math, there wasn't a degree on the planet that I was gonna be able to get.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: So uh, you know, they start putting the they they start putting the letters, the the letters with the numbers, I'm out.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: I just uh you know, the alphabet and the numbers don't go for me.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: And uh so uh walked outside, stood in the middle of the street, and did what I said I wouldn't do, and I walked across the street to the kinesiology department and um got a got a degree in kinesiology and a and and a minor in health and uh graduated in December of 84.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh and there's no jobs teaching jobs in the December of 84.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: I mean in the middle of you know, middle of the seasons like that.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: So I became a permanent sub at the place where I went and did my student teaching at Robert E.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: Lee High School in Baytown.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: And at that time I was a I was uh an umpire.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: I did a lot of college games, I did a lot of big high school games in and around the city.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and so I really liked umpiring.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: And uh so I I finished up doing student team do uh doing uh permanent subbing and and umpiring everywhere that year.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: And um loved it, had a great time, and then had no job offer.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: Uh all the old football guys had been around 30 years, they had all the PE and health jobs, and uh not a lot of opportunity for a guy like me.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: I went all summer without a job, and uh late in the summer, uh all of a sudden I had five job offers and um uh ranging from a seventh or eighth grade job to uh um had an offer at a 3A high school, which was the power in Texas, um to call the defense on Thursday nights for the JV and coach the secondary for the varsity football team.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: It was a really good job and and uh for a really good coach, but they wouldn't let me coach basketball as my second sport.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: They were gonna let me coach baseball, which I'd had some experience, but I really wanted to coach basketball.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: So uh this was in Waller High School, um, which is directly between Houston and college station and on Highway 290.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: So I ended up taking the least paying job at Millby High School in Houston.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: It was the largest high school in the city.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: It 1985 was the first year that they took the ninth grade freshman to the campuses.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: Back in those days, it was 10th, 11th, and 12th in Houston Independent School District, and the eighth and ninth graders were on a separate campus.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: And in 1985, they took the freshman to the main campus.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: So I was the first freshman boys basketball coach at Millby High School in the history of the school, and it was the at the time it was the oldest and largest high school.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: So it was the least paying job.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, it was a job that I wasn't qualified to take because I wasn't certified to teach world history.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: So not only did I do that, but now I had to go back to night school during the week after working during the day.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: I had to do what I swore I wouldn't do after five and a half years of college.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: I went back to college just to get certified to teach world history.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and you talk about a miserable deal, but I just really wanted to work there.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: I worked for a great man in Boys Honey, good Christian man, a Hall of Famer, um, one of the top 100 men's basketball coaches in the history of Texas high school basketball.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: And uh so that's where I cut my teeth and I was a freshman boys coach.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: I still umpired.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, when my season would be over in the spring, I could be in Baytown, Texas to call a doubleheader at one o'clock, and coach would cover my classes in the afternoon, and I could make$60 cash uh to call a JUCO doubleheader.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: And that was big now because everybody else was going to pay you by check and you wouldn't see it for two or three weeks.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: But if you got to go to Baytown Lee High School Junior College and call a doubleheader, that was big.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: And uh so I I I had a lot of really good games.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: I had Andy Pettit one night at Deer Park High School.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: I had the bucket um calling him uh one night.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: I've I've been on the field with some of those grades that played at San Jacena Junior College, Clements, uh, all those guys.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: And so uh I I really enjoyed it.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: And at one time I was gonna go to Joe Brinkman school and be an umpire.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, that was really, I felt like maybe that's what I needed to do.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, it was at a time in coaching when I was struggling a little bit.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: And um so anyway, that's kind of how it all shook out.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: 36 years later, here I am.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: I've been in the women's game 31 years and uh you know, really honored and humbled to be a part of it.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's interesting.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: Well, so my uncle that lives in Austin now used to live in Baytown, and I went there when I was younger, but my dad always says they had the biggest mosquitoes in the whole entire world down there.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: So I'm sure you got bit by a few of those umpiring down there.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: I uh I actually surveyed when I was 18 years old, I actually surveyed the town of Clute, which is home to the Texas Mosquito Festival.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: And uh I can tell you there's some bird-side mosquitoes, bird-sized mosquitoes down in that area for sure.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
12:26
SPEAKER_03: So I have to ask you, coach.
12:28
SPEAKER_03: Uh so my my mantra in life is uh is battling CF my whole life, is uh is just keep living.
12:34
SPEAKER_03: And I've gotten that uh I just apply that to my life every day.
12:37
SPEAKER_03: And uh so I kind of got it from Matthew McConaughey.
12:40
SPEAKER_03: So I gotta ask you, when you got to Texas, have you uh have you talked to Matthew by chance?
12:44
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I haven't um with this COVID thing, you know, he hasn't been around.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh we can't be around.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: We're we're basically, you know, all of us are in a semi-bubble.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Uh I haven't been to, they don't want me to go to my main office.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, this where I am right now is actually the coach's lounge over in our practice facility that I've turned into an office.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: And um that, you know, the only um, you know, they just don't want um, they don't want people, you know, on campus just yet.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Now, yesterday, as y'all know, Texas and Mississippi uh took the mask band off.
13:22
SPEAKER_00: And and so uh that we but we're still encouraging our players, uh, our student athletes.
13:28
SPEAKER_00: I know my staff, we're all gonna still wear our mask.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: I've actually had both of my shots now.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm I am so fired up that I hope I've been able to dodge it.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: But um, you know, my team has been so good.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: John Clark, they they have stayed COVID-free during the season.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, we had some issues prior, but boy, once we got in the season, they have been so good, and we're really fortunate and blessed that they've been able to then give them credit for doing that.
13:56
SPEAKER_00: You know, they've really limited themselves to who they're around, and and so really proud of them for that.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: But it's been a challenge.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just a miserable way to live, it's no fun, but um, you know, I'm we've all done what's necessary and warranted in this time.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm sure there'll be a day when I'll meet him.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I was told when I was hired he's gonna show up at a game in a three-piece suit and go, All right, coach, all right, all right, all right, where you want me to sit?
14:27
SPEAKER_00: You know, and I'm gonna, and they said you're gonna have to tell him up in row three, you know, seat five, because he'll want to sit on the bench.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and uh, and I wouldn't have a problem with him sitting on the bench if you know anything about me.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: I've had a lot of visitors on my bench at you know at Mississippi State.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, it'll it'll be I'm sure it'll be fun to to meet him and and have an opportunity to to visit, but we just hadn't had that opportunity.
14:51
SPEAKER_03: I got you.
14:52
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that'll be fun.
14:53
SPEAKER_03: Another thing I have to ask you, well, I've always been intrigued.
14:56
SPEAKER_03: So uh so me and Brandon, we're we're both big fans of you and and uh just appreciate all all you do.
15:02
SPEAKER_03: And uh and at your time at Mississippi, I've noticed, oh I know you do it now.
15:06
SPEAKER_03: What you always hold on to something on your hand when you're coaching.
15:09
SPEAKER_03: Tell us a little bit about that.
15:10
SPEAKER_03: Is that is that like a place you have, or what what is that?
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's our scouting report and uh of that team that we're playing.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, I have to get on my staff every now and then because we're killing trees, man.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: We're killing forests for that thing.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it gets thicker and thicker, but you know, we we all know and we take great pride and we don't want our kids to miss anything.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: We want to make sure we put them through everything they can possibly go through to prepare for a team.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: And uh so, but yeah, that's that's what's in my hand, and and I have some notes scribbled on there as well that that uh I can go to during the course of a ball game.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: Is there any superstition involved with it?
15:48
SPEAKER_01: Do you have to hold it in the same hand or anything like that?
15:51
SPEAKER_00: No, not really.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm pretty sure I beat the crap out of it, you know, during the game, uh you know, at times, but um it stays rolled up.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: It's it's probably more of a whoopie than anything, you know.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, uh tell tell us a little bit about Starkful.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, what were some of your favorite things about living in Starkville and places to eat or things to do when you were there?
16:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, just Burst just had so many, you know, so many great memories and and friends.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, that entire state, the state of Mississippi was so good to me and my family.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, I have some wonderful memories.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh, all of us do.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh my kids finished their high school careers there uh for two years, then they went to state and both of them are bulldogs and got their undergrad there.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Um obviously my daughter played for me there, and what a special four years that was.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, always loved going to Pine Lake Church on Sunday morning and and going to the cafe for lunch for lunch uh afterwards.
16:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, um my best friend there was Frank Jones that owns a veranda, and boy, we spent many a night in there uh uh enjoying um that restaurant and uh enjoying him.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: Me and him, we've hunted and fished together a lot and and just just were great friends.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: We lived across the street from each other, and so you know, um got so many great great friends still there and memories, and uh of course building that program was so much fun.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh the journey was was really incredible.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you think about it, uh getting the job and inheriting that team that um you know they they uh you know we I think we won 13 games that first year.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: I thought we might win five.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: Uh we won five games in the SEC that first year.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: I didn't think we'd win any.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, those kids just really um, you know, bought in.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that team beat number 11 Georgia that year.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: We ain't got no business beating number 11 Georgia, but those kids held held number 11 to five baskets in the second half.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's hard to do in the SEC and uh or any league.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: And uh just so, you know, you're just so proud of uh to to of what you you know what you accomplished.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: And my staff and I, we're just we have so many wonderful memories there.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: And you know, obviously there's some big games.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: We won three championships while we were there.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: Well, we won numerous championships, but three SEC championships, and had two opportunities to win the national championship.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: And um so uh so many wonderful kids, great players.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh man, and my fan our fans were just they're just the best.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: I mean, those Bulldog fans, man, they are they're so loyal to Mississippi State, and uh it it it's it was really incredible to be a part of all that and to see uh and experience it firsthand, the loyalty that that group has, not only for all athletics, but man, they just really embraced my team and traveled with us, uh, went to the SEC tournament with us.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: I mean, people plan their vacation around going to the SEC tournament with us.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we played in five straight championship games there.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: It's not ever been done any other school in that conference, other than Tennessee did it one time five straight when Pat Summit was the coach.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: That's how hard it is to do, y'all.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you know, our kids, our kids did such a an amazing job.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: And um again, you know, those last four, five years, eight, nine, ten thousand a game at home every night.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it didn't matter if it was Monday night, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that place was rocking and just a tremendous atmosphere.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the those fans thought my team belonged to them.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: And I always called them the people's team because, you know, our fans, they stood around, they stood and stayed after games and they just wanted to hug our kids, you know, wanted to tell them they loved them, wanted to give them a dozen cookies, whatever it was.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, our kids never could get to the locker room, probably for 45 minutes to an hour after every game.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
20:19
SPEAKER_00: That's special, man.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: And and why run to the locker room?
20:23
SPEAKER_00: If that's what it takes to have eight, nine, ten thousand a night, that's easy.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: And of course it helps to win.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: And and our kids, they not only won, but it's how they played the game.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: It's how they honored the game, they respected the game.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: And I think parents, you know, alike, daughters, sons, um, when they brought their kids to the game, didn't matter if they had a daughter or a son, they wanted their their young people to grow up like our players, like Dominique Dillingham, you know, and how she played, how like Victoria, um, you know, Black Blair, all those kids.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you had Katara Chapel, you know, part of that first class that believed in a vision when we didn't have anything to sell but a vision.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: So really, really special time there.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: And uh just, you know, have so many fond memories and and such an admiration for that that fan base.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: Um they'll always be special to me and my family, and our time there will always be um, you know, thought of in in in so many special ways and uh appreciate the opportunity that Scott Strickland gave me, you know.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh he he told me once, he said, heck Vic, he said, nobody thought you could do it but you and uh we just we just believed we could do it, you know, and and we had a plan, we had the blueprint.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: He allowed me to hire the staff that I needed to to do it, and um it was just the journey was really what is what made it special.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you think about At 13 and 15, 22 and 14, 27 and 7, 28 and 8, 34 and 5, 37 and 2, 33 and 3, 27 and 6 that last year with a bunch of young, young, young kids.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: That group about caused me to lose my mind and my hair.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: And yet I love them.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: They were so much fun.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: But man, they were young and inexperienced and immature.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we didn't have a, we just didn't have a whole lot of experience on our team or maturity.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: And but that's that's part of coaching.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: And and so uh they they I you know I'll tell you what was hard, guys, was you know, the day that we caught that that that we decided we were gonna come to Austin, you get one phone call.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: I got one phone call to my team, and um once that phone call was over, I wasn't allowed to talk to those kids anymore.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: And man, that's hard.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: Now they had already gone home for for COVID reasons, they weren't on campus, so this wasn't like they could come by the office.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: Once we hung up, I couldn't talk to them again.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: And those were my kids, man.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: I love those kids.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: I recruited those kids.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'd been through thick and thin with them.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: Um you know, they were like my own, and they were so young, and I knew they were gonna be so good.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and yet we had so far to go, but we had accomplished so much and uh in a short period of time, and I just knew the you know how special they were gonna be, but yet they were so special to me off the floor, and I wasn't gonna get to visit with them anymore after that.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: Now that's hard, y'all.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that is really difficult.
23:43
SPEAKER_03: Man, well, well, kind of what you said is just uh family.
23:47
SPEAKER_03: That that I feel like the people that came to your games when you're at Mississippi State felt like you your team was part of their family, and that's that's that's amazing.
23:55
SPEAKER_03: That really is.
23:56
SPEAKER_03: And it's credit to you and your staff.
23:58
SPEAKER_03: It's just uh uh me personally, uh Brandon's probably the same way.
24:01
SPEAKER_03: We we really never followed women's college basketball, and you uh you turned us into women's basketball fans.
24:07
SPEAKER_03: So it's I mean it's it's it's amazing.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: We it happened to a lot of people, a lot of people never did, and and uh you know, like I said, we we took 5,000 with us to Greenville, South Carolina about every year, and uh it was just um you know, it's just a lot of a lot of people that loved our team and and and supported us so well.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: And uh again, I just appreciate that so much.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, I miss those fans, you know.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: We we haven't been able to have fans this year, which is hard.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, because that's part of building a program is developing that relationship with your fan base and letting your fans get close to you and your staff and your team.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: And I hate it for these kids because they can't experience what I want them to experience in a in a packed house, in a great environment, playing our style of basketball that's so much fun to watch and create such an a, you know, an atmosphere that's that's really electric.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping we can get through this, guys, because our kids that I have right now and this this number three recruiting class I got coming in, they are gonna be fun to watch in the future, and they're gonna create a lot of electricity and a lot of great atmospheres.
25:18
SPEAKER_03: Now, are y'all uh I've been reading are y'all building a new arena in Texas?
25:22
SPEAKER_03: Is that right?
25:25
SPEAKER_00: $550 million arena, John Clark.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Gonna be gonna be ready in about a year.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: And uh it's gonna be state of the art.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: It'll be the best facility in the country.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, new practice facility, new offices, new everything, new training room.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: Um we'll have two new two new locker rooms, one in the facility, one in our practice facility.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's gonna be incredible and uh really, you know, really excited about that.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just it's gonna be unlike any other.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, again, appreciate it's it's good to see that happening um and not just talked about.
26:05
SPEAKER_03: Well, uh, another thing I want to talk about.
26:07
SPEAKER_03: We're we're uh we're having our I'm I'm good friends with uh with Coach Cheryl.
26:10
SPEAKER_03: We're gonna have him on our show pretty soon.
26:12
SPEAKER_03: Now, I I think y'all are good friends, aren't you?
26:13
SPEAKER_03: Tell us a little bit about your friendship.
26:15
SPEAKER_03: We are.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh he's a dear friend.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: I I uh in fact he texted me two days ago on my birthday.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: And uh he um he and I we we visit a lot and uh you know um he's somebody that I respect and admire.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, he he was at AM when I was at AM.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: I remember watching him walk across campus in in a suit and tie.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: And he was the first million dollar man.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, we would I remember going to games and his first two years or three years were pretty lean.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: And then he broke through and and and uh won three straight back to back-to-back championships and uh got to know him when I when I was an assistant at AM.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: And then uh he he's the one he's one of a couple people that told Scott Strickland when he was looking for a coach that he needed to hire me.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: And then he called me and said, Vic, you need to take that job at Mississippi State.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: It's a good place, you'll fit in well, and you know, I think you'll you'll be able to win there.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so he and I um we have a great friendship and uh great relationship.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: And again, he's somebody that I really admire.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: And every now and then, if I got to bounce something off of him, uh uh I I know I'm bouncing it off somebody that's been been there, done that, and got the receipt.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: So great, great guy, man.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: I love him to do it.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: He's he's a good man.
27:45
SPEAKER_03: He really is.
27:46
SPEAKER_03: So uh I I see you had a big birthday the other day.
27:49
SPEAKER_03: Tell us a little bit about that.
27:50
SPEAKER_03: You have a big celebration.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, no, I didn't have a big celebration now.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: I I didn't I uh it's hard to believe, you know, uh you get to be my age, and uh I I I just got off the elliptical before I talked to you guys.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: I was on there 65 minutes, and uh I still you know try to work out every day, but um I am I uh did have a birthday and it was a fairly significant one.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: And uh um, you know, had dinner with my family that night.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh we didn't practice uh giving the kids a day off that day.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: And uh um to be honest with you, I got my second shot on Monday, and so Tuesday was my birthday, and and I was kind of having a little hangover from that shot and uh um didn't feel just real good all day, and uh, but got home that night and and took some Tylenol, felt really good.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: By the time we had dinner together, I was feeling a lot better.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: So it's nice to spend time with my kids and my wife and uh and have dinner.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: I think I fell asleep in the chair before anybody ever left um because I didn't sleep very good the night before.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: Um we had played Monday night and uh uh I didn't I didn't sleep very good.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: So uh anyway, it was a significant birthday, John Clark.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna talk about the number.
29:08
SPEAKER_03: Well, we wish you happy belated birthday.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: How about that?
29:11
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it, man.
29:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think it's pretty tough to follow up anything with that.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: That was that was great.
29:19
SPEAKER_01: So um I really appreciate you coming on, coach.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: That was that was really good to hear hear all that.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of gave me some goosebumps there for a minute.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, again, uh it's uh those eight years were really special, and we have so many special friends there, and you know, again, the entire state.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've I've had people that wear that blue and red, you know, talk about how much they appreciated what we did at Mississippi State and what we did for to bring recognition to our state.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna tell you something about the state of Mississippi.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: It is it's been it was to me, it's one of the most loving, caring places I've ever been.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: And I'm talking about people caring and loving everybody.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: Um I I just really saw so many good things during my time there.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: And uh again, it's about the people.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: You know, the coast was probably my favorite place to visit.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: I loved going down to Long Beach, Biloxi, and fishing.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh had some people down there that I fish with pretty frequently, and uh I love my time down there and uh always loved eating the seafood down there, loved going to Mary Mahoney's and uh or the the Half Shell and some of those places and stayed at uh the bow a lot.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: And um so I I enjoyed that that part of the state and uh again got to speak just about everywhere.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh went into went into towns and places I never knew existed, uh, you know, trying to promote your your your program.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Scott Strickland and I, we'd literally drive two and three hours to speak to 25 people.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: Wow, you know, but that's what it took to build that program.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, that first year, I bet we didn't have 500 people at our games.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: And heck, I didn't want 500 people there because we weren't very good.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: But as we built the program, you know, we built it up to being top 10 in the country in attendance.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: And and and that that went along with our top 10 team, you know, that we had every year.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: So that's part of what you do when you're building the program.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: You got to get out and you got to sell the product and and and and just as I always told anybody, any man, probably like y'all, if you'll just come to one game, I promise you you'll never miss another one.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: That happened, that happened a lot.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: And um again, you got to give my kids a lot of credit for how they played the game, how they honored the game, how they respected the game, how they made time for everybody.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you, Victoria Vivians probably took the same picture and signed the same autograph a million times in her four four years there.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: Blair, same deal.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, Dom, same deal.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: I go down the list of every player.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: They but that's what it took.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: You know, you never said, well, didn't we do this last week or didn't we do this the day before yesterday?
32:10
SPEAKER_00: No, you didn't say that.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: You just did it because that's what it took.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: And again, the state was just tremendous.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: And uh uh I I have so much admiration for so many people in that state.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: And again, the fans of Mississippi State, they're unlike any any place I've been, uh, and for what I've seen.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: And I've been some pretty special places.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: Now I haven't been able to see our fans here yet, and I'm sure they're gonna be great and special, but I'm telling you, those Mississippi State fans, they are they are so unique and so special, will always be to me and my family and uh my teams, man, it was just a really special time, and uh I'll always always remember that.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: Don't forget, guys, I got a farm still in Starble.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh I got a farm with a beautiful home that we had just finished building um when I when I took the job here in April.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we hadn't moved into that house.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: I took the job like on April 6th.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: We moved in on April 9th.
33:13
SPEAKER_00: I told Holly, I said, we're moving.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: She goes to Austin.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: I go, no, we're moving to the farm.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: And so we moved out there and we lived out there for about three months, you know, before we came to Austin, because man, it is the most beautiful place I've ever seen.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm just I can't wait to go back and visit there in the spring.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: And I'll get back to some of my turkey hunting grounds that I love to go to and I'll make it up uh to into uh crappie fish and uh do some of those things and and again hang out with some of my good friends that I like to to see and and hunt with.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: So awesome.
33:47
SPEAKER_00: Again, appreciate you guys today.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me and uh convey to everybody that you see that wears that maroon and white how much I love them and appreciate them.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, we'll always have that bond.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: There there's always a bulldog fan in Austin, Texas.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: Don't think there's not.
34:05
SPEAKER_03: Well well, Brandon, you want to tell Coach about you, you mentioned about going into small towns in Mississippi and speaking.
34:10
SPEAKER_03: You want to tell Coach a little bit about the glasses and the small towns that you have on the glasses?
34:15
SPEAKER_03: Tell them a little bit about that, what we have going on.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so just to kind of make it more Mississippi-oriented, we we named all the glasses after all the little small towns around Mississippi.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: There's about 30 or 40 of them now that we have on there.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: So we have a description for all of them.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: Starkville has a description there.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: We've got one for for Biloxi and Gulfport, and so just to kind of help identify people.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: So we're hoping with the podcast we can have people from each one of these little small towns come on and just tell us a little bit more about it, give us more personality.
34:43
SPEAKER_01: So um that's pretty much how it is.
34:47
SPEAKER_01: But um, coach, we really appreciate it.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this has been wonderful, and again, thanks for the time.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, and hopefully we'll see you around town one day.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: All right, Bob.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate y'all.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: I'll go ahead and say it.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord in Hell State and hook them horns.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Coach.
35:06
unknown: All right.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: You bet.
35:13
SPEAKER_01: Okay, everybody, thanks for listening.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: That was a great interview, Coach Schaefer.
35:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he is so inspirational.
35:20
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can you can just hear the passion for Mississippi there.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: So really good.
35:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: Well, um just to close us out, just want to remind everybody we've got our email address, johnnypacker Iwear at gmail.com.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: Send us any questions you have.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: Let us know if you any comments, anything you want to talk about, reach out to us.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: And then we've got johnnypacker.com if you want to check out some sunglasses on there and send us a message.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: We're we're hoping we get some more involvement here.
35:49
SPEAKER_01: So everybody, thanks for listening.
35:51
SPEAKER_03: Appreciate it.