Latest / Hoop Industry Podcast / Akron Zips Legend Steve McNees Reminisces About MAC Tournament, March Madness
Transcript
- Spencer Davies: Welcome on into another episode of the Hoop Industry podcast ahead of March Madness. And what better way to do an episode here with myself and Ty Neal than bring in the pride of Newcastle, Pennsylvania, a long time, long time Mac championship winner, Akron legend, and also one of the best sharpshooters in Pennsylvania history, Stevie McNeese. And I'm leaving out. the good part here, also the founder of Run the Show, of where we are right now, obviously works over at the Cranberry Township part of it, but this is here in Twinsboro, Ohio. He's in town because the boys are about to be kicking off action there at Rocket Arena on Thursday. So really good to have you here, Stevie. Wow, what a, ⁓ Intro there, Spence. Thank you. I appreciate that. No, happy to be here. ⁓ You know, like you said, it's a fun time of year for basketball and certainly for Northeast Ohio. Most definitely. Ty, I know you wanted to kind of get into your guys' relationship, how this all came together. And we'd be remiss not to mention Alan Deep, too, who's a big time part of Run the Show. But let's just take it there. Let's go from scratch. We already know that you two intersected at Akron, but just like, where did this whole relationship start? And how did we get here? How are we doing? doing this? How are we doing a podcast right now? Yeah. So it goes back to August of 2020 or 2013. I had just got done playing for my dad at Bluffton University. I was I was, you know, I'm 23 years old. I have no clue what I'm going to do. You know, I'm interviewing for, I interviewed at Chase Bank. I interviewed at Headhunter Company, you know. I got offered a job with Marathon Corporation. I'd be sitting in a control room for 12 hour shifts controlling a crude oil pipeline. Great job. Full benefits, nice salary. Long story short, I get offered a graduate assistant coaching job at Akron. as I've spoke on before and You know one of the first people I just kind of hit it off with when when Coaching it after because I went out there. I didn't know anybody, you know obviously My dad being a college coach he had relationships with you know You just have a network and he knew coach Dan brought new coach why again? And so that's kind of how I got connected with them, but I moved out here. I didn't know anybody Not nobody right and so Steve was kind of the first person that I connected with out here and I guess you could say as my first friend when I moved out here and we just kind of been close ever since. And, you know, we kind of went through our coaching journeys. ⁓ You know, Steve at Akron and then at Duquesne, myself at Akron and then and then with the Cavs and the charge. And, you know, we we just kind of us too, as well as Alan, you know, we just kind of have a passion for, you know, we want to do our own thing and control our own destiny and be creative in the basketball space. ⁓ So, know, 2022, we pulled the trigger and took a risk and here we are. Most definitely. Steve, what stands out to you about Ty's basketball mind? Why was he such a good partner for a project like this and how far you guys have taken it in such a short amount of time? Sure. You know, I make the comment all the time that out of all my friends, he's probably the most like myself. We just grew up very similar, you know, both coaches sons. You know, my dad was a 30 year head high school coach. His dad was a, you know, whatever 35. five plus year head college coach. And we just grew up in the same type of scene, you know, in terms of, you know, ball in your hand, hanging out in gyms, wanting to be like our dads and wanting to play basketball and then coach basketball as long as we could. you know, we just have a lot of synergies and chemistries as human beings and both kind of in the same era of life, right? With young families and ⁓ really trying to just take over the world, right? That type of vibe. We've kind of always communicated in the background of our coaching journeys about starting a business and we've both had that kind of entrepreneurial itch and ⁓ You know, it just kind of the time was right. We kind of collided in terms of where we were at mentally. you know, again, our third partner, Alan, same type of thing, and just try to jump off the cliff together. So, you know, in terms of him, it's just he's the perfect fit for me personally, because we're family, you know, and we're in each other's weddings and best men. You know, he means the world to me. And on top of that, he's unbelievably gifted and skilled at what he does. You know, he has the ability to make players better, ⁓ the ability to run a business and really do it in a way that's a lot of fun. So for me, it was a no brainer, man. He's, he's my guy. He'll always be my guy. And so, ⁓ it's been a lot of fun this past kind of, two and a half, three years of doing this. Most definitely. The whole reason that we're here, if we're going to talk about some memories, right. This is going be a very niche podcast for a lot of Zip's fans, a lot of Zip's faithful. That's the first question I have for you is just like, what is the environment like? What is the feeling like when you're about to step out on that floor at Rocket Arena with tons of fans from all over the conference being there? And there's just this sort of vibe and or something about. this time of year there, uh, that I think a lot of people, maybe not even across the country didn't realize until this year, when Miami went on their huge streak, that that Mac basketball is one of the funnest things. I think, at least in my opinion, uh, that goes on in sports. Yeah. No, I think the whole mid major, you know, low major type magic of, you got to win your, your tournament to get in, uh, is awesome in general. And I think one of the things that makes the Mac championship so special is so many of the teams are driving distance. You know, and so in terms of support and following and you know, I've experienced, you know, other division one conference tournaments ⁓ at other places and it's not the same magic. I think just because of the geographic, you know, convenience of the Mac. And so when everybody can kind of hop in their car and drive two or three hours to support their team, ⁓ it really adds to the energy, you know, and in terms of Akron, you know, we're, you know, we're the closest team to Cleveland, right? We're 25 minutes ⁓ down the road. And so for us, we've always always just been so heavily supported. ⁓ And then with, you know, in the Dan Broad era had a lot of success in terms of just, you know, winning and, you know, multiple games and multiple championships in a row. And you kind of start to develop that like, Hey, this is, this is our event. And, you know, so I think the event in general is awesome. ⁓ You know, it's imagine has a Disney world type feel to it. And then in terms of how it applies to Akron, man, like we've just, you know, we've produced and the people have shown out. So it's, It's it's really ⁓ a powerful type of energy surrounding Akron basketball in the Mac championship. The year has been what did you say? Nine straight that he was at. I was a part of nine total Mac championship games. Yeah. Seven straight and ⁓ nine nine total. So that was you know, I got I got my money's worth in terms of the the Mac tournament for sure. So. Played in what? Three as a player. three championship games. I was a part of five as a player. I read shirt in my first year and then all four of my years I played in in the Mac championship one, two of the four and then coached in the next two. ⁓ as a grad assistant and video coordinator. ⁓ And then we missed a year or two, and then we went two more in a row after that. yeah, again, nine total, five as a player, four as a coach. So do the math. I mean, Akron's won. Since coach gross has been there three or four. Well, three probably would have been four with the COVID year. Yeah. They were the best team ran the table would have been the one the regular season would have been the one seed. So if you do the math, you know, you take those numbers where what coach Dan brought era there. How many is like 20 years like 20 win seasons like like 20 years. Right. You look at a 20 year period 15 out of 20 years basically. Something like that. So that's that's, you know, 1314 out of last 21. It's the Akron Invitational. And, you know, yeah, alongside. it being very unique in a sense of what he just said. Pretty much every team's fan base. It's not a hassle to get there. It's in Cleveland. It's not in New York City. Easy to get around. I think it's affordable. you just have these, know, Akron Kent usually plays and that's going to draw a big crowd. know, Ohio, Miami, you you have a lot of grads of those places that work and live here and have their families here now. But I think the energy is also special because it's like, Your dream is either coming true or your dream is dying. And so the stakes are just so high and it's emotional. And it's the end of careers. It's keeping your career alive. so I think the energy just feeds off of those emotions and it makes it such a great environment. What's your favorite Mac tourney memory as a player and as a coach? Well, like I said, I was fortunate enough to win two of them. ⁓ One of them ended in a pretty cool fashion against Kent State with a kind of a block shot at end of the game to kind of to seal the victory. You most of those games come down to one or two possessions. That's that's the quarterfinals, the semifinal. I it's it's a war. And so I think those, you know, those types of games are easy to remember. So I'd say, you know, as a player, ⁓ the Kent State game, which that rivalry, if you're not familiar with it is awesome. You know, it's it's Duke, North Carolina. ⁓ You know, it's Michigan, Ohio State. It's it's in that, you know, it's it's not on that that level of profile, but it's the same type of energy. And so, you know, that game was awesome as a player. You know, and I think as a coach, like, I only won one as a coach. And so that one was great, you know, in terms of just getting that experience from a different seat, a different role in game. And also, you know, equally as gratifying because of what goes into coaching, right? And so. Again, very blessed to have have experienced those things. Been to a couple of NCAA tournaments after, like you said, those wins as a player. What was that experience like to just be a part of March Madness, even just showing up on the TV, being a part of the selection show, all that fun stuff that comes with this time of year just seems like it's it's different when you win your tournament, but then you're in the big dance after that. Sure. Yeah, I think, you know, it's I don't know, I kind of somewhat represent a lot of just regular basketball players growing up from a small town that have dreams and aspirations of playing in the event. whether you're shooting around in your backyard or dribbling your driveway and. You know, for me, was never about, I wanted to play in the NBA, for whatever reason. I don't know. It just, in my mind, it was like, I wanted to play in the NCAA tournament. so, ⁓ you know, getting that experience and enjoying that is just, you those are some memories that ⁓ certainly you cherish and hold onto. And like I said, it has a Disney World feel. The whole thing has this magic around it. You know what I mean? This kind of this aura and energy of it just being so special and surreal. And, you know, like I said, I'm very fortunate to have done that. You guys were a 13 seed, I believe in 09 and a 15 seed in 11. Yes, that's right. We we had probably two of the toughest matchups possible. The first one we played Gonzaga in Portland. They had, I think, four NBA players. So Gonzaga in Portland, right? Basically a home game for them with four NBA players. Mark Few, Pargo, Austin Day, Heitfeldt. Bolton, had a tough team. And we were up four at half, feeling real good about ourselves, celebrated like we won the game and ended up losing by that one. I don't know, right around 10 or so. And then I had to play St. I had to play Notre Dame on St. Patty's Day, downtown Chicago, the Green River. Oh, my God. So to, know, like I said, to kind of deck stacked against you games, but awesome experiences. Both games were competitive, you know, lost them both. But tough draws. Sure. I can't can't imagine. Ty, what about you? What were your favorite memories about this time of year with the Mac tournament and then even NCAA tournament being a part of that? Yeah. Well, you know, I never I wasn't ⁓ I wasn't fortunate enough to to make an NCAA tournament as a player or as a coach. Got to the. Got close and you know someone always forget who said it maybe Mikey D but you know I'll never forget him saying is hey winning it is the best feeling in the world losing the Mac championship game is literally the worst feeling in the world. So you know my kind of closest ⁓ opportunity to winning it was 2016. We had a phenomenal team ran the table in the regular season 13 and three in the Mac regular season champs were playing well. to win and ⁓ we had kind of a crucial injury the week leading into the MAC tournament, one of our starters. really kind of was our, that's what differentiated us, I think, that year in the Mac. We had two phenomenal post players at Biggs that nobody else had. And so was like, hey, you bring one in, right? He does his thing, then you got the next one coming in. And it's just like the other, the opponent, they just couldn't get a break. And so that's what really, I think, separated us in not having the one in going into the Mac tournament, I think we still should have and we're the better team, but. I think it really hurts. So anyway, the story goes, we're we're, you know, one stop away, right? We're playing Buffalo in the championship game and we're one stop away. It's like, we're doing it. We're going to do this thing. And next thing you know, Blake Hamilton banks in a 28 footers, 28 foot step back with about, I think, five seconds to go off to pull the clip up. But. Literally the worst feeling in the world and because you know, you're right there you're one stop away and you're You're sitting there watch I can still place myself in that moment ⁓ You know that shot banks in and your stomach just drops drops to the floor and it's just it's just literally the worst feeling in the world losing that game Not because you know, hey, you're not going to the NCAA tournament, but also it's like, you you put all this, there's this buildup with this group and these people and players and coaches and friends and fans, and it just comes to a screeching halt. And it's like, what now? It's done. Like... will never be in the locker room with this group again. Some of them will be there next year, but some won't. So that specific group will never be together again in that setting. And quite frankly, it's sad. So that's the closest I got. And ⁓ it was my third year at Akron. I was the video coordinator. And ⁓ hey, that's how it goes. Stevie, you brought up a point earlier talking about how you love how the tournament champion gets into the tourney. My question is, especially because of supplies now, and this is a huge hot topic around the nation right now, with Miami being 31 and 0, literally not losing a game despite the schedule being what it is. Should the Mac be a two bid league this year because of that, if Akron were to win or if someone else were to win and beat Miami in the championship game. And what do you make of the tournament champion getting into the big dance instead of the team that did most of the work during the regular season? Sure. Well, I a few thoughts. ⁓ one of my main tasks as a coach during my time in college was to do the scheduling. And ⁓ as we've mentioned that the Keith Danbrot teams. I had a lot of success, ⁓ especially at Akron and even at Duquesne, and we're in that mid-major mold, And one of the things that people don't understand is scheduling's a two-way street, right? And there's money involved a lot of times, ⁓ and I promise you this, nobody is playing Miami of Ohio this year. They're coming off a really good year the year before. And so in order to schedule those opponents, it's not like football where they contract six years out. They scheduled after last season, right? the nature of the business. And, you know, I don't want to speak for them, but I bet you they had a heck of a time scheduling good opponents. And so ⁓ you can't blame them for nobody wanting to play them. Number one. Number two, they're absolutely in the tournament. No questions asked. Like I would be shocked if they weren't in at large and they they have earned that. And so in terms of the, you know, the tournament champion versus a regular season, know, that people I saw Billis was talking a little bit about those guys were talking a little bit about that the other day. I think you do need to kind of cook the books. to have the, your better teams play in the semi-finals and the Mac did that for a while. think they got away from it where your top one and two seeds. Is that still the case? I'm not sure. They used to make it to the semi-finals, ⁓ which gave your better teams the opportunity to, probably make the championship plan, you know, to get your best teams in it. ⁓ I think that's good. I think that's good business. mean, you, you battle over the course of three, four months to earn those seeds. think that that's a nice thing. ⁓ but I think the tournament sending the guys are sending that team to the, ⁓ to the NCA tournament is an awesome thing. think that culminating event is absolutely the answer for entertainment and for just sheer purpose, most definitely. What do you think? Yeah, I think, you know... It's such a unique situation. It's never been done before. Right. ⁓ Correct. Like, I don't think there's been a Mac team that's. I don't remember one. And so, you know, I think it'd just be it would be bad for college basketball if they didn't get in. And what message does that send? Like. They're getting in, you know, now, I will say, like they can't, you know, they I think they got to make it to the championship game to really. They should still get in either way, but ⁓ it's interesting. It's like, think the scheduling piece is, it's like, at, even look at Akron, it's kind of like, yeah, we can go play Purdue, the number one team in the country. ⁓ playing tough, you're probably not going to win that game or I can just kind of schedule another low major that even those games are hard to get. Like, yeah, you know, you got to go to the top, literally one, two, three teams in the country that don't have any fears. And then the other people that'll that'll kind of buy you at that mid major level are like, you know, the Gonzaga's of the world who are the Crayton's where their league doesn't give them enough, enough pop and they need to schedule out of conference, you know, top 50 teams that can help them. And so then they look for kind of the Akron's and the Miami's and the VCU's of the world to kind of come into their building. But really it's a very small amount of teams that would even schedule a team like Miami of Ohio heading into this year. Well, the other side of it, know, 2016, my, my, the last year I was part of the Akron program. We played in one at Arkansas. We played and lost ⁓ at Villanova. We played and beat ⁓ teams like ⁓ USC, Southern Cow. We beat ⁓ South Carolina in a neutral event site. And we played Miami, a Florida team that was a top 10, top 25 team in the country at the time at a neutral site and played them tough and lost. For a Mac school, you're not really doing much better than that in terms of not only playing, you know, ⁓ tier one teams, but also getting a couple of wins. And if you run the table in your conference and you lose at the buzzer in the championship game and you still don't get in, it's kind of like, well, why am I scheduling these teams, right? Why not just? schedule all winnable, you know, wins for your non-conference schedule and then just try to be the best team in your conferences. It might be the recipe right now. Winning every single game is obviously very hard to do and it may never be done again. But it's an interesting it's an interesting juggling act. How do you approach it? Right. And that's 10 years ago. How does that calculus change nowadays with NIL and the transfer portal? Are the smaller programs more dead in the water when they have those types of games because they're picking off the the big schools are picking off of some of those teams in the mid-majors. Sometimes you do have guys from high majors, power fours coming down and trying to get more playing time at mid-majors, but it feels like there's an inverse effect there as well. A lot of it too, I mentioned the scheduling, like you're scheduling in March, April, May, June. And rosters aren't even done yet now. what's different? Like it used to be, you do your homework and you would know very detailed what type of team you were going to play. Like you schedule somebody in April, their roster was set. You knew who was returning. You could see who signed with them. And you had an idea who you were going to be playing in November, December. That's not the case now. Like now you're scheduling teams, you know, and buying teams. So, know, when a big team buys a small team, they're paying money to have them come to their place. And often like you don't know what they're going to have. Right. You're rolling the dice on, they might they might have a good NIL situation and buy a good player too that then bites you. Or maybe you're buying somebody that stinks. And, ⁓ you know, in the world of scheduling, especially at the high major level, it's just so vital that they that they build the campaign the right way. And so I think there's a little bit of unknown nowadays compared to 10 years ago. Ten years ago, you could be a little more calculated. And like I said, very different than football. Football, they they contract it out. more from an administrative level and it's years in advance. You know, in basketball, you do have some series, some two year series or, you know, in some cases a three year deal, but those are, those aren't, you know, very, very frequent and they're pretty much one year type things that you're doing in the spring after your season. Yeah. Less than three, four years at a school now too, for a lot of players. So as you said, that unknown effect probably is really tough. I thought it was awesome. I had a conversation with Luca Garza the other day. Remember I that guy was the talk of the town for all that time at Iowa. And, you know, he's obviously playing a good role as a third big on the Celtics right now, but it was a great conversation because we just kind of talked about how, you know, like they sucked his freshman year and he could have just went somewhere else the way that the players are just kind of jumping here and there. And the calculus has just changed so much at the college level and Ty's gone on his rants on this podcast plenty of times about that stuff. But more or less, that's a great conversation, great thoughts there. Cannot wait for the MAG tournament this weekend. It's gonna be really fun. You got Miami taking on UMass, and I know the Zips, they are taking on Buffalo. I don't remember who Kent plays, and then there's also OU in a four-five matchup, I wanna say. Toledo. Yeah, Toledo, there you go. So it should be a good, time. Wanted to gauge your thoughts, because you both spent a ton of time under him, but... Keith Dan brought obviously a huge, huge piece of your career, not only as a player, but as a coach, I'm sure as a mentor, you spent what a decade with the guy. So I would love to know how you kind of picked his brain, whether it was at Akron, whether it was at Duquesne or even now, maybe when you keep in contact with them, like what was his biggest influence on you? Sure. You know, I spent age, uh, what 18 to 34 with him. So ⁓ He met me at age 16, 17 as a young man and by the time I stopped playing and working for him, I had children of my own. So we kind of grew old together, and I, him a little older than me. But ⁓ in terms on the basketball side of things, ⁓ just a defensive genius in terms of discipline, toughness, and how to play defense the right way. ⁓ I certainly was not, I was raised in an offensive house. My dad was a ball skill guy and put the ball in the basket guy a little more than him. And so he kind of taught me a lot about how to play defense the right way, to get the most out of myself, and then also how to get the most out of my players in terms of just how to play and the level of intensity and discipline on top of all just the scheme. So his defensive stuff was awesome. ⁓ And his approach to life, very special in terms of how he attacked his days. I say it all the time when people reference him, like I think he would have made a million dollars a year doing whatever he wanted to do. He just kind of had that ability to grind and a very, very smart man and he chose basketball. ⁓ He wasn't a college player. He played college baseball and so he chose basketball and ⁓ unbelievably successful and again, taught me a lot about how to be a detailed discipline ⁓ professional. And so, very thankful and appreciative for that because I'm kind of like a I don't want to say I'm like a wing it kind of guy, I got a little more just like confidently running down and he's a little more like, whoa, whoa, like let's sit down and look at this type of thing. So he helped balance me out as a human being. Got any stories from the road between you two? Oh yeah, there's lot of stories. What's one that sticks out? That's a good question. There's so many memories. I got a thought on it. So I was the director of basketball operations, which was like the, ⁓ at that time, the kind of the lowest full-time ⁓ coach. And I was younger. And so all of the, had four grad assistants, which was a lot really at that time, and then managers and a couple other helpers and things. So let's say there's a group of five to 10 guys. in their mid to late 20s, right, traveling around with this team. And being the director of operations, again, I was probably the oldest one, but not by much. You we're talking by a year or two. You you kind of drive the ship on the trips, right, where you're staying, how you're moving, what's gonna happen. You know, you're kind of responsible for leading this basketball field trip. And I had all these guys on one end that were like eyeballing, hey, it's Friday night in Toledo, you know, what are we going to do socially? And on the other side, I got 35 people that are like, we're, responsible for running a good, a good trip here, right? In terms of like, we're trying to win the ball game. got to hit, you know, again, hit, hit every single minute to a T. You're camp counselor. And so like the balancing act for me of like, Hey, what are the, these guys who were, you know, helping me, what are they looking to do socially? Number one, am I going to join them at all? Number two, are we going to get number three, like should they be going at all? Because you know, when you're 24, 25, 26 years old, you know, you're jumping on social opportunities. So I think for Ty and I, was, we had fun, number one. Then number two, like we learned a lot about just growing up, you know, and when to, hey, you gotta go to bed early and when to, pounce on a social opportunity. So we kind of played that juggling act. What am I, I think... not only an acro memory, a basketball memory, just a memory in general that I'll always think about because I'm a, I love the holidays. Anybody knows me, I'm a big, Christmas guy. ⁓ So my first year, and my going to Akron was like, I grew up in Bluffton. I went to high school in Bluffton, which is a small town in Westwood, Ohio. And then I went to college in Bluffton, where both my dad was the coach, my mom worked at the university as well. So while I was at college, I was still in my hometown. And I don't want to say things were easy, but things were convenient, right? And I worked hard. what I got. But coming to Akron really forced me to just like grow up and be away from home and had to do really hard things, know, like working for somebody like Coach Jambrot is demanding and I'm glad it was because now everything I've done professionally is, you know, it's like, I handle that at you know what I mean? And so for me going there was just, I had to really grow up and learn how to work and I just really work hard. And so one of my best memories was, okay, you know, hey, I moved out here in September a couple of months later, right? We're playing an event over Christmas in Hawaii, the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. First time I ever was away for Christmas, right? So again, it just kind of plays into like I had to really grow up and, but I'll never forget, you know, hey, Christmas Eve, We played, I think we played, we played South Carolina the next day at like a noon game, Christmas day. But Christmas Eve, you know, we said, hey, we're gonna enjoy Christmas Eve. We rented mopeds, okay, and we're cruising around a mountain in Hawaii. ⁓ On Christmas Eve, you got, Christmas lights in the palm trees were playing Christmas music. And it was just kind of like, man, you know, the first time you're, you're away from home on Christmas and this is what you're doing. Just always remember that. And so that's one thing that sticks out. And for a lot of reasons, for a lot of reasons, I don't know if you can top that Christmas Eve. Great Christmas. I mean, you know, yeah, you're, you're in Hawaii. You're, you're cruising around a mountain on a, on a moped on a little motorcycle and there's Christmas lights and Palm trees. got Frank Sinatra Christmas music playing. So just a great memory. Yeah, I trade that holiday for some of the ones that I've had I'm not gonna lie now I'll say this we got our ass kicked the next day Frank Martin, South Carolina then now at UMass by the way now at UMass Then we had to fly Christmas night from Hawaii to Columbia, South Carolina to play South Carolina in a regular game, I believe on the 27th or 28th, they kicked our ass again. Was that Cinderius Thornwell's team? Thornwell, yeah, they were tough. They had some pros. They were big, strong, physical. I will say we did beat them the next year in a neutral event, but. So good memories about bad scheduling, bad schedule. I shouldn't do that. try to schedule the big boys. you said you were part of an offensive household growing up. We would be remiss not to mention your records in Pennsylvania being in the top five top 15. I think it was I read that you were in scoring at Shenango. What were your favorite times in high school there and how that prepare you for the next level at Akron and such? And then we'll obviously get into what you're doing now. Yeah, you know, I've only wanted to be involved in basketball. You know, again, I grew up in a household. My dad was a was a head high school coach and ⁓ he played at ⁓ Division two slippery rock as a player. And so ⁓ my dad just just walked like a player, moved like a player. And from an early age, I just wanted to be him, you know, in terms of just growing up and having basketball be the centerpiece of my life. And ⁓ so, I fell in love with the game at a young age. And, ⁓ you know, my dad had the ball in my hands and anybody that knows like basketball like you have to put time in. have to be, the skill development has to be there. And so he had the ball in my hand and I was in the gym a lot. And so I started to get OK. And like anything at a young age, if you're good at it, you kind of want to keep doing it. And so it just kind of kept building momentum and had a great playing experience under him. And then was fortunate enough to go on and play at the college level and really enjoyed that. And ⁓ I went overseas to play after my time at Akron. And I got about six weeks in and realized that I was entirely too American. Austria, Yeah, I was in Austria. I'm glad I went and I'm glad I decided to come home because the lifestyle wasn't exactly for me. And like I said, I have had a lot of teammates and friends that go on and really enjoy that life. But I wanted to get everything I could out of playing, which I did. then shoot, now I'm 15, 16 years into my professional career as an adult. and it's been all basketball. So, you know, I kind of joke around like I can't start my lawnmower. I can't hang a television on the wall. Like my skill set is very, very siloed and, and, know, so I just try to just do what I'm good at. And so for me, basketball is, not, only a passion, but kind of my purpose shot a lot of threes too. I'm a shot taker shot takers out there. That fits today's profile. No doubt of modern basketball. Before we get out of here, let's Let's just dig into you being at Pine Richland, being a head coach now over there at that high school, what the experience was like for you. going from college to high school, the differences in coaching and what you have to do to develop players, but also focus on winning and finding that balance. Yeah. So as I mentioned, playing for my dad, I kind of have a soft spot for high school basketball and the community aspect that comes with that. And so I live in a school district called Pine Richland. ⁓ It's about 20 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh. And I have young kids. have three young kids. I have a daughter, a six-year-old daughter, and then two sons, one that's four and another one that's seven months. And so the job opened up last spring at the high school, the high school coaching job. And I kind of had an opportunity to put my name in and take a look at it. ⁓ Most of my motivation was my past being that I played for my dad. And what a winning formula that was for my family and growing up in that scene. And ⁓ the idea that I could possibly have that for me and my boys, ⁓ and my daughter, it was a special opportunity, so I jumped on it. ⁓ You know, I joke around like I'm either going to be the head coach there for 19 years or two. Nothing in between. My plan is to be there to coach both my boys and so I have 18 seasons left and I've learned a lot in this first, you know, 10 months. is it is certainly different than coaching college basketball. It's just a different type of ⁓ environment. The players are different. The parental involvement is different. You know that the administration moves differently, but honestly I have enjoyed the differences. I've really treasured the. The relationship piece is awesome. That's kind gone out the door in college a little bit. And so the idea that I can lock in with ninth and tenth graders and build relationships with them and their families and you don't always want to win games, but I don't, you don't remember whether you won 20 games or 14, you remember the relationships and the people that impacted you. So I'm very excited about the platform I have to impact a community and do it through the game of basketball. very much looking forward to the future with with Pine Richland. It's the vision with run the show the rest of the way here. What are you looking to do? What are you looking to accomplish? And you're obviously off to a great start in two different places. Yeah, I think for Ty and I, again, being coaches sons, like we were both manmade. Like, I mean, I'm I'm a little bigger than him. I'm six, too, but that's small, you know, in the world of hoops and ties ties five eight and shoes. So, you know, for us, we had to we had to become you know, manmade ballplayers. And so we believe in that. We believe that you can grind your way to relevancy in a sport filled with size and athleticism. And so we've built a business around kind of that concept that you can put the time in and reap the benefits both physically and emotionally. And ⁓ we've kind of taken our experiences at the NBA and Division I level and kind of made those types of services and treatment purchasable to the public, purchasable to young people. So for us, we have a facility here. ⁓ in Twinsburg, Ohio and then one in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. So there's two of them and you know, our goal right now is just to keep improving our model and our craft and really servicing these areas to the fullest. And you know, if we can continue to grow and get better, you know, we want to carve out a big niche in the basketball training space on a regional and then hopefully national level if we're lucky enough. And so right now we just got to keep getting better and ⁓ You know, I think in due time we will grow. Chopwood, Kerry Water, nose of the grindstone. Love it, love it, love it. Mac championship predictions. We'll go with you first time. Oh, it's a no brainer. It's a no brainer. Akron Zips, man. Akron Zips over Miami? Zips, I think it's going to come down to kind of like last year, right? It come down to a couple possessions. game, by the way. And you know. I fully confident that the Zips will get it done. Love both teams, love both coaches, Miami and Akron. But I think it's going to be Akron, Miami. And listen, I got to go with the Zips and a close one. And I hope both teams do get in. That'd be a great thing as a Mac fan as. To finally to have two teams get in for the first time since 90, 99 Miami, it was the Wally's Erbjegger, Wally's Erbjegger. So. So zips, but I'd love for it to see both teams in the NCAA tournament, you know, I got Spence I do I I I got the zips bring it home We're gonna make it a clean sweep unanimous here. Go zips. Hopefully we get a good game last year I'll tell you what though if Akron lets Miami take a lead like that this year. It might be a different story So they got to be on their P's and Q's from tip-off as soon as that game starts on Saturday But first they do got Buffalo and so Miami also has UMass, they got to get there first. And Akron does have Kent on their side of the bracket and Miami has OU on their side of the bracket. So we do have some rivalry potential in the Sunnies. I got a quote a movie here. ⁓ The Waterboy, right? Vicki Valencourt's on the sideline. They ask her what her prediction is and she gives out a score. And the commentator goes, thanks for your prediction. She goes, that ain't a prediction. That's what it's going to be. So I'm willing to say that's what it's going to be. It's going to be accurate in Miami. and I can't wait for it. Well, for me being your proverbial Lynn Swan, I will end the podcast on that note. Stevie, thanks so much for stopping by, man. This has been an awesome time. Excited to see it, Rocket Arena, this weekend. Everybody hope you enjoy the Mac Tournament. Hope you enjoy the NCAA Tournament. Ty and I will be back with another episode soon enough. But until then, enjoy the hoops and thanks for listening.