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Basketball Program Building · A Quick Timeout

0:05
SPEAKER_01: Today's guest is the head coach at Long Beach State University.
0:08
He's entering his second season there with the beach after
0:10
spending time as an
0:11
SPEAKER_01: assistant coach at Hawaii,
0:13
SPEAKER_01: Boise State,
0:14
SPEAKER_01: San Diego State.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: Coach Chris Acker.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: Coach, great to have you on the show.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: Tony, thank you so much for having me on.
0:20
SPEAKER_01: I went back and forth on what to talk about with Coach Acker,
0:23
and I'm going to do something that I don't know that I've ever
0:25
done before,
0:26
SPEAKER_01: but I don't have a theme for this episode.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: Instead,
0:29
SPEAKER_01: I just wanted to ask him some questions,
0:31
and I hope other people listening enjoy it as much as I know
0:34
I'm going to.
0:34
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: Coach,
0:36
SPEAKER_01: this last year,
0:37
your first year back in the first chair after several years
0:41
being an assistant,
0:43
SPEAKER_01: biggest adjustments,
0:44
SPEAKER_01: biggest challenges,
0:45
SPEAKER_01: and maybe biggest lessons?
0:47
SPEAKER_00: You know,
0:47
SPEAKER_00: when you move over a seat,
0:48
SPEAKER_00: especially in the current climate of college basketball,
0:51
SPEAKER_00: there's a lot of things thrown at you right away.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: And I think every question you ask goes hand in hand.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
0:56
you're throwing in the fire in this new nil space and you know
0:59
you're trying to
1:00
manage what the program had previously trying to figure that
1:03
out and then trying to
1:04
figure out the lay of the land in the community and how people
1:07
can get involved
1:08
with what we're doing but you're trying to build a roster in
1:11
june after the
1:13
portal's been active and guys are already kind of solidified
1:16
where they're going
1:18
and you're in the process also of hiring a staff and then
1:21
you're just trying to get
1:22
the keys to your office and trying to figure out how to turn on
1:24
your laptop and
1:25
SPEAKER_00: You know, all of those things happening at the same time.
1:28
And you got people calling you and texting you about people you
1:30
should hire and
1:31
SPEAKER_00: players you should take.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: Initially, it can be overwhelming.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: Rick Croy,
1:36
SPEAKER_00: the head coach at Cal Baptist,
1:37
SPEAKER_00: told me when I got the job,
1:39
SPEAKER_00: he said,
1:39
SPEAKER_00: your first six months are going to suck.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: So just understand that,
1:43
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:43
SPEAKER_00: as challenging as that was,
1:46
it was also a great testament to my disposition on focusing in
1:51
on the essentials,
1:52
SPEAKER_00: developing relationships in the community,
1:54
SPEAKER_00: trying to put together a roster that we felt could be competitive enough,
1:58
SPEAKER_00: not really knowing the ins and outs of each player we were recruiting,
2:01
SPEAKER_00: medical history,
2:02
SPEAKER_00: all of those things,
2:03
SPEAKER_00: but just trying to put together a roster and,
2:05
SPEAKER_00: you know,
2:06
SPEAKER_00: get the ball rolling and get my feet wet was the priority.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: and we were able to do that.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: You learn a lot about yourself when you're over in that chair because
2:15
SPEAKER_00: you know, pretty much everything falls on you.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: So you learn a lot about what your likes and dislikes are.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: And,
2:21
SPEAKER_00: you know,
2:22
SPEAKER_00: you look back and you think about,
2:24
SPEAKER_00: you know,
2:24
SPEAKER_00: some of the coaches you worked for in the past.
2:26
And I've worked for great head coaches throughout my entire
2:29
tenure in college basketball.
2:31
So you think about some of the decisions they would make in
2:34
your situation.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: But you also understand that,
2:37
SPEAKER_00: you know,
2:38
SPEAKER_00: the coaches that I worked for were all pretty much from Leon Rice to
2:41
Brian Dutcher,
2:42
those guys are legends,
2:43
and they had been doing it for a long period of time.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: So they also didn't take over a program in the NIL space.
2:50
You kind of have to go out on a limb and trust your heart in a
2:53
lot of areas and get
2:54
SPEAKER_00: outside your comfort zone a lot.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: With that being said, I embraced every challenge.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: I took every loss, every win.
3:01
to the heart and you know i felt like that the staff that i
3:05
hired was tremendous in
3:07
that process as well you know that's the number one key to
3:10
taking over a job is
3:11
making sure you're hiring a great staff that'll be resilient
3:14
and diligent um as you
3:15
go through those struggles of building a program and we were
3:19
definitely doing that
3:19
SPEAKER_00: we were building a program from the ground up and uh
3:22
I had a great staff and great administration that supported me
3:26
the whole way.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: As I've listened to coaches talk in this modern era,
3:29
there's usually some common themes in how they talk about how
3:33
they're handling NIL,
3:35
SPEAKER_01: portal,
3:35
SPEAKER_01: team building.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: What are you finding to be the most important building blocks for you?
3:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
3:42
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
3:42
SPEAKER_00: you know,
3:42
SPEAKER_00: this summer,
3:44
SPEAKER_00: going into this summer at the end of our season this year,
3:48
the most important thing were to find guys from a recruiting
3:51
standpoint that all
3:53
had the same competitive drive and were all looking for the
3:58
same things and all had
3:59
SPEAKER_00: and shared the same chip on their shoulder.
4:02
Being really thorough in the communication process with how I
4:07
interacted with the
4:07
SPEAKER_00: players that were coming on campus and over the phone and
4:11
making sure that even though we were in a better position with
4:14
our collective and
4:15
SPEAKER_00: everything from that standpoint,
4:17
making sure we still brought in a bunch of guys that were
4:20
similar in the sense of
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SPEAKER_00: how they worked,
4:23
SPEAKER_00: what they were about,
4:24
SPEAKER_00: the willingness to sacrifice.
4:27
I think we got guys that won last year that had experience that
4:31
were ultimately coming here.
4:34
Of course,
4:34
there's always that individual purpose,
4:37
which we fully embrace is –
4:40
you know the fact that the guys that are coming in they're also
4:42
thinking about hey
4:43
if i come here i can get my numbers and then i can move on so
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there's always that
4:47
common thing across the board regardless of guys admitted and
4:50
not you understand
4:51
that that's the underlying factor but you also talk to them
4:54
about the plan and how
4:56
they plan on processing that and understanding that hey you're
4:59
coming here you're
4:59
going to play with other really good players so understand that
5:02
if you're coming
5:02
here there's no promises there's no guarantees so you have to
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be coming here with
5:06
SPEAKER_00: the right mindset that
5:07
SPEAKER_00: We're going to coach you.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: We're going to hold you to the fire every single day.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: And the expectation,
5:11
SPEAKER_00: first and foremost,
5:12
SPEAKER_00: is that we do everything in the best interest of Lone Beach State.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: And with that message,
5:17
I feel like we garnered a lot of guys that were like-minded in
5:22
that approach.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: And I think we'll be better forward in this next season.
5:26
How do you balance the transactional side of things,
5:30
which they just exist?
5:32
You can't get away from that part of it,
5:33
but you also want to be transformational.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: How do you do both of those?
5:38
i think the first thing you have to do is embrace that it is
5:41
transactional right
5:42
that you know i think you're up front about your communication
5:45
hey you come here i
5:46
SPEAKER_00: understand that there's a lot of money out there in the world but the
5:50
transformational piece is that when you come here we're going
5:53
to spend a lot of
5:53
time developing you as a person and as a player um and we're
5:58
going to focus on you
5:59
SPEAKER_00: individually the ultimate goal is for you to play professional basketball
6:02
SPEAKER_00: And if that's the case,
6:03
then that needs to be the focus every single time you walk in a
6:06
gym or walk in my
6:07
SPEAKER_00: office.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: That'll be the conversation.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: Those will be the standards that we hold you to every single day.
6:12
SPEAKER_00: And if you have that mentality as a player that that's what you're after,
6:17
SPEAKER_00: then when it gets really,
6:18
SPEAKER_00: really hard along the way,
6:19
SPEAKER_00: like it does for every student athlete,
6:21
SPEAKER_00: you'll be able to push through on your own.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: You know,
6:23
SPEAKER_00: I kind of tell our guys all the time that like my job is to push,
6:26
SPEAKER_00: it's not to pull you.
6:28
And if I'm pulling you,
6:29
then this is probably not a great situation for you.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: You got to have that drive.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: And it's my drive to,
6:34
SPEAKER_00: it's my job to help you move forward by encouraging you,
6:39
SPEAKER_00: holding you to the fire,
6:40
SPEAKER_00: but you have to have that intrinsic motivation to,
6:43
SPEAKER_00: that drives you when things get hard.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: And to me,
6:47
when you allow guys to – when you coach guys to those standards
6:51
and you educate
6:52
SPEAKER_00: them and you communicate with them that way,
6:54
I think that's the transformational moment when they figure out
6:57
within themselves,
6:59
SPEAKER_00: you know,
6:59
SPEAKER_00: what they have in there.
7:00
You know,
7:01
I heard Kelvin Sampson talk about,
7:02
you know,
7:03
some of the things they do this summer.
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And,
7:05
you know,
7:05
I spent a lot of time listening to the great coaches in this –
7:08
in this profession and,
7:10
you know,
7:10
taking in a lot of the things that they're saying.
7:12
And our drive is going to be to push our guys to the limit this
7:15
summer so that they
7:16
SPEAKER_00: can go through something together.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: We got 11 new guys on our roster.
7:20
They have to go through something and they have to figure out
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collectively if they
7:25
SPEAKER_00: want to actually deem themselves a family.
7:27
But they have to go through something first in order to get to
7:29
that point to where
7:30
SPEAKER_00: they can call themselves family.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the transformational piece again is when,
7:35
They come together collectively and decide that,
7:38
hey,
7:38
we can do something special together.
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SPEAKER_00: We can motivate each other.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: We don't need coach to be the barometer.
7:44
We got to check the temperature internally every time we walk
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in the gym and hold
7:48
SPEAKER_00: ourselves to a greater standard.
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8:39
SPEAKER_01: I'd love to hear more about that process.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: The relationship building process has been accelerated.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: You have those kids,
8:45
SPEAKER_01: a lot of them for like nine months now,
8:46
SPEAKER_01: what we had in four years in the past or three years in the past.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: And you've alluded to some stuff that you have planned for the summer.
8:53
How do you become a transformational piece in their life when
8:57
you only have them
8:58
SPEAKER_01: for literally nine months?
9:00
SPEAKER_00: The thing that's never changed,
9:02
SPEAKER_00: regardless of the climate that we're in right now,
9:05
is that guys want to be told the truth and they want to know
9:08
where they are every
9:09
SPEAKER_00: single day.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's still the mental health element to all of this as well.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: Being honest,
9:14
SPEAKER_00: being transparent with your players,
9:16
SPEAKER_00: telling them where they are every single day,
9:19
showing them through stats or just through film areas that they
9:23
have to improve
9:24
SPEAKER_00: their game and keeping everything,
9:26
SPEAKER_00: whether you're
9:28
SPEAKER_00: frustrated with them,
9:29
SPEAKER_00: whether you're praising them,
9:30
SPEAKER_00: keeping it true to the fact that,
9:32
SPEAKER_00: hey,
9:32
SPEAKER_00: we're trying to make you the best version of you.
9:35
I think that's how you develop relationships with your guys,
9:37
even in this current climate.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: And I think they respect it.
9:40
And I think that's why we were able to do a much better and
9:43
more thorough job this
9:45
SPEAKER_00: offseason in recruiting,
9:46
SPEAKER_00: because
9:47
SPEAKER_00: You know,
9:47
SPEAKER_00: being in Lone Beach,
9:48
you're in California and you're going to have guys from
9:50
California on your roster.
9:51
And we had several guys on our roster this year that have all
9:54
moved on for the most
9:55
SPEAKER_00: part to different places.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: And a couple of them went to high major institutions.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: Devin Askew ended up at Villanova.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: But those are our best advocates in the recruiting process.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: When you treat a guy the right way,
10:07
SPEAKER_00: they're your best recruiters,
10:08
SPEAKER_00: the guys that ultimately are going to end up leaving your program anyway.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: So just treating guys right,
10:13
SPEAKER_00: treating them fair,
10:14
SPEAKER_00: holding them to those standards every single day.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: In the long term, if you think big picture, you're doing it.
10:19
And those guys will be the guys that will come back here and
10:23
always tell you how
10:24
SPEAKER_00: much they appreciate what you did for them.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: You mentioned your staff earlier.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: Again,
10:28
SPEAKER_01: going back to that,
10:29
SPEAKER_01: being the head coach now,
10:30
SPEAKER_01: what did you learn about managing your staff at that level?
10:34
Yeah,
10:34
well,
10:34
year one,
10:35
man,
10:36
it was more so,
10:38
if I'm being honest,
10:39
me-driven.
10:40
more so than I ever wanted it to be because you're trying to
10:43
get everybody to
10:43
SPEAKER_00: understand exactly what you want it to look like.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: You know,
10:47
I think my staff did a tremendous job of embracing what it was
10:50
in year one and
10:52
SPEAKER_00: allowing me because they all came from different places,
10:55
SPEAKER_00: allowing me to critique and show them,
10:58
SPEAKER_00: you know,
10:59
a difference in how you have to adapt to this new formula that
11:02
we're trying to put
11:03
SPEAKER_00: together.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: And I have been, you know,
11:05
I'm the one guy on our staff that has been to multiple places
11:09
and done it a
11:10
SPEAKER_00: multitude of different ways,
11:11
SPEAKER_00: but maintain who I am through that.
11:14
And so getting my staff to understand that even though there's
11:18
different nuances
11:19
SPEAKER_00: and things that we're doing in the program,
11:20
SPEAKER_00: you still have to maintain your voice.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: And you still have to be who you are as a leader.
11:25
And that can be challenging at times because I got a pretty
11:28
strong personality.
11:30
And so understanding that I was so intense in every drill that
11:34
I was doing in year
11:35
one that like we would go over in the drill because I'm running
11:38
the drill.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: And now having the time that we have
11:42
that we've had since the season's over to now to get organized
11:45
and get more
11:46
prepared and go in the gym and talk to each other and figure
11:49
out you know how the
11:51
offense is going to be ran and how the defense is going to be
11:53
ran and having more
11:54
time to talk terminology and different things from that
11:57
standpoint gives me more
11:58
confidence and allows our staff to understand what areas of our
12:02
program they need
12:02
SPEAKER_00: to take over and they've been great i mean i've been
12:05
So happy with what we've done this off season when we go to the
12:09
film session and I
12:10
SPEAKER_00: asked him,
12:10
SPEAKER_00: hey,
12:11
SPEAKER_00: OK,
12:11
SPEAKER_00: you know,
12:11
SPEAKER_00: John offensively take us through,
12:14
SPEAKER_00: you know,
12:14
SPEAKER_00: some of the things we talked about this summer that we're going to do.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: And he's already prepared.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: He's already organized.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: He already has his terminology down.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: So it gives me great confidence to let him run with it.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: And we just tweak and make adjustments along the way.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: And I was very fortunate to work for Brian Dutcher and Leon Rice.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: Both of those guys allow me to be me.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: and allowed me to run with who we were trying to become as a program.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to do the same thing with this staff.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: That's how I was able to be put in this position.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: And I was I was allowed to coach.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: I was allowed to develop guys.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: I was allowed to mentor guys and I was allowed to do it my way.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: You know,
12:51
SPEAKER_00: having this time that we've had,
12:53
that's the goal that that I have for my staff is to allow them
12:56
to continue to grow.
12:58
um as leader because they all came here because they want to
13:00
have an opportunity to
13:01
be a head coach one day and they believe in me you know it's
13:04
reciprocated when i
13:06
can show that i believe in them so during those practices how
13:09
do you use your staff
13:11
yeah well i mean ultimately what we try to do is we have an
13:15
offensive coordinator
13:16
defensive coordinator player development guy everyone's
13:19
involved with player
13:20
development everyone's involved with every aspect of the
13:22
program but the offensive
13:24
SPEAKER_00: guy is running the offensive drills,
13:27
SPEAKER_00: whether it be us playing two-on-two or three-on-three or four-on-four or
13:30
SPEAKER_00: five-on-five,
13:31
whether it be implementing new sets or just little things that
13:35
we want to do,
13:36
SPEAKER_00: how we want to play with our four,
13:37
SPEAKER_00: how we want to play with our point guards and our five,
13:39
and just scripting those things from a defensive standpoint is
13:42
the same thing.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: How we want to,
13:43
SPEAKER_00: you know,
13:44
SPEAKER_00: help in gaps,
13:45
SPEAKER_00: how we want to close out,
13:46
SPEAKER_00: how we want to guard ball screens,
13:48
SPEAKER_00: just constantly tweaking those things,
13:50
SPEAKER_00: watching film daily and figuring out how to enhance what we're doing,
13:53
SPEAKER_00: but also being
13:54
innovative in how we do it every single day in practice still
13:57
doing the same things
13:58
every day but allowing the staff to figure out new ways to get
14:02
the message across
14:04
daily so that our guys stay fresh with with what we're doing i
14:08
utilize the staff i
14:10
try to maximize them i i ultimately to get them to really just
14:14
take over the
14:15
SPEAKER_00: program um because
14:17
Again,
14:17
I think more now than ever,
14:19
head coaches are CEOs and you have to oversee the program.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: You can't really get into the trenches as much as you used to.
14:29
And,
14:30
you know,
14:30
again,
14:30
watching Leon and watching Dutcher do that without having the
14:34
NIL space.
14:35
And now they're kind of like the guys that I consider to be
14:39
before their time in the sense of,
14:41
you know letting their staff flourish and letting them run so
14:44
that they can see the
14:45
overall arching goals that you're trying to accomplish as a
14:47
program having work for
14:49
them gives me the idea of how this program has to run and what
14:53
i needed to push the
14:54
staff to be able to do in order for me to do my job better and
14:57
so that's the goal
14:58
is for me to be able to be a better leader this upcoming season
15:02
and looking in the
15:03
mirror at the things that i could have done better and even
15:05
sitting down with the
15:06
SPEAKER_00: staff and asking them
15:07
SPEAKER_00: You know,
15:07
SPEAKER_00: we did a breakdown and,
15:09
SPEAKER_00: you know,
15:09
SPEAKER_00: I let them critique every aspect of our program,
15:12
SPEAKER_00: not just my leadership,
15:14
SPEAKER_00: but also,
15:14
SPEAKER_00: you know,
15:15
SPEAKER_00: how we travel,
15:15
SPEAKER_00: what we wore,
15:17
SPEAKER_00: you know,
15:17
SPEAKER_00: how we showed up for film sessions,
15:19
SPEAKER_00: what we did in film sessions,
15:20
SPEAKER_00: where we could be better,
15:22
SPEAKER_00: our individual meetings.
15:23
as staff members but also our group staff meetings are we
15:26
maximizing our time in
15:27
those meetings all of the different elements of a program we
15:31
had to get on the same
15:31
page with are they comfortable with their roles outside of
15:34
basketball whether it be
15:36
academics or being the liaison to strength and conditioning or
15:39
nutrition so we had
15:41
to switch some things and tweak some things to allow us to
15:44
function better
15:45
SPEAKER_00: Now,
15:46
SPEAKER_00: you know,
15:46
it's a breath of fresh air around the office because we all
15:48
know exactly what we're
15:49
SPEAKER_00: doing and I know exactly who to go to for certain things.
15:52
And we just couldn't we didn't have enough time to get to that
15:55
stuff when I took over the job.
15:57
We all know the adage,
15:59
a player-led team is better than a coach-led team.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: But you've said it different ways throughout this.
16:04
When you're in year one,
16:06
you spend a lot of your time and you're trying to set things.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: How do you go about making it or getting it to be a player-led team?
16:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think the process is constantly ongoing.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: You have to recruit it.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: You have to recruit guys that either lead by example or lead vocally,
16:24
SPEAKER_00: but you have to recruit real basketball players,
16:26
SPEAKER_00: guys that really,
16:27
SPEAKER_00: really love being in the gym,
16:29
guys that are competitive and want to win in every drill and
16:32
every aspect of your
16:33
SPEAKER_00: program.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: And so it starts with the players.
16:35
That's the only way it can be player-led is if you have guys
16:38
that,
16:39
again,
16:39
as I said before,
16:40
that
16:41
have a mission that they're on and they're trying to accomplish
16:43
something and
16:44
they're not going to let anything get in their way including
16:46
their teammates and
16:47
i'm wired that way i'm the guy that you know at the end of the
16:51
day i'm going to say
16:51
what needs to be said and live with the consequences of that
16:54
later and deal with
16:56
the confrontation in the moment so that we can get to what
16:58
we're trying to get to
16:59
much quicker um and i think i hired that way and so i think if
17:03
we're all in the
17:04
SPEAKER_00: fire
17:05
And we're all competitive and we're all,
17:07
you know,
17:08
willing to say what needs to be said.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: Great examples.
17:11
Like I have a guy on my staff who is our director of player
17:14
relations and he didn't
17:15
SPEAKER_00: say anything all season.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: And then we had a film session.
17:18
I was like,
17:18
dude,
17:18
you're,
17:19
you're running this film session on the road with the guys.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: Like,
17:22
SPEAKER_00: and he was nervous as all get out to run the film session,
17:26
SPEAKER_00: but it's like,
17:27
SPEAKER_00: dude,
17:27
SPEAKER_00: you gotta,
17:28
SPEAKER_00: you gotta talk.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: You gotta say something.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: Like,
17:30
SPEAKER_00: I need all opinions in our meetings, even if I don't go with it.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: Like, you've got to have a voice.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: You've got to have a presence.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: So I think from a leadership standpoint,
17:38
SPEAKER_00: setting the stage that everything is valid,
17:41
SPEAKER_00: everything is on the table,
17:42
and we're all going to bed at night thinking about how we can
17:45
make this place
17:46
SPEAKER_00: better.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: That's where Brian Descher was a master,
17:49
SPEAKER_00: and that's what I took from being at San Diego State for five years is –
17:53
SPEAKER_00: You know,
17:53
I lost sleep every single night and I would text him after a
17:57
loss to try to console
17:59
him because I understood exactly what he was going through in
18:03
the sense of the
18:04
purpose that we had in San Diego to win basketball games and
18:08
make runs in the NCAA
18:09
SPEAKER_00: tournament and that weight that he carried on his shoulder.
18:12
And so it's my job to get my staff and my players to function
18:15
the same way.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: I think of a lot of things now as before COVID and after COVID.
18:19
And one of those things,
18:21
the after COVID,
18:22
you look back on programs who have been successful.
18:25
SPEAKER_01: It has been that San Diego State program and what you guys built there.
18:28
And I think a lot of the culture stuff that you just mentioned
18:32
has been strong there.
18:33
SPEAKER_01: Coaches seem to be enamored with the defensive side of things,
18:37
but offensively it was one of the most efficient offenses in
18:40
the NCAA as well.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: You're not there anymore.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: So yeah,
18:44
SPEAKER_01: What were the secrets?
18:45
SPEAKER_00: You got to get really good players.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: I think that's the that's the number one caveat to all of this is,
18:52
SPEAKER_00: you know,
18:53
SPEAKER_00: there's a lot of great coaches in the NBA that,
18:55
SPEAKER_00: you know,
18:55
SPEAKER_00: they're in the NBA for a reason.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: but they're not winning because they don't have the better players.
19:00
And so to all of this,
19:03
it comes down to having really good players that are dedicated.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: Tradition is huge.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
19:08
SPEAKER_00: San Diego State,
19:08
SPEAKER_00: you walk in that arena,
19:10
you feel the tradition when you walk on campus and you're in
19:13
that practice every
19:14
single day and you know what type of guys that were there
19:17
before you were there.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: And even here at Long Beach State, it's very similar.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: It's the reason why when the opportunity percentage itself,
19:23
I want it to be all in because it's a very similar landscape at
19:27
San Diego State
19:27
SPEAKER_00: where we're in our own little area in Long Beach.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: We're not in L.A.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: We're not in San Diego.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: We're in our own little hub here in Long Beach.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: You know,
19:35
SPEAKER_00: when you're in a community like this,
19:37
SPEAKER_00: when we get it rolling,
19:39
SPEAKER_00: there'll be a lot of support.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: You know,
19:41
SPEAKER_00: the alumni,
19:42
SPEAKER_00: even though we struggled this year,
19:43
they were in complete support of what we were doing night in
19:47
and night out.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: You know, they called, they text message.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: We had lunches and dinners.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: And,
19:51
SPEAKER_00: you know,
19:51
SPEAKER_00: we just,
19:52
SPEAKER_00: you know,
19:53
SPEAKER_00: understand that there's a legacy that's here prior to us being here.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: We have three Hall of Fame coaches that have coached in this program.
20:01
And so I understand that in the back of my mind and I
20:04
understand the legacy that I'm following.
20:06
And so the mission at San Diego State was to do something that
20:09
had never been done
20:09
SPEAKER_00: in the history of the program.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: And we did that.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: And so that is our mission here is to figure out a way to do it here.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: Last thing going into year two now,
20:19
what's one or two of the areas where you're wanting the program
20:22
to make the most
20:23
SPEAKER_01: noticeable jumps in?
20:25
Yeah,
20:25
I say number one,
20:26
obviously we want to win a lot more games this year.
20:30
That's the biggest thing is we want to see the fruits of the
20:36
labor we put in this
20:37
SPEAKER_00: offseason with the group that we have.
20:39
And we want to see our vision come to fruition in terms of the
20:43
type of guys that we
20:44
SPEAKER_00: believe that we recruited.
20:45
The intangible thing that I see and that I want to see is I
20:49
want to see my staff
20:50
SPEAKER_00: take the next jump.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: and really take over this program.
20:53
And so I'm challenging them in so many areas to do that because
20:58
I think I hired
20:59
SPEAKER_00: good people for a reason,
21:01
SPEAKER_00: and I want to see them work,
21:02
SPEAKER_00: and I want to see them be successful.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: And I want them to feel what I felt when we won games at San Diego State.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: I was responsible for the offense primarily.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: Dave Velasquez was responsible for the defense, and J.D.
21:15
Lesser was responsible for rebounding,
21:16
and we all dibble-dabbled in every area.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day,
21:20
SPEAKER_00: when we won,
21:21
we felt like we were the reason we won as assistant coaches
21:25
because we broke our
21:26
backs every single day because of the leash Brian Dutcher gave
21:30
us to go out there
21:31
SPEAKER_00: and run his program and take it to another level.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: I know the satisfaction that I felt
21:37
SPEAKER_00: after having that opportunity to do that.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: And when we made it to the national championship game,
21:44
SPEAKER_00: it was something no one ever thought could be done,
21:46
SPEAKER_00: but it was something we believed in our hearts we could get done.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: I want my staff to feel that.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: And I want the players to feel that.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited about what we're about to do this upcoming season.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: That's coach Chris Acker, head coach at Long Beach State University.
21:59
SPEAKER_01: Coach, great stuff.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you coming on the show.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: Tony, I appreciate you anytime.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your time.