RYAN MEE – VASSAR COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH – EPISODE 764

Website – https://www.vassarathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball

Email – rmee@vassar.edu

Twitter – @coachmee

Ryan Mee just completed his 5^th season as the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.   In the 2021-22 season the Brewers won the Liberty League Championship and earned their first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

Mee previously served as an assistant coach at Division I Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina under legendary head coach Bob McKillop from 2012-2018.  Prior to Davidson, Mee was an associate head coach at his alma mater, the University of Rochester from 2009-12.

During the 2008-09 season, Mee was an assistant coach at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He began his coaching career at Hilbert College in 2005 before moving to Elmira College as an assistant coach for two seasons from 2006-2008.

As a player, Mee was a four-year varsity letter winner at Rochester, serving as team captain in 2004-05. He helped the Yellowjackets to four NCAA Tournament appearances as his squads went a combined 97-17 over his four seasons as part of the winningest class in the program’s history.

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Have your notebook handy as you listen to this episode with Ryan Mee, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

What We Discuss with Ryan Mee

• Sports specialization at an early age
• The moment he decided to play basketball in college
• His decision to attend the University of Rochester and eventually being part of the winningest class in school history and playing in two Final Fours
• Volunteering at Hillbert College for one season after graduating while working in the insurance business
• Build trust with your head coach and be willing to take a hit financially
• Getting experience in all aspects of coaching at Elmira as a Graduate Assistant and how valuable that’s been to him in his career
• The difference between the off-seasons in D3 and D1
• Returning to his alma mater, The University of Rochester, as an assistant coach
• How working Davidson’s Camp led to an opportunity to be an assistant under Bob McKillop
• The sense of urgency in Division 1
• Recruiting at the Ivy and Patriot League Prospect Camps
• “Find guys that’ll be great fits not only on their court, but in the locker room.”
• “Trust, commitment and care”
• “The biggest part of trying to build that foundation is to live by that code and it has to be from the top down. So when you see your teammates, when you see your head coach, when you see your assistants all doing the right thing every time, that really breeds that culture where you know, hey, we’re in this together, we’re going to do it right, and those habits keep developing. So that that contagious atmosphere is what we’re trying to do in a positive manner.”
• What made the Vassar head coaching job so appealing
• The combination of academics and athletics
• “You just have to keep taking each step and then good things are going to happen.”
• The adjustment to being a head coach and the responsibilities away from the basketball court
• “You’re trying to get the best players that you can and work with them to play to their strengths.”
• Having a shared language with terminology
• “When you have people patrolling the locker room and being able to hold each other accountable on a player’s standpoint, that’s when real greatness happens.”
• “It doesn’t mean thinking less of you or your value. It’s just thinking about yourself less.”
• Using individual meetings to keep everyone on the same page
• Practice organization
• Staff roles and practice and developing assistant coaches
• “That’s the frustrating part about dealing with and coaching really smart student athletes, is that a lot of the times they’ll learn to cheat that drill and we can’t keep them honest unless we’re playing.”
• “I want to coach less during a season because our guys know how to play.”
• “You’re going to get whatever you emphasize.”
• Limiting film work to 20 minute sessions
• Playing Friday night and then Saturday afternoon and the challenges that presents
• Winning the possession battle
• Ways to keep practice fresh

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THANKS, RYAN MEE

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TRANSCRIPT FOR RYAN MEE – VASSAR COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH – EPISODE 764

[00:00:00] Mike Klinzing: Hello, and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast. It’s Mike Klinzing here with my co-host Jason Sunkle tonight. And we are pleased to be joined by Ryan Mee the head men’s basketball coach at Vassar College.

[00:00:10] Ryan Mee: Ryan, welcome to the Hoop Heads Pod. Thanks, Mike for having me. Excited to be here.

[00:00:15] Mike Klinzing: We’re thrilled to have you on.  Looking forward to diving into all the things that you’ve been able to do in your basketball career. Let’s go back in time to when you were a kid. Tell me a little bit about some of the first experiences that you had with the game.

[00:00:26] Ryan Mee: Yeah, I was fortunate that my dad’s a phys ed teacher, my mom’s an elementary school teacher.

So there were any type of balls and in and around my crib when I was going around, coming up. So I had an older brother, he was 13 years older than me and my sister Eileen was about 10 years older than me. So they were more aunts and uncles in terms, but able to teach me the game.

So they would always play catch or whiffle ball, soccer, basketball. We played a little bit of everything, so that was the family routine was going to the gym because that was a really valuable asset to have keys to the gym to go play on Sundays for a little family time.

[00:01:05] Mike Klinzing: Did you know how lucky you were to have keys to the gym at that time?

[00:01:11] Ryan Mee: Not at that time, nope. I thought everybody’s dad had keys to a big gym to play around in and then realized how lucky I was.

[00:01:23] Mike Klinzing: When you think about that time and just being able to grow up and play multiple sports and then you kind of think about the way that the game is today where we have, and not just in the game of basketball, but obviously across all sports at the youth level, we sort of have this push towards specialization.

When you think about just how you grew up playing multiple sports and playing with your siblings and obviously with your parents and their background, how do you think that influenced you as an athlete? Just being able to play all those multiple sports?

[00:01:52] Ryan Mee: Yeah, it makes you’re kind of like a rec league all star or a valuable asset after your college playing career is done, because everybody wants you on their team for one of those rec leagues

So but no, it’s sad that I’m starting to see it with my children. As you, you mentioned before with your, that have already kind of went through a little bit, the pressures that they have in some of the youth sports to zone in on one and I’m like, what are we doing?

The amount of skills and that you’re able to develop over different sports, I think really kind of, it heightens your ceiling it raises it up. And if you’re trying to specialize before you’re double digits or before you’re 10 years old, I think that’s a wild concept that, that kids are missing out on learning what they really could be great at.

[00:02:44] Mike Klinzing: It’s hard, I think, when you look around and I think so much of it comes from the adults are involved versus. If it was kid driven, I think a lot of kids just would prefer to just play in the driveway as opposed to going to an organized soccer practice three nights a week for two hours. But in a lot of cases it’s just, it’s the only option that’s out there because kids aren’t just out playing in the neighborhood in the same way that they were before.

And so then as parents, we see, okay, this family’s doing this or this kid’s playing on this team. And so then we kind of have to play catch up and make sure our kid’s doing those same things. And it gets to be, it gets to be quite a challenge. When you think back to your experience with basketball, was there a time that you remember specifically where you decided, Hey, I’m going to get a little bit more serious about the game?

Or was it more of a gradual process where basketball kind of evolved into your number one thing?

[00:03:39] Ryan Mee: Yeah, it was more fortunate enough to be like, we didn’t, the only. Kids that played AAU for the most part when I was coming up in the, like late nineties was the Albany City Rocks guys and those were all D one’s and that was pretty much one of the few teams in New York State

I played in the high school summer league. I had good experiences working with your teammates and what you would be trying to do in the season. And then I would be playing legion baseball and, and soccer was the one sport that I, I only played kind of in the season and to get in shape for hoops.

But it wasn’t until. My senior year, I wasn’t sure if I was playing baseball or basketball in college, but it was during basketball practice had a tough day, had basketball practice and kind of walked out, which was tough cause my dad was the coach . And, and it was in that little water break where I decided I was playing college hoops.

And that’s the tough part about coaching, right? You’re depending on 18 to 25 year olds now, pretty much for your livelihood. But those irrational decisions, I was like, you know what, this December practice, my senior year of high school, I was like, I’m playing basketball in college.

[00:04:56] Mike Klinzing: What was that moment?  Why that moment?

[00:04:59] Ryan Mee: The frustration of just wanting to be better, you know? And my teammates were pushing me in practice and, and yeah, never forget the day. I ran through one of my teammates, Mark Eley twice, and I was getting heckled and it was a really funny experience because that frustration just drove me.

And I was like, you know what? We’re playing basketball no matter what. I love the game. And I know I can be better at this.

[00:05:24] Mike Klinzing: So how’d you go about getting better? What was that process like from that moment until, and we’ll talk a little bit about your recruitment and your college decision, but over the course of that time, how did you go about getting better?

What was the plan?

[00:05:37] Ryan Mee: I knew I wasn’t a scholarship player, so division three was my options and a lot of the regional schools were there. But they were recruiting me throughout. I was focused on after our basketball season we went into baseball, which our team had had more success than that.

And just after that season finished, after baseball finished was when taking some of those visits. And then, but there, there wasn’t any specific extra training during that, that time period. It was like, this is what we’re going to do. And then during the summer, the workouts and everything kind of moving forward was focusing that energy on one sport after I was able to play multiple sports for up through all my whole high school career.

[00:06:24] Mike Klinzing: What’s your favorite moment as a high school basketball player?

[00:06:28] Ryan Mee: Good, tough ones. I think our arch rivals, grease Aino, which has had some, like, very good basketball players John Wallace and actually who was with the Kings right now, Anthony Lamb came through there. Or not the Kings, the Warriors, my apologies.

But we beat them in the first round of playoffs on their home court and senior year, and it was just a really fun feeling beating an arch rival.

[00:06:53] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, absolutely. And there’s nothing better than a high school rivalry game where, especially when you come out on top, those are, those are always, those are always fun when the whole, especially you get a bunch of the student body there and you got community members and all that stuff, those games, there’s nothing better than, than winning a rivalry game in high school.

Talk about the decision to go to Rochester, a little bit about your recruitment. What was that like? And were there any lessons from what you went through that, that you’ve used over the course of time to kind of guide you as a coach in your recruiting?

[00:07:26] Ryan Mee: Yeah. I was, I was fortunate to play for, for Mike Neer, who was a hall of fame caliber coach at over 600 wins, won a national championship at Rochester and the experience with that recruitment was he was being in the area. I grew up about 30 minutes from U of R’s campus, and I thought I was going to go across the country somewhere, and my brother and sister went to Notre Dame, so thought I was going to go somewhere far, play somewhere else.

But the allure of having like this national draw at the University of Rochester have kids from all over the country at that school. And honestly, the gym, the Palestra is one of the, the nicest, kind of, has its own character. And that combined with the academic piece was where I was sold.

So little did I know kind of the, the path that would go once we got there. I think the team was 14 and 11 the year before, like coming in as a freshman and. Then we became the winningest class ever after four years. And to come in with such a strong group and go to two final fours didn’t really see that coming, but it made it very memorable.

[00:08:44] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, to be able to come in and have that kind of success, especially as you said, coming off a season where the team was 14, 11 and maybe that success was unexpected, what do you attribute that success to? What was it about the group of guys that you came in with that made them so special?

[00:09:00] Ryan Mee: Good players. Yep. always helps, right?  Seth Alvin was an all-American forward. From Newton Mass. And, and he had 39 and 18 in the final four like as a freshman. And we’re like, okay. And had a point guard from Corpus Christi, Texas, Gabe Perez, who coach Neer used the analogy, more pulling guard than point guard.

But he was one of the strongest, most athletic guys that I’ve played with. And we were just thankful Gabe was on our team, but those two players were able to get him some national recognition. And then the other pieces of our class you know, Brendan McAllister was another shooter that hit a shot to send us the national championship game my senior year.

[00:09:50] Mike Klinzing: Coming in academically, what were you thinking about in terms of your career? Obviously Rochester a Great School from an academic standpoint, so as you come into school, what’s your thought process in terms of where you think you want to go for a career or where you, like most kids, where you’re kind of coming in going, Hmm, I don’t really know.

I’m not sure what direction I want to go.

[00:10:10] Ryan Mee: Yeah, that was the latter. And I wasn’t sure exactly the direction.  The curriculum at Rochester and actually now the Vassar is very similar in terms of having like this open curriculum where you can pick and choose things that you’re interested in.

And kind of gives you the free for all to figure it out instead of sometimes I’m a little scared by some of the student athletes that are so smart, but know exactly what they want to do. Yep. At 18. And it’s incredible how driven and focused students are now. But that was not me at that time.

I was still trying to figure out what best fit me for that career path.

[00:10:50] Mike Klinzing: Was coaching on your radar at all while you were still playing? Or was it something that you didn’t really come onto until after your playing career?

[00:10:57] Ryan Mee: It was on my radar because that was in the family. Right. My dad was a high school baseball and basketball coach.

My brother was a college baseball coach. And it was more along the lines. I majored in economics. I was like, you know what? I’m not going into coaching. I’m going to be different again.  My other family chose an outdoor sport and I always say that I was the smarter one being the northeast.

Absolutely. You know, being indoor. But I tried to fight the coaching aspect and kind of go into the business world. And then I realized it, I was miserable for the first six months that I tried that. So that’s

[00:11:34] Mike Klinzing: So that’s where, at six months longer than me because I went in and I, to be honest, coaching was never on my radar at all while I was playing and I got done with school, I had a business degree. Both just like you. Both my parents both my parents were teachers. My dad was a professor at Cleveland State. My mom was an elementary school teacher. And so I got done. I graduated and started going on interviews.

And I remember it was like in June, after I graduated in May, and I had this interview with Nestle, the big food corporation, and they offered me a job and I started thinking, I’m like, ah okay. You know, and then at some point, called me back and they were like, yeah you’re going to start on July 1st.

And I was like, what, wait, they want me to put on a suit and go to work in July? Like, I’ve never seen anyone work in July in my entire life. I’m like, nah, we’re not, we’re not doing this. And so I went back to school and ended up getting a teaching degree. So, yeah. It’s amazing how quickly when reality strikes that you figure out, well, maybe going back and coaching might not be a bad, might not be a bad deal.

So talk a little bit about what your experience was like in the job market and then what prompted you to be like, Hey, I have to go back and, and maybe get into coaching.

[00:12:52] Ryan Mee: Yeah. The coaching piece actually started a little bit my senior year in terms of I had an injury where I tore my acl, but it was like I was never like a high flyer or I would shoot and I could feed the post and we had some good big men and guard that could get shots, but.

I was able to play my senior year without my acl, and we played until the last possible day and losing the national championship game. But what helped me during that year, I started off starting and then there were some players that were just better, some underclassmen that were able to kind of figure out what, what we needed to do.

Like Jeff Jarron and is coaching at Suffolk University now and Tim Brackney was two guards that I was trying to mentor while they were passing me by and that that really kind of then like, okay, I can’t coach that senior year. But those, those were the things that, hey, okay, I’m going to look at this job.

I got a job at Guardian life insurance after it was in this group sales and I. Was not as happy as I could be. So I volunteered at Hilbert College for that season with Rob de Grampy, who I’ve known, known for a while. And it was great. I was doing everything and that was the happiest part of my day was doing laundry or doing scout or at practice and then trying to find a school to pay for my master’s and find a graduate assistant job.

And that was catch on at Elmira College down with Chris Connolly. And you know, if you’re talking about that transition to coaching and your first year, you have a really rough year with a lot of freshman and you don’t win many games, that, that was the gut check that needed. Hey, that wasn’t that fun, but I still want to do this.

And those relationships with the players and obviously the coaching staff and just seeing it on the other side really solidified what I was doing the rest of my life.

[00:14:56] Mike Klinzing: What did you love about it right away? Like what was the one thing that you’re, like, if you had to point to it, say, man, this is what I love about coaching.

This is what really draws me in and makes me want to keep doing this.

[00:15:05] Ryan Mee: Yeah. The, the teaching aspect and, and being able to see players apply what you’ve taught and then instantly see that trust in you kind of build, be like, oh, that worked like, and see the light bulb go on is really, really fun.

And just watching the progression of them from boys to young men and being ready for and realizing some of the stuff you’ve been preaching actually applies to their life and will help them through some of the adversity when the real world comes, that’s the most rewarding part.

[00:15:44] Mike Klinzing: I think that’s something that when you look at what is one of the most underrated parts of coaching, I think that ability to translate lessons that they learn on the basketball floor into lessons in life. I think that’s something that the good coaches really do well. And you mentioned earlier talking about building the relationships with your players, and I think those two things go hand in hand when you build that relationship.

Now that gives you the ability to utilize basketball as a way to impact them, not only on the floor, but also in life. And I think that that’s something. All coaches, especially today, I think more so than ever, coaches strive for that and are really working to try to get to that point where they can have that influence again, not just on the floor, but off the floor as well.

When you think back to this time where you’re volunteering and then you’re a GA and you’re obviously doing a lot of work and spending a lot of time around basketball for very little money , what kind of advice would you give to somebody? Cause we have a lot of guys, I think, that are out there that are sort of in the early stages of their career, that are part of our audience that are listening.

And so if you had to give some advice to somebody who’s kind of starting out their career, they want to be a college coach, they’re maybe just graduating from school, they’re trying to figure it out. What kind of advice would you give them based on your experiences?

[00:16:59] Ryan Mee: Yeah, it’s to find good people, ask questions and try to just get out.

And I was fortunate to meet a lot of good people through my playing kind of experience and then get in and interview a little bit earlier for some coaching kind of aspects. But I think that working camp and building relationships that way was very helpful to try to go work a camp, email, ask questions, Hey, can I go to a practice?

And being around it’s tough when you’re in the volunteer role to really go, you have to go all in and just kind of put two feet and if you’re lucky enough to have like a support system or build up some savings and you’re going to take a hit kind of financially, but that is what would separate you from being there a few days and trying to get as much responsibility as you can early.

And continue to build that trust with the head coach is going to be valuable. it, it’s kind of the only way that’ll separate you because you have so many friends and colleagues that got into coaching early, but real life hit them and they weren’t able to stay in it. So I consider myself very fortunate to kind of be able to keep it afloat and then have family and my wife and family take care of me so we can still do this job.

[00:18:23] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely.  How did you balance when you were a ga, how’d you balance the workload of class with coaching?

[00:18:30] Ryan Mee: Talk a little bit about that. I mean, it, life was, it’s easier in hindsight now, but it’s so easy when it’s just you. Yeah, I know. Isn’t that crazy? I got schoolwork and then hoops is the only other thing that you’re working on.

It was a decent day. I got my master’s in education from Elmira was good, great experience being able to get in the classroom, some online classes. But that, that gave that flexibility because most of the classes were in the evening and or meeting once a week where we could work around practice.

So that, that wasn’t as big of challenges I was because it was in the education piece and the hours didn’t conflict that hard.

[00:19:15] Mike Klinzing: How important was it, do you think, early in your career to have the experiences that you did where you kind of got to put your hand into a lot of different areas? Like you mentioned, because we’ve talked to different people on the podcast where some of them started out at the D three level where obviously there’s not as big of a staff where you have more responsibility in lots of different areas than we’ve talked to other guys that maybe have started out as a GA at a division one program where there’s.

Less responsibility just because there’s more people on the staff. You don’t get to do as many different things as somebody who starts at a lower level. So talk a little bit about how you feel like you were able to benefit from having this experience where you’re doing a whole bunch of things. How has that helped you over the course of your career?

[00:20:03] Ryan Mee: It’s, yeah. Priceless, to be able to dive into everything. And that’s what I was able to do as at, at Elmira, as the grad assistant, because I was the only other assistant there with Chris. And you’re doing your scouts, you’re being able to be kind of on that academic side of things and checking in on guys making sure that we’re doing our schoolwork.

You’re all the recruiting pieces. It it’s the film. Yeah. Film editing scout presentation pregame walkthrough. You’re doing all that. And I can’t tell you how, how valuable that is for your development to, to get out there and do it. Cause. I went in that reverse route in terms of like was able to have seven years in D three coaching before going to Davidson.

And then that was when I felt like my knowledge of the basketball piece really kind of went through the roof because that was your only responsibility. It wasn’t game management or I was the club sports supervisor at the University of Rochester. You know, like the, those secondary duties that might take away from hoops.

That’s where it was great to like have that Renaissance man kind of experience with all the other things that go into the college experience in division three and then to also get a peak at the division one in the running that bigger program and the specifics of that. It was also incredibly valuable.

But division three is where I’m at and where I love to like that experience is so much different than, than some of the division one experiences right now.

[00:21:48] Mike Klinzing: Talk about the difference in the two experiences. because I’m just curious from somebody who’s been a coach at both of those levels. Because I look at the experience in a bunch of different ways, and it’s been a long time.

Going to be 53 here in a week. And so my division one playing experience is a long time ago, but it was clearly different because when my season ended, I was handed like a two page ditto and said, here’s your workout, we’ll see you back in August. Whereas now, obviously that is not the case. And sometimes I look at what coaching staffs and players do and they’re on campus 50 weeks a year and you’re just hearing the same voices over and over again.

And part of me is like I don’t know how anybody does that on either side of the equation, players or coaches. And then obviously on the division three level, you have almost the polar opposite where you guys can’t. Even have have almost no contact, you can’t almost say hello to your players in the off-season.

So just talking, comparing, contrast, some of those differences that you see and just kind of how it impacts your experience as a coach and, and a student athletes experience.

[00:22:51] Ryan Mee: Yeah. There’s which one should I do first? The coaching side of it? We’ll go there first. Just the coaching D three is that you are the person that it’s going to run through in terms of hey, I don’t have you know, a sports marketing department, so I have to make this graphic and put this up for our team game and run social media.

We have to make sure that we’re cutting up this film all Our laundry facilities. At some schools you might be doing that and you might not have somebody that’s doing the equipment managing. So like, just being ready for absolutely anything that comes your way. And that’s what we ask our student athletes to figure out on the court, right?

And so, like somebody’s going crazy today that doesn’t usually shoot it that well. We have to adjust and adapt and that’s kind of what the coaching aspect of division three is. In terms of, oh, this, this thing fell, we have to fix it right away. And that division one, the coaching kind of piece.

And as far as the timeline, like you’re not allowed to see your players or work with them in the gym until October 15th. Usually the division three start date and then after our season’s done, like we just, our season just ended last week. And, and. You know, we’re limited in seeing them in the gym for the rest until next October.

So we’re having some individual meetings now just to wrap up the season and talk about some goal setting and stuff. But it’s wild. The kids that want to get in the gym and we have to tell them no because of some of the NCAA rules. It’s tough in some aspects, but that separating factor allows the students to really kind of run off and, and kind of chase any of their other experiences or interests that they want on campus.

So we have a number of guys involved in different clubs or activities that are, are preparing them for life after basketball, and that’s what’s really fun. Coaching at a high academic D three is to watch, we’re talking with some guys that can help kind of make the world a better place, right?

Instead of just kind of get a degree. So I’m counting on them to, to keep running with how smart and driven they are. And then flip that to the division one kind of side of things where. You have your preseason where you have your two hours a week to be able to work with guys. You have your varsity strength coach that they’re with multiple times.

And then you’re eventually able to get some team workouts in. And then practice starts, and then you go through the season and then you have your post-season workouts. And then now, like it was just when I was transitioning out is when the more approvals for summer school, instead of like four weeks, it wanted to eight weeks and the, the consistency there and it was just starting to go to the cost of living fee structure was coming.

And now the NIL Kind of beast that is making it there’s a lot of things that aren’t just basketball anymore, which it makes me happy. I’m coaching division three, understand and getting to deal with you know, student athlete that plays for the love of the game because our NIL deals that we’re trying to work out here are getting you a free burger you know, at the local shop.

So, yeah, absolutely. No, that’s really fun because you don’t have to get lost in the weeds and, and some of the other things that are going on. But the employee feeling really comes around. I was fortunate enough to be at Davidson College, which is coach McKillip is a Hall of Fame coach taught me so much just about basketball, about being a, a leader and how to communicate with people from all different kind of aspects or backgrounds.

And Yeah, he was fantastic in teaching us how to do it. And it works because it is a little bit like Davidson’s this bubble in Pleasantville place where all the shots go in and, and everybody’s incredibly kind And so it’s and so that, that is like, you find these outliers of, of places and, and Coach mckillop combined with the atmosphere of Davidson College and it’s an incredible place and excited to see his son Matt continue to carry on that tradition there.

[00:27:19] Mike Klinzing: All right, I want to get into that in a second. Let’s talk about coaching at your alma mater and then obviously, It’s clear from your discussion and, and kind of the, what, what you’re talking about and your, your past experience that you love the division three level. So then we’re going to get to the decision to, to go, when you get the opportunity at Davidson, how that comes your way.

But first talk a little bit about just what it was like to coach at your alma mater and how special that was, and maybe how, I don’t know, it always feels like to me when you go back and coach at your alma mater, when you talk to guys that do that, that there’s, there’s an adjustment period to be made because you’re kind of used to being in that program as a player.

And even though you’re transitioning and you’re, you’re now a coach, it’s still kind of like you’re going behind the curtain of what you didn’t see when you were a player. Just talk about what that was like to be coaching at your alma mater.

[00:28:09] Ryan Mee: Yeah, it was great. I remember when I actually asked the coach, I played for like my coach I might want to get into coaching, and he is like, no, you don’t.

And just challenged me right away, and I, and that was my hope was to be able to coach at my alma mater. But that’s not the way it worked out. Right. So I went to Hillberg, Elmira, and then was able to have a job after my masters at Skidmore College for a year with Luke, who’s actually the head coach at Rochester now.

So it was one of those scenarios where I was with him for a year and then it was four years. Is when Coach Neer was able to hire me back and, and I didn’t understand it at the time, but to get those different experiences and then come back to your alma mater only makes you that much more valuable and, and a better understanding of things and gives you separation from the current team.

So that was really an amazing experience because I was able to, it was coach Neer’s last year, I think it was his 34th year at Rochester. And it was great. Got to work for a year with him and it’s the easiest thing to sell is something you bought, right. So the recruiting pitch and, and just diving into the players there and trying to make their experience better than what yours was.

That’s exactly what we were able to do. So we continued to build the program and then my second year there was Luke came from Skidmore to Rochester to get the job. And we won the UAA in our second year there with a kid who’s still playing professionally. John Debar over at Maccabi Tel Aviv, he’s the captain of their team.

So like, why did we win some good coaching, but more important, just had some special players that came together for that one. So yeah, you can’t put a price on buying and selling something that you bought. So, like, that was awesome to be back at Rochester as a coach.

[00:30:19] Mike Klinzing: Tell people a little bit about the UAA for maybe some people out there in the audience that aren’t familiar with it. What makes it such a unique league?

[00:30:26] Ryan Mee: Yeah, it’s the airplane league or just being able to fly you have Emory in Atlanta U Chicago, Wash U in St. Louis, and then Case Western, Carnegie Mellon, all these research universities in different cities.

And you play on Friday night and then you travel to the next city. So if we were at Brandeis in Boston, then you travel down to NYU the next day. So, and then you play on Sunday. So we play Sunday at noon and, and that’s wild. For college basketball games, people who used to just think that was only for AAU but we would play a noon game so we could fly home on that Sunday.

Yep. And then, and then be able to get back to class on Monday. It was a really unique experience that your first couple years, you’re so excited to get on the road and see all these cities, and then in junior and senior year you’re like, just, let’s stay home, let’s please just play at home.

[00:31:25] Mike Klinzing: Understood, All right. Tell me about the opportunity to go to. Davidson, how does that come to be? And then was it an easy decision or a tough decision to leave your alma mater?

[00:31:38] Ryan Mee: Yeah, that, that situation like time and time and place just was in the right, the right situation. One of my teammates and then former coaches, Tim Sweeney, who’s now at Connecticut College, he got the job as an assistant coach at Davidson right in 2006, right after I graduated.

And so he happened to be somebody’s freshman year who’s still doing pretty well. Steph Curry was there as an incoming freshman. So we, I go down there to work camp and hang out with my friend Tim. And we get to meet some of the, the people and see kind of them continue to develop. They went to the NCAA tournament that year and lost to Maryland in the first round.

But then went to that camp again, and for the next eight years, I took the trip from Rochester and drove down to Davidson, North Carolina. It was about 11 hours or so, and we would bring some friends and different coaching peers and we would come down cause coach mckillop invests in that camp experience and, and he’s there every day given lectures.

And we learned so much just how to kind of speak to groups and, and be able to engage in the community that even when Tim went on to work with Dave Paulson at, at Bucknell, after Steph after that Elite eight run, I kept going to Davidson and, and continued to just learn from Coach MacKillop.

And somehow that led to an opportunity after our year in 2012. I got a call from one of my assistants, Jim Fox saying, Hey, Ryan, would you be interested in a coaching position here if it opens up? And at that time I was scheduled to, to marry my wife, Haniya in August. That call came in in May, and so we ended up having a destination wedding in Rochester, New York as we moved down to Davidson.

So when that opportunity came up, it was just checking in with my wife, making sure we were good for this. And just to give you an idea of how the interview process for that Coach McKillip hopped on a plane and came to see us, but he wanted to make sure he was interviewing my wife Haniya as well.

So he met with us both in the, in the airport and then flew back to Charlotte . And that’s one of the biggest boss moves I’ve ever seen by an amazing coach. But that really is valuing that family first and making sure everybody’s bought in to what’s going on. So that, that was my Oh wow moment in that whole interview process.

[00:34:29] Mike Klinzing: Did your wife know what she was getting into when you guys first got together?

[00:34:33] Ryan Mee: A little bit. There was a little bit of a recruiting pitch on that, but she, she knew a little bit about the coaching world and our first conversation was about Syracuse basketball, because she and her family were season ticket holders.

So that got me in. She’s always loved athletics and yeah. So she had a little bit of an idea, but not as much of what’s her favorite Syracuse. Dion Waiters is who we were talking about that first that first conversation. Alright. Cleveland guy. There you go. Guy all. So he, he was mine, but like Ryan Blackwell or John Wallace for some of our Rochester guys.

And background of guys who really had a good career there.

[00:35:14] Mike Klinzing: All right. So when you get to Davidson, tell us a little bit about your role. What were you doing there?

[00:35:19] Ryan Mee: I was the third assistant on a staff and that’s what makes Coach so good. We had responsibilities for everything, so trying to produce more head coaches and get guys that know how to run a program.

So doing everything from that a director of ops would be doing to try to plan some of the travel. To scout, prep to individual workouts you know, film sessions, all of those things. And those staff meetings were great for us to keep developing as individuals and still specialize.

The special teams was something that I really kind of had a little bit more of a responsibility for. And when we say special teams and hoops, that’s the baseline out of  ounds or sideline out of bounds free throws when that dead ball of how can we get an edge? And that was something Coach did such a great job of, you know emphasizing and to how to try to get that edge.

So pointing out the Patriots or whatever, when they’re winning those super bowls by one or two possessions Hey, special team’s got that win. So our team was talking about it this year when they missed a field goal in, in that college football playoff. So it translates a lot.

[00:36:35] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely. All right. Biggest difference between your division three experience up to that point and division one, what adjustments did you have to make sort of, in your approach, your mentality? Obviously you’re more specialized as we talked about before and what you’re doing, but just what do you remember about the differences maybe in those first couple months as you get there?

[00:36:57] Ryan Mee: Yeah. The sense of urgency, just continuing to pick up and the investment in each player. And, and it’s is easier on the recruiting side in division three in terms of like, Hey, everybody has like a little bit different situation. You’re paying money to come to our school if it works for you.

Great. On the scholarship side of things I feel like there’s everybody is able to offer a scholarship in most situations. And that creates a little bit more of this like silo feeling and less camaraderie across the coaches. So like in terms of the competition. So you feel like you’re always trying to keep some secrets or getting edge in certain ways and that, that was something that, I mean, some of my best friends are from the division three side of things and opposing coaches of guys that were on the road recruiting, knowing that we’re going to recruit this kid as hard as he can, but it’s his decision.

And then the, the scholarship side of things make that a little bit different. But the other jump was just, yeah, physicality, guys just being able to be a little bit bigger, faster, stronger, and being able to hold the pad and, and take a good hit, you know? So I had to keep making sure I was lifting weights and working out so I didn’t get leveled

[00:38:22] Mike Klinzing: What about on the recruiting side of it? Adapting to figuring out what. Level of player, what type of player, what the skill level has to be, how, what’s the adjustment like? I’m always curious to talk to guys when they go from one level to another, because obviously, okay, you’ve been at the division three level.

You’ve kind of narrowed in on this is the type of player that we’re looking for in our program. This is the type of player that can play and excel at this level. And now you jump up to division one level and you’re looking at a whole different set of players. What’s that like in terms of the learning curve? Trying to figure that out?

[00:38:57] Ryan Mee: It’s wild. It is. And now more than ever, it’s the most confusing airspace you could get into with, with the covid years and the transfer. Right. It’s just the consistency I think besides the strength and to be able to handle some of the things.

But especially at a place like Davidson, it was trust in your eyes in terms of what you’re seeing. Are they being able to produce it? How are they shooting the ball, handling it, do they make their teammates better? But some of those little things. And then to realize that scholarship level is that consistency factor of are they doing it every time, are they be able to do it three out of five times.

So Those were the things that I, I really kind of got a better feel for. And of course you’re like, Hey, this kid looks pretty good. Like in recruiting Kevin Huerter, who was from up our Way out of she high school and the Albany area, and we’re like yeah, I think this kid’s going to be great for us.

And he grows three inches and he’s going to Maryland and playing and getting some decent money now. There were a lot of those instances where you’re on guys that blow up in that one hey, you weekend, or they just kind of go on and then there’s others that you’re trying to keep alive.

That might be okay, but you know what? They’re not exactly what we need right now, but if we don’t have. And it’s funny just to see how thin that margin for air is of a kid that’s going to a Power five verse a Patriot or Ivy. And then the Southern Conference was tougher. It got a little bit easier when, when we jumped to the Atlantic 10 in terms of drawing those kids and, and trying to convince, hey maybe the bottom of an ACC or there’s another academic school might not be as fun if you’re not able to compete in March.

And that’s what was hopefully that sales pitch to try to get guys to have that opportunity to play and be able to play in the March madness.

[00:41:16] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, I can’t even imagine now with the portal and everything else that goes along with that and trying to figure it out. It just seems like it’s a mess.

And I’ve talked to guys that some of them have, A really high opinion of the portal and what it’s done, and then you talk to other people and you know, they feel the complete opposite. And I just think it, it adds a whole nother layer of challenge of trying to figure out what guys can, we can obviously rebuild very quickly with guys who have a track record of performing at the college level.

And you know, then you think about the impact that it’s had on high school recruiting and, and all those kinds of things. And I know we’re jumping ahead here, but I think this is a good time to talk a little bit about just your recruiting process at Vassar. I want to get back to how you get the job and all that.

But let’s talk a little bit about the recruiting piece of it. When you guys are putting together your list of preliminary players that you want to start to start to look at, just take me through the process from start to finish. Like how do you initially identify your first list? Whatever, 25 guys or 50 guys, or whatever that list is that you want to look at.

And then just talk about the process of kind of pairing that down until you eventually get to guys that you bring on campus.

[00:42:25] Ryan Mee: Hey. Yeah. It’s casting a wide net. Luke Le who mentored me at Skidmore and then the Rochester did a great analogy of recruiting is, is trying to make sure you have this huge funnel and just as the student athletes are putting lots of schools in there, the coaches are putting a lot of names in there, and then it continues to dwindle down, whether it’s the financial aid piece, if it’s the academic standards to get in admissions, if it’s location, all of that just makes that funnel continue to dwindle down until hopefully you have a reasonable set of guys who might potentially be a good fit for your institution.

And then that’s what we’re trying to do. And some of the most efficient ways for us to do that since we don’t have those recruiting budget that allows you to recruit as nationally as we need to be. We go to a lot of the Ivy League camps, they’ll have prospect camps Patriot League at times and then now some of the own division three schools are also having these, these prospect camps.

And what that does is helps us kind of target those student athletes who understand. You know, the financial aid piece and the financial commitment that would happen for them at some of these schools and their desire to be at a high academic school. So that just makes a I go to an AAU tournament and the majority of the we got a 18% acceptance rate I’m not getting too many people in and it’s not being efficient.

So it’s going into that process with using some of those other resources that we have to find players who want that. And luckily Yale can’t take everybody and, and some of the other schools that division three level at the high academic standards, we’re able to find some student athletes that would absolutely thrive and are really valuing the opportunity to make an impact on the court.

And so that’s where we’ve had some real success is finding some of those guys that might even have a chip on their shoulder if their number one choice says our roster’s full. We don’t have them. I just tell our guys, Hey, I’m happy to get them on the schedule for us. So that continue to make our guys work hard and have that little edge that’s hopefully going to continue to help us keep growing.

[00:45:01] Mike Klinzing: How much do you weigh when you’re evaluating a player? How much do you weigh their performance if you’re watching them once you’ve had them identified and you know, Maybe there’s some mutual interest and they have the academics to be able to get into school. How much do you weigh their performance in AAU versus their performance versus in high school versus what you see if you go to one of the prospect camps?

[00:45:24] Ryan Mee: Great. Good question in terms of like, we want to get our eyes on them. So seeing them live is very important. And then we have to just trust what we saw and, and take very good notes while we see them live and then follow up with film. And then we need to vet them in the process and talk to high school coaches, au coaches anybody that’ll listen to us and then call us back.

But, but I want to know, hey, how does this person treat their trainers? You know, like, and, and that human aspect of something is so important. To find guys that’ll be great fits not only on their court, but in the locker room and, and with your current nucleus. So those pieces are, are really important.

But the AAU versus the, the high school, whatever video they’re able to send us in most occasions is where we’re at. We might get to one or two aau tournaments, but usually when you can watch a guy a few times you have a decent idea, Hey, there’s some potential here. We need to dive in deeper.

And that’s when we’ll continue to follow up. But if we like someone usually off that initial one or two views, we’ll encourage them to get to campus. Hey, are you coming out to the northeast to visit some schools? Great. Tell us when. We’ll be there. Give you a campus tour. You know, get a chance to talk with you about the program.

So that’s usually our process is just that, Hey, when are you available? Oh, you’re coming to visit three schools out here, swing by ours. And that’ll give you a good kind of baseline, Hey, you had a urban school a little bit more of a rural school, and then the in between. So that’s what I try to encourage our guys who are recruiting to go see, just to see what they like and don’t like.

[00:47:18] Mike Klinzing: How many guys do you like to bring in, in a typical class? If there is such a thing as a typical class?

[00:47:23] Ryan Mee: It’s usually like four would be great, four and four out. And you get that roster size around 16. We, we were insanely high on the senior side this year. My, my first recruiting class when I was here, just graduated, so that 10 seniors.

And it was you know, we’re getting back to baseline next year in, in terms of trying to even out these classes. So we took a little bit more last year or the year before we took an extra person to try to level it out and just carry a higher roster size for two seasons.

[00:48:02] Mike Klinzing: All right. Let’s work backwards and tell me a little bit about what you learned as an assistant at Davidson under Coach MacKillop that you’ve taken with you that’s made you a better head coach for your assistants, both present and future.

[00:48:24] Ryan Mee: Yeah. There, there’s a ton that I could put in here, but the core kind of values as you’re developing your coaching philosophy.

You know, everybody asks you that question when you’re a younger coach. You’re, you’re focused on, Hey, it’s these the xs and os and I have to get all this, kind of, just prove that I know what I’m talking about. And then that light bulb clicked when I was with coach. McKillop in terms of like, just his core values.

You know, you see it on kind of Steph’s wrist or if it’s that, that TCC or that that trust, commitment and care has been the, the foundation of coach MACI’s program throughout. And you have to trust yourselves, those around you. You, you have to be able to care. You have to be committed to being your best and care about those around you and not just kind of say you care, but show you care.

And when you talk to your team about that being your core values and you know, it helps you in when you’re faced with these situations that you might not be ready for, because if you stick to that, you’re going to be in good shape, no matter if it’s on the court or in life. And that’s why you see so many People just in that program, they wear it on their chest or they have they live by that little code.

And it puts you in good places. So that, developing that coaching philosophy foundation and giving you some of these things to prepare you for the unexpected, that was the biggest takeaway that I have from coach.

[00:49:58] Mike Klinzing: What does that look like on the ground? So when you talk about those words and you say, these are our core values, I think one of the things that I always find to be fascinating is how do coaches take those words and then on a day-to-day basis, demonstrate what trust looks like among teammates or between the coaching staff and players, or however you want to phrase that with whatever relationship, but just mm-hmm.

what are some things that you saw that made that concrete for the players and then the coaches on Coach McKillop’s staff?

[00:50:28] Ryan Mee: I mean, it’s Yeah, just putting yourself out there in, in 100% in terms of being able to kind of perform your task of what you’re doing. You know, ask questions and knowing that you’re there for like the team aspect.

And then it shows because as, as we talk with our team, you know decision making shots falling, all of that is kind of contagious. And, and if it could go good, it could go in a good direction or if, if people are making some bad decisions, then other people might not be holding themselves to that higher standard and, and might be like, oh, if Billy’s not doing it, maybe I have to go over here and I can slack off a little bit.

So I think the biggest part of trying to build that foundation is to live by that code and it has to be from the top down. So, When you see your teammates, when you see your head coach, when you see your assistants all doing the right thing every time like that, that really kind of breeds that, that culture where you know, hey, we’re in this together, we’re going to do it right, and those habits keep developing so that that contagious atmosphere is what we’re trying to do in a positive manner.

[00:51:56] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, that’s powerful stuff when you can see it by example, day after day after day after day, and when these situations arise, that people are always handling them in a specific way and everybody sees that. It just reinforces, as you said, it makes it something that, it almost becomes second nature, that this is just the way things are and nobody has to even really think about it or talk about it because it’s just been established.

And I think then when you get your program to that point, as a coach, I think that’s when obviously you’ve really got something. And the success that Coach McKillip had at Davidson obviously speaks for itself. Tell me a little bit about the opportunity to go to Vassar when the job opens up. Is it one that you immediately know, Hey, I’m going to apply for this.

Is it more a case of somebody reaches out to you and say, Hey, this job’s going to open up. Maybe you should consider it. Just, what was the process for for getting you from Davidson to Vassar?

[00:52:47] Ryan Mee: It was something that was important for me and my family to try to find a head coaching position, preferably a little bit closer to home as we were starting to grow our family.

And had some interview opportunities at some other schools, but it was one pulling onto Vassar’s campus and, and seeing how much it’s like a movie screen. Like they, they shoot different shows there and movies you know, on campus because it’s so beautiful. And then to have kind of academic piece and then beautiful court and you’re working at an institution, you’re only going to be as good as the kind of the support that you have from that institution and the administration.

And it was a great kind of atmosphere and feeling from the athletic director up to the president in terms of, hey, we can do both. We can excel at academics and in the athletic realm. And, and that was, I was sold and hoping to get that job as soon as I showed up on campus for the interview.

Those things were great to see and see it come true.

[00:53:59] Mike Klinzing: What was the most important question or questions that you had for them about taking the job? The support of the administration, of building the program or just what were the questions that you asked them?

[00:54:12] Ryan Mee:  It was it wasn’t any specific questions. It was being there in terms of, and just watching how the current coaches were being handled and BJ Dunn is who’s now at Gettysburg and doing great there. We did have a relationship as we came up together in the coaching field.

So when he was able to take that Gettysburg job conversing with him and about what Vassar is in the situation and, and how it’s heading in the right direction. That was obviously built up a lot of trust too. So it’s fun to see us kind of keep growing in that aspect.

But the people Michelle Walsh was a three sport athlete at Swarthmore and our president, Betsy Bradley was captain of the squash team. And so you’re just like, all right, we got some competitors that are going to try to be successful. So that’s what sold me.

[00:55:15] Mike Klinzing: When you get on campus and you start looking around and you’re figuring out what you need to do, what were some of the first things that you felt were the most important in those early days of having the job to get the program going in the direction that you wanted it to be going?

[00:55:34] Ryan Mee: It was, for me, it was to try to not pick up too many other Kind of extra, like as much as I wanted to try to help out in a certain, you know a different forum or there’s a group talking here, I wanted to invest as much as I could in the current team and just try to set the standard about what we’re trying to do and continue to just keep developing and having those minor goals or daily objectives.

Being able to try to get a little bit better each day. And my assistant at the time, who’s now the head coach at purchase, Dan Belli, constantly reminded me, Hey, there’s no skipping steps. You know, there’s no so did not assume that we got it to continue to build the habits and do the small things because there’s no kind of real elevators there, and you just have to keep taking each step and then good things are going to happen.

[00:56:32] Mike Klinzing: Biggest adjustment going from being an assistant to being a first time head coach?

[00:56:36] Ryan Mee: Yeah, it all lies with you in terms of setting the tone and, and being able to make that suggestion or to do what you’ve been suggesting for the last 13 years and Right. I get to do it. But that’s the fun part.

And then like the adjustment of not being able just to do the coaching piece and then how much other things get kind of in the way and responsibilities you have where you’re thrilled when you get to practice and just get to do practice and, and not have all some of the other things that come from off the court or other responsibilities you may have.

That was the biggest surprise of like where your time gets taken away and you’re not coaching as much as sometimes you were as an assistant coach.

[00:57:28] Mike Klinzing: I know you talked earlier about sort of getting your philosophy down and understanding what you wanted to do and how you wanted to build your program, but when you get that job, you come in and now you’re actually doing it for real, and you’re standing in front of your players and you’re talking to administration.

You’re really actually building that program and putting it into what you want it to become. How do you feel like, sort of your ideas of what you wanted to do when you came in before you got the job, or as you were thinking about and preparing for becoming a head coach, how does that vision of maybe what you had before you became the head coach, how close is it to what’s actually transpired once you have the job?

If that question makes any sense at all.

[00:58:14] Ryan Mee: Yeah, it’s always a little bit going to be different than you exactly how you planned it, but it’s been. As far as like what we’re trying to do. Yeah. Did I want to play faster? You know, with a better pace? Yes. But like, trying to adapt with what you have and, and to try to get the best out of the, the pieces that you currently have on your roster and team, like, we played a little bit slower you invest in defense because that that’s what’s going to help you advance in March.

And, originally you’re thinking, Hey, we’re just going to do this offensively and try to outscore people. But that’s without scholarships. You’re trying to get the best players that you can and work with them to play to their strengths. And so that’s where I would say I didn’t you know, foresee that as much or that one might have been one of the surprises.

Trying to hold true to your core values and what you’re not going to sacrifice, but you do have to tweak it based on what’s actually available and what’s best for your team and program each year.

[00:59:23] Mike Klinzing: So, going into a season as you’re starting to plan your first few weeks of preseason practice, what does that process look like for you and your staff?

What are some of the things that you’re talking about? What are some of the things that you’re trying to put together? Are you writing out, typing out a week’s worth of practice plans? Just h what’s the process like for preparing for a season in the, in the month or so before you guys open up on October 15th?

[00:59:51] Ryan Mee: Yeah, you’re just giddy, right? Cause you’re so excited, . I get it. But the piece Yeah. You’ve planned out, you have a checklist Hey, we want to make sure we’re doing this every day. We have this piece that we need to be able to get to. And just making sure you get that the first couple weeks of practice and make sure, hey, I’m ready to do this first scrimmage.

Like this year it was a little bit different because we took an international trip. So we took that, those 10 days and you’re like, oh crap, I have to get to this a little bit faster to make sure we’re ready to play a couple games. And so that’s where your rollout is a little bit different, but not skipping the steps as we mentioned before, and making sure we slow down a little bit to, to get the details of our defensive stance or slides or Yeah, your communication to make sure your vernacular and your language, everybody’s on the same page. Have a terminology sheet to share with your players just to make sure we we’re all in the same atmosphere of the same language.

And that’s something that helps kind of speed up the process if you’re able to try to do. Some of that or, or have your players teaching your players. That’s where the biggest jumps have occurred here at Vassar. Once that was starting to occur you don’t have to waste as many days getting in shape or getting people you know, familiar with some of the initial actions of your offense.

[01:01:28] Mike Klinzing: How important is it, and it kind of goes back to what we talked about earlier in terms of the rules in division three and obviously you talked about how you’re having your post-season meetings with players now. How important is it to have strong leadership from your players so that you know you can count on those guys to get those messages across and help them to under help other players understand the terminology?

Just get guys in the gym. How important is that player led situation in terms of division three compared to maybe other levels?

[01:01:58] Ryan Mee: It’s everything . Like, if you want to have some separating factors, it’s your leadership from your team members. And everybody kind of knows that when you have people patrolling the locker room and being able to hold each other accountable on a player’s standpoint, that’s when real greatness happens, like coaches are only able to do so much.

When you have that intrinsic motivation and that those friendships and relationships to hold your peers accountable, that’s when special happens. And, and so we’re constantly trying to develop that, to communicate with each other about, Hey, what would you have done differently here? You know, and that, that self trying to be selfless and, and explain to our players and our program members of like, Hey, it doesn’t mean thinking less of you or your value.

It’s just thinking about yourself less. And, and like those things are so important when we’re trying to help each other kind of move forward. You can’t do it by yourself. And, and we’re hoping some of our underclassmen have get, are getting that message and understanding how important it is to step up in their leadership roles.

As we have our 10 seniors graduating, so it’s more important than ever right here at Vassar in Poughkeepsie, New York.

[01:03:26] Mike Klinzing: How do you develop that leadership during the season? What are some things that you do? How do you give your players opportunities to lead within your team so that they can grow and grow into that role that you want them to be as a leader?

[01:03:38] Ryan Mee: Trying to make everybody feel valued and to kind of carve out some roles. We always are trying to watch some individual film or having some meetings and, and that’s one thing I think I could have would’ve done had more of this year, because I think that we did have after some injuries when you’re player of the years down.

How are you going to fill that void and, and have some other guys step up And, and so our team continues to fight and did an excellent job in that. But it’s trying to set up those individual meetings to make sure everybody is seeing the same thing. And if they’re not, they can ask those questions in terms of and I can have a better understanding of what they’re seeing so that’s where I think we both grow if we’re able to make that time for each other because that that’s helping build that trust factor.

[01:04:44] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, absolutely. I think if you can have those conversations and be candid and allow the player’s space to be able to ask questions, I think now you’re heading in the right direction where you have those open lines of communication and then that’s ultimately where you’re getting to, where you build that trust, and that’s really how you build leadership and how you make sure that the players trust that you as the coach have their back, have their best interests at heart, and then that allows you to coach them hard when you have that kind of relationship that you can push them and and try to get the most out of them and help your team to have as much success as you possibly can.

When you think about what you do every day on the practice floor, talk a little bit about how your practices are organized. Do you have a set sort of rotation of how you go through things like offense first, defense, first special teams First, just how do you organize a practice?

[01:05:37] Ryan Mee: Yeah, and it’s constantly evolving.  I used to use the same format that my college coach used in terms of, it’s on the same word document. So I’m not it’s trying to get the guys moving first with like a dynamic stretch and then maybe some passing and handling trying to get some shots up a little bit earlier.

And then more so than ever is trying to just develop those skills in a play while playing. In the past I’ve tried to break down some of the actions before, but. I feel like especially this year moving forward, it’s trying to have them learn kind of on the fly and, and be able to coach them what would be in a game situation where you’re trying to be able to get them to learn some of the details and then for what’s not gathered, you have to come back and visit it via like a film session or some of those meetings when you’re not able to address it in the midst of practice.

But trying to play as much as possible, shooting and you know, practicing some of the defensive rotations or actions those are what we’re trying to go back and forth of throughout the game. So it’s practice. It’s so fun in trying to get your guys to think it’s fun too. That’s where we’re at in terms of, hey, we’re not going to make you do it a thousand times.

We’re going to explain to you why it’s important to us to, to try to help us win and, and get better as a team. And you have to have that drive to do it well. And then we’ll move on to the next thing. And we’re not going to do it for five hours of just without a ball or playing the game that you love.

[01:06:44] Mike Klinzing: How do you utilize your staff during practice?

[01:06:52] Ryan Mee: Yeah, I’ve been fortunate with a full-time assistant to, to be able to give them as much responsibility as they can handle. So they’re doing a lot. They’re running the scout team, they’re I got offense or defense, this one and they’re able to do a fair amount of getting us prepped.

So if they’re handling the scout team, they’re also kind of prepping and practice. We plan practice together every day in terms of you know, finalizing some of that. And I want them to find their voice. So I’ll be like, Hey, you got this segment and they’re running that.

And that really kind of helps build their confidence and prepares them for that next step, which, and a lot of guys, it’s, Hey, it’s trying to be a head coach, or if it’s trying to move on division one, that’s what we want to make sure we’re helping do for our assistants here.

[01:08:22] Mike Klinzing: When you guys sit down and plan the practices together, what are those conversations like?

Are you thinking about, let’s say it’s during the pre-season, are you looking at what you did the previous day? What went well, what didn’t go well? Do you have sort of a progression that you use in the pre-season to kind of get you prepared for the season? Like, we have to get through X, Y, and Z by this day in order to make sure we have everything in.

And obviously the more you get things rolling in the off season, the more prepared guys are coming in. Obviously that varies, but just what do you think about as you’re doing your pre-practice prep with your staff? What are some of the conversations you’re having?

[01:08:56] Ryan Mee: Yeah, we do have a little bit of that checkpoint in terms of what we’re trying to address.

Hey, what didn’t we get to yesterday? My current assistant Pat Stasiak has been, been doing a great job the last two years here. And he has been great in terms of like, Hey, gosh get this drill implemented, but make it make it live. Because that’s the frustrating part about dealing with and coaching really smart student athletes, is that a lot of the times they’ll learn to cheat that drill and we can’t, can’t keep them honest unless we’re playing.

So that’s where we’re getting a little bit more handle on it. We’re like, Hey guys, this is why we’re working on it. But to make sure that if they’re really taking away a passing lean because they know we’re trying to get it there. Okay guys, you can rip it to the rim and score a lap if they’re going to guard it that way.

When we’re planning practices, it’s like, Hey, what do we need to work on for the upcoming opponents that are going to help us? That’s when we’re in the midst of it during the season. But the preseason, as you mentioned, to just making sure we’re ready to defend different types of screening actions offensively making sure we know our primary reads, our overplay options, and how to just play basketball so that’s, I want to coach less during a season because our guys know how to play.

And so like, having some rules to our offense and, and being able to be like, Hey, okay, let’s, what would you do next? Or like, stopping and blowing the whistle dead. Hey Tommy, what were you here? Like, what didn’t you do? Oh, I didn’t catch and see, I just put the ball down on the ground right away and you didn’t see that open cutter for a layup or just having those little points of reference.

Similar to that core foundation that’ll help kind of develop their mindset and their basketball IQ. Like you as where you can really kind of have a jump.

[01:10:56] Mike Klinzing: I’m assuming that, especially with your guys, that coaching with questions is a pretty successful technique for what you like to do day in and day out.

[01:11:07] Ryan Mee: Absolutely. like Yeah. Make them think it’s their idea. A little of that assistant coach training, right. Yep. You know, somake sure that the head coach is seeing that idea come up or they created it. And that’s what we want our players to do, is to have the light bulb go on and then they’re going to stick with it and believe in what they’re doing.

[01:11:31] Mike Klinzing: How do you balance stopping play to make a coaching point or ask a question versus keeping the flow of the practice moving. Cause I know that’s something that, especially for young coaches, is sometimes difficult to manage in terms of, okay, there’s 3, 4, 5 things that I just saw in this possession that I’d like to have go a different way or I’d like to fix.

But you can’t stop every single thing and hit on every single error, every single technicality. So how do you balance that out day in and day out on the practice floor?

[01:12:06] Ryan Mee: Yeah, still trying like in terms of , trying to figure that mess. But the reminder I like to give myself and Pat and our staff we’re just try to keep it shorter when we really want to get into it.

But the other piece is like to you’re going to get whatever you emphasize. So if, if. You know, your point is offensive rebounding this week, or whatever you’re trying to focus on, make that the point you’re stopping for. And just to give that consistent message. Because whatever you’re emphasizing on a everyday basis, you’re going to get that result from my experience of coaching and beyond.

Just make sure you’re emphasizing the things that are most important for your team at that time. And hopefully you’re doing the right ones and it’ll help you kind of progress as a team.

[01:12:58] Mike Klinzing: Preparing for an opponent. How much time are you spending watching film, how many film game films you watch, and what are some of the things that you’re looking for when you’re scouting an opponent that you then share with your players?

[01:13:11] Ryan Mee: Okay. I give a lot of the scouting responsibility to our assistants, but it’s you know, trying to watch the last four games maybe and then our previous matchups. And then being able to siphon that down to like we want a 20 minute film session of trying to get what’s going on with some of their actions or if it’s a little bit different or their offensive movements.

Anything that is important for us, anything defensively that they’re doing, and then some of those special teams things. So we think a lot of things are personal tendencies. So we have a personnel segment as well, just to try to help our guys get a better feel for the opponents.

And so you do all that. It’s a pretty tight film session, but we know their attention span. What they’re really going to intake is limited. So it’s to try to be precise with it. They got all types of classes going on life as a college student, we need to make sure they’re locked in for this 20 minute film and then be able to apply it again.

So we try to watch film twice before we play an opponent the day before and hopefully the day of just to give our guys some chance to soak it in, but we play like an Ivy League schedule, so we play back to backs. So we’ll play Friday night and Saturday afternoon. So it’s important for us to try to like just force feed that information.

Especially for our Saturday opponents because we are preparing for them earlier in the week, but we’re not watching as much film on them. We’re focused on that Friday.

[01:15:00] Mike Klinzing: Are you usually watching the film before practice?

[01:15:03] Ryan Mee: Yes. Okay. Before practice. Sometimes we got a TV to bring on the court with us sometimes if we’re, it’s a quick transition, but we want to watch some of those actions before and personnel so our guys can actually understand.

And hopefully it helps our scout team and our current team, or, or the, the, some of the guys that are going to be playing on the floor know what they’re trying to do.

[01:15:29] Mike Klinzing: How hard is that emotional turnaround from Friday to Saturday, regardless of what the outcome is on Friday? Big win, tough loss, and now you have to turn around and play again the next day.

Yeah, I know that as a coach and as a player, part of me always liked when we had it, and we didn’t have that all the time as a high school coach or a high school player, and we almost never had it when I was playing in college. But I know that I used to like the idea of, hey, if we win, we get to keep it going on Saturday and if we lose, boom, we can put it behind us and get our next game going.

So just how do you handle that and talk to your players and how do you handle it as a coach?

[01:16:05] Ryan Mee: Yeah. It’s great. Like in terms of, yeah, if you have a tough one, Hey guys, best part we play less than about 12 hours  so it’s, right, it’s us trying to like refocus on when we’re going to get back to it.

And if you have a good one, it’s like, Hey, great work today. Take the night. We’ll see you at, shoot around tomorrow morning. You know, like, so it’s just like basketball, right? You’re onto the next play, good or bad, you have to get onto the next one and not let it snowball. And so those are some of the things as a coach it’s great.

Like, my favorite thing to do is sometimes it’s late at night, but I like to do a little bit of the laundry and I hang up the shooting shirts just cause it’s my little therapy. You get a little peace and quiet while the buildings shut down, and just preparing all the films downloaded and you’re, you’re ready.

And just thinking through all the things that just happened and how you’re going to be ready for tomorrow. So that, that’s my little peace and quiet is hanging some laundry up in the night.

[01:17:11] Mike Klinzing: So do you process the Friday night game and then prepare for the Saturday game in between? Or do you play the Friday game and then sort of immediately put that behind you, focus on Saturday and then kind of come back to the Friday game after Saturday’s over?

I’m just curious.

[01:17:27] Ryan Mee: Yeah, for the most part it’s unless there’s something specific, it’s kind of digest both like, hey, okay, we might take some, we have some game goals that we will try to calculate for our Friday game. But this year we had some injuries and some funky lineups kind of out there.

So I was trying to go through what was working with some of these newer lineups that we didn’t get to see as much. So I was trying to do a little bit of the Friday breakdown before Saturday, but that only was working because our assistant was able to prepare and have everything ready for that next opponent.

[01:18:07] Mike Klinzing: So your analytics department had everything put together for you, huh?

[01:18:09] Ryan Mee: Yeah, absolutely Right, we’re working on that collaboration with our math department, so we’re getting some independent studies out there.

[01:18:19] Mike Klinzing: That’s cool.  What are some things, statistically, what are some things that you look at, are there things that you feel like are important for your team, for your program to be successful?

Are there things that directly correlate to wins and losses in your mind?

[01:18:32] Ryan Mee: The possession game in terms of trying to, Hey, if we don’t really turn people over. It’s not what we’re able to do, but how are we going to make up some of these possessions and the rebounding kind of battle the no rebounds, no rings thing is true in a lot of aspects for us that since we don’t create any tempo and the three point shot is so powerful in this game. So to try to defend the arc and limit some of the opportunities that we can do. So those are some of the ones in valuing possession and trying to make sure we’re not eliminating our offensive possessions.

So making sure we’re valuing the ball, defending the three, and trying to get some extra possessions on the glass.

[01:19:32] Mike Klinzing: How do you pace yourself over the course of the season, both you as a coach and then kind of trying to get a gauge on your team to make sure they’re staying fresh and that they’re at their best when it’s game time.

Whether you want to talk about how you balance out practice during the week or just over the course of the season. Just how do you manage your energy and manage the player’s energy to make sure that you guys are always at your best come game day.

[01:19:58] Ryan Mee: Yeah. That constant communication trusting your captains and having those talks with them I think are very, very important.

And something kind of covid taught us, we practiced a little bit, kind of less and we had some split groups on a specific day and that that kind of helped us stay fresh but still develop some skills and, and work on a few things that with some of these we had just two groups on a day and that that really kind of helped us.

I think stay sharp throughout and as we get further into February and hopefully playing into March, you don’t want to play your best basketball in November. So, and that’s kind of where offensively when we’re playing a little bit more of this motion, it’s trying to adapt each year. So it’s never going to be that those same actions aren’t going to work exactly as you want.

It’s not going to be completely foreign, but you’re going to have to make some changes throughout. So to try to keep it fresh. It’s, hey bringing in some different drills to work on the same skills. It’s creating different scenarios, mixing up your lineups, but the, those split groups are trying to split a day where they’re working a different muscle or that’s different for them.

I think that really helped our guys maintain focus.

[01:21:25] Mike Klinzing: All right. Ryan, we are coming up towards an hour and a half, so I want to ask you one final two part question. Part one, When you look ahead over the next year or two, what do you see as being your biggest challenge? And then part two, when you think about what you get to do every day as the head men, head men’s basketball coach at Vassar, what brings you the most joy?

So your biggest challenge and then your biggest joy.

[01:21:49] Ryan Mee: Nice. Biggest challenge is replacing that bigger class right now, in terms of, and just haven’t like bringing in, I think we have seven freshmen right now who are committed to come in next fall, which we’re excited about, but it’s just getting them up to speed and building those habits.

And that’s the biggest challenge is to get them to play in our competitive Liberty League conference, which we have a lot of very solid teams. And then, That’s right up to our biggest joy, in terms of watching them kind of have that progression in terms of what’s going on.

Like, Hey, I know this now I’ve learned this. And to see them execute it and you know, practice and then in the game, and then to see their teammates believe in one another and to have that trust continue to blossom, I think is the, the part that the, his biggest joy then the individual joy for me is that the kids are starting to get to that little older age where they’re rocking their Vassar gear or coming practice knowing the players.

They’re invested, they’re crying when we lose or jumping up and down when we win and, and just seeing. You know, them continue to mature and love our program just as much as our players. That brings me a ton of joy.

[01:23:18] Mike Klinzing: That’s cool and very well said. I think if you can incorporate your family into your program, obviously you’ve taken it even one step further to, to bring, to bring that joy and that’s really what it’s all about.

And being able to have that impact on your players like we’ve talked about throughout the episode. Before we get out, I want to give you a chance, Ryan, to share how people can connect with you, find out more about your program, so whether you want to share social media, email, website, whatever you feel comfortable with.

And then after you do that, I’ll jump back in and wrap things up.

[01:23:46] Ryan Mee: Yeah. Thank you again, Mike, for, for the time. Absolutely. To get in contact with me, rmee@vassar.edu. I also have a Twitter @coachmee. And that’s some of the best ways of getting in contact with us.

And, and yeah, Poughkeepsie, New York. It’s about an hour and a half north of New York City and beautiful little town and campus and, and it’s a great place and fortunate enough to be here with my wife and my two kids. It’s been quite an honor to be here and then obviously an honor tonight to be able to speak with you.

I have always enjoyed your podcast.

[01:24:33] Mike Klinzing: Well, thank you very much. We really appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule tonight. It’s been a lot of fun getting to learn more about you and your basketball journey and your program there at Vassar. And I know you’re going to have a ton of success moving forward, so thank you for that.

We really appreciate it. And to everyone out there, thanks for listening and we will catch you on our next episode. Thanks.