SKYE ETTIN – UC SANTA BARBARA MEN’S BASKETBALL ASSISTANT COACH – EPISODE 857

Website – https://ucsbgauchos.com/sports/mens-basketball

Email – settin@ucsb.edu

Twitter – @SkyelarEttin

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Skye Ettin is beginning his first season as a men’s basketball assistant coach at UC Santa Barbara.  Skye previously served 6 seasons as an assistant coach at Princeton where he helped the Tigers to an overall record of 133-69 and a run to the Sweet 16 in 2023.

Skye played his collegiate basketball at The College of New Jersey where he was a three year captain and in his senior season led the Lions to their most wins in a season since 2006.

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Be prepared to take some notes as you listen to this episode with Skye Ettin, men’s basketball assistant coach at UC Santa Barbara.

What We Discuss with Skye Ettin

• Playing basketball and football in high school
• The early influence of coaches in his life
• His decision to attend Guilford coming out of high school
• How an injury and his father’s illness led him to transfer to the College of New Jersey
• “I could do this for a living. I could coach and be around the game and be around people for a living.”
• How working the summer camp circuit led to an internship with Princeton
• Getting to listen and learn as the Director of Ops in his first year coaching at Princeton
• “Sometimes that’s the biggest strength you can have is being available with your time and your energy, and your emotion.”
• “The best players in the program were the ones that were in the gym the most.”
• “I’ve never seen anyone who was always in the gym, not improve”
• “The number one role for an assistant coach is to echo the message of the head coach.”
• “Be organized and thoughtful in your approach to your responsibilities.”
• “In recruiting, you have to really know what your boss is looking for.”
• “I think IQ tells you a lot about how the kid will impact the game when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands.”
• Using video to improve a players basketball iq
• “Third eye in the sky doesn’t lie.” when it comes to film
• Learning x’s and o’s from scouting opponents
• Princeton’s run to the Sweet 16 in 2023
• The decision to leave Princeton for UC Santa Barbara
• “It’s the relationship with the guys. It always has been, it always will be for me in terms of what gets me excited.”

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THANKS, SKYE ETTIN

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TRANSCRIPT FOR SKYE ETTIN – UC SANTA BARBARA MEN’S BASKETBALL ASSISTANT COACH – EPISODE

[00:00:00] Mike Klinzing: Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast. Mike Klinzing here with my co-host Jason Sunkle tonight. And we are pleased to welcome to the podcast, Skye Ettin Men’s Basketball Assistant Coach at UC Santa Barbara. Skye, welcome to the Hoop Heads Pod

[00:00:14] Skye Ettin: Mike, Jason, I appreciate you guys having me, man.

[00:00:18] Mike Klinzing: Thrilled to have you on, looking forward to diving into all the things that you’ve been able to accomplish thus far in your career.

Let’s start by going back in time to when you were a kid. Tell me a little bit about some of your first experiences with the game of basketball, what you remember from when you were younger.

[00:00:33] Skye Ettin: Yeah, man, I started really early, my parents kind of threw me into the YMCA and I remember my first day not loving it and, and, and my parents making me go back and, second day, I guess I fell in love with it.

So quick hate to love moment for me. and, just ever since just kind of grew with the game and made have made my best friends from the game of basketball and it’s taken me a lot of places. So, super fortunate.

[00:01:03] Mike Klinzing: Strictly hoops as a kid or did you play everything?

[00:01:06] Skye Ettin: I played basketball. I played baseball until I went to the bigger field and, and I figured that wasn’t for me. and then I played two years of football in high school, I wanted to play my whole life and my parents never let me. And then the football coach convinced my parents junior year to let me play and it was awesome.

So I played basketball and football in high school.

[00:01:31] Mike Klinzing: What did that look like as far as getting better as a basketball player? What did you work on? Were you as organized as a lot of guys are today in terms of putting together a program or how did you approach getting better as a basketball player when you were a kid?

[00:01:47] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I was organized in my head. I certainly didn’t have all the resources that I feel like these kids have now in terms of personal strength coach and shooting coach and workout guy I think now, there’s so many resources and so many people helping kids out from the game of basketball that it’s a lot easier maybe to get better. But, for me I just went to the park as much as I could. I was always playing. I was always outside. I was always working on my game and trying to improve. I definitely think if nowadays, man, who knows? Maybe I’ve been a little bit better. with all the resources that are out there. But, it was really just going to the park and playing.

[00:02:36] Mike Klinzing: You would have been a little less creative though.

[00:02:37] Skye Ettin: Yeah, definitely.

[00:02:41] Mike Klinzing: When you think back to some of those early years as a player before you got to high school, is there a coach that you can think back to during that time that had a big influence on you, somebody that you sort of still think of them or think of the things that they shared with you that are still impacting you today.

[00:03:03] Skye Ettin: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think for me in general, outside of my parents, the biggest influence in my life has been coaches, right? I was lucky enough where my dad coached me all the way up until about seventh or eighth grade. And I had a AAU coach, Ian Turnbull, who, I played with from about, I don’t know, maybe fifth grade to ninth grade,10th grade.

And, and he was really instrumental. And then I had another coach, Clarence White, who was like a local travel coach that I would always work out with. So, I was really fortunate to have some really good mentors and people in my life.

[00:03:48] Mike Klinzing: When you got to high school, what did you remember as far as just the practices and the camaraderie with your teammates. Do you have a favorite moment that sticks out as a high school player?

[00:04:04] Skye Ettin: Yeah, my, so my high school coach, I started on the freshman team as a freshman and my high school coach was a coach by the name of Jason Carter, who was a fiery coach and came in with a lot of energy every day and a lot of passion and we had our ups and downs, as a freshman team and my sophomore year when I was making the jv to a varsity player, he got the varsity job. And I was like, oh man that was a hard freshman year with this guy. I don’t know how I’m going to make it. And you know what? It ended up being the best thing for me and me and him are really close now.

He pushed me out of my comfort zone and my junior year, we had one of the best years in my high school history where we made it to the sectional championship and a lot of players on that team I’m still really close with. So that was a great moment for me.

[00:05:00] Mike Klinzing: At what point did you start to have a dream that you wanted to play college basketball and when did it sink in to you that, hey, I think I’m legitimately going to have a chance?

Was it something that you were always thinking about growing up?

[00:05:13] Skye Ettin: Yeah I was always thinking about the NBA. I was dreaming big. And then when I failed to touch backboard in eighth grade or something along those lines. II realized that that wasn’t going to be the route for me, but I always knew I wanted to play in college. I loved the game. like I told you, my second day of practice, I fell in love. So I knew I wanted to play in college and wasn’t sure what level I was between division two, division three. I knew I Probably wasn’t quite division one, even though I had aspirations of that and then kind of going into junior and senior year, realized I was division three player and was just trying to find the best opportunity and got lucky enough to have to play four years in college.

[00:06:01] Mike Klinzing: So how do you go about as a player in that position where you start to look around and you say, okay, I think this is where. Did you have somebody kind of helping you through the process, whether it was your parents, your high school coach, AAU coach, how’d you go about getting your name out there so that people could see you and actually recruit you?

Because I think that’s one of the misconceptions that I see a lot of kids out there that they maybe aren’t proactive. And a lot of times it’s not because they wouldn’t do it, it’s just because they don’t necessarily know that that’s sort of a really big help to the process. So how’d you go about it?

[00:06:41] Skye Ettin: Yeah, no, I was super fortunate. My mom was so supportive of me. I mean, she sent me to camp. She took me to camps. and she she even, I think I was, I don’t even know what the service was back then, but it was something like, NCSA where they would send emails out to college coaches with game film and so I think I was on one of those websites and my high school coach was also someone that would reach out to people for me and send high school games.

Between him and my mom and myself, we had a lot of discussions and I had them kind of guiding me. And then I went to all these, I went to hoop group academic elite camp. And there was another one mountain hoops, maybe I’m forgetting the name, but at Brandeis, I did a couple of those kind of exposure camps, right.

Where started to kind of connect with some D3 coaches who were working the camps and get my name out there a little bit and, wasn’t heavily recruited, but recruited a little bit and, and through that kind of made my way to my first stop at Guilford and then later the College of New Jersey.

[00:07:53] Mike Klinzing: What made the decision initially coming out of high school to go to Guilford, how did you come to that decision? What was the process of making that choice? Was it the coach? Was it the school? Was it strictly basketball? Was it academics? Was it location? What was important to you coming out of high school?

[00:08:10] Skye Ettin: It was a little bit of everything, right? I had wanted to try to get a little bit of a way from Princeton, a place I’ve lived my whole life. And, so Guilford really presented a cool opportunity. They were coming, out after two back to back final fours, right? So they were a really good division three kind of powerhouse.

And I kind of looked at myself with a division one mindset, even though I wasn’t division one player, in terms of the love and the commitment for the game. so I wanted to go somewhere that I felt like that was echoed. and when I visited Guilford, it felt like that in every way, right?

Just about how they practice, Coach Palbo and, and his staff. And then they also had a really good sports management program and it was a good academic school. So I thought coming out of high school, that really fit me well. And, so it was a good first place to start for me.

[00:09:10] Mike Klinzing: What makes the decision then to go to the College of New Jersey?

[00:09:14] Skye Ettin: Yeah, a couple things. I actually, so the week before we have an exhibition game against Wake Forest. I break my foot in practice and yeah, man, I was out the whole the whole year and that was really tough and I’m away from home for the first time at a pretty small school and my dad actually was sick at the time.

And so, I kind of knew early on that I wanted to get back home to be closer to him and my family. and so I thought the College of New Jersey had recruited me out of high school and was a good academic school and about 20 minutes away from home. So, I knew right away. That’s kind of where I wanted to transfer.

I did well in school to make sure I could get in and I only applied there and was lucky enough to get in.

[00:10:02] Mike Klinzing: What were you thinking about in terms of a career at this point in college? Did you go in or did you develop over the course of time an idea of what you thought you wanted to do? Did you always know coaching was where you wanted to be or were you thinking about something else at this point?

[00:10:16] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Like many kids that just start college, right? I really was unsure. I knew I wanted to do something in sports. I had a couple different internships. but it’s funny When you have an injury and you’re out the whole year, that was the first time in my life that I hadn’t played a season, right?

My whole life I had played every game every season, every year, and this year I was out and I was just watching from the sideline and that really you’re watching like, wait, I could do this for a living. I could coach and be around the game and be around people for a living.

And both my parents are clinical psychologists. So, I grew up in a pretty unique household in terms of, talking and connecting with people. And so I always knew I wanted to do something working with people. And, I wasn’t quite as smart as them or wanted to go to as much school as they did.

So, I thought this was a good route and to be honest, like I said earlier, to me, the most influential people outside of my parents, have been coaches. And so that year off being injured, getting to watch and see the relationship that the coaches have with the players and what they did really sparked my interest and I started chasing that dream, ever since.

[00:11:42] Mike Klinzing: Did you get a chance to sort of go behind the scenes with the coaching staff during that year and have conversations that were more coach to coach as opposed to coach to player, if that question makes any sense?

[00:11:55] Skye Ettin: Yeah, no, definitely. I did I’m sitting there on the sideline with the coaches pretty much team gets water, coaches are huddling and talking about the next drill and I’m kind of eavesdropping or just listening, whatever you want to call it.

And after practice, I try to just stay around and pick their brain and, and just soak up as much as I could. And they were super gracious of letting me kind of be a fly on the wall there. And so. I felt like I did start to have a little bit of a different relationship and, it was really cool to see.

[00:12:28] Mike Klinzing: Alright, so obviously that plants the bug that, hey, maybe coaching is something that I want to get into. When you got back out onto the court, did that cause you in any way to look at or see the game differently once you had that experience of a year? Are we still coaching was still something that was in the back of your mind and you were still focused on, Hey, I’m trying to maximize myself as a player.

Just did it change your mindset at all sitting out for that year in terms of how you viewed the game?

[00:12:59] Skye Ettin: Yeah after I broke my foot, the dream of the NBA definitely went out the window. so it felt like coaching was the right thing to do. I think when I got back to playing again, you realize how much you missed it and loved it.

I just ever since that year, man, I really knew that coaching is what I wanted to at least try to do. I didn’t necessarily know it was going to be on the college level.  I’d always thought maybe I’ll be a school counselor and a high school coach or I knew I wanted to coach though at some level and some extent.

And I think that was getting back to the Game and playing again, just validated that even more.

[00:13:42] Mike Klinzing: All right. So you graduate, you got to find a job. Clearly coaching is the area that you think you want to go to. You’re not even sure what level that you want to be at. So what does that job hunting process look like?

What do you remember about it? What’d you do to try to find that first coaching job?

[00:14:02] Skye Ettin: Yeah. So about, I would say my junior year in college is when I really started to turn the page going into my junior year, in terms of like, okay, I’m going to try to do college coaching. How’d I go about it?

And I had a family friend, Howard Levy, who was a long time assistant at Princeton, played at Princeton. Now the head coach at Mercer Community College and I picked his brain and started talking to him and he’s like, well, you should start, you should work camps and I’ll introduce you. And, so he put me in touch with the Princeton staff and I started working camps and then I started working camps at Rider and Rutgers and kind of just all around a little bit and working as much as I can. I worked a weekend at EYBL and, so that really started to introduce me to people in the business. and then after that summer, I got invited by one of the assistant coaches, Brett McConnell. to do an internship with Princeton, going into my senior year.

And so I did it, I did an internship going into my senior year in college and, was doing everything from helping with camps to helping organize recruiting and visiting, really anything they asked and, and learned a ton. And in that moment I knew definitely that I was going to chase college coaching and I didn’t know what level, division three, division two, division one, juco, whatever it is.

I just wanted an opportunity and I was reaching out to a ton of people sending emails, putting booklets together. You’ll appreciate this story. I actually, Maryland had a GA job open and I was like, ah, I would love to be a GA at Maryland like a hundred people would and Brett McConnell, who’s now the associate head coach at Princeton, called the director of ops at Maryland and said, I had this guy he’d be great, blah, blah, blah.

And, the, director of ops at the time. Said, Hey, we got a lot of people interested tell him to send me his stuff and we’ll think about it. I drove up to Maryland just to hand it to them face to face. And that got me a conversation. It got me in the door a little bit and gave me a chance.

So, didn’t end up doing that. I got lucky to be at Princeton, but you know, I remember kind of trying to make my way in.

[00:16:30] Mike Klinzing: Yeah. I mean, it’s funny how you take that little extra step. And obviously in that moment, that didn’t pay off. And you’re getting that job, but clearly I’m sure you made an impression by showing up at the door with your resume in your hand makes a big difference when you can do that.

And I think it’s amazing, Skye, how many people that we’ve talked to that have gone that extra mile, because like you said, You have a position that pays next to nothing and there’s 100 applicants for that job. And there’s obviously, I think, amongst a lot of people that aren’t in the coaching profession, there’s a lot of, I don’t know, misinformation or just people don’t understand sort of what it takes to pay your dues and work your way up. And everybody sees the big division one head coaches and the salaries and all those kinds of things. And people don’t realize there’s a whole lot of people in coaching and there aren’t a whole lot of those jobs that are available and takes a long time to get there.

So for you, obviously you get out of school and you get an opportunity to work at an institution like Princeton right out of the gate. I mean, tremendous opportunity for you. What do you remember from that first year? What did you love about just being in the business that first year? What about it just really grabbed you and said, Hey man, this is, I know I’m in the right place.

Obviously as the Ops guy, there’s some things that you’re limited on in terms of what you can do, but just what do you remember about that first year that really turned you on?

[00:17:56] Skye Ettin: I’ll tell you what, starting as an Ops guy or video or something along those lines of support staff is the best start to coaching you can get because you get an opportunity just to listen and learn, right?

Like you’re not, Recruiting, you’re not on the floor, coaching, you’re just, you get an opportunity to learn and be the guy behind the scenes, right? And so, we had such a good staff, that year and it was Coach Mitch Henderson, obviously, Brian Earl, who’s now the. Head coach at Cornell was the associate head coach, Brett McConnell, Donovan Williams.

And so we had such a good staff. And for me I just tried to sit back and learn as much as I could and just listen. Right. And, it was fascinating and it grew my love for coaching even more, to listen and learn to those guys who are all mentors and influences in my coaching life for sure.

[00:18:53] Mike Klinzing: Okay. Here’s a question that I don’t think I’ve ever asked anybody before. But it’s one that has kind of struck me as you were talking and I’m thinking about that ops position. While the team is practicing and the other members of the staff who are allowed on court to coach, where are you and what are you doing during practice when you can’t be on the floor coaching?

Are you in the office still breaking down film and doing your daily tasks, whatever those may be? Is that, is that kind of where you are during practice? I would think that it would be, it would be difficult to sit in the office. Knowing, man, right out there, I could be out on the floor coaching. Just talk a little about that experience, what that’s like.

[00:19:31] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I think each ops role is different, in each program, but Coach Henderson, wanted me to be involved as much as I could, right? And because I had aspirations to coach, I was at every practice I was kind of running the scoreboard and encouraging from the sideline and just watching and learning and doing whatever was needed of me.

I was at every practice trying to soak up as much as I could and get my feet wet a little bit with coaching and really just being someone that would give high fives and try to pick guys up if they needed it.

[00:20:18] Mike Klinzing: When you think about what you learned that first year from an X’s and O’s practice planning development standpoint, because I think what’s always interesting is that and I say this in regards to my own coaching, when I was a high school player, I played for one head coach. And then when I was in college, I played for one head coach. And so when I got done, I basically, the only experience that I had with coaches was with two guys and what they did, how they organized practice, what they ran, the drills they used.

That was pretty much all I was familiar with. And of course, as a 23 year old kid, I was like, yeah, I know what I’m I was a good player. I know how to coach. And you realize. Looking back, you’re like, God, I was terrible, but just the opportunity, the opportunity, right, to learn from somebody different who you hadn’t played, played for, you hadn’t been around, talk about how you sort of tried to process what you were learning.

Did you have a system for writing stuff down, for keeping track of what you were learning? How’d you go about just internalizing the things that you picked up over the course of that first year or two?

[00:21:20] Skye Ettin: Yeah, no, really good question. It was a process, right?  I’m on staff at Princeton and you’re with some of the best coaches I felt like in the country and Mitch Henderson, who does a great job and I think, I really do believe that he’s one of the best of teaching, breaking down teaching offense, right? In terms of the way he teaches three on three and he thinks so fast. So you’re having to pick things up as fast as you can and so for me, I was just trying, again, to listen and learn and pick it up. And so every meeting I brought a notebook and wrote things down. And, I would watch the film after practice to try to learn the offense and defense and just making sure that I was up to speed, with everything. And ask questions when the moment was right.

I think a big part of it, to be honest, was taking notes, self reflection when I went home, watching the film, and really trying to just be engaged in the moment in practice was a huge part of it. and as you know, college practices move really fast. So, it was really, really a cool environment to learn.

[00:22:44] Mike Klinzing: What do you remember about the day that you got an opportunity to actually coach on the floor?

[00:22:50] Skye Ettin: It was, I’ll tell you what, it was something I won’t ever forget. You know, Coach Henderson promoted me Brian Earl got the head coaching job at Cornell, my second year at Princeton. And so Coach Henderson promoted me to an assistant coach on the floor.

And you remember you’re nervous and your first day you’re stepping on there. I’m like, okay, I’m allowed to step in between the lines now. I don’t have to tiptoe around the sideline and baseline. And for me, it was really just trying to be genuine. Trying to be myself, trying to be encouraging and teaching what I knew, right?

And still understanding that there was so much more for me to learn and, not trying to reinvent the wheel, not trying to do anything different, really do what we did, right? That day was an awesome moment. That year, honestly, was a really fun year. but I definitely remember being nervous but being excited at the same time.

[00:23:54] Mike Klinzing: What were you good at teaching right out of the gate? What do you feel like was your strength in terms of out on the floor? What could you teach pretty well right from the beginning?

[00:24:02] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I felt like player development, right? Working individual, With the guys was a strength of mine I was pretty obviously I just come out of college.

I’ve just been playing. I could still get out there and move a little bit and I had the energy and love to do it. And I just felt like, my strength was my ability to connect with the players one on one. and be available to them, right? Like that’s sometimes that’s the biggest strength you can have is be available with your time and your energy, and your emotion, right?

And so I was always one call, one text away from being on the court with the guys and I think they appreciated that. And so, I was fortunate to be able to really do a lot of the player development at my time in Princeton and starting in year one. And so I thought that’s really where. at first I could add the most value.

[00:24:59] Mike Klinzing: How did you guys design what player development looked like for each guy? What was the process for putting it together? Okay, here’s this guy’s program. Here’s what he needs to work on. How did you guys go about designing those player development regimes that you had for each guy?

[00:25:15] Skye Ettin: Yeah. Princeton is known for development, right?

It has been for 50 years, right? Going back to Coach Carrill of like, guys improving, guys getting better. What do you see, right? And so, Mitch Henderson is of that tree and that family. And so, we met and talked about every guy and what they needed to improve on it. And I think the beauty of Princeton is it gives you some ability to be creative.

And to do some different things and coach was great at not putting anyone in a box, and giving guys freedom to try and do different things. And, so for us, we would talk and meet about the individual guys and focus on what they needed to improve on. And then as you got in the season, it was watching the film.

What kind of shots do they get? What areas are they struggling? what areas do they really need to improve? where are they on the court and the offense and really trying to design during the season, the player development based on where they would be, in games. Right. And so, We would try to be really efficient.

We would get in 20, 30 minutes during the day and really get in a lot of shots and focus then on what they needed to focus on, before practice and be efficient with their time.

[00:26:37] Mike Klinzing: Was a lot of the player development we were talking about working with individual guys. Would you do that pre practice mostly with guys?

So you’re saying like the 20 minutes leading into practice, you’re working with individual players. Is that mostly how you guys were doing it during, obviously during the season, out of season, completely different animal, but during the season, is that how you were doing it?

[00:26:54] Skye Ettin: Yeah, it was Princeton is you have so many different requirements, obviously, academically that you really have to be flexible. So it was really building a schedule with the guys on what worked best for them. Some guys were morning guys and they wanted to be in the gym at 8am. Some guys wanted to work out after practice. Some guys wanted to work out right before practice. Some guys at lunch. So it was really developing a schedule for each guy based on their class schedule and what fit with them and then just getting in the gym with them and coordinating, with the rest of the staff on what worked. And, but we tried to it’s no secret, the best players, in the program were the ones that were in the gym the most, right?

Like it’s, it’s no secret anywhere, as you know, so, those guys always came around and would always find time to each day get a workout in.

[00:27:49] Mike Klinzing: That’s a great answer, Scott. It’s hilarious because, so, the episode that we just recorded before this tonight, we were speaking with Kevin Hopkins, who’s the head coach at Muhlenberg, Division 3 school, and one of the questions I asked him was, because we were talking a little bit about recruiting, and I asked him, well, when you’re trying to recruit, what are the things that you’re looking at that you’re trying to figure out?

Okay, is this kid going to be able to have success? And not so much basketball skill, but just when you think about what’s going to make a guy play? And of course his answer was it depends and every guy’s different. And sometimes you get it right. Sometimes you get it wrong. And so then I flipped the question.

I said, okay, if you could look back at the guys who have been through your program or guys that you’ve coached when you were at Amherst as an assistant, who are the guys who have had success? And his answer was the exact same answer that you just gave, which again, is no surprise to anybody who knows the game, but the fact that I think it speaks to what you just said, which is.

That’s transferable across any level of basketball. You look at it and you say, okay, who are the players who are the best players who ends up having the most success? It’s the guys who spend the time in the gym, who are dedicated, who understand what it is that they’re supposed to be working on. And they’re focused and they’re intentional about what they do.

I mean, ultimately, those are the guys that I don’t care what level you’re at. You can talk NBA, you can talk Division 1, you can talk Division 3, you can talk high school basketball. The players who are in the gym are the ones who are going to get better. That’s ultimately, I think, right? If you’re a coach and you could project…

In the recruiting process, which kids are going to be the ones who are going to put the extra time in? I think if you could let a coach pick, wave a magic wand and say, Okay, if I could know one thing about this guy, I think that’s the thing that I’d want to know about players. Are they going to be in the gym?

And if they’re going to be in the gym, then they’re going to develop and get to the maxim of their ability, whatever that is.

[00:29:43] Skye Ettin: For sure. Coach Henderson used to say this all the time is I’ve never seen anyone who was always in the gym, not improve. Right, there’s no secret, like you said, at any level, like you put the time in, you put the work in, you’re going to get better, you’re absolutely right about that.

[00:30:04] Mike Klinzing: All right. So as you’re going through your time there with coach Henderson at Princeton, and obviously tremendous academic institutions. So you have that part of it that you’re getting a chance to work with kids who not only are great athletes, but they’re also great students.

You’re getting an opportunity to coach on the floor. You start out as an ops guy, you’re getting tons of experience. As you think about some of the things that you learned over the course of. Your time at Princeton, if you could boil that down to one or two things that you learned as an assistant coach that you feel are the most important to being a successful assistant coach, you’re giving advice to somebody, Hey, here’s the two things that you have to do.

What are the most important things that an assistant in your mind has to do to really be the kind of assistant coach that any head coach would want to have?

[00:30:51] Skye Ettin: Yeah. I think assistant is such an interesting. role because you get to touch so many different parts of the program, right? And, and I think the number one thing is like, you have to support your head coach, right?

And it’s good to have different ideas. You want to have different ideas, but once you’re done meeting about something, whether it’s practice or a recruit, whatever the case is, whatever way the head coach says, you got to be aligned in that, right? And I think that is so valuable is to have a staff that is willing to bring different ideas, but as soon as the decision is made, hey, we’re going to go left, you go left, right? And so, I think the loyalty to that and the understanding of that the program’s got to be aligned and the same message has got to come out on the court. I think that’s the number one role for an assistant coach is to echo the message of the head coach.

I think that’s so valuable and I think that’s what creates tight knit groups. and the second part is… I think like for example, when I was ops, there’s very clear things that you have to do. Hey, I have to make sure. The flights are on time. I got to make sure the bus on time. I got to make sure the food’s here.

I got to make sure this like you can make a checklist of things per se, right? Of things that you tangible things you have to get done as an assistant coach. You have to really be thoughtful in that. Like you, no one’s telling you, you got to make X amount of calls to recruits. No one’s telling you, you got to watch this film or how many exact games you got to watch or you know what I mean?

So I think having that drive and ability to stay organized. As an assistant in terms of, okay, Hey, today, I want to make sure I chopped this off my to do list of I got to call these recruits. I need to manage, how I’m preparing for my next scout. I have to manage the player development and really organizing yourself, in terms of the overall responsibilities you have, I think is so important to be a successful assistant coach because there’s a lot right.

And it can be overwhelming. And if you don’t have a clear vision of What you want to get done and how you want to get done. I think you can get lost in that. so I would say those two things in my experience are the two most valuable things for assistant coaches is echoing the message of the head coach and then being organized and thoughtful in your approach to your responsibilities.

[00:33:22] Mike Klinzing: Similar to a player, right? Coaches time in and stay organized and have a clear vision of what they want to do. Those are the coaches who end up being successful because you’re, you’re putting that time and you’re doing what’s necessary in order to, as you said, be able to support your head coach. I think it’s really interesting.

Obviously there’s a lot of guys that talk about that same thing that you mentioned. Clearly it’s a theme with assistant coaches that you have to be able to be supportive of your head coach and you want to have those discussions, those disagreements behind closed doors. Sure. As soon as that, as soon as that door opens up, boom, we’re all on the same page because if you’re not sure if, if one coach on the staff is saying, well I really this is what we’re doing, but you know, not really sure that that’s as soon as you start hearing that things, things go south, things go south in a hurry when you get in situations like that, as, as we all know.

All right, so next thing, let me ask you about recruiting and sort of your approach To recruiting. And obviously we’ll talk about UC Santa Barbara, but we also want to talk about Princeton. But when you think about evaluating a player. And you’re looking for, is this player going to be a good fit for our program?

Where do you start when you’re looking at a recruit? What’s the first thing that you look at? Is the first thing obviously the kid has to have the talent to be able to play there and then you start getting into things that are maybe more subjective. Does this guy fit what my head coach is looking for?

Is he a positional need? Intangible? Just what’s the process that you look for as you start to narrow down trying to find the right guy for your institution?

[00:35:04] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I think first the two places I’ve been, Princeton and now UC Santa Barbara, obviously are both really good academic schools. So the first thing is making sure they can get in, right?

So that’s looking at transcripts, gathering transcripts, and really trying to understand their academic profile. and then the next thing is understanding the culture, the need, and the style of play, right? Like each team is different and so that contributes to how you recruit.

Like certainly at Princeton, we really value skill and IQ. And so you had to look for that, like you had to have that to be able to play for us. Here at Santa Barbara, we’re similar and we really do value shooting. And but we also value athleticism and toughness. And so I think each program is a little bit different.

And so you have to really know what your boss is looking for. You have to know what your roster needs. And you have to really. be mindful and thoughtful in that process.

[00:36:16] Mike Klinzing: Do you have a preference of watching a kid in their AAU environment versus their high school environment? Does it matter? Are you looking for the same things, different things?

How do you evaluate a kid AAU versus high school?

[00:36:31] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I’d be honest. I like to see them in both. places because I think it shows something different, right? Obviously, in AAU, most of the time, there’s more talent on the court together, right? You’re playing against more talent. Your team has more talent.

You’re going to have a little bit of a different role. High school. You might be the guy, right? You might not have as much talent on your team. You might not be going against as much talent, but you have a different role. And I want to see you in both roles and how you contribute and find value in both those roles.

I really like the evaluating process is seeing them in both because I think it gives you a holistic view of that prospect.

[00:37:15] Mike Klinzing: How do you define, you talked about it earlier, basketball IQ, everybody kind of has a different idea in their mind of what that means. When you say basketball IQ, what are you looking for?

What does that look like to you when a player has a high basketball IQ?

[00:37:29] Skye Ettin: I think basketball IQ and sometimes passing. are very similar, but also a little bit different, right? I think passing is a big part of IQ in a sense of being able to see the floor, being able to understand, make the right play in the right moment, understanding, the time and the game and the situation, but also it’s defensive IQ, understanding how to communicate on the court, understanding where you should be on the court in help side defense, how you should guard your man. What’s your the guy you guarding is he someone that makes a lot of shots? Has he just made? Is he someone that’s getting to the rim? Like understanding those moments, I think encompasses all of basketball IQ.

So it’s really watching the kid and seeing if they see those things, right. And they’re trying to actively do those things and be consistent in those things, I think is a big part of IQ, but it’s a lot of making the right plays, trying to make the right plays. You don’t always make them, but is the kid trying to make the right plays?

So I try to watch really closely and see what they see, see when they don’t have the ball in their hands. Are they moving? Are they spaced? Are they cutting? or are they just standing? Are they lost? Right? And so, I think IQ tells you a lot about how the kid will impact the game when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands.

[00:38:57] Mike Klinzing: How do you develop that in a player? As a coach, if you’re trying to help your team and your individual players develop their IQ, obviously in a player development setting, you’re working on their individual basketball skills, but how do you work on a player’s basketball IQ? What’s some thoughts you have there?

[00:39:15] Skye Ettin: I think that’s the million dollar question. It may be the hardest thing, to do, right? Like, I really do think… Some of that is innate, right? I think it’s proven, hey, you can help a kid improve shooting. Hey, you can help a kid improve around the rim and finishing. Hey, you can help a kid understand maybe some things on defense.

But I really do think sometimes basketball IQ is hard to teach, but the best way to do it is through experience. It’s through video, right? It’s constant coaching. Like, I do think that the coaching aspect is and where we come in the most is, helping kids understand the game and understand, especially at the college level, understand, coverages and understand how you play help side, how you play, how you talk to a teammate, how you talk on defense, the communication, the language. I think that’s a big role that we play in their development and understanding spacing and timing on offense. So, I really think it’s video. We film at Santa Barbara every practice, obviously every game.

We watch constant video, individual video, team video. so I think video really reinforces helping kids learn and see it and make corrections. When you’re

[00:40:40] Mike Klinzing: When you’re looking at video with your guys, how do you balance out showing them things that they’ve done well? And that they’re doing correctly that you want them to repeat versus things that they’ve done incorrectly that you want to see them fixed.

Are you intentional about thinking about the balance between showing the positive and showing the negative and then how do you approach each one of those?

[00:41:04] Skye Ettin: Definitely, definitely. I think it’s so important to also show you can’t just show all negative, all corrections, right? Like at some point, I think the kid then tunes out and gets discouraged. and it’s a huge part. You show positives like kids learning. Like, oh wait, I need to do more of that. Like, I just sprinted the floor really hard and look what happened. I got a wide open layup or look what happened. I got a teammate open, right? And so I think you got to in video be encouraging.

So for me, it’s I try to show the positive things and then I really try to focus on what I think they really need to improve in. In that day, right? I don’t try to hit them with everything they did wrong in a practice or every maybe mistake they made. I really try to focus on the big themes of, hey, where I think they can improve.

Hey. You know, here you weren’t understanding that you had to be in this position defensively. Like you were never getting in the gaps. You weren’t in the help. This is how you move into the gaps whatever the case may be. I try to focus on a big theme and show that and be less about mistakes and be more about, Hey, this is where once you understand this, look how much better you’re going to be in these moments. Right? and include obviously the positive stuff in that as well.

[00:42:16] Mike Klinzing: When do you guys use film? Are you going to be using it before practice? Like if you’re going to have an individual meeting with the player, is that something that you’re doing right before practice?

Is that something where they’re coming in in between classes to spend 10 or 15 minutes going through the film, just from an individual standpoint? Then we can talk about the team standpoint, but individually, when do you meet with guys? to go over their film on a one on one basis.

[00:42:39] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I try to grab them throughout the day maybe if they’re going to come in for a skills workout at 10 or whatever the case may be based on their class schedule I’ll have them come in 15 minutes earlier so that I can show them,  10 to 12 clips of things they need to see, and then we’ll get on the court.

So I try to grab them before practice so that then they can incorporate those things into the next practice, as best I can.

[00:43:06] Mike Klinzing: All right, then from a team standpoint, are you guys watching film as a team before practice? What did it look like at Princeton and what do you think it’s going to look like at Santa Barbara?

[00:43:16] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I think similar in regards at Princeton we showed we would show 15 minutes, 20 minutes depending on the day, before every practice, right? Of every practice or when you get in the season of games, and I think we’re similar here at Santa Barbara where we’re going to show team film right before practice, 15 minutes.

And it’s big themes of where we need to really focus on for the upcoming practice. So, it’s all, it’s the full team together right before practice, right before you get out there, is when in both at Princeton and here now at Santa Barbara where we’ll show film.

[00:43:53] Mike Klinzing: When you started at Princeton, were you guys filming practices from day one when you first got there?

[00:43:58] Skye Ettin: Yeah, we were. We were. It changed over my time. It went from a manager to something I had to do it when I was ops to now having a fully automated, video system, which makes everyone a little bit better. Right. So, it changed, but we did film every practice.

[00:44:17] Mike Klinzing: Being able to film practice, I have to imagine just is such a valuable tool when it comes to being able to teach your individual players and also from a team standpoint, being able to go back and look and evaluate as a coaching staff, thinking about is what we think we saw is that what we actually saw.

So tell me a little bit about what you as a coaching staff when you’re watching the practice together What are some of the key things that you’re trying to zero in on if there’s anything that? Sort of is an overriding theme obviously day to day you might be looking for different things, but just in general What are some of the things that you look for in a practice film?

[00:44:57] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I mean the film is so good you know that they have the saying third eye in the sky doesn’t lie right and I think that’s so true for players, but also coaches. Like you’re in a game or you’re in practice and you think this action hurts you or you didn’t do this well and you really watch the film and you realize, well, we actually did do this well or this didn’t hurt us as much as you think.

And, so I think it’s really when you watch the film, you really try to refocus on, where you need to improve, right? What were the key things that maybe you didn’t realize during practice, that you need to clean up, or maybe you did realize, right? And you need to show these specific things to the guys.

You have such an advantage by being able to replay and re watch game film and practice film. So I think it’s trying to be… Really detailed in your approach and be really clear, right? You know, as coaches, you watch so much film, but you have to do a great job of managing what you tell your players because at some point it becomes information overload.

Right. So I think Coach Pasternack at Santa Barbara,  he does a really good job in being really concise and really direct and in our film work and not overloading the guys.

[00:46:16] Mike Klinzing: Talk about film work from an assistant coach’s standpoint when you’re scouting. A, obviously you’re trying to help your team win a particular game, but not only that, that’s got to be like just being in a basketball classroom day in and day out when you’re studying opponents and getting a look at.

What they do and how they’re successful and what works for them and what actions do they defend well. And you’re watching so many different opponents that you’re getting a masterclass in basically X’s and O’s. So talk about how valuable that’s been for you and your career to, to be responsible for the scouting and then how you’ve incorporated that into your knowledge of the game.

[00:46:53] Skye Ettin: It’s so good. I mean, at this level, every coach that’s made it to this level is a really good coach and runs really good stuff and so by doing scouts, you’re watching depending on what, who the opponent is and if it’s conference or non conference, you’re watching a lot of other teams games, right?

And you’re seeing the progression of how they’ve progressed throughout the year. And what they’re doing and you take things from them that you add to your team or, or how you coach or how you see the game. So, to be honest, like I was similar to you in terms of, I had one high school coach.

I had one college coach. and so I think I just knew what I knew, right? And so all of a sudden you jump into college basketball and then you’re responsible for scouts and you’re watching all these different opponents. And there’s a whole nother side of how teams play offensively and defensively that maybe you didn’t realize, and you have to kind of learn on the fly.

And so it’s been so good for me to learn from other teams and to watch film and to dive into that. And, it’s really been a lot of fun and you’re right. It’s every day. It’s like a class you’re watching, and you’re taking notes, and you’re learning how to execute against really good teams and really good coaches.

[00:48:22] Mike Klinzing: Last year, you guys had a magical run, NCAA tournament, 15 seed, you guys beat a two, beat Arizona, then you go and beat Missouri. What, just tell me a little bit about what that experience was like for you guys as a coaching staff, for your players. And just how special that experience was and, and how that, I’m sure just created bonds that that team is going to be probably connected for the rest of their lives, even deeper than any other team, just because of the special nature of what, what you guys accomplished last year.

[00:48:58] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I mean, it’s cliche, but it’s really hard to put into words. Like it was such a special year in so many ways. I think what people don’t realize, Mike, is that that team had gone through a lot of adversity in a sense of they had a year where they didn’t play because of COVID, right?

The Ivy League was the only league in the country that didn’t play for a whole entire year. So the team had went through,  the sophomores that then on that team were seniors didn’t get a sophomore year, right? And so, they had been through adversity and then the following year we won the regular season but lost in the Championship or the previous year, excuse me. So that team had been through at some adversity that I think tied the group together. And then what they were able to accomplish together as a unit, is something that none of us will ever forget. I mean, me personally just being in that moment and in that stage and being able to do something, I think not only for our program, but for alumni, for fans, for people that have supported us, through so many ways.

Families, is something that you’ll never forget and you’ll always be tied to. And I think that team is going to be coming back for reunions for a long, long time at Princeton, because of what they did and how special of a group. So it’s going to be a lot of fun to reminisce with those guys for the rest of life.

And I’m so lucky to have been a part of it.

[00:50:38] Mike Klinzing: All right. Without giving away your secrets, going into that game as a 15 seed and you’re breaking down the film and you’re looking at Arizona and you’re looking at your team. Are you finding things that. When you’re looking at it, you’re going, okay, I think we could maybe do this, or here’s a spot where we can attack how, and again, I don’t know if confident is the right word.

But did you feel like if things went in your favor, that there was this real solid opportunity? Because I mean, come on, let’s face it. There are times when you go into a game where we’ve all been in those games. And I’m not saying that at Princeton, it happened very often. There have been games in places where you’ve gone in and you’re like, unless this thing goes absolutely perfectly, we don’t feel like we have a realistic shot to win.

So did you guys going into that as you’re scouting Arizona, you’re looking at it. Did you feel like there were things that, hey, if we can exploit this or if we can control that, that there was a pathway. Did you guys see the pathway to winning that game? Realistically, let’s put it that way.

[00:51:40] Skye Ettin: Yeah, nah, I’ll even back it up a second.

So The Ivy League is the last, pretty much the last conference tournament to play. You know, our championship game is on selection Sunday at noon or something along those lines. And selection Sunday is at 6 p. m. And so we beat Yale in the championship. And when you win our league, which is so competitive, that’s the goal is to win the league. You put all the chips in winning the league every year here at Princeton. And so at that point when we get to the selection show at least in my head, I was like, I’ll play anyone. I don’t care who we’re playing.

I’ll play The Lakers, it doesn’t matter at this point. And then all of a sudden you hear your name called against Arizona and the Monstars and, you’re like, okay, what are we going to do now? And, reality kind of checks in quickly. And you realize, you knew how good they were from just their reputation and having to catch a couple of their games and,  as we all started to watch film, I think it was we had a, older group, right, where they had a really mature approach about them and they were really confident.

Right? They knew that they deserved to be in the NCAA Tournament and they knew they deserved to have a chance to advance in it. So, I think as we started to break down film, we knew there were certain things that we had to do really well to be able to have that chance, right? And if we did those things well…

And if we just were able to stay in the game, then anything could happen in March, right? And that is really true and as history would point out, right? And so, I think just watching the film, the biggest things were locking in on what we had to do. Like, we had to sprint back on defense because they are a lead in transition, right?

We had to do a great job on the glass because they were ginormous, right? We had to take care of the ball and we felt as if we did those things. we were a hard matchup for teams as well to prepare for our offense. And, and so if we did those things well, we had a chance against anyone.

But, seeing Arizona, it definitely felt at first, like we were playing the Monstars.

[00:53:59] Mike Klinzing: All right. So you come off that run and I’m assuming that you start looking and thinking about. where you are and what you want to do and what you want to accomplish. And so obviously that’s a magical run in the tournament last year.

And you start looking at your career. You’ve been at Princeton for eight years since you graduated from college. And clearly that’s a time where, man, you just had this. Running the NCAA tournament, what’s the thought process of going to UC Santa Barbara? How do you get out there? What’s the connection? How does that job come across your desk?

What’s the thought process in taking the job and what made the opportunity the right one for you at the right time?

[00:54:43] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I think the last part, it was the right opportunity at the right time. I loved Princeton every moment.  I learned so much and consider Coach Henderson, a mentor of mine.

And, and so, it was a really hard decision, Mike. And, I think for me, the ultimate goal is to be a Division One head coach. That’s the ultimate goal. and so after the season, you always kind of reevaluate, like, are you on that path, right? Are you doing the right things to hopefully, put your, yourself in that position?

And, … I had been at Princeton recruiting a lot of the West Coast, and so had started to build some connections on the West Coast and we had been fortunate to have some success and getting a couple of good players. And, so I just through, through recruiting, I got to know Coach Pasternack, at UC Santa Barbara, who’s done a great job here.

Got to build a relationship with him, throughout the years. Andhe recruited some of our grad transfers, at Princeton and in the Ivy League. So we would talk throughout the year about guys and I’d give him my input on that. And he had a spot come open and to be honest, I wasn’t necessarily looking because of how happy I was at Princeton.

But, when Coach gave me a call and, and told me he had a spot. It was something that I had to really think and, and ultimately evaluate that it was the best decision. I thought for my career to do something different, to do something new, right. And when you’re in the Ivy league, it’s such a unique, obviously you’re dealing without scholarships and you’re not dealing with the transfer portal because no one leaves Ivy League schools, right? And so, I felt like in terms of my overall growth that this was the next step for me to learn to do something a little bit different, right?

Learn from a different head coach and put myself in maybe. of an uncomfortable situation, right? Because I had been in such a good spot for so long. So I just felt the timing made sense for me. but I am so appreciative and so fortunate to have learned from coach Henderson and Brett McConnell and Brian Earl and all those guys that were on staff in my time.

And those will always be great memories and a family. And I’m excited for this, this next journey here.

[00:57:17] Mike Klinzing: What’s been the best part of it so far?

[00:57:18] Skye Ettin: I’ll tell you what, man. Santa Barbara everyone’s been asking, Hey, how’s the adjustment been? And you know, my answer is, well, if you were living in Santa Barbara, you’d understand.

It’s not bad. it’s Santa Barbara’s. Truly amazing. It’s campus is right on the beach, it’s a beautiful area to be in and we’re really fortunate here in terms of a basketball program that Coach Pasternack has built this into a big time program and so the way we operate and do some things I think, are really exciting and we have a really good group. So I’m excited.

[00:58:01] Mike Klinzing: I always say I’ve visited San Diego like four times in my life and I always say I’d love to live in San Diego, but I honestly don’t know if I could ever go to work in San Diego when every day it’s 75 degrees and sunny.  I think I’d have a hard time keeping a job.

[00:58:14] Skye Ettin: It’s amazing. My compromise is I try to walk to work as much as I can to get out, man. But no, it’s amazing.

[00:58:24] Mike Klinzing: I love it. I love it. All right. So biggest, biggest difference between the two schools and you can take that in whatever direction you want.

You can take that basketball, school, geography, just what’s been, I guess your biggest adjustment, the biggest difference between the two, between the two jobs, obviously the Princeton job a lot better because you were there for a lot a lot longer and you’re still getting into the Santa Barbara job, but just what’s been the biggest difference between the two so far.

[00:58:54] Skye Ettin: Yeah, there’s quite a few differences. I think one is I’ll first start with a similarity in terms of I wanted to stay in the academic realm and Santa Barbara is a really good school. Obviously, Princeton’s number one school in the country, but Santa Barbara is a top 25 school in the country. So I think I didn’t get I didn’t stray far away from that, which was really good, and then I think in terms of philosophies, it’s a little bit different from a coaching perspective. I’m fortunate enough where coach Henderson is a disciple of coach Carrill, one of the best coaches all of all time, right. And, coach Pasternack is a disciple of Bobby Knight, one of the best coaches of all time, right.

So I’m learning two different ways from people that have been among the best coaches, in our game. I think the way we play is a little bit different, no better, no worse, but just a little bit different here. And then just the overall, like, at Princeton and in the Ivy League, you’re recruiting a class of five high school kids per year, pretty much, right?

You don’t take transfers. You can’t get transfers in, and so you’re really recruiting high school kids here at Santa Barbara. We’re recruiting high school kids, but we also have some really good transfers on our roster, right? And so, that’s totally different. Just the mindset of how you organize it, a roster. it’s a little bit more tricky, right? It’s pretty cut and dry at Princeton. Hey, you’re losing four seniors. You’re going to bring in four freshmen. Let’s manage the roster. Let’s build a roster this way. obviously you’re working with scholarships and a couple other luxuries that we might not have had at Princeton.

So, just different, right. In terms of how you build a roster, and how you look at a roster, I think.

[01:00:42] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, absolutely. It makes a ton of sense. All right. Let’s wrap this up with a two part question. I think it fits directly here with the timeline. Part one, when you think ahead, you’re in a new position all the way across the country, what’s the biggest challenge that you have ahead of you in the next year or two?

And then number two, when you think about what you get to do every day, talk about what brings you the most joy about coaching college basketball. So your biggest challenge and then your biggest joy.

[01:01:09] Skye Ettin: Yeah, I think that the biggest challenge anytime like. Anywhere you start a new job, it’s figuring out where you can add the most value.

We have a really good staff here at UC Santa Barbara, and obviously coach Pasternack has done an unbelievable job here. So I think the biggest challenge is continuing to figure out where I can help the most, right. And add the most value and whether that’s to the guys on the court or whether that’s to the recruiting aspect or the team aspect and just trying to play my part, right.

And continue to build on. the success that coach has had here. So I think that’s always a challenge is for me, at least I try not to go into anything, with a predetermined mindset. I really try to evaluate. think thoughtfully and, and figure out where I can help the most and support coach the most.

So, I think continuing to learn each and every day, where those values are, is probably, continuous challenge in a good way. And then for me, it’s the guys. It’s the relationship with the guys. It always has been, it always will be for me in terms of what gets me excited.

It’s like how lucky am I that I get to wake up every day and be around the game of basketball with these, these young guys that keep me young. And it’s just the relationships you get to build on and off the court.  The guys I coached at Princeton, I consider family.

I still talk to the current team a ton. and I don’t think that will be any different here at UC Santa Barbara, with the guys that we have on our roster and really building that relationship with them.

[01:02:57] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely. Well said. All right, before we get out, I want to give you a chance to share how people can connect with you, find out more about the program at Santa Barbara.

Share a website, email, social media, whatever you feel comfortable with. And then after you do that, I will jump back in and wrap things up.

[01:03:13] Skye Ettin: Yeah, no, you can follow me on Twitter @SkylarEttin. I try to post as much as I can about Santa Barbara and obviously on our website, at UC Santa Barbara.

You can obviously follow the team and, and our Twitter handle @UCSantaBarbaraMBB. So, Mike, I appreciate you having me, man. I really enjoyed the conversation and I’ve enjoyed being a listener and a fan for a while. So I appreciate you inviting me to be a part of it.

[01:03:46] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, absolutely. We appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to join us tonight. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s always nice to hear kind words from somebody who’s actually out there listening. Like I always say, we know people are listening because we can see the metrics, but it’s always nice to hear an actual voice tell us, Hey, we listen and we find value in it.

So again, we are thrilled to be able to have you on. And it’s an exciting time for you and your career to be able to go from one great program in Princeton on one side of the country and go all the way across to Princeton. the opposite coast and to be able to kind of get a fresh start at Santa Barbara.

And again, we wish you nothing but the best in your quest to help Santa Barbara have a successful season and eventually to reach your goal of becoming a division one head coach. So again, thank you. Truly appreciate it. And to everyone out there, thanks for listening and we will catch you on our next episode.

Thanks.