MATTHEW MALC – YESHIVA OF FLATBUSH (NY) BOYS’ BASKETBALL HEAD COACH – EPISODE 1270

Website – https://www.flatbush.org/athletics/athletic_dept_info

Email – [email protected]

Twitter/X – @Maccabi18UCoach

If you listen to and love the Hoop Heads Podcast, please consider giving us a small tip that will help in our quest to become the #1 basketball coaching podcast.

Matthew Malc is the Boys Varsity Basketball Head Coach at Yeshiva of Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York.  He previously served as an Assistant Coach for the Ranney Panthers, a top-ranked New Jersey high school team that was also ranked #4 in the nation. Matthew has coached over forty Division 1 basketball players with multiple players going on to play in the NBA or professionally overseas. Malc also was the Gold Medal Head Coach of the 2022 U18 U.S. National Team at the Maccabi Games. He began his coaching career under the legendary Morgan Wooten at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Maryland.

On this episode Mike & Matthew discuss why the essence of coaching transcends the mere act of winning games and encompasses the cultivation of character, resilience, and community among young athletes.  Matthew shares anecdotes that illustrate his commitment to developing not only skilled players but also responsible individuals who understand the significance of hard work, collaboration, and personal growth. Malc’s reflections on his experiences, ranging from coaching elite teams to mentoring aspiring athletes, reveal the power of relationships that define his coaching philosophy. Malc believes in the profound impact of basketball as a vehicle for life lessons. to inspire, unite, and transform lives, both on and off the court.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.

Make sure you’re subscribed to the Hoop Heads Pod on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and while you’re there please leave us a 5 star rating and review.  Your ratings help your friends and coaching colleagues find the show. If you really love what you’re hearing recommend the Hoop Heads Pod to someone and get them to join you as a part of Hoop Heads Nation.

Be sure to grab your notebook before you listen to this episode with Matthew Malc, Boys Varsity Basketball Head Coach at Yeshiva of Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York. 

What We Discuss with Matthew Malc

• Utilizing basketball as a platform to impart life lessons to young players
• Overcoming challenges to achieve success in your coaching career
• The transformative power of teamwork
• How collective effort can lead to remarkable achievements both on and off the court
• Developing a familial bond within a team
• The vital role of perseverance and dedication
• Why it is the emotional connection that ultimately drives performance
• Embracing the lessons learned from both victories and defeats
• Why the skills acquired by players extend far beyond the realm of basketball

Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Your first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job.  A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and, most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants.

The key to landing a new coaching job is to demonstrate to the hiring committee your attention to detail, level of preparedness, and your professionalism.  Not only does a coaching portfolio allow you to exhibit these qualities, it also allows you to present your personal philosophies on coaching, leadership, and program development in an organized manner.

The Coaching Portfolio Guide is an instructional, membership-based website that helps you develop a personalized portfolio.  Each section of the portfolio guide provides detailed instructions on how to organize your portfolio in a professional manner.  The guide also provides sample documents for each section of your portfolio that you can copy, modify, and add to your personal portfolio.

Aiming to go D3? The D3 Recruiting Playbook gives you a clear, step-by-step roadmap to the recruiting process – what coaches value, key milestones from early high school through application season, and how to build a target list of schools that fit your needs.

We’ll demystify researching D3 programs and how to stand out without chasing every camp or showcase.

The modules cover things like writing emails to coaches, building an effective highlight tape, using social media well, planning ID camps and visits, and navigating application strategy.

You’ll get templates, checklists, and an outreach plan to communicate confidently, learn how to compare financial packages, and avoid common missteps. By the end, you’ll have a prioritized school list and a decision framework you can use to land your best-fit opportunity.

Give With Hoops is a groundbreaking initiative that fuses basketball analytics with modern sponsorship. Built for teams who see data as opportunity, from AAU programs to college powerhouses.

By tying on-court performance directly to community and sponsor engagement, Give With Hoops help programs raise more while deepening support from those who believe in the game.

Traditional fundraising disconnects donors from the action. Sell candy bars, wash cars, beg for donations, it’s exhausting and ineffective. Players perform better when their stats matter beyond the scoreboard. That’s why Give With Hoops was created.

Give With Hoops connects game performance to community support. Every basket, rebound, and assist becomes a chance to raise funds. Transparent, exciting, and proven to raise 3x more than traditional methods.

THANKS, MATTHEW MALC

If you enjoyed this episode with Matthew Malc let him know by clicking on the link below and thanking him via Twitter/X.

Click here to thank Matthew Malc via Twitter/X

Click here to let Mike & Jason know about your number one takeaway from this episode!

And if you want us to answer your questions on one of our upcoming weekly NBA episodes, drop us a line at [email protected].

TRANSCRIPT FOR MATTHEW MALC – YESHIVA OF FLATBUSH (NY) BOYS’ BASKETBALL HEAD COACH – EPISODE 1270

[00:00:00] Narrator: The Hoop Heads Podcast is brought to you by Head Start Basketball

[00:00:20] Matthew Malc: Why do I see how special you can be, but you don’t? That’s the part I don’t get, and I’m not going to back off. You could quit. You could walk away. That’s fine. But there’s something so special inside of you that you’re going to allow me to get it out of you, or you’re just going to walk. You’re either going to let me break you, or you’re going to let me build you into something as special as can be.

[00:00:40] Mike Klinzing: Matthew Malc is the boys varsity basketball head coach at Yeshiva of Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York. He previously served as the head coach for the Ranney Panthers, a top-ranked New Jersey high school team that was also ranked number four in the nation. Matthew has coached over 40 Division I basketball players with multiple players going on to play in the NBA or professionally overseas.

Malc also was the gold medal head coach of the 2022 U18 US national team at the Maccabi Games. He began his coaching career under the legendary Morgan Wootten at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. Be sure to grab your notebook before you listen to this episode with Matthew Malc, boys varsity basketball head coach at Yeshiva of Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York.

GiveWithHoops is the first platform turning basketball analytics into fundraising impact. Every stat tells a story, and now every story drives sponsorship, engagement, and team growth. Programs nationwide are transforming basketball stats into funding power. Learn to use performance data to attract sponsors, engage fans, and raise more with every play.

GiveWithHoops will help you raise three times more money for your program as their stat-based pledges consistently outperform traditional fundraisers. Visit givewithhoops.com/hoop-heads-podcast to learn more and take your fundraising to the next level. GiveWithHoops.

[00:02:08] Jason Franzen: Hi, this is Jason Franzen from Third Side Basketball Academy, and you’re listening to the Hoop Heads podcast

[00:02:16] Mike Klinzing: Are you or an athlete you know planning to go D3? Check out the D3 Recruiting Playbook from D3 Direct. Their playbook gives you a clear step-by-step roadmap to the recruiting process, what coaches value, key milestones from early high school through application season, and how to build a targeted list of schools that fit your needs.

The playbook demystifies researching D3 programs and how to stand out without chasing every camp or showcase. The modules cover things like writing emails to coaches, building an effective highlight tape, using social media well, planning camps and visits, and navigating application strategy. You’ll get templates, checklists, and an outreach plan to communicate confidently, learn how to compare financial packages, and avoid common missteps.

By the end, you’ll have a prioritized school list and a decision framework you can use to land your best fit opportunity. Click on the link in the show notes to get your D3 Recruiting Playbook from D3 Direct.

Be sure to grab your notebook before you listen to this episode with Matthew Molk, boys varsity

[00:03:19] Matthew Malc: basketball head coach at Yeshiva of Flatbush

[00:03:22] Mike Klinzing: in Brooklyn, New York Hello, and welcome to the HoopHeadz Podcast. It’s Mike Klinzing here without my co-host, Jason Sunkel, tonight. But I am pleased to be joined by Matthew Malc, head boys’ basketball coach at Yeshiva of Flatbush in New York, home of the New York Knicks.

Matthew, welcome to the HoopHeadz Pod.

[00:03:45] Matthew Malc: Mike, thank you. Huge huge honor to be here, and excited to spend some time together tonight.

[00:03:50] Mike Klinzing: We are thrilled to be able to have you on, dive into your basketball life and all the things that you’ve been able to do thus far in your career. But I want to start with something that happened, hasn’t happened in 53 years.

The New York Knicks, NBA world champions. Just go off the cuff. What’s it mean to you? What’s it been like in the city? Just give me your thoughts o- on where you’re at with this whole thing.

[00:04:18] Matthew Malc: There has been a euphoria, I would really say, since Game 3 against Atlanta. There has been a euphoria, there has been a unity.

There has been just an excitement and a buzz from everybody from principals to sanitation workers to police officers. There’s… I’ve not seen this much fist bumping in a long time and tremendous excitement. Just an easy team to fall in love with. A team that unified us, not just by the name on the jersey, but really by the way they played the game, w- by the way they, they’ve treated this entire experience, by the way they’ve represented New Yorkers across the board.

It has been like nothing I’ve ever experienced. A big Giants fan, so I’ve had a few Super Bowls i- in my life. And those were great moments personally ’cause I love the Giants, but I’ve not seen anything unify this city I would honestly say, since kinda post-9/11. It’s just got a euphoria to it a a camaraderie and a oneness that, that has really brought everybody together.

And excited for tomorrow to, to celebrate these guys and everything they’ve accomplished. They’re talking about millions of people coming into the city we’ll see how that goes. But yeah. They’ve just done everything first class. You just couldn’t be more proud of a group of guys and the way they’ve represented the city and really the way they’ve played on the court a- and be- and behaved, I would say, off the court has been special Try to get to the parade?

Are you going to be i- in the, are you going to be in the masses? I don’t know. Me and my wife are still having that discussion. I… My youngest is six. It was really a cool bonding experience for us to watch those games, and thank God school was just kinda wrapping up these last few days, ’cause certainly some late nights, and the nights he did fall asleep, Dad was screaming, “Bang,” every time we hit a big three, and kinda trying to wake him up.

So we’ll see. We’re still debating it. We’ll see. We’re setting the alarms. We’ll make a morning decision.

[00:06:09] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely understand. I’m going to tell you, when the Cavs won the title in 2016 I debated whether or not to go to the parade. And as of the morning of, my family and I, and obviously they were much younger, so I think my oldest at the time was tw- I had a 12, 10, and maybe a seven at the time.

And my wife and I were having the same discussion. Should we go? Should we not go? I don’t know. It seems like it’s going to be a big pain to get down there and park and figure out how to navigate and get to where we want to go and whatever. I was talking to a few of my friends. One was taking the bus and going to park his car and take the bus.

Another one was going to drive. And then I had somebody that got down there and said, “Hey, I parked here. There’s all kinds of open spots. If you want to come down, you can do it.” So literally, I think the parade started at maybe 11:00, and I made a decision to go down there at like 10:20. And we drove, parked the car, and just, again, happened to get a tip from somebody who had already parked in that particular place, walked down to the parade, and it was honestly, Matt, I kid you not, I have never been in a place where there were so many people who were happy and happy with, for each other of all ages, races, religions, backgrounds, everywhere.

It didn’t matter. You were in ti- at times crushed together with people, and it just didn’t… People were just, you’re just high-fiving people, and everybody is smiling. And it was just, it was un, it was unbelievable. It was one of the most unforgettable experiences that I’ve had in my entire life, just to see that many people in one place that happy, and you just never see it.

And I’m so glad I went, and I don’t know if I’m trying to influence you to go or to not go, but man- I have- … I’m telling you, it was an amazing experience to be there and be a part of it, just ’cause again, like you said, capturing that feeling that the entire city felt the pride of winning that title.

And obviously from afar, looking at what’s happened in New York, clearly a similar thing on a much, much larger scale in a much bigger city. And while I just, again, for what that team has done for New York and how much people have gravitated to it. Now I think that’s the next stage of the question here is- What do you think happened that transformed them from the team that they had been up until that point, which you saw flashes of the magic of basketball, right?

The willingness to share the ball, the unselfishness in terms of roles and not caring who did what, and guys stepping up if one guy has maybe an off night, somebody else is suddenly there to pick up the, pick it up. How, what, what happened? What do you think, how do, what do you attribute just the change and how they became this magical group that just, it seemed like at every turn they rose to every single challenge that was thrown in front of them?

I’m

[00:09:28] Matthew Malc: going to, I’m going to start by answering that as a coach, and what that team has meant and how it’s made, I think, all of our jobs, especially in the New York City ar- e- area, that much easier. I can’t tell you, even just from the press that they’ve been doing the last few days, how many clips I’ve taken off of different things and sent to my team, sent to my staff at Flatbush.

I think the one that I sent to everybody, I sent it to parents, and I said, this is the message,” was they asked Jaylen “What was the moment? What was the moment in the finals where you just knew that this team was ready to accomplish it all?” And obviously him and Josh go back and forth a lot.

And he said, “When Josh missed the layup.” And everybody starts laughing. He’s no.” He’s I know I bust his chops a lot. I don’t mean the missed layup. I mean that when me,” and I think it was OG, “went over to him and picked him up and said, ‘Enough. Get up and get to the next play.'”

And I think even at that level, there’s so many different things. Everything about this team was done right. I would assume Leon Rose is a mastermind o- of what he’s put together, but he put together a group of guys that weren’t just NBA players. I… for many years, I didn’t turn on the NBA much.

It just didn’t appeal to me. It, I didn’t– There was no defense. There… it was none of what we saw these last few, last month and a half. I watched a lot of college, and I flipped with this team because of the way that they’ve approached everything. Every one of my teams at the start of the year, I say there, there’s going to be one thing that’s going to be the most important of everything, talent, plays, lo- all these things.

There’s only one thing to me that matters at the end of the day. The team that becomes more than a team and becomes a family is the team and family that’s going to go the furthest and accomplish the most. Family and all that, to me, is far more important than just talent, and I felt like that’s what these guys embody.

Nothing was going to derail them. The sky was falling. In New York, everything is bigger. So you know, when you said your story about a 10:20 heading down, they’re checking IDs at 5:00 in the morning of everybody tomorrow. So I don’t know if it’ll be that easy for me. But this group, very much so became a family.

And whe- when they went down and lost those two games by a combined two points, by the way let’s not overreact the sky was falling. They were done. They’re garbage. Trade Kat. Why didn’t we get Giannis? Why didn’t we f- why did we fi- hire Mike Brown? Let’s fire him. Leon And they just blocked out the noise.

And it was never ever about the noise, it was about just sticking to what these guys ha- have been about. I think ultimately, to answer your question, they fell back on their training. I’m a huge Kobe Bryant fan. I think everything Kobe talked about, there was never pressure, there was never nerves.

Because if you fall back to your level of training, if you fall back to the work that you’ve put in, you’re prepared for everything. The ball sometimes goes in, sometimes it doesn’t. You really c- nobody wants to miss a shot. That’s just the real- Josh didn’t want to miss that layup. But it’s how you respond, it’s how you get back up, it’s how you react, it’s how you pick up your teammates.

And I think for me, th- that’s what this team em- e- embodied. And they could win 10 more in a row, I’m just jo- saying, nothing will compare to what this group did together. Because from the role players, Alvarado, you don’t win without Alvarado coming in game four and doing what he does.

Shamet at times, phenomenal. Mitch with a big play here and there. Everybody owned their role. Everything that I preach to my kids, to my program, to my coaches, these guys just did it. And I give Mike Brown a ton of credit. I give everyone. There, there’s nobody in that organization that I don’t give a tremendous amount of credit to because it was just special.

I wonder, because I’m a New York guy, is it that special to the rest of the world or is it just that special to us? I don’t know. But for me I’ll never forget this run. I will never forget how I felt game to game, moment to moment. And just really proud or, of them and thankful as a coach that everything we preach has been backed up by their heroes, by our heroes.

It’s been very special

[00:13:35] Mike Klinzing: I think that they epitomized what it means to be a team, and they also captured what I always say, the secret to playing great basketball and being a great team. It’s not hard in terms of understanding what that has to be. It’s hard to execute that. It’s hard to get 12 players or 10 players or however many players you have on your team to buy into those things, to not care who scores, to completely accept whatever your role is and try to excel in that role.

Like you talked about Alvarado, scores those five points in game four. Without that, who knows what happens in the series? And man, does he want to be a starting point guard in the NBA? I bet he does. But in th- in those moments he bought into, “This is what I have to do to help this team win.” And every single guy, you made a great point, every single guy on that team just did what it took to be able to win, to pick somebody else up.

And in all honesty As a Cavs fan, watching them play against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, and obviously the Cavs fell victim to the same thing that the Celtics fell victim to last year and that the Spurs fell victim to this year in the finals of the huge comeback. And it speaks to, again, just the belief that team had in themselves, and there was a part of me that kept waiting for, all right, when is OG’s shooting going to regress to the mean?

When is Bridges going to cool off and not shoot 70% against the Cavs? Shamet’s going to go 12 for 13 from three, and there’s a part of you that just keeps feeling like, all right, when are these guys going to kinda come back to earth? And the reality is that at times they did. Maybe not Anunoby, but Bridges came back- Yeah

to a little bit.

[00:15:31] Matthew Malc: Landry did.

[00:15:31] Mike Klinzing: Shamet. They all

[00:15:32] Matthew Malc: did.

[00:15:32] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, Shamet didn’t always shoot the ball well. Brunson was, again, fantastic in game five, but his shooting percentage in the first few games wasn’t probably up to par where he had been before, but every single guy found a way to pick each other up. And so I just think if you share the ball and you accept your role and you just are willing to compete, and the fact that you can be down 29 in a finals game and it’s not over, and you just keep competing and keep competing, there’s so many lessons, again, for you as a high school coach.

What a great lesson to be able to share with your kids who watched that whole entire run and be like, “Look, things can be pretty grim looking, and if we just stick to the script and do what we’re supposed to do and we believe in each other and we keep doing those things.” There’s just, as you said, so many messages, so many, I’m sure, quotes from interviews, just clips from the whole series play.

It’s just, it’s unbelievable, again, what a coaching clinic their run to this championship turned out to be. And again, I would have to think that even the most optimistic Knicks fan back at the beginning of the playoffs didn’t see. You might’ve thought, hey, they got a chance to win it, but nobody saw that nobody saw this type of team coming together the way that they did.

And again, I’ve had moments to reflect and, I was kinda rooting for the Spurs just because the Knicks had beaten the Cavs, but after having had a couple days to reflect on it- The Knicks were just incredible, and they were an incredible story for the game of basketball. Forget about for themselves, for the city, for whatever.

They were just an incredible story for the game of basketball.

[00:17:11] Matthew Malc: Yeah. I I couldn’t agree more. And as you’re talking, I’m look- I’m, like, I’m listening and I’m thinking, and I think about the impact that Thibodeau to Mike Brown had on me as a coach because I don’t think you accomplish what you do without that tandem I look at my program, I’m in year I just finished year three.

I guess we’ll talk about that more a little later. But it’s a, it- it’s led with love. We coach them hard, we love them harder. And I think that’s what you saw with these Knicks. You needed Thibodeau to come in there and rule with an iron fist to, to set a tone for how things were going to go.

Now, his shortcomings were he just didn’t listen to the guys. And I think Mike Brown took a team that was already disciplined enough to make this run, but then he trust… Listen, if Thibodeau’s coaching him last year, is Alvarado getting his chance? Is Dubs playing? Is Mitch is Shamet is Clarkson?

They’re just not… The N- the Knicks were playing guys that I’m like, “What?” “What, what’s happening right now?” But I really truly believe that Thibodeau earns his flowers there, too. Because Mike Brown inherited obviously an incredibly talented roster, but I already told you, talent alone I don’t think does it.

He inherited a group that was disciplined enough to do it the right way, that bought into a way, and then when these other pieces got their opportunities, they didn’t have to own, they didn’t have to own 30 minutes of great play. They needed to own those two or three minutes of great basketball. It was the perfect run.

And it truly was. They were healthy. They were they loved one another. They’re the best of friends. And I’ll be curious to see what happens with a guy like Alvarado. Yeah he’s going to have a chance to go somewhere. You mentioned Alvarado and the five points he scored. I think even bigger than that, when he was battling Wemby the way he was batt- throwing him, stepping over him, taking elbows that’s just bring it.

That’s who we are. If you want a piece of us this is what you’re going to have to beat to, to knock us off. And I’d be curious to see what happens. Nobody wants the run to end, but guys got families and they want to ha- take care of generations of family, so I’m sure he’ll do what’s best for him and his family, and who could blame him?

But yeah. I just loved every part of it. I loved the journey. Last year, heartbreak. I think you need heartbreak at times to understand what it really takes to win it. I’m afraid of what the Spurs and Wemby are going to be because they have felt that pain. They were humiliated. They talked a lot and ultimately couldn’t back it up.

I think it was just the perfect storm. And I, I heard… N- not a gambling guy, but I heard they’re already the fourth or fifth team next year to be picked. It’s if you want to bet against them, go ahead. They’re just, they’re very special. Back to the initial, for the city, for myself personally, for my program, for my kids, for my community it just was the most magical thing and excited to, for them tomorrow and and then, happy for them to get a little time away from it and enjoy their families.

[00:20:10] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely. I do think that it transcends just a normal NBA championship. First of all, just New York itself and the city and all the things that go along with that and the 53 years. But I do think just the way that they played and the run they went on, and the way that guys just stepped up into whatever voids existed, there was always somebody there to fill those voids and fill those roles, and that’s what great teams do.

And man, they did it. And I think you hit it r- right on the head when you said there was just a ton of things that you can pull as a coach that you can use moving forward, and especially being in New York yourself, where your players, both that you have currently and probably players that are going to be on your roster five, six, seven years from now, are going to remember what this looked like, what this felt like.

And so when you reference it They’re going to be able to go back in their mind and say, “Oh yeah, I remember that,” and now suddenly those lessons become a lot more real, and I just… Again, having a couple days to reflect on the whole thing, they just, they found it. They found the magic. Whatever it was, however they did it, they found it, and as a collective group, they bought into it, and the results showed for themselves the way that they were able to go through and just have ultimate belief in thems- theirself.

No matter how much they got down, no matter how much they got up, they were just, “We’re just going to keep going metronome, metronome style. Boom boom. We’re just going to keep going after you.” And phew. Largest point differential ever in the NBA playoffs. Again, no- nobody saw it coming. Matthew, if you do make it to the parade tomorrow, have fun and stay safe, and if you watch it on TV you’re just going to see the joy.

And I still, like I said, I remember the Cavs parade in 2016. It’s one of the things that, you know, again, as somebody who has… That’s the only championship I’ve seen in Cleveland in any sport, so I didn’t know if I was ever going to get one in my life. And the fact that I got one and got a chance to be a part of that and just see the joy on people’s faces was, it was an incredible memory, and it’s one that I’ll, one that I’ll never forget.

So kudos to the Knicks, kudos to the city of New York, kudos to you as a Knicks fan. And again, what a magical ride for everybody involved in it. And again, a lot of fun to watch, even though, like I said, I was kinda rooting for the Spurs, but just after a couple days to reflect, hard to feel bad that that the, that it was the Knicks, and the way, their style of basketball, I think, was great for the game.

And just again, what a run. It was incredible. So all right, let’s leave the Knicks behind. As much as it’s fun, we could probably t- we could probably talk for the next three hours about

[00:22:55] Matthew Malc: it. Hey, I’m ready. Let’s keep going.

[00:22:56] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, and not even wor- not even worry about it, and probably keep you just as happy.

But let’s let’s shift over to your basketball journey. Take me back in time to when you were a kid. Tell me about your introduction to the game. What do you remember about some of your first experiences with it?

[00:23:12] Matthew Malc: I’m going to tie back into the Knicks for a moment surprisingly. I grew up in a small town in northwest New Jersey, Sparta, New Jersey.

Tiny little town a suburb about an hour or so outside of New York City. But we had legends. We had basketball guys in our town. And the biggest of them all was associate head coach of the New York Knicks, Chris Jen. Chris is a few years older than me. So I was at that age where you’re at that age where you’re kinda late middle school, and the guys on the varsity are literally heroes.

They, they are Maybe not Jalen, but like in your little world in Sparta, which is pretty far removed from New York City, these are the guys. He went on to play at Ohio State and had a short run with the Knicks and the Rockets and, so I just loved the game. My parents would take me to the games i- in our local high school.

But I’m not the biggest guy. I’m 5’5″, 5’6″ on a good day. I, I loved the message of the game. For me I tell people I, I like basketball. I love the platform it gives me to deliver a message about life and beyond what’s going on the court. So very quickly I realized while I played in recreation leagues and things like that, that I wanted to be a coach.

And it started for me my very first year. I was a freshman in high school. The town was short on recreation league coaches. I had played through it coming up, and I was named one of the head coaches. And who was my biggest opposition? My father a- and my younger brother who ultimately we met in the championship.

But there was their little caveat, y- you were allowed to have an assistant coach, and that kid would automatically be on your team, and there was a draft. So I found the best team. I asked his mom if she wanted to be my assistant, and and we had a heck of a team. My very first year of coaching, I was a head coach.

I was a freshman coaching eighth graders and ended up in the championship game, like I said, against my father and my brother who played and we ultimately won and that just sparked something into me that was, that was– You weren’t going to turn it off. It became a love at the highest degree.

I was very fortunate that in high school, John Deeb, who also was a teammate of Chris Gent was the head coach of Sparta High School. Dennis Tobin was his coach. He was a legendary coach up in Sussex County. John asked me if I wanted to be a part of his staff. He got permission from the state.

I was the first ever high school student to be a varsity coach. So I got to be around the guys and be around the coaches. I was constantly– Too much, though. If you check my h- high school transcripts I was constantly picking Coach Deeb’s, mind as to how to get better, what are we running, a- and just bringing anything I could to it.

And really from there a- after graduating Sparta High School my first year of college, I went to Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania coached under Pennsylvania Hall of Famer Charlie Chronister. I really went on as a team manager but after a few weeks they said, “Do you want to be a student assistant?”

I got to be a part of all the meetings got to, go on the road, do everything with the team, and it was an incredible experience. Rich Mills was a guy that I coached with and took me under his wing. We did recruiting, just all these things that as a freshman in high school you just don’t get to do, and it was a part of the PSAC Division II very competitive basketball in Pennsylvania.

Got to be around great players. We had an ultra-competitive team and it was really– it just took my love to a whole ‘nother level. It was like, “There’s nothing else I want to do right now other than coach basketball.” So at the end of the season, Coach Chronister brought me into his office and and just said, “Coach, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

And and I said, “Coach I just– I want to coach. This is what I want. There’s nothing else I want. There’s nothing.” My, my dad was a financial advisor. There was always the plan I was going to go into to his business and take over for him at some point. But there was just a fire burning inside me that I wanted to learn as much as I could.

I was willing to do whatever it took. And Coach Chronister said, “Here’s a list of schools that, that I could help you get into. I have contacts.” So at the time it was UConn, it was Syracuse, it was UMass it was Maryland. Those are the four. So my parents, they’ve supported me every step of the way and they said, “Let’s go.

We’ll take two weekends, we’ll go visit everything and we’ll find, if any of these are the right fit for you.” I saw a bunch of them but one day it was a Sunday afternoon, my mother and I took a ride down to University of Maryland. It happened to be Maryland Day which is a big celebration on campus.

It was like a seventy-five degree day. And I had walked into Colefield House and, that was that. It was home. It was the most comfortable I’ve ever been in a anywhere. I just… I remember the feeling like it was yesterday walking into Cole. And I just looked at my mom and I just said, this is it.

This is where I want to be.” Went back to Coach Chronister. He made some calls. He was friendly with Coach Gary Williams, and they said, “You could come on as a mer- as a manager.” And I said, “That’s all I want. Just open the door a little bit for me and I’ll do what I do and I’m going to try to kick that door in as hard as I can and use this as my springboard to bigger and better and things like that.”

At the end of my freshman year, I transferred down to the University of Maryland. I had met with them numerous times over the summer. So I was all set, got a place off campus ’cause as a sophomore they didn’t take fresh- sophomores on campus. Found a roommate. I was all set. I start the semester and all of a sudden I’m starting to see signs for Midnight Madness that– which was a huge thing back, when I was in college.

And starting to wonder “If I’m a manager for the team, shouldn’t I know something about this? Why am I seeing this on a poster?” So I went into the ops guy’s office and, he had, he acted as if he had never seen me before in his life. It was really– it was one of those moments you have a few moments in life that you’ll never forget that, that bring you to a true crossroads.

So I went back to my apartment and I– there was just tears. It was like I gave up, I don’t want to say everything and be dramatic. I’m a father of four now, so there, there’s bigger things in the world. But in that moment, as a nineteen, twenty-year-old that had made this move to Maryland th-this was everything.

And to this day, I never understood what happened. I wasn’t going to waste a whole lot of time thinking about it. I was going to figure out quickly my next move. I let myself cry it out for a few hours, and then I picked myself up and I said, “How are we going to pivot?” So I started with other universities.

I called Georgetown, George Washington for American and all of them said the same thing. “We’re sorry, but you don’t go to school here, so there’s no option for you.” And I’m like, “That, that makes sense.” Mom and dad were not letting me transfer for a second time. There was no portal, and I wasn’t worth a darn to anybody, so that wasn’t happening.

So I started calling local high schools. And I called numerous high schools, either didn’t get anybody or just was told no. And I ended up speaking to a coach down in Maryland and got him on the phone, shared with him my whole story, and he said I would love to help you. But I just got the job.

One of the promises was I was keeping the staff intact. I just can’t ruffle feathers right now. So u-unfortunately, I can’t help you. But what I can tell you is this: in three weeks from now, DeMatha is hosting a coaches clinic. Go buy yourself a ticket, show up, intro– meet people. There’ll be hundreds of coaches there.

You’ll land on your feet. You’ll find something.” So as he’s telling me this, I said, wait, DeMatha?” And he said, “Yeah.” Now, there was two high schools I knew growing up, DeMatha and Dunbar. I heard about them forever. So I said, “DeMatha? Wh-where is DeMatha?” He goes, “Where do you live?” And I told him. He goes, “About a mile and a half down Route One, you’ll run into DeMatha.”

I had no idea. So that was my moment. I knew in that moment that everything was leading me to DeMatha. I just had to figure out how to get there So I I picked up the phone, I left a message for… I called Coach Wooten and I left him a voicemail. And I don’t know what I said to this day. I have no idea.

I know it involved I’ll clean towels, I’ll park your car. I j- I just need to be around it. L- I just need to learn. So that was that. I left a message. Nothing came of it. Three weeks later come, and my uncle had flown in from California and I don’t see him that often. It was once a year, once every other year, if that, so it was a big deal to see my uncle, so I was going to drive home and spend the weekend at home.

And I’d just met a girl, and I tell you that because as I get in my car, this is pre-cellphones by a few… a year or so, 2020. Or I meant 2000. Not 2020. My college roommate comes running out the door, and I’m pulling away, and he knocks on the door. He goes, “You have a call.” I said, “Man, just tell her I’ll call her when I get to Jersey.

I have to go for the weekend.” ‘Cause she was bothered. “Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go.” He goes, “It’s not your… It’s not her.” I said, “Who is it?” He goes, “Some guy named Mike Jones from DeMatha.” So I immediately pull back in the spot. I run into the apartment. And he goes, “Look, I don’t know what you said to Coach, but he told me to reach out to you.

There’s a coaches clinic this weekend. He’d like to invite you as his guest The coaches clinic was literally across the street. Literally across Route 1. I could throw a rock from my balcony and hit the coaches clinic. So everything is matching up now. I go to the coaches clinic I meet coach just for a moment.

I get to spend the whole weekend learning from, the Krzyzewski, Izzo. The biggest names are at this clinic. At the end of the weekend, Mike grabs me and he goes, on Tuesday we’re going to have an open gym. He’d li- coach would like you to come to open gym.” I said, “Okay.” So I show back up that Tuesday at DeMatha, and Mike meets me at the door, brings me in and he says, “Look, Matt, you have to understand, there, there’s hundreds of coaches this past weekend at the clinic.

Coach is getting a little older there’s a good chance he’s not going to remember you. Don’t take it personal.” I said, “Absolutely.” Walks me into the gym. Coach Wootten’s standing right there, puts his arm around me and says, “Matt, did you enjoy the clinic this weekend?” I said, “Coach, I did.” Mike looks at me and gives me a wink and says, “You’re in.”

And that was that. The… Everything had happened leading up to that moment for me. And I ended up at DeMatha. I was the only non-DeMatha graduate on the staff. I ended up s- I think I was at DeMatha about eight years four under Coach Wootten three or four under Mike who’s now the head coach at Old Dominion.

I literally started year one. I didn’t even have a role. I would just show up every day at different practices. You couldn’t get me out of the gym. I would go to freshman, then I’d stay for JV, then I’d go to varsity. I’d film games for them. I’d go film scouts. They never had me wash towels, but I painted in the build.

I did everything. I became entrenched in the DeMatha family. And by the end I was coaching our JV team. I was working with Mike on the varsity. The recruiting c- part of it became a big deal. I was in the gym all the time. We brought in some incredible players guys that have gone on to, to do everything in the game.

And it was everything. It was… I was on the trajectory for what the goal was. The goal was to coach at a college level, at a high level. We had every coach in our gym constantly. And a- and that was– I was on the path. It was all working out and At 20-something I fell in love and got married and had kids and needed to earn a living, and it, it derailed me a little bit.

It derailed the goal a little bit, I don’t know if you have any questions, but that’s a good segue to the next part of life.

[00:34:40] Mike Klinzing: It’s funny how, again, when you hear the stories, right? And I’ve interviewed tons and tons of coaches who have the story of, “I’m just trying to get my foot in the door.

I’m living in someone’s basement. I’m making $0, or maybe one of the coaches on the staff has tossed me enough money to have a meal at Burger King once in a while.” And it’s amazing and incredible how many guys have those stories. And then obviously that’s much easier to do when you are young and single than when you are married and have a family.

It’s much easier to chase that dream from a mattress in a studio apartment than it is once you have, than once you have a family. And so as I think about just the story that you just told, right? One of the things that sticks out to me is perseverance, that you had something that you wanted to achieve, you had something that was important to you, and you didn’t let this roadblock or that roadblock get in your way.

You just kept pursuing it. You didn’t allow, “Hey, I’ve got to be in this particular spot at this particular time.” It was more a case of, “I’m going to chase and go where the opportunity is, and I’m not going to take no for an answer.” And as you did that, again, as you said, you ended up at one of the most famous basketball high schools anywhere in the country with someone who is arguably the best high school coach in the history of high school basketball.

And that, A, it doesn’t happen by accident, but yet it also is an extreme stroke of being in the right place at the right time, making the right impression to get yourself that opportunity. So I want you to reflect on your time both with Coach Wootten, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have Coach Jones on the podcast, and what did you learn?

What did you take away from each one of those guys, maybe one or two things from each one that you still feel like is a part of who you are as a coach today because of the influence that they had on you?

[00:36:51] Matthew Malc: Yeah. O- one thing I’ll say is- It goes to I, I’m an Office, Th-The Office guy, and I love that show.

And when Andy leaves, he goes I wish I wish you could know you were in the good times when you were in the good times.” I had incredible perspective at 19, 20 through my 25, 26. I knew how special it was. I knew how special going to Lido’s and sitting across from Coach Wooten was while eating wings and talking trash about football.

To this day, Mike will tell you that I’m probably the only guy to go at Coach Wooten ever, and it was never anything but Giants-Redskins at the time. But we joke about that, too. Coach Wooten was

He was just the ultimate man. He was the ultimate leader. A much different style than anyone I’d ever been around. Didn’t curse, didn’t raise his voice God was so rooted in everything that he did. He made you feel like you were the most important person in the room. He showed me the most respect as a 19-year-old that said, “I’ll come in and clean, your towels.”

He wrote me a thank you letter when he retired. He wrote to everyone, but he wrote me a thank you letter and, I framed it, and he just talked about how he was proud of the fact that whether it was Coach Krzyzewski walking into a room or if it was a custodian that I showed them the same level of respect.

I’m very fortunate that I come from a great family. I have a great mom and dad. I have a great brother who’s my best friend. So I learned a lot of those values before I ever got to DeMatha. But to see Coach treat the game, treat his athletes, to treat the trainers, his staff with just an utmost level of love, and it was so genuine.

He would have us over to his home for dinner constantly. He knew I was down there by myself without my family. So he made me feel a part of it, as did his wife. His wife, Kathy, was, is a- as much a part of… And her name’s on the gym. It- it’s the Morgan and Kathy Wootten Gymnasium. Again, I like the game a lot.

There’s so much more to the game than a ball going in a hoop, and I think Coach reiterated that to me. He was a worker. He understood his opponents. He put the guys in the best position. He never called guys out. He never made anybody, if they made a mistake, feel uncomfortable. It’s so easy to say those things, but when you’re coaching, it’s not so easy to live those things.

And he just stayed true to himself. He was the most in touch with who he was, man, I’ve ever been around. And he just, he instilled so much confidence in everybody. You just wanted to play for him, and it wasn’t necessarily ’cause of a rah-rah speech. It was just because you just wanted to make him proud.

So I learned so much from him. I had a chance to speak to Coach just before he passed. I reached out to him just to thank him. This was many years after I’d left DeMatha. It just was one of those, my wife was out, I was home, and I was like, if he answers. And we hadn’t spoken in a number of years, but as soon as he answered he knew it was me.

And I just wanted to thank him for the impact that he had on my life, what he meant to me. And I was so happy I had that opportunity. I got off the phone, I had tears just rolling down my face because it was one of those, like He just changed who I was as a man. He made me better at everything I did.

So really appreciative of that. Mike was DeMatha. Like Mike, Mike was the epitome of what Coach Wootten wanted a young man to be. Also, Mike came from a good family. I obviously wasn’t around when Mike was playing, but, he– Mike was the choice. Like Mike– Coach retired like a day before the season started.

Why? So that Mike could get his chance, and it wasn’t going to open up and become a circus. And our first year or two we struggled a little bit. Coach wasn’t a dummy. We didn’t have the best team the year he retired. And we struggled. But Mike carried everything that Coach taught him onto that team, onto the staff, into the community.

He led with confidence. Mike was a relationship or is a relationship guy. He loves the people that bleed DeMatha blue with him and now at Old Dominion. Like of course he’s at Old Dominion. Like the only thing he loved on par outside of his family and wife and children or child was Old Dominion.

So to go from DeMatha, to have the opportunity to take that next step at Virginia Tech, to ultimately land back home for him, They’re going to be incredible. Like he’s going to be one of those guys that makes a run in the tournament. He brought in Odell, who’s one of his college teammates and best friends, and some of his old players are on his staff with him.

Mike taught me a lot about the recruiting side of it. He taught me about the sincerity of it, how to believe in what we were about, the product that we w- we delivered. DeMatha is an incredibly special place. What we were up against, it’s easy to say you were at DeMatha, you had Coach. It’s, go recruit everyone.”

Yeah, but the narrative was Coach was always retiring. That narrative went on for 10 years. So it was like, “Yeah why are you going to go to DeMatha? He’s just retiring now anyway.” And obviously, ultimately, he has to retire, but he didn’t retire for a decade until he, from when the chirping started.

And it was never about that. It was just about the education. It was about the religion. It was about the family that it became. It was about the alumni and everything and he meant it. Like he wasn’t a salesman. That’s not the background he came from. He’s a basketball guy. Everything he said came from his heart and he meant every- everything he said and we were up again- we were…

There was no better basketball. There is no better basketball, I would still argue to this day, than the DMV. But we got the guys we wanted, and it wasn’t just always talent. It was about the right character, the support at home Your willingness to be a student, your willingness to to pray and all these different things factored into it.

And as a young guy it’s yeah, but he could jump and take a dime off the top of the backboard But who’s he hanging with? What’s he doing? What’s he bringing to us? How does he continue to push the culture of what DeMatha has been building for decades? I got to see Mike when he when he left DeMatha.

He had a small get-together. Very small, like six, seven, eight dudes. I was very fortunate to be down there and and at that time I got to tell him what he’s meant to me and just how proud I am of him. And so yeah, DeMatha was, it was just you couldn’t ask for a better- I could get any assistant job I wanted just ’cause of what it said on my resume.

And and I used it going forward. You know what, when I left DeMatha, we ended up moving to New Jersey, which is obviously the New York-New Jersey area is where I’m from. I was down in that DC area for about a decade raising a family. I just was ready to go home. I was ready to be around my parents and my brother and have that influence, and my wife was ready for that as well.

I didn’t leave DeMatha. I left the area to go back home and after a few years away from DeMatha my, my ex-wife now she knew it was the itch I was burning during the season. I didn’t have it anymore and I needed it. And I’ll turn it back to you, but I could certainly take you to, to what Jer- Jersey is.

Jersey, New York and everything since then.

[00:44:21] Mike Klinzing: Was there at any point, obviously again, your situation is different than when you started in terms of having your family to factor into the whole situation. But was there any thought after the experience at DeMatha, as you said, with the number of college coaches coming through there and I’m sure the connections that you made with them, just getting to speak to them as they come into your gym to recruit your players and that kind of thing.

Was there any thought to trying to get into the college game and becoming a college coach? Or at that point had you settled on, hey, because of my family situation and maybe the more, I don’t know if stable is the right word, but just again, not being necessarily on the road in the same way and in the office in the same way that a college coach has to.

Just what was your mindset as you finished up at DeMatha, you get back to the New York, New Jersey area. What are you thinking about as that itch starts to burn again? Was there any thought ever of, hey, maybe I could pursue a college job or were you sold on high school at that point?

[00:45:22] Matthew Malc: No, I so yeah, I’m happy you’re asking about back in Jersey, New York ’cause I don’t…

the Maryland time, I don’t know. That was a real crossroads again. Once I got to New Jersey and got settled my life has taken a lot of t- turns. When we moved to New Jersey, a few months later, my wife was pregnant with our second child. And a f- literally a few months after finding out she was pregnant, she delivered.

My son Logan he’s 19 now. He was born at 24 weeks. He was a micro-preemie. He weighed one pound, four ounces. Wasn’t supposed to make it. Was born in a Pennsylvania hospital, a part of CHOP. I spent six months basically living in a hospital. I lived about an hour… I lived at the Jersey Shore.

Lived about an hour and 10 minutes away. So when my son was born unexpectedly I would wake up every day at around 5:00, 5:30, shower. By 6:00 AM, I was on the road. I’d be at the hospital by 7:00. I’d stay till 11:00 at night. And then I’d come home, shower. Every hour on the hour, I’d call to check in on him.

Nothing mattered. E- everything in my life at that point became about my son a- and my family. So it was an easier transition away from basketball because my little boy needed me more than anything. A-a-and, when you become a father and this was now my second but when you become a father in that way it’s, it rocks you.

It shake, it shakes you at your core. So to answer your question, I was very content. Once my son came home, he had– He does have severe cerebral palsy now, but as a little guy, that didn’t really come into play so much. It was more as he got older. We had another child right after that. So it was three in a quick amount of time.

I was very content scratching the itch being a volunteer assistant. I went to a school I called a local Catholic school ’cause that’s what I had known and I loved that experience. So I called Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, New Jersey, right outside of Atlantic City. Met with the coach.

We hit it off right away. There was no egos. I was there just to be a part of it. And we had a really good thing together. We had a ton of talent. I just saw two of my guys playing in a pro league the other day here. So we had a ton of talent. We won a lot. The environment was incredible. So I was really happy and content with that.

I didn’t need more than that. I had a career. I ended up ultimately, as I said in the beginning following my dad into becoming a financial advisor. So I was a 20-year financial advisor. I told Jamie at Holy Spirit, “I’ll be there whenever I can.” And he said, “When you’re here, it’s great.

If you’re not, the program’s going to go on.” I didn’t miss anything. I loved it. My kids loved it. They’d come to the games and, So no I felt good there. Another turn, I get divorced. I get remarried a few years later. I move up to northern, more central New Jersey. Again, the dust settles on a divorce, getting remarried and the itch comes back.

I end up and an incredible situation. I end up just 15 minutes down the road at the Ranney School. Taj Holden, who I watched playing when I was at Maryland w- is the head coach. They were looking to bring in somebody. It wasn’t a posted thing, but I’d reached out to him. I was– I’ve never, ever been afraid to ask.

D- I’m not afraid. The only thing you can say is no, and it’s okay. So I reached out to Taj on a Facebook direct message. We’d never spoken once in our lives. And I just said: “Look, this is my resume. I’ll send it to you. Here’s my situation. I’d love to come in as a volunteer and help in any way I can.”

We ended up meeting for lunch, and one thing led to another, and and I jumped on the staff, and that team was incredible. Two McDonald’s All-Americans. The year before, they had just lost to Nas Reed i- in the in the state championship here in New Jersey. I was at the game as a fan. They ju- it was a block shot at the buzzer by Nas a block shot and a dunk at the buzzer.

That’s how they lost by a point. So I was ready to jump into that. That was swimming in the deep end now. I was back to that DeMatha level. Probably to this day, the second greatest experience I’ve ever had coaching was we took the guys down to the John Wall Classic in Raleigh. It was all incredible basketball, all North Carolina and then us.

One of our guys, the state didn’t allow to play. We found out the flight– as we’re boarding the flight. That’s a guy who’s still in the N- bouncing between the NBA and G League, Philip Wheeler. So we didn’t have him. We go down there, and, they hated us. It was lunacy. They love basketball, and they did not love us.

We were down seven. I don’t know exactly. Seven with 30 seconds to go. We end up winning. They put too many guys on a court out of a timeout. We got a ti- a technical, free throws, hit the three, steal, bang, we win. We end up turning the crowd, and we end up winning the championship. And that team went on to, Brian Antoine, Scottie Lewis went on to be McDonald’s All-Americans.

We ended up winning the Tournament of Champions, which had never been won by the school. It was incredible. So that was an incredible ride. I went from there. After COVID I went to to Manasquan High School. I got to coach Darius Adams. I got to coach with Andrew Bilodeau, who to this day, I would say outside of what I…

coach Wooten, to me, is the best coach I’ve been around. He runs an incredible program. So we won our first ever state title that year. So it was incred- it’s a lot of winning. It’s a lot of incredible coaches. It’s a lot of incredible relationships. While at Ranny Taj was going through the loss of his son, Max to childhood neuroblastoma.

So it became, again, way bigger than basketball. It was another lesson that it, this is about family and love and I think that team really came together and showed Taj and his family the love. And I think for the guys it became bigger than basketball. It became, there’s real life, this is a privilege, so let’s do the best we can.

And so yeah that’s another great segue to the last stage of where I’m at in life now.

[00:51:18] Mike Klinzing: Talk to me a little bit about, you can frame this in the sense of there at Flatbush, how do you, and you’ve talked a few times about just using basketball as the platform to be able to teach kids about life.

And I always say that, again, one of the things that I think is special about being a basketball coach or being a basketball person is that you get to use the game, which I always say has been so good to me. I can never give back to the game what’s it, what it’s given me. But the ability to use the game that I love to be able to have an impact on young people is one of the things that I think is a tremendous privilege.

And I know that’s, again, just from our conversations, I can tell that’s how you feel, that’s what you believe. So when you think about how you do that within your program, how do you go about making sure that the experience that your players get is about more than just basketball? How do you make sure that it’s about life, and that they’re getting those lessons that are so important to you be a part of their experience?

[00:52:26] Matthew Malc: Yeah. I like I said I coach my guys hard. I just love them harder. They know that everything that they’re getting from me is coming from a place of love. And sometimes it’s tough love, but it’s love. A- and this is– I just wrapped up my third year at Flatbush, and one of the greatest moments that has happened to me was we had a great year this year.

Very proud of our group. We started the year winning two preseason national championships. We went from Brooklyn, won a championship, hopped on a plane, flew out to LA, won another championship had a great season. The team that ultimately won the league championship only had one loss on the year. We beat ’em.

We were their one loss. But we had a really disappointing quarterfinal game this year. And we got smoked. I, in a million years I couldn’t have predicted it. We were prepared. The guys had practicing hard. We just ran into a team that, that really played well. And I had a player on my team that when I first got there, was a sophomore, and I coached him harder than most.

Really hard. There was multiple times he’d go home crying. There were multiple times mom would reach out to me saying, “What are you doing to my son?” And I just kept saying the same thing, “Why do I see how special you can be, but you don’t? That’s the part I don’t get, and I’m not going to back off.

You could quit. You could walk away, that’s fine, but there’s something so special inside of you that you’re going to allow me to get it out of you or you’re just going to walk. You’re either going to let me break you or you’re going to let me build you into something as special as can be.” So I referenced this game, so I’m devastated.

I don’t get very emotional anymore with wins and losses. Wins are like, all right, we’re supposed to. Losses are like, I screwed up. I better figure out how to fix it. But I was emotional that game. We had some injuries and it just, it was a buzz saw. We, we got smoked on our home floor in front of everybody.

[00:54:21] Mike Klinzing: Yeah.

[00:54:21] Matthew Malc: In a million years, I didn’t see that outcome coming, and I’m at a real low point that I haven’t been at in a long time. And I’m on my way home and I get a text message from this young man and he goes, “Coach I’m going to send you an email.” He goes, “There, there’s something I’ve been wanting to share with you for the last six, eight months.

I just didn’t know when was the right time.” And he goes I just feel like now’s probably that time.” So I– I’m like, “I don’t know. What is he talking about? I have no idea.” I’m like distraught. I open it, I’m driving and on the Verrazzano reading this email, and I like pull over. It was his college essay And he talked about what I meant to him.

His essay was a letter to me about what I’ve meant to him in his development and his growth, and how, as a sophomore how misunderstood I was to him. H- how he just didn’t get it. How he didn’t know me from Adam. I’m new to the program. And how everything I had done for him, in his words, was about helping him become the best he could be.

And he said, it goes so far beyond the basketball court, ’cause what you’ve taught me, what you’ve unleashed in me, will help set me up really for the remainder of my life.” And, to me, I know every coach says it, but it’s truly, those are the things that, that I coach for now. Like I… Yeah, look, we’re all competitive.

We want to win. That’s … we want to win. Duh. If … Why are you doing it if you don’t want to win? I get that. That’s … Like we talk about effort. Like everyone says, “Your guys play hard.” That’s the baseline. Like I’m not coaching effort. I’m coaching X’s and O’s, I’m coaching on the floor.

You’re going to play hard for me or you won’t be a part of it. It’s that simple. You you’ll never see a guy on my team take a play off. We just don’t do that. But tho- that moment was so crazy to me how special, how I finally got through. His mom, who would have done anything she could have to run me out of the program, became my biggest fan because she got it.

Hugging me, “Coach I don’t want this to end.” I’m like, “It’s not going to.” Because who he was on the basketball court is going to be who he is in college, in his profession, as a father, as a husband. So to know that we’ve had that impact, and I say we, ’cause it’s not me. It’s a staff.

I don’t just coach our varsity. I oversee our entire program. We’ve built it up to 15 teams, got about 30 coaches that, that work on our staff. We start in fourth grade. We go year-round. So you know, you had mentioned earlier about the Knicks, and like they’re not going to forget ’cause I’m coaching those guys all summer and spring.

I’m coaching our sixth graders, our seventh graders. So tho- those are the big things. I’ve had a few. I have my Mount Rushmore of kids that, like I’ll never forget in my life. One of them helped me get the job at Flatbush. I don’t want to bounce around too much, but I did coach the US national team in Israel back in 2022.

That changed everything in my life. That changed the entire trajectory of my life. That went from me being a a financial advisor that coached as a volunteer on the side to leaving financial advising and becoming a full-time ba- head basketball coach. So I earn my living I support my family as a coach now.

But, we had guys on that team and that family, and to go over there, we beat Ben Saraf and Omer Meyer. We’re talking dudes. Not just we’re America, like we played against dudes and beat them. And and one of my favorite players from that team was a guy that I loved. I saw him once at tryouts.

I, I fell in love with the kid. There’s something so special and he really struggled throughout the tournament. Just struggled. Just couldn’t hit a shot, and this was a shooter. Really struggled. And, I just refused to give up on him. There was no chance. This was our guy.

W- I’m going to go down with him if I have to, ’cause I believe that when we need him, he’s going to deliver. And in the gold medal game, it was us versus Israel, and it was intense. You’re talking a, an arena with 7, 8,000 seats. It was three-quarters full. It was intense.

And this kid delivered. He had 19. And his dream was to play basketball at Harvard. That was his dream. And I said, the issue with the national team was the guys have to miss a lot. And when you’re talking juniors to seniors, AAU that’s become the king. And I con- I don’t want to say convinced him, but I sold him on, like Mike would, what this is all about, and how it’s bigger than basketball and we’re going to get you to where you want to get to just ’cause you’re talented and you’re an incredible young man.

He’s a sophomore now. He’s starting point guard at Harvard. He reached out to Flatbush on my behalf. Now he’s at Harvard. He’s not a dummy. His mom and dad are Brown professors. He comes from an incredible lineage of academics. But he wrote something so meaningful to the board at Flatbush.

I joke about it, but it’s like how do you not hire me based on what this kid wrote? Yeah, it’s special. I love these kids. It’s what… I- there’s not a… I cannot wait to go to work every day. I love it. That my, my administration has told me at times, “Coach,” “Slow down.” My wife is incredible.

She’s so supportive. Comes to as many games as she can, watches every game, my little guy’s six, so it’s just a fun age. He gets it. He sees Daddy coaching. He’s the only guy that I try to coach. I’ve got 250 kids in my program, and I tell the kids something, and they’re like, “Thank you, Coach,” and utilize it.

I tell my son. He’s “That’s not how you do it.” I’m like, “Nico, like I don’t know what to tell you, bro.” But but yeah I’m fortunate. Great wife, four children. I just became a grandpa three weeks ago. My youngest daughter is getting ready to row crew as a Division I athlete at Rutgers, which is a top 10 crew program in the country.

And she was a coxswain. And that, that helped our bond so much because a coxswain, I learned, I still after years and as a crew dad still don’t get it. But but she’s the coach of the boat, and she’ll call me, “Dad, what do I say to the girls in this situation?” Yeah, basketball’s been everything to us, and it’s taken me around the world.

It’s introduced me to incredible people, and there’s just relationships that I cherish from all. But there’s just some relationships that are like have shaped who I am as a man.

[01:00:28] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely. And I think, a-again, hearing you talk about just that relationship with your daughter, right? And the lessons of leadership that you can apply to basketball can apply to other sports, and obviously with some of the stories that you shared can apply to people’s lives outside of the game.

And I think, again, that comes back to what we talked about a few minutes ago, that you can utilize the game to be able to have that kind of impact on people’s lives so that a kid gets to live his dream and go and play basketball at Harvard, and then he helps to support your dream of becoming a head coach and getting an opportunity, and all those things.

Yeah, they’re tangentially related to basketball, but they’re more about, again, the relationships that you’ve built and the type of lessons that you’ve been able to instill in the people that you’ve been around. And to me, I think that, again, that’s what it’s all about. Coaching, as you said, we’re all competitive.

Everybody wants to win. There’s X’s and O’s stuff. All of it on a day-to-day basis, really important, right? It’s what we’re focused on, trying to win the next game and scout our next opponent and do all those things. And yet ultimately, it’s like the big picture things, those individual games, those individual decisions, to some degree melt away in our memory, and what we’re left with is those life lessons and those things that we’ve imparted that have an impact 10 years down the road, 20 years down the road, 30 years down the road, that we can’t always see those in the moment.

But in the big picture, those are the things that really make a difference in kids’ lives. And it’s just interesting how that works in the coaching profession, where day to day we’re so into it and it’s so intense, and yet ultimately it ends up being the bigger picture where we feel our biggest impact, both going from us to our players, but then also coming back from our players to us.

And I think that’s just a really interesting way that basketball and basketball coaching The way the impact works because it’s a two-way street, and sometimes we don’t see it until five years down the road or 10 or whatever it is, and it’s what makes it really cool. And again I just think that anybody who gets a chance to coach their sport, and in our case basketball, it’s just a, it’s just a privilege to be able to have an impact on kids in the game.

Let me ask you an X’s and O’s question. What’s the part of the game that when you sit down and you’re watching film or you’re in the off-season and you’re trying to figure out with your team, “Hey, what do we want to do?” What part of the game do you like diving into the most? Are you an offensive guy?

Are you a defensive guy? Is there certain things that you really like to watch and study? What is it about the X’s and O’s piece that really gets you excited?

[01:03:08] Matthew Malc: I go back to what I said about Kobe it’s about preparation. I’ve become obsessed as a head coach with film. I’ve learned different ways how to get it to my guys.

We’ve– we’re on huddle, we’ve done that, where we do film breakdown, and I don’t know if that got through to my guys. Now I’ll watch, and I’ll send literally just text message clips to the guys kinda talking about what we’re looking to accomplish. Detailed scouting reports. We’ll know our guys.

We know how they tie their shoelaces. They’re… You’re not going… we call out when a… And it is high school basketball, but someone’s running their eighth set, and they call it, blue. You’ve got five guys and then 10 guys on the bench screaming blue. We know what’s going on.

I’ve grown up through the game as a defensive coach. It was everything I did. At Ranny, literally, it’s all I did. Like Two of the coaches would literally go grab a cup of coffee or make a call when defense was on the floor. And then during offense, I’d be like, talking to the athletic trainer.

Th- that’s who I am. I’m an up the line, in your face, nasty defensive coach. What I have found as a head coach, ’cause I’ve only ever really been an assistant outside of the national team, was, I, it kinda was defense here, offense here. It’s kinda here now. I want to get it back to here and here.

So I think this year in particular, there’s going to be a strong focus on our defense. My first year at Flatbush we we made it all the way to the championship. We lost in overtime on a free throw. We were defenders. We got guys that never defended like that in their lives to buy in. To me, defense, I love it because it’s not skill.

It’s just the desire. There are skill components to it, but you give me a guy with incredible heart, give me an Alvarado I don’t really care as much about his footwork as I do that he’s battling a guy that’s two feet taller than him. So that’s what I like getting the most out of our guys. As I’ve become more offen- year one, one of my assistant coaches w- is w- on that Mount Rushmore of guys I love all time, and I brought him in back to the program as one of our coaches, and just a pogo stick.

Some of the best instincts I’ve ever been around defensively, but we got everybody up, and he’d stay back there and block shots. He’d bust my chops. He’s “Coach, if we had half of the amount of players we have now on our staff we would’ve won the championship by 20.” I don’t know about that.

But I’ve… Our play sheet’s pretty in-depth. We are ready for every scenario. I coach in an incredible league with great coaches so they have forced me very quickly to become the very best I could be. I’ll never forget, we opened up in a preseason tournament, and they’re running all sorts of junk at us.

I’m just like, “I better get caught up real quick as to what I need to do.” And we have, and, we’ve become a real force in our league and i- in our world that I coach within. But yeah I would say I’m a defensive guy, but when it comes to film, we’re breaking down everything. We want to understand how to beat what they’re doing offensively.

We want to take everything away. I’m a big take away the first and second option. That, that’s a big thing for me. Mostly man. Have flirted a little bit with zones. This year we may introduce more of that ’cause of our personnel and our size, and I think we just cover a lot of the court.

But yeah at my heart I’m a defensive guy and I’ve have to find that a little bit more this summer, I think

[01:06:22] Mike Klinzing: What’s something that you learned as an assistant working for a bunch of different head coaches that has made you a better head coach for the assistants that you have

[01:06:36] Matthew Malc: on your staff? I don’t know if this is something people say.

I mean it with the most sincerity. I just don’t feel like I have an ego. I feel like this has all happened in such a weird way. I go from the mountaintop of DeMatha to not coaching, to being an assistant as a volunteer for 15, 20 years to now the head of 250 kids 15 teams. So I generally– I’m surrounded by incredible coaches.

So for me, it’s empowering them. It’s making sure they know that you have the same voice I have. Ultimately, I have to make the decision, right? That’s the job of the head coach. Ultimately I’ll be the one if things go well that gets the praise. Ultimately, I’ll be the one if it don’t, that, that it’s on me.

But I want my coaches to know in a huddle of coaches, I coach, I like, “Go. Go.” Everybody on my staff has a voice. My staff right now on varsity is myself. It’s a guy by the name of Doug Shaw, who that’s a h- we could spend another hour just talking about our relationship, how we came together.

Coach Sherman we kinda came under the same tree. I was with Coach Sherman at Ranney. I met two of his other great buddies that had coached under him, and unfortunately, Coach passed away suddenly. It was devastating, and when I got the job at Flatbush, Doug was, There was two people I called back-to-back Mary Beth to come with, do my girls and Doug to be with me.

So he’s got more experience than I do. He’s been a head coach, so why would I not rely on him? Scott Benne who played for me, so he knows my style. But he r- the kids worship him. Even the guys now, he only graduated two years ago, so they look– or three years ago. They look up to him, and they love him, and he’s gotten so good with the film and when he talks, they listen.

And then I was at another school for just a minute. I didn’t even mention it, but I was brought in to Weird situation. But I was at another school with another coach, and he unfortunately got let go. And he… I fir- called him that day. I’m like, “Please join us. I love you.” So he came on board.

People are like, “Why would you do that?” I’m like, ” ‘Cause he’s a great guy. He loves the kids, and he loves the game.” It’s a no-brainer for me. So I’ve got a lot of guys that have a lot of different experiences, and I, I just I just to- trust them with everything. I just totally trust them. So I think that’s the biggest thing, is to trust your staff, especially if you got a good staff.

Surround yourself with great, not good people, great people that love the kids first and foremost. I think j- being a junkie’s important. That ride home, those phone calls are my favorite phone calls. Every time we say goodbye, it’s like, “I’ll see you. Call Felicia. I’ll call you right after.” The first call’s to my wife to check in, and then I spend the remainder of the trip on the phone with my guys and yeah, people you want to be around too.

It’s just fun, it’s just, it’s a brotherhood. And, again, it goes back to family.

[01:09:21] Mike Klinzing: Time, those conversations in the coach’s office, there’s nothing better than those. I say that when I stopped coaching at the high school level, the thing that I miss more than anything was just sitting around after practice for an hour just talking about basketball, talking about life, whatever it may be.

And you’re right, if you have good people that are part of your staff, it just doesn’t get any better than that. I want to ask you, Matt, one final two-part question. So part one, obviously you’re in the beginning stages of getting the program going in the direction that you want it to go. You’ve had a tremendous amount of success, continuing to build on that.

What do you see as being your biggest challenge moving forward over the next year or two? And then the second part of the question, when you think about what you get to do every day, what brings you the most joy? So your biggest challenge, and then your biggest joy.

[01:10:15] Matthew Malc: It’s a great question. I don’t view– I don’t know. You stumped me. I don’t know if there’s a challenge. Meaning it’s all joy. Like I just– I love it. I love the community I coach within. I love my kids. I love my coaches. I love the administration. I love the board. I’m just happy.

I’m not worried. I’m not trying to please everybody. They hired me, and this is who I am, and I just renewed for a new three years. I feel like I just want to continue to build this thing. I think the next step for us is to start putting kids into college regularly. I think I have a few guys on my roster that, that are ready to play at the next level.

That has been a ceiling in the world that I coach in. I think we’re going to break through that pretty hard and I think we’re going to start to really streamline kids. The biggest thing that I found, the biggest challenge was I’m new. There’s so many new people. There’s so many new faces. How do I connect with everybody?

So I address that. I coach– We call it AAU. It’s not– We’re not on the AAU circuit. But as soon as the season ends, we go right into tryouts. I take, We have– I coach five different teams twenty-five kids on a roster. I have four coaches with me, so five of us at every practice, and I get to know these kids.

I’m not just a coach anymore. You’re not doing the right thing in school, you’re getting a call from me. You’re not hitting the books. Mom and Dad said you were disrespectful. I just want to be an ally to our administration, to our parents, to our kids. I want to be someone there to help them be the very best they can be.

As far as challenges go I don’t know. I guess the biggest challenge is, my little guy. That’s unrelated to work. That-that’s a challenge. I want to be the best dad I could be. I want to be the best husband. But right now my family is all in on it. They love Flatbush.

They love knowing that Daddy is impacting lives that Daddy’s having a lot of success, that Daddy comes home and can’t wait to spend time with them. We’ve maximized vacations now, like breaks. I was a financial advisor working from home. I was always around and it was like, eh.

Now it’s like when I’m home, like it’s so special. And and I love that. Two, two last things I’d like to say, if you don’t mind. I’ve touched- Of course … on a lot of names today. One name I didn’t get to, we kinda didn’t get to that phase of my life, but Mitchell Kurtz was a guy that, or is a guy that gave me my first big opportunity.

Hired me to coach the national team. When I did my first interview, he said to me, “You’re up against college He said, “This is going to be about a 10, 15-minute interview, and you’re up against college and NBA coaches.” And I’m an assistant volunteer, third guy on the bench at a high school. I- he ultimately gave me the job coaching the U19s.

My assistants were a coach at Stanford, Matt Elkin and Amar’e Stoudemire. So guys from the NBA and college, he wasn’t lying but he’s become family, and he means the world to me because he changed the trajectory of my life. And then really the last thing I’d like to say i- is, a thank you to you.

I think that it’s a rat race, as coaching. Every day’s you’re just focused on whatever the next thing is, and I think this has been, like, an hour and 20 minutes of some of the best therapy I’ve had in a long time because you’ve asked the questions to get me to tap into what this has all meant to me, and I think we get caught up in life and everything and you sometimes don’t get a chance to take a step back and just talk about what it’s meant.

So I’m going to get off of this very just proud of what this journey has been, the people that have supported me along the way the people I get to impact on a day-to-day basis. And I just want to thank you for this forum and opportunity and it’s helped me in a lot of ways every day is a new fire lit and you just lit another one.

I’m ready to go run a practice right now.

[01:14:01] Mike Klinzing: Listen, Matthew, I cannot, again, thank you enough for those kind words, and the conversation tonight has been fantastic, genuine, and the love that you have for what you do clearly comes through the microphone. Anybody who’s listening to this has a good understanding of the kind of coach and the kind of person that you are in order to be able to do what it is that you do.

So thank you. In addition to you thanking me this has been great that we were able to make this happen. Before we get out, I want to give you a chance to share. How can people connect with you, find out more about what you’re doing with your program, whether you want to share email, social media, website, whatever you feel comfortable with.

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

[01:14:51] Matthew Malc: I coach at the Yeshiva Flatbush in Brooklyn. My email is [email protected]. I’m not afraid to give out my number. My cell is 609-705-0109. I love talking hoops. I have a few young guys that, that have reached out to me the way I’ve reached out to others just looking for advice on different situations and I love it.

I’ve been around. I’ve got a lot of experiences i-i-in all aspects of this game. Social media-wise, I’m on Twitter, I’m on Instagram and Instagram’s really my biggest for basketball. I don’t know, I’m not good at it, so I’ll tell you real quick what my handle is if you don’t mind

I don’t even know how to do Instagram. I think it’s just Coach Malc. Yep, just Coach M-A-L-C. Perfect. So yeah, that’s another great place to connect. And yeah it’s been wonderful. The only last thing I didn’t share with you was at Flatbush we’re big on experiences. I want to expose my kids to everything.

It’s a modern Orthodox Jewish day school. And last year we brought the kids to Rucker Park. We were the first ti- team in 50 years to show up wearing yarmulkes. And look, it’s been a crazy time in the world to be a Jewish person. And I didn’t know what the expectation was. I just trusted that it was basketball and basketball was going to take care of any sort of issues.

And it was… it was the most memorable coaching experience, one of my top three ever to be on that court, to have some of the old legends there, to have people coming up to us saying, “Hey, what’s that thing on your head?” But not in a nasty way. Like in a, “We just want to know. You guys are playing good basketball right now.”

And so that was a really neat thing too. So experiences are huge for what we’re doing in our program. I got exciting stuff coming for our kids this season that they don’t even know about yet. We’re going to be doing something really special. That’s a big part of it. We just want to provide our kids with the best experiences as well.

[01:16:44] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, it’s awesome. Again, that’s what it’s all about. I think about all the experiences I’ve had in the game, first as a player, then as a coach. Now as a parent and had kids and myself in all different kinds of situations. And ultimately, again, like I said earlier, the wins and losses, you remember some of them, you forget some of them, but the experiences are the things that stay with you.

And anybody who’s listening to this will have no doubt that the players, the coaches, the families that are a part of any program that you’re involved in are going to have those kinds of positive experiences that they’re going to take with them for the rest of their lives. Which again, that’s what it’s all about.

So again, Matthew, I cannot thank you enough for being willing to give of your time tonight to jump on with us. Really appreciate it. And to everyone out there, thanks for listening, and we will catch you on our next episode. Thanks.

[01:17:40] Matthew Malc: Your first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job. A professional

[01:17:45] Mike Klinzing: coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies, and most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants. The Coaching Portfolio Guide is an instructional membership-based website that helps you develop a personalized portfolio.

Each section of the portfolio guide provides detailed instructions on how to organize your portfolio in a professional manner. The guide also provides sample documents for each section of your portfolio that you can copy, modify, and add to your personal portfolio. As a Hoop Heads  Pod listener, you can get your coaching portfolio guide for just $25.

Visit coachingportfolioguide.com/hoopheads to learn more.

[01:18:30] Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast presented by Head Start Basketball