“MENTALITY” PART 11 WITH UALBANY MEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH DWAYNE KILLINGS – THE SEASON BEGINS – EPISODE 564

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

Email – killingsdwayne@gmail.com

Twitter – @CoachKillingsDK

 

Welcome to episode eleven of our Hoop Heads Podcast Series called “Mentality with Dwayne Killings – Season One at UAlbany” The series will continue to document Dwayne’s first year as the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at the University at Albany. 

We plan to record and release 2-4 episodes per month with Dwayne and/or players, coaches, administrators, media members, and others associated with the Great Danes Basketball Program to get an inside look at what being a first year head coach at the Division 1 level is all about.

On this episode Dwayne and I discuss the differences in being a head coach and an assistant when it comes to in-game coaching, pre-game preparation, and post-game analysis. Dwayne also shares how important it is for him to be the leader for his players and staff and focus on the process, not just the results.  We wrap up by talking about his first win and how that feeling will always stay with him.

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Listen and learn from UAlbany Men’s Basketball Head Coach Dwayne Killings as we discuss his experiences through his first 7 games as a head coach.

What We Discuss with Dwayne Killings

• The pace of the game speeds up when you are the head coach
• Managing the emotional energy of his team
• Preparing the team for big crowds and emotional environments
• Reading the game and making adjustemts
• Building new habits and eliminating old habits during practice
• Tapping the “Mentality” sign to get locked in and consumed in the moment
• The responsibility he feels for the people that have invested in the Great Danes Program
• Keeping a journal with goals and reflecting on those goals game by game
• Why he waits until the next day to watch game film instead of immediately following the game
• The need to stay the course and not abandon the plan when you don’t win
• The “DOC” Checking in with players and staff regarding Defense, Offense, & Culture
• Getting input from his senior leaders
• Avoiding self-inflicted wounds
• Developing energy on the bench – “Benergy”
• Breaking the game down into 10 4 minute periods…can you win that 4 minute “war”
• Handling information overload during timeouts
• Understanding that your team feeds off of your emotions and demeanors
• The difference between offering in-game suggestions as an assistant coach vs decisions as a head coach
• How he divides up the scouting assignments among his assistant coaches
• His players want to hear the personnel part of the scouting report first
• 90/10 balls, not 50/50 balls
• The process his team goes through to prepare for an upcoming opponent
• Talking about his first win – “You may not remember the play forever, but you remember the emotions in the locker room forever.”
• Believing in his team and bringing an extra shirt to the locker room
• “It felt great, but then immediately it was like, okay, what do we need to do next?”
• “You constantly have to be consumed in thinking of other people.”

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THANKS, DWAYNE KILLINGS

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TRANSCRIPT FOR “MENTALITY” PART 11 WITH UALBANY MEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH DWAYNE KILLINGS – THE SEASON BEGINS – EPISODE 564

[00:00:00] Mike Klinzing: Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast. It’s Mike Klinzing here without my co-host Jason Sunkle this morning, but I am pleased to be welcoming back to the podcast, the head coach at the University at Albany, Dwayne Killings. Dwayne. Welcome back.

[00:00:12] Dwayne Killings: Well, man. I’m doing great. Doing great. Just on the road here, about to do a little recruiting today on an off day for practice and spent a little time with you.  So all was good.

[00:00:20] Mike Klinzing: That’s good. Glad to see that things are going well, obviously just the fact that it’s the middle of the season and that you’ve got an off day with your own team and you’re out on the road. Recruiting just gives people an idea of the amount of time that you’re spending to get this thing going.

Want to start out by talking to you a little bit about coaching in real games. Since the last time we talked, we chatted a little bit in the preseason about your preparation heading into game one. So let’s talk a little bit about what it was like game one that you walk in and you’re the head coach versus you’re the assistant coach, maybe what it felt like, how it felt differently and just, what were your experiences like actually being the guy, standing up, being the guy who was responsible as opposed to being an assistant and doing your old role.

[00:01:08] Dwayne Killings:  Yeah, the first game there was anxiousness, there was nervousness. There was excitement when we first walked out there. I mean for us at Albany, the energy that everybody put into the first game, just to have a really good first impression for our program, for our players, for our. Was awesome.

I mean, I was so proud when we first walked out there and then the game starts and, and it moves fast. It moves really, really fast. You know, Bobby Jordan, who I know you had on in the past is a good friend. He just coached Wagner because of a COVID situation. And he called me after and I texted him before I said that the game is going to move a lot faster for you as a head coach and assistant coach.

And what that means is like, it’s the referees, the play calling, the energy from the bench, you’re trying to manage people’s emotions, the kids, when you hear somebody’s suggestion do you hear it with conviction or is it just like a thought and an idea, your own ideas and what you thought was going to work and what didn’t work.

And you’re trying to process all that really, really fast. And then make fast decisions. You’re not making suggestions anymore. And I thought like going into the game, one of the things that if I could get it back, was managing the emotional energy that went into the game, especially for our young kids who had never played a college game.

And a couple of the kids said that like, Hey, when they saw fans, they got so excited. So jacked up and it brought them probably up too high and they exerted so much energy in warmups. Cause they were trying to just get them like enjoy it all. And then we had another kid who said his mind went black when he went out there on the court because it’s his first game.

And you know, those are some possessions that if we get them back, maybe the games a little bit. But it was a great learning curve. And then being a head coach at Albany there’s new things that we got to prepare our team for. Like we go and play Kentucky at, at Marquette where I last came from, we go and play at Carolina, at UCLA, at Indiana and our team was used to playing in big environments.

We have at 17,000 fans a night at Marquette. So going into a big arena with a lot of people was nothing new for us. So this is. Environment different opportunity for our program here and try to help our kids manage that and keep them locked in and focused and, and actually said this to our team. We play Kentucky and there were fireworks go off when they’re doing the starting five and nobody flinched, which was awesome because our guys are so locked in and consumed in the moment.

But we had prepared him for that and knows that some of the things that you’re trying to think of, trying to make sure our guys are prepared, they know what they need to do. You know, trying to think of uncover as much as you can, but not overwhelm the guys so that way they can have success and compete and play.

[00:03:55] Mike Klinzing: Did kids have questions for you going into it? Did you have those conversations with individual players where they were coming to you or maybe coming to someone on your staff saying especially before game won or before that Kentucky game saying, Hey, what, what should I be expecting? What are some things maybe I need to look out for any of the kids come to you with those kinds of questions?

[00:04:16] Dwayne Killings: Yeah. I there, there, there definitely was a little bit of like what’s it like? I think one of the things that guys are trying to figure out, okay, well, when am I going to go? You know, just so they could be prepared. And I said I’m not a script, a substitution kind of guy.

I think the game calls for what the game calls for. So typically have been you know, minimally defensive team. So what are they going to be? The reads and opportunities and a half court in the full court and also like we’re going into the game thinking we’re one kind of team, but then I think at the beginning of our journey we didn’t necessarily think that we’re going to be a great pressing team. And I think there’s been some opportunities to do that more with our length, the way our freshmen have been able to play. I think just the way that our team is built, that’s been okay for us. Not that we’ve found that over the first couple of games you know, in our preparation, we talk about being consumed in the opportunity and we have to build awareness for our guys.

Cause we, again, we have some freshmen that are out there that some of these moments and put them into this the first time they’ve ever done it. So I’m trying to train that in practice in Scouts. In our mentality meetings and talking to our guys and trying to help them just understand what it’s going to be like when they get out there for competition.

Also practice a lot of things. I mean, sometimes it’s just talking to them, trying to change habits. You know, some of the guys that we have are really good basketball players and they’re really good kids with the right intentions, but how they catch the ball, how they pass the ball, how they shoot the ball.

It’s a championship game in a championship game and expect the result. If you don’t train the habit in practice and when you’re in your individual workouts. And that’s what we try to get our guys to understand, because sometimes in practice the habits, old habits come back to bite us just from how we reversed the ball.

Sometimes you’re relaxed and the intention isn’t the same way every single time. And the one time you do it the wrong way in practice, you do it that way in the game. You get burned. We go back to the Kentucky game, we got a big steal just because one kid was kind of lazy with a pass and they gave us some run and gave us some confidence.

And at the same token, we do the same thing and the opposition gets the steal. And now it creates momentum for the other team. And that really hurts us. And we have to, we have to build the right habits into our team. We have these mentality signs that we put up in the hotel. You know, we tap them all the time.

So we’ve talked about when you tap it, it locks you in and it makes you consumed in a moment. And if you miss it, that means you not thinking about it. And you’re not, you’re not focused on it. You’re not aware. So we’re trying to do little tricks to build the mindset that we want and to build the awareness that we’re trying to train for our guys to have success.

And they’ve been great. And the staff has been great about using film and getting guys on the court because we have to train the individual and the whole team. To be able to get the results that we want. Because again, we’re building this from the ground up we are new guys and we’re trying to build every single day. We have to be consumed.

[00:07:07] Mike Klinzing: When the game ends as a head coach. And you compare that to the way you felt as an assistant win or lose. And then thinking about what you do to then go back over what just happened in that game. And then think about what you need to prepare for the next game. How is that different from your post game routine as an assistant coach?

[00:07:35] Dwayne Killings: Yeah, I mean the first night we played Towson after the game I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. It tore me apart. Well also, like I wanted us to have success and show ourselves. For all the people involved that players, our coaches, our administration, the community. I mean, there’s a lot of people that have invested in our program.

And I had to separate myself from the game a little bit to say, like, I guys played hard. You know, they played really, really hard and the game got away from them and Townsend did some really good things and they’re a really good team and they’re playing really good basketball right now. It took an ACC team down to one possession game.

But I had to walk away from it a little bit to look at it and say like, okay, well, how have we grown? And I’ve really focused on the process by not focusing on our record. I’d probably lose my mind, but we’ve gotten better. You know, we’re, we’re a better defensive team. We’ve grown. Some of our individual players, our freshmen come a long way.

We have four freshmen that are playing games. They’re impacting our program. Now we have to do a better job offensively and defensively, and we will, but we’ve grown, which is really exciting.  I keep a journal where I’ll talk about the goals and the things I think that we should be able to do in the game.

And then I’ll write back. What we did and didn’t do, and I’ll talk about, you know write notes to myself about the energy. I felt in the locker room from the coaches and the players before and after the game, because again, we have to all, I got to get everybody swimming and directing the same direction.

And sometimes it’s natural. Like guys are thinking. About themselves internally. And I have to fix that where we’re thinking, consuming ourselves with the team and what we’re trying to do. And that some of the things that I’ll go through and then I’ll watch some film. And actually when I was at Marquette you know, we used to watch the games right after we were done.

And I thought when we were doing that, actually one time when Snyder was in town and he came in and sat with us and he just talked about when you do that, Your emotions are all jacked up from the game whether it’s, you’re really excited, you won or you really disappointed that you didn’t perform the way you wanted to.

So sometimes it’s hard to be objective about what you’re looking at and what you’re trying to process. And then what happens? You end up watching it again. So I actually had said to myself, I try to not watch it right after the game and then watch it the next day, where I can have a fresh mind.

I can kind of let my thoughts go. And I think after the games, everybody’s throwing ideas that you players, coaches, friends, and texting you, you got to do the media. So there’s all these thoughts going through. You got to slow your mind down and process what just happened and why it happened and how you can help your kids.

And what’s your message going to be to your staff and your players next day? And again, keep everybody, I don’t want our program to be okay with not winning. But I do want to be able to reflect on what we’re doing well and what we’re not doing well. And then also be able to really have a lot of conviction about what we’re trying to build and not go off script, because I think that’s really easy right now when you’re first building it is okay, this isn’t working, let’s just trash it and do something else.

Well, how do we just invest time to get it right? You know what we’re trying to do, get it right. And maximize the opportunity for our players and for our approach. And then we’ll go back. We’ll do feedback with our team. You know, it could be bits and pieces of the game, or just isolated possessions.

And one thing being in this position is you don’t have a lot of time. You’re against the clock all the time. So what’s the most important thing. And you have to always negotiate back. Again, from your staff. I have a great staff. We’ve done a really good job. You know, Matt Griffin, Hamlet Tibbs, Danton Jackson, KJ Baptistae, Dan Madhavapallil and our staff has done a great job developing our guys mentally and physically.

So that way we’re not turning the ball over as much as were at the beginning that’s growth. So how do we continue to grow on those things? So that way we’re just becoming the best team we can become.

[00:11:32] Mike Klinzing: How do you share some of those process, things that you’re writing down in your notebook? How do you share that with your players?

So that they understand that maybe we’re not getting that result on the scoreboard, but here’s things that were. Getting better. Is that team offensive and defensive goals, is that things that you’re seeing when you’re watching films that an energy level and enthusiasm that you’re watching, that you’re trying to make sure that the players understand what they need from you out of that.

What does it look like to make sure that. You’re progressing and something tangible that the players can grab onto because obviously everybody can see the scoreboard, but maybe everybody can’t always see the progress that you’re making. It becomes a little bit more difficult for coaches I’m sure. And for players, I know too.

And understand and see that even though we’re not getting the results we want, when loss wise, we are still making progress towards getting better, which is ultimately going to lead to more success on the scoreboard. So how do you share that stuff with players?

[00:12:34] Dwayne Killings: Yeah. Tomorrow we’ll do something we have the things on the DOC and we’ll go through defense offense and culture and I’ll ask them, okay, where are we at right now?

You know, what are we doing really well? And our defense give us three or four things or offense and our culture. And then give me three or four things we’re not doing. And then, okay, let’s game plan for the week how are we not going to fix those things? Moving forward? A lot of that’s going to happen in practice.

Today our seniors would get together and actually give me some thoughts about what the practice plan will be like for tomorrow on Saturday. And the reason why I wanted to do that was so we get more buy-in and investment from our older guys or our leaders. And we need that desperately to grow our program to where we wanted it to go this year.

And let’s calm it down for this. Let’s go a little further for tomorrow’s practice. So that’s why I want them to help with that you know, we haven’t finished well around the rim, so we showed them clips of it. And then again, going back you know, we’ll talk about, okay, well, is there our approach in practice?

You know, if we’re not attacking a coach with a pad, the way we would against Kentucky. Then, I mean, some of it is we’ve used this term, self-inflicted wounds. If we’re not preparing ourselves for stress and we have to be held accountable to that, and we have to have some buy-in to that, just it’s a mental focus.

And one of the things I’ve said to our guys is we need to have energy and toughness because that’s some ways how we can close the gap and some of the games that we’re going to play a new show have really good basketball teams to play throughout. Of course, And it’s sometimes it’s the energy that you see on the bench.

We call it Benergy. Great. We need to see that sometimes the energy enthusiasm you see on the court, like you mentioned, but sometimes it’s just a mental energy to be focused on the moment, whether it’s scout prep or a walkthrough in practice. And we’re learning how to do these things as a program collectively, and we’ve gotten better.

We need to still grow in those. And you know, one of the things that we did in this last game Coach Griffin actually had a really good idea. We just broke the game down to 10 four minute periods. And we said, okay, let’s just figure out, okay, let’s try to win this four minute war. And if we didn’t, what did we do?

We’ll give them two quick things in the huddle. And I thought there was great buy-in to that because it just shrunk the game down a little bit, and then we’ll give them some feedback. Okay. What did we do in this four minute war? And here’s why we didn’t win it. And then at the same token eight minutes to go against Eastern Illinois we were down and we were kind of stuck in the mud and we’d run.

Yeah. I had an opportunity to win our first game and we made some big plays around the rim. We talked about being selfless going into that game in the Kentucky game. And I thought we had some, really some displays where we’re sharing the ball and making the right read. And that’s why we won. So we want to highlight those things.

So guys understand that’s what it takes to have success. The problem is, is that we got to help our guys. I’m just saying you have to do that over and over and over and over again. And sometimes it’s not Splashy plays. It’s just making the right screen, making the right pass. Now we get a higher quality shot and we got a higher quality result.

[00:15:43] Mike Klinzing: We’re going to talk about that first win here in a second, but I want to ask you about something that you just brought up there thinking about those four minutes periods and sharing a couple of things that you need to do to win those four minute time slots as a head coach. During timeouts, I’m sure that there’s a million things that you’re seeing during live action that you want to come in and be able to share with your players.

And we know as coaches that you can’t give every, you can’t give them everything that you’re seeing. So you have to narrow that down. So what was that like for you to run a timeout as a head coach? Difficult easy to find the things that you wanted to zero in on as you’re going through timeouts, compared to what you did as an assistant.

Just what’s it like running a timeout as a head coach?

[00:16:27] Dwayne Killings: One of the things that when we’re in the huddles is I want to make sure that we’re all locked into the moment so that the guys that are behind the five guys and on the floor that they’re focused really, really focused on.

Whatever’s being said. So that way we have the success that we’re talking about, or we don’t make the same mistake that we’re trying to address in the huddle. And then to your point, you’re thinking about what’s the most important thing. Is it the defensive rotation and what we need to do? Is it the possession that we’re about to go into?

Is it given the guy that has the scout an opportunity to talk about what could be coming up the next time? And you’re trying to manage as best you can in a small window of time, and then still give these. Confidence in themselves, give confidence who’s going in the game. Maybe there’s somebody that doesn’t give a strong look or they don’t seem like they’re short.

So then you have to address that really quick and you’re trying to process everything. And then at the same time there may be an assistant that you feel like he has something more to say, or that he could add value to. And maybe you’re trying to encourage him. So you’re managing. In reality, 21 human beings based off what you’re seeing and what you feel like is the most important thing in that moment.

And does that now create some momentum when they go out on the floor? And that’s a constant negotiation with your program and with yourself. And then at the same time, you don’t want to move too fast with your words, with whatever instructions that you’re trying to give to the team that you’re trying to figure out Prepared to have successes next possession.

And whenever you’re going to run, whatever you’re doing, whatever you were saying cause you always have to give confidence by. Help our guys have success, hope our guys gain momentum as soon as they get back on the floor.

[00:18:13] Mike Klinzing: What’s the learning curve been like as an in-game coach having to manage all the things that you have to as a head coach versus being an assistant coach.

What’s that been like? Do you feel like you’ve gotten a better handle on it as you’ve got a couple of games of experience as a head coach under your belt.

[00:18:30] Dwayne Killings: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I’ve actually, I tried to watch the game two or three times after we play. And sometimes I’ll watch myself because again, like whatever energy I’m giving off is our team’s gonna absorb that.

And that’s really important. You know, and you have to manage your frustrations because again, your staff and your. They’re absorbing those things as well. And you know, if you get really frustrated with the rep for reasonable, your staff and your players will also, you get really frustrated what’s happening on the court, then it’s easy for the guys to do that.

And then at the same time, they’re looking for you for inspiration, for energy, for confidence. So I’m thinking about those things. And then at the same time what are you seeing on the floor based on what the, the opposing team is trying to do on offensively and defensively and what opportunities does it present?

But it’s, it’s funny though, like as an assistant coach, I all of it’s not on you so it’s a different. Of emotions that you see. So when you’re throwing things out there, sometimes they’re just ideas, whatever you’re doing next as a head coach, I mean, it impacts the game and you’re, you’re putting it all out there on the team.

And if it’s not right, you have to own that. And that stuff that I think about, and then watching the games and thinking about, okay, what could we have done different right in this moment, especially when you look at key sequences in a game that maybe the game opened up we played Harvard.

If I went back to the last four minutes of the game, I thought there were some things you could have done differently that could have give our program more opportunities for success. So going back through it and then thinking about the next time we’re in that situation, what could we do? How could we run a different play?

How do we handle substitutions different? How can we give them a lineup it’s out there, a better opportunity to have a better possession, defensively or offensively? So that way, just again, I mean, some of it. The repetition our team needs. Some of it is what, what I need, but I feel really confident in what we’re trying to do.

And the way our team has embraced it you know, it feels really good. And I think right now we go out there. I think our team has commanded a level of respect based off how we’ve gone out there and played at someone’s success or individually. I’ve had, so now we’re being scouted different, we’re getting game planned differently.

So now it’s the next set of adjustments for our team for this next set of teams.

[00:21:03] Mike Klinzing: What’s the prep like for each of your opponents, how have you gone about making sure that your team is prepared? What’s the scouting process? How do you assign it out to your assistants?

[00:21:15] Dwayne Killings: Yeah. Each, each one of my assistants they have equal number of Scouts.

It’s just a rotation.  I’m not a big, I know some teams do it now. You know, one guy has a defense. One guy has an offense. One guy has the special situations, out of bounds, wherever you call it. My personal growth. From having Scouts than being able to sit there and game plan and think about what we can do defensively and offensively, getting feedback from guys and working together has been great for me.

And I want that for my staff. I think it can be really helpful and the guys have done a great job just coming up with different ideas. You know, I think we’ve been in really good positions in games, you know? First half the games at the time, major competition. I mean, we’ve gone a locked room, two or three possession games.

And you know, we’ve made some decisions offensively to kind of help the game, kind of get away from us a little bit. So how can we fix that? But I think it’s been really healthy, how we’ve approached scouting. So we’ll go through starting on Sunday for our game Tuesday we’ll go through game prep, tips as a scout.

So we’ll go through personnel first. You know, that was something in our kids. Versus going through what we call the DOC first, they want to know the personnel person they’ll be personnel. We’ll walk you a couple of plays. We’ll defend their actions. You know, on the court in practice on day one, leading up into the game day two, we’ll go through the doc and that’s defense offense culture.

So we’ll go through what we need to do, defensively, what you need to do, offensively, what our culture looks like. So we’ll talk about that. We’ll talk about being the most connected team and that’s sharing the best. Being the toughest team that could be getting 90/10 balls we don’t call it 50 50.

We call them 90/10’s. Kind of go through some of that again, we’ll defend their stuff. And then the day of the game, we’ll walk through your actions one more time and kind of ask questions based on our bounce sideline out of bounds, go through our offensive menu for the game. And then for me, I’ll walk, I’ll listen, I’ll meet with the assistant that has.

They’ll give me their ideas. I’ll listen, I’ll take notes of whatever it is that they’re talking about, then I’ll go through and watch the games. Watch two, three, maybe four games of the opposition. And just kind of almost like I was an assistant again, just kind of put through my own ideas and thoughts.

I’ll go back to them, maybe with some adjustments or, or some ideas of what I have. What kind of figure it out and I’ll do one last, edit the game of it. The day of the game of some things that I think this needs to overemphasize leading up to the game to give our guys opportunities for success. And I’ll look at what other teams have done.

Maybe there’s a wrinkle that we can do to what we do. The guys that come up with really creative ideas defensively to help us come up with. It could be turnovers. It could be adjustments to what we do to fit once a week just to prepare our guys. And although our defense, the numbers don’t show it.

I think we’ve become a really solid defensive team that could grow into a really good defensive team as we continue on our journey throughout the year.

[00:24:14] Mike Klinzing: All right. Let’s end on a positive note. First victory ever, over Eastern Illinois. What was the feeling like as it was happening? And then what’s that feeling like in the locker room with your guys getting an opportunity to celebrate.

And obviously you have to know that, Hey, we got another game coming up and this is one hopefully of many, but how did it feel to get that first one under your belt?

[00:24:35] Dwayne Killings: So great. It felt great for the kids. We needed it. I thought it’s funny. Like one of the things I’ll do the night before the game is I’ll write out some ideas.

Full court just to have it and to get it in my mind. And for that opportunity to come up the last possession of the game to get the ball in Dre Perry’s hands, and he makes the right reads, the ball goes through the net. Justin Neely makes the three was terrific. And then go in the locker room and the kids did what they did.

I mean, you remember that forever and you may not remember the play forever, but you remember the emotions in the locker room forever. And you know, one of the kids said. You know, hopefully brought a shirt in the locker room because they doused me with water. And I did, because I believe, I believe that they were going to win and I believe in our kids and I believe in our program.

And I believe in what we’re doing, that’s impacted. And because I believe that we were going to win that game and also pack one with me for Kentucky, because I believe we were going to win that game. And there was a point in the Kentucky game where I could tell our kids believe that they could win the game.

And that was awesome. I mean, that was terrific to see, because that means there’s great buy-in, there’s great belief in each other and what we’re trying to do. And that’s, that’s all you want. I mean, you got to believe you can do the things we’re trying to do first and foremost.

Otherwise none of it’s gonna be real. So it felt great. And the crazy thing, I guess, is the head coaches. I was thinking like, okay, what do we have to do next? And that’s that was, that was the part that is kinda crazy. Cause you know, my parents text me like how does it feel? And it felt great, but then immediately it was like, okay, what do we need to do next?

You know, because I think as a leader and as a head coach, it’s not about you. It’s about the other kids and staff members in the community and then administration. So it’s hard to think for yourself. There’s so many things that you have to do to get this right. So immediately I just started thinking about others and I think that’s just who I am.

And, and that’s what I’m trying to do is make sure this program impacts people. So to do that the right way, you constantly gotta be consumed in thinking of other people. And that’s what I’m trying to do for our kids, because if we can consume it, they get about our teammates. What’s best for the program.

If we get that right, we’re going to have more success because that means that we’re going to be in the right spot to rotate defensively and help. That means that we’re going to reverse the ball because we’re going to find the best shot that we can. If that’s who I am as a person than I believe that’s going to become who we are.

[00:27:17] Mike Klinzing: And that comes out after a win obviously, but that same mentality comes out after a loss.

And like, I texted you in the immediate aftermath of that first victory, that’s going to be the first of many. So congratulations on that one. And you got along, season’s still ahead of you and your team. I know is going to continue to get better. You’re going to continue to work hard. And I hope that all the recruiting that you’re going to be doing during season.

Yeah. Bringing in a lot of great players that are going to continue to help you to build the program and the can’t. Thank you enough for talking to us here in the car. Appreciate it. And to everyone out there. Thanks for listening. And we will catch you on our next episode. Thanks!