MONTY PATEL – eSTEM (AR) PUBLIC CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL BOY’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH – EPISODE 1133

Website – https://www.estemschools.org/documents/athletics/basketball/high-school/14756

Twitter – @MontyPatel

Email – coachpatel928@gmail.com

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.

Monty Patel is the the Head Boys’ Basketball Head Coach at eSTEM High School in Arkansas.  Monty also serves as the Head Coach for Team Arkansas TBT and is the Director of the AAU Club Off 2 U.  He was previously an assistant coach at Jacksonville, North Little Rock, and Marion High Schools.  He won a state championship at Jacksonville in 2020 as an assistant.  Monty has helped more than 30 of his players play college basketball at various levels. 

On this episode Mike and Monty discuss the impact of relationships—among players, coaches, and parents—on building a successful basketball program. From building trust with players and parents to networking with college coaches, Monty reveals how genuine connections have been key to his success.  Patel reflects on his recent successes, including leading his team to a significant victory in the state tournament, while also addressing the challenges faced along the way, particularly the necessity of maintaining accountability and open communication. He candidly recounts his personal health struggles, which underscore the importance of prioritizing well-being amidst the demands of coaching. Our conversation highlights the overarching theme that basketball extends beyond mere competition; it is a vehicle for fostering growth, resilience, and community. Tune in to discover how relationships can elevate a coaching career and impact players’ lives beyond 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.

Jot down some notes as you listen to this episode with Monty Patel, Boys’ Basketball Head Coach at eStem High School in the state of Arkansas.

What We Discuss with Monty Patel

• How the transformation of the eStem High School Basketball Program was achieved through consistency and dedication over three years
• The importance of maintaining a long-term vision to transform a struggling basketball program into a successful one.
• Why effective communication with parents is essential for fostering a positive environment and addressing concerns about player roles and expectations
• Monty’s experience with health challenges has profoundly influenced his perspective on life, coaching, and the importance of prioritizing health
• The challenges faced during a season can ultimately lead to growth and improvement in the team’s performance
• The importance of resilience and adaptability in leadership
• Coaching success lies in building strong relationships with players, parents, and college coaches, fostering trust and collaboration
• How adapting to changes, such as classification shifts, and leveraging team depth were crucial in achieving success
• How basketball serves as a vehicle for personal and professional growth, creating a network of support and opportunities

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

We’re excited to partner with Dr. Dish, the world’s best shooting machine! Mention the Hoop Heads Podcast when you place your order and get $300 off a brand new state of the art Dr. Dish Shooting Machine!

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.

Hey coaches — you’ve got a game plan for your team… but do you have one for your money?

That’s where Wealth4Coaches comes in.

Each week, they deliver simple, no-fluff financial tips made just for coaches. Whether you’re getting paid for camps, training sessions, or a full season—Wealth4Coaches helps you track it, save it, and grow it.

It’s time to stop guessing and start building.

Subscribe now at wealth4coaches.beehiiv.com/subscribe
And follow them on Twitter @Wealth4Coaches for daily money wins.

Your money needs a coach.
Start with Wealth4Coaches.

THANKS, MONTY PATEL

If you enjoyed this episode with Monty Patel let him know by clicking on the link below and thanking him via Twitter.

Click here to thank Monty Patel via Twitter

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 mike@hoopheadspod.com.

TRANSCRIPT FOR MONTY PATEL – eSTEM (AR) PUBLIC CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL BOY’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH – EPISODE 1132

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

[00:00:17] Monty Patel: I always hope our players respect the fact that I’ll always be in their life and I want to help them out. I feel like what we do and teach and how we do it and how we try to relate will be here for you.

[00:00:31] Mike Klinzing: Monty Patel is the head boy’s basketball coach at eStem High School in the state of Arkansas.

Monty also serves as the head coach for Team Arkansas, TBT, and as the director of the AAU Club Off 2 U. He was previously an assistant coach at Jacksonville North Little Rock and Marion High Schools. He won a state championship at Jacksonville in 2020. As an assistant, Monty has helped more than 30 of his players play college basketball at various levels.

Hey hoop head, Dr. Dish’s 4th of July sale is here from now until July 31st, 2025. You can save up to $4,000 on the top shooting machines chosen and trusted by thousands of coaches across the United States. Secure your Dr. Dish CT Plus All Star Plus or Rebel Plus while supplies last. Learn more at drdishbasketball.com and follow their incredible content @drdishbball on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Mention the Hoop Heads Podcast and save an extra $300 on the Dr. Dish. Rebel All Star on CT models. Those are some great deals Hoop Heads! Get your doctor Dish shooting machine today.

[00:01:40] Joe Crispin: Hi, this is Joe Crispin, head, men’s basketball coach at Rowan University and you’re listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast.

[00:01:48] Mike Klinzing: Jot down some notes as you listen to this episode with Monty Patel, boy’s basketball head coach at eStem High School in the state of Arkansas. Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast.

It’s Mike Klinzing here without my co-host Jason Sunkle tonight. But I am pleased to welcome back to the Hoop Heads Pod for the fourth time. We were trying to debate whether or not this is a record setting appearance for regular episodes, but Monty Patel, head coach at eStem High School, state of Arkansas, I don’t even know what else you got going on, Monty.

So I told you you’re going to freeform for us tonight. Monty, welcome back, my man.

[00:02:27] Monty Patel: Nah, I appreciate you having me. I’m excited.  I enjoy talking with you a bunch, so trying to break the record here.

[00:02:33] Mike Klinzing: There we go. Always thrilled to have you on. So let’s start, gimme the quick update on where you’re at, how how’d your season go this year, and then we’ll dive into some of the nitty gritty of the things that you got going on.

[00:02:44] Monty Patel: Season was good. We finally, we finally flipped the program. We won, we, we won 25 games. We got into state tournament. We upset the number one team. So I mean, season was great this year had the ups and ups and downs, but we peaked when we needed to peak, so that was exciting in itself. ’cause the last, I guess three times I’ve been here an assistant and then I was a loser for two of those years.

So apparently when you’re a loser, you’re the worst coach in the world.

[00:03:11] Mike Klinzing: So what turned it around? What has been the difference as you’ve built the program at Eem? What’s been the keys to your success?

[00:03:20] Monty Patel: I would say a lot of consistency. We I told our sophomores when I got the job, and I was probably a little bullish on myself, but I told our sophomores, like, gimme three years, we’ll turn it around and we’ll figure it out.

I also knew that the chances were in three years, we dropped down one classification in our conference. So that helped a ton. I mean, we were, we were the lowest attended. Five a school playing in the Super conference to where we dropped down to four A and we were playing in still a very, very good conference, but it wasn’t a super conference like we were in.

But I mean, on top of that just being able to have five guys that could play on the court versus three or four and then trying to continue to get 5, 6, 7, and eight kind of helps. So the depth really just kind of helped us a ton this year.

[00:04:07] Mike Klinzing: Tell me about your growth as a head coach.

I know since the moment that I talked to you for the very first time when Greg White connected us and he said, man, Mati is future star in waiting as a coach and I, one thing that I’ve always been struck by is that you’ve always been a guy who’s had confidence in your ability to. Be a great basketball coach because of how much you love it because of your passion for the game.

So in this first experience as being a head coach at the high school level, after all of your years as an assistant coach, what are some areas you feel like you’ve really grown since you first got the job in terms of your ability to be a great high school coach?

[00:04:49] Monty Patel: I think now I trust the process ’cause I’ve actually seen the results.

That takes a lot of time when you’re kind of blind faith. But  the consistency didn’t change. I brought that up a lot with people. It’s like, I didn’t change really anything. I did the first two years versus the third year. If anything, we enhanced and tried to keep building. Consistency was a little better at times and then sometimes a little worse based off the results of you winning.

I think we just, I think the biggest thing I just learned is to not get my head up and down and just continue to just stop away at it. I think I said this before I’m here and then I say it again. One of my coaching mentors had told me that he thinks I’m a builder. And I would learn a lot more from that and I think I did.

And how slower growth is better than, than jumping into like quick success. Because quick success usually means you just had a bunch of really good players and a false sense of confidence when you don’t have as good a players. And so I think that helped a lot. And some other people have noticed that they think I just like to build things and  I kind of think about that in between this, like the high school, the a a U program, the TBT, like I do like to build and it’s actually a lot of fun and I like to see that process like just come to fruition at times.

[00:06:04] Mike Klinzing: So when you’re talking about being a builder, clearly when you start building anything, right, you have to build the foundation. That’s part one. And then there’s all this fancy stuff that you can build on top of the foundation, but it starts with the foundation. So when you think about Monty Patel’s Foundation.

When it comes to building a team or building a basketball program, what are the things that you consider to be the foundation of your program, your team, your coaching?

[00:06:33] Monty Patel: I would say the relationships was probably where the foundation started. I knew we wouldn’t be good. I knew we had a really good player my first year, and if I did everything right and the kid trusted me, then I would have him again the second year.

And eventually that part came to fruition. But really, when he left, he had always told so many people how he loved playing for us, even though we didn’t win, he trusted me with his recruiting and everything that kind of went with that to where a lot of those players heard that when they were looking to move, whether, for many of reasons, aside from just sports, but when they moved to our school, they were like, Hey, we’ve also heard Justin, tell us that  you’re a really good coach and you’re going to help us get to college.

The academics here are strong and everything under the sun for that. So I think relationships had to be the foundation seen as how if you don’t have relationships these days, those kids are gone anyway. Whether it’s mentally or physically. So I think that, and then just instilling work hard and trying to tell kids continuously like, Hey, I want this to be successful, but I think our success is going to come from if we’re trying to play college basketball.

Because if you don’t have a goal in basketball whatsoever, then why are you doing this just to pass time? Because I’m not one of those people that want to pass time. Like, I have goals in this. And so I think we finally got to that point in year three, where we had. Five guys that wanted to play and three of which win, two of which really decided at the end of the year that they were like reflecting that, Hey, all the work we put in, and I love, I don’t think I want to do that the rest of my life or the next four years in college that I think I’m done with basketball and the journey and I can respect that.

I’d rather you fi figure that out early. I was a little disappointed, but you figured it out early instead of figuring out when I put you somewhere and a college coach is, hey, three months in, he’s gone out the door. So I think the relationships is probably the foundation of it all.

[00:08:26] Mike Klinzing: Tell me about not only the relationships to players, but I know one of the things that has been important to you and continues to be, as you just said, is your ability to help kids to get to be able to play at the next level.

So how have you continued to build your relationships with college coaches? And if you’re talking to another high school coach. Through this podcast, what are, what’s some advice you would give to somebody? How do they go about building relationships with colleges in their area, colleges that they potentially could send players to?

What’s been the key for you to build those kinds of relationships?

[00:09:02] Monty Patel: In all honesty, my wife tells me all the time that I have a very big skill of being able to talk my way into things. And it’s like a big skill and it’s not something that I should look down upon. ’cause sometimes it sounds very sleazy, but it’s like I can just build genuine relationships very quickly or just talk about common ground.

And so really, I talked my way into, when I’m on the a a U circuit, there’s probably I’m not going to say which circuit, we’ll just keep that out. But they, they give me the college band. I like find a way to sneak the college band onto me so then I can sit with the coaches that I know and meet other coaches.

Because at the end of the day, whatever I have to do for our kids, whatever I have to do for our kid. But between that  like Ryan Pone got the Arkansas State job and I’ve always followed him and I met him at Alabama last year. And he gave me his number and would send me like playbooks and stuff.

And I had heard, because I’d went to Arkansas State that pone maybe in the mix and I texted him, I was like, dude, I hope you get this job. Like this will be great. And he helped you need, and  I went in his office and I sat around for four hours with him as soon as he got the job and I got down to Jonesboro.

So I think it’s just being genuine to everybody looking to meet people, having things to talk about. And also the college coaches want to know I’m not going to BS them. Like I can’t tell them I have a five foot four kid kid and tell them, hey, he’s dunking everything like, like Mike and shooting 60% from the three and 80% from two.

I, I mean, just having to be real truthful, like I’ve had to tell coaches before when they ask about a certain kid on our a a U team or our high school team, he’s not good enough for y’all’s level yet. I don’t know what his journey’s going to look like in two, three years, but right now he’s not ready for that.

So I’ve have to find him somewhere in older than y’all, and I think that helps a ton. And then obviously I just, I like to network and so just reaching out to people, whether it’s a cold call or whatever, just want to get ahold of somebody and say, Hey, I’m in town. Like for instance, we were at Richmond for a live period and I got a number for Brendan Phillips.

I had VCU and Hey, coach, I know we don’t know each other. Here’s who I am. I wanted to come check out y’all’s facilities, hang out, watch practice, and ended up giving us an hour and a half, two hours of his time. And we talked a lot of ball and it was great. Made a new friend and said hey, this is a place that I would love to send players because I didn’t know your facilities were like this and your resources are like this.

So. Just continuing to network and trying to be as genuine as possible without any kind of BS and sugarcoating involved.

[00:11:28] Mike Klinzing: All right, so the other relationship that is critical, especially as a high school coach, we talked about the players, we talked about college coaches. The last part of the equation is parents, and clearly as a high school coach, I’m sure you’ve heard it talked about, I know I hear it talked about both on the podcast, off the podcast with friends that I know that are in coaching, that your ability to relate, to connect, to bring parents into your program in a positive way rather than, as they’re so often portrayed as a negative.

How do you build relationships with the parents? Of the kids on your team, what do you do to bring them in? Make them feel like they’re a part of your program? Get them on your side, for lack of a better way of saying it. Not that you’re manipulating them, but again, building what you talked about, right?

Genuine relationships where you get them on your side so that they’re advocating for you instead of against you when times get tough.

[00:12:27] Monty Patel: So I really don’t know that I’ve done great with it at times. I’m in parent meetings, I’m very brutal and I tell a lot of people and I go through a PowerPoint, but I kind of may, maybe this isn’t fair, but I’ll also like, but basketball terminology.

And I’ll be like, Hey, well  y’all are yelling at your kid to do X, Y, Z, and y’all can’t even tell me how to ice a ball screen, y’all. Y’all don’t know what our transition rules are, and y’all are just yelling at your kids. And y’all have to understand like, Hey, on the court, we’re the only ones that need to yell at your kids.

And then when you talk to the parents, like every parent wants what’s best for their baby. And I tell them in our meetings, I want what’s best for your baby too. I can only play a certain amount of guys and we’ve have to find the guys that are ready. I tell ’em all the time, it’s like a kid taking a mass test if he’s not ready and he’s going to fail, do you really want him to take it?

And it’s the same thing as getting on the court. Do you really want your son on the court? Where now you hear other kids start yelling at him, you hear other parents start yelling at him and you put him in such a negative environment when he’s not there, there’s time for growth. And that’s a lot of jv.

And then there’s time that I’ll, I’ll try you out and you’ll have a shorter leash. I’m pretty honest with their parents this year. And then they’ll knock on them. This year I probably had a meeting with every single parent, but I’ll tell you the, the coolest thing is how many times I talk to the kids about what’s realistic and versus what’s fake in basketball.

’cause too many people lie to kids. But I had a post player this year, six two, but  post player and just thicker guy. Played for me for three years, bought into what we’re saying. His dad loses it with me middle of a game about what his son should be, this and that. And I automatically tell the kid like, Hey, I know you saw this.

We’re going to have to deal with this. I don’t blame you. I know you love your dad, and I’m glad you have a father in your life because kids don’t have a father or parent. And he’s like, no, coach, I’m, I’m going to deal with it. And so then he talks to the dad, and then the dad doesn’t have anything else to say, like, and he handles it.

And then the next time the parents want to meet about it, I put all of them in a group message. Mom, dad, and the son and myself. I said, Hey, you know so and so your parent wants to meet. We’re going to all sit down together. He was a senior that left early, so I had to make sure he came back to school on time for the meeting.

And then literally 30 minutes later, the parents say, Hey, we’re going to let this kid handle it because he’s a grownup and he’s trying to make the decisions. But the kid was so bought into what his role was and the dad wasn’t bought into what his role was, that it, it caused a lot of friction. And I told him like, look, at the end of the day, I love your son and this is a lot more than just basketball for me.

Yes, I have to do my job, but at the same time, like your son understands what his job is in this program and where he is really valuable. And then when the kid goes home and tells his parent, look, I couldn’t play in this game. They went small ball. I can’t keep up with those guys. They went five out. He understands basketball a lot more with what we do than what the parents do at times because they just want to see their baby play.

And I’m like, I want to see your baby play too. But also he’s not in the gym every single day. He is in the gym while we’re here. Then he is got a job and then he’s got a girl like he don’t put in all the time in the world. And and I really respect that. I gave him the leadership award actually because I was like, dude, you had to do so many uncomfortable things with your parents.

You didn’t want to. And then the parents even loved them to death. They’re like, Hey, can he play division one? And I. No, but I don’t think he wants to play either. And he is like, nah, coach I don’t want to play. I really don’t. I’d do a manager thing or something like that. And so we try to tell the parents stories of kids and try to try to relate to ’em that way.

Like, y’all have to let the long game play out. Quit worrying about the short game. But I think they just get so over like overwhelmed that it’s the last year and this is their last chance and every kid should be division one and NIL and all that when it’s not really true. I hope your son left a better man than he did then he came in.

So I don’t know that I’ve done a great job, but I try to talk to every parent as much as they need. But I always tell them I’m going to talk the kid to first and I’m going to bring the kid in the meeting too. And so we’re all going to sit there and have a pow wow.

[00:16:27] Mike Klinzing: The honesty piece is key, right? You have to be able to tell them the truth.

And I think the other thing that’s interesting there is so often the kid maybe is more bought in or. Is more aware of where they sit in their role on the team than the parent is. And when I hear that story that you just told Monte, I always wonder like, what’s the conversation like at home? Is there a conversation?

’cause it sounds like if there was a conversation going back and forth that the kid would’ve already expressed to dad, like, Hey, this is where I’m at, this is my role, I’m, I’m happy in it and this is what I need to do for us to have success. And hey, I don’t really want to play college basketball. I’m happy playing the high school basketball and doing my thing and  doing what I do off the court.

And sometimes I wonder, I just know and I’m only relating to, again, my own personal experiences, but I know that with my own kids when they’re playing, like I have conversations with them nonstop, trying to figure out and understand what. They’re getting out of it, what their coach wants from them, how that’s all playing itself out and just trying to understand it.

And as I try to figure that out and understand it, I have a much better opportunity then to be able to support my kids in such a way that it also supports their team, their coach, the situation that they’re in. But that’s because there’s a constant dialogue around what’s going on versus it sounds like your situation, like did, did the two people even talk at all?

Did the that was question to,

[00:18:10] Monty Patel: that was the question to me, did, did y’all even talk to your son about this before? Or is he getting blindsided too? Is this about you? Is this about the kid? And the kid always made it about the team and he, he was so excited that we were winning and then you do this while we’re winning and Yeah, like some of the games we lose and it’s like tough games that we lost and I’m already mad.

And then you have to deal with that. And I’m sure he gets embarrassed at times. Like, even I had another kid whose mom came into parent-teacher conference. I’m like, I’m, I’m big about when I see our parents just try to speak to him, bring him into parent-teacher conference and we track a lot of things.

And so I knew where the conversation was go, so it’s kind of manipulating, but I was like, Hey how are you, yada yada yada. And she’s like, well just want to see how he’s doing in basketball. I was like, well, we could talk about it. Let me pull it up. And I knew where the STA sheets were and I’m like, well, he is our 10th best shooter out of 20 guys.

So he’s, he’s 50%, he is bottom five in wins in any games. And we split teams randomly and she just like flips the script on her kid. Well see, I told you you could do better. You have to do better. Like yada yada, yada. And it kind. Stayed out the way. And then I’ve had other parents in our program that are just like, you do whatever you need to with that kid.

He is going to listen and end up story and that’s it. And we don’t really have that much problems. And then I can reach out more. I think the best advice I give to any coaches is as soon as a problem happens in your practice, as long as you have an assistant that can handle something for five minutes, call the parents immediately and just say, Hey, something happened at practice.

I’m letting you know. I will call you back. You and I will speak just before the kid has a chance to say, I didn’t do nothing, coach kicked me out of practice, which is never the case. Coach, coach, sergeant is looking the kid out of practice. So it’s what it is. That’s really, you

[00:19:53] Mike Klinzing: know that, that’s really good advice.

I never heard that before, but that makes a ton of sense to me. Right. You are proactive. I always am a fan of proactive communication, right? So at least in your case, if you step out of practice and you make a phone call, now you’ve prepped the parent. That there’s going to be a deeper conversation. You’ve also, I don’t want to say gotten the first word in, but we all know I’ve been a teacher, I’ve been a coach.

We all know that the kid goes home and the story that the kid tells comparatively to the truth of what actually happened oftentimes is not very accurate, let’s say. And then as a result of that, now the parent who hasn’t heard the true story comes in with their hair on fire because they don’t have the real story.

And the story that they have from their kid isn’t necessarily the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And so now you’re having to put out a fire. Whereas opposed to, if you can get into it right away, and at least again, then the parent knows like, Hey, alright, I can, there’s something that went on. If the coach is going to step out of practice and gimme a call, it makes sense.

I think that’s really a good piece of advice. Monnie, I really do.

[00:21:06] Monty Patel: I have, I have a Google form, like, like you can add website links to your home screen on an iPhone. And I have a Google form that’s just a behavior log. And as soon as something happens, I log in and it timestamps is itself. I don’t tell the parents every single thing, but then whenever these meetings come up or I have to kick a kid out of practice, hey, here’s everything that’s went on for the last month with him and these are the problems I’ve had and now it’s to this point.

So I’m looping you in some of it like, oh, the kid touched that practice, or the kid was missing time. I don’t need to log all that, but like, kid got detention at school. Well, detention’s a level one, that’s not a big deal, but when you start getting ISS and you start getting this, I immediately call. But even at our parent meetings, I tell them, I ask them all the time, why do I get more calls about playing time than our teachers do about your kids’ grades?

Like, I’m checking your kids’ grades more than y’all are. And that’s very, very backwards here. And so, I dunno, again, I’m probably too much of a prick about it, but I it’s, it’s worked so far until it doesn’t. And I told our, I told one of our coaches, like, I’m actually. If a kid starts 10th grade with me, at least in the last three years, I haven’t lost a kid in the portal yet.

They all stay and like the, the ones that we wanted to stay, obviously if we cut a kid, then that’s something different, but the ones we wanted to keep, they’ve stayed in our program and continue to grow.

[00:22:21] Mike Klinzing: All right. Let me ask you this self-assessment. If a kid, if I go to a kid that has played for Monty Patel and I say, Hey, what do you love about playing for Coach Patel?

What is that kid going to say? Or what do you hope that kid’s going to say?

[00:22:36] Monty Patel: Well, I ask at the end of the year, I keep a survey for them. I have a whole 30 question Google sheet for them to just rip me as much as they want or get Google form. But a lot of ’em say they love that, I’m honest. They, they’ll tell me if I’m, if they’ve had a problem with something like the year before, like I know one of our kids said, I just don’t feel like JV was valued.

And I really took that to heart. And the next year I really, really like this past year, I really put more time into our culture and our team. And I was like, was this better this year from you? And they’re like, so much. And he didn’t play even, he still did JB but he is like, he was so much better. I felt more involved.

This was a lot more fun. So I think, I think they know I listen, I think they know I’m going to give them my all, they might not always like the answer. I think they know I’m sometimes too harsh and I know that too. Sometimes I get too quick triggered. I think that’s just the young and inexperienced in me at times that I try to tone down.

But year after year I go through the surveys and just to kind of see what kids are feeling altogether about the program because then you can also get a gauge of if they’re staying or leaving or where that conversation goes. But I mean, I think, I think if you ask them and what they see about me, it’s just that, hey, I do care.

I’m going to try to get them exposed. I’m going to be honest with them. I’m going to be hard on them. Yes, I do cuss at our kids at times and that’s more of a desensitizing tool to when they get to college, they survive. ’cause you and I both know college is. A lot crazier than than high school. And sometimes it’s a shell sock shock and I don’t want our guys to be like shook by any of it.

I want him to be ready. But  I’m sure, I’m sure sometimes I get the, well, he doesn’t care about me. And I feel like that always relates to, do you think I don’t care about you or do you think I don’t care about you because your minutes column wasn’t up? And it usually goes back to the minutes.

And I tell them all the time, and I tell our parents this all the time, all of your kids are going to be miserable and all of your parents will be miserable if your happiness is relied upon or like related to the minutes played. And if that’s the case, then, then your toast like, because I’m not going to make any of you happy.

We, we, our highest player went division two juco and he played 22 minutes a game and broke the state three point record. He 22 of 32 minutes, he sat a whole quarter. And I know parents aren’t going to be happy about that, but we produce.

[00:24:51] Mike Klinzing: I think there’s something to be said there in terms of the disconnect between minutes and the experience that you have, right?

And in the moment. I think it’s difficult sometimes for players to understand that I can speak from a parent perspective that sometimes it’s difficult for a parent to understand that, and yet, ultimately what it comes down to when I look at a basketball experience, whether it’s as a player, as a coach, as a parent, whatever, what you really want it to be is about the experience, and you want that experience to be a positive one.

When I look back on all the seasons that I coached, whatever it was, 13, 14 years as a varsity assistant coach, or I look back on my years playing college basketball or playing high school basketball, the number of games. Stat lines that I remember from any of those games is, I mean, it’s extremely minimal, let’s put it that way.

And what I look back on is I look back on the totality of the experience. Now that doesn’t mean that in the moment I wasn’t competitive and it wasn’t super important to me ’cause it was man, I mean, I was living and dying with my own performance as a player. My own performance as a coach, our performance as a team, whatever in, in the moment.

And that, that’s the most important thing, probably in the moment you feel that. And yet at the same time, 10 years later, what’s important is. The experience and the relationships that you build. And that goes back to what you talked about a few minutes ago, right? Where you’re building relationships with your players, you’re building relationships with college coaches so you can help your players and help yourself.

You’re building relationships with parents ultimately so that you can help the kids that are the parent, the, the parents or the kids of, and you know what I’m saying? It’s just, I think there’s, there’s so much that goes into it and sometimes we focus so much on, to your point, the minutes column or the, the one loss record that we forget that there’s a whole bunch of other things that go into determining what success looks like and no matter how competitive we are.

In the moment, we’re always going to want to win. We’re always going to want to do our best. And hopefully we can do that, as you said, by creating an environment that allows everybody to, to thrive and flourish regardless of whether you’re playing two minutes or you’re playing 30 minutes. And when you’ve done that, that’s when you really know you’ve, you’ve found success as a coach.

[00:27:14] Monty Patel: I think, I think our players really probably knew what kind of man I was. We, we had to remove a kid off of our team this year especially, and it was in postseason play. It was before our state tournament game, and it was just too detrimental, it was too toxic. And we tried to help and it just wasn’t working.

And I promised the kid before the season even started in their private, I was like, Hey, whatever happens, I’m going to be in your life for as long as you want me to be. But that doesn’t mean that you have to be on the team. Right. And so we had removed the kid and then I knew the kid didn’t want to talk to me.

He had told me he hated me. He told me he didn’t want nothing to do with me. We had went a long meeting with our, with our ad or principal about it. Hurt me to have to do it, but it just needed to be done. And our, and our team kind of did a lot better of a job with it. But then I still got him a college offer almost a full ride.

He was like 3000 out of pocket that he could have found pretty easy and he can find, and the relationship ended up coming back like, look, I told you I wasn’t quitting on you. But at that time you had lost every opportunity you had with us. And I think the kids really realized that, Hey, I’m going to do whatever I can to help a kid, but I’m not going to lie.

And I called their college the college that he’s going to, and I said, Hey, here’s the situation. Kid can play. He has some issues he has to work through. Maybe getting out of GL Rock will help him a ton. But  y’all are going to have to really keep your thumb on him. And I told the kid, and I told the kid right in front of him when I was talking to the college coach, like, and he, he knew and he, I asked him even a couple weeks after that, like.

Do you think I made the wrong decision? And he finally came back and he is like, no, you, you did what you needed to. Like it needed to be done. And I you were right. I didn’t take care of all my opportunities. So I think kids, kids and like people figured out what I was, ’cause the you, you, the kid was loud enough in our community, which is fine, like about how te off he was with me and people knew we had let go of him.

And it was always it’s not your fault. Coach Patel is X, y, Z, but he came back and then it, it works itself out for him. But I don’t want to ever give up on a kid.  some kids need a change of scenario. Sometimes kids need a kick in the bud. I’m, I’m more hoping in 15 years he doesn’t need a kick in the butt.

If, if, if it can be cost you in high school, it’s way easier than it will be 15 years from now. So I hope that always resonates with our guys.

[00:29:36] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely. A kick in the butt when you’re 15. It’s a lot different than the kick in the butt when you’re 34, right? It’s, it’s a little, the con the consequences of those two kicks are a little bit, are a little bit different.

They’re a lot lower when you’re 15 and you don’t have nearly as much to as much to lose, and you got a little bit more of a support system around you than you do when you get to be  when you get to be an adult that the, the netting, the netting around you when you’re walking the highwire isn’t isn’t, isn’t quite as sturdy down there below you.

So, yeah, I think when you can, when you can do something to help a kid, and I think what that story that you just told speaks to the power that a coach or a teacher has, right? Where you can be tough, you can have expectations, you can have a kid not meet expectations, so then they are removed from that situation.

But it’s, you’re not, you don’t have to remove the kid from your life and they don’t have to remove you from their life, that it can still be something that can turn out to be a positive, which in the moment feels negative. But in the long run, again, especially like you just said, in this case, here’s a kid who came to the realization that, Hey, this was the best thing for me.

It didn’t make me feel like that in the moment, but man, it, it, it helped to, helped to turn the kid’s life around. And sometimes I think we, we forget that sometimes by making the tough decision that we think, oh, let’s let the kids stick around. And I it’s not that it’s not that big of a deal and we can, we can work through it.

Same thing as a parent.  you can, you can kind of let your kid, oh let’s, let’s let it slide this time. They had something big planned with their friends and they didn’t do what we asked them to do, but let’s we feel bad if they don’t get to do it. But then guess what? Your kid learns that they can take advantage, player learns they can take advantage of you.

And before you know it, you’ve just created a problem. You’ve created a situation where the kid thinks they can get away with stuff, that eventually they’re going to get somewhere in life where somebody is going to hold ’em accountable and they’re not going to be ready. And I know that one of the things you believe in, you’ve already said it multiple times, is you’re trying to prepare your kids and your players for what’s next.

And I think sometimes we forget that as, as, as coaches, parents, teachers, educators, it’s easy to sometimes lose sight of that because we think we’re doing the kid a favor by maybe going soft on ’em a little bit, when really what they need is some tough love that eventually is going to pay off.

[00:32:04] Monty Patel: Nope, I agree a hundred percent.

I just, I always hope our players respect the fact that I’ll always be in their life and I want to help them out. But  I see some, some kids in some programs and I know they’re kids at the end of the day and I just wish the programs would hold ’em more accountable and. They wouldn’t, it wouldn’t go down a, a worse path than, than what I feel like what we do in teach and how we do it and how we try to relate, like what we’ll be here for you type of deal.

But it doesn’t always work like that. And sometimes people just want to win at all costs. And I, I don’t, I will  we kicked off a kid rotation during tournament time and that’s part of it, and we’ll, we’ll deal with it, but I can’t just win at all cost. I have, I have to have some morals about me.

[00:32:46] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely.

Coaches, you’ve got a game plan for your team, but do you have one for your money? That’s where Wealth For Coaches comes in. Each week we’ll deliver simple, no fluff financial tips made just for coaches. Whether you’re getting paid for camps, training sessions, or a full season, wealth for Coaches helps you track it, save it, and grow it.

It’s time to stop guessing and start building. Subscribe now at Wealth for coaches.beehive.com/subscribe and follow us on Twitter at Wealth for coaches for daily money wins. Your money needs a coach. Start with Wealth for coaches

all since the last time we talked marriage has become part of your life.

Our family becomes a big part of making decisions coaching wise, and now you’re dividing your time and having a look and bring your family aboard. So tell me a little bit about that.

[00:33:49] Monty Patel: Man, we’ve been planning the wedding since before season even started. So Indian weddings, if you don’t know last about five days.

A lot of planning had a wedding planner. And then between her and I, we were zooming a lot ’cause we’re long distance and we’re still long distance in our marriage right now. So trying to balance that between practices, game and everything else just to get to that point. And now we’re a month in, it really doesn’t feel like anything’s changed.

I just have a ring on my finger now instead. That’s about it. But we, we, we, I moved her into a new place and then I go right back into a a u right after. And so it’s like basketball when I, when I need to, and then the marriage. But  she’s in fellowship and she’s. She’s studying for her boards and exams that she has to do.

So not too much has changed. Aside from we’re finally glad we’re done wedding planning ’cause that’s where a lot of our time went to in, in, in that whole process. But no, I mean, I couldn’t be happier. I’m, I’m glad I found the right one for me. And even a lot of people at the wedding will ask you like, I don’t know how you pulled this off with her.

I have no idea. But it’s great. I love it.

[00:34:59] Mike Klinzing: Recruit right under five star, you know’s, into, does she know what she’s getting into? Marrying a coach?

[00:35:06] Monty Patel: Oh, she does. She, we we’ve been together for six years, so she’s seen it all. She’s seen me being an assistant, she’s seen me resign out of a position that wasn’t good for me anymore.

To, to try to work up different conversations and ladders and getting the e-stim job and then losing and now seeing us win and seeing where I was. And really, she probably couldn’t tell you if my mood was any different. It was just, she knows, like, I’m just more engulfed in the process of it, you know.

She’s got to watch the TBT games on tv. And she’s came to a a u trips, which make it fun because then we’re just in a different city together and try to get like a nice dinner while we’re watching the kids and one of the assistants are in charge of them, so can’t complain. Too bad too much about it.

So there you go. Not too much change for us so far. Now when we live together, that’s when we, we told each other when we lived together after nine years of dating and engagement and marriage. We might kill each other, but who knows how that goes. I’ve got a big life insurance policy for myself. Just for her.

[00:36:02] Mike Klinzing: There you go. Totally under, totally understand. What are you looking forward to in the next six months? What are you looking forward to the most?

[00:36:09] Monty Patel: I like our team. We had a really good team camp, which I tell our kids team camp. There’s no banners, there’s no banners in any gyms for camps, but I was really, really liked the way our team played.

So I’m excited about that. I’m excited for a new role. I’m now assistant athletic director at our school. They kind of gave me a bump there, so just to reward me for the things I’ve done at the school and how much I help our ad already. And he needed help anyway, so the title helps there. Honeymoon’s coming up soon, so I’m going to take a week off and my assistant coach are going to be in charge just to figure it out and kind of keep getting their voice with the kids.

Then we come back and start getting ready for another smoked out season where, where we’re not ducking anybody. We’re ready to play and we’re ready to have a good time. And we’ll take the ups and downs where they go. And aside from that, just what marriage brings and hopefully some more travel and get food.

Where’s the honeymoon? We’re going to go to Costa Rica. Nice. I didn’t really know anyone there in, in terms of just trying to find a practice to go sneak into or anything like that. But I’m still going to be on the hunt just to see if there’s any hoops around there that I can go to. But now we’re going to, Costa Rica got a couple places booked that we’re going to switch one all inclusive to another just to enjoy ourselves.

So can’t complain about that. But it’ll be a good little time a week away.

[00:37:27] Mike Klinzing: Have you been there before?

[00:37:28] Monty Patel: Never. Never. We’re going to try to always go, go to a different country. Yeah. I’m excited. I’m excited. I can’t, I can’t wait.

[00:37:34] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, there’s good stuff. My, I, my, my wife, my daughter did a spring semester in Costa Rica, so she was there for the, this entire past spring semester of college.

And my wife and my younger daughter because of the way all of our spring breaks and our family sort of interacted, my son and I couldn’t, we couldn’t go on the trip, but they went down there this time to visit my daughter while she was down there for that semester. But we went as a family probably. I don’t know, maybe five, six years ago.

And we stayed we stayed at the beach for like two days. We stayed in the like in the cloud forest for two days and then we were so, and then we went by the r and l of the volcano. So we saw like three different regions of the country. And it was just in Jose or Liberia.

[00:38:23] Monty Patel: Say that again. San Jose or Liberia.

Where’d y’all fly into?

[00:38:26] Mike Klinzing: We flew into San Jose. We flew into San Jose. We’re on the Liberia side and then, okay, gotcha. Yeah, so it’s, I mean, it’s just a beautiful country and people were super friendly and it was kind of cool ’cause we had this, we booked it through a a company that. Maybe I can get ’em to sponsor me, but it was anywhere Costa Rica, and they basically, they arranged the whole thing.

So it was like we had a driver that would pick us up at the hotel and drive us to the next, drive us to the next place. So we got to see you’re seeing like the countryside and how people are really living there. And it’s crazy. I would never want to drive there. But like the, we’re riding in the van and people are riding the bikes on the side of the road and they’re, the bike does, the bike doesn’t move from the side of the road and the car doesn’t waver from going straight.

And so the, the, the, the driver’s side mirror is whizzing by these bike riders heads by like it’s missing their head by like a quarter inch. And neither the driver of the, of the van or the bikes, they don’t, they don’t flinch at all. I was like, oh man, it’s crazy. But it was great. Man. You, you’re going to have a, you’re going to have a good time, man.

[00:39:26] Monty Patel: Fun. I’m excited. Hey, I’m excited about that. I can’t, I can’t wait for that. Let you not. Oh man.

[00:39:33] Mike Klinzing: What do you got going on? What do you got going on this summer, man? What’s happening?

[00:39:36] Monty Patel: Well let’s see. When. Now we have camps, now we’re getting ready to start school next week, and then it, then it’s just back to the grind of everything.

 dealing with, dealing with a bunch of the health stuff that I’ve had going on. So, so messing with a bunch of that from last season and just hoping everything kind of goes up from there. But aside from that, I hope just long life and hoops and good food and great time with my wife and family.

[00:40:03] Mike Klinzing: What, when do you start, when’s your first day of school? When do you guys go back? Oh, next Wednesday.

[00:40:08] Monty Patel: Man, that’s early. Yeah, we start way too quick. It’s crazy. Hopefully, hopefully some, when did you, when,

[00:40:13] Mike Klinzing: when

[00:40:13] Monty Patel: do you guys get out? When do you get out? Oh, we got out like late May. Late late May. We, because we’re a charter, we start a week earlier than everybody, two weeks earlier than everybody.

But then we’re on contract a week earlier, so we’ll have a fall break in October that we’re out, that most us aren’t. Okay, so is what?

[00:40:30] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, going back in July, man, I went back last year on August 6th and I thought, I thought that was. Insane man going back in July.

[00:40:40] Monty Patel: That’s rough mess. Well, I can’t handle that.

Oh, I like my summers a little bit and traveling with aau, I mean, hey, since, since late February I’ve been out of town every single weekend since till starting next Wednesday and that that’ll be the first weekend I’ve been in Little Rock myself. Otherwise, I’ve been just living out of a suitcase. I don’t know, a time that I’ve got to spend a weekend at home since maybe one.

So part of it, part of the life we live.

[00:41:07] Mike Klinzing: What’s been your favorite tournament? What’s your favorite place you guys went to? AAU Wise

[00:41:12] Monty Patel: Richmond was fun. I mean we were there a few days. Facilities were nice. Tried out a bunch of different food. Brian was solid. I’d never been to College Station. Bucky just got that job.

I kind of talked about being at his practice and so I went and checked out their facilities and kind of what they had going. And God, if I could afford a Noah, the a hundred thousand dollars Noah in my high school, I would do it any day of the week. The thing’s awesome. And they had that. But  I tried to just go check out a practice wherever I can.

We were in Wichita, that was solid, Norman solid. And then we went to Memphis. So really, they’re all, they all just kind of run together. Best thing is I just kind of traveled around and got to see people and eat some good food and take the kids out and whenever we did and hang out with them and build some relationships.

[00:41:55] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, it’s fun. A a u weekends are a lot of fun and you definitely get, get, get to be connected to your players. It’s, it’s just, it’s just fun to hang around and I miss it when my son, so now he was a sophomore at Ohio Wesleyan. So now, not last year, but the year before  we went and I wasn’t coaching this team.

I was just along for the ride as a parent. But  I think we played I think we played 10. I dunno, maybe 10 weeks out of 11 in a row and all out of town, like, not super out of town. We weren’t going across the country, but we played, we played in Indiana, we played in Ohio, we played in Pennsylvania.

So they, but we were out at, but we were in hotels every weekend. And yeah, it’s just, man, it’s fun. I mean, it’s just, it’s just a lot of fun to be able to be able to do that and play and so yeah. Good times, man. Good times. Tell me about the state tournament this year, man.

[00:42:48] Monty Patel: Oh, obviously we’d sucked and we not being in the state tournament we have a regional and a state tournament.

Now. If you go to 4:00 AM below, you have to do the regionals. You have to win a game in regionals, and then you can play two more games to seed for state. We came in as a three. We played a team one of their coaches is a buddy of mine the head coach of, of Clinton High School was a friend of mine and there’s a few kids I know from that team.

So I’m like, ah, we matched up to each other. We talking about we don’t want to match up to each other. We’re trying to avoid that at all costs. He wins an overtime game, bumps to the two. So now we’re playing each other. I kid you not one, probably one of the best basketball games I’ve ever been in my entire life from any level.

We, we started the game down nine Oh. And I’m like, we’re about to get ran out of here. And if you, if you know their school, they’re going to pack it out. Wait, our school, our school had never done a pet bus. So I had convinced our principal to get a pet bus, get our students there, were like, we’re going to need all that energy.

We’re going on the road. It’s a true road game because the Quain is also hosting the state tournament or the regional tournament. And we show up and I mean they’re packed their, their student sections on us and they start off three threes in a row. They all started big country dudes, six five guys.

And I’m like, oh God, we’re about to get ran out this gym in regional. We’re down nine. Oh, take your time out like you always do. We, we get past the first jitters, we end the quarter up 21 to 15 at that point. And then go into halftime up four kid. You not, they go in the third quarter, they hit six threes in a row, consecutive possessions.

We are down 12 at this point now. And I’m sitting here and I look at our assistant. I was like, if we lose this game, I’ll, I’ll live just, I’ll sleep just fine because we played our butts off, found a way, got up five or got up six. Their best player hits a three to cut it in half. Luckily we make free throws and then like they didn’t have any timeouts left.

I knew regardless if we turned it over or not, we wouldn’t have to take the ball out. So I told one of our kids just chunk, chunk the ball, let them catch it, shoot a half court shot, and if it goes in, great. They got three points win by two or whatever it was. And we ended up winning the game by four to qualify.

Dude, it’s crazy ’cause the, the high lows of this is nuts. ’cause you’re, you’re really high. You go down, you lose the next two games in regional. So you walk into the state tournament as a four seed where a lot of the riders in Arkansas had who were playing as the number one best team in the state. I’m calling friends and I’m, I’m talking to coaches, like, what do you think?

What do, they’re out. They’re freaking good. They’re freaking good. And we go out and play them and they start off again. Nine Oh. And I’m like, oh, we’re about to get ran out this gym that’s now going to be good. We convinced our student sections to get, come, get to come two and a half hours away. Our superintendent’s, first time he’s made our basketball game, so I’m like, the first time all year, new superintendent, he’s ever made a basketball game for us.

So I’m like, we’re going to get drove out this gym.  we’re, I think we’re down four by the end of the first quarter and then we go into the second quarter, we go on an incredible run where we’re up 16 and I’m like, are we going to blow these dudes out? Go in the third, fourth. The game ends up going into overtime.

And I’m like, oh my God, we’re, we’re overtime. The momentum’s not for us, is the number one best team in the state for four a. We, I don’t know what it’s going to look like. And one of our kids just played his butt off and obviously our team did everything we could to win. It’s two big threes. We’re up six with about two minutes left.

We end up winning this game huge for us. And our social media team let everybody in the state had it. ’cause they had the recordings of all the beat riders and all the media guys like, oh, we love Easton and we love Monty, but for city all the way, no one had us winning. And so they, they posted all that stuff out.

So we had a good little time with that. But I’m telling you that when I say the highs and lows of life, the next day I go to Scout. And so I’m, I’m, I came back, we came back to school that night. I go to school the next day, then I’m going to go scout. I’m staying at a hotel in town and then I’m going to wait on the team to show up.

So we practice 7:00 AM that day. And I. I get a call ’cause I’ve been experiencing kidney stones. The, the, when the Clinton won the overtime game, I’d been, I was experiencing kidney stones. We didn’t know what it was. Had a few CT scans and I’m 45 minutes from going to scout this game. My doctor calls me and he’s just like, you have a tumor and we think it’s cancerous.

And I was just like, everything stopped. And I was like what do I do? What, what is going on? Obviously my wife, she’s in oncology and she’s going to be dealing with this stuff. And he, he’s like, look, I don’t want you to freak out. It’s this size. We’re going to, we’re going to refer you. I don’t know when they can get you in.

And now, now you’re starting to have really tough conversations in life. And I’m sitting here like. What the hell am I going to do about this basketball game? And so I call, I call my wife and she’s at work. She’s like, Hey. And like we, we we’re very direct with each other. When we answer the phone, if we’re at work, like, Hey, I’m in practice, I’ll call you back.

And I just hang up and she knows. And so she called. I call her and she’s like, Hey, I’m at work. I’ll call you back. I said, no, no, no. I need you right now. And she’s like, what’s up? I was like, they have a tumor. And it’s just, they, my doctor thinks it’s cancer and you’re sitting there and kind of in silence.

She’s like, okay, what else do you know? I was like, I really don’t try to get my doctor back on the phone. I did. And we kind of had a merged conversation and just, so I was like, look, I have to go scout this game. Not going to let these kids down. Let me get, we’ll just, we’ll talk whenever I get done. And I go to this scout game and I’m like, in between both teams trying to scout everything, trying to keep this crap off my mind.

But then I had to call my principal and tell her, I hadn’t even told my ad, I just told my principal and confidence like, look. If this has to happen, then I’m going to alert our ad. I don’t want that many people to know. And then I had to call my assistant hunter and I was like, look man, here’s what’s going on.

And there’s a very good chance that if they get me into the, the the kidney cancer or the kidney doctor I’m going to, I’m going to leave and I’m not going to coach the state tournament game. You’re going to have to do it. And then, then we’ll answer the questions that we need to. So we go my Dr. Kak, he’s like, he can’t get me in until that Monday or Tuesday.

The guy that I work for in a a u is like very big time guy in the state these very well known does well for himself. Well, I called him, I was like, look man, I know you know some people, I don’t really ask you for much. I need you to get me into the best like kidney doctor like kidney cancer, whatever.

And he is like, oh my God, like I’m make some phone calls. So he is like, I got you in somewhere Tuesday and I really think you should go to this place. So I trusted his word for it and said, okay. I’ll go here and I’ll just deal with whatever I have to deal with this weekend. And like I tell our kids all the time that we, we say that basketball can change you, but I didn’t play basketball for, for this guy.

I just worked for him in a a u and how much he, he saved me in that because he got me in. So we lose the next round game and I blame myself more for maybe not being focused enough in Scout or overlooking an opponent or whatever it needed to be. But  we lose that game. I haven’t told my players yet.

I haven’t told anybody that, or aside from like a very tight-knit circle. I talked to my wife about it. We get back to Little Rock and I’m just, I’m dreading this appointment Tuesday and they made it really easy on Tuesday. And then he is like, look, we have a kidney cancer specialist on staff.

We’ll get you in with them next week. And we’ll, we’ll, we’ll figure everything out. And so you go to the next week and do that and deal with that and any cancer specialist. And  I learned a lot and from listening to my wife as a doctor, you want your surgeons to be like very arrogant, confident, like, like tho that’s what those, their job is.

They have to be very confident. And he is like, look, this is the tumor. We’re going to get you into surgery. Like, at some point I was like, look, how fast can I get this surgery? Like I’ll do it tomorrow if I have to. He’s like, I can actually get you in the following Tuesday if you want me to. And like my, well my wife told me, she was like, those appointments usually don’t come for three to four months, and he got you in that fast.

Like you had some right phone calls for you. I was like that, that damn basketball. And so that following Tuesday I had surgery and I had it removed and that was a, a three week window. And then you, you’re out another week and me, I don’t sit still. I’m, I’m very bad at sitting still.

And so it’s it’s Saturday. It’s Sunday and I’d have just post-surgery. My wife had left. She was like, you’re okay. You’re moving around fine. Like I can leave. I trust that your health is fine. My sister’s a nurse, so she came to the house and Sunday I was like, I’m tired of sitting here. And so I just got in the car road day, you practice just to watch our kids.

I was her first practice of the weekend and I just dove back in and like I was ready to go back to work Tuesday and my boss was like, you do not need to be at work. But she worked with me so well that I just did half days for the week. So I didn’t run out of days because she knew I’d be gone for a a u.

But point being like how, how much of a high I was on from four, I’m telling you like, like I got to my phone eventually and you get excited to see your friends, be excited for you. Like every, everybody does. It’s natural to like the amount of text messages and phone calls I had missed from state tournament to the interview to all this from after we win that game to just, I’m on a complete 180.

And it’s probably one of the craziest things I’ve been a part of. And like, luckily I found out in April that my margins were clear and  it was cancerous. I had, I had renal cell carcinoma. It’s called incidental cancer. We would never actually find out about it unless something else showed up, which was the kidney stone.

So what I found out was kidney stones saved my life. And I asked the doctor where the kidney stones came from. He said, he said, peanuts or cokes or, or chocolate. I was like, well, shoot, this is all I eat on a, a u trips and road trips as a basketball coach, there’s not that much you can eat when you’re at gas stations all the time.

But those, those actually changed my life. So now, I guess in October I had my first scan and now I’m going to be a part of that life for the next five years of getting scanned, checking in and doing all those things. But man, I, like, I told my kids like I brought ’em together. I was watching practice ’cause again, I couldn’t just sit at home and.

And they knew at that point. I told everybody, like in, in our group message, like, Hey, here’s what’s going on. And I was like, look, and I was trying not to cry then even, heck, I’m trying not to cry now, but even like thinking about it, I was like, that basketball just for me, working with y’all and wanting to be a part of a a u got me a network to where this happened very, very fast.

Because, I mean, I walked into the, the doctor’s office and he was like, so, you know so and so, and I was like, oh yeah, I been with the right guy. Like, he, he got these phone calls in for me. But man, I tell you what, that was probably one of the wildest journeys of 2025, I mean, of, of wife, but 20, 25 so far has been the most up and down thing.

’cause then we’re sitting there and I’m talking to my wife and I’m like, what? Like you have to have some hard, hard conversations. And I did. I knew I had a real one ’cause she was like this, whatever happens we’re here. And I was like, babe, like if this is like bad, like if this is like stage four and I’m not making it, we don’t have to get married.

Like I don’t want you to have to deal with this. We’ll separate. We’ll do whatever we need to. And she’s like, are you, are you crazy? She was like, what? Whatever happens, it’s going to happen. But, but I’m here and  you really find out what you have in a partner. So it was it was very, very tested to me and kind of what, what I think of life and like my perspective has changed so much and now I’m like just so antsy a lot of times.

Like there’s something wrong with me, I got a headache and I’m like, am I dying? But now I’m kid you not you, you learn a lot and  again, that basketball will change in many different ways.

[00:54:32] Mike Klinzing: I think what’s inspiring about that story, matIs when something like that happens to you, right? You in the lead up to it, you’re focused on basketball, right?

You’re winning a game, you’re going to scout. It’s the most important thing that you got going on in the moment. Then you get this thing that happens, that you start to realize that there’s things that are more important than basketball and your health obviously is number one. Without that, none of us really have anything, and then as the health situation gets taken care of, right, what do you want to go back to?

You want to go back to basketball. And part of the reason for that is that again, and I think this is something that, I don’t know if it’s unique to basketball, but I do think basketball is, I’m not sure that people in every sport feel the same way that you do about the game or the way I do about the game or just the way the basketball community feels about the game.

And that is that so much of the game, like our lives have been made immeasurably better by the game of basketball and I can never give back to the game of basketball. Would. Has given me, and here’s you talking about the network of people, right? That you know that you’ve built, that you talked about off the top, genuine relationships, right?

And here, there was a time where you needed something and somebody in your basketball network reached out to be able to help you. And I think what it says to me is that, again, basketball is the vehicle that we all use to make our lives better, but also make the lives of the people that we get a chance to interact with better.

And sometimes somebody in your network does something for you and sometimes you do something for somebody in your network. But the ball, I go back to Greg White, right? He always says the ball has magic in it. And I think that that story that you just told is one that. Not everybody can relate to your diagnosis and the experience that you went through with cancer, but I think people can relate to the idea that basketball is the thing that you love, that you’re going to, and even in times of need, in times of distress, you want to get back to basketball.

And because that’s where, that’s where your life lies. And that’s what’s been a critical part of it. And it’s also what allows you to give the gifts that you have to other people. And that’s, I think there’s a powerful message in that story that you told, obviously from a personal standpoint for yourself.

But I think there’s a greater message just that basketball and the basketball community is just, it’s an amazing, it just is an amazing thing that I don’t think that. Lots of other professions, even lots of other sports. I don’t think the, I don’t think the connection is the same. And maybe I’m wrong because I’m only in the basketball community, but man, it’s, it’s special man.

And I, I just, I appreciate you sharing that story, Monty. I think it, I think it’ll resonate with, with a lot of people

[00:57:47] Monty Patel: and it’s, it’s just crazy how much I, I was talking to a division one coach I won’t name him, but I was, he was, he kind of knew about the story and we were talking about it and he’s like, shoot, I need to get checked.

And our healthcare system sometimes is screwed because I could, I could hop a fight to Indio right now and I can get a CT scan cheaper than I can’t ask him for it in the US because something’s have to be wrong with you due to insurance. And then you even learn, like, like when I’m going into pre-surgery, he comes in and he like.

Hey, we can only keep you 23 hours. They told us this surgery, you’re only allowed to be here 23 hours. We’re like, when the heck did insurance companies start telling me a doctor? How long you be here? And I, and you’re just like, what, what is this? And and then you, you figure out who your support system is.

You figure out who’s willing to help when, when you needed, when you needed it the most. You, you learn a lot about just people altogether that FaceTime, check in, even those little things and not, not saying the people that didn’t reach out weren’t were any less like, like I didn’t tell a lot of people, heck, I didn’t tell my parents till four days before surgery.

’cause I just knew what it do to my mom. And my, my my, my dad, he thinks he’s a doctor. He is like, ah, it’s probably nothing. It’ll go away and whatever. And my mom’s really, really worried. But just with, with all of it, it’s like, like F cancer, you’re, you have it now. Now whatcha going to do to fight back?

And luckily I didn’t have to do a lot of fighting because. I got very lucky and I didn’t have to do chemo. I didn’t have to do any kind of medicine aside from like some pain medicine they gave me. So I was, I mean, I was very fortunate in, in those kidney stones more than anything. Like the, just the pain that I went through.

I thought literally, I thought it was freaking what Larry’s pizza, a local chain here in Arkansas. I thought that’s what really screwed me up because like my side had never hurt that bad and I’m in fetal position, but literally while I’m in fetal position, I’m watching this overtime game to see like who we’re playing and what they do and those type of things.

Just trying to get through it. ’cause I wasn’t going to be able to sleep with how much pain I was in. But I mean life, life just was so much in perspective. Like, hey, is it you ask yourself this and you think about it like, we have such a finite time, obviously, but is it really worth spending 12 months coaching where you don’t get to travel, where you don’t get to go see things?

You’re not, you’re not experiencing the world. Some part of it’s like, yeah, because I’m I’m helping the young and I’m, I’m trying to give back, but at what time are like, I sat there thinking to myself like, when, when am I going to be selfish about me? When, when am I going to go try to do things I want to do and like I want to do with my wife and I want to do with my parents and my sister and my, her family and then like my wife’s family and friends and when you’re missing days and you’re sitting here like, oh, if, if you miss too many days in school, you’re going to get docked whatever your daily rate of pay is.

And I’m like, I’m kind of like, screw the daily rate of pay. Like if I want to go to Costa Rica, I’m going to go to Costa Rica. Like I want to seek things. Yep. So it, it was just, it was such an intense, really six months between conference, state tournament and cancer to a a u to wedding and to, to now. And so I don’t even know what the next six months are even going to freaking be.

And ugh, it’s. I’m just glad I see, I hope it’s over. They told me it was a 99% chance it doesn’t come back. It’s, it’s just, I don’t know how it happened to a 30 5-year-old. ’cause they said it usually doesn’t happen until you’re like 45, 50. But I’m just so glad it got caught and I’m so glad I’m just out of it for, for the time being and I hope everything in health just goes normal and I can convince myself to get back and running and healthy and eating right instead of eating on the road like I typically do which my, which my wife tells me I need to stop eating out.

But’s just part of it. Yeah. Eating on the go, whether you have a family or whether you’re on an AAU trip or you’re just carting kids around to different places. Or you’re coaching Yeah, eating right is definitely something that, it’s a challenge because you just oftentimes you’re pressed for time and trying to figure it out and I think you’re the idea that, again, the kidney stones.

[01:02:04] Mike Klinzing: Led you to be able to, to get your early diagnosis, to be able to get that taken care of? I know that I can speak for myself, but I think a lot of us a lot of us men frequently have a, an aversion to, to going to the doctor. And I know I can certainly feel that that’s the case for me sometimes, that  Hey, if I can avoid going to the doctor, I try to avoid going to the doctor.

But I think that your story clearly illustrates that it’s much better to find something sooner rather than later than you ultimately end up with a a positive outcome in your case. So many know many,

[01:02:41] Monty Patel: you know how many times us as coaches have probably rescheduled a doctor’s appointment ’cause of practice and a game.

[01:02:47] Mike Klinzing: I hate this. Yeah, for sure.

[01:02:49] Monty Patel: Yeah. I forgot I had this game because you scheduled doctor appointments six, seven months early, you don’t know your schedule, and then all of a sudden you get that reminder and. Oh crap, I have to play so and so this week. Can’t do that. I can’t, I can’t go to the doctor. And now I’m just like, ready?

You go to the doctor, Hey, take my blood. Tell me what’s wrong with me. Make sure I’m okay. I want to get fixed up. Like you, you just get, you feel like you’re invincible because you’re coaching and then you forget about yourself and for sure. Most coaches, I think do,

[01:03:20] Mike Klinzing: yeah, there’s no doubt. I mean, I think that it’s again, anybody who’s busy, it’s tough.

And like you said, appointments are usually scheduled way out there. I’ll tell you one other thing, Monty. So I’m going to retire in October and I’m going to be 55. Well, I am 55, but when I retire, I’ll be 55 still. And what the biggest challenge to retirement is figuring out what the healthcare situation’s going to be like and figuring out how, how do you get healthcare?

How do you pay for it? Where does it come where do you go to, where do you go to be able to get it? And then you look at the coverage that you get for the amount of money that you’re going to pay. You start looking around going. I saved for this long just so I could pay 25 or 30,000 a year for insurance.

And yet, at the same time, you realize in a situation like the one that you experienced, that no matter what, you have to pay for it. Ultimately, your health is the most important thing. And if, if you get in a situation where you need it, you’d pay just about anything to be able to have the have your health back.

And so trying to navigate that. But yeah, looking forward to looking forward to retirement and trying to figure out what my next figure out what my next, next endeavor is going to be. So who knows what, who knows what that’ll be. So your next month is going to be interesting, Monty. My next six months is going to be interesting too, so we’ll see.

Yeah. Congrats

[01:04:39] Monty Patel: on retirement. That’s awesome though. But like, no, you’re right. Like, because like my mom brought it up, my mom brought it up, she showed me her insurance bill, and I was like, or her healthcare health, health insurance bill. Like what in the world? And like, you know. Me and my wife that told each other, like, obviously she’s, she’s going to be in oncology, she’s going to do well in life.

And we’ve told each other well before, like, we’re going to make sure both of our parents are taken care of with whatever they need whenever that time comes. Right. And so it’s just, it’s so freaking hard to think that much in the future. And even us as coaches, we, we don’t make just a ton of money then how many, how many people invest and save and do the things that you need to for retirement?

I’ve got, I’ve got a coaching buddy right now that can’t retire because he’s like, I just don’t have the money. And, yeah. Yeah. And that, that goes to the health insurance and everything unique for that. Yep.

[01:05:28] Mike Klinzing: There’s no doubt. I’ll tell you what I mean. I invested pretty well, and at the same time, I start looking at the bill and I’m like.

Man, is that where I really want all my money to go? And sometimes you don’t have a choice. I mean, I, like I told my wife, I said, you retire and part of the reason why you save and do all the things that you do is so you can, so you can retire. And part of what you’re paying for, at least this is what I’m trying to tell myself, part of what I’m paying for is just the ability to not have to, to not have to go into work and to be, to be retired.

But who knows? I’m going to probably do something. I don’t know what that something is. So if you’re out there listening, you got a job for me, come October 1st let me let, let me know. I don’t know what I’m, I don’t know what I’m looking to do, but hey, throw some proposals at me. So, I mean, bring down,

[01:06:10] Monty Patel: Break down hudl film at home, and then you can make a little, little change just whenever you need.

There you go. Work. Yeah. There you go. Get, get on there. I mean, there’s, there’s so many jobs in the, the world there and something to do.

[01:06:22] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, there’s a million things. I’ll figure it out. So, all right, man. Anything else before we get out of here?

[01:06:30] Monty Patel: Oh man. I’m just going to try to make the fifth appearance if you’re still going to have the show next year.

[01:06:35] Mike Klinzing: Alright, well, we’re going to do it man. We’ll still be here. So we’re going to go for number five. I’m going to update you when I send you the email after the episode, I’ll update you and let you know where, where you stand in the all-time rankings.

So Mon, thanks for sharing all this stuff tonight. Really appreciate it. Before we get out, just once again, let people know how they can reach out to you, find out more about what you’re doing, give ’em social media, email, whatever, and then I’ll jump back in and wrap things up.

[01:07:00] Monty Patel: Yeah, I mean, you can follow me, Monty Patel on any social media platforms, just DM me, reach out, I check them and I’ll reply.

And if you need my number, they can reach out to me and I’ll call ’em. And I’m pretty easy to get ahold of. I’m not hiding from anybody and hope it’s not a serial killer or anything like that. And everything goes smooth.

[01:07:20] Mike Klinzing: I’m sure it will. And hey, Monty, conversations with you are always a blast.

Hopefully all of our audience enjoyed tonight’s episode here with Monty. So again, thanks for your time. Really appreciate it. And to everyone out there, thanks for listening and we’ll catch you on our next episode. Thanks.

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 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 coaching portfolio guide.com/hoop heads to learn more.

[01:08:29] Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast presented by Head Start Basketball.