The Herd with Colin CowherdDoug Gottleib fills in for Colin for day 2 of the opening round of March Madness. Doug defends Kansas head coach Bill Self after a 1st round exit and why people have lost perspective on what greatness is in today's college basketball world. He gives Bronny James a lot of credit for his best game as pro but does point out 1 aspect of the game people are missing. He also talks to Drake head coach Ben McCollum about their upset win over 6-seed Missouri
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This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher on Fox Sports Radio.
What Up, Welcome In.
This is the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be, making us part of your day.
Thanks so much.
I'm Doug Gottlieb in for Colin Cowherd on an absolutely spectacular Friday.
In Southern California.
Absolutely spectacular Friday in Southern California.
Welcome In.
Had a great time hosting with the boys being back in town for a couple of days. Full disclosure, I had a full day yesterday, full day yesterday.
I don't know if I shared this.
With you, Greg and Ryan and Ryan part of the production crew. So yesterday's show and then it's my work. It's like our celebration week for my son's sixteenth birthday. So we have a we normally do it when we lived in southern California on the Jewish holidays because he went to a small private school and we'd go to Six Flags during you know, one of the high holidays and ride all the roller coasters and just have a great time. We did it yesterday instead. And then all the while, right, you got your your cell phone's handy, we're watching the March Madness games. Then the drive home, we're watching Kansas and Arkansas, and then you watch all the games at the end as well. Right, great thing about West Coast time is they were all wrapped up and you're you're good. You're like, okay, I saw Michigan, hold off, U see San Diego and shut it down down, go to bed, wake up this morning. Oh yeah, by the way, we'll get to Brownie James' best offensive performance as a pro in the NBA last night. Full day. Uh, all right, full day. It's good day, good day. But I was we were watching Arkansas and Kansas, and I got I got a text from a friend who was like, h bill self, bill self, this thing might have passed him by.
I was. I was.
I don't know if I was laughing or crying on the on the inside at that text. So you mean to tell me that a coach who just four years ago won a national championship and had a run of what was it twelve consecutive Big twelve titles, the game has passed him by after signing a new contract with the Jayhawks over the offseason, or there's a different way to look at it.
Look it was.
It wasn't a well played game. It was an ugly game. Self lost one of his best players to what appears to be achilles injury. But I was watching Kansas play, and I was identifying, you know, their players and what was going right and what was going wrong, And like, look, I make no mistake about it. I have a ton to learn. Anybody can learn watching the best of the best of the best. You know, they mix and match with a two three zone. There's a little triangle in two. It really confused Arkansas, and Arkansas just survived. Really was because Kansas just turned the ball over so much. And the things that when you games or lose you games are you know, turnovers, basically defense, turnovers and rebounding. And look at that game and and Kansas had sixteen turnovers, had one less offensive rebound, and only shot outshot them from the free throw line. But you know, Arkansas took sixty five shots, they took fifty eight and they lose the game by seven points and kJ Adams hurch his Achilles ten. But then I was, I was, I was watching their lineups and I was like, okay, Hunter Dickinson played four years at Michigan. Zik Mayo just transferred in from South Dakota State. Riland Griffin transferred in from Alabama. AJ Storre who probably plays best game as at Jayhawk. Last night he transfers in from Wisconsin. David quit had transferred in from Northern Illinois, and it it didn't stun me, but there was an aha moment right And obviously John cal Perry's in his first year at Arkansas and his his team will look wildly different next year as he brought over several players, kept a couple from Arkansas last year and then brought over players. You know John L. Davis who was at Florida Atlantic. DJ Wagner who was one of the players that came over along with Big Z from from Kentucky. And I thought to myself, hold on, this is a different sport than the one both of these two men have coached in before.
I actually think.
Bill Salz like the perfect example. The guy's the best of the best of the best. And you could say the same thing honestly about John Caliperry. Different ways of doing the same thing and same thing meaning being a Hall of Fame coach. Both are in the Hall of Fame. Both have won national titles, and Bill's won two.
Of them, two of them.
And you look at how they went about their business, right, John Caliperry, you know, evolved from what he was at UMass than the NBA. And of course when he was at Kentucky it was one and done's and he he would go and hand pick the best five freshmen that he could get, and more often than not it would hit and whether they got to the Final four or one year one national championship or were constantly competitive at the very top of the sport, he became the signature of the one and done era. Now, truth be told that even when they won the national championship, one of the strengths of that team with some of the veteran players, but he picked off the top of the deck. Bill self a little bit different at Kansas, right, they had guys that you would call program guys, guys that improved over time. Darnelle Robinson, for example, we'd start their career at one thing and play four or five years and evolved become really good, all big twelve caliber players. And he would sprinkle in one or maybe two one and Don's and then have a couple that were pros and maybe take one transfer. And again, I don't think that it's just COVID or just NIL, or just the transfer portal, or just the fact that it's not just the transfer portals. Spect you can transfer without repercussion, transfer and not set out. But those three things have changed their business dramatically, and it's hard to adjust.
Hard to adjust.
My mom is let's just say she's in her late seventies and we go out to dinner the other night and she's had a problem with her phone. She hands it to my son. She's like, I've had this problem for a month and won't do something, and my son presses two buttons. Problem solved because he grew up frankly too much with a phone in his hand. My mom still has a landline. How many of you have a landline? And the point is that here's the things that have changed. It started with the g League Ignite where players could go straight to the G League for a year, get paid and then go presumably to the NBA. Did it all work out great? Did a bunch of guys go No, but it was a couple of year. Then there was Overtime Elite, which has since expanded. But did it all was Did it take twenty thirty guys? No, but there were two or three that mattered. A couple of them went to Australia. One a year maybe would go to Australia and for John Caliperi the pool and frankly four Bill self. The pool of those one and done's on a given year that can really impact a program was between five and fifteen, and fifteen is probably too much. Really, it's two or three and ten. And when you take just a couple of them out there out of it, and then you factor in that you know one would go to Ote, woman go Overseas, one or two would go to g the night. Now of a sudden that pool started to shrink. Then you factor in that there are players Kevin Durant, D'Angelo Russell are perfect examples of guys that you know could have gone to Kentucky and been a part of that one and done era, but instead chose to have their own path, and you're fighting Duke for these one and dones, and now of a sudden, instead of getting the best five players in the country, you might get one of the five best or one of the and then you strike up a lean year and it's hard. Then you go to COVID, and how did COVID affect college basketball? By the way, Bill self had a team that during the COVID could have won a national championship. They were dominant. COVID canceled that tournament. But if you go to COVID, that extended to where now you're playing against guys that have a COVID year. I don't know how many people who are listening to the herd no this, but if you not only do you have a COVID year, that given that's the super seniors you're seeing play college basketball this year, fifth and sixth year seniors sometimes seventh years. But now there's a recent ruling that if you played junior college basketball or Naia basketball during any of those last four years this is after the COVID year, that year doesn't count and you get another year. So I don't care how good you are. With exception maybe of Cooper flag Like, he's a unicorn, he's a generational player. Outside of that, all of these other freshmen, you're eighteen nineteen and look, a lot of freshmen are twenty years old. A lot of seniors are twenty three, twenty four to twenty five years old. Right, Steven Ashworth has played. They Creighton beat Louisville last night. Now, again, part of it is he's a Mormon, he went on a mission, But part of it is he also existed during the COVID year. He's twenty five years old with a wife and a kid playing college basketball. So if you're somebody who's over always played freshman, what am I gonna? This is a completely different landscape, a completely different sport. Then post COVID, you have the transfer portal and no and you can transfer without ramification.
You don't have to sit out.
So everything you've built in terms of your culture, and that's what Kansas is always built on their culture. Come in, you're part of KU's program. They've had transfers before, but they've never played four transfers at once. And again, it doesn't mean that transfers matter. I was a transfer and I didn't sit out at my skull once set out a junior college. But when you have a team full of them and that's not how you've always coached, and coaching a transfer that's played multiple years at another school, that's here's the easiest analogy I give you. Go over to a get ready to watch the games today, Go over to a buddy's house, have him hand you the remote and say how about it? And you're a spectrum guy and he's got DirecTV and you're like, wait what, He's got Sonos and Direct TV and he's got one Universal remote and you would look at that thing and it's not your same Universal remote you got. That's what it's like to coach. Somebody who's played college basketball has succeeded in college basketball at a different level, a different school. David coit was at Northern Illinois and a star. Zeke Mayo was a star at South Dakota State. But now you have to completely change roles and you've played for somebody else, and there's different verbigs in different ways of doing things. And again you have a coach who's used to coaching people a certain way and now he's coaching you that same way, only you've been coached in programmed by somebody else, and then you factor in nil into the whole thing, where, if we're honest with ourselves, there were schools that were compensating student athletes above that of your normal grant and eate, room board, tuition and fees. Now everybody can, So everybody can go and find players and pay them to stay or pay them to transfer, or you can go get an overseas player whose older experience played professional basketball and can go and compete against your college player. I don't know if you want to use this as if this is an appropriate analogy, But Monday I took my son to see Black Bag. Black Bag is a new Stephen Suddenheide movie. And Black Bag, by the way, if you like short movies, it's like eighty five minutes long. It's great and it's really good. We're sitting in the movie theater. It's like a private showing. It's me and my son, nobody else, and I'm thinking to myself, this is a it is a really good movie. It was short, it was interesting, it's kind of a spy flick. It's it's it's good. I would Rotten Tomatoes. It was like in the ninety seven Percent and Rotten Tomatoes. But who goes to the movies anymore. Here's a guy who's made some of the best, most clever movies in the last twenty five years, and I have no idea what it made opening Box. Of course it opens in March, which means they didn't think that it was going to do.
Do huge numbers.
But I guarantee, uh, you've seen land Man more than you've ever heard of Black Back, right, because the same people that are making the same shows, in the same movies, they're getting left behind because their business, their industry has changed and whether they've it's changed because of COVID or changed because of our viewing habits which were only sped up by whatever it is. It's a different sport than it ever used to be. I'm watching John Caliperi come from behind and take down Kansas. Two Hall of Fame coaches, too well invested programs and two guys who are coaching similarly, if not the same, to how they've always coached. And it has worked and it will work. But the business of the sport has changed. Yes, Arkansas One, Yes, Kansas mix it just I don't know what happened within the chemistry of that squad that caused them to look so dysfunctional. But the game has passed anybody by. It's just changed so quickly that you have to level up or level over, or otherwise you're leveling home. Doug Gottliebin for Colin. This is the Hurt Fox Sports Radio iHeartRadio app.
Uh.
We talked Bronnie a little bit at the end of the show yesterday. Did you see what he did last night? We'll discuss next in the Herd.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Doug Allibin for Colin. This is the Herd Fox Sports Radio I Heart Ready up. Grant McCastle and said to join us upcoming. He's the head coach of Texas Tech. The Raiders only four point lead at halftime, but then they end up winning by ten against UNC Wilmington.
We'll talk with.
Texas Tech's second second year head coach, Grant McCaslin, who form a Baylor assistant from a head coach at North Texas.
We'll get we'll get Grant in here.
In a moment in the meantime, Uh, let's give him like a little credit here to Bronnie James had finally had a an NBA game where you're like, all right, that that tape looks like an NBA player. Now, two people who are like, all.
Godly, your face and your face Browny awesome, right.
Seventeen points, seven to ten from the field, five assists, three rebounds, two of four from three. Yeah, he had four turnovers. But you know, Brownie was awesome last night, playing a career high twenty nine minutes. Uh yeah, I mean he shot the ball well. He looked for the first time like an NBA player, and it's like the number one thing you need in life, the number one thing you need in sports is confidence and his ability to maintain and even grow his confidence through Look, he has not had not shot the ball well at all until recently in the G League, Right, percentages were thirties and twenties from field in three now it's forties and thirties, and obviously in limited minutes, had shot the ball very poorly with the Lakers and just look lost, right, look lost, looked overwhelmed, looked like I don't think he's got it right.
It's a fair assessment. Last night I had some shots.
It's also fair if we're going to be the voice of actually reasonable, and I understand that. I operate in a world of sports radio and sports television where you have to have unreasonable, polar opposite takes. He can either be awesome or can't play, and there's nothing in between. You're either Lebron or you're Jordan. You can't go and they're different. I'd prefer Jordan, but I respect that because you can and you can never throw like you know, I, I.
Mean, it's prime.
I think I might take Magic or Bird, you know.
Or you know, some would say Kobe.
I wouldn't, but some would say Kobe or Tim Duncan or you know, you have all these others that we have seen play. We're not allowed to do that. Well, I get to host The Herd and I get my own show, the Doug Gotlib Show on Fox Sports Radio. So I'm going to do that because the reality is he was a minus thirty six.
They did get smoke.
They threw out essentially a G League roster, and the only other you know Laker to do anything was Dalton Connect who you know with the Lakers is now based upon their roster now is probably out of the rotation or or barely hanging on the rotation, as he's a rookie who they want to develop. Here's JJ Reddick talking about Brownie after the game.
You know, we've obviously.
Monitored him in the G and I feel like he's, you know, in those sort of endgame situations when he's got a chance to play with us, he's been he's been really good. So not surprised by tonight. And I think his his confidence is growing because you mentioned the word comfort. That's that's certainly there for him. And I think the next step is is just you know, becoming uh like a like an elite conditioned athlete, because when he does that with with his physical tools and just his like burst and his handle, and you know, we think he's going to be an above average to really good NBA shooter.
Okay, there's there's actually a lot to kind of digest there. Okay, can I tell you what I heard in the coach's ear and trying to read now some of it is he hadn't I actually don't buy the he's been really good with us. He is not second lowest field goal percentage in the NBA. You know, you're talking about four minutes, two minutes. He played sixteen minutes at Denver in a blowout, you know, barely played and hasn't looked the part. I don't think anybody would agree with that. And it's hard to do anything in four minutes or two minutes anyway. Again, if we're being fair, when he said he needs to be an elite conditioned athlete, that was a little bit of a I don't want to say shot, but that wasn't a positive note from your head coach. That wasn't a positive note from your head coach if you said he needs to be an elite because remember, it's all about wording. JJ knows he has to knows he has to be measured in his wording. And because it's pretty obvious. I don't know, guys, if we've talked about this. I have a friend who's worked for President Trump in the first administration. And if you notice how people who work for him or want to work with him, they either bow at the altar or he tries to crucify them. Right, And the expression they had in the White House, it's a real thing, is you're either you're either at the table or you're on the menu. And I love that you're either at the table or you're on the menu. And honestly, that's how Lebron treats people. You're either at the table, you're on the menu. Either are all in Lebron's the greatest and Bronni's gonna be awesome, or you're on the menu. And he may tweet at you, he may call you out or call you over in the middle in the middle of a competitive basketball game. So JJ has to be measured with everything he says. Because Lebron's got rabbit ears, especially about his kid, we all kind of do. And when he says he needs to be an elite condition athlete that here's the translation, right, if you do the coaching translation, Bronni's not in shape. Bronnie's not in shape. So the the issue with the idea that he'll become an above average to an elite shooter is you can't show me anywhere so far in his life that that has been the case. A Yet, my issue with Brownie James in terms of the evaluation of Bronny James has been every NBA player that has been or every future NBA player I've seen, outside of a couple that are truly late bloomers, right, there are some guys that are really late, like grew late high school, grew in college or whatever. But if you say, hey, here's a McDonald's all American, you can pick apart. You know, ten high school games in their senior year where they were the best player in the court by a mile.
You're like, well, that's a pro. You know, that's a pro.
I can't mention the school by name, but there's a school in Wisconsin that I believe is the number one rank school and they play the state playoffs for tonight in Madison, and I went to see them play against another school they're both in Milwaukee, and there's a off more who's six foot nine, and you're like, that's a problem. And so my issue with Bronnie was like, there's never been a moment where he's been an elite, elite shooter, So why would we think he why we put that expectation that he'll be in above average, too great shooter in the NBA when that's never happened before.
The part I do.
Agree with is he's getting more comfortable, he's getting confident, and you're not gonna achieve anything if you're not confident. Last night was the first night Ronnie James looked like an NBA player. His confidence is still there. That's something outstanding considering how Oft discussed his game is despite the fact he plays like two minutes a game for Lakers. But let's not get a twisted. He was a minus thirty six. It was a blowout and his own coach said he's got to get.
Into better shape.
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What up.
Welcome in this and the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be making this part of your day.
Thanks so much. I'm Doug.
Got look in for Colin Cowherd. It's the second eighty of the NCAA Tournament. It may be decision day for Aaron Rodgers. We're getting closer and closer to the rest of Major League Baseball season getting underway, and hopefully where you are, it's as nice as the weather where I am because spring has arrived, and wow, is it is it nice?
I know he had that.
Midweek well mini blizzard running through the northern Midwest. Outside of that, some some nice weather along the way. Welcome in and thanks so much for joining me. Colin is back on Monday. There are some similarities to Aaron Rodgers, as you just heard from Dan Byer, who works with me on my show, The Doug Gottlieb Show, which broadcast daily three to five Eastern CALK to Pacific.
Fox Sports Radio. iHeart ready WEP.
Dan reported that or said, the report is out that Aaron Rodgers is visiting the Pittsburgh Steelers facility. And it's kind of interesting. Right in college basketball, the portal opens on Monday, and what and I don't know how many of you know this, but now there are lots of players that thought going into the season like this is it, this is my last year.
I'm done.
I mean there are six year seniors, seventh year seniors, whatever, like I'm done. And then there was a ruling with the quarterback of Vanderbilt who went to junior college and I believe one of the years in junior college they didn't have a season because of COVID whatever. Anyway, he got an extra year. So now there's a blanket ruling where if you played junior college or any NAIA basketball, you get an extra year. So there are lots of guys who like thought they were done. They're like, oh, you know what, I might go do this again, and they'll like Aaron Rodgers, go and have a visit and and maybe you know, they won't sign with Pittsburgh Steelers, but they'll sign with your team. I bring it up because our next guest is the head coach of the Drake Bulldogs.
He won four.
National championships at the Division two level, and I think in the summer his one of his star shooters, Mitch Muscari, was going into the private sector, like he was gonna go work for a living. And well, let's just let coach McCullum tell the story. Drake Bulldogs win the Missouri Valley regular season, win their conference tournament championship. They're thirty one to three. Then they take down Missouri yesterday. Now they get ready to take on Texas Tech Grant McCaslin, who ironically told us just last hour they scrimmaged Drake in the secret scrimmage earlier this year, and now they play each other in the second round the NCAA Tournament, and coach McCullum joins us on Fox Sports Radio.
Ben, how are you?
I'm great. How about yourself, Doug.
I'm not as good as you, not with your team. Okay, So help tell this story here, right, You get the Drake job, and Misscari was already working or was going to go work.
What happened?
Yeah, he was gonna go work, you know. I got the Drake job, and and uh, I obviously had three coming with and I thought Mitch was done and he he had a really good financial job in Chicago. He never ended up starting it though, but he was going to start it, you know, within the next couple of months of graduation from from Northwest Missouri State. And the last day he put his name in the portal, and I think he just did it, you know, just kind of making sure that, you know, if he wanted to he could he could play again. And I was like, I wonder what he was thinking. So I called him, I'm like, well, do you want to play? He's like, I don't know. I was just kind of thinking about it. I said, well, if you want to do that, let's just do it here. And he said okay, And so he thought about it for a while and then eventually just you know, decided hey, this is you know, this is something that I want to do. It was a tough It was a tough decision for him because as I couldn't give him a lot of advice because I knew I had something to gain from it. And so you know, when kids trust you with advice and you have something to gain in the process, you know, you just can't really, you know, say you should do this, but he should do it, And obviously he ended up doing it, which has been great.
What what's it like to take this group and so many of them you mentioned you had three and now four coming with from the Division two level. What's it like to go through this where everybody falls back on the story, Hey, their division two guys, when you take them down, going back to the preseason, when you win in Charleston, you beat k State, you beat Vandy, what what is what is that like for you? When when you have a group of guys that you've been with at the Division two level to play so well at this.
Level, you know, it's been it's been a blast. You know. I think I think the thing for for me in particular, when when you take this job, it's it is a lonely feeling when you take over a job at this level and you don't have a lot of players, like, it's very lonely. And when you're able to take three or four year guys, four of your guys with you and show up day one and at least you know you've got guys that are, you know, essentially in your foxhole, right and guys that are going to fight for what the program means and fight for your culture and fight for the effort and that sort of thing. And so it was a big deal to get them. Obviously, it was a big deal to get everybody though, and a lot of those guys came on just blind faith, you know, where it's like it didn't have to come to Drake for an unproven at Division one, Division two guy, and they did. And so obviously it became, you know, everybody together, everybody connected, and it was fun.
Starts.
You know, we when we prepare for you, guys who were like, holy cal, this is the best guy we've seen all year, and grant, we're the Rizon League. But we played Oklham State, we played Ohio State, we played Providence, and I mean, he's a special player. When did you first see uh starts play in high school.
When he was a junior. When he was a junior, he made the state championship, I believe, and lost in the state title game, and no one really was recruiting him at the Division IE level and I didn't understand why. So then we chose to recruit him at the Division two level. And I thought at that point, I'm like, this kid is no brainer mid major. You know, we're going to steal another one. You know. Obviously now he's probably you know, fringe NBA, and I think eventually he's probably going to be an NBA player, you know, when it's all said and done. He just had such a good demeanor. He's an elite pass er. He's an unselfish person. He's an unselfish player, you know, and he listens and wants to be good. He just he just gets it. And so it certainly helps that he's on our team. And you know, it also helps that we coached him for two years, you know, I coached him for two seasons prior, and so that that really benefited us as well.
No, no doubt, was there any special hitch in his gidea up because it was Missouri.
No, not not really. I think Kansas State it was. I think it was just the NCAA tournament was probably he was excited about because you know, to be quite honest, it's like, you know, I had another guard, Trevor Hudgens for a while, well you know, and everybody's like, well, why didn't KSE State offer? Why don't kid? Because because he wasn't good enough for case State right away? Right, That's why they didn't.
Right if you say, if you saw him when he was sixteen, you would have said he's not not good enough.
You know, I had that.
I don't know that.
Yeah, I don't.
I don't like, I don't know if I can, I can't. Obviously, guys names whatever. I don't know inportal, not in portal. But yeah, we played against a guy this year who lit us up at the Division two level and they were, you know, after the game, like, well why didn't you offer him? Like well, I wasn't here and when I got here, he wasn't in the portals.
Like, I don't know what you like?
We do ask things of people, which are it which are unfair? Do you does? I think everyone knows that if you can coach at the division two level, you can coach Division one level. Bruce Pearl's proved that, you've proved that others have as well. Does this change in your mind the perception of recruiting Division two players to transferrupt the Division one level.
No, it probably does, but that's because people don't think for themselves times, you know, I mean it's like, oh, D two players are great, Let's everybody go get twenty five D two players, because there's a recency bias already to it, and so it's it. I don't know, like I think too often, you know, in college coaching and even hiring coaches and stuff like that, there becomes a biased you know, all of a sudden because a D two guy has success, every D two guy can have success, and that's just not that's just not the case. Or you know, if you you know, on any I guy can be just good, a JUCO guy can be just as good. And same concept for players, like, just because some Division two guys have success doesn't necessarily mean that every D two guy is going to have success, but it does mean that you can find good players anywhere. And you just kind of have to trust your own eye on some of those things. And and and in today's society, it's it's a lot more difficult to trust your own eye, just because social media and all those different things that are like, you know, even when we took this job, and you know, there's probably fifty to fifty split where you know, fifty percent of fans would be like and I can't wait to watch these guys, think they'd be great, and then there's another fifty percent that was like, I can't believe they're taking d two guys and they're going to be awful, And so you just can't listen to that noise. You just got to trust yourself. And that's that's what we did. And you know, we got a little lucky to you know, where just those guys showed up and competed and is the heck of Irun and still continues to be that.
Ben McCollum, head coach, Drake. The Bulldogs are thirty one and three and they take on Texas Tech the Red Raiders, who they faced in a secret scrimmage. How much can you take from the secret scrimmage in getting ready for a second an NCAA tournament.
Game, Man, I don't know, I don't know, because they're I mean they're just so well coached, you know, I just think they're you know, they've got obviously hired one of my others. He's got he's got Grant, who's one of my close friends. Who's got Linda who I talked to about every day. He's got Luke who actually played for me, Luke Barnwell, the chokey Moore, Kob who's who's the ac who's so it's like their whole staff is really close to me. And so I'm not sure how much you can take from that. You know, Uh, I don't think either of us really totally prepared for it, if that makes sense, meaning you know, those scrimmages, it's better that. I think a lot of people try to win those scrimmages. Obviously you always want to win everything you do, but more importantly, you want to you want to see what works, see what lineups work. And so I'm not sure how much you can actually take from that scrimmage.
Yes, I wish you would have told me that I tried to win my scrimmage. And then I was like at the end of us, like, why did I try to win my scrimmage? Well, I was trying to show, you know, a group of young guys, build them confidence in what we're doing, and have one more point in an opponent. But again, these are just learning lessons as you only learned by but by doing. Ben McCullum joining us, who is the Drake Drake head coach. Okay, so you went from turning down lots of jobs that didn't fit. Why did Drake fit?
A couple of reasons. One, I really liked the athletic director, Brian Hard. I thought he had a good vision for the program. Too. It was, you know, close to home probably you know, a Midwest guyde doesn't mean I, you know, would never live in any other place in the country. But you know, initially, just that first jump, I wanted to make sure that it was also beneficial for my family to get closer to family. And then you know, it was just the right time, you know, I started to notice that I started to notice that I was I wasn't choosing to come back to Northwest, I was choosing to not take jobs. And I think when you start to trend that direction, I think that probably gives you the indication that's probably time to come out of your comfort zone a little bit. And and you know, just see what you could do, and and then you know they were super patient in the process, Drake was. You know, I think that a lot of these schools when they hire, which I understand, you know, they they they offer you the job. The next day, you got to decide. And it's not really the nature of me. And so it's my greatest strength and greatest weakness is my patience. But you know, sometimes it's just is what it is. And this one just worked out perfect, and you know, I got put in a good position and very thankful for it.
Okay.
So with that though, now comes ad in speculation there's other jobs available. How do you handle that?
Right?
Will Wade is like, Hey, I'm taking a state like that's that's happening, and people are like, whoa waits, that's weird. How are you handling the now speculation about what could be.
Next for you? Yeah, you know, the same way I've done it for years. I really try not to. My personality doesn't allow me to have a divided heart, if that makes sense, And so I think some people can can multitask. And do you know what Will Wade is take a job and still focus on his team and still focus on everything else. Associated with it. I'm just different in a personality. It doesn't make me right, doesn't make him wrong. It's just how I do things. And so my attention and my kids know that my attention is on them and making sure that you know, we're at our best and that I fight for what they are. And again, has it hurt me in the past, It absolutely has, but it's helped me create a level of loyalty with the people surrounding the program because it's like I know where his heart is at, like I know where it's at, you know, regardless of you know, all these things and speculation and stuff like that, is you know, I'm making sure that I fight for Drake and fight for these kids and fight for these players. And you know, it's what I've done for seven eight years and approved it and I'll continue to do it the same way.
All right.
Most important question is when did you start the white shirt solid tie?
Look A long time ago. I probably, gosh, I bet twenty sixteen, probably somewhere in that range, because I know I had at twenty seventeen because that was our first national championship. Probably twenty sixteen, maybe even earlier. You know, I used to wear just different colored ties, different colored shirts, you know, different everything. And then I was like, man, I don't even want to make a decision today because we got to make ten thousand decisions in the game.
Yea.
And so so I was just you know, I was always was fascinated by Billy Donovan and they just wore a white shirt. So I just wore a white shirt and.
You don't, okay.
So then the follow then the follow up is is that the same blue tie or are there multiple blue ties that that that look alike?
It is the same blue tie, always the same blue tie. Yep, it says the same whole year.
How do you not get a spot?
How do you not get anything on it?
And I get coffee on it?
Something else? Yeah, it's it's it's used now it's yes, Well man, that's the beauty of it. What are you going to go see this? What a bunch of scrappers? Now that's what we do. So it's not there's there's.
No there's no backup tie. There's there's no backup tie.
No no, heck, no no backup players either. No. We just the ties is who we are as a team. Man, We're not perfect, and we're you know sometimes we're bruised and battered, but we're always fighting, so that's pretty good. I just made that up, so but no, it's it's the same time all the time.
Well, listen, I appreciate that when I got we got we had a check for my coaching clinic that I was able to watch over on the other sideline. I had no doubt of what would happen yesterday. I'm really interested in what happens tomorrow. We wish you the best of luck and we'll talk to Thanks so much for joining us.
Yes, thanks for having me on all right.
Appreciate its Bet Mccollumy's the head coach of the Drake Bulldogs. He's won four national titles at the Division two level. In his first year at Division one, they are thirty one and three on the year.
