Welcome to Trackin the Cats. I'm Bob Saban. I got Steve White next to me, and he's sitting next to women's basketball coach at Western Carolina, Jonathan Tsipsis, sorry, and they've got a very interesting conversation that they're getting ready to have. Steve, you know and coach, I've, I've got a little bit of strep going on, not feeling great. So I'm going to let you take it over and run this thing and I will see everybody next time. But looking forward to hearing what coach has.

That's great, Bob. Coach Sipis joining us our head women's basketball coach and off to a great start. I'll tell you, Coach, I go back probably 60 years with Western Carolina women's basketball. I guess it was around my sophomore year, junior year that We actually started our basketball program here at Western Carolina with coach Betty Westmoreland and some interesting players at that time. People like Norlin Finch, who went on to become the head of the NCAA women's basketball tournament, his first ever chairman, and then Judy Stroud, who became one of the top officials, has actually refereed the NCAA championship tournament and of course, has been the head of Southern Conference basketball officials and. So we had some real pioneers in those days for women's basketball. And I don't know if you know this one or not, but 1971, hosted the women's national basketball championship tournament. It was called the national invitational women's intercollegiate basketball tournament, but we call it Nibwit. it was played here during the winter break between the winter and spring break Western. In March of 71, 16 teams from all over the nation came in from as far away as UC Davis in California, Queens out of New York. Westchester State actually won that tournament. Kansas was here. Mississippi State. Like I say, 16 teams. Unfortunately, Western Carolina only won one game in the tournament, but we got quite Quite a reputation for that. And like I say, at that time, Western was one of the, probably in the Carolinas was the stop the top women's basketball program at that time. And of course at that time, Carolina and Duke State were not funding basketball programs. Sure. Tennessee came along a little later at the early years. We used to beat Tennessee, believe it or not, and Kentucky. So that gives you just a little bit background, but we want to welcome you. You're new to us, but you're sure not new to women's basketball. 27 years of experience, mostly on the N. C. Double a major head coaching positions at Wisconsin and at George Washington, associate head coach at Notre Dame. you do have a North Carolina background, which is really exciting. A graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, coaching stops with the men's programs at Greensboro and Elon, Coach K there at Duke University. Coach, just with all of this background, all of your experience, just what attracted you to Western Carolina? Well, I think just, you know, North Carolina is home in a lot of ways. That's where I finished my last two years of high school. And as you mentioned, went to UNC Chapel Hill. I met my wife in pharmacy school there. Our oldest daughter is is a junior right now studying business at Chapel Hill. And then I have my sister kind of started the migration from Ohio. But I have a sister and a brother who live in the triangle area with their families. So. You know, to me the opportunity, I think, to be back in North Carolina was something that when the Western job opened, and I think the most important thing was, you know, there was a very basketball centric athletic director and Alex Gary and, you know, I think with that, you know, knowing that he is serving. continues to serve on the women's basketball tournament selection committee. And there's some people that I've had a chance to work with at Notre Dame and some various other places who served on the committee with him. You know, it was just kind of, we were able to match up in that way. And yeah, I can remember you know, in my time at Notre Dame when, you know, Kelly Harper Had turned this program here at Western Carolina and the level of success they had, you know, in the Southern Conference with championships and obviously NCAA tournament play. But then I know it hadn't been to that level. And, you know, I think I've been at different places and, you know, the two things that I think that seem to be common thread is, is when basketball has some sort of tradition, even if it's, if it's leveled off a little bit. also having an athletic department that supports basketball, you know, my time at George Washington was amazing. I got there in a similar time when the program was down a little bit, but had great tradition with Joe McEwen and NCAA tournaments and in a place where I think it was attractive. And, and the placement in the league. And we were able to get back to that level of championships and going to the NCAA tournaments. And then even my stop at Wisconsin, Wisconsin as a whole has had a very successful athletic department, but women's basketball hasn't been in that same place. So I saw the difference definitely after spending time at Notre Dame and that difference between Wisconsin, you know, and, and, and, you know, was out for a year and then had a chance to go back and work with one of my former players on staff at Marquette. But when this opened and after my first meeting and I could see, you know, what the, the, the vision that not only Alex had, but Kyle Pfeiffer and, and, and Ashley Simmons being a former women's college basketball player, I really felt like you had kind of three people right there that I could lean on as we, you know, if I was offered the position to be able to build the program back up. Lady Catamounts are 10 and 5 going into the Southern Conference schedule against Chattanooga here Thursday. That's the best pre conference record of any, of any Southern Conference team at this time, and our most wins in 10 seasons, and that was that was not even anywhere near a complete season yet. An eye opening turnaround, Coach. How did this happen? Just, I knew it. Hard to break that down, but just some little things that you that we're able to implement or that you saw and you could adjust it and it's happened. You know, I think this being the third time that I've had an opportunity to be a head coach. There are certain things that you know, as you take over a program, That have worked well. And then maybe there's some things that haven't worked the way that you had hoped. And I think you learn a little bit. I was really lucky to start at a place like George Washington. Some of those things didn't work the same way at Wisconsin. So I think the biggest thing is how you build your relationships. And that was one thing in the spring for me is to have as many one on one sit downs with the players, figure out that roster on, and who really wanted to be here and would be willing to put the work in that we thought to, to help us be. You know, more competitive and then the young women that we're able to bring in. You know, I think the second thing is the self awareness. And I think that's one thing that you gain knowledge of as you get older of what you are and what your strengths are. But more importantly, maybe what your weaknesses are. And I knew you know, I was kind of the old old person in the room. And I, I, you know, I was lucky enough. I've recruited some great players who, who actually didn't end up coming to George Washington or Wisconsin. Danielle Roush was one of them. And so I, I'm really lucky with the staff that I'm hired. They've made amazing relationships with our players as well. And I just, I'm high energy. I need high energy staff and, you know, we're really fortunate to gain two people through the transfer portal. And without having a freshman class, be able to get two players late and Taj Hunter and Kennedy Hills and Roth. But to build that chemistry, you know, we were, we were able to have our whole team here the whole summer. And I think you have to be able to do that day by day. And the kids trusting you and believing in you, but also making sure You identify in the confidence you have in them. That's great. You know, a shooting percentages are up. Turnovers are down. Defensive numbers are better. Any of those areas that are special to you, you know, what do you emphasize? Are you an offensive coach, defensive coach? Yeah, you gotta be both. Well, you know, it's funny if you had to ask me one over the other, I would say I'm more of a defensive coach, but I think our statistics show you know, we've been able to score the ball. We're shooting it. Well, we leave the Southern conference in both those areas. You know, or in the top 50 nationally I just feel like you have to find different ways to win games and in conference play, you know, the ball's not going to go in every night, especially on the road and you've got to be good defensively and rebound it. The one area I've been really happy with, I think, is, is the tempo we've been able to set. We like to play fast. We like to get out and score in transition. I think we have a lot of different threats, and I think some of those have changed throughout these first 15 games. You know. Jada Burstyn was coming off the bench and doing a great job coming off the bench early on because, you know, kind of a suey was really getting us into our, our offense quick. Grace pack was starting and then unfortunately had a little bit of a knee issue. And so Cruz is kind of getting used to playing inside when she's played outside, you know, on the perimeter for the first four years. So, you know, I think we've been have different people step up in their roles. I think the consistency we've had is, you know, is AC Carter's brought to our program. The work ethic that Taija Beans brings every single day practice and games alike. Those consistence have been great. And then I think Chelsea Wooten kind of having that senior maturity about her of understanding like the efficiency factor we needed to her to be at. But I love the fact Reagan Trump's had good games. You know, Nicole Azar's had good games. Tosh Hunter has been a great has been a great Edition for us. And you see that, and then you're not just worrying about those five have to all play at a certain level. You get other people who follow trouble or injuries that have happened. You know, sometimes I look at that, and you know, the old school saying is injury off, you know, injury leads to opportunity, and we've had maybe a little bit more opportunity than I would like so far through 15 games, but I think it's helped us get more people ready for the conference season. Well, you've had only eight, maybe nine players available for the last few games. They're watching you watching the games here. Are those players that haven't been playing on their way back like grace pack and so forth? Are they on their way back? What? Yeah, we come to come. We will get we'll get Tosh Hunter back. Grace might still be a little bit longer. But I think having Taj, you know, obviously we had to lean on our walk on post player, Kennedy Hills and Roth and those two, you know, games right after Christmas and be able to get her some time. The good thing is we're able to play, you know, I would say quote a bigger lineup, but with more of a five player. But we've, we, one of the things we learned early on is, is we're able to play smaller just because of the competitive nature with Tysha beans and AC Carter don't mind garden, a post player. And then we look at it. The other side is that should make those, those post players. You know, would have an advantage against a typical back to the basket post player trying to guard them. So you know, we'll play in some different ways. We we've been able to, you know, we, we, we've had a couple of big breaks that we've, you know, we've played so many games, early eight games in 21 days. That we didn't get enough time. We were just into that next mode of scouting and game plan. And so that's been the great part of this break is we've gotten the two games in, we've gotten to work on some things and then had the week to get ready, you know, for a Chattanooga team that comes in as the two time defending, you know, or the two time NCAA representative, you know, the defending tournament and regular season champion. But again, they're a team that hasn't played since the 21st. So they've had a lot of time, you know, to prepare, but I like that, that we've gotten some more. consistent time to work on ourselves. And definitely we're working on Chattanooga here as we go forward on getting ready for Chad and E. T. S. U. This weekend. But that's that's important, too, because you've got to make sure you're constantly working on yourselves. looking ahead to the Southern Conference season. I know Southern Conference competition is new to you. But how do you gauge the opposition? Maybe again, you've touched on Chattanooga there and so forth. Maybe who, who you're looking at this year. I don't, I'm not sure have since when I was playing in the conference games, I'm not sure who is going to be the teams to watch this year, but maybe that and the keys to being a factor this year in the league. Yeah. You know, I, I think when you look through the other seven teams on the women's side, you know, you've had teams that, you know, have gone out and played power five teams. You've had teams that have played nine to non division one teams. You kind of look at that core. We've had some crossover games between similar big south opponents trying to see their kind of understanding where some of those teams we've played are in the big south, how they're doing so far. You know, I, I think you, you, you, it is one of the great things, right? When you get to conference play, if you're playing great, you want to keep playing at that level and experience that type of success. If, if your non conference hasn't gone the way you thought it's that second season, right. And, you know, with three new coaches in the league, you know, obviously I, myself, you know, and the coaches at Chattanooga and Mercer, like being able to tell your players. Hey, like this is our record now, but like, you know, when we walk in, people think this at Chattanooga, we kind of want people, you know, to, to keep saying like, what's going on at Western Carolina, like something's happening there that hasn't happened in a while. But then we've got to go out and prove that, you know, we've got to go out and play the way that we were capable of playing. You know, we won some non conference games by different ways. We've won games that were slug fests and games that were in the fifties or sixties, and then we've gone out and, and, and been able to be successful. And we've gotten into the eighties and obviously. Some of the non, non division one games, but you know, I think you start to see on some of those common opponents, you know, when you get to conference play, you know, I know for a fact that Wofford didn't have the two time player, the player of the year and Rachel Rose available for first, first part of the year. So, you know, you're looking to see wherever is everybody becoming healthy at this point. Did they lose some games early on? Because maybe they didn't have all their, their players. You know, in the end, you got to prove it on the floor. And I think for us, that's we understand, I think our dynamic of having versatility, being able to play fast, that people are really going to try to take that away. How great can we be in half court offense? And then on the other end, can our defense continue to improve? Great coach. Do you have a message for our Catamount fans? Just something you'd like to let them know. Maybe ask something of them. What have you. Well, I, I think, I think we're a great group to great group to come watch. And you know, I say that, that, you know, I, I, I've been here since April and I've seen, you know, people bleed purple around here and, you know, I just, even going over to Cherokee and seeing the success their, their girls team has had I think if you watch us play, you're gonna see a team that likes to play fast and exciting. You know, we, we shoot threes, we, we, we put the ball on the ground. We have versatility. I think it's a group of really approachable young women that spend time with the crowd after the game, thanking people for coming. I just think to, you know, consistently say we're not anything from the past. This is a new version of Western Carolina women's basketball. And we'd love that same support that we've seen at other sporting events, whether in the spring when I got here and Saw softball and baseball support, or obviously this fall to see football and women's soccer, who obviously is, is the benchmark right now in the Southern Conference, you know, as, as well as the volleyball team. So, you know, two, do two new head coaches, you know, on the men's and women's side here, bring in new energy. You know, I, I think if, if, if, if you've got two hours and you wanna watch, you know, high, high level basketball and exciting basketball and, you know, we play fast. So sometimes kinda like a baseball game, you might get a ball in the crowd,'cause we're trying to play too fast. But I, I think we've got a really, a, a, a likable group that, that, again, you know, to me is somebody who has two kids. It's a family atmosphere. You're going to be able to see their, their, their daughters down there one day, maybe playing for Western Carolina, or more importantly for our game of basketball. I just think seeing the joy that our kids play with. Well, I tell you, I've been impressed with like the togetherness of this team. I really liked that enthusiasm and everybody, you know, it's a, seemed like just a great team. I mean, urging each other on you know, the high fiving and it's, it's exciting to watch and just want to let everybody know big game here, Wednesday excuse me, Thursday with Chattanooga coming up at six o'clock, six o'clock start. And then Saturday, a doubleheader was that one 30 or one o'clock Saturday for these state and the men following with Mercer at three 30 and come on out. Again, it's no, the crowds are not big right now because we are no students on campus. Hopefully that'll change when our students come back. But it's, it's a great atmosphere and fun to watch. And again, want to appreciate it. Just say how much we appreciate you coming on with us and talking about women's basketball. And it's exciting. And I'm fired up. I'll tell you that. Well, I appreciate that. And the one thing I know, Steve, in our talks, I always know I'm going to learn something from the historian. So it's good to know about that national tournament being here in 1971. So thank you, Coach Jonathan Sipis. And we are looking forward to this next two ball games here on campus. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.