Tracking the Cats
Wide ranging discussion of Western Carolina University athletics hosted by long time alumni and supporters, Bob Sabin & Steve White.
Tracking the Cats
Tracking the Cats w/Women's Basketball Coach Tsip - 12/4/25
Welcome to Tracking the Cats. I'm Bob Saban, along with Steve White. We're here every two weeks. Podcast available on most podcast outlets as well as YouTube. We have the tracking the Cats Channel on YouTube. subscribe and then follow us. we are always brought to you by. Stanbury Insurance. They have offices in Silva, Waynesville, Highlands, and Clyde. And they cover all the insurance needs for car, homeowners, business, and the like. So contact Kevin Stanbury at Stanbury Insurance are one of his many fine agents. Steve. We do have today coming up in a few minutes, Jonathan Sips our women's basketball coach, who is starting his second year and we'll be talking to him. But let's crank it off first. My first thought is hearing about. Our Tiger Dickens go into Nashville as one of the top three finalists for the Walter Peyton Award. Pretty exciting and a, a nice thing to have in his hat as well as Western and Coach Bell's hat.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah, unfortunately it's a great honor, you know, and that's a tribute to Bell, his staff and of course definitely for Tiger, our football program. But unfortunately it gives him even more exposure and the Annie just keeps going up and I'd like to see what some of those offer sheets are going to be when it's over. No, I wouldn't not, it just make, be. Depressed me a little bit when we see how much, how much money he's gonna be able to get out of this situation. But that is quite an honor. That is a very prestigious award in the FCS level. It's the top award. so we've never had anybody to make that that level yet in all of these years, going back to division one, AA football and so
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah. Of, of all the quality players and folks that we have in our own hall of fame to, to have him out there says a lot for the program and for coach. And, and, you know, I, I remain optimistic, you know, we've got a lot of things going on with the transfer portal and, you know, the success of this team is leading us to lose a, a, a number of players. So your thoughts on that
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah. Well Bob, if you, if you look at the depth chart from our last game the VMI game, you look at our depth chart and then you look into the, see who has declared is, is going to declare for the portal. Actually, it doesn't start till the first week in January, but we know that it's already underway.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:right?
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:really get depressed when you look at that that, that roster, that depleted rosters. And you know, I couldn't. You know, projected starters would be coming back off of that depth chart. It looks to me right now what I can figure out about 12 to 14 of those 16, 17 projected starters, they should leave and they're already declaring for the portal. It could be a depressing look to start the season, but we know. We know what kind of recruiter Coach Bell is, not only through the portal and but through his high school, his contact, especially in South Florida, that we can rebuild quickly. I'm not sure we can do it in one year. We'll just have to wait and see. But there's still a lot of very talented young men coming back. Next year, we assume they're gonna be coming back because they haven't declared yet that they are going to enter the portal. But again schedule next year is gonna be even more difficult than this season. And, but again we've seen what Coach Bella's staff can do. And so we, you, you gotta, you gotta be on the up and up about it.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Well, you know, we, we picked up two guys, only two guys yesterday on, on that early signing period. One of'em, St. Thomas Aquinas High School. I mean, that's a nice pedigree right there out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Don't, was he a co cornerback? I think I know he is a defender and, you know, they, they've always got strong talent. They're one of the top five high schools producing talent in the state of Florida.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:Well, and you know that last year I don't think we had an early signee, if I remember right.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:that turned out pretty good. So I, again, I'm not sure what that means. So I've seen some schools as many as 16 early signees already in our conference. But again, I, I don't hold a whole, a lot of credence with that right now because I know how our coaches recruit a little. Bit different
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yep.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:schools in the Southern.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yep. Well, last thing on football, and that is Mercer takes on South Dakota in Macon this Saturday. The Lone Southern Conference Representative what do you think you think they can handle tough South Dakota that's had tough games all year.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah. Oh, they, I really do. I they're, you know, you gotta remember which leagues? South Dakota, South Dakota, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Montana, Montana State, they, whether that league to play, they've just dominated the, the playoffs for years. National Champion, how many times either a Dakota team or Montana teams won the national championship. So, and FCS. So yeah, it's a, a very. It's a, you know, I don't wanna say this, but it is a step up from the Southern Conference the, the the leagues out there, the Missouri Valley and the Big Sky. They're the elite leagues in the FCS and you bet. But should Mercer take care of business you know who they've got coming up the next game, assuming. Montana's going to win also. They'll be going up to a place that we were last year and we know all about that atmosphere in Montana.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah, I was there in September on a 70 degree day
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:yeah.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:the wind was still kind of chilly. I can't imagine what it'll be like a week and a half from now in mid-December in Missoula.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:go ahead.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:a tough road ahead for anyone right
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah, absolutely. And hopefully they don't have big sky officials officiating the game, but we don't need to go down that road again. You tell next step you were, we were talking earlier about giving Tuesday. How successful do you feel like that was?
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:Oh, as, as of this morning, I think we had over 1200 people that actually contributed. Now that could be anything from, you know, five bucks to 10,000, who knows what it is. But they, right now it's generated about$640,000 that it could be well over that by now, just a few hours ago. So that is a very good indication that people are very, still, very positive about the future of Western Carolina University and, and supporting. Us through scholarship aid. And again this is not, not just the Cat Mount Club, a lot of it's Cat Mount Club, but also different scholarship programs. Several, several different types of ways to, to support the university through giving Tuesday. But again, very encouraged about the Catamount Club, the, the pledges, the donations to the Catamount Club here in the early going.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah. Am I mistaken? Did I hear that they were looking for 1000 total pledges and if they got 1200 that's over that.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yes, yes, yes. That was sort of the goal, and they're well over that right now, so that is very encouraging. Yes.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yep. Absolutely. Let's before we move into Coach sipp, let's talk a little bit about men's basketball.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah. Again we had an interesting game if you wanted to get really excited about the Catamounts education Day on Tuesday for the University of Virginia Lynchburg, a team that has yet to win in two seasons. I think they're ing 35 now. But. And I was talking to their coach all about this and he said, you know, we're a building program and this is what they do. They came in, they played at Belmont Abbey on Monday night. They played us at 11 o'clock on Tuesday. Played App State yesterday, and of course we're. Oh, for three on that little road trip. But this says, this is what we've gotta do to build our program. And he, he told me, he said, well, one thing about it, we don't have to worry about the portal. Nobody wants our players and nobody wants to come to our program right now. So he, very upbeat about it, but, again, we've got a, a tough one on the road Saturday at USC Upstate. I keep wanting to play, call'em USC Spartanburg, which they used to be years ago. A tough one. Then we've got to go up to Virginia Tech and Georgia before we close out our our pre. Conference schedule, opening the schedule on New Year's Eve. Actually I think one o'clock on New Year's Eve against Wofford and a team that has been playing very well of late surprising strong after what all went, you know, head coach was fired. They had some a lot of player changes. A lot of things going on, a lot of bad vibes down there, but they seem to have survived it and are playing very well right now. So that'll be our first conference game. Yeah.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Well, you know, I, I I was frustrated on Saturday against High Point.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:had a lead all the way up till halftime,
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yes,
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:we were, you know, we, we looked good against one of the best mid-major teams in the country.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:yes.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:team high point. Can't get the big guys to schedule them because they're so good. I was really optimistic. And then I don't know what happened in the second half. We just, we weren't getting the rebounds we're committing turnovers. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:if maybe you know, high point was sleep, walking through that first half. But again that's another animal high point right now. A lot of people tell me that they could beat at least half the a CC teams, you know, home and or away
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Right.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:there. Good. And maybe even more than that, and Bob give you a little thing inside. I don't know. Nito Cobin, who is the president down at High Point, a billionaire and has built that not only their basketball program, but their, their entire campus. It's just unbelievable what's happened there in the last 10 years and so forth. And just to get a little thing they have over a.$3 million in NIO money for their basketball program alone. So that tells you what you're competing against when you play High Point, and
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:a lot of the majors will not play them.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Right. Well, you know, I, I, I've been impressed with, I think we have good potential to be at least middle of the pack, if not in the upper tier of the third or fourth team in the conference this season.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:yeah.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:love to see what coach can do.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah. Coach is still looking for that chemistry. He's playing 10 or 11 guys about the same amount of minutes trying to get that right combination. Who is his point guard? Who is his second guard? And we know who the inside people are. Right now, we know who Marcus Kale is and Cord Stansberry, but all these other people are trying to find their role, get that chemistry and this is why, you know, maybe. We haven't looked so good in some games because of sort of, you know, the, the mad scientist experimenting there in the chemistry lab. But,
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yep.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:it's Coach Kraft, but
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:Yeah, absolutely.
squadcaster-32fa_1_12-04-2025_133454:but I, I think it's going to, I, I think it's gonna get better and by the time the conference schedule opening, I think you'll see us up a notch or two above the way we're playing right now. I really do.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_133454:I agree. Well, let's switch genders
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:And now we're going to bring in our guest for today. He is our second year women's basketball coach, Jonathan Sips Sips. I always get that wrong. It's easier to just say Coach Sip, and that's how
squadcaster-j380_1_12-04-2025_125929:There you
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:a lot of folks refer to you as. Anyway he has had real good previous experience. With large schools like University of Wisconsin Notre Dame, George Washington University, Marquette, and coming in here to take over this program. Good start. So far this year, things look a little better than last year. Steve, you wanna break out the first questions?
squadcaster-j380_1_12-04-2025_125929:All right. Well, it just. Want to tell, first of all we want to tell us about the trip to Nassau and what that was All that we, Bob and I were looking for an invitation. You just never got one, but but how did that, Tell us about that. How that comes, how that came about and about your experience down there. That's, that's very interesting. Yeah.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:Well, well first of all gentlemen, thank you for having me and, and appreciate your patience. It's been a kind of a wild 10 days here with, with five games and but this, this summer as, as we were trying to wrap up our schedule, the, the one portion of the schedule we hadn't filled up yet was Thanksgiving weekend. And, and we had some games kind of bookended it. But I think patience is a virtue is is one thing I try to live by in scheduling. And you know, there, there's so many tournaments nowadays that they're always. Seems to be a need for people you know, later in the summer. And so, so I try, I tried to always keep a couple games open and you know, we on, on different trips. I've worked with this group before at Wisconsin and and, and at George Washington, and it kind of became a last minute. We really need a team. We'll, we'll help you with this. And but you know, we were definitely gonna have to do some things from our end, you know? And you know, one of those things is that, you know, we, we, in today's day and age, when you play certain schools, you're gonna get a guarantee check. And we needed something'cause it was, no, no, the trip to The Bahamas was not built in the budget. So it was a, it was a multi-step process, but you know, we were able to do it. Fly outta Charlotte. It was great. You know, we, we actually had a direct flight outta Charlotte originally. But they, they changed it through Miami. So we, we went up on Wednesday night, and actually had a Thanksgiving dinner at Ellie Fines. One of our freshman's parents hosted 25 of us.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Wow.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:Because I'm pretty sure I would've had to sign off my first son to get a Thanksgiving dinner in The Bahamas, the cost of that. So but yeah, we got there on Thursday, had a chance to look around, practiced you know, we played a really good Clemson team on, on Friday, but then add enough off. Day as far as games on Saturday. So we got our practice in and, and let the team enjoy the, the beautiful resort and the ocean. And, you know, coaches, like people laugh like you didn't get much sun. The only sun I got was walking from the hotel to the meeting room and
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Yeah.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:And then you know, it was real, you know, there, some of my kind of coaching experience came together so. Both Friday and Sunday. John Quell Jones is a player I coached at George Washington who you know, has been W-N-B-A-M-V-P and was a year ago was the finals. MVP. She's from The Bahamas, so she was able to talk to our team and be at both games. And then one of my former assistants is actually the, the head coach at Temple. And so that was not an easy game to play against, but just you, you, you understand why you're in it. And the impact you have. And our, our, our players were very, very appreciative of, of knowing everything we had to go through to, to get this. I can't thank Kyle Piper enough too. You know, he started before he was even named ad, you know, in the, in the planning of our schedule. And when this came up, he said, let's try to figure out how to make it work. So and then Monday we traveled back. So we did miss some school on Monday, but you know, one of the things we're trying with our team and the, and the, and the upcoming, you know, recruits are coming in is make this experience for them that is unmatched. And I think that's something, we're the first Western women's basketball team ever to leave the United States to play in a tournament.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Very cool. Well.
squadcaster-j380_1_12-04-2025_125929:Coach had talking about yesterday, the review of the game. We had what they call education day, second day in a row. The men played Virginia Lynchburg on the day before. And then yesterday you had USC Spartanburg I called Spartanburg. Upstate USC Upstate used to be USC Spartanburg, but changed their name a little bit again, allowed in there. You golfed a great start, 11 point lead in the first quarter held on to that lead until right at the end of the first half and second half. To me, coach, I'm not, you know, I'm not a dope profess to be a Greg, but it looked like your team got a little leg weary and tired in that second half. They didn't look as sharp in the second half as they did the first half, and I'm sure probably that schedule has something to do with it, but ended up losing by 1155 to 44. And just talk about that situation a little bit.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:You know, that, that's totally on me. You know, again, I think had, we had these games in place before The Bahamas took back, you know, both the, the Tuesday game at West Georgia last week as well as the game on Wednesday. And they needed that, you know, we, we couldn't do a kids day game next week with exams. So that, that's completely on me. I, you know, I, I, I've done this long enough to know too, of doing scheduling at Notre Dame, even as a. Assistant that there, there's just a wear and travel. You know, I, I, I think being a college coach, I, I think when you travel all over the place to go recruiting people are like, wow, that must be the life. And I'm like, I don't go to different parts of the country and like tour things. I go from an airport to a gym, to a hotel, back to the gym and into the airport. So yeah, it's, I I totally, you know, when we watch the film again, o obviously the areas that we were deficient in yesterday. You know, we, we didn't shoot the ball well, we didn't rebound the ball well, you know, it was our, our team is a team that, you know, out rebounded Wake Forest from the a,
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Yeah.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:You know, there's not a lot of games that you hold somebody to 28% and you turn'em over 26 times and you lose. But the rebounding and, and just the heavy legged we were, I, I felt like shooting the basketball yesterday and, you know, we were fine when, you know, we got to the free throw line and can settle ourselves. But I, I tell you that, that's, that's completely on me. And, and you know, and I said this, that same thing to our, to our team you know, we haven't practiced two days in a row since before we played Wake. Just with this travel and everything, and you know, again, you're, you're trying to put'em in different situations and, and, and maybe I, I, you know, I know obviously we've played Oklahoma, we've played, you know, we've played Clemson, we've played Wake, we've played Temple. We, we, we've challenged ourselves. There's only, we're the only team in the, you know I think maybe Furman as well in the SoCon. That's. We'll have played four power four schools. So you know, and especially with this week as, as we all know going into exam sometimes this week, there's more things do for our, our student athletes than there are even during the exam week. So you know, today, I, I think it's really important for us that, that, you know, our, our players, our staff. I don't have that luxury as a coach to just, just, they gotta do some of it, you know, some self-maintenance, you know, to, you know how you're sleeping. You're in your own bed, you're on your schedule. Student athletes don't always agree with me. They like routine. They, they will tell you, they will tell you that, like sometimes you know that, that the travel and staying in the hotels, but they like routine. You know, and, and so hopefully that can help us as we've got these three games left before we get to the Christmas break, get back into our routine of when we practice. You know, and luckily two of them are at home
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:well talking about the toughness of this schedule and, you know, you played Wake Forest really well. Tough game against Oklahoma Clemon. You still have Gardner Webb in Indiana coming up before the conference season starts. How is it that you try, what's your philosophy on out of season, out of conference rather? Basketball
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:Yeah, I, I, I think I try to look at it in, in a couple of different ways. One, I, I wanna try to schedule different styles, that match the people we're gonna play in the Southern Conference. And so when we get
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:I.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:Southern Conference. E even with players who are new as, as freshmen or as transfers, they don't, they, it's something once we get to a league play that they haven't, they they've already seen once. You know, and whether that's a style defensively, you know, may maybe a team that presses or plays zone, you know, historically, you know, teams offensively. For, for us to play. You know, a team like Campbell is, is very parallel to Chattanooga on how they run the kind of players they that they, they recruit. It, it's, it's a you know, I, I, I think I, you know, for me, like both of those coaches are really, really good coaches and and so trying to. Trying to balance that. You know, we have an opportunity, I think for, for us as, as we get young women who come here to try to get them home. And in our league that takes care of some of our players. But you know, for our point guard, Ellie Richardson. You know, we're gonna play at Indiana'cause she's from Scottsburg, Indiana, and that's about 30 minutes from Bloomington. So we try to look that, look at that as well. I think, you know, we have to understand in the, in the days of revenue sharing and you know, the Indiana game also kind of fits in another bill to help us, you know, pay for the food and the travel and the extra expenses to play in the tournament in The Bahamas. So but as, as you schedule that out, you can't, you know, last year when I got here, I inherited a lot of the schedule and. You know, last year we played two home games. Then we were on the road for five, then we were home for two, and then on the road for four. And so it just, it it was, it's just really interesting how you're, you're trying to build that. The, the one area that we always struggle, and this will help with the addition of Tennessee Tech, is we are the latest starting league in the country as far as the women's side goes, because we don't start league games until January 8th.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Right.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:so getting games in after Christmas is always really difficult, and I have to turn to the non, non one side just to make sure we don't go, you know, come back from break and we don't go two and a half weeks without playing a game. So we have to kind of spread that around a little bit. I, I played the two nine ones early just knowing that we'd have five freshmen and, you know, four other newcomers to try to get everybody a chance and see how they perform with the lights on and, and you know, and we had our starting point guard at that point and into the Campbell game and have not, not had that person since then. So you, you just hope you're, you're developing different roles a little bit. You know, throughout as, as you schedule that, but there's a lot of, a lot of factors that go in how you build that.
squadcaster-j380_1_12-04-2025_125929:I just wanted to ask the coach about status of your injuries. I know you have several starters and potential starters who have missed multiple games, and I don't think I've seen the same lineup. You maybe more than two games in a row all season. Give us an update on how that's going as far as getting people back on the floor and so forth.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:so, so we, we you know, we had, you know, we had four returners, two of which. We're coming back from injuries, you know kinde. Basui had a, had knee surgery in January. And, and that that was at least a nine month recovery. And so we did not have her through you know, the whole summer and, and. really until about two weeks before the season started to be able to practice full, she was able to go through you know, one of the scrimmages for, for a limited time. And, and then the first couple games she was on a minute restriction similar with Grace Pack. Hers was she was coming back from knee surgery. Unfortunately we had a car accident. With, with Grace Pack and Riley Price, that put them back further. You know, both of them are more recent and, and just didn't really get a lot of the, you know, September and October practices in you know, Riley wasn't cleared to play until you know, the Campbell game gear game three and, and Grace wasn't cleared to play until the the Wake Forest game. In the meantime, Ellie Richardson has a lower body injury that. still come along in the process right now. And, and she has been our starter, you know, since she got here in June, you know, with with with kind day out and, and really, Allie Holy Fields are more natural to guard. So, you know, trying, you know, we're having to play Allie on the ball and, and we missed a couple games without kind day. So it's really our third string point guard and, and it, and it hurts us from a, a matter of fact that, you know, it takes away Ally's ability to really hunt her shot and, and people be able to find her. So but you know, I always say like with injuries, there's opportunity. And, you know, it did give some of our younger players, especially inside like a Justice Zimmerman, more of an opportunity. You know, Joyce Lumbo started every game until the past game when we, when we felt like race was ready to start. You know, my hopes that, that they all get this experience and that'll pay, pay forward. But you know, it's, it's we celebrate things like the one day we celebrated, we did a shooting drill and all of them could do it. know, and just making sure they're just making sure they're engaged. But, you know, I think it gly Richardson, you could tell it's, it's really hard for her'cause she's had the ball in her hands and was running our team and learning from the scrimmages and the first two games, and even the comeback that we had against Campbell. That we didn't quite finish off. And then, and then to see that that's what we really need is some stability at the point. That, that's hard as a freshman, you know, and all the other things that a freshman point guard's the hardest position, I think, in basketball to come in and play as a freshman.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Right. And speaking of youth you are a very young team. Five freshmen, three sophomores. Only two seniors. How difficult is that in this short period of time, from the time you guys started practicing in the fall till the conference season opens up to build that chemistry and get'em where you need to need to be? I mean, you've got plenty of success in the background. So you've done this before, I'm sure.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:Well, I, I think the interesting of doing it before and doing it now is that e even when rosters are turning over, you know, the, the way that they are you know, we, we, you know, even with, you know, with somebody that we feel like has been such a great addition, like Ally Hollifield, you know, she hasn't played. she, she did not play a lot as a freshman at Memphis and then Redshirted last year with a torn ACL. So, you know, we were really lucky. Obviously the administrative support we had has been great from Alex Geary to obviously passing that on to Kyle Piper to have, you know, eight of the nine. You know, newcomers here with us this summer, you know, what they don't have is that game experience. And you know, you're playing some teams that, you know, west Georgia's a perfect example. I think they had eight newcomers, but you know, four of those newcomers ha have played multiple seasons and they just understand the ebbs and flows a little bit more. And they've been more consistent. You know, we're really having to rely on somebody like, you know, Ari Dizon, you know, who's played for three of the last four years, you know, at the division one level. But you know, without having, you know, grace, you know, we really rely again on Taj, everybody's in a different role and I think we've seen that a little bit on some of these teams as we're trying to build it. There's just more, you know, I think when you get older, you know, when you're younger, you're like, what, what's the big deal about experience? Like everybody says, I don't have enough. Experience. And when you get older, you just know you've, you've been through the battles, good, bad, and otherwise. And you know, try trying to have each one of these be a learning situation of, you know, what do we do well? What can we carry over, what do we gotta continue to work towards? Some ways you gotta have a, a short, you know, a a, a short memory just to be able to not carry things with you to the next practice or game. So we've really had to rely a lot on airy. You know, and Grace and, and even Allie was so much on her plate. It's, you know, in a lot of ways it's, she's only really played a significant role in 10 college basketball games.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Oh.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:You know, I, I think we all agreed and that's why they were, I, I think unanimous that, that Chattanooga had, you know, obviously finished second last year, you know, coach Shermer coming in her first year. It, it took a little bit of time early on. but, but they were playing great basketball and obviously lost in a really close game in the championship game. After finishing second, they brought the most back and she also had one of her players from Valdosta State that was an All American division two, all American that sat out last year as back as well. So. I, I, I think there's no question that that's the team I, I think everybody has as the favorites. You know, as you look around and you see just the different rosters and, and you know, some of the growing pains other people are going through just like us. You know, people have maybe two or three people back now. You know, some people have'em that were in significant roles last year. I, I think we've seen very much a improved Mercer team. That, that added a couple of really good pieces along with, you know, some, some players that played a lot of time last year. And you know, Furman has a good mix. They had a really good freshman class last year that contributed, and, you know, Pierre, Curtis has done a good job of adding to that. And, you know, they, they gave Clemson a pretty good game. They got Clemson to play them at Furman. so as you're looking through that, you, you just know it's, it's interesting Sanford. lost a couple of really, really good players, but, you know, new head coach has been an assistant there, so you don't, you don't have as much change. I think they're still playing very similarly. Wofford's always gonna be good. Jimmy's such, you know, Garrity iss such a good coach, so I. I would say we look and see, like E East, Tennessee state was ING five to start, but had a couple of buy games and we're missing a couple people. I think there's some, some, some similarities to us in that of what they've gone through. So you know, it's. It, it's interesting as you look across it, you know, obviously UNCG was the defending champion and they went out and played Stanford in their first game and, and San Francisco and but they, they've kind of righted the ship a little bit after starting oh and three. So the thing I think as the whole league. Shifts this year. Last year we were an older league. Like we had a lot of teams with juniors and seniors and grad transfers. And, and I think you saw that. And, and then the freshmen got better. And, you know, I I, I, I remember going to an event with Coach Kraft and between the men's side. They're 15 all conference players, our side and our 10 on all conference players. There were a total of two kids coming back to the Southern Conference out of that,
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Wow.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:graduation or transfer.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Yeah.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:it's one of the reasons Chattanooga has a first team all conference player coming back, like she was the preseason, you know, player of the year. But you just, again, I think our conference isn't as. Probably seasoned this year as it was last year. And even our own roster. You know, we had, we had those six seniors you know, we had the grad transfer and, and AC Carter. So I, I think it's a league that's still kind of forming in some ways, on, on how people are gonna peak. But it, it is definitely different than last year, I can tell you that.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Well looking forward to getting that, that conference season going. One last question. When I first came to Western I came from a metro area, south Florida. It was big culture shock. You have been in a lot of. Metro areas you know, from Washington DC to the Madison and Milwaukee areas. What was it like getting into Colway and how, how have you and your family been able to embrace the mountain culture?
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:Yeah, I, I think from April 24, when I was hired until July of, of this past year in a lot of ways it's what a first year head coach needed. I rented a house. You know, I spent a ton of time with our staff just learning the area. And getting to know the people and, and seeing why Western's so special. The downside of that was my wife and my son weren't here. He had his, you know, he was finishing his senior year in high school and we made the decision as a family that we didn't really wanna stop his academic progress where he was at. So he finished up there. So there's a lot of FaceTime calls and my wife was down here a couple of times, but, you know, it, it definitely helped me develop more of a bond with Colory. And, and be right down the road down in Sundrops you know, the housing community, three doors away from Coach Kraft. So and then in July we were fortunate enough to find a house here, right on the other side of campus. And my wife's here and, and we're empty nesters. But both our, both our kids are within four hours. One at Chapel Hill and one at Blacksburg at Virginia Tech. And they were both able to go on the trip to The Bahamas. So. You know, we're still trying to, you know, we're, we're finding new places to eat, new places to explore. You know, I'm being a good husband trying to figure out where we're gonna take you know, my mother-in-law over Christmas and occupy some time. But you know, for us, I, I think this, you know, the, the beauty of this area is amazing, but it still comes down to the people. And, and that's been getting to know the people in the athletic department, obviously the people across campus, you know throughout these, you know, that those first 18 to 20 months. You see why, why people love, love to go to school here and wanna come
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Oh yeah,
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:really enjoy working here.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:yeah. Yep.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:Yeah. Yeah.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Yep.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:Yep.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Yep.
squadcaster-26ic_1_12-04-2025_125929:They, they, I always laugh'cause I've changed, you know, from, from Washington DC when, when we, when I went to Wisconsin, they told me like, we have rush hour. And I was like, you do know I'm coming from Washington, DC right? I go, what's rush hour mean? They said, well, your 15 minute drive might take 20. I go, my 15 minute drive can take an hour in 15 in DC. So yeah, not, not much rush hour unless you get caught the light at Smoky Mountain High School when school's coming out. That's about the rush hour we have here. Yeah. for sure.
bob-sabin_1_12-04-2025_125929:Or the 2 85 loop here in Atlanta. Wow. Well, coach, we really enjoyed having you on today. Thanks for being here. That about wraps another edition of tracking the Cats. Brought to you as always by Stanbury Insurance in Silva, Waynesville, Highlands, and Clyde, and look for us on WWCU 95.3 FM starting in January. We'll see you all next time in about two weeks.
