An Interview with Coach Chris Burman

Coach V chats with Coach Burman from Pacific Ridge about his back to back CIF titles, life being a teacher/coach, and the joys of watching his son play college ball (including the wild travel logistics that it entailed). 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hello and welcome to another episode of the 32. I'm your host, Coach Beef. Uh today I interviewed Coach Chris Berman from uh Pacific Ridge School here in in San Diego. Uh Coach Berman lined up across the sidelines from me many, many times um uh over the years. Uh he's found great success at Pacific Ridge. Uh he's won three titles, including two back to back recently, um, and has done a really good job uh with with his athletes there at a small school showing how you can find success at a small school, even against some big school opponents. Um he also uh had the opportunity to coach his son and then to watch his son playing in in the collegiate ranks these days, and so we had a lot of a lot of fun things to talk about. And so um I hope you enjoy this conversation uh as much as I did. So without any further ado, here is my interview with Coach Berman. All right. Uh today I'm I'm super stoked. Uh I got like uh an old friend and longtime coaching opponent uh to join me for this conversation. Coach Chris Berman from Pacific Ridge. Coach, how's it going, man? How are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 1:29

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on here. Good to see you. How are things?

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Oh, things are good. They're they're very relaxed, uh, which is weird. Um I'm like this is this time of year was always my favorite time, right? Like the the off season where I've had enough time to decompress from the end of the season, and I've started thinking about what next season is gonna look like, and like the world is full of all these possibilities. And I was like always super excited for planning, and now I'm not doing any of that. So, so I need to live vicariously through other coaches. Like, what stage of the off season are you in right now?

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Oh man, well, we're getting the getting the schedule set for next season. Um, figuring out summer league plans, I think, are pretty set now. Can try to have a couple open gyms coming up here, but we at our school we have uh global trips at the end of every year. So I also have a two-week trip to Central America on the horizon too, which takes up a little bit of my time and focus. But um coming right out of that, we'll jump into basketball camp and summer league and all that.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

It's gonna be sweet, dude. Um, yeah, I'm sure we'll be as always, uh Pacific Ridge and Escondido Charter will be in the same summer leagues and camps and we'll play each other 74 times before the season starts. So I'm sure I'll I'm sure I'll see you guys play. Um tell me before we get into kind of specific coaching stuff, tell me about your basketball journey. Like where did it start? How did you end up here in San Diego coaching at Pacific Ridge? Like what's the what's the background?

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Uh just grew up playing tons of sports as a kid. Um, loved sports my whole life. High school, played, played football, basketball, baseball. Honestly, I was I was I would consider myself very average at all of them. Played at a school that was pretty good and um spent a lot of time, you know, observing, observing games, playing some, but uh, but I was I was average observing from the bench. And I think I really like in high school realized that coaching might be might be more my angle, and kind of became uh captivated by by what coaching could be. Um and so, you know, went off to college, did some things, but circled back to basketball like in my late 20s and started coaching youth basketball, and then kind of wound my way a few years girls' varsity, a few years another school varsity program, and then 13th year here. Um, and just very, very happy with where I am at the moment.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yeah, you guys are uh you guys are doing quite well well recently. Um and I'll get to that in a second. Like I sent you a couple questions. Like there's there's a lot of stuff that that I want to talk about involving the Pacific Ridge basketball program because you've done such an incredible job there. Um how do you maintain kind of the standards that you maintain? Like the standard of excellence that you guys have had in your program. Like, how are you able to maintain that at a school that is like very high achieving academically? The kids um are probably pulled in a lot of different directions. Um, but you you're able to keep them kind of focused on basketball and and locked in. And like your guys always play really hard and compete, and they seem to do so no matter who is on the roster or who's wearing a Firebirds jersey, they're they're gonna play super hard. Um, at a school that I know is like very academically rigorous, it's very challenging. They they they have a lot of extracurricular kind of asks of the students there. And so, how do you how are you able to do that?

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Well, thank you for saying that we have a solid program. I know we like most schools have our ups and downs, right? We've had a couple of good years recently. If you go back a few years, we we struggled a little bit. So I think uh at a small school, you're gonna have ups and downs, but we try to do our best. I think there's um, I think there's like the school aspect of that, and then the basketball culture aspect of that. I think as a school, like overall, I found Pacific Ridge to be super supportive of the athletic program. Um, and so we get a lot of support like at the administrative level, a lot of student support, a lot of um we we we this this kids come out to Friday night games, their support, there are highlights posted, the schools invest in like media and promoting. So I think we we work to make the athletic experience like a good, solid experience along with the academic experience. Um we have great strength and conditioning program here with Coach Wheel, which I think is a huge um part of the success of our programs. We have like kids who've gone through the program, who've gone off to play um basketball in college, other sports as well. And so I think people see that. Uh, I think we have good like alumni coming back and being involved in our program. So at the the school level, I think they're just like an overwhelm uh overall solid support of our of our program. And I think basketball-wise, like I think we as a as a program have worked to build the culture where the kids are committed. They know like if you're gonna play basketball and be on the team, they're gonna be playing in summer, you're gonna be playing in fall. So I think that just like the expectation of commitment has been something that's helped us be successful and the willingness of the kids to to go out and play in summer, play in fall, get up in early, early mornings. Um, another thing that's unique here and is cool is that we we have middle school also. So, like six, seven years ago, I began working also with the middle school program. So there is, it's actually um one of my classes is to work with middle school basketball, and then those they have games. So uh it's been helpful to kind of link um the programs in that way and get a lot of the interest going at the middle school level. And in fact, like last year's team, like the core of last year's team was like a great group in in middle school. And I remember telling those guys in middle school, like, you guys can win championships if you stick with this. And now they've they've done that. So that's pretty cool. So I think having coaches on campus that are able to also work with the middle school students and then funnel into your programs that way as sort of part of the trajectory, I think is um is super helpful.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

That's awesome, man. Yeah, it turns into like a seven-year program, right? Like that's that's really cool to have those guys on campus. Does it start in sixth grade or is it seventh grade?

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Yeah, we start in sixth grade now. That was out of years ago.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Yeah, it's very cool. Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. Like um, and you kind of segued into it. How important do you think it is, like from your coaching perspective, to be on campus as a teacher and like be around those kids every day? Because I feel like, because that was obviously um I was as well, right? I I've I've been a I've been a teacher and I was a coach here and teacher here for 12 years. Um how how like, and I feel like it's a dying breed, right? Like I feel like there aren't as many, there aren't as many teacher coaches, I feel like, as there as there used to be. Um and I, you know, like I'll I'll throw my opinion out there. I think it's a bad thing, right? I think that there need to be more teacher coaches. So, like, how how has that impacted your program? You being on campus, your assistant coaches being on campus.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah, no, I love the fact that that we're on campus. Um, I think it's just an awesome way to build rapport with the kids to kind of know what the kids are going through on a day daily basis. Um, I've taught a lot of a lot of our players, but not probably, you know, maybe 25% of our varsity players do I end up teaching in the classroom. But just being around campus and being involved with campus uh and building that connection with them. Um, also, like I mentioned, we have these trips. We've tried traveled with a lot of the players internationally. So having all these kind of different touch points with them is super important. And you mentioned our assistant coach. We have, and that's another part I think of our success. We have great assistant coaches here. Um, Coach Von Alt has been with me for a long time. Coach B Peabody, last few years, played professionally. Uh, and both of them are also on campus. So, I mean, kids can't move around this campus without running into one of their coaches. And I think that that is is a really fundamental part of their experience.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Yeah, it's huge. Um, I I I understand why like younger kind of club coaches are are are getting hired in a lot of places. And I understand the draw from both sides, right? Like I get it as a club coach, you want to have facilities so so you can cut like a massive cost out of your program. And as a as a administration, as a program, you know, like club coaches are going to bring in kids. And so I think I I see the benefit from both sides, but like at what cost? I think I think that there's such a value for the coach being on campus and seeing the kids, and exactly like you said, like getting to know them, um, getting to know them off the court as well. Uh, I think there's such a value in the players being like human beings and not just like commodities. And so yeah, I I like I I love the fact that that you teach um on campus. It's like uh it's it's it's huge.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Um there's other there's other advantages as well, just just being on the same schedule, right? Film session at lunch, an open gym before school. Um, just all the like little nuts and bolts are so much easier if you're if you're on campus with them.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Totally agree. How um because you won a title. You know, it's funny because I I I just I just interviewed um I just interviewed Nick um over at Bishops. Just talked to him, and so it's funny um to talk to talk to you immediately afterwards. Um you know your first year at Pacific Ridge, you won a title, right? Was that your first year at varsity? Yeah. Um and then, you know, 10 years later, you you've won back-to-back titles. Um, you know, your last your last two seasons. The you know, both of them were were pretty dominant. I mean, you guys were you guys were 29 and three, you know, my last year coaching. That team was that team was a machine. And then last year I felt like you were arguably even stronger. Um, it's it's been it's been such a it's it's been fun to watch. It wasn't fun to coach against, but it's been fun to watch. Um But how has your kind of approach to coaching changed in those 10 years? Like how would you say? Um yeah, what's different?

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Yeah, for a while there I thought we'd just win one title every 10 years, but hey, that's one more title every 10 years than I ever won. So that's good. Um, I don't know. I think I it's changed a lot uh over the years in general. You know, I like I think when I came into coaching, I was a little bit more um more like this is our plan for the year, this is what it is, and we're sticking with it, this is how we're gonna play. And I feel like I'm just way more flexible and open-minded to learning now. It's almost like every year I I feel like I I know less. Like as you learn more, I feel like, okay, I have to be more open-minded to maybe, maybe we're not experts on these things. So in terms of our team and our program, I think um things like let's see here, being more willing to listen to players on the court. Like I've had a really solid point guard the last couple years, and I feel like earlier on in my coaching, I'd have been like, no, this is what we're doing, but we've had this great rapport and ability to like almost have an ongoing conversation through the game. Tell me what you're seeing, and sort of sort of an openness to listen to the players more. I think that's something that that we've gotten better at over time. And then at the same time, like, what are we doing offensively? Um, it might not be what this initial plan is, it might be we might learn something new and try something new and throw it out there. Um, so I think an overall willingness to like adapt and try new things. This year, for example, we uh I was at a college basketball game that my son was playing, and the other team was doing something in their zone defense. And I thought to myself, this could really work for us. And we ended up using it probably like I did a bunch of research, using it probably like 40% of our defensive possessions. In fact, the championship game we played the entire game. And it's something I would have never done 10 years ago, but sort of like a mindset of like, hey, this this is the players we have, this is what might work for us now. Let's be willing to adapt and change to that. So I think that I think that has been a change in in this process. Um yeah. That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

What was the what did you see? Like what was the the tweak in the zone?

SPEAKER_02 14:39

If you don't want to like give away the secrets, like what was the we're we we ran a ton of like the Merrimack zone, which is like just the no three super spread out zone where the the um lower wing guys are butt to the baseline and are bumping back towards the corner. Now it helped in this particular year because we had a 6'11 guy in the middle, and so yeah, so we had our everybody else real stretched out and let the 6'11 guy patrol the middle. So it it fit quite well with our team this year, and and we didn't do it always, but in certain games when the matchups were were right, it was really, really effective. Um, and so I think that's awesome. Seeing something like that and thinking like this could work for us. I think 10 years ago, I'd have been like, we're playing man, we're only playing man, and that's all we ever do. Um, and so I think a willingness to sort of say, like, hey, this could work.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Yeah, I hear that. Like that that was definitely something for for me, it was um I had um do you remember Tristan Hernandez who played point guard for me for four years? Yeah. Um he like totally changed the way that I went about coaching on offense. Um, I think the four years that he played for me, I don't think I called a single inbounds play for four years. He just he would just call them. Like he knew he could read the, he could read the floor. And that like I I think when I first started, and I think a lot of coaches when they first start, I think I I was kind of treating it like a video game where I was calling a lot of plays and I was like, I really I was really actively involved in like in-game coaching, right? Like calling out offenses and calling out switches and stuff. And I feel like as I progressed in my coach, my my uh in my career, my in-game coaching like shrank down, right? Like I started doing a lot less in-games. Um, and that's how it should be, right? Like I think the lion's share of coaching and high school basketball specifically is done in practice. And so I I think there's only so much you can do in the game. Uh I think that's I I I like that. Like that's that tracks. That's similar to to my experience.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Yeah, and it always depends on on the personnel you have and and how things click together, right? Like we uh in 2022, I called virtually nothing, and the guys played this motion offense, and other years we're doing a lot more, and and some years the point guards call on more. I think it depends on who who you have and how they kind of mesh together.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Time and the place for everything.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Yeah, no, for sure. Um so you mentioned uh you mentioned you were watching one of Brady's games at Sarah Lawrence. I want to pivot real quick before we come back to high school because I am uh, you know, I have entered um, you know, head and shoulders deep into sports ad territory. Um and so uh talk to me about about that experience. I know you you coached Brady for four years. Um I think he's I think he's still at the free throw line hitting free throws against us um at some point right now. I think he scored um probably 30% of his career points from the free throw line against us in games. Um but uh what was that like, like watching him, being able to coach him, but also like being able to be a fan and watch him? And then now, like he's he's you know, he's been playing out in New York for for the last you know few years and being able to watch him do all that stuff. Like, talk, talk, talk about that a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah, man. I mean, coaching your son is the greatest thing. Uh I recommend it for anyone. I had the best experience coaching him in high school and going through that whole experience, being in the locker room with him after games, talking things through, just kind of being in the heat of the moment. Uh his mindset worked well, you know, working with me. Uh, he's way calmer than I am. And so that that's nice. But uh just just the best experience ever to be able to share those moments with your son. And then, yeah, he went off play. He just finished actually, but he went to play. I played four years in New York, Sarah Lawrence College. Awesome, awesome experience, and uh so fun to sort of be on the other angle, be a parent. I I got into the habit of um coaching a Friday night game, flying overnight, uh, and then get taking public transportation through New York and getting his game by 12 o'clock New York time, watching his game, spend one night with him, come back Sunday. I think I did that trip over 20 times in the past four years. Yeah. And uh just like it's the best money I ever spent to be going to go out there and and watch him and his get to know his teammates, um, and sort of, you know, right after four years of being being on the court with him, four years then being on the sidelines and just just watching. And yeah, you can stream all the games, but it it's just so worth it to get out there and and watch in person. And we're real proud of of his efforts out there, and um, you know, academically and athletically, he he had great success. And so super fun to be a parent and get to watch that. So I hope you hope you'll get to be be in that position at some point. Yeah, that'd be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Um what's what's next for him? Is he coming back home? Is he gonna join you on the bench or what's uh what's the plan?

SPEAKER_02 20:00

I wish he was joining me on the bench. He's uh he's going to do a master's at UCLA in public health.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Oh, cool. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, Brady's great, man. Uh I I always loved um I always loved playing you guys because I feel like he would spend like at least 25% of the game talking to me uh during each of those games. And not in a like, like sometimes players will jaw at other coaches in like a disrespectful way, but it was it's never like that with Brady. He was always like he was always very funny.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Very talkative, inquisitive guy. I told him I was gonna talk to you, and he said, Don't mention that one time I only scored two points against Charter. So then was that?

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Oh, I should have that, I should have that circled. Um, I actually have I actually have our whole um our whole history um pulled up pulled up in front of me. Yeah. And so uh like like every coach, uh I feel like I have a losing record against you. Um, you know, our teams, um, but it it always went in runs, right? Like so overall during the regular season, this is not including the 800,000 summer league games we played. Um during the regular season, we played 23 games. Um, and in those 23 games, Charter was nine and 14. So nine wins, 14 losses, but it was all in streaks, right? Like you won the first, let's see, of the first nine games, you won seven of the first nine. Um, and then we went on a stretch where we won like seven out of however many, you know, and so it was it sort of bounced back and forth. But one thing that was really interesting of those 23 games, 15 of them were decided by 10 points or less. Like they were all it was always close. Yeah. There's games and multiple overtime games, too. Uh yeah, and then you know, the the Charlie Chen game, of course.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Some real heartbreaker, Charlie Chen game, some real heartbreakers out there.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

And so, yeah, I wanted Talk about that. Like, let's let's talk about those games because yeah, I have really fond memories of those games. But um what so I'll tell you like when we were game planning for Pacific Ridge, I always um it I always had to tell the guys, like, first of all, for some reason, um, I don't think any charter team has ever shot well in your gym. And so I I don't know, I don't know what it is. I don't know whether it's the sight lines on the court with the with the the the net that comes down behind it. I don't know what it is, but we've never shot well in that gym, except for except for Charlie Chen. Um, and so uh I would always tell him, like, you know, stop trying to score from the outside. Like you need to get two feet in the paint in this gym, and you need to be able to tune out the crowd and tune out the um like the play-by-play announcers that you guys had for a few years that were hilarious. Um but also like like defensively, you guys, the last couple of years, um the last the last time we played you guys, you guys just you packlined us to death. And I like uh I hated playing against packline because our whole our whole offense was like ball screen continuity, um and like trying to slip back door and get to the basket, and we couldn't against the stupid pack because you guys are you know drop coverage and and playing under stuff and we couldn't shoot because it's your house, and it was so infuriating. It's like and I know that like the amount of preparation and film you guys uh that you guys watched and the amount of game planning, and so I say this with the utmost respect. It felt like we were playing against the exact defense that was designed to make us not score points, and it was and it was very successful against us, and it was very infuriating. And so um what was like what was the scout on our teams? I mean, obviously, I know it changed from year to year, and we had Marley and uh, you know, he's enormous, or or years where um we could shoot or couldn't shoot, but it was there like any, was there any like running trend? Like for you guys, it was you know, you got to be ready for the two, two, one press, you got to be ready. Um, you got to be ready for pack line, and you gotta be ready for that. Ugh, you guys ran that blind pig offensive set, backdoor cut, and you would do it at the start of like every game, and we would we would rep it in practice, and they knew it was coming. And we would there the tip-off would happen and the first possession would happen, and I would tell the guys, here it comes, and they would be like, Oh, it's coming, it's coming, and then we'd get beat by it. And I like I it it drives me crazy. Um, what was there anything? Was there anything with my guys that yeah?

SPEAKER_02 24:52

I mean, I think your teams, your teams over the years have been so solid. I think we I I felt like we always knew that your offense, it was kind of gonna change from year to year, but it's the the kids are gonna have a real good idea of what you wanted them to do offensively. Always felt like your teams were gonna play super hard. Um, and it was gonna be it's gonna be like a defensive, grinded out battle. I think you had some teams that were more aggressive defensively, like you're picking up full court and pressuring and others, others not. Obviously, Marley, you know, Marley just killed us time and time again. Uh just such a strong presence there in the middle. And I don't think we ever figured him out. I remember one game we went in saying let him shoot, and then like the moment I say that, he drains a three. That's what seems to happen. Uh I feel like anytime we go to play chart, some reason you're you're the coach in the county that seems to know the first name of every person on every team, which I I admire. And um, so I I feel like at some point you're gonna get my guys laughing from your comments on the sideline. So, you know, we mentioned that, but I just think like well schooled offensively, always with some sort of plan. Um, whether you're doing uh I think one year you're running some flex stuff and lots of ball screen stuff, and um uh we always knew you're gonna run that sideline out of bounds same play constantly.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

So as the only sideline out of bounds play I ever ran for 15 years.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

And playing playing a charter, man. Like you got the flag, you have sometimes you even have the athletic director singing the anthem.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

That hasn't happened in a while.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

Yeah, yeah, uh uh I remember one game like good student support, right? Students yelling at you. One game they all have holding newspapers up when we were weakline or something. So it's always an adventure over there. But I feel like you got your guys to play super hard. Always got them to play super hard and always um gonna make every part of the game just difficult on us.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

We had to. It was the only way that we could score points. Um, yeah, you know what what's your favorite? Do you have like a favorite memory, like one that sticks out?

SPEAKER_02 27:03

Oh man, I feel like a lot of them are my memories of agony, like that Charlie. Like, I think we've had a couple times where we could have we needed to beat Charter to like win a share of the league title, and both times we lost. And um the the Charlie Chen game stands out. I don't know about favorite moment, but we talk about it the most. I mean, I think you guys are like 30, and the next time we play, this guy is not even on the scouting report. We don't even know he's on the team. He drops like over 20 on us, and we're just like, where did this guy come from? Um, I don't know. I think your team, your your last year of coaching was a very good team, right? Did that team go to the semis? Yeah. I thought that team was a really, really tough team, and I was proud that we we we won that game. So I guess if I had to think of a good memory, that's a good memory, sorry. But um that was a solid team you had there.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

No, that was a fun year. Yeah, I always loved um I always loved playing at your house. Like um, I thought that when you guys had the the announcer that was doing the like color commentary slash stand-up comedy routine that was happening for a while.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Yeah, not the most appropriate. We had to we had to get that to stop.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Uh some of those were some of those were so fun. Um, yeah, your student section would always would always really show up. And I thought that was really cool. I also I I really enjoyed it. Um, I thought it was really thoughtful. We we played once at your house for your senior night, and you guys had like full gifts and everything for my seniors as well. And that like that meant a lot to those kids. Um, you know, like I think uh in the history of the the entire time I coached at the school, I think I had one player that played after high school, right? And so um for for all of those other kids, you know, those senior night games, those that would that's like the highlight, it's the pinnacle of their athletic experience. And so I always felt like it's you know, it's our job. Uh, the coaches, like everybody involved in the high school game, whether it's like the officials, the athletic directors, the coaches, the fans, it's everybody's job to provide these kids with the best stage that they can have to show off, right? To to show what they can do and to to really enjoy those those moments. And you guys doing that for our seniors was was super special. I mean, some of those kids talked about it for years afterwards. Like I would see them, they'd be like, oh, remember when Pacific Ridge gave us gave us chocolate? And like some of them were trying to like eat the chocolate on the sidelines during the game. And so uh, so that was not super happy about that.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

But I have to credit our our parent community on on that a bit. I mean, I think that is another thing that is great here in our basketball community is that the parents are so supportive and they tend to take a lead on senior night, and so that's sort of become a tradition, something to do to give something small to the other team. But um the parents, yeah, the parents really put that together, and the parents like help help our program in so many ways here. We're so thankful to have real supportive parent community.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Yeah, that's awesome, man. Um yeah, so uh I also um I think I've told you this before. There was one game you guys were playing at our house, it was a close game. I think there was something that happened that got you frustrated. And you uh you had like a little uh like a one of the little whiteboards, like a little guy, and you snapped it. You snapped it and you threw you threw it in the trash can. And um and after the game, one of my players grabbed it out of the trash can. Um and I I still have it actually. It's it's it's in my office right now. I'm gonna um I'm gonna like frame it and give it to you at some point. Um I I keep waiting for the right time. Hold on, let me slide over. Yeah, it's right here.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

Oh no. Well, uh that's that's hilarious. Unfortunately, there's probably a few of those um in around San Diego. However, however, that is I I'd say another thing going back to that question of what I've changed. I really worked on, you know, I can get a little bit intense and have some competitive fire, but the last few years I've worked on, you know, the right time and place. And my my uh my family always jokes because I've taken to like chewing a ton of gum during games. Yeah. Some reason the correlation of chewing gum and keeping me calm seems to be working right now. So there'll be fewer of those clipboards, and we can just treasure that one forever.

SPEAKER_00 31:46

No, I will actually. No, no, you're a coach after my own heart, right? Like, I I can't sit during games. Um, like I I'm constantly pacing. And I there will be games where it's like, you know what, today my anxiety is really high. Um, I'm having a moment. I need to just like I need to control myself. I need to just sit down. And I'm like, today I'm gonna, I'm gonna coach, I'm gonna sit, and I'll like I'll move the players down, I'll make a big show out of it. Like, we got to keep this seat available. And I'll tell my assistant coach, I'm like, I'm gonna sit today. And then eight seconds into the game, I'm up and I'm pacing back and forth and put in like 15,000 steps a game. Yeah. Oh, that's hilarious.

SPEAKER_02 32:25

Well, I mean, you gotta do stuff that you gotta figure out what kind of keeps you under control, keeps you calm, and uh helps you be the best coach you can be, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:32

But yeah, calm is not something that was ever in my repertoire when I was coaching. Um talk to me about um, so obviously uh you guys have had a lot of success the last couple of years, and in in classic um coastal conference fashion, you have been rewarded for that by being promoted to the the coastal league, correct?

SPEAKER_01 32:54

Yep, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Yeah, yeah. So playing with the big boys. Uh yeah, we we did that one year. It was uh it was actually it's it's very entertaining. Um some of those teams are it's like they're really good, man. Uh and so uh how are you guys? Are you guys preparing like differently for the season going into it, knowing that you got Francis Parker, Santa Fe Christian, Lahoye Country Day all twice on the schedule? Or is it uh is it kind of business as usual? Like what's the planning?

SPEAKER_02 33:23

I'm looking forward to the challenge. I I love the team that we have. I love the players. I love the players we have uh right now. I think we have just a great group of guys. I know that they're like fired up for that kind of challenge. Uh we have good quality basketball players, so I think let's go play the best competition, see what we can do. Obviously, we all know that there's great teams in this in this conference, and it's gonna be super challenging. But I'm happy that the that the guys that we have right now have had success, and that success has given them this opportunity where they can they can see what they can do and test, you know, as a lot of them as they go into senior year, test really where they are. We have one little real little um I mean we played some good teams this past year. Yeah, you did. But we we I have a lot of guys on our squad from Carlsbad, and we got to play Carlsbad, and we had a good game that night. And so I think that that made them feel like hey, we we can play with play with teams, um, and kind of motivates us to work hard and and see how it goes. So I I like the challenge, and I really like that my guys are like fired up for the challenge and and for that situation. Like they're I mentioned it to them and everybody like let's let's just go for it. Let's go for it and see what we can do.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Yeah, that's awesome, man. I'm so excited to watch you guys because I think I think you guys are gonna you guys are gonna make some noise. Um, it's gonna be obviously a different team for you because you know, two years ago you had Max, you know, like big rim protector athletic. Yeah. Uh last year you guys had you know your your 6'11 giant, big athletic, yeah. Um, rim protector. Um is there a is there another, is there a third generation of height coming through the middle here, or are we gonna be we're gonna be a smaller squad this year?

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Uh I think right now overall we'll be a little smaller, although our our we have um love all of the guards that we have. And yeah, your guards are we had a sophomore last year, he's actually the son of one of our assistant coaches who continues to grow and is working a ton on his game. He's gonna be more of like a 6'5 type type guy, but I'm really excited to see what he can do. So so we will have a little bit of a little bit of size that's like right now blossoming and improving, um, and still surrounded by like the best guard collection of guards I've ever coached. Um and they're gonna continue to improve. They're all out, you know, playing, playing now. So um we won't have 6'11 guy, we'll have the tallest guy in the county who is helpful, there's no doubt about that. But I I you know I I am confident in this group and I I like what we have, and um we'll we'll have to see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Do those guards um to you know, Lucas, Gavin, um, and Alex, like do they see I still know first names of players? Um do they do they play together in the offseason or are they off playing separately?

SPEAKER_02 36:20

Uh they played together last last season when club with game point. Right now they're kind of doing their own thing. And in fact, uh only only only one of them, Gavin's playing with game point, the others are doing kind of different basketball things. One played lacrosse, and um, so so they're not and and we have some other guys. I would I would also add in Zayn, who is a classmate of theirs, who's a terrific player, terrific shooter. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

Um, and so no, you don't win, you don't win back-to-back titles with just three guys. Like, even if they're just three guards, you don't like you guys have always had um, like always had, but specifically the last two years, like your the role players have been phenomenal for for your squad. Um, and are they're really the key to everything, right? Because they're the the glue guys that do the stuff that doesn't show up in the stat sheet, whether it's like hockey assists, right? Like the pass to the pass, or whether it's screen assists, or you know, the any of the other kind of things that they do, like your your bench culture is is really, really strong. Um, and so the role players on that team have been um as impressive, if not more impressive, because you spend so much time trying to shut down Gavin because he's so good. Um, that if you forget about one of those other guys, they're gonna they're gonna beat you up for it. And so that's that's a credit to your squad for sure. Like they're very deep and they're very connected. That's cool to watch.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Yeah, thank you for saying that. And I I I agree that on any team, like the willingness of all of the whole group to buy into what you're doing. And I think we've been lucky to have kids at this school that are just committed to, okay, let me let me be the best I can in my role. And that yields success of the team. So we've got other seniors graduating this year that are fantastic role players, and we got younger guys coming up. Um, and so I think their willingness to like just to buy in really is just just so fun to work with.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Yeah, it's very cool, man. All right. Well, my my my free zoom time is is is slowly coming to a coming to a close. Actually, it's it's rapidly coming to a close here. So um, and I could I'm gonna have you on again. I think when we get closer to the season, um, because none of these conversations are are are long enough, I think. I I could do I could do three of these. Um I just want to thank you for um for your friendship over all these years. Like it's it's a very, it can be a very lonely, isolating job. Um and having coaches that uh you get to line up against and and see every once in a while, but that are also friends that you can talk to off the court afterwards. Um, I think it's so important. I think it's so important for the coaching community in San Diego to be kind of to kind of keep each other afloat. I mean, we're the only people that understand just like how insane this job is. And so um, I just wanted to thank you for that. Um, you know, your friendship's meant a lot to me over the last 15 years or so. And so uh I'm looking forward to looking forward to still watching you.

SPEAKER_02 39:33

Right back at you. Thank thank you for for all the text and communication over the years and the thoughts and the advice and analysis and sharing of film. Um and I commend you on this this podcast and everything you you've written, I've read. I think it's all fantastic stuff. So congratulations on success with all of that.

SPEAKER_00 39:53

Yeah, it's fun. I mean, it's a way to stay connected, but in a way that I can still like see my family and they remember what I look like. And so um I'll be I'll be back at some point. Like I that's that conversation has already happened with the family. It's just it's a it's a when, not an if, I think. It's gonna be like a couple years. Like let the let the boy kind of get through high school and then then we'll figure it out. We'll find somewhere to go be a be some crotchety old coach on the sideline, barks at kids about the way things used to be.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

So well, in the meantime, keep up the good work.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

All right, brother. Well, thank you. I appreciate that, man. That means a lot. Uh all right. Well, I will talk to you later. All right, thank you. See you. All right, that'll do it for another episode of the 32. Uh, I've been your host, Coach V. Uh as always, thanks a ton for listening. Um, these these interviews are like therapy for me. It's like a post-coaching life. Uh kind of how I cope with it is by staying involved tangentially and kind of talking to coaches and still being around the game. Um as I said in the last episode, if any of you listening would would like to be on, just reach out. Um you can reach out to me through Instagram at the32Pod, or um if you're on the substack, you can email me, or I'm sure you can find a way to get a hold of me. Um But I'd I'd love to have you on. Like this is uh this is fun for me. It's like uh it kinda it kind of keeps my my creative basketball juices flowing, which uh which I need in my life um because uh I miss it. And that's it. Uh right. Uh until next time. I'll talk to you later.