Double R Flo-Town
The Double R Flo-Town Podcast is where two Florence, SC locals—Reeves and Robert—pull together community stories, real talk, and a behind-the-scenes look at life in the Pee Dee. Born and raised in Florence, they’ve chosen to raise their families here and are passionate about highlighting what makes the city special—while also having honest conversations about what could make it better. With a mix of local updates, guest interviews, real estate insights, and plenty of banter, this podcast is about more than just where you live—it’s about why you choose to stay. Whether you're a longtime local, new to town, or just curious about the people shaping Florence, this is your spot for connection, conversation, and community.
Double R Flo-Town
Double R Flo-Town: With Coach Nick Pasqua
Coker College’s new basketball coach shares the story behind his journey to Hartsville—from his roots on the court to leading the next generation of student-athletes. We dive into how NIL is changing the game, culture's shifting attitude towards private colleges, and what it means for the future of education and the workforce in America.
Double R, episode number eleven. I'm pumped. Nick Pasqua, new head coach at Coker basketball. So this is I love how we met. Yeah. So I go to my in-laws' house to pick up my little girl. I get there, and she's got her new best friend. Your daughter. Right away. Right away. They were like instant buddies. That was awesome.
SPEAKER_00:No, Riley, uh Riley can become best friends with just about anybody. So no, they they hit it all from the first uh first minute they walked across the the yard there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, that was awesome. That was, you know, I I love the letter Riley made. She was like, Will you be my best friend, yes or no?
SPEAKER_00:She's a writer, she's a she like she loves to write letters. If if she're if you're her friend, you're getting a note from her. Yeah, yeah. She's a sweet girl.
SPEAKER_02:Teal's gonna be going to grandma's house a lot more now.
SPEAKER_00:That's good. We we can take them on anything that occupies them too for for an hour or two, we'll take.
SPEAKER_02:So four kids. Yeah, four of them. Yeah. Four of them. Moved just moved from Spartanburg to Hartsville. Yeah. What all right, you got to tell me what's that what's that like? What's that move like?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, uh chaos. Yeah, yeah. That's a nice way to say it. Yeah. Uh but no, it's been uh we've enjoyed Hartsville so far. Uh we enjoyed our time at Spartanburg. Spartanburg has gotten uh big. It's pretty big. Yeah, it has gotten uh we were there for a little over three years, and you know, they just built the minor league baseball stadium downtown, and downtown have really started kind of been uh revitalized, and I think a lot of people were moving out of the Greenville area more towards the Spartanburg area, and then on the side of Spartanburg we were living on on the east side, you were 55 minutes to Charlotte, uh an hour to Charlotte. And so I think we were right kind of in the middle of those really big cities, and Spartanburg was was really becoming one too. And you know, the opportunity here at uh at Coker was one we were excited about and and wanted to get maybe to a little slower pace, not quite as big as Spartanburg, and and Hartsville certainly has been that so far. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So take us through that process. You're at Converse University working at Converse uh in Spartanburg and Coker calls, kind of what that what's that process for you?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so it's um coaching searches are crazy, uh, even at the Division II level. They they can go all kinds of different ways. And we uh were actually on vacation at the beach for and and this happened really, really late. Um it was the first week of June, and the coach that was at Coker, uh they'd had a really good, successful season the year before. He got an opportunity to go back to West Liberty, which is his album mater, and they've they've won a national championship, probably a top 10 Division II program in the country. And so that that left a vacancy here at Coker and um had some connections uh there. We had competed against them and beat them the year before when I was at uh at Converse. And so I think that certainly helped some. And um, so it was really late for a coaching search, and it like it happened fast. Like most coaching searches, you think uh April, first of May, right at the end of March. Yeah. Uh and so all this happened, like we had made plans to to for sure be at Converse that you know this this year and and thought nothing really was gonna come open. There had been some other opportunities, you know, we'd looked at in the spring um that that got to the final two or three and just didn't work out. And then and then so this by the middle of June, um the search was over and and they'd offered the job. And so it it happened in a in about a two-week span. And then uh we had to get down here by the end of July because kids started school July 31st, and so it was it was a expedited uh process on on all fronts. So yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So what's your basketball journey like? I mean, no offense, you're a white dude.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you know, and and you know, what tell me about the basketball journey? Uh it's been quite the journey. Um, and so uh played played at a D2 school at King University in Tennessee, okay, which is actually in the same league that Converse was in in Southern Western, where I was a coach before. So it's in Bristol, Tennessee. Um so played there for four. You could play, Reeves. And then worked there for nine years. You gotta be you gotta be able to make some shots at my side. So can you still dunk? No, not anymore. Not anymore. You could though. I could touch the rim. That's I'll give myself that. Yeah. I was never gonna try to dunk anything. Point guard, shooting guard. Both, yeah. Okay, both. So but then worked at King for nine years. Uh was fortunate. I worked for a Hall of Fame coach. He'd won over a thousand games, as in every uh Tennessee sports hall of fame you can be in. And so he was my mentor, my coach, and and really helped me get my career started. I was an assistant coach at 21. Uh, we got beat in the national tournament, and uh I had told him before the season started I wanted to get into coaching, and we got beat in the tournament. He called me down to his hotel room. It's like, man, I can't be in trouble already. Like, we just got beat, yeah, career's over. Like, what's he want? And uh he told me our assistant was leaving and asked if I'd be interested in in taking his spot. And so I was actually going on recruiting trips before I even graduated. So it was it was a it was a blessing to be able to get into it uh because it's not easy to get into. And then so was there for nine years. Uh then I got the head coaching job at Tusculum University, which is in Greenville, Tennessee. So grew up in Knoxville, uh, and then Bristol's at the very northeast tip of Tennessee, and Greenville is right in between them. And so thought I was gonna be there for a long time. Uh, they're actually in the same league as Coker, and uh was there for all of nine months. I was the youngest head coach in the country at the time. The president that hired me had to step down for health reasons, and then I wasn't the new president's guy that came in after, and and so I I learned the business side of things in a hurry. Yeah. And so this was, I think they'd had 12, uh, somewhere between 10 and 12 straight, either 500 or below seasons. And so this is before the portal starts, where guys can just pretty much you got free agency in college basketball. And uh so it was gonna take some time to to rebuild. And and so from there, this is where you know the journey really kind of started. The only, the only in in South Carolina, the only opportunity I had if I wanted to remain a head coach was at Southern Wesleyan, uh, which is right outside of Clemson. Um sorry about that. Yeah. And uh so we we got indoctrinated into the the Tiger life for sure. Yeah, but uh went there on faith pretty much. It was the worst Division II program in the country at the time. They had won a total of 11 games in a five-year period. Um, they had the lowest or tied for the lowest amount of scholarships of any Division II around. And I had struck out all spring trying to get a job. My first year at Tuscom, or my only year at Tuscom, we won six games. And so you're 31 years old, you just won six games. Like you're, you know, the the search firms aren't knocking down your door to to interview. And uh my wife Spencer had a really good job uh in Tennessee, and and uh at the time we only had the one kid, and so we went on some faith and and took the job. Um so that's this is still before the portal. They had 17 players on a two-win team, and they had promised all 17 guys they could keep the same scholarship they were on and come back and be a part of the program the next year. And so I I inherited I inherited the mess. And so you did. We won two games uh my first year. Uh we didn't win a game after Christmas. And so my first two years as a head coach, I won eight games. And uh, so I'm glad you guys had me on the podcast to talk about all the success I had. But uh, but then from there, uh some things started to change. Uh we went from two wins to 20 wins in my second year. Oh my goodness. We had the uh largest turnaround in the country, division one through division three, and uh won the conference championship, made an NCAA tournament, and then uh COVID showed up.
SPEAKER_01:Can I stop you there for a second? So from from two wins first year at Southern Westland to 20 wins, yeah. Did you do that with the same players? Did you go overhaul the roster at that point?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and that was the first spring of the transfer portal. So it had just started. And um we started the year with 17. My first year is where we started the year with 17 players, like I said, we finished with seven. Yeah. And and so we had nobody over our nobody over six foot four on our roster. And so you think about what a college basketball team looks like. Robert could have played on that today. He would have been uh the starting five management. I've still got eligibility.
SPEAKER_02:I've still got a little bit of well.
SPEAKER_00:We could have used you that year. I doubt it. I hope I don't need you this year, but uh we could have used it. We would have taken uh we would have taken anybody that year. Uh and so it uh we were able to utilize the portal that spring. Uh we had three three players return um off the seven that were left uh for that next year's team. And um we we had to come up with a strategy. We had a very, very small gym. It had about five rows of bleachers. It would look like something you went to to middle school at. So we we didn't have a lot to sell. I mean, we sold Clemson, like you can go to some Clemson football games. They were kind of they were kind of at the height of their power at that time. And uh, and so we we sold, you come here, you know, you're gonna play more than where you were. Uh we're we need guys. And we went after, we we weren't going to attract the the top level guys in the portal by any means. And so we went to other division two schools that had had success, and those guys that were looking to have a bigger role, but they were accustomed to winning, they saw what winning programs look like, they understood kind of what the Division II lifestyle was like, where we ride on buses, we're not flying to games, like there's long days on the bus. And um, so none of that caught them by surprise in the role we were able to offer them. So we were recruiting like the seventh or eighth man on a really good team that was looking to become you know the one, two, three, four type guy. Yeah, and so it it worked out, and uh that's kind of how we built our roster that year and went on to have uh that year, obviously we we had a lot of success. We didn't get to play in the NCAA tournament because of COVID. Uh day four we were supposed to leave, they they canceled the tournament. Okay, and uh so but it was still, you know, we got to end our year on a win. We got to end our year on a win in the championship, and and so that was uh an experience I'll never never forget. But moving on from there, we we were able to beat USC Upstate one year, the next uh two years after that. Well no, the the next year we beat them. So so we had the first ever conference championship, NCAA tournament. We beat a Division I school, um, and we averaged 19 and a half wins for the next three years. Um phenomenal. Yeah, so then that kind of led to you know, we were looking for another opportunity at that point, and um Converse had just started a men's program. Converse was an all-women's school from 1889 up until 2020. Um, and they started a men's basketball team. They had gone co-head, and so it was a whole new set of challenges.
SPEAKER_01:Like so that's how you recruit the guys there is hey, come you got a bunch of women here.
SPEAKER_00:The female to male ratio was was certainly put a few women on the team. Yeah, it was certainly in our favor, except uh sometimes we were not we were looked at as kind of the the aliens around campus, like we were out of place. But uh so there was a guy who had just started the program um my last year at Southern Westing. So they we were in the same conference and we we had done pretty well against them. And at the time it was like, I I don't really want to go to another rebuild type thing. I would like to try to capitalize on some of the success we've had. Um and coincidentally enough, the assistant AD at uh Converse was the assistant AD when I was at Tusculum, and he called me and reached out and like we'd love to have you here, love to sit down and talk to you about, you know, kind of the opportunity here. Um and when I got to Spartanburg and kind of went through the area and saw kind of like, okay, it is a lot a little different than what Clemson is, a lot more kind of going on and to do, and and so was kind of intrigued by that. And you know, it's a it's a unique area. Our our campus was right across the street from Wafford, and then you got Upstate right down the road, and you got Spartanburg Methodist, which is now a four-year school. So you had four colleges all within like a five-mile radius of each other, which you don't see too often as well. And uh so they had won six games in the first year, took over for that. Uh, we were able to go 15-15 in my first year, so kind of got things going in the right direction. And then that's pretty strong. Uh in year two, we we got off to a 10 and one start. We were in the top 25 in the country, um, and really, really playing well. We had two guys tear a knee up that that kind of stymied us a little bit, but finished with 18 wins and um so had three three good years at at Converse and then um the middle of June got the job here at Coker and um we expedited everything, threw everything on the moving van and and got to to Hartshville as quick as we could.
SPEAKER_01:So wow that's incredible. I mean you've you've been incredibly successful. Starting I how old are you now? 39. Okay, still young. Yeah. I I can't imagine. I mean, especially going to Converse, a program that did not exist, embedding that from the ground up, and finding the success you found is is really incredible. So is that the same blueprint that you're gonna bring to Coker? And what's the situation been at Coker?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so hold on, this is interesting. How many guys came with you from Converse to Coker?
SPEAKER_00:Um eight.
SPEAKER_02:So what does that tell you?
SPEAKER_00:So you brought you, yeah. So and that's that's kind of the the landscape of where things are in college athletics right now, too, where you can transfer as many times as you want without having to sit out, and there's uh there are uh if if a coach leaves, you've got 30 days to enter the portal, and and so that's that's kind of automatic, and then you're you're able to to pretty much go wherever you want to go. Uh, we had 11 seniors on my last team at at Converse. And so if there was a right time or an easy time to make a move, like everybody had just graduated. And it it wasn't a plan of ours, it just kind of happened. Guys had extra years, they had the COVID year, you know, a medical red shirt here and there for some guys, and everybody got lumped up into the same class by the end of it. And so they they were all out the door. Um, and then this opportunity presented. So we assigned eight, eight guys to come to Converse, and uh I called them all, and it's just like you know, this is not great timing for anybody. It's it's June, and and I understand that, but it's a great opportunity for myself and and our family and the resources that Coker has. With they've got a 10-year-old facility that's really, really nice, and had just been they were in the top 25 last year as well. And the the South Atlantic Conference is probably one of the top two or three Division II pro conferences in the in the whole country right now. And so um they were all on board. They, you know, they were, you know, they had to go through the process of of getting in the portal, and and we couldn't have a lot of those conversations until all that stuff happened. And then once they did, they they were eager and excited to uh and and the wild thing is we all eight of them came and and um not one of them came came on a visit until the first day they moved out. That says a lot about you.
SPEAKER_02:So it's it really does that says uh volumes.
SPEAKER_00:So I think they uh you know we we try to be as as transparent and honest and recruiting as we can be. And this is how we're gonna play, this is where we see you. Like I'd I'd much rather get a no in the recruiting process than um a pain in the butt when they get to campus. So how are your players getting accustomed to Hartsville? How are they? They've uh they've embraced it, yeah. It's uh you know, they they want to play basketball, and and so that's that's number one, and then if there's girls around, that's number two. And then classes fall. Are there any? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. And then uh then classes fall somewhere in in between all that. So uh, but no, they've they the facility uh was was an upgrade, and so uh they were excited about that. Um a chance to play in the the league that we're in, they were excited about that. You know, Hartsville's a a unique community. It's got the downtown that pretty much bleeds right into campus, and you know, they can walk downtown and do some different things, and and so they've there's been there's been zero complaints out of any of them. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:What what can not just Hartsville but the PD do to help Coker be successful? What do you need from us?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think just uh showing up. Uh, you know, we've got a a almost a 3,000 seat arena that's okay that we need to fill and we need to have and then that you know that just starts to build interest in in the community. And hey, we're you know, there's you know, we're never gonna be Clemson or South Carolina or or any of the big division ones where you know people are checking their calendars to see when they play and are they at home tonight? But you know, just trying to raise awareness in this whole area. I mean, I know we've got us and and Francis Marion right here both, and uh high-level basketball is being played at our level, and you know, being able to come out and and kids to play in a full arena and and those they see the support, uh that would just go a long way. That's cool. I'm excited to come to games. Oh, that's good. That's gonna be awesome. As long as right as long as Till's there, so you can occupy Riley. Oh yeah, Riley will be ready to leave five minutes into it.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, they'll be running around doing something.
SPEAKER_01:What's the NIL like at D2? We hear, you know, if you're a sports guy, you hear some of the D1 high, yeah, you know, high income athletes, you know, Lenore Sellers and those guys who are making four or five million. No, but what's D2 like? How are you navigating that as a coach?
SPEAKER_00:So it's it's slowly starting to creep in. Um I would say in our league, there's probably four schools that are probably pretty active in in that uh arena. We're we're not there yet. Um, you know, there's the the rules are are constantly changing too on that um and and how the NCAA is trying to govern it and what's allowed and what's not. And at the Division I level, that's all changed with some of the revenue sharing stuff that they're able to now, the school's actually paying directly the players, and then they can still go get NIO opportunities on top of that. Um and so we're we're actively trying to figure out what that looks like for a D2. I mean, if if you can get a kid to where they don't pay for school and then they're getting, you know, three to five thousand dollars for an NIO deal, like that that that's a game changer for for our level. Like that's enough between uh getting a really good player to to think about coming down from the division one level to to the division two level. And you know, it it still gives them a little a little skin in the game and and gives them feels like they're still being you know recruited at a high level, those type of things. So, you know, we're not there yet, and I don't know how you know we've got to wait to see if you know some legislation changes here in January at the probably NCAA convention on on how all that will shake out and look for the next few years coming up. But um, so I I think it's I think it will become a thing in Division II. You know, you can still be a really successful program at the Division II level without it. Um that's part of the reason I kind of enjoy this level is you you're not you know you're not dealing with that as much. I mean, we still we have uh of our main players, I mean, we still have eight probably of them that are paying uh something to go to school. You know, they're not all on full rides where everything's just handed out to them. And we we have a few, but we still have several guys that are, you know, it may not be a ton of money, maybe$700 or something, but it's they're still there it's coming out of their pocket instead of going into their pocket. And and some of those guys could could be starters on low to mid-major type programs too. And so it's recruiting's wild, it's it's getting crazier and crazier, but um it's it's certainly prevalent at our level.
SPEAKER_01:The opportunity is there, so for like Graystone properties, we could do an NIL deal with one of your players, pay them some money, and they could help promote the real estate we do.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's that was the whole intent of of what an NIL was supposed to be. Yeah, you know, you're you're actively doing advertisements, you're using your name, you're using your athletic ability to help businesses promote and uh and sell things. So, you know, that's that's certainly what it was supposed to be, and then it then it kind of really deviated from that. And I think they're trying to they're trying to get that a little bit back under control at this point.
SPEAKER_01:It seems like Division II is still a little bit more pure. It's what college D1 college athletics was maybe 10 years ago, which is really refreshing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, and I think, you know, if if you're gonna make the commitment, because we you know our our schedules are set the same uh as any division one is, like as far as the amount of practice we're doing, the weights, the conditioning, the film study. I mean, there's not a whole lot of there's not a whole lot of difference between the division two and and the low major leagues. Um you know, I and when I say low major, you know, the not the not the power level schools, uh, you know, not your P4 type, but you know, those guys fluctuate between the two levels all the time transferring. Okay and um but if you're gonna do it at our level, it's because you love the game and and the experience it brings and being a part of a team. I mean, that's a major reason I got into coaching, just thinking about what that would look like not being a part of a team anymore. And you know, I didn't I didn't want that feeling to to ever stop. And so for you know, since I was 21, I've been associated with college coaching and kind of all I know.
SPEAKER_01:So when you go into a living room and you're talking to the athlete and you're talking to the mom or the dad, what what is your pitch? What's your goal for that student athlete four years later?
SPEAKER_00:So we we've got four areas we want to try to help them grow in. Um we've got two A's and we've got two S's. So the two A's are are pretty self-explanatory, yes, academically and athletically, and and those two really take care of themselves on a daily basis. And then we've got the two S's are socially and spiritually, those are two areas that we also want to make an impact. And and so we feel like you know, we've had some other, we've had some guest speakers come in uh this preseason to talk to our guys. Uh, we we've had somebody come and talk about he's an agent for overseas players and and know what that life is like. And if you wanna if you want to be a a pro, these are the things you've got to be doing. And then if you're gonna live in another country, like these are the socially kind of acceptable things that that go on over there, and this is what it's gonna be like for you. Uh and then the spiritual part, we you know, we we don't push it on anybody, but we're we've got guys coming over to our house tonight to, you know, do a short devotion, those type of things. And and just, you know, it's if we can do all those four areas, we feel like we're really kind of rounding them to whatever they want to be. I mean, we've got uh guys from previous schools that are still playing professionally overseas, and we've got guys that are in every profession you can think of after college, too. But I think those four areas really kind of over four, I mean, you probably aren't gonna have them for four years anymore. I mean, that sounds great, but it's it's really unlikely. But even if you've got them for a year or two years and you can touch, obviously the two A's are gonna get touched on probably more than the others, but you know, a basketball team if you're together and all the the diversity that comes with that, just the growth that can come from it personally, too, is um it's pretty fun to watch. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02:You're gonna be successful, you're gonna be really successful here. I feel it. We're gonna help get the local business involved. That'd be great. And what's so cool to me is so great, our real estate company, we could play a part and really see a difference in the team. You know, that's what's so cool at this level and the local, and you kind of become a part of it. At the bigger stage, we give three grand and it makes no difference. You give 50 grand, it makes no difference.
SPEAKER_00:We can make a difference, yeah. There's no doubt. And that's another thing that drew me to Coker too is um, you know, at Spartanburg, it's Spartanburg is great, it's a great place to live, but we're never gonna be Walford. I mean, Waffle runs the city, and then after Waffle, you got Upstate, you got another Division I four miles down the road. And so even after we had made a run, got in the top 25, people still were unaware that we even had men going to Converse in the area. And so it's uh but Coker, I mean, Coker and Hartsville kind of go hand in hand, yeah, and and the downtown and and campus are are almost one. And and so, you know, if we can have successful teams, our women's team was in the Elite Eight last year at Coker, and so Mel's done a phenomenal job with them. But you know, you got College Avenue that runs right into campus, and if every storefront's got a basketball schedule in the window and there's excitement for games, like you know, that's that's the vision and and the hope. But uh we I can make the whole town better.
SPEAKER_01:It can make the whole town better, which is really what our podcast we're wanting to elevate this area, DD region, bring to light what's going on and um coker men's.
SPEAKER_02:And there's a lot of you know, there's a lot of athletes in this area. Yeah, Florence, Hartsville. Oh, yeah, there's a ton of athletes, and it'd be cool to recruit some local guys that come play.
SPEAKER_00:And we've got several on the team, and we've got, you know, from Columbia to here, uh, and then some of the smaller little areas around Hartsville too. I mean, there's I mean, we had a camp the other day where we had 30 high school kids on campus, and they were all fairly local kids. So, you know, I think the more we our our best player at Converse was a kid from Spartanburg, and he just got his second contract in Germany and and flew out last weekend. And so it's uh we had two guys from Spartanburg and and then a couple from the Greenville area, and so obviously more people come and watch when they know something about the kids in the area, and obviously we're very active in the portal and we're gonna try to get the the best kids from there, but a lot of times it's going in the portal and finding guys that are from this area and and then bringing them back and and letting them finish out their career kind of kind of where it all started and it comes full circle for them too. So I think a lot of it, I I think there will always be kids that want to play, but sports and at the small private level, like I think 60 to 65 percent of the students at COCA right now are some form of an athlete. And so it's trying to find those Spencer gets mad at me. I call them NARPs, non-athletic regular people. It's trying to go out and and but you've also like are those kids gonna go to Clemson and party and have fun, or are they gonna come to a small private school where those the social life is dramatically different different? And so I think that's where the the struggle is, and I think those now you can go to junior college for or community college for two years, and most places you go for free, and so you know the cost at Coker is forty or right around forty-six, forty-seven thousand this past year. And so why am I and now you're not paying all that, you're getting academic aid and scholarships and those things, but still like I can go to community college for two free, and I can learn a trade and get certified and go make money and then not have student student debt. So it's I think it's higher education in general, I think, is at a crossroads right now.
SPEAKER_01:It is that is a tough hill to climb. I mean, I I've kind of read a little bit about that, but not really understood it in the light you just put it in. Yeah. That that is that's a significant challenge.
SPEAKER_00:And so you look at all these small like Coke was founded right 1900, Converse was 1889, and it's just like places that have been around for 120, 125 years, just like the draw to go to a smaller school and pay that much money is uh it's a hard one to sell.
SPEAKER_02:But I bet if you did a study on the small schools that have really good athletic programs that the community's into and everybody's into that changes the game. It changes the whole thing. It does.
SPEAKER_00:And it can keep a place going and it can keep it can keep you know community support, it can keep, you know, the money needed sometimes to make up a bad recruitment year for the institution, and you don't hit your your goals and admissions and uh but knowing that support's there, I mean that that changes things. I mean, I think limestone and Gaffney, I think, I think Gaffney is really like what do we do now without limestone? And the hotels there for teens that come and stay, yeah, that's a good parents that come and stay, and when you've got camps and when you've got all types of stuff going on throughout the school year, now all those people aren't coming in. I think they're they're projecting a major, major loss just for the whole community. They're feeling it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, we're kind of going through that as a family. Like I said, I've got a 20 year old who's a sophomore at USC, and then I've got a 16 year old my daughter, who is a junior at West Florence, and thinking about where her to go, we'd love for her to go to a smaller school, but then I'm looking at 45 to 75 grand a year.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm like, she's got to go to Coker.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's the thing. I mean, she'd be a great NARC. Yeah, there you go. There you go. We need her. But it is. I mean, as a dad, I'm like, okay, I can she feels like she's going to fit better at a Coker than at a USC or a Clemson that's so big and overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, our class, our our student teacher ratio is like 15 to 1 in classes. And so where are you going to learn better? Where are you going to get those? I mean, for us, we've got Snowco literally, you know, right there. Two minutes down the road from campus, and you got a Duke Energy plant in town too. So I mean you've got two major corporations that are right there that you could probably walk right down and find a coke or alum and say, hey, I just got this degree and get your career started too. And so I think there's I think there's still value in the smaller schools for sure. I mean, I I didn't want to go to a bigger school either. I mean, I want to keep playing basketball, and so obviously that played a role. But I think to lose them and and just either you either go to a big state school or you go to a community college, like I think that in-between is good for a lot of people too.
SPEAKER_01:I see it. I see it. Interestingly enough, my grandmother was one of the first graduates of Coker College. Oh wow. Yeah. Wow. Cool.
SPEAKER_02:So you need to give back. You need to do an endowment.
SPEAKER_00:That's it. Just for Ms. Barrett.
SPEAKER_01:I need to have money to do an endowment.
SPEAKER_00:You can do it. I get it. One in college. I think that's uh, and then one more on the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got plenty of money headed to college.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's why I said I want to keep my endowment.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna keep coaching in college because my kids can go there for free. So I'm gonna ride that perk as long as I can. Yeah. I think the I think there's been a big shift on like if I'm gonna go$100,000 in debt, like what am I getting out of it? You know, I'm gonna be$100,000 in debt and have a salary of$40,000, like it just doesn't make any more sense. Yeah, it makes no sense. And so, and then you read about the trade deficits and like the amount of welders and electricians and all those things that are, and now those jobs are becoming the the higher paying jobs, and like everybody that goes and gets an IT job now, like, you know, are they gonna be starting to get replaced by AI and all the different things? And so the demand in all the fields that have pretty much been you got to go to college to get, yeah. You know, I don't know if that's I I think the kids now are looking at it, and I think after COVID, all that really started to come to light when you went online at a lot of places and the need to be on campus to learn really wasn't what now I think you get the social part of it, and I think not being on campus, you you don't grow and you miss out on all that. But from a financial standpoint, like if I can take these three classes online, I can have a job and I don't have to pay room and board. Like, I don't know. I think that's from COVID on, I think all that stuff has really changed.
SPEAKER_02:Should Coker look at, okay, why don't we start? I think colleges like Coker should start looking at oh, why don't we put on programs that everybody's wanting? Yeah, and they can get that skill and the college life. I'm with and then that's how it works.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I think and I think our president seems to be very forward thinking like that. She's in her third or fourth year, maybe, and I think they've I don't think Coker was in a great spot four or five years ago, and I think she has really, really done that, gone and find uh I think the nursing program now at Coker is huge. Um and I think she kind of pinpointed like these are fields that we can attract students to. And so I think and I think uh I think studies have shown they're there students now want to get it over with faster than ever before. Like before it was like yeah, you want to stretch those four years out, now it's like cost and then timeline, how quick can I get out, get my degree, and then start making money. So I just think the the university system needs to find a way to start to, and I know the community colleges are are bigger into it, but those specific trade type programs, like why can't you go to a four-year and get your welding started, but also major in business too, so then I can have my own start your own welding business. That's the answer right there.
SPEAKER_01:That is that's I think I I read yesterday that the government needs like a million welders over the next five years. Yeah, just to take care of the military equipment, just to maintain it, not to bring new stuff on. And they're like, where are we gonna find these people?
SPEAKER_00:And so I think that push then goes more to the community college or then the technical type high schools.
SPEAKER_01:And this is an interesting conversation. I mean, the whole changing landscape and the economy changing. Yeah, I mean, it it's fascinating. So, you know, we interesting that we got into this with a basketball course. But it really affects what you're doing athletically.
SPEAKER_00:It affects it, it doesn't affect me as much, but it affects the school I work at. Yeah. And so if it affects the school I work at, then our budgets get cut, our scholarships get cut. If the students aren't there, then the they can't fulfill all these other expenditures that they want to do. So I mean I think it's if our university is not forward thinking and attacking it, then you start to run that deficit. Well, we gotta make up for it somewhere. So now you know you're not your your operating budget's now 25% less than what it was, and now you gotta go fundraise that money, and now you're begging for help. And those those aren't fun, fun places to be in.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I think you're gonna find this community is pretty tight knit. And if we can really get the community behind you and engaged, I I I think you can do something special.
SPEAKER_01:Don't forget Robert's in the portal. All right.
SPEAKER_02:I'm gonna get in the portal. I'm gonna get in the portal.
SPEAKER_01:You need to go there.
SPEAKER_00:Well, what I'm seeing trying to tell you something about Charles' business, dude. So trying to put you in the portal right now? Not at all.
SPEAKER_02:I'm gonna have to buy my way in to play. But dude, I'm excited. We're gonna, you know, I I know we're gonna be buddies. I think I'm I'm excited because our wives are friends. So I know we'll be talking and I'll try to keep all everybody tuned in and dude, come back anytime.
SPEAKER_00:And all the games are are are live streamed too. So even if uh through Flowsports, and so there's a it's a a small subscription you gotta pay, but you get all the games and um you know all that money trickles back in some form or fashion back to the athletic department too. And um, so even if you can't make it to to a home game, like you know, just knowing that there's people out that it goes a long way for our players too, just knowing that people actually care what they're doing. Yeah, uh means a lot.
SPEAKER_02:Dude, go to man, I love the idea of going to dinner, downtown Hartsville, yeah, and walk into the game. Yeah, I mean, that'd be a great nice.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. We love Hartsville. I mean, beautiful downtown. Campus is beautiful.
SPEAKER_00:Hartsville is a beautiful lakes, and you know, I think it's uh a lot of people, you know, when you're thinking about taking the job at Coca, they're like, yeah, do you want to live in Hartsville? I mean, that's usually the first, you know, you're in Spartanburg. Do you really want to go from uh a city of or a county that's one of the top ten fastest growing in the country to a smaller place? And I mean, we've we've loved it so far. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02:That's so good to hear.
SPEAKER_01:So it's October 1st today. The season is here. It's here. So it's practice. I mean, you've already started practice, but when's it when's the first game?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so we we still uh D1 started last week. We've still got about another week and a half until official practice gets going. Uh we've been able to practice, we get four hours a week with them on the court. Uh, and so we've we've really ramped it up with so we've got 20 uh about 20 guys in the program, and so they're they're all new to me. I'm all new to them. And so even though we brought eight guys from Converse that I signed, I still had never coached them. They were signees. And so there's been a big, you know, big learning curve here in the fall, but but our guys have done a great job with it. And then we we started official practice, I think it's the 11th or 12th of October, and then the first game uh we played November 13th and 14th that Friday, Saturday at home. We play each weach each day there. So more people we can get to come out to that. Yeah, no, all right. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02:So you're feeling good? You feeling good about this season?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think everybody's optimistic at this time. Yeah, you know, it's awesome. It's a fun time to be a new coach at a place you've not lost a game, so everybody thinks you're the answer. Yeah, and uh then you lose one, and then we'll we'll see what happens. Don't forget us when you win the Nashville.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. This will be the first podcast we did. Awesome.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome. Thank you, dude. Hey, I appreciate it. Thank you, guys.