Stars on Sports Intro: It's time for Stars on Sports! A podcast-radio show dedicated to sharing stories about our athletic program at Lansing Community College. LCC athletics has a strong tradition. 25 national championship wins! Over 190 All-Americans! 19 MCCAA All Sports trophies! Stars on Sports will introduce you to individuals that have contributed to our program success and give you the backstory on what it takes to develop it. We'll also dive into and break down the topics and issues facing athletic departments across the nation and right here at LCC. This is Stars on Sports!

Hello and welcome to another episode of Stars on Sports. I'm joined by our assistant athletic director, Steven Cutter and our producer today, Brendon. Welcome, Brendon, to the show. It's Brendon's first time with us here on Stars on Sports. And how fitting, Brendon, because, you know, this is a new year for us and Cutter. We talked a lot, you know, in our office heading over here about what a new year entails, but in some aspects is a continuation. You know, it seems so busy this week and we're going to talk about what's going on in our office and again from the admin side and then the coaching side, just talk about the new year in general because it's a new academic semester for us. We start up next week as we record this podcast, you know, and there's so much that goes on behind the scenes before things start. Yet, you know, something never ended. So I feel like this week is overwhelming, trying to get everything ready for a semester and a new year, yet it's still a continuation of all the things that were going on when we headed into break. You know, we talked a little bit before we got on here how most things around the campus were easing into that start of the semester. And frankly, I think that the opposite for us, it's, it's all in. And I like, I mean, it's, you know, like today I'm just checking things off, running around the office and that pumped me up because I'm a task person and I'm, you know, checking things off my list. But so I want to talk about the new year and the things going on. We don't normally do that. We mainly hit on leadership and we hit on some leadership things. And we'll start with this one because it's about preparation and I believe our office staff right now is emphasizes preparation and how important it is and how to do things up front. Front. Like this morning before I came here, you know, I was printing all the, the game information for our all the basketball games for the rest of the season, which I could do them weekly or whatever, but I want to have them done. There will be some changes along the way, but, you know, the roster, the announcement, the other information that goes into notifying our opponents and officials. So I'm getting a lot of preparation up front that where this week seems to be like heavy loaded on that for myself and. And our coaches, because all our teams are not all of them, but 2/3, 3/4 of them are starting real soon. So what have you noticed in our office or same with that. I mean, I know you didn't take time off, I mean, a little for maybe not even a holiday day themselves, but. So it is a continuation yet, you know, again, ramping up for your season to start.

Yeah, I don't believe that it's necessarily crazy busy at this point. I think it's been busy the whole time. The difference is right now, I think is there's just more excitement in the air. It's a new year. It's a new season. People have, you know, resolutions and words and excitement about what's starting and all that. So the frequency and the energy levels are just higher at this point in the athletic department.

Yeah, and I agree with that. And I. And I've talked before on this podcast how excited I am for the beginning of seasons, new starts, the 00, even for our basketball teams that are halfway through their season. They start their conference season this week, so it's a chance for them to recalibrate and contend for a conference championship. So it is exciting in that sense. And you're right, the busyness hasn't stopped or changed for me, you know, the busyness is a little more with just eligibility, wrapping up a fall term and getting things a spring sport. You know, we have around 180 to 200 student athletes here, you know, so doing their GPA, their grade checks, and working with our registrar's office and our financial aid office, who have been excellent this last week and helping me get our kids ready for their semester.

When you say like 180 to 200, do you remember what it was when you came in?

It was about, I think 126 is the number that I think of four and a half years and we have not added any sports.

So that's really impressive.

Yeah, it is impressive. You know, and that's a compliment to our coaching staff. I mean, even our baseball team. You're one of the leaders in the pack with that. I mean, we had. How many was your first year here?

Roster size? Yeah, 27.

And now you're at what, 50? Yeah. So double then. I believe both of our coaches have maximized their roster spots again. Can we add. Yes. And are we looking at adding sports? Yes, but, you know, that's a lot.

You also saw the end of the semester, which was December for us, and then it was grades and, and getting all the team GPAs in and all that. And we saw a lot of success with that, correct?

That is, yeah. I will hit on some of those numbers. It was one of our most successful academic semesters since I've been here. And that is a lot. And that does carry over into the break. You know, I'm talking to student athletes regularly throughout the break on, you know, where they are in their academic pathway. But we had 16 kids earn a 4.0. Our overall GPA was 3.04. So that's the first time we've been over the 3.0. We around the 2.98, 2.8 to 2.98 thing. So that's very exciting for me because that's always been a goal for us. And, you know, we had, you know, a handful of student athletes that we're working with that needed to take some classes. We have intercession classes here where there's a little class session between fall and spring semesters. So we had 12 to 15 kids that were, you know, I was working with them to, to take some credits to get them back on path, but that number's too high for me. And we're working on ways to lower that number. And that's a tribute. We have the resources here at our college. It's just connecting our student athletes with these resources, giving them more individual, specific treatment. We've kind of rearranged our success coaches and advising staff, and I'm really excited working with our new ones and their athletic background. But in the end, the academic eligibility at our level falls on our department, mainly you and I, of working with student athletes and making sure they meet the NJCA requirements. Like, we have home basketball tonight. So I had to get our roster submitted to the NJCA certifying that these student athletes met the criteria to be eligible. And we might have a couple that haven't met it yet, but we can add to the roster once they meet that criteria in the next week or two. And that's where basketball, that first layer. So it's nice to get that done. But now working on baseball, softball, men's and women's track as they start up in the next week or two. And making sure those student athletes are where they need to be. Again, I worked with the coaches and the student athletes over break after our fall semester summary. So that actually has taken a lot of our time. It's interesting, you know, heading into the end of the year, you know, everyone's glad back to that excitement of being done and that fall semester is over. I mean that week after is another crunch time for us of just going through all their transcripts and communicating with student athletes and coaches and meeting with them over that next couple weeks to get them where they need to be. Because again, they're a student first. So I know you do that. You know, I rely on our coaches a lot to help me communicate and work with our student athletes on getting that done. And it's all things, I mean it's even some kids that just need to want some credit, get some more credit to help them get their. This could be their last term. So, you know, we gotta make sure they apply for graduation. I mean we had one of our highest numbered last year, I think close to 40 graduate and earn their associate's degree. So yeah, it is an exciting time of year in our office. You know, we got some coaching vacancies that we're working through and you know, the HR process, every school the HR process is different and which even the.

Vacancies is somewhat abnormal for us, you know.

Yeah, great point. Yes, we are very fortunate. One of, one of the things I believe to have a successful program is stability, consistency and at our level they're part time coaches for the most part. So it's just a stipend instead of a salary. Still a lot of hours. We actually have two seasons. So it's not like they only work a couple months of the year. So there is a lot of change because of those demands. But here our, you know, our coaches were over five years for the most part. And the one that resigned was, I think she was here 13 years and it was more because of, you know, coaching her family and her kids. And the other one, he was here 13 years as a head coach and maybe 15 to 20 when you add his assistant. And so yeah, that, that is rare. I've only hired one head coach since I've been here in our nine sports which.

Which is also a great hire because they're currently ranked number nine in the country.

They are incredible. Thank you for bringing that up. Yeah, our women's basketball is ranked number nine. Last I knew our men's basketball within the receiving votes category. But yes, Megan is in year three. Now and has done a great job, you know, raised the standards and really worked hard throughout the year on creating a great student athlete experience for them. They just did a tournament trip that she fundraised for in the Florida right before we went to break. So yeah, we're very fortunate again that the other thing, you know, I spent a lot of time over winter break working on our travel budget because just making sure it meets within our parameters and, and what we do because I have incorporated encourage travel. I think travel is part of the education experience. But also with us being successful, we have to travel to compete against other good teams or just to fill our schedules because of the differences in competition level. So budget analysis has been a big thing that I've been working on this time of year making sure again that reaffirm all our transportation is set for the rest of the year. We have Jen Myers in our fleet services is excellent to work with and you know, helping me make sure those are confirmed and they're the right times and dates and situations like that. But back to your point, yes, our women's basketball team is a top 10 program and playing like a top 10 program. They've been exciting to see that their two losses are the two teams ranked higher than them. So they played a tough schedule. That's the other nice thing. A lot of our teams play tough schedules, play a lot of ranked teams.

I would argue all of our team.

Play some of the toughest schedules. It does matter, especially for rankings and preparing for the post season, providing our student athletes a good experience. You know, you see some of these contests that are blowouts or just not close and you know, what benefit did that gain? And some of them are maybe conference games, so they have to be played. But you know, it is important to play and we've talked about that before on our podcast about how, you know, being pushed and if you're the smartest person in the room, move to another room if you're the best team in the thing, buying better competition. And our teams have done that. So. And it kind of goes back to that consistency and stability and coaching staff and having those high standards that were, I mean, again, that's one of the things that attract me to this job with our tradition of success. So yeah, so we're, we're working on hiring some coaches. That's going to be exciting, you know, to help continue to build the vision and the structure that we want for our athletics program. So hopefully we'll keep this podcast abreast of those things as we go through It, I think this month will be a key month in doing that. It's, you know, it's always recruiting at our level, so that hasn't stopped. But making sure our coaches that are currently recruiting, I mean we already have signed probably over 30 kids for next year between our programs and getting them their Lois and their financial aid packages is, is a big deal and making sure they're all set. So I mean that starts November 1st each year.

And you talk about success even. And yesterday we were doing some work in the athletic department and we were trying to come up with some solutions for all the championship trophies we have. And it made me think after we finished that meeting, like, that's really a great problem to have. I mean we have so many. We're trying to figure out if we're going to box them, hang them up, you know, what's the, what's the most important ones. And that's a clue of a very successful athletic program here at LCC.

It is a good problem to have. And whenever I go to other schools, I go and look at how they display their awards and the recognition for the success of their program. And I remember coming here. Again, we've been in our office a couple years, but in our previous office we had the circle plaques on our walls and people were it intimidated some people because we had so many of them. And now it's trying to figure out, you know, how to best display them and do it tactfully and give them the recognition they deserve. But having so many, it's been a challenge to find a space which we.

Have new trophy cases outside of the gym, which, you know, not. They're pretty full already and not all of the national championships are in there yet.

That is correct. Again, our college has been supporting through Capitol outlay to buy purchase new trophy cases. They're beautiful. They give us a chance to display them because in the past they were hidden in a kind of a off of a lobby area. So now they're in the entrance to the Gannon Building where a majority of our students and student athletes come in. And they are pretty full and will be full. And that's mainly just our first place national trophy, not our conference one or region ones. So yes, a rich tradition that we need to do better and find better ways to display those because I had a guy last year that was all American. He goes, I used to have my name on a plaque and it's in our storage room with our other ones because we haven't figured out a place to put that. Thanks to your help and us working together. Our website is up to date with all our All Americans and our 26 national championships on it and regional and conference championships. But it is a, you know, we were walking around thinking, where can we consolidate some of these things, Especially with coaches changes. You know, I feel like every school I've been in, we fill up our storage room, Then we don't do a good job of throwing stuff away, thinking, hey, we might need it later. And I think we've worked hard at, hey, once we're done with it, let's donate it or get rid of it or find someone else to use it or repurpose it. So we, you know, that's another time, this time of year of us trying to figure out how to better utilize our spaces, especially with success and our college being supportive of giving us the things that we need to be successful. So, yeah, all those things are happening. And I wouldn't want to go without mentioning, you know, like, I don't have any New Year's resolutions and I haven't really done my one word thing yet. And Brendon, the one word thing, I don't know if you're familiar with it or not, but at John Gordon a couple years ago, I may be someone else too, but instead of doing resolutions, come up with like one word. And like, resilience was mine one year or I can't think of other ones. But this year I'm thinking, I told coach, declutter, like declutter my mind, declutter my desk, declutter my computer, declutter our office spaces, declutter my house, you know, so that's the word I'm thinking with. I haven't sat on it yet, you know, and reading things about how why resolutions don't work and you shouldn't do resolutions or they shouldn't be like, lose weight, they should be a little more specific. So, like, two of the ones that someone had mentioned to me that I thought were good are read more and to tell the truth more. And that sounds bad, to tell the truth more. But it's a good thing to remember to be truthful. So because I have a thing on my desk that says, embrace challenges, choose truth and create solutions. You do those three things, you'll be pretty successful.

I think a better word for the truth is just genuine. Because we, we all have masks that we wear and what. Not necessarily lying about stuff, but it's just trying to be a little more genuine. And a lot of times that comes from just asking better questions. And you can get Better answers.

Yeah, that's a great thing. I was listening to a podcast about asking better questions because, you know, in our business, sometimes we don't want to waste. We think it's wasting time, but it generates discussion. And sometimes we just tell people to do things because we think it's quicker and it'll help us get there. But asking better questions will actually help collaboration and help us move forward in a more wholesome way than just telling people how to do things. And that's something that last year I tried to work better on and listen to some podcasts. And even you have been really good at asking certain, what can I do better? What's our biggest challenge? Those are a couple ones I remember for you that I asked people that will help us generate discussion to move us forward, forward. So, yeah, that's another good one about ask better questions. But another thing that a person said is maybe eliminate something. Like, eliminate your worst habit. I hadn't processed that much.

That seems like it'd be a little harder to actualize than just declutter. That definitely seems something you could tackle.

And I agree, and that's why I haven't dived into it and looked at it. But again, I think people are now trying to figure out, because resolutions seem to when, like, three weeks from now, there's a Monday or whatever, that this is like, resolution end day or quit day or whatever. So I think people are just trying to get creative on. Instead of doing resolutions, do this. So either one of you have any, like, words or resolutions or mottos or anything for this year? You want to go first?

Not really. I used to use words, and I do believe that words can be really powerful as long as you can somewhat define the word. You know, you try to drop a word like, I just want to be happier. That's pretty hard to do to begin with, but I'd kind of moved away from the words and stuff and got more singular and more detailed with things like, you know, whether it's exercise or, you know, trying to do something better or differently. It's, you know, you got 30 days in the month or whatever it might be. We're going to do this 18 days, you know, and that would be a win if. If I can do it 18 days. And last year I would. I did it, you know, 14 days. So it's not like I'm going from zERO to 18. If I'm trying to start something new, I'm not going to go, you know, put it at 25 out of 30 days. I'm going to put it at five. And that's a great way to attain some goals. You know, not. They're not super high, but they're also not super low. And it's also a great way to build some confidence because you can get to those things. And it's also that voice in the back of your head that says, you know, I need to stack another brick here. I need to get that. I want, you know, one more day closer to getting to that 18. And I think that's been a lot more helpful for me and the players that I coach and stuff than necessarily setting out these big goals that are really hard to define in a lot of different ways. So just try to put some more definition behind it.

I like that. That's a. One of the words that I want to do better at is being more productive or more efficient and effective. And again, maybe cutting down, moving that goal to a shorter time frame and you know, decking those wins in between when you do it would help with that. Brendon, you got anything?

Yeah, I would say that something that's been on my mind recently is ocean waves trying to be a little more mindful of the present and going with the flow, not necessarily resisting things as much and letting my emotions and my ego kind of rile me up. So like I said, ocean waves trying to remember WUSA in a way, you.

Know, well done, very nice added to the program. So again, and that's where we're at today. I don't even know what the date is, but it's early January and we're all in that mood or mode of trying to, to maybe be better. And I hope two weeks from now, I think we'll hopefully have that same motivation or that same goal. But a couple months from now, I hope we revisit and you know, have recalibrated or re come up with new ones if we've accomplished that. But that's what's exciting about, you know, I love the holiday season. It is busy with family things, work things, you know, things going on in society. So you don't always get a chance to really sit back and enjoy it. I hope everyone did, but it's still fun. I mean, that December 31, you know, a week and a half ago was, you know, I saw something that what different on January 1st. I wake up the same probably. I, I get my pop in the morning, you know, my wife gets her.

Coffee time and all that is just, you know, made up things. So that's, that's one of those. We put bigger, we Put bigger expectations and bigger pressures on ourselves because of time. And you've got to kind of have some perspective and everything. And, you know, sometimes I try to boil things down to what's most important and keep asking myself that, you know, asking myself that question, what is most important right now? What's most important for our team, what's most important for my family, what's most important for me? And that kind of breaks up a lot of the noise. But I was listening to something this morning on my drive in, which I have about like a 24 minute drive to campus most days, depending on, you know, 127 construction that's been going on for five years. It's better and better, all these different things. But that being said, I heard like within like two or three generations, you're not going to be remembered. And yes, you might have a plaque on a bench, or maybe if you're in sports, you might have your name on a gym floor, you know, on a banner or something. But for the most part, you're not going to be remembered. So it's really important to keep in mind what's most important. And a lot of that is just being genuine, being impactful, helping other people, being nice to people. That kind of stuff. That's the stuff that's really important. And it's important to me as well.

Yeah, great point and great way to kind of end this thing. And that's what we all can do. I mean, in the world, you can be anything, be kind, and we should all do that every day of every year. It's just interesting to me that, like you said, if you didn't have a calendar, that December 31st wouldn't be much different than January 1st. Our society has bought in today, January 1st, just like we do with our new season.

At the start of the season, Brian Kane always says every day is opening day.

And that's a great perspective.

Treat it like opening day and time.

Is the one thing we all, you know, kind of the level playing field and hopefully you have a year or such. So, so good stuff. It's again, happy New Year, everyone. We're excited for 2026. We're going to make the most of it. We're going to attack it. We're going to bring the juice. That's another one I'm kind of bought into. But so now thinking of our food question, Brennan and I usually end with a food question. And I was gonna, you know, we talked about eggnog before the break and when we were talking about Halloween, we talked about how pumpkin spice has been a big thing. When I think of Christmas, I think of candy canes or peppermint. Like peppermint bark seems to be a big thing. You know, my youngest daughter, she loves peppermint bark. It's okay to me, I'm not even a big candy cane person. I like them. I eat them because it's Christmas. But is there something for you when you think of the holiday, some food that you enjoyed or outside of?

Did have some decent pizza over Christmas. But the cookies, good with the cookies with the Hershey's Kisses on top.

Oh, okay.

That does remind me of the holidays, really.

See, I love those year round. Those are one of my favorite cookies, whatever the bottom one is. And then the little cursey kiss, so. Oh, that's neat, though. Okay. Brendon, you anything?

See, there's something I was craving this year. I'm originally from Florida on the Gulf coast, and my dad, his dad, so my grandfather, he would actually fry shrimp. He'd do a big shrimp fry on Christmas Day. And so that's. That's a big thing I've been missing for the longest time, especially here in Michigan. There's no fresh shrimp.

Did you get them, though?

I mean, yeah, you can find frozen stuff around. It depends.

See, I'm not a big seafood guy. Shrimp would be the one I would dabble in a little bit. We used to have cocktail shrimp I think of for New Year's Eve or New Year's Day with a big tradition of ours. So. Well, I hope you find somewhere that has a good shrimp for you. Unless you gotta go to Florida to get it in 2026.

Indeed.

But good stuff. And until next time, go stars.

Stars on Sports Outro: Stars on Sports is recorded live at the WLNZ studios. Engineering and production assistance are provided by Daedalian Lowry. You can listen to this episode and other episodes of Stars on Sports on demand at LCCconnect.org to find more information about our athletic program, visit LCCstars.com thanks for listening. Go Stars!