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 today by our producer, Daedalian Lowry, and our hall of Fame Fame basketball coach, Mike Ingram. And we're excited to have you here today. Coach or a Hall of Famer, you're synonymous with LCC basketball. You're synonymous with basketball in the greater Lansing area and we'll dive into some of that. So excited to have you on board. We're just going to ask you a couple questions, see where they go and just have some fun. So get a little background on what brought you to LCC. I'm sure most people know, but I like hearing the story and, well, you.

Know, I came back to school when I was older. I graduated from high school. It's kind of a long story, but I'll make it quick. Went to working for Consumers Power and it just wasn't for me. But it was a great job. And I was telling all my friends, I was like, hey man, you guys gotta go to college. You gotta go to college. And finally after they graduated, they came to say, you gotta go now. I think I was 22 and so. But I came to school here at LCC because I wanted a job at the Border Water and Light. So I had great career here. Got the job at Border Water and Light. The only thing is I got a full ride offer to play basketball at Central Michigan University and took that and I had to go back for a minute. Art, Frank, I don't know why, I became a guy that he just got connected with and wanted to help me and so went to Central, came back. It's really funny that I'm coaching because I still remember when I was a player and I'd be riding the bus and I'd be like, shoot, I can't be doing this forever. You know, I'm done riding buses, you know. You know, came back and Art gave me an opportunity and been here ever since. Been just like an incredible journey, incredible job for me. My kids have grown up here. I Met my wife here. Just Been an incredible situation for me.

Awesome. And for us too, coach. So it's been a good two way partnership. So Art, Frank, a little bit, these were going to be questioned down the line, but we don't have to go in any order. What'd you learn from him? What? Obviously probably one of your mentors, you know, he come to a couple games the last couple years. Don't know. So still, you know, part of the program.

So I learned a lot from Art. It started with going to high school games with him to watch his son play. And his son was like a part time player on the team. And Art cheered for all the kids. And I had never seen that before and I'm glad that I seen that because I think that. And I remember asking him, you know, why are you cheering for all the kids? You know, and he just said, hey, this is part of it, you know, I enjoy the game. I'm not just going to cheer for my son, I'm going to cheer for everybody. And I picked that up. And even though I was always cheering for my kids, I always made sure that I cheered for every kid. So that was really important to find out. It was easier to sit up in the stands if you're cheering for everybody. As far as when I came here, Art had a gym full of kids came up, played, and he said, hey, I can help you out. And we've just been great friends ever since. We were always friends, even when I played for. Because remember I was older and Art always says that I helped save his career, that maybe he was thinking about getting out. But I had a lot of passion for the game. I was great to him as a friend and so came back, coached for him. Art was a great coach. And one thing about Art, he was a great high school player. Sexton, they won a couple state championships. And a lot of times when you run into guys like that that are just great athletes, most of the time they're great people. Two very humble and he was like that. I didn't get that from him. I don't know how much humble I am, but he's a great teacher. I got from him how to remember every kid. A lot of his philosophies I use like, I don't really have a set rule for the team. I have some, but for the most part I have a rule for every kid because he taught me that you just don't know what's going on in a kid's life. Here at the junior college, you know, I wanted examples he would tell me if a kid was late all the time, maybe his mom had to go to work at the last minute and he had to babysit the kid and couldn't come. But might not want to tell you that. Might not want to tell you that he's, I got to help my mom today. And so kids are late or miss, I don't jump all over them because they might have something else going on in their life. And so I understand that part of it. And so you guys did a whole.

Episode on that, didn't you? Yep. Kids, they have a backpack they bring to school and what it is, it could be a bad test, a breakup with a girlfriend, it could be something at home, divorced parents or something. So, yep, Coach, you're tying right into our previous podcast. So, yeah, Art is still a great coach and representation of LCC. Any other coaches that you had as mentors or looked up to that you tried to emulate?

Yeah, I thought that my high school coach, Ben Sierra, was really a great coach and one of the things that I picked up from him was organized practices, fundamentals, skills, practice, gear. We always looked great in practice. And then the desire to win the conference, you know, he always wanted to win the conference, but that's one thing that I really picked up from him. And I think I still, and I tell my friends that, you know, I say, hey, I think I run pretty good practices. And I got that from him.

Yeah. And good stuff again. Another thing we talk a lot about is intentional practice. I just listened to a podcast about being deliberate with practice. I am also a big believer in a uniform in practice. I think practices are more effective if they look and you can, especially in basketball, you can do blue or white or scrimmage and such. So yeah, you had mentors before their time that were branching out deeper into that. I want to hit in a lot some stories of your career at LCC and ask some pointed questions on some of your favorite memories. Recruiting philosophy. You know, I was at the high school level for a long time and now being at the College of Horsesheim, how important recruiting is. And I know, I believe I have a good grasp of your recruiting philosophy and really feel that is a model to use for community college program. How do you go about recruiting?

I try to recruit kids for my system, so it kind of makes it easier for me. I run a numbered break and so, you know, I need a couple shooters. I need a great point guard. I need somebody that can run up the middle of the court. So when I go out that's kind of what I'm looking at. The main thing that I've done for the most part of my career is I've recruited kids from Lansing. I think that LCC for me at least is for the kids here in town. And fortunately for us, we have so many schools, so many great programs, so many great coaches that I've been able to get. Kids from the Lansing area is always a big. I don't know if the word is a thrill for me, but I love when during introductions when they say, and from Lansing this kid here and then the next kid they go, and from Lansing this kid. I always like that. And so when we win, I like to say we're winning because, you know, we have such a great programs, great area of basketball here. So that's really important to me Now. I have had some incredible kids that have been from out of town and shoot, I think every time I've had a kid from out of town they've mostly been all Americans, but a lot of it has been either I knew their fathers or I knew the kid or something like that, or came from Jackson. One of my biggest recruits was Nate Huffman, who was a seven footer. And it just so happened that Art Frank was coaching his first game at Lansing Catholic Central down at Battle Creek Lakeview. I go to his game and this seven foot kid is warming up and he's just doing it all. He's going between his legs, he's doing spin moves and like, Jesus, what's this guy? So I started walking through the Lakeview crowd and I said, hey, who is that guy there? And they go like this, hey, don't even worry about him. He doesn't even play at all. I walk right down on the floor. I swear, I walk right down to the floor. I said, hey, big fella. He stopped and looked. I said, hey, if you come and play for me, I'll never take you off the floor. And so later on that year, a couple guys get hurt and so he's got to play. And I think he finished off the year averaging 27 points, 27 rebounds. Everybody's recruiting him. He goes like this, hey, I'm going to Lansing and playing for coaching group.

Nice.

So I try to have great relationships with. I was at a place watching a guy throws workouts for kids and coaches come in and he says to me, he says, hey, coach, coaches are all over these players. I don't think you're on them, I don't think you're doing your job and stuff like this. And So I didn't say anything because we were around a lot of people. But I called him later on that night and I said, hey, I know every kid in the city and I know every parent in the city. And I said, and I talked to kids, I said if you ask those kids, they will tell you. They'll say, oh yeah, Coach Ingram calls me all the time. And if you ask their parents, they'll say, hey, Coach Ingram calls us all the time. I said, so those guys have to recruit kids, they have to come in and offer them immediately because they're coming from out of town. But I'm here and everybody knows that I try my best to watch out for the kids here in town.

Yeah, you do. Especially the Lansing kids. And again, even your we are not going to talk summer camp today probably, but again, all your summer campers, you go watch and play. But real quickly, Nate did have a great career here.

Oh yeah, Nate was incredible. His first year he was really skinny. I think he averaged 10 points, 10 rebounds. But he was surrounded by some great kids. And then the following year he became a first team all American, ended up going to Central Michigan, went to Central, then went to Maccabi, became the greatest player at Maccabi, won the Euroleague and then ended up getting playing for the Toronto.

I thought he had a good career after here, so I wanted to follow up on that one. And you're right, you start with Lansing and then you sprinkle in some out of towners and again kid that want to come play for you with a connection or heard about you. So I think that's a great recruiting philosophy for you to have. So that's why I want to touch on it a little bit now. Let's go into like the game in practice. As you've talked a little bit about your style, like you talked about your recruiting of those specific players, is that true? Do you like to score? Do you emphasize offense or has it changed?

I think that we've always been a really good defensive team and don't get a lot of credit for it because we do score a lot. But what happen is like we might be up 90 to 70 or 95 to 75 or something and then those last three minutes you put in your second and third team, next thing you know they give up 15, 16 points. So now you're winning 105 to 90 or something like that. And so but I think that we've always been able to stop teams for four or five minutes in the first half, four or five minutes in the second half while we're still getting up and down the floor. I really believe in conditioning. As a matter of fact, early in my career, I'd say my first 10, 11 years, all the guys that would play professionally from Lansing, if they went to Michigan State or if they went to other schools they played for, if they played professionally, especially Desmond Ferguson. And he used to tell people all the time, you know, hey, if you want to get in shape, he'd tell his friends and stuff, you want to get in shape, come and work out with the stars their first month. Because nobody gets guys in better condition than me.

So very good compliment. That's where we're at right now. Not we're not of season practice. But I see you conditioning the guy doing basketball specific conditioning. So again, another thing you hit on earlier that I like to talk about is organized practices. I'm a big believer in practice plans. I see yours written down there when I go down to the gym. What's your favorite drill in practice?

What is my favorite drill? I like baseline free throws. And the reason I like baseline free throws is because what happens is you have everybody on the baseline, you shoot a free throw. If they make it, it's two claps, okay? If you miss it, you got a fast break down, score it, get the rebound, come back, score. And so I started noticing over the years that my best player would always go down, get the layup at one end and get the layup at the next game. And. And so in my mind over the years, I started calling that my All American drill because it just seemed like the player that got the layup at both ends of the court every time he ended up being an All American. And so what happened is I would tell my best player that if they weren't doing that, I would tell them that story. I would go like this, you know, hey, every kid that I've had that was as good as you that made it down and made it back was All American. Now, all my stories aren't true and great. I had a kid named Isaiah Green.

I remember Isaiah.

And Isaiah comes in and he says, you know, he knew I was in All American when I played here. He says, hey, coach, what did you do to become an All American? I said, well, you see that ceiling right there? He says, yeah. I said, hey, I want to be an All American. So every day I'd come in here and I'd touch that wall. He said, yeah. I said, yeah. So next day, I'm in the gym, I hear somebody going, oh. I look up, it's Isaiah. I said, isaiah, what are you doing? He said, well, all I know is my coach told me if I wanted to be an All American, I had to do like he did and jump up and touch that wall. I said, are you crazy? I said, I couldn't touch that if I jumped off a. Some guys, believe me. My second favorite drill is full court shooting. And what I got out of full court shooting is we play the 10 and we play inside the three first and then three pointers, okay? And so what you want out of that drill is you would like for your best three point shooter to win that, okay? But what I learned from art is, and this is what I watch very closely is sometimes your best player isn't your best competitor. And so that's what I watch in that drill. You want your best player to win that drill. You want your best 3 point shooter to win that drill, but you're also watching to see who's trying to win because that's your competitor.

Good stuff. Yes. We like looking at our podcast too. Big thing on competitors. You know, you need competitors and you need to be able to identify them and that's a good way to, to do it. What's the most underrated skill in the game of basketball?

I think the most underrated skill is the intangible player. I'm always looking for a kid named Charlie Howes. He played on my first team and he just did everything. You know, he took charges, he dove for balls, he won all the sprints, he cheered all the guys on. You know, you just don't. It's really hard to find that guy that just wants to be. Knows all the plays, you know, knows all the teammates, knows all the defenses. Just always trying to find a intangible player, that team guy in there. Because, you know, you can say to a guy, hey, listen, I love you. You're just not very good. I want you to be on the team, but you're never gonna play. You know what I mean? And coach, I just want to do it. I just want to do it. I said, but you gotta understand, I love that you work hard, I love that you give everything you got, but you're just not going to play. Coach, I just want to be on the team two or three games in a season. His parents are hollering at me, put so and so in. Put so and so in. And so I said to him after a game one time, I go, hey, you remember the conversation we had that you weren't going to play? He goes, yeah, but everybody else is playing. So I was like, man. So it's really how. You have to really be careful with that nowadays, because everybody wants to play, even if they tell you that they won't. So I would say that that's the most underrated skill for me, anyway. It's just to find that. And I tell my players this, too. I said, you know, I run a lot of stuff. I run that number break. And I told him the other day, I said, just remember this. The more, you know, the more important you become.

Oh, great advice. Great advice. Okay, let's dive into that a little further. This is a tough question. I don't know if I'm asking it right. What does the fan not understand that it takes to win? So the fans are sitting up there, like, what's that intangible thing that you kind of do that it takes to win in the game of basketball?

It's really kind of funny because we have a bunch of fans that have followed me forever, and they'll see me call a play and the guys don't. I want you to notice it this year. And they won't run it. And you will hear, like, 20 people, oh, you know, why won't they run it, right? I don't know. You know, we have a style of play. We play hard. I think fans expect us to win. I think it's been kind of. We've been sporadic over the last seven or eight years just because other teams are getting better. Housing has became a big thing, where now all of a sudden, you're going to these schools that have never had any good players, but they got housing. And then you're looking like, geez, where'd they get these players from? And so that's making it a little harder. But from a fan's point, I would say. And this would just be coming from my wife, and I'm thinking that she's thinking the same.

She's your biggest fan.

Why don't your guys play defense? So I'm thinking that or rebound or rebound. And so I would think that if they were watching the game and we weren't playing well, and it'd be mostly because of the defensive rebound. And I would think that that's what they would be thinking this morning. I agree.

I think those are two good ones. Defense and rebounding. That fan. They don't get all the stat. They don't get all the highlight. They don't get all the. All the glory. So let's change and start talking about, like, things you've been a part of. So what's the biggest rivalry you've been a part of. Do you remember, like a span of games or. I think I know, but here. Yeah, here at LCC.

Well, I think Mott's always been a big rivalry for us because, Steve, a lot of people don't know this is that we were coaches here at LCC on the national championship team. Did you know that? Yeah. So then I got the job. He got the job at Mott. And so it was really tough, you know, and if you would see us when we were younger, you would think that these are two guys that hate each other's guts. We'd be going so hard at each other. But in actuality, we were really pretty good friends, you know, talking competitors on. Yeah, yeah. And that's really, really mellowed out. Secretly. We're still got that fire inside of us, but we just don't attack each other. One of my great rivalries was with Dave Selman at grcc.

Okay, I didn't know that one.

Yeah, me and Dave were really. We were both young and really went after each other just really hard. Like, the great thing about both of those guys is no matter what, no matter what, I don't care how ugly the game got. I don't know how ugly we got. Hey, we always shook hands afterwards and said, good game. You know, it's tough sometimes. Sometimes we shook hands and didn't make eye contact, but we never did not do that. And Dave's become a great friend to me. He retired a few years ago, but he's also become a great friend. But I would say that those two games were really on there. And then the one from when JCC joined the. It's a rivalry because I'm from Jackson.

Oh, right. That makes sense.

And so my friends would come to the game and don't want to lose it. And for the most part, I've had pretty good success. But, you know, you got your mom and all your sisters and your family. It is some pressure. It is some pressure.

Well, you know, the community, so you want to show them. And again, I agree with the Mott thing. I mean, both. All three of those schools are our three closest school, geography wise. So we do have, you know, rivalries with them. You know, the Steve Schmidt story is pretty cool because you two came in together kind of. We're on a successful team here, and you both have done well in community college basketball and again, real well successfully over the last 30 years for the state of Michigan and putting us on the national level. Vincennes fit in there anywhere. I've heard some stories about some great.

Battles with them, you know what?

But they're not as close, are they? Those were more post season at one.

Time, and I may have set our basketball back. But at one time, in order to go to the nationals, first you had to win the state, you had to win the district and you had to win the regional. So there was a possibility that you might have to play a team four, maybe five times to get there. You know what I mean? I remember one time we beat Muskegon twice. One year. Then we played them in the district and beat them again. Then they beat us in the regionals, you know what I mean? Because it was a fourth game. So I decided one time that I'm going to go Division 1. So if you go Division 1, you got to be in it for two years. I just happened to have two of my greatest teams when I went Division 1. It was Levi Ross who was player of the year. One of the all time great players at the time was our leading scorer. When they left, leading three point shooter. And we had a couple of Division 1 teams that we just could not beat. And it was Vincennes and they had Sean Marion and Shawn Marion ended up playing in the NBA. The first time we played them, there was 8, 9 this in the championship to go to nationals, there were eight or nine NBA GMs sitting in the stadiums. Okay. The next year we played them again. Everybody in the NBA was there to watch him play. And we're playing and all of a sudden I think they're up by 10 and we make a run, score 12 points, take the lead. I'm on the sideline. Yeah, yeah. I told you. I told you he wasn't all that. I told you he wasn't all that. And out the corner of his eyes he was looking at me like they called a timeout. Then he comes out and goes into an NBA flurry. I was like, oh my God.

Now that set him on fire. Coach, is he the best player you played against?

Let me think. There's been some good players. I would say he's up there probably so. Kalamazoo had a kid named Mike Williams who I think is an all time player. Mott had a kid, man, I can't think of his name. He was incredible. And the first time we go and see, where is he? What is it? I can't think of his name. First time we go see him play, he scores 36 points in the first half. And I remember looking at Terry and said, hey, this guy's gonna be a problem. I think they ended up winning national championship that year. I think they beat us in the state championship. And he probably averaged 34, 35 points a game. I. I wish I could have remembered.

But he scored three points in the first half.

Yeah. I think most of the great players that we've played against have probably been at my and school craft. But recently in the last couple years, I would say Henry Ford, McComb, some.

Shout out to some of our other community colleges.

But I've played everybody. I'm one of the schools that has played all the top teams in the country. I go everywhere. So it's just really been tough. I always look for the competition. I think my schedule is as tough as anybody's. Last year's preconcertion, Year in, year out. Yeah. Last year, I think out of our first 15 games, I think 12 or 13 of them were in the top 10. Ranked opponents. Yeah, ranked. Yeah, opponents.

Is there a game you still think about at night?

I will say this. Every loss hurts every last one of them. And I think I'm one of the few coaches I never watch a lot of losses because they all feel the same, boy, you're a terrible coach. Boy, you're ridiculous. You know what I mean? And so I don't watch a lot of games that we lost. I don't get anything out of that and I never have, you know, I mean, I swear when I watch him, I feel the same exact way. You're so bad.

So those losses, you put a lot of that on yourself then.

I don't think that I'd look at it like that. But if I watch the game, I will. You know what I mean? It's just something that I've never really done. I think there's a way that I like to play. And even as a player, it was really hard for me to handle. If we're not competing, if my teammates aren't playing hard, I think that's part of my leadership skills, that I want guys to follow me, I want guys to play hard. And so I feel the same way. It doesn't hurt to get beat or even if you win. And I've taught a lot of guys about winning is that the thing is I just want to play hard, I want to compete. I don't want to just go out there and not play hard. And one thing that I've taught a bunch of coaches, Division 1, I'm not even going to drop some names, but I tell coaches this all the time. I Said, hey, listen, you won. A lot of times, you know, you be watching an interview or something like this and you'll see some coach say, we just didn't play our best basketball, or this is the way we play. We got to get better. We got to do other than that. I'm like, this. I took. I was like, hey, you won, right? That's the goal. The goal is to win. And if you win, then you've done your job, you can't feel bad. And you know, a lot of times, if you're a great program and a school's not as good as you, if they can come in and get within 5 or 10 points and make you mad, that's a victory. You know what I mean? So you gotta understand if you're a good program, that teams are gonna come in and play. I just told my guys yesterday, I said, guys, we gotta get ready. I said, I don't care how good we are, teams want to be us. You know what I mean? I said, we've been there, we've been on top. And I said, so when we get beat by a team, I don't know if you've ever noticed this, those teams are doing cartwheels after the game.

They won a championship.

Yeah, they're really cheering hard, you know what I mean? It's just. Yeah, it's. Now that's hard to watch, you know, like, hey, I know you won, you know, but hey, do you have to do cartwheels and all that stuff? But I do understand, yeah, big milestone.

For them in their season. Let's dive into that a little bit as we wrap this up, though. You might have already hit on this. You have a coaching tree out there. You've had former players now coaching, and it's fun seeing you interact with them. What one leadership advice would you give to a new coach?

Always tell my guys, don't just be a basketball coach. Make sure that, you know, the administration, make sure that, you know, the advisors, make sure that you know, the. I don't know if I said it already, the teachers, like, if you have an issue, make sure that you can go see somebody. Make sure that you got a relationship with your athletic director. Make sure that you go and see other teams play, that you're visible to all the other student athletes. I said, because anybody can coach, anybody can coach, but can you do that other stuff that's going to make you successful? And I also tell my guys that are part time, if you do all those things, what's going to happen is the administration is going to go like this. We need this guy on our staff. We got to find him a job. And that's what I tell the coaches under me. Just don't be a basketball coach. Just be somebody that the school can count on, that the school can count on, and that you become valuable to the school. So that's. That's the. Excellent.

That's excellent. Good stuff. A couple more and then we're gonna have some fun. So. And you already shared this a little bit about what Art Frank said to you about cheering for everyone, and this might be your answer. But I've learned a lot of you as a parent. You've raised successful children that have been successful in basketball. And I've heard a lot of compliments about you sitting up in the crowd. So what would be your advice for a youth sport parent?

Be positive. One of the things that I used to do with my kids, you might see me with a notepad or something like that, but I wasn't keeping stats. What I was doing was like, elaine gets to the elbow all the time and misses that shot. We're gonna work on that shot. I think that parents know their kids better than anybody else, and you should be able to help them, but also be realistic. And we don't have a lot of that right now. Everybody that's born now is destined to become a great player. I think the one thing that I did and I was very fortunate with this is because we had Javier Cavazo, we had Jerry Ernst for me, we had Randy Simon Sr. Those guys all ran great programs. So it's easier for me to put my kids. I wanted my kids to play when they were young with somebody that I didn't have to holler from the stands because I woulda. And those guys would not let me do it. I remember the first time I said to Javier Cavasso, I said something to him, and he says something like, hey, Mike, when I come down to your games, do I be coaching and stuff? I said, no, you don't, Javier. I really appreciate it. He said, hey, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. You know what I mean? So I think that's really hard. I hope that parents can have the trust of the people that they're putting their kids with. But I've been fortunate in that. Lane's coach, Rick Smith, was really good. Jocelyn's coach was really good. Justin's coach was really good. They came up through Waverly, but they were also coaches that coached for a long time. And so you kind of had to respect them at walking.

Yeah, a lot of good shout outs. And again, back to your premise of cheering for everyone, knowing they're not perfect, and just enjoy. I know those are things you've shared with me before, too. So, okay, let's get to some fun questions. What's your favorite gym besides LCC, we get a lot of compliments, but what's your favorite gym that you've either played in or like to go visit hard? Because when else he sees the.

I know, I do. I do compare. I know that. Mott, their crowd. Like I said, things have changed a little bit over the years, but for a long time, you could tell that their crowd was waiting for us.

Yep, that's a good point. The environment there, when we play there is different than other places on the road. So, okay, I know the hobbies. I'm familiar with that you share stories are. Are you go to MO and you go fishing. I know nothing about fishing. I've learned it all from you. But movies. Let's talk. What's your favorite movie, Coach?

Oh, man, I don't know. I like.

Let's start with what's your favorite basketball movie? Do you have a favorite basketball movie or sports movie?

The fish that say pink. What is it? The fish to say? Pittsburgh. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But you guys probably never heard of that, but it's a movie with Julius Irving in it. It's pretty good. Like Michael Jordan's Playground, which is amazing that no kids from this era has ever seen Michael Jordan's Playground. It's incredible. I just, like. I do not understand it.

And I show it to practice.

The first day I tried to show it to my guys, and they can't stand it.

It's funny.

I think me and my kids and that generation grew up on Michael Jordan's playground because it just. It has so many. It's just like the fishes ate Pittsburgh Day. What's the movie with Denzel? And I love that movie. It's a football movie.

Remember the Titans.

Remember the Titans.

That's a good one.

I love that movie.

Hoosiers. You like Hoosiers?

Yeah, I love Hoosiers.

Hoosiers is a good one. My favorites.

I actually can watch the last part of that over and over and over again. When the guy is in the huddle and he's saying, hey, you gonna be over here? And you're right over here. And then the guy goes like this. All the guys put their head like, dang. You know, and great one, great point, great point.

Give me the ball, Jimmy. I got it or whatever. Yeah, good one. That is a good point.

I just told that story on Facebook the other day. For us, back in the day, Dick Schultz was espn. He was the media guy. He was ahead of his time. He was videotaped every game. And one day I asked him, would he send me all the games. He sent me all the games. Now they're all against Kalamazoo, but I get to show my old players this is, you know, you can show this to the family. And so. But one, what I had to do though, is as I would be showing these clips of my players, and then next thing I know, the former Kalamazoo Valley players would put games up that they beat us. You know what I mean? So now I put a disclaimer in. I go like this, and it's the truth. I say, hey, I really appreciate Coach Schiltz for filming these games. I said, he's had great teams. This is a great team here. I'm just showing these clips so that my guys can show their kids that this is what I used to play. So I do that every time I do it. But talk about that Hoosiers movie. The other day I showed a picture of Charlie Howes. And so whenever I want to hear from my guys, I always say that, you know, hey, because you guys remember Charlie. Me and Charlie was the greatest 3 on 3 group that ever played here. And so all my guys would hit. But then I told him that Charlie probably made the greatest play in my career. It was my first year. We're playing, we're down one to go to the national tournament. I call timeout and I say, listen, we're gonna come down, pass the ball in the corner, you're gonna cut through, you're gonna come, set a screen, then this guy's gonna pop out, then you're gonna hit him, then we're gonna take the shot. And all the guys was looking at me like. Like Jimmy Chickwick or whatever his name is, because there's five seconds left to go in the game. You know, we gotta go to full length court. And so they break out, they go down, we come down, take a wild shot, misses it, bounces right in Charlie's hand under the basket. He tips it in. So, you know, just that. That kind of reminded me.

Good. Another good story. One of your favorite plays of all time. Again, we could go on forever. We're gonna end with the pizza one. Does pineapple belong on pizza, Coach?

I just get peppEROni every now and then. I'll get a pizza with everything on it. But no olives. My wife, oh, she loves. I don't mind blazed pizza, but I think when she gets pizza, she gets pineapples and all that stuff. And if she gives me a slice, I usually take it off.

Okay, so your case, it's a no then?

Yeah. Yes.

You already know I'm okay with it. I got no problem with pineapple.

That's one question we ask everyone.

But it wouldn't hurt me from eating it. Like, if I'm hungry, if I'm somewhere. If I'm at a wedding reception, I'm somewhere and all the pizzas have pineapple on it and I'm hungry, it's not gonna make me say I'm not gonna eat.

So you do not dislike pineapple, you just prefer.

I love pineapples. But like I said, it wouldn't stop me from eating it if I was hungry. I mean, like, take my grandson, he wouldn't eat it. He would not eat the pizza even if you went like this. Hey, listen, I'm gonna take the pineapples off. It's gonna be a peppEROni pizza. Now you got the juice on there.

I do agree with you on the olives. Green olives especially. They don't. They don't taste good on a pizza.

Yeah, I'm not eating it.

I will do black olives every once in a while. I don't mind those.

But like I said, green olives there. If I'm hungry, I can do it. I mean, it's not. I mean, if I was like, if you go like this, hey, you gotta eat it. I was like, hey, great stuff.

And again, great stories and information on basketball, coaching basketball players that played for you. So I really appreciate you taking the time again. We'll have you again. Great discussion. Until next time, everyone. 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!