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I've had teams brought in that are from the inner city and they're all African American and they look down at the other end of the court and they see a bunch of blonde white guys doing layup.

And then they think, okay, you know, it's about to be sweet, you know, out of the gym and I'm telling the coach, nah, it ain't gonna work like that.

You need to get you guys locked in.

Glenn Smith is the founder of Hoopfest Basketball.

Based in Dallas, Texas, Hoopfest is a national sports marketing firm specializing in scholastic and college sports properties, event management, and unparalleled consultation.

Glenn's Thanksgiving Hoopfest has grown from a single event to the Hoopfest Basketball Series with stops in Lufkin, Dallas and Texarkana, Texas, Salt Lake City, Utah and Nassau, Bahamas.

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Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast.

It's Mike Clensing here without my co host Jason Sunkel tonight, but I am pleased to be joined by Glenn Smith, the founder of Hoopfest Basketball.

Mike, thank you for having me My man.

Pleasure to be here.

Let's start by going back in time to when you were a kid.

Tell me about some of your first experiences with the game of basketball.

What do you remember?

What made you fall in love with it?

You know, just growing up in a not so big city.

I grew up in Texarkana, so mostly all those sports was played at the local boys and girls club, you know, so it.

It was really just a place to.

Just to hang out with your friends.

Cause I wasn't allowed to have video games and things like that, you know, so it was a way to hang out with my friends and get out of the house and, you know, just do something fun.

Was basketball your first love when you were a kid, or did you have another sport that you liked more when you were younger?

I think I like baseball and football a little bit more, just because I grew up in a family that played a lot of baseball and a lot of football.

And I had older brothers that were really good in football and baseball, you know, but then they kept growing and getting faster, you know, and I started liking basketball more than the friends that I had.

We all just kind of just gravitated to basketball.

When you think about your time as a young athlete, was there somebody in your life that you kind of looked to as a mentor?

Whether it was a family member, whether it was a coach, a teacher, somebody that kind of took you under their wing?

Is there anybody that fit that bill for you?

I think at all levels, that I had different people that kind of.

That I kind of took things from, you know, not knowing at the time, you know, like I said, you know, growing up in Texarkana, half of us in Texas, half of is in Arkansas.

So you.

So we used to go to both boys and girls club on Arkansas side and Texas side, and both of them kind of had, like, their own person that was kind of like that staple or whatnot.

And then as I grew up, I just kind of saw different people that I liked and kind of took different mannerisms and.

And different ways that they handled themselves and how they reacted to certain things and how they approach, you know, just life in general that I just kind of took.

Took those things from.

When you think about those life lessons that you learned, is there one particular thing that you can point to, like a piece of advice that you remember that somebody gave to you back when you were a kid that you still kind of pull up in your mind when you have a situation that comes at you in life as an adult and you think, man, I Remember when so and so told me that, and that still is impacting me today?

Is there anything like that?

Yeah.

Always treat people how you want to be treated.

I think that's.

It sounds simple, but it's something that a lot of people don't do.

And I think that as long as you're kind and you treat people right, that that'll open up a lot of doors for you.

So true.

I teach school as my real job, Glenn, if you didn't know that.

And so that's a message that, man, I try to get across to my students every single day.

And as you well know, that can be a battle to try to get kids to understand, hey, if you just be nice, you're going to get a lot more nice back.

When you're, when you're not nice to somebody, guess what?

You're going to get back.

You're going to get, you're going to get not nice back.

And that's a lesson that, I mean, I really try to, to, to pass that along to my students.

And I think that's something that, when, when I think about the impact that that statement can have on a young person and obviously that it had on you and that you've carried on into your adult life, that's, that's kind of a gift that, that keeps on giving.

If you can be nice and treat other people the way that, the way that they.

You want to be treated.

What do you remember about your time as a high school athlete?

Tell me a little bit about just your experiences in high school, what it was like for you.

What are your.

Some of your favorite memories?

My high school years was, you know, some of my best years of my life, you know, just, just the, the ups and downs, you know, because that's kind of like where you kind of set the foundation for what your personality is going to be or like, what kind of character that you're going to be.

Right.

And I feel like, you know, you know, during high school, you know, you have your first heartbreak, you know, you, you meet friends, you have your first argument with your buddies, you know, and things like this, the high school, like the whole high school experience in itself, you know, it kind of helps shape the man that you're going to become.

You know, I think for me, I learned a lot, you know, just growing up with older siblings that, that were, you know, extremely talented and relatives that were extremely talented in the sports realm, and then seeing some of them not pan out and seeing how people went from treating them a certain way, and then once Things didn't go the way everyone thought they was going to go for them in sports, they treat them a different way.

You know, I really took a lot, you know, from that.

You know, just learning a lot about people.

You know, just watching how people changed up on a lot of people that I know.

Did that have an impact on you in terms of how you looked at yourself off the floor, maybe as a student or thinking about what you wanted to do with your life?

Because I think a lot of times, right, we get caught up in those of us who love sports, right?

We get caught up in that being our identity.

And then, as you said, when the ball stops bouncing, either just because we reach a level that we can no longer play at, or something off the court or off the field derails us in some way, then we have to figure out, okay, I have to be more than just a basketball player or a soccer player or a football player or whatever it might be.

So did watching those situations that happen with people in your family, did that sort of impact you in terms of what you wanted to do as far as your life?

Yes, it did.

You know, it did have an effect on me, but I also was kind of also intrigued by the business part of sports.

You know, even in high school, I was fairly good, you know, but I was still always intrigued.

Like when I watched professional sports and things in college sports, I've always been intrigued with how, you know, salary caps work or how concessions work, you know, how ticket sales work.

You know, things like that almost intrigued me more as when I was younger, as actually playing the sport did.

And so when you think about that, and I think that's kind of unusual, right, for a kid who's a high school kid to be thinking about those kinds of things, because, again, most of us are thinking about just us as athletes on the floor.

So as you're thinking about those things and your curiosity is peaked and you're wondering whether you're watching on TV or you're going to an event and you're seeing things that are happening, were you at all equating that curiosity with a potential career, or was it more just, hey, I wonder how that works and I'd like to learn a little bit about that?

Or were you starting to think about what direction you might want to head as you.

As you moved into, again, your college years and then obviously on into your adulthood?

You know, so for me, it was just curiosity.

You know, I didn't know that that was what I really wanted to do until my first or second year in the military after.

After I graduated from college, you know, that's when I knew that that was something that.

That I.

I was not only interested in, but that I could potentially, you know, make a living doing.

When you're in school and before you kind of get through and you get to the military piece of it, what are you thinking about at that point in terms of what you were going to do?

And then how did the military sort of change maybe that outlook and steer you in that direction?

Or was it just, again, you're kind of looking around at what opportunities are out there for you?

Just how did you get to that point through your college experience and then through the military?

So when I was a second lieutenant in the Air Force, for extra money, I used to work the concession stand at the Nike Peach Jam.

And an individual by the name of Jeremy Junies who runs the Riverview park center where they hold the Peace Jam at, and he still runs it to this day.

This is back when teams used to actually play AAU sanctioned events, right?

And he used to take me with him throughout the Carolinas because he was like the regional AAU guy, and he used to take me with him and.

And I learned how to assign officials, I learned how to take registration.

I learned logistics.

I learned how to run an event.

I learned how to price events.

I learned how many courts you need, depending on how many teams that you have.

You know, just different stuff that, you know, that I picked up, that I was like, okay, you know, now I'm starting to pick this stuff up.

And then it came a time to where it was like, okay, my service commitment was up, and it was like, okay, do I take a.

Take one of these jobs that have been offered to me by one of these Alphabet organizations?

You know, when I say that, I mean, like the FBI, the IRS or CIA and things like that.

Or do I move back to Texas and really, you know, buckle up and.

And see if I can make this happen, you know?

And I felt like I.

I felt like I could do it.

So I'm moved back.

I moved back to Texas, moved to Dallas, and kind of hit the ground running.

So what's the first step when you decide, I'm going to try to do something on my own?

What was the first iteration of your idea?

Because obviously, I'm sure over time to kind of morphed and changed as you started to figure out, hey, what can I do?

How can I do it?

So what was your first thought when you're like, okay, I'm gonna go back I'm gonna try to get this thing going on my own.

I want to start something.

I want to run events, whatever it is.

What was the first iteration, then?

How did it sort of change as you got into the process?

So I moved to Dallas, and when I moved to Dallas, I was kind of already, like, in the mix of knowing, you know, who the best players were, who the best teams were.

And then when I moved to Dallas, I realized that in the next five years, like in the 2008, 9, 10, 11, 12 classes, that each class there was a kid from Dallas, Fort Worth, and or Texas that was ranked in the top 10 in the country.

But there wasn't a.

There wasn't an event in Dallas that showcased Dallas kids, Right?

And so my first hoop fest, it was called a Thanksgiving hoop fest, and the first one was at a place that is now a overflow parking lot for the Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, and had that one there.

And then it just kind of took off.

So initially, when you start that.

Did you start it with.

Did you form a company right away?

Did you just kind of put the event on without doing that?

What was the biz?

What was the business side of putting that all together?

Gotcha.

Okay.

So what I did was I started a.

Another thing that I noticed is that there was a.

There wasn't a recruiting service that just focused on Dallas, Fort Worth area basketball.

And so I started that.

It was called dfw Metroplex Hoops.

And then I started a magazine called Metroplex Hoops and those.

I kind of learned that.

And then all of this fell under a company called Metroplex Hoops at the time, right?

And also at the time, I had a concierge company that catered to athletes and celebrities, because I learned early on that all the basketball players wanted to be rappers, all the rappers wanted to be basketball players, right?

So I did a solid for an NBA player, and then he flew me up.

Well, the solid was he was waiting in line to get into the club, right?

And I'm like, I mean, I got a little stroke, but I mean, why are you waiting in line?

And I'm not.

And I'm not about to wait in line.

And so I get him into the club and get him set up.

And then I'm thinking, hold up.

If he didn't know that he could have called ahead and got.

And got the table service and all this set up.

It's probably a million other NBA guys just like him, right?

So I took such good care of him that night that he flew me up to D.C.

the following week.

And I went up to D.C.

and then he says, hey, we're finna go to the studio and meet a buddy of mine who's recording the album in there.

I said, all right, cool.

I said, I'll roll.

Turns out ends up being a guy who's one of my closest friends now, Wale.

And so that's when I realized that our rappers wanted to hoop and I wanted to rap, you know, and then so while that's going on, you know, I'm doing that and I'm doing Metroplex Hoops.

You know, I have our scouting services going everywhere.

And then now people want to play, you know, in the event, you know, and then that's just kind of how it.

How.

How it got started, rather.

How did you build your knowledge base when you're talking about from a scouting perspective and get an understanding of, okay, I watch a kid and what level do I think they can play at and how do I start to build the trust with both?

There's always two sides to that, right?

Like, you have to build some trust with the players, and then you also have to trust.

Build some trust with the coaches on the other end of it.

So how did you go about developing those relationships and then also just developing your own eye for talent and doing what you did and doing it well.

So for me, the scouting stuff kind of getting better at it happened with time, you know.

So when I first started, I was more of a information source.

You know, I could tell you, okay, you want to recruit this kid, or, well, you don't need to talk to Uncle Johnny and you don't need to talk to the dad.

The mom played college basketball.

She went to lot.

She went to Louisiana Tech.

Her best friend is married to this guy, and they're recruiting him hard.

So you may not want to waste your time.

So I was more so when I first started, I was more so giving detailed information that saved coaches time as opposed to whining and dining.

There's one guy who just wants a couple free meals out of you, but he has no say so in that particular kid's improvement.

Right.

You know, and a lot of coaches appreciated that, you know, and what happened was a lot of people kind of gravitated to me because I was kind of honest with them.

Like, hey, you don't want to recruit that kid.

Not because he's not good enough, just because he's not going to go there anyway, you know.

And then what happened is that I formed this relationship with about 10 to 15 guys that we all became close, right?

And then that's.

Those relationships.

We all kind of grew up in the business together.

So a lot of those guys used to sleep on my couch when they were juco coaches or they were grad assistants.

And then now those same guys are head coaches of top 10 programs, associate head coaches and top 10 programs, you know, assistant coaches or athletic directors now and things like that.

So that.

That timeframe right there when I first got started, because I didn't treat anybody bad.

Whether you were Calipari at Memphis or you were Grant McCaslin at Ajuco, I treated everybody the same, you know, and then.

And then I never changed, you know, because I still talk the same smack to those guys now that I did back then.

And so those relationships were genuine.

And then that's.

Because those relationships were genuine.

It was an easy transition for me as I started to.

As I started to progress and as I started to expand.

So clearly then there's a synergy between the event side of it and then that concierge side of it, right?

As you build more relationships, you get more connections that gives you access on both ends of that part of the business.

So from the concierge standpoint, you told the story there.

You.

You get connected to NBA guy, you set them up, and it.

It goes, well, how did that networking piece for you work as you started connecting with.

You connect with your first NBA guy?

How.

How does that work as you continue to build and build those connections within that world of doing that concierge work?

Just being credible and being transparent and, you know, just with anything not over promising, you know, and then just trying to.

Just being a hard worker, you know, like when people would come to Dallas, they would say, hey, you know, just, you know, one story in particular, you know, hey, can we.

Can you.

There was a certain AAU program in Dallas, you know, and they wanted to meet Justin Bieber, right?

I was like, hey, that's a tall ask, but let me see what I can get done, you know, and so I just started, you know, tracing back.

Okay, cool.

I know where everybody normally stays at, you know, when they come to Dallas at the time, you know, somebody like that, they're either going to stay at the mansion on Turtle Creek or the W across the street from.

From the American Airlines Center.

Okay, let me reach out to the concierge there.

Let me reach out to the bellhop and let me reach out to.

To the lady at the bar who knows everything, right?

Hey, if you see scooter Barn.

I'm sorry, Scooter Braun show up, give him my card, and just tell him to call me, please.

You know?

And then he calls, like, hey, man, I got somebody that wants to meet Justin Bieber.

You don't know me.

I'll be downstairs in 10 minutes.

Just meet me, you know, he comes downstairs.

I was like, hey, man, this is what I do.

My name's Glenn Smith.

I run a company called Iconic Lifestyles.

It's a concierge service.

I got a guy, he's one of the richest men in America.

He has two sons that want to meet Justin Bieber.

Can you make this happen for me?

He said, who's the guy?

I tell him the guy's name.

He looks him up.

He's like, oh, this shit's real.

I said, yeah, it's very.

I wouldn't be doing all of this.

If it wasn't real, you know?

And then he was like, okay.

And then he was like, well, hey, you know, Justin likes to play basketball.

I said, I got the perfect place for him to play basketball.

He can play basketball at this guy's house.

I said.

He was like, huh?

I said, yeah, he stays.

He stays across the street from Mark Cuban.

I said, he has a full water park in his backyard.

I said, so this is.

This is for real?

For real.

And then it goes off.

And then that particular AAU programs guy, he just opened up the door for me from that, you know, from having access to his courtside seats, you know, so when rappers come into town, I can be able to get them courtside seats, you know, when rappers want to be able to play basketball somewhere in private or have a private run, I was able to use the basketball facility at his house.

You know, then.

Now the word gets out, you know, okay, hey, you know, when you're in Dallas, if you want to get something done, you know, Glenn's the person to call, you know, Then of course, I had some other stuff that I helped help guys you know, with, you know, But I'm trying to keep it PG13 for you, you know.

Understood.

Understood.

But it was just kind of understood, you know, that.

And then it grew from there to where I was taking anywhere from 15 to 20 black SUVs to the super bowl and NBA All Star Weekend.

And then I signed contracts with certain sports agencies and record labels to where I was handling all of their ground transportation, you know.

So then I kind of got connected with all the club promoters and things like that.

And then, fortunately for me, one promoter in Dallas, he was one of the bigger ones in the country, so when the super bowl and the NBA All Star came, you know, he was the one that was throwing, you know, some of the bigger parties, you know, and he would always look out for me because he knew that was reliable.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, it's.

So as you're talking, Glenn, what I keep coming back to is, and I'm thinking about lessons that can be learned from the stories that you're telling, right?

And somebody who's in our audience, who's coaching, or maybe they want to get into and be a basketball entrepreneur and get something started.

The thing that keeps coming to my mind as.

As you're talking is, and maybe you can back me up on this, or maybe.

Maybe you'll disagree with what I'm about to say, but it seems to me that a big lesson that I'm taking away from your story is that you.

You can't be afraid to ask, and you can't be afraid if somebody says no, because I'm guessing there were times where somebody said no, you asked them for something.

And there's also.

Again, you're talking about somebody calls you up out of nowhere and says, hey, can you help me meet Justin Bieber?

And you're like, man, I don't even, you know, like, I don't have any connection to that guy.

And all of a sudden, boom, you're asking, you're asking, you're asking, and then you get it done.

And I think so many people in life right there, afraid to ask because they're afraid that.

Of what the answer is going to be.

And it always appears to me, right, the worst case answer is somebody says no, and then you just move on to the next opportunity or you go to the next person or whatever.

So I don't know if those are lessons that.

That you've taken from those stories, but when I hear you talking, those are the things that come out for me.

Yeah, most definitely.

I think, for me, I tell people all the time, you know, don't let your fear of failure overshadow your drive wanting to accomplish a dream or a goal, you know, and, you know, we're in the basketball space, you know what they say?

Shoot or shoot, you know?

You know, you can't go shoot, you know, and like you said, a lot of people have told me no, you know, okay, cool, but let me talk to somebody else, you know, and then.

And then just try to figure it out, you know, and then I think that people have saw that.

A lot of times, I don't take no for an answer, you know, But I Respect it.

But then I also am like, okay, how do we get this done though?

I understand what you're saying, but how do we ultimately get this done?

You know, and then how do we get, how do we get there?

You know, and then I think people have respected me about that because I've always been respectful to people.

You know, no one can say that Glenn is over promised or under delivered on me.

Nobody can say that Glenn has owes me money or anything like that, you know, so.

And then I try to keep a good name in this space.

In the course of doing the concierge side of things, give me the coolest experience that you got to have.

Not that you necessarily need to name names, but just when you think about something that you had an opportunity to do or, or what, an experience that you had the ability to provide for someone else, what.

What's one that stands out for you?

I set up for a group of performers to play Madden on the big screen at AT&T Stadium.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Getting a guy, getting people the chance to be able to get their.

Did you have some people, some high level Madden skills that got a chance to do that?

Nah, it was trash.

That was just what they, that's what they wanted.

That's what they wanted to do though, huh?

Yeah, they had a concert at American Airlines Center.

Okay.

That night and they wanted to do that for whatever reason.

That was like, I don't know, it was a bucket list or what.

But yeah, it cost him though.

It was an expensive game of Madden, but.

Very cool.

All right, so let's, let's dive over to the hoop fest side of it.

So you get the first one going.

And how many teams do you have involved in that first one?

Just kind of give me the lay of the land for that very first event.

So the first one was at a school called Metro Academy of Math and Science.

It's a overflow parking lot for Cowboys Stadium.

Now.

I think that I had 12 teams for that one.

Yeah, I think it was 12 teams and it was good.

You know, I had some guys that could hoop.

I had Isaiah Austin there, Ricardo Gathers.

Both of those guys ended up playing at Baylor.

I had a kid who was Steve, who was Trey Young before Trae Young in high school, a guy named Stevie Clark.

And if you ever ask Trae Young who he patters his game after, he'll say Stevie Clark.

He'll tell you Stevie Clark was the one.

And just a bunch of other guys that may or may not have made it to the league, but it was just good to finally get that one off the ground though.

So what does that look like in terms of are you just playing six games and trying to match up the team so that you get the best matchups in terms of level?

Is that how you ran it?

Correct, Correct.

I wanted to put the best teams up against the teams from Dallas.

And I, because of the relationships that I had, I had a lot of different national media guys there and, and I knew that they were coming.

So the way that I sold it, the teams was I was like, I know that your kids play in all these different events throughout the year, right?

But this will be the only time where the focus will be solely on them.

And the coaches asked, well, what do you mean?

I said, when your kid plays in a live event, somebody will watch them play at 9 o' clock am but then at 10:45 they're going to be on court 13 watching somebody else and then they're going to be watching somebody else and then they're going to be watching somebody else.

I said, for these two days, the eyes and ears are going to be on Dallas Fort Worth and this will be your kids time to get all the ink that they want.

And then on that following Monday, all over Rivals.com and all over Scout.com all you saw was the Thanksgiving who fetch.

You know, this is when, you know, this is when my guy who's a president, what's his role now for the Spurs?

Dave Tellup, you know this.

Dave tellip was with Scout.com you know, this was when Evan Daniels, you know, before he became an agent, you know, for coaches.

You know, this is when all these guys, you know, were still in the high school ranked and they were showing up and then now just out the gate for the first year.

So now everybody's wondering, okay, how did he get these guys to show up and hire these teams?

You know, there when at the time it was really just a regional event, but it had a national feel to it because like I mentioned earlier, I looked at the next four or five classes in Texas and Dallas and Dallas, more importantly, we, we had a kid that was ranked in the top five in the country.

You know, from the Perry Joneses to the LeBron Nash's, the Nolan Dennis is and all those guys.

So it kind of had a national feel even though it was really just regional teams.

And then how'd you get the word out to the general public in terms of building your attendant old school hand bills?

Hand bills on cars, you know, for the three weeks, you know, from the season started at the beginning of November until the event, I'm tagging cars, you know, old school street team, you know, at everywhere, you know, putting posters up in barbershops, handing out flyers, you know, going to games and having each team pass out flyers.

What was the biggest change you made from year one to year two?

In other words, what'd you learn that you're like, hey, I gotta do this part of it a little bit better?

Well, the biggest change was I changed venues.

So the second year I went from there to Duncanville high school.

And it's been there ever since, outside of a couple years when I moved some games to the American airlines center.

And at the time, nobody had done anything at Duncanville high school, you know, just because it was kind of like a prestige thing, especially at Sandra Meadow's arena, you know.

And that was the biggest change for me was kind of setting a mystique for it, you know, and just kind of selling it as, you know, we're selling Rolls Royces over here, you know, that's.

So that's why we're going to have the top talent, we're going to have the best players, the best teams.

I'm going to put you guys in the best hotels, you know, I'm going to get the best officials in the state, you know, I'm going to do all of that, you know, and I may not make as much money, but here I am 16, 17 years later, you know, Whereas I've seen other events come and go because they're all about the money on the first year, you know.

Yeah, it's a lick for them or a hustle as opposed to a business.

Yeah, Putting together a first class event.

Right.

Where you sacrifice a little bit on the front end.

But as you said, lo this many years later, you're.

You're making it back on the back end for sure by doing it in the right way and doing it first class.

Tell me a little bit about some of the players that you've had over the years that have played.

And I know we'll talk.

We'll talk a little bit about the expansion to other locations, but just talk about some of the guys that you've been fortunate enough to have be part of your.

Be part of your events.

Jalen Brown, who's playing right now with the celtics.

I had him as a freshman when he was at Wheeler.

Jalen Brown, Marcus Smart.

Jalen Green.

K.

Cunningham.

Marcus Smart.

Daron Sharp, De' Aon Fox, man.

Who else?

Bobby Portis, man.

My mind's Drawing a blank.

Now, which guy impressed you most in your event?

Is there one guy that stands out that you're like, man, this dude, when he was here, when I saw him in high school.

So, like, I had.

I had the good fortune.

So I'm from.

I'm from Cleveland, Ohio.

And the two guys, when I think back to my experience, so when I was probably.

Oh, I bet I was.

I must have been maybe a high school.

Well, I would put a junior high.

I was in ninth grade, freshman.

Me and my dad, we went to.

We went to a high school game.

We saw Jimmy Jackson play, and Jimmy Jackson when He was in 10th grade.

You know, this is pre Internet.

So, like, I don't even know what he looks like.

You know what I mean?

Me and my dad just like.

It's just this, like, this ghost, right?

Like we've heard, hey, there's Jimmy Jackson from Toledo McCumber.

This dude is, you know, he's unbelievable.

And so he was playing close to us here in Cleveland and went to the game, and we don't even, you know, we don't even know what he looks like.

And, you know, so you're sitting there, you're waiting for the team to come out for warmups, and comes out.

He was in 10th grade at the time, and I mean, just completely a man among boys.

I mean, just looked.

Had an NBA body in 10th grade and then just, you know, proceeded to dominate.

And then, of course, got a chance to see LeBron when he was a junior at St.

Vincent St.

Mary.

Saw him play it.

They played a game at Cleveland State and saw him and just again, LeBron's going up and down the floor and four steps, like, just, you know, playing against.

Playing against normal, normal high school kids.

I mean, just completely ridiculous.

So when I think about the guys that I've seen, those are the two that stand out for me.

So I don't know if you have a particular memory of any of those guys that you just mentioned that you're like, wow, man.

Like, this guy is.

Is incredible.

I like Cooper.

When I had Cooper Cooper flag, he.

He.

He definitely did some stuff.

I would probably say Trey Young, Tyrese Maxey and Kate.

Okay.

You know, they definitely kind of made their mark, you know, when they played in the who fest.

Yeah, it's just.

I mean, again, to be able to see guys sort of before they fall onto the national radar, at least for, you know, again.

Obviously, there are people that follow high school basketball closely across the country that.

That know those names when those kids are in high school.

But most people, the average basketball fan, even if you're following high school basketball in your state, you don't necessarily know or get an opportunity to see a lot of these guys and to kind of see them before they, before they break out and become, you know, the guys that they eventually become is kind of cool.

To be able to have that opportunity and to be able to again give those guys an opportunity to showcase their talents.

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To find out more Foreign Tell me about the expansion from location one.

How soon after location one do you go to location two and then just kind of talk about the expansion plan and, and what that entailed on your end of it from a business side.

Yeah.

So I after I went to American Airlines center and then I went to Dickey's and put about 10 plus in both.

I was looking for a new challenge and I knew that.

Well, at least I felt like I had something special with the Thanksgiving fest and people kept asking me to do stuff in other places.

So in a matter of three, starting in 2022, I believe, or 2021, I expanded to Salt Lake City, Utah.

I expanded to Texarkana, which is my hometown.

I expanded to Lufkin, which is a small town just north of Houston, about an hour and a half, two hours north of Houston.

And then I expanded to Nassau, Bahamas and I wanted each location to have its own hoofest field but also have its own local feel to it.

So Almost like a, like you had this one big apartment building.

Within each location is a condo within that building, you know, and.

And then that's kind of like how I, I treated each one, you know, and so like the one in Texer county, though, that, that one's called the Red River Hoop Fence, because, you know, that area is known as the Red river region, you know, So I, I pull a lot of regional teams, you know.

Know, the Piney woods is a small town version, and I draw a lot of small school teams that may or may not have football, but when the event happens and their team plays, the whole town comes.

So it gives it this awesome environment, you know.

And the one in Salt Lake, I love that one because it gives kids from different parts of the US the opportunity to come to Utah and, and see a different type of beauty, you know, with the mountains and the whole aura of it.

And a different brand of basketball too, you know, because I've had teams, you know, that I brought in that are from the inner city, you know, and then they're all African American and they look down on the other end of the court and they see a bunch of blonde white guys doing layoff.

And then they thinking, okay, you know, it's about to be sweet, you know, Know the gym, and I'm telling the coach, no, it ain't gonna work like that.

You need to get you guys locked in, you know.

And then before they know it, Colin Chandler, who plays for Kentucky now, has got 30 on him and he's talking smack to him because they sleep, you know, and it's just a different brand of basketball, you know, and then I've always wanted to do something in the Bahamas, and so it took me two years to find a credible source over there.

And I found somebody and then did a partnership with the Bohemian government and the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Sports and Culture.

And then this will be my third or fourth year over there, you know.

And then last year we moved the events from the Kendall Isaacs Gymnasium where they have the Caribbean FIBA games, and we moved it to our host hotel, which is the Bahamar.

And the kids loved it, you know, and.

And not to move backwards, but about 10 years ago, I added my first girls game, I added girls, and it really just kind of took off from there, you know.

And then now at every location that I go to, I have girls.

So what's the biggest one?

Is the original one now the biggest?

Yeah, yeah.

Without question.

How many teams?

How many teams you get for that every year?

This year this past year I had about eight, you know, but it's kind of unique because having it at Duncanville.

Duncanville has seven.

Has seven gyms, but I only use four.

And so, like, Duncanville is probably one of the best public school.

It's definitely the best public school job in the country, but it's probably.

It also may have some of the best public school facilities, just off the fact that when I say I'm using four gyms, I'm not saying I'm using four courts next to each other.

I'm using the arena, which is one gym, the Red Jam, which is a gym by itself, the Blue Jam, which is a gym by itself.

And then they have another gym, which is it.

So all these gyms were gyms by themselves with.

With seating and everything, you know, and the cool thing about it is that you can be on in the red gym at 9 o' clock watching a kid who in 24 months is going to be a lottery pick, you know, or a young lady in the arena who's the number one player in the country, you know, so you can have Aaliyah Chavez playing at the same time as Austan Goosby, who's the top 15, 20, 26 in the country, you know, and then at the same time, have Jermaine O' Neal Jr.

Playing at the same time.

So it's like a basketball fan's paradise, if you want to put it like that.

All right, so tell me about staffing, these things.

How do you go about, again, when it's you.

I think this is one of the things that.

When I think about entrepreneurs who are successful, right, you're driven, you.

You talk about all the things that you do and how the way you treat people and the culture that you establish for yourself.

When you start hiring people, obviously you have to instill that those same values that you want your organization to stand for.

So when you think about just hiring and putting together a staff, where do those people come from?

What do you need from them?

How do you put that together to make sure that your event stays first class when it's not just you running things and doing stuff?

People have to interact with people who work for you.

How do you make sure that that culture of your employees stays true to your vision?

So the good thing for me is that I've had the same people, right?

So.

And I take the same people to every location, and everybody that you see has either been with me all those years or they're related to me.

So every event that I have, I have the Same dj, I have the same announcer, I have the same ticket people.

My mom's in the back doing check in.

You know, my sister is the one that handles all the merch for me.

My other sister is the one that handles all the ticketing for me.

So it's like they know how I am and, and they know.

Okay, don't play Glenn.

No attention right now.

He's on one right now, you know, just don't take it personal, you know, he, he's on one right now.

We'll, we'll, we'll talk to him about it tonight.

But y' all know how he is right now, you know, and so they kind of know, you know, how I, how I run stuff, you know, and so everybody knows that if you see me, they already know the other 10 people that you're going to see right on with.

Just like the teams know.

I've had the same young lady who's been with me for like the past 10 years.

They all know that, hey, you're probably not going to talk to Glenn, but talking to McKenna is like talking to Glenn, you know, and so they all know.

Okay, well, we ain't even going to ask Glenn because he's just going to say, talk to McKenna anyway, you know, so, and then, so I've kind of had the same group of people with me around the whole time, you know, and so people kind of already know that.

And then that's why it's kind of been like the kind of, the culture of it has been set, you know, because so with it being people that I know personally and family that, that people, people, people take that like that.

And they know that all my family and the people that work for me, we treat people as such, like, like you're not just another team, you know, I'm probably one of the only event guys who, the last night of the event, everybody knows at the host hotel, you know, I probably shouldn't say it like this, but everybody knows at the host hotel my dad's gonna show up with a cooler.

And everybody knows missing the cooler, you know, so it's me, all the coaches in the lobby till 4 or 5 o' clock in the morning, you know, just talking, shooting, you know, just shooting the crab.

And some teams, some coaches just stay up until it's time for them to fly out the next morning, you know, but everybody knows that at each event, the last night in the lobby where we all going to be at, you know, and then, and then we're all kind of just talking and just shooting it around and, you know, and things like that.

And then that's why I think people.

People, like, they may win or lose the game, but they're always gonna remember, you know, what Glenn.

Glen hung out with us.

Glenn made sure he showed himself.

And at all the games, I try to make sure I at least show up for one quarter for every game for all the teams, you know, and then, you know, that way they can.

I'm not just this omniscient figure who they don't know, you know, and then I'm real comfortable with everybody.

You know, a lot of the teams, I try to be there when they check in, but if I can't know, I make sure I have someone there or I'll leave something for the coach, you know, like, hey, here.

Here's a cup of Chick Fil A gift cards.

You know, take care of your team for breakfast tomorrow or something like that.

Or, hey, coach, what's your favorite, you know, adult beverage?

All right, cool.

Well, I got a six pack of Modelos waiting for you in the room, you know, for.

For that night or whatever.

And then they all come back and tell me, like, hey, man, nobody treats us, you know, like you do.

You know, they'll be like, hey, man, not only did we get some great runs putting in some great competition, you know, but your people really treat us really, really well.

And so that's why I've never really had a problem, you know, getting teams, you know, because, like, my biggest advertisement is the coaches telling other coaches, hey, man, we went to.

Man, and, like, Glenn is off the chain, you know, he had his.

You know, he had his mom make some.

Some.

Some turkey and dressing for us from scratch, you know.

You know, and the shit was good, you know, Like, I have a team from St.

Raymond out of New York.

They came to Thanksgiving Hoop Fest two years ago.

They had such a good time.

They were like, hey, man, tell us about your Utah event.

I was like, man, come on.

They came to Utah.

So now the coach calls me this morning.

He says, hey, man, don't you have an event in your hometown of Texarkana?

I was like, yeah.

He said, I want to come to that.

I said, lopez, you sure?

I said, yeah, I want to come to Texas, Canada.

He said, yeah.

He said, once you go to airport.

I said, little Rock, Shreveport or Dallas is two and a half hours away.

He said, we coming.

I said.

I said, hold up.

I said, lopez, you sure y' all want to go, bro?

New York, Texarkana.

I told you we're coming, man.

You know, and then.

And now it's like whenever.

Like when the.

When the.

The Final Four was here in San Antonio this past year, all the coaches was hitting me up like, hey, man, are you gonna be there?

Yeah, man, yeah.

Yeah.

Hey, man, come see us.

Come have a drink with us or, like, meet us for coffee.

Come have lunch with us.

Come have breakfast with us, you know, because they're like, man, like, nobody treats us like you do, man.

Like, I'll text them and call them.

You know, I got all their birthdays in my phone, so I always send a birthday text to Em, like, hey, man, happy birthday.

And then one guy was like, man, my fucking kids didn't even remember it was my birthday.

But you hit me with a text message and said, happy birthday to me.

You know, goes a long way.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, it's an experience, right?

What you're talking about is that, yeah, they're coming there for the basketball, right?

The game, and they're trying to get some exposure for their players.

And that's all a big part of it, and it's certainly a piece of it.

But when you talk about guys that want to come back or guys that want to come from New York City to Texarkana, you're talking about you're providing them with an experience.

And it goes back to what you said right off the top, right?

The lesson that you learned when you were younger is, man, treat people nicely, treat people the way that you want to be treated.

And if you do that, it's going to come back to you.

And I mean, your story that you just told there, I mean, clearly that illustrates the fact of if you treat people right and you do things that, you know, you try to put yourself in their shoes, hey, what would I want if I was coming halfway across the country to participate in an event like this?

What would make the experience good for me?

And then when you're looking at it through that lens, which clearly you are, then you're able to kind of take it maybe one step beyond what somebody who's just kind of trying to run an event and squeeze every nickel out of it, they're not going to do.

Go that extra mile, right?

That.

That six pack comes off the bottom line.

And, you know, it's like you're going to, you know, if you buy.

If you buy that six pack, that's, you know, that's.

That's 18 bucks that, you know, you could put in your pocket if you don't.

If you don't splurge for that.

But with somebody who's short sighted, doesn't see is, hey, those people aren't, they're not coming back if you don't do those things, you know, yeah, you can maybe get a one off, but you're not going to get people who are as loyal and coming back to you year after year after year.

So to kind of go along with that, how many teams you have to turn down each year that want to come that you just don't have room for?

And how do you make the decision about who gets to come, who doesn't get to come, what's that process look like?

So I turned down a lot of teams, not because I don't want them, but just because there's about 10 teams that when I first got started, they told me, yeah, that probably shouldn't have told me.

Yeah, because they was like kind of already there.

And you know how this thing goes with these basketball programs.

They're peaks and valleys and sometimes those teams may not be as good as they used to be and things like that.

But it's like 10 coaches that whenever they tell me they want to come, they know that they got an open invitation, you know, and then sometimes, sometimes I may not be able to add a, you know, a certain team out of state or this, that or the other because one of these teams wanted to come.

But those guys gave me a shot when nobody would, you know, So I look out for those guys first.

And as far as like turning out other teams, I wouldn't say that I turned out a lot because sometimes it kind of works itself out because some teams reach out early in the year, say, hey, I want to come, but then their roster doesn't look the way they think it was going to look.

And so they'll kind of circle back like, hey, man, you know, this may not be the year for me.

Or a team's state association may say, hey, you know, you guys got too many games.

Like, these are just different scenarios that I've had.

I haven't had a.

Not a whole lot, you know, but some of them kind of know that, hey, like, if I go, I better come, right?

Because it's a lot of.

I've had a lot of.

I won't say the name of the team, but they're supposed to be like one of the best teams in the country, right?

And it's, it's, it's always funny because I kind of have teams based like, like some teams get the Jay Z package, some teams get the little boosie package, some people get like the, you know, the different packages, right.

And it was a team.

And at the time, they had.

Maybe they were late to wanting to say that they wanted to come.

And at the time, they may have had nine guys ranked in the top 15 to 20 in the country in their respective classes.

And so their coach, he made a big deal about, you know, asking for all this stuff.

I was like, coach, you know, you kind of late to the party.

So my budget is kind of.

It's kind of like thin right now, you know, and if it was just up to me, you know, I would have said, yeah, but like, that's the good part of, like having.

If you notice when I tell you who all helps me, it's all women, Right?

Right.

And they're.

They're better with attention to detail and sticking by their guns with certain stuff.

They're like, no, Glenn, you can't invite nobody else, or no, you can't offer this.

The budget isn't there, you know, and then they kind of put me in check, like, hey, you know, we can't do that, you know, so don't offer that, you know, and so I told him what I could offer.

And they ended up coming, right?

So the first night they played, they played a team that had one Division 1 player.

Now, don't get me wrong, that one Division 1 player did get drafted.

He was a lottery pick last year.

He's a rookie this year.

And they beat that local team on a buzzer beater by one, right.

The next night they got beat by 35.

35.

And then the team they played was a regular Texas high school team.

Now, don't get me wrong, one of those players did end up going lottery as well.

And he's really good, but they had him and another Division 1 player, and they beat him at 35.

And this isn't an exaggeration, like, it was.

It was 42 at one point, and it was.

It was on national tv, too, that hadn't came back.

I see the coaches at different ey BLS and Adidas event while they're out recruiting, and he just says, what's up to me from the.

From the other side of the gym.

That's it.

He's not.

He's not running over for a hug is what you're telling me.

I told him, I said, hey, man, it's a little different out here, you know, And I.

I think that's why I like each different event because it kind of has its own personality.

You know, the.

The hard thing for me is at each location Getting the officials to understand that this probably won't be your regular high school game.

And I need you to officiate it as such, you know, because like, for my Thanksgiving deal, I have one guy who, who I've been using for the entire time that assigns my officials, but I had to tell him about six years ago, okay, for these three games on this night, and these three games on this night, I don't want any referees within 200 miles of Dallas.

And he's like, hey.

And then I said, tell the referees that you bring in that I'll cover their hotels and their meals in.

In addition to, you know, paying them their, their, their, their game rate or whatever, man, you sure?

You know, because we got some good officials here in Dallas.

I said, I understand that, but I don't want Kevin Boyle to have a damn excuse of why he may lose.

You know what I'm saying?

I don't want this coach to have an excuse of why he may lose, saying, I got some Dallas officials.

I kind of check that box too, because that, that's one of the, like the two things that I noticed that coaches always complain about is officials and locker rooms, you know, that's two things.

That is true.

That is true.

Those are the two things that they go.

So I, I made sure that I have quality officials.

Like, I want the best ones in the state, you know, and I want, for, for the, for the girls as well, you know.

And then I think another thing that's kind of taken all my events to a whole nother level is one, I'm getting the best girls teams in the country.

And I'm also having all female officiating crews for their games, you know, but they, they aren't, you know, just, you know, Madea from down the street, you know, these are like high level women officials that I have that are doing their games as well.

And it's really just kind of skyrocketed, you know, the whole, the whole.

I can see that.

I can totally see where being able to, again, empower women to be able to have that opportunity both on the court and then thinking about the officials.

It's something that, when you look around at the game, the growth, obviously the women's game here in the last couple of years and just the attention that it's gotten.

And clearly there's, clearly there's a market for it that, you know, Maybe didn't exist 15 years ago.

And, you know, to be able to have events like yours and just the exposure that, you know, that the girls side is Getting is something that is definitely a good thing for the game all the way around.

What, what's the next step for you in terms of, is it, is it a new location, is continuing to grow?

The current locations, kind of what's next on your horizon when you look at sort of where you are, business wise?

So I've gotten into the college space, you know, for the past 10 years I've helped other people get teams for their events.

And then about two years ago I started doing my own college events.

And then, you know, that's the space that I'm in now, college basketball events.

And I'm close to finalizing my first college football event, you know, and it kind of took a back seat for a little while because one of the coaches was debating on if he was going to sign his extension.

And now that he's there, I think there's a good chance that I'd be able to get them to play a high level game.

So that's, that's, that's, that's the, that's the kind of space that I'm going now, you know, in the collegiate space.

And I think there's a market for it.

So give me an idea of what, when you say college event for people that are listening, what does that mean?

What kind of event are you doing with the college, with college athletes?

Okay, so last year I did TCU versus South Carolina women at Dickey's Arena.

Earlier that day I had Texas Tech vs Texas A&M.

Both of those were in Fort Worth.

Earlier in the season I had a doubleheader at Lee's Family Forum out in Vegas.

I had UCLA versus New Mexico and Arizona State versus Santa Clara.

This upcoming year, I have an 18 women's MTE in Dallas at the Comerica center, which is where the Dallas Mavs G League team plays.

Me and my team are also in the process of putting together a women's doubleheader as well as I have a couple men's home MTEs that I'm putting together for a couple colleges.

And a lot of that on the men's side has been possible because if you remember I was telling you a lot of these coaches who I kind of got started with in the business, those guys are associate heads and head coaches.

They're like, you know, our guys, our guys been doing this thing in the high school side, and so now it's kind of returning the favor.

And then on the women's side, I've got two guys that have really helped me out and I wouldn't you know, I shouldn't say, help me out.

Two guys that I'm working with that have really been really valuable on the women's side, and that is Jason Key and Shane Laughlin.

You know, they've really kind of exposed me to the women's side, you know, a lot of, you know, and then they introduced me to a guy named KP who's really been instrumental as well.

You know, he kind of.

Kind of gives me a different way of looking at things.

And then another guy that I met from a buddy of mine on the men's side, a guy by the name of Ray Caldwell, he's been really instrumental to it because he kind of, you know, each one of those guys kind of have kind of has, like, a different way of looking at things, and then they all kind of have instilled in me, I kind of know, like.

Like, on the men's side, I can tell you who's full of it, right?

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, no, I got you.

But between those four, I.

I kind of have a different lens that I can look at.

And then kind of.

Kind of, kind of like, okay, you know what?

He's full of it.

He's full of it.

He's full of it.

He reminds me of this guy on the men's side.

It reminds me of this guy on the inside, you know, but, you know, those four have been great, you know, but Shane and Shane and J.

Key have.

Have really been instrumental a lot, though.

I think the big thing, right, is finding people that you can trust.

And you talked a little bit earlier about just building genuine relationships, right, where guys know that, hey, you can trust me and I can trust you, and then as a result of that, then things can happen.

And.

And I can just tell from our conversation that, you know, as you're talking about the different people that you've been fortunate enough to be connected to and have relationships with, that every one of those relationships that you're taking the time to.

To learn and pick someone's brain and try to try to gather from them, try to learn from their wisdom and their knowledge and then be able to apply it to your situation, which, again, when I think about, you know, what's a lesson that somebody who's listening to this episode can take?

I think that, you know, first of all, you know, people talk about networking all the time, right, Glenn?

I mean, hey, you got to network, you got to meet people and whatever, and that's easy to say, but it's harder to build genuine relationships when you Build a genuine relationship.

Now you've got somebody that is in your corner, somebody that's going to look out for you.

And maybe that won't happen for five years, maybe it won't happen for 10 years.

And, you know, maybe you might end up doing four favors for that person before they end up, you know, being able to help you out in a situation.

Maybe they never do, you know.

But when you build a genuine relationship, ultimately both people end up benefiting from, from that connection.

I think that's something that, when I think about coaches out there that may be listening, that you, you really have to build relationships with everybody.

And then I, I think the other thing that goes along with that, which you've said a couple times, is right when you started out, you had guys who, you know, maybe they were a ga or they were the, they were the film guy or they were, you know, whatever they were, they were, they were the lowest level of assistant.

And 10, 15 years on down the road, now those guys are getting into positions where now they have a little bit more juice.

And now all of a sudden, hey, man, Glenn's been treating me good for 15 years.

He treated me well when I was, you know, living in somebody's basement on a couch and making no money as a graduate assistant.

Now all of a sudden I'm in a position where I can turn around and return that favor.

And I think to me, that's a tremendous lesson for anybody.

Doesn't matter what walk of life you're in, whether you're in coaching, whether you're an entrepreneur or whatever, that if you build good relationships with people, that what ends up happening is both people end up benefiting from that, from that relationship because you have, you've built trust with somebody that, you know, and again, that trust goes, goes in both directions.

So I think that's a, I think that's a great lesson.

I want to ask you a final two part question before we wrap up, Glenn.

So when you look ahead over the next year or two, what do you see as being your biggest challenge?

And then the second part of the question is when you think about what you get to do every day, what brings you the most joy?

So the biggest challenge and then your biggest joy.

I think the biggest challenge for me is being able to trust new people because it's very difficult to bring people in as you expand because nobody's going to care about your baby the way that you do.

Right?

But we're in a time now where everybody wants to use the microwave, nobody wants to use the stove.

Right.

You know, because when I speak with people who want to come help or they want to be a part of what we're building, I ask them, you know, do you like mashed potatoes?

And you know, most people like mashed potatoes unless they're like on some kind of keto or something, right?

And but then if they say, hey, you know, we just put, you know, add water and put them in the microwave, you know, that's not the kind of person that I want.

I want the person that's going to say, hey, you know, I'm going to peel the potato, cut it up, put it in the water, boil it, drain it, mash it, add the butter and all of that.

Because if you have appreciation for that and understand the process, it may not come to you as quick, but the end result is going to be better.

You know, I think for me, that's my biggest challenge is finding people that want to do the work but don't mind working, you know what I'm saying?

Because like now, you know, between everybody wanting something overnight and AI, it's hard to find people that really want to, you know, tough out and grind without some type of instant gratification.

My biggest joy is having my kids there with me everywhere I go, you know, because for me, I didn't have, you know, my pops worked in a, in a factory for 50 years, you know, he worked for Cooper Tire, you know, so I mean, I saw what hard work was like, you know, but I would, I would have traded him not working those 12 hour shifts to spend more time with him.

You know, my stepfather worked at a, worked at an army depot, you know, making bullets, you know.

And so for me, my biggest joy is being at one of my locations, being stressed out, but then going back to the hotel that night and being able to play with my kids and then recharge because if they weren't there, I'd probably either be drunk or crashed out or something, you know what I'm saying?

I hear you, you know, but, but, but, but for me, that's my biggest joy.

You know, that's my biggest joy as well as seeing these kids faces when I have them come to different locations that they normally wouldn't be able to be able to come to.

Whether it's the Bahamas and seeing the water or, you know, having the kids from Miami come up to Utah and this been their first time seeing snow, you know, seeing their faces, you know, kind of make it all worth it for me.

That's great stuff, man.

Really well said.

Before we wrap up.

I want to give you a chance to share.

How can people find out more about what you're doing?

How can they connect with you?

So share website, email, social media, whatever you feel comfortable with.

And then after you do that, I'll jump back in and wrap things up.

Okay?

No doubt.

So you can go and contact me@glennhofest basketball.com that's my email social media Instagram is Oopfest Basketball and Twitter is at Hoopfest B.

Just Hoopfest B.

And normally either I respond or if it's something directed to me, the person that has my social media be like, hey Glenn, you might want to respond to this one yourself.

Perfect.

Glenn, can I thank you enough for taking the time out of your schedule tonight?

Really appreciate it.

And to everyone out there, thanks for listening and we will catch you on our next episode.

Thanks.

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