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Dominic Parker is entering his second season as the men's basketball head coach at Rochester Institute of Technology.

He took over the Tigers program after one season as the assistant head coach at Christopher Newport University, where he had previously coached two seasons from 2017 to 2019.

Parker spent one year as an assistant coach at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore after leaving Christopher Newport in 2019.

Next he was an assistant coach at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina from 2020 to 2022.

He originally came to CNU following two seasons assisting the Shenandoah University men's basketball program.

He began his coaching career at Virginia State as a graduate assistant in the 2012-2013 season and later assisted the program at Richard Bland College from 2013 to 2015.

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Grab pen and paper before you listen to this episode with Dominic Parker, Head Men's Basketball Coach at Rochester Institute of Technology.

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 welcome back to the Hoop Heads pod, Dom Parker, head men's basketball coach at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Dom, welcome back, my man.

Thanks for having me, man.

I'm looking forward to this.

Excited to have you back.

Since we last talked, got a new job, got a year under your belt, and when we last had a conversation with Dom, he was at Christopher Newport and now obviously takes over a program as the head coach for the first time.

So we're going to dive into all that, but we're going to work our way backwards to when you first become aware of the opening at RIT and your thought process.

Obviously you're in your first year there, back at Christopher Newport for your second stint.

So I don't know how actively you were seeking head coaching jobs at the time, but just kind of walk us through the timeline of how you become aware of the opening and then what your steps were to try to pursue it.

Yeah, so it was unique.

One thing for me, you know, it was.

It was pretty, pretty crazy at cnu, we went to the elite eight and we played Guilford College was the team that I was coaching before I left cnu.

So that was unique in itself.

But what happened was, once the season ended, I got a phone call from a search firm.

It was a representative from Parker.

And he, you know, just reached out to me and said, hey, you know, there's an.

There's an opening at a high academic school.

Would you have any interest?

He didn't say the name of the school.

I guess he was just trying to, you know, see people that may have been interested.

So I said, sure.

You know, talking with, you know, Coach K at cnu, you know, he told me, he said, you know, I think it's, you know, it's time for, you know, you to try to get some D3 head jobs and put your name in the hat.

And, you know, so that.

That pretty much happened.

And crazy thing about it, that same night, my.

One of my mentors, another guy I worked for, Rob Pryor, he called me and said, man, would you have any interest in rit?

And I said, you know, yeah, it was different for me now, too.

Cause when I was at Christopher Newport, I just got married to my wife, and she was also pregnant at the time.

So it was a lot going on.

But so I did my research.

The unique thing about the job at rit, there's a Kid that I recruited years ago when I was at Guilford, who.

That's how I found out about RIT when I was at the.

I was an assistant coach at Guilford.

It was a kid who actually played for me this past year.

His full circle moment.

But his name was Brock Bowen.

And he called me and said to tell me that he was going to go to rit.

So that was my first understanding of rit and that was, you know, four or five years ago.

And it's.

It's crazy how it was a full circle moment, just recruiting a kid and then actually being able to coach him.

But so basically, you know, RIT I saw at that time, you know, big institution, really good academics, you know, engineering, STEM type stuff majors, computer science was their thing.

So I knew about rit.

So it was, it was pretty, pretty unique how this process happened.

So what happened when I told the search firm that I was interested?

He called me back this next day and said, okay.

He kind of filled me out.

He asked some questions.

He said, you know, why do you think you'll be a good fit?

You know, you haven't been a head coach before.

How do you.

Why do you think you're ready now?

You know, just kind of gain.

Gaining, you know, some interest.

And I'm sure he probably did that with several other guys as well.

So, you know, that was kind of the first introduction of it.

And then probably about a week later, I got a phone call from the ad, Jackie Nicholson.

She called me.

He said, hey, can I schedule a time for us to talk on the phone?

Schedule it for like the next day.

And I talked to her for about 25, 30 minutes.

Just.

She, you know, talked about the job.

You know, I got to introduce myself and, you know, who I am and what I could bring to the program and the school.

And, you know, it was a lengthy process.

So then probably another week and a half went by again, and, you know, she called me and said, hey, would you be interested in doing a zoom?

And I said, of course.

So I went through the Zoom process.

You know, it was a committee.

They had Brock, who a player was on the committee, was like the intramural director, assistant athletic director.

It was probably seven, eight people on the committee.

Everybody asked a question and, you know, I sold myself as best as possible.

And then that was it.

You know, I didn't, I didn't hear from them for probably another two weeks.

So at the time, my wife was, you know, nine months pregnant.

Like, we was about to have a kid.

So I was kind of Scared.

I'm like, man, like, what if they call me and you know, she goes into labor like this.

My first, it's our first child.

So I didn't, I didn't want to miss that.

So it worked out.

The timing was great.

So I didn't hear from them for about probably another week and a half, two weeks.

By that time, my wife went into labor and my daughter was born on May 1.

Two days later, I get a phone call from my AD, Jackie Nicholson.

And she said, hey, I was wanna let you know, did you wanna come on campus for on campus interview?

And I'm like, yeah, sure.

So luckily my wife has several sisters, so they came up because newly dad, newly mom for my wife.

So I flew up to Rochester and did the on campus interview.

I think I flew up on a Thursday night, interview was on a Friday.

And I mean, it was all day long.

I met with so many different people.

I met with the vice president, I met with the president.

I met with, you know, everybody in the athletic department.

And the one thing I will say about the process, it was, it was very.

I did my research.

Like most interviews, you do your research, you understand what the school is, but actually seeing it and walking around this place, I was like, wow, this place is unreal.

And to me, I was just like, this could be a gold mine.

You know, you got 20,000 kids on campus, your top, top 100 academically.

You know, we have a big student population which kids, which kids love.

And for me, I just, I just saw the opportunity and fell in love with it.

So I thought I had a great interview, went home, you know, didn't think much of it.

I was in a great spot.

I was, you know, assistant head coach at cnu.

You just came off the elite eight run.

You know, we had our, you know, all American coming back.

So I told myself, hey, you know, worst case scenario, we're gonna try to win the whole thing the next year.

And you know, it's.

It was crazy.

Me and my wife was driving.

Jackie calls me and you know, I'm like, I pulled a car over, I'm thinking like, oh man, here we go.

You know, she go tell me I didn't get it.

And she said, hey, look, I just, I want to offer you the job.

You know, immediately my wife was ecstatic.

You know, we had a little, a two week old baby.

She didn't know what was going on.

But, but it was awesome.

It was awesome.

She offered me the job, you know, you know, my wife was like, take it, take it, take It, I said, give me some time.

I think I called her back, I think I called her back probably like an hour and said, yeah, I want to do it.

And, and then the rest was history.

So we, we had to move my, you know, I was married for a year, new two month, two week old baby and having to move from Newport News, Virginia all the way up to Rochester.

So that's kind of how the, did the story work with the, with the search firm.

It was, it was unique with that too.

Just that was my first time ever dealing with a search firm.

But it actually was, it was pretty cool.

Got getting in and see kind of what they do.

When you think about just the conversations that you had with your wife and going through that process with her while she's nine months pregnant and about to deliver you guys first baby, how difficult was it to, to have the conversation where you see her and look, I've had a wife who's been nine months pregnant three times.

So I know what those conversations are like and what, what the focuses of a, of of them can be.

So how difficult was it to kind of have a, I mean a realistic conversation about.

I mean it's a pretty big move, right?

I mean you're, you're going from an assistant coach to a head coach.

You're moving, as you said, quite a distance.

It's not just, hey, I'm going to take a new job.

There's a whole bunch of things that go along with it in terms of the responsibility and everything.

So how did you manage to have those conversations despite the fact that, hey, you know, your wife's about to deliver a baby?

You know, one thing about it, me and my wife, My wife was a coach too.

She was a junior college coach with.

While I was the coaching at Christopher Newport, she was the head coach at Virginia Peninsula Community College.

So she understands the coaching profession, she knows what she signed up for.

And honestly I couldn't be with anybody else because she understands the landscape and how things work.

So in the back of her mind she knew that this is a chance that could happen.

And honestly, I've interviewed for nine different jobs and I think for the last six I was with her.

So like she would get real excited and you know, I used to kind of feel bad.

I'm like dashing.

I told her, you know, I wouldn't get a job.

And you know, she would, she would plan like, we're gonna move here, do this.

So actually getting this job and actually like having to plan and move, it was exciting.

You know, we Was been married for a year.

So, you know, we was off going to upstate New York, you know, moving, what was it, 13 hours from home.

We're from North Carolina, so we was three hours from home in Newport News.

So it was exciting.

It was exciting, but it was also kind of.

Kind of scary in a sense, because we're going up to a place, don't have any family, you know, but.

But one thing about it, she.

She understood what I.

What I.

What I'm trying to do, and she's.

She's a trooper.

I mean, I wouldn't.

I wouldn't be where I am without her.

So she's.

She's been along with me the.

The last three jobs, and she loves it.

She loves it.

She really does.

Somebody who understands what it's all about makes those conversations clearly much, much easier.

And then, as you said, if you've been through that process a couple times and you've been excited about, hey, maybe if we get this and life's going to go a different direction, and then it stays the same.

And now finally, you get to, boom, you get to make that.

You get to make that pivot and have that transition and get that excitement.

I can see where.

And you combine the new job, the new baby, the whole thing, moving across the country, and, man, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, life gets a lot more.

It gets a lot more exciting.

So in the interview process, you know, the standard question would be, what kind of things did they ask you?

But I always like to flip that around and go, what kind of things did you want to know from them?

So when you went into that interview, what did you want to know about what RIT was all about that was important to you to make sure that not only was it a job that, hey, they might want you, but is this a job that I can come into and have success?

And you mentioned a couple of things already, right, in terms of the size and the academics and that kind of thing.

But what questions did you have for them to help you to better understand the job and whether or not it was a good fit for you?

Yeah, you know, one thing that.

What I've learned, because like I said, I've probably been through, I think, nine processes, you know, so the big question I always ask is, what's the perception of this team on campus?

And honestly, that that question gives you a lot of different answers, you know, in terms of, like, what they're looking for?

You know, at the time, the team wasn't really involved on campus with stuff, you know, it was, you know, it was just in a different place.

So for me, what it showed me, like, okay, they need somebody to come in here with some new ideas.

My ad, she's a.

She wants to win.

So I've come from winning, you know, final four at Christopher Newport.

The year I got the job here, we went to the elite eight.

You know, I've won a national championship at Peter and at Richard Bland College.

So I know I had a winning resume.

And what I really wanted to figure out is, could you win at rit?

And once I asked the questions and saw the place, I think you can.

I think that this place is a gold mine.

And, you know, I think we're going in the right direction in terms of what we're doing and how we're doing things.

So for me, it was really just asking, can you be successful here?

But then also, too, on the flip side, I'm looking at all the coaches at the school, and the baseball coach been here 30 plus years.

The men's soccer coach been here 25 years.

The women's soccer coach has been here for 25 years.

So it's just like, wow, people are going here and having long careers.

It's just like it has to be something good.

And that being here for a year, I mean, I get it.

I mean, Rochester is a unique city to live in.

It's just nice, you know, and it's a great place to raise a family, have good school systems and.

And, you know, you're like four or five hours from a lot of different places, which is, you know, being a coach, me driving ain't nothing.

So, you know, it's.

It's a unique deal in terms of that, but it's a great.

It's a great institution.

And I think it's growing even more.

Like, it's so much.

We just got a new president, and some of the things that he's trying to implement is going to just make this place even better.

And I can't wait.

The first person you called besides your wife, when you got the job?

First person I called was my dad.

You know, my dad's like my hero.

So, like, I run everything by him, you know.

And I told him, I said, dad, I got the job.

You got to go.

You know, he said, you got to go.

That's a good opportunity.

So I called my dad, and then I think the next person I called was.

Was.

Was Coach K. Just to let him know, you know, like, hey, coach, I got the job.

And he.

He told me the same thing.

He said, Dom, man, this is a good up.

This is a good.

This is a good opportunity.

And.

And honestly, at the time, the assistant at Christopher Newport now, Quentin Acrey, he's a.

He's a young star.

And to be honest with you, I think I was stunting his growth staying there, to be honest with you.

Like, he's.

He's really good.

So I think it worked out for everybody.

You know, Coach Q, that's what we call him.

He got bumped up to my spot.

He's doing a great job.

And for me, it was my time to run my own program.

So I just saw it was a great fit for me, for my family, and then also too, just my ad is awesome.

She's trying to bring change here.

And a unique thing about it that I'm the first minority head coach ever at the school.

So that was another thing that really appealed to me, just, you know, being able to get an opportunity like this and something I really want to do well.

And, you know, years after me, hopefully somebody else like me can have a chance to get this position as well.

So that's.

That kind of fused me to do well, so.

Absolutely.

So clearly you've gone through the process to interview for other head coaching jobs.

So.

And I know you and I talked about this the last time that you were on in terms of preparing for those interviews, preparing for the opportunity to be a head coach, and kind of thinking about, hey, if I eventually get my own program, what do I want that to look like?

But before you get the job, it's more theoretical, right?

It's like, okay, I don't know what school I'm going to be at.

I don't know exactly what it's going to look like.

These are the ideas that I have.

Now all of a sudden, boom, you got.

You got a job.

You have a specific job at a specific school that has a specific set of characteristics.

So after you get the job and you spend the next couple days looking through and thinking about, okay, what am I going to do?

What is this going to look like?

How am I going to start to build the program?

What were some of those initial thoughts that you had in the first week or so about what you wanted to do and how you wanted to go about getting yourself off on the right foot to build the kind of program that you want to have at Rochester?

Yeah, the first thing I did when I got the job was I reached out to all the current players.

They were an older team, and with COVID I knew a lot of those guys had a fifth year.

So the first thing I did was I had a real conversation, you know, and I said, hey look, this is who I am, this is what I'm trying to do.

And every last one of those guys was like, coach, I love what you're saying, like I'm willing to come back.

There was one guy who decided not to come back.

And to be totally honest with you, he got a, he had a six figure job offer on the table.

And I said, man, look, I can't promise you that I can get you something like that afterwards, so you might need to go take that.

And he's doing well.

He actually came back for alumni weekend and he's doing great.

But the first thing I did is I wanted to re recruit the guys that we had.

Cause you know, being at the time, it was, you know, it was like almost, it was the end of May, you know, so a lot of guys were committed.

So I knew that like if I could keep some of these guys, maybe that could, could help us.

And they came off a 14 win season.

They had a great season.

Had two, two guys all conference.

And like I said, the kid, Brock Bowen, who was on the committee had another year.

So you know, he was the first person I called and he said, coach, I'm in like, you know, you're, you're, you're my, you're the guy, you know, I know you.

We had a prior relationship.

So that's the first thing I did was that.

And then the next thing I did was guys that I, that I recruited that was available.

I wanted to kind of recruit somebody that fit rit.

A lot of guys didn't fit.

You know, a lot of guys just, you know, too far from home.

The academics, they didn't want the majors that we had.

So I was fortunate enough to bring in one guy my first year.

And you know, I called all my coaching buddies and they kind of, you know, I leaned on them for, you know, any names, any guys you think would fit.

So we brought in one guy who was a freshman this past year who was actually, he was solid.

He was, he was, Danny was pretty good.

So that was really the big thing, was really trying to keep the guys that I currently had.

And then the next thing was just trying to meet administration, trying to figure out what's the best way to attack this thing, you know, in terms of.

I called admissions cause I wanted to learn.

Okay, what, what does that look like?

You know, what is the profile?

You know, what kind of grades do they have to have?

What kind of packaging do we do.

You know, so that was the next phase, was just really learning what's the best kid for rit and, and then lastly, you know, just talking to current coaches at the school.

You know, like I said, there was a lot of coaches who've had longevity there, so, you know, there's no need to reinvent the wheel, like, talk to people who's been there and had some success.

So that was the three things that I really focused on when I got the job.

What were some of the things that the returning guys said to you in terms of, hey, here's what we liked about where we were at.

Maybe some things that, hey, here's what we can do differently or here's where some areas we need to work on as you try to get that kind of stuff from them, about, hey, here's what we like about where the program is.

Here's maybe some things that we'd like to do differently that can take us to that next level.

Did the conversation go in that direction at all?

Yeah, some.

Some guys talked about kind of what, what I wanted to do.

The two things that I'm real big on, we're going to defend and rebound.

And, you know, they, they like that because they felt like, you know, they didn't really have an identity.

You know, they felt like they were good players.

And like I said, they had.

They won 14 games a year before, won a game in the, in the conference tournament, you know, lost to Hobart, who won the league.

Like, they had a good team.

And I think they just, you know, they wanted somebody, you know, I think honestly just wanted somebody that was a little bit closer than their age.

And then also too, just bringing some new ideas, you know, like, you know, I know people look at social media with plays and different things of that nature.

So, you know, just.

I talked to them about that stuff and, you know, they, we, we all fit.

It was a good fit for that, you know, just.

I think it was just time for somebody, somebody new to come come in and with some new ideas.

And I think they all kind of enjoyed the conversations we had as you.

Got into that first month, six weeks of the job, going from an assistant coach to a head coach, right.

All of a sudden, there's a lot more things on your plate that maybe aren't directly basketball coaching related.

So what were some of those things that came at you in the first month, six weeks of the job that I don't want to say that you weren't expecting, but just things that you had to take care of that maybe as an assistant coach, you knew they were there, but they weren't on your plate.

So how did you adapt and adjust to that?

Yeah, I think the one big thing is, you know, as an assistant, you know, you do different fundraisers and stuff, team camps, golf outings.

But being a head coach, just, you know, a part of my job is to try to raise money, you know, so when I got the job, like I said, I met with the current players and things of that nature.

But after that, I start meeting with alums and boosters, people who could help the program.

And once, like, a division that I was trying to give to them was basically like, look, this is, you know, I wanted to introduce myself to them and just, hey, this is me.

This is.

This is what I'm trying to do.

And like, anything you.

You need people behind you.

So I wanted to try to get as much support as I could.

And a lot of people that was, you know, that.

That wanted to kind of, you know, get and help the program.

So that was another thing that was a little different, you know, for me, just being an assistant, you don't.

You don't do a ton of that.

You do some of that, but not.

I do all of that now, you know, so to be totally honest with you, like, when I got the job, I probably.

The first month, I didn't do no basketball stuff.

Like, no basketball.

Like, I ain't look at a play nothing.

I just.

It was all just, you know, fundraising, meeting with donors, you know, admissions people, like, it was.

I didn't know basketball stuff.

And then lastly, like, you know, recruiting.

I knew I had nine seniors, so.

So I knew that, like, this 20, 25 class, we have to have a home run because this, you know, we gotta replace a lot.

We gotta replace the whole team pretty much.

So.

So I hit the ground running too, once.

Once that first month, kind of all that stuff went the way I went, went on.

Went recruiting.

So from a recruiting standpoint, when you change areas of the country, you got a whole bunch of contacts right?

In the area of the country where you're from, where you work in before.

Now suddenly you go to an area of the country where you haven't been, you got to rebuild those contacts, you got to rebuild that trust.

You got to let people know who you are, what you're all about.

How do you do that?

What's that like?

Is that just being present, being in places, showing up and just having as many conversations and talking to as many people as you can?

Is it as simple as that?

Yeah, I Think for me, the unique thing about RIT Is we can recruit nationally.

And that was a big thing that I saw in my interview with that if I was the head coach there, we're going to recruit all across the country.

So that's what I did.

So, of course, I leaned on Virginia, North Carolina, places that I.

That I'm, you know, I'm from and where I've been for a while.

But also, too, like, I coached Division 1, and I did a lot of recruiting in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania is, you know, four hours from us, so, you know, I. I really leaned on that.

And.

And also, too, I worked a lot of camps, a lot of high academic camps.

You know, one thing about a place like RIT is we have a niche.

So, like, everybody can't get into Harvard or Yale.

So we.

We got.

We can get kids who may not get into their dream school for that, but we can give you a similar education.

So I just hit the ground running.

And honestly, I mean, I.

For probably the June and July, like, I was not home.

I wasn't home at all.

Like, I was on the road.

I was living out my suitcase, like, you know, But I knew that we had nine seniors, and I knew I had to hit a home run with this recruiting class because it was gonna be.

It's gonna be key.

You know, it's kind of the rebuild.

As you're doing that now, we gotta go back and talk to you about your family, right?

Your wife, your new baby, you're moving, you're getting that thing settled, and now you got to get on the road.

You got to recruit.

So what was just the move?

What was that like, moving, just getting your family settled?

Yeah.

So.

So honestly, it was.

It was a tough decision that I had to make.

But what we decided to do is, like I said, we're from North Carolina, so my wife went to North Carolina pretty much for the summer.

And, you know, I was recruiting in North Carolina, so I would go home and, you know, I would see.

See my daughter, see my wife, but pretty much, they stayed in North Carolina.

And for me, we just thought that was gonna be beneficial.

My wife was a new mom.

You know, she could lean on her mom and her sisters.

And, you know, my dad lives in the same area, so I could really hit the ground running.

And to be totally honest with you, that was a game changer for me.

It really was.

We got a really good recruiting class this.

This class.

And a big, big part was because I was.

I saw these guys live, and I got the chance to, you know, have real conversations with them, get them on campus and really hit the ground running.

And I thank my wife all the time for that because, I mean, like I said, it was.

A lot of people might not have done that.

You know, I might.

Would have had.

I might have.

Didn't go to as many events as I could, but the fact that we did that, it really helped us.

When did you start sitting down with the film of the team from the year before, Looking both collectively at what they did and then individually looking at what your guys were capable of doing from a skill position standpoint, and then figuring out, hey, I know that this is the style of play you talked about rebounding and defense and basing your philosophy around that, but when you, obviously, eventually you're going to be able to recruit and get guys in that fit the style of play that you want to play, the guys you inherit don't necessarily fit directly into that.

So how did you start thinking about, hey, how are we going to play in our first year?

What did that process look like for you in terms of going through the film and evaluating there and then once you get guys on campus, you get back into your practices and just how did it go, what you thought it was going to look like versus what it ended up looking like?

One thing I knew watching the film is I had some guys that could really score.

I brought back all the four top leading scorers.

Two guys were all league, and I mean eight.

You know, like I said, they.

They won 14 games, which is pretty impressive.

That's the most they've won in a while.

So I knew that we were very skilled offensively.

Just watching film, I knew, like, the defense and the re.

The rebounding was going to be something that I had to emphasize daily because you're just watching the film, that's just not how they was wired.

A lot of them guys was wired to score.

Like, you know, like some guys, they just, you know, I'm going to go score.

So I knew that was going to be something that those guys had to kind of figure out.

Um, and I knew that was going to be our hurdle, you know, and to be totally honest with you, just, you know, looking at it now, it's something that we, we struggled at this past season.

You know, we gave up 80 points a game, which isn't great, but, you know, we could score.

We scored 75 a game.

I think it was like tied for first in the Liberty League.

So, you know, we would have practices, we have five, five minute scrimmages, and I mean, we're scoring 30 points in five minutes.

I'm like, wow, is that because we can score or is our defense, you know, But.

But.

But at the end of the day, I mean, that was bought in.

And, you know, it was.

It's.

You know, we.

We lost.

I think I looked at it today.

We probably lost six.

Six games by five or less.

You know, that could have went either way.

You know, get a stop here.

Get a stop there.

So, you know, one thing that I'm.

I'm glad that I did is I stuck with what I want to do, you know, And.

And the one thing I will say that doing that.

I had a bunch of sophomores and freshmen this my first year, and, like, they understand what I'm trying to do.

And, like, I think for them, it's like, okay, we know.

We know what coach is about, you know, and, you know, of course you want to win.

You're like, you know, but this year, you know, we only won seven games.

But one thing I will say, it was so beneficial because my.

My young guys who are now upperclassmen, kind of went through the fire a little bit.

So, like, they kind of got something to prove now, you know?

Cause when they win 14 games, a lot of those guys were freshmen, and they didn't play a lot.

You know, they played a little bit this past year.

So it created kind of like, okay, like, we gonna be better.

So I got some motivated returners, which I'm so, so happy about.

What were the conversations like in your head as you're going through the season and you're not winning as much as maybe you would have liked, Right?

So you have this idea of want to play this way, want to be a great defensive team, want to pound the glass, but our team's kind of wired to be more of an offensive team.

As you said, the ability to stick with your convictions, even when the scoreboard tells you that you're not winning games.

And if you could take the scoreboard down, there's no problem, right?

Nobody.

You just keep.

You just keep going with what you're doing, and, you know, you're on the right track.

But unfortunately, people outside the program are looking at.

They're looking at the scoreboard.

So what were the conversations like in your own head as you're going through the season in terms of, hey, I know we're doing the right thing.

It may not be demonstrated every night on the scoreboard, but I know we're moving things in the right direction.

How'd you have those conversations and what were the Signs that you saw that you were.

You were going in the.

In the right.

In the right direction.

Yeah, I think it was.

Honestly, when I really think about it, is, you know, I've had some really good mentors.

You know, I work for Coach K, who's a Hall of Famer, in my book, Coach Tom Palumbo.

And they've always told me is go with your gut.

Right.

I could have easily, you know, we could have played zone and we probably would have won more games.

But at the end of the day, I want to create a culture of we're going to defend and rebound.

So, like, for me, it's just like, you know what, Maybe this just isn't our year, but I'm going to stick with what I want to do and maybe the young guys can understand it and then they can kind of articulate it to the new guys coming in.

Hey, look, this is what we're all about.

So I'm so glad I did that.

And in all honesty, it was pretty much like after probably the fourth or fifth game, because I was like, man, like, we're not defending.

Like, I might want to.

But at the end of the day, I said, you know what?

And we kind of morphed some stuff a little bit.

We played faster just to try to create some more possessions.

But, you know, I'm not, you know, of course, like I said, we're coaches and we want to win.

I come from winning.

But at the same time, I think about Coach K, like Coach Kraszewski.

I mean, his first three seasons at Duke was, you know, subpar.

I look at Jay Wright similar.

You know, they wasn't like what they are, and those two guys are in the hall of Fame, you know, so good things take time.

That's something my dad always told me.

He always said, rome won't build in a day, you know, and, you know, I. I think this year I really wanted to lay a good foundation and play, be a tough team.

And I think we, we accomplished that.

What was the most fun or enjoyable part of being a head coach rather than being an assistant?

Was it planning a practice out exactly the way you wanted it?

Was it the in game decision making?

Was it just being on the floor with your guys and being the main voice that they heard?

Just what was the piece of being a head coach that you enjoyed the most compared to just your role as an assistant?

I think really as a head coach, just having your imprint, you know, kind of your program and running stuff and, you know, it's so many things that I would, like, I would tell my.

When I was assistant, hey, we should do this, we should do that.

Like.

Like, I'm actually doing it.

You know, I'm actually thinking.

And also, too, I'm doing, like, you know, what?

That.

That didn't go as planned.

Like, that wasn't as good as I thought, you know, so it's really kind of.

It's really kind of trial and error and.

And I could say this year, and I'm.

I'm fortunate.

And I had, you know, I got two really good assistants.

Um, Coach Mick, who is.

He's phenomenal, and Coach T, who was from Hampton.

They're both phenomenal.

So I had two guys with me that.

That they trust the vision.

And, you know, it was.

It was all a learning experience for all of us, you know, because beforehand, like, we all never worked together.

So, you know, they're.

I'm learning them, they're learning me.

So that was another factor, too.

But, like, it's funny that we're talking now.

So we actually had a staff meeting tonight, and to be honest with you, like, my wife texted me and told me I need to come home, but I probably would still be there talking to him, you know, so, you know, these guys are super excited about what we got going on and the guys we got coming in and, you know, like I said, last year was a learning experience for everybody, you know, and, I mean, we're in a good spot now.

Think it back to your preparation for becoming a head coach and just the ideas that you had, the way that you hoped that things would go.

What's something that, over the course of last season, went pretty close to the way you envisioned it when you imagined getting ahead?

Coaching job.

I think the one thing that that went well is I'm real big on player development, and I can honestly say that's something that we do every day.

I can honestly say that the guys on my team got better.

And for me, that was validation to, like, okay, like, I know what I'm doing.

Like, I can get guys better.

You know, everybody speaks it and says, hey, I can get players better.

But, like, you know, I look at the stuff that we're doing, and then, like, my young guys, as the season progressed, they got more confident.

You know, they had some.

You know, we didn't win, but they had some good games.

I saw some bright spots, and I think that's something that they build on the summer.

You know, we talk to those guys over the summertime, they continue to work, and I'm just super, super Pumped to see kind of how these returners we have, how they develop.

So I think the player development piece is something that I think every program needs it.

Everybody, you know, they think differently about it.

But I think one thing about me, and I said this in the interview process, is I don't need better plays in March.

I need better players.

And I think getting your players better every day, I think is something that can.

That's the changes from wins to losses, you know, you have a good player.

So what does that look like on a day to day basis when you say player development in your mind, what does that look like?

How individualized does it get?

Because when I think of player development, I think of somebody who's taken the time to evaluate a player's game, look at what they already do, doubling down on their strengths, figuring out a way to maybe turn something that's a weakness into something that maybe not as a strength, but something that they can sort of work to eliminate that weakness.

But to me, player development is always player specific.

So just talk to me a little bit about how you think of player development and what that looks like day to day in practice for you and your team.

Yeah, so coach Mick, He's a, he's 6 10, so he works with the big guys and Coach T, he works with the guard.

So one thing that we're big on is being able to read the game and also too being able to get to spots where you're going to get in the game and shoot from those areas.

You know, one thing about it is, you know, people, you know, you'll shoot a ton of shots, but it's like you're shooting a ton of corner threes, but you don't, you don't shoot corner threes, you know, so one thing that we're real big on is we're big on getting shots in the flow of our offense.

And there's this one kid on my team named Zach.

He was a sophomore last year and, you know, we stuck with it.

No, he started out, you know, it was tough in the beginning, but then as the season progressed and his confidence in his game flourished.

I mean, he had a game this season, he had scored 27 points.

I think it might be the third or fourth highest point total in our conference.

This is a kid who wasn't playing a ton, but he stuck with the player development and he really trusts the process.

And I'm looking forward to see Zach as a junior.

I think he's going to be, he's going to be a good player.

For us.

So just guys like him just seeing, like, the work that he put in, and then this confidence.

You know, the one thing about it, I played for coach Kevin Billerman.

He's the head coach at Ravenscroft, and he made me feel like I was the best player ever.

He probably made me feel like I was better than I actually was.

So that's one thing that I'm real big on, is giving my players confidence.

And I'm gonna be tough on them.

I'm gonna be a truth teller.

But also, too, I'm gonna put life into them and speak them up and make them feel like they can do whatever they want and also to be the best player they can.

And just like I said, I'm real big in my faith.

It says in the power on the tongue, you got to speak it into existence.

So, you know, if I'm always.

You're such a bad player, like, you're gonna be a bad player.

So I talk, I try to be positive, and my assistants look at me crazy sometimes.

They're like, how could you be positive in this moment?

But I'm like, man, you know, positive.

Like, it's the universe.

Like, if you put out positive energy, like, you'll get it back, and guys will start feeling that if you're negative all the time, they're not gonna wanna be around you.

So I try to remain positive at all times.

How do you build that player development into your practices?

When you're putting together a practice plan, is player development always at the beginning?

Is it always at the end?

Do you weave it in throughout the team stuff during practice?

Just where do you fit that in on a daily basis?

You know, one thing about it, just the different programs I've been in, that's.

That's a great question, because some people do it at the end of practice.

Some people do it in the beginning.

In my opinion.

I think you got to do it kind of after you stretch.

You might do some team.

Team stuff.

I think you do it right after that because you got them, you got your guys, but every team's different, you know?

So the team that we had last year is.

I noticed the first 20 minutes of practice, like, after that 20 minutes, like, you could get them going, you know?

So, like, for us, we.

We would stretch for 10 minutes.

We'll do something for, like, another 10.

And then we get into player development.

You know, we do guards and big breakdown.

We do, you know, three on.

Oh, stuff.

Like, we would do stuff like that because guys are, like, feeling good, you know, that's the time, you know, you ain't do sprints yet, you know, so you're still kind of somewhat fresh.

So I think that's.

That was a sweet spot for last year.

Yeah, it makes sense, right?

You want to be able to get it in a moment where you got their attention.

Clearly, player development is something that players enjoy because it helps them to get better, and as you said, it helps to build their confidence.

So I think that's a big piece, right.

Of having a successful team is having your team be confident not only in themselves, but also in the teammates.

And that transfers over to the coaching staff.

Right.

They got to believe in you and what you're doing and, and that you're there to get them better.

And if they know that you can do that, it just kind of all ends up feeding on itself to some degree.

So I see exactly where you're coming from with that one.

Let me ask you the reverse of the last question.

When you thought about the process of being a head coach, when you thought about running a program, you told me about something that went kind of almost as you envisioned.

Is there anything that was a lot different from what you envisioned?

Maybe not something that you did wrong, necessarily, but just something that you thought it was going to be one way ended up maybe being a little bit different than what you thought prior to becoming a head coach.

Yeah, I think, you know, the one big thing that I thought would be a little different was really creating an atmosphere of like, it takes time to build like a culture.

You know, I was blessed to be at places that the culture was already in a.

In a good spot, you know, and not saying the culture was in a bad spot.

It wasn't at all, but it just, it wasn't strong at the time, you know.

So, like, one thing about it is, is that was something that was like, whoa, like we, we need to do a lot more, you know, leadership stuff, a lot more team bonding stuff, you know, and it was unique because I had nine seniors who were fifth year seniors.

So, like, these guys are, you know, they're going to the bar, you know, they're doing stuff.

And I had these young guys who are just, you know, on campus just kind of trying to figure it out.

It was very tough to try to get those older guys and those young guys to kind of mesh, you know, because it's just, they're in two different parts of their life.

You know, the seniors are trying to figure out what's next.

You know, the freshmen are like, trying to figure out, like, what are we eating tonight.

You know what I mean?

So it's just trying to mesh them.

That was tough.

That was.

That was.

That was probably one of the toughest things about last year is just because everybody has a different walk and, you know, during different.

During different times in their journey.

So trying to get them to come together for a common goal, that was very challenging.

When you think about how to do that.

So not even looking at last year, but heading into this season, what are some things that you have in mind heading into your second year from a culture standpoint that you think is going to help to bridge that gap?

Now, obviously, as you said, you had a bunch of guys graduate that now are no longer part of the program, the active program, I should say.

But how.

What do you have in place?

What do you have in mind for building culture here in year two?

Yeah, so one thing about it, and that started in the recruiting process, you know, so one thing about it is that the eight guys that I have coming in, I will call them.

Like, we would play Friday, Saturday, I would call them Sunday and just tell them, like, hey, this is.

This is where we're at.

You know, we.

You know, and they.

They.

So they.

It was like they was kind of already on the team without being on the team yet, so they was kind of understanding, like, what we were going through.

So now, full circle moment, now that they're here now, like, a lot of them feel like they was, like, in those locker rooms because I had those conversations with them, and they kind of know what, you know, where we kind of struggled at and where we need to get better at.

And those guys have basically come together with our returners to, like, okay, like, all right, we're on the same page.

And.

And it's.

It's funny because, you know, a lot of these guys, they're playing pickup right now, and a lot of them called me afterwards just to, you know, check in and stuff, and they just said, coach.

Like, these returners, like, they came with.

Came to us with, like, open arms.

Like, they.

They make us feel like we've been here.

And I think, like I said, the returners from last year saw that.

Like, we have to buy into each other, and the sooner we can do that, the sooner we can start winning games.

So it's a different aura on campus.

Like, everybody's talking about it, and we got some different personalities.

You know, we got some guys that I'm probably gonna have to be like, hey, look, man, you need to go to class.

You know, we gonna have to.

We got Some guys that's go, you know, they gonna challenge some people, but it's just different.

You know, it's a different, it's a different day and age and also it's a different type of kid.

And you know, I think me and my staff done a good job of seeing the guys we need and attacking those guys and getting those guys to come here and have them understand and not just them, but also their families, kind of where we see them fit and where we want to go.

And the one thing I will say about my eight guys is like, they all are coming here because they see my vision for rit.

If you talk to any of those guys, they always say like, we gonna make RIT special, like that's their goal.

It's not.

I'm gonna come here and I'm gonna be a thousand point scorer.

All eight of them are like, we're trying to put this place on the map.

So I think that was something we did in the recruiting process and something that we're gonna reiterate all season long that, you know, we can't go anywhere for.

Not on the same page.

How do you plan to use your 8 days of outside of the regular practice schedule?

Are you going to put all eight of those days ahead of the season?

Do you save one or two for after the season for maybe going through some player development stuff with guys or what's your philosophy with those, those eight extra days that you get?

Yeah, I mean my philosophy is to use the eight days beforehand just to, just to get a head start.

Especially now I got eight new guys.

So just trying to bridge the gap with them.

I think we're actually going to do some different things defensively too.

So just trying to get that in place and you know, I think, you know, I know some people kind of wait to use them, but honestly the way I, I think you should use all eight beforehand because you know, God forbid, you know what if seven of those guys transfer, you gonna save them for what?

You know.

So I think, I think using them beforehand is something that is, is what I'm going to continue to do.

I think it's, I think it's the best, best way.

As a head coach, do you put together a, I don't know if curriculum is the right word plan for, hey, I want to try to have X, Y and Z in by practice number six or my goal is to have all this stuff in by the second week of practice.

Do you go through and do you break it down by, by time frames like that or are you more like, hey, this is day one, what we need to do.

I know where we.

I know where we need to get to.

And then we go day by day based on what we accomplished the previous day.

Just what's your thought on the pacing of how you get stuff in.

In practice?

I think.

I think everything is based off your guys.

You know, I think for me, I'm not going to move forward if my guys don't feel comfortable about it, you know, and just working for Coach Palumbo at Guilford, he's a firm believer.

And honestly, I should have probably took his advice sooner.

He was just like.

He always would tell me.

He's like, you can't be good at everything.

You gotta find two, maybe three things that you're gonna be elite at.

And you're gonna have to emphasize that daily because we're not like Division 1, where we can practice all summer long.

And, you know, it's just a different day and age.

So for me, it's just, like, really emphasizing, hey, look, like, we're gonna be really good on this.

We're gonna hang our hat on this.

And if it takes us all eight practices, fine.

That's how it is.

So I think that's.

I think you gotta kind of see where you wanna hang your hat on and then just really emphasize that that's what I'm doing in year two.

But, like, like, you.

The question you asked, I mean, I tried to be like, all right, I gotta have this press break in, but at the end of the day, it's just like, you know, I'm trying to do stuff, and it's like, you know what?

This league don't even press like that, you know, so it's like I'm doing all this stuff to try to meet a timeframe, but it's not even, you know, it's not even like that, so.

And I think another thing, too, is the Liberty League.

Seeing it on film is different than actually being in the league.

This league is a beast.

Like, these coaches in this league are high level.

So that's something that I didn't.

I didn't.

You know, you can't really put an account for, you know, watching film, but, like, the adjustments that these guys make, you know, we play Friday and Saturday, so, like, you don't have a, you know, practicing between times.

So just being in this league this first year really opened my eyes to, like, we're going to do some different things this, this upcoming year just because I think that'll help our team.

And like I said, this.

This league is, is.

Is high level.

I know the, the Ithaca coach just got the NYU job.

You know, there's some rumblings that some other stuff is going to happen in our league too.

So, I mean, these, these coaches are really good.

So that's something that film don't really show you.

You know, you see an adjustment and like, you know, so that's something too, that I had to learn.

How'd you handle that Friday, Saturday, back to back with no practice in between, and trying to prepare for.

In essence, what you're doing right, is you're preparing for mostly that Friday night game.

You got some prep for the Saturday game too.

That's got to be mixed in there.

But how'd you find a rhythm to that over the course of that first season?

Yeah, I mean, you know, for me, you know, we wasn't in a place where we could overlook Friday's game.

So it was all hands on deck for Friday.

And I'm fortunate enough to have really good assistants that one of them would kind of pretty much take the Saturday scout.

And if it's something that was unique, you know, that we would have to do in practice that week, I wouldn't tell the guys that we're, you know, we're going through a zone.

You know, some of them kind of put it together like, okay, we might face his own this week, you know, So I think for me, that was challenging.

You know, that's a tough part of our league.

And that's kind of when I'm hinting at too, just a lot of teams in our league, they'll go zone based on out of bounds.

And I'm like, why is everybody going zone?

But I get it.

Because it's like they're going zone because they don't want to have to go over all this stuff, this man to man stuff.

They just gonna go zone and just kind of deal with what happens, you know.

So, you know, little stuff like that is.

Is, you know, you don't necessarily see that until you kind of get in the league about why some of these coaches do some of the things that they do.

But there's not much.

There's not much time that you can.

You play at seven and then you play the next day at four.

It's not much you can do and you're staying at a hotel most of the time, so.

But it's.

It's fun, though.

It's fun.

And honestly, I tell my guys, I mean, it's.

If you want to play in the NCAA tournament, that's how it is in the NCAA tournament, you play Friday, play Friday night, and you play Saturday night.

So it's just gearing us up for that.

What's the game day schedule look like on Saturday for your players?

Forget about you.

But what does it look like for the players?

Yeah, so for us, if we're playing on the road, you know, we usually wake up and get breakfast.

And then also after breakfast, you know, the guys probably go back to the rooms and then we'll have like a, a walkthrough at the hotel.

And you know, the walkthrough might also consist of watching a little film personnel film.

If they have a set that, that's pretty unique that we need to walk over through the hotel, we'll do that.

And then we usually kind of get pregame meal delivered or you know, one of the coaches go get on the bus and bring it in.

And then by that time, you know, guys go to their rooms, they rest and then we, you know, go, we.

We're travel partners with our women's team.

So we'll go watch our girls play.

They play at two and then we'll play at four.

So we'll support them and then we get ready for our games.

That's pretty much kind of how it is.

The same thing for home games, you know, home games we might be able to go, you know, get a shoot around just because, you know, we're at home sleeping in our own beds and stuff like that.

But for the most part, breakfast, walkthrough, pre game meal, game.

What about for you?

Do you have something that has to be a part of your routine?

I wouldn't call it a superstition, but do you have something that has to be a part of what you do to prepare yourself mentally and physically for, For a game?

Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm a big.

I like to work out, so, you know, I like to try to get a workout on game day if I can.

That's.

That just kind of gets the, you know, my distress level down.

I can kind of just, you know, and also to watching some film, one thing about it, you always, it's always something you can see, you know, so it's like, okay, we might can attack him a little better.

So, you know, just watching film, working out.

And honestly, she, she doesn't know it, but my daughter, she's a, you know, she looks at me and smile all the time and no matter game, win, loss.

So just spending some time with her has also been pretty good too.

Just, you know, she, she Takes it, some of it.

She don't, she don't know what's going on.

So hanging out with her is, is another cool little thing too, because she's, you know, at the end of the day, win or lose, I'm still dad and she's still you yelling at me.

So.

So yeah, yeah.

Nothing better than relaxing, having your kid not worried about whether you want or lost a game.

You're just, you're just dad.

What about, what about post game?

How quickly after a post game?

Now, clearly on a Friday night, I don't know how much you get.

But just what, how do you get to, how fast do you get to the film after a game?

Are you letting it sit and getting a good night's sleep and then waking up in the morning getting back to it?

What, what's your post game routine look like?

Yeah, so.

So the post game routine.

So we play on Friday and then what will.

What I normally do.

If we have a bus trip and we gotta drive to the hotel, it's maybe an hour.

Whoever scout it is from, from my, excuse me, from my staff, we will kind of talk over the bus, like, what are you thinking?

You know, and they already kind of have the scout laid out.

You know, they already got clips made.

You know, do we need to guard this guy a certain way?

Is there anything unique that we need to do?

We'll talk about it on the bus.

And then once we get to the hotel, we get the guys, you know, situated, let them go to their rooms, give them water, and then me and my other coaches will get together and kind of, you know, we'll talk it out.

We'll kind of talk out the game and you know, I tell them to shut it down, but I don't, you know, I kind of watch stuff.

It's been plenty of times this season I woke up and my computer's dead and I'm like, oh, wow, it's like 4:00am I fell asleep, you know, so I probably to do something different.

But, but I think that's something that, you know, just trying to get up to speed just because, you know, you've been focused so much on this Friday game and then now you just got to flip the switch.

Win or lose, you, you know, you got to flip the switch to try to, you know, try to win another one.

So it's unique.

It's tough.

It's, it's, it's.

That's one of the toughest things about our league is just these back to back games.

But it's fun.

It's fun.

Yeah.

The good thing is everybody's in the same boat.

Right?

You just.

I'm sure coaches that have been in the league.

Right.

You figure out your routine, you get it.

You'll probably be much better at it in year two than you were in year one, just in terms of getting a feel for what you and your staff needs and then also what your players need to be able to be at their best.

We talked a little bit earlier about some of the non basketball slash administrative stuff that you had to do in the off season.

What are some of the things that somebody who's maybe an assistant coach at the college level, who hasn't been a head coach, what are some of the administrative things that you have to take care of and handle either yourself or things that you have to delegate during the season that are non basketball.

Non basketball tasks that, again, maybe somebody wouldn't be aware of.

Yeah.

I know here at RIT we have a couple initiatives to kind of raise money.

One's called get in the Game.

So, you know, just trying to make creative ideas to, like, reach out to our alumni or some of our donors on some of the stuff we're doing.

Our athletic director, she does a good job of making some initiative with that stuff, but that's something too, that I think is a lot of people don't talk about.

But being able to raise money has value, especially now in NIL era.

So being able to raise money and also too, just, you know, for me, I really wanted to get involved with the community.

So, you know, we.

My team does a lot.

We've done Special Olympics.

We do a lot of different things like that.

So just being visible, that's something that in the interviewing process that they.

They wasn't really visible in the community.

So being able to.

To kind of make this place, you know, hosting camps, setting stuff up like this, that's something that we've done here.

The last.

This past year, I've had shooting camp, which was a hit.

We've had a team camp, We've had elite camps.

So just.

Just trying to put the imprint all over this community and just trying to get the world out.

The brand like RIT is a brand.

Like my sister, she was in grad school at Harvard, and I'm on the Metro, and I'm like, I see a big ritual billboard.

I'm like, oh, wow.

You know, so the coach from Tufts, Brandon, he sent me a picture a couple months ago.

He's like, man, y' all all over the place, you know, so, like, we have A brand and just trying to get it out there so people can, you know, we can get the best players that we can.

Yeah.

Clearly, the more name recognition that you have and the more people are aware of what you're doing, both from a school and a basketball program standpoint, easier it is to be able to have that initial conversation with the kid that you're trying to recruit.

And they're like, oh, yeah, I know, Rocha, I know, I know.

Rochester Institute of Technology.

I'm well aware of what they're all about.

Clearly, that's an advantage than having to go in and just explain, hey, here's who we are.

Here's where we're at.

Here's what our program is.

If.

If people are more aware of it, gives you a little bit more recognition and ability to go in there and have those conversations with recruits.

And clearly, as you well know, getting the right players into your program, like you talked about how important this first recruiting class is for you and just the quality of the guys that you were able to bring in, both in terms of their basketball and just who they are to.

To build the kind of culture that you're talking about.

So I already asked you about the culture heading into year two, and obviously at the division three level, you haven't been able to be with your guys and do some of the things, as you said, that they can do at the Division 1 level.

But where are you from a standpoint of your own preparation for getting your team ready to look like more of what you want them to look like in year two from a basketball perspective and your preparation as a coach to.

To get them into that position?

Yes.

So we.

We have something called a captain's practice.

So basically, like, you know, I got to.

I got 10 returners who've been through it, you know, so they kind of lead workouts, you know, and just for what they tell me, they're doing the stuff that we would do in practice.

And, you know, and to be honest with you, that's awesome, because the teams that I've been a part of, that was successful, like, it was player led.

It wasn't, you know, coach led.

It was player led.

So the fact that those returners are taking that initiative, um, one of my.

He's probably gonna be one of my captains.

He came in today.

He just moved in.

He's a returner.

He said, coach, he said, man, we're.

We're gonna be good.

Like, you're speaking it into existence.

And it's just.

Like I said, it's just A different aura.

Like I said to my returners, they got something to prove.

And like I said, I'm.

You know, we won seven games in year one, but at the same time, I'm glad we did because now I got guys who are hungry, and then now I got eight incoming guys who are like, okay, we're gonna put this place on the map.

So you got returners who hungry, and then you got guys who, you know, think, like, all right, like, we're going.

We're going to show people that, you know, we can be.

We can be a national program.

So putting those guys together, and then, of course, you're going to have to fix certain things, but, like, their mindset, I think, is where it needs to be, which I think is perfect.

You talked a little bit earlier about leadership, right?

And then what you just talked about a captain's practice being led by guys who are a part of the program in Division 3.

So important, right, in the off season to be able to have guys who are holding other guys accountable and trying to get guys together to be able to play and do some of the things and make sure that everybody's working towards being prepared when practice starts in the fall.

So how do you go about in your mind, developing those kinds of leaders up and down your roster?

What are some things that you do to give kids an opportunity to demonstrate leadership so that you can develop those guys into the types of leaders you need to create the program that you want?

Yes.

One thing about RIT is we have a lot of different programs with leadership.

So all my freshmen will be in it.

We've had several guys that were in it last year, and it just teaches you how to be a leader, but not just like a vocal leader.

Like every.

There's different types of leaders that we talk about.

You know, you can be a guy that leads by example.

You know, you can be a guy who can be a truth teller.

You know, you could be a guy who was a.

Who's a.

Who's kind of a rah rah guy.

He talks a lot like, you know, so we.

We talk about, you know, the different type of leaders and that everybody is different and everybody, you know, it's not just one leader that's like, all right, this is how we're going to go by.

But everybody's different, and everybody leads by different.

Different things.

So we.

We harp on that a lot.

I know my returners, we talked about, you know, at the end of the season, we talked about how we kind of lacked leadership, and it wasn't their fault.

Like, I had nine seniors who were basically looking at life after school.

You know, they knew they're not going to the NBA and they were probably a little ready for that, you know.

So, like our returners, basically they said, coach, like, we gotta work on our leadership.

And I said, well, that's something that y' all gotta figure it out.

And one thing I will say is that they've done a great job this summer with a look, you need to get your papers in.

You got to do this, you got to do that.

I'm like, okay.

Like we.

These guys have, you know, it's just a different.

It's a different aura, which I think is good.

Yeah, to be able to have guys that'll take that initiative on their own.

I think that's always a big part of what it means to be a leader, right.

That it doesn't always have to come from you saying to somebody, hey, go do this, or hey, you take care of that.

It's them making sure that those things that need to get done are getting done.

And when you have that, as you said, player led teams are going to be more successful than coach led teams.

You got to have those players be able to take ownership and do those types of things in order for you to be able to have the kind of success that you want.

So another question heading into year two, as you look at what you're going to need to be successful and you can define success, whether that's win loss on the scoreboard or whether that's just reaching some of the internal goals and milestones that you're setting for your team in your mind, when you get through this next season and you look and you're trying to evaluate what it looks like compared to where you sit today evaluating last season, what are some of the things that you're going to look for over the next six months are going to define whether or not year two is a successful season.

I think the big thing that I'm going to look at is just playing a good brand of basketball, winning basketball, you know, and one thing about it, you're not going to win every game.

We might, I don't know.

But if we don't, I want to put a good group of guys on the floor who are playing winning basketball.

And I think you do that and you get them to buy into each other.

You get, you know, we've added some toughness and some athleticism, and I think it, I think it'll work itself out, you know, and sometimes, you know, you gotta Go through some things.

And last year, we went through a lot.

And I think my returners can talk to the new guys about what we went through and how they don't want that to happen and how we all gotta be on the same page.

So I know that's something that these guys, you know, I overheard some of them talking today.

Just, like, look, like we.

You know, we're on a mission.

I heard someone say we're on a mission.

So, like, I think it's.

It's slowly kind of, you know, it's.

You know, what we.

What My assistant coaches and I are trying to kind of, you know, give these guys to just show them, like, hey, look like good things can happen here.

Like, I have a transfer.

And he said, coach, I can get in the gym now.

I said, yeah.

He said, I can go see the trainer now.

I said, yeah.

He said, we got a gun and I can.

I said, yeah.

He was just like, there's no reason why we shouldn't be good.

You know what I mean?

Like, so, like, I think we have the resources, and I'm serious.

I didn't make that up.

Like, I'm so serious.

The kid just.

He was just, like, in awe.

Like, I can get in the gym right now.

I said, yeah.

He said, like, my old school, I couldn't do that.

I'm like, yeah, man.

Like, you know, I can go see the strength.

I can have a. I can work out with strength.

Coach.

I said, yeah.

He said, oh, my God.

Like, this is.

He's like, these freshmen don't know how good they have it.

So having guys with different experiences and they can articulate it to my freshmen to know, like, this ain't how every place is, you know?

So I think that's one thing, too, that we really harped on is diversity.

We really wanted to bring guys with diverse backgrounds and different things like that, because we got three pillars.

It's gratitude, unity, and preparation.

And, you know, and the guys last year, they added a fourth was purpose, you know, so those are our four pillars.

So that's something that we kind of harp on every day, you know, And.

And for me, it's just like, the kid, he was, you know, he was expressing gratitude.

It's like, I'm just.

He was just so thankful to be able to just be able to just shoot something that you take for granted.

Just getting shots up, you know, a lot of places you can do that.

But, like, he was at a place that he couldn't do that.

He had to, like, either go real early or real late in the middle of the day, he was just like, I can go get shots up at 2 o'.

Clock.

I said, yeah, man.

Like, he just was just in awe.

So, you know, guys like that, you know, and that's the one.

The last thing I would say about the recruiting piece is like, we got good character guys.

Like, we have guys who are world class people and they're going to be successful long after the basketball court.

These people, these guys on my team are going to be CEOs, you know, presidents.

They going, they're going to be really successful.

And that's one thing too is we really want to recruit high character guys that were tough and that was, that come from winning, you know, so that's, that's the three things that we really wanted to harp into.

So when your roster is made up of guys who are coming back, who are hungry, want to have success, you got new guys coming in who clearly are motivated, want to get after it, everybody's moving to that.

Everybody's moving in the same direction.

Right.

Everybody wants to build a program that's going to be successful.

And yet you got a big roster.

And there are some guys inevitably who aren't going to get as much opportunity to play in games.

But coming into fall practice, how do you think about giving every guy on your roster an opportunity to demonstrate where they stand on the practice floor?

How do you do that with a roster as big as what most Division 3 schools?

So you got a roster of what, around 20 probably.

How do you get all those guys an opportunity to be able to see them, evaluate them, make them feel like they got a fair chance to be able to show what they could do, to be able to be a part of the group that's going to play during games.

Yeah.

The one big thing about me, I've always been a kind of a player's coach.

And for me, I want what's best for not just myself before the team.

So I have weekly meetings with everybody, you know, and I tell you exactly where you are and sometimes about it, like, you may not like it, but you got to respect the truth, you know.

So it's going to be some tough conversations this season.

But the one thing about it, you know, I got our roster is 18, I can honestly say I got 18 guys that's like, I mean, they can play like, you know, these guys can play like we had a staff meeting tonight and I mean we, we don't.

We certain things, we just gotta see how it unfolds, you know, and you know you know how it is, people get hurt, you know, things happen, but hopefully no one has nothing.

Crazy season end injury, but like it kind of takes this.

It kind of, you know, the season kind of, it kind of just happens.

Things just happen and you know, you just gotta be ready for it.

I've yet to have a season where all the guys that I started with end it with those guys, you know, so things gonna happen, you know, I know when I took this job I had 21, but then when we got to our first game was had 14 guys.

So, you know, a couple guys quit, couple guys had season end injuries, you know, so.

But the unique thing about, I don't think I have anybody that's gonna quit though.

I think I got 10 returners who are like, okay, we got something to prove.

And I got eight new guys that's like, all right, we gonna get this place in the right direction.

So I think it could be some beautiful stuff.

You know, we can, we can, you know, mix it and get it, get it, get it meshed together.

So.

All right, final two, part question, part one, we'll be looking back.

So what are you most proud of, what you've accomplished so far?

And then number two, what's a goal that you have for the program over the next two or three years that you're pointing towards?

So what are you happy with that you've accomplished so far?

And then two, what do you hope to accomplish over the next two or three years?

The one thing that I'm, I am super excited and glad is, is the culture.

Where the culture is.

We, we, we're in a spot now where we got guys that want to get in the gym and get, get up shots and guys that want to get better.

You know, one thing about these high academic schools, they, they, you know, some people say this just, you know, people just want to go there just for the academics.

But I can honestly say that we have a culture now that we got guys who want the academics and we got people that want to be really good at basketball.

We have both now.

So I think that's something that I'm very proud of.

And, and what's the second part?

Did you, you second part is looking forward to over the next two or three years, what's a goal that you haven't got there yet but that you feel confident you're going to get to?

I think with the guys we have and the athletes that we have now, and it may not happen this year, it may not happen next year, but we're going to be top 10 in defensive field goal percentage, and we're going to be top 10 in the country in rebound margin.

That's kind of been ingrained within me.

That's how I'm wired.

Coach K at CNU's like that.

Coach Palumbo at Guilford's like that.

We're going to get there.

We're going.

We're going to get there, and that's something that we're going to.

I will say this right now.

I know we will be a lot better defensively next year in year two.

He's not saying a whole lot, but, but, but year.

But year two will be a lot better defensively, which I'm excited about because I'm.

That's how I'm wired.

So we got guys who are bought in on that side of the ball and it's going to be fun.

A process of molding the team into the image that you want, right?

When you recruit a roster, it looks different than when you inherit a roster.

And so to be able to bring in guys that fit what you want to do.

And obviously, the longer they're around you in practice, in games, just as a personality, guys get to see what's important to you, and that starts to shape it in the direction that you want it to go.

So I will not be surprised if those goals are all met this year.

And clearly, I think you, you have RIT headed in the right direction.

Before we get out, Dom, I want to give you a chance.

Share how people can get in touch with you.

Find out more about your program, share social media, email, website, whatever you feel comfortable with.

And after you do that, I will jump back in and wrap things up.

Yes.

So I think it's called X now, which used to be Twitter.

So my, my name, my hashtag is Coach Don P. Same with Instagram.

Also too.

My email is D O P A t l@rit edu.

And one thing about it, I'm a student of the game.

I've actually, I got, you know, I got some stuff lined up with the coach from Trinity.

I'm trying to learn from him.

You know, they won a national title and he has one of the best defenses in the country every year, you know, a representative from Auburn, their offensive coordinator, I'm gonna talk to him as well.

So I'm a student of the game, so I'm always willing to learn and piggyback off others.

So like I said, I loved it.

I love basketball.

I love the process.

So just looking forward to connecting to, with whoever can always Learn.

Right before we did the interview with you, we had Ross Vanderlee on, who's a high school coach in Iowa.

And he just retired at the end of this past season and he was down in Chile working with the USA Basketball 3 on 3 FIBA team.

And he was just talking about, here's a guy who just retired and he was telling me about all the different things that he learned from coaching three on three and he's like, man, I wish I would have known this about the angle of the screen and just all these different things.

And here's a guy who's retiring and he's still learning the game of basketball.

And I told him, I said, I feel exactly the same way.

Like I, I look at everything that I've learned, Dom, over the last, whatever, seven years doing this podcast and then the amount of knowledge that's been poured into me by guys like yourself that are in the profession day in and day out that I've learned from.

I think if there's no other lesson that somebody takes from what you and I talked about tonight, man, just that willingness to continue to learn.

There's so many avenues for learning, whether it's the Internet, whether it's mentors, whether it's just picking up the phone and talking to somebody, whether it's clinics.

There's just a million ways for you to grow and learn.

Listen to podcasts.

And I think if we leave people with nothing else, you know, clearly look to learn.

If you're a young coach, keep learning.

You can never, the more, the more you know, the more you realize that you, you still have, that you still have to learn.

And then again, I wish you nothing but the best of success at rit.

I know you're going to get that thing turned around and this year I'll be excited to follow what you're doing and see where you're at with the, with the progress that you made toward the goals that you talked about.

And it's going to be exciting to watch your progress.

So kudos to you on a good first year, building towards an even better second year.

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

Thanks.

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