Transcription
Record holder for the most yards ever passing in a single game. Rohan Davyy Emit Smith joins us in studio. It's the first time I played in such a place that had that much noise.
"Jock, throw a rock and you'll hit a three-star quarterback in Louisiana."
All right, we're in the office of the legend head coach Kim Moy. Another great season for the LSU Tigers, but as coach Moy says, only one team will finish the season happy. Uh, coach, thanks for having us today.
I appreciate you using that introduction, uh, Jock, because sometimes I have to be shaken to realize it was a great season. Um, when you win championships, you sometimes get a distorted view of what your job is because everybody wants to be a champion. And to lose the way we did, um, it hurts. It hurts for a while, but I can tell you I've been in that situation before during a national championship game. And um you just try to re regroup the next year and time will help all of us.
Bob Starky told us something that some people may have a hard time believing. He says he's never lost sleep over a buzzer beater before because there were 97 offensive possessions you had. There were 97 defensive possessions and the game was won or lost way before that.
Absolutely. But see, people focus on the last part of the game, whether it's a referee's bad call, wrong call, a foul, you're focused in that moment on the ending, but it's really he's he's so wise. It's why I have him on staff because uh we've been around this game a long time. The game is won throughout the game. It's run it's it's won from foul line to foul line. It's it's one from how many turnovers, possessions, and um I'm not like him in the fact that he doesn't lose sleep. I do lose sleep. I I do. And uh I I think it'll always be that way as long as I'm coaching.
Yeah. What's it like watching that thing? Because it spun around like three times and it's like, is it going to spin out? Is it going to go in?
As I watched it, um it felt like it was in slow motion. Uh, I didn't realize she walked on the possession until somebody sent it to me. And I always say God works in mysterious ways because had I realized she walked, I probably would have gotten in big trouble and been fined by the NCAA. So, I didn't realize till I slowed it down or or I sat and I said, "Well, she really did change her pivot foot." Um, so it happened so quickly, but yet it seemed like an eternity.
I was standing in the tunnel, not really watching on TV. I was just watching with my own two two eyes. There were some fans that felt the possession or the shot before that that the ball might have gone off of Duke.
I did go back and look at that. The ball went out on Z. I slowmoed it. So, I did not think after I slowmo, it was a tough call. Uh but uh it just looked like um Z may have touched it last.
Yeah. Bob Starky says no rebounds, no rings, right? And I think you talked about even though the stat sheet was similar, Duke kind of out hustled you for some balls throughout the night.
We just couldn't grab the rebound. And you know, they shot one that hit the side of the backboard and fell in their lap. Things like that just seemed to go on the entire game. We couldn't get a break. We couldn't get that lead. We couldn't get that one loose ball rebound. And it happens sometimes. And uh not to take anything away from Duke. Uh but it was just like, "Okay, we're getting on this run right here. Let's just get this one rebound." And we would go up and we would be fighting for it. And we would just have all these deflections and then it would go and then they'd get it. Uh it just seemed like that over and over. But you got to rebound, you got to defend. And then when you reach a sweet 16, elite 8, final four level, you got to execute. And I'm talking about you got to be able to have assist. I think we had eight assists in that game. That's a lot of one-on-one basketball. That's not going to win you anything.
Yeah.
Um and you learn from it. You get in the film room and and those returning players have to see that. Uh because you got teams that when they reach that level, they're all good and they're all talented. He also said that you talked about the fact that you weren't the same team that you were in Baton Rouge. Now, obviously, you didn't have 10 11,000 fans behind you and Duke is a better team than the two teams you played here, but still you didn't look like that team that was hitting on all cylinders in Baton Rouge.
Certainly, the opponent has a lot to do with that, right?
But the thing he's talking about, we discussed it at length. We didn't seem um excited. We didn't seem energized. We seemed lethargic. And you you just and we had great practice. We went to a college there and practice and I had to just shut it down. It was so good. And it just seemed like we were just moving in mud. And so what do I think? I sit here and go, did we go out there too early? Did we stay in the hotel too many hours? Did we let them sleep in too much? you analyze and you start with yourself as a head coach. Um but that's what he's talking about. Um it was um it was kind of just everybody was just moving slow and so for a minute there I thought well, you you're dealing with a lot of them that have never been that far in the playoffs. You're dealing with freshman that are playing significant minutes in that setting. Um, so there's so many things that I go back and look and and think, wow, if I had to do it over again, what would I change? And I don't really have the right answer.
Yeah. He called it an autopsy. Uh, when the season ends and you break it down and looking at everything, you know what?
You do. You do. And and it's so different now, Jo. when the season ends, you got to hurry up and have your individual meetings. Uh because transfer portals around the corner and you don't know this day and age who's coming back, uh who's leaving years ago, you took your time and you let everybody get over that season ending loss and take your time through the end of the school year to have your individual meetings. Well, everything is just so rushed now.
Mhm. Well, someone was asking me about next year's team and I said, "Well, I'm assuming Michaela Williams will be back. Malaysia Full Wy will be back. Jada Reard will be back. Uh the freshman uh like Bella Grace um Z Zakaya love Zakaya." Uh and then they said, "Why do you mean why did you say assume?" I said, "Well, I you can't assume anything now. I mean, you would think these people are going to be back. You hope, but are you confident they will be back?"
Well, I've had my individual meetings and yes, they're all coming back except for divine. And um you just you cannot understand the value of having all of them come back. That's how you build it. That's how you get over that hump of an elite 8. When you look at those that are coming back, freshman, freshman, sophomore, you know, junior, sophomore, you know, and look how much they did this year. And so, man, if they come back, they stay together, they play together, um, you're that's how you build it. That's that's the way it's supposed to be done. And so, uh, as we sit here today, I am blessed that all of those great players are coming back. And so, what we do now is, uh, we continue to recruit high school players.
Um, I'm not one that believes you got to fill your roster with everybody from the portal. You get high school players and you get some out of the portal and we will definitely look in the portal.
You talked about some players that hadn't been there before. I guess thank God for Malaysia for WY or the ship could have sailed really early the other night. She played outstanding in the game has all that experience winning a national title, going to a final four and so forth. So you bring her back, that's a huge piece. And then Michaela will be a senior. So it it appears that guards are leading the way at least right now for you. you you can't ever have enough size. If you look at the history of um my coaching career in the championships, the four championships, you got to have I don't want to say you got to have just the the dominant post player, but you got to have post presence. And um Z is undersized post player this year, but she really wants to be on the perimeter. So, if we move her back to the perimeter, which we plan to do, and Mama is gone, uh, you basically have Kate and you have Grace. So, you got to have another post or two in there with them. And, um, you know, we could put Michaela in there, you know, at the for some, but that that she's undersized, but does a tremendous job in there. But, um, you've got the core nucleus coming back. Now, let's just add some pieces to it.
Bob told a very powerful story about Kate said her dad visited and you might have asked did you enjoy visiting with your dad and she said yes coach means he's not going to be killed today.
That's exactly what she said. She's from the Ukraine all that's going on. So all this March Madness pressure stuff I mean that's nothing uh compared to what she's dealing with in her life. Sometimes in life you don't know and especially somebody with Kate's personality very mature very um you know not high strong and had her dad not visited and she made that remark I may never have thought those were thoughts in her mind. Uh we don't realize how good we have it in this country and I say that all the time. We have warts. We're not perfect, but um we don't have to wake up and think about that unless we have somebody in the military and we're over helping other countries. That is her country and um she was she was very excited to see her dad.
Yeah. I joke I got a buddy of mine who lives in New Iberia. His son went to Nicholls in Tibido and said he got homesick. You know, can you imagine being a young person coming all the way across the ocean here? You're, you know, you're far away from home. Um, I just really like Kate, uh, getting a chance to talk to her in the locker room and so forth. Now, coach said, "Look, she needs to work on her hands, got to catch the ball better, needs to rebound better, but she's so big and strong defensively. She's she's a real asset to you."
She absolutely is. I had a meeting with her this morning and I told her, "You are deceptively good at getting deflections. You're not slow. You're not heavy foot. You really grew on me this year with um your defense. She's smart. She understands her limitations when she's guarding a quicker player. U but she gets a lot more deflections than you think that she would." Um, Kate is just going to get better and better. And as I told her about hang on to the ball, we're going to keep throwing it in there. And I've seen you hang on to the ball and I've seen you make those layups that you miss sometimes. And you know, I'm sure it gets in her head when um she misses it. Everybody wants to do good, but I said, "This game moves fast. You got to let it go." Uh but she has a brother here that she rooms with that's uh getting his doctorate. So her siblings are doing exactly what she's doing, coming to our country to get an education.
It's a mood point, but I talked to Kramer and before the Duke game, he said, "Man, if we can beat Duke, I really like our matchup against UCL UCLA a lot better than we did last year." because it would have been interesting to see Kate try to go up against Lauren Betts and Grace there as well and how that would have gone. But like I said, mood point.
Yeah. Well, you had you had Kate who had experience a little bit in college at Notre Dame with the minutes that she played and then you had Mama who was a great player at East Carolina. So, you had some big bodies that u were strong that maybe would have allowed us to um compete a little bit better. Uh, but you know, I I never look ahead. I knew what we faced with Duke. I knew they were much better. Um, I knew we were better.
Yeah. Yeah. I I love the professionalism, too, when you shook Carol Lawson's hand because here's this dramatic moment that everyone's going crazy and the two of you both stonefaced. You You have a handshake. You share some thoughts and and you move on. And Starky talked about having to coach against Karen. He's like, "Dang it. every time I went up against her, I knew she was going to make some play.
Yes. Down the stretch at Tennessee. But, uh, that's just quick thought. I I enjoyed the professionalism between you two.
Well, Jock, I've been doing this a long time and that's not the worst loss I've ever had in my career coaching. um lost a national championship at Louisiana Tech and uh with 7/10en of a second left, less than a second and we were up two and North Carolina had the ball on the baseline and they threw a crosscourt pass and uh Charlotte Smith threw it up and it went in. It was a three. I was five months pregnant at the time and I just thought there's nothing worse than losing a national championship like that knowing that um it was right there. And um so I'd been in that situation before and um you let them celebrate as they should. Um you congratulate them and I think we talked a little bit. She said some wonderful things to me. And um then you go in and you take care of your team and nothing you tell your team in that moment is going to fix it. Um but you just thank them and you hug them individually and um kind of get out of there. you just kind of get out of there and go do what's required at press conferences and uh each of them has to come to grips with it on their own terms. Um I can tell you this, I didn't probably act as professional when I first got into coaching in losses like that. And so I always feel like that if you learn from losses, you become a better coach and a better player. And um if that had been when I was first head coach somewhere, I probably would have lost it. But you just kind of mature like a fine wine with age. And so um yeah, I just congratulated Cara and her staff.
Well, and you didn't lose it either in the postgame press conference when you got asked if you were retiring or not by a national reporter. Um just removed me from the equation. It just really upsets me that the people that cover you on a day-to-day basis and travel 2100 miles away to cover you and so forth get pulled into something by somebody who I guess is a little bit like the Wizard of Oz, a real person behind a curtain with uh fake people that they've created and kick up a huge mess for a lot of other people obviously including yourself to deal with.
Isn't that sick? It's a sick sick um scenario because not only is that person on that fake account putting out that information, I don't have social media, but you've seen it as have a lot of reporters, as have my own children, as have my coaches, some of the sick stuff that's being put out there. And I always say in the locker room, God don't like ugly. and that person will get caught and that person will be embarrassed and um how can you say you're an LSU fan when you put stuff like that out?
It was almost an attack on some of the things that were shared with me. It was almost an attack on women's sports at LSU and some of the stuff that was uh posted. But I don't have social media for those reasons, Jock. But as I told all of you media at the press conference, half of the media in there, their their social media influences, they're guilty of writing articles from other articles and not interviewing people. They take shortcuts.
You, Kobble, and several journalists, Chessa, we'll give Chessa her flowers.
Yes, she wasn't there, though. So, not her fault, though. But, but I know Chessa would be there. I've known Chessa since she was a little girl at my camps.
Yeah. Um, y'all do it the right way and I know it gets harder and harder for y'all because you don't want to be guilty by association. You don't want to be drugged into that. All media are like that.
Yeah. Uh, but
Well, the tough thing, coach, real quick, once again, remove myself from the equation, is if those any of those people that you mentioned would have said Kim Moy's retiring, it would be on their tombstone. People would remember it 20 years from now. And this account continues to post and brag on themselves like, "We post great information. Get it here." They also said Matt McMahon was coming back, which is not true. So, those are two big stories you can't whiff on.
Well, it's trash, but people gravitate to it sometimes if it's headlines. Like even journalists, journalists that write articles, they don't do their own headlines, right? And so the people who do the headlines, they always do something to grab someone's attention for clickbait. And that's not right either because then if you read the article, the article has nothing to do with the headline.
Yeah. And um but I I I do um I do hope that sometime in your professional life, people will be held accountable because I know it bothers y'all. Uh but think about us. You have to have thick skin. You have to have tough skin and um just just pray that whoever keeps doing this gets caught.
Well, don't want to overshare, but I have heard that they may be closing in on this person. So, we'll see.
Yes, I have heard it, too.
We'll see. And I laughed one time. I saw one post. It said that you got in a shouting match with Whoopi Goldberg on the View.
I don't even watch The View. I do know who Whoopi Goldberg is because she's in movies, you know. And uh remember the movie with she was a nun hiding out sister act.
Yes. I Yeah, I love her as an actress, but no. Um one post was my son had his leg cut off. Now that did bother me because my mother believed it. my mother, you know, is on Facebook and and it it hurts me that the elderly I get I've gotten a letter before uh thanking me for the millions of dollars that I've given to the lunch programs in Baton Rouge and I'm and I don't have the heart to tell that lady that's not true. So someday when I saw not someday, one day when I saw her, she came up to me and I said, "I didn't have the heart to write you back and tell you." it but because they get embarrassed believing that stuff.
Uh but it's it's sad, Jock. It's sad and it's sick.
We could spend an hour on that. I won't go back to that. Well, two years ago you had the UCLA article that was a bad thing and that you power that was different that was a journalist and um I spoke up about that. I'm not ever going to speak up about social media because I don't have it unless someone shares it with me. But that was a reputable newspaper and columnist or you know and I'm thinking you cannot just attack my kids like that and expect me to ignore it. And um that that was awful. And I think he retracted it. Um you know it's apparently the alliteration dirty debutons just sounded good and he didn't know what it meant, right?
What it meant. Yeah.
Yeah. All right. Well, uh, let me see if I can steer back to basketball. Grace Knox met her family and, uh, her dad was a football player who leads UNLV in sacks. He played for played with, uh, Randall Cunningham and Icky Woods. And he said he trained her like a football player. And people said, "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense."
She's she's such a tremendous athlete. Just look at her body. Um, Grace is um just runs like a deer. when we're out on the track preeason and she runs a 400. I'm thinking, "Oh, don't let coach Schaefer see her cuz she just looks so good." Um, and she had a good freshman year. It's It's not many freshman get to play as many minutes as our freshman did. And, uh, I just I think she's just going to continue to get better and better. Has a great mid-range shot. Um, rebounds for her size. She's about 6'2, but she rebounds in there with the bigs. Um, so now she's gotten her feet wet, and I expect her to just continue to do great.
Yeah. Bob says she's got great touch and he wants to stretch that out. See, they can sure, you know, get her see how deep she can shoot. Uh, Zakaya is just wonderful. Uh, just great personality. Um, she's got that Johnson last name and Fl's told her, "Hey, you need to carry that on." I don't know if anyone's going to be Flag ever again. But I could see her and if she stays here four years being one of the more popular players you've ever had.
Well, first of all, what a unselfish young lady. When we started preseason and we recruited her, she was on the perimeter. And then as I watched her, I thought I got to get her on the floor, but you got Flier, you got Michaela, you had all these returning. And I thought, I've got to get her minutes somewhere and she can help us. And so I just didn't really ask her. I just told her. I said, "Look, I'm going to have to play you inside because I think you can help us this year." And and she's like, "Okay, coach." She just wants to play. Uh so, you know, she she did a lot of well, she was allse freshman. Uh did a lot of great things for an undersized post player and um she um she wants to be on the perimeter, but she understands she wants to win and be a great teammate. And what a joy to coach. And yes, she could end up being one of the the the more popular players. Uh first of all, she's beautiful. Uh and she's just just pleasant. She's one of those that um you're attracted to her because she's kind of open arms to go up and and talk to.
Yeah. Did you have a favorite hair color? She did. She was blonde.
I would call I I had a player at Baylor who loved to do the different hair colors, so I would just call them different things based upon hair. like when she'd have her blonde hair, I would call her, "You Beyonce today and then she'd do another color and sometimes I would call her somebody and she would go, I don't know who that is." So, you know, especially if it's in the country music genre, you know, she wouldn't know. But, uh, she's she's just a wonderful kid. And, you know, she is, um, related, and I don't ask me details, to Trent Johnson that coached here, stepgrandfather, I believe.
Yeah. Something along the lines. But she's always talking about Trent and uh yeah, so got some some Louisiana ties there, some LSU ties.
And then Bella, I talked to her dad Josh and he said, "This generation needs a kick in the pants every now and then. I like my kid being coached hard." When you hear that, you must be saying, "Hallelujah." Right.
Well, Josh, you know, he's that family's just precious. they get it, you know, and and Bella is her trajectory on what she did this year is the way it usually is. She's behind Michaela. She's behind Fl. You got Full Wall-E. You know, she gets it. But it never stopped her from working hard. She valued every minute she got and it just kept getting better and better and better. And look what she how she finished the year. And uh you can coach Bella hard. you can challenge Bella um and she not melt on you or pout on you and you said it best. It's because of the way Josh raised her and um I can't wait to see just how much better she gets every time she steps on the floor.
Yeah. Well, her I guess most memorable moment for a lot of people was the South Carolina game when she said, "Coach, I'll guard her when she put her hand up."
Yes. And I hate that that went viral. uh people showed me, but it was a positive thing toward Tess. Nobody we nobody could guard her in that moment. She was unconscious. And so in timeouts, you don't have a script that you follow. You speak from your heart and from your gut. And I just said, who can guard her? You know, who can guard Tess? And she raised her hand. She got in the game, scored six points on the offensive end and bowed up to Tess Moore. got a couple fouls called, but she she wanted she wanted a part of it. And uh that's what you want. That's what you want. Those kind of kids.
When you see a player take a charge inside, you say, "Yes." Is that like one of your most
She she has made our team better defensively through the year because she'll take charges. And so it became who's going to get the most charges tonight. You saw Kate taking charges. You saw Grace taking charges. you saw people um just go, you know, I'm not going to let Bella be the only one. And it became a big big thing in our locker room, in our film room. Uh and um we give out awards after every game. We have helmets and we have stickers just like they do in football. And uh it it became a big deal in our locker room, Jock, uh to give out those awards, particularly when there were there were charges taken. And even if it was the wrong call in a game, we thought it was a charge, we rewarded them.
Back in high school, I never played us at the bench. We had something called a charge card. And if you took three charges in a game, you didn't have to run at practice the next practice.
Maybe I need to use that. Maybe I need to use that. Uh yeah, if you get three, I can do a little bit to, you know, soften the blow for you in practice.
Charge card. You watch everyone run suicides. You take the day off. So that's that's the way they used to do that. Um, and so Michaela, she's been one of the best players in the country. What is her next step going from her junior to her senior year?
I thought she she made great progress in being a leader. Um, made great progress in all parts of her game. When Michaela got here, everybody knew Michaela was one of the best mid-range jump shooters. Everybody knew she could hit the three ball, but Michaela has worked really hard on I need to get better defensively. I need to be a presence on the defensive end. Uh part of her leadership not only is off the floor, but on the floor. Michaela can just pass the heck out of the ball. Sometimes she passes it too much. Uh so it was understanding the game. When do I need to pass? When do I need to shoot? when do I need to reverse the ball? When do I make a play on this this end? I think it was I don't know two or three months into the season and it may have been at a press conference and I said she's elevated her overall game to where she's doing things in all facets of the game. And that doesn't mean she didn't go through LOLS and I think I even used the the term LeBron James for our team.
Jade will be back as well. you made a lot of improvement from last year to this year. A few more things with you. So, when you look at the portal now, Bob says you'd like to add one possibly two post players and then maybe some backup point guard depth behind Jada and whoever.
Well, I don't use backup at any point when you're going in the portal because a lot of kids are getting in the portal because they want to play more. Um, Full Wall-ally as an example, even though she didn't start, she ain't a backup in my eyes. You're coming to make us better. So, when you go in the portal, you're going for what you need. Depth may be a good term to use. Uh, but those people that you're going to invest in, if you have the ability to get them, you need to tell them, "We're not coming to get you to sit. We're coming to get you to add to what we have. And uh size matters. I told you earlier, I've always had the big on all my championship teams. I've always had the big and so we've got to continue to get big.
Yeah. When you attack the portal now, I mean, your job is to coach them when they come in, but how do you feel in terms of what do you have to invest in NIL and to, let's just say it, pay players?
Well, you better evaluate really good. Uh, in football, you got GMs now on college. That's their job. Is this young man worth what they're asking for? And when you can show them, you got to get better in these areas. How can we pay you what you're worth? If I've got film and I'm looking at this, I can't pay you on potential. I have to pay you on what you're worth right now. Some schools can pay you ungodly numbers, but those schools may not be vying for national championships. So those young people that get in the portal have to ask themselves, what am I getting in the portal for? Is it money? Is it playing for another team that gives me a legitimate chance to get drafted? that gives me a legitimate chance to play deep into the NCAA tournament and possibly a final four. All those things come into play when you talk to young people in the portal. Um, I say this many times, LSU is not for everybody, but LSU can be for those players who aspire to play at the highest level, play in a great conference, have a brand. Oh, the brand here is off the charts. Um, but don't be ridiculous with what you think you should get in the portal. um you may have to take less to go to a a program that's can fulfill your basketball talents.
Yeah. Yeah. So those are the kind of conversations you have.
There was something called the saving discount at the end of his career. I wonder if there's is there the the Moy discount? Hey, you're being coached by Moy. I'll take less money to come here than maybe some other
I have no idea. That would be a question probably for the uh recruiters and on my staff that can can talk those terms. I I don't I can't sit and just talk to them about, hey, look at me. Look what I've done. Wow. Well, I don't I couldn't even tell you half the things I've done, but what I can tell you is I love to coach. I love to be intense. I love to see young people take their game to a level that they didn't even know they had inside of them. and then to experience things that they've never experienced.
We had players, jock, on our team, they never been to a sweet 16. Heck, they never even won a first or second round game.
Yeah. Somebody I think about a lot and she's now going to be coaching with Gary Reed is like Leia Williams, for example.
Absolutely. You don't win a national title without Leia Williams.
Absolutely. He was quiet and didn't talk a whole lot. So maybe we don't or some people don't remember her as much as Angel Reese, Alexis Morris, and some of these others. But man, if she didn't you the Utah game, if she's not there, we don't win it. And and thinking back on talking about the last second shot this year, you'll remember, I say this all the time, the teams who win national championships have three or four things that just go according to plan. You got to stay away from injury. Your team has to all be playing their best basketball and then you got to have a little luck on the way.
Yeah. Go back to the Utah game and the young lady missed the free throws.
She's she's their best free throw shooter.
That was luck. Whether you want to say the the last second shot with Duke was luck. I tend to think they are. You know, those last second shots are not ones you make consistently. That was luck for them to win that.
Mhm. We've had luck on our side. The national championship run we made. We were all playing good. But if we don't have luck somewhere along that way, you may not have ever won it.
I don't know if it's luck or the unexpected. I don't know if Jasmine Carson made seven threes alto together in the previous five games and she comes out and makes seven for seven.
Well, she was known as a three-point shooter.
Yeah. So, making them was not a shock, but it goes back to one of those reasons you win. Everybody's playing the best basketball they've ever played at this time in their life and she was stroking it.
Yeah. And so I wasn't surprised. Um because that's what she was known for and that's why we got her out of the portal. Now, uh the unexpected would be like if one that we knew never shot the three ball all year and made seven. Now that would be the unexpected.
Yeah. Appreciate you telling a few more things. Uh you added a new assistant coach from Tennessee, Gabe Lazo.
Yes. Gabe is uh um he's a recruiter and uh he has always been on my radar because when I was at Baylor uh he trained a young lady that I signed out of Miami, but I've watched where he's been and everywhere he has been, he gets some players and so um he was one immediately that I just thought of. And he's always kept in touch with uh Jennifer Roberts on my staff that hey, would you always just tell her I'd love to come work for her someday? I I I want to learn the game. I want to be a head coach some someday. And um uh he's he's just been one that's followed my career and always kind of pushed his name toward me and um went went other directions when I had openings in the past and the time was right to do it. And just quick flowers for Kayn Rice, who has maybe some people didn't realize she's always been the head of your recruiting.
Absolutely. Well, Kayn, you know, it's kind of like I I I went to football practice today and I looked at all the staff out there and all their job responsibilities and Kayn is the organized one where she sits with those of us who go on the road recruiting and tells us, "Here's where we need to go. Here's who we need to see." Recruiting is networking. Recruiting is relationships and we all have different relationships with different AAU coaches, with different agents, with different high school coaches. And we have to all come together and and represent LSU and you got to have energy and you got to work. And Kayn does just as much in recruiting as anybody. She may not be as loud. She may not be big and visible. She may not be that vibe person in the locker room, but if you ask her something, she's gonna be like that person that knows it all in recruiting.
Yeah. And sweet Emily Ward. So Bob was like, when this job came open and y'all talked about giving it to her, Bob was like, "Oh, no. Let's not do that to Emily. You know, we don't want to chew her up and spit her out when the when we miss a bus or a plane or whatever." But he said she did great with it.
I never thought that way about Emily because her mother's a coach. her mother has played college basketball. And so I knew that, you know, Emily had seen me as her coach. I inherited Emily. She had seen me at uh great moments and she'd seen me when I had to, you know, get on a team. And so it never phased her. Um, so I knew that she would be new to how we do things as a staff, but she also had great guidance because she could pick up the phone and call Johnny Derek. She could pick up the phone and call Jordan Westbrook, who'd been with me all those years. And so she did. And uh, just like anybody, you have to give them a chance. You have to uh, give them the resources and tell them, "Hey, let's get it done."
Well, I appreciate your time. I don't know if there's anything else that you needed to share. You were at football practice today. I saw you stand with Jack Hunt, the 2003 national champion from Rustin, which you're very familiar with.
Let me say this about his mother and father. Uh, Trot and Karen, absolutely the most wonderful people you will ever want to meet. Um, in fact, uh, Trot and I, um, last saw each other when we helped get a statue for Leon Bar in front of the Thomas Assembly Center because Coach Barmore coached Trot in high school. And so, um, I love that family. Uh, they're everything that's good about Rustin, Louisiana, and the state of Louisiana. And it was good to see him out there today.
Awesome. I know the one thing I didn't talk to you about, but it's a long topic. The NCAA, you've traveled 1500 miles to Albany, New York. You've gone over 2,000 miles to Spokane, Washington. You've gone over 2,000 miles to Sacramento, California.
Three years in a row.
Three years in a row. It would be nice to go to Birmingham, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, Memphis, somewhere a little closer.
Jock, I appreciate you bringing it up. I think if you listen to the final four coaches or might have been in the elite 8, Gino Arama brought it up and I couldn't agree with him any more than what he said. I don't find that the two regions are good for the game. I don't find that the the attendance is any better. I think the four regional sites allows for the home teams to at least be able to afford to go see their teams in an area. Um I I'm totally opposed to the two regional sites. Um it's wear and tear on your body. Um and it's also it's not fair to the people who do pay to see women's basketball. Uh but they don't ever ask us. And I just recently saw where we're going to be doing this for another five years. Well, who gets to make that decision? If you pled coaches, I find it hard to believe that anybody just wants two sights. And then you go back and they say, "Well, people don't like the first and second round games on the home courts." My answer to that, to those coaches who are opposed to that, then make your program better. And when your program gets better, you will get to host one of those first and second round games.
Yeah. And um but the this it's I mean, think about where we've been.
The 6 a.m. shootarounds like he talked about.
Well, it it's not just the travel. It you are sharing the court with eight teams because you're going to have eight teams at those two regional sites.
Yeah. you might get 30 minutes, 35 minutes, you know, the day of the game.
Yeah. that's you need it. That doesn't make sense. It's not good for the game. And it's um you're sharing hotels really with another team. Some are two teams to a hotel.
Yeah. But again, who makes these decisions? I just recently saw we're going to be like this for another five years. Um, I'm I'm totally opposed and I agree with everything Gino said.
Yeah. Well, it's weird. You're having press conferences, then we got let let the fans in and uh usually it's game off day, game off day. You're not combining these things.
Why is it you think I have put my thinking cap on? I don't know this to be the reason, but is TV making it that way that they don't ESPN doesn't want to hire four crews to be at four different places? It is cheaper this way. You could just do two crews. I don't know. I have kind of racked my brain to go why are we continuing to do this?
I don't know.
Yeah. Balls over inflated too. You find
Well, it's it they're new.
Yeah. New balls, courts, everything's new. The nets are new. Um and you know, if you if you have a couple days practice, they're you can get used to it, you know, but you're so rushed. 30 minutes and then maybe an hour and 20 minutes on another day. You know, it it wasn't like that when you had four regional sites.
Got you. Coach, thanks so much.
Jock. Always welcome.
Great seeing you. And uh another great season for LSU women's basketball. Thanks for stopping by, Jock Talk. We'll see you later.