Chi State Pod

Episode 36 of the Chi State Pod features Chicago State men’s basketball player Brandon Betson

Betson led the Cougars with 22 points in CSU’s season-opening win over St. Thomas and joins after beginning his college career at San Bernardino Valley College and Daytona State College

On the Chi State Pod, Betson dives into…

Chi State Pod is hosted and produced by Sam Brief. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Episode 35 of the Chi State Pod features Chicago State women’s basketball newcomers Quentarra Mitchell and Nafatoumata Haidara.

Mitchell, a captain from Nashville, joins Chicago State after a run at Walters State Community College. Haidara was born in Bamako, Mali and comes to CSU from Hutchinson Community College.

On the Chi State Pod, the duo dives into…

Chi State Pod is hosted and produced by Sam Brief. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Episode 34 of the Chi State Pod features Chicago State men’s basketball player Noah Bigirumwami. 

Bigirumwami considers Southern California home but has lived in multiple countries and carries his family’s Rwandan heritage near and dear to his heart. Back for his third season at Chicago State, the 6-foot-10 forward dissects his history and looks forward to his immediate (and far out) basketball future. 

On the Chi State Pod, Bigirumwami dives into… 

Chi State Pod is hosted and produced by Sam Brief. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Episode 33 of the Chi State Pod features Chicago State women’s basketball assistant coaches Tiffany Conner, Diana Martinez and Nan Moore.

Moore enters her second season with CSU, while Martinez and Conner are entering their first seasons under head coach Tiffany Sardin.

On the Chi State Pod, the trio dives into…

Chi State Pod is hosted and produced by Sam Brief. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Episode 32 of the Chi State Pod features former Chicago State women’s soccer stars Bailey Holifield and Mariela Villalva.

Holifield and Villalva (formerly Alba) each played on Chicago State from 2016-19 and are best friends still — Holifield is even the godmother of Villalva’s child.

While at Chicago State, Villalva earned two Academic All-WAC honors while serving as one of CSU’s top offensive players. Holifield, also a two-time All-WAC Academic honoree, was one of the Cougars’ stoutest defenders.

On the Chi State Pod, the pair discusses…

Chi State Pod is hosted and produced by Sam Brief. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Episode 31 of the Chi State Pod features Chicago State women’s soccer student-athlete Charne Van Der Walt.

A native of Auckland, New Zealand, Van Der Walt moved to America in 2018 to attend Louisiana Tech University for one year before coming to Chicago State, where she’s now a senior.

On the Chi State Pod, Van Der Walt dives into…

Chi State Pod is hosted and produced by Sam Brief. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Episode 30 of the Chi State Pod features Nakeyta Clair, graduate assistant coach for the Chicago State volleyball team.

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Even as her eyes scanned the life-changing words on the letter, Nakeyta Clair didn’t quite trust them.

“It was unbelievable for me,” Clair said. “I was shocked. It’s hard for me to believe things until they’re done.

“I was like, ‘I know people are looking at me, but I haven’t been offered any scholarships yet.’”

At the time, Clair was a volleyball phenom at Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois and garnering interest from Division I colleges nationwide.

After a few major offers had rolled in, it was Christmastime, and Santa came calling.

“Ole Miss asked me to be their Christmas present,” Clair said.

The star middle blocker acted decisively and moved to Oxford to join the SEC powerhouse Rebels, rapidly exploding onto the national scene.

As a freshman, she earned All-SEC Freshman honors — even though she felt she wasn’t even close to reaching her potential.

“I felt like I barely made it,” Clair said. “I still dealt with confidence. I was mentally struggling, but I made the SEC team. That’s what made me realize that I had to give myself more credit. I was still managing, and I didn’t know how.”

By her junior season, Clair was an All-American, just the second in Ole Miss history.

“I became Nakeyta Clair,” she said. “I said, ‘I must be kind of good.’ I became more confident.”

For someone who didn’t pick up volleyball until eighth grade, hurdling over confidence deficiencies had been a battle for years.

“Talent wasn’t what I struggled with,” Clair said. “It was me, believing in me. I dealt with that in high school. Sometimes, you don’t believe and are like, ‘How did I get here?’”

Once she believed, she scorched her SEC opponents. And when Clair left Oxford, Mississippi a year later, she had blazed new school career and single-season records for total blocks, block assists and block solos.

Clair then relocated her volleyball career to Halmstad, Sweden, about 45 minutes from the border with Denmark.

“The only way I could play volleyball again was overseas,” Clair said. “But I had to live there. … I knew it was an opportunity, and I never want to look back and be like, ‘I should have tried that.’ So I took the opportunity.”

But the move came with a major shift.

“Sweden doesn’t have a lot of diversity,” Clair said. “There is a lot of blondes and blue eyes — everywhere. That was kind of hard for me at first. I was like, ‘They have to know I’m here for a reason.’ So I would go places, and they would be like, ‘What sport do you play?'

“I never felt disrespected, but a lot of that has to do with being an athlete, because I would get that question a lot in the South, too. I didn’t experience a lot of discrimination, but I blame that on athletics. It’s another type of halo.”

Clair remained in Sweden for only one year before returning stateside to join her old Ole Miss program as an assistant coach. She then returned to her hometown to join Chicago State’s volleyball program as a graduate assistant manager while pursuing a Master of Science in Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Administration.

Episode 29 of the Chi State Pod features incoming Chicago State men’s basketball student-athlete Anthony Hamilton Jr.

Hamilton Jr. joins Chicago State from Clemson University, where he was a track & field star, earning second-team All-ACC honors in the high jump as a freshman and placing fourth at the ACC Indoor Championships. Previously, he was a two-sport athlete (basketball and track & field) at the University of La Verne (La Verne, California).

Hamilton Jr. is a social media star, known for his electrifying dunks and 52-inch vertical. He has been featured on ESPN, Overtime, Ballislife, Dunkademics, World Star, Slam and House of Highlights. Hamilton Jr. also works with Sports Illustrated as the company’s face and personality on social media.

On the pod, Hamilton Jr. dives into his winding path to Chicago State, details how he became a social media darling and explains his role at Sports Illustrated.

Chi State Pod is hosted and produced by Sam Brief. Music is courtesy of David Brief and Channel J. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Episode 28 of the Chi State Pod features Chicago State head men’s basketball coach Gerald Gillion. Hired on July 19, Gillion joins Chicago State from Samford University, where he served as an assistant coach. 

A South Florida native, Gillion also has spent time coaching at Team Breakdown, a top-10 ranked AAU team, the University of South Florida and Northeast High School. 

Now, Gillion comes to Chicago State, aiming to inject the program with a “hard hat, lunch pail” mentality. 

In his Chi State Pod debut, Gillion discusses:

Chi State Pod is hosted and produced by Sam Brief. Music is courtesy of David Brief and Channel J. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Episode 27 of the Chi State Pod features Chicago State sophomore women’s basketball point guard Ana Haklicka.

A native of Dubrovnik, Croatia, Haklicka guided the Cougars’ offense for much of the 2020-21 season as just a freshman debuting in America.

Before her sophomore season, Haklicka represented her country at the FIBA under-20 European Challengers, where Haklicka battled with her longtime Croatian teammates.

On the pod, Haklicka reflects on the grueling yet rewarding tournament, her mindset entering sophomore season and some key differences between Dubrovnik and Chicago.

Chi State Pod is hosted and produced by Sam Brief. Music is courtesy of David Brief and Channel J. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.