-Wanted to get into coaching because of his father

-Sat on the bench in 4th grade and had to wear sweater and khaki’s

-Others he looked up to are Coach Steve Goers and Ryan Rebsom

-Transferring from Ashford to Rockford

-Becoming player, GA, Assistant, Interim and Head Coach

-Original plan was to become high school math teacher and high school basketball coach

-Had advantages in recruiting selling his playing experience and living the Rockford mission

-Easy to stay at one place if everyones goals and vision lines up

-Monday morning meeting at McDonald’s midway through 2014-15 season when he finds out he will be running the show

-Whirlwind 48 hours in learning he was going to become the interim head coach

-Was excited, nervous, made some tweaks on the floor and in the locker room

-“It’s never what you expect it to be, in an opportunity like that”

-Owes a lot to players for buying-in

-Had a ton of players coming back after the interim season (only one senior on that previous roster)

-First week in March got to interview and go through process to “officially” become the head coach

-“When teams are full of upperclassmen, that is when teams are successful. Usually lends themselves to being conference champions.”

-2015-16 was first winning season at Rockford since 2009-10

-Owes a lot to his staff with Taylor Stinson, Jordan Townsend, Charles Ruffing, Michael Murray and Nick Ramos

-Liked hiring people who knew Rockford because they knew expectations and campus

-Had positive disagreements in the office and went on the floor as a staff with shared vision

-Proud of the guys under him who went on to other jobs

-Surprised himself with decision to resign in summer of 2019

-Decision was based on family and being with his two daughters/wife

-“You are going to spend a lot of time away from your family.”

-Explains the difference between running his own college program to now being an assistant at the high school level

-Biggest difference is not having to make the decisions

-Lockport HS program “Uncommon”

-Brings in speakers in different areas to talk to the players

-Thinks there is a lot of benefits to high school players playing with the shot clock

-Misses recruiting the most about not coaching college basketball because it is all about relationships

-Energy on-campus

-Would schedule a little differently if he got a head coaching job at the college level again

-Been doing a lot of Zooms and clinics during the pandemic

-Loves TWITTER!

-Likes Kyle Brown’s tweets every single day! InTheGaps.com

-CoachingU, Kevin Eastman and following other coaches on Twitter

-Coaches are more accessible during the pandemic

-E-mails coaches as well (better to ask than not)

-Has three interests in life (family, friends and basketball)

-48 hours after resigning, reached out to former players and coaches on staff about what they liked from him and what he didn’t like

-Asked about suggestions for him moving forward

-Thought it was the best way for him to grow and learn

-“Got to ask tough questions if you want to get better.”