1 00:00:01,425 --> 00:00:04,905 Hey, welcome back to another episode of the Amy Egan podcast. 2 00:00:04,905 --> 00:00:08,965 My name is Gary Stocker and regularly coach Amy Egan, the head women's 3 00:00:08,965 --> 00:00:12,725 basketball coach at Lyndenwood University joins us to talk about basketball 4 00:00:12,725 --> 00:00:14,975 academics and much, much more. 5 00:00:14,975 --> 00:00:16,435 Coach Egan, welcome back. 6 00:00:16,435 --> 00:00:17,550 It's good to see you again. 7 00:00:17,550 --> 00:00:18,320 It's great to see you. 8 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:19,569 I feel like it's been a while. 9 00:00:19,569 --> 00:00:24,189 And you brought us a fascinating guest today, Coach Darrell Watkins is the coach 10 00:00:24,189 --> 00:00:26,449 at Junior College, Rock Valley Junior College. 11 00:00:26,449 --> 00:00:29,689 And you've got some questions for Coach Watkins and so do I. 12 00:00:29,689 --> 00:00:31,054 Amy, I'll let you lead off. 13 00:00:31,054 --> 00:00:32,294 Yeah, absolutely. 14 00:00:32,294 --> 00:00:35,474 First I want to introduce Darryl to everyone. 15 00:00:35,814 --> 00:00:40,874 And I would almost consider us family because I've known him for about 25 years 16 00:00:40,874 --> 00:00:47,214 here, going strong all the way back to our AU for life, as we would say days. 17 00:00:47,333 --> 00:00:53,254 AU stands for Ashford, and Ashford no longer exists as a school. 18 00:00:53,254 --> 00:00:55,994 So we go way, way back, and I've known him for years. 19 00:00:55,994 --> 00:01:00,590 And I definitely consider Darryl a really good friend of mine and an amazing coach. 20 00:01:00,590 --> 00:01:07,930 And I wanted to bring him on here today to talk a little bit about the junior college 21 00:01:07,930 --> 00:01:15,650 world and get some thoughts and some answers from him in regards to, you know, 22 00:01:15,650 --> 00:01:18,250 junior college and some benefits and so forth with it. 23 00:01:18,250 --> 00:01:23,810 So I think he's just a great, great example of all the success that you can 24 00:01:23,810 --> 00:01:25,410 have as a junior college coach. 25 00:01:25,410 --> 00:01:29,584 And so let me tell you a little bit about his background just so everybody knows. 26 00:01:29,614 --> 00:01:35,034 I know we'll have a lot of listeners from this area that probably do not know a lot 27 00:01:35,034 --> 00:01:37,474 about Rock Valley and obviously Darryl. 28 00:01:37,474 --> 00:01:44,094 So he's been the head coach at Rock Valley College for four seasons now. 29 00:01:44,094 --> 00:01:46,434 They are the Golden Eagles, is their mascot. 30 00:01:46,434 --> 00:01:55,514 He has posted an amazing 105 and 29 overall record, going 23 -1 in the North 31 00:01:55,514 --> 00:01:57,742 Central Community College Conference. 32 00:01:57,742 --> 00:02:03,282 So just had a ton of success at the junior college level. 33 00:02:03,282 --> 00:02:10,922 He in four years as a head coach, he has coached three NJCAA D3 All -Americans, two 34 00:02:10,922 --> 00:02:12,762 first teamers, one second teamer. 35 00:02:12,762 --> 00:02:18,222 He's coached two WBCA All -American players, both honorable mentions. 36 00:02:18,222 --> 00:02:23,694 And he's coached three NJCAA Top 40 Rising Sophomore All -Stars. 37 00:02:23,694 --> 00:02:29,114 In his team's postseason run, the Golden Eagles have captured three NJCAA region 38 00:02:29,114 --> 00:02:35,814 four championships, a NJCAA Great Lakes District Championship, a Midwest B 39 00:02:35,814 --> 00:02:40,954 District Championship, and three NJCAA national tournament appearances, two at 40 00:02:40,954 --> 00:02:43,774 the division three level and one at the division two level. 41 00:02:43,774 --> 00:02:48,154 At those national tournaments, the Golden Eagles have a third place finish in 2020 42 00:02:48,154 --> 00:02:50,894 and a lead eight appearance in 2024. 43 00:02:50,894 --> 00:02:57,234 So you talk about a guy that we're getting on here with a ton of success. 44 00:02:57,234 --> 00:03:00,794 That's a rising, no, I shouldn't say rising because he is a star in this 45 00:03:00,794 --> 00:03:03,824 business, but also a really good friend of mine. 46 00:03:03,824 --> 00:03:05,544 I'm really excited to have Darrell here. 47 00:03:05,544 --> 00:03:06,424 So welcome Darrell. 48 00:03:06,424 --> 00:03:11,054 I also want to point out just so everybody knows, Darrell also coaches a very 49 00:03:11,054 --> 00:03:15,822 successful AU program called the Midwest Wildcats. 50 00:03:15,822 --> 00:03:19,282 And I don't know you can kind of tell us how long you've been doing that Darryl, 51 00:03:19,282 --> 00:03:22,726 but I know you've had a lot of success in that area too. 52 00:03:22,853 --> 00:03:26,633 I've been coaching the Midwest Wildcats now for 12 years. 53 00:03:26,633 --> 00:03:31,633 So right after my first season as an assistant coach for my former boss, Misty 54 00:03:31,633 --> 00:03:37,033 Opat, who's out at Cochise Community College right now, Chuck Lynn reached out 55 00:03:37,033 --> 00:03:41,773 to me and he was looking for somebody to come coach his 15 -year group with the 56 00:03:41,773 --> 00:03:43,073 program at the time. 57 00:03:43,073 --> 00:03:47,753 And I have not looked back since and it's been an amazing experience. 58 00:03:47,753 --> 00:03:51,589 It's put me in some rooms with some people I've been able to meet coaches. 59 00:03:51,589 --> 00:03:55,189 from the kids that we've had within that program, not even with our junior college 60 00:03:55,189 --> 00:03:56,789 kids as well too. 61 00:03:56,789 --> 00:04:02,649 Just this past year, this past season, we had five kids on our Rock Valley team that 62 00:04:02,649 --> 00:04:07,568 were from that program that didn't get what they wanted out of high school. 63 00:04:07,568 --> 00:04:10,059 And they had successful careers here. 64 00:04:10,059 --> 00:04:12,569 So it's been fun and it's been full circle. 65 00:04:12,569 --> 00:04:17,669 I started off with the 15U group, with that group, quickly transitioned to 17U 66 00:04:17,669 --> 00:04:19,769 and now I'm back with the babies again this year. 67 00:04:19,769 --> 00:04:20,830 Hope it ends again. 68 00:04:20,830 --> 00:04:23,350 kind of fun to raise them a little bit, right? 69 00:04:23,350 --> 00:04:27,430 So, well, let's kind of dive into some of these questions and then some things we 70 00:04:27,430 --> 00:04:29,860 want to talk about and see kind of where it takes us. 71 00:04:29,860 --> 00:04:34,150 So I think, you know, Darryl, a lot of people at this level could learn a lot 72 00:04:34,150 --> 00:04:40,150 these days from junior college coaches in regards to how this transfer portal is 73 00:04:40,150 --> 00:04:44,462 working and a lot of rosters changing over year to year. 74 00:04:44,462 --> 00:04:44,718 And, 75 00:04:44,718 --> 00:04:48,238 You know, I've heard a lot of people even say, you know, if you can get junior 76 00:04:48,238 --> 00:04:53,398 college people on your staff, or if you can, you know, hire them as even head 77 00:04:53,398 --> 00:04:57,018 coaches at this level, they could be possibly very valuable because they're 78 00:04:57,018 --> 00:04:58,238 used to some of this. 79 00:04:58,238 --> 00:05:00,778 So can you give me some of your thoughts on this? 80 00:05:00,778 --> 00:05:04,698 Can you talk about how, you know, I think it would be important for like even 81 00:05:04,698 --> 00:05:08,958 coaches at our level as this is happening to understand like how you manage even 82 00:05:08,958 --> 00:05:13,134 culture with it, how you manage changing your roster over every. 83 00:05:13,134 --> 00:05:16,069 You know, every year, how many kids you have to bring in, those kind of things. 84 00:05:16,069 --> 00:05:17,409 Mm -hmm. 85 00:05:17,409 --> 00:05:20,389 Well, it's a real interesting time, you know, just to see it at the four -year 86 00:05:20,389 --> 00:05:21,009 level. 87 00:05:21,009 --> 00:05:25,789 You know, just the quick turnover, you know, and the quick constant transfer that 88 00:05:25,789 --> 00:05:26,969 everyone's going through right now. 89 00:05:26,969 --> 00:05:30,069 And it's kind of funny because it's been happening at our level. 90 00:05:30,069 --> 00:05:33,049 You know, this has been our life from day one. 91 00:05:33,049 --> 00:05:36,389 So from day one, when I first started coaching, I started off at the junior 92 00:05:36,389 --> 00:05:37,089 college level. 93 00:05:37,089 --> 00:05:38,969 That's been the life I've always known. 94 00:05:38,969 --> 00:05:42,249 You know, you get an eight -month window. 95 00:05:42,341 --> 00:05:46,041 So if you're lucky, you get that 10 month window if you really can maximize your 96 00:05:46,041 --> 00:05:47,621 time with them. 97 00:05:47,761 --> 00:05:51,961 And you come in and you try to really get them to mold to the culture. 98 00:05:51,961 --> 00:05:58,361 You try to develop their skills on the court, develop their academics so you can 99 00:05:58,361 --> 00:06:00,701 be able to get them in and get them out within that time. 100 00:06:00,701 --> 00:06:04,601 You get kids that want to come in and you get your one and done's or you get kids 101 00:06:04,601 --> 00:06:06,151 that do end up being there for two years. 102 00:06:06,151 --> 00:06:07,921 So you get lucky with those groups. 103 00:06:07,921 --> 00:06:11,561 But just being able to have that constant turnover and getting kids to really mold 104 00:06:11,561 --> 00:06:11,877 and. 105 00:06:11,877 --> 00:06:14,297 into that culture has been huge. 106 00:06:14,357 --> 00:06:18,377 And with us, the culture never changes. 107 00:06:18,377 --> 00:06:22,517 We stick to our guns. 108 00:06:22,517 --> 00:06:26,977 We have our non -negotiables, but we're definitely adapting with what times are 109 00:06:26,977 --> 00:06:29,697 coming right now as well. 110 00:06:29,737 --> 00:06:33,157 We want the best skilled kid athlete that we can get. 111 00:06:33,157 --> 00:06:38,457 We want the highest possible recruit that we can possibly get, but we're also not 112 00:06:38,457 --> 00:06:39,909 going to... 113 00:06:39,909 --> 00:06:44,089 sell our soul if you want to say for those kids to come in because we do have that 114 00:06:44,089 --> 00:06:47,409 short, short, short, short window that we get with them. 115 00:06:47,409 --> 00:06:52,445 And it only takes one bad apple to kind of derail a train that you got. 116 00:06:52,881 --> 00:06:56,940 So Coach Watkins, I don't think I said this as we got started this morning, but 117 00:06:56,940 --> 00:06:57,801 I'm faculty at Lindowood. 118 00:06:57,801 --> 00:07:01,561 So a lot of my questions focus on the academic part of what's going on. 119 00:07:01,561 --> 00:07:08,001 And as you bring in these 17, 18, and 19 year olds to Rock Valley, what is their 120 00:07:08,001 --> 00:07:10,001 focus on academics? 121 00:07:10,001 --> 00:07:12,941 Is it a strong focus at the community college level? 122 00:07:12,941 --> 00:07:16,929 Are most of them looking to get that college degree somewhere down the road? 123 00:07:17,317 --> 00:07:19,197 Yes, they are. 124 00:07:19,197 --> 00:07:23,837 And granted, you get some kids that come in and we all know it and I know Coach 125 00:07:23,837 --> 00:07:27,257 Egan probably knows it that you get some kids that are there just to play 126 00:07:27,257 --> 00:07:32,917 basketball and they make it known like, you know, I'm going to college so I can 127 00:07:32,917 --> 00:07:34,317 play basketball. 128 00:07:34,317 --> 00:07:39,437 But we also try to reel them back in and get them to understand the importance of 129 00:07:39,437 --> 00:07:42,797 getting that college degree, whether that's an associate's degree. 130 00:07:42,797 --> 00:07:46,577 And ultimately, you want them to get their bachelor's degree, you know, because 131 00:07:46,577 --> 00:07:46,949 that... 132 00:07:46,949 --> 00:07:52,489 that piece of paper holds weight and it allows them to be able to open doors and 133 00:07:52,489 --> 00:07:57,689 meet people and transition into an adult life that they can be very successful at. 134 00:07:57,689 --> 00:08:03,749 So it's a very, very high bar set for us and we want those student athletes to be 135 00:08:03,749 --> 00:08:08,099 able to get their degrees and the focus on education is huge because one, for us, 136 00:08:08,099 --> 00:08:11,609 we're trying to move those athletes on to whether it's the Division I level, the 137 00:08:11,609 --> 00:08:12,439 Division II level. 138 00:08:12,439 --> 00:08:15,529 So they really have to focus on their academics to have the highest possible 139 00:08:15,529 --> 00:08:16,609 GPA. 140 00:08:16,837 --> 00:08:18,537 to be able to get to there. 141 00:08:18,537 --> 00:08:22,417 So, you know, if you're not taking care of your business in the classroom, we tell 142 00:08:22,417 --> 00:08:24,517 them all day long, you know, we're wasting our time on the court. 143 00:08:24,517 --> 00:08:25,347 You can be the best player. 144 00:08:25,347 --> 00:08:27,417 And if you're not taking care of your business in the classroom, we're wasting 145 00:08:27,417 --> 00:08:28,157 our time. 146 00:08:28,622 --> 00:08:31,782 And that's probably one of the first questions you get from a college coach, 147 00:08:31,782 --> 00:08:32,312 isn't it? 148 00:08:32,312 --> 00:08:33,902 Like, where are their academics? 149 00:08:33,902 --> 00:08:35,282 Are they gonna graduate? 150 00:08:35,282 --> 00:08:37,612 I know at our level, that's really, really important. 151 00:08:37,612 --> 00:08:42,522 And it saves them years if they're graduating on at that next level type 152 00:08:42,522 --> 00:08:42,842 stuff. 153 00:08:42,842 --> 00:08:46,721 So it's probably something that you really gotta have a big hand in. 154 00:08:46,982 --> 00:08:48,198 Here's you go. 155 00:08:48,209 --> 00:08:51,989 if somebody's calling us, they already know the kid can somewhat play. 156 00:08:51,989 --> 00:08:56,889 So the first question is always, what's the transcript looking like? 157 00:08:57,069 --> 00:08:58,529 Are they gonna graduate? 158 00:08:58,529 --> 00:09:00,569 Is the GPA good there? 159 00:09:00,569 --> 00:09:01,719 Do they go to class? 160 00:09:01,719 --> 00:09:05,149 Those are some of the first few questions I get all the time. 161 00:09:05,149 --> 00:09:10,749 And it's kind of funny that those are some of the first ones lined up, but it comes 162 00:09:10,749 --> 00:09:11,719 with the nature of it. 163 00:09:11,719 --> 00:09:15,949 And I get it, these kids are here, they gotta take care of the business in the 164 00:09:15,949 --> 00:09:16,957 classroom in order. 165 00:09:18,990 --> 00:09:19,890 Absolutely. 166 00:09:19,890 --> 00:09:22,490 So you've been coaching for a lot of years now. 167 00:09:22,490 --> 00:09:22,710 Okay. 168 00:09:22,710 --> 00:09:25,630 And I know you were an assistant beforehand and got some great experience 169 00:09:25,630 --> 00:09:28,950 under a very, very well -known coach, Misty Opp. 170 00:09:29,370 --> 00:09:33,870 Can you tell us a little bit about some of the changes that you've seen with like 171 00:09:33,870 --> 00:09:37,430 your athletes at the junior college level, like even recruiting them, those kinds of 172 00:09:37,430 --> 00:09:37,770 things. 173 00:09:37,770 --> 00:09:43,410 And then I'm just curious, like has, it has NIL, is that impacting you? 174 00:09:43,410 --> 00:09:46,560 Is it not impacting you guys at the junior college level? 175 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:48,324 Like where some of that sits? 176 00:09:49,005 --> 00:09:53,165 I would say, there's been a little bit. 177 00:09:53,165 --> 00:09:54,105 It's not a little bit. 178 00:09:54,105 --> 00:09:57,585 It's been a major change, you know, what the junior college level with the, with 179 00:09:57,585 --> 00:10:02,855 the level of kid that is playing right now, at our level, with the portal, just, 180 00:10:02,855 --> 00:10:05,965 you know, kind of piggybacking back to that, you know, a lot of kids are getting 181 00:10:05,965 --> 00:10:07,765 overlooked at the high school level. 182 00:10:07,865 --> 00:10:12,005 and you know, coaches are taking portal kids first, or they're taking transfers 183 00:10:12,005 --> 00:10:13,945 from, from the junior college level first. 184 00:10:13,945 --> 00:10:15,525 And obviously you have your high level. 185 00:10:15,525 --> 00:10:17,585 high schoolers that are going to get picked up. 186 00:10:17,585 --> 00:10:21,865 But some of those kids that may have been mid -major or low -major kids or high 187 00:10:21,865 --> 00:10:25,665 -level Division II kids are now constantly getting overlooked. 188 00:10:25,725 --> 00:10:27,725 And they're somewhat betting on themselves. 189 00:10:27,725 --> 00:10:29,715 And they're coming in. 190 00:10:29,715 --> 00:10:30,625 They're like, you know what? 191 00:10:30,625 --> 00:10:32,655 I know I can play at a higher level than. 192 00:10:32,655 --> 00:10:34,785 And there's nothing wrong with Division III or NAIA. 193 00:10:34,785 --> 00:10:37,445 They're like, I know I can play at a higher level than that. 194 00:10:37,445 --> 00:10:39,765 And they're coming in and they're betting on themselves. 195 00:10:39,765 --> 00:10:41,375 And we had a group of them this year. 196 00:10:41,375 --> 00:10:43,535 And they're like, we know we're better than this. 197 00:10:43,535 --> 00:10:45,275 And they come in and they work hard. 198 00:10:45,275 --> 00:10:45,637 And 199 00:10:45,637 --> 00:10:49,557 They get the job done and they ended up going to Division I. 200 00:10:49,717 --> 00:10:56,837 And then to kind of talk about your NILs, it really hasn't impacted us majorly yet, 201 00:10:56,837 --> 00:10:59,077 but I feel like it's on the way. 202 00:10:59,077 --> 00:11:00,867 It's really on the way. 203 00:11:00,867 --> 00:11:04,977 It's probably going to end up happening this year because you're seeing a lot of 204 00:11:04,977 --> 00:11:09,097 these high school kids come in with deals when they're going to those four years. 205 00:11:09,097 --> 00:11:13,517 And if you have a brand, if you have a social media backing, I feel like anybody 206 00:11:13,517 --> 00:11:15,133 can take advantage of the NIL. 207 00:11:15,685 --> 00:11:20,105 And we've had some kids that have had, they have their brand kind of going right 208 00:11:20,105 --> 00:11:20,905 now. 209 00:11:20,905 --> 00:11:23,205 Maybe it's t -shirts. 210 00:11:23,205 --> 00:11:26,505 We had a kid that's really into photography and she's pushing that right 211 00:11:26,505 --> 00:11:27,565 now. 212 00:11:27,565 --> 00:11:30,645 And then we have a couple of kids that really took advantage of the bubblers and 213 00:11:30,645 --> 00:11:34,055 the bucked up protein shake program and everything that way. 214 00:11:34,055 --> 00:11:36,665 And all they gotta do is when they're working out, they're taking a picture of 215 00:11:36,665 --> 00:11:37,305 the bubbler. 216 00:11:37,305 --> 00:11:38,149 But you know, this... 217 00:11:38,149 --> 00:11:44,049 This is a great energy for me and with the bucked up, this is a great recovery drink 218 00:11:44,049 --> 00:11:45,609 and it's just kind of funny. 219 00:11:45,609 --> 00:11:47,629 It's on the minor side of things. 220 00:11:47,629 --> 00:11:51,469 It's like, okay, I see you guys and I'm walking around and they got their phone in 221 00:11:51,469 --> 00:11:53,359 the way where I'm like, what are you doing? 222 00:11:53,359 --> 00:11:53,849 nevermind. 223 00:11:53,849 --> 00:11:54,489 I get it. 224 00:11:54,489 --> 00:11:55,069 I get it. 225 00:11:55,069 --> 00:11:56,029 I get it. 226 00:11:56,029 --> 00:11:56,829 I see you. 227 00:11:56,829 --> 00:11:57,239 Nevermind. 228 00:11:57,239 --> 00:11:58,349 I get it. 229 00:11:58,889 --> 00:12:00,901 So it's kind of starting to like... 230 00:12:00,901 --> 00:12:04,960 trickle its way down to our level and it's probably only a matter of time before you 231 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:09,020 know and it's not not on the major dollar sign that you see it at the highest level 232 00:12:09,020 --> 00:12:14,013 but it's only a matter of time before it really you know puts its foot in our 233 00:12:14,130 --> 00:12:15,210 Interesting. 234 00:12:15,390 --> 00:12:18,890 And then, you know, back to the academic side, coach, the high school coaches 235 00:12:18,890 --> 00:12:23,530 themselves, and I know you work with them to get players to Rock Valley. 236 00:12:23,610 --> 00:12:28,610 What kind of guidance are you seeing from high school coaches providing their 237 00:12:28,610 --> 00:12:31,181 players really on the academic side? 238 00:12:31,181 --> 00:12:36,721 You're seeing a lot of high school coaches push it, you know, because sometimes 239 00:12:36,721 --> 00:12:41,201 you're getting those coaches that are teachers, that are educators, that, you 240 00:12:41,201 --> 00:12:43,641 know, they may be counselors in the building, they may be administrators 241 00:12:43,641 --> 00:12:44,291 within the building. 242 00:12:44,291 --> 00:12:47,021 So they're pushing the academic side really big. 243 00:12:47,381 --> 00:12:51,741 And a lot of times we're starting to see a shift a lot of times with it now that, you 244 00:12:51,741 --> 00:12:56,541 know, these educators within the high school realms are pushing kids to 245 00:12:56,541 --> 00:12:58,301 community colleges now. 246 00:12:58,470 --> 00:13:02,130 If you're in, let's just be honest, not every kid is a division one kid or a 247 00:13:02,130 --> 00:13:02,820 division two kid. 248 00:13:02,820 --> 00:13:06,690 Not every kid is going to go to school for free on an athletic scholarship. 249 00:13:06,710 --> 00:13:11,310 So you're getting a lot of these, you know, these secondary education, you know, 250 00:13:11,310 --> 00:13:15,010 professionals pushing these students to go community college route because they're 251 00:13:15,010 --> 00:13:19,150 going to save a major dollar and it's going to save their families a major 252 00:13:19,150 --> 00:13:19,770 dollar. 253 00:13:19,770 --> 00:13:23,530 And, you know, when I worked in the high school saying, you know, that was the 254 00:13:23,530 --> 00:13:25,125 biggest thing I pushed, I didn't. 255 00:13:25,125 --> 00:13:26,555 I didn't care what level it was. 256 00:13:26,555 --> 00:13:29,405 If you had a scholarship, you had to really entertain it. 257 00:13:29,405 --> 00:13:33,945 And the biggest thing I know, I was telling our student athletes and I know 258 00:13:33,945 --> 00:13:38,265 some of my coaching buddies that are in the high schools are telling their student 259 00:13:38,265 --> 00:13:42,025 athletes is, is you don't want student loan debt. 260 00:13:42,025 --> 00:13:44,005 That is the biggest thing you don't want. 261 00:13:44,005 --> 00:13:47,165 And that's the biggest guidance a lot of these kids are getting right now is you 262 00:13:47,165 --> 00:13:48,725 don't want student loan debt. 263 00:13:48,725 --> 00:13:49,893 And the... 264 00:13:49,893 --> 00:13:55,333 more you can avoid that or the less price tag you have to pay at the end of the day 265 00:13:55,333 --> 00:13:59,893 is major for a lot of these students, especially the first generation college 266 00:13:59,893 --> 00:14:00,829 students as well. 267 00:14:01,521 --> 00:14:02,794 Just a quick follow up. 268 00:14:02,794 --> 00:14:09,114 of goes into kind of that stigma that, you know, I think a lot of people have maybe 269 00:14:09,114 --> 00:14:12,854 with junior colleges that you you if you go to a junior college, maybe you're not 270 00:14:12,854 --> 00:14:16,514 smart enough to go to a four year or, you know, something like that. 271 00:14:16,514 --> 00:14:17,744 And I think that's so false. 272 00:14:17,744 --> 00:14:22,314 And I think I think, you know, people need to make sure that they understand that 273 00:14:22,314 --> 00:14:23,194 that that is false. 274 00:14:23,194 --> 00:14:23,964 And that's not true. 275 00:14:23,964 --> 00:14:27,694 And there's so many benefits you can get from being at the junior college level, 276 00:14:27,694 --> 00:14:30,424 you know, in regards to some of the basketball stuff. 277 00:14:30,424 --> 00:14:30,990 I mean, 278 00:14:30,990 --> 00:14:34,750 You know, I think just sometimes experience, you know, if you're looking at 279 00:14:34,750 --> 00:14:39,510 sitting on the bench at a four -year verse, you know, possibly playing 280 00:14:39,510 --> 00:14:41,120 immediately and getting some experience. 281 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:42,810 I think experience goes so far. 282 00:14:42,810 --> 00:14:44,520 So I think there's definitely some benefits. 283 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:45,861 Would you agree with that? 284 00:14:45,861 --> 00:14:47,021 I definitely agree. 285 00:14:47,021 --> 00:14:52,161 You know, you see a major jump with us for those kids that come back for their 286 00:14:52,161 --> 00:14:52,711 sophomore year. 287 00:14:52,711 --> 00:14:57,261 You see that that biggest jump from May to August. 288 00:14:57,261 --> 00:15:01,181 That's the biggest jump we see with those kids is after they've gotten a year under 289 00:15:01,181 --> 00:15:04,521 their belt and they could have been the most successful year it ever was for them. 290 00:15:04,521 --> 00:15:08,921 But we still see that biggest jump when they go from May to August, because now 291 00:15:08,921 --> 00:15:10,161 they've played a season. 292 00:15:10,161 --> 00:15:13,829 Now they know the day to days that they got to go, you know, go through. 293 00:15:13,829 --> 00:15:17,888 and how they're gonna act accordingly every single day, you know, within the 294 00:15:17,888 --> 00:15:21,609 classroom, within the nutrition side, within the weight room side, their on 295 00:15:21,609 --> 00:15:23,109 -court individual workouts. 296 00:15:23,109 --> 00:15:26,349 And that jump that they take from May to August is huge. 297 00:15:26,349 --> 00:15:28,469 And the benefits of going to Junko is amazing. 298 00:15:28,469 --> 00:15:31,229 You know, like you said, sometimes you get that immediate impact. 299 00:15:31,229 --> 00:15:33,029 You hop right on the court. 300 00:15:33,029 --> 00:15:35,949 And just with us, you know, here, we're playing a schedule. 301 00:15:35,949 --> 00:15:39,089 We're going out and we're trying to play the best of the best. 302 00:15:39,089 --> 00:15:40,613 And we travel. 303 00:15:40,613 --> 00:15:42,333 We're in Florida this past season. 304 00:15:42,333 --> 00:15:43,683 We flew to Florida this past season. 305 00:15:43,683 --> 00:15:45,593 We're going to Arizona this season. 306 00:15:45,593 --> 00:15:46,393 We're in Missouri. 307 00:15:46,393 --> 00:15:50,903 We've played against the top D1 Jukos when we were Division III forever. 308 00:15:50,903 --> 00:15:52,183 It didn't matter what level it was. 309 00:15:52,183 --> 00:15:55,283 We played against the top Jukos and we tried to seek them out. 310 00:15:55,283 --> 00:15:57,793 And it's the same thing we're going into this year. 311 00:15:57,913 --> 00:16:04,873 Our month of November and December for the 24, 25 season, we probably bit off a 312 00:16:04,873 --> 00:16:06,993 little bit more than what we could chew, but we're playing. 313 00:16:06,993 --> 00:16:08,833 We're playing. 314 00:16:09,157 --> 00:16:14,877 10 to 12 of the top 15 D1 or D2 Jukes within that first two months. 315 00:16:16,097 --> 00:16:19,977 But granted, the kids are on a stage, they're gonna be on a national stage, 316 00:16:19,977 --> 00:16:23,117 they're gonna be seen, they're gonna be playing against other top national talent. 317 00:16:23,117 --> 00:16:26,977 And we've built ourselves up to that and we're not gonna run away from it. 318 00:16:26,977 --> 00:16:31,497 And that's kinda what we promise to our kids when they come in, that you're gonna 319 00:16:31,497 --> 00:16:32,457 play against the best. 320 00:16:32,457 --> 00:16:36,217 And you're gonna have a chance to showcase your talents and your skills. 321 00:16:36,277 --> 00:16:36,933 And - 322 00:16:36,933 --> 00:16:41,433 And we also tell them when they're on their visits, this isn't last chance you. 323 00:16:41,453 --> 00:16:46,093 And Netflix kind of painted a bad picture for junior colleges out here. 324 00:16:46,093 --> 00:16:48,533 And it's not anything like that. 325 00:16:48,533 --> 00:16:52,183 Yes, you do have some kids that did not make the grades. 326 00:16:52,183 --> 00:16:54,713 And yes, you do have some kids that are some troublemakers. 327 00:16:54,713 --> 00:17:00,251 But that's not 80 % of the landscape in junior college athletics. 328 00:17:00,529 --> 00:17:01,424 So. 329 00:17:01,424 --> 00:17:03,194 Gary, I just got really excited. 330 00:17:03,194 --> 00:17:08,634 And when he was talking about that jump from freshmen to sophomores with us having 331 00:17:08,634 --> 00:17:13,094 nine freshmen last year and they played a lot, man, we should be really, really good 332 00:17:13,094 --> 00:17:13,534 this year. 333 00:17:13,534 --> 00:17:14,693 He's telling me. 334 00:17:14,693 --> 00:17:18,673 Yeah, hey, you guys made jumps. 335 00:17:18,673 --> 00:17:24,673 I watched a lot of your games and a lot of single digits, a lot of single digit 336 00:17:24,673 --> 00:17:26,073 battles right there. 337 00:17:26,073 --> 00:17:28,113 And like you said, you're gonna make that jump. 338 00:17:28,113 --> 00:17:29,521 You guys do a good job. 339 00:17:29,521 --> 00:17:33,281 Coach, my last question, I think Coach Egan has a final question. 340 00:17:33,281 --> 00:17:35,041 And this is kind of a fun question. 341 00:17:35,041 --> 00:17:40,261 So I am at most, almost all of Linda Woods Women's Games here in the St. 342 00:17:40,261 --> 00:17:41,141 Louis area. 343 00:17:41,141 --> 00:17:45,321 And on occasion, Amy and I tease about referees. 344 00:17:45,321 --> 00:17:48,101 And you can imagine the type of conversation that is. 345 00:17:48,101 --> 00:17:49,691 And that's just kind of a setup to this. 346 00:17:49,691 --> 00:17:51,481 All coaches, all fans. 347 00:17:51,641 --> 00:17:54,701 Matter of fact, I was a high school basketball referee when I was younger and 348 00:17:54,701 --> 00:17:55,651 Amy knows that as well. 349 00:17:55,651 --> 00:17:58,097 Matter of fact, I'm doing some refereeing for you at a clinic. 350 00:17:58,097 --> 00:18:00,105 or camp here in a couple of weeks, right? 351 00:18:00,942 --> 00:18:02,402 Yeah, you are. 352 00:18:02,402 --> 00:18:08,042 You're going to actually teach some of our girls how to ref, right? 353 00:18:08,042 --> 00:18:10,950 We've got to expand and get better at that. 354 00:18:11,469 --> 00:18:12,839 one foot in front of the other, I'm good to go. 355 00:18:12,839 --> 00:18:14,829 My question though is not about referees. 356 00:18:14,829 --> 00:18:15,729 They do the best they can. 357 00:18:15,729 --> 00:18:17,049 There's no question. 358 00:18:17,189 --> 00:18:18,109 What do you teach though? 359 00:18:18,109 --> 00:18:22,169 What do you teach your players when things don't go their way in the context of 360 00:18:22,169 --> 00:18:22,399 refereeing? 361 00:18:22,399 --> 00:18:23,653 Because you know that happens. 362 00:18:23,653 --> 00:18:28,213 Yeah, all day long, we try to teach our kids just the, you know, if a call doesn't 363 00:18:28,213 --> 00:18:31,803 go your way, hand the official the ball and you know, just walk away. 364 00:18:31,803 --> 00:18:37,413 And it's okay to have a conversation, but it's not okay to yell and it's not okay to 365 00:18:37,413 --> 00:18:39,713 show your body language to that official. 366 00:18:39,713 --> 00:18:43,743 You know, it's okay to be an adult and have a conversation and ask a question, 367 00:18:43,743 --> 00:18:45,533 you know, well, what did I do wrong? 368 00:18:45,533 --> 00:18:47,703 And not in the ways of showing them up. 369 00:18:47,703 --> 00:18:50,469 And I tell our kids all day long, let me fight the. 370 00:18:50,469 --> 00:18:53,499 Let me be the ones to get on the officials. 371 00:18:53,499 --> 00:18:58,289 Let me be the one to have my sarcastic jabs that I do have sometimes within the 372 00:18:58,289 --> 00:18:58,969 games. 373 00:18:58,969 --> 00:19:02,209 And sometimes, official will be running down there like, did he really just say 374 00:19:02,209 --> 00:19:03,129 that to me? 375 00:19:03,129 --> 00:19:06,409 But then they think about it and then next play down, it could have been the same 376 00:19:06,409 --> 00:19:09,989 exact play that happens and we've gotten a few calls that way. 377 00:19:10,189 --> 00:19:12,939 And the kids are like, my God, you got away with that. 378 00:19:12,939 --> 00:19:14,909 Yeah, cuz I'm not trying to show them up. 379 00:19:14,909 --> 00:19:19,349 I'm not trying to be disrespectful to any of them or, yeah. 380 00:19:19,397 --> 00:19:22,667 And I'm, trust me, I'm bad. 381 00:19:22,667 --> 00:19:27,847 I have my sarcastic jabs that I say within games, but it's never to disrespect them. 382 00:19:27,847 --> 00:19:30,047 It's never to show them up. 383 00:19:30,047 --> 00:19:34,097 It's never to make people in the crowd realize what we're talking about. 384 00:19:34,097 --> 00:19:38,865 We'll have conversations and I'll just have them in the calmest manner with them. 385 00:19:38,865 --> 00:19:40,041 Interesting. 386 00:19:40,430 --> 00:19:44,770 You know, and I think it's, I tell, you know, our women and just people in general 387 00:19:44,770 --> 00:19:50,110 around basketball, like if you, if you can handle being, you know, a ref and you can 388 00:19:50,110 --> 00:19:52,660 handle some of that, man, what a great business to be in, right? 389 00:19:52,660 --> 00:19:53,970 You're going to move up fast. 390 00:19:53,970 --> 00:19:55,520 You can have a lot of success. 391 00:19:55,520 --> 00:20:01,870 You can be around some great people and, and see some amazing experiences, but it 392 00:20:01,870 --> 00:20:06,910 is a hard, hard, I think job to have, you know, within regards to some of the 393 00:20:06,910 --> 00:20:09,570 criticism you have to take and, and so forth with it. 394 00:20:09,570 --> 00:20:09,998 But. 395 00:20:09,998 --> 00:20:13,398 I think it's something that would really help if we can continue to push young 396 00:20:13,398 --> 00:20:17,614 women in that direction would really help our game for sure with it. 397 00:20:17,614 --> 00:20:17,865 So. 398 00:20:17,865 --> 00:20:20,885 you said, like you hit on it a little bit, you got to have some tough skin. 399 00:20:20,885 --> 00:20:24,545 But I mean, the way the shortages are right now, you know, this is something 400 00:20:24,545 --> 00:20:28,910 like you said, you can hop in easily and work your way up very fast. 401 00:20:28,910 --> 00:20:30,290 Yeah, yeah. 402 00:20:30,290 --> 00:20:36,870 Well, you know, can I throw a little question that wasn't on the sheet at you? 403 00:20:36,870 --> 00:20:47,525 I need I need the 32nd answer to why I should come play for Darryl Watkins. 404 00:20:47,525 --> 00:20:51,705 30 second answer to why you should come play for Darryl Wacken. 405 00:20:52,685 --> 00:20:55,855 So this is what all of our recruits get. 406 00:20:55,855 --> 00:20:58,665 For one, you're gonna come in, you're gonna play a fun brand of basketball. 407 00:20:58,665 --> 00:21:00,325 We're gonna get up and down. 408 00:21:00,325 --> 00:21:02,135 We love the score to basketball. 409 00:21:02,135 --> 00:21:05,665 We average 90 points a game and we've done that over the past four years. 410 00:21:05,665 --> 00:21:08,225 We scored 10 ,000 points in the last four years. 411 00:21:08,225 --> 00:21:11,945 But the one thing we're gonna do is we're gonna defend, which is why we've had 412 00:21:11,945 --> 00:21:13,185 success. 413 00:21:13,185 --> 00:21:14,693 We hold teams to under... 414 00:21:14,693 --> 00:21:20,133 30 % shooting from the field, just at 30 % shooting from the field, 27 % from the 415 00:21:20,133 --> 00:21:20,953 three point line. 416 00:21:20,953 --> 00:21:25,863 We out rebound our opponents by 15 plus on a yearly average and we share the wealth. 417 00:21:25,863 --> 00:21:28,893 So it's nothing about our team that's selfish. 418 00:21:28,893 --> 00:21:29,993 We're gonna move the basketball. 419 00:21:29,993 --> 00:21:31,933 We average about 20 assists per game. 420 00:21:31,933 --> 00:21:37,313 And then the thing that everybody wants to do is we're gonna win and we're gonna be 421 00:21:37,313 --> 00:21:39,353 successful and then you're gonna be able to proceed on. 422 00:21:39,353 --> 00:21:42,923 And one thing I preach is we're gonna succeed and then you're gonna proceed. 423 00:21:42,923 --> 00:21:43,517 So. 424 00:21:43,857 --> 00:21:44,817 Interesting. 425 00:21:44,817 --> 00:21:46,117 Well, I. 426 00:21:46,298 --> 00:21:46,958 you guys. 427 00:21:46,958 --> 00:21:48,865 I would tell you that for sure. 428 00:21:48,865 --> 00:21:50,141 appreciate that. 429 00:21:51,089 --> 00:21:54,219 Well, we're at the end of our time with Coach Egan and Coach Watkins. 430 00:21:54,219 --> 00:21:56,569 Coach Watkins, thanks again for making time for us today. 431 00:21:56,569 --> 00:22:00,989 Again, Coach Jarrah Watkins is the head coach at Rock Valley Junior College. 432 00:22:00,989 --> 00:22:03,389 Been ridiculously successful as we talked about. 433 00:22:03,389 --> 00:22:05,689 Coach Egan, always good to have you on your podcast. 434 00:22:05,689 --> 00:22:10,299 And we'll be back again soon with another edition of the Amy Egan podcast. 435 00:22:10,299 --> 00:22:11,839 Thanks for listening. 436 00:22:12,421 --> 00:22:13,855 Thank you.