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Welcome to The Amy Eagan Podcast. Every Saturday Lindenwood University's Head Women's Basketball Coach Amy Eagan talks women's basketball and much, much more. We'll talk about past games, future games, players, the OVC, the NCAA, academics, careers, and many other interesting topics.
Gary D Stocker (00:01.255)
Welcome back to the Amy Egan Show where each week, Lindenwood University Head Women's Basketball Coach Amy Egan joins us to talk about basketball, talk about the NCAA, the Ohio Valley Conference, academics, careers, and much, much more. Today we're joined first by the new Director of Operations for Lindenwood University Women's Basketball, Michaela Wallace. Michaela, thanks for making time to join us.
Amy Eagan (00:23.436)
Yes, Gary, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Gary D Stocker (00:26.409)
So Director of Operations, kind of share with the listeners what that means for a Division 1 women's basketball program.
Amy Eagan (00:32.684)
Yeah, so we handle all the things behind the scenes for us traveling, what the girls eat on the road, hotels, bus, just making sure that like while we're on the road and while we're at home that we have everything that we need for us to be successful.
Gary D Stocker (00:47.943)
Now do you have any experience doing that? It's kind of an on the job opportunity for you.
Amy Eagan (00:52.471)
When I was at Cobra Stock and I kind of did a lot of this stuff, planning like hotel trips and planning our meals, so I'm kind of used to doing it.
Gary D Stocker (00:59.507)
So we all know former of the Wood basketball player gone for a year or two. can't remember what brought you back to Lindenwood. What did you see in this opportunity?
Amy Eagan (01:08.834)
Well, when I was a player, just loved the coaching staff. I just loved their drive, the things that they do. And I just think just learning from them would be so important. I mean, coming back here was no-brainer. I was excited to come back here. just my family is here. I get to watch my siblings grow up. I get to be at their games and just be more closer to family. I feel like that was a big thing for me, being away for college. Like, I was here for my last two years, but my four years before that, I was away.
So I can barely see my family then.
Gary D Stocker (01:41.991)
And then talk about this team. You come to a team that is populated with seven loyal lions, seven juniors. You gotta be impressed with those seven juniors.
Amy Eagan (01:53.228)
I'm very impressed. As you know, I play with them their freshman year. So like to see them from freshman year to their junior year like grow is like, it's crazy. It's like just tremendous to me. I talked to them a lot about when they were freshmen, like it's gonna come easy to you. Like a couple years from now, all this stuff that we're teaching is gonna come easy. You're ahead of the game. Cause not many freshmen get an opportunity to play and they played a lot of minutes and they play big games. So now when it's time to play in these big games junior year, they're used to this prep. They're used to this like style of play and
how fast the game is going.
Gary D Stocker (02:24.803)
I was telling Coach Egan, I think as early as this past spring before the season ended, that you could just see in their faces the confidence level that they had late in the season taking shots they would never have taken as freshmen. And that continues into their junior years, think, into their junior year as well, I think.
Amy Eagan (02:40.29)
Yeah, I feel like a proud big sister because I'm like, okay, look at you taking that shot. know, look at you going to the room, look at you doing what you did not do your freshman year. Like I joke with them all the time about like things that they did their freshman years. Like, wow, that's crazy. Like you don't even do that anymore. So I'm just proud of them. Like taking what they what have they learned their freshman year and using it over the years to grow.
Gary D Stocker (03:00.489)
Well, Michaela, always a pleasure chatting with you. I wish you the best in your coaching career and we'll look forward to seeing you on the sideline soon.
Amy Eagan (03:06.338)
YOur next guest on the show today is Associate Head Coach Jordan Malott, who has been with Coach Egan for a long time. Jordan, thanks for making time on a busy day to join us.
Amy Eagan (05:03.97)
Yeah.
Amy Eagan (05:15.938)
Thank you for having me.
Gary D Stocker (05:17.285)
So you started with Amy Egan here two years ago. You saw these seven loyal Lions as freshmen and now you're watching them as juniors. Just talk about the differences and the differences in those two years.
Amy Eagan (05:30.19)
Yeah, I'll talk a little bit about the similarities with them first and which is the biggest part of them and that is them still being great people and caring about one another and caring about what it means to be a lion and what it means to be a great teammate. You know, I think that carries over to just creating the difference and type of players that they are. They have grown tremendously in the fact of
being able to know where each other should get the ball at, knowing how to compete rather than play hard. And one of the biggest differences that I really see in them is the belief in one another and the belief in themselves. And I think that carries over a lot into games. I mean, they're not perfect by any means, but they strive to be great. And I think that that has
made them the type of team that they are and created a culture that expects that.
Gary D Stocker (06:36.177)
And I remember telling Coach Egan earlier this spring before the season had ended that even me going to the games, you could just see some of these, all these girls taking shots in the last part of this season that they wouldn't have taken two years ago.
Amy Eagan (06:48.718)
Yeah, 100%. And I think that shows a lot to their will to get better and their want to get better and their drive to come in before and after practice, getting individuals in with coaches, group sessions with coaches, and then just doing it on their own too. It'll be after a game and we'll have kids that played probably.
close to 30 minutes and they're in there getting shots up again, whether they were really good the night before or whether they're really bad, they're still getting their shots in.
Gary D Stocker (07:22.355)
And then there are some newcomers who've had some decent minutes early in this new season. We'll talk about a couple of them. Talk about Alicia Jones.
Amy Eagan (07:29.626)
Alicia. So I've known Alicia since she was a fourth grader, I think. I coached her older sister that went and played at Oklahoma State. And she is a gym rat. She was a gym rat as a fourth grader. She played as a seventh grader sometimes with us in our summer league. She is just one of those kids that loves the game, loves to compete.
I would be wrong to tell you that there's somebody out there that wants to be in a gym more than she does. And the next great thing about her is she's always had a smile on her face and always since that young, she has one of those smiles that lights up the room. And she cares about, and she's her teammates and cares about winning and losing and really brings a lot of competitiveness to the team for sure.
Gary D Stocker (08:27.955)
And then I know Valerie Norwood comes to Linwood with quite a strong high school past. And just in the minute she's had so far, she shows so much potential down the road, doesn't she?
Amy Eagan (08:38.758)
she's smooth. She is. And once she figures out kind of where to pick her points in attacking and where to win and where to take her shots at, she's going to be a very, very good player for us. And I think she has right now is just in one of those modes of, you know, she was able to get away with some things in high school as far as just like with her sheer athleticism. And those points will come for in college, too. It's just.
not as often as what they did for her in high school. But she is going to be a really good player for us down the road and even, you know, we're hoping sooner than later as well. I shouldn't say down the road. You know, she just has to work through some things and keep her head up and play with some confidence. But man, she can go.
Gary D Stocker (09:28.839)
And Jordan, think I might've seen during one of the recent games where she came off the sideline and you shared with her, take the shot.
Amy Eagan (09:34.7)
Yeah, yeah, I think I might say that to her more than a lot of other players because I mean she can shoot it and she has a beautiful pull up game and so we're just trying to get her to not think always pass first, know, we she's got to put the ball in the hole.
Gary D Stocker (09:52.489)
And then finally, I went to one of the summer practices and watched it in the new gym. And Anna McCarn, freshman, 6'4". And again, I'm an amateur hour on this end of the microphone, but I can recognize potential and talent in any sport, I think. And Anna McCarn impressed me as someone who can do a lot.
Amy Eagan (10:10.252)
Yeah, yeah, she can. know, one of the things that we're getting better, working with Anna to get better at is a little bit of the ball skills, you know, and again, picking her points of where to score at and how to do that. You know, being six foot four, there's not a ton of kids that she went up against that were as big as her. And then now when you're in college, there's a lot of kids that are as big as you. So it's just one of those transitions and, know, blessed.
Anna probably can take coaching and put what you say into action really quick. She's a great listener in that aspect. And we ask our fives to do a lot. They're a huge part of our offense. mean, touches the ball. Five touches the ball almost every time down the floor for us. And so we're asking a freshman to be able to do a lot of different things. And she's taken it in stride. And you can tell from day one to now, like,
The growth she's had is tremendous and she's gonna only continue to get there and get there and just start playing with confidence rather than thinking too much. man, she has a motor, she's going after the ball and that's something that we love.
Gary D Stocker (11:19.669)
And I remember during that same practice that I saw her do a left hand jump hook over the top of Gracie Kelsey. And that was said to me, this young lady has some natural talent. Well, our guest has been associate head coach Jordan Malott. Again, Jordan, thanks for making time to join us today. And we'll look forward to watching lots and lots of basketball in coming months.
Amy Eagan (11:24.382)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yes.
Amy Eagan (11:38.326)
Yes, yes, thank you for having me.
Gary D Stocker (11:42.665)
So Coach Amy Egan joins us on the podcast and Coach, two really quick teams, good shooting teams came to town over the last week, Oral Roberts and Kansas City University. And I told somebody sitting next to me during the Kansas City game, we need to find some teams that are slow and you haven't done that yet. These are two fast moving teams.
Amy Eagan (12:29.058)
Okay.
Amy Eagan (12:49.878)
Yeah, absolutely. mean, you know, I think what both of them did really well that maybe necessarily we hadn't seen as much of was just pressure the heck out of us. Their ball pressure, their physicality, you know, and I and I did tell our kids before the UMKC game that I thought they that UMKC played harder and more physical than anyone we had played, and I thought that was very much the case with stuff. So it was good for us to see that it was good for us to work against that both offensively.
defensively. You know the challenge I think now for our kids as I talked to them yesterday a little bit about is like them being able to like handle that from the beginning and not me have to say okay we've given up five boards now let's match that you know and so that's something I really want this group to be able to get to.
Gary D Stocker (13:38.471)
And in the post-game interview after the Kansas City game, Maya Scoff was talking about how this team has somebody different every night that can explode for points. And that's what's going to make this team difficult to defend and successful. And against Kansas City, that person was Brooke Coffey. She had some big numbers.
Amy Eagan (13:45.976)
Mm-hmm.
Amy Eagan (13:55.843)
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I do think that's very much the case. think with our personnel and the amount of talent that we have, we're able to, on any given night, have anybody step up and either score for us or rebound for us, whatever that is. I think our kids, that's a lot of, I want to say, a really good thing about our kids, they just share the ball.
Their character with it is just, whatever it takes, whatever it looks like that night and whoever's night it is, let's get them the ball. And I thought Brooke the other night was on fire and there was still a couple of times we missed her, but I thought we did a pretty good job of understanding that she needed to get some touches.
Gary D Stocker (14:35.689)
And then the Or Roberts game. think you talked about this in the post game for that one. 17 turnovers in the first half, two in the second. I'm guessing there were some strong guidance points you made at halftime of that game.
Amy Eagan (14:46.838)
Yeah, yeah, I guess.
You know, again, I think part of that was them not maybe processing how they were going to play us after we kind of told them us being soft with the passes, lazy with our passes, not meeting our passes. It shouldn't take a a whole half with a experienced group to figure that out. But I was happy that when we really talked about it at halftime and I wasn't very happy at halftime about it and we addressed it, that they really cleaned it up the second.
So happy with that, but again, we've got to be able to do that from the beginning.
Gary D Stocker (15:25.369)
So coach, you jump on the bus, I'm guessing tomorrow, and you head out to University of Nebraska Omaha. What are you expecting on Saturday afternoon?
Amy Eagan (15:47.543)
Yeah, Nebraska has a new coach. So they kind of remind me a lot of us my first year here and still trying to figure things out. Got a young group and they're definitely making some progress. think every game I've watched, they just get better and better with their execution and what they're trying to do. They play really hard. So they're going to play a lot of sets. We're going to have to be able to handle, know who their personnel is, shooters versus penetrators, those kind
things with it but I think it'll be a good test for us. It's really our first road game. I mean I know we went to Baylor but that's a P4 but so it's kind of truly our first road game against the mid-major so I'm excited for us to see where we're at and see how we handle that.
Gary D Stocker (16:34.681)
And then finally a tough, but I gotta think enjoyable trip starting next week where you and I think all the girls are headed to Hawaii. And I don't think one of the parents told me none of the girls have been there yet. Is that true?
Amy Eagan (16:47.45)
you know, I don't know for sure, honestly, Gary. I haven't,
You know, I haven't tried to talk too much to them about that because I want us to kind of make sure we don't overlook Omaha. And so I've kind of communicated to them that on Sunday we'll really talk about what Hawaii is going to look like and those kind of things. But until then, I wanted them to focus on that. So I'm not really sure. I know there's a lot of them that haven't been there. I mean, I think it's a trip of a lifetime, you know, because you don't have the opportunity to go there all the time. So I'm really excited for our kids.
Gary D Stocker (17:13.385)
Yeah.
Amy Eagan (17:18.594)
You know, they deserve a trip like this and we're going to go and obviously we're playing some three mid-majors that are all receiving votes in the top 25 mid-major polls. So it's going to be some good competition for sure. And I know we have a mature group that will lock in, but I also want us to have some fun out there. So I'm excited for them that they're going to be able to enjoy some sun and some fun and see a different part of the country.
Gary D Stocker (17:43.953)
And Elliot talked about this in one of her post games that this is also kind of a prep for what the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament will be like in March as well.
Amy Eagan (17:52.854)
Yeah, you know, we, we,
We had to play back to back in the conference tournament last year. And so I think it's a good time for us to figure those things out. mean, I think when you have a group like this that's experienced and finished on a really strong note, I think this is going to be a really great thing for us to be challenged and to see where we're at mentally with it, physically with it. Four games in six days, you talk about hard. So I'm excited to see how we respond to that and what our response
and how we how we handle that.
Gary D Stocker (18:28.425)
And let's call that a wrap on the Amy Egan Show, where each week, Linda Wood University Head Women's Basketball Coach Amy Egan joins us to talk about basketball and much, much more. Coach, best wishes for continued success. We'll talk again in two weeks.
Amy Eagan (18:41.091)
Thanks, Gary.