Welcome back to the Amy Egan podcast where each week, Lindenwood University head
women's basketball coach Amy Egan talks women's basketball and much, much more.
We'll talk about past games during the season.
We'll talk about players, Yo -Ha Valley Conference, the NCAA academics careers.
And starting this week, we're bringing in some guests.
And with us today is girls head basketball coach, Frances Halstenshal, Hailey Lee.
Hailey, welcome.
Thank you for having me on.
Good morning.
My pleasure.
I want to take this time to first introduce Haley.
You know, we're super excited you're here today with us.
You know, I was searching through some people that we want to bring on here and
spread the word about Girls Basketball and Grow the Game and you definitely popped
first to my mind.
So let me give you guys a little background and Gary, especially for you
since you're from the area and have been kind of at, lived close to where Haley
Leake and...
Francis Howe Central is, and let me give you a little bit background on her.
So Haley grew up in Silex, Missouri, small town girl.
I like that.
Of course, I'm a small town girl too.
So grew up in Silex, was a three sport athlete in high school, decided basketball
was the pathway that she wanted to go, took on the privilege of going to St.
Louis University and playing her college career there.
After graduating from college,
Looks like she decided to get right into coaching and develop her career path in
that way with impacting young women.
And so she dabbed a little bit in the high school world, was actually an assistant
coach at Washington University in St.
Louis under Hall of Fame inductee Nancy Fahey.
And so I'm excited to hear about your time there with her.
I've known her for years and obviously she's had an amazing career in the
coaching world.
But while she was there under Nancy, they did win a national championship.
They also won a conference title and then a final four, another final four
appearance as well.
So had some great, great success there as an assistant coach.
Decided she was going to get back into the high school world and then dabbed a little
bit as a dobo at VCU.
And then where she kind of finally landed,
and has been since 2014 is Francis House Central.
And I would tell you, Gary, when you're looking at some of the best high school
coaches in Missouri, I think every college coach knows that Haley Leake is one of
those.
And I think every college coach is always really, really fortunate and really,
really excited when you have an opportunity to talk to Haley.
and learn how she's done everything that she's done in the high school world.
And this is one thing I will say about her and her success there is her record is 187
and 82 for a 69 .52 winning percentage.
Now that is remarkable if you want to say, put it that way.
So we're really excited to have you, Haley.
I think...
you know, when I think about you and I've really, you know, from afar have kind of
watched what you've done with the program and had the opportunity lately just being
in St.
Louis to maybe see a little bit more firsthand with it.
And the first thing that comes to my mind is how you do things there with your
culture.
And so, you know, if you want to kind of talk a little bit about maybe, you know,
some of your thoughts with culture, how important it is.
who's impacted you in those ways and how you kind of run that in your program.
I think any of that information that you could share would be really, really good
for our listeners.
Of course, well, and first, you know, congratulations on your recent hire here
at Linda Wood.
And let me just say first, I'm ecstatic that you're here and what that's going to
do for our basketball community.
And I'm excited to talk about culture.
You know, first, everybody's culture is very unique.
And I think we have to understand that throughout our own lives, anytime we enter
a new group or a team,
It's filled with these moments where people decide very quickly whether they
want to be a part of it and connect.
So I would say at the basis of everything I do is I try to fill every single day
with these moments where players or potential players have curiosity, want to
belong to what you're doing and can sense the presence of your program.
And then you got to ask some questions.
What is it be about your space that...
people are going to want to show up and be a part of.
And at the high school level, there's such a complexity to this question because
you're going to have people that simply want to get the most out of their high
school playing experience.
They're going to want to represent their community.
And there's something very beautiful about that.
That is the purity of high school sports.
You're going to have some players that are going to want to play at the next level.
You're going to have some players that honestly,
probably don't know why they show up at your door, but they sense there's going to
be a challenge or some discipline that they crave that they don't even know.
So as a head coach, your job is to figure out how can you unify all of those visions
and essentially get them working towards this one standard that you have.
And then you have to pour into it with everything you have.
So that's at the basis.
And then I think you have some questions.
You know, every head coach is the leader and from that leadership, things are gonna
radiate from you.
So, you know, you are the source of the systems that you'll put in place.
You're the source of the language you're going to use.
You're the source of the vision and how are you gonna build connection?
Yeah, I mean, Gary, you can tell why I asked her on here, right?
100%.
You know, I would tell you too, in regards to some of that, you know, I've seen, you
know, I've went to numerous games that, that Haley has coached and you know, it's
very, very evident in the way that her players play, how hard they play for her,
how unselfish they are, how bought in they are, how they celebrate each other, the
bench.
It's very, very evident that she has her culture rolling.
So Coach Leake, I am an education nerd.
If you look closely on my forehead, it says nerd across the top.
And so some of the questions I want to focus on, really on the academic side, is
I think of high school athletes as your older players, your juniors and seniors
start to consider those who are going to college.
They start to consider their college options.
What is your sense of how student athletes at the high school level these days are
thinking about colleges and even their majors?
Well, I think more than ever, students athletes are looking at the whole
experience.
It's not anymore just about where my maybe my interest lays, but basically, you know,
do I want to be a student here?
Would I want to be a part of a team here?
What?
How would it be to be a fan here sitting in the stands?
When I step off campus, do I like where I am?
How close am I if I want to jump in my car or on a?
train to the nearest city where I can experience other parts of my life.
So I think that more than ever, student athletes are open to exploring the major
side of it, going in open -minded, knowing that they are going to get that chance to
see where their niche is as they begin that journey for themselves.
But I think it's about the total fit more than ever.
Yeah, I would definitely say that.
And that kind of leads me into, as you're helping guide them and you're helping
develop them and helping them find their way, how do you approach like multi -sport
athletes?
I mean, you were a multi -sport athlete in high school.
I feel like from a college standpoint, I might be getting a little bit harder for
high school coaches.
Where do you lie with that?
What are your thoughts with that?
Well, I think first off, the skill level and exposure for female athletes is as
high as it's ever been.
And I think with that, there has been a shift for our kids in this idea of where
can my platform be?
And so with that, I think if you look at the multi -sport athlete, I think you see
athletes and parents both seeking what should I do?
There's a...
a sense or an urgency of wanting answers.
And so, you know, I was lucky, you were probably lucky in the fact that when I
called myself a multi -sport athlete, it just meant that whatever season I was in,
that was the season I was in and I was gonna give my all.
Now, if I wanted to finish a game and go shoot for two hours, I was gonna do that,
but I was all in to that season.
A multi -sport athlete today means I might have a kid come in and try to practice two
hours with me.
and leave and go to another training session for another sport that they play.
And of course, you know, they're stretched.
And so you're in a very, I would say, delicate position in that you've got to
support them.
Sometimes you have to advocate for them and what you're seeing.
But it's not as simple as just being committed to that season anymore.
Absolutely.
Leach, what kind of role do you play?
And I guess high school coaches in general play in providing college guidance to
their players, whether they're going to play the sport or not.
Is there a role that high school coaches play on that?
Yeah, I really believe that first the first thing you have to get to is this
level of transparency with your kids.
If they have aspirations, hopefully those are things that we've talked about much
earlier than when they get to that point where they're trying to make decisions.
But I would say that that first conversation is just a very transparent
one.
And then from there, as they get into the complexity of making these choices, you
know, I've sat down and we've.
We've written out pros and cons lists.
We've wrote down direct questions to ask and to know.
Sometimes my job is just to be a listener and allow them to kind of speak through
everything that's going through their mind because they might have a lot of voices in
their, around them telling them where they should go or what they should be thinking.
So sometimes my job is just to listen, help guide and obviously provide any
perspective I can from my own experiences.
And do you, Haley, as you know, basketball is obviously growing and, you know, we've
kind of reaching this tipping point with, you know, Caitlin Clark, Phenom, and it's
so awesome to watch and see.
And, you know, I feel like even club basketball is becoming a year round almost
sport besides the high school season.
Are you finding like relationships with club coaches important at the high school
level?
Do you guys have those?
How do you get kind of bridge some of those gaps in those relationships with
club coaches?
Yeah, I definitely think that within looking at a player, you have a circle.
And I think as they're aspiring to do different things, you're going to have
club coaches, you're going to have their parents, you're going to have other
people, whether that's friends or family, trainers, everybody's a part of this
circle.
And so I think the priority is always the player and their development.
And so I think.
the more communicating you can have or the more clear communication you can have with
that circle, it puts the player in the best position to develop.
And really that is the end goal.
I mean, if a kid is seeking select team play or AAU play, they should be doing
that because they are wanting to develop at a higher level, whether that's the
competition piece that they're gonna be facing throughout the summer or whether
that's the skill work that goes into the practices that then leads to the
competition.
So that is the major aim.
And I understand that winning is important, believe me, I like to win as
much as anybody else does.
But at the same time, my job, a club coach's job, anybody that's in this
support role, our job is to put the player in the best position to develop for that
next level, if they so make that decision to wanna do that.
So Haley, Amy and I tease on occasion.
I'm not sure on the podcast, but either before the podcast or when we're together
face to face, we tease about referees on occasion.
And you'll want to know that many, many, many years ago, I was a high school
referee in the St.
Louis region.
And history will show that I never either missed a call, Haley, or made up a call.
to hear that.
you come out of retirement, please?
And the moral of the story is in all life events, good things happen and bad things
happen and I don't want to bring up any specific referee situation but what do you
teach your girls about good events and bad events that happen not during just the
course of your games but outside of games as well?
Well, first I'll just say, you know, as a former player, my dad gave his fair share
of referees, you know, all they could want.
So I feel like coming into my coaching career, I always kept that in mind.
But I will say that, you know, first we got to simply face the facts.
And I do talk to my kids about, you know, we at the high school level are in a
referee shortage majorly.
It is hard to fill spots.
And with that, there's a big push to get more into the profession, which I love.
But then I just tell them there has to be an understanding that there's going to be
missed calls.
What situation have you ever been in where you have to make decisions in real time
and not make mistakes?
You're going to make mistakes.
They're going to make mistakes.
It is my job, in my opinion.
to relay my concerns and maybe that of our speaking captain.
But to me, the rest of it is wasted energy.
And I try to remind them of how they can get back into their next play mentality.
And also the realization that you are going to have, this ref will continue to
be in this game tonight.
So what type of reactions are you going to have?
You got to set yourself and your team up for success.
So you know.
Next, play mentality and direct your energy on your controllables.
Yeah, I feel like, you know, I kind of get to the point where I tell our kids too,
like, you know, whether we have summer camps, even do you guys want to ref?
And they're like, no, no, no.
You know, I understand that it's a really hard job.
And one that I think, you know, our refs take a lot of pride in, but it is one,
like you said, Haley, that there are going to be mistakes that happen.
And, you know, I, as you, I'm sure just want it called fairly both ways.
whatever that is and consistent both ways.
And I think that's the big thing with it.
And so, Haley, how do you feel then?
You know, there's been so much talk with, you know, the lack of referees, but then a
possible shot clock coming and to Missouri.
And how do you feel about the possibility of that?
Would you be pro that, con that?
What are your thoughts with that?
Well, my biggest thing has always been preparing kids to play at the next level.
So even if, I mean, I might have one to two to 3%, you know, big picture that want
to go do that.
But if I'm gonna run a program, I'm gonna run it in a way that if that is what
someone wants, they can do it.
So that's my end goal always.
So to me, I'm in favor of anything that brings them closer to doing that
successfully.
So at the next level,
If there's a shot clock, I would like to see it incorporated more at the high
school level and really any.
You know a lot of the rules, you know to where we can start preparing them to be
successful.
So that's kind of my my aim.
I know there's some intricacies and layers into that that would pose.
You know, maybe some challenges at the high school level, but I overall big
picture.
If it's a part of the game at the next level, I would like for it to be a part of
the game here.
And Coach, I had the last question, and parents that are listening to this and
even lower in high school players, lower age high school players and junior middle
school players, when you look at a player that first time, what kind of guidance
would you give to the parents and to those players who are younger now to prepare
them to play at a program like Francis Allen North?
Well, first I would say, you know, hopefully over the years you've developed
a feeder program that allows you to get in front of these kids and these parents for
many years prior to them entering your FHC hallways.
And I believe that we've done a pretty good job doing that.
And then I think creating the connections, and we do that specifically through
something that we call the S -Hive.
which stands for Spartan Hive and the idea is creating a buzz about your program at
every level.
And so we intentionally pair our varsity players with specific teams in our feeder
levels.
They're in front of those kids, they're in front of those parents.
And we intentionally have events to create those relationships.
So whether we're talking about, you know, an S Hive night where they have their own
game and they have their own...
you know, night where they're celebrated, they can be on the court.
They can, they're able to receive, you know, entry to the game, those things, or
we have program days where we work with leadership and some other things.
That's when you first get in front of them and make those connections.
And then from there, they see what hard work looks like.
They see what connection looks like.
Okay, well we have come to the end of this podcast episode with Lindenwood University
head women's basketball coach Amy Egan and our guest has been Frances Howell North
High School head girls.
Coach Haley Leak.
Haley, thanks for making time today.
Amy, always a pleasure.
And for those listening, I encourage you to share the podcast link with friends and
families and neighbors.
If you have questions or comments for Coach Egan for a future podcast, email
them to gstalker at lindenwood .edu.
Thanks for listening.
We'll look forward to meeting with you again next week on the Amy Egan podcast.