Transcript Below:
| Paul Condry | Welcome once again here on the Regional Radio Sports Network. I’m Paul Condry, president founder of Regional Radio Sports. It’s a pleasure, as always to put a headset on alongside Scott Cooper. We welcome you to the Scott Cooper Show. Cooper, It’s been a fun summer. I know you had an opportunity to get back home to the show. A lot of changes in the summer. |
| You would think that all the stuff that people say, well, you know, college people get a chance to get some time off, you get a little bit of time off. But in your case, as the new athletic director, you really didn’t get a lot of time off. And I did. | |
| Scott Cooper | You know, you know, the summers tend to be the busier part, too. Everything kind of runs itself once you get to the seasons. The coaches have their rhythms in terms of practices and how games are run. We’ve got people, you know, what they’re doing now in those roles. And by the summers we’re all the especially as athletic director where everything gets a little crazy, you know, we’re constantly and everything and administrative from scheduling to, you know, purchasing to, you know, we’re working on different fundraising things. |
| We’re starting a Hall of Fame. I mean, you name it, it’s it’s been a lot. And so, you know, I’m looking forward to the school year starting if for no other reason to get things settle down. | |
| Paul Condry | Well, one thing that people may or may not understand, that you come from a family whose everybody’s been involved in athletic administration. So you have some people to be able to go back and say, hey, listen, how are you handling this? I know your brother was actively involved a short time ago. And kind of give us an idea on how important that aspect plays into your ability to say, hey, how would you handle this scenario? |
| Scott Cooper | Yeah, you know, that’s been great. And truthfully, just having Coach Bruce, you know, two doors down is probably even been better. You know, I don’t know how many times this summer I’ve just gone and sat down in his office and, hey, how do you handle this situation? How do you handle this situation and stuff like that? Because, you know, ultimately, at the end of the day, he’s the guy who’s here and in the chair for a lot longer than any of us have been. |
| So that’s been outstanding. And, you know, I think just having a good coaching staff that’s made my job a lot easier, they’re very low maintenance is is, you know, kept a few hairs on my hair and my head going gray. You know. | |
| Paul Condry | One thing that you and I talk about, we live in the same neighborhood, so we get a chance to visit about a wide variety of things. I wish we could probably tape some of those conversations. I think a little bit unfiltered is always kind of a neat situation. But things that happen at the NCAA, a level people say, well, there’s a big difference between the NCAA division 1 to 3, whatever the case may be, but something that always starts at the top eventually filters itself down. |
| Now, the NCAA recently made some changes in regards to the amount of scholarships that are going to be available in all sports across the board. And obviously it starts with football. That’s the big payday for everybody across America. Can you speak to how things in the NCAA, a most recent ruling of increasing scholarships eventually, maybe not immediately right today, but eventually will affect the NCAA particulars? | |
| Scott Cooper | Yeah. So the NCAA and NCAA Division one anyway, increased scholarship limits for basically every sport except for women’s basketball, which is already kind of higher than their men’s counterpart. And they’ve also changed the structure of that. So in certain sports, what they call counter sports, basketball, football, I’m sure I’m forgetting some in there. You had to give full scholarships. |
| Now, that created a structure where not only do they have more scholarships for men’s basketball, for example, increase from 13 scholarships to 15 scholarships, they’re allowed to get partial scholarships now so they can increase the number of people they have on their roster that are on scholarship to say nothing Of all the things that are happening in an aisle and all those other things that are, you know, ways to compensate athletes. | |
| So what that’s going to do to our level, you know, remains to be seen. And, you know, how attractive is a partial scholarship and having to pay, you know, versus what you’re getting in an aisle at a mid-major. But what it’s going to do is it’s going to take some players maybe away from those Mac schools or from those, you know, middle, low major type of schools. | |
| And how that affects us at our level are those guys then are going to come down because truthfully, if you’re really talking about levels of college athletics, there’s two there’s high major and then there’s everything else. You know, we we at our level compete with Division three schools for kids, and we compete with, you know, mid-major schools for kids and how many more of those are going to be available because they have scholarship opportunities at a higher level. | |
| And again, with the money that goes into that arena remains to be seen. So it’ll be interesting to see. I don’t think, you know, it’s like anything else. I think it’s going to take time to implement that and, you know, see what kind of effect that has on our level. But it’s something that we have to be prepared for. | |
| Paul Condry | Is it safe to say that the gap between the the wealthy and then the middle aged guy or the middle and middle income guy? You know, what I’m saying is similar to the economics of America, we have a select group of wealthy people and then they have middle America kind of just fight to survive. Is that safe to say? |
| Scott Cooper | Yeah. I mean, it’s always been that way to, you know, in college athletics. I mean, the difference between us and, you know, Ohio State, for example, is night and day, right? We’re not going to have the resources that they have and so on and so forth. So it’s just a matter of, you know, again, how do we adapt like anything else, you know, those that, you know, adjust to a bull market are typically the ones that thrive when things come back on track, Right? |
| You know, it’s the same thing in athletics. And I think that, you know, I think that there are ways that we can and it’s stuff we’re exploring. There’s also some stuff happening at the state level that I think will impact us in a positive way that, you know, we’re probably two or three years away from it. That may help us adapt to that as well. | |
| But but yeah, you know, it’s one of those things we have to kind of see the landscape first and figure out what that’s going to do to us. | |
| Paul Condry | Okay. So to discuss with us the the dynamics of taking off the interim interim tag as the ad and now becoming the full time athletic director, too. That happened during the spring and in the summer here. Kind of give us an idea how things have changed for you and your world. |
| Scott Cooper | I think the big difference is, you know, when I was the interim, I was mostly just tasked with holding down the fort until we figured out exactly what the athletic director position was going to be. And now that I’m the actual, you know, permanent athletic director, I can start pushing in that agenda. You know, So we’ve we’ve been working on some things as far as fundraising. |
| And Coach Topolski, who’s, you know, our new volleyball coach, is going to be on here later. She’s handling, you know, some of our corporate sponsorships and things like that that we’re going to be working with a lot more that we haven’t done as much in the past. We’re working on another big fundraising initiative, all with the idea of increasing our scholarship allotments to, you know, allow us to be more competitive at a national level and get past that point where we’re just competing for conference championships. | |
| When we start competing on, you know, the national level, too. And I think some of that’s going to be really good. You know, we’re trying to do some more student centered things, you know, that we we’ve started small with our athletic directors, honor roll, for example, to help kids put a line on their resume. So we’re working on some initial stuff to see if that’s a world that we can get into. | |
| Again, that’s still relatively new. But so, you know. | |
| Scott Cooper | We’re working on a lot of different things that now, as you know, the permanent ADA have the ability to do, I think is the interim. You know, if I started doing those things and then they hired, you know, a full time aide or, you know, whatever they had, the things they were looking into doing that I didn’t want to, you know, necessarily start an agenda that somebody else was going to have different ideas and how they wanted to do it. |
| And I wanted to be fair to whoever that person was if they went that route. | |
| Paul Condry | So 61 student athletes are part of the the athletic directors honor roll. Can you speak to that? I know you’re excited because some of your young men that play for you are in that select group. |
| Scott Cooper | Yeah, I would like to have a few more of them on there, but yeah, I think it’s I, I think it’s a testament to the support that we have here at IU. SB You know, for our student athletes academically and to the level of student that are coaches are recruiting, you know, the average college student of whatever college you go to is typically around a to nine GPA and we had over half of our athletes were over a three to you know you think of all the things that go into being an athlete in the time that you have to put in and you have to invest and you know, enter your sport and into |
| your school and all that stuff because eventually sport stops. You know, we’ve been, for example, in the past, we’re very fortunate to have a handful of guys going to play professionally the last few years, but at the same time their careers are going to be over and what’s going to come next. You know, that degree is forever and, you know, I think our our coaches have done an outstanding job of creating an environment where these kids can thrive athletically and academically and, you know, socially, too. | |
| I think this is a great time to be a college kid in and there’s a lot to do here. And we’re getting a kids that handle that well. I mean, you know, any time there’s a lot to do, as I’m sure I’ll be going into. But our kids have done an outstanding job of that, too. And I think that speaks, like I said, all the way from our top of our administration down to, you know, our student workers and things like that. | |
| So we’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of support from a lot of places. | |
| Paul Condry | I know the IU brand is just synonymous, but everybody has their own identity. I don’t know if there’s been a lot of changes in the IU infrastructure with all the different quote unquote extensions that you have or campuses or regional campuses, however they want to call that. Give us an idea if there are any changes or if there are. |
| I know that IU Columbus is something that’s kind of a new thing for for us here in the Hoosier State. Give us an idea if there’s a lot of significant changes in the IU infrastructure. | |
| Scott Cooper | Not a lot. You know, IU Columbus, obviously the biggest one and they’re a little bit different brand in that they’re, you know, we’re all governed by Indiana University directly, you know. But you know the president when whereas they actually answer to I well now IU Indianapolis so there’s a step between them and you know the top of the chain that doesn’t exist for the rest of us. |
| But I think that’s I believe something that is in the works that’s kind of change and that that’s part of the reason they’re adding athletics and Zach McClelland, their athletic director, has done a nice job building that thing up quickly. And I think it’ll still be a couple of years like anything when you’re starting out. But I think, you know, I’ve seen some of the facility things that they’re working on and that and I think it’s going to be a good place. | |
| And, you know, again, anytime you’ve got the IU name behind you, you’ve got something to start with. | |
| Paul Condry | Before we take our first time out, I just want to discuss the the dynamics of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Every time we turn around, especially in the NCAA, somebody moving from point A to point B, who would ever thought that when you and I were growing up that the Big Ten conference would be going from literally from coast to coast? |
| But that is the reality of it is let’s talk about the KC. The moves and the changes may be significant, but certainly not like we’ve seen of the Big Ten now. | |
| Scott Cooper | But money moves mountains. It doesn’t matter what level you’re at, that’s for sure. And, you know, I think for Turbo, in their case, you know, the travel that they had coming from the Northstar Conference for Turbo University joining our conference has cut down on their travel costs significantly, even though they’re, you know, geographically quite a bit of an outlier, you know. |
| So I think that was obviously their interest in having them in our interest is having, you know, a solid, stable, athletic department, you know, with everything that’s happened. You know, I think back to when I started here, we had cash. I don’t know what it was, You know, Robert Morris, Cardinal Stretch training. | |
| Scott Cooper | You know, Purdue, Calumet, Purdue, Northwest, Aberdeen, North Central. That eventually came through New Northwest moved on. Roosevelt just left. I mean it’s really has been a revolving door in our league in Saint Ambrose coming in, you know I mean and Lincoln goodness gracious. I mean, the list goes on. That’s a whole conference by itself right there. So, you know, it’s been it’s nice to have somebody that’s well established in the eye. |
| And, you know, I think, you know, and that Coach Topolski may agree with things. Their volleyball team is phenomenal, but you don’t have somebody else help us build our brand geographically a little bit in this one place that we’re limited a little bit as a conference is that, you know, it’s great and terrible all at the same time. | |
| It’s great for travel in that we’re very all geographically, very close to each other. But in terms of creating, you know, a wider brand for our universities, it’s a little bit tough because we’re all right there. And most people know the schools within their markets already. So think a place like the Turbo, you know, maybe expands the places that we all can recruit to the awareness for universities and things like that. | |
| And, you know, I think anytime you have that, it’s a positive thing. | |
| Paul Condry | We’re at the Student Activity Center here, it’s our first edition of the Scott Cooper Show. We welcome you. We’re going to take a quick time out, come back, and we’re going to talk volleyball. We’ll bring in the the new person at the the leader board, if you will, in regards to women’s volleyball. Come back and talk to Kelly right after this short time out. |
| Paul Condry | Welcome back here to the Scott Cooper show. We welcome you to the 2425 school year, Paul County Regional Radio Sports Network launch site, Scott Cooper. We’ve got a very special guest joining us here today, Coop. Yeah, we’ve got a new. |
| Scott Cooper | Volleyball coach, Kelly Topolsky. Kelly comes to us from having been an assistant at IU East the last couple of years and helped them get to the national tournament this past season and the year before. Is it just that year? |
| Cali Topolski | Just last year? |
| Scott Cooper | Just last year. Okay, I didn’t want to mess that up. So apologies to coach. Kind of hey, if I did, but yeah, she’s done a great job. We’ve kind of had to put her feet to the fire a little bit, getting started as late as she did, but she’s done an outstanding job and we’re happy to have it right now. |
| Paul Condry | I know that you’re a standout athlete at Saint Joe. Before going off to Vincennes. Are you East? So I did a little bit of homework and had a chance to follow your career as a as a high schooler. Kind of give us an idea on the the hotbed that is Michigan volleyball, whether it be the Dunes or Echo, whatever the case may be. |
| There’s this is really a really neat situation that you get a chance to work with in an area that’s really volleyball from a pure standpoint. It’s really, really a wonderful place to be. | |
| Cali Topolski | Yeah. And there’s there’s a lot of different clubs around town that I have personal connections to. I think it’s going to be great with Nivea having a brand new facility that they’re opening up on Labor Day. I think that’ll draw a lot of people out from lots of places. I am going to work for a club up in Niles, Michigan as well, so I got some people up in Michigan. |
| Dunes as well, pulls from one. What is that? Northeast region. Northwest. Yeah, that was directions but I’m super excited about that and just all the local high schools as well. | |
| Paul Condry | Give us some idea that going in look at the roster here there there student athletes here that you didn’t recruit. It’s been a long time since Coop has looked at his roster and say, Hey, listen, I didn’t recruit this young man to be a part of my team. And so you’re kind of stuck, if you will, with some student athletes. |
| I don’t mean that in a negative way, but they they may or may not understand who you are as a coach, how you you know, how your clock ticks, if you will. Give us an idea, how do you make that transition to get to know your student athletes when you really haven’t had any interaction or did you recruit them? | |
| Cali Topolski | Well, I’ve been really grateful for the summer. A lot of them have been in and out of the gym practicing, so they’ve learned a lot. I’m just trying to understand, get to know them on a more personal level, try to understand how they’re going to work in practice. Same thing with me. Just really trying to talk to them as much as possible and then really just take on the year as what’s going to happen is going to happen. |
| We’re just all going to learn each other, take the bumps in the road and just try to make the best of it. | |
| Paul Condry | Speak to your the experiences that you had not only at the high school level but at the college level. That is going to help you be successful here at IU South Bat. |
| Cali Topolski | I think because I’ve played at two different levels, I played JUCO then played and I, I just kind of understand the differences between the two. And we do have some JUCO transfers and some from my past school actually. But so I just understand what it’s like to be a student athlete and then as well, and that will help me be able to coach them more. |
| Paul Condry | So Scott, from your standpoint, this is this is an important hire. This is one of the most I mean, if you look at it from going back to when Jamie Ashmore started, the program was spent one of the most successful athletic programs on this campus. Give us an idea, as you kind of went through the the the process of going through the hiring of of somebody trying to share the vision as well as the expectations. |
| How did you handle that? | |
| Scott Cooper | Well, I say you know, we’re with you winner Ty. So yeah, you know I think with us, you know, we got to come in with the understanding that we’ve had, you know, the coaching turnover when Jamie left late they’re sure Adam or husband took over in the interim and then, you know, that kind of happened quickly, you know, very quickly. |
| So we lost a recruiting class there and then we lost the recruiting class with this transition. Obviously without a coach, Topolsky has done a nice job bringing in a few kids. But, you know, so we know that there’s going to be some bumps in the road as she rebuilds this thing. But I think one of the things that made her attractive to us is that once she had a familiarity already with the IU system and the, you know, positives and challenges that come with that, you know, every place has their their challenges and their positives that they can work with. | |
| And that’s always the most difficult thing and making the transition and rebuilding a program. But also, you know, her familiarity with the area being from South Bend was a positive for us. We didn’t really, you know, know that coming into the process other than the decision had a574 number on her. She hasn’t made there. But you know, that obviously helps her in making that transition, too, because she was actually here. | |
| You know, I didn’t realize she was leaving living in town at that time. We kind of laughs. I can be in here at on Thursday morning at eight or whatever. It was like, yeah, you know, shit. yeah. By the way, I left, you know, right out in New Carlisle or wherever it was. So yeah. So that’s helped us hit the ground running a little bit faster too. | |
| So I think that, you know, that rebuild will take far less time just because of little things like that. And her familiarity again with the system and with the area. And I think the resources are all in place. And as I said, we’re working on some things to even improve on those that we have already for them to be competitive and get back up and compete at the top of the conference. | |
| Paul Condry | When you as a as the aid or the person who’s making the hire, when you look at résumés, you can look at, you know, where they’ve coach, what they’ve done, how much stock do you go back in and say, Boy, this person was really successful in high school and and as a college athlete, maybe not necessarily coaching. I mean, college was the northern Indiana conference MVP when she was in high school at Saint Joe. |
| Paul Condry | So she’s a prolific player. Do you look at that when you go into the process of hiring someone? |
| Scott Cooper | Honestly, is the first I’m hearing of it. So congratulations, by the way. |
| Cali Topolski | Thank you. |
| Scott Cooper | But yeah, no, not really. I think it’s more about what you can offer as a coach. I mean, there are I mean, look at every professional sport. You know, how many of them were actually great athletes at whatever level they topped out at it? You know, the NBA right now, you know, who won the championship this year and they don’t. |
| Scott Cooper | Joe Missoula for the Boston Celtics was an NCAA division two player you know and I think a mediocre one at that how coach Bruce. |
| Paul Condry | Coach Bruce are. |
| Scott Cooper | What it’s coach went 30 some odd that he played football oncology though so I don’t think that plays a big part of it it has more to do I think with what you can offer as a coach now you’re playing experience certainly helps that. I mean, I think, you know, you can tell a lot about some of these athletes. |
| Scott Cooper | You know, work ethic and things like that by what they accomplish. But, you know, we’re all limited by, you know, what we are physically and things like that. Not everybody’s six foot six or whatever else, you know, as they come. |
| Paul Condry | In, except for you and Tanner. But yeah. |
| Scott Cooper | There we go. But yeah. |
| Paul Condry | Half of the room is already past that. Mark. |
| Scott Cooper | Unfortunately, I was a very mediocre college athlete, so. But yeah, yeah, I was. I happened to be on some good teams, so. But yeah, I think, you know, any you’re talking about that if you’re worrying about their who they were versus who they are, you’re going to put yourself in a world of trouble. And you know, we try to make sure we’re focusing on who they are rather than, you know, what they were, you know, when they were eight years old. |
| Scott Cooper | Sure. |
| Paul Condry | Kelly, I want you to take me back to the interview. You’re sit down with Coop and you’re going through some of those dynamics and saying, hey, listen, this is the reason you should hire me. What were some of the things that you were saying to him saying, Hey, listen, I can do this, I can do that. I’ve got this, I got that. |
| What was the interview like? | |
| Cali Topolski | Well, first the interview just felt pretty simple. Like when I got here, I pretty much felt at home, which was nice, because other interviews, I did not have that. So I knew it was going to be a place I wanted to be. But some things I just had to offer was my past experience. Are you East? I just came from a really good culture and I had heard some things about the team that I feel like culture would have been a great thing for this program. |
| So I really harped on that just being able to bring a good culture here and having that success. Are you faced with going to the national tournament? And that’s was and then I was younger and ready to learn and grow and grow with the program. | |
| Paul Condry | Well, it must have worked out. Now you look over the roster and obviously it’s a roster that there’s you’ve got a couple of seniors in here that I’ve had a chance to see play and really come to their forefront as well as some juniors in this group. But you see you brought in some young ladies that were not a part of the program. |
| Kind of give us an idea when you look at your roster and I know that’s still a work in progress, but you’re going to be getting underway here in in a couple of days and so it’s match time. What are you excited about from a personal standpoint? | |
| Cali Topolski | I’m excited about the big girls. We brought in the big hitters. I think that they’ll be able to score points for us. Not that the ones that were currently on the roster cut in, but we definitely have way more firepower than we did before, especially losing the seniors last year that were their firepower. I’m glad that we brought some men. |
| We brought in some really good defenders as well. They’re going to keep the ball off the floor just very competitive, don’t want to lose. I think we’re going to have a pretty competitive environment in the gym, which is what I’m excited for. | |
| Paul Condry | Is when you look at the landscape of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference and you look at some of the teams are going to be the same group of people you think who are going to be at the top are do you do you get in yourself of comparing yourself to anybody else or that’s the furthest thing from your mind At this stage. |
| Cali Topolski | I’m really not the furthest thing that is on my mind with which I roll coming in. They’re definitely going to take over the conference. I still think St Ambrose is going to be pretty good this year. They didn’t really lose too much and then Judson as well. But and then I think we can be pretty comparable to Judson. |
| Paul Condry | When you look at the landscape of recruiting, do you say to yourself, I listen, I in talking with Coop over the years, he says, you know, I really like to bring in another point guard. I’d really like to get another big guy, I’d like to get another wing or something. He kind of has an idea on how he wants to go into the recruiting process and how he sees his classes. |
| Kind of snack it out now. Do you go into this and say, Listen, I got so-and-so on the roster, It’s going to be my, my, my setter. I’m going to get my outside hitter, my right side. How do you look at it moving forward in regards to recruiting? But you got to just bring in the best athlete or how are you going to go. | |
| Cali Topolski | At this point? Yes, I’m going to bring in the best athlete. And then as the year goes on, I’ll be way more picky with who I bring in and who’s going to be a better fit in that position than somebody else. |
| Paul Condry | Coop, I think, honestly, you and I talked about this a lot. Chemistry is the is the underlying thing. And if we can go back to the days when you brought in that really core amazing group from Indianapolis, there was four or five boys and it changed really the culture of the basketball program here and that chemistry. And I got to go back to thinking about how important Dylan Allen was for your team back in those days and how he really kind of set the tone not only from a work ethic standpoint, but just the way he just kind of kept everybody was the glue that kind of get your but that has kind of kept |
| going and going and going a bit. But one or two guys can make a difference that can set the tone forever. Really? | |
| Scott Cooper | Yeah. And it works both directions. You can get guys that elevate you and you can get, you know, as I should say, guys, because obviously in our case, we’re talking about different. But you get athletes who tear it down, too. So you really have to be cognizant that. And truthfully, I think, you know, from my own experience, that’s one of the things I messed up early on in my career is not paying attention to that. |
| And, you know, we got things going pretty early that to the point where, you know, I kind of think, okay, we’re just doing things the right way until finally it didn’t. And then you get kind of had to look within and Right what was working that made us get to that point. And, you know, that was the very first thing that stands out is the level of character of the person you bring in. | |
| And the level of teammate that they are. And sometimes those two things, you know, sound like they should be the same thing, aren’t right, sure have really high character people who aren’t great teammates. You know those people are probably better suited for individual sports. But, you know, I think you really have to pay attention to those type of things because ultimately the difference in talent between the top and the bottom is typically not as much as people realize. | |
| It has to do more with that than it does anything else. And, you know, that’s always the challenge for a new coach coming in, especially, again, like I said, when we lost a couple of classes and there’s. All right, this you know, we had a couple of coaching changes as all right, this person was brought in by this person for this reason and this person was brought in by this person for this reason. | |
| And, you know, so she’s got to kind of filter through that. And obviously, those are still her players, you know, too. So I think as you go, that’s always the biggest thing is how do you blend that thing? Because you’re ultimately recruiting kids that complement your own personality. And when you have different personalities at the top, you know what complements your personality is going to be different. | |
| So you have a roster that kind of is mish mash that way. And I think she’s got some good kids. She’s done a great job of, you know, bringing in kids that are going to do all right with that. But, you know, it doesn’t matter. Whenever you have a change, there’s always, you know, some sort of friction that you have to kind of work your way through. | |
| Paul Condry | If I’m if I have a high school student athlete as my daughter or in my case will be a granddaughter, it’ll be a situation if you’re coming in to sitting across the dinner table from me and my son or my daughter’s child, whatever the case may be. And you’re going to be pitch in Indiana University, South Bend has a volleyball place to go and play. |
| I want you to give me that pitch. What’s the pitch for you? | |
| Cali Topolski | The pitch is it’s a it’s South Bend. So great city to be in lots to do. It’s an IU degree. We have a really small roster size. We all have to compete with like Crossroads. I have 30, 40 girls on the roster, so you’ll most likely get playing time. We’re a great coaching staff. We’re fun to play for. |
| We really care about our athletes more than more than an athlete. We care for them outside in the world too, and we want to see them go on. That’s really that’s some big things. And we have great girls already. | |
| Paul Condry | Well, when I wish the best of luck, looking forward to hanging out with you here at the Student Activity Center. Appreciate you being here today. |
| Cali Topolski | Thank you. |
| Paul Condry | All right. We’re going to finish up our first program here today. Give us a sneak preview of some coming attractions here on the high U. Campus and some things you’re excited about. Obviously, I know you here. I especially keen on the men’s basketball program. Ideal. I know that you got a new hire coming in in regards to softball that’s on the horizon for you. |
| But give me a fly over what’s going on in the future. And I know you got the Hall of Fame thing, which we got to talk about that in closing. Yeah. | |
| Scott Cooper | You know, and that’s a great place. Star Trek has been a part of that, too. And we’ve got a lot of people involved with that. We’re looking forward to inducting four new members We’ve got. Mary Wasniewski was a very successful women’s basketball coach here. We had five national tournaments. We’ve got Jerry Jones, who was up until five years ago, was the winningest coach in men’s basketball history. |
| And we’ve got Tim Williams, who was the first men’s basketball, all our first male all-American. Obviously men’s basketball is the only sport we had at that time. But first, men’s basketball all-American in school history. And Amy Berger, who, you know, did the same for the women’s program. And we’re excited about it. I think it’s going to be good for us. | |
| I think it’s going to help us kind of build, you know, you know, some history and some, you know, you know, appreciation for what came before us there, which is something that I think has been lacking a little bit here in the past, in part because of how young we are as a department. And then, you know, like I said, with our new hires, we have a new softball coach here soon. | |
| Scott Cooper | We just hired Carly and then we’ve got some good returning pieces. I think you’re going to see, you know, our baseball and soccer teams are going to be taking a step forward this year and, you know, hope their women’s basketball team, they obviously lost, you know, an outstanding class. But I think they’ve got enough there to sustain. And, you know, hopefully the men’s basketball team doesn’t mess it up. |
| So we’ll do our best. | |
| Paul Condry | Once again, Don’t forget, you can watch Titans athletics all season long right here on regional radio sports. We have soccer. Taylor Camp will be carrying a boatload of coverage there. I’ll be handling the volleyball beat this this fall again and of course we’ll all jump in along with JP Joe Bear coach Ron excellent Ski coach Mark Gardner will all be part of men’s women’s basketball throughout the course of the seasons. |
| For all of us at Regional Radio Sports, special thanks to Andrew Kirksey and Tanner Camp for their great work here today. Let’s get a real wrap up here today for the Scott Cooper Show. Thanks for joining us here on the Regional Radio Sports Network. |