Juniata Men's Basketball Show
Join lifelong friends Tom Frank, Drew "Biz" Besket, and Head Juniata Basketball Coach Greg Curley as they talk all things Juniata Men's College Basketball and give unprecedented access to players, alumni, parents and every challenge that a coach with 23 years of experience and 300+ wins debates. It’s informative, inspiring and most importantly, a lot of fun!
Got a question for the guys? Please contact us through Instagram @JuniataBasketballShow. Please subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts, leave us a rating on apple and spread the word #EaglesNation. Juniata College basketball is part of the The Landmark Conference, an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III.
The Juniata Men's Basketball Show is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios. Let your story take the mic. Learn more at https://merrick-studios.com
Juniata Men's Basketball Show
Nate Hager: Building a Basketball Program from the Ground Up
How do you build a winning basketball program from the ground up? This week on the Juniata Men’s Basketball Show, we spotlight Regis Head Coach Nate Hager, tracing his path from player to assistant at Juniata and now leading the charge at Regis College. Nate shares how his time at Juniata shaped his coaching philosophy, and we explore the lasting bond between him and Coach Curley.
Alongside these personal stories, we break down Coach Curley’s approach to scheduling—balancing tough non-conference games with regional rivals and an increased number of conference games. Coach Hager’s own experience adds a fresh layer to this conversation, offering insights from both sides of the court.
With anecdotes from Nate’s days as a player and coach, this episode offers a closer look at the journey of two coaches, shaped by the Juniata experience. Tune in for a blend of strategy, stories, basketball wisdom and of course, Tom and Biz.
🎧 Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you catch your podcasts! Got a burning question for the guys? Hit us up on Instagram @JuniataBasketballShow and show some love for the show at https://juniatabasketballshow.buzzsprout.com. Let's hoop it up! 🏀
I'm Tom Frank, I'm Drew Beskett, I'm the head coach, greg Curley, and this is the Juniata Men's Basketball Show. Welcome listeners. I'm Tom Frank and I'm joined each and every week by Drew Beskett, aka Biz, and your Juniata head basketball coach, greg Curley. We talk all things Juniata Men's college basketball. What's up, fellas, we're getting closer and closer. We're inching closer and closer to the season.
Speaker 2:I know I had a little inside scoop that the first practice is next week. Next week, ooh.
Speaker 1:Breaking news.
Speaker 2:It's breaking news Some programs might be practicing today, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to get into that. Practicing today though yeah, we're gonna get into that. We're gonna get into that. All right, and the schedule are we gonna be? Are we gonna officially release the schedule next week?
Speaker 3:next week or yeah yeah, I sent it to you, so we're ready to go, we're ready to go.
Speaker 1:We're gonna hold on to it for one more week because we got such a big guest today. We got, we got to hold on to it I want the executive team make those decisions, yeah yeah, I'm just worried. However, you tell me and I kind of want to release it with the poster that is very close to being done. We just got to lay in some of the last games that just came to be all right, very close, we're very excited about this are we going to be appearing on the poster again you know what I do.
Speaker 1:Now that you bring that up, I might have to rework it just a bit to get us in there all right in the crowd.
Speaker 2:That's a good point now you know you should have us like trying to defend the guys that are on the poster. That'd be awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, we have to do a quick photo shoot for us to get it on there you can impose my head on, like jordan's body or something.
Speaker 2:That's a good idea.
Speaker 1:That's a good idea. All right, think about who you want me to impose yourself on. I'll do the same, and then we'll regroup this week before the poster gets released. All right, I like it. All right. Should we dive right into a? Uh to a listener question? Because it's very it's. It's very similar to what we're talking about right now I say, let's go all right. This week's question is from roger m. Roger m could be roger moore could be maris.
Speaker 2:they're all roger mar yeah they're both dead. Wow, that was bad, all right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right. Here's the question, coach what's the process to determine your out-of-conference opponents, and is that a year-to-year thing or do you do multiple-year kind of arrangements?
Speaker 3:First, we generally do home-and-home, so I think pretty much all of us operate on two-year rotations.
Speaker 1:You don't lock in like a 10-year. A 10-year thing, it's two years usually. No, no, uh. So do you ever have to pay really bad teams?
Speaker 3:to come to juniata, well, we do pay care, we pay guarantees for our tournaments. So to host a tournament, you?
Speaker 2:have to pay guarantees for our tournaments.
Speaker 3:So to host a tournament you have to pay guarantees. It's actually pretty competitive. So you know that's why we work. Actually, comfort Inn was sponsored at Dockery this year. But the non-leagues, you know, ideally, I mean there's a lot of different theories in scheduling. Everything's a 50-50 game where you can win or lose everything you know or you want competitive, you know, scheduling, balance. A third, a third, a third, so a third of the teams you think you can beat a third that are going to be hard to beat in the third that you're even with. Uh the way the league schedules have gone, uh in most leagues, with uh the growth of all the leagues where everybody's operating 10 teams and up, uh you really don't have much uh flexibility in their schedule anymore. So since we play 18 league games now we only have seven non-league games, so it kind of shrinks the pool.
Speaker 1:But you're seven non-league games. Yeah, oh, that's not many.
Speaker 3:Right, I mean, some leagues play more and that really becomes challenging.
Speaker 1:Does that include the Dock Green or no? It includes the Dock Green. It includes the Dock Green, okay challenging.
Speaker 3:Does that include the doc green? Or now it includes a doc and uh, you know you automatically count league games basically as games that are 50 fifties, uh, if you're on the road, uh, or against the upper half of the league at home, um, majority of time I mean where we sit. This year, as young as we are, I wouldn't say we're guaranteed much of anything until we see what we have, Uh, it becomes for us. We're fortunate, regionally fortunate, and unfortunate. The most Division III schools in the country are in Pennsylvania, maryland, new Jersey and the region we're in.
Speaker 3:So there's access to playing a ton of teams. So we generally will stay within the regional footprint, three-, four-hour radius. And then it's just a matter of kind of figuring out who else needs games, who's looking for certain games and those kind of things. It goes cyclical a little bit too. It's like anything else, like if a head coaching change happens. A lot of times they try to change up their schedule so they may not want to renew what it is. You know we obviously have played Penn State Altoona now for a while because it's 45 minutes away. It's kind of a natural game for us to play.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then and then after that it's kind of moving in and out with with what we're doing and you know you're trying to find the right blend of the competitive balance stuff. I will say one of our challenges a little bit is we don't have a lot of teams that want to come here and play us, so and they all, everybody kind of talks about. Well, they talk about the last 45 minute drive, at which I sometimes get fired up and say, well, we drive that way Every game we've ever played, you know, or people, oh, it's a little farther, we get back late. I was like we've gotten back, we get back late for a hundred years, so it works.
Speaker 1:So they're scared.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they don't want to face that. Hey, every team out there, chickens.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I say.
Speaker 3:I don't know. I don't know if it goes to that, but so it's. It's. It takes a little work. Actually, Nick has really been in charge of our schedule in the last couple years. I mean, we'll work together on it, but he kind of handles that's one of his job responsibilities.
Speaker 2:Hey Nick, a little public service announcement let's get some Pittsburgh games.
Speaker 3:We've struggled I mean, we used to play and we've tried to have a Western PA game pretty consistently.
Speaker 2:I need it. I need it actually. I mean, let's be honest.
Speaker 3:As the President's Athletic Conference expanded. The other thing that's really changed is we used to be able to find like we would play a game in Western PA. We'd play a game, we would intentionally play certain places and certain levels of teams. But so many conferences have expanded now no one has any non-league games, so it's a little harder to find those games. And then a lot of times they're not going to travel because they have teams nearby and they don't. They don't need to do that.
Speaker 3:So and everybody kind of wants to go to at least one tournament. So by the time you get a tournament in there or two tournaments, some teams only have like three non-league games are scheduling. They probably have like a natural rival they're going to play or something they've played forever, and then after that you don't have too many games. So it's a, it takes, it's a. You know, a big portion of what you do Scheduling is a big deal. It's a really big deal. It's one of the things in trying to do it. You know, intentionally. We'll talk about it when we unveil our schedule. I'm not sure how well we did with that balance. Basically you're under the. I'm not sure how well we did with that balance We'll find out.
Speaker 2:Basically, you're throwing Nick under the bus with this one, then no, no, no no. Because he just said Nick doesn't like Nick. That's true, I did just say. You just said Nick.
Speaker 1:Maybe we need Nick on to really thoroughly go after him and praise him for this game.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to lie, I might be cursing him out after games Like why are we playing these guys? More or less, it might even be in the middle of the game under my breath why we're playing these guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we need Nick on next show. That's right, nick is not afraid of anybody.
Speaker 3:He had one of the craziest schedules I've ever seen when he was at Bethany's first year. I've in, but he had one of the craziest schedules I've ever seen when he was at bethany's first year.
Speaker 1:I've never seen anything like it. The level of teams he was playing go big or go home, man. Well, that was, that was a strategy, I guess. Now who knows how that worked out.
Speaker 3:He was driving back to back weekends from bethany, west virginia to franklin and marshall and then the susquehanna tournament. Uh, I don't. I'm not sure the cell phone call on the way back he was. He was his up on the decision about the toll on him right there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but so there's a lot of ways to go. You know you don't. You want to play good teams, to be ready, and we've kind of moved more towards that reality. We want to know where we stand. Like we play somebody, we want to know that they're caliber of our league and if they're caliber of our league we're going to get real feedback. So we know what we need to improve and how we need to get better, and so we know where we really sit and then you just hope you've done your job and you have enough. You know that we're a good enough team to work through. That. I think it helps you later in the league schedule I think you're getting better.
Speaker 3:And a stretch where others might not get the right information and get ahead of themselves. But it can also eat you up. If it's too tough a schedule it can eat you up, particularly a younger group that doesn't have that resolve. So it's a little bit of an art, not so much a science. You've got to think about where your team's going to be and sometimes you're right on that. Sometimes you're not. In the end you've got to the it's never who you play and it's when you play them.
Speaker 3:So a lot of times there's some things that come into the season that changes a game that you thought was going to be harder, easier, based on what's happened with you or happen to them, where they are in their cycle, what's going on with maybe even school or health injuries, stuff like that. So there's a lot of stuff that goes into it. Uh, you know we're a little bit different. You know we have 25 games. I mean like football's got 10 games. You know they got to get the two right or whatever they're scheduling. Yeah, a little bit different. Uh, but yeah, that's generally and we'll go over two year cycles. Uh, and we all I think every coach is hoping we can. If we get a schedule we like, we just want to keep it going. So we usually call on guys to say can we just get the same date next year and keep going? But a lot of times that gets broken up. There are stories of guys that won't return games and they should.
Speaker 1:I mean we have contracts and stuff but unfortunately you're telling me that there's been times in the past where you did in a way and they refused to come back to home. Uh, we've had.
Speaker 3:Well, we should call those people out. I'm not great at specifics of remembering, but yes and or uh, even when we owed them a home game, uh and and. Generally it's on the heels of if, like, if you've beaten them a couple of times, then they don't want to play most. Most interesting generally how it happens it. It probably happens to everybody, and then there's like circumstances, stuff actually happens. So the other thing that happens is a lot of these leagues, as they're changing so rapidly, they have to eliminate two non-league games.
Speaker 1:All right, that's acceptable. But this other thing here, hey Biz, I kind of think that we need to get with Nick next year and somehow get our fingers into the schedule.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't see why not.
Speaker 1:Next year, wait, so every other year is what we'll call a trip. Is that correct? Because you didn't do one this year, you didn't go to Canada or something like that.
Speaker 3:Right? Well, we have one basically every three years Every three years Every three years. Four years Every three years, three years, four years, we'll go once every four. Every guy's, once in everybody's career. Four-year career, we'll try to go. So we will a couple more years.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking we start planning now. I'm thinking Ireland, ireland would be nice.
Speaker 1:So you are big Ireland.
Speaker 2:I was thinking about our upcoming guest, and maybe we go to Regis which big ireland I was thinking about, our upcoming guest, and maybe we go to regis, which is kind of like canada. So you know that'd be kind of cool, but but you're really thinking ireland. All right, I want to go play golf, man, and watch basketball of course, but I want to play golf. I wouldn't mind going to ireland period yeah yeah, a little guinness if we can get uh the university to help stipend our trip there yeah, well, it's a.
Speaker 1:It's a definite they gotta. They gotta send us Nice. All right, I think with that we got it. We got to transition here into transition. It's a pretty good transition. Right here today on the podcast, we're thrilled. We're thrilled to welcome Nathan Hager. He's the head coach of the Regis College men's basketball team since its inception in 2007. We've got to get into that. He's entering his 18th season at the helm. Coach Hager has built a program known for excellence both on and off the court under his leadership at Regis the Pride. We'll have to determine if we like this name or not. This nickname the Pride the Pride We'll get into that. Has consistently completed at a high level, with multiple GNAC tournament appearances, and he does pretty good on the student-athletes. He gets them graduated with many honors. Equally important for our conversation now, nate is a 2001 graduate of Juniata College, where he was a four-year starter and two-year captain. Now was he under Coach Ferry? Yeah, because that was before you. Okay, we're going to get into that too. All right, there's a lot to do.
Speaker 2:There is a lot.
Speaker 1:After averaging over 10 points per game for his career, hager was named the Jack Oler I hope I'm saying that right Most valuable player, his senior season? Probably not, and received the William R Smarts Award in 2001. Smarts, smarts.
Speaker 2:I was giving him credit.
Speaker 1:I thought it was for his smarts, not his plan.
Speaker 2:Dude you're on, you're on, keep going.
Speaker 1:During his time at Juniata, Nick was the student athlete representative on the NCAA Interpretations and Legislation Committee that's interesting and worked as an intern with Auburn University Compliance during the summer months. He earned his BA in Management and Marketing from Juniata, then went on to complete his master's of science in athletic coaching education at West Virginia in 2003. Another tough loss for your Mountaineers. Yesterday, Before Juniata Hager played for his father, Bill Hager, a member of the Pennsylvania Basketball Hall of Fame, at Franklin Area High School. There he was part of four league championships, one district championship and made three appearances in the PIAA state tournament. He finished his high school career with a record of 95 and 17. That is impressive.
Speaker 1:He lives in Stratham, New Hampshire I don't even know where that is With his wife, Erin, and his four daughters. Is that in America? I think it's in America, I'm not sure. Emma, Frances, Grace and Brooklyn I hope I got those names right. And, most importantly to all of this, he is, I believe, the older brother right, the older, not the younger the older brother of our favorite Juniata assistant coach, Nick Hager. He's the best of the assistants man. Welcome to the Juniata Men's Basketball Podcast, Nate Hager, how are you?
Speaker 4:Nate Hager. Great, great Thanks Tom, thanks Biz, thanks Greg, great to be here, and that was chat.
Speaker 1:Well, I had to use chat GPT because your bio on your school website is, as Curly said to me earlier, about six to seven pages long. Dude, that's accomplishments, I mean I guess it's accomplishments or it's this long-windedness, I don't know, but it really made. We have to really reevaluate who it's Curly's client.
Speaker 2:Whoever wrote that, can you have him write my LinkedIn profile?
Speaker 3:When you're the guy that started the program, you get that.
Speaker 1:I guess yeah, you have a full go at it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's impressive. I think I heard Neil Rager say it on his pod, where it was little smoke and mirrors or bait and switch or something. But yeah, we got a nice bunch of information there for everyone.
Speaker 2:I was going to say it sounds like you have a great English department.
Speaker 4:Tremendous.
Speaker 2:Seven pages. Tremendous, jeez Louise.
Speaker 4:It is a lot.
Speaker 1:All right, I don't even know where to start, but let's start here. So you had a unique experience, I guess, of playing for your father in high school, who was a hall of fame coach in in the state of pennsylvania. What was that experience like? I mean, did you wait now? Did you ever play with your brother? How many years apart are you guys?
Speaker 4:yeah, we're six years apart, so we didn't play um together, unfortunately, unless it was up at the miller sibley courts or we, uh, where we ran, we ran through, but uh, yeah, playing for our father a great role model um, but I can tell you I did not ride home with him after practices.
Speaker 4:We would, we would both get to the house about the same time and uh, but uh, but I I wrote, ryan Anderton took me home every day, so that was uh yeah, it was great, though you know, um, I will say I did not start until I was a senior, um, but uh, it was maybe a little reverse nepotism, but it was, uh, it was good, it was a good experience. We won a lot of games, we won a lot of games.
Speaker 4:Yeah, 95 and 17? Yeah, there was some. My sophomore year I was technically on the team, but boy, they were great. They're 28 and 1. We had three straight years, unfortunately, unfortunately, where we lost to, uh, archie Miller and the Blackhawk Cougars and they knocked us out um three consecutive years once in the? Uh the western finals, once in the western semifinals, or I mean the state, um, I think, yeah, western semifinals, and then, um, we got knocked out the first round, my, my senior year, uh, but an overtime, a one or a double overtime, a one point loss. And then they kicked our tail, the uh, the last year. So, but uh, but yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:It was awesome, awesome experience all right, so you're coming from an incredibly successful high school career. What, how do you get to juniata? Like what, what, what, what. What was the journey to Juniata?
Speaker 4:Well, the first was the guy that's on this pod right here, coach Curley. Coach Curley, he's going to love this story. I was sitting in Spanish class and a Spanish teacher said Nate, there is a very handsome young man here to see you at the guidance office. And I said, okay, and that was my first meeting with Juniata Basketball and Coach Curley. He came and did a school visit and that's something that we did when I was an assistant for Greg and I took that here to Regis as well and it just it's kind of I think maybe a bit of a football model, but you know it's, it's where the you know, you go into the school, you sit down in the guidance office and you talk to and you pull the kid out of class and talk to the recruit and really, really explain, kind of what your vision is for the program, and that's. I did not know anything about Juniata until until I had that, had that meeting with Greg.
Speaker 1:So was it the handsomeness, or was it the fact that he pulled you out of Spanish, which, like, come on, do any of us actually like Spanish?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was a little bit of both, a little bit of both so it was, but it definitely left an impression. It was the only the only uh school who, um, who was recruiting me, that that did it and made it that personal and intense experience. So and that that left, it leaves a you know, it definitely leaves a mark and you know and uh, yeah, that's that's uh. That was the first part. And then um went on a visit and, uh, coach ferry and coach curly, um, you know, put me up in guest housing. I don't remember that coach, I did not even meet anyone on the team and I think it was and I think it was intentional, but I'm not sure. But yeah, I went there and did my overnight visit and, you know, had a blast. I think the other thing was, I think I could potentially play, get a chance to potentially play right away. So that was uh, that was another big sell, um, big sell to for for Juniata.
Speaker 1:So this? So this was at a time where so Rick Ferry was the head coach at this point. Curly, you were the junior, you were an assistant, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so my first year there. Nate Pat Sowerby, his class of guys, were all the guys that we recruited, so we were coming off like my first year there. I think we were three and 21, or three and 22 or something, and so this class was, and that might've been my second year, because I think my first year we had-.
Speaker 1:First year as an assistant or as a head coach? As an assistant?
Speaker 3:As an assistant, yeah, as an assistant and so he was part of the first recruiting class with Rick that we had and brought in. And honestly you know we had Craig Biller on before and he probably talked about that. Nate's the reason Craig Biller and all those guys started coming. But Nate's the reason Craig Biller and all those guys started coming. But Nate's the reason we've had any success as a program. He was the first guy and then he's one of those connectors that guys wanted to be around him and play with him and kind of pulled a ton of other guys in and kind of started the pipeline, including Nick and Jazzy Oda and all those guys because of his experience. But if we trace it all back it starts with getting him and then every guy that came after that and obviously Nick does the same, but then his time as an assistant. Also he recruited the Cannon Hager, jazzy Yoda group of guys. That was all him.
Speaker 1:Ah, that was you All right, and did you go through with the same? I guess this is what got you right. Is that it was personal visits? I assume that you did that as your time there and continue to do that at Regis and Greg has had such sustained success that it is, you know, just as an alum.
Speaker 4:it's awesome to see. But you know, and then also, you know you're obviously proud that you were a part of that in a little way. But yeah, no, I've taken, you know, a ton of those, a ton of those lessons, a ton of those philosophies, and applied it here at Regis and it's worked out. It's worked out pretty well. You know, we're excited. We're excited to get going here this year.
Speaker 1:And we'll be right back. The Juniata men's basketball show is produced and distributed by Merrick creative, looking to skyrocket your business's visibility and drive growth. At Merrick creative, we solve your brand and marketing woes with big ideas, decades of experience and innovative solutions. We'll draw in your target audience and keep them hooked. Remember, creativity is key to success. Partner with Merit Creative and unlock your brand's potential. Learn more at meritcreativecom. And now back to the show. Got to give us some of the highlights, some of the highlights of your time in Juniata, both on and off the court.
Speaker 4:Well, I, I, I can't be careful with the off the court, there's some amazing people you know that I met through, uh, through my experience and uh, I have, man, I probably have a half dozen stories about Travis Boyd and there's a couple I'm not going to touch, but there's one, there's a couple where you know, because he lived so close, being a student at Juniata Valley and you know he would come in over the summer and just kind of see him in the gym, see him around, and there was one and he's let me preface, preface this he's a big, he was a big outdoorsman. Um, you know, he's probably the only guy where we had to talk to travis about, hey, you cannot hunt on game day, because he's, you know, he's getting up, you know 4 in the morning getting a crease stand and sitting there, and so he walks into the gym and he's sitting down and he's changing. And I go over to him and his lower leg calf lower leg area is about as swollen as his thighs, about as big as his thigh. I'm like Travis, what happened? You know what's going on.
Speaker 4:He goes I got bit by a snake down at the creek and I'm like poisonous, like what, what is? What is that? And you know, and he just kind of brushed it off and went and went and did his workout and uh, but uh, yeah, he, uh, you know, just you, but he is absolutely, he was absolutely fearless. It was, and we actually we have a guy who is, who is similar in a lot of ways in our program right now and you know, you just love to love to see it and you love to see, you know, a guy that's, you know, that can A, it can knock it down, you know, but it's also six, seven can chase down block shots and, you know, do those kinds of things too.
Speaker 4:And fight off a snake bite. Yeah, no, you could tell he's tough. You know, just a tough, tough, tough dude. But there's, I will. I will mention one other one, that's that that is as long as is forever ingrained. You know into into my head, you know we. You know Greg mentioned. You know when. You know into into my head, you know we. You know Greg mentioned. You know when.
Speaker 4:You know about the recruiting some guys and getting some talent and I think that's what you got to do. You have to have talent, you know, to be, to be any good at all. And we had two, two freshmen. You know, I believe it was my first year back as an assistant, and one being my, being my brother, and the other Chris Jazziota, in the rival town Oil City, oil City, franklin, rivalry. He was the center for Oil City. Those guys were late for the first scrimmage we go down. Our first scrimmage is Gallaudet University, outside there. Oh yeah, I know In DC and it was early morning, I think, greg, I think we were leaving at 8 or 9 or whatever, and guys, they came waltzing in and you know they get in and Greg turns around and goes well, fellas, hope you're not doing anything later tonight, because we'll be practicing when we get back.
Speaker 4:And so we go down there and it is. It didn't go very well. They kicked the kick the tar out of us, kicked the crap out of us, and it was, it was rough, the crap out of us, and uh, it was um, it was rough, um, and uh, we, when we do get home, I think the person who was the most uh, you know I was, you know the most burn up about, uh, practicing was was me, I was, I gotta get to pittsburgh, I gotta get out of here, I gotta get going. You know one thing about being a student at the, at your alma or at juniata, and then being a guy who comes back, you know I needed to get out, I needed, you know I needed to get out, I needed to get out, I needed to get out and go to my buddies. So we start with practice Right before Greg says he hands me. I don't know if you handed me chains and you handed me.
Speaker 3:That wasn't chains. We're going way too far here.
Speaker 4:It was paper, it was paper, it was paper we put the, we put the uh paper on the windows and then taped over the window acting like we're going to chain the doors I like that.
Speaker 1:You chained the doors.
Speaker 4:Let's go with that but it was good, it was good. We we did some refreshers um, but uh, but yeah, that was uh, that was uh, that that was that has been burned, burned into my uh, burned into my, uh, my head you were coach carter before coach carter that was a long long time ago.
Speaker 3:All we did was three-man weave that's all.
Speaker 4:It was just a refresher passing and catching.
Speaker 1:It was just three-man weave and you had to get it right did you have the whistle and just blew it every time and said again I wasn again. I wasn't using a whistle there, but it was basically that.
Speaker 3:It wasn't. It was just you got to do it. You had to be outside the volleyball lines, no drops, no misses, and we had scrimmages that morning. But it wasn't just those two guys late, we had other guys late. Then one of the people from Parker said that somebody might have been rude to her, and that was it. That was a great group of guys. I mean, honestly, when you say what's changed and how do we adjust as coaches and Nate's in the same boat, like those days are way different. But at that time, you know, we scrimmaged, I wasn't happy and so we came back and practiced more and that was it. But yes, we did tape the windows. Truth be told, we had a volleyball tournament down in the other gym, so I didn't want any distractions, that was it. But uh, yeah, it's a, it's a good story, it's a good story it was one that guys did it.
Speaker 3:Uh will remember, uh, and yeah, nate was right there with me. He did a nice job taping. He did a nice job taping and changing.
Speaker 4:Let's not forget the change no listen yeah I might have misremembered, I might have.
Speaker 4:That makes the story so much better but I will say but the thing that from that, though, is, you know, we, you know, guys were never late again. You know, and there is a standard of how you treat people and um, and that's uh, you know, and that's that's set, you know. So you, that's that's set, you know. So you, you know, and that's one thing that I brought here with with our program is, you know, you know treat people how you want to be treated, and you know, and it's you know, you know, taking care of people and being, you know, being kind and courteous and available, and and yeah, I mean, those were kind of the backbone of what I experienced at Juniata as an assistant, where it's more than basketball, it's bigger than basketball, and those lessons will be with me and hopefully I can pass those on to our guys here as well.
Speaker 1:Have you ever chained the doors shut in your time there yet?
Speaker 4:Yeah, unfortunately. Unfortunately we have a. We have an open kind of an open air gymnasium, sort of like Memorial, where you know there's the mezzanine aspect and people can walk in and walk out. So we, you know, if you see maybe a 6 am practice, you know it might be a little bit different than a you, you know than a 4, 4 PM, 4 PM practice.
Speaker 3:Got it what Nate talks about. There that was the ground floor, like that was our. We were trying to do this thing and and honestly, like he said, I already told him before we left that we were practicing again. So this wasn't I mean it wasn't so much performance, but why didn't we perform well? Cause we're late for the thing. We much performance, but why didn't we perform well? Cause we're late for the thing. We're not handling things right.
Speaker 3:So that's trying to and I would say like those um moments kind of setting a standard on how we're going to kind of act and how we're going to carry things out. I mean, we got to keep working at it. We got a new group and we got to keep doing those things, but like that's the stuff that hopefully, um, you know, builds and breeds and approach culture in a program to go through those things. So lesson learned Obviously, nick and Jazz did all right with it. So they're still around, they're still here, they're still doing all right and that team actually wound up having a pretty good year. So I think that was the first winning season in over 25 years at the school. So we did pretty well.
Speaker 1:So refresh us on a history lesson with is Nate your first assistant coach, or now.
Speaker 3:No, so we had my very first assistant coach because he had just graduated. He was actually out of Bethany, I think, working for Rob Kloon, and I think our first assistant coach was Jeff. She's Jeff Nixon, or no, no?
Speaker 4:Nicholson.
Speaker 3:Nicholson, jeff Nixon, we went to school with guys. He's the offensive coordinator of Syracuse right now, by the way. Yeah, jeff Nicholson was my first assistant. He came, he was a manager at East Tennessee State with Coach Echelos and that group and Jeff was here for I think two years and then I think Nate was. Were you next right, nate, after him you?
Speaker 4:replaced Jeff. Yeah, I think I came in after Jeff, yeah.
Speaker 1:So then, what's your journey look like, from the time you left Juniat as an assistant to getting the job at Regis and really starting that program?
Speaker 4:Yeah, the. You know I feel it's been a great journey. I feel bad about how it started because I left Greg a little high and dry. I got, you know, I applied for the position in August and then I didn't interview until, I think, late October and then I didn't accept the job until, you know, I think our season had started in November and that was a couple trips up there to meet with the, meet with administration, and then I think my first day on the job was maybe after Thanksgiving. It was December and I had a recruit that same day and we were both walking around trying to figure out where we were. We did get them, we did get that recruit. So that was a good thing, but yeah, it was. It was crazy. We were really, really fortunate and got about five or six legitimate, really good college basketball players that first class season. Um, we had 15 guys on the team, you know. So we were in out of the or those 15. They were, um, I think there was actually only 38 or 39 men on campus.
Speaker 4:So oh wait that it's that small of a school, for that first year, for that first year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was an all-girls school, that, yeah it's an all-women school.
Speaker 4:Oh man, yeah. So I started the program that would have been very interesting it was a recruiting advantage.
Speaker 1:Recruiting yeah, I mean big, but that's a great point is, how do you recruit when you you got to tell a kid listen, you're going to come here, you're going to help us start this. I mean, the odds of having early success are rough, right. So these are guys that you're going to have to build something with, rather than look to win right away.
Speaker 4:You know I mean, and you guys were. You know Greg was talking earlier about scheduling One of the best things I did was have one of the you know I don't want to say easiest schedules of all time, but it was something that we'd at least have a chance. You know, in the majority of our games and you know in in the majority of our games and you know, I think, that first year we ended up winning nine games. Uh, okay, and uh, it was uh again. The guys that we got, you know, spearheaded uh, phil alabrandi, um was part of that, that first class um, and he's actually now the head, uh, head men's basketball coach at curry college. Uh, down the street up here in Boston, he was awesome.
Speaker 4:We had a couple other guys Jesse Vega, mike Burrill were transfers that came in from other schools Derek Neal, mike Fernandez guys who just really good dudes. And our first ever game we played Salem State, who I think Salem's won a national championship or they've. You know they've been, they've had some some success. I believe that was a 40, a 40 point loss. That was our first game ever, 40 point loss, you know. But fast forward four years to when all those guys who are freshmen came in um, as, and they were their senior year um, we, we beat them in their home tournament um, and they were, and they were an ncaa tournament team that year that we beat them.
Speaker 4:So it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a down year um, so it was, it was fun. It was, uh, you know, a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun uh, being able to, uh, you know, to try things, uh, to uh, um, you, to have some really, some really really good assistance, you know, but, but yeah, it's, you know there is, there's a lot of responsibility being a male, a male team in a very newly minted co-ed institution. You know everyone knows who you are and you got to make sure you have, you know you have good dudes, good guys, and, uh, we had, we had some ups and downs. We've had some ups and downs, you know.
Speaker 4:But, uh, you know we're, you know, you know you're looking like the total, the total student athlete. I think our team GPA is over three one, you know, which is uh, which is great, you know, um, it wasn't over a 3-1 when I first got there, you know it was. We really built on that side of things. But yeah, it's been awesome. You know it's an awesome experience. How big is Regis? Now we undergrad we're about 1,000 students, okay.
Speaker 1:Still a small school.
Speaker 4:Yeah, small school, but where we are, you know where we're a bit of. We had some foresight. Our president had some foresight, where we went with grad heavy programs and online offerings as well. So we're up over 3,000 students with, if you add in graduate school and online populations. So, and then with the grad programs, it's a cash cow. You know, it's that's how we, how we, how we make, make our money, and you know and you know. But undergrad, yeah, we're, yeah, just about a thousand, I'd say, you know, with, you know, seven to 800 living on campus. And then there's commuter population Uh, but uh, when I first got to Regis, it was, uh, it was a suitcase, suitcase school.
Speaker 4:Uh, we're only eight minutes from, uh, the last stop on the green line, so it was really, it's really accessible, uh, to get here and and and be a commuter student, um, so, so obviously we sell that. We sell that as well, you know, for, uh, you know to to get into Boston, but, um, but yeah, it's, uh, it's changed, man, it's, it's, it's, it's changed in the last 18 years for the good.
Speaker 2:Are you in a league when you first started the program or not?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so we're actually. Regis college is one of the founding members of the Commonwealth coast conference, uh, the TCCC, which actually just changed their name this year to Cone, the College of New England. But we were there for four years, and by that fourth year we had made the conference tournament, we beat the number one seed, and then, unfortunately I wish I was a little bit better coach we lost, we, we, we lost a home playoff game as as a four seed, and that was disappointing. That that year, though we did, we did make the ECAC tournament as well. But but yeah, those guys, you know, those guys deserve, probably deserved, a little bit, a little bit better. And then, and then we got kicked out. We got kicked out of the league. What do you mean? You got kicked out.
Speaker 1:How do you get kicked out of a league?
Speaker 4:It's, you know, if you're not competitive all like all around in your athletic department facilities, that kind of thing. And what happened? Was it? It? It it really, you know it made us say, oh shoot, we got to invest and you know, it brought us a great outdoor turf facility, a brand new uh you know tennis facility and, um and uh, it did, it moved the needle. So I think it was probably one of the better things that could happen to for our athletic program.
Speaker 4:And we went into a, a conference called the necc, the new england collegiate conference, and from like 2012 to 2017, we probably raised rate men's basketball one at one, one championship got to the NCAA tournament, but between all of our sports, we really we raised, probably, you know, 15 to 20 banners in that timeframe and it was awesome. You know it was great, great growth, great for recruiting in that timeframe, and it was awesome. You know it was great, great growth, great for recruiting. And then, and then we, then we went over to the conference that we're in now the, the, the GNAC, and we've been there since and yeah, we're actually, we're actually one of 15 teams in the GNAC right now.
Speaker 4:Oh, so you got a big conference, yeah, yeah, big conference, we're, and again it's just forever. It's uh, it's endlessly shuffling. I think two teams are coming out, are going out next year, uh, but um, but yeah, it's, uh, you know it's a good league, you know, but you're, but you're now you're one of 15 buying for that, uh, you know, vine, for that um automatic qualifier. So you do, you need to. You need to either win your league or or you know, if you for that um automatic qualifier. So you do, you need to.
Speaker 1:You need to either win your league, or or you know, if you really really have a really, uh, good, um non-league schedule and then a chance, then yeah, so, so the only time that so you guys have never coached against each other and the only right now unless you schedule an actual game, you do have a chance if you were both in the ECAC and, obviously, in the NCAA.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think that would be the only chance the year that we did get to the NCAA tournament. They actually bust us down to Dickinson and we played in Dickinson's park. Yeah, it was us Dickinson, springfield college in Alberta, magnus and they they shipped three new England schools down to Carlisle, so good buddies with with coach Seretti at Dickinson and and yeah, so that was that was pretty ironic when we when when that happened. But yeah, no, I would love to nothing, nothing. But yeah, no, I would love to nothing. It would be awesome to both be in the meet in the NCAA tournament. That would be awesome.
Speaker 1:That would be. So we got a chance at that or we schedule it. Yeah, juniata going to Boston.
Speaker 3:Well, when you guys are working with Nick next year on scheduling, it's something you guys can discuss.
Speaker 1:I think we're going to have to look into this.
Speaker 2:We'll go to Boston.
Speaker 3:Maybe, if they get some exposure through the podcast, maybe it becomes worth it for the program for the Regis for the pride.
Speaker 2:For the pride, yeah, and.
Speaker 1:Biz, do you realize you're on this podcast now with three in their particular coaching areas, three guys who are the most winningest coaches in their programs? We got Regis, we got Juniata and then we had the Juniata alumni game. That's true. So, biz, I just thought. I'd point that out to you, but that's got to be kind of cool that you've been the only coach. I mean that's kind of weird and cool and crazy all at the same time. Right, You're the only basketball coach ever at this school. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's kind of odd to think about.
Speaker 4:I mean after 18 years yeah, it's, uh, it is something that I lead with um in recruiting spiels, when I'm sitting down with the family, that I'm the all-time winningness and all-time losingness I guess it goes both ways yeah yeah, yeah, um, but it's, uh, you know, been very, been very fortunate. Um, you know, have, uh, you know, I, I with schedule was scheduling, um, we don't have to go too far, you know it is, um, there's a lot of schools right there. There's a lot of schools right there.
Speaker 4:You know, our, uh, our, what we call our backyard brawl um, uh, literally eight minutes away you know, so it's uh, that is that is a really uh, really fun game you know to be a part of. And then we do have some perimeter schools in our, in our conference, um. But mostly if we travel it's because we want we want to travel um outside, outside, outside of this year. We got we year we kind of got dropped by a team in August and so we picked up a game. That's about three and a half hours away, unfortunately, but it'll be a good experience but yeah, so that's been a big plus. I do live in New Hampshire. I live in Stratum, new Hampshire, which is a seacoast, 15 minutes away from the ocean. We're right under Portsmouth, which is a great town. Yeah, I know Portsmouth. My wife is very understanding. She's a basketball coach's wife, so she gets it. She's actually at Plymouth State University this morning with two of our daughters at a field hockey tournament. I was at field hockey practice yesterday, so I'm a field hockey dad.
Speaker 1:Hey, I'm with you on that, I am as well.
Speaker 4:It's been the last eight, nine years, seven, eight years of learning the rules. I still don't know the rules, actually understanding why the whistle's blowing All the time. Our oldest is a senior and she's at Exeter High School. They're a pretty good field hockey program and uh, she's actually, she's actually heading to, uh, uh, heading out to columbus, uh for for school at ohio wesleyan.
Speaker 1:So um, it's not ohio state yeah, I got a worried there for a second when yeah, yeah, no, but uh, but yeah she's uh, oh yeah, we're excited.
Speaker 4:We're excited to get, uh, get back in the mid-Atlantic area a little bit.
Speaker 1:So when's the last time you came back to campus and where it was, at Juniata?
Speaker 4:I went I think it was maybe three, three years ago, greg, I think I was at. I was at the athletics golf outing, yeah, and it was. It was awesome at the athletics golf outing, uh and uh, it was, it was awesome. I mean, uh played, uh, you know, with some of uh, you know some of the uh, you know old teammates and uh, and then, um, we, uh, and actually Travis Boyd was on our, was on our, uh, on our air force, and uh, craig Diller, and yeah, it was, uh, man, it was a great time.
Speaker 4:Uh, class act and um, you know I've stolen so much stuff you know from uh, you know from not only the. You know the basketball program for our program, but even our. You know our golf, our golf tournament, you know has, you know mimics, uh, you know what, what juniata does. I mean juniata has had such a you know warm place in my heart and what, and is responsible for a lot of the success that we have. That I've had, that I've had personally. But but yeah, it's, yeah, it was awesome walking on campus and you know the, the, you know seeing some of the old stomping grounds, which is cool, but yeah, and then you know what's. What's awful is we haven't gotten down and we've got to get down and see Nick, see Nick, torrey and Liam and see everyone. We haven't even seen the new house yet, so we've got to get there.
Speaker 1:Which is tough. I mean, you're a basketball coach, so you're coaching at the same time that your brother's coaching and Curly's coaching. Yeah.
Speaker 2:We need to get them. They can fly in the state college bus over man. We can make this happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we can make it happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we can make this happen, and if you guys have any celebrity guests that you bring to your golf tournament I mean Tom and I would be happy to fill that void for you.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe the next podcast is Regis, maybe. Maybe the next podcast is Regis, maybe, maybe. So now I know you, because of your brother and because of Curly, you've kind of stayed close to see what, at least what's going on with the team, what, what. Any thoughts here? As a you know we've we've heard a lot about Curly passing on thoughts to you and and how you've coached.
Speaker 2:What? What advice do you have for?
Speaker 1:our. What advice do you have for our team this year? What advice might you have?
Speaker 4:Because this is going to be an interesting year for us, with a rather younger team than we probably had in a while. Yeah, I mean from watching from afar again, just the sustained success is something that is impressive. It is so hard to win at is impressive. Um, it is. It is so hard, uh, to win um at this level. It's so hard Um, it's so very competitive with, um, you know, with all the schools and everyone.
Speaker 4:Um, you know basketball being a major sport. Um, you know, I think the, uh, you know the, the, the. The biggest, you know the biggest takeaway is you know to keep, keep doing, keep doing what we're doing. You know the biggest, you know the biggest takeaway is, you know, to keep doing what we're doing. You know, I think the you know developing the whole player. You know, and obviously the student at Juniata is elite and the athlete. You know there's everything in place. You know we're going to be in the same boat. We're going to have some younger players, you know. But, yeah, take it head on. You know, with the experiences, the ups and downs, yeah, I'm excited to see where the team goes this year.
Speaker 3:What's your expectations for Regis this year? What's your group look like?
Speaker 4:Yeah, for us, we, we, you know, like I mentioned, we have, uh, we have graduate offerings here. So we, we had um, three, um, well, two, two guys, uh, stay on, uh, last year and and do their and do their COVID Um, so that. And then we had another guy, kind of work the system, where he just took a fifth year to, you know, just to finish his undergrad, and you know, those guys were here, you know, here for five years and put a lot of work in and, you know, over COVID. You know, probably one of the silver linings of the year that we didn't have a season is we established a culture where guys got after it in the weight room and really, you know, made that important, fortunate to have to be able to recruit guys who identify themselves as as hoopers, as gym rats, and keeping, you know, I, you know, again, knock on, knock on wood here, but I get more kind of, you know, um problem, you know problems with, you know, our guys trying to get into the gym and using the gym rather than um, you know, rather than getting in trouble, um, on campus, so that that's that's music to my ears, honestly. So I think we're, we're getting the right guys, which is which is awesome, but we have. We do have our, our, our front court. Our front court is back, you know. But with those fifth year guys now graduating, we we had three and then a fourth senior and then we had one forward transfer out. We had five guys out of our rotation are not here for this year. So there's a lot of opportunity for new guys. We did bring in a big class of first years, but yeah, we do. We have some very talented guards coming in, but they're, but they're young, they're young guards, they're, they're first year guards. So we'll see. I do think their talent can, you know, can withstand some of the you know the, the on-ball pressure and pressure that we're going to see in our league.
Speaker 4:I probably I don't have anyone to blame but myself for our schedule. It's probably it's a tough schedule. It's a tough schedule I. It kind of went back to like I had said that we, you know, one of the best jobs I did my first year was making it a. You know, I don't want to say an easy schedule, but a manageable schedule. But by the time we got to, by the time we got to that fourth year, we had a NESCAC week where we were in Williams tournament and we played Williams in their championship game, only lost by eight, and that team lost in the national championship game. They had two All-Americans. And then we played Tufts University that Tuesdayuesday and then we ended the week with trinity um, which which is, yeah, it's it was, it was a good and we went one and two that week, so that that was good.
Speaker 4:But, um, you know, um, I kind of went back to the old me, uh, with this, uh with this year's schedule, and it was uh, yeah, we start out with, uh, I think we have three neskack teams on the on the schedule with, uh, boden, uh, trindy and amherst. We play brandeis university, uh, worcester state won their league last year, um, so some really good teams. And we open up the year with skidmore, who historically is very, very good and um, and then we have a division, one game, kind of like in the model what greg does with the, the trip every three. We try to do a outer region trip every every other year. Um, last year we went to Atlanta and, uh, that kind of turned our season around last year. It was a great trip we went to, you know, uh, so on those years where we don't have a trip, we try to play a division one game. Uh, so we were going over to Holy Cross this year. Again, it's a nice and easy trip and yeah, so I'm excited. But we better figure it out very quickly.
Speaker 2:You guys get, like you see the football you know in the D1 school schedule, like a little permit. Do you get cash for that?
Speaker 4:We do yeah, yeah, there's definitely a guarantee. Which schedule like a little opponent. Do you get cash for that? We do yeah, yeah, there's definitely a guarantee, which is I'm a cheap date, so you can. We're not getting. I mean, it's pretty good, it's not too bad.
Speaker 1:You better watch out. If me and Biz are in charge of scheduling, I think we're playing a Division I team. We're probably going to Ireland.
Speaker 3:There's a lot on the horizon.
Speaker 1:We might have to play the Division I team to go to Ireland.
Speaker 3:Are you using Division I as an exhibition or are you playing your two scrimmages? Is it one of your exhibitions?
Speaker 4:No, we're doing, we have our two scrimmages. Oh, so you're counting it's a counting game.
Speaker 3:All right, it's an accountable game. All right, I'm not going to let you I'm not letting you and Nick talk anymore.
Speaker 1:This is how this is very interesting. I like how this works.
Speaker 4:I get Kev on here, he can tell you how to find whoever you need to find to even out the schedule. Yeah, we've been pretty good at that in the past, but we ended up just some drops and someone dropping out of a tournament and, you know, replacing that team with Amherst. So instead of you know, yeah, so there was some stuff that happened, but again it's you know, we'll see, yeah, but it'll be good. It'll be good. It'll definitely prepare us for our league. Our league is very athletic, very heavy on transfers, very heavy on Division I and Division II transfers, and if you can't handle the basketball, you don't have a shot. If you don't have depth at your forward or big spot, you don't have a shot. So I think talent wise, we're, we're right there with uh, with anyone in the conference. It's uh, you know we're, you know we'll see what you know kind of the experiences we draw from. You know our non-league, that'll, uh, that'll get us ready, get us ready for uh, g-neck play hey, this just gives us another team to watch.
Speaker 1:We're gonna have to report in on how these teams and the coaches that we've had on, because, see, I'm competitive. I want to be honest with you, I want to have a better record, but I'd like for you to be right behind us.
Speaker 2:You know what I think we need to see Tom. What's that we need to see a sibling two-on-two battle.
Speaker 1:Ooh, that would be interesting. Versus Greg and Nick, that would be interesting. Now I think the Curlies are a little older. That's all right. You all right with that 8-7 versus Greg and Nick.
Speaker 2:That would be outstanding.
Speaker 1:Maybe that's like a little. You know how they have at the All-Star weekends they have these other little side games to the big game. Maybe we need that for alumni weekend. It's a summer game.
Speaker 2:We invite all the recruits and then they can pick their school.
Speaker 4:Pick their school based on who wins. Yeah, yeah, I need to get in the gym then, because you know, I know, juniata, there's noon hoops. We don't have noon hoops here, regis, we have noon soccer, so, and I don't participate.
Speaker 1:So I gotta get back we'll give you some fair warning.
Speaker 4:We'll give you some fair warning for that we'll arrange it, yeah, yeah I know you know getting up early, getting up early and getting a workout in. I get up early and maybe try to steal away and read a book before I get all the girls ready for school, get up early and take a nap.
Speaker 1:Now, before we wrap this up, we only have to ask you this question because your brother started it. Oh yes, I was about to miss this, but your brother started the Mount Rushmore of Juniata basketball. You need to give us now your Mount Rushmore. We allow five on Mount Rushmore, even though it's only four typically.
Speaker 2:Your brother did. He went for it.
Speaker 1:He went for it.
Speaker 2:Everybody else shies away from it. He named it, so kudos to your brother for stepping to the playoff. It's like scheduling hard.
Speaker 3:It's like scheduling hard. It's like scheduling hard. The Hagers are not afraid.
Speaker 4:Yeah, this is tough, you know, obviously I have to. I mean I'm biased you can be biased From my era and then from my era as an assistant and then from my era as an assistant I mean I could, I mean I got to say that you know the godfather, you know, I guess, and I think maybe Nick had him too, but the godfather has to be, you know, craig Biller. He's kind of that bridge between, you know, my group of friends and and the new group and Nick's group and then going forward. So Craig Craig's definitely number one. Brian Cannon was one of the best you know ever scorers, you know, on the court. He, you know, he just had a knack. He's, you know, one of the best ever hangs off the court too, I heard. So that's, I think that has to count. I think those two, those two for sure, man, this is where it gets a little. It's a little tougher. Yeah, it gets, it gets tougher. So I got two more or three more. You got three more, more.
Speaker 1:You got three more. We go we.
Speaker 4:We added a whole statue to our, our mountains basketball theme oh man, um, oh, shoot, you know, I don't know I'm gonna, I'm just gonna stay, I'm gonna stay in my stay in my realm. Um, you know, again, just from a level of toughness and I've mentioned him already two times I got to go with Travis Boyd.
Speaker 1:Travis Snake man Boyd.
Speaker 2:It's a guy who yeah.
Speaker 4:And then again, staying within my time frame, a guy who's just, uh, just a great, just a great dude. Um, you know, I like there was a time where I wanted to punch him in the face because, yeah, I decided to play football but, like tim, tim lineski was, that was such a great, uh, was such a great guy and he's, uh, you know he, he was, uh, you know, a tough, tough, hard, tough, hard-nosed player and, again, just a really good dude off the court as well. And then what do I got? What do I got? One left, one more left, left, one left. Well, I'll give the love to my brother. I'm going to put Nick up All right.
Speaker 4:There you go. He's a guy who you know, again still doing great things, great things for the program and was part of the. I think those programs that were on the two championship game got to two championship games and just really put Juniata on the map and again just kind of pave the way for the sustained success. And yeah, I think those are my thoughts.
Speaker 1:I like it. The love of the brother, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think we dropped the mic right there. We're not here to tell you what to ask you for.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's a couple new ones. Well fellas, another good show. I think if we just keep the Haggers on these shows, we're we're in good shape.
Speaker 2:I think so man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, follow the show on Instagram at Juniata basketball show. Subscribe to the Juniata men's basketball show on Apple Spotify. Wherever you listen to podcasts, leave us a comment on Instagram. And until next time, that was Nate Hager, I'm Buzz, I'm Head Coach, greg.
Speaker 4:Curl photo boom. Thanks guys.
