0:00

Our guest today is Christy Thomas

0:00

Cuddy.

0:02

Christy is an analyst for ESPN

0:02

covering sports across their

0:06

basketball platform. Prior to that, she coached college

0:09

basketball for 19 years in both

0:09

Division I and III, and also

0:13

served as the vice president of

0:13

the Women's Basketball Coaches

0:16

Association. In college, she was a standout on

0:20

the Tulane University women's

0:20

basketball team, where she ranked

0:23

fifth all time in Division I

0:23

history for career three-point

0:26

field goals, and was honored as

0:26

the National Female Winner of the

0:31

Arthur Ashe Junior Sports Scholar Award. Christy, it's so great to have you

0:32

back on the show.

0:37

Last time, you shared some truly

0:37

valuable insights with our

0:39

listeners. For today's episode, let's start by having you share some things

0:41

you're hearing from all the

0:45

coaches you interact with through

0:45

your role at ESPN.

0:48

One thing I'm hearing from current

0:48

college coaches is especially the

0:51

non-Power Fives. They love the scholastic period that is now in women's basketball.

0:55

Because it's giving, putting the kids back in their high school

0:57

teams, not their showcase things.

1:01

So they're seeing these kids

1:01

actually play and compete.

1:04

Versus, you know, there's no

1:04

defense and everything else.

1:07

And this is what college coaches

1:07

are saying that that 1 weekend is

1:11

more beneficial than anything I do

1:11

in July.

1:14

Around the club soon. Wait, explain that a little more

1:17

for families that don't know what

1:17

the scholastic period is versus

1:20

and what the coaches are saying is

1:20

helpful.

1:23

So it used to be at women's

1:23

basketball that most of July was

1:27

an open period to used to be at

1:27

women's basketball that most of

1:30

July was an open period to approve. And majority of it was majority of it was club. And that's where coaches would

1:30

prioritize and put their money

1:33

into because you saw more kids. Well, what they did maybe two or

1:35

three years ago is they took a

1:35

weekend and it's either late April

1:39

or May and it's at the high school

1:39

and it's with their high school

1:43

teams. It's not club. And it's giving coaches a

1:44

different view of kids, different

1:46

roles on different teams, how they

1:46

respond, different systems and

1:48

whatnot. So it's just given a much better

1:51

evaluation, but it's also taken a

1:51

lot of money out of it.

1:55

And it's about what it was 30

1:55

years ago in recruiting, and that

2:01

is about young people playing with

2:01

their peers.

2:04

and being competitive for the name

2:04

on the front, which is their high

2:08

school team. And that's what's disappointing with the club scene now.

2:12

It's not about the team, it's

2:14

about showcasing their skills.

2:16

It's about putting their best foot

2:18

forward, not the team's. And it's about, in terms of those

2:22

club teams, what club team you can

2:22

pay for.

2:25

Versus high school, that's really

2:25

where you're assigned unless

2:28

you're at private school. That's still what team you can you

2:32

can pay for it. But it's humbling to me when I But

2:36

it's humbling to me when I hear

2:36

what some of these parents are

2:41

paying. The club coaches that doesn't

2:43

include the travel or the hotels. You know, it's some entry phase,

2:45

but it's to pay the coaches. And I'm like, what are the coaches?

2:46

Like, are you seeing the benefits? Like, is your child developing in

2:48

practice?

2:50

Oh, we don't practice. We just go on showcase.

2:53

I said, so then what you're doing

2:53

is you're hiring a general

2:56

manager. And so for me, that's the piece

2:58

where I'm like, well, how did we

2:58

get to this point in club, in

3:02

youth sports, where we have these

3:02

people who are just taking

3:05

advantage of kids to make money?

3:05

And that's the part that has me

3:10

very frustrated, because what now

3:10

I'm seeing in the college space is

3:13

those same people who had an

3:13

impact, somewhat for ego, and I'm

3:16

generalizing here, because there

3:16

are some great club coaches out

3:19

there. But some of these guys, have egos.

3:21

And so they're trying to put their

3:21

kids in the big game, in the big

3:26

programs for their benefit so they

3:26

can get the next crop through and

3:29

make more money. Yes. And it doesn't stop though,

3:31

because now once they get to

3:34

college, those same coaches are

3:34

looking to promote their kid, get

3:38

more money for their kid behind the scenes. I know this is happening because

3:39

they are calling other coaches.

3:42

Hey, if she goes on the portal,

3:42

would you take her?

3:45

And what would you give them?

3:45

That to me, again, I don't know if

3:49

they're I don't know if they're

3:49

going, they're talking to the

3:52

parents or not, but that's where

3:52

if a parent were to hear that,

3:56

they should shut that down. Because once again, what are you

3:59

doing? You're taking the rug out from under your young person's feet and

4:01

where they are.

4:04

What do we always say? Be where your feet are. There's no way a young person can

4:05

be when they've got all these

4:09

adults in their lives who think

4:09

they should be someplace else.

4:11

And that's the part where, how do

4:11

you grow?

4:14

if you don't water, if you don't

4:14

invest, if you don't cultivate

4:17

where you are athletically, socially, academically. And that's the piece now where

4:19

your college experience should

4:21

still the piece now where your

4:21

college experience should still be

4:24

the most impactful experience of your life. And unfortunately, I think what

4:26

I'm seeing is adults are taking

4:29

that away from young people

4:29

because it's about money.

4:31

It's about notoriety, not an

4:31

education, not development.

4:34

And it's fascinating to me to hear

4:34

about these adults that are

4:38

meddling. Some of them are not even parents.

4:42

They're just adults looking for a quick buck, looking to make an arrangement for a kid.

4:45

Let's get an NIL deal on the

4:48

table. Let's get this transfer sorted

4:50

out. We were talking about teaching our

4:53

kids to advocate for themselves

4:53

when they have an issue with the

4:57

coach, teach them how to

4:57

communicate with the coach.

5:02

Well, the same thing goes for kids

5:02

when they're in college and

5:06

perhaps they want to go somewhere

5:06

else, do it yourself.

5:10

Let's learn how to pick up the

5:10

phone and call people.

5:14

If you want to enter the transfer

5:14

portal, great, but then you make

5:17

your own deals. You don't need to hire somebody.

5:21

Unfortunately, there's so much

5:21

money involved that they don't

5:24

think of it like I'm hiring

5:24

somebody.

5:26

They think of it like this

5:26

person's getting me money, and the

5:30

families think of it that way.

5:32

You mentioned the cognitive skills and how behind our young people

5:34

are these days.

5:37

Well, if we continue to do

5:37

everything for them and they don't

5:40

have to advocate for themselves at

5:40

all in these situations, when will

5:44

they ever develop these skills? Never. They don't have to.

5:47

Yeah, I've often thought recently

5:50

of what are alumni weekends like

5:50

for the past, like, these last 3

5:54

or 4 years of Teams?

5:54

Because it's not like those young

5:57

people have been together for 4 years. Not like our generation, not like

5:59

10 years ago, where, you know, it

6:03

might have been one young person

6:03

transferring.

6:06

But you had that core bonding, and

6:06

we all know those are some of the

6:10

most impactful moments of our

6:10

lives when we get back with our

6:13

alums. when we get to spend that time

6:17

reminiscing and talking about how

6:17

we grew, what we achieved

6:20

together, all those things. And that's a byproduct of these.

6:23

And that's what I thought about

6:23

the college experience should be

6:26

so memorable, so impactful. And we're taking that from kids

6:29

now, because we're not allowing

6:29

them that moment of just embracing

6:32

the hard to be better for it.

6:35

and we want to run from heart.

6:37

And that's probably the one thing

6:37

I would love for parents to hear

6:41

right now is heart is good. Heart is necessary to be an

6:44

impactful, productive, successful adult. Totally agree.

6:46

Totally agree. Yeah, it's funny because one of my

6:47

last guests on the show was tennis

6:52

coach at Clemson and she talked

6:52

about how it's okay to let your

6:56

kids cry. Let them cry.

6:59

Let them be upset. That's a good thing.

7:02

They're going to come out of it

7:02

stronger.

7:04

And I think that's, you know, one

7:04

lesson that comes from a lot of

7:09

great coaches is, you know,

7:09

parents stop rushing in and making

7:14

things better for them. And you have two boys.

7:17

Did you go through go through that

7:17

period where you had to just let

7:24

them cry to soothe themselves at

7:24

night?

7:28

It's the same thing as they go

7:28

through and try to transform into

7:33

adulthood. cry it out, fail, and stand up

7:37

now. Yeah. And that is one thing too, you

7:38

know, I always talk to young women

7:41

about all the time, your body

7:41

language says so much about you.

7:45

And that's the other piece I think

7:45

we can help these young people to

7:49

understand how to communicate is

7:49

go in, shoulders back, head held

7:52

high, Make eye contact. Don't go in there meekly.

7:56

Because again, when I saw a young

7:56

person whose head was down,

7:58

they're not listening. They're trying to get through the

8:01

conversation. That's why I said, if you're going

8:04

to have the conversation, listen. Because you're not going to be

8:08

better for it otherwise. You're wasting everybody's time.

8:11

And I'm not saying everybody makes

8:11

the right decision as they go

8:14

through college. And that's one piece.

8:17

Again, we could talk for three

8:17

hours on this one.

8:20

But the college decision making,

8:20

In itself, what are you looking

8:23

for? And what's the most important? Or is it the highest level?

8:25

Is it the most money you're being

8:31

offered? That's another reason we're making so many bad decisions and needing

8:32

to go into the transfer for

8:35

needing. Support from parents, and it's like, can we just get a reset

8:37

here?

8:40

You know, I always talk about. We have summer, fall, spring,

8:43

winter, spring. And we also have the I'm So

8:46

Blessed season, where you see

8:46

every young person on social media

8:50

have to say that they had a great

8:50

conversation.

8:52

And I want to be like, has anyone

8:52

ever posted they had a crappy

8:56

conversation and they still got a scholarship offer? But it's again, look at me.

9:00

And what I want young people to

9:03

see is don't ask people to look at

9:03

you.

9:05

Show people who you are, and that

9:05

means through your body language,

9:09

through how you perform, how you

9:09

react, not what you're posting on

9:12

social media. And we all know social media is 1

9:16

of the biggest issues of what is

9:16

for our young people.

9:19

And I remember asking this was

9:19

before I left Emory.

9:22

We have a lead camp and I would

9:22

ask people, can you put your phone

9:27

down for a day and get all social

9:27

media and the number of people

9:31

we're talking to 10 years ago now. I could do that.

9:34

They were like, no, I might have 3

9:34

or 4.

9:37

And so I can't even imagine what

9:37

it's like now.

9:40

And again. I'm generalizing not all is bad.

9:43

There's a lot of information. But I'm also a matter of, you

9:46

know, I've always said this to

9:46

young people that I advise in

9:51

recruiting. Every time you put out there who

9:54

has offered you, you lose some of

9:54

your power because you're giving

9:57

your knowledge to every other

9:57

coach who may not have not have

10:01

known. And the other piece I always say

10:03

is to ask. A Power Five program isn't putting

10:06

out there everybody they've offered. What you notice is the middle

10:07

people who want their own

10:09

accolades are saying so-and-so was

10:09

offered by X institution today.

10:12

And to me that I don't know this

10:12

for a fact, but I can only imagine

10:16

that it causes some anxiety. For young people, not not just the

10:18

1 who they're saying that about.

10:21

Because now the business out there now, it puts more pressure on them

10:22

to make that decision.

10:25

Maybe not. Maybe it's just about everybody's

10:27

looking at me now. But I also know what it does for

10:31

the other ones who aren't getting that recognition. And that's why I say to parents,

10:33

you gotta have a true conversation

10:37

about social media when it comes to recruiting. Because there's misinformation,

10:38

but there's also also information that's not out there for the

10:40

betterment of information that's

10:43

not out there for the betterment

10:43

of anybody.

10:45

It's out there for some of these

10:45

adults to look good about their

10:49

program getting an offer, not the

10:49

young person.

10:53

Yeah. It's about, I mean, a lot of it is about the parents being able to

10:55

gloat about the successes of their

10:58

children. It's about parents living vicariously through their children. And it's interesting for you to

11:00

talk about posting on social

11:03

media. And I want to talk about that in

11:06

more detail because one of the

11:06

things that I've struggled with,

11:09

so I work with, as you know,

11:09

student athletes now from all

11:12

sports, helping them with the recruiting process. And one of the things I always

11:14

tell them is after you have a

11:18

conversation with the coach, I

11:18

don't want you posting anything

11:21

about your conversation on social

11:21

media.

11:24

Now, in the football, basketball

11:24

spaces, it is very common, like

11:27

you said, to post all of the offers. And there is some, I understand,

11:27

leverage that it gets you with

11:30

other coaches if they see, oh,

11:30

hey, Chapel Hill is looking at

11:34

this kid, but here we are at Duke,

11:34

we haven't looked at him, so we

11:38

better take a look. So there's a little bit of

11:41

leverage there, right?

11:41

I can understand that.

11:43

Does it need to be posted on

11:43

social media though?

11:48

Is that something you can communicate instead? What are your thoughts?

11:50

So, to the parents out there, what

11:53

I would say is. If you get an offer quickly from a

11:57

school who has not had much

11:57

contact from you because of a post

12:00

like that. It should tell you why that school

12:04

has not done the homework. And again, this goes back to bad

12:07

decision making in the process.

12:09

And therefore you're going to wind

12:12

up in the portal. You're not going to be happy.

12:17

I've always thought it's fit and

12:17

everyone's going to have a

12:20

different fit. And I'm going through this with my

12:23

niece, who's not an athlete right

12:23

now, but, you know, we're trying

12:28

not to pressure, but I'm just, I'm

12:28

asking general questions.

12:31

If you could describe your ideal

12:31

college situation, what does it

12:34

look like? What's the weather like? How big?

12:36

How small? What's the class size like?

12:37

What's the dining situation like?

12:40

What is the social activities

12:40

like?

12:42

Is it big city? Is it urban? Is it in between?

12:44

Not trying to get a school, but to

12:49

get an idea. And I feel like right now, what we

12:54

look at is the bells and whistles

12:54

of college athletics, which is

12:56

about special from power by

12:56

perspective about to start

12:59

declining. Because of the money that's going to go to our athletes now to be

13:01

paid.

13:03

The enhancements for mental health. For training rooms for eating all

13:04

that stuff. It stopped the facility

13:06

enhancements will stop.

13:08

Because that money is now, I mean,

13:08

talk about I think about

13:12

22Million. That's going to start going to

13:14

athletes that before was going for

13:14

some of this other support stuff.

13:18

That stuff's gone gone now. So, again, this is where I go back

13:22

to you. Is it about the 4 years of getting

13:25

paid or is it about the 40 year

13:25

education?

13:27

And that it and way to do it.

13:30

And I always say this to, you and

13:33

I both know every adult knows life

13:33

is about the connections.

13:36

It's not about what, you know,

13:36

it's about who, you know, when it

13:40

comes time to get that job. 1 of my biggest concern is

13:43

someone's decision making that's

13:43

going on right now for these young

13:46

people and picking the school. They're not getting that

13:48

connectivity because it's transfer

13:48

transfer not that connectivity

13:51

transfer. And I don't think that there's the

13:55

ability now to have that network

13:55

that true network.

13:58

That's going to help them. get that next job, get into

14:02

professional school. Because we've been so

14:05

short-sighted about the four years

14:05

and what we can get paid that, and

14:10

again, we're not talking football. We're not talking Power Five

14:13

football where these kids are

14:13

going to get, we know, a lot of

14:18

money through NIL, collectors, but

14:18

for the other student-athletes,

14:21

that connectivity piece will set

14:21

you up for life if you understand

14:25

how to make the right decision for

14:25

you, not your parents.

14:27

not your club your club coach, not

14:27

your manager.

14:29

A lot of those now in our game.

14:31

What is best for you? And that is where, again, the, I

14:32

think if I had, we'll say a junior

14:36

high student right now, as a

14:36

child, I would really work on

14:40

their communication skills. Why? Because they have to verbalize

14:42

what they to what they want.

14:45

Otherwise, we, I mean, I saw when

14:45

I was coaching, every young person

14:49

to that point where it was just

14:49

hard, they were scared of making

14:53

the wrong decision. So they just wanted to make a

14:57

decision. and that's leading to bad decisions and going to the wrong

14:59

places. So it doesn't matter.

15:02

I think parents can really help develop, try to help develop the

15:04

communication skills of the young

15:08

people before they get into the

15:08

recruiting process so that they

15:12

can always verbalize, I don't like

15:12

this, I do like this.

15:15

And I think it's a parent's

15:15

prerogative.

15:18

And obviously, I think job to hold

15:18

their kids to those things of what

15:22

they said they like or don't like.

15:26

And we all know that will evolve

15:28

and change. But as long as a young person

15:31

verbalize that, perfect. You know, as many kids as we got

15:35

to come to our schools, we had

15:35

just as many say no to us.

15:38

And as long as a young person can

15:38

verbalize the why, I always told

15:42

them, I support you 100% and

15:42

sounds like you made the right

15:45

choice. Yeah. I don't know that we're getting

15:45

that kind of confirmation from our

15:50

young people anymore because the

15:50

process starts so early for one.

15:53

There's so much information coming

15:53

out at them, whether it's

15:55

internet, through coaches, through

15:55

club coaches, through social

15:57

media, it's overwhelming for these young people. And so that's where the foundation

15:59

needs to be laid early in terms of

16:03

do they have the ability to

16:03

process and communicate what

16:07

they're seeing and hearing so that

16:07

they know what they want.

16:10

Yeah. And I think that communication

16:13

skill development. also has to deal with to get back

16:17

to what you're saying. Listen, it's about their

16:20

self-awareness. You can communicate all day and

16:22

you can spit out information that

16:22

you're being told to spit out.

16:25

But if you don't have the ability

16:25

to process that information and to

16:30

make it work for you and to

16:30

understand what is best for you.

16:34

So part of my new business also,

16:34

I'm an independent educational

16:36

consultant and we talk all the

16:36

time about fit.

16:39

It's all about where you're going

16:39

to feel the best.

16:41

And if you find the place that

16:41

really matches what you're looking

16:44

for on a holistic level, then you

16:44

won't wind up in the transfer

16:47

portal. And you'll thrive. And you'll thrive. But you have to have that

16:51

self-awareness to be able to know

16:51

what is going to be best for you.

16:55

And so it's just fascinating for

16:55

me to hear all of that from you,

17:01

because, you know, it's it's it's

17:01

a big part of the academic side of

17:06

the business. And I think oftentimes the

17:09

athletic side. doesn't cross over with the

17:12

academic side when there's money involved. And especially now with more and

17:13

more money that's coming in, we're

17:16

overlooking that. And the academic side does tend to

17:19

pair more with the holistic side

17:19

of things.

17:22

And full disclosure, you know

17:22

this, my parents are both

17:25

educators. So for me, it always has been

17:29

education first and foremost. But I do believe in the lessons

17:34

that athletics gave me. And again, athletics got me a

17:38

scholarship, but I was focused on

17:38

looking at what was the

17:41

educational background or

17:41

opportunities at each one of those

17:44

schools. Athletics was my venue to get a

17:47

great education. It's flipped now. Education is just the byproduct of

17:49

what athletics will get us.

17:52

And I just, I wonder and worry

17:52

about what our young people are

17:57

doing now from an adult perspective. And you brought up self-awareness.

18:00

I think it's not, it's an academic

18:02

thing for sure. It is a social thing for sure.

18:07

It's also an athletic thing. And so this is the number one

18:11

skill that I'm, as I've gotten

18:11

older, that I recognize successful

18:15

people are self-aware. Unsuccessful people are those

18:18

people that have a ceiling that

18:18

they self-impose on them.

18:20

And that happens in athletics as

18:20

well.

18:23

If you only see the world through

18:23

your eyes, you will never be as

18:27

successful as you could be. Because you can't see it from your

18:32

coach's perspective. You can't see it from your

18:36

teammates perspective. That's what makes culture.

18:39

That's what makes chemistry. That's why teams are high

18:42

performance. And so for young people who only

18:45

want to think the coach hates me

18:45

because they feel that they have

18:49

their feelings. you're not going to grow.

18:53

And so again, it's another one of

18:53

those developmental skills that, I

18:56

mean, again, I see it in my role

18:56

now.

18:59

I see it from young people.

19:02

I see it from coaches. I see it from people I work with.

19:06

And I truly believe without self-awareness, you self-impose a

19:07

glass ceiling.

19:11

And no parent should want that for

19:11

their young person.

19:14

So I do think when a young person

19:14

picks up the phone, or I'm sorry,

19:19

texts their parent complaining,

19:19

That one thing a parent could do

19:22

is, where do you think that

19:22

teammates coming from?

19:25

Or where do you think your coaches

19:25

coming from help develop?

19:28

Because it is a skill that we need

19:28

to help our young people develop.

19:33

to Yeah. And oftentimes as a parent, you

19:35

can't say that over text. You need to have a conversation

19:39

with your kid. Sit him down, put the phone down

19:43

and let's have a talk about

19:43

feelings and thoughts and what's

19:47

right for you as a child. And the phones, I know they're

19:51

this common culprit that we have,

19:51

but it is something that we have

19:54

to live with and it is okay to put

19:54

those things down.

19:58

And I think it's really important

19:58

for parents to to sit down with

20:01

their kids and have these

20:01

conversations.

20:04

Absolutely. And here's the Absolutely.

20:06

And here's the thing. I know parents have a lot on their

20:11

plate. So I'm not saying, hey, this, this, this, and this.

20:14

But I still more than ever believe

20:17

it takes a ever it takes a

20:17

village, whether it's a single

20:20

parent or it is two parents.

20:23

If you aren't getting the information from your child, who

20:24

can? Who can deliver that message?

20:25

I'm an aunt. And so I've had a lot of

20:27

discussions with my brother.

20:30

He's like, hey, could you talk

20:30

about this?

20:33

Absolutely. And that's just me as an aunt.

20:37

You know, sometimes when I sit

20:37

down with teammates, I'll give the

20:40

message that I just heard a coach

20:40

try to give that I know the eyes

20:46

were rolling, they weren't paying attention. But again, to hear it from someone

20:47

else.

20:49

And so I think sometimes as

20:49

parents, we get frustrated.

20:53

I'm not one, but what I've seen is

20:53

they get frustrated, the same

20:58

message is not clicking. So just stop.

21:00

Well, no, Again, it's like

21:00

anything, how do we get the

21:04

message across?

21:04

Who could get that message to sink

21:07

in?

21:07

Because at the end of the day, it

21:10

should be about our young people. It should be about developing

21:13

them, preparing them. And that's what I've always

21:16

thought. College athletics, my job as a

21:18

head coach was, my job is to

21:18

prepare this young person for when

21:23

they walk out of this institution,

21:23

are they ready for the real world?

21:26

And I would always say that when

21:26

they were complaining about how

21:30

hard practice was or this or that. I said, you know what, if I'm the

21:34

worst person ever in your life,

21:34

I've done my job.

21:37

If I have put structures on you

21:37

and developed a culture where this

21:41

is hard and it's the hardest thing

21:41

you're ever going to go through,

21:43

you're going to be successful in

21:43

life because you and I both know

21:47

in the moment, it's hard, but it

21:47

is not hard.

21:51

It's hard for a freshman because

21:51

they never went through it, but it

21:55

is part of becoming that productive adult. Well, and I just want to and I

21:56

just want to point out that

22:00

coaches are part of that village. And parents should welcome the

22:03

coaches to provide that structure

22:03

to help them because parents can't

22:06

do it welcome to provide that

22:06

structure to help them because

22:08

parents can't do it alone. I certainly can't do it alone.

22:12

I was talking to my oldest coach

22:12

just last week and thanking him

22:14

for being tough on my child

22:14

because I think it helps him to

22:18

develop in a new way that he needs

22:18

to develop before he heads to

22:22

college. So use all your resources, use

22:24

your village. I want to be cognizant of our

22:26

time. We only have a few more minutes left, but I want to get back to

22:28

one thing that we have kind of

22:31

touched upon, and that is the

22:31

house settlement and the payments

22:34

of players. And you've mentioned how you feel

22:36

like that trickle-down effect is

22:36

going to take place in terms of

22:39

cutting other programs, support programs. How do you feel like it's going to

22:40

impact our non-revenue generating

22:43

sports? I think you gotta be really careful right now.

22:45

And I think when you're on a

22:47

visit, that is something that I

22:47

would definitely be talking, not

22:49

just to the coach, because they're

22:49

not gonna be making that decision.

22:52

You need to be sitting down with the administrator. And again, athletics is dynamic

22:54

right now. Everything that's happening in

22:56

this space is so dynamic.

22:59

So things will change. But I think you have to be

23:02

prepared for that. And I think the number one

23:05

question I would ask is, if my

23:05

child signs here and you drop the

23:08

sport, what does that mean for their scholarship? That would be one thing that I

23:10

would definitely be asking.

23:13

But we know, and I'm just going to

23:13

talk SEC, football is the driving

23:16

the driving vehicle that makes

23:16

money.

23:18

You have some men's basketball,

23:18

you know, South Carolina who sell

23:22

that every night. But overall, most college sports are sports are so far in the red. Football supports all those other

23:25

programs. And I know we can knock football

23:27

and how much money is spent and

23:27

everything else.

23:30

It's not a revenue issue in

23:30

college athletics.

23:32

It is a spending issue in college

23:32

athletics right now.

23:35

And so if we're going to pay, and

23:35

your sport is not making money,

23:39

because what this new legislation

23:39

has done is turn out college

23:43

athletes into a business. And what does any major

23:45

corporation do with the fact?

23:45

The underperforming departments,

23:47

they're cut. So that is why I know that a lot

23:50

of people are cheering for this legislation. For me, who's a fan of Olympic

23:52

sports, for women's sports, it is

23:56

scary to me. What is the next generation going

24:00

to look like if they don't have

24:00

college athletics?

24:02

We spend all this time about what

24:02

we want for our young people to be

24:07

from college athletics.

24:10

They may not even have the opportunity because of this

24:11

legislation. So I think if I was a parent going

24:13

through this process right now in

24:16

a non-revenue sport, I would be

24:16

asking a lot of these questions in

24:19

terms of what if. We don't want to be Debbie Downer.

24:22

We're not talking doomsday. But the last thing you want is you

24:27

send your kid to University X And

24:27

maybe even before they get there,

24:31

they mix the program. And there's some programs that are

24:33

more at risk than that are more at

24:33

risk than others.

24:36

And we've seen those sports cuts

24:36

happen even before the pandemic,

24:39

but certainly during the pandemic,

24:39

you can see which ones were cut

24:43

harder than others. So that's something to consider.

24:45

What are your thoughts on the D3

24:45

model, having come from D3 and

24:48

now, you know, obviously you're

24:48

working with a lot of power five

24:52

schools and seeing, you know, so

24:52

it's a different vantage point.

24:57

But D3 has never relied on revenue

24:57

generating sports, certainly not

25:00

football. There's not revenue coming in in

25:03

D3 football. So what are your thoughts on that

25:06

model and how that could play into

25:06

these changes?

25:10

Well, I think we, you and I both

25:10

know division 3 has always been

25:15

the best option for a lot of these

25:15

high achieving individuals.

25:19

Because you can achieve in the

25:19

classroom and on the film.

25:23

The thing with Division III

25:23

Athletics right now is it is this

25:27

price of tuition that concerns me

25:27

for their sustainability.

25:31

Because for so long, it's been the

25:31

value of the education, the value

25:36

of education. We've seen since COVID that it's

25:38

not so much about the classroom

25:38

education anymore.

25:42

And we all know it's the tuition

25:42

dollars, because Division III

25:45

Athletics is not revenue

25:45

producing, that there's that

25:48

trickle down. So that's the only downside.

25:50

We all know there's so many great

25:50

institutions at Division 3 that it

25:54

is still a matter of fit. It is still a matter of can a

25:58

family afford it?

25:58

What is the financial aid package?

26:01

What is the merit-based package?

26:01

But I still believe some of the

26:04

best coaches, and I say this

26:04

because I'm still in contact with

26:07

so many of my coaches from the

26:07

UAA, and they'll ask me different

26:10

things that I'm saying. And I'll still say there was a

26:14

period during the UAA where I

26:14

would take any of those coaches

26:17

and I'd put them against some of

26:17

the top coaches in Division 1

26:22

because the difference is it was a

26:22

niche staff, but the basketball IQ

26:24

was so high. And what I still I still see, I

26:28

mean, because I see Division III

26:28

athletes who are now grad

26:32

assistants when I'm out doing

26:32

games and and stuff.

26:35

And they all talk And they all

26:35

talk about, like, just how

26:39

different it is because of the,

26:39

not just the academic prowess, but

26:43

the ball IQ that was demanded to

26:43

play.

26:46

And so it was just a higher level

26:46

of playing.

26:49

And I think that's the biggest

26:49

misconception.

26:52

And I see it from club coaches all

26:52

the time that think Division III

26:59

is a lesser it was option.

27:01

No. Mina, you beat Division I

27:03

programs. I beat Division I programs.

27:06

It's not the level. It is the fit.

27:09

And that's why I say if a young

27:09

person has the ability and it is

27:13

the right fit, why wouldn't you?

27:13

You also see Division II players

27:17

of the year, Division III players

27:17

of the year, finish their

27:21

eligibility, and then go play

27:21

Division I. That's not a knock.

27:25

It is about finding the right fit.

27:27

And I'm assuming for young people,

27:30

it should be about wanting to win.

27:32

And that's why I talk about fit.

27:35

You go and play at a level, yeah,

27:35

it's great for signing day, but

27:39

you're never going to play.

27:41

Yeah. I would assume you want to play if

27:41

you've invested 18 years of

27:47

preparing yourself for this moment. So again, it goes back to that

27:48

fit.

27:50

So this is not me saying Tower

27:50

Five, Division One, because I

27:54

mean, I have a lot of coaches

27:54

across all levels that are my

27:58

friends. It is about fit. Every level has a downside, has an

28:00

upside.

28:03

you know, and this is life. What are the things that you're

28:06

willing to put up with to have

28:06

that upside?

28:08

Some of those are non-gothic individuals. Find what it is and find that fit.

28:12

And that's individual for every young person. But for any parent to just dismiss

28:15

Division 3 because it is not

28:15

Division 1, I'm going to say you

28:18

should check your priorities

28:18

because look at what these

28:20

Division 3 athletes are doing in

28:20

the world right now.

28:23

And look at the direction of

28:23

Division I athletics right now.

28:26

There might not be a choice. Division III might be one path.

28:29

I truly, and again, this is not an

28:29

ESPN is not an ESPN opinion.

28:33

This is me, who's just a sports fan. Our model is not sustainable.

28:36

I truly believe that, especially with the most recent realignment,

28:38

that we're probably looking at

28:41

football separating out within

28:41

five years and having their own

28:43

division And then hopefully we get

28:43

back to some normalcy in college

28:46

athletics amongst all the other

28:46

sports if we still have sports.

28:50

I mean, we're talking about the

28:50

new legislation, but another big

28:53

concern of mine is Title Title

28:53

Title IX.

28:56

And what happens if the Supreme

28:56

Court were to rule against that?

29:00

Because you and I both know we are

29:00

here because of Title IX.

29:03

Our generation got opportunities

29:03

that the ones before us didn't

29:05

get. And it kills me to think that our

29:08

next generations may not get those

29:08

same opportunities.

29:10

I mean, that is a topic for

29:10

another.

29:13

Real heavy, real fast. Well, thanks, Christy.

29:15

I so appreciate you being here. Thanks for tuning in for today's

29:19

play. Join us next time to hear more

29:21

insights from another outstanding coach. Until then, remember, as you

29:24

navigate the ups and downs of your

29:27

child's sports journey, you're not

29:27

just picking teams, you're

29:29

building character, fostering resilience, and creating lifelong memories.