Next Possession

Greg Kampe joins Coach Hawk to talk about his unique coaching history, specifically the longevity of his run as the Head Coach at Oakland University.He shares his perspectives on the challenges facing mid-major coaches, the prolonged pain of losing/brief joy of winning, family influencing the decision to stay or move on from a coaching job, and much more.Coach Kampe speaks on the loss that still keeps him up at night and the many variables that go into the success of a season. Late in the podcast, he gives his suggestion on how to improve college basketball for all.The tipoff and buzzer beater revolve around 'youth vs. experience' when putting together a coaching staff.Coach Hawk will be taking a break from Next Possession for the next month. We will be returning strong in August with more rare conversations that pull back the curtain on the sports world.Enjoy your July! 

Coach Hawk is back and healthy, following an unexpected dental procedure! This week Minnesota Football Head Coach, PJ Fleck joins Coach Hawk to talk about many parts of his life and coaching philosophy. PJ shares about his own basketball and football playing days, row the boat, what it takes to build championship culture, and a ton more.Throughout their talk Coach Fleck reflects on his time coaching in Kalamazoo at Western Michigan University, the variables that led to him eventually leaving Kalamazoo for Minnesota, facing criticism, his goals as the leader of a group of young men, and his love for  the twin cities.Don't miss this great talk with one of College Football's most fascinating personalities. This week's tipoff and buzzer beater focus on job jumping. 

This week Coach Hawk is joined by University of Wisconsin's Head Men's Basketball Coach, Greg Gard. Coach Gard talks at length about the uniqueness of Wisconsin's academic and athletic tradition, his long road to becoming a Head Coach, and all he learned along the way.This is a valuable episode for fans, coaches, and players alike. The tipoff question asks about transitioning roles from the Assistant to Head Coach.The buzzerbeater focuses on the positives of experiencing pain.

This week Coach Hawk is back with a phenomenal episode highlighted by a halftime talk with Luke Strege, Head Coach of Mineral Area College.  He and Hawk connect on hoops, parenting, and how to stall at lawn mowing. Luke is very open and vulnerable as he shares intimate details about his family, including his kid's Autism diagnosis.In his five years coaching the Cardinals,  Coach Strege's teams have an overall record of 219-29.The overarching themes of this episode are perspective and perception.This week's buzzer-beater focuses on the past, present, and future of Junior College Basketball.The tipoff question asks...what's the most important body part of a basketball player?

In episode 46 of Next Possession, Coach Hawk is joined by World Series Champion, Rich Donnelly, a long-time Major League Baseball 3rd base coach and Minor League manager. Rich and Hawk spend some time recounting the origins of their relationship and then Donnelly shares intimate details of his family's story of tragedy, perseverance, heroism, and faith. Rich's perspective on life is truly inspiring.Other themes covered in this week's episode; the importance of being aggressive, and how much our outlook impacts the way we experience life.  

This week Coach Hawk connects with ESPN's, Seth Greenberg for a wide-ranging conversation about all sides of the game, from the sidelines to the studio.Seth shares details of his life as an Assistant Coach, Head Coach, Analyst, and in-studio personality on ESPN. It's clear that Greenberg is thankful for the way the game has taken care of him over the years. He also speaks about the challenges of being a parent and coach and how it impacts a family.Late in the conversation, it's clear that he is still a coach at heart, as he looks back on teams who played so hard for him, yet never reached the NCAA Tournament.The tip-off question deals with the high school shot clock and the buzzer-beater focuses on a second-life in sports. 

This week's episode puts a laser-like focus on the transfer portal. Coach Hawk connects with the Head Men's Basketball Coach at his Alma Matter, Richie Riley. Richie spills on his path to becoming a Division 1 Head Coach and how he embraced transfers far before the term 'transfer portal' was coined.Coach Riley has a beautiful approach towards players wishing to transfer both in and out of his program. His open-mindedness in this area across his career has turned him into a true outlier in current times. Click play to hear details of his approach as the leader of a modern basketball program.The tip-off and buzzer-beater are both 'transfer' focused this week. We hope you enjoy this hyper-topical episode of Next Possession and are thank you for your continued listenership!

This week Coach Hawk returns from a one-week hiatus to connect with Seattle-Native Tucker Haymond. Fasten your seatbelts as Haymond and Hawk recap of his surreal path to Division 1 Basketball, an NBA G League Championship, and a series of overseas basketball experiences. The details are better heard directly from Tucker's mouth than these typed words, so please click play and enjoy! This week's tip-off question asks about how to instill a strong work ethic in young humans, athletically and beyond.The buzzer-beater focuses on overseas professional basketball.

This week Coach Hawk drops in for a short episode before taking a one-week breather to let you all fully recuperate from March Madness. He digs into the changes that have some substantial chatter in circles of influence, along with his own personal suggestion of ways the on-court rules of the game could be changed for the better. Hawk will be back with a new full episode on  April 25. Thank you all for supporting Next Possession.

This week Saint Mary's Head Coach Randy Bennett called Coach Hawk following  Michigan's loss to UCLA in the Elite Eight of March Madness. Randy digs pretty deep into his coaching philosophy and will to compete regardless of circumstances. He speaks on what he believes are the most important traits of a good player and the impact country of origin has on player personalities. He's had a great connection with Australian players during his entire tenure at Saint Mary's. Coach Hawk puts a welcomed focus on this unique characteristic of the Saint Mary's Men's Basketball program. There is a great exchange of information, ideas, and perspectives about recruiting and developing international players.Coach Bennett delves into the way Tim Floyd impacted him at a time when Randy was still deciding if he wanted to even become a full-time Coach.Other topics:- The importance of a school's administration committing the necessary resources needed to compete at an elite level.- His commitment to Saint Mary's- Alumni returning to campus- Difficulties of a COVID-19 Season- MetricsThis week's 'Tip-off question' asks about the impact a heckler has on the game. Hawk gives some tips that will surely come in handy for any Players or Coaches listening. 

This week Coach Hawk switches things up and asks the listeners of Next Possession to share potential solutions to the many challenges facing college athletics.If you've been tuned-in for the first  39 episodes of the show, you've heard many knowledgeable humans in the basketball world share their thoughts of challenges past, present, and future. This week, Hawk turns to YOU in hopes that you'll offer ideas that may help in the evolution of collegiate sports and the system they operate within. Take some time to think about what you would do to help usher us into a new era of NCAA Athletics and then reach out to Coach Hawk via email, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to share your gems.After we gather all of your insights and Hawk has had the opportunity to process through your possible solutions, we'll dedicate another episode to what you've shared and his thoughts on it all...then maybe, just maaaaaybe, we will collectively come up with some answers to the biggest hurdles facing the game we love and college sports as a whole.The ball is in your court. Whatcha got for us?nextpossession@yahoo.comtwitter.com/Next_Possessionfacebook.com/NextPossessioninstagram.com/nextpossession

This week Coach Hawk is joined by none other than Russ Turner, Head Coach of the UC Irvine Men's Basketball Team.Russ and Hawk talk at length about the excitement of March Madness and what it's like to lead a team into the tournament. Coach Turner breaks down his philosophy towards preparing his team for road games and his team's history of a  superior winning percentage when playing away from home.He shares some of the ways his experience coaching in the NBA helped him to become a stronger college coach. He also disclosed some details about the challenges and opportunities of coaching at the mid-major level. This week's 'Tip-off' and 'Buzzer-beater" focus on different approaches to substitution patterns and the varying factors that may influence those approaches.

This week, Jon Steinbrecher, commissioner of the Mid-American Conference joins Coach Hawk and explains much of what goes on behind-the-scenes from an administration level in Division 1 Athletics.Some of the most profound moments of the interview come as Jon describes his path to becoming a commissioner. He prepared and sacrificed all along the way while keeping his goals in mind and believing in himself. Once again, the importance of a strong spouse comes up as Jon shares the trust, support, and belief his wife had in him during his professional rise.Jon gives his thoughts on one-time transfers and how they will likely impact mid-major athletics. He also speaks on the empowerment of athletes and the ways he has worked to put players in the MAC in positions to have their voices heard and have opportunities to take meaningful action.This week's Tip-off Question focuses on the looming one-time transfer rule and who it will impact most. Hawk shares a group many may overlook that stands to be impacted.The Buzzer-beater is one of Coach Hawk's best yet. He builds off of Jon Steinbrecher's story and discusses the inevitably paying your dues and sacrificing in the short-term to achieve long-term goals. 

On episode 38 of Next Possession, Coach Hawk is joined by none other than Fran McCaffery, Head Coach of the 5th-Ranked(3/7/21) University of Iowa Hawkeyes.Coach McCaffery and Hawk jump right into the deep end discussing some intricacies of Iowa's motion offense and the advantages it affords a team in today's college basketball. Fran explains how the motion offense benefits his squad by giving his players freedom and in-turn unpredictability.Coach McCaffery talks about the players on his current team and how much he enjoys leading this special group of young men, including his own sons! Hawk and Fran couldn't finish without talking about what have become reoccurring topics on Next Possession: - Recruiting- The true heroes of college hoops, the Wives of Coaches-RefereesThis week's 'Tip-off Question' leads Coach Hawk to breakdown the way he structures off-season workouts for his players. He gives an intricate description of his reasoning and how NCAA limitations impact a College Athlete's off-season.The 'Buzzer-Beater' focuses on the motion offense and how it can still be effective in 2021. 

This week Coach Hawk is joined by Robert McCullum, the Head Men's Basketball Coach at Florida A&M UniversityCoach Hawk and Coach McCullum speak on an array of topics including leadership, mentorship, difficulties facing Black Americans, preparing for head coaching opportunities, basketball leading to passport stamps, and the profound chance coaches have to provide invaluable new and eye-opening experiences to their players.'Coach Mac' shares some details of his early life, growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, talking at length about the impact his high school coach had on him as a teen and on his life's trajectory.Robert and Hawk collaborate to explain how they met and eventually became co-workers at Western Michigan University in the year 2000. Coach McCullum stresses the importance of building relationships and peels back the curtain on his long-time relationship with basketball and activism legend, George Raveling. (including a monumental story related to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s, 'I Have A Dream' speech)Several times during this episode, a spotlight is placed on the hardships African Americans face as they attempt to rise up in the coaching ranks and life in general. Robert also does a thorough job of explaining his desire to lead an HBCU program and his specific goal of becoming the Men's Basketball Coach at the legendary school, Florida A&M. Throughout their conversation, Coach Mac emphasizes the stress he puts on academic excellence and prioritizing college graduation among the players in his program. Among many other topics, Coach McCullum also shares some of what he learned coaching under Lon Kruger at Kansas State, University of Florida(Final Four), and the University of Illinois.The "tip-off question" asks which of the changes implemented during this Covid-19 altered season will remain in the long-term?This week's 'buzzer-beater' honors a sliver of the many legendary humans who have achieved greatness after graduating from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

This week Porter Moser, Head Men's Basketball Coach at Loyola Univesity Chicago, joins Coach Hawk for a conversation about his path to Loyola and his reasons for remaining loyal to the university amidst opportunities to move to different schools.Porter details the early seeds he planted with the Loyola Students, Administration, Coaches, and most importantly his Players. Seeds that eventually grew into a harvest of success on many levels, including regularly sold-out games and a monumental Final Four appearance in 2018.Coach Moser discusses a university's support for a sport leading to a coach's ability to inspire, recruit, and compete at the highest level in Division 1.Porter shares memories of his mentors, including the great Rick Majerus. He details how taking a step "backwards" to learn as a Majerus assistant at Saint Louis was integral in him being prepared for a return to the position of Head Coach, at a job that was the right fit for him.Hearing Coach Moser describe the support his team has from the Loyola Chicago student-body clearly shows how proud he is of what they've been able to build. Coach Moser loves his players, staff, university and Chicago in general. Today's "tip-off" question focuses on the travel schedule for a road game. Hawk breaks down the differences in travel and timing depending on the day of the week and mode of transportation, including a couple of horror stories via bus and commercial air travel. The "buzzer-beater" discusses the grass of another lawn not always being greener than our own. Sometimes the smartest move is to take a good look at how great our current situation is and have the clarity of perspective to decide to stay where we are and continue the building process where we are valued and understood.

This week Alabama Head Coach Nate Oats joins the podcast to talk about his steps from a High School Coach in Romulus, Michigan to his current position as the leader of a top-10 ranked Division 1 NCAA Program. Coach Hawk and Coach Oats discuss the persistence, patience, and luck required to make such an unlikely transition, including learning experiences along the way like Nate's interview with Hawk at Western Michigan University well before his transition to college coaching.Coach Oats talks about his time coaching the Buffalo Bulls and explains how his relationship with the legendary Hurley family impacted his coaching trajectory.The common theme threading itself throughout Nate Oaks' story is the power of organic relationship building and his dedication to his teams. It's clear that he coaches because he loves his players and the game. You'll hear several stories that display Nate's passion for coaching and his desire to give his players the best chance to realize their dreams.During their discussion, Hawk and Nate also talk about their respective experiences living in a southern portion of the USA, generally thought of as 'football country." Nate embraces the fact that Alabama Football is the main event and points out the history of powerhouse "football" schools that also excelled on the hardwood.Late in the episode, Coach Oats reveals the type of teams that give have given his program trouble over the years. His vulnerability is refreshing.This episode should serve as motivation for any and all humans aiming to reach the peak of the coaching mountain top. In the "tip-off question" Hawk gives advice to a young coach hoping to break into the Division 1 ranks. This portion of the show is of value to anyone interviewing for a job, regardless of profession.The "buzzer-beater" focuses on the importance of Coach's Wives and provides a happy update on Nate's Wife Crystal's victorious battle with cancer.

ESPN Analyst, Jay Bilas joins Coach Hawk for a wide-ranging conversation that details his career as an athlete and as a student, calls out holes in the NCAA's logic for not paying players and even reveals some of his television watching habits.The conversation begins with a breakdown of the major variables that influenced Jay's choice to attend Duke University. He shares tales of his recruitment experience, rocky relationship with his high school coach, and the importance he placed on making the correct decision when choosing his college coach. "When Coach K first called me, I didn't know his name..."Jay's love for Duke shines through as he describes his respect for Coach K and reveals his inability to call him "Mike" unless they're speaking on a television broadcast. He and Coach Hawk talk at length about the fact that players choose schools because of coaches and the culture they've created at an institution, not the institution itself. Mid-way through their conversation, Jay shares a few of his experiences communicating concerns and ideas as a member of the NCAA Long-term Planning Committee when he was a college freshman. "I spoke up in meetings, but whatever the decision was, you publicly supported it and you kept your differences with the power structure to yourself...as a player, I almost felt like I had to do that..."Jay does a phenomenal job of applying a lawyer's logic to the hurdles facing the evolution of college basketball and offers some ideas of how things can successfully move into the future for all involved parties. He also details the glaring hypocrisy of the way college athletes are exploited. "...there are a lot of students on full-scholarship, Music, English, Science, whatever. Nobody's telling them...now you're getting your school paid for, therefore you've gotta concentrate only on school. You can't work. You can't do anything else. You can't have any other interests that are gonna make you money..."Other topics touched on are the challenges of being a television analyst, handling criticism, and referees.Finally, Hawk brings back the "Free Throws" segment and learns a bit about Jay's recent Netflix obsessions, musical and restaurant tastes, and his respect for Bill Walton.The "Tip-off Question" comes from Calvin in Fayetville, North Carolina. Calvin asks Coach Hawk the one thing he'd change if he was suddenly named the President of the NCAA? *Spoiler Alert* He takes the easy way out and defers to Mr. Bilas.This week's "Buzzer-Beater" focuses on the power and comfort of Jay's voice when it comes to advocating for the interests of college athletes and their families.  Hawk cites a recent example of Bilas using Twitter as a tool to bring awareness and influence to former Western Michigan University, now Univesity of South Alabama player, Mike Flowers 2020 transfer complications.

In this episode Coach Hawk sits down with the personable Head Coach at Oregon St.Wayne Tinkle talks about life as a basketball dad. He coached his son at Oregon St. and has two daughters that played at Gonzaga and Stanford. Tinkle's wife is also a hooper and is in the Hall of Fame at Montana.Tinkle answers Hawk's question about how they ended up raising 3 high major kids all under the same roof. The Oregon St. coach also talks about the challenges he's faced with running a program in the Pac 12 and the culture required to be successful in a tradition rich environment. Spoiler alert...it's all about the relationships. The far ranging conversation touches on all this and so much more.The tip-off segment answers the question about how wise it is or isn't for a recruit to release his top 5 schools.The Buzzer Beater discusses whether we will ever see a "traditional" college program again built through strong freshman recruiting classes.

In this episode Coach Hawk visits with University of Minnesota Basketball Coach Richard Pitino. The two have an entertaining and far ranging conversation.The influence of Pitino's mom, challenges of coaching at Minnesota, recruiting, and media coverage are all subjects covered.Pitino, of course, talks about coaching with his dad, including the thought he put in before considering making coaching suggestions during games. Pitino pulls back the curtain to allow an inside look at at all aspects of his program and  coaching influences.The tipoff segment answers the question about the craziest emails Coach Hawk has ever received.The buzzer beater takes a deep dive into the  world of phones and social media.