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We hope you are ready for a season unlike any other: testing, distancing, and bubbles, oh my! Nobody knows exactly what is going to happen, when it is going to happen, or whether anything actually will happen…but in the meantime we will try to restore some order with season previews featuring the best players/coaches/administrators/alumni in the country. We continue our coverage with Wake Forest assistant coach Randolph Childress. He remains 1 of the best 3-PT shooters in ACC history, 1 of the best scorers in Demon Deacon history, and part of 1 of the best father/son duos in NCAA history. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Childress about his new boss and his expectations for this year.
In 1994 as a player at Wake Forest you led the ACC with 36.8 3P% and your 329 career 3PM remains top-10 in ACC history: what is the key to making shots from behind the arc? Just taking good shots and having confidence: you also need to be fundamentally sound.
In the 1995 ACC tourney you delivered 1 of the most outstanding performances of all time by averaging 35.7 PPG including a floater with 4 seconds left in OT to beat UNC in the title game (www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa2v8V7TaQ8): how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most? Practice/repetition. Whenever you get fatigued during the season you need to have good habits and be prepared to make shots when the clock is ticking down. Some people are comfortable in that position and some are not: we practiced those late-game situations over and over.
You averaged 18.4 PPG during your career at Wake Forest and your 2208 career PTS remain #2 in school history: what is the secret to being a great scorer? For me it was about having the ability to score: it was something that I could always do at every level. The coaches I played for helped me learn how to run a team and Coach Dave Odom gave me the freedom to shoot the ball.
You were a 2-time All-American, 1995 ACC Male Athlete of the Year, and in 2002 you were named 1 of the 50 greatest players in ACC history: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? I felt incredibly blessed to have had that type of career. I have given so much time/energy to the game so to be rewarded like that is unbelievable. When I came to Wake I had no idea what my 4 years would be like but I knew that I would give it my all: I will never forget how we turned it into a winning program.
In the summer of 1995 you were drafted 19th overall by Detroit (2 spots ahead of Michael Finley) and then traded to Portland: what did it mean to you to get drafted? It was a lifelong dream to get drafted. Going to school is more about academics and just dreaming about playing in the NBA. To be a 1-and-done player back then you needed to be a unique player (like Kevin Garnett) so I relished the opportunity to finally make it to the pros.
You later played pro basketball overseas for almost 15 years: what was the biggest difference between basketball in the US vs. basketball in other countries? People do not understand the physicality of the NBA even now…but especially back in the 1990s. You see the foreign influence on big men with 7-footers like Garnett/Kevin Durant playing like guards. The global way of playing basketball has become a part of the NBA: there are less centers around the rim today.
You currently work as assistant coach for Steve Forbes, who was hired in April to replace Danny Manning: what is Steve like, and how is it going so far? Steve is fun to be around and a joy to spend time with at practice every day. We are implementing some changes and the guys are excited to get started. The whole staff is great and just adjusting to a new system/terminology.
Your son Brandon finished his college career in Winston-Salem last spring as you 2 become the highest scoring father/son duo in ACC history with 3623 combined PTS: how proud are you of all his success, and how are you going to replace him on the court? I miss him, to be honest, and have struggled with it a little bit: not just coaching him but spending time with him at the university. When you lose anyone with experience who is battle-tested it is hard to replace them, but I expect Jahcobi Neath to be the 1st guy on deck. It is next man up, just as it was for us last year.
What is it like to be an African-American man in 2020? It is not much different than it has been in the past but the biggest difference is that everyone is more conscious of what they did not know before. There are people of all kinds of nationalities who are loving/caring. It has been brought to the forefront and caught some people off-guard but now you are starting to see more things that can help us: I hope we continue to move forward and understand what is going on. I fear people hijacking the narrative of “Black Lives Matter”. It does not matter what political party you belong to or how you feel about voting: Black lives should matter to everyone and there should be a heightened level of concern for our families and for each other. It is better now than it was for my grandparents but we still need to do a better job. It is not the easiest thing in the world but people are tired of being told to accept certain things. We are trying to move forward as a country but also as a race.
What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? You do not concede anything: if we do the little things first then we will have a chance to win. We know that we will play hard and the guys are buying into that: we are trying to get our guys to play to their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. There are no moral victories so we just want to get better on a daily basis. The goal is to win every game and make the NCAA tourney: even when you lose guys like Brandon/Olivier Sarr/Chaundee Brown it is just next man up.