Marcos “Shakey” Rodriguez went to college at Florida International University in the 1970s and later became a legendary basketball coach at Miami Senior High School, winning 428 games in 14 years and 5 Florida state titles from 1987-1993. In 1995 he was hired as head coach at his alma mater, becoming one of the 1st Hispanic head coaches in D-1 history, where he went 79-66 and made the 1998 TAAC tourney title game. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Shakey several years ago about making the leap from high school to college and coaching some future NBA players. Today marks the 1-year anniversary of Shakey passing away due to a brain aneurysm on November 4, 2020: we celebrate his memory by presenting this never-before-published interview while sending our condolences to his friends/family.
Your real name is Marcos but you go by “Shakey”: how did you get the nickname, and how do you like it? It goes back to my high school playing days. I came to Miami Senior High School from a different school and was the starting PG. My new teammates did not know my name so when they wanted me to pass them the ball they would just shout “hey, hey”. 1 day my coach referred to me as “shaky” because I would always move around and could not stand still…and the name just stuck. I ended up going back there to coach in the 1980s and the nickname never changed.
You were 1 of the 1st Cuban students to play for legendary coach Vince Schaefer: how big a deal was it to be a Cuban athlete back then, and what made Schaefer such a great coach? Coach Schaefer had been around forever and was 1 of the pioneers of basketball down in Dade County. He was a strict disciplinarian so if you did not adhere to his system he would let you know about it: he held us accountable for everything. We ran the shuffle offense religiously and made it work. My relationship with him went far beyond my playing days.
You later replaced Schaefer as head coach and went 428-62 in 13 years (including 5 state titles in a 7-year span): how were you able to build such a dynasty, and what made you such a great coach? The 1 word for me is passion. When I broke into coaching I only knew about 10% of what I know today, but I taught it and believed in it and sold it with such passion that my players believed in me from day 1 and played hard for me to make it work. It is not how much you know as a coach, but how hard the players work and how much they believe in you as a leader. I love the game and have studied it all my life so I enjoy every day I go to work.
2 of your former players were Anthony Grant (current coach at Dayton) and Frank Martin (current coach at South Carolina): what were they like as players, and what made them such successful coaches? They are very bright guys who are students of the game. They had the work ethic and shared the passion. They lived and breathed the game and were hungry for knowledge, both as players and long-time assistants.
In 1995 you were hired as coach at FIU despite not having any prior college coaching experience: did you have any regrets about leaving the high school ranks, and what was the biggest difference between coaching at the 2 different levels? I have some regrets: my time at Miami High School was the greatest time of my life with so many great people around me. However, there was nothing more I could do besides establish a legacy so it was time to try something new. I had 4 ADs in my 5 years at FIU so it was hard to adjust. The coaching/recruiting part was easy and we were successful, but the administrative part is where I needed some guidance after it became extremely difficult. Given enough time I really think that we could have turned into a program like Gonzaga: we were in line to get guys like future NBA player JJ Barea.
2 of your former players at FIU were Carlos Arroyo/Raja Bell: could you tell at the time that they were capable of making the NBA? I thought that both of them had a shot at having long careers in Europe. Carlos had NBA-level skills in terms of his vision/dribbling but defense was going to be his biggest challenge. Raja was a great athlete: ironically, he was a scorer who only learned to play defense during college. The 1 thing I saw was that everything with Raja had to do with motivation. If I had him defend a bad player he would just not get into the game, but when I would put him on the best player he was able to rise to the challenge. He made himself a 3-PT shooter while in the NBA: he was not a long-range shooter in college. They were both fundamentally sound guys who played well as role players with 4 other guys. Most guys who do not make the pros have a hard time adjusting to that fact of life.
Marshod Fairweather played a whopping 9 straight years for you (4 at Miami High School and 5 at FIU): what was it like to coach someone for the better part of a decade, and how close were the 2 of you by the end of that decade? Marshod was 1 of the hardest working players I ever coached and is a great kid: I could always count on him to play hard. He did not have a lot of offers coming out of high school so he played at a JC before coming to play for me as an undersized 2-guard.
You later coached at Krop High School and made the state semifinals: how far do you think that your team can go? We have a shot at having a great year and are favored to come out of Miami again. We have 2 big kids who are being recruited by high-major schools and we have a lot of great players around them.
You received some criticism in the past for the off-court behavior of your assistant coaches, the grades of your players, etc.: why does the media give you such a bad rap, and do you feel that any of it was warranted? I know there is a rap that I recruited guys to play for me in high school…but I do not know any successful coach who has not done that. We get a lot of kids who want to play at our program, but in the final analysis it is the parents who decide where their kids go to school. Any dominant program (including ours) gets an influx of kids from outside their area but I have never had an illegal player. I have always said that the hardest place for me to function is in my own city because after such a long period of success you accumulate many rivals. The Miami New Times is a hatchet-type newspaper who dug up some dirt: 1 of my former players got involved in an SAT scandal, 1 of my assistants invested some money in a nightclub that got raided, etc. Most of my assistants have been good people but I have had to fire 1 or 2 of them. When you Google my name it comes up, but if you look at the history of my program most of my players are good kids who became successful people. Some of my players are serving life-terms in jail but I assume that every coach has a couple of guys who have gotten into some trouble as well.
When people look back on your career, how do you want to be remembered the most? I hope they remember me as a guy who influenced/impacted other people’s lives. My legacy should be the former players/assistants who were part of my life. Trophies/titles are nice, and we hope to get another 1 this year, but the people you associate with are the most important.