Season Preview: HoopsHD interviews Fairleigh Dickinson head coach Jack Castleberry

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Jon Teitel

We are still about 5 weeks away from the tip-off of the college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to prepare for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Fairleigh Dickinson head coach Jack Castleberry, who talked about being hired last March and his expectations for this season.

You went to college at VMI: how were you able to go from walk-on to team captain? A good amount of hard work. I was not a great player but figured out where I fit in. Coach Duggar Baucom really appreciated people who worked hard so if I did what he asked me to do then I was able to make an impact without scoring a lot of PTS. I was the “culture guy” in the locker room.

You later became an assistant for the women’s team at Siena: what is the biggest difference between coaching men vs. coaching women? I really enjoyed coaching both genders but there are different problems that arise. It made me a better coach because it forced me to become more detail-oriented.

During your time at Siena you became friends with an assistant for the men’s team named Tobin Anderson and you later became his assistant at FDU: how close have you 2 grown over the past decade? We actually go back a little further than that: I was a camper at 5-Star Camp when he was a counselor there. He was doing some ball-handling drills and sweating and working hard, which I admired. I practiced his drills during the summer, which made me a better player. I later reintroduced myself when I was at VMI and he piqued my interest in going to Siena. We stayed in contact and I told him that if he ever got a D-1 job that I would love to come work for him. I was lucky enough that his top assistant left and I was able to join his staff.

In 2014 you left college basketball to become a financial planner: why did you do it, and why did you return to the sideline just 2 years later? I have the most screwed up career path of all-time! I was frustrated with the business side of being a coach. The on-court stuff was awesome but I was frustrated with the lack of growth in my career path so I decided to try something else. There was a VMI alum I knew who was a financial planner and he brought me in to join him in Philadelphia (where my now-wife is from). I wanted to remain in the gym in some capacity and helped out at Cardinal O’Hara High School. Getting away from the sport gave me a better perspective going forward. When you are younger you are hell-bent on taking over the world without appreciating the opportunity to have an impact on young adults. By pure luck my former coach got hired at Citadel…and the rest was history.

Take me through the 2023 NCAA tourney as an assistant to Tobin at #16-seed FDU:
You beat Texas Southern in the 1st 4: how were you able to get your team refocused after a 1-PT loss to Merrimack in the NEC tourney title game just 1 week earlier (the Warriors were ineligible for the NCAA tourney due to being in the final year of their 4-year transition period from D-2 to D-1)? Even though we lost the title game we still know what was coming after it. We had to listen to some talk about “you do not deserve it” but I think it eventually was a driver for the success we had. It was not us against the world but we still wanted to prove that we belonged, which helped us get ready to go.

You had a 5-PT win over #1-seed Purdue, which set a record for the biggest upset in terms of point spread in NCAA tourney history (the Boilermakers were a 23.5-PT favorite): how did you do it, and how did that game change your life (if at all)? You probably would not be interviewing me if we had not won that game! That is the great thing about March Madness: it was probably the most favorable matchup of all the #1 seeds in terms of our style. We saw Purdue struggle when Rutgers pressed them so we wanted to make them play faster and shoot threes. We put all of our focus on Zach Edey and they did not make a ton of threes that night (5-26 3PM). Tobin had been winning for a long time and just had not received a lot of recognition. Some of our players from St. Thomas Aquinas had been in massive moments so there was not really any fear: we would not back down from anybody.

You had an 8-PT loss to FAU: what did you team learn from your magical postseason run that you think will help them this year? That we can play with anyone: when you buy-in to our style and see that it can work then it builds your confidence. FAU was an incredible team…but if we had not missed a lot of layups in the 1st half then I think we would have been in it at the end. We both liked to dictate tempo and had aggressive mindsets: it felt like we were playing against a bigger version of ourselves.

Less than 48 hours later you were hired as Tobin’s replacement after he took another job: how is it going so far, and when are we going to see Iona on your schedule? You will never see Iona on our schedule! It is great right now because nobody is pissed off at me yet. We can be a great team but I want to manage expectations because progress is not always a straight line. For example, we lost to Hartford last year and then beat St. Joe’s, which does not make sense.

Your schedule includes games against Seton Hall/Illinois: which of these games do you feel will present your biggest test? When you look at size/speed those 2 teams will be very tough. We are still focused on winning the NEC: we did so many incredible things last year but did not win a regular season/tourney title.

You lost your top-2 scorers in Demetre Roberts/Grant Singleton: how will you try to replace all of that offense? It will be by committee because those 5th-year seniors were special and you cannot replace them with just 1 guy. However, we bring back 7 guys who played double-digit minutes in the NCAA tourney so we have players who know how to score and have played in big games. It is like the FAU model and with the depth we have it is certainly doable.

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? The goal is to win the NEC, which is a perfectly attainable goal but will involve a lot of hard work. We expect to go after a conference championship: it is not about setting the bar lower but just admitting that we will have to work harder this year because we will have a bigger bullseye on our back.

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Season Preview: HoopsHD interviews Texas A&M-Corpus Christi head coach Jim Shaw

Posted on September 30, 2023 by Jon Teitel

We are still about 5 weeks away from the tip-off of the college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to prepare for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi head coach Jim Shaw, who talked about being hired last March and his expectations for this season.

You were born/raised in Texas: how has the basketball vs. football dynamic changed in the Lone Star State from your childhood until now? The Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) has become more prominent/prevalent. There is more specialization in sports now and the TABC promotes camps and allows coaches to work with their teams during the summer. There is more education and a sense of community: it has increased at least tenfold and helped develop better players. There were a number of draft picks last summer from the state of Texas and AAU ball has increased tremendously with some great grassroots coaches.

You played college basketball at Grinnell where your team won 4 straight D-3 scoring titles: what is the secret to having a great offense? Coach David Arseneault put in “The System”. It helps to have 4 shooters on the court at all times so you have to recruit good shooters. We would substitute in players to keep everyone fresh and play fast by pressing on defense.

You earned a degree in economics at Grinnell and a master’s in business administration from UTEP: how much importance do you place on academics? Getting a college degree is very important: over the last 2 academic years our program has had a GPA over 3.0 and won some academic awards. We have study hall/tutoring/academic advising and we put a lot of resources into it. We even have an academic advisor come on road trips, which is a bit unheard of on this level.

You spent the past 2 years as an assistant to Steve Lutz with the Islanders: what makes him such a great coach, and when are we going to see Western Kentucky on your schedule? He worked really hard and is highly organized and emphasizes both sides of the ball without cheating either 1. We scored 80 PPG (top-20 in the country) by giving our guys confidence in a pace-and-space offense, and we led the league in turnovers forced by being a more aggressive team that imposed its will on our opponents. He recruits players who are good people and has great synergy with his staff so that we are all pushing in the same direction. WKU is supposed to come back and play a home-and-home so it might happen in a couple of years.

Take me through the 2023 NCAA tourney:
In the 1st 4 you beat Southeast Missouri State: how big a deal was it to get the 1st NCAA tourney win in school history? It was an unbelievable experience. We had 11 returning players from our 2022 NCAA tourney team so they did not want to fall short again. We were missing a few players including Terrion Murdix but we were able to overcome his injury. It was big for the community/alumni base: there were watch parties throughout the city and it gave us priceless advertising.

In the 1st round you lost to Alabama: what did your team learn from that loss that you think will help them this year? You have to be ready to go from the tip despite the quick turnaround from Tuesday to Thursday. You have to rebound at a high level and take away the 3-PT shot: they put us in a hole early and showed the importance of closing out shooters.

Later that month you were named head coach: why did you take the job, and how is it going so far? It is the opportunity of a lifetime and I always wanted to be a D-1 head coach. Without football here the administration has given us a lot of resources to be successful so I think that it is 1 of the best jobs in the Southland. It is going well so far. We had to sign 10 new scholarship players so I was on the phone every day trying to recruit guys who would be a good fit. It was “speed dating” recruiting but most of them were here during the summer so we could develop their skills step by step. We just had our 1st official practice yesterday: we are a “builder of teams” and quickly put the new parts together by creating a level of chemistry.

You lost each of your top-6 scorers from last year (Trevian Tennyson/Isaac Mushila/Terrion Murdix/Ross Williams/Jalen Jackson/De’Lazarus Keys): how will you try to replace all of that offense? 1 of our players (Owen Dease) has been in the program for a couple of years. He has been bitten by the injury bug early on but he has the skills to be a true wing despite standing 6’8”. With good health/opportunity I think that he can be 1 of the more talented players in our league. Stephen Giwa was trending up last year until he tore his ACL and he will be a traditional back-to-the-basket post as we look for him to make the jump. We have a # of transfer players and 5th-year seniors as well.

Your roster includes 10 players who transferred from other schools, 4 from the state of Texas, and 1 freshman: what sort of recruiting philosophy do you have? With so many roster spots available last spring we just went with the best available players/people. You try to get 3 guys and 3 post players and even them out with a bunch of players who can shoot. We are a destination university so even though we try to get the best players in Texas we recruit nationwide. We brought in a # of junior college players who turned into all-league players and will also try to bring in 1-2 high school players who can come in and contribute immediately. We got a couple of older transfer portal guys from within the Southland and a couple from the WAC.

You had a birthday earlier this week: what did you do for the big day? We had a 2-hour workout, which was the highlight of the day. I made some recruiting calls, fielded some birthday texts, and then watched Justin Verlander throw 8 great innings for the Astros!

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? The goal is to win the conference tourney and get back to the NCAA tourney. We will have some growing pains and probably the toughest schedule that we have ever had here but it will prepare us for conference play in January. If we stay healthy then we have enough talent to compete in the Southland.

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Season Preview: HoopsHD interviews Howard head coach Kenny Blakeney

Posted on September 29, 2023 by Jon Teitel

We are still about 6 weeks away from the tip-off of the college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to prepare for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Howard head coach Kenny Blakeney, who talked about making the NCAA tourney last March and his expectations for this season.

You played for Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wootten at DeMatha Catholic High School and were named Gatorade Player of the Year in Maryland: what made him such a great coach? He was such a humble dude and super-smart. He had already been coaching for 35 years at that point and it felt good to be around him because he always had the right answers. He was the smartest guy in the room but never wanted that perception. He was so well-read/well-spoken and fundamentally sound and played a huge part in my growth/development.

What made you choose Duke for college? I love winning! Duke had been to a number of Final 4s over the previous 6-8 years but had not been able to get over the hump. I am a 1st-generation college kid so to set the precedent for my family and see that I put education 1st was a big thing for me. Coach K was wonderful and I had a great relationship with the rest of his staff including Mike Brey/Tommy Amaker. I had great conversations with Grant Hill and his mother and was also great friends with Brian Davis.

Take me through the magical 1992 NCAA tourney:
In the Elite 8 Grant Hill threw a full-court pass to Christian Laettner who made the game-winning jumper at the buzzer in a 1-PT win over Kentucky: what is your memory of 1 of the greatest college basketball games ever? We beat UNLV in the Final 4 before winning the title in 1991, so the goal in 1992 was to win it again. It was a heavyweight fight with Kentucky/Coach Pitino and went back and forth all night. Whoever had the ball last was going to win: I do not know if there has ever been a better game in any sport.

In the title game you had a 20-PT win over Michigan: what did it mean to you to win the title? To win back-to-back titles has only happened again with Florida so it is an incredibly hard feat. When you are the defending champ you will get everyone’s best shot, from your opponent to their fans to even the announcers! Coach K kept saying that we were not defending our 1991 title but rather pursuing the 1992 title.

You served as team captain as a senior: what is the key to being a good leader? I had to learn from some incredible captains before me like Brian/Christian/Grant/Bobby Hurley. Getting to sit in Coach K’s classroom everyday was like getting a PhD in basketball/leadership. I was fortunate to have so many mentors along the way who help put our team in a position to win. Our team imploded in 1995 but it prepared me for the future.

After graduating you spent almost 2 decades as an assistant for several great head coaches including Lefty Driesell/Mike Brey/Tommy Amaker: what was the most important thing that you learned from any of them? You take a lot from each 1 of them, both what to do and what not to do. Our grad assistants at Duke were Quin Snyder/Jay Bilas so there were plenty of intelligent people in that locker room. You have to be true to a style that fits you as a person.

In 2019 you were named head coach at Howard: why did you take the job, and did you have any regrets after going a combined 5-33 during your 1st 2 years? I saw a blank canvas at a campus that has accomplished so much. When you see the list of alumni who have walked our halls (Thurgood Marshall/David Dinkins/Kamala Harris), they have done so many incredible things. 1 thing that had not happened before was a sustainable successful basketball program, which I saw Tommy do with an “undervalued stock” at Harvard. You have to go through some hard times to get to the other side. Howard has often been ranked 350th or so in the nation so there was not the winning DNA that any program needs to become successful. It was hard to try to flip it but we have a great administration that has been a great partner as we build this program.

Take me through the 2023 postseason:
In the MEAC tourney title game Jelani Williams made 2 FTs with 6.1 seconds left in a 1-PT win over Norfolk State: how big a deal was it to clinch the school’s 1st MEAC title since 1992? It was absolutely huge when you talk about 3 decades without going to March Madness so we checked a box that had not been checked in a long time. It not only ignited our campus but energized all of DC: we have the best record of any team in DC over the past 2 years! We are looking forward to the challenge of trying to be good again this year.

In the NCAA tourney you lost to #1 seed Kansas: what did your team learn from that loss that will help them this season? The message that I conveyed to the team was that you do not win or lose it on gameday: it is about how you prepare and build up to having some resiliency when you compete against a team like Kansas. We need to practice/prepare today with a vision toward winning a game in March. We have Cincinnati/Rutgers/Georgia Tech on our schedule this year and want to have a chance to win those games.

You ended up winning 22 games and were named MEAC COY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It is not something that you go to work to try to accomplish. I have great partners/great assistant coaches who complement each other well. We added a “chief program strategist” in Daniel Marks to help us accomplish some social justice goals in the community. I do not think that we would have won as many games last year had our guys not been so mature: it ended up making the basketball part look easy. The number of Black women dying during pregnancy/childbirth/post-pregnancy due to maternal health problems was both alarming/shocking. Our team took on such a serious topic that it scared me, but we took a deep dive before amplifying/supporting those women.

You lost your top-2 scorers from last year in Elijah Hawkins/Steve Settle III: how will you try to replace all of that offense? It will be different. I was nervous as heck and had a very long summer: it is never easy to lose a couple of DeMatha guys who chose us. We helped develop them and they helped me grow as a coach. If you looked at our roster we should have had it together for the next 2 years, which I was really looking forward to. I really thought we could turn it into a mid-major program like Loyola-Chicago that can win multiple tourney games in March. However, the transfer portal can change an entire program with just a conversation or 2. On the flip side, the portal also gives you an opportunity to rebuild your program almost via free agency. We brought in Dom Campbell from Notre Dame, Seth Towns (who was Ivy POY as a sophomore at Harvard), and Jordan Hairston as a grad transfer who can shoot/score at a high clip. Joshua Strong played D-2, graduated college in just 2 years, and after applying to law school at Harvard he has 2 years of eligibility left. I love the way that we were able to put our team back together and I think that we have a chance to be competitive.

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? My goal is to try to win every game and we have a fantastic schedule so that we are prepared for March with some competitive regional matchups. We will have to play a little slower and be very physical: we have some players with Big 10-type bodies so we will run more sets than I normally have done in the past. We will have to play inside-out with some big men who are physical so it will be interesting…although it makes me nervous to get away from the up-tempo style I am comfortable with.

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Name, Image, and Lots of money: HoopsHD interviews Ed Cantu of the Shakas Up Sports NIL Collective

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Jon Teitel

The marketplace for college athletes to engage in Name/Image/Likeness (NIL) deals was created in 2021 after the NCAA v. Alston case and now it seems like every college is ready to start spreading the wealth. There are already more than 100 “collectives” either in operation or being formed. They allow alumni/fans/whoever to donate money to assist a specific school in creating opportunities for student-athletes to make some money off of their celebrity. We have reached out to many collectives and will try to interview representatives from as many of them as possible to see how each of them operates. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Ed Cantu of the Shakas Up Sports NIL Collective, who discussed what his group is about and what it has accomplished so far.

You are the co-founder of an NIL collective called “Shakas Up Sports” that was launched last March: how complicated was it to create (if at all), and why did you do it? Creating an NIL collective is a highly complex process. We were fortunate to work directly with our friend Keith Miller of Influxer, the former Compliance Director at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and an attorney who helped develop the legislation adopted by the State of Texas for NIL collectives. My four colleagues and I founded Shakas Up Sports, Inc. for the love of our student-athletes, especially those who helped Islander Athletics expand our University’s visibility and reach throughout the country and beyond.

Your focus is on basketball but you also work with some other sports: what makes basketball so important? TAMUCC does not play football so men’s/women’s basketball are our marquee sports. Our men’s team’s national exposure during March Madness the past two years was incredible. Taking advantage of this exposure is essential to our athletic program, our university, and our community.

What kind of deals have you been able to work out so far? Most of our deals have been community-based/free autograph sessions for our fans that were paid for by local businesses. Our inaugural event was sponsored by Hicks Automotive Group and Jason’s Deli and hosted at local restaurant Brewster Street Southside, where our fans were treated to free autographs and a meet-and-greet with our men’s/women’s basketball teams. Our second event was a free women’s basketball autograph signing held during the Corpus Christi Hooks’ “Women of Sports” Weekend. Farmers Insurance/Ed Cantu provided 4,400 Hooks fans at Whataburger Field the opportunity to meet the student-athletes and get their favorite Islanders gear signed. Rally Credit Union helped us develop a Meet Your Favorite Islander Podcast where listeners heard from Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year Alecia Westbrook for our inaugural airing. We have since interviewed up-and-coming men’s basketball star Owen Dease. Alecia Westbrook recently locked down a deal representing Colonel’s Coffeehouse for their online coffee. You can secure your own bag of fresh grommet coffee and help Alecia by going to https://colonelscoffeehouse.com/collections/all (be sure to apply the code ALECIA10 now that you are an Islander Fan!). We are also working with AutoNation for upcoming watch parties. Many more regional businesses have shown interest and are pursuing unique opportunities to promote their organization by utilizing the services of our student-athletes.

You offer several membership levels ranging from $25/month to $1,000/month: what kind of extra perks do people get for being at the highest level? Perks for a $1,000 monthly membership still need to be finalized. We aim to arrange exclusive opportunities for VIP members, including dinners and other special events with our student-athletes and co-founders.

You graduated from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi a few decades ago: how has the school changed from your era to now? The University has seen a significant transformation. We’ve gone from a state school named Corpus Christi State University to a member of the Texas A&M System. Ward Island, the TAMUCC campus, has grown from a small, non-traditional, 3,000-student body upper-level University without first- or second-year students to a vibrant, beautiful campus of 12,000. Today’s campus life matches that of a resort, and Best College Review has named TAMUCC “The Best College By The Sea” for several years. We have gone from not having an Athletic Department to being a competitive D-1 Mid­-Major University that competes in sixteen different sports, inducing the fastest-growing collegiate NCAA sport: women’s beach volleyball.

In the 2023 NCAA tourney you beat Southeast Missouri State before losing to Alabama: how big a deal was it to get the 1st NCAA tourney win in school history? Our first victory was huge. The exposure we gained, especially from social media fans of “Barstool Sports,” put us on the sports map. Their campus conversation, “That Can’t Be a Real Place,” spiked applications for enrollment: our freshman class numbers have grown and our total University enrollment is up as well. And yes, our victory over Southeast Missouri State helped us recruit new athletes…and I am sure it helped us retain others too.

Later that month Coach Steve Lutz left for Western Kentucky: how do people feel about your new coach Jim Shaw? Coach Shaw is very likable and his team loves him. He helped build our two Championship teams so we know he will continue to recruit and retain high-caliber student-athletes who will continue to make us proud to be Islanders.

People are obviously free to do whatever they want with their hard-earned money…but do you ever have any second thoughts about whether you should be encouraging your donors to do something else like fight cancer/reduce homelessness? Like it or not, athletics is the front door to most Universities. There are many great causes and improving the education level of our community is one of them. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is designated as a Hispanic-Serving and Minority-Serving Institution where most of our students are first-generation college students. Helping develop student­ athletes and the whole student body by improving their level of education is our primary goal/mission at Shakas Up Sports, Inc.

Do you think the NIL model will be as effective at a Southland school, and what is the biggest difference between your collective and those at high-major schools (if any)? Our model is different from most: we truly are doing this for our student-athletes. My co-founders and I keep $0 for ourselves. In addition to a quality education value, our mission is to enrich the student-athlete experience at TAMUCC and create unforgettable moments for our dedicated fans. By fostering a supportive environment, we aim to empower athletes to excel on/off the field while offering fans unparalleled opportunities to engage with their favorite teams and players. Shakas Up Sports, Inc. provides many opportunities and offers mentoring to our student-athletes to prepare them for life after they leave our Island.

Earlier this year we saw a basketball team’s season suspended (New Mexico State) and a football team’s coach fired (Northwestern) due to hazing: how concerned are you about entering contractual relationships with teenagers who might end up behaving badly? That is always possible but Shakas Up Sports has complete confidence in our coaches. Islander Athletics is about to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. With absolute certainty, our coaches do a fantastic job recruiting high-caliber student-athletes who make us proud of them on and off the court/field. Our student-athletes have a GPA above 3.0 and continue to exceed the national average year after year.

*If you would like to contact Shaka Up Sports please go to: www.shakasupsports.com

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Season Preview: HoopsHD interviews Wofford JR PG Rachael Rose

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Jon Teitel

We are still about 6 weeks away from the tip-off of the college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to prepare for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Wofford JR PG Rachael Rose, who talked about being named conference POY and her expectations for this season.

You began your career at USC Upstate, where you were named 2022 conference ROY: how were you able to make such a smooth transition from high school to college? Having a strong work ethic is something that has been engraved into me since I was little, and so truly understanding the term outwork helped me have a smoother transition into D-1 basketball. I also had a great support system and coaches back home that trained me to be ready for all situations both on and off the court.

Why did you decide to transfer, and what made you choose Wofford? I will always be grateful for the opportunities and accolades I had at USC Upstate, but in the end it was just not the right program for me. I chose Wofford because I immediately felt a connection with the coaching staff and the girls were extremely welcoming. I saw the vision that Coach G (Jimmy Garrity) had for the program and I wanted to play a part in making history.

In the 2023 SoCon tourney semifinals you had a career-high 7 STL in a 5-PT win over UNCG: what is the secret to being a good defender? Defense is all heart. Just simply wanting it more than your opponent can win you championships. I know my teammates have my back, and so that allows me to take risks and jump the passing lanes.

In the 2023 WNIT you scored 19 PTS in a 3-PT loss at Florida: what did you learn from that loss that you think will help you this year? The loss to Florida was really tough because I felt we were in control for most of the game until we let it slip away in the end. Although we were much smaller, we never gave up and we fought until the very end. If we can keep the mentality of being the most together team and never giving in then we will put ourselves in a great position to win.

You led the conference in PTS last year and were #2 in AST: how do you balance your scoring with your passing? As the point guard, it is my job to facilitate and get all my teammates involved in the offense. I watch a lot of film and that helps me see angles and passing lanes, while also seeing openings to create shots for myself. I work hard with my coaches to create scoring opportunities for both myself and my teammates.

You finished the season by being named conference POY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? I was honored to be named the SoCon Player of the Year but that was never the main goal for me. Our main goal was to win the SoCon regular season along with the SoCon tournament. We achieved ½ of our goal so we still have a lot of work to do.

Your aunt Missy played basketball at UConn, your uncle Craig played basketball at Army, and your brother Timmy played basketball at Binghamton: who is the best athlete in the family? My family has shaped me into the player/person I am today. I grew up either watching them play or hearing the stories of their days of college basketball. It is hard to say who the best in the family is because we all have had different roles on the teams we played for: however, my aunt Missy is the only one of us who has a national championship ring.

You turned 21 last June: what did you do for the big day? We were in summer session at Wofford so I celebrated at practice doing what I love most, which is competing in basketball. My teammates also made me a cake and celebrated with me at night.

Your schedule includes road trips to Wake Forest/Virginia/Tennessee/Georgia: which of these games do you feel will present your biggest test? I think every team we play this year will be a challenge. Winning at the D-1 level is hard and each game is a fight. We played Tennessee last season and did not start off the game the way that we wanted so I would love to learn from our mistakes last year and clean it up.

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? We are extremely young this season so we have a lot of learning/growing to do together as a team. My goals however have not changed: I want to win a championship. Our seniors (Abbey Crawford/Ja’Rae Smith/Annabelle Schultz/Helen Matthews) deserve to leave their Wofford basketball careers on a high note.

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Name, Image, and Lots of money: HoopsHD interviews Patrick MacWilliams of The Massachusetts Collective

Posted on September 26, 2023 by Jon Teitel

The marketplace for college athletes to engage in Name/Image/Likeness (NIL) deals was created in 2021 after the NCAA v. Alston case and now it seems like every college is ready to start spreading the wealth. There are already more than 100 “collectives” either in operation or being formed. They allow alumni/fans/whoever to donate money to assist a specific school in creating opportunities for student-athletes to make some money off of their celebrity. We have reached out to many collectives and will try to interview representatives from as many of them as possible to see how each of them operates. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Patrick MacWilliams of The Massachusetts Collective, who discussed what his group is about and what it has accomplished so far.

You are the director of an NIL collective called “The Massachusetts Collective” that was formed last October: how complicated was it to create (if at all), and why did you do it? I was somewhat familiar with the NIL space and had been following it closely but it has evolved quite a bit since then. I am still involved with the fundraising arm of UMass Basketball and have been around the program for a while. I thought it was important to form a collective and it helped that I know how to start/run a business. What I did not expect was the amount of time involved: I spend about 35-40 hours/week on it, which is a big challenge.

Your moving and storage company agreed to NIL deals with a trio of UMass athletes on the very 1st day of the NIL era (July 1, 2021): were you nervous about getting started right from Day 1 without knowing exactly how everything would pan out legally? I was not nervous at all. We were familiar with the basic framework and the school was helpful with the compliance issues. The comfort level was there from both ends for the 1st deal we did with Noah Fernandes. I love being engaged in this space and am still learning more each day.

The UMass athletics department has endorsed the GoMassNIL Collective in addition to yours: is that a good thing (since they offer opportunities for non-basketball athletes) or a bad thing (more competition for your own group) or other? Their founder, Jim Hunt, and I go way back: he was actually my dentist when I 1st moved to Amherst! We still play golf together and have talked for hours and hours about whether we want to work together/separately. Even though he wanted to work with Olympic sports and I wanted to work on basketball we still talk daily. It is not a competition so we still work hand in hand. As of this month, The Massachusetts Collective has assumed all basketball NIL responsibilities at UMass and is an official partner with UMass Athletics and Learfield.

Your entire focus is on basketball: how/why would you decide to open it up to other sports? I would consider doing something besides basketball…but only with strict conditions. We would have to find the right people dedicated to running it because I already know how much work it takes: you cannot be passive about it so it is very unlikely. The head of the UMass football collective (https://midnightridenil.com) is similar: we work together all the time and talk frequently. I do not think it makes sense to mix all of the sports together.

You have stated that your goal is to sign 3-5 players per season: why did you choose to focus on a few players rather than the entire team? We think that everyone has a different value: that is how the free market works. What has changed over the past year is creating a baseline “salary” for everyone on the team of $5000/year and then signing deals with the top guys for a significant amount more. Our current budget is around $150,000 for the 4 athletes we have currently signed, which I think is good money for the A-10. The numbers can always change and we are always working on fundraising so that we can build it out.

What kind of connection does your group have with Coach Frank Martin/Athletic Director Ryan Bamford? I talk to Coach pretty frequently, especially in the offseason, while following all of the rules/regulations. The coaching staff is made up of a bunch of great guys and we hope to do more promotions/experiences with Coach this year. We are starting a campaign next month to try to get 50 new members during the 50 days leading up to this season’s tip-off. Ryan has been extremely helpful behind the scenes to connect us with everyone for compliance purposes. He has been open with us and answered our questions: his endorsement of us was huge and he constantly supports us.

What kind of deals have you been able to work out so far? The most interesting deal we have done was our 1st 1 with an international player named Tafara Gapare. He was heading back to New Zealand for 3 days during winter break and I had to literally track his flight so that I knew when he was allowed to put pen to paper (he is now at Georgia Tech)! It shows our organizational power as to how we can get a deal done. We also have new players like highly-touted transfer Josh Cohen, who recently signed a big deal with us.

People are obviously free to do whatever they want with their hard-earned money…but do you ever have any second thoughts about whether you should be encouraging your donors to do something else like fight cancer/reduce homelessness? It is all up to your personal preference. For me, supporting UMass Basketball is something that I have always done, and through our Collective we have charitable aspects as well. People should get involved with whatever they are passionate about, be it a food bank/animal shelter/YMCA/etc. Any income that I can dedicate to other sources is important, but if we want UMass to return to a semblance of their 1996 Final 4 team then this is a big piece of the puzzle.

Do you think the NIL model will be as effective at an A-10 school, and what is the biggest difference between your collective and those at high-major schools (if any)? We can definitely have a huge role in the A-10. As you compare collectives within the A-10 I think that we are on the stronger side, but schools like Dayton are coming: if they had to raise $200,000 in a very short time then they could do that. We are focused on getting anyone involved at any level to see the benefits that we can give them. 1 difference with the bigger schools is the amount of people/money involved. We had RJ Luis signed to a 2-year deal, then he ghosted us/entered the transfer portal/enrolled at St. John’s. I know that their resources are a LOT more than ours. There is some loyalty involved but to be honest: if someone gets an offer to play for Rick Pitino at Madison Square Garden then they should f—ing go! If we can come close to the NIL money of the Goliaths then at least the players might think twice about it.

Earlier this year we saw a basketball team’s season suspended (New Mexico State) and a football team’s coach fired (Northwestern) due to hazing: how concerned are you about entering into contractual relationships with teenagers who might end up behaving badly? We have a great lawyer on our team but you always have to do your homework/check people’s references regardless of their age. There are bad actors everywhere but we talk to whoever we can and have protections in our contracts for bad behavior. We are aware of it but I have not really thought about it besides doing due diligence.

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