The Dunk City Podcast
USCBasketball.com's Chris Huston and Mark Backstrom co-host the Dunk City Podcast, the only podcast that's devoted solely to USC basketball. Weekly during the season, intermittent during the offseason, the DCP is the "podcast of record" for Trojan hoops, featuring inside information, special guests and expert analysis.
The Dunk City Podcast
Staff-a-palooza!
Trojans assistant coaches Anthony Ruta and Quincy Pondexter plus assistant athletic director for basketball operations Michael Reutt joins the pod to tell their stories, trade tales, and discuss philosophies about basketball and life. It's a Staff-a-palooza! Don't miss this inside look at the new era of USC basketball under head coach Eric Musselman.
The Dunk City Podcast is the podcast of record for the USC basketball community. You can find all episodes at DunkCityPod.com, USCBasketball.com or on Apple Music, Spotify and wherever you stream podcasts. Look for clips on YouTube and TikTok as well. Please like, follow, listen and review. Contact us at USCBasketball.com@gmail.com.
Welcome to the Dunk City Podcast.
Speaker 1:All right, welcome to Staffapalooza. Happy September to everybody out there. We are going to play three interviews we recorded in the last month or so of three members of the USC basketball staff assistant coach Anthony Ruta, assistant coach Quincy Pondexter and director of operations Michael Root. And we kind of held on to these interviews for a while because we had just interviewed coach Musselman and wanted to kind of let that podcast marinate a bit. But all these interviews are probably worthy of shows in their own right, but we decided to put them together just for efficiency's sake. Well, first up, let's talk to assistant coach Anthony Ruta. Okay, we're back on the Dunk City podcast with assistant coach Anthony Ruta. Coach Ruta, thanks for coming on. Thanks so much, chris. Looking forward to talking with you.
Speaker 1:So now you've been in LA for what? Six or seven months now. It seems like time has kind of flown by. What are your impressions of the program You've seen? You've been going to Galen every day. You've seen the team practice. You've been around campus seeing the facilities, seeing the people. What's your impression of what USC has to offer right now?
Speaker 3:I mean it's just been literally amazing. I mean we got here the first week of April and we blink and now, you know, school's starting right around the corner and it's been a unbelievable experience all the way through. I mean the USC brand is so powerful and strong. Just being able to walk through campus wearing the USC brand has been, you know, extremely cool. From you know, our coaching staff perspective, you know the facilities are great.
Speaker 3:We love the Galen Center, our practice site. Actually, coach Musselman was able to get the windows lifted all the way up so we have palm trees right outside our windows in our practice site and there's a lot of natural sunlight that hits now. But it's really cool, like when you're practicing, you look out there and like you know, you're in the heat of practice and you look out and you just see palm trees right out the window. You know, and then being able to get out there in the community and engage, you know, with the faculty at USC and administration and students, has been awesome. I mean, every single day that we've been on campus, we've eaten lunch on campus, and you know whether that's previous stops at Arkansas or the University of Nevada. You know it just doesn't really happen like that, where you know USC, the Village or Little Galen where the student athletes eat. We've eaten lunch every single day on campus, so it's kind of really helped being able to integrate us with the campus community.
Speaker 1:You came from Boston originally and then decided to go cross-country to Arizona State. What was that like for you to adjust, going from the East Coast, where things are really just so much different, all the way over to Arizona, and then onwards through to your career, where you spent a lot of time on the East Coast, where things are really just so much different all the way over to Arizona, and then onwards through to your career, where you spent a lot of time on the West Coast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's kind of crazy. I was a 17, 18-year-old college senior and, you know, live in 30 minutes south of Boston and I had never been to the West Coast before and I just thought, wow, wouldn't this be cool to go to college in Arizona and, just, you know, have the West Coast. And this journey being started was just kind of like a flippant decision of, hey, why don't I just go out there and see what this West Coast is all about? There's warm weather, it's something different and it's been really unbelievable what it's done for my future and my career.
Speaker 1:You've been with Eric Musselman a long time, going back to Arizona State. What was your first impression of him when you first met him?
Speaker 3:Coach is the best. My first impression we used to have a—at Arizona State. We had a weight room that was right across the street from the practice site at Arizona State. We had a weight room that was right across the street from, you know, the practice site at Arizona State. So I was listed in there.
Speaker 3:You know, one day and Coach Musser was his first week on the job he walked over there, you know, walked right up to me and introduced himself and you know, obviously I knew exactly who Coach was and you know, the entire time that we worked out, um, he was just talking to me and, uh, you know, we instantly kind of built a relationship and, um, you know, that was something that is just super cool from coach Muslin's perspective is just how he treated people.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, at the time I was like in my first week at Arizona State as a graduate assistant and the way coach acknowledged me and the relationship that we built with him being a two-time former NBA head coach and me being a guy that had been a student manager for a couple of years and I'm on my first week on the job as a graduate assistant and just kind of how he treated me like an equal and that kind of just sparked our relationship from there. And you know, we'd work out together every day in the morning at Arizona State and then we'd go and walk across the street over to Einstein's Bagels and get a bagel and coffee and you know, that's kind of the start of our relationship together and we've been together pretty much ever since.
Speaker 1:I know he's been instrumental in bringing you along, getting you on staff. As far as philosophy goes, when you're a graduate assistant or even before that and you are thinking I'm going to get into becoming a basketball coach, and you have the reasons you want to become a basketball coach, whether it's, you know, the fulfillment of teaching student athletes, the excitement of winning championships, all those things. Once you met coach, what did he add to your mentality about becoming a coach?
Speaker 3:The biggest thing with coach Musman was just that he's a continual learner. He had accomplished so much in his career being a two-time former NBA head coach at a young age, being an international head coach, being a head coach in the G League and just the way that he attacked every single day, you know, being able to come up with new ideas and constantly trying to evolve. And you know, at the time, coach was, you know, close to 50 years old at the time and I was a 22 year old graduate assistant. And just being able to see, you know, a man like Eric Musselman that had accomplished so much and he attacked every single day like he hadn't accomplished anything, and that's something that's kind of stuck with me, um, ever since is just being able to, um, you know, feed off a coach and really, you know, follow his leadership in that sense where he's always learning, um, he's always looking for new ideas, and I think that that's something that's kind of really stuck with me throughout this coaching journey.
Speaker 1:You've kind of been his right-hand man all along, all the way through Nevada, arkansas. Now here at USC he's handed scheduling over to you. I'm really curious a lot about the scheduling. In fact I'm curious how do games come about? If you could tell, tell our listeners, uh, how does a game go from from concept, whose idea is it? What do you do once you have the idea? And can you just kind of walk us through this, the process where it goes from, uh, you know, paper napkin to uh, to a uh, you know, getting in the game program?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. You know, when it comes to scheduling, you know kind of the first thing that you need to do is map out your date. So you kind of almost got to work backwards. You got to figure out, okay, the Big Ten first date that you can play after Christmas is X date, and then you got to kind of work it backwards. And then there's this new red set. You know, for the first time we're dealing with and scheduling where you have, you know, a week in between in December, where you have two big 10 games.
Speaker 3:But just being able to try to figure out, map out the perfect you know amount of dates in between games, try to figure out, okay, you have your, you know your high level non-conference tournament and then just try to build your team up towards that tournament so that you're playing the right games and you're also trying to challenge yourself as well. Scheduling standpoint. It's almost like you know you have to go out there and you have to, you know, engage in a lot of conversations, try to figure out what specific teams are looking for, what dates they have available, what dates they don't have available, and then you got to kind of match it up where you know you might have four teams that are interested in playing, but only one of those four teams can play on this date and another one can only play on that date. So you've got to kind of try to marry it all together to be able to form the schedule. And then you've got to make sure that you're doing your best to not under-schedule, but you also don't want to over-schedule as well, especially going into the Big Ten with 20 conference games.
Speaker 3:So there's a lot of challenges that go into it. And then you know there's the financial aspect of it as well, when you're trying to figure out what teams to play. And then you got to kind of balance a budget in a sense, and you know there's all these different X factors that come into it. And then you know it takes several months. You know usually the scheduling aspect starts in like January or February and you know goes well into August. But you know by the time you get around to it you know hopefully that product is something that you know you intended for when you started, you know, back in January or February.
Speaker 1:That sounds like a lot of moving parts. I mean, you've got the fact that everyone's schedules have to align. You've got the fact that you know you've got to look at the travel aspect, You've got to look at the cost of it, and then you have to look at maybe this is the most important thing is the strength of schedule aspect and how that will fit in with the numbers that the committees are going to look at.
Speaker 3:Is that maybe the biggest factor or is that sort of something that has to be kind of weighed in with all the others but also too with you know the way that the college athletics atmosphere is really changing with the conference realignments where a lot of you know conferences 18 league games, then you have 13 non-conference. Now all of a sudden you have 20 league games and 11 non-conference where you you know, in the Big Ten of our 20 league games, probably 17 or 18 of them are going to be quad one or quad two games. So you have to kind of balance the schedule a little bit where you know you don't necessarily need to play five, six, seven challenging quad one, quad two-ish type games in the non-conference because you're adding those two extra games in the Big Ten slate. So that you know you have to have a nice balance with your schedule where you know you're not under scheduling but you're also not over scheduling as well.
Speaker 1:So in a sense, the Big Ten has kind of made it easier for you to schedule because you just had this nice kind of baked in schedule with you already set and from that point on, like you said, you just don't want to overschedule. Ok, so you come to USC, you have to go out and recruit an entire roster. You have to go out and recruit an entire roster. Who are some of the guys that that you ended up um finding, bringing you know, bringing to Coach Musk saying this is the guy I think we, that we should look at.
Speaker 3:Well, I think all of it just is kind of like a collective effort. Um, you know the way that Coach Muskman kind of has his recruiting philosophy. Um, you know all of us, you know all the assistant coaches, we all work hand in hand together along with Coach Musman, and a lot of it was Chris Dunn at the Portal House. You know we were all living together in that Portal House and it was basketball 24-7. And we were going through depth charts and best available players and fits and all that stuff at 11 pm at night, 6 in the morning, doing recruiting, zooms on the Strand, facetimes on the beach, just trying to figure it all out.
Speaker 3:And I think, from a coaching staff perspective, obviously Coach Musman speaks for himself. Staff perspective, obviously Coach Musselman speaks for himself. But being able to work with coaches like Will Conroy, who's an unbelievable coach, having experience playing in the NBA, working in an NBA front office, unbelievable on the floor, and being able to connect with players Quincy Pondexter, who played in the NBA, does such a great job being able to connect with recruits and our players Michael Musselman works so hard, one of the hardest workers I've ever been around. And then Coach Todd Lee, you know, an experienced veteran in the college game, just being able to be a great talent evaluator. So when you have all those pieces together, we really work collectively well together and that's kind of how we were able to form this transfer recruiting deal that we had going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it looks like it's going to pay off some pretty good dividends here. It looks like it's a veteran team. It sounds like they know what they're doing out there. You are in command of the defense, is that correct?
Speaker 3:I do the offense. Oh, you do the offense. I'm sorry, me and Coach must kind of work hand-in-hand together with the offensive stuff.
Speaker 1:So you are in charge of the offense. What would you say in a few words, is your offensive philosophy?
Speaker 3:Well, what we try to do is we try to get to the free throw line as much as possible and then we try to limit our turnovers.
Speaker 3:We have a phrase that coach must has coined all the way back to, you know, his days in the CBA and in the NBA, which is shot on goal, meaning that a bad shot is better than a turnover.
Speaker 3:So what we try to do is we're willing to live with some bad shots or below average shot selection, because at least the shot has a chance of going in, rather than a turnover is automatically going the other way or it's a loss of possession.
Speaker 3:And then, from a free throw attempt perspective, we really try to space the floor out, attack mismatches, try to get to the rim and we have a phrase called early bonus, where we want to try to get to the free throw line the first eight to 10 minutes of you know each half where we're in the bonus for the rest of the half, so that you know 9-15 left in the first half, we get followed at minimum into 1-1. We're going to the free throw line. We don't have to inbound the ball on a baseline out or side out of bounds, and being a high free throw attempt team. That's something that carries weight both at home and on the road, where, if you have nights where you're struggling shooting the ball from the field or from the three-point line, at least if you're a high free throw attempt team and you're able to attack like you can manufacture points from the free throw line during nights where you're struggling to score the ball at a high rate.
Speaker 1:Interesting. You know, coach talked about getting into the Big Ten and getting sort of like having the reps get used to your style. How long do you think that will take to start getting those calls that? You need to really get that philosophy to really work.
Speaker 3:That's a great question, you know. I think a lot of that comes down to, you know, our guys being able to, you know, play hard and we're going to be fighting for respect from day one, and that's something that we don't take lightly. We want to play really hard and we have to earn respect At USC. As a program, we're moving into a new league, so that's something that we're going to play with a chip on our shoulder and be excited to take on the challenge in the Big Ten. It's something that we're going to take great pride in, from being able to get to the free throw line and stuff like that. That's something that's just going to take care of itself. Our hope is every single night, you know, we go out there and we just play as hard as we can. We're diving on the floor for loose balls, we're giving maximum effort and then everything else is going to take care of itself.
Speaker 1:Which one of the players so far seems to be the best at getting to the line, at least in practice.
Speaker 3:It seems like there's there's kind of been a bunch of guys that have been really good at uh being able to finish through contact, whether that's uh saint thomas, uh chabuzo agbo, uh desmond claude. So we feel like there there's a bunch of guys that can be in that like three, four, five, six free throw attempts per game role, and you, you know, we kind of have a goal where we want to go to the free throw line anywhere between 24 and 28 times a game. So being able to have multiple guys that can go four or five times a game is something that you know we really anticipate with the squad.
Speaker 1:Of course, one of the big goals with Coach is to get the seats filled in Galen. What are some of the observations you've seen, or what are some observations you have so far, about trying to get Galen filled up? What are some of the ideas you've thought about and what are you trying to do to inspire some of the locals, the LA locals, to come out?
Speaker 3:It's something that we talk about nearly on an everyday basis in our staff meetings of how do we get fans out to the Galen Center. Because we're in a Los Angeles market it's the second biggest market in the entire country and there's so much to do, whether it's from an entertainment perspective, sports you know, the weather's so great here, so we have to play an exciting brand of basketball. You know we have to play really hard, we have to play with great excitement, we have to play with energy, effort, enthusiasm and then also, too, as a staff and most importantly with our players is we have to be active in the community, whether that be the USC community or the Los Angeles community, and be able to win the fans over and not only get them to go to a game at the Galen Center, but get them wanting to come back to a second, a third, a fourth game at the Galen Center.
Speaker 1:What are you looking forward to most? Uh, with this first season.
Speaker 3:Well, I I think just being able to um, you know it's kind of cool, um, being able to be the first coaching staff to be into the big 10 with usc. So I think that that'll be exciting. You know some of the travel hurdles, you know that'll be a lot at times, but just that overall excitement of being able to play in the Big Ten. It's such a great league. There's so many great coaches, so many great brand names, a lot of teams ranked in the preseason top 25. So I think the challenges of the Big Ten, you know, being able to go into some of these hostile environments that we've never been in before, so I think, just the newness of everything and, you know, this overall excitement of being able to, you know, be a part of day one with USC entering the Big Ten.
Speaker 1:Well, Coach Rudd, we really appreciate you coming on the Dunk City Podcast and enjoyed your time on here and hope to see you down the road.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Thanks so much, chris, really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you your reminder that the Dunk City Podcast, brought to you by uscbasketballcom, is the only podcast and uscbasketballcom is the only website dedicated to Trojan basketball and only to Trojan basketball.
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Speaker 1:And next up is coach Quincy Pondexter. Excuse the audio problems. In the very beginning had a few issues with connections. Welcome back to the dunk city podcast. We bring on now coach Quincy Pondexter of the USC Trojans. Coach bond. Coach coach Pondexter, thanks for coming on the dunk city podcast. Appreciate you.
Speaker 2:Coach word has a little crazy ring to it.
Speaker 1:still, Right, because you started out as a player at the University of Washington and you became a coach and now you're coaching at USC. Did you ever think that you'd start out coming out of Fresno, go to Washington, end up at USC coaching in the Big Ten of all things?
Speaker 2:I think the biggest surprise is just coaching in the Big Ten. I knew coaching was going to be my future, but the Big Ten thing has just thrown me for a loop. But I'm honored to be in this position. I'm so excited for this part of my journey and I'm just looking forward to really being a part of getting Trojan basketball to the pinnacle.
Speaker 1:Well, before we talk about Trojan basketball, we want to talk a little bit about your background. I'm a bit fascinated by the era of basketball that you were involved with when you were at Washington. Of course, you started out in Fresno, you went to high school with the Lopez twins, famously, and you started at University of Washington at a time in the Pac-10 where it was just, I think, the last great era of Pac-10 basketball. There's some great UCLA teams down there with Kevin Love and Westbrook, you and Isaiah Thomas. Up at Washington there was OJ Mayo and DeRozan in back-to-back years. Down at USC Cal had Randall who beat you out for Pac-10 Player of the Year. You should have won it that year, but he beat you out Even though you were Pac-10 Player of the Week five times that year Player of the Week, I think year Player of the Week, I think I had a little bit better career.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so. I wouldn't trade that for the world.
Speaker 1:And then James Harden over at Arizona State. Just a great era of basketball. What was it like just being in that setting, playing for those great teams against all those other great teams.
Speaker 2:You know, man, it's the good old days and we reminisce and we talk about it every single time and I tell younger guys about those days, like man, every single day in our conference. You couldn't hide. You didn't even talk about the Ryan Anderson part at Cal, that's right, brooke, and Robin Lopez and Landry Fields at Stanford and a team that was a bottom feeder in Arizona State. They get James Harden and Jeff Pendergraft. Arizona had pros and Washington State was, you know, peaked at number two in the country. So you know it was a special time in our conference. It's days that you know and some battles that I'll talk about the rest of my life and it's just sad to see, you know, that conference not exist anymore.
Speaker 1:What did you learn from your career at Washington, playing for Coach Romar and then coming becoming a coach yourself? What do you bring to the table as a coach that you learned as a player?
Speaker 2:Man. I love Coach Romar, I love all my coaches I've played for but me, every single year. I was a player that had some peaks and valleys and maybe flirted with the draft and things like that, but, um, he knew I wasn't ready and he uh, explained that to my parents and, in the best way possible, and, um, you know, we made it through it and I was able to have an nba career because of what I went through at washington and, um, that's why I really want to preach to the kids that we have and that come through USC and that I get the opportunity to coach is, you know, everyone's journey is different. Everyone battles are different, but you know, if you make it through certain situations, you can make it through anything, and sometimes it's teaching a bigger lesson for harder parts in your life. Coach Romar, I owe him all the credit in the world for making me the man I am today.
Speaker 1:I think you were the last piece of the Trojan coaching staff to be put in place. What was the process that led to you coming to USC?
Speaker 2:It was a long process. It was a very long process. There was many days I felt good about the jobs and a lot more days I felt like I had no chance of getting in. Coach Musselman really does his research when it comes to hiring people and to be able to make it through and have the opportunity to have this job. It means the world to me and I'm honored to be in this position. Coach Musselman is one of the best coaches in our country in the game of basketball in general, and so for him to trust in me to help him get to where he wants this Trojan program to be, it means a lot, and so I wear that with a badge of honor and hopefully I won't let him down to help him get to where he wants his Trojan program to be.
Speaker 1:it means a lot, and so I wear that with a badge of honor and hopefully I won't let him down. Did it help at all that you had the Mike Hopkins zone that you could potentially bring with you down to SC? Didn't you know all the things about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but he already had that from Coach Conroy. Coach Conroy was hired before me so he already had all the own secrets from Coach Hopkins. But if I can help bring that back or help teach it a little bit, I'll make sure I do that.
Speaker 1:So now you're at USC and you're an assistant coach, and what are your main responsibilities for the team now?
Speaker 2:It's a lot uh for the team now and it's it's a lot, um, you know, from recruiting um trying to establish myself as a um one of the top recruiters, not even on the West coast but in the country. Um and uh bring some really quality talent to uh USC, you know, continue to develop and uh evolve as a basketball coach, um offensively and defensively, um and so, uh, we're getting the specifics of what that's going to look like, of what side of the ball I'm going to be on more so, um and just learning on in that aspect and um just everything. You know, I'm just I'm a utility player right now. Whatever Coach Musk needs, I'm doing it for him.
Speaker 1:What's the most exciting part about being a coach for you?
Speaker 2:The most exciting part, I think, the competition. You know just the daily grind of working and trying to. You don't. You're so far away from seeing that goal. It's a little bit different as a player. As a player, you get daily wins a lot of times. You get to get in the gym. You get to feel what it's like A lot of times. As a coach, you don't get necessarily that same feeling. You get the exhaustion from working so many hours or whatever it is. But it's a different type of feeling when you're a coach.
Speaker 2:Your success comes usually in the season when you see that end of the year wins, losses and those victories. But you know there's small victories too in seeing players get better, seeing them reach their goals, seeing them commit to your school, seeing them do have really good academic success. But you know at the end of the day, uh, we're judged on how we finish the season, what that win-loss record's like and, um, that's that's where we hang our hats on. So our, our success is a little different yeah, hey, coach, it's uh, it's mark um.
Speaker 4:I want to take you back to your college career um first time. I remember um seeing you on TV. I just remember the announcer saying that your nickname was Coupon. I don't know if that was just an announcer's nickname or did your buddies actually call you that too, not at all, I didn't think so I sniffed that out.
Speaker 1:He didn't need a nickname. He had one of the coolest names Quincy Pondexter. When I first heard that name I was like that guy's got to be good.
Speaker 2:There's no need for, no need for a nickname at all. Yeah, there's. There's a little bit to that. You know I I actually liked it because, yeah, when, when people usually call me by my nickname, that means they probably don't have a really good relationship with me and they don't know me too well, so I actually like it. It it's like oh yeah, when someone says that my friends and family are like, oh yeah, that person's not really his friend or doesn't really know him too well, so it's cool to have both names.
Speaker 4:I like that. I'm proud of myself for sniffing that one out. You know, from the get-go you were just. You were a very nice Pac-10 player freshman, sophomore, junior season, doing a little scouting of your career in advance of this interview. You made an amazing jump in efficiency from your junior season to your senior season. I mean just a different player, much more productive, just higher shooting percentages, a lot more points, a lot more usage. And here's what just really sticks out to me you turn the ball over so much less. It's. I don't want to say you were a different player, but you were just just such a much better version of yourself in your senior season. What happened there?
Speaker 2:oh man, uh, you're man. My, my college career is a story in itself. You know, starting off my first 10 games or so, I think I was like the second leading scorer in the conference, averaging 18. I'm picking man, I'm out of here, I'm about to be a draft pick, and and then that that after our first road trip in the conference it was our first two conference games uh, our coach, you know, sat me down, said you don't play defense well enough, so I'm the second-league scorer in the conference and end up coming off the bench for a good part of that season just to teach me what it's going to take to make it in the NBA. I think I was pissed off the very next game and had 21 in the first half against Arizona and 25 for the game. As a freshman I went like I had like 17 points in seven minutes or something like that I remember, and I was like coach is going to have to start my next game and he still didn't. So, like a part of Coach Romar's teaching and the life lessons and the game lessons that will pay Devin is longer. It was happening then. Like I always commend him, like I don't know how you did it, but you know, these days a kid might have entered the portal, might have been gone or whatever. But you know that kind of set, the you know the motion for my next four years and my sophomore year. I'm thinking, all right, he's just going to hand me the keys and it's going to be my turn.
Speaker 2:And I didn't work on my weaknesses enough and our team and what we needed. It didn't really fit how the game was or how we were going to win, and so in order for me to be my best in the guard play that we had, I had to probably play, you know, the four. John Brockman was at the four taking John Brockman's minutes. I wasn't taking John Brockman's minutes, so you got to come off the bench sometimes. So John Brockman slipped to the five a couple games. I was at the four a couple games to please me. And then we had our slew of guards and you know it just wasn't working. I wanted the ball in areas that John wanted it in and it just didn't work. And we had guards that you know they wanted to get their shine and you know they were getting a lot of shots up. You know, love those guys to death, but that's what it was, and so we weren't playing to you know, it wasn't playing Quincy ball.
Speaker 2:My junior year I just fell in love with, you know, just winning. I wanted to feel what it was like to be a winner. And so, even though I didn't play as great as I would have played, but I was battling through an injury through that year and I just was so obsessed with winning and getting better, I had to lock myself in the gym for at that point in time, for like a year and a half of just psychopath workouts, whether it's, you know, before practice, after practice, 2 am, midnight, like 6 am, 5 am. It was ridiculous the amount of work I was putting in and it was just like waiting for that opportunity just to break through and to shine through. And my junior year was, you know, probably one of my best years because I I figured it out. I figured out what it was like to be a winner. I figured like that was gonna help me be successful and we end up winning the conference that year, um, john averaged, I think, under 16 points a game. Isaiah thomas averaged around the same, just Justin Dimmitt averaged around the same, and we were all in between, you know, 12 to 13 points to, I think, 15, 16 points for all four of us. And, you know, to win the conference by how we did and in the space that we did, and make the NCAA tournament and have great NCAA tournament games. I just craved that feeling and it really turned me into a winner. I knew what it meant to win and I never looked back from there. And so I remember going to Coach Romar's office after that season and he was like so you're going to enter the draft or not, or what's going to happen? And basically we threw away the draft papers. I said I don't want to know. John Brockman's leaving, justin Dittman's leaving, this is going to be my ship. So let me get healthy.
Speaker 2:I went played usa basketball that summer for, uh, the world university games team and I'm out there competing. I'm so lost and competing. I'm like man, am I gonna get cut? I'm gonna sit home or whatever it is. And you know how good am I playing. And coach ramar was like you're one of the best players here, you're gonna start. I was like, whoa, am I going to get cut? Am I going to get sent home, or whatever it is? And you know how good am I playing. And Coach Romero was like you're one of the best players here, you're going to start. I was like whoa, a team that had Evan Turner that ended up being the second pick. He ended up being my backup that year. And you know so many other Robbie Hummel and DeJuan Butler and all these guys and I'm starting.
Speaker 2:I'm being one of the best players and I'm just like, wow, okay, now that stills that confidence in me to come back that next season and just kill, played freely, got to show what I was capable of doing before. But now more of the pressure is on my shoulders, with a great leader like John Brockman being out of there and the Spencer Hawses are gone and you know all these guys and all these young guys are looking up to me the Justin Hollidays and guys like that named Isaiah Thomas. And so it was my opportunity to shine for a year. I embraced it. I embraced being a captain. I loved that moment and you know I just truly fell in love with the game at washington and, uh, it helped set up my career. It helped me make it in the nba nine years and, uh, I think I made the playoffs. Like almost every year I was healthy. So, um, it's a true, true honor it.
Speaker 4:You gave me a lot of stuff there, so I'm gonna reply with a lot of it. The first thing is the USA basketball. You hear about that a lot, especially in the pros. When they play the Olympics they just come back as different players just because they just practice at a higher level. Is it possible, do you think, to replicate that just within the program? Is that just something that you're just? You know you're blessed if you have the opportunity, and it's really hard to replicate outside of the program.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you could. Only you could replicate it to a degree, I think. You know, as we continue to. You know, build this program and and you're building. You know great, great, great rosters where you have four or five five-star guys. You know great, great, great rosters where you have four, five five-star guys, you know, and they're all in that room and it turns out to be like you know who's going to eat, you know who's going to be who's the cream is going to rise to the top and who's it going to be. You know, like you dump a steak off in a lion's den and it's like who's going to be that guy? And that's what it's like, man.
Speaker 2:So you know, it kind of was like that at Washington when we really were good. It was like you know, guys were. You know, I remember me and Isaiah Thomas would go to the gym and he'll be on one end and I'll walk in before him and I'll be working out, and he'll be on one end. I'll walk in before him and I'll be working out and he'll get there and then I'll see him working out and I see how hard he's going and I'm going even harder and it's like I'm not stopping my workout until you're done and so you gotta think about that. It amplifies it up on the on the usa scale, where you know you have a kevin durant and a LeBron James and Steph Curry, the mythical work ethics of those guys that guys get to see come to fruition. So young guys love it. So Anthony Edwards is like I'm working hard and he sees these guys and he's like, oh, I need to work harder and that's the beauty of it. So probably, seeing the Kevin Durant and how he approaches the game and how I've seen him work out and he does every rep at 150 miles per hour I've never seen anything like it. He works hard and you're like you shouldn't have to do this. No, he works every rep like his game speed, like he's never had an NBA job in his life. Steph Curry gets up hundreds of shots, thousands of shots a day. Whatever it is, he's flying off that thing. Everything that he's doing in the game that seems simple putting people to sleep, all the antics, because he's done it a thousand times in rehearsal.
Speaker 2:Lebron James waking up early, being at the arena four or five hours before the game, putting his work in on his body and lifting. You know, joel Embiid's one of my closest friends and he was telling me, like man, these guys, you know, lebron's been impressive, like it's legit and to see it, and he's like man, it's taking him to another level and changed his approach to the game, because he's like, like, I see how much lebron invests not only time but money and everything else in his body. I need to take that next step as well and continue to. You know, build my body and you know that's what. That's what happens in those usa environments and, um, you're coached by the best. You know, you're wearing that usa on your chest and you just there's a different level of confidence that goes into you when you're, you just really know that you're the elite of the elite.
Speaker 4:It seems like you really need your peers to do that. Not to dismiss coaching at all, but there's only so much that a coach can do and it seems like it's a different experience when you see your peers doing it. Is that, is that seem fair.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, it's an ego thing. It's an ego thing because we can all be the best on our local team and then we all become the best in our city and then we all become the best in our state. This game, how do you become the best in the world? And so sometimes, when you're the best in your city and you're not getting tested every day, then you get to that next level and you might get punched in the face Like, oh man, this hurts. Oh man, you know. Then you get to that next level and you might get punched in the face like, oh man, this hurts. Oh man, I might not be the best. Oh man, that dude's a little bit faster than me. And then it takes a whole different level. If you're really about it and you really have that mentality, you can't sleep unless you're the best. You can't sleep unless you're working the most. And so that's where it goes to the next level of that. And, um, you know, that's what makes the great ones great.
Speaker 4:And part of the recruiting process is that part of the assessment is just really finding out who has that in them, who's just absolutely not going to stop until they've put in all the work that they know and if they see somebody doing more, they're never, ever going to be topped.
Speaker 2:Oh, definitely, definitely. I think. When you know I'm analyzing recruits, I want to find people that are similar to how I was as a player. You know how much are you going to grind, how much do you love it? Are you a historian of the game? Do true in this game is you know there's no secret formula. There's no secret formula. The guys that work the hardest, the guys that are, you know, the most talented, injury-free, and all those things, you could achieve any dream you want in this game. You know, god willing, with a little luck, but you know you have the opportunity to get there. But are you willing to sacrifice to get there?
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. No, going back a little earlier to some of your other um walking us through your, your college career, a couple of the things that you mentioned. First of all, I'm just you mentioned the name and you were kind of fighting for court position with them. Just I can't imagine there'd be a less fun guy to fight for court position with than john brockman, just from from afar man.
Speaker 2:I learned so much from that guy. I think he's one of the most underrated players in pac-10 history. I think he should have won player of the year, um, you know, even though they gave it, they gave to a pretty good guy named james harden um, and more than anything, I think he think he's one of the best people. So to learn from someone like that he's influenced me and so many others to have great careers and you know for him, he might have overachieved in his career and I think he would have got a lot further if he hadn't had an injury. And so, no, I love John. It wasn't much of a fight because you know he was going to win and so he's one of the best ever. And, you know, I think his number 40 should be definitely retired in heckhead.
Speaker 4:Yeah, he didn't move around like a ballerina, but I can just tell you a guy like you you can see coming in. It's like, yeah, this guy, watch out for him, brockman. You'd face him and be like I don't even know what to do with this guy. It just that had to be. You had to see a lot, just love seeing opponents. It's like, yeah, what are they gonna do with this guy, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, I, I end up. You know when you have that bully on the block as your big brother, it it helps. So you get to see what other teams do to that. You know when you have that bully on the block as your big brother, it it helps. So you get to see what other teams do to that. You know they're tough guy that does to other teams and things like that.
Speaker 2:And then you know when you play against we played against us. We didn't see that. We didn't. We didn't see those bullies anymore. We didn't see any like, because john's just laid them all out and it was really. It was really similar to where, uh, what I had in new um in memphis with, uh, zach randolph and marcus um, you know playing with zach randolph man, you see all these other guys barking on tv and talking trash and then we play against him. I'm like man, these dudes don't say a word on the floor. It's like I wonder why it's Zach's on the floor. I've seen some of the best in the league and much respect to them, but I've seen a lot of them cower to Zach Randolph.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I saw a video of him where he was explaining to a ref one time he was getting into a thing with DeMarcus Cousins. Bullies get bullied. Where we come from, bullies get bullied.
Speaker 2:Where we come from, bullies get bullied exactly that's classic, and and and he's, and he's not lying, he's not lying. I'll, I'll go into, uh, any alley with that dude and come out, you know, squeaky clean yeah yeah, all right.
Speaker 4:One more thing. Um, going back to your freshman, you mentioned something after your first conference road trip and that just shook loose. Something that I see every year, and I'm curious how this aligns with your experience as a player and a coach. It seems to me that it's almost boy, that first conference road trip. Even if it's with experienced players, it always seems to be tougher for a team than they're expecting. Does that line up with your experience?
Speaker 2:Oh, always, always, Getting the first two games on the road is like punishment. It feels like we got that the last few years at Washington. You guys sent us to some hostile territories in the first road trip and you know the winning isn't likely and you know it's tough. But you know, if you're able to, you know, get past that first week and split or, you know, do what you got to do, then you'll have a much better look to your outcome, to your season. But you know it is tough that first two games, especially with a young team I think we were, you know, super young when I was playing there Because you just don't know, like you don't know, what a road game is like in college basketball, coming from little high school gyms with 500 to 1,000 people, you know you don't know what it's like.
Speaker 2:And then you go into Pauley pavilion, you go into Arizona, you go into you know even you know when it was as a coach you go into Colorado, utah. That's tough, the altitude, the travel, you know what it does and you know get some quality teams. You know you're in some bad situations.
Speaker 4:Yeah, um be interested to see how that plays out. Going into new venues where, um, you know, these fan bases don't have histories with this, with this programs, although, um, I I have a feeling that usc as a program is not going to be too popular with um, you know the fan bases at indiana, purdue and on and on. Pretty safe to bet that they won't be too friendly to us.
Speaker 2:Yes, you said the schools are not like the basketball schools, not the football schools. Yeah, so imagine the football schools that probably have a built-in hatred against us, whether it's the Michigans and things like that, and Ohio State.
Speaker 4:Those are going to be some hostile environments. Yeah, did. Did you ever played any uh big 10 uh venues in your college career?
Speaker 2:no, okay, wow, no, we we played a big 10 team in the n tournament. We played against Purdue in 2009. They had a really good team. I think they made it to the Final Four or Elite Eight. They were really good With Chris Kramer and Etuan Moore, jawan Johnson, all those guys you know that was a battle. I thought we should have squeaked by was that was a battle you know we should. I thought we should squeak by, but you know it was a.
Speaker 4:it was a great game so this will be a learning experience for you too going to a big 10 venue and seeing how that's like for for visiting as a conference team now yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2:I'm looking forward to the challenge. Um, you know, at the end of the day, basketball is basketball. That's why the ncaa tournament is so beautiful. Um, teams will adjust, they will adapt. Um, you know they'll be. You know playing styles that are, you know, differing from each other, that you know styles one style is going to win some styles not not going to win and and teams are just not just this year but throughout the course of the next few years. It won't just be like oh, they play West Coast basketball in the Pac-10. There's some tough teams in that old Pac-10, pac-12. Maybe a lot tougher Now. We're going to see what's really what with this balance of conferences.
Speaker 4:Exactly exactly. Speaking about this team, I kind of asked different variations of this question to all the assistants and the head coach that comes on. What surprised you the most about the team, as you've been with them this season? Is there one player that you're surprised at? What you're seeing versus what you expected during the recruiting and assessment process?
Speaker 2:We're still getting to know these guys, but I don't think they're too much surprises. I think they're all giving us 110%. Some of them are maybe better than advertised. I think the ones that are advertised are really good. You know whether it's St Thomas or Chibuzo, you got Desmond Claude's, who's a great player. And then the unsung heroes you know clark is a good player that's, you know, tough and steady and you know, just wants to play and grind. Uh, josh cohen, you know terence williams. All these guys are just dogs. They've given us everything they have this summer and you know we just love the opportunity to coach these guys.
Speaker 2:And I think probably the surprises are the freshmen. You know the freshmen have some game. You know Isaiah Elohim. He's been busting his tail, he's relentless going to the rim. You know Jalen Shelley. You know taller than we expected, you know handles the ball better than we expected, does a little bit of everything and he's really blossoming in his own right. And a player that people haven't seen is Wesley Yates, who's also going to be a freshman technically because he redshirted last year at Washington.
Speaker 4:And you know we're really glad to have him and hopefully he has a healthy year and, you know, continues to to do what he has to do you mentioned one, the to me the the most interesting kind of I don't want to say inflection point, but the one thing I've got my eye on, st Thomas, just volume and efficiency. I'm really, really curious and, as a fan, a little concerned, about the jump from the big sky to the Big Ten. What can you tell us about that jump, or is it just wait and see?
Speaker 2:Pete. I think a good gauge of this man is basketball is basketball. There's been a lot of players coming from everywhere, especially now, um, with college basketball, the older teams are winning, the older guys are winning, the guys that stay in college longer. So it's kind of you know, instead of you know five young freshmen that you just toss on the floor and say go play basketball. You know some of the older guys that take a little bit more time to develop and finally figure it out. They're winning right now. You know. So you see a player like Dalton Connect, who came from the same school the year before and you know he was recruited.
Speaker 2:People weren't thinking like, oh, he's going to have a year where he's first-team All-American, run her up for, for player of the year. You know and and I remember you know, being in rooms last year and watching his film and arguing with people's like the film doesn't lie, the kid is a player. You know the kid is looks amazing. So why are we in here arguing about what he can do and we can do and that level and this level? Man, the game is. The game is getting harder. The game is changing. The game is getting harder. The game is changing. The mountain West has gotten a lot better as a conference. You know the WCC is is staggering. You know the wacky man has some teams. So you know it doesn't matter where you, necessarily where you come from, as long as you you could play and I think you know Sank could really play- Cool, I, I, I've made a note here.
Speaker 4:Um, not coupon, who basically lives by drop a stick off in the lines, didn't see what happens.
Speaker 2:He's comfortable with it, so I'm comfortable with it yeah, man, I can't wait to um have you guys all come out. Man, we're really putting in a lot of work. Coach muslim is one of the greatest coaches I've ever been around in my life and trust us and trust in him that you're going to get a good quality product that you're going to be begging to come back and see. So we're just building this thing and, you know, really trusting us.
Speaker 1:All right, coach, thanks for coming on the show. We really appreciate you taking the time. I know you've got busy days ahead. So well, we're super excited about it. We're super excited to meet you and come out and see you guys at the Galen Center. All right, fight on. All right, fight on, coach, fight on. Thank you so much, coach. We're here with Michael Ruitt, who's in his first season as Assistant Athletic Director for Men's Basketball Operations. He just spent three seasons with the Stanford basketball program and he spent 2023-2024 as Stanford's director of operations and administration. Michael, welcome to the Dunk City podcast.
Speaker 5:Chris, thank you for having me. I'm very fired up to be on the podcast and get to talk to everyone and just share a little bit of what USC basketball is all about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're very excited to talk to everyone on staff and we're especially excited to talk to the guys who are behind the scenes because as a fellow behind the scenes guy myself back in the day, I know that that's where a lot of the hard work gets done, where no one appreciates or sees. But you know, the trains run on time and there's food after the games for the players and it's probably only when the food is not right, when something goes wrong, is the only time they really notice. So welcome to USC and I'm just curious about your first impressions here about the campus and the region and the people. Just tell me what it's like.
Speaker 5:Yeah, no, that's a great question. I'm incredibly fortunate to be here. Thank you to Coach Musselman and the staff for trusting in me. I had never worked for him previously, so he definitely took a chance on me and it's been a great two months a little over two months since I started. It's been a great two months a little over two months since I started.
Speaker 5:I think first impressions I only had ever been to Los Angeles for games when I was a manager at Virginia Tech. We were down in Anaheim for the Honda Classic, I think is what it was back in the day. We were there when Alonzo Ball was on UCLA that year. So I'd never really ever been to Los Angeles until I'd gotten to Stanford and we played here in UCLA for a couple of seasons. It really is remarkable the impression you get when you're a visiting team, because you don't really leave your bubble. You just go to hotel, to arena, to restaurant, to hotel, so you don't really ever get to explore. And then being down here has just been remarkable. I'm really enjoying it. I live like 10 minutes from the beach. It's so nice and it's a really good change for me, coming from the Bay Area.
Speaker 5:Everywhere has its pros and cons, but I'm really happy right now and I think Los Angeles has been incredible. There's always something to do. There's always something to see. The sports in here has been incredible. I've been to a couple of Angels games Dodger games. Obviously, once the NBA and NFL seasons get rolling, I'm excited to go to some of those as well, assuming we have some free time Prioritizing the team first, but it's been incredible. The food has been really good being down in this area just compared to the bay area and mixing it up and, yeah, the people have been incredibly supportive. That USC brand across your chest really is is something I didn't fully understand until you get here and you get to see just how powerful it is and when you really pay attention, just it doesn't matter where you are. There's people wearing USC Trojan gear and it's so cool to just see the support and the passion and the history that has come from this university and we're. We're striving to keep making history, moving forward with the basketball team awesome, you know.
Speaker 1:Uh, michael Sweats was a friend of the pod. He was on the pod last year. You, former USC director of basketball operations, it seems like you're basically moving into his role, maybe along with Caleb Klein as well. What did he tell you on the way out? Are there any? Does he leave behind any Easter eggs in corners, underneath drawers and desks and stuff, and did he carve his initials somewhere? What was the handoff like for that?
Speaker 5:That's a great question. So I'm actually a huge fan of Michael Sweat. He was somebody that I would rely on when I was at Stanford just to bounce ideas off of hey, when you guys are going up to Seattle, what did you do? Where did you go? What was your postgame food? Or he would do the same. Hey, when you're in Pullman, who did you go? What was your post game food? Or he would do the same. Hey, when you're in Pullman, who did you reach out to for this restaurant? Or like, hey, in Boulder, the, the benches and the technology, just like little ins and outs that, to be honest, aside from, like, the 12 directors of ops in the Pac-12, nobody would even care to know about or even think about in general.
Speaker 5:So Sweats became a really close com, just a competitor and friend and co-worker. I mean, we're all in the same industry trying to make sure the teams are put in the best position to be successful. So it's been great to follow his shoes. Everybody in the athletic department really loves him and what he did for the basketball program. We've texted here and there, obviously me going through the transition and him going through a transition now at SMU. Like there's a lot of learning. So I'm kind of respecting his time and being able to get adjusted, but also like, hey, if I need to get something done, who do I talk to for this? So he has been incredible in the support for me.
Speaker 5:He didn't leave much behind. To my knowledge, I started right around Memorial Day, so a little bit after the first group of coaches, including Caleb, had started, but I think he left a little bit of gear for them to wear. So I'm sure that they're very appreciative of that and I mean it definitely mixes it up, because obviously you want to transition into the new gear and wear everything, because one of the best things about athletics is your whole wardrobe is the school attire. So when you don't have a job or you change jobs, you really only have like a handful of things you can wear that are not that previous school's brand or like a professional team from being a friend.
Speaker 1:You save a lot of money.
Speaker 5:I know they appreciated that.
Speaker 1:You save a lot of money on apparel. That's for sure when you're working in a university.
Speaker 5:Oh my gosh, it's incredible, yeah, and it's very special and we're very fortunate. The gear is obviously important because we're always representing the brand and we want to recruit, because you never know who you're recruiting. We're obviously in a day and age where recruiting is important for the team, but you're also trying to recruit donors or you're trying to recruit staff members or in the community, when, when I'm wearing a USC shirt and I'm out at dinner and Playa Vista or Culver City, like somebody's going to come up to you, hey, what do you do? I mean, I'm a taller guy so think, oh, you must play football or basketball or something. So it's just a conversation starter. So, yeah, I can't echo enough how important the gear situation is.
Speaker 1:Nice. So, uh, it's summertime pretty slow for basketball. You guys are just getting, uh, getting everything in gear the summer. Uh, the the players are back home right now. A little break. Coach seems to be constantly on the go. What is your role like right now? What do you find yourself busy doing as far as like the kind of the formal roles? And then what are some of the things that are like you found yourself sort of informally doing because, as is often the case with staff guys, you know you're the guy you're nearby and you've been tasked with something. What's some examples of that?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so you're definitely right. Coach is always on the go. He's always thinking about the program and what we can do to get the brand out there. So I know this morning he went over to USC football practice because as much as he's thinking about the brand, he's also trying to learn firing off text. Hey, I met with so-and-so, we should do this. Or this hockey team plans out their preseason schedule. So hey, coaches, you guys, let's plan out our preseason practice plan.
Speaker 5:So it's very random. For me in particular, it's a lot of onboarding. Still, as you would remember, like the first calendar year being employed is, it's always something new until you really understand the timeline of everything. So, like you said, our guys just got home from being here for the past eight weeks. It's kind of a quiet period, but it's also kind of not, because you're prepping for them to return in two weeks. So I had a meeting about ticketing. So what do we look at in the arena? Because we share it with volleyball and women's basketball and there's other events going on. Like you, you don't always have that free time, so we were able to knock that out and get it while it's quiet, just to understand, like the little things of where coach's wife is going to sit or where do we put the recruits, like they're going to sit somewhere in the arena. We we've never been here for that, so we have to learn. So just little things like that.
Speaker 5:Um, projects, coach muss is huge on learning, like I said, and growth and we're trying to continue to evolve. So one of the things I handle is team travel. Um, I've been reaching out to west coast professional sports teams the Warriors, the Lakers, the Clippers, nfl. I know Coach has said that we met with the Chargers. That was just before I started, but I got the notes from it. So what do these teams do when they're flying to the East Coast? Do they leave at noon or do they leave at six or what is the thought process with everything? So that we can learn and be able to take that for the team.
Speaker 5:I've actually really enjoyed it because it's an industry I know nothing about. I've only ever worked in college so being able to hear what the Warriors did and then also be able to take what the G League Santa Cruz Warriors did and compare and pull. And when they land, do you go to the hotel and eat dinner or do you go to the arena and sweat because you just sat on a plane for three or four hours depending on where you're going. So a lot of that. It's also random stuff.
Speaker 5:We're we're working to renovate some of our signs. As most people know, usc has three guys from last year's team now in the NBA in Brawny Isaiah and Boogie. So we have some graphics in our practice gym and we're trying to get those sorted out so that when the guys come back it's a nice little surprise to them. It really shows this is you next year when you guys go to the league. We're really focused on that.
Speaker 5:Just random little big 10 meetings as we're transitioning over the big 10 has been incredibly supportive and hey, we know you, ucla, oregon and Washington are all former Pac-12 members. That's how the Pac-12 operated, but this is how the big 10 is and here's what we can do to get caught up to speed. Or they've been very supportive too, of like, hey, what did you guys do in the Pac-12 that we could maybe learn, or stuff like that. And it's a whole new industry for all of us because we're very regionalized. You don't really talk to many people outside of your conference. I mean, you can network and stuff, but I've never been to East Lansing, so like, where does the team stay when we go to East Lansing or Purdue or Rutgers or et cetera? So it's a lot of planning so that when September rolls around and we're about to start our practices, that I can just know it's already been taken care of and be able to work on the next thing that's coming, so I'm never behind schedule schedule.
Speaker 1:What's like? You brought the Big Ten. What has been the biggest difference between dealing with the Pac-12 and dealing with the Big Ten so far? Are there any? Are there any stylistic differences or administrative differences? And the great thing about this is you can. You can kind of rip the Pac-12 now, because they don't exist anymore. I'm just kidding, but yeah, I just yeah it's, it's a good question.
Speaker 5:I would love to say I'll know more by this time next year. Until we go through it. It's probably a little bit of an unknown for us even, and to me that's scary, because I like to pride myself on being able to be ready for when coach has a question. Or, like I always knew in Boulder, we're gonna stay at this hotel. This is how you get to the arena. We're gonna do this restaurant for post game.
Speaker 5:But now, like I said, like I've never been to some of these places, so you just have to learn everything. The one thing I think that has been different and maybe and I don't know if this was the past or maybe it's new and an emphasis but there's been an email chain of all the directors of ops, so we have a shared Google Drive of everything. Because, on the flip side, they've never been to usc, they've never been to eugene oregon, so learning that um, and just being supportive and asking questions, um, it's all been brand new. Yeah, it's, it's kind of an unknown right now and, as much as it's exciting and I'm I'm really fortunate for this opportunity it's also a bit scary because you can't prepare for something if you don't know what's coming. Yeah, that's a good point. That's probably the biggest thing.
Speaker 1:So you're from back east. Where exactly were you? Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so I grew up on the east coast of Florida, in Cape Canaveral, merritt Island area. Closest school was Stetson or UCF. Both of my parents work at the Space Center. My mom just retired, actually, so I guess one of my parents worked there.
Speaker 1:That must have been pretty exciting growing up. You must have seen some great launches over the years.
Speaker 5:Yes, it was incredible. I got to see every shuttle launch from the day I was born to the very last one. The space industry is just phenomenal and incredible and the history that my parents have played in advancing from the space shuttle industry now to what they're doing with Orion and the capsule and just everything that's involved with SpaceX and all the companies has really been fascinating. But it was not ever something that, like I knew, sports was my thing, so it's kind of cool to step on the outside and be able to see it and support them. And I mean my dad's gotten to go all over the world from Switzerland to Japan to he's out in San Diego a lot for business because they go out to sea with the capsule, so it's been really cool. Um, I don't miss the humidity in Florida, if we're being honest and.
Speaker 5:I tell my parents that, like, hey, I love coming home and seeing you, but when it's 90 degrees and 100 humidity, I'm just, I'm spoiled with this california best weather in the world.
Speaker 1:Now, a little known fact is I actually went to high school in, uh, orlando bishop moore high school, which is wow, which is the only major catholic high school in the central florida area orlando area. It was at one time so so so, uh, you know little uh, weekend trips to Daytona and new Smyrna beach, uh, during the high school days were were pretty regular so, and my mom lives up in uh, uh St Augustine area now, so, um, but oh, it's such a beautiful area.
Speaker 1:So you went off to uh, was it East Tennessee state and or was it Virginia tech?
Speaker 5:Where did, where did you go after high school? So yeah, so both of my parents went to Virginia Tech for undergrad. It was never really a decision, I mean, I applied to other places, but I always knew I wanted to go to Virginia Tech. I was actually. This is the funniest thing ever is I wanted to study weather because of hurricanes and being in Florida and chasing tornadoes and, like as a high school kid, you think that's a job and come to find out that's not really a job and it's actually very dangerous.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have to like get in that plane and go through the storm and get to the eye, right?
Speaker 5:And I thought it was like something I wanted to do. And two or three months in I was. I called my parents hey, I don't really enjoy this I want to do. And two or three months in I called my parents hey, I don't really enjoy this, I want to do something in business. Hospitality is kind of what I landed on and I'm a very social person and love just getting to know people and learning. But while also doing that, I was a manager for the basketball team under Coach Buzz Williams for four years. So when he first started it was his first year as well. So it really was cool to see the transition and learn about what being a student manager was. Coach Buzz was a manager himself, so he took a lot of pride in making sure we were prepared for after college and whatever we wanted to do, and it's been cool to progress with him.
Speaker 5:But after I graduated I went to East Tennessee State as a graduate assistant. I was kind of done with basketball. It was four years. It was a lot it was. I knew I didn't really want to coach I'm not really X's and O's driven so I went in to be a graduate assistant within the athletic department. I worked in the academic support group. I was the only male, from me to the senior woman administrator, who oversaw our program and all the other departments internally. So that was a learning experience. Going from male dominant at Virginia Tech, we had one female. She was on our support staff. She was incredible, but then roles were reversed.
Speaker 5:And then 2020 hit and COVID and I was kind of in a tough place because schools were cutting jobs. They weren't making jobs. My GA time was over so I didn't have anything. And then I ended up at the University of Idaho working in their athletic department, which was a complete change. I'd never been to Idaho applied sight unseen. I was just trying to get a job and it was awesome. It was a learning experience.
Speaker 5:That was when we played spring football for FCS and the bubble and everything that was involved with that, as I'm sure everyone remembers, was something that was fascinating and we were getting tested and I got to do the the field goal net so when you pull them up and down for field goals, because I was in the bubble and they didn't want random people on the field because we were trying to protect the student athletes. So I had the best view in the house sitting in the end zone I got to. Every time they were down our end your your front row to it, so it was really cool. And about 11 months after I started I got the call that there was a job at Stanford and was there for the last three years. So I've kind of making my way across the United States and I guess you could say I'm heading back towards the East Coast, but you never really know, it's everywhere.
Speaker 1:Has been a really fun experience and uh, yeah, I'm very fortunate to be here right now yeah, these are very stylistically different locations virginia tech, idaho, stanford you know you go from from the intensity of, you know you got enter sandman, you know coming into, into into the stadium and then you go to. You go to stanford and and you can, you can hear the uh, the, uh, the, the cheese and wine uh clink on the plates during the game. So very different. You know, speaking of the spirit and energy of places like Blacksburg, where there's just incredible fan support.
Speaker 1:We've talked a lot about this, about the fan support at USC for basketball and Galen Center. We've talked about this offline, about what you guys are looking to do to try to fill Galen Center and get the excitement going, because you know it's not just about just having winning basketball, because there's been winning basketball at USC. There seems to be some kind of blockage about just getting that that uh stadium filled. So so, having been here a few months now, what do you uh, what do you think of that situation? And and do you have any uh new ideas about, uh, what you guys can do to to help uh, you know, break uh, break that, that sort of crack, that that's that problem, crack, solve that problem.
Speaker 5:That's been there for so long? Yeah, a great question. Um, I think there's a lot of experience that I can pull from my time at stanford. Um, we're, we're very fortunate to be in los angeles and stanford. We were in the bay area, where there's warriors and giants, a's, niners, san jarks, so there's a lot of stuff to do, and being down here with everything, with the Lakers and Clippers and just all the NFL and NHL, it's just incredible. And not to mention, you're close to the beach. So there's a lot of stuff you can do to focus on getting fan support.
Speaker 5:I think, like I said, the USC brand is so special. Coach Moss is very focused on making it a fun atmosphere and we want to play fun, because it's one thing to win, like you said, but when everyone's having fun, I think that's where fans want to keep supporting and they want to keep showing up. When it's a big free throw and the graphics on the board, that's where fans want to keep supporting and they want to keep showing up. And when that, um, when it's a big free throw and the graphics on the board like make some noise, like we really want all the fans engaged, um, the one thing I'll say is. We have a really good team here, from our external relations to marketing to student support. Um, that's been. The one thing I've noticed is everyone wants to help out and we're going to find a way to use last year's momentum, with everything that was involved with USC basketball, and use this new time to to energize some fans and the people. I've learned a ton from our staff at Arkansas. They've said the last three years they were there they had sold out every game. That's just something that I love because that means like they're doing something right and there's a lot of passion and Coach Muss is so open about everything. So we're trying to let fans come and watch an exhibition or a practice or get some energy, or maybe we're throwing T-shirts at a football game or just something to where, like you come once you're going to want to come again and keep supporting and keep showing up. Because I think the Pac-12 and this conference realignment has been one thing like say whatever you want about it. I'm very excited for it. But this now means we have a bunch of new teams coming in. Like to me as a sports fan in general, like that makes me want to get out and support and see what Ohio State looks like, or Michigan or Purdue. I mean they just played in the finals. We have some of the best teams in the country in the Big Ten now and there should be some passion behind that.
Speaker 5:If I was a fan, I think one thing students are very different than what they were when I was a student 10 years ago. Just the interest in social media and everything has changed. So maybe we're doing stuff to activate them and energize them for giveaways, because maybe the at least when I was a student, like you, wanted to go for a t-shirt giveaway, or the foam finger or, like you said, like inner Sandman was the thing at Virginia Tech. But here it could be a little different because they're you're in downtown Los Angeles. We're having to compete with so many different things.
Speaker 5:I think it just starts making memorable moments each game and being able to just compound those and stack them day by day. Hopefully by the end of the season we have some fans that are truly bought in and have been to every game. Coach is going to acknowledge that. He's's very open, he's aware of what's going on and when he's leading from the front it forces everybody else to be better and keep our energy up and it's. It's really been like we're.
Speaker 5:We're talking about stuff that I've never really talked about until you're a month and a half out now, because we're so focused on making it a good experience for everyone.
Speaker 5:And it's just been a great experience for me here because that's just a whole new way of life that I've never been a part of and way to work and it's really been fascinating. I think we've got some fun stuff in the works from if we're doing a Midnight Madness with Hoopla and different themes for games. Like I said, we have this staff group chat and Coach Muss or everyone is throwing out hey, let's do this idea for a game, let's do this, let's do this. We need to do something to make sure the fans are energized and they're there before the game and they're not just showing up 10 minutes after it starts or something like that. So we're all very focused with that and I think our team and marketing and everything involved with them will really be exciting this year. Like I said, we had a meeting this week and I'm pretty fired up. I was ready for the season to start following this meeting just to hear some of the stuff we were talking about?
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Just to close out, what are you most excited about coming into the Big Ten, your first year at USC? What are you looking forward to the most?
Speaker 5:Oh, that's a very hard question. So something personally is I want to travel to all 50 states. So I've never been to Nebraska, so we're going to get to play at Nebraska this year. So that'll just be a very personal thing, like let's just let's go to Lincoln because it means I've been to Nebraska.
Speaker 1:You got the hard part, the hard part is getting the Idaho's and and the montana's out of the way you got those out, I assume so now it's like all this downhill from here it's, yeah, it's just I've only got like five or six more left, so it's, it's a bunch of random ones.
Speaker 5:Wow, what you really can't pull what are they what? Are the what's left um. So rhode island and maine, uh-huh um. Minnesota, north dakota, nebraska, and Rhode Island and Maine, minnesota, north Dakota, nebraska and New Mexico.
Speaker 1:North Dakota is a tough, tough, that's going to be a tough one. Maybe you and Coach Lee can, like you know, go to South Dakota and then you can be like, hey, can we just pop over here real quick.
Speaker 5:Yeah, just make a quick little drive. Yeah, we'll see. I'm trying to. Maybe I'll try to get Coach to schedule a game up there or something, I don't know, I'll figure it out.
Speaker 5:But I think, as a team like, something I'm very passionate about is learning. I'm in my third year of getting my doctoral degree at East Tennessee State, so graduating in May is going to be fun, but it's also a learning experience for me because our program is brand new. I've never been a part of a hit the ground running. We're bringing in 12 new scholarship players, we have all these new other players and new staff and mixing everything together. I think there's a lot of stuff to learn there and I'm so excited to get to be a part of this program and the support from our administration has been incredible and just a new opportunity.
Speaker 5:I think everything happens for a reason and I'm meant to be here right now and be able to keep growing and learning and go to the Big Ten and get to explore some of these places that I've never been to before, while supporting our team, because at the end of the day, like you said, openness, my job is to make sure that everything runs well and you only ever find out when it doesn't run well. So as long as I'm prepared and the team is prepared to succeed, I mean I don't see a reason why we're not playing deep into March and hopefully in early April.
Speaker 1:Well, that is great to hear Music to a lot of USC fans' ears, no doubt. Michael Rewitt Ruitt, assistant athletic director at USC for men's basketball, thanks for coming on the Dunk City podcast. We look forward to seeing this incredible product that you guys are working on right now once the fall starts yeah, thanks for having me fight on well, we hope you enjoyed the show, or the staff of Palooza, as we like to call it, coming up.
Speaker 1:On the next episode, we've got a beautiful interview with the great Sam Clancy and, with basketball fall practice approaching, we're going to start talking about the team itself, maybe talk to some players. So in the meantime, be sure to like, follow, review, subscribe, stream, whatever you can do to support the podcast. We appreciate it. We're going to have some great new content coming up and, of course, on the message boards at uscbasketballcom, we're going to have some great new content there. Look out for some t-shirts coming your way by popular demand. See you guys next time. I don't want anything. I don't want this love, this love, just for I don't want anymore. I'm you.
