Speaker 1: My voice may not last until six o'clock tonight. Drinking
Speaker 1: the tea, drinking the water got the cough chops going,
Speaker 1: so bear with me. But luckily, our next guest is
Speaker 1: a brilliant, phenomenal storyteller, so I can simply just bring
Speaker 1: him in, ask maybe one question, and let him talk
Speaker 1: for the next twenty five minutes. One of my favorites,
Speaker 1: one of the best to ever do it at the
Speaker 1: University of Utah, returning to the program is our guy,
Speaker 1: Brittan Johnson. On a Monday Brett, Happy Monday, brother, How
Speaker 1: are we doing?
Speaker 2: Goode? What's going on with your voice? Man? Who you
Speaker 2: been screaming at?
Speaker 3: Well? No one.
Speaker 1: I went to Orlando with my brother over the weekends
Speaker 1: and we saw the Bayhill Golf Tournament Arnie Spot, which
Speaker 1: was fun. And I must have been on the flight home, dude,
Speaker 1: because you know those planes, you got a lot of kids,
Speaker 1: a lot of people coming back from Disney, people not
Speaker 1: feeling well. Because I felt great on my trip and
Speaker 1: then I landed went home. Within a couple of hours,
Speaker 1: I had this chest nasal Whatever the hell's going on things?
Speaker 1: So I don't know, man, I'm just doing my best
Speaker 1: to make it through. What's what's good with you?
Speaker 2: Man? You got sounds like sounds like you need to
Speaker 2: get down to Murray and have yourself a pizza bender. Nice. Stop,
Speaker 2: you'll hey, you'll feel better in the morning.
Speaker 1: How dare you put that in my head during the show.
Speaker 1: You know what a big fan I am. What is
Speaker 1: it called the village?
Speaker 3: What is it? Italian village?
Speaker 2: Man?
Speaker 3: My my people, Britt, my people.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, where we always hung out after our Murray
Speaker 2: High basketball games and yeah, pizza bender, dude, cal zone,
Speaker 2: it's it was good for the stomach experience. I'm doing
Speaker 2: brave man. It's good to hear your voice and good
Speaker 2: to join you here for a minute. Now.
Speaker 3: I miss you, man, I miss you up here.
Speaker 1: But I know that everything's going well down in Saint George,
Speaker 1: and I just you know, you were one of the
Speaker 1: first people I thought of when I heard the rumor
Speaker 1: that it might be Alex and certainly appreciate your time
Speaker 1: today now that it is official, Britt. So let you
Speaker 1: start with your instant reaction when you heard that it
Speaker 1: might be Alex and then later on heard that it
Speaker 1: would be What went through your mind?
Speaker 2: Well, when when I first heard it, I text him.
Speaker 2: I said, ow are we coming or not? And he
Speaker 2: he responded back in his very Alex fashion, it was
Speaker 2: myself and Jeff we were on a thread together. He
Speaker 2: responded back, Man, I absolutely love Dallas and this is
Speaker 2: a This is just such a nice job. So not
Speaker 2: giving me anything right and also just saying I know
Speaker 2: that's going to be a huge responsibility to try and
Speaker 2: get the youths back to where they were supposed to be.
Speaker 2: So I'm in my mind thinking, kay, he's playing coy.
Speaker 2: But the fact that he responded to my text about
Speaker 2: the about the topic, it was encouraging. So Jeff and
Speaker 2: I are both like, I think there's going to be helped.
Speaker 2: Alex plays his cards really close. You know, he's not
Speaker 2: like me, Spence. He doesn't throw up all over himself
Speaker 2: and tell everybody every aspect of their life. That's probably
Speaker 2: you know, like like Lindsay said, less is more, that's
Speaker 2: probably a good thing that he does, you know, not
Speaker 2: just flinging random things out there. But when I heard
Speaker 2: he actually took the job, Spence, nothing but excit nothing
Speaker 2: but I would just say anticipation in regard to this
Speaker 2: program going the right track. Is he going to come
Speaker 2: in and and absolutely turn it all around overnight. No,
Speaker 2: but he is going to be the best option that
Speaker 2: they could have gotten for sure. I mean, I don't
Speaker 2: know who else I would choose other than him.
Speaker 3: So let's dig into a couple of things here.
Speaker 1: First, I wanted to get your thoughts on Craig, as
Speaker 1: Craig has been, uh you know, given the door and
Speaker 1: relieved of his duties after just you know, almost almost
Speaker 1: five years, just under four years, six years on his deal.
Speaker 1: So Craig walks away with a little change. He's gonna
Speaker 1: he's got a five million dollar parachute. So of course
Speaker 1: he does not have to take a job at Maverick
Speaker 1: anytime soon.
Speaker 3: He'll be fine for a minute.
Speaker 1: Why do you think this ultimately with Craig did not work? Now,
Speaker 1: I know you're down south. So did you have a
Speaker 1: chance to hear Josh Grant on my show by chance?
Speaker 2: Yes? Yes, Okay, several people sent that to me.
Speaker 3: Okay, so give me, give me, give me your thought that.
Speaker 2: Bright Oh, Josh is a battling idiot. He doesn't know
Speaker 2: what he's talking about. I'm just kidding. I assume he's listening. Josh,
Speaker 2: Josh is a good friend. No, there was. There was
Speaker 2: definitely some key spots to what he was talking about
Speaker 2: with with Craig, and Josh has a great pulse on
Speaker 2: the program. By the way, Josh dated my oldest sister, Expand,
Speaker 2: so he came to our house picked her up. We
Speaker 2: all thought he was the greatest thing in the world
Speaker 2: because he was the superstar of Utah. So the so
Speaker 2: Josh and his brothers, we all go way back. Listen,
Speaker 2: Craig had an awesome this is what's hard. He has
Speaker 2: that awesome season at Utah State, but he also had,
Speaker 2: you know, one of the best shot blockers in the country.
Speaker 2: He had Sam Merrill. I think for a minute with
Speaker 2: Craig a great coach. He was a fine coach. He
Speaker 2: was a good man, someone I would have my son
Speaker 2: played for. Worked hard, but but you know, you got
Speaker 2: to have players, and I think just at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, you got to get the right players.
Speaker 2: And I remember hearing I Josh talked a lot about
Speaker 2: getting the best players in Utah and kind of that
Speaker 2: recipe like what we had in his air in my air, well,
Speaker 2: I agree with that to a degree, like, look, that's
Speaker 2: going to win you whack championships in Mount West Championships.
Speaker 2: That's not winning you a Big twelve championship. Alex Jenson's
Speaker 2: got to go out and get players. And we all
Speaker 2: know to get players in today's world is not about
Speaker 2: selling the coach and the opportunity of Salt Lake City.
Speaker 2: It's freaking changing money. Let's go. You gotta get some money.
Speaker 2: You gotta simnil donors in there. You freaking think the
Speaker 2: number one player in the country is going to just
Speaker 2: go down and PLoP into provo. No, you got to
Speaker 2: get money. Now. We got to get a couple of
Speaker 2: big time players, one or two, kind of like we
Speaker 2: did with Andre Miller, Mike Doliak, and then you fill
Speaker 2: in some in state guys, the Britton Johnsons, Jeff Johnson's,
Speaker 2: the Josh Grants, Alex Jensen's, and then you have a
Speaker 2: coach that's got a brilliant mind like Majeris did. Alex
Speaker 2: Jenson's is that coach. And now we're talking. Now we're
Speaker 2: rocking and rolling, But think about it. To get an
Speaker 2: Andre Miller or a Mike dol Or to keep those
Speaker 2: two guys like say, you know they made their names here, right,
Speaker 2: and then you keep them for year two, year three,
Speaker 2: in today's world. Yeah, you're gonna have to pay up.
Speaker 2: Otherwise Andre would have transferred to Texas and Mike would
Speaker 2: have transferred to Oregon and they both would have made
Speaker 2: a million dollars. So let's just not kid ourselves. The
Speaker 2: name of the game is someone's gonna have to like
Speaker 2: donate some money or there's gonna have to be a
Speaker 2: big pay where you get one or two players, and
Speaker 2: then Alex will get some good Utah guys and he'll
Speaker 2: take care of the rest with his brilliant coaching and
Speaker 2: his preparation and his exes and O's and is his
Speaker 2: ability to find guys around him to go out and
Speaker 2: recruit the right people like like mcjeri's got Jutty and
Speaker 2: Donnie to get to get the players. So that's kind
Speaker 2: of its kind of my mind, that's kind of what
Speaker 2: I'm thinking. I mean, Josh kind of said that. But
Speaker 2: other than I think Josh mentioned that he would rely
Speaker 2: heavily on getting the in state guys, and I think
Speaker 2: they're going to be our second tier guys we need
Speaker 2: to get.
Speaker 3: So a couple of things.
Speaker 1: First of all, when it comes to and I was
Speaker 1: paraphrasing you about the past couple of weeks, because I
Speaker 1: can remember oftentimes you sharing stories about coach Majeris ripping
Speaker 1: into this player or that player, or you quite frankly,
Speaker 1: but never really did with Alex. Am I remembering that correctly,
Speaker 1: and then attendant to that tell us anecdotally some of
Speaker 1: the things that Rick used to share about Alex Jensen.
Speaker 1: He's on the record saying that Alex was one of
Speaker 1: the smartest players he ever coached. But I seem to
Speaker 1: remember oftentimes, Britt you sharing a lot of stories about
Speaker 1: that relationship. And obviously Alex went on to coach with
Speaker 1: Rick before Rick passed away, So I wanted to get
Speaker 1: your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I specifically remember Alex spends like on that final
Speaker 2: four run during the year, especially in the tournament, grabbing
Speaker 2: my jersey, screaming in my face, the right spots to
Speaker 2: be on the floor, the right way to position myself,
Speaker 2: the way to play somebody. I remember him behind me
Speaker 2: screaming like force some left force, the right timeouts. We'd
Speaker 2: walk out of the timeouts, he'd come over and grab me,
Speaker 2: Andre everybody and explain things. He was a coach from
Speaker 2: you know, he probably started having a coaching mentality was
Speaker 2: five years old. He just he was a player's coach
Speaker 2: and he knew how to win. I mean, listen, coach
Speaker 2: mcjaris did all the preparation stuff, right, he was. He
Speaker 2: was the ultimate preparation. Get us all in the hotel ballroom.
Speaker 2: He had charts on the walls of every single player
Speaker 2: their tendencies. He had his assistant coaches doing that, and
Speaker 2: then coach would do a really good job of, you know,
Speaker 2: laying it out, sort of teaching it to us. But
Speaker 2: the execution of it all came from Alex. He was
Speaker 2: the one, and Drew Hansen as well. You know, we
Speaker 2: just had smart players on our team, but Alex was
Speaker 2: the leader of that. I look at that and kind
Speaker 2: of like football term Spence, like that that smart quarterback
Speaker 2: that can become a head coach one day, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: your energetic, raw rack kind of dufices like me on
Speaker 2: the court were not born to be coaches. Right. It's
Speaker 2: like Mike Singletary who tried to coach the forty nine ers.
Speaker 2: You look at the guy, he would smash anybody in
Speaker 2: front of him, but extras and o's and coaches he
Speaker 2: didn't exactly work well. Alex just was was thinking like
Speaker 2: a coach as a player, and then he got his
Speaker 2: chance to coach, you know, in the in the G League.
Speaker 2: He's an assistant coach for Saint Louis. He's an assistant coach
Speaker 2: at the Jazz. He developed Rudy Gobert. He taught Rudy
Speaker 2: Gobert the game, and and and then sometimes Spence, it's
Speaker 2: just when you're sitting down and having conversations with someone
Speaker 2: and you're you're listening the way that the game kind
Speaker 2: of plays out in their mind, and you're like, holy crap,
Speaker 2: that's something that I would have never thought of. You know,
Speaker 2: like if I'm playing this team, I would pick up
Speaker 2: their point guard with my six nine guy who's athletic,
Speaker 2: just to disrupt the point guard in his fast break
Speaker 2: play or something like that. Alex would just say things
Speaker 2: about games and situations, and you're like, my gosh, that's
Speaker 2: actually really smart. So along with what he learned from
Speaker 2: Rick and preparing for games, that just his kind of
Speaker 2: brilliant extra notice. He's he's going to be phenomenal, I
Speaker 2: think for Utah.
Speaker 1: So your points about the collective are very well taken.
Speaker 1: And I said this a couple of times over the
Speaker 1: past few weeks as the search was kind of going on,
Speaker 1: whether it's Alex, whether it's Richard Patino, whether you resurrect
Speaker 1: Rick macjeris, whoever it is, is going to ask Mark
Speaker 1: Harland and Taylor Randall simply the same question. Where are
Speaker 1: we at economically? What is the financial infrastructure of this program?
Speaker 1: Can I keep up with not just the schools in
Speaker 1: the Big twelve, but every school across America, not the
Speaker 1: least of which Britt is the school about forty miles
Speaker 1: down south that this year has two seven figure players
Speaker 1: on their roster and next year is paying aj Debants
Speaker 1: is seven mil for five months of basketball. So as
Speaker 1: you talk to you know, your former teammates and other
Speaker 1: people connected to the program, what is I guess the
Speaker 1: way I'll ask you, Britt is what's the confidence level
Speaker 1: they're right now? The Crimson Collective or whatever UTAH is
Speaker 1: going to utilize for the economic health of the program
Speaker 1: is where it needs to be to compete, because it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter how good your coach is, Like, there's no
Speaker 1: such thing as a great coach that did not have
Speaker 1: great players. You have to have talents, and I don't
Speaker 1: think Craig had enough talent quite frankly, but that's a
Speaker 1: different topic. There is there optimism and confidence in the
Speaker 1: alumni base that this school is where it needs to
Speaker 1: be to support its basketball program financially.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, it's a great it's a great question. I
Speaker 2: don't know. I don't know numbers on the budget, but
Speaker 2: and I just know that there needs to be, obviously,
Speaker 2: something brought to the table to give Alex something to
Speaker 2: work with, because you're absolutely right, Alex can be as
Speaker 2: good of a coach as we possibly can get. He is,
Speaker 2: but you know, but the but the players got to
Speaker 2: be able to utilize the coaching or be talented. And
Speaker 2: it's it's like it's like I've always said, either you
Speaker 2: or somebody I said, you can give Stevie Wonder a corvette,
Speaker 2: doesn't mean he can drive it. Right, So you can
Speaker 2: give Alex Jensen and all of his amazing coaching to
Speaker 2: a bunch of crappy players, doesn't mean they're gonna be
Speaker 2: able to utilize it. You got to get good players.
Speaker 2: And I don't think he needs I don't think Alex
Speaker 2: needs six, seven, eight phenomenal players. I think he needs
Speaker 2: two to three. And honestly, that's what Majerius did. That
Speaker 2: was his and that was his. Like I said earlier, Zambo,
Speaker 2: he had three NBA guys, maybe a fourth in me
Speaker 2: who dipped his toes in the NBA waters, and a
Speaker 2: fifth with Alex himself a little bit, but you get
Speaker 2: three just absolute studs. And we've got to find a way.
Speaker 2: The university has to find a way to give Alex,
Speaker 2: you know, a budget to do that. And I think again,
Speaker 2: you know, everyone can say they're a good coach, but
Speaker 2: there really are just some that get the game at
Speaker 2: an intelligent level. I apologize I keep using football terminology,
Speaker 2: but there's just some of those special coaches out there
Speaker 2: right that you see that know how to take whatever
Speaker 2: roster they have a Nick Saban right and turn it
Speaker 2: into a championship caliber team because it's not the Texas.
Speaker 2: And though that, it's culture as well, and you you
Speaker 2: create a culture that's like when you come into this practice,
Speaker 2: no one's better than the other person. Everyone treats each
Speaker 2: other the same, everyone works just as hard as the
Speaker 2: other person. You know, I'll never forget. I think it
Speaker 2: was you and I were either questioning or asking questions
Speaker 2: to coach Papovich or we were listening to David Locke
Speaker 2: asking him questions, and Papovich said something that I'll never forget.
Speaker 2: He said, I can yell at Tim Duncan the same
Speaker 2: way I can yell at a rookie. And that's culture
Speaker 2: that he created there at the Spurs that made them
Speaker 2: such a winning franchise forever, and Matteis created that right,
Speaker 2: winning coaches create that, That's what Alex will be able
Speaker 2: to create. So again, three to if you can get
Speaker 2: four yeah studs, but the rest of them, I think
Speaker 2: he'll be able to recruit players from Utah or the
Speaker 2: Mountain West area and just make up for what he
Speaker 2: doesn't have in a depth of seven players with really
Speaker 2: good coaching with team basketball, you know. So I hope
Speaker 2: Spans and I believe that they're capable of doing it,
Speaker 2: that they can come up with a budget to take
Speaker 2: care of, you know, some of those big stars. It
Speaker 2: might not happen next year, right, but I think if
Speaker 2: you give Alex a chance to prove himself and he
Speaker 2: brings in some awesome assistance that can go out there
Speaker 2: and find the right players, I think it's doable.
Speaker 1: All right, let me move in this direction, because you know,
Speaker 1: I can remember talking with you and some other alums
Speaker 1: as the Larry Kroscoviac era was kind of unfolding, and
Speaker 1: it felt like there were I don't want to speak
Speaker 1: for you, so I'm just gonna ask the questions and
Speaker 1: give you the space. It felt like there were maybe
Speaker 1: some alums that didn't feel like Larry was embracing you know,
Speaker 1: that element of what Utah basketball is. I don't fully recall,
Speaker 1: but I'm bringing it up because then I'm gonna play
Speaker 1: Devil's advocate here a little bit, britt and then again,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna lay back and give you the space.
Speaker 1: Because when I add josh On, he referenced that a
Speaker 1: lot of alums attempted to contact Craig during the four
Speaker 1: years and he wasn't necessarily amenable to those connections. Paraphrasing
Speaker 1: a bit. You can go listen to the Josh Grant
Speaker 1: interview up on our podcast page. And look, while I
Speaker 1: look as much as anybody I respect and appreciate the
Speaker 1: history of Utah basketball and guys like you and that
Speaker 1: team that was around when I was in school with
Speaker 1: you as your peer, I don't know that it really
Speaker 1: is the job of the head coach to answer every
Speaker 1: alumni phone call when you have a job to do.
Speaker 1: So to be clear, I think there is a role
Speaker 1: for past utes, certainly. I mean now that Alex is
Speaker 1: the coach, I'm sure it will change. But what's fair
Speaker 1: to say about what portion of the job description says
Speaker 1: that that's something that you need to do And how
Speaker 1: do you balance that line, Britt between appeasing the alums
Speaker 1: and also doing your job.
Speaker 3: Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good question. Every I feel like every
Speaker 2: alumni former player feels like they're not getting treated like
Speaker 2: good enough. I mean, I remember I was mentored by
Speaker 2: some dude in State when I was in the D League,
Speaker 2: and he was complaining to me the NC State wasn't
Speaker 2: treating him good enough. And yet he and I sat
Speaker 2: on the front row of an NC State North Carolina
Speaker 2: basketball game, and I'm looking around, like, what are you
Speaker 2: complaining about? You know, I've heard BYU football players, you know,
Speaker 2: complain that they're not I kind of feel like that
Speaker 2: it's just something we all like, if we're not getting
Speaker 2: all the gear we want and not being treated with
Speaker 2: like front row tickets, we all just bitch and complain.
Speaker 2: I think it's kind of just in our DNA. So,
Speaker 2: I mean, Josh might be right about some stuff, but
Speaker 2: every time I called Craig, he was nice, invited me
Speaker 2: to practice, had me speak to the team. But I'm
Speaker 2: a real likable guy and so people really liked having
Speaker 2: me around. Something difference there. And Josh I'm like, he
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know if i'd invite him to
Speaker 2: the dinner table. No, I'm kidding. If Josh is listening,
Speaker 2: he's gonna hate my guts listen. I just think everyone
Speaker 2: kind of gets that that fill and that mentality like
Speaker 2: I should be being treated better and who knows, right.
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe for Craig because the team wasn't doing that great,
Speaker 2: it was hard for him to have some of the
Speaker 2: former superstars like Josh Grant around. Maybe for him and
Speaker 2: his staff, it just felt like almost like they were
Speaker 2: letting us down. So it's like, what do you think
Speaker 2: they're gonna do? Call us up and invite us over
Speaker 2: for breakfast every morning? Probably not, you know. I mean, look,
Speaker 2: winning solves everything. It even solves like all this former
Speaker 2: alumni guys boohoone that we're not getting good enough treatment
Speaker 2: if the if the program is winning, the doors are
Speaker 2: open and everyone they want everyone to practice. They want
Speaker 2: everyone a part of it, But that would just be
Speaker 2: My guess is that Craig was probably not feeling like
Speaker 2: all that great and and and you know, Josh, I know,
Speaker 2: has a good a good relationship with Alex, and so
Speaker 2: maybe they're maybe he'll be inviting Josh in every once
Speaker 2: in a while into practice. I don't know what he wants,
Speaker 2: but Alex is gonna bring his own team, his own,
Speaker 2: you know, his own coaching staff that he wants. I
Speaker 2: keep hearing rumor Spence that he might get Andre Miller.
Speaker 2: I think it would be a smart move to do that,
Speaker 2: But I don't know right until you're like in that
Speaker 2: coaching world and you're making all those daily decisions and
Speaker 2: phone calls and you're in the trenches the bus trips,
Speaker 2: the plane trips, the hotel trips, and you're around the
Speaker 2: personalities you know that are going to help you win.
Speaker 2: Who knows, right, So I actually have no idea who
Speaker 2: Alex is going to bring on board. I mean, I've
Speaker 2: had people texting me tell outs to bring you in.
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, I've been working for General Motors for
Speaker 2: the last nine years. In the car world, He's going
Speaker 2: to bring me in, what the hell am I going
Speaker 2: to tell all these players your tires look like they
Speaker 2: they have bad tread on them. Like, I'm like, people
Speaker 2: are so funny, you should call you to be an assistant.
Speaker 2: I'm like, good, hell, no, he's not going to call
Speaker 2: me to be an assistant if I'm going to go
Speaker 2: cheer him on.
Speaker 3: You know, would you be interested? For real?
Speaker 1: Would you be interested in being an assistant coach for Alex?
Speaker 2: No? I would be flattered if he asked me, But no,
Speaker 2: I would not be interested. I just want him to
Speaker 2: do well. I want the university and I just want
Speaker 2: to quit. I want to keep on complaining as a
Speaker 2: former player that I'm not getting enough gear.
Speaker 1: And look, I don't mean to be disrespectful, right, Like,
Speaker 1: by the way, can you imagine? And I told Josh
Speaker 1: this when we joined the show for our younger youth
Speaker 1: fans who didn't get to see him play. If Josh
Speaker 1: Grant was born like ten or fifteen years later, he
Speaker 1: would have been a fifteen year on BA guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Probably, Yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Know I always say that about you too. I don't
Speaker 3: mean to rub it in.
Speaker 2: No, it's okay. You've told me that hundreds of times
Speaker 2: We've had wonderful conversations on that listen. I mean, you
Speaker 2: can sit and play the game all the time, like
Speaker 2: you know, I should have dis career. I should have
Speaker 2: that career. At the end of the day, I got
Speaker 2: to play in a national championship. I got to make
Speaker 2: amazing friends. And now when we have barbecues, we all
Speaker 2: just sit around and make fun of coach with Jeris
Speaker 2: God rest his soul as he's dead, and we just
Speaker 2: we lough our heads off, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: because what else is there to do other than just
Speaker 2: try to make fun of the sitch euations we were
Speaker 2: in that were actually pretty brutal. You would probably consider
Speaker 2: a lot of them straight up mental abuse. The way
Speaker 2: he coached us. He ain't coaching that way in today's world.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 3: But no, no, no, you can't go.
Speaker 2: No. But we had good We had a good group
Speaker 2: of guys. Funny enough, we still have a thread, a
Speaker 2: text message thread with myself, Jeff Nick Jacobson, Trace Kane,
Speaker 2: and Chris Burgess. He's on there, but we spend most
Speaker 2: of the time just ripping on BYU because we're still
Speaker 2: mad at him for being a trader and leaving us
Speaker 2: and going down there, but we've kept him on the
Speaker 2: thread just because we feel like it's still the good
Speaker 2: thing to do, you know.
Speaker 1: For sure, I actually wondered if they would talk to
Speaker 1: Burge about taking head coaching job. But since you brought
Speaker 1: up Burgess, let me move over here, Britt, because.
Speaker 2: I love Burgess by the way, I think he's a
Speaker 2: trader who doesn't Yeah, he's a good first.
Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody loves birds. There's no there's nothing not to love.
Speaker 1: If if you don't like Chris Burgess, it's a you problem,
Speaker 1: quite frankly, but let me, let me, let me discuss
Speaker 1: this dynamic. You'll be good with this because you know,
Speaker 1: I've known Alex a long time. I'm and his wife Natalie.
Speaker 1: They're great people, but you know them on a level
Speaker 1: that I don't. And Alex is what I would describe
Speaker 1: as a little bit of an introvert. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's a bad thing per se, And don't mistake his
Speaker 1: quiet nature for anything other than him being introspective. But
Speaker 1: is he going, Britt, to have to come out of
Speaker 1: the show a little bit? And you know a lot
Speaker 1: of guys that are a little bit quiet and a
Speaker 1: little bit dry. Are the funniest guys behind the scenes
Speaker 1: with loud and funny personalities. They just don't like to
Speaker 1: be front facing to the public. So if we take
Speaker 1: away the dynamic of Alex as a coach and a
Speaker 1: player developmental mind, which he's obviously elite at, Alex the person,
Speaker 1: what does that look like on the recruiting trail, you.
Speaker 2: Know what, he'll probably have to adjust, right, just like
Speaker 2: all of us when we go into some kind of
Speaker 2: a new situation. This is his first head coaching job
Speaker 2: as the face of the program. But Alex actually, yeah,
Speaker 2: he's a funny, witty guy. You know. He and I
Speaker 2: are a lot of the same similarities and movies. We
Speaker 2: joke about the same stuff. But but as far as like,
Speaker 2: you know, just going in and sitting down in a
Speaker 2: living room and kind of brightening the place up, I mean,
Speaker 2: that's okay, that that's not like his like exactly like
Speaker 2: like his number one strength, but his ability to probably
Speaker 2: sit and tell a parent why his coaching style and
Speaker 2: what he already knows about the player and what they
Speaker 2: need to get better at and how he'll help them
Speaker 2: get to the NBA or how get he'll help them
Speaker 2: have the best career possible will probably be how he'll
Speaker 2: close deals and so and win, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: that's that's going to be his strength. Will he probably
Speaker 2: find himself needing to to I don't know, get a
Speaker 2: little more enthusiastic. Maybe, I don't know. I mean, for
Speaker 2: heaven's sakes, Majeris came in my living room and told
Speaker 2: me I looked like an age victim right to my face.
Speaker 2: To my parents. I still sign and I still signed
Speaker 2: to go play with the guy. So I did it
Speaker 2: because they kept saying I would be the next Van
Speaker 2: Horn or you know universe. Utah is the place to
Speaker 2: put people into the NBA, so you know, yeah, thanks
Speaker 2: coach for the wonderful compliment. Where do I sign? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Kind of weird, right, but I still went. So Again,
Speaker 2: that was a different era than the era today, So
Speaker 2: I I will adjust, He'll he'll figure it out. He's
Speaker 2: actually a pretty fun guy to be around, so I'm
Speaker 2: not I'm not worried about that. And he's going to
Speaker 2: get some fun some some probably pretty dynamic assistant coaches.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's where I would actually love I if
Speaker 2: I think about being an assistant coach fence, I would
Speaker 2: have a lot of fun going to people's living rooms
Speaker 2: and selling their kid on why they they would thrive
Speaker 2: and have a phenomenal experience in Salt Lake in Utah,
Speaker 2: being around you know, incredible people there, building a network there.
Speaker 2: It's a strong economy. So if they want to try
Speaker 2: to have a business mindset after basketball, there's opportunity there.
Speaker 2: That's where I would have fun. But I'm too locked
Speaker 2: into a career right now where I don't want to leave,
Speaker 2: and and I'm not about to pull a Josh Grant
Speaker 2: and go beg Alex to hire me on radio. You
Speaker 2: know what I mean. I'm just kidding. He didn't do that,
Speaker 2: but it kind of felt like that.
Speaker 1: Wow, Wow, Britton Johnson coming off the top rope, You're
Speaker 1: gonna get a text for you.
Speaker 2: You heard the interview he was be was pretty much
Speaker 2: making it sound like he and Jimmy Soto should be hired.
Speaker 2: Thought it was funny. Good for him, man, britt I
Speaker 2: can probably would be helpful.
Speaker 1: I conducted the interview. I didn't hear it. I was
Speaker 1: the one who interviewed him.
Speaker 2: That's right. See, I didn't put those I didn't put
Speaker 2: two and two together.
Speaker 3: You heard the interviews, says, Hey, I.
Speaker 2: Thought it was those bleep those bleepy you know what's
Speaker 2: down the street on the other station.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're talking about. You know, you
Speaker 1: have to you have to pull ratings to exist in
Speaker 1: this market. Only one afternoon drive show does.
Speaker 2: So, the ones, the ones that freaking fired me because
Speaker 2: I forgot the general managers meeting those guys.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't. Again, it does not strike in a chord.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're talking about, you know, Lord
Speaker 1: Voldemart stuff over on this program. You know, I appreciate
Speaker 1: how self deprecating you are. I honestly think you'd be
Speaker 1: a phenomenal assistant coach. I really believe that to be true.
Speaker 1: I know that you're locked in and you've got a
Speaker 1: good career, and you guys are doing, you know, doing
Speaker 1: well down South and all that. But I I always
Speaker 1: tried to build up your like I was the doc
Speaker 1: Rivers to the Britton Johnson on the radio right, like
Speaker 1: I was trying to build up your confidence and remind
Speaker 1: you that you are an NBA player, you did have
Speaker 1: a great career, and you were again just a few
Speaker 1: years too late with how the modern day game is played,
Speaker 1: you would have played in the pros for for the
Speaker 1: NBA in you know, for more than a decade. Britt,
Speaker 1: I appreciate the self deprecated. Here's the deal. A guy
Speaker 1: built like you needs the confidence I have. The guy
Speaker 1: with the confidence that I have need to build like yours.
Speaker 1: If if there was some way to merge our strengths,
Speaker 1: it would it would be we'd be the white lebron
Speaker 1: together as what we would be.
Speaker 2: Who wait, wait, whose space would we take mine? Dude?
Speaker 3: Come on, come on, dude, come on.
Speaker 2: Don't be saying did you look like Bradley Cooper? And
Speaker 2: I look like.
Speaker 3: Stop it. See, I appreciate you're a handsome guy.
Speaker 1: Look Lindsay, Lindsay's at ten, she's not marrying some goob,
Speaker 1: all right, take that.
Speaker 2: As right, Like she doesn't. So it's like, man, I
Speaker 2: ain't gonna lie.
Speaker 3: Lindza is the best. Yeah, he's great. This is bringing
Speaker 3: this is bringing back good memories. So before I see
Speaker 3: but that's okay, Oh.
Speaker 1: Good man, before I set you loose, you've kind of
Speaker 1: alluded to it.
Speaker 3: The rumors are andre as the lead assistant.
Speaker 1: Now Andrea is coaching in the G League, and look,
Speaker 1: I obviously as a gen X or somebody who grew
Speaker 1: up in the nineties believes that the instant credibility and
Speaker 1: cashier you have when you walk into a gym with
Speaker 1: Andre Miller on your bench is too good to pass up.
Speaker 1: I don't know if the younger generation believes that. But
Speaker 1: before I set you loose, what would you have to
Speaker 1: say to our listeners about the type of assistant that
Speaker 1: Andre would make if Alex goes in that direction and
Speaker 1: Andre takes the job.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I My interactions with Andrea are always like
Speaker 2: surprising because he was quiet, but he's one of those
Speaker 2: guys that when you just get him talking and you
Speaker 2: get him kind of loosened up a little bit, he
Speaker 2: starts to like really tell you, like just how experienced
Speaker 2: he is in life. I mean, because he grew up
Speaker 2: in one of the poorest areas of the country in Compton, California,
Speaker 2: but grew up with a phenomenal mom that put education really,
Speaker 2: really high as a priority. And then you take a
Speaker 2: black kid from Compton who absolutely thrived in Salt Lake, Utah, right,
Speaker 2: and then he goes and has a nineteen year NBA career.
Speaker 2: Now he's coaching. I was with him when he learned
Speaker 2: a water ski in Lake Powell. He's one of these
Speaker 2: guys that he's always he's always absorbing information and trying
Speaker 2: to learn as much as possible, and you just appreciate
Speaker 2: that about him. He's easy to be around, he's fun
Speaker 2: to be around, and he makes you a better He's
Speaker 2: going to make you a better player if you play
Speaker 2: with him. But I'm almost positive as a coach, he's
Speaker 2: going to be able to teach people. You know what
Speaker 2: he went through, He's gonna be able to teach that
Speaker 2: and help them the game, make themselves a better player,
Speaker 2: whether that's on the court, whether that's making better decisions
Speaker 2: in life. Andre Andre coming from probably not the greatest influences,
Speaker 2: you know, in his childhood. I'm not talking about his
Speaker 2: parents or his family, but you know some of the
Speaker 2: trouble that you can get in in an area like that.
Speaker 2: Growing up, he became an incredible human being and made
Speaker 2: a ton for himself, not only just in basketball, but
Speaker 2: he's he's quite the business mind as well. I know
Speaker 2: he and our buddy Nick Jacobson do some businesses together.
Speaker 2: But then you don't just get handed a head coaching
Speaker 2: job in the G League in today's world, unless you
Speaker 2: know you're a good coach, unless you show that you
Speaker 2: can lead a team. I think he would be phenomenal Spins.
Speaker 2: I don't know how you you wouldn't want to take him.
Speaker 2: That ultimately is up to Alex Jansen. I know that
Speaker 2: there's some other candidates out there. I know that Alex
Speaker 2: is still close with Donnie Daniels, and Donny Daniels's son
Speaker 2: is coaching in the college ranks right now. He's a
Speaker 2: phenomenal coach. And then Alex probably has a list of
Speaker 2: guys that he's passed through in his NBA career and
Speaker 2: his time at Saint Louis that we don't even know
Speaker 2: about that he could bring in. That would be awesome.
Speaker 2: So yeah, Andre to me, Phil's you know, sounds like
Speaker 2: a no brainer. But but I'm going to trust whatever
Speaker 2: Alex Jensen does.
Speaker 1: You know what, do you have time for one more
Speaker 1: because you just jarred by mind you have time for
Speaker 1: one more question?
Speaker 2: Hey, I mean your listeners are like just listening with
Speaker 2: all yours right now, like people have pulled over on
Speaker 2: the side of the road to keep this coach. Let's go.
Speaker 1: Now, that's what we do that you and I it's
Speaker 1: what we do, all right, So one more questionnaire because
Speaker 1: you just you just jarred something you played in the
Speaker 1: D League, which is now the G League. And Richard
Speaker 1: Smith you know Smithy, he's now a consistent guest on
Speaker 1: the show. He did really good job of kind of
Speaker 1: laying everything out last week about how hard it is
Speaker 1: to coach in the G League. Because whether you're a player,
Speaker 1: whether you're a coach, whether you're a front office exec
Speaker 1: or a broadcast or whatever, you don't want to be there,
Speaker 1: you are there as a means to an end, as
Speaker 1: a conduit to the big leagues. So, John, what does
Speaker 1: that say about Alex that in a difficult, challenging coaching
Speaker 1: spot he won a G League title and won G
Speaker 1: League Coach of the Year.
Speaker 3: What does that say?
Speaker 2: Well, listen, it says it's enormous because everyone is like
Speaker 2: a wild dog going after you know, a mill that
Speaker 2: it hasn't had for like twenty days. Everyone's hungry, you
Speaker 2: know players. It was funny because you know, when I
Speaker 2: was in the G League, in my mind, I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 2: this isn't as hard as the NBA, but it was
Speaker 2: harder than the NBA. In a lot of ways to spence.
Speaker 2: You and I said, and watched NBA GEPs. Guys don't
Speaker 2: play defense the first three quarters. There was a night
Speaker 2: when I guarded Kevin Garnett and I was like, oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, like he doesn't seem like he cares that
Speaker 2: he's guarding me. I kind of just thought it because
Speaker 2: he couldn't care less because he didn't know who I was.
Speaker 2: But he's playing eighty two games and they start to
Speaker 2: kind of sager. They start to sort of, you know,
Speaker 2: drag a little bit in the middle of the season,
Speaker 2: and then they save it for the fourth quarter. Where
Speaker 2: in the G League, D League, the minor leagues, from
Speaker 2: the moment the ball goes up, it's one hundred miles
Speaker 2: per hour. Everyone's trying to get out of there. Every
Speaker 2: coach is coaching as intense as possible. The referees are
Speaker 2: dialed in, the front office, like you said, is dialed in.
Speaker 2: So the intensity of it was insane because everyone wanted
Speaker 2: out of there. So yes, for him to win in
Speaker 2: an environment like that. Look, it wasn't like the NCAA tournament,
Speaker 2: but there was a physicality, physicality and an aggressive and
Speaker 2: aggressive kind of manner on the floor that reminded me
Speaker 2: of like the NCAA tournament, because again it was like
Speaker 2: every man for himself, but everyone trying to just absolutely
Speaker 2: go as hard as possible because you looked up the
Speaker 2: stand and it was full of NBA scouts, and if
Speaker 2: it wasn't full of the scouts, you knew every game
Speaker 2: your agent was trying to get the best game possible
Speaker 2: to send it to the mixed team. So I think
Speaker 2: it's a It's remarkable that Alex won a championship in
Speaker 2: that league because he was coaching in a very intense environment.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think that's huge. I'm glad you brought
Speaker 2: that up.
Speaker 1: Well all right, by guy, Thanks so much for the
Speaker 1: time today. We miss you up this way, but I
Speaker 1: know you're doing well, so nothing but love and respect
Speaker 1: for you. And of course Lindsay and all the kids.
Speaker 1: How's my girl Goldie?
Speaker 3: Is she hanging in there?
Speaker 2: She's good man, She's a little gangster. I love it,
Speaker 2: a footy little girl. And then Houston gets back in
Speaker 2: five and a half months. Wow, just out there trying
Speaker 2: to survive in the jungles of Africa. So he's doing good.
Speaker 1: Good man, great to hear well. Loved everybody. Thanks for
Speaker 1: the time and let's shot soon. Okay, all right, bron
Speaker 1: Britten Johnson, one of the best to ever do it
Speaker 1: at the University of Utah. Good buddies with Alex Jensen.
Speaker 1: Some good inside there from Britt