Shownotes
Joel Wallace is the Men’s Basketball Associate Head Coach at LeTourneau University where he works under his brother James who is the YellowJackets Head Coach. Wallace was named the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Small College Assistant Coach of the Year following the 2023-24 season.
Previously, Wallace spent two seasons as a graduate assistant with the Minot State men's basketball program. Prior to Minot, Wallace spent two years at Ridgewater College as an assistant coach after beginning his coaching career as a student assistant at Southwest Minnesota State under head coach Brad Bigler.
On this episode Mike and Joel discuss the profound impact of relationships in coaching and the importance of prioritizing player development over wins. Growing up in a basketball-centric family, Joel reflects on how his father's coaching style shaped his approach, emphasizing connection and understanding with players. He shares insights on the balance between maintaining high standards and providing emotional support to athletes, particularly in a collegiate environment. As he navigates the challenges of building a competitive team, including roster changes and the quest for NCAA tournament success, Joel highlights the joy he finds in coaching and the new experiences of being a father. His journey illustrates how fostering a nurturing culture can lead to success on and off the court, reinforcing the idea that coaching is fundamentally about relationships.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod.
Make sure you’re subscribed to the Hoop Heads Pod on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and while you’re there please leave us a 5 star rating and review. Your ratings help your friends and coaching colleagues find the show. If you really love what you’re hearing recommend the Hoop Heads Pod to someone and get them to join you as a part of Hoop Heads Nation.
You’ll want to have your notebook handy as you listen to this episode with Joel Wallace, Men’s Basketball Associate Head Coach at LeTourneau University.
Website - https://letuathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball
Email - joelwallace@letu.edu
Twitter/X - @CoachWallace30
Magic Mind - The Shortcut to a Better Year? A Better Brain.
Say goodbye to burnout, procrastination and sleepless nights, and hello to a sharper mind, calmer energy, and less stress.
- Two delicious daily shots
- Increase your productivity in the day
- Reset with deep restorative sleep at night
- Clinically-proven ingredients, science-backed results
Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with with my link:
https://www.magicmind.com/hoopheadsjan
Visit our Sponsors!
Give With Hoops is a groundbreaking initiative that fuses basketball analytics with modern sponsorship. Built for teams who see data as opportunity, from AAU programs to college powerhouses. By tying on-court performance directly to community and sponsor engagement, Give With Hoops help programs raise more while deepening support from those who believe in the game.
Your step-by-step guide to getting recruited as a college athlete at the NCAA Division 3 level. This course is designed by former D3 Athletes to take you from zero interest from college coaches to securing your first offer and putting you on the path to committing.
Your first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job. A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and, most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants. Special Price of just $25 for all Hoop Heads Listeners.
Empowering athletic coaches with financial education, strategic planning, and practical tools to build lasting wealth—on and off the court.
If you listen to and love the Hoop Heads Podcast, please consider giving us a small tip that will help in our quest to become the #1 basketball coaching podcast. https://hoop-heads.captivate.fm/support
Twitter/X
Podcast - @hoopheadspod
Mike - @hdstarthoops
Jason - @jsunkle
https://www.facebook.com/hoopheadspod/
YouTube
Transcripts
Foreign.
Mike Cleansing:Podcast is brought to you by Head Start Basketball.
Joel Wallace:Our other brother would probably be the best coach of the three of us boys, but he, he played at Northwest Missouri State and went to back to back sweet 16s I think while he was there.
Joel Wallace:So we'll go home and James and I will be talking stuff and he and our brother Matt watches all of our games and he'll just be like why the heck are you guys doing that?
Joel Wallace:That was dumb.
Joel Wallace:And then our dad chimes in, well you need to put this guy in this position.
Joel Wallace:And it's like, okay, Christmas now just turned into a staff meeting.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Joel Wallace is the men's basketball associate head coach at letourneau University, where he works under his brother James, who is the Yellowjackets head coach.
Sponsor/Advertiser: ach of the year following the: Sponsor/Advertiser:Previously, Wallace spent two seasons as a graduate assistant with the Manot State men's basketball program.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Prior to Manot, Wallace spent two years at Ridgewater College as an assistant coach after beginning his coaching career as a student assistant at Southwest Minnesota State under head coach Brad Bigler.
Mike Cleansing:Hey Hoop Heads.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Find the shooting machine that meets your team's exact training needs this New Year's with Dr.
Sponsor/Advertiser: Dish Basketball's: Sponsor/Advertiser:Shop now until January 31st to unlock their biggest offer ever.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Buy one Dr.
Mike Cleansing:Dish, get one free.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Learn more at DrDishBasketball.com and follow their incredible content rdishb ball on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Mention the Hoop Heads Podcast and save an extra $300 on the Dr.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Dish, Rebel All Star and CT models.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Those are some great deals.
Mike Cleansing:Hoopheads.
Mike Cleansing:Get your Dr.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Dish Shooting Machine today.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Hi, this is Rob Senderoff, Head Men's.
Mike Cleansing:Basketball Coach at Kent State University and you're listening to the Hoop Heads podcast.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Prepare like the pros with the all new Fast Draw and Fast Scout.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Fast Draw has been the number one playd software for coaches for years.
Sponsor/Advertiser:You'll quickly see why FastModel Sports has the most compelling and intuitive basketball software out there.
Sponsor/Advertiser:For a limited time, Fastmodel is offering Hoop Heads listeners 15% off Fast Draw and Fast Scout.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Just use the code HHP15 at checkout to grab your discount and you'll be on your way to more efficient game prep and improved communication with your team.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Fastmodel also has new coaching content every week on its blog, plus play and drill diagrams on its playbank.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Check out the links in the show notes for more Fast Model Sports is the Best in basketball.
Sponsor/Advertiser:You want to have your notebook handy as you listen to this episode with Joel Wallace, men's basketball associate head coach at letourneau University.
Mike Cleansing:Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads podcast.
Mike Cleansing:It's Mike Cleansing here this morning without my co host Jason Sunkel.
Mike Cleansing:But I am pleased to be joined by Joel Wallace, men's basketball assistant coach at letourneau University.
Mike Cleansing:Joel, welcome to the Hoop Heads pod.
Joel Wallace:Thanks for having me.
Joel Wallace:Appreciate being here.
Mike Cleansing:Thrilled to have you on.
Mike Cleansing:Looking forward to diving into all the things that you've been able to do in your career.
Mike Cleansing:Let's start by going back in time to when you were a kid.
Mike Cleansing:Tell me a little bit about some of your first experiences with the game of basketball.
Mike Cleansing:What you remember, what made you fall in love with it.
Joel Wallace:Yeah, well, I think basketball is synonymous with the name Wallace in my, in my baby book.
Joel Wallace:Actually my first basketball game was when I was less than two weeks old.
Joel Wallace:I have, I've got a dad that is, you know, super influential in my life and in my my siblings lives and he was a college coach for a while and then he started having kids with my mom and realized it's really hard, especially back then to support your family on an assistant coach's salary.
Joel Wallace:So then he went into education, the high school level and was a head coach and an assistant coach for years.
Joel Wallace:And so wherever he went, his three boys and daughter followed and we had a basketball in our hands and that's where we really learned how to love the game.
Joel Wallace:We're from from Omaha, Nebraska originally Bellevue, a suburb there.
Joel Wallace:And you know, it just like we just had a ball all the time and we were in a gym somewhere and so we got to watch him just have an impact on people and an impact on, you know, just young individuals lives.
Joel Wallace:And we got to see it from not an X's and O standpoint, you know, I could care less.
Joel Wallace:I had my favorite players just because I love watching them be on the floor and you know, they would come over to the house and there would be meals and Christmas breaks and everything in between.
Joel Wallace:And so that's really where I started to dive into the game but also dive into the relationship.
Mike Cleansing:When you think about your dad and his influence and as you just described watching him as a young kid, do you think that relationship piece is one of the main things that you take from what he was like as a coach and maybe is there something else as well that when you see yourself or think about yourself and your coaching style, what reflects your dad and what you saw growing up Yeah, I think.
Joel Wallace:One thing that's interesting about my dad and I, I always thought it was an interesting comment that he would make, and I guess I didn't fully comprehend it until now, much later in my coaching career, but he used to say that I.
Joel Wallace:He felt more comfortable as an assistant, and he didn't have a huge desire to be a head coach.
Joel Wallace:And to me, that.
Joel Wallace:That was always strange, like, why wouldn't you want to have your own program?
Joel Wallace:But then I started to realize he loved.
Joel Wallace:Loved the relationship piece, and he wanted it to be that he wanted that to be the main thing.
Joel Wallace:Not so much the win, loss, record, not so much, you know, kind of the.
Joel Wallace:The other stuff outside of the game that goes on with being ahead and everything that you have to kind of manage.
Joel Wallace:He just wanted to be there and make kids better.
Joel Wallace:We call him the shot doctor.
Joel Wallace:I mean, the guy's got a beautiful shot, and so, you know, he would work 1v1 with guys.
Joel Wallace:And so watching that, I think going into coaching, it was never about the really cool lifestyle that some of those D1 guys have.
Joel Wallace:It was never about, like, oh, if I can get here, I can make this much, or I can be on TV or, you know, I could be deep.
Joel Wallace:Like, I just.
Joel Wallace:I never went into it with that mentality.
Joel Wallace:It was always, man, I can really impact people with this game, and I can really love people and show love to these people through this game from all different backgrounds.
Joel Wallace:I mean, you could be from, you know, rural Minnesota, which I've been in and coached, and to, you know, inner city Houston and Dallas kids that we get now.
Joel Wallace:And so to be able to just impact them in different ways and not that you need to go in with some sort of savior complex.
Joel Wallace:We don't.
Joel Wallace:We don't need that.
Joel Wallace:But sometimes they just need somebody to hear them and listen to them.
Joel Wallace:And so I think back to my dad in the way that he coached and the way that he valued relationship over wins.
Joel Wallace:That's really how I've kind of viewed my coaching trajectory of.
Joel Wallace:All right, remember, this is.
Joel Wallace:This is about the kids.
Joel Wallace:This is about relationships.
Joel Wallace:It's about getting them better, especially at the Division 3 levels.
Joel Wallace:Most of these kids are not going to go pro, and that's okay.
Joel Wallace:And that's okay.
Joel Wallace:You know, they're, you know, especially at our school at Letourneau, they're going to be engineers, they're going to be doctors, they're going to be cybersecurity, computer science.
Joel Wallace:Like, they're going to impact the world in a lot of different ways.
Joel Wallace:And so I need to love them for, you know, not the basketball player that they are, but the person that they are.
Mike Cleansing:So how do you.
Mike Cleansing:This is an interesting point in terms of relationships.
Mike Cleansing:And when you think about a head coach's relationship with a player versus an assistant coach's relationship with the player, right.
Mike Cleansing:The stereotype is the assistant kind of plays almost the good guy, the confidant that the player can come to when the head coach isn't giving the player as many minutes.
Mike Cleansing:And sometimes it's harder for players to have those types of conversations with an assistant coach.
Mike Cleansing:But how do you look at that piece of it in terms of the relationship with what you've seen on the staffs you've been with, on the head coaches that you've worked under, in terms of the relationship building, how you have to approach it differently as a head coach versus as an assistant coach?
Joel Wallace:Yeah, I think every good assistant knows his role and can find his role.
Joel Wallace:If you go in predetermining what you're going to do, I think you're going to be in for a shock.
Joel Wallace:You know, I've been at, you know, what, four different places now.
Joel Wallace:I was at Southwest Minnesota State with Brad Bigler and with there it was, I needed to be seen, not heard.
Joel Wallace:You know, not in a negative way by any means.
Joel Wallace:Like, Bigler ran his practices and he ran the drills and he.
Joel Wallace:And we made sure that those things were ready to go and we could have our side conversations when we needed to.
Joel Wallace:But, you know, my job was to just kind of do the little things there and then just, you know, I got put in charge of like hype videos and stuff by any means.
Joel Wallace:But it was like, hey, you know, he kind of looked at me and said, let's do this.
Joel Wallace:You know, it's all you.
Joel Wallace:I was like, okay.
Joel Wallace:So I figured it out.
Joel Wallace:But it's like that's how I had built relationship with guys was like, hey, like, you know, I'm going to put this video and I've got clips of you or I've got clips of whatever.
Joel Wallace:So that was my job there.
Joel Wallace:I went to Juco and it was very much more.
Joel Wallace:It was only two of us on staff and it was like a lot more engaged and got to, you know, stay on guys and, you know, just really walk alongside kids that were, you know, I was in, in Wilmer, Minnesota at Ridgewater College with Nate Tuft and we had kids from Apopka, Florida that were experiencing their first winter ever in Minnesota with MC for the first time in their lives.
Joel Wallace:And, you know, that's really hard.
Joel Wallace:Like, they're, you know, These kids are 18 years old and they're trying to figure out life by themselves.
Joel Wallace:Like, that's really hard.
Joel Wallace:I don't know about you, but when I was 18, I wasn't necessarily making the smartest decisions, nor did I have life figured out.
Joel Wallace:And sometimes we.
Joel Wallace:We place an unfair burden on them to, like, have it all figured out.
Joel Wallace:And that's.
Joel Wallace:That's not right.
Joel Wallace:And so there I learned how to just kind of, you know, be tough because, you know, if you give them an inch, they'll take three feet, right?
Joel Wallace:And so you had to be kind of, you know, stirring a little bit there for the betterment of them, not for, you know, the sake of being that, you know, totalitarian or anything.
Joel Wallace:And then at Minot, Merkin, like, that guy's intense, and he's going to be intense with his guys.
Joel Wallace:And so it was us as an assistant to like, really come alongside those guys and love on them, because Merkin was going to set the standard and we needed to come alongside and just reinforce the standard.
Joel Wallace:So not cut him at his knees.
Joel Wallace:Reinforce it, maybe say it in a different way or give them the positivity that they needed in those moments.
Joel Wallace:And that's what Merkin told us.
Joel Wallace:Hey, I'm going to be this way.
Joel Wallace:So you guys all need to be great in this way.
Joel Wallace:And, you know, we grow in all those different roles.
Joel Wallace:And here at Letourno, me and James kind of have my brother James, like you mentioned, we kind of have a really, you know, balanced relationship with the guys especially.
Joel Wallace:And so we kind of feed off each other.
Joel Wallace:You know, I'm a little bit more intense and go getter.
Joel Wallace:And James is a little bit more stoic and methodical in his approaches and.
Joel Wallace:But that really works.
Joel Wallace:Rah rah with even keel.
Joel Wallace:And so, like, I.
Joel Wallace:Going back to your point, relationships can differ based off of head coaches personalities, because at the end of the day, it all becomes about personalities.
Joel Wallace:What are their personalities?
Joel Wallace:How can I balance that personality?
Joel Wallace:If you've got five guys that all scream and yell on even three guys that scream and yell on staff?
Joel Wallace:Well, you guys are, you know, they're going to.
Joel Wallace:You're going to.
Joel Wallace:They're going to be deaf to your ears or to your voices by the end of the season.
Joel Wallace:And so someone's gotta be able to speak into that and love on that from a different, different angle.
Joel Wallace:But I think that goes to just kind of an emotional intelligence and emotional IQ that You really need to have if you're gonna get into coaching and.
Mike Cleansing:Going back to your childhood and growing up with your dad as a coach.
Mike Cleansing:And obviously, as you said, you and your siblings are spending a ton of time in the gym.
Mike Cleansing:Were you one of those kids that always knew you wanted to end up in coaching, kind of be like your dad?
Mike Cleansing:Or was that something that came to you a little bit later on as you get into school?
Mike Cleansing:Like you said as an 18 year old?
Mike Cleansing:Some people have it all figured out.
Mike Cleansing:Most of us have no idea where we want to go or what direction we want to take in our lives.
Mike Cleansing:So where do you kind of fall on that spectrum?
Joel Wallace:Yeah, no, I had.
Joel Wallace:It was not on my radar one bit.
Joel Wallace:I grew up in a.
Joel Wallace:My mom was a military brat and so I grew up.
Joel Wallace:So I ended up in Omaha.
Joel Wallace:Our family ended up in Omaha.
Joel Wallace:My mom's dad, so my grandpa was in the Air Force, so Offen Air Force Base is right there in Bellevue.
Joel Wallace:And so I wanted to go to the military and that was what I was going to do.
Joel Wallace:I was going to go into the Navy, actually.
Joel Wallace:I wanted to fly.
Joel Wallace:I wanted to be a pilot.
Joel Wallace:And going all the way into high school, that was my dream.
Joel Wallace:To this day, I still have pictures of blue angels in my office.
Joel Wallace:You know, if there's a documentary on Prime, I highly recommend going and watching it.
Joel Wallace:It's fantastic.
Joel Wallace:The accountability and relationships that they build at high, high level in a life and death situation truly is life and death.
Joel Wallace:So recommend that.
Joel Wallace:But with that, that's what I wanted to do.
Joel Wallace:And then, you know, I'm a man of faith and, and so I, I, you know, believe that God put me in a different direction.
Joel Wallace:I actually got diagnosed with a spinal disorder and was told that I would not one, be able to go in the military.
Joel Wallace:And then two college sports were not going to happen for me.
Joel Wallace:So I got ripped.
Joel Wallace:You know, one foul swoop of both of my dreams were just gone.
Joel Wallace:So with that, you know, coach Bigler, Brad Bigler at Southwest Minnesota State, he said, you know, well, if you can't play anywhere, why don't you come be a part of something bigger than yourself and just stick around the game while you figure everything else else out.
Joel Wallace:And so, you know, I can't thank him enough for that.
Joel Wallace:And so I got into coaching and I was like, man, this is kind of fun, you know.
Joel Wallace:And then I kept putting more and more and more on my plate and I was like, man, I think this is kind of the door that know is being open for me.
Joel Wallace:I think it's time I start walking into this, you know, all in.
Joel Wallace:And so from that moment on, I was all in the, the coaching game and had.
Joel Wallace:I've loved it, but yeah, it was, it was kind of forced upon me.
Joel Wallace:I think that's a lot of coaches stories too, is they either weren't good enough to keep playing or something happened where it was taken away.
Joel Wallace:So you can put me in that line.
Mike Cleansing:Yeah, I mean, that's definitely true.
Mike Cleansing:I mean, I think there's two camps of there's the person that at some point you're playing and your playing career comes to an end for whatever reason.
Mike Cleansing:It could be injury, could be maybe you're just not good enough.
Mike Cleansing:Could be, well, hey, I played Kyle four years in college basketball.
Mike Cleansing:I'm not able to play professionally, whatever it is.
Mike Cleansing:When your career ends and then you all of a sudden look around, you're like, hey, I.
Mike Cleansing:I'm not going to have basketball in my life anymore.
Mike Cleansing:How.
Mike Cleansing:What am I going to.
Mike Cleansing:What am I going to do?
Mike Cleansing:And somehow you get to coaching that way and then you have the other people who are like 7 years old and they're drawing plays up on a napkin and they're coaching their neighbors and all that stuff.
Mike Cleansing:So I think most people fall into some version of those two camps for sure, without question.
Mike Cleansing:So it's interesting just to hear what the different backgrounds are that the coaches that we've had come on the pod, Joel, have talked about in terms of those.
Mike Cleansing:Those different things.
Mike Cleansing:So for you, when you start working there as a student assistant, what's one or two things when you think about that first year that stood out to you, that made you think, hey, this is something that I want to do for a career.
Mike Cleansing:What grabbed you about coaching right off the bat?
Joel Wallace:Yeah, I think Brad Bigler would be the answer to that.
Joel Wallace:Yeah, you know, he is a tremendous human being.
Joel Wallace:He's extremely good at what he does.
Joel Wallace:He's very methodical.
Joel Wallace:I've actually met with Shaka Smart and been able to sit down with him and kind of a, you know, small group setting.
Joel Wallace:It was only about three of us outside of him.
Joel Wallace:And Bigler reminds me so much of Shaka Smart or Shocker reminds me of Big or whichever way you want to put it.
Joel Wallace:But his ability to just have a standard and love on guys and build a culture and a true culture, you just.
Joel Wallace:When you're around something that special, you realize you really want to be a part of it.
Joel Wallace:And then when you're a part of it, for, you know, the four years, I think that I was a part of it.
Joel Wallace:You want to replicate it.
Joel Wallace:And so I learned so much about how to build a team culture that can stand and that is bigger than yourself and is not built on wins and losses, but on the love and relationship you can have with, you know, the best friends that you go into a recruiting class with, you know, the guys that you go through two days with and you're running lines and, you know, you don't make the time and you got to run it again.
Joel Wallace:Like, those type of relationships that you build, you know, I.
Joel Wallace:People outside of athletics will never understand the love you have to have for somebody when they don't make a time and you have to run that sprint again.
Joel Wallace:The amount of love that you have to have that person is.
Joel Wallace:Is something else.
Joel Wallace:So, you know, great life lesson, though.
Joel Wallace:Like, you want to be in a serious relationship, you want to get married.
Joel Wallace:Like, you know, my wife Mallory is super special to me.
Joel Wallace:You know, it's.
Joel Wallace:It's not always easy.
Joel Wallace:And sports.
Joel Wallace:Sport can build those relationships and build that toughness to persevere through those things and really find a deeper level of love.
Joel Wallace:And so going back to, you know, why do I want to get into coaching Brad Bigler and the way that he loved his guys and built a culture, that's where I was in the chess game that he was always playing.
Joel Wallace:You know, how can we, you know, if I had to say, like, the three things I learned from him, it was one, how to score in spacing, you know, and create spacing to get scores.
Joel Wallace:It'd be the team culture, and then the third would be how to build a roster.
Joel Wallace:And so with those three things, it is always a chess match.
Joel Wallace:Like, how can we get guys in different spots?
Joel Wallace:How can we manipulate tagmen?
Joel Wallace:How can we, you know, bring on this kid that may not be the best player, but he is a culture king, where he's just going to come in and our locker room's instantly going to be better because he's in our locker room and he's just a positive voice that we can rely on.
Joel Wallace:Those types of chess matches, from the X's and O's to the roster construction, are all because of him.
Joel Wallace:And when I watched that chess game, like, just like any other athlete, like, I wanted to play that game and I wanted to be involved and just start moving pieces around and see if I could be any good at it.
Mike Cleansing:Talk about that culture piece and the balance between having high standards and accountability and coaching guys hard.
Mike Cleansing:And yet Also the ability to then, as you said, love on your guys and have those relationships.
Mike Cleansing:What did you see from Coach Bigler that you carried on forward in terms of those two things?
Mike Cleansing:I think that's something that, especially for young coaches, when you talk about how do I strike that balance between getting the most out of my guys, motivating them, making sure that they understand what our standards are, and yet at the same time making them feel loved and appreciated.
Mike Cleansing:How do you walk that line?
Mike Cleansing:What'd you learn?
Joel Wallace:Time and place.
Joel Wallace:I mean, when you're in practice, like, the standard should be there and it should be known and it should be held and, you know, you can't, you can't lower that standard at any point because again, if you give an inch, you're going to take three feet and then you're fighting the rest of the, you know, semester or even season to try and get those, those feet back.
Joel Wallace:And so I watched, you know, I would always, I challenge coaches and especially assistants because that's who normally I'm talking to is assistant coaches, is, you gotta put the time in, you know, and it's like you, if you're gonna be in the office all day, which is great, you can't all be in the office with X's and O's or film breakdowns or stats or whatever.
Joel Wallace:Like, you know, I put candy in my office and I find what candy guys like and in the office and it's not, hey, come up.
Joel Wallace:And, you know, I'm not trying to be, you know, weird with it, but it's just like, they know I have breakfast bars up there too.
Joel Wallace:So they know, like, if they need a quick snack or they, you know, need some sugar, they can come out to my office.
Joel Wallace:And you wouldn't believe the amount of times that guys would come up and like, oh, I'm just coming up to grab a snack real quick.
Joel Wallace:And then two hours later we're talking about, you know, the Cavs and Thunder game that just happened last night or, you know, what's going on at home and start to realize, like, they're dealing with a lot and so time and place is super important.
Joel Wallace:And then just being willing, you know, you know, both with your finances and maybe having a home cooked meal and paying for that out of your own pocket, even though you don't make a lot, if you're really, really down for them, you know, they're not, you know, sometimes, and this may be inappropriate, but I always say, like, they may be idiots, but they're not dumb.
Mike Cleansing:Yeah.
Joel Wallace:Like kids May not understand, you know, a lot, but they know who's riding with them and they know who loves them.
Joel Wallace:Right.
Joel Wallace:So they can see if you're going to make a home cooked meal after a long day.
Joel Wallace:Like they, they know that and they can appreciate that.
Joel Wallace:And so, you know, you walk that line by being able to not toe the line all the time.
Joel Wallace:I think being able to step back and realizing that basketball is a very important thing, don't get me wrong.
Joel Wallace:And it's, it's what our job is and we're paid to be really good at that.
Joel Wallace:But it's also being able to step back and say, you know what, for the next two hours I don't need to worry about this guy can't, you know, save his life to be in help center.
Joel Wallace:Like he just, he can never, like, let's just not talk about that for two hours and let's just see, you know, how our class is going or how's the girlfriend, how's mom and dad or whatever it may be.
Joel Wallace:And so take a step back and just.
Joel Wallace:It's bigger than basketball so we need to make sure it stays bigger than basketball.
Mike Cleansing:Yeah, it's a really good point.
Mike Cleansing:It's one that I'll have that hit me even now as a parent of a couple of basketball players where I'll be sitting in the stands and you know, as a coach, as someone who has grown up in the game, that those games are really, really important and you care about them tremendously.
Mike Cleansing:I don't care what your role is, whether you're a player, you're a coach, you're a parent watching your kid play, that those games are really, really important.
Mike Cleansing:But I'll oftentimes have a moment.
Mike Cleansing:I love the line that you used of, you know, sometimes you don't always have to walk that line of everything being life and death on a basketball court and I'll be sitting in the stand sometimes and watch my kid and I'll think, man, like this is just a silly game that we're playing to again, hopefully have fun, learn some life lessons.
Mike Cleansing:And yeah, it's important obviously at the college level in order to be able to keep your job, you got to win some games.
Mike Cleansing:But sometimes I'm just struck by the fact of, you know, maybe we all need to dial it back for whether it's an hour or two hours or like you said, that there's a time and a place for putting your arm around somebody and just knowing them and loving them as a human being as opposed to always trying to get the most out of somebody as a basketball player.
Mike Cleansing:And I know I had those moments as a coach, but I definitely have them as a parent, where I'll sit in the stands and just a moment will wash over me.
Mike Cleansing:I'll be like, man, sometimes we just got to step back and remember that it's.
Mike Cleansing:It's human beings all playing this.
Mike Cleansing:All playing this game.
Joel Wallace:Yeah.
Joel Wallace:And in this season especially, you know, we're having a.
Joel Wallace:We're having a good year.
Joel Wallace:I think we're 11 and 3 or 12 and 3, one of the two.
Joel Wallace:And I've.
Joel Wallace:I've really said this to myself a lot because, you know, I.
Joel Wallace:I can get intense, and if you were to ask any of our guys, they would say the same thing that I can.
Joel Wallace:I can be loud and I can, you know, kind of get after some guys.
Joel Wallace:But I.
Joel Wallace:It's always in my head, and I tell myself this, like, I'm a tactician, not an authoritarian.
Joel Wallace:So I need to act like a tactician and not authoritarian.
Joel Wallace:And what I mean by that is, like, if I'm going to be a tactician, I need to communicate with these guys and get these guys in the right spots and, you know, communicate thoroughly what they need to do.
Joel Wallace:Like, that's what I need to do.
Joel Wallace:That's my job.
Joel Wallace:They don't need somebody screaming and yelling at them, because it doesn't help.
Joel Wallace:It really doesn't, you know, and some guys are motivated by that.
Joel Wallace:Don't get me wrong.
Joel Wallace:I'm not saying that.
Joel Wallace:Hey, I'm not one of those guys.
Joel Wallace:Like, you can't yell at athletes.
Joel Wallace:Like, you can yell.
Joel Wallace:At least they can take it.
Joel Wallace:Especially at the collegiate.
Joel Wallace:Now there's a line.
Joel Wallace:Don't get me wrong.
Joel Wallace:But.
Joel Wallace:But sometimes they just need to explain to them in a different way.
Joel Wallace:Sometimes in a.
Joel Wallace:In a heated moment where they've made a mistake three times and their head is spinning, they need to just hear a calm voice of, this is what you need to fix.
Joel Wallace:And so that's where I just.
Joel Wallace:I'm a tactician.
Joel Wallace:I'm a tactician.
Joel Wallace:I'm a tactician.
Joel Wallace:And it kind of talks me down a little bit, but also it just helps me be a better coach.
Joel Wallace:And so you got to find what is going to help you be a better coach and better explain things and kind of keep you from crossing that line or always being on that line.
Mike Cleansing:Yeah, that makes sense.
Mike Cleansing:I mean, I think from a playing standpoint, so often I've heard coaches talk about, you know, that you have to be very specific.
Mike Cleansing:In the type of directions that you give.
Mike Cleansing:Right.
Mike Cleansing:If you want a kid to do something, there's a lot of.
Mike Cleansing:Sometimes you hear coaches say things, and there's.
Mike Cleansing:There's not explicit instruction where the kid can't take anything.
Mike Cleansing:Like somebody's yelling and, okay, you're yelling, you're upset about this or that.
Mike Cleansing:And then the player's like, well, I.
Mike Cleansing:You didn't give me anything that I can act upon to.
Mike Cleansing:To perform better.
Mike Cleansing:And I think that's a really, really good point.
Mike Cleansing:When you start talking about being authoritarian versus being a tactician, I think that's a good distinction to make.
Mike Cleansing:I never heard it phrased quite that way, but I like that particular language that you use there because I think it does a great job of illustrating kind of the difference and what players.
Mike Cleansing:In all honesty, what I think players need is they need that sort of specificity to be able to understand, okay, I was.
Mike Cleansing:Did this, or I saw this and thought I saw that, and instead I should have been here or whatever.
Mike Cleansing:And just to be able to have players think through and be able to understand that for sure, I think that's a good way to look at things.
Mike Cleansing:When you graduated, let's go back to your first job search.
Mike Cleansing:Tell me what that was like.
Mike Cleansing:I'm assuming that Coach Bigler helped you in terms of connections and networking, and I know you worked a bunch of camps in the summertime, which is always for any young coach.
Mike Cleansing:Obviously not.
Mike Cleansing:Not probably quite as.
Mike Cleansing:Probably not quite as.
Mike Cleansing:I don't want to say important, but just not.
Mike Cleansing:It's not as easy to do as it used to be, because the camp circuit just isn't what it used to be in the past, where almost again, you go back 15, 20 years and there's.
Mike Cleansing:You can barely find a coach that didn't somehow connect with people through the summer camp circuit.
Mike Cleansing:But just tell me about that first job search and.
Mike Cleansing:And what it was like and what the process went for you.
Joel Wallace:How.
Mike Cleansing:How it went for you.
Joel Wallace:Yeah.
Joel Wallace:So with the.
Joel Wallace:With the job search, I mean, Bigler did a great job.
Joel Wallace:You know, like I said, I owe a lot to him, but the connections that he was able to bridge but then also just kind of like, he didn't sound like he just did it all for me by any, you know, stretch of the imagination, but he just kind of like, okay, well, if you want to do this, you need to go do that, you know, or you need to go have this conversation with him.
Joel Wallace:I'll follow up and I'll give my best recommendation.
Joel Wallace:But you Gotta do the work.
Joel Wallace:And which I really appreciate it, like, I 100% did.
Joel Wallace:Because there's a lot of guys that will look at their boss like, man, he just doesn't help me get a job.
Joel Wallace:I understand what you're saying, kind of, but are you having the conversation?
Joel Wallace:No, I need him to reach out first.
Joel Wallace:Like, that's not always how it works, man.
Joel Wallace:So Bigler.
Joel Wallace:Yeah, Bigler was, you know, with.
Joel Wallace:With Nate Tough.
Joel Wallace:Ridgewater's an hour and a half down the road from Southwest Minnesota State.
Joel Wallace:So when I worked at Ridgewater, which is the job I ended up taking after smsu, I drove an hour and a half to work and an hour and a half back every day.
Joel Wallace:And if I didn't, I slept in my office.
Joel Wallace:At one point in the preseason, we would practice late.
Joel Wallace:Late.
Joel Wallace:So if it was Monday, late on Monday and then early on Tuesday, and so we would do.
Joel Wallace:We'd sleep in our offices so I didn't have to make the.
Joel Wallace:The hour and a half trip back and I could, you know, kind of have some time at home.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Yeah, I mean, coaching can be such a grind, especially when you're looking to be mentally focused during the day and get great sleep at night.
Sponsor/Advertiser:That's a tough tightrope for some coaches to walk.
Sponsor/Advertiser:I found this product, Magic Mind, that has helped me so much in both those areas.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Their focus and sleep shots have made a big difference in my mental resilience.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Since I started using Magic Mind, I'm better able to focus on the tests I need to get done as a podcaster, a coach, a parent, and a teacher.
Sponsor/Advertiser:And then at night, I simply get better sleep.
Sponsor/Advertiser:You can improve both your sleep and your mental clarity right now with this special offer from Magic Mind.
Sponsor/Advertiser:You can get 45% off the Magic Mind Bundle with the link www.magicmind.com/hoop heads jan.
Sponsor/Advertiser:That's www magicmind hoop heads jan.
Sponsor/Advertiser:H O O P H E A D S J A N Check out Magic Mind if you want to improve your mental resilience and build your mental wealth today.
Joel Wallace:To get to that point, you know, Bigler just, hey, like, you know, these are the openings and, and, you know, Nate is, you know, Coach Tuft is looking for somebody and have the conversation.
Joel Wallace:And obviously, you know, we had a really good relationship with Ridgewater because it's right there.
Joel Wallace:So the kind of that, you know, coaching synergy with people around you.
Joel Wallace:And.
Joel Wallace:But then it was like camps, like, you got to work camps.
Joel Wallace:So I, I drove 107 hours one summer working camps.
Joel Wallace:I just Drove just to get to the place.
Joel Wallace:And the money that I made from those camps.
Joel Wallace:Paid for the gas, right?
Mike Cleansing:Exactly.
Joel Wallace:I'm pretty.
Joel Wallace:I'm pretty confident that I came out negative in that.
Joel Wallace:And, like, I mean, let's not get twisted.
Joel Wallace:I'm like a college kid, so it's not like I had a lot of money.
Joel Wallace:I didn't have a job, you know, or an extra side gig because there was no time to do any of those.
Joel Wallace:And so I just.
Joel Wallace:Yeah, I.
Joel Wallace:I did the AAU stuff, and.
Joel Wallace:But it's really important, like the networking to.
Joel Wallace:To go to those camps.
Joel Wallace:And Covid kind of killed some of the college camps, which is really, really sad because it was a great opportunity to really grow with other people and get to know and, you know, I know we keep talking about relationships, but you build those relationships, and I think some of the new coaches coming in have skipped that part.
Mike Cleansing:Yeah.
Joel Wallace:And you can tell.
Joel Wallace:And this isn't to knock the big boys, but it's like, sometimes you'll talk to those D1 guys, and it's like you can tell that they miss the relationship piece.
Joel Wallace:And so when you talk to them, it's just.
Joel Wallace:They're looking at your.
Joel Wallace:Your shirts and seeing that they're at a school.
Joel Wallace:You're at a school that they don't know, so they don't care.
Mike Cleansing:Right.
Joel Wallace:And that's.
Joel Wallace:That's really sad.
Joel Wallace:And it's no fault to them.
Joel Wallace:You shouldn't go through kind of the gauntlet that some of us.
Joel Wallace:Others had to do, you know, driving 107 hours in a month.
Joel Wallace:This is a month span, so I shouldn't even say summer it was in a month.
Joel Wallace:But, you know, with that coaching search, like, it was.
Joel Wallace:It was.
Joel Wallace:It wasn't overly long either.
Joel Wallace:I mean, it happens like that.
Joel Wallace:It's a blink of an eye, and people are 20 different places, and so.
Joel Wallace:But I was blessed with a guy that was going to look out for me and make me do the work, but then reinforce on the back end, you know, my resume and what I brought to the table.
Joel Wallace:And so I just.
Joel Wallace:I mean, I.
Joel Wallace:I grew from every stop because the person that I worked for just helped me tremendously in my growth, you know, trajectory as a coach.
Mike Cleansing:As you think about, I want to get into the relationship with your brother and how you get the opportunity at letourneau.
Mike Cleansing:But just as you've been going through your career and thinking about where you are now, where you may want to eventually end up, are you putting together a.
Mike Cleansing:And again, this goes back to the different coaches that you work under.
Mike Cleansing:Are you putting together a.
Mike Cleansing:A folder, a digital drive of things that you like, things that you don't like.
Mike Cleansing:As, as you think about the possibility that at some point in the future you may be able to.
Mike Cleansing:To become a head coach?
Joel Wallace:Yeah.
Joel Wallace:I mean, if you're not, you're crazy.
Joel Wallace:You're gonna forget.
Joel Wallace:And even if it's just like, like I'm a huge X's and no's guy, so I love, I love.
Joel Wallace:I mean, my Twitter is like, if you were to look at my likes like you used to be able to, it'd be all sets.
Joel Wallace:If you look at my bookmarks, it's like all sets.
Joel Wallace:I don't really care about the other stuff.
Joel Wallace:And so, like, I, you know, when I was at Southwest, you know, our offense that we run at at Letourno is a beautiful blend of Brad Bigler and Matt Murkin.
Joel Wallace:So we've got kind of the spacing, dribble, I don't think dribble drive, but it's ball screen heavy.
Joel Wallace:A lot of spacing, manipulating spacing.
Joel Wallace:And then, you know, we kind of did that Ridgewater too, and that's what we did.
Joel Wallace:And then when I went to Minot, stay with Matt Murkin.
Joel Wallace:Matt Murkin is not a huge ball screen guy.
Joel Wallace:Obviously, ball screen is a part of the game, so everybody's going to do it.
Joel Wallace:But.
Joel Wallace:But he is a more traditional one through five, you know, screen, you know, read your screen.
Joel Wallace:You've got five different things that you can do off the screen, and then everybody else is going to react off of what that one guy does off the screen.
Joel Wallace:And so I grew so much of my exes and O's at at Minot with that because I felt like I got pretty good at the ball screen spacing.
Joel Wallace:You know, we call it Phoenix and Brad Bigler calls it Phoenix as well.
Joel Wallace:Kind of Dan Tony type stuff when he was with the Suns.
Joel Wallace:And so when I got to Minot, it was a total shift in offensive philosophy going from ball screen spacing to a lot of just actions, wheel actions, whatever it may be.
Joel Wallace:You know, we're going to cross screen, down screen, diagonal screen your butt until you give up a layup.
Joel Wallace:Like, that was basically with Matt Merkin's philosophy.
Joel Wallace:And it's working.
Joel Wallace:I mean, he's fourth in the country right now at Minot State, which is not an easy place to win, but the guy does it all the time.
Joel Wallace:And so, you know, I, I'm always taking that stuff.
Joel Wallace:Like I have, you know, we have we have fast scouts and fast recruit and fast draw and all that.
Joel Wallace:And so I have my catalog of all of my offensive stuff and then philosophy stuff with every set or with every, you know, kind of concept, I'm putting that in there.
Joel Wallace:And then, you know, I just.
Joel Wallace:I'll have that forever so I can always go back and look.
Joel Wallace:And I've done that.
Joel Wallace:I mean, last year we ran a lot of box sets that we.
Joel Wallace:I took from Matt.
Joel Wallace:Coach Merkin at Minot, and we are really successful with them.
Joel Wallace:Different type of team this year, so we haven't run as much of that.
Joel Wallace:But I actually stole some stuff from my.
Joel Wallace:My friend and coworker, Randall Herbst, who was with me at Minot, and he's at und, North Dakota.
Joel Wallace:And Coach Saver there used to be at Northern State, and he used to kick our fricking butt with some line screens.
Joel Wallace:Oh, my gosh, the midline screen with the four and the five.
Joel Wallace:Just the, you know, the curls and the pops that you could do off of that and then the other actions.
Joel Wallace:So we've been running a little bit of that this year.
Joel Wallace:And so again, like, the people that you meet, the good people that you meet and you, you know, usually good people win.
Joel Wallace:And so I.
Joel Wallace:I like to surround myself with really good people.
Joel Wallace:And like, basketball is a game of stealing stuff from others and making it your own.
Joel Wallace:Like, nothing that I run is anything that I necessarily could came up with.
Joel Wallace:It is took from somebody else.
Joel Wallace:I'm not that guy.
Joel Wallace:I'm not going to take any.
Joel Wallace:I was smart enough to listen to when somebody or, you know, look when someone drew a play down and said, I'm going to use that at some point.
Joel Wallace:So that's what I did.
Joel Wallace:And so, yeah, I have a digital library, but then I also have, like, my coaching philosophy and just different things I've taken away from each people.
Joel Wallace:And, you know, like, Bigler did some things that I, you know, I don't want to say disagreed with, but I'm like, man, I think I would do this differently.
Joel Wallace:Same with Coach Tuft and Coach Merkin.
Joel Wallace:You know, I'm sure at some point, if, you know, I get the opportunity to be a head coach, there's going to be somebody that goes, I am never doing what, you know, Coach Wallace, but that's okay.
Joel Wallace:Fit your personality and find the stuff that works and doesn't work and then create your own culture.
Joel Wallace:But I'm always taking things and writing them down and then just having a coaching philosophy and little, like, pillars that I'm going to use when I have my own place, but also what we're using right now at Letourneau.
Mike Cleansing:Yeah, it makes sense.
Mike Cleansing:I mean, again, you want to be prepared if that opportunity does ever come across your desk and just have what you need and start to be thinking about it prior to that opportunity coming to you.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Coaches, Game Changer is making your game film more valuable than ever.
Sponsor/Advertiser:New this season to Game Changer, Film Room allows team staff to analyze full game video, add comments to specific moments, and quickly share feedback with other coaches, team members or families.
Sponsor/Advertiser:The one youth sports app automatically skips downtime in the game film, condensing event video into active play so you can focus on the moments that matter.
Sponsor/Advertiser:The best part, it's completely free for coaches.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Download Game changer now on iOS or Android and take your coaching to the next level with Film Room by now.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Game Changer, Game Changer Stream, Score, Connect.
Mike Cleansing:Tell me a little bit about the opportunity to coach with your brother at Letourno.
Mike Cleansing:First of all, how does that opportunity arise and then we can get into what it's been like coaching with your brother.
Mike Cleansing:Positives.
Mike Cleansing:And I don't know, I don't know if I don't know if there's any negatives or not between the sibling rivalry, but just first of all, how did it happen?
Mike Cleansing:And then secondly, just what, what's, what's been, what's been the best part about it?
Joel Wallace:So I was at Minot State working for Merkin and my brother was, my brother James was down here at Letourneau as an assistant.
Joel Wallace:They had just had the D3 Player of the year in nae West.
Joel Wallace:They had like back to back years of, you know, 20 some wins.
Joel Wallace:And the, the head coach, you know, his kids had graduated, were out of the house and he was kind of ready to settle down and, you know, take a step back from the college game.
Joel Wallace:And he was formerly a high school coach, so we went back to high school and my brother ended up getting promoted to the head.
Joel Wallace:And we had a conversation, you know, as he was going through the process of potentially being the head coach and, you know, finally getting it.
Joel Wallace:And it was like, well, you know, if you do get it, what are you, who are you going to hire?
Joel Wallace:It just never, for whatever reason, you know, it sounds dumb now, but for whatever reason just wasn't on my radar.
Joel Wallace:I could go down there and be his assistant.
Joel Wallace:Just wasn't.
Joel Wallace:It wasn't like, I don't want to work with this guy, obviously.
Joel Wallace:It just didn't cross my mind.
Joel Wallace:And it Was kind of.
Joel Wallace:We were having the conversation, and I just, well, who do you think you're going to bring in?
Joel Wallace:Do you have a list of assistants that you can reach out to?
Joel Wallace:And he's like, you idiot.
Joel Wallace:I was like, oh.
Joel Wallace:I was like, hey.
Joel Wallace:And got approved from the administration and brought me in.
Joel Wallace:And it's been so much fun.
Joel Wallace:Like, it's been a huge blessing.
Joel Wallace:And I can't.
Joel Wallace:I can't say that enough.
Joel Wallace:Like, my brother.
Joel Wallace:I don't think I do have done a good enough job of, like, letting people know how fantastic my brother is as a.
Joel Wallace:As a person, especially I'm his brother.
Joel Wallace:And he.
Joel Wallace:We butt heads all the time, but that guy.
Joel Wallace:I know that guy loves me, and I know that that guy loves each of our players just as much that he.
Joel Wallace:He loves me.
Joel Wallace:And I say that, like, with all honesty.
Joel Wallace:And he has such a deep relationship, not only with just the players, but with every faculty member and staff member.
Joel Wallace:At Letourneau, everybody knows who James is, not because he's the head coach, but he's the guy that's always willing to do something for somebody else.
Joel Wallace:And so when you get an opportunity to work for somebody like that and it's.
Joel Wallace:Especially your brother, you just.
Joel Wallace:You like, you take it.
Joel Wallace:And now it was a plus.
Joel Wallace:I was going from Minot, North Dakota, where it was a high of like 25 degrees when I left, to Texas, where it was.
Joel Wallace:Now it was a high of like 100 when I got here.
Joel Wallace:So that was a shock.
Joel Wallace:Wasn't ready for that.
Joel Wallace:But, you know, he.
Joel Wallace:My brother's held, like, a gazillion different titles.
Joel Wallace:He.
Joel Wallace:When he came here, he was the assistant coach for men's basketball.
Joel Wallace:He was the head cross country coach.
Joel Wallace:Then he was the sports information director for a year, which is a crazy task to be for, like, 17 different sports while hosting a conference tournament as an assistant.
Joel Wallace:Like, it's just wild what he had to do.
Joel Wallace:And so he did that, and then now he's the associate AD for, you know, external.
Joel Wallace:You know, he fundraises.
Joel Wallace:That's what he does.
Joel Wallace:So.
Joel Wallace:But.
Joel Wallace:But he's had that many times, so he's.
Joel Wallace:He's brushed, you know, up alongside so many people across campus, and he's a special person.
Joel Wallace:So when you got an opportunity to go work for your brother and do that, like, you just.
Joel Wallace:You jump at it.
Joel Wallace:And I have, and I've loved it.
Joel Wallace:It's been really stressful.
Joel Wallace:Like, this has been the most stressful job for a couple different reasons.
Joel Wallace:One, like, you're going Into a situation where, like, you've won in the past, but he's looking at you saying, like, okay, well, you know, those were his guys.
Joel Wallace:What are you gonna do?
Joel Wallace:And so we, We.
Joel Wallace:We really worked at it, and we followed.
Joel Wallace:No, we followed nobody's advice.
Joel Wallace:So when we got it, know, Coach Bigler actually, you know, was trying to help us out of, you know, transitioning, and he was like, keep as much the same as you can, which is a really good idea.
Joel Wallace:Like, you should, I think.
Joel Wallace:But we did not.
Joel Wallace:We changed the offense, we changed the defense.
Joel Wallace:We trained, changed our transition principles.
Joel Wallace:I mean, we changed everything.
Joel Wallace:And our offense is.
Joel Wallace:It's not funky.
Joel Wallace:It's not like the Grinnell system or anything.
Joel Wallace:Anything, you know, just super, you know, wonky or different.
Joel Wallace:But just the way that we cut through, the way that we space and just kind of manipulate guys and positionless basketball, for sure.
Joel Wallace:It just was different for a lot of the.
Joel Wallace:The, you know, people had been here, and so they're kind of looking at James like, well, we're just blowing this up.
Joel Wallace:We just won.
Joel Wallace:You know, we just went 22 and 5 or 23 and 5.
Joel Wallace:We're blowing this up.
Joel Wallace:And we did, but then we went 22 and 5 and had a really good year.
Joel Wallace:And, you know, James got coach of the year that year, and he's just a really good.
Joel Wallace:James is a really good basketball coach.
Joel Wallace:Letourneau's blessed to have him.
Joel Wallace:I'm blessed to work for him.
Joel Wallace:He drives me nuts sometimes, not drive him absolutely insane.
Joel Wallace:So, you know, I'm getting the better end of the deal because I'd much rather work for him than.
Joel Wallace:Or work alongside him than myself.
Joel Wallace:I think, you know, people.
Joel Wallace:I say this a lot, but people ask all the time, what's it like working with your brother?
Joel Wallace:And I say, well, it's exactly like working with your brother.
Joel Wallace:You know, the pros are if you love the guy, you'll do anything for him, and you will.
Joel Wallace:You'll put the hours in and you care deeply about his success.
Joel Wallace:But at the same time, like, it's just like, I mean, when a brother mad, there's just.
Joel Wallace:That's a different type of irritation.
Joel Wallace:And Christmas, Christmas break and Thanksgiving break are just staff meetings.
Joel Wallace:So, I mean, we go home.
Joel Wallace:Our other brother is.
Joel Wallace:Would probably be the best coach of the.
Joel Wallace:Of the three of us boys.
Joel Wallace:But he.
Joel Wallace:He played at Northwest Missouri State over under Ben McCollum, who's now at Drake and killing and one, you know, went to back to back sweet sixteens.
Joel Wallace:I think while he Was there.
Joel Wallace:So we'll go home, and James and I will be talking stuff, and he and our brother Matt watches all of our games, and he'll just be like, why the heck are you guys doing that?
Joel Wallace:That was dumb.
Joel Wallace:Literally.
Joel Wallace:And then our dad chimes in, well, you need to put this guy in this position.
Joel Wallace:And it's like, okay, like Christmas now just turn into a staff meeting.
Joel Wallace:Like, let's just talk, figure out how we're going to be better, you know, on this.
Joel Wallace:This side of the floor or that side of the floor.
Joel Wallace:So.
Joel Wallace:But that's a positive, man.
Joel Wallace:Like I said, basketball is synonymous with Wallace, and it's.
Joel Wallace:It's a lot of fun.
Joel Wallace:So there's really no negatives outside of.
Joel Wallace:You can get frustrated, but I can get frustrated with anybody, and I'd rather be my brother.
Mike Cleansing:You could probably be more blunt with your brother maybe, than you could be with a previous assistant coach.
Joel Wallace:I'm sure our offices are right next to the women's, and sometimes their assistant will look at me like, did you just say that?
Joel Wallace:Like, did you just.
Joel Wallace:And it's like.
Joel Wallace:And we have a graduate assistant, too.
Joel Wallace:And I talk graduate assistant.
Joel Wallace:I'm like, you know, coach Rip.
Joel Wallace:Like, do not talk to coach the way that I talk to.
Joel Wallace:It's like.
Joel Wallace:Like the 100% like, you know, and our guys laugh, and it's like, oh, you guys are talking to each other like brothers right now all the time, or it's anything inappropriate.
Joel Wallace:But every once in a while, there'll be a quick, you know, response back, and it's like, yeah, that's a brother response, not an assistant coach's response.
Joel Wallace:So sometimes I got to figure that line out a little bit and check myself.
Mike Cleansing:Yeah, it's funny.
Mike Cleansing:Like, I grew up, and I had only a sister, and then in my family, I have two girls and a boy.
Mike Cleansing:So I've never.
Mike Cleansing:I've never had a brother relationship in any house that I've lived in.
Mike Cleansing:So I've only seen it vicariously through other people.
Mike Cleansing:And every brother relationship that I know of is.
Mike Cleansing:They're just like.
Mike Cleansing:Again, they love each other, but then when things.
Mike Cleansing:When things get.
Mike Cleansing:When things spiral, it gets.
Mike Cleansing:It gets crazy.
Mike Cleansing:It gets crazy fast.
Mike Cleansing:And my.
Mike Cleansing:My.
Mike Cleansing:My limited experience on the brother side of things.
Mike Cleansing:So I can only imagine when you guys are, you know, talking out and going through things that.
Mike Cleansing:Yeah, you can.
Mike Cleansing:You can definitely, I'm sure, get after it a little bit.
Joel Wallace:Yeah, we get to.
Joel Wallace:We get to talk to our guys about that a lot, too, though, is, you know, we talk about iron sharpens iron.
Joel Wallace:Well, iron sharpens iron.
Joel Wallace:There's going to be sparks.
Joel Wallace:Like, there's going to be sparks.
Joel Wallace:Like, there has to be friction there.
Joel Wallace:And so, you know, they.
Joel Wallace:And we just tell our guys, like, you know, you hear us get after each other, and you hear us, like, hold each other to a high standard.
Joel Wallace:And it's like, that's.
Joel Wallace:Because that's what brothers do.
Joel Wallace:Like, we just do that.
Joel Wallace:And so when you guys are on the floor, like, it's okay to yell at each other.
Joel Wallace:It's okay to be irritated and demand something from each other.
Joel Wallace:Like, that's just.
Joel Wallace:That's part of being college basketball players, but that's also part of being a brotherhood and having a culture of success and a culture of just, you know, servanthood is like, we're gonna, you know, we're gonna let each other know when we're not reaching that standard and we're falling short.
Joel Wallace:So.
Mike Cleansing:Yeah, it's a great point.
Mike Cleansing:Great point.
Mike Cleansing:All right, final two.
Mike Cleansing:Part question.
Mike Cleansing:Part one, when you look ahead over the next year, what do you see as being your biggest challenge?
Mike Cleansing:And then part two, when you think about what you get to do every day, what brings you the most joy?
Mike Cleansing:So your biggest challenge and then your biggest joy.
Joel Wallace:Oh, man, my biggest challenge.
Joel Wallace:I mean, over the next year.
Joel Wallace:Well, I mean, if you include this year, like, we need to get to the NCAA tournament, we're right there.
Joel Wallace:We'll be probably a bubble team, maybe even not.
Joel Wallace:So we probably have to win the Commerce Tournament to get in.
Joel Wallace:So, I mean, that's a lot of stress in and of itself, and we have a roster to do it.
Joel Wallace:You know, there's going to be some opportunities for me as well, hopefully, you know, God willing, that I'll look and entertain.
Joel Wallace:And it's just having the discernment there, you know, when you get to this level and you've been in it as long as I have, which isn't crazy long, but it's long enough.
Joel Wallace:There's just a lot of things that you have to manage and a lot of, you know, tables that you have to balance and, you know.
Joel Wallace:So I think recruiting will be another one.
Joel Wallace:Getting the right guys on the ship.
Joel Wallace:We're going to lose a lot of talent.
Joel Wallace:We're going to lose an All American and an all Conference guy.
Joel Wallace:So that'll be just kind of a.
Joel Wallace:A multitude of things of, you know, having the discernment to look through opportunities but not get caught up in that, because a lot of coaches get caught up in the next Spot and not embrace where they're at.
Joel Wallace:Now you've got no roster construction, replacing really good players, and then, like, balancing family life, like, you know, and then my.
Joel Wallace:My greatest joy and the most crazy thing, like, I.
Joel Wallace:So I have a nine month old now, and I now get to be that dad for somebody.
Mike Cleansing:Yeah.
Joel Wallace:Which is pretty special.
Joel Wallace:And that's pretty cool.
Joel Wallace:And, you know, so I have a daughter named Jovi.
Joel Wallace:And so my greatest joy is the fact that win or lose, I get to walk through the door and I get to see my daughter, and it's always a smile.
Sponsor/Advertiser:Awesome.
Joel Wallace:And so, again, like, to, you know, kind of reiterate the theme, like, this is all about relationships.
Joel Wallace:And so I get to impact, you know, human being for the rest of her life.
Joel Wallace:And that starts right now.
Joel Wallace:And so I get the joy of coming home and giving her hugs.
Joel Wallace:And, you know, even though I could probably sit down and watch 10 hours of film on, you know, the last game, what we could do better, I'm going to get on the floor and I'm going to play with blocks and, you know, all that.
Joel Wallace:So that's.
Joel Wallace:That's my greatest joy is my daughter and my wife and just the support system I have at home and being able to lean on that.
Joel Wallace:And that's what keeps me going.
Joel Wallace:Because it's all about the relationship piece.
Mike Cleansing:Absolutely.
Mike Cleansing:That's good stuff.
Mike Cleansing:All right, Joel, before we get out, I want to give you a chance to share.
Mike Cleansing:How can people connect with you?
Mike Cleansing:Find out more about what you guys are doing, whether you want to share, social media, email, website, whatever you feel comfortable with.
Mike Cleansing:And then after you do that, I'll jump back in and wrap things up.
Joel Wallace:Okay.
Joel Wallace:Yeah, I mean, if you want to reach out, like, I think my Twitter and Instagram are at Coach Wallace 30, nothing crazy.
Joel Wallace:My email letournal athletics.com has, you know, just go to the men's basketball site.
Joel Wallace:You can find all my information.
Joel Wallace:Email me for whatever reason you need.
Joel Wallace:Contact me if you know, I spoke something out there that you need more on.
Joel Wallace:I'd be happy to just email me and, and I'll show you my phone number.
Joel Wallace:Like, my phone number is easily accessible.
Joel Wallace:So happy to talk with anybody.
Joel Wallace:I want to give back in any, any way that I can.
Joel Wallace:So that's really how you can reach me.
Mike Cleansing:Awesome.
Mike Cleansing:Joel, cannot thank you enough for taking the time out of your schedule this morning to jump on with us.
Mike Cleansing:Really appreciate it.
Mike Cleansing:And to everyone out there, thanks for listening and we will catch you on our next episode.
Mike Cleansing:Thanks.
Unknown Sponsor:Your first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job.
Unknown Sponsor:A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants.
Unknown Sponsor:The Coaching Portfolio Guide is an instructional membership based website that helps you develop a personalized portfolio.
Unknown Sponsor:Each section of the Portfolio Guide provides detailed instructions on how to organize your portfolio in a professional manner.
Unknown Sponsor:The guide also provides sample documents for each section of your portfolio that you can copy, modify and add to your personal portfolio.
Unknown Sponsor:As a hoopedspod listener, you can get your Coaching Portfolio Guide for just $25.
Unknown Sponsor:Visit coachingportfolioguide.com hoop heads to learn more.
Mike Cleansing:Thanks for listening to the Hoop Heads Podcast presented by Head Start Basketball.
