Marty Vosters is in his second season as a Women’s Basketball Graduate Assistant Coach at the University of Akron. During the 2024 WNBA season, Marty served as the Head Video Coordinator for the LA Sparks under Head Coach Curt Miller.

Marty began his coaching journey at the University of Minnesota where he worked under Coach Lindsay Whalen as a student manager for the women’s basketball team.

On this episode Mike & Marty discuss valuable insights into the world of basketball coaching and player development. Marty emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with players, highlighting how a confident and resilient mindset is essential for success at the professional level. Drawing from his experiences with the LA Sparks, Marty discusses the stark differences between coaching in college and the WNBA, particularly in how players approach mistakes and learning. He reflects on the analytical side of coaching, detailing how data-driven insights can enhance player performance and decision-making. As he prepares for a more prominent role at Akron, Marty is excited to apply the lessons learned about fostering player autonomy and collaboration in the ever-evolving landscape of college basketball.

Follow us on social media @hoopheadspod on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to check out the Hoop Heads Podcast Network for more great basketball content.

Grab your notebook before you listen to this episode with Marty Vosters, Women’s Basketball Graduate Assistant Coach at the University of Akron.

Website – https://gozips.com/sports/womens-basketball

Email – martyvosters@gmail.com

Twitter/X - @MartyVosters

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Marty Vosters: 00:00:13

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Mark Downey: 00:00:32

Dribbling Marty Fosters is in his second season as a women's basketball graduate assistant coach at the University of akron.

Mark Downey: 00:00:39

During the: 2024

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Marty began his coaching career at the University of Minnesota, where he worked under coach Lindsey Whalen as a student manager for the women's basketball team.

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Grab your notebook before you listen to this episode with Marty Vosters, women's basketball graduate Assistant Coach at the University of Akron.

Mark Downey: 00:02:52

Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast.

Mark Downey: 00:02:54

It's Mike Flinsling here without my co host Jason Sunkel tonight, but I am pleased to be joined by the Women's basketball graduate assistant at the University of Akron, Marty Fosters.

Mark Downey: 00:03:04

Marty, welcome to the hoop heads pod.

Marty Vosters: 00:03:06

Appreciate it, Mike.

Marty Vosters: 00:03:07

Thanks for having me on Looking forward to it.

Mark Downey: 00:03:10

Absolutely excited to have you on looking forward to diving into all the things that you've been able to do in your career.

Mark Downey: 00:03:15

Let's start by going back in time to when you were a kid.

Mark Downey: 00:03:17

Tell me about your first experiences with the game of basketball.

Mark Downey: 00:03:20

What made you fall in love with it when you were younger?

Marty Vosters: 00:03:23

Yeah, I appreciate the question.

Marty Vosters: 00:03:24

And I think, you know, like a lot of the people on these podcasts, it starts out a lot of times playing for your dad or, you know, your dad was able to get you in the jam.

Marty Vosters: 00:03:30

Maybe it was your mother.

Marty Vosters: 00:03:31

I think no different with me.

Marty Vosters: 00:03:33

You know, I remember in first grade I joked that I was.

Marty Vosters: 00:03:35

I've been a male or a female practice player since first grade and my dad was coaching my older sister who was in third grade.

Marty Vosters: 00:03:41

And I was like the only organized basketball I could get around at that point.

Marty Vosters: 00:03:44

So in first grade already I was going to a bunch of, you know, my older sister's practices and, you know, I was playing live against them.

Marty Vosters: 00:03:49

And, you know, since then, I think it's always been normal for me to be around, you know, women's basketball since that young age.

Marty Vosters: 00:03:55

And then obviously when I was able to get to third grade, joined my own team and played with my friends and, you know, from a small town in Wisconsin, really, you know, not the biggest town, but I think we really competitive in the certain sports that the town bought into and basketball was one of them, you know, went on to have a, you know, fairly good career with, you know, really good teams.

Marty Vosters: 00:04:12

And I wasn't a great player myself, but like some really successful teams at the high school level, you know, for a really good coach that I enjoyed and was able to play for my dad through seventh grade and then onto a hall of fame high school coach, you know, John Myron.

Marty Vosters: 00:04:23

So it was awesome to play for him.

Marty Vosters: 00:04:25

Learned a lot from him, a great mentor and, you know, playing with.

Marty Vosters: 00:04:28

Playing with, you know, your best, best buddies that, you know, small town in Wisconsin.

Marty Vosters: 00:04:31

So absolutely.

Mark Downey: 00:04:33

Tell me about the influence of your dad on you as a coach and maybe just share one or two things that you picked up from him, whether just by consciously looking at what he did or just kind of through osmosis of playing for him for all those years, things that are still with you kind of in your coaching style and your approach as a coach today.

Marty Vosters: 00:04:55

Yeah, I think the big thing is, is he Always, like, he'll joke with you that, you know, he doesn't.

Marty Vosters: 00:04:59

He's not super smart X's and O's.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:00

And I think, you know, he's humble saying that, but it's like, I think it's true, like the things that he was really good at.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:04

And what I appreciate it was like a youth coach.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:07

I thought he was just a great, like players coach.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:10

And he, like, I thought he found like an individual thing with each player that, hey, I'm going to motivate this player in this way.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:16

And it's like, obviously at that level, like, you have kids going out for, you know, seventh grade basketball who maybe just are going out to be on a team and be around their friends.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:24

So it's like, I thought my dad did a good job of like, hey, I know everyone's not here, you know, they don't want to play college basketball.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:29

They might not even want to play high school basketball.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:31

They just want to be here with their friends, know, get it, get a workout in like, whatever it is.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:35

So I thought he did a good job of like blending a bunch of different people who are out there for different reasons, like, and I thought he did a good job of that and like, trying to, you know, please the players and like, coaching for the players and, you know, not worrying about his own.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:49

Like, he wasn't trying to teach us a thousand plays like it was.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:51

I'm just going to teach you the basics.

Marty Vosters: 00:05:52

I'm going to let you guys have fun with it and I'm going to, you know, be there to motivate, be there to support, be there to try to build a, you know, a team culture and just get us to play together with some simple principles.

Marty Vosters: 00:06:01

So I think some of those things, like you, you know, coaching is so much more than X's and O's.

Marty Vosters: 00:06:05

And I think he showed me that from a young age of everything else that it can be and that it should be as a coach.

Mark Downey: 00:06:10

So I know that's a really good point and I think it's one that all you got to do is show up at an AAU tournament and realize that there's a lot of coaches out there that could probably use that advice in terms of, right, the humility and just the approach of the fact that, hey, it's about my players, it's about the kids, and it's not necessarily about me as the coach.

Mark Downey: 00:06:30

I think that's a great lesson to be able to take away from your dad without question.

Mark Downey: 00:06:35

What about you mentioned getting an opportunity to play For a hall of Fame high school coach, I'm going to kind of ask you the same question relative to him.

Mark Downey: 00:06:43

What are some things that you've taken away from your experience playing with him that are still influencing you today?

Marty Vosters: 00:06:50

Yeah, I think it's a good question.

Marty Vosters: 00:06:51

You know, someone who's I think helped me a lot in the coaching journey and just like a great, you know, a great basketball mind to learn from in high school.

Marty Vosters: 00:06:58

I think some of the things like he was old school, like he played for Dick Bennett at Stevens Point, so he's, you know, kind of from that Bennett coaching tree and he brought that to the high school level and you know, small town Wisconsin and he was just like, it was defensive drill after defensive drill and yeah, we all got sick of it.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:12

Yeah, we got mad at him days like, dude, why we.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:13

We've been playing defense for an hour and a half, like I need to shoot.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:16

And it was like, I think just buying into that.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:19

And he did a good job of like always telling us.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:21

You know, one of his quotes I remember was like, working hard isn't going to guarantee us success.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:25

It's not going to guarantee us a win.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:27

But working hard is going to increase those odds of winning.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:29

And a lot of nights, like I said, that was just a ton of defense.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:31

And I think some of his defensive fundamentals and drills I think are things that carry to any level and learned a ton of that and it was just like buy into defense, like we're going to play pac line, we're not going to give you paint touches.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:43

You know, we're going to force contested threes.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:45

And some of those things I think still stick with me.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:48

Along with that quote I mentioned, like, you're going to do it through working hard, you're going to be disciplined.

Marty Vosters: 00:07:52

And you know, some of those things I think he would always say, you know, discipline before freedom is another one of his like things that still sticks me, sticks with me to this day as well.

Mark Downey: 00:08:02

Yeah, I love that statement.

Mark Downey: 00:08:03

And again, it's one when you think about what a good program is all about.

Mark Downey: 00:08:07

Right.

Mark Downey: 00:08:08

Coaches often will talk about, I want my players to play free, I want them to play loose, but yet you have to have a structure in place to be able to allow that freedom to flourish.

Mark Downey: 00:08:19

If you don't, then it's just you're playing some glorified pickup basketball which obviously nobody wants.

Mark Downey: 00:08:24

You're not going to be very successful with that for very long.

Mark Downey: 00:08:27

Growing up in small town Wisconsin, were you a multi sport athlete?

Mark Downey: 00:08:30

Were you always basketball Right from that first opportunity, getting a chance to practice against your sister.

Marty Vosters: 00:08:37

Yeah, for sure.

Marty Vosters: 00:08:37

That's one of the things I loved about, you know, growing up in small town Wisconsin was the ability to play, you know, multiple sports.

Marty Vosters: 00:08:43

And it was like as, you know, a kid who wasn't an exceptional athlete, it was like I wanted the opportunity to compete in as many things as I could while I was still, you know, young enough and physically able to do it.

Marty Vosters: 00:08:52

So, yeah, I went on to play or actually run cross country in the fall, and then it was basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring.

Marty Vosters: 00:08:58

So it was, you know, awesome that the town.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:00

I think we needed, you know, multiple sport athletes because we only had, you know, a hundred kids in each grade.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:05

So if you only had one sport, athletes, like, you simply couldn't have all the sport.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:09

So it was awesome to, you know, coaches are.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:11

Even the basketball coach, he's like, trying to convince you, hey, we need you to go play other sports because we need a.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:15

We need a.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:16

We need.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:16

We need a cross country team.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:17

We need a baseball team.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:18

And it was like getting to be able to compete all year round.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:20

You know, it's just a competitor.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:22

It was awesome to be able to, you know, shift one sport to the next and stay competitive all.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:27

All year round.

Mark Downey: 00:09:29

What did you learn from cross country and baseball that applied to your experience as a basketball player?

Mark Downey: 00:09:35

Because oftentimes and again in cross country, there's not necessarily a role that you play, but baseball.

Mark Downey: 00:09:42

Just what are some things that you learned from playing those other sports that you were able to translate when you became a basketball player, when it transitioned into basketball season?

Marty Vosters: 00:09:52

Yeah.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:52

Yeah, I think that's a really good question, Mike.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:54

And I think we'll start with baseball.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:55

And the big thing there is like, baseball coaches always tell you it's such a mental game.

Marty Vosters: 00:09:59

And I think that's true.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:00

And it's something I struggled with.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:02

I think especially in, like, middle school and, you know, freshman year of high school, it was like, on the basketball court, you make a mistake and you compound it.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:08

And, you know, basketball coaches hate that.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:10

So as a pitcher in baseball, like, you learn real quick.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:12

If you walk a guy, you can't sit there and think about it for the next three batters.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:16

So I think that philosophy from baseball really carried over to basketball.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:19

Well, it was like, you make a mistake, yeah, mistakes are going to happen, but you got to move on from it.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:23

It's, you know, the next play, next pitch, next, you know, next batter mentality.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:27

We got to move on to the Next thing.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:29

So I think that was big carrying over to basketball.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:31

And then in cross country, I think honestly the thing I learned most from that sport that carried over to basketball was just like you said, it's an individual sport.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:39

You know, your role is just to run.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:40

You know, it's a race.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:41

It's all on you.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:42

So I think that, you know the way cross country is, like, there's no one to blame if you have a bad race.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:46

Like, you're the only person you can blame.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:48

I can't blame a coach, I can't blame my teammate.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:50

I'm the one who wasn't ready to run the race.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:53

So I think that was, that was really good to learn.

Marty Vosters: 00:10:56

It was just like, especially in basketball, I think there were times too it's easy to point a finger at your teammate, it's easy to point a finger at the ref or your coach.

Marty Vosters: 00:11:04

But it's like, how about you look in the mirror?

Marty Vosters: 00:11:05

Like a lot of times, you know, maybe it was my fault, you know, maybe there was a messed up, you know, defensive coverage, whatever it was.

Marty Vosters: 00:11:11

But like, I think bringing that attitude over to basketball was helpful as well.

Marty Vosters: 00:11:15

Because like I said, there's plenty of nights in the basket court where it was my fault.

Marty Vosters: 00:11:18

And like, hey, you learned that from cross country.

Marty Vosters: 00:11:20

It's okay to just admit your mistakes.

Marty Vosters: 00:11:22

And I think it makes the whole team better.

Mark Downey: 00:11:24

Yeah, those are two really good examples.

Mark Downey: 00:11:26

And I think clearly the transference from one sport to another.

Mark Downey: 00:11:31

There's always, I think, benefit to being a multi sport athlete, not only in the ways that you just described in terms of just lessons that you pick up from the sport, but also just in terms of the movements and the different things.

Mark Downey: 00:11:42

And today, obviously it's much, much more difficult than it's ever been to be able to play multiple sports in high school, which is one of those.

Mark Downey: 00:11:51

It's just in a lot of ways it's a shame that kids don't get that experience.

Mark Downey: 00:11:54

And so often as adults, the youth sports landscape kind of forces them into that one sport track because, hey, you got to be playing soccer year round or you got to be playing basketball year round, or you got to be playing j volleyball year round.

Mark Downey: 00:12:08

And it gets tough for kids to be able to meet the demands of multiple sports.

Mark Downey: 00:12:13

And then when you do have that many kids playing year round, the skill level of the game just continues to go up and up and up.

Mark Downey: 00:12:18

And I'm sure that you see that as a coach, just the skill level of players today is higher than it's ever been in the history of the game just because, again, kids are getting so much more, I think, better coaching at an earlier age.

Mark Downey: 00:12:34

And they also just are getting so many opportunities to play.

Mark Downey: 00:12:37

And so it's been interesting to look at how the youth sports landscape has changed.

Mark Downey: 00:12:43

It's a conversation that we've had on the podcast before, just about how kids used to have more free play and more pickup, and now they're usually playing in a gym with a coach and with a parent, in the stands and with a scoreboard and just kind of how that impacts players in different ways.

Mark Downey: 00:12:57

And for you on the women's side, I would have to guess that, you know, looking at it from your perspective, that the opportunities for young women to be able to play the game of basketball again compared to the time when I was growing up 30, 35 years ago, I mean, it's astronomical.

Mark Downey: 00:13:14

Just the amount of opportunity that my two daughters have had to be able to play the game compared to a girl who was growing up at the same era in the late 70s, early 80s to try to play basketball as a female, the opportunities just weren't there.

Mark Downey: 00:13:27

And I'm sure you see that coaching on the women's side, just how many opportunities there are for young women to be able to play.

Marty Vosters: 00:13:34

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Marty Vosters: 00:13:35

It's crazy, like you mentioned and I think it's, you know, it's every sport.

Marty Vosters: 00:13:38

It's not bad.

Marty Vosters: 00:13:38

You know, it's not just basketball.

Marty Vosters: 00:13:39

I think volleyball is another one where it's like there's so many, you know, young girls from, you know, third, fifth grade, like they're playing volleyball all year round.

Marty Vosters: 00:13:46

And I think it's awesome.

Marty Vosters: 00:13:47

I think it's awesome.

Marty Vosters: 00:13:48

Like you mentioned, they are able to get those opportunities with a coat from a young age.

Marty Vosters: 00:13:52

And I think like you said, it's every sport.

Marty Vosters: 00:13:54

It's soccer, volleyball, softball is another big one for girls too.

Marty Vosters: 00:13:56

Like, there's so many softball, you know, buildings and like, things that, hey, we can go play in the winter.

Marty Vosters: 00:14:02

Even up in Wisconsin, I got an indoor, you know, batting cage or whatever it is.

Marty Vosters: 00:14:06

And like you said, it's raised the skill level for all things, which is awesome.

Marty Vosters: 00:14:08

But yeah, you know, there's always cons to everything, right?

Marty Vosters: 00:14:11

And I think one downside of that is, you know, there is less multi sports, multi sport athletes, which, you know, stinks in some ways.

Marty Vosters: 00:14:17

But yeah, I think it has been awesome for, you know, for each individual sport.

Marty Vosters: 00:14:22

And as a, you know, someone on a college staff, it's like, yeah, you can see that.

Marty Vosters: 00:14:26

You know, the AAU opportunities and the level of the high school play has gone up, which is.

Marty Vosters: 00:14:29

It is.

Marty Vosters: 00:14:30

Is exciting to see.

Marty Vosters: 00:14:31

So.

Mark Downey: 00:14:32

Yeah, absolutely.

Mark Downey: 00:14:33

I mean, there's no question that the level of play in girls basketball, and I would argue in boys basketball, too, it's just that the skill level has never been higher.

Mark Downey: 00:14:40

When you look up and down a high school bench at the quality of players that high school teams have, it just dwarfs anything that was around 10, 15, 20 years ago in terms of the skill level of those players.

Mark Downey: 00:14:53

Thinking back to your time as a high school player, what do you remember as your favorite memory?

Mark Downey: 00:14:59

Do you have one that sticks out when you think about your time as a high school player?

Marty Vosters: 00:15:05

Yeah, it's a good question.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:06

I think the biggest thing that I sticks out is just the fans and, like, the community support behind it.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:11

As I said, it wasn't a huge town, but, like, the one thing I think that the town really, really bought into was sports.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:16

And it was like, you know, coach John Myron got the program rolling when I was in high school, and we had.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:21

I think it was 3:20 or.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:23

No, it was 2.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:24

Yeah, 2:20 win seasons in a row.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:26

And we went to, you know, game before we were one game away from going to the Kohl center.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:30

And like, some of those crowds, I remember in those.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:32

That playoff run, it's just, you know, it's awesome.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:34

l gyms and there's, you know,: 2500

Marty Vosters: 00:15:43

And the town's only, you know, 5,000 people in the whole town, and you have this many people showing up to a game.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:47

It was.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:48

It was exciting.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:49

So I think just that support behind it in the student section, going crazy.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:52

You know, a lot of my best buddies that weren't on the team were in the front row of that section going crazy for us.

Marty Vosters: 00:15:57

And some of those memories with all them and the, you know, family and friends was I think the thing I enjoyed the most about and look back.

Mark Downey: 00:16:03

On, yeah, there's nothing better than a great high school environment.

Mark Downey: 00:16:08

When you start talking about the community packing the stands, the student section, and just as a player and even as a coach, to be able to compete in that kind of environment at the high school level is extremely special.

Mark Downey: 00:16:21

Obviously, as you get into your various state tournaments, crowds get a little bit bigger, people get a little bit more excited.

Mark Downey: 00:16:27

And I just love when you get it to a high school gym like you described and it's packed and both sides have fans and the communities they're supporting.

Mark Downey: 00:16:36

There's really no better atmosphere in basketball than a.

Mark Downey: 00:16:39

Than a packed high school gym and two rivals that are going at each other.

Mark Downey: 00:16:43

So I can completely relate to that particular memory that you shared.

Mark Downey: 00:16:46

It's one of my fondest memories, both as a player and then coaching at the high school level.

Mark Downey: 00:16:50

When you get an opportunity to coach in an environment where the fans are right on top of you and both communities are there supporting and your kids are excited and managers from a high school basketball standpoint, you know, sometimes I think because of today, there's so many different things for people to do that, you know, in some places you don't always get the same level of crowds that maybe you got in the pre Internet, pre cell phone, where, yeah, maybe people didn't have as much.

Mark Downey: 00:17:17

People didn't have as much to do.

Mark Downey: 00:17:19

But at the same time you do, when you do get an environment like that, I mean, it's something.

Mark Downey: 00:17:23

It's something special for sure.

Mark Downey: 00:17:26

When did coaching get on your radar?

Mark Downey: 00:17:28

Obviously, your dad coached you when you were young.

Mark Downey: 00:17:31

Was it something that you were thinking about from a young age, or was it something that started to cross your mind as your high school career is coming to an end?

Mark Downey: 00:17:40

You're trying to figure out what you want to do for college.

Mark Downey: 00:17:43

Just tell me a little bit about when coaching crossed onto your path.

Marty Vosters: 00:17:47

Yeah, I think it started kind of, I'd say, like eighth grade.

Marty Vosters: 00:17:51

I thought about, like, hey, maybe I would, you know, want to do something like my dad.

Marty Vosters: 00:17:54

And at that point I was like, oh, yeah, I'll just, you know, get a job in this small town and probably coach, you know, the JV team or whatever.

Marty Vosters: 00:17:59

Like, that was.

Marty Vosters: 00:18:00

That's what I was thinking at that point.

Marty Vosters: 00:18:02

And then it's funny you ask, because I think as I went on to high school, some of the high school teachers, you know, junior, senior year, you know, they'd ask, like, the guidance counsel would say, hey, Marty, what do you think you want to do?

Marty Vosters: 00:18:10

Like, what are you going to go to college for?

Marty Vosters: 00:18:12

And I think a lot of times I didn't have a good answer to that question.

Marty Vosters: 00:18:14

I was like, I don't know, like, get a business degree.

Marty Vosters: 00:18:16

Because that's what every kid says, right?

Marty Vosters: 00:18:17

And it was like, I actually have no idea what I want to do in college.

Marty Vosters: 00:18:20

So a lot of times when those teachers would ask me what I want to do or my friends and family, I would just.

Marty Vosters: 00:18:24

I tell them coaching, because that's the only thing I was like, yeah, I think I want to do that.

Marty Vosters: 00:18:28

I didn't really want to be business.

Marty Vosters: 00:18:29

I really, you know, there wasn't anything really calling my name, but I was like, something about coaching I do think I want to do, but at that point, I didn't fully understand, like, hey, do I want to do it at college?

Marty Vosters: 00:18:38

Is it going to be, like I said, just taking, like, a JV middle school job and, you know, having a different job at, you know, in my hometown?

Marty Vosters: 00:18:45

So, yeah, I think that was the.

Marty Vosters: 00:18:48

Wasn't exactly sure.

Marty Vosters: 00:18:50

The cool opportunity that I really enjoy looking back on it was actually.

Marty Vosters: 00:18:53

So I graduated high school in: 2020

Marty Vosters: 00:19:01

So I was planning on going to Minnesota for college that fall, but because of COVID it got all shut down.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:07

Everything was online.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:08

So I decided to stay home.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:09

That that whole entire, you know, freshman year of college, I was doing it online.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:13

So I had a cool opportunity that winter as part of, like, the back core club in my town.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:18

I was offered, like, to help or actually be the head coach for the seventh grade boys basketball team.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:23

So it was like, you know, coaching kids, you know, only four or five years younger than me.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:26

And it was like, I just got done playing.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:28

I really didn't know a darn thing.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:29

I was like, basically going to these practices, running the same exact drills I just ran at the high school level, which was, you know, good for these seventh graders.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:35

But it was like, I didn't have my own coaching philosophy or anything.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:38

I was just going in there running what I just ran in high school.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:41

But I think that experience that year, like, really showed me this is what I want to do.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:45

I want to try to do it full time because I love it so much.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:48

And, you know, once you decide, hey, I want to do this full time, you know, your options kind of become college or pro, you know, financially.

Marty Vosters: 00:19:54

So, yeah, it was that winter where these kids, I really just bonded with them and I saw, like, what a role model can be for these kids.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:00

And I think it was cool because they already kind of look up to me and knew me from playing.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:05

You know, they just got done watching me the winter before play for this high school team.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:09

And now to be able to stay in the same hometown and coach a bunch of kids who, you know, at least heard of me from this, you know, high school team was pretty cool.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:16

And then I think as the year went on with this group, I just fell in love with it.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:19

And it wasn't the most talented group, you know, we were probably below.500, I guess.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:23

But I remember that last tournament, and we were done.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:25

And I tried to wrap up the season, you know, with the final year, talk to them.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:28

Like, a lot of kids started tearing up.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:30

It was like I started tearing up talking to him because I was like, this is awesome.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:33

Like, I, you know, I had so much enjoyment, so much, you know, pride and just excitement from that season.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:39

I was like, I got to find a way to keep doing this.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:41

And then ended up going on to Minnesota that next.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:44

Next fall as schools reopened.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:47

And, you know, hop, I was able to get on with, you know, just being a student manager with the women's team there.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:51

And it was, you know, kind of took off from there and just fell in love with it.

Marty Vosters: 00:20:55

But I think, like I said, I was kind of unsure throughout high school whether or not I really want to do it and if so, what level.

Marty Vosters: 00:21:00

But I think that the year after I graduated high school, coaching that seventh grade team was like a huge.

Marty Vosters: 00:21:05

Something I'll never forget with that, you know, that group of guys, and it's some of those, you know, kids and families I still talk to.

Marty Vosters: 00:21:10

And it's just like, I think that experience was really, really big for me.

Mark Downey: 00:21:14

All right, so I want to.

Mark Downey: 00:21:15

Before we jump to the Minnesota piece of it, let's go to this first team, it sounds like, and tell me if I'm reading this wrong, but what I get out of it is that what you really loved about coaching that first year was the impact and the connection that you were able to make with those kids.

Mark Downey: 00:21:33

Would you say that was the number one thing that sold you on, hey, this is what I know why I want to coach.

Mark Downey: 00:21:40

Because of that, or was it something else?

Mark Downey: 00:21:41

Or maybe you just want to add on to sort of what I just said, But I get the sense that it's the impact in the relationships that what is what really sold you on coaching?

Marty Vosters: 00:21:50

Yeah, for sure.

Marty Vosters: 00:21:51

Yeah, that was the big thing.

Marty Vosters: 00:21:52

And as I kind of mentioned before with my dad, like, that was the thing I thought he was good at.

Marty Vosters: 00:21:55

Right.

Marty Vosters: 00:21:56

It wasn't necessarily the basketball X's and O.

Marty Vosters: 00:21:58

So I think seeing that from my dad and then it was like, yeah, in the first year there, like, that is what I loved.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:02

I loved relating to the players.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:04

I loved the, you know, connection with them.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:06

And, you know, sometimes it was humor, you know, trying to bring some enjoyment, some laughter into practice at times while staying focused on what we were doing.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:13

And, yeah, I Think even the families, like, some of those families are people I, you know, some, you know, like, people I still know from that town and, like, mentors and people who have helped me out throughout these last few years.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:23

So, yeah, and even every time I go home, it seems I get back in the gym with some of those kids, you know, like, hey, you want to get a workout in?

Marty Vosters: 00:22:30

So it's been cool to, you know, really build that relationship with those players.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:33

And, yeah, as you said, it was definitely the impact in the relationship with the players.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:37

But I think beyond that, what really sold me on the idea of doing it full time was like, I hated losing.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:42

So it was like I was having fun building a relationship with these players, but at the same time, we were going like one and two every tournament.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:48

And I was like, guys, we're below.500.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:50

Like, this is awesome, but we need to win some games.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:52

So I think it was the relationship.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:54

But, yeah, at some point I was like, you know, I need to win some games.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:57

I want to.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:58

I'm so competitive.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:59

I can't.

Marty Vosters: 00:22:59

Like, I want to keep doing this at a high level.

Marty Vosters: 00:23:01

I want to win some games while having the same impact on the players.

Marty Vosters: 00:23:06

So, yeah, I think it was a mix of that.

Marty Vosters: 00:23:07

Right?

Marty Vosters: 00:23:07

Like, the losing some games motivated me, but it was also like, you know, I knew I could be better as a coach with the X's and all, obviously, as time went and then continue to build, just be a better relationship builder, be a better communicator with the players.

Marty Vosters: 00:23:20

So.

Mark Downey: 00:23:22

All right, so talk about growing your knowledge as a coach, as you said.

Mark Downey: 00:23:25

And I can totally vouch for this, that when you come in after just finishing your playing career and you start running a practice, I was exactly the same way as you.

Mark Downey: 00:23:36

My first coaching job after I got done playing was coaching a JV basketball team.

Mark Downey: 00:23:42

And I remember I walked in the first day and I'm like, man, what am I going to do here?

Mark Downey: 00:23:46

And basically, I did what my high school coach did and I did what my college coach did.

Mark Downey: 00:23:51

And the drills that the two of them did, that's what I did.

Mark Downey: 00:23:54

I really didn't think there was any other way to do it.

Mark Downey: 00:23:56

I really didn't know there was any other way to do it.

Mark Downey: 00:23:58

And to be honest with you, I just kind of stayed with that.

Mark Downey: 00:24:02

I wish I would have had somebody in my ear back then saying, hey, you need to go and study the game and maybe do some more, just figuring out who you are and what are other ways of doing things.

Mark Downey: 00:24:14

And I just kind of Went about and did the things that I had experienced as a player.

Mark Downey: 00:24:20

So I can completely relate to that.

Mark Downey: 00:24:22

So what did you do as you started to look around and think, hey, I've got to expand my knowledge as a coach?

Mark Downey: 00:24:29

What were some of the first things that you tried to do to become a better coach as you sort of realized, like, hey, I got to.

Mark Downey: 00:24:34

I got to expand beyond just what my.

Mark Downey: 00:24:36

What my high school coach did.

Marty Vosters: 00:24:39

Yeah, it's funny you said that.

Marty Vosters: 00:24:40

Cause I, you know, like you said, you.

Marty Vosters: 00:24:41

Like, I put zero thought into it that season.

Marty Vosters: 00:24:43

Like, hey, how am I going to plan a practice?

Marty Vosters: 00:24:45

Like, some of those things now you realize, like, it's so, so important, like, the preparation and planning to plan a good practice.

Marty Vosters: 00:24:51

And it's like, then I was.

Marty Vosters: 00:24:51

I don't know, like, we're going to do this drill, this drill and this drill, and if it.

Marty Vosters: 00:24:54

Hopefully it goes well, and then we'll scrimmage at the end.

Marty Vosters: 00:24:57

So, yeah, I think the big thing, as I mentioned, was just going to Minnesota to be a manager.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:01

And I was planning on going there from the start, but once I got there, I was like, hey, I really, like, I need to get on a.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:06

On one of these staffs.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:07

And you heard about other stories of people going to be a manager.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:09

And I was like, I really think this is the way to do it.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:11

Like, I want to get some experience at a high levels, you know, going to a Big ten school.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:15

It was like, there's, you know, two great coaches, two great programs right here.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:19

And it was like, men's or women's, it doesn't really matter to me, but I want to be a manager on one of the two.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:24

So, you know, I called up the men's program for a little bit.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:26

They didn't have, you know, an opening managing spot that year.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:29

They kind of sent me to the women's and said, hey, this is going to be a great opportunity.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:32

Like, I think you'd enjoy this.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:33

So, you know, a day later, I was in the woman's office, as, you know, quick interview with them, and I was able to hop on as a manager that season with them, and, yeah, never looked back.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:42

And I think that staff is, you know, incredible looking.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:46

Or from a head coach, Lindsey Whalen, like a Hall of Fame player, you know, she's.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:51

Her basketball knowledge is insane.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:52

You know, through the roof there from Lindsay.

Marty Vosters: 00:25:54

And then under her that first year was, you know, Carly Thiebaudis, someone who just won 30 games last year as a Division 1 head coach.

Marty Vosters: 00:26:01

You know, you had Shimmy Gray Miller, 25 year Power 5.

Marty Vosters: 00:26:05

You know, mostly Power 5.

Marty Vosters: 00:26:06

She's been all over, you know, the country coaching Division 1 basketball.

Marty Vosters: 00:26:10

So then you got her.

Marty Vosters: 00:26:11

And then the last one was Kelly Curry, like, another great mind, someone who was super loyal to Minnesota and, you know, spent years and years there.

Marty Vosters: 00:26:17

So I think that program and that staff was like, just an exceptional place to start because they were all great people and they were all willing to show me, like, they were willing to give me some, you know, just sometimes it was just answering my questions, right?

Marty Vosters: 00:26:29

Like, hey, why are we doing this?

Marty Vosters: 00:26:31

Like, what's the thought behind this coverage?

Marty Vosters: 00:26:33

Why are we going to try this against, you know, Penn State or, you know, Wisconsin, whoever it was, in some of these scouting reports and just really trying to be a sponge there and learning, you know, everything they said, everything they taught, everything they, you know, preached and practiced, it was like trying to take it all in.

Marty Vosters: 00:26:48

And like I said, I don't think I could have had a better staff to learn from those first two years at Minnesota because they were, you know, really great people, really willing to show me, show me the ropes a little bit and just teach me what, all the knowledge that they had throughout the years.

Mark Downey: 00:27:00

How much.

Mark Downey: 00:27:01

I don't want to say access is maybe not the right word, but how much were you able to kind of get behind the scenes of practice?

Mark Downey: 00:27:08

Like, were you ever able to sit in on, like, a practice plan meeting or just a film session?

Mark Downey: 00:27:14

How much.

Mark Downey: 00:27:15

How much of that kind of stuff were you able to.

Mark Downey: 00:27:18

To sit and be a part of?

Marty Vosters: 00:27:20

Yeah, it was tough with class, but I could, you know, did as much as I always could.

Marty Vosters: 00:27:23

And I think this, the second year I was there, you know, garnered some trust with the first year, and they were giving me some more responsibilities.

Marty Vosters: 00:27:29

So, yeah, I was able to sit on, you know, plenty of film sessions, the scouting reports, as the coaches would give them to the players, you know, and then as the year went on that.

Marty Vosters: 00:27:38

My senior year in Minnesota, Shimmy was a big help, and she would just, like, she let me watch a bunch of Purdue games, I remember before we played them, and she was like, you're going to sit down with me and talk about how we're going to scout Purdue.

Marty Vosters: 00:27:47

And it was again, like, she didn't have to do that.

Marty Vosters: 00:27:49

And to be honest, like, that scouting report I gave her was probably terrible, but it was like, hey, Shimmy, here's some things I think, you know, I've watched two or three games of Purdue and, like, had some, you know, just some simple tendencies, some plays that they're going to run and stuff.

Marty Vosters: 00:28:01

And it was again, like, you sit down with her and you realize how much you don't know.

Marty Vosters: 00:28:05

And it's like, okay, like, I thought I put some effort into this and I'm sure it was fine, but it was like, then you look at what she has and what actually has to be given to the team at a Big Ten level, and it's like, yeah, like, I might know this, but there's still a thousand other things that you still, still are to learn.

Marty Vosters: 00:28:18

So, yeah, learning a ton from those coaches, like I said, giving me some responsibility and just freedom to continue to learn from them in the film sessions.

Marty Vosters: 00:28:27

And yeah, it was cool to get behind the scenes with some of that.

Marty Vosters: 00:28:29

And the other thing I really enjoyed at Minnesota was the individual film sessions that they let me be a part of a lot.

Marty Vosters: 00:28:35

So it's just, you know, sitting down with one coach and one player and you realize, like, how much, you know, I think you learn a ton of that too, as a player.

Marty Vosters: 00:28:42

As a player is trying to learn from a coach and you're kind of sitting there right alongside them learning as well.

Marty Vosters: 00:28:46

So that was a big thing, too.

Mark Downey: 00:28:49

What would you say when you started there and you started kind of getting this basketball education from the coaching staff?

Mark Downey: 00:28:59

What's an area that you feel like you knew the least about in terms of X's and O's?

Mark Downey: 00:29:05

That was really eye opening.

Mark Downey: 00:29:06

When you sat down, you're like, man, I didn't realize that this much went into it.

Mark Downey: 00:29:10

I'm sure there was a lot of different areas that, that probably could be true.

Mark Downey: 00:29:14

But when you think about the area that you grew the most in terms of just your knowledge of what it means to be a coach and the X's and O side of it, does one area stand out maybe more than the other?

Marty Vosters: 00:29:26

Yeah, it's a good question.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:27

I think it's.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:28

It's a pretty simple answer for me was ball screen, offense.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:32

Because like, like I said, playing for a small town, like, old school coach under the Bennett tree, like, he was running.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:37

Like I said, it was a ton of defense.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:38

And then offense, it was like, hey, we're just going to do a dribble, drive, motion.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:42

And if we don't have anything, like, you know, we had one fortunate to have one really good player.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:46

So at the end of the shot clock, or we didn't have a shot clock, my bad.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:49

But I mean, like, end of the.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:50

If, you know, after a few rotations, if we didn't have anything.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:52

It was like, give the ball back to the best player.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:54

We're all going to space the floor and we're going to hope he has something.

Marty Vosters: 00:29:57

Like there wasn't a ton of ball screens, wasn't a ton of plays.

Marty Vosters: 00:30:01

So going to Minnesota, it was like, yeah, I think the big thing was ball screen offense and all that goes into it.

Marty Vosters: 00:30:06

Right?

Marty Vosters: 00:30:06

Like just the simple things that every coach preaches, like being patient.

Marty Vosters: 00:30:10

Can we set the screen with a good angle?

Marty Vosters: 00:30:11

Like, what's our different solutions against each coverage?

Marty Vosters: 00:30:14

Like, what are we going to do if, you know, versus a hedge ice switch?

Marty Vosters: 00:30:17

So all those, you know, the terminology and then some of the solutions to the defensive coverages were definitely the biggest things I learned, I think at Minnesota, especially playing, you know, Lindsay Whalen like a.

Marty Vosters: 00:30:28

She's a Hall of Fame point guard.

Marty Vosters: 00:30:29

So like her.

Marty Vosters: 00:30:30

Her ball screens was as good as anyone, you know, in the wnba.

Marty Vosters: 00:30:33

So it was awesome to learned from her, you know, an exceptional player and then teaching that to some of the good guards at Minnesota as well.

Mark Downey: 00:30:41

This point you're completely sold that college basketball is kind of where you want to be as you're going through this process of being a manager at Minnesota.

Mark Downey: 00:30:52

Or was it more a case of, hey, when I graduate, I'm just going to look at the opportunities that are presented to me, which I know you've had some pro experience too, which we're going to talk about here in a minute.

Mark Downey: 00:31:02

But just what's your thought process as you're heading towards graduation in terms of looking for a job and the conversations maybe you had with the staff?

Marty Vosters: 00:31:13

Yeah, yeah, I think the staff, like you mentioned there at the end was a huge part of it.

Marty Vosters: 00:31:16

Right.

Marty Vosters: 00:31:16

Is talking to them throughout the year, especially that last year with Shimmy and Kelly, like, were the two big assistants helping me along that whole journey.

Marty Vosters: 00:31:24

And yeah, I think it was definitely staying college at that point.

Marty Vosters: 00:31:28

Um, I think the next step gradually for a lot of managers is that GA position.

Marty Vosters: 00:31:33

So yeah, it was a lot of it was talking to them and trying to, you know, get some experiences those last two semesters at Minnesota learning, you know, things that they knew and that they thought were going to be helpful for me to get a position.

Marty Vosters: 00:31:44

So like I said that, you know, like simple discovering reporter did for Shim, like that was one of those things she told me, like, hey, if you can have just a little bit of experience, like watching a team and putting together some of this like personnel stuff and their simple, you know, some of the basic plays are going to Run like, that stuff's going to separate you from a few other managers around there looking for similar type of jobs.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:02

So, yeah, it was awesome with Kelly as well, giving me some opportunities with, you know, individual player workouts and stuff like that.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:09

So them two were big.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:10

And.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:10

Yeah, I think it was deciding at that point.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:12

Yeah, I think I wanted to stay in college, and I thought GA was the next, you know, like, logical road at that point.

Mark Downey: 00:32:18

What's the best piece of advice you could give to somebody who is graduating from a school, has been a manager for several years at that school?

Mark Downey: 00:32:28

Something that you learned from your experience, that if you were going to share a piece of advice with somebody who was in.

Mark Downey: 00:32:34

Who's currently in your position that you were in a year or two ago, what advice would you give them?

Marty Vosters: 00:32:41

Yeah, I think this might come across a little cliche, but I think it's like, you really have to work hard for the staff you're with.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:47

I think there's people, especially managers.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:49

It's your first time in, like, I get it.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:51

It's.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:51

You're always.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:52

You're excited, you're young, you want to think about the next opportunity, you want to think about the future.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:56

I think that's natural.

Marty Vosters: 00:32:58

But I think for me, it was like, really trying to just, like, I'm so blessed to be at a Big Ten school learning from this staff.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:04

Like, I gotta quit thinking about what the future might hold.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:06

Like, I'm just gonna go in here every day, excited to be here, pumped up to learn, you know, from the staff and the players.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:12

And I think that was a big thing, like, just bust your butt for the staff you're with, and everything else is going to work out in the end, you know, if that staff you're with enjoys you, they appreciate you, they respect, you know, who you are as a person, they respect your character.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:26

You know, I think they're going to.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:27

They should be able to put their nose out there for you and hopefully help you get a.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:30

Get a GA position or whatever else you.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:32

Whenever that first position might be for you.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:34

But I think, yeah, it's just bust your butt for the staff you're with, and I think everything else will work itself out.

Mark Downey: 00:33:40

Do you function as a practice player at all at Minnesota?

Mark Downey: 00:33:43

I know you mentioned that off the top.

Mark Downey: 00:33:44

Was that something that you got an opportunity to do, something that you wanted, an opportunity to compete, or what was that like, if you had an opportunity to do that?

Marty Vosters: 00:33:53

Yep.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:53

Yeah, I was fortunate enough to do that.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:55

That was a lot of fun.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:56

You know, kept Practices interesting.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:57

And, you know, they're really good.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:59

Like, you learned real quick.

Marty Vosters: 00:33:59

I remember that first scrimmage against.

Marty Vosters: 00:34:02

I was like, holy shit.

Marty Vosters: 00:34:03

You know, I guess, you know, they're legit, so.

Marty Vosters: 00:34:05

Yeah, but I was able to do that for both my years as a manager there.

Marty Vosters: 00:34:08

And I think you learn a lot, too, from that experience, like, playing and part of it, like I said, coming from Wisconsin without the shot clock, it was like, some of it, you realize the importance of that shot clock.

Marty Vosters: 00:34:18

And to me, like, I remember one of the first things I thought playing against them was, like, at the end of the shot clock, I can go take a risk defensively, you know, in the state of Wisconsin, there's no time.

Marty Vosters: 00:34:27

I can't, like, go for a steal and just get burnt.

Marty Vosters: 00:34:29

But, like, if there's three seconds on the shot clock, yeah, I'm gonna go try to get a steal on an open layup on the other end, because if I get burnt, like, they might not even have enough time to, you know, some of those simple things.

Marty Vosters: 00:34:38

I think you learn better when you're doing it yourself, not just watching it on tv.

Marty Vosters: 00:34:42

So some of those things, yeah, it was really awesome to be a practice player and learn on the court as well.

Mark Downey: 00:34:48

It's interesting that you talk about the shot clock piece of it because I went down and most people who are listening to the podcast know that my son's a freshman this year at Ohio Wesleyan.

Mark Downey: 00:34:57

And so obviously here in the state of Ohio, no shot clock in high school basketball.

Mark Downey: 00:35:01

So that's what I've been used to watching, especially watching him play with no shot clock.

Mark Downey: 00:35:07

And then it went down and watched the scrimmage.

Mark Downey: 00:35:09

And I'm watching it and I'm not paying any attention to the shot clock.

Mark Downey: 00:35:12

And there's, okay, here's the possession.

Mark Downey: 00:35:14

It's going, the ball's getting reversed, things are happening, the offense is moving, whatever.

Mark Downey: 00:35:18

And then all of a sudden, somebody's chucking up like a 26 footer.

Mark Downey: 00:35:22

And I'm like, you know, then I gotta look at.

Mark Downey: 00:35:25

Oh, yeah, there's a shot clock you had to get to.

Mark Downey: 00:35:27

Like, he had to get the shot.

Mark Downey: 00:35:27

I'm like, why are we.

Mark Downey: 00:35:28

Why are we throwing away this possession?

Mark Downey: 00:35:30

And then you just realize, like, what a diff.

Mark Downey: 00:35:32

What a difference.

Mark Downey: 00:35:33

You know, what a difference that makes.

Mark Downey: 00:35:35

You know, it's kind of.

Mark Downey: 00:35:36

It's kind of crazy.

Mark Downey: 00:35:38

Just where do you fall.

Marty Vosters: 00:35:40

Where do you fall in that debate?

Marty Vosters: 00:35:41

Mike, you think there should be a shot clock in every state?

Mark Downey: 00:35:44

Absolutely.

Mark Downey: 00:35:45

I mean, I think there's no question that it makes the game better when you, we've all probably been around games and coaches where you just have somebody that's holding the ball and nobody wants, nobody wants to watch that, nobody wants to play and that.

Mark Downey: 00:36:00

And then I've had a lot of interesting conversations, Marty, on the pod with different guys that have talked about some of the ramifications of the shot clock.

Mark Downey: 00:36:09

And like, I talked to Rob Bros, too.

Mark Downey: 00:36:12

He's a coach at Bolingbroke High School in Illinois.

Mark Downey: 00:36:14

He has a really good team.

Mark Downey: 00:36:15

His team's, you know, one of the best teams in the state of Illinois.

Mark Downey: 00:36:19

And he always talks about the fact that people say, well, of course you want a shot clock.

Mark Downey: 00:36:24

You know, your team's super talented, you play really fast and, you know, the more possessions there are, the more, the easier it's going to be for you to score and it's just going to allow you to just kill even more teams.

Mark Downey: 00:36:34

And he's always like, yeah, but it just has this impact on, we can't do some of the things that we want to do defensively.

Mark Downey: 00:36:41

And there's just, there's a lot more, it's a lot more complex than just, hey, it's a 30 second clock that's up there and we got to get it done within that 30 seconds.

Mark Downey: 00:36:49

There's a lot of nuance to it at the end of games in terms of do you foul?

Mark Downey: 00:36:54

And then you're talking about high school, you're.

Mark Downey: 00:36:56

And obviously women's college basketball, you have the quarters.

Mark Downey: 00:36:59

So there's strategy at the end of quarters when it comes to the shot clock.

Mark Downey: 00:37:02

And there's just all these little complexities that I think makes the game more interesting.

Mark Downey: 00:37:07

And the bottom line is, look, when you're playing, you want to play more possessions, you want to play and get up and down the floor and nobody wants to play in a game.

Mark Downey: 00:37:18

Whether you're the team holding the ball or you're the team that's the ball is being held against.

Mark Downey: 00:37:22

That's just not fun basketball.

Mark Downey: 00:37:24

And I think it seems like it should be a lot easier than it is to just adopt nationwide, like the National Federation of High Schools to just say, hey, let's mandate the shot clock and every school can figure it out.

Mark Downey: 00:37:37

I mean, you always hear the argument of, oh, it's going to cost too much money and we don't have somebody to operate it and we have a hard enough time getting people to do the score book and operate the, the regular scoreboard and all this.

Mark Downey: 00:37:49

And it just feels like, come on.

Mark Downey: 00:37:51

We have so many things going on in so many different sports that you can't tell me that there's not a way to figure it out and make the rules uniform across the United States, especially when every other single level of basketball across the world has the shot clock.

Mark Downey: 00:38:04

mazing that we're in the year: 2024

Mark Downey: 00:38:09

We still, we still don't have it in, you know, we're, I think we're approaching, maybe half the states either have it or are going to adopt it at some point.

Mark Downey: 00:38:19

So to me it just feels like it should be a no brainer.

Marty Vosters: 00:38:22

Yeah.

Marty Vosters: 00:38:23

Yep.

Mark Downey: 00:38:26

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Mark Downey: 00:38:37

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Mark Downey: 00:38:44

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Mark Downey: 00:38:48

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Mark Downey: 00:38:51

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Mark Downey: 00:38:54

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Mark Downey: 00:38:57

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Mark Downey: 00:39:01

Learn more@gc.com whop heads that's gc.com pods all right, tell me about the job search after you graduate from Minnesota.

Mark Downey: 00:39:18

What's the process like?

Mark Downey: 00:39:20

Who are you talking to?

Mark Downey: 00:39:22

How are you getting the word out that you're looking for a job?

Mark Downey: 00:39:25

Just walk me through the steps that you took after graduation to try to find a position.

Marty Vosters: 00:39:32

Yeah, yeah, it's a good question.

Marty Vosters: 00:39:33

I think fortunately I was or fortunate enough I was able to get that position secured before graduation.

Marty Vosters: 00:39:39

So I know that can be a stressful thing for a lot of people.

Marty Vosters: 00:39:41

Graduating is like you graduate, you think, oh, I should have a job.

Marty Vosters: 00:39:43

Like I, you know, a lot is on your mind.

Marty Vosters: 00:39:46

So I think, yeah, big, really thankful to the Minnesota staff to help me get one before I graduated.

Marty Vosters: 00:39:50

I think that relieved some stress, which was good.

Marty Vosters: 00:39:53

So the big thing was like up to the final four, just talking to Shimmy and Kelly and Lindsay as well, you know, Melissa Mains Adobo, like a lot of those Minnesota connections people I've been working for the last two years, they were a huge help, you know, the whole whole way through.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:07

And then Shimmy and Kelly both throughout the year helped me like, hey, Marty, I think you should introduce yourself to, you know, this Big Ten coach Marty.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:14

Hey, you know, this is Someone I've recruited, you know, recruited with on the road before, like, maybe you want to introduce himself.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:21

So I think that was a big help.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:22

And one of those connections, actually one of the Illinois assistants my senior year was Ryan Gensler, who just so happened to get the Akron head job, you know, a few months later.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:31

So I was able to meet him after.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:32

Or he came.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:33

Yeah, he came to the Barn to play at Minnesota.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:36

So met him that night.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:38

You know, nothing crazy, just, you know, I was able to talk to him for a few minutes after the game.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:42

That's someone who Shimmy worked with at Florida, so, you know, went to the Final Four, and I was actually at the Final Four when I heard he got the job.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:49

And that's, you know, when a lot of the networking's going on.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:52

So I was fortunate, again, through Shimmy's help and the other Minnesota connections, you know, Lindsey was a big help, Kelly, all of them.

Marty Vosters: 00:40:58

Carly as well.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:00

So I was able to get on the phone with Gensler the next.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:03

I think it was a day after the Final Four, and we had a conversation with him, and we were able to keep talking the next few weeks, and he offered me the job.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:10

And then I wanted to, like, I think it's a good experience for kids to, like, talk to some different schools and try to, you know, like, just the whole experience of job searching, the interview, all that.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:19

So as those weeks were going on, I talked to a few other schools, you know, a few other Big Ten programs that I, you know, had a few connections with through my time in the Big Ten, and, you know, some opportunities I was excited about.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:29

But I think in the end, the way Gensler, he just kept calling and he was like, he's a great relationship builder, great communicator.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:36

And I think from the start, he was able to sell, like, hey, Marty, I was.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:39

I went down the same path you did 15 years ago.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:42

You know, he was a practice player.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:44

He went on to be a ga.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:45

You know, he took an assistant low major job, and he kept climbing the ranks like he was a video coordinator, something that, you know, I thought would probably help me down the road.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:53

So he just continued to sell, like, who he was, the culture he was going to build at Akron.

Marty Vosters: 00:41:58

And again, I think, like, the journey, like, the, you know, like I said, I think I'm going to hopefully follow somewhat of a similar journey to him.

Marty Vosters: 00:42:05

And I think the way he sold that and the way he communicated that with me on those phone that few weeks was like, no other head coach was spending the time to do that.

Marty Vosters: 00:42:13

So it was really, you know, awesome to get to know him.

Marty Vosters: 00:42:15

And just some of those first phone calls I remember of him really trying to sell himself the program.

Marty Vosters: 00:42:20

I think he did a great job of it.

Marty Vosters: 00:42:21

And I think it's, you know, a great reason why he's an exceptional recruiter is I think he's just great communicator, great at all those things I just mentioned.

Marty Vosters: 00:42:29

So, yeah, I ended up settling with him a few weeks later, right before I graduated, so it worked out well.

Mark Downey: 00:42:35

All right, talk about the role that you have there as a graduate assistant.

Mark Downey: 00:42:40

What are your responsibilities day to day?

Mark Downey: 00:42:42

What are some of the things that you need to do in terms of your role on the staff?

Marty Vosters: 00:42:48

Yep.

Marty Vosters: 00:42:49

Yeah, I think last year when I first got here, a lot of it was the video stuff.

Marty Vosters: 00:42:52

As I mentioned, he kind of said that in those first phone calls, like, hey, we need a video guy.

Marty Vosters: 00:42:56

You know, we don't have a full time video coordinator, you know, at Akron.

Marty Vosters: 00:43:00

So you're going to be that guy for me.

Marty Vosters: 00:43:01

And that's another reason why I was excited to get here is because from the start he said, like, we're, you know, we don't have a huge staff, like a Power 5 program.

Marty Vosters: 00:43:07

We're going to need you to do some of these things from the beginning, which I was really, really excited about.

Marty Vosters: 00:43:12

So, yeah, I started with a lot of video, you know, breaking down all the practices and then trying to do some analytics with it.

Marty Vosters: 00:43:17

You know, the, you know, stating everything from the preseason practices and trying to put together some reports of like, hey, here's some things we got to work on.

Marty Vosters: 00:43:25

I remember last fall, a lot of it was like, we kept talking about paint touches, and I got curious like, okay, how much more efficient are we actually with a paint touch?

Marty Vosters: 00:43:33

So started like, stating some of those things, like, hey, what's our points per possession when we get a paint touch versus not in every practice?

Marty Vosters: 00:43:40

How much more effective are we when we get, you know, multiple reversals?

Marty Vosters: 00:43:43

So I was stating, you know, every time we get a reversal across the midline, you know, and then it got to the point where we were like, hey, maybe some of our guards are over dribbling.

Marty Vosters: 00:43:51

So it's like, start stating how many times are we dribbling every possession.

Marty Vosters: 00:43:54

And like, I got really comfortable with sports Go.

Marty Vosters: 00:43:56

And that's what I spent, you know, a ton of time on that last year on that program, trying to learn all those things, you know, on SportsCo to keep it simple.

Marty Vosters: 00:44:03

So you're not doing old School, you know, statin on a notebook.

Marty Vosters: 00:44:06

Right.

Marty Vosters: 00:44:06

So I think learning that program was big the first year, and then as the year went on, he started to give me more responsibilities as he, you know, trusted me.

Marty Vosters: 00:44:14

So it was, you know, running some of my own player development workouts, you know, doing a large part of the scout with the assistants, you know, whether it was the personnel section or helping with, you know, play calls, ball screen coverage, whatever it was.

Marty Vosters: 00:44:26

So helping the assistants big time with the scout, and then a lot of it was just whatever else was needed.

Marty Vosters: 00:44:30

Right.

Marty Vosters: 00:44:31

You know, small staff.

Marty Vosters: 00:44:32

I think some days it was breaking up recruiting film, you know, send to the coaches on a potential recruit or, you know, helping make a quick graphic for a, you know, recruit or, you know, simple things like that around the office, like a little operations thing.

Marty Vosters: 00:44:45

But I think a lot of it was the film stuff and then some analytics along with that as the season went on.

Marty Vosters: 00:44:50

I was really fortunate last year to get some experience with the player development as well, because I think that, you know, gets you on the court, gets you building that relationship with the players, which was awesome.

Marty Vosters: 00:44:59

Something I really enjoyed, too.

Marty Vosters: 00:45:01

So it's a good group of players, and I enjoyed working with them all.

Marty Vosters: 00:45:03

So that was awesome.

Mark Downey: 00:45:05

All right, we'll jump to that player development piece in just a second.

Mark Downey: 00:45:09

What was the learning curve like in terms of the video?

Mark Downey: 00:45:13

How long did it take you before you felt comfortable and you're like, hey, I know what I'm doing, and you could just do what you needed to do as opposed to trying to learn the program?

Mark Downey: 00:45:21

How long did that take?

Marty Vosters: 00:45:24

A good amount of time, I'd say.

Marty Vosters: 00:45:25

I don't know.

Marty Vosters: 00:45:25

I'd say three to four weeks, probably.

Marty Vosters: 00:45:28

I remember last year, there was a lot of days where, like, I'd leave the office in September, and I was like, what did I get done today?

Marty Vosters: 00:45:33

And you look back, it's like, oh, you spent eight hours trying to learn this program.

Marty Vosters: 00:45:37

And it was like, some days it felt like long and tiring, whatever, But I think it, like, definitely worked out in the end because, you know, you spent some of those long days in September learning how to do it all.

Marty Vosters: 00:45:46

But as the year went on, like, my, like, efficiency in sports code, you know, helped.

Marty Vosters: 00:45:51

Helped help big time.

Mark Downey: 00:45:53

So, yeah, absolutely.

Mark Downey: 00:45:55

I would think once you get past the learning to sort of build the framework of the program and understanding what to do, and then you can actually go and do the work that you're supposed to be doing, and then you can share, as you said, being able to break some of that stuff down and share it with your coaching staff.

Mark Downey: 00:46:10

I'm sure was tremendously valuable to them, again, to have somebody who's in that film room and being able to do that.

Mark Downey: 00:46:18

How much did you learn by spending all that time with the film?

Mark Downey: 00:46:20

Because that's one of the things that's kind of been sort of a universal theme that we've been able to talk with lots of people on the podcast who have been video coordinators.

Mark Downey: 00:46:28

They just talk about just kind of the exponential growth of their basketball X and O knowledge.

Mark Downey: 00:46:34

Just because, again, you're not only watching film of your own team, but you're obviously breaking down film of opponents.

Mark Downey: 00:46:40

So it's kind of like taking a masterclass and you're just sitting there with the video and learning.

Mark Downey: 00:46:46

Just tell me a little bit about how you approach that and how much you felt you grew as a coach in terms of your X's and O's knowledge just by being in the film room and exposed to the variety of different coaching styles and teams and games and all the things that you're able to watch over the course of the last season.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:06

Yeah, for sure.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:07

I mean, a ton.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:08

A ton.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:08

And as you mentioned, some of it is watching other teams as well.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:11

Like, you learn, hey, what's this coach teaching?

Marty Vosters: 00:47:14

Why did he make this adjustment in the second half?

Marty Vosters: 00:47:16

Like, why do I think he went to more hedge or whatever the, you know, coverage, you know, adjustments were, whether it was matchup.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:22

So, yeah, you learn a ton from that point.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:24

And I think the analytical thing last year was, like, a big opener, too, because you always hear coaches talk about, like, hey, we need paint touches.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:31

But it's like, until you start tracking it, you don't realize, like, how much you actually need paint touches.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:35

And it's like something as simple as that.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:36

Like, you start looking at it, it's like, guys, our offense is two times better if we get a paint touch.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:41

You know, there's games where it's really that crazy, and you start telling the players, you start telling the girls.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:45

Like, it's, you know, Coach Gunther's not just saying this to say it.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:50

Like, you know, some of these simple basketball things that every coach says, you know, the analytics, when it backs it up, it's like, okay, like, we really do need to reverse the ball to three sides.

Marty Vosters: 00:47:58

We really do need to get a paint touch.

Marty Vosters: 00:48:00

We really do need to quit over dribbling.

Marty Vosters: 00:48:02

So I think some of those things, too, like, when you, you know, I think that helped the girls as well when they were able to See some numbers like, hey, so, yeah, definitely helped a ton basketball wise.

Marty Vosters: 00:48:10

And as I said, I think sometimes the analytics last year were an eye opener for me to, like, really support some of those simple basketball things that every coach says.

Mark Downey: 00:48:19

Yeah, absolutely.

Mark Downey: 00:48:20

I mean, I think it's one thing I always go back to my experience as a player.

Mark Downey: 00:48:25

aying college basketball from: 1988

Mark Downey: 00:48:31

And a lot of the stuff that coaches talk about and the paint touches and the analytics and all that stuff really didn't exist in my day.

Mark Downey: 00:48:40

And, like, obviously we didn't film practice the way that clearly every Division 1 school and a lot of schools at lower divisions film, practice and review that and go through it and stat it and all that kind of stuff.

Mark Downey: 00:48:50

And I never experienced any of that.

Mark Downey: 00:48:53

So it was like, coach would say something and you just would kind of nod your head and either you believe it or you don't.

Mark Downey: 00:48:58

And there wasn't necessarily any statistics to back it up.

Mark Downey: 00:49:02

So to your point, to be able to have somebody say something and then be like, yeah, well, it's not just empty talk.

Mark Downey: 00:49:10

There's actually statistics behind it.

Mark Downey: 00:49:12

And here's why this is important.

Mark Downey: 00:49:14

And to me, I think that's one of the things that when you think about players today, there's often that feeling that they want to know the why behind things a lot more than players.

Mark Downey: 00:49:25

Again, old guys like me that played kind of in the era where it was my way or the highway and just did what you were told and you didn't really question it.

Mark Downey: 00:49:31

Now I think players really want to understand the why, and I think coaches appreciate the ability to share the why because it gets everybody on the same page.

Mark Downey: 00:49:38

So it's just a different way of looking at it.

Mark Downey: 00:49:42

I can certainly see the value in being able to share with the players, hey, this is why this is important.

Mark Downey: 00:49:50

And then that goes to what you talked about next, which is from a player development standpoint.

Mark Downey: 00:49:54

Right.

Mark Downey: 00:49:54

You can even take some of those things that you learn that are relevant to the team, and now you can incorporate some of that into, hey, we need you to be able to work on this particular skill, because if we get this accomplished, that leads to even more team success.

Mark Downey: 00:50:09

So tell me a little bit about how you and the staff at Akron.

Mark Downey: 00:50:14

How do you guys put together your player development plan both for the off season and in season?

Mark Downey: 00:50:19

Then how did your role fit into that?

Marty Vosters: 00:50:23

Yep.

Marty Vosters: 00:50:23

Yeah, good question.

Marty Vosters: 00:50:24

tical guy for Florida back in: 2012

Marty Vosters: 00:50:32

So he, you know, gets that whole scene and he loves the numbers behind it.

Marty Vosters: 00:50:35

And thankfully, you know, all of our assistants buy into that stuff as well.

Marty Vosters: 00:50:38

So as you mentioned, it kind of started in the, you know, season wraps up and we spent a lot of time like, hey, obviously we watched the film all year long.

Marty Vosters: 00:50:45

We've, you know, recapped all the games.

Marty Vosters: 00:50:47

So then it's each coach, you know, is assigned a group of players.

Marty Vosters: 00:50:51

And then I think it was, you know, going back and watching, you know, maybe it's all their shots, all their turnovers that I think we did as a staff to break up.

Marty Vosters: 00:50:58

Hey, like, what are some of their tendencies?

Marty Vosters: 00:51:00

You know, just from the film and then you put the numbers with it and you know, we're going into just play, we're going into, you know, some of the reports I helped, you know, put together and it was like, hey, this person, you know, maybe they had a problem over dribbling.

Marty Vosters: 00:51:12

And you know, they're a lot better on the right side of the floor with their shots are, you know, than the left.

Marty Vosters: 00:51:16

And it was putting some of those numbers along with it.

Marty Vosters: 00:51:18

And then, yeah, the coaches, along with my help, you know, on some of those reports put together, it's usually like a four to five page sheet.

Marty Vosters: 00:51:26

And you know, some of it's as simple as, hey, what are your goals for next season?

Marty Vosters: 00:51:29

So getting some of the player input is, you know, on the first page.

Marty Vosters: 00:51:33

Where do you see yourself in a year?

Marty Vosters: 00:51:34

You know, what do you want?

Marty Vosters: 00:51:35

Like, how do you think you can expand your role going into next year?

Marty Vosters: 00:51:38

So some really good thought provoking questions, I think, to challenge the players about how they want to grow going into the next year.

Marty Vosters: 00:51:44

And then the next three or four pages kind of break down like, hey, here are some of your numbers in transition.

Marty Vosters: 00:51:50

And then we'll have film clips to back it up.

Marty Vosters: 00:51:52

So maybe it says, hey, in transition, you were super, super efficient.

Marty Vosters: 00:51:57

You know, you wanted the best woman in the Mac for, you know, getting to the rim and transition.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:01

And then, you know, show them a few clips of that.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:03

And then, you know, now we're going to break down your three point shot.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:06

You know, hey, maybe you were below average from three, you know, off the dribble, but you were way above average catch and shoot, you know, something we looked at as well.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:15

Like, what's the difference analytically on catch and shoot versus off the dribble threes, Some stuff like that.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:19

And I think again, as you mentioned, these women are really smart.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:23

Like they're asking the right questions.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:25

They're saying, hey, why, like, why are you telling me this?

Marty Vosters: 00:52:28

Why do I have to work on this?

Marty Vosters: 00:52:29

So some of the, when you can give them numbers and film, I think that's when you can get the full buy in.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:34

Like, hey, they're right.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:35

I was really bad off the dribble threes, but I was 40% catch and shoot.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:40

So like, either I gotta stop, stop taking the off the dribble ones or I gotta just find a way in their offense to create more catch and shoot.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:47

And some of that comes down to like in the player development.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:49

Again, it's like going back to the film.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:51

Like, maybe we can create you two more catch and shoot threes a game if you move off the ball better.

Marty Vosters: 00:52:56

So some of that stuff I think is really big when you can give them numbers and film.

Marty Vosters: 00:53:00

And again, we break down.

Marty Vosters: 00:53:01

It's like every, every part of offense and then there's a defensive section, so it's like transition, three point at the rim, mid range, like in the ball screen.

Marty Vosters: 00:53:09

And then it goes to defense and it's like, you know, how are you guarding the ball screen whether you're a post or a guard?

Marty Vosters: 00:53:15

And then, you know, how are you one on one in space?

Marty Vosters: 00:53:17

And then, you know, if you're a post, like, how'd you guard post ups?

Marty Vosters: 00:53:20

So kind of break it down each, you know, segment of the game, I guess you would say.

Marty Vosters: 00:53:24

And then trying to put film and numbers together to get some full buy in from the, from the team.

Mark Downey: 00:53:29

Yeah, to be able to have both of those pieces of quote unquote evidence, to be able to share with players when you're having that conversation, when you're out on the floor with them trying to work and get them better and get them to see, like, hey, this is where what you do fits in.

Mark Downey: 00:53:43

This is how it's going to help you to be a better player and how it's ultimately going to impact what we do as a team.

Mark Downey: 00:53:50

How much are you guys, how much are you on the floor with your group in the summertime?

Mark Downey: 00:53:57

Like in an average week, how much are you, how much time are you individually spending with your group during that, those player development sessions?

Mark Downey: 00:54:03

Obviously there's.

Mark Downey: 00:54:04

The NCAA has limits on what you can and can't do.

Mark Downey: 00:54:07

But just for you yourself, how much time are you on the court with your, with your group of players?

Marty Vosters: 00:54:14

Yep.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:14

So.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:14

Good question.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:15

This summer I was actually gone with the sparks, which I'm sure we'll get to.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:18

But the assistants, as I Said we broke them down.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:20

Each.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:22

Each, you know, each.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:23

So each coach has four or five players in their group and the individual plans we put together, like is super, super individualized.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:30

So the assistants would spend, I want to say it was three.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:35

Yeah, it was three 45 minute sessions they had with each player each week.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:38

So it was.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:38

What is that, 2, 2, 15.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:40

Is that the right math?

Marty Vosters: 00:54:41

I think so.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:42

2 hours 15 minutes a week.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:44

Good, good.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:45

Double check there.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:46

So, yeah, it would be two hours 15 minutes a week, you know, with the individual player.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:51

And again, it's super individualized.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:53

Here's your plan, here's your film, here's some of your analytics.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:56

And it's just one on one with a player, a coach and a manager.

Marty Vosters: 00:54:59

You know, manager rebounding.

Marty Vosters: 00:55:01

And then yeah, the coaches are, you know, they know their group as good as anyone.

Marty Vosters: 00:55:05

So just spending a ton of time, you know, Gensler and the assistants have all really bought into that.

Marty Vosters: 00:55:11

Like, not only do we have to recruit good players, but we got to continue to develop them.

Marty Vosters: 00:55:15

Like, I think that's going to get you to the higher level and you know, at each conference.

Marty Vosters: 00:55:19

So, yeah, really buying into the individual stuff.

Marty Vosters: 00:55:21

And like I said, it was, yeah, two, two hours, 15 minutes a week they'd go with each player.

Marty Vosters: 00:55:25

So.

Mark Downey: 00:55:26

Got it.

Mark Downey: 00:55:27

Tell me about balancing your time as a GA between your responsibilities as a graduate student and your responsibilities to the staff.

Mark Downey: 00:55:36

And just give me a rundown of sort of your daily schedule and how you kind of kept yourself afloat going through those two things.

Marty Vosters: 00:55:46

Yeah, fortunately I was able to find a mba, which I think was a good fit for me that was all online.

Marty Vosters: 00:55:53

So it was a big thing is I never had to miss any basketball thing for classes because I could do it whenever I wanted.

Marty Vosters: 00:55:59

And you know, I think the Minnesota degree did prepare me well for this mba.

Marty Vosters: 00:56:03

You know, I took a finance degree at Minnesota, so fortunately I haven't found the classes like, overly challenging.

Marty Vosters: 00:56:08

Which I'm glad because like I said, I've been all in on the basketball side of it.

Marty Vosters: 00:56:12

But yeah, I mean, it's tough.

Marty Vosters: 00:56:13

There's some days where you get home at, you know, 8, 9 o'clock or whatever it is from a, you know, late practice or getting an individual player workout in late night.

Marty Vosters: 00:56:20

And it's like you get home and yeah, you got two assignments to fill out and it's not what you want to do every night, but yeah, I mean, you got to get through it and you know, it's all for the, you know, greater plan.

Mark Downey: 00:56:28

So yeah, absolutely.

Mark Downey: 00:56:31

You got to figure out the balance.

Mark Downey: 00:56:32

I'm sure being able to do it online, like you said, provides you with that flexibility, and then you can kind of pick and choose your times.

Mark Downey: 00:56:39

I'm sure that tremendously makes it much, much easier than if you're going to a traditional classroom every day at a certain time where you just couldn't be with the staff or couldn't be with the team at those times.

Mark Downey: 00:56:50

So to be able to have that flexibility, I'm sure was tremendously valuable.

Mark Downey: 00:56:53

You mentioned the Sparks opportunity.

Mark Downey: 00:56:55

Tell me how that happens.

Mark Downey: 00:56:58

Who do you connect with there to get that opportunity that you had to work as with the video, coordinating, you know, in LA with the Sparks?

Marty Vosters: 00:57:09

Yeah.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:10

So it actually started kind of the connection built initially from my time at Minnesota.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:15

So Carly Thibaut Dudonis, my first year at Minnesota, was the associate head coach there.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:19

And obviously her family, both her dad and her brother were on the mystic staff, you know, head coach and assistant at that time.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:25

And then Mike transitioned to a GM role and Eric took over as head coach.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:30

So that after my.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:31

Yeah, it was my first year as a manager at Minnesota.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:33

Carly helped me connect with Mike and Eric.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:36

So I got to meet him at the Final Four that year.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:38

It was in Minneapolis.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:39

And then I was able to go out to D.C.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:41

so I spent five weeks with the Mystics.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:43

That was what, the summer of: 2022

Marty Vosters: 00:57:49

And, you know, it was just incredible to just be a sponge there and see what basketball was like at a professional level.

Marty Vosters: 00:57:56

So then actually the head video coordinator that summer for the Mystics, you know, got to know him really well.

Marty Vosters: 00:58:01

I had an idea I was going to try to get into some of the film stuff, so learned from him.

Marty Vosters: 00:58:05

And then he's still on staff with the Mystics and he was able to actually connect me with the Sparks guy.

Marty Vosters: 00:58:11

And it kind of, you know, I was blessed, you know, I was super blessed with that connection, you know, through Carly to the Mystics and then the Mystics guy to la and, you know, Kurt, a Hall of Fame coach.

Marty Vosters: 00:58:21

So, yeah, it was one of his.

Marty Vosters: 00:58:23

One of his long time.

Marty Vosters: 00:58:24

Started out as a video coordinator, was promoted to assistant.

Marty Vosters: 00:58:28

So that's the guy who I initially got connected with and yeah, just super blessed to be able to work for such a, you know, highly respected, you know, high level, incredible mind, incredible person with Kurt Miller.

Mark Downey: 00:58:39

So what's the difference between a college video room and a pro video room in your mind?

Marty Vosters: 00:58:45

Good question.

Marty Vosters: 00:58:47

I think.

Marty Vosters: 00:58:48

I mean, the Biggest transition I think overall from college of the pros is just the practice time.

Marty Vosters: 00:58:54

And I think that relates to the video room because it's like, especially preseason, like you got.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:00

I think we had a 10 day training camp before the season started.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:03

Right.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:04

So it's just crazy.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:05

And it then as the season starts, you're playing a game every other day.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:08

So it was like the film stuff, it was even more important, I think, because you couldn't teach on practice like in college.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:15

The next day after a tough loss, you can get right back on the court and have a full practice.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:19

Right.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:20

And at the wnba it's just really hard because you're playing another game in 24 hours.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:24

So it's like you don't always.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:25

You can't practice for two hours, let alone an hour and a half.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:28

Like, your practice has got to be short.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:30

You got to keep the legs fresh.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:31

It's onto the next game, it's onto the next scouting report as soon as you, whether you, you know, you get a great win or a tough loss.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:37

So for the video room, I think that affects you a lot because it's like, it's quick transitions, it's getting clips together quick, you know, late at night.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:44

And then it's.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:45

You got to spend a lot of time, you know, just showing clips to the players, whether that's individual or as a team.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:51

But you know, at the W level, you just watch way more film than you do.

Marty Vosters: 00:59:55

Is it at the college level?

Marty Vosters: 00:59:57

Because college level you can teach on the court at the pros that, you know, a ton of it has to be taught on film so they can save their legs.

Marty Vosters: 01:00:03

So I think, you know, obviously that changes the whole kind of the whole video room a little bit because it's just got to be more film, it's got to be organized.

Marty Vosters: 01:00:10

Like, those W players are smart.

Marty Vosters: 01:00:11

They know, like if you just give them a random group of film, like they're going to be what's this?

Marty Vosters: 01:00:15

And like, what's the point of it?

Marty Vosters: 01:00:16

So I think you got to make sure it's organized.

Marty Vosters: 01:00:18

There's got to be a message behind it.

Marty Vosters: 01:00:20

I think it's got to be individualized for the player.

Marty Vosters: 01:00:23

And so some of those things, I think, yeah, it's just a huge difference.

Marty Vosters: 01:00:26

When you can't teach a ton on the court.

Marty Vosters: 01:00:27

It's finding great ways and great clips and content.

Marty Vosters: 01:00:31

Sometimes it's analytics as well, trying to pair those to try to, you know, teach and motivate and, you know, get confidence to the players on the film.

Mark Downey: 01:00:41

Absolutely.

Mark Downey: 01:00:42

Tell me a little bit about the.

Mark Downey: 01:00:45

Your experience with the players in terms of their work ethic, their professionalism, their intangibles, the things that make them pro players.

Mark Downey: 01:00:56

This is one of the questions that I always think is interesting to hear what somebody who's been exposed to players at the pro level, whether it's WNBA or NBA, just in terms of what separates the players that get to that level.

Mark Downey: 01:01:09

And obviously, again, the basketball skill and there's athleticism and all the things that we think about.

Mark Downey: 01:01:14

But just what are some of the intangible things that you noticed about players playing at that level?

Marty Vosters: 01:01:21

For the Spartans, I honestly think the biggest thing is like, mental.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:25

And it's a mentality that, hey, I need to work hard.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:27

But not only that, I think it's like they're confident.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:30

They're really, really confident, and they're really, really great at getting over, like a mistake.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:35

You know, at that level, you're still going to make mistakes.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:37

You know, just because they're in the WNBA doesn't mean they're perfect.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:40

Right.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:41

Mistakes are going to happen.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:42

But I think those players in the W were exceptional, like, really, really exceptional at moving on to the next play.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:47

And it's like you don't see too many players in the W, like, turning it over and then freaking out.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:52

And I think sometimes at college you see that and it's like, you know, we gotta move on.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:57

You can't turn one mistake into three.

Marty Vosters: 01:01:59

And I think just the in that goes to shooting as well.

Marty Vosters: 01:02:02

Like, I think the W players are just exceptional confident at all times.

Marty Vosters: 01:02:06

Like, if they're a shooter and they miss four, it doesn't matter.

Marty Vosters: 01:02:08

The fifth one's going up without hesitation and it's probably going to go in.

Marty Vosters: 01:02:12

So I think that mental thing of just being ultra confident at all times and being able to recover from a mistake was the biggest intangible.

Marty Vosters: 01:02:19

It's like just incredible.

Marty Vosters: 01:02:21

And as I said, the turnarounds, you know, you're playing every 48 hours, a lot of weeks, and it's like, you know, some players can go one for 10, you know, one night, and 48 hours later they're having 30.

Marty Vosters: 01:02:30

And it's like that.

Marty Vosters: 01:02:31

I think that confidence and ability to turn over the next play, next game was really, really, you know, cool to see.

Mark Downey: 01:02:38

How do the players at that level, when you're sitting down with them and sharing film as a staff with the players, what's their process like?

Mark Downey: 01:02:50

Maybe not necessarily for analyzing things from a team aspect, but more when they're looking at their own performance.

Mark Downey: 01:03:00

What are some of the things that they do in terms of self analysis?

Mark Downey: 01:03:04

Because I feel like one of the things that separates a pro athlete from an amateur athlete is just that ability to be able to self diagnose of, hey, here's something that, a mistake that I made or maybe I noticed something that, you know, I had, I had that bad night shooting and maybe there's something that I can quickly assess in my form or I can be out on the floor and I could be going through a shirting shooting workout.

Mark Downey: 01:03:29

Maybe it's not going well and you have a college player, a high school player and it goes from bad to worse.

Mark Downey: 01:03:34

But like you said with a WNBA player or an NBA player, they're able to kind of self diagnose and figure that out.

Mark Downey: 01:03:40

So I don't know if you had any experience with players like that who were able to kind of quickly figure things out that maybe weren't going well and all of a sudden they were able to self analyze and get themselves back on track.

Mark Downey: 01:03:52

If that question makes any sense.

Marty Vosters: 01:03:55

Yeah, I think it does.

Marty Vosters: 01:03:55

It's a good question.

Marty Vosters: 01:03:56

It's a tough one.

Marty Vosters: 01:03:57

But I get what you mean.

Marty Vosters: 01:03:58

And I think the one thing I would say on that is their ability to.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:02

You show a player a clip of the W level.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:05

Very, very few, from what I experienced, they're never going to give you an excuse.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:09

If they do, it's very rare.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:11

And I think sometimes in college, certain players who maybe lack some confidence, like you show them a clip of them, you know, maybe not doing exactly what you want as a staff.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:20

And I think sometimes players at the college level have a tendency to be like, well yeah, I kind of messed that up, but my teammate also did this which made me do this and that's really why it got messed up or whatever where at the W level those women are, they know and like they're smart enough.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:35

They're so smart that like if you show them a clip they're going to be like, yeah, that's on me and they're going to snap out of it quick.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:41

Some of it I think is just recognizing that hey, like I'm not going to sit and dwell on it.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:44

I'm not going to try to make an excuse.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:46

I'm not, you know, it's, it's on me.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:48

I get it, my mistake.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:49

And it's immediately snap of the finger, like onto the next one.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:52

And you know, I think a lot of that comes from preparation.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:54

Like they've been playing at the highest level for years and years.

Marty Vosters: 01:04:57

And I think when you continue to do that, you become smart enough to know, hey, that was my mistake.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:02

But I'm confident that I've overcome worse struggles in the past, and there's going to be no different in 48 hours.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:07

I'm going to go get buckets on whoever the next team is.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:10

So I think that was a big thing.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:11

Is just rarely you're going to hear them make a mistake.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:14

It's.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:14

Yep, I get it.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:15

I'm.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:15

I'll be better.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:16

I'll be better next game.

Mark Downey: 01:05:19

What do you take back from that experience with the Sparks as you head back to Akron this fall and into this season?

Mark Downey: 01:05:26

What's something that you learned that you picked up that is going to make you better at your job at Akron this year?

Marty Vosters: 01:05:37

I think, you know, I could sit here and talk about for way too long about the basketball stuff you learn, right.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:41

The X's and O's is incredible.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:43

Learning from Kurt Miller and that staff, you know, it's insane.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:46

So just some of the adjustments, the, you know, the plays, the counters, like, all that stuff for sure.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:51

Learned a ton.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:52

That'll be helpful for years to come in my career.

Marty Vosters: 01:05:55

But I think the big thing, not necessarily X's and O's, is like, the player relationship of it and how I think that can really be.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:03

I think college coaches can continue to use that approach at the college level.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:08

I think at the W.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:09

W level, it was like, the players and coaches are truly seen on, like, on the same level.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:15

Right.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:15

Because we're both, you know, everyone on the staff, every player, they're adults.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:18

So I think it's like a true adult to adult relationship.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:21

Like, it's peer to peer.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:23

And I think in some of those film sessions I talked about, like, the players sometimes are teaching the coaches or they're teaching each other.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:29

Like, there were times we'd pull up a clip and one of the veterans would be like, yeah, let me explain this.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:34

Or like, yeah, I like, here's what happened.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:36

Like this, you know, I'm going to teach it to this rookie or maybe the rookie.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:39

You know, I think there's a lot of healthy debate on, like, how they can get better as a.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:44

As a team.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:45

And I think that goes as well to individual stuff.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:48

Like, the players, they're super smart.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:50

And as a coach, you have to, like, you have to respect that.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:53

And you can't come in there like, oh, I know more than you.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:55

It's like, no, you probably don't.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:56

They've been playing at the highest level for 15 years or whatever.

Marty Vosters: 01:06:59

Like they know as much, if not more than, you know, they're incredibly smart.

Marty Vosters: 01:07:03

So I think using that approach to college, especially these days is like in the nil in the portal world, it's going towards that, you know, almost like semi pro athletics.

Marty Vosters: 01:07:13

So I think that's something I'm, you know, I still got things to learn and still trying to figure it all out.

Marty Vosters: 01:07:18

But like giving a voice to the players because these players at Akron are smart too.

Marty Vosters: 01:07:22

And it's like hearing what they.

Marty Vosters: 01:07:25

One of the assistants at the Sparks would always tell me, like, we're not out there feeling what they feel.

Marty Vosters: 01:07:30

As much as we watch film, we don't know what the players are going through on the court.

Marty Vosters: 01:07:34

And she would always, she'd be really smart.

Marty Vosters: 01:07:35

Like she just asked the players what's going on, like, how are we struggling with this ball screen coverage.

Marty Vosters: 01:07:40

And sometimes you get a better answer from a player than you might a coach because a coach wasn't out there doing it.

Marty Vosters: 01:07:46

So I think that like that, you know, view on things from her, Nola Henry, like that, that view was really beneficial for me to hear.

Marty Vosters: 01:07:54

And it was like, sometimes, yeah, just ask the player, like, what's going on in this?

Marty Vosters: 01:07:57

Like, I can show you four clips of it, but you're going to know better than me how it actually felt in the game.

Marty Vosters: 01:08:02

So explain it.

Marty Vosters: 01:08:03

And I think some of that thing, the player relationship and you know, the teaching, trying to do a peer to peer and like really on the same level as them, I think, I think players feel more motivated by that in this world too.

Marty Vosters: 01:08:14

Like, not necessarily just getting yelled at.

Marty Vosters: 01:08:16

It's like, hey, I'm right along with you in this ride.

Marty Vosters: 01:08:19

I'm going to do whatever I can to make you better, but I'm not going to sit here and yell at you until you got to do this because you're the one out there doing it.

Marty Vosters: 01:08:25

So.

Mark Downey: 01:08:27

So it comes down to two, right?

Mark Downey: 01:08:28

I think that there's definitely something to be said for.

Mark Downey: 01:08:31

And again, I think the good teams, good coaching staffs, good programs, whether you're talking about at the pro level or at the college level, I've always had this.

Mark Downey: 01:08:39

But it's a, it's a we, right?

Mark Downey: 01:08:42

It's.

Mark Downey: 01:08:42

We're all working together.

Mark Downey: 01:08:43

And as a coaching staff and players, there has to be a mutual trust back and forth that the player has to know that if the coach is getting on me as a player, like the reason why that's happening is because the coach wants me to be better, they want me to see a certain thing or they want me to able to do something better or whatever it might be for my benefit and for the benefit of the team.

Mark Downey: 01:09:04

And there has to be trust that's built up in order for that to happen.

Mark Downey: 01:09:07

And then again, it also has to be the other way around where the coach has to be able to trust the player that we're having those honest conversations and the players saying, hey, this is what I'm seeing out there.

Mark Downey: 01:09:17

The coach has to know that the player again, has the best interest of the team, the program at heart.

Mark Downey: 01:09:24

And so if you build that trust, then you get that peer to peer interaction like you're talking about, where it's not a coach up on high saying, hey, you're doing this wrong and you got to do this because instead it's, hey, we have to collectively figure this out both for our individual.

Mark Downey: 01:09:41

For your individual benefit as a player, but also, again, more importantly for the team concept.

Mark Downey: 01:09:46

I think that's what I hear you saying.

Marty Vosters: 01:09:48

Yeah, that's a really good point.

Marty Vosters: 01:09:49

And something I should have mentioned, like you said, is the trust of it.

Marty Vosters: 01:09:51

And it's like, you know, certain people, like, maybe.

Marty Vosters: 01:09:55

Yeah, I just think as you know, even in the professionals, you got to earn that trust.

Marty Vosters: 01:09:58

Like you mentioned.

Marty Vosters: 01:09:59

Right.

Marty Vosters: 01:09:59

Like right away as a rookie maybe that, you know, I'm not saying the head coach is.

Marty Vosters: 01:10:02

Yeah, I'm going to sit you down.

Marty Vosters: 01:10:03

What do you think?

Marty Vosters: 01:10:04

Like, obviously the coach is still the coach, but yeah, as you said, like, those players are able to garner the trust over years and years of doing it.

Marty Vosters: 01:10:10

Like, yeah, there's a time and place for, hey, like we got to listen to this.

Marty Vosters: 01:10:13

And like you said, those players who are able to earn that trust, it is, it does become really, really beneficial to like open up some of those conversations and being like, hey, how are we going to guard this goal screen?

Marty Vosters: 01:10:23

Like, it's tough to guard.

Marty Vosters: 01:10:24

And as a coach, we may not have the answer from watching film, but you guys are out there doing it.

Marty Vosters: 01:10:28

So some of those conversations were good to hear and you know, really, I think can be taken to the college level.

Marty Vosters: 01:10:32

And like you said, coach is still the coach.

Marty Vosters: 01:10:35

There's still, you know, you still need a head coach.

Marty Vosters: 01:10:37

I get all that.

Marty Vosters: 01:10:37

But it's just like the, like you said, earning trust and then looking to players who do earn the trust and do prove that they have a good, you know, IQ and sense of what's going on out there.

Mark Downey: 01:10:47

Yeah, there's no doubt that there's obviously some players those conversations are going to be easier with and more productive and some players that they're not.

Mark Downey: 01:10:55

And as you said, again, hopefully, the more time a player spends in your program, the more productive those conversations are going to be between a player and a member of the coaching staff.

Mark Downey: 01:11:05

And then you're going to get to the ultimate result that you want, which is helping the player to improve and ultimately helping the team to get better.

Mark Downey: 01:11:12

All right, Marty, before we wrap up, I want to ask you a two part final question here.

Mark Downey: 01:11:17

So part one, when you look ahead over this next year, what do you see as being your biggest challenge?

Mark Downey: 01:11:23

And then secondly, when you think about what you get to do every day, what brings you the most joy?

Mark Downey: 01:11:29

So your biggest challenge and then your biggest joy.

Marty Vosters: 01:11:33

Sweet.

Marty Vosters: 01:11:34

Wrapping up with a tough one, Mike.

Mark Downey: 01:11:36

I'm trying, man.

Mark Downey: 01:11:37

I'm trying.

Marty Vosters: 01:11:38

I think the challenge question is, so this year, going back to Akron, the coach has been able to give me some more responsibilities.

Marty Vosters: 01:11:46

Like, I got my own scouts, I got my own, like, some players to work out with and watch film.

Marty Vosters: 01:11:52

So I think the challenge will be, can I have the same relationship as I did with the players last year in a little bit bigger role.

Marty Vosters: 01:11:59

So it's like last year, I think it's easy to be well liked when you're just in the back.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:03

Like, I was never explaining the film.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:05

I was never running in it.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:06

You know, I was never running a drill in practice.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:09

But this year, when I've been given some more of those responsibilities, hey, Marty, you're going to explain this drill and you're going to run it in practice.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:15

Hey, Marty, you got, you know, five scouts this year.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:18

Hey, Marty, you got, you know, you got a player you got to work out with three times a week and watch film with them.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:23

So I think it's building that relationship, building that trust, and then trying to keep the players, like, bought into what I'm trying to say.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:31

And I think that'll be a challenge of, With a bigger role as being of more in an assistant type of position.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:36

Can I still, you know, get the same respect and same, you know, same well liked.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:43

I think that I was able to accomplish last year as a.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:45

In a bigger role.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:46

And then the second part, you said, well, joy.

Mark Downey: 01:12:48

Biggest joy.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:50

Okay.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:51

I think the biggest joy is the.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:53

It's the player relationship.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:54

I think it's on the court.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:55

It's working with them.

Marty Vosters: 01:12:57

It's, you know, the individual stuff that I love doing with players one on one, whether it's film or workout.

Marty Vosters: 01:13:02

And then just in practice, right.

Marty Vosters: 01:13:04

Like, I'm still playing a lot of times on the practice team, which I love and I think it can help, you know, coach the practice team too because we have a few of like our walk ons and freshmen are on that team with me.

Marty Vosters: 01:13:14

So it's a lot of times like motivating them, keeping them confident, keeping them energized to like sometimes it probably is tough.

Marty Vosters: 01:13:20

As a freshman, your first year you're sitting on the scout team with me and you know, another, another ga.

Marty Vosters: 01:13:25

It's like yeah, it's probably disappointing some days, I get that.

Marty Vosters: 01:13:28

But like trying to continue to teach those players on the scout team with me and then also just seeing things on the court, it's yeah I the biggest joy definitely just being on the court with the players.

Mark Downey: 01:13:37

That's good stuff.

Mark Downey: 01:13:38

And I think you made a great point about trying to keep the players who are maybe not having the season go the way that they would have hoped if they could have drawn it up.

Mark Downey: 01:13:47

But to be able to keep them in a positive spirit, there's tremendous, tremendous value in that.

Mark Downey: 01:13:51

Without question.

Mark Downey: 01:13:52

Before we get out, Marty, I want to give you a chance to share how people can connect with you.

Mark Downey: 01:13:56

Whether you want to share email, social media, whatever you feel comfortable with.

Mark Downey: 01:14:00

And then after you do that, I will jump back in and wrap things up.

Marty Vosters: 01:14:04

Sweet.

Marty Vosters: 01:14:04

I think that email will probably be the easiest.

Marty Vosters: 01:14:06

So it's just my full name.

Marty Vosters: 01:14:08

M A R T Y V O S T e r s gmail.com does.

Mark Downey: 01:14:13

Not get any easier than that and we'll have all that in the show notes so people will be able to find it.

Mark Downey: 01:14:16

If you want to reach out to Marty, cannot thank you enough for taking the time out of your schedule to join us tonight.

Mark Downey: 01:14:21

Really appreciate it and to everyone out there, thanks for listening and we will catch you on our next episode.

Mark Downey: 01:14:27

Thanks.

Mark Downey: 01:14:31

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Mark Downey: 01:14:35

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Mark Downey: 01:14:45

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Mark Downey: 01:14:51

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Mark Downey: 01:14:58

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Mark Downey: 01:15:06

As a hoopheadspod listener, you can get your Coaching Portfolio Guide for just $25.

Mark Downey: 01:15:12

Visit coachingportfolioguide.com hoopheads to learn more.

Marty Vosters: 01:15:20

Thanks for listening to the Hoop Hats.

Mark Downey: 01:15:22

Podcast presented by head start basketball.