KJ Live - David Grace

best recruiters of talent in the country. His assistant coaching stops include Oregon State, Vanderbilt, col in U c l A. He is a veteran of the United States Air Force, serving twenty years, sixteen of which were as a fuel specialist and accountant in countries like Turkey, Germany, Spain, and Saudi Arabia. He is currently the head coach of Centennial High School in Peoria, Arizona. Please welcome David Grace to kJ Live. Coach Grace, it's good man, it's great man.

It's great to be able to talk with you. You're doing big things on this podcast. Man, I'm exciting. Well, it's gonna get even bigger now that you on because hey man, because look, man, you look you're really impressive. When you were at U c l A. Uh during your tenure, I was really as a former player and a guy that you know put it down on the championship there. I was super impressed with just what you

that coaching staff, you guys were able to do. Uh, we didn't get to where we want to go, but that that that one year was just I mean not not not the one year your tenure was an exciting brand of basketball. You guys had big league, elite level talent coming through the building year in year out. What you were were responsible for. But coach, I want to talk about what it's like though, for you to be back in the high school saddle first time since two

thousand and six when you let a championship. Talking about that, Man, I'm having the time of my life. Man, I'm enjoying it. I got a great, great group of its great parents and a great administration. Was it really important? Man? And uh they let me do what I do and we we have a lot of fun. We're getting ready go to practice after this man, and uh uh, I'm just really enjoying life man, and and and having the opportunity to to to try to impact young people and uh

through the game that we love basketball. Man. Is it something about working with that age group, those that fourteen really impressionable coming of age to eighteen or seventeen or eighteen, you know, where they're more developed, and now you have that contrast. I remember coaching my son for three years at Palisades and just kind of, you know, being fascinated with seeing the growth and evolution from you know, year one,

year two, year three. But the more particular question I want to ask, coach, where can you can leave this team back to a state championship And what is it going to take and what are you guys doing to prepare for that journey? Well? I think we can. You know, Um, you know, we have enough talent to I believe we're really going to have to have to maximize that, you know, and and and you know, and winning the state titles not easy. Um, you gotta have the ball bounce yourway

a couple of times here and there. But this group is a very special group. They really like each other. We've been preparing like crazy. We went up to the Border League a couple of weekends ago and played against great competition up there. We were we did very well in the Section seven. Um, we played really well in the fall leagues here in Arizona. So um, they're learning a new brand of basketball. You know, they were more slow down walking up the court, and you know, I'm

a trapping guy. I like to get after it and have fun and swarm on defense and uh play that style. So they're learning that, they're learning how to condition. You know, they weren't they weren't really ready for that type of conditioning program. So so they're they're they're embracing it. They're they're excited. Um they have they come to practice and

they're they have their fun to work with. There. There were teaching them NBA terminology and college terminology, you know, the forty five and you know, hammer screens and stuff like that, stack action and so so it's been you know, it's been a lot of fun, and I think we have a shot at it. Somebody said that will be ranked seventh in the state overall, maybe second in the

state in five A. So we're we're really excited. God, I mean, just that last you know, a minute or so of what you just described kind of gave me chills just hearing how you got these guys section seven for all leagues. I mean, you were putting them through the fire coach, you know, how to get some dudes ready to compete. That got me excited, like bad coaches

got could you do? And now you're teaching them also teaching them the terminology coach, do you find that this generation of high school basketball player, because of all the tools and resources that they have privy that they are privy too, from Synergy to YouTube or whatever, all the video stuff, do you find that they pick up on this stuff a lot quicker, a lot easier. There's a familiarity already established this group. Does you know, Um, this group picks up pretty good. We have a smart group.

You know, we do great checks every week and uh, they're all excelling in the classroom as well. So this group picks up. There's sometimes where I got to say, hey, this is a high school kid. This is not this is not you know Alonzo ball or or Cavan Looney uh at a at U c l A. Where you just tell them one time and it's done, you know, And sometimes you gotta tell them too or three times. But they're very more there. They're still the same teaching modes,

you know what I mean. They still really want to learn. Oh man, that's great, and and that thirst and that hunger is gonna really be the difference form. Are they gym rats? Coachy love it? Okay, Yeah, that's a big question. Yeah. We go four times a week and we don't have to, you know, and there's some days where um or one day I might just go three and they're wanting to come in the next day. So these are gym rats. These kids right here are gym rats. And uh, they're there.

They'll be in the gym again to day. As soon as soon as we're done here, I'm gonna go and and get them and we'll we'll work out for a couple of hours and they're enjoying that. Awesome. Coach, talk to me about your foundation, the beginnings for you in the game. I know you're from the Aberdeen Marylands, You're from that part of town, Ravens Country. Now, Uh, I

saw you. I saw your post the other day, Like, come on, coach, but talk to me about what it was like growing up out there, what your parents did then, influence they had on you, and just you know, your neighborhood. You know, what was it like, coach Man. We we had a great neighborhood a sports fanatics. You know. My dad was a sportsman still is and my mom she

was an athlete too. So um, it was competed activeness from the get go, even in the even in the house, like my mom was was had some some ladies over the house. A couple of weeks ago. She said she her lasagna was going to be the best, you know what I mean, still competing at seventies some years old. Man. Yeah, so we had that. My father's blue collar. You know, we worked, you know in Maryland area, it's it's mostly

all blue collar. That's why the Ravens have taken that that that kind of blue collar work, you know, work ethic to them. And uh, you know, my my mom was spent along a lot of hours to being a beautician like your mom, you know, and she practiced on my head, always great haircuts, as you know. But that's why that's why I don't have them here now. My mom was practicing on me all the time. Yeah. Yeah, so so, but it was lunch pail. You know, you run, your run your lunch pail. The guys I grew up

with we still talk to this day, you know. And when it was football season, we played football. When it was baseball, we played baseball. You know, I grew up with the Ripkens you know Cal, Calm Billy who were very good basketball players. You know Cal was older than me, but Billy was. You know, he was the first one throw me a curveball when I was not what you do with the coach, and I ran out of the box.

Call of us did at the first time we saw Curt Yeah, my dad, My dad went got a bucket of balls afterwards, and he threw curveballs to me every like for hours, for like two hours. You know, he was baseball. Your first love was that. You know, I was very good at baseball, probably better at baseball than basketball. But my first love was always basketball. You know, for whatever reason, who was it, who wasn't They made you

fall in love with the game. Dr Jay, you know what I mean, the doctor you know in Philly, which wasn't far from us. You know, the first game I ever went to. I was very young when when jabbar Lew Center was with the Bucks, you know um and Oscar Robinson was on that team and in the early seventies, Yeah, they played I was like very young. They played against the Baltimore Bullets with with unselling those guys, so it was uh, he could have been on the team. He

could he might have been on that team. You know. So the arena man arena smell, yeah, sneaker squeaking, you know, the converse back then, you know what I mean. And uh, but I fell in love with basketball, man, and and uh, you know, just going outside. And that's another thing too. We became great drivers back then because the wind was blowing. The ball didn't bounce very high school. We had to get to the rack. Man, if you're shooting it, that thing might sway a little bit on the on the court,

and the court was the biggest thing happening. Man, it was. It was the place to be, you know. And all the old heads that we're really good, they came later. We had to come early. And the better we got, the later we could go show up because we get picked, you know. And I remember Tommy Davis was the was the thing. He went on to play the NBA. He picked me. He was the first one to pick me, man. Uh, And he said, you know what, you gotta pass me the ball. I said, that's all I did. I got

even the ball the whole bime. That's smart. At home, told my dad, hey man, Tommy Davis picked me, man, And he was he was the sensation back then. Man, he went on to play in Minnesota, had a great career there, Tucker and those guys. Man, so it was good. That's dope. And then through high school so you played both went. At what point did it become the focus for you go towards and listing in the Air Force

instead of maybe going to college athlete route. Well, I thought I was about good as maybe a big sky good, you know what I mean, maybe Shack State I could have probably played or somewhere like that. But I went to three different high schools in three different states due to my stepfather being in the Army and how he coach.

Talk to talk about that, because that's a that's something a lot of people that kids our age where we were at that age, because I traveled a lot and I changed schools a lot, and it's always a weird thing kind of being a new kid in a new city in a new town. Talk a little bit about that and how you figured it out at the end

of the day. I think that really helped me with my people skills and along with you too, because you know, being a new kid ain't always the best thing, you know what I mean, So you always had had to work and slide your way in there, you know what I mean, and uh take your lumps here and there, or you know, getting a fight here there and just to let you let them know that you wasn't messing around. So but it was. It really helped me with my

people skills. It helped me with my recruiting later in life. You know, um, my senior year, I moved down to Leesville, Louisiana, Maryland kid going to Louisiana and and Nikita Niketa Wilson, who went on to play at l S. You was on the team and uh me and him became very good friends man, very very good friends. And um at right at the beginning of the year, they didn't allow me to play. So for whatever reason, I didn't get it.

I didn't get allowed to play, and uh so I didn't play my senior year, so that really hurt me. A guy saw me play against the base team um in and on the base at for Polk Louisiana and U. He was connected to Northwestern State University and he contacted the coach and the coach started talking to me said, hey, because you know film, wouldn't you know we didn't have the Internet back then, or the or the phones and stuff,

so it was all word of mouth. So so the guy said, hey, we got a spot that you could walk on. Well, I went and told my mom because she wanted me to join the army. And it wasn't no way in the world I was doing the army because I saw what my stepfather did. They went out in the field play g I Joe. I wasn't. I wasn't about that life, you know. But so I told her I was gonna walk on and she said, well,

who's gonna pay for that? I didn't know about granted, and you know, we didn't get taught that back then, and it had no goodn't Google wasn't wasn't a Google. And uh so I just told her, you know, I probably joined the Air Force, and she said she used reverse psychology on me. She said, oh, you're not smart enough. You know, you know that I would go prove it wrong, right,

So I did. I went proved the wrong obviously, and then me and my my best friend at the time, we joined together and we went in the Air Force. What was the most shelf shocking thing characteristic of the military that you may or may not have been prepared for before you enlisted, Like like, what was that moment where you're like, I didn't know it was about to be like this, you know what I'm saying, Stay and basic training. The first day the bell went off, Man,

it's like four in the morning. We jump up, running around not knowing where to go. And they told us to get back into bed and then get back out of bed and clean the urinals, and man, it was it was on and popping. Man, I wasn't ready for all that. You know, you hear about stuff like that, but until you go through it. But again, another another great I think choice I made because I think the

military has has really helped me throughout the years. And nothing like being in the military, and and and the people were incredible, you know, from all walks of life, you know, all different races, all different colors, and we all have to work together, you know. And then the fight of war in Saudi Arabia and everybody come back home. You know, that was that's you know, so many things have influenced me and and joining the military. I wouldn't

change it for the world. You know. In the beginning, I said, Man, I wanted to play, I wanted to be like you, Chris. I wanted to play D one college basketball and get that experience. So when I joined the military, I said, I'm only gonna go four years, and I'm gonna go to play bass basketball. That's that's what I was thinking. And uh, man, I got in there. They were paying me. I was playing on the bas team and and and they were paying me to play ballot.

But I was a pro basically, you know, and UH have fun and and they said, you know, I did twenty years. What there's a fuel specialist due coach man. We put fuel on airplanes, you know, the store of the fuel. We we moved the fuel uh logistically, and we work with liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen. You know, when you breathe that air in the in the plane, that's the liquid oxygen, you know, and uh having the story and sample it and a whole lot of things

goes on to it. Man and and jet fuel back then was very explosive, so you had to be very careful you blow things up. So um another discipline. It taught me. You know, when you went to work, you couldn't make a mistake because you might die, you know what I mean. So use you know, if you don't ground it to the to the ground and to the plane static that happens. Next thing you know, things are popping man. So so that's another discipline. So I did that for most of my career. Fox Sports Radio has

the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. And you're in. You're in Turkey, Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia. Of all those countries, where did you feel or have like the best experience. I can't imagine if that's a you know, it's a relative term as far as experience, because depending on what was happening. Did you play in Turkey, Yeah, I did. I played in Turkey.

I lived in Istanbul. Yeah, I played it next door to Saudi Arabia in Qatar. So I was over there in Opera when um during two thousand one. So I went over there right after nine eleven. I went over there in December of nine eleven, of the nine eleven years. Yeah, I was over there in the heart of it. It was interesting, it was an interesting experience. Yeah, I bet, I bet that was. It's similar to some of the experiences that I that I um did as well. Um.

I love Turkey. I was in South Park. I was in a Donna a little not as more third world, you know what I mean than then it's Tanble. It's Tremble. It's a major city. But I love the culture. I love the food. The food was great, the chicken tie of the e mag Yeah, yeah, yeah, you real with it. So I love Turkey, you know, you know, I love Spain.

I went over to Spain. I didn't I didn't live in Spain, but I played fast pitched softball on the base team and we went over there for two weeks and uh loves loves Spain, you know, man, Spain is my favorite country, to tell you truth that in Australia side of the United States. Yeah, I had a very amazing experience in Australia when I was around twelve or thirteen years old. My dad was on a tour team uh called Kareem Abdula Jabar in the Traveling Day Dal's.

So it was my dad, Marcus Johnson, artist, Gilmore how how Macy, Dwayne McClean, Johnny Moore, George Gervin oh Man by backing Dude O man, Hey, come on man, it was the Hall of Famers, right, And so that's on that trip. So we went to China, Australia in China and so we you know, we flew and we have long bus rides. But I would I was hanging out

with gerv George gervin a lot. He taught me how to play jin roomy, he taught, He taught me how, They taught me how to play bear with, they talked, They taught me how to play space, they taught me

how to play tonk. So it was two weeks and we just I just picked I picked up all this knowledge and skills and stories, and so, I mean it was I think I think people don't understand how when we as Americans go overseas or we're together with you know, other people overseas, there's just such a heightened level and

sense of camaraderie that exists. And so and I'm not sure I would have had the same experience if I was hanging out with George out here in l A. But I know for a fact that I was putting that place for a special reason, and it was it was a wonderful, wonderful, uh time. Coach stand on that military topic. I really find it fascinating that some of the best coaches that have ever coached the game of basketball, you know, Coach K, Bobby Night, Greg Popovich are coach

to have military experience. I think there's a correlation between the core values of the military and the athletic arena. When you can create that like perfect storm or perfect synergy of of the two, that's when you achieved you know, the heights of like Coach K, and that's when you can really it's the perfection part. What described or talk to me about the core values of the air Force and military and how you implement them in your day to day when you're dealing with coaching basketball. I did

it ever since day one I was. I was eighteen years old and I and I went into military instill those core values to me. The integrity part, you know, doing it the right way when no one's looking, being disciplined enough to you know, get to bed on time, you know what I mean, and stuff like that, and just do it over and over when it becomes a habit. You know, the excellence and all we do, you know what I mean, You're striving for excellence in every part

of the of of of your day. You know, my my podcast is called Do More with Your twenty four. So I'm teaching kids. I'm teaching kids the whole. Like today I had to. I saw three classes today and I was asking them, did y'all make your bed? You know, well, I know how you make you know? Why not? Why do you have that discipline you do was seventeen days in a row becomes a habit at eighteen that you're

gonna wake up and make it, you know. So those things go with coaching in my opinion, you know what I mean, And in the discipline, and uh, the the integrity part of it, and the strike for striving for

excellence in every part of your day. You know what I mean, and and and to be able to sell it, you know what I mean in a way and capture it in a way like the Popovich is the coach ks and and and the other military people that's had great sins as the Bobby Knights, you know, uh, you know, even though Bobby did some other stuff, but what he was at an excellent coach absolutely cannot cannot deny his

his basketball actum right, very true. Yeah, So you started your college coaching career at Cow State Sacramento with coach Jesse Evans who recruited me him and Luke recruited me. I love Jesse. I love Jesse. Uh. He was one of my favorite people to talk to, you know, coach back in the day, in the nineties, you know, you couldn't wait to get home and get that phone call.

So and I talked to a lot of coaches from you know that that ended up being head coaches down the road, from Kelvin Sampson to Mark Turgin too, Ray Ti and COLLETTI. I mean, all these names are just you know, in blazon. But but Jesse is one of the guys that I really enjoyed talking to. Talk to me about that first year, uh, and how you got your start? Well, actually a coach with Jesse at USF UM, I was with Jerome Jenkins at Sacramento Sticks. Oh forgive me, yeah,

but that's what Jesse was. You're right, man, Jesse. You know, I learned from every coach, and Jesse was a great recruiter obviously did a lot of great things for lud Olsen and Luke. Luke and I became really good friends, um and he became a mentor of mine due to the fact that he was recruiting Jared Bayless and he was on my AU team, so so um and obviously they got him. And Jared had a great year at at Arizona. You know he he he went on in eleven year in the NBA. So he was the eighth pick.

Was he the eighth pick of the trap? I think he was the eleventh? I think him the rest Westbrook got up in there. I think was the difference. I'm not I could be wrong. Um, but uh, he's back here. I was with his brother last night at the Gold State Warriors game and I coached his brother to uh with with the son. So I had a great time last night. But but how I got the job, you know, I was obviously I coached the year with the Compton Magic. You know what me and a told are very great,

great friends. And uh really I coached more. I coached years one year with the Compton Magic, but I coached four years as the Arizona Magic. And uh so you know eight told me to call to and so did Jeff Tyler who was part of the part of the Compton Magic program, and Jerome Jenkins. And but Jerome said he man when lud Olsen calls, man, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta go ahead and hire this guy. So that's

how I got hired. I did a twenty took a twenty dollar pay cut, remarried two days that full custody of my children, and remarried two days before I left and slept on the floor in the locker room. People don't A lot of people only see all great viewers at U c l A and associate head coach at Vanderbilt, but they didn't see that the beginnings, you know what I mean, and and uh and to be a sack statement with one of the worst high school gyms in the in the country, you know, and you had to

recruit to it. So what's the toughest part about that level of division? One? You know, I was spoiled at U c l A and almost oblivious until I got older about mid major life, low low major life, high major life. What was the biggest challenge for you as an assistant coach on that level? Well? Resources, you know what I mean, And you know it's the playing field for college athletics is and isn't equal. You know what I mean, C l A is you get a lot

more stuff. You got a lot more resource. Obviously we know that. So so what just an example. My first year, I'm the recruiting coordinator. I get these books. Man, it was map Quest back then. We didn't have So I'm printing all these out right and put them in the books. And it's April geting coming. We're getting ready to go recruiting. So I take them in there to Jerome and I I said, look, coach, this is what I got. And

he said, hey, grades, this is really nice. But we ain't got no money to go recruiting, so we ain't gone. Plus we're not going to get any kids in April anyway. We gotta wait for the other schools to pick and we get the leftovers, the scraps. Yeah, the scraps. Yeah. So I was heartbroken. Man. I worked long hours on those books. Man. So I told him, I said, they don't worry about it. There's a there's a tournament in Vegas.

I'm gonna drive. So I drove down there myself and went went to the went to the games and we got Vinnie McGee uh for mcclimates High School Freshman Player of the Year, and uh, I was really excited. To get him and uh uh played for the Open Soldiers and yeah, tough, tough Vinnie McGhee. Jack checked this out. So we bring him on an official visit. We don't even show him the gym, so that at the end of at the end of the visit, he said, hey, coach, where's the gym? Mat I said, don't worry about it.

He's got ten foot goals like everything else. We'll get you on the next one. You know what I mean, because I think he might not have came here. That might have been a deal breaker. Yeah, man, So when he came without even seeing the gym, man, and then you went to USF and work with Jesse. Yeah, did you live in the city, Yeah, I lived in South San Francisco, barely made it man, Penny's bro. Yeah, I know, I know that was hit hard out there. And after

San Francisco you got with Oregon State. Yeah, I was. That was always interesting to me because that's sort of when you started to get I would say, you're notoriety. Well I started hearing your name more and I don't know, I don't know it was it was the Pac ten or if it was. You know, some of the guys you were bringing in probably a combination of both. But I was always curious about how that behind the scenes

and whatever. You can talk about working with the first Lady's brother, you know, was it special like security stuff detail you guys tell you a little bit about that behind the scene. Yeah, it was really special. Man. We had Uh, Craig Robinson my boss. Great dude, man, really a great dude. Uh. He had security and he got briefings like every day, you know, from the Secret Service

that was in Oregon. Uh to see because I remember one time we were walking through a volleyball camp on campus and we're all three of us are walking together and we're gonna go see a uh we're recruiting a kid. It and his sisters playing volleyball. So we're gonna go watch the volleyball game because the dad and the mom are there watching. So as we're walking, you know, this was the excitement of Obama and the height of it, and somebody just grabs Craig's arm. It's a lady that

grabbed his arm to get his attention. Man. I had a military flashback. Almost hit the ground. I thought he was getting I thought he was getting to get kidnapped. It got crazy, got crazy because he got startled, you know what I mean. And uh and uh, I'm like, whoa, this is the power of where we're at right now. And then to go to the White House every year, you know, we always would play George Washington or Howard. You know, Barrock would come. We played Towson and Rock

would come, so they would sweep the thing. But this is what impressed me most about Barack. We're in the warehouse and we're doing food. We're at a food bank, like you know, we're putting food in boxes like a conveyor like a conveyor belt. Michelle, she's like two people down. So here comes Barocking and there's like forty people in the warehouse that's it, and some of his family, some of us the workers, and our our basketball team and

and any supports staff. So he goes and starts saying hello to everybody, and it's like forty and he gets to me and I'm like third to last before Craig and Craig. And he walks up to me and never met him before, and he says, hey, David, how you doing take good care of Craig for me? And I'm like, how does this dude, no my name, you know what I mean? Does he do that? The most powerful man in the world. And he came up, gave me some dap and just like we were boys, you know what

I mean. And that made the biggest impression to this day. Eight about Barack Obama, you know what I mean? And uh, he would mess with Craig during the games. You know, Craig with we we couldn't shoot free throws our first year, right, So Craig would turn around every time we would go. He wouldn't look at when you look at he wouldn't even look at it. And I remember Barack said, like four rows up and we were in Uh, I forget what.

I forget what arena we were in. But he would yell out Craig turn around and watch the kid free throw, you know what I mean. So you're like, damn, that's the president talking, you know what during the game. So it was a whole lot of stories. You know. It's really cool. Yeah, man, working out in the morning with Michelle Obama and Craig's wife. We're the only ones in the way room. Wow, you know what I mean. And I should have the pictures. I didn't take pictures man, Now,

you're just in the moment, coach. That's not your style. That's probably not your style. Coach. You live through moments because you know what I'm saying, you just live through it, like, yeah, the same way. I'm kind of the same way too. Yeah, I mean this to sit there and talk there, we're talking about normal stuff, you know what I mean? What

was on TV? Because we were watching the TV monitors on Elliptical, you know, and she was on the trademill I think so, so we're just talking everyday stuff and she's that's the first lady man. So it was. It was amazing. Last thing on Oregon State, Roberto Nelson, your first major recruit, led the conference and scoring enjoyed a long professional career. He's bawling, I believe in Italy. Now, talk to me a little bit about Roberto's game and what he meant to that team and that program at

that time. Well, you know, you see all it was all over him at the time. I remember his Yeah, his dad was very you know, he grew up his dad, he grew up in Santa Barbara, So m Roberto was an incredible kid man and me and him are he's like a son to me. Um. He calls me almost every other day or to this day. You know, he's up important now. Incredible kid, um, very bright, very very bright. Um. Mom is tremendous. Uh. The dad is doing great now here.

He did a little time and came out I think, you know, his dad was kind of pushing him the U c l A at the time. But that's before that's you know, when we hit with the Barack Obama thing. And Craig is a great salesman as well, and we and we got him, you know what I mean, along with Joe Burton out in him and Roberto could flat out score that basketball man. He could a wore it and has the confidence a scratch golfer, you know. Really Yeah,

he hit a golf ball. He keeps telling me we haven't played yet, so he keeps telling he's gonna come and teach me how to play. So but but you know what he did, he did. They were they grew up kind of poor in Santa Barbara. Not kind, they were poor. This is the type of kid he is. I always call him like an intellectual gangster. You know. He would go to all the top golf courses in Santa Barbara and within minutes, he'd be on the golf course.

He didn't talked his way on there to all these rich dudes coming in there, and he finds somebody that come on, come with us, competitor. Next thing you know, he's playing on some of the top golf courses in the country. Wow. I mean that's the type of kid he is. This amazing this amazing kid. Uh. But you know he played for Compton Magic as well, and and he uh had a great career. He had a really good career there. Um at Oregon State. That's where I

met your dad. Yeah, I remember, I remember. Yeah. I was always a big fan of him from a distance. You know, I liked the Bucks, you know, I like how he played. And then for him he was a commentator in the Pac ten back then. Then he would come up to Oregon State and he would always come over and talk to me, and I thought the world of that man. Appreciate Yeah, he's definitely a dope, dude. How many years you spent at Oregon State? Was it five? Five? Yeah?

Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to listen live. How did the u c l A opportunity come about? Crazy story Man, Crazy story you know. Um, the year before Steve Orford gets the u c l A job, Craig Neil was on his staff, um, and he called me when I was up in Oregon State and he said, hey, Grace, I think I'm gonna get Colorado State. You want to

come be my associate head coach. And at that time, you know, I was, you know, you don't really want to stay more than five or six years on the staff. You know, you can, but it gets stagnated and things change and all that. So so I was kind of looking like, you know, I might need to change, you know, Um, I still love Craig and all of that. So I said, if you get it, I'll go, you know. And then so it didn't happen, and I was recruiting Craig Neil's son, who was good. He's good for he ended up going

into Mexico. Yeah, So anyway, so I would go recruiting in the summer and sit with Craig because he was a coach too. So I was recruiting his son knowing that really he wasn't gonna let him go play in the Princeton offense with Craig Robinson. But I was networking, you know, so so but Steve would go sit on the other side, never say a word to me. And I'm like, you know, that's big time Steve Offord, and I'm not gonna go and say, Steve, how you doing? You know what I mean, because he never said a

word to me. So so, so fast forward, he gets the job at U c l A. I'm flying into Atlanta for the Final four, and Dan Marley had just got the Grand Canyon job. He was interested in hiring me. He wanted to interview me at the Final four. And Andy Enfield played. He was from Pennsylvania. He played at Johns Hopkins and my old high school coach was assistant coach at Johns Hopkins when he was there. So so

Andy was gonna interview me at the final four. Two so I didn't when thinking about U c l A. So I landed, I land and man, I got like, you know, calls and texts on my phone. U c l A is interested in you. U c l A called about you. Steve, Steve was going to hire you and stuff like that, and I'm like, is this jokes you know? Uh? Uh? This is you know dude from Aberdeen, Maryland. Man, there was a military. Dude's gonna get the get the interview at U c l A. Come on, man. So

so I get two or three phone calls. Uh told called me um, A couple other people called me that that that Steve reached out to. And then an hour later it was eight o'clock and Steve called me and said, hey, I understand you're in my same hotel. What the sides of that? Can you? Can you come up to the suite and I want to interview you in an hour? So I said, oh yes, O wait, so did you have to get ready for that or coach where you

already ready? I had my suit already because I was going to interview already the next day with with with UH with Grand Canyon, right, so, and I knew I was going to interview with USC. So about five minutes later, I get a text from Neil because Neil and offered their best friends. So Neil text me, are you going to interview at U c l A. Yeah, I'm gonna interview with U c l A. He says, if you end it, then he calls me right, says, if you interview at U c l A, you can't interview with

New Mexico. So I said, alright, alright, Noodles, you know what, Noodles, you want to play that game. I'm still interviewing, and therefore, letters a powerful man, I'm not coming into Mexican y. Yeah. And then he said, uh, well, I could pay you a lot more, which was true because you know U c l A didn't pay man, so that with that part was true. He said, I could pay you a lot more. We can do a lot more stuff, you

know what I mean. And I said, man, I'm interviewing the U c l A. It ain't about the money, man, It's about having the opportunity to coach it. And you know how special that place is. Man, So um, I go up. I'm an interviewing and this is this is what I tell a lot a lot of kids. Halfway through the interview, his daughter walks in and because it's in a suite and they were staying in the same place, so I stand up and I go shake her hand and I said hello, she's a sophomore in high school

at the time. Then she leaves. I go back down. We finished the interview and then Steve said, hey, you got anything else? So, I mean, you got you got anything you want to say? So I said, yeah, man, um when we when you know, when you're gonna make your decision? And he said you got anything left? And uh, you said you got anything else going on? I said, yeah, I got Grand Canyon. He said, what's that detail? You know he's going out joke U c l a man. He had his polo on, you know, he is, Yeah,

He's like, is that D two? He went one of them numbers, right, and I said no, it's D one. And then he said what do you got? And I said I got New Mexico And he started laughing, like yeah, who cares about that? He just came from there, right. And then I said, he said you got anything else? I said usc? He he got he got serious, you know what I mean, that's across town. He got USC. I said, yeah, I got USC coming up on the interview, probably having Sunday and Monday, you know. And then he

got real serious. He said okay. He said, uh, if you don't hear from me tomorrow at twelve before your grand chain, you just go to that. He said. But I'm gonna I'll make the I'm gonna make a call to tomorrow. I'm gonna make it a higher tomorrow. So it gets to be the next day, it gets to be like eleven forty, you know, and I'm walking over to the to the interview with Marley, and I'm saying, I must didn't get it, you know what I mean. So I got to really concentrate on this Grand Canyon deal,

you know what I mean. But I still was at Oregon State, so I was still fine, you know. So so I go and he calls me right before and he said, hey, man, I'm sorry. Bryce, his son had a three point shooting contest. He was a senior at the time at the final four. He said, I was late with that, and I had a couple of other things. He said, give me Craig Robinson's number. So I gave him Craig Robinson's number. Um, and then he said, going to that what's that Grand Canyon going to that interview,

you know what I mean. So I go to the interview with Grand Canyon. I walked out and we're in the main lobby. So I got a suit on him. So Buzz Williams comes over and says, Gracie, where your interview at. I'm like, man, I et interviewed, don't wear man, you know what I mean? Yeah. Then he said, ah, you interviewed. I know you interviewed. I just know you did. So then Craig Robinson walks around on and I didn't tell Craig. I didn't tell because I didn't you know,

getting these jobs right. Greg sees me in the suit, oh man, and he said, David, you got something going on? And I said yeah, And I told him all that, all the options right, and I said you could get a phone call from you know. And then Steve Steve Offord and he said, oh, okay, cool. And then you know, he was in the lobby and they were swarming him because everybody's trying to get the Barack. So at that point I just said, the heck with it. I'm staying

in the lobby because I didn't know. I didn't know Craig was gonna take the call or not, you know what I mean, all kinds of stuff running through my head, you know, yeah, man, So I just stayed. And um and then Damon Archibald and his brother um Bo came up to me and said, hey, man, I heard you interview that U c l A. So I didn't tell nobody, you know, And I don't know how they got out.

Maybe the people that Steve called. Maybe, So I said, no, man, you know, I'm trying to keep things quiet because you know how that stuff is, man, people hating. So so I stayed different about an hour, but I never let Craig out of my sight, you know what I mean. And then Craig walks around after an hour and he and he shows me his phone. He says, is this Steve's number? I said, yeah it is, so he did call right, So so then um, he said, I'll give him a call about five minutes. So I waited for that.

He was on the phone. Then I went back to my room. Man, I was exhausted, man, and took my suit off, and I'm like, it's either I'm gonna get it or I'm not, you know what I mean. And then about two hours later, Steve calls and says, hey, you want to go to dinner. So we go to dinner. He's sitting right across from me, not saying one word to me. Uh Eddie Shillen, who's on our staff. He was eating dinner his agent Um was there and his whole family and then me and im and I'm eating, like,

not talking to anybody. I don't know anybody, right, So I'm like, why you bring me here? Man? You know what I mean? Tell me I finished second or third, you know. And then he then all of a sudden, you know, he's laughing and joking. Then all of a sudden he said, you know what, in my twenty three years, I've never hired anybody I didn't know. And I said, yeah, you said that three or four times in the interview. I said, I really appreciate the opportunity to even interview,

you know. But she said that three I said, Uh, Jerome Jenkins didn't know me either, you know, and and and neither did uh Craig Robinson, He said, yeah, Craig. Craig gave me a uh, one of the best recommendations. He said nothing but great things about you. And I didn't know if he would, you know what I mean. I think the world of that to this day for Craig because he didn't have to do that. And he says, he says, I'm gonna hire you. He said, but before,

really why I'm gonna hire you? See that young lady down at the end of the table. She said, I better hire you if things are gonna be bad at at his daughter, for you shook when you shook her hand, when I shook her hand, and she said, no one has ever done that because she's in a household of boys. She has two brothers her dad, so legend, you know what I mean. And it was all basketball. So she she was so impressed that some one of Steve's people would say hied to her and make it, make it

a point. She said, that's he said, that's the real reason why I'm gonna hurt you. So that's how I got hired. That you see all that character, coach, that was an amazing story. Ain't that crazy? That's an amazing that you know that that scene in the lobby, hold On Williams and you know, Craig Robinson seeing you in the suit, I know you're sweating bull, Coach. You had to be sweating, bully. I was trying to get out of there, quick man. But that's the That's how live

it is. Thank you for sharing that, giving the audience just you know, some insight into this stuff actually really goes down. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to listen live. Because maybe actually this about U. C l A. Um your tenure. You're there five years, I believe how many three sweet sixteens.

You know, you guys did a magnificent job. Do you view your time there as a success or do you wish you could have done a little bit more? Well, I always think it's a success. It's the greatest place I've ever worked. Um, I had five great years. It was a lot of stress, obviously, you know, I was a recruiting coordinator and if we missed on a kid, it was my fault, you know what I mean. That's just the way it is. And I wouldn't want it

any different. Um, But a lot of stress, a lot of long hours, um, no holidays, you know what I mean. It was. It was it was only for us. I was going up against them cats across you know the way you are seeing levin Harden and in Bland, you know what I mean. Yeah, they were l a cats, you know what I mean. That was tough. That was

a tough era. That was a tough era. Yeah, and then me and all great friends of course, and I love I love Jason, I love Tony and since she was competition, man, so it was like, man, where they at, you know what I mean, where I can combat them, you know. And uh so it was a great, great five years. You know we were there. Best team obviously was the Alonzo ball team, um and which I thought we had enough to win the national titles. Ranked second

in the country. You know, we're the only team to go to Kentucky and beat beat them at Kentucky and then go to Arizona in the same year and beat beat the Arizona which had great teams too. You know, so that that team, you know, we we didn't get we we we got a tough drawl in my opinion. We we go up to Sacramento, win two hard games. Now we gotta go play Kentucky basically at home in Memphis,

you know what I mean. That was a joke. The committee always does you like that historically, just so you know, one year, coach, we wanted to pack twelve, we wanted to pack ten out right, and they shipped us off to Indianapolis and we got a five seat. Yeah, we wanted to pack. We won sixteen games in conference coach, and they gave it were Princeton Princeton backdoors US for games. Yeah I remember that. Yeah, but yeah, but so notoriously they did that. But yeah, I mean, god that that

that brand of basketball. And then on the offensive side, was really excited because we had just came the Brewing contingent Nation, if you will, had came out of the Howling era where it was a little bit of a contrast as far as you know, micromanaging and possession by possession less, grind out some w's and then we're doing you guys this ten you're The excitement was definitely back in the building and the and I like the players holling broad but you guys are bringing in some real dogs.

I mean, one of my favorites was t J. Leaf. I always liked his game. I like the other big the big kid Eka. I thought he was man. I was. There was a point where I was gonna take him over Bam. I mean, obviously that didn't turn out the same way, but I remember when both it was both. I was looking I was looking like, wait a minute, could play man He's because remember he was only like seventeen and a half. Remember all that. I was like, man, what's the one on with this dude? Yeah, he should

have stayed another year. You know. Now he's got injuries on both knees. So great kid, great family. Uh. I think Thomas Welsh thing. You know, Thomas was going four years. Thomas was more skilled offensively, and we were gonna start Thomas, you know, so e K was gonna come back. You know, when you when you're dealing with the NBA as you know, you got to hit it when you're hot, and he

was hot at the time. Big time shot blocker. Probably be a shop blocker we had in our five years, you know, and you cel A don't have a lot of those, do you know what I mean over the years, you know what I mean, a rim protector like that. And Thomas wasn't. He wasn't. I mean it was I can't say that because Thomas is the all time leading shop blocker. Thomas he gave that wall a little too hit on you. I mean he's smart and he get them and he just give me that. Let's go the

other way. I was like, Thomas came along ways man, Yeah he did. Here Pressley, Yeah, the thing was after every practice he goes shake every coach's hand, say thank you. Really yeah, just one of those kids cut. One of those kids cut from that call. Yep. In fact, one time Steve said watch this and Steve started running to the locker room. Right, he ran down. We got out of there. That's funny. Yeah, that's funny. Then Alonzo uh Ball just talk to talk about you're were you You're

pretty heavily involved in that situation, right. I recruit to him at Oregon State. So I was mainly how how how was it recruited Alonzo Ball? Real easy? You know, I knew, I knew we all. You know, I knew LaVar before LaVar, you know really because before the before the notoriety, because when we were at Oregon State, Um,

you know, did nobody really know LaVar. He didn't know him until we played at the Wooden Classic and we won that tournament and then Jeff Goodman was it with ESPN and put the mic and in LaVar's face and LaVar said, hey, we're gonna win the national type that started it off, you know what I mean? And uh, but that that family very close with and they treat me like one of their own and they're incredible people. You know. I tell people all the time. The year

before Alonzo gets there, we struggled. We were sixteen seventeen, Aaron Holliday, who I loved the death. He came out of high school environment where he was the only cat, so he had to score. Now, he would win games by himself, almost beat Sara Kenyon by himself. You know, he was a monster. He was right, yeah, you know. But with that, when Aaron got there, he always had that chip on the shoulder. I'm the last holiday that's got to get to the league. So he he had

that chip on his shoulder. And you know, when your dad age, you think you gotta score it every time. So that's that's that year we had Aaron, and Aaron was more more scoring minded. Point guard Alonso comes in. They still they're like great friends, and then we play them both. Alonso dominated. Alonzo dominated the point guards by changed the whole locker room with the past. He did it with the past. He's had to tell him to

score the whole locker room changes. DJ helped ek help because they came, you know, but but Alonzo changed the whole culture in the whole locker room. Just by the pass even had Aaron passed. It was a beautiful brand. Yeah, just beautiful to watch. Yeah, most assisted team I think in the country. Yeah, yeah, y'all was off the hood, coach. I mean, it was like, man, I just knew we was about to win the title. But it is what it is like just like my junior year, I thought

we was gonna win a title. Made till lead eight, but then we ran into Bobby Jackson, Sam Jacobson, John Thomas, and Courtney James in Minnesota coach Clem Haskins and yeah, coach Clem, but but no, we you guys represented, and that's all we could have ever asked. Let me ask you this about the exit out of u C l A. How do you feel about the way you left? You know, I'm not, I don't. I never wanted to leave, you know what I mean. It's it was that special place.

So when you leave there, I went to cal Cow, paid me way more. They showed great interests when I left. Uh, I stayed in the in the retirement system. You know, yes, sir, yes, sir, but it just wasn't the same. You know what I mean. It's it's once you get to u C. L A. It was kind of the rest you go downhill a little bit. Not saying anything about Cow, It's just different. We didn't have the men's gym in the summer, you know what I mean. We didn't have guys like yourself.

The alumni base wasn't like that at Cow. You know, it's kind of splinter. You got you know, Jason Kidd and Kevin Johnson. But other than that, you know, it's not like the family that U. C. L A Is. You know, you guys are going threads, you know, Tius and you and and Martin and you know all all you guys. Man. I talked about you guys a lot, you know, to the kids and how your alumni is definitely a family. Yes, and you know Earl watching me

and Earl very close. Um, you know, so it's you know, it's it's just I didn't I didn't want to leave. I thought I was gonna be there ten fifteen years. You know, I wasn't gonna be in no lobby trying to trying to get to get you know what I mean, We didn't. We know, no one could understan then what happened, Well, you know I could. I'll tell what happened. It's just Steve. We we we went to the first four remember remember that year and we got beat by Yeah, and so

things weren't going for well for Steve. You know, we had the stuff the banners flying over. Yeah, me and me and Dan Guerrero were great friends. Dan. It's like a mentor. We stay in touch to this day, you know. So Steve comes into in and he was gonna say we had a staff meeting, but it really wasn't a staff meeting. He came in to say, hey, David, you you need to go find another job. Right So we're on one year contracts. So, um, I was in shocked.

And then he said, pray about it. You know that I was really in shocked, you know what I mean. He hit you with the pray about it. So we prayed about it. So, but you know, I'm so thankful for Steve. I'm so so thankful that he hired me. He didn't have to, and he gave me the opportunities. And I'm I'm to the misture at Peace State right now in my life where I don't blame Steve. Steve that was an avenue for for my path to go

up to Cow. You know what I mean. So so I even, you know, I hit Steve up and tell him, you know, wishing my happy birthday here and there, because it's it's Steve. It's just part of life, you know what I mean. And and uh, so Steve, he had the meeting, and Dan Garrel basically told him he's gonna get fired being going to file for next year. So that's and then after that he said, you know, Steve said, I'm sure. He said, well, I'm just gonna go get

one of my best friends to come in. We'll play golf and you know, because we're not winning and we're not going to final forward that team that he had. And and then and then I went over and talked to Dan the next day because he said Dan said didn't want to you know, Steve said Dan wanted to change, which I knew that was the case. So because me and Dan, so I go to Dan the next day and then said, no, no, no, that's not the case. He said, David, more than likely he's going to get

let go next year. It's probably better that you move. And uh and then you won't be a part of it. And that's what happened. Halfway through the season, he left, and that's that's exactly what happened. Um, and allowed me to get over to cow and and and and build to keep building, uh and trying to help why King out? You know what I mean, absolutely thing for why King offered me the job. And I didn't know why King

was gonna get let go after two years. So um and we have we have players getting ready to come in there, you know, Danny, Jerry and all that might have came to our place. Yeah. I feel like the way you approach this and the way you look at you know, maybe setbacks or things that don't go your way, is the approach. It's why you're such a great mentor as why people, these young people need to listen to

folks like you, because that is a big thing. It's how you deal with getting knocked down or it's how you you dust yourself off and get back up. You know, you could be piste off at Steve, you could be pissed off surly and you can get into a whole depressive thing. But you're like, you know what, man, I'm not even thank you for the opportunity, sir man that that that it hits me right here, uh home, Coach I appreciate you being that way. Let me ask you

this about your next stop at Vanderbilt. You recruited Scottie Pippen Jr. Kenyan Martin Jr. Very heavily to former NBA kids sons. Yeah, great players, high quality kids as well. Is there uh something different or something in a twinkle in the eye if you will, of an NBA player son when you recruited him versus a non NBA player son that may be talented as well. Yeah, I'm a firm believer in the pedigree, you know. You know, it's just like with you. You know, your your dad was

a great NBA player, you had a great career. Um, it is different. It's different. It's just just the way it is, you know. You know Scottie Pippen was a three star recruit out of high school, I know, and that amazing coach. You could see the way he played the game because I wouldn't I did. I did a bunch of their games and I went to games. You could see that he was like his i Q was just off the rocker. It was that you could you can't speed him up. No, you know what I mean.

He's yeah, pois just doing what he want on You has to be like day. Yeah, he's gonna get to where he wants to get to. Man. Just a great kid to coach. Yeah, you know, he had committed to Vanderbilt before I got there, and he hadn't signed. Okay, So that was the first thing I said. I told Jerry Stackhous said, when we got to go to l a man, you gotta get him signed because we we don't have him. We're gonna be really in bad ship,

you know what I mean. And then I said, while you're there, we're gonna get kJ, you know, because kJ hadn't committed. Yeah, what I mean, I said, that's another that's the other one I want, you know what I mean. kJ committed and then you know, he his father calls me right before summer school and say, hey, coach, he's just like man, he ain't feeling there. He called, He's gonna go to i MG and be a post grad. Yeah,

he probably wonna do school work there. Yeah. Facts. Yeah, So he told me the truth, and that's what happened with kJ. And I actually was going to i MG because I was recruiting the kid over there, so I would see kJ a lot man and we would sit in the gym and just have great talks. Man, He's just a great kid, absolutely absolutely coach. One more question for you, now, I let you go. I wanted to. I wanted to find out now that you have made

you spent. You know, you lead Shadow Mountain to the state title in oh six So now it's been sixteen years and you've been all through the college ranks and you know, kind of incredible journey with some incredible places that you've coached. What made you decide to go back to the high school level and not uh stay in college. Well, you know, I interview um this past uh cycle with South Carolina State and for the head coaching job, and they actually called me and said everyone's gonna bring me in.

And then at the last minute, Um, they went hit and hired Eric Martin out of l L A dude from West Virginia. How do he was that at West Virginia? Great dude and and and deserves it. Um uh he's earned his keep and uh um. So I interviewed there. I interviewed at Bellmont Abbey D two school in North Carolina, very good D two school and the A D. At the last minute, you're not the last minute during the process, said coach, I don't think you'll stay with your pedigree,

you know what I mean. He says, as soon as you get an opportunity to go to D one, you'll leave, you know, And he was probably right, you know what I mean. So, um so then I'm sitting I'm sitting here in Phoenish, you know, um happy, excited, you know. And and then they they they got into rested in me in Centennial Man, and I did my homework on the A D. I did my homework on the principal. I did my homework on the school. They won seven state football titles, you know. So it's a it's a

sports minded school. You just want to stay titled in basketball. And I just like to coach. I tell people I coached five year olds. You know, if I could make a living doing it, and you know, I'd be happy as I'll get out, you know what I mean. It's something about practice. It's something about seeing a kid take him from this A all the way to zee, you know what I mean, not just on the court, but off the court. I love that and do it through a game that I love, you know what I mean.

So that's that's why I took it, and I'm happy everybody. You know, last night, Um, I met the Warriors game and people said, grace you you you you're getting back into D one. Are you gonna go try to go get in the league? And I said, Man, I stopped predicting where the heck I'm going because I adn't figured it out right yet. I mean, I never my wildest dreams, I thought i'd be at U c l A, you know, after when I was putting gas on airplanes, not that,

not that long ago. Yeah, sir, You've had an incredible journey. Thank you for your service to this country. Thank you. I wanted to thank you for for that, Coach. That's fascinating. You're an honorable man with integrity, and I love the way that you go about your business. But the best of it. We wish you the best of luck this year at Puria Cintenna in Cintennio in Arizona, and I look forward to the next time I get to chop it up with you, coach Man. I appreciate it. Man.

When you said you invited me, man, I was like, wow, Man, I get to be on kJ Live Chris Man. Sir, I appreciate I appreciate you. Coach ladies and gentlemen. Coach David Grace