All right program rolling along. The interim head coach of the University of Utah is good enough to give us some time in studio. Josh Eiler, coach, how you doing, Thanks for the time, doing great, great, I appreciate you. Having a beautiful day and crazy, crazy time for you. You and I have never met before, so just for a little context, I'm a college basketball junkie. So I'm gonna ask you right off the top, what's Bob Hawkins like? I got it? That's my first question time. I've got
as much time as you'll get me. I do this for four hours every day, Couch.
I'll tell you what he was the probably the greatest motive on court motivator that I've ever been around. I mean he could he get a guy to run through a wall and do so with a smile on his face, so you.
Know he's uh.
I learned a lot from him, and good and bad, you know, how to operate, and certainly we didn't see the eyed eye on everything, but I had his back for sixteen years and then kind of picked up the pieces from there well.
And the reason I ask is I was a student at the You in the nineties and I attempted to walk on and play for Rick. It lasted about a month and a half because Andre Miller was the starting point guard. So I'm not like that guy, right, And you know, I loved those teams, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for coach mcjeris and Coach Huggins. Kind of strikes me as a similar type figure where the basketball brilliance may have been overshadowed by some of
the personality traits. Is that is that fair to say?
Yeah? Yeah, in a lot of ways. You know, he started from the ground up, he did.
He started at Walsh College, went on to Acron and just kept on moving, moving his way up the ladder
in terms of the college basketball scene. So he had a heck of a career and I was a part of a lot of wins with him and even our staff, our staff that we were together, it was pretty much the same staff for more than a decade, So a lot of those relationships over the course of my career of will last lifetime, between Frank Martin, Brad Underwood, both those guys were on that k State staff that I was a ga on when I first joined Coach Huggins staff,
So those guys. You know, Eric Martin over at South Carolina State had a really good year that we worked together for over a decade. And Jared Calhoun up the road at Utah State. You know, he was the ops guy when I was a video guy when we first got to West Virginia. So got a lot of connections and we're all kind of part of that tree.
So one more thing here, And truly I could do this with you for an hour. I've got ten Bob Huggins questions I want to ask you, but we won't take that much time. But I want to separate Coach Huggins the personality and just ask you about Coach Huggins the basketball mind. Like schematically, you know, he was a coach that believed in defense and pressure. But what did you learn from him just straight as a basketball coach?
I mean, the biggest thing is Bob Huggins, especially when we were really good, well twofold, it was kind of a you know, the Press Virginia days are the first ones that came to mind when we talked about Bob Huggins and when he really put a stamp on that West Virginia program when we went to the Final four, and the third year there were there, we weren't that type of team. So he kind of coaches to his his his personnelity. He did a really good job over
the years to do that. You know, Joe Missoula was our point guard at West Virginia the first three years, so he had that toughness, that tenacity that really fit Bob Huggins' style of play. And you know, it was kind of oil and water from from time to time and day to day, but really at the end of the day that those two, those two kind of married themselves and really put that stamp and defense on that floor.
And when you look at the Press Virginia days and in those days with Javon Carter and and uh, you know, Daxter Miles and Tarik Phillips, some of those guys just had such a hard edge in terms of how they played the game and they really fit that and uh, we kind of recruited to that point and built those programs and we had to shot block with the sagoball kanate, you know, you know, cleaning everything up on the side, so those guards could be really really aggressive defensively and
if they got beat, you know, you had one of the best shot blockers in the country at the at the rim to clean things up.
Did you see anything from Joe that would indicate he would go on to be a great head coach.
Now, I remember when he kind of got out of the game and Joe and I had a really good relationship. I remember, you know, Synergy Sports Technologies was one of the first you know, analytical programs or so to speak out there, and I remember him reaching out and just trying to like he is, like, coach Eiler, would you, you know, share your log in. I wanted to really kind of study the game, and he had that, you know,
more so than a lot of kids these days. He had that that that that hunger to just watch film and study film, and you saw it as a player. I remember sitting in, you know, as a video coordinator and he's he's our point guard and sometimes he was our backup point guard. But regardless, he's going into see
me to study his opponent. And some of the things he would see that I wouldn't see, like when we started looking at the tendency is like he would pick something up every time, like I can take advantage of that. So he had that mind from from day one. I never knew like that's where he wanted to go with his career, but certainly, you know, he's continued to do that and he's he's different than a lot of guys you'll see out there.
We just broke some news on the show without coach Eilert's logging info for Synergy, Joe Mizula is not coach of the Boston Celtics. I think I.
Said listening, but I shared that log in with him.
Hey, tell me the origin story, you know, as you just referenced with Coach Calhoun, Coach Martin. I mean, I have a tremendous respect for coaches.
You know.
My mama always used to say when I'd go to a coach's dinner, hug your coach's wife, you know, because of how much you guys go through. So I get the grind and I respect the fraternity. What's the origin story with you and Craig and how you landed in saw it?
You know, I was, I was enjoying life. You know, I had a little bit more anxiety last year at this time than I do this year in terms of the transition, because I'd never been through that process.
Before seventeen years years and I started as.
A GA for coach Huggins. I went to West Virginia, newly married, without any kids. You know, we kind of take a leap of faith and take a thirty thousand dollars job as a video coordinator O seven, a video coordinator, the director of ops, the interim assistant coach, to associate ad.
For So I just every every role up the ladder.
I played those, every one of those roles in seventeen years. So you know, last year, you know, a ten month contract, it didn't really work out the way we thought it would. You know, really tried to build a roster late late in summer and and and so you know, we kind of behind the eight ball and trying to compete in the Big twelve.
So it didn't work out great.
But then I started like, let me just enjoy some of this, and I started having conversations with some coaches, a couple other Big twelve coaches. My agent got me in touch with Coach Smith and and it was a slow process. You know, I think Coach Smith does a really good job of doing his due diligence on who he brings into programs. And you can see with the character of guys that he has in this program, the character of people he has in this program.
He took his time on me because we didn't know each other.
We had never met, and so it was just about, you know, one phone call ever three or four days for about five weeks, and just one random call he said, you're ready to go, ready to do this. And this is I think or two days before our our summer workouts began and at mid June, and I was like, at that point, I was like, Yeah, let's do it. And uh, it was kind of crazy to me that
he never brought me out. You know, it's all based on phone conversations, and we'd never been face to face, had never been to Salt Lake before other than flying through the in La over. But I was like, leap of faith, let's do this. And I felt good about it, and and my family and I just jumped and jumped at the opportunity and we in this way.
You know, there's there's a personal side of this business that I don't think we do a good enough job of acknowledging. And I'm familiar with it because my father was in sports. He wasn't a coach, but we moved I don't know six or seven times because of his career, and you moved out here you know, either wife, three children. Correct, Yes, and obviously Craig has been let go. I don't know
what that means for your future. I'm wondering if you do, coach, if I could ask you if you know what's next after the year.
I don't, Okay, I don't.
And I'm totally at peace with that, especially at at this point in my career. Like I said last year, at this time, you know, I was going through it for the first time in my career and not knowing what's next, and I put a lot of anxiety around that, that whole scenario, and I tried not to because I just wanted to have faith that things would work out.
And they did.
And here I am in a situation and and I really don't want to think too much about that because we have so much going on right now in terms of we still have a job to do. Yeah, and I'm the leader of this program, and I've been trying I had to, uh, you know, my the way I handle things, I want our staff to handle handle things the same way. Everybody's assessing your value at this time, and that goes that goes from the you know, the bottom guy on the roster to everybody on the staff.
We're fighting through this adversity. Let's see how we handle it. And then someone's always watching and assessing your value. And no better, no better opportunity to show who you are and showcase who you are is to handle these things appropriate way. And I think we've done so.
I will follow up because i've and I'm sure you listen to the show, so thank you. H. I talk often and have for the past few weeks about you as a candidate for Alex's staff. Uh, basically two decades if not more in the Big twelve. Uh, you're also a big, strong dude. You want somebody to have your back, you know, if you're walking into a gym. Obviously you know that's not the number one thing, but you know you want people to respect instantly what you do. And
you have the resume, you have the pedigree. And I'll ask whether or out you've had conversations with Alex about coaching with him.
Well, what I saw you said, big sean dude. I looked up to Alex when I saw him for the.
First Yeah, I've known AJ fears he's out of shape. You look like you still play. Alex couldn't get up and down the floor twice.
Now we have.
You know, we've worked together really well through this transition. You know, he's doing right by the people in Dallas and trying to kind of manage both situations at the same time. And I think I've been a big help to him by by taking on the role here as an interim head coach and keeping everybody together and keeping everybody locked in. But I haven't had those conversations with him. I haven't forced those conversations. He hasn't forced those conversations.
And you know, kind of I've told several guys in our staff, you want these things to happen organically. None of it can be forced. If you're going to force yourself upon someone, it's likely not going to work anyway. So as we kind of feel each other out and we work together through this process. If it's a right for him, if it's beneficial for him and he sees a lot of value in me and I see a lot of value in him, and it's mutual, then well
we'll look at that. But right now we're not to that point yet for sure.
Now take take me through the process if you would about deciding to play in the College Basketball Crown, because you know, I had wondered whether or not you'd get a postseason invite, and then when it came, I'd wondered whether or not you would accept it. And as you referenced, you know, players are playing for coaches. The transfer portal means it's free agency call whatever it is. Coaches are playing for jobs. So I understand the desire to showcase
the talent. But what was the process that you guys went through before deciding to play in the tournament.
Well, the opportunity was presented prior to even going to Kansas City, So okay, that invited already, you know, came across the desk of the administrator administrators and they presented to me and and kind of got my feedback as to what my thought process was. I mean, certainly we weren't out of the question of getting automatic bid and if we can get hot in Kansas City, so you didn't really want to You had to be careful on how you presented that to the team.
But that was out there on the.
Table, and it's new and it's exciting, you know, you think about all the other postseason tournaments. And I know that I've been a part of been in the n I T twice and to the CBI once, and trust me, there's no motivation whatsoever to play in those things. And sometimes you said n I T like we were talking about earlier today. You know, if you win a couple of games, and back in the day, the big reward was to go to New York City and play in New York City if you got to the final four.
Now it's Indianapolis. So if you throw this and throw all that into the and you start weighing these things, now you look at the n I T as kind of in my mind, I see it as lesser of a tournament than what this Crown Tournament is. You know, you go to Vegas. I know the timeline is a little strange in terms of waiting three weeks to play in it. But they're all in national TV. You know, they're all broadcast by Fox or FS one. It's all in Vegas. I mean, who doesn't want to go to Vegas.
I'm pushing to get down there.
Yeah, so you.
Got a week in Vegas and then at the end of it, which is new to everybody, nilpiece if there's if you win a couple of games, you're automatically in the money, and you win the whole thing is three hundred thousand dollars. So there's a lot more motivating factors to it. And the way we've handled it through this coaching changes, through the coaching change is, you know, all
these things can happen at the same time. You can be in the portal, you can still represent University of Utah, you can still play in the Crown Tournament, and all these things can happen at the same time. And I think that's what's going to happen moving forward with some of these other schools to keep everybody, give them the right opportunity to assess their value, but also compete and play in the tournament.
Yeah, And the interesting thing is a lot of these schools are big brands. They're just down a little bit, you know, you guys, Butler, I mean, there's some really good brands in the tournament. Before I said you loose, you kind of alluded to this last check. There are five players in the transfer portal, and as you kind of alluded to, you can be in the transfer portal and still play in practice. Are you going down to Vegas, I didn't even mean to do this with a full deck your disposal.
For the most part, we are, Yeah, I think we're pretty much full strength. You know, Caleb Lohner is looking at his NFL potential, and like I said earlier, you know.
I want to do right by everybody.
Sure, I'm not forcing anybody to play in this, but if if his his value moving forward is NFL, that's something he needs to pursue. Mason Mattson had had some issues with his shoulder all year and he's going to have he had surgery on on on that and get got things cleaned up there, so he won't be participating with us. But for the most part, as you know, as we look at it right now, where's full strength is probably anybody's walking into that tournament now. Will there
be five or six guys in the portal? Yes, and I don't there's no reason why they can't play and being the portal and and assessing their value while we do so. And if you to be honest with you, the portal's never really closed, right. I Mean, there's agents that talk to coaches, there's coaches that talk to agents.
There's all this stuff going on. Behind the scene means that you're never going to stop, so you might as well just allow them to be in the portal and have legitimate conversations with coaches, especially through a coaching change. You don't want to lose the trust to guys and so they should be able to, you know, make the decision in the best instances of themselves through the process.
Well, I really appreciate the time. Utah basketball means a lot to me, so I respect you, know the work that you put in during a very difficult transition. Best of luck in Vegas, coach, and best of luck with whatever's next.
Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on