Episode #55: Brian Johnson

🎙️ Welcome to the Significant Coaching Podcast!

In this week's episode, we sit down with Brian Johnson, Associate Head Men's Basketball Coach at Binghamton University, to dive deep into the world of college basketball coaching. With years of experience shaping athletes on and off the court, Coach Johnson brings invaluable insights into what it takes to thrive in competitive sports and life.

We explore his coaching journey, philosophies, and how he builds a winning culture that prioritizes development, discipline, and resilience. From recruiting tips and leadership lessons to balancing academics with athletics, this conversation is packed with actionable advice for athletes, parents, and aspiring coaches.

Want to learn more about Coach Johnson? Visit his profile here: Brian Johnson – Binghamton University Staff Directory.

Whether you're a basketball fan, a coach seeking inspiration, or a parent navigating the college sports landscape, this episode delivers a courtside seat to the strategies that drive success at the collegiate level.

🎧 Tune in now for an episode full of wisdom, motivation, and game-changing insights.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Significant Coaching Podcast, the show that dives deep into the journey, strategies, and philosophies of today's top coaches across all levels of sports. I'm your host, Matt Rogers. You can learn more about me and my coaching history, read my book on college recruiting, or schedule with me about your recruiting and coaching needs, or you can book me to speak at your school or organization at CoachMattRogers. com. I couldn't be more excited for today's episode. Joining us is someone who has been instrumental in transforming the trajectory of a Division I basketball program. Brian Johnson, the Associate Head Men's Basketball Coach at Binghamton University, is with us today. Coach Johnson is entering his sixth season with the Bearcats where he's played a pivotal role in the program's sharp rise in recent years. Under his leadership as defensive coordinator, the team has become a force in rebounding and three point defense, consistently ranking among the league's best. Over the last three seasons, Binghamton has placed a player on the American East All Defensive team, a testament to his strategic acumen. Last season, Coach Johnson helped guide the Bearcats to their highest win total in 15 years, finishing strong by winning seven of their last 11 conference games. His efforts have not gone unnoticed. He was named to Silver Waves Media's 75 Rising Stars. Those impactful men's mid major assistance in 2023 and earned an invitation to the prestigious collegiate coaching consortium where he was recognized as a future division one head coach. But Coach Johnson's impact extends well beyond Binghamton. Before joining the Bearcats, he was a head coach at Southern Vermont College, where he led his team to a 16 win season. At Prince George's Community College, he clinched the Maryland Junior College Tournament crown and earned Coach of the Year honors. He's also had a hand in developing elite talent at UMBC, including players like Rodney Elliott and Jarius Lyles, who've gone on to achieve professional success. A standout player in his own right, Coach Johnson scored over 1, 000 career points at the University of Delaware and still ranks among the program's all time leaders in assists and three pointers. Today, we'll talk about his journey, the keys to building a winning culture, and his vision for the future of the game. Coach Johnson, welcome to the Significant Coaching Podcast. Coach Johnson, it's so great to have you on man. I, I've, been referred to me by a number of great coaches and they speak so highly of you. how's the season going? How are you guys feeling? Let's start there. Matt, thank you. I appreciate it. likewise, it's a pleasure to be here. the season is going well. We're excited to enter in the conference play with a positive record. We were on the six game win streak, which has been really exciting for our guys and for our community as well. So we opened up this weekend and, I think we're going to have a heck of a turnout, with our fans and I think they're going to be excited, the product that we're going to put on the floor. That's awesome. That's great. you've been a big name in the college circuit in terms of guys that are on the verge of being a head coach, I want to talk about being an assistant a little bit. Cause I remember, I got really lucky. I was a head college coach at 26. And the reason I was a head college coach at 26 is the university that hired me was only paying 6, 000 a year. So there wasn't a lot of guys fighting to get to work 100, 000 job, making six grand a year. I did seven different jobs on campus and I refereed at the YMCA for an entire year just so I could make 20 grand. Oh yeah, the grind. It's a grind. Talk a little bit about that grind and you're past that. You're an associate coach, you're a seasoned guy, but I like giving advice to those young guys and gals out there that see what you do and it's a dream. And I don't know if they understand the grind that comes with the dream. So what does it take to be an assistant at the college level, especially at the D one level that you're, yeah, I think it takes a lot of, Hard work and humility. that's definitely one of the things I think in terms of being an assistant anywhere is that you really have to humble yourself and be able to do the job that is expected and required for you to do. but also, when it's time to pitch in and sweep the floors and to shag basketballs and go to BJ's to go pick up food, I think that's important to we all have a role in the process into winning basketball games. But, I can relate to that grind. My first job being at Goldie Beacon College, I, not only was I assistant basketball coach, but also, I worked work late night stock at Toys R Us. I also picked up laundry during the day for a moving company. You have to be flexible and you have to really have some humility, but you also, the more important thing is you gotta love it. Like that, that two to three hours of practice is really a safe haven to really just fall in love with the game, with helping young student athletes be the best version of themselves. I love that, man. It is. And, I look at the years where I had a lot of success as a head coach. I can pinpoint who was on my staff that those years and the reason that we had success. I can tell you down to the detail why we had success because of those guys, because of those assistants. And it's not that if we had a bad season, those assistants didn't do great work either. It's just, I know the impact an assistant coach can have. And I remember being a D three coach. For many years where the university said, Hey, we'll give you$1,500 to hire an assistant. how many people want to take$1,500 and go, okay, how do I survive? I can't even pay the rent. I can't eat, I can't have a sandwich. So for you, where does that drive come from? Where does that love of the game come from? I know you're one heck of a player at Delaware, but where does that drive to want to keep being a part of this come from? I think it's a little bit of my upbringing and my parents, I've watched my dad, work tirelessly to help put food on the table and work long hours. and also just my mother who has that entrepreneurial spirit. so I think I truly believe that blend as well as the coaches that I've had and spoken to about what it means to be a coach, the true meaning of helping that student athlete to be better. And the reward that you get of seeing them grow and become older and listen to the wise words that they didn't listen to that when they were 18 to 22 year olds, to really have them call back and say, thank you, coach. I think really that grind. and that challenge, really pushes you forward through those dog days where, it can be tough. It could be grueling. and we all want to win. but more importantly, or just as important, we want to make sure we put our whole foot in and help these guys be successful. You go back to those first couple of years. You were an assistant coach. If you go back and give that guy advice. What would you tell him? You don't know everything. you do not know everything. I think the best thing that was given to me was the opportunity to mess up. Coach Chuck Hammond, who was my coach, and then Aki Thomas when I got to UMBC, they really gave me free reign to make mistakes. and they didn't stop me from thinking that I knew everything. And then, whether that was in recruiting or on court instruction. And for me, I've always been about self reflection and trying to be myself. is better today, a better tomorrow than I am today. so I really thought that I knew everything. when I was a young assistant, but you definitely don't know everything until you go through it and you experience, What's the right way to teach something? Everybody doesn't learn the same. What's the right way to, have a conversation one of your players, whether it's in a team setting or individual, you can't call everybody out. because they might receive the information a lot differently when you do it in a different setting. That young guy who, probably still had hair on top of his head, thought he knew everything. but he quickly learned that, you have to continue to grow and learn throughout this profession. I think for me, you talk about your coaches, Ray Shovlin was the guy at St. Ambrose university that gave me my first shot. And, for me, I, my, my head, I'm going to go in, I'm teaching offense, I'm teaching defense, and you're not as the assistant. you have other priorities. what have you learned over the years as your most important priority As that number one guy to the head coach, the number two guy on the bench, what do you see are your priorities to make sure that program is healthy? I think my number one priority is to obviously support the head coach and his vision and to help him, make sure his vision comes into fruition. Whether that's in the classroom or on the court, for us. you really have to dive deep into spending time and building those relationships with your players. So mentally they can go out and execute what you need them to do on the floor. I think that's extremely important, especially in my position to really support him and to make sure that We're executing whatever it is that needs to be done on the floor, but also off the court, make sure these guys are growing, make sure these guys in the community and really getting the overall student experience that ultimately is going to help them grow and become better together. So I would definitely say that's probably my biggest role. And I think that is the right answer from somebody that's been doing it a while because you understand you're going to have your own program very quickly. You're going to be, it's obvious where you're headed. and I think for me. I was a assistant coach for three years and then I was a head coach and I didn't get the training and the feet to the fire as much as I needed before I became a head coach. What makes a great head coach is somebody that really knows how to be an assistant that knows how to do everything, can run the scoreboard, knows how to set up the locker room, knows how the laundry room works, know the training staff's process. Knows how the athlete meetings work and the classes work. You got to know everything, how to set up travel, how to set up where we're going to eat, where the hotels are going to be, what time practices are going to be on the road. So for me, it's always been the really good head coaches are the ones that understand everything. That no, every role there is to play in that program. Am I wrong? No, you're not wrong at all. and I also think that's part of the reason when I left, UMBC, part of the reason that I wanted to be a junior college head coach that ended up transitioning to be a division three head coach, because I truly believe you learn more from experience. Then you do by somebody just telling you what you're supposed to be doing. And, I still talk to my former head coaches and mentors. And I let them know I'm a much better assistant now because I also understand, as a former head coach, what's important, right? a lot of the things that I can probably take off myself as well as the other guys on staff, maybe are not as important that needs to be on my head coach's desk right now, because, he's trying to focus on X, Y, and Z, right? He might be focusing on the game. He might be focusing on fundraising. so I truly believe you definitely have to have your feet on the ground and, your boots on the ground, as they say, and put yourself in a position where You're able to know what's going on so that you can really understand what's important, what's not important, to a program because everything is important, but there are levels to what's more important. Absolutely. And it takes time to figure that out. It takes time to figure out what the priorities of that program is different, a little different wherever you're at. I've always looked at the head coach and the assistant coach relationship is you're the mom and the dad, most head basketball coaches are the traditional dad. They're the disciplinarian. They're the ones that are going to set the tempo, in terms of the tone of the program. And then the assistant has to be the traditional mom, where, You're making sure everybody's going to class. you're checking in on their girlfriends. You're making sure they're healthy, make sure they're eating right. Do you find that dynamic with you and your head coach? You know what? I think being a head coach is very complex. and the beauty of being here and working for our head coach Lavelle saying is that he really gives you the experience. and the opportunity to put yourself in his seat. So what I mean by that is, he puts you in those rooms to be able to develop those skills and prepare you to be a head coach, right? Like you're going to those fundraising initiatives. You're going to those lunch and, you're walking around campus and you're meeting the administrators and, there's coaches. And coach Sanders, it's about his staff developing and really growing their skills, in order to be ready for that opportunity to come when it presents itself. I don't know if you get that everywhere. That's awesome. but I also think that it's a product of the assistant coach also wanting more out of himself as well. But he's setting you guys up for success. Absolutely. So that's a head coach that wants all of you to be head coaches at some point. And he knows you're gonna be in that room with an ad and a president and. a bunch of administrators and faculty that are going to be drilling you. And he wants you ready for every part of that process you're about to go through. So that's you obviously have to take care of your own, jobs and duties. because if you're not doing that, then doesn't make much sense. But I also think when you're able to take care of your jobs and duties ask for more, it has to be exciting for a head coach to know that you want more out of yourself in the program. does coach have those high level conversations with you about what you want for your future do you guys have those high level conversations about how to get there? Absolutely. And I think that's the great thing about him and this program that he's able to have an open door. You've got a unique resume where you were like you said you were that head coach at the D three and the junior college levels and then made that jump to D one. What did you learn in those years, coaching at the smaller level. That have you feel like it made you a better assistant coach now and prepared you to maybe be a division one head coach in the next couple of years. I think it gave me an opportunity to my first head coaching job at Prince George's Community College. It gave me an opportunity to really deal with a budget. how much money can you stretch? not a huge significant recruiting budget, but, are you able to recruit, and are you able to stay within, the budget, on meals, and hotels? That's right. You do not have to go to McDonald's. Yeah, my athletic director at the time, she was phenomenal. She was great. did not want you to go to McDonald's. She wanted you to give them a great experience, feed them healthy meals give them great meals before game. But that was something that. I didn't necessarily have to deal with obviously as a player, but my first couple of years as an assistant, that wasn't really my role. So growing and understanding that piece of the business, the position, was something that I think has helped me throughout my career. So now I'm able to help with different things as I continue to grow. Yeah. it's an amazing experience when you're a small college coach. I told you that they, I negotiated the 6, 000 up to 7, 000 to take the job. I'm real proud of myself. First job, but you look at my budget, my salary, my assistant coach's salary. We 000 for the entire year. Wow. That was the investment that they had made into men's basketball. This school is as close to fall apart. We took them to division two in 10 years and grew it and raised a ton of money and things like that. So it's just, when you are a small school coach, you have to be so creative. You have to be so inventive. and you are constantly for every little thing, right? And I think when you have to go through that experience, it makes you a better husband. It makes you a better father. It makes you a better coach, it makes you a better human being, right? and look, we haven't even talked about coaching. we're talking about everything else that, there's not necessarily put the ball in the basket. But it's, it's also the things that you learn about how to manage people. you being 26 years old myself, I was 28 years old, managing people, assistant coaches that were older than you that, may or may not have been set in their ways. That's in a staff and players and dealing with the trainers. those invaluable experiences, you can draw from and also learn from that you would have did this better, that better. the next time you get an opportunity to be a coach, that's awesome. That's awesome. I'm going to get into basketball. I promise. But I got out of coaching 11 years ago when my second child was born and we, we did everything right for my first child. We had her in June. It was still recruiting and June's a heavy month for recruiting. But my next child, we had him on January 21st in the middle of conference. I think we were four and oh, he was born and we had no family. I was going from hospital with a three year old. To practice with a three year old back to the hospital, get my wife home. And I knew at that point I needed to step away. You've got, you're married. You got two kids. How do you manage it? How do you make it work? I'll tell you what, I think I married the most, as everybody says, the most important decision is the person you decide to marry. And I could not be doing what I'm doing with without my wife. and I'm saying that in regards to like just her being as supportive. giving me the opportunity, the chance to balance, and just being alone for the journey. Yeah. Having two kids, and I'll share a quick story with you. we had, my oldest, July 9th. we took the job knowing that, my wife was pregnant and having the child we had Emory. And a week later I was back in Binghamton, it was not an easy conversation, but it was definitely a conversation that we had, The requirement it takes to be a basketball coach now, but that being said, It's great to see your Children come to practice, come to games, home in a way, and to have them involved in what we do here. It's I'm not sure we have that experience a lot of other places, but to have our kids involved And what we're doing because we spend so much time with our players is something that is invaluable. Yeah, and I love it. My daughter was only three or four when I got out of college coaching. But she's my athlete because she was, there's pictures of me running a practice where I'm squatting, watching a drill. And somebody took a picture. She's three steps behind me, squat and doing the same thing, and the experience that she had with those older girls, I was coaching girls at the time, women at that time. And how they treated her and what she was able to see them do and the work that they did and how they were able to handle conflict and losing or mistakes, it's lasted with her. And I don't even think she understands it, but it's lasted. My son, he was never in the gym with me. So he's my nerd. He's my computer genius and loves math and, remembers everything. And so it's, I think when you're a dad and you are a mom and you can have your kids around older, young adults and see how hard they're working and how they're sharing and collaborating, I don't know if there's a greater gift you can give your kids. what the most exciting thing for me now is as they continue to get older, they understand what's going on, right? We were on our streak in my oldest is dad, we want again, this is that's six in a row. And they understand what's going on right now Practicing on Saturdays and I have to drop my daughter off to practice at 745. So I'm able to watch her practice for a good 15 to 20 minutes. Or I have to go into the office for our own practice, and so spending that quality time, make sure I get those moments with them, is extremely important to me. as well as my wife to help us balance our home. That's great. Thanks for sharing some of that I think it's so important for parents to hear it student athletes to hear it for young coaches to hear it, that you're a human being, you have so much going on in your life, outside of the court that you have to be responsible for you have to be accountable for and we're all just trying to do the best we can. You got in this cause you're a great teacher and you're a great mentor and you love that, right? Absolutely. All right. let's talk about, one of your big deals. And one of the things you're really good at now, I want to pick your brain on it. Talk to me about Binghamton defense. Talk to me about how you structure it. What's in your soul, what you guys are talking about as a staff, where do you begin? every year with defense with the basics. I love defense. To me, defense is sexy. It is because everybody, everybody looks at offense and sometimes they're saying, defense is not safe. Defense can be sexy, but you have to really buy into it and you have to have guys that fall in love with. Guarding the basketball first and foremost, can I keep the ball in front of me? And we always talk about, if you can guard the ball, it gives you a better chance of keeping the ball out of the paint. So we want to really lock down the paint. we try not to play individual defense, but our defense is really structured as a five, five man defense, five guys guarding the basketball position, defense, keeping the ball out of pain. in the gaps, driving kick. We're stunting. Nope. Backside help front in the post. There's there we do. We change a little bit throughout the season just to give teams a different look. But for us, if we can really keep the ball out of the paint. and guard the basketball and make sure that you're not taking rhythm threes and contested twos. We got a really good chance of getting stops. Absolutely. Especially if you're rebounding the ball after you do. Absolutely. Is it as hard for you as it was for me teaching freshmen those concepts? Is that the hardest thing you have to teach? An 18 year old. Those jump into the ball, help defense, help and recover, jump to the basketball every pass. Are you, do you find that the hardest to teach or is there something else? That's a great question. and now with this changing industry of transfers, it's almost any player that you get their basketball IQ and terminology for what you want to do as a freshman. So everything that you're trying to do is really, you feel like you're talking to a freshman. You're starting over even for the transfers. You're starting over. So the hardest thing I would say is really just holding them accountable. That's the hard part. Cause you want them to play through mistakes, but you really have to. Blow your whistle to get them to understand, no, that's, this is how we do it here. At my last school, we did it. this is how we contest jump shots. We don't jump out of our shoes and leak out. No, we stay in our shoes. We can test, we stay on the floor, so those things can be hard, jumping to the basketball can be hard. Backside help can be hard where you're funneling the basketball can be hard, but. For us, it's you're constantly teaching every single day. we thrive on really just the habits and the fundamentals of doing what we do every single day. I find myself and I still coach a little high school ball. I find myself every year more than I ever did. As I put the flex offense in just for our shell drill, And I get so excited when I can get a kid 14, 15, 16 year old, when I can get them to understand that screen, the screener action, that just being in the right place, getting your feet in the right place, but to the baseline, seeing the floor guns out, knowing that screen, if I can get that screen to come to me now, everything is easier. I can get to that space and that pass. So I love it when that light bulb goes off with a kid and they get it. They understand that defense is about where your feet are and being a step or two ahead more than anything else. Do you find that you guys do a lot of shell. So great. So for us, we talked to our guys and you know you mentioned it, it's all about positioning. And if you're in the right position, you're going to be leading. And if you're in the right position, you're gonna have opportunity to get a steal. You're gonna have opportunity to get to the stunt. You have opportunity to not get sealed. So we always talk about the positioning is so important. So that's why you have to move with the ball. If you don't move with the ball, then you're gonna be out of position and you're gonna start in position. And now you're giving up those advantages to a driving kick. So if we're on the string and we're working together, then we have a greater opportunity to get a stop. But if we're not, then, we're gonna be off balance and teams are gonna score easy and get what we don't want them to get. If you do it right, like you said, if they're on a string, I love that analogy. I use it too. If everybody's on a string moving together when that pass is made, if there's five guys moving, you're also in so much better position to rebound the ball. You're in so much better position to start your fast break. And getting kids to buy into that, that haven't been taught it before, it's hard. And I think to go along with it, I think one of the hardest thing in this generation, and I don't want to sound like an old guy, but it's the communication, right? Cause if I'm watching as a teammate, if I'm watching you out of position, I should be communicating and coaching you to be more in help. Right to pressure the ball a little bit more, to be in my backside help. And you have to really hold them accountable and it goes back to the accountable piece as a coach is hold them accountable to communicate. It's not just, we're telling you what to do. You have to communicate so that you can help your teammates, be better. Yeah, that's why those leaders are so important, the juniors and seniors that have been there a year or two, three years, they have to be your best communicator because if they're coaching, now all of a sudden we got eight, nine coaches on the floor, not four, and everything moves so much faster when everybody's coaching, everybody's teaching. I love that mindset. All right, coach. I didn't coach at the D1 level. I coached every other level down. I never had to really see why I did in the Great Lakes Valley. We had everybody was a D1 transfer in the Great Lakes Valley. But you're seeing just about everybody on the floor, especially the guards, 6'1 to 6'7 can all put the ball on the floor, can all create space. what are your techniques that you use with your guys to get them to understand how to control that great speed, that great power and keep it out of the pain? What are some of the things you guys talk about? Some of the things we talk about is just being physical. we do a great drill called the chest drill where it's four and four. it's a positioning drill as well as a driving the ball basketball drill where we gotta keep the ball in front with our chest. and being physical and having a bump on the drive while also having a gap guy to not allow dribble penetration. we constantly talk to our guys about not using your hands and using your chest and using your legs to keep the ball in front of you. There are some talented basketball players, especially in the American East. Some guys that are going to go on and be All League guys that are going to make a lot of money, playing overseas or potentially in the NBA if they have the opportunity. you have to be creative. And you have to really buy in to stopping them from getting downhill and getting to the basket, whether that's putting two on the basketball or whether that's just guarding the ball and keeping it in front of you. we talk about being in the best shape that you can be because you cannot if you're not in great shape. I think we have probably one of the toughest, strongest conditioning programs with our strength, conditioning coach. He does a great job of pairing our guys, but also refer back to our practices. our practices are pretty tough. you're going to get a great workout. it's defensive. Defensively focused. and we chart a lot of our breakdowns from a defensive standpoint, which we believe is gonna give us the best chance to win, as long as we're defending. What are some of those analytics you chart? so obviously we chart, deflections. we call them bricks. and I know a lot of people call them turkeys, but we chart three stops in a row. if we get three stops in a row, we call them bricks. and we also chart empties are if you get two stops. And then obviously they score in that third possession, we call them empties. So we want to try to limit our empties. our goal every game is to get seven bricks a game, which we believe gives us a greater chance of winning. That's 21 possessions over the course of the game where you made a stop three times in a row. Yes. And we've done it in some games this year. had six stops in a row, which is obviously two breaks. You can see the score go from two to 12 in a matter of minutes. and also, we really chart offensive rebounds. we want to give up eight or less offensive rebounds a game. we want teams to shoot 40 percent field goal, percent 40 and below, and then three point percentage, we want them to shoot 30, 30 percent or below. So those are the things that we actually talk about from a first half standpoint, and then we obviously communicate with them at the end of the game. This is how we, this is what we've done. This is how we've done, throughout the game. Love that. Have guys, gone the way that it seems everybody's gone where you're basically playing almost positionless basketball, where you can have four, four guards, maybe have five guards with two guys over six, seven on the floor. Have you guys gone that route too? we, I would say the biggest thing in terms of recruiting for us is versatility. So fundamentally, how well do you dribble pass and shoot? do you have the capability of athletic ability to defend? I would say we are shooting a lot more threes than we've had because we have some guys that can really make some shots. I think for us is really, if we can create some space offensively, I think it's going to give us a better chance of getting downhill, creating some advantages for driving kicks, opportunities for us to make shots. We've played four guards in a big, we've also played two bigs. I think it's really on the flow of how the game is going and also how do we match up with our opponent. You guys don't have, you don't have anybody over six, eight on your roster, right? Yeah. So last year we had a big guy by the name of Tariq who is more of a traditional big, but this year, we went with, Ben Callahan gold who plays the five and the four for us who is a lights out shooter who's done a really good job. Game changer. Yeah. Yeah. He's done a really good job of stretching the floor and coach Lavelle and as well as coach Marlon, we've done a good job of shooting the basketball and putting some points on the board. Love it. Love it. That's so much fun when you can do that, especially if the guys. Because if you're six, five, you can block out anybody. It's all about toughness and desire and willing to put the work in and be physical. So I love that. I love that style of play. Do you want to get out and go? We do. If we if we have a chance to, we have an opportunity to, to talk about the rebound, a piece of it. We look at guys on our roster, like Gavin Walsh, who was a rebounding machine. he gives us an opportunity to hold teams to one possession. that's why, it's crucial for us to talk about the eight offensive rebounds or less, if we can hold teams under that and gives us an opportunity to get out and play four on three or four on two, to play fast, to give us an advantage, play advantage basketball. it's going to give us a better opportunity to put some scores on the basket. I love it. All right, coach, all of this comes down to talent, right? having the kids that you want to coach, the kids that can buy into what you want to do, have the skillset to do it. I consult for small colleges and universities and athletic programs, and I'm still amazed to this day. and nobody taught me how to recruit I figured it out on my own. I figured it out. And 10 years later, I was like, man, I was doing everything wrong. I just went everywhere, anywhere I could get in the car and watch kids play. I went, anytime I could watch film, I'd watch it. Do you guys have. A process. Is there a plan in place 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028? This is what we're going to do. This is how we're going to approach it. Do you have a system on how you recruit? I think our system is really, and I think a lot of programs that are doing this is taking it year by year, right? Because it's completely blown up in the last 24 months. If you asked me this five years ago, we definitely had a system, but I think now, you want to make sure that you bring back. The team that you started the year with. And I think retention is almost just as important as recruiting. So we were one of five programs in the country this past year that did not have one student athlete enter the transfer port. Wow. That is a great compliment to what you're doing. Thank you. It starts with the student athlete experience that they have here. I think it starts with how coach Sanders gives us the opportunity to grow and build these relationships with these guys. And I think they enjoy it here at Binghamton. I truly believe that they know they're going to get a great quality education and they're going to win basketball games. And enjoy doing it. So for us, I think it's taken a year by year. You know, we live in the real world. So there are going to be guys who are going to leave and want to move on to bigger and better opportunities if they present themselves. But for us, it's really trying to find the smartest and brightest student athletes that want to come to Binghamton and the toughest that want to come to Binghamton and win and be a part of something unique and special. I was always a big believer. I had an open door policy, but we were going to have three individual meetings every year. We were going to have a preseason meeting. We're going to set goals, talk about reality. We're going to have a mid season, sit down with each kid, and then we're going to have a post season. So we're constantly making sure that there was that? Are you helping them set goals? Helping them set reality? Is there a structure to it? Or is it just daily day in and day out? Kind of making sure they're hearing the right message? I think it's a combination of both. I think the great thing about us we split up our guys. And we say academic groups, but each of us assistant wise, we have at least four to five guys. so we meet weekly, especially during the year. And now obviously we're in winter session, but, we meet weekly in the fall and just talk about, there's supposed to be academic meetings, but they turn into relationship building, life coaching. Yeah, that's a great way of putting it. it's great because then you can. the best quality, in my opinion of a leader is his ability to listen. So it gives us an opportunity to listen, to hear what their goals are, especially before the season, what are you trying to accomplish? what are you trying to do? On the court, off the court, how are you becoming a better person? around this time in winter session, you're able to help them, figure out where they are in that process of trying to accomplish whatever it is that they're trying to accomplish within the team concept. And then in the spring, we can reevaluate what worked, but didn't work. how do we help you? How do we not help you? how can I serve you better? and what do you need to work on to order to reach your goals? I love that. And it seems so simple, but it's so easy to forget. When you're trying to win games and you're trying to teach defense, you're trying to put in your 24th set and you're trying to learn the two presses you got to learn for Saturday's game it's easy to forget how important it is to do those check ins. Say how you doing, hey, this is your goal to start the year. So I love that's happening. I'm going to keep pestering you on recruiting a little bit because I'm just infatuated with is what I do. Year to year, you're thinking, all right, we got the portal. We still want to bring in a great freshman if we can. We still want to bring in a great junior college kid if we can. This is what we're going to be graduating. This is what we got to replace. How do you go about that knowing that the portals there knowing that there's probably for this is what's really crazy, probably for every kid you need, there's probably going to be five or six of them that may not get a job, right? So you can be a lot more patient than maybe we were five years ago, six years ago. What is your approach to that year to year mindset? How do you go about it when you evaluate your roster at the end of every year? I think the funny part now is that I think everybody has a guy for you to write like I think I go on my phone today and I probably had multiple text messages of Hey, I got a guy for you. The unique part about Binghamton is that it is not a place for everybody. And I truly believe that it's not a place for everybody. That can come here and be a part of something bigger than themselves. So you have to really vet and do your homework on who they are as a person, what character, what type of character do they have. who their parents are, who they surround themselves with. the portal is obviously there. it's important to, to know what their last coaches may or may have not said to them. If you have a relationship re recruiting is all about relationships. Yeah. So you have to vet and you have to do a great job of really figuring out who this individual is because. You're not going to be 100%, but you want to make sure that you did all your homework in order to make sure you get the right piece to the puzzle to help your program progress and continue to build and get better and better. How do you vet anymore when a kid's leaving Auburn, leaving St. John's, leaving Syracuse, there's a hundred coaches blowing up his phone because they know he's in the portal and they know he's a game changer. He may make a decision in 48 hours. How do you vet anymore? Or do you guys just say, we're gonna vet, if we lose him. Yeah. You we, we definitely lost some good players because of that. I think it's just, it's all about asking the right questions. And not only just that, but also I think, it goes back to relationships. Hopefully that guy who's leaving Auburn, you have a relationship with somebody that knows somebody that can give you the honest truth about who that individual is. I think it's important. That you ask those honest questions or you ask those questions so then you can get a better idea of who they are as a person. That's the question, right? That's the hard question. That's why I also think as I go back to I think retention is important, right? Because you it's. I think it's probably a lot better to bring in five guys or four guys into your organization where you're maybe missing a piece or two that can help your program be successful rather than maybe bring in 10 or 12 or 13 guys, where now you're dealing with 10 different personalities in a short time span. Trying to get them to win basketball games. I don't know how coaches do it. I don't know how these football coaches do it. Oh We're going to bring in 60 new guys. Are you kidding me? Yeah, that's a tough challenge. I think I had a year where I might've brought in eight or nine because we graduated so many seniors, maybe six or seven seniors. We brought in eight or nine freshmen and a couple transfers, but I don't know how the football guys do it. How do you build relationships with 60 new guys? And then. Get them ready to go the next year. Your, that's the core of your whole program. So my question is,'cause I deal with a lot of high school kids. that want to play at your level. They know right away, because I'm honest with them. I go, we're not talking D1. We're not talking D2. We're going to be right now. Your skill set is D3, maybe some junior college, maybe a couple NAIs. Do you keep an eye on those kids that you recruited out of high school? You didn't get them. Do you guys, keep an eye on where they went and see if they're happy. Is there any of that going on? I won't say, if we check to see if they're happy, but you definitely have an idea of the guys that you may have recruited. Who, maybe somewhere else and you might see a score and you might check a box score. All right. But also, I also think so also think that when you are recruiting, like we, we two high school guys this year, this past year we'll take into high school guys who will be freshmen and freshmen in the this past, past recruiting cycle, we took five transfers. The recruiting cycle before that we took four freshmen, right? There's still a pocket for freshmen, but it's really a case by case for us, trying to find the right guy and it's not easy. You have to do some homework. You have to really take the time and invest. And in that individual to know if he's going to be the right piece for you, there are some good freshmen that come into programs and they're able to really be successful. And also as well as transfers, right? There's transfers that go other places that may or may have made the wrong decision or may want to have a bigger role. And you did a great job recruiting them. And then they ended the transfer portal and they reach back out to you or you reach back out to them. And they realized that, Hey, I made the wrong mistake. I made the, a bad decision. I want to come be a part of what you're doing there. Cause we see how successful you guys have been. Yeah. I followed the prestige and the legacy instead of following my heart. Yes. You recruited me the right way. You treat me right. You made me feel the way I wanted to be treated, but I can get a little more money here. I was gonna play on TV a little bit more here. Do you get a lot of that? No, but I will say that, and how it's tough, right? Because how can you, if it's life changing money, I can, how can you tell somebody not to do that? But also, but I also understand too, if you have the right people, in your corner, they're going to be honest with you about, Hey, let's not worry about what's now, but let's talk about the next five to 10 years. Part of the reasons, part of the reasons why a lot of us went to Our schools and play for our coaches is because we knew and we wanted to have that relationship with them 5, years from now. I truly hope those values are still true. And I'm not very sure if they are in some places, but I know here, they know that they're going to, they're going to have this relationship with us and our staff for the rest of their lives. Yeah. And when you get kids to understand that, that's, that, that should be one of your top three priorities should be, am I comfortable there? Do they have the education I need? Are these people going 10 years from now? Whether they're still there or not, do these people, are they looking to bring somebody into their family or are they looking for somebody that can make a three, get them 10 rebounds, there's a big difference. Absolutely. And it sounds like you guys are doing it the right way and thinking about it the right way. Coach, I'm so thankful for the time you've given me today. I've got a couple questions I typically finished with and I think these will be easy for you and I'm really excited to hear your answer. But if I put you in a room with 300 parents, club basketball players what's a piece of advice you give them about going down this recruiting road in terms of what they should be doing and what should they should expect? I would say the first thing they should do is find someone or ask someone that has been there or has done it before. I think a lot of parents are going to the, going into these situations and they don't necessarily have the knowledge. Or they don't know what's going on. And they're trying to do it by themselves, and sometimes I think in recruiting that can hurt you because what you think you're telling your 16, 18 year old son or daughter may not be wrong to you, but it might not be the best chance to get them a scholarship, right? Oh, you got to score 40 points. No, you have to actually show us. that you know how to play the game the right way. That's right. And what they should expect, I would say is for college coaches to really be evaluating their child not just from a basketball standpoint, but also as a human, as a person, we asked a lot of questions, we, we asked the coach, we asked the parents, we asked their mentors. We asked our guidance counselors, like we, we ask a lot of questions. And it's important that they understand that, we're recruiting the entire person. We're not just recruiting the basketball player and mom and dad. You're recruiting the whole family too. A hundred percent. And we're evaluating. their relationship. We're evaluating the mom and dad. How involved are they? Good or bad, right? Not just from a basketball standpoint, but just like in their lives, you typically the student athlete or the kid is going to have the same habits. As their parents, that's who they're learning from. Be a positive reflection. Be able to parents, be a positive reflection of your child. And hopefully your child is able to earn himself a scholarship. Yeah. It's funny how you see a kid play and then you meet the parents and you realize why they're so good or why you're a little worried. There's some red flags. You see those same red flags in the parents. And this is why so many families will schedule. a free session with me, because in 30 minutes, I'll spend with a parent 45 minutes or a kid and their parent, and you would be able to do the same thing. I can get them set up for a successful recruiting run, much more than what they're going to get paying 8, 000 a year playing club. Because I'm going to get them set up with those things that you're saying. All right. What's your character look like on the floor? What happens when you miss three shots in a row? What happens when the ref blows the whistle and you didn't think you made the foul? What happens when you get pulled out of the game or you're not playing as much as you think? What are you talking about in the stands, mom and dad, when your kid's not playing as much as you want, or the team's losing, that's 50 percent of that process because it's really easy for you to ignore a kid or forget a kid's name really quickly, right? Absolutely. You got a thousand more kids to look at. Exactly. Exactly. There's a thousand more kids for us to look at and there's not enough roster space, at this moment. you, like you said before, you might have, this kid might have check all the boxes, but you already got three of them on your roster and you don't need a fourth, right? That scholarship needs to go to a kid that can do this, and this, and you can't do that. I already got three guys can do that. So it's such a it's. It's always been a crazy world recruitment and it's just gotten 10 times harder with the way the portal's going. And we didn't even get into what your athletic department's telling you about roster caps and scholarships and where all that's going. I don't think anybody has any answers and we may not have any answers for two more years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. All right, coach, this can be a non basketball answer. Okay. Give my audience one piece of significant advice. that you've learned and or you like to share with others. I actually, I got some advice this morning. That I think helped me and was follow your north star. You have to follow your north star and you have to tune out the and you have to eliminate the distractions. that, that that come into your lives, right? And we all have them. Including myself, we all have distractions, right? But it's really being disciplined. And I think discipline is more important than motivation. When you have the discipline and able to follow North star and tune out the noise, you're able to think clearly. And understand, do I make the right decision? Am I making the right decision or making a bad decision? For me, I'm trying to, lose some weight. And so I got to make some right decisions, right? I gotta tune out the noise of eating some chips and eating some stuff that cookies. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with what's your North star coach. I'm interested. For me, my North Star is really just higher level, higher level really just being the best version of myself and having and following, staying true to my disciplines. Discipline is waking up at 5am in the morning, have an opportunity to give myself some quiet time so I can meditate, read. and pray and then flows right into being able to journal and that flows right into being able to exercise before my kids wake up, getting home, having breakfast, then have an opportunity to go to work, doing what I need to do. And then at night, reading at least 25 pages a day. It's awesome. So it's really having and sticking to it. That's my North star and being in that in turn is going to put me where I want to be. In February and in March and so forth, so on. And I would imagine that North Star has the name Allison Emery and Juliana on it as well. I think when I'm able to be disciplined, I'm a much better father, husband coach. Yeah. And constantly just growing, right? I think that's important. That's important that I'm growing as a I'm growing as a father. I'm evolving every single year every single day. Coach, you're as impressive as anyone I've ever met. And I'm so thankful That there's a man like you in the world that's coaching. It's going to continue to coaching, be coaching, has a voice in our game. And I'm really thankful I got to meet you. And if you're okay with it, I'm going to call you a friend and, I'll be cheering for you. And when you get that D1 head job and you're just scrambling and you need a director of ops or a grad assistant make a hundred calls a day, you call me I'll be there, I work for you in a heartbeat. Man, I really appreciate those kind words and I'm really excited to be a part of being able to share my story and grow with you. That was a lot of fun. So thank you so much. Pleasure was all mine coach. Coach Johnson, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your insights and experiences. Your passion for coaching and the impact you've made at Binghamton and beyond are truly inspiring. And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Significant Coaching Podcast. If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to subscribe to the show, leave a rating, and share your thoughts in the comments. It really helps us grow and continue bringing you valuable content. For those of you navigating the world of college athletic recruitment, don't forget to visit my website, CoachMattRogers. com, where you'll find a wealth of resources to support your family, your athlete, and even your high school's efforts. You can also schedule a personalized strategy session with me to help chart the best path forward. While you're there, be sure to check out my book, Significant Coaching, the playbook for prospective college athletes. It's packed with tools, strategies, and guidance for families preparing for the recruiting journey. Also, don't miss out on past episodes of the podcast, as well as my blog, where I dive into important topics around parenting, coaching, and recruiting. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time on the Significant Coaching podcast.