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Not available in all states. Welcome, welcome, welcome to another edition of the Jim Jackson Show. Of course, you can follow us on Instagram at Jim Jackson Show or YouTube.com, Rich Isen Show, or whatever you download your podcast.
Thanks for joining me this week. It's been a tough one here in LA. Of course, still here dealing with the fires and all of the trauma from that because there's still some things that are still taking place with regards to more fires, but the damage that has been done to a lot of the families in the area.
So our prayers go out to the families, the victims, everybody, the service people, the workers, everybody that were involved and still involved with the fires and their families sending out prayers to you, of course. But it's a couple of little things I want to talk about on the NBA side. I've got a special guest coming on that I really want to spend a lot of time with, but you know, we're at the dog days of the season right now after Christmas, after the holidays, going into the All-Star break. This is when it's kind of monotonous teams going through injuries. It's the trade deadline coming up. Expectations have been met. Expectations have been exceeded, but then there are teams that are below expectations, of course, and it happens like this every year. So we're at that in-between period where guys are looking at it, get to All-Star break, get to All-Star break. And then after that, you have 20 plus games left to kind of position yourself for a deep playoff run. And as we start talking about that, one thing I want to really talk about, you know, it's Cleveland Cavaliers are having a phenomenal job, doing a phenomenal job right now in the Eastern Conference.
I love what they're doing. Kenny Atkinson blowing it away. J.B. Bickerstaff at Detroit. Detroit right now is currently in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Who would have thought that despite losing Jaden Ivey to injury?
Cade Cunningham may be the most improved player, may win that award this year, may also be a first-time All-Star. So a lot of really good things happening in the East. Unfortunately, Philly still not finding their way because of the injuries, especially the Embiid. Milwaukee making a run right now. Boston dealing with a little bit of the championship hangover, trying to reinvent who they are, not reinvent from the perspective of changing something, but the motivation part. That's seven and four right now in January.
And the West is all over the place. But one of the biggest stories has been in the Eastern Conference, I want to stay here real quick, has been the Jimmy Butler saga and what's going on in Miami. And it's a tough situation because there's a lot of things going on with regards to them trading Jimmy Butler. It's not as simple as just moving him on to another team because of his current salary structure and his player option next year, which is about $52 million. And of course, Jimmy is not going to opt out of that unless he opts out with Miami to have them trade him to a team that has the cap space that can fit him, and then he can work out a deal with them. But the drama around it is something interesting that has kind of followed Jimmy in different places, Chicago, Minnesota, Philadelphia, and now in Miami, where he thought that was a perfect fit.
He culturally fit what Miami is all about. And we talk about it and tease it and talk about the culture in Miami and what it means. But it is something tangible. It is something real. But somewhere along the line, the two, the marriage kind of split.
And without kind of knowing all the intricate details, you can only pick at the tea leaves to see what took place and what's going to happen. Ultimately, Miami and Jimmy are going to have to make a decision. One, if we're not going to trade you, you're going to be here.
What does that look like? You can't just sit out. The NBA made the rule after John Wall in Houston where you just can't sit out a player, send them home. That's in the collective bargaining agreement.
So that's not going to happen. The trade is not as simple because of the money that's involved. You just can't, because of the second apron, the way the new rules are, you just can't send Jimmy out and aggregate salaries and get it back and make it work. So it may involve two to three teams, maybe four teams in order to get all these pieces moving to get Jimmy to a spot, to get Miami in a place where they can get some draft capital, some assets, and get some young players that can contribute, a player that can contribute now, but doesn't have a long-term deal. I think that's where Miami is at right now. They said, well, why don't you get Bradley Bill? Well, one, they don't want the extension that he has or what's left on his money, which is over 50 million, not this year, but next year.
So I know they don't want that. They can disperse that kind of money with two to three, four different players without having the burden of carrying that with Bradley Bill. So you don't get Bradley Bill, that means you have to involve another team in order for these moves to make. So I'm very intrigued, very interested to see what happens with this because the team that takes Jimmy has to understand what comes with Jimmy.
They have to be comfortable with that. And then the other moving parts have to be comfortable with what they get in return because February 6 is a trade, the end of the trade deadline. So we're going to keep our eye on that to see what moves are being made. Now, Phoenix has already done the trade swap with Utah. There are 2,031 first round draft pick. They swapped with Utah to get the 25, 27 and 29 first round draft pick. So that gives them more draft assets capital that if they do want to make a move with Bill, that now they know they're not only moving a player, a player or two, but they have some assets.
So let's keep our eye on that in the upcoming week since the trade deadline is slated to end on February 6. So with that being said, too, I'm a transition a little bit because it's been a great week for me. I mean, Monday night, even though the NBA rescheduled the Clippers Bulls game to Monday, so I couldn't really enjoy a cigar and maybe something, something else like a little tequila or espresso with my cigar to watch the national championship game, the Ohio State University was able to defeat Notre Dame. Shout out to Marcus Freeman, former Buckeye for getting Notre Dame to the college football playoffs, but also to the championship game. But I wanted to bring this in because a few weeks ago I was in New York and I ran into a Buckeye legend, someone who had been through a lot of things in his life and now has changed his life and not only his life, but has impacted a lot of young college athletes through his story, mentally, physically, emotionally. And that's Maurice Claret. Maurice is currently working with UConn men's basketball team, been there through the two championships and Ryan Day brought him back into the fold with Ohio State. So he's my special guest. And I say special because of everything that he went through.
And I want to talk about his story and how he got to this place in his life and kind of what he's giving back to those young men in those prospective programs. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more. Plus you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance.
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Limited availability only through participating Hyundai dealers in select markets. As promised, and this is a special edition because of what just took place on Monday for all you that, you know, really don't know, don't pay attention to what's happening in the world, the national college football national championship, the Ohio state university was, was a look, look, look, look, Hey, it's all love. See, I cheered for Michigan when they wanted, when they wanted now he doesn't want to.
And Maurice, he said that you got froze up because we started talking about Michigan. Yeah. See what I'm saying?
It's all love. It's all big 10, right? It's all big 10, right?
Rich. Hey, but okay. We won a national championship. Of course you were there. A great thing, not just for the university, but for the big 10, were you surprised by the result? Is it something you thought was going to happen?
What was it like being there for you? I wasn't surprised. I was asking the Tennessee game when he enrolled in the first game of the college playoffs, I think what they were able to put together was what everybody anticipated and wanted and you know, from the start of the season and when these guys sort of dominated Tennessee at the home stadium, where was it happened in Michigan? Whatever adversity they had overcome or whatever team meeting that they had basically got together and righted the ship. If they continued to play like that, that they would basically prevail. We went out to California and they beat Oregon in the fashion that they did. That gave these guys a confidence that I don't think that that was breakable or easily breakable.
And then when they hit the road down in Texas, you just had a bunch of players, you know, that that obviously that I was able to see because I was on the inside of the program. They were happy with it. They were happy with the game plan.
They were just happy and well prepared. And so there was just similarities that I had seen things that I had seen at UConn that I would say about and I said, man, there's a lot of synchronicity and a lot of similarities right now when both teams were on a play up their championship runs and so I wasn't surprised with what the result the message is as important as the Michigan game is we know what that means to the rivalry. And people want to look at it and say at that time it was like one of those things where you lost again four years in a row. Are we good enough questions?
Is Ryan Day good enough to take this team and elevate this team? Was that loss and I don't always like to say a loss is always good. You can take a lot out of it, but was that a was that necessary in order for them to get to the steps that they got to in order to win the national championship?
Oh, 1000%. Um, it losses are big lessons. You know, I mean, every time you lose, you're just figuring more out about yourself, right? And you're asking yourself, why did you lose it? You're going through this personal cycle analyzing of everything you did.
How did you prepare for the game? Where was your head at? Was you too tense?
Did you overthink something? So all of that, like, I just believe in life, like you keep on repeating the same things and graduate personally and you and you overcome whatever it is that's in your face, right? In that loss, the embarrassment, the shame, the, the, the disheartening things that happened to, you know, coach Dave's family and other coaches and other players and all of that stuff, you know, I mean, it wasn't until you take that stuff, you accept it, you go back to the drawing board and then you become better from it.
And it was necessary. And I'm sure that we all wish that he had a different result in that game because of the rivalry is so important to the fans, but I know him personally. And when you look back at it, he'll take that moment in the long run that, Hey man, it was that thing.
And I don't think he can speak to actually what happened to him personally after that. But that, that, that moment phenomenal. And just like me, when I look back on all my hardships, man, they ended up basically serving you when you get, when you, when you win. You know, what's interesting is that we're having this conversation about you being kind of in the inner circle with Ohio state, not just during the national championship run, but during the season. And it was a once in a time, it was once a time, let me see what for 21 years, 22 years where you weren't involved with the program, Ryan Day brought you back into the fold. Let's just kind of talk about that a little bit and kind of what it meant to you that he would reach out kind of when that happened and what your role is with the university as far as the football program and how Ryan Day kind of integrated you back in.
Yeah, the start of it was we started in a funky place in which you, you have to take it back to the Yukon days, right? So the start of it is that you know, they would actually do a lot with bringing it in on Wednesdays and they used to call them real life Wednesdays and it would be talking about people who basically went through hardships and things that they had learned and things that they grew from and they will come in to speak and contribute to the team. Every time I would see this online, I would feel like slighted. I say, Hey man, you know, I get invited all around the country to do this.
It's kind of like a slap in the face to me, at least not even considered for me to have a conversation when most times people are asking me about my days at Ohio State. And so I said, like a kid, sometimes I can be a troll. So the purpose of it was, I said, Hey, I don't think I exist.
I'm about to show you, maybe not to you, but to other people, I matter. And so I would just like borderline troll them and get close to the line where I would just hijack all of them. Because I knew that if I said, if Maurice Claret was dogging Ohio State, that somebody would run with it.
And I was like, I was intelligent enough to know that they would run with them with the headlines. And so it got to a point, Coach Trussell called me and he said, what are you doing? I said, well, when I talk like a fool, people seem to gravitate towards that.
And so I just use it to play online. And he said, nah, let's not do that. And he said, we facilitate a conversation with you and Ryan Day. So actually he went out and talked to Ryan. And then basically coach Day had basically called me down to the facility and we got together. He went to Greece with his family.
He got together after he came back from Greece. And when we sat down, I'm a person who are in honesty and ideal in reality. And I don't, I didn't want the interaction between me and him to basically be manufacturing. So he was, you know, Hey bro, like, you know, like sort of like, what's up with you?
Like, what's your deal with Ohio state? What's your deal with me? And I told him, I said, man, Hey, I don't have an issue with you. And I just told him that, but I wanted a relationship with the university. Sometimes you don't know how to go about asking for stuff. And sometimes you bang on pots and pans and you make noise because you get people's attention.
But I said, I just don't know how to go about doing it, but I want a, you know, I want a relationship with the university. And so what ended up happening was he actually made me feel embarrassed after you set, after we sat down and talk for maybe 90 minutes, you start to realize that as a person, he's a very, very good individual and a very good man. And so for me as a man, I felt embarrassed eating that the same person I joked and trolled with in the same sort of I don't know, the same venom that was being spewed to him from me, I used to hate.
And that thing actually caused depression for me when people would do it to me. And so when he had talked to me all of the criticism and how it had basically been on top of him and his family and how it had affected them, I felt very much like a, like an ass to be honest with you that I basically have basically done the same thing to him and his family. And so from there, he was like, nah, man, situation would be like that. And actually he said, I really called you in here because I got so much criticism from Buckeye nation.
After viewing your story, I started to realize why you had your feelings towards Ohio state in a fan base. And he says, man, just seeing where you at in your life, I actually respected and I would like to form a relationship with you. And so he made me feel very, very small. And it was a life lesson inside of that because I'm not sure that I would have that level of humility was criticizing me publicly, right. Or just to even have the ability to engage with them the way that he did with me. And so what ended up happening was he said, Hey man, how about you come around and you'd be around the players and just only start to build this thing. And so every day before practice, every Tuesday we would meet and I would talk to him one-on-one about things that I've learned from Dan Hurley, things that I've learned in business. And we would start talking about just some of the successes are as I have been around. And then the Tuesday afternoon meetings graduated to me, him having Tuesday dinner after practice, and then it would graduate to text messages.
And then we'll graduate to him calling me in the morning. And just the thing progressed. And initially I didn't, I didn't even want to be around on game day because I didn't want to become a distraction to him and what to achieve. But he said, Hey man, why don't you come down here and be on the sideline and be around us. And I think after a while, after he seen me for an extended period of time, I think that he was like, man, I hate to say it, but I actually liked this guy. So, so we, we turned it to besties, right. And I was like, yo, I'm like, we kind of like buddies now we will joke about it. And so what ended up happening man is that we became very close and actually the Michigan game actually made us closer. And that's like more of a personal conversation because he had this public adversity and I went from criticizing leads to defending him publicly. But I had rhyme reasons, specifics as to what he was doing inside that locker room. So I could tell mechanically he had the team where they needed to be. And that's what championship game. And I said this the other day on a different platform.
But this kind of like solidified like my relationship with them for the game. You know this was, you know, after we did walkthroughs, this is the date of the national championship game. He's like, yo bro, you know, I want to talk to you. And so we found, we sat down in the corner of the hotel and we were just, you know, just talking, he was talking about his journey and, and how he had got to the point and the significance of the stadium and him previously two years before that.
Mr. Phil gold. And it was very, you know, it was almost like God was bringing him back through the journey in his journey and what this had done to his family and what I had meant to the team and all of these great stories within the team. And then he just was like, man, I want to, I want to get something out before I actually have to go on the field or get in front of somebody else. He talked about his father passing away.
And I just thought to myself, I said, man, from where we start to be the day before the biggest game of his dude's life at this point, and for him to trust me, you know, Leon as a friend to sit down and share that into, to, to know that it would have some meaning to me and that, you know, you could, you could do somebody you can confide in and lean on. I wanted him to win even more. Man, it just made me emotional. I went back out to my room and I was like, man, I really want this dude to win. And just, just so he can get this burden off of his life and it's burned away from his family and not a burden in a bad way, but just to get over this, his career. And so to see him get it done, bro, I don't know, made me emotional.
You know what I'm saying? I was just like, man, I'm really proud of him and happy for his wife and everything like that. But we went from, we went on the journey, man, just a personal journey, man. I just have love for him and I'm happy that he was that door, but more importantly, thanks to coach Trussell for facilitating that conversation.
And so, you know, he gets his credit as well. Well, it looks like a couple of things here and I want to segue into kind of your past and how you got to this point, but it seems like the perception versus reality. We deal with perceptions all the time as being athletes, former athletes and what people think. And then we don't want to judge, but then at sometimes we, like you talked about, we have a tendency sometimes when we want something that doesn't go the way we want it, we perceive the situation of the person one way. But it seems like until you got to that same thing with Ryan Day to sit down and talk about, again, Ryan wasn't there during that period.
Ryan came in after. So he's hearing different things, anecdotes about what's going on, what's right, what's wrong, what happened with Maurice, why it's not there. So he already formed an opinion right wrong or indifferent based on information that he received. But the beauty of it is that you were mature enough to be able to have that meeting. And that's why I want to walk back a little bit to go back through your journey because I think this is very important because the message that you relay to the young men at UConn, but also when you go speak on the public circuit, but then also at Ohio State, it's a journey to get you to this point.
It was a journey for you to have this conversation, understanding maturity-wise to be accepted, to listen, to understand, but also to be an ear and provide some kind of advice, words of inspiration to Ryan Day. It took you a journey to get there after you came out because you had to serve some time. The focus for you in your life, it was four years you had to serve, but the focus for you at that time, what changed for you and how did it get you to a point where now you're able to have these conversations with young men and young women about how you handle success, but then how do you handle the adversity that comes with success? The change for me really, and I said all the time, I was just reading a ton about personal development. When I was in prison, obviously I was in prison for four years, there's a ton of reflection as to how you got to where you at, right?
And you're just being honest about what wasn't developed. So athletically I've developed, but from a psychological, social and emotional standpoint, I've developed. And I wasn't educated and I wasn't just growing in character. I had character when it came to being an athlete and competing and all that stuff from an athletic standpoint, but there wasn't that. And so the journey of personal development, the journey of reading from great people, the adversities that they had overcome, the journey of recognizing my shortcomings and just how bad character service and the people that was attracted to me at that point and how I allowed that stuff to exist and operate and deal in chaos and whatever you want to call it, in criminal activity, I just had to take that journey. And so then after I got out of prison, you ask yourself, how do I want to be remembered?
You know what I'm saying? And how do I want to be viewed in the public eye when I start to move forward? And so just to walk through it, of course, I got into business because I had to take care of myself, but there was always something, I guess, in my heart or in my spirit where I wanted to steal a deal in the world of athletics because I had so much and most people had known me so much. I'm kind of bouncing around with my answer, but the core answer before I lose was it was reading my life and personally educating myself and realizing that this burning desire to, I guess, improve my life through athletics was just a burning desire and I can play desire on anything that I wanted. I guess coming up with places so much on athletics because I thought athletics was my gift and my ticket to get out. But, you know, we start to it's multilayered.
It's just not athletics is, you know, how you feel emotionally, you know, how do you impact others from a philanthropic standpoint, be it through monetary gain or be it just your time with how you can bless people and just, you know, what value do you have towards the world? So I was able to go to prison and in those buckets to realize that they were empty and didn't fill them up through just personal reflection and personal development and eventually get out of prison and just through my journey, just having different platforms to share where I was at and one opportunity leads to another, another opportunity leads you to another. And I know I'm everywhere and I lost my train of thought for a second because my kid was banging at the door. That's daddy life, man.
That's daddy life, man. You know, they don't have no boundaries. No, but hopefully, hopefully some, you know, allows you to understand. But it started just from starting from educating myself in prison.
That was the core of it. And that's what everybody sees. You know, what they see now is what started in prison.
Had I not had the time to have that much per flexion and that level of honesty with myself, you know, I mean, anybody who messes their life up in any capacity, right. You have to go through like this deep period of isolating yourself and being honest with reality as to where you're at. Right. And the only thing that I'm teaching these kids, like where I see a kid, he's stuck on something.
I'm like, so I'll say this, right? I think what I've learned from prison that I bring into this space that I actively do. One of the businesses I own is a mental addiction center, right? And when you deal with the mental health and you deal with a ton of therapists on a regular basis and you have meetings on a regular basis, one of the things they use is an emotional wheel. And I think for anybody, I think just for all adults, anybody, there's a ton of emotions that we go through on a daily basis.
Oftentimes we feel things that we can't identify or put words on. And so I've dealt with this emotional wheel so much or seeing the variation in the words that are associated with emotions that kids may not understand. I know if I was a therapist or what therapists do when they see somebody has an emotional outbreak and they understand how they have to give the skills to the kids to govern themselves, to basically overcome it. And so from doing that for myself personally in prison for four years, then owning a business and seeing professionals do it, that is the skill that I've learned just through osmosis or proximity, or just going through it personally that I bring to all of these environments. And as he connects very well, it is those skills that I've gotten from other professionals around me that I use in these environments.
So it's just a mixture of that stuff that they don't realize that I'm actually doing. I'm actually stealing something from professionals that I'm around and bringing it to these environments during personal experience to help people overcome or encourage them in whatever space that they're in. And that's a good, I think the lessons that you were able to learn during that time period, you had to sit down, you had to be able to be quiet. You had to self reflect on the mistakes and the decisions that you chose to make and accept that and deal with that.
Because it's so easy to point the finger a lot of times of why you got to a point or who did what. But when you're isolated like that at times, that's when you really have to take the self reflection and say, you know what, I chose to make the decision. Despite what may have been over here, I knew the difference between right or wrong. And I chose it, I have to accept it.
Now I want to do something different. And that goes to the fact that I got a chance to see you for the first time. We were in New York and it was UConn playing against Gonzaga.
I'm like, hold up, that's Mo over there. And you're with the UConn basketball team. So that opened up the door to me when I saw it, because I know Danny personally for a long time and his family, of course, Bobby and I, his brother came out of high school together.
We're an NBA, of course. So it's a long history. So when I saw you, I started talking to you and I understood a lot more because we, we met before, but not a chance to really sit down and chop it up. We had a chance in the gym that day to really talk it up. That's why I wanted to bring you on. But I want to also talk about too, that journey part of it. But as you speak to these young men today in today's world, especially in sports, with NIL in effect, the different responsibilities that go with NIL.
And I try to caution parents and young men and women about this. You want to get paid, that's fine. But now there's going to be another level of responsibility that comes with getting paid. So basically you're going to be a professional. Before you got paid, there was a time period where it was a patience period.
You could grow, we could wait. But now that you're demanding this money and getting this money, they're going to treat you like a pro. How do you approach, let's say Jeremiah Smith, other players with UConn, when you talk about the difference now and the expectations and dealing with the mental health and everything that comes with it, when you have these conversations with these young men about it's a different world and how do you handle that mentally? Yeah, I tell you just dealing with reality and say it just like that, right?
There's no other approach, right? When people understand you're getting compensated for something or like when you're doing something that's free, there's no explanation. But when people see that you're getting a premium dollar for what they consider a game, no matter how much work you put into it, people still identify sport as a game. And part of their criticism comes from personal jealousy or their criticism comes from, hey, you're getting paid a premium and there's responsibility from it.
So wherever it comes from is still going to be there. But right, wrong, or indifferent, you have to deal with it and whether you like it or not, and I found out that if you just get to the end conversation real fast and you look a kid's eye and you really understand and you can identify this is what comes with it and this is what you have to do and you can hold them accountable towards that. And I've not had this conversation with Jeremiah because to be honest with you, Jeremiah is probably like a bad example because he's a phenomenal kid. But I think that comes Geno Smith being his cousin and him growing up in a professional environment. I think that he's just had so many people that have groomed him.
So if you just see him in general, right? But if you have another kid and I'm just thinking about another kid in my brain, I'm not going to name his name or talk about he's wanting to be the face of the university or a face of the university and him not quite understanding that money that you want, it comes with a set of responsibilities. Success is nothing more like the more success you have just means that you're just more responsible for whatever that product or that brand is representing. You know what I'm saying? And so conveying that to young kids when they have no context for it, when all they want to do is play, like I don't want to say it's just this continent you have to chip at. You know what I'm saying? And the best thing that I can do inside of these environments is also preach it, but then also live it. Like this is to look like, do you see how I move? Do you see what I do when we're around the hotel? Like I'm the guy that says, hey man, like you see this is these guys we're doing.
You know what I'm saying? I'll talk about former players who come around and just want to be seen. Like you can teach a lot of kids and I'm just talking about there's people who come around who are former players who want to contribute to the environment. There's former players who want to come around and just enjoy and praise.
And then there's other people who come around to be distractions and want to be seen. But as you're talking to kids, these little nuggets of wisdom, just talking about how people move, talking about what it is to be a professional and responsibility of that, but giving them examples in real life. Like I think I do that well. And I do that in the capacity of like seeing kids rather than before practice, after practice in lunchroom. I do that on numerous occasions, but kudos to Jeremiah Smith and his whole family.
They've done a great grooming him to be where he's at right now. But that's what I do, you know, in passing and any short bursts, but responsibility. As a business owner, you're always going that extra mile to pursue your passions. So you deserve partners who can help you go further with premium benefits and rewards. The American Express Business Platinum card offers world-class business and travel benefits. So you can get more for your business wherever it takes you. With the Amex Business Platinum card, you can earn 1.5 times membership rewards points on select business purchases, and you can get complimentary access to more than 1400 airport lounges worldwide, including the Centurion lounge. So you can keep running your business while you're on the go. See how the Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love.
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Must start and file in app by February 18th. Well, listen, it makes sense that you made the connection on the college football side, you know, especially with Ohio State. But the connection with UConn men's basketball with Danny Hurley, that one right there is a little bit different.
How did that come about? Um, well, Kimani Young and Kimani Young, we have a mutual friend, you know, he's a, he's a, he's an assistant coach and then, uh, yeah, that's my guy. Um, and, and then I was around a bunch and so I was in the atmosphere of like somebody who was on the road and on social media. And so, um, these guys, they have like a series over the summer and what ended up happening was they had a player who had basically got into an incident, you know, just out of privacy. I'm not going to mention his, I told you about the player in private, but that was the player who was on the team who had an incident and he was a high profile guy. And they said, Hey man, could you talk to him? And we had like a one-on-one situation where I got him on the phone and literally probably talked about two hours and it was very easy to talk to him and they had scheduled me to come and speak and just basically football and basketball. I didn't know how it would go over. Um, just because I didn't know if like, you know, not being in the basketball community with a kid, receive it, what they care about or whatever. Uh, but Danny Hurley, uh, what you see is what you, he was like, man, I don't give a fuck.
Just go in there and talk to him. You know what I'm saying? Uh, excuse my language. Just like I just loosely said, but, uh, yeah.
Yeah. He was, he was, he was very loose with it, you know, and what you see on that sideline is what you get in person. Um, and saw what, and I was able to talk to him freely and I connected with the guys. And so after I came out, uh, after sharing my story, my journey and asking these game questions, I was able to talk to him and he said, man, you just met these guys, but you know them, but I'm also a guy who I'm very confident with. If I have a suggestion or things that I feel a kid can need to work on, I'll say, Hey man, can I talk to this guy about that or talk to this guy about this or whatever it may be.
And so he just made it, uh, an open door policy where I would come on a month to month basis. And when I would come to practice, I would sit down for probably about 90 minutes. And basketball is a lot different than football. You can really get a chance to know guys, you know, their stories, their families, where they came from. Like, I think like I'm a basketball expert now, right? So, you know, I met these kids just know where they come from.
I know where, or the guys who can really play at. I didn't know nothing about AAU prior to this stuff. And so these guys have educated me in the past about basketball in general. And so when he would see sort of like the connection and just, um, uh, just the, the continuity that I created with the kids and me giving advice to a kid with how they navigate, uh, their, the situation I've been through with Andre Jackson, Adama Sanogo and Donovan Clingan and Alex and all as, you know what I'm saying? I had just, uh, I've seen the growth through all of them and Jordan Hawkins, I've seen the growth and I've contributed in small ways to it, uh, just with, you know, just their approach with what they're doing there. And Danny, they do a phenomenal job of, um, for pairing these guys and running off into defense. And they've, they've handled that, but I've played like a small role, uh, time that they've allowed me to spend with them. And it just, uh, it just escalated. And you know, these guys ended up winning and, uh, he's allowed me to be involved directly, uh, with the program and go out to the national championship and stay in the hotel and, you know, meet with the guys and be around them in that practice.
And so, um, just to say it's been phenomenal as an understatement. And every time I see him, I thank him because this wasn't a popular thing to do. Uh, it's not like I had a background that would, um, uh, merit this, um, you know, professionally, sometimes guys want the guy who has the squeaky clean, squeaky clean background to be around their players. I'm not a basketball player.
I don't come from a basketball. So, uh, for him to do it in, for his reasoning, uh, I always thank him, but then I always knew how it was viewed outside of a Yukon to give you credibility, uh, to be around that program. And so I thank him and all the coaches constantly.
Uh, and that's why I say I'm forever a Denny Hurley fan, a Yukon fan, and then, uh, their fan base, they have an Ohio basketball fan base, you know what I'm saying? Uh, but, but those people love that program and I love it. You know, the beauty about what I love about this Maurice is that the transformation from you mentally, from the person you were when you were young, 22, 23 years old to where you're at now, it is amazing. I think that's where the judgment part of in society, we all do it in some aspect of it because of someone's past. We think they're married to and locked to that particular past, but you've shown like a lot of other people who've kind of been through something traumatic in their life that you use it to learn, to grow, to now not only be selfish, but to live unselfishly and help other people. And that has opened up the door for you to do businesses.
You talked about, to be able to be around young men and women and guide them and provide some kind of guidance, spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally, whatever it may be to help them navigate through whatever they're going through. That's just not sports, but it's also what youth are dealing with in today's world. That's a lot different than when I was growing up. And then when you was growing up, as you reflect back at it too, and there's a couple more things before we get out of here, we're always talking about, we don't have regrets. We don't have regrets. Do you look back and say, I regret that I did this, or I didn't do this in my life.
And if you do, what is it? Oh, that's very clear. I regret not taking, just learning the academic portion of life serious sooner. When I found out what reading did for me, you know, all these cliche things like reading opens up your world. If you can read and understand and comprehend, your life will be changed. And I just never connected personal education with advancement in life.
It was always, you know, do a thing, either entertain or play a sport, right? What reading has done, it has done for me now, has basically transformed my life. And it's allowed me to grow into a leader. It has allowed me to look at my past and put it in context, and to understand it from people who have greater understandings of behavior and development and progression and all that stuff that allows you to mature. So that is the one thing that I regret.
Because when you're a premier athlete, there's, excuse me, there's nothing that you don't have access to, be it the people, be it alumni, be it business owners, all these resources, mental health professionals, all these professionals. And I wish that when I was, when I was actually in that moment, that I would have taken advantage of either the formal academia that I could have basically gotten from Ohio State. But just, I wish that I would have just gravitated to reading earlier. And like this, I was just upstairs and I took a picture from Good Degree by Jim Collins.
Yes, one of my favorites. He told me to pick up the book. Yeah, I've not read it yet. He said, hey, man, you should read this book since you are interested in reading it. So I got it and I sent it to him. I said, yo, bro, I just picked it up.
No need to grab it for me. But like just these things that add value, you know, and your confidence as a human being comes from your ability to think and people can say what they want to. And for anybody who understands or read or who's thoughtful. And when you talk about the confidence of a human being, it comes from that. It comes from being intelligent because you, you are in control of most situations you're around. And with how you're viewed to the world, you're viewed as a thoughtful human being or somebody who could solve problems or somebody who's patient. And you, and you look less external things. And so I don't want to minimize like, you know, the external things that we have and buy and enjoy.
I have those things. I have all of the silly stuff that people do to life, but my innate confidence and my calmness and my patience and my humility is driven from me having the ability to think with me being a problem solver, solving relationships or are just leading environments without being the lead piece in them. And so that is one thing that I wish that I would have gravitated more. It has basically me to understand how to leverage my social equity. And so I can go on and on, but it's reading, reading. If you look at me, reading has changed my life and I wish that I would have done it sooner.
Yeah. But I mean, growing up too, I mean, a lot of us didn't have, you know, some people in our, in our situations too, growing up in the neighborhood were fortunate to have some people who thought some mentors, parents that talked about the reading, the importance of it, some didn't. And that's not because they were bad parents is that they had other things that were probably more prominent in their life that they had to take care of, that they didn't push the reading part. Maybe it didn't happen with them, but you kept mentioning things that you've learned. What have you learned? What is for you on this journey? What is your biggest takeaway with your life? That it's a journey. You know, when you're a survival mode, and I think most of the times when you talk about the inner city, you're a survival mode where you're trying to survive just to get to this next step. But the thing I've learned that like life, like is a journey and to take your time and to start thinking, thinking over larger horizons.
And that's what I do. Like the old proverbial play the long game, whatever you see me doing, man, I'm playing, you know what I'm saying? I'm in no rush to go anywhere. I'm in no rush to have no thing.
I'm in no rush to have any title. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm playing game and I'm, and I'm thinking more from a, like being a contributor to life. Right. Or that didn't, that didn't have any meaning to me before, you know, like when you're like, when you're a survival mode, everything is what everybody can do for me.
You know what I'm saying? And just the way you speak, the way you think, the way that you act is just a short term grubby way of thinking. And when you start to really enjoy life and what makes you happy, it comes from, what can you contribute? Like, what do you contribute to the world? Like, what does your life really mean to anybody else?
And it sounds very cornyish clean. I used to think when people talk about being fulfilled, was just this, like, like that's when you're living life. I'm telling you, man, it is the, it is like when you in Ohio state, I probably make the least amount of money in my life.
I don't make any money from Ohio state. And I've never asked Yukon for anything, but Yukon has given me just whatever they wanted to give me just to be around. Right. And for a long time, I was just going up there for free and didn't care, but it was probably the most fulfilling thing because it was the platform that is just giving away my life experience. And so that's why I think that these things have worked out well, because the purity of just giving my life to other people, giving my experience, my ideas, I've seen people receive them and I've seen these things become transformative. So these are just some of the things that I've learned that were the big ones. I know I kind of went on like this journey of thought, but that's kind of like what I've learned.
I love it, man. And I'm glad. And I think it was, it was meant for us because we know each other, but we didn't, but we had a chance at that practice to kind of sit down and really chop it up. And I got a different perspective to, cause I understood the journey, you know, by kind of following afar. And then I watched the transformation of what you've been able to accomplish since then, and really dedicated your life now to helping. And through that help, you received a lot more too in your life and been blessed a lot more in your life. And that's the beautiful part of it. And I would love to do that more.
We talked about some other opportunities. So from me to you, Buckeye to Buckeye, so proud and so happy. So grateful that you were able to one, get back into the family, into the fold.
I know they really appreciate that. And the journey is still going to continue because I know there's another iteration of what and who Maurice Colorette will ultimately become. Cause you talked about leaving the legacy and you're already laying those foundations and that brickwork and that, and that framework for who you are.
And part of that journey has been what you had to go through from superstar athlete to someone who had to deal with something traumatic in their life to someone who recovered and now has been able to shine a light on that tragedy, but also open up the, I would say doors, the insights, being able to have young people open up to you that they don't feel otherwise being able to do with their coaches and friends. So brother, I just want to say from me to you, keep doing your thing. I love watching you. I love watching what you're doing.
Two books too, since you said you love to read. So on the back end of good to great is built to last. So that's the other iteration of that, but also another really good one by J.A. Rogers is called from Superman to man, from Superman to man. Yeah, brother. J.A. Rogers is really good, man.
How to win friends and influence people too by Dale Carnegie. Yeah, brother. So, Hey man, listen, I look forward to catch it up. I'm gonna see you down the line. If you come to New York for the Yukon St. John's game, we'll definitely catch up. Let me know.
But anytime you want to jump on, I'd love to catch you later on too, during the, maybe doing March matches or big big East tournament time when you kind of is rolling a little bit. Love to get you back home, brother. Yeah.
Gotta get my car. Do you see what daddy did when he went off on the official? Did you talk to him when he told me about the coach that is, did you talk to him? Maybe you need to talk today. Maybe you and Danny need to sit down and have a conversation so he can bring that temperature.
I mean, that's what makes Danny, Danny, but sometimes it can, it can be, it can push the limits. I'll see him this Saturday, man. I'm sure we have a laugh about it. I love to see what he say to you about that interaction with the official, man, but I appreciate it, man. Thanks for coming on, brother. I appreciate you joining me.
Shout out to my man, Maurice, correct. Look forward to catching up with you next week. Take care.
Hey, it's rich. Eisen here. Join me in my compadre Chris Brockman every Monday on the overreaction Monday podcast. Also saying the record's going to go down. I'm saying the record's going down anyway. I don't think you're off on this at all. Like you're spot on here. I don't think this is an overreaction because we have no idea what we're reacting to. Come react or overreact with us. Overreaction Monday, follow and listen on your favorite platform it's game over, over, man.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-23 20:35:50 / 2025-01-23 20:57:23 / 22