... about how he's modeled some attitude here.

It, it was, it was the core of our whole program, attitude.

I still, I still wear a attitude band, and our players would all wear attitude bands or, or humble and hungry.

That was our other mantra, which he, Randy still wears.

Um, humble and hungry was that no matter how successful you are, you gotta remain humble to understand that there's a lot of people that helped you get to that point of success, and a lot of people are a part of that.

It's not just about you.

And you've got to stay hungry to continue to improve even though you had some success.

Mm-hmm.

So Jay, how does that ethos impact the way you went about your job, the way the overall athletic department ran, and the type of student athletes you were looking for?

I think that was the beauty of Villanova for me, was the sense of community.

And Father runs the university that way.

Just as he said, some days I might think we need a better practice facility, and we got a practice facility.

you know, the business school might need a new building and maybe he's got to make that decision.

But he was always honest and everyone at Villanova understands that we're a community and they kind of understand their role in our community and everyone's always there to help each other.

The student athletes, our basketball players lived on campus with the other students.

Agreed.

Poor guy.

No, it's tough.

Jody, that was the only media I did during the entire tournament.

All my friends, like you, Jody, I said to them, like, guys, I'm sorry.

I just don't want to.

I don't want to get involved in this because they're really chasing their dream right now, and I know what their goal was, and I don't want to be the one out there talking about it like they reached it already.

But I did that one with Shaq and Charles and those guys because I used to be on that show.

Which was harder for you, to turn down the Sixers when they offered you that coaching job after you left Villanova or when Leon Rose said, come coach your boys here in New York? Which was a more difficult decision? Which was harder for you to say no to?

Do you think these three kids playing and winning a championship in New York, do you think they're going to change the way GMs or the way coaches look at building a roster?

Well, first of all, to that point, you know, I think they were great players.

As you know, you don't win without playing.

They were great players.

The unique thing about them was all three of them have parents that just when times would get tough and things weren't going well for them in high school and in college would say, listen to the coach, which sounds simple.

But it's so rare with talented players.

So...

Can you describe that experience being in that building when it was going the other way and then when it went this way?

Yeah.

Mets fans and Yankee fans are Knicks fans.

And it's just, and we all know in Philly [laughs] the Eagles are just, just a part of, you know, it's, it's almost part of our religion.

Like we all grew up going to church on Sunday and then watching the Eagles and talking about it all day.

So it is, it is very, very similar.

And, um, to your, to your point about these guys grooming these guys, I, they, all three of them have incredible parents that always raised them and taught them when they were struggling in sports, they would always say to them, "Listen to the coach.

What does the coach say?" Which sounds very simple, but that does not happen anymore in, with elite athletes in our world.

Right

Do you think these three kids playing and winning a championship in New York, do you think they're going to change the way GMs or the way coaches look at building a roster?

Well, first of all, to that point, you know, I think they were great players.

As you know, you don't win without playing.

They were great players.

The unique thing about them was all three of them have parents that just when times would get tough and things weren't going well for them in high school and in college would say, listen to the coach, which sounds simple.

But it's so rare with talented players.

So they all have great parents.

Can you describe that experience being in that building when it was going the other way and then when it went this way?

He

had committed.

How did you get in with him? Rick Brunson, when we were at Hofstra, Rick Brunson and his wife, Sandra, had Jalen.

And Jalen's mom, Sandra, is from Malvern, Long Island.

So when they first had Jalen as a baby, Rick was in the NBA traveling and he was in Australia.

He wasn't making a lot of money.

They didn't have a lot of anywhere to live.

And didn't Brunson come and still work them out more? Didn't you also have to deal with him coming and working them out, even though individually, when you were still practicing them like crazy?

So I guess the big question is, throughout the run, or maybe even right after, the day after or the night of, did you hear from any of those players that won a championship with you?

Yeah, we would text.

Like I said, I purposely didn't go to any games because...

One of the things we would always talk about in texting was like trying to eliminate all the hype, you know, after a big win or especially during the playoffs when they were on that run of like 14 games in a row or whatever that was, that crazy number without a loss before they lost in game three of the finals.

We were talking about just getting to the next game and that everybody – We would text about the fact that everybody's hyping up, you're close to winning it, you're close to closing out the series, but all you can handle is just the next game and your mindset going into the next game.

So we would text about that all the time.

It's funny, Mikael sent me a picture after the championship game from After game five from on the court with his college teammates who played with him, who were down there at the game, it was awesome.

So congratulations to you.

Poor guy.

No, it's tough.

Jody, that was the only media I did during the entire tournament.

All my friends, like you, Jody, I said to them, like, guys, I'm sorry.

I just don't want to.

I don't want to get involved in this because they're really chasing their dream right now, and I know what their goal was, and I don't want to be the one out there talking about it like they reached it already.

But I did that one with Shaq and Charles and those guys because I used to be on that show.

Which was harder for you, to turn down the Sixers when they offered you that coaching job after you left Villanova or when Leon Rose said, come coach your boys here in New York? Which was a more difficult decision? Which was harder for you to say no to?

Mais qu'est-ce que vous vous souvenez de Jalen? Qu'était-il comme quand vous l'avez

rencontré comme un jeune? Quand j'étais le chef coach à l'Université de Hofstra, bien, d'abord, quand j'étais assistant à Villanova, Rick Brunson est venu avec son coach de l'école et j'ai rencontré Rick.

Et on devait l'accueillir.

Et on ne l'a pas fait.

Et il est allé à Temple.

Mais nous sommes restés amoureux.

Donc, quand j'étais le coach principal à Hofstra, il et sa femme, Sandra, avaient Jalen.

What did you see in him? What was unique about him?

But what do you remember about Jalen? What was he like when you met him as a teenager?

Well, when I was the head coach at Hofstra University, well, first of all, when I was assistant in Villanova, Rick Brunson came with his high school coach, and I met Rick.

And we should have recruited him, and we didn't, and he went to Temple.

But we remained friendly.

So when I was the head coach at Hofstra, he and his wife, Sandra, had Jalen – But his wife, Sandra, stayed in Long Island where Hofstra is while Rick was chasing his NBA career.

So Rick would always come back and practice with us, work out with us.

So I knew I wanted to follow Jalen.

What did you see in him? What was unique about him?

What... was the main coaching point for you with him that you felt you needed to emphasize with jalen brunson when he was there in villanova jay

well he came in as a scorer and a leader of the team and and the team that he came in on he was a freshman in 2016 we had ryan archie diacono um was our leader and our point guard.

He was a senior.

And we purposely had those two room together.

And that tells you about Ryan Archidiakono.

He's a senior, a star, and you're bringing in this freshman and you're telling him that's who you're going to room with.

And He took Jalen under his wing and they battled every day in practice.

And I'm wondering, during that process, when scouts' teams were reaching out to you, were you sensing that they were missing something with Jalen, Jay?

It's very different from what we see in pro sports today, even in college sports today.

No, you're right, Stephanie, because college sports is now professional sports.

And, you know, whether we like it or not, it is what it is.

And but at the time they were in college, they did not get paid at all.

They sacrificed a lot.

As I said, you know, they all graduated.

They all stayed in school for four years.

What does this say about perseverance and leadership?

When did you know that you had something special with these players? Not just Brunson, but, you know, Bridges with Hart.

You know, each, each one of them was, was different.

Like, there was a, there was a time when, when Jalen Brunson was a freshman.

He came in really highly touted.

Ryan Arcidiacono was our starting point guard at the time.

He was a senior, and Jalen won...

W- we were in a preseason NIT.

W- what is it about him that makes him made for these moments here?

When did you know that you had something special with these players? Not just Brunson, but, you know, Bridges with Hart.

You know, each, each one of them was, was different.

Like, there was a, there was a time when, when Jalen Brunson was a freshman, he came in really highly touted.

Ryan Arcidiacono was our starting point guard at the time.

He was a senior.

And Jalen won...

W- we were in a preseason NIT.

W- what is it about him that makes him made for these moments here?

Do you want to take us back to just the start and how this all came about? Yeah.

Yeah, so look, I mean, I actually think sales is kind of one of the apex skills that you can have as not even a business person, just in life, like understanding how to influence people, persuade them and kind of come up with scenarios where they're getting what they want and you're getting what you want, I think is just such a core life skill.

And so sales has been a big part of my life since, you know, I first got into my career.

So ever since I was young, I just wanted to have money, right? And I thought people that have money in finance.

So I did a finance degree and then I got into financial planning and then stockbroking and And really quickly, what I learned was that stockbrokers generally are salespeople.

So, you know, I think most people think stockbrokers like choosing stocks and they're doing all the analysis and stuff.

But there's actually analysts that do that.

But one of the biggest benefits and the side effects that they get is learning this skill, which is the highest paying skill in the

Can you build a program like you did at Villanova today right now in college basketball?

Great question.

And obviously something I get to talk about a lot now in retirement.

And just to... clear things up.

Everyone's asking me this like, oh, you're getting ready for March Madness.

I actually just retired from CBS also.

So I'm not going to be doing that this year.

Like, what did you take from that, you know?