The Rising Coaches Podcast

Amit Tailor is the current Manager of Basketball Operations at Grand Rapids Gold in the NBA G League. Coach Tailor has a wide range of knowledge expanding from a Game Day Statistician with the Chicago Bulls, a Scout for the Knicks and NetScouts Basketball as well as an assistant for the University of Florida, Santa Clara University, Clemson as well as assisting with USA Basketball. Most recently Coach Tailor was a Video/Player Development Associate with the Houston Rockets and is now currently with the Denver Nuggets G League team, the Grand Rapids Gold.

Kendall Aldridge is a Rising Coaches Member and current Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Purdue University Northwest, Coach Kendall Aldridge. Coach Aldridge has a great career path for young Coaches as he started in the high school ranks at Decatur Central High School, as well as various other High school positions and ultimately landed his first NCAA Division 3 coaching gig with Houghton College. Following Houghton, Kendall gets a position where he currently stands at Division 2 Purdue University Northwest. Kendall is definitely a coaching name on the rise!

Ben Sanders is the current head coach of Guaymas in Mexico and current Rising Coaches Member. Coach Sanders brings a wealth of knowledge to the podcast working in various roles in the G league with the Windy City Bulls, Long Island Nets, and Wisconsin Heard as well as a stint in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls. Prior to these roles, Coach Sanders held positions in the NCAA with New Mexico, Rice and Alfred University all playing a pivotal role in his new found head coaching gig.

Alan Stein, Jr. is a very influential person as he is a coach, trainer, author and motivational speaker. Coach Stein was a Director of performance for Pure Sweat Basketball, Founder of Stronger Team, Author, and Motivational speaker who has worked with the biggest names in basketball today including, Lebron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry. Coach Stein brings us a wealth of knowledge as we will get to learn more about his techniques for coaches and players to improve their mindset in game as well as on a day to day basis.

Luka Voncina is a former professional basketball player and current Founder of LV prospects. Luka is a current owner and operator of a company in Slovenia to help assist players to pursue their collegiate careers in other countries. Luka helps give us some insight on how coaches can use International agencies to their advantage in the recruiting processes.

Nate McMillan is a very well known name in the basketball industry as a coach and player. Coach McMillan was a draft pick to the Seattle Supersonics in 1986 and then went on to start his coaching career for Seattle following his 12 year playing career in the NBA. He coached in the NBA at various places such as Seattle, Portland, Indiana and Atlanta all in the assistant role while also holding the head coaching title in Indiana and most formerly with the Atlanta Hawks.This conversation was so insightful, we just kept going, so we decided to split it into two parts.

Nate McMillan is a very well known name in the basketball industry as a coach and player. Coach McMillan was a draft pick to the Seattle Supersonics in 1986 and then went on to start his coaching career for Seattle following his 12 year playing career in the NBA. He coached in the NBA at various places such as Seattle, Portland, Indiana and Atlanta all in the assistant role while also holding the head coaching title in Indiana and most formerly with the Atlanta Hawks.This conversation was so insightful, we just kept going, so we decided to split it into two parts.

Coach Major is a man of many talents as he is the current President of Basketball Operations with Rising Coaches and Co Host of the Rising Coaches Podcast. Coach Major also has a strong coaching background including Cal Lutheran, Pacific, Southern Illinois, Xavier, Ohio State, Texas and the Nigerian National team all in the assistant role, as well as, Charlotte and the Rwanda National Teams as a head coach. We are very excited to get to do this one.

Gary Waters a former NCAA Division 1 Coach. Waters brings 40+ years of coaching experience to the podcast today, while making various stops at Ferris State and Eastern Michigan in the assistant positions, including Kent State, Rutgers and Cleveland State as a Head Coach while also crowning multiple regular season and tournament titles in the MAC and Horizon League Coach Waters even won a variety of MAC and Horizon League coach of the year awards.

Cooper Neimand is a former NCAA coach and current Owner of Coach Coop LLC . Cooper formerly coached at various places such as Wesleyan Christian Academy, Lander University and most recently Lincoln Memorial University. Cooper now runs his own company to help coaches best achieve their own personal goals in the coaching profession. Check him out at cooperneimand.com.

Mike Bobinski is the current Athletic Director of Purdue University. Mike has been an athletic director for 25+ years and has made various stops such as Navy, Akron, Xavier, Georgia Tech and where he currently resides at Purdue University, since 2016. We are excited to get to learn more about the interview process and athletic director side of things during this podcast.

Kevin Eastman is a coach who has 35+ years of experience at a variety of different levels including NCAA all the way to the NBA. Coach Eastman has been an assistant coach in the NCAA at places such as Richmond, Colorado State, VCU and Tulsa, while also holding head coaching stints at Belmont Abbey, UNC-Wilmington and Washington State. Following his NCAA coaching career Eastman found himself in the NBA for the Boston Celtics and LA Clippers as an assistant coach for 10+ years combined.

Tyler Slick is a current member and pivotal coach in the Rising Coaches industry and also current Coach at Lincoln Memorial University. Coach Slick has made various coaching stops from the high school to the Division 1 ranks at schools such as Minneapolis North High School, Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton High School, Bethany Lutheran College, North Dakota State College, Minnesota State University, the University of Memphis and currently, Lincoln Memorial University.

Cuonzo Martin is a former NBA player and Division 1 coach who is currently a motivational speaker and podcast host of his show “It All Counts”. Cuonzo started his coaching career after his NBA stint where he would play for various teams including the Hawks, Bucks and various teams in the CBA, then continued his basketball career on the other side of the lines, first as a coach in high school, which led him into a position at Purdue. He then grew in his role to be an associate head coach, leading him into head coaching positions at numerous schools including Missouri State,Tennessee, California and most recently Missouri.

Jake Alburtus is the current Recruiting and Operations coordinator at Georgia Tech University. Coach Alburtus is a new face to the Georgia Tech staff, while recently coming from a coaching stint with the Arkansas Razorbacks and spending numerous years with Western Michigan as a student manager and graduate assistant.

Archie Miller is the Head Coach at the University of Rhode Island. Coach Miller is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Native and went on to move south to continue his playing career at NC State. Upon graduation, Miller would carry on his basketball career on the other side of the lines as he would coach at a variety of places in various assistant roles including Western Kentucky, NC State, Arizona State, Ohio State and Arizona. He started his Head coaching career at Dayton University for 6 years which led him into another head role at Indiana for 4 and then currently where he resides now, University of Rhode Island.

Orlando Vandross is a graduate from American International College in Springfield (Mass.), He ranks 13th in scoring at AIC and is third on the career assist list for the school. Coach Vandross enters his fifth season as an assistant coach and eighth overall with the Virginia Men’s Basketball program. He served his first three seasons as UVA’s director of recruiting/player development. He also spent five seasons as an assistant coach for the Charlotte 49ers from 2011-2015 after 13 seasons at Boston University as an assistant, including three as associate head coach.

Karen Aston is a strong Division 1 Head Coach with 15+ years of head coaching experience and almost 30 years of coaching experience overall. Coach Aston is the current head coach at UTSA while also having previous head coaching roles at Charlotte, North Texas and Texas. Prior to her head coaching career she held multiple assistant roles at Baylor, North Texas and Texas.

Kenny Blakeney is a former Duke Blue Devil and a 2 time NCAA Champion Blakeney took a wide range of coaching stops including James Madison, La Salle, Delaware, Seton Hall, Marshall, Harvard and Columbia all in assistant positions and currently rounding things out where he currently stands as the current Head Coach of Howard University.

Jamie Dixon was born and raised in Burbank, California. Coach Dixon played his college career at TCU and was drafted in the 7th round of the NBA draft by the Washington Bullets leading him to round out his professional career in New Zealand. He started his coaching career in New Zealand at Te Aute College, making his way to numerous assistant positions including LA Valley, UC Santa Barbara, Hawaii, Northern Arizona, and Pittsburgh. He received his first head coaching position at the University of Pittsburgh and was there for 13 years which led him to his current position as the Head coach of TCU and back to his alma mater. He currently holds 467 wins and 220 loses overall as a Head Coach.

Adam Nelson is a former coach in the NCAA for 15+ years. Adam has had various coaching stops at the University of South Carolina, Boston College, Holy Cross, Northeastern, Newbury and Suffolk University. Adam is now the current owner and operator of the well known coaching resource, HoopDirt.com.

Matt Jones the current Assistant Coach at the University of Idaho. Coach Jones is a 5 year member of the Rising Coaches Organization and a Trinity University Alumni. Matt has had coaching stops in roles such as a GA and DOBO at Seattle University, which then led him into his current position at Idaho.

Mike Mulcahey has 25+ years of experience as an Athletic Trainer. Mike is the current athletic trainer with the Dayton University Flyers Men’s basketball team in his 9th season. We are excited to speak with Mike today to help coaches be able to learn more about how to best help their players get the most out of their bodies while also actively recovering and rehabbing.

Nicole Woods is the current Head Coach of the Women's Basketball program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Woods started her coaching career as a Graduate Assistant at SIU Carbondale for 2 years where she was then led into an assistant position after another two years at Stetson. Following Stetson, Woods went on to be the Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator for 5 seasons and then adopted the Associate Head Coaching position for 1 year. After that, she was most recently appointed the Head Coach position at UNCW.

Today on the Rising Coaches Podcast, you will get to hear a recap of some of the top segments we have had with current coaches and former players after our new podcast relaunch in October of 2023, some of which include Purdue’s Matt Painter, Florida Atlantic's Dusty May, Yale's James Jones, and Marquette’s Shaka Smart, as well as some other of the best basketball minds in the industry. We hope you enjoy our best of 2023 episode. 

Allen Deep is a Pittsburgh native who has a strong resume including a variety of years as a G League Assistant, as well as a team USA Assistant Coach, while currently running his own prep team and training organization, Run The Show. He coached at a variety of places including University of Akron, Maine Red Claws and the Westchester Knicks, while also playing a pivotal role with the successes of Team USA. Allen worked alongside various coaches such as Greg Popovitch, Jeff Van Gundy, Brad Stevens and Tom Thibodeau to name a few.

Terence Dials is a Youngstown, Ohio native and current Director of Professional Development for Ohio State University. Terence played 4 years at Ohio State while being a Big Ten player of the year his senior year while moving on to play professionally in various countries including France, Germany and Uruguay just to name a few. Terence was inducted into the Ohio State Hall of Fame and then came back with the Buckeyes to start his coaching career now starting his 5th season as an assistant coach.

Lionel Chalmers is a current Assistant Coach with the Orlando Magic. Coach Chalmers was born and raised in Albany, New York where he then went on to move to Ohio and play his collegiate career at Xavier University. He was a 2nd round draft pick in the NBA to the LA Clippers and then went on to play 11 seasons in various countries such as Europe, Italy, Russia, Turkey and France, just to name a few. Following his playing career, Lionel got a job with the Orlando Magic in various roles and continues to keep working his way up in the industry.

Greg Tonagel is one of the current hottest names in the basketball industry. Coach Tonagel is the current Head Coach at Indiana Wesleyan University as well as the fastest AND youngest Head coach to receive 500 wins in all of college basketball history, which he accomplished in just 629 games as well as winning 3 NAIA National Championships. Tonagel played at Valparaiso for four years and upon graduation, stayed as the Director of Basketball Operations for one year, which turned into his first head coaching position at IWU.Learn more about the IWU program here: https://www.iwuhoops.net/#home2

Mitch Henderson was born in Indiana and a three sport standout. He continued his playing career for Princeton and was then drafted into the MLB by the New York Yankees, however he decided to continue his career in basketball. He received his first coaching position at Northwestern where he stayed as an assistant for 11 years from 2000-2011. This then led him to his first official coaching position at Princeton where he currently is the Head Men's Basketball Coach and holds a 208-117 record as a head coach guiding his team to 3 IVY League regular season championships and 2 IVY League tournament championships

Johnny Montello i the current Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at IUPUI, who is also a member of the Rising Coaches Organization. Coach Montello is in his seventh year as a college basketball coach and had previous stops at Walsh University in various roles as a Graduate Assistant and Assistant Coach. Johnny then moved onto Eckerd College for a year where he helped with landing 9 very strong recruits which ultimately led him to his current position at IUPUI where he begins his first year.

Coach James Jones is the Head Basketball Coach at Yale University. Coach Jones started his collegiate career playing 4 years for Albany where he then went on to start his coaching career as an assistant for 5 years. Following Albany, Coach Jones landed an assistant role at Yale for 2 years then to Ohio University for 2 more before heading back to Yale to start his head coaching career. Coach Jones has been awarded 4x Ivy League Coach of the Year awards in his 25 year reign at Yale.

Kevin McGuff was cultivated in Hamilton, Ohio. He attended St. Joseph’s college where he played for four years. He then went on to start his coaching career as an assistant at Miami of Ohio and then to Notre Dame. These successful assistant jobs helped him land his first head coaching gig at Xavier University, then leading to numerous years at Washington and for the previous 10 years, being the head women's coach at The Ohio State University. He has landed multiple top recruiting classes in his stint at Ohio State and holds an overall record as a head coach at 427 wins and 199 loses.

Bill Comar is the current Special Assistant to the Head Coach at Ball State University, coach Bill Comar. Coach Comar is a pivotal name in the Rising Coaches tree as a member but also in the Ball State coaching staff. Coach Comar brings over 20+ years of coaching expertise at various stops such as Dayton, Miami of Ohio, Xavier, Loyola Chicago, Indiana and currently where he stands, Ball State. He brings an extensive coaching background to the table having worked in positions from Academic Coordinator to Assistant and many positions in between.

Shaka Smart is a Madison, Wisconsin legend who held his playing career at Kenyon College. Coach Smart stayed in the Pennsylvania area post college finding an assistant role at California (PA) which then led him to assistant roles at Akron University, Clemson, Florida and into his first head job at VCU. After helping VCU get to their first Final Four appearance in school history as one of the youngest Head Coaches in the Division 1 basketball realm, Coach Smart went on later to take a head role at Texas and now currently serves as the man in charge at Marquette University. 

Jonneshia Pineda is the current Associate Coach for the Women’s basketball team at Louisville. Coach Pineda started her collegiate career playing at Georgia Southwestern State University. Following her career she moved on to various roles at Georgia Tech for 6 years which helped her land her assistant and then associate positions at Louisville where she currently serves. She has helped Louisville win two conference regular season championships, four trips to the elite eight and a run to the final four in her 4 years at Louisville.

Johnny Dawkins was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and played his collegiate career at Duke University. At Duke, he became the team's all-time leading scorer with 2,556 points, which stood until 2006 when JJ Redick surpassed it. He was the 10th overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft and continued on for 9 seasons playing with various teams such as the San Antonio Spurs, Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons. He started his coaching career back at his alma mater, Duke University as an assistant and after one season was moved to the associate head coach. After some time excelling in this role he got his first head coaching position at Stanford University for 8 years which led him into his current position as the head coach at the University of Central Florida since 2016.

Katie Smith is a Logan, Ohio native who went on to play her collegiate career at Ohio State University where she ended up breaking the BIG 10 scoring record for points in a career for both the men’s and women’s teams. She ended up getting drafted into the WNBA to the Minnesota Lynx for 6 years where she then bounced to a couple teams including Detroit Shock, Seattle Storm and rounded her career with the New York Liberty. As a coach she continued her basketball career coaching where she ended her career at the New York Liberty as the assistant and then the Head coach for a year. She is currently the assistant coach with the Minnesota Lynx. 

Fran Fraschilla is a Brooklyn, New York Native, and current College Basketball Analyst with ESPN. Fran had numerous stops in his coaching career including Ohio University, Ohio State University and Providence College all as assistant coaching positions. He then went on to start his Head Coaching career at Manhattan for 4 years, St. John’s for 2 years and New Mexico for another 3 years posting an overall record of 176-99 as a head coach.

David West is a New Jersey Native and former American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Xavier University and then went on to play an extensive career of 15 seasons in the NBA for numerous teams including the New Orleans Hornets, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors and was a two-time NBA All-Star (2008 and 2009) and a two-time NBA champion (2017 and 2018) with the Golden State Warriors. David currently is coaching AAU for Garner Roads in North Carolina. 

Erin Sinnott was born and raised in St.Joseph, Missouri. She went on to start her playing career at Evansville for two years and finished her playing career at Daemen University. She started working as a director of basketball operations with Rising Coaches and through hard work she has grown into various roles such as a Intern position with Minnesota and a DOBO role with Buffalo leading her into her current position as the assistant coach at Buffalo University while still being a critical part in the Rising Coaches Organization.

Dusty May is an Illinois native, and currently the head basketball coach at Florida Atlantic University. Coach May started as the student manager at Indiana University under coach Bob Knight until 2000 where he then went on to take on video and administrative roles at USC and Indiana before landing his first assistant job at Eastern Michigan while also finding assistant roles at Murray State, UAB, Louisiana Tech and Florida. Following 3 years at Florida he landed the Head coaching job at Florida Atlantic where he most recently helped lead FAU to their greatest season in school history in the 2022-23 campaign and leading the charge into the Final Four.

Coach Matt Painter is a Fort Wayne, IN native and is currently the Head Coach for the Purdue Boilermakers. Painter played for four years at Purdue University where he then went on to graduate and begin his coaching career at Washington & Jefferson College in Pittsburgh, PA. Painter then transitioned after a year to Barton University, which ultimately led him to Eastern Illinois, Southern Illinois, and ultimately brought him back to his roots at Purdue. As Head Coach of Purdue, the Boilermakers have gone on to win four Big 10 regular season championships, two Big 10 tournament championships and numerous NCAA appearances with four Big 10 Coach of the Year Awards, an NABC Coach of the Year, and NBC Coach of the Year Awards.

In our first episode under new leadership, Doug and Alan are joined by Rich Czeslawski to discuss the future of the organization. Joined by some special guests early in the show, the group sets the stage for what’s next for Rising Coaches.