Brad Soderberg Interview Uploaded

[StLouisSportsStream]

I have upload the Interview I had with Brad this morning on my website. It can be found on the homepage(www.stlsportsstream.com) or the direct link to the interview is http://www.stlsportsstream.com/media/Brad_...g_Interview.mp3

Here are somethings I found interesting from the Interview:

He doesn't have a passion for being an AD

When asked about his firing from SLU, He said "I believe if I made the tournament, I wouldn't have been fired, I think" I wished i would've asked a follow up about the "I think"

Obviously, He didn't like the timing of the firing.

The way he talked about tommie and kevin and how he can't bring himself to talk to them now until they've graduated

He has talked to Cheryl Levick recently. She just got the AD job at Georgia State.

Then, the way he talked about watching his son play and how much that means to him.

I would love to hear your opinions and comments on the interview

Nathan

http://www.stlsportsstream.com

[billikenfan05]

Well done. Your interviews are getting much better. That was very interesting.

[moytoy12]

Good stuff, thanks for posting. From an interviewing point of view, I would suggest working on your transitions between questions a little more to help the interview flow.

Brad is a stand-up guy, there's no doubt about it.

I know it's tough for Brad, but I can't help but wonder if he could have provided some helpful counsel to TL and/or KL during the last 2 years.

p.s. I'm sure the Loras administrators are happy to hear about his lack of passion.

[Pistol]

Good stuff, thanks for posting. From an interviewing point of view, I would suggest working on your transitions between questions a little more to help the interview flow.

Brad is a stand-up guy, there's no doubt about it.

I know it's tough for Brad, but I can't help but wonder if he could have provided some helpful counsel to TL and/or KL during the last 2 years.

p.s. I'm sure the Loras administrators are happy to hear about his lack of passion.

Brad seems like he's come to terms with his situation and is in a good place mentally. He seems to know the range of what his head coaching prospects are, and I thought his "Well, Kentucky, Memphis, and Arizona!" comment was funny. I'm also curious to see where he winds up, as he mentioned he's got a handful of assistant possibilities out there and said he'll find out about them in the next couple of weeks.

moy, I also wondered if he kept a pipeline open with those guys during these two years, and thought he at least would have with Kevin, but I guess I can understand that it's tough to do that. Those guys probably could have used some encouragement (and I doubt Brad would have been negative). He did say he wanted to talk to them after they graduate soon here, but that might not be possible if Tommie dropped out.

It was cool to hear him talk about Kramer and how proud of him he is, even if it's bittersweet because he thought all along he'd be coaching him. Getting to see him play a couple games to start his career in Pauley Pavilion with his dad had to be a surreal moment for Brad. I'd like to see Kramer get a shot to start this coming season.

Overall, a good 15 minutes and Brad was candid without saying too much or being negative about anything and didn't dodge any questions. He's a guy who puts a lot of thought into everything and that shows in interviews.

[StLouisSportsStream]

Yeah, I really thought the interview went well, thanks for the compliments guys. I feel the interviews are getting better, I do need to work on my transitions from question to question.

I know Brad didn't really say alot in the interview about slu and his firing, but like you said moytoy, Brad is a stand up guy. The part about Kevin and Tommie is the part that i found most interesting, and think that the whole situation with the firing is still a touchy one for him and his relationship with his former players.

[moytoy12]

Yeah, I really thought the interview went well, thanks for the compliments guys. I feel the interviews are getting better, I do need to work on my transitions from question to question.

I know Brad didn't really say alot in the interview about slu and his firing, but like you said moytoy, Brad is a stand up guy. The part about Kevin and Tommie is the part that i found most interesting, and think that the whole situation with the firing is still a touchy one for him and his relationship with his former players.

I agree with both you and Pistol that the firing affected his ability to stay in contact with TL and KL.

Please take it as constructive criticism. I thought you asked very good questions and stayed out of the way. Job well done.

Brad is a very good interviewee as Pistol points out.

[Chicago Billiken]

I have upload the Interview I had with Brad this morning on my website. It can be found on the homepage(www.stlsportsstream.com) or the direct link to the interview is http://www.stlsportsstream.com/media/Brad_...g_Interview.mp3

Here are somethings I found interesting from the Interview:

He doesn't have a passion for being an AD

When asked about his firing from SLU, He said "I believe if I made the tournament, I wouldn't have been fired, I think" I wished i would've asked a follow up about the "I think"

Obviously, He didn't like the timing of the firing.

The way he talked about tommie and kevin and how he can't bring himself to talk to them now until they've graduated

He has talked to Cheryl Levick recently. She just got the AD job at Georgia State.

Then, the way he talked about watching his son play and how much that means to him.

I would love to hear your opinions and comments on the interview

Nathan

http://www.stlsportsstream.com

Just tried to access and got the following error message:

Network Error (tcp_error)

A communication error occurred: ""

The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time.

For assistance, contact your network support team.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of Kevin Shortal

[StLouisSportsStream]

Just tried to access and got the following error message:

Network Error (tcp_error)

A communication error occurred: ""

The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time.

For assistance, contact your network support team.

Official Billikens.com sponsor of Kevin Shortal

I don't know what the problem was, but it seems to be working fine now. Sorry for any issues.

[thetorch]

Great interview.

Really reminded me why I liked him so much. He has his faults and deficiencies as a basketball coach at this level but as a man I have nothing but good things to say about Coach Soderberg.

[ACE]

It would seem like the longer coach Soderberg is out of the game, the more difficult it would be to get back in the game at a high level. I would think that he would have made enough connections over the years, that he could land a pretty good assistant job. What about Sodie going to Virginia with Tony Bennett?

[StLouisSportsStream]

It would seem like the longer coach Soderberg is out of the game, the more difficult it would be to get back in the game at a high level. I would think that he would have made enough connections over the years, that he could land a pretty good assistant job. What about Sodie going to Virginia with Tony Bennett?

Yeah, i was thinking the same thing, Brad has a chance at a UVA assistant job since tony bennett got the job. Both were on the staff together at wisconsin when dick bennett was the coach.

Any Billikens.com members that use facebook, become a fan of www.stlsportsstream.com on facebook. Search www.stlsportsstream.com and click become a fan.

[inthelou]

Great interview.

Really reminded me why I liked him so much. He has his faults and deficiencies as a basketball coach at this level but as a man I have nothing but good things to say about Coach Soderberg.

He's a good guy and a pretty darn good coach. I'd love to see a guy like Soderberg given all the tools and facilities and see what he could do. In some ways SLU was a perfect job for him. The timing just wasn't there.

[jimbofive]

Just listened to this interview. Great interview on both sides. Really seamless, outstanding job. After listening, makes you wonder if Soderberg somehow caught wind of Tommie's troubles and perhaps tried to make contact and offer advice. Wouldn't put it past him.

Again, great interview, I usually can't be bothered to listen to stuff like that.

[courtside]

He's a good guy and a pretty darn good coach. I'd love to see a guy like Soderberg given all the tools and facilities and see what he could do. In some ways SLU was a perfect job for him. The timing just wasn't there.

Majerus fought very hard for a lot of those "tools" and "facilities." Brad did not have the leverage to get the extras with the new Arena and practice and training facility, the strength coaches, much higher paid assistants, some charter travel, and other resources, to name a few. It was more than just "timing." Rick wouldn't have come without the assurance of a lot of those things. In a way it shows just how far SLU had and still has to go to be a more competitive program. If Brad wanted good timing, he would have had to have waited until after Majerus, or after someone else who was able to leverage upgrades in a lot of areas of commitment with the basketball program.

With that said, Brad is knows basketball very well and he is a very good teacher of some aspects of the game, and a very good guy. He'll be fine.

[Clock_Tower]

Majerus fought very hard for a lot of those "tools" and "facilities." Brad did not have the leverage to get the extras with the new Arena and practice and training facility, the strength coaches, much higher paid assistants, some charter travel, and other resources, to name a few. It was more than just "timing." Rick wouldn't have come without the assurance of a lot of those things. In a way it shows just how far SLU had and still has to go to be a more competitive program. If Brad wanted good timing, he would have had to have waited until after Majerus, or after someone else who was able to leverage upgrades in a lot of areas of commitment with the basketball program.

With that said, Brad is knows basketball very well and he is a very good teacher of some aspects of the game, and a very good guy. He'll be fine.

Agree fully. Just to add about the timing, I have long thought Brad really "lost" his moment by letting the Wisconsin Final Four year (2000) pass. Had he left Wisc then (Spring of 2000) and come to SLU (no opening here) or somewhere else, then the local media and the basketball community may have accepted him more as an "up and coming" coach. Instead, he was loyal and stayed put, did the best he could in the face of huge expectations and then went 16-10 after his boss quit on him and the Badgers - bad luck. Then, Brad went only 16-10 with no NCAA and was replaced by Bo Ryan. After this disappointment, Brad limped to St. Louis (for a not very good Billikens team) and coached under Romar. In contrast, Romar was fortunate to leave when he did but Brad then stayed and while he did the best he could, he was not considered an "up and coming" coach and the 2000 Final Four year was nearly forgotten by all but Brad who referred to it when he could. Instead, with little fanfare, he started to rebuild the program, got some good recruits, endured some tough years, a stalled Arena project, a conference demotion when we dropped from Conf USA to A10 - even more bad luck.

At the same time, I recognize that argument has a rather important flaw in it - Brad's recruiting was much better earlier than later in his tenure. Go figure.

[slu72]

Agree fully. Just to add about the timing, I have long thought Brad really "lost" his moment by letting the Wisconsin Final Four year (2000) pass. Had he left Wisc then (Spring of 2000) and come to SLU (no opening here) or somewhere else, then the local media and the basketball community may have accepted him more as an "up and coming" coach. Instead, he was loyal and stayed put, did the best he could in the face of huge expectations and then went 16-10 after his boss quit on him and the Badgers - bad luck. Then, Brad went only 16-10 with no NCAA and was replaced by Bo Ryan. After this disappointment, Brad limped to St. Louis (for a not very good Billikens team) and coached under Romar. In contrast, Romar was fortunate to leave when he did but Brad then stayed and while he did the best he could, he was not considered an "up and coming" coach and the 2000 Final Four year was nearly forgotten by all but Brad who referred to it when he could. Instead, with little fanfare, he started to rebuild the program, got some good recruits, endured some tough years, a stalled Arena project, a conference demotion when we dropped from Conf USA to A10 - even more bad luck.

At the same time, I recognize that argument has a rather important flaw in it - Brad's recruiting was much better earlier than later in his tenure. Go figure.

No doubt UB is a good decent man. But he's in a tough business where everyone wants results. He had his chance.... 5 years is a lifetime in this business. Yes, the timing was bad, but am pretty sure Fr. Biondi was under a lot of pressure from big $$ guys to make a change. He's probably correct in saying had SLU made the tourney that last year, he'd still be at SLU.

[Pistol]

Agree fully. Just to add about the timing, I have long thought Brad really "lost" his moment by letting the Wisconsin Final Four year (2000) pass. Had he left Wisc then (Spring of 2000) and come to SLU (no opening here) or somewhere else, then the local media and the basketball community may have accepted him more as an "up and coming" coach. Instead, he was loyal and stayed put, did the best he could in the face of huge expectations and then went 16-10 after his boss quit on him and the Badgers - bad luck. Then, Brad went only 16-10 with no NCAA and was replaced by Bo Ryan. After this disappointment, Brad limped to St. Louis (for a not very good Billikens team) and coached under Romar. In contrast, Romar was fortunate to leave when he did but Brad then stayed and while he did the best he could, he was not considered an "up and coming" coach and the 2000 Final Four year was nearly forgotten by all but Brad who referred to it when he could. Instead, with little fanfare, he started to rebuild the program, got some good recruits, endured some tough years, a stalled Arena project, a conference demotion when we dropped from Conf USA to A10 - even more bad luck.

At the same time, I recognize that argument has a rather important flaw in it - Brad's recruiting was much better earlier than later in his tenure. Go figure.

Just one correction- Soderberg did make the NCAA tournament in his year as interim head coach at Wisconsin. They lost in the first round, and he was let go shortly thereafter. They wanted a "name" coach and wound up going with Ryan after interviewing several others; he wasn't a name at the time but has delivered quite a bit of success.

You hit the nail on the head, though. He hasn't been a very successful recruiter and has experienced a lot of bad timing in his career. Not a great combination for a head coach.

[MadBird]

Just one correction- Soderberg did make the NCAA tournament in his year as interim head coach at Wisconsin. They lost in the first round, and he was let go shortly thereafter. They wanted a "name" coach and wound up going with Ryan after interviewing several others; he wasn't a name at the time but has delivered quite a bit of success.

You hit the nail on the head, though. He hasn't been a very successful recruiter and has experienced a lot of bad timing in his career. Not a great combination for a head coach.

Further clarification, from a UW season ticket holder in Madison (and Ill. St. alum, hence the screen name) who started visiting this board to follow Coach Brad after he left UW:

Lots of "inside" crap on his dismissal. They lost to Georgia St. in the NCAA that year - if they had lost to Duke or Kansas, etc., the outcome might have been different, but there was a lot of outcry losing to that "level" of a program. There was some disgruntlement among the "boosters" (the "red sweater crowd" one of the local columnists likes to call them) about the way Bennett quit and handed the job off to Brad, in what many saw as a blatant attempt to "force" the UW to hire Brad as permanent coach. It wasn't that they wanted a "name" coach so much, Ryan wasn't a "name" coach, he was the favorite of many many many of the boosters going back to his days as an assistant to Bill Cofield and Steve Yoder, before he went to Platteville as head coach. Many had wanted to hire him INSTEAD of Dick Bennett, but Bennett did have some pretty successful D-I experience at UW Green Bay, while Ryan only had the DIII experience at Platteville. So, when Bennett bailed out as he did, tried to force AD Pat Richter's hand to hire Brad permenently, there was kind of a backlash I think against Brad, he lost to lowly Georgia St. in the NCAA, and the door was wide open to finally bring in Bo Ryan.

In reality, except for Devin Harris (who was a Bennett/Soderberg recruit), for the most part Ryan has not recruited extemely talented players any more than Bennett/Soderberg did - he gets "good" kids, role players, who play within the system. Alando Tucker is the other Ryan player who went on to the NBA, but he is very much a hard worker type who is not flashy, etc.

I agree totally that Brad has been somewhat a victim of "bad timing", and also his "style", which is based on running a system, and a system that for the most part is hard to get talented kids to buy into. But he was also a victim of a system that looks at a 20 win season as "unsuccessful" if it doesn't end up even with a low seed in the NCAA.

Always enjoy visiting Billikens.com, mostly now to read about how former ISU coach Porter Moser is doing. I was one who was glad to see him go, but always thought he had a lot of potential. Just wasn't ready to lead ISU out of the wilderness when he had his chance (ie. bad timing!!!).

[Pistol]

Further clarification, from a UW season ticket holder in Madison (and Ill. St. alum, hence the screen name) who started visiting this board to follow Coach Brad after he left UW:

Lots of "inside" crap on his dismissal. They lost to Georgia St. in the NCAA that year - if they had lost to Duke or Kansas, etc., the outcome might have been different, but there was a lot of outcry losing to that "level" of a program. There was some disgruntlement among the "boosters" (the "red sweater crowd" one of the local columnists likes to call them) about the way Bennett quit and handed the job off to Brad, in what many saw as a blatant attempt to "force" the UW to hire Brad as permanent coach. It wasn't that they wanted a "name" coach so much, Ryan wasn't a "name" coach, he was the favorite of many many many of the boosters going back to his days as an assistant to Bill Cofield and Steve Yoder, before he went to Platteville as head coach. Many had wanted to hire him INSTEAD of Dick Bennett, but Bennett did have some pretty successful D-I experience at UW Green Bay, while Ryan only had the DIII experience at Platteville. So, when Bennett bailed out as he did, tried to force AD Pat Richter's hand to hire Brad permenently, there was kind of a backlash I think against Brad, he lost to lowly Georgia St. in the NCAA, and the door was wide open to finally bring in Bo Ryan.

In reality, except for Devin Harris (who was a Bennett/Soderberg recruit), for the most part Ryan has not recruited extemely talented players any more than Bennett/Soderberg did - he gets "good" kids, role players, who play within the system. Alando Tucker is the other Ryan player who went on to the NBA, but he is very much a hard worker type who is not flashy, etc.

I agree totally that Brad has been somewhat a victim of "bad timing", and also his "style", which is based on running a system, and a system that for the most part is hard to get talented kids to buy into. But he was also a victim of a system that looks at a 20 win season as "unsuccessful" if it doesn't end up even with a low seed in the NCAA.

Always enjoy visiting Billikens.com, mostly now to read about how former ISU coach Porter Moser is doing. I was one who was glad to see him go, but always thought he had a lot of potential. Just wasn't ready to lead ISU out of the wilderness when he had his chance (ie. bad timing!!!).

Thanks for the rundown. My version was based on what a buddy from UW told me a couple years ago. I guess there are always multiple camps within any large group of alums/boosters/general fans when it comes to coaching changes, and different ideas of who wants what.

[Clock_Tower]

Further clarification, from a UW season ticket holder in Madison (and Ill. St. alum, hence the screen name) who started visiting this board to follow Coach Brad after he left UW:

Lots of "inside" crap on his dismissal. They lost to Georgia St. in the NCAA that year - if they had lost to Duke or Kansas, etc., the outcome might have been different, but there was a lot of outcry losing to that "level" of a program. There was some disgruntlement among the "boosters" (the "red sweater crowd" one of the local columnists likes to call them) about the way Bennett quit and handed the job off to Brad, in what many saw as a blatant attempt to "force" the UW to hire Brad as permanent coach. It wasn't that they wanted a "name" coach so much, Ryan wasn't a "name" coach, he was the favorite of many many many of the boosters going back to his days as an assistant to Bill Cofield and Steve Yoder, before he went to Platteville as head coach. Many had wanted to hire him INSTEAD of Dick Bennett, but Bennett did have some pretty successful D-I experience at UW Green Bay, while Ryan only had the DIII experience at Platteville. So, when Bennett bailed out as he did, tried to force AD Pat Richter's hand to hire Brad permenently, there was kind of a backlash I think against Brad, he lost to lowly Georgia St. in the NCAA, and the door was wide open to finally bring in Bo Ryan.

In reality, except for Devin Harris (who was a Bennett/Soderberg recruit), for the most part Ryan has not recruited extemely talented players any more than Bennett/Soderberg did - he gets "good" kids, role players, who play within the system. Alando Tucker is the other Ryan player who went on to the NBA, but he is very much a hard worker type who is not flashy, etc.

I agree totally that Brad has been somewhat a victim of "bad timing", and also his "style", which is based on running a system, and a system that for the most part is hard to get talented kids to buy into. But he was also a victim of a system that looks at a 20 win season as "unsuccessful" if it doesn't end up even with a low seed in the NCAA.

Always enjoy visiting Billikens.com, mostly now to read about how former ISU coach Porter Moser is doing. I was one who was glad to see him go, but always thought he had a lot of potential. Just wasn't ready to lead ISU out of the wilderness when he had his chance (ie. bad timing!!!).

Thanks for your input. A few more questions if you don't mind. Wisconsin did have real talent and good teams under Bennett culminating with the Final Four appearance. Who was really responsible for recruiting those guys? I know Bennett was the head coach and ultimately responsible and that no kid chose Wisc based solely on an assistant coach w/o conisdering Bennett, but was Bennett active in the recruiting process? Was Soderberg given credit for recruiting some of these guys or possibly another assistant coach? In general, was Soderberg considered a "recruiter" or more of a hardworking, loyal assistant to Bennett. Brad must have been somewhat comfortable recruiting in his home state of Wisc.

[MadBird]

Thanks for your input. A few more questions if you don't mind. Wisconsin did have real talent and good teams under Bennett culminating with the Final Four appearance. Who was really responsible for recruiting those guys? I know Bennett was the head coach and ultimately responsible and that no kid chose Wisc based solely on an assistant coach w/o conisdering Bennett, but was Bennett active in the recruiting process? Was Soderberg given credit for recruiting some of these guys or possibly another assistant coach? In general, was Soderberg considered a "recruiter" or more of a hardworking, loyal assistant to Bennett. Brad must have been somewhat comfortable recruiting in his home state of Wisc.

First, remember that Dick Bennett only coached 5 years + 3 games at UW. So, they started off with "leftovers" from the Stu Jackson/Stan Van Gundy years, really got through only one complete recruiting cycle themselves. Soderberg did a good bit of the recruiting, especially in Wisconsin. As you may know, his dad and brother are well known in Wisconsin coaching circles, and of course the Bennett family is very highly regarded, so they had many connections in Wisconsin to the HS coaches. The other primary assistant during Bennett's tenure was a guy named Shawn Hood, from Boston, who was a star for Cleveland State and led them to the Sweet 16 in 1986 - tough point guard - and who also was an assistant at CSU before coming to UW. Brad and Shawn were the primary recruiters until Bennett brought in his son Tony, who was/is a very able recruiter as well. In fact, Bo Ryan kept Tony on after he was hired to replace Soderberg and Tony continued to recruit well for UW until he joined his dad at Washington St. Tony helped recruit Kirk Penney from New Zealand, having played and coached some pro ball in Australia, and is said to have had a big role in getting Devin Harris to come to UW.

But Brad was seen I'm sure by most as a loyal Bennett disciple, in terms of style of play and temperment. It's been said his Loras and So. Dakota St. teams played a more uptempo style than Bennett's teams, but I think it's fair to say the styles are very very similar.