Sunday, February 25, 2001
Q&A with XU coach Skip Prosser
'A real sense of perspective'
He will be on the Irish coast sooner than we think, retired, in a house by the water, reading a good Irish book about good Irish history, heroic and noble. Skip Prosser, the Xavier basketball coach, has a toe in that old sod and another in the plastic sod of the recently demolished Three Rivers Stadium, in Pittsburgh.
Prosser saw the first Pirates game at Three Rivers, in 1970. He stood in line for 10 hours for tickets to the Steelers playoff game against Oakland in the mid-70s, aka The Immaculate Reception game. He was at the stadium to see Roberto Clemente's 3,000th — and final — hit.
Prosser doesn't indulge in traditional coachly vices: swearing, cigar-smoking and golf. He's as centered as any guy can be who is also a big-time coach.
Prosser spent an hour talking Friday night, at a local watering hole he forbade me to disclose. It's the only place he hangs out.
Q. Is it true the only tapes in your car are of Irish music?
A. No. There's a little Scottish music in there, too. A little Kathy Mattea, a little Linda Ronstadt. But yeah, lots of Irish stuff: Johnny McDermott, Frank Patterson, the Wolf Tones, a couple Chieftains.
Wolf Tones?
Wolf Tone was an Irish patriot. Fought against the French in 1798.
Q. When you were an assistant to Pete Gillen, you played pick-up basketball at lunch, at the O'Connor Center. Your assistant, Dino Gaudio, said the faculty would never let the basketball coaches play on the best court. True?
A. Coach Gillen never wanted us to play with the teachers. Dino was so competitive, Coach was afraid we'd get into some verbal sparring with a faculty member who would then flunk Tyrone Hill.
Q. Dino describes your game as “suburban standstill jumpshooter.” Accurate?
A. No. I'm a parochial league jumpshooter.
Q. If you played Bob Huggins to 10 by ones, who'd win?
A. He would, 10-1. In high school, I missed 1,000 career points by 873.
Q. Where would you go tomorrow if you could go anywhere you wanted?
A. Poughkeepsie, New York.
What?
My son (Mark) is there. At Marist College. I haven't seen him for awhile. If not there, County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. Sometimes, it's not always where you are. It's who you're with.
Q. You don't swear.
A. I try hard not to. When I do, I apologize. I say, excuse my language. I'm not trying to be sanctimonious. Maybe it's because I spent so many years (13) as a high school coach. Swearing wouldn't have been allowed with the high school kids.
Q. If you were king of college basketball for one day, what would you change?
A. There is no one thing. We're missing the point academically. That the kids earn their degrees and have a good college experience is so often lost. So many coaches who don't break rules and graduate their kids end up getting fired. I blame the college presidents that allow that to happen.
Q. There was a story in Sports Illustrated last week, about a high school senior named Tyson Chandler. He drives a Cadillac Escalade and says he'll probably skip college and enter the NBA draft. What would you say to him?
A. He's probably been so corrupted by the system as it exists, he probably couldn't go back to where he could ever understand the fun of being in college. It's not his fault. He's been chattel since he was in eighth grade. I'd tell him to close his circle of friends as tightly as he can, and find people who care about him as a person and not a commodity.
Q. What college team this year would you pay to see?
A. Virginia, Duke, Michigan State, Ohio State, Muskingum.
Muskingum?
The coach up there is doing an unbelievable job. You wouldn't see them on SportsCenter. They wouldn't be on ESPN4. But there are lots of guys like that.
Q. Of all the guys you've coached, who'd you want to have the ball if you needed one hoop to win the national championship?
A. Jamie Gladden. He would make the shot. He'd put it right down. Lenny (Brown) would be up there, too.
Q. If you could buy a national championship at auction and you knew all the money would go to a charity of your choice, what would you bid?
A. I have no idea.
Q. Fill in the blank: I'd be a better basketball coach if I ...
A. Wasn't as sensitive to the needs of the kids academically. It's the first thing we talk about at practice every day.
Q. One coach you admire the most.
A. A guy named Eudie Joseph. I didn't want to be a coach. I just wanted to be a history teacher. He told me I couldn't teach unless I took the freshman coaching job. He had just retired (from coaching in Wheeling, W.Va.). He taught me so much about dealing with kids, stuff I use every day.
Q. Like what?
A. Never blame the kids. If they don't play hard, then don't play them. If they don't do what you tell them, don't play them. But don't blame them. There's always something you could do to help them win the game.
Q. Your wife is a flight nurse for University Hospital Air Care. How does her job affect how you view yours?
A. It gives me a real sense of perspective. It never ceases to amaze me when we go out to dinner. She may have been involved in two or three life-saving experiences in a 12-hour period and yet people will walk up to us and say, "Hey, Coach, how's recruiting going?'
I take losing incredibly hard. Chris Evert said she hates losing more than she loves winning. I'm the same way. I wish I could change that, but I gave up trying decades ago. But Nancy does help me understand what's vital and what isn't.
Q. What is the best quality a person can have, and why?
A. Your good name. I talk to my players all the time about that. Once you get mud on your integrity, it's tough to get it off.
Q. According to Dino ...
A. Dino's not an expert.
Q. According to Dino, your first new car was a green Dodge K-car with an AM radio you improved by adding an FM converter.
A. I thought about it, but I didn't. See? Dino doesn't know everything.
Q. Now you drive a Jaguar. What's the significance, if any?
A. When the fellow at the (Jaguar dealership) started explaining the bells and whistles, I couldn't keep a straight face. I coached ninth-grade kids; now I'm driving a Jaguar. It's hard to imagine.
Q. Does it make you a little self-conscious?
A. Probably, a little. But I like the car.
Q. What book is on your nightstand?
Consumed By Freedom's Flame. A book about the Irish war of independence.
Q. You're at the gates of heaven. What do you say to St. Peter so he lets you in?
That I tried hard to be a good father and a good husband and a good teacher. With my wife, my sons and my players. I pray for that every week.
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Daugherty: Q&A with XU coach Skip Prosser
