The Coaches Group Chat

E3: NCAA Round Up, Arielle Goes Viral, Favorite Assistant Coaches, Bench Player of the Year

• Matthew Houlihan, Arielle Houlihan, Chad Gordon • Season 1 • Episode 3

Share episode
  • AVCA Rankings
  • Arielle's viral videos
  • Women coaching in a boys game
  • Favorite NCAA Assistant Coaches
  • Nominee for Bench Player of the Year
Matt Houlihan:

That's not cutting the roof of my mouth. That's not good Dutch crunch. It's not Dutch, it's not crunch. It's. Yeah, that's a soft bread with like little creases in it. Give me the crunch. I want the.

Arielle Houlihan:

Russian Dutch crunch yeah the Serbian Dutch crunch, the crunch Dutch is you?

Chad Gordon:

Yeah? Can you bake?

Matt Houlihan:

glass into your Dutch crunch.

Matt Houlihan:

First thing we're going to talk about in our Genius podcast, episode three of really smart people named Matt and Chad, in mean Ariel is the rankings. We've got the AVCA rankings and we've got the no Easy Bucket rankings that we're talking about. We're going to do a little compare contrast.

Arielle Houlihan:

We've also got the media ranking from off the block as well. Let's start with AVCA.

Matt Houlihan:

I think that would be the leading poll.

Arielle Houlihan:

The coaches poll. Yeah, the coaches poll. Yeah the coaches Chad, let's get you a Dutch first.

Chad Gordon:

We've seen this poll yes. I've dabbled about. Our producer is going to pull it up momentarily, so if you could vamp for like 12 seconds, okay. Oh my God, great work. Yeah, I think this is still just one of those really early preseason polls, right, I get that 23 of the coaches have ranked Long Beach State first. I can't name.

Arielle Houlihan:

Is that what it says 23?

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, there's 23 voting coaches.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yes, yeah, oh, oh.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, and so they've all put Long Beach first. I don't know that I agree. I don't know that I disagree. I think it's again kind of lazy and it's just very preseason.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, yeah, because coaches being like oh yeah, I've got to turn in that poll.

Chad Gordon:

They're probably first sure, Sure, I think they've been playing well. But like again, as we'll get to with the no Easy Buckets thing, right, I think Dustin would acknowledge like they haven't played a tough schedule. But again, is this a base on your previous history or is this a power ranking kind of thing? I'm like, hey, we think man, we really think Grand Canyon is the second best team.

Arielle Houlihan:

This is not a power ranking.

Chad Gordon:

Right. And so if you're just doing this base of you know hey look, this is where they've been, this is you know who they've beaten so far. Cool man, they're undefeated. Like, yeah, go ahead, put Long Beach first. But I think you know Hawaii is probably still pretty high. You know UCLA and Ohio State obviously taking a hit, penn State somehow still behind Ohio State after beating them at home and away. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but again, I think it's kind of lazy. And then Santa Barbara didn't get a ton of love for beating UCLA, but that's okay. Up five spots.

Matt Houlihan:

They won up five spots, that's some love Sure.

Chad Gordon:

I mean, I don't know my favorite.

Arielle Houlihan:

My favorite part of it is Ohio State going to number one and then dropping to number six. Like how in the world? Yeah, I mean this poll.

Matt Houlihan:

Like Chad said, it's, it's no, it's just, it's like all right, what did you do last year? Long Beach State, grand Canyon, hawaii, all three teams in the tournament last year, all undefeated or one loss. If you're actually going off of the strength of schedule which is kind of what the no Easy Buckets poll does a little bit more, stanford moves up, grand Canyon moves back a little bit. I think Grand Canyon is very good. I don't think that they're not deserving of being number two. I don't think Long Beach State is not deserving of being number one. Their strength of schedule thus far has not been the top. I think Stanford of the grouping has the highest strength of schedule, but at the same time it's so early that it's like, okay, coaches are just throwing stuff in there and they're, you know, all right, you're on a few to this week. Are you one this week? Great, good job you. We're moving you up. We're moving you up, but not really a ton of in-depth acknowledgement of where teams are currently at.

Arielle Houlihan:

I'm going UCLA's B squad for number one this week.

Matt Houlihan:

The other side of the blue curtain.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, that's the number one team. Yeah, that's my number one team in the country, right?

Matt Houlihan:

now who's on the UCLA B squad, because there's been like 16 different people who have started.

Arielle Houlihan:

Who have gone in. Yes, but like, if somebody's in, then that means somebody else is out. So whoever is standing clapping is my number one for this week.

Chad Gordon:

Whoever claps most claps best. Yeah, yeah.

Matt Houlihan:

There's a quote. Who do you think UCLA's actual starters will be at the end? I think we know them, basically the middles, we know the center. We don't know the Barrow, we don't really know outsides, I don't know. I don't know either I don't know what do you think? Sparrow is just like it's early on and we're just going to try everyone out and give them a.

Arielle Houlihan:

just we're just going to give everyone a shot here, so I wish that that's what everybody would do.

Chad Gordon:

Some people don't have the luxury of no, not playing time.

Matt Houlihan:

I think Sparrow's worried about the playing time conversation.

Chad Gordon:

You see us have the parents at the end of the season. As a club coach. Yeah, I'm sure that's what Sparrow's worried about, for sure?

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, I think that trying things out and giving kids opportunities is a great thing. Yeah, and like who cares?

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, if you can win your conference.

Arielle Houlihan:

Sparrow is unless you don't win your conference and you don't get an out large bed, that would be well. That's the risk, the bummer.

Matt Houlihan:

I think I was looking at this earlier. I didn't Instagram on this, but the most interesting matchup in this top 10 grouping UCLA, uc, irvine because Irvine, just be BYU at.

Chad Gordon:

BYU twice, Irvine's had a strong strong start to.

Matt Houlihan:

They lost the first match. Ignore.

Chad Gordon:

Ignore Mason again, dark horse for Pivo Right Sure.

Matt Houlihan:

They had no one flexing on the outside middle and the right side like same thing, trying to figure out what lineup works here. But they've been grooving since then and two wins at BYU is huge. Now they're coming up against UCLA. They played tomorrow, wednesday, against UCLA and then they play UCLA again at UCLA, so a home and away this week UCLA is coming off of two losses. Irvine's kind of showing some promise here. So that's going to be super interesting, because if UCLA loses to Irvine now, all of a sudden it's no longer like hey, the at-large is like a guarantee.

Matt Houlihan:

You now are in the situation where conference is a must, yeah Right. So it gets interesting there. Same thing for Irvine, Big West MPSF. In comparison, whoever wins that that's going to be two teams of theoretically at the end should be close to the top, but they're going to be vying for the at-large for either conference based upon those records right there.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, this isn't a power ranking right. So, like in watching some Irvine, I think probably have the two best lefts in the country right now.

Matt Houlihan:

Really, Right no known. No known. Flex as top two.

Chad Gordon:

Just how those guys have played so far. Yeah, with Heno, I mean you have elite serving, you have guys that have been in big moments before. Um, you know, if UCLA can put their big boy pants on and like it goes back to Champlain tonight, sure uh. But Ramo right, to his credit, has I mean the knock on him is maybe he's not, oh it was, you know, a super strong passer. It's passed really well when he's been in there so far. So that'll be interesting. But I mean I think, like Irvine right should probably be in that top five conversation for the for the end of the year, and but I think we'll know.

Chad Gordon:

I mean UCLA is going to again have to kind of rally here, and I'm sure that they can, because they got a lot of experience, but Irvine's also probably got something to prove.

Matt Houlihan:

Totally yeah, and so if you're stepping in to run the offense for them, that's actually been super interesting. Great beard, great, so probably the top beard of players. Yeah, I gotta think top beard of players.

Chad Gordon:

I gotta think that anyone that rivals that beard. It's bushy, it's. There's a lot of volume. Easy producer, come on. Guy Bushy is the right attitude.

Matt Houlihan:

Have you seen?

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, we'll get pulled up, pull the photo at some point. Let's go ahead. Let's go ahead and give it to him.

Arielle Houlihan:

That's not I'm going to see a photo of this beard. You know, actually, you know actually has a decent beard to damn friend. You know David. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. You know, david actually has a decent beard.

Chad Gordon:

I'd say, shewards is just more to be clear. Is it David or is it David? We got a free.

Matt Houlihan:

You're probably right, I think it's David Go from the highest levels of server seed to the highest levels of running the offense and just casually dropping that on us. That's pretty, uh, it's pretty badass.

Chad Gordon:

It's like flipping from like gauge to Joe Worsley, like just like. Oh hey, no big deal. Same player Just flip it. Yeah yeah, it's not unimpressive.

Matt Houlihan:

No easy buckets, paul so no easy buckets. I don't know if it's clickbait. Do you think it's clickbait? Let's see we got. I'll give you the run down.

Chad Gordon:

Actually I really love that he like explained why he explains why, I appreciated that. Yeah, plus one. Dustin.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, shout out to Dustin, that was a good move.

Matt Houlihan:

We got Long Beach State in the one. That's that I'm just going to say right now. Dustin, that's Homer bias. No matter what you say, I don't care if they're undefeated. As an alum, picking Long Beach State.

Chad Gordon:

They've been playing well, but we'll see. We talked about.

Arielle Houlihan:

Stanford and Beta Bay all the time on the podcast.

Matt Houlihan:

Stanford at two decent pit.

Matt Houlihan:

Not biased at all, not biased at all.

Arielle Houlihan:

Love that.

Matt Houlihan:

I wouldn't call it clickbait, I would just say it's more like it's just like the immediate results based.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, I mean UCLA is pretty low in that, considering they lost Gage and then, like, won the Natty last year.

Matt Houlihan:

Right, but they lose to Santa Barbara and they lose to Ohio State.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, yeah, a little, so he bumps them behind Ohio.

Chad Gordon:

State the championship hangover Sure. I'll give you that because Penn State loses to Stanford. I would put.

Arielle Houlihan:

UCLA at four or five if I was being realistic and I had like a little bit of power ranking yeah.

Matt Houlihan:

I mean like UCLA swept Penn State, he's got Penn State at the five, ucla at the seven.

Arielle Houlihan:

Where was Ohio State? Penn State should not be at the five.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, I can't put Penn State that high. I can't put Ohio State that high. Yeah, I love Penn State beating Ohio State back to back why?

Arielle Houlihan:

is low here.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, I looked at a couple of those comments. Of course, anybody who likes.

Arielle Houlihan:

Why is just, hey, they're not one then?

Chad Gordon:

death to this, but I mean you don't like Yermay Voss.

Matt Houlihan:

You're dead. Is he too bold for you? No, he's a great middle he actually has a decent beard too. Well, you know all right, let's see.

Chad Gordon:

It's no Brett, but yeah.

Matt Houlihan:

Dustin's Dustin's reasoning for UCLA at seven shock of the week as they dropped to the rebuilding UCSB at home. All right, so drop them behind them. Penn State obviously beating Ohio State twice so moved him ahead of that. Okay, I can understand those. Yeah, early on, ucla probably deserving to be higher after the second.

Arielle Houlihan:

The comment section of this is actually really interesting. Yeah, what's your favorite comment. Everyone who votes in the ABCA poll should have to do a write up like this.

Chad Gordon:

Yes Fair.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah. Yeah. Like that's a great, that's a great point.

Matt Houlihan:

Like or yeah or just publish who votes for what. Yeah, totally. And then we will talk about it and we will give you flack when you make silly voting decisions or you were lazy, just put your name on it, man. Yeah, this is yeah. Let's put our name. Let's put our names on it. Sign your work. Producer, joe, no other sport does that. What has the coaches signed their names on? No?

Arielle Houlihan:

other sport has grain canyon in the top two, so we're going to just let men's volleyball Do you have a problem with the grittiest team in the nation.

Matt Houlihan:

No.

Arielle Houlihan:

I love it Like it's great, so like all bets are off because we got green.

Chad Gordon:

Do you feel like they've been slighted?

Matt Houlihan:

How are we supposed to?

Matt Houlihan:

get our sponsorship from the energy drink that Matt Worley always talked about.

Arielle Houlihan:

I had a Celsius.

Matt Houlihan:

Thank you. We need a Celsius sponsorship. I want an.

Arielle Houlihan:

Arctic vibe sponsorship. I actually had that today.

Matt Houlihan:

Matt Worley, you'll be proud of me. I had a Celsius Arctic vibe today before Stanford practice and I was juice yeah. Best coach you've probably ever done. I talked to you.

Arielle Houlihan:

I drink a Celsius about 30 minutes before I work out every day and it's great, it's a Arctic vibe.

Matt Houlihan:

There you go. You heard it here first. Sponsor us Celsius.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, how does Worley have a? He doesn't. He knows a guy.

Matt Houlihan:

No, he does. That created Celsius. He posted about it? Does he? He knows the guy that created Celsius, maybe?

Arielle Houlihan:

I'm sure Celsius didn't go to Matt Worley and was like hey, you and all of your followers.

Matt Houlihan:

Matt Worley is a handsome guy. Okay, stop it. They want a face.

Arielle Houlihan:

Stop it, worley, I'm on T20.

Chad Gordon:

So you're saying there's a.

Arielle Houlihan:

Celsius, ambassador.

Chad Gordon:

There's a chance that maybe he's not an ambassador.

Arielle Houlihan:

Maybe he's just doing it for fun, maybe he's buying.

Matt Houlihan:

Here's our hot take of the week.

Arielle Houlihan:

Hot take of the week is Matt Worley buying his own Celsius.

Matt Houlihan:

He's not actually a Celsius ambassador, he's buying his own Celsius.

Matt Houlihan:

He buys them at retail.

Chad Gordon:

But damn, are they?

Matt Houlihan:

gritty.

Arielle Houlihan:

Matt Worley goes to Costco and buys Celsius.

Matt Houlihan:

But Jackson Hickman is still a dog. Yeah, I agree so all was fun at Grand Canyon.

Matt Houlihan:

All right, we got anything else on this poll. I think we've. I think we've hit it. How about Santa Barbara at?

Matt Houlihan:

10. Now you think that just doesn't mean like shout out to shout out to the Chilos for getting a win. Okay.

Arielle Houlihan:

Just to let you know, the off the block media poll came out as well and has Long Beach is one, Stanford two, Hawaii three, Grand Canyon four, UCLA five. This is more of my ranking here, Penn State six. Ohio State seven. Uci eight UCI probably is the lowest of it but honestly, it's not horrible. It's like why are you nine pep 10?

Chad Gordon:

Okay, sure.

Arielle Houlihan:

I actually like that. One probably has a mix of the two.

Matt Houlihan:

Yes, I would agree, I would agree, that is the media poll yeah. Which Irvine, irvine, higher Hawaii, probably like I'd swap Hawaii to the four, just with their, with their last one.

Arielle Houlihan:

I don't mind that as much. I think that there's some disparity between the those two.

Chad Gordon:

I don't have Hawaii in the top five until they really start getting rolling yeah.

Matt Houlihan:

And travel. First test for them Stanford, Stanford in two weeks. That's going to be the first test.

Chad Gordon:

I don't think that we should. We should go, Should we?

Arielle Houlihan:

go, should we?

Chad Gordon:

go.

Arielle Houlihan:

Let's go Hawaii. Produce you want to come, go to GoPod. We're going to book flights. You want to?

Matt Houlihan:

go Do it. All right, we got next up this week. Ariel kind of had a little little moment on social media this week.

Arielle Houlihan:

Moment calling it 15 minutes.

Matt Houlihan:

No, not. I mean, you've been, you've been rising up on the internet, but you had a video that went viral like truly viral. What does truly viral mean? Like over a million views.

Arielle Houlihan:

Three million views? Yeah, so three, three million views, that would be a lot of fun Three point.

Chad Gordon:

On a video. I think we'll allow it.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, the people love referee arguments. The people do People love referee arguments?

Arielle Houlihan:

Okay, something very important for the rest of this game. He's going to do something awful. It's probably gonna happen. There is a screw loose up there, for sure. Let me do my job. Let me battle for you guys. Even if he does something, go and then Reset and make sure you go and figure out the next point. You guys understand me. Let me do my job. I got it. Let's go Keep fighting, keep battling here. Let's go. Just gotta get him ready for this, this guy to blow it here. You need to chill, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay.

Arielle Houlihan:

It's okay, I will tell them. I will tell them it's okay, I'm I'm going to lose my mind on him. This is gonna be a very long game. This guy's doing everything you can right here, everything you can Context on this, just for everybody. The referee had already done like seven things that were bad, so it wasn't like I made this up out of thin air, that the guy was just gonna like completely Ruin the game for everybody but I was just getting them prepared for this guy's definitely gonna do something this video.

Matt Houlihan:

So, it has millions of views and it certainly was polarizing, I think, based on the comments. I think that's the real interesting part of all. This is like there are a lot of people who Love you and there are a lot of people who just wanted to talk. Some smack in the comments, some keyboard warriors.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah.

Matt Houlihan:

Can you give us your favorite comments?

Arielle Houlihan:

My, there were the comments that kept like coming up. Was I didn't realize, sandra Bullock coach basketball and that was. That was some like good, lots of Sandra Bullock. Lots of comments about how I looked homeless.

Chad Gordon:

Bill Belichick, I believe. That's actually high praise we thought that was high praise.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah you, they thought, they thought they were doing something with that insult, but that's actually like thank you.

Arielle Houlihan:

I was like yeah, can we link that like that.

Chad Gordon:

Nick Cage, like SNL, like Liam Neeson, like all those high praise. That's all. I praise a.

Arielle Houlihan:

Lot of people saying that they love my coaching style. A lot of like swipe up to shops a lot of. Can I get a link to your outfit? And then it would be like a comment of like coach of the year and then coach full of herself, coach, like it was just like so, polarizing, very polarizing.

Matt Houlihan:

for every good comment there was an equally opposite bad comment in the other direction very 5050 on I love. I love what you're wearing you look homeless. You're my favorite coach in the world. Wire women coaching boys like just the most insane Stuff on there, can we?

Chad Gordon:

start linking to like the New England Patriots like Sleeveless, cut off hoodie kind of thing. Yeah, I'm just like yeah, if you want this gear, this is where Bill gets it.

Arielle Houlihan:

Link to know or like like to know it like to know it and yeah, bio yeah, and then I've posted a bunch of like rebuttal things and started to like I Don't know.

Matt Houlihan:

They've, I mean they've given you some ammo for sure to build.

Arielle Houlihan:

Respond to yeah but I think that the stuff that I'm posting is it makes like I know that what I'm doing is like my team loves me. My like club knows what I'm about and so I Am. I know that what I'm doing is the right way that I want to go about it, so I don't really care.

Matt Houlihan:

Do you think you could do what you're doing at a college, like in that setting of lands?

Arielle Houlihan:

do you have the support and like do you have people that are like okay with you, like going after other people? I think that there are some like Okay, that would be. That would almost be like saying like can Wendy's Twitter do it?

Arielle Houlihan:

like, do what they do sure like it's a huge corporation, like, but they just like go after people and it's hilarious and they have a huge following because of it. And so I think in 2024, absolutely like you can be anywhere, you can be the president of the United States and you can go after people and like it really doesn't matter.

Matt Houlihan:

Are you the, are you the Wendy's of club volleyball?

Arielle Houlihan:

I would love to be the one of the club volleyball coaches like that would be totally fine with me.

Chad Gordon:

That's how I praise to.

Matt Houlihan:

It's a sacred account bill, belichick and Wendy's all in one.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, I'm taking that's a that's an automatic follow for me, for sure but I definitely am starting to become this like Women's power rights thing, like on Instagram and well, yeah, you got a lot of men who are hating on you and it makes what I was gonna say earlier was like the Like girls follow me who are like they feel so strongly About the way that I'm treated and the people that love me feel very strongly about the way that I'm treated, and so it is also good for for that idea of like people Feel defensive. My team obviously feels defensive of like people talking shit to me and like it's a. I think it's good to put yourself out there when you know what you're doing is right, even if there are people that think that it's wrong.

Matt Houlihan:

Have there been any Like DMs or things like it not in public comments that you've gotten? That have been like cool to read or cool stories.

Arielle Houlihan:

Both. I think that both, like they've gotten DMs that are awful and I've gotten DMs that are great. Like I get the weird, like super weird stuff, and I get stuff that's like you've. I Got out of volleyball years and years ago and you have Like shown me that it's cool to like go and do what you're doing. It's given me a lot of confidence to. I've gotten tons of stuff like that. I've also gotten a bunch of stuff that is like I knew somebody in your family who, like your dad, inspired me to this and that, like I've gotten a bunch of that kind of stuff too. So it's kind of it's cool to put myself out there because I get a lot of Interesting things back obviously there's the the straight up, just sexist piece.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah right, I'm like I don't get anybody commenting about how I look or what you're or anything about wait. He should be coaching young boys like what is this? Like that's a little weird, yeah right. But like no one's no one ever says that no one's gonna have any problem with that right, and nobody has any problem when it's men coaching. You know a girls club team, right? Yeah, obviously this is pure sexism play.

Arielle Houlihan:

I think it's so funny. I don't know why I get such a kick out of it Like I don't ever I don't ever really like take actual offense to it. I think it's hilarious because I like. The fact that some people actually think that it's ridiculous to me is so funny.

Matt Houlihan:

You've been hearing it for years, though.

Arielle Houlihan:

This has been my world for 11 years now now it's just on social media. I'm just putting it out there, like this has actually been the Referees coming up to me or coming up to whoever, whatever kid is my assistant or whatever, or whatever guy is sitting on my bench or sometimes my players, and being like, here's the lineup Talking to him about how, like the head coach and I'm like I'm the head coach, like that happens to me all the time.

Matt Houlihan:

Whether you like it or not, you now have a place in this realm of women in a Male sport.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, and that you are a voice for an entire gender.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah and if you don't go all in.

Matt Houlihan:

It's not sincere and what you're doing is very sincere.

Arielle Houlihan:

That's where the like. Can you do this in a college, or can you do this?

Arielle Houlihan:

in in a different Like when you have a boss, like we are the bosses, like we can do whatever we want whenever we want to.

Arielle Houlihan:

So, like I, have free reign to do whatever I want I. I think that it is important for People to do stuff like this and fully commit to just showing who they are, like this isn't anything Super strategic on my part. This is everybody who knows me sees this and it's like this is who you've been for 11 years. This is just a complete and total representation of what you've been doing at these tournaments for Years and years and years and years, and so for me to put that out there, people resin. It resonates with people and it helps Girls who are coaching boys volleyball or even boys sports in general have a friend who's the who's a female in the Ravens locker room and she's she's coaching with the Ravens right now, like they're. It's resonating with people who are women, who are in a male dominated world, and if I don't put this stuff out there, I feel like I'm doing the wrong thing now, because I think that everything that I'm doing is Something that people it's like starting to really resonate with, like what my brand is.

Matt Houlihan:

And we're just who you are.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah it just yeah cuz.

Matt Houlihan:

I mean I've I've had people ask me like is that how you really are? Literally like people are like is that how she actually is?

Arielle Houlihan:

and I'm like 1000% yeah like, that is how you have been and From the moment I have met, yeah, it's funny because I like I'll go to my Pilates class now and Like my plies instructor follows me and like women in the class follow me and they're like they look at me in such a different way now and I'm like this is always. Yeah, how like that I've. I've been like this the entire time. No, I'm not coaching when I'm walking into here.

Matt Houlihan:

Exactly, people ask the question of like is that who you really are? And I think I've always responded with like, the best part of what it is that you do is that you are unapologetically Ariel, yeah, you are, you have, you are will throw the middle finger and you will give a hug and you will love your team and fight for your team, but it is always genuine, yeah, and I think that I think that's probably why the reason why some of these things have just kind of popped off is because, it's so genuine and people can see that and you can kind of feel and resonate.

Matt Houlihan:

But it's also why so many people get triggered by it is because they're like. I don't like this girl being so confident in herself or speaking to boys, you know, telling boys how to do it, or winning or succeeding, like for sure.

Arielle Houlihan:

OK, so there are some of the crazy people, like, yeah, there's a lot of the crazy, there's also some people. What I found really interesting with the comments is, like there's a lot of people who are telling me that's not the right way to raise kids and that's not the right Like you have to teach them to respect officials and you have to teach them to like that. Every like that to me is so confusing because those people, I think, actually mean well, like I really do think that the there's a genuine part of a lot of these parents, or whoever they are, that are commenting, saying that I need to raise these boys the right way and really I was raised to teach kids the difference between right and wrong and not every adult is right and when the adult yes, I. The video doesn't show every single thing that has happened to lead up to that point. Every reasonable person should know that, but for me, every single kid and parent on my team knows that the heart of what I'm doing is trying to raise these kids the right way.

Arielle Houlihan:

Like I say that in the opening of every parent meeting that I've ever had of like I'm trying to help these kids grow up. It's the heart of everything that I'm doing. So that's been. The interesting part to me is that there are some people that do actually mean well, that really do think that I'm like this asshole, but they just don't know me.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, Totally, I mean also. I mean, the people just see you argue with a referee, yeah, and they think I'm the double.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, it's like listen.

Matt Houlihan:

Part of it is you got to. You have to fight for your team. It's your job to fight for your team. I'm not in your teaching your players. Like I'm going to fight for you, you guys go play the game. My job is to make sure that things are fair. Yep, right, and we get it Like. Being a referee is a hard job and all of the other things that go with it. 100%, people are human.

Arielle Houlihan:

They're going to make mistakes, but referees start, need to start teaching like treating us like human beings, too Like every referee that has treated me like I am less than and inferior to them, like sorry, you're going to get the rage of me. More that I'm able to put myself in like who I actually am out there, the more people look at me and they're like, oh man, like if they hate me, no problem. Like unfollow me, but like if they really like what I'm doing, I've so many I never really thought that I would be that person of like bunch of like young female coaches look at me and they're like, oh my gosh, that's, that's exactly what I want to do. So that, to me, is a another reason for me to put myself out there and do that, and I also I also use it as a recruiting tool. Like it's a huge recruiting tool for me.

Arielle Houlihan:

Like kids follow me and they see, and they either want to be a part of this or they don't. And so when I'm at tryouts and I'm recruiting kids for my team, people can literally follow me online and see what I am and see what I'm about and they can decide are you going to buy into this or not. And a lot of people do buy into it, and so that is the easiest way for me to sell myself, as this is what I bring to the table. Either you want to be a part of it or don't. Yeah.

Matt Houlihan:

I mean, it goes back to like the original strategy of what we talked about social media for Beta Bay and for personal brands as well, as we're trying to show we're trying to show people an inside look at what the club does, at what we do and what the coaches do Right, we had conversations specifically about making up coaches so that they can hear what it's like, so that it's not this like behind the curtain thing that you're like I'm not sure if I want to be a part of it. It's like you know exactly what you're going to get, yeah, and if this is something you want to do, you know it and you're going to come, and if you don't, then you're not the person for us, and that is totally fine as well. And so it acts as this window into the culture, into the business, into the club, into the coach that helps create a better buy-in, because the people want to be there.

Arielle Houlihan:

That's also the difference. Like the mic dubs are definitely a trend right now. Like people, everybody wants to mic up everybody. There's a difference, I think, between like mic'd up with one person one time and just this consistent like I forget that the mic is on me and like I just want footage of like what is it that I do and what does my everyday life look like when I'm at these tournaments, because I think it's actually really interesting for people to see.

Matt Houlihan:

Next topic was our favorite NCAA assistant coaches. We'll have a head coaches topic later on, but just some shout outs to our favorite uh favorite assistant coaches in the country.

Arielle Houlihan:

NCAA division Anything Men's, women's NAI.

Matt Houlihan:

NCAA, your choice. I don't think about the women's side at all.

Chad Gordon:

Okay, let's think about the women's side, because I asked about the women's because, I could not name as many men's assistants, as I wanted to going into this. Do you have a favorite assistant? Coach that comes from on. Yeah, it took me a while, and then you told me I couldn't pick. Spencer, because he's too happy and he also was my assistant coach.

Matt Houlihan:

You cannot pick him. Yes, spencer, try it, I'm so sorry, but boss man, Uh.

Chad Gordon:

And then, yeah, after further review, I decided I'm alone and I don't. I don't regret that for a second.

Chad Gordon:

Um the number of coaches that I have spoken with that have this like reverence for Milan is pretty alarming. And I'm not saying that they're bad coaches because they stole all their stuff From Milan, but I think they're geniuses because the shit that he's doing and the way that they train volleyball in Europe and in Serbia is so strong that Milan has been able to be one of the best trainers in the men's collegiate game for the last decade or so. Um, and you know I'm also I'm super fortunate to coach with Alex Jones, who played at UH for a little bit, and a lot of the stuff that we do I mean the first 30, 40, 50 minutes is a lot of the stuff that we do. It's 30, 40, 50 minutes is a lot of like Milan stuff, and it's just it's high rep, it's a ton of ball control, it's stuff where it's like you don't even need the net, um, and you see the impact that all of that stuff brings. And so for me, yeah, milan is, it's a no it's no brainer.

Chad Gordon:

Like guys like.

Matt Houlihan:

I said real deal. Yes, I agree. Yeah, very volley dork answer.

Chad Gordon:

but we're different people, all right, it's okay, I can. I can like Milan.

Matt Houlihan:

There are multiple college programs that literally run Milan drills.

Matt Houlihan:

Like, not like just running his drills. They literally call them yeah, milan drills, like we're going to run the Milan drills to start.

Arielle Houlihan:

Some freshmen's, like Milan in Italy.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah.

Matt Houlihan:

They're like it's a yeah you know from Italy like. No, it's from the Hawaii assistant coach.

Matt Houlihan:

It's a serving version of Milan.

Chad Gordon:

It's like Italy, but like colder.

Matt Houlihan:

No wonder he wants to stay in Hawaii. Yeah Right, my favorite assistant coach that I like to steal from, or I just like in general to steal from yeah. And this comes from like how he approaches things is Nick McCrae I love hashtag, boom hashtag Elby grit. I love Nick McCrae.

Arielle Houlihan:

You know, I like Nick, I just don't like that.

Matt Houlihan:

No, it's a very this role. Response right there.

Arielle Houlihan:

I like Nick a lot. I just don't like the boom. You don't like hashtag. I don't like the hashtags and things.

Arielle Houlihan:

Never, I never work, that's okay.

Matt Houlihan:

Nick family man always posts and picks about his kids, but he just brings this like positive go getting energy that you can tell is is pretty infectious inside Long Beach as well.

Matt Houlihan:

And I think Long Beach has a really cool culture and he fits it well and he's just a guy that, whether it's out recruiting, whether it's coaching, anytime you go up to him, he's always super genuine.

Matt Houlihan:

He's always just asking. You know, he's always asking a question about you. He's always trying to check in on how things are going, from taking kids down there for recruiting trips and seeing how he, you know, handles a, handles a tour, handles a group, like we took a group of 15 people down for like a beta bay recruiting tour back when that was still a thing that you could do and he took, like seven years ago yeah, Like a decade, a decade ago. He took time with every parent, every player and most of those kids were never going to play division one volleyball and he answered every question like they were the number one priority and for me that left a big impact of like this guy gets it and he is going to succeed with what he does If this is how he approaches, you know, a, a group of kids that you know probably is not top recruits. There were some very good kids in that group but for the most part he handled every kid like they were the best. Our last item on the docket today.

Arielle Houlihan:

This is an important one.

Matt Houlihan:

This is. This is a random one, but man it is.

Arielle Houlihan:

This is just important for the sport.

Matt Houlihan:

It's important for the culture.

Arielle Houlihan:

It's important for the sport.

Matt Houlihan:

Nomination for bench player of the year. Can you please define bench player of?

Arielle Houlihan:

the year. Why are you looking at me Like? This is my idea.

Chad Gordon:

Because this was your idea.

Arielle Houlihan:

Okay, that makes sense, so bench player of the year means you got to be the culture guy. You got to be like the glue guy, like I'm going. I'm going to not question my role and not make this harder on everybody. I'm just going to make this team go and I'm going to buy into whatever everybody like is trying to do here.

Matt Houlihan:

All right, so bench player of the year is the guy that is making his team the best he possibly can, while not necessarily being on the court. He's not a starter.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, he definitely can't be on the court.

Matt Houlihan:

But he is a massive part of the team.

Arielle Houlihan:

Who's your bench player of the year? You have one.

Matt Houlihan:

Well, my bench brother is a baby kid, my bench player of the year, you guys ready for this Hold on. Brian Thomas. I thought that's who your bench player of the year was going to be.

Chad Gordon:

No, I love the guy, but no.

Matt Houlihan:

No, my bench player of the year is the right answer. I don't care what any of you guys say. Next, my answer is right. No, he's the defensive player of the week, he's a starter, he's actually eligible for yes, exactly. My bench player of the year is Neil Finnegan. Oh, I like that. And here's why Neil Finnegan of CSUN, cal State Northridge, is the consummate teammate, knowing from experience. The man started on 16 foundry Beta base, that's the 16 fours team. For those who didn't know, so biased.

Matt Houlihan:

It is biased. But here's the real kicker. It's not, it's not that he's a great guy. It's not that he works his butt off. It's not that he's gotten so much better and went from fours to a ones team to college, or is, or is Irish. It's that he is a competitive.

Matt Houlihan:

Irish let's go Jig dancing yes 100%. What more do you want in your bench player of the year? Find me another bench player.

Chad Gordon:

Can you jiggle at him Exactly?

Matt Houlihan:

Come on, monster block and Neil's just off in the corner doing some flippity jig. Are you kidding me? That's the greatest bench player you could ask for. He's the flippity jig, flippity shibbit. Jesus Hip hopping around on his toes.

Chad Gordon:

He's not in a Lucky Charms commercial. What are you talking about? I swear Come on man.

Matt Houlihan:

Neil Finnegan is the only right answer.

Matt Houlihan:

Even Balboa Bay guys would say yes to this. Travis Turner completely will agree.

Chad Gordon:

Because he countered them for a little bit.

Matt Houlihan:

Exactly.

Arielle Houlihan:

Oh my goodness, the fact that Matt said flippity, jig.

Chad Gordon:

A made up expression plus an Irish jig sign. Yeah, I'm in, oh my goodness, that's it.

Matt Houlihan:

Neil's the winner and Neil, I'm calling right now. Neil may not be a starter this year. He's going to be a starter by the end of the senior year. Calling it.

Chad Gordon:

Love that Everybody likes Neil. If I'm someone who doesn't like, Finnegan Exactly Upward trend.

Matt Houlihan:

He's been trending up since he was 16. He literally gave up competitive Irish dancing to play volleyball. I'll also get trade, yeah.

Chad Gordon:

Maybe we'll find out. If he wins this award, it'll all be worth it. I never tell you guys. I messaged Winder when I was like when I was like 14. Yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

No 15, 15. Can we talk about this more?

Chad Gordon:

We can cut this later.

Arielle Houlihan:

It's fine.

Chad Gordon:

We had gone down to Santa Barbara for a tournament and pep was playing Santa Barbara right Because, like Dan Mullen, right Eagles we were playing in the tournament. And we went to the match Friday night and there was this one play where Winder had like run cross court was like full Superman and fricking launch one with his wrist and I was like oh my God, this is amazing.

Matt Houlihan:

And I sent him a message on like Facebook.

Chad Gordon:

I was like how did you do that? And the only thing he gave me was like I don't even remember that play, but like I squeezed tennis balls all the time and I was like that's cool and I tried. I didn't help. But for him that's really cool Of him to respond. I'm sure he was like 19. I was like I don't fucking know who this kid is.

Matt Houlihan:

But how long did?

Matt Houlihan:

you squeeze tennis balls for, oh, only like a couple of weeks Like he just.

Chad Gordon:

I was like this isn't working, I'm getting worse. I'm not going to you one. This is stupid, no, but I mean I'm sure it worked for him Also. He's like six, nine, so that helps.

Arielle Houlihan:

That is the most ridiculous.

Chad Gordon:

I want to do it, I can do it.

Arielle Houlihan:

It's so funny I can?

Matt Houlihan:

I can absolutely see 15 year old Chad a hundred percent in his bedroom just squeezing tennis balls like this is it?

Chad Gordon:

I'm gonna go to the old one.

Matt Houlihan:

This is what's gonna make it happen. You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you you you, you, you, you, you you.

Arielle Houlihan:

Now you're live. We're live with Chad's Emergency. All right, just a little bit of this. My favorite assistant coach of all time is Metal NG, but he's not here right now. Our producer, rob, told me to say that that's good yeah. My favorite assistant coach besides Taylor Hammond is Pollock Pepperdine, I think.

Chad Gordon:

Is he tall?

Arielle Houlihan:

Pollock, vogel and Rory Prager all kind of are the same person, but of the three Pollock comes out as my he might be the tallest he just got married he might be the tallest. Well, I'll get for him.

Matt Houlihan:

Prager got twins, though.

Arielle Houlihan:

Prager does have twins.

Matt Houlihan:

He's got the twins.

Arielle Houlihan:

Vogel has.

Matt Houlihan:

Married.

Chad Gordon:

No kids, I don't think.

Arielle Houlihan:

UCLA. This is B Squad. That's the number one.

Chad Gordon:

Is he the head coach of that B Squad?

Arielle Houlihan:

Maybe Vogel Vogel for Coach of the Year.

Chad Gordon:

Sure Sure.

Arielle Houlihan:

Pollock is my. Why Pollock? He's just nice. He's nice, I like Pollock.

Chad Gordon:

Didn't you come?

Arielle Houlihan:

up here. Oh, Pollock came up and hung out.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, he came up and did a recording. Yeah, came up and recorded.

Arielle Houlihan:

Pollock's great.

Matt Houlihan:

He was in the gym. He was in the gym.

Arielle Houlihan:

Also Jacob Kersher From Louis. Yeah, I was like that was a good, like finish each other's sentences, type of thing.

Matt Houlihan:

We know each other.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, he helped us with our bags at Reagan. That one or Reagan BWI I think it was BWI.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, it was BWI. It was like Christmas and he was just like randomly there. He was going home and he lives in.

Arielle Houlihan:

I want to say Virginia, no, pennsylvania.

Matt Houlihan:

Pennsylvania yeah, it's like Yorktown or something, so the closest place.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, and he helped us with our bags one time, so that was nice, I was struggling too.

Matt Houlihan:

I had all of the, she had all the, she had the girls, and I was trying to get all the kids, nobody cares. Yeah, but he saw me struggling.

Arielle Houlihan:

He was like hey, I can help you with your bags. Yeah, that was nice Runner up for assistant coach for me is. Greg Faulkner, though.

Matt Houlihan:

Greg Faulkner, Now volunteer assistant coach of the year. That's a whole other category.

Arielle Houlihan:

Is he a volunteer? Yeah, greg's a volunteer. Oh, never mind, but then scratch that Greg's out.

Chad Gordon:

I take CSUNs volunteer over Stanford, though You're going to heartbreak.

Matt Houlihan:

Greg, yeah, greg and I. Greg over math and head to head. I'd take Greg too Way better at karaoke. Way better at karaoke than I am. You're pretty shit at karaoke. Sad at karaoke. Greg can also yachts a one and a half.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, yeah, I cannot Only rest away, though you had, there's always more lines yeah, I was all lined. So if you want to go left, mad Hooligan, if you want to go right, greg, you want to?

Matt Houlihan:

send me tempo and let me jam and wipe. I'm ready to go, but Greg would just destroy me at pretty much every other aspect of volleyball right now. He's got a little bit more of a pow, if you will. Yeah, I like that. That's good, ok, cheers.

Arielle Houlihan:

Oh great, women's volleyball is a whole different, other category, yeah.

Matt Houlihan:

Women's volleyball they get enough attention.

Arielle Houlihan:

Women.

Matt Houlihan:

Women's volleyball gets enough attention. Who's letting the female coach the boys volleyball?

Arielle Houlihan:

Who's letting the males coach the females?

Matt Houlihan:

OK hipposaurus one, two, one. Keep your comments to yourself.

Chad Gordon:

I thought that was too many cows.

Matt Houlihan:

Yeah, too many cows, my man Too many cows Too many cows 12.

Chad Gordon:

Honestly good username Leonardo Stris.

Arielle Houlihan:

Shout out to Mr Pickle, mr Pickle.

Matt Houlihan:

Cheers. All right, and our last item on the docket today, this is an important one. This is a random one, but man.

Arielle Houlihan:

No, this is important, it is, this is just important for the sport.

Matt Houlihan:

It's important for the culture.

Arielle Houlihan:

It's important for the sport.

Matt Houlihan:

Nomination for bench player of the year. Can you please define bench player of?

Arielle Houlihan:

the year. Why are you looking at me Like? This is my idea.

Matt Houlihan:

Because this was your idea. Ok, that makes sense. So can you please define?

Arielle Houlihan:

Bench players don't get enough credit.

Matt Houlihan:

Concur.

Arielle Houlihan:

So we are looking for the bench player of the year. We're going to give an award to the bench player of the year and the award is going to be Define.

Matt Houlihan:

The criteria yeah, it's based on.

Arielle Houlihan:

Well, first or based on OK, criteria is second to what the actual award is.

Matt Houlihan:

Yes, what's the award? Yeah, what is?

Arielle Houlihan:

a 30 rack delivered door to your, Obviously 21.

Matt Houlihan:

Pick a junior. How about instead we do a NLI NIL?

Chad Gordon:

30 rack.

Arielle Houlihan:

Drop down NLI NIL. No no, nil NLI.

Matt Houlihan:

The actual letter of intent for your name, image and likeness from Drop Dimes for. Ok, Drop Dimes A certain amount of money that may be able to purchase something that you would want to have.

Chad Gordon:

Or have your friend go get it from 7-11. And the 30 rack from the real, that's fine.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, okay For bench player of the year. Okay, okay criteria. It's not really criteria, Criteria this is important.

Matt Houlihan:

Yes.

Chad Gordon:

This is like a stupid player of the year, where you can only win if you get nominated as a weekly person of the year. No, we need like we need references.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, reference check we need reference check on the bench player of the year.

Matt Houlihan:

We need footage too, honestly.

Arielle Houlihan:

We do need footage, I want volumetrics tags. I want some tags too. I want me tags in volumetrics.

Matt Houlihan:

On bench players of the year.

Arielle Houlihan:

Okay, I need and not like, just like some guy who yells a lot, ohio State random yellow guy. That was like you're doing a lot here.

Matt Houlihan:

Right, heckler, he was like, it was just like a lot, just because you yell doesn't mean you're the bench player of the year.

Arielle Houlihan:

Bench player of the year means you impact your team positively consistently, all the time. Consistently and all the time means the same thing.

Chad Gordon:

But that's okay, they're cousins, yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

Do you know who I'm talking?

Chad Gordon:

about Kyle D'Agostino.

Arielle Houlihan:

Sure, kyle was the Kyle played, though.

Matt Houlihan:

Mason Defunga.

Arielle Houlihan:

Mason Sure.

Matt Houlihan:

Stanford bench player of the year.

Chad Gordon:

Both Kyle and Mason are gonna murder us for saying they are, that's per se, d'agostino, better on the whiteboard, yeah, like you gotta be the culture guy.

Arielle Houlihan:

You gotta be like the glue guy, like I'm going to not question my role and not make this harder on everybody, I'm just gonna make this team go and I'm gonna buy into whatever everybody is trying to do here.

Matt Houlihan:

All right. So bench player of the year is the guy that is making his team the best he possibly can, while not necessarily being on the court. He's not a starter but he's a.

Arielle Houlihan:

Yeah, he definitely can't be on the court, but he is a massive part of the team. Serving specialist cannot be bench player of the year.

Matt Houlihan:

Serving specialist. Really, I feel like, okay, I think you've spent 90% of your time on the.

Arielle Houlihan:

No easy buckets. Gives a serving specialist of the year, which was wasn't that my idea? But I didn't tell them that, didn't I tell you that? And then they came out with that.

Chad Gordon:

You asked me to post something about serving specialist, whatever, yeah.

Arielle Houlihan:

Whatever, it's okay Cut.

Chad Gordon:

I can't name that many guys who are just on the bench. We like don't play.

Matt Houlihan:

I do remember that we don't know enough names no we don't know enough names, but our viewership does.

Chad Gordon:

My mom doesn't follow men's volleyball nearly close enough to know names of people on the bench.

Arielle Houlihan:

No, but like the coaches do, and the coaches are gonna watch anything that their names get brought up and their names are gonna brought up in this.

Chad Gordon:

Yo Edwards Dan friend.

Arielle Houlihan:

Just name all the coaches right now. Jonathan Winder, back at Pepperdine. I'm not positive.

Chad Gordon:

He was at Fresno for a while and I can't remember.

Arielle Houlihan:

Winder.

Chad Gordon:

I don't know.

Arielle Houlihan:

At Pepperdine, Is he? Is he okay? Yes, yeah, he's that.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, okay, I'm just making sure you know, just forget Fresno. Did I ever tell you guys, I messaged Winder when I was like 14? Yeah, Please continue. No 15, 15.

Arielle Houlihan:

Can we talk about this more?

Chad Gordon:

We can cut this later.

Arielle Houlihan:

It's fine. No, you're going.

Chad Gordon:

We had gone down to Santa Barbara for a tournament and Pep was playing Santa Barbara right Cause, like Dan Molen right Eagles. We were playing in the tournament and we went to the match Friday night and there was this one play where Winder had like run cross court was like full Superman and fricking launched one with his wrist and I was like oh my. God, this is amazing.

Arielle Houlihan:

And I sent him a message on like.

Chad Gordon:

Facebook and I was like how did you? How did you do that? And the only thing he gave me was like I don't even remember that play, but like I squeezed tennis balls all the time and I was like that's cool and I tried. I didn't help, but for him.

Arielle Houlihan:

That's really nice, he responded.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, it was really cool of him to respond. I'm sure he was like 19. I was like I don't fucking know who this kid is.

Matt Houlihan:

but how long did you squeeze tennis balls for? Oh, only like a couple of weeks.

Chad Gordon:

Like you. Just, I was like this isn't working. I'm getting worse. I'm not going to you one. This is stupid, no, but I mean I'm sure it worked for him Also. He's like six nine, so that helps.

Arielle Houlihan:

That is the most ridiculous.

Chad Gordon:

I want to do it.

Matt Houlihan:

I can do it.

Arielle Houlihan:

That's so funny.

Matt Houlihan:

I can absolutely see 15 year old Chad 100% In his bedroom just squeezing tennis balls. Like this is it. I'm going to go to the only.

Matt Houlihan:

This is what's going to make it happen? This is what's going to make Ken Shibuya pick me.

Chad Gordon:

I didn't, didn't have him, didn't have him Life stuff.

Matt Houlihan:

I will be the starter Life stuff. That's so funny. That's epic Cheers, all right. Anything else Bench player of the year. Are we actually going to respond to?

Arielle Houlihan:

that I don't, we only know beta beta kids. And then, like the beta beta kids, friends All right what. That's not enough, I think, matt probably does you know who's your bench player of the year? You have one.

Matt Houlihan:

Well, my bench brother here is a beta, beta kid, so my bench player of the year, yes, you guys ready for this.

Arielle Houlihan:

Hold on, wait, I can't guess Brian.

Chad Gordon:

Thomas.

Matt Houlihan:

I thought that's who your bench player of the year was going to be. No, I love the guy, but no.

Matt Houlihan:

No.

Matt Houlihan:

My bench player of the year is the right answer. I don't care what any of you guys say. Next, my answer is right. No, he's the defensive player of the week. He's a starter right now.

Chad Gordon:

He's actually eligible for player of the year. Yes, exactly.

Matt Houlihan:

My bench player of the year is Neil Finnegan. Oh. I like that and here's why Neil Finnegan of CSUN, cal State Northridge I love Neil Is the consummate teammate, knowing from experience. The man started on 16 foundry beta base. That's the 16 fours team for those who didn't know.

Arielle Houlihan:

So biased.

Matt Houlihan:

It is biased. But here's the real kicker. It's not it's not that he's a great guy. It's not that he works his butt off. It's not that he's gotten so much better from a fours to a ones team to college or is Irish. It's that he is a competitive.

Chad Gordon:

Irish jig dancer yes 100%.

Matt Houlihan:

What more do you want in your bench player?

Chad Gordon:

of the year. Find me another bench player, can you?

Matt Houlihan:

jig like him.

Matt Houlihan:

Exactly Monster block and Neil's just off in the corner doing some flippity jig. Are you kidding me? That's the greatest bench player you could ask for. He's the flippity jig, flippity shibbit. He's just hip hopping around on his toes.

Chad Gordon:

He's not in a Lucky Charms commercial. What are you talking about? I swear.

Matt Houlihan:

Neil Finnegan is the only right answer.

Matt Houlihan:

Even Balboa Bay guys would say yes to this. Travis Turner completely will agree.

Chad Gordon:

Because he comes with them for a little bit.

Matt Houlihan:

Exactly.

Chad Gordon:

Exactly.

Arielle Houlihan:

The fact that Matt said flippity jig.

Chad Gordon:

A made up expression plus an Irish jig sign. I'm in, oh my goodness, that's it.

Matt Houlihan:

Neil's the winner.

Matt Houlihan:

I'm calling right now. Neil may not be a starter this year. He's going to be a starter by the end of the senior year.

Chad Gordon:

Calling it Love that Everybody likes Neil. If I'm someone who doesn't like, Finnegan Exactly Upward trend.

Matt Houlihan:

He's been trending up since he was 16. He literally gave up competitive Irish dancing to play volleyball. I'll also get trade.

Chad Gordon:

Yeah, maybe We'll find out. If he wins this award, it'll all be worth it I love that.

Arielle Houlihan:

If you need head coaches or assistant coaches or any players on teams to nominate bench player of the year.

Matt Houlihan:

Calling for nominations. Or it's just going to be Neil. Neil's going to win.

Arielle Houlihan:

If you don't want the competitive Irish jig dancer, if you want the smoke.

Matt Houlihan:

Neil's going to give you that Irish smoke. Right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right.