Jackson State coach Mo Williams joins Dan Dickau on the latest episode of Gonzaga Nation.
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00:00 Dan Dick out here for Gonzaga Nation.
00:02 We are talking with the head coach
00:05 of the opposing opponent, Jackson State, Mo Williams,
00:10 someone I haven't connected with in a number of years.
00:12 So it's great to have him on the show for a few minutes
00:15 previewing the game.
00:17 So coach, thanks for joining.
00:19 How's life?
00:20 Life is great.
00:21 Obviously, one thing about what we do,
00:24 you better love what you do.
00:26 It takes you away from your family a lot.
00:29 I mean, it's a grind.
00:31 Playing the game, even doing what you do.
00:34 Obviously, we have family.
00:35 We have kids.
00:36 We have responsibilities.
00:37 But life is great.
00:39 I'm doing something that I absolutely enjoy.
00:42 It's definitely time consuming, but it's
00:44 something I really enjoy.
00:47 So before we recorded, you and I were kind of talking about--
00:51 it's been a while since we've connected.
00:53 Obviously, we played against each other in the NBA.
00:56 For a number of years, you probably
00:57 put 20-plus on a couple of different occasions.
01:02 And it's interesting reconnecting
01:04 with different guys and what they're doing now.
01:07 I didn't know that you had a passion
01:09 to get into coaching.
01:10 Is that something you had as a player,
01:12 or did that evolve when you were done playing?
01:15 No.
01:17 In 2008, I bought a gym in Dallas, Texas,
01:21 where my off-season home was.
01:23 And from 2008 until 2018, when I started coaching in college,
01:30 I ran my own AU program from kindergarten
01:34 all the way through high school.
01:36 You're familiar with the EYBL, the Under Armour Circuit.
01:39 I started on the Under Armour Circuit with my group,
01:41 then got a Nike EYBL contract and did that up until I
01:45 decided to go to college.
01:46 So I started in 2008.
01:49 I have seven boys of my own.
01:52 So at the time in 2008, my son was in eighth grade.
01:55 So I started at 14 and under-teamed for him.
01:58 And my babies was just coming into kindergarten
02:02 in first grade.
02:02 So I started groups at their age.
02:05 And that turned out having it from kindergarten
02:07 all the way through 12th grade.
02:08 And I started in 2008, so a little bit about that.
02:13 So after the season, you played in the league.
02:16 Guys are setting up trips to the Bahamas and Puerto Rico
02:20 and Hawaii.
02:22 So after my last game, I was going back to Dallas
02:25 and joining my team.
02:27 I'm in practice.
02:28 I'm practicing my groups.
02:29 And the next weekend, I'm on the road with them
02:33 in those small towns playing AU basketball
02:36 and coaching those guys.
02:37 So I always knew what I wanted to do.
02:40 Never knew what level.
02:42 I always knew it wasn't going to be in the NBA.
02:45 But I didn't know if it was going to be high school,
02:48 if it was going to be college.
02:50 But I decided it was going to be college.
02:53 Being out the game, I retired in 2016 after the finals.
02:57 And I took a year and just dedicated that whole year
03:00 to AU basketball.
03:02 And then all of a sudden, I got the opportunity
03:04 to join my coach that I played for in college.
03:07 He was the head coach at Cal State Northridge.
03:09 And he basically recruited me.
03:13 And that's what started my journey.
03:14 Went two years there with him as an assistant
03:18 and been a head coach for four years on the Division I level.
03:22 That's awesome.
03:22 I didn't realize that you took an AU passion of coaching
03:26 all the way up to being a head coach at the college route.
03:29 Ime Udoka is a guy that I know well from the Portland area.
03:33 He did it of a similar path.
03:35 He was coaching an AU team.
03:37 He got the bug for helping younger players achieve
03:40 their dreams.
03:41 And now he's head coach of the Houston Rockets
03:44 after a stint with the Celtics.
03:46 So you say your passion is college, but you never know.
03:49 It might lead to the NBA, huh?
03:51 Yeah, I'm saying it now.
03:52 I don't want to put my foot in my mouth
03:53 or turn to be missing out on some jobs later on,
03:56 especially what they start to pay NBA coaches now.
04:02 Yeah, no, I'm right there with you.
04:04 I've always said I'll listen to any and every opportunity
04:10 out there and learn more about it
04:11 before I finally say yes or no.
04:14 But give us a little bit about your program then.
04:17 What style of play do you guys like to have
04:20 on the offensive end?
04:21 Are you fast and up-tempo?
04:23 And then as well as on the defensive floor.
04:25 We definitely have an up-tempo team.
04:27 We like to play fast, obviously.
04:29 And people get it kind of misunderstood when I say fast.
04:32 I always say pace.
04:33 We play at a pace.
04:35 We're not healthy, skeletal.
04:36 We're not just running around the court shooting bad shots.
04:39 But we do want to play at a pace, right?
04:41 Defensively, we're a pressure team.
04:43 We're picking up 94 feet.
04:45 And we're creating chaos.
04:48 That's a perfect word to use.
04:50 We create chaos.
04:52 We want the other team to speed them up.
04:53 We want them to start their offense at half court.
04:56 And that helps us get out and create our pace.
04:59 And we don't want it to be a half court game.
05:02 We don't believe in half court games.
05:03 So we try to make teams play at our tempo and our pace
05:07 and dealing with our schedule.
05:08 And if you really dive into our schedule,
05:11 we play 13 non-conference games on the road, all Division I
05:14 teams.
05:15 And if you look at a lot of teams in college,
05:18 I mean, you'll see a few non-D1s on there.
05:21 We don't play any non-D1s.
05:23 We're on the road every single game.
05:25 That's how we have to raise our money to give our kids
05:29 some of the things that other programs have that we just
05:32 don't have.
05:33 So that's the sacrifice we make.
05:34 But on the flip side of that, that definitely
05:38 makes us really better.
05:39 Because we're on the road.
05:40 We're on the road against a great team in Gonzaga.
05:43 And we understand the greatness.
05:44 But we have no fear.
05:46 We're walking in this building feeling
05:47 like we can win this game.
05:48 And we're going to prepare that way.
05:50 And we're going to have confidence.
05:53 That's one thing you're going to see tomorrow, whatever happens
05:57 on the scoreboard.
05:59 You're going to leave a statement.
06:00 That's going to be a really good team.
06:02 They got a chance.
06:04 And I believe they're going to win their conference just
06:06 from what I see.
06:07 We don't give up.
06:08 We play the same way from jump ball to the end of the game.
06:11 We don't change our style.
06:13 We don't back up.
06:15 We're aggressive.
06:16 And we play smart.
06:19 Well, you look at the schedule, you touched on it.
06:21 I mean, you've played Memphis, who traditionally
06:23 is pretty dang good.
06:25 You've also played USD and Loyola-Maramount out of the WCC.
06:28 Tulsa's been a good team and program Missouri.
06:31 They were in the tournament last year.
06:33 Dennis Gates, I think, runs a--
06:35 And we went in there and beat them then.
06:38 That's right, yeah, 73-72.
06:40 And they run a unique system.
06:42 You got to handle their pressure.
06:43 You play Georgetown, you play Houston.
06:45 So you're not ducking anybody on your schedule.
06:48 We're not ducking anybody.
06:49 But when you think about we beat Missouri, we go to Georgetown,
06:54 we're up with three minutes to go in the game.
06:56 We're up with three minutes to go in the game.
06:58 And then we go to Houston.
06:59 Obviously, that score is that score.
07:01 Obviously, they jumped on us the second half.
07:03 But it's a four-point game with two minutes
07:05 to go in the first half.
07:06 And to this day, going into the half against Houston,
07:10 we've scored the most points against them in the 10 games
07:13 they played going into the half.
07:16 And then to leave there and go to Arkansas State that
07:19 went on the road to beat Louisville
07:22 and beat other teams, we go to Arkansas State and get a win.
07:25 And obviously, we just left Chris Paul event
07:28 where it was the HBCU Classic and won both of those games.
07:32 So our last six games, we're sitting in four and two.
07:36 And with that, not ducking anybody on your schedule,
07:39 scheduling Gonzaga, preparing for this game.
07:42 You talked about you want to get up and pressured,
07:45 and you want to create chaos on the defensive end.
07:48 What is an opportunity to kind of put
07:50 that game in a situation for you guys
07:53 that you can come out on top?
07:55 When you look at keys to the game, what is it for you guys?
07:58 Obviously, we want to be smart, right?
08:00 Because one thing about the Zags,
08:02 and you know they like to get out of run, too.
08:05 They're really great at throwing the ball ahead and then hard.
08:07 It's really great at pushing the pace, make or miss.
08:10 He's getting it out.
08:11 And I can probably hear Coach Kelsfield in my head
08:16 or in their heads saying, get the ball out quick and go.
08:18 So they-- and I see it on tape.
08:21 So they're getting it and go to quick with the ball.
08:23 They don't hold the ball.
08:24 So when they swing it, guys are making quick decisions.
08:26 So we got to make it really difficult.
08:29 We got to make them think.
08:30 We have to make them think.
08:32 They're so great at playing instinct basketball
08:34 where they're catching and going,
08:35 and they're making quick decisions.
08:37 We've got to make them think and make them back up a step.
08:40 And I think that'll be an advantage.
08:43 Deion Sanders has been a personality
08:45 throughout his whole athletic career,
08:47 whether as a player or as a coach.
08:49 You spent some time overlapping at Jackson State
08:52 before he moved on to Colorado.
08:54 What type of enthusiasm energy does he bring to a program?
08:57 And how much of a spotlight did that
08:59 help you possibly in regards to your program
09:03 within Jackson State Athletics the last year or so?
09:07 I mean, he exudes confidence.
09:09 I mean, he just--
09:11 it's just his aura.
09:12 It's in him.
09:13 The way he walk, the way he talk, the way--
09:15 just his presence is about confidence.
09:18 And that's what he spreads.
09:19 And he didn't only spread that through his football team
09:23 and his program, his coaching, but the entire university.
09:26 We felt he set a standard.
09:29 So my first year, obviously, inheriting a team
09:31 in my first year, and he's dominating the league.
09:35 And I felt like, hey, I can't come in here and--
09:39 so he set a standard.
09:41 And we ended up finishing third in our league
09:44 last year, my first year.
09:46 And a total new team.
09:48 And we're excited about this year.
09:50 But one thing I can say about--
09:52 I call him Prime.
09:53 One thing about Prime is, man, he just exudes confidence.
09:58 And one thing about that is, once you have confidence
10:02 you put in the work in, I mean, that breeds championships.
10:06 Because any situation you're in, you're
10:09 able to get through it.
10:10 Any adverse moment you're in, you're confident
10:12 that you can get out of it.
10:13 That's one thing I can say about my team.
10:16 We don't play the best game sometimes,
10:19 but our confidence and just our--
10:23 just us being on the road, per se,
10:25 playing all these road games, back against the wall,
10:27 we don't get rattled.
10:29 So one thing I can say about my group tomorrow,
10:31 when we walk in that building, I know
10:33 it's going to be thousands of fans
10:34 because you guys always show up.
10:36 We're not going to be intimidated.
10:39 We know we're playing against a really good team.
10:41 And we're coming to compete.
10:44 Last question in regards to the basketball side of things.
10:47 Ken Evans Jr., Jordan O'Neal are the only two players
10:50 that average in double figures.
10:52 I would imagine they get the majority of the opportunities
10:56 on that end of the floor.
10:57 But then you look at the rest of your roster,
10:59 you got about seven guys that average anywhere
11:01 from five to nine points a game.
11:04 So you seem to be very balanced.
11:06 Is that a fair assessment of your guys' offensive attack?
11:09 Absolutely.
11:10 I mean, obviously, we run our action through those two guys
11:13 just to get the defense to shoot up a little bit
11:15 so we can open up for those role players.
11:18 But for the most part, my offense
11:20 is an equal opportunity type of offense.
11:23 But I tell people all the time, the ball
11:25 dictates who shoots, right?
11:27 And my slogan is, the ball doesn't care who scores.
11:30 Why the hell should you?
11:32 I love that.
11:33 So we are completely unselfish team.
11:35 And that's what we live by.
11:37 Awesome.
11:38 Well, Coach, I appreciate the time.
11:40 I'm sure I'll see you at the arena tomorrow.
11:42 Best of luck.
11:43 And not just tomorrow, but best of luck the rest of the season
11:46 as well.
11:47 So enjoy the candle.
11:49 It's a heck of an atmosphere.
11:50 But I'm sure you guys won't be intimidated
11:52 because you guys go out on the road
11:54 and will play almost anybody.
11:55 So thanks for the time.