Boise State coach Leon Rice joins the latest episode of Gonzaga Nation.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Gonzaga Nation, another special episode
00:09 with former Gonzaga assistant,
00:11 current head coach at Boise State,
00:15 Leon Rice joins myself, Dan Dickow in studio
00:18 because they're in town to play
00:19 Washington State over Christmas break.
00:21 So first off, welcome Leon.
00:23 - That's great to be here, Dan.
00:25 A lot of good memories with you and I,
00:27 and we came, you were already there,
00:30 I think we kind of came into Gonzaga at the same time.
00:33 - We did, I know my red shirt year,
00:35 I believe was your first year on staff.
00:37 You had come over from Yakima Valley,
00:39 but you knew Coach Few,
00:42 kind of as young assistant coaches,
00:44 kind of in the Northwest.
00:46 Give us your first early impressions
00:49 of being a part of Gonzaga,
00:51 from the junior college ranks,
00:53 and then to what they've become.
00:55 - Well, the story is crazy.
00:57 Mark and I met working Don Munson's basketball camps,
01:01 and we both wanted to get into college,
01:03 and he actually wanted to go to Oregon,
01:05 and I, you know, Gonzaga wasn't much back then.
01:10 So we both were kind of competing,
01:12 trying to get that Oregon grad assistant spot,
01:14 and I had a good connection with Don
01:17 'cause I worked at Pasco High School where Don coached,
01:20 and his favorite player, Mike Guajardo,
01:23 was the head coach there.
01:24 So he kind of got me in the door.
01:25 Mark and I, our friendship grew over the years.
01:28 Our families, you know, our wives became close,
01:31 our families became close,
01:32 and when Dan left for Minnesota,
01:35 Mark called me, and I had just had Max,
01:39 and Brock was having surgery.
01:40 We had all this stuff going on,
01:42 and I had a really good team.
01:44 We were 31 and two that year before,
01:46 and Mark called and said,
01:48 "Hey, come to Gonzaga," after the Elite Eight run,
01:50 and I'm like, "No, I'm pretty good here."
01:53 - Really?
01:54 I didn't know you turned it down at first.
01:55 - Well, it was like, I didn't jump on it,
01:58 and I hung up the phone.
01:59 I said, "I think I better do this."
02:02 - Yeah.
02:04 - I kind of went and told my warrior of a wife, Robin,
02:08 who had a C-section, a baby,
02:11 and another baby in the hospital,
02:13 and I said, "All right, I'll see ya.
02:14 "I'm going to Spokane."
02:16 (laughing)
02:17 I can't believe she agreed to it,
02:18 but it was a special thing to be able to come here,
02:22 and we had a lot of pressure on us those first years.
02:25 You remember that?
02:26 'Cause we knew that we had to keep elevating it.
02:32 Otherwise, we were just gonna fall back to,
02:35 you know, there's other teams
02:36 that have had been blips on the radar.
02:38 We didn't want to be a Bananarama one hit wonder.
02:42 So, to see where it is now, and where we started,
02:47 and not where we started.
02:49 They started before I got here
02:51 with the '95 team with Rilly and those guys,
02:55 and all the work that Dan and Billy and Snides and Tommy,
03:00 Tommy came after me,
03:01 but all the work that all those guys put in
03:05 fits to build those building blocks of where it is today.
03:09 Pretty amazing.
03:10 - It's pretty amazing to see all the interconnection
03:13 of great coaches that have been a part of Gonzaga,
03:16 and you've got a couple of coaches
03:18 that have kind of crossed paths in different ways.
03:20 R.J. Barsh was an assistant for you for, I think, two years,
03:25 and now he's an assistant at Gonzaga.
03:27 When you look back at your time
03:28 when you decided to come to Gonzaga,
03:30 and I didn't know that story about initially passing.
03:33 - I don't know if Mark remembers that.
03:36 - Maybe, yeah.
03:38 Wow, that's interesting.
03:39 But you passed, but you see how the coaching is intertwined,
03:43 and you know how that process works.
03:45 How special is it to be an assistant coach
03:49 at a place like Gonzaga where they're at now,
03:51 and/or Boise State,
03:52 because you guys have it rolling in the Mountain West.
03:55 - Well, it's special because of who you get to work for,
03:58 and who you get to work with.
04:00 And this day and age, everybody's moving around,
04:03 planning their next move,
04:04 and then their move beyond that
04:06 before they're even in those moments.
04:08 And we never were like that,
04:10 me and Billy and Mark and Dan.
04:12 We weren't looking ahead to try to like,
04:14 okay, well, if we do this, we can move to that job.
04:17 We were happy where we were,
04:19 and just wanted to make that the best we could make it.
04:21 And that's why I took Boise,
04:24 because I knew it was a place
04:25 where you could grow a program.
04:28 I didn't want where there was a glass ceiling on the program,
04:31 and I saw what they'd done in football,
04:33 so I knew they knew how to do it.
04:35 'Cause I didn't want to bounce,
04:36 and that's just not really who we are.
04:38 And for us to get to all work together for all those years,
04:43 and be in the trenches together with our families,
04:46 and we always talk about the stories of those Saturdays
04:50 when we'd bring all our kids,
04:52 Tommy'd bring all his kids, all mine, all Mark's,
04:55 and we'd be practicing and be there all Saturday,
04:58 and we'd just lose track of the kids.
05:00 And they were young, and they'd just be running wild.
05:03 - Yeah, I remember those days.
05:04 - And we'd tell the story about Cade and Joe,
05:06 we were like asking the older guys,
05:09 Cade and Joe were just little.
05:10 We're like, where are those guys?
05:12 And we don't know, and we're looking all over the arena,
05:14 and 'cause they could go anywhere,
05:17 and they'd come out from behind a corner
05:19 with Dippin' Dots all over their face.
05:21 They had broke into the concession Dippin' Dots.
05:24 They deny it to this day, but I saw the proof.
05:27 It was right there.
05:28 But those were great family memories
05:30 that we all had together,
05:32 and they got to travel with us a lot.
05:34 And it was pretty special,
05:36 and the wives couldn't have done it by themselves,
05:38 'cause we were out grinding, and getting players,
05:41 and trying to build this program.
05:43 - So you've built Boise into a terrific program
05:46 in the Mountain West.
05:47 You've been there now for 14 years,
05:49 back-to-back NCAA tournaments now
05:51 for the first time in school history,
05:52 but it had to have been a difficult decision to leave.
05:56 - It was, it was like a divorce, you know?
05:59 And we were trying to figure out
06:00 which kids would go with who, and we really were.
06:03 It was really hard, and you know,
06:05 Mark pulled at my heartstrings a few times,
06:07 but you know, and it was just like,
06:10 it was just like when I was at Yakima.
06:13 I didn't want to leave Gonzaga,
06:15 but it was kind of, it almost felt like I had to,
06:18 it was my calling, I felt.
06:19 And it just kind of pulled me that direction,
06:22 and I had to listen to it.
06:24 But I initially was like, no, I'm fine, I'll stay here.
06:28 And you know, I had some buddies give me a nudge,
06:32 and say, you know, you gotta do this,
06:34 this is a great fit for you.
06:35 And you can build that kind of family program down there.
06:39 And when, you know, you turn around 14 years later,
06:42 you know, I got two boys playing for me,
06:44 another one that helps out with NIL stuff,
06:47 and it really has, and my wife, you know,
06:49 so involved, obviously.
06:51 It has turned into just,
06:54 that's where we built it to, a great family atmosphere.
06:56 - So you've mentioned family atmosphere
06:58 with a couple answers, but you know,
07:00 AJ helps out with the program at Gonzaga,
07:02 Joe's a walk-on, and then at your program,
07:04 Max is one of your leading scorers,
07:06 Cade is a young player trying to earn his minutes.
07:10 What's the dynamic like for you coaching your boys,
07:13 and then you must be able to put yourself
07:16 in Coach Few's shoes as well,
07:17 because Joe got five or six minutes the other night.
07:20 - Let's go, Joe.
07:21 - Yeah, but you look across the way,
07:23 and Coach Few, I would imagine,
07:25 and you could probably answer this,
07:26 he's pulling for them to do well,
07:28 but then he's also got the coach speak,
07:31 like you're doing this wrong, you need to do this,
07:33 but then deep down, you want them to play well.
07:35 How is that for you?
07:36 - You know, it's really weird,
07:38 and I don't know if people believe it or understand it,
07:41 but they're just totally like one of the other players
07:44 when they're out there.
07:45 I don't even, in fact, one day I was,
07:47 you know, we got done with pregame meal,
07:50 and I walked by, and all the jerseys are out,
07:51 and I look, and it says Rice and Rice
07:54 on the back of two jerseys.
07:55 I was like, huh, I forgot about that.
07:58 That's weird, but you do,
08:00 'cause it's just like any other player, it really is,
08:02 and then, you know, then you have those moments
08:04 when you can reflect and go, wow,
08:06 that was pretty cool that I got to deal with Max
08:09 for six years and coach him, but there were struggles.
08:13 You know, it's hard being a coach's kid.
08:16 You know, Max didn't ever want to be daddy's boy,
08:19 and he earned every second he's got out there,
08:22 and that's the way the players feel about it, too,
08:25 and the players forget that they are my son also.
08:29 You know, I mean, I've seen that happen.
08:30 I walk in the locker room,
08:32 you guys coming over for dinner tonight,
08:33 and one of the players is like, oh yeah, I forgot, you know,
08:36 but the neat thing is it's helped us build the family thing
08:40 because they bring the players,
08:41 the other guys over to the house all the time,
08:43 and they're really comfortable with that,
08:45 and I had one player that transferred in and said,
08:48 I've been to your house probably 100 times.
08:50 I don't think I ever was at my old, you know,
08:52 so it was really neat, and that's what you wanted to build,
08:55 and it helps you build that.
08:57 - So the connection to Gonzaga,
08:59 do you still have, you know,
09:03 a bit of communication with the staff?
09:05 I would imagine you do talk to Coach Fee all the time.
09:07 Do you give him insight as to what you see with his team,
09:11 and does he give you insight for your team?
09:13 - Absolutely, we do.
09:15 We talk all the time.
09:16 That's why everyone wants us to play and stuff, you know.
09:19 - Yeah, I can imagine that'd be hard.
09:20 - People always jump on that, like, are you gonna play?
09:23 You know, we go on vacations together.
09:24 We don't wanna play, you know.
09:26 He always claims it's me that gets crazy competitive,
09:30 but he's just as, yeah, it's not good.
09:33 - You guys almost matched up in the NCAA tournament
09:34 a couple of years ago.
09:35 Had you guys been able to hold on,
09:38 you would've played in the second round.
09:39 - I know, that would've been nuts, but we do.
09:42 We share a lot together,
09:44 because I know the ins and outs of the program.
09:47 I know Mark's feel.
09:48 So I think I have some insight into what he's going through,
09:53 even though I don't get to watch every practice
09:56 and every game, 'cause we're doing our thing,
09:59 and he watches a lot of our games,
10:01 and 'cause he's really proud of Max and Cade,
10:04 and it's cool, 'cause the kids have a group text,
10:08 and they all text each other,
10:09 and Joe blocked a shot the other day,
10:12 and I think that we sent that out.
10:14 - I do know that last year I had a Boise State game.
10:17 I think it was, it might've been San Diego State
10:20 at your place. - Oh, boy.
10:21 - And Coach Few was texting me in the middle of the game,
10:24 and I'm like checking in at a break,
10:26 and I'd made a comment along the lines of,
10:29 Max Rice should be All League this year.
10:32 He fires back a text message,
10:34 All League, what are you talking about?
10:35 He should be the player of the year.
10:37 - Yeah, yeah.
10:38 Well, I mean, we had some big, big wins last year,
10:42 and he was a big part of it,
10:43 and we had a lot of guys, Tyson and him,
10:46 and they both were amazing last year,
10:49 and Shave was good, and he was injured a lot.
10:52 That's what hurt him, and Nosh, our other Spokane guy.
10:55 But yeah, Max, he's got such a good feel,
11:00 and he's just an amazing competitor,
11:03 and that rubs off on those other guys,
11:05 and he does it in his own way.
11:08 He's not real vocal, but he really helps this team
11:13 in his year last year.
11:15 Now, we're starting to click a little bit,
11:18 which is making him better,
11:20 because our point guards are starting to play better
11:23 and find the right guys at the right time,
11:25 and that makes a shooter.
11:27 - Conference realignment is just the buzzword these days,
11:30 and Gonzaga flirted with the Mountain West a few years ago.
11:33 They didn't pull the trigger.
11:35 They keep being mentioned about the Big 12, the Big East.
11:38 Now, you don't have a dog in the fight,
11:40 so I think you can give me a little bit of your perspective.
11:45 Oregon State, Washington State,
11:46 looks like they're gonna play football in the Mountain West
11:49 and basketball in the WCC.
11:51 What's your take on all of this,
11:53 or do you have to be politically correct?
11:55 - Yeah, I mean, always, but my honest take is,
11:59 you know, we used to talk about it a lot,
12:01 and we were kinda paying attention to every move
12:04 and every detail, and then there was just so much
12:07 that it became white noise.
12:08 I'm like, ah, just let the dust settle,
12:11 and then we'll figure it out when we figure it out,
12:13 'cause we're in a lot of the talks,
12:15 'cause a lot of the talks started with football,
12:17 and so Boise State, we're always a team that's mentioned.
12:22 But now it just kinda goes in one ear and out the other.
12:28 I don't even really pay that much attention to it.
12:30 I'm like, okay, how's this gonna affect our schedule,
12:32 what we're gonna do, and that's the way we approach it now.
12:37 - So you built Boise State into a tremendous program
12:40 in the Mountain West.
12:41 Les mentioned back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances,
12:44 first time in school history.
12:45 You're still searching for that first win.
12:47 I thought you guys were gonna get it last year,
12:49 although Northwestern was a bad draw for you guys.
12:52 - Yeah, well, I thought it was a pretty good, decent draw.
12:56 You know, people didn't know.
12:58 They got second in the Big Ten last year.
13:00 I mean, they beat Purdue,
13:02 and they were a really good team.
13:03 Well, we were down two in Shaver spraying his ankle,
13:07 and we didn't have any depth last year,
13:09 and that really hurt us.
13:11 And so he kept trying to play,
13:13 but then it was kinda, he was on one leg,
13:18 and that's not an excuse.
13:20 I mean, that happens, but we just didn't have the depth
13:23 to sustain an injury like that.
13:25 - So what would it mean for you
13:26 to get that first NCAA tournament win for Boise State?
13:30 'Cause you guys have been on the cusp
13:33 for a number of years now,
13:34 and I know, obviously, I'm pulling for you guys.
13:37 You got a lot of other coaches from Gonzaga
13:39 that are pulling for you as well.
13:40 You know what it feels like to win as an assistant,
13:43 but paint the picture of what it would be like
13:45 as a head coach.
13:46 - Well, there's always,
13:47 we've accomplished a lot of milestones,
13:51 and you always love to,
13:52 'cause a milestone means you're doing something
13:54 that's never happened in the program.
13:55 Like right now, the other day,
13:57 we won our 20th straight home game,
13:59 and that's the longest,
14:00 it's the longest in the country right now.
14:02 And so those milestones are great,
14:05 but guess what?
14:07 No matter what mountain you climb,
14:09 there's a higher mountain behind it.
14:10 Like Mark's Sweet 16, Sweet 16.
14:12 Well, get to the Final Four.
14:13 Well, he gets to the Final Four.
14:14 Well, win it all.
14:15 There's always that next one,
14:17 and you're always striving to do that, no doubt.
14:20 But it's not the end all.
14:21 Getting to the tournament, it's like,
14:23 Dan, I'm gonna teach you how to make a million dollars.
14:26 First, you have to get a million dollars.
14:28 So getting to the tournament is really, really hard to do,
14:33 and it's quite an accomplishment.
14:35 But a lot of that, too, is driven by the matchups.
14:39 I mean, Memphis, two years ago,
14:42 they were a top five team to start the season,
14:44 and then they went through some struggles,
14:46 and at the end, they were playing really good,
14:48 and they were a bad matchup for us,
14:49 'cause they were kind of like us,
14:51 but only a bigger version.
14:53 And so, you know, a big part of it is matchups.
14:56 A little luck.
14:57 You gotta remember, a lot of people
15:00 don't even remember this story,
15:02 that the Gonzaga run started with Minnesota
15:06 having a bunch of guys suspended.
15:07 - Yeah, academic cheating, right?
15:09 - Exactly, and they got through that game,
15:13 and then away they went.
15:14 So just a little bit of luck got 'em going,
15:17 and then the rest is history.
15:19 And so sometimes, you can't control that, obviously,
15:23 but sometimes you get a good hop like that,
15:25 and it ends up getting you a win, or something like that.
15:28 But you just keep knocking on the door,
15:30 and pretty soon, you'll break it down.
15:32 - Build your prototype Gonzaga player.
15:35 So maybe a couple characteristics.
15:37 You can use whatever you want.
15:39 It might be a player's passing,
15:40 it might be their competitiveness,
15:42 their shooting, their athleticism.
15:44 Just build the prototypic Zag.
15:46 - God, there's so many I could go through.
15:48 I was looking at that wall the other day.
15:50 We practiced there, and I'm like,
15:52 boy, my boys do this all the time.
15:54 They have a draft, and they take five guys,
15:57 and then they tell me, okay, we're not telling you
16:00 who it is, which guy picked what,
16:01 but tell me which team would win.
16:03 It's funny.
16:04 Okay, let's start with competitive grit.
16:09 I'm gonna take Adam Morrison.
16:11 - Good pick.
16:12 - And just 'cause he had that pre-Fontaine,
16:14 I'm gonna play basketball to show you
16:16 I'm just tougher than you, I'm gonna kill you.
16:19 I'm gonna crafty work ethic,
16:23 boy, a ball of dream, I'm gonna take Dan Dickow.
16:26 Just a self-made player that,
16:29 you know, people forget you, though.
16:30 You were a McDonald's All-American, so.
16:31 - I was that.
16:32 - You were close to that.
16:34 I remember watching you with Ray all those years.
16:37 I would say stoicism, I'm gonna take J.P. Batiste
16:43 and underrated, just a worker that just got stuff done.
16:47 I mean, he averaged 20 and 10 in conference
16:50 on a team that had Adam that averaged 28.
16:53 - He's coaching now, with Coach D, doing a great job.
16:56 - Moxie and fearlessness, I'm gonna take Pargo.
16:59 - Okay, that's good, good call.
17:01 - He just walked, he would be awful against Portland State
17:04 and then he'd go get 26 against UConn.
17:07 You know, the bigger the moment, he was great.
17:10 Clutch performance, I love Blake.
17:16 'Cause that was a guy that could respond.
17:18 He could go 0 for 12 and make the 13th as a game winner.
17:22 We saw that against Eastern.
17:24 Coachability, I think, Roney.
17:30 - Yeah, that's a good one.
17:31 - Roney, because he spoke five languages
17:34 and he had a lot of things he had to get better at
17:37 when he got here, like just learning how to be centered
17:41 and not get too emotional.
17:43 Remember as a freshman, he'd miss a free throw
17:45 and he'd throw a tantrum.
17:47 By his senior year, he got so much better
17:50 'cause he was so coachable
17:52 because he would translate to himself when you'd coach him.
17:56 Like, okay, Roney, I have to sit down in the post
17:58 and then you could just see him.
17:59 So he was super coachable.
18:01 Rascalness, I'm gonna take Derek Ravio.
18:06 He was a little rascal.
18:08 - Yeah.
18:09 - But let's see, what other qualities?
18:13 Rebounding, Corey Violet.
18:15 - Yeah, I can't beat that one.
18:16 - Yeah, I'll tell you what, but as the game went on,
18:19 blockouts just becomes a war
18:22 when you're playing good teams.
18:23 And the ball would come off the rim
18:26 and there'd just be a cloud of dust
18:28 and Corey would be standing there
18:29 holding the ball at the end.
18:31 - How about the last one?
18:32 Because I think this is an underrated characteristic.
18:35 Every team needs one, a guy that can just lighten the mood.
18:38 You were that as an assistant coach,
18:40 but a team needs a player that can make the comment
18:43 at just the right time to kind of lighten the mood.
18:46 - Well, I didn't get a ton of time with him,
18:48 but I just cherished the time I got.
18:50 Mark Spink was pretty good at that.
18:51 (both laughing)
18:53 And Eric Edelstein, he wasn't on our team,
18:56 but that group was pretty special for that.
18:58 Spink was a good one.
19:00 Like he would lighten the mood for me
19:03 and not many players could do that.
19:05 You know, like maybe you're going through something tough
19:08 and all of a sudden Spink would come up
19:10 with one of his zingers.
19:12 - Oh, he had some classic one-liners
19:14 that aren't probably appropriate for a recording.
19:17 - Yeah, no doubt.
19:18 I thought about him just now.
19:19 There's nothing I could say.
19:20 You noticed I went all old school
19:25 'cause I didn't get a daily with all these guys
19:28 that I've watched from afar.
19:30 I mean, we know, I mean, Kelly was an overlap for me
19:35 and there was so many great players afterwards that I can't.
19:41 But that group needs to be appreciated.
19:44 And then, you know, like, oh, don't forget Nielsen.
19:48 - Yeah. - Like one-on-one defense.
19:50 - Yeah. - Like you could put him
19:51 on somebody and they were clamped.
19:53 - He was an NBA level defender.
19:54 - Oh my gosh.
19:55 We put him on the nation's leading scorer.
19:57 He got zero against him, zero.
20:00 - Yeah. - Yeah, he.
20:01 So, you know, all those old school guys.
20:03 Casey for the ability to, like,
20:09 you couldn't guard him with one guy late in his career.
20:11 You could not, you know, Michigan State had to double him
20:14 and he would be another guy that competitive grit.
20:17 And I always, it was funny, I remember one game
20:20 that somebody was trying to get Casey's,
20:22 into Casey's head, you know, give him a cheap shot.
20:25 And I, you know, he got that, he would get that.
20:27 - He gets that look and it's like, it was over.
20:29 - I saw that look and I was trying to calm him down.
20:32 And then all of a sudden he turned to me, he was like,
20:34 "Hey, I'm not crazy."
20:35 (laughing)
20:36 - With a little wink probably.
20:37 - Yeah, and I'm like, oh man,
20:39 he's under control with that, you know?
20:41 'Cause he just felt like he wasn't.
20:43 - Yeah. - 'Cause that,
20:44 you just look into his eyes, I'm like, oh my,
20:46 I've never seen anybody like that.
20:48 So yeah, you gotta, his competitive, you know,
20:52 and that's what that first year here,
20:56 that's what won that conference championship game
21:01 is those guys, the competitive grit of all those guys.
21:05 We were tougher than Pepperdine.
21:08 They were better, Fuey always said that,
21:10 like, you know, and I'd fight him on it,
21:11 like he's like, "Pepperdine's more talented than us."
21:14 I'm like, "No, no way, our guys are the,"
21:15 and then when I looked at 'em, I'm like, man, they are.
21:18 And they went to the Sweet 16 and beat Bobby Knight.
21:21 - Those Pepperdine teams were good.
21:23 - They were so good and so, you know,
21:25 they ran such a unique system of their presses and stuff,
21:29 but man, that first group that we had was so tough.
21:32 We went in double overtime
21:33 and we didn't win the league that year.
21:35 So we were hanging on a razor's edge
21:37 and they were just tough enough to go get it done.
21:40 And that was a pivotal moment,
21:44 'cause who knows if we would've gotten that large bid then.
21:47 You know, there were so many factors
21:48 and WCC, Gonzaga's program wasn't getting respected,
21:52 you know, 'cause it was only one Elite Eight at the time.
21:57 And that might've changed history
21:58 had those guys not been tough enough to win that game.
22:00 Isn't that crazy?
22:01 - Yeah, that's an underrated skill for any athlete
22:05 is just toughness and sticking to it.
22:07 - Perseverance, that's the key.
22:08 It really is.
22:09 And same with coaches, just to be able to,
22:12 like building a program.
22:13 I went through a lot of dark days.
22:15 You know, I took the job wearing the WAC,
22:18 and it was a kind of a mid-level WAC job,
22:21 which sounds interesting.
22:22 - Yeah. (laughs)
22:25 - As my boys would say, "Paws."
22:27 But then all of a sudden I get the news,
22:32 we're moving to the Mountain West.
22:33 And the Mountain West was unbelievable.
22:36 You know, you had all these legendary coaches
22:39 at all these schools, and they had their,
22:41 you know, they were getting five teams
22:42 in the NCAA tournament.
22:44 And we were 0-7 in league.
22:46 I had four freshmen starting.
22:48 And I'd look down at their bench and look at ours,
22:52 and I'm like, "Oh, we gotta get a new strength coach.
22:53 "This is, they look different than us."
22:56 You know, I mean, it was amazing how many good players.
22:59 We were outmanned every night.
23:01 And I remember calling up Mark and Ray and those guys.
23:03 I'm like, "No, we will never win a game
23:06 "in the Mountain West, never."
23:07 And they're like, "Oh, yeah, you will."
23:08 I'm like, "Tell me who."
23:09 - Yeah. - "I don't see a,"
23:10 you know, everybody was clicking.
23:12 And that group ended up winning like four
23:15 out of the last six games, or something like that.
23:18 We finished really good with the freshmen playing.
23:22 Next year, that group got the first at-large bid
23:25 in NCAA history.
23:26 And then when they were seniors, we won the league.
23:28 I mean, think about that.
23:30 But that just took that ability to wake up the next day
23:34 and go fight again.
23:35 And, you know, that's a skill that is hard to teach.
23:40 And it's, like you said, that grit.
23:44 And that's what makes great players.
23:45 And that's what makes great teams and great programs.
23:48 And, you know, Mark had it.
23:50 When there was a, everyone knows he was a head coach
23:54 starting in '99, 2000, or whatever, when Dan left.
23:58 Well, he had 12 years before that of just grinding,
24:02 grinding, grinding, making this program better.
24:04 And that's what it takes.
24:06 It didn't happen overnight.
24:07 And, you know, a lot of people think it did,
24:10 but no, it was a lot of bricklaying.
24:13 - Yeah.
24:14 Awesome.
24:15 Well, Leon, I appreciate the time.
24:16 Gonzaga Nation, I'm sure, appreciates hearing
24:18 some of your stories and your insights.
24:20 So, you know, as an analyst, I can't say this on air,
24:23 but in this platform, I can say it.
24:25 I pull for the Boise State Broncos
24:27 every chance I get. - Thank you, Dan.
24:28 Yes, that's right.
24:29 I appreciate that.
24:30 You do a great job.
24:31 Love listening to you in the post game.
24:33 And I'm gonna have to start texting you during Zag Games
24:37 and get you, "Tell Mark to put in Joe Pugh."
24:40 (laughing)
24:41 - Well, let's see if that can happen.
24:43 - Yes, that's it.
24:44 I love it. - Awesome.
24:45 For Gonzaga Nation, Boise State head coach, Leon Rice.
24:49 (upbeat music)
24:52 (upbeat music)