[00:00:14] Speaker A: Hello. Welcome to the Roundhouse podcast with Paul Solentrop of Wichita State University strategic communications. Thanks so much for listening. We appreciate your time. We are going to talk with Patrick Harrison. Patrick is Wichita State's new women's assistant basketball coach. He started work Monday. Patrick is a Wichita native. He attended campus high school. He comes to Wichita State after serving as associate head coach at Stephen F. Austin last season. He's also coached at New Mexico State and Kansas City, among several other stops. Patrick is coming back to Wichita State. He was a graduate assistant at WSU in the women's basketball program from 2011 to 2013 under coach Jody Adams. And that was when the Shockers got started. Started on the best streak of the program's history. Three NBC titles, three NCAA appearance. Patrick was here when they got that, got that rolling. You may recognize his father, who is Dan Harrison. Dan coached WSU's women's golf team from 1989 to ₩93, an NVC title during that time. And Dan coached Patrick in basketball at campus High.
Patrick, tell us about your path to working for Terry Nooner and coming back to Wichita State.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: Yeah, it's kind of a funny story. You know, there's so much ebb and flows right now in college athletics, but I've always kind of kept an eye on afar from on shocker athletics, especially being here from eleven to 13 and a huge fan. Obviously, parents live just down the street, so when the opportunity opened up, when coach Bradford had an opportunity to go home for him to Fayetteville, that kind of spot opened. And just kind of knowing Terry and a lot of people in the business, everybody's a huge coach Nooner fan and kind of a no brainer for me to be able to get back and have an opportunity to put on the black and gold again.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: Yeah, we went through a lot of the Terry Nooner love last year when he got hired. The relationships, personality, all that kind of stuff. Give us your perspective on that. Why is he such a popular figure in basketball?
[00:02:13] Speaker B: You know, I think just being a genuine guy, I think you can feel his passion for people, I think just kind of really seeps through. That's probably the most important thing. You can tell who's really relationship driven, but also just a guy you enjoy being around. Plus, he's really, really good on the floor. I think when you couple all those things together just makes for a really good equation to have somebody have a lot of success at this level.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Tell us how you got into the coaching profession.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Well, I wanted to play as long as I could, and then I always felt like I jumped too high and kind of got hurt with some concussions. So my career ended a little bit sooner than I planned on it, but I had a friend who had a daughter that was playing in the summer, and they said, hey, can you kind of help out the RaAU team? And I was like, well, I don't have a whole lot going on that year, so jumped in and helped and fell in love with it. I knew at some point I kind of wanted to coach. Just got started a lot sooner, and then, you know, 16 years later, it's kind of what we're still doing.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Did you consciously choose coaching women versus men? How did that unfold?
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah, that's kind of just the way it was, I guess. You know, with her daughter playing, that kind of avenue opened up. And so with that, I got my first official start at Friends University because her mom was the head coach there, Gay Lasoyez. And so that was kind of the avenue I jumped in and really kind of loved that niche, had a great opportunity there, and really just kind of hit the ground running.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Having a father who was a coach. Your father coached golf. Several high schools, in addition to WSU, coached basketball. How did that influence your path?
[00:03:42] Speaker B: Always knew that at some point I was going to have some kind of impact from my coaching side. I mean, we've always had a great relationship, and I think when you have grow up a coach's kid, you kind of see all the ins and outs. You know, you're sweeping the floors, you're turning on the clock, you're airing up basketballs, kind of doing a little bit of everything. So seeing that, I always enjoyed that aspect of it, so I knew I would do it at some point.
It's kind of changed a lot in a great way, but definitely had a lot of fun, kind of everything through and just really enjoy, you know, being on the floor and impacting lives is best I can.
[00:04:29] Speaker C: Hi, this is Rick Muuma, president of Wichita State University. Check out the latest episode of the Forward together podcast. Each episode, I sit down with different guests from Shocker nation to celebrate the vision and mission of Wichita State University. Listen, wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Coaching, mentors, what names jump out at you, people that have really influenced your coaching style.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: Yeah, so obviously my dad, you know, seeing him every day and, you know, he was a counselor and kind of a psychology background as well. So that kind of gave me a ton of aspect from seeing that side from all, you know, the mental game as well. Obviously had some really, really good teachers on the floor. Jody Adams was phenomenal, somebody that worked for here that was really good at play for Pat Summit. So, you know, kind of being learning from what that lady of all tree was like.
He had a really, really good run at UMKC with coach Hoyt as well. Casino from a recruiting aspect and everything that she's done, she's done a really good job at Oklahoma State as well.
And then had some really good people all the way through. Even down in SFA this past year with Lynn Bishop, he was really good, really tapped in on the recruiting side in Texas, really expanded there, but also kind of getting the nuances of kind of some defensive stuff and doing a lot of different things on that side from matchups, from a lot of havoc on that end of the floor. So that's kind of been the main ones that I've had really my hands on. And then obviously there's some other ones that, you know, I'm a huge kind of classic guy. Hughie Brown's a huge fan. I love Dean Smith. So those guys from reading books and watching tape has kind of been from afar.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: You mentioned JC Hoyt, who was coach at Kansas City, now at Oklahoma State. She of course is a former shocker as well. So you played basketball, campus high, you played two years at Heston College, highlight of your playing career.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Who highlighted my playing career?
Probably I had about 15 points against Johnson county in the regional final game my freshman year, who they ended up going to the national tournament, ended up being pretty good. I think they went to the Elite Eight that year. So that was a good run. Didn't end up winning that game, but that was a good time. And then probably the other one would have been my other freshman year we played Ira Brown, who played at Phoenix College, who ended up being a really good player for Gonzaga, kind of on our sweet 16 time. And my goal was just to kind of not get dunked on, get out of the way. So that might have been a highlight, just to not let a slam go over top of me.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: So that sounds like a good highlight. So you've coached at junior college, you coached at Hastings and NAIA school, different levels of NCAA Division one schools. So varied background. How does that prepare you for coming to Wichita State?
[00:07:22] Speaker B: I love my story. I love my background. Just from, I've done anything and everything from every level. I think from an opportunity to connect with literally everybody has really helped me. Obviously from Nebraska, you know, I've been in North Dakota as well. I've really been border to border, North Dakota to New Mexico. You know, we've kind of seen it throughout, and so I think there's no job that I haven't done, you know, from sweeping the floors, from laundry, from opening up, you know, the weight room at 05:00 a.m. whatever. It's whatever needs to happen, I've always been able to do, and I think we really take that versatility with my success has kind of really helped me really grow as a coach.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: So we are in a time of great change in college athletics. Everybody, especially sports such as basketball, baseball, softball, really impacted by name, image and likeness as a young coach coming up, but old enough to have seen a lot. How does that change how you go about your job, and how does that change recruiting?
[00:08:18] Speaker B: I think the biggest thing, I mean, there's so much change in it, and I think there's a lot of opportunity. That's kind of how I see it. I think for the kids, especially, I grew up in the area where I think there's a lot of things that maybe they weren't to have access to, and now I think they do, which is exciting for them. I think it's just making sure that you have the wherewithal to be able to recruit the athletes that you really need to. At the time, it was a pretty even level playing field. Now it looks a little bit different, and so just making sure that you have enough opportunity to recruit those athletes. But I'm excited because I think Wichita State is a great, has, facility wise, location wise, the success. Obviously, we won a championship here, and I think we can do it again. And so we have everything we need. It's just making sure that, you know, we showcase what everything is about here at Wichita State.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: So the changes have perhaps made building a team more difficult or certainly different than maybe they were five or ten years ago. And I asked all the coaches this last year when they all got started. What's your thought? How do you go about now building a team, building chemistry when you are dealing with more turnover than maybe in the past years?
[00:09:28] Speaker B: I think continuity is a huge thing. As much as you can keep kids together, I think that's a huge part of it. But also, you're almost preparing from a kind of free agent MBA model, a little bit of where it's almost year to year of like, okay, what do we need? What do we lose? How can we really manage our roster year to year? And so that's kind of a huge kind of shift as far as. Because it used to be, hey, I'm planning four or five years out. I need class balance pretty much. It's just like, we're making sure that we've got the best team available every year.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: So you started Monday. So I'm sure you've been knee deep in just looking around, going through orientation, meeting with people around the athletic department. Describe your first week. How do you kind of get up and running in a division one basketball program?
[00:10:10] Speaker B: Well, first of all, I'm elated. Like, this week, I'm putting on some, some black and yellow. I know I said that before, but, like, minutes, it's special. I feel like I, you know, I haven't. I haven't lost the look of everything. So that's been exciting for me. You know, day one, really just walking around. This place has changed so much, though. Like, offices are different, so kind of getting a feel and where everybody's at right now, but. But it's been great. The first thing is obviously get on the phone with a ton of recruits and obviously letting them know kind of the vision for coach noon and what we have moving forward in the american conference and then really mapping out what our summer is going to look like. And especially with our foreign tour, we've got a spot or two left that I'm really excited to see what we do with that.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: So, yes, you would have been here 2013. Jody Adams. They really get it rolling. First of three straight NCAA appearances. What did you learn from that time about how Wichita State women's basketball can be successful? What can be duplicated? How does. I know that's Terry Nooner's goal as well? How does Wichita State get backwards in that conversation?
[00:11:13] Speaker B: Yeah, obviously the biggest change is from conference affiliation. That's a huge change. But I will say, I think that the equation is pretty similar. I think, obviously, you recruit really, really good kids, really talented kids, but also kids who really care about the community, and it means more than just what's on the floor. I think really diving into what Wichita is. I think we have all of that. I think really just enjoying the support and really pulling in from the city, I think will really have a great impact on the product on the floor as well.
[00:11:45] Speaker A: So I talked to Terry Nooner a couple days ago.
The shockers actually have what I would think might be more continuity than a lot of division one schools. I guess if there's roughly 360 division one schools, off the top of my head, I would say Wichita State may be in the top, I don't know, top half, top 100 with, I think there's six or seven. Solis blow is back. Ella Ancio several players from last team, last year's team.
When do you start taking a look at personnel from your responsibilities? Looking at video from last year, maybe? How do you get up and running in that part of your job?
[00:12:18] Speaker B: Yeah, well, even before Monday, I was already looking at some synergy stuff of our team right now. So really kind of pinpointing what kids have success in and maybe some growth areas that we need to have, especially from a player development side. We really hang our hat on making kids better. They come in at this certain point, we want to make them a ton better by the time they leave. So really that's been a huge push for us, especially on the post side. That's kind of my area expertise right now. So really trying to help our bigs expand their game and get better or maybe we need to chisel down some things and really pinpoint what we need to get better at.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: So you start on Monday. What was the first decoration, the first picture you put up in your office?
[00:12:58] Speaker B: I haven't done too much of the decoration yet. I'm still working on that. I know most of my stuff is still coming up from Texas, but I do have a huge box of a bunch of shocker stuff that I saved. So some classic woo will probably come in. I've got a couple old cups from, from the eighties that I might throw in the office, so, you know, throw a little something up. So hopefully the office, I know I'm big on decor. I want it to come like a really cool vibe when kids come in. So I think, I think they'll definitely feel the love from some classic woo stuff.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: Tell us a little bit more about being coached by your father. What was that dynamic like?
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Some days were awesome and then some days as a coach's kid, you always know, like when you go home to dinner, practice isn't always over. So that was always kind of a tough balance and I'd say this is, I would never trade that time for anything because we had a great relationship. We competed really hard. We always enjoyed each other. I always probably made it a little more challenging on him. I was pretty fiery, competitive. I know I see a couple referees that officiated me back in high school and they always tell me they had to kind of keep an eye on me for whatever reason. But now I'm good with officials, so we don't worry about that. But that was, it was always something fun and something that I always really cherish because I think that relationship that we have on the floor will just continue to grow and really helped us as we move forward.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: So you are a big movie fan. Give the people your top two or three movie recommendations. What's. What's the essential Patrick Harrison viewing?
[00:14:25] Speaker B: Oh, man. Essential. A couple movies, man. Okay, I go comedy first. Gotta go comedy. My favorite movie from a comedy standpoint is the movie life. Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence.
Great, great movie. I'm a huge Bond guy, so I got to throw a Bond movie in there. I'm gonna go classic, probably from Russia with love is a really, really good one.
And then I feel like I may have to do a Christopher Nolan movie. Inception would be the other one. That is a. Is a classic one for me. And don't fall asleep in that one, because you don't know. You wake back up. You don't know where you're at. So. Yeah.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: Have you met Harlan Beverly, the men's team? He's a huge Christopher Nolan fan. Had him on the podcast, like, a four or five weeks ago, and I bet we spent 15 minutes talking about Christopher Nolan.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: Really?
[00:15:12] Speaker A: So you may have to hook up with him.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: We need to. I haven't done, like, interstellar and some of that. I'm not, like, all the way in, but definitely inception is a huge fan for me.
[00:15:20] Speaker A: Harlan is all the way in. So if you want to talk movies.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: John wise and the track.
One of the track coaches. Big movie fan, too.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: You'll have no problem finding some people to talk movies with. Okay. From Russia with love. Your favorite Bond movie. Do you have one? What's your favorite out of the Daniel Craig series of Bond movies?
[00:15:41] Speaker B: The last one was great, but I think Skyfall sets the bar for sure. Casino Royale is right there, too, but I think Scythe was the one that did it for me.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: Who is your favorite Bond actor?
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Oh, man. I mean, Sean Connery set the tone. I did like Roger Moore. Add a little more comedy to it, but Daniel Craig is probably the one that I grew up watching. Although Pierce Brosnan and Goldeneye was good, too. You know, that's, you know, the video game era when we grew up playing video games and all that stuff. But probably Daniel Craig for me.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: Yeah, he's. He's hard to beat. He. He definitely did a good job. Do you have an opinion on who should be the next James Bond? I think Daniel Craig is out. So where are we going next?
[00:16:18] Speaker B: I don't know. That's a good one. You know, I think, honestly, the best one would be Idris Elba. I think he would be a phenomenal fit. I don't know if he wants to. Sometimes you get in the James Bond role and it kind of pigeonholes you a little bit. But I think he would be phenomenal at that role. So we'll see.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Favorite Hitchcock movie. You're also a big Hitchcock fan.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: Hitchcock movie.
And my mama loved to see me say the birds because she loved that movie growing up, even though she's scared of birds. But I would say for rear window is a great one. Jimmy Stewart.
That's a really, really good one. So north by Northwest is actually just here on Monday at the Warren. So that was great. So anytime there's a classic movie with Cara Grant in it, you can't pass it up.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: I took a Hitchcock class in college that was one of my favorite, favorite classes.
You're also a big earth, Wind and Fire fan. Absolutely essential earth, wind and fire songs. What should people go out and listen to?
[00:17:12] Speaker B: Oh, man. Well, I mean, September. My wife and I, we got married September 22, so right after the 21st. So obviously, you know, September was. Was always a huge song for us. I mean, really anything on their playlist, I think I'm down for. So any earth, wind of fire, any genre, we're playing it from there.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Okay, I have a basketball question I'm going to wrap up with. I forgot to ask earlier. Who is the basketball player that you like to recommend to your players? Hey, check this person out on YouTube. Or I guess you could send them clips. Now, these days, who do you use at role models for your players?
[00:17:48] Speaker B: I think the best part about that, honestly, Paul, is now, because the w has gotten so good, I think there's so much more access for us on the women's side that we can really showcase. I mean, it's easy to show NBA and, you know, Kobe and. But I think we have so many more role models at the professional level on the women's side now that we can really do that. I really love a lot of skill stuff, especially from all levels. I think Kelsey Plum is really, really good at the guard spot. Obviously, Asia Wilson has continued to get better and better. So that's another good one. Really. Honestly, everybody on the aces is really good. And there's a couple undersized kids. Alyssa Thomas is really good, who really can't always stretch it and shoot the three as consistently, but she's always really tough getting to the basket. So those are probably three ones that I would say are great ones to really connect on.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: How much is the WNBA on the minds of college women's basketball players now? And has that increased over the last five years? Ten years?
[00:18:44] Speaker B: I think it's increased a ton. I think it's definitely, people watch it more. I think they're more aware. I think it helps with social media, too, when you can, you know, don't have to watch the game necessarily, but you can pull up clips and see highlights and stuff. So that's always helped. And I think really, in the last, probably even two years, the sensation of the WNBA and how much excitement it kind of has garnered has been huge. And I think that's always going to help, you know, our brand of basketball as well.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: Okay, what's the summer look like for shocker, women's basketball? When do they get started with summer workouts?
[00:19:10] Speaker B: Yeah, so summer, we got kids coming here in really, a week and a half. We'll start June 3 for some workouts. It'll be like the first four weeks we'll get on the floor, and then the second four weeks in July, we'll do a lot more team stuff, most likely, and then get ready for Virgin Islands. So get the tan ready and balling on the beach.
[00:19:26] Speaker A: Okay? Patrick Harrison, he is a new women's basketball assistant coach at Wichita State. Wichita native, he was a graduate assistant at WSU from 2011 to 2013. He is back to work for coach Terry Nooner. Patrick, thank you for your time.
[00:19:40] Speaker B: Thank you, Paul. Appreciate it.
Thank you for listening to the Roundhouse podcast, courtesy of Wichita State University strategic communications. We encourage you to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more roundhouse
[email protected] it's over.
[00:20:13] Speaker D: It is over, ladies and gentlemen. Say it slowly and savor it. Wichita State is going to the final four for the first time in 48 years.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: Unbelievable.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: What a scene, folks. The shocker fans are just going crazy in this dance.
[00:20:32] Speaker D: Just maybe the greatest win in the history of Wichita State basketball.
