Interview w/ Coach Chris Acker (Head Coach at Long Beach State)

Coach Andrew Muse shares his journey from growing up in North Carolina to becoming a Graduate Assistant at Wichita State. Growing up in a basketball family, Andrew played for his father in high school and then walked on at App State. He played for Coach Dustin Kerns and his twin brother Aaron served as a Student Manager during their four years in Boone. After graduating from App State he accepted a Graduate Assistant position at Wichita State under Coach Paul Mills. **Sponsored by FastModel** Be sure to check out FastModelSports.com and use the promo code "BOXSCORE" for 15% off your purchase. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondtheboxscore/support

Coach Chris Acker shares his journey from growing up in Compton, California to becoming the Head Coach at Long Beach State. He was a member of the Chaminade team that knocked off Villanova in the 2003 EA Sports Maui Invitational. Chris played professionally in Portugal and Greece before returning to the US to play in the Continental Basketball Association. After finishing up his playing career, he embarked on his coaching career. He was on staff at Citrus College then led West Los Angeles to great success. Coach Eran Ganot hired Chris to his coaching staff at Hawaii. Following two seasons on staff at Hawaii, then Boise State he joined Coach Brian Dutcher's coaching staff at San Diego State in 2019. Coach Acker immediately helped elevate San Diego State, the Aztecs started the season 26-0 and finished the season going 30-2 including 17-1 in league play prior to the NCAA Tournament being cancelled due to COVID. The Aztecs went 134-34 (69-16 in conference) during Coach Acker's time on staff. They won two regular season Mountain West Conference (MWC) championships, three MWC tournament championships, four NCAA Tournaments, a National Championship appearance, then a Sweet Sixteen last season. Coach Acker was hired as the Head Coach at Long Beach State on April 2, 2024. **Sponsored by FastModel** Be sure to check out FastModelSports.com and use the promo code "BOXSCORE" for 15% off your purchase. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondtheboxscore/support

2024 Southern Conference (SoCon) Men's Basketball Media Day: Dwight Perry (Wofford) Ed Conroy (The Citadel) Bucky McMillan (Samford) Brooks Savage (East Tennessee State) Mike Jones (UNC Greensboro) Andrew Wilson (VMI) Tim Craft (Western Carolina) *Chattanooga, Furman, and Mercer were unable to schedule interviews this season **Sponsored by FastModel** Be sure to check out FastModelSports.com and use the promo code "BOXSCORE" for 15% off your purchase. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondtheboxscore/support

Anthony Grant (Dayton) Chris Caputo (George Washington) Chris Mooney (Richmond) Dru Joyce III (Duquesne) Fran Dunphy (LaSalle) Frank Martin (UMass) Josh Schertz (St. Louis) Matt McKillop (Davidson) Ryan Odom (VCU) Tony Skinn (George Mason) Keith Urgo (Fordham) Mark Schmidt (St. Bonaventure) Archie Miller (Rhode Island) Billy Lange (St. Joe's) Drew Valentine (Loyola Chicago) **Sponsored by FastModel** Be sure to check out FastModelSports.com and use the promo code "BOXSCORE" for 15% off your purchase. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondtheboxscore/support

Coach Maciariello shares his journey from growing up in New York and being the Albany Times Union Player of the Year in 1996, to becoming a the Head Coach at his alma mater [Siena]. He started his college basketball career at New Hampshire before transferring to Siena College where he redshirted under Coach Paul Hewitt and playing for Coach Louis Orr. After playing professionally in Italy he returned to the United States and became the Director of Basketball Operations at Siena under Coach Fran McCaffery. He then went on to coach with in the AAU ranks prior to joining Coach Ed Cooley's staff at Fairfield. Coach Maciariello initially went to Providence with Cooley before accepting an Assistant Coach position at Boston University with Coach Joe Jones. From Boston University he moved to our Nation's Capital to coach at Coach Mike Lonergan's staff at George Washington University. He coached at GW for four seasons including the season that they captured the 2016 NIT Championship. Coach Jamion Christian hired Coach Maciariello to his staff at Siena. After helping to orchestrate one of the nation's most impressive single season turnarounds, Jamion accepted the Head Coach position at George Washington University and Carm Maciariello was named the Head Coach at his alma mater. Carm Maciariello led Siena to back-to-back MAAC regular season championships including a berth to the NCAA Tournament - which was subsequently cancelled due to COVID. He won 20 games that first season at the helm and was only the second person in the history of the program to lead them to the NCAA Tournament in their first season as Head Coach. Despite winning 55% of Siena's games in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference competition, and only having one season under with a losing record, Siena parted ways with Coach Maciariello in March of 2024. **Sponsored by FastModel** Be sure to check out FastModelSports.com and use the promo code "BOXSCORE" for 15% off your purchase. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondtheboxscore/support

Coach Davis shares his journey from growing up in New Hampshire to amassing a 486-313 record as college basketball coach. Davis moved to North Carolina in high school and went on to play college basketball at Warren Wilson College - where he would eventually be enshrined into their hall of fame. After graduating from Warren Wilson he got his start coaching at South Stanly High School. Coach Bobby Lutz brought Dave Davis on staff at Pfeiffer as a Volunteer Assistant prior to Dave accepting the position of Head Coach at Warren Wilson College. Pfeiffer hired Coach Davis to lead their men's basketball program in in 1996 and during his 14 years at the helm, the Falcons compiled a 284-124 including six conference titles, three NCAA Division II Tournament appearances - including advancing to the Sweet 16 along with an Elite 8 appearance in 2004. Coach Davis accepted the job at Newberry College and they led the South Atlantic Conference in scoring seven times resulting in winning over 55% of his games during his nine seasons as Head Coach. After 486 victories Coach Davis accepted the Associate Head Coach position under Pat Kelsey at Winthrop, where he was instrumental in their back-to-back Big South Conference Tournament Championships. Coach Kelsey brought Davis to College of Charleston where they improved the Cougars' win total by eight games. After the 2020-2021 season Coach Davis accepted the Associate Head Coach position at VMI and remained there until retiring in January of 2024. **Sponsored by FastModel** Be sure to check out FastModelSports.com and use the promo code "BOXSCORE" for 15% off your purchase. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondtheboxscore/support

Coach Will Turgeon shares his journey from growing up the son of a highly successful college coach [Mark Turgeon] to becoming an Assistant Coach at Eastern Washington University under Coach Dan Munson. Will Turgeon played two seasons at Catholic University (DIII) before having to end his playing career due to injuries. He ended up becoming a Graduate Assistant at Colorado under Coach Tad Boyle and getting to coach NBA-caliber players and experience March Madness. Coach Munson hired Will to his inaugural coaching staff at Eastern Washington in May of 2024. **Sponsored by FastModel** Be sure to check out FastModelSports.com and use the promo code "BOXSCORE" for 15% off your purchase. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondtheboxscore/support

Coach Dylan Rigol shares his journey from growing up in New England to becoming the Director of Video at Oregon State. Dylan attended High Point University and was a Student Manager under Coach Tubby Smith and then GG Smith after he took over as Head Coach. Coach Wayne Tinkle hired Dylan to serve as a Graduate Assistant as well as the Director of Video for the Beavers. **Sponsored by FastModel** Be sure to check out FastModelSports.com and use the promo code "BOXSCORE" for 15% off your purchase. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondtheboxscore/support

Coach Matt Ridge shares his journey from being a standout basketball player at Ledford High School to playing on the University of North Carolina JV team, to becoming one of the winningest NJCAA basketball coaches in the country. After sustaining an injury in high school his recruitment was derailed and that led him to UNC and trying out for the JV team. Following two season playing for the JV team, he stayed on as a Student Assistant for the JV team, and soaked up as much knowledge from the staff - including being a fixture behind the bench during the varsity games learning from the late Dean Smith. Coach Ridge coached high school basketball prior to taking a leap of faith and joining the coaching staff at Guilford College (NCAA DIII) in 2006, and was on staff for their run to the "Elite Eight" featuring players like Ben Strong, Tyler Sanborn, Justin Strickland, and Caleb Kimbrough. [Then] Davidson County Community College hired him to be the first head basketball coach in program history and he quickly assembled a talented roster than was ranked as high as 9th in the county and finishing the season as co-champions of the Tarheel Conference regular season. The program moved up to NJCAA Division II and hasn't missed a beat. Coach Ridge has led the Storm to back-to-back National Championship games, followed by a 5th place finish, and a 3rd place finish in the NJCAA DII National Tournament in the last 4 years. His players have gone on to have great success at the four-year level as well. The Storm has won 466 games in 17 years, against just 83 losses. The 466 wins are the most wins by any National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II or Division III program in the nation over the 17 years. Coach Ridge's Storm have an 84.88% winning percentage - also the highest winning percentage in the country during that time frame - including winning 93% of their home games. **Sponsored by FastModel** Be sure to check out FastModelSports.com and use the promo code "BOXSCORE" for 15% off your purchase. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondtheboxscore/support

Coach Tysor "Ty" Anderson shares his journey from growing up in a basketball family to becoming a successful college basketball coach in his own right. Ty Anderson's grandfather was a legendary coach and a Naismith Hall of Famer [Charles "Lefty" Driesell] and his uncle is Chuck Driesell. Coach Anderson has blazed his own trail after being a PWO and Student Assistant at Georgia Tech, he's probably the only NCAA Division I coach who served in the Peace Corps. He got his first college coaching job at South Georgia State College before going to Cambodia with the Peace Corps. When he returned to the United States, he became a Graduate Assistant at North Georgia College in the Peach Belt Conference. Coach Anderson became the Head Coach at South Gwinnett High School in 2016 and led them to a 32-22 record during his two seasons at the helm. After South Gwinnett he accepted the same role at Holy Spirit Prep in 2018. At Holy Spirit Prep he coached future 1st Overall Pick in the NBA Draft - and future NBA All Star [and Olympian] Anthony Edwards. The team finished the season with a 20-14 overall record, including a perfect 10-0 mark in the region. Coach Ray Harper added Ty to his coaching staff at Jacksonville State as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations, and eventually was promoted to an Assistant Coach. The Gamecocks advanced to the NCAA Tournament in his final season on staff. He went on to accept an Assistant Coach position at Wofford and is set to enter his third season on staff with the Terriers in 2024-25. **Sponsored by FastModel** Be sure to check out FastModelSports.com and use the promo code "BOXSCORE" for 15% off your purchase. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondtheboxscore/support