A leader emerges at the nick of time. Our conversation with Wofford's head coach, Kevin Giltner, starts now. All right, Coach Giltner, thanks so much for joining us here on SoCon Fast Break. I know your head's got to be spinning just with everything that has happened over the past four months. So first and foremost, have you been able to even slow down at all right now? Yeah, not really. You know, during exam week, it's typically a nice slow time around here because it's so hard for our student athletes. It's real here and we kind of give them off, but that's whenever I had, you know, fundraisers and I closed on my Virginia house. I closed on my South Carolina house all on the same day I moved in that weekend. Like, so I jam packed everything into there and then Christmas break, we actually had a pretty big Christmas break, which was bigger than I've ever had as a coach or player. But then it was like, you know, my wife had me unboxing things and putting this up and let's get the garage in order. Let's get, you know, set up these beds. So it's been nonstop, but in such a good way, such a good way. I signed up for it and I'm thankful to be in this position. Yeah, and how was that call, that phone call about the opening and walk us through exactly how that came about? Yeah, it was wild. It was bang bang, right? It was really, really quick as you can imagine. I can't remember the timing of all of it, but my answer was I'm in. Yeah. Obviously everybody wants to be a head coach. At least most people want to be a head coach and I definitely did. And to do it, that's all I'm a modern man. Yeah, there was a lot of happy tears. There was a lot of, oh crap moments. There was a lot of like, this is real. Like this happened like this year? Like practice is starting. Yes. And you want me now? I honestly thought initially it was for next year, but I was like, I'm in. I don't care. I did have one second of like, I don't know. This is a little like, this is really fast, but then I was like, what a second? This is Wofford. It's a great job and a great league. Am I all my modern? My wife's from Spartanburg. Yes, I'm in, let's go. So I would have walked back here to do it. It's a dream come true. I don't care the circumstances. Yeah, now did you feel that you were a head coach or a firefighter when you got the job, just in terms of having to put out all the fires with the chaos that was going on? Yeah, honestly guys, there really wasn't that much chaos. There really wasn't. A lot of it was social media stuff. I was pleasantly surprised. These guys just wanted to hoop, you know, and I felt like I could be walking in as the redheaded stepdad like, hey guys, no one signed up for me, but I'm here. Let's do it. But I'd never felt that from our guys. Like they were like, finally, let's just get to hoops. Let's go play. I watched them do a staff. I didn't hire in a team. I didn't recruit and I was nervous. It couldn't have been better. I'm not just saying that because this is public, but it's so true. And I've told them that in private moments as well. Like they've made this so easy on me. I'm so thankful for them and the people here are awesome. Yeah, and kind of speaking about walking into what you walked into, coach, was there something that you took from coach Young during that first meeting or that first practice, 10 toes on the line. They're all looking at you, ready to go. Was there something you pulled from coach Young at that point and was like, all right, it's probably the calming thing. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. Him and I are actually very different people. It looks just like our personalities, but man, he's had such a massive impact on me. I mean, I was with them for 16 seasons. This time from September 22nd to what is it? January 13th has been the longest, I haven't been with my man since I was 17 years old. Like that's crazy. That's crazy. I take that back. The one year I was gone overseas, that type of thing, but like in college basketball, this is the longest I've been away from him. So of course he has an impact on how I do things and the biggest thing I've always taken from him is just how you treat people and how he manages people. Like everybody talks about him being an elite offensive coach and the X's and O's and everything, which is elite, but he's also elite with people. And I find myself in tough times, tough situations, stressful situations, like at the end of the day, treat people the right way, make them feel appreciated, they'll bend over backwards to help you. People are most important. And I've really tried to keep that at the forefront. So when I first got the job, it was all about relationships. Like it wasn't what offense are we running with defense, it was like, I wanna know who you are, where you're from, who your parents are, what's your why, what's important to you, how do you like to be coached? Here's who I am. So I spent the first two or three weeks as a firefighter, as a coach, as a relationship builder. It was everything other than once. I didn't really have time to process a lot of things. So I just went with my instincts and certainly his influence persuaded my instincts for sure. What was that first meeting like with the team and what you talked about developing the relationships? I mean, what were you saying to the team walking into that situation? Yeah, it was weird. There's a fine line in Richmond where it's like, you wanna come in and you wanna set expectations. Like this is what we're gonna do this, how we're gonna do it. But I couldn't come in there and be a drill sergeant. They didn't sign up for me. So if I come in there, I'm like, this is what we're doing, this is how we're doing, get in or get out. I've been a disaster. So I like, this is who I am. This is my vision for the program. We are gonna have some standard expectations and some rules, whatever. But I didn't get into that really in the first meeting. It was more like, this is who I am. This is how I think. This is how I want our team to be presented on the floor. Let's get to hoops. I mean, we met for maybe 20 minutes. We walked up to the offices, planned out a practice and practice. It was literally, we met at four o'clock, we practiced at five o'clock. And I think that was a little bit of a stroke of genius, not for me, but just I talked to our staff a little bit. Prior to like, do we practice today? It's the opening day of college basketball. And we ultimately decided like, yeah, these guys want to hoop. They want to practice. They're tired of the BS. They're tired of waiting around. What's gonna happen? Let's go build some sweat equity. So getting out there and just, you know, sweating with them, letting them hear my voice, how I communicate. I think it was a stroke of genius. The next day we actually had off because we had press conference. We had all that stuff. But I really, if I had to do it again, I'd do the same thing. Yeah. And there's something to be said, coach, about yes, you can bond in a locker room, all of that. But where they bond is out on the court. And in the practice situation and going through the adversity, but being together, I think that's such a big part of it. So I think that was somewhat of a stroke of genius there. I didn't think it was right at the time necessarily because I was flying around like a madman. I'm like, really? We're gonna have to practice? I don't even know their names. But it was awesome. We did it and it was awesome. I was, it was a stroke of genius by somebody. It wasn't my idea, but it worked out being great. And that made the relationship building the next day go a lot easier. Yeah. Of course. How long did it take you to be able to pronounce Nils Mahoski? Yeah, right? Yeah. A couple of days. Luckily Nils, his people, I know his people. We had one of another German on our team at Virginia Tech. So I actually had some like, there was a little bit of a bridge for that gap that we had. And I was like, how's Nils? And they were like, he's a great kid. And Nils was probably like, hey, how's KG? And he was like, KG's a good guy. So it helped quickly. I was like, yo, we got some familiarity. But I quickly realized, man, what a player he is. No question. And we'll talk about some of those players, but I want to talk about the three one start to conference play right now. And I know you're saying that it really wasn't chaotic, but on the outside, it did seem that way. Maybe again, more of the social media, but preseason, Wofford has picked ninth. And I think part of that was obviously the transition. Yeah. So this start to conference play, is it a little bit of validation that the talent that you have there, or also somewhat of the culture that you're building and being able to focus on the relationship side with these players coming in? Yeah. I think all the above. I mean, at the end of the day, got players, man. Got our players and this staff did a great job of bringing in great guys and retaining some good guys. Like, so hats off to them, but we got good players, man. We got really, really good players. And that certainly helps. But also, I don't necessarily think it's Kevin Giltner's culture. I think it's the culture at Wofford, man. This is not just about me. It's not just about any other preview. Like this thing has been built by a lot of people before us. And it's just, you kind of understand when you're here, this is how we do things. It's a little unique. But the expectation is to win. I don't care the circumstances. The expectation is to win. So, we don't make excuses. I told people at the end of the day, no one is feel sorry for us. No one. Everybody's actually probably excited that we had that little chaos. But no one feels sorry for us. Ultimately, at the end of the year, people are going to see when or lost championship or not. Period. And so, let's get to work. And they were lucky. I was lucky enough to have guys that did want to get to work. But the expectations and the culture and stuff had already been kind of in place. And that's a hats off to the previous staff. But the relationship side of things and all that stuff does matter. But it's kind of all the things you said, all kind of going to play the culture, the players, but also the relationship building. So, I'm glad we focused on those. Well, I think it's pretty evident, too. I mean, it's been impressive to see how this group has rallied and come together. And I think that's a testament to you in that relationship building and how much you made that a point of emphasis. We mentioned the three-in-one start. Really, really impressive start. You guys have looked great. Obviously, a little bit of a hiccup on Saturday against what I think we all probably would feel is a really good Mercer team. Yes. And it's on the road. Give up 109 points. Is that something where it's a little bit of a wake-up call for you guys, too, is, hey, we got off to a nice three-in-one start, looked really good, had moments, looked really tested, Mercer. But hey, we got to maybe look ourselves in the mirror here a little bit on the defensive side of the floor. Yeah. Listen, I tried to preach that. And it's ultimately my fault. It's all my fault. I'm the head coach. But I tried to preach that a little bit after Greensboro, Citadel, Western. I thought we'd play a pretty good defense. But those last two games, man, we were just outscoring people. We were just outscoring people. And that's no way to live in this league. That's no way to live in any sort of college basketball. And I think sometimes you can beat that drum all day long. But until you actually experience a loss and realize, we really can't just outscore people. We scored 97 points and lost in a regulation basketball game. Again, we scored. We hit 16-3s versus Bellarmine. It was a close game. So you can beat that drum all you want. But when you win those games, it's, OK, I hear you, coach. But until you actually have a loss like that, hopefully, again, TBD, we haven't played since then. But TBD, but hopefully it has been that wake-up call for us and will respond. We've definitely focused on defense the last two days. Our team doesn't really like me right now. But it's ultimately my fault. And I told them that. I guess, like, we've got to be better. All of us, yes, this is lazy or this is sloppy or this is not good enough, whatever. But ultimately, it's on me. So I'll take the loss. But we all, as a program, have to buy into that in the floor more than we are. But we're scoring it at a really good rate. And I hope we can continue that. But it's no way to live. That's right. And you talked about it. The Cupboard is not bare. There's some talent there on that team. And obviously, we're seeing that from an offensive standpoint. Now, can you take that next step on the defensive side? Who is stepping up as leaders on this team, again, that you're coming in, not really knowing them? So who have you seen be able to be that so-called coach out on the court for you? Yeah, I think people do it in different ways. Basco is a really, he's vocal. Luke is vocal. Britton Rigsby on our team is very vocal. So those guys have been the more vocal guys. But then you have Nils and Kamari, those guys, they work their butts off, man. And they do it by example. But all those guys got to get better defensively. All of them. And I'm told them that. I don't care if you're a leader or not. You've got to guard somebody. But Basco is kind of like the guy that does both. He walks the walk and he talks to talk. He's old. He's the only guy on our roster, guys, that's really played significant D1 minutes prior to this year. Everybody else has been in a much smaller role than what they are now. Nils never been asked to do this. Kamari never been asked to do this. Luke's playing minutes for the first time ever. Brian Sumters a freshman. Chase Wally is a freshman. We got a couple guys that come from Juco level who's come here and never played Division 1 basketball. So it's a little daunting when you think about it. But what we've done so far has been really, really impressive because no one's ever been in this role. I haven't been in this role. Yes, that's right. Kevin McGinn hasn't been an assistant in 12 years. Jeremiah hasn't been an assistant in five years. So we're all kind of in these new roles. And I'm happy to say that we're 3-1 and 11 and 6, whatever we are. So I couldn't be more thrilled. But we have areas we definitely got to get better at and defensively some of it. Yeah, talking about that freshman class, though, you mentioned Brian Sumter and Chase Wally. And then you got Jaden Tyler. I mean, I think this is one of the top classes in all of the SOCON right now. Because they're also getting minutes for you and they're contributing. Yeah, no doubt. We're looking for versatility. We're looking for who can move. We're looking for guys who can think and play. They've all had their freshman moments. But at the end of the day, we've relied upon them. I'm proud to say that we've had seven guys on our team have 16 or more points. JD and we call Jaden Tyler JD. JD and Chase being two of those guys. I think some of you have something like 25 versus Milwaukee early in the season. So we're asking them to do a lot for us. And we're throwing them into the fire. And hopefully, when we get to hopefully tomorrow, but February, March, those guys are better because they've been thrown into the fire. But we're asking a lot of them. They're good. They're good players. And again, hats off to the previous staff for bringing in the right people. So I'm all in on those three. Yeah, in kind of keeping that theme with the freshman, this is good of a class overall. And the Southern Conference is we've seen probably in a long time, at least during my time in the league. And I know you spend a significant time in the league. And I think you have a really interesting perspective here. Somebody who has intimate knowledge of this league, but has spent a significant amount of time at the high major level. How much of this do you think is so many of these high major programs now, understandably so, are focused on staying old and just not recruiting freshmen? And these guys kind of slipping through the cracks. Because it seems like every team in the league has two or three freshmen that are playing, not because of injuries, but because they're some of the best players on their rosters. Yeah, because they're just good. Yeah, absolutely. I think that definitely has the climate of college basketball definitely has something to do with it. It's a trickle down effect, man. It's a trickle down effect. And it's sad. And I'm not going to get into do I agree with it or not and all that stuff. Because I'm just trying to get in where I fit in. I haven't done Italy squad. I'm not Kelvin Samson. I can't say nothing. But at the end of the day, I do think that is the reason why. And I do think there is power in that. And those guys, you get good freshmen and you develop them. Like Kamari Holmes, he was a really good player. As a freshman, maybe arguably just as good as a Chase Wiley. However, he had older guys in front of him that the opportunity wasn't there. So we just happened to be in a situation where you have an opportunity where Brian Sumter, Chase Wiley, and Jayden Tyler, even Max Sorteca can play minutes and help us win. And they've certainly taken advantage of those opportunities. But to your point, the climate definitely has something to do with it. No question. All right. So moving forward, you got games coming up this week. Two big games. Obviously, you talked about it tomorrow night against Chattanooga. They're coming off of a win over Samford. Only three turnovers for Chattanooga in that game. So what's the tactical key for you to be able to slow down this backcourt for Chattanooga? Yeah, they're really good. Dan Earl is one of the best coaches in the country. I don't care. What a love. He's awesome. He's awesome. I've always been a big fan of him. They run a lot of really good stuff and they're five out and just kind of free-flowing offense. They got a lot of guys that crank threes and they're good at it. But their cutting, I think, is kind of their special sauce. They're elite cutters, man. And the versatility of some of their bigs. Friesen's such a really good point guard. He's got some wiggle to him. But they just got weapons in all areas. And they come off the bench with guys that can still shoot it. Like Jakari, they transfer from Treveka. Like, he's a really good player. I think it's more of like they've got so many weapons at every position. And they're all really good cutters. And they've all bought into that free-flowing, kind of structuralist offense where anybody can do anything at any given time. And it's hard to guard, man. It's hard to guard. It's hard for our scout team to really kind of mimic and kind of rep. So I'm hoping that our guys are locked in enough on the film to understand, like, yeah, we've got to be ready to go. And we've got some certain rules and some certain things on how we're going to guard stuff. But they do it at an elite rate. And like I said, he's one of the best coaches in the country. So hopefully we can be better defensively and take care of the boards. I think that's been a big thing for us. But our transition defense versus Mercer and UNC Greensboro wasn't even close to good enough. And I know they like to run Chattanooga, that is. So we've got to put emphasis there. Yeah. All right. So I know as a coach, you're not looking ahead and you tell your players not to look ahead. But we know come Saturday, January 17, they're at Timmins Arena, I-85 rivalry. What is it going to be like for you? Now, this is going to be the first time in this rivalry for you as head coach. Yeah. Oh, I love it. I think that's the best thing about basketball is the little rivalry games, especially between two teams who've been in this league a long time. And each of us have had a lot of success. Some really, really good coaches have come through both programs. This is why we do the sport, man. Like, again, not looking ahead. I got my hands full tomorrow. I haven't watched one second of Furman outside of just seeing them play other teams in our league. But what he's done at Furman has been unbelievable. And obviously, winning a game in NCAA tournament, they've got one of the best freshmen in the league to your point. But he's got a great program there. It's not just a roster year. And yeah, he's got a program in place. So we've got our hands full. And I'm excited to start diving into that, because not just because it's a rival, but I got so much respect for what they do and what they've accomplished. And those are the ones you get up for. You get up for Chattanooga because they're the preseason number one. Dan Earl's one of the best coaches in college basketball, period. Bob Richie's a heck of a coach. Like, this is I'm just having a blast because it really challenges you as a coach. And I'm up late at night thinking about, are we going to guard this correctly? Are we going to score? Like, let's not love about this. This why I'm in it is the strategy and the coaching. And can we get this group of guys to accomplish this game plan together? And then when the game happens, it's like, man, we've overprepared. Now let's just go with the flow and let the guys be guys. And they'll certainly be up for tomorrow's game. And they'll be up for Saturday's game. And I don't have any worries about that. Yeah. No, we've obviously talked to a ton of hoops here. Switching gears just a little bit. What does Coach Gildner do for falling off the court? What gets you going off the floor? And what kind of makes you tick outside of basketball? My family, and I know that sounds cliche, but I'm having such a blast raising these two girls. And I was just talking to somebody about, are you going to the Final Four? That shows like, man, I stopped going to the Final Four. And I've loved it because I get like five or six days to just spend time with my family that you don't get to do. And as a high major and assistant coach, and now I hate coach, you're always on, you're always doing stuff. And you're always, whenever I have any free time, man, I spend it with them. We love to do outdoor stuff. We love to go hiking. Me and my wife, actually, we went to a national park this summer for the first time ever. We went to Zion National Park and loved it. So I think we're probably going to try to find another national park to go to and kind of throw the phones in the car, leave them on airplane mode and just get away. And it's really hard to do that nowadays in college basketball. But we've loved doing that. But any chance I can spend with my girls outside, I love the outdoors, I love doing that sort of stuff. And we're always cooped up in these offices and getting no sunlight. So I love to do it. And outside of that, I don't really golf. You know, I don't really have a whole lot of hobbies outside of spending time with my family and hoops. Yeah, you don't have time. Now, we know how it is from that. I love I love to go home like I'm from Nashville. I love to go home. I love to spend time. I got a really close knit like group that we've known each other since we were four or five years old and T-ball. And it's a group chat that we text every day in and they come to see some of my games. I love to go see them. So really outside of ball, it's spending time with people I love and my closest my closest people and, you know, try to get away from the basketball stuff as best I can. That's right. Well, you're more than welcome to join us right here on SoCon Fast Break. Anytime you want to coach. I'm having a blast. Why not? Yeah, exactly. And you're the first head coach that's been able to join us on an episode. So thank you so much. We greatly appreciate it. I'm happy to anytime I can brag about our guys. I'm willing to do it. They've made this such a special, special time for me. I really, to be honest, haven't had time to really digest it. I just haven't like, but I'm sure I'm going to have a moment in the spring where we settle down and maybe stuff's not going on. I'm like, what just happened? That's right. It's a reflection. Yeah, but I know I should have been journaling throughout all this. I always regret not like writing some of my thoughts down on September 22nd. And now January or maybe December, like what my thoughts were, because it's been a whirlwind, but I've been surrounded by great people and they've made it easy on me. There you go. Well, you can start right now. January 13th, you can write it in your journal. You can start. There you go. Coach, thanks. What's. And best of luck. Coach, thank you so much. I'm happy to be here, guys. You guys let me know when I can join you. You guys are awesome. And I love the coverage for the Southern Conference. I'm going to beat that drum until, you know, I just think this is such a good league. It's such a good league with elite coaches and elite players. So obviously I'm biased, but I love this league and I love the rivalries and I love the, how good everybody is and the amount of resources that are plugged into it. So I appreciate you guys for plugging us. Yes, sir. Hey, we believe in it as well. So we'll beat the drum with you. We promise you that. Awesome. All right. Let's look around the lake, coach. Thanks, coach. Great conversation. Coach Gildner and a great hire for Wofford. Yeah, absolutely. Loved his talk about relationship building and that being a focal point. It's not a surprise at all after that conversation. Why they've had the success that they've had so far. Yes. And I'm got a sneaky suspicion. I think they're going to be a very good team. They're going to be a tough out here this season. All right. What's not tough though is hitting that subscribe or follow button wherever you get your podcast. You can do it on YouTube, Apple podcast, Spotify or including the I heart radio app. Until next time, may all your jumpers hit nothing but the bottom of the net.
