The Amy Eagan Podcast

Gary (00:02.942)
Welcome to the Amy Egan Podcast.

where each Saturday, Lyndon Wood University head women's basketball coach, Amy Egan talks women's basketball and much, much more. We'll talk about past games, future games, players, the Ohio Valley Conference, the NCAA academics, careers, and many other interesting topics. This week, we talk about the win against Eastern Michigan. We talk about Monday's education day games, it's gonna be pretty cool, with assistant coach, Taylor Burch. We'll ask coach Egan about the holiday season practices, conditioning and free time.

are all interested to know how much free time they're going to have. And freshman Michaela Cunningham is joining us. And Michaela, we're getting close to the Christmas season, the Christmas holiday. Are you eager to get home after your first semester in college?

Mykayla (00:48.498)
Yes. Yes, I'm very excited to get home. I'm ready to be with my nieces and just enjoy the time with my family.

Gary (00:58.166)
And briefly tell us where you're from, what high school you went to and what city that's

Mykayla (01:03.498)
Right, okay, so I am from Kansas, Salina, Kansas, and the high school I went in, Salina, Kansas, was Central, Salina Central. But I previously, for my senior year, moved to Ohio and went to Spire Academy.

Gary (01:13.478)
Okay.

Gary (01:19.206)
Oh, okay, very cool, very cool. Well, you know, you've been now, you're wrapping up your first semester. I presume, Michaela, your finals are done. And how did they go?

Mykayla (01:26.453)
Yes.

They went well. I didn't really have much finals this semester, but they went well.

Gary (01:32.362)
Okay, so what's been the best part so far about being a Lindenwood student?

Mykayla (01:38.182)
Yes. The best part about being the Lyndenwood student is the support from the teachers. They're very flexible when you're a student athlete, and so I feel like that's the best part. And then also the campus view. Everything's really beautiful here.

Gary (01:50.986)
Cool, very cool and of course if you ask the best part, you have to ask what's been the most challenging or worst part of that first semester at Lin-En-Wood?

Mykayla (01:59.446)
I would say probably the challenging part is just being a freshman, so the time management of practice and then sports and then you have school. So I would just say the time management part.

Gary (02:11.446)
Yeah, I've heard that before and you'll get better with that. I'm sure in the coming months and years, it's almost a necessity. And I guess the next question I asked is what were the factors that led you to join Coach Egan at Lindenwood University?

Mykayla (02:13.37)
Mm-hmm.

Mykayla (02:27.59)
There were so many factors, but I would say the biggest one was that she was honest. Throughout the whole recruiting process when she was at Jury, even when she got her coaching job at Lyndon Wood, she was very honest about her coaching style. I would say she didn't fake the recruiting process.

Gary (02:45.402)
Interesting. I've not heard that before. Well, congratulations to Coach Egan on that. And it's still early. I'm gonna still call it early in the season. And just on the basketball itself, what are some of the personal early takeaways for you from the first part of the season?

Mykayla (02:46.463)
Mm.

is.

Mykayla (02:53.206)
Mm.

Mykayla (03:01.298)
Yes, so the early takeaways I would say is just being able to fight through adversity. You have a lot of different challenges when you're a freshman and when we're trying to connect with everybody and how they play. And I just think fighting through that adversity is one of the biggest takeaways that I took.

Gary (03:20.494)
Well, it's interesting because many times I sit either close by or next to Dr. Porter and all during Thursday night's game, I kept flashing with my fingers a number of freshmen on the floor.

Mykayla (03:26.795)
Mm.

Mykayla (03:31.444)
Hehehe

Gary (03:32.014)
I don't think there was ever a time that it was fewer than two or three. And it's fascinating to watch because you may or may not know that I've been to a lot of the Lindenwood games, the Lindenwood women's games over the years. And it's just fascinating for me to watch the talent. So my congratulations to you for fighting through those challenges and that adversity because that's something that everybody can do. And early in your college career, what's your major right now, Makayla?

Mykayla (03:36.165)
Mm-hmm.

Mykayla (03:45.003)
Yes.

Mykayla (03:55.27)
So I actually just recently switched it so it's psychology now

Gary (04:00.406)
And, you know, the four years with Coach Egan and Coach Burch and then to what is probably going to go by pretty quickly. At the end of that four years, what do you think you want to do after college?

Mykayla (04:07.453)
Mm.

Mykayla (04:11.114)
So I actually want to have three jobs. So I want to be a sports psychologist, like a personal trainer for kids, because my major before that was early education. So I just really want to work with kids. And then I also might possibly want to be a coach.

Gary (04:15.242)
Okay!

Gary (04:32.738)
You want to be a basketball coach? Oh, goodness gracious. That's a no pressure, easy to do career and I'm sure Coach Egan would probably not agree with that. So, again, I know you're still a freshman but you've gone through the recruiting process. You finished a very successful high school basketball career.

Mykayla (04:34.919)
Yes.

Mykayla (04:51.197)
Hmm?

Gary (04:55.186)
you would give to other young women looking to play D1, really that D1 basketball because you've got some experience now. What would that one top piece of advice be?

Mykayla (05:02.236)
Mm?

Mykayla (05:06.667)
Again, with that adversity thing, I just would say to never give up when it gets hard. Especially for here, we get coached hard. For us, if you give up, it's going to be hard and it's going to be a struggle for the rest of your four years. So just to never give up when it gets hard and to work on your craft when nobody's watching.

Gary (05:24.27)
Now, interesting. That's really interesting. And I'm guessing that, you know, I'll release a podcast later this morning and Coach Ward will get that out there. I'm guessing you'll share the link with your family. Since they're going to be listening, Michaela, what do you want to share with your family? What do you want to say to them as they listen to you on your first ever podcast sometime next few days?

Mykayla (05:26.122)
Mm-hmm.

Mykayla (05:36.534)
Mm-hmm.

Mykayla (05:46.266)
Yes, um, hey family, um, I love you and thank you for your support.

Gary (05:52.746)
Oh man, I've got tears in my eyes here in West St. Louis County. Well, Micaela, as your teammates have done, you did a fabulous job on this. So I thank you for taking time out of an early Saturday morning. Thanks for getting up and joining us today. So best wishes. I'll be there on Monday again, providing guidance to the referees. I tried to do a foul count on Thursday night. I'm not sure they were listening to me. I'm not sure Amy, you heard me either when I was providing.

Mykayla (05:53.622)
I'm gonna go to bed.

Mykayla (06:06.803)
Thank you.

Mykayla (06:11.091)
Yes.

Gary (06:16.886)
the number of fouls they call it was 40 something when I last checked. But anyway, I'm there to provide guidance. I'm there to provide guidance to the referees whether they want it or not. So, Michaela, best wishes. I'll see you around many times and we'll see you on Monday. And one of the first things I, well, of course, when anybody new comes into your world, you kind of research them. And of course, when Coach Egan was announced as the Linda Wood coach back earlier this spring.

Mykayla (06:28.274)
Yes. Thank you.

Gary (06:41.434)
I went and checked on what she'd done. I watched some video clips and it was fun, but I noticed that they had something called an education day where they had what appeared to be a packed arena at Jury University down southwest Missouri. And what I found out was the young woman who organized that is now one of Coach Egan's assistants, Coach Taylor Burch joins us. And Taylor, welcome. Again, thanks for getting up this morning.

Taylor Birch (07:05.5)
Hi, good morning! No problem.

Gary (07:08.739)
It's going to be an interesting day for me at the Highland Center on Monday. Tell us about this Education Day event, really the history of it and what it's going to be like on Monday.

Taylor Birch (07:17.843)
Yeah, so when I took the job at Drury, they had this big game called Kids Day. Kids Day game and I believe Coach Egan in the past had been running it and making sure all the students got there. So she kind of taught me a few of the ins and outs on what was best to get the most students there. So I kind of dove in my first year, it was a little tough. COVID kinda still had a little lasting effect on that with

like public schools being able to get buses and travel and all that sort of stuff. And then my second year there, I guess all of those regulations had kind of been lifted and more of the previous students in schools that Coach Egan had been reaching out to were able to come. So we just kept trying to fill it, fill it, fill it and calling more and more schools.

I think every day I was on the phone trying to get a hold of principals, trying to get as many students there as possible, because it's just such a good day for the young kids to experience a college basketball game. A lot of times it's their first time ever coming to a college, one, and two, coming to a college basketball game and getting to see, especially girls, just be able to be in that atmosphere.

work hard and play hard and play together as a team and enjoy what they're doing on the court. On the other side of that, it's sometimes teachers first time experiencing that as well. They get an opportunity to not only watch our girls, but they get to meet them. We usually send our girls up into the stands and they get to talk to them and ask them questions and

Gary (08:48.159)
Interesting.

Taylor Birch (09:00.079)
actually kind of build a relationship with them. So I think they all love it. Our kids love it. They love to play in front of all the kids. It's super loud, so it's a really good opportunity for our kids to kind of just roll the ball out and play. They can't hear us the whole time telling them what to do, so they have to kind of fend for themselves, which is also fun. So I think we all really enjoy that day.

Gary (09:22.05)
I think it was the Cincinnati game earlier this year that they had their education day and I know the ESPN announcers had fun talking about the reaction of the students and they did a lot of screaming. So that was fun. I'm eager to see what that's like.

Taylor Birch (09:25.856)
Hehehe

Taylor Birch (09:31.283)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so they play all their favorite songs that they know the words to and they don't necessarily sing. They just scream. They scream the lyrics, which is so good. It's so fun. It's usually Christmas music, so it's fun.

Gary (09:45.878)
Oh, that will be good. I never thought of that. So, all right. Tell us about St. Charles. You've been in St. Charles now for quite a few months. What have your initial reactions been for both really the community of St. Charles and for Lindenwood?

Taylor Birch (09:57.299)
Yeah, I personally love St. Charles. I love Lindenwood. I take a walk every morning around campus because like Kaos said, it's so pretty. For me, I like to exercise and Lindenwood has a pretty hilly campus. So it works out really well for me and it's pretty. I think everybody on Lindenwood campus has been so nice and welcoming to us. It's been a lot of fun doing tailgate at football games. We've gone to some volleyball games. Even our games have been really fun.

I have nothing but positive things to say about Lindenwood and its campus. St. Charles, I love St. Charles. I'm a huge shopper as Coach Egan knows and there's so many options. There's, you can go any direction from campus and I can find shopping. So that's my favorite thing. It feels really safe and the biggest thing too for me is that our girls love it so that makes our lives easier. They have stuff to do. It feels safe. We don't have to worry about them or worry about getting a phone call in the middle of the night.

Gary (10:43.708)
Thank you.

Taylor Birch (10:56.82)
It's been really good.

Gary (10:57.966)
Cool, cool, cool. And you've seen some D1 programs up close in the last six weeks or so. What are your perceptions, your personal perceptions about the quality of women D1 players, especially compared to what you saw when you were at Drury with Coach Egan?

Taylor Birch (11:15.519)
Yeah, so I first off want to say I love D2 basketball. I absolutely love it. But the biggest difference that I have noticed is probably the efficiency at this level. And the players especially, they just really, they really get what it takes and kind of cut through some of the mistakes and really know how to put the ball in the hole. So.

That's probably the biggest difference that I've noticed, but my personal favorite characteristic for any player in the game of basketball is players that just work hard, do the dirty work, and just love to win, and that's the same at all levels.

Gary (11:57.646)
Cool. And then finally, what are the roles that you play in supporting Coach Egan in her program?

Taylor Birch (12:05.015)
Um, I would say my biggest roles are probably like the day to day, um, weights, um, conditioning, kind of watching over that, working with our strength and conditioning coach, working with our trainer, um, figuring out who needs to, who needs more rest, um, who maybe needs to eat more, those kinds of things and making sure they're getting to class, getting their, um, assignments done. I'm pretty, I'm pretty tough on them with the class part. Um,

I pull a lot of them in and make sure they get their work done. I don't really have much tolerance for, for lacking in the classroom. Just because, um, you're here to play sports doesn't mean that we're not paying attention to their education. Um, that's number one, always for us. Um, I also just love building relationships with the girls. I think I have a really good relationship with all of them. Um, I can relate to all of them in some way.

And probably what I've learned most in coaching is that everything that I experienced when I was a player happened to me for a reason so that I can help them. And so I really try to remember that as far as working with them and working with our coaches. I'm just always trying to learn. I always want to learn. I always want to see how other people see the game. I was not an athletic player. I was a really smart player. So that part of basketball is really fun for me. So that's how I try to contribute.

Gary (13:27.862)
Well, that does it. If I had a college-aged daughter who played D1 basketball, Taylor, she's going to Leonardwood. Now that's never gonna be the case, but if that were the case, that would be what I'd do. Well, we can talk about that story off camera sometime. That's funny though, that's funny.

Taylor Birch (13:35.123)
Perfect. Send her on over. Hey, maybe a granddaughter, maybe a granddaughter. We're holding out, right?

Taylor Birch (13:50.685)
Hahaha.

Gary (13:51.406)
I'll tell you the best wishes for your workout, Linda Wood, and wherever your career takes you, and I look forward to working with you and the girls in the coming months and years.

Taylor Birch (13:58.603)
Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much.

Gary (14:00.638)
My pleasure. Amy, I understand that you got wet Thursday night.

amy (14:08.104)
I got soaked. Let's not say wet, I got soaked.

Gary (14:12.158)
Well, you got to tell us about the game but more importantly, tell us about that post game celebration.

amy (14:16.664)
Yeah, you know, it was actually kind of emotional. You know, I kind of was tearing up at the end of the game. I was just so proud of the girls and proud of my staff and getting that done and getting that accomplished. And, you know, I think, you know, I told the girls the message after the game and was just really like, obviously, I was happy that they won and proud of them for winning that game and finding a way to win. But what I'm most proud of is how they have handled this process.

You know, we have really, I know I've said it over and over, but we've really coached them hard in practice. We've really demanded a lot of them in practice, in the classroom, off the floor. And, you know, and they have handled it so, so well without seeing immediate gratification. And I think that's hard for kids these days. But this group has really just stayed, stayed with us, really just believing in what we're doing, believing in what we're building here.

Believing in each other and that's what I'm most proud of is how they have handled that whole process with stuff And how it led to the win the other day against Eastern Michigan And man, I was fun celebrating with all of them afterwards You know, I'll get soaked any day if we can be who we are and end with the W I'll let them soak me any day but

Again, just really proud of the process that has gotten them here and how they've handled it, especially being such a new group and a young group. Just phenomenal young women.

Gary (15:53.914)
I noticed with interest or noted with interest when Taylor was talking about the difference between D1 and D2 players and that the D1 players can create shots. And I think I noticed that more for the first time this Thursday night. Did I see that correctly?

amy (16:08.388)
Yeah, I think so. I mean, you know, I think for us, we probably struggled. We struggled both sides of the ball, but we have struggled a lot with just some offensive stuff and understanding, you know, good shots, bad shots. And that's not our kids fault at all. It's because we've been working so hard on the defensive side of the ball that we haven't gotten to some of that. But I think, you know, we still have such a long ways to go. It's.

You know, it's crazy just watching even the Eastern Michigan film again, just how much more we need to get to do to get better and the areas that we can get better at and what we can continue to add to our kids' games offensively and defensively and all that kind of stuff. But I do think, you know, the difference in when you talk about kids being able to play a lot more one-on-one at this level and hit shots at this level when they're open.

It's a big difference between a lot of D1 and D2 kids.

Gary (17:08.222)
Interesting. And now you get a chance to brag on one of your staff. Talk about the work that Coach Birch has done in organizing, I know she's helping out in helping organizing Monday's Education Day event.

amy (17:20.836)
Yeah, well, I think Taylor definitely sold herself short when she talked about the things that she does because I don't think that even what she mentioned touches on the impact that she has in our program on a day-to-day basis I mean, she's a do-it-all coach, you know, and i've said it from the time she was my ga Her future is so bright because she has that drive. She has that want to learn She works so hard

And she just is able to connect with the kids on a great level. So I think she really sold herself short when she talked about the things she does, because she does way, way more for our program than what she mentioned. And it goes really, really deep into our program. So definitely, I mean, she's someone that, you know, I think for me is.

You know, I don't have to say a lot to her because she just knows. She knows what she needs to do and she does above and beyond what she's expected to do. And I think, you know, that says a lot. And you talk about the kids' day. I mean, technically we have somebody on campus that does our marketing with all that stuff to get kids here. And, you know, she wasn't satisfied with how many kids they had here. So.

She gets online and looks up all the private schools and finds out their contact info and sends it to the marketing department. Hey, we've got to get more kids here. When you talk about those kinds of things, she just does it on a very high level on a day-to-day consistent basis. So, very lucky to have her here with us.

Gary (18:53.326)
So would you be okay if I stole Taylor and let her do some marketing and asked her to do some marketing for me?

amy (18:58.844)
Um, sure. Uh, she, I don't know if she has time. She's too busy shopping or something on the side. Uh.

Gary (19:10.034)
I was expecting you to say go jump in a lake, Gary, but okay.

amy (19:15.875)
Well, I keep her probably way too busy, so I don't know how much spare time she has on top of that.

Gary (19:23.498)
All right, and the holidays ahead, and we talked about that a little bit with Michaela. And how do you normally, you've done this for many, many years now, how do you normally handle the practices and the conditioning and the free time for your players during the holiday season?

amy (19:36.516)
Well, you know, I think the biggest thing is challenging them. You know, at this point, all of them are done with finals. And you know, you have an opportunity to get a little bit more rest. But how do you spend your spare time now? You know, when there's not other students on campus, it's just pretty much us and men's basketball with it. Are you spending it on your phone? Are you spending it in your room? Or are you getting some extra shots up in the gym? Are you working on your skill level?

I think Christmas break is just such a great opportunity for that. You know, and whatever program I've been in, I've always talked about that at the beginning of break is how are you going to spend this extra time that you have. And I think that says a lot about, you know, a program, a team, an individual, you know, how they choose to spend their time during that time. So we definitely, you know, I think have some extra time that they can be in the gym.

I think it's also a great, great time for them to spend some time together. I know they do that a lot already, but that team bonding stuff can always get better and better. I think what you're seeing right now a lot with our kids is, whether it's in practice or in games, is that they're starting to be able to hold each other accountable too. That's because they've spent so much time together and really form that connection that you need in order to hold.

somebody accountable. So I think there's a lot of ways they can spend it and the challenges as individuals in the team. How are you going to do that?

Gary (21:05.834)
And then my final question is, of course, I'm going to be at the game on Monday morning, should I bring in should I bring your plugs?

amy (21:15.204)
I suggest yes, I might have them on the sideline. No, it is, man, it's an awesome day. It's just such an awesome day. Probably one of the worst days to try to coach in as a coach as Taylor said, because literally the kids can't hear you say anything. But such a fun day for the students in the crowd and also, you know, our players. And just like I reminded our players before Cincinnati and I'll remind them before this game.

You had the opportunity today to impact young students and to show them whether it's how to handle adversity or how to handle being a great teammate, you're gonna make an impact on them that for some of them, kinda like Taylor said, it's gonna be the first time being in this situation and seeing those things. I think our goal is for all those kids to leave here with a dream.

Whether that is a dream to play college basketball or a dream just to do something great with their lives. And so I think it's a great opportunity for us to have that impact on a lot of young students. So I'm excited about it. And we're going to try to string two wins here together and that'll be something I think also very special. So excited for an opportunity to get back out there with the squad.

Gary (22:38.714)
All right, well, I'll bring my earplugs, but remember I'm old and decrepit, so I hope I don't suffer too much for that. So we've come to the end of this podcast episode with Lindenwood University Head Women's Basketball Coach Amy Egan.

amy (22:41.192)
hehe

Gary (22:51.126)
Today, assistant coach Taylor Birch joined us as did freshman Michaela Cummingham. I encourage you to share the podcast link with friends and families and neighbors. If you have specific questions or comments for coach Egan for future podcasts, email them to Gstalker. That's G-S-T-O-C-K-E-R at Lyndenwood.edu. Coach Egan, coach Birch, Michaela, I wish you all the best. We'll talk next time.

amy (23:15.72)
Thanks, Gary.