The Amy Eagan Podcast

Amy Eagan (00:00.5)
Cough Cough

Gary (00:02.318)
Welcome to the Amy Egan podcast where each week, Lindenwood University head women's basketball coach Amy Egan talks about 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, many other topics as well. Amy, coach, always good to have you on again. Two close games last week, both fell short. I watched the SIUE game and from my perspective, Ellie played

Amy Eagan (00:25.984)
All the specials and the questions that you have to answer are all very important.

Gary (00:31.776)
Perfect defense and the young woman just made a great shot there at the end and then a strong comeback. What'd you learn last week?

Amy Eagan (00:54.548)
And I definitely think some of the relapses we had, particularly defensively, I think were things that we weren't doing in practice with our focus that week. So it is about continuing to get these kids to understand the habits that you have to have, the habits that you have to create, and that you can't just flip switches on and off. You've got to be focused and dialed in every day.

And I think we're getting closer to that with our program, but we still got a ways to go. And anytime you're building in that, you're going to have some ups and some downs. And I feel like, you know, after our Tennessee state double overtime, you know, and then we played not very good on Saturday, I thought we had a few days of just not some very focused practices. So.

I was disappointed a little bit with SIUE. I thought our effort was good. I just didn't think our execution was very good.

Gary (01:55.854)
And you mentioned over the course of our podcast this season that there have been good practices and bad practices like you just referenced. Is there an absolute correlation between practices and game day success or lack of success?

Amy Eagan (02:07.796)
Yeah, you know, some people say, you know, I look at some kids and they say, man, they're just gamers, you know, they just show up and they can, they can turn it on. And, um, you know, I don't know how much I believe in that. I just, I think, you know, you have to be able to put yourself in situations every single day to, uh, understand the concepts that your coaches is teaching and execute that on an everyday basis and just showing up and thinking you're going to turn the light switch on. I think.

You eventually get to someone that's better than you or someone that's having a better night than you and you know, it really backfires on you. So I know some people can pick up some competitiveness a little bit being a little bit more competitive in games and that I think that's okay. But I think, you know, part of, you know, being a great, great team and you know, we've been there before a jury.

And we've won a ton of games back to back to back and that is just being consistent. You have to be consistent in everything that you do. The days that you don't feel like doing it, you have to be consistent in finding a way to make that happen. And we haven't quite gotten there with this group yet. And it's something that we continuously as a staff look at and evaluate of how we can get them to be to that level and be more consistent every day.

Gary (03:29.582)
And you've talked, we talked before, Coach, about the nine freshmen. And from my perspective, watching almost every minute of all the games, there's been few times when there hasn't been at least three freshmen on the course. And you've got talent across the board from freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. This year, how has your approach to developing these talented players changed, if at all, during the season?

Amy Eagan (03:52.372)
Yeah. So, you know, I think, and I think I said it before, I think one of the things I'm really excited about is, you know, being able to spend some time this, this spring and this summer doing more like individual type stuff with these kids and really working to build their game and those kinds of things. I mean, it's, it's been really hard in season because we have so many things offensively and defensively that we need to cover that a lot of our time.

hasn't been towards being able to develop them individually. And if we're with them as individuals, it's more like small groups to get some shooting in, get some shots up, maybe some reads within our offense, those kinds of things with us. So I'm really looking forward to that. I do think some of our kids have developed and have grown into our system. And I think you see that probably the most with maybe Justice Odom.

and what she's continuously doing. I think she's getting more and more comfortable with us. I think, you know, Alexis Heider, she pretty much coaches her in the post. And I think she's doing such a great job of building her game, getting her to understand some different concepts down there with being patient, pivot foot, and just small things that make all the difference. And, you know, credit to Justice for being coachable in those areas because it hasn't been easy for her.

But I think she's grown probably the most with some individual stuff, but she's also a junior. So she's kind of been through it before and kind of understands it and sees sometimes the speed of the game and see some of the things, the reads better than some of our younger kids right now.

Gary (05:31.31)
And I love watching Jess's jump out on those screens. She does some of the best jumping I've seen out on the screens, especially screens, especially away from the basket. So we're a couple of minutes away from summertime, but coach, for those parents and future Lindonwood players listening, describe what summer basketball, summer basketball preparation is like for NCAA D1 teams.

Amy Eagan (05:54.036)
Yeah, absolutely. So we get eight weeks in the summer with them. And really we can use those eight weeks. They don't have to be consecutive because so we can kind of use them however we want to use them. And so we've got it laid out for us already this summer with the weeks that we want to use. But it's, you know, within that week that each week you get eight hours a week with them still. So you're still limited on the amount of time with them that you get.

You get eight hours a week and four of those hours can be with a basketball in their hands. The other four can be like weightlifting, running, those kinds of things with it. So we take the absolute best advantage of those eight hours as we can. You know, this past summer we did pretty much with the four hours on the court, we did all team stuff because we knew that was going to be so important. This next summer will be maybe one day of team and three days of individual stuff. So.

We're kind of breaking it down. And I think every year and every summer with that is just an adjustment based on what you feel like you need. And for growth for your kids and individuals, I think, you know, you can still continue to get better during the year and work on your skill work. But if you're really going to like add stuff to your game and expand your game, it has to be in the spring and summer. And so we're going to challenge them, put them in a lot of uncomfortable situations as we're trying to add stuff to their game and see if we can make them.

continue to make them a better player on the floor. Around those eight hours, then they have a lot of downtime. Some of them take classes to help build their resumes. Some of them take them because they have to take them in regards to being an incoming freshman or incoming student athlete. So they'll do that. And then there's a lot of time for some team bonding. I think that's really important. Usually in June, you're adding in,

a whole new class of kids that are new to your program. And sometimes that's one, sometimes it's 12, like it was this past summer for us. But so you're adding in new kids and it's just, I think a great time that they can do some other things together besides basketball. You know, I know last summer, a lot of them were going to the pools together and beaches and some of them do internships. So it allows some flexibility with some other things that you can do with them as well.

Gary (08:21.966)
And you talk about skills and of course there's a relationship with facilities. And I think we talked about facilities recently, I don't remember when. We talked about the new gym, go ahead and expand on that if you want. But what other facilities are coming to Lindenwood University indoor athletics that need access to a basketball court or a gym?

Amy Eagan (08:27.22)
Yeah.

Amy Eagan (08:39.7)
Yeah, you know, I think that's, you know, one of the reasons that, you know, I did come to Lindowitt is because I feel like, or I know that their investment in the student athletes and growing this at the D1 is definitely there. You know, you look at us now putting in a practice facility, our court is done. It is marked. They have put the final touches on it. It's got to sit for like two weeks and then we'll be pretty much ready to go.

with it. And that's just going to help us so much because if anybody knows anything about Linda with the amount of sports that we have, our main gym is booked from 6 a .m. to 10 p .m. every night with with athletic teams in there. So this is going to give us an opportunity to not only practice in our main facility, but to get in skill work and shots and have our kids having access to it in the evening. So I think it's to be so beneficial with them.

You know, I would also mention, you know, when you talk about that commitment from Linda, which I think is so important, you know, we just put new baseball, new softball, new football turf down. So it's not just women's basketball. It's the other sports that they're investing in as well. This summer, we are looking at doing a really good overhaul on our locker room and needs updating big time. So we are in the works with meeting with someone and coming up.

with some renderings for that, because that needs to be done. So I think we're definitely headed in the right direction. And we need to do those things in order to be able to compete at this level and in this league when you look at some of the other facilities we're going up against. So I think for us, I think the hardest thing, Gary, about facility type stuff is I think it's really great when you have stuff that looks nice. But.

I think a lot of kids realize when they leave college that you don't really remember the facilities. What you remember is the experience you had, the people you're surrounded by. So it's kind of a double -edged sword because I understand that it is nice to have nice things. But to us as a staff, and I know to a lot of our kids as well, they care about the experience and the relationships that they're forming.

Gary (10:59.246)
It's been a while since you and I talked about name, image, and likeness, the NIL acronym. And I know from my perspective, there are many different worlds for NIL. There's the big name players at the Power 5 colleges and the lesser names out there at the Power 5s. And then there's NIL, name, image, and likeness, at mid -major, D1 colleges, and below. Now, I'm going ask you to speculate a little bit. So how do you see that?

Amy Eagan (11:00.212)
Thanks for

Gary (11:24.47)
shaking out particularly as it relates to the Ohio Valley Conference in the coming years.

Amy Eagan (11:29.812)
Yeah, you know, I think it's, I don't think it's really hit the Ohio Valley right now very, very much. There's maybe a few kids that have a few small things here and there. But as you know, I think everything's a trickle down effect, right? And in the world of athletics and you know, as the power fives are doing it, it's going to trickle down to the mid majors and trickle down to us and you know, so forth with it. So I think it's coming.

You know, I think whenever you win and you know, you do, you have some kids that stand out in areas. I think there's a lot of opportunities for them to represent themselves in the community in those ways with NILs and that, you know, I could definitely see eventually, you know, Ellie Brueggeman being one of those kids for us where, you know, maybe we can get her with someone in town that.

you know, would like to have her on a billboard or whatever. You know, here's a, here's a funny story. This is a great story actually. And this kind of tells you that a little bit about her too, not about her, but her situation. So she was down and down in the city on Friday and had to give some blood for a blood test. And the person that drew her blood went to her doctor who I know and said, Hey,

I don't know if you know this, but that's Ellie Brueggemann. She's the star for the Linda Wynne Women's Basketball program. And so, you know, the doctor texted me and said, hey, she said, it's pretty cool when, you know, your kids down here and everybody's talking behind the scenes like, oh, did you know that's Ellie Brueggemann? I think that's pretty neat. So yeah, I think, you know, words getting out about her and hopefully about our program and some of the things we're doing. I know we're not there yet.

Gary (13:08.398)
That's a great story. That's a great story.

Amy Eagan (13:23.188)
You know, we've lost, I think I counted seven games now by six points or less. Um, and so, uh, we're not there yet. Uh, but, uh, I do like, I do feel like when our kids compete and the games that we have competed in, uh, we are putting ourselves in a position to possibly win. Uh, we flipped a few of those, uh, but we're not there doing it on a consistent basis yet. So, uh, so just something we got to continue to work on with stuff, but.

You know, I think the NIL is an opportunity that if you can, if you win and you have some kids that shine a lot, I think it presents opportunities for them. Just like, you know, I tell our kids, like you talk about postseason awards, like first team, you know, you want to be MVP and that none of that matters unless you win. If you don't win, you don't, you don't have opportunities for all those kinds of things. So, so it's all about the team and it's all about, you know, finding ways to win and then those things take care of themselves.

Gary (14:22.158)
Well, if you would please let Ellie know that the next time I see her, I'll be asking for her autograph. And it'll be on a piece of paper, not on my hand or hat or anything else.

Amy Eagan (14:26.42)
I will.

Amy Eagan (14:30.068)
I get it. I get it.

Gary (14:33.774)
And it's my understanding that coaches in all disciplines at the college level recruit 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 356 days a year. I'm exaggerating only a little bit. And don't worry, I'll edit that out. Don't worry about that, I'll edit that out. As the regular season starts to wind down, how are you preparing your staff for that final recruiting push?

Amy Eagan (14:42.644)
I don't know about that.

Amy Eagan (14:51.156)
CLEAR

Amy Eagan (14:57.364)
Yeah, well, I mean, I think for us, it's kind of like you said, I think the push is, you know, 365 days a year, there's, there's no maybe final push with it. You know, we, we have, we're working on our 25 class. And while we're working on our 25 class, you know, we're working on 26s, we've had conversations with 27s, we've had a few 27s on campus, 26 on campus. So like, I don't know if there's really a push. I mean, I think, you know, you get to the point with like 25s.

When you get to the spring and you get to like the summer of, okay, let's really figure out where everyone's at. Let's really figure out who can get on official visits and who we can really make a push for. But I feel really good about it. I mean, I think the kids that we have in our 25 class and the kids that we keep building and adding to our 25 class, you look at, we just pulled some of like even the top ranked.

kids in the state of Missouri and a lot of those kids are top 10 that we've offered and that we're talking to. So we feel really good about it. We got to land some of those kids, you know, and I do think the conversations that we have with them, we're really honest with them that, you know, we are in a building, we are building. I think, you know, they have opportunities to come in here and to take us to that next level and help get us to that next level. So we really talk about that with them, but.

It is an everyday process and it's different for every kid. You know every kid we recruit we're having different conversations with depending on some things that they want versus what they don't want and how we see them in our program and so forth with it. So it's definitely never -ending and you really have to know that you know recruiting is a grind and it's something that you have to do on a day -to -day basis.

Gary (16:47.662)
And while you're certainly a Missouri girl, you've not really been a St. Louis girl and you've been in the region now for about 10 months or so. Are you pleased, coach, with the relationships you've been able to develop with the regional high school coaches?

Amy Eagan (17:00.5)
I am, I am. I think, you know, I've tried to be out almost every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday out to a game that I've been available. And so I think I've been to a lot of games. I've talked to a lot of coaches. I think we really are working to build some of those relationships. We have some great, great coaches in St. Louis area, some really good X's know coaches and some really good people. So.

They've been receptive to it. We've had some come watch games, some come bring some kids to games. I think that's pretty cool too that we're getting them here. We're hoping to get a lot of them to team camp. Some of them came last year and we're hoping to get more of them this summer to team camp. So I am happy with it. I think we can always continue to build that relationship. I think it's important and not just build that relationship when they have players, you know.

I think you've got to build that every year, no matter if they have players or don't have players. And I think that's something that's important to me. So I think we got a good handle on it, but we can continue to work to be better in that area.

Gary (18:06.606)
So we've come to the end of yet another podcast episode with Lyndenwood University head women's basketball coach, Amy Egan. I encourage each of you listening in to share the podcast link with friends, families, coaches, neighbors. If you have questions or comments for Coach Egan for future podcasts, email them to Gstocker, that's G -S -T -O -C -K -E -R at Lyndenwood .edu. We'll be back next week with another podcast for Coach Egan.