The Amy Eagan Podcast

Gary (00:02.986)
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, NCAA academics, careers, and much, much more. This week, we're gonna talk with guard, Michaela Wallace. And Michaela, thanks for taking time to join us today. I understand you're in Macomb, Illinois today.

Makayla Wallace (00:31.222)
Yes, I am. Thank you for having me.

Gary (00:33.286)
Oh, my pleasure. I enjoyed having you on the podcast with coach Egan. How was the drive up from St. Louis?

Makayla Wallace (00:38.783)
It wasn't too bad. It was a short drive. Very nice. I slept the whole way, so I didn't know.

Gary (00:43.898)
Okay, well good for you. So let me just go ahead and ask you a couple of questions and we'll take it from there. So if you would kind of tell us, Michaela about your basketball journey from high school until today.

Makayla Wallace (00:55.931)
Okay, so coming out of high school, I signed to Evansville. That's in Indiana. I spent my freshman and sophomore year there. After that, I transferred to the University of North Dakota and that's where I graduated, so I spent my junior and senior year there. I turned my ACL during my junior year, so that allowed me to have two more years. And so now that's where I use my years at Lindenwood.

Gary (01:23.89)
Okay. And before we get into more serious basketball questions, I thought I saw you playing some pickleball earlier this week. Are you maybe planning on becoming a professional pickleball player someday?

Makayla Wallace (01:30.735)
Pffft

Makayla Wallace (01:36.127)
Um, probably not professional. I'm not that really good at it, but I had a little fun playing it in my little free time that I had. Not the best, but I did what I could.

Gary (01:49.614)
And I assume you won a couple of games when you were playing this week.

Makayla Wallace (01:52.619)
Yeah, I did, I won a couple. I lost a few too, but I got to talk a little smack, so I had to win a couple.

Gary (01:54.478)
All right, okay. Oh yeah, that's part of the game. So tell us about your major, tell us about what you're planning to do, what you would like to do after you graduate next year.

Makayla Wallace (02:06.995)
Yeah, so I got my undergrad in sports communication and now I'm working on my master in leadership management. After college, I plan on being a college coach and eventually just getting into sports broadcasts and in the basketball world.

Gary (02:25.046)
because you'll have to start your own podcast someday about basketball coaching. And, and, and this is our second year at D1 basketball. Is that right? Or you were at Evansville. That was D1 also.

Makayla Wallace (02:28.384)
Yes.

Makayla Wallace (02:36.531)
Yeah, Evansville and North Dakota was B1.

Gary (02:38.654)
Okay. And if you would just kind of compare year one of D1 basketball at Lyndon Wood with year two for us.

Makayla Wallace (02:45.579)
Year one it was different because of a lot of changes so we had to well by Linda would transform it from division two to division one they were just like doing a lot of building just all around it wasn't bad it was a good start I feel like it was much needed in the area of st. Louis which is which is great and I feel like this year's just a different they just trying to figure out the

on how to make the university better.

Gary (03:17.826)
So of course I watch almost every Leonard Wood basketball game. And I, Makayla, I notice you drive in the lane many, many times. And there's some pretty big young women in your way. What are you thinking about as you're driving the lane and you see those big bodies start to come at you?

Makayla Wallace (03:25.568)
Uh huh.

Makayla Wallace (03:35.367)
Oh, well, it just kind of depends. If it catches me off guard, it's like, oh snap, like, I'm really going in here against some big people, so is it like, you better go to the light strong and finish strong, or my favorite move is my step through, so I get in there and step through. Maybe even dump it down to the post and pass the ball.

Gary (03:41.131)
I'm out.

Gary (03:56.862)
Okay. Well, it's impressive to watch you. You're very quick in there and I enjoy watching you make those drives. And last question, you're in Macomb for Saturday's game against Western Illinois University. Tell me, what do you expect as a guard from Western Illinois University in the game tomorrow?

Makayla Wallace (04:02.137)
Thank you.

Makayla Wallace (04:13.035)
I just expect them to compete, push the tempo, they play fast, they do a lot of different things on the offensive end and I expect them to just, I don't know, do what they do. They don't really have anything set and so they just run and play and I feel like we're prepared and ready to play our principles and do what we're supposed to do to put us in a successful situation.

Gary (04:40.686)
Okay, well, McKinley, I wish you every success at Leonardwood basketball. And as you graduate, get your master's degree, congratulations on that later, I guess it's this year, later this year. And we'll look forward to seeing you on the basketball court for a few more months at least. My pleasure, thank you. So, Coach Egan, happy new year.

Makayla Wallace (04:56.672)
Yes, thank you.

amy (05:02.133)
Happy New Year!

Gary (05:04.246)
And it has been an interesting week here in St. Louis, but I understand you had a team building pickleball event for your players and staff this week. Tell our listeners about that.

amy (05:16.245)
We did. You know, I think when you're in January, beginning of January, and your kids haven't really started classes, haven't started classes yet, I think they have a little extra time. And sometimes it gets a little boring just doing basketball, and nobody else really on campus. And so we had one of our supporters step up and offer to rent a facility and have them come play some pickleball.

a little bit and it was so much fun. I think a lot of our kids really enjoyed it and it was the first time for some of them to be around what pickleball and to play pickleball. So some of them may now have a lifelong career in pickleball after they get done with basketball you never know.

Gary (06:07.692)
There you go. I wouldn't doubt that for a second. Let's talk basketball and Southern Indiana was at the Highland Center on New Year's Eve. Monster crowd, great basketball game. What was your biggest takeaway from that, coach?

amy (06:18.621)
Yeah.

amy (06:23.429)
Yeah, I mean, I think it was probably the biggest crowd in Division I Air for the women's game at Lyndenwood. We had an official count, I think, of 1,491, so almost 1,500 people there. And I think, you know, what the community is seeing and what people on campus are seeing and, you know, I had so many people come up to me after that game and just even say, wow, like, you know, I haven't been to a game since a women's game.

for a couple years and I just can't believe how fun your kids are to watch and how hard they compete and how hard they play and the style of play. That is one thing when I took over the job that I knew, the way we play and the style we play. It's fun to watch, playing that style and watching it. It's just fun to watch. So I think we're seeing some results of that and I think that starts with the kids you have.

And I'm very lucky and blessed to have kids that are buying into what we wanna do and they're just great people. I mean, just great people. I couldn't imagine putting together a better squad than the ones that we have in our program right now. And so I think we're seeing a lot of their hard work and their passion for what we're doing pay off. And so I was very proud of our kids. It's so hard and it's such a tough thing

I walk into that locker room afterwards and we're so close again, so close. And it's hard because we did, I feel like our kids did everything they could to win that game in regards to competing, to playing hard, to prepping, to executing the game plan. They did so well with that. And but at the same time, I wasn't happy that we lost.

Gary (07:54.015)
Yeah.

amy (08:19.025)
So it's kind of, it's hard with that balance because you want them to know that you're proud of them but you also want them to continue to work and to strive for, to win, you know, and we're not there yet. But we're getting really, really close and you know, I told them even, I think I've told them a couple times, man, when this flips and when it happens, it's going to be really, really sweet. And I really do believe that. So we're headed in the right direction.

We keep getting better and better. I think anybody that's seen us from the beginning of the year to now, I mean the growth that everyone has said that they're seeing is, it's great to hear that and it should make our kids really proud of stuff. So definitely I think a lot of really, really good takeaways from that game. But still a lot of things I feel like we can continue to get better at and strive for.

Gary (09:07.234)
So I watched Gracie Kelsey, especially in the first half of that game, and she was... I've never seen her be so aggressive on the boards. Talk about Gracie's development so far in the first few months, and what do you see for her in the next three years at Lin-En-Wood?

amy (09:20.509)
Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, for Gracie, I do believe, I mean, she is, her ceiling, she's not even close to what her ceiling is going to be. You know, I envision her at some point in our program, hopefully, you know, playing like a stretch four for us because she has the ability to shoot it. She has the ability to handle it out on the perimeter. You know, she can do some things from that four spot that...

you know this year we're just not really able because of some depth in the five spot able to put her there but you know we throw her in there and practice some and you can really see that she's going to be really comfortable in that position when we're able to move her out there some she'll always still probably play some five for us but i definitely think we can get her out on the perimeter more in the future. You know i think Gracie you know for her and what she does for us i think she's done that from the beginning.

I think she competes really, really hard. She works really, really hard. You know, I think you mentioned that she rebounded extremely well the other night. She does that typically all the time. The biggest thing and reason some people maybe even you have not seen that is because she's been in some foul trouble and we haven't been able to keep her in some of the games that we needed to keep her in because of that foul trouble. So.

We've been working with her and talking with her and some of our other kids as well about staying down and not fouling and moving your feet and playing with your feet. And because I think she was able to do that against Southern Indiana and not foul, you were able to actually see what she can do on the floor. And so she did a lot of great things the other night for us. I mean, whether it was rebounding, defending, she gave us a couple great buckets.

one around the rim, I think one outside shot. So I think you were able to see a little bit of what she can do. And I think that's exciting. You know, the next three years for her are gonna be filled with a lot of development and she's just gonna take her career to that next level.

Gary (11:20.106)
Okay, good. And I think one of the things I'm seeing is a lot more shots off the dribble and drive, particularly the two Michaela's and maybe even Maya Scop. Is that something you've been working on as a team recently?

amy (11:32.049)
I mean, I think we have to have that. We have to have more than LA scoring. And I think our kids are aware of that. And I hope they understand that they're capable of that. We've had some conversations with that. But I think our kids are really good at understanding their strengths and their weaknesses and what they're good at, maybe what they're not so good at, and playing to those strengths.

You know, there's some coaches that only allow kids to take threes or layups. I'm not so much that type of coach. You know, if a kid, you know, I've coached kids that were really, really good off the pull up. Well, I'm not going to take that away from them. If they're good at good at that. So I think, you know, we try to put them in positions to fit their strengths. And, you know, some of the offense that we run, some of the motion type offense, we're starting to understand some of that.

You know, we still have a ton of reads that we got to keep working on, but our kids are starting to see some of the reads as they're playing. And I think that's just making some of the dribble drive stuff and the pull ups and stuff around the rim a lot easier for our kids.

Gary (12:41.13)
Interesting and I know Makila talked about this, you're in Macomb and you had play Western on Saturday. What do you expect to see from a coach's perspective from Western Illinois?

amy (12:50.789)
Yeah, you know, I think Western, they lost to SEMO the other night. So I mean, heading into the game as a coach, that's not one of the things you really like to have. Because, you know, a lot of teams, sometimes when they lose, they get a little bit more focused with stuff. So, you know, I think with them, you're going to see a complete opposite game of Southern Indiana, you know, where Southern Indiana was had bigs and like Ty Lowe, you're going to see a lot more of freelance offense with them.

a lot more motion. They don't really have a ton of set plays with what they do. They put their kids in a position, their kids know their strengths and their weaknesses, and they put them in a position on the floor to catch in those situations and play to their strengths. So, you know, I think the first thing, I think the two biggest things that we communicated with our kids is number one, changeover. They like to take early shots in the clock. They like to take threes and changeover and in transition. So we have to limit those things.

first and foremost. And then we have to win the rebounding battle. I mean we are number one in defensive rebounding in the league right now, which is great that we did that against Southern Indiana, but we got to continue to do that. And they are number one in the league in offensive rebounding. So the rebounding stat tomorrow may be the number one thing that decides that game, who can win that battle and who can do it to the best of their ability.

Gary (14:18.03)
And let's move away from basketball a little bit. Classes start up at Leonardwood next week. And as a coach, how do you balance during the course of the next few months, basketball? How do you balance practice and travel and studies for your college?

amy (14:28.825)
Yeah, well, I told our kids the other day, I think January is the hardest month because you start back to school, you have to get back in this rhythm with classes and you have to relearn a whole new semester of where your classes are and different timeframes and when you got to fit basketball in and so forth. So that first week is a little bit harder and we actually hit the road in that first week so they're gonna miss some early classes with it. But

You know, I think most of our kids now, I think last semester for our freshman, it was a little bit hard because it was just all new, you know. And now your second semester, you have an idea of what's going to happen and what it's going to look like. So it'll be a little bit more comfortable. But it takes a little bit to get into that rhythm. I always think it's a good thing, you know, when you can get into some kind of rhythm and you know kind of your day-to-day operations of when you're in class, when you can be in the gym, when you're at practice.

I think it almost makes it a little bit more comfortable for kids. So I'm looking forward to them getting back in the classroom and not having as much, if you want to call it free time or downtime with stuff, I think it's good for them and it keeps them busy. And so I'm looking forward to it, but it's definitely hard for them to manage that. We talk a lot about doing stuff early in the semester, taking care of your academics early in the semester, those kinds of things, communicating with professors.

because it makes it a lot easier at the end. And so we'll have those conversations again and talk with them again, but I think our kids do a really good job at that.

Gary (16:02.294)
And kind of a, I know a lot of different types of folks listen to your podcast, and I'm gonna kind of give them a perspective here. The next question I had in mind was, when you look at a team's success, just from your perspective, coach, what percentage of a team's success is based on players? And what percentage is based on coaches, just in your opinion?

amy (16:21.509)
Yeah, well, you know, I think it starts with the head coach, you know. I think you talk about leadership and you talk about even in our case, building a program or sustaining a program, you know, when we were at jury and those kinds of things, it's not easy, but I think, you know, winning and losing has to start with a head coach and then the staff and then the kids, you know, and we have a lot of control over, you know, who we bring into our program. And so.

We have to make sure we get the right kids that fit that. You know, obviously we want to teach our kids responsibility and we want to teach them to play hard and work hard. And, you know, I always feel like if, you know, you know, as a coach, if your kids are doing what they should be doing, if they're working hard, if they're studying scout, you know those things. And I always feel like if they do those things where they win or lose, you know, as a coach, we have to reevaluate stuff as a head coach.

see where we need to make some improvements and where we need to change things. So, you know, I think first and foremost, you know, I think it goes down to me and to our staff making sure that we're doing all the things from the top up first, and then getting the right kids in your program and that kind of takes care of it.

Gary (17:38.518)
And of course, we're recording this podcast in early January. And I'm guessing, Coach, you have a long list of New Year's resolutions. And what one do you want to share with the listeners? What's the one New Year's resolution you want to share?

amy (17:46.236)
Yeah

amy (17:52.275)
I don't even know where to start with that. I don't make it. I don't make really New Year's resolutions too much. A lot of us because I'm so busy and you know, I feel like and sometimes maybe after this year to be a little bit different. But you know, my day-to-day schedule right now is so hectic.

Gary (17:54.094)
I'm going to go to bed.

amy (18:17.777)
and it's so much and it's so different every day right now just figuring things out and things coming up and you know all that I really didn't have a lot of time to think about it this year but you know maybe in the future I'll get to a little bit more of that but this year I didn't have much I didn't have a lot to think about besides basketball and what we needed to do so again I probably should do that a little bit more in the future.

Gary (18:46.01)
Yeah, I think I'm going to make a note when we do the first podcast from 2025. You're going to have a New Year's resolution or maybe.

amy (18:48.372)
I'm sorry.

amy (18:52.033)
Yeah, well, you know, by you know, Gary, by the time my third year here, right. And we have all these freshmen here, they're juniors now. I say it all the time, right. I'm not going to have to coach. So I'm going to have plenty of time for New Year's resolutions, right.

Gary (19:03.03)
There we go, there we go, there we go. Coach Egan, you're in Macomb, Illinois to play Western this weekend, best of luck to you. We've come to the end of this podcast, this podcast episode with Lyndon Wood University head women's basketball coach, Amy Egan.

I encourage you to share the podcast link with your friends and families and neighbors. And of course, that really talented female basketball player who lives next door. And if you have questions or comments for Coach Egan for future podcasts, email them to G-Stalker, that's G-S-T-O-C-K-E-R at Lyndonwood.edu. And we'll talk next time.