‘I make coffee nervous’: A Q&A with Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey prior to matchup with TTU
Ahead of the Winthrop men’s basketball team’s matchup with Tennessee Tech on Thursday and immediately after the news of the Big South Conference’s decision to hold its end-of-year tournament in Charlotte, N.C., The Herald spoke with head coach Pat Kelsey.
In the interview, the Cincinnati, Ohio, native opened up about his day-to-day life, his love for Rock Hill — and the process of cultivating a program that will last.
He also sprinkled in a few expressions he’s adopted from his late mentor, Skip Prosser — including this one, which encapsulates Kelsey’s seemingly unending energy: “He makes coffee nervous.”
Some questions and answers were edited for brevity.
‘Coach Kelsey is goofy’
Zietlow: The Big South announced that its conference tournament is now going to be in Charlotte. What are your reactions to that?
Kelsey: I think it’s great for our league. I’m not speaking just selfishly from a Winthrop standpoint — because there are advantages for us: We’re the closest school to Charlotte, so I think that’s great for our campus, community, Rock Hill, our fan base. The proximity to Charlotte makes it easy for them to attend.
So there are selfish reasons why it’s good.
But I just think that it’s really good for our league. First of all, to have a destination tournament, it feels more “big-time.”
Now, the atmosphere at those final games, are big time when it’s on a campus site because it’s easier for those students and those fans to get there, and I think the optics are great, and it creates great theater on television, so there are advantages, obviously...
But I do think — from a branding standpoint, if you will, in terms of our conference — having a destination tournament feels more big time. It feels more big time for the players, I feel, which in turn helps in recruiting...
So my hope is that there’s a lot of success, there’s a great fan turnout. Financially, (I want it to be) a success, so that it becomes something for the next couple of decades. You know: Charlotte becomes the epicenter of Big South basketball. And I think it will help us grow our brand as well.
Zietlow: Before your game against Mid-Atlantic Christian, you took to Twitter, trying to fire people up and get them to go to the game. It strikes me that you’ve taken the responsibility of doing more than just being a basketball coach. What else are you trying to do?
Kelsey: Building this program, and building it for the long-term.
A couple things: I appreciate that you recognize my passion and my energy — for our program, for this city, for this community, for this fan-base, for this student body. Those are all unbelievably important groups and entities to me.
The students? I call my dogs. Those are my dogs. You haven’t been here a lot, but go back and watch all of the stuff that we’ve done to engage the students. I never say, ‘No.’ If a student group asks me to do something, I do it. Ways to promote our games? Our students will come up with creative-type things, and I’ll say, ‘Yes, I’ll do it. I’ll embarrass myself.’
You know, we did carpool karaoke, either last year or the year before. We picked up students and we sang songs, and it was crazy.
Zietlow: Was this with the golf carts?
Kelsey: Well, that was in my car. We would just pick up the students. You ever see carpool karaoke?
Zietlow: Yeah, yeah, of course.
Kelsey: So we did that. You can go back and watch it.
The thing in the golf cart was “Swag Cab.” You know, there’s some sort of show online or whatever it is, not called “Swag Cab,” but... It’s something famous that all the kids watch. Well, they came up with this.
I was the cab driver, and I picked them up on the golf cart, and they had to answer questions. I just have fun with that. I love to be goofy. My kids will tell you, my kids’ friends will tell you: Coach Kelsey is goofy. I just like to have a good time. I think students connect and relate with that.
Although, on the court, I’m serious and I’m yelling and I’m spitting and all that stuff — but I want them to know that I’m their guy. I want to walk across campus and get high fives. I want them to know that it’s not my program, it’s their program...
‘Rock Hill has become my home’
Kelsey: Alex, I love Rock Hill. I love Winthrop. I say it all the time: “I’m a graduate of another school. I went to Xavier. I’m K-16 Catholic School education.” Right? I mean, all the way. And my alma mater means a lot to me. My hometown of Cincinnati means a lot to me.
Like, all of my family is there. I have 52 first cousins. My mom is one of 10. My dad is one of nine. I’m one of five. My wife is one of five. There are 20 grandchildren on my side. There are 16 on my wife’s side.
And you’ll see them all migrate down here from Cincinnati for games. When they do, buy stock in the bookstore because gear sales start going up when the Kelsey’s roll into town...
But Rock Hill has become my home. And I’m passionate about this community. We love our neighbors. We love our neighborhood. We love our church. We love the people here. And I’m a big believer that happy is undefeated.
We pour into this community, like going and speaking at Terrific Kids this morning, or speaking engagements around town. I want to be visible. I want my family to be visible. I want our players to be visible, so that they know that we have a passionate investment in this community.
I’m so passionate about creating a rocking atmosphere at our games. I’m so passionate about being out in the community and conveying to people how important it is that they invest in this program, and that it’s worth it. Investing in season tickets is worth it because it’s unbelievable family entertainment, from world class kids that represent our community and our university in a first-class way. And when you come, you come again.
And we’re the only school in the country that opens up our locker room after the game to kids and their parents to come in. Nobody does that. Open door, you walk in for autographs to see our guys.
But besides teaching and coaching and having an influence on people’s lives, young men’s lives, (building a program) is the next thing that drives me and excites me in this profession and my job...
‘I’m not a betting man, but...’
Kelsey: At the Garnet-Gold Scrimmage, we did fan training. It was a practice for us to get better in our sets and our defense and our pick and roll coverage, and our transition offense, but it was an opportunity to help coach up our fans: ‘This is how you make an impact in the game.’
I think there’s a little bit of responsibility for them. What I’m asking them not to do is to come sit down, cross their legs, and say entertain me. I’m asking them to come in, get in their seat, and then get out of their seat, and make an impact in the game by being loud, by clapping their hands, by having fun and dancing.
As you can tell, there are very few things that fire up and excite me more than that...
I coached under this guy — (he points to a painting in his office) — who might have been the best marketer in the history of college basketball, Skip Prosser. And Chris Mack, who’s the head coach at Louisville now, and I learned from him, because he allowed us autonomy and freedom to be creative at Wake Forest.
And to do stuff. And to think of new ways to engage the students; think of new ways to make the game more exciting, to make the pregame intros better, to make the music better...
You got to be good, which the team is, but man: getting people to take a chance on Winthrop basketball... If you haven’t been here, come here once. I’m not a betting man, but if you come once, you’d come again. I really believe that.
Zietlow: From my knowing you, you’re someone who has endless energy, so —
Kelsey: I make coffee nervous.
Zietlow: You make coffee nervous? I’m going to put that in the Q&A.
Kelsey: That’s been said before, but yeah, everyone always says that.
Zietlow: Is that from Prosser?
Kelsey: It is. He’s the first one who said it. He used to introduce me as: “This is Pat Kelsey. He makes coffee nervous.” I got the short end of the stick in intelligence, hair, looks — but the Lord put me in the front of the line for energy.
Zietlow: From my perspective, your job is exhausting: You make the product, and now, you have to sell it.
Kelsey: It’s part of the deal. And luckily, I think, for Winthrop, they hired a coach that enjoys doing that. And I have an endless supply of energy.
I’m an assistant coach for my girls’ fifth and sixth grade team at St. Anne’s. (Winthrop men’s basketball) practice will end at 3 p.m. At 3:15 p.m., St. Anne’s has practice, and they have an hour practice. I go to this practice floor to that practice floor from 3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., and I coach just as hard there as I do here.
And then I’ll go to a speaking engagement, and then I’ll watch some more tape. And then, I’ll go home — and you’ve seen the video of my son, Johnny BallGame. Like we don’t sit down when I get home. He’s waiting with the ball, in the kitchen, checking it up, saying, ‘Let’s go.’ And then we hoop until 8:30 p.m. on the dot, when he goes to bed.
And he has energy like me, and he’s just like me: When my head hits the pillow, I’m out. I’m out. And then at 5:15 a.m. the next morning, I’m up. And then I go until my head hits the pillow again.
And that’s how Johnny is...
As Coach Prosser used to say, I think it’s from the Godfather: “This is the life we have chosen.”
And I enjoy it. It’s not work if you love what you do.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 5:12 AM.
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