We're Talking Sports Ep. 21 - Marsharne Flannigan

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The views and opinions expressed on this program belong solely to the hosts and guests, not the opinions of Live The Dream Media. The content provided on this show is for entertainment and informational purposes only.

Ron (0:58)

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to We're Talking Sports. We have a great show for you today.

We're joined by our guest co-host, Coach John.

John (1:08)

Well, yes, thank you. I'm back again. This time I'm a co-host. The last time I was a guest, so I guess I'm moving up in the world. So I don't know what's next, but anyhow, it's such a great show and I love it. And I'll tell you what, we have a lot of fun talking sports. Well, thank you.

Ron (1:21)

Appreciate it. Appreciate it. You're always welcome. Yeah.

John (1:24)

Thank you.

Ron (1:25)

Yeah. So we have a great guest for you today, Marshawn Flannigan from Pima College. You're one of the assistant basketball coaches.

Marsharne Flannigan (1:32)

Yes. Yes. Super excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

Ron (1:36)

Yeah.

Marsharne Flannigan (1:36)

Yeah.

Ron (1:36)

And even more important, you're a Tucson High graduate.

John (1:39)

Yeah, I knew we were going to fit that in there. Somehow, we seem to get Ron's alma mater in there. And I know it's your alma mater too, but Ron seems to promote his alma mater, Tucson High, every time he gets a chance.

Ron (1:48)

Every time I get a chance. Yeah. All day long.

John (1:51)

All day.

Marsharne Flannigan (1:52)

There's nothing wrong with that.

John (1:53)

That's right.

Ron (1:54)

That's right. Just a bunch of old badgers.

John (1:57)

Yeah, but some good ones. And obviously, Marshawn was very talented, obviously.

Ron (2:01)

Yeah.

John (2:01)

Had a lot of accolades there and went on and had a great career after that too. So tell us a little bit about your career after Tucson High.

Ron (2:09)

Right.

Marsharne Flannigan (2:09)

Yeah. So I played basketball at Tucson High, played for Gary Lewis, phenomenal coach. He taught me a lot about the game early on, and that's kind of what influenced me to become a coach. Just him just kind of guided my high school career. That was pretty awesome. But then I went to West, I'm sorry, I played at Pima College for a year. So I'm an alumni from Pima. Nice. So happy to be back on the staff. After that, I went and played at Western New Mexico, and then I finished off actually playing at Carroll University in Wisconsin.

Brian Peabody (2:37)

So I finished my career. Yeah.

John (2:39)

Carroll's NAI school? D3, yeah.

Brian Peabody (2:43)

Okay.

Marsharne Flannigan (2:45)

Yeah.

Brian Peabody (2:46)

Wow.

John (2:46)

So how did you end up in Wisconsin, since you played all your basketball previously in the state of Arizona? You wanted the cold weather, or you would do what?

Marsharne Flannigan (2:53)

Well, I wanted to change the scenery, and then I had a coach originally who was recruiting me. He ended up getting a deal at Carroll, and so he was assistant coach there, and he recruited me over there, and made it work for me financially, and I was happy to be there. I was there for two years. It was awesome because I've never really experienced being in the snow in Tucson.

It's a total cultural mind change. Everything was totally different there, and it was awesome. I appreciated the experience, and now I would say I've never lived there again, but I love to travel back.

Brian Peabody (3:24)

But you had the experience.

Marsharne Flannigan (3:25)

Correct. I still do go back and hang out with old college buddies, and actually one of my former teammates is now the head coach there too.

Ron (3:33)

Oh, wow.

Brian Peabody (3:33)

Okay.

Ron (3:34)

All right. When did you get into coaching?

Marsharne Flannigan (3:37)

Immediately after I was done playing. I went back and started coaching with Gary Lewis. My head coach, as soon as I was done with my career, he gave me opportunity to come on as an assistant, and from there, I've been coaching ever since.

Ron (3:51)

Very good.

John (3:52)

That's awesome. It's always great when you can change young people's lives, and obviously you went through the process yourself, they molded you, and now you have the opportunity to go out and help young people grow and develop too.

That's always awesome. What's one of the greatest things you like about coaching?

Marsharne Flannigan (4:06)

I want to be that assistant coach I never had. I had some really good assistants in a lot, but just add towards that. I've been through so much in the college game, in the high school game, so I've been at every level, and I can help them through those different moments they go through, whether it is playing a whole bunch and trying to figure out not playing well, or coming off the bench trying to figure out a role. So, just being that voice for those guys and helping them out with their development has really been huge for me, and obviously being at Pima and watching our guys move on, the success we've had the last few years, it's been great, I'm happy to be here.