New Coppin State head coach Larry Stewart tells Nestor how his lifelong basketball journey led him back home to the Eagles to find a different campus than when he played for Fang Mitchell a generation ago. Hear the Eagles play and all of Coppin State sports on WNST-AM and Baltimore Positive all year long as the flagship radio for the West Baltimore MEAC institution.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
game, coach, cop, head coach, stewart, morgan, dream, talk, fang, mentored, orioles, program, winners, pete, larry, man, people, compensate, state, basketball
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Larry Stewart
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Looking back at wn St. Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive. We’re all over the place here. It is springtime. So let’s see here, got lacrosse. Got the Orioles playing big homestand going on Preakness coming next week. lumbars below marathons over with it’s all calm around here right now. We’re taking the Maryland crabcake towards south and west to Catonsville this week. We’re going to be at State Fair giveaway, the Maryland lottery instant scratch offs. We’ve had a lot of winners. We got some winners last week, capillaries and fade Lee’s we made our way to Essex and Middle River last week to McFaul waster in Rio. We had a $20 winner at the bar there on a Thursday with Pete cringy. We’re going to get state fair, this Friday from two of the five we’re gonna have CFG bank president bill we del as our guests also going to be honoring our friends at window nation I’m going to have on the flen floppy hat. The window nation floppy at 866 90 nation, we were in our one one for Pete still smells like a family’s crab cake which I love. When donation 866 90. Nation you buy two you get two free five years 0% financing, if you act now on that I am thrilled to have this guy back on the program. I think that time I had him on the program, I was sitting at the Lord Baltimore, in the early 90s. On wi th radio, I think I still have the tapes of Larry Stewart, the promising youngster that was going to take the NBA by storm and played some ball here and and now the homecoming and you know, we saw one leave the cop and program a couple of months ago. And everybody knows we’re the voice of COP and been the voice cop for a long time around here. They are our partner. It is just a pleasure to welcome Larry Stewart back on to the program. I watched all the proceedings and press conferences and all that stuff with you. It is so good to have you back. And I think I’ve checked everybody in the cop and program and said, I like this. I like this launch. You’re welcome on let’s play some ball.
Larry Stewart 01:52
Oh, man, I’ve been great. First and foremost, man, thank you for having me on, as you know, it’s a pleasure. And so you know, yeah, you know, I’m back home. It’s a dream come true. And, you know, I’m just looking forward to, you know, trying to put this brand back where we once was. And so I know that it’s going to be hard and difficult. But you know, I’m up for the challenge. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 02:14
tell me what you’ve been up to. I mean, you talk about you, I’m not gonna play the role of, you know, athletic director in the interview. But when you come to an interview, talk about some of the things that that you did talk about in that interview and reasons why you want to be here and what you know about and how you can make it good again, and then great again, and obviously, you know, and we see in college basketball, things are changing. I mean, you can that campus could attract the right kinds of kids that make you a winner very quickly. I have great admiration for everything that’s going on over in West Baltimore, and what everybody over there has tried to build if people haven’t been over to see a game, they should,
Larry Stewart 02:51
yes, yes, yeah, we’re gonna hold everyone accountable this year, you know, to come out, you know, see us playing. So, you know, after I stopped playing, you know, I think I’ve retired and stopped playing and maybe 2008 2009. You know, I, you know, all while I was playing, and I knew my basketball career was coming to an end. So I was, you know, trying to decide, you know, some things that I wanted to do. And so I tried refereeing for a little while, you know, I pretty much liked that. And then so my whole dream was to always get into coaching, because, you know, I wanted some, you know, young, some young men to, you know, live out his dream, because I was able to live out mine. And so, you know, I wanted to be a vessel, you know, for these young men. So I got into coaching and so, you know, I spent some time here at Boise State, you know, on the coast, our Brooks, you know, who was a, who was a great coach in the car WA and I learned a tremendous a lot from him. And, you know, we was able to build a program there, turn that into, you know, a couple of championships there. And then, you know, from there, I got an opportunity to, you know, Coach at our rival Morgan State, you know, under kostar, Bozeman, you know, who was also, you know, Hall of Fame style coach, and, you know, as one, you know, many MIAC championships. And so, you know, I got to, you know, be too late and learn, you know, from him and so, after, you know, at the Morgan I went down to Eastern Shore, and I coached a little bit on the coast. Jason crapped in, you know, I spent three years down there, and it was a great experience being down there, you know, Princess Anne, and then, you know, after that, you know, I went back to our rival Morgan State, you know, coast under coach, Kevin Broadus, you know, who gave me an opportunity to, you know, to come on staff. And so, you know, all during these last 14 years, I’ve learned, you know, tremendously from these coaches, and so, you know, now it’s my opportunity to, you know, lead and lead and teach these young men.
Nestor Aparicio 04:44
I can’t wait to get a crabcake with you one day, State Fair in West Baltimore. I mean, I want to talk about Turkey and Spain and Greece and France and, and you’re, I mean, I love talking about that stuff. I mean, with all of you who’ve done it, and so many people I know Who played ball here locally, in one way or another high school ball played a little while in the NBA. I mean, Brian rasam is one of my dearest friends in the world. He’s over on the other side of the world coach and ball over and in the Philippines and your Manila and run around on the beaches of Bali. And he’s doing in about a month ago. I mean, the, and I, you know, I, I saw Sam caselle, you know, in the news last couple of weeks. And all I think of him is I’ve seen him play over Dunbar, you know, against Lake Clifton. And all I see is Pete Pompeii, on the sidelines trying to get Sam to behave, and Sam could never be a and now Samsung leader, a man at the highest level for you, did you ever think at back I mean, you were in my studio 30 years ago, you know, as a as a bullet, and a guy that was you, I don’t want to say CallKit your coverage, but compensate guys weren’t supposed to go to the NBA and hang five years, but in play 20 years, internationally, you had a hell of a career as a player, you really don’t want to sell that short man.
Larry Stewart 06:04
I, you know, I’ve been blessed, you know, that’s all I can say, you know, I have helped, I’ve had a hell of a career, you know, it all got my my chance and opportunity under Coach Fang, you know, and he, along with, you know, many, many mentors that I’ve had, you know, in this game, you know, they taught me one thing is that, you know, if you go out and play hard, and give everything and leave everything between the lines, anything is possible. And so, that’s what I tried to do each and every day, and also realizing that, you know, it’s not about me, it was never about me, it was always about my teammates, you know, and whoever I was playing for at that time. And so, I’ve always kept that philosophy, you know, I’ve just been, you know, I’ve been blessed with the will to be the best. I’ve been blessed with the love of this game of basketball, you know, and I’ve just been also blessed with just the desire to be of service and so that’s how I just carry my life. And so, you know, I think that’s why I was so able to be able to, you know, have the career that I’ve that I’ve had,
Nestor Aparicio 07:05
well, it’s great to see great people do well it’s great to have you back. It’s great to have you part of the Comp program. We’re gonna be broadcasting content games, and we do it nondenominational here. We do men we do women we do all sorts of sports around here. So sometimes you putting in 1570 on and you’ll you’ll hear a baseball game, you’ll hear your Sherm you’ll hear softball, so, so for you with this experience you have and obviously being around the MEAC around town around Morgan I always started weird I went I did a couple of COP and Morgan games over cop and and we swapped for the bone marrow registry. You know, my wife said leukemia survivor, so we do a lot for there goes my hero, and I’ve worked with copping on that I was, I was all weird. I’m like, Man, this cop and Morgan thing when they get together. It’s Easton. It’s West, and it’s and put all MEAC and there is some cross pollination amongst professors, amongst university people that but when you’re recruiting, and I think to myself, if I were a 15 1617 year old, young person who could play this game and had some challenges, that they have someone like you walk in, it’s been all over the world doing this. You’ve been doing this for a long time walking into young people’s lives and saying, come on over to Morgan, come play ball company in the MEAC, you’ll have an opportunity to get your education. This isn’t a new message for you. And it’s certainly, this is something you’ve aspired to. You wanted to be a head coach, right?
Larry Stewart 08:25
Yes, yes, yes. This is just, you know, this is the dream finally coming true. You know, like I said, Man, you know, I’ve had so so many people who’ve mentored me in this game of basketball. And so how can I not get back? How can I not, you know, want to teach and grow these young men? How can I not want to help them reach their dreams, because you know, What dreams do come true. I’m a living testament testament to that, you know, I live that my dream and planning MBA, and look at me now, you know, I’m living out my dream to be a head coach. And so, if you put your head down, you keep grinding, you understand that you’re gonna make mistakes, but it’s okay that those mistakes don’t define you. And you get up and you get the work and try to be the best, you know, at being the best. Each and every day. Good things will happen. You know, so you just have to stick with it. No,
Nestor Aparicio 09:14
there’s no word is here he is the new head coach at Coppin State. That sounds right so it rolls off the tongue. Larry Stewart topic.
Larry Stewart 09:21
One more time, that sounds pretty good
Nestor Aparicio 09:23
new head coach, you compensate of the little bit about Fang and what you left 30 years ago and what you find now and it’s not what you find. You’ve been making this drive you the building, you’ve won and lost games. You know, Heartbreaker since this summer, I was at one of the heartbreaks, you know, over at the COP and Jim. Yeah, it is. It’s something I think everybody that has any association with Kopan including Fang, and he came back a year and a half. They’re very, very proud of what’s going on over COPPA, and I tell people all the time, just go over there. See what they’re building over there. Just go over there and see it, and then you judge it You know, the neighborhood in the News and Fox 45 Just go over their parked car go to a compensate game, when they’re playing a big game against Morgan, and you’ll see a lot of inspiration going on over there.
Larry Stewart 10:11
Yeah, it’s tremendous to see, you know, I was speaking with someone the other day, you know, letting them know, you know, we used to walk to campus from, you know, over there near Brooks lane, near Dru Hill Park. And so, you know, to walk on that campus now, and to see the growth and to see the things that they’re doing, you know, it’s just simply amazing. And so, you know, I’m just looking forward to being a part of that, and helping me grow even more, you know, because there’s plenty more growth that can be added,
Nestor Aparicio 10:39
talking about recruiting and what that means to you in the NIHL. Era. And still, listen, I gave up on this with Terry Truax died and Fang retire, right, like chasing kids around and recruiting. And we did a lot of that on the radio back in the day with Kevin on the Terps. And the Terps didn’t have a pipeline, and they did now they do and I was out at Mount St. Joe, a couple of years ago, bring kids down the College Park, all of that, where, where, where is your level? And what does a head coach’s job look like and trying to get the right, young athletes and kids that at your program, you’d like him to stay for years, you will portal kids? Yeah, it’s
Larry Stewart 11:17
um, you know, the recruiting game is just different, you know, and you just as a coach, now, you just have to realize it, and you just have to stay on top of it. And so, you know, I give the example, you know, of all the time of look at Howard, you know, they recently won the MIAC championship, and then they had seven players in the portal. And so, you know, this is the reality that we live in now, with recruiting and so you have to stay on top of your game, you know, with that, when it comes to that, and, and just, you know, try to seek out, you know, the best kids that fit, you know, what, what you want your program to look out the best kids who can come in and build a culture that you’re trying to build on it, you know, they understand that it’s, you know, it’s all about winning, right? It’s not about you, it’s about the program, because no one is bigger than the program. And so, you know, I just think that, you know, for me, you know, I have a great connection, you know, because I literally every every student athlete, you know, their, their dream is to play professionally, right? That’s their biggest dream, right? And so I have a huge connection with that, because I’ve done it. And so that’s my connection with them. And so, you know, I just try to, you know, take the advice of, you know, everyone that has always mentored me, you know, and they one thing they’ve always done, they always told me the truth, right? And so that’s what I’m gonna do, I’m gonna give you the truth. And so it is up to you to get out of your way and accept that truth, whatever that truth may be. And so, I’m looking like I said, Man, I’m just gonna, you know, you know, keep my head down, right? Understand that, you know, you can lose players, you know, you can lose your top player just like that. And it can be for any reason right now. And and so, you know, like I say, you just have to, you know, understand that this this is where the recruiting game is. And just, you know, always, always don’t, don’t get caught behind and always be on be ahead of it.
Nestor Aparicio 13:10
Well, you got a tough job ahead of you, you know that but it’s a labor of love Larry Stewart is the new the new skipper of all things, say basketball will have the game is on here and am 1570. And listen, I don’t want to wear you out and this one because I see you as a prime target for my crabcake tour to get you out.
Larry Stewart 13:27
Let me say this I love state fair. You know, that’s, that’s one of my favorite places. You know, I’m normally in there on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Nestor Aparicio 13:34
I’ll be there Friday to do the show. Sure. If you’re in there, two o’clock on Friday, I want here’s what we’re gonna do. I want to talk about Turkey and I don’t mean Turkey on a taco or turkey on. I’m gonna talk about Turkey. I want to talk about Spain and we’re gonna talk about Paleo. We’re going to talk about sport. We’re gonna talk. We’re going to talk about Greece. We’re going to talk about food. We’re going to talk about islands. We’re gonna talk about competitive international patent. We’re gonna do all that we have a travelogue with Stu.
Larry Stewart 14:00
Okay, guys, there we go. Sounds like a plan. I’ll beat it. All right,
Nestor Aparicio 14:03
there it is. Larry Stewart. You will hear him around here a little bit. And he’s already made a full commitment to join me at State Fair at some point for crab people in the Maryland crab cake tour will be given away these these are the enchilada scratch offs. These are old school, kind of like steel himself, the first ever throwback. We’ve had some winners with this. The capillaries were false oyster real last week with Glenn McFaul had a great conversation. Pete Kurinji came over for umpc he’s retiring and Larry Stewart’s coming in and the winds of change are played so changing that the Orioles are really really good and they’re home. Oh, gotcha. So changing that the pirates actually play the Orioles in the regular season this week. So things aren’t the way they used to be. And big changes overcompensate. Good to have your boards too. I am Nestor. We are wn St. Am 1570 tasks in Baltimore and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. You go
