Intro 1: 0:39

I'm going to go and victories are celebrated. Touchdown. This is your platform for authentic conversations with athletes, coaches, teams, business leaders and so much more. Every episode dives deep into the highs, the lows and the obstacles that shape incredible stories of resilience and triumph. Ready, ready. Whether you're chasing your dreams, overcoming adversity or simply looking for inspiration, you've come to the right place, so let's climb together. This is the Rockpile.

Rocky Corigliano: 1:24

Good evening everybody. Welcome to the first live edition on the Weekly Huddle. I'm excited to talk to co-host of the Mohawk Valley Sports Watch friend of the show, coach Nick Medesas, the man in charge of state-ranked Rome Free Academy basketball. They will open up play next Thursday night at home. They'll get the winner of Utica Proctor and Syracuse Academy of Science. We'll bring Coach on. If you are listening on Facebook, youtube, linkedin, twitter you got any questions for Coach, comments for Coach? Put them in the comment box. I'll bring as many over as I can.

Rocky Corigliano: 1:57

I just had to check the score of the hockey game as I was watching that and when Coach and I were trying to plan this thing, we were supposed to do the show earlier in the week, but then a lot of the games got rescheduled so we had to kind of mix and match and then tonight we put it at 9, and I said to myself USA Hockey's on at 8. It's 1-1, I believe. So if you're watching the show, I think it's going to be the first intermission. So tune in, catch us, catch us here right now. The podcast will be up on Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheartradio and more. I'll post that up here later tonight. So without further ado, I've got to remember how to do this. It's been a couple weeks since I've done a podcast. Well, let's bring Coach on. What's up? Coach, what's going on? Rock? I'm a little rusty at this. I took a couple weeks off here to kind of uh, refreshing the, uh, the backdrop and stuff here, and I'm clicking around on these button and I was like, geez, how do I do this?

Coach Nick Medicis: 2:52

well, it's been a while since we've been going on the podcast, especially with with us being so busy on the weekends with the mohawk valley sports watch. So it's good to be back on, it's good to talk, it's definitely good to talk some sports today.

Rocky Corigliano: 3:05

Yeah, heck, yeah. Now, I told you prior in our group text that I was probably going to go tough on you. I got some tough stuff for you.

Coach Nick Medicis: 3:11

You did say that.

Rocky Corigliano: 3:13

So I'm going to dive right into some of this stuff here tonight, and again, I appreciate everybody tuning in tonight. So first thing I got to ask you is when you got this job? Um, you were young I think you were 24 years old when you got hired to be the head coach, and it's hard to believe that you've been at rfa now for what? 18 years, 18 years. So how did, how did this job even come up with you?

Coach Nick Medicis: 3:37

so, um, at the time I was coaching at cns for my alma mater, um, with my old jb coach, coach Haas. I was his assistant for two years and I was loving it. I was loving being back on the sideline and being part of the game and I really wanted to get into coaching. So I decided that I wanted to see what opportunities were out there. So one weekend after a softball tournament in which I hurt my knee so I was home doing nothing I decided to email every athletic director in section three. So I sent out like 150 emails just asking what opportunities they had available at the high school level. I was willing to do varsity assistant coach, jv, whatever was available, but I wanted to get involved before the summer because, as you know, the summer is a huge part of the off-season and wherever I went I wanted to make sure that I had a full off-season.

Coach Nick Medicis: 4:38

So I emailed 150 schools and one school got back, which was Rome. Mr Stamboli got back and emailed me back and said you know, if you're interested in the position, email me back and we can set up an interview. I literally saw it and responded right away and said I am 100% interested. I will meet at your soonest availability. We set up an interview within two or three days and within a week I was hired as the new basketball coach. So I was commuting back and forth. I was living in Liverpool, I was working in the Liverpool school district as like a part-time adapted phys ed teacher and a sub on the days that I wasn't working. So I was commuting back and forth and expecting to do that for a year and, lo and behold, a phys ed position opened up at the last minute. So I jumped at the opportunity and I'd say by the end of the fall I got sick of driving back and forth and, you know, bought a place out here, rented a place, and I've been here since.

Rocky Corigliano: 5:46

So I got to tell you, as a place out here rented a place and I've been here since. So I gotta tell you as a as a rome guy here that's born and raised when, um, and we were on some hard times and we'll get into some of that when you got this job and we'll talk about all that. But I remember, as a rome guy, when I heard there's a, there's a kid, that's what people said there's a kid coming from Syracuse coming to Rome to take the RFA job. And I think most of the Romans, as you know now that it's a tough place to coach in any sport if you're not from here, right, and I think a lot of the alumni, we were all like who's this kid coming from Syracuse? Like he's not even from here. You know how much did you know about Rome prior to applying for the job?

Coach Nick Medicis: 6:30

Well, I remember and it's funny because I did a lot for Coach Haas I tried to help out and learn as much as I could because I thought he was just unbelievable, one of the best coaches around, and so any opportunity he gave me to help out whether it was running his youth program on Wednesday nights at the junior high while he was doing the varsity practices, to helping with the youth program, to any of the stuff he was doing I really wanted to jump at the opportunity. Back then, team camps were very popular and I can still remember to this day going to Le Moyne team camp with CNS and we ended up winning the tournament. But all I could remember is watching Rome play, and it's funny because I still remember to this day which kids were on that team, Because it was a JV team. Cook was coaching.

Rocky Corigliano: 7:24

Yep.

Coach Nick Medicis: 7:24

And I remember certain kids that were on that team because it was a JV team, cook was coaching Yep and I remember certain kids that were on that team and I remember saying like man, I mean Rome's got so much potential on their team, like they have some good athletes, they have some height, like if they ever got some more structure within what they were trying to do, and not to say that they weren't doing anything correctly, but just figuring out what actually worked, because not everything works everywhere. It's not a one size fits all. It's, you know, certain styles fit in certain situations. So if you could ever figure that out, man, there is, and those kids want to play basketball. So it was just you know. I just remember, you know, watching that game and saying, man, I just don't understand why they struggle. And you know me coming from CNS where it's just like expected, like you played when you were younger. There was a structure to everything. We had the Saturday morning program. There was a lot of continuity, so I just assumed that everywhere had that. So I remember watching that game at the team camp and then later that fall the year before, I remember going to the dome and watching the RFA Auburn sectional final for football and strangely enough we sat. You know, me and my buddies from Syracuse went to watch the game because the whole Auburn story was crazy in itself. And I remember I sat in the Rome section because there were so many people from Auburn and Syracuse on the Auburn side, so let's go sit in the Rome section. So it was just. It was weird how kind of everything aligned.

Coach Nick Medicis: 9:00

But I remember going and interviewing for the position and I interviewed with Mike Stamboli and Coach Evans and I think and I kid with Coach Evans all the time Like I think his job in the interview was to try to scare me and see if he could run me out of there before we even started and if I could kind of withstand the interview. Okay, maybe you know this young kid's a little tougher than than this application, because you know I had on there CNS varsity assistant coach and that was pretty much it and you know so I did some youth stuff that I threw on there but I didn't really have a ton of experience. So I remember I, coach Evans, would, would, would sit there and and Mr Stamboy would be like all right, what offense do you like? And I'd say, well, you know, I like this, we run this at CNS. And he, ah, that's not going to work here, that will never work this good. And he just ripped apart everything that I said.

Coach Nick Medicis: 10:00

And I, you know, I, I came in with a game plan and you know I said, well, I think this can happen, you know. And then I'd say, you know, for the last two years I've been part of the double A's, I've seen what works. I know that FM runs this one through, one that coach Blackford has, and you know, hediger does this, and I was in charge of scouting. So I knew the league, I knew what worked, and I think I sort of started to win him over a little bit, just because he understood that I wasn't just, you know, some random person that applied.

Coach Nick Medicis: 10:30

Like I really worked at this, I was prepared, I had a game plan. Sure, I was going to make mistakes as I was young, but I came in with a year plan. I came in with a five-year plan. I came in with a feeder program idea. Like I came in with a five-year plan. I came in with a feeder program idea, like I came in with new ideas, and I think he appreciated the fact that I came in and really wanted to, to, to, to jump in right away and and see what I could do.

Rocky Corigliano: 10:57

Nick, I think we were on. I think I texted you this, but I think it was my junior year. We went and coach Baldwin was the head coach and I and I want to you may know all the coaches, but I know, I remember coach Baldwin, coach Ward Um and I I think there was what there was coach Ward, coach Baldwin, coach, cook, coach. Yes, there was like four or five coaches before you got the job in a really short time.

Coach Nick Medicis: 11:24

Yeah, coach Smith. Coach Campbell took over mid-year.

Rocky Corigliano: 11:28

Yep, but again you come in as this young guy into a really rich community which, listen, coach Evans, back in the day, friday nights was his show To watch his team come out and warm up. They had the band. I mean the fancy suit he used to wear, I mean they were the best show in town. And I said the other night as I was watching your game which, by the way, congratulations last night on the win over New Hartford.

Coach Nick Medicis: 11:53

Thank you.

Rocky Corigliano: 11:54

At one point we're sitting here saying we have RFA, basketball is undefeated, the hockey team's really good. This is what it was like 100 years ago and it really good. This is what it was like a hundred years ago, right and it. And it's nice to see the gyms packed again and it just it's really nice to see. But let's go back to you're this young guy that gets the job. What pressure did you feel coming to a program that I don't know? I think we were on a huge losing streak before you got the job. But I hit the game winner my junior year, the last game of the year against fm, and we finished 1-15, and that was in 97, I believe it was. So I don't know what it was when you got the job, but it was like a 40-game losing streak, wasn't?

Coach Nick Medicis: 12:33

it. Yeah, I think there was one win in 54 games.

Rocky Corigliano: 12:37

And I think it was my win.

Coach Nick Medicis: 12:38

I think it was after. It was well after that, because I took over in 07.

Rocky Corigliano: 12:45

Oh, okay, yeah yeah.

Coach Nick Medicis: 12:45

So the one win was Coach Smith was relieved of his duties after like five or six games and Coach Campbell came in and his first game was a tournament in Watertown and they ended up winning that first game, which kind of broke the long streak, and then they never won a game again, game which kind of broke the long streak, and then they never won a game again. So yeah, I mean it was tough coming in because again I had these expectations of what I thought everywhere was going on and I was kind of put into my place very, very soon. You know, I came from a place where, if you said there's open gym, there'd be 25 guys there, but when I came here there was four. So we worked with those four and we we did stuff in the off season. We did a couple of tournaments, we won some games, we did a lot of team bonding. I took them out to Syracuse for summer league. We got our butts kicked, but you know, we worked.

Coach Nick Medicis: 13:46

And then all of a sudden the season started and six new kids that I had never seen before showed up. So it was just this weird dynamic where there are certain kids that only played basketball from November to the end of February and then you never saw them again. And then you had kids that were around all year, that had put themselves. So I was in a tough spot because it's, you know, do you reward the kids that have been here the whole time or do you reward the kids that you know might've been a little bit better but weren't around? And how does that dynamic work and how does the respect, uh, you know, from the kids go if you go a certain way?

Coach Nick Medicis: 14:24

So I think early on I made a ton of mistakes, I screwed up many times and I was lucky enough to have a boss that let me learn from all my mistakes. And I think the situation that the program was in, where we could kind of learn as we go and figure out what works and what doesn't, and allowed me to really work on that youth program and feeder program. And you know, we started the Tri-Valley Players with Bruce Harrison, rick Campbell, we met and we came up with the AAU and that really helped jolt the program a little bit. But I mean, I came in as a 24 year old who thought things worked a certain way and I found out really quickly that it didn't. And, like I said, you know, in other situations they they wouldn't have, they wouldn't have kept me around very long because I made mistakes early on.

Coach Nick Medicis: 15:20

But luckily I had a, a boss and Mr. But luckily I had a boss, a Mr Stamboli, who really wanted this program to succeed. And we sat down many times and made blueprints and ideas of what we thought and what we wanted to do. And then, you know, a year later we scrapped them and went in a different direction because it wasn't working, because we were both desperate to win, we both wanted this program to succeed. And I give him a lot of credit for the success that we're having now because, you know, he helped mold the feeder program into what it is today.

Rocky Corigliano: 15:53

Nick, I think people forget that you know when you win games, it's never enough. When you lose games, people want you know, everybody wants to get rid of you, and then, let alone, you're not from here. So that always, I think, makes it even tougher, because it's no different when I was the head coach at Sequoia. It's like, okay, you lose a few games and it's like, ah, he's not from here, get him out of here and get one of our own in. When you go back to when you started, I think people forget, because you guys have had some success here right over the last so many years and I want to get into this whole chaos thing and I know where it came from, but I want you to kind of talk a little bit about it. But I think what people forget is your first four or five years. You guys struggled.

Coach Nick Medicis: 16:34

Yeah.

Rocky Corigliano: 16:35

Well, you guys struggled big time those first handful of years, right.

Coach Nick Medicis: 16:38

Yeah Well, I think you know I I pushed the norm a little bit, I did things differently than how it had been done in the past and I think I lost kids in the program because they wanted things done a certain way and I wasn't going to do that. I expected you to be at off-season stuff. I wanted to do off-season summer leagues and tournaments and I think that turned some people off who wanted to just show up for four or five months and play basketball with their friends and be done with it. And I really wanted to build a program and had a vision of, you know, rome competing, you know, not only in league but, you know, at a higher level, and I think that, you know, was frustrating.

Coach Nick Medicis: 17:19

I still remember Rockets, funny, I still remember it was my first or second year. Oh, I want to say we were playing Whitesboro and I subbed a kid out and they went to the bench and I turned a high five and I happened to look behind me and there was a grandmother you know had to be, you know, retired age, older lady who turns, sticks her finger out and says go back to Syracuse, you bum. And I will never forget that because you know it's just, I wasn't a Roman, I wasn't from Rome, and you know we weren't winning at the time. So it was easy to just say, well, it's his fault that we're not winning. And you know, I got a lot of that early on and you go when you're a coach you got to have tough skin.

Rocky Corigliano: 18:07

You really do so your first handful of years and I was going through this and I mess messaged you uh, some of these records, and I want to get into this chaos thing here in just a minute. So people that are watching and the basketball folks probably know what it is, but for those who don't, your first five years, four and fourteen, three and eighteen, four and fourteen, three and fourteen, 2011 you guys jumped into the tbl. You go 13 and seven, and then I I was listening to a podcast. You were on two, three years ago and I forget the name of it, but I was listening to it the other night because I said, let me see if nick was on any other podcast and it was a really good podcast.

Rocky Corigliano: 18:45

The guy who had you breaking down, like your press and like your whole background. The guy did a really good job. You introduced chaos to people. So here you're you're. You guys won 50 games before you introduced chaos and since you've introduced chaos, you've won 102 games, not counting this season, right? So for the listeners out there that don't know what it is, where'd you get this chaos style from?

Coach Nick Medicis: 19:12

So I remember coaching AAU I had I want to say it was the class of 2017 and 2018. 2017 and 2018. We had very limited size. But because these guys were the first group of kids when we started Tri-Valley, we started with a seventh and eighth grade group the first year and then we wanted to build off it. The next year we started with a fourth grade team and that happened to be this group of juniors that year. So they had been part of the youth program, the TVP, since fourth grade. So I had coached them probably four or five of those years. Tj Engel had coached them, bruce had coached them. Probably four or five of those years. Tj Engel had coached them, bruce had coached them and we had one tall kid on the team and other than that we just had a ton of guards.

Coach Nick Medicis: 20:12

So I remember sitting down with John Baldwin we were at Syracuse ITC, we were at an AAU tournament and I remember him saying I don't know how you got to do it, but you got two options with this group. You either got to be the most disciplined Princeton style team smartest can be, move the ball 20 times a possession, backdoor people to death, or you just got to turn this thing into a ping pong match, because I don't know which one's the right answer, but one of them has to be done. So I remember watching us play the AU tournament and thinking to myself, man, we can't play like Princeton, we just can't. We can't defend in the half court, we can't rebound with them. I said, but if we played fast, if we forced teams to shoot fast that kind of sticks their big man between the three point lines, and now it becomes a loose ball fest and if we have quick guards, uh, that can learn how to shoot and play unselfishly, this could be fun. So, um, I researched the team that played the fastest and scored the most points so Loyola Marymount, back in the nineties, and I watched probably 15 to 20 of their games and, you know, just did as much research on them as possible and just kind of, you know, settled on hey, we gotta, we gotta learn how to play fast. And that's kind of the way it started.

Coach Nick Medicis: 21:46

Um, with the lmu break and getting into a lot of the lmu stuff, I ended up getting in contact with the strength and conditioning coach from that lmu team and he went over the conditioning program that they had. So we implemented a lot of the running conditioning that they do. So it started with that. I had great buy-in with the group In the fall. We used to go to the track twice a week, and this is again. This is not counting the going into the gym and doing skill stuff or scrimmaging or whatever. We would go to the track twice a week and we would sprint the track and do our interval sprinting twice a week and I was getting 20 kids at everything. So I had the buy-in because I had coached these guys for a while. They were invested and they wanted to win.

Coach Nick Medicis: 22:39

So it wasn't until we got into summer league and we played West Genesee, who had been good for a while, and you know, we played them the first week of summer league at McChesney and I think we lost to them like 84-82. And this is a running clock summer league in which most scores are like 40-38. And they end up having, I think, three Division I players on that team. So they were no slouch. They end up winning the state title shortly after. So they were no slouch. And I remember them coming up to us after like what the hell was that? What did you just do? And after the game the kids were like, if we can figure out how to do this, like no one's going to play like us. So they were bought in at that point and we were at that point, just all in on it.

Rocky Corigliano: 23:32

When you go back, like when you first started and I think in the interview that you did I was listening to it you said which reminded me of when I played is you said you were a flex, you know the flex offense and you wanted to run the Euro ball screens and all that and you were the half court guy let's, you know, let's, motion, motion, you know, let's, let's run something.

Rocky Corigliano: 23:50

And now it's like when you put this chaos into play, you've had success with it and I think it fits perfect now for what you have and even at the lower levels, right, I think, for the kids you have coming up now. It's great. You had a 6'10 kid this year but we haven't had that here at RFA. So I think the style you're playing is really fun and I think a lot of kids want to play it. But when you sit back now and you think of the young kid that got the RFA job years ago that was let's run the flex to now where you're at today, you're having success in a completely new system. How much have you grown as?

Coach Nick Medicis: 24:28

I don't even think I would recognize myself right now. I came in and I thought I was the smartest man in the room and I had all the answers and I knew everything. Then I got put in my place pretty quickly. I got former players that are coming up to me at games and like why did we get stuck running that boring offense? Why couldn't we just get out and run like you guys? I said you wouldn't last 30 seconds. The amount of conditioning and the stuff that these guys do. I mean it's great.

Coach Nick Medicis: 25:00

I think our system, you know chaos. I think it embodies Rome, like hardworking. You know we're going to work hard for everything. We're going to outwork you, we're going to outscrap you. We got a chip on our shoulder, you know.

Coach Nick Medicis: 25:15

But I don't think people understand that. You know our tryouts are three hours long. The first half an hour and you got to remember this is November, where it's 20 degrees out, there might be snow out there, it might not. The first half an hour we're finding somewhere and we're sprinting, like this year we the. The track at rfa is is is gone because they're putting the baseball and softball field in. We used to run the track outside. This year we ran the bus loop. The bus loops like I'd say, half a mile, a little less than half a mile.

Coach Nick Medicis: 25:49

We are out there for 30 to 40 minutes sprinting that, jogging it, sprinting it, jogging it, sprinting it, partner running. We're out there 30 to 40 minutes before tryouts even start. They don't even touch a basketball and they've already done 30 to 40 minutes of conditioning no-transcript. So I mean just surviving that first week. You know, says enough and you know the amount of work that these guys put in to get their bodies into shape to be able to press for 32 minutes and attack for 32 minutes. I mean it is chaos. I mean that's what it is, it's controlled chaos. I mean that's what it is, it's controlled chaos. And somebody once said to me you're either going to, we're either going to beat you or, if you beat us, you're going to remember us because we're going to. We're going to, we're going to stick out because we're a little different.

Rocky Corigliano: 26:44

I will say that I think back in the day, like the games where our fate we had a chance to win is every year we played in the Christmas tournament at Hamilton College. We'd either open up against Whitesboro, which was always a winnable game for us, and the other game would be Clinton against New Hartford, which you know it always ended up being us against New Hartford. Hartford was really good. I had some good teams back in the day. But I look back at it now and I say what if, like, we had some really good athletes back in the day? What if, like, we had some really good athletes back in the day? What if we ran what you ran back in the day? Could we have won more games? Maybe?

Rocky Corigliano: 27:17

But here's the question that I always get, and I know a lot of people have said this about you guys, and you've heard this RFAs had success when they entered the Tri-Valley League. What would your answer to that question be? When somebody says, well, you guys are winning because you're in the tri-valley league, where you're a bigger school, you should be beating the teams you're playing. Because people say that I walked out of one of your games and one guy's yelling at me saying, oh, our face shouldn't even be in this goddarn league. I'm like, okay, buddy, well, I can't know anything about the scheduling, about your just play. But what's your answer when people say that? Because they say it.

Coach Nick Medicis: 27:55

I think we needed to try Valley League. You know we were getting our butts kicked in Syracuse and you know it's really tough to build a program when you're going an hour and a half to Auburn on a Tuesday night in the middle of winter through a snowstorm, getting your tail kicked in, and then not getting back to school until 11, 30, 12 o'clock and then expected to be at school, you know, at 7 o'clock the next morning. So I think, geographically it made sense to get back in the league and, yes, it definitely helped us. But I mean, if you look I mean I'm sure you have the records pulled up that first year we went 13 and seven. Uh, we were tri champs with Notre Dame and new Hartford, um. But then the next couple of years, I mean we struggled, that we went through a couple of struggling periods, like that first group.

Coach Nick Medicis: 28:49

That first year, that was the first year of AAU. Those were the seventh and eighth graders that we took. That first year of AAU, that was the group that we kind of focused on and said, all right, this has got to be a five-year plan. That fifth year we want to make a run. Well, the fifth year we went 13-7. We hosted our first sectional game. There was a lot of firsts winning record in a long time.

Coach Nick Medicis: 29:14

Um, you know, we took a couple steps forward but then we, we went backwards real quick because we, we screwed up the way we handled things. We didn't, we didn't focus on the whole program, we focused on a certain group for a little bit. We really put a focus on that seventh and eighth grade group and we need to do a better job with our youth program. So, again, that kind of set in motion we have to fix this youth program, this has got to be fixed, and it made the youth program and the feeder program a priority.

Coach Nick Medicis: 29:45

And if something like that doesn't happen, then we probably would have been stuck in that, you know 13, 12, 10, 8. You know we're not pushing where we got to when we got to, you know 17, 18 wins, because we, you know, at that point we thought things were heading the right direction. So, again, we needed a wake-up call, we needed to learn that we had to fix some things and, you know, fortunately, we made some adjustments to learn that we had to fix some things. And, you know, fortunately, we, we, we made some adjustments. And again it goes back to having administrations back and allowing you to to to figure things out and run your program without you know somebody. You know telling you how to do things and you know I'm forever grateful that Mr Stamboli worked with me and allowed me to, like I said, screw up and learn from it and, you know, make mistakes.

Rocky Corigliano: 30:34

So you talk about that, the youth program and you know I've been fortunate enough to be a part of it for the last two or three years and I and I think one of the things that always made me smiles, and when we used to go to tournaments, you know coaches would say man, I think this is great. You guys are just a Rome kids. There's no other kids on your team from different teams, and it's like these kids, if they stay together, they're going to be exactly what you're talking about. It's just these Rome kids are going to play together and get better and better and better. And when you look across the area, you look and see some of the teams that have a lot of success. I think it's exactly what you're talking about teams that have a lot of success.

Rocky Corigliano: 31:12

I think it's exactly what you're talking about is you got to have a feeder program, right, and I think it's special to see these kids that get the opportunity to play together. Now they don't see it at the young age because sometimes they go in these AU tournaments, as you know, and you play you're, you're playing all-star teams, right, but you have to sit back and say you know what guys you're competing against all-star teams, we're, we're just a school team, right, and I think that's special, I think that's something that you've developed and I and I think it's definitely paying off for the young kids well, I think you know, when we first started we we didn't really have the numbers to even consider it.

Coach Nick Medicis: 31:44

I mean, it was definitely something we talked about, but I mean we did not have anywhere near the numbers to do an all-rome team. And what and that's why we started TVP is to get you know the Whitesboro and the New Hartford, the local kids to, you know, join in and play with us. And then you go back and you look through and you're like, all right, we had one team with Josh Gregory, terry Nichols, ryan Schmadel these guys are, you know, they went out and played, they were D3 All-icans and they were all on our team. And then the worst part was is, you know, they would come in and they ended up staying with us because they thought we were doing a good job with au and their development. And then they go and they score 30 points on us. It's like why are we spending all this time getting josh gregory better so that he could score 30 and knock down shots? And he's like, I love playing at Stroud, we practice here every day here in AAU and then he comes in and scores 30 against us. So you know, we probably would have continued on with TVP for as long, I mean we might still been going.

Coach Nick Medicis: 32:49

And then COVID hit and it just gave us a chance to kind of reset and really reevaluate where our numbers were. And we're like you know what, if we're really going to make a push here, we got to kind of go our separate ways and kind of push Rome. And the hardest, the hardest part about it is selling to the parents that hey, listen, I know that we're at a disadvantage going into these tournaments. We're coming in with a school team playing against you know Q's hoops comes in with you know the best player from CNS Liverpool, beeville Central Square. I mean it's an all-star team and we're coming in with a school team. But guess when it's going to pay off in the winter when you're playing with the school team. But guess when it's going to pay off In the winter when you're playing with your school team.

Coach Nick Medicis: 33:34

And we've been playing together since fourth grade. You look and you've been coached by the varsity coach, you've been coached by the JV coach, you've been coached by the freshman coach, you've been coached by the modified coach. They've all seen you play. We can go through our coaching staff and say all right, these are the best second graders, third graders, fourth graders. We know what's going on within our town and I think it's special. One of my favorite things about AAU is we have our eighth graders playing on court, one at Accelerate, and then the next game is our fourth graders and the fourth graders are warming up and all the eighth graders are sitting there cheering for them. You know, because they're from Rome, and having, you know, the older guys go and support the younger guys I think is one of the coolest things about it. It's a it's, it's really a community thing and you know it's, it's Rome. That's what we're about.

Rocky Corigliano: 34:29

And Nick, I want to fast forward to, obviously, the season you guys are having this year and it's a as a coach, I think you know in the off season you say to yourself we got a chance to be really special. And when you watch this team I mean I say it all the time you have and I'm going to say three, but you really have four, but you probably three of the best guards in New York state. I'll put them up against anybody. But did you know this? After last year? I think last year you guys finished what's I'm looking at my notes you guys went 17 and five, I think last year.

Coach Nick Medicis: 35:00

Yeah, 17,. Something like 18, 17. I don't know, somewhere in there yeah.

Coach Nick Medicis: 35:04

So fast forward it a year later when last year season got over with did you know you guys had a really good chance this year to do something special. Yeah, because I thought we should have done that last year. I mean, the reality is, and you know I don't know how many people know this Uzziah was hurt last year. He hurt his back at the end of the year. We had no trainer and he was so tough that he toughened through two games of sectionals. You know, if we have him at a hundred percent, who knows what happens in that CNS game? I mean, they think they held them to 10 or 12 points and the kid was so, so tough playing through that injury. And you know, nobody knew about it and we're not going to make any big deal about it, but we knew we were tough last year. And then you look and you know we, we graduate, you know a couple good players off our team last year, but you know the reality was we returned our top seven or eight guys from last year's team that you know we are what a basket away from beating cns. Um, and cns was a basket away from beating liverpool. So I mean we're one or two bounces away from, you know, competing for a section title last year. So knowing what we had coming back and, you know, really challenging our guys in the offseason. You know we took them to Iona for their team camp down there. This is it's late spring, early summer and we played four really good teams. We played a team from Vermont and then we played three New York City teams. We went down there. We went 4-0. I think we turned some heads and I think that was kind of the start.

Coach Nick Medicis: 36:42

I mean, it's not always the X's and O's parts, it's also the team bonding and how close your team is and the chemistry on this team. And you know, and how close your team is and the chemistry on this team, and you know, I think the telling part about the success of our team is nobody cares who scores. I mean, uzziah's getting all these points but if you ask him, hey, you're going to score 30 this night and we're going to lose, or you score 10 this night but you win, which one are you taking? Like it's not even a question on this team, we want you win. Which one are you taking? It's not even a question on this team, we want the win. I think the fact that these guys are so unselfish and the chemistry on this team is just such a close-knit team. I think that has gone so far to help the success of this team so far.

Rocky Corigliano: 37:27

The other thing people say in the area and some of them were saying it last night up in the stands is this Rfa team this year is sectional champs and beyond, or or it's a disappointing season. So, like, sectionals are bust. And I know you don't want to look ahead as a coach. You go game by game. You're just looking. Hey do I play a proctor team next thursday who, by the way, had you guys by double figures and you guys came back and won that game. But I know as coaches you don't look ahead. But for somebody that's out there that says they got it, he's got to win it this year. If you don't win it this year with this team, it may be a little bit of time before they win it.

Coach Nick Medicis: 38:04

Well, I think there's two things All right. Number one I think the fact that the expectations are that high in this community just shows how far the growth of the basketball program has come. Um, you know, I want to say six or seven years ago we hadn't won a sectional game in 30 years, and now the expectation is we need to win a section title, which is fine. I mean I love that. The expectations are there and you know the the goal is that that's the expectation every year. I mean, if you look at where our program is right now, our freshman teams lost three games in the last two years. Kevin Campbell's done an outstanding job. Oh, I want to say he's like 22-3 the last two years, and that's not playing a TVL schedule, that's playing a Syracuse schedule. They play Liverpool, CNS, all those guys. That's their schedule. Then you look at our JV program and Nasey Adolfi, I mean he's 28-2 in the last two years. He lost two games this year by one point. In each game he lost to New Hartford at third place when we got down 24-2 to start the game and they lost in double overtime by one. And then they played Liverpool at Liverpool to open the year and Liverpool ends up going 20-0, and we lose by one the first game. So I mean we're not going anywhere. This program's in great shape.

Coach Nick Medicis: 39:35

I think kids are playing basketball and playing basketball at a high level, and I love the fact that those are the expectations. That's what we want. We want to be right up there with everyone else. You know, a couple years ago we were talking about, you know, West Jenny and all the. I want them to talk about Rome. We want them to talk about Rome as a contender year in and year out, and that's been the goal since I got here.

Coach Nick Medicis: 39:59

And I think you know I love that the expectations are there, but at the same time you want to stop and say you know, this is a team that just went 16 and 0, didn't lose a game in the regular season. They have the school's all-time leading score. They have a kid that's as a junior. Last night just passed Damian Call for number two on the scoring list. So Serafia is now number two on the all-time scoring list and DeAndre's climbing. And you know, had he not gotten four games taken away by the weather, you could be arguing that they have one, two and three on the same team. So I just think there's so many individual accomplishments and team accomplishments.

Coach Nick Medicis: 40:41

I don't want to take away from that if, for whatever reason, we don't reach our goal. I mean, this has been a great year and you know, like I said, the expectation is that we're going to continue to play as long as we can play. But I do love the fact that people say like we're expected to win a section title. We want that pressure. I know field hockey had just got done saying pressure is a privilege. You know it's a privilege to be in that spot where they, you know, expect you to win a championship or expect you to compete for a championship. It's where we want to be every year. That means our program's headed in the right direction.

Rocky Corigliano: 41:17

Nick, I know you always play a really good and tough non-conference schedule and I think that's a testament to your schedule and to get you ready for the run you guys are hopefully going to go on here starting next Thursday. But just talk a little bit about the non-conference schedule that you guys play year in and year out. You do play the Liverpools, you do play the Baldensvilles, you do play those schools and, like you said, you went down and played some tough teams out of downstate too.

Coach Nick Medicis: 41:45

Yeah, I mean, again, I'm grateful that we've had an athletic director that's allowed us to challenge ourselves. I mean we've gone out to Buffalo and played Niagara Falls and St Francis. I mean Niagara Falls is a perennial powerhouse in this state. They're good. Every year We've gone down to the city and competed in tournaments down there. We've spent the night out there. I mean this year we went to Springfield, massachusetts, and participated in the Hoop Hall Invitational for the first time and we're hoping that it becomes, you know, every couple years type things or every year thing.

Coach Nick Medicis: 42:22

You know, if we continue to get invited back and we're going to continue to challenge our kids, not only because it's good for us but it's also good for them. It's good for them to play in front of different people, get in front of different coaches, you know, see what opportunities are out there. It's also good to see what other kids are out there. I mean we think we're good here. And then we went down to New York city and we got our butts pushed all over the place and you know, the first thing that kids say when they get on the bus is man, we got to hit the weight room, we just got pushed all over the place. Yeah, we think we're tough here, but we got to get outside the area and see what tough basketball is, so exposing them to, you know, different opportunities. And again, you know we want our kids to move on and play in front of as many coaches and opportunities as possible. So we'll continue to travel, we'll continue to play tough competition and then the team bonding, you know, on top of that.

Coach Nick Medicis: 43:19

You know it's funny because you go on these trips and these kids don't remember the basketball. They remember hanging out in the hotel room, the bus ride. Those are the memories and the fun things that they remember about playing high school sports. So, uh, just the memories and and enjoying the experience. I mean, this year we went to the hall of fame. You know they walked around the hall of fame. You know they're looking at different like stuff, like that. It just I think it's important for them, uh, and it's important for their team to do that stuff together Because, again, those are the things they're going to remember when they get older.

Rocky Corigliano: 43:56

So I got to go back to you, know, this year and I want you to talk a little bit about your coaching staff, because I think you got a great staff and it's always great to have guys you can trust. And I think it's great you got dad on the bench with you. And I want to ask you about that because, as you know, I can relate to having my dad with me for my games. I was his assistant, he was my assistant. But I turn on the Bishop Ludden game on the video, the stream site, and the first thing everybody's saying Nick, you were streaming or you were trending on Twitter, if that's the right way to say it. And everybody's saying where is he? And I'm like what do you mean? Where is he? He's there and everybody's like he's not on the sideline, he's not coaching. So I'm looking, I'm like, holy shit, mo's coaching. Where's Nick? I wonder if he got sick. And then we find out you had the bug.

Coach Nick Medicis: 44:55

So how tough tough was it you for to watch his game from home? I I hope to never, ever, ever do that again. I mean I had missed the game before. No, I take that back. I think I missed one when my daughter was born. I think I missed one game, um. So I had no plans to miss that game. Um, my daughter had been sick with the bug and I had been home with her. I was fine. I was fine all day. I showered, I got ready for the game, I got to the school early, I printed off my normal you know papers for the game.

Coach Nick Medicis: 45:23

I got on the bus and it just hit me and I was like I literally sat in the front seat, put my head down, put my hands in my head and I looked at Mo and I was like I'm going to, I'm going to try to sleep and get through this bus ride. And he's like, okay, sounds good. And literally like two minutes later he looked at me and just sweat is just pouring down my face. I have, I have my hat on and I have my hat on. I'm sitting there and just sweat is pouring down my face and he looks at me. He's like you, okay, and I'm like, no, I'm just trying to survive this bus.

Coach Nick Medicis: 46:00

And literally 30 seconds later he looks at me again. He's like you got to get off this bus, like now. So he tells the bus driver can we turn around and drop him back off at the school? And I'm like, yeah, it's probably for the best. And I was like he's like it's four o'clock, the game's at 730. We got an hour and 10 minute bus ride. Go home, take a nap and we'll see you there in an hour. So I'm like, okay, this is perfect, I'm going to go home.

Rocky Corigliano: 46:28

I'm going to take a quick nap on the couch. Um yeah, your wife says you were fine. Shake it on the bathroom floor. I'm still going. I just need five minutes.

Coach Nick Medicis: 46:37

That's all I kept on saying like I went home and I literally made it two minutes up the road. I'd pull over and I was just struggling to the point where I had dom with me. He comes to the games and he turns and like I'm outside and he comes up to me and he tasks me on my leg. He's like I've never seen someone throw up so much. Thanks, bud, Get back in the car now. So I, I I remember I threw up and I I called Jess. I was like hey, I'm not on the bus, I'm coming home. I actually feel great now. I feel I can do this. I'm going to go home, I'm going to take a quick nap and then I'm going to go.

Coach Nick Medicis: 47:13

I made it home and then, yeah, I was on the bathroom floor for like the next hour. I couldn't move and I was like I still got like five more minutes and then I can still make it the hour drive. I'll just roll the window down, get some fresh air and I'll be good to go, Like I'm fine, I just got to get there and that didn't happen. So that was a struggle. That was one of the hardest things to do. Thank God my wife took all the kids upstairs so I could stay downstairs because the things that I was yelling at the wall and the computer as I'm watching that game. It was so frustrating because you're helpless, You're just sitting there watching and I'm thinking to myself, oh, I would be doing this and I thought Mo did it. Mo was unbelievable. Mo did a great job. He took over at 415 knowing that he had to coach the biggest game of the year in three hours.

Coach Nick Medicis: 48:13

It's a really good team. He's got a bus ride to come up with the game plan. I mean he does most the subbing, so now he's expected to, you know, run the show, call the plays, change the defenses and do the subbing. So, like all the coaches, kind of adjusted. You know, eric um gets thrown into the wolves Nazy. Our JV coach is now helping with the subbing. My father, who sits at the end of the bench like the wise man who's like he, all of a sudden I look and he's sitting at the front of the bench. Now he's right up there. He's in the official's year and it was just.

Coach Nick Medicis: 48:51

You know, I can't say enough good things about the staff that we have. I mean, I think that's one of the strengths of the program right now is, you know, you talk about the cohesion of the players, the cohesion of our coaching staff. Right now, I mean we have a group chat that literally goes 365 days of the year and we just talk. I mean it's not all basketball, but I mean there's just, it's almost like a group of friends that just stay in contact, even though they all kind of do their own thing, I mean just constantly talking and joking, and some of our staff. Um, I mean, we're all on the same page about 95% of the stuff, and when we aren't on the same page, you know, I can appreciate that as a head coach, that I have people that I can go to and they'll tell me if they think I'm wrong, or they'll tell me if you know, they think we should be doing something different.

Coach Nick Medicis: 49:54

We don't have, you know, yes, men that just agree with everything and kind of no, we got different people that have different opinions and we're going to talk things out. But I think that's what makes our staff so good, is that we're all on the same page and we all have that common goal. I mean, mo said it best Day one. We're chasing perfection and we want perfection every day in practice. We want perfection at every game and we want perfection for our season. That's the goal and it's not. You know, we're not looking big picture, we're looking at the day, like we want to be perfect today and then the next day we want to be perfect again.

Rocky Corigliano: 50:34

So, nick, I want to go to your dad part, because obviously you know I can relate pretty good with that is I was my dad's assistant when he was at Waterville and then when my dad retired he was my assistant, um, at Sequoia and you know we used to, we used to have the coaches meetings on the weekends and you know we would always we'd argue, we disagree and blah, blah, blah. And I always go back to one of my biggest games as a coach was my first year. We were at Dodgeville and Dodgeville was ranked in the state it was their hall of fame weekend and nobody really goes in and beach Dodgeville at Dodgeville on a Saturday on grass and we were up late in the game. It was like a minute and a half, two minutes ago in a game and it was like fourth and one and we had the ball.

Rocky Corigliano: 51:11

I don't know it might've been on like our own 40 something yard line and I called timeout and I said, dad, what do we do? He goes. Well, you're the head coach, you know make, you know make the call. And my dad always wanted me to make the call, whether it was the right call or the wrong call. It was always that you got to learn right. You're going to have good times as a coach, but having dad with me was always special. How, how special is it for you to look down on the bench and there, and there's dad down there.

Coach Nick Medicis: 51:36

Well, it's great. I mean my father was the best man at my wedding. I mean, we're we're close. We've been close our entire life. I mean I grew up in the gym because of him. I mean he used to run these Saturday morning basketball leagues. So, you know, you know, four years old, I was tagging along with him as he was coaching his teams and running his league. So, um, that's all I've known is having my father there.

Coach Nick Medicis: 52:01

He, you know, just like you, my father, coached me in all sports growing up and, um, you know, just, uh, you know, when I first got the job, I think he kind of wanted to separate himself because it's me, it's, you know, it's my program. You know I want to do things a certain way. But once the season ended for AAU, we always coached together and I think once he got involved and met more of the Rome kids, he's like all right, I want to be involved. And I think his first year on the bench was that first year in the TBL when we won I think we won that 13 games. I think it was 2011, and we went on that run and you know he's been a part of, you know, rfa basketball sense and you know I, I think he adds, you know, such a dynamic to the, to the bench and you know the wisdom at the end of the bench. I like that he stays to the other end of the bench, um, because he keeps an eye on things. Um, you know, if, if he says something and I disagree, and then he was right, I stay away from that end of the bench because I don't want him to be like, say, you got to listen to me type of thing. But you know I, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Um, I think he's a huge part of the success that we've had and, again, he's a huge part of the coaching staff.

Coach Nick Medicis: 53:38

I think it's cool the way that the whole dynamic works and my father still lives in Syracuse and drives out to coach at every game, drives out all AAU to help out, and you would think that he's at everything, the way that he knows everything that's going on, just based on the way that we all communicate through our group chat and it's just constant with us. We're I mean, we're always talking and figuring out what the game plan is and what changes we want to make. And you know, sometimes the best change is not doing anything and keeping it in our back pocket so we can use it in a later date. So I mean we're always talking and you know it's nice to have somebody that's been around coached it. I mean my father won a World Series. I mean the amount of experience that's on the end of that bench is incredible, and you know we're very fortunate to have him.

Rocky Corigliano: 54:30

So I got a couple of things here left for you, so we're up against the clock. But one of the things I was going to ask you about you know where you're at now, and when you first took this program over 18 years ago, did you ever envision the program would be?

Coach Nick Medicis: 54:46

where you're at today. I mean that's always the goal, right? When you took over at Sequoia, you didn't think. You know I hope we're a four and three team and we squeak in the playoffs, right? You think you know my goal is to get the program where we're competing every year. So I think the goal was always to put Rome in a situation where we can compete year in and year out. You know, at first, competing year in and year out might've been for a TVL title. You know at first, competing year in and year out might have been for a TVL title. But you know, the big picture is we want to add to the banner. We've had one sectional championship in school history. We don't want to just compete, we want to add numbers to that. So that's always been the goal.

Coach Nick Medicis: 55:34

Again, I didn't know what the long-term plan was. I didn't know if this was like a stop for a couple of years and I go back to Syracuse. I didn't know if they were going to run me out of town the way the first couple of years went. But I mean I always. You know, when I came in I had a long-term plan that you know. We were going to turn Rome into a basketball power and we wanted to win and compete and beat those same schools that were winning all the time in Syracuse. So to be where we're at right now is great, but we're not anywhere near where we need to get to if we want to go to where we hope to, we want to be consistently fighting for a section title and we want to win them.

Rocky Corigliano: 56:19

So what's a tenured coach Medesas say to a young 24-year-old coach Medesas from 18 years ago? What would you say to yourself?

Coach Nick Medicis: 56:30

I would say you need to find the right people and surround yourself with the right people. I think that has been a huge part of my success is, you know, if you look at my first I don't know seven or eight years, I had a different assistant coach every year. We had a different philosophy every year, you know. So it was just different. Um, when things started to turn around was right around the time I met my wife and we got married and I had a consistent staff. You know it started with tj engel.

Coach Nick Medicis: 57:09

He was my assistant for a number of years and you know, unfortunately, he, he moved on and he had he, he, he grew a family and he had to step away. And now Mo comes in and you know, lucky to add Nasey to the staff and you know Eric's been a blessing since we've added him to the staff. So I mean, it's just surround yourself with the right people that you know you don't have to do everything. My first year I was, you know, running a summer league, running an AAU program, coaching three teams in the AAU program, coaching four teams in the summer league, coaching year round, coaching summer league, coaching the JB summer, like I was doing everything. League coaching the jb summer like I was doing everything. So surrounding yourself with the right people so that you can kind of push some things and trust them with what you want to get done and you know, hopefully being around the right people will help all right.

Rocky Corigliano: 58:03

Last question this team you have this year goes as far as. As far as what? What does this team need to do to win a sectional title and make a run in the regionals and the state tournament? What do you guys got to do?

Coach Nick Medicis: 58:19

This team needs to play winning itself. We don't have to force. I think we're at our best when we're unselfish and we play chaos. We play our system, we make things difficult for them and we attack on offense and the game comes to us when we don't have to force shots and the shots you know we're taking the right shots, we're making the right extra passes. I think we're really tough.

Coach Nick Medicis: 58:48

You know, the improvement of guys like Cordell Campo, stovall, griggs, like all the guys that don't get the headlines the improvement of them from game one to now is tremendous. I mean, I can't say enough about the growth in Cordell's game and you know what he's brought to the table that we haven't had for so long. We were joking today at practice. He had a rebound today and as soon as he rebounded he chinned it, got it above his head and outletted it to half court and we got a two on one. And there's no way that first game we were even considering to do any of that stuff. We were getting the rebound and pivoting three times and looking to hand it off to the closest person. So just the improvement of our guys, you know. You just got to trust the system. We. You know it's. It's worked for 16 games. It's worked in the off season, you know, and I think it can work going forward, but we just got to play our game.

Rocky Corigliano: 59:53

I think it can work going forward, but we just got to play our game Well. As an RFA alum, it's nice to see the program winning. It's nice to see the gyms packed again. It's nice to just see some life back in the gyms again and seeing the gyms packed and hopefully you get a good crowd next Thursday, which hopefully it'll be another Rome versus Utica, which would be another fun environment for you. But it's nice to see the program back to where it should be. Coach.

Coach Nick Medicis: 1:00:19

Well, it's nice to see all our programs really succeeding. I mean, you look at girls, volleyball won a section title. Yep, I mean, bowling doesn't get many recognition. They haven't lost in like five years. The girls program this was supposed to be a down year. They won 15 games. I mean, hockey has been outstanding now for a couple of years and you know we're in a good spot right now as well. So it's nice to see Rome sports all together doing well this winter. And you know, I'm glad that we don't play on the same night as hockey as well, because all our guys were bummed. They all wanted to go to the hockey game Wednesday. I had to talk them into coming and playing basketball. Luckily, hockey plays Wednesday and then we play Thursday. Hopefully there's a great crowd for their game on Wednesday. Then everybody turns around and comes and watches us the next night, whether it's Proctor or SAS. I think it's going to be fun.

Rocky Corigliano: 1:01:15

Well, coach, hopefully we can get the band back together on a Sunday for the Mohawk Valley Sports Watch, but you're the first one to debut tonight on the weekly huddle, so I appreciate you coming on and keep up the good work, and I know I'll be in touch with you.

Coach Nick Medicis: 1:01:26

All right, thank you, my friend, I appreciate it.

Rocky Corigliano: 1:01:28

All right, man, we'll talk to you. Thank you, appreciate it. All right man, we'll talk to you, thank you.

Rocky Corigliano: 1:01:34

Sounds good. So that was the voice of the man behind the RFA basketball program, friend of the show, co-host of the Mohawk Valley Sports Watch with me. He started off as a guest host on the Mohawk Valley Sports Watch and he's turned into one of the marquees on the lineup with us. Hopefully after the season we'll get him back on Sunday. So thanks to Coach for debuting tonight with me on the Weekly Herald. Thank you for tuning in tonight. If you're catching us live here tonight. I know the hockey game's going on I think it's 2-2, so hopefully you get a chance to go back and watch the third period. If you tuned in tonight on Facebook, youtube, linkedin, I appreciate it. Subscribe to the channel. It'll be out. On Apple Podcasts, it'll be on iHeartRadio, spotify and more. So I appreciate everybody following me and all that. I'll have some Rockpile hoodies for sale if anybody wants them. Some more things coming here on the Rockpile podcast. So again, on behalf of Coach Medesis and myself, I appreciate you tuning in tonight. Have a.