How does Mike Hopkins recruit? What are his favorite movies? And how did he meet his wife?

Had the chance to sit down for a brief 1-on-1 interview with new Huskies men’s basketball coach Mike Hopkins today. I asked him a few questions about his recruiting philosophy, and then I asked him a bunch of questions that have little to do with basketball. Enjoy.

(What was it like recruiting Carmelo Anthony?) “I wasn’t the point person with Carmelo Anthony. It was Troy Weaver. Troy Weaver is (now) the assistant GM with Oklahoma City. But we had one of our ex-players, Michael Lloyd – it reminds me of Seattle in the sense that Baltimore is very … the people that are in the Baltimore basketball community are very close. So Michael Lloyd, who was a great player and had a lot of success at Syracuse, was one of those guys who talked about Syracuse, going up and playing in the dome, what a great fanbase, and all these different things. That kind of got us in. And then Troy Weaver did a really good job. He’s originally from Washington, D.C. It was one of those things where you come up, you feel comfortable. The one thing we did at Syracuse where I thought a great thing that no one’s really talked about is, we were very proactive in our recruiting approach. So a lot of times – even at the times, there was a kid named Curtis Sumpter, there was Matt Walsh, there was different forwards that were rated ahead of him. It was kind of one of those things like that one summer, the end of his junior season and summer, was where he exploded. So we were able to recruit him harder and get more in early before the other big schools did.”

(Who was the most difficult recruit to get to Syracuse?) “There was two. One was Terrence Roberts, and he was getting recruited by Maryland, and Maryland just won the national championship, and then he was getting recruited by Florida. So it was one of those things that went down to the wire. He played at St. Anthony’s with the great Bob Hurley. And it just became one of those recruiting battles where you can’t sleep at night and you’re waiting every minute, like, it could change, what’s happening. That’s No. 1. And then No. 2, we had a kid who was the No. 1-rated high school player in the country, Paul Harris, who was from Buffalo. And so that was a guy that it was a battle. We ended up getting him a little early, but it was just unpredictable at all stages.”

(How do you describe yourself as a recruiter?) “I’m just a relationship guy. I think just honesty and being able to connect on the feel part of it. Because a lot of these kids, it’s all about trust. Whenever you sell anything or they get to know you, it’s all about feel, and a lot of times it ends up being a gut. The facts are the facts, like, this is what you’ve done, this and that. But I think the thing that gets you over the top is that connection. I really do. I recruited a kid named Craig Forth, and it was a tough recruitment, and he would call me at night and ask me about, he was having problems with his girlfriend, and ‘what do you think?’ You get on a different level. It’s not just basketball. It’s bigger than basketball. That’s how I view how I want to coach. It’s bigger than basketball.”

(Will UW fans see more east-coast players on the roster in the coming years?) “You know what, the model that I’d like to put out there and use is the same model we use at Syracuse – homeland security. I want as many Seattle players that can play here playing in our arena. I want that pride. There’s nothing like winning something significant in your own backyard, and that’s what we did at Syracuse when we won it. Obviously there are some incredible players in California. The talent bed is huge, just like Seattle. And Oregon is growing, Nevada is growing. But listen – if you can’t get your backyard, you’re going to have a problem. We have to be able to stand strong and get the best players in our backyard.”

(OK, time for some get-to-know-you stuff. What’s your favorite meal?) “Oh, jeez. I would love to have this tonight. That’s a good question. Nothing is like a good piece of lasagna. Nothing is like a good piece of lasagna. Hungry. A little Italian. I like that.”

(Did your parents or wife make it for you?) “It’s more something I get at a restaurant. This is going to sound crazy – my mother, when I was an athlete and playing all the time, my mother would buy the Sara Lee …

(The big pan?) “The big pan! But for some reason it was always that. I’d be working out, I’d come home, I’d get the spatula, cutting out the squares. And then a good friend of mine in college, his mother, when she would come up, she would bring pieces of lasagna wrapped in saran wrap and we would freeze them. It was the go to. It was filling, it was good, it was tasty.”

(Favorite movie?) “It’s going to be more recent because I watch it during the season probably once a week: Miracle.”

(How does that pregame speech rate for you?) “It’s the greatest. I think it’s the greatest coaching movie of all time. That, and then Will Smith’s character in the Legend of Bagger Vance, where he’s talking Matt Damon off the ledge and building him. those are incredible movies. I love movies that have meaning like that.”

(Favorite recording artist?) “I love Pearl Jam. I’m a huge fan. Huge.”

(When did you get into Pearl Jam?) “Gosh, I’m going to go with 1992. My brother in law really got me hooked on them. I had the flannel shirts, seeing them in concert all over the east coast. I actually saw them at their first time they ever played at The Forum. I saw them at Madison Square Garden. They talked about the stage shaking like it never shook before. Thought it was going to collapse. A buddy of mine worked for Sony, so when they first started selling all their actual live stuff, I had like 150 concerts. I love them. I love everything they’re about.”

(How many times have you seen them live?) “I’ve probably seen them 25 to 30 times. I don’t know the number, exactly. My son’s first concert, I just took him, they played two years ago, three years ago. That was my indoctrination to my son.”

(How old is he?) “He’s 16 now.”

(And the other two?) “Thirteen and 9.”

(How did you meet your wife?) “The funny thing was, I tried to date her. And she kind of had a policy that she wasn’t going to date athletes. So she did go on a date with me and kind of gave me the Heisman (stiff-arm).”

(This was at Syracuse?) “That was at Syracuse. And it was funny, that was when I was a player. And then when I was done playing, her whole family had worked for the university and the commissary, and I remember walking downstairs and she was at the salad bar, and she had a red turtleneck. And she was … she was … she was a 10. This is no joke. Her aunt who was working there at the time, said, ‘gosh, I’m going to try to make this happen, but she doesn’t want to date.’ And I’m like, I’m done playing! I’m a struggling artist, I’m a struggling hoop player. Anyway, we went on a date again, and it was one of those things where it just clicked, and we never looked back. It’s been a long time and she’s been my soulmate.”

(What did you want to be when you were growing up?) “You know what, I never thought – I wanted to be a professional basketball player. That was what I wanted to do. As much as it was kind of a dream, it was one of those things that I was driven to every day that I woke up. And when I got done (playing), I was going to get into business. That’s what I wanted to do. That’s what I thought I’d do, because my dad owned a business. And so when I got done, I never thought I would coach. I went home to work for my dad after getting fired about 35 times. And my dad had a bad year financially and he had to let a couple salespeople go, so he didn’t think it was right to hire me. And then I started giving kids individual (basketball) lessons, like piano lessons, and there was a power to it. There was a connection, power that I just fell in love with. Two years later I’m at Syracuse as a restricted earnings coach at one of the top programs in the country. So I’ve been really lucky. I’ve been led in a lot of directions, and I didn’t share it tonight, but I felt like I was being led here, through everything that happened. Whenever that happens, you feel like everything is going to work out and be great for it.”

(Do you have a dog?) “We don’t.”

(Any pets?) “No pets. My daughter is begging for a pet. Maybe a Husky.”

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 4:44 PM with the headline "How does Mike Hopkins recruit? What are his favorite movies? And how did he meet his wife?."