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Ex-captain searching for employment

What is your job status?

I'm just kind of waiting to see. If there is an assistant or head coach that I don't know by now, then there is something wrong. I should run for political office in the NCAA because I know everyone in college basketball by now. I am just kind of waiting to see and hoping to get a break.

What are your chances of landing a job here?

In this business, one day it looks like you have no shot, but then 24 hours later you hear a rumor, so you just don't know.

(Associate head) Coach (Jim) Rosborough said that they could put you on as a team manager, but you would really be an assistant coach?

Right, they are going to try to find a way to create a position if nothing opens up in terms of staff to have me be here as an assistant coach but under a different title. It would be something I would most likely take because I want to stay here. I want to be part of the program, and I love the university and community.

Tell me the who, what, where, when and why of your AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) team?

The team that I coach is Houston Hoops, it is one of the top summer AAU teams in the country. This is my fifth year as a head coach, and I used to be a player. My dad and I started the program 13 years ago, and when I was finished with high school I became the coach. Every one of our kids have played Division I basketball. We travel all over the country, we are a Nike-based team. It gives me great experience. We are like the Arizona, Duke, Carolina team of the summer basketball world. We won the national championship last year.

What about this past weekend's tournament?

It was a 32-team tournament in Austin, Texas. It was all the top teams from down south. We won the championship 82-71 over a team called Team Texas Red, which was the top-10 players from Dallas and Lubbock, Texas area.

How many AAU teams are there?

Thousands. It could be a local high school team getting a team together. Our summer league level is a very elite level because we get the best of the best from the Houston - Louisiana area, and we go against the best of the best from all over the nation. You could get a team together if you have high school eligibility, but you have to get invited to the elite level tournaments. It is a multi-million dollar business, and unless you are in it you don't understand the level it is at.

Who will take over the team when you finally get a job?

Once I become a college coach I eliminate myself from coaching at that level due to NCAA guidelines, but we have teams from third grade on up. We have a ninth grader who won't even go to college because he is that good. I have a 6-foot-7 seventh grader. I have so many ties and roots that you won't even believe.

How much were you in contact with your players during your season?

All the time because I was recruiting. I did travel, hotels, planes, food, vans and then I would do all the recruiting, coaching, scouting and everything. I run our team like a college program. But it pays off, and it gets all the guys prepared for college.

Tell me about your point guard Carlos Hurt?

Him and Rashard Lewis are probably the two best players I have coached through our Houston Hoops program. He is probably the best point guard in the country and could be the best player in the nation in the junior class. He has said out publicly that he is going to go where I go. I applied for the Stephen F. Austin head coaching job and his mom called them and said if Josh is the coach, my son will play there. The worst mistake that SFA made was not hiring me. Look at all the publicity they would have - the No. 1 guard would commit to Stephen F. Austin.