A conversation with Dwayne Killings

During his first day on the job, OwlScoop.com sat down for a conversation Monday with new Temple assistant basketball coach Dwayne Killings.

A former assistant director of basketball operations under Owls coach Fran Dunphy, Killings left the Temple program two years ago to take a job with the NBA's Developmental League for a year and then spent a season at Boston University under Pat Chambers, who was recently hired as the new head coach at Penn State.

And after former Owls assistant Matt Langel left North Broad Street to become the head coach at Colgate, Dunphy turned to Killings, an Amherst, Mass., native who played at UMass before earning a degree at Hampton University.

In his conversation with OwlScoop.com, Killings looked back at his career, talked about what led him back to Temple and identified what he looks for in a player when he's out on the recruiting trail.

Click here to listen to the entire interview and follow along through a transcript of the conversation.

OwlScoop.com's conversation with Dwayne Killings

On how it feels to be back at Temple:

"I'm excited. Seeing a lot of the familiar faces and obviously working back with the staff is great. (Monday) we had a kid on campus and spent the day together, and it was like we didn't miss a beat joking around.

"It's good. I'm really excited about being here. And obviously the school is going through a lot of changes for the betterment of the university, so I'm really excited to be here."

On his last two positions - in the NBA's Developmental League and an assistant coaching position at Boston University - after leaving his post as Temple's assistant director of basketball operations and now returning to the staff as an assistant coach:

"It's been great. I've been very fortunate in my career. I was in New York for a year working in the D-League office, which is in the NBA league office, so you see everybody from (NBA Commissioner) David Stern to (former and current players) Dikembe Mutombo and Grant Hill, so it was good. There are a lot of really intelligent basketball minds there, intelligent business minds there, so I had a chance to really learn a lot about the corporate culture, and it was a great experience on a lot of different levels, both personally and professionally.

"Being in New York City was amazing and it was really good, but I really started to miss the game and the kids and the locker room and those things, and Coach (Pat) Chambers had an opportunity for me to come up to BU, which was phenomenal. It was an amazing experience, jus the year that we had (the Terriers earned an NCAA Tournament berth). We went through a lot of adversity - injuries and a lot of crazy things happening, but we put together a great run, won our conference championship, also made it to the NCAA Tournament, so it was good. Just having the chance to learn all facets of the business with Coach Chambers - he's a young, up-and-coming coach - he taught me a lot about the game, about the business. So I really think I've been well prepared for this opportunity, between my time here before, being in the NBA and being at BU."

On how the opportunity came about to work for Chambers at Boston University this past season:

"When I was here at Temple, Coach Dunphy always encouraged me to go out, get to games. And at that time in an operations position, you could go to games. So I'd go out and I ran into Pat a bunch of times. We'd talk about the business, just sit and chat, and he became somebody I just leaned on for advice. He was a little further along in his career. He was already an assistant and then became the associate head coach (at Villanova under Jay Wright), and when he got the (Boston University) job originally, I interviewed and things didn't work out, and he told me if he ever had a spot open again, it was mine. And he offered me the job as soon as he lost one of his former assistants to UNC-Charlotte. So it was great. He's a really good guy. He stands by his word and gave me an opportunity to learn a lot this past year."

On how things came together with coming to work with Fran Dunphy and Temple as an assistant:

"When Matt (Langel) got the (head coaching) job (at Colgate), there was a lot of excitement for him, and over the last couple of years I always stayed connected to the program. The kids, I talked to all the time. The coaches, I talked to all the time. When I was in New York, I would tell them about players I saw randomly, and when I was in Boston, I would obviously lean on these guys for advice. So I still always felt really connected to the program. Obviously, Dunph's someone like a mentor to me and I really valued his advice, so we kept in touch a lot.

"So Matt left and obviously a man like Dunph who's so big in the business and knows a lot of people, I'm sure he got flooded with a lot of calls and met with a lot of people. We talked a couple times, he gauged my interest, asked me a bunch of different questions and obviously I had worked here before, so I think I pretty much interviewed for him for three years over my time here, and I just thought, 'You know what? If he offers me the opportunity, great. If he doesn't, great, because I was in a good situation.' And in the end, it's what's best for the kids here in the program. And then about two weeks ago, he called me and asked me how I felt about coming to work at Temple, and I was blown away. I was really humbled because I knew how many guys he could have chosen, so I think at least my time here before was valued, so I'm looking forward to moving forward and being in Matt's chair."

On what he learned about recruiting during his year at Boston University and what it's like recruiting today's high school basketball player:

"It's a lot different. I think kids are now exposed to a lot more. I think the AAU part of the business has exploded. Kids are all over the place, all over the country, flying here and there. Some guys are going overseas playing. The biggest thing I think is how accessible the kids are. You talk to a kid on the phone these days and two minutes later, it's on Twitter that they talked to you. I think there's an opportunity to touch and recruit a lot of different players because of the way the world is today, but at the same time there's just a lot of information that's put out there, for good and for bad.

"But I do think this past opportunity was good for me. Pat encouraged us to get out on the road a lot, so we were always going places, always looking at players - some kids that we couldn't get that I will probably recruit here. And at the same time, you meet a lot of contacts, which is huge. In this business, it's who you know. You can meet a lot of kids but at the same time, you want to know what kind of kids they are, what kind of families they come from. Can they fit in with the program and what you're trying to do? So this past year was huge for me in just meeting a lot of people and getting in a lot of gyms and getting in front of a lot of people. And I think a lot of the things I've learned from Dunph and from watching him and from Pat this past year and putting that together has really prepared me for this opportunity."

On the notion that recruiting is about relationships and what ultimately helps an assistant coach form a bond with a player and get him to commit to accepting a scholarship offer:

"I think it's a lot of listening and a lot of talking. You talk to the parents, you talk to the AAU coach, you talk to his high school coach. You talk to the kid and you start to understand. What is the kid looking for? What's important to him? And I think it's really important to understand what type of kid he is and what he's looking for in his career and in his academic time here as well, because I think that's important to make sure it fits. If he chooses a school for all the wrong reasons, whether it's just basketball or just academics and everything doesn't work in his life, four years is a long time. So I think it's really important that they have a good feel for the university, how things work here at the school, how things work in the basketball program, how the coaching staff works, how you do things and making sure they know everything that's going on.

"It could be anything to understand the kid and find a comfort level, from having a conversation or having some common interests with the kid. It could be that they might love baseball; they might love to watch it. Or they might enjoy some of the same things you do and all of a sudden, you start to connect a little bit, and that really helps. Having the opportunity to really get to know these kids beyond just basketball I think is huge. And at the end of the day, I think a huge piece of this is that you have these kids for four years. You have a chance to mold who they're going to become in their lives. So I think it's really important that you know these kids because once you start recruiting them and they tell you they want to come, not only are they making a huge commitment to the program and to the university, they're making a huge commitment to you, because they're trusting the coaching staff with their basketball careers. And really, you're preparing them for life."

On the number of scholarships Temple will have available with the 2012 class with the impending graduations of four seniors in Juan Fernandez, Ramone Moore, Scootie Randall and Micheal Eric and whether or not that could prove to be advantageous for the Owls as potential recruits might see opportunities for immediate playing time:

"I think (that players do pay attention to the possibility for immediate playing time). I think any kid's dream is to pick their school and they all have dreams of hitting the game-winning shot growing up or starting or hearing their name over the loudspeaker - in reality. But also, I think they just want an opportunity. They want an opportunity to come in and work hard and play the game of basketball and represent their schools, their families in the right way.

"I think it's a really exciting time any day in this program, but it's a huge opportunity for all the kids who come through these doors - get an education, win a lot of basketball games and have a lot of fun doing it, and I think a lot of kids know this is a good place to be. Obviously, playing for a great coach, playing for a great university, and they can do a lot of great things for themselves."

On the qualities he looks for in a player when he's out recruiting, beyond the numbers on the stat sheet and the highlight-reel moments:

"I think certain kids will jump out at you, but sometimes you've just got to pay attention a little bit. There's a lot of big-time athletes, kids that run, jump and fly around the gym and do some amazing things, but then you've got to take a step back and watch a little bit for kids that have a great skill set. In today's day and age, everybody's caught up in what comes on ESPN, all the highlight-reel plays, but what a lot of people don't take the time to watch sometimes is just the kids who are very skilled. There's a lot of skilled basketball players that do a lot of things well, whether it be footwork, ball handling, knowing how to get open, knowing how to get guys open, knowing how to control the game. And I think one of the things that's lost is paying attention to kids who do the small little things on the court - dive for loose balls, give extra effort, pick guys off the floor, help direct their team. Those things are huge.

"And at the end of the day, I think you try to find the guys that want to play the game the right way and fit into what we try to do here and what Coach Dunphy wants to do."

On his college career, which started at Hampton University, continued when he earned a spot as a walk-on playing for Bruiser Flint at UMass and then concluded with him going back to Hampton to earn his bachelor's degree:

"Kind of crazy. I went to Hampton for a year. Great experience. I ended up losing some financial aid. Housing there is a lottery going into your sophomore year. Didn't get housing, so it was going to be a huge bill for my parents to come up with, so I said, 'You know what? I'll go to UMass for a semester and kind of get things together, and I'll go back to Hampton in the spring.'

"I ended up naturally hanging out with all the basketball guys in the summer (Killings was an all-area selection at Massachusetts' Amherst Regional High School) and started working out with them and got myself in shape. And it was fun. Working out with them was great, and Bruiser Flint offered me an opportunity to walk on. He said, 'If you're going to be here, why don't you do it? At the end of the semester, if you want to go back to (Hampton), great. If you want to stay, even better.' And I did (stay). I loved it. I loved every minute of it. It was a huge opportunity for me. And then I lucked out and ended up getting a grant from Bill Cosby's scholarship foundation and decided to go back (to Hampton). It was kind of a random decision, but I decided to get out of my home town, finish school at Hampton, and it was great because I was trying to decide: did I want to go into business or did I want to do something different? And I missed the game so much and it was a great opportunity for me to realize what I wanted to do with my life, and I've been really lucky and really fortunate ever since."

On his memories of playing at UMass and what he learned from Bruiser Flint, who has since moved on to become the head coach at Drexel:

"He's a great person, a good role model for me. He's somebody I talked to all the time when I lived here before. I lived a couple blocks from him, and I leaned on him a lot.

"You know, it's funny. One of my fondest memories was probably in this building (in the Liacouras Center). In the 2000-2001 season, we played Temple here in a regular season game. It was a packed building, close, hard-fought game. We were actually playing pretty well at that point in the year, maybe third or fourth place (in the Atlantic 10), and we were playing for seeding at that point. The game went into overtime and we actually put a freshman in, ended up winning the game by two or three points. A couple guys jumped up on the scorer's table. I remember fans were throwing popcorn. It was a wild game, but that was probably one of my fondest memories. And then just the road trips, the travel. We went to Greece one time.

"I think for all these guys, they don't realize it. It's such a huge time in their life and they're building special relationships that they'll remember for a long, long time. That time in my life is probably the fondest time that I've had so far."

On when he started thinking about getting into coaching:

"When I worked in Charlotte with the Bobcats, I got exposed to it. They let me do some things and it got me going a little bit. But when I got here (to Temple as the assistant director of basketball operations), just being involved with the kids and watching kids grow up and watching kids like Luis Guzman, from when he came in to graduating from school. Watching Ramone Moore develop from where he was when he got here to who he is now. Watching the different kids who have come and gone through this program. It really helped me realize what I wanted to do and as you kind of learn from different people as I got to learning more about the business and talking to Coach Dunphy I really realized all the things that were important to me through coaching. And then I just really love the game of basketball, so it really worked for me in what I wanted to do with my life so it's been a great decision."

On how he got a job with the Charlotte Bobcats right out of college:

"I've been extremely fortunate, extremely blessed and extremely lucky. I finished my final on a Wednesday. The next morning, a couple friends got in the car with me and drove six or seven hours to Charlotte. Went to a hotel room, took a shower, showed up and asked for an internship in basketball. They gave me an internship in merchandising for the Charlotte Sting, which is the women's team. It wasn't what I wanted to do, but it was fun. I had a great time. And they gave me a job in sales when I first finished and they told me, 'Work here, stay late, we'll give you some projects for the basketball staff and see what happens.' A year later, I ended up going to the basketball operations side of things (as a special assistant and video coordinator) and haven't looked back since.

"I needed an internship to finish my degree so I said I might as well figure it out now. I didn't want to go back home or do something like that, so I looked at all the NBA teams and said, well, this is a new team, they're just starting out. They might need people. So I went down and I got really lucky. I ran into the president, who introduced me to a couple people. And from then and there, I've just been going all along the way, and all these people have been great and huge assets for my career."

On participating in coaching clinics in South Africa two years ago through an organization called Triad Trust:

"Ironically, the woman, Brooke Wurst who runs the foundation, knew Matt Langel and knew Coach Dunphy. She's a Penn grad. And actually, she was trying to get Matt. And because of recruiting, Matt didn't have time to go out there and he just came to me and said, 'Hey, there's this program you might be interested in,' so we talked a few times and she invited me out. And really, it was about relationships. I think that's the biggest thing about this business. Because I know those two guys (Dunphy and Langel) and the work they did there spoke for itself, so I kind of fell into the same pedigree.

"It was a tremendous time. We went there and did basketball clinics, but the main reason for the clinics was to bring kids in and have them around and then educate them after the clinics about AIDS and HIV, which is something that destroys that part of the world, and it was just a wonderful opportunity for me just to be involved that was bigger than myself, something that goes far beyond the game of basketball that this woman is doing her part in trying to change the way people live in that part of the world. It's something I'm still involved with now. When I lived here in Philly we did a fundraiser, which was great. We got support from the guys here and continue to do some things, and it's something I hope we can continue to do during my time here at Temple, because I think it's something that's very important. It doesn't take a lot to try to put some energy and resources into something that's really big and making some huge impact."

On what he sees when he looks at the current Temple roster, which returns four starters and figures to start the season in the top 25:

"I just see a lot of growth. I can remember Ramone Moore when he first walked in on campus, Khalif Wyatt when he first got here. I remember TJ (DiLeo) when he first got here. Mike Eric when he went through what he went through when he first got here, thinking he was going to be eligible and wasn't. I think all these guys have put in so much work.

"When I left here, they were just becoming young men and now they're almost grown men at this point. They're grown, but on and off the court. So I'm excited. I'm excited for what the future holds. The guys have been up here working hard on their games and in the classroom, and I think we're poised to have some great experiences this coming year. I'm really looking forward to the season."

On how crazy this time of the year can be when the time comes to hit the road and go from city to city during an open recruiting period in the summer:

"You recruit these kids and unfortunately, you only have such a small window to see them, especially during the summer months. So you kind of zig-zag around the country a little bit, but you're in a gym watching basketball, you know? You can't complain about that. There's a lot of other things that some people do for a living that probably isn't as fun as that. You're around people that you don't get the chance to see a lot, a lot of friends and colleagues you have in the business, and you're evaluating talent.

"The biggest thing is you just try to watch the guys that you've followed and gotten to know a lot and get a chance to evaluate and really see it. How do they fit in? Do they work for what's going to go on in the future? And it can get a little crazy. You're up early in the morning getting on a flight or you're driving a little bit of a distance and you're in a gym all day. You get some food, you get some rest when you can get it, and you keep going. You kind of prepare yourself for that part of the month. And it's an exciting time because at the end of the day, you're there to watch guys who could take the baton and help carry the program forward when they get their time on campus."

More on his first day on the job at Temple:

"It was good to see a lot of people you haven't seen in a couple years, so you catch up with them. We had a chance to catch up on some recruiting stuff and get back here on campus. And the craziest thing is I've only been gone two years which, when you really think about it, is isn't that long of a time, but the campus is changing so much, which is an exciting thing to see. You come up and see the cranes, you see the construction, you see the renderings around the office (for the program's new practice facility), and you know there's some really great things to come, which is going to make this place even more special."

OwlScoop.com Editor John Di Carlo can be reached at jgdicarlo@gmail.com.