- Today I am speaking with the Texas A&M Women's head basketball coach Joni Taylor, she's entering her second year here in Aggieland.

Coach, thank you so much for joining me.

- Thanks for having me.

- Basketball has been a part of your life forever.

Just a few accolades here, Mississippi Player of the year in high school, and then of course you started two years at Alabama where you played your collegiate days.

What drew you to basketball as a child?

- You know, I get that question a lot.

It's my earliest memory, we had a goal in our backyard, my mom and dad both played, you know, in high school my dad played in junior college.

And so I think it's just one of those family activities that we always participated in, and I think we realized really earlier, my parents realized pretty early on that I had a chance to be pretty good in it.

And so then it became obviously more focus driven, but it is one of my earliest childhood memories.

- What lessons from your playing career do you still bring into your coaching career?

- Well, especially at this level, right I was fortunate to play in the SEC and I've been a part of that league now for a really long time.

I think when you were playing in the best league in the country, in my opinion, against the best, you know, student athletes, I think it's draining.

It's draining mentally, it's draining physically at times, but the reward on the other side of it is what we really try to make sure they understand, and I think it's just compassion for what it is that they're going through 'cause I've literally been in their shoes and it's a hard grind and so compassion for what it is they're going through, but also understanding that respecting the process and handling the process the right way, you never know how that's gonna come full circle.

Here I am I never thought I was gonna be a head coach in this league for as long as I have have been.

But you know, it pays you back, and so just those things are things that I remember and just being able to talk to them about those challenges, predicting what's coming that they don't know that's coming that I can share with them, have all been tools that I've used.

- In what ways have you seen the women's game grow since you've been a student athlete?

- It's grown tremendously in terms of just media coverage, we now have a network where all of our games are live streamed or on national TV where, you know, I can remember thinking when I was making my college decision, like I wanted to be a place that my parents can come watch me play 'cause maybe three or four games a year we're on TV, - Yeah.

- Now every game's on TV, so it broadens the landscape, number one for prospects to make their decisions because they know that their games are gonna be marketable.

I think the game has grown, you look at just the way post play has evolved, you really don't have two post players anymore.

There's, it's four out one in or it's five out basketball, and when I played it was more of a traditional three out, two in, pounded inside and you still run across that.

But the game is more international than it used to be, we've obviously gone to four quarters instead of two halves.

And then just the marketability, you look at NIL, you look at all the opportunities that student athletes have now that weren't available to us when we played.

- You've been in Aggieland for a little over a year now.

What do you love about Texas A&M?

- So many things, I think what the first thing that comes to mind is just the love that we feel, the support that we have from the institution, the athletic department, the 12th man, the community, the Brazos Valley community has been tremendous to not only me in in our family, but our entire staff, our players, I think it's just a deep understanding and love for everything Aggie related.

And to see that type of commitment and trust and loyalty is something that you don't find often.

- What is it like following in the footsteps of an Aggie legend in recent Basketball Hall of Fame inductee coach Gary Blair?

- I consider it a tremendous honor.

I approach it every day with great humility.

He's got his name on the floor for a reason, I can remember being an assistant coach and watching Coach Blair when he was at Arkansas, when he was here at Texas A&M and just like how he always led and he had the great ability to take off his institutional hat and make decisions and you know, advocate for what was best for our game, not what was best for him or for the program he was representing.

And that's something that always stuck with me, and to now know that I am walking in his footsteps means a lot, again, a scrape pride that comes with that.

And just really fortunate to have done things in my career, to put myself in a position to be here.

- Some coaches retire and go off into the sunset, he is still around all the time.

He was just on an Aggie volleyball broadcast a couple of weeks ago 'cause he was at the match.

What is it like still having him around and do you lean on him for any kind of support?

- It brings me great comfort, I'm glad that he's around why wouldn't you, you know, pick his brain and have him around to, you know, point out things or give suggestions or just to be there in support like I want him around.

I think it's great that he's so involved in the community.

He's so still involved in everything as it relates to our athletic department.

He's earned the right to stay here and to be here and to be involved.

And I think that's something that I wouldn't want it any other way.

- He also created a really strong fan base for women's basketball here at Texas A&M.

What makes Aggie fans unique?

- Well, I think again, it's their 100% commitment.

Like, you know, one of the things I heard when I first got here, it was like once you're in, it's 100%, there's no two percenters, right?

- Yeah.

- So everybody is 100% on board for supporting and uplifting the mission that is Aggie basketball, or Aggie golf, or whatever sport it is or whatever they're behind.

And you know you're gonna have their support.

And when they say it, they mean it, and I think that's what really stands out.

There's some places that you go that there's fair weather fans or they wanna jump on the bandwagon once you become successful.

Our fans are here from day one and they remain loyal.

- Your team faced a lot of adversity in your first season here and I watched throughout the season and one of the things I thought to myself was they never stopped trying.

And truly, I could see that especially even in the games that you were losing or struggling, but with all the injuries, how do you hope that dealing with those challenges in season one will translate to your second season?

- Well I think we learned so much in adverse times.

You know, challenges, valleys not peaks, they teach us so much about who we are.

And I think what last year did for our team is that it strengthened our resolve and our character.

And we needed that, we needed to have that, we had a lot of players last year who were not experienced or they were freshmen and you don't know what you don't know.

So we learned a lot last year, we grew a lot last year.

We're a lot more resilient, we're a lot more tough and we're better.

And so I think hopefully what's on display in year two is all those qualities.

- Being a college coach isn't just about the game, it's also about leading and growing people, how do you take on that challenge?

- The conversation we constantly have with our players, with people who touch our program is that Beyond Basketball, we actually have an organization called Beyond Basketball.

But it's so important because your lifespan after you, the ball stops bouncing is a lot longer than your lifespan with the basketball.

And so we try to prepare our student athletes for life after sport.

Basketball is what you do, it is not who you are.

And so having regular conversations and check-ins about when the ball stops bouncing, what are your dreams, what are your ambitions, what are your goals?

And some players can clearly articulate that and some don't know 'cause basketball has become who they think they are, even though we know that's not true.

And so then it is our job as coaches to try to help block guide and lead them down the path of what that transition looks like for us.

We want to make sure that whenever they are done playing after they graduate from here, hopefully with more than one degree or after they've played professionally, that they can transition smoothly and well into their communities and into the world to make an impact.

And so we spend a lot of time talking about that.

And just with the focus that is on women's basketball now, our sport, how it has continued to grow and garner attention, we also talk about marketing their brand.

How we make sure that their brand is something that when they need to use their voice or when they wanna use their voice or when they wanna make sure they have an opportunity to be out and be in front, that they're marketing themselves the right way.

- Personally, what is rewarding for you about working with student athletes?

- This question probably, this answer will probably never change.

Obviously winning games is great, you know, winning championships, competing for championships, that's our goal, that's what we're here for.

But what is most rewarding for me is to watch a player walk in as a freshman, and not know a thing or be very limited in what it is they think that they know.

And then to see their maturation over the course of time that they're with us.

And to watch them as seniors, you know, their evolvement, their evolution on and off the court.

That would be what is most rewarding for me to see the growth and to know that we had a little part in, in helping them to come to become better women and better people.

- I feel like college athletics has been pretty tumultuous in the last few years even going back to when the pandemic began, what challenges do student athletes face today that they maybe didn't even have to think about five to 10 years ago?

- Well the first thing that comes to mind is social media.

You know, maybe five to 10 years ago a little bit but everything that they do gets scrutinized and it's scrutinized and it's on social media instantly.

And so it's, you know, we talked about this yesterday in practice, what is the ad campaign that's running in your head?

What are you telling yourself?

Not when good things happen, but when challenging things happen, what are you telling yourself?

Because if you are not careful, the internet and social media in the world will tell you what to think about yourself.

So that's number one a challenge, I think now that gambling has become legal, that is also a challenge because you know, again, like the ticker on the bottom line, it tells like what the line is for our game and it's hard for them not to see that, not to watch it.

And so there's a lot of things that are at play that athletes 10 years ago didn't have to even consider.

- Student athlete mental health is very important topic right now, how do you see your role for providing support in that area?

- I think our job as coaches is to have a pulse on our team.

- Okay.

- And that's sweat equity in relationships, it's hard for me to have a pulse on who you are if I don't know who you are and if I haven't invested time with you.

So one of the things that I do, they'll know now 'cause they'll hear it, but we circle up every day before practice.

And that gives me a chance to look every player in the eye if I didn't get to see them at training table or if they didn't walk through the office.

And I can tell if they're off, if you know, they didn't get enough sleep, if they were studying for a test or if they just bombed a test or did well on a test, like their body language tells me.

But I know that because of the sweat equity that has been put in, not just by me, but our entire coaching staff and our support staff.

So I think number one is to be dialed in and to have a pulse on your team.

The second thing that I think our job is to do is to make sure that there are resources available for them.

I'm not a mental health expert by any means and so coming to me is step one, but I'm not the person that can give them what they need.

And so it's to make sure that we have someone who they can speak to, talk to, and do that on a regular basis.

You know, we wanna make sure that mental health is a priority all the time not just when something happens.

And so what are we doing to be preventative and making sure that everybody's mental health is in a good space before there's an emergency.

- You touched on NIL earlier and it continues to evolve every day, on the women's sports side some players can actually make more money by staying in college than going into the draft and going into the WNBA, in your view, is it a good or a bad thing and is it sustainable for the sport?

- Well, I think number one NIO is a good thing, - Okay.

- I think it's great that student athletes can now, you know, make money off of their name, image and likeness.

I think is it sustainable that's something that we've gotta figure out.

I think it's our duty to figure it out legally, obviously, but I think they deserve to have that opportunity in terms of staying in college versus not, there's so many things that play into that.

There's the COVID year that we're still dealing with that play into roster in terms of making more money.

I think that's a statement that's been thrown a around a ton and We have to be careful when we use it because I do think the WNBA is obviously the next step for players and it's something that over time there is more money in the day over time.

- Sure.

- If you look at maybe a one year thing, sure, maybe for one year they can make more money here.

But for us, what we talk about is, is it time for you to go, right?

Not that we don't want you here, but what is the best decision for your career?

And let's make that based on your value and your talent not off of a dollar sign.

Because if you're that type of player, then hopefully you're gonna still have some of the same campaigns, some of those same sponsorships that you had in college, they're gonna follow you into your WNBA career if we've handled those relationships well.

So I think it's a case by case situation, but I do wanna be careful about people throwing around the term, if I stay, I make more than I do in the league because I think the league has really helped grow our game and It's what we aspire to do if we are college players playing at the high level, and so I think they need the respect they deserve.

- Another big conversation continues to be conference realignment.

The SEC has been affected a little bit, most of the conversations revolve around how the changes affect football, but how does realignment affect women's basketball?

- Well, obviously we're adding Texas and Oklahoma, they'll be in our league next year.

I think that's a great thing, I think for us, again, this goes back to being in the SEC, we are in the best conference in the country and our commissioners, in my opinion, one of the best leaders in all of college sports and in this country.

And so we lean very heavily on the decisions that he makes and we trust the decisions that he and, you know, our presidents and athletic directors makes as they come to conference realignment.

So I feel pretty secure in that and I sleep well at night knowing that if there is a realignment in our conference, it was made in the best interest of our conference and our sport.

And so it's not really a lot anything that I have spent a whole lot of time worrying about.

- What did I hear the other day?

We're the only conference, SEC is the only conference with only two time zones.

And so you've got teams traveling across the country.

- It's a nut there's one conference that's like advertising themselves as the first national conference because literally of all the time zones, I think what I would think about more than anything is how does that affect our student athletes travel, class, you know- - And basketball's not just played on Saturday afternoons.

- Right, right, you're talking about multiple games a week.

So again, I think in conference realignment, I'm only concerned about the conference that we are in.

- Sure.

- I think our commissioner, our president and our athletic directors are gonna make the best decision for the welfare and wellbeing of our student athletes.

- You've also earned the privilege of coaching several US national teams.

How is the pressure different from coaching in the collegiate realm?

- Obviously, again, it's something you approach with great humility, I did not serve in the military in any form, but this in my way is service to our country, 'cause you are representing the United States of America.

So that's where the pressure comes in.

There's so many people who understand that you are representing them.

And so anytime you have USA on the front of your jersey, it's something that you should have a great amount of humility with and pressure and just responsibility, I feel more responsibility than I do pressure.

We talk about pressure being a privilege, so I am, I feel privileged to be in that position, but it's something that very few people get a chance to do.

And so when you get your number called or your name called to do, it's something that I think you run towards.

- New volleyball head coach Jamie Morrison has had some Olympic experience.

Have you guys swapped war stories?

- We have, and actually, so this past year, my U 19 and over in Spain happened right before he went for volleyball.

And so when I won, he sent me a text, congrats, da da da, and I said, you are just now showing up for trials, how's it going?

And so after he won, I sent him a message like way to go, congrats.

And he literally said, yeah, I couldn't let you be the only one at Alan with a gold medal.

So we've had a lot of fun back and forth, but super excited about everything he's doing.

- That's awesome.

Community service has always been important to you, where does that perspective come from?

- Again, it's one of my earliest childhood memories, you know, before we had Thanksgiving dinner, we had to go serve food at a local, you know, homeless shelter at a church.

You know, same thing over the holidays, we would always ring bells for the Salvation Army.

My local church at home was very active in the community, and so it's been embedded in me for a really, really long time.

And then again, I went to the University of Alabama, in the SCC there's a community service award in our conference.

And so it's something that has always just continued to show up along my path.

And so it's just a part of who I am.

- Not everybody grows up like that, so is that important to you to kind of try to pass on some of that to your student athletes?

- Well, we are so fortunate.

We fly charter flights, we eat in the best restaurants or have our meals catered, we stay in the best hotels, We have gear coming out of our ears.

We are privileged in a lot of ways and we have earned the right to have that.

However, it is also really important that they understand the importance of giving back.

And so we spend a lot of time talking about it and if there's certain initiatives that we're gonna have every single month or every single year throughout our program, and if there's something that pops up that we feel like there's a call to action that we should get behind and we support, then we are readily willing and able to jump on the bandwagon to that too.

I think it's just an important part of, again, humility, being grateful and understanding that giving back is so important because we've been given a lot in order to give back.

- What advice would you give to young women who might want to transition from that playing career to a coaching career?

- I think number one, to really take some time to figure out if it's what you wanna do.

A lot of players, especially if they play professionally or if they're not in college, the first thing is I wanna coach.

- Right.

- Do you know what that entails?

I didn't know what it entailed as a player, I thought our coaches came to practice, wore cool gear and you know, showed up.

You know, to practice in games, but to really be on the inside and see all that goes into being a coach.

I think number one doing some research and understanding the sacrifice that's required.

The reward is obviously great, but there's a lot of sacrifice that comes with it too.

And making sure that you have a good sense of self because in order to lead others you have to lead yourself first and you can't lead others well if you don't know how to lead yourself.

And so I think there's just a lot of self-evaluation that comes with it.

A lot of players naturally fall into, oh, I'm just gonna be a coach, without really taking a deep dive into what comes with it.

- Between you and the men's coach, Buzz Williams, we might have the best dressed head coaches in all of college basketball.

I don't know if that's something you two talk about, but you know, gimme a little bit of insight to your style and why you and your entire coaching staff really bring your A game every time you're on the sidelines.

- Well, obviously when I got into coaching, everybody dressed up, - Right.

- The pandemic came and obviously people pivoted a little bit and I think it, I think it came from seeing the WNBA in the NBA do it.

They were in a bubble, so obviously packing, it's very hard to do, - Right, - Right, when you're in a true bubble, we weren't in a bubble, we were home every day.

So I didn't see the need to change how we dress, no knock on anybody who has, it's their personal choice.

But this is our job, it is a business, and I think it's important, at least for our staff to make sure we model that behavior to our student athletes.

Like, we're not gonna show up casually, we're asking them to bring their best we're gonna bring our best too- - What is the best.

- And Buzz might do it better than anybody.

- Yeah.

(Chelsea laughs) He sweats more than you do though, which is a good thing that you don't sweat that much.

What is the best advice you've ever gotten for life or your career?

Is there something that always kind of comes to mind?

- There's a few things, so when I was in college and I had one of my elders tell me, "if you can't call home and tell your mom what you're about to do, you probably shouldn't do it."

And that just always stuck with me, especially during my college age years.

And the other one along those same sentiments were, "Be careful about the decisions you make."

And I kind of looked at her and she goes, "Lemme say it to you this way, sometimes when you get in a car, you have no control over where the car's going, you just end up where it ends up, so make sure you're careful about who you get in the car with."

So kind of going back to just the decisions you make sometimes, you know, you have to be sure of the decisions you're making because there's a consequence to all of those things.

And so that's kind of what stuck with me as I was growing up.

I think now advice and things that I just really lean on is making sure that everything we're doing and everything that we try to do is with the right intention.

You know, first do no harm and what is my intention?

And making sure that people know that, and how I operate that everything is done with good intention.

- Along with coach, you were also a wife and a mom, how do you and your family like to spend free time?

- Well, my husband is really, really good at creating this for us, so we have Taco Tuesdays.

- Okay.

- I normally show up at the back end of that, they normally finish dinner by the time I show up, and then Friday night is movie night.

So every Friday night the girls get to pick out a movie, we go upstairs, we pop popcorn and we watch a movie.

So those are some things that he, all his ideas, he gets full credit for that, for creating just family time.

And then we're fortunate that our family travels with us and so we are able to have some family time as well within our program because they travel on weekends and they're at games.

- What movie do you wish the girls would never pick to watch again?

I'm sure there's some repeats.

- We have a ton of repeats, for a while it was "Frozen."

- Okay, that's - We were on a, we were a "Frozen Kick" for a long time.

And if I heard, do you wanna go with "Snowman" one more time I was gonna lose my mind.

- Yeah, - We've got more variety now as they've gotten older, they've dibbled, you know, we've had more variety.

My favorite movie growing up was "Robin Hood," the Cartoon.

And so that's been on repeat a lot lately.

- Okay.

- But there's a lot more variety than when they were younger.

- Sure, - Yeah.

- Sure.

What personally drives you?

- I think when I was younger it was to not disappoint.

I never wanted to disappoint my parents, my coaches, my community back home in Meridian, and the people who had supported me and believed in me.

So the drive was don't disappoint.

And so that's what pushed me, that's why I went so hard because I never wanna disappoint.

Now my drive is just service and it's my relationship with God.

Like in everything that I'm doing, my purpose and my drive is, am I serving him by doing this?

And that's what wakes me up every day.

- What excites you about the future of women's sports?

- How we are growing, we talked about earlier about how everything is on TV now.

I think our fan base has grown because you can turn on the TV and find a women's game.

I think the players in our game right now, the student athletes that are leading our game, Caitlyn Clark, Angel Reese, Jeniah Barkers, you know Aaliyah Boston, who's now in the WNBA.

You look at the players who are in our league and who are in women's basketball and just how they are able to just create conversation, and lead our game.

So those are things I'm excited about, and just the marketability we now have.

- Yeah.

Exciting stuff, best of luck in your second year at Texas A&M.

And thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thank you for having me.