Meeting in early May 2021 in Chicago State University Athletic Director Rex Marshall’s office.
RM: So you’re Josh Fontaine, the guy who’s been calling, texting, emailing, and hitting me up in my social media accounts every day the past 2 weeks?
JF: I appreciate you’re agreeing to interview me for the head coaching job for your men’s basketball team.
RM: Your persistence finally beat me down.
JF: I just think I can offer you something you won’t be able to get from anyone else.
RM: What’s that?
JF: Your basketball team hasn’t been successful in God knows how long. In fact in the past 12 years, your team has a 29-133 conference record and if I’m not mistaken that’s a .191 record. And there was recently a 5-year stretch where your basketball team won 2 and lost 70 in the WAC. Some would say that’s pitiful…in fact most would say that. They say that Albert Einstein said, “Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results.” I’m not sure if Einstein was the one who originally said that or not, but hiring a coach who does the same things as all the ones before him who were unsuccessful…well that might just possibly be a form of insanity. You’re new here so you have the chance to break the chain of failure. And if you hire me, I’ll develop your basketball team in a way that I’ll guarantee you no one else has tried.
RM: You’ve never been a head coach, or an assistant coach for that matter, at the collegiate level. Sounds pretty risky to me.
JF: Do you really think you’re going to get Coach K to come to Chicago State? No, if you don’t hire me you’ll get Coach D who does the same thing as Coach C who did the same thing as Coach B who did the same thing as Coach A. None of whom have been or will be successful. So I think the real risk is doing the expected and hiring Coach D who will present you with a few more years of losing before you fire him and look for someone else.
RM: Just exactly what is it that you’ll be doing that’s so different?
JF: Let me ask you a question first. What’s the primary way your past coaches been getting their players?
RM: Recruiting. Getting the best recruits they can.
JF: Right! And the best recruits they can get haven’t had the talent to beat a decent high school team. So my idea is to do things differently. The NCAA drastically liberalized the transfer rules for this coming year. There’s going to be a lot of players looking to play somewhere else this summer. And a portion of those will be very good players. What I will do is to build your basketball team using transfer players, and not just a few transfer players. I mean making the team composed almost 100% of transfer players. And doing that from the get-go. That means cutting the deadwood. It’s too late to do that for this season but that will be the first thing I’ll do at the conclusion of this season. And then we’ll go out and get transfer players who will be better than what I cut. Then the next season hacking away those who don’t produce or don’t have the potential to become very good players and bringing in yet another set of even better transfer players. That doesn’t mean I won’t do ANY recruiting, but I’ll only offer scholarships to very good players. If we get a few of those great. If we don’t, no problem. That just means there will be more slots to fill with transfer players.
RM: Let’s say your plan has merit and does result in some good players coming to the Cougars. How are you, without the collegiate coaching experience, going to develop their skills and successfully coach the team in games?
JF: Good question. You’re right, I’m short on experience. And I won’t you about my coaching skills. I have them, but they’ll be developing right along with your basketball team that I’ll be coaching. So…I will hire an assistant coach who will be very good in player development. And he and I will run the team together during games.
RM: I must be crazy. I think I should be showing you the door right now. But I’m intrigued. You’re right that we need to change things here. So, Josh, let’s go to lunch and explore this further and then we’ll see if it’s a go or no go.
The Result: No decision was made that day, or the next day, but two days later Josh got a call letting him know he was the next head coach of the Chicago State Cougars.