Heart To Hart

The story of coach McKay's chance encounter with Jeff Hart, has been told in about 41 different variations and possibly, several languages. In fact, it is rumored to have never been told the same way twice. Both the coach and the player have gotten a lot of mileage out of this particular tale, and here is the version that both coach McKay and Jeff told at the Senior Banquet, in 2006.

"Jeff Hart is another member who has overachieved," said Lobo coach, Ritchie McKay. "There is a story being told in some circles about the time that I first saw Jeff play at the New Mexico Sports and Wellness center down at Del Norte. Well, I was playing basketball down there - right about the time that I first got down to New Mexico, but Jeff tells the story as if he was schooling some old dude who didn't know who he was - blowing by me for inside baskets and shooting over me from the outside. Jeff then claimed that I said, 'Hey - we could really use you on the team!"

"That not how it went, though. I felt really sorry for this little, skinny kid. I thought he was in the eighth grade, so I let him get his confidence. I was giving him 'high-fives' and encouragement - things like that. He probably ended up scoring on me in there somewhere, but it still worked out great for UNM. Here's a young man that has tremendous class, a great work ethic and is an excellent, excellent leader. He's got success written all over him, and I'm really proud of the way he endured. He kept believing in himself, and for that, your teammates are very thankful for your service to UNM....Jeff Hart!" {applause}

"I just want to thank all of you guys," said a slightly bemused Jeff Hart. Now I'm going to tell you what really happened at Sports and Wellness. {Laughter} So, there's this old guy out on the court, right? Somebody told me that he coached for UNM.This was just another day at the gym for me, so I came down the court and gave him a pump fake - and later on, he taught us not to go for those pump fakes, you know? So anyway, he goes for the pump fake, and I drive to the right and laid it....(turning to look directly at coach McKay)...I dunked it!" {people laughing their asses off}

"He was an old dude, you know? So after that I backed off and hit a few threes so that I wouldn't have to perform CPR on him. Thanks for everything coach, I'm really going to miss you guys." {wild applause}

So what really happened that night at the Sports and Fitness Center, Jeff?

"It was pretty much as you described it," Jeff laughs. "No, I didn't dunk on coach McKay, but I was really feeling it. I had a good game, and we really had a great team, which led to us pretty much destroying coach McKay's team. After the game, He asked me where I was going to college at, and I told him that I was going to walk on with the Aggies. He just said, 'Now wait a minute. You really need to be a part of our team."

You have really been candid in this interview about coach McKay's tenure here, and also about the affect that he had on you personally.

"Well, it's a team thing for me," Jeff says. "Once you belong to a team, you always back-up the other players and coaches. You went through hell with them at times, but you also climbed to the summit of a few mountains with them too. Lord only knows, that we climbed many a sand dune along the way!" {Jeff laughs at recalling trainer Aaron Day's favorite torture test}

"That's what makes you a true team. It would really be hard for me to do anything else otherwise. I'm just not wired that way."

That is exactly what we as fans, want to imagine our players as being like.

"It's not always easy," Jeff admits. "I mean, you work so hard, every, single day for that 40 minutes under the lights. I used to just hate it, when I didn't get to play in a particular game. Sometimes, I even hated him. I would get all worked up because I felt that I deserved more time, and he was just a liar for telling me that I was going to play when I didn't.

It was only later on - after I had cooled off a little, that I would try looking at things through his eyes. He was in such an impossible situation, and how he handled it was entirely up to him. I believe that he did the best job that he possibly could do under the circumstances. I know that the amount of hours he put into Lobo basketball were astronomical."

Wow, that is really an honest admission, Jeff. Does the problem maybe lie elsewhere? I mean, you were a college Joe that any family would surely be proud of. You had a nice athletic career, and you were a four-time MWC Scholar Athlete who graduated with honors. That is an incredible achievement, by any standard. What about the kids on the team that coach seemed to have a permanent disconnect with? The ones he ran off, or who simply ran off? I think what really soured me on Ritchie McKay, was the way that he promoted J.R. Giddens prior to this season - almost at the expense of everyone else. Am I way off base here?

"Well, that's something that I believe was a big mistake," Jeff says. "It was a mistake to equate him automatically with the NBA, long before he had even played a game here. If J.R. doesn't perform up to that standard, then the fans here were going to be merciless on both him and coach McKay immediately.

Honestly, a lot of it comes down to what goes on in practice. Our fans never see that. Certain players, not giving the effort to show that that care about the team in practice. That was a big part of what coach stands for, and if you are not all about the team or are not going to give the effort, then you are not going to be on his team.

I think that a lot of that is what happened on the court with some of our players. But at the same time, I think that some of our players should have had more minutes, and had more support from coach McKay than they did, but many of them also had other choices. If you are a Joel Box, you can go play somewhere else. Same with Ryan Wall and scholarship players like that."

"It doesn't work that way for everybody, though. I felt that if I ever left this team, I wasn't going to play basketball anymore."

I have always found Joel Box particularly interesting, as a Lobo player who never lasted very long. Personally, I liked him and always felt that he was completely sincere in the things that I thought coach McKay should really care about.

"I think that Joel was a really good guy." Jeff says. "In fact, he was a really good friend. I think that he really could have been a big star {for the Lobos}, and I think that he should have been a big star for our team. Sometimes he was. He was definitely one of the best - if not the best, rebounder that I had ever played with.

I think that maybe what caused his downfall, was his inability to take criticism. He simply could not take that. I don't think that he had ever had anyone before tell him, that he either wasn't doing something right or wasn't completely living up to his potential."

"There was one time after a game - I remember it well. I told him face-to-face, that he would be there for a quarter, and then during the next quarter, he would simply disappear. It would almost seem like he had quit. Even in practice, he would be lazy one day and in the next, he might tear things up. When the other players are out there giving it everything that they have on a daily basis, those sorts of erratic behavior can really be disruptive to them as well."

"Dealing with Joel was really hard," Jeff continues with obvious disappointment. "I mean, this guy had all of the potential in the world, but when the coaches tried to bring it out from him by critiquing his game, he would threaten to quit. He'd just shut down, right then and there. He would either quit - or not show up for the next practice. He never seemed to take those things as being constructive. At the same time, the guy could just suddenly become a monster. He'd have like, twelve rebounds and twenty points, which I believe is what ultimately frustrated coach McKay with Joel. The guy at times, looked like an all-star, and that frustrated all of us because we knew that he could do that every night out, if he only reached for his potential. Sometimes, it was just nowhere to be found."

"Jeff probably didn't tell you this," his father Jay says,"but immediately after his senior season was over, the Chinese national team offered him a tryout. He turned it down, but these days, he has really started to miss the game and he now says, 'You know dad, I really wish that I had of done that."

"So what's he go out and do after graduating? He goes out and breaks his darn leg playing soccer! (laughing) The other day he was feeling kind of blue I guess, because he said to me, 'You know dad, I'm never going to get those big-game jitters again. That what I'm really going to miss."

In my opinion, we had one of the strongest coaching staffs in the NCAA under coach McKay. Who was your favorite coach among that particular staff?

"My favorite coach?" Jeff asks. "I guess that would go back to our off the court relationship."

"No, he was a good one, to be sure, but as far as feeling comfortable in joking around with - or simply trusting a coach, I really liked coach Didrickson. He's a good guy, but he'll really tell you like it is. When you are not working hard enough, he'd pull you over and say, 'Hey Jeff, you know what? You are not giving us your best - you had better step it up."

I agree. I felt that he was destined to be a head coach somewhere, and I am kind of saddened by his decision to leave the game. At any rate, was Aaron Day an inspiration somewhat, for the type of career path that you were looking into? As I understood it, that was kind of the direction that you were taking.

"Oh, I love Aaron Day," proclaims Jeff. "He is definitely a great strength coach. He didn't do much of the on-court work, but I certainly had a great respect for him. I was looking more at going into the physical therapy side of things though, than just the athletic training part.

So are we going to soon be calling you Dr. Jeff - or maybe even Dr. J anytime soon?

Laughing good-naturedly, "Doc" replies, "I am not so sure anymore. I was looking into it, but that means four more years of school, and I am really not so sure that I have that in me at this point. I mean. I am still going out there and breaking my bones playing sports!" {Jeff laughs}

"Seriously though, I'm really looking at coaching right now," Jeff says, while trying to ignore my silliness. "I really want to coach college basketball somewhere. Honestly, I feel like I know the game, and that I could do some real good with coaching young people."

There was some talk earlier, about you joining coach McKay's staff as a graduate assistant. Do you feel that your options have diminished somewhat, now that there is a new staff in place?

"Definitely, my chances would have probably have been better with the older staff," Jeff admits. Coach had even said to me many times, that I was a coach for him on the court, and that I was a coach for him off the court as well. He also had indicated that if he ever had a job come available, I would certainly be someone who could help him out in that respect. That was something that I was definitely looking forward to. I am really confident though, that I have what it takes to coach people, because I love this game, and I'd like to pass that on.".

I think that you'd make a terrific coach. You know, we've talked a lot about things yet to come, but I really haven't asked you about your specific memories of the games. What was your greatest memory about being a wild, teenage werewolf?

"About when I was what?" Jeff laughs. "I was talking about this very subject here recently," he says. "Okay - probably not with your added emphasis on it, though. Anyway, it is really hard to answer that. There are just so many great things that come out of playing for something that you looked up to your whole life. It'll probably sound crazy to the fans, but the special things for me were the things that I talked about missing the most. The meetings and the practices, along with everything else from a team aspect. Honestly, there is nothing else quite like it in the world.

From an individual aspect...I think, in my junior year, I hadn't been playing at all for most of the time. Suddenly, coach sends me in against UNLV and I just had this tremendous game. There was a tip-in especially, that really brought the crowd to it's feet."

Oh yeah, the one where you cut your head on the rim (interrupting Jeff in mid-sentence). You were up in the stratosphere on that one. You could have easily dunked that one in with a 360 degree tomahawk jam, and I have the pictures to prove it! The way that I recall it, you owned UNLV for four years.

Rolling his eyes, Jeff replies sarcastically, "Sure Jimmy, whatever you say. I am pretty certain that according to you, I could have probably been in the NBA slam dunk contest." {we both bust out laughing}

"Actually - still to this day, everybody jokes about how I should have dunked it. I guess that I probably should have."

{Laughing} "I know. I think that I probably could have done it, too. For me, that was just a huge game. It was at the Pit and we won it. All of a sudden, our fans seemed to jump back on the wagon, and they were all so nice to me for a change. Man, what a great feeling that was. But you know, my true favorite moment....This is probably going to sound really odd. It was probably...{Jeff hesitates, obviously still deeply touched by his Lobo memories}....it was probably....actually, the last game that I ever played here was probably my favorite game. Just because I was still in a zone and it was the Mountain West Conference Tournament. I was playing strong defense and stealing the ball, it was really great. I felt that it was a great continuation of what I had been doing, and also a great ending to that particular stretch.

At the same time, during my whole career in organized basketball, I had never taken the last shot of the game, until that night. And even though the clock was winding down with only a few seconds left, and it was an off-balance shot that I missed - in fact, I airballed it, there has never been an instant where I regretted that shot. I felt then, and I still feel so today, that I should have taken that shot. Having that ball, with a chance to win the game, that was definitely one of the best moments for me. In fact, my mom mentioned just the other day, that she saw that during that particular tournament game, I had tied the MWC record for most threes ever made in a tournament game."

That's pretty cool Jeff, but I still want to talk about that almost dunk (we both crack up). So, can you dunk or not? I know that you can get up plenty high enough, because I've seen you do it.

"Yeah, I can dunk - of course," Jeff sheepishly admits. "By my sophomore and junior years in high school, I was dunking really well. One hand, two hands, ....backwards. I even did a 360 a couple of times."

Now let's not get carried away here (smiling). I mean, the way that you are talking, Nike is going to name a tennis shoe after you or something.

"Seriously - I'm telling you the truth Jimmy," Jeff says in his most dramatic tone - before cracking-up at my nonsense. In all honesty, I actually got pretty good at it, though I have only dunked once in an actual game. It was during an AAU game on a fast break."

Okay man, I believe you. I still wish that you had of dunked on those stupid Rebels' heads! (we laugh) Anyway, you can't have any of the best times, without having some of the worst ones. What were some of those?

"The worst times during those four years," Jeff says, "weren't necessarily me not playing. It was more some of the events and things that just happened during that time. The death of Billy Feeney, that was something that really tore me apart. I was really close to him, and that was something that was just so hard for me to understand. It is still hard, right up to this very day. Seeing my good friends like Mark Walters have a difficult time - the one year when he really did, it was those kinds of things that were really difficult for me. Even with Joel, as I was saying earlier, seeing him not live up to all of the great potential that he had, those kinds of things were really difficult for me. It was those types of things - far more than my minutes on the floor, that I found to be the hardest to deal with."

Telling Jeff about my chance encounter with Billy Feeney at the same game where he had a great game as a freshman down in Lubbock, I explained why in the picture we had taken together, we both had these silly grins on our faces. My friend Jon who took that, had made a smart aleck remark as he looked into the viewfinder, saying, "Aww. It looks just like a father and a son."

Well, I couldn't resist looking waaay up at Billy - who towered over me, and saying, "If that's the case, then his mom has got some explaining to do."

After we shared some warm laughter ourselves over that particular image from so long ago, Jeff said, "Those kinds of things are why everybody loved Billy. It didn't matter how long you knew him, he made you feel special. He was someone that you automatically gravitated towards and liked."

I get so frustrated about it sometimes. I wish that I would have run into him again on that night, just so that I could have maybe made him laugh again.

"I know exactly what you mean," Jeff replies sadly. "As his friend, I have often thought about why he was all alone that night. I have asked myself, why wasn't I with him? Maybe I could have helped him move past whatever was troubling him."

I know that it hit you really hard, Jeff. I have seen the picture of you simply devastated, and crying over his casket.

Clearing his throat with the emotion from that experience, Jeff says reverently, "That was a really hard time for me. He was just such a great, great friend. Such a loving soul, Billy Feeney was. That was just something that you take for granted, because you don't realize how much that you wanted them to be a lifelong friend, until they aren't there anymore."

Jeff, I know that the new coaching hire has little or nothing to do with your time here, yet nonetheless, we are seeing a replay of that lost and fabled thing called Lobomania, that seems to rear it's head at times - although rarely when we need it the most.

"Yeah. It will probably be a good hire," Jeff says. "I have heard that his assistant coach is truly amazing. But you are right, the expectations suddenly go through the roof every time a new coach is hired. I think that he has a chance to win people over right away though, because he is inheriting a great group of players. If that is indeed the case, then it will take an amazing amount of pressure off of him right from the start.

I think that is how the fans here sometimes look at it. That first season, is who you are in their minds. Mess up there, and you may never recover those fans."

As a former player Jeff, tell me, can we as fans help bring this program back to national prominence? In my opinion, we have sucked as fans during the past several seasons.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Jeff replies. "There are certainly real fans out there - and at the same time, there are others who are just there. Maybe they call themselves a fan, maybe they show up occasionally for a game or two, but they aren't even close to anything that would be called a real fan. You, yourself stand as a real fan. If we happen to lose, you know what? We're going to get 'em the next time. We're going to win the very next game, because our true fans are going to be out there cheering us on at the top of their lungs to win the very next game.

Even if you haven't played the game or don't really know the game, if you are going to call yourself a fan, you have to live as if you were a part of the team. In a fan's finest moment, he or she really can be that fabled sixth man that carries us over the top. You know, right under the portion of the scoreboard that has the players and score of the game, there is a sixth man meter - right? It is not there purely by accident. Sure, we might be upset for a little bit, but at the same time, there is always another game. How we cheer for the next game, that is what really defines us all as Lobo fans.

What if the team took on the same mentality as the fans often do? Our team probably would have been lucky to win three games. They might not have won any games at all in fact. If we had taken that mentality into the next game, we'd have been thinking that, 'Man, it's just going to be even worse for us tonight."

"It is completely up to the individual fans," Jeff says with obvious emotion. "If they just took a whole season, sold-out the Pit for every game and backed their team up every step of the way, then they would see the positive results for themselves."

Passionately, Jeff replies, "You bet that they do. You know what? There are games when we go out there and just play our tails off. The stars are just aligned right, and everyone is just really 'feeling it' - or whatever. All of the hours of hard work and practice payoff in instant results that everyone can see at such times. Whether the fans are there or not for those particular games, probably doesn't really matter, as we would probably win those anyway. Then again, there are those games when you come down that tunnel, and maybe you're tired or coach has been running us too much. Maybe you have just taken your final exams or whatever, but our energy level is such, that we might not perform up to our usual level. That is when we as players sincerely need our sixth man, and that is when you as fans can truly be our sixth man.

Because - make no mistake about it, we go out there to play for those fans. I loved every game that we ever had on the schedule that was a big game, because I knew that during those games, our sixth man was going to be there, and because of that, I knew going in that we were going to win. The people who do nothing but gripe and whine about things, they really don't have any idea how much of an unbeatable advantage that they are capable of giving us when they show up and raise the roof off of the Pit in support.

That is especially important in those games that maybe we shouldn't win. Perhaps we are fatigued or whatever, but I have personally seen it happen where our team can get energized and find a second or third wind simply because of them, and we go on to win the game. I have seen it go the other way too, unfortunately. That is why being a fan of this team is 24/7. It is really an important job."

Then, laughing warmly , Jay continues, "It's kind of crazy, but I find myself wondering, what I am going to do with my spare time, now that it is all over? Jeff's games were everything to me, and I guess that not having them around anymore, really makes me kind of sad."

Jeff had mentioned in an earlier email to me, how amazingly hard it had been for him letting go of being a Lobo. With all of the positives and negatives involved, I asked him to elaborate on that.

"It has mostly been a positive thing for me," Jeff says. "The team aspect is just an incredible memory for me. They were my family, and it was truly special sharing those great times with my family out on the basketball court. These days, even after I might miss a couple of games, I'll go back to the Pit as the fan that I am now, and just yearn to be down there on the floor in front of 18,000 people. I'll just wish that I could be down there playing with my other brothers.

Here are 18,000 people, all focused in on the fifteen of us. I honestly can't possibly describe the feeling of that! I mean, just stop and think about that for a second. It is something that you won't ever experience again at any other time in your life. You'll never forget it, and it just leaves this huge emptiness inside of you. There was a couple of times when I was in the game down on that floor and the fans were yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs, I swear that the hairs on my arm were standing straight up, and I got goosebumps! You just thought to yourself, 'Man, this is just amazing!' You just want to freeze yourself right into that moment and make it last forever."

"Those are the things that I'll never forget. I'll remember the positives, because I am not the type of person who is going to sit back and lament upon what other people thought of me up in the cheap seats. Let's just say that if half of my experience was positive and the other half was negative, well, I am only going to take along with me for the rest of my life, all of the positives that came along.

And I want to thank you for allowing me to tell my story the way that it actually happened, and for being so patient with me. What's it been now? Like two years since we first talked about doing this thing? {laughs} Seriously though, almost everyone blows smoke up your ass about these sorts of things. I knew that you were the genuine article though, right from the get-go."

Thank you sir. The pleasure has all been mine. At least, now that we have finally finished this crazy-assed thing! (laughing) So, what about your short-term future plans, Jeff?

"If it was up to me right now in my future," Jeff says, "the biggest thing for me - probably before anything else, is a family. I really want to have kids."

"Right now I am seeing someone, but our plans are not yet that far along yet. That's a goal for the future though, as I'd really like to have a son and a daughter, and get to provide them with the things that my parents did for me. I want to set an example for them, and watch them grow from it. It is probably the only thing that can ever fill the void - and even far surpass it, that I have left over from Lobo basketball."

"Thanks, because that's probably the biggest thing for me," Jeff says. "Whatever career that my life takes me to at this point, I really don't know. I'd love to coach and travel a bit, but that stuff is not nearly as important to me, as just living life and having a good time. As far as sports go, I'll still play 'em, but it will never again be the same. I mean, I was a Lobo.

Wow, what a ride, huh? Two years in the making, I want to thank Jeff Hart and his father Jay, for inviting us all along on the Magical Mystery Tour that are the peaks and valleys of Lobo basketball. It has been a long time in coming, but I had wanted to do this interview ever since I watched a skinny (long before Aaron had made him a muscle man) kid play his ass off in Lubbock, Texas. That year's Red Raider team, was thus far, the best team that Bob Knight has ever fielded at Texas Tech. They went all of the way to the 'Sweet Sixteen' that season, but it was an eighteen-year old kid from Albuquerque, that almost captured them on that particular evening.

That was a night of many special memories. I met Billy Feeney in the lobby, and almost got into a fight with a Red Raider fan up in the stands. There was this one particular loudmouth, who kept making disparaging remarks about our undermanned team, finally making a stupid comment about our jerseys. For those of you who don't remember, that was the year that we had this dark paw-print right on the seat of our shorts. When I mentioned that memory to Jeff, he just groaned.

Of course, the loudmouth just had to turn around and say to me, "Hey, why do all of the players on your team have shit-stains on their shorts?"

"Apparently," I said, "They just gave birth to a few more turds from Lubbock."

Well, he just laughed, but another guy didn't. After a couple of threats were made between us, peace was restored (in fact, by the guy who had started it to begin with), and before long - whenever Jeff was in the game, the crowd began to chant, "RUDY!"

Now, you might think that this was done disparagingly, but you would be wrong.

Jeff Hart had managed to do on one night in Lubbock as a freshman, what it took him four years to do in Albuquerque. That is, win over the fans.

Later, the loudmouth who had earlier made me angry, came over and shook our hands and said, "You know that number 22? That kid can really play. I wouldn't mind having him on our team."