Ellen: That’s a good question. I don’t know? As I sit there it is just wanting the team to do well and wanting to get them to get the win because I know how much they’ve put into it. Probably wanting to make sure the players are keeping up with their schoolwork. And wanting them to get that satisfaction that they are working for it which will result in wins.

Ellen: No, I’ve never said anything because I’m very quiet and very reserved. Actually if they say something about him it’s only to make fun of his antics on the sideline which you can’t deny. He can get real out of control. The things that really grate on me I think are the things we hear about the players. Because it’s like your family and you take it personally. You don’t like to hear anything like “why can’t they get a free throw”, or “why can’t they do this…”, because they’re really just kids. You know how young they are and how hard they are working.

Ellen: I really don’t know. Let me think…….we were at U-Mass long enough that the people were friendly there. We’d won enough games. People knew who we were. Here, I guess it’s bigger. Not as many people know who we are yet, which is OK with me. But the people are friendly here. You hate to say friendlier, but I think in New England they had enough transplants. But I grew up in Missouri, about 6 hours from here, and it feels more like home to me in Memphis for some reason.

Ellen: When he’s around?

Ellen: Probably mostly kid stuff. When he’s around, he’s usually making an effort to be around. To go to either my daughter’s game or my son’s practice. Trying to get in that family time. There’s not a lot of down time. Otherwise just hanging out around the house. We don’t go out to eat a lot. We don’t go out in public a lot. We don’t socialize or party a lot. We keep to ourselves.

Ellen: You know, I only know people as people - not by their coaching capabilities or anything. He is the nicest guy. My kids love him. He was so good to my kids. He used to be a cheek pincher and we just think he’s a great guy and a great person. We hope he does well at Drexel.

Ellen: Nooooo! He is too good of a guy.

Ellen: Nah, Ed’s a pretty quiet guy, hard worker, and a thinker. He’s just a good guy. A good family guy. He’s too good of a guy. John would have a story. He’s got a story on everybody.

Ellen: Well you have to go to Cal’s Steakhouse. (chuckling)

Ellen: I am just hoping they do well. I hope they improve everyday. I’m not really knowledgeable in the sport of basketball. I know that John can get the job done. I have that confidence in them. I think in the end they’ll do well. He sees them doing better game to game and I just hope it continues.

Ellen: Yes! Ah, well, I won’t say too much as not to say anything negative. But all that he went through, it really upset us because we knew he was really trying hard and we knew that he felt like he was getting it done. I think he was fine, but in the NBA, a lot of things are out of your control. Things had gotten to a point where he felt like his job was in jeopardy but he was being reassured it wasn’t. So, then you almost get blind-sided. He knew something was going to happen although they wouldn’t admit to it. So it was, for him, a great relief when it was over.

Ellen: Well, I knew that assistant coaching in the NBA was temporary for him. I knew he’d be head coaching someplace, NBA or college. We were really looking forward to going back to college again. It’s much more fun. The family is much more involved in it. With the NBA it’s more of a business. You don’t really have relationships with players or management or anybody.

Ellen: You know, he had been out of it long enough that he didn’t even know what his marketability would be as far as that goes. He came here and what he saw was the commitment of the city and I think he talked to enough business people that knew he could accomplish what he needed to here. It wasn’t really about contracts or anything like that. For me, I looked at it geographically. I’m getting closer to home every time we move……. so go, yea!