On the latest edition of the Awful Announcing podcast, host Ben Heisler was joined by Jay Bilas of ESPN to talk about his time at Duke under Coach K (as both a player and an assistant coach), switching from coaching to analyst work (he started as a radio commentator for Duke in 1993, then joined ESPN in 1995), his social media usage (from engaging trolls to tweeting Young Jeezy lyrics), the NCAA’s pushback against proposed California legislation to let student-athletes profit from use of their name and likeness, and much more.
Here’s the breakdown of what Heisler and Bilas spoke about:
- 4:42 – His basketball camp wrapping up and if they’ve had to change their approach with how basketball has changed
- 7:40 – When did he first start to play and then grow to love basketball?
- 9:55 – Did basketball ever come easy to him?
- 11:20 – Life as a Duke player vs life as a Duke Coach (both under Coach K)
- 14:00 – What was Jay Bilas outside of basketball like?
- 16:45 – Did he think he’d be a full-time coach and pursue it as a career once he started in 1990?
- 18:42 – Was there any anxiety in becoming a basketball analyst? (Two-part answer)
- 21:28 – If there was a moment where he finally felt comfortable knowing he could be good at this job
- 24:10 – Understanding how to be a good analyst for television – perception of his role as an analyst/commentator
- 28:00 – On the realization of “you can’t please everybody” and having fun with social media trolls
- 29:15 – Reminiscing over the 2015 Elite 8 broadcast between Arizona and Illinois
- 33:30 – When did the Young Jeezy daily lyric tweets start to become really popular?
- 35:35 – The impact of the California bill that would allow college athletes to be compensated for their own name/image/likeness and the NCAA’s fight against it
- 39:14 – Will there ever be a time where the NCAA stops this fight and hypocrisy against student athletes?
- 45:24 – Would he like to see the “draft process” go away, since it doesn’t allow rookies to decide where they’d like to play?
- 45:43 – Prouder moment: 94 feet with his son, or his son being featured on “Bad Beats” with SVP?
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