E10 Faragi Phillips - Serving Where Planted

Greg Scott: And I hope you enjoyed our time today with Faraji Phillips as much as I did. Hearing how God rocked his world through someone else's obedience to speak truth into his life should challenge all of us to care enough about those around us who need the gospel to be shared boldly. And seeing how God's hand has been on Faraji ever since that day makes me want to continue to follow him to see where his coaching career takes him next. Share the link out to today's episode on all of your social media platforms. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and then anywhere else you get your podcast downloads and tell someone you know about your favorite 315 voices guest in order to encourage and inspire them and then join us again when someone else will be prepared to give the reason for the hope that's within them on the next episode of 315 voices Hello and welcome to 315 Voices, I'm your host, Greg Scott. 1 Peter 315 reminds us to always be prepared to give an account when someone asks for the reason for the hope that's in us. And today's guest is Faragi Phillips. Faragi is a known quantity on the Memphis basketball scene as he moved up through the middle school ranks to become a high school coach with multiple state titles. His basketball reputation since then has landed him on staff with Penny Hardaway at Memphis and Jerry Stackhouse at Vanderbilt, he now serves as the head coach at HBCU Lemoyne- Owen in Memphis. Most importantly, he's going to tell you that he's simply serving in whatever God currently has him assigned to do. I'm so glad that you've joined the podcast today, so enjoy the conversation with Faragi Phillips. Well, coach Faragi here with us today on the podcast coach. sure appreciate you coming on today.

Faragi Phillips: Thank you so much, Greg. Man, it's an honor, and I'm pleased to be only with you. Thanks for the invite, and I'm looking forward to this discussion on today. I'm excited about it for sure.

Greg Scott: Yep. Well, the feeling's mutual. I'm excited to hear from you. I think we more, we can consider ourselves. We know who each other are. We've not been, you know, closely connected,

Faragi Phillips: Yeah, yeah,

Greg Scott: we'll just kind of talk about maybe your faith story and your faith background and growing up and ⁓ of how our listeners can kind of get a bead on ⁓ for you.

Faragi Phillips: growing up, I didn't really have an that, you know, church and the Lord was important. ⁓ My father would always have an open Bible on our desk that was in our home always. But you know, I would just look at it and glance at it and place things on it like it was almost like a cup holder. So that lets me know that, you the Lord was someone that my father wanted to make important in our lives, but he never ⁓ the goodness of Christ, you know, with me growing up. And I think it had to do much with, obviously, it's hard to practice what you preach if you're not doing those things. And so, I grew up in an environment, man, it was tough. My upbringing was something that has pretty much shaped me in a way that it allowed me. ⁓ to not be what some of the things that I experienced and endured growing up. But again, I think we as parents, Greg, we can only do the best we can with what we've grabbed from our parents. so looking back, man, church, I would only go to church when I was with my grandmother. ⁓ When I was five years old, I moved from Decatur, Illinois to a small country town in Mississippi called Hawcombe, LaFleur. And so every summer from about five till about 16, I would go back to Decatur, Illinois for the summer. And so obviously when I went back, ⁓ would always go to church with my grandmother. And man, let me tell you, church with grandmother was like from 8 AM in the morning till about 4 or 5 in the evening. So it was church all day. And so that I think, was a seed that was planted in me early on, right? And so then you fast forward to my high school career and my playing days. God was just far away from me, right? And I mean, wasn't something that I was just concerned about, wasn't something that I was aware of. Man, it was like something like a far out, way over there type of God you know, just looking back at it as I reflect right now. And then obviously, man, I ended up going to college at Mississippi Valley State. And that is where...

Greg Scott: Yeah

Faragi Phillips: I really understood that there is a God and he sent us a savior because college coach was an older, mean ⁓ guy, Lafayette Striblin. ⁓ would dress up in these big, nice designer suits, but he made sure, I don't care where we were, we would always go to church, even if it was out of town, he would find a church for us to go to, obviously we were at home. We would have games on Saturday and then we'd be up for church on Sunday. Sometimes, Greg, sitting in church, man hung over from the night before from partying as a college student athlete, But that was something that I think, man, kind of made me understand the importance of having a Lord and having a Savior and having a foundation. And it never left me.

Greg Scott: Sure. Yeah.

Faragi Phillips: never left me and then God began to put people around me that were kind of rearing me in that direction early on. So one of my teammates' name was Marcus Mann. If you don't recall, Marcus Mann was known for getting drafted by the Golden State Warriors and saying he didn't want to be a player on that team because he wanted to pursue ⁓ pastorial calling. So, go to State Warriors drafted him, and soon after, maybe like a month after, he informed them that he was going to not accept the draft, not accept being an NBA player, pursuing ⁓ pastorial call. And so, he and I kinda hit it off, you know, I was living a life of... sin and party and having a great time in college and this guy was just living for the Lord even as a college athlete. And so he and I oddly enough kind of made a bond. He would come to my house on Thanksgiving and hang out but we had nothing in common, nothing. And so when you look back at things like that, Greg, you kind of get an understanding that God was in control the whole time. Right? And so fast forward a little bit further, man, when I began to coach, I always made sure that our teams knew the importance of God and Jesus, because I'd always make that something that was part of our team, whether it was Bible study or whether it was some type of thing that we'd go to church as a team. Every third tournament appearance, I would always attend church in Murfreesboro somewhere, always. Whether it was the Wednesday night, if we played on a Thursday, or if it was we played Wednesday, we would go Wednesday night after our first game. Granted, we win. So it was something that I've always made a mandate on my team. And so there's something much bigger and much greater and much more important. than the wins and losses and anything that comes with it. And obviously, that's our God and man and his son, Jesus Christ, for sure.

Greg Scott: What a testimony that you say, hey, I didn't have a background where it was made a priority in my house, but the Lord provided three giants in your grandmother and in your college basketball coach and in Marcus that you look and say something's different and something's important. And I feel the Lord telling me that through continuing to place these people in my life.

Faragi Phillips: Mm-hmm.

Greg Scott: God's always so good to do that and He probably continues to place people in your life to encourage you to that same end.

Faragi Phillips: Mm-hmm. I got married a month out of graduating from college, met my wife in college, but we got married a month after I graduated in 1999, July. I graduated college in May, got married in 99 of July, so two months after graduating, got married, and obviously, I wasn't ready for marriage, right? I was immature. I didn't know how to do anything in terms of fatherhood, parenthood, husband responsibilities. I was just, you know, just, just winging it. it had gotten to a point where my wife was like, listen, if you don't get it together, I'm out of here. You know, you can be immature. You can make all these excuses about whatever the case may be. If you don't get yourself together. I am out of here. And so she would share with me before that she had met a couple at her school because she was an educator. She was a teacher, know, educator. And she had shared with me before that she had met a couple that she really wanted me to meet. And they were a team, so to speak. They were outreach couple that were coming to the school and showed a love of Christ with the students. ⁓ just be there for at-risk kids or just sharing the love of Christ. So she had shared with me before, Greg, that she wanted me to meet him. But of course, man, I was so far beyond that. I'm like, okay, whatever you want, just to make sure I can just get you quiet, that type of deal. And so when she got to her wits end, Greg, she told them, said, listen, you guys gotta come and talk to my husband, because if not, I'm out, I'm gone.

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Faragi Phillips: And then them knowing the importance of marriage and how God views marriage, they quickly jumped at the opportunity to come and talk with me. Now, mind you, I've never met them face to face. I've just heard about them. Didn't have a desire to ever meet them. And so this is what I hear. Right? Knocking at my door. So ⁓ open the door up and here is man at my door with his wife.

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Faragi Phillips: And he was like, hey, how you doing? Real nice man, really nice man. But you could tell he had an authority that instantly in me, the devilish things in me and the demonic things that I was dealing with, instantly they recognized that this was somebody different. I could tell instantly that it was something about this guy in me that knew he walked in authority. So when he entered my house, obviously, know, the facade that I tried to portray, I'm tough, I'm big, I got it going on, I got it all together, you know, and he could easily see right through it. And so, man, we began to talk and we began to, well, he talked, I listened, and obviously I was not really, you know, locked in in terms of what he's saying because I was like, let's get this over with, you know. But man, he started sharing some things with me that made me reflect about...

Greg Scott: Right. Yeah.

Faragi Phillips: my life. And one of the things that I'll never forget he told me was generational curses. And then he showed me in a Bible what a generational curse were. And so then he began to share some things with me that I could recall my father doing that I was doing. And so it hit home because as he was discussing with me this generational curses and generational niceties, my sons who were ⁓ I had three of them. One was, what, think eight, nine, somewhere like that. And the other one was four and five. So I had three sons, like stepstools. They run through the house and he's like, do you want your son to be raised by another man? And so all of those things, man, and tennis go up, right? And so he got me now, generational curses. And then having somebody raise my sons, I'm like, no, no, no, no, where do I sign up? That was it.

Greg Scott: Go ahead. Yep. That was it. That was enough. That was enough.

Faragi Phillips: And so to this day, his name is apostle Tony Wade and he's my pastor to this day. He's my spiritual father. He's my pastor. And I thank the Lord for his obedience because he is the reason that I am a changed man today. God uses him as a vessel to reach me, change my life. And on that night, I gave my life to Christ ⁓ ⁓ didn't look back. And so I owe a debt of gratitude to him because I was headed nowhere fast. I was headed for divorce. You know, I obviously wouldn't have had the career that I had have attained right now because that's what the devil wants. He wants to kill, steal and destroy. And so here I am today, loving the Lord, unapologetically loving the Lord and living for the Lord.

Greg Scott: And you you can tell when God has big plans for someone because he continues that theme already early in our conversation about him continuing to send people into your life to not only encourage you but give you the right words. What were the right words at the right time for you? Will you still remember them these many years later about him talking about you not getting to raise your own sons? ⁓ just your family, not just be married, but that another man is going to turn your boys into young men. ⁓

Faragi Phillips: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And woke me up, for sure.

Greg Scott: that clicked your heels into attention, it sounds like. And as it would with any of us. And growing up, course, basketball is what you're marked by now You played basketball, as you already mentioned, at MVSU And then you start to kind of come onto the scene in Memphis, maybe ⁓ 10 or 12 years after graduating from college, but you've been working the AAU scene. I'll go ahead and say this. If you're outside of state of Tennessee, you're unfamiliar Memphis, Shelby County, men's and boys basketball ⁓ is no ⁓ it is not for the faint of heart. ⁓ It is a tough, it's a tough road and every team is by the way, even the ones with a record that doesn't look it. Every team is good. And there's so much talent there.

Faragi Phillips: for sure.

Greg Scott: ⁓ Talk about how God orchestrated that for you and started you down that road.

Faragi Phillips: Middle school basketball in Memphis is huge, huge. And so I won some state championships at Memphis Ridgeway, which is a Ridgeway, which is the feeder school in the Ridgeway High. I won some state championship at Ridgeway Middle. And then obviously the success that I had at Ridgeway Middle afforded me an opportunity to get the opportunity that I was able to get attained at Mitchell. But people don't even really know. I had accepted a job back at my old high school in Grenada, Mississippi. I accepted a job there in the summer of 2010, well, 11. And I had went to a clinic in Jackson, Mississippi, the coaches clinic. mean, everything was a done deal. I had a press conference in Grenada at my old town and old school. ⁓ And ⁓ was But man, my wife, who's a prayer ring warrior, man, she did not allow me to. ⁓ make that decision because she said in her spirit it just didn't fit right. It just didn't feel right. So through her prayers and obviously God hearing her prayers and honoring her prayers, that trajectory to Grenada, it took a turn. I called them, told them I had to decline the and I'm just gonna kind of see what I can get here in Memphis and may lo and behold. I get back to Memphis, you know, I think the word had got out that I had declined the job in Grenada. And so then my phone started ringing and principals and AD started reaching out. And so had a principal of Mitchell show up at my home around seven o'clock on a weekday. And he told me at that time, he said, you know, we want you to be our coach. And almost that we're not leaving without a yes. And so he gave me some history about Thad Young, who was an alumni of Mitchell, and Coach Jerry Johnson, who was a legend at Mitchell, but they hadn't won the big game. They hadn't won the state championship. And so he was speaking to me about the things that they believed in and how they're to support me. And to make a long story short, Greg, I accepted the position. And man, we had some tremendous success. ⁓

Greg Scott: Yep. Yep.

Faragi Phillips: Four straight state tournaments, two back to back. And obviously the year I went to another high school, they wanted that year as well. So it probably would have been three. But of those things, Greg, would not have happened, man, had I had done the things that many coaches do. And that's leave God out of it. ⁓ lot of coaches do that. But ⁓ man, I had ⁓ Bible Greg. We would have weekly Bible study, man. God was something that was always and has always been at the forefront of every team I've coached I knew it was important. And so what I would do, I had a guy who was a neighborhood ⁓ advocate for at-risk youth, and he knew many of the kids at Mitchell. And so just approached him. It's like, hey, ⁓ you want to, you know, kind of be our team chaplain and hold Bible study our team once a week or at your availability? And obviously, you know, his obedience, thankful for that, he obliged and accepted it. And so, our kids who probably have never, ever heard, knew, or even talked about the goodness of God, began to develop a relationship with the Lord and then the seed was planted through him to our team. Man, I think and I really believe that is why the Lord has given me or gave me so much success at Mitchell because of the things that I've made a sacrifice and that was to make sure that those young people knew the Lord.

Greg Scott: remember seeing your Mitchell teams. That's the first interaction I had with you as I was at those state tournaments back in the early 2010s. ⁓ your were marked with just, a ⁓ focus. I can't explain it. ⁓ as I watch, I've watched student athletes, my entire career of 25 years of, ⁓ being a high school educator ⁓ and, ⁓

Faragi Phillips: Mm-hmm.

Greg Scott: And what Mark, there are those sad youngs out there, right? That we're all good. You're going to see those when they come on James Wiseman, you know, Alex Lomax, when those student athletes take the floor, we see those students right away. But I couldn't tell you a soul on your team. And I don't say that to say you didn't have any good players. say it more as a compliment to say, I couldn't tell you who your players names were. could tell you about Mitchell though, and how focused that they were and hard that they play. So what are some non-negotiables?

Faragi Phillips: course. Right.

Greg Scott: for you as a coach as you lead a program that you feel like lead to that kind of success.

Faragi Phillips: I think the main thing, Greg, is sacrifice, man. Any good team, any good organization, any good whatever, you've got to have buy-in, but you've got to have buy-in that looks like sacrifice. ⁓ has got to give up what they're comfortable. doing or what they're comfortable space that they're in to be uncomfortable. And that takes a tremendous amount of sacrifice. And then at the end of the day, that same sacrifice is rewarding. It rewards you. And so I've always made it very clear that we got all ⁓ in to that team, you know, I inherited that that program that had won three games a year before three games. So, you know, obviously my first year grade, we were able to reach the state tournament championship game ⁓ and to a really good CPA team. ⁓ But man, we reached some levels of success that nobody had predicted. Nobody had saw coming. But again, it was our sacrifice and not just sacrifice between the lines of the basketball court. sacrifice in our time where we would end practice and guess what? Now we gotta go to Bible study. So we're sacrificing so many things. ⁓ so ⁓ scripture tells us, Greg, that is rewarder of those that diligently seek him. And so he just rewarded us, man. You he made things go our way that shouldn't have went our way. We didn't have the best talent. ⁓ I remember my first practice, Greg, I explaining to the guys about a play. ⁓ and where this play had to start from. And obviously I mentioned, hey, we're gonna make the entry pass to the elbow. These guys did not even have a clue of what the elbow was. They thought I was talking about the part of your body. And I had to literally point down at the elbow on the basketball court with a free throw, nine and three, second line break. And so that's the kind of condition and the kind of, you know, things that I had to kind of endure when accepting that job at Mitchell. But again, man, we... We sacrificed so much, man, we sacrificed so much. And then obviously Thad Young, who was a tremendous resource for us, we didn't want for anything. We had the best uniforms, we had the best gear, we had the best everything because he was a provider and he helped us in a great deal. So we had all the intangibles and have them good about themselves. other than that, man, we had a tremendous amount of for sure.

Greg Scott: if you're just kind of picking up in the conversations, Faragi Phillips, longtime Memphis area coach, high school coach, mainly we're going to get into what came next here in just a moment. But, if you miss the introduction, 190, I don't know if you realize this, when I looked through your stuff to prepare for this conversation, coach, you left high school with 199 wins. You need to really go fill in for somebody next year ⁓ and pick up a and walk out. That's right. That's right.

Faragi Phillips: Hahaha Yeah, get 200, right?

Greg Scott: six state tournaments appearance and four state titles at both Mitchell. And then you left Mitchell and went to Whitehaven and people around Tennessee looking and know. What are you doing? You have jumped into the sharks pit, right? Because the large school class of public school arena in the state of Tennessee runs through Memphis, Shelby County and boys basketball and white Haven has not been a.

Faragi Phillips: Right. Music.

Greg Scott: perennial power. It's not been a school that is there every year. There's some that make those lists. You mentioned Ridgeway and White Station over the years and several others. what made you, where did the Lord lead you to say your time, your assignment at Mitchell has come to an end and I need you to do this.

Faragi Phillips: course. Well, mean, just a challenge, right? You know, I had four state tournament straight appearances from the time I accepted a job. Every year we finished in the state tournament, whether we won it or we were runner up. And so, it had gotten to the point where, you know, it was almost... a given that either we were going to go to the state tournament and win it or for sure we were going to be right there. And so the challenge had gotten to the point where it had become easy. And the team that I left when I went to Whitehaven, clearly we would have won it the next year. So that would have been three straight. Three straight, yeah. We had a really good bunch, man, coming back.

Greg Scott: Still very good, absolutely.

Faragi Phillips: so transition to Whitehaven, which was a big rival school to Mitchell. Both are Tigers, probably 10 minutes down the road from each other. And so that came with a lot of fanfare and a lot of discussions about how could you leave us and go there. And it was simply the challenge that I needed to have for validation for myself. I had heard around the city, that's a small A school, Mitchell's small school. We know you're a good coach, but can you do it on? at the 3A level. And so just hearing enough of that man and me being a competitor and having a competitive drive, I chopped at the bit to say, let's go do this at Whitehaven. And I think my second year, Yep, second year for the first time since 1985 when Ron Hewley was there, had they went to the state tournament. And so we were able to do that and make some tremendous amount of strides. And I'm a firm believer, Greg, that anything that you go, any place where you are, always want to leave it better than you found it. And so obviously when I left Mitchell, they won the state championship the next year after us having won two. And then obviously I don't think White Haven has looked back since I've left there. They've been a tremendous, had some tremendous success there as well.

Greg Scott: Yep. Still back, back in the state tournament this year, I believe, so fast forwarding, I want to get to this and talk about, I look up in the new, maybe not the big news, but in, but in Tennessee high school, it was kind of big news. ⁓ Jerry Stackhouse takes a job at Vanderbilt university. his first head coaching ⁓ job you are, ⁓ you know, if you're in Memphis, And you're in boys basketball, then your web of contacts reaches nationwide in that area. mean, and so you have the, you have the network for that. What was it exactly though? It wasn't a surprise that Jerry said, I want Faragi on my staff, but what was the role that he saw? What was the value he saw you bring into that staff and you said, yeah, absolutely. This is I want to be a part of.

Faragi Phillips: Obviously, had seen ⁓ the announcement that he been hired or hired as a coach at Vanden, that I knew some people that knew him. And so ⁓ I made a call Ernie Kiper. who's at Murray State right now. At the time he was with Hoop City AAU program. He and I had a tremendous amount of respect for each other. So I made a call and asked him, did he know Jerry? Did he ⁓ have any intel on him? And so he did. And so he gave me his and I reached out to Coach Stack and said, hey, I got some players here, man, that I think you might want to recruit. And if you're making your rounds around Tennessee, man, stop by here. and see if you anything you like. And obviously I had a really good player by the name of Matthew Morrell, And then obviously, man, that team that I had that year, we had some dudes. Alvin Miles, who is right now playing overseas. He was the SIAC player of the year at Miles College. Kavion McClain right now, who's a point guard for Monmouth University. He just lost to Hofstra the other day. ⁓ And then you don't remember, Big Jordan, Big Jordan, Big Jordan Wilmer was a seven foot four guy who's, who's, who's almost a sheriff deputy right now. So he, you he was getting some stuff from Shaq a couple of months ago. So we had a...

Greg Scott: That's the only one I remember. fact, I just remember they had the guy that was like seven and a half feet tall. And I was curious. So he's a sheriff's deputy. I'm going to tell you, I have the right to remain completely silent. If I see that guy coming to me, I'll be on.

Faragi Phillips: Yeah. Yes, sir. So we had a really talented team, man. And so Coach Stack called, had one of his assistants, one of his guys that he had just recently hired, reached out to him and said, Set up a time that I can come and watch you guys work out and practice and I want to come introduce myself to you. And so, obviously he came and showed up and man we were doing some, doing what we do, practicing and going hard and getting after it. And man, I'll never forget he told me after we got done, he said, man, what did you learn that reverse pivot pass from? And he said, man, I've been to a lot of high school gyms and I've never seen coaches coach the reverse pivot pass. And so I just said, that's all we do. We do a lot of reverse pivot, we do a lot of fundamentals. And so that was one of the things that stuck out to him. And he said, what do you wanna do with your career? And I said, obviously, I have aspirations to one day coach on a college level. I'm just being patient and trusting the Lord and allow him to lead me and put me in the right position to be able to reach that dream. And so he said, you stay doing what you're doing, man. You have a great future in this game and I'm gonna keep in touch. And so, I mean, fast forward a few weeks after that, I was getting ready for my son's graduation, and man, he called me. He said, hey, man, what you doing? But obviously, the kicker was I had Matthew Morrell, right? That's kind of the kicker, right? Because I had a kid that was highly recruited. Florida, Auburn, everybody in SEC was recruited. Everyone. Missouri, Texas A ⁓ everybody was recruited. was kind of, I guess he was trying to ⁓ two birds with one stone for lack of better words. But eventually, man, I accepted the position. And then the rest is history in terms of my college career. I owe a debt of gratitude to Jerry May. He's the genesis of my college coaching career. And I like to believe, Greg, I was preparing for that moment as a high school coach for the last four or five years. Everything we did in terms of ⁓ our preparation how we played. and how we got ready for games was what I learned from talking to college coaches who would come visit my gym, kind of seeing what they do so I could best have my kids prepared when they get to that level. And obviously, it helped me a great deal as well because I was also preparing myself. And my Lord, He has really taken care of me. Blessed be God who does not turn away our prayers nor His tender mercies. I like to say man, I'm one of his favorite sons because he's always been there for me. He's always answered my prayers. He's always given me tremendous amount of mercy. And I've always made my due diligence in recognizing and honoring him and everything that I've ever done.

Greg Scott: He promises anyone that seeks Him with your whole heart that you'll trip over Him. You'll find Him. If you look for the Lord with your whole heart and you do it earnestly, He's not hiding from any of us. He definitely has not hidden in your life. ⁓

Faragi Phillips: ⁓ my goodness. There you go. Come on now. No sir. No and yes not. you. ⁓

Greg Scott: I knew that you were known as a developer ⁓ basketball ⁓ ⁓ know some coaches and I don't want to throw names out because you and I would get, we'd leave some good names out if we started, but you're on that list of taking someone that's at a three and taking them to a six or taking them from a seven to a nine.

Faragi Phillips: Mm-hmm.

Greg Scott: then you transition from Vanderbilt, of course, Coach Stack no longer at Vandy now, go with Coach Hardaway. Penny is obviously known. You two are playing in the same region together just a few years before that when Coach Hardaway was at Memphis East High School with a phenomenal run of success there with the talent that he had coming through Memphis East and you at Whitehaven and even Mitchell before that. And so was the role similar? Or did you kind of see your role change when you got to the University of Memphis?

Faragi Phillips: Well, I mean, our time together either in AAU coaching together and then obviously, you know, for that time that we coached against each other, we played each other four years, I mean, four or five times a year in one year for like two or three years straight. So we have become real acquainted with each other in our basketball acumen. You know, we had a lot of respect for me and I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he did. And so the timing was right and things kind of was put in place. And so ⁓ he and I talked and it just made sense. It just made sense to where I could come back and. and be someone that can support him and understand the things that he want and how he goes about doing things. I could kind of help him with that. so yeah, we got connected, man, and had a great, great, great run for sure. Beat Houston, who was the number one team in the country in the conference tournament championship, lost to a Final Four team in FAU at the buzzer, which probably we had a great opportunity because we were a Final Four team that year. had a really good team. I enjoyed my time there with Penny, enjoyed my time there with Memphis. And ⁓ I'm knowing he's going to bounce from this tough year that he had. But hey, ⁓ man, we had a lot of And I'm so thankful and fortunate for him ⁓ giving me a chance and giving an opportunity to come back home and make some history with him.

Greg Scott: I don't know Penny personally, but I watch sometimes and I think as as basketball fans and sometimes I'm a fan, but basketball fans we see that ⁓ that big personality that big name take a coaching job and think I don't need help because I'm. You know, I'm Penny Hardaway and he does a great job at surrounding himself with the Faragi Phillips of the world that that bring bring some basketball. You use the word acumen. It's perfect. Perfect word for I need a yen to my yang. He brings in people I think that do things that compliment his skills very well. And you did that with him there and you did. You guys did have a good run of success. This was a tough year for University of Memphis ⁓ looking forward to seeing what they do next year and how they respond to it.

Faragi Phillips: Right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, they're gonna bounce back for sure.

Greg Scott: we talk about big names and I'm going to take something unrelated for a second. You played college basketball at Mississippi Valley State University at MVSU.

Faragi Phillips: Yeah.

Greg Scott: How many people have ever asked you, do you know Jerry Rice personally? That's the MVSU alumni that I think of immediately when I think of that school is Jerry Rice. you paths ever crossed? Can you pick up the phone and call Jerry?

Faragi Phillips: Hahaha So now crazy story, I've never met him, but we've had an opportunity to talk to him as a team over a speaker conference call. The year we won the SWAC tournament championship, we got obviously an invite to the NCAA tournament and he provided us with brand new warmups, brand new.

Greg Scott: Okay.

Faragi Phillips: know, geared to travel with. And so, you know, the call was made where he was addressing us as a team, congratulating us and telling us that he's supporting us and he's proud of us. as we traveled to play Georgetown that year.

Greg Scott: Yeah. You know, there's some, there's probably some big city guys that just don't understand when you're from a small community and small schools, you never turn your back on them. And Jerry Bryce talking about taking care of you guys, he didn't play basketball, but that's his school. And you talk about, and I know Memphis is a big city, but where Mitchell is located, that's a, it feels like a community school. And you talk about Thad Young coming back and being generous to your school. Maybe you're the second most, you're the second MVSU person I would think of now, ⁓ if I think of an alumni from Well, and ⁓ I'll segue one more in your career.

Faragi Phillips: Right, for sure, for

Greg Scott: You last late in the game for college, at least for college coaching, hires are concerned last May accepted the position as a head basketball coach at LeMoyne-Owen for those of you about to Google that, ⁓ is a ⁓ school, HBCU in the city of Memphis. ⁓ you took that job and I didn't even hear about it. That's how, that's how tidal wave the news went. I didn't know that until the season was going this fall. And I was checking something. said, I did not know that's where he had gone, but.

Faragi Phillips: Mm-hmm.

Greg Scott: In the past, LeMoyne-Owen has not been a powerhouse in that conference. In fact, 24-25, correct me, did they win three games or four games? Because it was not more than that before you took the job, four games. And I actually saw an interview that you gave with local news station in Memphis when you took the job and the interviewer asked you the question, you know, it's late in the game. What are your goals? And you said, ⁓ we want to win right now.

Faragi Phillips: Yeah, Four in that. Yep.

Greg Scott: Coach, you won 17 games at LeMoyne-Owen this year, and I bet you put the same principles into place. how did that transition go for you?

Faragi Phillips: Yeah. Well, I mean, like anything I've done, you know, I recently asked my pastor the other day, I said, you know, I was talking to him, said, why do you think? You know, I value his opinion. I value the thing that he tell me. I said, why do you think the Lord always puts me in position as a coach to take something that has been nothing, to try to make something, to create something out of? He just said, you have an apostolic call on your life. It's apostolic. And I was like, well, I didn't know that, but it's definitely what it looks like. And so when I took this job, I was very apprehensive, Greg. I was very, very, like, man. Because the stigma of LeMoyne has not been very good. LeMond, didn't have a good reputation in terms of the things that I had heard So I was very apprehensive take this job. people don't even know this, Greg. I ⁓ had pretty much ⁓ nailed down Good Pasture Christian School before LeMond. I declined it because when I went to my Lord in saving prayer, my wife and I just didn't feel right, and it was just something that he didn't want us to do. And so you're talking about maybe a 40, $50,000 decrease that I turned down to not go to Goodpasture in Nashville to take Lamar. So fast forward to May. I'd to thank Greg that it wasn't a coaching position as much as it was an assignment that God had given me. It was an assignment that he had tasked me with. that's how I look at it, man. Obviously, I'm coaching and I'm a basketball coach, but it was nothing more than just an assignment that the Lord had given me to do his will in this position. So we like to that we are a team that's principle, guide, and technique driven, everything that we did. So we went back to the basics in terms of how we wanted to play and how we wanted to compete. was able to identify some young people early in the season, I mean early in the recruiting trail of my being hired that we thought would best fit how we wanted to play at that time. And so, we made the most out of it. And like anything else, you give what you have and let God do the rest. And so I think I share this with you, man. I was thinking about, man, I gotta have, I gotta hire coaches, I gotta get a team chaplain, I gotta get all these things in place. And so, as I was pondering about what I wanted to do with my team chaplain, the Lord clearly spoke to me and said, you're going to do that. You're going to do that. You're going to provide the word. You're going to do Bible study and you're going to do a good job at it. And I was like, come on, man. I got to prepare for games. I got to practice and I got to do all these other things. You want me to do Bible study too? And he's, yes, why not? You're equipped now, you're prepared, you're ready for it. And so, man, we would have Bible study before every game. And so that thing just took off, Greg, it took off, man. We went from, you know, obviously four years a year before, four wins a year before to winning 17 games this year and 14 in our conference, which was, you know, a huge improvement. But again, I can't stress it enough. You know, God provided everything we needed. And it is the reason why I can see here today and tell you that we had a 13 game turnaround in one year with players that otherwise other schools didn't want at the time that I took no one but the Lord.

Greg Scott: Yeah, even a great recruiter like you to be honest, and it's no disrespect because LeMoyne Owen could, next year coach, you make another turnaround like that, you'll be in the national tournament. But even knowing that you're there, it's not a place to draw players to. didn't immediately, you didn't get calls from division one transfer saying, hey, I hear you're at LeMoyne Owen coach. I'd love to come. So, ⁓ so it is a significant turnaround as far as how the world views.

Faragi Phillips: Right,

Greg Scott: what doing there, but I hear you say, I took over chaplain What head coach ⁓ any level of NCAA also double serves as their team chaplain? I know. I think you may have just created a new position that only you fit is head coach slash chaplain at a NCAA school.

Faragi Phillips: Mm-hmm. And man, listen, I'm gonna tell you, Greg, it was some of the most profound and exciting times of our season. Our kids, our players, I call them kids because they're kids, but they're young men. But man, our players would be just as excited for Bible study as we would be for our biggest game for tip off. I'm talking about the revelations that we would have and the discussions that we would have in terms of-

Greg Scott: And that's awesome.

Faragi Phillips: you know, how important it is to have a foundation with the Lord. And so that's what happened. And we never wavered from it. It didn't matter if it was a snowstorm, whatever the case may be, man, we always made a concerted effort to lean on the Lord and make him a prominent entity of our team.

Greg Scott: It's, and it sounds like coach that it's almost, it became one of those things where it just grew like a snowball rolling down the hill. Once it got started and guys bought into not the basketball, but they bought into having this fellowship, this brotherhood that had a like-mindedness that, that you let out on. you know, a lot of times I think as coaches, whether it's at a high school level or a small college level or whatever middle school level.

Faragi Phillips: deal.

Greg Scott: We think, that's my job. Now, I'm a believer and you can come to church with me on Sunday and see that, but I really can't let that bleed over here into my job. don't, either because of fear or not sure how to do that. And I hear you talking and saying, no, what my job is, it's an assignment from God to spread the gospel to whoever I come into contact with as long as I can. And right now do that as a coach.

Faragi Phillips: Bye. Yeah, unapologetically, mean, hey, don't, listen, that's part of who I am. I coach for a living, obviously, but I'm a man of faith, I'm a man of God, first and foremost, right?

Greg Scott: Right. That's right. And I'll be honest, LeMoyne Owen, one of my favorite college nicknames, the magicians coach. As I see, you got the hat on today. The magicians. don't know the history of that, but ⁓ it's one of those, it's one of those just kind of college, college and high school. There's all kinds out there, but the LeMoyne Owen magicians. so what's long-term before we kind of start, start the road of wrapping up with you today, coach. What's the long-term vision and

Faragi Phillips: All right. Yep.

Greg Scott: for Faragi's life.

Faragi Phillips: Well, mean, obviously, man, I'm just going to continue to be obedient, right? I'm not going to make any decision or do anything that pleases me. ⁓ Right? Whatever I do and wherever I go and however I go about doing it, it's going to be first and foremost under the authority of our most high God. Right? And so whatever he has for me, I don't know if that's going to be a long-term career in the morning. I don't know if that's going to be, hey, going someplace else. But wherever I am, my light is going to shine and the love of Christ is going to reign through, regardless of what I do. And I trust that he's going to put me in those positions to be in environments where I don't have to do the, I don't have to dumb down. my love for the Lord. And it's such blessing ⁓ know that my steps are ordered in the Lord for sure.

Greg Scott: ⁓ I don't know if there's a more time in a young man's as to what's gonna form who he is for a long time. Just like you got those people that the Lord placed in your path with your coach and with ⁓ Marcus and with your grandmother and then ⁓ later on with your pastor just people, you're one of, now you're, almost like a pay it forward in the faith is that you're doing the same thing that was given to you.

Faragi Phillips: Absolutely, man. I don't lose sight of that. I'm only here because of His grace and mercy. All of us have stories that we can share that, ⁓ past could have went another direction. And so I think I'm tasked with right now ⁓ ⁓ seed planner and helping young people understand that the foundation of their lives has to start with the Lord.

Greg Scott: Mm-hmm.

Faragi Phillips: ⁓ The wins and losses, Greg, are going to take care of The development in terms of basketball is going take its shape. ⁓ But man, I don't want to come ⁓ when my time here on Earth is done and I got to before the Lord and hear him say, ⁓ you didn't do that. I gave you this. You didn't do that. Greg, very clearly, very clearly, I want to job well done, my good and faithful servant.

Greg Scott: And that should be a motivation to all of us is to hear those words. We're all gonna hear a little bit of, I got a little list for you, but if I can keep that list short, ⁓ boy, that'd be a blessing.

Faragi Phillips: Why? Yes, sir. It would be a blessing.

Greg Scott: So all of our guests on 315 Voices go through a 315 challenge and the three in the 315 challenge is what are the three books outside of the Word of God, the three books that have impacted you the most?

Faragi Phillips: last think book I read Coach Stack me ⁓ a copy Dean Smith, Dean Smith book of, I can't remember it. But he gave me a copy and I read it from front to back. And then John Thompson's his book as well. But man, those two for sure are books that have shaped me in terms of, you know, how I do things as a coach and, know, having principles and not wavering from certain principles.

Greg Scott: Also, you're only, as a player, you ⁓ were able to in one NCAA Did you get a little star-star, I mean, you played against Allen Iverson, which was enough, but as you look over and see this giant of a figure with this towel over his left shoulder, ⁓ is there little bit of, whoa, ⁓ rather guard Iverson than to get the eyesight of that guy.

Faragi Phillips: Mm-hmm. Hey. Yeah, man. One thing I remember about that game was how encouraging he was to his players. You he was very demanding. He had his presence on the sideline. But man, all throughout the game, he empowered, uplifted, and encouraged his players like I've never heard before. I mean, it was something that as an opponent, you would almost be discouraged because you're hearing this guy tell his players to go at you and to go at you and to go at you. Something that I had never heard before. So that was a huge impact on me and just empowering you guys

Greg Scott: Well, and I can remember seeing from Allen Iverson articles and not just articles, maybe interviews and the way that he talks about coach Thompson is just like someone talking about their father. And I think he took, I don't know what kind of basketball coach he is, but I can tell you what, what he took his role very seriously as that figure in a lot of young men's lives. So

Faragi Phillips: Yes. for sure. We did. Thanks for listening.

Greg Scott: the one in our 315 challenge and this is gonna be good for you because I'm interested to see what you think your answer here is, is who is the one most notable person, famous maybe if you want to use that word, in your phone that if you called them or text them, they would hit you back.

Faragi Phillips: Hmm. I got a few. ⁓

Greg Scott: I know, I know you're well connected, so I want to see who you think goes to the top.

Faragi Phillips: That's, yeah, you got some really good, well, right now, man, because of what I do as a coach, in my coaching profession, it would be Rick Barnes. Rick Barnes is a tremendous influence on me. know, he's a mentor of mine.

Greg Scott: Okay.

Faragi Phillips: And he's a guy that I take a lot from because he coaches with a lot of light. And he's always encouraged me to let my light shine. he either texts back or he'll pick up the phone if I called him. And then obviously as a player right now, it would be all my former players who are pros and just those guys who played for me. But Scottie Pippen Jr., who was with me at Memphis, I mean at Vandy, who's now with the Grizzlies, he and I FaceTime all the time as well.

Greg Scott: The five in the 315 challenge is always the hardest for our guests because I'm going to give you five minutes to sit down with anyone in history that you can. And again, five minutes is a ridiculous short amount of time, it fits our numbers. So that's why you get that. So who would you choose to sit down with for five minutes?

Faragi Phillips: Okay. I think growing up, know, in our culture, Greg, I mean, you know, obviously he's somebody that fought know, black people in terms of the struggle that we've had endured growing up. So I would have to probably say Martin Luther King. Just see his courage and ⁓ how you just have the power and the strength and the endurance to overcome so much So I would love see him in a twofold situation. How you able to go through it and then how do you feel now that you see what you spoke about is actually happening. I would love to have an opportunity to sit down with him in both phases.

Greg Scott: You use the right word when I think of gosh, there's so many adjectives that you could describe Dr. King, but courage is perfect. I get one word. I've ⁓ read any, I can't imagine being behind the scenes and seeing him when he wasn't out front, but when he's out front, just unwavering. And what a great choice for your five minutes. Faragi my brother, I, I am thankful to the Lord for our connection.

Faragi Phillips: you We're losing? We're

Greg Scott: for you to jump on and have a conversation with us today. Is there anything that we missed? Anything that you want to make sure that we include in your story?

Faragi Phillips: I just want people to understand, man, you know, ⁓ I'm sinner saved by God's grace and mercy. I'm not perfect. ⁓ But may I tell you, I aspire to do the things of Lord and how he leads me and guides me. I ⁓ don't waver from that coaching is something that I do, but it's who I am. ⁓ And so I love the fact that you have this platform, that can be ⁓ open and transparent about. you know, our God and the Lord that we serve. And so I'm thankful and grateful and honored to be here. And it's very, very encouraging, man, to know that you have brothers in Christ that share and feel and have the same love that you do for our Lord and Savior. It's a tremendous, tremendous feeling that I have.

Greg Scott: It's been a treat. ⁓ I've enjoyed having you on here. Certainly going to stay connected. I owe you lunch time I'm in the Memphis area or time you ⁓ get near Jackson or ⁓ north of Jackson, ⁓ you just holler at me and, and, and I'd be glad to hook up you, but thank you coming on the today, man. It's been great.

Faragi Phillips: I Thank you so much for having me on, man. Keep doing what you're doing. I think it's a powerful, powerful platform. And I appreciate you feeling the urge and the need to have me on. And I'm so grateful and honored to be a part of it on today. Thank you very much.