HH: Where are you orginally from?
RS: I was born in York, Pennsylvania but moved to Atlanta, Georgia and grew up in the Stone Mountain - Decatur, Georgia area. And that's where my family is at right now...my mom, my dad, and my brothers and sisters.

HH: When did you really start playing basketball?
RS: Actually, I was playing soccer and a little football, and I started growing around the fifth grade. I noticed that I was taller than some of my school teachers and really my brother and my father both tried to push me into basketball. I didn't like it right away.....and then my sixth grade year, I picked the ball up and started playing and actually dunked the ball my sixth grade year.
HH: How tall were you?
RS: About 6'0". I didn't grow much after that. I was at St. Thomas Moore, a Catholic Elementary School and I ended up playing in their league. And the first time playing competitive basketball I ended up averaging 20-some points per game. So it was a natural fit.

HH: By the time you were a senior you were a Top 20 nationally ranked player?
RS: Yeah, I went through high school at Decatur High School .....three of my high school years and then transferred to Columbia High School in Decatur. And while at Decatur High School, won a couple of state championships. As a matter of fact my team was ranked second in the nation behind Baltimore Dunbar High School with Reggie Miller, "Mugsy" Bogues, David Wingate,.....the Dozier twins, Reggie Lewis was on that team. And we ended up being ranked second to them. I had an early start, starting as a freshman on that team that went 27-0. I ended up being Player-of-the-Year in 1985 in the state of Georgia...I beat Pervis Ellison out for that honor. I ended up being ranked 12th or 13th nationally in everybody's polls, Street and Smith's, Adidas, Converse, Prep Star, the whole nine yards. I was very fortunate to get that honor. I verbally committed to Auburn University...Sonny Smith was signed at Auburn in '85 and at that time I didn't know which coach was coming in. He had not announced where he would be going, so I ended up signing a letter-of-intent to play for Clemson University under Cliff Ellis.
HH: Did Western recruit you much at that time?
RS: Yes. Clem Haskins recruited me. Depaul recruited me very heavily. I was recruited by most everyone in the country but the schools that really recruited me hard were uk.....uk was my first official visit out of high school.....I didn't sign with them.
HH: Did you consider Western much at that time?
RS: Western...I came to camp after my freshman year in high school. I spent a summer up here in Clem Haskins Basketball Camp and really loved the place. See, a lot of people don't know I came up to camp and got a chance to see the university. I got to play and see, and meet Coach Haskins, Coach Casey, and Coach Farrar.  So, I was very familiar with Western and Coach Haskins. They recruited me, the Uinversity of Georgia highly recruited me, Depaul University, Oklahoma, with Waymon Tisdale, N.C. State and Valvano recruited me very hard...and then Clemson and Florida State as well. I ended up leaving Clemson over the summer, I was there working that summer and I ended up not liking the university. I got a chance to go home and get refocused and then Clem called and Duane, and they offered me a scholarship here and it was just the perfect fit. My parents really liked Clem and his focus and where the university was going with athletics. So, I ended up spending some great years here.

HH: What was it like playing for Clem?
RS: Clem...I redshirted my first year and Clem was here and I got a chance to practice. Clem was a person that believed in giving your all, playing hard was his motto and he meant that on and off the court. He was a person that was fair and honest and that would give you the benefit of the doubt as a young person. But if there were some issues with discipline or character he would definitely make sure you understood that was not acceptable. But it was a challenge because I didn't get a chance to play, and I thought that freshman year that I sat out....that was really a great team. Tellis Frank, Kannard Johnson and Clarence, they were all juniors. And it would have been really nice to have played in games with those guys.
HH: That would have really helped us too. Then in '86-87 as a sophomore you would have really helped that team.
RS: Yeah, I would have been a little bit further ahead instead of sitting out and waiting. A lot of people don't realize that when you sit out and don't perform in competition, you do lose something, you lose the edge. So, it took really a whole year for me to regain that edge. Then the playing time was not there with the senior leadership that we had on the baseline with Tellis, Kannard, Clarence.....then you had leadership at the guard spots with Kirk Lee, Brett McNeal, James McNary, and then even at the small forward spot with Fred Tisdale, Steve Miller, and Bryan Asberry. So, as a freshman....a lot of freshmen like to come in and play, and a few can, but on that team it wasn't going to happen (Laughs), but I did play some significant minutes.

HH: That team got up to a Top 10 ranking at one time. You really had a chance to get to the Final Four. What did Murray do to that team that really changed it from what Clem did?
RS: Well, you know, Clem had his system in place here. And he recruited the whole team....so just from a loyalty standpoint and a respect level for the guy that recruited you. You lose that, and then you get someone new that comes in and has a lot of good credentials....he has to prove himself to the team that is loyal to the person that just left. I thought that first year....the sysytem changed, the offense changed. We had people stepping up..Tellis Frank having a great senior year and going on into the NBA Draft with the Golden State Warriors as the 14th pick. You have people stepping up and then redefining roles on a team. I think if we would have kept that team together one more year, then everyone would have been a little bit more.....especially down the stretch...midseason on down the stretch, more comfortable with their role. And I think that was a big, big change in the difference in that team versus if Clem would have been there....everyone having to redefine their role on the team and understand the differences and expectations about two coaches. And with that in mind, you do get some players that are disenchanted and you get some situations where,"we should have won that game," and we didn't....it was tough.
HH: How do you think things would have been different if Clem had stayed? How much further would you have gone?
RS: I think the team would of course had been, 'as normal'. The prior year we went to the NCAA Tournament when Clem was there, they had a good record and a good year. I think that next year the team would have been a little bit more mature and learned from that experience and could have easily gone on to the Final Eight and closer to the Final Four. I think we had enough talent to do that. And people would have already known their role.
HH: Yeah, UNLV went to the Final Four and they were number one most of the year....I mean, you guys pretty much beat the crap out of them for the first thirty minutes.
RS: In the Preseason NIT we traveled to Notre Dame with David Rivers and Digger Phelps, and we went there and really, really put on a clinic. I even got some good quality playing time in that game. We then played TCU here, and after that game, that was a hard-fought game, and I thought, "You know, we've got a pretty good team here." And then we went on to New York and Madison Square Garden and beat Memphis State with Vincent Askew and that group of guys. After we beat them I said, "We've got a chance to win this thing." Then we played UNLV and they were ranked number one that year and we really had them down....that first half against UNLV was probably the best first half I've seen a team play, and I would like to look at tapes and go back and see. I mean everything went well, defense, offense...just a tremendous first half and we were leading by leading by 22 or 24 points, or somewhere in there. And how we lost that lead....I sat there at halftime with some of the guys on the bench talking about, "I can't wait to wear that watch and the championship rings." And I'm sitting there thinking, "We've got this," then all of a sudden I think UNLV came back out the next half and their defensive level went higher. They turned that up which created a difference approach for us in the second half. We had some teammates that were physically tired.
HH: Yeah, he didn't substitute hardly at all in that game. He played what, six or seven players?
RS: Yeah, and with a team like UNLV you have to substitute and make sure you get your horses some rest. And here they come, they could go eight and nine deep off the bench. Then Freddie Banks and Paddio, they were just phenomenal in the second half, they shot....they wrote the book on three pointers. Freddie Banks ended up getting MVP that night. But I guarantee you, I saw him shoot three or four straight three-pointers. And when you have a charge like that, offensively and defensively, it's hard to hold it off. I forget the final score but they only beat us by a few points that game (Note: 96-95 2OT). But chalk that up as experience. When we lost that game we learned a lot and went on through the season and started doing really well.

HH: I know things kind of fell apart at the end of the year and there was a lot of dissension on the team?
RS: Sure, anytime you have high expectations and you don't reach those expectations like we should have, there is always going to be some frustration. And towards the end of the season it's almost like you need a vacation from your job (Laughs). Those guys....it was a great team,we had some camraderie that was just outstanding in team play....and we just kind of lost our focus along the way.

HH: Well, the other three teams you played on, they were all around .500? I guess that was pretty disappointing after a great freshman year?
RS: Yeah, I was hoping that recruiting-wise we could bring in some people to kind of replace the horses we did have down there on the baseline with Clarence, Kannard, and Tellis Frank, but if you think about it, around the country there's just not that type caliber of players that are going to be here everyday.
HH: Did you meet Sean Vandiver?
RS: Sean was going to sign here. Another guy that ended up signing with Depaul University and played with Rod Strickland, I can't think of his name, but he was coming here. Clem had those gentlemen coming here.
HH: Vandiver became the Player-of-the-Year in the Big West or WAC or something?
RS: Yeah, and he ended up going to the NBA. The other gentleman ended up going to the NBA as well, and had a great career there too, but I can't think of his name.
HH: That would have kept it going right there.
RS: Oh yeah....Clem to me, did an excellent job but we lost a good coach and a good mentor, but what we're here to do is produce quality students, administrators.....and we all liked to see each person achieve. And I was very happy to see him achieve to great heights.

HH: Do you have a most memorable game?
RS: Yeah, I've got two. When there's good there must be bad too, so it just goes both ways. In order to achieve and appreciate the good you have to go through some adversity. And I can remember playing as a sophomore, we were playing Old Dominion here in Diddle Arena and I tell this story all the time....we played Old Dominion here and if we beat them I think we would have been leading the Sun Belt....the Sun Belt still was a good conference back then.And I ended up getting the ball on the baseline and shooting the jump hook right on the baseline and it went air ball and we lost the game. For some reason, that game (Laughs) will never leave my memory because wish I could have that shot over again. But I can remember my senior year, playing UNC-Charlotte in Diddle Arena, and it was a game where UNC-Charlotte had the lead the whole game...we may have tied it once, and going into a minute and ten seconds left they were up seven. We missed three chances to get within three, Rich Burns missed a three-pointer, "Gip" Palm missed a three-pointer...he got fouled and missed two free throws and they came back down the other end and scored. I came down and shot a three-pointer, probably at half-court, and it went right in the hole. I mean it was probably the longest three-pointer I've ever even thought about shooting. That three-pointer got us within one or two, one I think. We needed a steal, and they threw the ball down to the other end of the court and Rodney Ross stole the ball, threw it to me and I spun and shot another three and I got fouled at the three-point line. They called the foul with probably less than a second left. If they would not have called that, Joe Lightfoot was underneath the basket laying the ball up, so we would have won anyway. But they put me on the line for a two shot foul...the first one would tie the game and the next one would win the game. I hit both free throws and they throw a long bomb down the court and miss the shot and we win the game. It was like, everyone was leaving thinking the game was over, and when they're in their car riding here we are winning the game. So, those two games, out of all the games would probably be the most memorable.

HH: Well, what did you do after graduating from Western?
RS: I graduated...tried out with a Japanese team, tried out with a German team....I had an offer to play CBA Basketball. I was pretty frustrated because I thought I had put together a pretty good senior year. Not having a great winning record and not having an outstanding Sun Belt Tournament...I think that kind of hurt my stock as far as getting an opportunity to play in the NBA. Ralph Willard offered to get me a tryout with the New York Knicks with Coach Jackson but I never did pursue that because out of frustration I wanted to get on and leave basketball alone and get on with my life. I ended up getting a great opportunity to work with Campbell Soup Company. I saw an ad in the newspaper, applied for the job, sent my resume in and interviewed with them, and they ended up hiring me as a sales rep...and I thought it was the greatest job ever, I mean I was jumping on my bed when they offered the job to me. And I made pretty decent money starting out of college. And from that point on I focused on my career, my corporate or my professional career in business. I got some tremendous opportunities with Campbell Soup. I started off here in Bowling Green, that was the plus behind it, I could stay right where I was located. I enjoyed that opportunity, I got some good promotions with them. I left them and went to Coca-Cola...Coca-Cola made an offer to me as a district manager and I ended up going there. Then Phillip Morris recruited me into their MBA program and I started working with Phillip Morris in manufacturing. So, I had my sales, brand management, and manufacturing experience all in one. I was moving to Richmond, Va. with Phillip Morris and this job opporuntity came open (Director of Development for Athletics) I thought it would be great to come back to Western and work for the university that gave so much to me. It wasn't even a choice really, it was, "When do I get there, and how quickly can I start?" And it's been rewarding so far, it's been a lot of hard work the last six months as Director of Development for University Athletics.
HH: Talk about your role, what exactly do you do?
RS: My role consists of raising major gifts in support of athletics. You recently heard about Bob Toomey of Sun Belt Construction, his gift.....Mike and Belle Hunt's gift. Those type of gifts, I am constantly and consistently.... I am looking for friends and alumni to help. So going out and raising financial support for all of our programs. I was selling soup, so I can at least sell Western. I know Western probably better than I know soup (Laughs), plus it's dear to my heart. So, it's an easy transition for me to want to come and work hard daily and try to sell the university and its athletics programs.
HH: Is it going pretty well overall?
RS: Yes, I'm very pleased in five or six months, and the success we've had and the momentum we are creating. It's a transition of really getting people to understand that their support is so vital and important to the university. Who else could possibly do that better than someone who has been here and bled and sweated and cheered and cried right here on campus, more than a person like myself? So, I'm very pleased in the direction that we're going. Also, Debbie Gregory and the Hilltopper Athletic Foundation....Debbie directly reports to me in her efforts. Of course the key there is membership development and also endowed scholarships. So, in those efforts I help with Debbie and Wood Selig, the new Director of Athletics. We try to help focus in and make sure the HAF is looked at as an organization that allows us to help the student-athlete.

HH: What are the long-term goals for the athletics department, especially basketball?
RS: The overall long-term goal of athletics is win, win, win, win, win, but realistically...building a new arena or renovating Diddle Arena, on-site or off-site.
HH: How soon do you think that might happen?
RS: A feasibility study has not been released yet, and I would say probably after 60 days we'll know some concrete information from a financial standpoint. And then we can take it from there and start looking at some different scenarios that could possibly make this work. And I think it is going to work, I just don't know the exact time. But it's an agenda, it's a priority. It all depends on the feasilbilty study and what revenues are going to be generated, and the opportunity of bringing in outside entertainment and different things of that nature to help support it.

HH: What do President Ransdell and Dr. Selig bring to the table that's been missing in the past?
RS: Well, it's clear and simple. First of all, President Ransdell, to me, is a tremendous leader and he understands that athletics are very vital to a university, especially a university at our level. And he can remember the days when he was here in school, how athletics were....and the excitement they brought. It helps recruitment....it helps bring revenue to the university. And he realizes that and he's been at other universities and he realizes where we need to be. So his leadership is very important to our efforts. To have that leadership at the very top, and then bring in Dr. Wood Selig, who has outstanding experience, a great skill base...someone who has been at an ACC university. And someone that is very eager to see us do well, and he wants to be a part of that. His vision is the same as the president's...it's a perfect fit, it's going to happen. Good things are going to happen, and I see both of them wanting this athletics program to grow and be the best it can be and MAINTAIN. See, that's the thing, both of them want this to grow and maintain.
HH: We've got there in the recent past, we just haven't maintained it.
RS: Sure, we've had a lot of turnover in head coaching jobs with basketball .Coach Felton has come in and he has established himself as: A) A coach that works hard B)A visionary C)He demands a lot from his kids to be professional, both on and off the court. He's going to be a coach that will set the standard that will be here for a long time.

HH: Where do you see WKU Athletics in five years?
RS: In five years....I see men's baseball playing for a national title, I see their venue down there looking very impressive, bringing in state tournaments and things after the construction of that venue.
HH: Is it going to be a whole new complex?
RS: Well, we're going to build onto it....build and renovate it. A press box, different seating and everything. So I see them competing at a high level. I see football competing at a high level also. I see women's basketball being in the Top 5. I see men's basketball competing for a Final Eight or Final Four spot....hopefully a championship within the next six years. I see swimming, track, soccer, and all of the other sports dominating their respective areas. And the development of young coaches stepping up and stepping into roles. I see student-athletes being lawyers, doctors, professors, judges....I see young kids that come here with very little and turn out to be able to give back to their community. We've got a lot to do and a lot to offer our young kids....and I want to be around to see it happen.