Nate Tibbetts, son of legendary girls basketball coach Fred Tibbetts, has surrounded himself with basketball his entire life. He played high school hoops at Jefferson and Sioux Falls Roosevelt, and college basketball at USD, where he's currently in the school's hall of fame, before getting into coaching. He’s currently an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic, but he’s got quite the resume that led him to where he is today.
Be sure to subscribe to the 'In Play with Craig Mattick' podcast on Apple or Spotify.
Welcome to another edition of In Play. I'm Craig Mattick. Today's guest has had basketball play a major role in his life. Coming from a well-known family name. He's also a member of the USD Basketball Hall of Fame. He's been an assistant coach for the University of Sioux Falls. He's been the head coach of the Sioux Falls Skyforce, and he's coached the USA team in the PanAm Games. And for over 10 years now, he's been an assistant coach in the NBA in Cleveland, Portland, and now in Orlando with the Magic. He's Nate Tibbetts. Nate, welcome to In Play. Wow. Over 10 years now in the NBA. I know the travel schedule can be brutal. One night, you're in Detroit, and the next night, you're playing in Orlando. Do you really get a day off in during the NBA season?
Yeah. Thanks, Craig. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, during the season, it gets a little hectic. Thankfully, through the NBA seasons, rest has become more important, and our head coach, Jamahl Mosley, does a good job of trying to sneak a day out, day off or a lockout day in every to 10 days. So, you get a little time away, not much. I think everybody understands in this business that once the season starts, it's go-time, and thankfully we have families that kind of understand it. And the people that you travel with every day and deal with almost become like your second family because we miss so much stuff with our own. But yeah, I can't believe when, when you start rattling some of that stuff off how long I've actually been coaching now. It's kind of crazy when you step back and hear it.
Well, I remember when you were helping out Shane Murphy at the University of Sioux Falls, and I would assume that the things you've learned from Shane Murphy, or maybe from Dave Joerger with the Skyforce, you don't use any of those techniques anymore, or maybe you do, something you learned more than 10 years ago.
Yeah, I think you always are learning in taking things from people. When I was at Sioux Falls with Coach Murph, I had spent five years with him at the University of South Dakota. He was our assistant coach under Dave Boots. And both those guys were coaches that I looked up to. And when Shane made the transition to the University of Sioux Falls, it was right when my eligibility had come up, so I got to spend four years at the University of Sioux Falls with Murph.
And I think he was 31 or 32 at the time, and got to see him come in and kind of put his fingerprint on how he wanted us to look and what kind of program we wanted to have. And we had a really good run, and I learned a lot from him, just mostly how to work every day.
And that was my first transition from going from player to coach. And it was tough at times, because a lot of those guys were good friends of mine, peers, guys that I played with in high school and even college. Now all of a sudden, I'm coaching at them. A lot of those guys are like brothers to me, so trying to that balance between being a coach from being a player, I'm glad that I went through that and that I learned a lot at that time.
You moved to Sioux Falls, what, as a junior? A junior in high school, from Jefferson?
Yep. Right before my junior year. And I think it was '94. My dad got the Roosevelt job. So, that was the year that we made the transition to Sioux Falls.
What was that high school play like when you were at Jefferson? I didn't hear a lot of stats coming out of Jefferson when you played down there.
Yeah, it's kind of crazy. So my sophomore year at Jefferson, I had played some as a freshman, and my sophomore year, I had a pretty good year. I think we were 500 and, I don't know the numbers I started, and I had a really good year. And I'd always dreamed of playing at Jefferson.But I had also spent a lot of time growing up and playing with guys in Sioux City, because we were only four or five miles from the river and It's kind of weird, my sophomore year is the year that Jefferson High School split up. And that was the year that the Jefferson kids went to Elk Point, or that summer they were going to transition. And then the McCook Lake, North Sioux kids were going to have Dakota Valley.
So I was there during that time, and it was kind of crazy. Students were walking out. We weren't going to school a day or two because a lot of the friendships that we had, we were going to be split up the next year. And after the basketball season, kind of randomly, I went to the Iowa State tournament to watch Sioux City Heelans, because I had had some friends there, and I transferred to Sioux City Heelan my sophomore year, the last nine weeks so I could be eligible my junior year to play for Doug Moody. Yeah.
And that was, my first day at Heelan, that was kind of like the first time that I had stepped away from the Jefferson thing. And I'll always remember that forever. And what's crazy is three, four weeks after being at Heelan, my dad accepts the Roosevelt job. So I went from Jefferson of 50 kids in each class to now all of a sudden 150 to 200 in Heelan. There for nine weeks, and then moved to Roosevelt. But it was a great move for our family. For me individually, just getting to play with Nate White and Jon [Severson 00:06:50] was a dream come true. And just to get to play at a better level, higher level, and see better competition, and just be able to train more year round in Sioux Falls was a great step for me.
I remember that, those years. Those were the early, early years of Roosevelt. And Roosevelt basketball was seeing some success early in its life.
Yeah, I think. I'm not sure we had just missed when Roosevelt had opened. I think it maybe was a year or two before we got there. And Dave Dummermuth was my high school coach, and Bob White was his assistant, and those guys did a really good job, and had coached a number of high school games. And Coach Dummermuth, just the way he was a players' coach and was able to talk to us guys, because he had gone through the same things, just being a good player in South Dakota and playing at Augustana, and then we had Bob White, who was kind of the hammer, the guy had been through state championships and state tournaments.
And so, I got to learn a lot from those two guys for two years and had a ton of success. And we won some games. We didn't win the big one that we needed to, but we created a lot of in Sioux Falls and still have lasting friendships with those guys.
Yeah. Severson was a great scorer. You made him look really good on the court.
Well, he made me look good. And that relationship went way back to when my dad was the coach at South Dakota. From '86 to '90, he was the women's coach, and Holly Severson was coming up at that time. And my dad was recruiting her, and Holly would always tell me about her brother, Jon. So we started playing three-on-three tournaments when we were seventh and eighth graders. And I always tell him this. I wish he would've stayed and played. He's probably going to be mad at me because I still say it. I wish he would've come to South Dakota with us just, because people forget how good he was. He had a great speed to him. He was younger brother of Holly, so he was always trying to follow in her footsteps. And he was just tough, man. He really competed, and I'm happy for him. He had a great career at Colorado State, but I would've loved to play with him for a couple more years. And Kyle Redd, that would've been a lot of fun.
What influence did your dad have on you as a kid playing sports? Maybe it was just basketball, but what about playing sports overall?
Yeah, a huge impact. We were both, my parents were teachers when I grew up in Jefferson until I was a fourth grader. Right out our back door was the gym, and we didn't go on vacations in the summer. We did team camps and summer camps, and me being the oldest, I don't know, I just, I was a pleaser, and I wanted to follow my dad around, and he just had a great way about him. And he just made people feel good about themselves with his vibe, and encouraged my brother and I to play in all sports. And he was just a guy that I looked up to a lot, and thankful that I got to see him on a day-to-day basis. And not only as a coach, but just as a dad, and the things that he instilled in Luke and I, him and my mom, I'm just very thankful for that.
What was it like watching your dad during a game, because he would get fairly animated, right?
Yeah. It's funny. I don't remember having babysitters at that time, because we're growing up in Jefferson, and we're out, right out the back door to our house is the gym. And in practices and even the games, he would challenge his teams and individuals. And I remember when he would start going in at them at a young age, I think I would run out of the gym and run home, because I was nervous for the girls. But he always tried to bring out in his players. I think his players respected that about him. They knew that he cared and wanted them to get better and was willing to... He was one of those coaches that spent time and opened the gym and gave his girls, his teams, opportunities to get better. And they bought into him and his program. But yeah, he had a lot of fire over there. I'm blessed to have a lot of my mom in me, but he was fiery and passionate.
You went to USD, pretty good career. And if it wasn't for Josh Mueller, darn it, you'd be number one in steals and assist. But that's another story. Did you have to convince Dave Boots to come to USD, or did he have to convince you to come there?
Well, I don't know if a lot of kids, it's kind of unfortunate, not more kids in South Dakota grow up, wanting to be a Coyote. I was one of them probably because my dad had coached there when I was growing up, and I got to see Tim Hatchett and Sam Goodhope and those guys play, and I always dreamed to play it at South Dakota, but I just didn't ever, I was pretty realistic. I didn't ever know if I was going to be good enough.
And then we moved to Sioux Falls, and I really liked Sioux Falls, and I was kind of started leaning towards Augustana, and just because their staff here kind of was showing interest in me. And before my senior year, we went down to USD team camp and Coach Boots offered Nate White, Jon Severson and myself all at that team camp individually.
And I remember Boots calling us in our office. And we had been long-time friends with Coach Boots. When he came to USD in '88, my dad was the women's coach. So on his interview, he had stayed with us. But he called myself and my dad and my mom, Mickey, in, and just told us that he was excited about how I had progressed and gotten better and that he, "Would like to offer you a scholarship, and we'd love you to come to USD. You would red-shirt your first year."
And I kind of looked at him, at Coach Boots. And I looked at my dad, and he's shaking head yes. And I looked at mom, and I looked at Coach Boots, and I said, "Can I have a couple days to think about it, Coach?"
And my dad said, "You don't need any days. You'll take it."
And I said, "Mom, can I get a couple days?"
And Coach Boots said, "You can have a couple days." And I don't think it was 24 hours later, I called him back. And yeah, it was a heck of a run, man. It was a ton of fun.
Three NCC titles.
Yeah. Three NCC titles. We had an unbelievable class. I always tell my brother, it's got to be at the top of the list when it comes to classes recruited. I was lucky enough to play with, came in the same year with Nate Blessen, who was MVP in the North Central Conference. Ben Reese, one of the all-time three-point leading shoot shooters there. And Jeremy Kudera and I both red-shirted. And so, yeah, it was a lot of fun. Those guys are still some of my good friends. I just talked to Ben yesterday. Nate texted me today. Yeah, so we've still got great relationships, and like you said, we won a ton of games and had a lot of fun there. And it's something that I would never want to change. I'm so glad that I got to experience that.
You were number two all-time for the Coyotes in steals. How do you become a player, and develop as a player, a guy who can steal the ball? Did you have to work at that? Or did that just come naturally? Right place at the right time? What does that mean when you were the leader in steals? What does that stat really mean?
Well, a couple things worked out for me is once you got on Coach Boots's system, you got to play a lot. So, for three and a half years, I played a ton. So I got a very good opportunity. And number two, I got to sit on the top of Coach Boot's zone defense, and I just got used to timing and spacing and reads. And luckily for me, Coach Boots gave me the opportunity to take some chances. And I think just growing up in a gym your whole life, you get a feel for how the ball goes and moves and the passing of teams. And I wouldn't say that I was a great defender, but I had good feel or shooting gaps and taking chances, and luckily, it turned out okay for me.
Nate, the latter of being a coach has been very impressive. I mean, you were a young kid, right out of USD, being an assistant with Shane Murphy, and then you got the gig as an assistant with Dave Joerger, with the Skyforce. And then Tulsa called after you were the head coach of the Skyforce for a couple years. Were things moving fast over that five-year period from when you were at USF to when you went to the Skyforce? And then, Byron Scott calling in 2012, did that five years go really fast for you?
Yeah. You know what? I mean, I've said this before, but I didn't know where I was going to lead to in coaching. I didn't have a dream of coaching in the NBA. I just was enjoying coaching in college. I wasn't making much money. I was getting married, and I was doing basketball workouts on the side. And the more I got into that, the more people I got, and I was building a business, and for whatever reason, I kind of stepped away from USF. And I was going to try to build a basketball gym and just do a basketball academy.
And I had recruited Matt Wilber into coming and helping me. And we had a good thing going. And thank goodness, we tried to buy a couple buildings, and it fell through. And I'd probably still in Sioux Falls if that would've happened. It's weird how that worked out.
And that September, the Skyforce was looking for an assistant coach. And Dave Joerger was the head coach. And obviously, the Heineman family, I had built a relationship with Mike and Greg, and I had played against Dave's brother, Blaine, at Mankato. Kind of weird how everything lined up. But I was given an opportunity. That was the last year in the CBA. And Dave was a hot name. He was making his way up, but he was still a young coach. And it was a great year for me, because it was a complete change from going to college to the professional level. And I learned so much from Dave, just how competitive you need to be and timeouts and just different situations.
And then the next year, Dave decided to leave and go back to Bismark. And the Skyforce was making the move to the D-League. And that's kind of when everything kind of started moving a lot faster for me. They hired Mo who is still like a mentor father figure to me. And ever since my dad has passed, he's really kind of stepped up. And I love him dearly.
And it was great. Dave was probably mid-30s, and Mo was late 50s, early 60s at that time. So, to go from one coach that was trying to get to the NBA and another coach that had been an interim head coach in the NBA and coached into minors and been an assistant for 10, 15 years in the NBA. It was really good for me to see that, because I had always just seen mostly college coaches, and both of them were very successful, but they were both very different. And that was really good for me.
And then after that first year, Mo decided to leave. And I don't know if I was ready. I believe I was 29 or 30 at the time. And Mike and Greg Heineman gave me an opportunity to be the head coach of the Skyforce at that time. And it was kind of just learning on the fire, and thrown in the fire, and let's figure this thing out. And I wouldn't be here today, definitely, without that experience.
Nate, what was tougher those first few years you were the head coach, dealing with the personalities of your team, off-court issues, or was it more the X's and the O's of ball games?
I think your first year, it's a little bit of everything. Some of those guys that I was coaching were my age. Some of it is you're trying to figure out your belief system. I didn't really have a style of play that I wanted to do. I just didn't know how to approach it. I thought I did. And it was very challenging. And the beauty is, like my dad always used to say, as an assistant coach, you get to make suggestions. As a head coach, you've got to make decisions. And when you make decisions, especially at this level, it's affecting people's livelihoods, and that stuff keeps you up at night. And that was tough. That was tough. My wife probably still remembers me tossing and turning my first couple years as a head coach.
Just the stress that you put on yourself, and you want to try to do things the right way, and you're trying to figure it out, but you don't have the experience to get it done. But I'm so thankful for those timeouts and the teams and the guys challenging me to be better. I know now when I'm talking to Terry Stotts, who I was with for eight years or now Jamahl Mosley, who's a first-time head coach, who's doing a hell of a job here, I haven't sat in their shoes in an NBA game, but you've had to prepare for practices, and you've had to stand in front of your team in the locker room after a tough loss, and that's experience.
And I think when you're talking to your head coach, when I talk to Jamahl, I don't try to throw anything too crazy at him. I'm always thinking, how did I handle that? Or does he need to hear this or not? And so, those experiences and those two years, a head coach in Sioux Falls and two years as a head coach in Tulsa, were very beneficial for me, because there's nothing like being a head coach.
You then jumped to the NBA 2012, Byron Scott's in Cleveland. What was that first NBA game like, sitting on the bench?
Yeah, it was kind of surreal, because I had coached five games in the D-League that year and then the lockout ends, by the NBA lockout. And so, everyone kind of goes to Cleveland kind of quickly, but I was the new guy. They were a new staff the year before one of their assistants had left. And yeah, I was behind the bench. I didn't really know what I was doing Jamahl Mosley was on that staff, and I got to know him well.
One of my main responsibilities, we had just drafted Kyrie Irving. And so in the NBA, you're kind of, work with a guy one-on-one on a day-to-day basis. And he was the number-one pick. So that was a big challenge for me, just you're learning to deal with a future all-star, Hall of Fame type player on a day-to-day basis, and my first year. So, that was a lot of fun, and yeah, sitting up, sitting behind the bench and not knowing for sure if that was ever something that you were going to do, and now you're kind of living a dream. That was a special time.
All those NBA stars running up and down the court, you're watching them. You're right there with them. And how long did you have the deer-in-the-headlight look?
Yeah, I think the first time for me is when I was doing a scout maybe a week or two in, and I'm in the video room, and I'm trying to prepare the team, because it's my scout. And I'm telling Antawn Jamison, who's a 20,000-point scorer how to guard Kevin Garnett. And I think that's when it kind of hit me, whoa, this is weird. But yeah, it's been a lot of fun, man. The thing that's great about the NBA is these guys want to be coached every day. They want to get better. They know... Most of them. And I really appreciate that. And that's what makes it so much fun.
An assistant at Cleveland. Then you go to Portland. You were there eight years, in Portland. The last couple of years, they elevated you as the associate head coach. What was the change in your job description? And what did that mean those last two years in Portland?
Yeah, we had a heck of a run in Portland. Terry Stotts was the head coach. It's kind of weird. My first year as a head coach with the Skyforce, the NBA D-League had hired a coaching consultant. Terry Stotts was out of a job, and he was the coaching consultant. And so, I built a little bit of a relationship with him, and he helped me grow as a head coach during that time. And as I went there, I think when I was hired, I was probably the third assistant. And as time goes, we had a lot of success. So, Jay Triano left our bench and went somewhere else. David Vanderpool left and went somewhere else. And I just kind of made a natural progression, and thankfully they gave me the opportunity to be the associate head coach.
And just with the experience, and I don't know if that much changes from your job day-to-day besides the title, but I'm super appreciative of the time that I got to be in Portland and get to see Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum grow as players and as men. It was a lot of fun. And we had some great times. My wife and I lived there longer together than we did in Sioux Falls, so Portland will always be a special place for us.
What do you bring as a coach in the NBA?
Yeah, I think I just bring a good energy to the staff and to the team. I'm the same guy every day. The beauty of being an assistant coach is every day, the guys are pretty happy to see you because you don't have to make the decision of when they're coming in out of the game. And now, as I continue to spend more time in the NBA, I'm gaining experience. And so, I think with experience, hopefully you're gaining knowledge and about situations that you've been through.
We've got some young guards here. One of the guys, Jalen Suggs, I get to work with on a day-to-day basis. And I can tell him, "Hey, when I was in Tulsa, Russell did this, and that in his first year, he struggled with this, and this is how I saw Damian row as a man and as a player and how he worked and how he held his players accountable."
So I think probably just my spirit on a day-to-day basis, I've got D-League coaching, head coaching experience. And now, I've got some years by behind me and been around some really good head coaches.
Couple of more questions for Nate. You've interviewed for head coaching jobs. What were those times like?
Yeah. Those were great experiences. Obviously, someday I would love to be a head coach in the NBA. I've read Becky Hammon's quotes. Just because you get an interview doesn't mean that you're going to be one of the finalists. Sometimes they've got an idea what they're looking for. There's only 30 of them, and it's the best of the best. And I feel like I'm growing. I feel like I've improved in some of my, it's not like every day you practice doing interviews. So, having a presence and your approach and all those things, those matter. And yeah, I'm thankful. Hopefully, I get another opportunity or two to interview for a job, but if not, I love being an assistant, and getting to try to help a new head coach here and coach Mosley, that's got a really bright future.
And what would your dad think of you today, Nate?
Yeah, he'd be proud. He'd be proud. Yeah, for sure.
He'd be at every game. He'd be at every game that you're at.
Yeah. Yeah. My brother and I giggle about that. If he was around, he would introduce himself to everybody, and his presence would be known. That's just, he was the guy, when he walked in a room, you knew he was there. And yeah, that's probably the toughest thing, just how he would view it. And probably even more than that, just him being a grandparent to my kids and my brother's kids, that's the thing that's probably the toughest.
Could you see yourself coaching your daughters down the road?
I joke around. We've got a place in Platte, South Dakota that we try to get back to quite a bit. We don't get there as much as we'd like, but they're three and a half. We'll see. We'll see. I'll be old by then, but yeah, I would love it. I mean, whatever they decide to do. Like most parents say, we're going to support them. And luckily, I have a really good coach's wife in Lyndsey, and she's not in a hurry. I think she's kind of enjoying this ride. And part of it is she has to feel comfortable, and she's really good at meeting friends, whatever city we're in. And so, we're really looking forward to our run here in Orlando, and we'll see what happens, man. It's a crazy league, Craig.