Rod Strickland on coaching his sons Tai and Terrell at LIU Brooklyn: "I want to enjoy the moment"
NEW YORK - Rod Strickland is a New York basketball legend.
He cut his teeth winning a state championship in the Bronx and was later drafted by the Knicks.
Now his basketball career has come full circle as the coach at LIU Brooklyn, a role that has brought him closer to family - literally.
The new season at LIU Brooklyn carries special significance for Strickland. For the first time ever, he's coaching his two sons, Tai and Terrell.
"I always tell them - the back of the jersey was a little rough for them coming up in this basketball game," he said.
But it didn't dissuade his sons. Both were playing at other schools, but they couldn't stop imagining turn a locker room into a family reunion.
"I was like, 'We tryin' to do this?' And me and Tai started talking some more, and I'm like 'We might as well do this,'" Terrell Strickland said.
For father and sons, it was their first official practice together.
"As a family as a whole, it has always been basketball first. We came here to accomplish a goal," Tai Strickland said.
"We used to be in the gym, working out for how ever many hours. When we're on that court, my dad is gonna yell at us. He's gonna scream at us. He's gonna put us through the wringer," Terrell Strickland Said. "When we're between the lines it's 'go time'. There's no holding back. We do what we have to do to be better, to win, to be great. And then off the court we're family. That's how we rock."
Rod Strickland was a Knicks draft pick and spent 17 years in the NBA, then helped sculpt the careers of future stars at Kentucky and Memphis.
"We've seen our dad coach greats like Derrick Rose, John Wall, Tyreek Evans, and he was always our dad. And now he's coaching us. It's a blessing we're all doing this together," Terrell Strickland said.
The Stricklands have always been connected by basketball. They will now be linked by the season in front of them. No matter what the year brings, every sweat-filled practice, every heartbreak and every flash of glory will be moments they share not just as teammates, but as family.
"I want to enjoy the moment. I want to give them a great experience," Rod Strickland said. "My sons being here just makes it more special, because I get a chance to live out my goals and my journey with them. When all is said and done, and they're gone, and I'm gone, we got something to look back on and say 'We did something together.'"
