Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
Photo via RJ Garcia of SJSU Athletics
Newly hired San Jose State assistant coach Jeff Strohm was surrounded by the symptoms of a losing culture.
“I just remember the first day I walked into that locker room it was a pigsty,” Strohm said, “On the first day of practice we had like six guys with their jerseys tucked out and I said, ‘That’s not how it flies.’”
Since August, jerseys have been tucked, the locker room’s become “spotless” and SJSU’s (18-12, 9-8 MW) primed to win its first postseason game in their century-plus long existence after clinching its most most wins since 1981. Moreover, they could clinch a first-round bye in the Mountain West Tournament with a win over Air Force this Saturday.
“One thing I learned many years ago was, ‘If you want to have a championship then be a champion in everything you do,'” said Strohm, who was apart of Utah’s National Championship appearance in 1998 and Marquette’s Final Four run in 2003.
When recruiting coordinator and assistant coach David Miller split from SJSU last April to reunite with former mentor Sean Miller at Xavier it led to another reunion. One between Strohm and Miles.
This is Strohm’s second time hired in year two of a Miles’ Mountain West rebuild, however, the circumstances between last year and his hiring at Colorado State couldn’t be any different.
In 2008, Strohm’s two daughters were affected by a rare and lethal disease called Argininosuccinic Aciduria (ASA) which affects the liver and essentially creates an allergy to protein.
At the time, there were just 100 known cases and Strohm recalls, “literally no one over the age of 18 was alive.”
With little awareness there were only four locations in the U.S. where Strohm’s daughters could get treatment; Nashville, Houston, Boston or Denver.
To the greater Denver area they went.
“That was the nearest doctor plus there was a business there that was running basketball tournaments that I could do that while taking care of them,” said Strohm.
Still interested in coaching, he reached out to then Denver Nuggets assistant Mike Dunlap who put him in touch with a Division II coach he met at Southwest Minnesota years earlier in need of Strohm’s Mountain West expertise:
Tim Miles.
Photo courtesy Terrell Lloyd – SJSU Athletics
“Gave me a day where I could go for three hours and not be worried. Three hours of just enjoying basketball. He [Miles] and I would go for dinner, drinks and just talk about the team,” said Strohm.
Miles put it frankly, “He needed us as badly as we needed him.”
“As a parent you’re only as happy as your least happy child. When you’ve got real life medical conditions and real life problems that’s very traumatic and stressful on a family.”
His daughters have since healed and lead normal lives thanks to heightened awareness and research funds. Strohm’s face lit up when mentioning that one of his daughters was going to be playing for a state championship this Friday.
Under a dark cloud of angst and worry, a friendship was forged between Miles and Strohm byway of Strohm’s ‘consultancy’ cocktail that was in three parts; unmitigated, unfiltered, but always invaluable.
“We would sit down and have a coffee and he’d give me six pages of notes on everything I was screwing up,” said Miles. “I didn’t pay him a heck of a lot of money, but I got a lot of value out of it.”
Strohm went from consultant back to coach after the season and while he was away physically, Miles kept him tucked in his back pocket.
A reunion had been attempted a couple times, but the situation never completely aligned. That was until Miles got a call he’d been waiting for, just didn’t know when it’d happen.
“When Sean Miller got hired by Xavier I knew that was a problem for me keeping David. Sure enough, I think about the Final Four is when Sean called me and said, ‘I’m hiring him.'” Hours later, Miles called Strohm and in July SJSU had found the future of its recruiting operations.
Miller’s fingerprints are fossilized on SJSU lifting itself over 200 spots in the NET and third winning season of the 21st century.
The first coaching hire for Miles’ new Spartan regime in 2021, Miller was blossoming as a recruiter under Miller at Arizona having plucked future No. 6 overall NBA draft pick Benedict Mathurin and had lucrative connections that assembled SJSU’s first roster.
Miller’s credited for bringing aboard transferees; Ibrahima Diallo (Ohio State) the Mountain West leader in blocks, who’s helped SJSU rank fifth nationwide in rebounding margin, point guard Alvaro Cardenas (overseas) who’s the second-leading scorer and wings Trey Anderson (South Carolina) and Tibet Gorener (Arizona).
Strohm doesn’t have ties to any current player on SJSU’s roster for his duties are dedicated to what the Spartans of tomorrow look like.
“We still need more guard help. Replacing Omari Moore is no easy task,” said Miles.
A master of player development, Strohm can show incoming players what it takes to both win at the college level and entertain individual success at the professional level.
At Marquette, Strohm saw Dwyane Wade rise from being the 10th player on his AAU team to a three-time NBA Champion and thirteen-time All-Star.
At Utah, Andrew Bogut became a No.1 overall pick and NBA Champion despite not being heavily recruited in high school. Andre Miller became an 18-year NBA vet although he came to the Utes as a 6-foot-4-inch center out of high school.
His glory days and success stories are less trophies and more badges of honor to validate his methods.
“That’s what’s great about the kids we have, they’re like Andre and Dwyane. You tell them something once and it’s done,” said Strohm referring back to the untucked jersey and locker room “pigsty.”
Photo courtesy Terrell Lloyd – SJSU Athletics
There’s culture and roster buy-in, but Strohm’s tenure has come with in-game consultancy, too.
Miles credits Strohm’s adamancy to switch defensive a defensive matchup against Santa Clara for SJSU’s first statement of the win season.
“He brings a bit of a historian’s perspective, too,” said Miles. “We were talking today about Air Force and he goes, ‘I remember when we were at Utah and he was just at Air Force and they did this defense and it messed with us. We better keep an eye on that.'”
Strohm’s perspective is useful now more than ever. Not just because he knows what’s required to win, but also the fulfillment and the lifelong relationships tethered to it.
“I keep telling them the wins and all that’s great, but in five years they’re going to bring this team back and say, ‘What a great team,'” said Strohm.
Out on the recruiting trail, Strohm was disappointed to be missing a reunion to celebrate his beloved Marquette team some time back.
Until he was awakened in the deep of the night.
“I got a call one night at two in the morning and they were drinking, celebrating, having a big thing and like I cried.”
