Ashley Gill: BTN Spotlight
Introduction
Ashley Gill, the director of Meta Hoops Idaho, which is recognized as one of America's fastest-growing women's basketball programs. This program has been instrumental in developing highly talented players such as Avery Howell and Brynn McGaughy, who have received numerous offers from Power 5 conferences. Ashley has played a significant role in cultivating a playing style that is both enjoyable and fast-paced, emphasizing player movement and individual freedom. In addition to her coaching expertise, she boasts an impressive international background. BTN Scouting had the privilege of interviewing Ashley Gill to gain insights into her journey and discover why she is considered one of the top directors/coaches in the country.
Interview
Coach P:
You were an athlete in high school, so obviously I want to start there. Could you talk about kind of like your early athletic days and what kind of drove you to play sports and what sports did you play in high school and just kind of early on?
Ashley Gill:
Yeah, so, you know, I grew up with a bunch of brothers, so kind of played all the sports. In high school, I played basketball and volleyball primarily, and then played a little bit of soccer at the very end.
Ashley Gill:
Yeah, played all the sports growing up. Really liked basketball, obviously, the most. Honestly, didn't have any intention of, you know, I could have played college. I had some division three offers, but just kind of wanted to be a college student.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
Went to Washington State, because one of my brothers went there. And after a couple years, I was studying sports administration. I needed to get some practicum hours so I started working with the women's basketball team and coaching kind of evolved from there, long story short.
Ashley Gill:
Yeah, so
Ashley Gill:
I started working with June Daugherty, who, you know, June was one of the best in the business and she gave me an opportunity and honestly it was awesome.
Coach P:
Yeah, and how did those sports help you become a better, not only like player in those sports, but also just like a coach? How did those sports help you become a better coach?
Ashley Gill:
Probably just more relatable, I would say. Kind of knowing what these kids have gone through and trying to help them navigate tough things in life. I think especially getting the opportunity to coach in college right away.
Coach P:
Yes.
Ashley Gill:
At such a young age I was so relatable to these girls because I was basically right out of college and they're college kids and I'm trying to coach and you know I think that I probably had a pretty good impact on a lot of kids because I was really easy to talk to and yeah.
Coach P:
That's awesome. I mean, I have a ton of questions kind of about that. Obviously, we're going to dive deeper into the college stuff. But I wanted to ask you, what do you feel about, you know, student athletes playing multiple sports, not only in high school, but like early on in their, you know, athletic days? You think it's something that should be pushed more often? I see a lot of players kind of focus focusing on one sport. super soon. Do you think that's a bad thing? How do you kind of view
Ashley Gill:
You know, it's kind of a tough question. I think, you know, I honestly think that kids get their overall athleticism from playing all the sports early. Like, and I think probably by, I don't know, sophomore or junior year, you probably have to narrow it if you really want to, if you really want to be good at one sport because there's just not a ton of time. But, you know, I right now I coach an eighth grade team and I like all my kids that are playing different sports. I think it kind of teaches them different types of athleticism. And yeah, I encourage it to be honest.
Ashley Gill:
Yep. Like what I said though, I think I kind of encourage kids to play multiple sports. I think it helps with their athleticism. But probably by sophomore or junior year, you probably should be focusing on one if you do want to play it at the college level.
Coach P:
Yeah, no, I totally agree with that. And I have found that, you know, those players that play multiple sports, especially early on seem to get a little further sometimes, especially like in the athletic department and just being more coordinated.
Ashley Gill:
Yup.
Coach P:
Obviously the defensive ability is a little bit better because their lateral quickness is better and stuff like that. So I do find that it does help and I wish that, you know, more players would. play other sports, especially early on, and not focus solely on one sport, you know, when you're like seven or six years old.
Ashley Gill:
Which is just crazy.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
They also get burnt out.
Coach P:
Oh yeah, they get burnt out so quick.
Ashley Gill:
Yep.
Coach P:
Yeah, no, that was that was kind of my main question on that. And then obviously, you know, you went on to coach at a high level. What are some of your early your coaching inspirations kind of growing up?
Ashley Gill:
Oh, coaching inspirations by people?
Coach P:
Yeah, people, it could be a movie that kind of, you know, triggered you, it could be anything, a book.
Ashley Gill:
Oh man, I don't know. This is gonna sound so cliche and cheesy because I'm pretty sure Netflix just came out with a Tim Tebow thing. But when
Coach P:
Yeah
Ashley Gill:
I was in college, I read Tim Tebow's book. That dude was so incredibly tough and competitive.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
And that kind of resonated with me. But in terms of like, I know he's just tough, man. If you read his book, like he would just play till exhaustion, I think the best ones can do that and they understand that they can push themselves further than they actually think they can, you know what I mean?
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
And he was one of those, so I kind of liked that. But my coaching inspiration, probably I coach with a guy at Washington State named Rod Jensen, and he had been on the men's side for like 30, 40 years. He was a head coach at Boise State on the men's side, he was at Boise State as an assistant for like I think 18 years, kind of been all over the place, UNC Greensboro, Washington State. And I was lucky enough to kind of catch him at the end of his career. And he had never coached females before. And he was always on the men's side. And it was like he should have been on the women's side from the get go because he the way he could make his kids play so hard. I've never seen anything like it. And it wasn't out of. It wasn't out of threads. The guy doesn't swear. He's like the most easygoing guy. But when it came to basketball, kids would just run through walls for him.
Coach P:
Wow.
Ashley Gill:
Yeah, I mean, just honestly incredible. I bet, and he was at Washington State, I want to say he was with me for two or three years. And then he actually came with me when I went to Utah State. I got to coach with him again at Utah State. And I bet if you were to ask the girls that played for him at Washington State, at Utah State, who their favorite coach they've ever had in their entire lives, 99% of them would say him.
Coach P:
Wow.
Ashley Gill:
It's hard to explain how he can get kids to play hard, and he's just an awesome dude. So I would say my coaching philosophies, especially defensive coaching philosophies, all come from him.
Coach P:
What kind of principles did he have and I guess what was kind of his foundation just outside looking in?
Ashley Gill:
Yep. Overall, general philosophy, pressure the ball, force some baseline, have really good help and rotate. So play really good team defense. And then he also, we did it like probably, I don't even know, maybe at Washington State, we probably did 60% man defense like that. And then we had a matchup zone that was kind of very, very similar, so people didn't know if we were in man or if we were in zone, and it was just really tricky and fun, so long story short, those are kind of his principles, and kids buy into it with his energy and his effort and his passion, and they just play really hard, and that's kind of, you know, if people, the ultimate compliment that I can receive when college coaches are watching us is like, man, your kids play hard. And that's kind of the goal. And I try and strive to have my kids play as hard as Coach Jay can get his kids to play. Because really that's, you know, being a high school kid getting recruited, that's what it's about. Like, you know, they want they want to see kids that play really, really hard.
Coach P:
Yeah. Now you hit it right on the head. I mean, even when I'm out kind of evaluating and scouting, I mean, the thing that I always look for is players that have kind of that motor.
Ashley Gill:
Mm-hmm.
Coach P:
And you can tell the difference between a player that kind of has that and a player that's still trying to figure out how to play hard.
Ashley Gill:
Yep.
Coach P:
And I mean, nowadays with the transfer portal, I mean, it's really hard for high school kids and you have to be, uh, wired a little bit different and have that motor just for a college coach to give you that look nowadays. So I'm glad you said that.
Ashley Gill:
Totally.
Coach P:
And then early on, I mean, obviously you coached at Washington State. How was that time at Washington State and what are some, you know, characteristics from coaches there or anything like that, different foundations that you took from coaches there that helped you, you know, run this great program with Metta.
Ashley Gill:
Yep. Um, you know, I'll give you a little bit of background at Washington State.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
I honestly lucked into an assistant coaching position and I had just, I was working with the team as a grad student and I had just graduated and I was actually heading back to Seattle to find, to find like a normal person job. Right. And, um, there was a guy on staff at Washington State who's a very good buddy of mine. He actually, I don't, I don't know. Do you know Mo Hines? He coaches for Tree Hope.
Coach P:
Oh yeah, I was gonna say that name sounds really familiar.
Ashley Gill:
Yeah, so that's my guy. He was at Washington State and he was a couple credits short of finishing his degree while he was coaching. And so June, my head coach was like, Hey Mo, we want you to finish your degree. We're gonna have you and Ashley flip places for a season so you can finish your degree and take a little bit of the pressure off and Ashley can be an assistant coach and you can just be the video guy so we wouldn't have to travel as much. And so. I got this opportunity of a lifetime as a 22 year old kid being able to coach in the Pac-12 right after graduating college. And yeah, I mean, yeah, incredible opportunity that I would have never even guessed in my wildest dreams I would have gotten. And just kind of took it and ran with it. Worked really hard, tried to be really relatable to kids. I thought I did a really... pretty good job recruiting kids to Washington State, kids that I wanted to coach, kids that were really solid kids. So long story short, that's kinda how I got into college coaching was I lucked out. And then I think I did a solid job and kept doing it for a handful of years. And then when I was at Washington State, one thing that I'll never forget, or... I don't know if you know this, but June Doherty actually passed away like two years ago, who was the head coach at Washington State when I was there, and of like cardiac arrest. And when I was when I was there, I had just graduated and, you know, was getting married and then had a baby. But she was like the most. awesome person to understand like how to have like a coach life balance and I think that's something as I get into being able to you know manage people with meta and you know whatever jobs I have is just making sure that your people will work harder for you if they understand that one you love them and two you give them a balance a work-life balance so she did a really good job of that. So that be one thing that she really taught me. Two is just love kids well, treat kids right. You know, even if you're recruiting a kid and they end up going elsewhere, you know, you wish them the best because maybe you'll get them in like what would now be the transfer portal. Just like basic, I would say morality things of just being a good person.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
That's what she probably taught me the most.
Coach P:
know and that shouldn't be a shocker for people but sometimes that is right just like treating people the right way treating your players the right way and guess what they'll play better you know.
Ashley Gill:
Totally.
Coach P:
Like if you can just understand people and how to manage them well they'll work harder for you know you know kind of go the extra mile for you so no that's awesome so did a little bit of digging Obviously you have strong ties in the international hoop world.
Ashley Gill:
Yep, exactly.
Coach P:
Talk about those connections and kind of like that network and how that came about.
Ashley Gill:
Yeah, so when I first was an assistant coach at Washington State, June was like, hey guys, like we gotta we gotta do something different. You know, being at Washington State in the Pac-12, you're in a conference with the best schools on the West Coast and Washington State is this tiny little small town school. And she's like, you know, if we're going head to head with Stanford, it's gonna be hard to get a kid, right?
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
We're going head to head with UCLA, like we better do a really good job on trying to get them on a visit or we're just probably not going to win. So she's like, we got to be more creative. So I venture to say that when I was at Washington state, we were one of the first schools to really try and get some international kids that were good. And then everyone kind of started doing it. But like. When we first, when we first went international, we got some European kids and then I, my target area was Australia. So I think. I went to Australia like six or seven times in one year trying to get some kids.
Coach P:
Ha ha.
Ashley Gill:
Which is nuts. We ended up getting a girl named Louise Brown who at the time was like the number three international prospect in the world. Like she was a stud player for us and then when we left Washington State she ended up transferring to Tennessee and had a really good end of career at Tennessee. So she was a really good one. And then we got a kid named Borislava Hristova who... was the number one international prospect in, international prospect. She was incredible, like literally an incredible, incredible scoring talent. And she had a great career at Washington State, is still playing overseas. The Pat, she was first team all Pac-12. They called her Bobby Buckets because she would just get buckets.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
But I think I, we probably recruited, I don't even know, over a dozen international kids by the time it was all said and done over there.
Coach P:
Wow, and do you still do you still go over there? Do you still go to Australia? Do you still kind of stay connected with that world or not really?
Ashley Gill:
No, I mean I talk to my Aussie girls that I coach there Lou Brown and I talk to Crystal Mackenzie all the time just staying connected with them. I know a couple of the coaches over there but you know sometimes some of the coaches over there will reach out to me and be like hey can you help me with this kid you know trying to find a place to college and I'll help them but not totally as much as I used to but I still talk to my kids and I talk to all my European kids too. A bunch of them like. Penelope Pavlopoulou is still playing for her national team over in Greece. She's on the top national team. Bobby's over there playing. Jovana Subasic, I think she's playing for Serbia. We have a bunch of kids that are still playing, which is really cool to see. Yeah.
Coach P:
You did a great job recruiting. That's what it sounds like.
Ashley Gill:
It was fun. I had some crazy experiences overseas recruiting, but it was fun.
Coach P:
What were some of your craziest?
Ashley Gill:
My gosh, I have a crazy story you probably wouldn't even believe One time one time. I have a couple stories. I was over in Portugal there was I want to say it was like the under 19 European Championships or something and Mistake number one, I should have got a car to drive but that just seemed super sketchy at the time. I don't know and so when I got I Got off the plane I took a taxi to my hotel, get to my hotel, and you know, no one speaks English, which is fine, but I didn't have service on my phone. That was mistake number two. I should have got it so I could like have my phone working, but it only worked with Wi-Fi. So I had the front desk call me a taxi to this place that I was supposed to be going to go watch these games. So this taxi driver picks me up and he picks me up. And he takes me to this like sporting venue and I get out and I like walk inside and there's like a volleyball thing going on. I'm like this is the wrong place.
Coach P:
Hehehe
Ashley Gill:
So I have no way of communicating. My phone does not work. And so there's like a police officer outside. And so I'm like hey like this is the address I'm supposed to be going to. Uh oh. This is the address I'm supposed to be going to. you know, where's the sentence? Like, I don't speak English. So he like pulls over this like five-year-old kid to like translate for us. And so the kid actually called another taxi guy from the police officer's phone to get another taxi to come. And then he like translated where we're supposed to be going. So anyways, I finally get to this place from another taxi.
Coach P:
Oh my goodness.
Ashley Gill:
I know. And then, so I watch games or whatever. and then I had some other coach call and get me a taxi home. Well, the taxi picks me up and I give him the address to the hotel. He was being super stubborn. He wouldn't put it in his GPS. He's like, ah, I can find it. He's driving, I'm not joking. He's driving down a dirt road in the middle of Portugal. There is nothing anywhere in sight. I'm like, this is how I'm gonna die.
Coach P:
Oh my goodness.
Ashley Gill:
It was so scary. And so he pulls up to this house, and it's an abandoned house. There's no one there. There's nothing within like miles. And he's like, here it is. I'm like, this ain't it, brother. I am not getting out of your car.
Coach P:
Oh my
Ashley Gill:
I'm like, you put it in your GPS. Like I see, like, and we're not even communicating because he's not speaking English.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
Oh yeah. And I'm like, I'm just sad. I'm like, I am not getting out of your car. I'm not getting out here. Because I wouldn't, I would have been stuck.
Ashley Gill:
So he gets back in the car and finally puts it in his GPS and takes me back to the hotel. After that, I'm like researching at the hotel. I'm like, is there Uber in Portugal? And they had just gotten Uber in Portugal. So then the next one, this is a totally true story. The next one, I'm like, I'm calling Uber. I call Uber. The Uber picks me up. But apparently there's like, at the time there was some like war between Uber and like the actual taxi cab drivers. And so as Uber picks me up, they see it's an Uber. and they pretend to like point guns at us as we drove by.
Coach P:
What?
Ashley Gill:
Yes, I'm not joking.
Coach P:
That is crazy.
Ashley Gill:
It was crazy. I'm like, this is so crazy.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
So anyways, that is a story I'll never ever forget. I almost got dropped off in a random place and almost got killed, but it's fine.
Coach P:
Yeah, that probably made you never want to go overseas again.
Ashley Gill:
Never, like keep me in Australia, man. Maybe out of Portugal.
Coach P:
Oh my goodness. So I want to ask you now kind of segue in here. So what have you learned from kind of being around the college ranks? And how has that, I guess, what are some of the main differences from the collegiate ranks to AAU basketball?
Ashley Gill:
Okay, main differences. This is gonna sound super funny, but I really, I enjoyed my time coaching college. Like, still have great relationships with a lot of the girls that I coached. But I feel like high school girls, and maybe it's just Idaho because it's kind of, you know, not a, there hasn't been a ton of good kids that come out of Idaho. Maybe they don't get the recognition that they need for whatever reason. they're really hungry. Like these high school kids around here like wanna prove themselves, so they work. Like they are in the gym trying to get better, trying to make it. Whereas like at the college level a little bit, I kind of feel like a lot of kids, like for 95% of division one kids, it's like once they make it to college, that was kind of their goal.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
So they, I don't wanna say they stop working because college is a ton of work in general, but they don't have the drive to get better. And these high school kids, I don't know if I've just been lucky or fortunate with the kids within Meta, but like they want to be in the gym. Like Avery Howell, if the gym wasn't 25 minutes away from me and she didn't want to do it at 4 30 every morning, would want me to be in the gym with her every morning at 4 30. She's just, she's just different.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
And, and it's not the, here's the thing about Avery is. It's not. just a one-time thing. Avery's been getting up early and going to the gym for two and a half years.
Ashley Gill:
Probably four or five days a week she's in the gym at 4.30 in the morning. I mean, she just, but that's how a lot of these kids are. And that's kind of how Meta got built to what it is because I have, you know, three or four kids every year that are just like, that grind and want to make it. So I think that's probably the biggest difference between that I've noticed between high school and college is the high school kids around here want to be great. And the college kids that I coached were just there. That sounds so bad, but it's the truth.
Coach P:
I mean, it doesn't. I mean, it makes sense. I mean, like we talked about in the beginning, your program has grown pretty quickly, but obviously the consistent work and the hard work, dedication, it just seems like, you know, the group that you've built and the players around that area have just been hungry to get better. So
Ashley Gill:
Totally. They did buy in.
Coach P:
Yeah. And it almost like supercharges everybody else around, you know, the program. So. That's awesome.
Ashley Gill:
Totally. And I'll give credit to Avery, because I think Avery was kind of at the forefront of it.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
Like, when we first moved to Boise, so I was coaching at Utah State. And when I was coaching at Washington State, I coached with a guy named Brian Holsinger. And he's actually now the head coach at the University of Montana. And so I coached with him for like six or seven years at Washington State. And then when I moved to Boise, his brother our facility here in Boise and he had tried to give me to come coach when I was when he knew I was here in Boise and you know I was pregnant at the time that I was nursing and I kind of put him off because I didn't really know if I wanted to coach after being done at Utah State and he's like I'm just telling you Ash I have a kid named Avery that's really going to be good like you just come to a training on Sunday and I went to that Sunday training. this kid has it. And I don't think I've missed a Sunday training in two and a half years.
Coach P:
Wow.
Ashley Gill:
Because she shows up, like she shows up, but as she did, she brought people with her. So then we were able to build something, basically taking Avery and she brought her friends and her friends got better. And we just kind of built this thing together. And I think that's probably the coolest part.
Coach P:
That's insane.
Ashley Gill:
Yeah.
Coach P:
But again, it was kind of destined to happen and obviously having a player like that, that is, you know, kind of driving everything and people are seeing the success. It kind of makes it easier for others to want to, you know, be a part of it too.
Ashley Gill:
Totally, totally. And they, you know, a lot of people, especially around here, like a lot of people see Avery's success with all the offers and stuff that she's gotten, but a lot of people don't see the work.
Coach P:
Yeah,
Ashley Gill:
But like, if you're within Meta, like you see her work and you know, even I have, let's see, there's like, there's three kids, Avery, and then one of her Boise teammates, Alison Turk, who's a 2025, and then this girl. named Grace Mertes who's a 2024 at Timberline. She has a couple of Division II offers, but those three since the very beginning when I started at T3, which was almost, yeah, two and a half, almost three years ago, they just didn't miss stuff. They don't miss and they just show up and get better and just, it's, I don't know, that's another thing. Like, I don't really know if the growth is because they're high schoolers. You can just see growth easier at younger.
Coach P:
Yeah, for sure.
Ashley Gill:
Like in college, I don't know if it's, because everyone's doing the same thing, you just don't grow as much. Or these high school kids, I'll train a kid and then two or three months later I'm like, dang, I can't believe how much that kid's gotten better.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
So that's super, super fun to watch.
Coach P:
No, 100%. And I think too, you know, when they're at the college ranks or if they're professional, there's only so much they really can get better at. You know, sometimes a lot of players kind of peak, especially like early on in college or even in the professional ranks. So it's a lot tougher to kind of see, you know, those improvements and those growth, yeah.
Ashley Gill:
Totally. Yep, you're exactly right.
Coach P:
And then obviously, I mean you coach an incredible team. We kind of talked about that. A ton of great players. So how, like, for you, obviously you want to help these players get the recognition that they deserve. What are some steps that you guys have taken as a program to like really help these players, you know, get some recognition? Obviously the college recruitment has came in for a lot of them, but what are you guys doing to kind of help them? get the recognition that they deserve.
Ashley Gill:
I think one thing that's kind of unique about what we have at Meta, and I don't really enjoy talking about myself, but being a college coach for 10 years, I just have an advantage. Like, when I call a coach and I'm like, hey, I got a kid for you. I'm not a- club coach calling and saying, hey, I got a kid for you. You know what I mean? There's a difference. Like if I call someone, whoever it is, I'm like, hey, Montana State, I got a kid I know can help you. I feel like they take that as a, hey Ashley has a kid that can help us. So I think there's just a difference, to be honest. There's just a difference. They kind of believe me and usually they, I'm not gonna try and sell a, kid at a college if I don't think they're good enough because I think that makes me look bad and I want to help them too because they're my friends you know so I think that's probably the advantage that kids have playing with us is just I have I know most of the division one coaches on the west coast really well and you know with Brennan Avery's recruitment going totally bananas this spring and summer I now know a ton of you know major power five coaches, not just on the west coast.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
So I think it's just probably my connections.
Coach P:
Yeah, 100%. I mean, like you said, it's just different when you make a call, than opposed to another coach or AAU program making a call, just because you've been around it, you know exactly what they're looking for and what they can use.
Ashley Gill:
Yep, exactly. And I really, like I said, I really try and not tell a coach that I have a kid unless I know they're a good kid that will fit their program and help them.
Coach P:
And how would you describe your, um, your offensive system at Meta? Like what are some of your principles?
Ashley Gill:
So we do, we mainly do five out, pass cut, pass screen away, pass on ball. I try and get kids, I try and, number one, I try and teach them how to play basketball. I don't want to just teach them how to run sets. I want them to be, make the right play. Like, and Avery's such a good example of this because her, after sophomore summer, her recruiting was solid. Like she had a bunch of mid-majors that had offered her, but she really wanted to play at a high level. And I'm like, Abe's like, you're trying so bad to put the team on your back and score that you're not making the right play and that's why these coaches aren't recruiting you. So I'm like, I have to teach you how to make the right play, make the right read. It might not be to score every time, even though Abe is the most competitive person I've ever met. She wants to win so bad. And I think that kind of fogged her view of what making the right play was. Well, this summer she... just made the right play and then I think coaches were like, yeah, you're right. She just has so much value because she can do everything. She doesn't have to score, she can pass, she can shoot, she can defend, she can do all the things. So anyways, long story short, five out, pass cut, try and teach kids how to play basketball, make the right reads. And then I probably have, I don't know, 10 to 12 quick hitters for some of my kids that don't make plays as much and I need to set up. set them up to show that they can shoot it or set them up to show that, you know, they're athletic, you can make a backdoor lob, stuff like that. Yeah, 10 to 12 quick hitters and then five out pass and cut.
Coach P:
Coaches dropping gems. I hope you guys are listening right now. These are gems. These are gonna help with your recruitment. This is gonna help you get on the floor. No, I love that. I love that you kind of talked about playing basketball the right way. And also too, I think a lot of times coaches wanna put in a ton of sets to show players are smart and players can run these plays. But if you can't play five out or four out one in and understand spacing and cutting and replacing on the floor, a lot of times the plays don't mean absolutely anything.
Ashley Gill:
Oh, totally. And it's funny because when I'm coaching or when I'm doing a training or whatever, I'm like, guys, I'm probably the most boring coach you'll ever have. I'm the most boring trainer. But I'm going to promise you that if you end up playing in college, your college coach is going to say, dang, you have really good footwork. You don't travel. You make the right play because that's what they're going to value when you get to their school. They're going to value you making the right play, having good footwork because they don't want to have to teach that stuff. So that's kind of that's kind of my goal. I'm really boring. If you ever come watch a training, I'm boring haha.
Coach P:
Well, no, I actually wanted to talk to you too, about that. I do want to come out there and kind of watch some of your training, kind of watch some of the behind the scenes stuff. But that kind of gets me into my next question of what are you looking for? When you are looking at players to bring into your program? What are some characteristics that you're looking for, some skill sets and things of that nature.
Ashley Gill:
What do you want to do to celebrate your teammates? would be my number one thing. That'd be number one. Number two, probably kids that play really, really hard. Like, I'll go all, I'll put on the full court press talking to a college coach about a kid that plays hard because that will translate. That will translate. Like, they can become better shooters, they can become, you know, all the things, but if they don't play hard, that's hard to teach. So, kids that play hard. That's at the top of my list. Obviously, shooting's kind of nice. They can shoot it. That helps a lot.
Coach P:
That helps a lot. That helps a lot.
Ashley Gill:
Athleticism. Athleticism is awesome if it's used correctly. But yeah, those are probably my top couple things.
Coach P:
Love it. And then, what does Meta look like in the next, let's say five years?
Ashley Gill:
Yeah, you know, I'm hoping we're going to make a little bit of noise on the Adidas Circuit in five years. I think we did a good job this year kind of testing the waters. If Brynn hadn't got injured, I think it would have been a little bit different.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
But I think we had an awesome, awesome first year at 3SSB. And I just want to kind of keep building from that and just to be known as a program that their kids play really hard. and college coaches want to recruit our kids because they're great people first and foremost, great teammates, and they play hard and they play for each other and they're low drama. So if my kids that have an opportunity to play at the next level are just as what I advertise to these coaches, I will be happy.
Coach P:
That's awesome. I love to hear that. And then what are some short-term goals, you know, for obviously the season that's coming up. I mean, obviously there's a high school season and a lot of middle school players are still kind of playing, but what short-term goals do you have for the group?
Ashley Gill:
Short term goals, just get better. Come to practice, come to trainings, come to three on three, all the things that we're doing. Come to get better and yeah, we'll see. We'll see. It's gonna be interesting, because I think, like we've talked about, meta kind of blew up fast. Getting a ton of interest from people, like I don't even have to really reach out to kids anymore because they're reaching out to me because they wanna be a part of what we're doing, which is really. kind of different and fun and we'll see. It's going to be awesome.
Coach P:
I'm sure that makes it tough too though, because a lot of people are reaching out. So now you have to really evaluate and again, evaluate the parents and really see if it's a good fit for all parties involved. So how are you kind of going about that? Do you guys have a process for that or is it just something where you're just kind of playing it by ear or how does it work?
Ashley Gill:
Yeah, just kind of, you know, it's kind of hard because I'm a really loyal person and I want to be loyal to the kids that are loyal to Meta that have been involved for a long time.
Coach P:
For sure.
Ashley Gill:
So that's probably my, yeah, I don't know, that's a tough question. Be loyal to the kids that I have but also help kids that need an opportunity.
Coach P:
Yeah.
Ashley Gill:
I don't want kids that are jumping. club to club. I want kids that want to be invested in what we're doing for the long term.
Coach P:
That's awesome. Well, I appreciate obviously your time and hopping on. I know we wanted to do this for a while and let's do it. Let's do it again for sure. It was great talking to you learned a ton. We will get this posted for you by the end of the week. We'll also have an article attached to it too as well. And if anybody wants to read along they can but no, I appreciate your time. And obviously I wish you're your program, all the success you were fun to talk to. And I would love to come down there and kind of check out some behind the scenes and see how you guys work things.
Ashley Gill:
Hey, I appreciate your time. I appreciate you reaching out. Yeah, you're welcome to come to Boise anytime You Want. We'll show you around and kind of show you a little bit about what we do, because I do think we do stuff differently than most programs.
Coach P:
Yeah, no, that's awesome. Yeah, I have to I have to definitely make my way down there. I actually have a player that plays at Northwest. Nazarene.
Ashley Gill:
Nazarene?
Coach P:
Yes. I train. So also do player development as well. And I train a player. His name is Easton Reagan and he plays on the men's basketball team.
Ashley Gill:
Cool.
Ashley Gill:
Oh, that's awesome!
Ashley Gill:
Yeah, you bet. You better hit me up if you come. You know, one of our 14u coaches is a Northwest Nazarene women's coach.
Coach P:
Really?
Ashley Gill:
Yeah. And one of my one of my players that just graduated in June is probably going to be a freshman starter at and then you so
Coach P:
Wow, yeah, so that's yeah, that's full circle. Yeah, I would definitely be out there I want to check out the facility kind of see what you guys do and talk hoops.
Ashley Gill:
Let's do it. You let me know.
Coach P:
I appreciate it so much and thank you again for your time we'll stay in contact and we'll get all this stuff posted and best of luck
Ashley Gill:
Sounds good. Thank you so much.
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