SPOKANE, Wash. — Kelly Graves has become one of the biggest stars in college coaching over the past few years. He spent his time prior to his current gig at Oregon at Gonzaga, where current Gonzaga women's basketball head coach Lisa Fortier worked under him as an assistant.
In today's edition of Untold Stories, Lisa dishes on a few of her funny memories while working for Graves.
WATER COOLER BLUES
During her time as an assistant with Kelly, part of Lisa's job was to call defenses. At one game she called a defense called 22 one too many times, and Kelly voiced his displeasure.
"I remember him telling me to take my defense and head down to the water cooler because it was terrible," recalled Lisa with a laugh. "There was some other words mixed in with him telling me to take the 22 and head to the water cooler. I'm sure he probably doesn't remember. I think he blacked out during games, to be honest with you."
Lisa said she learned under Kelly to not be too sensitive and the defense is stone that both Oregon and Gonzaga still use.
WALK THIS WAY
One of Kelly's pregame rituals, especially on road trips, was to take a walk. Sometimes Fortier would join him on his jaunts.
"It took me about three steps to keep up with him. He's pretty tall," said Fortier.
After a loss on the road once, Kelly decided Fortier could be bringing some bad juju to his ritual.
"I got excommunicated for a few trips, so that he could just focus on winning or superstition, I'm not sure which," said Fortier.
"He said it with a big smile but also kind of serious. 'Haha, we lost that last one, you're out.' But if I showed up it probably would have been the wrong time or the wrong place," said Fortier.
HORSING AROUND
One of Lisa's most vivid memories was a recruiting trip to visit former Gonzaga guard Chandler Smith.
The Smiths live on a ranch and wanted Kelly to ride one of their horses.
"If the family wants you to get on the horse, then you're going to get on the horse," said Fortier with a chuckle.
Problem was, it didn't seem to come too naturally to Graves.
"I don't know if Kelly was nervous to get on that horse, or if he had never ridden one, or what the deal was, but they were insistent that Kelly get on the horse.
"It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. I think he was trying to pretend like he knew what was going on, but if he rode horses before, I couldn't tell because it looked extremely awkward," recalled Fortier.
