We’ve loved getting to know the Texas Legends team and players over the years, celebrating team and personal milestones, networking, and enjoying basketball with our families. Now, we sit down with Legends’ President and General Manager, Malcolm Farmer, to hear about his personal journey to the front office, and get an update on what’s going on with Frisco’s favorite G-League team in 2021.
Enjoy this episode and other episodes of Hustle and Pro in our archives.
Show Notes
[02:27] Quick Hits with Malcolm Farmer
[07:26] Malcolm’s path coaching, playing & managing
[14:29] Texas Legends update mid-2021
[17:55] Camp, academy & community
Resources within this episode:
- Texas Legends: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- Malcolm’s Bio | LinkedIn
- Kelly Walker: Bio | Instagram @kelly_walkertexas | Twitter: @kelly_walker_TX
This episode is sponsored by:
Connect with Lifestyle Frisco:
Transcript: (machine-generated)
Kelly Walker:
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Kelly:
Welcome to Season 3 of Hustle & Pro. I’m your host, Kelly Walker. Welcome Malcolm Farmer today. Hey, Malcolm.
Malcolm Farmer:
Kelly, congratulations on three years. That’s uh, that’s no small, small doing, you know, you start something like this, you never know where it’s going to go three years. Heck of an accomplishment.
Kelly:
Thank you. It’s fun. And it’s exciting. And I can’t believe it’s taken this long to get you in here. One-on-one
Malcolm:
Well, that’s because you’ve got such a long list of, um, you know, celebrities you needed to, you know, that the true big hitters needed to come in before you’d get to know somebody like me, you know, I can only imagine I’ll probably be back in here. You know, this is kind of just, uh, uh, you know, you just had to check the box and there we’ve got this done. Now we can go onto our, our true athletes and big hitters. Okay.
Kelly:
I probably asked for you right away and just, I’ve just been waiting. I’ve been on your waiting list this whole time, probably. For those who don’t know Malcolm, you are the general manager and president of the Texas Legends. Last time I checked. All right. And so for those who don’t even know what that means, which if you listen to this podcast on a regular basis, you hear the us talk about the Legends all the time, but the Texas Legends are the G league affiliate of the Dallas Mavs. Just had the- watched the good Dallas Mavs win last night
Malcolm:
Heck of a game. Luca played very well.
Kelly:
Yes. Gotta love the Luca-Dirk handoff that happened here. All right. So I know that I had you on in 2020, you Zoomed in with me to talk a little bit of MJ The Last Dance, but what I want to talk to you about today is kind of a little bit more just about you. So I’ve crossed paths with you over the years with lots of Legends things, but I also don’t know about your sports background and like, obviously you’re into basketball. But, but like who, who do you love? Like, who’s your favorite athlete and is basketball, your favorite sport?
Malcolm:
Uh, basketball is my favorite sport. Um, favorite athlete, you know, you had me on for the Last Dance and I don’t know if you could grow up in the eighties and in the nineties, but when I grew up, Michael Jordan was, uh, the end all be all of, uh, athletes in a lot of ways. Yeah. And so certainly, you know, if I was to pick a favorite athlete, he would be it. Um, but as you get into sports, there’s a realization. Um, and maybe it’s just, as you get older that these are people and, you know, they have strengths and weaknesses just as anybody does. And they have concerns in life issues, things that come up just like anybody does. And so I really, you know, as I’ve worked in sports more and more, uh, my outlook isn’t really that who’s my favorite athlete. It’s, you know, just, uh, observing them doing what they’re really good at what they’ve trained to do. And at times, you know, putting, uh, challenges in their own lives that we all experienced. And sometimes I think we look at athletes and say, Oh, they’ve got it made. It’s perfect. And you know, it could be having a challenge and they’re able to put that aside and go out and perform, be it on the basketball court or on the soccer pitch or on the baseball diamond. Um, they’re able to go out there and do those things at a very high level. And that’s, uh, I respect that.
Kelly:
I could see that. Sometimes knowing, knowing more of the personal side of these athletes, especially with, with all the hands-on that you have with athletes, it makes what they’re doing on the court different and more impressive. They might not be the best player on your roster, but because you know them personally and their background or their struggles or what they’re overcoming, it just, you see them differently
Malcolm:
I think that as a society. And this isn’t necessarily a good thing, but sometimes we put athletes on a, on a, on a pedestal that we can look up to an athlete, but they’re not a doctor. They’re not curing cancer. Uh, they’re not teaching our kids. Those things are, frankly, the things that should be put on a pedestal much more, but that’s not to say that the athlete isn’t, um, somebody that we can look up to. It just, I think that we need to look up to them in the appropriate way of, you know, entertainment and they’re there being a role model, hopefully, um, for our, our community. And that’s really what I’ve enjoyed. I think that, again, you grow up, you watch sports, you see the clips, the media, right? You see athletes, frankly, in their best light. And, you know, I remember when we were doing the Last Dance. I quoted Dick Bennett. We were doing that episode. Dick Bennett coached at Wisconsin. And they went to a final four was very, very good, but the media saw Dick Bennett as one thing. And he was a great coach, had his system and away he went, the reality was, you know, Dick Bennett was had challenges and struggles. And, you know, the, the quote that I used on that episode was, you know, he was a coach in his heart and in his belly, but every time that, that Wisconsin, and when you’re an athlete or a coach, you’ve got obligations, the media, to donors, to boosters, sponsors, season-ticket holders, whatever it may be. You’re pulled a lot of different directions. And his quote was, you know, “every time that I opened the furthest door, that’s inside of me for coaching. And I opened that first door to, and somebody takes a piece of that. I am spending time on these other things. When I close the door, the furnace isn’t as bright. It doesn’t burn as hot.” And I think that’s something that we’ve got to keep in mind as we, as we watch athletes. And they, that, that sport is in all likelihood. It burns inside of them in a deep way and respecting that, and not necessarily all the other things that come with the job.
Kelly:
Yeah. That’s a good point. All right, this is random, but I’m curious. Do you still play basketball?
Malcolm:
I don’t play basketball anymore. I’m a little too old
Kelly:
When you’re in the gym with all the people that are playing basketball or when you’re doing something, listening to music what’s on your playlist.
Malcolm:
Oh, my playlist is very, uh, eclectic. Um, there’s everything from country to classical, to rap, to rock, to oldies, you know, my playlist, it just depends on frankly, what mood, frame of mind. Um, you know, so it’s all over the map. Yeah.
Kelly:
Yeah. I hear ya. I think it was, I think it was Brandon Fields who was in here once and told me about his get-ready-for-game-day song or something. And I added it to my playlist and he’s like one of my favorites now. So I always like to know what people are listening to. Okay. So what is your sports background for you? Like as a kid? Did you play everything?
Malcolm:
Oh, as a kid. Yeah. I played baseball basketball, and then middle school, high school, I ran cross country ran track and played basketball. Um, so it was, you know, busy year round with sports. Um, but knew in my heart of hearts, that basketball is, was my passion. And I remember I was a senior in high school. My goal of it, being candid, was to become a college basketball coach, you know, and, and went in. Uh, when I graduated college, I went into, you know, being a GA for a college basketball team was the director of operations, assistant coach. And during those, you know, 10 ish, years of my life, I realized that similar Dick Bennett, it wasn’t all just coaching. There was a lot of other things that went into this, good and bad. Things that I enjoyed and things that I didn’t. And so while my goal, when I was a senior in high school and even all through college may have been to quote I would use is to have the corner office of a college basketball program to be that head coach. Um, over time that goal changed. It became is still something that certainly I, I watched games and I see what offices are being run in defenses. And in the back of my mind, you can’t help, but think about what you would do during this time out, what substitutions and why you would make them. And, but there became things where I was like, you know, you learn about a job. You learn about all the things that are outside of the things that the public may see. And I didn’t really want to do all of those things. I didn’t enjoy them. And so the Legends opportunity came along and, um, I certainly wasn’t the president or the general manager at that time, but, but basically a volunteer, you know. I think my title was just basketball operations, which was a convenient way to say, whatever the heck you is,
Kelly:
Get you in the door and help. And you know, you guys are good at that though. Getting, getting people in that just want to be in and they stick around for along time.
Malcolm:
And we have, um, you know, it’s one of the things that I enjoy about the Legends is the chance to give somebody an opportunity. You know, it’s, we’ve all heard the phrase. “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” And while I agree with that, I think that we need to, as, uh, you know, sports and everybody, we need to give opportunities sometimes to people who may not have any connection. You don’t know a personal connection. You don’t, you don’t know that, but you find out what’s in their hearts and what’s in their passion and you give them a chance. And usually that’s an entry level position. And that kind of circumstance,
Kelly:
People that really want to do the work will do the entry-level position or do the volunteer job, or do the internship and do the grunt work because they want to be there.
Malcolm:
And, and we want to give them, it gives them a chance to get to know people and build their network. And then whether they stay with the Legends or they go elsewhere, I’m good. Either way. Like I just want to help. It’s been very rewarding to see, uh, young folks, you know, recent college grads come in, who may not have direct experience in their industry, in this industry, but throw themselves into the work. And whether they’re with the Legends three, five years later, or they’re, you know, at Texas Tech or elsewhere,
Kelly:
Because their path will go wherever they need to go. You know, I think it’s so interesting when you talk about being in high school, having a goal of coaching and college, whereas most kids are saying “I’m going to go play” I wasn’t good enough for any of that. I knew it. But you don’t always know it. Like there’s like kids around here that think they’re going to go play. And they’re, they’re not good enough.
Malcolm:
I made the varsity in high school, but I barely played. And frankly, um, you know, my high school coach knew that I, you know, I think even when I was on the JV, they would come over to me after practice and asked what I thought, how did it go? And, you know, should we look at
Kelly:
There’s always something there more than a player.
Malcolm:
And you know, my high school coach gave me the opportunity directly after my senior year of high school to, uh, coach the high school summer team at varying levels. And that was, you know, again, kind of scratch that itch and begin to grow in that area.
Kelly:
Well, and I like that you talk about giving people a chance because you can’t get experience in the thing you want to do ’til somebody gives you a chance to have experience and the things you want to do
Malcolm:
Agreed. And actually that, you know, something I’ve been thinking about the past few days, you know, with COVID, we’ve got an entire, I don’t want to say generation, but, you know, internships for all these college students were nominal, at best, last summer, this past year. And as a person who does some hiring and all of us do some hiring, I think we need to keep in mind that, you know, the kids graduating this year and next year, their internship experience is going to be less than we’ve ever seen in a long time. And it’s through no fault of their own. Right. And so I just think there’s going to be a little bit of a mental reset there of what you expect. It’s going to be interesting to see how those students- now, if a person graduating right now, or in a couple of months, or internship is their first job going to be a full-time position or as hiring managers, are we going to look at it like, “well, let’s start them off in an internship.” And I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do,
Kelly:
Not what they’ll want, but it might be the, the necessary thing to do
Malcolm:
Certain industries. It may be, but it’s, you know, it’s going to be, I’ve just been thinking about it as we’re actually beginning kind of looking at interns for the summer. Um, just realizing that they’re even those, when I was in college, you kind of progressed through your college years of okay. Kind of a, a part-time internship and then more of a full-time internship as you get older. Those part-time internships, even for the younger students in college, they didn’t happen in any frankly, any real way last summer or last year.
Kelly:
And those are so important. I reflect on mine and college internships. And I still use skills that I learned in those all the time, because I got to work for ad agencies and I got to write for different places and take photos and do interviews and all, all of the things I learned.
Malcolm:
So like for me, by after my sophomore year of college, I traveled the country and did basketball camps all over the country. And so like, that was a great opportunity for me to see the country. Yes. But network and meet a ton of different coaching staffs at the high school and the college level, you got to see a lot of different programs. And that was as a sophomore, right. I just finished my sophomore year. So that didn’t happen last summer. Yeah. And so those students, they didn’t get that opportunity. And then after my junior year, I was an intern, um, you know, 40 hours a week with the Minnesota Timberwolves doing draft prep. And that was a great experience. But again, I look back and I think if this had happened, then there’s no way they would have left people extra in the office. Right.
Kelly:
Exactly. So you, you mentioned mental reset. So give us a reset of, so we’re recording this in March, 2021. Um, we mentioned the Mavs are playing. Give us a reset of where we sit right now with the Texas Legends,
Malcolm:
Where we sit right now is, and look, our staff has had to go through a few resets. You know, this last season ends, you know, frankly for the Legends only missed two home games. So we didn’t miss very much last season, which was great in the 1920 season. But then as we get further and further into COVID, there’s a realization that at the very best case scenario, our season’s going to be starting later than usual. And then there’s, the decision gets made that the G league is going to go into a bubble, which, you know, frankly, you know, with us being so fan centric, so fan-first, is not an ideal scenario for what we do. And so we’ve been, you know, I hate the word pivot at this point, despise it, but we’ve been doing a lot of virtual events. We’ve, we’ve been doing things to stay connected, which I think is critical for the business, but also for everyone’s mental health during this time.
Kelly:
Yeah, for sure. You guys were good at being connected to the community before all this. So this made it, it made it possible for you guys to it, because if there were some G league teams and then of course, other types of sports and minor league teams, if they didn’t have that, that base already set up, there’s no way to start during this pandemic to then try to connect with your people. You already had it.
Malcolm:
Well, thank you for that. And we take great pride in that. And frankly, it’s something I probably take more pride in than anything else is that connection with our community and helping out and being a resource for people to be better off, you know, and whether that’s putting a smile on a kid’s face or, you know, more recently, you know, getting water to schools that didn’t have any, any water for their students. So they’re going home on weekends after the snow-mageddon recently, those are more important than anything else. And so in terms of getting back to that reset now for the past few months, uh, our staff’s entire focus has been on those connections to the community. And in terms of our season building towards November of 21, because that’s when, you know, we, we firmly believe that we’ll be back to normal with a full arena. And that would be when the 21 season starts. It’s certainly it’s, uh, it’s the off season always goes by very quickly. So I’m sure-
Kelly:
And that’s when you guys are busy, busy behind the scenes, getting everything ready
Malcolm:
– It’s during the season. Yeah.
Kelly:
Cause you’re just prepping and I mean, there’s so much legwork in place.
Malcolm:
Yeah. For those who’ve been to our games, it’s not roll out at a basketball and just play a game. Right. There’s a little bit more, or a lot, a bit more that goes into it too, to make sure that all members of the family have a, a fantastic experience and that I’m not going to sit here and say, that’s easy. That’s, that’s hard. It’s a very rewarding kind of hard.
Kelly:
Yeah, I bet. Yes. I remember doing a story on, I think it was with Kyle and what is the game day look like kind of the 8:00 AM to midnight snapshot. And it’s incredible. That’s just game day, but then also, yeah, but then also thinking about off-season all of the, just the planning and the prep work to lay the groundwork to get game day, to then go off seamlessly. So, but I’ve also seen things going on right now. Um, like you mentioned, kids and kids can come, still have exposure to the Texas Legends family with camps, right?
Malcolm:
Camps are a go this summer, I guess the disclaimer and know this would be a disclaimer at all times. Just normally you wouldn’t say it right. If something comes up or, or, you know, knock on wood, there’s no issues. But if, if we were to have COVID surge again and we would adjust, right. We adjusted last summer and we would adjust again,
Kelly:
If nothing else, we are all used to that.
Malcolm:
But I mean, camps, we have announced them. They are filling up last night, I’m sitting on my phone. We haven’t even marketed our camps yet. And eight registrations came in just last night and I’m just like, I asked someone on staff, did we do something to prop this? And they’re like, no, we literally haven’t even pushed it out there.
Kelly:
Well, there’s little 10 year olds like my son sitting on the couch, filling out March Madness brackets, they’re probably going “Mom, Can you get me into some basketball?” Um, and then there’s people like me who are, who our group meeting our, our basketball team’s going, “Hey, everybody goes, sign up for camps and stuff.” What are the camps? I forget what you’re calling them.
Malcolm:
Um, so our summer camps, the Legends Camps, we have a Legends Academy, which we actually just recently we launched during COVID. These aren’t the same camp. They are not. So summer camps is summer. Those are, those are what we’ve done for years. It just appears that we’ve sold them out for a long time. But I haven’t seen registrations come in this fast, this early ever, which I think is a great indicator of, you know, folks are ready and they know that we’re going to take care of them. You know, things were to change or any circumstances come up. We’ve that’s been our MO forever. So Legends Academy was really an opportunity. We started off virtual, you know, giving kids and small groups a chance to do some drill work, some skill work, you know, during the pandemic when you’re not supposed to be out at all. Right. And so we started off virtual and recently we have gone back to very small in-person. Um, and so just kind of easing back into that and that’s once a month is what we’ve set it up for very small group. Whereas camp has certainly skill work. It’s got games, it’s got contests, but I’ll say, you know, our camps, Rule #1 one is that the kids get home safe and Rule #2 is that they have fun. Yeah. Okay. With the Academy Rule #1 is they get home safe. Rule#2 is that they learned something. Yeah. Okay. That’s actually Rule #3 for our camps. But with all the Academy, it’s it’s for kids who want to get better. And they’re there it’s two hours on a Saturday, once a month. I think we’ve set it up for the second Saturday of each month. I didn’t realize the distinction.
Malcolm:
But that’s what they get a report card afterwards, with each skill broken down, they can progress through our system with our drills and we even give them take-home stuff. So the idea being it’s for, I don’t want to say it’s for the hardcore basketball player, because it can be, but it’s not exclusive element in the camp. It’s for the kid who wants to get better year round that. Whereas, and I’m just going to say it with our camps. Yes. We want them to get better. And I tell our camp coaches, this every camp, no matter how good a coach they are, they could be John wooden. They are not going to develop the next LeBron James in this camp. Right. What they can do though, is make that kid have fun. Love the game of basketball, leave with a smile on their face, which means that they’ll go play again the week after.
Kelly:
Right, because they’re certainly not going to get better. If they left there until their parents, I don’t want to play basketball. Then they’re done
Malcolm:
Well to learn something so they can go work on it some more next week and just keep playing because that’s how you truly get better is you do it. It’s the 10,000 hour principle, right? You do it for a long time and you do it with energy and enthusiasm. And we can do that for one week of camp. And if they leave with a smile, they enjoyed it. They’re much more likely to do it again next week, which is why that’s rule. Number one is bringing the kids home safe and rule number two is that they have fun. And then that they learn something.
Kelly:
I feel that that carries over into, during seasons with you guys, because anybody who’s been to a Texas Legends games, no knows that the kids are having fun. Even our kids sit in their seats a lot, but they’re still having fun because of the, because of Byron out there on the mic and things happening and moving, and it’s constant and the music and, and all the activities sure that they can physically do in the arena, but they leave there. Um, or the people that stick around and, you know, like to get as much exposure to players. I don’t know if that’ll ever happen again, but that’s the beauty of like them loving the sport
Malcolm:
Before I had kids, I heard those stories, but you can’t appreciate them to their fullest. until you’re a parent. just my own conclusion
Kelly:
And try it.
Malcolm:
Yes. And, but like your kid, son, daughter, having a smile on their face, being happy as a parent, that’s, that’s happiness. You’re not worried about yourself. You’re you’re that chance to put a smile on their face. And so I was at, you know, we had a outdoor, uh, you know, socially distance, all those things, networking event this past Tuesday morning, we call it a rooftop. It was on top of the parking garage and watch the sun rise. It was great. But one of our members came up to me and it made my day. And you forget these things. Sometimes during the off season, he said that his three-or five-year old grandson had come to him last week and said, you know, I’ll leave his name out, but what are we going to those basketball games again? And it broke my heart because of COVID. And we were able to do that in a full, meaningful capacity this past season. But it also made my day that like a child that young, a remembers and B is telling grandpa, I want to go now I’m ready. Let’s go. I’m waiting. You know, there’s a, there was a gleam in his eye as he was telling me the story in that gleam is like that, that is the most important thing because he knows that his grandson is having a blast and loves it. And he’s able to share that moment, spend time with them. Yeah. And that’s all that matters. That’s it? And so that made my day.
Kelly:
That’s why we love sports too. It’s not just the sport and what happens on the court or field. It’s the, it’s the memories and the, and the connections and the being there, you know, just the whole experience.
Malcolm:
Yeah. I, I, you know, I’m a basketball guy and I said, I wanted to be a college basketball coach, you know, and as I’ve gotten older again, there’s just so much more, um, meaningful stuff to it than just taking a round ball and putting it through a round hoop. And, you know, it’s the other stuff that is so much more important. Um, you know, you think about any of your listeners, you think about your, your best memory of a sports event with mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, son, daughter, whatever it might be. And I would venture to say that it’s, you don’t remember the score of the game. Right? You might remember who won, right. If it was a championship game. Sure. Okay. But I would still say, I bet you don’t remember the score, but she remember the way that, you know, your family, the experience they had, the smiles, they had the look of awe in a three-year-old face. Those things is what or what you remember. And those things are far more,
Kelly:
A hundred percent that, that hits home with me, for sure. Because we had family traditions and mine are sitting at Rangers games cause we were from a couple of hours away. And those are the lasting memories of my dad, um, is, is being at those games. Yeah. I remember some of the players on the field, but I don’t remember the details. I just remember the, the traditions and the memories and that, that was like our family stuff. So, yep. You’re right. And you guys are doing a fantastic job of it at the Texas Legends and keeping Frisco connected. So thank you for that and keep, keep it up. And Malcolm, thank you for coming in.
Malcolm:
It was my pleasure, Kelly, you do a great job lifestyle Frisco. You guys do a great job and anything we can do to help.
Kelly:
Thanks. All right. We’ll see you soon. And thank you for listening to this episode of hustle and pro make sure you subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. We’ll see you next time.
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