Then & Now: Jason Glock

Then & Now: Jason Glock

Compiled By Dave Brandon

(Photo Courtesy NU Media Relations)

Jason

Glock played at Nebraska from 1992-1996, and reached the

post-season in each of the five seasons he was in

Lincoln (3 NCAA’s, 2 NIT’s). Glock was part of the 1994

Big 8 Championship team, as well as the Husker bunch

that won the 1996 NIT Championship.

Glock might best be known for his

times at Wahoo High School, however, where he helped

lead the Warriors to four consecutive Class B Titles and

90 consecutive wins. Overall, Wahoo was 101-1 during

Glock’s four-year career, and as a result, Glock was

named 1991 USA Today Nebraska Player of the Year.

Glock is our latest Sunday guest in

this version of “Then & Now”.

HHC: First and

foremost, thanks for joining us, and are you still

running the “Glock Detassling” service that you did

about a decade ago?

JG: We are, still getting out in the

cornfields each summer!

HHC: (Laughs) Well,

an unnamed staff member of Husker Hoops Central actually

used to detassle for you when he was in junior high

school, but he only lasted about four days before your

brother Troy called him and told him to “take a couple

of days off”. We’ll let him remain anonymous though, but

he might do quite a few interviews for the site.

JG: (Laughs) Well, I

will say that Troy has always been the softie, as far as

giving employees second chances, so if you… I mean a

“staff member”, were given a few days off, it must have

been pretty serious.

HHC: (Laughs) Hey, while at Wahoo, you

helped lead the Warriors to four consecutive Class B

titles and ninety straight wins. How special was it to

achieve that level of success?

JG: I think it was amazing. At the time, I

didn’t realize how amazing it was. I mean, I knew it was

exciting for the community and the school, and I just

recently went back and looked at some articles. And it’s

pretty amazing, just the support that we got from the

community. It was a great atmosphere and a great time to

be playing basketball here in Wahoo.

HHC: So does the feat become more and more

amazing as you look back on it?

JG: I think it does.

We went several years without losing, and you don’t see

that too often, but some of the reason that’s not

happening is smaller schools are now competing against

the bigger schools, as far as consolidation of the

classes and some of the big schools (Bellevue West)

playing the smaller schools (Ravenna).

HHC: Talk about what basketball meant to

Wahoo back then, and what it means today?

JG: Both schools (Wahoo and Bishop

Neumann) had great programs, and they do still to this

day. It was pretty neat that we were in different

classes, so the districts weren’t Wahoo competing

against Bishop. So that was good for the entire

community, because we got support from both schools.

Now the schools are in the same

sub-district, so it’s a little tougher to cheer for both

since you’re competing with each other. But they are

still two of the best C-1 programs in the state, and it

should be another good year, and hopefully both of them

will make it to sub-district.

HHC: In your opinion, why have we seen

less D-I basketball talent being developed in

Nebraska in recent years? Is this a coincidence, or is

there more to it?

JG: I think it’s a little of both. I think

there are more activities for kids to do, and maybe a

few more years down the road, we’ll see another bunch of

kids going Division I in basketball. But, I’d say

both. Kids are doing more sports and activities, and

maybe not having to look at getting an athletic

scholarship to go to college. I know back when I

competed, it was everyone’s dream and goal to get a

college scholarship to go to school somewhere, and I

don’t know if that’s still what everyone’s hoping or

not. It probably is, but it seems like that could be a

factor.

HHC: Who else besides Nebraska recruited

you out of high school?

JG: The only basketball school besides

Nebraska was UNO, and some of the other in-state

colleges. I didn’t get any official offer for Division

I basketball outside of UNL. I got an offer for Iowa

State football, but decided to go with the basketball

scholarship.

HHC: What was your initial impression of

Danny Nee, and did that change or stay the same as the

years passed?

JG: I think my original opinion was that

the guy could really recruit and bring in some great

athletes. And I haven’t kept up with what he’s doing

now, but the year before I got there was when they had

the 26-8 season (1990-1991) and made the Top 10 ranking

there at one time.

He (Nee) could really recruit the

athletes, and I think originally I was a little bit

intimidated by him. I didn’t really have the

communication probably - it wasn’t always there. But I

don’t think my opinion has changed; I think he’s a hard

worker, and he tried to get the best out of kids

talent-wise, and tried to find the most talent that he

could.

HHC: How big of an adjustment was it to go

from the speed of Class B to that of the Big 8?

JG: It was a big

adjustment. I played a lot of my high school career

inside, so I had to get used to facing the basket the

whole time. And the quickness, as well as height of

everybody was just significantly different.

But if there was one thing that I

wish I would have improved more before college, it would

be my ball handling. That’s something I struggled with

throughout my career. I wasn’t quick enough to be a

point guard, and I wasn’t really tall enough to be a

forward, so I was kind of in that grey area.

HHC: Your first season at Nebraska was

1991-1992, and the team went to its second straight NCAA

Tournament and finished 19-10. What do you remember

about that first season?

JG: I have trouble remembering yesterday.

(Laughs) But I’d say that my freshman year, I just

remember that I got in a few games, and I think it was

down in Oklahoma where the entire team was starting to

foul out, and I got in at the end. And it was an

overtime game, and I got a rebound right at the end of

the game, and I missed a short shot to tie the game or

win the game. I think it was that year, although I can’t

recall.

But other than that, I didn’t get

in as much as I hoped, but I was a freshman, and we had

a lot of talent, and I wish I would have redshirted that

year.

HHC: Speaking of redshirting, 1992-1993

saw the team go 20-11 and make the NCAA Tournament, but

you took the redshirt to put on muscle in the weight

room. How important was that year in your development?

JG: I think it was significant. I was able

to practice and go watch the games from the sideline,

and I worked with Paul Koch who was our strength coach,

and worked on my speed and agility. It was just a good

learning experience that allowed me to get bigger,

stronger, and quicker.

HHC: Talk about how special it was winning

the Big 8 Tournament in 1993-1994. What do you remember

about that?

JG: I just remember

that we were kind of the underdogs, and just put in

three great games. We got on a roll and we were

unstoppable. (Eric) Piatkowski and (Bruce) Chubick and

those guys were playing great, and it was exciting

because it was the first and only Big 8 championship.

I think it was a surprise to

everybody, although we knew we had the talent and

players to compete.

HHC: Many people feel that Nebraska

“choked” in the NCAA Tournament under Danny Nee,

especially in the games against Connecticut your

freshman year, and Pennsylvania in 1994. What is your

response to that?

JG: I don’t know if

we choked. I think we maybe came in with the wrong

mindset, and were overconfident, maybe. But at

tournament time, it’s not necessarily the best rated

team that’s going to win. It’s whoever is playing best

at the time, and they obviously played better than we

did.

That happened a couple of times,

where we were maybe expected to win but didn’t. But I

don’t think it was necessarily choking, I think it was

just that they had the better team on that specific day.

HHC: In 1994-1995, the team went 18-14 and

again made the NIT. However, we’d like to talk more

about 1995-1996, and both the good and bad. First,

before we get to the good, talk about what led to the

player walkout that year?

JG: My recollection

is that we started to lose a few games in a row, and a

few of the players got upset with Coach Nee, as far as

maybe the way he was treating them, or playing time. I

think there was a practice that we weren’t supposed to

have, and Danny called a team practice on a day where we

weren’t supposed to, and that upset some players. And it

just was kind of a mess.

HHC: In retrospect, do you regret being a

part of the walkout, as far as what it did to Coach

Nee’s image?

JG: Yeah, I do. I

think everybody could have handled things differently.

It wasn’t a positive for anybody in the program, and it

made Coach Nee look bad, it made the players look

spoiled, and it just was a bad situation for the whole

thing. I don’t believe in tarnishing people’s reputation

and being negative in the newspapers and stuff like

that. And, I think it got to a point with the players

where they were trying to communicate with Coach Nee,

and weren’t seeing the answers they wanted, and it just

ended up in a bad situation.

HHC: Who were the two

players that showed up to practice that day? Wasn’t

Tyronn Lue one of them?

JG: Yeah, it was

Bernard Garner and Tyronn Lue. I think the reason those

two went to practice was because they had to be there

the next year, and they didn’t want any grudges with

Coach Nee. Those two kids just didn’t want to tarnish

their reputation with the coach, and I think the rest of

us understood that it was the final year, whether we

were seniors or transferring.

But yeah, I do regret being a part

of it and wish things wouldn’t have ended up the way

that they did.

HHC: Now, let’s talk about the good parts

of 1995-1996. You guys made an improbable run all the

way through the NIT, and won the championship, finishing

21-14. What moments stick out most about that run?

JG: I think just the roll that we got on

as a team. Everybody just put the issues beside, and

just started to play for one another and the fans. We

got to playing the way we knew we could play, and

started playing team ball, listening to the coaches, and

went on a good streak there.

HHC: Which was a more special moment to

you; winning the 1994 Big 8 Tournament, or winning the

1996 NIT Championship?

JG: I don’t think any one of the two is

more significant. It’s neat that both of those things

happened the first time when we were down there. And

it’s pretty unique being a part of that kind of

atmosphere and that situation where it’s the first time

in the schools history for that to happen.

HHC: What are your favorite memories of

UNL, both on and off the court?

JG: I think getting a good education, and

getting to know and meet some good friends down there.

And even though there are so many new students down

there, its nice living in the dorms and getting to know

your neighbors and the fans. I’ll remember the training

table, the weight room, and the great facilities that we

were able to practice, eat, and study in.

And off-campus, there’s always the

activities on the weekend, that we always had fun with,

too. (Laughs) But I’m proud of the education that I got,

and the basketball experience that I had.

HHC: Which of your

teammates do you still stay in touch with?

JG: Actually, I just worked on Chris

Sallee recently. I’m a dentist here in Wahoo, and he

came up and saw me in the dental office just last

weekend, and it was the first time I’d seen him in ten

or twelve years. And Tom Wald married my cousin, and

they live out in Grand Island. And the only other player

I’ve seen is Chad Ideus, who I think works insurance in

Lincoln.

HHC: Finally, what is Jason Glock up to

today, and what has he been doing since 1996?

JG: I went to dental

school for four years, and graduated in 2000. And I’ve

been up here with Dr. Martin for six years now. I'm married

to the former Patricia Chivers, from Idaho and

have two kids, Elle and Marcus and still help run a detassling crew in

the summer, which I know you have fond memories of.

HHC: (Laughs) Yes sir. Are you cool with

taking some e-mails at

[email protected] if we set the account

up for you and tell you how to check it?

JG: That would be great.

HHC: Awesome. Thanks

a lot for your time, and we’ll be sure to come to you if

we get any cavities or need a root canal!

JG: (Laughs) Sounds

good Dave, and thanks for having me.<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">