The description posted with Air Force basketball’s coaching vacancy spoke to Joe Crispin.

The Falcons sought a unique identity. A positive environment. And it was stressed that this would be a difficult job.

“When I saw that, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s me. That is who I am,’” said Crispin, who was hired on Wednesday. “I said that to a friend, that’s exactly who I am. That’s the description of me, so I knew I needed to look into his.”

This coach, whose aggressive style dates back to his second high school game when he launched 24 3-pointers – making seven – indeed brings a unique philosophy and one that lives on the opposite end of the spectrum from what Air Force basketball has featured for decades.

Crispin, a former All-Big Ten player for Penn State who then played professionally for more than a decade, spoke with The Gazette’s Brent Briggeman in an exclusive conversation on Thursday.

“The more I learned about it, the more excited about it I got,” Crispin said of the Falcons’ job, which will follow a nine-year stint leading NCAA Division III Rowan and three years as an assistant at Penn State. “Sometimes the more you learn about something the more you’re like, ‘Oh boy.’”

Brent Briggeman: What specifically about the job did make you say, “Oh boy.” I would think there would have been a number of those things. What stood out to you as you explored this challenge and perhaps gave you pause?

I think I’m a little weird. I’m different. The more somebody says it can’t be done, the more I’m motivated to do it. It’s just the way I’m wired.

I always tell people I’m a 6-foot white guy from the suburbs and I wanted to play in the NBA. I wanted to play professional basketball. I wanted to play big-time college basketball. My dad was a big-time basketball coach, but I always joke that he thought I was a little crazy for some of that stuff. The more he told me, ‘I’m not so sure about that,’ the more I was motivated to do it. That’s just kind of how I’m wired.

I think I’m super aware of the challenge, but I find that to be super motivating, personally. I think I’m aware of some of the constraints we have as an academy and history and those things, but I don’t think they have to be things that hold us back. I think we can focus on strengths and lean into those strengths and the good things that we have and maximize them to have success. That’s just how I’m wired. It’s not that I’m not aware of the difficulty, but the more I hear that it can’t be done, the more I like the thought of doing it.

When it comes to recruiting, having been at NCAA Division III Rowan for 12 years (nine as the head coach) where there are no athletic scholarships, I would assume you’ve been in living rooms where you’re recruiting to your style, personality and the experience you can offer as opposed to scholarships or certainly NIL offers. Do you think that base will help you at Air Force where the sales pitch will be completely different than most of the competition you’ll be facing?

I think the biggest thing in Division III, I always told people, and at Rowan in particular, is all the kids on the roster in some way shape or form were paying to play for us. Probably half of them were literally paying money to play for me, because they had given up scholarships for the basketball experience, for whatever reason. Half of our team were scholarship-level players who for one reason or another, they wanted a better basketball experience. So they came to Rowan, and that’s what we sold them on. I think that’s very, very similar to the experience here at the academy is that if we can’t give them a great experience in basketball, their academy experience isn’t going to be great. I think it’s as simple as that.

Of course there’s everything that comes with the academy and I believe in the vision, I believe in the mission. I think it’s underestimated how powerful that is when you get a group of individuals who are there for something bigger than themselves and you fit basketball in there, I think that’s where a lot of magic can happen. But at the same time, if they don’t have a positive experience with hoops, they’re really not going to be as high on their academy experience. We don’t want that by any stretch, and that really is what we were talking to guys about at the D3 level.

What do you think makes that basketball experience positive? Is it the locker room culture? Is it winning? Is it a style of play? A blend?

I think it’s all of it. Relationships are built when you’re on mission. When you’re on a mission to do something hard and to go for something that hasn’t been done before. And that’s the way I view this program and where we are in the story, so to speak.. We want to get a group of young men on the same page to write a new chapter and to do something that people say can’t be done. I think that’s where the great relationships are built. It’s hard, but it’s fun and it’s challenging. The group of guys we have, just in talking to them, are motivated to prove that they can do something people don’t think they can do. I think the other element to that is to not just do it and trot out some victories, but do it in a way that people really have to pay attention to. That’s the way I always sought to play the game of basketball.

I’m the type of guy who, when people say they don’t care about style points and I’m like, well I do. I think it should be creative and spontaneous and aggressive and unpredictable. I love that about basketball.

When I started coaching at Rowan I didn’t know exactly how to teach that, but that’s why I went there. It was a great place to figure that out. And now it’s been really good at the highest level (at Penn State) to learn a different way that I can work within my own philosophy. And that’s what I’m excited to bring, and I think that’s all a part of the larger mission for the kids to have a great experience is being on mission together, taking on a tough task and doing something that is fun.

When you look overall at academy sports, particularly basketball and football, the styles tend to point to shortening the game. In basketball that’s part of the “Princeton” offense and the same is true with the triple option in football. What I see, at least numbers-wise, from your approach is the complete opposite. You want to force the action, you want the high-scoring games and the constant flow. Do you think that translates, or is there going to have to be an adjustment to that style?

It’ll be an adjustment, but when people think about playing fast it’s often about athleticism and how fast guys are, how athletic guys are, how much length you have. I think what people often forget is that basketball is a game of decisions. If you have a group of great decision-makers, you can play faster than people think. The key to playing fast is asking guys to make good, consistent decisions. I think that’s the kind of kids we can get here at Air Force. It requires a different kind of training. The way we practice and the way we will play will be different than what they’re used to, but what I’ve often said to people is if kids love basketball and they want to learn, they can learn how to play this way. I had Division III players, and I usually only had like three weeks of practice before the first game, and they were able to build on it. Teaching kids how to play together, to me, that’s the key to playing fast. It’s simplifying the game. It’s teaching them how to use pace to create advantages, and that’s the brain just as much as the body. We might look like we’re running around like crazy people, I hope we do, but there’s actually a strategy to it.

The goal is, when you play Air Force, it’s the only time you play Air Force. We’re different. We’re unique. There will be some teams that are just better at it than we are. And that’s fine. But then there are other games where kids start to understand how it works, and they internalize it and magic happens.

What does an ideal roster look like at Air Force under your style? Is there a template of a player or a certain skill set that needs to be met?

In terms of roster building, I value diversity. I value guys with different skill sets. That could include height and athleticism, but also elite strength. That’s the way I view building rosters and recruiting players. I’m really strength-oriented. I wanted to be focused on what they can do really well. For some, it needs to be shooting the 3, but it’s not like everybody has to shoot the 3 to be effective. It’s not like we can only play five guys who are all of similar height. … I like rosters that you can do a variety of different things with, because you want to be disruptive to your opponent.

I’m pretty confident that if we get the right guys and we can build some depth and some age in the coming years that we can be super disruptive. Continuity needs to be our strength. Guys who know each other, trust each other, guys who understand each other. You can build on that in a couple of years. That’s a strength today because a lot of teams are going to lose guys every year and hopefully we can be different.

What do you envision the makeup of your staff looking like in terms of backgrounds? Obviously because a service academy is so different, do you think you’ll seek someone with that background, or what will you prioritize?

I’ve talked to a variety of people about that. The way I look at my staff is the same way I look at my team, diversity of gifts is a strength. There’s certainly people who are going to recruit good people no matter where they are. So I focus more on someone who has those qualities more than someone who has necessarily done it at a service academy. The other thing is people who really love being in the gym with guys. I love basketball. So we’re going to have a combination where maybe some guys like being on the road with maybe a little less emphasis on the gym, but then the other guy needs to complement him and be kind of the exact opposite with our staff. That’s super important with me, because you want people to complement you.

How will the resources here compare to what you had at Rowan? Will you be able to do things here and maybe target people you weren’t able to hire at the D3 level?

It will be much better. That’s one of the things I’m most excited about. I had a great staff at Rowan, but most of them were part-time. We built that around strengths. The ability to organize a staff and be in consistently every day and build the team of the staff, because that’s the team that’s building the team of players. So that’s something I’m super excited about building. I’m going to take my time and make sure we’ve got the right guys in building my staff. … I’m very confident we’ll have a group that the guys love working for, and then the other thing about the academy is, No. 1, guys who care about people. You want to invest in these guys as young men and you want to be there. That’s a priority for me. There needs to be some continuity of staff to have continuity with players. That matters for the whole program.

How does it work in the coaching world? Is there a job board where Air Force first pops up? Does the search firm reach out? When did you first hear Air Force had an opening and when did that jump on your radar?

I’m not someone who’s all in that. Some people know every single job that’s popping up. I love basketball and I’m prepping for the next game at Penn State. That’s my wheelhouse. I just love basketball season. But multiple people had mentioned it to me and I was like, ‘Yeah, that’d be cool.” But I didn’t really think much of it. Then the search firm reached out and the description I was given was about a unique identity, positive, understanding it’s a hard job and being attracted to that. When I saw that, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s me. That is who I am.’ I said that to a friend, that’s exactly who I am. That’s the description of me, so I knew I needed to look into this. As I looked into the academy and everything that was involved in the academy, I loved it. I saw the need for exactly what they were saying.

There was a shared vision from an administrative standpoint and the executive leadership team for what they were looking for and what I was all about. Even something as simple as, I like to say I’m constraints-led when it comes to teaching the game of basketball. But I’m also constraints-led in the way I build the program. I’m not working against and complaining about what we can’t do. I think that’s important at the academy to know this is a part of a larger mission and there’s certainly things we might not be able to do that you can do somewhere else, but that’s fine. We can still make it work and stay on the right path and make people better and take the next step. The more I looked into it, the more motivated I was to really pursue the opportunity and I’m really thankful it worked out.

Every year the schedule will have teams like New Mexico, Nevada and UNLV. Can you put into words the enormity of the challenge in taking this program from where it is to where it can be competitive in the Mountain West?

It’s definitely not going to be easy. I think that’s part of the fun of it is that it’s hard. … But, again, I think that’s part of the attraction of it and having a group of guys who have gone through it and struggled through it, to me that’s even more motivating that they want to be a part of flipping the script. That’s the other attraction; this is a high level of basketball with high-level teams. If you’re a competitor, that’s what you want to do.

Is the first recruiting job just getting to know this group? Obviously a lot of underclassmen played this year. Is that how you view it, or is more laying out what you’re going to be doing and asking who is on board?

I think it’s both. I do think the guys who have already suffered through are super valuable, because suffering comes before glory. That’s what I told them yesterday. You’ve got to suffer through stuff to get to the good stuff. When you have a group that’s already done that – some guys for a couple years – I think there’s great value to that if they’re willing to see it through. At the same time, I want them to know that, ‘Hey, this is what I’m about and this is where we’re going.’ They’re free to ask questions and see how they fit into that. I think they’re already a thoughtful bunch that has already done that. That is the first priority. And same thing with the guys coming in who they’ve already recruited. Just looking at rosters and the history of Air Force, I do think the coaches have done a great job in bringing the right kind of guys in. I think, naturally, we always want to do better, but I think there’s a reality there that we’re going to need to bring in the right kind of kids and the underdog type of kids and maybe a little underrecruited and then build them up and make them better.

Retention has been the primary issue here for the past five or six years. Do you have a philosophy on that? You’ve touched on it in some ways about building that experience, but what has your experience been with the portal, especially the outgoing end of it?

As a head coach, I was often on the other side of it in terms of getting transfers and them not wanting to leave because they had had a negative experience, and we turned it into a positive experience, and they knew how special it was. And sometimes it is harder with younger players because they don’t know what they have sometimes when they’ve got something good. But I think between the experience at the academy and kids understanding what they’re coming for, that it’s not just basketball-only, it’s part of a larger mission, which I do think most of them are very much aware of and know when they’re coming in. But I also think that, naturally, kids need to make a decision before their junior year, and there will be kids who will be tempted by money to leave. I just think in this environment it’s always a conversation – who are you, where do you want to go, what’s important to you, what’s the big picture?

I’m not going to hold kids back from what’s best for them, but you want to make sure they understand the value of the academy experience and all that comes with it for life. And the basketball experience really does need to be superior and great to keep them there, and that means all that we’ve talked about – relationships, style of play, winning, the whole nine.

As you’ve described your style, is there a comp out there?

The goal is no one is like us. That’s my goal, that we literally are unique offensively and defensively. Now, offensively, believe it or not, I believe in keeping it simple. We’re just going to play to our strengths. We’re going to play to our best actions, advantages and then we’re going to learn to play off of that offensively. It actually means some different things defensively. I always look at defense like a puzzle. Most puzzles are, like 2-3 zone puzzles, pretty simple, right? We want to create puzzles that change all the time in the full court and half court, so we’ll use different strategies to do that. The one thing that I believe about basketball that I think some teams are starting to figure out in Europe and other places that I’ve been doing since I’ve been in coaching – I don’t like the game to stop. I call it stop-and-start basketball where you kind of walk it up and look at the coach. I’m not into that at all. I think it’s boring.

Defensively and offensively we’re going to try to create the game that just doesn’t stop, that we’re relentless and we’re coming at you and we’re aggressive, but we’re not being stupid. There is a method to the madness.

When did you formulate your philosophy? Were you kind of drawing plays in the dirt, so to speak, in your years as a player?

I wrote a book called, “‘”Offense Wins,” that I wrote before I ever coached. I wrote it from a players’ perspective. So before I ever coached I wrote this book. I joke in the book that many of the things I’ve learned are from all the things that me and my teammates complained about over the years. It’s an exaggeration, but not by much. I had a very formative experience in high school where my coach (the late Craig Harper) was way ahead of his time. He was ahead of the NBA. We shot 3s. We played fast. We averaged 85 points a game and my brother and I would go off for 70 points in a high school game. We played super aggressive. That kind of stuck with me the rest of my life, that experience and that mentality.

I think I kind of had it by nature, but my high school coach kind of unlocked it in both of us. And what I tell people is there is no way to play basketball that I haven’t played. I have played to 150. I have played in games where the coach called a play every time. I have done everything in between that. Minor leagues, overseas, different countries. I was given a basketball education that was very unique because I can look players in the eye and I’ve experienced it. I’ve been cut, I’ve been the man, I’ve been everybody in between. In my experience I only had success as a player when I really played with my gut and played aggressively, took risks. That is personally the way I played the game. It’s just who I was. I say I played like Steph Curry before there was Steph Curry. I said that sounds cool, but in my day, people just thought I was crazy. I shot transition 3s. I shot all the shots you weren’t supposed to shoot. What I always wanted to create was the kind of things where all the things we would complain about, we wouldn’t complain about. The things that I enjoyed as a player. Every coach coaches based on his own story, and that’s what it comes from for me.

That certainly makes sense. Looking at your background I assumed your style had to be built on all those experiences.

My dad was a coach, my grandfather was a coach, my uncle was a coach. I’ve been around basketball my whole life. I’m also a questioner. Whenever someone tells me you can’t play basketball this way, there’s something in me that says, OK, watch me. That’s just the way I grew up playing and I probably will stick to that the rest of my life.

My understanding is the timeline for you to come out the week following next. What’s been your communication with the team so far?

I haven’t been out. I Zoomed with the team yesterday and talked with a bunch of guys on the phone (Wednesday), and I’ll talk with the rest of them (Thursday).  

You didn’t visit Colorado for the interview? Have you not yet stepped foot on the academy grounds?

No. I said, ‘Yes.” They asked me if I needed to come out here to say, ‘Yes,’ and I said I’ve said yes to Italy, Poland, Greece, Ukraine. This is easy to say yes to.