Four Questions with Speedy Claxton

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Bursting with Pride

It's peaking. A slow burn. Building toward March. No matter what you call it, Hofstra's got it.

The Pride are 17-8, and 10-2 in the Colonial Athletic. They've won nine of their last 10, including a showcase win at Charleston on Jan. 28, something no other team has done this season. They're tied atop the league standings, and are in prime position for their first NCAA Tournament berth since back-to-back appearances 2000 and 2001. (They won the CAA tourney in 2020, but COVID.)

Is it a coincidence that their coach, Speedy Claxton, was a star on that 2000 team? Or that their current star, guard Aaron Estrada, is posting an eerily similar stat line to Claxton's senior season: 22.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 6 apg? (Estrada's at 21.6, 5.5, 4.0.) Nah, this was always the plan. Claxton explained why when he talked to Mike Miller for our latest Four Questions.

Q: You're coming off a 21-point win against Stony Brook after two close, but impressive victories against Charleston and Towson. You're 9-1 in your last 10 games, all this calendar year. What have you learned most about your team this last month? Are you where you want to be?

Speedy Claxton:  I'm feeling good. We're getting better each time out, which is great at this point in the year. That's exactly what you want going into March. The team believes in themselves and they believe in each other. This was a tough, tough six-game stretch for us.  Going into it I thought if we went 4-2, I'd take that, but we ended up going 5-1. And the only game we lost, we played great, we just didn't shot the ball well.

We're just looking for some consistency now. Our guys know what's at stake. We'll take it game-by-game, but these guys know if we take care of business, and handle each game the right way, they will come out on top. And they know that, so we'll just focus on what's ahead. 

Q: Aaron Estrada has rightfully earned a lot of plaudits this season, but when you pair a go-to guy with overall balance, ball control, and shooting that's a potent mix and the hallmark of a good offense. How would you describe how you this roster mix has made it work?

Speedy Claxton: You want your young guys to learn from your older guys, and you wants your older guys to show the young guys what's expected and what's the standard of the program. That's everything from working hard, to getting in extra shots. That's the kind of culture that we've built here. 

And we can beat you in a number of ways. If you try to take Estrada out the game, we have other guys that can step up, kinda like we did against Stony Brook when Estrada was out. We can throw it down low to our big fella, Warren Williams. Tyler Thomas, he's been great all freaking year. He's stepped up the biggest in Aaron's absence. We're balanced team. It's not a one-man show. People might think that, but once they play us, they realize pretty soon that multiple guys can beat you.

Q: I think a lot of programs would shy away from your non-conference schedule. This year alone, you played at Princeton, vs. Iona, GW, at Saint Mary's, at George Mason, at Purdue. Seems akin to something Tom Izzo would do to prepare a team for conference play. Has this been one of the key aspects to that season progression? 

Speedy Claxton: (laughs) Yeah, we had extremely extremely tough schedule. I mean, looking it before the season. I was like "Oh my god, we could lose every freaking game." That was a real possibility. Even the home games that we had, it was against Iona and George Washington, probably the best MAAC team and an A-10 school. But to these kids' credit man, they believed and they they they showed up. Really, the only the only rough spot we had was when Estrada went went down with an injury and we lost a couple in a row. And honestly, I think if we had him, we win some of those games.

Q: You're in your second year as a head coach after eight years as an assistant. You were born in Hempstead. You played at Hofstra for four years. Has it always felt like this was where you'd be?

Speedy Claxton: I knew I always wanted to come back. That was the plan. When I knew my basketball playing career was winding down, I knew I wanted to get into coaching. When I was with the Warriors [in 2005], Don Nelson asked if I ever thought about coaching. It was was on my mind, but then once he said it and told me "I think you'd make a really good coach." Once he said that, I knew this might be my next path. My knees were giving me some issues, and I knew I had to start the next phase of my life. 

Hofstra plays at Northeastern tonight at 6 pm on CBS Sports Network.