I just interviewed Cole Welle about his scholarship. One cool fact I learned is his grandfather played on the 1959-60 national championship team coached by Pete Newell. Below are key quotes. The rest will be saved for the article.
Q: Talk about your journey to Cal, how did Coach Martin find you, etc.
A: “So like I said, I played basketball in high school, basketball and volleyball in high school, and coming out of Santa Cruz there’s not a lot of attention given there, but I worked with Bobby Bramlett over at West Valley and played with him, got some looks at L.A. tournaments and first it kinda started off small, and then I was able to first get into Cal. Like, I did the earlier admission type things.
So, I got into Cal first and then I don’t want to say I self-recruited myself, but I reached out to Coach Montgomery at first, who was here at that time and I talked to him, I had kinda gotten in communication with him, but then we went through the coaching change and so it kinda went silent for awhile because we didn’t really know who the coach was gonna be and so I didn’t know who I was supposed to talk to or where I was gonna go from there.
So, I looked at other schools in the meantime, and then eventually Coach Martin reached out to me and said ‘Hey, Coach Montgomery gave me your contacts, he said you guys were talking’, so that kinda relationship built up and then once I officially got admitted into the school, I was up here for, I think it’s called CalSO, the orientation, and I got to meet Coach Martin and he said we’d love to have you come work out for us, see how you’d do, how you’d play, I did a workout and then I drove home and the same day, he called me and said ‘We’d like to welcome you to the Cal family, I know you need to talk to your family first, but we have officially liked to offer you a place as a walk-on.’
And so that’s how that started, and then I went to Santa Barbara next and was considering there for both basketball and volleyball, but then ultimately, my grandfather, who played here for Pete Newell in 1959-60, the championship team, I talked with him, he was like, ‘You’d never regret it, it’s an amazing school,’ and so I’ve always wanted to come here since I was a little kid and then just ultimately ended up coming here after talking with my family and it’s been the greatest decision I’ve ever made.”
Q: When you are a walk-on you don’t get the same benefits of those that are on scholarship. What is the biggest challenge about being a walk-on? Is there as much of a difference as people might perceive?
A: “I think in other programs, I would say that’s probably true, but I think one of the biggest pieces that led me to choose Cal is because of Coach Martin’s philosophy of nothing is given, everything’s earned, and so the idea that I’m coming in, even though I don’t get a scholarship, or I may be viewed a little bit differently by other people, he still saw us all as players rather than items, I guess? And so, just having that sense of feeling was really a big factor into my decision to coming here, and so I don’t really think I was ever treated differently other than I didn’t get maybe an extra meal here or there because of certain NCAA rules, but for the most part I was treated completely the same, the guys don’t treat you any different, there’s no hierarchy, I would say, and so everything’s fair, I guess. So, I mean, for me personally, I never really felt different, I guess.”
Q: When you received the news that you would be getting a scholarship, what emotions did you feel? What was your initial reaction like?
A: “I told all the guys I was stunned. It’s not only feeling of pride and validation, but it’s just a shock and you know after all my hard work even since I was a little kid, finally be like ‘Oh, I’m doing exactly what my grandfather did, I’m doing what my dad was able to do up in Alaska.’ You know, it’s just this huge weight off my shoulders and like I immediately thought about my parents, too. Like, everything they’ve done for me. You know, I wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t provided the life they did for me and how they paid for me to go to school here. And, to be able to give back to them and hopefully give even more back to them going through this year is just something that went right through my mind and I was almost moved to tears, but I tried to hold it back in front of all the guys and my coaches, so, but it was a feeling that I would never forget and definitely one of the proudest moments of my life, I’d have to say.”
Q: What is your message to other athletes who are walk-ons looking for a scholarship? What is the most important thing you’ve learned from this whole process during your first three years?
A: “I mean, there’s definitely been times where it’s been extremely hard and I have wanted to throw the towel in, but because of the relationships I’ve built with my teammates and my coaches, I just kept my head down and kept working. I have this saying, it’s from a song, where ‘gangsters move in silence’ and I don’t talk a lot. So, I don’t like to talk and brag even when I do well. If I do better and I get better, I need to keep getting better. There’s another thing I say is there’s no room for complacency and I just can’t emphasize enough even if you think you’re getting better, there’s always room for improvement and there’s a speech by Matthew McConaughey who says ‘Your hero should be you in 10 years.’ So you can never get to your hero and there’s always something to keep striving for and so to see the relationships and these connections I’ve made with my teammates and my coaches, that is something that has always driven me to do better and to always want to be a part of this and to never given up on my dreams of being where I want to be.”
Q: Talk about your journey to Cal, how did Coach Martin find you, etc.
A: “So like I said, I played basketball in high school, basketball and volleyball in high school, and coming out of Santa Cruz there’s not a lot of attention given there, but I worked with Bobby Bramlett over at West Valley and played with him, got some looks at L.A. tournaments and first it kinda started off small, and then I was able to first get into Cal. Like, I did the earlier admission type things.
So, I got into Cal first and then I don’t want to say I self-recruited myself, but I reached out to Coach Montgomery at first, who was here at that time and I talked to him, I had kinda gotten in communication with him, but then we went through the coaching change and so it kinda went silent for awhile because we didn’t really know who the coach was gonna be and so I didn’t know who I was supposed to talk to or where I was gonna go from there.
So, I looked at other schools in the meantime, and then eventually Coach Martin reached out to me and said ‘Hey, Coach Montgomery gave me your contacts, he said you guys were talking’, so that kinda relationship built up and then once I officially got admitted into the school, I was up here for, I think it’s called CalSO, the orientation, and I got to meet Coach Martin and he said we’d love to have you come work out for us, see how you’d do, how you’d play, I did a workout and then I drove home and the same day, he called me and said ‘We’d like to welcome you to the Cal family, I know you need to talk to your family first, but we have officially liked to offer you a place as a walk-on.’
And so that’s how that started, and then I went to Santa Barbara next and was considering there for both basketball and volleyball, but then ultimately, my grandfather, who played here for Pete Newell in 1959-60, the championship team, I talked with him, he was like, ‘You’d never regret it, it’s an amazing school,’ and so I’ve always wanted to come here since I was a little kid and then just ultimately ended up coming here after talking with my family and it’s been the greatest decision I’ve ever made.”
Q: When you are a walk-on you don’t get the same benefits of those that are on scholarship. What is the biggest challenge about being a walk-on? Is there as much of a difference as people might perceive?
A: “I think in other programs, I would say that’s probably true, but I think one of the biggest pieces that led me to choose Cal is because of Coach Martin’s philosophy of nothing is given, everything’s earned, and so the idea that I’m coming in, even though I don’t get a scholarship, or I may be viewed a little bit differently by other people, he still saw us all as players rather than items, I guess? And so, just having that sense of feeling was really a big factor into my decision to coming here, and so I don’t really think I was ever treated differently other than I didn’t get maybe an extra meal here or there because of certain NCAA rules, but for the most part I was treated completely the same, the guys don’t treat you any different, there’s no hierarchy, I would say, and so everything’s fair, I guess. So, I mean, for me personally, I never really felt different, I guess.”
Q: When you received the news that you would be getting a scholarship, what emotions did you feel? What was your initial reaction like?
A: “I told all the guys I was stunned. It’s not only feeling of pride and validation, but it’s just a shock and you know after all my hard work even since I was a little kid, finally be like ‘Oh, I’m doing exactly what my grandfather did, I’m doing what my dad was able to do up in Alaska.’ You know, it’s just this huge weight off my shoulders and like I immediately thought about my parents, too. Like, everything they’ve done for me. You know, I wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t provided the life they did for me and how they paid for me to go to school here. And, to be able to give back to them and hopefully give even more back to them going through this year is just something that went right through my mind and I was almost moved to tears, but I tried to hold it back in front of all the guys and my coaches, so, but it was a feeling that I would never forget and definitely one of the proudest moments of my life, I’d have to say.”
Q: What is your message to other athletes who are walk-ons looking for a scholarship? What is the most important thing you’ve learned from this whole process during your first three years?
A: “I mean, there’s definitely been times where it’s been extremely hard and I have wanted to throw the towel in, but because of the relationships I’ve built with my teammates and my coaches, I just kept my head down and kept working. I have this saying, it’s from a song, where ‘gangsters move in silence’ and I don’t talk a lot. So, I don’t like to talk and brag even when I do well. If I do better and I get better, I need to keep getting better. There’s another thing I say is there’s no room for complacency and I just can’t emphasize enough even if you think you’re getting better, there’s always room for improvement and there’s a speech by Matthew McConaughey who says ‘Your hero should be you in 10 years.’ So you can never get to your hero and there’s always something to keep striving for and so to see the relationships and these connections I’ve made with my teammates and my coaches, that is something that has always driven me to do better and to always want to be a part of this and to never given up on my dreams of being where I want to be.”
