NMSU English professor and former assistant basketball coach Rus Bradburd chatted with Lynn Moorer about his memoir, Paddy on the Hardwood: A Journey in Irish Hoops, which recounts his quest for an easy job in the Republic of Ireland coaching basketball while learning traditional Irish fiddle tunes and finishing a short story series. Coaching the Tralee Tigers, headquartered in a small town in southwestern Ireland, turned out to be an unexpected coaching challenge, not least because the Tigers didn’t have their own gym to train or play in, basketball had to compete with many more popular sports in Ireland, and his Irish players had other jobs while playing only for the love of the game and practicing only five hours a week. Instead of writing short stories, he found himself embracing his unique coaching challenge and creating an entertaining and, at times, riveting journal about his vivid experiences.
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