Former Chapman basketball players get major shoutout on national TV

Dan Krikorian and Patrick Carney, Chapman 2007 graduates, started a podcast in August 2020. To their surprise, ESPN commentator Jeff Van Gundy shouted them out during a nationally televised NBA game Jan 30. Photo courtesy of Krikorian

Dan Krikorian, the assistant coach of Chapman’s men’s basketball team, relaxed on the couch in his Newport Beach home the night of Jan. 30, ready for a fun night of watching the NBA’s Boston Celtics and his hometown Los Angeles Lakers duke it out in a game broadcasted on ESPN.

Halfway around the world, his friend, former Chapman teammate and podcast co-host, Patrick Carney, laid fast asleep in his home in Essen, Germany, having no idea of the news he’d wake up to. 

The two, who both played on Chapman’s basketball team and graduated in 2007, host a weekly podcast, “Slappin’ Glass,” every Friday and post basketball coaching analyses on their YouTube channel. Their content evidently caught the attention of Jeff Van Gundy, a color commentator for ESPN and former head coach of the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets. During the second quarter, Van Gundy gave a shoutout to Slappin’ Glass on the broadcast, telling viewers the podcast was “awesome” and they could “learn so much on there.”

“I was just sitting there, enjoying my Saturday night, watching the game,” Krikorian said. “It was surreal.”

Prior to Saturday night’s game, Krikorian and Carney recorded a podcast episode with Van Gundy — which they released Feb. 5 — and were pleasantly surprised at the analyst’s mention of them on ESPN. Krikorian told The Panther the two had “no idea (Van Gundy) was going to do that.”

Carney was equally surprised.

“The game came on at 2:30 in the morning (in Germany), so I didn’t know about it until the morning,” Carney said. “(Krikorian) left me a voicemail saying (Van Gundy) shouted us out and from there on it was a pretty crazy morning. It was a good way to start the day.”

Krikorian and Carney are both coaches themselves; Carney in particular is an assistant coach with FC Schalke 04 Basketball in Germany. With Slappin’ Glass, the two aim to educate listeners, readers and viewers on a wide range of basketball content. Their website offers weekly newsletters, their YouTube supplies video breakdowns and their podcast hosts various coaches like Van Gundy to offer basketball analyses, which is how they first made contact. 

“Mike Martin, the (Brown University) head coach, said Van Gundy really liked our stuff,” Carney said. “When we heard that, we jumped on it and asked if he could put him in contact with us.”

Building their network has helped them interview people they never thought possible after starting their podcast in August 2020, Carney said. Both believe that with developed connections, they will have an opportunity to host more professionals in the future. Krikorian is a big fan of Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, but would be happy with anyone they could land. Carney, on the other hand, hopes to interview Zeljko Obradovic, a famous Serbian coach in Germany. 

In the meantime, they’ll wait and see where their connections and this latest endorsement will lead them.

“(Van Gundy) has been willing to connect us with more people, and we have other coaches like that too,” Krikorian said. “We’re just waiting to see where all of that leads.”