Episode 35: Episode 35: Justin Ray

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Thomas More University head men’s basketball coach Justin Ray.
Justin Ray is from the Westside of Cincinnati and we begin the episode going into pretty good detail about his love and experiences growing up over there.
Grade school sports in that predominately Roman Catholic community is very serious and Justin looks back glowingly on his youth career. He attended Our Lady of Lourdes School and played football and basketball for the Tigers. We talked about his 8th grade football coach Ozzy Bowns who just recently retired from coaching after more than 40 seasons.
Despite his ties to Our Lady of Lourdes, Justin’s wife is a proud member of Our Lady of Visitation. In a classic Westside situation he explains that he will let their kids go through the Visitation system but will not wear any of the spirit wear in order not completely break ranks from Lourdes.
However, Justin did break ranks when it came to attending high school when he decided not to go to Elder. He wanted basketball to be his future and he played on the grass roots level for Oak Hills head coach Mike Price. Justin explains how Coach Price is a mentor to him even to this day.
Justin would go on to be a Hall of Fame athlete at Oak Hills as both a star football and basketball player for the Highlanders.
After high school, Justin played his college basketball career in Memphis, Tennessee at Christian Brothers University. Head coach Mike Nienaber had ties to the Westside and many different Cincinnati area players made the trek to play for the Buccaneers.
After his playing career, Justin briefly worked in the private sector but quickly realized that was not the life for him so he returned to be a graduate assistant at Christian Brothers.
He felt like he wanted to pursue a career in coaching on the Division-I level. He landed a spot on the staff at Wright State University where he was an unpaid graduate assistant for two seasons under both Brad Brownell and Billy Donlan.
Justin earned his first full-time assistant coaching jobs close to his home at Mount St. Joseph University. He was hired by newly hired head coach Toby Carrigan and the two of them helped turn that program around. After a couple a rough seasons in the beginning the Lions would go to win its first conference championship and make the first NCAA tournament appearance in program history.
In 2018, Ray was hired as the head coach at Thomas More University. This was at a time when the athletic department was transitioning from NCAA Division-III into NAIA. The victory that put the Saints on the map was a win over the #1 team in the nation and Mid South Conference opponent Georgetown Tigers.
Justin talks about being influenced by the other coaches at Thomas More including head women’s basketball coach Jeff Hans and athletic director Terry Connor.
You can follow Coach Ray on Twitter @JustinMRay (https://twitter.com/JustinMRay) and the Thomas More men’s basketball program @TMUMensBBall (https://twitter.com/TMUMENSBBALL)
Cover photo provided by Thomas More softball player Taylor Peterson (https://twitter.com/tp_on_a_roll) who takes pictures for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Thomas More.
You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe
Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm) to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety.
For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to [email protected]
Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is Thomas More University head men’s basketball coach Justin Ray.

Justin Ray is from the Westside of Cincinnati and we begin the episode going into pretty good detail about his love and experiences growing up over there.

Grade school sports in that predominately Roman Catholic community is very serious and Justin looks back glowingly on his youth career. He attended Our Lady of Lourdes School and played football and basketball for the Tigers. We talked about his 8th grade football coach Ozzy Bowns who just recently retired from coaching after more than 40 seasons.

Despite his ties to Our Lady of Lourdes, Justin’s wife is a proud member of Our Lady of Visitation. In a classic Westside situation he explains that he will let their kids go through the Visitation system but will not wear any of the spirit wear in order not completely break ranks from Lourdes.

However, Justin did break ranks when it came to attending high school when he decided not to go to Elder. He wanted basketball to be his future and he played on the grass roots level for Oak Hills head coach Mike Price. Justin explains how Coach Price is a mentor to him even to this day.

Justin would go on to be a Hall of Fame athlete at Oak Hills as both a star football and basketball player for the Highlanders.

After high school, Justin played his college basketball career in Memphis, Tennessee at Christian Brothers University. Head coach Mike Nienaber had ties to the Westside and many different Cincinnati area players made the trek to play for the Buccaneers.

After his playing career, Justin briefly worked in the private sector but quickly realized that was not the life for him so he returned to be a graduate assistant at Christian Brothers.

He felt like he wanted to pursue a career in coaching on the Division-I level. He landed a spot on the staff at Wright State University where he was an unpaid graduate assistant for two seasons under both Brad Brownell and Billy Donlan.

Justin earned his first full-time assistant coaching jobs close to his home at Mount St. Joseph University. He was hired by newly hired head coach Toby Carrigan and the two of them helped turn that program around. After a couple a rough seasons in the beginning the Lions would go to win its first conference championship and make the first NCAA tournament appearance in program history.

In 2018, Ray was hired as the head coach at Thomas More University. This was at a time when the athletic department was transitioning from NCAA Division-III into NAIA. The victory that put the Saints on the map was a win over the #1 team in the nation and Mid South Conference opponent Georgetown Tigers.

Justin talks about being influenced by the other coaches at Thomas More including head women’s basketball coach Jeff Hans and athletic director Terry Connor.

You can follow Coach Ray on Twitter @JustinMRay and the Thomas More men’s basketball program @TMUMensBBall

Cover photo provided by Thomas More softball player Taylor Peterson who takes pictures for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Thomas More.

You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe

Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm to listen to all episodes on demand and in their entirety.

For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected]

Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com