Remember, State won a national championship a couple years ago. It’s not like the program has been terrible for a long time. They went through a tough time, and it comes down to recruiting. A lot of other programs have gotten a lot better over the years, so it really becomes a dog fight when you’re trying to get the best talent in addition to the kids not playing major junior hockey because the National Hockey League is getting younger too. … But I definitely see the program getting back to where it should be, and with Coach Anastos, they have the right leadership there to do that. They definitely have the resources. From a school standpoint, it doesn’t get any better than Michigan State. So you know, when you have guys like Tom Newton who are experienced recruiters, … you’re really setting yourself up for success. It’s not going to happen overnight, but I really believe Tom Anastos believes in the right things.
 
With the numbers of black athletes in hockey remaining fairly low, why do you think hockey is less appealing to black players and how can the NHL make it more appealing?

Well it’s not cheap to begin with. If you’re not playing someplace where there’s multiple ice rinks all over the place, ice time can be very expensive. So that’s the first thing. The economics of the game aren’t conducive to a lot of people playing the game unless they have access to expendable money. That’s the biggest thing. The second thing is not having an abundance of similar black faces that these young black athletes can see on the TV that they can emulate. Having said that, when I played, there was only myself, Kevin Weekes, Mike Grier and maybe that’s about it really. The numbers have started to increase slowly and slowly, and that really is a great testament to the National Hockey League. They are making a real conscious effort to make the National Hockey League a place where everyone can play the game. It doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, Swedish, Russian, Czech, Slovak — it doesn’t really matter.
 
What are your memories of your NHL career?

Well I had a great time playing in the National Hockey League, but the thing is, I played over 10 years in the National Hockey League; I played in the Swiss Elite League. It doesn’t compare to my four years at Michigan State. A lot of people are blown away when I make that statement, but it’s true. Those four years at Michigan State were better than any of the years I played in the National Hockey League. It’s just because the whole experience and the way Coach Mason treated his players, the way the guys interacted on campus with each other and also the other student athletes and with your normal students as well. It was a great life. I would stress for incoming players who are thinking about playing college hockey, you need to go to college and check out the environment. The NHL isn’t going anywhere. You can play in the National Hockey League as long as you want, and it really isn’t going anywhere. … I was really enjoying my college experience, and I didn’t want to look back and say, ‘I wish I would have stayed one more year.’