Max Shulman has been a coach's kid all his life. Now, he's THE coach's kid. He sat down recently with assistant athletic director Mark McCarter for a wide-ranging conversation, from life on and off campus, his family and the backstory how his father became the UAH basketball coach. (LIGHTLY EDITED FOR LENGTH AND CLARITY)

Q: I was sitting with somebody the other day at a game, and he says, it seems like Max has been here for 20 years. What's your reaction to that? And does it feel that way?

MAX: (Laughing) He's not wrong. This is I guess (season) number six. So it's pretty much almost a quarter of my life that I've been here. It feels like that. But this is like home. 

Q: What's special about this place, that keeps you here for what seems 20 years?

MAX: The team has always been the reason. Always has. You always have your best friends on here. It's a special people. I mean, people before my dad, after that, like, it's been the same. Never a bad day at practice. 

Q: What are you studying, and what do you want to do after graduation?

MAX: Undergrad in sport management. I got that a year and a half ago. And then I am actually just nine hours away from a Masters in business administration. As far after graduation, I don't think about things until it's time to think about it. So right now I've till March slash April. I'll figure it out. But definitely something in basketball, playing, coaching. 

Q: Could you ever be an assistant, working for your dad?

MAX: God, I don't know. I don't know. We'll see, OK. At some point, who knows? 

Q: You were here, playing for Coach (Lennie) Acuff, and he leaves (for Lipscomb). What happens then?

MAX: Everyone's freaking out. We had a really strong group. I guess we were a young team like J.J. (Kaplan), me, Sam (Orf). We were all like, we want to stay in this. We want someone that knew what this place is about. At one point, (his father) got interested and I think everyone was like, yeah, he knows what it's about. We were at a meeting (with athletic officials) and J.J. said, we think Max's dad would be really good.

Q: So you've been a coach's kid all your life and now you're the coach's kid? What's that like?

MAX: We see the game similar ways. And whenever he's trying to say something, I know what he's thinking. So I can almost be a translator out there, and put it in English. I don't call him Coach. I still call him Dad.

Q: How about any bad moments?

MAX: I had one bad day, a long time ago (at McCallie School in Chattanooga, where his father was then head coach). We had a crazy physical practice that was serious. I got really mad. It was (younger brother) J.C.'s birthday night. And we didn't speak at all that night. But other than that, it's always been smooth sailing.

Q: It's always been said you got your athletic talent from your mom (Amy, a member of the East Tennessee State University Hall of Fame), but your personality is a lot like your dad's.

MAX: I hear that. I guess that he's a communicator. I try but it's not like the most natural thing like it is for him. He can start a conversation with a stranger any moment. It's like he's got this button and, bang, you press it and he comes up with 10 minutes (of a speech) out of absolutely nowhere. 

Q: Speaking of J.C., who is still in high school, you have another brother, Tanner, now as a teammate. How is that dynamic?

MAX: It's good. He's glad he's here and I'm glad he's here. He could have made a decision to come straight here (from high school) but he was like, 'I need to go out and do my own thing.' He went to Lipscomb as a walk-on, got a scholarship, then decided to come here. There's a lot more for him to come here.

Q: You rent a house off-campus with some teammates. Who is there, and what's that like? Is it a constant party?

MAX: We've got a five-bedroom house with three baths. It's big. It's cool. I'm with Nylan (Thomas), Hunter Vick, C.J. (Williamson) and Jacob Radaker. It's not a party. We're just together, sitting there watching basketball on TV every night, and that's pretty cool. We'll cook sometimes, like Taco Tuesday, but not so much during the season. I've been a slob before, but I do a better job now of saying, hey, keep things clean. You make a mess, clean it up. You use something, clean it and put it back up.

Q: So, if your mom came over, she wouldn't be shocked and appalled?

MAX: Well, right now the sink is full. But she wouldn't be shocked. There isn't trash everywhere. It's clean.