If You Want to Play Basketball at Troy, You Better Like Waffle House
When No. 3 seed Kentucky faces No. 14 seed Troy in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee on Friday, they’ll face a team full of players who love Waffle House. It’s actually so important to them that head coach Scott Cross will only recruit players who like Waffle House.
For context, Troy, Alabama only has two Waffle Houses. That may not seem like a lot until you realize it’s only a town of 5,000 people. And they’re building a third one.
“We’re a town of 15,000 when school’s not in town, so you can imagine you’ve got one Waffle House per 5,000 people,” Cross told KSR+. “It’s probably the most per capita anywhere in the country.”
Cross sat down for an interview with KSR+ on a special Tuesday edition of Here Comes the Boom to share the backstory behind Troy’s love for Waffle House. Why is it so important to this Trojans’ team?
Cross’ interview on Here Comes the Boom will be released on Tuesday. Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for Rapid Reactions and our lengthy lineup of live shows and to stay up to date on everything happening around the Big Blue Nation.
How the Waffle House Obsession Started
Scott Cross explained how this infatuation with Waffle House came to be such an emphasis for Troy. It started with the first two recruits he brought to campus as head coach.
“We’re driving down the main street, I point out Waffle House, and ask him if they want to eat there for breakfast,” Cross said. “They were like ‘Waffle House? Hell nah, I don’t want to go to Waffle House.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, my bad. We’ll try to eat somewhere else.’ Long story short, we signed neither one of those guys.”
Then, Troy brought Nick Stampley, a forward from Eastern Florida State on campus for an official visit. He was Cross’ third recruit he hosted for an official visit.
“He’s an OKG, our kind of guy,” Cross said. “We’re driving by and we don’t even say anything about Waffle House. He sees it and is like, ‘Oh Coach, Y’all got a Waffle House here? Can we go there tomorrow?’. He was our first signee and one of the toughest guys we ever coached.”
It’s Now Part of Troy’s Recruiting Process
Ever since Nick Stampley signed with Troy, Scott Cross has made it part of the recruiting process. You better like Waffle House if you want to be a Trojan.
“From that point forward, we offhand ask them, do you like Waffle House? If the answer is yes, we sign them. If it’s no, we never get them,” Cross said. “I told my staff, you can save a lot of time and money, first phone conversation, in passing, ask them, do you like Waffle House or not?”
The Troy men’s basketball team will head over to Waffle House after a win. All the employees know them.
“The people at Waffle House are my kind of people. I absolutely love them there,” Cross said. “They’ve been so good to us – Miss Mary, Miss Jennifer. A lot of the time, after we win, it’s one of the few places that’s open. I’ll go there with my family. We’ll eat there and soak it in before we put the win to bed. Every time we celebrate a birthday, we celebrate it there. We take our team there. Miss Mary and Miss Jennifer will decorate the Waffle House and we’ll sing Happy Birthday.”
Cross has shown his appreciation for the staff at Waffle House in his own way. He got the employees’ shirts with the Waffle House logo, but instead of Waffle House, the logo says, “Trojan House.”
“Those were a hot ticket item here in Troy,” Cross said. “We’re super thankful for all they do.”
