Kahil Fennell took a risk. Now, he's got one of college basketball's best stories.

Kahil Fennell was “dressed like a bum,” with a “janky” clip-on tie, walking in and out of businesses on Ventura Boulevard, knowing one of a few outcomes was inevitable.

If Fennell went to 50 businesses trying to nail down sales of the copier machines he sold for a living, he estimates 20 would turn him away immediately. Five of them would call security or yell at him, he jokes—maybe. The other 30 would listen, but Fennell had to make sure the sale got done. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn’t.

Some of Fennell’s earnings also went toward his living situation, which served as a post-college reality check. He stayed in his high school bedroom, surrounded by the trophies he'd earned in his teenage years, and paid rent to his mom.

Those who know Fennell now—as Western Michigan’s head coach—believe he would’ve thrived in a sales role because of his communication skills and general intelligence, but he was essentially losing money in the job. He made minimum wage with a little commission on top, but he had to cut copier prices so much to sell them that his commission dropped significantly. Perhaps it wasn’t quite rock bottom, but it was eye-opening.

“That was a pretty miserable experience,” Fennell told Basket Under Review. “It’s not digging ditches; there are far worse things to be doing. But you had to do some self-reflection of paying rent to your mom to live in your high school room and selling copier machines and getting yelled at and getting kicked out of buildings and all those types of things.”