25W Coaches Special: Dan Lanning, Marcus Freeman, Spencer Danielson, Bret Bielema & MORE!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 6 (01:05):
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Speaker 7 (01:07):
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Speaker 8 (01:08):
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Speaker 1 (01:13):
Right, we're here blowing Addie you group, thank you. Now,
we have at least three coaches in the College Football
Playoff on the show, which is pretty cool. So some
awesome coaches we've sat down with, and these are some
of the favorite moments from those coaches. Dan Lanning at
Oregon's my new friend.

Speaker 9 (01:28):
Well, yeah, that's awesome new friend.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah yeah, sometimes he texted me it's pretty cool. Well
three times ever, three times ever, three times ever. First up,
we're gonna start there number one overall seed in the
College Football Playoff. Oregon's head coach Dan Lanning. We went
to Eugene this past summer, and I will say it
is not an easy trip to get there.

Speaker 9 (01:45):
No, it is further than I thought. It's a lot,
but it's beautiful out there.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
It better be because it's not even it's not even near,
like you go to Portland and you gotta drive a
couple hours. Sure, but yeah, but he was awesome. The
facility amazing. I mean, they have Nike money and they
went Amazings and so now they have a shot at
finishing the season undefeated, win a national championship. So big
thanks to University of Oregon and coach Landing for having
us out. Here's about ten minutes of my favorite part

(02:12):
of that conversation. Coach, thanks, appreciate you being here.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Actually we're here. I guess you're already here, so I
appreciate us to be in here, right, Yeah, yes for coming.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
I got a couple questions for you when I was
looking at kind of your history. You went from being
a GA obviously to a position coach, but then back
to a GA at Bama. Was that a tough call
for you to take a step back, but the program
was a step up?

Speaker 6 (02:37):
Yeah, it really wasn't. I knew I had more to learn.

Speaker 10 (02:41):
Certainly financially it didn't make a lot of sense, but
from a professional development standpoint, it was definitely the right move.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
How much do you say when it comes to what
uniforms are going to wear or what uniforms are going
to be created. Do you ever see one that doesn't
even get to the player's eyes because you're like that
one is not good?

Speaker 10 (03:00):
Sometimes there's a no, but but once once we have
the go, that's kind of where I step out, right,
so I get to see him in advance.

Speaker 6 (03:08):
But our creative team, our design group, uh.

Speaker 10 (03:11):
They do they do an unbelievable job and then they
get a lot of feedback from our players. Right, Kenny
Farr does a great job working with Nike and you
know those guys that create some some awesome get ups.

Speaker 6 (03:20):
For our guys.

Speaker 10 (03:21):
But a lot of times we get to the game
on Saturday, when I walk out the tunnel, that's when
I see.

Speaker 6 (03:25):
It the first time.

Speaker 10 (03:26):
No way, not not the very first time. But like,
but I'm not that week. I'm a lot more.

Speaker 6 (03:30):
Worried about the opponent than what we're gonna work to
the game.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
I feel like my party jerseys.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
So do you have like a guy that will say
to you, hey, this looks great? This does it? Is
there a an aesthetics head of aesthetics here?

Speaker 10 (03:45):
No, we have an equipment manager, you know, and he's
on top of it, he does as good job as
anybody in the nation. In fact, I think he's the
best in the nation. When it comes to piecing this together.
It's Kenny farr H. And again he does a great
job of meeting with our players, collaborating with them, collaborate
reading with.

Speaker 6 (04:00):
Nike to create some really cool setups for our guys.

Speaker 5 (04:03):
Coach of the network loves highlighting your excitement and you
pumping up the team. And there's always a video montage
of somewhere during the game. Do you sometimes go home
and watch and be like, oh, man, like went too hard?
I went way too hard.

Speaker 11 (04:16):
You know.

Speaker 6 (04:16):
I don't normally watch the TV copy.

Speaker 10 (04:18):
You know, at times we might go back and like
peel through it for you know, to to make sure
we don't putting any signals on film or things like that.
But I don't spend a lot of time watching that.
And I'm never gonna be I'm never gonna apologize for passion.
I think the players are going to match your energy
and enthusiasm, So that's something I always want to carry
on the field.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
You mentioned you're not gonna watch signal, possibly because signals
could be out there that that's not really a thing anymore.

Speaker 10 (04:43):
I think it'll still exist in college football just because
there's still gonna be some teams that carry tempo, and
if you're you know, reliant to just giving the call
and when to one guy in the field, you're probably
going to be short. You know, you want eleven guys
playing the same call on both sides of the ball.
So at times, I think signals will still exist.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Are you advocating now that every player has communication to
their helmet because that's what I hear.

Speaker 6 (05:03):
Yeah, i'd be, I'd be. I'd be great with that.

Speaker 10 (05:06):
There's probably some guys that there's such thing as too
much information too. When you get on the field, your
best players, you just wanted to be all play. But yeah,
I think there's probably a benefit to just to where
everybody can hear the call, and that would.

Speaker 6 (05:18):
That would certainly help things.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
What if everybody else could talk back? Because I worked
at Hobby Lobby for a while and they gave me
a speaker. I was on the thing all the time
and I didn't need to say anything.

Speaker 10 (05:27):
You ever been on alwaukie talkie where the other guy's
always talking and you can ever.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, that was me and hobby lobby. They'd be like, hey,
go down and set up this display. And I was like, hey, guys,
if you look at three like I out three like
she's got to you know that kind of stuff.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
So, yeah, that probably wouldn't be good right and not
be a good thing.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Do you ever feel like you you'll change your offense
or defense based on personnel that comes in if the
talent is so strikingly Let's say, you know, you run
wide open, but let's say the guy comes in and
is a straight ahead runner and maybe doesn't need it
as well open, Will you change your offense at all
for that?

Speaker 6 (06:02):
Absolutely?

Speaker 10 (06:02):
I think a coach's job is to match the you know,
the talents of his personnel, and that's, you know, going
back to being a high school coach, I think you
have to look and see what your players do.

Speaker 6 (06:11):
Best and try to make sure you're utilizing their talents.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
When you were your first GA job, what was the
goal for you there? Was it to be a head
coach at a major university?

Speaker 6 (06:23):
Yeah? I mean that that was a goal early on.

Speaker 10 (06:25):
But you know, early in my career, I think I
figured out just be the best at where I'm at
and try to do jobs that nobody else wants to do.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
When you're defensive cornator Georgia. I hated you, man, I
hated you. Who's your team Arkansas?

Speaker 12 (06:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah, I hate you.

Speaker 9 (06:38):
Get that coach?

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yeah, And you know, not every O C or d
C is known, especially when you' under somebody like a
Kirby Smart or a Nick Saban, two guys that you've worked.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
With, right, both those guys.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
I hated you because there was there was no opportunity.
It was ugly when you have the players like that
and you're playing I don't know, let's let's just make
up a team Arkansas and they're week do you know,
like this game all we have to do, If we
do exactly what we've set forward, it is.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Going to be over. They are not going to get anything.

Speaker 13 (07:07):
You know.

Speaker 10 (07:07):
The great thing about football is you never really feel
that way. And I get nervous before every single game.
Certainly we have more talent than Arkansas when we played them.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
But Arkansas, No, No, we're talking about hypothetical.

Speaker 6 (07:20):
How's the talent for Arkansas?

Speaker 11 (07:21):
No?

Speaker 3 (07:22):
No, no, no, it's better. Is that a better coach?

Speaker 14 (07:24):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (07:24):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I think anytime you go in
there knowing that if you don't, if you don't accomplish
your goals and really, you know, operate on the same page,
you got an opportunity to lose in college football, and
that's part of what makes the game so great. So
we try to prepare for every game the same and
and hope that we go play our best and the
result hopefully takes care of itself.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
When you walk into a mom or a dad or
a grandma who remember raises the athlete that you're trying
to recruit, What do they know about you? Once you're gone?
That makes them want to come here? Once I'm gone, Yeah,
once you leave the room, once you leave the house.

Speaker 10 (07:56):
Just then I'm authentic, Like I'm the same guy today
that I was, you know, twenty years ago. I hope
that's what people can always say about me, that just
because positions have changed and situations changed, that I'm the
same person and that family.

Speaker 6 (08:08):
Matters to me.

Speaker 10 (08:08):
I think if you're in the room with me for
ten minutes, you're probably gonna hear about my boys and
my wife, and that's something that's important to me. And
that we treat the players on our team the same way.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Sometimes I'll see and I have a little warehouse. We do.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
I have a little clothing line. It's we do a
lot of charity work with our clothing line. And we
have one of those little machines that Prince Olta shirts.
I feel like here there's like a one of those,
you know, apparel printing machines.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
You just get anything you want printed.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Is it on campus or do you have to have
a ship to you because it's NonStop everything's Nike, Oregon everything.

Speaker 10 (08:36):
Yeah, it's a good setup. You know, we've got an
awesome relationship with Nike.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
I don't know about that's the White House here though,
right I couldn't.

Speaker 6 (08:42):
I couldn't answer that.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
That's a secret.

Speaker 6 (08:43):
I know this when I show up to my locker and.

Speaker 10 (08:45):
I open it up, there's there's a stuff, and that's
it's pretty awesome. Like I said, Kenny Fard does a
great job of taking care of our staff.

Speaker 6 (08:51):
And our players. Yeah, we don't run out of gear.

Speaker 10 (08:53):
I didn't used to consider myself a shoe guy, and
now now I got too many.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Shoes without identifying anyone.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
Were there ever colors that you just didn't like wearing
because you didn't like the colors? Not here, not Oregon
in other schools you've been at, because some if I
had to wear orange, I'll be honest with you, burnt
or Tennessee orange, I might quit just for that.

Speaker 10 (09:14):
Yeah, I guess color never been that. I've never been
that much of a fashionista. I'm not a big fan
of purple, but beyond that, I'm pretty good with any color.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
I guess, so light purple probably wouldn't be your jam.

Speaker 6 (09:24):
Not m cham like the U c.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
A Bears, you wouldn't go coach at UC.

Speaker 6 (09:27):
I would go.

Speaker 10 (09:28):
I'll coach where there's a job. I'm not going to
make my decisions based off of color.

Speaker 8 (09:31):
But luckily for me, I found my last job you
played at UCA was coach Norbal at Florida State.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
That's right, and you worked with coach there? What was
he like?

Speaker 10 (09:40):
Yeah, he's awesome, like relentless, you know, works works his
taiale off, extremely intelligent, willing to get in there, and
coach will coach every position on the on the field.

Speaker 6 (09:51):
You know, unbelievable family.

Speaker 10 (09:52):
You know, whenever I work with coach, it's the same
time my wife got diagnosed.

Speaker 6 (09:55):
With cancer and he was really good for me and
my family.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
Then I'll run through a couple and then coach, what
did you learn from him?

Speaker 6 (10:01):
Consistency? You know, the guy's a robot.

Speaker 10 (10:04):
He Uh, every morning he's rolling in the office the
exact same time.

Speaker 6 (10:07):
We're gonna have a staff me in the same time.
You know.

Speaker 10 (10:09):
His his routine was really impressive to see, whether it's
what he's eating every morning or every lunch, the way
he operates day in and day out was was really impressive.
Coach smart, yeah, just uh, enthusiasm, passion, intelligence, ability to adapt.
Always thought he was on the cutting edge of things
and always looking for an edge.

Speaker 5 (10:29):
I mean, bones is rolling through all these great coaches
that you worked with, the schools, but he's forgetting Sam
Houston State, we're probably the best school in America.

Speaker 10 (10:38):
About the donut shops in Huntsville, Oh, the best, the best,
And I think her cap at a donut shops per talent,
I think it's gotta be one of the hut.

Speaker 9 (10:46):
What was your I mean, what was that experience? Like
a lot of people are gonna want to hear about this.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah, yes, for social Yeah.

Speaker 10 (10:53):
So I worked with Casey Keeler was the head coach there,
and that was that was a great coach to be under.
He really gave you an opportunity to figure out how.

Speaker 6 (11:00):
You want to do things. You know, he let his
coaches coach.

Speaker 10 (11:03):
He'd push you, he'd questioned you, but he gave you
an opportunity to go, you know, make it what you
wanted to make it. So your dB meeting that day,
your corners meeting that day, it was, you know, how
do you want to build it?

Speaker 6 (11:12):
What do you want to look like? The drill work
you did.

Speaker 10 (11:14):
On the field, and you make some mistakes, but you
also learned a lot in the process. So I love
my time there at SAM and it's you know, it's it.
It wasn't the bus league at that time, but you
take some long road trips, you know, you do hop
on a charter bus from time to time.

Speaker 6 (11:29):
To get the places.

Speaker 10 (11:30):
And you know, that's something that I think everybody should
experience in their coaching career.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
Going to Sam Houston, keeping it real. I think everybody
should go to SAM.

Speaker 9 (11:37):
That's at some point, That's all I says.

Speaker 8 (11:39):
Everybody must go to Sam Houston State to coach at
some point. Now, I think you know, my wife and
I have this discussion too. We met at a restaurant
we worked at out back steakhouse together. And I think
the other thing that everybody should do is some point
you should work in the service industry. You should get stiffed,
at some point, you should get an unbelievable tip, at
some point you should, you know, learn how to you know,
make the people at your table happy and learn how
to deal with Okay, the food came out late or

(12:00):
it came.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
Out and it's not even waiter's fault, but sometimes you
have to be.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Sometimes like the head coach, like it an't always your fault,
but you got to take it and go and take responsibility.

Speaker 10 (12:08):
Can you solve a problem? Yeah, can you solve a problem?
So that's something else that you know. I'm a big
believer in that everybody should have to do that at
some point.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Next up, also in the college football playoff, is Boys
he head coach Spencer Danielson, who still looks young enough
to be like a sophomore on.

Speaker 9 (12:24):
The team, makes us feel real old.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
Coach.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
Danielson was hired in twenty twenty three after starting out
as a GA in twenty seventeen, so he's been there
the whole time, worked himself up the ranks. He now
has a team in the college football Playoff. They even
got a bye. It's pretty awesome. We really enjoyed Coach Danielson.
Here he is coach Spencer Danielson. What is your man
cave like at home or your office? You know, because
a lot you probably have a lot of screens and

(12:46):
you can easily just say it's an office, like, what
is your place like at home?

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Coach?

Speaker 15 (12:49):
I'll be honest, guys, I don't have a man cave.
I got two little girls, a three and a half
year old and a two and a half year old.
So the spare room we have is filled with dressed
up elsa from Frozen. There's a little kitchen in there
with a bunch of fake food. So when I come home, man,
I joke with people that the beautiful thing about being
a girl dad is you know how much those.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
Two little girls care about football? Not one bit?

Speaker 15 (13:14):
You know when I come home. Literally last night, I
came home and my wife bought this t Rex dress
up costume that my three year old was ready to
scare me when I walked.

Speaker 7 (13:23):
In the door.

Speaker 15 (13:24):
So it's you know, it's so cool to be able
to blend those things, especially as a coach. You have to,
I mean my girls come to practice a ton. I
want our coach to bring their families around. So at home,
I don't really got the bad caveto my wife. I'll
put whatever game's on in the in the living room
and I'll be, you know, watching the girls, and then
this out this side of my as.

Speaker 4 (13:42):
I'll be watching some football. But it's my wife's a
rock star.

Speaker 15 (13:45):
I mean we met in college at a Zuza Pacific,
which I'm sure you guys have never heard of.

Speaker 4 (13:50):
It's okay, it's the Harvard.

Speaker 15 (13:51):
Of the West, and you know, it's just it's been
an awesome just experience for us through the year. This
is year number eight for us at Boise, So this
has really become home. Like it's a great place to
live and thrive. And everything I do is to impact
these kids. And I'm open about my faith. I talked
to our players about loving Jesus a lot, and some
people don't like that. I'm like, well, this is me.

Speaker 4 (14:11):
It's my foundation, and so just so hombled and blessed
to be here and be a part of it.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
How do you find time to be a good husband
during season? I travel a lot. If I'm either doing
stand up or whatever, project. I'm on the road a lot,
but my wife and I really have dedicated like Tuesday
evenings even for like four hours, we specifically have that time.
Now for you, it could possibly be different during the
season than not, But how do you make sure you
can still dedicate some time to your wife and family

(14:36):
during a football season.

Speaker 15 (14:39):
Yeah, so much of it is just and I'm working
on it every single day. I'm not gonna sit here
and say that I got to figure it out by
any means.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
We're going on year ten of marriage, and first off
is a testament to my wife. She's a rock star.

Speaker 15 (14:51):
But I mean Coach Pete's a huge mentor of mine.
And you know something I've took it from him is
just blending your home life with you do it with football,
and then you just got to be intentional. So like
even in a game week situation like Sundays, I try
to make sure I get home Sundays, make sure I
get dinner with the family and put our girls to sleep,

(15:11):
like that's a non negotiable. Tuesdays after practice, me and
my wife outside.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
Of Boise, we gotta right our outside of our facility.

Speaker 14 (15:20):
There's a river.

Speaker 15 (15:20):
Me and my wife on Tuesdays after practice, will go
on a thirty minute walk and just talk about life,
how the girls are doing, how she's doing. We have
a we're expecting another baby in March, so kind of
going through how she's feeling. And then on Thursday night
is date night for us. And then depending if it's
home or away, kind of going through those things. And
then so much of it is trying to get our

(15:41):
you know, my girls and my wife in the facility,
around around our players, because not just for the connection
with me and my family, but I think one for
our kids to see us working, because even as a
young kids, they just you're either home or you're at work, right,
there's not sometimes they can't even calculate why is my
dad not here? Or I want them to see what
their dad's doing, and I want them to see there's

(16:04):
quality and hard work, like hard work means a lot, like.

Speaker 4 (16:08):
There's no substitute for it. And I also want our players.

Speaker 15 (16:11):
A lot of our players come from home situations where
they didn't have a dad. I mean they're raised by
their mom, their auntie, their grandma, maybe a coach. So
I want them not that we're perfect examples. We're working
our tailoft always improved, but I want them to see
what a husband and a father looks like.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
We got players in our team that are dads. Want
them to see what this looks like.

Speaker 15 (16:29):
Not perfect, it's not about perfection, but seeing us in
that space. For our players to be around, those things
are huge. So try and be very intentional with the
time we have, especially in season, and make sure that
it's on my schedule. This is my time with my wife,
or this is the time that I'm doing this.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
And try to stick to as much we can.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
We have a lot of parents that will listen to
the show and talk about and ask questions about.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
Their kids playing sports.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
Would you prefer a kid play a bunch of sports
or really dedicate themselves to one.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
I would love.

Speaker 15 (16:57):
Someone to play as many sports as they can. I'm
such a firm and just playing as many sports as
you can from the youngest age you can play them.

Speaker 4 (17:06):
And I just think being able to build the overall
athlete is such a big deal.

Speaker 15 (17:12):
And I see all the way through high school, like
I love like we I want to recruit guys that
run track, play basketball, baseball because it just shows the
different skill set that they're into and especially even more
college has become college footballs becoming even so much more specific,
and they are recruiting where guys are getting offers as
freshman high school. We don't do a lot of that

(17:32):
because we're a developmental program. I got to see how
you're developing from fourteen to fifteen to sixteen years old,
to see what that fit is. And I want to
see someone you know, running track playing basketball, because I
think there's you're building an overall athletic skill set, not
maybe just so specific to what you're doing on the
high school football field.

Speaker 5 (17:53):
Yeah, coach, he's talking about parents, you know. So at
the middle school level, high school level, you're dealing with
a lot of parents is getting involved with their kids,
and the coaches have to deal with that. What about
the college level, do you have to deal with parents
of players and tell them like, whoh, I got this.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
I'd say a little bit more of the door. I
mean so for me, I mean just and.

Speaker 15 (18:12):
Once again I say this stuff by no means that
I got to figure out. It's just my heart and
it's who God made me. When I say we're a
developmental program, you need to make sure everybody's involved in
developing these kids. So when when with our players, I
zoom with our parents once a month. So once a
month there's a zoom set where every parent will get
on a zoom we'll talk about our team, where we're at.

(18:35):
Every week, my assistant will send out a weekly newsletter
kind of like.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
Hey, these are some highlights from the week. These are
some guys that are you know, doing some really good things.
Blah blah blah.

Speaker 15 (18:45):
And then I'm involved with our parents like and I
don't I don't talk much about playing time, but I
tell me, if you are concerned and you're frustrated, I
want you to call me and not sit on those
things because I want to be able to be real
and open with them. I believe in truth, and so
if a parent is frustrated that their teams should be
or their sons should be playing more, I want them
to call me because I'd rather tell you this is

(19:06):
why your son is not These are the things that
he's struggling in because they're only getting one side of
the story. They're getting the story that you know. I'm
not playing because of these things. I want to give
them the truth of this is where we need your.

Speaker 4 (19:17):
Son to grow.

Speaker 15 (19:17):
And so I want to keep the lines of communication open,
and especially in this you know, new landscape of college
football with the transfer portal, is I want our parents
to know exactly what we're doing and how we're developing
their sons. And I believe that we're going to develop
their sons better than any other school. Maybe other schools
can offer them other things, but there's not going to
be a place that they're going to develop more.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
And I think being.

Speaker 15 (19:40):
On the same page with these parents and just being
intentional to be upfront with them, and that's where that's
why I zoom with them once a month so they
can know my messaging.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
This is what when.

Speaker 15 (19:50):
We talk about practice performance like, this is what I mean.
So if your son is performing in practice, you're going
to see him play more in the game. If your
son is not playing in the game, you know that
that's probably because he's not performing.

Speaker 4 (20:03):
The way we need him to in practice.

Speaker 15 (20:05):
So I'm intentional to be truthful with our parents to
know the landscape so then they can filter through some
of the information they're maybe getting from their sons.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
If there's a concert coming to Boise and who is
it that you will not miss?

Speaker 15 (20:20):
Oh, good question, I'm probably more on the on the
country side of things. I don't listen to a ton
of music. I listened to a lot of worship music.
I like Elevation Maverick City are two of my favorite
worship band. But I'd say like country artists. I'm a
huge Luke Holms guy. He came to the Blue a
couple of years ago. Didn't miss it.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
Who else would I say? I like Morgan wall And.

Speaker 15 (20:47):
If there's a if there's a country concert coming to
boise Ido and we're not doing football, I'm gonna I
finally got some cowboy boots this offseason, so you better
believe that I'm gonna be I'll be rocket those.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
To final question, do you ever just want to give
yourself the game ball in front of everybody?

Speaker 4 (21:05):
Give it to me, boys, look at me. This is
what I got going up. I mean, I'll be honest, No,
i'd either's.

Speaker 15 (21:11):
I mean, I just I'm one of those guys that's
probably overly emotional, Like every time I talk to our team,
I gotta fight crying because I just love these kids.

Speaker 4 (21:20):
I mean, I see the work they put in, the
grind they do.

Speaker 15 (21:23):
I mean, when it's January, Ashon gent's doing up downs
in the snow, and then you see them do what
they do. That's why I mean after these games, I'm
emotional because you know, I I just am so respectful
of our players not running from hard work, not taking
the easy road, doing you know, really enjoying hard stuff.
And I think that's uncommon in college football right now.

(21:47):
And I'm not saying that makes us better perfect by
any means, but I do think. You know, Boise State
is built on this blue collar mentality, and our players
do that every day. That doesn't mean that we're gonna
win every game. It means that we're gonna give ourselves
a good shot. So I could say after the games
that I haven't had that fight in my heart. I've
been giving a couple and I'm like, man, give this

(22:07):
to the guy that just score five touchdown.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
I didn't do anything. I'm a I'm a glorified cheerleader.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
Coach, we really appreciate the time we're rooting for you.

Speaker 4 (22:14):
I appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
Moving on to Marcus Freeman, he's the head coach at
Notre Dame, and he made me feel like I could
go play at Notre Dame right now totally. I probably
wouldn't because it's cold. And that's the only reason I
could for him. I can play linebacker. I'm not going
to play that anywhere. It's freezing cold there. But man,
this dude he played linebacker at Ohio State.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
He was the.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Defensive coordinator, and then when Brian Kelly left to go
to LSU, he became the inne Roman, then the head coach.
I mean, he still looks like he can go right now.
So Marcus Freeman from Notre Dame. Here is Coach Freeman. Hey, coach,
thank you very much for the time.

Speaker 7 (22:51):
We really appreciate it absolutely, man, glad to be on here.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Question number one, when you're recruiting a kid, do they
ever say it's just too cold up there?

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Coach?

Speaker 12 (23:00):
If they say that, I probably turn away as fast
as I can. You know, I let them know that. Listen, man,
we got jackets, we have indoor stadium, an indoor practice facility.
I'm from the north, I'm from Ohio, a Midwest guy,
and so listen, cold is cold, and you don't ever
get used to it. You just got to put on
more clothes and at some point you'll you'll figure it out.

(23:21):
But you know, most kids that say, coach, I can't
play in the cold. You know right away you're not
going to get them.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
What's like the trick to catching balls in the cold.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
I know you look at me and you go, that
guy was a heck of a high school receiver, and coach,
I accept that. Thank you for saying that in your mind.
But I always struggle catching balls in the cold. I
catch balls in the warm, but catching balls in the cold, like,
what is the key to catching a ball in cold weather?

Speaker 12 (23:43):
You know, I think you've got to try to keep
your hands warm, Like, if your hands are frozen, you're
not going to be a great pass catcher. And so
you know, obviously hand warmers, they have those, the handwarmers
that you were outside of your uniform. But in between plays,
it's really important to keep your hands warm, and so
you have to use different things to make sure that happens.

(24:04):
That that might be handwarmers inside your glove, that might
be a couple of different things. But if your hands
are frozed, you're not gonna catch that ball.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Can you wear doctors gloves inside of a glove?

Speaker 7 (24:13):
Yeah, there's some players that do that. There's some coaches
that do that.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
Dang that's what I would do, because we'd be in
the deer woods and I wear doctors gloves underneath gloves,
and I was made fun of. Do you guys make
fun of people who do that? Because if so, I
take offense.

Speaker 13 (24:26):
Not.

Speaker 12 (24:26):
As as long as you get your job done, nobody's
gonna make funey. You always say there's no there's no
such thing as a cold tough guy. And so you
know if you're if you're cold, you're cold. You're not
being a tough guy. So do whatever it takes and
make sure you're warm.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
Now you're gonna be humble here. I would prefer you not,
but maybe we can meet somewhere in the middle. Do
you think you could play a solid two to three
minutes a game right now you've said enough.

Speaker 3 (24:56):
Enough?

Speaker 12 (24:57):
Yeah, it depends on what the offense is doing. But yeah, listen,
I mean, my pride is telling me I could give
you two to three minutes. The outcome might be something
that the offensive defense doesn't want, but you, my pride
tells me, yeah, I could play a couple of plays.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
If you win a big game, how quickly do you
go home? Do you have a bit of family time
at home or do you get right to film that
evening depending on who the next opponent is.

Speaker 7 (25:23):
Yeah, I go right away. That's just who I am.

Speaker 12 (25:25):
If it's an away game, I make sure I evaluate
the game on the plane as we come back. If
it's a home game, I come right into my office.
For me, it's hard to go home and have family
time when I haven't evaluated the previous game. So I
evaluate that game right away and take some notes and
then go and have a little bit of family time
and come in on Sunday, and now you can be
ready to move on to the next opponent.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Tell me about Riley Leonard as a dude.

Speaker 12 (25:49):
He's awesome man. He is just a great human being.
He's a great teammate. There's not enough compliments that I
can give him, but he is a wonderful for individual.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
So after the loss at Northern Illinois, what was the
big takeaway that has changed this team for the good?

Speaker 7 (26:09):
I think it's just the mindset that we have to have.

Speaker 12 (26:13):
And I said this to the media on the Monday
after that game, is that this is the first time
for me as the head coach of my three years
that we won that big game early. You know, we
lost to Ohio State the past two years early in
the season, and it was kind of like you were
humbled and you got to make sure you're getting ready
for the next opponent. But this time we won the
big one early over Texas A and M. And I

(26:35):
think as we look back, we didn't have the right mindset,
the mental approach to this game. And I don't think
anybody in this program believed that we could lose the
Northern Illinois. And you know, sometimes you have too much
pride and you get humbled, and we were humbled. And
I think I often tell this group in this program,
like we have to keep that pain and we have
to remember what it was like to lose that game.

(26:56):
And so we can never lack in the mental approach
to the preparation. It's not just a physical approach, it's
a mental approach. And we know if we don't prepare
the right way and respect our opponents the way we should,
then we can be beat by anybody in the country.
And so that's what we got to understand. And it's
you know, easy at first to have that mindset. And
now you've had a couple of wins, and you know

(27:17):
people are telling you how good this.

Speaker 7 (27:19):
Team is, but we got to keep that same mindset.
It's just this is who we are.

Speaker 12 (27:23):
We're not going back to who we used to be,
and we got to approach every week with the right mindset.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
I feel like once in Churchill's pretty cool when I
like read what he had to say. I feel like
sometimes I listen to Gary Vee and let's talk about
sports cards. Who is it that you can listen to
talk and it can really fire you up or kind
of reset you.

Speaker 12 (27:42):
Oh man, you know there's a couple of people, you know,
every once in a while, listen.

Speaker 7 (27:49):
To a motivational speech.

Speaker 12 (27:52):
You know, we played a Kobe Bryant video the other day,
just talking about the mindset. I might listen to a
sermon by TD Jakes or something like that. I'll listen
to a coach. I talked to my college coach, Jim
Tressel often, who helps, you know, with my mental approach
as the head coach and the leader each week. But

(28:14):
I think you can grab wisdom from anybody, and it's
all about you know, are you humble enough to accept
the wisdom that's out there?

Speaker 1 (28:22):
Do you still call coach Tressell coach?

Speaker 7 (28:25):
Absolutely? I always will and.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
That's pretty cool. What about your high school coach, You
still call him coach?

Speaker 7 (28:30):
I call him coach.

Speaker 6 (28:31):
That's right.

Speaker 12 (28:32):
I think once you have a coach, like especially somebody
that's older than you and that's impacted you in a
strong way, like they're always coach to you, and no
matter how long or how old you get, you know
they're always going to be coach.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
Notre Dame known for their traditional uniforms. We know who
it is when we see it immediately in the land, though,
of everybody wanting ten thousand uniforms, any idea to put
like a couple of hearts on the side of the helmet,
or like just like one game, like switch it up
a couple of lightning bolts like or is it just.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
We are who we are, We're not changing.

Speaker 12 (29:02):
Listen, there's a little bit of both, right, the the
old traditionalists. You know, every year we wear green jerseys,
and I don't have to be on social media to
hear sometimes the complaints.

Speaker 7 (29:15):
Sometimes even within this building.

Speaker 12 (29:16):
We have some guys that played here that just love
the tradition Notre Dame, and I can tell it kind
of turns their stomach when they see us in green
or wear a different combination. But I think part of
it is that we have to remember what our tradition is.

Speaker 7 (29:30):
Like those gold.

Speaker 12 (29:30):
Helmets, the normal home and away uniforms is something that
makes us unique. But the young people like a little
bit of flavor, and so I think you can be
somewhere in the middle where you let your your players
and your captains kind of determine what they want to
wear for that week. But at the same point, let's
not get too far away from the tradition.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
What about people not wearing knee pads?

Speaker 1 (29:54):
Do you ever like put pads in?

Speaker 7 (29:57):
No?

Speaker 12 (29:57):
I mean, listen as you looking in NFL, some of
those guys don't wear knee or dipads, and.

Speaker 7 (30:05):
You know, it depends on what position you are.

Speaker 12 (30:07):
If you're a ball carrier, uh, you probably should have
knee pads in. But a lot of guys on defense,
you know, there's not a whole bunch of cup blocks
anymore unless you're playing Navy and Army. Knee pads can
be overrated at times, but it's all based on the
position you play.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
What if one of your guys want to wear like
the old school single bar, like Dick Bucke's helmet is
like coaches, would you allow that?

Speaker 7 (30:33):
The only things you better be tough.

Speaker 12 (30:34):
Now, if you're gonna wear one of those homes, you
better be tough and represent what that means. But as
long as you go do your job and you're tough,
I'm good with whatever you wear.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
I would play for you. I say this all the time.
I know you're not here, but I would play for you,
even though you would never let me. But like, I
watch you and I'm like, that's a dude that I'm
not like at all because I'm not near as tough
or cool or good looking.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
But I would like to play for him. So congratulations, coach.

Speaker 7 (30:55):
That means a love.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
I appreciate you.

Speaker 7 (30:58):
I love to host you here anytime.

Speaker 13 (31:00):
Man.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
All right, long as it's not cold. All right, coach,
see you money?

Speaker 7 (31:04):
All right, brother, take care?

Speaker 1 (31:06):
All right, let's pick our parlay of the week NFL. Okay,
here's the deal. I'm gonna do money lines. We're doing
four money lines. And some of these money lines might
seem a little easier than others and some will not be.
But I'm going all money lines. I'm feeling pretty good
about these, and we're gonna go first jets at bills
which is probably the easiest. If I'm money lining it,
it's probably the easiest money line ever. Or is it

(31:27):
You ready to be shocked? Naw, you shouldn't be. All right,
Bill's money line easy. They're still trying to get that
buy over in the AFC. We're going Bill's money line.
Now we're gonna go Packers money line over the Vikings.
So you heard what I said. Okay, and it's in Minnesota.
Like I said, the Bills one was easy, that was

(31:47):
the one, no problem. Packers money line over Vikings.

Speaker 9 (31:53):
This was a little scary. Bones, of course, some.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
Gotta be scary.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
We're going Colts money line over the Giant, and you go, well,
that can be pretty simple. But Anthony Richardson, he's a
different person every game. And then finally Raiders money line
over the Saints.

Speaker 9 (32:12):
I think about that. Oh gosh, what a toilet bowl?

Speaker 1 (32:18):
What a toilet bowl?

Speaker 9 (32:19):
That's why, Hey, you know what, dude, if you believe
in it, do it.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
We did a four gamer because I think that's that's
where it is. Lots of smiles there. So if you
want to take the twenty five whistles parlay, you can
check out Draft King Sports Book New users used to
code Bobby Sports. When you download the app again, put
in the word Bobby Sports, one word Draft King Sports book.
Take the parlay.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
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Speaker 1 (33:06):
This one's pretty cool because he was just named SEC
Coach of the Year. It's our talk with twenty twenty
four SEC Coach of the Year from Vanderbilt coach Clark
Lee Man. What a great season for Bandy and when
they beat Alabama, the whole world was like, what Vanderbilt
was oh and sixty all time versus top five teams
and just hadn't beat Bamman forty years. But we love

(33:29):
Coach Lee. We had spent time with him in the past,
got to know him a little bit. He had come
to one of my shows before my comedy shows, came
on stage, talked a little bit. It was really great.
We were super pumped too, because this was right after
Bama and everybody was trying to get him on and
he was so cool to come on with us. So,
Coach Lee, congratulations and here he is. Here he is yes, wow, wow, wow, wow,

(33:54):
Oh my god, what a wow?

Speaker 3 (33:57):
What do you even say? Coach come on?

Speaker 13 (34:00):
Oh man, I've had to fight and move past that.

Speaker 16 (34:06):
You could relive that night, you know, every day for
the rest of your life, if you if you had
your choice.

Speaker 13 (34:10):
But we got to move on now.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
I hear you.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
But okay, well before I move on, let's have ten
minutes with us.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
What does your phone look like after that? Coach?

Speaker 1 (34:18):
You go to your cell phone, you finally get to
it after everything, and what.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
Does it look like?

Speaker 13 (34:22):
You know?

Speaker 16 (34:23):
I changed my number in May, so over the years
kind of it made the rounds too many times, I think,
And so I was starting to get some kind of
odd ball texts in the springtime and I think changing
my number probably saved me another five hundred texts, you know,
but it was look you for all the for all
the times that you come back to your phone and

(34:44):
it's there's nothing there.

Speaker 13 (34:45):
You know, you just you appreciate people wanting to celebrate
with you.

Speaker 16 (34:48):
And I think there's there's so many people that you know,
over the years have like falled alongside me or supported
me in some way.

Speaker 13 (34:57):
It's special to hear from them. You know, youppreciate that.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Okay, so what matchups did you say leading into that
game that you felt like there was a chance you
could exploit or at least have advantages.

Speaker 16 (35:09):
You know, there weren't a lot of I mean, you know,
that's a tough game of tough matchups for us.

Speaker 13 (35:14):
I mean, you know, that's a really skilled team.

Speaker 16 (35:16):
I think, you know, offensively, we were just trying to
find the space to stay on schedule, and we knew
that if we could possess the ball that we were
going to get a chance to get the ball up
and over the top. You know, they were going to
be opportunities for us to hit some shots, and we
were able to do that.

Speaker 13 (35:33):
We missed on some too, but on the whole.

Speaker 16 (35:36):
Offensively, it was about staying on schedule and a lot
of that channels obviously through our quarterback run and you know,
our run game is is pretty multiple. So I felt
like we were able to win physically at the point
of attack on offense and create the space we needed
to stay on schedule and that allowed us to extend
drives and have opportunities to puncture the end zone.

Speaker 13 (35:57):
Defensively, you know, this.

Speaker 16 (35:59):
Was a game where we were we were really interested
in and stopping the quarterbacks ability to extend the plays
with his feet. Obviously, we knew that the explosive passing
game was going to run through number two and you know,
we were just trying to a limit their opportunities by
possessing the ball with our offense and then be you know,

(36:20):
absorb some of their plays without allowing to score explosive touchdowns.

Speaker 13 (36:25):
We we did that well enough, you know, to end
up winning the game.

Speaker 16 (36:29):
I think there's a few a few we went back,
specifically the third down that they were able to get
the ball over top of us, and again credit to them,
they made the play they needed to make. But you know,
we we we got some things to tighten up defensively,
but what we needed to have happened was we set
a ten possession game, which it ended up being nine
possessions for their offense, you know, we needed to be

(36:53):
able to punch and counter punch, so you know, we
needed to sync up at the right times with with offense,
defense especial teams. We did that, you know, created a
couple of turnovers that were that were huge for us
one including the pick six, and then we needed to
win on special teams and we needed to create a
fuel position advantage, forced them to go to the long field,

(37:14):
try to get us on the short.

Speaker 13 (37:15):
Field, and then again we were able to accomplish that
as well.

Speaker 16 (37:18):
That's kind of the makings of, you know, what would
be a winning performance for us against anybody. Certainly when
you're playing a team like Alabama, you can't you know,
you can't miss on your strategy and think you're gonna
have a chance to win it.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
When you go on at halftime, did you make macro
adjustments or did you just reinforce what you had already
set pre game.

Speaker 16 (37:40):
A lot of it is just kind of looking at what,
you know, what is the plan that they had for us,
and let's make sure we're clear on what those things are.
You know, Defensively, it's like the special formations that you're
seeing that they know.

Speaker 13 (37:53):
They're going to come back to.

Speaker 16 (37:56):
Offensively, it's you know, how are they defending the option,
how are they defending your replays? And what are they
what are they doing in their box that tells you
this is kind of their plan moving forward. And then
to the team, you know, it really was to me
about kind of almost kind of taking some of the
emotion out of the moment, which I.

Speaker 13 (38:15):
Know sounds weird.

Speaker 16 (38:16):
I mean, look, I'm a I get excited and fired
up and can get emotional in the game. I just
felt like we needed to focus on the fact that
we've been in this situation before that you know, it's
not going to take anything extra from us to close
the game out. You know, we needed to come back
out and focus on again our strategy, playing the cleaning game,

(38:38):
you know, and just stop by stop possession by possession,
you know, closing the game out. So we took our
time before we left the locker room just to kind
of like everyone settle, focus on what we want to
accomplish here in the next thirty minutes and a credit
to our team.

Speaker 13 (38:54):
You know they did just that.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
Is Diego just like a dog. He seems like a dog.
I mean, I'll watch him. I'm just like that dude
goes home.

Speaker 16 (39:00):
Yeah, I mean it's a He's a unique competitive personality,
Like there's not another one that I've ever come across
that is as you know. I think the one thing
that can get a little misunderstood about him is like,
this is a really serious.

Speaker 13 (39:15):
Guy who is such discipline in his process.

Speaker 16 (39:20):
I mean he's so steady and consistent in our building
and day and day out, you won't even.

Speaker 13 (39:25):
Know he's around.

Speaker 16 (39:26):
I mean he's it's not like he's the loudest guy
in the room. It's not like he's looking for the attention.
I mean he just he.

Speaker 13 (39:32):
Sits front and center of every team meeting.

Speaker 16 (39:33):
He's right in front of me every time after practice
on a knee, locked in and focused.

Speaker 13 (39:39):
He carries my message to the team.

Speaker 16 (39:41):
He builds confidence in the locker room by making subtle
connections with players and creating closeness that way. But when
he crosses the lines, he just has a swagger about
him and it's infectious. Everyone sees it and believes in it,
and you use the word dog, like he's a dog

(40:02):
you want the ball on his hands in critical moments.
He's proven throughout his career and certainly in his time
here that every time he takes a.

Speaker 13 (40:11):
Snap, you have a chance to win. So we're glad
he's on our team.

Speaker 16 (40:14):
And for me personally, I mean, this guy represent everything
I want this program to be about. And he's helping
us put a product on the field that's fun and
exciting and and you know.

Speaker 13 (40:25):
He gets a lot of credit and he should. I
think that.

Speaker 16 (40:30):
You know, the other guys that are playing alongside him
have done a really good job, especially in our front,
to open up space receivers, blocking down field. We just
have such a different competitive makeup offensively and defensively right now.

Speaker 13 (40:43):
That's helping us find ways to win.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
Only got a couple of minutes love with you, and
we appreciate you fitting a sin because everybody wants to
talk to you.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
Bell of the ball is what I would say. Got
you are the bell of the ball right now. How
in the world.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
And I know you're going to find a way to
do it. But Kentucky, you have Kentucky coming up. I mean,
this is the big subs that I've seen in maybe
my life one of them. But how in the world
do you get your guys to forward face now after
being celebrated like so mightily over the last couple of days.

Speaker 16 (41:09):
Yeah, I think the real challenge is that the celebration
won't stop. You know, we internally we've turned the page.
Yesterday we got to work on Kentucky. So now we
took time to enjoy in the team meeting, just kind
of the fruits of our labor. You know, put some
clips on film that I felt like showed the toughness
we played with, celebrated players of the game, so on

(41:29):
and so forth. But you know, we've we've made it clear,
and by the time we were leaving practice last night,
you know, there's no room internally for us to you know,
we you know, we burned the game and release it
to our past.

Speaker 13 (41:45):
It's over. Every ounce of our mental.

Speaker 16 (41:48):
Energy needs to be focused on our next opponent, which
is Kentucky, which is a really good SEC team.

Speaker 13 (41:54):
It's a tough team on defense.

Speaker 16 (41:55):
It's a team that knows how to run the football
and has exposive playmakers on the perimeter. And you know,
Mark Stoops is the consummate program builder, and they've always
been a tough out and they are going to be
ready for us. I'm sure you know they're talking about
the last time we went up there, which was twenty
twenty two, and we were able to pull off a win.

(42:16):
Last year at our home stadium, we spotted them twenty
one points all turnovers, which is a brutal way to play,
and you know, we have a lot to prove in
this game. I think inevitably, right our kids are going
to class today and they're going to meet high fives
and congratulations on campus. Inevitably, there's going to be positive

(42:39):
noise surrounding this program, which I think certainly can be
a great thing. But we have to maintain the mental
focus and discipline to realize that we can be respectful
to all the people that are again celebrating the You know,
what we put on film on Saturday and what we
put on display, But Saturday only matters now, and we'll

(43:02):
only understand the meeting of Saturday from reflection at the
end of the season. It only matters if we're able
to leverage it and pull momentum from it, and that
means that we have to get back in our process
and attack this process with commitment and energy so that
we can be ready to play a good game against
a really tough opponent on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
Last ten seconds of this interview, we're gonna clap for me.

Speaker 3 (43:23):
Yes, how we end it right here, let's go.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
I'm super happy for you, coach, super happy to see
like the culture. I mean, it's a Cultures are like
humongous boats. It doesn't matter the industry. It's like, yeah,
it takes a while to turn it. It's not like
a little car. It's a big old ship. And watching
what you're able to do and what you're doing is
really really been fun and motivating, even for myself. So
congratulations coach Man, thank you for the for the time

(43:48):
this morning.

Speaker 13 (43:49):
A great to be with you. Bobby always Man coach.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
Next up is Eli drink Witz from the University of Missouri.
Coach drink was a season ticket holder at the University
of Arkansas and now just enjoys trolling the University of Arkansas.
And I'm an Arkansas fan and had not been able
to spend a little time with coach drink Witz and
talkt to Coach drink here, I would be annoyed too,
but I respect the troll game. But I love who
he is. I'm a big fan.

Speaker 9 (44:13):
That was a fun interview, just that's the way you
guys interact with each other.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
We also had to cut the first part of it off.
If you guys remember he said some stuff at the
very beginning. Yeah, he didn't ask us to remove it,
but I felt it was better for all instead of
a few clicks that we just eliminate that because he
went after another SEC coach and I thought, I don't
know if he knew we were recording, but just in case.
So yeah, Coach Drink's awesome. Zara had a pretty good year.

(44:40):
Didn't meet the expectations I think that they had on
them at the beginning of the year as they were
you know, I thought to be putting the CFP, but
here he is coach Drink from Missouri. Let me ask
about bye weeks because I know what why players like
bye weeks?

Speaker 3 (44:52):
Why do coaches like bye weeks? What will you do differently?

Speaker 17 (44:54):
First off, you get to just take a deep breath.

Speaker 11 (44:57):
You don't have this constant churning in your stomach like
you know you got something on Saturday. It's going to
determine the happiness of about six and a half million people,
including yourself, and you get to kind of be normal.
Like my daughter had a volleyball game last night, and
so I got to go pick her up from the game.
When the bus got back. I'll get to go watch
my daughter's T ball games on Thursday night. Saturday, another

(45:22):
daughter's got two volleyball games in the morning, so you
got you just kind of get a sense of normalcy,
and it's just a little bit of.

Speaker 17 (45:30):
A time to take a deep breath.

Speaker 11 (45:32):
I think from a football standpoint, you can actually work
on things.

Speaker 17 (45:37):
You know, it's easy to say.

Speaker 11 (45:38):
Hey, we got to get better this week, but when
there's a game coming and you have all this game
planning stuff you have to do, there's not a whole
lot of just moments where you can focus on fundamentals
and improvement because you've got to get the schemes in
for that week.

Speaker 17 (45:51):
You've got to get the preparation in.

Speaker 11 (45:54):
But in a bye week, again, you don't have an
opponent on Saturday, that opponent yourself, so there's really more
time to focus on on Hey, this twenty minutes of
practice is going to be specific to getting better. Five
minutes on third downs, five minutes on team run five
minutes on motion adjustments.

Speaker 14 (46:09):
So that's probably the best thing about it.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
Are you the bell of the ball in Columbia? Can
you grocery shop?

Speaker 13 (46:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 17 (46:17):
I can grocery shop. You find it funny?

Speaker 11 (46:20):
The other day I was driving my car to stop
light and there were two college aged students who had
their phone up next to the window taking a picture,
and I just looked at him and was like, if
you'll just tell me, I'll smile for the picture. I'm
always worried that they're going to catch me picking my
nose or something while I'm driving or singing to myself

(46:41):
in the car, but I'll say this, I don't let
it affect me one way or the other. I just
know I got to wear a hat when I go
to the grocery store instead of going all wild and free.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
I had a call or call the show and they
were doing a paper on grit and she was like
she got through the phone lines and she said, hey,
would you talk about what you think grit is? And
I think my career has been mostly based off perseverance, right,
like not doing a very good job and getting up
again and doing it a little better and a little
better because I've naturally not been that gifted at anything.

(47:13):
How would you define grit and who are a couple
of your grittiest players?

Speaker 6 (47:18):
Man?

Speaker 11 (47:18):
I love that you asked this question. Gritz the stubborn
refusal to quit. I mean, that's all it is. It's
just you refuse to give up, and it's passion plus
perseverance over time, Like what are you willing to endure
to accomplish what you want to accomplish. I think Brady
obviously is a great example of grit. I think Cody
Schrader last year was an extreme example of grit. I

(47:39):
think when you look at this year's running backs, Marcus Carroll,
Nate Noel, those two guys are really gritty players who
had to overcome a lot and bet on themselves, refuse
to give in to the outside noise to achieve what
they want to achieve. I think Johnny Walker defensive end
for me, came in at one hundred and ninety seven pounds,
had four wisdom te t taking out within the first

(48:01):
week of him being here, and now he weighs two
hundred and fifty six pounds.

Speaker 17 (48:04):
Was the MVP of the Cotton Bowl.

Speaker 11 (48:06):
It took him four years to really earn significant playing time.
But instead of pouting, instead of trying to go into
a different situation, he just said, I'm going to sustain
excellence every day, and that's really what.

Speaker 13 (48:20):
You have to do.

Speaker 14 (48:21):
You know, we have.

Speaker 11 (48:22):
We had a group of Navy Seals come in and
they said winning is reserved for those who are willing
to pay the price. And that's kind of our thought
process this year, like what price are we willing to
pay to win? And you've got to be willing to
outlast people. You've got to be willing to sustain it
even when it's not going your way.

Speaker 5 (48:43):
Coach, at the end of the game, you know, I
see the two coaches go and they meet each other.
What can you possibly tell each other, especially if you've
lost the game, Like what's that conversation like? Or do
you are you thinking? Like what am I going to
tell him? As I walk up there?

Speaker 11 (48:57):
You know, I've had some awkward conversations with the head
coaches across the deal. Honestly, you know, when you're the
winning coach and you're going across the field to the
guy who's lost, you realize and know.

Speaker 17 (49:12):
How much pain they're in right then, and really.

Speaker 11 (49:15):
All I'm trying to do is give them some some
sort of like comfort or something, because man, the hardest
thing to do is to swallow all your emotions and
then go in there and address your team. So that's
really what I'm doing. Whenever, whenever they're they're saying something
to me after they're whipping my butt, it's usually as

(49:36):
quick as I can just shake their hand and try
to gather my thoughts and emotions before I address the team.
But you know, I have such a tremendous amount of
respect for the head coaches in this league. You know,
it's a it's a fraternity of really good men, and
you know, we don't always get along, we don't always
agree with each other, but there is a level of
respect there. And so you know, when you get a

(49:58):
chance to visit with another SEC head coach, you always
treat it with a little bit of respect.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
I think a bit the pre game would be awkward
if you're expected to talk and you don't really like
them or know them. Like we have guests in studio
and there there are you know, celebrities that either I
don't like or I don't know them. We have to
like do small talk for like six minutes before this,
and that's torture for me, and I got to imagine
just the human nature of it there. That's probably the
same situation. So the pre more than the post. The

(50:25):
post you can get out over. But the do you
have to go talk to the other head coach before
the game?

Speaker 14 (50:30):
Well apparently you don't have to.

Speaker 11 (50:31):
Ed Or Doron didn't come shake my hand before the
first time we played them, and that was really the first.

Speaker 17 (50:35):
Time and only time I've ever had that happen, So.

Speaker 14 (50:38):
I guess you don't have to.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
Are you're supposed like that's the thing you're supposed to like.

Speaker 11 (50:41):
Yeah, I mean it's kind of a you know, it's
kind of a sportsmanship deal. I tell you when I
come into that the most is when you have to
do the Friday pre game media because there are some
media that you know, have been taking shots at you
or you know, shots at your team, and then you
got to go sit there and act like you're going
to be anybody and give them all the information that

(51:01):
they want to ask. So that one's always the one
that you're like.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
Yeah, yeah, final question, coach, if you're struggling emotionally mentally,
who professionally can you call who's your mentor.

Speaker 11 (51:17):
Well, you know, there's a couple of different people that
I can reach out to.

Speaker 17 (51:21):
From a spiritual standpoint, there's.

Speaker 11 (51:23):
A guy in Boone, North Carolina named doctor Dick Furman
who's been a really a person of great character and
integrity for me for the last six years, and.

Speaker 17 (51:35):
The highest of highs I can expect to get a
text from him that says.

Speaker 11 (51:37):
T y L which stands for thank you Lord, or
the lowest the lows I can get a text from that.
It's going to say thank you Lord, because you just
realize that you're blessed to get the opportunity to do this,
and you realize that your future is in his hands
and not to get caught up in the anxiety of it.
From a coaching standpoint, you know, coach Malson's obviously a
guy that I can reach out to that we exchange

(51:58):
ideas back and forth from.

Speaker 14 (52:01):
So there's just different people like that.

Speaker 11 (52:03):
But in the but in those two situations, those would
probably be the first two phone calls. You know, sometimes
I'm not quite as quick to call Gus because you know,
he's still the guy that I ga Ford, So he'll
tell me that that's pretty dumb.

Speaker 14 (52:19):
What is your problem here?

Speaker 7 (52:20):
Man?

Speaker 14 (52:21):
But that's good to keep me humple.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
Coach, good to see you.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
We talked about coach drink Fro Missouri being like hey,
and he's saying all this stuff and we edited him out.
Brett bielamaf Milanoy, who also is right on the verge
of making college football playoff like he got in the
mix with Lane Kiffin when Kiffin was like, we're nine
and three, we should get in and Bilama wasn't serious
about them deserving a shot in, but he's like, if
that's your logic, well here's ours, and it's better than yours.

Speaker 13 (52:45):
Love it.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
And so coach Beelam was awesome. I know coach Bilama
a bet from when he was at Arkansas. Now, what
happened with this one was he did not know we
were recording. But because we don't have good radio voices,
no one ever knows we're recording that. They were just
talking to them and he did I'd say some stuff
and they reached out and said, would you guys mind
removing that He didn't know you're recording, and we were
like one step ahead of you once they're already on it. Yes,

(53:09):
made his name at wisconstantly crushed, went to Arkansas, has
turned the Illinois program around, big contenders. Coach Bilima one
of the bigger personalities. Really great guy here he is
from University Villinois. Coach Brett B.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
Lama, Hey, coach, how you doing, my friend, coach?

Speaker 1 (53:22):
If you found it to be most effective to get
your guys used to loud cheering or music, because you've
done this a while, Like what's most effective in practice.

Speaker 14 (53:31):
Still by far just the crowd noise in the stadium,
you know, just just putting it out there. I mean today, now,
what we do do here is I removed my defensive
coaches and players because I want it to be so
loud you can't really conduct the practice for the other
side of the ball because on offense, when we run
to play, we crank it and then we'll turn it down,

(53:51):
you know, in between while we want to correct it
and then they'll crank it way back up.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
So is it ever so loud you cannot hear in
the in helmet communication?

Speaker 14 (54:00):
Does you know? It does get loud?

Speaker 7 (54:02):
Now?

Speaker 14 (54:02):
We actually not a lot of teams are using them,
but there's actually muffs that you can put on your
helmet that our quarterback. You'll see our quarterback doesn't have
ear holes because we put a canceling device over his
ear hole. You'll see a lot of quarterbacks going like this,
that's because they don't have that device. But it really
for me, I've always wore double ear muffs. It's kind

(54:22):
of kind of like the movie Old School, Old Cool
ear muffs, earmuff Like, I always wear double ear muffs
because I just want to hear the voices that I
need to hear. But yeah, for a quarterback, it definitely
can be that way.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
Coach, what's all my like in the locker room? What
kind of leaders?

Speaker 13 (54:40):
You know?

Speaker 14 (54:41):
What?

Speaker 13 (54:41):
Bobby?

Speaker 14 (54:42):
First off, you know, his dad was a team doctor
a Mississippi State, so he's been around college football his
whole life growing up, been around it, seeing it, lived it.
So his awareness to the to the world and college
football is really really high. His football IQ extremely gifted
ball awareness. He's also a tremendous kid of faith, so

(55:03):
like he's very fade driven. But it's not like these
guys that you know, come across preaching and teaching everything.
Like he's just a normal guy. He's very empowering, but
a and He's very deliberate in his relationships. He it's
not a guy that he's out in front screaming and
you own, like some quarterbacks.

Speaker 7 (55:18):
Like.

Speaker 14 (55:18):
He's a very relationship driven guy and just really exudes
confidence that carries over to every position.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
I'm want to ask a really dumb question because I
just don't know the answer. Is there food at halftime
in the locker room?

Speaker 9 (55:30):
A good question?

Speaker 14 (55:31):
Oh yeah, yeah?

Speaker 3 (55:33):
Like and how much did someone eat?

Speaker 14 (55:35):
Well? Even even going back to my time at Arkansas.
You know, so Ben Herbert, who was my strength coach there,
we kind of developed it when I was at Wisconsin.
He's done with the Chargers out there with hardball, but
we do a lot of PB and j's to do
anything that has a high nutritional value to give energy.
You know, some kids just really don't want to eat
on game day. So what we try to do is
override any issues we might have with high energy protein

(55:59):
content in shakes and snacks.

Speaker 13 (56:03):
Right.

Speaker 14 (56:03):
So there's there's also a lot of gummies like good gummies, right,
gummies that are for the purpose of nutrition and anything
that can peak their performance. We actually have a nutritional
crew that will pre make and set up maybe probably
about half our roster at halftime where they'll slam a

(56:23):
shake that they pre ordered, they love, and we just
want to get calories in them. So it's a it's
a very specific thing. Yeah, it's a lot different. Back
when I was in school, we had chicken broth that
was our high heightened during the cold games once in
a while. But yeah, the nutrition factor into performance is
at a it's and I'm sure it's soon. It's going
to continue to get better, but it's at a high

(56:44):
level now that that's the way. I'm not exactly a
walking dictionary of nutrition. So like that that's in their world.

Speaker 5 (56:50):
Coach, you fly off for your job, What kind of
flyer are you? You put headphones on, you listen to music,
you do work, you read, Like, what do you do
on a flight?

Speaker 14 (56:58):
Yeah, you know, we got a pretty long flight going
out here to Oregon. So we'll actually practice Thursday morning
and leave Thursday afternoon, so I'll watch Thursday's practice. I
actually got it one of if you've seen them, but
it's the there are glasses that you plug into your
computer and then they I don't have to be looking down.
I can lay back and I've had the video and
it's I got to remote in my hand, I can

(57:19):
watch that. It's just like I'm in front of a
big screen. It's it's I can read emails that way,
I can read articles, I can watch film. It's it's
and now I usually got a pair of headphones on,
listen to a little little country, little little R and B,
little little reggae. Kind of depends on.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
The mood before a big game or any game.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
Do you like your guys to be like right on
the edge, fired up or And we've had fighters that
we've talked to who will tell us they do not
like to be fired up because they're not thinking as
clearly that if they're calm, they're actually able to take
and navigate through their thoughts. Right, And there's a fine
line somewhere that's correct. Where do you stand on the
psychology of that going into a game or going into
a big game?

Speaker 14 (57:56):
Well, I think first it's culturally based by what you
do kind of throughout the year, right, Like if you
try to go to uh, you know, the gate the
day of the game and try to figure your crew out,
you're going to have a long time coming, right. So
we try to get a pulse on this we build it.
I really call it that flip flop Friday. I kind
of relax on Fridays because I want to put our
guys at ease. I'm more comfortable, they're more comfortable, you know.

(58:18):
We do little things like we call we'll have a
lot of mandatory dinners, but we'll call it. We'll call
it mandatory flow, which means just kind of come and
go as you want. But then the last meal, we
have our last pregame meal, which is always fours out
four hours out before pre before the game. So if
we're playing at two o'clock, the meal is at ten o'clock,
we're at six o'clock, it's at two o'clock, and that

(58:39):
is everybody comes in mandatory seeded. We'll start off with
the prayer, you know, we have it regimented away. We
eat just to kind of begin to lock them in,
you know now. But then they'll go to their rooms
and I'll say, hey, go call text, FaceTime, whoever you
got to do. Let's get it out of the way.
So when you come down here two and a half
hours before kickoff, we know what we're doing, right, and
then we kind of a gras transition to being ready

(59:02):
to go. I think game day is totally different, Bobby
than practice. You know, in those moments, it's about it's
not what happens, it's how you react to what happens.
So if you have kids that are on edge because
they think they're going to be, you know, handled in
a way that's combative on game day, you're going to
have usually a bad result. So we're kind of a
kind of a in the moment, let's let's learn from

(59:23):
the moment, but move on.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
Are you ever internally so emotional? But you're able to
have the thought I should not be outwardly emotional because
of how we'll make others feel A react like a kicker,
miss the kicker you like mother, But you've got.

Speaker 3 (59:37):
To really dial it in and keep it in.

Speaker 14 (59:40):
So true story. I think you evolve in time as
you get older, right, you learn more from your failures
than your successes. But I've always been a guy that
really just believes the teaching moments are all around us.
It's just a matter of what you want to teach, right,
And I came full circle. I was a young coach.
I'm probably in my second or third year. I've recruited
a kid by the name of James I, who was

(01:00:01):
a running back out of Saint Thomas Aquanas in Fort Lauerdale, Florida.
He went on to play for the Patriots for about
ten years, won several Super Bowls. He was a true freshman,
really good player for US. And he was making a
run and he reached the ball across the end zone
and I got punched out and created a touchback scenario.
And I literally was on the headset and everybody was like,

(01:00:21):
you can't do that, and I heard it. I said,
I told everybody, hey, shut up, I'll handle this moment right.
And I went over and he was on the bench
and I just put my hand on his head and
I leaned down by his knee and I said, hey,
my friend, you are such a great player. You are
going to score so many touchdowns in this stadium and
in your career, and you'll play beyond here. But just

(01:00:43):
know we're brought you here to run the ball, not
reach the ball. Right, There's three occasions that you can
reach the ball. Fourth down, two point plays in the
end of game. Right, Otherwise they're always staying and we'll
play the next down. And it came full circle. His dad,
I went on to the coach of the Patriots, and
his dad told me he watched it on TV. Right,

(01:01:05):
And then lo and behold his dad was killed in
a car accident, like a number of two years later, right.
And I think about the profound effect of that moment,
that teaching moment with that kid, to have a dad
witness it on TV and the life lesson that was
taught is truly why you do this job.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
At what point in your career, coach, did you realize
And I say this as someone who my high school
football coach, I didn't have a dad, was a big
part of my understanding of discipline, right, Like, because I
had no mal influence, I had no one.

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
At what point in your career did you realize that
you were going to be that?

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
And that was a real responsibility for a lot of
these kids.

Speaker 14 (01:01:46):
It's a great point. I say it all the time.
We do a little presentation when I have a kid
come in my office that we've offered a scholarship to
or a visit. We talk about a timeline on this earth. Right,
we all start at zero and average age goes to
seventy two. Hopefully we all go beyond that. But we
talk about during that window. You know, I usually get
a kid when he's eighteen years old, right, And if
you just do the math, that's a twenty You know,

(01:02:09):
twenty five percent of your seventy two year lifeline is
already done before I got you. Right, So I'm going
to get you from eighteen twenty one twenty two, And
during that four year window, it's the first time you're
out of your environment that you've known your whole life. Right, Like,
whether it's a parent, an uncle, a coach, a grandpa,
I get everything right, like I have step parents, whatever

(01:02:30):
it is. And I always tell our kids, like, listen,
I don't want to be your dad, you already got one.
I don't want to be your uncle or your brother,
your cousin, your friend, or your high school coach. I
want to be the best college coach you could ever have.

Speaker 13 (01:02:42):
Right.

Speaker 14 (01:02:42):
And because of that, I'm going to at times sound
like a parent. I'm going to at times tell you
things you don't want to hear, right, And I would
tell you the more I tell you things, especially if
you don't agree with them, it's because I love you,
not because I hate you. Too many people in this world,
like try to tell them the things they want to
hear and avoid to the things they need to hear.
So I think that's a really big part of coaching

(01:03:04):
is you're going to sound like a parent a lot.
The good news is they're not right. But the part
that is real is that you can affect their life
for a long time and probably in a time in
their life where they need it more than ever.

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
All right, coach, good luck, We love you, buddy, take care.

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Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
B ball.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
Now onto Kansas State head coach Chris Clemon, which we've
had on a few times. We got to go hang
out with him in his office. That's pretty cool. I
think on his birthday too, it was, oh, yeah, we're like,
happy birthday, you get us right, Happy birthday. That's funny.

Speaker 6 (01:04:33):
Uh so.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
And he also let us work out with Cooper bb And, who.

Speaker 9 (01:04:37):
Is now a Dallas cowboy.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
Yeah, and you'd have a problem with it because I
knew he he probably knew we wouldn't hurt Cooper BB. Yeah,
of course, like these idiots, but yeah, I know Kansas
State like Perennial in the mix. Now, we love Coach Climbing.
And here's our talk with him. His dad was a coach.
We talked about that a bunch two with him in
the full interview. So here he is from Kansas State.
Here is coach Chris Climbing. Hey, coach, good to see you.

(01:04:59):
Thank you for the time. How you doing, Hey, pretty good.
I do want to go back a year or so
we were working out with Cooper BB when we were up
there with you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
You keep up with Cooper at all with Cowboys.

Speaker 18 (01:05:10):
Absolutely, he's come back for at least two games, but no,
probably weekly. We send a text back and forth. Super
proud of him being the starting center in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
Man crazy too because and Cooper and I follow each
other on Instagram since then, and when he was drafted, obviously,
super pumped for him. But the transition, and maybe you
could add a little of this, the transition because he
did not play center for you, but now he's playing
center with the Cowboys. How hard is that to do
on the offensive line?

Speaker 18 (01:05:40):
It's really hard. But the fact that he played all
four positions, but that I think lent himself to understanding
all the positions and knew that he could because he
was the guy that communicated all of our checks and
adjustments and IDs and stuff. Anyway, and all along when

(01:06:02):
he was here and continue to get better and better,
people kept asking us, do you think he can be
a center? Do you think he can be a center? Well, yeah,
we did from a mental side of things. Now from
a physical side of things. He just had to put
the time into it. And obviously he did that because
to make that transition and be the start, be named
the starter by week one was pretty remarkable.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
So teams were reaching out to you to ask if
they if you thought, like his mental capacity was that
of a center. Some more so, was it his size?
Like why were teams looking at him as a center.

Speaker 18 (01:06:34):
All the fact that he's not six foot six and
six ' five and stuff. He's a you know, I
don't know what is he six three and a half
six ' four. And they knew he would be an
interior guy somewhere. And the center position is so valuable,
so hard to find that when you have somebody with
the acumen that he has of understanding the game and

(01:06:55):
understanding defensive fronts and being able to communicate. I thought
it was going to be a natural for him to
be able to move inside there. Then he just had
to work on the physical side of getting the snaps
and movement, and I knew he could do it because
he's such a great athlete too.

Speaker 1 (01:07:12):
Is there ever a time with a player when you
will modify a bit of how they play or what
they do for the next level, even though it may
not be completely advantageous to what you're doing right then.

Speaker 18 (01:07:25):
Not completely, But I also have a responsibility to give
these guys the best opportunity to have success at that
next level and if it can fit with what we're
doing as a team.

Speaker 7 (01:07:38):
Yes.

Speaker 18 (01:07:39):
Absolutely. We had a guy that actually started for the
Bucks the other night named Josh Hays. He's a safety
slash corner and I had him at North Zakota State
and he was a corner and then we got him
out of the transfer portal to come here and he
assumed he was going to play corner and I said, Josh,

(01:07:59):
we're going to play you safety here. A. It's going
to help us be a better team, but B, I
think it's going to market you better in the NFL
because you're not a six foot three guy that's two
hundred and fifteen pounds. That's a corner that a lot
of the teams are looking for. Josh is a six foot,
one hundred and ninety five pound kid. And I said,
if you can cover slot guys, you're going to have

(01:08:20):
a place in the NFL. So it's not only going
to help our team, but it's going to help your
draft status.

Speaker 14 (01:08:26):
And they up getting.

Speaker 18 (01:08:26):
Drafted maybe in the fourth or fifth round by the Bucks.
And I think he's in his third year now and
now he's a starter for him. But his ability to
move and showcase what he could do as a safety
rather than a corner helped us as a team and.

Speaker 13 (01:08:42):
Helped him in the draft.

Speaker 1 (01:08:44):
What's Avery Johnson like as a dude?

Speaker 18 (01:08:46):
Gosh, A, he's awesome. He's so much fun to be around.
He's the unquestioned leader on the offense, but he's very confident,
has some swagger, but he's not a cocky kid. He's
a guy that you know the room lights up when
he comes in, but he doesn't want that, if that

(01:09:10):
makes sense. He doesn't want to be the center of attention.
He's just always going to be Some of it is
his hair, right, He's going to be the center of
attention because of his hair. But he's a very humble,
driven kid that what people don't see about Avery is
all the things that he does in our community for youth,

(01:09:30):
for disability, children, for people in need. I know he's
helping a principle back home that was diagnosed with cancer,
of raising money. Those are the things that he's not
putting out on social media, but maybe should be emphasized
a little bit more because it's.

Speaker 14 (01:09:48):
Not just about the football.

Speaker 13 (01:09:49):
The football is just a very small part of his life.

Speaker 1 (01:09:54):
When you look for a leader, like what are those qualities?
And the leadership qualities can be very different. I mean
we have them even here amongst this organization. Like what
are the qualities that you see in leaders that you
feel like go best with your program?

Speaker 18 (01:10:10):
For starters that have to be able to hold themselves accountable,
it's always easy to say the best player and the
work ethic and his last one off the field and
the first one on the field. You know, those are
the things that people I think think about, but I
think of it as one he's one that holds himself
accountable and he's not going to talk to talk unless

(01:10:34):
he can walk the walk. And we have a kid
named Austin Moore that's one of our captains that epitomizes
what a what a leader is and what I call
when I say a leader, he's a servant leader. In effect,
he makes everybody around him better because of his presence.
And the best leaders are ones that really don't care

(01:10:59):
if at the end of day, we're going to be
best friends for the next forty years, you're going to
respect me because I'm going to hold myself accountable, but
I'm not going to be afraid to hold you accountable.
And you know, in our sport, in college, kids have three,
four or five years to make a legacy, and you
can make a ton of friends, and you're already going

(01:11:20):
to make a ton of friends. But the only way
you're going to make a legacy is if you have success.
And the only way you're going to have success is
by holding your peers accountable. And that's what I find
in the best leaders is they can hold themselves accountable.
They can walk the walk, but they are not afraid
to call out their best friend, not afraid to call

(01:11:41):
out a teammate that is maybe equally as talented. It's
easy to call out the guys that maybe aren't as
good or don't do things.

Speaker 13 (01:11:48):
The right way.

Speaker 18 (01:11:49):
But when you can call out the other best players
and they respect you for it, that's the best sign
of leadership.

Speaker 1 (01:11:55):
I'm going to get in the weeds a little here
because I respect your entire career as a coach, what
you've built at every level. But I want to talk
about practice tape. So you're a practice, You're doing what
you do, you're ceoing, you're making sure that the macro
things are done right. Do you ever get on and
watch some tape and see somebody that maybe you did
not know was competing at a higher level than maybe

(01:12:18):
you wouldn't have caught if you didn't see it on tape.

Speaker 18 (01:12:21):
One hundred percent. I do it every day, And not
only do you do, you have to do it, but
you have to recognize that individual or those individuals for
their efforts. And a simple thing would be we have
our Scout team Players of the Week every week, the
guys that aren't playing but gave us a chance to

(01:12:44):
be successful by the look that they gave us each
day that week that maybe we're down a defensive tackle
and he had to take every rep in practice for
the scout team or a linebacker whatever, maybe as well
as special teams. And I think it's important that not
only myself, but some of our best players thank those

(01:13:07):
guys and recognize those guys.

Speaker 13 (01:13:09):
We have a neat deal that we do after wins in.

Speaker 18 (01:13:11):
The locker room where we hand out a hammer because
we talked about pounding the stone all the time. We
hand out a hammer to somebody and then they get
to recognize somebody, and oftentimes it's a defensive lineman that
is recognizing Hey, Scout team offensive lineman so and so,
or Scout team wide receiver as a defensive back. Thank
you for pushing me this week, man, you made me better.

(01:13:34):
But I think you have to recognize those guys and
they have to know that they're a valued part of
your organization and program.

Speaker 1 (01:13:41):
I want to ask you about your dad for a second.
What do you think you've taken from him, even if
you don't realize until you got older, that you had,
like as a.

Speaker 18 (01:13:49):
Coach, competitiveness and toughness not even in question. My dad's
the toughest man I know. He's still at five years old.
Armchair quarterback I have.

Speaker 3 (01:14:01):
Does he text you at all? And does he use emojis?

Speaker 7 (01:14:05):
No? No, my dad wouldn't use an emoji.

Speaker 1 (01:14:09):
All right, Coach Sea, thank you, hey, thanks for listening.
One of the really cool things about the show is
we can't believe people will agree to talk to us
that are like head coaches and major programs.

Speaker 9 (01:14:19):
It's pretty amazing, pretty amazing. I know, do you think
we had anything to do with getting some of those
teams in there?

Speaker 1 (01:14:25):
I really think we had maybe things to do with
some of the teams not getting in there, like, if anything,
we maybe hurricanes and stayed a little bit. Maybe let's
not give ourself credit, but thank you for listening. Super cool.
We've had some other great coaches too. You can go
check out you know, any of the library here at
twenty five Whistles and we hope you have a great
start to.

Speaker 16 (01:14:43):
The new year.

Speaker 1 (01:14:44):
Hope you have a great holiday. Subscribe at Bobby Bone Sports.
Have a great week. We'll see you guys soon. Theme
song written by Bobby Bones That's Me and performed by
Brandon Ray. Follow Brandon on socials at Brandon Ray Music.
You can follow the show on Instagram at Bobby Bone Sports.
Thanks to our crew co host AT producer Eddie, Segment

(01:15:07):
producer at Kickoff Kevin, video producer at Redrberry, and executive
producer at Mike Diestro. But most importantly, thank you for listening.
I'm Bobby Bones. We'll talk to you next time here
on twenty five whistles

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