August 7, 2024 • 22 mins
New Union College Football Coach Jon Drach joins the guys in studio On coaching Goz at Hobart College Section 2 products from the past at the D3 level Background and coaching career Deciding to accept the Union head coaching job What to expect from 2024 team Connecting to the Capital Region into the future For more information on this summer's free youth football clinic visithttps://unionathletics.com/news/2024/7/26/union-football-to-hold-free-youth-clinic-on-august-13.aspx
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's love aking guzz on the voice of the Capitol
Regions sports fan, Fox Sports ninety five, nine and nine eighty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I keep thinking, one day God will learn to stop,
you know, mixing his past with this present, because it's
gonna get him in trouble.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
He clearly has not learned that yet.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Joining us right now the head coach of union football,
John Drock and coach.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
First of all, welcome, welcome to the area.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Thank you so much, appreciate it's been a great beer.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
It's and I do want to talk about union football,
but first let's talk about the guy in the other room.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yeah, Listen, people want to.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
They want to know, they want to. So I have
tried to explain to people that I've seen this, and
I think.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
You probably be the one.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
He he comes across like such a like a mild
mannered goofball. Yeah, but when he when when the when
the switch flips. He's an angry human. Did you ever
get to see that?
Speaker 4 (00:48):
I did get to see the anger human every now
and then.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
I mean he did a great job and inside drillinge
one on want and everything else, and uh I got
to see him and push him a little bit at times,
and so, uh definitely know him in a different capacity.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I think as far as some of that goes, just.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
Because you've seen him when he's as a competitor as
a student, and then now it's a professional and getting
to kind of watch him. I think that's kind of
a goal as a coach, is to kind of build
some of those relationships and get to see those relationships
all the way through. And it's cool to be able
to see it now for him versus where he started at.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
We call him he's a poor man's Ali Marpett.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
For those I don't know that, I would put the
two of them in the same time and for many reasons.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
For those that don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
By the way, to add a little more context, coach
coached at Hobar or I played. So I've known coaches.
I've been eighteen years old, sixteen years I've known him.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
You still talk to him, I do.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
We were mentioned before you came in here that like, yeah,
coach ran scout team and I used to have to
wear things on my helmet as I ran scout and
coach truck. It's crazy to think this. I worked more
with you running that side of the football as a
young freshman sophomore than like even a positional coach. I
think people will realize that that when you hit the
college level, like you're working with a bunch of different
people and it builds the knowledge of the sport and
(02:01):
builds comrade Like in your coach you career, you've done
all of that.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
You've worked scout, You've worked offense, you've worked defense. Can
you scout anymore? I don't like.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
I always still out scout.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Yeah, we absolutely still call it scout, and it's something
as it's a right of passage. I think for young
coaches to have to be able to do that and
get yelled at by the full time coaches to get
your ass together, But it's a great learning experience.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It is.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
It is one of the great ways to learn as
a young coach is to be put yourself in some
of those situations, to have to deal and coach different
position groups and not only work with Scott offense and
Scott defense, but put guys in positions to be able
to make plays, support those guys, and you get to
build different relationships with different players. My relationships with some
of the guys that I know from Hobart is a
drastic a different relationship.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Than some of the guys that I know. As a
head coach, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
The different hat that you wear, I think allows you
to build a different relationship with the different players. And
still talk to a lot of those guys all the time,
and I know that they're happy for me in the
back of their heart somewhere they're probably.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Happy for me to be the head coach at Union
and that kind of thing.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
But at the same time, I think that those relationships
are because of the time I got.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
To be able to spend with them.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I do want to get to coaches background, his playing days,
how we accepted the job. But Union, I do want
to give one more quick Cobart channel because you worked
with Matt Woods. Yeah, Capitol region connection. He worked with
coach like that story of part of the Firebird organization,
Like coach saw the Capitol reaching connection. If you're a
young Albredy prospect, like you know what the high school
football scene is here now scouting through it, and Matt's
(03:24):
a great example of actimity.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
You work with every single great guy.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I mean obviously you know who Art, You've you swung
a miss with some people.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I know you got and you got what he was.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
A talent man?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Was he?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Like?
Speaker 5 (03:37):
I had Woodsy at a quarterback position for about probably
three or four weeks beside, I was like, hey.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
What do you think about playing tight end?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Throw the ball?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (03:47):
Exactly, But he could run. He was big in an
athlete and he had a hell of a career there.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
I think he started for US for almost three years.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
And I had the opportunity to coach him for I
believe two and a half of those.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So how many games did you start? You know? I
had some injuries.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
What's the old n CUA A commercial going pro and
something other than sports like that? Was that was the
best broadcaster coaches ever coached.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
I can say that. I can say that. I could
say that. I'm trying to think of the other ones
I've coached, and I don't think there's that many. You're company,
You're in company.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Wait till Mark pet starts going like breaking down ukuleles
all of a sudden, it's a whole other animal.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
After that.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
He does do his own podcast stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Now really, oh yeah, he.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Has his own podcast stuff, and he's actually branched out
and done a bunch of stuff down there.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
He's still down on the Florida and everything. I still
talk to him every now.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And then too.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
iHeartMedia all but all right, I mean, I feel like
it happened over here.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Like it's weird because Goaz is very different, But I
feel like that's got to be the most different dude
you've coached.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
Gazz is so for Guz for me, like I used
to call him gods too, like using his full name
and stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It's not it's the weirdest thing when his wife's around
and calls him Thomas and you're like, who's that?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Who are you talking to? Are you cheating on Godz?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
No?
Speaker 4 (04:58):
If it's uh, it's definitely.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
Like I said, you see how these kids grow up
in that kind of thing, and how they change his
players and how they change his student athletes, and they
take a lot of those lessons that were able to
teach in the football field and then transition that into
their real lives. Whether it's the dedication to stick withinness,
the perseverance, all those things I think are really really valuable.
And you can see a lot of those things throughout
his career too. So I'm glad to see that some
(05:20):
of those things are sticking and hopefully in the back
of their heads. At one point or another, they can
still hear their coaches yelling at them to keep going,
move forward, Sit in that squat that wall, sit a
little longer. Oh, let's do that extra one to ten,
whatever that may be. I hope some of those things
still ring.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
In the back of their minds.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
When was the last time you heard coach Jock's voice
in your head?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Guys about when we were talking before we turn on
the mics, I'm like getting chills up here, thinking like
it's August conditioning, like.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Finishers downey degrees.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Let's go, ghost players are about to find out. Let's
go to your background. As much as I'd like to
continue to talk about whatever was a college curer of mind,
let's talk about your life, your background. For Capital Region listeners,
this might be the first time they've learned about you.
Take us back to where you grew up your college
football days and what one did you get you into coaching?
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, for sure. So I grew up in Illinois.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
So I grew up about forty five minutes outside the
city of Chicago in a suburb called Saint Charles. My
dad was a high school coach there, So I grew
up around coaching my entire career. I can remember being
a little kid and riding the bus and being knee
high and being with high school football players and watching
them learn and progressing that kind of thing. It was
always something I was really really into, always involved in athletics.
I think I was a four sport athlete when I
(06:27):
was in high school, and I always try was involved
in doing something. I was fortunate enough to get a
scholarship to play Division one football at Western Michigan University.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I had a fantastic experience there.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
I always talk about all the time when we're talking
to recruits and everything else that I had about half
my guys that were my high school teamates and half
my guys my wedding that were college teammates, and so
just being able to be with them and be at
a place where we were really successful. I think we
played in three MAC championships in the five years I
was there. I had a lot of really really good players.
My college roommate was a first round draft pick Jason Babbin,
and got to play with some really amazing people that
(06:59):
made it unique career for me. I started there for
about two and a half years off and on in
my senior year, and my junior year started basically most
of my junior year than about half of my retrot
sophomore year. I was able to start there too, and
played some pretty cool arenas from University of Florida to
Virginia Tech. We played at University of Michigan the game
after nine to eleven and you could hear a pin
(07:20):
drop in the stands. There's one hundred and ten thousand
people there, and when they play at the national anthem,
they you can hear a pin drop and I will
never forget that.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I actually remember watching that game. So I'm a Michigan fan.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, but there was a long window where if you
were legally allowed to wager on sports mac football Central Michigan,
you yourself may have may have financed Christmas a year,
helped you out of the Vinnie the Fish did not
like you guys at all. But all right, so let
(07:53):
me ask you a question, Because you, you know, successful
quarterback in college, why not arenaly like I feel like,
because I feel like a blueprint of who we're going
to get.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
So I actually did do a renal. I was with
the Chicago Rush for about two and a half weeks
to be honest with you.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
A half weeks. Yeah, that was a rush.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
I snapped my left leg.
Speaker 5 (08:12):
Oh no, So we were scrimm engaging and my left
foot got stuck in the ground and I broke my
tip fib and then basically ripped my ankle off because
it's stuck in the turf. So I have thirty six
screws my left leg now and they had to basically
rebuild my ankle in my legs.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
That was kind of honestly, when I stopped.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Playing, why Yeah, so I thought because I wanted to
walk again and have kids and actually have a life
after football. That's when the decision I kind of made
to to stop playing at that point, and then actually
traded equity future.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
So I was a double major in e kind of finance.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
You sound just like Woods when we stole Woods away
from finance. Yeah, and then brought him in the help
run the football team and doing a bunch of stuff
over a bell for and yeah, he does everything.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Just to add little bit more about coaches talking, I
think he's selling himself short. A three time All League
All Academic selection as well as a double major, I was,
and Greg Jennings was your wide receiver had.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
We still have few school records. I think I still
have the completion percentage of the season record. We have
the longest touchdown record between Greg and I think I
threw it five yards and he ran ninety three.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Team he can't catch it if you don't throw it.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Tim Lester also the connections as well. The coaches had
an ice coaching career as well.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
So coach Lester was actually my recruiting host my first
year there. I grew up right next to PJ Flax.
So PJ Flack and I are college rivals or high
school rivals and college rivals because he played in.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Northern Illinois and Western Michigan.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
So I know a lot of those guys and have
had a really cool experience watching them kind of go
through their careers.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
And it was interesting because when I did finally.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
Get back into football from trading and that kind of thing,
I was coaching high school with my dad and kind
of going out to the suburbs in the afternoon and
trading equity futures and stuff in the morning, and eventually
I said, the health making money, I'm going to go
do something I love to do and had to kind
of decide what level I wanted to go to and
had up opportunities to go to graduate DESISIONT were out
at some of the higher level Division one schools, and
(10:04):
having watched that and lived through it for a long time,
I actually didn't want to do that. I actually wanted
to do the Division III thing, work with student athletes
that were there to be student athletes and that wanted
the developmental piece but had the love of the game,
which was really important to me because I had how
much I love the game, and so to be around
people that loved it equally always and weren't just there
for a scholarship, just weren't there for the post graduation
(10:26):
opportunity of it as far as playing after graduation. Was
one of the reasons that I really migrated myself to
Division III and have loved the experience ever since and
was there for Tobart for almost twelve years and then
that opportunity.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
But that was just a graduate. We do call him
Tommy boy.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
So from that standpoint, then had the opportunity to go
be a head coach down at Wilkes and then I
kind of brought.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Me up to Union.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
We got John Rock with us right now the head
coach for union football, you know, one of the formative
minds that helped bring us gods.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
I want to go back to what coach said, because
he mentioned, like he joins the Division III ranks, and
I speak as as a player of his, We in
my teammates all knew he wasn't there for long in
the sense of a compliment of like, he's going to
be a head coach. He knows how to do this.
He knows how to work with athletes, he knows how
to recruit, he knows how to run an offense. It
was just a matter of time before that opportunity came
for Wilkes. And at that time when you made the
(11:20):
decision in your career, Hobart was coming off historic runs
in the history of the program. There were changes within
the program. Take us through that experience of moving from
a coordinator position a positional coach to that first experience
being the head coach where so many people hear about
being the CEO, being the boss. What was that transition
like from being a decade plus the coordinator to now
running everything at Wilkes.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Yeah, I mean there is a lot of transition, you
know what I mean. You have kind of change hats,
and there's a lot of different things you have to
be able to do and be really really focused on,
as far as creating the vision and developing the vision
for the entire team not just a unit, you know
what I mean, And being able to put people around
you that really care and actually surround myself with a
ton of Hobart people at that time. So when I
had the opportunity to hire a lot of staff at
(12:01):
at Wilkes, I think I brought five homework guys with me,
Jack full Shane Sweeney, Kelvin Cruz, Tom Elder, Like we were.
It was all guys that knew what type of culture
I wanted to be able to have, you know what
I mean. And my dad always told me as a
head coach that you know, when you had that opportunity
to be a head coach, goes surround yourself with people
you can.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Be with every day and love being around them.
Speaker 5 (12:20):
And so I just hired a bunch of my best friends,
and so from that standpoint, it was a great place
to be every day. It definitely is a little bit
different as far as the hats you didn't get to wear.
I think transitionally, for me, the biggest piece was taking
over a team that hadn't been very successful at that
time when we took over Wilkes. Wilkes was ozh to
ten the year before we got there, and there were
seven and thirty three the previous four years, so they
(12:41):
hadn't experienced a lot of winning and to be able
to being a culture in and kind of instill a
winning culture within that program. And I know coach Dave
Beaver's there now and he's going to do a great
job of continuing that. But we did have to change
some things, you know what I mean. We had to
change a mindset. We had to change how we worked
and how we did things on a daily basis. And
that was a very tough leadership responsibility to be able
(13:02):
to change that for not only our entire football program,
but hopefully a little bit for that department as an
athletic department too.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
So excited to have.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
This opportunity, but definitely a unique experience and learned a
lot as far as what now I kind of bring
into Union as far as experiences go of how we
need to do things, how we need to continue to
build it. Taking over Union is a completely different animal
than taking over at Wilkes, where they hadn't won at all.
Union has a seventy percent winning percentage over the last
forty years and has played the NCAP playoffs the last
(13:30):
a couple of years here, and so being able to
continue that and build that, hopefully it's what we're trying
to build into a national championship team.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Well, take us through that in Wilkes situation, because look,
your life has changed from when you started coaching to
now building a family and having kids and being the
success you had at Wilkes. You could have been there
for a long time because you changed the program, but
this opportunity comes up. Take us through that decision making
process of I'm going to leave Wilkes and head disconnected
in New York and take on a new program.
Speaker 5 (13:55):
I mean, Wilk's a great spot, really great people, love
the team, and everything was there, but it was an
opportunity for us as a family to take some steps forward.
One of the things about myself is one of the
reasons I love coaching Division three is because they do
get to spend a lot of time with my family.
That's an important factor to me is that I want
to be around them. My son is playing for the
Clifton Park, Valor, and so I've been a practices there
(14:17):
the last few days. And from my standpoint, that's a
really important piece. It's something that I had growing up
and I want to be able to give that for
my kids, and so to find the best resources for
them was kind of at the hallmark of that change.
We knew if we were going to make a change,
it had to be beneficial not only for Coach Rock,
but it had to be beneficial.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
For the Drocks as a whole.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
And so the resources of the Capitol District. My daughter
has some development things that she seeks there before for
OTPT and some other things that just the resources in
the Capitol District far exceed the resources that we had
in Northeast Pennsylvania. And so for us, it made a
big difference for us to be able to put those
guys in a situation where they could be really successful
(14:57):
as they moved through their elementary school careers and their
middle school years, in their high school years. So it
just made sense. It was the right time and it was
the right opportunity to the right challenge. I value winning,
and Gods can tell you that, yes, you know, I
really do.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
I have a herd heated, heated competitor.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
I'm going to push to get at the best out
of all my kids and everything I do, and I
want to win, and I make no qualms about that whatsoever.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I don't think I should.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
And so from that standpoint, I think there's a few
places on the East Coast at the Division three level
that you can truthfully go compete for national.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Championships, and I think that Union is one of those places.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
So to me, it was a coveted job and the
fact that not only is it going to be something
that could be really regionally successful, but I think we
can push this to go be a national championship program.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
We got John Drock with us right now Fox Sports
Radio ninety head coach for the Union Garnet Chargers. So
two things that while you're you decide to take this job.
It's a hockey school, you know. I know everybody's probably
trying to tell you that we have a great hockey
program and a good football program too.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I love it, you know, like you go coach it?
Do you when it do? Get people like? Oh, well
football too?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Like you know, there's a lot of people who don't
always see Union for what it really is which is
which is both, said Garnet Chargers as a guy who
faced them as the Dutchman, Like, what was your first reaction?
I know, obviously now you love it, it's the greatest,
the greatest nickname in the history of nicknames. But when
you first saw, like the history change, what did that
do to you?
Speaker 5 (16:21):
It was interesting, you know what I mean, because I
wasn't here at that point, and to not have any
piece of that discussion and the decision. Obviously the university
made that decision for the betterment of the colleges and
its students and all of its programs, and so supportive
of obviously moving forward. I do think that as you
see things publicly, there's a lot of things that change,
you know what I mean, On a day day basis,
(16:43):
how we view situations changes every day, how we view
things as far as teaching, and there's always some new
progression to how we move forward. And sometimes to be
able to move forward, some things have to change, you
know what I mean. And I think it's been a
positive change for the college as far as enrollment and
some of those other things go. And I know, for us,
I don't care what the nickname is. I don't care
(17:05):
what color is. Roll the football in a parking lot
and let's go play, you know what I mean. And
that's the type of football we want to be able
to play at Union. That's the type of kids we're
going to continuously have. The nickname doesn't change a whole lot.
I think the people that we have, the types of
individuals that we look for, the type of people that
want to have that level of success, not only athletically,
(17:26):
but professionally, academically and socially, that doesn't change. So strap
whatever name on it you want to. We're going to
go out there and we're going to do what we
need to be able to do to win football games
and be hopefully a light in this community. I mean,
one of the biggest goals that we have is to
do over a thousand.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Hours of community service.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
I'm going to take a brief minute to do a
promo for our youth camp. So we have a youth camp,
a free youth clinic for all of the Greater Capital
District on August thirteenth at six thirty pm, and the
sign up is online on our Twitter page, on our Instagram,
on our website.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
All you gotta do is go sign up.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
It's from ages thirteen to seven, and we would love
to have as many youth guys as we can have there,
guys and girls to come learn a little bit about football,
get to work with our student athletes, and see what
we value at Union.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Just lock that in twenty twenty eight when lost you
boys third one on the way.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
But now on all of our sides, you have access
to everybody's website in the building.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I will tag that on social media. On the podcast side,
I will leave the link.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
I promise it's on all of our socials and that
kind of thing. So I know we would love it
as many kids out there. I think we already have
almost on hundred and fifty kid signed up.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
But it's typical guys.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
He's just like, all right, I can use this to
get my boys more into football, and we love coach
love it.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Coach Yrock loves me, so he's gonna take care of it.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah, we love it.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
August twelve. By the way, camp opens up for you guys.
You had an opportunity because of when you were hired
to do springball with this roster. For those in the
Capital region looking to follow the team, some names that
have stood out to you that they're going to be
hearing more and more come the fall when regular season
games get underway for the team.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Yeah, no problem.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
I mean on the offensive side of the ball, we
have two senior captains that one's a fifth year senior
and one is a regular senior captain, So Mike Fiori
and Robbie Tolbert. Robbie's a receiver, Mike's are returning tailback
that is a hell of a football player for us.
Him and John Anderson have actually both been thousand aired
backs the last two years now, So to return both
(19:18):
of those guys, it's going to be really really important
to think. Nicol Ovola is gonna have a great season.
He's coming off a two year starting. He's only going
to be a junior this year, so he's started hopefully
a four year starter for us and a real leader
on the up in front of the offensive line. Then
we returning on a couple other fifth year kids and
Aiden and a few others that are hopefully gonna have
some really good years for us in the offensive side
(19:38):
the ball and the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Again, it starts with our two fifth year senior captains.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
Colda Silva uh and Nate Sullivan, and both those guys
have been really pushing the team to be really, really good,
and both of those guys are multiple year starters and
really key impact players for us. And then we'll have
some new faces around some other spots there too, So
a little bit younger on the defensive front, but pretty
veteran in the defensive backfield, you know what I mean.
So have a good mixed on the defensive side of
the ball between younger and older guys, and I think
(20:03):
we're gonna have some great competition with young guys coming in.
So we got a couple of Capitol District kids that
are going to be really really good Logan Miller and
hopefully Nico Savigni up from Boston Spy area there, and
so hopefully those guys have an opportunity to come in
and really focus in and put themselves in a position
to be in that rotation.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
But I'm excited.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
I think it's kind of a clean slate for a
lot of our guys because it's a new staff. So
those guys are gonna have to prove and show what
they can do in pads. We've seen them in four
uppers practices and we can't really hit and that kind
of thing in the spring. So when we turn it
loose this fall, I'm gonna be really interested to see.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
What that looks like.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
This is.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
I mean, you know, Goz has been gushing over you
ever since he found out you were coming to the
Capitol Region. Did you know that you're like his second
favorite coach that came to the area this year?
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:46):
No, I did not know that. Who's the first, I
guess is my other question.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
He there's like a mild restraining order because he's trying
to sniff Jerry McNamara. At least he didn't try to
sniff you, coach. At least I get that.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Coach, thank you for coming.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
He tried to sniff Jerry McNamara, and I didn't try
to mc namara was my childhood hero.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
He's not on the show Man. He can shoot, though
I can't shoot like Mac. So I mean, I get it.
So I understand you.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Quarterbacks always hold back.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
And also also you see a quarterback in a basketball
court and they start drilling it and it's over like
it's bad. Coach rock Man, I love every everything you're saying,
Love everything you're bringing.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
To the area.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
You know, as as a guy who will watch a
hockey game, love that. I now have another option for
for football here in the Capitol region with you to.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Have you guys out so you're always more than welcome.
We'll get the truck out there. We'll do some events.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
I know our parents love to have a good time.
Get out to some of those tailgates. They're they're pretty
out there, they're pretty lit, you know you guys, so
feel free to jump out there and join our parents.
They're gonna have a great time. We're gonna have a
good time this year for sure.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
And in all sincerity, not just here at Fox Sports,
but with the Albany Firebirds. This is anything we can
do to help h you know, promote your events, be
at your events, whatever you need.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Let us know.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Thanks so much, guys, Coach John Rock Union, we're gonna
we're gonna get.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
After the Junion's gonna gonna blank Hovart. You know what.
Thank you for coming to studio.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
That's for later this fall. We kept you way longer
than we needed to.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
No, it's all good.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
That's good.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
That's gonna be a fun one. That's gonna be a
fun we hopefully I got a good crowd out for
that one. I'm anticipating that there'll be some uh some crossovers.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
Some alums of that game.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
I have feeling that will be about one entertaining Thanks guys,
appreciate it.
Let's love aking guzz on the voice of the Capitol
Regions sports fan, Fox Sports ninety five, nine and nine eighty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I keep thinking, one day God will learn to stop,
you know, mixing his past with this present, because it's
gonna get him in trouble.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
He clearly has not learned that yet.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Joining us right now the head coach of union football,
John Drock and coach.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
First of all, welcome, welcome to the area.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Thank you so much, appreciate it's been a great beer.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
It's and I do want to talk about union football,
but first let's talk about the guy in the other room.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yeah, Listen, people want to.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
They want to know, they want to. So I have
tried to explain to people that I've seen this, and
I think.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
You probably be the one.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
He he comes across like such a like a mild
mannered goofball. Yeah, but when he when when the when
the switch flips. He's an angry human. Did you ever
get to see that?
Speaker 4 (00:48):
I did get to see the anger human every now
and then.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
I mean he did a great job and inside drillinge
one on want and everything else, and uh I got
to see him and push him a little bit at times,
and so, uh definitely know him in a different capacity.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I think as far as some of that goes, just.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
Because you've seen him when he's as a competitor as
a student, and then now it's a professional and getting
to kind of watch him. I think that's kind of
a goal as a coach, is to kind of build
some of those relationships and get to see those relationships
all the way through. And it's cool to be able
to see it now for him versus where he started at.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
We call him he's a poor man's Ali Marpett.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
For those I don't know that, I would put the
two of them in the same time and for many reasons.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
For those that don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
By the way, to add a little more context, coach
coached at Hobar or I played. So I've known coaches.
I've been eighteen years old, sixteen years I've known him.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
You still talk to him, I do.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
We were mentioned before you came in here that like, yeah,
coach ran scout team and I used to have to
wear things on my helmet as I ran scout and
coach truck. It's crazy to think this. I worked more
with you running that side of the football as a
young freshman sophomore than like even a positional coach. I
think people will realize that that when you hit the
college level, like you're working with a bunch of different
people and it builds the knowledge of the sport and
(02:01):
builds comrade Like in your coach you career, you've done
all of that.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
You've worked scout, You've worked offense, you've worked defense. Can
you scout anymore? I don't like.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
I always still out scout.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Yeah, we absolutely still call it scout, and it's something
as it's a right of passage. I think for young
coaches to have to be able to do that and
get yelled at by the full time coaches to get
your ass together, But it's a great learning experience.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It is.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
It is one of the great ways to learn as
a young coach is to be put yourself in some
of those situations, to have to deal and coach different
position groups and not only work with Scott offense and
Scott defense, but put guys in positions to be able
to make plays, support those guys, and you get to
build different relationships with different players. My relationships with some
of the guys that I know from Hobart is a
drastic a different relationship.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Than some of the guys that I know. As a
head coach, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
The different hat that you wear, I think allows you
to build a different relationship with the different players. And
still talk to a lot of those guys all the time,
and I know that they're happy for me in the
back of their heart somewhere they're probably.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Happy for me to be the head coach at Union
and that kind of thing.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
But at the same time, I think that those relationships
are because of the time I got.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
To be able to spend with them.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I do want to get to coaches background, his playing days,
how we accepted the job. But Union, I do want
to give one more quick Cobart channel because you worked
with Matt Woods. Yeah, Capitol region connection. He worked with
coach like that story of part of the Firebird organization,
Like coach saw the Capitol reaching connection. If you're a
young Albredy prospect, like you know what the high school
football scene is here now scouting through it, and Matt's
(03:24):
a great example of actimity.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
You work with every single great guy.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I mean obviously you know who Art, You've you swung
a miss with some people.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I know you got and you got what he was.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
A talent man?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Was he?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Like?
Speaker 5 (03:37):
I had Woodsy at a quarterback position for about probably
three or four weeks beside, I was like, hey.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
What do you think about playing tight end?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Throw the ball?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (03:47):
Exactly, But he could run. He was big in an
athlete and he had a hell of a career there.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
I think he started for US for almost three years.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
And I had the opportunity to coach him for I
believe two and a half of those.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So how many games did you start? You know? I
had some injuries.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
What's the old n CUA A commercial going pro and
something other than sports like that? Was that was the
best broadcaster coaches ever coached.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
I can say that. I can say that. I could
say that. I'm trying to think of the other ones
I've coached, and I don't think there's that many. You're company,
You're in company.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Wait till Mark pet starts going like breaking down ukuleles
all of a sudden, it's a whole other animal.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
After that.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
He does do his own podcast stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Now really, oh yeah, he.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Has his own podcast stuff, and he's actually branched out
and done a bunch of stuff down there.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
He's still down on the Florida and everything. I still
talk to him every now.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And then too.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
iHeartMedia all but all right, I mean, I feel like
it happened over here.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Like it's weird because Goaz is very different, But I
feel like that's got to be the most different dude
you've coached.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
Gazz is so for Guz for me, like I used
to call him gods too, like using his full name
and stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It's not it's the weirdest thing when his wife's around
and calls him Thomas and you're like, who's that?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Who are you talking to? Are you cheating on Godz?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
No?
Speaker 4 (04:58):
If it's uh, it's definitely.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
Like I said, you see how these kids grow up
in that kind of thing, and how they change his
players and how they change his student athletes, and they
take a lot of those lessons that were able to
teach in the football field and then transition that into
their real lives. Whether it's the dedication to stick withinness,
the perseverance, all those things I think are really really valuable.
And you can see a lot of those things throughout
his career too. So I'm glad to see that some
(05:20):
of those things are sticking and hopefully in the back
of their heads. At one point or another, they can
still hear their coaches yelling at them to keep going,
move forward, Sit in that squat that wall, sit a
little longer. Oh, let's do that extra one to ten,
whatever that may be. I hope some of those things
still ring.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
In the back of their minds.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
When was the last time you heard coach Jock's voice
in your head?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Guys about when we were talking before we turn on
the mics, I'm like getting chills up here, thinking like
it's August conditioning, like.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Finishers downey degrees.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Let's go, ghost players are about to find out. Let's
go to your background. As much as I'd like to
continue to talk about whatever was a college curer of mind,
let's talk about your life, your background. For Capital Region listeners,
this might be the first time they've learned about you.
Take us back to where you grew up your college
football days and what one did you get you into coaching?
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, for sure. So I grew up in Illinois.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
So I grew up about forty five minutes outside the
city of Chicago in a suburb called Saint Charles. My
dad was a high school coach there, So I grew
up around coaching my entire career. I can remember being
a little kid and riding the bus and being knee
high and being with high school football players and watching
them learn and progressing that kind of thing. It was
always something I was really really into, always involved in athletics.
I think I was a four sport athlete when I
(06:27):
was in high school, and I always try was involved
in doing something. I was fortunate enough to get a
scholarship to play Division one football at Western Michigan University.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I had a fantastic experience there.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
I always talk about all the time when we're talking
to recruits and everything else that I had about half
my guys that were my high school teamates and half
my guys my wedding that were college teammates, and so
just being able to be with them and be at
a place where we were really successful. I think we
played in three MAC championships in the five years I
was there. I had a lot of really really good players.
My college roommate was a first round draft pick Jason Babbin,
and got to play with some really amazing people that
(06:59):
made it unique career for me. I started there for
about two and a half years off and on in
my senior year, and my junior year started basically most
of my junior year than about half of my retrot
sophomore year. I was able to start there too, and
played some pretty cool arenas from University of Florida to
Virginia Tech. We played at University of Michigan the game
after nine to eleven and you could hear a pin
(07:20):
drop in the stands. There's one hundred and ten thousand
people there, and when they play at the national anthem,
they you can hear a pin drop and I will
never forget that.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I actually remember watching that game. So I'm a Michigan fan.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, but there was a long window where if you
were legally allowed to wager on sports mac football Central Michigan,
you yourself may have may have financed Christmas a year,
helped you out of the Vinnie the Fish did not
like you guys at all. But all right, so let
(07:53):
me ask you a question, Because you, you know, successful
quarterback in college, why not arenaly like I feel like,
because I feel like a blueprint of who we're going
to get.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
So I actually did do a renal. I was with
the Chicago Rush for about two and a half weeks
to be honest with you.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
A half weeks. Yeah, that was a rush.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
I snapped my left leg.
Speaker 5 (08:12):
Oh no, So we were scrimm engaging and my left
foot got stuck in the ground and I broke my
tip fib and then basically ripped my ankle off because
it's stuck in the turf. So I have thirty six
screws my left leg now and they had to basically
rebuild my ankle in my legs.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
That was kind of honestly, when I stopped.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Playing, why Yeah, so I thought because I wanted to
walk again and have kids and actually have a life
after football. That's when the decision I kind of made
to to stop playing at that point, and then actually
traded equity future.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
So I was a double major in e kind of finance.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
You sound just like Woods when we stole Woods away
from finance. Yeah, and then brought him in the help
run the football team and doing a bunch of stuff
over a bell for and yeah, he does everything.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Just to add little bit more about coaches talking, I
think he's selling himself short. A three time All League
All Academic selection as well as a double major, I was,
and Greg Jennings was your wide receiver had.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
We still have few school records. I think I still
have the completion percentage of the season record. We have
the longest touchdown record between Greg and I think I
threw it five yards and he ran ninety three.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Team he can't catch it if you don't throw it.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Tim Lester also the connections as well. The coaches had
an ice coaching career as well.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
So coach Lester was actually my recruiting host my first
year there. I grew up right next to PJ Flax.
So PJ Flack and I are college rivals or high
school rivals and college rivals because he played in.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Northern Illinois and Western Michigan.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
So I know a lot of those guys and have
had a really cool experience watching them kind of go
through their careers.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
And it was interesting because when I did finally.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
Get back into football from trading and that kind of thing,
I was coaching high school with my dad and kind
of going out to the suburbs in the afternoon and
trading equity futures and stuff in the morning, and eventually
I said, the health making money, I'm going to go
do something I love to do and had to kind
of decide what level I wanted to go to and
had up opportunities to go to graduate DESISIONT were out
at some of the higher level Division one schools, and
(10:04):
having watched that and lived through it for a long time,
I actually didn't want to do that. I actually wanted
to do the Division III thing, work with student athletes
that were there to be student athletes and that wanted
the developmental piece but had the love of the game,
which was really important to me because I had how
much I love the game, and so to be around
people that loved it equally always and weren't just there
for a scholarship, just weren't there for the post graduation
(10:26):
opportunity of it as far as playing after graduation. Was
one of the reasons that I really migrated myself to
Division III and have loved the experience ever since and
was there for Tobart for almost twelve years and then
that opportunity.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
But that was just a graduate. We do call him
Tommy boy.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
So from that standpoint, then had the opportunity to go
be a head coach down at Wilkes and then I
kind of brought.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Me up to Union.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
We got John Rock with us right now the head
coach for union football, you know, one of the formative
minds that helped bring us gods.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
I want to go back to what coach said, because
he mentioned, like he joins the Division III ranks, and
I speak as as a player of his, We in
my teammates all knew he wasn't there for long in
the sense of a compliment of like, he's going to
be a head coach. He knows how to do this.
He knows how to work with athletes, he knows how
to recruit, he knows how to run an offense. It
was just a matter of time before that opportunity came
for Wilkes. And at that time when you made the
(11:20):
decision in your career, Hobart was coming off historic runs
in the history of the program. There were changes within
the program. Take us through that experience of moving from
a coordinator position a positional coach to that first experience
being the head coach where so many people hear about
being the CEO, being the boss. What was that transition
like from being a decade plus the coordinator to now
running everything at Wilkes.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Yeah, I mean there is a lot of transition, you
know what I mean. You have kind of change hats,
and there's a lot of different things you have to
be able to do and be really really focused on,
as far as creating the vision and developing the vision
for the entire team not just a unit, you know
what I mean, And being able to put people around
you that really care and actually surround myself with a
ton of Hobart people at that time. So when I
had the opportunity to hire a lot of staff at
(12:01):
at Wilkes, I think I brought five homework guys with me,
Jack full Shane Sweeney, Kelvin Cruz, Tom Elder, Like we were.
It was all guys that knew what type of culture
I wanted to be able to have, you know what
I mean. And my dad always told me as a
head coach that you know, when you had that opportunity
to be a head coach, goes surround yourself with people
you can.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Be with every day and love being around them.
Speaker 5 (12:20):
And so I just hired a bunch of my best friends,
and so from that standpoint, it was a great place
to be every day. It definitely is a little bit
different as far as the hats you didn't get to wear.
I think transitionally, for me, the biggest piece was taking
over a team that hadn't been very successful at that
time when we took over Wilkes. Wilkes was ozh to
ten the year before we got there, and there were
seven and thirty three the previous four years, so they
(12:41):
hadn't experienced a lot of winning and to be able
to being a culture in and kind of instill a
winning culture within that program. And I know coach Dave
Beaver's there now and he's going to do a great
job of continuing that. But we did have to change
some things, you know what I mean. We had to
change a mindset. We had to change how we worked
and how we did things on a daily basis. And
that was a very tough leadership responsibility to be able
(13:02):
to change that for not only our entire football program,
but hopefully a little bit for that department as an
athletic department too.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
So excited to have.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
This opportunity, but definitely a unique experience and learned a
lot as far as what now I kind of bring
into Union as far as experiences go of how we
need to do things, how we need to continue to
build it. Taking over Union is a completely different animal
than taking over at Wilkes, where they hadn't won at all.
Union has a seventy percent winning percentage over the last
forty years and has played the NCAP playoffs the last
(13:30):
a couple of years here, and so being able to
continue that and build that, hopefully it's what we're trying
to build into a national championship team.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Well, take us through that in Wilkes situation, because look,
your life has changed from when you started coaching to
now building a family and having kids and being the
success you had at Wilkes. You could have been there
for a long time because you changed the program, but
this opportunity comes up. Take us through that decision making
process of I'm going to leave Wilkes and head disconnected
in New York and take on a new program.
Speaker 5 (13:55):
I mean, Wilk's a great spot, really great people, love
the team, and everything was there, but it was an
opportunity for us as a family to take some steps forward.
One of the things about myself is one of the
reasons I love coaching Division three is because they do
get to spend a lot of time with my family.
That's an important factor to me is that I want
to be around them. My son is playing for the
Clifton Park, Valor, and so I've been a practices there
(14:17):
the last few days. And from my standpoint, that's a
really important piece. It's something that I had growing up
and I want to be able to give that for
my kids, and so to find the best resources for
them was kind of at the hallmark of that change.
We knew if we were going to make a change,
it had to be beneficial not only for Coach Rock,
but it had to be beneficial.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
For the Drocks as a whole.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
And so the resources of the Capitol District. My daughter
has some development things that she seeks there before for
OTPT and some other things that just the resources in
the Capitol District far exceed the resources that we had
in Northeast Pennsylvania. And so for us, it made a
big difference for us to be able to put those
guys in a situation where they could be really successful
(14:57):
as they moved through their elementary school careers and their
middle school years, in their high school years. So it
just made sense. It was the right time and it was
the right opportunity to the right challenge. I value winning,
and Gods can tell you that, yes, you know, I
really do.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
I have a herd heated, heated competitor.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
I'm going to push to get at the best out
of all my kids and everything I do, and I
want to win, and I make no qualms about that whatsoever.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I don't think I should.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
And so from that standpoint, I think there's a few
places on the East Coast at the Division three level
that you can truthfully go compete for national.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Championships, and I think that Union is one of those places.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
So to me, it was a coveted job and the
fact that not only is it going to be something
that could be really regionally successful, but I think we
can push this to go be a national championship program.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
We got John Drock with us right now Fox Sports
Radio ninety head coach for the Union Garnet Chargers. So
two things that while you're you decide to take this job.
It's a hockey school, you know. I know everybody's probably
trying to tell you that we have a great hockey
program and a good football program too.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I love it, you know, like you go coach it?
Do you when it do? Get people like? Oh, well
football too?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Like you know, there's a lot of people who don't
always see Union for what it really is which is
which is both, said Garnet Chargers as a guy who
faced them as the Dutchman, Like, what was your first reaction?
I know, obviously now you love it, it's the greatest,
the greatest nickname in the history of nicknames. But when
you first saw, like the history change, what did that
do to you?
Speaker 5 (16:21):
It was interesting, you know what I mean, because I
wasn't here at that point, and to not have any
piece of that discussion and the decision. Obviously the university
made that decision for the betterment of the colleges and
its students and all of its programs, and so supportive
of obviously moving forward. I do think that as you
see things publicly, there's a lot of things that change,
you know what I mean, On a day day basis,
(16:43):
how we view situations changes every day, how we view
things as far as teaching, and there's always some new
progression to how we move forward. And sometimes to be
able to move forward, some things have to change, you
know what I mean. And I think it's been a
positive change for the college as far as enrollment and
some of those other things go. And I know, for us,
I don't care what the nickname is. I don't care
(17:05):
what color is. Roll the football in a parking lot
and let's go play, you know what I mean. And
that's the type of football we want to be able
to play at Union. That's the type of kids we're
going to continuously have. The nickname doesn't change a whole lot.
I think the people that we have, the types of
individuals that we look for, the type of people that
want to have that level of success, not only athletically,
(17:26):
but professionally, academically and socially, that doesn't change. So strap
whatever name on it you want to. We're going to
go out there and we're going to do what we
need to be able to do to win football games
and be hopefully a light in this community. I mean,
one of the biggest goals that we have is to
do over a thousand.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Hours of community service.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
I'm going to take a brief minute to do a
promo for our youth camp. So we have a youth camp,
a free youth clinic for all of the Greater Capital
District on August thirteenth at six thirty pm, and the
sign up is online on our Twitter page, on our Instagram,
on our website.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
All you gotta do is go sign up.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
It's from ages thirteen to seven, and we would love
to have as many youth guys as we can have there,
guys and girls to come learn a little bit about football,
get to work with our student athletes, and see what
we value at Union.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Just lock that in twenty twenty eight when lost you
boys third one on the way.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
But now on all of our sides, you have access
to everybody's website in the building.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I will tag that on social media. On the podcast side,
I will leave the link.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
I promise it's on all of our socials and that
kind of thing. So I know we would love it
as many kids out there. I think we already have
almost on hundred and fifty kid signed up.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
But it's typical guys.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
He's just like, all right, I can use this to
get my boys more into football, and we love coach
love it.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Coach Yrock loves me, so he's gonna take care of it.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah, we love it.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
August twelve. By the way, camp opens up for you guys.
You had an opportunity because of when you were hired
to do springball with this roster. For those in the
Capital region looking to follow the team, some names that
have stood out to you that they're going to be
hearing more and more come the fall when regular season
games get underway for the team.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Yeah, no problem.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
I mean on the offensive side of the ball, we
have two senior captains that one's a fifth year senior
and one is a regular senior captain, So Mike Fiori
and Robbie Tolbert. Robbie's a receiver, Mike's are returning tailback
that is a hell of a football player for us.
Him and John Anderson have actually both been thousand aired
backs the last two years now, So to return both
(19:18):
of those guys, it's going to be really really important
to think. Nicol Ovola is gonna have a great season.
He's coming off a two year starting. He's only going
to be a junior this year, so he's started hopefully
a four year starter for us and a real leader
on the up in front of the offensive line. Then
we returning on a couple other fifth year kids and
Aiden and a few others that are hopefully gonna have
some really good years for us in the offensive side
(19:38):
the ball and the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Again, it starts with our two fifth year senior captains.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
Colda Silva uh and Nate Sullivan, and both those guys
have been really pushing the team to be really, really good,
and both of those guys are multiple year starters and
really key impact players for us. And then we'll have
some new faces around some other spots there too, So
a little bit younger on the defensive front, but pretty
veteran in the defensive backfield, you know what I mean.
So have a good mixed on the defensive side of
the ball between younger and older guys, and I think
(20:03):
we're gonna have some great competition with young guys coming in.
So we got a couple of Capitol District kids that
are going to be really really good Logan Miller and
hopefully Nico Savigni up from Boston Spy area there, and
so hopefully those guys have an opportunity to come in
and really focus in and put themselves in a position
to be in that rotation.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
But I'm excited.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
I think it's kind of a clean slate for a
lot of our guys because it's a new staff. So
those guys are gonna have to prove and show what
they can do in pads. We've seen them in four
uppers practices and we can't really hit and that kind
of thing in the spring. So when we turn it
loose this fall, I'm gonna be really interested to see.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
What that looks like.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
This is.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
I mean, you know, Goz has been gushing over you
ever since he found out you were coming to the
Capitol Region. Did you know that you're like his second
favorite coach that came to the area this year?
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:46):
No, I did not know that. Who's the first, I
guess is my other question.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
He there's like a mild restraining order because he's trying
to sniff Jerry McNamara. At least he didn't try to
sniff you, coach. At least I get that.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Coach, thank you for coming.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
He tried to sniff Jerry McNamara, and I didn't try
to mc namara was my childhood hero.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
He's not on the show Man. He can shoot, though
I can't shoot like Mac. So I mean, I get it.
So I understand you.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Quarterbacks always hold back.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
And also also you see a quarterback in a basketball
court and they start drilling it and it's over like
it's bad. Coach rock Man, I love every everything you're saying,
Love everything you're bringing.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
To the area.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
You know, as as a guy who will watch a
hockey game, love that. I now have another option for
for football here in the Capitol region with you to.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Have you guys out so you're always more than welcome.
We'll get the truck out there. We'll do some events.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
I know our parents love to have a good time.
Get out to some of those tailgates. They're they're pretty
out there, they're pretty lit, you know you guys, so
feel free to jump out there and join our parents.
They're gonna have a great time. We're gonna have a
good time this year for sure.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
And in all sincerity, not just here at Fox Sports,
but with the Albany Firebirds. This is anything we can
do to help h you know, promote your events, be
at your events, whatever you need.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Let us know.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Thanks so much, guys, Coach John Rock Union, we're gonna
we're gonna get.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
After the Junion's gonna gonna blank Hovart. You know what.
Thank you for coming to studio.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
That's for later this fall. We kept you way longer
than we needed to.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
No, it's all good.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
That's good.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
That's gonna be a fun one. That's gonna be a
fun we hopefully I got a good crowd out for
that one. I'm anticipating that there'll be some uh some crossovers.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
Some alums of that game.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
I have feeling that will be about one entertaining Thanks guys,
appreciate it.
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