Charlie Ernst 7-27-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine
twenty and your iHeart Radio app by Mike mcgiverern alongside
my co host. He's a traveler, you're back.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
It's good to see you. The numbers are going way down,
you know that, you mean today our ratings. Our ratings
go way up when you're when you're traveling, and I
get to do the show on my own.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
He is Pastor Ken Keltner from Brookside Baptist Church, coming
from the dot of In and Jorganson Heating and Cooling Studios.
Want to thank everybody at Ditavan and Jorgans and Heating
and Cooling, everybody at Brookside Baptist Church for all the sponsors,
Creative Construction Wisconsin and Come and Restoration, the companies that
have stuck with us for a really long time. Pastor,

(00:44):
I can't thank them enough.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Now, Amen, I'm right there with you.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Our special guest today. Yeah, and you know how this goes, Pastor.
Sometimes that funnel is really full. We've got a lot
of guys coming in. We've got five, six, you know,
weeks planned, and then that fun gets a little bit light,
and then I start going, you know, three in the
morning when I wake up worrying about it. I go
online and start sending some emails and I'll send five, six,

(01:09):
seven emails and out of those will normally get one
or two responses. And that's what happened here. The head
men's basketball coach at University of Finley, Finley, Ohio, he
is Charlie Ernst, reached back out and said, man, I'd
love to be on a show like faith in his zone.
And I really appreciate him reaching back out and him
giving us the time today. Hey coach, how you doing today?

Speaker 4 (01:33):
I'm doing wonderful, guys, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Hey coach.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Looking at your bio, both Pastor and I made the
same comment when we started reading your bio. Anybody who
stays as an assistant coach in one program for twenty
years has so much respect from guys like us, because, man,
we understand everybody's always looking for that next step. You know,
where can I be a head coach? And the fact

(01:58):
that you were on staff as an assistant coach at
Finley for twenty years tells me a lot about you
and the kind of character that you have. And I
appreciate that a lot was that for twenty years an
assistant coach, and I've been on that role, right, and
you're always thinking, boy, I would maybe do things different.
I wonder if I should run my own program. But

(02:20):
the fact that you stayed there for twenty and waited
your time, I think is very commendable. So I say
congratulations for that.

Speaker 4 (02:28):
Well, thank you. I mean, it was not the plan.
I'm not sure really what the plan was. You know,
some people know coming out of college that coaching is
is where they belong. For me, that was not my plan.
And so my first few years as an assistant coach,

(02:52):
I was just focused on doing the best job I
could for my boss. And you know, as time went on, thing,
you know, I've been at Finley twenty years. I mean,
I'm sure that some of that journey will come up
here today and how it lasted as long as it did.
But yeah, it was the University of Finley and Finley,

(03:15):
Ohio have been a wonderful home for me and my
wife and our family. And you know, some days I
wake up and I think, man, I'm fifty five years old.
Where did time go? So I guess that's a testament
to a good job and a place that you like
to be.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
You know, I love the fact what you said.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
For the first number of years and as an assistant coach,
you were focused on making sure you were doing a
good job for the head coach. Yeah, because I'm an
old grandfather of six who coached in this market a
long time. I'll get phone calls by from some young
guys that listen to my radio show and will reach

(03:55):
out and say, can I get a cup of coffee
with you? And they will ask me they're coaching at
that the grade school level or freshman JV at the
high school level, and they're trying to get on the
varsity staff at a high school in the area, and
they'll ask me about you know what kind of advice
I would give them as an assistant coach at high

(04:15):
school level, and I tell them the same thing. It's
one hundred percent loyal to the head coach. If you
want a head job, go elsewhere, Go elsewhere, don't go
after his job and knife him in the back. And
there's a number of stories, at least in this market
at the high school level coach that you know, guys
went after the head coach's job. And I just feel

(04:36):
like we can argue all day long in the coach's office.
But once that door opens, we're walking in lockstep. I
would still throw myself in front of a bus to
save the head coach, the guy that I coached with
for a long time. And I think when you talked
about that, how important that was for you as an
assistant coach coming in, I think that that's a really
good path and a good way to be an assistant coach.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:00):
I can never imagine being disloyal to my boss in
any occupation, but especially coaching. I mean, you know, I
I talk to head coaches, I talk to assistant coaches.
A lot of people like to pick my brain, you know.
And I think the most important quality in hiring an

(05:22):
assistant coach isn't necessarily knowledge. It's do you trust them?
You know, will they will they work hard? Will they
be trustworthy? And will they be loyal? And if they
can check all those boxes, then you know, then we're
going to talk about what your knowledge is in basketball.

(05:43):
But if if you feel the least bit uneasy about
hiring someone that you're worried about their loyalty and their trustworthiness,
then there are no matter how much they know about
the game, they're probably not the right fit for you.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Hey, coach, this is Pastor Ken and I just want
to say amen to what Mike was sharing there about
the twenty years of you being right there at the
University of Finley. You know it really you you mentioned
even occupations. I mean, you don't even really see pastors

(06:21):
staying someplace twenty years and you still have the issue
if you have you know, multiple staff, you know, are
they going to you know, respond well to you, Are
they going to try to maneuver around your back to
get the position? And and so you know, I have
no idea what trials you probably you know went through

(06:44):
in those twenty years, but the fact that you stayed
loyal and you stayed stayed with it is pretty pretty
phenomenal because that's not something really almost in any profession
you see today, is someone staying put doing the same
thing twenty years. And then you know the reward of
that being now you're you're in that head position and

(07:06):
you need guys to come along and it will, we'll
back you. And so I just want to kind of
piggyback on what Mike said there. That's a tremendous was
the first thing I said to him, was, Man, that's
outstanding character.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
Yeah, well, yeah, it's you know, it's funny we're talking
about loyalty today because in college sports right now, I'm
not sure loyalty is even mentioned very often. And that's sad,
to be honest, that's sad because you know, I think

(07:41):
sports can kind of resonate and ripple into other facets
of life and I and I think it started in college,
and now we're seeing it at the high school level
even and I'm seeing it in the I don't work
in the job industry, the fortune five hundred business world,
but my brothers do. I come from a family of

(08:04):
five boys, and it seems to be some of the
same things that not necessarily disloyalty, like guys going around
people's backs and so forth, but just a lack of
always wanting to chase what you perceived to be something better,

(08:26):
you know, better compensation, better situation, more responsibility, whatever the
case might be. I had the pleasure of working for
a wonderful, wonderful head coach. I played for him. We
had tremendous respect for one another, and you know, and
I would just simply say, and this will be part
of my testimony later in this show, but you know,

(08:49):
my first you know, ten twelve years, it was all
about me, and you know, I'm almost embarrassed to say it,
but that's just the way coaches go. And you know,
I was trying to position myself for what my future
might be. And then as I got older and got
married and had a family. For me, it was as

(09:12):
much about Okay, well, what's best for us, not just
what's best for me. And at that point in my life,
I felt like what was best for us was to
stay at the University of Finley rather than continue to
chase my dreams across the country. I just didn't think

(09:33):
it was worth it and it was fair to my
my family. So as it's turned out, it was the
best decision I ever made. And I and I'm proud
to say that I've been here at Finlay for thirty
four years, so it's it's been an unbelievable journey.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Man. Good for you.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Our special guest today's Charlie Earnest. He's the head men's
basketball coach at the University of Finley in Finland, Ohio,
part of the Great Midwest Conference, and if you google
Findlay University in Ohio, take a look at their website.
Take a look at their mission statement, and Coach, I'm wondering,
how open are you to talk about the mission statement

(10:15):
of the university when you're recruiting. Are you able to
talk about the face side of this university and what
that means as the mission statement states for this campus
and for the university? Are you are you open to
talk to kids when you're recruiting them about what they're
going to be a part of when they come on campus.

Speaker 4 (10:37):
Yeah, I mean, I think it depends on the situation.
But I think maybe more than to answer your question, Mike,
I think more than the mission statement of the university,
is my mission statement, my personal mission statement about my faith.
You know, when when people come into my office and

(10:59):
they they look around and they see what I have
hanging on the wall, they see, you know, Bible versus
in our in our work or in our team meeting room,
in the locker room, you know, they they know pretty quickly,
you know that I'm a man of faith. And uh
you know, so the University of Finley UH is affiliated

(11:23):
and was founded by the first Church of God General Conference.
Their national headquarters are here in Finley, so there's a
very tight connection there between that faith and this institution,
and as all private colleges go, most of them are
affiliated with churches. Now that being said, you know, I

(11:48):
think we have quite a few students that follow their faith, uh,
some more religiously than others. But but for me personally,
we do talk about faith with most recruits because quite honestly,
most recruits today and their parents are curious where you

(12:11):
stand and what if that's a part of you know,
your program here at Finley, and and so yeah, it's
talked about, but I wouldn't say that it's you know,
a prerequisite for who we recruit. You know, I think
we're all in different paths, on different journeys, just as

(12:32):
Jesus's followers were. You know, they weren't all believers at
the beginning. It took time, and so I would that
would probably be the way that I would describe it
here at Finley.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
You know what was interesting as you were speaking, Coach,
I couldn't help. But remember when we had Bobby Bowden on.
You know, he's he's in the presence of God today,
but he he came on and kind of the same
question was asked of him, and he's said, you'd be
amazed how many parents want their kids to have a
coach that has, you know, a strong faith background. And

(13:07):
he said, you know, early on we told him we're
taking you boys to church, you know, at least a
couple of times, and then you're going to be on
your own. We're going to be checking on you where
you're going to church. But uh, he was of the
impression that, you know, a lot of families are looking
for that kind of stability to give give their young
their young sons and young men, you know, guidance and

(13:30):
direction there.

Speaker 4 (13:33):
Well, yeah, I think it's interesting, you know, I think
in my personal opinion and whether it's been this way
my entire career. I mean, I can't really say for sure,
but I really think that you know, you don't lose
recruits because you talk about your faith openly with them.

(13:54):
I don't think that ever scares people away, but I
do think you can lose rec cruits if faith is
a zero component to your program. You know. So it's
not for everyone, not every coach, I'm sure in our conference,
and it doesn't make you a good person or a
bad person, But I don't, you know, but here at Finley,

(14:17):
I am certainly not afraid or embarrassed to say and
talk about God and talk about my faith and talk
about my family's testimony and the things we do in
our program, not just talking about it, but acting it
every way, in every every day, in every way. I

(14:39):
think that's more important than anything you put on the wall.
Is do you act like a Christian? Are you a
Christian leader? Based on how you go about your day
and the way you treat other people? And I think
you know that's what's most important to me.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
He is Charlie earned to the head men's basketball coach
at the University of Finley and Finley, Ohio, Division two.
I can tell you the third segment, we're going to
ask him his memory of the two thousand and eight
two thousand and nine campaign where they went thirty six
to zero and won the NCAA Division two national championship.
Last year, they had gotten as high as ranked number

(15:21):
fifth in the country. So this program is a heck
of a basketball program, and coach Charlie Ernstwo, who leads
that program, is our special guest for the entire hour.
We'll get to a break. Other side of the break,
we'll ask coach to share his testimony. This is faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and Your
iHeart Radio App. Welcome back to Faith in the Zone

(15:43):
on Fox Sports nine twenty and Your iHeart Radio App.
By Mike mcgiver alongside the head pastor at Brookside Baptist Church.
He's Pastor Ken Keltner, coming from the Donovan and Jorganson
Heating and Cooling Studios. Our special guest, he's Charlie Ernst,
head men's basketball coach at the University of Finley in Finley,
Ohio Division two basketball program that's had a ton of

(16:06):
success throughout the years. In fact, last year they got
as high as ranked fifth in the country. And in
the third segment, we're going to ask him about the
two thousand and eight two thousand and nine campaign where
this program went thirty six to zero and won an
NCAA National Championship Division two. But we'll get to that
in segment three. Segment three. Excuse me, hey, coach. Segment

(16:28):
two for us is our favorite, so one that we
get the most response from. People ask us a lot
about about the different testimonies that we hear, and so
if you'd be so kind of share your testimony.

Speaker 4 (16:40):
With us, of course, well, I guess let me first
say that I'm going to kind of give you the
cliff notes. I don't want the whole, you know, And
I know you hear that a lot about the testimony,
but for me, it's it's not just my testimony, it's
it's my wife and I together, you know. Back in

(17:00):
two thousand and so, I was born and raised in
a small town in west central Ohio population about three thousand,
very Catholic community. So I was born and raised Catholic.
I come from a family of five boys, and my
mom came from a family of thirteen, So my dad

(17:22):
came from a big family. So I was part of
a very very large extended family as well. And so
I really, you know, was raised on going to church
every Sunday, and our day would revolve around church. And
of course, back in those days, Sundays were truly a

(17:43):
day of Sabbath. You know that outside of church, there
might be family gatherings, but it would be a low
key day. And and quite honestly, probably miss those I
miss those days. I missed those Sundays. We try to
still have those as much as possible in my own family,
even in the midst of coaching college basketball. But you know,

(18:07):
fast forward a head to college, I met my wife,
we started a family. She came from a Christian background
as well, so we then became members of the Lutheran
Church here in Finley. Got pretty active, especially once we
had kids teaching, especially my wife teaching Sunday school, being involved.

(18:33):
I was the church council president and really the you know,
I think at that point our journey was one where
we wanted our family to be to have the maybe
their lives rooted in the Christian values in church, you know,
and and make sure that God was at the forefront

(18:56):
of their lives like it had been for my wife,
Belinda and I well back in two thousand and I
don't know, I'm going to just take a stab at
the year maybe twenty fifteen, sixteen. She's a physician assistant.
She had it in her heart and it had been
on her heart for over a year and I didn't

(19:17):
realize it to go on a medical mission trip. And
she had always wanted to do mission work and finally
felt called to make the decision to travel to Haiti
back in at the time when you when you could,
and so she began mission work and that went on
for the next few years, she went twice a year,

(19:40):
she started to talk to me about doing it. Back
in May of twenty nineteen, I brought two players with
me to Haiti on a medical mission trip and we
did leadership at seven different schools on seven different days
and really found out what life is like, and it

(20:04):
was one of the most life changing things I ever did.
In about twenty eighteen, my wife and I made the
decision we have two older children, biological kids that we
wanted to adopt and so internationally, So without going into

(20:25):
a lot of detail, we ended up adopting our son, Roger,
in October of twenty nineteen from a Third World country
in Africa named Burundi, and so we spent two weeks
in Africa, we brought him home. My wife is still
doing medical mission trips, mostly in the Dominican Republic, so

(20:48):
she's still very much involved. But those two trips, and
really the journey to adopt Roger really changed our lives,
especially my life. You know. He's been a wonderful addition
to our family. Our kids have grown up in a
mission sort of style family. My daughter leads her mission

(21:14):
organization at her college and had a mission trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee,
and she led fifteen girls from the college just just
this past May. So we were extremely proud of her.
And so mission work has been a big part of
our family. I want. I had plans to continue taking

(21:35):
players personally. I found some a couple donors here in
Finlay that were willing to pay for their mission trips
two players a year. Well, then Haiti closed their borders
in two thousand and twenty and we had to stop that.
But I have talked to our team about restarting that.

(21:57):
I know some programs take their entire team, you know,
I'm one that kind of prefers a smaller group, you know,
that someone you know, so we can have a more
individual approach to it, you know. So that that's kind
of my faith journey in a nutshell. There's a lot

(22:18):
more to it. I've I've done a couple other podcasts
and I'm happy to share those with you where we
my wife and I have talked about our journey and
more detail the adoption process and everything that went into that.
So we have we made the decision too, you know,
rather than than build an addition onto our house, we

(22:42):
decided to make an addition to our family, and Roger's
been a true blessing and UH has taught us so
much about what faith and hope and love really look like.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
Man, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
We're talking to coach Charlie Earned, the head men's basketball
coach at the University of Finley in Finley, Ohio.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
Pastor, Yeah, you know, coach, We've done a lot of
missions work too. You know, it's interesting to to see,
especially if you drop a ball out, you know, to
do something, how many kids and so forth will come
and have an opportunity to to talk to him, you know,
about about the Lord Jesus. So coach, one thing I

(23:24):
just wanted to clarify it was there a point in
time in your life that you remember when you heard men?
You know, I can't get to God, you know, on
my on my own my own merit or my own goodness,
because the Bible says were all sinners, and so Christ came.
What was there a point in time in your life
that you can remember that you came to put your

(23:45):
trust in Christ, in your in your journey.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
You know, I love that question because it's I think
it's true for all of us, and unfortunately sometimes it
takes something bad, you know, for that to happen. I'm
you know, I'm blessed that really, I think listening to
my wife and then the emotion that she was feeling

(24:13):
on her first couple mission trips, I had a relationship
with God, and I was proud of maybe the Christian
values that my parents instilled in me. But I think
my relationship was with God was really one that was more,
I don't know, superficial, just just I wasn't really calling

(24:38):
out for him and listening and having a deep rooted
relationship with him until probably about two thy eighteen, and
after a mission trip, she came home and she emotionally
asked me to pray about mission work and adopting. And

(25:06):
at first it kind of went in one ear and
out the other because I'm thinking, wow, like that, that
is a game changer, that's going to change everything. And
I started to pray, and I started to really I said,
you know, I've never gotten uncomfortable in my faith. I

(25:27):
need to And I don't think anything bad happened other
than I saw the changes it had made in her life,
and maybe curiosity got the best of me. And yeah,
so I did a lot of praying and I really thought,

(25:50):
there's no way that I can I can agree to this,
And as it turns out, after praying and just feeling like,
man that all the I'm just being so selfish in
the way that I'm going about this. I need to
give it to God. And everything was telling me I

(26:12):
have to have a deeper relationship with God. And that's
probably the best way to describe the way it went.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Charlie.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
We you know, I grew I grew up in Catholic schools,
Catholic grade school, Catholic high school, and we had a
guest on a long time ago, and it just rang
out to me where I knew Jesus Christ the same
way I knew Abraham Lincoln, right. I knew all the stories,
but I had no relationship with him. And it sounds
to me like like that was something similar for you,

(26:42):
where you know, you felt comfortable knowing the stories in
the Bible, but the relationships ship side was not something
that maybe you had back then.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
Thank you for putting it into the right words. That's
I would say, you nailed it right there. And you know,
we growing up in like families, Catholic schools, that's what
we were all taught is the stories and so that's
what I knew. And uh, and I'm still a work

(27:11):
in progress by the way, I and my wife got
me involved in the Bible recap. So I'm I've been
a steady person every morning about seven months in now
and uh, I'm learning and I know I'm always going
to be learning, but I'm having so many Aha moments, Uh,

(27:32):
you know, reading the Bible every morning, well, putting everything together.
You know, it's never really been a part of my life.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Charlie.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
It's interesting because those aha moments for me never happened
until I made that decision to to and and look
my background and I've talked about it too much on
this show, but it's not good. It was, Uh, was
doing some some things that I shouldn't be doing.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
And and you talk about Belinda a lot.

Speaker 4 (27:59):
Well.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
When I went to see the pastor at east Side
Baptist years ago with some issues that I was having
personally with some alcohol and other things, and and you know,
he said, I knew you would come, And I said what,
because I wasn't going to church there.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
He said, your wife has been praying for you for years.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
I didn't know when you would come, but I knew
you'd come, and that just well, I'll tell you those
words like I have goosebumps on my arm, and that
was twenty some years ago. But but it sounds to
me like Belinda, you know, challenged you the same way
my wife was kind of challenging me back then, saying, look,
you might know the stories, but it's time for you
to dig deeper and get a relationship and accept him

(28:40):
as your personal savior. And I look, my wife is
a registered nurse and she'll tell you the smartest person
in the room is the PA. So Belinda, obviously you're
you know, yeah, you're a basketball coach, and I love
the fact that you're a basketball coach, but you're married
to a nurser, to a pare.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
That's a blessing in itself, is it.

Speaker 4 (28:59):
Not, Well, it sure is. And you know, she is
a full time PA at a reasonably large clinic here
in Finley, and ironically enough, she has been a loyal
PA there for over twenty five years. So I don't
know if loyalty, I guess is part of the way

(29:22):
we do things in our family. But she finds time
to be the part time medical director at an organization
here in Finlay called mission possible. And you know, my
obsession outside and my hobby outside of coaching is sports.

(29:42):
Hers mission work, and you know, we make a good
team and she's been probably the biggest influence in my
life in terms of my relationship with God.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
Well, you know, pastor you all was talking with the
combination of missions of sports is a really good combination.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah, because, uh, you know the opportunity. You know a
lot of times coach, you know, when I'm out there,
I'll say, hey, we didn't come just to teach you
how to play soccer or teach you how to play basketball.
We we really want to share with you how you
can have a personal relationship with God through his son
Jesus Christ. And we have we have just seen incredible

(30:21):
opportunities to to really lead people into that that decision
in their life where they where they will put their
trust in Christ Jesus to be their savior. So it's
it's been really a great, a great opportunity.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
One hundred percent. Guys, we have to get to your break.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
If you're listening to this show and you have a son,
you have a nephew, you have somebody you're a coach,
and you have somebody that you think would fit at
a place like Finland University of Finlay and being the
Mighty Oilers, by the way, and coach Earns is somebody
that you can see your son or your player playing for.
Go to their website and there's a contact information for

(30:58):
for Charlie Ernst, the head basketball coach. Reach out to him,
reach out to me. I can get you in contact
with Coach Ernst if you think that's a good fit,
that campus would be a good fit for your son.
And certainly, Charlie, we need to get him some Wisconsin boys,
you know. And I haven't looked at the roster back
in two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine, but

(31:19):
I got a feel it was filled with Wisconsin boys
because they won a national championship. But we'll get we'll
get that information. We'll also find out never asked a
pastor if he's a man or a zone guy, but
we'll find out. On the other side of the break,
our special guest for the entire hour, Charlie Ernst, head
men's basketball coach at the University of Finley in Finley, Ohio.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
This is Faith in the Zone.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
On Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeart Radio App.
Welcome back to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports
nine twenty and your iHeart Radio App. Coming from the
Dotovan to Jorgansen Heating and Cooling Studios. Our special guest
Charlie Ernst. He's the head men's basketball coach at the
University of Findlay and Findley, Ohio, Division two school part

(32:04):
of the Great Midwest Conference. Hey, coach, before we talk
a little bit about last year's team, talk about the
two thousand and eight two thousand and nine campaign. What
a magical season that was. Are you more of a
man de man guy or a zone guy.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
I'm more of a man de man guy.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah, that's what I love this guy. You know, Charlie,
I tell this story all the time. But Pastor I
coached his boys at a small school here in the
state of Wisconsin called Calvary Baptist. We had like seven
eight nine kids on the team. I think our power
forward was about six' one and he always wanted me
to play That syracuse two three And i'm, like they

(32:43):
had six nine wings that they can go from one
side to the.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
Other like our small forward is like six feet. Tall
we can't cover that kind of.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
Space, No, no you got to play zone AND i
was never a big zone.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
Guy, yeah but, coach he's not telling you. That he
sent me to league game the cham coach and they
had all their players and we were in that two
three and beat. Them so you, Know i'm just.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
Well, hey the fact that he played a zone in
a summer league tells you everything you.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
Need to, know, coach everything you need to.

Speaker 4 (33:22):
Know even Though i'm a man demand GUY i HAVE
i think you, know you you have to be flexible
enough and willing enough and not stubborn enough as a,
coach uh to if it calls for, zone then maybe
that's what you got to.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
Do can you can you repeat that just one more?

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Time? No, No but he's talking about like a matchup
zone with, principles and you know, what you're gonna slide
the week side over a little bit deeper and make
sure that you know you're playing man on the.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
Ball. YEAH i just have one question for, you. Coach
growing up at five, boys what were those driveway or backyard? Games?

Speaker 4 (34:05):
Like, well they were. Great some of my very best
memories were my childhood growing up with my brothers were
still all very. Close we have a very close knit
family AND i mean they were dog eat dog and very.
Competitive you, know growing up in a family like, That you,

(34:29):
know my dad didn't really you, know you don't have
to really teach. Competitiveness it just gets in bred into
you and a lot of things do naturally from just
being out on the driveway or in the. Garage but,
boy those were some of my best.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
Memories, hey, coach let's talk about the two thousand and,
eight two thousand and nine. Campaign you were the associate
head coach at that, point best season IN Ncaa division two,
history when thirty six in Oho well won The national.
Championship you were selected as A Rising Star award, winner
which means one of five coaches in THE ncaa to

(35:08):
be Named Assistant coach of The, year which is. Awesome
how much did you think back on that season and
the whole journey to get to that national championship game
and tell me about the players and the staff and
the community for that.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
Season, yeah it.

Speaker 4 (35:26):
WAS i, mean it was a tremendous. Group we knew
we were going to be. GOOD i think the thing
that was most interesting about that team is we were
wired to wire a number one team in the. Country
we came into the season preseason ranked number one in
the country because the year before we had lost four,
GAMES i think we were twenty seven and, four twenty

(35:48):
eight and, four and three of those losses were to
the same, Team Grand Valley, state who had advanced to
the national championship, game and we didn't have any seniors that,
year you. Know and then that so that same, year
the year before we won the national, championship we actually
Beat Ohio state in an exhibition. Game so there was

(36:08):
a lot of hoopla around our. Group our team was
kind of a throwback to the old style of college
that doesn't exist, anymore or doesn't exist very, often and
that is every one of the players in our program
were guys we recruited right out of high, school and
we were awfully proud of that because most of the
teams we played in the national, tournament even back in

(36:32):
two thousand and, nine had a lot of, transfers and
so it was a great. Journey for three of our
last four games we won in, overtime and the one
we didn't win in, overtime we took our first lead
with thirty seconds to go in the, games so all
four of those games could have gone the other, direction

(36:52):
and as good as we were and as experienced as we,
were it goes to show you how difficult it is
to win a national. Championship so, yeah just just a
lot of great. Memories and you, Know, Finley ohio is a,
city small city of about forty to forty five thousand,
people and it really that season just turned this city

(37:15):
upside down Towards eiler. Basketball And i'll never forget.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
That.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
MAN i love.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
That, hey, coach the nil stuff that's going on in
college sports, nowadays how much does that affect you at
The division two? Level and are you, know are kids
talking about getting going into transfer portal trying to Get division?

Speaker 2 (37:36):
One do you have to deal with a lot of that?
STUFF i would.

Speaker 4 (37:41):
NOT i think the answer is, Yes BUT i don't
know THAT i would use a. Lot BUT i do
have to deal with. It when you have a good
program and a good, team you, know you just know
that there is an appetite either by your, opponent By
DIVISION i schools for, players or there's an appetite for

(38:02):
your own, players you, know to seek it. Out we've
been very fortunate we haven't lost a lot of players
to the portal that have excelled here At, Finley BUT
i worry all the time That i'm going to AND
i don't really know THAT i have the answer to
to avoid. It BUT i think we just try to

(38:27):
do our best in recruiting guys that we feel, like you,
know Want finley to be their first and last. Stop
and you, know you can't can't hardly blame some of
these guys for moving, on but we try to make
our program such that that they're not just leaving the,
Team they're leaving something bigger and is a couple bucks

(38:52):
worth the broken, relationships you, know because all of these
guys that, are you, know chasing the nil, money they're
missing out on WHAT i remember the, best the most
and the best about my college basketball, days and that
is the RELATIONSHIPS i. Built when you move on to
a new school every year or every other, year you,

(39:13):
know you can't hardly develop a meaningful. Relationship AND i
JUST i worry, that you, know when you when basketball is,
gone many of us can look back at our you,
know college basketball, career and those are some of my best.
Friends i'm not sure that every kid today will be
able to say, that.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
Hey, COACH i don't have your roster in front of.
Me but where where do you find most of your
players or where do you recruit them? From? What is
there a certain state or is it Just?

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Ohio?

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Ohio so, yeah it, is and we need we need
some cheeseheads on that. Stick we need a cheese head
or two. Hopefully BUT i think by looking at your your,
roster at least the last year's, roster, coach it's pretty
much the state Of. Ohio, correct it.

Speaker 4 (40:00):
Is and it's it's not only the state Of, ohio
but it's it's. Guys for the most. Part we recruit
them out of high. School and it's not to say
we don't have transfers or have never had, transfers but
the transfer portal is probably a small part of our,
program as it is maybe any college PROGRAM i don't
know in The, midwest you. Know BUT i think to

(40:23):
your point about the state we, RECRUIT i, mean we're
not opposed to taking good players and good people and
good students From wisconsin at. All we ALWAYS i think
the most important thing at recruiting at this level is
you can't be closed minded to recruiting. Anywhere it's just,
that you know the thing about the division two levels

(40:44):
we don't have the staffing That DIVISION ie levels. Do
they have five, coach five assistant coaches, now which is
crazy for me to think. About you, know we have
one full time assistant after me and then a supplemental assistant.
Coach so it's a small, staff as All division two
coach or staffs, are and so we feel like it's

(41:07):
not easy for us to recruit and truly evaluate multiple multiple.
States so we end up recruiting where we're, comfortable and
that's In.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Ohio, well and it's really worked for, them you, know
All katie, aside they they have this is a really
Successful division two men's basketball. Program we'll get to a
break other side of the. Break, well Ask Charlie ernst
that question we always ask at the end Of faith
in The. Zone this Is faith in The zone On
Fox sports ninet twenty and Your iHeart. Radiop welcome back

(41:38):
To faith in The zone On Fox sports nine twenty
Year iHeart radiop coming from The donovan And Jorgensen heating
And Cooling. Studios any issues you have with your with
YOUR hvac, system go To Donovan jorgensen dot. Com they
are the largest employee OWNED hvac company in the state Of,
wisconsin our special guest for the entire.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
Hour he has been.

Speaker 1 (41:58):
Great Charlie ernst Head ben's basketball coach at The university
Of finley In, Finley ohio.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
COACH a couple of years.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Ago we came up with this as kind of a throwaway,
question and we continue to ask it BECAUSE i just
really like hearing the. Answers you were a multi sport
athlete growing, up, CORRECT i, was, Yes so all the
uniforms you've ever put on in your entire, life we
put them in a closet and you get to pick
out one uniform to get one more game with that.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Team what uniform do you? Pick who do you play?
Against and?

Speaker 4 (42:29):
Why, YEAH i think this is going to. Surprise it
would definitely surprise maybe my own, family BUT i would
probably pick out a football. UNIFORM i quit playing football
WHEN i was in junior high or after my eighth grade,

(42:50):
year going into my freshman, YEAR i quit playing. Football
SO i continued down the path at playing, basketball, baseball
and eventually picked up. Golf the REASON i did that
IS i felt like football was kind of getting in
the way of my progress in. Basketball it was right
before basketball season started and looking back now and knowing

(43:13):
becoming a wiser person and learning more about myself as
life tends to do to. Us you, KNOW i, think you,
KNOW i learned through coaching, that you, know Really god's
plan for me wasn't so much that my talent was
in the physical, tools though probably at the high school

(43:37):
LEVEL i had enough physical tools to stand. OUT i
think my real talent was bringing a team, together just
being a shining example of leadership and all of those.
Qualities AND i feel like football is a sport that

(43:58):
requires great leadership because there's so many moving. Parts AND
i almost look back and have some regret THAT i
didn't keep playing football with some of my best friends
and feel LIKE i missed out and probably more than,
ANYTHING i was focused on myself WHEN i should have

(44:19):
been focused on the. Team AND i do have regrets about.
That SO i would love to put a football uniform back. On.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
Man that's.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
Awesome that's a great, answer AND i agree with you
on the football. Side you, know leadership on the basketball
team is very. Important leadership on the football team when
you can look at somebody in that huddle and you're
hurting a little bit and they're patting me on the
shoulder pads. Going that's all, Right, HEY i got. You
let's keep going with. THIS i agree with you on, That,
charlie thank you so.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
Much.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Again he Is Charlie, ernst the head men's basketball coach
at The university.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
Of finlany And, Finlay.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
Ohio and pastor has been a great show and we
certainly will keep in contact with Coach.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
Earnest, yeah thank, you. Coach we appreciate.

Speaker 4 (44:59):
It, hey thank, You Pastor, ken thank, You.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
Mike you got. It, charlie thank you very. Much thanks for.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
Listening this Is faith in The zone On Fox. Sports
sign twenty in Your iHeart radio.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
App