March 31, 2023 • 32 mins
Tim Cates talks with 2x Super Bowl Champion Mike Cofer about his career as an NFL kicker. After football he became a race car driver, before settling in Las Vegas and getting into education. Mike is currently the head football coach and Athletic Director at SLAM! Nevada. Mike has his Masters in Coaching and Athletics Administration from Concordia University Irvine.
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(00:00):
He was a two times Super Bowlchampion and All Pro kicker with the San
Francisco forty nine ers. He tookoff the football helmet for a racing helmet,
and now he's athletic director and headfootball coach at SLAM, Nevada.
We talked with Mike Cooeper next onepisode fifty six of the Masters in Coaching
Podcast. Let's go Well, welcomeinto episode fifty six of the Masters in
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Coaching Podcast. We thank you forlistening and watching whatever platform you listen in,
download or you watch. We appreciateit and we're excited to talk to
this week's guest and All Conference kickerin NC States. A great kicker in
the NFL, two times Super Bowlchampion and All Pro in nineteen eighty nine
with the San Francisco forty nine ers, went on yeah, after NFL as
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a driver in the NASCAR Trucks Series. We'll get into that. And now
he's an athletic director and football coachin Las Vegas at SLAM. We'll get
into that and what that is injust a few minutes, as we welcome
in Mike co for our guest hereon episode fifty six. So the Masterson
coaching podcast, Mike, how youdoing, thanks for coming on doing well,
Thank you, thank you. Right, So, we got a lot
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to dive into over the course ofyour career. But you're in in Las
Vegas right now at SLAM. Explainto those listening and watching what is slam.
Okay. SLAM is as a nontuitional public charter school slam stance for
sports leadership and management. So whilewe are one of a number of schools
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across the country that carry that moniker, the original Slam started in Miami with
gentlemen by the name of Alex Tomargoand uh, kind of a figurehead of
that that program was Pitbull, theentertainer pull And so the Las Vegas site
was number two, number two Slamin the country and they since you know,
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sprouted a few other camps around thecountry. And you know, some
are are elementary to middle school,some of them are are are middle to
high or elementary to high. We'reK through twelve, so we've kind of
grown and exploded a little bit inthe seven years that we've been running.
But yeah, our our kids areare all involved in a career technical education
system, so they either take coursesin sports management, uh, sports media
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production or sports medicine. Those areour three CT programs here in Las Vegas,
and uh so it's kind of exciting. I mean, we are we
are you know, we kind ofkind of cater to our tailor to uh
sports minded individuals, and you know, our staff is tasked with kind of
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slamifying, if you will, someof their lesson plans to get kids interested
in what they're teaching through through sportand through entertainment. How have you seen
it grow over the last couple ofyears And I know you've been there,
uh since the beginning. And what'sit like when when it's families in the
area hear about this academy, thisability to go to high school and have
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a specialized education. Yeah, Imean it's great. I mean we started
back in twenty sixteen with grades sixthrough nine, and just to be a
part of that growth has been reallyexciting. I mean to see us go
from you know, trying to fieldyou know, one or two programs.
I think our very first program wasgirls volleyball, and uh we we shoved
a baseball program even though we inthat year, even though we really don't
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have any field facilities, We haveno you know, we're kind of very
very small acreage site, so weutilize a lot of uh we utilize a
lot of park facilities through the cityof Henderson. But yeah, seeing us
grow to that from maybe two programsin year one with just ninth graders trying
to compete with varsity athletes around thecity, uh to now you know,
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having having you know, fifteen toeighteen varsity level programs has been has been
great. Been able to garner acouple of state championship up. Our first
state championship was with boys soccer,uh not this year, but the previous
year, and then our wrestling programis really strong, both boys and girls,
and they've won a couple of statechampionships as well. So you know,
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we're doing well. We're doing wellwith our with our athletics programs,
and we just you know, we'renot a large school, so we have
to be careful on our growth aspectof not cannibalizing you know, other programs
to generate a new one. Butyeah, it's been it's been fun,
it's been exciting, but it hasbeen a challenge, you know, to
light the fire under a lot ofthese kids. We really promote multi sport
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athletes and being a smaller school,we have to do that to to fulfill
our you know, our scheduling obligations. But yeah, it's been exciting how
many kids overall are are are atSLAM. And have you noticed the growth
over the last couple of years oncewe'd spread of that that is available for
young kids and young high school kids. Yeah, so we're limited to our
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class sizes in our in our coreprograms, so we can only get so
big. Right now, we're approximatelyfive hundred and ninety high school students,
you know, through through K throughtwelve. I believe we're pushing fifteen hundred
throughout the spectrum with our total enrollments. But yeah, we've we've got to
kind of monitor that because we can'toverfill our classrooms and we work on a
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lottery based system, so you know, it's difficult for kids to get into
here in high school. They reallyalmost have to start in the elementary level
or even in the middle school leveland just you know, carry it all
the way through. But uh,you know, being a lot of grade
school, you know, we takeall comers and you know, we try
and develop them and get them firedup. We have a lot of kids
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who really have never even been involvedin athletics. And I think that's one
thing that's great about our school iswe you know, we push them.
We say, hey, let's go. You know, we don't care if
you've never played this or never donethat. Let's go get after it.
And uh, you know, wegot a great, great coaching staff,
uh in all our programs here andUH, just trying to generate interests within
our within our student body to trynew things. You know, don't come
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in here narrow minded. You know, Hey, I'm this or I'm that.
You know, let's develop all ourall our all our tools, all
our skill sets and uh have havefun playing athletics in high school. Mike,
your road to getting to where you'reat now and Henderson, Nevada.
Uh, it's it's something we gotto talk about because you're you're a kicker.
You played Division One, you're atNC State, You're an all conference
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kicker. Uh, you head tothe NFL, You eventually land with the
forty nine ers, you win acouple of Super Bowls there at All Pro
in nineteen eighty nine, and thenyou go on to racing. But let's
just go back to for you infootball, how big was football in your
life to get you to NC State, to get to the NFL. Was
that something you always wanted to do? It was kick in the NFL.
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To be honest with you, No, my my big sport growing up was
baseball. Okay, you know Iplayed baseball, you know, from from
six years old. Uh you knowat the time I graduated high school,
and I had all intentions of playingbaseball in college as well. But uh,
I kind of, uh I gotinto kicking. You know, you
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might say by mistake. I hadplayed football as a youth football one year
I think I was eight years old, went out the next year. You
know, I mean being being anine year old now and saying, you
know, going to my parents andsay, hey, you know, I'm
just not having fun here. Youknow, it's not you know, not
getting along with as much as anine year old can say he's not getting
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along with the coaches, you know, but you know, say hey,
you know, well you know,I said, hey, you know,
I just don't want to play.So they said, well, you're not
gonna sit around, So they said, let's go sign you up for soccer.
So, uh, you know,I spent I spent the majority of
my middle school, you know,life in early high school, life playing
soccer, playing baseball, and socome come my sophomore year in high school,
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I happened to go to a footballgame and they had this big old
offensive tackle out there trying to toebang, you know, balls through the
uprights, and the baseball and baseballcoach was the assistant football coach. So
I went to my baseball because said, hey, you know, I think
I can kick the ball a littlebit better than this guy can. And
you know, in North Carolina therewere no rules as far as playing two
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sports in the same season at thattime. So talk to the soccer coach,
talk to the football coach, saidhey, yeah, you know,
if you want to just go kickwhen we're not doing anything, you know,
we don't have any games on Fridaynights. SOD had a try out,
you might say, in fourth periodone day with the football coach and
kicked a couple of balls and hegot a big grin on his face.
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And I can still remember going thefirst time from we had a soccer game
in the afternoon and then hustling overto get dressed my first time to go
out on the football field, youknow, and not having any clue how
to put all this stuff on,you know. But so I started kicking
footballs my sophomore year in high school, and then my junior and senior year,
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I just went and played football.And you know, of course,
you know, after having played allyou know, growing up in the backyard
and pick up games on the weekendsand stuff, you know, had had
somewhat of a skill set for football. So ended up you know, playing
safety, wide receiver and kicking andpunting and uh you know, gotta look
you know from some colleges and hadI had a great uh can I went
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to a camp Mark Moseley, whowas a Redskins, I was huge Redskins
fans. He had a he hada kicking camp at the time. So
I went up to that kicking camp. It did really well, and uh
he you know, kind of wrotea promoting letter for me or a reference
letter and started getting some looks fromsome colleges, and yeah, I just
ended up in NC State and uhwent from there with it. You know.
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So did you think the NFL whatwas ever in your future? Was
that even a possibility at that timewhen you were kicking for the wolf Pack,
Well, you always had those aspirations. Uh, you know, but
you know, you kind of focusstill in school and you know, you
you know, I mean I feltlike it took me. It took me
a couple of years before I becamea true student athlete. My first year,
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they had put me in a dormroom with two seniors in a junior
offensive all offensive linemen, and uh, you know, back in that day,
I was like, aren't you guysgetting up and going to class and
they're like, nah, you know, we've been there and done that.
So but anyway, it kind ofstruggled my first my first semester. But
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uh, you know, you getinto school, you know, probably probably
after my junior year, you know, I was saying, hey, you
know, this might be a possibility. I'll work hard at it. But
I got hurt my senior year thevery first game, and uh I ended
up taking a medical hardship uh myfirst senior year. And then you know,
came back set that year out,came back for the next year,
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and and and had a pretty decentsenior season. We did well as a
program, got a couple of looks, didn't get drafted, ended up going
on to Cleveland for training camp.Uh, didn't get didn't make that team.
Uh ended up actually going during thestrike in uh the strike year,
I believe it was eighty eighty seven. Yeah, ended up in New Orleans
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for a cup of coffee and uhthat really didn't go that well. But
the San Francisco forty nine or specialteams coach had come out, you know
to take a look at me duringmy senior year. After the senior year,
and had a good workout with him, and so they gave me a
call after that first season and Iwas able to get to training camp with
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the forty nine ers back in thatyear, and there were ten kickers at
that time. That was the timeof unlimited training camp numbers. Yeah,
there was like one hundred and seventyguys in training camp and uh, ten
kickers, and UH ended up youknow, baling it out and making some
big kicks you know, during thepreseason and ended up making the team and
having a you know, a solidcareer there in San Francisco for a number
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of years. It's just a sidebaron that. As a guy who played
in the NFL, you know,once you get there, your talents have
to shine and you have to beable to perform, certainly, but how
much of it is you know,just getting into a door, just having
that connection and sometimes just the righttime, right place, right opportunity and
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it maybe you need something you neverthought would happen, and maybe it didn't
work out here, but you cango to a different city and you know
you go on a way two superbowls, right, I mean there's a
lot to that. I mean,you're going to be offered those opportunities.
And the big thing I always telltell you know, young young athletes,
is you got to be ready forthose opportunities. And even when you don't
see them coming. You know,it's easy to be ready and prepare for
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that opportunity you know, is theygonna come, But you know that's not
always the case. Sometime opportunities justyou know laid, they just get presented
to you, and if you're notready to to you know, take advantage
of that moment, then you knowyou're gonna miss out. So you know
that that's a big part of somethingthat that I tell my student athletes say,
hey, you gotta be The biggestthing is prepparation. Preparation is the
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key. You know you talk aboutluck well, luck happens when opportunity meets
preparation. If you're unprepared and theopportunity comes, you're not going to get
very lucky. So you go onand win two Super Bowls and All Pro
in nineteen eighty nine, all bymyself. By the way, I know,
I know there was no guy namedMontana at quarterback, some guy named
Rice the wide receiver, and agreat deal. No no, no no.
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But as you're playing, career isgoing on and then it comes to
it in as as every athlete's careercomes to an ind How did you know
it when it was time to callit wits? You know, I don't
know that you really really know.I mean, you look back and you
say me, you know what,maybe I should have, you know,
grinded a little harder. But Ihad gotten hurt, you know, to
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go back a little bit on thatstory, I had gotten hurt when,
like I told you, my incollege, I had tour what they call
your startorious muscle, which is yourmain kicking muscle. Really, so you
know the years that I was going, I mean I was able to come
back and be be efficient, Ifelt like and have a decent career,
But I was never you know,I never felt like I was back to
one hundred percent, and as always, I was always challenging myself as to
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understanding, you know, my bodya little more. I think that's one
thing that young athletes don't realize isthat you know, you need to be
prepared for the moment. Like taketake for instance, in the NFL,
Okay, you need to be preparedto play on Sunday, okay or Monday
whenever that and now it's Thursday,you know, and set Sunday, but
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you need to be prepared on gameday. If as a professional athlete,
that takes you not doing something thefirst two days of the week of practice,
and that's what you need to communicate. Say, hey, I'm not
going to be at my best.You know if if I go out there
and just kick and kick and kickand kick and kick on Tuesday, you
know that's not going to make mebetter. So you know, I learned
that the hard way by by notbeing you know, a little maybe a
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little selfish, I don't want tosay selfish, but a little you know,
more body aware of what my bodyneeded to to be able to perform
at its best come game day.And so you know, in college,
I just you know, was didn'tspeak up, didn't say anything, you
know, so I just kicking.Really got to the point where my muscle
was just so fatigued it just couldn'ttake it anymore. So, you know,
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having to manage that, you know, process through through the NFL,
you know, it was difficult toa certain extent, but but you know,
got got used to doing it andunderstanding you know, hey, I
got to be able to represent myselfand speak up to the coaching staff say
you know, I need a dayoff. Yeah, so you know,
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I think I think carrying that andthen you know, carrying it through and
I got involved in some other stuffoutside of football that probably probably took a
little focus away and that that wasprobably something that I regret a little bit
because I think I could have chargedforward and had you know a number of
more years doing what I was doing. But I wouldn't say I knew it
was, you know, time toget out or time to move on.
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Sometimes that just happens to you.Sure, you know the old adage,
you know, most people don't theyget told when they're done, you know,
instead of telling the people when they'redone. Right, So you know,
I got involved in motorsports a littlebit and and was excited about,
you know, pursuing some of thoseavenues and options and uh, you know,
so so you know kind of justsaid, hey, you know,
I've had enough of football, sowell, I want I want to get
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into the motorsports and the racing asecond. But you're talking about you know,
back you know, you wish youwould have said something. And nowadays
in the professional sports they call itload management. Guys set out games,
guys don't practice. You know,back then we're talking about, you know,
the eighties, early nineties. Youknow, it kind of looked back
and do you think mayment, Iwish we had load management back then.
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Load management during practice, not justwhen the NBA players are doing now and
sitting out back to backs and whatnot, but load management during the week and
the preparation during the week what theydo now, if you guys were doing
it back then, would extended alot of careers. Yeah, I think
I think that, you know,the health aspect has come a long way,
you know, past past twenty twentyfive years into keeping athletes, uh,
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you know, in their prime andprepared for those you know, actual
competitions. You know, back inthe day, you know it was it
was the Mike Ditka line up.We're gonna bang heads every day and then
we're gonna go out on Sunday andbang heads again, you know. Uh
So you look back on that andthere you know, there's there's something to
be said for the iron men oftheir various sports ripken, uh you know,
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guys like that that just show upevery day and get it done.
But I think, yeah, Ithink you know, being more body aware
now in in these days. Notnot that you know, you ever want
to you know, take yourself outof an actual competition. Uh. And
not that you want to be theAlan Iverson that says practice this is,
you know, but but uh,I think you know, athletes and coaches
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and physical trainers, you know,understanding the aspect of what the body takes,
what the body needs to regenerate,you know, and eat its best
and beat its prime on game day, you know, even if those games
have to come back to back toback. You know, I think there's
something to be said for that inthis day and age. Yeah. So,
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so, Mike, you take offthe football helmet, you put on
a racing helmet. Yeah, youmentioned your love for motorsports. Uh,
to tell the listeners what you gotinvolved in after football as far as racing.
So so in the off season mylast couple of years, I had
started running what you know modified uhinto its Stockton Speedway Stockton ninety nine Speedway.
And just I had grown up inCharlotte, North Carolina, and had
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always been enamored, you know,with with with NASCAR and motorsports and had
had generated a friendship with Davy Allisonback in the day, and uh,
you know, really valued that anduh kind of just started tinking around with
with with cars and whatnot and metsome people involved in the local Central Valley
of California racing culture, and sowe got involved in that. And then
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uh, you know, when Istepped away from football from the forty nine
ers, you know, just saidhey, I'm gonna go racing for a
season and did the Southwest Series SouthwestTour there, uh, you know,
a regional regional touring series for latemodel cars, and did well in that
and and you met some more peopleand and uh I did go back to
football for half a season with theColts after that because I moved out of
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California and just trying to find myway a little bit, but then then
got involved in a Midwest series alittle bit, and and that was kind
of a antithetical to what had happenedin California. Didn't do so well,
probably wasn't involved with the greatest peopleat that time, and you know,
kind of ended up moving on andgetting into other things, and came out
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to Las Vegas and got back intomotorsports out here at the at the local
level, and I met a reallygood car owner and started doing some local
stuff here. The guy who hadgotten the Bush brothers started in their racing
careers and so was racing in theLas Vegas area for a number of years,
and then dabbled in the truck seriesa little bit with a few truck
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races. But just you know,enjoy motorsports, love motorsports. I'll tell
you what. You know. Youtalk about working hours. You know,
one thing I like to say is, you know, you could work on
a race car forever, right,but at some point in time you got
to put it on the trailer andgo race it. I always say,
you can sit there and let's dothis all. Let's do this all.
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You know, at some point intime, Okay, hey, we got
to load and go race it itsomething right? No, Yeah, but
racing teachers, he teaches you alot. It taught me a lot,
and I really enjoy I still enjoymotorsports. So did you find the same
satisfaction, the same adrenaline that yougot from football or even more so from
from racing and working on cars?I think the payoff because so much goes
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into it, and there's so muchyou know, when you're looking for a
tenth of a second, you know, or a half a tenth of a
second, so much goes into findingthat. When it does pay off and
you can get to victory lane,I mean that the thrill of that is
is uncomparable. It's just, youknow, there's nothing to relate it to,
you know. You know, certainlythe game winning field goal is tremendous
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feeling. And you know, maybea walkoff home run or a you know,
a last second basketball, and theyall have their they all have their
their thrill and excitement. But yeah, that that that that payoff from having
to do so much hard work ontoonto a car for that small amount you
know of advantage that you're looking forthat when it does pay off, you're
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like Okay, you know it wasworth it. You know it was worth
it. Yeah, So how didyou get into education? You end up
getting your masters from Concordia University,I believe in in twenty and fourteen,
through the Masters in Coaching and AthleticsAdministration program. But uh, Mike,
you end up in Vegas and racing. But how'd you get up in education
and coaching? I had been youknow, I had two young kids,
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uh, both boys, and theywere involved in athletics and and it was
you know, helping coach you knowthat their youth teams and stuff like that.
And as they transitioned into high school. I was able to be fortunate
enough to get on some some highschool staffs and enjoyed working with the kids.
And uh, I just you know, I felt like, hey,
you know, all I'm doing rightnow is just falling back on my own
experience. You know, I wantto go get get something that Hey,
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you know, there's got to bemore to this. And that's when you
know, the Concordia program, youknow, uh came about. It came
about for me said hey, thisis great. I'm gonna go dive into
this. Let's see what all thisis all about right then, I was
fortunate enough to uh meet mister DanTreano, who's the principal here, and
he was a former wrestler. Hewas a former high school and college wrestler,
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and uh he wanted to develop somethinghere through SLAM to promote, you
know, the athletic programs as wegot started, and I said, hey,
you know, I'll dive in.And I've kind of got a little
bit of education background with with mymasters through Concordia in administration and coaching,
and and you know, I wasable to apply that to what we're currently
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doing, what I'm currently doing,and fortunate enough he took a chance on
me, and I really appreciate that. And we've been able to build something
so far that we feel like it'sfairly special here at SLAM, and hopefully
we can continue to raise the barand raise the raise the roof here with
our with our athletic department athletic ofprograms, as well as developing the young
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men and women that come through thoseprograms. You've got kind of a unique
situation is that you don't go toan established high school and jump in teaching
or coaching and then take that nextlittle love to athletic director. You go
to an academy school that's you know, from the ground level, and you're
helping establish that. That's that's kindof a unique Was that fun? And
it's is that still kind of thatas you're getting that ball going continuously,
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as you man, it's getting biggerand bigger and bigger and you're doing more
things and more programs. That's that'sgotta be fun to start something from the
ground level. Yeah, I mean, you know, I was a little
long in the tooth when I gotstarted here, so it was gonna be
hard for me to go to youknow, an established plays that they're all
looking for these young people. Youknow, I'm younging it hard, but
uh you know, so yeah,it was. That was a very exciting
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part of it to maybe you know, build it in your own image,
you know, you might say,or your own vision was definitely part of
it, I think, uh,you know. But yes, there have
been some very scary moments. Youknow, there's been some frustrating moments,
you know, and we still battlethose on a daily basis. I mean,
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like I said, we're limited withour facilities. We're always trying to
ham an egg stuff, which wedo a good job at and that's been
a tough part in expressing that andcommunicating that to to others who you know,
you want to bring on the boardas either a coach or a staff,
saying hey, you know, wedon't We're not going to have everything
that you've been used to having.Okay, so you're gonna have to get
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creative and how you go about andmaybe maybe developing your programs, running your
practices, even your games. Soyou know, I always s emphasize that
to any stat any any potential staffthat we're interviewing or talking to about.
You know, this isn't just yourrunning the mill. Okay, here you
are, here's everything you got,go do the best you can with it.
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It's more like, okay, here, here we are, here's you
know how we have to do it, and you can fit in that into
that mold and then develop from there. You know, I tend not to
be too much of a micromanager.I'm like, hey, you know,
this is these are the things wegot. I'm not going to talk about
what we don't have. You know, We're going to talk about what we
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do have and move forward with that. But I'm going to give you the
leeway to develop how you want todevelop it, how you want to develop
it. Just kind of you needsomething, come, you know, come
and let me know. And ifI see something that I feel like maybe
you know adline or something we cando better, or something that you've done,
this is great that we can utilizein another program. Uh, let's
do it. So as you leanon your pro career, your racing career,
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your education and learning through Concordia asan athletic director, as a coach,
when you when you when you leanon things and you know your own
experiences, is there a former coachor a mentor that you kind of maybe
borrowed a little bit from multiple coachesor mentors that you've kind of borrowed from,
uh to kind of mold who youare as a as a leader,
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as a Flite director and the coach. Absolutely, I mean, and those
interpersonal that was one thing I thinkthat I'll get I'll get to some individuals,
some specific individuals, but I thinkthat was one of the things that
the Concordia program did so well.Is it taught the interpersonal aspect of you
know, of athletics, where youknow, as young coach, as young
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aggressive coaches or people who've never never, you know, taken an educational uh
tact to to to athletics. Youknow, we fall back on our X
and os, you know, ourschemes. Okay, I want to get
out there and just teach this ishow we did it. You know.
I'm like like, well, youknow, a lot of getting the kids
to do it is how you relateto them and building the relationship to get
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the most out of it. Youknow, we get so focused, like
I said, as young coaches,don't just hey, this is a new
this is a great you know,basketball play we could runner, this is
a new defense we could put in, or this and that. That's so
great. But if you don't havethe puzzle pieces to do it the way
you want to do it, oryou don't have good relationship with them,
you're not going to be able tomotivate them to properly, you know,
perform like like it's going to benecessary for those X and O schemes to
(27:38):
be successful. So you know,some some former coaches that really impacted me
was one was my high school baseballcoach, Edwalton Charlotte County Day School back
in Charlotte, North Carolina, Imean, you know, I just it's
funny because I'll get into something andafter I do it, you know,
like thirty seconds after I apply itor do it, I go, you
(27:59):
know what, that's exactly what hedid. I'm like, you know,
I have become Ed Walton, youknow. So yeah, you know,
but we we were, but weboth utilize sarcasm a little bit, you
know, with programs and uh butuh you know, he was always,
you know, always just look backon those moments and relish those moments that
(28:19):
we that I had with him asa player, and like, you know,
if I was a player now,I'd want to be have a coach
like him. You know John Cook, my high school football coach. You
know, he another one, tremendous, tremendous man. Ta taught me so
much, you know, just aboutperseverance and detail and uh want to you
(28:41):
know, through the game of football. You know, there there were some
uh Dick Sheridan at NC State football. You know, great man uh TA
taught a lot about just being aprofessional and operating professionally and getting the most
at at you know, not alwaysmaybe having the best players on the field,
(29:03):
but getting so much out of thoseplayers that you you could compete with
those highly skilled programs that maybe hadbetter athletes. Uh, you know,
then having the experience under a guylike a Bill Walsh or or a Seaford
George Seaffert, and then some greatyou know, really some great special teams
guys. Uh you know at SanFrancisco that I worked with as well.
(29:27):
So uh, you know, itall adds up, man, it all
adds up. And you know theteachings. I love the teachings through Concordia
especially, you know, a lotof reliance on John Wooden and you know,
great impact he was not just asa coach, but as a as
a man on his players and howhis you know players talk, you know,
(29:47):
relate back to him and talk aboutthem and all the great things that
he set down. Uh. Weyou know, I have a uh philosophy
or sports psychology guy here who justhe's a big Wooden guy and I love
that. And he deals with ouryouth wrestling program and just impacts those kids
so well, you know, usinga lot of those John Wooden components.
(30:11):
So yeah, it's been it's beentremendous. Awesome, Mike. I appreciate
the conversation catching up with you.Letting people hear your story and what you're
doing with SLAM there and Henderson Nevadacontinued success. You've built it from the
ground up and you continue to moveit forward and build momentum with you with
(30:32):
the school and the sports programs there. Thank you again so much for joining
us here on the podcast. Well, thank you, Yeah, we got
we still got a long way togo. We don't want to look backward.
We want to look through the frontwindshield. That's kind of like what
I tell people around here. Anduh, I appreciate you having me on
and hopefully you know, some wordsof wisdom come out and well let's go.
Well there he goes Mike co forwhat a story, All Conference kicker
(30:53):
at NC State. Then he goesto the NFL, two times Super Bowl
winner with the forty nine ers andAll Pro in nineteen eighty nine. After
his NFL days, he becomes arace car driver and now he's an educator,
a coach, a teacher, athleticdirector at SLAM. We appreciate Mike
for joining us. Also an alumof the Masters in Coaching Athletics Administration program.
(31:15):
You heard him talk about it.Find out more go to CUI dot
eedu slash coaching. They got differentstarts times throughout the year. Find when
the next one is that fits yourschedule. You can do it online or
in person. And again for youfirst time students, a one thousand dollars
scholarship for the Masters in Coaching andAthletics Administration Program Concordia University, Irvine.
(31:36):
Check it out again, CUI dotedu slash Coaching, CUI dot edu slash
Coaching. Thanks to Mike Cooper.Thanks to you for listening and watching episode
fifty six of the Masters in Coachingpodcast is in the books. Until next
time, Tim Kate saying Solong everybody,
He was a two times Super Bowlchampion and All Pro kicker with the San
Francisco forty nine ers. He tookoff the football helmet for a racing helmet,
and now he's athletic director and headfootball coach at SLAM, Nevada.
We talked with Mike Cooeper next onepisode fifty six of the Masters in Coaching
Podcast. Let's go Well, welcomeinto episode fifty six of the Masters in
(00:28):
Coaching Podcast. We thank you forlistening and watching whatever platform you listen in,
download or you watch. We appreciateit and we're excited to talk to
this week's guest and All Conference kickerin NC States. A great kicker in
the NFL, two times Super Bowlchampion and All Pro in nineteen eighty nine
with the San Francisco forty nine ers, went on yeah, after NFL as
(00:49):
a driver in the NASCAR Trucks Series. We'll get into that. And now
he's an athletic director and football coachin Las Vegas at SLAM. We'll get
into that and what that is injust a few minutes, as we welcome
in Mike co for our guest hereon episode fifty six. So the Masterson
coaching podcast, Mike, how youdoing, thanks for coming on doing well,
Thank you, thank you. Right, So, we got a lot
(01:11):
to dive into over the course ofyour career. But you're in in Las
Vegas right now at SLAM. Explainto those listening and watching what is slam.
Okay. SLAM is as a nontuitional public charter school slam stance for
sports leadership and management. So whilewe are one of a number of schools
(01:34):
across the country that carry that moniker, the original Slam started in Miami with
gentlemen by the name of Alex Tomargoand uh, kind of a figurehead of
that that program was Pitbull, theentertainer pull And so the Las Vegas site
was number two, number two Slamin the country and they since you know,
(01:57):
sprouted a few other camps around thecountry. And you know, some
are are elementary to middle school,some of them are are are middle to
high or elementary to high. We'reK through twelve, so we've kind of
grown and exploded a little bit inthe seven years that we've been running.
But yeah, our our kids areare all involved in a career technical education
system, so they either take coursesin sports management, uh, sports media
(02:23):
production or sports medicine. Those areour three CT programs here in Las Vegas,
and uh so it's kind of exciting. I mean, we are we
are you know, we kind ofkind of cater to our tailor to uh
sports minded individuals, and you know, our staff is tasked with kind of
(02:43):
slamifying, if you will, someof their lesson plans to get kids interested
in what they're teaching through through sportand through entertainment. How have you seen
it grow over the last couple ofyears And I know you've been there,
uh since the beginning. And what'sit like when when it's families in the
area hear about this academy, thisability to go to high school and have
(03:05):
a specialized education. Yeah, Imean it's great. I mean we started
back in twenty sixteen with grades sixthrough nine, and just to be a
part of that growth has been reallyexciting. I mean to see us go
from you know, trying to fieldyou know, one or two programs.
I think our very first program wasgirls volleyball, and uh we we shoved
a baseball program even though we inthat year, even though we really don't
(03:28):
have any field facilities, We haveno you know, we're kind of very
very small acreage site, so weutilize a lot of uh we utilize a
lot of park facilities through the cityof Henderson. But yeah, seeing us
grow to that from maybe two programsin year one with just ninth graders trying
to compete with varsity athletes around thecity, uh to now you know,
(03:51):
having having you know, fifteen toeighteen varsity level programs has been has been
great. Been able to garner acouple of state championship up. Our first
state championship was with boys soccer,uh not this year, but the previous
year, and then our wrestling programis really strong, both boys and girls,
and they've won a couple of statechampionships as well. So you know,
(04:13):
we're doing well. We're doing wellwith our with our athletics programs,
and we just you know, we'renot a large school, so we have
to be careful on our growth aspectof not cannibalizing you know, other programs
to generate a new one. Butyeah, it's been it's been fun,
it's been exciting, but it hasbeen a challenge, you know, to
light the fire under a lot ofthese kids. We really promote multi sport
(04:34):
athletes and being a smaller school,we have to do that to to fulfill
our you know, our scheduling obligations. But yeah, it's been exciting how
many kids overall are are are atSLAM. And have you noticed the growth
over the last couple of years oncewe'd spread of that that is available for
young kids and young high school kids. Yeah, so we're limited to our
(04:58):
class sizes in our in our coreprograms, so we can only get so
big. Right now, we're approximatelyfive hundred and ninety high school students,
you know, through through K throughtwelve. I believe we're pushing fifteen hundred
throughout the spectrum with our total enrollments. But yeah, we've we've got to
kind of monitor that because we can'toverfill our classrooms and we work on a
(05:21):
lottery based system, so you know, it's difficult for kids to get into
here in high school. They reallyalmost have to start in the elementary level
or even in the middle school leveland just you know, carry it all
the way through. But uh,you know, being a lot of grade
school, you know, we takeall comers and you know, we try
and develop them and get them firedup. We have a lot of kids
(05:44):
who really have never even been involvedin athletics. And I think that's one
thing that's great about our school iswe you know, we push them.
We say, hey, let's go. You know, we don't care if
you've never played this or never donethat. Let's go get after it.
And uh, you know, wegot a great, great coaching staff,
uh in all our programs here andUH, just trying to generate interests within
our within our student body to trynew things. You know, don't come
(06:06):
in here narrow minded. You know, Hey, I'm this or I'm that.
You know, let's develop all ourall our all our tools, all
our skill sets and uh have havefun playing athletics in high school. Mike,
your road to getting to where you'reat now and Henderson, Nevada.
Uh, it's it's something we gotto talk about because you're you're a kicker.
You played Division One, you're atNC State, You're an all conference
(06:28):
kicker. Uh, you head tothe NFL, You eventually land with the
forty nine ers, you win acouple of Super Bowls there at All Pro
in nineteen eighty nine, and thenyou go on to racing. But let's
just go back to for you infootball, how big was football in your
life to get you to NC State, to get to the NFL. Was
that something you always wanted to do? It was kick in the NFL.
(06:49):
To be honest with you, No, my my big sport growing up was
baseball. Okay, you know Iplayed baseball, you know, from from
six years old. Uh you knowat the time I graduated high school,
and I had all intentions of playingbaseball in college as well. But uh,
I kind of, uh I gotinto kicking. You know, you
(07:11):
might say by mistake. I hadplayed football as a youth football one year
I think I was eight years old, went out the next year. You
know, I mean being being anine year old now and saying, you
know, going to my parents andsay, hey, you know, I'm
just not having fun here. Youknow, it's not you know, not
getting along with as much as anine year old can say he's not getting
(07:33):
along with the coaches, you know, but you know, say hey,
you know, well you know,I said, hey, you know,
I just don't want to play.So they said, well, you're not
gonna sit around, So they said, let's go sign you up for soccer.
So, uh, you know,I spent I spent the majority of
my middle school, you know,life in early high school, life playing
soccer, playing baseball, and socome come my sophomore year in high school,
(07:59):
I happened to go to a footballgame and they had this big old
offensive tackle out there trying to toebang, you know, balls through the
uprights, and the baseball and baseballcoach was the assistant football coach. So
I went to my baseball because said, hey, you know, I think
I can kick the ball a littlebit better than this guy can. And
you know, in North Carolina therewere no rules as far as playing two
(08:20):
sports in the same season at thattime. So talk to the soccer coach,
talk to the football coach, saidhey, yeah, you know,
if you want to just go kickwhen we're not doing anything, you know,
we don't have any games on Fridaynights. SOD had a try out,
you might say, in fourth periodone day with the football coach and
kicked a couple of balls and hegot a big grin on his face.
(08:41):
And I can still remember going thefirst time from we had a soccer game
in the afternoon and then hustling overto get dressed my first time to go
out on the football field, youknow, and not having any clue how
to put all this stuff on,you know. But so I started kicking
footballs my sophomore year in high school, and then my junior and senior year,
(09:01):
I just went and played football.And you know, of course,
you know, after having played allyou know, growing up in the backyard
and pick up games on the weekendsand stuff, you know, had had
somewhat of a skill set for football. So ended up you know, playing
safety, wide receiver and kicking andpunting and uh you know, gotta look
you know from some colleges and hadI had a great uh can I went
(09:24):
to a camp Mark Moseley, whowas a Redskins, I was huge Redskins
fans. He had a he hada kicking camp at the time. So
I went up to that kicking camp. It did really well, and uh
he you know, kind of wrotea promoting letter for me or a reference
letter and started getting some looks fromsome colleges, and yeah, I just
ended up in NC State and uhwent from there with it. You know.
(09:45):
So did you think the NFL whatwas ever in your future? Was
that even a possibility at that timewhen you were kicking for the wolf Pack,
Well, you always had those aspirations. Uh, you know, but
you know, you kind of focusstill in school and you know, you
you know, I mean I feltlike it took me. It took me
a couple of years before I becamea true student athlete. My first year,
(10:07):
they had put me in a dormroom with two seniors in a junior
offensive all offensive linemen, and uh, you know, back in that day,
I was like, aren't you guysgetting up and going to class and
they're like, nah, you know, we've been there and done that.
So but anyway, it kind ofstruggled my first my first semester. But
(10:28):
uh, you know, you getinto school, you know, probably probably
after my junior year, you know, I was saying, hey, you
know, this might be a possibility. I'll work hard at it. But
I got hurt my senior year thevery first game, and uh I ended
up taking a medical hardship uh myfirst senior year. And then you know,
came back set that year out,came back for the next year,
(10:50):
and and and had a pretty decentsenior season. We did well as a
program, got a couple of looks, didn't get drafted, ended up going
on to Cleveland for training camp.Uh, didn't get didn't make that team.
Uh ended up actually going during thestrike in uh the strike year,
I believe it was eighty eighty seven. Yeah, ended up in New Orleans
(11:15):
for a cup of coffee and uhthat really didn't go that well. But
the San Francisco forty nine or specialteams coach had come out, you know
to take a look at me duringmy senior year. After the senior year,
and had a good workout with him, and so they gave me a
call after that first season and Iwas able to get to training camp with
(11:37):
the forty nine ers back in thatyear, and there were ten kickers at
that time. That was the timeof unlimited training camp numbers. Yeah,
there was like one hundred and seventyguys in training camp and uh, ten
kickers, and UH ended up youknow, baling it out and making some
big kicks you know, during thepreseason and ended up making the team and
having a you know, a solidcareer there in San Francisco for a number
(11:58):
of years. It's just a sidebaron that. As a guy who played
in the NFL, you know,once you get there, your talents have
to shine and you have to beable to perform, certainly, but how
much of it is you know,just getting into a door, just having
that connection and sometimes just the righttime, right place, right opportunity and
(12:18):
it maybe you need something you neverthought would happen, and maybe it didn't
work out here, but you cango to a different city and you know
you go on a way two superbowls, right, I mean there's a
lot to that. I mean,you're going to be offered those opportunities.
And the big thing I always telltell you know, young young athletes,
is you got to be ready forthose opportunities. And even when you don't
see them coming. You know,it's easy to be ready and prepare for
(12:41):
that opportunity you know, is theygonna come, But you know that's not
always the case. Sometime opportunities justyou know laid, they just get presented
to you, and if you're notready to to you know, take advantage
of that moment, then you knowyou're gonna miss out. So you know
that that's a big part of somethingthat that I tell my student athletes say,
hey, you gotta be The biggestthing is prepparation. Preparation is the
(13:05):
key. You know you talk aboutluck well, luck happens when opportunity meets
preparation. If you're unprepared and theopportunity comes, you're not going to get
very lucky. So you go onand win two Super Bowls and All Pro
in nineteen eighty nine, all bymyself. By the way, I know,
I know there was no guy namedMontana at quarterback, some guy named
Rice the wide receiver, and agreat deal. No no, no no.
(13:28):
But as you're playing, career isgoing on and then it comes to
it in as as every athlete's careercomes to an ind How did you know
it when it was time to callit wits? You know, I don't
know that you really really know.I mean, you look back and you
say me, you know what,maybe I should have, you know,
grinded a little harder. But Ihad gotten hurt, you know, to
(13:50):
go back a little bit on thatstory, I had gotten hurt when,
like I told you, my incollege, I had tour what they call
your startorious muscle, which is yourmain kicking muscle. Really, so you
know the years that I was going, I mean I was able to come
back and be be efficient, Ifelt like and have a decent career,
But I was never you know,I never felt like I was back to
one hundred percent, and as always, I was always challenging myself as to
(14:13):
understanding, you know, my bodya little more. I think that's one
thing that young athletes don't realize isthat you know, you need to be
prepared for the moment. Like taketake for instance, in the NFL,
Okay, you need to be preparedto play on Sunday, okay or Monday
whenever that and now it's Thursday,you know, and set Sunday, but
(14:35):
you need to be prepared on gameday. If as a professional athlete,
that takes you not doing something thefirst two days of the week of practice,
and that's what you need to communicate. Say, hey, I'm not
going to be at my best.You know if if I go out there
and just kick and kick and kickand kick and kick on Tuesday, you
know that's not going to make mebetter. So you know, I learned
that the hard way by by notbeing you know, a little maybe a
(14:58):
little selfish, I don't want tosay selfish, but a little you know,
more body aware of what my bodyneeded to to be able to perform
at its best come game day.And so you know, in college,
I just you know, was didn'tspeak up, didn't say anything, you
know, so I just kicking.Really got to the point where my muscle
was just so fatigued it just couldn'ttake it anymore. So, you know,
(15:20):
having to manage that, you know, process through through the NFL,
you know, it was difficult toa certain extent, but but you know,
got got used to doing it andunderstanding you know, hey, I
got to be able to represent myselfand speak up to the coaching staff say
you know, I need a dayoff. Yeah, so you know,
(15:41):
I think I think carrying that andthen you know, carrying it through and
I got involved in some other stuffoutside of football that probably probably took a
little focus away and that that wasprobably something that I regret a little bit
because I think I could have chargedforward and had you know a number of
more years doing what I was doing. But I wouldn't say I knew it
was, you know, time toget out or time to move on.
(16:02):
Sometimes that just happens to you.Sure, you know the old adage,
you know, most people don't theyget told when they're done, you know,
instead of telling the people when they'redone. Right, So you know,
I got involved in motorsports a littlebit and and was excited about,
you know, pursuing some of thoseavenues and options and uh, you know,
so so you know kind of justsaid, hey, you know,
I've had enough of football, sowell, I want I want to get
(16:26):
into the motorsports and the racing asecond. But you're talking about you know,
back you know, you wish youwould have said something. And nowadays
in the professional sports they call itload management. Guys set out games,
guys don't practice. You know,back then we're talking about, you know,
the eighties, early nineties. Youknow, it kind of looked back
and do you think mayment, Iwish we had load management back then.
(16:48):
Load management during practice, not justwhen the NBA players are doing now and
sitting out back to backs and whatnot, but load management during the week and
the preparation during the week what theydo now, if you guys were doing
it back then, would extended alot of careers. Yeah, I think
I think that, you know,the health aspect has come a long way,
you know, past past twenty twentyfive years into keeping athletes, uh,
(17:11):
you know, in their prime andprepared for those you know, actual
competitions. You know, back inthe day, you know it was it
was the Mike Ditka line up.We're gonna bang heads every day and then
we're gonna go out on Sunday andbang heads again, you know. Uh
So you look back on that andthere you know, there's there's something to
be said for the iron men oftheir various sports ripken, uh you know,
(17:33):
guys like that that just show upevery day and get it done.
But I think, yeah, Ithink you know, being more body aware
now in in these days. Notnot that you know, you ever want
to you know, take yourself outof an actual competition. Uh. And
not that you want to be theAlan Iverson that says practice this is,
you know, but but uh,I think you know, athletes and coaches
(17:57):
and physical trainers, you know,understanding the aspect of what the body takes,
what the body needs to regenerate,you know, and eat its best
and beat its prime on game day, you know, even if those games
have to come back to back toback. You know, I think there's
something to be said for that inthis day and age. Yeah. So,
(18:17):
so, Mike, you take offthe football helmet, you put on
a racing helmet. Yeah, youmentioned your love for motorsports. Uh,
to tell the listeners what you gotinvolved in after football as far as racing.
So so in the off season mylast couple of years, I had
started running what you know modified uhinto its Stockton Speedway Stockton ninety nine Speedway.
And just I had grown up inCharlotte, North Carolina, and had
(18:40):
always been enamored, you know,with with with NASCAR and motorsports and had
had generated a friendship with Davy Allisonback in the day, and uh,
you know, really valued that anduh kind of just started tinking around with
with with cars and whatnot and metsome people involved in the local Central Valley
of California racing culture, and sowe got involved in that. And then
(19:02):
uh, you know, when Istepped away from football from the forty nine
ers, you know, just saidhey, I'm gonna go racing for a
season and did the Southwest Series SouthwestTour there, uh, you know,
a regional regional touring series for latemodel cars, and did well in that
and and you met some more peopleand and uh I did go back to
football for half a season with theColts after that because I moved out of
(19:23):
California and just trying to find myway a little bit, but then then
got involved in a Midwest series alittle bit, and and that was kind
of a antithetical to what had happenedin California. Didn't do so well,
probably wasn't involved with the greatest peopleat that time, and you know,
kind of ended up moving on andgetting into other things, and came out
(19:45):
to Las Vegas and got back intomotorsports out here at the at the local
level, and I met a reallygood car owner and started doing some local
stuff here. The guy who hadgotten the Bush brothers started in their racing
careers and so was racing in theLas Vegas area for a number of years,
and then dabbled in the truck seriesa little bit with a few truck
(20:07):
races. But just you know,enjoy motorsports, love motorsports. I'll tell
you what. You know. Youtalk about working hours. You know,
one thing I like to say is, you know, you could work on
a race car forever, right,but at some point in time you got
to put it on the trailer andgo race it. I always say,
you can sit there and let's dothis all. Let's do this all.
(20:29):
You know, at some point intime, Okay, hey, we got
to load and go race it itsomething right? No, Yeah, but
racing teachers, he teaches you alot. It taught me a lot,
and I really enjoy I still enjoymotorsports. So did you find the same
satisfaction, the same adrenaline that yougot from football or even more so from
from racing and working on cars?I think the payoff because so much goes
(20:55):
into it, and there's so muchyou know, when you're looking for a
tenth of a second, you know, or a half a tenth of a
second, so much goes into findingthat. When it does pay off and
you can get to victory lane,I mean that the thrill of that is
is uncomparable. It's just, youknow, there's nothing to relate it to,
you know. You know, certainlythe game winning field goal is tremendous
(21:18):
feeling. And you know, maybea walkoff home run or a you know,
a last second basketball, and theyall have their they all have their
their thrill and excitement. But yeah, that that that that payoff from having
to do so much hard work ontoonto a car for that small amount you
know of advantage that you're looking forthat when it does pay off, you're
(21:44):
like Okay, you know it wasworth it. You know it was worth
it. Yeah, So how didyou get into education? You end up
getting your masters from Concordia University,I believe in in twenty and fourteen,
through the Masters in Coaching and AthleticsAdministration program. But uh, Mike,
you end up in Vegas and racing. But how'd you get up in education
and coaching? I had been youknow, I had two young kids,
(22:06):
uh, both boys, and theywere involved in athletics and and it was
you know, helping coach you knowthat their youth teams and stuff like that.
And as they transitioned into high school. I was able to be fortunate
enough to get on some some highschool staffs and enjoyed working with the kids.
And uh, I just you know, I felt like, hey,
you know, all I'm doing rightnow is just falling back on my own
experience. You know, I wantto go get get something that Hey,
(22:30):
you know, there's got to bemore to this. And that's when you
know, the Concordia program, youknow, uh came about. It came
about for me said hey, thisis great. I'm gonna go dive into
this. Let's see what all thisis all about right then, I was
fortunate enough to uh meet mister DanTreano, who's the principal here, and
he was a former wrestler. Hewas a former high school and college wrestler,
(22:52):
and uh he wanted to develop somethinghere through SLAM to promote, you
know, the athletic programs as wegot started, and I said, hey,
you know, I'll dive in.And I've kind of got a little
bit of education background with with mymasters through Concordia in administration and coaching,
and and you know, I wasable to apply that to what we're currently
(23:14):
doing, what I'm currently doing,and fortunate enough he took a chance on
me, and I really appreciate that. And we've been able to build something
so far that we feel like it'sfairly special here at SLAM, and hopefully
we can continue to raise the barand raise the raise the roof here with
our with our athletic department athletic ofprograms, as well as developing the young
(23:36):
men and women that come through thoseprograms. You've got kind of a unique
situation is that you don't go toan established high school and jump in teaching
or coaching and then take that nextlittle love to athletic director. You go
to an academy school that's you know, from the ground level, and you're
helping establish that. That's that's kindof a unique Was that fun? And
it's is that still kind of thatas you're getting that ball going continuously,
(23:59):
as you man, it's getting biggerand bigger and bigger and you're doing more
things and more programs. That's that'sgotta be fun to start something from the
ground level. Yeah, I mean, you know, I was a little
long in the tooth when I gotstarted here, so it was gonna be
hard for me to go to youknow, an established plays that they're all
looking for these young people. Youknow, I'm younging it hard, but
uh you know, so yeah,it was. That was a very exciting
(24:23):
part of it to maybe you know, build it in your own image,
you know, you might say,or your own vision was definitely part of
it, I think, uh,you know. But yes, there have
been some very scary moments. Youknow, there's been some frustrating moments,
you know, and we still battlethose on a daily basis. I mean,
(24:44):
like I said, we're limited withour facilities. We're always trying to
ham an egg stuff, which wedo a good job at and that's been
a tough part in expressing that andcommunicating that to to others who you know,
you want to bring on the boardas either a coach or a staff,
saying hey, you know, wedon't We're not going to have everything
that you've been used to having.Okay, so you're gonna have to get
(25:04):
creative and how you go about andmaybe maybe developing your programs, running your
practices, even your games. Soyou know, I always s emphasize that
to any stat any any potential staffthat we're interviewing or talking to about.
You know, this isn't just yourrunning the mill. Okay, here you
are, here's everything you got,go do the best you can with it.
(25:26):
It's more like, okay, here, here we are, here's you
know how we have to do it, and you can fit in that into
that mold and then develop from there. You know, I tend not to
be too much of a micromanager.I'm like, hey, you know,
this is these are the things wegot. I'm not going to talk about
what we don't have. You know, We're going to talk about what we
(25:48):
do have and move forward with that. But I'm going to give you the
leeway to develop how you want todevelop it, how you want to develop
it. Just kind of you needsomething, come, you know, come
and let me know. And ifI see something that I feel like maybe
you know adline or something we cando better, or something that you've done,
this is great that we can utilizein another program. Uh, let's
do it. So as you leanon your pro career, your racing career,
(26:11):
your education and learning through Concordia asan athletic director, as a coach,
when you when you when you leanon things and you know your own
experiences, is there a former coachor a mentor that you kind of maybe
borrowed a little bit from multiple coachesor mentors that you've kind of borrowed from,
uh to kind of mold who youare as a as a leader,
(26:32):
as a Flite director and the coach. Absolutely, I mean, and those
interpersonal that was one thing I thinkthat I'll get I'll get to some individuals,
some specific individuals, but I thinkthat was one of the things that
the Concordia program did so well.Is it taught the interpersonal aspect of you
know, of athletics, where youknow, as young coach, as young
(26:52):
aggressive coaches or people who've never never, you know, taken an educational uh
tact to to to athletics. Youknow, we fall back on our X
and os, you know, ourschemes. Okay, I want to get
out there and just teach this ishow we did it. You know.
I'm like like, well, youknow, a lot of getting the kids
to do it is how you relateto them and building the relationship to get
(27:15):
the most out of it. Youknow, we get so focused, like
I said, as young coaches,don't just hey, this is a new
this is a great you know,basketball play we could runner, this is
a new defense we could put in, or this and that. That's so
great. But if you don't havethe puzzle pieces to do it the way
you want to do it, oryou don't have good relationship with them,
you're not going to be able tomotivate them to properly, you know,
perform like like it's going to benecessary for those X and O schemes to
(27:38):
be successful. So you know,some some former coaches that really impacted me
was one was my high school baseballcoach, Edwalton Charlotte County Day School back
in Charlotte, North Carolina, Imean, you know, I just it's
funny because I'll get into something andafter I do it, you know,
like thirty seconds after I apply itor do it, I go, you
(27:59):
know what, that's exactly what hedid. I'm like, you know,
I have become Ed Walton, youknow. So yeah, you know,
but we we were, but weboth utilize sarcasm a little bit, you
know, with programs and uh butuh you know, he was always,
you know, always just look backon those moments and relish those moments that
(28:19):
we that I had with him asa player, and like, you know,
if I was a player now,I'd want to be have a coach
like him. You know John Cook, my high school football coach. You
know, he another one, tremendous, tremendous man. Ta taught me so
much, you know, just aboutperseverance and detail and uh want to you
(28:41):
know, through the game of football. You know, there there were some
uh Dick Sheridan at NC State football. You know, great man uh TA
taught a lot about just being aprofessional and operating professionally and getting the most
at at you know, not alwaysmaybe having the best players on the field,
(29:03):
but getting so much out of thoseplayers that you you could compete with
those highly skilled programs that maybe hadbetter athletes. Uh, you know,
then having the experience under a guylike a Bill Walsh or or a Seaford
George Seaffert, and then some greatyou know, really some great special teams
guys. Uh you know at SanFrancisco that I worked with as well.
(29:27):
So uh, you know, itall adds up, man, it all
adds up. And you know theteachings. I love the teachings through Concordia
especially, you know, a lotof reliance on John Wooden and you know,
great impact he was not just asa coach, but as a as
a man on his players and howhis you know players talk, you know,
(29:47):
relate back to him and talk aboutthem and all the great things that
he set down. Uh. Weyou know, I have a uh philosophy
or sports psychology guy here who justhe's a big Wooden guy and I love
that. And he deals with ouryouth wrestling program and just impacts those kids
so well, you know, usinga lot of those John Wooden components.
(30:11):
So yeah, it's been it's beentremendous. Awesome, Mike. I appreciate
the conversation catching up with you.Letting people hear your story and what you're
doing with SLAM there and Henderson Nevadacontinued success. You've built it from the
ground up and you continue to moveit forward and build momentum with you with
(30:32):
the school and the sports programs there. Thank you again so much for joining
us here on the podcast. Well, thank you, Yeah, we got
we still got a long way togo. We don't want to look backward.
We want to look through the frontwindshield. That's kind of like what
I tell people around here. Anduh, I appreciate you having me on
and hopefully you know, some wordsof wisdom come out and well let's go.
Well there he goes Mike co forwhat a story, All Conference kicker
(30:53):
at NC State. Then he goesto the NFL, two times Super Bowl
winner with the forty nine ers andAll Pro in nineteen eighty nine. After
his NFL days, he becomes arace car driver and now he's an educator,
a coach, a teacher, athleticdirector at SLAM. We appreciate Mike
for joining us. Also an alumof the Masters in Coaching Athletics Administration program.
(31:15):
You heard him talk about it.Find out more go to CUI dot
eedu slash coaching. They got differentstarts times throughout the year. Find when
the next one is that fits yourschedule. You can do it online or
in person. And again for youfirst time students, a one thousand dollars
scholarship for the Masters in Coaching andAthletics Administration Program Concordia University, Irvine.
(31:36):
Check it out again, CUI dotedu slash Coaching, CUI dot edu slash
Coaching. Thanks to Mike Cooper.Thanks to you for listening and watching episode
fifty six of the Masters in Coachingpodcast is in the books. Until next
time, Tim Kate saying Solong everybody,
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