Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
And we're back to the Craig Way Show.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Have a message for Craig, share it by using the
talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Glad to have you with us here.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
By the way, we have iHeartRadio brethren obviously down in
San Antonio with a big fifty thousand one candle you
know WAI also the ticket KTKR AM seven sixty, which
is the flagship station for the football program headed up
our next guest. In case you didn't know it, UTSA
(00:40):
has more wins since the start of this decade in
twenty twenty than any other college football program in the
state of Texas. It just happened to coincide with the
arrival of Jeff Trailer as the head coach and coach.
Trailer and I have known each other for quite a while,
going back to his outstanding coaching day as a Gilmer,
(01:00):
winning state titles there and a Texas High School Football
Hall of Famer and most recently Texas High School Coaches
Associational Hall of Honor member and inductee, and he joins
us now on the hotline. I've been waiting to ask
you this question for I don't know why I didn't
ask you this question when we were in San Antonio
on that stage. With all success that you've had over
(01:22):
these past five years at UTSA, do you feel finally
like a full fledged college football coach? Because I've heard
you quite often refer to yourself as deep down inside,
you'll always be, in some respect the Texas high school
football coach. But do you feel like a full fledged
college coach after five years as a head coach?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well, I will never lose my root to forget where
I came from, for sure, But I would be lying
to you if I didn't tell you that our sustaining
success at UTSA has not given me great confidence and
helped valid to all my Texas High school buddies that
(02:03):
we can come to this level and be successful and sustainable.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
And that's not to say we've won every game, because we.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Haven't, but we are very proud of what we've done
in our five years. And I know maybe and arguably
for sure the five to multiples years of the history
of talk football.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
No question about that.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
And yet, and here's another thing I've heard high school coaches,
and that goes not only with the leadership of the
High School Coach Association, but just the rank and file.
Coaches across the state refer to you as a bit
of a trailblazer. Yes, there have been high school coaches
in Texas who have gone on to be college coaches successful,
(02:43):
but the fact that you kind of really are cut
from the fabric of state championship coaches at the high
school level to carry that forward kind of has served
as an inspiration to a lot of high school coaches saying, Hey,
that's an attainable thing for me down the road if
I do what I'm supposed to do and things happened
(03:03):
the way, do you do you feel I don't know
if responsibility is the right word, but do you kind
of feel some mentorship some leadership in that category?
Speaker 4 (03:13):
There's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
It's not a coincidence that I wear that TCHSCA cap
a couple of times per year, and anytime I'm R
on the national scene, I'm gonna wear it.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
And it's not just that I put my money where
my mouth is.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I mean my if it's a coordinator just left won
a state championship at La Travis Joe Pross. Our past
game coordinator won a state championship at North Shore Kurt Traylor.
Our run game coordinator, won multiple championships at Gilmer. Matt Turner,
our chief of staff, won a state championship at Marshall,
and won state championship with US at Gilmer. So I've
(03:47):
got a staff full of Texas high school football coaches
and I didn't name them all. I just named the
ones that had won state championships.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
And I would imagine that's a great deal of pride
for not only you as a head coach, but for
your staff when you're on the recruiting trail. And that
was a big part of when we did that panel
discussion a couple of weeks ago, the deal about recruiting
to be visiting not only with the high school coach,
but the young man and the family.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
About that connective tissue, isn't it about?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
You have coaches who have been there, been in the
trenches on the high school scene, and they can make
that transition as a high school student athlete to the
collegiate level, just as you guys did.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Coaches, I would imagine.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, there's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I mean, Corey Jordan, it's from the Metroplax can go
anywhere in Dallas, Joe Proston, go anywhere in Houston, Kirk
Trailer can go anywhere in East Texas and Jess Lepp
go anywhere in Austin or Dallas.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Was he's coaching both places.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
And you know, I cut my teeth recruiting. That's how
I got this job. When I was at the University
of Texas, we had great success recruiting, it did not
translate to as many wins on the field as we
would like to have.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
And that's how you get in these chairs. You got
to have relationships.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
You got to recruit, but then when you get them,
you got to develop them. And that's the piece that
people don't talk about enough.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
The evaluation piece is important.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Recruiting is important, but what do you do with them
when you get them on your campus?
Speaker 4 (05:11):
And that's where we really gained the trust even more
of our Texas high school buddies is they.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Might not all play, they might not all go to
the National Football League, but they know we're going to
take care of their kids and deal with them in
a very honest fashion.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Do you think that that might be the most challenging
part of being a college football coach, whether you're talking
about whatever power four, G five, G six, whatever you
want to call it. At any level is the development
of the student athlete once you recruit, no matter how
talented they were, or if they were someone who just
(05:44):
kind of slid under the radar, a diamond in the
rough that you found still in all the piece of
the development. Is that as challenging as about anything for
a college football coach these days, well.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It shouldn't be, but it is because of the new
way the time frame works.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
You have to look at these young men. Now is
six months six months.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I hope you understand that opportunity to really influence that
kid because you don't know what that next six months
is going to look like, and how you treat that
kid during that time is gonna really resonate with him
more than anything else.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
We're gonna do.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I you know, I really enjoyed having a kid and
knowing I having for five years.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Those are still my greatest joys.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Of getting them one there just right out of high
school and seeing them all the way through, hearing about
their weddings, hearing about their kids, seeing where their jobs.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Are gonna be like one day. And I don't think
that's gone.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
It's just harder because your roster is a little more fluid.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
We haven't lost that many kids.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
One of my favorite kids is actually on the University
of Texas, is a roster and trade more.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Those things are painful. It's that I love the kids
so much, but I.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Think when they exit, how you continue to root for
trade more, how you continue to invest in trade more?
And and anytime I talk to Sart, I want to
know how Trey's doing, because I truly care.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
For that kid.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah, and and I know, like you said, it's been
fortunate that you haven't had to lose too many players,
but that this this is something that's happening everywhere around
college football. Does that is that a major part of
the I've heard coaches talk about this. I think I've
even heard you make reference that the re recruiting or
the ongoing recruiting of the young man that you have
(07:27):
in your program. You mentioned six months that having him,
having him there, is it a constant cycle of the
re recruiting that goes on for you?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Now, it shouldn't be, because you should be treating that
kid the way the Lord wants you to treat him
every day of his life. There should be no different.
I just don't believe in that where it gets different Craig.
It's just the agents have now entered the scene and
now you're dealing with agents at the end of each cycle.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
You're not dealing with your player like you used to.
That's the biggest difference.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, and that's I'm not going to use the word scary,
but I'll see. I mean, it's unnerving thing. It's an
unsettling thing, isn't knowing that that's an extra bridge to
cross now for you for the athletic program.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
In terms of whether a young man's.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Stakes because of the outside party, whether it's a third party,
fourth party. I've heard it referred to as the shady uncle,
whatever that might be. I mean, that's that's an element
that that just kind of adds something to your plate,
didn't it.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
It just depends on who the agent is you're dealing with.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
You know, the higher character that person has, the more
he's gonna care for his kid. And it's you know,
it all comes back to relationships to a degree. But
there are some where you just don't have the ability
to let them know what you think really is best
for them. And that's another thing that you had to
be You have to really check your own self to
(08:47):
make sure you're giving kid accurate information and it's just
the way the new world is right now. So I
tell them my team right now. Just don't you've heard
this quarter a thousand times. Yesterday's history, tomorrow's a mystery,
Today's a gift. That's why it's called the President. Let's
don't start thinking about what's going to happen in December.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Let's be right.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Where we are right now. If you want to be
a coach, it's going to have a great career. You
better have a great video on film. If you're a
player that wants to have options in December, if you're
a coach that wants to have options in December, you
better put great video out because if you don't put
great video out, someone else is going to decide your future.
When you put great video out, you get to decide
(09:28):
your own future. That about it.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Visiting with Jeff trailor head coach at UTSA here on
thirteen hundreds, and let me ask you about some of
the guys you do have.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
On your roster.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
And I want to start with your senior wide receiver
who today was selected on the Paul Horning.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Award watch Listen.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
That's Willie McCoy and what he does for your offense
and what.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
He can do to an opposing.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Defense, what he does for your quarterback on McCown, what
he can do for your team overall.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, William's been a great returner for us when he
was young, and he developed into a really good receiver.
Coming back from a knee injury. I don't think he'll
be one hundred percent when the season starts. We do
think he'll be back to that at some point, but
he's moving around pretty good today.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Really proud of Willie.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Got a daughter now and doing a good job raising
that girl, and really proud.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Of will in the coy now at a bel Air
high and it started off with the junior college home.
That's something else because you because of your background in
East Texas and in East Texas has always been a
hotbed of outstanding junior college football, whether it's Kilgore or
Tyler or wherever, uh you know, Trinity Valley, wherever that is.
Are there still diamonds in the rough that come out
(10:44):
of the juco programs. Whereas everything because of social media
in the way it is now, everybody knows something about everybody.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
It's hard to hide him. You can't just sneak them
out to your point anymore. But I think we're we've
done really well because our roster is now full of
these Texas kids.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
I was a small.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Town kid, even when Charlie hired me to come.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
To the University of Texas. That's aught of going to Austin.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
When you're from Gilmour, it's pretty imposing and if you're
a city guy, you don't understand that. But when you're
a small town kid like I was, I understand that.
So you can have conversations with Chris Boyd and Brandon
Jones that the city had to manitulate that. You can
have conversations with Devin McEwan Owen McCowan obviously was from
(11:28):
russ but his dad played in the league, so he
traveled the country. He knew all that that wouldn't be
the case there will Henderson. Some guys on my roster
that might not have, you know, got out very much.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
And I know we've had success with that. So you
might not.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Find Divans in the rouugh anymore, Craig, but I think
you can help help that kid understand how to maneuver
in the city when they get down here.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Toward that end.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
There's a couple of the guys I want to ask
you about only because in doing the state championship games,
I got so used to calling their names, and they
played at the same high school. On the offensive side,
David Amador and on you and on your defensive eyed
Chad side, Chad Bangs coming in. How how about those
two guys and what they can offer to your group
this year.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, and I've got Tydle Leonard who also plays. We've
got a nice little pipeline there with Joe Price obviously,
so East Side is very well represented on our roster.
Those kids are they know how to win? You know,
they played for Willie, they played for.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
John k Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
They know how to win.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
They know how to run a program.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I thought you were going to say, we've got two
state champions for the same team, uh, in Brandon Tennyson
and Will Henderson from Gilmourt. That well, when I when
I when I got here, I had everybody stand up
and nobody on my roster had won a state championship
in football.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Uh And that that just scared the heck out of me.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
So we really tried to attack the Texas high school
football players that have won state championships because culture matters.
Knowing how to win matters.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Knowing how to win those games matters.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And the names you mentioned had been in a lot
of close games in front of a lot of people
and pressure situations. You know, I've got a kid from
Kady on my team right now, John Steven who's now
for coach Joseph. I mean, you just can't get enough
of those kind of kids.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
On your roster.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Well, I'm glad you brought that up because when Mac
Brown was coaching, he used to talk about how important
it was to him personally and to the coaching staff
overall to recruit young men and obviously they need to
fit the need that you need for them to fit,
but also to recruit guys who had played for championships,
(13:38):
who had played fourteen, fifteen, sixteen games in a season,
and that there's an intangible there that you might not
have even from a four star or a five star
who only got to play ten to eleven ball games
on that is that something you firmly have believed in.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, And it's just the mental toughness those kids have
from playing in so many big games. Uh, They're under
pressure from the time they're in kindergarten basically.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Because they all want to grow up and play at Katie.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
They all want to play at north Shore, they all
want to play at SoC they all want to play
at Duncanville, they all want to play at Gilmer.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
So you're just trying to Alito.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Uh, I've got an Omati Lina from Aledo right now.
You just want as many of those kids as you
Canada is so much more mentally tough. They just are
used to pressure and uh. And trust me, Jarry Joseph
Alan Metsel. Uh, those guys Alito and north Shore, those
guys in coach with anybody in the country. And those
(14:36):
kids are as well coach as anybody when you get them
in your.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Program, no doubt about that.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Before I let you go, I gotta ask you about
your schedule, Uh, because you start off they're over in
the Brass Valley, and then and then Texas State, and
that's turned into a nice, nice little rivalry that that
you've got working there between UTSA and Texas State and
then the crosstown thing with an outstanding FCS programming Incarnate
were and then you got to go to a future
(15:01):
packed twelve opponent, just as you have a future Pack
twelve opponent as a home in Texas State, going to
Colorado State. How about your thoughts on those non conference
games before you even get into American play.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Yeah, it's really awesome if you're a fan. There's a
lot of.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Texas heavy connection there. Obviously that's going to A and
M to start the season off. What a great opportunity
we have. You know, Michael COO's got an unbelievable team,
does a great job, and all three of my kids,
you know, graduating from there, so that'll be you know,
special for us to go down there and then to
play Texas State, where my former quarterback at GILMERT G. J.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Kenny is the head coach. A really cool story.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
There between him and I basically like a son to me,
and he's done a great job turning that program around.
Then we got ui W you know, a little local
San Antonio rivalry, and then we go to Colorado State
where I get to up my good buddy Jay Norvel
who him and I were at the University of Texas together,
and so really excited about all four of those games.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Hey, I appreciate you taking the time. I know it's busy.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
What would practice underway I hoped things are off to
a good start for you. I'm always following you very
keenly and closely as well, so I appreciate you taking
a few minutes to visit with us, and we'll check
in with you during the course of the year.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And you know, birds up. Hope things go well for you.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Craig. You've been first class since the moment I met you.
I appreciate what you've done for Texas high school football
and just your voice. The games just matter more. We
know great ways calling them. Appreciate your friendship, God blessing,
birds up.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Jeff all right, that is Jeff trailer head coach of
the UTSA Roadrunners and like we said, winning his program
in the state of Texas since the turn of the
decade there in twenty twenty, coinciding with his arrival there
in San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
All right, Coming up next, we'll
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Hear more from coach Sart talking about his team and
coming off that first practice and getting ready for the
second practice, which they are now well underwigh in when
we continue, I'm thirteen under the zone