July 23, 2025 • 9 mins
Today, we announce and celebrate the induction of Lifetime Longhorn Rod Wright, a former Texas football superstar and newly inducted member of the Texas Hall of Honor. He shares with us his experience of being a Hall of Honor Inductee. He discusses his role as the Texans' Defensive Line Coach in the NFL. He tells us what it was like that season when the Longhorns won the National Championship, defeating USC in the Rose Bowl. We learn how impactful Mack Brown's speech was when he said, "Don't let this game be the greatest moment of your life." Rod mentions the importance of being a great family man. As a former Longhorn, he emphasized the importance of passing the torch, being a leader, and learning from those who have led. You can hear it all here on "The Morning Kickoff Show!"
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ten new members of the Texas Hall of Honor, and
one of those is joining us right now. Lifetime Longhorn
and a key part of the two thousand and five
national championship team, and now he is currently the Texans
defensive line coach, and now he will be inducted into
that Hall of Honor. He is one Roderick right. We
(00:24):
know him as Rod Right. What's happening to my man?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hey, how you doing? Appreciate that I'm good. I'm good man.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I'm so excited to talk to you because your career
at the University of Texas is second to none.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
You were Big.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Twelve Freshmen of the Year, two time Outstanding Defensive Lineman Award,
Freshman All American. You've done so many great things at
the University of Texas, but it was all capped off
with that two thousand and five national championship team.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And I want you to.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Take us back to that moment of when you guys
were in the locker room, were getting ready to play
USC underdog all the way there and then for you
guys to finish it off and be national champions.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, first of all, thank you, thank you for the call,
thank you for the honor. Obviously it can't be done without,
first of all, the faith I have in God and
my family, who who who supported me, friends and obviously
my teammates.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Definitely it's hard for d Line to get in anything if.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
You don't have if you don't have an outstanding offense
and obviously outstanding defense and special teams and the coaching
staff and everybody, but basically, man, at the end of
the day, that locker room was was electric. Obviously we knew,
we knew what we had. We knew what we had
going into that season. It was a long time, a
(01:56):
lot of work put in, and I know the moment
of winning it is the ultimate deal, but it was
it was grinding in the summer, getting bonding as a
as a as a locker room, as a staff, and
and putting it all together and achieving that ultimate goal.
(02:19):
And when I think about it, it always sticks out
to me, you know, and coach bond in that uh,
in that moment, he made us promise, made us promise
from that that wouldn't be the greatest thing that we achieved.
And I'm still I'm still living and working on that
as we speak, you know, as a as a husband,
(02:39):
as a father, and and then it's my current career
with the Texans that that's that's my goal is to
is to do good on that promise we made after
that game.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
You know, it's funny that you say that, because that
that clip in the locker room gets a lot of play.
Everybody obviously was talking about Vy and what he brought
to the table and what he eventually did. But that
clip of Mac Brown talking to you guys as young men,
talking about don't let this be the greatest thing that
(03:12):
you achieve in your life, that kind of hits home,
and especially as someone like yourself who is now a
leader of men himself.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yes, absolutely, I mean it really shapes the mentality at
that point.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I still talk like that today. I don't.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I don't no matter what we achieve, We've won. We
won a lot of ball games here, and let's not
let it stop there. You know, like hopefully one day
I'll be able to say, hey, in the Super Bowl
after the Super Bowl, man, hey, man, like let's let's
let's let's not let's not let it stop there. You know,
you're still a husband, you're still a father, you're still
(03:54):
a son. You still have work to do, And I
think that that's that's that that that that hit home
because a lot of times that human nature man a
I achieved. I achieved this ultimate task. Now now I
can shut it down. Well, sports, you know, for the guys,
the greats, the Michael Jordan's of the world, the Tom
(04:14):
Brady's the world. You know, when it comes to sports,
let's go running back to back, Like we can't just
be satisfied with that one ring.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Let's go get another one.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And just in life in general, I mean, okay, you're
the best football player ever.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
What's next?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
You know what I'm saying, Like, you still got a
wife and kids waiting on you. They don't care if
you win to lose the game. Ultimately, they they they
they're they're living a life that you're in charge of
as a man of the household. So that's something that
that hit home. That's how it was raised and on
my visit, that's what my parents and I saw, And
(04:50):
that's something that that Coach Brown and that staff held us,
held us accountable to do, and that's something that shapes
the life a young man.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
We're talking to lifetime Longhorn rod Wright, who is now
a new member of the Texas Hall of honor. It
will happen September the twelfth. We just talked to Haley
Eckerman and she's going in with you. The full list
will be announced at ten o'clock today, so we're not
giving away any more of that. But my whole thought
(05:24):
process is for you guys to be able to achieve
those types of honors, you had to be more than
just a great football player, as you said, you had
to be more than a great teammate. You had to
be somebody at this university that was impactful with the
way that you went about your business and listening to
(05:45):
you talk, you epitome. You are the epitome of making
sure that it's bigger than just sports.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Absolutely. I mean, here's deal.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
You. I've learned from leaders man. One thing that I
put myself on is I'm not perfect. I'm sure there's
a lot of people that can tell you or experienced
when I was not, and I you know, at the
end of the day, it comes down to learning from mistakes.
And you know when the leaders I've had the core
(06:18):
readings of the world, you know, the Marcus Tubs of
the world, those guys that that that that.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Were the leaders before me and then the guys in
the weight room, you.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Know, the the mad Dogs, the Tim Crosses, the DONI made,
like those guys that you know, also installed the mentality
in us and we we that's what it was like,
you know. And I'm right now, my my, the guy
that works with me on the D line with detections,
it's Frank Okam. When he came in, I took it.
(06:50):
I took it up on myself to uh to mentor him,
like Marcus Tubbs and Core Reading mentored me. Kevin Thornton
mentored me. So at the end of the day, like
they learned from Casey and Sean and Sean Rogers and
they learned from Cedric Wood. They learned from those guys.
And when we when the younger guys came in, man,
(07:10):
I took Frank under Mawing, I took Mary Miller, you know,
Tim Bright, like all those guys. That's what we knew,
you know what I'm saying. And so at the end
of the day, I'm just doing what I was taught
to do. I was not the greatest leader even then,
you know. It was developed development process. But at the
end of the day, like that's the that's the program.
(07:32):
We had is you know, we we learned from those guys.
As a freshman, you come in, you know, like what
do I do? You know, like how do I do this?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
But when you see.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Corey rending in the weight room working extra, you see
him running to the football, you see him going to
class man, you you you you see him preaching to
you every day. And then even after he left, we
always joke about this. When we made it to the
national championship, he called me and congratulated me, and then
right after that he literally said, hey, Rod, tell those
(08:03):
guys focused on the task at hand. Like when I
heard that, I was like, my god, that was like
and I still I still laugh about that, but like
that's what we had, Like we knew all those guys
that didn't make it that far. We're watching that game
and they were cheering, their cheering for us, just like
(08:25):
we cheered for those guys today. Like, man, I remember
that that Arizona State game. I'm in a I'm in
a defensive staff meeting. The game was on silent, but
it was on and like at the point, like at
the at the at the point before we won the game,
like everybody's like watching me, Rob, what's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Of course, we pulled it through. We still watch.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
We're still watching these young guys just like the older
guys were watching us. So man, it's really, uh, it's
really that's what culture is. And it's just when it's
your turns that carried it baton, you carry it as
far as you can and you hand it over to
that next group of guys.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
And that's just how it is. And when you're a
long r it don't matter who, who the coach is,
who the player is.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Man, like these guys that did it before us, Man,
it's our turn to carry it as far as we
can and continue to evolve and continue to take it
to the next level.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
And that's what it's all about. Can't thank you enough
for taking the time. I know that you're a busy,
busy man, but congratulations for your induction into the Texas
Longhorn Hall of Honor. Much deserved and keep spreading that
good word, my man.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Absolutely, absolutely, I appreciate it. No problem.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
There he is, rod right going into the Texas Longhorned
Hall of Honor. He's not by himself. They'll have all
the other inductees announced at ten o'clock. The man oh
Man National Champion Rod Right,
Ten new members of the Texas Hall of Honor, and
one of those is joining us right now. Lifetime Longhorn
and a key part of the two thousand and five
national championship team, and now he is currently the Texans
defensive line coach, and now he will be inducted into
that Hall of Honor. He is one Roderick right. We
(00:24):
know him as Rod Right. What's happening to my man?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hey, how you doing? Appreciate that I'm good. I'm good man.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I'm so excited to talk to you because your career
at the University of Texas is second to none.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
You were Big.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Twelve Freshmen of the Year, two time Outstanding Defensive Lineman Award,
Freshman All American. You've done so many great things at
the University of Texas, but it was all capped off
with that two thousand and five national championship team.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And I want you to.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Take us back to that moment of when you guys
were in the locker room, were getting ready to play
USC underdog all the way there and then for you
guys to finish it off and be national champions.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, first of all, thank you, thank you for the call,
thank you for the honor. Obviously it can't be done without,
first of all, the faith I have in God and
my family, who who who supported me, friends and obviously
my teammates.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Definitely it's hard for d Line to get in anything if.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
You don't have if you don't have an outstanding offense
and obviously outstanding defense and special teams and the coaching
staff and everybody, but basically, man, at the end of
the day, that locker room was was electric. Obviously we knew,
we knew what we had. We knew what we had
going into that season. It was a long time, a
(01:56):
lot of work put in, and I know the moment
of winning it is the ultimate deal, but it was
it was grinding in the summer, getting bonding as a
as a as a locker room, as a staff, and
and putting it all together and achieving that ultimate goal.
(02:19):
And when I think about it, it always sticks out
to me, you know, and coach bond in that uh,
in that moment, he made us promise, made us promise
from that that wouldn't be the greatest thing that we achieved.
And I'm still I'm still living and working on that
as we speak, you know, as a as a husband,
(02:39):
as a father, and and then it's my current career
with the Texans that that's that's my goal is to
is to do good on that promise we made after
that game.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
You know, it's funny that you say that, because that
that clip in the locker room gets a lot of play.
Everybody obviously was talking about Vy and what he brought
to the table and what he eventually did. But that
clip of Mac Brown talking to you guys as young men,
talking about don't let this be the greatest thing that
(03:12):
you achieve in your life, that kind of hits home,
and especially as someone like yourself who is now a
leader of men himself.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yes, absolutely, I mean it really shapes the mentality at
that point.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I still talk like that today. I don't.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I don't no matter what we achieve, We've won. We
won a lot of ball games here, and let's not
let it stop there. You know, like hopefully one day
I'll be able to say, hey, in the Super Bowl
after the Super Bowl, man, hey, man, like let's let's
let's let's not let's not let it stop there. You know,
you're still a husband, you're still a father, you're still
(03:54):
a son. You still have work to do, And I
think that that's that's that that that that hit home
because a lot of times that human nature man a
I achieved. I achieved this ultimate task. Now now I
can shut it down. Well, sports, you know, for the guys,
the greats, the Michael Jordan's of the world, the Tom
(04:14):
Brady's the world. You know, when it comes to sports,
let's go running back to back, Like we can't just
be satisfied with that one ring.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Let's go get another one.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And just in life in general, I mean, okay, you're
the best football player ever.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
What's next?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
You know what I'm saying, Like, you still got a
wife and kids waiting on you. They don't care if
you win to lose the game. Ultimately, they they they
they're they're living a life that you're in charge of
as a man of the household. So that's something that
that hit home. That's how it was raised and on
my visit, that's what my parents and I saw, And
(04:50):
that's something that that Coach Brown and that staff held us,
held us accountable to do, and that's something that shapes
the life a young man.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
We're talking to lifetime Longhorn rod Wright, who is now
a new member of the Texas Hall of honor. It
will happen September the twelfth. We just talked to Haley
Eckerman and she's going in with you. The full list
will be announced at ten o'clock today, so we're not
giving away any more of that. But my whole thought
(05:24):
process is for you guys to be able to achieve
those types of honors, you had to be more than
just a great football player, as you said, you had
to be more than a great teammate. You had to
be somebody at this university that was impactful with the
way that you went about your business and listening to
(05:45):
you talk, you epitome. You are the epitome of making
sure that it's bigger than just sports.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Absolutely. I mean, here's deal.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
You. I've learned from leaders man. One thing that I
put myself on is I'm not perfect. I'm sure there's
a lot of people that can tell you or experienced
when I was not, and I you know, at the
end of the day, it comes down to learning from mistakes.
And you know when the leaders I've had the core
(06:18):
readings of the world, you know, the Marcus Tubs of
the world, those guys that that that that.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Were the leaders before me and then the guys in
the weight room, you.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Know, the the mad Dogs, the Tim Crosses, the DONI made,
like those guys that you know, also installed the mentality
in us and we we that's what it was like,
you know. And I'm right now, my my, the guy
that works with me on the D line with detections,
it's Frank Okam. When he came in, I took it.
(06:50):
I took it up on myself to uh to mentor him,
like Marcus Tubbs and Core Reading mentored me. Kevin Thornton
mentored me. So at the end of the day, like
they learned from Casey and Sean and Sean Rogers and
they learned from Cedric Wood. They learned from those guys.
And when we when the younger guys came in, man,
(07:10):
I took Frank under Mawing, I took Mary Miller, you know,
Tim Bright, like all those guys. That's what we knew,
you know what I'm saying. And so at the end
of the day, I'm just doing what I was taught
to do. I was not the greatest leader even then,
you know. It was developed development process. But at the
end of the day, like that's the that's the program.
(07:32):
We had is you know, we we learned from those guys.
As a freshman, you come in, you know, like what
do I do? You know, like how do I do this?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
But when you see.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Corey rending in the weight room working extra, you see
him running to the football, you see him going to
class man, you you you you see him preaching to
you every day. And then even after he left, we
always joke about this. When we made it to the
national championship, he called me and congratulated me, and then
right after that he literally said, hey, Rod, tell those
(08:03):
guys focused on the task at hand. Like when I
heard that, I was like, my god, that was like
and I still I still laugh about that, but like
that's what we had, Like we knew all those guys
that didn't make it that far. We're watching that game
and they were cheering, their cheering for us, just like
(08:25):
we cheered for those guys today. Like, man, I remember
that that Arizona State game. I'm in a I'm in
a defensive staff meeting. The game was on silent, but
it was on and like at the point, like at
the at the at the point before we won the game,
like everybody's like watching me, Rob, what's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Of course, we pulled it through. We still watch.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
We're still watching these young guys just like the older
guys were watching us. So man, it's really, uh, it's
really that's what culture is. And it's just when it's
your turns that carried it baton, you carry it as
far as you can and you hand it over to
that next group of guys.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
And that's just how it is. And when you're a
long r it don't matter who, who the coach is,
who the player is.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Man, like these guys that did it before us, Man,
it's our turn to carry it as far as we
can and continue to evolve and continue to take it
to the next level.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
And that's what it's all about. Can't thank you enough
for taking the time. I know that you're a busy,
busy man, but congratulations for your induction into the Texas
Longhorn Hall of Honor. Much deserved and keep spreading that
good word, my man.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Absolutely, absolutely, I appreciate it. No problem.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
There he is, rod right going into the Texas Longhorned
Hall of Honor. He's not by himself. They'll have all
the other inductees announced at ten o'clock. The man oh
Man National Champion Rod Right,
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