Catching Up with Christians: EP 1 - Landon Hutchison, Head Baseball Coach at Lake Erie College

In this episode, host Dan McCarty interviews Landon Hutchison, a college baseball coach, about his coaching journey and the impact of faith on his coaching style. Landon shares his background and how he got into coaching, as well as his goals for the program he currently coaches. He emphasizes the importance of building relationships beyond baseball and creating a supportive team culture. Landon also discusses how his faith has influenced his coaching style and beliefs, and shares his experiences of balancing faith and coaching as a full-time coach. The episode concludes with a discussion on being bold in faith as a coach. In this conversation, Landon Hutchison discusses his experiences with religion, the impact of the ABCA convention, his hobbies outside of coaching, and the role of faith in his life. He shares personal stories of tragedy and how they led him to strengthen his faith. The conversation emphasizes the importance of making a positive impact on others and finding gratitude in every season of life.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the first episode of catching up with
Christians.
I'm your host, dan McCarty,alongside dear friend and guest,
landon Hutchinson.
How you doing today, landonLong great Dan.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
How are you?

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Wonderful.
I appreciate you taking thetime to.
You know, hop onto the podcasttoday.
It's the first episode, so howdo you feel about being the
first guest?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
It's fine man, I'll lead.
I'll lead it off.
We'll start things off with abang.
Hopefully will be the thebiggest viewership right off the
rip.
But if not, you know maybe wecan bring me back later and
maybe try and get those numbersup.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
I love it, man, that's awesome.
So what is your style today?
It's gonna be really deep andphilosophical, or just kind of
casual.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, it's pretty casual man, but no man, I'm just
trying to, you know, learn fromyou, you learn from me and
Hopefully just inspire somepeople to, you know, get closer
to Christ and also to just maybehave some sort of you know
stories through, you know, ourtestimonies and things like that
that could possibly, you know,connect with them, and that's
really what it's about.

(01:02):
And you know, we were talkingabout the ABCA and we saw each
other again and that's what it'sabout.
It's that fraternity you knowthat you have and I think, yeah,
the same thing goes with with apodcast like this.
You know Jesus is, you know,great for all of us and I really
think it helps.
You know ties a lot of things.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
So, absolutely, absolutely.
You weren't mind kind of divingin who is landing, how to, what
do you do and and how have yougotten to where you are?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, so a lot of people call me coach Hutch, but
that wasn't.
You know where I started.
So I'm born in Columbus, ohio.
I'm a Buckeyes fan.
It's pretty much like you knowwhat you got to be when you're
born in.
Born in that area, but was bornin 1992, so 31 years old.
Graduated from Liberty Union,which is a small school.

(01:49):
I was like I've made this jokea million times, but it's 100%
true like take your tractor towork day.
It's extremely small town, liketwo or three stop lights in it
and Graduated in 2011.
Played three sports during thattime played baseball, basketball
and golf.
Was a really good athlete andgolf.

(02:09):
I actually had some, you know,pretty legit offers during that
time.
But I had a much deeperconnection To baseball.
It's, you know, been my passion.
It's given me everything andwhere I am now today.
And then I also showed hogs andsheep at the fair and horses
and things like that.
So there's a lot of ties andthings that I use those kind of

(02:33):
kind of times to help with mycoaching today too.
And then, you know, there'ssome other things that you know
taught me.
But then it up, get anopportunity to play at the
University of Rio Grande, whichis in Rio Grande, ohio, southern
Ohio.
Nei school Play for coach Bradone lot for four years and
coached there for two yearsprior.
After that post, got mymaster's degree and coaching

(02:56):
leadership.
Then, after coaching, I decidedto Not become a teacher.
That was what I went to schoolfor, so that was another thing
that you know prayed a lot aboutand you know was it something
that I wanted to do every singleday and you know I am teaching
still technically I'm justteaching but that was a big

(03:17):
change and big decision in mylife and ended up moving out to
Indianapolis and Probably amonth after I took this job with
pastime tournaments, I Got anopportunity to be the fishy
coach at the University ofIndianapolis out there as a
part-time coach and and Coachhere for four years, had a lot
of success there and ended upgetting this opportunity to be

(03:39):
the head coach here at Lake Erieand that's where I've been ever
since.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
That's awesome, man.
I love your coaching journey.
We we before we dive into that.
So I just want to kind of getinto how we know each other.
I mean, I can break that down alittle bit, but I want to hear
your perspective of kind of howyou know you feel like we've
connected on that level.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, so I mean, obviously you know my boy, dave
Steele.
We were roommates in collegeand man, he just kept talking
about you.
That man, he got me more Dan,like he's, he's legit, like
knows this stuff.
You know, great catching guybut just unbelievable person.
You know a lot of things,you've been through and and
stuff like that and it puts alot of things in perspective for
some people.
But the one thing that you knowreally stood out to me, man,

(04:22):
was, honestly, when we startedfollowing each other on Twitter
and we finally actually got, youknow, a chance to meet each
other.
It was just like yourconnection through Christ and
that made me want to meet youeven more.
You know, honestly, and itreally has, you know, inspired.
You have specifically inspireda lot of people and that's why
I'm really happy that We'vebuilt a relationship you know
through Dave.
But he's a character.

(04:43):
I mean he actually was callingme probably 15 minutes ago,
right before we started thispodcast, so I kind of hit ignore
on him.
So I'll call him back afterthis thing.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
But sweet coach Dale will be a future guest here
where it's supposed to be one ofthe next few days as well, so
tune in for that people.
But yeah, I mean, I feel I feelthe same way about you.
I think one of the biggestthings right is in our, in our
career right with coaching andthings.
It's it's People.
I really get inspired by peoplewho are really open and,

(05:15):
outwardly, you know, are showingtheir faith.
But through their career and Iknow coach steel, our mutual
friend, was a person like thathimself, like One of the first
times, you know, we startedtalking.
He's like hey, man, you shouldcome to church with me and, and
faith is really important to me,and being able to see someone
who Was a really good coach butalso be someone who is really

(05:38):
just bold for Jesus, it'ssomething really inspiring.
Because personally I'm youngbut I've seen a handful of
coaches in games and you don'talways see that, and so when I
saw that connection betweencoach steel, I was like man,
this is a guy I want to bearound for a long time.
And he started talking aboutyou know this guy, coach, I'm

(05:59):
like man, this dude kind ofseems pretty cool.
You know, um, you know and andwe're all relatively younger in
the coaching space, right, andyou know that was the thing.
Another thing too, it's you when, depending on who you coach
with, it's hard to connect withsome of the older people on more
of a personal level.
Obviously, career-wise you canyou got to do your jobs You're

(06:20):
gonna connect on the baseballside of things.
But when it comes to real lifesituations, you know it's a lot
easier to connect someone who'sin their late 20s, early 30s as
a 21 year old, than a 50, 60, 70year old.
You know person.
So that was something reallythat you know inspired me and it
got me excited when coach feelwas like hey, man, I got some
people for you to connect with.

(06:41):
So I remember one of our firstcouple times beating was on the
recruiting trail.
You know we get to.
I had my raising canes, asalways in a red bull and you
know, it was one of the firstfirst times you really got to
just connect and really get toknow each other more.
And, like I said, I just lovethat you're bold.
I'm taking this thing out of myear each wall in any way, but

(07:05):
you're just bold about beinglike yeah, I'm a Christian, I'm
a baseball coach, I'm trying todo the best for my guys, my team
, and you know, I know thatChrist gives me the strength and
courage to do that.
And so, yeah, it's been, I wantto say, about two and a half
years since I've known you andyou know you're.
You're at a Lake Erie collegeand I'd like for you to dive in

(07:29):
a little bit about what thatjourney's been like and kind of
what you Took over and what.
What are some of the goals thatyou have and vision for the
program, because I knowpersonally, I've tracked you
since you've been there and I'mreally excited it's not more
excited than you guys are froman outside perspective of
Because I just know how greatcoaching staff that you have,

(07:49):
that you built there and theguys that are hungry to turn
that thing around.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
So order some things maybe you're looking to achieve
in the next few seasons, as wellas what kind of inspired you to
take over program that maybeyou know needed to be completely
rebuilt yeah, so you know a lotof it, man, honestly, probably
just comes and stems from, Iguess, just who I am and I'm not
someone that's gonna back downfrom a challenge by any means.

(08:15):
You know there was many peoplethat said that probably not a
good decision to try and take aposition like this.
You know, at a small school andand, but I'm a small town kid,
you know, like it's just, that'sjust going on.
I guess I'm not a kid anymore,but you know, at heart I still
am, and my wife would definitelyAgree with that.

(08:35):
I probably should grow up alittle bit more on some things,
with some jokes that I, you know, crack on her and stuff like
that.
But but regardless, I found itas an opportunity to, you know,
really turn a program intosomething that it honestly
hasn't been lacking.
It's always been here.
There's been tons of talent inthis area forever, and it was

(08:56):
very difficult to recruit thisarea when I was at UND, actually
, and and and RIO as well, onthe coaching circuit.
It's, it's weird.
There's just a lot of reallygood schools that are playing
for state championships withinprobably an hour and a half of
here, and so as soon as I gothere, I was like, all right,
well, we have a smaller roster,let's, let's win this area.

(09:18):
So just start looking for, youknow, kids reaching out to
programs, travel programs, highschools, things like that, and
Just wanted to connect and justsee you know what they were
looking for.
And then, you know, with COVID,with the portal and things like
that too, it made things a lotmore more difficult for you know
some high school kids to Maybeget some of the exposure which

(09:40):
they were looking for.
Same time, you know, it wasn't.
It wasn't, you know, too hardto say yes to this opportunity,
because you know I've alwayswanted to be, you know, head
coach.
I think this is something thatI've been meant to do, and when
I was in like fourth or fifthgrade, I mean, I wrote down that
what I wanted to do for therest of my life was teaching.

(10:01):
So this is just who I am.
It's in my roof.
You know I have that passion tohelp guys out and I I really do
genuinely care about everysingle guy that I've ever
coached, that I've, you know,possibly impacted and things
like that, because you know,later on down the road, you just
never know what, what somethingcould happen, and you know real
good example.
There was a you know player thatyou know is that my you know

(10:25):
previous institution at UND, whowas a position player and His
name was as mr Holdsworth.
He, he literally was a positionplayer and he played very
little.
And I'm a pitching guy like andwith our practice schedule.
It was really weird because itwas I was hired as a pitching

(10:46):
guy, I was in the bullpen,constantine, and that's
basically who I interacted with,and his older brother, macy he
was.
He was a guy that was, you know,a really good ball player,
ended up being a the all-timedoubles leader or close to it.
I think he got all Americanvotes and stuff like that.
But I didn't even know who Macywas until we start playing

(11:09):
games because I didn't work withthose guys right.
Yeah, I just know that he hadsome, you know his brother had
some you know serious thingsgoing on, you know health-wise
and.
But we had talked about ourrelationship with honey.
I like to hunt fish and so didhe, and you know that was kind
of his way of you know releasingsome of the you know Maybe

(11:31):
mental angst that he had.
And then a few years later Iget an invitation to a wedding
you know.
And it's like those things likemean a lot.
And you know Macy he, you knowhe extended an invitation to his
wedding too.
And, like you know, there'sonly one team that gets a host
of trophy at the end of the year, right?

Speaker 1 (11:48):
and.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
You know, those things are extremely special.
I was very fortunate enough tobe able to you know when, when
myself as a player and coach forone, and we're in that to do
that right.
But the same time, those thingsthat you do that help check
those other boxes.
It's really what honestly meansmore, and that's what I'm trying
to do here and that's awesome.
The culture has shiftedsignificantly and, you know, one

(12:11):
thing that we've done eversince I've been here is I'm
pretty sure it was on an episodeof hard knocks and it might
have been the Browns, actually,kind of ironically, yeah, but
they were talking about theirwhy, why you're here, why you do
what you do every single day,and the first year that we did
it, you know, guys were kind ofopening up about some stuff and

(12:31):
then you know, I opened up aboutme and it's like 45 minutes to
an hour and there.
So I get pretty personal aboutit.
I want them to know pretty mucheverything deep, dark secrets,
some things that never manypeople know about me, and but I
want them to know those thingsbecause I've been through some
stuff too and I want you tounderstand that there's other
avenues, wish that you can lookfor and you know, and Christ is

(12:53):
one of those things.
Right, it's actually morphedinto, like this year, like guys
have gotten really deep withintheir lives.
But we actually started a Biblestudy once a week on campus
that is led by one of mygraduate assistants and it's
been awesome, man, I mean,there's kids from wrestling,
there's kids from basketball,and it just continue has

(13:14):
continuously grown since thisyear started and we started it
probably two or three weeksbefore the break started and
Ever since then, like guys been,you know, we have like a group
me and they're just postingthings and you know, christmas
obviously was great and andstuff like that.
So it's just morphed into thosekind of things.
So those are the things I'mextremely excited about, for,

(13:36):
like you're, you know, like I dothink that we're gonna have a
pretty good year this year, youknow, but so does every coach,
you know, right, exactly, feelvery confident about it.
But I honestly do think thatwe're gonna have, you know, some
really big things happeningthis year, and, you know, off
the field too.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
So that's incredible and you know, I think you
touched upon a few things therethat I really love.
I think one of the biggestthings is there's a
misconception, personally, thatI feel that some people get a
bad rep for when coaches arereally big on the outside of the

(14:13):
baseball, off the field,interactions, all these things
like I remember in like someEnvironments where you know I'll
just nag on the old school fora little bit, you're just kind
of it's all about winning, it'sall about, you know, getting
more reps.
You know you should bepracticing seven days a week,
all these different things,right, and we're all that's
great.
But the fascinating part thatyou touched up on there is all

(14:36):
of us coaches want to win.
You're not in this industry ifyou're not competitive, okay.
You're most, 99% of coaches,right, you're here to win anyway
.
That just comes with the title,that comes with being in sports
.
So I think that that should bea given.
And then would you agree withthat where You're already doing
it, because you guys want tohelp the team win a championship

(14:56):
and those such a thing.
So it is okay to alter some ofyour energy towards, you know,
like you said, bible studies and, yeah, connecting to players on
a different level.
I I can't tell you how manytimes I've had players come up
to me.
It's like, coach, well, you'reasking me about like other stuff
other than baseball.
I'm like, yeah, because that'sthe relationship I want to build

(15:16):
with you guys.
It's just, if you just come upto them and be like man, why
aren't you performing?
Or how, how's the fast balltoday?
Or how is he saying thatthey're gonna be like, okay,
cool, it's transactionalrelationship, right, but like
you mentioned With connectingwith those players and you got a
wedding invite, you connected,you know, because you guys had a
passion for things outside ofbaseball.
So my personal advice to othercoaches and people that are

(15:40):
listening is like, remember that99% of the guys on your team
love baseball and are there tocompete and help win a
championship.
There's more to it and, being aleader and coach and a teacher,
you want to connect to thepeople on another level than
just the baseball side of things.
Would you agree?

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, I mean it's well, we're not in here lose.
I mean that's yeah the thingthat the thing that we everyone
always says is winning, careseverything.
Which is it's a hundred percenttrue.
You can have cancerous mind onkids and mindsets and things
like that, Intendancies whenyou're winning and it doesn't
show its face but then when youstart losing that's when it

(16:19):
shows its face and that's a, youknow, a testimony to you know a
lot of coaches out therebecause you know again, no one's
in anything to you know to wantto lose in life and generally.
Right.
So you got to have some solid,you know, anchors in your life
that, no matter what your upsand downs, you have something to
go back to, and Jesus, you know.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
It's fascinating that you said to is I had recently
took a position at IndianaUniversity, purdue University,
columbus.
It's a NAI school in Indiana.
I'm doing your remote playerdevelopment stuff for them, a
lot of like, you know, catching,throwing progressions, a lot of
different things like that,which is great.
But I was just talking to ourhead coach and something

(17:02):
fascinating you know you'retalking about.
Well, there's only one champ orchampion, right given right and
and all division two.
There's gonna be one.
There's gonna be competitionbecause it's gonna be one World
Series winner.
And you know we're talking.
My coach and I use, like youcould go 56 in like a Maybe to
the NAI World Series, the lastmess of three and you losing

(17:24):
game three.
What are you a loser?
Yeah, right, like you have thatgreat of a year by the end day.
You're still in people's minds.
You lost.
So it's like what other wayscan you measure success?
What other ways can you measureit being worth your time and
that can people grow and andthat's why I love about what

(17:44):
you're talking about youmentioned a lot of other ways to
measure your success as aprogram, as well as Measure your
relationships with your playersother than just you know on
field success, which is prettyinspiring.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, chancey was the one that kid one of those kids
that was inviting me to the yes,the lighting and stuff, and but
my big thing, man, is like Evenwhen I go out recruiting now,
like when I go out to Andy, likeI go see my former players and
I go see Bates, yeah, I go seewitty, I go see A warner, I go
see you know a lot of these guysMOOC, like all these guys that,

(18:20):
like I, helped impact theirlife.
But whenever I'm in town theylike see me on snapchat, like
that.
You're in town with the heckman.
Why aren't you coming out hereto?

Speaker 1 (18:27):
come see me and like well.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
I might be able to.
It is probably not gonna betold nine o'clock, cuz I'm gonna
be at this field from you know.
Whatever, but you always tryand make time and like even if
it's a phone call like those.
Those little things matter andyou know, sometimes it's you
know it just as much as you knownot only reaching out to people
, but it's picking up the phonetoo and.

(18:50):
You know, in reading people'sfaces, like that's why I thought
COVID really screwed uppeople's minds, man was because
you had masks on.
And when you had a mask on,like you don't know, like you
can't tell if I'm mad or happyor anything, obviously you can
see, absolutely, you know, likein a smile, like you know having
a laugh, like those things justkind of got lost a little bit
and these things don't helpeither.

(19:11):
You know, like these cellphones, yeah, yeah, you know
that guys like that's why wemake people talk about their,
why it's like we physically makethem talk in front of our guys
because they're so used to justtexting and it really needs to
be a part of like their dailyyou know routines as well, just
to help with their, with theirmindset.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
So, absolutely so we'll shift into the faith
aspect here.
How would you say you're so?
You are Christian and you knowwe can get into your journey in
your faith here in a minute.
But how would you say your,your, your faith has Impacting
maybe your coaching style oryour reason of coaching, or

(19:51):
maybe altered some of yourbeliefs over time.
I know personally like thecloser I got with God over years
, the more my mindset shifted indifferent styles coaching
styles and my thoughts and thethings that I valued from a
player tended to alter a littlebit versus when I was a little

(20:13):
more early on in my faithjourney.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
So how would?

Speaker 1 (20:16):
you say personally what it's affected your coaching
style or coaching.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
I would say that when I first started coaching and
stuff like that and as Icontinued to get closer with
Christ, it honestly has allowedme to read the room a little bit
more.
I would jump to conclusions somuch more earlier in my career,
and a lot of times people actout because of something going

(20:41):
on and you don't know what thatis.
So you probably need to hear.
There's always two sides of thestory.
They always say that, right,and at the beginning of my
career I would always be like hedoesn't care, or this guy just
he doesn't get it, or he's not ateam guy or whatever that it is
.
And if a lot of things startstacking up and it starts

(21:02):
showing that that is actuallytrue, okay, well then that's who
that person is.
But more times than not, there'ssomething going on behind the
scenes that we just don't quiteknow about and we need to know
about that person a little bitmore.
Have a door open.
They come in there's guys thatcome in once a week, right, and
we just talk it's about anything, it can be literally whatever
about what it needs to be.

(21:23):
But some of the things thatI've done, too is I've suggested
books for people.
Some of them are religious.
You know Facebook somedefinitely not religious
Facebooks Like Greenlight isdefinitely not a religious
Facebook by Matthew McConaugheyman.
that book is so powerful becausethere's just so many things

(21:43):
that he went through and he goesinto such detail about it and
he just talks about takingmoments that what you feel like
is probably the lowest point inyour life, or a red light moment
and then it actually turns outbeing a green light moment
because you learn so much fromthat and that's like you know
what we talked about, like sothe places that I attend and go

(22:06):
to church or have went to churchand stuff like that and you
know, I was talking about MountCarmel and Batavia, which is
literally the opposite side ofOhio but I felt like every time
I went to go listen to DD speak,it was literally what I needed
and it's just, it's not acoincidence when it keeps
happening.
You know it's meant to be right,absolutely so.
Those little messages aresomething.

(22:28):
And, you know, before everysingle game, you know, I bow my
head and I pray and I say, youknow, say hello to some of my
you know former family members.
You know that are up there andyou know, ask them how they're
doing.
You know, maybe crack a jokehere or there and just have a
nice whole song and you know,let them know to like watch out
for our guys and stuff like that.
And you know all those thingsare extremely important.

(22:50):
And we do have a lot of youknow guys on the team that are,
you know, christian.
We have some you know that arenot, and that's cool, that's
your decision and all thosethings.
But I just want them to knowthat I'm there for them and if
they ever need anyone to talk to, that it's not just me, you
know, just them too.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
That's awesome, you know, I personally.
I want to know your perspectiveon this.
This is me opening up.
I personally felt sometimesit's always hard being a
full-time college coach andstill keeping your faith.
First, you know me being arecruiting coordinator, right, I
remember one summer, twosummers ago, I went to 132 games

(23:28):
, okay, and a summer and I don'tknow if that's a lot.
There are a lot of people Idon't know that was a lot for me
, okay.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
That's a lot.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
That is a lot that was a lot of games Like I
grinded that summer and I had agreat, great time.
But you know, really trying topray every day and spend and I
would pray every day I alwayshave but spending time with God,
right, having that intimatetime of just trying to grow in

(23:57):
your faith, that was somethingthat was really tough for me in
the full-time coaching world,because I think there's a lot of
people who don't realize andmaybe you want to touch up on
how you continue to put yourfaith first or, if there's times
, maybe you feel like you havegrown in that area as well.
But I know personally it wasdifficult, and not only that.

(24:19):
I just feel like it's a peopledon't understand, like this is
not a typical nine to five, soyou're not practicing twice a
week and rolling out the lineupcard on a double header one
weekend just to get things goingLike.
No, this is 10, 11 months outof the year.
You're going a million milesper hour, right?

Speaker 2 (24:40):
So living on raising gains, energy drinks and coffee,
caffeine right Like that's agood message.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
You encapsulated it right there, but how in your
life have you been able to maybebalance your faith and keep it
at the forefront through being afull-time college baseball
coach?

Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yeah, so that was actually something that I was
trying to really figure out whenI was at UND, because it's been
easier now that I just have onefull-time job.
But when I was at UND I wasworking baseball tournaments and
then coaching at the same time,so I had to recruit and I got
to make sure that the rain'shappening and make sure this
parents have.

(25:17):
Like it was a lot right.
So at that point it was reallyhard, like I hadn't been to
church in a long time and it waskind of wearing on me and I
didn't know what, why and thingslike that.
And it wasn't.
I didn't know if it was churchor if it was just like stress or
what.
But it's like you need thatrelease right and something that
maybe other people that islistening to this extremely easy
just download the Bible appEvery morning.

(25:39):
It gives you a testimony.
It's a sentence, it's aparagraph, whatever it is and it
can connect with you and ifit's something that you feel
that maybe connects with yourteam, for the coaches out there
too, share that message and thenmaybe have someone speak on it
right before you start practiceand how it may be tied into

(25:59):
something previous or whatnot,but that at least helps at least
get my start of the day.
I'll have my coffee and read thepassage for the day, whatever
it is, and then I'll maybe readinto the chapter, actually open
up the Bible, and read into itand highlight it and maybe do
some self-reflection on it andthen do my own individual prayer

(26:22):
.
I try and read the.
It's the I'm second version ofthe 365 days, which those are
great too, because not onlyyou're reading certain passages
of the Bible, but then there'salways, like little statements
at the end that you're supposedto help live your day by, and

(26:42):
those are a couple ways that hasreally helped me connect and I
have been really trying to divedeeper into that and I've
actually been doing a lot moreindividual self-reflection
myself.
Like I feel like that I was notthe weight that I wanted to be
at.
So I've changed my diet and I'mstarting to exercise a little

(27:04):
bit more, because I wasexercising later to zero,
because you're talking aboutyour time commitment, like I'm
trying to make sure that Icommit as much time to my guys
as possible and maybe sacrificemy own health for them, to be
completely honest, and it's timefor me to be a little bit more
selfish about myself and makesure that I am in good health,

(27:24):
because I do have a boy on theway and those things are really
big for me, so that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
No, I mean first of all congrats, that's really
exciting and have you alldecided on a name yet, or is it
still kind of yeah?

Speaker 2 (27:39):
we have yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
That's awesome man, I was looking forward to it and
you know you better be spoilingit.
You know what I mean His room'sliterally on the other side of
this wall and it's packed withclothes that people put on it
and stuff like that and he's alevy right, well, yeah we're
gonna tape his right arm behindhis back.
Yeah, exactly Um.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
But no man.
What was really cool about thatmoment, too, is like we did the
reveal, like the gender reveal,and when I first told the guys
like I was nervous, I mean likeI was extremely nervous because
we're at.
You know the due date's April17th, that's in the middle of
the season.
But I mean, I mean, dandy, we'veprayed, my wife and I have

(28:25):
prayed hard for this opportunityand you know, it really, really
is great that we're able to,you know, have a child, because
we've been trying for years andit's been awesome.
But in general, like when wetold him, like their excitement
was, like it was real you knowlike let's go and they were
cracking some jerks and stufflike that too, but that's
amazing.
But then, like when we did thereveal, we were like looking the

(28:48):
opposite way and then we turnedaround and they were all
wearing blue shirts and it wasjust that part was cool, that's
so cool.
That's so cool, you know so theyall, like you know, said
congrats and you know my wifewas balling her eyes out and
stuff like that.
But it's like that's why youget into coaching.
You know, like Absolutely I tryto be there for them and they
were there for me and you know Itold him I was like listen, I

(29:10):
was like I might be inCincinnati or we might be in
Cincinnati playing, and if I getthe phone call like I gotta go
Peace.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, I'm sorry.
You know Mike's got it.
You know Coach Emerson's got it, you know.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, he does.
He already told us like I gotyou.
I'm like oh, you do for sure.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
I know he's ready.
He's ready, he's locked in.
Love it, that's so amazing, butI think that's a testament to
the culture that you guys havecreated right and you have shown
the value beyond baseball and Ithink that is so amazing to see
because you know when you'rereally guys I mean everybody,
young adults are, so you'restill being formed right and

(29:51):
you're 18 to 22, 23 years oldand when you're around people
that are showing you love andbeing appreciative and you know
practicing gratitude and a lotof things that I know that your
culture, like your, you knowpractices.
That really shows you know theguys of your values and what you

(30:12):
want to instill in them.
And because you've instilledthose values, that's how you got
the reaction right, like youwere able to.
You know it just shows whatyou've done in the last couple
of years, that they care aboutyou more than just you know hope
, which wins and losses today,and that's pretty awesome and
that's going to be amazing.
I know you got a great supportsystem and that is such an

(30:33):
exciting part of life.
And, like you said, you got totake the hand behind the back
and it's going to be a lefty.
It's already got the pitchinggenes.
You pitched already.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
So now it's going to be a lefty.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
You know, that's right, that's great.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
As long as you're hitting the left handed, that's
cool.
But honestly too, like doesn't,even, like I don't care if you
play baseball, man, like I justwant you know, I just wanted you
know you know, a little bit ofa win, yeah, just run around,
dole whatever you know, likethat's it, that's all you could
ever ask for.
So Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
You know, I want to like just dive a little deeper
in the coaching space.
Right, because the coaching isa fascinating field and as a
Christian, you know we're calledto be bold.
Right, be how do I word it?
You know?
Just be unashamed, right, likeone of my favorite Bible verses

(31:26):
Romans 1.16, talks about beingunashamed of the gospel.
Right, and to me, beingunashamed is not, you know, not
being timid to tell people thatyou're a Christian and live out
those ways.
But on the counter side of this, I could probably get some
backlash for this.
But you also want to keep yourjob right, and what I mean by
that is there's a lot ofinstitutions in a lot of places

(31:47):
where you have to be kind ofcareful what you say.
But what I always tell peopleto that is that people aren't
being timid about their faith bywanting to keep their job.
You could still people show.
You could still show people whoJesus is by the way you act, by
the way that you pray before agame or whatever, or you're
reading your Bible verses.

(32:08):
I had personally this is just astory for me Last year.
I had a journey.
I wanted to read the Bibleevery single day last year and I
did it.
I read 365 days in a row, whichwas really a big thing for me.
But I remember I was coachingin the Coastal Plains League and
you know games would be so late.
You know we're cleaning out thelocker room, all that traveling

(32:29):
and at like 1150, I'd have topull out my phone and at first
guys would be like bro, that'swhack, like what are you doing?
Like you can do that later,like the people don't really
know what time it is when you dothis.
But I knew, for me personally,like that was what it was about.
It was about this journey andby the end of it guys were like,
man, you're dedicated to thisthing, let me figure it all out,
let me do the deep dive and whoJesus is and what this faith is

(32:53):
.
Because if you're so committedto that, like I want to see what
this is all about right.
So although I wasn't shovingJesus down their throes, I still
was able to just live by myactions and show that.
You know that's how Ipersonally would show my guys.
You know that I was a Christianand those types of things, and
if they had conversations wewould talk about that.

(33:15):
But for you, is that a?
Do you have a wrestle with thatas far as like being a coach
and being maybe afraid that youmight be too outward about your
faith, or is your institutionkind of?
You know what I'm saying aboutthat?

Speaker 2 (33:34):
I do, for sure, and I haven't really ever felt
pressured in any way at theinstitution that I'm at
currently, you know which hasbeen great.
Have I had some, maybe selflike you know?
Should I, you know, should Iwear my clothes?
Should I, you know, should?
it be underneath my shirt, likeyou know, should it be out?
Like, but, yeah, honestly, likeit, you know it really doesn't

(33:56):
matter.
Like it I don't care whatreligion that you and that you
choose to follow.
Like you know we all are, youknow doing things that we feel
that's best, you know, for us.
And you know I definitely don'tshove my religion, you know, in
people's faces and it's it'sjust like you know, honestly,
like whatever, if you, you know,if you're, you know straight,

(34:20):
or you know things like that too, like you know that's that's
your preference, you know, likethat's just who, who you are,
and if that's great, but like Idon't, I don't want you shoving
that in my face either.
That kind of thing, right, likeit's more of a respect thing,
you know, and it's just likehold the door open for someone.
It's just like it's just whatyou do, right, like if that's
that's how you're, you know youwere brought up and things like

(34:41):
that.
Like those are just things thatyou know kind of just go with
you.
So, no, I've never feltpressured in those, in those
situations.
Um, I do feel like that peopledo feel uncomfortable, for sure,
like you know, sharing theirreligion and stuff like that,
but I do feel like it's it'shonestly became much more open
and you know I'm a Buckeye fanand and stuff like that, but

(35:02):
like watching CJ Stroud and andMarvin Harrison talk about their
faith is actually and andthat's what you know, cj said I
think this was in an interviewlike a week ago, and one of the
people you know asked you know,why do you always wear a shirt
that has you know something withfaith based on it, or you know
a passage or anything?

(35:23):
He said this is my platform andI want to, you know, share what
he's done for me and this is thetime, but I feel like this best
to do it and every time thathe's interviewed, he's always,
you know, says you know my lordsavior, jesus Christ.
You know, I want to thank himfirst and it's not because he's
trying to make a front, it'sbecause he's he's honest about
it and he knows that, like helike he would not have any of

(35:44):
the talent that he didn't havewithout him.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
So that's great, um, so let's dive in a little bit.
So we just uh you know we'rejust saw each other.
What was that last week, or theweek before, a week ago now?
Uh, at a abca, which abca isamerican baseball club
association they hold a bigconvention every year.
I believe there's over 8 000coaches there this year, um,

(36:10):
which is really amazing.
But talk a little bit aboutyour experience at the
convention and and obviously itwas great catching up with you
we were able to talk about thisopportunity.
Now, right, you know toschedule this and um, but talk
about how impactful abca hasbeen on maybe you and your
career, and and why you lookforward to going every year yeah

(36:32):
, I mean it's just a massivenetworking event.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
But the main thing that I found is, I mean, a lot
of things are kind of being Idon't want to say like
regurgitated in certain ways orwhatever, but what it does do is
it re-sharpens you and it getsyou re-energized.
Man, I mean you just like yougo to some of these speakers and
it's like man, like it's justit's just said just a little bit
different and it just connectsto you a little more.

(36:55):
It gets to excuse me, a littlebit of a deeper, deeper vibe.
But, um, at the same time, likeit's just really cool just
getting to meet all thesedifferent coaches and it just it
does keep growing.
I mean, every year it just keepsgetting bigger and bigger and I
mean I actually think there waslike 11 000 people there at one
point because, I think that wasthe number that I heard, and I
would not be shocked, becausethere I think it was like the

(37:17):
second day, I mean you couldn'tmove and no center.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
I mean, I brought the wrong wheelchair.
I was getting pushed around.
I should have brought the bigone up.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
Yeah, now it's um, it's been great and it's the
first one I ever went to.
Actually was.
It was crazy like I got the jobin Indianapolis and it was
actually in.
India.
So that was cool, like um, itbeing there and, uh, I learned a
ton.
I mean, it was like I had FOMO,though, man, I was just fear
missing out on everything, likeI couldn't miss a speaker.
I was like, man, how am I gonnago to this?
Whatever, and they do a goodjob of having the videos

(37:47):
afterwards so you can like bewatching them and um, and learn
about those things.
But it's all about thenetworking and what I mean is,
like, you know, obviously,meeting you.
You know, I literally went backinto the convention center to
try and find you not evenkidding.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
I was like I know it's about the clothes.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
I got to go back and I got to see my boy Dan.
Like I got to say, why do I?
Because I was about to fly outand um, but it's just like
there's certain people that youwant to see every single year.
You know, catch up with them,see how things are going.
You know you want to see themin person.
It's nice talking on the phonewith you and stuff like that but
yeah you know, you just alwayslearn and see guys right, um,
and little things like that.
But it's just, you just learnso much from different guys and

(38:25):
um.
I mean.
I met like six or seven brandnew coaches and you know it's
gonna come possibly with likerecruiting, but, um, you just
hear or see different like waysthat they approach their um and
maybe their practice planning orum, how they, you know, develop
certain things or what thingsthat they're typical flaws.
But one thing I do know iseveryone goes through the same

(38:47):
things.
Everyone thinks that their teamis they can't fill the pfp
everyone thing.
You know it's just it's.
They always complain about thesame stuff.
Right, like we have the dumbestkids, blow, blow, we have the
smart yeah, we don't have a goodhitting approach, or guys are
you know?
yeah, absolutely it's all thesame everywhere.

Speaker 1 (39:01):
But it's just that's baseball man, our game's hard
and I love how you mentionedsomething, though you know and
this is a pretty bold take andI've talked to the people about
this a couple times and somepeople agree, some people don't
but I love how you said a lot ofit.
Now it's like a lot of peoplethey're regurgitating, you know,
some of the same information.
I believe that a lot of coacheswe're all talking about the

(39:23):
same thing.
We just use different lingo or,you know, see it a minor
adjustment way, but I try to asa coach that's why I love these
speakers is, yeah, we mightunderstand, like the concept, we
might agree and we might haveour own style of doing it.
That's in a day.
Our goal as coaches is tryingto figure out a way to pick up

(39:46):
maybe a one example that wecould use the one of our players
so they can understand whatwe're trying to say, or so I
agree with you that a lot ofthat information is it's retold,
but at the end of the day, ifone person's style of telling
you something or their speechcan help you just reach one kid,
that to me is worth it, right.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
I think that's more about like you have so many
different kids that learn somany different ways.
Now you just don't know quitehow to connect with that person
and then you're at that speakerand then all of a sudden it's
like I need this, I gotta sendthis thing to this person
because that guy has beenneeding this.
And then they're like coach,yes, you're right, right.
And that's where that FOMOkicks in, because you're like

(40:29):
man, like he's right there, youknow, if he just do this little
thing.
But like I say this and doesn'twork.
And then you hear someone it'sbasically the exact same thing.
There's just a little bit of adifferent script or a different
C or Q or whatever.
And when it works it's great.
And that's why, too, like youknow, I'm a pitching guy, but I
still, you know, work with thehitters as well, and I want my

(40:50):
hitting guy to talk at leastwith the pitchers too.
Right, like yep, becausethey're certain things that he
sees as a hitters perspectiveand vice versa.
There's certain things I see onpitching's perspective yep,
that I'm going to attack and orlike that I'm visually seeing a
body language or whatever.
That it is, um, and we're justlike we're really hitting
positive self-talk a lot andlike it's.

(41:12):
I don't like using wordpositive because, um, I like
more neutral thoughts, but atthe same time, like, if you can
just change the verbiage of whatyou're trying to say, it can
mean all the difference.
So purple today, when we wereinter squatting one of my
pitchers, he landed and he saidI'm flying open.
Verbate him what he said.
As soon as he finished his out,or whatever that it was, he

(41:35):
came out of the cage and Ibrought him over and I said
listen, this is what you said.
Okay, you said I'm flying open.
Does that sound positive ornegative?
And he's like I mean it sounds,you know, kind of negative.
I was like well, are youcompetitor?
He's like yeah, and I said well, if you're a competitor, then
tell yourself to stay close.
Like come on, man, stay close,you're better than that.
Like how much different doesthat sound?

(41:55):
than oh man like stop flyingopen kind of a thing, yeah it's
you're.
You're literally reversepsychologying your own self yeah
, right, yeah, and, and he'slike man like okay, that makes
sense, and he had a bettersecond inning.
I mean he had a really goodfirst thing he went three up,
three down, three k's.
So like it's hard to beat that.
But it was like even when hewas having that much success, he

(42:18):
was still nitpicking because heflew open one time like, yeah,
you know, rather than just like,man, you're better than that,
let's go like stay close.
So that was just something thatwe picked.
I picked up, you know, fromZach Sorensen.
Okay, is a mental coach for theAtlanta Braves, is hit.
One of our former players,who's an assistant for me, is

(42:40):
that hit.
That's his uncle, so he talksto him all the time.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Yeah, and that's Mitch, and Mitch has been
awesome, awesome for us that'samazing really just breaks down
the value or kind of howinvaluable you know that.
You know ABCA is right, likehow, or you know how amazing it
is as a convention and theamount of people it brings
together.
I really love that.
It's kind of like a thing, kindof like faith.

(43:04):
It's like, come as you are,there's not really a pretentious
like uh, maybe pretentious isnot the right word, but it's not
whether you're a travel wallcoach or a coach in the big
leagues.
There's In acceptance, right,there's a.
There's a people where 99% ofthe people are fine with you
coming up to them and justtalking the game you know, and

(43:25):
then personally I try to be veryOpen and approachable.
You know I've had people fromyou know, you know a travel ball
organizations and facilitiescoming up with me and talking,
catching, you know, and I try tobe, you know, an outlet for
these people to.
You know, drops of knowledge.
But the one thing I love aboutit is there isn't that, like

(43:46):
Timid, you know, like I can't gotalk to that person because
that person with the braver oh,I can't go talk to that person.
Get person coaches that youknow Mississippi State or
whatever right it's.
It's kind of like a thing justbe a good person and if you're
not transactional, they'll becool with talking to you and
giving you the sauce and rightand yeah, this, this baby.

(44:08):
Laugh you on buddies withZandbark sale and he's a
catching guy and he goes.
Him and I were talking atdinner one night.
You like you know it's soamazing about this.
I was like he's like justtalking about the baseball
community, how cool we are justhaving presentations about
Talking about different stylesand philosophies and different
things.
He's like there's no Offensivecoordinator conference, you know

(44:31):
, in football you know, likewhere they're sharing playbooks
and stuff, right?
But, you'll have people you know.
Obviously they're hiding somethings, but at the end either
majority of it's likeinformation that they really use
, you know, and that they liveby, and I think that is Really
cool about the baseballcommunity in general is that
openness and the beingapproachable and willing and

(44:54):
this to share the thoughts, andBecause I know I spoke to so
many people and people fromdifferent organizations and and
just you know to learn is Reallyawesome.
So ABC is a great event.
Shout out to them.
It's been.
I've been going for about sevenyears, which has been really
great.
I went when I was younger withmy dad.
My dad's always had a boost sohe'd be working the booth and I

(45:16):
go to all the youth clinics andstuff growing up.
But it's a great event and Ilook forward to next year,
obviously to see the coachingbuddies.
But as well as just learning,you can just never stop learning
and yeah, so that's that'spretty cool about ABC.
A and then you know I was justkind of getting on a little more

(45:37):
of a personal level D.
What are some of your hobbiesoutside of coaching?
The baseball is there, you know.
I know you mentioned a littlelike hunting, fishing, but are
you a video game guy?
You like to go run on thetreadmill like.
What are some of your hobbiesoutside of coaching the baseball
?

Speaker 2 (45:52):
Yeah, so I definitely play some video games, like for
sure, but for the most part,like I like to.
It sounds like crazy, but Ijust honestly do things that
don't really revolve aroundbaseball, like, yeah, going on
walks, finding ways to justclear your head.
You know, I know that right now, like it's it's a little cold

(46:16):
up here and Cleveland, but likewe live right close to the lake
I mean, we're three streets awayfrom it and when you just drive
in the summertime and you justsee the lake, just seeing the
water man, it just like it justclears your head, you know, and
stuff like that.
Like doing some, like selfmeditation and stuff like that
has been really big for me,definitely been starting to read

(46:39):
more.
And I'm not a reader, like I'venever been a fan of, just like
reading books, but I've reallystarted dedicating, you know,
time to that and it's helped mea ton.
It takes me a really long timeto read, because when I read
something, I read over it liketwo or three times because I
really want to understand it.
So that's why, like, I reallylike audio books, because audio

(47:00):
books, like I hear it, I canread it too as it's, as it's
going, and then I can play itback and hear it again.
It's like man, that was, thatwas big.
Like you know, those kind ofthings have have really been,
had been good.
Love watching sports Like I'mgoing to pretty much any
sporting event that you canthink of.
Like my wife hates when we goto baseball, games like him will

(47:21):
be games like we'll go toCleveland and yeah.
So I'll be like calling outwhat's gonna happen.
I'm like right, he's gonna stealand then literally he's yeah,
one, two slider, here it comes,and then slider in, the bird
swings over the top of it, youknow.

Speaker 1 (47:35):
No, it's like I've done that like on a date before
too.
I took a girl to the game onetime, like she just like how do
you know that?
Or like you just stop like andwatch the game.
I'm like no, you know it, youknow it, you know and other
hobbies I guess would be callingDave.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
I mean, steel and I we talked to each other all the
time and you know former, formerfriends trying to meet with
them.
But I've really tried to do amuch better job too, because I
talk about a lot how importantfamily is.
But ever since you know that,you know Taylor and I have you
know, found out that we'rehaving a kid.
I've really been trying todedicate more time, you know, to
her and I feel it's extremelyimportant because, you know, as

(48:13):
you go through life, like youonly get to live one life right.
So let's make sure that we'respending time with, with those
who you know Help us and andfriendly and stuff like that.
So during like the holidays andstuff it's.
It's, you know, about familytime and like this year was kind
of weird, like we we brought,bought my nieces Like actually
like games, like card games andstuff.

(48:34):
Oh, that's cool.
I'm excited with them, likethey're just old enough now
where they kind of understand it.
But my sister like thanked usbecause of how, how much we
connected over just playinggames.
I was playing with my niecesand stuff too, and they were
like kind of talking crap alittle bit, which is kind of
funny because, yeah, some ofthem don't talk and then all of

(48:56):
a sudden they're like you know,lynn, and I was really trying to
beat you, you know just youknow.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
Yeah, I know, and I was trying to beat you too.
I'm not gonna let you win, likethat's not who I am so things
like that.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
But I'll always be in sports for sure, but, like,
those little things havedefinitely started to.
You know, really, you know riseup more for sure.
But no, I love some, you know,self self reflection time, but I
guess another hobby would berecruiting, like I'm constantly
on the phone, so those things,that's.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
That's one of my favorite things and the one that
I missed, man, because I just Iviewed it as competition.
You know You're selling your,that's right.
I was trying to get the nextguy and and I love the
recruiting aspect and and therelationships you generally
build yeah, you know realrelationships with these people
and their families and you knowit would be.

(49:51):
This is a people might tease meabout this, but I Would have a
tough time.
Sometimes you bring in a guyyou figure out well there and
when they're not end up likewhat you think they were, or
they don't become like a dudefor you, or they just not.
You know, everybody's a pieceof the puzzle, boy.
If they weren't the puzzle thatthey thought they were gonna be
and maybe you thought too likethat, maybe a little sad at some

(50:12):
point, because I'm like man,like that stinks because they're
a human being and and that wasa tough thing for me being the
recruiting coordinator Honestlyit was like man, you're really
helping or really hoping thatthat kid is.
What do you want to achieve?
Because, one, it'll help you,but two, more importantly, you
genuinely care about thatindividual in that family.
So but overall, I loverecruiting and and I love the

(50:37):
relationships that you build onthat end.
And then you know, one thingthat kind of Came to my mind too
when you mentioned some of yourhobbies and some things that I
tried to do too is just kind ofMindlessly do some things right
when you're always go, go, go.
One thing, that why I do enjoyvideo games.
It's just like you're kind ofjust sitting there and bedging,

(50:59):
like if you're working all dayand you're whatever You're, just
it's mindless, you know which.
I think that obviously you gotto challenge your mind sometimes
, but when you have a highstress job, like coaching can be
and when I mean stress I don'tmean necessarily, like you know
you, there's a gun to your headbut it is a stressful job right
at points in time.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
So I Would always try to find things that you can
just kind of mindlessly do andand yeah, no, I mean Mike and I
will be playing, will be playingfortnight or we'll get.
I didn't buy the new call dutybut yeah, I was like one of the
go-tos, but I was always a bighalo guy and people, okay, hey,
look more.
And that's no kind ofdepressing to me but, Now we'll

(51:43):
play fortnight and it's just,it's just fun, just like talking
crap towards each other, likedude, like why?
do you keep getting down steals.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
One of those guys for sure, and I can't wait to show
this because he knows that he'sone of those guys.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
It gets knocked down all the time.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yes, yeah, we played four a couple times.
I haven't played a lot recently.
I've been playing a lot ofrocket League lately.
That's been like there you go,okay, um, it's pretty fun, yeah,
but obviously there's a lot ofthings I got going on.
I haven't been gaming as muchas you know I I used to, and
that's the part of growing up,right and yeah.

(52:18):
So the last two things I loveto follow up with this, just
kind of, if you wouldn't mind,kind of sharing your testimony
or your journey and faith andkind of how you got to where you
are and your faith.
It doesn't have to be anythingcrazy, you know, some people
like us, like we talked aboutbriefly beginning you, some
people it's a dramatic story,you know, and then some people

(52:38):
is just a walk of life and Godcame to them in a different way.
So you want to mine kind ofdive into that and how you
became where you are in yourfaith.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
Yeah, so, um, when I was actually in college I
believe I was I was coaching atthis time.
Yeah, I had a, actually twofriends, but one friend I
believe it was in October it waseither September or October.
I know they're real close toeach other within a month each

(53:08):
other that his father passedaway when we were in high school
and it was really hard on himand every year during that time,
like he got really depressedand he was same as Ryan and he
went to Otterbein and he, youknow, was a, played golf and I
played golf too and he was.
He was young and he was an FFAjust like I was.

(53:29):
And you know, I'll tell alittle story to kind of you know
prefaces.
But we were at the National FFAconvention in Indianapolis,
because that's where it is everysingle year and they have a
thing called the Buckeye bashand the Buckeye bash is
literally all the chapters inOhio Go to this Marriott hotel
and it's just like a giant party.
You get to mingle with peoplefrom all across the state and

(53:52):
things like that.
And I had a girlfriend at thetime and I told her I said,
listen, like I'm gonna help myboy out, ryan, I'm gonna
introduce him to you knowsomeone, some girls or whatever.
I'm gonna teach him how to talkto girls, because he was
extremely shy, he was alwaysembarrassed, those kind of
things, right.
And she's like, okay, whatever,great.
And I'm just like I don't knowif you've watched how much your

(54:13):
mother, but it's like have youmet Ryan?
Like that.
Yeah, this is before I even knewhow much your mother was a
thing.
That's basically what I did andhe ended up, you know, talking
with this girl and they end updancing there.
I'm fun, and he didn't know howto dance and I was you know,
showing them like hey this, whatyou do, whatever, and ended up
opening up a lot more and Justlike we had a great time, you

(54:33):
know, song, so forth.
Well, you know it was.
I think it was like four orfive years after his father
passed, he decided to take hisown life and you know that was
hard and During the funeralthere were so many different
people that talked about thatstory and it was like I can't

(54:54):
believe that me just beingmyself honestly and just trying
to like get him to mingle withdifferent people and dance or
whatever, was just like Helped,impacts his life as much as
possible, and that word impacthas been really big for me.
Can we talk about that?
And then another print in minda month later, you know,
committed suicide as well and hewas in my grade, his name was

(55:16):
Sam, and he had some severedepression and just decided that
, you know, life was, you know,not for him anymore and that's
why we talked about our livesand that's some of the things
that I express.
But you know, during that time,you know I definitely got
significantly closer, you know,to God and I started, you know,

(55:38):
praying more and, you know,started really connecting things
and, you know, reallyunderstanding, like what is most
important and life is extremelyimportant.
You just never know what'sgonna happen and you never know
who you know could be impacted.
You know during those times ofwhat's going on and you know
nothing is too crazy in lifewhere you feel like they have to

(55:58):
take care of life.
So make sure you're reachingout to people.
You know actually Readingpeople's, you know faces and if
there is something that seemsoff like, don't just blow it off
.
You know those kind of things.
So that was probably thebiggest, biggest moment in my
life to where that I felt like Ireally needed to get closer.
You know to Jesus and you knowit's.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
It's honestly, then, who has made who I am now
sometimes tragic moments likeget ahold of us right and like
and and Just kind of remind usthat we can't do it on our own,
you know, and that you know weneed to submit and give it to
God and and I I apologize thatyou had to go through those

(56:43):
things and and If anybody outthere is struggling with mental
health or everything's like that, and we please reach out to
professionals, but you reach outto to me or anybody, you know
that Life is worth it and youknow just there's resources out
there that will provide for whatyou need and and people love

(57:05):
and care about you.
And You're right, and I thinkone of the coolest things that
you mentioned about that issomething that I tell people all
the time is that even if it'ssomething super small and in
your mind ain't significant, youdon't know how significant that
is for someone else.
And I volunteer at my localchurch and one of the things I

(57:26):
do is I sit by the door and Isay hey, welcome in.
And at first I was kind of likeyeah, okay, like what is me
saying hello to someone?
But the amount of people thathave like come to tears by me
just being like hey, have ablessed Sunday.
You know I'll see you next weekand you know some people will
be like, hey, I don't haveanybody to talk to, I'm lonely,
I'm a widow or whatever, and butme, just, you know, giving them

(57:49):
a smile and saying a few words,you don't know how impactful
that is for that person, right?
I think that's the.
You know, one of the keyfactors of that story that you
mentioned, right, is that thatwas an impactful moment for that
guy and probably brought him alot of joy for a long time.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
That's why I was confidently brought up Lying
ways to impact other people'slives by something as simple as
when you go through the groceryline, ask them how you doing.
Hey, how you doing today, I'mblessed.
How are you?
You know my grandma.
Every time she answers thephone it's hey, I'm blessed.
How are you, you know, and Ibelieve that.
But something you can do too,when someone asks you how you're

(58:30):
doing, how you doing today,good, good is average, right, so
good is not a word that I use.
It's not in my vocabulary.
If I say good guys know that'ssomething wrong, right?
I'm going great, man.
How are you?
You know, have a smile on yourface and things like that, like
those things can go a long way,and hearing the response can
tell you a lot too.
I'm going all right.
Why?

(58:51):
Why are you doing all right,like just all right?
You know, like it's 75 degreesout, man, what are you talking
about?
You're right, you're playingbaseball, you know, like you
know what happened.
So those little things candefinitely, you know, help too
and us as males, like we'reafraid to express and that's why
it's like, I think, three outof five excuse me suicides, I

(59:15):
think are males and it's asignificant stat, so people need
to understand that.
I don't know if that's theexact stat, so don't quote me on
all, but I know it's asignificant grade.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
I don't know the exact number, but you're right,
I've heard that as well.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
Yeah, so it's just you know, make sure that you
reach out to people andunderstanding, like who they are
, and get to know them.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
Like it's One of the things that I you know I'm gonna
wrap up here in just a fewminutes but one thing that I've
really been trying to work onthis year is share this with the
public.
Is that really trying topractice your attitude?
And I think you know whenyou're talking about that
picture flying open and how hejust shifted his mindset a
little bit and you know, byrewording that phrase, altered

(01:00:00):
right, that reverse psychologyin that moment.
You know where I have thissaying that I'm reminding myself
this year I don't know if Icame up with it, I think maybe I
have or I heard it somewhere,but maybe I did.
But it's your current season asa past prayer and it sounds
simple, but if you really thinkabout it it's pretty deep.

(01:00:21):
And the reason I like to saythat is because, even if it's
the smallest little thing, youcan find something in your
current season of life, likelet's just use, for example
right, I'm gonna, if you don'tmind, but you're about to have a
son.
Right, you're about to have akid, and I'm sure you've prayed
about that for a while, andright, and you could be going
through one of the hardest timesof your life right now.
But you could look at that onelittle thing you know like which

(01:00:42):
is not little, but that's a bigthing but that one part of your
life going I'm about to have ason and this is so amazing and,
although these other areas of mylife might be down, like this
is so great, right, and I reallytry to remind a lot of people
that look like you could bestruggling a lot of different
areas.
But let's say you're prayingfor you, wanna I don't know the

(01:01:05):
marshmallows that get restockedat Smith's, okay, I don't know.
Like, whatever the case may be,right, you're praying for that.
And then next time you go toSmith's and it's happening like,
remind yourself like that was apast prayer, right, and be
appreciative of that season.
And so that's kind of somethingthat I've really been working
on personally is just remindyourself like that current

(01:01:26):
season you're in.
You can find one thing in yourcurrent season that you're in in
life that has been something inthe past prayer.
So that's something for you andpeople out there listening to
kind of remind yourself wheneveryou're going through something
that might be difficult or justlife in general, to try to lift
your spirits and be morepositive when you're looking at
your life, but, yeah, that'swhat I wanted to share.

(01:01:48):
I really wanna appreciate, likeyou know, I really appreciate
you taking the time to hop onhere today.
It's really amazing and youinspire me as a coach, as a
person, and just being bold andleading the troop of guys.
So, you know, I know yourvisions as a head coach are
awesome and I know that there'sgonna be some great big things
ahead over at Lake Erie.

(01:02:09):
But are there any final wordsyou wanna wrap up for the people
today?

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
No man, I just wanna reiterate, like if something's
going on, make sure you reachout.
You know, again, nothing is, youknow, too crazy.
You know, literally just starttaking like the little things
cause a lot of times when wemake New Year's resolutions and
stuff like that, you're somassive, right, just make it
little things, make it somethingsmall, because again, we talked

(01:02:35):
about at the beginning like wewanna win, right.
So if you do something smalland you just do that, great, all
right.
Let's say with Cardio, you'retalking about running on the
treadmill.
I haven't run on the treadmillin forever.
I could go out and I could runprobably a six and a half minute
mile maybe a six minute mile.
I'd probably have a heart attackafterwards, but I know I could
do it because for me, running isso mental it's like pushing

(01:02:55):
past that limit, right?
So put yourself on thetreadmill and put it on a
certain speed and just run forfive minutes.
Okay, Do that every single dayfor an entire week and then next
week bump it up 15 seconds,Just 15 seconds, by the end of
the year.
Right?
You just keep building andbuilding and building.

(01:03:16):
Right, you just you don't knowhow long you can go for, right,
and just push yourself a littlebit, but not too much, to where
it's like you can't do it, andthen that will help.
Maybe you know you fulfillthose dreams or those things
that you want to make, thosegoals that you have.
And, again, like, you know, thereason why they're on this
podcast too, and why we're here,is because of God.

(01:03:38):
And you know, please, reach outto others and, you know, find
that faith and things thatmatter most to you.
And, you know, don't be ashamedto say that.
You know you're a Christian.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
If you want to mine, I'm gonna wrap this up with
prayer, just kind of a you knowthing that sprung on to me and I
will.
Sorry for my bedhead people, myhair is horrible too brother.
It's all good but, dear HeavenlyFather, I want to thank you for
allowing us to give thisplatform, whatever you decide to
do with it.
Lord, we just want to give itall to you and just let people
know that, regardless of whatthey're struggling with, lord,

(01:04:14):
that you just will be there andgive them the strength, courage
and peace to keep going.
And, lord, I want to thank youfor my friendship with Coach
Hutch and the wonderful thingsthat he does for his community
over at Lake Erie.
Lord, and I just pray that youjust continue to guide him and
his wife through this awesomeseason of their lives and pray
that that baby boy comes niceand healthy and is a lefty, you

(01:04:37):
know.
But, lord, I just pray that youjust continue to keep us all
safe.
I pray that you just have bigthings ahead for Lake Erie to
hear baseball, wise and Lord,anybody that's listening, that
is wrestling with something orneeds someone to talk to, or
whatever that case may be.
Well, I just pray that you justwhip that burden off them and
let them know that they can comeas they are and that you can

(01:05:00):
just remove any change that theyhave in their lives, that
you'll just provide that peaceand as in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen, amen.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
Thanks for taking time.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
Landon, We'll talk soon.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Thanks your down man.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
All right, please See ya.