November 19, 2024 • 54 mins
When a life lesson presents itself, it’s usually best practice to learn and grow from it. Like Ricky Brewers’ junior year at Colorado State University. A year that he didn’t play football and instead was suspended and on the scout team.
Ricky is a Colorado native with roots in the Denver Public School system. In high school he played football for legendary high school coach Dave Logan and won a State Championship. He had his choice of colleges but wanted to stay close to home and committed to the University of Colorado. That changed when Gary Barnett got fired and Ricky headed north to Colorado State University.
He quickly became a star linebacker and had a breakout year his sophomore season which wrapped up with a win at the New Mexico Bowl. Before the game, he was drug tested and Ricky knew that was going to be a problem. It was. Ricky went from being on ESPN with a post-game interview to being a headline on the ticker with the word “suspension.”
He'd return to CSU and have over 100 tackles his senior year. NFL teams appeared leery because of the suspension, and he never latched on anywhere, save for an overnight with the Dolphins. So instead, he put his efforts into a doctorate and becoming an educator. Today he’s an elementary school principal and radio color analyst for CSU football.
Listen to Ricky’s story and conversation with Susie Wargin on the Cut Traded Fired Retired Podcast.
Ricky is a Colorado native with roots in the Denver Public School system. In high school he played football for legendary high school coach Dave Logan and won a State Championship. He had his choice of colleges but wanted to stay close to home and committed to the University of Colorado. That changed when Gary Barnett got fired and Ricky headed north to Colorado State University.
He quickly became a star linebacker and had a breakout year his sophomore season which wrapped up with a win at the New Mexico Bowl. Before the game, he was drug tested and Ricky knew that was going to be a problem. It was. Ricky went from being on ESPN with a post-game interview to being a headline on the ticker with the word “suspension.”
He'd return to CSU and have over 100 tackles his senior year. NFL teams appeared leery because of the suspension, and he never latched on anywhere, save for an overnight with the Dolphins. So instead, he put his efforts into a doctorate and becoming an educator. Today he’s an elementary school principal and radio color analyst for CSU football.
Listen to Ricky’s story and conversation with Susie Wargin on the Cut Traded Fired Retired Podcast.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When I fail, like literally failed and failed in front
of the whole country, world and society, whatever have you.
There was no more running. Now everybody's speculating and trying
to decide what kind of guy you are. I've dealt
with it publicly, and that was the best thing that
ever happened to me because it forced me to have
(00:21):
to walk the walk and talk to talk at the
same time. You can't be two people.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired, a podcast featuring conversations
with professional athletes and coaches who have experienced being cut, traded, fired,
and or they're retired. I'm your host. Susie Wargen, the
guest for this episode, is a product of Colorado and
also a product of learning a life lesson the hard way.
Ricky Brewer was born and raised in Denver and was
(00:48):
quite the athlete in football and track. He won a
state championship during his time at Mullen High School under
Dave Logan and went on to play for Sonny Lubick
at Colorado State University. After two incredible seasons with the
Ricky failed a drug test and was suspended for his
entire junior year. To say that suspension was impactful would
be an understatement. Ricky returned to the field his senior
(01:09):
season as a captain and finished strong. He basically had
a cup of coffee with the Dolphins and then came
to realize his character was likely being judged by the
suspension and his NFL dreams weren't gonna happen. So Ricky
went back to school, got his doctorate, and dove into education.
After many years as an administrator, Ricky is now a
principal at an elementary school and also moonlights as the
(01:32):
football color analyst for the Colorado State Sports Network. He's
got some great stories and wisdom ladies and gentlemen. Ricky
Brewer cut Traded fired retired podcast with Susie Wargen. Ricky Brewer,
how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I'm living good? How you doing, Susie?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I'm doing good, doing good. Great to have another ram
in here. Good to have you on and hear your
story of you know, your Colorado through and through. So
it's it's pretty cool what you're doing, what you've done,
where you've been, and what you're doing now, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I mean, first of all, I'm honored to be here.
You know. Just listen to your podcast. And the lineup
you've had is amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I mean, I'm pretty awesome. Who's coming in.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
High I mean Louis right. First of all, let's start
with that he was actually my pe coach.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I don't know if you knew that he was a
lot of people's pe coach. I didn't realize that he
was yours.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, he's my pe teacher at MLK and really just
gave me a lot of you really brought that athleticism early.
That's who I first started lifting weights with.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
No kidding. Oh that's cool. Now a lot of people
get to say that, No, they do not.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yes, that was a living legend. Dave Anderson I saw
was on there. Yep, yep, You've had some good names.
And those are just the guys I know personally.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But right, yeah, a lot of guys that have come
up through the ranks here, you know, Daniel Graham, a
lot of you know DPS guys that are in here.
So I have to put a few buffs on this,
of course.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I saw that. Yeah, you gotta be somewhat neutral and yeah, yeah, yeah,
we love the state of Colorado, and we do love.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
The state of call Colorado. Yeah, so Ricky, let's start
with you. I mentioned you know Colorado through and through.
Born in Denver, you're one of four kids and you
end up going to Mullen. But what did you do
growing up as far as sports? I know, you know
football and track were what you ended up with in
high school, but what else did you play?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yeah? Football started early. I started at eight years old.
My mom wanted me to play tackle. My dad took
me out there for the tryout. It was like somewhat
of a tryout, and they asked if I could do
it a jumping jack, and I actually crossed my feet
in my legs. So I ended up playing flag football
my first year and then from there on. My dad
(03:35):
was like, I'm working with you every day, so I
have some natural ability. But on that day that was
kind of funny when I think about it now, But
I wanted to play tackle so bad and then they're like,
he's not ready. My mom was like, he's ready.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
So they wouldn't let you play tackle because you crossed
your arms and your legs. What do you mean like
you couldn't do a jump.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
He couldn't you do a jumping jack? I crossed my
arms and my legs while doing the jumping jack completely
and uh.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
It actually takes some coordination, Ricky. That's impressive.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Well, I'm glad they didn't let me play full tackle
because I wasn't quite ready. That's a funny story.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
My gosh, that's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah. And then so I stuck with football, stuck with track.
Track was like one of the things that I really
loved in the in the off season. It just kind
of helped me. I don't know, it just helped me
stay engaged with sports.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
And sure, your sprinter, I assume actually mid distance.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So yeah, so I started out running the four and
the eight. When I got to Mulling, I started running
the hurdles and then eventually I became like almost a
full time sprinter. I ran the three hundred hurdles. Then
I was on the four by one team, four by
four team, so yeah, I ended up getting pretty fast.
I had John Hancock, that was my track coach. Wow.
(04:45):
I mean I had some great coaches. I mean, you're
right as a pe teacher. And I go to Mullen,
I got day Wow, John Hancock, and then I go
to CSU and then really, when you think about legendary coaches,
the choices came down between coach Barnett and coach Lupit.
I chose coach Barnett initially, and then he departed right
(05:07):
as I was going into my senior year.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And so you would have been a Buff had he
stayed maybe.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah. Yeah, I was committed a lot of people don't
know that. Yeah. So I committed to the Buffs. That
was my first offer and I committed.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Oh they were your first offer. Interesting? Do you think
that's because you mentioned Davis your coach. You were a
state champion in high school and semi finalists, so you
guys were on the radar for a lot of college.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Or I mean the exposure piece for sure, But I
think going to the camp. So I went to the
CU camp that summer. Steve Watson senior. He saw something
in me. He sent me up to the camp. He
believed in me, and that was really cool. I chowed
out at the camp and then the next visit I
had was an unofficial visit and they handed me an
(05:50):
envelope and it was an offer, and I accepted on
the spot. My dad said, you better take that off.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Did you not think you would get any other offers?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
No? I believed in my skill set for sure. The
talent pool at Mullen was high, you know, And so
when I was able to start there early, I mean
I started my sophomore year, which is for me, that's early. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
You know, so you were a three year starter, four
year letterman. Ye, all Colorado with the Denver Post and
the Rocky Mountain News back when we used to have
two newspapers.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Go, yeah, that was a big deal.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Well, okay, so see you offers you CSU offered you
any others? Did you go on other because you could
do five visits?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Right, University of Wyoming offered, and then University of Washington
and in Kansas state. So I just thought that Washington
was so far.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Did you go there ever?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I visited?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Tyder Willingham was the coach at the time.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Oh no, kidding.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, So I've had I've had a cool like experience.
I've got to be around some great coaches. But I
just thought Seattle was so far. Then we drove out
to Kansas. That was all I needed to know.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And you kept driving and kept driving, yeah, and kept driving.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
So Manhattan they called it the little apple I don't know,
little apple seed.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
It's not a whole lot around, right.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, I'll at that. And then Wyoming offered and I
took the visit, and I respect the university and they
showed our family so much love, and I thought it
could be an option, but it really came down it
was c UCSU and then coach Barnett parted to you
and those were the terms. And then I met with
coach Hawkins, and I just, you know, at the time,
didn't think that would be the right fit for me.
(07:21):
And then so I met with Sonny again and I
was like, come can I He was like, yep, we
got a spot for you.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah. Dan Hawkins is a little bit different. Yeah, for sure, Gary,
and also definitely different from Sonny.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah. Yeah. He came to moll and pulled me out
of class along with a couple of my other teammates,
and then I asked to speak with them one on one.
And I don't need to share what happened in the conversation,
but I just knew it wasn't gonna be the right
place for me.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Interesting, so he was willing to keep your scholarship, which
is commendable because a lot of coaches will sometimes clean
house and not do that.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, for sure, you know what I don't want to
be over CONVID. But I represented by junior and senior
year for sure, So I don't think. I don't think
decision was tough for.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Oh, I'm sure yeah, to keep you.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, yeah, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
He's like, oh, we got a good one.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
And I gave him hell. I gave him hell too
while he was there, Like, you know, me going to
CSU ended up being terrible for CEU. Oh yeah, dad,
you know, defensively, I wrecked shop on him. Yeah. I
hear about it all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I bet you do it. Okay, So you end up
going to c ISSU, you read shirt your freshman year,
then in seven you end up just coming out and
raising hell your third and tackles and you missed a
couple of games even and still ended up being third
and tackles that year.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah. So my first game at CSU was against TCU
and they had Andy Dalton at quarterback and just a
few other just weapons.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
And does that seem so wild that Andy is still around?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, I mean it's no surprise. I mean he was
a good, good player in the head on his shoulders.
You know, he had leadership there, and I think we
were the same age at that time, so.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
We're talking that's seven yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Yeah. So but my first player of the game was
a sack against Andy Dalton, like my first collegiate play.
That was nuts. You know. I was prepared my whole
time at CSU, even my red shirt year. I prepared
every week as if I was gonna play, and I
think that's what really helps me.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, I just saw that.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah, and then the scout team thing, it could go
either way, because if you just lax and don't really
give it your I mean, you're not supposed to go
one hundred percent. But I definitely didn't slack because I
knew one day it would all pay off, and you know,
making moves against the starters. I think in practice, I
think that's the best film for coaches. So that's how
I looked at it. That took a very humble approach,
(09:37):
and then when my opportunity came, I took it and
I never never got off the field again.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah. You know, smart players will take special teams seriously.
Oh yeah, and also scout team very seriously because that
is where you can really turn some heads and it's
all about getting noticed to get those opportunities.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, oh man, I mean you can talk to my teammates.
I'll take it back to college. I played all the
special teams in my.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Senior year when you were a starter. Yeah, you kept
playing specialty.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Oh yeah, I used to. I love to kick off,
I love punt return, anything I could do to just
I loved football. You know, That's just what it was.
And uh, I think it was just an outlet for me,
and I felt like it was a privilege to play
the sport.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah. In seven, you were supposed to start the game
against cal right and they were ranked ten. You break
a finger in warm ups, Man, is that right? And
then do they like they did surgery and cast you
in the locker rooms. Surgery.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yes, I had surgery on my finger, so it was
a local, local anesthetic. They couldn't put me under all
the way.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
This is pre game, Yeah, this is in pre game.
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, the one of my teammates, my coach was upset
one of my teammates, and he threw the ball like sideways,
and the teammate jumped out of the way and it
hit me right on my hand. And I didn't even know. Man,
I literally knocked like my pinky off of my finger.
It was I didn't even notice it happened. That's the
funny part. I just felt like something dripping on my leg.
(11:02):
I looked down. I was like, where is this blood
coming from? My former roommate and teammate goes, oh my god,
look at your pinky And I looked down and everybody's yelling.
Train So yeah, Orthopedic Center of the rockiesr so Doctor Trumper,
Rocky the Rocky still there. He can vouch for this story. Man.
(11:25):
He uh Terry Dezeo was a trainer, throws a towel
over the hand. Rocky walks me into the locker room,
lay on the bench and they say, we cut this
thing off or we could try to keep it. And
I said let's try to keep it, and so they
sold it and sold it back on, casting me up.
I came back out and I was ready to play,
(11:47):
but you know, Sonny was like, nah, yeah, Sonny. Sonny
was like, no, You're not playing in this one.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Oh wow? So did you have a cast on the
rest of the year.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Not for the whole year, because I just felt like
it was gonna stop my ability to tackle. So and
I was a tough player. I wasn't trying to show
out or be tough. But they had like this mouldible
plastic in the training room and I just like was
playing around with it in the in the training room
one day during like pet and I like stuck it
in the hot water and I like started playing with.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
It like a mouth card.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, and then I was like whoa, and I started
like molding around my hand and then I basically just
came up with this thing that could fit inside of
my glove and then I tape it around and I
was like, oh.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, and then you could still grab and tackle everything.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And then I it hurt a few times, like in contact.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I'm sure it did, yeah, like because I think I.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Just got attach. It sounds crazy telling this story now
that I'm thinking about.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
It, Like, I am going to ask Rocky about that
the next time I see him. Go, but he sewed
your finger back on in a locker room, yes, okay.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah at Huge Stadium. Wow. Yeah, hollow ground.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Now yeah it is. Hughes is no longer there, and
that locker room probably not the cleanest and best place
to do surgery.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
No, it really, it really wasn't. But they had the
lighting and everything. It was crazy, and they like just
raised my arm up for those listening, like if you
can imagine, like my hamm was like hanging basically from
like the ceiling on the training room. It was a
tile ceiling and they just wrapped that.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
That's insane.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And I just looked the other direction. Oh I hope.
So I was like, you know what, let me just
see how this goes.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Wow, that's crazy. Okay, that was way crazier for a
story than I anticipated.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, but seven seven good. It was a good seaton.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Okay, so then you come off of that crazy season
in seven, you go into two thousand and eight, have
a really good year on the field. In two thousand
and eight, a breakout year. And that was good until
it wasn't when the new Mexico Bawl came around.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yeah. So so two thousand and eight I was all American. Yes,
that was so cool. Four tackles, Yes, one hundred and
four tackles. I was crushing in the classroom. I had
declared my major, so now studying economics. I had a
house off campus. I'm like living. I'm living right off
the oval for those that know, I'm on Howse Street,
(14:05):
So six six twenty four South house. Everybody knows. Yeah,
and I'm balling out, having a great season, and I
got off track. You know, I enjoyed it off the
field stuff a little too much and ended up getting
suspended for marijuana and that sucked.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
They tested you at the New Mexico ball, right.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yes, they tested me at the ball. That was the longest,
like forty eight hours of my life because they tested
me before the game and I already knew what I
had been up to. You know, it was just like
a it was a shock to the system. It's a
feeling that you It's a feeling that I think of often
because it keeps me on the right track. It could
have been a crippling effect. So you can handle adversity
(14:48):
a lot of different ways. So I think this is
the beautiful part of the story, is like I had
to face that there was a lot of ways out
of it. This is what I don't really talk about.
I had a lot of out of that, like you know,
and I thought about it. People might think I'm stupid
for going through with it, but I knew I was
gonna get caught. I just my integrity. I don't know
(15:11):
what took over me, but I just didn't want to
run from it. Whatever I was dealing with off the field,
and that was probably my way my moment. That's the
moment that changed me to be who I am, because
my whole life there was everybody's expectations for who I
was supposed to be, either through our spiritual leadership in
(15:33):
the church I grew up in, which was very important
and still is, and in my own household the expectations
for my mom and dad and what they have for me.
And so when I fail, like literally failed and failed
in front of the whole country, world and society, whatever
have you, there was no more running. Now everybody's speculating
(15:54):
and trying to decide what kind of guy you are?
You know, what is your character? So now everything brit
in the question and you can't. I've dealt with it publicly,
and that was the best thing that ever happened to
me because it forced me to have to walk the
walk and talk to talk at the same time. You
can't be two people, and that's that was the best
(16:15):
thing ever. I know that sounds crazy, but it made
me who I am.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
But basically, two thousand and eight, you're having the best
season of your life, and sometimes things get away where
you're like all right, I'm infallible and nothing can touch me.
And then all of a sudden, oh, and all that
came out was that you had been suspended by the NCAA.
The team said for I think like for a team
in Fryer, you know, violating team. Everybody, nobody could figure
(16:42):
out what it was. We're like, what the hell did
you do? But then you came out and you felt
it was very important, and at that time it's coach Fairchild.
We kind of skipped over that Sonny was let go
and after the seven season, and then you have coach Fairchild.
Which did that have anything to do with it?
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Or was it just everybody? It was on me. It
was on me because they did everything they could to
protect me from the news, if you will. But there
were just so many people that also looked up to me,
younger people, and that leads to where I am now,
and we'll get to that. But there were so many
people that looked up to me that I didn't want
(17:17):
any speculation. I think everybody's going to make mistakes, and
I made a mistake that was big to me. Right
for people that have like lower standards for their lives
and things like that. For at least for what I
was touted to be. That was a huge fall from grace.
We look at today's society, I think the standards lower
(17:38):
right because people do like insane stuff and I'm like, whoa,
that's nuts. But for the people that were looking up
to me and the people that are in my life,
my inner circle knew exactly what was going on. I
shared that and they knew it, and everybody within a
reasonable radius knew. But I really appreciate Coach Fairchild and
the team for respecting my privacy and let me battle
(18:01):
that journey on my own. I mean, you're talking about
going from all American living it up to being on
campus being ridiculed like for real in class. Really yeah,
like people you know, saying it because the speculation they
didn't know, and people automatically maybe assume the worst. And
I can list all the things that people may be said,
but I'm not going to give that any life, but
(18:23):
all the challenges in those moments being in class, like
I said, and having to face the music. You can
walk big with your chest out after you get the
double digit tackles, Oh yeah, right, It's easy to go
to class and sit in the front when you just
got on the cover of magazines.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Can you face the music when you fail? When you
have to look in the mirror. And I was able
to look myself in the mirror. So that's what helped
me keep my chin up. And my parents I can't
deny how my mom and dad like came up. I
was crying like when it happened, and my dad was like,
you made this mistake. It's not the end of the world.
He spelled it out for me in a way that
(19:02):
you know, stayed between he and I. But it just
reinvigorated me. I had one nightmare after it, and I'm
willing to share this that I was carrying all the
gatorade in the water bends for the team, like right
after the suspension. I was like, oh, water boys.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
You were the water boy, you were Bobby Bouchet.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Oh my god. And after that nightmare, I was like, oh,
all right, trying to suck it up. This is it.
So I got demoted. Now I'm back on scout team
after being a starter.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
After one hundred and four tackle season. You go to
the scout team.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Scout team, I mean, I'm not even here. I'm not
even in backer meetings. Anymore. I'm in scout team meetings,
so like I'm like, whoa, Like, I'm learning like everybody
else's game plans, playing different positions. I started to look
at it as like silver lining and then simultaneously I'm
playing against the ones again. Like at that point, my
goal was the embarrassed like the starters every because I
(19:59):
had already you know, so they already knew my stuff.
So I was like, I'm not going slow like after
that water Boy dream, please, Susanie, man, I wouldn't carry
no jugs.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
I was like, I'm good to give him. And you
never missed a practice, never missed the practice, never missed
the workout.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
How long did it take you to decide to come
out and say what happened? Because I don't remember when
that happened.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It happened before the start of the twenty ten season.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
It was a year, okay, yeah, a full year. You
didn't say anything the whole Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I'm suspended end of eight. So literally I'm at Christmas
break knowing what's scary to come out? Yeah? That was well,
you want to talk about tough, Susie. That was tough.
So we get the New Mexico first of all I
want ESPN. After getting interviewed, I'm sitting in a bar
with my sister Bloom. I'm popping up on the screen
(20:52):
with the interview. Everybody's like, oh, cheer, and the whole
bar erupts were doing cheers. But in the back of
my mind, I'm like, oh my god, I'm gonna let
all these people down. And that was tough. And then
I didn't do anything Christmas. I'm a Christmas guy, Susie.
I was just like, oh, this sucks. So those two
(21:13):
weeks I was sitting there waiting and I was like,
when am I gonna get this call? When I'm gonna
get this call?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Have you told anybody that you thought it was coming
or you just knew it was just sitting there not.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I didn't tell anybody. Everybody thought I got out of it.
Everybody thought I did what they thought I was gonna do,
and I never highlighted that or toldally like I'm gonna
get around this some kind I never and people offered
ways to get around it up to the minute. I
was like standing in line like boom could have.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Literally just like somebody else do the same, yes, And
it was.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Like no, that was the moment that built my integrity.
I'll stand by it all day. So yeah, so I
waited on that call and got the call and uh
I sillily tried to deny it. Initially, the trainer says, Rick,
there's no way this could have been just one joint.
He said, you had the highest saturation of marijuana in
(22:08):
your and your yearine that the n C double A
is ever registered. Oh no, I said, all right, I'm
coming up, and I drove up to Fort Collins. He
was like, we can appeal it and I was like, oh,
I can test again. He was like no, they're going
to test the second sample. I was like, to be
(22:28):
the same. I was like, don't don't worry about that.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Just I don't worry about oh man.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And then twenty four hours later, bottom.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Of the again.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
So two weeks before I'm on ESPN like face, yeah,
ESPN interviewing celebrating people throwing gatorade. Two weeks later, I'm
on ESPN, name on the bottom linebackers.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Suspended for the year. Boy, that'll built some character. Huh.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Yeah. So that was was totally ricky.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
So you get through that whole year and then you
come back your senior year and your captain. Yes, have
another one hundred plus tackle season. Yes, one of the
few that have the multi one hundred plus tackle seasons.
And you ball out. Yeah, and you show everybody who
you are balled out.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I loved it. My first game back was against you,
and it was just so so exciting just to be
back on the field. I was I wouldn't even say
I was nervous. I was just so so thrilled to
have the privilege back. You take it for granted, right, yeah,
leeting up. Actually, I don't know if I ever really
took it for granted. I think I took all the
things that come with it for granted, and all the
(23:36):
hype and things, because it was always there from the
time I missed that first jumping jack. After I got
that down, it was over, Susie, I promised you it was.
It was the start of the show from there.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
But once you have it all ripped away from you.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yes, you don't know what it feels like because I
never knew what it felt like not to play or
be the star, be the I never knew what that
fell like. From the time I started all the way
up to that moment. That was how I was defined
and then, so it forced me to have to be
Ricky like whoa like the real deal and deep down
(24:12):
inside I had to search for that. So that's what
fueled that season. It was like the gloves are off,
I got to play. That season was the rawest version
of me. Everything I did was what you saw. That
was the truest Ricky And that's why I'm so proud.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
You should be. Yeah, you had a hell of a
senior season. Yeah, and so now let's go on to
then after your senior year and you have basically a
cup of coffee with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Okay, I'll tell you about. I'll tell you about leading
up to that, so I have the hell of the season.
Every agent in the country is like, hey, we want
to sign you on sign Like I'm literally feeling like
Jerry Maguire, like you're cush because in Il didn't exist.
I'm going from.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Like getting nothing living however I can, yeah, getting everything everything.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I mean, I'm going I'm flying out the Cali, chilling
in San Diego, just getting recruited. So this Christmas break
was way different than the Christmas break before. I'm telling
you that was the ball and I did it responsibly.
Because I learned. Yes, it was cool. So I ended
up signing with Drew Rosenhaus, so Rosenhouse.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Sports, big name agent.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Yeah. So I fly out to Miami. At the meeting
off the South Beach that's for the Cadillac. Wow. Pulled
up to a dope mansion and that's why I trained
in it. So that's where I lived. So I had
a mansion in Pinehurst, dope Cadillac and this is all
there right, I'm like, Okay, this is it. They do
(25:51):
that to motivate you and too, so you could owe
money when when you sign you know what I mean.
But I had a lot of good people looking out
for me, so my contract was nice. With my agent,
I start training at the University of Miami. I'm training
there and then I'm training with this trainer named DoD
Romero and he's like the guy at the time, and
(26:12):
he still is. He trains like a rod Lenny Kravix,
like Paul Wright aka the Big Show. So like, I'm
in a company of these dudes training now in Miami
and we're like living it up and I get in
the best shape of my life. I'm the fastest I've
ever been. Like at this point, I'm running like like
high four to four, like low five to two, but
(26:33):
I'm still gaining weight. So I ended up like at
a four or five eight this well like I ended
and vert ends up like I think I tested at
thirty eight and a half, thirty eight and a half
on the vert and I think I hit twenty six
on the two twenty five, ten five broad jump, ten
six broad jump. The numbers were ridiculous, like and this
is all natural. I was like, what And then my footwork.
(26:57):
I'm riding around with a ladder, like a foot ladder. Sorry, yeah, yeah,
foot ladder. I got the foot ladder in the back
of the Cadillac.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
So whenever you just break it out of the park
or what are we doing.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
A gas station?
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Gas station station?
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Now, I'm like, i'd go full like cause you got
to remember, I'm still remembering how it felt to have
it all taken away. Yes, so now I grab life
by the horn.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Imagine you're pumping gas and you break out the foot
ladder and you're just like.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Put it on automatic foot ladder. I wanted everybody to see.
I wanted everybody to see. I was like, I'm going,
I'm going. So then I get ranked. I'm in the
top seventeen as a defensive player, so top seventeen. So
this is where all the talk comes and I'm like,
oh man, okay, I'm going did you.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Play them in any East West or any of those?
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Didn't get the Shrine invite, none of the Senior Bowl invite,
So I'm like, okay, fine, No, that's where things change.
When I didn't get the Combine invite, That's when I
start getting like, what's going on? And I'm starting to
think that the eight is starting to reserve it because
because at that time, you know, marijuana is like, whoa,
(28:05):
the devil's let it? He smokes weed? What else is
wrong with him? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
And then so the character part starts coming in, the.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Part starts coming out draft stock. I think once coaches
really started digging, and you know, it didn't really help
either that we were three and nine. I think there's
so many metrics that go into it. Now it's a
lot better for players. I think a lot of things
played against me, the eight situation obviously, and then the
character that how long it took for me to come
out about what happened. I think people were like somewhat
(28:37):
let down that I didn't just come out and say, oh,
you know, that's positive for smoking weed. I think that
all of that, the suspense around it, didn't play well.
This is just all speculation there.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I'm sure there's some truth to that with some of them, yeah,
for all of them.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
And this is how it goes from living it up
in Miami, NFL to for real, not for long. You know,
cut traded fired.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
And you're not retired yet job, but you are from
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
They were retired and retired. They retired me completely.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Okay, so you don't get drafted, no draft.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I'm like, okay, I least gonna get to a camp.
Drew gives me a meeting and we talk and I'm open,
honest in the meeting and I'm like, cool, we're signing.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I walk out and then this is what the dolphins
Dolphins and.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I'm like, let's go. I'm ready to go. And uh.
I talked to Drew the next day and he's like,
hey man, they're not gonna You're done. He's like, you're
not even gonna hit the field. And I was like,
I'm not gonna even work out. And I couldn't believe it.
The next day next day, so I thought it was
like a big character thing for real. And this is
(29:49):
I'm open about it because I think it's it's important
for athletes to know, like you gotta walk to talk
and if people aren't, you better be really really good.
So you gotta decide.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Were really really good and that still couldn't overcome.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
It still couldn't. It was a different era I was
think it was. I think it was a different era.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
It was only fourteen years ago. It was different.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Yes, it was way different. And then I think looking
back on it now, like you can't be two people
like you know what I'm saying. It was a Ricky football,
then there's Ricky off the field, and then there's Ricky
in class, like three things Like you know, all these
things can't be you. You have to be who you are.
And I think after looking at all that research and
(30:30):
the things that they dig into, they probably looked at
me as a liability. And not to mention, there's a
lockout yere So this is twenty eleven. Those three hundred
guys are plus that got drafted. That was the team.
So if you didn't get draft, you weren't going. You
weren't going to So the fact that I even got
that meat. I was like, Okay, this could happen. So
(30:50):
my dreams were.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Shattered short in one day.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
In one day, dreams are shattered, and I had to decide.
So I just kept training. Let me stay in Miami.
Let you keep the caddy, no, or the or the
Pinehirst crib with the pool.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
You know, you're in an apartment driving a Kia something
like it.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
I was borrowing a jeep living and sharing the room. No,
I didn't get that bad, but I was borrowing that
jeep though, that's for sure. Do you remember that commercial
with Lebron where he's training in the pool. Yeah, and
it's like alter ego grandfather, Like, yeah, him training the pool.
When I had that mansion Pinehurst and I was training
(31:33):
in the pool. I used to do that. I used
to like for real, like running around in the pool.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
It's really good exercise.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, it was just it just was so cool. That
was Look, I'll tell you what, I think God had
other plans for me as far as like the NFL
is concerned, because the way that I played was just reckless.
I mean I used to rock people, and.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
You know people loved you.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, and I played with that abandoned. But you know,
looking back on it, I could have gotten injured. I
could have yeah, like permanently, or.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
You played dangerous yes, yes for your body.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I let it, laid it out all on the line,
and looking back on it, you know, with all the
things that have come out, I'm glad that I you know,
I didn't everything you deal with in life. You got
to find the silver lining and what you did, and
I'll take it. And then so not making it to
the NFL or playing in the NFL, the silver lining
for me is that I was healthy and that I
got a taste of what you could have in life
(32:26):
if you work hard. So I don't have a mansion,
but I can train in the pool if I want to, Like, like,
I know what good sushi is now, right, Like you
know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (32:37):
You know, you got a little taste of some of
the fine life. You know a couple of things.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
I know what crystal space tastes like. Shoot, not many
people could say that.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I can't. Yeah, I know, there you go too.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
So those are the things man, you know, And the
beautiful part is I ain't become materialistic. That stuff didn't
defind me. It was cool to have it was cool.
But I've seen some of my team mates who have
had it all and now they have nothing, and their
personality and who they are has.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Changed so different.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
You just see it and you feel for them because
everything they did was defined in that lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
And materialistic stuff.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yeah, and so I thank god that I got to
protect my brain and it led me to a pretty
good life far as pursuing my dreams and education it did.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Yeah, so great segue there. You should do radio. Okay,
So when you don't make the Dolphins and you have
to figure out what you're doing, you go to Metro
State University get your doctoratep you get that in higher
education Concentration and special ed, and then you start working
in the schools and you go back to your roots
(33:50):
in DPS. And then now today your principal at an
elementary school and Jeff co I mean working with students,
and I think you also went spoke to students a
lot when you were at CSU, didn't you. Absolutely, Yeah,
You've always had a thing for for the killer education.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Yeah, absolutely, So, I mean I could take it back
to middle school. I started the bus Buddies program back
in middle school, so it was students with disabilities, whether
they were in wheelchairs or had any other difficulties just
being able to have or any any other mobility issues,
being able to move through big schools. You know, kids
don't really care at that age about what is going on.
(34:27):
Do they kind of self centered or don't not aware
of their surroundings. And I started seeing, you know, some
of our students with disabilities getting bumped over and things
like that. And I was kind of big at the time,
so I was like, you know what, let me grab
a couple of my teammates. And so sixth grade through
seventh grade we did the bus Buddies and that was
at MLK and we walked students from the from the
(34:50):
bus to the to the school. That's where the passion
for like special education came from. And then at my
time at Mullin, I was at Fort Logan Linkages. So
for Logan Elementary appreciate them because they allowed me to
supervise recess. So I supervised recess as a as a
junior and senior then SR junior year supervised Recess did
(35:12):
a good job. Then I was able to do reading intervention,
but some of the students my senior year of high
school Yeah, I've been.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Doing You've been very dedicated to education for a long time.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
And then when I went to CSU, I was volunteering
at Bacon Elementary doing some reading there and just like
spending my time in the schools. And then all that
played into what led to me going to grad school
and studying special education at Metro. The day I graduated
from Metro, I applied to DU That's where I started
pursuing my doctorate.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
So you are doctor Ricky Brewer.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Yeah, yeah, you know what. My mom always called me
that though, even when I was a kid, she always
used to call me that. She used to call me
doctor Ricky Matthew Brewer. That's how she says it. That's
great shout out to mom.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Yeah, and now you really are. So you go through
doing a lot of different administrative jobs at different places,
and then this principal job comes open and Jeff co
and you go up against a lot of candidates. Yeah,
and get it.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah. I was in the principal residency program for Denver
Public Schools and that's I think where I really got
the edge. Before that, I was at Kennedy High School.
I was athletic director, assistant principal, special Education director, Elector's.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Director, Like, you're doing like five jobs responsibilities.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Yeah. Our leadership team was rather small and the school
was it was a high need school, and I was
tasked with motivating people that maybe didn't have that level
of motivation. And I think that's where that grit came
from far as being an administrator. I did what I
needed to do there, got nominated to be in the
principal residency program, and of all places, I get to
(36:57):
go back to Montbello to help reopen and Mont Bellow
High School. And I did a good job there. I
felt like I blew it out of the water because
I came out with a bunch of offers to interview,
which is that's how this goes.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Absolutely, the offer.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Of the interview is that's the step. Because for administrators
or any high level job, you gotta get invited. When
they call you, you also got to know they've called
other people. You know they're looking for the best. Steve Harris,
he's the talent coordinator for Jeffco Public Schools, reached out
to me. I was like, man, what's the opportunity. I'm interested.
(37:32):
They sent me over to a school called Ute Meadows
Elementary First of all, I thought the name was cool,
like you know what I mean, the Ute tribe, and
that's major here in Colorado. A lot of people don't
know the history of Colorado. So I'm big on history
and things that have meaning and connection. But yout Medos
already knew. I was like, Okay, that's the first start.
And then I walk into school and one of the
(37:55):
kids says, are you our new principal? And I was like,
I want to be like get down and give the
kid a hug. And then I was like, oh, this
is this is where I'm going to be.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
So we take the tour. I'm hanging out with kids,
playing with Plato. I go to it sounds crazy, right,
It's great to go talking like about like the Journey
to get right, you know, playing with Plato, hanging out.
I jump into the music room, pe Pe room. This
could have been a risk, but I just just start
(38:29):
swinging on the ropes with the kids. Like they could
have been like this, dude's unhings, but but really it was.
It was a moment for the kids to see, like
be yourself. I was real intentional by my outfit. I
wore some really cool like Nike like shoes, like made
sure this fit was fresh, the poper jacket, like I
wanted to look cool. That was to get the kids,
(38:51):
you know. And then for the interview, I got suited.
I was fresh. I walked in like men in black,
like Will Smith fresh. I was rest coming in there.
It was a room of like twenty people, and I
remember walking in and there was just one chair, and
I was like, what's up everybody, and everybody was like hello,
like it was just cooled the air. And they had
(39:13):
me sitting in a seat that was the size for
like a kindergartener, and I'm like six two and a
half and everybody sitting in the same kind of seats.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Okay, there aren't any other seats really in elementary, as
they grabbed the one from everybody's desk.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
And then now it looks weird, right because now some
all the chairs are the same so to be uniform.
That's where we sat, and I'm towering over his table
and I'm sitting there and I'm just like answering these questions.
And one of these questions that came up was like,
why should we hire you for the job. I just
told them that, you know, after looking at the school
(39:51):
and being in this environment, there's no doubt that I
could be the best person to move the needle for
your kids. I'm gonna be committed to be there for
the kids that excel and for the kids that need
an extra extra hand. And I spoke about the data,
gave everybody handshake, walked out, and I was like, all right,
this is cool. I think I got this. Then I
(40:12):
interviewed again with the superintendent. It was a snow day.
I just moved into our house, so me and my
fiance Kelsey was just bought the house and our internet
wasn't set up yet. And I didn't even think about that. Oh,
because the interview goes from in person to virtual because
we had like a snow day, so this couldn't have
(40:32):
got I have some crazy stuff. My life is like
crazy how these things happen. But I always rise to
the occasion. That's the thing. I don't let none of
that getting away snow day, all this hoop li. I
I'm like, oh snap, we don't have Wi Fi. Like literally,
it's the day after we move in, so like we
didn't even have our furniture like up so we had
a fireplace that was nice. So I like set up
(40:54):
this little table with the fireplace. It was like it
was so circle, like paying Oh.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Yeah, that's a twenty twenty backdrop.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Yep. But I made sure that I wore pants.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
That's very smart cause you had to stand upp yes.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Call shoes. I was ready to go. I hugged up
to the Wi Fi or hot spot on my phone
on a zoom call with like six people, and I.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
Was like, oh, this is is gonna crazy connection.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
I prayed before. I literally held the phone and pray.
Before the interview. I was like, Dear God, please just
let this work out. Please the cash I promise I
won't do this again. Thank you a man.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
It's literally it's funny.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Everybody comes on, we talk, and then the superintendent happens
to be a Mulling graduate. So Tracy Dorlin graduated from Mullin.
We chop it up about Mulling, but that wasn't I mean,
we hit it off prior to that even coming out,
and she was like, you're the person for the job.
Heard from my current boss. Her name is Sam Holman,
she's our community super intendent. She gave me a call
(41:55):
said welcome to the team, and I was like, good
to go. Wow, man salary negotiation. I was like, good
to go, let's go.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
That's great. Yeah, that's cool. So this is your first
year on the job.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Yes, yes, first year on the job.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
How different is it being a principle as opposed to
another admin position?
Speaker 1 (42:16):
Being in the seat is a I mean, everybody told
me it would be different. Yeah, but until you're in it,
you really don't understand it. You got the safety, you
got the budget, you got the individual needs of your
students that all come to you like as AP's you
kind of you really are the supporting cast. But now
that I think about it, all you're doing is bringing
(42:36):
your problem to the principalle saying what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Like you know, now you get everybody's problems.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Yeah. When I was AP, I thought I was like
the man. Like in my head, I was like, I'm
the one running this.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Like, you know, until the problem gets too big and
then I'm going up there, you.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Know what I mean. I'm like, I really was thinking
I was that guy. I wasn't. I wasn't making any decisions.
Now I'm making decisions, and I don't take it lightly
at all. I didn't take it lightly before, but the
buck kind of stops at my desk, and I take
a very student's first approach. What's gonna be good for
the student, parent, the class itself in the school, then
(43:15):
the teacher, believe it or not, a lot of people
lead like what's good for the adults first? That'll keep
you in good favor with your staff, Yes, but it
ain't good for your kids and parents. Oh yeah, I'm
cool with the parents stuff because because I take the call,
I have an open door policy, and for you, a
(43:36):
lot of principals go against that. It's always been my
style because the problem escalates if you.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Yes, you let it. Wait, yes, it does.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
It just came out and be like, hey, I was
fucking with.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
You, learned your lesson on wait the year plus.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
I don't even wait a day. I'm like, what's wrong? Mom?
What's the wrong? Dad? Oh yeah, he was looking at
what Okay, I got it, so kind of what it is.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
That's great. I love it. And then we have to
talk about your other job that you have that you've
had for how many years now? You're the color analyst,
number three color analyst on the CSU radio broadcast. This
is just your three, This is just your three.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
I've been in four years total. The first year was
like getting another team, well, not getting another team, getting
another radio team. Yeah yeah, I know the Rams, yes
for sure, getting another radio team, getting to know what
it's like to even be in the booth.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
It's different, it is, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
Yeah? Yeah. People listen and you know, listening to you,
Dave rig and it's like people don't know how much
goes into that.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
There's a lot.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Yeah, like you got to go get your like your
headset ready for your post games, and like is the
connection good? Every stadium is different.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Oh yeah, do a lot of testing, and then things
can go all to hell in a handbag. Halfway through
a game, you're like, wait, why is our frequency gone?
Who just stole it? Right to what TV truck is
on our frequency? Right now?
Speaker 1 (44:59):
Right? And then like when you're off air, Dave's getting
ready to throw to you, and then your frequency might
go out right when he throws to you, and he's
or I.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Don't have the player that I think I might have.
He's talking to another buddy and I'm like, wait, no,
not yet, not yet, not yet, right.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
People don't know all that goes into that, and so
you got to be able to be composed and still
keep like what you want to say together And so are.
Speaker 2 (45:22):
You having fun with it?
Speaker 1 (45:22):
You like it? I'm loving it. The guys are great.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
Brian Roth is a trus pro pro and and Marty
on the sidelines is one of my great friends from
a long time and he's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
Yeah, Brian and Marty, I love I love traveling with
those guys.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Martyr are some of the best times are Marty talks
a lot though, yea marking off the air sideline people
are talkers.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
So I'm like sometimes and Marty, I love you, but
sometimes I got to put my headphones on because I'm like, man,
we're ready to talk for the next four hours.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Like oh, like on the plane, Oh, I.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Gotta save it, Marty, Like, we can't do the show
on the plane. We tell the gay wait till it
saves something.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
Say, don't tell me all your material, all.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Of the material. I'm like, come on, Marty, save something.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
Man's funny, that's funny.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
But yeah, Brian and Brian. Brian is very serious. I mean,
he's a producer at lear Field. In the way that
he structures his stuff is you know, really professional, and
that's helped me also in what I do like in
education that you're really like watching what people do, right,
and then I need to analyze it in my brain
and then spit it back out what I've seen, and
(46:32):
it has to come from a way that people can
understand it.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Now you're a head coach, yeah, exactly, you really are.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
Yes, And I have far as my staff, right. I
have sixty different players, right, and they all have different roles.
I got some stars, I got some.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Walk on, got some scout team, I got it all.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
But I gotta all make them feel like their husband trophy.
And it has to be genuine. They know if I'm like, well,
I don't ever, so they would know if I was
be asking them, they would know it immediately. And I've
learned that too. The journey to being in to where
I'm where I am now, I've taken all those lessons.
The awkward conversation is the oops, I shouldn't have said that.
(47:16):
You got to remember those, yeah, And I think that's
just been a part of the journey and being open
to criticism. You got to be able to take it.
And I feel like this, right, if I can miss
a tackle in front of seventy thousand people, right and
get booed like, Okay, I could go and give a
presentation to my staff. That's a great way to look
(47:38):
at that's my ass, Like literally, that's my ass.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
That's a really good way to look at it and.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Believe it or not. I treat my team meetings like
I treat them like pre game. I'm talking to my
staff as if they're great to go out and play
on the field.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
Like seriously, I could see that I do. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
We don't play around.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
We're fired up and ready to go.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Man, I'm telling you we do. We do. We break it.
You break it out, everybody, bring it in.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
We do one, two, three, Yeah, no, Eagles on three, O,
Eagles on three.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Goes on me, Eagles on three.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
We got the ute salute. I brought that off of
the TD, off of TD. Man. Shout out to TD.
Do the ute salute Eagles in the nest. Let it fly.
The kids love that I brought all the like same things.
The camaraderie.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
You can make so many parallels, Ricky, you really can.
That's super smart to do. So.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
I run my I run my school like a football organization.
That's the translate.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
Its fun. That's really fun.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
And I had such good relationships with all of my coaches,
Coach log and Coach Luvic. I used to kick it
in like their office and talk to him just about
like how they thought think about asking what are you
thinking about right now? Oh?
Speaker 2 (48:50):
I know, yeah, I said, I said, next him on
the planet. He puts his headphones on, probably because he
thinks I'm gonna ask him.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
Questions like that, right, Like I used to like, you
ever get nervous, like before you like shoot, like first
bank commercials? Like I used to ask, like you don't
imagine like sophomore Ricky right yeah, like oh man, funny story.
Funny story. Sophomore year at Mullen Day, Luggan is our
new our new coach. Actually, my freshman year we had
(49:17):
John Matt. Dave Lugan gets hired by sophomore year at
Mullen and I'm like, dude, Dave Lugging so cool. First bank, Like.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Let's go, it's the first bank guy.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
Yes. I was like, Dad, I got the first bank
guy as our coach. And my dad said, do you
know who the hell that is? He's in the Hall
of Fame. I was like, what that's Dave?
Speaker 2 (49:41):
Look, Oh my gosh, that's we got the first bank guys,
our head coach.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
I was so hyped. I didn't even know he's blamed football.
Does he know we don't know this story?
Speaker 2 (49:54):
Can I tell him that you can't?
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Okay, because he's gonna notice this next part of the story.
So I go to practice the next day knowing that
this is Jay log the first back guy. So I
take it upon myself to sing first bake.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Man.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
He saw me say, I was like, all right here
I am. I'm a little I'm a little turt I'm like, nah,
he didn't hear me. I'mna singing again, sing it again?
Because Logan comes up. You see, I'm scared to even
say sing it still to this.
Speaker 2 (50:24):
Day, trauma like.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
I'm holding on shaking, I'm holding on to death. Because
Logan said, Ricky, have you ever seen that song again?
I'm gonna run you to your few, boy, So you did.
I didn't even finish it.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
You did not finish it because he probably you know,
he's probably somewhere in this building right now because we're
at the iHeart station, and he's gonna find you and
make you run till you put did I just look over,
just look through that. That light just turned off. By
the way, somebody walked by.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
It was probably Dave. But yeah, I mean so, like
I said, I run my school like a organization. So
spending time with Sonny, spending time with Dave and picking their.
Speaker 2 (51:04):
Brain amazing mentors. Yeah, absolutely amazing. Okay, well, so let's
go into the last question that I ask everybody, and
you've talked about this throughout your whole journey too, of
what do you tell people You have all these students
now that you can mentor and help when things do
get crummy, what's your best advice to them? Wow, wait
(51:26):
a year and a half.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
Don't wait a year and a half. Don't wait a
year and a half to face it. I don't think
that I waited a year and a half to face
it out. I waited a year and a half to
tell the people that I deserve the explanation to So,
if you have people that care about you and you
let them down, you owe them an explanation. That's the reality.
And I feel like people that go around living life
(51:47):
like I don't owe nobody nothing. I ain't got to
tell you that's cool. They're looking at you expecting it.
So I think take care of the people that love you,
I think is the first thing. Actually, that's it. Take
care of your people. I say that to my staff,
I say that to my friends. Take care of your people.
When you come to my house, it's like your house,
like for real, whatever you like. If I have people
(52:09):
that visit in for town, Kelsey asked, you know, what
are your favorite foods, and we make sure you have it.
Like with my staff, I sent a survey. How do
you like to be coached? How do you like to
be recognized? Not everybody likes.
Speaker 2 (52:22):
Fanfare, they don't, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
Some people just like a pat on the back. So
that's how you take care of your people. This is
going to sound backwards. You can't treat people how you
want to be treated because that's almost egotistical leadership. You
got to treat people how they want to be treated,
and you got to honor that, not how you think
they want to be treated. Ask them what do they
(52:45):
need from you? And that's that's my advice to everybody.
Take care of your.
Speaker 2 (52:48):
People, take care of your tribe. Take care of your tribe,
and they'll take care of you.
Speaker 1 (52:52):
Yeah, over your show. Yeah, I love my team and
I feel like they love me back. Yeah, I mean,
I probably like I'm making a mask on time. You know,
you're a leader, You're like.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
You can't make everybody happy all the time. You just can't.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
But I just throw in a couple of pajama days.
I'm not lying. We did eighties Day. We did eighties
Day just cause.
Speaker 2 (53:12):
Oh fun eighties days just because.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
I missed my kids being in elementary school and being
able to like do crazy hair day and all the
fun stuff.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Like that, all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (53:20):
Yeah, so I do that.
Speaker 1 (53:22):
We do breakfast, like catered breakfast.
Speaker 2 (53:24):
Oh that's great. Yeah, you good, Ricky. This was so
much fun. We've talked throughout the years, but never had
a chance to sit down like this. This is great.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
This is good.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
Susan, thank you for taking the time. I know you're
super busy with this new job and then CSU so
I bet new baby and the new baby there's that.
Oh my gosh. Congratulations. By the way, Yeah, you've got
a lot on your plate. Okay, appreciate Hey, thanks Ricky.
Speaker 1 (53:48):
Thank you, Susie. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (53:50):
Thanks Ricky. New episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired I
released on Tuesdays. Please like and auto download this podcast
wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can keep up
on new releases by following on Twitter and Instagram at
ctfur podcast as well as the website ctfurpodcast dot com.
By the way, on that website, there's links to the
(54:10):
major podcast platforms, links to individual episodes with each guest picture,
as well as my contact information. If you have feedback
or suggestions, I'm your host, Susie Wargen. To learn more
about me, visit susiewargin dot com. Thanks for listening, and
until next time, please be careful, be safe, and be kind.
Take care
When I fail, like literally failed and failed in front
of the whole country, world and society, whatever have you.
There was no more running. Now everybody's speculating and trying
to decide what kind of guy you are. I've dealt
with it publicly, and that was the best thing that
ever happened to me because it forced me to have
(00:21):
to walk the walk and talk to talk at the
same time. You can't be two people.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired, a podcast featuring conversations
with professional athletes and coaches who have experienced being cut, traded, fired,
and or they're retired. I'm your host. Susie Wargen, the
guest for this episode, is a product of Colorado and
also a product of learning a life lesson the hard way.
Ricky Brewer was born and raised in Denver and was
(00:48):
quite the athlete in football and track. He won a
state championship during his time at Mullen High School under
Dave Logan and went on to play for Sonny Lubick
at Colorado State University. After two incredible seasons with the
Ricky failed a drug test and was suspended for his
entire junior year. To say that suspension was impactful would
be an understatement. Ricky returned to the field his senior
(01:09):
season as a captain and finished strong. He basically had
a cup of coffee with the Dolphins and then came
to realize his character was likely being judged by the
suspension and his NFL dreams weren't gonna happen. So Ricky
went back to school, got his doctorate, and dove into education.
After many years as an administrator, Ricky is now a
principal at an elementary school and also moonlights as the
(01:32):
football color analyst for the Colorado State Sports Network. He's
got some great stories and wisdom ladies and gentlemen. Ricky
Brewer cut Traded fired retired podcast with Susie Wargen. Ricky Brewer,
how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I'm living good? How you doing, Susie?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I'm doing good, doing good. Great to have another ram
in here. Good to have you on and hear your
story of you know, your Colorado through and through. So
it's it's pretty cool what you're doing, what you've done,
where you've been, and what you're doing now, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I mean, first of all, I'm honored to be here.
You know. Just listen to your podcast. And the lineup
you've had is amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I mean, I'm pretty awesome. Who's coming in.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
High I mean Louis right. First of all, let's start
with that he was actually my pe coach.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I don't know if you knew that he was a
lot of people's pe coach. I didn't realize that he
was yours.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, he's my pe teacher at MLK and really just
gave me a lot of you really brought that athleticism early.
That's who I first started lifting weights with.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
No kidding. Oh that's cool. Now a lot of people
get to say that, No, they do not.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yes, that was a living legend. Dave Anderson I saw
was on there. Yep, yep, You've had some good names.
And those are just the guys I know personally.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But right, yeah, a lot of guys that have come
up through the ranks here, you know, Daniel Graham, a
lot of you know DPS guys that are in here.
So I have to put a few buffs on this,
of course.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I saw that. Yeah, you gotta be somewhat neutral and yeah, yeah, yeah,
we love the state of Colorado, and we do love.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
The state of call Colorado. Yeah, so Ricky, let's start
with you. I mentioned you know Colorado through and through.
Born in Denver, you're one of four kids and you
end up going to Mullen. But what did you do
growing up as far as sports? I know, you know
football and track were what you ended up with in
high school, but what else did you play?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yeah? Football started early. I started at eight years old.
My mom wanted me to play tackle. My dad took
me out there for the tryout. It was like somewhat
of a tryout, and they asked if I could do
it a jumping jack, and I actually crossed my feet
in my legs. So I ended up playing flag football
my first year and then from there on. My dad
(03:35):
was like, I'm working with you every day, so I
have some natural ability. But on that day that was
kind of funny when I think about it now, But
I wanted to play tackle so bad and then they're like,
he's not ready. My mom was like, he's ready.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
So they wouldn't let you play tackle because you crossed
your arms and your legs. What do you mean like
you couldn't do a jump.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
He couldn't you do a jumping jack? I crossed my
arms and my legs while doing the jumping jack completely
and uh.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
It actually takes some coordination, Ricky. That's impressive.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Well, I'm glad they didn't let me play full tackle
because I wasn't quite ready. That's a funny story.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
My gosh, that's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah. And then so I stuck with football, stuck with track.
Track was like one of the things that I really
loved in the in the off season. It just kind
of helped me. I don't know, it just helped me
stay engaged with sports.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
And sure, your sprinter, I assume actually mid distance.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So yeah, so I started out running the four and
the eight. When I got to Mulling, I started running
the hurdles and then eventually I became like almost a
full time sprinter. I ran the three hundred hurdles. Then
I was on the four by one team, four by
four team, so yeah, I ended up getting pretty fast.
I had John Hancock, that was my track coach. Wow.
(04:45):
I mean I had some great coaches. I mean, you're
right as a pe teacher. And I go to Mullen,
I got day Wow, John Hancock, and then I go
to CSU and then really, when you think about legendary coaches,
the choices came down between coach Barnett and coach Lupit.
I chose coach Barnett initially, and then he departed right
(05:07):
as I was going into my senior year.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And so you would have been a Buff had he
stayed maybe.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah. Yeah, I was committed a lot of people don't
know that. Yeah. So I committed to the Buffs. That
was my first offer and I committed.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Oh they were your first offer. Interesting? Do you think
that's because you mentioned Davis your coach. You were a
state champion in high school and semi finalists, so you
guys were on the radar for a lot of college.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Or I mean the exposure piece for sure, But I
think going to the camp. So I went to the
CU camp that summer. Steve Watson senior. He saw something
in me. He sent me up to the camp. He
believed in me, and that was really cool. I chowed
out at the camp and then the next visit I
had was an unofficial visit and they handed me an
(05:50):
envelope and it was an offer, and I accepted on
the spot. My dad said, you better take that off.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Did you not think you would get any other offers?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
No? I believed in my skill set for sure. The
talent pool at Mullen was high, you know, And so
when I was able to start there early, I mean
I started my sophomore year, which is for me, that's early. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
You know, so you were a three year starter, four
year letterman. Ye, all Colorado with the Denver Post and
the Rocky Mountain News back when we used to have
two newspapers.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Go, yeah, that was a big deal.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Well, okay, so see you offers you CSU offered you
any others? Did you go on other because you could
do five visits?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Right, University of Wyoming offered, and then University of Washington
and in Kansas state. So I just thought that Washington
was so far.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Did you go there ever?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I visited?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Tyder Willingham was the coach at the time.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Oh no, kidding.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, So I've had I've had a cool like experience.
I've got to be around some great coaches. But I
just thought Seattle was so far. Then we drove out
to Kansas. That was all I needed to know.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And you kept driving and kept driving, yeah, and kept driving.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
So Manhattan they called it the little apple I don't know,
little apple seed.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
It's not a whole lot around, right.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, I'll at that. And then Wyoming offered and I
took the visit, and I respect the university and they
showed our family so much love, and I thought it
could be an option, but it really came down it
was c UCSU and then coach Barnett parted to you
and those were the terms. And then I met with
coach Hawkins, and I just, you know, at the time,
didn't think that would be the right fit for me.
(07:21):
And then so I met with Sonny again and I
was like, come can I He was like, yep, we
got a spot for you.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah. Dan Hawkins is a little bit different. Yeah, for sure, Gary,
and also definitely different from Sonny.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah. Yeah. He came to moll and pulled me out
of class along with a couple of my other teammates,
and then I asked to speak with them one on one.
And I don't need to share what happened in the conversation,
but I just knew it wasn't gonna be the right
place for me.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Interesting, so he was willing to keep your scholarship, which
is commendable because a lot of coaches will sometimes clean
house and not do that.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, for sure, you know what I don't want to
be over CONVID. But I represented by junior and senior
year for sure, So I don't think. I don't think
decision was tough for.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Oh, I'm sure yeah, to keep you.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, yeah, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
He's like, oh, we got a good one.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
And I gave him hell. I gave him hell too
while he was there, Like, you know, me going to
CSU ended up being terrible for CEU. Oh yeah, dad,
you know, defensively, I wrecked shop on him. Yeah. I
hear about it all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I bet you do it. Okay, So you end up
going to c ISSU, you read shirt your freshman year,
then in seven you end up just coming out and
raising hell your third and tackles and you missed a
couple of games even and still ended up being third
and tackles that year.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah. So my first game at CSU was against TCU
and they had Andy Dalton at quarterback and just a
few other just weapons.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
And does that seem so wild that Andy is still around?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, I mean it's no surprise. I mean he was
a good, good player in the head on his shoulders.
You know, he had leadership there, and I think we
were the same age at that time, so.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
We're talking that's seven yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Yeah. So but my first player of the game was
a sack against Andy Dalton, like my first collegiate play.
That was nuts. You know. I was prepared my whole
time at CSU, even my red shirt year. I prepared
every week as if I was gonna play, and I
think that's what really helps me.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, I just saw that.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah, and then the scout team thing, it could go
either way, because if you just lax and don't really
give it your I mean, you're not supposed to go
one hundred percent. But I definitely didn't slack because I
knew one day it would all pay off, and you know,
making moves against the starters. I think in practice, I
think that's the best film for coaches. So that's how
I looked at it. That took a very humble approach,
(09:37):
and then when my opportunity came, I took it and
I never never got off the field again.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah. You know, smart players will take special teams seriously.
Oh yeah, and also scout team very seriously because that
is where you can really turn some heads and it's
all about getting noticed to get those opportunities.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, oh man, I mean you can talk to my teammates.
I'll take it back to college. I played all the
special teams in my.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Senior year when you were a starter. Yeah, you kept
playing specialty.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Oh yeah, I used to. I love to kick off,
I love punt return, anything I could do to just
I loved football. You know, That's just what it was.
And uh, I think it was just an outlet for me,
and I felt like it was a privilege to play
the sport.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah. In seven, you were supposed to start the game
against cal right and they were ranked ten. You break
a finger in warm ups, Man, is that right? And
then do they like they did surgery and cast you
in the locker rooms. Surgery.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yes, I had surgery on my finger, so it was
a local, local anesthetic. They couldn't put me under all
the way.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
This is pre game, Yeah, this is in pre game.
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, the one of my teammates, my coach was upset
one of my teammates, and he threw the ball like sideways,
and the teammate jumped out of the way and it
hit me right on my hand. And I didn't even know. Man,
I literally knocked like my pinky off of my finger.
It was I didn't even notice it happened. That's the
funny part. I just felt like something dripping on my leg.
(11:02):
I looked down. I was like, where is this blood
coming from? My former roommate and teammate goes, oh my god,
look at your pinky And I looked down and everybody's yelling.
Train So yeah, Orthopedic Center of the rockiesr so Doctor Trumper,
Rocky the Rocky still there. He can vouch for this story. Man.
(11:25):
He uh Terry Dezeo was a trainer, throws a towel
over the hand. Rocky walks me into the locker room,
lay on the bench and they say, we cut this
thing off or we could try to keep it. And
I said let's try to keep it, and so they
sold it and sold it back on, casting me up.
I came back out and I was ready to play,
(11:47):
but you know, Sonny was like, nah, yeah, Sonny. Sonny
was like, no, You're not playing in this one.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Oh wow? So did you have a cast on the
rest of the year.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Not for the whole year, because I just felt like
it was gonna stop my ability to tackle. So and
I was a tough player. I wasn't trying to show
out or be tough. But they had like this mouldible
plastic in the training room and I just like was
playing around with it in the in the training room
one day during like pet and I like stuck it
in the hot water and I like started playing with.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
It like a mouth card.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, and then I was like whoa, and I started
like molding around my hand and then I basically just
came up with this thing that could fit inside of
my glove and then I tape it around and I
was like, oh.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, and then you could still grab and tackle everything.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And then I it hurt a few times, like in contact.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I'm sure it did, yeah, like because I think I.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Just got attach. It sounds crazy telling this story now
that I'm thinking about.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
It, Like, I am going to ask Rocky about that
the next time I see him. Go, but he sewed
your finger back on in a locker room, yes, okay.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah at Huge Stadium. Wow. Yeah, hollow ground.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Now yeah it is. Hughes is no longer there, and
that locker room probably not the cleanest and best place
to do surgery.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
No, it really, it really wasn't. But they had the
lighting and everything. It was crazy, and they like just
raised my arm up for those listening, like if you
can imagine, like my hamm was like hanging basically from
like the ceiling on the training room. It was a
tile ceiling and they just wrapped that.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
That's insane.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And I just looked the other direction. Oh I hope.
So I was like, you know what, let me just
see how this goes.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Wow, that's crazy. Okay, that was way crazier for a
story than I anticipated.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, but seven seven good. It was a good seaton.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Okay, so then you come off of that crazy season
in seven, you go into two thousand and eight, have
a really good year on the field. In two thousand
and eight, a breakout year. And that was good until
it wasn't when the new Mexico Bawl came around.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yeah. So so two thousand and eight I was all American. Yes,
that was so cool. Four tackles, Yes, one hundred and
four tackles. I was crushing in the classroom. I had
declared my major, so now studying economics. I had a
house off campus. I'm like living. I'm living right off
the oval for those that know, I'm on Howse Street,
(14:05):
So six six twenty four South house. Everybody knows. Yeah,
and I'm balling out, having a great season, and I
got off track. You know, I enjoyed it off the
field stuff a little too much and ended up getting
suspended for marijuana and that sucked.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
They tested you at the New Mexico ball, right.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yes, they tested me at the ball. That was the longest,
like forty eight hours of my life because they tested
me before the game and I already knew what I
had been up to. You know, it was just like
a it was a shock to the system. It's a
feeling that you It's a feeling that I think of often
because it keeps me on the right track. It could
have been a crippling effect. So you can handle adversity
(14:48):
a lot of different ways. So I think this is
the beautiful part of the story, is like I had
to face that there was a lot of ways out
of it. This is what I don't really talk about.
I had a lot of out of that, like you know,
and I thought about it. People might think I'm stupid
for going through with it, but I knew I was
gonna get caught. I just my integrity. I don't know
(15:11):
what took over me, but I just didn't want to
run from it. Whatever I was dealing with off the field,
and that was probably my way my moment. That's the
moment that changed me to be who I am, because
my whole life there was everybody's expectations for who I
was supposed to be, either through our spiritual leadership in
(15:33):
the church I grew up in, which was very important
and still is, and in my own household the expectations
for my mom and dad and what they have for me.
And so when I fail, like literally failed and failed
in front of the whole country, world and society, whatever
have you, there was no more running. Now everybody's speculating
(15:54):
and trying to decide what kind of guy you are?
You know, what is your character? So now everything brit
in the question and you can't. I've dealt with it publicly,
and that was the best thing that ever happened to
me because it forced me to have to walk the
walk and talk to talk at the same time. You
can't be two people, and that's that was the best
(16:15):
thing ever. I know that sounds crazy, but it made
me who I am.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
But basically, two thousand and eight, you're having the best
season of your life, and sometimes things get away where
you're like all right, I'm infallible and nothing can touch me.
And then all of a sudden, oh, and all that
came out was that you had been suspended by the NCAA.
The team said for I think like for a team
in Fryer, you know, violating team. Everybody, nobody could figure
(16:42):
out what it was. We're like, what the hell did
you do? But then you came out and you felt
it was very important, and at that time it's coach Fairchild.
We kind of skipped over that Sonny was let go
and after the seven season, and then you have coach Fairchild.
Which did that have anything to do with it?
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Or was it just everybody? It was on me. It
was on me because they did everything they could to
protect me from the news, if you will. But there
were just so many people that also looked up to me,
younger people, and that leads to where I am now,
and we'll get to that. But there were so many
people that looked up to me that I didn't want
(17:17):
any speculation. I think everybody's going to make mistakes, and
I made a mistake that was big to me. Right
for people that have like lower standards for their lives
and things like that. For at least for what I
was touted to be. That was a huge fall from grace.
We look at today's society, I think the standards lower
(17:38):
right because people do like insane stuff and I'm like, whoa,
that's nuts. But for the people that were looking up
to me and the people that are in my life,
my inner circle knew exactly what was going on. I
shared that and they knew it, and everybody within a
reasonable radius knew. But I really appreciate Coach Fairchild and
the team for respecting my privacy and let me battle
(18:01):
that journey on my own. I mean, you're talking about
going from all American living it up to being on
campus being ridiculed like for real in class. Really yeah,
like people you know, saying it because the speculation they
didn't know, and people automatically maybe assume the worst. And
I can list all the things that people may be said,
but I'm not going to give that any life, but
(18:23):
all the challenges in those moments being in class, like
I said, and having to face the music. You can
walk big with your chest out after you get the
double digit tackles, Oh yeah, right, It's easy to go
to class and sit in the front when you just
got on the cover of magazines.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Can you face the music when you fail? When you
have to look in the mirror. And I was able
to look myself in the mirror. So that's what helped
me keep my chin up. And my parents I can't
deny how my mom and dad like came up. I
was crying like when it happened, and my dad was like,
you made this mistake. It's not the end of the world.
He spelled it out for me in a way that
(19:02):
you know, stayed between he and I. But it just
reinvigorated me. I had one nightmare after it, and I'm
willing to share this that I was carrying all the
gatorade in the water bends for the team, like right
after the suspension. I was like, oh, water boys.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
You were the water boy, you were Bobby Bouchet.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Oh my god. And after that nightmare, I was like, oh,
all right, trying to suck it up. This is it.
So I got demoted. Now I'm back on scout team
after being a starter.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
After one hundred and four tackle season. You go to
the scout team.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Scout team, I mean, I'm not even here. I'm not
even in backer meetings. Anymore. I'm in scout team meetings,
so like I'm like, whoa, Like, I'm learning like everybody
else's game plans, playing different positions. I started to look
at it as like silver lining and then simultaneously I'm
playing against the ones again. Like at that point, my
goal was the embarrassed like the starters every because I
(19:59):
had already you know, so they already knew my stuff.
So I was like, I'm not going slow like after
that water Boy dream, please, Susanie, man, I wouldn't carry
no jugs.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
I was like, I'm good to give him. And you
never missed a practice, never missed the practice, never missed
the workout.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
How long did it take you to decide to come
out and say what happened? Because I don't remember when
that happened.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It happened before the start of the twenty ten season.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
It was a year, okay, yeah, a full year. You
didn't say anything the whole Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I'm suspended end of eight. So literally I'm at Christmas
break knowing what's scary to come out? Yeah? That was well,
you want to talk about tough, Susie. That was tough.
So we get the New Mexico first of all I
want ESPN. After getting interviewed, I'm sitting in a bar
with my sister Bloom. I'm popping up on the screen
(20:52):
with the interview. Everybody's like, oh, cheer, and the whole
bar erupts were doing cheers. But in the back of
my mind, I'm like, oh my god, I'm gonna let
all these people down. And that was tough. And then
I didn't do anything Christmas. I'm a Christmas guy, Susie.
I was just like, oh, this sucks. So those two
(21:13):
weeks I was sitting there waiting and I was like,
when am I gonna get this call? When I'm gonna
get this call?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Have you told anybody that you thought it was coming
or you just knew it was just sitting there not.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I didn't tell anybody. Everybody thought I got out of it.
Everybody thought I did what they thought I was gonna do,
and I never highlighted that or toldally like I'm gonna
get around this some kind I never and people offered
ways to get around it up to the minute. I
was like standing in line like boom could have.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Literally just like somebody else do the same, yes, And
it was.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Like no, that was the moment that built my integrity.
I'll stand by it all day. So yeah, so I
waited on that call and got the call and uh
I sillily tried to deny it. Initially, the trainer says, Rick,
there's no way this could have been just one joint.
He said, you had the highest saturation of marijuana in
(22:08):
your and your yearine that the n C double A
is ever registered. Oh no, I said, all right, I'm
coming up, and I drove up to Fort Collins. He
was like, we can appeal it and I was like, oh,
I can test again. He was like no, they're going
to test the second sample. I was like, to be
(22:28):
the same. I was like, don't don't worry about that.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Just I don't worry about oh man.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And then twenty four hours later, bottom.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Of the again.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
So two weeks before I'm on ESPN like face, yeah,
ESPN interviewing celebrating people throwing gatorade. Two weeks later, I'm
on ESPN, name on the bottom linebackers.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Suspended for the year. Boy, that'll built some character. Huh.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Yeah. So that was was totally ricky.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
So you get through that whole year and then you
come back your senior year and your captain. Yes, have
another one hundred plus tackle season. Yes, one of the
few that have the multi one hundred plus tackle seasons.
And you ball out. Yeah, and you show everybody who
you are balled out.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I loved it. My first game back was against you,
and it was just so so exciting just to be
back on the field. I was I wouldn't even say
I was nervous. I was just so so thrilled to
have the privilege back. You take it for granted, right, yeah,
leeting up. Actually, I don't know if I ever really
took it for granted. I think I took all the
things that come with it for granted, and all the
(23:36):
hype and things, because it was always there from the
time I missed that first jumping jack. After I got
that down, it was over, Susie, I promised you it was.
It was the start of the show from there.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
But once you have it all ripped away from you.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yes, you don't know what it feels like because I
never knew what it felt like not to play or
be the star, be the I never knew what that
fell like. From the time I started all the way
up to that moment. That was how I was defined
and then, so it forced me to have to be
Ricky like whoa like the real deal and deep down
(24:12):
inside I had to search for that. So that's what
fueled that season. It was like the gloves are off,
I got to play. That season was the rawest version
of me. Everything I did was what you saw. That
was the truest Ricky And that's why I'm so proud.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
You should be. Yeah, you had a hell of a
senior season. Yeah, and so now let's go on to
then after your senior year and you have basically a
cup of coffee with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Okay, I'll tell you about. I'll tell you about leading
up to that, so I have the hell of the season.
Every agent in the country is like, hey, we want
to sign you on sign Like I'm literally feeling like
Jerry Maguire, like you're cush because in Il didn't exist.
I'm going from.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Like getting nothing living however I can, yeah, getting everything everything.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I mean, I'm going I'm flying out the Cali, chilling
in San Diego, just getting recruited. So this Christmas break
was way different than the Christmas break before. I'm telling
you that was the ball and I did it responsibly.
Because I learned. Yes, it was cool. So I ended
up signing with Drew Rosenhaus, so Rosenhouse.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Sports, big name agent.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Yeah. So I fly out to Miami. At the meeting
off the South Beach that's for the Cadillac. Wow. Pulled
up to a dope mansion and that's why I trained
in it. So that's where I lived. So I had
a mansion in Pinehurst, dope Cadillac and this is all
there right, I'm like, Okay, this is it. They do
(25:51):
that to motivate you and too, so you could owe
money when when you sign you know what I mean.
But I had a lot of good people looking out
for me, so my contract was nice. With my agent,
I start training at the University of Miami. I'm training
there and then I'm training with this trainer named DoD
Romero and he's like the guy at the time, and
(26:12):
he still is. He trains like a rod Lenny Kravix,
like Paul Wright aka the Big Show. So like, I'm
in a company of these dudes training now in Miami
and we're like living it up and I get in
the best shape of my life. I'm the fastest I've
ever been. Like at this point, I'm running like like
high four to four, like low five to two, but
(26:33):
I'm still gaining weight. So I ended up like at
a four or five eight this well like I ended
and vert ends up like I think I tested at
thirty eight and a half, thirty eight and a half
on the vert and I think I hit twenty six
on the two twenty five, ten five broad jump, ten
six broad jump. The numbers were ridiculous, like and this
is all natural. I was like, what And then my footwork.
(26:57):
I'm riding around with a ladder, like a foot ladder. Sorry, yeah, yeah,
foot ladder. I got the foot ladder in the back
of the Cadillac.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
So whenever you just break it out of the park
or what are we doing.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
A gas station?
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Gas station station?
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Now, I'm like, i'd go full like cause you got
to remember, I'm still remembering how it felt to have
it all taken away. Yes, so now I grab life
by the horn.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Imagine you're pumping gas and you break out the foot
ladder and you're just like.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Put it on automatic foot ladder. I wanted everybody to see.
I wanted everybody to see. I was like, I'm going,
I'm going. So then I get ranked. I'm in the
top seventeen as a defensive player, so top seventeen. So
this is where all the talk comes and I'm like,
oh man, okay, I'm going did you.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Play them in any East West or any of those?
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Didn't get the Shrine invite, none of the Senior Bowl invite,
So I'm like, okay, fine, No, that's where things change.
When I didn't get the Combine invite, That's when I
start getting like, what's going on? And I'm starting to
think that the eight is starting to reserve it because
because at that time, you know, marijuana is like, whoa,
(28:05):
the devil's let it? He smokes weed? What else is
wrong with him? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
And then so the character part starts coming in, the.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Part starts coming out draft stock. I think once coaches
really started digging, and you know, it didn't really help
either that we were three and nine. I think there's
so many metrics that go into it. Now it's a
lot better for players. I think a lot of things
played against me, the eight situation obviously, and then the
character that how long it took for me to come
out about what happened. I think people were like somewhat
(28:37):
let down that I didn't just come out and say, oh,
you know, that's positive for smoking weed. I think that
all of that, the suspense around it, didn't play well.
This is just all speculation there.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I'm sure there's some truth to that with some of them, yeah,
for all of them.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
And this is how it goes from living it up
in Miami, NFL to for real, not for long. You know,
cut traded fired.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
And you're not retired yet job, but you are from
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
They were retired and retired. They retired me completely.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Okay, so you don't get drafted, no draft.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I'm like, okay, I least gonna get to a camp.
Drew gives me a meeting and we talk and I'm open,
honest in the meeting and I'm like, cool, we're signing.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I walk out and then this is what the dolphins
Dolphins and.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I'm like, let's go. I'm ready to go. And uh.
I talked to Drew the next day and he's like,
hey man, they're not gonna You're done. He's like, you're
not even gonna hit the field. And I was like,
I'm not gonna even work out. And I couldn't believe it.
The next day next day, so I thought it was
like a big character thing for real. And this is
(29:49):
I'm open about it because I think it's it's important
for athletes to know, like you gotta walk to talk
and if people aren't, you better be really really good.
So you gotta decide.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Were really really good and that still couldn't overcome.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
It still couldn't. It was a different era I was
think it was. I think it was a different era.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
It was only fourteen years ago. It was different.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Yes, it was way different. And then I think looking
back on it now, like you can't be two people
like you know what I'm saying. It was a Ricky football,
then there's Ricky off the field, and then there's Ricky
in class, like three things Like you know, all these
things can't be you. You have to be who you are.
And I think after looking at all that research and
(30:30):
the things that they dig into, they probably looked at
me as a liability. And not to mention, there's a
lockout yere So this is twenty eleven. Those three hundred
guys are plus that got drafted. That was the team.
So if you didn't get draft, you weren't going. You
weren't going to So the fact that I even got
that meat. I was like, Okay, this could happen. So
(30:50):
my dreams were.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Shattered short in one day.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
In one day, dreams are shattered, and I had to decide.
So I just kept training. Let me stay in Miami.
Let you keep the caddy, no, or the or the
Pinehirst crib with the pool.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
You know, you're in an apartment driving a Kia something
like it.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
I was borrowing a jeep living and sharing the room. No,
I didn't get that bad, but I was borrowing that
jeep though, that's for sure. Do you remember that commercial
with Lebron where he's training in the pool. Yeah, and
it's like alter ego grandfather, Like, yeah, him training the pool.
When I had that mansion Pinehurst and I was training
(31:33):
in the pool. I used to do that. I used
to like for real, like running around in the pool.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
It's really good exercise.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, it was just it just was so cool. That
was Look, I'll tell you what, I think God had
other plans for me as far as like the NFL
is concerned, because the way that I played was just reckless.
I mean I used to rock people, and.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
You know people loved you.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, and I played with that abandoned. But you know,
looking back on it, I could have gotten injured. I
could have yeah, like permanently, or.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
You played dangerous yes, yes for your body.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I let it, laid it out all on the line,
and looking back on it, you know, with all the
things that have come out, I'm glad that I you know,
I didn't everything you deal with in life. You got
to find the silver lining and what you did, and
I'll take it. And then so not making it to
the NFL or playing in the NFL, the silver lining
for me is that I was healthy and that I
got a taste of what you could have in life
(32:26):
if you work hard. So I don't have a mansion,
but I can train in the pool if I want to, Like, like,
I know what good sushi is now, right, Like you
know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (32:37):
You know, you got a little taste of some of
the fine life. You know a couple of things.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
I know what crystal space tastes like. Shoot, not many
people could say that.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I can't. Yeah, I know, there you go too.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
So those are the things man, you know, And the
beautiful part is I ain't become materialistic. That stuff didn't
defind me. It was cool to have it was cool.
But I've seen some of my team mates who have
had it all and now they have nothing, and their
personality and who they are has.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Changed so different.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
You just see it and you feel for them because
everything they did was defined in that lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
And materialistic stuff.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yeah, and so I thank god that I got to
protect my brain and it led me to a pretty
good life far as pursuing my dreams and education it did.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Yeah, so great segue there. You should do radio. Okay,
So when you don't make the Dolphins and you have
to figure out what you're doing, you go to Metro
State University get your doctoratep you get that in higher
education Concentration and special ed, and then you start working
in the schools and you go back to your roots
(33:50):
in DPS. And then now today your principal at an
elementary school and Jeff co I mean working with students,
and I think you also went spoke to students a
lot when you were at CSU, didn't you. Absolutely, Yeah,
You've always had a thing for for the killer education.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Yeah, absolutely, So, I mean I could take it back
to middle school. I started the bus Buddies program back
in middle school, so it was students with disabilities, whether
they were in wheelchairs or had any other difficulties just
being able to have or any any other mobility issues,
being able to move through big schools. You know, kids
don't really care at that age about what is going on.
(34:27):
Do they kind of self centered or don't not aware
of their surroundings. And I started seeing, you know, some
of our students with disabilities getting bumped over and things
like that. And I was kind of big at the time,
so I was like, you know what, let me grab
a couple of my teammates. And so sixth grade through
seventh grade we did the bus Buddies and that was
at MLK and we walked students from the from the
(34:50):
bus to the to the school. That's where the passion
for like special education came from. And then at my
time at Mullin, I was at Fort Logan Linkages. So
for Logan Elementary appreciate them because they allowed me to
supervise recess. So I supervised recess as a as a
junior and senior then SR junior year supervised Recess did
(35:12):
a good job. Then I was able to do reading intervention,
but some of the students my senior year of high
school Yeah, I've been.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Doing You've been very dedicated to education for a long time.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
And then when I went to CSU, I was volunteering
at Bacon Elementary doing some reading there and just like
spending my time in the schools. And then all that
played into what led to me going to grad school
and studying special education at Metro. The day I graduated
from Metro, I applied to DU That's where I started
pursuing my doctorate.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
So you are doctor Ricky Brewer.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Yeah, yeah, you know what. My mom always called me
that though, even when I was a kid, she always
used to call me that. She used to call me
doctor Ricky Matthew Brewer. That's how she says it. That's
great shout out to mom.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Yeah, and now you really are. So you go through
doing a lot of different administrative jobs at different places,
and then this principal job comes open and Jeff co
and you go up against a lot of candidates. Yeah,
and get it.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah. I was in the principal residency program for Denver
Public Schools and that's I think where I really got
the edge. Before that, I was at Kennedy High School.
I was athletic director, assistant principal, special Education director, Elector's.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Director, Like, you're doing like five jobs responsibilities.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Yeah. Our leadership team was rather small and the school
was it was a high need school, and I was
tasked with motivating people that maybe didn't have that level
of motivation. And I think that's where that grit came
from far as being an administrator. I did what I
needed to do there, got nominated to be in the
principal residency program, and of all places, I get to
(36:57):
go back to Montbello to help reopen and Mont Bellow
High School. And I did a good job there. I
felt like I blew it out of the water because
I came out with a bunch of offers to interview,
which is that's how this goes.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Absolutely, the offer.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Of the interview is that's the step. Because for administrators
or any high level job, you gotta get invited. When
they call you, you also got to know they've called
other people. You know they're looking for the best. Steve Harris,
he's the talent coordinator for Jeffco Public Schools, reached out
to me. I was like, man, what's the opportunity. I'm interested.
(37:32):
They sent me over to a school called Ute Meadows
Elementary First of all, I thought the name was cool,
like you know what I mean, the Ute tribe, and
that's major here in Colorado. A lot of people don't
know the history of Colorado. So I'm big on history
and things that have meaning and connection. But yout Medos
already knew. I was like, Okay, that's the first start.
And then I walk into school and one of the
(37:55):
kids says, are you our new principal? And I was like,
I want to be like get down and give the
kid a hug. And then I was like, oh, this
is this is where I'm going to be.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
So we take the tour. I'm hanging out with kids,
playing with Plato. I go to it sounds crazy, right,
It's great to go talking like about like the Journey
to get right, you know, playing with Plato, hanging out.
I jump into the music room, pe Pe room. This
could have been a risk, but I just just start
(38:29):
swinging on the ropes with the kids. Like they could
have been like this, dude's unhings, but but really it was.
It was a moment for the kids to see, like
be yourself. I was real intentional by my outfit. I
wore some really cool like Nike like shoes, like made
sure this fit was fresh, the poper jacket, like I
wanted to look cool. That was to get the kids,
(38:51):
you know. And then for the interview, I got suited.
I was fresh. I walked in like men in black,
like Will Smith fresh. I was rest coming in there.
It was a room of like twenty people, and I
remember walking in and there was just one chair, and
I was like, what's up everybody, and everybody was like hello,
like it was just cooled the air. And they had
(39:13):
me sitting in a seat that was the size for
like a kindergartener, and I'm like six two and a
half and everybody sitting in the same kind of seats.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Okay, there aren't any other seats really in elementary, as
they grabbed the one from everybody's desk.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
And then now it looks weird, right because now some
all the chairs are the same so to be uniform.
That's where we sat, and I'm towering over his table
and I'm sitting there and I'm just like answering these questions.
And one of these questions that came up was like,
why should we hire you for the job. I just
told them that, you know, after looking at the school
(39:51):
and being in this environment, there's no doubt that I
could be the best person to move the needle for
your kids. I'm gonna be committed to be there for
the kids that excel and for the kids that need
an extra extra hand. And I spoke about the data,
gave everybody handshake, walked out, and I was like, all right,
this is cool. I think I got this. Then I
(40:12):
interviewed again with the superintendent. It was a snow day.
I just moved into our house, so me and my
fiance Kelsey was just bought the house and our internet
wasn't set up yet. And I didn't even think about that. Oh,
because the interview goes from in person to virtual because
we had like a snow day, so this couldn't have
(40:32):
got I have some crazy stuff. My life is like
crazy how these things happen. But I always rise to
the occasion. That's the thing. I don't let none of
that getting away snow day, all this hoop li. I
I'm like, oh snap, we don't have Wi Fi. Like literally,
it's the day after we move in, so like we
didn't even have our furniture like up so we had
a fireplace that was nice. So I like set up
(40:54):
this little table with the fireplace. It was like it
was so circle, like paying Oh.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Yeah, that's a twenty twenty backdrop.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Yep. But I made sure that I wore pants.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
That's very smart cause you had to stand upp yes.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Call shoes. I was ready to go. I hugged up
to the Wi Fi or hot spot on my phone
on a zoom call with like six people, and I.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
Was like, oh, this is is gonna crazy connection.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
I prayed before. I literally held the phone and pray.
Before the interview. I was like, Dear God, please just
let this work out. Please the cash I promise I
won't do this again. Thank you a man.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
It's literally it's funny.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Everybody comes on, we talk, and then the superintendent happens
to be a Mulling graduate. So Tracy Dorlin graduated from Mullin.
We chop it up about Mulling, but that wasn't I mean,
we hit it off prior to that even coming out,
and she was like, you're the person for the job.
Heard from my current boss. Her name is Sam Holman,
she's our community super intendent. She gave me a call
(41:55):
said welcome to the team, and I was like, good
to go. Wow, man salary negotiation. I was like, good
to go, let's go.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
That's great. Yeah, that's cool. So this is your first
year on the job.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Yes, yes, first year on the job.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
How different is it being a principle as opposed to
another admin position?
Speaker 1 (42:16):
Being in the seat is a I mean, everybody told
me it would be different. Yeah, but until you're in it,
you really don't understand it. You got the safety, you
got the budget, you got the individual needs of your
students that all come to you like as AP's you
kind of you really are the supporting cast. But now
that I think about it, all you're doing is bringing
(42:36):
your problem to the principalle saying what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Like you know, now you get everybody's problems.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Yeah. When I was AP, I thought I was like
the man. Like in my head, I was like, I'm
the one running this.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Like, you know, until the problem gets too big and
then I'm going up there, you.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Know what I mean. I'm like, I really was thinking
I was that guy. I wasn't. I wasn't making any decisions.
Now I'm making decisions, and I don't take it lightly
at all. I didn't take it lightly before, but the
buck kind of stops at my desk, and I take
a very student's first approach. What's gonna be good for
the student, parent, the class itself in the school, then
(43:15):
the teacher, believe it or not, a lot of people
lead like what's good for the adults first? That'll keep
you in good favor with your staff, Yes, but it
ain't good for your kids and parents. Oh yeah, I'm
cool with the parents stuff because because I take the call,
I have an open door policy, and for you, a
(43:36):
lot of principals go against that. It's always been my
style because the problem escalates if you.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Yes, you let it. Wait, yes, it does.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
It just came out and be like, hey, I was
fucking with.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
You, learned your lesson on wait the year plus.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
I don't even wait a day. I'm like, what's wrong? Mom?
What's the wrong? Dad? Oh yeah, he was looking at
what Okay, I got it, so kind of what it is.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
That's great. I love it. And then we have to
talk about your other job that you have that you've
had for how many years now? You're the color analyst,
number three color analyst on the CSU radio broadcast. This
is just your three, This is just your three.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
I've been in four years total. The first year was
like getting another team, well, not getting another team, getting
another radio team. Yeah yeah, I know the Rams, yes
for sure, getting another radio team, getting to know what
it's like to even be in the booth.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
It's different, it is, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
Yeah? Yeah. People listen and you know, listening to you,
Dave rig and it's like people don't know how much
goes into that.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
There's a lot.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Yeah, like you got to go get your like your
headset ready for your post games, and like is the
connection good? Every stadium is different.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
Oh yeah, do a lot of testing, and then things
can go all to hell in a handbag. Halfway through
a game, you're like, wait, why is our frequency gone?
Who just stole it? Right to what TV truck is
on our frequency? Right now?
Speaker 1 (44:59):
Right? And then like when you're off air, Dave's getting
ready to throw to you, and then your frequency might
go out right when he throws to you, and he's
or I.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Don't have the player that I think I might have.
He's talking to another buddy and I'm like, wait, no,
not yet, not yet, not yet, right.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
People don't know all that goes into that, and so
you got to be able to be composed and still
keep like what you want to say together And so are.
Speaker 2 (45:22):
You having fun with it?
Speaker 1 (45:22):
You like it? I'm loving it. The guys are great.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
Brian Roth is a trus pro pro and and Marty
on the sidelines is one of my great friends from
a long time and he's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
Yeah, Brian and Marty, I love I love traveling with
those guys.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Martyr are some of the best times are Marty talks
a lot though, yea marking off the air sideline people
are talkers.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
So I'm like sometimes and Marty, I love you, but
sometimes I got to put my headphones on because I'm like, man,
we're ready to talk for the next four hours.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Like oh, like on the plane, Oh, I.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Gotta save it, Marty, Like, we can't do the show
on the plane. We tell the gay wait till it
saves something.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
Say, don't tell me all your material, all.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Of the material. I'm like, come on, Marty, save something.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
Man's funny, that's funny.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
But yeah, Brian and Brian. Brian is very serious. I mean,
he's a producer at lear Field. In the way that
he structures his stuff is you know, really professional, and
that's helped me also in what I do like in
education that you're really like watching what people do, right,
and then I need to analyze it in my brain
and then spit it back out what I've seen, and
(46:32):
it has to come from a way that people can
understand it.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Now you're a head coach, yeah, exactly, you really are.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
Yes, And I have far as my staff, right. I
have sixty different players, right, and they all have different roles.
I got some stars, I got some.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Walk on, got some scout team, I got it all.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
But I gotta all make them feel like their husband trophy.
And it has to be genuine. They know if I'm like, well,
I don't ever, so they would know if I was
be asking them, they would know it immediately. And I've
learned that too. The journey to being in to where
I'm where I am now, I've taken all those lessons.
The awkward conversation is the oops, I shouldn't have said that.
(47:16):
You got to remember those, yeah, And I think that's
just been a part of the journey and being open
to criticism. You got to be able to take it.
And I feel like this, right, if I can miss
a tackle in front of seventy thousand people, right and
get booed like, Okay, I could go and give a
presentation to my staff. That's a great way to look
(47:38):
at that's my ass, Like literally, that's my ass.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
That's a really good way to look at it and.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Believe it or not. I treat my team meetings like
I treat them like pre game. I'm talking to my
staff as if they're great to go out and play
on the field.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
Like seriously, I could see that I do. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
We don't play around.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
We're fired up and ready to go.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Man, I'm telling you we do. We do. We break it.
You break it out, everybody, bring it in.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
We do one, two, three, Yeah, no, Eagles on three, O,
Eagles on three.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Goes on me, Eagles on three.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
We got the ute salute. I brought that off of
the TD, off of TD. Man. Shout out to TD.
Do the ute salute Eagles in the nest. Let it fly.
The kids love that I brought all the like same things.
The camaraderie.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
You can make so many parallels, Ricky, you really can.
That's super smart to do. So.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
I run my I run my school like a football organization.
That's the translate.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
Its fun. That's really fun.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
And I had such good relationships with all of my coaches,
Coach log and Coach Luvic. I used to kick it
in like their office and talk to him just about
like how they thought think about asking what are you
thinking about right now? Oh?
Speaker 2 (48:50):
I know, yeah, I said, I said, next him on
the planet. He puts his headphones on, probably because he
thinks I'm gonna ask him.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
Questions like that, right, Like I used to like, you
ever get nervous, like before you like shoot, like first
bank commercials? Like I used to ask, like you don't
imagine like sophomore Ricky right yeah, like oh man, funny story.
Funny story. Sophomore year at Mullen Day, Luggan is our
new our new coach. Actually, my freshman year we had
(49:17):
John Matt. Dave Lugan gets hired by sophomore year at
Mullen and I'm like, dude, Dave Lugging so cool. First bank, Like.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Let's go, it's the first bank guy.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
Yes. I was like, Dad, I got the first bank
guy as our coach. And my dad said, do you
know who the hell that is? He's in the Hall
of Fame. I was like, what that's Dave?
Speaker 2 (49:41):
Look, Oh my gosh, that's we got the first bank guys,
our head coach.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
I was so hyped. I didn't even know he's blamed football.
Does he know we don't know this story?
Speaker 2 (49:54):
Can I tell him that you can't?
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Okay, because he's gonna notice this next part of the story.
So I go to practice the next day knowing that
this is Jay log the first back guy. So I
take it upon myself to sing first bake.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Man.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
He saw me say, I was like, all right here
I am. I'm a little I'm a little turt I'm like, nah,
he didn't hear me. I'mna singing again, sing it again?
Because Logan comes up. You see, I'm scared to even
say sing it still to this.
Speaker 2 (50:24):
Day, trauma like.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
I'm holding on shaking, I'm holding on to death. Because
Logan said, Ricky, have you ever seen that song again?
I'm gonna run you to your few, boy, So you did.
I didn't even finish it.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
You did not finish it because he probably you know,
he's probably somewhere in this building right now because we're
at the iHeart station, and he's gonna find you and
make you run till you put did I just look over,
just look through that. That light just turned off. By
the way, somebody walked by.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
It was probably Dave. But yeah, I mean so, like
I said, I run my school like a organization. So
spending time with Sonny, spending time with Dave and picking their.
Speaker 2 (51:04):
Brain amazing mentors. Yeah, absolutely amazing. Okay, well, so let's
go into the last question that I ask everybody, and
you've talked about this throughout your whole journey too, of
what do you tell people You have all these students
now that you can mentor and help when things do
get crummy, what's your best advice to them? Wow, wait
(51:26):
a year and a half.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
Don't wait a year and a half. Don't wait a
year and a half to face it. I don't think
that I waited a year and a half to face
it out. I waited a year and a half to
tell the people that I deserve the explanation to So,
if you have people that care about you and you
let them down, you owe them an explanation. That's the reality.
And I feel like people that go around living life
(51:47):
like I don't owe nobody nothing. I ain't got to
tell you that's cool. They're looking at you expecting it.
So I think take care of the people that love you,
I think is the first thing. Actually, that's it. Take
care of your people. I say that to my staff,
I say that to my friends. Take care of your people.
When you come to my house, it's like your house,
like for real, whatever you like. If I have people
(52:09):
that visit in for town, Kelsey asked, you know, what
are your favorite foods, and we make sure you have it.
Like with my staff, I sent a survey. How do
you like to be coached? How do you like to
be recognized? Not everybody likes.
Speaker 2 (52:22):
Fanfare, they don't, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
Some people just like a pat on the back. So
that's how you take care of your people. This is
going to sound backwards. You can't treat people how you
want to be treated because that's almost egotistical leadership. You
got to treat people how they want to be treated,
and you got to honor that, not how you think
they want to be treated. Ask them what do they
(52:45):
need from you? And that's that's my advice to everybody.
Take care of your.
Speaker 2 (52:48):
People, take care of your tribe. Take care of your tribe,
and they'll take care of you.
Speaker 1 (52:52):
Yeah, over your show. Yeah, I love my team and
I feel like they love me back. Yeah, I mean,
I probably like I'm making a mask on time. You know,
you're a leader, You're like.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
You can't make everybody happy all the time. You just can't.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
But I just throw in a couple of pajama days.
I'm not lying. We did eighties Day. We did eighties
Day just cause.
Speaker 2 (53:12):
Oh fun eighties days just because.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
I missed my kids being in elementary school and being
able to like do crazy hair day and all the
fun stuff.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Like that, all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (53:20):
Yeah, so I do that.
Speaker 1 (53:22):
We do breakfast, like catered breakfast.
Speaker 2 (53:24):
Oh that's great. Yeah, you good, Ricky. This was so
much fun. We've talked throughout the years, but never had
a chance to sit down like this. This is great.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
This is good.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
Susan, thank you for taking the time. I know you're
super busy with this new job and then CSU so
I bet new baby and the new baby there's that.
Oh my gosh. Congratulations. By the way, Yeah, you've got
a lot on your plate. Okay, appreciate Hey, thanks Ricky.
Speaker 1 (53:48):
Thank you, Susie. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (53:50):
Thanks Ricky. New episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired I
released on Tuesdays. Please like and auto download this podcast
wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can keep up
on new releases by following on Twitter and Instagram at
ctfur podcast as well as the website ctfurpodcast dot com.
By the way, on that website, there's links to the
(54:10):
major podcast platforms, links to individual episodes with each guest picture,
as well as my contact information. If you have feedback
or suggestions, I'm your host, Susie Wargen. To learn more
about me, visit susiewargin dot com. Thanks for listening, and
until next time, please be careful, be safe, and be kind.
Take care
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