April 30, 2025 • 71 mins
Text us what you think of this episode!
Fran Campbell reflects on his legendary 42-year coaching career at Wren High School and the impact he's had on generations of students and athletes as he announces his retirement.
• Teaching in the classroom for seven hours versus coaching for two hours each day
• Coaching multiple generations including his own grandchildren and seeing former players' children come through the program
• Balancing relationships with students in both classroom and coaching settings
• The challenges of today's parent involvement compared to years past
• Evolution of coaching style to adapt to changes in basketball including embracing the three-point line
• Winning the state championship in 2023 with a team-first approach rather than relying on superstar talent
• Player ownership in team success through creating scouting reports and taking leadership roles
• Developing a coaching tree with at least seven former players now coaching their own programs
• Creating a family-oriented program where players remain connected years after graduation
• The upcoming new transfer eligibility rule in high school basketball
"As I transition to retirement, I'll still be teaching part-time and will always remain a basketball junkie. I'm confident Coach (Derrell) Jackson is the right person to continue the legacy we've built at Wren." - Fran Campbell
With special guests Derrell Jackson (new Wren coach) and Blake Miller (voice of the Wren Broadcast Network).
Thanks for listening! Direct all inquiries to thebooneshow@mypulseradio.com.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, good evening everybody.
Welcome to another edition ofthe Boone Show on MindPulse
Radio.
Great show here tonight, aswe've got a bunch of guests in
the studio to talk aboutbasketball, which is always cool
when we're talking about sports, but talking about
one-of-a-kind in basketball too,as we have as our very special
(00:20):
guest the franchise, as Blakecalls him, fran Camel, coach of
uh wren high school for 42 years, just announced he's going to
be retiring blue and golden heretoday yes, we do.
And uh, his replacement is heredaryl jackson, and blake is here
, blake miller, graduate of thisprogram one of my kids voice of
(00:43):
the Wren Broadcasting Networkand he's here because he's
followed this team for severalyears now and obviously, at a
turning point in the wholeprogram that no one's known
since the years that I was inhigh school, that's how long
Fran Campbell has been around.
He's been around for 42 years.
I would have been going into mysenior year, the first year
(01:06):
that he coached at Brown.
So amazing, and Coach, we'lljust kick it off with that.
Do you ever kind of just thinkback about how amazing of a run
that is?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, I have.
I have because when I seesomebody and I go like they go
yeah, I was a student of yoursin 1983.
I go well, I remember you, butyou'll have to help me with the
name.
Yeah, so yeah.
And it's really neat when yousee some of these kids that you
(01:43):
taught and, of course, playersthat you coached and you know
they remember little detailsabout you know events and stuff
and it just makes it all comeback to you.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah yeah, well, for people that don't know, did you
have a question, holly?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, I was going to say.
You're probably at the stagenow where you are coaching the
children or the grandchildren ofthose that came through.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Well, actually, I've coached all my own grandchildren
and today's not a normal daybut there's no track meet or
anything.
I've got grandchildren at Wrenand Powdersville so it keeps me
busy and Powdersville so itkeeps me busy.
But yeah, like a good friend ofCoach Jackson's, wendell Rhodes
(02:30):
, I coached him and his son, whoteaches and coaches track at
Wren now.
So I've got, you know, a legacywithin a legacy.
So I've had, you know, uh, tombarrett and his children, bill
white and his children all play,they all played.
(02:51):
And uh, there's, you know,several others, that then all
the franklins, you know what yousaid.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
There's 10 of them all together.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I think something like that I think 13 legitimate
franklins and and a couple thatthey brought in that aren't
really Franklins but they livewith them, so probably a total
of about 16 at one time.
Wow, but seven boys, wow, gosh,yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Think about how many of those you've touched
somewhere along the way, whetherit be teaching or coaching, and
then all of those that you'vecome in contact with that maybe
didn't necessarily be a coach,maybe were a teacher at that
point.
That's a lot of legacy you'vegot.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
It is a lot and I'm grateful for it.
Every time I think about howmany kids, every time I think
about how many kids you know, Ican't even imagine what the
total number of students I'vetaught over the years especially
when you consider teaching likesemester courses or quarter
(03:58):
courses you know You're gettingyou know 300 or 400 a year and
you do the math on that times 42, uh, that's a lot.
And then you're talking aboutyou know in in basketball.
You're talking about you know,um, you know 15 or so a year.
(04:20):
That's a lot, um.
And then I was at greenvillehigh for seven years.
I still meet with some of thosekids that are that are retired
people now yeah I played golfwith three guys from greenville
high that I taught, and one ofthem's a federal judge, the
(04:40):
other one's retired teacher.
Wow, well they're, they're,they're all 63 years old, wow
yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Uh, we're gonna go to the phone lines.
We have, uh, one of your formerplayers who's turned into a
pretty good coach of his own uh,austin anderson, I believe, is
on the line.
Hi, austin.
Hey, how are you good, good,good, we're here with Coach
Campbell, coach Jackson alsohere, and I just wondered if you
could share maybe a little bitabout your time with the coach
(05:12):
way back when.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
What's up, buck?
Hey, how are y'all Good?
Yeah, I mean I learned a lotfrom Coach Campbell, all the way
from relationship building allthe way to just genuinely caring
for your athletes.
One vivid memory I have andhe's always had a passion for
the game, for his athletes, andI think that's never been a
question about Coach Campbell.
(05:34):
One vivid memory I have aboutCoach Campbell, though, is when
we're in a scrimmage preseason.
You know he's going after itwith the referee, and the
referee's trying to kick him outof the scrimmage, and he's just
looking at the referee like, no, I'm not getting out of the
scrimmage right now.
So just that fight for yourathletes is one thing.
It's another thing that he'sreally taught me.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Oh, so you've learned some sideline demeanor, because
I see that sometimes you get alittle active on that sideline.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
I have the active on that sideline I have now, the
more experience, the more of aveteran coach he is, the the
more he's you know, been, Iguess, methodical, if you will,
with these referees, and that'ssomething I've got to learn and
try to teach and try to learnfrom him, um, but yeah, I mean
back in the day he really gotafter it.
But uh, it's also one of thosethings as a player, you kind of
wanted that from your coach,because that showed that, that
(06:22):
showed that he cared.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, exactly Any other specific memories that you
had, because you were on somepretty good teams.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
We were, I remember, going to you know, from the 8th
grade, 7th grade up, going to PCcamp with him.
Once again, he did a great jobof making that real
family-oriented.
It didn't matter if you were aJV varsity C team or whatnot, he
had everybody going with him.
Ever since Coach Campbell's hadthat program, it's always been
a family-knit-type program.
I think he's kind of hung hishat on that, because you still
(06:53):
see it now, people coming backand helping him out.
Coach Jackson played for him,coached for him, so he's coming
back right there.
It's a full full circle moment,but the full circle happens
because of his performance as acoach and his love as a coach.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
When you start to last this long, obviously you
have to have some sort ofpassion Coach, and obviously you
have passion or insanity.
Well, yeah, doing the samething over and over again, yes,
but it's special both you guysand Coach Jackson here as well
to have that passion for thestudent athletes as well as the
(07:34):
passion to try to win.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Right, right, and it's a hard balance, but it's
also a balance that you've gotto have in the classroom but
also on the court.
If you don't show those kidsthat work ethic and you don't
show those athletes and CoachCampbell always did a great job
of showing those demandingexcellence and greatness from
his athletes I'm pretty sure hisgolf players probably felt the
(08:00):
same way.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah Well, you have a new thing going on In fact.
You have a new thing going onIn fact.
We have a little like carouselhere in the studio here of
coaches, because you're headedover to Easley and we've got
Coach Jackson who's headed fromEasley to Wren and we've got
Coach Fran who's headed to thebeach.
I know, that, of course.
(08:24):
Obviously it's a good situationfor you as we speak of your
opportunity as Coach Jacksonknows from being there for the
last couple of years to geteasily on the right track and
winning ways.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
Yeah, we're going to try to.
We're going to try to.
Coach Jackson did a good jobthe past two years of really
trying to get it back on hisfeet, so I'm just going to try
to left over a way he's alreadypicked up to where he's already
left off of a great directionfor that program.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Well, best of luck to you.
We appreciate you calling inand sharing a memory with Coach
Fran, and we'll be talking toyou again soon, at some point as
you get that program rollingover there.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Love you, buck Sounds good.
Love you all.
I hope you all have a good day,thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
All right, that's Austin Anderson.
Of course.
We've had him on several timesas coach of Powersville High
School, moving over to Easleyand, as mentioned, easley's
coach for the last two years hasbeen Darrell Jackson, and he is
here in studio because he'smoving over to the job he always
wanted anyway, which was tosucceed Coach Campbell.
(09:28):
Tell us how all that came about.
Was Coach Campbell just notleaving in time?
You had to go somewhere elsebecause he was just going to
live forever in that job.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
It looked like it.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But now you finally got it, so you've got to feel
excited.
You've worked with Coach Franfor so long anyway, and now to
take the reins.
I can imagine a bunch offeelings going through you right
now.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
It is.
It's still kind of a surrealmoment.
The reason I left me and CoachCampbell actually had to talk
about it and he told me.
He said you need to take thatjob.
But it was never about mewaiting for him, it was more so.
Opportunity was presented to me, um, and and I felt like it was
(10:12):
a golden one and I couldn'tturn it down.
Um, obviously, uh, my son waswas about to be a ninth grader,
um, so it involved him too, andI just thought it was the best
situation for me and also forhim now does.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Is he staying over there at easily?
Is he coming with you?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
no, no he's coming with me.
That's what I thought.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Come on, man he's and he's being a little modest here
.
He's a good player.
He was like their leadingscorer, was he not?
He was.
He led us in assistant steals.
Yeah, he was.
He was all region, yeah hisfreshman sophomore year.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Um, this year was a little little rough.
He hurt his ankle so he was outabout five weeks of the season,
um, which slowed him down some.
But uh, he came back andobviously it changed our team
yeah because we were.
When he got hurt, we were sevenand oh and so we, we took a hit
, obviously, with your pointguard going down, but he's super
(11:04):
excited.
He always made a comment Allhis siblings parents went to
Wren, so he's excited to be ableto graduate from Wren as well.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
There you go, coach Fran, you had the opportunity,
as you've mentioned, to coachyour kids, fran's kids.
What are some of the challengeswhen you're coaching your kids
and grandkids?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Well, some of it, he's probably already learned it
it easily.
You can't make everybody happy,especially if your son's
playing instead of somebodyelse's son.
Uh it, it doesn't matter howgood they are, it's you know,
like I remember my son said tome.
He says says Dad, I really wantto play at North Carolina.
I said, well, that's a nicegoal to have.
I said my goal for you is to beable to play good enough for
(11:52):
Wren High School that I don'tget fired.
So we actually almostaccomplished all of it.
He played at PC instead ofNorth Carolina, same blue and
stuff, but he's still a northcarolina fan uh, blake, you got
something to add.
Speaker 6 (12:11):
You haven't said anything yet, I know I'm I'm
looking at a mythologicalcreature to my right yeah, a
unicorn, these things don'texist.
from my perspective, just beingable to to grow up, it's so wild
.
Even looking at the 42 assomeone that went all the way
through the Renskull system, itjust still doesn't make sense in
(12:33):
my head.
Because after watching the lastthree years, of course I watch
you win a state championship.
I watch you almost do itnumerous other times in this
last three-year period and it'slike how does this guy get up
for work every day and keeppushing guys that a guy like
Baba Franklin, who he knows howtalented he is but he knows I
(12:54):
mess up?
Frank Campbell's waiting on meat the bench.
He's going to tell me what Idid wrong, how to fix it.
I just want to know your headspace in the last decade or so,
as this is coming to an end.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Well, I think it's like, if you talk to Coach
Jackson when he played, or youtalk to somebody else that
played even earlier than that,that if you don't change as a
person and a coach, the game isgoing to change, and if you
(13:30):
don't change, you're going toget left behind, Like I was when
I first started.
There was no three-point shotand I was, like you know,
pounded inside like everybodyelse and I dreaded the change
and then when it got here, Iloved it.
(13:51):
So anytime there's a change, Ilook at it like it's just
progress.
Like you know, from now they'rewanting to go to shot clock.
I'm all in.
I think it's good for the game,because you know it's supposed
to be a fast-paced game.
Uh, as soon as they cut thebottom out of that peach basket
(14:14):
where the ball would go through,it started speeding up and we
shouldn't do anything to to stopit.
So I I'm in.
I'm in favor of the.
You know that I'm.
I'm also in favor of that.
I'm also in favor of I think weneed to go with the circle
underneath the basket for thecharges for safety and also to
(14:34):
speed up the game.
Unclog everything where you candrive to the basket without
somebody jumping in front of you.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
And then ask Rhett Warga if he can get another year
and we can get him back.
Yeah, get him back with thatthing right there and he'll be
good to go.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
That's right.
But yeah, I think you have tochange because you know life
changes and if you don't like, Iwatched a thing last night on
Bobby Knight and he was a greatcoach but he never changed and
eventually that did him in.
You know you can't do thingsthe same way.
(15:10):
I mean some of the crazy drillsI had him do and he never
questioned, he just dove on thefloor and hit his head or
whatever it was.
You know kids are different nowthan you know.
Like he never questionedanything.
Now everybody questionseverything, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Well, that's what I was going to ask.
What have you seen in the last40 years with your students
changing both your students inthe classroom, but more so, your
students out on the field, outon the court.
Where have you seen the mostchange in your kids?
I know you've seen it inparents as well.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I was going to say the most change I see is that is
is the, the parents involvementin a bad way, like, um, like,
just like when I coached him,never, he never questioned
anything.
Nobody in his age group neverquestioned anything.
The parents didn't questionanything.
(16:07):
Now it's everybody's got a afloor, everybody's got because
of of the media and everythingelse, social media, everybody's
got a platform.
Uh, and everybody gets to voice.
You know, um, I told somebodywhen I retire officially I might
(16:29):
get on Facebook or something,but right, now, I don't even get
near it.
I don't want to hear you knowhow bad I'm doing or how good
I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
And I'm sure that comes with your family as well.
I'm sure your wife, children,all of those hear it just as
much as you hear it.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, it's like my wife usually tries
to sit like away so she doesn'thear.
You know, and I know, like whenyou're coaching you can't make
everybody happy.
(17:07):
When you substitute, you'retaking one child out, somebody's
child out and putting inanother person's child, and they
don't see practice.
All they know is my child isreally good, he's a good kid.
Everything else they don't seethat and I think really it's the
(17:33):
same way in a classroom.
You know, like before if yousaid you know well he didn't
turn his work in well wouldquestion it.
Now that you, they won't provewell, well, here's the zero.
You know.
No, that's not enough.
You got to show every littlething.
Everything is questioned.
(17:54):
You know, and everybody's got,you know, a voice.
And I think you know when you,when you, you know there's a
difference between supportingyour child and defending your
child.
Supporting your child meansyou're giving them all the
resources possible for them tobe successful, defending them.
(18:16):
Sometimes they're giving them acrutch and I just and it's like
it's not just sports, it's inthe classroom too.
I mean I teach way more than Icoach.
You know, I'm coaching kids twohours a day and I'm what?
(18:36):
Seven hours a day in theclassroom and my salary is based
on my teaching, not my coaching.
The coaching is a supplementand it's like driving a bus or
something.
It's not.
You know they can let you goanytime too, because it's a
supplement.
(18:56):
But I see the same thing in theclassroom that you see in
sports.
I think they mirror each other.
I think you know, if you'regoing to be a good coach, you
have to be a good teacher first,and I think that's you know.
(19:16):
Like I tell our kids, I saidthis gym is a classroom.
You pay attention like it's aclassroom, you act like it's a
classroom.
You pay attention like it's aclassroom, you act like it's a
classroom, you speak like it's aclassroom.
If you don't do it that way,then you're going to get the
same consequences that if you'rein my classroom and you're
(19:38):
disrupting it.
I said you're going to be goneand I think it's important to
make sure they understand it.
There's a certain way to act ina classroom and a certain way
to act in.
That gym is a classroom, thatfootball field is a classroom,
(20:00):
that track is a classroom.
The language you use should bethe same you use.
It shouldn't change.
It shouldn't be like we don'tuse profanity with them, around
them nothing.
And if they do, they'redisciplined like it's a
classroom violation.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
So Blake being the young man in the room compared
to the rest of us.
What do you think of thataspect of Coach Brandt?
To me that's pretty impressivefor a guy that's been around
that long, has been able toadjust and has such a
perspective about how playersshould play and such and the
(20:45):
Bobby Knight example was greatDidn't fall into that trap where
Bobby Knight just frustratedhimself to death and he had to
get out of it.
What do you think, as someoneyou know younger of age, seeing
an older coach?
Because a lot of times peoplewill see the old heads on the
sidelines and say, oh yeah,they're just going to play the
old time basketball, but he'sbeen one to adjust.
How does that make twoquestions here?
(21:07):
How does that make you feel asa young man towards that coach
and do you feel like you coulddo a basketball podcast with him
now that he's retiring?
and you guys could just talkbasketball every week 100%.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
He can talk Michael Jordan LeBron all day.
We did it in history class.
We can do it on a podcast.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
I added Bryce's jersey to my classroom yesterday
.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
All right, we can talk Bryce McGowan's as well,
but that Bryce McGowan's, treyMcGowan's excuse me, bye-bye
Franklin as well.
It just shows you a respect fora guy that as a young guy you
would look at and you're likethey probably don't respect him.
But he's done it for so long,proved it over and over.
(21:55):
That leads it into respect.
Also, he adds a guy in CoachFox who's been a part of the
really good run.
I think also helped in thataspect.
His son as well.
Being on the coaching staffgives a little younger voice.
It's like I said earliereveryone at Wren coming up
(22:18):
through high school youinstantly have a respect for
Frank Campbell.
But then once you watch himcoach, it's like it's not just
respect, it's like he's as goodas anybody.
So it's like you almost expectit from him to change with a
game to be able to do it nextyear.
I think even after he retiredeveryone kind of looked around
(22:39):
like what are we talking about?
No one knows life without him.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
That's impossible.
And, Coach, why now to retire?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Well, I kind of thought this was to be honest
with you.
I thought I would retire afterI won the state championship, or
after we won the statechampionship, but then I still
had a grandson there.
And I don't know.
Just something special aboutcoaching your own.
(23:12):
And then in the meantime one ofmy own, pro Franklin, moved his
son in, and so then I feltobligated to stay.
And then the other thing wasthere were a couple of guys that
(23:35):
were on the state championshipteam, that were sophomores, and
I felt like I couldn't leavethem hanging either.
So then I kind of had in mymind that this was it, but I
didn't want to say anythingbecause I looked at what some
(23:59):
people did, people that I'm notsaying that I'm on the level of
Dean Smith or Mike Szczeskidoing the farewell tour thing,
you know.
I just thought as quietly aspossible, I would just go in one
(24:20):
day and say thank you very much.
But this is it.
But I will tell you, when I wasthinking about this I was
thinking about waiting until thebasketball banquet, which was
April 15th, on tax day, the oldtax day, anyway.
(24:42):
So here's what happened.
I'm watching the news.
My little pattern is I watchthe news and four comes on first
.
I watch the sports on four,then I flip it to seven.
It was on a Wednesday night.
Wednesday night they came onwith about the high school
(25:03):
league to pass a new eligibilitytransfer rule and they have it
printed up there and I'm lookingat it and I'm thinking I'm not
ready for this.
You know, it could be good orit could be disastrous.
(25:28):
And I thought so I went in thebedroom I told my wife.
I said I'm thinking it might betime now and she said are you
serious?
I said yeah.
So the next day I went in andtalked to Stan and he said well,
he said do you want to waituntil the 15th?
I said it doesn't matter to me.
(25:51):
He said I said I'll do itwhenever you want.
He says how about tomorrow?
I said let me talk to theplayers I'm with tomorrow.
So that was it.
It happened that quick Like noindecision or anything that kind
of told me you know, I'm goingto have to adjust again.
(26:11):
You know, and I'm 77 years old,that's asking a lot to you know
, like I've done that before,I've done the whole AAU and
tracking kids and just likeDarrell, carrying them all over
(26:32):
the place in my Zuzu Trooper,you know, up and down the road
to Atlanta and Winston-Salem.
Okay, I'm not, I'm agrandfather.
I'm not ready to do that allover again.
And I think that's what's goingto happen.
He's ready, he knows what it'sgoing to be, he knows what it's
(26:52):
going to take and it's going totake more around the clock type
action to be able to compete.
And he's the right man for thejob.
I'm excited for him.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
We'll talk a bit more about that in a minute, that
new rule.
But on the phone line we haveour regular sports guy who's
kind of skipping the sports endof it because he is a ren
graduate, uh, zachary howard,and has watched a ton of ren
basketball, just abouteverything ren.
So I know he had uh some wordshe wanted to say to coach
(27:33):
campbell go ahead, zach hey howy'all doing I'm doing well.
How are you?
Speaker 7 (27:38):
doing good.
Coach campbell probably don'tremember me.
I mean, he knows my face.
Anybody can remember this thing.
Oh yeah, it's only a mothercould love, absolutely uh hey,
I'm a high school sweetheart, soI've been with my high school
sweetheart since high school,since my junior year, so, um, so
she could love it too yeah,there we go but, there's
(28:00):
somebody for everybody stay withher yeah I didn't have the
privilege to play for CoachCampbell, but I did have the
privilege to have him as my UShistory teacher my junior year.
And let me tell you somethingEvery school needs a Coach
Campbell, a Coach Fran Campbell,whether it's a teacher, whether
it's a basketball coach,because, I'll be honest with you
, I didn't know if the man wasever going to retire.
(28:21):
I mean, I didn't know if theman was ever going to retire.
I mean, I just think he's thatpassionate about the sport,
about the players, about thestudents.
Everybody needs a CoachCampbell.
And, like I said, I never hadthe privilege to play for him,
but I did have the privilege tohave him as a teacher.
And the funny thing is, I guess,a memory I have.
I don't know if he remembers,but I'll be out of school, what?
(28:45):
13, 12, 13 years this year, andso this was junior year.
So about 14, 15 years ago, wewas doing a PowerPoint in a
class and I forgot what the.
He did mention LeBron James.
I'll add to Blake.
He did mention a little bit ofLeBron James.
I'll add to Blake.
He did mention a little bit ofLeBron James when we were in
(29:06):
class, but our PowerPoint.
He was clicking on the lessonand then on the bottom corner I
think it was the Xavier,something for Xavier men's
basketball.
I can't remember what it was,but then after that he went on a
spill about what he'd done withXavier and I don't know if we
ever got to the lesson that dayor not.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Well, listen, Zach, you're wrong.
If you don't think, I don'tremember you.
The other thing is is likeeverybody says well, he gets off
subject.
Listen, I'm constantly working,Getting off subject is part of
the game, and if you rememberthat, then you're going to
(29:46):
remember something of historytoo.
Speaker 7 (29:50):
Absolutely.
I will say this and then I'llget out of here, but Eli White
was in my class.
Eli White was in my class andhe now is a starting center
fielder for the Atlanta Braves.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Yes, you were in a classic class of US history
because it was like we had someof the best students and worst
students in the same room.
Speaker 7 (30:16):
Well, you didn't put me with the worst students.
No, I did not.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
No, no, I did not.
But yeah, I remember Eli beingin there.
He was a lot quieter than you.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
Yeah, absolutely.
What's that man?
I'm a quiet man.
It is funny, though, becausewhat made me think about that
and think about this today wasmy sisters.
We have a family Facebook chatand my sisters, one of them
graduated with Eli Wilson.
Am I saying that right?
The tight end?
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Yes, yeah, he was a great player.
Speaker 7 (30:51):
He was drafted in the NFL, and so I said yeah.
I said you know, it's a smallworld, because I graduated with
Eli and he was in my US historyclass, so just a small world,
but, Coach Campbell,congratulations.
There'll never be another CoachCampbell, and I wish you the
best.
I do have to ask, though wewere at the state championship
(31:17):
when we played I'm trying tothink who it was and we had the
lead and had Clyde Trapp ontheir team that went to Clemson.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Yes, that would be Laura Richland.
Yes, and do you remember thenewspaper thing?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
How am I going to forget that?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Thanks for bringing that up, Zach.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
What was it?
Tell the story now.
Yeah, I got to hear it.
Speaker 7 (31:42):
Hey, y'all have a good one.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Hey, tell the story.
Well, I don't remember much ofthe story now.
Yeah, I got to hear it.
Hey, y'all have a good one.
Hey, tell the story.
Speaker 7 (31:45):
Well, I don't remember much of the story, I
just remember Wren was winning,we were winning pretty good.
And I remember telling my dadthat's Clyde Trapp, he's going
to play for Clemson, you knowhe's pretty good.
And this is when we had TreyMcGowan drop, because Bryce is
the younger brother, so becauseBryce is the younger brother, so
we had Trey McGowan and Wrenwas winning.
Wren was, I mean, I guess,about 10, 15 points and Lower
(32:08):
Richland was at the free throwline and the entire bench picks
up newspapers like they'rereading, like they're not even
paying attention, and after thatI know this is a terrible
memory for Coach Campbell- it is.
But after that Lower Richlandgoes on like a 20 to like 3 run
and ends up winning the game.
(32:28):
And everybody you talk to I'llask them you watch that game?
Yeah, they lost the gamebecause of the newspaper
incident.
I will never forget that.
Never forget that.
So I didn't mean to bring thatbad memory up, Coach Campbell.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
You did bring up a bad memory but hey, it's a
memory.
Speaker 7 (32:44):
I wish you the absolute best man.
Everybody needs a Coach, FranCampbell.
And for Mr Boone, go Braves.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah, yeah, I hear you.
Thanks, zach, thanks forcalling.
Yeah, he calls into our showevery week we talk about sports.
And he said today he texted meand said I'm not really going to
talk about sports because Iknow you've got a lot to talk to
a coach about, but I just wantto give some nice words and it's
good to hear from him.
It was a great story.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
He's a character, for sure.
It's a great story.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
He may not remember anything from your history class
, but he's got the newspaperstory.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
You're right, he's got the Eli White sitting next
to him, who was a good student.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Eli White sitting next to him, who was?
Speaker 1 (33:25):
a good student.
Maybe, that's how he gotthrough there.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
But yeah, I think the relationships you have with
students is as important, if notmore important, than what you
have with the players.
You spend all this time withyour players.
I think I've really strived tohave relationships with the
students and then when I have aplayer in my class, I do
everything possible not to treatthem like different.
(34:04):
I do everything possible not totreat them like different, like
not give them basically anyadvantage at all, because when
you go in the classroom it's notthe same as the basketball
court, so everybody's equalthere there, and I got to make
(34:25):
sure I don't, you know, like letthem do something that I
wouldn't let another student doand I I think the relationships
I have with the students is isfar longer lasting maybe than
the basketball, because, likethe guy that works in my car, he
(34:50):
didn't play basketball.
The guy that does my electricalwork didn't play basketball.
They all went to Wren and I alltaught them history or
something.
But I have relationships withthem, just like I do my players,
and I think that's that's howyou stay in it this long.
Otherwise, if, if all it is iscoaching basketball or all it
(35:11):
was was teaching, I don't knowif 42 years would have been
possible.
But when you look at it the wayI look at it, as far as I'm an
educator that coachesbasketball- yeah, and in class.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
You know, holly, in class you can't put people on
the bench.
I mean, they're all kind ofthey're equal.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
That's right, although you want to.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Some of them you want to put under the bench.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah exactly.
But I had a question going backto that new rule that you were
talking about.
Just real quick, while we haveblake here and uh, coach jackson
, it's almost like the portalfor high school now, with uh
kids going all over the place towherever they want to go to
high school.
Blake you start with this, andthen I want to hear what coach
jackson thinks about thatchanging playing field that you
(35:59):
know you have to deal with nowto be able to get the best team
on the court.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
He's jumping in with both feet, yeah, exactly Go
ahead.
Speaker 6 (36:04):
I won't let Coach Jackson or Coach Campbell take
the heat.
This is my take.
This is something that I thinka lot of high school coaches in
all sports know across the stateis this is a rule that they are
implementing, but it's beenhappening.
That's, I think the problemwith most people in their head
(36:24):
is like okay, we're just makingsomething that was kind of in
the shadows be okay now, whichis like as someone that's
younger, it's kind of somethingof putting everyone back on an
even playing field where noone's going to get the advantage
of.
We can take your players, butyou can't take our players.
(36:44):
Now everyone's up for grabsagain.
Almost like he talked earlierabout a transfer portal.
I think in high schoolbasketball it's going to help
teams like over in or west sidethat have been good at
basketball, and then the teamsthat you see at the bottom.
It could hurt a little bit moreif they're losing their best
(37:05):
player year in and year out.
So I'll let Coach Jacksonpiggyback off that, but I think
basketball high schoolbasketball at least is hopefully
for the better after somethinglike that.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
I do agree with Blake .
I think it's implemented tokind of level the playing field
a little bit, but also obviouslyplaying for Coach Campbell and
coaching with him.
A place like Wren is a lotdifferent than other places.
We've always had a familyatmosphere, strong community, a
lot of pride.
(37:38):
So I think obviously I mean wemay get a transfer or two, but a
lot of our kids will behomegrown just because of that
community pride and self-prideand the way we build our kids
from our rec program on up.
Like Coach Campbell, he used toreferee the rec games and then
as I came up I refereed with him.
(37:59):
I was a high school studentrefereeing rec league games, and
you don't see that a lot ofplaces, just like at kids camp,
he's had for what?
20, 30 years, 38 this year, wow, and I wasn't fortunate to go
to it but I did work it.
And so when you have thingslike that, I just think like
he's talking about other placeshow it affects them a little
(38:20):
more.
A lot of our kids they're blueand gold through and through.
They're born that way.
They come up that way.
I was fortunate the same wayCoach Campbell.
He used to pick me up when Iwas in diapers.
Our story goes all the way backto basically my birth.
So I just think it's going toaffect some places in different
ways.
(38:41):
But but I know at wren it's alot different.
It's a lot different, um, andI'm proud that I was a part of
it as a kid and a player and Iwas there as an assistant coach
and now as the head coach yeah,all right.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Well, like he says the the times they are changing.
They always are, and athleticsare seemingly changing even
quicker nowadays with, uh, allthe new ways to get money
talking mainly about college andall that but of course, the
recruitment process now, whenthey're coming to your high
school and recruiting Blake, asyou're big on with, like the
(39:15):
draft this past weekend, and allthat this new rule of course
plays in a lot to that of wherethe major schools are really
gonna get the exposure yeah, nowI like to.
Speaker 6 (39:26):
I tell austin, our media guy I ran a lot is we're.
We're not just giving thesekids a platform to play sports.
A lot of the times, kids mayhave a different family
situation than others.
We're're their marketing team.
We are the only people that aregoing to talk about these kids.
If no one else nationally orstatewide is going to talk about
them, we've got to be the guysto talk about them.
(39:49):
Give them a platform, be likehe talked about earlier with
social media, their voicesometimes, because they can't be
their own Right.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
And of course he also gives them nicknames and stuff.
Yes, he does.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
I get envious of some of the nicknames you come up
with.
I was like man, I could nevercome up with that.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
That was a good one, Blake.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
From Piedmont, but I did want to ask you Coach too,
because I'm curious have youever sat down and thought about
your coaching tree?
How many people have coachedwith you that are now in charge
of other programs?
I mean, obviously you've gotone sitting next to you, um, but
there's got to be a bunch ofthem out there yeah, there I
(40:29):
would say probably seven oreight.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
That are some of them no longer coaching them.
You know I've been at so longsome of them are out.
They've had nice careers,they've retired, yeah uh but uh,
you know, just um, I I don'tknow, I I'd say like, as far as
(40:56):
coach, I'd say seven or eight,but I I'm actually maybe more
proud that I think we'vedeveloped more ministers than we
have coaches.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
And I think that's.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
You know like I had a team like in 86, I think there
was three kids that becameministers, wow, yeah.
So I just think we have afamily-type atmosphere and you
know we basically stick togetherthrough it all.
(41:34):
And you know, like Darrell'sbest friend is a teammate who
wasn't a very good player, butthey were like best friends and
they still are, and he's inAtlanta, georgia, and like it
just Community.
It's a community you have thatends up going like to Texas and
(41:56):
to.
You know like Oklahoma andstuff.
You know like where they, butthey still keep in touch with
each other.
You know like Oklahoma andstuff.
You know like where they, butthey still keep in touch with
each other.
You know, and you know it'sjust.
I think, basically theatmosphere we've tried to have
at Wren just keeps growing.
(42:18):
You know they're having kidsand it can't be a too bad a
place where so many of them moveback here.
But, yeah, my son included, Ithink.
On the team he was on I thinkthere was Richie, and there was
(42:41):
three on the same team with myson my son being one of them
that were ministers and ChadCampbell was a minister at Mount
Pisgah.
I mean people thought with hislast name we were father-son
(43:03):
combo back in the early 90s.
But yeah, it's a lot of family,a lot of people like Johnny who
is— who we're hoping to hearfrom here in a minute.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Yeah, that's all we're hearing from.
He's a little late.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
But yeah, he's going to be a minister of some sorts.
I don't know what, but he did apretty good job of preaching in
our locker room.
I can tell you that.
I know you're not supposed tohave it in your locker room but,
we're old school when it comesto that.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
And a little segue on that to that championship team.
He really became a leader,didn't he?
During that process, it seemedlike that whole year that team
was developing.
It seemed like at the beginningof the year Blake, you can
speak into this, but we weretalking to Johnny in class all
the time that you know he didn'teven think they were really
that good, but they just keptgetting better and better and
(44:06):
better as the year went on and,lo and behold, they win the last
game of the season, which iswhat every team wants to do, and
Johnny just became a realleader.
And looking back on some ofthose videos of the games and
the celebrations afterwards,he's all around congratulating
it.
And he was the the outstandingplayer, right.
Um, just an incredible seasonthere in 23.
(44:27):
How is that different from somany near misses that you had in
other years?
Speaker 3 (44:32):
it made it sweeter yeah it really did and and to
have it with that team which you, which you could say was not
talent-wise as good as some ofthe other teams, but team-wise
they were the best team.
What does Michael Jordan say?
(44:55):
It's not the talent, it's theteam that wins.
The most talented doesn'talways win, but the team that
plays together will win.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Yeah, that was a perfect example of it that year
because nobody thought at thebeginning.
Blake, couldn't you say that.
I mean, they didn't have asuperstar on that team.
Speaker 6 (45:18):
Going into that year you kind of felt like, okay, you
just don't know what it's goingto be, because you're coming
off the McGowan's kind of era ofbasketball and it's kind of man
Wren's been at the top of themountain point feels like
multiple years in a row.
We don't know much about thisJohnny Wiseong kid who's going
to play forward, who's played ayear before but maybe didn't
(45:43):
show off his true talents untilhis senior year.
A guy like Jacob McQueen who Iwish I was lying didn't know he
was on the basketball team untilI was told that I was going to
commentate basketball for Wrenand find out he's another one of
those senior leaders.
And then you just have thesethree kind of in-the-wind
sophomores that maybe they'llpan into something, maybe they
(46:06):
won't, and it ends up beingBrock Cherry, wett Worga and Cal
Godfrey who've become the focalpoints of a state championship
team Wett Worga and Brock Cherryhitting maybe the four biggest
free throws in rim basketballhistory.
Yeah, that team going into theyear.
(46:27):
You didn't feel like it was upto the challenge but, as you
said, developed into something.
Speaker 1 (46:33):
Just kept winning and you know, some of the games
weren't the prettiest thing, butthey just kept winning and
that's like you said.
You said, coach is believing ineach other and having each
other's backs and that's whythose kind of seasons are just
really special, right even ifthey hadn't won the championship
, it would have been reallyspecial it would have.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
Uh, I just think that they, um, because of the, the
leadership of those two seniors,especially Johnny.
Johnny's a leader of men,whether it's, I don't care what
it is, it's a picnic or whateverit is he's a leader Even in
college.
You know he's, this was hissophomore year, but he was a
(47:17):
leader of the team at CIU, buthe was a leader of the team at
CIU.
So you know, your leaderdoesn't have to be a senior,
your leader just has to be aperson who everybody respects
and nobody questions their workethic.
(47:37):
That's all you have to have.
You don't have to have anythingelse.
If you're just that, then youcan lead.
And sometimes that's adifference between a good team
and a great team and that was adifference for us in 2023 was we
(47:58):
had that leadership, thatalways positive attitude, you
know, to the point wheresometimes I had to calm things
down.
You know like you know we'repretty good, but you know we can
(48:20):
be beaten you know, if we don'tdo everything we're supposed to
do.
He'd look at film and he'd comeback and he'd say, oh, they're
not very good.
I said Okay.
I said you do the scoutingreport and I'll do the scout
(48:43):
report and then we'll compare.
So that's what we did the wholesecond half of the season.
Whoever we played next, he'd dothe scout report, I'd do the
scout report, we'd compare thetwo and we'd all find our own
little flaws in it.
But it also gives the moreownership the players have in a
(49:11):
team, the farther your team'sgoing to go when they're
responsible for the practice,when they're responsible for the
practice, when they'reresponsible for the locker room.
So I don't have to go in thereand police the locker room.
I don't have to If they do thatthemselves.
That's part of the ownership.
(49:33):
If all I do every time I do thescout report and give it to
them, they don't appreciate itas much as when they do it.
They did it themselves, Tookownership yeah, take ownership
in it and they're responsible,like we assign, and we say, okay
(49:53):
, you're going to guard Blake,number 12.
You give me the scout report onnumber 12.
You give me the scout report onnumber 10 or whatever it is.
Everybody's got to and we'llget that together, and then it
means more to them than I justdo it all for them.
That's right.
So they pay attention a littlebit more to the scouting report
(50:19):
when they're invested in it.
I think also it gets them readyfor the next level.
If they're able to play on thenext level.
They already know how to breakdown film.
They already know how to do ascout report.
(50:40):
They already know how it's alldone and therefore they're,
they're, they're ready, you knowand they.
They get input in the, in thepractice plan.
They want to know what we'regoing to do today, you know, and
and if, if they think there'ssomething we need to work on,
(51:00):
then all they got to do is tellme and we'll put it in there in
some form of what we need to do.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
When, of course, you won it all in 23,.
Was there any point in yourcareer such a great career, and
that was the first one, wasthere first championship?
Was there any point that youwere wondering if it would ever
happen?
Or you doubted yourself at all?
Or did it matter that much, aslong as you just had great teams
to finally get thatchampionship leading up to it?
(51:31):
Was there any wonder if itwould ever happen?
Speaker 3 (51:34):
40 years.
Okay, well, the first time wewent to the state championship
game was 1994.
Okay, and it was, I guess, anunderrated team, kind of like
(51:56):
this last one in 23.
this last one, uh, in 23, andthe I didn't know whether we'd
get an another one after thatone, because we we went there
and we played eau claire highschool, who was number six in
the country in usa today, andthey had two nba guys on the
(52:18):
team, had Jermaine O'Neal andBud Johnson, seven-footers, and
we're playing 3A basketball andthat's who we have to play.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
And I'm thinking Lord thank you for letting us get
this far.
What next?
Speaker 3 (52:36):
I'm thinking I even had the pastor from Siloam
Baptist Church.
He asked could he speak to theteam?
I said, sure, pastor, just helpyourself.
And he gave a speech oncrossing the Rubicon.
That's how far the gap was andsomehow we stayed with him and
(53:00):
we ended up losing by six, butwe hung in there.
But I thought what a greatopportunity to get the state
championship and you're going toplay probably the best high
school team in the history ofthe state of South Carolina.
That was our choice, yeah, soyeah.
(53:22):
At that point I'm thinking Imean, what's the use of getting
there if that's what you've gotto do?
I mean my goodness.
But no, I never entered thecoaching profession with the
idea of, man, you know, win astate championship or you're not
(53:43):
worth anything.
It's like, you know, in the NBA, you know, they always say you
know you have to have a ring orelse you know you haven't won a
thing.
So getting it was awesome, itreally was.
(54:06):
But if we didn't win, I couldhave dealt with that, because I
knew there was nothing more wecould do than we did.
You know, I mean we couldn'thave prepared any harder, we
couldn't have done anythingdifferent and you know you feel
better when you go in a game ifyou know you've done everything
you can do to be ready.
(54:26):
And our saying is if you'reready then you don't have to get
ready.
So we were ready and we wereready.
You know, we try to be readyevery time we play.
That way you don't have to getready, so that I mean I could
(54:49):
have dealt with it.
You know, and it's the firsttime in all these years like the
hardest thing to do at the endof the season is go in that
locker room and thank yourseniors and say goodbye.
You know that's the hardestthing.
(55:09):
So all these years, that oneyear, you know, we didn't have
to say goodbye, we didn't haveto say goodbye, we didn't have
to.
You know, we came back to theschool.
I remember riding back toschool and Jason McQueen said
Coach, can we cut down the netswhen we get back to school?
(55:30):
I said you're darn right, wecan.
We'll cut both of them down ifyou want to, because the high
school league won't let you cutthem down.
Speaker 1 (55:37):
Right.
Speaker 3 (55:37):
You know, because they're afraid there's going to
be a fight or something.
The only cut them down.
You know because they're afraidthere's going to be a fight or
something.
You know the only fight we'dhave had was who gets the cut
first, right?
But yeah, so we went back andcut the nets down.
Then, somewhere during ourstretch, johnson says we're
(56:01):
going to cut our hair.
I said, coach, are you in?
I said hey, I'm in.
I remember that he called thelady that cuts his hair and she
came up there that night and cuther hair.
My wife's going, she didn'tknow.
Somebody said after I'd alreadyhad it cut.
She said you better call Debbieand tell her you got your hair
(56:21):
shaved.
I said after I'd already had acut.
She said you better call Debbieand tell her you got your hair
shaved.
I said why?
I said it's no big deal.
She says you know at the timeyou're 74 years old.
You know, I said not tonight,I'm not.
I said I'm a kid.
So yeah, it was funny.
I kept it like that for a longtime.
(56:43):
I liked it.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
Well, we've got to wrap up here.
We're running a little overtime because I keep texting
Johnny to call.
I don't know whether he'sasleep or what's going on, but I
did want to ask you before wego.
You know what's next.
You're still teaching part-time.
What's next for you?
Speaker 3 (57:02):
To be honest with you , I still like teaching, I like
being around kids.
So I'm going to do that and youknow like I'll.
I still haven't got to where Ican like I'm not, like I'm a
basketball junkie and I'll bethat way until I die.
(57:24):
So like I watch the NBA games.
You know a lot of people don'tlike the NBA, but I do, I like
it, I like watching it.
You know I have to kind ofbreak myself a little bit this
time of year because there's somany games on.
(57:45):
I could be like they'll starton a weekend, they'll start like
1.30, and then the last game'sat 10.30.
Well, I do have a life andsomewhere in there I go like
well.
Speaker 6 (58:02):
I can play golf during the Cleveland game.
Speaker 3 (58:04):
I can play golf during the Cleveland-Miami game.
That gives me four hours rightthere.
Then I can be back and watchthe Lakers and the Soda, or
whatever.
Speaker 1 (58:19):
You're not missing anything in the Cleveland-Miami
series.
No, no, that in theCleveland-Miami series.
No, no, that's the other thingI'm thinking.
Speaker 3 (58:23):
Yeah, it's like and I , because of my son being in
California for 10 years, they'reLakers.
And then I worked LeBron's campfor about 10 years, so I'm a
LeBron guy, so I'm watching theLakers and now they traded for
(58:43):
Luka.
It's a pretty good watch, youknow.
So I'll still be a basketballjunkie.
I mean, here's the crazy thing.
I'm watching something and I'mgoing like what'd they just do
there Like NBA game going, andI'll go YouTube.
(59:11):
I'll look it up and I'll go likelike I watched the last second
play and I'll go found it onYouTube.
Looked, I said, man, that'spretty good, you know, um.
So if, um, I, I can't keep fromdoing that, I can't you know um
(59:31):
coach.
I'll be a I'll be a coach.
It'll be on my tombstone coachI I can't help that, uh, but I
know we have the right personto—.
Speaker 1 (59:43):
No pressure at all.
No, no pressure.
Speaker 3 (59:48):
Listen, he's played a lot of basketball, he's coached
basketball.
The pressure is all internalfor him.
Speaker 1 (59:58):
And he's been on that sideline with you for a long
time.
Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
Oh yeah, that's what I'm saying he knows what it
takes and he knows the way wehave to play for us to be
successful at Red.
There's no other way we canplay it.
We have to play it the way weplay.
He knows that and he's notgoing to accept anything less
than that.
(01:00:20):
That's what I feel good about.
I feel good that the samethings that I preached all those
years when he was a player anda coach he's going to speak the
same message because he's a partof the message.
Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
All right.
Well, that's a great way to endit, but we do have one last
segment that we do with all ofour guests, and that is our
recommendation segment.
There are two areas.
This has become popular becauseit helps me find new places to
eat and new books to read andmovies to watch.
So we want to ask We've gotthree guests here tonight, so,
(01:01:05):
Blake, you'll be in on this too.
We ask first, entertainment Ifthere's any entertainment that
you can recommend a book thatyou're reading, something that
you're streaming binging, amovie that you're watching,
something like that, some sortof entertainment.
And then we'll come back aroundand ask you about food, whether
it's something, a new recipethat you found, or a lot of
(01:01:26):
times it's a restaurant and aparticular dish that you like at
that particular restaurant.
So, Blake, we'll start with youon the entertainment thing what
can you recommend to ourlisteners?
Speaker 6 (01:01:38):
I'm probably the worst person to start this off.
Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
That's why I started it.
Speaker 6 (01:01:41):
I don't know if everyone is a NASCAR fan, but
this past weekend a guy namedCletus McFarlane ran in an ARCA
race, and he is exactly what youthink about when you think of
NASCAR racing, and he has aYouTube.
You can search it.
And they took a trip from allthe way I don't know somewhere
in the southeast all the way toTalladega with Greg Biffle,
who's a really famous NASCARdriver, and they buy $5,000 RVs
(01:02:06):
and put like, really like, dragrace engines in them and drive
them all the way to Talladega,race them on dirt tracks for
five laps.
It is a very high-quality watchif you get around to it.
Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
Yeah, all right, coach Campbell, some form of
entertainment you can recommend?
Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
Well, I tell you, I told you, 30 for 30, Bobby
Knight.
You would really enjoy it,because at least you have a
little bit of age where youremember what Bobby Knight was
like.
I was mesmerized last nightwatching that.
I got my own shows I like, butI just threw that in there.
Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
What other shows do you like?
I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (01:02:59):
Well, I'm a history person, so I like historical
things and I also like suspense.
I do the Netflix series and Ido police detective series and
(01:03:20):
stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
That's what I like.
All right, that's cool.
A lot of good documentaries outthere historical stuff and all
that.
That's very interesting.
All right, coach Jackson.
Speaker 4 (01:03:29):
All right, piggyback on Coach Campbell.
You know he's my coach.
We always went on Christmastournament trips.
He always took us somewherehistorical.
I did see the movie Centers.
Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
Yeah, did you like that?
I've heard a lot about it.
Most people like it Some peoplesaid it was all right.
Speaker 4 (01:03:44):
I mean it's got some things in it but very historical
and a lot of subliminalmessages in the movie.
It's more than just the movie,to be honest, like really a lot
of interesting things in it and,like I said me always been
around him.
It takes place in Mississippi,1930s.
(01:04:04):
It's a lot of different thingsgoing on, but I do the show I
watch is they're Irrational andit's about a professor and he's
talking about police.
So the FBI, they use him tohelp solve crimes and he talks
about irrational behavior.
And that's how he solves it allReally good show.
Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
It is good I watched the one with numbers, where the
guy solves it and then, there'sanother one on I think it's on
Apple.
I love the Ted Lasso.
Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
Bang.
Yes, that was my favorite.
Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
There's nothing compared to that.
There's another one on thereI'm trying to think it's about a
mathematician, almost like,where he's got a board full of
and he's coming up with somekind of theory about what like.
(01:05:05):
He's figured out a way thateverybody is like messing with
our minds, you know, and sothey're afraid he's going to, so
now they're hunting him down.
He's having it's like crazy.
I like some of the Apple TVstuff.
Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
Yeah, they've got some good stuff on there, it's
really good.
Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
My problem is, if I start watching it, I go like,
well, let me get one more.
Yeah, exactly, and before youknow it it's 2 o'clock in the
morning.
It's 2 o'clock in the morningand you've got to get up at 7.
Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
And then you're also mad at yourself because you
binged the whole thing andthere's no more to watch.
So it's like ah got nothing tolook forward to.
All right, blake, let's move onto food.
I know you're a foodie from wayback.
He used to do a show on thisradio station called the Meat
Locker, where they would talkabout food and sports, so I know
(01:06:03):
this guy is.
Speaker 6 (01:06:05):
I'm going to take this opportunity to shout out a
guy that I went to high schoolwith.
So it's a small business.
It's Rory's Pizza.
It's in Easley, I don't knowthe address, rory played at Ren.
Speaker 3 (01:06:17):
Yeah, Rory.
Speaker 6 (01:06:18):
He played basketball at Pattersonville, I think
before he transferred to Wren.
He's a small business.
Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
You're talking about the son.
Yeah, you're talking about thedad.
Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
Yeah, this is the son .
Speaker 6 (01:06:30):
He's got his own pizza business.
I believe he also sells thedonuts as well beside it.
But it is really good.
It's got butter crust pizza.
It's definitely something thateveryone's probably that's good.
Speaker 1 (01:06:42):
Yeah, it's good.
So that's where is it located.
It's in easily.
Speaker 6 (01:06:46):
You can definitely search on facebook powder spill.
Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
Oh well, it's a fine line there yeah, they're all on
top.
Exactly it's right by oldpenalty road, yep all right,
coach, uh, give me a foodrecommendation I go.
Speaker 3 (01:07:01):
I usually go to to Coach Jackson for the
recommendations.
Speaker 4 (01:07:04):
I do have one yeah he's got.
Speaker 3 (01:07:07):
It depends on the city you're in.
Like, if I'm going toSpartanburg, then he always
tells me I need to go to Ike's.
Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
Ike's.
Oh yes, ike's, they're fries.
Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, they're fries.
Speaker 4 (01:07:22):
Oh yes, their fries, oh yeah, way better than the
Beacon the other one inSpartanburg is what.
Speaker 3 (01:07:29):
Waze.
Waze is a beaten three placeit's really good.
And then, of course, the Beacon.
We used to take the team thereanytime.
We went to Spartanburg and wehad a guy helping us named Pete
Beasley and he's deceased now,but he was like awesome, just
went everywhere with us.
(01:07:49):
But he couldn't stand to go inthere, because when you go in
there, the guy that takes yourorder hollers at you, he goes
what do you have?
Speaker 5 (01:07:58):
What do you?
Speaker 3 (01:07:58):
have Next?
Next, what do you have?
And he'd make him all nervous.
So he'd tell me he says I wantthe cheeseburger.
Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
He said I'm going to go sit down.
All right, that's a couple ofit.
When we're up that way GettingSpartanburg, how about you,
coach?
Speaker 4 (01:08:15):
Firebirds.
It's right on Woodruff Road.
Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
They have the best philly cheesesteak oh, there you
go, now you're speaking mylanguage.
Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
There you go.
One in easley is good.
What's up?
Inkies, inkies?
Speaker 4 (01:08:27):
inkies, been there, been there yeah, firebirds right
on woodruff, road okay reallygood.
Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
Yeah, inkies, those guys are from philly right.
Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
Yeah, that's the whole point, yeah have you tried
uh dave's hot chicken orwhatever over on woodruff they
have.
They have a Philly.
Speaker 1 (01:08:40):
Do they?
Speaker 3 (01:08:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:08:41):
Chicken is very hot.
Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
I will say that.
Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
All right, well, that'll about do it for the show
.
I mean, we could go on foranother hour or so talking, but,
coach Campbell, congratulationson your semi-retirement.
I know you haven't made itofficial, official and I know
you'll be doing some otherthings, but whatever you do, I
know you haven't made itofficial, official and I know
you'll be doing some otherthings, but whatever you do, I
know it's going to be good.
So thank you for everythingyou've done for all the student
(01:09:07):
athletes that have come throughRand.
They've been blessed.
You talk about community.
It starts with having a coachthat's there for a long time,
that cares about them, thatkeeps that community growing,
and you've done great thingsbeyond 738 wins, um and it's.
It's just been an honor to haveyou here today thank you very
much.
Speaker 3 (01:09:26):
I've I've enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (01:09:27):
I always like a chance to talk and coach, uh,
daryl jackson, who is now thenew ren basketball coach.
Uh, congratulations on gettinga job that I know you've wanted
for years and you'll be steppingin there.
And, yeah, he's right, you'restepping in for a legend, but
you've worked beside him foryears, so it's probably the most
(01:09:47):
comfortable transition theycould possibly have there at Ren
High School.
So congratulations to you, andI'm sure we'll have you on
talking about basketball in thefuture.
Thank you All right, and Blake,thanks for stopping by Always
come by when you need me yeah.
So good to see you.
We'll see where the RENbroadcast network goes from here
.
And yes, Holly.
Speaker 2 (01:10:09):
I just want to thank you, for I know that we had
talked in the past where we'vehad some student issues, and you
were always very supportive ofour decisions here making sure
that students follow throughhere as well as follow through
on a court, and that makes a bigdifference.
So we appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (01:10:28):
I think that a coach has a lot of leverage.
Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
You do.
Speaker 3 (01:10:36):
And you know, basically teachers should take
advantage of that.
You know we try to encouragethat.
You know like their first roleis a student, so let's make sure
they're.
And it's going to be the sameway with Coach Jackson.
He's not going to play aroundwith that.
It's not going to be an optionto misbehave.
(01:10:58):
It's not going to be an optionnot to turn your work in.
That's not the way you knowwe're trying to teach them to be
an option to misbehave.
It's not going to be an optionnot to turn your work in.
That's not the way we're tryingto teach them to be good young
men and citizens.
And that's as the saying goes.
It's non-negotiable, that'sright.
Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
Well, we appreciate it and we look forward to great
things for you, Coach Jackson.
Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
Yes, and, by the way, Blake Coach Jackson does not
look like the guy you want tomess with, so I think they'll be
very serious.
Speaker 6 (01:11:26):
We'll see how post-game coaches show.
Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
Alright, thanks again , guys.
Next week we have Robbie Rotronfrom Palmetto High School on
the next episode.
Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
Student teacher for me.
Oh really, yes, of course.
So make sure you bring that up.
Speaker 1 (01:11:42):
Tell him he was a little unsure how it was going
to turn out.
I guess he's all right, we'llsee.
I guess he's overcome it.
Speaker 3 (01:11:50):
One of the two.
Speaker 1 (01:11:53):
Thanks for listening or watching the Boone Show
tonight.
Pleasure to have you.
We'll talk to you again nextweek.
Hey, good evening everybody.
Welcome to another edition ofthe Boone Show on MindPulse
Radio.
Great show here tonight, aswe've got a bunch of guests in
the studio to talk aboutbasketball, which is always cool
when we're talking about sports, but talking about
one-of-a-kind in basketball too,as we have as our very special
(00:20):
guest the franchise, as Blakecalls him, fran Camel, coach of
uh wren high school for 42 years, just announced he's going to
be retiring blue and golden heretoday yes, we do.
And uh, his replacement is heredaryl jackson, and blake is here
, blake miller, graduate of thisprogram one of my kids voice of
(00:43):
the Wren Broadcasting Networkand he's here because he's
followed this team for severalyears now and obviously, at a
turning point in the wholeprogram that no one's known
since the years that I was inhigh school, that's how long
Fran Campbell has been around.
He's been around for 42 years.
I would have been going into mysenior year, the first year
(01:06):
that he coached at Brown.
So amazing, and Coach, we'lljust kick it off with that.
Do you ever kind of just thinkback about how amazing of a run
that is?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, I have.
I have because when I seesomebody and I go like they go
yeah, I was a student of yoursin 1983.
I go well, I remember you, butyou'll have to help me with the
name.
Yeah, so yeah.
And it's really neat when yousee some of these kids that you
(01:43):
taught and, of course, playersthat you coached and you know
they remember little detailsabout you know events and stuff
and it just makes it all comeback to you.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah yeah, well, for people that don't know, did you
have a question, holly?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, I was going to say.
You're probably at the stagenow where you are coaching the
children or the grandchildren ofthose that came through.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Well, actually, I've coached all my own grandchildren
and today's not a normal daybut there's no track meet or
anything.
I've got grandchildren at Wrenand Powdersville so it keeps me
busy and Powdersville so itkeeps me busy.
But yeah, like a good friend ofCoach Jackson's, wendell Rhodes
(02:30):
, I coached him and his son, whoteaches and coaches track at
Wren now.
So I've got, you know, a legacywithin a legacy.
So I've had, you know, uh, tombarrett and his children, bill
white and his children all play,they all played.
(02:51):
And uh, there's, you know,several others, that then all
the franklins, you know what yousaid.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
There's 10 of them all together.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I think something like that I think 13 legitimate
franklins and and a couple thatthey brought in that aren't
really Franklins but they livewith them, so probably a total
of about 16 at one time.
Wow, but seven boys, wow, gosh,yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Think about how many of those you've touched
somewhere along the way, whetherit be teaching or coaching, and
then all of those that you'vecome in contact with that maybe
didn't necessarily be a coach,maybe were a teacher at that
point.
That's a lot of legacy you'vegot.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
It is a lot and I'm grateful for it.
Every time I think about howmany kids, every time I think
about how many kids you know, Ican't even imagine what the
total number of students I'vetaught over the years especially
when you consider teaching likesemester courses or quarter
(03:58):
courses you know You're gettingyou know 300 or 400 a year and
you do the math on that times 42, uh, that's a lot.
And then you're talking aboutyou know in in basketball.
You're talking about you know,um, you know 15 or so a year.
(04:20):
That's a lot, um.
And then I was at greenvillehigh for seven years.
I still meet with some of thosekids that are that are retired
people now yeah I played golfwith three guys from greenville
high that I taught, and one ofthem's a federal judge, the
(04:40):
other one's retired teacher.
Wow, well they're, they're,they're all 63 years old, wow
yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Uh, we're gonna go to the phone lines.
We have, uh, one of your formerplayers who's turned into a
pretty good coach of his own uh,austin anderson, I believe, is
on the line.
Hi, austin.
Hey, how are you good, good,good, we're here with Coach
Campbell, coach Jackson alsohere, and I just wondered if you
could share maybe a little bitabout your time with the coach
(05:12):
way back when.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
What's up, buck?
Hey, how are y'all Good?
Yeah, I mean I learned a lotfrom Coach Campbell, all the way
from relationship building allthe way to just genuinely caring
for your athletes.
One vivid memory I have andhe's always had a passion for
the game, for his athletes, andI think that's never been a
question about Coach Campbell.
(05:34):
One vivid memory I have aboutCoach Campbell, though, is when
we're in a scrimmage preseason.
You know he's going after itwith the referee, and the
referee's trying to kick him outof the scrimmage, and he's just
looking at the referee like, no, I'm not getting out of the
scrimmage right now.
So just that fight for yourathletes is one thing.
It's another thing that he'sreally taught me.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Oh, so you've learned some sideline demeanor, because
I see that sometimes you get alittle active on that sideline.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
I have the active on that sideline I have now, the
more experience, the more of aveteran coach he is, the the
more he's you know, been, Iguess, methodical, if you will,
with these referees, and that'ssomething I've got to learn and
try to teach and try to learnfrom him, um, but yeah, I mean
back in the day he really gotafter it.
But uh, it's also one of thosethings as a player, you kind of
wanted that from your coach,because that showed that, that
(06:22):
showed that he cared.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, exactly Any other specific memories that you
had, because you were on somepretty good teams.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
We were, I remember, going to you know, from the 8th
grade, 7th grade up, going to PCcamp with him.
Once again, he did a great jobof making that real
family-oriented.
It didn't matter if you were aJV varsity C team or whatnot, he
had everybody going with him.
Ever since Coach Campbell's hadthat program, it's always been
a family-knit-type program.
I think he's kind of hung hishat on that, because you still
(06:53):
see it now, people coming backand helping him out.
Coach Jackson played for him,coached for him, so he's coming
back right there.
It's a full full circle moment,but the full circle happens
because of his performance as acoach and his love as a coach.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
When you start to last this long, obviously you
have to have some sort ofpassion Coach, and obviously you
have passion or insanity.
Well, yeah, doing the samething over and over again, yes,
but it's special both you guysand Coach Jackson here as well
to have that passion for thestudent athletes as well as the
(07:34):
passion to try to win.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Right, right, and it's a hard balance, but it's
also a balance that you've gotto have in the classroom but
also on the court.
If you don't show those kidsthat work ethic and you don't
show those athletes and CoachCampbell always did a great job
of showing those demandingexcellence and greatness from
his athletes I'm pretty sure hisgolf players probably felt the
(08:00):
same way.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah Well, you have a new thing going on In fact.
You have a new thing going onIn fact.
We have a little like carouselhere in the studio here of
coaches, because you're headedover to Easley and we've got
Coach Jackson who's headed fromEasley to Wren and we've got
Coach Fran who's headed to thebeach.
I know, that, of course.
(08:24):
Obviously it's a good situationfor you as we speak of your
opportunity as Coach Jacksonknows from being there for the
last couple of years to geteasily on the right track and
winning ways.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
Yeah, we're going to try to.
We're going to try to.
Coach Jackson did a good jobthe past two years of really
trying to get it back on hisfeet, so I'm just going to try
to left over a way he's alreadypicked up to where he's already
left off of a great directionfor that program.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Well, best of luck to you.
We appreciate you calling inand sharing a memory with Coach
Fran, and we'll be talking toyou again soon, at some point as
you get that program rollingover there.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Love you, buck Sounds good.
Love you all.
I hope you all have a good day,thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
All right, that's Austin Anderson.
Of course.
We've had him on several timesas coach of Powersville High
School, moving over to Easleyand, as mentioned, easley's
coach for the last two years hasbeen Darrell Jackson, and he is
here in studio because he'smoving over to the job he always
wanted anyway, which was tosucceed Coach Campbell.
(09:28):
Tell us how all that came about.
Was Coach Campbell just notleaving in time?
You had to go somewhere elsebecause he was just going to
live forever in that job.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
It looked like it.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But now you finally got it, so you've got to feel
excited.
You've worked with Coach Franfor so long anyway, and now to
take the reins.
I can imagine a bunch offeelings going through you right
now.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
It is.
It's still kind of a surrealmoment.
The reason I left me and CoachCampbell actually had to talk
about it and he told me.
He said you need to take thatjob.
But it was never about mewaiting for him, it was more so.
Opportunity was presented to me, um, and and I felt like it was
(10:12):
a golden one and I couldn'tturn it down.
Um, obviously, uh, my son waswas about to be a ninth grader,
um, so it involved him too, andI just thought it was the best
situation for me and also forhim now does.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Is he staying over there at easily?
Is he coming with you?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
no, no he's coming with me.
That's what I thought.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Come on, man he's and he's being a little modest here
.
He's a good player.
He was like their leadingscorer, was he not?
He was.
He led us in assistant steals.
Yeah, he was.
He was all region, yeah hisfreshman sophomore year.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Um, this year was a little little rough.
He hurt his ankle so he was outabout five weeks of the season,
um, which slowed him down some.
But uh, he came back andobviously it changed our team
yeah because we were.
When he got hurt, we were sevenand oh and so we, we took a hit
, obviously, with your pointguard going down, but he's super
(11:04):
excited.
He always made a comment Allhis siblings parents went to
Wren, so he's excited to be ableto graduate from Wren as well.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
There you go, coach Fran, you had the opportunity,
as you've mentioned, to coachyour kids, fran's kids.
What are some of the challengeswhen you're coaching your kids
and grandkids?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Well, some of it, he's probably already learned it
it easily.
You can't make everybody happy,especially if your son's
playing instead of somebodyelse's son.
Uh it, it doesn't matter howgood they are, it's you know,
like I remember my son said tome.
He says says Dad, I really wantto play at North Carolina.
I said, well, that's a nicegoal to have.
I said my goal for you is to beable to play good enough for
(11:52):
Wren High School that I don'tget fired.
So we actually almostaccomplished all of it.
He played at PC instead ofNorth Carolina, same blue and
stuff, but he's still a northcarolina fan uh, blake, you got
something to add.
Speaker 6 (12:11):
You haven't said anything yet, I know I'm I'm
looking at a mythologicalcreature to my right yeah, a
unicorn, these things don'texist.
from my perspective, just beingable to to grow up, it's so wild
.
Even looking at the 42 assomeone that went all the way
through the Renskull system, itjust still doesn't make sense in
(12:33):
my head.
Because after watching the lastthree years, of course I watch
you win a state championship.
I watch you almost do itnumerous other times in this
last three-year period and it'slike how does this guy get up
for work every day and keeppushing guys that a guy like
Baba Franklin, who he knows howtalented he is but he knows I
(12:54):
mess up?
Frank Campbell's waiting on meat the bench.
He's going to tell me what Idid wrong, how to fix it.
I just want to know your headspace in the last decade or so,
as this is coming to an end.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Well, I think it's like, if you talk to Coach
Jackson when he played, or youtalk to somebody else that
played even earlier than that,that if you don't change as a
person and a coach, the game isgoing to change, and if you
(13:30):
don't change, you're going toget left behind, Like I was when
I first started.
There was no three-point shotand I was, like you know,
pounded inside like everybodyelse and I dreaded the change
and then when it got here, Iloved it.
(13:51):
So anytime there's a change, Ilook at it like it's just
progress.
Like you know, from now they'rewanting to go to shot clock.
I'm all in.
I think it's good for the game,because you know it's supposed
to be a fast-paced game.
Uh, as soon as they cut thebottom out of that peach basket
(14:14):
where the ball would go through,it started speeding up and we
shouldn't do anything to to stopit.
So I I'm in.
I'm in favor of the.
You know that I'm.
I'm also in favor of that.
I'm also in favor of I think weneed to go with the circle
underneath the basket for thecharges for safety and also to
(14:34):
speed up the game.
Unclog everything where you candrive to the basket without
somebody jumping in front of you.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
And then ask Rhett Warga if he can get another year
and we can get him back.
Yeah, get him back with thatthing right there and he'll be
good to go.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
That's right.
But yeah, I think you have tochange because you know life
changes and if you don't like, Iwatched a thing last night on
Bobby Knight and he was a greatcoach but he never changed and
eventually that did him in.
You know you can't do thingsthe same way.
(15:10):
I mean some of the crazy drillsI had him do and he never
questioned, he just dove on thefloor and hit his head or
whatever it was.
You know kids are different nowthan you know.
Like he never questionedanything.
Now everybody questionseverything, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Well, that's what I was going to ask.
What have you seen in the last40 years with your students
changing both your students inthe classroom, but more so, your
students out on the field, outon the court.
Where have you seen the mostchange in your kids?
I know you've seen it inparents as well.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I was going to say the most change I see is that is
is the, the parents involvementin a bad way, like, um, like,
just like when I coached him,never, he never questioned
anything.
Nobody in his age group neverquestioned anything.
The parents didn't questionanything.
(16:07):
Now it's everybody's got a afloor, everybody's got because
of of the media and everythingelse, social media, everybody's
got a platform.
Uh, and everybody gets to voice.
You know, um, I told somebodywhen I retire officially I might
(16:29):
get on Facebook or something,but right, now, I don't even get
near it.
I don't want to hear you knowhow bad I'm doing or how good
I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
And I'm sure that comes with your family as well.
I'm sure your wife, children,all of those hear it just as
much as you hear it.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, it's like my wife usually tries
to sit like away so she doesn'thear.
You know, and I know, like whenyou're coaching you can't make
everybody happy.
(17:07):
When you substitute, you'retaking one child out, somebody's
child out and putting inanother person's child, and they
don't see practice.
All they know is my child isreally good, he's a good kid.
Everything else they don't seethat and I think really it's the
(17:33):
same way in a classroom.
You know, like before if yousaid you know well he didn't
turn his work in well wouldquestion it.
Now that you, they won't provewell, well, here's the zero.
You know.
No, that's not enough.
You got to show every littlething.
Everything is questioned.
(17:54):
You know, and everybody's got,you know, a voice.
And I think you know when you,when you, you know there's a
difference between supportingyour child and defending your
child.
Supporting your child meansyou're giving them all the
resources possible for them tobe successful, defending them.
(18:16):
Sometimes they're giving them acrutch and I just and it's like
it's not just sports, it's inthe classroom too.
I mean I teach way more than Icoach.
You know, I'm coaching kids twohours a day and I'm what?
(18:36):
Seven hours a day in theclassroom and my salary is based
on my teaching, not my coaching.
The coaching is a supplementand it's like driving a bus or
something.
It's not.
You know they can let you goanytime too, because it's a
supplement.
(18:56):
But I see the same thing in theclassroom that you see in
sports.
I think they mirror each other.
I think you know, if you'regoing to be a good coach, you
have to be a good teacher first,and I think that's you know.
(19:16):
Like I tell our kids, I saidthis gym is a classroom.
You pay attention like it's aclassroom, you act like it's a
classroom.
You pay attention like it's aclassroom, you act like it's a
classroom, you speak like it's aclassroom.
If you don't do it that way,then you're going to get the
same consequences that if you'rein my classroom and you're
(19:38):
disrupting it.
I said you're going to be goneand I think it's important to
make sure they understand it.
There's a certain way to act ina classroom and a certain way
to act in.
That gym is a classroom, thatfootball field is a classroom,
(20:00):
that track is a classroom.
The language you use should bethe same you use.
It shouldn't change.
It shouldn't be like we don'tuse profanity with them, around
them nothing.
And if they do, they'redisciplined like it's a
classroom violation.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
So Blake being the young man in the room compared
to the rest of us.
What do you think of thataspect of Coach Brandt?
To me that's pretty impressivefor a guy that's been around
that long, has been able toadjust and has such a
perspective about how playersshould play and such and the
(20:45):
Bobby Knight example was greatDidn't fall into that trap where
Bobby Knight just frustratedhimself to death and he had to
get out of it.
What do you think, as someoneyou know younger of age, seeing
an older coach?
Because a lot of times peoplewill see the old heads on the
sidelines and say, oh yeah,they're just going to play the
old time basketball, but he'sbeen one to adjust.
How does that make twoquestions here?
(21:07):
How does that make you feel asa young man towards that coach
and do you feel like you coulddo a basketball podcast with him
now that he's retiring?
and you guys could just talkbasketball every week 100%.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
He can talk Michael Jordan LeBron all day.
We did it in history class.
We can do it on a podcast.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
I added Bryce's jersey to my classroom yesterday
.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
All right, we can talk Bryce McGowan's as well,
but that Bryce McGowan's, treyMcGowan's excuse me, bye-bye
Franklin as well.
It just shows you a respect fora guy that as a young guy you
would look at and you're likethey probably don't respect him.
But he's done it for so long,proved it over and over.
(21:55):
That leads it into respect.
Also, he adds a guy in CoachFox who's been a part of the
really good run.
I think also helped in thataspect.
His son as well.
Being on the coaching staffgives a little younger voice.
It's like I said earliereveryone at Wren coming up
(22:18):
through high school youinstantly have a respect for
Frank Campbell.
But then once you watch himcoach, it's like it's not just
respect, it's like he's as goodas anybody.
So it's like you almost expectit from him to change with a
game to be able to do it nextyear.
I think even after he retiredeveryone kind of looked around
(22:39):
like what are we talking about?
No one knows life without him.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
That's impossible.
And, Coach, why now to retire?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Well, I kind of thought this was to be honest
with you.
I thought I would retire afterI won the state championship, or
after we won the statechampionship, but then I still
had a grandson there.
And I don't know.
Just something special aboutcoaching your own.
(23:12):
And then in the meantime one ofmy own, pro Franklin, moved his
son in, and so then I feltobligated to stay.
And then the other thing wasthere were a couple of guys that
(23:35):
were on the state championshipteam, that were sophomores, and
I felt like I couldn't leavethem hanging either.
So then I kind of had in mymind that this was it, but I
didn't want to say anythingbecause I looked at what some
(23:59):
people did, people that I'm notsaying that I'm on the level of
Dean Smith or Mike Szczeskidoing the farewell tour thing,
you know.
I just thought as quietly aspossible, I would just go in one
(24:20):
day and say thank you very much.
But this is it.
But I will tell you, when I wasthinking about this I was
thinking about waiting until thebasketball banquet, which was
April 15th, on tax day, the oldtax day, anyway.
(24:42):
So here's what happened.
I'm watching the news.
My little pattern is I watchthe news and four comes on first
.
I watch the sports on four,then I flip it to seven.
It was on a Wednesday night.
Wednesday night they came onwith about the high school
(25:03):
league to pass a new eligibilitytransfer rule and they have it
printed up there and I'm lookingat it and I'm thinking I'm not
ready for this.
You know, it could be good orit could be disastrous.
(25:28):
And I thought so I went in thebedroom I told my wife.
I said I'm thinking it might betime now and she said are you
serious?
I said yeah.
So the next day I went in andtalked to Stan and he said well,
he said do you want to waituntil the 15th?
I said it doesn't matter to me.
(25:51):
He said I said I'll do itwhenever you want.
He says how about tomorrow?
I said let me talk to theplayers I'm with tomorrow.
So that was it.
It happened that quick Like noindecision or anything that kind
of told me you know, I'm goingto have to adjust again.
(26:11):
You know, and I'm 77 years old,that's asking a lot to you know
, like I've done that before,I've done the whole AAU and
tracking kids and just likeDarrell, carrying them all over
(26:32):
the place in my Zuzu Trooper,you know, up and down the road
to Atlanta and Winston-Salem.
Okay, I'm not, I'm agrandfather.
I'm not ready to do that allover again.
And I think that's what's goingto happen.
He's ready, he knows what it'sgoing to be, he knows what it's
(26:52):
going to take and it's going totake more around the clock type
action to be able to compete.
And he's the right man for thejob.
I'm excited for him.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
We'll talk a bit more about that in a minute, that
new rule.
But on the phone line we haveour regular sports guy who's
kind of skipping the sports endof it because he is a ren
graduate, uh, zachary howard,and has watched a ton of ren
basketball, just abouteverything ren.
So I know he had uh some wordshe wanted to say to coach
(27:33):
campbell go ahead, zach hey howy'all doing I'm doing well.
How are you?
Speaker 7 (27:38):
doing good.
Coach campbell probably don'tremember me.
I mean, he knows my face.
Anybody can remember this thing.
Oh yeah, it's only a mothercould love, absolutely uh hey,
I'm a high school sweetheart, soI've been with my high school
sweetheart since high school,since my junior year, so, um, so
she could love it too yeah,there we go but, there's
(28:00):
somebody for everybody stay withher yeah I didn't have the
privilege to play for CoachCampbell, but I did have the
privilege to have him as my UShistory teacher my junior year.
And let me tell you somethingEvery school needs a Coach
Campbell, a Coach Fran Campbell,whether it's a teacher, whether
it's a basketball coach,because, I'll be honest with you
, I didn't know if the man wasever going to retire.
(28:21):
I mean, I didn't know if theman was ever going to retire.
I mean, I just think he's thatpassionate about the sport,
about the players, about thestudents.
Everybody needs a CoachCampbell.
And, like I said, I never hadthe privilege to play for him,
but I did have the privilege tohave him as a teacher.
And the funny thing is, I guess,a memory I have.
I don't know if he remembers,but I'll be out of school, what?
(28:45):
13, 12, 13 years this year, andso this was junior year.
So about 14, 15 years ago, wewas doing a PowerPoint in a
class and I forgot what the.
He did mention LeBron James.
I'll add to Blake.
He did mention a little bit ofLeBron James.
I'll add to Blake.
He did mention a little bit ofLeBron James when we were in
(29:06):
class, but our PowerPoint.
He was clicking on the lessonand then on the bottom corner I
think it was the Xavier,something for Xavier men's
basketball.
I can't remember what it was,but then after that he went on a
spill about what he'd done withXavier and I don't know if we
ever got to the lesson that dayor not.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Well, listen, Zach, you're wrong.
If you don't think, I don'tremember you.
The other thing is is likeeverybody says well, he gets off
subject.
Listen, I'm constantly working,Getting off subject is part of
the game, and if you rememberthat, then you're going to
(29:46):
remember something of historytoo.
Speaker 7 (29:50):
Absolutely.
I will say this and then I'llget out of here, but Eli White
was in my class.
Eli White was in my class andhe now is a starting center
fielder for the Atlanta Braves.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Yes, you were in a classic class of US history
because it was like we had someof the best students and worst
students in the same room.
Speaker 7 (30:16):
Well, you didn't put me with the worst students.
No, I did not.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
No, no, I did not.
But yeah, I remember Eli beingin there.
He was a lot quieter than you.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
Yeah, absolutely.
What's that man?
I'm a quiet man.
It is funny, though, becausewhat made me think about that
and think about this today wasmy sisters.
We have a family Facebook chatand my sisters, one of them
graduated with Eli Wilson.
Am I saying that right?
The tight end?
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Yes, yeah, he was a great player.
Speaker 7 (30:51):
He was drafted in the NFL, and so I said yeah.
I said you know, it's a smallworld, because I graduated with
Eli and he was in my US historyclass, so just a small world,
but, Coach Campbell,congratulations.
There'll never be another CoachCampbell, and I wish you the
best.
I do have to ask, though wewere at the state championship
(31:17):
when we played I'm trying tothink who it was and we had the
lead and had Clyde Trapp ontheir team that went to Clemson.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Yes, that would be Laura Richland.
Yes, and do you remember thenewspaper thing?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
How am I going to forget that?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Thanks for bringing that up, Zach.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
What was it?
Tell the story now.
Yeah, I got to hear it.
Speaker 7 (31:42):
Hey, y'all have a good one.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Hey, tell the story.
Well, I don't remember much ofthe story now.
Yeah, I got to hear it.
Hey, y'all have a good one.
Hey, tell the story.
Speaker 7 (31:45):
Well, I don't remember much of the story, I
just remember Wren was winning,we were winning pretty good.
And I remember telling my dadthat's Clyde Trapp, he's going
to play for Clemson, you knowhe's pretty good.
And this is when we had TreyMcGowan drop, because Bryce is
the younger brother, so becauseBryce is the younger brother, so
we had Trey McGowan and Wrenwas winning.
Wren was, I mean, I guess,about 10, 15 points and Lower
(32:08):
Richland was at the free throwline and the entire bench picks
up newspapers like they'rereading, like they're not even
paying attention, and after thatI know this is a terrible
memory for Coach Campbell- it is.
But after that Lower Richlandgoes on like a 20 to like 3 run
and ends up winning the game.
(32:28):
And everybody you talk to I'llask them you watch that game?
Yeah, they lost the gamebecause of the newspaper
incident.
I will never forget that.
Never forget that.
So I didn't mean to bring thatbad memory up, Coach Campbell.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
You did bring up a bad memory but hey, it's a
memory.
Speaker 7 (32:44):
I wish you the absolute best man.
Everybody needs a Coach, FranCampbell.
And for Mr Boone, go Braves.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah, yeah, I hear you.
Thanks, zach, thanks forcalling.
Yeah, he calls into our showevery week we talk about sports.
And he said today he texted meand said I'm not really going to
talk about sports because Iknow you've got a lot to talk to
a coach about, but I just wantto give some nice words and it's
good to hear from him.
It was a great story.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
He's a character, for sure.
It's a great story.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
He may not remember anything from your history class
, but he's got the newspaperstory.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
You're right, he's got the Eli White sitting next
to him, who was a good student.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Eli White sitting next to him, who was?
Speaker 1 (33:25):
a good student.
Maybe, that's how he gotthrough there.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
But yeah, I think the relationships you have with
students is as important, if notmore important, than what you
have with the players.
You spend all this time withyour players.
I think I've really strived tohave relationships with the
students and then when I have aplayer in my class, I do
everything possible not to treatthem like different.
(34:04):
I do everything possible not totreat them like different, like
not give them basically anyadvantage at all, because when
you go in the classroom it's notthe same as the basketball
court, so everybody's equalthere there, and I got to make
(34:25):
sure I don't, you know, like letthem do something that I
wouldn't let another student doand I I think the relationships
I have with the students is isfar longer lasting maybe than
the basketball, because, likethe guy that works in my car, he
(34:50):
didn't play basketball.
The guy that does my electricalwork didn't play basketball.
They all went to Wren and I alltaught them history or
something.
But I have relationships withthem, just like I do my players,
and I think that's that's howyou stay in it this long.
Otherwise, if, if all it is iscoaching basketball or all it
(35:11):
was was teaching, I don't knowif 42 years would have been
possible.
But when you look at it the wayI look at it, as far as I'm an
educator that coachesbasketball- yeah, and in class.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
You know, holly, in class you can't put people on
the bench.
I mean, they're all kind ofthey're equal.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
That's right, although you want to.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Some of them you want to put under the bench.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah exactly.
But I had a question going backto that new rule that you were
talking about.
Just real quick, while we haveblake here and uh, coach jackson
, it's almost like the portalfor high school now, with uh
kids going all over the place towherever they want to go to
high school.
Blake you start with this, andthen I want to hear what coach
jackson thinks about thatchanging playing field that you
(35:59):
know you have to deal with nowto be able to get the best team
on the court.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
He's jumping in with both feet, yeah, exactly Go
ahead.
Speaker 6 (36:04):
I won't let Coach Jackson or Coach Campbell take
the heat.
This is my take.
This is something that I thinka lot of high school coaches in
all sports know across the stateis this is a rule that they are
implementing, but it's beenhappening.
That's, I think the problemwith most people in their head
(36:24):
is like okay, we're just makingsomething that was kind of in
the shadows be okay now, whichis like as someone that's
younger, it's kind of somethingof putting everyone back on an
even playing field where noone's going to get the advantage
of.
We can take your players, butyou can't take our players.
(36:44):
Now everyone's up for grabsagain.
Almost like he talked earlierabout a transfer portal.
I think in high schoolbasketball it's going to help
teams like over in or west sidethat have been good at
basketball, and then the teamsthat you see at the bottom.
It could hurt a little bit moreif they're losing their best
(37:05):
player year in and year out.
So I'll let Coach Jacksonpiggyback off that, but I think
basketball high schoolbasketball at least is hopefully
for the better after somethinglike that.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
I do agree with Blake .
I think it's implemented tokind of level the playing field
a little bit, but also obviouslyplaying for Coach Campbell and
coaching with him.
A place like Wren is a lotdifferent than other places.
We've always had a familyatmosphere, strong community, a
lot of pride.
(37:38):
So I think obviously I mean wemay get a transfer or two, but a
lot of our kids will behomegrown just because of that
community pride and self-prideand the way we build our kids
from our rec program on up.
Like Coach Campbell, he used toreferee the rec games and then
as I came up I refereed with him.
(37:59):
I was a high school studentrefereeing rec league games, and
you don't see that a lot ofplaces, just like at kids camp,
he's had for what?
20, 30 years, 38 this year, wow, and I wasn't fortunate to go
to it but I did work it.
And so when you have thingslike that, I just think like
he's talking about other placeshow it affects them a little
(38:20):
more.
A lot of our kids they're blueand gold through and through.
They're born that way.
They come up that way.
I was fortunate the same wayCoach Campbell.
He used to pick me up when Iwas in diapers.
Our story goes all the way backto basically my birth.
So I just think it's going toaffect some places in different
ways.
(38:41):
But but I know at wren it's alot different.
It's a lot different, um, andI'm proud that I was a part of
it as a kid and a player and Iwas there as an assistant coach
and now as the head coach yeah,all right.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Well, like he says the the times they are changing.
They always are, and athleticsare seemingly changing even
quicker nowadays with, uh, allthe new ways to get money
talking mainly about college andall that but of course, the
recruitment process now, whenthey're coming to your high
school and recruiting Blake, asyou're big on with, like the
(39:15):
draft this past weekend, and allthat this new rule of course
plays in a lot to that of wherethe major schools are really
gonna get the exposure yeah, nowI like to.
Speaker 6 (39:26):
I tell austin, our media guy I ran a lot is we're.
We're not just giving thesekids a platform to play sports.
A lot of the times, kids mayhave a different family
situation than others.
We're're their marketing team.
We are the only people that aregoing to talk about these kids.
If no one else nationally orstatewide is going to talk about
them, we've got to be the guysto talk about them.
(39:49):
Give them a platform, be likehe talked about earlier with
social media, their voicesometimes, because they can't be
their own Right.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
And of course he also gives them nicknames and stuff.
Yes, he does.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
I get envious of some of the nicknames you come up
with.
I was like man, I could nevercome up with that.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
That was a good one, Blake.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
From Piedmont, but I did want to ask you Coach too,
because I'm curious have youever sat down and thought about
your coaching tree?
How many people have coachedwith you that are now in charge
of other programs?
I mean, obviously you've gotone sitting next to you, um, but
there's got to be a bunch ofthem out there yeah, there I
(40:29):
would say probably seven oreight.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
That are some of them no longer coaching them.
You know I've been at so longsome of them are out.
They've had nice careers,they've retired, yeah uh but uh,
you know, just um, I I don'tknow, I I'd say like, as far as
(40:56):
coach, I'd say seven or eight,but I I'm actually maybe more
proud that I think we'vedeveloped more ministers than we
have coaches.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
And I think that's.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
You know like I had a team like in 86, I think there
was three kids that becameministers, wow, yeah.
So I just think we have afamily-type atmosphere and you
know we basically stick togetherthrough it all.
(41:34):
And you know, like Darrell'sbest friend is a teammate who
wasn't a very good player, butthey were like best friends and
they still are, and he's inAtlanta, georgia, and like it
just Community.
It's a community you have thatends up going like to Texas and
(41:56):
to.
You know like Oklahoma andstuff.
You know like where they, butthey still keep in touch with
each other.
You know like Oklahoma andstuff.
You know like where they, butthey still keep in touch with
each other.
You know, and you know it'sjust.
I think, basically theatmosphere we've tried to have
at Wren just keeps growing.
(42:18):
You know they're having kidsand it can't be a too bad a
place where so many of them moveback here.
But, yeah, my son included, Ithink.
On the team he was on I thinkthere was Richie, and there was
(42:41):
three on the same team with myson my son being one of them
that were ministers and ChadCampbell was a minister at Mount
Pisgah.
I mean people thought with hislast name we were father-son
(43:03):
combo back in the early 90s.
But yeah, it's a lot of family,a lot of people like Johnny who
is— who we're hoping to hearfrom here in a minute.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Yeah, that's all we're hearing from.
He's a little late.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
But yeah, he's going to be a minister of some sorts.
I don't know what, but he did apretty good job of preaching in
our locker room.
I can tell you that.
I know you're not supposed tohave it in your locker room but,
we're old school when it comesto that.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
And a little segue on that to that championship team.
He really became a leader,didn't he?
During that process, it seemedlike that whole year that team
was developing.
It seemed like at the beginningof the year Blake, you can
speak into this, but we weretalking to Johnny in class all
the time that you know he didn'teven think they were really
that good, but they just keptgetting better and better and
(44:06):
better as the year went on and,lo and behold, they win the last
game of the season, which iswhat every team wants to do, and
Johnny just became a realleader.
And looking back on some ofthose videos of the games and
the celebrations afterwards,he's all around congratulating
it.
And he was the the outstandingplayer, right.
Um, just an incredible seasonthere in 23.
(44:27):
How is that different from somany near misses that you had in
other years?
Speaker 3 (44:32):
it made it sweeter yeah it really did and and to
have it with that team which you, which you could say was not
talent-wise as good as some ofthe other teams, but team-wise
they were the best team.
What does Michael Jordan say?
(44:55):
It's not the talent, it's theteam that wins.
The most talented doesn'talways win, but the team that
plays together will win.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Yeah, that was a perfect example of it that year
because nobody thought at thebeginning.
Blake, couldn't you say that.
I mean, they didn't have asuperstar on that team.
Speaker 6 (45:18):
Going into that year you kind of felt like, okay, you
just don't know what it's goingto be, because you're coming
off the McGowan's kind of era ofbasketball and it's kind of man
Wren's been at the top of themountain point feels like
multiple years in a row.
We don't know much about thisJohnny Wiseong kid who's going
to play forward, who's played ayear before but maybe didn't
(45:43):
show off his true talents untilhis senior year.
A guy like Jacob McQueen who Iwish I was lying didn't know he
was on the basketball team untilI was told that I was going to
commentate basketball for Wrenand find out he's another one of
those senior leaders.
And then you just have thesethree kind of in-the-wind
sophomores that maybe they'llpan into something, maybe they
(46:06):
won't, and it ends up beingBrock Cherry, wett Worga and Cal
Godfrey who've become the focalpoints of a state championship
team Wett Worga and Brock Cherryhitting maybe the four biggest
free throws in rim basketballhistory.
Yeah, that team going into theyear.
(46:27):
You didn't feel like it was upto the challenge but, as you
said, developed into something.
Speaker 1 (46:33):
Just kept winning and you know, some of the games
weren't the prettiest thing, butthey just kept winning and
that's like you said.
You said, coach is believing ineach other and having each
other's backs and that's whythose kind of seasons are just
really special, right even ifthey hadn't won the championship
, it would have been reallyspecial it would have.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
Uh, I just think that they, um, because of the, the
leadership of those two seniors,especially Johnny.
Johnny's a leader of men,whether it's, I don't care what
it is, it's a picnic or whateverit is he's a leader Even in
college.
You know he's, this was hissophomore year, but he was a
(47:17):
leader of the team at CIU, buthe was a leader of the team at
CIU.
So you know, your leaderdoesn't have to be a senior,
your leader just has to be aperson who everybody respects
and nobody questions their workethic.
(47:37):
That's all you have to have.
You don't have to have anythingelse.
If you're just that, then youcan lead.
And sometimes that's adifference between a good team
and a great team and that was adifference for us in 2023 was we
(47:58):
had that leadership, thatalways positive attitude, you
know, to the point wheresometimes I had to calm things
down.
You know like you know we'repretty good, but you know we can
(48:20):
be beaten you know, if we don'tdo everything we're supposed to
do.
He'd look at film and he'd comeback and he'd say, oh, they're
not very good.
I said Okay.
I said you do the scoutingreport and I'll do the scout
(48:43):
report and then we'll compare.
So that's what we did the wholesecond half of the season.
Whoever we played next, he'd dothe scout report, I'd do the
scout report, we'd compare thetwo and we'd all find our own
little flaws in it.
But it also gives the moreownership the players have in a
(49:11):
team, the farther your team'sgoing to go when they're
responsible for the practice,when they're responsible for the
practice, when they'reresponsible for the locker room.
So I don't have to go in thereand police the locker room.
I don't have to If they do thatthemselves.
That's part of the ownership.
(49:33):
If all I do every time I do thescout report and give it to
them, they don't appreciate itas much as when they do it.
They did it themselves, Tookownership yeah, take ownership
in it and they're responsible,like we assign, and we say, okay
(49:53):
, you're going to guard Blake,number 12.
You give me the scout report onnumber 12.
You give me the scout report onnumber 10 or whatever it is.
Everybody's got to and we'llget that together, and then it
means more to them than I justdo it all for them.
That's right.
So they pay attention a littlebit more to the scouting report
(50:19):
when they're invested in it.
I think also it gets them readyfor the next level.
If they're able to play on thenext level.
They already know how to breakdown film.
They already know how to do ascout report.
(50:40):
They already know how it's alldone and therefore they're,
they're, they're ready, you knowand they.
They get input in the, in thepractice plan.
They want to know what we'regoing to do today, you know, and
and if, if they think there'ssomething we need to work on,
(51:00):
then all they got to do is tellme and we'll put it in there in
some form of what we need to do.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
When, of course, you won it all in 23,.
Was there any point in yourcareer such a great career, and
that was the first one, wasthere first championship?
Was there any point that youwere wondering if it would ever
happen?
Or you doubted yourself at all?
Or did it matter that much, aslong as you just had great teams
to finally get thatchampionship leading up to it?
(51:31):
Was there any wonder if itwould ever happen?
Speaker 3 (51:34):
40 years.
Okay, well, the first time wewent to the state championship
game was 1994.
Okay, and it was, I guess, anunderrated team, kind of like
(51:56):
this last one in 23.
this last one, uh, in 23, andthe I didn't know whether we'd
get an another one after thatone, because we we went there
and we played eau claire highschool, who was number six in
the country in usa today, andthey had two nba guys on the
(52:18):
team, had Jermaine O'Neal andBud Johnson, seven-footers, and
we're playing 3A basketball andthat's who we have to play.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
And I'm thinking Lord thank you for letting us get
this far.
What next?
Speaker 3 (52:36):
I'm thinking I even had the pastor from Siloam
Baptist Church.
He asked could he speak to theteam?
I said, sure, pastor, just helpyourself.
And he gave a speech oncrossing the Rubicon.
That's how far the gap was andsomehow we stayed with him and
(53:00):
we ended up losing by six, butwe hung in there.
But I thought what a greatopportunity to get the state
championship and you're going toplay probably the best high
school team in the history ofthe state of South Carolina.
That was our choice, yeah, soyeah.
(53:22):
At that point I'm thinking Imean, what's the use of getting
there if that's what you've gotto do?
I mean my goodness.
But no, I never entered thecoaching profession with the
idea of, man, you know, win astate championship or you're not
(53:43):
worth anything.
It's like, you know, in the NBA, you know, they always say you
know you have to have a ring orelse you know you haven't won a
thing.
So getting it was awesome, itreally was.
(54:06):
But if we didn't win, I couldhave dealt with that, because I
knew there was nothing more wecould do than we did.
You know, I mean we couldn'thave prepared any harder, we
couldn't have done anythingdifferent and you know you feel
better when you go in a game ifyou know you've done everything
you can do to be ready.
(54:26):
And our saying is if you'reready then you don't have to get
ready.
So we were ready and we wereready.
You know, we try to be readyevery time we play.
That way you don't have to getready, so that I mean I could
(54:49):
have dealt with it.
You know, and it's the firsttime in all these years like the
hardest thing to do at the endof the season is go in that
locker room and thank yourseniors and say goodbye.
You know that's the hardestthing.
(55:09):
So all these years, that oneyear, you know, we didn't have
to say goodbye, we didn't haveto say goodbye, we didn't have
to.
You know, we came back to theschool.
I remember riding back toschool and Jason McQueen said
Coach, can we cut down the netswhen we get back to school?
(55:30):
I said you're darn right, wecan.
We'll cut both of them down ifyou want to, because the high
school league won't let you cutthem down.
Speaker 1 (55:37):
Right.
Speaker 3 (55:37):
You know, because they're afraid there's going to
be a fight or something.
The only cut them down.
You know because they're afraidthere's going to be a fight or
something.
You know the only fight we'dhave had was who gets the cut
first, right?
But yeah, so we went back andcut the nets down.
Then, somewhere during ourstretch, johnson says we're
(56:01):
going to cut our hair.
I said, coach, are you in?
I said hey, I'm in.
I remember that he called thelady that cuts his hair and she
came up there that night and cuther hair.
My wife's going, she didn'tknow.
Somebody said after I'd alreadyhad it cut.
She said you better call Debbieand tell her you got your hair
(56:21):
shaved.
I said after I'd already had acut.
She said you better call Debbieand tell her you got your hair
shaved.
I said why?
I said it's no big deal.
She says you know at the timeyou're 74 years old.
You know, I said not tonight,I'm not.
I said I'm a kid.
So yeah, it was funny.
I kept it like that for a longtime.
(56:43):
I liked it.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
Well, we've got to wrap up here.
We're running a little overtime because I keep texting
Johnny to call.
I don't know whether he'sasleep or what's going on, but I
did want to ask you before wego.
You know what's next.
You're still teaching part-time.
What's next for you?
Speaker 3 (57:02):
To be honest with you , I still like teaching, I like
being around kids.
So I'm going to do that and youknow like I'll.
I still haven't got to where Ican like I'm not, like I'm a
basketball junkie and I'll bethat way until I die.
(57:24):
So like I watch the NBA games.
You know a lot of people don'tlike the NBA, but I do, I like
it, I like watching it.
You know I have to kind ofbreak myself a little bit this
time of year because there's somany games on.
(57:45):
I could be like they'll starton a weekend, they'll start like
1.30, and then the last game'sat 10.30.
Well, I do have a life andsomewhere in there I go like
well.
Speaker 6 (58:02):
I can play golf during the Cleveland game.
Speaker 3 (58:04):
I can play golf during the Cleveland-Miami game.
That gives me four hours rightthere.
Then I can be back and watchthe Lakers and the Soda, or
whatever.
Speaker 1 (58:19):
You're not missing anything in the Cleveland-Miami
series.
No, no, that in theCleveland-Miami series.
No, no, that's the other thingI'm thinking.
Speaker 3 (58:23):
Yeah, it's like and I , because of my son being in
California for 10 years, they'reLakers.
And then I worked LeBron's campfor about 10 years, so I'm a
LeBron guy, so I'm watching theLakers and now they traded for
(58:43):
Luka.
It's a pretty good watch, youknow.
So I'll still be a basketballjunkie.
I mean, here's the crazy thing.
I'm watching something and I'mgoing like what'd they just do
there Like NBA game going, andI'll go YouTube.
(59:11):
I'll look it up and I'll go likelike I watched the last second
play and I'll go found it onYouTube.
Looked, I said, man, that'spretty good, you know, um.
So if, um, I, I can't keep fromdoing that, I can't you know um
(59:31):
coach.
I'll be a I'll be a coach.
It'll be on my tombstone coachI I can't help that, uh, but I
know we have the right personto—.
Speaker 1 (59:43):
No pressure at all.
No, no pressure.
Speaker 3 (59:48):
Listen, he's played a lot of basketball, he's coached
basketball.
The pressure is all internalfor him.
Speaker 1 (59:58):
And he's been on that sideline with you for a long
time.
Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
Oh yeah, that's what I'm saying he knows what it
takes and he knows the way wehave to play for us to be
successful at Red.
There's no other way we canplay it.
We have to play it the way weplay.
He knows that and he's notgoing to accept anything less
than that.
(01:00:20):
That's what I feel good about.
I feel good that the samethings that I preached all those
years when he was a player anda coach he's going to speak the
same message because he's a partof the message.
Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
All right.
Well, that's a great way to endit, but we do have one last
segment that we do with all ofour guests, and that is our
recommendation segment.
There are two areas.
This has become popular becauseit helps me find new places to
eat and new books to read andmovies to watch.
So we want to ask We've gotthree guests here tonight, so,
(01:01:05):
Blake, you'll be in on this too.
We ask first, entertainment Ifthere's any entertainment that
you can recommend a book thatyou're reading, something that
you're streaming binging, amovie that you're watching,
something like that, some sortof entertainment.
And then we'll come back aroundand ask you about food, whether
it's something, a new recipethat you found, or a lot of
(01:01:26):
times it's a restaurant and aparticular dish that you like at
that particular restaurant.
So, Blake, we'll start with youon the entertainment thing what
can you recommend to ourlisteners?
Speaker 6 (01:01:38):
I'm probably the worst person to start this off.
Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
That's why I started it.
Speaker 6 (01:01:41):
I don't know if everyone is a NASCAR fan, but
this past weekend a guy namedCletus McFarlane ran in an ARCA
race, and he is exactly what youthink about when you think of
NASCAR racing, and he has aYouTube.
You can search it.
And they took a trip from allthe way I don't know somewhere
in the southeast all the way toTalladega with Greg Biffle,
who's a really famous NASCARdriver, and they buy $5,000 RVs
(01:02:06):
and put like, really like, dragrace engines in them and drive
them all the way to Talladega,race them on dirt tracks for
five laps.
It is a very high-quality watchif you get around to it.
Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
Yeah, all right, coach Campbell, some form of
entertainment you can recommend?
Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
Well, I tell you, I told you, 30 for 30, Bobby
Knight.
You would really enjoy it,because at least you have a
little bit of age where youremember what Bobby Knight was
like.
I was mesmerized last nightwatching that.
I got my own shows I like, butI just threw that in there.
Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
What other shows do you like?
I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (01:02:59):
Well, I'm a history person, so I like historical
things and I also like suspense.
I do the Netflix series and Ido police detective series and
(01:03:20):
stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
That's what I like.
All right, that's cool.
A lot of good documentaries outthere historical stuff and all
that.
That's very interesting.
All right, coach Jackson.
Speaker 4 (01:03:29):
All right, piggyback on Coach Campbell.
You know he's my coach.
We always went on Christmastournament trips.
He always took us somewherehistorical.
I did see the movie Centers.
Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
Yeah, did you like that?
I've heard a lot about it.
Most people like it Some peoplesaid it was all right.
Speaker 4 (01:03:44):
I mean it's got some things in it but very historical
and a lot of subliminalmessages in the movie.
It's more than just the movie,to be honest, like really a lot
of interesting things in it and,like I said me always been
around him.
It takes place in Mississippi,1930s.
(01:04:04):
It's a lot of different thingsgoing on, but I do the show I
watch is they're Irrational andit's about a professor and he's
talking about police.
So the FBI, they use him tohelp solve crimes and he talks
about irrational behavior.
And that's how he solves it allReally good show.
Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
It is good I watched the one with numbers, where the
guy solves it and then, there'sanother one on I think it's on
Apple.
I love the Ted Lasso.
Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
Bang.
Yes, that was my favorite.
Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
There's nothing compared to that.
There's another one on thereI'm trying to think it's about a
mathematician, almost like,where he's got a board full of
and he's coming up with somekind of theory about what like.
(01:05:05):
He's figured out a way thateverybody is like messing with
our minds, you know, and sothey're afraid he's going to, so
now they're hunting him down.
He's having it's like crazy.
I like some of the Apple TVstuff.
Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
Yeah, they've got some good stuff on there, it's
really good.
Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
My problem is, if I start watching it, I go like,
well, let me get one more.
Yeah, exactly, and before youknow it it's 2 o'clock in the
morning.
It's 2 o'clock in the morningand you've got to get up at 7.
Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
And then you're also mad at yourself because you
binged the whole thing andthere's no more to watch.
So it's like ah got nothing tolook forward to.
All right, blake, let's move onto food.
I know you're a foodie from wayback.
He used to do a show on thisradio station called the Meat
Locker, where they would talkabout food and sports, so I know
(01:06:03):
this guy is.
Speaker 6 (01:06:05):
I'm going to take this opportunity to shout out a
guy that I went to high schoolwith.
So it's a small business.
It's Rory's Pizza.
It's in Easley, I don't knowthe address, rory played at Ren.
Speaker 3 (01:06:17):
Yeah, Rory.
Speaker 6 (01:06:18):
He played basketball at Pattersonville, I think
before he transferred to Wren.
He's a small business.
Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
You're talking about the son.
Yeah, you're talking about thedad.
Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
Yeah, this is the son .
Speaker 6 (01:06:30):
He's got his own pizza business.
I believe he also sells thedonuts as well beside it.
But it is really good.
It's got butter crust pizza.
It's definitely something thateveryone's probably that's good.
Speaker 1 (01:06:42):
Yeah, it's good.
So that's where is it located.
It's in easily.
Speaker 6 (01:06:46):
You can definitely search on facebook powder spill.
Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
Oh well, it's a fine line there yeah, they're all on
top.
Exactly it's right by oldpenalty road, yep all right,
coach, uh, give me a foodrecommendation I go.
Speaker 3 (01:07:01):
I usually go to to Coach Jackson for the
recommendations.
Speaker 4 (01:07:04):
I do have one yeah he's got.
Speaker 3 (01:07:07):
It depends on the city you're in.
Like, if I'm going toSpartanburg, then he always
tells me I need to go to Ike's.
Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
Ike's.
Oh yes, ike's, they're fries.
Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, they're fries.
Speaker 4 (01:07:22):
Oh yes, their fries, oh yeah, way better than the
Beacon the other one inSpartanburg is what.
Speaker 3 (01:07:29):
Waze.
Waze is a beaten three placeit's really good.
And then, of course, the Beacon.
We used to take the team thereanytime.
We went to Spartanburg and wehad a guy helping us named Pete
Beasley and he's deceased now,but he was like awesome, just
went everywhere with us.
(01:07:49):
But he couldn't stand to go inthere, because when you go in
there, the guy that takes yourorder hollers at you, he goes
what do you have?
Speaker 5 (01:07:58):
What do you?
Speaker 3 (01:07:58):
have Next?
Next, what do you have?
And he'd make him all nervous.
So he'd tell me he says I wantthe cheeseburger.
Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
He said I'm going to go sit down.
All right, that's a couple ofit.
When we're up that way GettingSpartanburg, how about you,
coach?
Speaker 4 (01:08:15):
Firebirds.
It's right on Woodruff Road.
Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
They have the best philly cheesesteak oh, there you
go, now you're speaking mylanguage.
Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
There you go.
One in easley is good.
What's up?
Inkies, inkies?
Speaker 4 (01:08:27):
inkies, been there, been there yeah, firebirds right
on woodruff, road okay reallygood.
Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
Yeah, inkies, those guys are from philly right.
Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
Yeah, that's the whole point, yeah have you tried
uh dave's hot chicken orwhatever over on woodruff they
have.
They have a Philly.
Speaker 1 (01:08:40):
Do they?
Speaker 3 (01:08:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:08:41):
Chicken is very hot.
Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
I will say that.
Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
All right, well, that'll about do it for the show
.
I mean, we could go on foranother hour or so talking, but,
coach Campbell, congratulationson your semi-retirement.
I know you haven't made itofficial, official and I know
you'll be doing some otherthings, but whatever you do, I
know you haven't made itofficial, official and I know
you'll be doing some otherthings, but whatever you do, I
know it's going to be good.
So thank you for everythingyou've done for all the student
(01:09:07):
athletes that have come throughRand.
They've been blessed.
You talk about community.
It starts with having a coachthat's there for a long time,
that cares about them, thatkeeps that community growing,
and you've done great thingsbeyond 738 wins, um and it's.
It's just been an honor to haveyou here today thank you very
much.
Speaker 3 (01:09:26):
I've I've enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (01:09:27):
I always like a chance to talk and coach, uh,
daryl jackson, who is now thenew ren basketball coach.
Uh, congratulations on gettinga job that I know you've wanted
for years and you'll be steppingin there.
And, yeah, he's right, you'restepping in for a legend, but
you've worked beside him foryears, so it's probably the most
(01:09:47):
comfortable transition theycould possibly have there at Ren
High School.
So congratulations to you, andI'm sure we'll have you on
talking about basketball in thefuture.
Thank you All right, and Blake,thanks for stopping by Always
come by when you need me yeah.
So good to see you.
We'll see where the RENbroadcast network goes from here
.
And yes, Holly.
Speaker 2 (01:10:09):
I just want to thank you, for I know that we had
talked in the past where we'vehad some student issues, and you
were always very supportive ofour decisions here making sure
that students follow throughhere as well as follow through
on a court, and that makes a bigdifference.
So we appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (01:10:28):
I think that a coach has a lot of leverage.
Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
You do.
Speaker 3 (01:10:36):
And you know, basically teachers should take
advantage of that.
You know we try to encouragethat.
You know like their first roleis a student, so let's make sure
they're.
And it's going to be the sameway with Coach Jackson.
He's not going to play aroundwith that.
It's not going to be an optionto misbehave.
(01:10:58):
It's not going to be an optionnot to turn your work in.
That's not the way you knowwe're trying to teach them to be
an option to misbehave.
It's not going to be an optionnot to turn your work in.
That's not the way we're tryingto teach them to be good young
men and citizens.
And that's as the saying goes.
It's non-negotiable, that'sright.
Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
Well, we appreciate it and we look forward to great
things for you, Coach Jackson.
Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
Yes, and, by the way, Blake Coach Jackson does not
look like the guy you want tomess with, so I think they'll be
very serious.
Speaker 6 (01:11:26):
We'll see how post-game coaches show.
Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
Alright, thanks again , guys.
Next week we have Robbie Rotronfrom Palmetto High School on
the next episode.
Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
Student teacher for me.
Oh really, yes, of course.
So make sure you bring that up.
Speaker 1 (01:11:42):
Tell him he was a little unsure how it was going
to turn out.
I guess he's all right, we'llsee.
I guess he's overcome it.
Speaker 3 (01:11:50):
One of the two.
Speaker 1 (01:11:53):
Thanks for listening or watching the Boone Show
tonight.
Pleasure to have you.
We'll talk to you again nextweek.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.