January 23, 2024 • 33 mins
The Spin Chicks continue the conversation with Erik Kimrey in this episode. Erik may be known as the head football coach at Baylor School in Chattanooga, but he is famous in South Carolina and across the SEC for throwing “the fade” off the bench in a win over Mississippi State in 2000 as the understudy to starting QB Phil Petty. Erik reflects on that day on the gridiron and so much more. As a philosophy teacher for 10 years at Hammond School, Erik drops plenty of nuggets on living a good life and coaching ball.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:09):
Hey Michelle, Hey Erica, howare you. I'm doing great? Welcome
to another episode of the Spin ChicksSports and Pop Culture podcasts. So let's
just dive right into pop culture ofthe moment. I know college football is
complete, but boy, we're havingsome fun in the NFL playoffs. Correct
(00:30):
well, Thank goodness for girlfriends andbrothers. Brothers. Literally, I know,
and I'm sorry, Reblo. I'vekind of put your podcast on hold
because I just I love New Heightsand now that i'm technically a podcaster,
right, I love to see theKelsey dynamic. I know, it just
makes me laugh every Wednesday. Ilook forward to it. But seeing them
(00:52):
just supporting each other, that wasit for me. It really was.
Yeah. I mean, if he'sgonna retire, he picked a great place
to have his retirement party at theBills game. So we're talking about Jason
Kelsey and his glorious celebration of celebrationstouchdown? Yes? Yes? Or was
(01:15):
he just every man living his bestlife? And I think every man living
his best life? Who doesn't wantto be with their shirt off, drinking
beers twenty degrees, hanging out withTaylor Swift? There you go, you
know, family reunion. It wasa family reunion. Yeah, had all
the elements, friends, family,football, I find it, you know.
(01:37):
I know the media wanted us tothink that that was the first time
that they'd met. I the waythat though she was his wife, was
with Taylor Swift. There's no waythat's the first time they've been around each
other. To me, there's alot we don't know, which is totally
fine. I just I just thoughtit was fun. And of course the
(01:59):
signature a sign when he caught thattouchdown pass and was like with the heart,
I mean, could it just beexactly as soon as but we just
saw we just saw Jason Kelsey trumpTaylor Swift. Because as soon as it
happened, I told my husband,did you see that heart? You know,
(02:19):
you see him throw that heart upthen Jason Kelsey and then that heart
just got totally you know whatever.So yeah, yeah, and then Twitter
just blew up. So I'm sorryx X blew up. Anyway, It's
fun. It just it makes itfun. The football's fun and competitive,
but it just gives it a littlebit more buzz, right. Yeah,
And we look at our guests thatwe're gonna have on today and we're going
(02:43):
to talk to him about a reallyfamous pass that he made and could you
imagine if after he did it,he threw up a heart like that when
he threw the fade, like maybeturned to Lou Holtz, Eric Kimrie and
gave Eric or gave Lou Holtz alittle heart. Yeah. Well, it
was fun to talk to Eric,and you know, we just kind of
(03:05):
looking back. We were able totalk to him about Nick Saban's retirement and
that was kind of, you know, our first chance to talk to him.
But then in this episode we getto dive into a little bit more
about Eric and his life as acoach and all that entails, which,
again when you're talking about behind thescenes with a coach, a coaching lifestyle,
and just all the things that gointo it, very interesting. Yeah.
(03:25):
I thought he's gonna be. He'sa really interesting person. I think
you'll really enjoy getting to know himbetter. Eric, and for our listeners,
because he taught a class basically onphilosophy for ten years in high school
and then went and transitioned and wasa college coach and loved it at his
alma mater. And then he's goingto talk to us about why he decided
(03:46):
to go back to high school.It's pretty interesting. Absolutely. He brings
a definite different perspectives into his youknow, coaching plan and how he engages
with with his players and just youknow, guides them, coach them.
So I'm looking forward to it,all, right, Eric Michelle has said
that you might have told this storya thousand times, but we're gonna go
(04:11):
for one thousand and one because Ihave never personally heard it, and I
do feel that it's kind of cool. Most players kind of wait for that
opportunity when they get their name calledor they've got to go out there and
do something that there. It justgives them the kind of like their time
to shine. And so I wantyou to talk about your viral moment back
(04:31):
in two thousand called the Fade TheFade, So this will be five thousand
and one not I'm sorry, butour listeners may not have heard it.
I was going to say, noway, it's been a thousand times,
maybe a thousand times in two thousandhe told the story, and if it's
as good as she said it is, I think that can we get a
coach whole along with the story?Would that be too much? I think
(04:55):
we can work it in somewhere,you know within the podcast. This section
of the podcast will definitely conjure insome Coach Holtz. But uh, no,
I was, you know, Iplayed for my dad. I've been.
I grew up on a sideline,watched him coach high school football forever,
and then I was a quarterback forhim at Dutchfork High School locally.
So I'm a Columbia boy through andthrough back in fact, living in Columbia
(05:15):
my whole life until I moved here. And uh, anyway, so played
for my dad and decided I hadsome scholarship offers at some other schools.
Navy was probably the biggest one,but decided to walk on at South Carolina
under Brad Scott and we won thefirst game and then lost ten and coach
Scott got fired. He told mehe put me on scholarship. I just
walked on and anyway, he gotfired. So it took me a little
(05:38):
while to earn it. But uh, that first year under coach Holtz,
we went oh to eleven and uh, Michelle, you remember this, we
were, you know, the laughingstock country twenty We lost twenty one straight
and they carried Brad Scott off andhe ain't no little spring chicken. He
carried him. He was working atClemson at the time, and they put
him on his shoulders and carried himoff while his players are on the Carolina
(05:59):
sideline crying. His former players.They carried him off across the field when
they won. So yeah, I'llnever forget that. That was some times
at Williams Bryce. But to ourfans credit, I mean, they showed
up and that that stadium was packedand always was. And the next year,
coach Holtz, we went to thespread, and I went from the
seventh string quarterback to the second stringquarterback because we were running an offense that
(06:20):
more suited my ability. And theyhave seven quarterbacks on the rost. Well
I knew that, Michelle, becauseI was last, so there were six
guys in front of me. Ididn't make her math, by the way,
and so that was easy math.I was seventh. So anyway,
so you know that's right. Anduh so that year, you know,
(06:42):
we changed offenses and we come outand we beat New Mexico State, who
wasn't a very good team, andthey tear the goal post down. The
next week, Georgia comes into townranked ninth in the country and Quincy Carter,
who was a Heisman candidate, throughfive picks and we beat them twenty
one to ten. They tore thegoal post down, and then we beat
an Eastern Michigan team. So herewe are were sitting three and oh after
(07:02):
a and eleven campaign, after aone to ten campaign, and Mississippi State
comes into town and they had justplayed for the SEC championship and lost to
a really good Tennessee team that wonthe national championship that year. So they're
a very good team. And thegame was back and forth, and you
know, to get to the point, we had the ball in a twenty
(07:23):
five yard line. It was thirdand ten and Phil was flushed out of
the pocket. They were bringing alot of pressure, playing cover zero.
Everybody on the line of scrimmage pressman, and Phil was undercut and hurt,
and I was the backup. Andit's like four minutes to go in
the game and we're down by sixpoints. So you literally couldn't draw up
a scenario where you was a quarterbackwhere we're in a pressure situation and so
(07:46):
he goes down and I had togo in. It's fourth and ten.
It didn't make any sense to kicka field goal. So they called Tom
out and coach was just like,hey, you know, what do you
like? And I just said Iwent to coach mode because I called the
place from the line of scrimmage.When I was a senior in high school,
my dad would put the you know, the playbook basically in my head.
And so I was a coach therein pressman, let's let's throw eighteen
(08:09):
uh you know, and he theway he recounted it to the news,
he's like, you know too,it comes to me, he says,
I said, hey, would youlike, coach, I could do to
fade and so, h anyway,that's not exactly how it went. I
said, let's throw. And soanyway, we had press man and Jermale
Kelly was getting pressed and I laidone out there and he made a great
(08:30):
catch and the rest is kind ofhistory. So we won the game,
and immediately kind of people touted meas being the hero of the game.
But what people don't realize is thatPhil Petty, who was a wonderful quarterback,
three for over three hundred yards inthat game, and and we were
four and oh and on our wayto you know, winning an outback ball
that season and one of the bestturnarounds in the history of college football.
(08:50):
So for me to have a smallrole in that as a very under talented
player was was really special to meand a warm memory that I hold to
this day. And here we are, I mean Michelle where it's twenty four
years later now and people still stopme and talking. I was just going
to say, how often I meanwhen I think, I think of I
(09:11):
was at Carolina for fifteen years,and I can think of I was there
when track won the first national title, and I remember kick Bok night pitching.
I don't remember a ton of aton of football memories other than bad
ones, but that is one.And actually I wasn't even there. I
was. I was with football allthe time, but I was actually in
(09:33):
Australia with the with the track kidsat the Olympics at the time, and
people were that emailed me and toldme, you know, we beat Missippi
State. I was like, howare you serious? We must be legit.
And then when I got back,Carrie Darp told me the whole story,
and so, yeah, well breakit down just a little bit,
because again it was one play butobviously had so much impact and so for
(09:56):
someone that may not necessarily know whata fade is, or I know,
you can look it up on YouTube. There's a documentary about it. But
just describe just the whole thing ofjust coming off, you know as QB
two and just having to instinctively justdo that, and what it took to
make it happen, make it thetouchdown. It was, well, you
know, they were playing press man, and so press means all the defenders
(10:18):
are up in the faces of theoffense. There's no safeties or anybody back
there. They're up in your faceand they're playing a Manda man coverage and
everyone else is not and man isblitzing. So you don't have a lot
of time to throw the ball.So we threw what we called our quick
game, where I just kind ofcaught the ball and just set and let
it go. And a fade passeslike a go ball. It's like you're
running straight down the field. It'sa deep ball. And so when you
(10:41):
coach the throwing the fade, youreally can coach it in a number of
different ways. But there's different trajectoriesin which you can throw the ball.
We call it a one ball,a two ball, and a three ball.
So a one ball is more ofa line drive, So think a
three iron, right. A twoball is going to be somewhere in between,
So think like a you know,eight iron, seven iro, right,
or it's got some trajectory on it, but not a whole lot.
(11:03):
The three ball has a lot ofloft on it, right, So I
think you're sand wedge. And sobecause he was pressed and he got a
little jammed up, I saw itout of the corner of my eye.
I had to put a little bitmore loft on it than I normally would.
Heck, you might have called ita four ball, even though there
is no such thing. And soyou just have to adjust the trajectory.
And that's just an instinctual thing thatyou see. And I did that a
(11:24):
lot in high school. So it'skind of, you know, providential that
I was in that situation and ableto make that play awesome. I love
it. I love the detail,and I love that, you know,
like you said, however many yearsago it was. I think it's almost
like yesterday the way you describe it. So I think, uh, those
moments are very special. And Ihope that everyone who plays, you know,
(11:45):
everyone who steps on the field hasone of those moments. It just
makes it even better. We like, go ahead, you get a lot
of free beer the rest of yourlife. So it's nice. What was
it like? What was it liketo play for Coach Holtz? I mean
I worked with them, but talkto us about what it was like to
play for him. You know itwas. It was wonderful. You know.
(12:07):
Of course he wasn't perfect, buthe when he came into that room
the first time, Michelle, youknew something was different. There was a
gravitas to his presence that commanded,like we were talking about with coach Saban
just commands attention and respect. Andso he changed I think our mentality almost
(12:30):
like right when you walked in theroom. If you can do that,
I study, you know, neuroscienceand how the brain works, and I
think there are a lot of newneural pathways created as soon as he walked
in the room, just because hehad that command about him and and so
he I think he just told usthat we could be good. And even
through the first year where it wasawful, he believed that we were going
(12:52):
to be great. And that's infectious. I mean, I'm a I'm a
big believer in the power of beliefitself. I think one of the best
jobs that coaches can do is toteach kids how to believe not only themselves,
but in the situation, like wetalk about a Baylor a lot,
something greats about to happen, thatin the midst of the chaos. And
this is life lessons too, right. There are people that you know and
(13:13):
you know them in their life,they they they've been beaten up and they
just expect the worst to happen.Right, man, that's gonna happen to
me, or I'm the one that'sgonna lose the job or whatever. And
in football, you know a lotof times people can have a warp mentality
or like, of course, we'renot gonna get that first down, or
let's just say something bad happened,we gave up, you know, an
interception or a fumble late in thegame, we're gonna lose. Well,
(13:35):
he wouldn't let us think that way. And you know, I teach our
teams like something greats about to happen, regardless of the situation. And so
that's an infectious belief, and Ithink it's a spiritual thing that is actually
quite tangible in a football game,and so you know, we learned that
from him. He held everybody toa high standard. He surrounded us with
some great assistance. You know,you mentioned Charlie Strong earlier. Skip Holtz
(13:56):
has been a huge mentor in mylife. I would say had a bigger
impact on me as a coach thanany coach I've had other than my dad.
And so, you know, hetook a really struggling program and he
gave hope to some players and agroup of fans and you know, a
whole university that you know, wecould have success at South Carolina and we
(14:18):
went eight and four, nine andthree those two years, and that was
the most success we've ever had.And I really think it was the foundation
for coach Spurry to go in andhave even further success. I always say
that that Spurrier would have never goneto USC if Holts hadn't been there already.
I mean, I just didn't seethat. Yeah, you know,
Eric, just talking to you foryou know, a short time. I
(14:41):
mean I get the impression, andI'm sure other people feel the same that
you were just born to be acoach. Is that something that was always
in your mind and your destiny orhow did that just kind of come about
because clearly you've been very successful.Well, thank you, and I guess
I do feel that way. It'sa blessing because I know so many people
that are just really incredibly intelligent,thoughtful people that have wonderful hearts and souls
(15:09):
that get lost in professions, youknow, and it takes a lifetime to
find exactly what they want to doand what they're passionate about, and some
people will never find that. Iwould say probably most people don't. But
I'm very grateful that I have foundthat. You know, it really suits
my personality, my life experience,kind of how my brain works, how
my heart's yeared. And so Ilove everything about coaching. I think the
(15:31):
thing I love the most about coachingis the relationships with players and coaches that
you get to be on a team, And so I think it's very important,
particularly for young men in today's world, to have something to believe in
and have some people to share thatbelief with. You know, a meaning
in your life. I really talka lot about meaning its function in football,
(15:54):
and I think when you're on ateam, you have an instant mission
together and you have an instant brotherhoodof humans to do it with and I
loved I get to do that everysingle year, you know, and then
the restarted, and I'm in themiddle of that restart now working on twenty
twenty four. And so I thinkwatching my dad coach in high school and
the experience I had playing for him, and then struggling in college not being
(16:17):
a very good player, but havingmy one little moment in the sun,
and then being around some unbelievable coachesand has really you know, afforded me
the ability to do this. Andthen at Hammon School, So I was
the head coach at Hammond School.I was hired when I was twenty four
to be the head coach and Iwas there for seventeen years, and you
know, I didn't have a hugeclass load there. And one year they
(16:41):
came to me and they said,hey, we'd love for you to teach
an elected class. What would youlike to teach? And Uh, I'm
kind of a dork on the side. So I study a lot of philosophy
and sociology, theology, things likethat, and so I kind of came
up with a curriculum for a philosophyreligion class and taught that for ten years
years. And so I really gotto study what I call ancient wisdom and
(17:03):
try every year to tinker. BecauseI was the head coach, I could
do what I wanted to use ancientwisdom and apply it to how I coach
football. And I think that thoseyears at Hammond were extremely formative for me.
And so what's been wonderful about comingto Baylor and having that kind of
restart is to take a lot ofwhat I learned over those years, you
(17:26):
know, and and embody them intoa culture and into a team and a
program from new And That's been reallyrewarding for me, and I've really enjoyed
it. So with that, whatwould you say your keys to your success
are? I mean that that rightthere sounds like you know all everything that
you read and taught about for tenyears, and the different people that you've
(17:47):
been around, the holtz Is,the Strongs, the you know, the
different people that the Beamers centerfields,those people. But what are the keys
to your success? Like, ifyou had to say these three things are
really have really had something to dowith who I am now? Well,
I think you are who you arebecause somebody loved you. So you have
(18:07):
to, like, first of all, give credence to the people that have
made you who you are, Likewe don't exist in vacuums, like we
aren't born with like a blank slate, like you are who you are,
but then you're influenced by everyone aroundyou. So I would say, first,
you know, I've been around somegreat people and I've developed this philosophy
over the years that I call strugglewell, and I think that to me
(18:30):
life itself. You know, theBuddhist says life is suffering, right that
you know, we're all in theprocess of dying. And I know that
sounds morbid, but I do believethat the to alleviate that is to find
meaning that makes your life worthwhile.And I think that coaching for me does
(18:51):
that, and that every year,like I talked about the process, and
I hate the word process, I'lltalk about that in a minute. The
struggle of taking a group of peopletogether and achieving a task that you're all
set to do is so rewarding andfun. And I think I've learned over
the years that I'm not afforded anyentitlements there just because I've had past success,
(19:12):
that every year have to start fromfresh, and that it is truly
a struggle to me, the wordprocess feels very neutral. It's like,
Okay, I put something on aconveyor belt, we get on the conveyor
belt, and then boom, championship. And that's not what happens. It's
a hard, hard struggle. It'san uphill client that's going to cost you
a lot. And I love thatchallenge, and I love doing that with
(19:34):
a group of good men that wantto take care of kids and show them
that challenge. And I love whatthat struggle teaches young men today. And
I've hoped to equip them for thestruggle of a football season, but at
the same time give them the toolsand the understanding that that is, in
fact what's going to happen in theirlife, and that maybe those seasons that
(19:56):
they spent playing football for me andthe values that we teach and the lessons
that they learned, and give themjust a few nuggets along the way to
make that life their life more meaningfuland hopefully more impactful. What so,
what are the differences, Like,You've spent most of the time, a
majority of time at a very prominentathletics strong programs at the high school level,
(20:18):
and you were you know, obviouslyin college for a little bit as
well. What's the difference when you'recoaching those groups, you know, the
college student athlete versus the high schoolstudent athlete, because you're talking about group
at a certain age level and thethings that you're trying to teach them.
But yeah, I have to thinkthey've got so many other things going on,
you know, family life, otherissues, just school work. How
(20:41):
do you just put that all togetherto try to coach and teach and how
do you keep them focused when you'reranked number one or number two in the
state. Yeah, well, Ithink the difference between high school and college
is, you know, brain developmenta little bit, right. You know,
we're not fully developed until we're twentyfive years old. So you're dealing
(21:03):
with a human that's a little bitmore mature, that can handle maybe certain
styles of coaching that maybe a youngerkid can't, that's more independent, that's
going to be a little bit moreself motivated. And I think in today's
college world, it's almost very muchmore of a professional relationship, where in
high school you're more of a mentor, you're more of a father figure,
(21:23):
I would say, And you haveto understand that these kids are still learning
who they are they care a lotabout what people think about them, and
so I think a part of agood coach is truly understanding the player that
they have in front of them andhow to move them toward being a better
player slash human being. You know, the word coach, it was derived
(21:45):
from you know, the horse drawncarriage, the coach. Right, You
got in it and it took yousomewhere, And that's all a coach is.
You're that vehicle that you get inand it just takes you somewhere,
and hopefully that's a really good placewhere you come into greater maturity, greater
understanding of yourself and the ability tohandle adversity and the game of football.
(22:06):
That's why I love it so much. It gives us those chances to do
that. Uh. And I thinkwhen you're on top, Michelle, to
your second question, you know,you gotta you gotta invest in the struggle
and you gotta you gotta, yougotta understand that it's not about what you're
ranked, it's about how you finish. And a way to get where you
finish is to focus on the present. Like that that tiny little step that
you took in practice, that's off, Like we got to correct that.
(22:30):
We've got to bring it down tothe most minuscule thing that we can do
and focus on and control. Ican't control how I'm ranked. Really,
all I can control is how Iplay in that game. Well. In
order for me to play in thatgame, well, I have to practice
well first. I have to preparewell first. And that's all I can
control on a Monday. So whatI try to do is, you know,
(22:51):
I try to heighten the importance ofthe time that we have together in
practice and meetings. You know,I joke all the time. I'm like,
hey, guys, this is thelast Monday. Now we're going to
prepare for McCauley school and twenty twentyfour in the history of the Cosmos,
Okay, and the cosmos is reallyreally old. It's like fifteen billion years
old and we only get this day. So let's number one, let's you
(23:15):
know, take it seriously. Numbertwo, let's enjoy and have fun.
You know. So it's quite adance, but it's fun. I've bet
your kids are like, Okay,coach, really, so you're you're the
son of a coach and you recently, your quarterback recently at Baylor was the
son of a coach Will muss Champwho was at Florida as the head coach.
(23:36):
He was the coach in waiting atone point at Texas and then at
South Carolina and then now he's atGeorgia as a defensive coach. But what
is it like to coach a coach'sson or is with mus Champ like,
how similar are you too? Idon't know. I have no idea,
But what's it like to coach acoach's son? Well, every kid's different,
(24:00):
but I coached both of Will's sonand they're a little bit different,
but they're wonderful humans. I thinkthat it's easier to coach a coach's son
because they've been around the game,and you know, you think about WIT's
life, you know, his earliestmemories or his dad at Florida, his
memories his dad at South Carolina,the pressure, the scrutiny that his dad
was under. You know, he'sused to that world. So honestly,
(24:22):
Wit was pretty unflappable. Like hewas. He was an assassin out there,
and I think a lot of thatis because of his upbringing. And
typically coaches sons have a higher understandingof the game just because they've lived it,
They've understood it. They also understandwhat it takes to be great because
they've been around a bunch of guysthat are doing that. You know that
example is there for them. Soyou know, every kid's different. But
I can tell you that, uh, coaching Jackson and wit Muschamp was an
(24:47):
absolute delight. Will's an awesome guyand and I'm really gonna miss having one
of his kids as my quarterbacks.Cool. What's your favorite thing about coaching
high schoo I think again, it'sI call it the highest level of football
because I think you can make thebiggest impact in people's lives in the game.
(25:08):
That way, it is its game, It's the game and its purest
form in my opinion, because youhave kids that are pulling together, that
are out for a mission, moreso than in professional organizations, where really,
I would say the primary motivation mightbe just personal And so I enjoy
(25:29):
it also affords me the opportunity tobe a dad and a husband and and
you know, my kids are hereand have a work life balance. It's
very difficult when you're in higher levels. Well, I know you've talked about
your your dad a little bit,but you know who else inspires you in
what you do day to day.Man, there's a lot of them are
(25:52):
dead because they they wrote some booksor something that got into later in life.
But no, you know, Itake my inspiration. Of course,
my dad was big, but youknow, my my immediate family. Coaches
out there nowadays that are doing itwell. Like we talked about coach Saban.
Pete Carroll is really instrumental and alot of my thinking. John Wooden
(26:15):
is another one that I've studied alot that I really, you know,
really really look up to a wholelot. But you know, and then
I have just friends in my lifethat I have a lot of respect for
that are incredibly intelligent, warm peoplethat you know, helped me become a
better person. Let's let's we're gonnawell we're not going to get to the
(26:37):
clothes yet, but we want totalk a little bit about your brother Kevin
and how much he's meant to youand what is he taught you about life?
He was injured in a tragic accidentplaying pickup. I think he broke
his C four and C five Andwhat what has he taught you about life?
Yeah, so that happened to youknow, Michelle, We just beat
(26:59):
out Obama in two thousand. Thenext day I got a call about Kevin's
injury. And so he's been youknow, a quadriplegic for it's been over
twenty years now, and so hislife is incredibly hard and and but you
know what, he has a wonderfulattitude and he wakes up every day and
and you know, he's ready tokind of attack the next day. And
some of those days are good anda lot of them are hard. But
(27:22):
I think just his resilience to beable to, you know, keep moving
forward, keep having a positive attitudedespite very difficult circumstances is something that is
always inspiring to all of us.So, you know, it's difficult,
and life happens, and tragedy happensto all of us, but a lot
of it's how we respond to that. Do we let it teach us?
(27:44):
Can we properly heal from it spiritually, emotionally, and can we continue to
move forward, you know, withhope in our life and meaning in our
life? And and Kevin has foundmeaning in his life despite you know,
a horrible situation. Well, it'sbeen a true pleasure talking to you,
Eric. I mean, I know, we we started with some breaking news,
(28:07):
but we finished just kind of gettingto know you a little bit more
and talking about a moment that kindof defined you. But now you've just
created this amazing career, and likecoach Saman said, you just have just
a very enviable and be a littlejob. So it's been wonderful just to
kind of get to know you.Hopefully our listeners will agree. I know,
(28:29):
I know Michelle's look forward to talkingto you as well, and so
we thank you for coming on.But before we close, we have kind
of a little fun, rapid firequestion segment. We call this spin cycle,
so we're going to put you throughit. Are you ready? I'm
ready? Spin SoC Okay, icebath or steam sauna? S sauna?
(28:52):
Ooh, I'm tispath? What conferenceshould Notre Dame join in football? Big
Ten, Morning Person or night Owl? Night Owl? By a mile?
Who is the greatest quarterback ever?Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or do you
(29:15):
have a wild card? I wouldsay that it depends on your definition of
greatest. Right If you're counting rings, clearly it's Brady. I think if
you're talking about passers of the football, then you got to talk about Peyton
Manning and you got to talk aboutDan Marino, So those are two different
things to me. I was thinkingyou were going to slide Dan Marino in
(29:36):
there. Yeah, nice, Ithink you can make a very good argument
for that. And last, what'sfor dinner? What's for dinner tonight?
I'm going out to eat with mywife. It's our twenty one year anniversary
today, so that's what's where areyou going? Whatever she decides? So
I've learned within twenty one years ofmarriage that that's the best answer. And
(30:00):
you guys have been together since highschool? Right, you and we have?
That's amazing. Yeah, wife,that's a whole nother podcast. Okay,
he'd be a good one to talkto you. But she's the best.
And yeah, we've been together sincewe were sixteen. I knew early
on my options were going to belimited as I moved through life and lost
(30:21):
my hair all that stuff. SoI just said, you know what,
listen, I'm kidding. She's thebest, absolutely the best. No,
I've seen her interviewed, I've beenaround her, but I don't know her
at all, and she really isamazing. So she's more competitive than I
am. I think, like it'sfunny we'll be talking to you know,
maybe a young man's interested in comingto Baylor and she's like, Eric,
(30:41):
don't let that kid go somewhere else, like she you know. Or we'll
come back from a game and she'slike, what was going on here?
Or she'll be more mad at theofficials than I am. And so she's
competitive and she loves being a coach'swife and enjoys the competitive environment of high
school football. So it's been it'sbeen a lot of fun. It's awesome.
(31:02):
Its real sounds like you make agood team, which you know when
you have that demanding job and youyou know you can make that all work.
I think it's just all around success. So again, we've so enjoyed
having you. I met you forthe first time obviously, and just you
know, we could talk. Wecould talk all day, but we do
have limited time on the podcast.So thank you again for coming on and
(31:23):
just you know, talking football.Yeah, having me so much, and
good luck with the podcast as youcontinue to grow it and I'll be following
for sure. Yeah, You've beenfantastic, And I know there's going to
be a lot of people that wemutually know that are going to be like
Oh, Eric, So I'm reallyreally I'm thrilled when I when I DMD
(31:47):
you on Facebook, I was thrilledthat you were like, yeah, absolutely,
you'll do it. And I waslike, Oh, he's a celebrity,
he wants to do our podcast.This is amazing. So thank you
so much. It's been a lotof fun to have you on and to
catch up with you. Thanks gotMichelle. That was a great interview with
Eric. You know, it wasone thing to talk to him about coach
Saban's retirement. It was just anotherto kind of talk about his perspective and
(32:08):
coaching. I mean, he's hadamazing success as a high school coach and
just to kind of see the influencehe has and what he brings to the
table with his coaching really fun,really fun, And I personally loved his
Lou Holts imitation. I think you'reright now on that note. Yes,
(32:30):
Yeah, he's pretty good. Ithink his top Carrie Tharp's from a podcast
previously. I think it does.I think it definitely does. Yeah.
No, but so we really wantto thank our listeners for listening and make
sure they follow us on the spinChicks go ahead. We need another recommendation
(32:50):
or referral or whatever you want tocall it other than Eric's son. So
the spin Chicks t H E SP I N c h I c k
S. You're welcome. Yeah.Go go make a comment right now,
don't don't just don't wait, Justdo it and follow us, tune in
(33:14):
for next episode. Thank you,
Hey Michelle, Hey Erica, howare you. I'm doing great? Welcome
to another episode of the Spin ChicksSports and Pop Culture podcasts. So let's
just dive right into pop culture ofthe moment. I know college football is
complete, but boy, we're havingsome fun in the NFL playoffs. Correct
(00:30):
well, Thank goodness for girlfriends andbrothers. Brothers. Literally, I know,
and I'm sorry, Reblo. I'vekind of put your podcast on hold
because I just I love New Heightsand now that i'm technically a podcaster,
right, I love to see theKelsey dynamic. I know, it just
makes me laugh every Wednesday. Ilook forward to it. But seeing them
(00:52):
just supporting each other, that wasit for me. It really was.
Yeah. I mean, if he'sgonna retire, he picked a great place
to have his retirement party at theBills game. So we're talking about Jason
Kelsey and his glorious celebration of celebrationstouchdown? Yes? Yes? Or was
(01:15):
he just every man living his bestlife? And I think every man living
his best life? Who doesn't wantto be with their shirt off, drinking
beers twenty degrees, hanging out withTaylor Swift? There you go, you
know, family reunion. It wasa family reunion. Yeah, had all
the elements, friends, family,football, I find it, you know.
(01:37):
I know the media wanted us tothink that that was the first time
that they'd met. I the waythat though she was his wife, was
with Taylor Swift. There's no waythat's the first time they've been around each
other. To me, there's alot we don't know, which is totally
fine. I just I just thoughtit was fun. And of course the
(01:59):
signature a sign when he caught thattouchdown pass and was like with the heart,
I mean, could it just beexactly as soon as but we just
saw we just saw Jason Kelsey trumpTaylor Swift. Because as soon as it
happened, I told my husband,did you see that heart? You know,
(02:19):
you see him throw that heart upthen Jason Kelsey and then that heart
just got totally you know whatever.So yeah, yeah, and then Twitter
just blew up. So I'm sorryx X blew up. Anyway, It's
fun. It just it makes itfun. The football's fun and competitive,
but it just gives it a littlebit more buzz, right. Yeah,
And we look at our guests thatwe're gonna have on today and we're going
(02:43):
to talk to him about a reallyfamous pass that he made and could you
imagine if after he did it,he threw up a heart like that when
he threw the fade, like maybeturned to Lou Holtz, Eric Kimrie and
gave Eric or gave Lou Holtz alittle heart. Yeah. Well, it
was fun to talk to Eric,and you know, we just kind of
(03:05):
looking back. We were able totalk to him about Nick Saban's retirement and
that was kind of, you know, our first chance to talk to him.
But then in this episode we getto dive into a little bit more
about Eric and his life as acoach and all that entails, which,
again when you're talking about behind thescenes with a coach, a coaching lifestyle,
and just all the things that gointo it, very interesting. Yeah.
(03:25):
I thought he's gonna be. He'sa really interesting person. I think
you'll really enjoy getting to know himbetter. Eric, and for our listeners,
because he taught a class basically onphilosophy for ten years in high school
and then went and transitioned and wasa college coach and loved it at his
alma mater. And then he's goingto talk to us about why he decided
(03:46):
to go back to high school.It's pretty interesting. Absolutely. He brings
a definite different perspectives into his youknow, coaching plan and how he engages
with with his players and just youknow, guides them, coach them.
So I'm looking forward to it,all, right, Eric Michelle has said
that you might have told this storya thousand times, but we're gonna go
(04:11):
for one thousand and one because Ihave never personally heard it, and I
do feel that it's kind of cool. Most players kind of wait for that
opportunity when they get their name calledor they've got to go out there and
do something that there. It justgives them the kind of like their time
to shine. And so I wantyou to talk about your viral moment back
(04:31):
in two thousand called the Fade TheFade, So this will be five thousand
and one not I'm sorry, butour listeners may not have heard it.
I was going to say, noway, it's been a thousand times,
maybe a thousand times in two thousandhe told the story, and if it's
as good as she said it is, I think that can we get a
coach whole along with the story?Would that be too much? I think
(04:55):
we can work it in somewhere,you know within the podcast. This section
of the podcast will definitely conjure insome Coach Holtz. But uh, no,
I was, you know, Iplayed for my dad. I've been.
I grew up on a sideline,watched him coach high school football forever,
and then I was a quarterback forhim at Dutchfork High School locally.
So I'm a Columbia boy through andthrough back in fact, living in Columbia
(05:15):
my whole life until I moved here. And uh, anyway, so played
for my dad and decided I hadsome scholarship offers at some other schools.
Navy was probably the biggest one,but decided to walk on at South Carolina
under Brad Scott and we won thefirst game and then lost ten and coach
Scott got fired. He told mehe put me on scholarship. I just
walked on and anyway, he gotfired. So it took me a little
(05:38):
while to earn it. But uh, that first year under coach Holtz,
we went oh to eleven and uh, Michelle, you remember this, we
were, you know, the laughingstock country twenty We lost twenty one straight
and they carried Brad Scott off andhe ain't no little spring chicken. He
carried him. He was working atClemson at the time, and they put
him on his shoulders and carried himoff while his players are on the Carolina
(05:59):
sideline crying. His former players.They carried him off across the field when
they won. So yeah, I'llnever forget that. That was some times
at Williams Bryce. But to ourfans credit, I mean, they showed
up and that that stadium was packedand always was. And the next year,
coach Holtz, we went to thespread, and I went from the
seventh string quarterback to the second stringquarterback because we were running an offense that
(06:20):
more suited my ability. And theyhave seven quarterbacks on the rost. Well
I knew that, Michelle, becauseI was last, so there were six
guys in front of me. Ididn't make her math, by the way,
and so that was easy math.I was seventh. So anyway,
so you know that's right. Anduh so that year, you know,
(06:42):
we changed offenses and we come outand we beat New Mexico State, who
wasn't a very good team, andthey tear the goal post down. The
next week, Georgia comes into townranked ninth in the country and Quincy Carter,
who was a Heisman candidate, throughfive picks and we beat them twenty
one to ten. They tore thegoal post down, and then we beat
an Eastern Michigan team. So herewe are were sitting three and oh after
(07:02):
a and eleven campaign, after aone to ten campaign, and Mississippi State
comes into town and they had justplayed for the SEC championship and lost to
a really good Tennessee team that wonthe national championship that year. So they're
a very good team. And thegame was back and forth, and you
know, to get to the point, we had the ball in a twenty
(07:23):
five yard line. It was thirdand ten and Phil was flushed out of
the pocket. They were bringing alot of pressure, playing cover zero.
Everybody on the line of scrimmage pressman, and Phil was undercut and hurt,
and I was the backup. Andit's like four minutes to go in
the game and we're down by sixpoints. So you literally couldn't draw up
a scenario where you was a quarterbackwhere we're in a pressure situation and so
(07:46):
he goes down and I had togo in. It's fourth and ten.
It didn't make any sense to kicka field goal. So they called Tom
out and coach was just like,hey, you know, what do you
like? And I just said Iwent to coach mode because I called the
place from the line of scrimmage.When I was a senior in high school,
my dad would put the you know, the playbook basically in my head.
And so I was a coach therein pressman, let's let's throw eighteen
(08:09):
uh you know, and he theway he recounted it to the news,
he's like, you know too,it comes to me, he says,
I said, hey, would youlike, coach, I could do to
fade and so, h anyway,that's not exactly how it went. I
said, let's throw. And soanyway, we had press man and Jermale
Kelly was getting pressed and I laidone out there and he made a great
(08:30):
catch and the rest is kind ofhistory. So we won the game,
and immediately kind of people touted meas being the hero of the game.
But what people don't realize is thatPhil Petty, who was a wonderful quarterback,
three for over three hundred yards inthat game, and and we were
four and oh and on our wayto you know, winning an outback ball
that season and one of the bestturnarounds in the history of college football.
(08:50):
So for me to have a smallrole in that as a very under talented
player was was really special to meand a warm memory that I hold to
this day. And here we are, I mean Michelle where it's twenty four
years later now and people still stopme and talking. I was just going
to say, how often I meanwhen I think, I think of I
(09:11):
was at Carolina for fifteen years,and I can think of I was there
when track won the first national title, and I remember kick Bok night pitching.
I don't remember a ton of aton of football memories other than bad
ones, but that is one.And actually I wasn't even there. I
was. I was with football allthe time, but I was actually in
(09:33):
Australia with the with the track kidsat the Olympics at the time, and
people were that emailed me and toldme, you know, we beat Missippi
State. I was like, howare you serious? We must be legit.
And then when I got back,Carrie Darp told me the whole story,
and so, yeah, well breakit down just a little bit,
because again it was one play butobviously had so much impact and so for
(09:56):
someone that may not necessarily know whata fade is, or I know,
you can look it up on YouTube. There's a documentary about it. But
just describe just the whole thing ofjust coming off, you know as QB
two and just having to instinctively justdo that, and what it took to
make it happen, make it thetouchdown. It was, well, you
know, they were playing press man, and so press means all the defenders
(10:18):
are up in the faces of theoffense. There's no safeties or anybody back
there. They're up in your faceand they're playing a Manda man coverage and
everyone else is not and man isblitzing. So you don't have a lot
of time to throw the ball.So we threw what we called our quick
game, where I just kind ofcaught the ball and just set and let
it go. And a fade passeslike a go ball. It's like you're
running straight down the field. It'sa deep ball. And so when you
(10:41):
coach the throwing the fade, youreally can coach it in a number of
different ways. But there's different trajectoriesin which you can throw the ball.
We call it a one ball,a two ball, and a three ball.
So a one ball is more ofa line drive, So think a
three iron, right. A twoball is going to be somewhere in between,
So think like a you know,eight iron, seven iro, right,
or it's got some trajectory on it, but not a whole lot.
(11:03):
The three ball has a lot ofloft on it, right, So I
think you're sand wedge. And sobecause he was pressed and he got a
little jammed up, I saw itout of the corner of my eye.
I had to put a little bitmore loft on it than I normally would.
Heck, you might have called ita four ball, even though there
is no such thing. And soyou just have to adjust the trajectory.
And that's just an instinctual thing thatyou see. And I did that a
(11:24):
lot in high school. So it'skind of, you know, providential that
I was in that situation and ableto make that play awesome. I love
it. I love the detail,and I love that, you know,
like you said, however many yearsago it was. I think it's almost
like yesterday the way you describe it. So I think, uh, those
moments are very special. And Ihope that everyone who plays, you know,
(11:45):
everyone who steps on the field hasone of those moments. It just
makes it even better. We like, go ahead, you get a lot
of free beer the rest of yourlife. So it's nice. What was
it like? What was it liketo play for Coach Holtz? I mean
I worked with them, but talkto us about what it was like to
play for him. You know itwas. It was wonderful. You know.
(12:07):
Of course he wasn't perfect, buthe when he came into that room
the first time, Michelle, youknew something was different. There was a
gravitas to his presence that commanded,like we were talking about with coach Saban
just commands attention and respect. Andso he changed I think our mentality almost
(12:30):
like right when you walked in theroom. If you can do that,
I study, you know, neuroscienceand how the brain works, and I
think there are a lot of newneural pathways created as soon as he walked
in the room, just because hehad that command about him and and so
he I think he just told usthat we could be good. And even
through the first year where it wasawful, he believed that we were going
(12:52):
to be great. And that's infectious. I mean, I'm a I'm a
big believer in the power of beliefitself. I think one of the best
jobs that coaches can do is toteach kids how to believe not only themselves,
but in the situation, like wetalk about a Baylor a lot,
something greats about to happen, thatin the midst of the chaos. And
this is life lessons too, right. There are people that you know and
(13:13):
you know them in their life,they they they've been beaten up and they
just expect the worst to happen.Right, man, that's gonna happen to
me, or I'm the one that'sgonna lose the job or whatever. And
in football, you know a lotof times people can have a warp mentality
or like, of course, we'renot gonna get that first down, or
let's just say something bad happened,we gave up, you know, an
interception or a fumble late in thegame, we're gonna lose. Well,
(13:35):
he wouldn't let us think that way. And you know, I teach our
teams like something greats about to happen, regardless of the situation. And so
that's an infectious belief, and Ithink it's a spiritual thing that is actually
quite tangible in a football game,and so you know, we learned that
from him. He held everybody toa high standard. He surrounded us with
some great assistance. You know,you mentioned Charlie Strong earlier. Skip Holtz
(13:56):
has been a huge mentor in mylife. I would say had a bigger
impact on me as a coach thanany coach I've had other than my dad.
And so, you know, hetook a really struggling program and he
gave hope to some players and agroup of fans and you know, a
whole university that you know, wecould have success at South Carolina and we
(14:18):
went eight and four, nine andthree those two years, and that was
the most success we've ever had.And I really think it was the foundation
for coach Spurry to go in andhave even further success. I always say
that that Spurrier would have never goneto USC if Holts hadn't been there already.
I mean, I just didn't seethat. Yeah, you know,
Eric, just talking to you foryou know, a short time. I
(14:41):
mean I get the impression, andI'm sure other people feel the same that
you were just born to be acoach. Is that something that was always
in your mind and your destiny orhow did that just kind of come about
because clearly you've been very successful.Well, thank you, and I guess
I do feel that way. It'sa blessing because I know so many people
that are just really incredibly intelligent,thoughtful people that have wonderful hearts and souls
(15:09):
that get lost in professions, youknow, and it takes a lifetime to
find exactly what they want to doand what they're passionate about, and some
people will never find that. Iwould say probably most people don't. But
I'm very grateful that I have foundthat. You know, it really suits
my personality, my life experience,kind of how my brain works, how
my heart's yeared. And so Ilove everything about coaching. I think the
(15:31):
thing I love the most about coachingis the relationships with players and coaches that
you get to be on a team, And so I think it's very important,
particularly for young men in today's world, to have something to believe in
and have some people to share thatbelief with. You know, a meaning
in your life. I really talka lot about meaning its function in football,
(15:54):
and I think when you're on ateam, you have an instant mission
together and you have an instant brotherhoodof humans to do it with and I
loved I get to do that everysingle year, you know, and then
the restarted, and I'm in themiddle of that restart now working on twenty
twenty four. And so I thinkwatching my dad coach in high school and
the experience I had playing for him, and then struggling in college not being
(16:17):
a very good player, but havingmy one little moment in the sun,
and then being around some unbelievable coachesand has really you know, afforded me
the ability to do this. Andthen at Hammon School, So I was
the head coach at Hammond School.I was hired when I was twenty four
to be the head coach and Iwas there for seventeen years, and you
know, I didn't have a hugeclass load there. And one year they
(16:41):
came to me and they said,hey, we'd love for you to teach
an elected class. What would youlike to teach? And Uh, I'm
kind of a dork on the side. So I study a lot of philosophy
and sociology, theology, things likethat, and so I kind of came
up with a curriculum for a philosophyreligion class and taught that for ten years
years. And so I really gotto study what I call ancient wisdom and
(17:03):
try every year to tinker. BecauseI was the head coach, I could
do what I wanted to use ancientwisdom and apply it to how I coach
football. And I think that thoseyears at Hammond were extremely formative for me.
And so what's been wonderful about comingto Baylor and having that kind of
restart is to take a lot ofwhat I learned over those years, you
(17:26):
know, and and embody them intoa culture and into a team and a
program from new And That's been reallyrewarding for me, and I've really enjoyed
it. So with that, whatwould you say your keys to your success
are? I mean that that rightthere sounds like you know all everything that
you read and taught about for tenyears, and the different people that you've
(17:47):
been around, the holtz Is,the Strongs, the you know, the
different people that the Beamers centerfields,those people. But what are the keys
to your success? Like, ifyou had to say these three things are
really have really had something to dowith who I am now? Well,
I think you are who you arebecause somebody loved you. So you have
(18:07):
to, like, first of all, give credence to the people that have
made you who you are, Likewe don't exist in vacuums, like we
aren't born with like a blank slate, like you are who you are,
but then you're influenced by everyone aroundyou. So I would say, first,
you know, I've been around somegreat people and I've developed this philosophy
over the years that I call strugglewell, and I think that to me
(18:30):
life itself. You know, theBuddhist says life is suffering, right that
you know, we're all in theprocess of dying. And I know that
sounds morbid, but I do believethat the to alleviate that is to find
meaning that makes your life worthwhile.And I think that coaching for me does
(18:51):
that, and that every year,like I talked about the process, and
I hate the word process, I'lltalk about that in a minute. The
struggle of taking a group of peopletogether and achieving a task that you're all
set to do is so rewarding andfun. And I think I've learned over
the years that I'm not afforded anyentitlements there just because I've had past success,
(19:12):
that every year have to start fromfresh, and that it is truly
a struggle to me, the wordprocess feels very neutral. It's like,
Okay, I put something on aconveyor belt, we get on the conveyor
belt, and then boom, championship. And that's not what happens. It's
a hard, hard struggle. It'san uphill client that's going to cost you
a lot. And I love thatchallenge, and I love doing that with
(19:34):
a group of good men that wantto take care of kids and show them
that challenge. And I love whatthat struggle teaches young men today. And
I've hoped to equip them for thestruggle of a football season, but at
the same time give them the toolsand the understanding that that is, in
fact what's going to happen in theirlife, and that maybe those seasons that
(19:56):
they spent playing football for me andthe values that we teach and the lessons
that they learned, and give themjust a few nuggets along the way to
make that life their life more meaningfuland hopefully more impactful. What so,
what are the differences, Like,You've spent most of the time, a
majority of time at a very prominentathletics strong programs at the high school level,
(20:18):
and you were you know, obviouslyin college for a little bit as
well. What's the difference when you'recoaching those groups, you know, the
college student athlete versus the high schoolstudent athlete, because you're talking about group
at a certain age level and thethings that you're trying to teach them.
But yeah, I have to thinkthey've got so many other things going on,
you know, family life, otherissues, just school work. How
(20:41):
do you just put that all togetherto try to coach and teach and how
do you keep them focused when you'reranked number one or number two in the
state. Yeah, well, Ithink the difference between high school and college
is, you know, brain developmenta little bit, right. You know,
we're not fully developed until we're twentyfive years old. So you're dealing
(21:03):
with a human that's a little bitmore mature, that can handle maybe certain
styles of coaching that maybe a youngerkid can't, that's more independent, that's
going to be a little bit moreself motivated. And I think in today's
college world, it's almost very muchmore of a professional relationship, where in
high school you're more of a mentor, you're more of a father figure,
(21:23):
I would say, And you haveto understand that these kids are still learning
who they are they care a lotabout what people think about them, and
so I think a part of agood coach is truly understanding the player that
they have in front of them andhow to move them toward being a better
player slash human being. You know, the word coach, it was derived
(21:45):
from you know, the horse drawncarriage, the coach. Right, You
got in it and it took yousomewhere, And that's all a coach is.
You're that vehicle that you get inand it just takes you somewhere,
and hopefully that's a really good placewhere you come into greater maturity, greater
understanding of yourself and the ability tohandle adversity and the game of football.
(22:06):
That's why I love it so much. It gives us those chances to do
that. Uh. And I thinkwhen you're on top, Michelle, to
your second question, you know,you gotta you gotta invest in the struggle
and you gotta you gotta, yougotta understand that it's not about what you're
ranked, it's about how you finish. And a way to get where you
finish is to focus on the present. Like that that tiny little step that
you took in practice, that's off, Like we got to correct that.
(22:30):
We've got to bring it down tothe most minuscule thing that we can do
and focus on and control. Ican't control how I'm ranked. Really,
all I can control is how Iplay in that game. Well. In
order for me to play in thatgame, well, I have to practice
well first. I have to preparewell first. And that's all I can
control on a Monday. So whatI try to do is, you know,
(22:51):
I try to heighten the importance ofthe time that we have together in
practice and meetings. You know,I joke all the time. I'm like,
hey, guys, this is thelast Monday. Now we're going to
prepare for McCauley school and twenty twentyfour in the history of the Cosmos,
Okay, and the cosmos is reallyreally old. It's like fifteen billion years
old and we only get this day. So let's number one, let's you
(23:15):
know, take it seriously. Numbertwo, let's enjoy and have fun.
You know. So it's quite adance, but it's fun. I've bet
your kids are like, Okay,coach, really, so you're you're the
son of a coach and you recently, your quarterback recently at Baylor was the
son of a coach Will muss Champwho was at Florida as the head coach.
(23:36):
He was the coach in waiting atone point at Texas and then at
South Carolina and then now he's atGeorgia as a defensive coach. But what
is it like to coach a coach'sson or is with mus Champ like,
how similar are you too? Idon't know. I have no idea,
But what's it like to coach acoach's son? Well, every kid's different,
(24:00):
but I coached both of Will's sonand they're a little bit different,
but they're wonderful humans. I thinkthat it's easier to coach a coach's son
because they've been around the game,and you know, you think about WIT's
life, you know, his earliestmemories or his dad at Florida, his
memories his dad at South Carolina,the pressure, the scrutiny that his dad
was under. You know, he'sused to that world. So honestly,
(24:22):
Wit was pretty unflappable. Like hewas. He was an assassin out there,
and I think a lot of thatis because of his upbringing. And
typically coaches sons have a higher understandingof the game just because they've lived it,
They've understood it. They also understandwhat it takes to be great because
they've been around a bunch of guysthat are doing that. You know that
example is there for them. Soyou know, every kid's different. But
I can tell you that, uh, coaching Jackson and wit Muschamp was an
(24:47):
absolute delight. Will's an awesome guyand and I'm really gonna miss having one
of his kids as my quarterbacks.Cool. What's your favorite thing about coaching
high schoo I think again, it'sI call it the highest level of football
because I think you can make thebiggest impact in people's lives in the game.
(25:08):
That way, it is its game, It's the game and its purest
form in my opinion, because youhave kids that are pulling together, that
are out for a mission, moreso than in professional organizations, where really,
I would say the primary motivation mightbe just personal And so I enjoy
(25:29):
it also affords me the opportunity tobe a dad and a husband and and
you know, my kids are hereand have a work life balance. It's
very difficult when you're in higher levels. Well, I know you've talked about
your your dad a little bit,but you know who else inspires you in
what you do day to day.Man, there's a lot of them are
(25:52):
dead because they they wrote some booksor something that got into later in life.
But no, you know, Itake my inspiration. Of course,
my dad was big, but youknow, my my immediate family. Coaches
out there nowadays that are doing itwell. Like we talked about coach Saban.
Pete Carroll is really instrumental and alot of my thinking. John Wooden
(26:15):
is another one that I've studied alot that I really, you know,
really really look up to a wholelot. But you know, and then
I have just friends in my lifethat I have a lot of respect for
that are incredibly intelligent, warm peoplethat you know, helped me become a
better person. Let's let's we're gonnawell we're not going to get to the
(26:37):
clothes yet, but we want totalk a little bit about your brother Kevin
and how much he's meant to youand what is he taught you about life?
He was injured in a tragic accidentplaying pickup. I think he broke
his C four and C five Andwhat what has he taught you about life?
Yeah, so that happened to youknow, Michelle, We just beat
(26:59):
out Obama in two thousand. Thenext day I got a call about Kevin's
injury. And so he's been youknow, a quadriplegic for it's been over
twenty years now, and so hislife is incredibly hard and and but you
know what, he has a wonderfulattitude and he wakes up every day and
and you know, he's ready tokind of attack the next day. And
some of those days are good anda lot of them are hard. But
(27:22):
I think just his resilience to beable to, you know, keep moving
forward, keep having a positive attitudedespite very difficult circumstances is something that is
always inspiring to all of us.So, you know, it's difficult,
and life happens, and tragedy happensto all of us, but a lot
of it's how we respond to that. Do we let it teach us?
(27:44):
Can we properly heal from it spiritually, emotionally, and can we continue to
move forward, you know, withhope in our life and meaning in our
life? And and Kevin has foundmeaning in his life despite you know,
a horrible situation. Well, it'sbeen a true pleasure talking to you,
Eric. I mean, I know, we we started with some breaking news,
(28:07):
but we finished just kind of gettingto know you a little bit more
and talking about a moment that kindof defined you. But now you've just
created this amazing career, and likecoach Saman said, you just have just
a very enviable and be a littlejob. So it's been wonderful just to
kind of get to know you.Hopefully our listeners will agree. I know,
(28:29):
I know Michelle's look forward to talkingto you as well, and so
we thank you for coming on.But before we close, we have kind
of a little fun, rapid firequestion segment. We call this spin cycle,
so we're going to put you throughit. Are you ready? I'm
ready? Spin SoC Okay, icebath or steam sauna? S sauna?
(28:52):
Ooh, I'm tispath? What conferenceshould Notre Dame join in football? Big
Ten, Morning Person or night Owl? Night Owl? By a mile?
Who is the greatest quarterback ever?Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or do you
(29:15):
have a wild card? I wouldsay that it depends on your definition of
greatest. Right If you're counting rings, clearly it's Brady. I think if
you're talking about passers of the football, then you got to talk about Peyton
Manning and you got to talk aboutDan Marino, So those are two different
things to me. I was thinkingyou were going to slide Dan Marino in
(29:36):
there. Yeah, nice, Ithink you can make a very good argument
for that. And last, what'sfor dinner? What's for dinner tonight?
I'm going out to eat with mywife. It's our twenty one year anniversary
today, so that's what's where areyou going? Whatever she decides? So
I've learned within twenty one years ofmarriage that that's the best answer. And
(30:00):
you guys have been together since highschool? Right, you and we have?
That's amazing. Yeah, wife,that's a whole nother podcast. Okay,
he'd be a good one to talkto you. But she's the best.
And yeah, we've been together sincewe were sixteen. I knew early
on my options were going to belimited as I moved through life and lost
(30:21):
my hair all that stuff. SoI just said, you know what,
listen, I'm kidding. She's thebest, absolutely the best. No,
I've seen her interviewed, I've beenaround her, but I don't know her
at all, and she really isamazing. So she's more competitive than I
am. I think, like it'sfunny we'll be talking to you know,
maybe a young man's interested in comingto Baylor and she's like, Eric,
(30:41):
don't let that kid go somewhere else, like she you know. Or we'll
come back from a game and she'slike, what was going on here?
Or she'll be more mad at theofficials than I am. And so she's
competitive and she loves being a coach'swife and enjoys the competitive environment of high
school football. So it's been it'sbeen a lot of fun. It's awesome.
(31:02):
Its real sounds like you make agood team, which you know when
you have that demanding job and youyou know you can make that all work.
I think it's just all around success. So again, we've so enjoyed
having you. I met you forthe first time obviously, and just you
know, we could talk. Wecould talk all day, but we do
have limited time on the podcast.So thank you again for coming on and
(31:23):
just you know, talking football.Yeah, having me so much, and
good luck with the podcast as youcontinue to grow it and I'll be following
for sure. Yeah, You've beenfantastic, And I know there's going to
be a lot of people that wemutually know that are going to be like
Oh, Eric, So I'm reallyreally I'm thrilled when I when I DMD
(31:47):
you on Facebook, I was thrilledthat you were like, yeah, absolutely,
you'll do it. And I waslike, Oh, he's a celebrity,
he wants to do our podcast.This is amazing. So thank you
so much. It's been a lotof fun to have you on and to
catch up with you. Thanks gotMichelle. That was a great interview with
Eric. You know, it wasone thing to talk to him about coach
Saban's retirement. It was just anotherto kind of talk about his perspective and
(32:08):
coaching. I mean, he's hadamazing success as a high school coach and
just to kind of see the influencehe has and what he brings to the
table with his coaching really fun,really fun, And I personally loved his
Lou Holts imitation. I think you'reright now on that note. Yes,
(32:30):
Yeah, he's pretty good. Ithink his top Carrie Tharp's from a podcast
previously. I think it does.I think it definitely does. Yeah.
No, but so we really wantto thank our listeners for listening and make
sure they follow us on the spinChicks go ahead. We need another recommendation
(32:50):
or referral or whatever you want tocall it other than Eric's son. So
the spin Chicks t H E SP I N c h I c k
S. You're welcome. Yeah.Go go make a comment right now,
don't don't just don't wait, Justdo it and follow us, tune in
(33:14):
for next episode. Thank you,
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