Recorded: April 15th 2023 | On this episode of Best of the Bus, the boys were on the road for their 2023 Spring Tour in Tempe and sat down with Kenny Dillingham, head coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Coach Dillingham breaks down the idea behind naming Will Compton and Taylor Lewan as head coaches for the ASU spring game, and explains why creativity and innovation are essential when recruiting elite, five-star talent to Arizona State. He talks about changing perceptions, building belief, and showing recruits that ASU is a destination worth buying into.
Dillingham also reflects on his coaching journey, including how Assistant Head Coach Charlie Ragle helped get him started, and why the Arizona State job is his dream role. He makes it clear this is where he wants to be, and where he plans to stay.
From facility upgrades and NIL growth to long-term vision and culture, Coach Dillingham lays out his blueprint for the future of Sun Devil football. His energy, passion, and belief in the program are impossible to miss, and by the end of this episode, you just might find yourself rooting for Arizona State.
Enjoy.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Ladies, gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Bust One
with the Boys Spring Tour.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
We are with coach dyling Ham.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Do you want to talk about what just happened out there?
You guys are seeing the first few interviews. I assume
that's how we're gonna drop them.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah, but this one last.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Battle the Boys Spring game champions.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
That one hurts too, Maroon hurts. I'll tell you.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm never won in ASU Stadium. I've never won in
Sun Devil Stadium ever. I have a high state championship
dummy thirty eight to zero Buffalo Wilwing's Bowl dub me
like forty four to thirteen against Kansas State. But this
one hurts the most. A state championship and a bowl game,
and this one hurts the most. Go back to Arizona
where I'm from. Shaptown Coach Dillhan goes to Chaptown. Charlie
(00:47):
Rago's my head coach, and it's like, I legit thought
you guys were gonna really make.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
It so I could win. Yeah, where about character?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I needed to win the other day, I lost this
quarterback challenge and like you can just tell, Taylor and
I low key are super competitive against each.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Other, worried about that quarterback challenge.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I do have that, Yeah, you do have that, and
low key when we put the headsets on everything. I'm
just telling the boys like, hey, we gotta win this
fucking game.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
You guys understand that, right, I've.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Been catching too many w's, dude, I feel like l
was in my future. I'd take one.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Yeah, what was it?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
At the end seventeen fifteen and they're fucking I'm kneeling
at the coordinator.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
I'm like, no, we're not taking a knee. We're running
the ball.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
He's like my boss. He's like, my boss said, we're
taking a knee.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
And so I run up the middle the field.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I'm like, hey, we want to score, and he's like,
go ahead, go score. Like what do you want to do?
And the guy was like in the knee formation or
victory formation. I'm like, score, just run a plane and
score and he's.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Like, hey, I'll throw you a fade.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
No, now that happened, I.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Know because as soon as we new Year's an a
knee and I really thought to myself, was gonna go
try to run this thing up because it was in
the red with.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Our day ardline I know. I was like, no, wait
a minute, we're not taking a knee. We gotta run
this thing up. He caught it too, dude, he did
catch it.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
I was gonna call the ice bath.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Oh is that?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I thought that was sweat? I thought that was the
start of a coaching career one and.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Oh I would not be a good coach. I found
that out today. Your coaches trying to take over for me,
Like maybe you called the place about yeah, let me
get this play and they call one, and then all
of a sudden they start calling the place. I'm like, hey, hey,
what's the play?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And the coach wouldn't listen to me.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
He would just be like, say, I probably called two plays.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, that was probably why they didn't win. I mean,
to be honest, if they were to have listened to you,
I mean like that, I like this sound.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
That's a good way for me to spend it. It's
a good way for me to spend it. But hey,
we're in Tempe, your home. You grew up here, You've
been in so many prestigious programs. We were talking about
this a little bit before we came on camera. Is
historically rich traditions at Florida State Oregon, Auburn and you
come here and let's called spat a spade.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And so how do you compete with those other colleges
that have all that history and tradition to say, hey,
come here.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Well, I think you just look at it and tradition
is just something that happened in the past.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
There's no effect in the future.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Right, But what happens is social media nowadays drives where
kids believe they can go to school. So I believe
I can only go to a school that ESPN tells
me is of an elite status, and they choose those schools.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
We're in reality.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
If twenty five of the best players just choose to
come here three years in a row, our roster would
be top five in the country.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
It's very very simple.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
So people need to stop living in this bubble that
only certain places can win and come to a place
that it's seventy degrees in April, sixty degrees in June. Right,
they bring the Super Bowl here, they bring the waste
management open, they bring tons of concerts for tired athletes
to move here. Right, why would you not live here
in a place that's the fifth largest market in the country.
We have a player who has his own podcast. Right,
(03:43):
why would you not choose to come here? Right, just
because we may not have a tradition in nineteen ninety six, Right,
that's so short minded. We're trying to teach people, Right,
we can be the tradition. Come here and be the
tradition twenty years from now.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
How do you say home on that?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
When you walk around and obviously your facilities, Like we
talk about tradition everything else, but even facility wise and
walking around, you can just tell that money isn't poured
into this place yet.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
No question. And you know the places I've been this
is there's some spots I have.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
This is actually probably the middle of the road facilities
of the places I've been at shocking enough.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's not Oregon, right, And no places Oregon think anybody's
organ Yeah, back Nebraska.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
The support here from the community and from the city
is there. We have the ability financially to compete because
we have the fifth large most pulitinera in the country.
We just got to get everybody back involved.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
In college sports.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Yeah, how do you do that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah? Well if by winning games right and stuff? We
did today you guys.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah, yeah, what got you onto that.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I feel like that was like, you know, I want
to say innovative, but also I don't want to say
innovative because it was us, Like what puts you on
the trail to do something like that? Because we were
promoting like, Hey, where do you guys want us to go?
And then all of a sudden, you just without a shadow,
like without any questioning, like, hey, we want you guys
to come here, and like coaches spring game, we want
to build it around you guys. Because I feel like
the majority of that coaches wouldn't wouldn't do something like that.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
One, I don't need to be the star of the show.
I actually would rather be in the background. Right, so
it's great for me.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Two.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Right, what are the schools did you guys go to?
We went to l s U. We went to South Carolina,
Ohio State Texas?
Speaker 4 (05:24):
What was the other one?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Really?
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Go to Boulder and then where and then here here?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
All five of those have something in common, right, tradition
except for.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Right.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
So we have to be creative and innovative to get
our brand out, to change the narrative. Here, you guys
were the creativity and the innovation, and your guys is
following in just who you guys are as people to
create a culture here that we can change it and
get those players necessary to be one of these teams
that I want to build this program into.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
When you're looking at this this town being it's a
pro football town, how do you get people to transition
from pro football into college football?
Speaker 5 (06:06):
I don't think you'll transition people. I think you got
to teach. I think there's enough room for both. I
think not everybody's going to be able to go to
a Cardinals game on a Sunday, right, But I do
think there's enough people that if you can't go to
a Cardinals game on a Sunday, can come to an
ASU game on a Saturday.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Right.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
I think there's enough people in this city that we
can have both. And people forget ASU was here first
thirty years ago, the Jake Plumber era. There was actually
these plays. All the games sold out seven years ago,
all the games sold out, right. This town just likes
winners because there's so many options. Whichever team's winning is
what they choose, right. So we've got to put a
(06:40):
product on the field that produces winning, and if we
do that, the fans will come the recruits will see it,
and then the tradition happens and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I mean, what was Clemson twenty years ago?
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Clemson had one a ten win game in twenty season,
all of a sudden, the culture changed. Coach Sweeney did
a phenomenal job. Now they're blue blood. Why can't that
happen here?
Speaker 4 (07:01):
That's true, that's fair.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Well as far as for coaching, like finding your process here,
your senior year at Chaparral, you get hurt, you're dealing
with that, you're trying to think of. Regel was talking
about you were going to come here, become a lawyer
like your dad and kind of keep moving forward. What
made you pivot into becoming a football coach?
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Yeah, Coach Regel grabbed me and said, hey, you should
just try this out.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Start coaching.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
And I started coaching, and I just love the impact
you could make on people. I love people, I love
being around people. I'm a people person. Right, all these
excess and the o's people think they matter, and they do.
You have to know what you're doing. But what wins
is can you get people to come together and can
you motivate people to do more than they normally would
that's what wins all the other stuff sounds fun, right, Yeah,
(07:43):
we're gonna run power versus weak rotation, whatever that is.
That's everybody could do that. I could teach my wife, right,
what good play calls are?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Right.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
I wanted a coach because I love seeing that click
for a player. I loved it when a player, maybe
off the field or on the field, in the classroom,
he couldn't get some thing or he didn't know how
to be successful, and then it clicked.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And once it clicks, it clicks, then you know you
know how to manage.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
It, whether that's your life and your work life balance,
and all of a sudden they're like, hey, you've got
to find balance here. You're not balanced yet, you're not
gonna be successful. Then all of a sudden it clicks.
Like I love I'm addicted to that click.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, when you have a guy like Charlie Rigl who
got you into coaching football and now you employed him.
Essentially you snagged Hi from Idaho State and you're like, hey,
come down to ASU when he was a head coach, Like,
what is that relationship like now when at one point
he was your superior?
Speaker 5 (08:31):
Notes flipped Yeah, I mean it's just the guy I
lean on to ask questions too, like is this stupid?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, like we have a dance off in the middle.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
Of a scrimmage or scrimmage three, we paused for a
dance off, and I'm like, is this stupid? Like I
want to do it right, but is it stupid? Like
should we be doing this? We bring a basketball hoop
out to the third practice and the mind of the
practice we have a shootout. I'm like, is this like,
so I just bounce ideas off a ham like I
wanted to run one on ones in the middle of
a practice like one v one ball. He's like, any
(09:02):
they're in cleats. They're not used to the movements and cleats.
That would be stupid shootout. So he's kind of the
person that tones me down because I'm the guy that
wants to go one hundred miles per hour all the
time and everything.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
It's pretty terrifying that guy like Charlier Regal has to
be the one to say, hey, when we were sitting here,
he was saying earlier he's their fifth gearriers in part,
so that's.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
He does the speed. He's the speech guy in me.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Oh, he is incredible. Speeches are all time. Brother, I
was trying to tell you. I remember the one about
the dog through the ball and the dog kept running
and then through it again. The dog kept running. The
dog never came back because he wanted that ball. He
want to run through a fucking wall when he does that.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Dude, you when you're when you're looking at this program
and you guys are expected yours are predicted to win
four games this year, how do you think going into
this season with the development you've seen from spring ball,
how do you see the season going for you guys?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah? I mean I think our players.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
I haven't even talked about that because I think our
guy are invested like I think our guys.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
You heard Jalen.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
Said earlier what his expectations are, right, not even close
to the same, because I don't think people understand or
how much our team grew together. People look at forty
five new kids, forty five old kids that are all
probably selfish is what people think, right, Kids that just
came here to get theirs, that's why you transferred to
get yours.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
And what they fail to see is the community.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
Like you guys mentioned an off air that our kids
are together like our kids, it's different, Like there is
a they're building a culture here for each other, and
I think that's the secret sauce to winning in college.
Look at Kansas State right, look at Utah right, look
at the teams that win, right, it's the culture that wins.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Uh, And you can tell too, Like when the kids
were on here talking and doing their interview, they also
alluded to you being excited, like this was your dream job.
Can you talk about like why ASU is your dream job?
And if you you know, if you're saying that and
not planning on going anywhere else, speak a little bit
on that.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
So obviously I'm born and raised here. I grew up
going to games. You know, my family moved out here,
my parents when they were you know, fifty years ago.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
My wife's born and raised here. We were neighbors in
high school.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
So I grew up rooting for Arizona State, and then
I coached high school ball here. Right then I coached
college ball here, and then I moved around the country.
But this is always home. So home is home, Like
there's nothing like being home. Like you talk about ultra motivation,
Like I used to clean up dog crap at Chaparral
Park that was my job when I coached, I.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Drive by Chaparral Park on my way to work.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
So when you talk about all those things that add up,
and then with my families here, I believe this place
can win championships. I believe the city, what it's growing to,
what it can become. All we have to do is
teach kids it's okay to come here. That's it, because
if you showed.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Up here, you're gonna be like, dang, I want to
live there.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
That's not a debate. You just got to teach people
it's okay, hey, to come here. That's it. It's okay.
Don't listen to the media. Come here, live the life
you want to live. Live the life retired professional athletes
live in Chandler. Right, and let's go do something special.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You say, like.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Jason, Yeah, what as you're used too? Is I tell
them it's okay to come here. Why do you think
ASU has that stigma of being like, hey, if you're
if you're a five star guy, unless you're like, grew
up an ASU fan, don't come here.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
I think the media chooses what's okay and where's okay
for people to go to. I think when you watch TV,
when you look at Twitter, they tell you, they tell
these five and four stars, you can only go to blank.
You're too good for blank, right, That program's not good
enough in history for you.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Why like why like that doesn't make any sense to me.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
But it's the narrative that these kids here all the
time is you're too good for this, you're too good
for this, right, when in reality they should be finding
where they want to live, right, and what people they trust.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
That's it.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
And if you get twenty five elite players living where
they want to live with coaches they trust, that's an
elite team.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Just like that.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
It's a very very simple process. But you've got to
you've got to break the narrative.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, when you're as a head coach, being such a
young head coach, what do you attribute your success to
at such a young age, Because there's a lot of
coaches out there that are in their fifty sixties that
have never sniffed a head coaching job. How did you
get to this point at such an early age in
your life?
Speaker 5 (13:36):
Yeah, I would say I have a bad I'm very
bad at not being honest. So everybody thinks, oh, young
energy players coach, Right, that's what the players think players coach, right,
But I'm also the dude that tells you what you
don't want to hear.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Like I have no problem saying you can't play here.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
Yeah, you know how to make it. You're not You're
not gonna play for us. I have no problem saying
that was laziest like. That doesn't bother me. That's just
how I was raised. So I think the combination of
my youth and understanding that kids haven't changed. Right. People
say kids have changed, kids have changed, just like the narrative, right,
all these new kids are different.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
No, they haven't. Right.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Adults have lowered the bar because they think kids can't
hit the old standard, so they just lower the bar,
lower the bar, lower the bar, lower the bar, and
then you hit the bar. No, you can hit the
bar that's always been set, just do it in different ways.
Kids like social media out. Don't hide from it. We
have people saying, oh, social media is the devil.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Hide from it. No, embrace it.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
Show them all their tweets of people calling them the
worst player on.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
The planet, so they get used to it.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Don't tell them, don't look at it, because they're gonna
like you have to embrace the new age that we
are in right, and then find a way to hit
the same high bar in a new era. And I
feel like I've been able to find a balance. And
then I genuinely care about people like I have relationships.
I have a group chats with all my former quarterbacks.
I think they can feel that. So all those three
things can.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Have you gone.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Sorry, I was just gonna say, where do you feel
like you've picked up on those things overtime and over
your career, Like what philosophies or what things have you read?
What things have helped kind of cultivate that mindset about it?
Speaker 5 (15:10):
I think one, I mean coach Regel. I mean he's
a guy who cared about his players. I mean he
would do anything for his players, but he coached them
hard right. He was passionate, like he brought it every
single day. So getting to c under him at a
young age. We had another guy from a football standpoint,
Conrad Hamilton, right, who was an unbelievable defensive coach. Right
also coach of Chaparral yep, also a coach of Chaparral. Yeah,
(15:31):
we had a squad, dude, We'll get on that later,
but we had we had a squad right, it was
probably the goat squad of all time in the history
of high school football.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But that's just my personal opinion.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
But I combine that with guys like Mike Norvel, and
I think I've learned more what to do, but I've
learned more what I wouldn't do along the way, Like hey,
I love this, but I don't like this, And I've
just kind of marked off all the things I wouldn't
want to do as a head coach because at the
(16:02):
end of the day, people know fake. That's one thing
I firmly believe people know fake people know real people
know if a head coach walked in. If I walked
in and gave a speech like Charlie Ragel and say
we're gonna chase the dog, I'd be laughed out the roof.
I'm five nine, I'm an athletic, like I'm the goofball.
I got no chance to give that speech. If I
give that speech, I'm a fraud. I have to play
(16:22):
into me as a head coach. The culture is gonna
be what I am because if you're not, people feed
off of it, and they know your full crapy.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Phenomenal energy.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Phenomenal energy when you're talking about kids looking at Twitter
and you're like, go ahead and look at the negative comments.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Have you ever showed players. Have you ever gone into
a team meeting room and been like, hey, they're saying
this about you.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
Not yet, but we have showed what they retweet in Like,
So I do just from like, hey, I just scroll
and this is what you like. So if somebody is
trying to draft you or hire you for a job
and they look at your Twitter, this is you, bud,
just know.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That dark So that's hilarious exactly. So I do some
or all the.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Positive ego feeling shit that they get tweeted at and
they like or retweeting stuff, and it's like, hey, you
know the whole quote Lifford the Cheers died by the Booze.
It's like, you know, the moment people say bad stuff
about you, you're gonna we know, you're gonna be looking
and feeding into that because you get so hyped to
like and retweet and engage with everybody who you want
to see, Oh look what's so and so said about me?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Correct?
Speaker 5 (17:22):
I mean there was a year in years past, just
as an example, I pulled up my name for my
team and scrawled at all the hate.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So they can see.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
Look, this is what people say about me calling reverse
on the minus ten. That was a TfL fumble. Probably
not a great call, right, Look, people hate me definitely.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
But horrible call.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
We were the number two offense in the country, right,
So they loved me, loved me, loved me. Hate hate hate,
hate hate, And the whole goal is like you should
love the process to get better. And the best players
I've ever been around loved like the football, like they
found a way even if they didn't love ball, they
found a way to fall in love with being there,
(18:01):
even if football wasn't their passion. They found a way
to compete one on one and talk crap enough that
they found a way to compete. So it's can you
block all that out look at it, because you're gonna
look at it. You can't hide from it anymore. Let's
embrace it. But then keep the main thing the main thing.
Laugh at it like, yeah, you're probably right and you
should have cut that ball. I agree with them, Yeah
you should, you know, but you don't. Don't take it
(18:23):
as a negative. Take it as a laugh like joke
about it.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
When you're going through recruiting process of Arizona. How do
you get guys, what's your selling point on ASU over
something like you of A or anywhere else in the
PAC twelve.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Well, I think for us specific one, we don't recruit
for U of A.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Uh, that's just that's a no brainer. You come here.
That's a no brainer to come here. Oh, like they
just ain't. Yeah, that's a no brainer to come here.
You should come here.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Yeah, that's not a debate.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I'm and I'm gonna hate that Mark. We gotta
clip that from and I'm gonna and I'm gonna be here.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
There's I mean, you're you're choosing a U of A
or a SHU with a guy who's passion about actually
being here forever. Yeah, it's not a debate because you
know you're gonna Jeed Fish. He's a really good football coach.
He's a really good football really good football coach. You
guys have got in a fight, who do you think
would win?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Oh? I would win? Yeah, Oh yeah I would win. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
I'm thirty two and I am fiery. Yeah I will
bite ankles. Did just say you're unathletic, and goofy, I'm unathletic,
But I'm fiery, and you could hit me over and
over again.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I'm probably I'm gonna go all day.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
You'll be like that dog.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah, I'm gonna be like the dog. Yes, you're gonna
have to.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Kill the dogs.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
You're gonna have kill me.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I don't like to.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Lose anybody in the Pac twelve that you think could
whoop your.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Ass we go through this. Uh, I mean, I don't know.
I mean I would.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
I mean, to be honest, you would think, you know,
and I mean he's a professional athlete that's being.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Real losses toes.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, so you don't know how that kind of hitted.
I don't know, but I would just think.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
I mean I think he just benched like two twenty
five twenty times or something.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I don't know, you really do that.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, I was pretty impressed with bench Yeah, yeah, I
mean he's always been talking about that.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
He's always been a bench press cat.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Sometimes you do videos after he gets done hit the
bench press, drop some wisdom on, you, drop some philosophy on.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, that's awesome. So you know one's beating you except
for Dan maybe.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Yeah, maybe I don't I don't know. I'd have to
Kyle Whittingham is the way his team plays. I don't
know any of these guys yet, but the way his
team places, I wouldn't want to get in to steal
cage with them. You're usually a reflection of your coach,
how physical and tough you are as a football team.
So the way his team plays, I wouldn't want to
get in a ring with him.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
This guy's play hard. Has the NFL ever been something
that you've thought about? Not really.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
I like the I like make an impact on kids.
I like seeing kids like a switch. Yeah, it's not
as much about the football as it is about the people.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Do you think you would ever dabble in the NFL? No,
you say not really.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
It's like, what if you have great success at Arizona State,
which let's just say within five years, you put a
couple of years together, and then the NFL starts to
poke their head in on like, hey, let's get you
up to the big leagues.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah I want to be here and throwing a bag
at you, yeah I want to be here.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
I mean, at the end of the day, I always
tell people, like, there's a certain amount of money to
make you comfortable, right, I am way in that number.
Then there's a certain amount of money. That's just what
are you gonna do with it?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Right?
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I mean here, I'm way beyond comfortable.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
So at this point, like I am very very happy,
and I plan on being here, Like I want to
build this, right, I want to build this for the
long haul. That's why we're not cutting corners. I mean
especially culturally, like we're not we're not cutting corners culturally, building.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
This the right way.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
What fires me up?
Speaker 3 (21:32):
And you can ask you a question, but I was
just gonna chime in and say, what fires me up
is that I believe all the stuff he's saying. And
we were, we were a part of year one.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
That is a good point five years though. You will
get a call from us, you know, this will be on.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeahs come here in the fall for a game like
a tailgate or something like that.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
That'd be fun anytime in come Arizona.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Well, you guys will be on the raiders, so you'll
just be able to drive down right.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
There, we do have rules. We have to play together this.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Yeah, we are.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
When you start winning here and the money starts coming
into ASU to really beef up this facility. Where's the
first place you're attacking?
Speaker 5 (22:14):
Yeah, I mean, I want to get an indoor right behind.
We have a bubble over on the other side. I
want to get an indoor in the fields moved over here,
which is already part of our plans. Uh, but obviously
that's good you put it. We're going to take out
some of the parking behind yeah, behind this, and we'll
put an indoor right here, taking out that building, and
then two fields back there.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
So everything's kind of yep, everything's right here, So that
that's that's step one.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
But my first step in terms of fundraising and money
is fundraising for our players and INNIL. Everything I do
right now is for our players. They said they wanted
better food, got in better food. They said they wanted
better snacks. Got the better snacks. Right, you guys ate
the food today, it's pretty good, right. Uh. They said
they need an i L. They haven't had it. I
have fundraised almost every night for an IL. Like every
(22:56):
decision we make is players. And if you keep that
the main thing that players win. That means everything you
should spend money on should affect the who the players.
So I asked them what do they want? Like, what
do you guys want?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
You want this? You want this?
Speaker 5 (23:11):
You want this because that's who you're trying to get
to play at the best of their ability, and that's
how you get buy.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
In with ni L.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
How do you attack that because you're you're basically always
playing free agency? Now, how do you there's a phrase
is about the start right now and aday, how do
you go about attacking that?
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (23:29):
One for us, I tell people, if you don't want
to be here, leave because I firmly believe culture wins.
So it's you want to be here, leave, that's fine.
I really don't care, like go. I don't care if
our three best players into the portal. I wouldn't want it,
and I don't believe that's gonna happen because we've built
a good culture here. But I wouldn't beg them to
stay because that's how you build a bad culture. Right.
(23:50):
And on top of that, I tell everybody my job
is to bring in somebody to beat you out. Yeah,
because that's the best for the team. So it may
hurt your feelings if I bring in four players and
they beat out four starters, but guess what, there's another
eighty five guys who are on a better team. So
don't be selfish When I make this team better, and
I challenge them. I just tell them that there are
(24:11):
no guarantees on this team. Every transfer we took right,
they weren't promised anything. Zero transfers were promised to start.
We're promising I own money were promised anything. It was
coming to your compete win. Same thing with everybody on
our team. It is win and earn your keep.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
I feel like we've basically hit all the big one.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I do want to hit what more? You use the
phrase activate the valley? What does that mean?
Speaker 5 (24:35):
It just means get everybody involved, Like show up at
the spring game, by season tickets, show up because the
one thing that we're gonna you know, you don't have
that six national titles, right, you don't have the three
national titles that you have to be able to show
recruits as people care. You have to be able to
go to a game in the fall and see a
(24:56):
sold out crowd and see an environment that you want
to play in, because that as a huge effect on prospects.
So if we want to be where we want to
get to, If we want to get to where we
want to get, us a program which is recruit the
best players to come here so we can be the
best team to come here. They need to show up
and see a sold out crowd with butts in seats.
They need to see people active on social media. People
(25:17):
think it's stupid.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
No, it's not.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Our recruits love being retweated by our fans. It shows love.
We need everybody in the value to be activated in
the fifth largest valley with one school. All these other
large and all these other large cities don't just have
one school in a one hour radius.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
They all have two schools. We're the only one with one.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
If everybody can get behind us and get activated financially
with what you can give, and then put your butt
in a seat, show up right, people are going to
realize we care. And if people realize.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
We care here, we're gonna be prety dang good, the
right man, the right man for the job here.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
I feel like ACU is in at hands, folks. Coach,
we appreciate you coming on today.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Now. If you if you drop, if you don't even
win four games, we might have to come back and
ask about that.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
But so far, like, I'm sold.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Who's your first game? Our our first game is that home.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
We have four home games, so our first pack twelve
game is USC here week four, so four for USC
at home. We play Oklahoma State week two and then
Fresno State week three. So we've got we've got a
few a few good games here at home to start.
So I'm hoping it's one hundred and flat five all
four of those games.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And I'm hoping we kick off at noon. Oh yes, absolutely,
this has been awesome man.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
We appreciate you're rooting for you.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Man.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
We really hope every day's coming out.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
Uh you know, let's I mean, maybe you'll have to
defend your trophy next year.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Maybe I would sign up for that right now. I
need that.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
As you get a little I'm not gonna touch that.
We need a little Will Compton right there on the side.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Put on the side.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
Yeah, we almost got you a second place trophy that
was just like a car bar.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
That would be so funny.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
But your pocket short a key chain or something.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Yeah, this is awesome, man, this awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I feel there should be a punishment for me for losing.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
We were bummed because somebody goes because on the pod
we were like, we'll figure out what the bed is,
all right, so what so what what does the loser?
Would the loser have to do or give or anything
like that. It's like, man, we didn't get around and
doing it.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Don't say that, bro, don't say that. I think I
think the loser should have to donate his watch to
a s U N I L. I think that would
be phenomenal. You could figure out something.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I'll tell you what next year, not the watch to
watch Vegas. Yeah yeah, but that's my money.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I'm would have to keep that, keep that that trade alive.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
But yes, we will be back, and I think there
should be some sort of n I L that next
year between you and me, loser has to pay a
certain amount.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Yeah, as long as we as long as it alliances
whatever happens this year, like what just happened?
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Okay, how much do you want me to pay this?
Speaker 4 (28:10):
I don't know this umber?
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Next year say a number, but no, next year it's
gonna be the same thing because I'll pay whatever.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
You can think about it.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
You don't want to say a number right now?
Speaker 3 (28:19):
You know, money gets me, Yeah, money gives me the
escalate today. Yeah, reason there was a reason that I
would escalate. You're soft now, you don't got that great people?
You know, we had put the video of me and
(28:39):
the Raft four with that all the way back, the
big case, the big case, oh if there's a Raft four,
and then the escalade. I'm thinking the big case, caring
case for all this equipment would go in to escalate.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Mitch was the one in charge of it. Mitch is
on Team Compton.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
The whole thought process was we're gonna be riding in
separate cars, like, now's the time, now is the morning.
We shouldn't be hanging out more. We need to separate.
So I was like, let's separate Team Compton, Team Lawan.
And then I look at this big case and I'm like, hey,
we should get to escalade. I was like, oh, I
see what you're doing. Buckle them in his seat and everything.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Due.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I was hot.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
I was hot, But yeah, coach, we appreciate you. If
you want us to come back for a spring game,
we'll absolutely do that.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Awesome, absolutely, man.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Appreciate it. Be here.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
We had a lot of fun, a lot of fun.
Subscribe big cucks, tiny kisses and.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Five stars and tell tell your friends too. Please God
we need this.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Oh that was fun. Appreciate it.
Ladies, gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Bust One
with the Boys Spring Tour.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
We are with coach dyling Ham.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Do you want to talk about what just happened out there?
You guys are seeing the first few interviews. I assume
that's how we're gonna drop them.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah, but this one last.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Battle the Boys Spring game champions.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
That one hurts too, Maroon hurts. I'll tell you.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm never won in ASU Stadium. I've never won in
Sun Devil Stadium ever. I have a high state championship
dummy thirty eight to zero Buffalo Wilwing's Bowl dub me
like forty four to thirteen against Kansas State. But this
one hurts the most. A state championship and a bowl game,
and this one hurts the most. Go back to Arizona
where I'm from. Shaptown Coach Dillhan goes to Chaptown. Charlie
(00:47):
Rago's my head coach, and it's like, I legit thought
you guys were gonna really make.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
It so I could win. Yeah, where about character?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I needed to win the other day, I lost this
quarterback challenge and like you can just tell, Taylor and
I low key are super competitive against each.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Other, worried about that quarterback challenge.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I do have that, Yeah, you do have that, and
low key when we put the headsets on everything. I'm
just telling the boys like, hey, we gotta win this
fucking game.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
You guys understand that, right, I've.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Been catching too many w's, dude, I feel like l
was in my future. I'd take one.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Yeah, what was it?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
At the end seventeen fifteen and they're fucking I'm kneeling
at the coordinator.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
I'm like, no, we're not taking a knee. We're running
the ball.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
He's like my boss. He's like, my boss said, we're
taking a knee.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
And so I run up the middle the field.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I'm like, hey, we want to score, and he's like,
go ahead, go score. Like what do you want to do?
And the guy was like in the knee formation or
victory formation. I'm like, score, just run a plane and
score and he's.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Like, hey, I'll throw you a fade.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
No, now that happened, I.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Know because as soon as we new Year's an a
knee and I really thought to myself, was gonna go
try to run this thing up because it was in
the red with.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Our day ardline I know. I was like, no, wait
a minute, we're not taking a knee. We gotta run
this thing up. He caught it too, dude, he did
catch it.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
I was gonna call the ice bath.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Oh is that?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I thought that was sweat? I thought that was the
start of a coaching career one and.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Oh I would not be a good coach. I found
that out today. Your coaches trying to take over for me,
Like maybe you called the place about yeah, let me
get this play and they call one, and then all
of a sudden they start calling the place. I'm like, hey, hey,
what's the play?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And the coach wouldn't listen to me.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
He would just be like, say, I probably called two plays.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, that was probably why they didn't win. I mean,
to be honest, if they were to have listened to you,
I mean like that, I like this sound.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
That's a good way for me to spend it. It's
a good way for me to spend it. But hey,
we're in Tempe, your home. You grew up here, You've
been in so many prestigious programs. We were talking about
this a little bit before we came on camera. Is
historically rich traditions at Florida State Oregon, Auburn and you
come here and let's called spat a spade.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And so how do you compete with those other colleges
that have all that history and tradition to say, hey,
come here.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Well, I think you just look at it and tradition
is just something that happened in the past.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
There's no effect in the future.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Right, But what happens is social media nowadays drives where
kids believe they can go to school. So I believe
I can only go to a school that ESPN tells
me is of an elite status, and they choose those schools.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
We're in reality.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
If twenty five of the best players just choose to
come here three years in a row, our roster would
be top five in the country.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
It's very very simple.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
So people need to stop living in this bubble that
only certain places can win and come to a place
that it's seventy degrees in April, sixty degrees in June. Right,
they bring the Super Bowl here, they bring the waste
management open, they bring tons of concerts for tired athletes
to move here. Right, why would you not live here
in a place that's the fifth largest market in the country.
We have a player who has his own podcast. Right,
(03:43):
why would you not choose to come here? Right, just
because we may not have a tradition in nineteen ninety six, Right,
that's so short minded. We're trying to teach people, Right,
we can be the tradition. Come here and be the
tradition twenty years from now.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
How do you say home on that?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
When you walk around and obviously your facilities, Like we
talk about tradition everything else, but even facility wise and
walking around, you can just tell that money isn't poured
into this place yet.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
No question. And you know the places I've been this
is there's some spots I have.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
This is actually probably the middle of the road facilities
of the places I've been at shocking enough.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's not Oregon, right, And no places Oregon think anybody's
organ Yeah, back Nebraska.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
The support here from the community and from the city
is there. We have the ability financially to compete because
we have the fifth large most pulitinera in the country.
We just got to get everybody back involved.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
In college sports.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Yeah, how do you do that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah? Well if by winning games right and stuff? We
did today you guys.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah, yeah, what got you onto that.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I feel like that was like, you know, I want
to say innovative, but also I don't want to say
innovative because it was us, Like what puts you on
the trail to do something like that? Because we were
promoting like, Hey, where do you guys want us to go?
And then all of a sudden, you just without a shadow,
like without any questioning, like, hey, we want you guys
to come here, and like coaches spring game, we want
to build it around you guys. Because I feel like
the majority of that coaches wouldn't wouldn't do something like that.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
One, I don't need to be the star of the show.
I actually would rather be in the background. Right, so
it's great for me.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Two.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Right, what are the schools did you guys go to?
We went to l s U. We went to South Carolina,
Ohio State Texas?
Speaker 4 (05:24):
What was the other one?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Really?
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Go to Boulder and then where and then here here?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
All five of those have something in common, right, tradition
except for.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Right.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
So we have to be creative and innovative to get
our brand out, to change the narrative. Here, you guys
were the creativity and the innovation, and your guys is
following in just who you guys are as people to
create a culture here that we can change it and
get those players necessary to be one of these teams
that I want to build this program into.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
When you're looking at this this town being it's a
pro football town, how do you get people to transition
from pro football into college football?
Speaker 5 (06:06):
I don't think you'll transition people. I think you got
to teach. I think there's enough room for both. I
think not everybody's going to be able to go to
a Cardinals game on a Sunday, right, But I do
think there's enough people that if you can't go to
a Cardinals game on a Sunday, can come to an
ASU game on a Saturday.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Right.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
I think there's enough people in this city that we
can have both. And people forget ASU was here first
thirty years ago, the Jake Plumber era. There was actually
these plays. All the games sold out seven years ago,
all the games sold out, right. This town just likes
winners because there's so many options. Whichever team's winning is
what they choose, right. So we've got to put a
(06:40):
product on the field that produces winning, and if we
do that, the fans will come the recruits will see it,
and then the tradition happens and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I mean, what was Clemson twenty years ago?
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Clemson had one a ten win game in twenty season,
all of a sudden, the culture changed. Coach Sweeney did
a phenomenal job. Now they're blue blood. Why can't that
happen here?
Speaker 4 (07:01):
That's true, that's fair.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Well as far as for coaching, like finding your process here,
your senior year at Chaparral, you get hurt, you're dealing
with that, you're trying to think of. Regel was talking
about you were going to come here, become a lawyer
like your dad and kind of keep moving forward. What
made you pivot into becoming a football coach?
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Yeah, Coach Regel grabbed me and said, hey, you should
just try this out.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Start coaching.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
And I started coaching, and I just love the impact
you could make on people. I love people, I love
being around people. I'm a people person. Right, all these
excess and the o's people think they matter, and they do.
You have to know what you're doing. But what wins
is can you get people to come together and can
you motivate people to do more than they normally would
that's what wins all the other stuff sounds fun, right, Yeah,
(07:43):
we're gonna run power versus weak rotation, whatever that is.
That's everybody could do that. I could teach my wife, right,
what good play calls are?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Right.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
I wanted a coach because I love seeing that click
for a player. I loved it when a player, maybe
off the field or on the field, in the classroom,
he couldn't get some thing or he didn't know how
to be successful, and then it clicked.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And once it clicks, it clicks, then you know you
know how to manage.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
It, whether that's your life and your work life balance,
and all of a sudden they're like, hey, you've got
to find balance here. You're not balanced yet, you're not
gonna be successful. Then all of a sudden it clicks.
Like I love I'm addicted to that click.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, when you have a guy like Charlie Rigl who
got you into coaching football and now you employed him.
Essentially you snagged Hi from Idaho State and you're like, hey,
come down to ASU when he was a head coach, Like,
what is that relationship like now when at one point
he was your superior?
Speaker 5 (08:31):
Notes flipped Yeah, I mean it's just the guy I
lean on to ask questions too, like is this stupid?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, like we have a dance off in the middle.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
Of a scrimmage or scrimmage three, we paused for a
dance off, and I'm like, is this stupid? Like I
want to do it right, but is it stupid? Like
should we be doing this? We bring a basketball hoop
out to the third practice and the mind of the
practice we have a shootout. I'm like, is this like,
so I just bounce ideas off a ham like I
wanted to run one on ones in the middle of
a practice like one v one ball. He's like, any
(09:02):
they're in cleats. They're not used to the movements and cleats.
That would be stupid shootout. So he's kind of the
person that tones me down because I'm the guy that
wants to go one hundred miles per hour all the
time and everything.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
It's pretty terrifying that guy like Charlier Regal has to
be the one to say, hey, when we were sitting here,
he was saying earlier he's their fifth gearriers in part,
so that's.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
He does the speed. He's the speech guy in me.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Oh, he is incredible. Speeches are all time. Brother, I
was trying to tell you. I remember the one about
the dog through the ball and the dog kept running
and then through it again. The dog kept running. The
dog never came back because he wanted that ball. He
want to run through a fucking wall when he does that.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Dude, you when you're when you're looking at this program
and you guys are expected yours are predicted to win
four games this year, how do you think going into
this season with the development you've seen from spring ball,
how do you see the season going for you guys?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah? I mean I think our players.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
I haven't even talked about that because I think our
guy are invested like I think our guys.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
You heard Jalen.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
Said earlier what his expectations are, right, not even close
to the same, because I don't think people understand or
how much our team grew together. People look at forty
five new kids, forty five old kids that are all
probably selfish is what people think, right, Kids that just
came here to get theirs, that's why you transferred to
get yours.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
And what they fail to see is the community.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
Like you guys mentioned an off air that our kids
are together like our kids, it's different, Like there is
a they're building a culture here for each other, and
I think that's the secret sauce to winning in college.
Look at Kansas State right, look at Utah right, look
at the teams that win, right, it's the culture that wins.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Uh, And you can tell too, Like when the kids
were on here talking and doing their interview, they also
alluded to you being excited, like this was your dream job.
Can you talk about like why ASU is your dream job?
And if you you know, if you're saying that and
not planning on going anywhere else, speak a little bit
on that.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
So obviously I'm born and raised here. I grew up
going to games. You know, my family moved out here,
my parents when they were you know, fifty years ago.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
My wife's born and raised here. We were neighbors in
high school.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
So I grew up rooting for Arizona State, and then
I coached high school ball here. Right then I coached
college ball here, and then I moved around the country.
But this is always home. So home is home, Like
there's nothing like being home. Like you talk about ultra motivation,
Like I used to clean up dog crap at Chaparral
Park that was my job when I coached, I.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Drive by Chaparral Park on my way to work.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
So when you talk about all those things that add up,
and then with my families here, I believe this place
can win championships. I believe the city, what it's growing to,
what it can become. All we have to do is
teach kids it's okay to come here. That's it, because
if you showed.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Up here, you're gonna be like, dang, I want to
live there.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
That's not a debate. You just got to teach people
it's okay, hey, to come here. That's it. It's okay.
Don't listen to the media. Come here, live the life
you want to live. Live the life retired professional athletes
live in Chandler. Right, and let's go do something special.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You say, like.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Jason, Yeah, what as you're used too? Is I tell
them it's okay to come here. Why do you think
ASU has that stigma of being like, hey, if you're
if you're a five star guy, unless you're like, grew
up an ASU fan, don't come here.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
I think the media chooses what's okay and where's okay
for people to go to. I think when you watch TV,
when you look at Twitter, they tell you, they tell
these five and four stars, you can only go to blank.
You're too good for blank, right, That program's not good
enough in history for you.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Why like why like that doesn't make any sense to me.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
But it's the narrative that these kids here all the
time is you're too good for this, you're too good
for this, right, when in reality they should be finding
where they want to live, right, and what people they trust.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
That's it.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
And if you get twenty five elite players living where
they want to live with coaches they trust, that's an
elite team.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Just like that.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
It's a very very simple process. But you've got to
you've got to break the narrative.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, when you're as a head coach, being such a
young head coach, what do you attribute your success to
at such a young age, Because there's a lot of
coaches out there that are in their fifty sixties that
have never sniffed a head coaching job. How did you
get to this point at such an early age in
your life?
Speaker 5 (13:36):
Yeah, I would say I have a bad I'm very
bad at not being honest. So everybody thinks, oh, young
energy players coach, Right, that's what the players think players coach, right,
But I'm also the dude that tells you what you
don't want to hear.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Like I have no problem saying you can't play here.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
Yeah, you know how to make it. You're not You're
not gonna play for us. I have no problem saying
that was laziest like. That doesn't bother me. That's just
how I was raised. So I think the combination of
my youth and understanding that kids haven't changed. Right. People
say kids have changed, kids have changed, just like the narrative, right,
all these new kids are different.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
No, they haven't. Right.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Adults have lowered the bar because they think kids can't
hit the old standard, so they just lower the bar,
lower the bar, lower the bar, lower the bar, and
then you hit the bar. No, you can hit the
bar that's always been set, just do it in different ways.
Kids like social media out. Don't hide from it. We
have people saying, oh, social media is the devil.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Hide from it. No, embrace it.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
Show them all their tweets of people calling them the
worst player on.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
The planet, so they get used to it.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Don't tell them, don't look at it, because they're gonna
like you have to embrace the new age that we
are in right, and then find a way to hit
the same high bar in a new era. And I
feel like I've been able to find a balance. And
then I genuinely care about people like I have relationships.
I have a group chats with all my former quarterbacks.
I think they can feel that. So all those three
things can.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Have you gone.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Sorry, I was just gonna say, where do you feel
like you've picked up on those things overtime and over
your career, Like what philosophies or what things have you read?
What things have helped kind of cultivate that mindset about it?
Speaker 5 (15:10):
I think one, I mean coach Regel. I mean he's
a guy who cared about his players. I mean he
would do anything for his players, but he coached them
hard right. He was passionate, like he brought it every
single day. So getting to c under him at a
young age. We had another guy from a football standpoint,
Conrad Hamilton, right, who was an unbelievable defensive coach. Right
also coach of Chaparral yep, also a coach of Chaparral. Yeah,
(15:31):
we had a squad, dude, We'll get on that later,
but we had we had a squad right, it was
probably the goat squad of all time in the history
of high school football.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But that's just my personal opinion.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
But I combine that with guys like Mike Norvel, and
I think I've learned more what to do, but I've
learned more what I wouldn't do along the way, Like hey,
I love this, but I don't like this, And I've
just kind of marked off all the things I wouldn't
want to do as a head coach because at the
(16:02):
end of the day, people know fake. That's one thing
I firmly believe people know fake people know real people
know if a head coach walked in. If I walked
in and gave a speech like Charlie Ragel and say
we're gonna chase the dog, I'd be laughed out the roof.
I'm five nine, I'm an athletic, like I'm the goofball.
I got no chance to give that speech. If I
give that speech, I'm a fraud. I have to play
(16:22):
into me as a head coach. The culture is gonna
be what I am because if you're not, people feed
off of it, and they know your full crapy.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Phenomenal energy.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Phenomenal energy when you're talking about kids looking at Twitter
and you're like, go ahead and look at the negative comments.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Have you ever showed players. Have you ever gone into
a team meeting room and been like, hey, they're saying
this about you.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
Not yet, but we have showed what they retweet in Like,
So I do just from like, hey, I just scroll
and this is what you like. So if somebody is
trying to draft you or hire you for a job
and they look at your Twitter, this is you, bud,
just know.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That dark So that's hilarious exactly. So I do some
or all the.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Positive ego feeling shit that they get tweeted at and
they like or retweeting stuff, and it's like, hey, you
know the whole quote Lifford the Cheers died by the Booze.
It's like, you know, the moment people say bad stuff
about you, you're gonna we know, you're gonna be looking
and feeding into that because you get so hyped to
like and retweet and engage with everybody who you want
to see, Oh look what's so and so said about me?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Correct?
Speaker 5 (17:22):
I mean there was a year in years past, just
as an example, I pulled up my name for my
team and scrawled at all the hate.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So they can see.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
Look, this is what people say about me calling reverse
on the minus ten. That was a TfL fumble. Probably
not a great call, right, Look, people hate me definitely.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
But horrible call.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
We were the number two offense in the country, right,
So they loved me, loved me, loved me. Hate hate hate,
hate hate, And the whole goal is like you should
love the process to get better. And the best players
I've ever been around loved like the football, like they
found a way even if they didn't love ball, they
found a way to fall in love with being there,
(18:01):
even if football wasn't their passion. They found a way
to compete one on one and talk crap enough that
they found a way to compete. So it's can you
block all that out look at it, because you're gonna
look at it. You can't hide from it anymore. Let's
embrace it. But then keep the main thing the main thing.
Laugh at it like, yeah, you're probably right and you
should have cut that ball. I agree with them, Yeah
you should, you know, but you don't. Don't take it
(18:23):
as a negative. Take it as a laugh like joke
about it.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
When you're going through recruiting process of Arizona. How do
you get guys, what's your selling point on ASU over
something like you of A or anywhere else in the
PAC twelve.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Well, I think for us specific one, we don't recruit
for U of A.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Uh, that's just that's a no brainer. You come here.
That's a no brainer to come here. Oh, like they
just ain't. Yeah, that's a no brainer to come here.
You should come here.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Yeah, that's not a debate.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I'm and I'm gonna hate that Mark. We gotta
clip that from and I'm gonna and I'm gonna be here.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
There's I mean, you're you're choosing a U of A
or a SHU with a guy who's passion about actually
being here forever. Yeah, it's not a debate because you
know you're gonna Jeed Fish. He's a really good football coach.
He's a really good football really good football coach. You
guys have got in a fight, who do you think
would win?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Oh? I would win? Yeah, Oh yeah I would win. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
I'm thirty two and I am fiery. Yeah I will
bite ankles. Did just say you're unathletic, and goofy, I'm unathletic,
But I'm fiery, and you could hit me over and
over again.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I'm probably I'm gonna go all day.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
You'll be like that dog.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah, I'm gonna be like the dog. Yes, you're gonna
have to.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Kill the dogs.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
You're gonna have kill me.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I don't like to.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Lose anybody in the Pac twelve that you think could
whoop your.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Ass we go through this. Uh, I mean, I don't know.
I mean I would.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
I mean, to be honest, you would think, you know,
and I mean he's a professional athlete that's being.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Real losses toes.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, so you don't know how that kind of hitted.
I don't know, but I would just think.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
I mean I think he just benched like two twenty
five twenty times or something.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I don't know, you really do that.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, I was pretty impressed with bench Yeah, yeah, I
mean he's always been talking about that.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
He's always been a bench press cat.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Sometimes you do videos after he gets done hit the
bench press, drop some wisdom on, you, drop some philosophy on.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, that's awesome. So you know one's beating you except
for Dan maybe.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Yeah, maybe I don't I don't know. I'd have to
Kyle Whittingham is the way his team plays. I don't
know any of these guys yet, but the way his
team places, I wouldn't want to get in to steal
cage with them. You're usually a reflection of your coach,
how physical and tough you are as a football team.
So the way his team plays, I wouldn't want to
get in a ring with him.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
This guy's play hard. Has the NFL ever been something
that you've thought about? Not really.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
I like the I like make an impact on kids.
I like seeing kids like a switch. Yeah, it's not
as much about the football as it is about the people.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Do you think you would ever dabble in the NFL? No,
you say not really.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
It's like, what if you have great success at Arizona State,
which let's just say within five years, you put a
couple of years together, and then the NFL starts to
poke their head in on like, hey, let's get you
up to the big leagues.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah I want to be here and throwing a bag
at you, yeah I want to be here.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
I mean, at the end of the day, I always
tell people, like, there's a certain amount of money to
make you comfortable, right, I am way in that number.
Then there's a certain amount of money. That's just what
are you gonna do with it?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Right?
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I mean here, I'm way beyond comfortable.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
So at this point, like I am very very happy,
and I plan on being here, Like I want to
build this, right, I want to build this for the
long haul. That's why we're not cutting corners. I mean
especially culturally, like we're not we're not cutting corners culturally, building.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
This the right way.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
What fires me up?
Speaker 3 (21:32):
And you can ask you a question, but I was
just gonna chime in and say, what fires me up
is that I believe all the stuff he's saying. And
we were, we were a part of year one.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
That is a good point five years though. You will
get a call from us, you know, this will be on.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeahs come here in the fall for a game like
a tailgate or something like that.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
That'd be fun anytime in come Arizona.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Well, you guys will be on the raiders, so you'll
just be able to drive down right.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
There, we do have rules. We have to play together this.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Yeah, we are.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
When you start winning here and the money starts coming
into ASU to really beef up this facility. Where's the
first place you're attacking?
Speaker 5 (22:14):
Yeah, I mean, I want to get an indoor right behind.
We have a bubble over on the other side. I
want to get an indoor in the fields moved over here,
which is already part of our plans. Uh, but obviously
that's good you put it. We're going to take out
some of the parking behind yeah, behind this, and we'll
put an indoor right here, taking out that building, and
then two fields back there.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
So everything's kind of yep, everything's right here, So that
that's that's step one.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
But my first step in terms of fundraising and money
is fundraising for our players and INNIL. Everything I do
right now is for our players. They said they wanted
better food, got in better food. They said they wanted
better snacks. Got the better snacks. Right, you guys ate
the food today, it's pretty good, right. Uh. They said
they need an i L. They haven't had it. I
have fundraised almost every night for an IL. Like every
(22:56):
decision we make is players. And if you keep that
the main thing that players win. That means everything you
should spend money on should affect the who the players.
So I asked them what do they want? Like, what
do you guys want?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
You want this? You want this?
Speaker 5 (23:11):
You want this because that's who you're trying to get
to play at the best of their ability, and that's
how you get buy.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
In with ni L.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
How do you attack that because you're you're basically always
playing free agency? Now, how do you there's a phrase
is about the start right now and aday, how do
you go about attacking that?
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (23:29):
One for us, I tell people, if you don't want
to be here, leave because I firmly believe culture wins.
So it's you want to be here, leave, that's fine.
I really don't care, like go. I don't care if
our three best players into the portal. I wouldn't want it,
and I don't believe that's gonna happen because we've built
a good culture here. But I wouldn't beg them to
stay because that's how you build a bad culture. Right.
(23:50):
And on top of that, I tell everybody my job
is to bring in somebody to beat you out. Yeah,
because that's the best for the team. So it may
hurt your feelings if I bring in four players and
they beat out four starters, but guess what, there's another
eighty five guys who are on a better team. So
don't be selfish When I make this team better, and
I challenge them. I just tell them that there are
(24:11):
no guarantees on this team. Every transfer we took right,
they weren't promised anything. Zero transfers were promised to start.
We're promising I own money were promised anything. It was
coming to your compete win. Same thing with everybody on
our team. It is win and earn your keep.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
I feel like we've basically hit all the big one.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I do want to hit what more? You use the
phrase activate the valley? What does that mean?
Speaker 5 (24:35):
It just means get everybody involved, Like show up at
the spring game, by season tickets, show up because the
one thing that we're gonna you know, you don't have
that six national titles, right, you don't have the three
national titles that you have to be able to show
recruits as people care. You have to be able to
go to a game in the fall and see a
(24:56):
sold out crowd and see an environment that you want
to play in, because that as a huge effect on prospects.
So if we want to be where we want to
get to, If we want to get to where we
want to get, us a program which is recruit the
best players to come here so we can be the
best team to come here. They need to show up
and see a sold out crowd with butts in seats.
They need to see people active on social media. People
(25:17):
think it's stupid.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
No, it's not.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Our recruits love being retweated by our fans. It shows love.
We need everybody in the value to be activated in
the fifth largest valley with one school. All these other
large and all these other large cities don't just have
one school in a one hour radius.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
They all have two schools. We're the only one with one.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
If everybody can get behind us and get activated financially
with what you can give, and then put your butt
in a seat, show up right, people are going to
realize we care. And if people realize.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
We care here, we're gonna be prety dang good, the
right man, the right man for the job here.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
I feel like ACU is in at hands, folks. Coach,
we appreciate you coming on today.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Now. If you if you drop, if you don't even
win four games, we might have to come back and
ask about that.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
But so far, like, I'm sold.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Who's your first game? Our our first game is that home.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
We have four home games, so our first pack twelve
game is USC here week four, so four for USC
at home. We play Oklahoma State week two and then
Fresno State week three. So we've got we've got a
few a few good games here at home to start.
So I'm hoping it's one hundred and flat five all
four of those games.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And I'm hoping we kick off at noon. Oh yes, absolutely,
this has been awesome man.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
We appreciate you're rooting for you.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Man.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
We really hope every day's coming out.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
Uh you know, let's I mean, maybe you'll have to
defend your trophy next year.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Maybe I would sign up for that right now. I
need that.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
As you get a little I'm not gonna touch that.
We need a little Will Compton right there on the side.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Put on the side.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
Yeah, we almost got you a second place trophy that
was just like a car bar.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
That would be so funny.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
But your pocket short a key chain or something.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Yeah, this is awesome, man, this awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I feel there should be a punishment for me for losing.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
We were bummed because somebody goes because on the pod
we were like, we'll figure out what the bed is,
all right, so what so what what does the loser?
Would the loser have to do or give or anything
like that. It's like, man, we didn't get around and
doing it.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Don't say that, bro, don't say that. I think I
think the loser should have to donate his watch to
a s U N I L. I think that would
be phenomenal. You could figure out something.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I'll tell you what next year, not the watch to
watch Vegas. Yeah yeah, but that's my money.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I'm would have to keep that, keep that that trade alive.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
But yes, we will be back, and I think there
should be some sort of n I L that next
year between you and me, loser has to pay a
certain amount.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Yeah, as long as we as long as it alliances
whatever happens this year, like what just happened?
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Okay, how much do you want me to pay this?
Speaker 4 (28:10):
I don't know this umber?
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Next year say a number, but no, next year it's
gonna be the same thing because I'll pay whatever.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
You can think about it.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
You don't want to say a number right now?
Speaker 3 (28:19):
You know, money gets me, Yeah, money gives me the
escalate today. Yeah, reason there was a reason that I
would escalate. You're soft now, you don't got that great people?
You know, we had put the video of me and
(28:39):
the Raft four with that all the way back, the
big case, the big case, oh if there's a Raft four,
and then the escalade. I'm thinking the big case, caring
case for all this equipment would go in to escalate.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Mitch was the one in charge of it. Mitch is
on Team Compton.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
The whole thought process was we're gonna be riding in
separate cars, like, now's the time, now is the morning.
We shouldn't be hanging out more. We need to separate.
So I was like, let's separate Team Compton, Team Lawan.
And then I look at this big case and I'm like, hey,
we should get to escalade. I was like, oh, I
see what you're doing. Buckle them in his seat and everything.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Due.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I was hot.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
I was hot, But yeah, coach, we appreciate you. If
you want us to come back for a spring game,
we'll absolutely do that.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Awesome, absolutely, man.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Appreciate it. Be here.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
We had a lot of fun, a lot of fun.
Subscribe big cucks, tiny kisses and.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Five stars and tell tell your friends too. Please God
we need this.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Oh that was fun. Appreciate it.
Hosts And Creators
Will Compton
Taylor Lewan
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