Yogi Roth on the Elite 11, Coaching Styles, and What Makes a 5 Star QB

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
And I was just watching it from afar and I'm like telling my
wife I'm like I need a coach. Like I need to do this like I
know how to do this. What's up everybody?
Welcome back to another episode of you think presented by Audio
Rama and body armor. I told you guys, I'd have an

(00:22):
update on our Pop Warner City Championship run.
We won our semifinal game against a really good team that
we had to play. We beat them only by one score
earlier in the year. We beat them 13:6 it so we drew
them in the semifinals and we played pretty well.
We made a couple mistakes had some penalties, but we 121
nothing. So our And this is really

(00:44):
playing well and it's a lot easier to win when nobody
scores. So we have a really cool thing
coming up, so check this out. So next Tuesday, so Tuesday, I'm
going to look up the date because I don't have that off
the top of my head Tuesday. November first, we are going to
play the city Championship, the pop warner City Championship
here in Charlotte at a place called Memorial Stadium, which

(01:08):
is like a renovated. Uptown like in the city like
old, like historic Stadium. That's been that hosts like
really cool. High School showcase games, and
the Panthers have like showcase events there and whatnot.
So it's a really cool Stadium night game under the lights and
we're going to play for the cityChampionship.
So pretty cool opportunity for these kids.

(01:28):
We got a big week of work ahead of us to get ready, but we are
super proud. We've come a long way with these
kids, you know, considering we lost our first game of the
season and weren't really sure. How what are your was going to
look like? The fact that we've won every
game since and just continue to get better as It's pretty cool.
So we'll have an update for you guys hopefully next week.
Hopefully it's a good one, but either way the fact that we made

(01:51):
it to the championship and have a chance to play for, it is
pretty cool. So from there it goes to
Regionals and pot and it goes onand on.
But our big focus is seeing if we can be the city Champs and
will have an update for you guys, we will see what happens.
Baseball has now ended both boysfinished their final fall
tournament, so that has come to a close so they'll get a nice

(02:12):
little break. My My daughter.
I was proud of my daughter. I got to be I gotta brag about
my daughter here for a second for move on.
She was asked to play one of thegirls on her little
ten-year-old. Soccer team has an older sister
who's 12 and I guess they were short a couple players at this.
Like, I want to call it games but like this weekend, like many
games on Sunday where they get abunch of girls together, they

(02:34):
break them up into little fieldsand they play like, round-robin
little mini games or whatnot, and I guess they were short, a
couple girls. So the mom asked my wife if
Talbot wanted to go and, you know, we just presented it to
Said, listen, you're gonna go there.
You're not going to know anybodythere going to be older than
you, but it'd be a good opportunity.
She immediately said, yes, she went there.
You know, the girls were a little more advanced.
They were bigger older, whatever, but she competed

(02:55):
really hard. We were super proud of her is
really the first time. She's taken like a competitive.
Like, yeah, I want to go play against, you know, maybe better
girls. And for that we were super proud
of her. That was a big.
It was a big milestone. She's usually a little more
apprehensive and and whatnot. So, that was really cool.
So we had a busy weekend, obviously, as As all of us do in
the fall playing sports, but things are going good and

(03:18):
hopefully next week, we have a fun Pop Warner update for
everybody today. Really excited for our next
guest. You know, when we when we pick
our guests you know we try to get people that have really
unique and distinct views on on Youth Sports.
They've seen it as a player, as a parent or as a former player
current, you know, League's coaches academies, whatever.

(03:39):
And I think today's guest is Yogi Roth.
Is it Pac-12 network college football analyst, former
football coach at USC. He's an Emmy Award winning
filmmaker scholar, New York Times bestselling author.
Like he sees the Youth Sports and Just Sports in general.
He has seen it from so many different perspectives that we

(04:00):
just thought what better perspective to get then than
Yogi. So he was super cool.
Come talking to us about his time with lead 11 is time
working at USC with Pete. Carroll you know, some of the
books in the documentaries and the film's.
He's made his time as a player growing.
A up in Pennsylvania, just a really interesting guy.
Somebody really dialed and has agreat outlook on Sports and the
way we should approach it with young kids, so I'm really

(04:22):
thankful that Yogi took some time to share a lot of those
unique insights with us here on you think.
And I think you guys are going to really enjoy.
Thanks as always to our sponsor body armor, body armor.
Not only fuels this show but they fuel.
My all my crazy youth sports teams that we work with.
Listen, there's a lot of choicesfor sideline drinks, but from

(04:43):
the very, Inning. As we've told you guys, our
family's favorite is body armor.We love the orange.
Mango strawberry banana. When we go to the gas stations,
we go to stores on our way to the ball fields.
We go to our way to the gym or whatever it is.
It's all the kids want and it's just we have always gravitated
towards it and now the fact thatthey're a part of you think and
part of our journey here on thisshow is super cool.

(05:06):
Body armor is made with coconut water, B vitamins and no
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go to drink body armor Dot. Cam.
Yogi. Thanks so much for joining us
here on, you think? Yeah, man.
Well, you can put in a struggling youth coach as well
as subscribe to your show, bro. So I'm all in on you and you're

(05:28):
very or like in between my ears,very regularly.
So I gotta tell me vent. This is your, this is your
moment. What, why are you a struggling
youth coach? How old what are you doing?
Give it to me. So, we got a 7 and a
two-year-old and to me, like I never wanted to coach, right?
Like even prior to here in that first episode you had with Mike,
I was I'm not going to coach, I'm going to observe and then

(05:50):
when our seven-year-old was fiveand we started literally like
right as the kind of coming out of the pandemic, right?
And, you know, it was it was just chaos and I was just
watching it from afar and I'm like, telling my wife.
I'm like, I need a coach. Like I need to do this.
Like, I know how to do this. And anyway, then I threw myself

(06:11):
into it had an absolute blast a year ago.
And then now we're in like the fall ball and the word.
Why I'm struggling is because I can't coach, because I'm calling
games. Like, I leave on Thursdays, and
I'm envious of, like, you got a Sunday game, so maybe you can
still get like a Tuesday, Thursday, practice enter
something, I can't do it. So I'm struggling in that
regard, probably of, you know, amy hands on enough.

(06:34):
No, because I'm not even there for practice, like it's just
kind of hard with juggling all those things and you're trying
to make sure you're pouring in the values of Team, even though
you're not around the team and then you see the game day, I
like you. And I'm not gonna be the guy
that shows up on game day and coached all day.
We got a great staff and a greatcoach.
So, that's the part where I'm like, I want to step back and I

(06:54):
want to be all in and I'm probably in, like, a really bad
gray area. It's so funny.
There's every season, it's kind of like the running joke around
our house like every season. I'm like, you know, next season,
whether it's winter, basketball,or spring, whatever it is.
I'm like, I'm gonna just be a dad and it lasts like two weeks
and somehow, I get I'm back out there and, you know, and I'm

(07:15):
fortunate the kids when I'm not coaching their team, they have
good coaches and they do a greatjob, but when they're young and
you know, like you're saying they're playing, you know, 57
year-old, you know, t-ball or machine pitch or kid coach
pitch, whatever it is--, baseball, whatever, and you see
chaos going on and you see your kid.
Like if you're going to be thereand take a couple hours out of
your week to practice and then you see him at practice, not

(07:38):
getting anything done. It's like, all right, I'm
getting up out of my chair and I'm going out there and we're
going to least get organized andmake use of this time, their
early age. Sports, it's hard not to get
involved because most of it is just an absolute circus.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it.
I just go back to the like, the thing that I'm obsessed with,

(08:00):
which I'm sure you've talked a lot about, is like the idea of
play therapy. So for you and I, when we were
growing up, like, you know, I fifth grade Tara steel dumped me
and I just dealt with by playingbasketball for five hours,
right? Like I could remember it vividly
as it happened, right? Same thing.
Like, as I went through my entire athletic, like even now
Now, I'll shoot hoops to processwhatever I'm dealing with.
So I want to make sure that likeour kids have that is a way to

(08:23):
process whether it's their day and their teachers too strict or
they had a tough time and their after-school program or their
life is amazing. Like that's what I want the play
to be. And and I hope to continue to
instill that I think that is like, by far.
Like the number one thing that at least a seven year old should
be. Having is like, yeah, just keep
playing bro. Just keep playing and playing

(08:44):
and playing and work through whatever it is and you come out
and Yeah, good time. And you want to come back the
next day. And that's like, literally, I
talk to Zane is, this is our son's name, our oldest son, his
coaches great. And I'm always like, let's just
make sure all the kids want to come back and they do and credit
to him for that. Yeah, but it's interesting and I
want to start right there. You know, one of the many ways I

(09:05):
introduce you at the top of the show you've accomplished and
done a lot of things I want to start with your work as an
author. You've recently wrote a book
that's along the lines of what you just said.
It's called finding free fun. You base it on your own
childhood with your They're growing up in your, you know,
your approach to Athletics, justtake us back a little bit to
your Youth Sports Experience. You know what was that?
Like growing up before you went on to play in college at Pitt?

(09:26):
Just what was that approach? How did your family approach it
and that book Finding free fun like just explain a little bit
more about your approach. Yeah sports for me.
Were everything like a lot of your listeners?
I'm sure I grew up in a Tiny Town of 2,500 people with no
stoplights nothing existed otherthan really high school
football. Mom was a refugee from The

(09:46):
Middle. Least our dad was like a really
talented, High School football player, but never push anything
on us, right? Taught me how to tackle which
was now completely illegal in terms of how to tackle.
Yes, we know that right and we just I just kind of threw myself
into it and it became you know how I processed everything, I
became obsessed with it. It was just everything for me

(10:07):
and I was that kid up at five inthe morning with his strength
shoes on jumping over garbage cans, you know, dreaming of
playing in front of 100,000 people at Pitt.
That was just what it was. But what was interesting and I
remember it, so vividly. And I carry this with me now is
I was a freshman in high school starting Varsity which, you
know, in the middle of Pennsylvania.
That was cool. And I was getting my hair cut

(10:28):
one day and the barber goes, hey, did your dad ever tell you
about when he started as a freshman, he beat up his
captain, who ended up going to Syracuse and he did it and it
stuck with me because my dad never was like, hey, this is who
I was try to live up to it, he never said that specifically, he
never even lived that through his actions.
And it meant a lot to me were like now, like, with my kids

(10:49):
like that, they don't know the dad play.
Like I have one photo of myself playing in my entire office and
it's not making a play against your Miami Hurricanes, 2002 to
remind myself as about the process and not the outcome but
that's it and that to me was like really Paramount because I
never felt like I had to do anything, like it was all want

(11:10):
to even walking on. I walk down a pit before getting
a scholarship and even my parents, like, you sure about
this, like, I don't know. Good enough to go do that.
So I kind of was living in my own bubble as an athlete but my
little town probably cultivated a lot of that.
Yeah. And so much it's so fitting
because so much of what we talk about here with a lot of our
guests is that approach and thatbalance between living the kids

(11:31):
dream and living through the parents dream, right?
And oftentimes with sons It's the dad and and whatnot.
You know it's something that we live here living in Charlotte,
right? We're obviously where I played
the bulk of my career and and whatnot.
I try to explain to all three ofmy kids.
I have two boys and a daughter. I try to explain to them like
you don't owe this to anyone else, you do it because I

(11:54):
played, you don't have to play football because I played.
You don't have to play sports, but if you're gonna do it, you
need to drive it. And this needs to be something.
If we pour a lot of time and energy and resources into its at
your it's at your you're the onepushing it, you're not dragging
you to practice, we're not dragging.
So go back to those days. You mentioned your dad, he
wasn't you know pushing this on.You didn't even really tell you

(12:16):
a lot about High School career. Just like, where do you think
that's something that kids can just internally like that?
Internal motivation. Is it?
Something you're born with? Was that something you think you
you cultivated from your upbringing from where you grew
up? Like, how do we get kids to be
self-starters? And not just have to be at the
mercy of their parents kicking them in the ass and making them

(12:38):
get out the door to go practice.Go work out like, how do we
figure that part out as adults? Yeah, there's a guy that you
might have ran into In your timeis name's Ken Block, he was a
creative director at Nike, and he gave me this beautiful
example of being a parent is that when your, when your kids
show interest in something back,the dump truck up and just pour

(12:58):
it all on them and see how they handle it.
Like, give them the experiences,like throw them into it and if
they want more, okay, then you have something and if not could
go find something else and and I've leaned into that to a large
degree as a father and I look back on my dad, and you asked
about finding free fun, we don'thave a ton Money growing up,
like I reference my mom like her.

(13:19):
Both of her parents were Holocaust Survivors and I can
remember being my son's age sitting across the table like
this drinking like a ginger ale,and a teal glass.
And my grandfather, tell me how he was shot.
Eight times in his upper left shoulder.
And he played dead for two days.And a woman, like, brought him
back, I can remember my mom's mom telling me how like, she was
in sixth grade walking home fromschool and her teacher stopped

(13:42):
and said, you can't go home because your family was just
murdered, they were just accidents and she went on the
run from them. I say those two stories because
when I was told those at like your boys age your oldest, maybe
I was like, oh I got something in me, like I can fight and that
became like the story that I continue to tell myself as like,
okay, like you don't have to offer me a scholarship but you

(14:03):
have no idea what's coming like same thing in high school or pop
warner or wherever it was. I think there's something to
learning, like where you come from, like what you're about.
Like what's your family's about?Like these traits that, you
know, you have like my wife's animmigrant like wheat, Our oldest
son, like all the time. Like dude, like you know how to
drop in a different environment?Like this is what you do.
Like this is no problem like andwhen it's hard, it's

(14:25):
comfortable, and I think it's important to kind of have the
balance and not put it all on them.
Like, but for me, like, I leanedinto that so hard.
And then for my father, the way he dealt with it was, let's just
go have some fun and we did havea lot of money.
So let's let's go. Run outside.
Let's go for a hike. Let's play catch.
I need an East Coast thing is, you know, you'd say let's have a
catch and that Became a rallyingcry for me as a kid.

(14:49):
And now, as an adult where we live in this world, where kids
have seemingly everything, I'm like, oh no, like it's going to
be about the free fun in this house.
So we'll drop in surfing out here on the West Coast.
Hiking, having a catch plane hoop, whatever and it became
such a big part of our life, especially in 2020, that I told
myself. I'm not going to sit here and
complain. We can't do anything like, hey,

(15:09):
Zane, let's create a book and that's what we did.
And that's what recently came out.
I miss some of those 20 20 days,man.
I'll tell you we More stuff as afamily.
There was no pressure to go to Team, practice workout, it was
ride. Bikes, play catch go to the
park. Get chased off the local
Municipal Park is they were all closed to your point I I miss
those days. Take me take me back so you go

(15:32):
and you walk on a pit your eventually earn a scholarship.
Larry Fitzgerald is your roommate.
We're going to get to that in a second.
I'm assuming before you went to walk on at Pitt you had the
opportunity, probably to go other places that maybe people
thought were more in line, you know, whether it was on
scholarship. Chip or no, you won't play it
pit. You're gonna have to wait longer
but just in just talking to you now for a couple minutes like

(15:52):
you can just it make sense that you chose to go be a walk-on and
earn your scholarship right? It kind of fits with everything
you're saying take us back to that process and the date of
today where everything's about you know Elite academies and how
many stars and I want to play asa true freshman the mindset you
had as a high school kid to say no I'm going to go earn my dream
even if it's I don't start out maybe as a scholarship player

(16:13):
like everybody else. If I get an opportunity.
I'll make the most of it. Yeah it was really crystallized
to me. I was going to go to ethica or
Delaware a my whole life. I only wanted to go to Notre
Dame so I can remember being in the car with my dad.
And this I tell parents is all the time and if you're a parent
of like a high school, junior dothis, and I bet your dad did

(16:34):
this with you when you're takingthat trip to go visit schools
and camps, I was on my way to Notre Dame the conversations.
I had with my dad were just fascinating and we had every
school on the way. So you go Penn State?
It Akron, Kent State, like you just kind of make your way all
the way up to South Bend Indianaand we get there and urban
Meyer's, the receiver coach, andBob Davies, the head coach.
And I've told Coach Davey, the story many times, he could care

(16:57):
less, but it's a fun story and Iroll out there and they're going
to offer one wideout and it's meand Ronnie rotamer.
Ronnie Rodimus 63 probably to 15as a High School, junior out of
West Virginia. Knowing what I know now like
it's a no brainer who you're gonna offer but I remember being
at that Cam and I would rush to the front.
Of every line and Urban Meyer would put Ronnie Roger, Mari

(17:18):
ahead of me. And then I rush to the next row
and I go to the first in line and they put on here are ahead
of me and and anyway, the camp ended, they offered course, 63
215-pound beautiful-looking, wide receiver that day as I was
driving home. I was like I'm going to go to
whoever plays Notre Dame and Pitt was the only place that
allowed me a preferred walk up. And when I evaluated the

(17:39):
situation, I said, well, the receiver coach of the time, his
name was JD Brookhart. He was a former walk-on wide
receiver, a Colorado State, I know We'll give me a chance and
all I've ever asked for in life,even in broadcasting.
I said the same thing. Like just give me a chance to
call the top game on the west coast.
Cool. I got a chance and now competing
to hang out of that every week, like, I love that opportunity.

(17:59):
Same thing when I was playing the just give me a chance and
when I showed up at Pitt it was very Vivid in my mind of like I
had to go because I couldn't imagine turning on Thursday
Night Football and seeing somebody else play on ESPN.
That wasn't a team that I was on.
So I went there and from day one, my goal was don't play a
wrap on Scout team and turn one rep in practice to to, and

(18:22):
honestly, like one of the greatest accomplishment, my
playing career personally is that I never played a snap on
Scout team in four years, you know.
And one rep turned into to turn it into three and my two
roommates were too blind to cough winners.
Antonio Bryant, Larry fits, you know, Andy Lee was, one of my
roommates who you might have played with the Carolina.
Absolutely. And it was just something that I

(18:43):
really believe this. I believe it's Much more of a
challenge to earn a scholarship in college that it is in high
school. And I'm so glad I had the path.
I think there's things that I tell my old coaches now that I
wish they did like I wish confidence and instilling.
It was poor Paramount. Like the psychology is more
Paramount than that. It compared to it is today.

(19:03):
But overall I walk down because I had to take a swing.
I had to take a shot at it and it's kind of how I've lived most
of my life, I think that's superpowerful.
And then you, and then you mentioned, you know, the Me of
your two roommates or the biletnikov.
Winners talk a little bit about your time in College.
Of course, everyone is aware of Larry Fitzgerald.
He's gonna be a first-ballot hall-of-famer.
We've all we all obviously saw his career, just talk a little

(19:25):
bit about that experience, you know, playing alongside him, you
know, probably at the time, maybe a little different
experiences and then obviously as you earn your scholarship and
move on, you know, move up the ranks, you know, every from your
early days, you know, just what did you learn from him?
What did you see from him on a day-to-day basis?
Not just necessarily what we sawon the field but the fact that
you guys live together and I could kind of see him away from

(19:46):
practice in a way from the field.
So I was a junior when he came in and he was supposed to come
in the air before and that have gone to Valley Forge, one of the
prep schools, I think. Yeah.
And then he comes in and you could tell his ball skills were
off the charts but what I noticed and it showed up in game
1. So the first game I'm kind of
like the big brother figure and he wears a suit to the game

(20:07):
because that's what's kind of our dress code and after the
game you can put on like you're back in the day, you'd like
these warm-up suits and he puts a suit on After the game and I
think we played like Miami of Ohio or like one of those like
non con games and I said, hey ifit's like, you don't have to put
that on. You can wear your, you can wear
your warm-up suit and goes oh noYogi.
People are going to know what I'm about from jump and I

(20:27):
remember that conversation. So vividly in Heinz Field in the
locker room where I was like this guy's already a pro, he
knew exactly how to operate. And that was a small thing, but
that's how we operate in terms of taking care of his body
showing up at the facility, living in the weight room film
room. Machine like everything was at
the level that he saw. Chris Carter Randy Moss Daunte

(20:50):
Culpepper, like he was just exposed to pry like yourself.
Like your dad was a coach you'reexposed to so much so young that
you maybe don't even realize, it's in your DNA and that was so
evident for Larry and it rubbed off on the entire program.
Like everybody all of a sudden was in early, staying late,
extra drugs, like whatever it was we did it because he was

(21:11):
setting the blueprint. That's so cool.
I think it's important for One to understand.
And there really is and this is something we stress with with
the teams that we coach. And with my own kids right now,
me and my dad and a couple buddies were coaching my son's
11. You tackle football team like
real football, tat, you know, the whole thing is our for it's
my son's first year doing it. So, it's our first year

(21:32):
coaching. It Luke Kuechly.
Coaches with me. We're having a blast.
But you know, the thing, we tellthem and we try to stress to the
parents. There's no like there's no it's
too early your Too young, we have time.
Like, you can learn to do thingsthe right way.
You can learn how to practice, you learn how to respond to
coaching. You can learn how to deal with

(21:53):
adversity at any age. So, the thing we always say to
our kids. Yeah.
You're in fifth and sixth grade and we understand, there's going
to be mistakes. But why should we not hold you
to the same standard your middleschool?
Coach is going to hold you to and then the next level from
that, your high school coach, like why?
Wait till then, let's learn the lessons.
Now when the the consequences and what not are not as big of a

(22:14):
deal, Feel like why wait until you're 16 and you make the
varsity before you learn how to be coached before.
Yeah. You learn how to bounce back
from a bad game. Like those are all the lessons.
So to hear Larry Fitzgerald as afreshman in high College, had it
all figured out like he probablylearned that as the ball boy,
like you said with with Minnesota and those famous
pictures of him. He was a high school middle
school, high school, kid, learning how to act learning how

(22:36):
to be a professional. That's something.
We always dressed all the kids we work with like learn it.
Now, like, learn it now, so you don't have to learn it.
When it's too late. So I just think that, you know,
it's something as simple as whatyou wear after the game.
It's just a little example, but everything matters.
And there's no, there's no hey, they're too young.
No man kids are only held back in my opinion by the adults.

(23:00):
Yeah, I've heard it said that before.
I agree with that and I think what I had imagined it.
How cool are these kids? They get you guys is their
coaches. I'm sometimes they're like it
sometimes then I nothing. Well I'm a huge fan of like
front-loading, right? Like I tell what I thought.
To college coaches a lot about like, front-loading mental
skills in recruiting, right? So you go to the University of
Miami and you know, now or back in the day like the first thing

(23:23):
they talked about or even, you know, your previous school.
Like maybe it was you're going to play.
It was the NFL maybe was academics now, it's ni L.
Now it's marketing opportunities.
Right now, it's transfer portal like, how we're going to grow
the roster and I'm like, no, no,no, we need to front-load like,
mental skills. So people know that they can
come in and write down the hall when it gets hard because it

(23:43):
will get hard. Like there's this Place for you.
So for you guys and I hear like the youth sport dialogue around
like it, can we front-load Joy? Can we front-load play?
Can we front-load? Discipline?
Can we front-load traits and then went to watch him play out.
I think that is cool because youguys have lived, all those
traits in most coaches, what I see is you know, a lot of times

(24:03):
you're doing it because nobody else is doing it right?
And you sports or we're trying to figure it out online.
And that's why I like the only time I'll come down hard on
coaches is when they're modelingBehavior.
ER, that is inappropriate because it's going to get
replicated by youth coaches, that are trying to figure it
out. Yeah.
So what's your point, you know, it's like coach chew somebody's
ass and light them up and all ofa sudden, like, it's a viral

(24:27):
moment. I go back to, when I co-chaired,
sc&p, Carol taught me goes, and you coat.
You lived this with Pete in Seattle.
He goes, hey, yo, you got about 10 seconds, got a 10 seconds,
your quarterback, throws a pick you up. 10 seconds, how you
wanna handle it? You can blame him.
Hey man, how'd you miss that read?
You should have seen that. We talked about in the meeting
or you could absorb the blame And use it as a teaching
opportunity. Hey man, let me teach you about

(24:47):
like I should have done that better.
We're going to go back and look at that in the film.
Like don't worry about it or fora seven or a ten-year-old.
Hey man. How'd that feel didn't feel
good. Okay, cool.
Next time I want you take a hugebreath before you hit.
Let's try it real quick. Three in five out.
Okay, cool. Go have fun like that.
To me is like where the magic lies in Youth Sports and as

(25:09):
modeled all the way up. It's interesting.
Well, it's a great segue. You can tell you, you're good at
this. I want to talk a little bit.
So we touched a little bit about, you know, the books,
you've written and obviously your playing career, but now I
want to transition to that next stage.
So after you get finished at Pitt, you mentioned it.
You spend some time coaching at USC working with the
quarterbacks with Pete. Carroll, you know what made you

(25:30):
want to get into coaching when your playing days were over?
Like what was that experience? Like you mentioned some of the
things already that you've learned just talk a little bit
about, you know, now you see it as a player.
You look back on it. Now, as a former player 1 But
now, when you are in it as a coach like what different
perspective did you have at thattime?
Yeah. Well a guy that we both know
Brendan Carol. Yeah, of course that's his best

(25:51):
to you of course. Yeah.
BC best man in my wedding he is a classic classic classic there.
Is he's on BC, there is one of them on the planet.
He's the only one. He's the only one so Brennan, he
was a walk-on at Pitt when I gotthere.
Okay. He met me in the film room.
I was there day one and became like my best friend and kind of

(26:13):
showed me the ropes. And when he finished playing, he
moved out to LA because his dad peed had gotten messy job year
to Prior, he began and began hiscoaching career.
So I would come out on spring break and a get exposed to like
Manhattan Beach, California like, oh my God, like the sound
of that place that I've never been on with that place.
Pittsburgh basically, you know? Yeah, and just my mind is blown

(26:35):
and I meet Sark and let Steve sarkisian Lane kiffin Norm Chow
like Eddie or like this is the like that.
That was insane. Let alone, the teams and I
really got to know p and I'll never forget this conversation.
I was 19 and we're at a chart house.
It's called in Redondo Beach andhe was, you know, go do you want
to do with your life? And I said, well I want to
influence the world in a really cool way.

(26:57):
He goes. All right, so only worry about
creating value. Don't worry about beating people
and climbing up the ladder of success rung by rung, just
create value and that to stuck with me so fast forward playing
careers over. He calls me a couple days after
they beat. Oh, Oklahoma the Knotty.
He says, hey why don't you come on out?
I was doing sideline reporting for the Pittsburgh Panthers
radio network and I said sure like I'll crawl there and found

(27:19):
my way out and ended up spendingfour years at USC on the staff.
And when I talk about value is like, my first job was stapling,
practice scripts, and Pete's. Whole thing was like, and you
know, this either you're the competing or you're not like
period end of story. Like you aren't in a Relentless
pursuit of a Competitive Edge and I just I love that.

(27:41):
Also in love with his approach and his tactics that like, I
believe, Gregg to this day, I'm the best Stabler practice groups
in America because 22, a day were like perfect left corner as
good as you could find, but thatwas instilled by again,
front-loading certain traits andevery year because SC was
launching coaches, I had a chance to leave.
And I something kept pulling me back because I got to learn more

(28:04):
from this guy. Like there's something special
about what coach Carroll was doing and I was so lucky that in
my NTS. He let me in, I'd go into his
office late at night, he helped me.
Obviously I helped him co-authorhis book.
Like I got to really be a part of I sat next to him in
recruiting meetings, just understanding football, culture
organization and then Steve sarkisian and Lane.

(28:27):
They gave me the you know the degree in offensive football you
know two years up in the booth really seen it differently like
you do now call him games two years, call it, like being on
the sidelines and being that guycoaching the quarterbacks
relating the plays, like I thinkthose four years while never
became Big-name coach. It allows me to see the game
with a ton of more detail gravitas and I think Humanity in

(28:49):
terms of the process and then I owe all that to Pete and I fell
in love with it. I fell in love with sleeping in
the office, talking to him, waking up early, like the whole
thing was just a magical experience for me and one of the
reasons I was so excited to haveyou on the show is, you know, we
talk to, you know, former players or former coaches or
whatever somewhere, you know, they have some unique

(29:10):
perspective on the the, you know, the kind of culture of
Youth Sports and Just Sports in general.
But when I, when I found out that we were going to have you
on what's so cool. Is like we can we can talk about
it from so many different perspectives, right?
So as a former player, your workin the film will get to some of
your filmmaking and we talked a little bit about the author's
and now as a coach but then you kind of make a shift and you get

(29:31):
into back serving the youth Community.
My younger brother at the time, played for anyone doesn't know,
the Elite 11 is like the Marquistop, it used to be you take 11,
but now I guess they take. What is it?
Twenty something and then they pick the 11.
But anyway, that Elite 11q can see it on TV.
It's on ESPN. It's a big deal.
You were heavily involved in that Elite 11.

(29:51):
So you go from coaching and USC,you're spending all your time,
learning for Pete, Carroll. But now again, you make a little
bit of a career shift and you start now going back to service,
you know, the youth community ofthese high school players, talk
a little bit about that, for anyone who doesn't know about
the Elite 11 in your time, working with them because it's a
pretty unique and special event.Yeah, well basically, I did four

(30:11):
years at SC and as I reference acamel launching Pad, but I was
also living in La. I like this is pretty cool.
Like I got no desire to live in Iowa, you know, or wherever.
So I was like I'm going to Pivotand I'd always loved television
and storytelling and living in. L.a. you kind of get thrown into
that fire as well and I'd heard about this thing called The

(30:32):
Elite 11 and the guy who ran it,his name is Andy bark.
I know your producers Aikau gradlike he's a cow grad.
He's getting inducted. Their Hall of Honor in the next
couple weeks. But Andy had created these set
of camps starting in 1999 and hecreated one that was specialized
in quarterbacks. So, for those that follow, like,
American Idol, think of AmericanIdol for high school,

(30:53):
quarterbacks were the staff at 11, we'll go around 10 to 15
locations. And at the time, we would throw
free camps for anybody who wanted to compete to show that
they could play. So you didn't have guys that
were left kind of Diamonds in the Rough.
Like if you can compete, if you could show it, here's a A
five-hour window, come on and throw down a, let's go and I got

(31:13):
lucky and stumbled in and becamethe host of that show and one of
the coaches and it became this beautiful experience because I
was so young. I was 26 27 when I started and I
had this coaching experience andwe had guys like Matt Leinart
John David booty. Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley like
really talented five-star. Kids coming through and

(31:35):
everybody else came through, Jimmy Clausen, Tim Tebow like
everybody took a visit To USC. So I got to see all these guys
early on and then I drop into it.
Got to meet people like your younger brother and a Litany of
quarterbacks of the course the last almost 15 years now and man
it was beautiful to watch them walk into the door and they have
this Persona because they are the world's best quarterback and

(31:57):
they're there to compete among the alphas of Alphas at that
position. And all I found that everyone
has wanted to do since 2009. When I started the Elite 11 man
was dropped their shoulders and just be normal and that's what
we try to cultivate in the environment and when Trent
Dilfer came on as a head coach Ithink we really Crank that up
and created a place for guys to just talk about like what's

(32:19):
going on in their life and give them tools and bringing guys
like dr. Michael Gervais or different
speakers to talk about manhood like Alexis Jones and Brenda
Tracy like really powerful things beyond the X's and O's
and that kind of became my role of like you know, trend is going
to kill it on the QB thing and I'm going to be that other role.
I really get to know the personalities of the Pull their

(32:40):
stories out. Give them some tools on how to
share those stories and pour into them with every resource
that we have. So, you're traveling around the
country. You guys are holding these
camps. I remember, when my brother went
to the like Regional camp that you try to get like, your golden
ticket. Is that what they used to call
it or share? It is like the Willy Wonka
golden ticket. And, you know, I remember going
to watch him, I can't remember exactly where he did.

(33:01):
I want to say was somewhere in, North Jersey.
But anyway, you're going around the country, are watching all
these hot obviously highly talented.
Most of these kids are getting recruited.
What was the quality that you guys saw?
That was pretty much a constant throughout all these kids.
We know they can throw their big.
They're fast but like was there like an inherent quality that
they all shared, you know, we'retalking kids that are in high

(33:22):
school but like when you when you saw them, like what jumped
out at you guys the most aside from the physical stuff.
That's a great question. I think, you know, my head goes
to like 2010 seven-on-seven exploded in this country
specifically in the South. So everybody, it wasn't just
that great athletes, they reallywere great.

(33:43):
Passers and then in 2012, you were like, oh wow, these guys
been playing since they were in like fifth grade and they could
read coverages and talk that way.
So this is like your, your brother's class.
Now, you're dating guys, on the board, you're like, holy, like
what these dudes know, everything.
But I'll say that thing that still stands out to me today and
It's magnified even more this past year because of what's
going on in the world of college.

(34:04):
I honestly think it's insecuritybecause have can't you be at
that age, you know, I can remember a guy named Shane
Morris who came in and your brother's class.
Yeah, went to Michigan. Shane, it was the first real
digital media quarterback. His Avatar was he in Erin
Andrews, because she was doing Sidelines, at Michigan
basketball games. He was a big recruit, he was

(34:24):
huge. And one day we have one of the
days of the finals and we're teaching Basic Drive concept,
right? And you never supposed to throw
the go route, right? Never supposed to go route and
he throws go rap, and he completes the place goes crazy,
and every he's writing about howgreat he is online and practice
ends. We go and watch the film or
sitting with him or like, hey man, like you never supposed to

(34:44):
throw that or whatever and he gets dinged.
Any in the first initial rankings out of those 24 kids,
he's not in the top 11 and he's so nervous.
Once he finds that out because he goes, they're going to
they're going to kill me online.They're going to kill me on
social media and he was living these duality of Life, which
you've seen a ton. I see it all the time and in

(35:06):
recruiting, especially for youngcollege players of external your
Elite. Internal, you know, when you
turned on that film, like you made the wrong read, you know,
you're not one of the top 11 guys.
How do you process that? So that is really the thing that
I have found and I really believe this that the
environment we cultivated is where one will recreate these

(35:28):
Home is where a guys can walk inand it could be one-on-one with
me. Or it could be trans or Brian
stuff for different guys, in ourstaff and they can just kind of
like, let go. And I bet 75% of them break down
in tears when they get in that moment because there's so much
building and they don't really have the tools as I said,
front-load earlier the tools to really manage it and I want to

(35:50):
stay there for a second because I think that's it's such an
important conversation and againwe see it as young as my kids,
my oldest is Even so he's in fifth grade and in a while be it
they're not on Twitter and Instagram but they have Tick
Tock and they see videos and they know every 13 you
All-American at the perfect gametournament that they know all
these kids from around the country and sometimes like, how

(36:11):
do you know him? Oh Dad, I follow on Tick Tock or
whatever. How do we teach our young kids?
The insecurities of social mediathat you just described so well
is real, right? Like that is real.
It is getting younger and younger and younger.
How do we equip kids? To not care what the world
thinks about them, right? It's kind of like

(36:32):
counterintuitive. Everyone wants to be liked,
everyone wants to be a pleaser, like it's kind of a human
quality. How do we teach young kids,
especially growing up in Youth Sports?
How do we teach them whose opinion matters and whose
opinion doesn't matter? Yeah, it's a really hard.
It's a really challenging Duality so lets you kind of

(36:52):
picture but be a up-and-coming high school player.
Junior High High School play. You Know, You've Got Talent,
right? You're one of the top guys who
you're trying to become that theworld we live in now is you can
be a business like you can make real money on that.
So if you sat in in front of influence, or any of these, like
ni L companies that say, grow your Social Grow your social.

(37:14):
Okay, so now I'm 15 now, I'm 12,now I'm the parent of those
individuals. I'm growing there.
Also grown their social. Okay, cool.
I get it because you can make money off that.
And I'm not here to like I love and II.
Think it's a great thing in theory, but we have the other
side of that thing too. Okay, I'm going to grow that
social. Now, all of a sudden and I say
this, this is real, your team loses a game.

(37:35):
A lot of times what gets sent isgo kill yourself, right?
Like, that's just the truth every year in college football.
It happens and at times in big high school football, like these
kids are feeling that as well. They're feeling this crazy
amount of pressure. So I think you have To make a
decision. Like do you want to play in that
world? And is it worth it right II?
Wrote a book called five star QBthat I asked parents to help me

(37:58):
out? I asked Bryce Young's.
Dad is CJ Stroud's mom and I askChristian McCaffrey's mom, Lisa.
I know you had on your show, I said, give some advice to
parents and every time I've talked to them, or there was on
the record in the book, or off the Record, they come back to
like we know what the big business is, right?
So yeah, we want to grow our Naldealer marketing, our brand.
But like, if we're trying to getto the NFL, Dwarfs.

(38:20):
Anything they're sort of the parents.
And I've talked to a lot of parents in this book, man, that
are like your age with your age kids, and they're like my kids,
you know, he's top 50, kid in California's quarterback.
Michael, who said that? And then I go to the website and
you pay through and fifty bucks to get evaluated, of course.
So, I think it starts there. I really think it starts there

(38:40):
of like, you know, what do we want to do?
Like, let's make sure we're on the same page, how we want to
grow this thing? Because our child, our son or
daughter. They're going to associate value
to that. I like I'm a pleaser.
I don't know if you are like, it's hard to not be, especially
in this era that we live in, especially for our kids.
Like, I hear my seven-year-old talk about like subscribers,

(39:02):
like what were you talking about?
And then he tells me as well. You have some people like what
you do dad and it's really a fascinating thing.
So I'd start there and then after that like you have to
really I think set parameters and boundaries now.
Here's my last story for you. I talked to one of the top
quarterbacks in the country thisyear.
Reportedly For a bunch of money to go to a college, you probably

(39:22):
figure out who I'm talking aboutand I asked him, I said how are
you going to deal with all this attention?
Because it was hard for him because I'm going to turn my
phone off and I said, hey man, that'll work for a little bit
but you gotta have real traits, no down.
So absolutely, the best guys I met in high school now to really
answer your question the best guys.
I met in high school are guys that are subscribing to high

(39:43):
performance psychology or mentalskills or therapy now, like
ninth grade, tenth grade, and looking at it as a training
tool, not as God forbid weakness, which I think is still
somewhat of the stigma. It's so fitting.
It's so funny. You say that I have this
philosophy and I've said this onthe show many times I want, when
I say my kids, now, I'm talking about, just like my personal

(40:04):
kids, I'm not going to tell anybody else had to raise their
own, but I want my kids now in fourth and fifth grade, I want
them to experience failure, disappointment, setback, and
have to deal with those emotions.
Get get coached hard and lose your emotions, cost, your team
to game. Hopefully not, but it's going to

(40:25):
happen, right? I'd rather them do that at 10
and 11. Then the first time they
experienced setback and disappointment to be at 17 when
they're a senior in high school,right?
The first time you get on the mound and you walk, your first
three batters, and then the guy hits a gapper and you're down
and you're standing on the mound, but your whole life,
we've controlled everything. You've done, you've always been

(40:47):
the best kid. You've always been on a team.
You could Excel. Lat, you've never had to work
for anything. Everyone's always told you how
good you are. And then all of a sudden, you
enter the real world in high school and you don't know how to
deal with it. So you're to your point about
front loading, these traits the earlier, we can teach these
kids, you're gonna fail, you're going to have bad games, you're
going to have setbacks. Now what?

(41:08):
Like now, what are you going to do?
But let's teach him when they're11 because they probably won't
get it right. But maybe by the time, they're
16 18. And now that you know, reality
is kicking in a little bit, maybe More equipped now.
Because they say, well, okay. I've been here before like I'm
I'm used to being uncomfortable.Yeah, well I will share another
quick story and I don't want to share the player's name but we

(41:32):
were at Nikes campus for the Elite 11 one year and we don't
want to talk quarterbacks in America.
He had been named the five star quarterback in eighth grade.
He was a rock star his whole High School career, he never
lost a seven on seven game, we're in seven-on-seven, they
lose the game. Again, we're on Nikes campus,
remember that note, we're on Nikes campus, he throws a couple

(41:54):
pics, they lose the game, his parents come over to me and say,
you know, you need to get rid ofthose two, coaches calling the
game. That's it all because, you know,
my role at 11 is also, sometimesI'll direct the film.
I'm telling cameras, ready to go.
And I'm like, okay, guys, kick back because we do not want to
put this on TV. Like, I'm not a fan of exposing
these young men and I go over tohim and I said, okay, cameras,
leave and I hear his parents arelike, you need get rid of those

(42:17):
coaches. They're absolutely terrible.
And I'm thinking to myself, okay?
Have you always giving your kid and out?
The kid leaves goes inside the locker room on Nikes campus,
comes out wearing a different brands gear.
A different brands gear after given bags and bags and bags of
gear of Nike gear. Wow.

(42:37):
And I pulled him aside, I said, hey man, like I know you're
frustrated he might not know howto deal with this but the way
you're dealing with it is not the way, this is not the way and
I say that because here he is at17, the world's greatest
quarterback since he was in eighth grade and the people that
have been around him, the most the ones as you referenced
cultivating, that environment. I don't know if they did that,
I'm not here to judge them but Idon't know if they did that in

(43:00):
terms of what you Friends, when he was 10 11 12 because now that
playing career is over and I'm worried about him.
Yeah. Because now here comes a real
failure because now you're just deemed as a failure.
Like I look at the cover and I'mnot pumping this but I look at
the cover of this 5 star book 90%.
These guys aren't playing majority of them.

(43:22):
Look at their careers and her still identified as a failure
because they didn't live up to other people's expectations.
And I think parents need to get on that shit.
Get on that early in their livesother people's expectations and
I think that's the key and it goes back to the social media
thing, there's a lot of layers to that conversation but the

(43:42):
better we can teach kids whose opinions matter.
Number one yourself, what are your own goals and aspirations
and how do you view your identity within your sport,
within your skill, with whateverit is.
That's number one, the folks around you their opinions
matter. Those are the people that you
have to be willing Here, the hard truths.
I said, to my oldest son, who's playing tackle football.

(44:04):
Now, you know, wants to be competitive and he says, you
know, I want to play and I want to play and I always say to my
say, you say, you want to play, but then when you, when you
don't do things a certain way, and I tell you the truth, you
got to be able to deal with it because I'm not going to sit
here. And tell you as your dad, that
everything you do is great. When you do it.
Great, I'll tell you. But if you're messing up and
you're costing your team or you're making mistakes, or

(44:25):
you're not listening to your coach, and whatever it is.
I'ma tell you and you might not like it and it might hurt your
feelings and you might think I'mbeing mean but you need someone
in your life to tell you the truth, we all.
Do I do you we all do the problem nowadays?
What I see coaching, the youth seen five, six days a week?
Various different sports, different types of kids.

(44:48):
Everyone is very hesitant to tell kids to church these days
because they're so worried abouthurting people's feelings.
And you can be respectful and tell the truth.
And give positive criticism. Give realistic criticism without
crushing it, right? That sometimes that's the
balance that we all could do a better job at.
I'm the first to admit, but the notion that we can't tell kids

(45:11):
the truth. These days is what creates those
stories like you just described in my opinion.
Yeah, Pete used. Always say, I don't know if he's
probably saw this to his staff and Seattle and I always say
your job is to learn the learner, right?
So your son might be great at just direct feedback.
My son might be great at like, adirect feedback, but off to the

(45:31):
side because he does want to be embarrassed in front of his
friends. Another one might need that,
right? And I think we've all been on
teams or like wow that guy gets motivated because he's been
yelled at his whole life. Like you got to come down hard
on the field and that's what makes him tick and I think in
Youth Sports, it's a really, it's hard.
Do that. But I think like early on in
practice you know, first few minutes in practice.

(45:53):
I'm a big fan of coaches kind ofmingling getting to know guys
little bit. Hey man, how was your day today?
Like just one little thing, one little string to pull on to find
out like how they learn because the I don't know if you felt it
but you know our son, the biggest reason, I wrote Finding
free fun because he's strugglinghow to read.
Like I gotta make this enjoyableman, like it is not good.

(46:14):
When his teacher would say if they said, like go ahead and
read. Read or hey like, let's make it
really anxious right now and I'ma sit with you like we had to
make it enjoyable. Hey, let's go for a walk in and
look at the signs. What's that sign say stop stop
okay sweet. What color is that red light?
How do you spell read? You know and that to me was like

(46:35):
really critical in his Evolutionlike I could still get chills
now. I guess I hear and read at
night, I'm like, oh, cool. Like we had to have a different
approach and I think the same thing exists in Youth Sports,
let alone the professional sports.
It's I think that's really well said.
And again I'm the first to admit.
I'm very open on this show at times.
I could do better at it right. Like I was always my dad was a

(46:58):
big. He was old school 30-year
football, coach hard driver, hard driver, high expectations.
Nothing was ever good enough andthat's why his team's want a lot
and that's why he was never content.
Nothing was ever good. There was always better inside,
you could always improve, you could always be a better player
and he got Got the best. He maximized every kid who ever

(47:20):
coached him, but his style is not, his style was not for
everyone. It was, I personally obviously
took to it and it helped me. I carry a lot of that, same like
that drive that fight. Like, I'll never, you know.
Anyway, but at times you have toknow your audience, I guess is
my point to your point about learning your learner and
there's times where I have to take a step back and say, okay,

(47:41):
this might work for him but it might not work for her or, you
know, or whatever the case may be.
So I think that's I think that'sa really I think that's a really
good point that we all can learnfrom right as people that
associate coaching youth kid Youth Sports and work with young
kids. I got one last topic I want to
talk to you about because I think we're gonna fit.
Yeah, please go ahead. So you've had a lot of powerful

(48:01):
coaches in your career, like, how do you curate, like your
coaching approach based on your experiences or is default, like
how I was coached by my dad? Who was item?
I'm assuming the biggest influence in your life.
Yeah he was the biggest influence by far, not even not
even. Even close.
I've been fortunate to have a lot of really good coaches who
had a lot of different approaches my style from an

(48:25):
early age. I don't need someone to like
false, enthusiasm Falks, false pump me up, like, that's not
really my jam. Like, I want to be held
accountable. I want to be given freedom to do
my thing and this was something as I got older and whatnot, but
I was fortunate, I had a lot of different styles.
So I went from my dad who was very disciplined accountability.

(48:47):
Driving nothing's good enough. Then I went to college with
Larry Coker, who was a lot more relaxed, right?
He was a lot more Father Figure not going to embarrass.
Guy's not going to yell guys, but then in my tight end room, I
had Mario crystal ball. So Mario Cristobal.
Now obviously, the head coach atMiami hard drive, and sucker
now, he was now he loved his players, but he was very

(49:09):
intense, very demanding, very hard, but then also could turn
it off and be like a fun guy andwe go out to dinner.
So like he was that Kind of guy.Then I got to the NFL, Lovie
Smith, very calm, very quiet, then, Ron Rivera kind of a mix
of both ways and then obviously Pete just for that one year and
you described his style, you know, it better than anybody.

(49:31):
So like I could always fit in with really any style of Coach.
I didn't need to play for a guy who's going to kick me in the
ass every play. But I also didn't need someone
to just put his arm around and sing Kumbaya like I was good in
any environment I had. So to answer your question, my
approaches, If I see a kid that needs a foot up his ass and
needs to be, it needs to be heldaccountable and driven because

(49:52):
that's the only way to keep themin line.
I'll do it. But if I see a kid that maybe
needs a different approach because when you do jump them,
they go into a shell and you actually make things worse
though. That's the part of it that I'm
getting better at assessing. Okay.
Just because it worked for me and just because it might work
for one of my kids doesn't mean it works for my other kids or

(50:13):
the other kids that I coach. I need to do a better job at
saying. Okay.
This is how he Responds to get the best out of this player.
This is how he responds to get the best out of this player,
whatever, part of the spectrum. It's on to me doesn't matter.
At the end of the day, the development of the kid is the
priority fix the mistake, don't attack the kid, but attack the
problem. Like what are the problems?

(50:34):
Why do you continue to make them?
And let's address that. I do go hard though.
It's hard. No, but it's hard.
So here's a question. And this is self-serving hundred
percent. So like our son.
I think I think he's a gifted athlete.
He's kind of like my wife, like doesn't practice a lot and can
just do stuff, but doesn't necessarily love it.

(50:57):
Like he's not some of his friends were like, let me go to
the cages every day after school.
He wants to hang out. Like he wants to be with his
buddies is why. At least?
Now it's seven is why he plays. So, how do you coach curious you
and your staff? How do you approach that
individual? So so I have I'll give you a
personal answer to that because I have three kids.
My oldest son is 11, Place tackle, football plays, very

(51:19):
competitive travel baseball. We fly all around the country
and play in different games but that's his personality.
Like he wants to stand on the mound in the championship game
and not all the games do great, he's not gonna strike everybody
out. He's had some games where he
didn't make it out of the secondinning and he got shelled
because he played some really good team from Georgia or
whatever. Like, But it's not going to

(51:41):
crush him like he wants to be inthose situations he thrives on
it. He's a little bit more wired
like me but you can you you can be firm with them and you can
tell him when it's not right? And be firm with them and hold
them to a high standard. And after the initial being
eleven in the emotions, we're off, like he'll go to bed at
night and be like, I'm going to be better tomorrow, like, I know

(52:02):
the way I ended practice or I know why, you know, whatever
happened after he process yet. I'll be better tomorrow.
And you're like good, like Rest,it's over.
Let's worry about tomorrow. My younger son, who's 10 a lot
more sensitive if you jump him, he's done cry, like he might
cry. He might go into a shell, he'll

(52:23):
get very apprehensive and hesitant because he doesn't want
to make a mistake and he's done.There's no bounce back like, but
when he's in a great positive mindset and he's confident, he's
going, he has some really good traits and some really good
qualities. He's a big strong kid and can do
it. But he just wants to play with
his friends, like he's on the team because he loves The

(52:44):
Dugout, he's in the team becausethe pizza parties, he'll do the
baseball part, he likes it and he'll have success and, you
know, kind of up and down, but he loves his buddies, he loves
the car ride home, he wants to bring his friends home.
After practice to go have pizza,like loves the social component
to it and then my daughter is the best athlete of the three.
If they went into a race on the playground, she'd win.

(53:05):
She's tall. She can run Chic.
I mean, But if it's not at her team practice or a little Rec
team, practice, or at her game on Saturday, she's not doing
anything and no matter how hard we push it, it's just not her
deal. She's just it's not her
personality. So we just kind of let it be.
So I have three kids on very different ends of this whole

(53:26):
competitive Spirit which is a little hard for me because I'm
like everything in my life is life and death you know.
So it's like a little hard for me to take a step back and say
it's okay that they don't approach it that way that's
taken me a little time. But it's hard, you know, might
so to answer your question for your seven-year-old, like my
biggest way I approach my ten-year-old because he's

(53:47):
similar is like, if we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it.
And when it's time to be serious, we're going to be
serious when it's time to have fun.
We're going to have fun. And then once practice or the
games are over, I want you to gohave fun with your buddies.
I want you guys to go run around.
I want you to go be 10 but I need you for this fixed amount
of time, we got to be in and we got to go.

(54:08):
And if you're not willing to do that, we Put you on a different
team. That's cool.
That's that's my Approach but it's hard when you have
different kids in your house that have different approaches.
None of this is easy. I have one last question for you
and I'm Gonna Let You Go. You've been very generous with
your time an issue that I see inyouth sports nowadays and I
think it's trickling to some of the poor quality we're seeing.

(54:30):
So we'll just stick with football just because we're both
football guys we're seeing poor quality kind of creep into
higher levels right? We're seeing NFL footballs this
year specifically average right we're seeing a lot of
sloppiness. My belief is kids are so caught
up in the competition mean The games tourneys, the competitive

(54:50):
nature of the games and there's very little attention given to
the development, right? Everything at the young age is
about winning the tournament, but it's not, let's develop the
kids. And then, as a by-product, we
will win the tournament. Like, how do we as a culture try
to shift back? We're at the young age.
We spend more time, developing the individual with the traits,

(55:13):
both mentally and physically to excel at their Sport and let the
winning. Come as a byproduct of doing
things correctly because in my mind right now it's flipped.
If my team's losing I just got to go get better players.
That's the coaching approach to youth sports nowadays and as a
result, we're not developing thekids that we have.
Yeah, well I'll give you two examples.

(55:35):
So let's just look at the quarterback.
So yes, interviewed 50, plus five star, quarterbacks ask them
all about their lives. And what I really learned is
that the guys that are offered really early, right?
That it was eighth grade offer. Seventh grade offer ninth grade
offer men. They really struggled in the joy
and development process because it became about the next offer,

(55:58):
and then the next offer, then the commitment and then bringing
guys along with me. So I say to, like, to the adults
in the room to the coaches, likelet's slow down that
eighth-grade offer to the parents.
Like you don't need to go to like every Premiere Camp.
I know you were asked that on one of your recent podcast, like
should we go to all these camps?Like, you don't like you need to
hone in. In on to your point the

(56:20):
development. So that story one, I think story
to applicable to what you just asked.
I really think it's about playing not playing games with.
I think we live in a world now where I mean just pull like the
10 people you call or text most in your phone that have kids and
every weekend. What are they have games?

(56:41):
Oh trust me I didn't get it. You live it and I think we
especially for for I learned this from me, a ham, all
everything. So A player.
She was like, you know, a lot oftimes females are more
susceptible to like ACL injuriesbecause they're just playing
games all the time and then I can remember even Jurgen
Klinsmann. He was a former US national
coach used to hang out at SC when we were back in the day

(57:02):
there and he would say his son who I think is on the national
team. He would say, I want to play,
you know, Big Time Socrates saidwell if you just keep playing
games you're never gonna and hisexample was like he would just
kick the ball into like his garage door thousands of times.
So to me, I think on the youth, Sports side of the coaching.
I would be breaking down practice into moments of skill

(57:24):
development that are fun and competitive, right?
How many times whether it's likehitting the ball into the fence
diving to try to turn a double play, to make it enjoyable,
right? Pull out the Kickball every once
in a while to like work on, running the bases, like, little
things like that, but you're really developing like the
Miyagi ask skill development versus hey, all right, let's
line up. We're gonna hit, we're going to

(57:44):
play it. Let's do another mock game.
Let's scrimmage today. Time for that, but the best
teams I've seen even a practice with her Chip.
Kelly Chip. Kelly is one of the best I've
been around in practice because he'll have periods were only
yell in between periods, teach. And there's at each period in
between seven on seven and one on one's, or 97 or whatever it
may be. I think in the Youth Sports,

(58:07):
having those little moments built in our Paramount.
Because if I get 10 at-bats, in practice, whatever.
Did I really get that much better with 10 swings?
Give me. And Swings in the corner with
one coach. And that's where I think the
coaching could come in and say, let's not just be like,
corralling our kids, let's take them.
Hey, we're going to do this here.

(58:27):
This here, this here and really work on that and maybe you don't
get to everything everyday. But man by the end of the
season, the amount of reps the intellect around the craft has
incredibly increased versus, let's get another mock game in.
Yeah, it's so true. What I've loved the experience
I've taken from coaching football now for First time at

(58:48):
the youth age, we've done a lot of baseball.
We've done a lot of basketball over the years, first time,
doing tackle football. It's the first time we practice
more than we play. Yeah, we practice six, seven
hours a week. We practice a lot.
And we play one game on Saturdaymornings.
And then the next week, we're back to practice on Tuesday,
Thursday, little walkthrough on some Fridays.

(59:11):
You play one game on Saturday mornings.
My son's baseball team, this weekend will play six games.
Six games. Yeah, that's so true football
sport, right? That that stays that Rings true
with football for eternity, but that's what I think is so cool
for these young kids like our ability to coach our offensive

(59:31):
and defensive linemen and our backs and our handoffs, we have
so much time to coach the details and the the, you know,
the fundamentals, because we're only preparing for one hour and
a half game a weekend. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
I mean, you played for peed on afew degree, but I felt like
that's where he was really masterful of like, making the
littlest things feel like game day.

(59:55):
Yeah, he he I've always said, you know, some of the, some of
the Pete stuff was not really mycup of tea at the again, it was
late. I was older and later in my
career but I've said on record multiple times.
His ability to run a team attention detail, practice plan,
reading the locker room. Understanding personalities was

(01:00:15):
as good as anybody I've ever been around.
Yeah, he did. A great example.
I remember when we were writing his book, this is 2008-2009 and
he said when he got let go of the Jets.
He spent a year trying to kind of figure out where he was going
to go next and he was doing a youth camps for the NFL NFL,
whenever whenever that a fellow Youth Camp would play 60 or

(01:00:36):
whatever it was at the time and he was driving through New York,
and he went to one community andit was relatively upscale and he
went to practice and in the parking lot, he couldn't hear
anything. They went to another community
that probably like fiscally wasn't what the previous one
was, and he's in the park land, all I heard was like sounds and
noises and energy and that's where it like kind of clicked

(01:00:59):
for him of like, okay, for the Youth Sports specifically like
how can we curate energy now? You can have energy when you're
saying, hey, step with your leftfoot first you could have energy
when you're saying like it come out of your break and I've
always felt like with youth and this is just an limited
experience. But if you can bring juice, if
you can create an environment, that is one full of joy and

(01:01:23):
enjoy is competing. Joy is practicing.
Joy is like, doing things over and over to get him, right?
Like, if you can create that spin on it as the voice, as the
lead Voice, or one of the voicesthat I just think you're going
to have a much more enjoyable experience, he got to do the
same things, no matter what to continue to grow.
You might as well do it with a ton of energy, man?

(01:01:44):
Okay, this could have been a forour conversation.
We've only scratched the surface.
I Have some of the fun conversation, so we're going to
have to have you back. But for the sake of time Yogi
Roth, I mean we didn't get into some of your films, you've made
some of your TV stuff obviously,now calling games Pac-12, we got
a lot to unpack. Hopefully we can have you back
but Yogi Roth. I can't thank you enough for
coming and sharing some of your experiences, your Insight, both

(01:02:05):
personally and professionally onthis crazy wild world of youth
sports in America. And for joining us another
episode of you think? Yeah man it was a blast you to
send me your address. I got to send you a copy of Five
star QB. I think you're loving your boys.
All love it, done. I'll follow up.
I'll have, I'll have it sent to you.
I would love it. I appreciate it.
Best of luck and hopefully we have you on here again soon.

(01:02:28):
Done. And done.
Appreciate it buddy. Hope you enjoyed that
conversation with yogi Roth, youcan hear yo you right now
calling games out for the Pac-12college, football slate.
But again I have some of his books.
I've seen some of his films obviously unfamiliar.
He coached my younger brother atthe Elite 11 Camp so he he's got

(01:02:50):
a real really interesting Outlook.
And a really interesting life experience to the world of Youth
Sports, both from his childhood growing up all the way till.
Now he's kind of scene seeing the game from a lot of different
angles. So that's that's pretty cool.
I appreciate your GE. Hope you guys enjoyed that
conversation and got as much outof it as I did.
And at this part of the show, you know what's coming, our

(01:03:11):
favorite part, we're going to bring in Tasha, Tasha, we have
to start where we started the last couple weeks, Syracuse,
Orange. I'm sorry I have to be I was
man. I thought you guys had it for
anyone who doesn't know Tasha's.Dad is the head football coach
at Syracuse. They've had an unbelievable year
this year, top 25 undefeated. They had a huge matchup against

(01:03:32):
Clemson. And tell us what happened?
Tasha, huge big bummer, you knowI mean we're in Death Valley.
It's hard to win in Death Valley, what are they?
38 straight ones now. But we had, it was just the
second half. We just, we just didn't score,
you know. That's what happens when you
don't score. This is when you don't.
Yeah, they've done studies. They've done studies in the
teens who don't score. It's hard to win.

(01:03:53):
It's something new. There's seeing yeah, you know.
That's right here. I know.
But, so who do you guys have left on the schedule?
What are the big ones left on the Slate?
You know, we have way. For us, we have Notre Dame tough
one. Wow.
Okay. Yeah, but this, this next
weekend we have Notre Dame at home.
So that's you guys, at least them, you can beat them.
Hopefully, we'll see. Well update everyone next week.

(01:04:15):
Good luck to the orange. You think is a full orange?
We are full Syracuse, Orange fans.
We're pulling for you, pulling for the fam.
I hope you guys pull it out. What do you got for us?
What kind of audience questions?Let's hear from.
Yes, this one is from Kathleen from Instagram.
She says my five-year-old love sports and is Ultra-competitive.
But when he loses, he's unconsolable.

(01:04:36):
He's just so upset. So basically she wants to know
what? Parenting advice.
Can you give her? Yeah, you know I think part of
that is just age right? I think all five year olds and
you take their crayon and they cry.
I think I think young kids just don't know how to control their
emotions. I mean I still see some of our
10 year olds and 12 year olds that we coach who still struggle
with setbacks and struggle with defeat and don't know how to

(01:04:58):
handle it. So I don't think that's
uncommon. I don't think you ever want to
pull out the competitive. Spirit of a kid.
I think the fact that he is competitive and the fact that he
really wants to compete and he wants to win, I think is good.
I think over time as he learns to be a little more maturity
gets a better understanding and handling of his emotions and his
behavior. I think you can obviously work

(01:05:18):
on that and say hey when we wantyou to be competitive we don't
show the old phrase. Show me a good loser and I'll
show you a loser. Like you don't want to teach
your kids that losing is. Okay, but you do want to teach
your kids that when you lose your Nation is to act correctly
and your, if no one's saying youcan't be upset, you can't be
mad, but you need to control your emotions.

(01:05:38):
You need to act the right way and and, and be able to handle
adversity and handle the feet. And I and we talked about that.
A lot of the show that one of the greatest Parts about Youth
Sports is teaching kids to deal with failure and to deal with
setbacks and deal with disappointments because it's
really a great way to learn those life lessons.
So Kathleen I encourage you keepthem being competitive, let him

(01:05:59):
keep playing, let him keep getting out of them and just
continue to sprinkle And like, hey, I know you want to win, I
know you care, but we, as we getolder, we need to be a little
more mature, with how we handle these things.
And I'm sure it'll get better asyou get older, and but I love
it. I love the competitive Spirit.
Don't ever take that away from akid because you can't coach it.

(01:06:19):
That's good. The next one is from Amy from
Twitter. How is it saying, Christian
McCaffrey and San Francisco for the first time.
What advice did you give him after the trade?
It was really cool on Thursday night, I was I was laying in bed
and I had fallen asleep on the Thursday night game and then
they had the post game show on. So I kind of heard McCaffrey's
name and I was half asleep and you know kind of woke up and

(01:06:42):
looked at the screen you know Chris breaking news, Christian
McCaffrey traded, this was like midnight on Thursday night, East
Coast time. So I texted McCaffrey and he was
up and we kind of went back and forth a little bit and then I
was able to see him, I called the San Francisco, Kansas City
game on Sunday out and Santa Clara so it was just great to
see him he's fired up. I mean obviously he loves

(01:07:03):
Already love this time here but I think New Beginnings.
I know firsthand sometime new sometimes.
New Beginnings are the best thing that that someone can get
and he's going to a good team. He's going to a coach that's
really going to utilize his skill set and use him, you know,
over what he's good at and hopefully they can become a
contender, you know, they got a good squad, they they came up a
little short against Kansas Citybut they got a good team.

(01:07:25):
We have them again this weekend,we're gonna go see McCaffrey and
the Niners. This weekend play the Rams out
in La so I'm happy for him, he'sa great dude.
He works his ass off, and I think, I think this, I think
that when it's all said and done, this can be a great thing
for him. Ice and then our last fan
question is I feel like work ethic is different than back in

(01:07:46):
the day. How do you instill?
Good work ethic and the teams that you coach Yeah, it's you
know it's a good question. I think the biggest thing that
we try to make a connection point with the young kids to is,
we need to make a connection between work ethic and the
desired outcome, right? And what we always say is it's
our job as coaches that when we're pushing these kids hard

(01:08:09):
and we're making them work and we're making them really.
I mean we're really making them earn it and improve and hold
them to high standards. We've got to make sure that
we're doing it in a way that they see the growth and that
Experience the development that they're seeking.
And when we get to game day and we get to where it matters, they
have success. There are part of the team, they
have a role again, not everybody's role.

(01:08:30):
Not everyone's going to be the running back and other one's
going to score touchdowns and everyone's gonna be the
shortstop, but like, feel like when you come into a game on
this team, I've earned a roll through my hard work and through
my production in the games and in practice.
So to me like that's the connection point.
If you just bring the kids in and you grind them into the dirt
and you scream at them and you yell on it, but nobody's getting
any better because You're not doing it the right way, nobody's

(01:08:52):
improving. And then when they get into the
games, they get rolled and they get beat and they get, you know,
they're down on themselves and their defeated, they come back
to practice the next time and there's no connection.
There's no, okay? I'm willing to do this because
I'm getting the desired outcome in my development, in my
Improvement that to me, is wherea lot of coaches missed the
book, miss the boat. So, something we try to do is we

(01:09:14):
try to always evaluate after every single week after every
game and saying is every kid on our team getting If they are and
we continue to find ways along the lines of the way.
We've been operating because what we're doing works, if we're
making this so hard and we're demanding and we're making these
kids and practice is hard, but then they're never seeing the
success. In the games, we're going to

(01:09:35):
turn these kids off. They're not going to want to
come back, right? Because it's not worth it.
Why why am I going to get my assripped?
And why am I going to get coached and pushed and held to a
really crazy high standard? And then I go out and I can't
play. Well, I stink, my team loses,
I'm not good. I don't have a role.
That to me is our biggest emphasis and as long as our kids
are improving and as long as ourkids are coming back better than

(01:09:58):
when they left to me. That's the that's the sign of a
really good team and then how you put all those pieces
together individually and make that a collective unit.
Obviously that's the last piece of the puzzle but to me kids
need to learn that the harder something is it's for a reason
the easy things. You know?
There's an old adage right, the easy things, Not worth it.

(01:10:20):
The hard things are worth their hard work and the harder it is
the usually the more well worth it is and we think it's our job
to kind of instill that that life lesson into these young
kids as early as we can. And that's what we're trying to
do. That's right to do the hard
stuff. People do the hard stuff to the
hard stuff that's it for all thefan questions though.

(01:10:41):
So keep sending them in at you think rat.
Greg Olson at Tick-Tock, Instagram or Twitter.
Awesome. And thank you so much.
Tasha, appreciate it, as always.And thank you guys all for
listening here on you think. Please continue to rate review.
Subscribe wherever you, get yourpodcasts and can't wait to see
you guys next week.

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