Airey Bros Radio Episode 379 – Learfield Directors' Cup Roundtable: Leadership, Culture & Championships in NAIA & NCAA D2 - Airey Bros.'s Radio

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Airy Brose Radio, be there or B
Square because it's all killer, no filler.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Ladies and gentlemen, howd you know? Oha, we're here, You
were there and we appreciate you joining us for another
episode of Arry Bros.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Tonight, we're diving into what it means to lead from
the front. This is our twenty twenty five lear Field
Director's Cup Highlights show, and we are joined by four
powerhouse athletic directors who led their schools to national success
in the Director's Cup standings. Let's not forget while we're
doing this show. This is for our younger versions of
ourselves and for the athletes, coaches and families still searching

(00:47):
for the right fit. If you're looking for a college
that wins and builds people, you're in the right place.
But before we get rolling, you know the drill. Make
sure you smash that like button and are subscribed. Drop
a comment every day, view, review and share helps us
grow and get back to the sports we love. Follow
us on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcast. As always,

(01:07):
this episode is fueled by Black Sheep Endurance coaching. All Right,
ladies and gentlemen, we're getting into it. Tonight, as we mentioned,
we are talking with some of the athletic directors from
the top Division two and NAIA schools in the country.
Starting off at seven o'clock, Chris Kraftik, we'll be back

(01:28):
with us again from the University of Cumberland's. Then at
seven twenty, Jamie Pendigris from Life University will be joining us.
At seven forty, Joe Reese from Wingate will be joining us,
and then to close it out, Kimberly Pate from the
University of Indianapolis will be joining us. It's going to
be a great episode. We're going to hear a little
bit about the athletic departments at these four great institutions.

(01:51):
Some of these people we've spoken to, and we've spoken
with some of the coaches from these universities, so we
are excited to get into it this evening. He is,
how are you guys doing well? Sir? How are you
good to see you?

Speaker 1 (02:04):
Good? Good to see you.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
How's the summer treating in Williamsburg? You being able to
get out of the links?

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, I played a little bit. Yeah, it's it's my
busy golf season now, so getting a little bit of
a break and then gosh, three weeks kids are back
on campus fall sports, so in summer of getting shorter
every year, it seems like.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, you're telling me, well, we are excited to have
you back. It's honor and a pleasure and uh, I guess.
First off, congratulations on the laro Field Cup for the
second year in a row. Uh and then also being
named the Mid South Conference Athletic Director of the Year
for the second straight years.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, we have good have good people around me. That's
I've been smart enough to put good people around me, right,
and we have a great team. But we're really excited
about Larfield. We did it differently this year and so
we're excited about that. So I feel like, which we
can get into a little bit, but that's what I'm
I'm really proud that we did it with with different

(03:05):
sports and you know, different teams stepping up. So it
was it was pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Well, Vinceembardie always said that he picked the right team
you always win.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Right, Yeah?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, you so, is a lear Field Cup?

Speaker 4 (03:20):
Is that the goal or is that just the cherry
on top?

Speaker 1 (03:23):
I think it's something to shoot for. I think I
think it, you know, with our goal, our our philosophy
is you know, we want want everybody to be good.
We want the most comprehensive department in the country. And
when you can win something like that, I think it
shows that you're achieving those things, you know. I think

(03:43):
we won fifteen conference championships this year and the rest
of our league combined one to eleven, you know, And
but when you're when you're seeing the depth of success
across all of our sports, that to melear Field signifies that.
So I think it's something we talk about. We're pretty
conscious of. We we do want to win it, but

(04:05):
but I don't you know, it's not you know, the
goal right now is just keeping our culture, having great kids,
having coaches that are happy, and then all those other
things kind of happen.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
You know, So all those conference titles. Do you get
to enjoy it or is it just business as usual?
Do you try to, you know, have gratitude for it
so you don't get lost in the process of winning.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
We try, you know, we celebrate every win. Putting the
pat Head on the board is what we call it.
And you know, they've got a Patriot headsticker they put
on there on on a banner at every facility. So
we try to celebrate all the little things so that
you don't get so caught up in the in the
end result stuff. But yeah, I think we try. You know,

(04:50):
some some teams that comes easier than others, So I
think you celebrate them all with where the program is in.
It's you know, in its current state.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Now, you guys had seventeen of twenty three teams score
in the in the cup.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Stand, twenty two had twenty two teams score, thirteen were allowed.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
To count, thirteen were allowed to Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,
So I guess how that works is there's so many
sports that are available, but only certain ones count.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
So you have four mandatory counters, so it's volleyball, men's soccer,
and both basketballs or your mandatory counters like you have
to those four count for everybody, and then you're your
next nine teams that score the highest.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Do you know, it's just based on how they scored.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
How they scored it nationals.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, and you mentioned you guys went about it a
little bit differently. I guess you had some different teams
that the brought home titles and did different things. Yeah,
a little bitlier than last year.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
So you know, you guys are are big fans of
Bradley and track, and I think you have to have
a really good track program to be good at this
to score high in Learfield. And we felt like that
was the common denominator among teams that all finished high
at Learfield. But you know, they only had three of
their six count this year, and we had women's wrestling

(06:17):
came in third, both swimmings finished fourth, both lacrosse is
finished national runners up, and those were huge points that
we didn't have the year before, you know. So, so
for track to only account for three of the six,
I was. I was thrilled. And you know, we had
two teams go into the final site number one seed
women's soccer and softball, and they didn't win a game

(06:39):
at the final site, and we still had enough points
to score the most ever in the history of Learfield
in the ANI. So I think it just speaks to
our depth and the success throughout the department.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
And you mentioned that you the school had the athletic
department had more conference championships and the other you know,
schools in the conference combined. Are you guys pretty Are
you guys well received in the conference.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Or I'm there there's some jealousy you know, it is
what it is. I think, you know, Lindsay Wilson had
their time at the top in our conference, and you know,
everybody's kind of had their moments. It just happens to
be ours now, and and you know, how long can
we sustain, which we think we can for a long time.

(07:31):
But you know, I don't I don't feel any sense
of that. We have some some good camaraderie and obviously
some rivalries, but I don't I don't feel the coaches
are or the coaches administrators are. I think they realize
what we've got going on. It's a little different. It's
not something everybody can do. And you know, I appreciate

(07:54):
the fact that when we wanted to get ahead of
Lindsay Wilson, who put our head down went to work.
I feel like they're doing the same thing right now, so,
you know, trying to trying to match us and catch us.
So I think there's some good, healthy rivalries, but I
don't think there's anything no animosity.

Speaker 4 (08:13):
So after you bring home the second title, meet with
all your coaches, what's the plan for next year to
bring home that third?

Speaker 1 (08:21):
We're gonna sit down and talk about it in a
couple of weeks. You know, we we have our professional
development and kind of our time together the third week
of July every year, and we're gonna course celebrate this
one and and sit down. We're gonna reinvent ourselves. We
have we have probably graduated out six or seven of

(08:41):
the best athletes that may ever play at our school
in different sports, and so some teams have to reinvent
themselves and and so it'll be very interesting to see
see how we respond. I think we'll be fine. And
again I can't think because of our depth, we're going
to be in really good, but you know, there'll be

(09:02):
some teams that look different. And of course, we just
our softball coach just left for Division one Evansville. She
graduated a lot out. We hired an amazing guy, Bruce Lennington,
that was at our Lady of the Lakes and he
won a national championship in twenty twenty four, so he
knows what it takes and he's moving from Texas and

(09:22):
coming up here, so you know, so you know, we'll
have a few changes like that, but we're just gonna
sit down, and I think what we're really going to
focus on is the process and how we can change
and keep up with the chaos that is college athletics.
Even though we're not seeing it at quite the level
that the big schools are, there's still change and you

(09:43):
still have to look for your niche and your places
where you can take advantage of those things.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
So you said you lost the coach to Division one program.
I know the track and field team has been having
a hard time with some of those Division one cool
coming and getting their kids. Do you see that across
the board in other sports?

Speaker 1 (10:05):
You know, I think some of those kids. I think
with the track kids, they've earned those I mean, they're
they're good, right, and so we can't really begrudge that.
Not really. We've had some kids that are going to
go on and play because of the PAVIA ruling, they
have another year of eligibility, so they're they're getting to
play Division one next year that normally they wouldn't, but
they're out of ANAI eligibility. But you know, we did

(10:28):
lose the men's basketball player. He's gonna be at Arizona
State next year. Who was you know, first team All American.
But I think that's the you know, that seems to
be the model right now where Division ones are just
they're taking each other's players in the transfer portal, or
they're looking at Division two or anti schools to who's
the best, and they're kind of picking those and the

(10:50):
opportunity there, even though that's a threat, the opportunity there
is we have access to more high school kids than
we've ever had that are really high level, and so
we have to take advantage of that and go after
those kids.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
And when when you get that kind of news, when
you know, whether it's coach soud or the basketball coach
letting you know that one of their athletes is getting,
you know, going off to a Division one school or
Division two school, are you giving them a big old
hug and kind of consoling them about that? Or is
he kind of are you guys kind of used to that?

Speaker 1 (11:23):
That's all. They all handled it differently. Yeah, they all
handled differently. Coach Shouters, you know, he gets attached and
he's he's but he he loves those kids and so
but he also understands. I don't think I don't think
any of our coaches be grudgeate at this point. I
think they just understand, you know, you have to adjust,
you consider around and complain about it, or you can

(11:44):
adjust and go recruit and uh, you know, so we
just go find find new kids. And and you know,
I think obviously some of these kids are hard to replace.
They so we graduated out some some of the best
athletes we we've ever had. Charlie Munie's baseball, you know,
set the all time and all time collegiate baseball home
run record and and RBI records and and you know,

(12:07):
he's the best player in any I baseball two years
in a row. He's gonna be hard to replace, you know,
but you know that's that's kind of the job, and
that's the challenge. And so I think they embrace it.
You know, we don't. We don't spend too much time
dwelling on it.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, is that young man is he playing? Did he
get drafted?

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Well, we hope, well, you know, the draft's not for
a few more weeks. We're hoping he does. You know,
he's a little older, but man, he's he's as good
a hitter as there's is out there. So I we're hoping.
If not, we think he's going to sign a free
agent deal with somebody. But that's that's the that's the
hope for him because He's been an amazing, amazing player.

(12:49):
He's a great person, very humble and and just somebody
that's that's been made a huge impact on our department.
But there's been a few of those, you know, Aiden
Belter National Player of the Year women's soccer and Carl
Oliver and softball, and of course you know the number
of track kids, and so this is gonna be really

(13:10):
interesting because again we've lost some dynamic, dynamic, Hall of
Fame kind of kids and so but at the same time,
you know, I'm going through individual means with all our
staff right now and kind of getting the lay of
the land where they think they're going to be for
next year, and everybody's just incredibly upbeat and excited about
who they got coming in.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
So yeah, it seems like coach Outer is always on
the recruiting path and there's always a new post on
the Instagram that they got someone coming.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
So yeah, he doesn't stop.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Now it's all those of vanilla cappuccinos NonStop.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
Yeah, So all the success across the board, What is
the recipe? What is in that secret sauce that's bringing
home titles at every sport?

Speaker 1 (13:56):
Well, I think you know what's that saying coaches win games,
and administrations within championships. And when I say administration, I
don't mean me, I mean our upper administration. Our president
starts with your president. You know. I think we've talked
about this last time I was on. You know, he
he loves sports, he understands the value of it. He
was an next coach, so he's passionate about our success.

(14:18):
And and so when that makes my job so much easier. Obviously,
our school's done some amazing things with tuition and scholarshiping
and making sure kids, you know, don't have loan debt,
and and that's across the board, not just with athletics.
And so when when you can sell that, when you

(14:39):
can go into parents and say, look, our goal is
for your you guys to graduate debt free. Here's what
we're showing you, here's what we're going to do that,
that's a difference maker. I think. I think it's a
kind It's not just one secret thing I think it is.
It was really weird to have a coach leave. We've
had coaches offered Division one jobs and have stayed, you know,
so one of them, coach Dillander with softball, had been

(15:03):
offered multiple Division one jobs. This was just the first
one she decided to take. And so our coaches have
been incredibly loyal, So that helps with continuity. And then
they're really picky about the kind of kids they bring
to campus and the culture we have on campus. So
I think it's a I didn't give you a clean answer,
but I feel like it's a combination of a lot
of things. You know, our administrative staff is really clicking

(15:27):
and working together incredibly well. You know, we have all
that support from the upper administration, our coaches, we have
very little coaching turnover. They're happy, and we can offer
something to kids that that most most schools cannot, which
is a chance to graduate undergraduate debt free, and whether
you're an athlete or a non athlete. And so I think,

(15:52):
you know, I think our jobs are so attractive right now,
and that's what got coach Lennington to leave OLU to
come to us for softball. Our jobs are really attractive,
and so coaches, coaches are. You know that continuity is
a huge piece of it.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Can you talk a little bit more about that. Coming
out of college debt free? You know we had coach
rough On as well. You know, he was breaking it
down for us. And we've had some people be like,
is that is that real?

Speaker 5 (16:20):
He is he?

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Is that true? Is that possible?

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, it's real. Yeah, it's incredible. So you know, our
starting our total cost of attendance is well total tuition
room on board is nineteen one seventy five, and our
promise is to package every student to fifteen one seven,
every domestic student to fifteen one to seven five, And

(16:45):
that means they're four thousand and out of pocket two
thousand per semester and most most families can afford that
without having a takeout loans and that's books all in fees,
and we basically endoubt a scholarship and put a poor in.
We had a donor d Matchet, and so we call
that the commitment scholarship. So coach gives us their scholarship.

(17:07):
The commitment gets them to the rest of it. If
they don't have aid, you know, state or federal aid,
and kids that have state and federal aid, they're pretty
much usually taken care of. And so we've been then
in the process of reducing our rosters, getting rid of
JV programs, focusing just on varsity and by next year

(17:29):
fall of twenty six. We want to be at about
seven between seven fifty and seven seventy five athletes with
twenty eight programs, and a couple of years ago, I
think we peaked at about eleven hundred student athletes. So
we have been slowly reducing because we've had so many
non athletes come in because of this, and so that's
for athletes or non athletes, and you know, it's pretty incredible.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
So you mentioned twenty eight sports across the board. Do
you see in these next couple of years do you
have goals? Obviously? Can you have other sports? Do you
have all the collision sports that are possible? Anything going
to change over the next couple of years, You know.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
I don't think so. I think I think we're happy
with where we're at. There's a lot of schools in
our area started flag football, and of course that gets
your attention, but most of those schools don't have men's
and women's lacrosse, and we're very committed to those sports.
So to add another spring sport to an already crazy
spring would be a lot for you know, when I

(18:31):
look at athletic training, when I look at sports information,
So I think that's something we're kind of shying away
from at the moment, even though some schools, a lot
of schools in our conference are starting it. So no,
I think right now we're kind of in reduction mode
as far as our number of athletes and focusing on

(18:51):
the varsities and making sure that those roster numbers are
right and coaches have what they need to be successful
on the varsity level. And so last year we got
rid of jv baseball, softball at both basketballs and this
year we're going to transition at this will be the
last year for soccers and volleyball, and and at that
point we're just trying to write size rosters. And and

(19:12):
again we're in a unique situation where it's the opposite
at most schools at our level, where they're they're having
to they need that enrollment. But because of our pricing
and our commitment scholarship now we have, we were able
to kind of have an appropriate amount of athletes versus
non athletes, where most schools NINNYI it's very heavy athlete

(19:37):
So and I think that'll be good for our campus.
You know, we're getting ready to ramp up innermurals and
we just hired an intermural director to to run that
and you know, give kids that athletic outlet. But so
I'm excited to see that that side of things ramp up.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
But I.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
Think if we can settle in seven seventy five, we're
we're at a really good number. Everybody's got what they
need and they'll be in a really good number and
you know, we'll keep trying to win at the varsity level.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
So we don't want to give anyway secrets of what
you're working on. But two years in a row a
d of the year, do you have anything you're working
on that you think, Hey, I need to get better here,
I need to get better there.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Sure, all the time, Again, I have to give a
ton of credit. I have, you know, four assistant ads
who each have their own discipline, you know, I have
I have Christie that does game ops and fan engagement.
I've got BJ that's doing development and professional development. I've
got Tommy doing sports communication. I've got Sam doing compliance

(20:42):
and nil and and those guys. You know, we, like
I said, we're really hitting hitting our stride together as
a group now and everybody kind of knows their role
and knows what they need to do. But but what
I have to constantly be careful of is. You know,
I'm I'm very competitive, and so it is my strength,
but it can also be my weakness. And I have

(21:03):
to make sure I'm managing how I handle when things
aren't going the way I want it to, or how
if we're if we're to lose, lose a game, or what.
I've got to make sure our coaches have enough inherent
pressure on them with our overall success, they don't need
me adding to it. And and so they they are
already feel like, you know, everybody around me is winning.

(21:26):
I need to win to and it's it's kind of
inherent in our culture. And so what I've got to
do is kind of make sure that they're okay, make
sure that they're not They're not so focused on results
that that they're forgetting about processes and in those kind
of things. And I can't be that same way too.
I can't preach that and then get mad at the
end of a game when we don't win. You know.

(21:48):
So well, I'm constantly working on me in that part
of things, and it's gotten a lot better. But you know,
I'm competitive, and whether it's on the golf course or
whether i'm you know, at a soccer game, I want
to win, and so that's my biggest thing. Again, I
think it's a strength, but if it if I don't
keep it in check, it can be a weakness.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
So coach, I'm curious, is kind of just a little
bit out of pocket. But you know, we talked to
a lot of wrestling coaches, and golf seems to be
a very very popular sport amongst wrestling coaches, besides yourself
and the golf coaches. Who's the best golfer in the
athletic department.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Well, obviously, our our golf coach who played for me
is really good. Sam Lee, my assistant ad who does
just compliance in an il, he's he's really good played
college golf. Probably assistant coach Jared Martin, our assistant baseball coaches,
is really good. So we got a couple coach rough
if he would ever get out there, Uh is super

(22:46):
athletic and can play and he played high school golf.
A lot of people don't know that, but but he
just doesn't play enough. So but yeah, we've we've got
a good crew and and uh, it's it's fun to
get out there with him and but yeah, so so
but definitely right now our golf coach, although I'm playing

(23:06):
really well right now, so maybe I need to get
him out there and see if I can get that mantle.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Is there a Patriots golf outing fundraiser?

Speaker 1 (23:14):
Not really, we don't. But we take a group down
to Tennessee every year. We go down to for a
long weekend and we play a bunch of golf down
there with everybody, and so we it's more fun than
it is competitive, but it's it's always a good getaway.
So but no, we play a lot amongst ourselves, the
guys that do play, and and then you know, I joke,
I don't I really don't want my football, basketball, baseball.

(23:36):
I don't want some of my coaches playing golf. But
but that's not really true. You know, we we want
them to have good, good life balance.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
But yeah, well you also you mentioned the nil there,
and I think maybe a common misconception for a lot
of people who don't give the a a look is that, oh,
I won't be able to get anil there or I
can't do that. Can you touch on that a little
bit for you know, clear up?

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Maybe you know, we we work with open doors, who's
done a great job kind of promoting the NL space.
You know, a lot of our deals are in kind
free products, free food. You know, kids do a social
media post or they do an event and you know,
they sign or they whatever in the local community, and

(24:21):
then the restaurants or the companies reciprocate with free product
or free food. That's really the extent of a lot
of our NIL We have a you know, car I
mentioned Carli Oliver earlier for softball. She's one of the
best players in the country at second base. She had
a huge Instagram and has a huge Instagram following, and man,
she got all kind of bats and gloves and different

(24:42):
things that she would promote throughout the year from different companies.
You know, they have to work for it a little bit.
It's doesn't just come to them. We don't just hand
it to them. Have we discussed collectives, Yes, we have.
It is something that is his We've bounced around. But

(25:03):
at the same time, you know, there's this struggle, this
this back and forth between we still want to be
education based athletics, right and so we want to be
proud of being education based athletics, and so, you know,
so I think there's a little back and forth there
you're not really seeing it pay players in the NAI.

(25:25):
You're seeing a lot of what we're doing. It hasn't
quite trickled to that point. But occasionally, do you know,
do we lose kids to small division ones for that? Yeah,
we haven't. We've lost some recruits, but that tells me
we're going after the right kind of kids. And but
it hasn't really hit the point where you've got to

(25:48):
pay kids to compete at our level. It's not gotten there.
And uh, and I kind of hope it doesn't, you know,
I get it all and and but I mean there's
consequences to all this stuff, and you're seeing it a
divisional with these roster limits, and you know, there's so
many things that that are ancillary to these to these payments,

(26:11):
and if you think about it, it's really the top
one percent that's getting that kind of money at the
Power Forwards, right, And so so we've had internal discussions,
We've gone as far as sitting down. We went down
to and visited with Tennessee last year and talked to
their collective and of course things have changed since then.
Now the school can pay directly, they don't need to.

(26:32):
You know, there's so many things that have changed. But
I there's something about that term education based athletics that
we heard at the NAI convention that is stuck with
me and I think it resonates with people right now.
And and so, but you know, we bring in open
doors every year. We have sponsors that want to do

(26:55):
stuff for kids, and we have and as long as
it's all quid pro crow and it works out great,
that's fine, and it all goes through our compliance with
open doors. But it's I kind of hope, at least
for a little while we stay that way.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
And it sounds like that the way you're doing is
what I think when they originally did the nil stuff
is what the intention was. It wasn't necessarily that people
were going to actually be getting paid to play. It
was they were going to use their name, image and likeness,
and they were going to hustle and do things and
promote things and take advantage of that to build their

(27:32):
brand and use their brand to get things like free
equipment or meals, different things like that. And it just
you know, some people take advantage of things.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, it just it jumped. It jumped so quickly. I
mean it went from zero to one hundred. It went
from this is our intent to now kids are just
getting checks and it just and again, so be it.
I'm those schools made a lot of money. I get
all the all the arguments, but for where we are
and what we're doing and what the nai you know,

(28:06):
I'm really happy with what THENI is doing with this
branding the right way to Play. I think that does
resonate with people right now, and I think it's a
huge opportunity for the ANAI because I think a lot
of people are gravitating back towards that, Like I said,
education based athletics.

Speaker 4 (28:23):
Chris, thank you so much for your time this evening.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
Sir.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
We're going to get your recruit. Promise you. We're working
on it. We kind of get your recruit down there.
We want we want someone to go down there to
kind of live vicariously through. So keep on doing your thing.
We're seeing what you guys got going on down there,
and we will talk to you soon. My friend, Well,
I really.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Appreciate you guys, and it's it's been a great platform
for our coaches and what you guys are doing. And yeah,
keep it rolling. Anytime anytime you need anything from us,
just let me know.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
We appreciate that and enjoy your summer. Don't work too hard,
get out there and enjoy a couple couple of rounds
on the golf co.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Well a few more before football reports.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
Right, yeah, hecky.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
Thanks guys, take care. That was great as always, and
we have our next guests coming in. Jamie, how are
we doing great? How are you awesome? Welcome to Aery Bros. Radio.

Speaker 6 (29:14):
Thank you appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Yeah, it's an honor and pleasure. We'll give you a
little bit of an intro here to introduce you to
our fans and then we'll get into it with you.

Speaker 6 (29:23):
Great.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
So, Jamie Penderg is from Life Universities joining us. You know,
we've had a coach, Omy Acosta on to represent the
wrestling program. But again we're talking about the Director's Cup. Tonight,
Life was tenth in the Director's Cup. This year. The
Running Eagles made noise across multiple sports with top ten
finishes in women's wrestling, men's volleyball national titles, and men's
wrestling and rugby, showing that Life is a year round contender.

(29:49):
So we do appreciate you joining us. A little backstory
for you about the Aria Bros. We do highlight specifically
wrestling and cross country and track and field, and so
back in the day when I was a young buck
in the mid nineties, Life University first came on to
my radar when they were winning ANAI cross country and

(30:11):
track and field titles and then getting back into the
wrestling and covering the wrestling. We crossed paths with coach
Acosta and then his coach, coach Nick Mitchell at at
Grand View. So yeah, we did a roundtable two weeks
ago with the Division two track and field coaches and
then the Division three track and field coaches, and so
we wanted to do that with the athletic directors anyone

(30:33):
that was interested to talk about their university and what
their athletic department is doing and how they did the
Director's Cup. So thank you for joining us this evening.

Speaker 6 (30:42):
Yeah, happy to thank you.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
So top ten finish in the Director's Cup. Was that,
like we just asked Chris Kraftick, was that just a
cherry on top or was that something you were gunning
for this year?

Speaker 6 (30:56):
Yeah, and my good friend Chris, there is a tough
one to follow, but you know, for us, you know,
we're competitive, and so we knew from two years ago,
a top ten finish was very very possible. It is sport, though,
you know, so when it gets down to national tournament time,
it's kind of about your shows up, a little bit
of luck and a lot of preparation, but we knew

(31:18):
as possible, and you know, just getting there it's a huge,
huge achievement. There's a lot of worthy rivals up there
in the top ten and a lot of great institutions
that have enjoyed a lot of success. So it's just
good to see your brand, our brand up against their.

Speaker 4 (31:31):
Brand already athletics program where you thought they would be.
Is there some that you got to kind of push
to get to where you would like them to be?
How's it going based on when you started?

Speaker 6 (31:44):
Yeah, a good question. I mean, you know, we really,
I think are overachieving from the perspective of where our
resources are and where they they've been, and who's producing
and who's performing.

Speaker 5 (32:00):
You know.

Speaker 6 (32:00):
So we got some early success with We've always had
success with rugby. Unfortunately, it's just not an NAI championship sport,
so our rugby finishes don't count in the Director's Cup.
But we had some early success with men's wrestling, and
I think Omi was a great model for other NAI
coaches that hey, we can compete with the best. And
from there and kind of grew and women's wrestling became

(32:23):
really really competitive, hired coach Demerit, track and field became
really really strong. We saw women's across you know, consistently
show up and Director's Cup, and then we got men's
basketball going, we had we got women's soccer going. So
it's kind of been a process of the model works.
It's just you know, yeah, how do we get each

(32:43):
team up there in competing for that national tournament spot
and then performing when they're there?

Speaker 2 (32:52):
What's the culture like in life? You know, I think
anyone that might know or vaguely know, they think of
it as a as a chiropractic. That's kind of what
it's at least that's what we've always known it as.
But again, we've known about it from from an athletic perspective.
What's the culture like and how do you how do
you get the athletes to buy into that?

Speaker 6 (33:11):
Yeah, the institutional culture is a little bit different, but
it's great. I mean, especially for those interested in health, wellness,
performance and excellence. Right, that's kind of you know, the
chiropractic profession, but we're really more of a health and
wellness institution with with all the world's largest chiropractic college,
and you have great other programs exercise science and psychology

(33:32):
and business. But really the culture is we know who
we are. We know who we are. We try to
leverage our strengths, isolate our weaknesses, and we don't make
any excuses. And so I lead from a standpoint of,
you know, exceptional judgment, minimal controls. I give my coaches
and my staff a lot of autonomy, and so I

(33:52):
look to hire high performers that work well in that
environment and that culture, and you know, it's proven to
work and a lot of the situations and so we've
kind of feel like we've kind of found a niche
in the type of person that works well at Life University.
And so we don't love coaching turnover, but when we
do right, we know what we hire for and go

(34:13):
after that.

Speaker 4 (34:16):
So you mentioned that rugby team being one of the
best but not scorn for the Director's Cup. Are they
in an ai a sport or is that like a
club sport?

Speaker 6 (34:26):
So no, it's a collegiate varsity sport. But rugby is
governed by USA Rugby and so it's the top division
of any collegiate rugby. So you know, our men played
Cal in the national championship game, so right, you're it
gets you know a lot of powerful institutions. Are women
played Lindenwood in the National Championship. So I know it's

(34:49):
an emerging sport in n Cuba. It's it's not emerging
yet in an AIA. But from a competitive collegiate standpoint,
USA Rugby is the top spot to be.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
Do you feel like that helps with the recruiting because hey,
you can play against Division one teams and you're going
to go to that championship or do you think that
hurts anytime?

Speaker 6 (35:10):
As do an athlete knows they can play for a
national championship. It's special regardless of the division. But you know,
we are rugby players. We recruit rugby players who also
want to play for their country, want to play professional rugby,
and right now we have twenty three between our men's
and women's program and the national Pathway and we have
a lot in the Mlrsedric who had the Olympic bronze

(35:35):
medal try two summers ago, she was a lum of ours.
So the rugby players come to Life University because they
know they can compete for championships, but they can play
at the highest level as well.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Yeah, we're talking with Chris about he did lose a
coach this year, but he's also talking about the continuity
the coaches is something that helps Cumberland's, you know, continue
to do what they've been doing. You mentioned you know,
no one really likes turnover losing people, but when that
does happen, what's the philosophy, what's your approach? What are

(36:11):
you looking for when you're bringing in coaches specifically for
certain of certain sports.

Speaker 6 (36:17):
Yeah, Chris nailed it. I mean community is important in
any leadership position. I've always admired what they do at
Cumberland's for us, for most sports, I'll know three to
five people I'm going after the moment you know, I
have a coach turning their resignation. I think that's our
job is to be prepared. What I'm out and about
in national tournaments and I try to travel with all

(36:39):
of our teams and national championships. I'm watching us, but
I'm watching other people too, So there should be some
sort of depth chart in who's a good fit for
your culture. Who's a gould fit for your university whose
style kind of meshes with you know your style, and

(37:00):
so that processes. Yeah, get on the phone right away,
send some emails, send some texts, see who's interested. And
of course you're always looking at who you know applies
as well. But I don't if there's not really offense
in that, I'm not sure I'm doing my job. So
there's there's, you know, nine times out of ten, a

(37:22):
strategic game plan there is.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
That typically how it goes when when a coach resigns
or retires that the athletic directors have they go for
people more than like you said, you're being offensive as
opposed to kind of waiting for applications or people to
apply or come to you.

Speaker 6 (37:41):
I would guess just from kind of talking with people that,
especially if you know you want to sustain success and
you have a competitive program, I think you have to
play more offense there, right because you know, if you
have a turnover and a really really competitive team, I mean,
all of a sudden, you got thirty forty kids sitting
in front of you want to know who that next

(38:02):
leader is, and you've got to be able to tell
them with certainty. You have a plan and you're on it.
So I think the pressure is higher for those competitive
teams and replacing those coaches. So I would guess most
ads that have an emphasis on that probably have that
depth chart and their way to go. Regardless of the timing.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
You mentioned, you try to make it to all the
nationals that the programs are involved in. I won't ask
you which is your favorite support, but I will ask
you what is your athletic background?

Speaker 6 (38:36):
I played basketball, I played several sports growing up. I
had fallen in love with basketball. It's just my knees
just didn't keep up with my passion and so I
hung up the shoes after high school. But then when
I went to college at Miami of Ohio, I was
a manager for their women's basketball program for four years
and that's kind of where I got my start and

(38:57):
behind the scenes of college athletics and just grew from there.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Did you come into being athletic director from an administrative
perspective or were you Did you get through coaching administrative?

Speaker 6 (39:10):
I got my first job at Elon University in North
Carolina in academic support for athletics. I'm just I'm a
huge fan of higher ed. It opened a lot of
doors for me, really changed my life. A lot of
good mentors when I went to college, and so I
knew it was just a space that I wanted to be.
And so it's not necessarily a traditional path for an
ad start out on the academic side of things, but

(39:33):
it fits really well in the small college environment. Knowing
that your undergrad population is such a huge percentage of
your undergrads, to have that focus on the entire experience
is important to most presidents.

Speaker 4 (39:46):
So we mentioned some of the top programs at Life
this year. Was there any programs that maybe didn't have
one in record but they turned around from the following year,
or they had a five hundred record and then this
year they turned around and weren't championship matches their games? Contention,
there you go, Thank you Rich Any programs. I know

(40:07):
you don't want to single anyone out, but they were
really excited about this year, about this upcoming year, No
about like the last season.

Speaker 6 (40:14):
Yeah yeah, well, I mean we're really excited about our
men's lacrosse program. I don't think our record shows it
if you would look it up, but at we playing
the toughest conference a C right for men's lacrosse, and
I just hired brand new coach who had won four
national championships at Ryan Hart. So they actually ended last
season really strong, won all the games they should have won.

(40:39):
The only games they lost were to top eight teams,
and I just think they're really well positioned going into
this new year with a new coach. So I think
a lot of our sports that didn't make the national
tournament there's still I think one big time player away.
You know, women's basketball, they're they're there, you know, I

(41:02):
think we just we need that one big time player there,
and and volleyball is the same way we play in
the Southern States for women's volleyball, and I think winning
that conference championships are path to national tournament there. So
you know, the constant conversation with our coaches is, you know,
constant growth, marginal gains. Let's do things the right way

(41:24):
because we want to sustain success. We don't want the
one time trip to the tournament and then for the
next ten years just reflect and say remember when that
one year. So I'd rather coaches take their time and
build it right. But yeah, I'm just really excited about
you know, men's soccer didn't make it to the tournament
this year, but they will. They'll be back. They've been there,
they'll be back. And we've got other few other young

(41:46):
programs that I have no doubt with a few more years,
they'll be there.

Speaker 4 (41:51):
In the conversation, do you find yourself coaching coaches?

Speaker 6 (41:57):
Yeah, I think that's the surprising aspect this job. I
didn't realize, but probably, I mean the most fulfilling, right.
I don't have the coaching background, but I think what
I do on a daily basis is so very similar
to what they try to do. So there's some empathy
and some I think mutual respect there and that we're

(42:17):
all trying to do.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
The same thing.

Speaker 6 (42:18):
But you know, I have, you know, this model of
challenge and support, right Like I got to challenge them
to be better regardless of how they finished. But I'm
also you know, next to them and asking them what
they need to keep doing what they're doing. And so
I have some really strong relationships there with coaches, and

(42:38):
I certainly respect what they do, and I think that
they see that I'm on their side and rooting for them.

Speaker 4 (42:45):
Where do you see the programs in three to five years?
What is your long term goal for the athletic programs
that live.

Speaker 6 (42:53):
So I mean we say we want to be a
leading institution and performance and meaningful student athlete experience. So
for us, that means all of our student athletes are
competing for championships. You know what championship? Right, That might differ, right,
we would expect wrestling to be competing for the national championship.
You know, Volleyball might be the conference championship and that's

(43:14):
their pathway into the national tournament. But you know how
fun it is, right to have that regular season and
you're looking at the standings and you're seeing who's in
front of you, and every game matters, and I think
every student athlete should have the opportunity to experience that.
Everybody loves the Selection show, right, every student athlete should

(43:34):
have that opportunity of feeling what that's like. But the
meaningful student athlete experience is important too, and that's part
of our strategy. We try to pick resources that are
meaningful to our student athletes, that differentiate Life University from
other universities. And so we're going to continue on that
path too, because we're certainly not all of help performance.

(43:56):
We're about making them better athletes, but better people, getting
them their degree, and we want them to leave life
you and say, gosh, that was fun. That was the
best decision I made, which which was to tend life you,
and and that we delivered on what we said, which
was to give them a good experience and they can
win a lot.

Speaker 4 (44:18):
Do you have a hard time with some of your
coaches where you just said it's not all performance and
trying to talk to them kind of off a ledge
when they don't win or compete, how they want to compete?

Speaker 6 (44:31):
Yeah, you know, and that's the that's the when you
hire high performers, right, like you want to perform. And
I don't have any trouble with coaches at winning all costs.
That's very clear from the start, right, they know the
bigger picture and we can win and do things the
right way. But yeah, I mean we had five team

(44:52):
national runner stuff this year, like right, and so that's
that's five coaches you're really consoling on the just didn't
get it done, you know in that final game, and
I mean there's tears and so, but it's about hey,
but it's about giving them the opportunity to compete for it.
And you did in this is sport and it's a

(45:16):
national championship game, and so it's trying to be there
with them, give them a hug after the game, let
them know you're not disappointed. And this is part of it.
And that's why I like to travel too, Like I
like to be there. I mean, just as much for
those moments as the winning moments.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
What has been what has been the most surprising I
guess maybe national championship or sport that maybe you didn't
think would would be as exciting or thrilling to you
that you really found yourself getting into. I know you're
on a committee for wrestling. Is that something that just

(45:53):
kind of came with the territory of being in life?
Or did the the ladies did they catch your attention
and you want to support that a little bit more.

Speaker 6 (46:01):
Yeah, that's an interesting one. I'm glad you asked.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Well.

Speaker 6 (46:05):
I would say probably the most surprising national championship we've
had was men's track and their very first year in existence,
we went down to I think in Gulf Shores and
he took home the national championship trip. It wasn't quite
expecting that. But yeah, women's wrestling has just kind of
been a labor of love. Honestly, we did a coaching

(46:26):
change eight years ago. I essentially I hired Ashley and
I said fix this. I mean it just it was
a disaster. And her and I are extremely aligned. So
anytime that happens right that special. But to see her
build that wrestling program brick by brick.

Speaker 7 (46:46):
And.

Speaker 6 (46:48):
Not only they win the national championship this year, but
they won their Team GPA trophy. And I'm not sure
there's a single AD in the entire country, regardless of division,
that can say they're women's wrestling program led the department
and Team GPA. But those kids are special. And I'll
tell you that one of the most fulfilling experiences I've
ever had as an AD is it was last year

(47:12):
we traveled to Iowa for a duel and we're staying
in a hotel and right outside of campus and the
women are sitting in the lobby getting ready to get
on the bus to go to the arena, and a
mom and dad walked in with their two kids, and
their two kids saw the life you you know, travel suits,
and lit up in the moments they go talk to them,

(47:33):
to talk to them, and these girls were so excited
to meet these Life University women's wrestlers and they drove
for Missouri to watch the Life View Iowa duel and
just seeing that was it was just cool. And you know,
for them to cap it off with their first national
championship this year and being able to see the entire

(47:54):
story unfold from disaster to you know, national champions it's
that's special.

Speaker 4 (48:01):
Yeah, Jamie, thank you for sharing that with us, and
thank you for your time tonight. Wife. You has already
had the area bros as fans, but now we're even
bigger fans. So thank you for your time tonight and
best of luck going forward.

Speaker 6 (48:18):
Yeah, thank you, guys, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Enjoy the rest of your summer fallowing in the fall bite.

Speaker 6 (48:23):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Joe Reich from wing Gay University. You know we love
the Bulldogs with coach Van Leup and coach Dominic been
joining us a couple of times, Coach Reich is joining
us to talk about the whole athletic department. As the
executive director of Athletics at wing Gate, Coach Reich has
helped steer the Bulldogs, who the second place finish at
the NCAA Division two Director's Cup with a monster twenty

(48:45):
twenty four to twenty twenty five campaign trailing only our
Friends overk Grand Valley State. From national championship appearance in
men's and women's swimming, the deep postseason's runs in track
and cross country soccer, as well as men's and women's golf.
Wing Gate continues to model a model of consistency in
Division two athletics. Is an honor pleasure to have you
with us. We're excited to get into more in depth

(49:08):
with the athletic department at wing Gate. As I mentioned,
Coach van Lirop and coach Dominic have joined us a
couple of times. They're the ones that really brought Wingate
onto our radar. But it sounds like you guys are
doing it on all fronts.

Speaker 7 (49:20):
Well okay, well you picked the right too there, Matt
van Lirap and Paul Dominic, those guys good gracious man.
You know, we joke around all the time in the
athletic department that whenever Mac comes in, we got to
be ready because he's going to be on his p's
and q's. He's going to have every T cross and
I dotted. He'll know every cent that we and we
talked about giving him for budget and everything. He's just

(49:42):
both those guys are phenomenal, phenomenal coach and you picked
the right too to have one. I can tell you that.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
Yeah, you know, we were joking when we first had
a coach van lyrep On is that, you know, if
it wasn't for cross country in twenty twenty three, I
guess it was only twenty two when they first came
out and got second. And we're from the East Coast
and I'm living down here in South Carolina now. If
it wasn't for that, I don't even know if I

(50:09):
would ever have even known that win Gate existed. But
then they brought it onto our radar, and you guys
have been doing some great things.

Speaker 7 (50:16):
Yeah, no, that's that's a great thing about like you
guys know this and your great thing about having a
great track and cross country program is you know, when
you when you figure like our Eccles Cup, which is
our conference a Conference Excellence Cup, you know for the
for the best athletic department, you know, you get six
championships right there, you know, men's, men's and women's cross country,
men's and women's indoor, memen's and men's and women's outdoor

(50:38):
and that's a I mean, that's a huge reason for
our success right there. And then a lot of that
coach just Matt to the program he's developed and bringing
Paul along. And you know, like I said, I can't
we've been I've been riding their coattails for a while, but.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
You've been a wilying gay for quite a long time. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (50:54):
I came here in January two thousand and one. It
was the football coach here for twenty three years, and
my twenty third year, I was the athletic director and
I was the intern athletic director in the fall while
I was coaching my last year of football, and then
I was fortunate enough to be named the full time
guy kind of midway through the season that the fall

(51:14):
twenty three season, and which was which was me? Because
then that kind of allowed me to you know, I
didn't tell anybody on the other than the guy was
going to replace me as the coach as head coach,
and I had a chance to kind of you know,
it was it was a neat way to go out,
you know, hey, that when you know it's going to
be your last week of coaching and you know it's
your last game that's that's kind of special. You know, man,

(51:35):
there was no big deal because nobody else knew I
was doing it besides my wife and Mishaun Jordan replaced me,
so and it gave me a chance to kind of
take a look at everybody else, you know, once they
once they knew I was full time a d you know,
you take on a different role. But it was nice
kind of during that season to be able to take
a look some of our programs from inside out and
be able to add my two cents worth. And so

(51:57):
it's been it's been fun. It's been a fun ride.
I'm I appreciate the athletic department that the president give
me and giving me the having the confidence enough in
me to give me the give me the ranks and
to speak.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
So being the football coach at Wingate since two thousand
and one and taking over the athletic department in twenty
twenty three, did you know that there was some day
I need we're taking care of that that this as
a football coach annoys me. We're taking care of this
for all the coaches. There's some things going in that
you knew you want to take care of and were

(52:30):
you able to take care of them.

Speaker 3 (52:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (52:31):
I think there's you know, as a nice thing about
being a coach and being a former coaches, the ad
is particularly because I was the coach here.

Speaker 3 (52:40):
Yeah, you kind of you know, for lack of.

Speaker 7 (52:41):
A term, you kind of know where all the bodies
are buried, right, you know, you know all the inner workings,
you know the ins and outs, you know the good
and the good and the bad. Someone you. When I
became the a D it was easy to say, Okay,
I know that these things are either underappreciated and I
know these these things may be something that we're putting
too much emphasis on. Let's get away from that, and

(53:04):
and and and go to that. I think the big,
the big learning curves as it was, you know, as
you can imagine, is the was really the financial piece
of it, running the whole university athletic department from a
financial standpoint and trying to figure out, you know, what
the what the right size athletic department was. But as

(53:24):
a coach, you know, we we knew like we we
had a really large roster in football and we still do.
But you kind of know where how sustainable that? Okay,
this is going to point where that's not sustainable, So
we need to we need to come up with other
ways of other things we're looking at and saying, okay,
we can't you know, we can't you know, burden too
many teams with oversized rosters too much for too long,

(53:46):
as well as just some other things throughout the department.
Things we needed to we knew we needed to change.
We know, like we're still fundraising for a new weight room,
and that kind of became the lead priority because you
got to develop your student athletes, right, I think we
do a great job and recruiting all our coaches do
a great job. And now the next part of it is,
you know, you got to you got to you got

(54:06):
to train them. You got to be able to develop
your student athletes, uh, on the field, off the field,
in the weight room, in the classroom.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
So as an a d.

Speaker 7 (54:15):
Now that that's that became a big point of emphasis. Okay,
well let's we had already started on the weight room,
but let's let's make sure that we that we that
we top this off. So we're close, we're you know,
we're we're pretty much all the money pledged. Now we
just need to get more money in hand before we
break around in a fourteen thousand square foot weight room
that we're that we're working on. So, but it's probably
going to take The reality is will probably take a

(54:37):
couple of years before we get shovels in the ground,
and that just because of you know, just trying to
get cash in hand and not not being you know,
don't don't start before we have everything in hand kind
of kind of deal.

Speaker 4 (54:47):
So mentioning that weight room and knowing it's going to
take a couple of years, but you're you're there, right,
You just got to get the cash in hand. How's
that for you? Coming from a football background and now
you're you're running a business.

Speaker 7 (54:59):
Yeah, it's it's interesting because you really, you know, the
old the old statement is, you know, everyone and everybody
wants to be an ad to put till they become
an a d you know that kind of thing. And
and so I think when you when you're looking at
it and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm responsible for
this now.

Speaker 4 (55:16):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (55:17):
And you know, I had I had mixed reviews coming
in in terms of people telling me, don't let them,
don't let them turn you into fundraiser. But I was like, I, look,
we need the money, so we need we need these
things there are there are there were things that we
need and if that's what I need to do, I'll
go talk to anybody. So so I really changed my
mindset there. I think going in, I was like, yeah,

(55:38):
fundraising whatever. But once I became the A D and realized, Okay,
these are the things that the difference making things within
a department are things that are we need money for.
We need to go out and raise money. I don't
know that I've been great at it, but you know
we've gotten some some gifts and I've been I just
tell them if I go to meeting tomorrow, you know

(56:00):
it's one of our fundraising me I'll just tell them
just send me wherever you want to send me. I'll
be the friend raiser, right, I'll go out and shake
hands and I don't know that I'll do a lot
of the asking.

Speaker 3 (56:09):
But if that's what you want me to do, I'll
do that.

Speaker 7 (56:10):
If you want me to go, you know, run across
the country, I'll run across the country. Whatever whatever it takes.
But you know, our student athletes and our coaches are
worth it, you know, like they do a phenomenal job
and I'm going to be able to honor that by
going out and doing whatever I need to do to
raise the money for to get a nice new weightman,
to get some of the things that we need. You know,

(56:31):
we need beach volleyball courts right now, we need some
other stuff that you know. That's that's all me. I mean,
I'm the AD, I'm in charge, right it's buck stops here.
I got to I got to make sure that I
get out and get my tail outside raise some money.

Speaker 4 (56:44):
Richard, know you got another one for Joe. But I
have a statement. You said, everyone wants to be the
a D till it's signed to be the a D.
I always used to say to my brother, being an
a D is a thankless job. And when you meet
someone who's an AD, that's someone like you really want
to pick their brain.

Speaker 3 (57:04):
That's that's that's very true. That's very true, no doubt.

Speaker 7 (57:08):
And you know, the having been a coach on the
staff for so long and then you know coming in
and being like, okay, this is this is interesting just
because you I was one of I was one of
the coaches. Now I'm now I'm now I'm the a D.
I'm the guy in charge. But I do think there's

(57:29):
some credibility because there's a lot of ads right now
that haven't coached, and and that's great. I mean nothing
that's not negative on them. But you got to play
to your strengths, right, So my strength is, look, I
coach for I coached football for thirty six years, so
twenty three them as a head coach. So and I
think I think you guys probably know this when you're
a head coach, same thing as an AB When you're
a head coach, you know you're you sit in that seat.

(57:51):
And I one of the things I quickly learned was,
you know, the head coach is want somebody that they
can talk to that has been a head coach or
that they can commiserate with to a certain extent and
talk about head coaching issues.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
And that has been a real you know.

Speaker 7 (58:06):
So I've tried to ad to my strength there in
terms of, Okay, I was a coach, and let's work
through the problems while I continue to learn some of
the other things.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
So it's been fun. I mean, I'm a great.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Challenge, Joe. Since we're on the topic of fundraising and
raising money for different things, you know, one of the things.
As we mentioned, we cover a lot of NCAA, n AIA,
JUCO cross country and track and field, but our other
love is wrestling. So I'm going to put my pitch
in here. North Carolina has the second most Division IE

(58:37):
wrestling programs nice behind Pennsylvania, which where you're from. Is
there any possibility in this conversation we might be able
to convince you to add men's and women's wrestling anytime
soon at Wingate to get you over the hump for
that number one spot on the top of the podium
for the Director's Cup.

Speaker 7 (58:55):
Okay, so I can tell you this. So whether this
is true or not, I don't know. But last year,
so we had a guy that used to work here
by the name of doctor Dennis Johnson. He was a
professor here and he's a wrestling guy. So last year
and every year he calls me and says we need
to add wrestling. And he doesn't work here anymore. He's
back on Pennsylvania where he's from. But last year, after

(59:16):
we finished fourth in the Acles Cup, he sent me
a text message. He was like, I just want you
to know that if you'd had men's wrestling, you would
have won their equals, you would have won the lear
field this year. So sure enough after this after this
year we finished second. It was I just want you
to know, if you'd had wrestling, you would win the
Liar field. I'm like, okay, so it's a discussion. I
think the thing and I think you know this if

(59:36):
you're a wrestling guy. I think the big thing with
us is having having You know, we're splitting the gym
right now between volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, our Devo
basketball team, and we have an akro and tumbling team,
so we split the gym there. We have a second
gym that's that's an intermural gym. The actually aunt of

(59:57):
wife runs. That's part of part of runs in a
camp recreation and they so we get a little bit
of time in there and and so we've always talked
about it if we could, it's like, we need one more,
one more, we need a wrestling if we had, like
if we had one area that that we could fit,
we would.

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
Be all about it. I love that.

Speaker 7 (01:00:15):
When I was in college, my roommate was a wrestler,
and I love the sport. It's a great sport we have,
you know, women's wrestling is starting to take off. Rounds,
you know in this area is really starting to take off,
and there's been discussion about that. You want, you know,
can we add women's wrestling? So it's it's on the board.
And I can tell you that every time we go
into new to our new programs, mean, we talk about

(01:00:37):
it and and like this is this something? Is this
something we can do down the road. So I think
I think we have to answer the facilities issue first
before we before we go. But it's not like I said,
you you're you're get in line for that one, because
there's definitely a line of people that want to add that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
That went better than I thought. Jim, Well, right.

Speaker 4 (01:00:57):
Here you thinking what I'm thinking. For hand, those final
bootprints in for the weight room, just you know, add
a couple more square feet.

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
That's right, that's right, that's exactly right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
We could get.

Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
And now on a.

Speaker 7 (01:01:10):
Fundraising, if you guys are interested, you can sign that.
You can send the check to win Get University and
we'll make sure that.

Speaker 4 (01:01:15):
We we'll make the content for you, We'll make the
videos for the fundraising.

Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
Okay, that sounds good. And by the way, I apologize
for the lighting. You're fine.

Speaker 4 (01:01:25):
All good, All good, Joe. You mentioned getting fourth and
then getting second in that gentleman reaching out, hey you
need a wrestling team. Were you expecting getting fourth and
then getting second? Was that something you were considering or
were you all business and that, like we said to
all the other athletic directors that we talked to tonight,
is that just the cherry on top?

Speaker 3 (01:01:45):
Sure? I think.

Speaker 7 (01:01:48):
When we when we got fourth, you know, we coming
last year, coming out of the winter, we were in second,
or two years ago we were in second, and I
knew we probably wouldn't be able to hold onto that
through the spring. We were just hoping we'd finish in
the top ten, and so we came at fourth. I
was like, wow, that's pretty good. And then this year
we went in thinking that, you know, we're we don't

(01:02:08):
we didn't feel like we had like when we didn't
win the cross country national championship this fall, you know,
just to get give you an idea with where Paul
and Matt's heeads are. I mean they were crushed and
I think we kind of So we came out of
the fall like, okay, we didn't win the national champions
in across country and so I think there was a
little bit of Okay, we don't have that one team
winning the national chamionship. Now our women's that I don't

(01:02:29):
know that this councilor relief, but a women's triathlon team
won a national championship. So I was like, okay, that's cool.
And then but we came out of this, we came
out of the the winner in second place. Again, I'm like, oh, okay,
this is this is not bad. We know we're good.
We know we're going to be good in track. We
thought we maybe down in some of the other sports,
and we turned we turned out we were down a

(01:02:50):
little bit in baseball, which won a national championship a
few years ago. And you know, when baseball was down,
I was like, yeah, you know, we're probably not. But
then softball had a great year. Track did their thing.
Lacrosse made a nice run after finishing third in the conference,
third or fourth in the conference, they made a run
in there in the conference tournament, won the tournament, and
then made a run in the playoffs. So that there

(01:03:11):
were some some teams that stepped up at the end
and gave us a gave us a nice run, you know,
But like you guys, said, it's it's one of those
things where you it's cool to think about, but when
you're working, you can't spend a lot of time thinking
about it when you're when you're you know, ankle deep
in budgets and and all that other stuff kind of
kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (01:03:30):
But it was it was great to see.

Speaker 7 (01:03:32):
I think everybody was excited about it at the end,
you know, knowing that that Grand Valley is that's a
that's a monster, right, You're you're not probably not going
to cast that, so, right, doctor Dennis Johnson. So but
I think overall, the the you know, the excitement was

(01:03:52):
was there. You know, I think in the past and
then you know, we wore fifth I think one year
and then okay, but this year there's just there was
more excitement around it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
It's funny.

Speaker 7 (01:04:00):
We have a we have a bonus program for our
coaches that you know, you win a conference championship, you
get this, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:04:06):
Bub But that's not a lot of money.

Speaker 7 (01:04:10):
But that's funny. Last year I thought we spent aunt.
This year we spent twenty thousand dollars more, And I
was like, wow, you know, I thought last year was
going to be the peak. So hopefully we can keep
it up and we can keep we can keep it rolling.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
We itit'sed in a new facility and getting breaking ground
on that eventually. Right outside of that and fundraising, what's
your three to five year vision?

Speaker 7 (01:04:36):
I would say for us, it's it's more about in
this this is this is this isn't a real sexy vision,
but I'm just gonna tell you that it's more about
as the athletic director, what what is the right financial
what is the right financial setup for us as a

(01:04:57):
university in terms of can you and this is really
not a recruiting talk obviously or propaganitalg but you know,
how can we position ourselves as an athletic department We
can maximize you know, our maximize our efficiency to the
our effectiveness to the university. You know what I mean,
like when when you look at you know, I joke around,

(01:05:18):
I never heard the word net tuition revenue until became
an AD. Now now I can't get away from it.
So but you know, taking things like that and bringing
it together, but yet keeping the competitive side of it.
You know, we did a study. We have a consultant
that we use in the in the one of the
things that the consultants were talking about was that the

(01:05:39):
thing that goes across every constituency, every stakeholder is competitiveness.
So we need to keep that competitiveness. Whether it's the lums,
whether it's parents, whether it's boosters, whether it's whatever it is,
we need to We need to be able to keep
that competitiveness. So how do we how do we take
our financial model athletically maximize it for the university, but

(01:06:01):
yet keep that competitiveness. That's a total ad thing, right
that Eve and ever that's not go out and sell
that vision. I think the vision that we're selling outside
the university for us is just to continue to build
a program that you know, the statement that we use
is athletics is the vehicle that we use to positively
affect lives. That's the that's our vision statement, right, So

(01:06:24):
I think that's when we look at the people that
were a lot of first gen students, Let's make their
lives better. Let's teach them. You know the purpose of
college education is to educate. I mean, I know that
sounds over simple, but and we take that seriously. We
go beyond the classroom when we educate our student athletes,
we go but we can teach about leadership, we can
teach about overcome adversity, we can teach them about teamwork,

(01:06:45):
all the stuff that you guys already know right, you
know that you're athletes, So all those things that we
can teach our student athletes, you know, just ingraining that
in their minds and creating great habits to where when
they when they leave Wing Get University. If one of
the when I do our senior salute thing at the end,

(01:07:06):
my talk to them is like, if you take the
things that you've learned in athletics here at Wing University
and Wing Get University as a as a whole and
put that out there for for everybody. If you take
that and just use that in your in your job,
you can be really successful. You're gonna you're gonna do
a lot of great things. So that's that to me,
is is kind of is more than the selling vision

(01:07:28):
of where we go next.

Speaker 4 (01:07:32):
Just summed up what Airy Brows Radio is about taking
what we learned in athletics and putting it into life.
And that's why we do this show so people can
hear conversations like this and realize there's more than athletics.
But what you learn in athletics is going to take
you for the rest of your life. So Joe, thank
you for your I.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Got one more, all right, go off topic, Joe. Uh
you're a PA guy. Yes, originally from Lebanon. Yes, sir,
you know any thing about Seltzer's Smokehouse meets.

Speaker 3 (01:08:03):
Yes, I do. They're very good. As a matter of fact,
I recommend it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
You recommend it, Yes, Okay.

Speaker 7 (01:08:08):
Yes, absolutely. I had a friend that actually used to
work for them, so so that's that's that's a good thing.

Speaker 1 (01:08:13):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
Smoking honey beef bologna, Jim.

Speaker 3 (01:08:16):
Gotta love it. I love it. That's awesome. I don't
hear that very often down here though. That's that's that's
that's good stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
That's what we do over here research.

Speaker 3 (01:08:25):
I appreciate that, Joe.

Speaker 4 (01:08:27):
Thank you for your time tonight, sir, and best of
luck going forward next year and we're gonna be following
the Bulldogs as Elwies.

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
I appreciate it. Thanks, Gosh, have a great night.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
Joe, have a great night. Closing it out tonight, ladies
and gentlemen, with Kimberly paid from University of Indianapolis Greyhounds.
They took home number four position overall for the NCAA
Division two Director's Cup with national title in women's lacrosse
and men's golf, plus the lead performances and swimming, track
and field. University India is building one of the most

(01:08:57):
balanced and dominant all sport programs in Division two. So Kimberly,
thank you so much for joining us this evening. We
know a little bit about the University of Indianapolis. We
follow the wrestling program. We cover our main sports over
here at Aery Brose's track and field and cross country
and wrestling, so we are excited to learn a little
bit more about the athletic department and the university itself.

(01:09:19):
So thank you for joining us.

Speaker 5 (01:09:21):
Yeah, no, thanks for having me. Certainly appreciate all you
guys do to tell our story in Division two. And
I'm excited to talk everything Greyhound athletics.

Speaker 2 (01:09:32):
Well, we're excited, but before we get too far into it,
I'm down here in Greenville, South Carolina. It looks like
you've spent some time down this way at Brevard, at
Western Carolina and Leonora. Ryan, you are originally from down
this way.

Speaker 4 (01:09:45):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:09:46):
I consider North Carolina home. I went to high school.
I'm in the Brevard area. College continued there for twenty
one years. So I've spent about thirty years in the
South and in the Carolinas, and I'm actually in Hickory,
North Carolina right now as my family is packing up
and we are officially moving to Indiana on Thursday. So

(01:10:09):
Thursday morning we'll be pulling out of here.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Okay, okay, So coming from North Carolina going to Indianapolis,
there is a little bit of a little bit of
a culture shock for you, or is it.

Speaker 5 (01:10:20):
You know, it isn't. It isn't. The other side of
my story is I was born in Canada, and you
know where it's extremely cold, and I spent five years
at the University of Illinois Springfield in the Great Lakes
Valley Conference, so very familiar with the league on that
part of you know, the region of the country. So

(01:10:41):
I'm I'm definitely more inclined to southern weather. But I
love the people out there in the Midwest and and
we're excited about this new opportunity.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
So tell us a little bit more about the athletic department.
You know, like you said, we follow the wrestling program,
and we follow the Division two track and field. What
were some of the highlights for the athletic department this season.

Speaker 5 (01:11:05):
Yeah, no, I think so many things to celebrate. Obviously,
as you mentioned the fourth place finish in the lear field,
we had sixteen teams earn a bid to the NCAA postseason.
We have twenty five teams, so outstanding year for the Greyhounds.

(01:11:26):
We uh, certainly finished strong, you know, the spring sports.
Every sport except for one went to the postseason. We
had four top ten finishes, including you know, women's lacrosse
making it to the Semis and just an unbelievable finish.
I always tell our coaches and our athletes it's not
how you start, it's how you finish. But the Greyhounds

(01:11:48):
have predominantly been you know, forced to be reckoned with
you know, when it comes to our spring sports and
our even our winter sports with swimming and wrestling and
track and field.

Speaker 4 (01:12:00):
So this was your first year as a d correct,
that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:12:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:12:04):
I officially accepted the job back in late October. Started
on November eighteenth, and it's been a fun ride so far.

Speaker 4 (01:12:14):
Has it been a whirlwind since, you know, coming up
on a year.

Speaker 5 (01:12:18):
Yeah, it always is. This is my fourth time taking
over a program, and you know, I don't know why
I think it's going to be smoother or easier, or
just to walk in the park or something, but it's
always it's always hard, your wine, just learning the people,
learning the culture, learning the campus. And for me, it

(01:12:39):
was especially OURD because I was five hundred miles away
from my family and so I had to go extended
period of time flying solo, you know, but it allowed
me to really dig in and focus on Greyhound athletics.
So it's been it's been a great start, you know
to my time at U India. I'm excited about the future.

Speaker 4 (01:13:00):
So you mentioned all those teams that you know, scored
some points for you guys to get that fourth place.
Did you expect that coming in?

Speaker 5 (01:13:07):
You know, I did in some sense, just because you
Indy's been a D two powerhouse. I mean, seventeen straight
years finishing in the top twenty. I think one of
three programs that can boast about that. Obviously you probably
can name the other two. But last five years we've
been a top five contender and last year we were

(01:13:27):
number two. So one of the things that drew me
to you, Indy is just the level of consistency and
excellence across the board in all sports. So yes, I
hoped and expected that we would be a national contender
this year, and obviously we want we want to stay there.

Speaker 4 (01:13:47):
So you said that was one thing that drew you
is always, you know, in the top twenty. What do
you think the regions are always in the top twenty
and you know, a powerhouse and Division two athletics.

Speaker 5 (01:13:58):
Yeah, well, I think it's you know, it's one thing
to get to the top, it's another thing to stay
on top. Indy has been able to sustain success, and
I think it really it all comes down to people
in the culture. One of the things that really tip
me over the edge when I interviewed was the coaches

(01:14:20):
are amazing, Like these are some incredible leaders that really
are invested in impacting student athletes lives but also understand
what it takes to win and to sustain success, and
just coaches that have been at you Indy for a
long time. Our football coach has been there, I want
to say, starting his thirty fifth year, fifth year as
head coach, but thirty five years is a greyhound on sidelines.

(01:14:44):
Our softball coach just wrapped up our twenty first year
Eclipse nine hundred wins. Our wrestling coach, I think I'm
going to probably mess one of these up, but I
think he might be around fifteen years. You know, strong
program in D two just from for over a decade now.
So we have some incredible coaches and leaders of our programs.

(01:15:07):
And to me, people win. That's what it's all about.
Success drives from people and culture.

Speaker 2 (01:15:14):
Is the university right in the thick of things in Indianapolis?

Speaker 5 (01:15:19):
Say that? Say that again?

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
Is the university of campus? Is it in the thick
of things right? And like near downtown or midtown Indianapolis.

Speaker 5 (01:15:27):
We are ten minutes south of downtown, so you know,
very conveniently located to downtown, and everything going on the
south side is a little slower, uh, you know, in
the sense of growth and just where all the population is.
So you know, it's it's got a different a little

(01:15:49):
more laid back vibe and feel. We have a beautiful campus.
But you know, I think the beauty of our campus
is we have just we have both a combination of
the commuter population graduate population, but just almost three thousand
undergrad students, So you know, I think makes for a
great experience for students and student athletes to have, you know,

(01:16:12):
students cheering for them in the in the crowd and
supporting them, and just a great sense of pride and
tradition on campus.

Speaker 2 (01:16:21):
When you came in in November, you know, obviously you've
left the family, went off on to do it on
your own for for a few months. When you're taking over,
you said, this is the fourth time too that you've
come into a new program and taken over a new program.
What's what's your blueprint? What do you you know, obviously
you don't want it. If it ain't broke, you don't
try to fix it. But what's your what's your approach

(01:16:43):
coming in?

Speaker 6 (01:16:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:16:44):
Now, I think obviously I do have, like think a
blueprint that I know works, but it really I really
focus on listening and learning and understanding the culture because
every place is different. I believe that it takes partnerships
within the department and across campus and certainly then the

(01:17:05):
alumni in the community to have success. And so my
first ninety days were really focused on building connections and
relationships and listening and learning to understand where we are
so then I could start to chart a course for
the future. I think having a very clear, bold, ambitious vision.

(01:17:28):
But getting everybody aligned and rowing together and on the
same page really is part of that blueprint. Is just
creating that vision, a shared sense of vision of where
we're going, and getting everybody excited and contributing towards that.

Speaker 4 (01:17:46):
Kiber you mentioned going and just talking to the coaches
and just getting the temperature of things and what they
need help with, what you can do better. Is it
intimidating when you're talking to coaches that have been there
for thirty years, twenty years, fifteen years and you're coming
in on day one or do you know from your
experience at other places you kind of have to, hey,

(01:18:06):
what do you need help with? Where can I help
you with here? And not be like, no, this is
the way it's going to be.

Speaker 5 (01:18:12):
Probably at this stage of my career now, like I'm
starting year nineteen, I've worked with coaches at all different places,
and you know, from first time head coaches to twenty
plus year veteran coaches. And my passion is to serve
coaches and athletes, and so that's why I got in

(01:18:34):
this business, is to feel like to want to make
an impact in young people's lives. But where I can
best serve student athletes is by putting our coaches in
the in the position to have success and making sure
that we're there's strong partnership in alignment with me and
all of our coaches. And so that's the part I love.

(01:18:54):
And so no, I love working with coaches, and you know,
it's really part of my passion and drive. So and
I love, you know, feeling like I can serve them
in some way or for them if I can help
them advance, you know, and it could be as simple
as just solving a problem. That's that's what I live for,

(01:19:16):
you know. Career career wise.

Speaker 4 (01:19:19):
Well, I appreciate the honesty and Rich Mommy being a principal,
being administrator kind of sounds just like mommy being like,
I'm not really intimidated. I've been doing this long enough,
So I appreciate the honesty there. What do you hope
to bring to the University of Indiana. What do you
hope that Indianapolis Indianapolis? Thank you, Rich, you called me,

(01:19:40):
I was coming back. But what do you what do
you hope to kind of bring in? What do you
think you can do to better serve those coaches to
get a top of the podium.

Speaker 5 (01:19:50):
Yeah, I think just a strategic approach to sustaining excellence.
I think you and he's done a great job of
of sustaining it up until this point. But we were
in some really tough times in higher education and the
whole landscape of college athletics is is flipping upside down
almost every day, right, It's changing and evolving, and so

(01:20:12):
I want to build something that will last long, long,
beyond my time, you know, in the seat. And so
I think I can bring that to you. Andy's probably
a strategic approach to how do we how do we
stay on top? And because you can't sit idle, you know, Uh,

(01:20:34):
I don't know who was who was fifth place behind us.
I know we were sixteen points behind West Texas. But
somebody is on our heels and they're you know, they're
looking forward that opportunity to pass us. And so that
that's what I think I can bring.

Speaker 2 (01:20:48):
What's it going to take to knockoff Grand Valley?

Speaker 5 (01:20:54):
Golly? We got to do some fundraising, we got to
do some work on our facilities, and uh, and certainly,
I mean we were number two, so we've been right there.
It's just uh, probably going to take just a spectacular year,
a little bit of luck, and uh, you know, we've
we've got to put ourselves in a position to attract

(01:21:16):
that next level or retain that next level student athlete.
So we've got some work to do. And as far
as our facilities to compete with Brand Valley, I actually
got to see their facilities for the first time my
first week on the job. Our football team, uh traveled
to Grand Valley to play them in the first round

(01:21:36):
of playoffs, and so my first time ever being on
their campus. And they've got a lot of great things
going on there. But I think, I think if anybody
can do it, you Indy can do it.

Speaker 2 (01:21:49):
Was there any new sports in the athletic department at
you Indy that you hadn't experienced at other schools? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:21:56):
Yeah, two wrestling. I've never worked with wrestling and women's bowling,
and so I've worked with all the other sports we
have twenty five, including triathlon an emerging sport, and I
just you know, I actually enjoy being somewhere where there's
a lot of opportunity, you know, for student athletes and

(01:22:19):
a lot of sports, and so a lot of the
array of sports we have. The only sport that I
wish we had that probably would never fit at you,
Indy would be hockey. Being from Canada, I do enjoy
that sport.

Speaker 2 (01:22:34):
Does you, Indy have women's wrestling yet?

Speaker 5 (01:22:36):
Not yet, but we will be looking at it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:39):
Okay, all right, fastest growing sport in America. I'm curious
there was. There's quite an interesting setup this winter season
for the Division two athletics was indoor track. I believe,
swimming and wrestling were all in the same location. It
was in Indianapolis. Where you was you indian involved in

(01:22:59):
hosting or being attached to that.

Speaker 5 (01:23:01):
Yeah, we co hosted the Winter Sports Festival for those
sports and that was a really great experience and opportunity.
We have the Indiana Sports Corp. And honestly, they did
a lot of heavy lifting to make that happen in
the city of Indianapolis is one of the best sports
towns in the world, and it was so cool to

(01:23:23):
be a part of that. We probably did most of
our lifting for wrestling.

Speaker 2 (01:23:28):
Have you been able to take in some wrestling matches
this season?

Speaker 5 (01:23:32):
I did, yes, you know, my first and certainly I
got to watch all of our athletes compete, you know,
at the NCAA championship there in Indianapolis and got to
see one of our one of our athletes become a
national two time national champion.

Speaker 2 (01:23:49):
Yeah, that was awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:23:52):
So you brought home two national titles this year, men's
golf and women's across across. What was that like for you?
And what was it like for those teams?

Speaker 5 (01:24:02):
So I wish we did. We did not actually bring
home any team national champions. We brought home ten individuals.
We finished semi in the semi finals, and women's across,
women's golf did head to nationals and to defend their title.
They won it last year.

Speaker 4 (01:24:21):
So we got to correct our show notes. Search, you
gotta correct them. You read them, you read him, he said,
you went through them. Thank you, thank you for that.

Speaker 2 (01:24:31):
But he did have an individual two time national champion
on the wrestling match, so that's going to be quite
quite an honor in the backyard as well.

Speaker 5 (01:24:39):
So that we had eight swimmers that were national champions
and one track and field athlete.

Speaker 2 (01:24:47):
Okay, well event did the track and field athlete too,
the eight that's right, that's right? Actually had gosh.

Speaker 5 (01:24:55):
I am I missing? I have this fear of like
missing someone. Oh gosh I hate to leave out an
athlete or a program. So I'm trying to think if
we had with seven swimmers, one wrestler, and two track athletes, gosh,
we had another track athlete. It was an outdoor I'm

(01:25:17):
blanking on it. It's packing box isn't moving.

Speaker 2 (01:25:21):
My mind's like, mush, are you gonna be able to
replace the Carolina barbecue up in Indianapolis Square Dots?

Speaker 5 (01:25:29):
Yeah, there's so many other great food options. I actually
always have found barbecue kind of interesting. I'm a texture person,
so you never know what you're getting with barbecue.

Speaker 2 (01:25:42):
Yeah, that's true. That's true.

Speaker 4 (01:25:46):
One last one for Kimberly Rich.

Speaker 2 (01:25:49):
I was just gonna follow up with that if what
her new favorite food discovery has been or a restaurant
has been in Indianapolis.

Speaker 5 (01:25:56):
You know, obviously I've been to Saint Elmo's downtown best
steakhouse in the country, right. I haven't found anything that's
top that yet, But I still have a lot of
like Madison Madison Avenue, and there's a lot of great
downtown restaurants, and I don't know that I could cover

(01:26:18):
all of them and in a calendar year, so I
got a little work to do there.

Speaker 4 (01:26:23):
All right, Cabboly, thank you for joining Airy Bros. Tonight.
Educate us on you Indy and everything you got going on,
and best of luck going forward building the program and
keeping it at the top.

Speaker 5 (01:26:38):
Awesome. Thank you guys for having me all you do
to tell our story in Division two.

Speaker 2 (01:26:44):
Heck you, hecky. We appreciate your time and good luck
with the rest of the move and the rest of
your summer, and we'll be pulling for the Greyhounds in
the fall.

Speaker 5 (01:26:54):
All right, thanks guys, Good.

Speaker 2 (01:26:56):
Night, Kimberly, take care.

Speaker 4 (01:26:59):
We did it again, Rich. We had an awesome roundtable tonight.
What do you think.

Speaker 2 (01:27:05):
Yeah, it's good stuff. Good to connect with the NAIA friends.
Division two friends, learn a little bit more about some
of the institutions that we are friends with. But then
our new friend at University of Indianapolis get to hear
about all that they got going on, and yeah, we
wish them all the best of luck as they head

(01:27:25):
into the fall and getting ready for the fall sports.
And again, the reason why we're doing this is to
get the word out for people to learn about all
these great places.

Speaker 4 (01:27:37):
Yeah, and we get to do it again tomorrow night
with the Junior college athletic directors. We get to go
back in our wheelhouse a little bit. Juco. We got
seven AD's joining us tomorrow night to talk about some
junior college excellent, so we'll see him then.

Speaker 2 (01:27:54):
Yeah, and thanks again to Chris Kraftik, Jamie Pendergas, Joe Reich,
and Kimberly Pate for giving us their time this evening
and sharing their about their athletic departments and their athletic teams.
So we'll be back tomorrow night. Were locked and loaded.
We got seven athletic directors, so we're gonna turn and

(01:28:15):
burn tomorrow night, Ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 1 (01:28:22):
H

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Airey Bros Radio Episode 379 – Learfield Directors' Cup Roundtable: Leadership, Culture & Championships in NAIA & NCAA D2

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Airey Bros Radio Episode 379 – Learfield Directors' Cup Roundtable: Leadership, Culture & Championships in NAIA & NCAA D2