Belly to Belly with Coach Joey Martinez | Menlo Wrestling’s DII Rise & NCAA Transition - 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. This is Joey
Martinez and you listen to Arier Brothers Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Ladies and gentlemen, Howdy Aloha, we are here, You are there,
and you are now rocking with the best, and we
greatly appreciate you tuning in for another episode of Airy
Bros Radio. You all know why we're here. We're here
to shine a light for the athletes families that are
looking for the right tribe to keep the tradition alive.

(00:43):
But before we get rolling, you all know the drill.
Make sure you hammer that like button, drop a comment,
every view, review and share helps us grow and get
back to the sports we love. Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify,
and Apple podcast. And as always, this episode is fueled
by Black Sheep Endurance Coaching for all your ultra marathon
and nutrition needs. On to tonight's guest, We're going belly

(01:03):
to belly again two nights in a row. We're back
on the mat. We're with Coach Joey Martinez, the director
of Wrestling and had men's wrestling coach at Menlo University.
Coach Martinez has led the Oaks for sixteen seasons, guiding
them through an epic twenty twenty four five school year,
their first as an NCAA Division two program, capturing the

(01:23):
inaugural mp SF Championships and their program's first ever NCWA
national title. Under his leadership, Menlo produced three NCWA individual
champions they had ten All Americans and went undefeated at home.
He is also a Menlo Hall of Famer himself. Coach
Martinez was a two time NAI All American and still

(01:46):
holds multiple school records. Without further ado, it is an
honored pleasure to have you joining us this evening. Coach.
We are honored to have you. We do greatly appreciate
your time. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Thank you guys for having me. I appreciate it. It's
exciting to be here.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, we're excited to get into it. We love talking
college wrestling and doing our part to help grow the
sport and give back. But before we get too far
into it, anywhere you would like us to send recruits,
whether you want them to find you personally on social media,
or the school or the wrestling teams, any of their socials,
the floor is yours.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Our website is a great way to get a hold
of me and check out our program and what have
we done in the past. But also I think the
best way nowadays is the Instagram, So at Menlo Wrestling
is the best way to get a hold of me.
Also to kind of see a little bit more in
depth of just about our program and things that we've accomplished.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Pictures of our guys and coaches and things like that.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
So I'd like to share a lot of things on
Instagram to expose Menlo College Wrestling to.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
The world.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Awesome. I apologize that I said university is a college. Jimmy,
you were right.

Speaker 4 (02:58):
I always got to correct here, but I should have.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
So Coach, one of the ways we like to start
off here is, you know, we all have our origin
stories into the sport. We all have our origin stories
how we got into coaching, so we would love to
hear yours.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, I guess getting into the sport started when I
was nine. It was a really good, really good first
year I did. I didn't even know I wanted to
get into rest. It was my uncle's and my dad
wrestled in college some more than others that got me
into sport.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
So I've been rustling since I was nine.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Finished up my career at Menlo when I was twenty four,
I believe, So it was that fifteen years of wrestling.
Then I got into coaching, and coaching was a little
bit different.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
I didn't think I was going to be a college
coach at all.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
You know, graduate from college at Menlo, went to Menlo,
didn't really know what I wanted to do.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Worked started working at.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
The school as at an admissions counselor, so working at
the school recruiting in the missions department regular students. It
was something I was doing for a couple of years.
I had that job because I did want to stay
in wrestling in some capacity.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
I just didn't know what I wanted to do.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
I just, you know, getting rid of wrestling right away
after you know your college career it's a.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Little bit of a shock.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
So I felt like this was a good transition to either,
you know, get into something different, or you know, I
don't know, maybe stay in this role as an assistant
coach and be a counselor at the school. Because I
really loved the college and what it gave to me,
and you know, it was a good opportunity. So started
coaching then got out of the missions counseling. You know,

(04:49):
I became an assistant coach full time for a few years,
and then I got the head coaching job. And now,
like you said, this is my sixteenth year at the college,
so I haven't left. You know, I've been here since
I was a student and now you know, I've been
here sixteen years as the head coach.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
So it's been a good place to me.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
A lot of great things have happened here for me personally, professionally,
So it's a it's a really good situation if you're
looking to what Menlo is about.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
And are you Born and raised in California.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Born and raised in California from Turlock, California, a small,
smaller town about ninety miles east of here. Grew up
in the country, you know, I was I was a
country boy, didn't.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Live in the city. Went to high school.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
That was like, you know, I had family that lived
in the city, but actually going there constantly was a
little bit of different. Took like twenty minutes to get
out there.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
To the school, so it was it was a little
bit of a different.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
My middle school was small, so got in get into
a high school was a little bit bigger, was a
little bit of a shocked adjustment. A lot of new
people I met, but one thing that came me grounded
was wrestling.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
You know, obviously I knew how to do that. It
was something I was comfortable with.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
So when I got into high school, it was something
I latched onto. I was like, you know, this is
something I can do well, and I like it and
it's enjoyable for me.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
So, you know, high school was great.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
It was a great time, and you know, after I graduated,
I had a little bit of a different journey to
Menloiclog skipped over that but went to UC Davis, which
is was the program here in California. Got cut unfortunately
I went there. But it's a great school, great environment,

(06:42):
really good program, coaches, athletes, really good. It just wasn't
for me, and I didn't really understand what was for you.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
I was only understanding what.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
Is out there and what are people telling you what's
good for you at that age, you know, eighteen young.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
So I didn't really that till a little bit later.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
But left UC Davis went to Skyline College. When I
went to Skyline, I was recruited. I was recruited by
a the head coach who I knew from in high school.
So he convinced me to get out there. I was
it was a good choice had you know, success on

(07:22):
the mat. I got back on track with all my
credits and grades, and you know, after my junior college year,
after the two years, I was, you know, at a
crossroads too. Was like I wanted to rustle, but I
didn't know where to go. I didn't want to leave California.
There was a few schools I was interested in me
and I was interested in them. But the coach at

(07:44):
Skyline started the program at Menlo College and he told me,
just come, this is going to be.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
A great place for you to stay with each other
and being each other's corner.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
So I did came over here to Menlo College, and
like I said, it finished out my career and you know,
never left.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
So it's a really good spot.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
Couch.

Speaker 5 (08:07):
You bring up that, you know, there's nothing wrong with you,
see Davis, it just wasn't the program or there's school
for you. And that's one of the reasons we do
this show is to talk to coaches like yourself, and
you know, raise that question to student athletes, what are
you looking for? Well, what is the program for you?
So what kind of student athlete is for mental hell.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
For so Yeah, very unique place that we are here
at Menial College in a good way. The typical profile
of a student is obviously, you know, loves wrestlings, wants
to continue their career in college.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
That's that's important.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
You know, wants to have the next step and also
wants to have their next step in their education too.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Very important to.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Want to go to college, not just because someone's telling
them to or they reinforced too, but something they want
to do. It's very important to have. So have those
conversations early. Want to be in business. We're a business school.
We have a handful of degrees in business. So somebody
that is interested or driven into that field is very important.

(09:17):
Living in the Bay Area small school about nine hundred students,
want a really good, tight knit community on the campus,
with the wrestling program, with the coaches. Someone that believes
in our core values and has those in mind or
already working on them and doing them in high school

(09:39):
or junior college.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
Those are the kind of kids we want, you know.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
So it's not for everybody, and I know that you
know when when you when you first start out and
you're coaching and you're recruiting, You're like, oh, everyone's going
to want to come here because of your experience, so
you're wanting you want to give that to people, right,
It's just not the case. You know, as as I
started working through things, it wasn't. I don't take no
as a personal no. I just know that it just

(10:06):
wasn't a good fit for them and what they're trying
to get done and.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
Vice versa for us.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
So very specific on things that I'm asking all the
parents is and the student athletes if this is going
to be a good fit, and I'd lay things out
very transparent, and I want to be so that the
parents understand this is our potential start of our relationship
where we're being straight and honest with each other, so
that you know what you're getting into as a family,

(10:32):
and I know what I'm getting into taking in this family,
because I feel like when you're recruiting the kids, you
have to recruit the parents also too. It's important to
understand that they come from a group of people that
have been guiding them and give them advice and being
in their life, and that's not going to change once
they go to college.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
Whether they live far close. You know, that's something that
you have to take in.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
So there's a lot of little factors that we ask
and we tell them why we're asking these questions, so
that see if this is a good fit for both sides.

Speaker 4 (11:03):
Do you find you have to coach your parents?

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Sometimes I do, And you know, honestly, when I started
to realize that as an admissions counselor when I started
recruiting for the school, because you know, recruiting is you know,
selling something to somebody about why it's important for them
to come here. And I started to realize that more

(11:25):
and more it's not the kids you're you're educating and
recruiting the parents also to an extent, some more than others.
But it's important to understand who they are and where
they come from and what their background is so that
you can relate information and things that they could get
from the school as a student and as parents, so

(11:47):
they can obviously process it when you're not when they're
away from us and say, hey, you know, they coach
said a lot of great things about the school. You know,
let's let's figure out if this could be a good spot.
You know, I really like how you said this. I
really like how I said that. I didn't like that
they didn't have this, or I didn't like they to
have that.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
So I think that.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
Having them parents involved is important again to an ex
certain extent, and every I feel like every family that
I meet. I always tell my coaching staff, everyone that
you meet is like a fingerprint. They're all different, They're
never going to be the same. You can't cookie cut
a pitch to them about X degree or why the

(12:33):
atmosphere and location is great. You know, you always get
to tailor it to Okay, well, this is what you're
looking for and this is what we have. So I
think asking more questions instead of just spilling information to
the parents is super important because they want to be
here too. You know, they're making a decision with their
kid indirectly, and they're supporting them and emotionally, financially, athletically

(12:57):
in so many different ways that it's important to keep
them all as much as possible so that they know
they made a good choice and their experience is important.
You know, winning and losing or winning is going to
be a top of the list. Obviously, every coach is
going to say they want to win. I want to
win just like everybody else. But I really feel like

(13:19):
having providing a really good experience for the student athlete,
and when you do have time, providing that experience for
the parents is important because that's what they take away
from the college and that's how you get good support
from alumni when they come back and say, hey, I'm
always going to have a special place in my heart

(13:41):
for Menimo College because of my experience, and that experience
is going to grow into wins, degrees.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
Friendships, stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
So to me, building a good experience for everybody is important.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
It makes a big difference on our success.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Coach talking about recruiting, talking about winning. You guys, are
you were n ai A school, you were an nai
All American. We're making the transition to Division two. Now
you had to sit out from the postseason, but you
did some winning. How has the transition been from from
a team perspective and from an athletic department perspective? And

(14:25):
I guess it's got to be tough. Sometimes when you're
talking to kids, it's like, hey, we might have to
we got a we've got a great team, we've got
things going on, but we're not gonna be able to
compete at the championships. Is it for one year or
two years?

Speaker 3 (14:37):
Right now, it's for two years. We're looking into waiving
one of the years. So we're we're in that transitional
period where I feel like we're going to have probably
one more year here and then we're going to be
full fledged being able to go postseason. So right now,
and I get this question a lot. It's you know,

(14:59):
are you a Vision two school? And to answer quickly
and correctly is yes, we are. We follow the NCAA guidelines.
We have a lot of protocols and procedures that we do.
The only thing we can't do is we can't participate
in the postseason right now. Everything else we can participate in,
like the NPSF Conference Tournament that is a Division two

(15:21):
conference tournament. So we were able to participate, and you know,
luckily we had a great season last year. We won
the first first ever, which was amazing. On another story,
another note, but yeah, I just I you know, talking
to kids about our experience and you know, working with
the other teams here too. Yeah, it is a process,

(15:41):
and it's there's a lot more work that goes into
it just because of the transition, meaning how you recruit
and what type of kid you need to look at
in order for you to be successful athletically changes, you know,
it's a little bit of a change with that, I

(16:03):
think academically and a profile kid of.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
Their character. It doesn't really.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Change for me that much because I'm still looking for
the same types of kids. I can't change what the
school is. I'm not in charge of their degrees or
the size of the school where we are located. But
I think the transition has been you know, it's been
challenging at times, but it has been fun. You know, overall,
can't complain. It's new waters, right. You know, you're going

(16:31):
into something brand new, and it's exciting because you don't
know what to expect. And I think that's where we're
at as a wrestling program. And I think the other
coaches in the other athletes and the other programs are
thinking the same way too.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Will you guys when you do go Division two and
your qualify, will you be going to that region, same
region with San Francisco State, with the Colorado schools and stuff.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
Correct, Yeah, that would be the region that we are
in right now. I feel like they have around fourteen tea.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
It was a pretty big region. Yeah, but we will
go there.

Speaker 5 (17:04):
Okay, coach sould you guys were I'm pretty sure we're
top four in a i A pretty consistently the last
couple of years, and obviously we know, uh, the I'm
going to get this wrong.

Speaker 4 (17:17):
The nw c A. Correct. Yeah, the nw c A.
That's a tough tournament.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
You know.

Speaker 5 (17:24):
I know a lot of people kind of see it
as the vision on or bust. But Rich and I
know from all the coaches we've talked to, from people
we know have wrestled in that competition, that it's pretty tough.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
You know, you're going to see some really good competition.

Speaker 5 (17:37):
Do you have to sell the kids on that or
do you kids see it as, Hey, this is an
opportunity and in the process we're building, we're building a
school that kids passed us.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
Are going to have a great opportunity.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
I think that this year or this past year.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Sorry not to correct you, but it's n CWN At
the nwc there's two different.

Speaker 4 (18:04):
Yeah, there's two organizations.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
I know, I know, and sometimes I switch it up
to but no, it's uh, they treated us well.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
They welcomed us last year.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
I can't never say anything bad they're good organizations, some
good some good people that work there. But I think
that going to your question, I think that it was
a little bit of a challenge last year recruiting, knowing that.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
This was this was the situation.

Speaker 3 (18:27):
Told the recruits, Hey, this is our this is what
we're in right now.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
Eventually we're going to get out.

Speaker 3 (18:32):
Hopefully we get out sooner if we if we could.
But yeah, I I didn't target certain kids because of
our transition, and I think, well, I I know that
there's a there's a handful of kids that we were
looking at that didn't look our way because of the transition.

(18:54):
So I do understand that, you know, it is part
of the process, right, I can't change anything about that,
So so you know, I recruited accordingly. I feel like
my group that's coming in this year is a lot
of good freshmen.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
I like them, and I.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
Think once we get everything, once we get through the weeds,
we're gonna be fine. You know, we're going to be
back recruiting pretty much the same type of way. But
there was there was a little bit of a challenge
because of the transition, and I talking to other schools
that were going through it, they dealt with the same thing,
so it's nothing really new.

Speaker 5 (19:29):
Did you have any kids that were an AIA all
Markeans that transferred out because they knew that that transition
year was coming.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
No, I did not. And that's the great thing about
our program.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
I think that we speak volumes in other areas where
kids were like, you know what, the degree here is solid,
the people here are solid.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
Program is great. Why am I going to leave?

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Even though I could potentially go somewhere else and they
had every right too, I would, you know, I would
have been upset, but they decided.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
To stay, And I think that speaks to.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
Everything that we're doing here is at a high level,
and it's more than just wrestling. I think a lot
of it is a lot of factors of why they stayed.
So I didn't lose. I didn't lose anyone. It was
a It was a smooth transition in terms of people
and just building from it too.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
So I was lucky. It was good.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Being in such a huge state that California is, in
the quality caliber of wrestlers that come out of California?
Are you mostly focused on California recruits? Do you get
east of that at all?

Speaker 3 (20:40):
I do you know, I don't. I don't limit myself
and where I recruit. I feel like if you start there,
you start limiting yourself and it gets the funnel.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
Gets smaller and smaller. Right, So I don't number one.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
But what I try to focus on is, you know,
California kids. I feel like there's a there's a a
big market for them here, this big state obviously, like
you said, a lot of good kids here. So I
do target the California kids. And I also target like
the Western United States. Like there's like ten or eleven
states that are really high on my list.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
But you know, like I tell people all the time,
they asked me, how.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
Do you get this guy? How do you get that guy? Well, again,
I don't live with myself. I'm always looking and if
I have connections with coaches somewhere, we meet.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
Just building relationships with people.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
And being able to tap into their markets that are
a little farther allows us to be competitive and have
a really good team from everywhere.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
So I think I have a base, you.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
Know, with the California group, have a base with the
West coast, Western states, but I also look everywhere.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yea, and from that recruiting project, you have a good
connection with the kid. You get the opportunity to see
them compete out of competition, you know, outside of you
know x's and o's of technique. What sort of things
are you looking for?

Speaker 1 (22:06):
Character?

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Good character, driven, you know, in whatever area they want
to be driven in. You know, it could be academics,
it could be a hobby. Those are important to me.
Hard work, you know, they work hard, humble, you know, uh,
come in and have goals and set them out so

(22:28):
that we can help achieve them for them, so we
have a good culture.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
You know.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
I really try to involve my group, my group being
the coaches and the wrestlers, to really evaluate.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
Along with me to see if these kids fit.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
You know, because like I tell the guys all the time,
bring them in on recruiting trips. They're they're going to
be they're inviting You're inviting.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
Them to your place. So you have to make sure
that this is a good fit.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
They and the guys on my team are they really
know what I'm looking for. I'm constantly talking about it.
They're constantly talking about it. So when we bring in kids,
we you know, we have a set of questions we're
asking them. We're have a dialogue with them, and so
are the guys. So it's it's important to have the

(23:19):
right people. And those are just some of the qualities
I mentioned that that really work and that were for
us too, you know, and just looking for those types
of kids and you can find them, they'll they'll be
a really good fit at the college. I'm along with
the majors and stuff like that. So again very specific
who we are. But I love it because it just
really eliminates wasting people's time, my time.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
You do at home visitor, you going in checking the bedroom,
seeing if they're making their beds and how they keep
their if their need or not.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
Of course, of course you got to check everything.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
Everything counts, you know, you know what you know, all
those little things make big differences in my opinion, you know,
just watching people too at the tournament. Sometimes I'll just
go to tournaments and we'll see how they treat teammates
and how they talk to coaches, how they bounce back
from a loss. Like those things are just important as
if they can hit a nice single leg and finish

(24:10):
every single time, you know, because at the end of
the day, we better be able to teach wrestling right
or wrestling coaches, and so I know that I could
teach them, help them grow in their wrestling, but intangible
stuff that they already have built are instilled in them.
It's important for me to look at so I can

(24:33):
make a good evaluation if this is a good fit
for us.

Speaker 5 (24:37):
Coach, talk about some of that character stuff, how much
of that is a maturity thing? How much of that
is a kid being in their environment and being able
to get away with certain things, and then you know
they don't know any better, and then you get them
and you can kind of teach them up or have
you seen that? Sometimes those things are just sticking points

(24:58):
and it's going to be hard to work.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
So one other habits, I think it's about let's just
say it's fifty to fifty for each one.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
I think fifty percent is the maturity thing.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
I think that in general, the guys coming in obviously young,
eighteen nineteen years old, still trying to figure themselves out, right,
you know, And I think the maturity thing comes over
time and having them young and being able to instill
some qualities that you're trying to like dripping, you know,

(25:30):
obviously not just throwing up, but dripping stuff. So they
can understand, Hey, this is this is how we carry ourselves.
You know, this is how we do community service, this
is how we you know, look uniformed or you know,
just certain things.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
It's just small things.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
So like teaching them that, and like I said before,
if you have kids that are that are already doing
that because their programs have them doing some of that,
it just makes it easier of a transition to be here.
And then the other half, you know, you're always going
to have kids that have bad habits, even the good ones.
Everyone has habits right in life, and everyone grows up

(26:13):
a certain way, and everyone is taught in the rest
of the room at their high school junior college, hey
this is this is our habits.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
Right.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
But being able to explain why your habits are different
at your program and not telling them that's good and
that's bad, I think helps you get them on your
page because if you know, just think about it, you're saying, oh,
that's a terrible habit that you have.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
And this is the way that.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
Their junior college coach allowed them to act, behave, do business,
and that person was helpful for them in their life.
They're going to take it as a disrespect in some
type of way or they're going to be torn. Well,
one coach is saying this that was important in my life,
and now you're saying this. So I think that explaining

(27:05):
why it's important to have these habits and be consistent
with them in your program, in what you're doing, and
focus on you that makes a big difference in their
mind because now it's like, well, I'm here and now
this is the way we have to run business.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
I'm just going to follow suit.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
Didn't say anything bad about the program, didn't say it
was right or wrong. It's just, hey, this is how
we do things here. This is why it's important that
you do it here, and this is what the benefit is.
So explaining it to them in detail when they're trying
to learn and they want to learn, I think it's
very important starting off the right way.

Speaker 4 (27:44):
Coach.

Speaker 5 (27:45):
Sixteen years in coaching, and a lot of things have changed, right.
We talked to coaches, They say, kids hasn't changed, but
the times have. Has there been any kind of big
shifts in maybe perspectives of things or the way student
have act that you've kind of had to shift the
way you handle things.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
Ah Man, you know, I.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
Had a conversation with one of my coaches about this
a couple of weeks back. But I think the biggest
thing that I had to make some adjustments with address
talk about in general is the social media stuff. I
think that has blown up in the last seven eight
nine years, like really big, Like it's jumped.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Into all kinds of different things. I mean, just look
at all.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
The platforms they got, you know, with all the different
things you can communicate and see and look at and
be influenced or not influenced. So I think that is
a big piece that I had to make adjustment with
and talk through about why that is good, why it's
not good, what are we looking at, why it is
people doing this, how to take things, you know. So

(28:53):
I think the social media point of it has been
a big thing where how to make an adjustment on
how to talk to the kids and evaluate things.

Speaker 5 (29:02):
So with the social media stuff, is there a hey,
no no putting stories up when you're in the room, Well, hey,
I want you to put stories up in the room.

Speaker 4 (29:10):
What's kind of your perspective?

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, you know in the room. Obviously, I don't want
them doing anything during.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Practice or before practice, and talk about that in the
beginning of why, you know, not necessary walking the doorway.
We're here to wrestle, not post a story. You know,
that's that stuff can can wait. Obviously, if they're after
practice and we're cleaning up and stuff like that, they
want that's you know, I don't. I don't think that's wrong.

(29:38):
I don't think that's bad. I think it's giving a
give and take. You know, I could be hard about no,
don't have this, and you're always going to run into
a situation because social media is such a big part
of the guys' lives in my opinion, that I have
to have a bigger perspective on how am I going
to handle this? So I feel like nothing before, nothing

(29:59):
during you want to post something that's appropriate, we talked,
you know, we talk about at the beginning, that's that's fine,
you know, And they want to post something to a
or had a great work out, totally fine with me.
We're doing stuff like that, but I try to keep
it to a minimum. You know, we're don't post things.
Focus on what we're doing here, like we're at a
tournament or a duel meet. You know, let's let's stay

(30:22):
off of it. You know, you want to do something
before great, but we didn't come here to post stuff
on social media. We came here to wrestle.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
We talk about duel meats. You guys are undefeated this year.
How is How's it this crowd support? You guys get
good turnouts for your doormats. Obviously it's just quality wrestling
going on. But I'm assuming it's a tough gym to
wrestle into.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
Yeah, so yeah, this is Yeah. We went underfeet at home.
It was great, Like I loved it because you know,
we have good crowds, like you know. The last I
want to say a little bit before COVID is when we.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Started building real good momentum.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
On our crowds, our sizes, and then it you know,
obviously COVID hit kind of set us back a.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
Little bit, but we picked it up a year or
two after we.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
Got back, and we have good crowds, like Russell in
the gym, we have a spotlight. We have a lot
more alumni now in the area that have been staying
so they come and support and have families.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
Now we have a lot of new wrestling.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Supporters too because of our support in the community. And
I give my hat to the alumni family and friends
that are already supporting us too, to drum up interest
on that. So we'll see new people coming in and
they'll introduce they'll get introduced to me, and you have

(31:49):
only been to like one match before, but this was
exciting and you guys have great energy and crowds. I
don't know the score, what's going on, but you know,
it's it's a it's a great sporting event to go to.
So I think it is tough because our gym is
you know, it's a decent size, but it can get
really loud in there. And we have a lot of
people that come and support us, which I'm grateful for

(32:12):
because when it first started didn't have that much of
the support. It was trying to build that and it
takes time. You know, any coach will tell you it's
not like instant. It takes time to have people's come
and support and know, hey, I know you're one fifty
seven pounder, Hey you're one eighty four pounders. Great, and
you know we met him after the match and hey,
we're gonna come back to the next tool because we.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Really like how this got.

Speaker 3 (32:35):
So those things just drum up a lot of interest
for people and we run with it. And again the
social media part of it makes a big difference because
you can reach a bunch of people on how we're
doing and get gain interest.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
So I think that it's a it.

Speaker 3 (32:49):
The social media thing is a great thing because it
can promote your program in so many different ways.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
And I assume up in your area you're probably locking
horns with some of our former guests who coach Jason
Welsh and coach Lenny's Leski.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
Yes, coach Welson, coach Lexi. Good good dudes, really good dudes.
Wrestling them every year. We're actually going to Humboldt and
San Francisco this year. Last year they came to us
both both duels, but this year we're going to be

(33:22):
on the road against them. But yeah, we're wrestling. They're good,
good programs, they have good they always have good wrestlers.
You always got to make sure you're on your toes
and put your best lineup out there. They're well coached,
they have a good program, they know what they're doing,
both coaches, so it's it's it's really exciting. Obviously we
always want to, you know, beat them and their vicevers

(33:45):
want to beat us. But it's it's a good, healthy
rivalry that our guy my guys at least have bought
into and they and so as a community, the Menlo
wrestling community.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
So anytime that we have those matches, they know, like,
you got to go to this one.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
This is the one that's going to be really good.
It's a conference match, it's rivalry match. Is something that's
very important.

Speaker 5 (34:07):
But you mentioned in a lot of the alumni sticking
around in the area, and at the beginning of the podcast,
you mentioned being a pretty good business school, and that's
what a lot of kids on your team go to
school for, is business. I'm interested in knowing do you
have an alumni network as far as kids, you know,
looking for internships things like that, where you can place

(34:27):
them with internships and jobs outside of once they graduate.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
We do so two parts of that our alumni we have.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
We're growing it, but we have a handful that are
always involved in helping the program with internships and jobs.
So it's good now that as they as they alumni
get older, they are putting themselves back into the program
and say, hey, listen, we can do X.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
You have anybody looking to do this, we can't.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
We can help them out, so please shoot them my way,
let me know who they're what.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
They can do.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
So we do have a good group of alumni, a
core group that are always picking up the phone when
I'm calling to help to help out in that field.
And also we have a really good internship department at
the college. So you have to when you graduate, you
have to take an internship that's approved by the college

(35:30):
in order for you graduate.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
So it's nothing.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
It has to align with your major, has to align
with the values of what they're trying to get out
of in the internship, and we're what we're hoping for
with that is that that leads into that job. So
we're hoping that that internship turns into a job for
them because of how well they're doing.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
So the school does a really good.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
Job supports what we're talking about with the internships of
placing kids into really good ones that lead into I.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Guess not a job of career, you know.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
And a lot of them, a lot of the internships
are in the San Francisco Bay area, so it gives
them a good sense of opportunities of how they can
grow in a variety of different places where they can
potentially get jobs. So it's really good They do a
really good job of helping not just wrestling, but everyone

(36:26):
here on the campus.

Speaker 5 (36:28):
Rich Coach just checked off my two most important questions.
I think that is the two most important questions any
recruit can ask. Yeah, we want we know you want
to go to college to wrestle. We know you want
to win. But what's going on afterwards? And what are
you doing when you're in school to get there? And
I think those are some of the most overlooked questions
that recruits don't ask.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Agreed, Yeah, you don't know what you don't know? Are here, coach?
Geographically speaking, where in the Bay area is the school
and what's the demographic like population like of the campus?

Speaker 3 (37:05):
We okay, so we are in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I want to say about a half hour forty minutes
south of San Francisco and about a half hour forty
minutes north of San Jose, which are the two biggest
cities besides Oakland, which we're across the bay, about twenty

(37:27):
thirty minutes away from. We're right down the road from Stanford,
gives a better idea. So we're about two miles about
a mile and a half two miles away from Stanford.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
Menlo Park.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
A lot of people don't know this, but you know,
every time I talked to someone new, like oh, you know,
where do you work at? Or you're we're in a
Menlo restling shirt? Is at Menlo Park. We're actually not
in Menlo Park. Menlo Park is our neighbor. We're actually
in Atherton, California. Everyone can confused because we're named Menlo College. Oh,
you must be a Memo Park, but nowhere an Athleton

(38:04):
and the background of the I guess. The diversity on
campus is a lot. I can't put my finger on,
like we have majority of this group on campus. We
have a lot of international students, a lot of kids
from California, Western States. We have a handful from the
East Coast and Midwest percentage wise, so we're spread out everywhere.

(38:28):
I want to say, the last time we checked it
was I want to say eighteen percent we're international kids.
So we're growing the international group pretty well. On the
just the regular non athlete side students, so very diverse,
very great area to come into and learn about a

(38:49):
lot of different things. Our professors are great, have a
lot of cool classes that we're offering and teaching. Professors
think outside the box. With that, the classes are small,
fifteen students in each classroom. We know who you are,
easy to get stuff done.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
It's just a really good place if you're looking for
those things, you know.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Yeah, I've been to Palo Alto quite a few times.
It's a beautiful area. And that's another reason. You know,
Jimmy and I are like I said, we're from New
Jersey to the northeast. You know, winters are during the
wrestling season, you don't really see the light of day.
So we're always trying to encourage kids from the Northeast,
Like there are places where you know, it doesn't snow

(39:30):
and you can be in shorts in the wintertime and
be you go go to wrestling practice. You know, you
want to look into places in the south, places out
west and get some sunshine on your skin in the
wintertime for sure.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yeah sure, yeah, we don't get any snow over here.
No snow.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
I mean the weather right now is actually really nice
about seventy eight. It's going to be like this until
probably October.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
So I love it.

Speaker 4 (39:54):
Coach winter. The kids coming to campus.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Oh Man too soon, too soon that they get here.
So orientation is actually this Friday, so all the new
students get to check in. Monday is our first day
of school, the eighteenth. I believe that right, it's Monday. Yeah,

(40:17):
so they're all going to be back. It's going to
hit us fast, but trying to enjoy the last couple
of days before the storm hits Wahene.

Speaker 5 (40:25):
Can you guys officially get on the mat and start
practices that September October?

Speaker 3 (40:31):
October October, So we do a lot of pre season
stuff conditioning wise, weightlifting and getting them ready to go.
I actually kind of like that. At first, I did it,
you know, I always starting a little bit later in
my opinion, like October, we got to start in October.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
But it actually is good.

Speaker 3 (40:51):
In my opinion. I think that getting them up to
speed on what we're doing in the weight room, what
we're doing wise, getting them in shape to an extent,
a little bit stronger, learning the program, and then getting
on the mat.

Speaker 1 (41:07):
I think it's a good thing. And you know, you
asked me ten years ago.

Speaker 3 (41:10):
If that was I'd be like, ah, I hate it,
But now I think it's a good thing. The transition
to get back on the mat in that timeframe, it
works good for us.

Speaker 1 (41:21):
I like it.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Coach, how many new athletes do you have coming in,
both either freshmen, new college students, or junior college transfers
or transfers in general.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
I have two junior college transfers and ten freshmen, so
I'm twelve total. So the junior college guys came last semester.
I consider them new because they've only had a semester
under their bell. They never went through the orientation stuff.
But i have ten brand new freshmens, so I'm excited
about the group.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
I think they're going to be great.

Speaker 4 (41:59):
You know.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
I have a lot of high expectations for them. They're
coming in hungry that It's a different type of a
group that I have brought in in the past. More
freshmen obviously. Obviously we have ten, so is a lot
in my opinion. Usually I try to mix as much
as possible, but this year I changed it up a
little bit, went younger, I think because of our transitional

(42:22):
stuff that we're going through. Plus freshmen are you know,
in my opinion, they're they're really good.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
In this term.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
There you have them longer, you know, so when you
have them longer, it's easy for them, easy for you
to get them on the same page, right it's easier
for you. JC guys are great because they have, you know,
so many good things offered too. But then after two years,
like just when we're clicking, you're graduating.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
So I think that changing it up.

Speaker 3 (42:51):
With the freshmen was actually good, and I'm excited about.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Them any more weight classes than any other particulars. In
those ten.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
I would say it kind of spread it out throughout
the ten weight classes.

Speaker 1 (43:09):
I tried not to get too heavy in one.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
You know, we have about I want to say about
three or four guys average per weight. I would say
probably our biggest weight is one fifty sevens. We have
I think five, I believe five guys because one guy
is going to be at a different weight class. We
had six, but he's changing, a new returner is changing,
so five is probably our biggest. But you know, at

(43:35):
the top, we're very we're older, so we have a senior.
So having a handful of guys and and then again freshmen,
they they change, right, you don't even know what weight
they're going to be.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
You know, I had a freshman this year.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
He was a one forty nine pounder and middle of
the year he became a one sixty five pounder. So
it's like they're always changing in weight classes because they're
growing and getting you know, getting bigger and developing.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
So you know, it's it's hard to really put.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
My finger on how everyone's going to stay or or
where they're going to be because they just it just
changes things.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
Yeah. Well, in three n c w A champions and
ten all Americans, how many of them are returning?

Speaker 1 (44:16):
So let me go through the list.

Speaker 3 (44:18):
So the three champs are one is returning out of
the three, and the ten all Americans.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
We have four. We have four not returning.

Speaker 3 (44:38):
So we have one champ returning and six All Americans returning.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
I think that's about right, missing anybody, No, that's right.
So we have a good group back. I think.

Speaker 3 (44:49):
You know, this last year we in my opinion, were
we know, we had a lot of seniors, a lot
of older guys, which is great and I loved them,
and you would think that you would lose a lot,
but you know, having a lot of my core guys back,
plus I red shirted.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
Five guys that are.

Speaker 3 (45:09):
Really good because of our transitional stuff. So those guys
are going to be impact the five that I red shirted,
and then the guys coming back are going to obviously
be solid for us somewhere in the lineup and then
the freshman group. So I don't I don't think we're
going to lose too much. And that's not a disrespect

(45:29):
to any of my guys that are gone, that wanted,
or are all Americans. That's just saying that we had
a great year and we had great people come through
the program. But we're just going to get stronger and
get better. So I just think that's that's just the
way the program is built and ran. So it's exciting
to say that because we do have a really good,

(45:52):
really good group coming back.

Speaker 5 (45:55):
Coach, I have like a three part question for you,
but I'm going to ask you one A, one B one. See,
so I'm not just throwing a bunch of So you
find out you're going Division two, but you have that
two year transitionary period. Are you excited? Are you bummed?
What are those initial emotions?

Speaker 1 (46:15):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (46:15):
Come on, of course I'm gonna be bummed. Human right,
of course I'm gonna be a little bit bummed. Obviously.
You know, I can't dwell on it too much because
a lot of this stuff is out of my hands
and it's unfortunate for me, it'd be like we're going
post season eligible now. But like I've been telling the guys,
it is what it is. We are going to always

(46:37):
pivot and roll with the punches. This is how we
work and do business. I think if you dwell on
things too long, it consumes your life and you forget
about what the next thing in front of you is.
So I'm going to obviously be a little bit disappointed
and bummed, but I.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
Have to get over it because we have a.

Speaker 3 (46:54):
Bunch of guys that still have a lot of restling
life in them and we've got to focus on that.

Speaker 5 (47:00):
Do you guys, were you stoked that you guys won
the national championship or was it a little bit of
a caveat?

Speaker 1 (47:06):
No, it was exciting.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
I feel like anytime that you can get highlighted at
a national stage and win something like that, it's special.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
You know, don't care what it is.

Speaker 3 (47:17):
It could be a piety contest, right like you national
champion that, So I don't think he should ever ever
be saying now, It's just it is what it is.
You got to celebrate the wins, you know, because people
are celebrating their wins over your losses. So anytime you
can win something, it's special and it's you know.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
We didn't do anything different.

Speaker 3 (47:39):
You know, it's not like we came into the season
last year said all right, guys, let's throw everything out.
We're just this is a weird year for us, and
let's do everything different. It was just business as usual.
And I think if you talk about that and you
have a special year like we did last year, it
means a lot to the guys. You got to remember,
some of those guys are seniors. This is their last experience, right,

(48:02):
talked about experience that they're going to get.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
We got to make it special.

Speaker 5 (48:06):
Did you have any goals for yourself in the program
in those those two year transitionary period.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
Obviously I knew we were wrestling in n CWA, so
you know, goal was to always win the thing, you know,
have ten All Americans it was another goal. We did
that too, you know, have everyone in the finals, win
a national title.

Speaker 1 (48:29):
Didn't do that, but was close.

Speaker 3 (48:34):
Academically, we met some of our goals with our GPA
and our academic All Americans. So yeah, I did have
I always have goals and I always expressed them to
the coaches, and we met most of them, A couple
of them we didn't hit doesn't mean we failed.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
It just means we just got to keep working at it.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
But I think this year coming up, depending on what's
going to happen, I don't I don't really see goals
changing in big too much, smaller.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
Picture detail stuff.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
Yeah, different kind of group, different different kind of group
in terms of like what year.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
They are a lot of younger guys, so things will make.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
I will make some adjustments, but for the most part,
I don't want to change too much because I think
what we've been doing has been working and I'm not
going to fix something if it's not broken, right that
old saying. So always making adjustments, but non drastic changes
because I think that what we're doing here is pretty solid.

Speaker 5 (49:32):
Last one, rich I got for coach on the fire
hose of questions.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
So you broke them up this time? Yeah, to take
a breath and ask them all once.

Speaker 5 (49:43):
Coach you wrestled in ai A, obviously coach in ai
A for a while. Us being from the East coast,
it's not a lot of kids either go you know
and tha right or junior college. It's not really an
option in the northeast, so just maybe edge Kate our
fan base on the difference and what your thoughts are

(50:04):
on the competition at the NAI A level.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
Well, I guess it makes it kind of easy for
people to understand, Like I did so one. I didn't
even know what the ANAI was. When I got to Menlo,
I was like, what is this organization? I only knew
n C Double A, right, everyone knows the NC Double A.
But as we started wrestling, it started to make it

(50:30):
really apparent that there's some really good wrestlers in this
in the NAI And I.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Think the biggest thing is the quality.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
Meaning let's just pick the All Americans, right, All Americans
and Division two and All Americans and NAI.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
I think that the difference is is there's a little
bit more there's more depth in the NC Double A.
You know Division two have.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
The quality is is probably equal, maybe a little bit better,
But if you had to, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
I feel like if you put the top.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
Eight n C Double A wrestlers and the top eight
NI rustlers in each way class, for the most part,
you'll probably get a different champ every single time because
they're they're right there. You know, they're they have some
good wrestling good wrestlers. And I think that getting because

(51:26):
they're eligabrada requirements are a little bit different than the
NC double A.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
You get different types of guys that you couldn't get.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
That left the school or didn't leave a school, they
just couldn't qualify out of high school.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
In NC double A, you forget about how talented.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
These people are that wrestle and you know, going to
that tournament every year and the ANI tournament, seeing the
top teams and they're the quality of guys, it makes
you open your eyes about, Wow, there's some really good wrestlers,
really good Russell was at wrestler, really good coaches.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
That coach in the n AI the n C Double A,
you know there are obviously very.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
Very strong and I know them because I see them enough,
but I don't know them quite yet to make okay,
this is this is what it actually looks like. But
just knowing what I see and knowing the NI pretty well,
I think the depth is a little bit better with
the n C Double A. But the quality of an

(52:30):
individual wrestler, it's debatable. Per weight, per year, per weight.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
Yeah, Jim put up in an n C w A.
I got a question for that I want to go
back to. But I'm curious about the transition the NAI
to Division two. I'm sure that's not like an overnight
thing where someone just wakes up and it's like, hey,
I got an idea, we're going to do this. Is
that Does that come from the athletic side of thing?
Is that from higher up like the president? Or is
a combination what goes into you know who, who is

(53:00):
like a think tank or something that decides, hey, we're
going to go from NAI to Division two.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
Yeah, it's an above it's above me. Yeah, it's above
me for sure.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
Yeah, but yeah, it's it's the level of president and
a d They're the two that talk through it, weigh
out the pros and cons and then make a decision.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
So I feel like.

Speaker 3 (53:25):
Our decision was made because of where we're located, and
there's a lot of you know, not just now we've
got to take ourselves out of wrestling, right, we had
seventeen of those sports here on the campus. What's the
best move for everybody, you know, not just us wrestling.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
So I think the best move.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
Was to go Division two based off of where we're located,
who was around us, so on, and so forth. So
President ad made the decision, Hey, this is what we're
going to do. And once we made the decision, you know,
we're all in, like all right, let's go. Oh, this
is what we got to do and to go through
this transitional process. And they've been supportive, they've been huge.

(54:07):
There's so many people behind the scenes that have helped
us through this transition that you can't get enough credit.
And it would be like a long list, like a
movie list of all the things that they've been doing
and contributing to our transition.

Speaker 1 (54:22):
So a lot of different people here, but it was
at the top where.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
It made that decision. It was and then I think
it was based off of those things. It was just
where we're located, who's around us, and how can we
get quality matches and being a really good conference that's
going to benefit all the sports.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
Yeah, I was curious how those sorts of things work.
I'm also curious, as Jimmy and I have learned from
doing this podcast that a lot of the NAI schools
have like a faith based aspect to the college of
the university. Is that something that is the thing at Menlo.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
No or not?

Speaker 3 (54:58):
Yeah, but you're right, there are a lot of schools
that are paid based, so but we're not.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
We're not okay, And the last one I wanted to
go back going back to the NCWA tournament. Was there
any was there any surprises in terms of the quality
of competition, any anything that stood out to you, Any
individuals from other other clubs that you think, hey, maybe
I could recruit him.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (55:23):
So a couple of things I learned from the NCWA,
some good things. One of the biggest things that I
learned is, yes, people labeled the NCW as a club
rest and a organization, but it is frowned upon when
you say that because it's not really just club teams.

(55:44):
There's other teams also, like us transitioning. So yes, I
did learn a lot from them. Didn't know what to expect,
you know what, I've never been to Louisiana. A lot
of guys haven't either. That was where the national tournaments at.
But yeah, went back there. I mean it was a huge,
huge tournament. It's a sixty four man bracket. It was

(56:05):
you know, it was a lot of days, it was
a it was a taxing tournament, you know, for for everybody,
not just menlo but for everybody.

Speaker 1 (56:13):
But I was. I was impressed. They have a.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
Handful of individuals in each weight class that are pretty good,
and it was it was exciting to watch those matches
because they're really good wrestling programs. You know, there's some
teams that just discontinued but they but they kept a
team around and they had a good coach and you
know they and then there's some teams that had really

(56:39):
outstanding individuals. So it was a lot of there was
a lot of eye opening for me because I didn't
I didn't really know what to expect.

Speaker 1 (56:46):
I had don't I.

Speaker 3 (56:47):
Only see some teams throughout the years, and I didn't
really get a good picture of like what to expect.
But as we went to the tournament. When we went
to the tournament, opened my eyes really good wrestling. Some
teams are solid, individuals were except there was some exceptional stuff.
There was a also just I didn't know this, but

(57:09):
there was a team from Puerto Rico from that was
wrestling out there too. So I have a really good,
really good wrestling wrestling program out there too. So impressive,
very impressive, big tournament, big bracket. You play said that
it's a to the least, it's a stressful wearing a
couple of days on you because of just the size

(57:31):
and how you have to weigh in and train and
work out and compete.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
So it was it was a good experience. Nice.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Did you get a po boy when you were down
in Louisiana? I did not at Yeah, I know.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
I felt like you're in the wrestling You're in the
the stadium or the arena the whole time, and I'm
just trying to grab whatever I can before we got
to go to bed and repeat the day over.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
But I wanted to. I was like, Wow, that was
my thing I wanted to do.

Speaker 3 (57:58):
But one of the things I did is I ordered
crawfish from a place over there and had him delivered
to my house in California. My son was the one
that was pressing me to do that, so I delivered
them and they got there day after I got back,

(58:21):
and we had little crawdads, nice crawfish.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
Yeah, so that was pretty good.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
No second time, but we actually did the whole little
you know, boiling.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
Them and cleaning them and stuff.

Speaker 3 (58:32):
Because my son really wanted to do him, but he
set me up because I did most of the work.
He ate him, but I did most of the work.
So I still look at that pot in my first
and my garagera. I'm like I bought and I haven't
used it since. But yeah, it was a good experience.
But I did have I have a crawfish.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
Nice nice coach.

Speaker 5 (58:52):
Is there anything about mental college wrestling that we haven't
spoke on that you want our audience to know?

Speaker 1 (59:00):
No, I think we hit everything.

Speaker 3 (59:02):
But you know, like I said, you know this is
a I feel like it's a diamond in the rough.
A lot of people know about us, but a lot
of people don't. They only know about what you hear.
So I guess to your question is, if you are
intrigued about us, if this is something that you want
to do or looking to do, or want to know

(59:24):
more about, reach out.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
I'm here.

Speaker 3 (59:27):
I think this is a great place for a lot
of good people, a lot of things that we have
to offer, and you only know right.

Speaker 1 (59:33):
Until you ask.

Speaker 3 (59:34):
So if you're not asking, and you're from other people
about what's good and what's bad, hear from the horse's mouth,
give me a call, shoot me an email, hit me
up on social media. Let's talk about what you're looking
for and who actually are.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
Well.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
Julian and I one of our goals is, you know,
we're from the New Jersey, guys, and our goal is
to get at least one Jersey get to every school
that we talk to coaches from. That's that's our goal
is to spread that New Jersey umbrella far and wide.
So we're going to hopefully get you a New Jersey scrapper.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
I would love that.

Speaker 5 (01:00:10):
I'm open coach, like Rich said, us being from the
East Coast, but always kind of paying attention to what
was going on, especially when we were in college and
MELLOW was always a program that I was aware of
because you know, there wasn't many four year schools in
California that I had wrestling. I believe you know that
weren't Division one. I believe it is you guys, San

(01:00:31):
Francisco State, cal Baptist at one point. So always paying attention.
So this was a very informative podcast, not just on
the program, but everything you guys got going on in
the transitionary periods and the NCW A right, we won't
we won't call it club wrestling anymore. We know better now,
So thank you for educating us. Final four, Rich, Let's

(01:00:54):
do it all right, coach, are you a coffee drinker.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
I am a coffee drinker. How do you know?

Speaker 4 (01:01:01):
How do you brew your coffee? And how do you
take it? I?

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
You know, honestly, the last couple of years, I've been
doing the French press thing.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
All right.

Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
We get there grinding it up and French press. It's
it sounds kind of fancy, but it's really good.

Speaker 5 (01:01:15):
We we we do fancy coffee over here. So my
next question is how do you how do you how.

Speaker 4 (01:01:22):
Do you take it? Take it black or just black?
All right? Do you have a being a choice like white?

Speaker 3 (01:01:29):
I like the dark roast, all right. I like a
dark roast. That's that's my go to lately. That was
if you asked me about three months ago, I'd be
telling you light roast, but now I switched over to
the dark roast.

Speaker 5 (01:01:40):
Do you have any fancy coffee shops near campus that.

Speaker 4 (01:01:42):
You venture to?

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
Honestly, we have a bunch. There's a lot of fills. Yeah,
we have a Fills. We have a Pete Starbucks. Those
are like the Staples, But we have a lot of
smaller ones too in Menlo Park, and there's one in
Redwood City I found that are really good too. So
I tried to go to those, you know, once every

(01:02:04):
few weeks just to see what's new, what they got
going on.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
But we have good coffee out here. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
I think if I had to pick one that I
like would be Phils. Phils is my probably my go
to the last month, I've had like one or two
of them, but they're good.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
What brought on the transition from light roast to dark roast.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
I don't know. I think that someone dropped off or
left a dark roast at our house.

Speaker 3 (01:02:33):
I want to say it was one of my family
members when they were visiting, and then it was.

Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
Like a pretty big bag.

Speaker 3 (01:02:39):
So usually I like to like, Okay, I'm going to
go through a bag and then pick my next one.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
And so I just I went through it and I
was like, man, this is actually nice.

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
Because I feel like the dark roast, especially when you
just drink it black, is pretty strong.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
But this one was good. This one was pretty good.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
Okay, go to give you a since you do the
pour over, we'll give you a little area bros. Pro tip.
There's a company called third Wave Water was This company
designed by a NASA scientist and it takes a specific
mineral profile from water that brews a perfect cup of coffee,
and then you use that it comes in like a

(01:03:21):
powder form. You put that in distilled the water, and
then you use that as your water to brew your coffee.
And so that brings out all those notes that you
see on the bags, like chocolate or dark cherries or
whatever it is. It's fascinating. Guy used to go to
his coffee shop. He could never figure out why he
couldn't brew the taste the same way it did at
his coffee shop. And I guess there's like some official

(01:03:42):
Beicha federation and there's a specific mineral profile for brewing
like the perfect cup of coffee that a lot of
high end coffee shops have filtration systems on their water.
And so he started making this powder formulation with that
mineral profile in it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
Wow, third wave, you said.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
Huh third wave water.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
Yeah, I'm gonna have to try that now. For sure.
I'm gonna have to try that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
Now, Coach, do you have any daily practices or rituals
you do on a regular basis to show up as
the strongest version of Joy Martinez?

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
Yes, there's a few things that I do.

Speaker 3 (01:04:17):
One of the things that I like to do is
I like to get up early in the morning. So
we have practice at seven, so I'll get up about
five and.

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
Just have time to myself.

Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
I guess the biggest thing is just time to myself
when everyone's sleeping and you know, I don't have to
be rushing everywhere. It gives me peace to like, Okay,
what's my day gonna look like? What's even my week
gonna look like. But I like to do my week stuff,
my month stuff in the office, but just time for
myself at the house, waking up early and then actually

(01:04:49):
going outside and you know, obviously it's dark during the
winter months, super dark, but just something that I can
get some fresh air. I don't have to be rushing
to put on on a wrestling shoe or finding out
where someone's at.

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
Or an injury in the training room.

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
Just being outside for a little bit and honestly a
couple of minutes, maybe five at the most.

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
It is important.

Speaker 3 (01:05:13):
So like getting up early, thinking about what my day
is going to look like, being grateful. You know, when
I go outside thinking about what position I'm in, and
you know, I try to pick one thing for myself
why I'm grateful.

Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
It is important and we do that too. With the guys.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
I didn't even mention that, but we we have a
gratitude talk at the end of each practice because you know,
I it's important that I'm doing it because I feel
like I'm blessed being able to coach wrestling, right, and
this is my job and I get paid for it, right,
This is amazing. So I always talk to the guys
about that too. But I think going outside for myself,

(01:05:50):
reflecting a little bit of what I'm doing for the
day and being grateful for at least one thing is
like my ritual.

Speaker 4 (01:05:57):
Love it and we can get down with that.

Speaker 5 (01:06:00):
Quiet mornings or everything, Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:06:04):
Especially when they're dark. It gets dark. It's really quiet.

Speaker 4 (01:06:10):
Coach. What are you listening to right now? Music? Podcast, audio? Books?
Are you reading anything?

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
Man, it's funny that you say that, because I do
like to read books that you know.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
It's weird.

Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
So when someone gives me a book, I usually read
it during season, and then out of season, I'll try
to find something to read. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I'll
find small things, but that's one of my things, Like
if I get a if you give me a book
and I'm out of season, I'll read it, but or

(01:06:46):
I mean, in season, I'll read it, but if out
of season, I'll wait. So that's one of the things
that I'll do, like a something that I have never
told anybody. Now I'm telling you guys, but I'm listening
to some chill music right now. One of my sons,
you know, he put on some music and I asked him,

(01:07:07):
what is this because we're barbecuing, and it's like, oh,
it's chill music, Dad.

Speaker 1 (01:07:12):
It it relaxes you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:13):
So now I listen to that and there's a bunch
of artists I don't know who they are, but I'll
listen to them, and it's very relaxing and I feel
like I can either work if I put my headphones on,
or just be at peace a little bit at the house.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
So chill music on. What is that Spotify?

Speaker 3 (01:07:29):
So if you type that in you'll you'll get the
you'll get the station and just play it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:35):
And I think it's really working good for me.

Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
That's our vibe.

Speaker 4 (01:07:38):
Jim Yep, always coach you men.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
You you have some sons.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
Do they wrestle the million dollar question? No, they do
not know. They do not wrestle.

Speaker 3 (01:07:48):
They they don't have they have interested in it to
a point, but they're not interested in doing themselves. They're
they're more of a track and field and flag football.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
Okay, are they younger.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
Yeah, they're younger.

Speaker 3 (01:08:01):
Seventh grade and actually my oldest is going to ninth
grade tomorrow, first day of school.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
Okay. Is he the track guy?

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
He's the track guy. Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
And across country too or no?

Speaker 3 (01:08:13):
He told me Dad, I like running short distance and
I like the jumps.

Speaker 1 (01:08:17):
I don't like running long distance.

Speaker 4 (01:08:19):
Okay, So I.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
Was like, all right, fair, so cool coach. Last, what
we got for is a lighthearder one to close it out.
You know, we're talking coffee. Maybe there's another beverage out there.
Maybe there's something unique food wise in California. We know
a lot of wrestling coaches are also avid golfers. Do
you have a guilty pleasure?

Speaker 1 (01:08:40):
Yeah? Two? Actually one is food. I do like the
food out here.

Speaker 3 (01:08:48):
It's hard to always eat at home, even though you
know you can cook good stuff, but there's just so
many good places to eat out here.

Speaker 1 (01:08:56):
So I think that the food is my guilty pleasure.
Where I can things.

Speaker 3 (01:09:00):
I mean, I'm not like a sweet guy, but there's
a place near my house that opened up. It's a
French bagette place and they have these cream puffs that
I the last month, I've been not gonna lie in
game one a week sometimes off.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
The cream puffs. So they're really good.

Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
In your coffee.

Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
Oh no, eat it with my coffee coffee. Then I'll
eat it. Yeah, so good. But don't tell anybody that.

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
Don't worry.

Speaker 1 (01:09:28):
But my other guilty pleasure is movies. I love to
watch movies.

Speaker 3 (01:09:31):
I feel like it's a release for me with with
my busy schedule and all the things that are happening
that if I could watch a movie at the theaters,
like watching a movie at the theaters is different than
at the home. At the theaters, no one's bugging you,
big screen popcorn. So I feel like that's one of
my guilty pleasures too. If I have a chance to
sneak in a movie where I can kind of just

(01:09:54):
focus on that instead of all that busyness in life,
it helps me helps me reset a little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:10:03):
Coach, I am. I'm a movie nerd.

Speaker 1 (01:10:05):
I went are you.

Speaker 5 (01:10:06):
I went to school for film and it's my outlet.
I love like it's how I get lost right and
how I get creative ideas. So I was thinking, because
I've been crushing movies this summer. My number one, don't
judge me. My number one of the summer so far
is F one, the movie Oh really, Yeah, you liked it?

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
Huh?

Speaker 4 (01:10:28):
Have you seen it?

Speaker 3 (01:10:28):
Yes, it's it's top of my list this summer. I
don't want to say it's my number one, but it's
it's up there. It's top three.

Speaker 5 (01:10:36):
Well, so I'll give you my top three and then
you can give me years. Okay, So number one is
F one the movie. Number number two is Superman, and
number number three is the Phoenician scheme.

Speaker 1 (01:10:50):
Superman.

Speaker 4 (01:10:51):
Really, I'm a James gun guy coach.

Speaker 1 (01:10:56):
Okay, I thought it was good. It was different.

Speaker 3 (01:11:01):
I'm not going off with tangent, but it is different.
But I have a coach that coaches with me. I'm
not gonna say his name because I don't want to
say his name, but he knows who he is. He's
a Superman guy like this is. You go to his house,
you feel like he was Superman back in the day.
He has all kinds of Superman stuff. We go together

(01:11:22):
and he was disappointed. But I think he was disappointed
because it was a different type of Superman than the
original ones. Right yeah, yeah, so my top three right now?
Shoot well, I gotta say I gotta say one that

(01:11:44):
is probably a little bit different than your list because
I just watched it yesterday and I watched it with
my kids the bad guys too.

Speaker 1 (01:11:51):
Okay, that was pretty funny.

Speaker 3 (01:11:54):
I mean, I don't really like cartoon movies, but when
you have kids and they want to watch this kind
of stuff, you it starts to grow in your little bit.
So I would say that one, that one would be one,
and then uh f one is in there in my three.
It has to be my threat. I don't know where exactly.

(01:12:16):
I don't know what my third one is. Superman was good,
but it's not in my three.

Speaker 1 (01:12:22):
Which one did I watch?

Speaker 3 (01:12:23):
I don't want to say Jurassic Part because I thought
that was a boring movie this summer.

Speaker 1 (01:12:27):
I didn't like it. I have to get back to you,
all right. You got to put me on the spot.

Speaker 5 (01:12:32):
I I you see, do you see a fantastic floor?

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
I did?

Speaker 4 (01:12:37):
It's all right. I liked it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:39):
It wasn't bad.

Speaker 3 (01:12:39):
Yeah, that's why I would it didn't make my list
top top eight.

Speaker 1 (01:12:43):
Okay, then we're good, all right.

Speaker 4 (01:12:46):
Oh what.

Speaker 5 (01:12:46):
I Oh, So the guy in Fantastic for Pedro Pedro,
he's taking everything right now right. And so there was
a movie that just came out with him on HBO
Max and it's called it's called Freaky Tales.

Speaker 4 (01:13:03):
Check it out.

Speaker 5 (01:13:04):
It's an anthology, so it's like four different stories that
come together at the end.

Speaker 4 (01:13:10):
If you haven't seen that, check that out on I.

Speaker 3 (01:13:12):
Haven't, and I've been I've been interested in that movie.

Speaker 1 (01:13:16):
I haven't looked, I haven't watched it yet.

Speaker 3 (01:13:19):
And the reason I'm interested too is if there's movies
that are that I can relate to in some type
of way, then they become more intriguing to me. And
that one, I guess was filmed in Oakland, California, which
is thirty minutes from US. So I really want to
watch that because I like Pedro, and it's because it's
an Oakland based movie.

Speaker 1 (01:13:40):
All Right, I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to
get on that.

Speaker 4 (01:13:42):
Oh, let me do this.

Speaker 1 (01:13:44):
But I'm not going to give you a movie.

Speaker 3 (01:13:47):
But I've been watching a series that's really funny on
each on Apple.

Speaker 1 (01:13:51):
It's called Stitch.

Speaker 4 (01:13:52):
I just stick or Stick. I just finished out with
Mark Maren. Yeah, it's great.

Speaker 1 (01:13:58):
Yes, it's great. It's great. So I watched that, so
I'm there's my three.

Speaker 4 (01:14:03):
All right, I'll take it.

Speaker 5 (01:14:04):
There's a I sent Rich a scene when he's talking
to Zero and she's like, I just need you to
hold space for me, and he goes hold space. I
don't even know what that means, but yeah, coach, we
could talk, talk movies and geek out with you all night.
Thank you for your time. Thank you for getting back
to me. Always check that spam. That goes a long

(01:14:26):
way with the Airy Bros. So thank you so much
for your time, and we can't wait to follow the
program this year.

Speaker 1 (01:14:33):
Thank you, guys. I do appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:35):
A pleasure to be on on here, and again I'm
grateful that you guys are promoting wrestling and promoting us too,
so it's really important.

Speaker 1 (01:14:42):
But I appreciate both you. Thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (01:14:45):
Yeah, it was an honor, a pleasure. We really appreciate
the conversation. Great to get to know you. We'll have
our Menlo banner hanging and we'll be cheering through the
transition and as you're locking horns with some of our
other friends and and the NCAA's pretty soon. Best luck
with the start of school, best luck with the kids
starting school tomorrow, and yeah, have a great rest of
your summer and we look forward to following you this winter.

Speaker 1 (01:15:09):
Thank you very much, guys, appreciate it. Thank you very much.
See you later.

Speaker 2 (01:15:13):
All right, ladies and gentlemen. That's coach Joey Martinez. Make
sure you go check the links in the show notes.
Go give Menlo some support. Let him know that the
Area Bros sent you. That is it for us this week.
We do appreciate you tuning in next week. We'll be back.
We've got three episodes next week. First off, on Monday,
Jeremy Hartman will be joining us from Hartman Performers. He's
doing great things out in the Midwest with a lot

(01:15:35):
of different athletes, including wrestlers in track and field. Then
the great von Eric Brothers, Marshall and Ross will be
joining us on Tuesday evening and we'll be closing it
out going back to New Jersey by way of Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Frank Parelli will be joining us to talk about what
he's got going on with the training lab in Stillwater.
So have a great weekend, enjoy Thanks for tuning in

Speaker 3 (01:16:02):
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Belly to Belly with Coach Joey Martinez | Menlo Wrestling’s DII Rise & NCAA Transition

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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;}Belly to Belly with Coach Joey Martinez | Menlo Wrestling’s DII Rise & NCAA Transition