EP 406 — Coach Brian Decker on Point Boro’s 2024 Title Season, Building a Shore Powerhouse & Inside the Shore Coaches Invitational - 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 Brian
Decker and you're listening to Arie Brothers Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Ladies and gentlemen, howdy and aloha. We are here, You
are there, and you are now rocking with the best.
Thank you for tuning in for another episode of Airy Bros. Radio. Tonight,
we're spiking up, heading back onto the cross Country Coach
with one of our own Point Pleasant Burrows head coach,
Brian Decker. But before we get rolling, y'all know the drill.
Make sure you hammer that like button and are subscribed

(00:37):
on YouTube. Leave a comment, every view, review and share
helps us grow and get back to the sports we love.
Follow us on Instagram, Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and as always,
let's not forget while we're here. We're here to shine
on the light on the programs, people, coaches and stories
we wish we had access to growing up. If someone
you know is chasing their dreams in cross country, wrestling,
their track and field, please share this episode with them.

(01:00):
Onto tonight's guest coach, Brian Decker. He's been a coach
for over twenty five years across high school and junior
college and college levels. He's built Point pleasant Borough into
a small town powerhouse with big time results. He's the
head coach of Point pleasant Borough Across Country and Brooke
Memorial Track and Fields. In twenty twenty four, the Panther

(01:21):
swept b South Osha County Central Jersey Group two, the
first sectional title in school history. In twenty twenty four,
he was a coach of Year Short Track Coaches Association
at Asbury Park Press. He got at Point Borrow to
a top five finish in the Shore Conference and rare
air for a Group two squad. He's also the former
head coach at Osha County College. He led the Vikings

(01:43):
to a fifth at the NJCAAA National Championship in his
first season. He was also at Toms River South, where
he continued the legacy there, coaching Chris Marco to a
four oh seven mile and Kyle Cruhn to a nine
toh eight thirty two hundred meters, both athletes for Division
one Power four athletes at Notre Dame in Michigan, and
they also scored a top five in the DMR at

(02:05):
Nationals and the Pen Relays Championship of America in addition
to his coaching, he's also a meat director. He's been
the Short Coach's Invitational meat director for thirteen plus years
and as we know, Home Del Park is one of
America's toughest high school cross country courses in the nation.
Without further ado, is an honor pleasure. I have you
joining us this evening. We do greatly appreciate your time.

(02:27):
Coach Brian Decker, Welcome to the show.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Thanks guys. Can't wait to talk to you guys about
old school stuff and old roots of Point Pleasant.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, it's crazy. I was thinking about this today when
I was running with the kids. I think we go
back probably like nineteen ninety maybe nineteen ninety one, when
you were probably a high school junior, a high school senior,
and I was thinking about it. I remember I used
to fancy myself as a bit of a sneakerhead, and
you used to have a pair of old school Adidas
mid distance spikes. They were the black ones with the

(02:57):
white with the yellow accents. Those were super sweet. We've
spent some time at Mammoth together and then just you know,
in and around the Sure Conference coaching, so.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
It's a great time together at Southern.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
That's right, that's right. So it's great to have you
joining us. And as Jimmy mentioned, we're point pleasant Borough alumni,
so it's uh warms our heart to see what you're
doing there with the Panthers, and we're excited to talk
with you about that before we get too far into it.
Anywhere you would like us to send athletes, parents, fans,
social media, anything you got going on for yourself or

(03:32):
the team socials, the floor is yours.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
I know, I just have a personal Facebook page, and
then I know parents are in charge. They have a
Instagram and those things. But I'm still old school and
you know, not up on par But as the landscape
is changing, you know, Instagram and things like that, I'm

(03:56):
going to have to start to follow more just because
it's there's so much out there now.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, it's kind of a necessary evil, I guess you
could say, yes, so, coach. One of the ways we
like to start things off here, especially with our new
Jersey guests. This is probably the most important question we're
going to ask you all evening, and I think I
know the answer to it. But is it pork Roller?
Taylor him pork Okay, that's what we thought. Just wanted

(04:22):
to check put another check in the pork roll box gym.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yep, are County people never let us down, Richard. So
those those people up in you know, close Mamouth going
up and going up north with those Ivy League coaches
that we have on yep, go ahead, Jim, Brian. We
always like to do a little bit of through lines,

(04:46):
and rich did want to at the open. But I
must say that you were always someone who was super
cool to me, and you would allow me to nerd
out on some track and cross country anytime Mom would
bring me down to Southern Work to meet to her.
You know, I'd be there for her day with her
at the school. We'd always talk track and field and

(05:08):
I've I've always been a fan of Brian Decker and
to see what you're doing at Point Barrow like which,
just to repeat what Ridge said, it's pretty awesome. So
super nice.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
To run into your mom when we're out on I
follow him on the bikes and she's out for a walk,
especially in the summertime, we see him all yeah, see
her often hello and chat for a while. So it's good.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
We also want to talk to you about maybe changing
up that route that runs through Jackson Street, maybe rerouting
it a little bit to avoid fifteen twelve, because we know,
even before I was in high school, the old man
would be out there harassing some of the kids that
they weren't running fast enough for stuff. So I'm sure
they come back and they're.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
Like, there's this guy at this house.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
The grass was really green, and he was telling us
we needed to run faster.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
They're funny, My guys are like kind of they do
the same run all the time, Like, don't you want
to change it? They love going over the bridge in
the Bay Head and going on East Have or you
know now and dying down They'll go on you know,
Barnet Lane, Like I should change it up a little bit,
you can go run through town. They're just they rather not.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah. I mean, in all my travels in the years
I've been away, when I go home, I always make
sure I do an East Avenue run. So it's it
must be something in the water there in Point Pleasant
they go down that East Avenue and back up Barnet Lane.
Because I do it every time I come home.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
I still.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Market on Strava and see if I can beat my
times and see where I'm at. As I get older. So, Brian,
we also like to start off with the origin story.
You know, we all have ours over here, Me and
Jimmy have ours. And I believe you were a soccer player, true,
and I believe maybe a broken arm at some point

(06:47):
early on in your high school career might have led
you to cross country. So can you fill in the
gaps and give us your origins.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
To this exactly true story. So, you know, freshman year,
went out for played played soccer in my life, played
soccer at the high school. At the high school did
winter track and they did uh you know, spring track,
and times were okay. I mean you know, now you
look at it, you're like, wow, you know, breaking five
as a freshman was a big time thing. Now you're like, oh,

(07:16):
you've run under four to forty five or faster. Now
it's like five means very little in the scheme of
things right now. And and Charlie Speck, who was the
Coach's like, I want to run across country. I'm like,
I want to try soccer one more year. So I was,
you know, pre season playing and uh yeah, I broke
my uh broke my wrist and they told me I'd

(07:37):
be out until the almost till like the first or
second week in November, and I was like, wow, wait,
maybe I can go and run. And so I had
to go to you know, the athletic director, kimdergar Hole,
and then the trainer and run with the cast, but
they had to wrap it. And then after that, you know,
I did indoor and outdoor. My times dropped significantly, and

(07:59):
I was like, wait a second, this might be my ticket. Now,
so next thing, and now I just decided to give
up soccer and just went and started running.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
And when it went along that, I know you after
high school, you went to Mammath for a bid, then
you went to Kentucky and then we got you back
in mom with with us for a while. When did
coaching come into your When did that become a thing
that you thought maybe I wanted to be a coach.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
When I started to come back home from you know,
Momuth or Kentucky and going back and then just watching
and then just seeing the experience from when I was
in high school and then when you're in college and
seeing the college coaches experience, and then I was like, ah,
this might be something that I might get into. So
then I just started little by little and then I
was like, didn't know what I was going to do.

(08:48):
So that I was like, all right, I'll go back
get my you know, teachers certification special ed. At that point,
they didn't have a lot of male special ed teachers,
so I was like all right. And then I'm like,
well if I can do that and coat And at
that time I was Lifeguarden. I'm still Lifeguarden. So I'm like,
this kind of sounds like a good job.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
Right on. Where are your lifeguarding at these days?

Speaker 1 (09:10):
I'm still in Bayhead?

Speaker 2 (09:11):
You're in Behead.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, I started in Harvey Seaters for a while, and
I've been in Bayhead for man almost twenty five years already.
I've done it for thirty five years. I just finished
my thirty fifth summer.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Do you know, uh is Chris Lie still over there?

Speaker 1 (09:26):
He's the captain still.

Speaker 3 (09:30):
Rich Coacher's way back. Jacker's checking off all the boxes
this season and of the Nostalgiera fields. So coach, we
know you've you've coached at Southern, You've coached at Toms River,
South Brookemorial, Plumborough, spent some time at the junior college.

(09:52):
Like Rich said, we want to get into the junior college. Obviously,
we'll probably go back to some some of the other
schools you coached at, But what was your experience coaching
at OCC and what was that like for that year?

Speaker 1 (10:04):
You know what I liked it. I was there for
a couple of years and then COVID hit and it's
just the biggest difference is down in here is just
trying to convince kids to go to the junior college level.
You know, everybody thinks they're bigger and better, you know,
but like, you know, the one year we're fifth. Then
I have a couple and then I have a kid

(10:24):
that came back Chrysallitsky from sen who ran at Central.
He's like, I'll never run at ACC, goes to school
down in Carolina, hates it, comes back and he becomes
an All American. You know. So it was like those
stories are nice and you try to explain to kids,
you know, junior college is not a bad you know,

(10:45):
root if you especially if you don't know what you're doing,
you don't know what you want to do in life.
But again, you know, it's a it's a tough sell,
especially in this area. You know, everybody you know wants
to go and do bigger things now you have uh,
you know, athletes that you know don't want to run
or play sports. They just want to go to a

(11:05):
big time school and hang out and be part of
a big campus. You know. But I mean it was
it was definitely neat, uh you know, to do an experience. Uh,
you know, I would you know, never say go back
to coaching college, but who knows. It's got to be
the right opportunity. But you know, right now where I am,
this is where I'll be, and you know, I have

(11:26):
a few, you know, a few more years until I retire,
but you know, after that, you know, you never know.
But it's just a great experience, like running at any level,
but then coaching at it and watching kids develop. And
then you know, all the kids that came by through
CEC all went to other schools and ran, So they
finished their four years at least running in college. So

(11:49):
that's that's kind of nice to see too, that you know,
they they're for two years and then they go out
and they continue to run.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
It's funny you kind of mentioned that junior college stigma
because we're sh and I talking all the junior college
we talked to, especially Kansas Iowa. It's an option, right,
A lot of kids want to go there. It's an option.
And obviously yeah, and obviously OCCS a Division III junior college,
but with some of the Division IE junior colleges, it's

(12:16):
a lot of international students. Oh yeah, for internet, and they're.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
Given money, they're given the housing, they have the dorms,
they have the access and the you know, perfect opportunities.
So you know, why wouldn't you do.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
You think there's any way around that stigma in that area,
or you think that's always going to be something you're battling.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
I think it's going to be something that's always battling.
Just you know that, and just you know, the police
is the run. The campus is so big now there's
not a lot a lot of it's on the roads.
You know, you used to have the trails back there.
You can't even get back there half the time. They're
all overgrown and they've added on. So I mean there's

(12:56):
you know, situations that would be great, but you know,
it's just one of those things that you know, not
everybody's on the same same playing field or on board
with goals and ideas of what you want to do.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
We talked to Jim. What is the gent's name from Crowder?
John A.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Plank.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
Right now, this is not good for the.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
Yeah, this is not good. Keep going, Ja Colet, J Cole.
J Cole.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
He coaches at Crowder College which is in Missouri, and
they have I believe it's called the A plus program,
and I think New Jersey has that as well, where
kids can go to Ocean County College for free if
they make certain requirements in high school.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
Well, yeah, it's called the Stars program. So if you
have over you know, like you're in the top ten percent,
you go, you know that, you go CEC for two
years for free, and then you can go to They
have a list of schools and now they have like
Caine on campus down at the ACC, so you could
go to Kane. However, you know, there's no running there.
You would have to actually go up to up North,

(14:01):
you know. But there's opportunities. But again it's trying to
get rid of that stigma saying okay, now, depending, I
think a lot of junior colleges are going to take
off just because of some of the way you know,
the Division one is cutting down now two three is
going to take off like never seen before. And then

(14:21):
I think it's going to trickle down where people are like,
I can't get a spot, I might as well go
find a junior college spot and see what happens from there.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
And was that when you were there was that sort
of thing where you were looking at like four or
five six seven type cross country guys from a high
school team or.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
I would take whoever. Yeah, like it didn't matter. I
just wanted bodies, yeah, you know, And that was that
was the biggest part, was just trying to find bodies
to say, okay, yeah, you know the year we're you know,
we went to NAT's and got fifth. Half of those
guys were kids that ran for me at Brick Memorial.
They had graduated, some had no ideas, some were going.
You know, the one kid, Brandon Schmansky who's now those

(15:00):
you see coach uh was going to go to Stockton
and he didn't. He came around for me and then
eventually went down to Stockton. So you know, he saw
the opportunity where he was like, wait a second, I
could still work on stuff to get better and you know,
and then have a successful, you know, last two years
at a Division II school and.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
Do you think having your high school coaching credentials in
the area. Did that help or was that something that
kids weren't even concerned with?

Speaker 1 (15:25):
No, you know, I don't. Yeah, kids weren't too concerned.
You know. You reach out to coaches and that's the
other thing. Coaches, coaches or coaches, what what are you
going to do for me? What do you mean when
I do for you? I'm not in the Division I
school and be like here, I can get your shirt,

(15:45):
like you know, you know, so that was a big thing,
being like, Okay, I'll reach out, however I can't get
our tea or just coaches are like yeah, yeah, no.
So you know that was kind of, you know, a
little bit down because you know, you know, you've been
coaching in Ocean County for forever and you know people,

(16:06):
and you know coaches and know the kids. So it's like, ah, so,
you know, that kind of backfired a little bit. I
thought there'd be more interest, but you know, again, that's
just not what happened.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
Speaking of being in Ocean County and thinking you knew
coaches and stuff, was there anything any misconceptions you had
going into the job, and then once you got in there,
you're like, oh wow, this is this is kind of like, uh,
no one wants to be here.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
Now, you know, you go in you like, you know,
for me, it was like a new different challenge, and
I'm like, you know what, this is kind of cool,
you know, just because I you know, one of the
other times, I was like, let me throw my name
in there, and I wasn't sure, and then when it opened,
I'm like, you know what, let me try it. But
then when you're in it and you're just you're trying

(16:54):
and trying and you're like you're getting no results from
you know, guys and girls or like you can easily
fit in here. The schedule's nice, you know. So that
was it was definitely uh, you know, something different, you know,
you learn. But I loved it. I mean, it was neat,
but it was also I could see, you know, it

(17:15):
wasn't it wasn't gonna I wasn't gonna be able to
be there continuously. And that's what led me leaven there
to go to Point Paro. So it's a combination and
it was actually kind of a perfect situation. You know,
there was some stuff going on that Burrow, you know,
got reached out to about it and went for the

(17:38):
interview discussed game plan of what I saw as the
future those couple of years and going beyond and uh,
you know, and then when they offered it to me,
I was like all right, and then you know, said
the occ yes, I gotta I gotta move on.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
So you mentioned taking that opportunity at the Burrow when
that position opened up. What did you take from all
your coaching experience before the Borough some bigger programs and
then go into a small group two school.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
You know, the thing is Burrows a different animal, not
in a bad way, it's a great way. It's just
on how the whole school, the community, administration, everybody's I
want to say involved, you know, principles, superintendents obviously they

(18:31):
go to meets like what other school districts can say that.
You know, people that are part of you know, the
community are showing up. You know, you know the first
year we win, you know, state sectionals, we go back,
you know, last two years we won state sectionals for
the first time ever in school history. And just how

(18:52):
the community was so supportive and on runs and you know,
congratulating the kids and things like that. It's just it's
just a it's just an awesome you know, area to
be around where you know the kids work, and I
think that's that's one of the misconceptions. I think that
Borrow may or may not have. It's just not across country.

(19:14):
All the sports. All the kids work their asses off,
like they bust their body. You could be the top kid,
you could be the worst kid. They just they work,
you know, and they have you know, and like I
can give them the expectations, but also the support of
you know, teachers, the parents. The parents sometimes I think,

(19:34):
are you know, harder than what the coaches are on
the kids for so you know, there's you know, it's
kind of neat on that aspect, but just being around
that whole the whole town and the whole area and
just watching how the kids handle themselves. That's that's the difference.
You know. You know, people are like, oh, you know,

(19:55):
you know you left you know certain areas or wherever
certain places might Yeah, there could be more talent, but
if the kids don't work, it's not fun. And that's
the big aspect of point, is the kids work.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Yeah, that's that's such a huge thing. Like it's great
to have some talented kids, but at the same time,
if those talented kids aren't hard workers. It is not
you said it right. It is not fun at all,
Like I I would rather have kids running nineteen twenty minutes.
But they're busting their button, trying hard, and they're seeing
the progress. You know, might maybe not be competitive at
the highest level, but we're making progress. They're fired up

(20:33):
about that. And you see them working hard as opposed
to like you know, the nine to twenty guy or
whatever that's like I got to do this today. I'm
not going to be a practice or I got prom
and I can't make it for the next three days.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
You're like, wait, what's.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
That's the interesting thing? Like, you know, they don't kids
don't miss practice. You know, they don't go away during
the summer. They want to go away, Sure, go away
because you know they're doing the training stuff, but like,
you know, go on vacation. That's the only time I
get to go on. My vacation is with the family,
is during you know, the summer for a little bit

(21:08):
because once season starts, it's you know, you're just going constantly,
so there's no break.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
So was it a when you got there, it was
a quick pretty quick buy in.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, it actually, you know, what. I don't want to
sound like it, yeah, but yeah it was. You know,
I had a meeting, uh, you know with the kids
first explain this is you know, what's going to happen.
You know. They were you know, understood some of it.
It took them a little while to just a few things.
And then met with the parents and and just said, hey,

(21:44):
this is the expectations. This is what I want to
have happened. You know, the kids are going to buy in.
You're gonna buy in. If you're not, then where your
son's not going to be buying in. Then you know what,
maybe this isn't for them. And there were a couple
of kids on the team that were there previously that
were like, bad, this isn't for me, and it was

(22:07):
a good move for them, and I agreed with them, like,
you know, you had kids that thought that they could
you know yea, they were you know, maybe wanted to
run a couple of days a week and just stay
in cheap and I'm like, I'm not going to build
the program around that right now, sorry, you know, and
they were like, Okay, this isn't for me. Okay, fine,
no hard feelings, and you know, and that was just

(22:29):
the way you know it was going to be, because
there had to be a change of identity, you know,
with some things that went on there, and you know,
that was one of the things I was not gonna
play around with. And this is the way I had
to be.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
So did you have a moment or a mete where
you realize, oh, wow, we're cooking, we're cooking with gas,
we got something here, you know?

Speaker 1 (22:55):
Kind of when I took over, there were some kids
that had some potential and you could see, but it
wasn't clicking. Not everybody was on the same page for
certain meats, you know. And then let's see, I'm trying
to think the first year probably was the first big invitational.

(23:15):
We went up to Rhode Island and ran an ocean
state and we got second, and actually at one point
they told us we won, but a bib got stuck
because it was downpouring, miserable, and I was like, you
know what, we got something going on here, and that
was it. And then there I knew we were going
to be pretty good. But you know, like we go

(23:37):
to counties that year and you know, we're up ten
with a mile to goal, and our guys a couple
of guys imploded. They got so anxious that first mile
and second mile, and we you know, we end up
losing the Southern by five. That one was a hard
that one that was a hard swallow because we had
that meat won and I was just like, I can't

(23:57):
believe we just did that, you know. And then we
come back short conference, we run well, and then you know,
we go to state Sectionals and you know, they win
their first state title. And that was I mean, we
you know, we scored thirty three points. I think we
had like all seven guys in the top twenty seven
or something like. We just we dominated there. And then
last year, you know, obviously the kids we wanted to

(24:21):
defend state Sectionals, but the biggest one is they wanted
to win that damn county meet just because we had
let it slip away the year before, especially because there
was you know, a handful there was like a handful
of seniors that were on that team and they were like,
oh man, and they knew so that was you know,
so last year when that was, you know, we won

(24:43):
Ocean State, which you know we thought we would. We
didn't run pretterarly well that day, but then the counties
the week before at be South we ran really well
and then you know that Counties, I mean we went one, two,
two guys running under fifteen thirty five. I was like
all right, and then just hanging on, like you know,
we had all five in the top twenty. You know,

(25:05):
winning that race was that was huge for those guys.
They were happy with that and that was the first
time they won Ocean County championships since nineteen seventy one, so,
you know, which is kind of interesting to see because
you know, you guys have been there. You know, point
is in the mix of times and you think they're
gonna be in mix and then they're like, ah, they

(25:25):
fall apart or something happens, and you're where they don't
have the key pieces you could have like one or
two guys and then you don't have you know a
four or five into six and you know you're struggling.
So that was kind of you know, neat to see
and then realize like, holy crap, you guys, they haven't
won one since seventy one and never went in a
state title like that was interesting too, you know, you know,

(25:49):
going back to back is nice, you know, and finishing
you know what, and last year at our group meet,
like a couple of seniors were out. I had a
kid who was a junior. He broke his foot in
the middle of that race. That's sexual. So I put
other guys and we had third at groups like, you know,
So last year was definitely just you know, the last

(26:10):
couple of years put together, watching the kids grow and develop,
and it was it was neat to see.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
What's that like, because I can remember I think it
was like ninety two. We got third behind maybe like
North and Brick, you know, and they announced it at
the football game that Friday night and we were jumping
up and down and screaming in the stand. So I
can only imagine as a group two school beating the
likes of Southern and the Toms River schools, Like I mean,

(26:37):
that's like for me, that's like tearing down the goalpost kind.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
Of yeah, you know what, And it is kind of
neat when you know you put it in perspective now,
you know, and you guys have been there, and you
know with group two is like and you're like, damn,
like I never really pictured as you know, at point
Burs a group two school, you know, and then you
look and that's everybody's comment like wow, two school just

(27:01):
beat up on group four schools and group threes, you know,
and you're like, wow, you know what that is actually
kind of neat to to put in perspective, like I
don't really look at it and be like, Okay, you
know we have to beat them because they're a group four,
group three, group one school. I just you know what, guys,
we just got to go beat whoever whoever's out on

(27:22):
that line. We have to just be competitive and beat
whoever we get. But it is neat and it is
cool to see that, you know, you know, point Burrow
and group two schools going up against schools like that.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, And I mean you've seen it in that like
ad and Field represents Group two pretty well home though
when mcalf was there was I think his last year,
they were second at MCS, So you know, that's kind
of the BLUEPRINTA and given group two schools and kids
confidence that hey, you can compete with these these big guns.
I'm curious, how's the season been going so far? This season?

Speaker 3 (27:55):
This year?

Speaker 1 (27:55):
Okay, like last year, we were you know, very senior heavy,
so we lost you know, I lost five five of
my seven scorers. So this year, you know, I have
you know, Cayden who was second last year at Ocean Hounties.
You know, he should be back up there again this year.
He's my number one. And then I have another senior, Mikey,

(28:19):
who's anywhere from two to four. And then I have
a sophomore and the rest of freshmen. So you know,
there's times I'm getting hard and tough on them and
then I'm like got to wait an hour and or
night and go, shit, I'm dealing with a lot of
freshmen night, you know, so I have to take step
back at times. So it's kind of like one of those.

(28:41):
Like we went up to the first meet. We went
up to Lincoln Park in Jersey City. We won that invitational,
so the kids were happy. Then we did the Thompson
two mileer. We rested some people, we didn't run that well.
We were just at Ocean State two weeks ago. We
were seventh out of fifty five, you know, so I
mean seventh out of fifty five team. So they're developing.

(29:02):
It's just trying to get it together. Like tomorrow we
have the be South Championship. A couple of years ago
we got rid of dual meats. Yeah, so now we uh,
you know, so that was kind of neat when I
came to the point I made that, you know, I
asked because the first year we had dual meets and
it was just like it was brutal. So I, you know,

(29:23):
put out there to the coaches, and the coaches were
all on board that we do a divisional meet, you know,
So we do that and then you know, it gives
us more time to train and pick races, you know,
and then next week's counties. So now we're in the
heart of the meat of the season. Who's in B
South nowadays it's US Manchester, Donovan Catholic, Pineland's Lacey Lakewood, Jackson.

(29:49):
Liberty was there, but now they've combined with Jackson, so
they moved up with Jackson so that they're in A South.
So instead of eight teams, they're seven teams now. Park
Or Yeah, yes, yeah, we hosted Osh County Park. It's
you know, I wouldn't want it somewhere else, just because
you know, there's only one other meet there and that's
the beginning of the season, and then you have counties.

(30:11):
So we just try to get there. You know, A
couple of times from practice, but you know, getting on
that course the week, you know, week to ten days
before you know, the championship is always nice to have.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yeah, And I can remember back in the day, we
used to climb in the back of Brucey Freeze pickup
truck and we would go to Osh County Park or
maybe even go up to hometown seven of us in
the back of the bed laying down.

Speaker 3 (30:34):
I'm assuming that's changed.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Are you guys able to get off campus and get
to OCP and home Deel Park at times?

Speaker 1 (30:39):
Yeah, we can take the buses for that, so we
don't have to worry about that. But there are times
like if we can't get a boss or like in
the past, we've gone on a couple of Sundays and
like way back, like previously before sectionals and stuff like that,
and we go up to Thompson and practice and Thompson,
you know, on a Sunday, we just go and make
sure we have the course down, do the course a

(31:00):
couple of times, you know, things like that, you know,
and that's you know again going with the parents. The
parents are so supportive. They'll do anything, you know, I
need them to take kids somewhere, they'll go and meet
and do that, you know, in the summertime, you know,
every Monday night we're up at Home Dell Park for practice.
So and the parents all figure out who's going, and

(31:21):
you know, like the first year, I was like, all right,
I just wanted the top seven because not everybody. Last
year I had you know, fifteen kids, I'd have you know,
twelve to fifteen guys there. This year I have ten.
So it varied anywhere from you know, six to eight
guys coming. So, you know, so it's kind of nice
even for the freshmen. The freshmen were coming, you know,

(31:41):
and Home Dell is a scary site if you have
never been there before, and the freshmen were like the
first time, they're like oh wow, like yeah so but yeah,
now we can get you know, as long as the
park's open and everything else. Like there was a couple
of dates we couldn't get to the park this year,
so but we have dates coming up, like we'll be
back on Thursday.

Speaker 3 (31:59):
There. Why not brought up that you were senior heavy
last year and now you're freshman heavy this year. How
are the freshmen handling it? Was there a buy in?
Was there a little bit of a period where you
had a kind of like you said, you've been easy
on them sometimes or you kind of have to wait
a couple hours to talk to them. How have they've
handled it?

Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah, most of them have handled it. You know. I
have a couple here that are like it's taken them
a little longer, you know, to get to where I
want them, but you know, I mean they're they're they're coming.
Like that's the thing. Like, you know, my my top freshman, Crosby,
is as tough as nails. Like he's tough and I

(32:43):
and I like that, you know. And then you know
his brother Fain, who who's great at track, is starting
to now realize, wait a second, I can do this.
I have to get better and I know I'm going
to get better. So it's kind of nice. And then
we have a couple their you know, twins. I have
two sets of twins on my team, so I have
for my freshmen are twins. So it's kind of fun.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
You know, it's Bryson and his brother Asher, who's never
run before. You know, he's learning. And then I have
a kid named Joe Jason who's never run before, and
he's getting better each time now and he's getting more confident.
That kid is just it was confidence because he's just
never run before. So you know, future is bright. But

(33:29):
I still need to get numbers like that's that's the
biggest thing. And that's you know, one of the hardest
thing to do is you have all these kids that
you know, middle school don't make soccer and then want
to go out for soccer their freshman year and may
or may not get it. Or you have kids that
like I want to go try freshman football. It's like, oh.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Boy, what are you talking about? Exactly?

Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah, you know, yeah, so sometimes you know that's a tough,
but you know, just hopefully that you know, next year
will be another couple, you know, good kids that come
in and down the line, we're gonna be Okay.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
Brian, have you been coaching over thirty years now? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Pretty, let's see, it's got to be close. Yeah, let's
see ninety I think ninety three. I started, all right
somewhere around there. Do the math. I try not to
think about it at times, but then you know, like, wow,
wait a second, I've done this a long.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Time, all right, So two part question. I'll do my
best because I tend to get a long winded.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
He loves his two part questions.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
Okay, so do you look back at any of those times,
maybe in the nineties or early two thousands where you
just kind of cringe, and how has your coaching style changed?

Speaker 1 (34:53):
Oh? Man, who crange? You know, I'm still intense, not
as tense, but I still lose my mind at times.
It is. It's so funny, like even I'm fifty two
years old and there's times and I'm just like, oh man,
Like you know, my daughter is ten and she's just like, wow,

(35:16):
I never see you like that. I'm like, yeah, I'm
a little different animal when I'm coaching. Then I am
in a classroom. The classroom, I'm laid back. I try
to get laid back in a cross country and I
can't do it. So yeah, so that changes styles. Yeah,
you learn as you go, Like you know, sometimes things
work and others don't. But you know, I kind of

(35:37):
stick somewhat the same. But just the changing of you know,
technology and just different things, like I would love to
do certain things but it's just it's too hard, and
you know, just trying different things. But it's yeah, I've
definitely I've changed some of the things that I I've

(36:00):
done the past, but even I'm like adjusting things this year.
Like I thought things worked last year, and then I
look back and I'm like ash, So like there's some
days now, like you know, giving them an extra day off.
You know, in the past, it'd be like, Okay, we're
gonna go so many days and then you'll get a
day off. You know, I'm a big believers Sundays always

(36:21):
had to be a long run. Now sometimes I'm like,
you know what, just take the day off. We'll do
a long run on Monday. So like you just kind
of adjust to certain schedules. And depends on the meat too,
you know, like I got to make sure that we're
still trying to say sharp, but but yeah, I've the
styles have changed.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
It's funny you say that I'm coaching down here in
South Carolina and just trying to be a little bit
more mellow and a little you know, like you said,
intents and certain things, but try to be a little
bit mellow and certain things, maybe not yell as much.
And we had a night meet and I had to
stop at one point during the boys race because my
head started to hurt because I was yelling so much.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
And that's it. You're like, and it's just and it's funny.
It's like the littlest thing that sets sets me off.
And I'm like, what why is it setting me off?
But you know, like you know the first meat, you know,
tell the kids don't wear any like undergarment. Sometimes the
kids wear this, you know, you have your running shorts,
and then they wear like the half whatever spandex. I'm like,
don't wear any of that. Wonna freshman shows up and

(37:25):
I just blow up, like didn't I tell you? Like
he's like, oh yeah, I forgot. I was like, oh
my god, like and and then from there I was
just possessed.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Yeah, yeah, I you know, because it's so warm down here,
you know, it's i mean even now it's still pretty warm.
But I'm like, don't show up in your singlet. Okay,
we don't want to warm up in our single or
it'll be soaking wet by its time to come and raise.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
Tell them that too. Why.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah, Well that's the other thing. Like back in the day,
you know, you just you said things and people did them,
or your coaches said things and you did it. And
now it's like you have to give the why behind
everything and so it's like you've never.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
Heard that before. Well, it's because you've run in middle
school and sometimes high school coaches before that just didn't really.
I'm like, sometimes it's just the little things that help you.
And then they're like, oh okay, yeah, you can see
the light bulbs go off. Sometimes it's just kind of funny.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
But yeah, you know, you tell them don't wear your single,
don't wear your single, and then six people show up
in the single. It's like they're going to the beach.
I'm like, what, just wear a T shirt?

Speaker 1 (38:29):
Bro?

Speaker 2 (38:29):
And then I had, you know, I was like explaining
to all of them about that, and then one kid
took it so far that he didn't even show up
with a shorts on, and he's like, so, Coach, when
should I go put my shorts on? I was like, okay,
maybe I didn't explain that properly and wanted to come
in your shorts, but I didn't want you to come
in your singlet you know, and.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
Then you know, make sure you bring the saw. Yeah,
and that's what it becomes down. You're breaking down into
every little thing.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
So yeah, but it's like you said, you learn as
you go and you're taking notes and like, oh, that
was something I took for granted that I figured, you know,
no people know, and that was something that always told
me is like, don't assume they know anything. That's it,
because if you do, you're more than likely going to
get aggravated. So just be as detailed and specific as
possible because they don't know nothing.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
Yes, Brian talking about some of the workouts, is there
a benchmark workout that you like to do to see
where the kids are at?

Speaker 1 (39:27):
You know a sometimes you know, so like what do
we do? Last year? I did one. I was just like,
all right, let's do it. And it was at OCP
and it was probably ten days out before either it
was probably ten days out before Ocean County and we
did it was a two mile tempo, a little bit

(39:53):
of a break mile tempo, and then we did the
back hills to the finish. So we did a bunch
of them and they looked our and I'm like, all right,
you know what, you guys got five minutes. They're like what.
I'm like, don't worry about it, trust me, and they're like, oh,
this isn't gonna be well, this is not good, and
I'm like, all right, take off your watches, go to
the starting line, like, oh, what do we doing? Like

(40:15):
you're gonna run a hard mile. They're like excuse me.
I'm like, yeah, you're gonna run a hard mile and
they're like, your kidding. I go, we can run too
if you want. They're like, okay, to get online. So
it was the top like seven to nine guys and
I'm like, just run how fast? Just go run on feel?
And they were all you know right then and there,
So like I had, you know, my all seven were

(40:38):
like five oh two to like five eleven, and I
was like, you know what, guys, and they were like,
oh shit. I'm like, see, you guys are ready to go.
You just did this workout, threw this in there just
for just to do it, and you guys were fine,
They're like okay. So, like I don't know if I
necessarily have one, but it just sometimes that just go

(41:00):
on feel and I'm like, you know what, let's let's
raise the bar a little bit with this group. Like
I could probably do it with one or two kids.
I can't do that with the freshman. If I go
through that whole thing, they'll they'll they'll fall apart and
I can't do that to them right now.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
So so Richie used to like doing things like that
to me. But it wasn't just like one mile. It
was like a bunch of part liks. I was crying. Yeah,
we won't go there. We've talked about that enough on
the show.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
But that's but that's one of those things like like
for the freshmen, they're like, okay, so like we'll do
tempo thousands, like how many? So I'm like, you know what,
I'll tell you. So we do six and then I'm watching,
I'm like, you're getting all lazy, and then the last
one you're like going a little fit. I'm like, wait
a second. So now I'm like not telling you, we're
gonna go bit by bit and they're like, oh, like yeah,

(41:55):
because you know, I want you to make sure we're
doing this workout, that we're hitting what we're so post
you because you know, if I say we're going six,
the first two are fine, then you fall asleep for three, four,
and then the last one you're like, oh, I feel great,
but you're not getting what the purpose of the workout is.
So now with most of the freshmen, I don't tell
them what we're doing. I just say one by one.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
So they always ask me, how many of these are
you doing? I said, until I get tired, where I
say one more to the next one.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
Yeah, you know, so sometimes you just do that to
keep them on their toes.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
So having a bunch of freshmen and not knowing how
to handle the workouts, and maybe they got a bad workout,
they get broken off. How do you handle that?

Speaker 1 (42:40):
You know, it just more just reinforced and listen, you're
learning as we go. You're always not going to feel great.
And that's something like it's just not even for them.
Some of the upper classmen like, oh we didn't but
I'm like you guys, your upper classmen should know, okay,
But for for the young guys, it just it just
takes time for them to get used to it and
be more confident. You know, they're you know, used to

(43:02):
running one point five mile races and you know practice
is very easy. But you know, it's just more of Okay,
these are this is the reason why we're doing it.
Don't worry or be like, listen, you know we're doing this.
Focus on what I want you to do on certain
ones and not worry about the rest. So it's kind

(43:25):
of like you know that, And you know, it's so funny,
like until a couple of years ago, you couldn't wear
a watch in New Jersey. Now you wear a watch
and everybody's wearing it. So now training and racing kids
are looking at their watch. So finally I'm like, you guys,
just don't use to watch anymore because you're too dependent
on it. You know, they see, you know, I say,

(43:47):
all right, go out in five forty and they see
and they're like oh, and then they go out in
six minutes. I'm like, but what I thought I was
going out too fast? But don't that's it. You're done
with the watch. And now, like the one kid's like,
I will not race on my watch anymore. So it's
the learning curve on that too now, which is kind
of funny because they're like, yeah, now we're becoming too
reliant on the watch.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yeah, talk about screaming. That's seeing kids look at their
watch during racism, like you're wasting time. Stop looking just
run yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yeah. And then it'll be like, well, if you have
at least tell me you're splits, and then they forget
to tell me they're splits. I'm like, well, you haven't
recorded then just tell me and then they look at it.
They're like, you don't want to know, coach.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
I'm like, oh, thanks, I'm curious too. You know, and
your time at Southern East South Brooke Memorial occ you
probably had some access to softer surfaces, which may not
necessarily be the case when you're running the mean streets
of Point Pleasant. Yes, have you had to adjust maybe

(44:49):
mileages in volume because of more road running than softer surfaces.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
You know what, it's weird sometimes, you know what it's
so some of these guys are so used to it, yeah,
and it doesn't phasee them, like really, you know, I mean,
we could do some loops you know on ground there,
which is nice. However, right now you have all the
sports on there, like you gotta like pick and choose summertime.

(45:16):
It's kind of easy to do because we would We
started like between six thirty and seven, so nobody's there,
but they're used to it, or I just you know,
I try not to really go super long and then
let them go somewhere. You know, they'll go out to
maas quon Rez, they'll go up to the boardwalk and
Spring Lake and run there, you know, just something different.

(45:39):
But you know, but they're so used to the roads.
And that's kind of interesting because you know, Knaka Wood,
nobody really complains about their shins and their knees and
things like that, so that's kind of helpful that you know,
they're holding up. But yeah, that is a different different
animal getting used to because you know, most those places,

(46:00):
I mean, you know, obviously Southern had the you know,
all kinds of trails. It was insane. That was great
to live by. You know, South was the roads. East
was a little bit of the roads too. You know,
South had nothing but roads. You know, BM there's a
trail behind there. But after so many times, it's just

(46:21):
you know, same thing. But it's it's really at least
it's it's better than really just running on the roads
all the time, you know, so you just kind of
adapt and see, you know, and then that's you know
the biggest part there is, you know that part, and
and just the traffic and all that and the lights
and everything, and they're like, oh boy, and then now

(46:42):
we have those et bikes they're flying all over.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Yeah. I will say though Point Pleasant and all my travels,
Point Pleasant is the only place where I still see
kids riding bicycles.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
Yeah, oh yeah, all they everybody on my team they
have the bicycles. None of them have any bike. They
all have bicycles. Just so funny, nice, you know. And
then you know, and then you just you know, you
go to a football game and everybody's biking around. It's
just you know, it's just a neat, you know, feeling,
and like we have senior Night this week before the
football game, so we'll go that watch a little bit

(47:15):
and then you know, we'll just go and hang out.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
Richie had anything else for coach Deaker before we get
in the final four.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
I mean, we haven't really reminisced at all, but I
want to be respectful of this time.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
So listen, we're talking run and I was on Dave
Hyatt's overall one that he did. I think we talked
for like two hours and then we're like all right,
and then we stopped and we talked off the air
for about another hour. And it was like, because I
don't I'm very quiet on certain things, but I love
to talk about running, coaching, different things, Like I could

(47:48):
talk for forever. So whatever you guys want to do,
I'm good. I don't I'm not worried about it.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Since you said that. Let's get into the meat director
a little bit here.

Speaker 3 (47:57):
Ah.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Yeah, you took on being a meet throrector thirteen plus
years ago. Oh I don't think that was maybe something
you it was you were maybe volent told to.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
So long story short, I was on the executive to
be which actually now I am now the president of
the Short Track Coaches Association, So I just took that
over in July. But I when I first joined, you know,
people were like, and I'm like, you know what, I'll
try it. And here I am. This is just my
fifteenth year doing that as the met director and you know,

(48:33):
it's it's a lot of work, but it's fun at
the same time. Like it's just I mean I don't
get to see any of the races, you know, I'm
running around doing things and but it's just it's neat.
But it's also tough putting all those races together and
trying to find the great Like, yes, this weekend we
had some good teams come down. We had a couple

(48:54):
of teams from Rhode Island, you know, a couple teams
from New York, a couple of teams from Pennsylvania. So
it is you know, we were supposed to have a
team from d C come. They didn't show. But like
you know, we get a lot of out of state
teams now, which is kind of neat. You know, we're
in the beginning, it was just always New Jersey team,
the couple of New York, so it's you know, it's neat.

(49:16):
We had, you know, total there was like two hundred
and fifty teams and then there was about sixty seven
hundred entries, so it was you know, it's a big meet,
you know. I mean I'm there on Friday setting up,
and then right and early there on Saturday morning by
like quarter to seven, and I left six thirty the

(49:36):
other night, so it's a you know, but it's it's fun.
I do like I do like being a meat director
because then in the indoor on the county and County
relays and outdoor you know, Frost and Novice meet. I
like running meets. It's kind of neat to do, but
that one's just so big. It's it is that takes
a lot of time and hours of putting the races

(49:57):
together and then you know, you think you have it,
you post and then you miss you have it on paper.
It doesn't go through and then you have to you know,
change a few things. But uh, you know, and Home
Del Park is really good with us, and that's that's
the main thing. When we first when I first took over,
there was a couple of guys that was like, ah,
and you know, we've had the same guy at the

(50:18):
park the last number of years and he's been great
and helpful whatever we want. Like, there was one part
of the course that was, uh, you know, there was
a lot of roots that we were worried and they
took out the roots, they buried it in. I'll tell
you it's it's not like it used to be when
we were running. That thing is flat, not flat, but
it is packed down and fast. You know, back when

(50:39):
we ran it was whatever it was. It was soft
and muddy and different things. Now it's paved and padded
down and I mean they keep they keep it nice.
But it's uh, you know, it's definitely crazy to see
how fast some of these kids can run.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
Now, what was the fast time of the day.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
Portsmouth? He ran fifteenth thirds three? Okay, the new what's up?

Speaker 2 (51:04):
What about on the girl's side?

Speaker 1 (51:06):
Uh, it was the girl from Lawrenceville Bartlett. I think
she ran seventeen twenty four. Okay, there was three girls
under eighteen. It was her, Paige Shepherd and h Leah
Sarki I think they were. There was three under eighteen,
and then there was a handful under sixteen. The top

(51:26):
New Jersey kid was Luke nat who ran fifteen forty
from CBA.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
But what's see feedback you get from the out of
state coaches in terms of the course, what do they
think of it?

Speaker 1 (51:38):
You know, Like so the Bishop Hendrick from Rhode Island
loved the course. That was the first time they came down.
You know, there was two kids from Port Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
They loved it. The South from Pennsylvania came and they
loved it. Everybody the people that are coming down are like, wow,
this is a cool course. That's kind of neat, you know.

(52:00):
So it's it's good to see that, and you know
they're gonna you know, Shenandoah girls came and they asked
to be in the same race as Union Catholic. So
you have teams that reach out that want to be
in races and they'll ask to run against you know whoever.
So like a bunch of these teams all on to
run in the same race as CBI. That's awesome, Like
I like that, Like you know, like you know, we

(52:22):
used to have a championship race and people will be
battling over that that they didn't want to be in
it because it was too early in the season and
things like that. So we did away with it. But
like you know, you just go and run cares it's October. Yeah,
but people are very you know, they want to you know,
I want to run race. I like, I just want
to run against whoever. I don't care.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
Do the Borough kids do they miss out a little
bum that they don't get to run and they understand
the method to the madness.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
No, they understand the method to the madness. Like we
were going to this week, but a couple were taking
SATs and then I was gonna put the fresh and
I'm like, you know what if we go Tuesday, I'm like,
you know what, let's just let's just relax. So they
actually had practice on their own. All the kids were there,
so you know, like that's the good thing about it,
Like you know, you know, they knew I was at
the meat in my top. I was gonna run and

(53:15):
then he's like, you know what, I ran hard last week,
coming back two weeks back, back weeks hard. Then you know,
b South coming He's like, you know what. I'm like, Okay,
that's fine. You know, so they understand the method.

Speaker 2 (53:29):
Who's who's the top teams in be South.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
Be US, in Manchester, Manchester? Yeah, you know on paper,
you know, Manchester will be the favorite. You know, they
have a pack of three, you know, I mean the
big thing is, you know, Mike Kid Kayden should be
all right up there, you know, and if we can
split you know, they're you know, one, two and three
with two of our guys and somebody, you know, we

(53:54):
can get our five ahead of their fifth, and you
know we have a shot. But you know it's got
to be a lot of you know, but again also
relying on freshmen. So it's gonna be that would be
the interesting part. And see how they handle tomorrow's adventure
compared to what they're used to.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
Jason still in Manchester coaching.

Speaker 1 (54:14):
Gracious, yep, yeah, yep, yeah, yeah, yep.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
He is cool. Do the kids get stoked for that
opposed to you know, it used to be door meets
and then they used to add that up to they yeah, you.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
Know, I know, like the freshmen they're used to dual meets,
but they don't they don't understand. But all the other
guys that have been along the way, they're so happy
with this, I mean dual meets, you know.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
You know.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
The first year we had it, it was like it
was it was brutal, like we would tempo it because
we would just I mean we shout out. We went
fifteen fifty against everybody but one team, and it was
like seventeen to forty six or forty eight or something.
That was it. It was just like what are we
getting out of this? So we would just work on

(55:00):
different things where I just say, okay, tempo and then
we'll work out the next day. So it just it
was one of those things that just you know, and
then like last year, because I knew our team was
gonna be good, we picked up a duel meet against
Southern and CBA. You know, we went up to CBA
and went and raced up there. I'm like, guys, we
have an opportunity, you want to do it? And they

(55:21):
all said yes, not one kid said no. They're like
this is cool, you know. So we end up losing
to watch McCall it. We lose to CBA like everybody
else does, but we beat Southern So that was kind
of like, you know, a wake up call for these
guys knowing that, wow, you know, we can also do this.
So it was you know, and that was good because
we did that ten days before we went to Rhode

(55:42):
Island and they went up to bout and so we
planned it well in advance. This is the way we
wanted it. We wanted on a Tuesday, so everybody had
all the rest of the week and all the following
week to get ready. So it was you know, it
was well planned out, and you know, we did it,
so it was great, you know. And then and that's
that was the cool thing about the group of guys
that I've had in the past. They didn't care who

(56:02):
they went against. They just wanted to run and be competitive,
and if it got them better to get ready for
later in the year, they were They would do whatever.
And that was the cool thing about that team, Like
they're like, yeah, we'll run. Like in those guys I
had this year, if CBA called us and said we'll go,
we'd go. The guys they know would get them better.
They're fine. With that that and then that's not a

(56:24):
lot of teams or kids would do that. You know,
they see CBA or they know the teams are better.
They'll be like, I don't want to go against them.
My guys were just like we'll run. I'm like, okay, perfect,
So which which is neat?

Speaker 2 (56:38):
Try meet against CBA gym with the tear in my eye.

Speaker 3 (56:42):
Right, I think I think it's amazing that the kids
are into it, the parents are into it, administrations into it.
That warms my heart. Being a former panther, I think
that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
Yeah, it is neat. It is cool, like it's just
it's you know, and then know, you know they go
to board meetings and get recognized, the kids or you
know myself, it's just it's a good time. Like you know,
you know the first time they get recognized, we go,
we get dressed up, shirt and tie. Administration was like wow,
you know last year we're like we get these collared shirts.

(57:19):
The kids are like, you know what we did the
tie thing. We're gonna go and do okay, fine, you know,
we go to the banquet. The parents love it because
I make sure that they wear a shirt and tie.
It's the only time they ever wear a shirt and tie.
The parents are like, that's awesome, So like, you know,
they they learned some things and it's kind of neat,
but yeah, it's uh, it's a fun time there.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
So there's all this teams for the fall banquet.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
Now we do separate, Yeah, yeah, everybody does separate. Yeah.
So you know we go to Lobster Shandy over there
and nice you know, in a December and night, and
you know, that's what we've done. So I'm sure we'll
do it again this year.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
Step up from the wood like country club him, we
are Crystal Port. Okay, Yeah, well that was a step up.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
Too, definitely, definitely.

Speaker 2 (58:08):
I didn't plays under seats the I didn't get one.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
Final floor. Rich let's do it all right, Brian. Are
you a coffee drinker? Yes? How do you brew your coffee?
And how do you take it?

Speaker 1 (58:24):
Too? Sweet lows in half and half?

Speaker 2 (58:28):
Brian, do you have any daily practices or rituals you
do on a regular basis to show up as the
strongest version of Brian Decker?

Speaker 1 (58:36):
No, No, I don't think I do the same thing
I do every day, which is, you know, I don't
change things up, but I guess. You know, maybe I
just do the same thing every day, but you know,
I don't. I know, I have my coffee, you know,
but yet No, there's no like I have to do

(58:57):
this to do this.

Speaker 3 (58:59):
No, I don't. What's up that in and of itself
is a ritual? Brian? What are you listening to right now? Music? Podcasts,
audio books? Are you reading anything?

Speaker 1 (59:15):
No?

Speaker 3 (59:15):
No, no, and no.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
I I just watch TV when I can, watching the sports.
That's it it. You know. I have a ten year
old who does dance three nights a week and soccer
two other nights a week. So the only night I
have is Thursday is of nothing, and then everything else
is Saturday. I have meets Sunday she has soccer, so

(59:40):
I'm on the go constantly.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
Sounds like a busy man. Meet director, teacher, father, coach.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
It's yeah, so like like yesterday, it was the first
time I actually was like, oh I can just sit
and relax and do nothing, and I actually did. It
was great.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
You know, are you a Philly sports fan?

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
No, I'm not.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Okay, who do you? Who do you put your loyalty
and allegiance too? Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
Man? Uh? Football wise, it would be the painful Jets
because I used to have season tickets.

Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
But I do that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Hockey. I love hockey growing up Flyers fan. But my
daughter is huge into the Devils, so we go to
a bunch of games. So I just go along and
make her happy. So you know, you know, I don't
I don't say I don't want them to do well,
but you know, I mean I love going to the
Garden for hockey games. I love. I'm eventually going to

(01:00:36):
bring her one of these times this year, but like
we're going to like fifteen games for the Devils, like
she's so into it, so be Nick's basketball. Let's see
what other sports are there? Baseball is not a like
I like watching it here and there, but I just
I can't go in person. I get bored, like you know,

(01:00:59):
but like growing up, I was a Tigers and a
Cubby fan when I was in Kentucky, so I'll root
for them. I mean, obviously I watched the Yankees because
they're always on and but you know, I'm indifferent if
they win or lose. But you know, but yeah, I
know those are you know, come of the you know, things,
fun things to do.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
Are you a coach? Are you into like diamond League
and that sort of stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
No, you know, I'll watch it here and there. But now, okay, but.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
Brian, last, what we got for you is a light
harder one to close it out. Maybe it's a unique
food item. Maybe it's a specialty beverage, cool boy. Maybe
it's something at the beach. Do you have a guilty pleasure?

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
Guilty pleasure? Jeez, there's probably a lot of them, man,
guilty pleasure. Oh, I'm at meats, and you know what meats,
I always have either Twizzlers.

Speaker 3 (01:02:07):
Or I have.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
Sour sweet and sour gummy snakes. Okay, and you know what,
it's weird, and I only done it the last few
years and I don't know why. But before meat, I'm like,
I just something just to have. So before every meat,
I'm over at the quick check over there, over at
eighty eight there, and I go and get a bag

(01:02:30):
of both of this, and you know, I get them
and half the time I don't eat them until the
next day of practice, but I have them there just
in case.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
Just in case.

Speaker 3 (01:02:39):
All right, we get down with the sugar, don't we
Just yeah, we can get down with that, for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
We've had a few sweet and sour gummy worms or
snakes in our gummy bowls back in the.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Day together like they're together. It's kind of funny.

Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
Coach Decker, thank you so much for your time this evening.
It was great catching up with you and seeing what
you're doing at the Burrow. Like we've said numerous times,
it warms our heart to know that the Panthers are
in good hands. So best of luck tomorrow I'll be
south and best luck with the rest of the season.

Speaker 1 (01:03:09):
Cool. Thanks, guys, are always a pleasure talking to you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
Guys.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
Will definitely have to do this again sometime.

Speaker 2 (01:03:13):
Absolutely, Brian, we really do appreciate you, and we appreciate
you what you're doing for point pleasant. Like Jimmy said,
we're Panthers, throw it through. We believe black and gold.
So it's pretty awesome to see county titles, sectional titles.
As someone who poured my heart into into the cross
country course down there with Terrence Fagan many times, yeah,

(01:03:34):
it's pretty Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
You guys are I have to create the top top
list and you guys are up there, so some of
my guys are trying to get up there too, so
it's kind of nice. But you know, I bring that
out and they see that, I'm like, these are the
times you're looking for. So it's always fun. It's cool
to see and you know, I mean, obviously nobody's ever
touching Devin Hearts records there. What can you do?

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
Yeah, I mean we thought that about Terrence's time for
a while and then Devin came around like, holy smokes,
it's just still smoking and got it going on in
the borough. So yeah, we wish you the best of
luck with the rest of the meets and the rest
of the stuff going on this season, and we'll definitely
get you back on here and chop it up a
little bit more. Go go down memory lane and do

(01:04:14):
a little bit more reminiscent.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
Sounds good.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
Thanks all right, ladies and gentleman. That is coach Brian
Decker from the Point Pleasant Borough Panthers. Make sure you
go give them some love on the socials. Let them
know the area Bro sent you, and yeah, give him
a little love, congratulate and wish him luck. And that
is it for us this evening. We will be back
on Wednesday. Coach Bradley Sowder from the University of Cumberlands

(01:04:38):
is coming back for a three peat, right, Jim, It
will be his third appearance on the show. He's going
to talk about all the things that the Patriots have
going on down there in Williamsburg, Kentucky, and we're excited
to chat with him.

Speaker 3 (01:04:49):
The Ladies are.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
Ranked third in the NAIA right now and Luke Medea
is back on campus, so we're excited to chat with him.
We'll see you all on Wednesday night.

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
Do

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EP 406 — Coach Brian Decker on Point Boro’s 2024 Title Season, Building a Shore Powerhouse & Inside the Shore Coaches Invitational

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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;}EP 406 — Coach Brian Decker on Point Boro’s 2024 Title Season, Building a Shore Powerhouse & Inside the Shore Coaches Invitational