EP 409 — Bob Hamer (Rider University XC/TF Director): Building a Full-Team Culture, Developing Underrated Recruits & Winning in the MAAC - 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. Hey, this is
Bob Hamer and you're listening to Aery Brose Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Ladies and gentlemen, Howdy you, Aloha, we are here, you
were there, and you are now rocking with the best.
Thank you for tuning into another episode of Airy Bros.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Tonight, we're lacing up the spikes and we're heading back
to New Jersey with coach Bob Hamer, director of cross
country and track and Field at Rider University. Go Bronx.
But before we get rolling, you all know the drill.
Make sure you hammer that like button and are subscribed
on YouTube, drop a comment, every view, review and share.
It helps us give back and grow the sport we love.

(00:48):
Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple podcast. As always,
this episode is fueled by Black Sheep Endurance for all
your ultra marathon coaching and nutrition needs. And let's not
forget why we're here. We're here to shine light on
the programs, people, coaches and stories we wish we had
access to growing up. If you were so many to
know as chasing a college dream in cross country, track

(01:09):
and field, please share this episode with them. On to
tonight's guest. As I mentioned, Coach Bob Hamer is joining
us this evening from Ryder. The Broncos were back to
back champions, sweeping the men's and women's MAC Indoor and
outdoor titles in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three,
as well as twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four,

(01:29):
with CoA Chamber earning MAC Coach of the Year honors
across both seasons. He's developed a pipeline of one hundred
and seventy plus All East performances, twenty two hundred plus
Matt Golds, stacking up program records, and a track record
of under the radar recruits turning into conference winners. They

(01:49):
have been consistent USTFCCCA All Academic Team recognition, the XC
squad posting some of the best and highest GPAs at Ryder.
Performance and academics are in lockstep. Without further ado, let's
lace them up and get out onto the cross country
course with Coach Hamber. It is an honored pleasure to
have you joining us this evening. We do greatly appreciate

(02:12):
your time. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Thank you. I really appreciate the intro. Thanks a lot, guys, Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Coach, before we get too far into it, anywhere, we
can send parents, recruits, fans, anything you got going on
social media. The floor is yours.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, sure, well, all our socials are writer XCTF. You
know we have Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. We're also you
can click on go Bronx dot com, navigate to Cross
Country Track and Field and if you want to get
in contact with us, you can fill out a questionnaire
or also all of our emails for myself and all

(02:46):
my staff are located on there and gives you an
opportunity to, you know, reach out to us and find
out more about the program.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Awesome. We'll put all that stuff in the show notes
for you as well.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Coach.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
We know you're a PA guy, but you've been in
Jersey long enough, so this is probably gonna be the
most important question we're going to ask you all evening.
We ask all of our new Jersey guests this question
is a pork roller, Taylor Ham.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
I gotta go pork roll, definitely.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
For the rich one, for the right.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
As a child grow up in Ocean City, we go
to the I think it's Bob's or something like that,
the pork crawl red and weight on him.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah there we go, okay, all right, all right, and
then another little icebreaker we got free coach. We know
as well as I said, you're a PA guy, but
you're also a Penn State lum. Curious do you get
to head over in the winter time to catch coach
changing and the wrestlers grapple on the mats.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
I have not been in there. Cale Sanders did wander
by me a couple of times that the wrestling room
is right outside my office, and that was kind of
an awe. Get a chance to look at Cale and
what he's done. And obviously Henry's done a great job.
The idea that Cale comes out here and it's a
really exciting U moment for our university and obviously our
wrestlers to get a chance to compete against, you know,

(03:59):
one of the story programs, one of the story coaches
and individuals in the sports. So that that's really really cool.
But it's kind of fun to see. If I haven't
been I think we've actually competed when the matches have
actually taken place, but they've been there waging in or
practicing in the wrestling room when I wandered.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
By right on, right on, So coach the way we
like to kick things off. You know, we all have
our origin stores to the sport, how we got into
it as as young ins, and then maybe how that
also led us into coaching. So we're curious, what's your
origin story to the sports cross country, track and field
and went along that journey? Did you decide you were

(04:36):
going to be a coach? I think you maybe wanted
to be a Wall Street guy at one point two.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, that would be more. That was my thing at
that moment in time. Well, my child of the eighties,
so that kind of that kind of you know, watching
the Wall Street and all that investment banking was something
I thought I wanted to be. Uh. Yeah. I started
out I played a lot of a lot of soccer,
baseball as a kid. You know, those were the things
that I was really really interested a lot of you know,
we played street hockey in the winter between seasons, you know,

(05:02):
in the neighborhood. But as I got older, I wasn't
as good in those sports as I wanted to be,
and I really wanted to be part of something where
I had a chance to excel. And I always was
pretty good at running around during the fitness part of soccer,
and I ended up running outdoor track my you know
they called spring track, I guess in high school and
each year that was my sophomore year, and then I

(05:24):
added a season each year, so I ended up dropping
soccer for my senior year for cross country, and uh
pretty much have been involved in the sport full time
ever since. I was really fortunate. I went to a
really great high school that had really great program counsel
Rock and coach Preston was a great, really really great
coach and great mentor for that time of my life.
It really uh, you know, it really taught me what

(05:46):
it takes to be you know, successful as an individual
in the sport, but more importantly the team aspect of it.
He was a big preacher of that, and I think
that just really really fed to me that I wanted
to be part of a team and a program and
something bigger than myself. But also, you know, something you
can quit a lot of you know, much like wrestling,
if you put a lot of time and effort into it,
you're probably going to get pretty good or at least
better than you were, and you get some satisfaction from it.

(06:08):
I was really fortunate I got to compete at Penn State,
you know, run for coach Grows and other legendary legendary
coach and had a great opportunity to compete at a
really really high level there, and and the same kind
of thing. I mean, he was really invested in the
full team, the full program. You know, we were obviously
serious about cross country, but we were also serious about

(06:29):
child and I think that's you know, really shape me.
I even at that point, I didn't want to be
a coach. I thought I was going to go into
the world as an investment banker. But I think when
I left Penn State, I wanted to use my business screen.
But he didn't really want to be a Wall Street
guy anymore, and I thought I really wanted to be
an athletic administration. This might hit home with you guys

(06:51):
a little bit too, But like when I was in
college in the early nineties, was when Title nine really
started to be implemented in the athletic world and collegiate athletics.
So were you know, track and field programs on the
men's side that may that were being eliminated, uh, wrestling
programs as well were under attack, and you know, I
felt like I wanted to be, uh someone in administration

(07:12):
that could kind of be a voice for the you know,
the non revenue generating sports. Obviously wrestling generates revenue at
Penn State, but you know, at that time, it was
different and be a be a voice for you know,
the you know, the sports that weren't the ones that
were always on TV. So I ended up going to
Westchester got my master's in sports administration. I thought I
was going to wander on that h that career, and

(07:34):
uh I ended up coaching high school. My mother in
law worked with somebody who was out had a high
school connection. They were said, hey, why don't you apply
for this job? And I did and ended up getting
the job and coached there for a couple of years,
and then uh I moved on to I worked at
Saint Jose for four years as an assistant under coach Clavin,
which was an outstanding experience working with coach Clabn and

(07:55):
then coach Quinn when the women women's side of the program.
You know, it was really great and it gave me
a chance to kind of you know, mentor under different people,
learn learn coaching from a different way. And it really helped,
you know, get my bug going that I really really
wanted to make this a career. And then I had
an opportunity to move over to Ryder and started out

(08:17):
as a part time coach, and I was hoping that
working to be something full time, and after a couple
of years it did and I was here for five years,
and then I had the opportunity to become the head
coach and I've been here for twenty This is my
twenty third year start, my seventeenth as the or I
guess would be eighteenth as the head coach of the
whole program. So it's been a fun journey, crazy to

(08:38):
that this is what we get to do in life.
I get to work, stay in the sport and work
and mentor you know, young people and help them, you know,
chase their dreams much like I did when I was
you know, a young young kid in high school and
uncertain of what the future held. But I knew I
wanted to be involved in the sports. So it's really
fun to be part of their journey and help them,
you know, accomplish what our goals and dreams they have.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Coach, You've been able to work with some pretty impressive
coaches and whether you know high school college Uh, coach Glavin,
do you have and you're actually the second Penn State
alum that we've had that's coaching now in the past.
Was it two weeks gym or three weeks coach Robinson
from Lansing? Was that last week or the week before?

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, So we asked him. He kind of gave us
a little bit. But I'm curious because I've heard many
stories about the legends of Harry Groves. Do you have
Do you have a favorite story you could share with
us before we get into the writer program?

Speaker 1 (09:34):
Oh, Man, a favorite favorite Coach Groves story. I don't
know if we can do it on this. I'll tell
you one of my favorite ones. One time we were
you know, we'd be you know, you're in you're in
state college. You get to you get to November time,
the weather could get kind of sketchy. You know, we're
out in the old golf course and there was like

(09:54):
this apple orchard where we would kind of start like
that orchard, but the apple trees around the perimeter and
we kind of dart and we're getting ready to you know,
go for you know, it started to snow and you know,
and it's snown Earlier in the day, I guess, and
some guys had built some people had walked out of
the golf course and built like a snowman, and somehow
he had something against the snowman. So he took the

(10:15):
van and was driving like thirty miles an hour across
the field and crashed in and blew up the snowman
in the middle of the field and kind of set
the tone for the day for us for the workout, like,
all right, we're not complaining and snowing out and it's cold,
it's wet. We're just gonna get there and get the
jobbed up.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
So it's funny you mentioned the golf course and snow
because it was I think it was the fall of
ninety seven. It might have been ninety eight, but NCAA
regionals were at Penn State that year and it had snow,
so there was snow on the golf course and Mammoth
had very similar Nike uniforms to Penn State, and we

(10:51):
had a couple of guys that were up in the
mix and people were like, I guess, congratulating Coach Groves
because they were just assuming that the Mommoth guys were
Penn State guys, and it looked like Penn State was
going to qualify for NCAA. So they didn't that year,
but coach Grows had come up to Coach Joe and
was giving him a little bit of a business about

(11:11):
how our guys had people thinking that Penn State was
qualifying for NCAAs that year.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
Coach Joe must have loved that coach twenty five years
at Ryer, what have been some of the biggest changes
to the program in the school?

Speaker 1 (11:31):
I think some of the biggest changes to the program.
I mean, we're we always try to elevate ourselves. I
think we try to be a full and complete team
and really, you know, try to compete at the hight level.
We're always trying to compete for conference championships, you know.
So I think that's the biggest thing for me is
to make sure that I give my staff who coaches

(11:51):
all the events outside of distance, the tools they need
to be successful, you know, and the opportunity to go
out there and find the right athletes that are great
fits for our program and that hopefully we can grow
and develop. And you know, I think obviously track and
field in general as a sport has become so good
and has improved so much over the last you know,

(12:12):
five to ten years. But for us as well as
we wanted to make sure we we raise our program
as well to kind of meet the expectations and the
and the level of competition elsewhere. I think for us,
the things that have changed, and it was the landscape
of college athletics has changed, and it's it's really really
difficult to be competitive, but we try to make sure
we do some things. I mean, one of the things is,

(12:33):
you know, we built we dedicated our track to coach Brady,
who was a coach in the eighties and the early
nineties and the alums he was, he was obviously incredibly successful.
He kind of set the standard for success here Rider
as far as track and field is concerned. And the
guys that competed for him, you know, donated a bunch
of money so they can name the track after him.

(12:54):
And with that money, we built what is our Brady Building.
We call it them Mike Michael P. Brady Building, and
it's basically our operation center for track and field. So
it's really really nice. When we host a meat we
have like a two level building with the top levels
almost like a press box. I'm actually sitting in the
top part right now, but we can put our you know,

(13:15):
timers are up here, the announcers are up top, so
they're not intents on the field. It gives a more
professional field to the meat. You can kind of hang
out up here, a lumps can come up and watch
the meat from the you know, from a press box
kind of setting. And downstairs is kind of a wide
open garage area, which is really nice. We're able to
store a lot of our you know, things we need
for meats, but it's also an open area where we

(13:37):
can get some shelter, you know, for everyday daily practices,
which is kind of nice if you need a little
bit of space to stretch out or roll out after
practice or kind of gather, which is kind of nice.
So it adds a little bit more professional field to facility,
and I think that's something that's really been a big
enhancement for us over the last you know, ten years.
I mean it's only six years old, I guess now,

(13:58):
but it's been a really great thing and really really
thankful to the alumnis and the contributions of Coach Brady
to really help make this happen.

Speaker 5 (14:06):
It's always nice to have a hub where the track
athletes and cross country athletes can hang out and be
on their own together as a team. When we had
coach changing on, he referred to a rider wrestle on
as a mom and pop operation. He said, one of
the benefits to being a coach at Ryder is you
can put more time into the kids, into their development.

(14:27):
At some of the bigger schools, you have to perform
right away. Do you feel that's the same on the
cross country and track and field side.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
Absolutely. I mean we're developmental program, right We don't get
a finished product. And the best part of our job
is I love being a part of you know, when
an athlete comes in as a freshman and you know,
we try to recruit them with the idea that we
have this atmosphere, this culture, in this environment that they
can thrive and grow in and whatever you know, goals

(14:55):
and dreams they have, they can achieve them here. And
the best part of that is watching them grow. You know,
if we don't win, we're not getting fired, if you know,
you know, if we do something terrible, yeah, but if
we're constantly putting out a bad product. Yeah, I'm sure
our jobs would be in jeopardy, but we do have
the chance and the flexibility to get out there and
really work with them on a daily basis and grow

(15:15):
and develop them. And that's the best part is you know,
we try to tell them that, you know, hopefully by
the time you're you know, your freshman year, you're learning
a lot. Uh, sophomore year, hopefully you're putting some of
those lessons to good use. And by the time you're junior,
hopefully you're making a big contribution to the program, you know,
if you're capable of it. And uh, you look back
at your freshman self and go, wow, I can't believe
how good I got here. And you know, I know

(15:37):
HANDSI does a great job with that. And that's something
that we try to pride ourselves on as well, is
that we're developing, you know, young men and women to
hopefully be competitive this level, but also you know, develop
them as people. That's super important too. So when they
finally leave here, they get a chance to go out
in the real world and whatever pursue, you know, whatever
career they want to pursue, they have the school's skills

(15:58):
and the tools to hopefully go out there and have
success and find the job that they want, the career
that they want, and they can find joint happiness that
I have and what I get to do every day,
and hopefully they can find that. But you know, it's
really great. I mean, we have a support of administration,
but they really do let us do our job, like
here's the framework, here's your budget, here's how you know,
some of the guidance and direction you need to do

(16:18):
your job. Will support you in the ways that we can.
But I do get the opportunity to kind of freely
work with young people, and you know, it's really really
nice to have that ability because if it does take time.
We're not perfect. I mean we're dealing with eighteen to
twenty two year old kids that you know, it's a
challenging part in their life, and it's much harder than
when we were young people. Right, they have so many
more distractions, Like you talked to you open the show with, Hey,

(16:40):
this is incredible to have this platform, which it is,
but there are other platforms that make it a little
bit more challenging at times, and you know, it's nice
to be part of their lives in a you know,
a really important part, really important time frame of their
lives where we get to be part of it and
hopefully be a really good positive influence on what they're
trying to, you know, the journey that they're on when
they're here at Rider.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
Talk about that development. I believe it was twenty twenty four.
You had a young lady that was pretty fast into
fifteen hundred meters and now she's a professional runner. Was
what was her trajectory like coming out of high school
and like how many levels did she jump to get
to now being a professional athlete.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
Yeah, she's a great story teag And I mean, if
you know, I tell everybody this all the time, Like,
you know, she sat across me just like everybody else
doing the recruiting process, and I had zero idea she
was going to be that good. Like, no idea. She
was a top level recruit for US. I mean, she
ran a little over five minutes for the mile, and
you know she probably ran I think it was around
eleven fifteen or eleven twenty for two miles. So she

(17:41):
was a really good recruit for US at that point
in time. Her freshman year she had some success and
then she struggled a little bit right before we got
to COVID, she had a couple of injuries and things
weren't going great. We came back, if you guys remember
we had that came back in the fall, but we
didn't really have cross country till the winter, and we
had a winner across country season, and you know, it

(18:04):
didn't go as well she had hoped. Her leg was
kind of banged up. She wasn't. She wasn't in a
good mental space, and it was a difficult time for
kids during that time period. You know, being on campus,
it was very isolating, and you know she was probably
going to be shut down for a little bit of time.
And I said, hey, why don't we just I had
no force, so I don't it except for she just
wasn't having a great time. I was like, why don't
we just, you know, once you just go home, let's
call this your break and we'll start back up, you know,

(18:26):
in a month or so for your summer training, get
ready for next year. And she came back and in
that fall, you know, she had a solid fall, wasn't great.
Indoor was pretty decent, and we got to the MAC
Championships and she had a solid Mac Championships. But then
we went to the ECAC meet and she had run
you know, maybe four fifty five or something like that
for the mile prior to that, and all of a sudden,
we get to ECA and something clicked and she ended

(18:48):
up running low four forties and just completely blew us away,
and we're like, oh my god, Like this is like
a big, big, big jump. And you know, she was
fortunate enough to make the regional meet outdoors, which was
a really exciting for anybody in our program to make
that NCAA first round. And and then it was just
a matter of I think she really committed and dedicated
herself to the lifestyle that it took. I think that

(19:09):
was her biggest challenge. She wasn't really dedicated to the
lifestyle that it took to be a big time athlete
in the program or big time athlete in nasa A.
And she really committed to, you know, getting really great sleep.
Like sleeping wasn't something you know, as most young people
struggle with. She didn't really do a great job sleeping,
and you know, understanding what you have to do fuel
yourself to be successful as a student athlete, and and

(19:32):
you know, it was a journey for her, It took
a while to get to where she would get she
would got to where she ended up getting to. She
had a lot of really strong goals and uh, she
was a great athlete to coach because you kind of
were aware of all the things she was doing. So
if we had to tweak something, we could tweak it
and you would get hopefully the desired response, which was
really great. And she was really invested in the program
and she really loved her journey here at Rider, and

(19:55):
you know, it was just great. I mean that was
you know, the year, it was disappointing. The previous year
she didn't make the she didn't make it out of
the first round to get to Oregon for the NCAA Finals.
She did qualify for the NCAA or excuse me, the
USA Championships, which is a really great experience for her.
And then the next year the goal was to come
back and try to make the Olympic Trials. And you know,
that's not a normal thing for someone at Ryder. You know,

(20:16):
I've never actually coached somebody while they were here until
her at the Olympic Trials. We did have tour of
athletes just after the first year after they graduate qualified.
We had a woman, Emily Ritter, made it in the
steeple chase and then Christian Gonzalez made in the eight
hundred meters after he graduated. But to have somebody that
was still part of the program was really really great,

(20:36):
you know, really really great thing. And you know, it
was just really fun. I mean I learned a lot
coaching her. You know, she taught me a lot on
what it takes to get you know, get athletes to
that next level and navigating uh, you know that next
level is difficult. I mean that there's you know, everybody's good,
everybody wants to be great, and you know they're the

(20:56):
margin bearer is very very slim. But it was really
really fun, was really really great experience, and I'm really
really thankful that she gave me the opportunity to to
go to some really cool opportunities like be a coach
that trials is amazing, Yeah, you know, be up there,
and you know, for me, the best part was just
being able to watch and observe other people. You know,

(21:17):
I really like that. I was just watching other coaches
and other athletes, how they how they prepare and you know,
what can I learn what can I do better, you know,
if I get this opportunity again, And what can I
bring back to my team? And you know that was
the other thing, like what can I learn from coaching
Teagan and what can we do to get an opportunity
to come back, bring back to the athletes on the
team so that they have a chance to have some successes.

(21:38):
What can I do to help you know, my staff
become better and have an opportunity like I had. So
that that was a really really great part. And you
know the idea that she's you know now competing with
the Brooks b So I think it's a really really
great fit for you know, Danny and his crew are
really really great people and great coaches, and I think
it's a really really great fit for and I think

(21:59):
she's really enjoying it. Was you know, it's a challenge.
First year is tough year, right transition, and you know
she's really looking forward to a big second year with
the Beasts and hopefully she can you know, take that,
you know, all the training and hard work she's put
in to be able to get some results to take
it to that next level. Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Curious was that buying that was that something that came
after that, that four forty performance at ECACS, or did
you kind of see that coming getting into that.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
I mean, she was always bought in, but she just
I think the athletes don't realize how important the other
stuff is. They're pulled in so many directions. Yeah. Yeah,
I think the full buy in was you know, I
think she really knew that she could be better than
she was. I don't know if she saw the trials
in her in her future at that moment, but she
saw that she had ability to be really really good.

(22:45):
And I think it's just you know, something click. You know,
former teammates maybe got in her ear and we were like, hey,
you have a chance to be really really good. This
is what she got to do, and you know she
finally bought in. I mean it's you know, we talked
about lifestyle quite a bit, but it's really hard sometimes
for them for it to click. For everybody, I get it,
they're young people. They want to try to do everything.
You know, my two kids, two teenagers, they do the

(23:07):
same thing. They all want to do everything. And if
you want to be sometimes you have to say no
to some things. And I think that's one of the
things that maybe she learned a little bit was, Hey,
I do have I do have a special talent that
maybe if I, uh, this is something I want to do.
We talk a lot about like, you know, people talk
about sacrifices, I call choices. I mean, if it's you
have a choice, you know, this is something fun, if

(23:29):
you love it and you want to succeed at it,
when you're out there, you don't feel like you miss anything.
Like when I was an athlete, you know, I was
at Penn State. There were tons of distractions, but I
really loved being an athlete. I wanted to be as
good as I could possibly be, So it was easy
to make those choices in my mind. And that's one
of the things we try to you know, mentor athletes
on is that you know what you're doing is making choices,

(23:49):
and if you're excited about it, you have a better
chance to be successful. If you see this as like
something you have to do and it's a sacrifice, I
think it's really going to weigh on you and it's
not really going to lead to the kind of success
that you hope for In this.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
Sort was there a bit of a ripple effect after that?
Was sort of the team was like that, Okay, we've
got to make sure we're dialed in with sleep and
nutrition and there's more to it than just studying and
showing up the practice.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
Oh absolutely absolutely. I think we had two younger women
on the team that were, you know, very under the
radar athletes in high school and they they just graduated
last year and they had the opportunity to be on
the team with Teagan for several years, and I think
they really her the way she carried herself over those
two to three big years that she had really made

(24:35):
a big impact on them and others in the program
to show them number one, that they're tangible, right these
are teaking became someone you see on TV, you know,
and they don't think that's something that they can do.
You know, she was someone that was going toe to
toe with uh, you know, big time runners. You know
that they maybe you know, admired and and uh you know,
fangirled on. And it was an opportunity for them to
realize that they're they're human beings just like her. And

(24:58):
you know, whatever your talent ability is, let's try to
maximize it. You know, not everybody has could be a
Teagan but let's be the best version of ourself. And
I think that really rubbed off on them, and it
rubbed off on all the other you know, even on
the men, you know, because it's like, hey, this is
something that I want to I want to be like her.
You know, this looks like a lot of fun, Like
these are goals and dreams I have, and this is
what I want to accomplish. And I think that part

(25:19):
that's the best part about it, right. You need you
just need to get some buy in, get some people
that become, you know, some first followers, and get excited
about taking things to the next step, and you know,
we'll get there. I mean we've we've struggled a little
bit on the men's side and cross country to try
to achieve some of the well cross country last year
week a goodyear, but track we were hoping to be
a little bit better from a time perspective. But you know,
the guys that made a big commitment to some lifestyle

(25:41):
things this year, and I think it's going to eventually
pay off big time down the road where we're really
getting in some really good training and dedicating to the
things that it takes to be successful, you know, and
that's the fun part, you know, taking kids that here,
here's your goal and dream. We sit down, we talk
about them. But I think more important than making the
goals is actually figuring out what the pathway is to
get there. I mean, we can all make goals, but

(26:01):
what does it take. I mean, you know, you guys
are really successful people in your own rights and athletics
and in regular life, and you know you can't just
have a hey, I'm going to do this one day.
You really have to have a pathway and support system
around you that hopefully you can achieve achieve really high.

Speaker 5 (26:16):
Level coach being a program that develops athletes or not
finished products when you get them. What are some of
the key attributes you look for in recruits?

Speaker 1 (26:26):
I mean when they're sitting across from are they passionate
about the export? Are they excited about the sport? When
I'm talking about what we have to offer and what
we value, are they getting excited about it? Are they
shaking their head? Are they smiling? You know, you know,
is this something that's important to them? Do they value
this like is it? Are they committed or they dedicated?

(26:46):
Do they understand you know, how much hard work it takes.
You know, I use that line all the time. If
someone struggling a little bit and I think they're not
really making great choices, I'll be like, well, hey, remember
when you sat across from you, you told me all the
goals and dreams you had. Like, you know, I've been
pretty pretty clear and transparent of what what it's going
to take to be there, But I also clear that
this isn't the only thing they have in their lives.
I want them to have some well round us that

(27:08):
this is the only thing that defines them. It's going
to be super challenging because it isn't always perfect, you know.
There are a lot of ups and downs, and we
need to have other things to out manage that. But
but those are the things looking for that. And you know,
maybe there's someone that you know did another sport and
they're new to the sport and they're just trying to
find their way, and they've had a history of success
in other areas in their life, you know, and they're

(27:30):
you know, they just maybe have some keywords that that
that really trigger to me that hey, they're passionate, they
care about this sport, and they're they're willing to put
in the time and the effort and the energy to
be to be really good or the best, be the
best version of themselves.

Speaker 5 (27:44):
What do you say in an athlete who you know
says they're doing all the buying stuff, they're doing all
the lifestyle stuff, they're performing in practice, but they're not
quite getting the numbers or the places they want and meet.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
H Yeah, I mean that's one of the things. It
takes time. You know. If they are truly doing everything
that they say that they're doing, and we're and it
looks like they're on a really really positive path, you know,
that's where I have to look internally and go okay,
am I giving them everything that they need? You know,
where you know, is there something maybe I'm making mistakes
in training? Because we we are a team and we

(28:18):
are a program where we're trying to make our each
individuals bigger than themselves. However we coach them as individuals.
I do have I guess, you know a bunch of
principles that I think are important for us to have
success in training and being an athlete. But sometimes one
size doesn't fit all, so I have to maybe take
a look internally and go okay, and to examine our training, Hey,

(28:38):
is there something we have to fix? Is there something
here maybe we need to do, But really have really
do a deep dive because I mean, here's my experience.
If you ask athletes if they're eating right, they're all
going to say yes. If they're hydrating right, they're all
going to say yes. So we kind of try to
do a little bit deeper dive into it. One of
the challenges too is young people they do a lot
of things, so stress is a big thing. And you know,

(28:59):
even if they're sticking down studying, they think they're resting
and recovering, but there's there's a lot of mental stress
with that. And when you get out there and you're
an endurance athlete, you're going to be out there we're
a time where you're really facing something that's really really
hard and you've got to be mentally fresh to fight
that battle. And if you're tired and worn out, you
know you're If you're a male and you're four miles

(29:19):
into a cross country race and you either have a
mile or two miles ago, depending on the championship, you
know you got to be willing to get out there
in battle. And if your mind isn't fresh, and ready
to go, and you're you're stressed in all of the
aspects of your life, it's going to be really, really difficult.
So we try to talk about that quite a bit
and find out, you know, the stresses. Some of those
aren't very easy to quantify, but really talk to about it.

(29:40):
I really really try to do a lop a really
great relationship with the athletes so they feel comfortable sharing
things with me. The idea of a are you really
getting true sleep? Are you really you know nutrition? You know,
we have a dietitian on campus that we refer to.
The athletes do it quite as often. You know, maybe
there's something that we were missing from a mental preparation.
I mean, there's things that I I can do and

(30:00):
help them out with, but maybe we need to utilize
our sports psychologists or something like that that can maybe
give them a little bit extra edge. But I think
just having sitting down and have a meeting with them
one on one in a safe, comfortable environment, I think
gives them an opportunity to maybe share some things and
maybe be a little bit introspective and reflective and think about, hey,
what maybe am I not doing perfectly right work? Could

(30:20):
I maybe do a little bit better. And you know,
and I'm also understanding that, hey, I'm willing to make
a change. If I feel like we're not doing something correctly,
you know, let's do it. Whether it's you know, reduce
some of the training load, whether it's volume, maybe we
change the intensity. Maybe, hey, you're not responding to this
type of workout. Look, what's something maybe that gives you confidence.
Let's let's try to do something else to maybe get
you a little bit of confidence going into that next,

(30:43):
you know, next opportunity, so you can hopefully get you know,
the result that you're looking for in your crave. And
you know, that's one of the big challenges, right it's
your first couple of years. They want everything to be
perfect and on the straight line, and sometimes it takes
a little bit of time to get there. And I
think another thing, I'm getting a little long winded, sorry
on it, but I think having really great relationships with
your team it's because they've been where you are. You know,

(31:03):
ask some of the older athletes that have had success
in the program, because I guarantee you that they've shared
the same kind of trials and tribulations. Like I have
a lot of pictures on the wall of the athletes
that had, you know, have big time moments in our program,
and with the exception of maybe one athlete, every single
one of them struggled with their freshman year. So either
I might not be doing something right a freshman year,

(31:24):
I got to fix that. But over the long term
we've done a pretty good job developed them. But you're
going to have struggles. You're going to have days that
don't go perfect, and we just got to work with
you and try to keep you going in the positive
direction and try to figure out ways to get fix
whatever's not working and hopefully talk it out and then
we can get things moving in a really great direction.
You can have the success that you dream of and crave.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
And it's almost especially on the guys side, coming from
a five k, jumping up to a k and ten k,
that's that can be a kick in the gut sometimes
and so you get you know, you might feel good
for your five k base and then all of a sudden,
you realize you got two more miles to go. And
I took a lot of lumps my freshman year run
running ak or five miles because it was just it

(32:09):
felt great for those three miles that was that was it.
But man, those those second two miles as a freshman
or tough and that that could be you know, that
can wear on you mentally when you feel like you're
you're doing all the right things in practice and you're
competing with the upper classmen in practice, but they tend
to run away from you when it gets to that
fourth and fifth mile.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
Yeah, it's hard. I tell kids all the time that
freshman cross country, for a man, it's the most difficult
siason they're ever going to have. It's really really hard.
And hopefully we just stay healthy and get some good
training in and you know, get a couple you know,
maybe a conference meet kind of everything hits you get
something to get excited about. Then we get on the
track where you have a little bit more known quantity
for yourself against it. So hopefully we can get there

(32:50):
healthy and in a good frame of mind and.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
Talking about you know, volume, intensity, changing things up. All
the rage these days is the double threshold training or
the Bronx goes dabbling at all in double team.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
We are not currently. I do have a couple athletes
that are asking me to do it, and right now
I don't think it's the right thing for them given
where they are from a training age standpoint. I'm not
against it. I should probably learn a little bit more
about it, But I think maybe in another year we
have some men that are and women that are doing

(33:24):
some pretty good running this year as juniors, that maybe
we could add it in next year their senior year.
But currently we are not. But you know, I'm definitely
open to it, but at the moment, I don't think
it's the right thing for the people. Having the program
doesn't mean now maybe I'm making a mistake with that,
But at the moment, I think we are at a
good spot with where we are with.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
Our training and volume and with all your time as
a coach, has there ever been a topic or training
modality or method that kids asked about more than double
threshold training, because it seems like all the kids are
asked and about it these days.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
That's a great question. I would say probably double threshold
And part of it might be the availability of it.
I mean, one of the great things that growing up
right now and for me as a coach and athletes
is the resources you have available. You know, online, you
have the opportunity to learn about what other people are
doing their training methods and what makes them successful. And
I think that's really really interesting and exciting from a

(34:25):
coaching standpoint, and listen, I'd be all into that as
an athletes as well. I'd be begging my coach. You know,
we're always begging our coach to do stuff, and my
athletes do the same thing to me that I begged.
You know, coach grows, we need to do more speed.
We're not We're doing too much of this these hills
and strength stuff. We need to do speed, you know,
And they complain about the same things. To be so
I've become much like we become our parents, I've become
my coaches.

Speaker 5 (34:47):
So, coach, you had Wall Street dreams. You were a
finance major and then you got into sports management for
your masters. Did you ever think that you'd be able
to put that into your coaching and how a much
as the director of track and field across Country does
as stuff?

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, I yeah. I mean when you get into it,
you just get into it because you love the sport
and you're like, oh, I feel like I have something
to offer to kids. But I mean I obviously use
my finance and business scree every day I mean we're like,
you know, we're kind of almost like a CEO of
our little organization. You know, I have to do budgeting,
I have to do you know, marketing at times. There's
a lot of planning. I'm really a numbers you know,

(35:27):
I've I'm more of a numbers map guy. So, I mean,
I think I've grew up in this day and age.
I really be into you know, analytics as a major maybe,
but I really like to deep dive into the numbers
and use sort of my business training as far as
you know, uh, you know, developing what our planning is
and what we need to do. As far as the program,
you know, there's there's also other things as far as communication.

(35:48):
You know, learning effective communication is really really important and
be able to you know, get our message out on
campus and be be an advocate for our program and
being able to effectively deal with you know, we have
to deal with it at in missions with you with
financial aid, we have to deal with residence life obviously,
our own athletic administration. Once in a while, we get
to you know, you get to sit and sit down

(36:09):
in front of upper level management. You know, we have
a new president writer, so getting the chance to meet
the new president, hopefully develop a relationship with him and
make him understand how valuable our program is on campus
is really important to me as well.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
So I take it ye're doing the expense reports.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
I am. I wish, I love it, but I think
so I have unfortunate that I have. You know, there's
five of us that are on staff here to coach
across the country and track and field team, but myself
and only one other are full time, so I have
three part time staff members. So the part time staff
members are really just focusing on coaching and recruiting, kind

(36:49):
of fill us up all their time. So myself and
coach Siley, we really handle all the administrative parts of
the program, so played our skill sets. So yeah, I
actually could probably change more. I could probab give him
a little more to do. He's got an NBA so
he can handle handle some of the more expense stuff.
But he does help me out a lot with a
lot of it. But you know, managing the money and
making the money go far is something that's really important

(37:11):
for me.

Speaker 5 (37:12):
So you mentioned being the CEO. What is your favorite
part of that CEO position and what is your least
favorite part?

Speaker 1 (37:20):
Oh, that's a great question. Well, I mean I really do.
I really do love having the ability to impact all
aspects of our program, you know, being able to oversee coaches,
but I do allow them obviously to coach their own events,
but being able to go out and watch and observe
and be part of the success of the young people

(37:42):
in the program and be part of the coach, you know,
the coaches having the success and being able to support
them and give them the things that they need to
be to be successful. That's that's one of the best
parts about you know, being able to help them like,
you know, much like I help the athletes try to
achieve their goals and dreams, I want to be able
to help the staff as well well. So that's I
think that's a fun part of it, is sitting down

(38:03):
and trying to figure out what I can do to
help them achieve success. You asked, what was the part
I like the least. I mean, the part that it's
really difficult being the CEO of the program is that
everything flows upward, you know, so every problem is your problem,
although you have to make a lot of decisions. So
the hardest thing for me is managing myself so I

(38:24):
don't have decision fatigue over the course of time, because
it can be really, really difficult because you know, even
the most mundane decisions can maybe have a ripple effect
that you're not aware of. So I really try to
make sure that I have a peat group of people
that I rely on if I have to make big decisions,
that I ask for advice, and you know, whether that's
people my staff or other coaches that are in my hallway.

(38:45):
But you know, I think that's that's the tough that's
the difficult part of the job, is trying to make
all the you know, the burden of making all the
right decisions and making sure that I'm being anything and
everything I can be, not only for my staff, but
also more importantly the athletes in the program, because that's
why we do what we do. Hopefully give them a
pathway and give them opportunities for you know, success that
they crave.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Coach, How's how's the fall treating you? How are the meatspin?
When's conference?

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Yeah? So we have conference in a couple of weeks November. First,
the fall has been a little bit more difficult than
I would hope it would have been. We have on
the men's side, we have a young but talented team.
So the things that we talked about a few minutes
ago with you know, the hardest part in cross country
is adapting to that AK. So we have kids and
athletes that I think can can really take a big

(39:34):
jump and really help us have success. They just haven't
had that opportunity at the college level yet. We even
have some juniors in the program, but they maybe have
been battling some injury. So this is the first year
really you know, getting out there for the grind. But
the exciting part is I think we really do have
a chance to really trieve what our goals are. We

(39:55):
just need to get a healthy lineup. We've had a
little struggles with some injuries, but we're getting a little
more healthy now. I think we have a great chance
to do that. And it's exciting because I think it's
a chance for me to mold and kind of put
together a team that maybe people didn't think we would
have success because we've lost a lot of talent of
the last two years. But I think we have a
chance to do really well. On the women's side, we're
a more experienced team in the sense of we're older,

(40:18):
we're juniors and seniors, and you know, you know, we
have some sophomores that had success last year, but they
haven't been the person that had to be the person,
meaning like they maybe didn't have to be the leader
of the programmer of the team. They didn't have to
be the number one, number two or number three run.
So I think that's the role they're adjusting to right now,

(40:39):
is trying to be that understanding, you know, what it's
like to be accountable in that role, what the expectations are.
That it's a little bit different than being the person
that you just have to go out there run that
maybe other people are relying on you have a little
bit higher finish or a little bit better result. But
on the women's side, we're much healthier now than we've
been all season, and we race at Princeton in a
couple of days, So I'm really about that and to

(41:01):
see where we are and hopefully we could put some
pieces together so that we get into the conference meet
we can put together a narrative of what, hey, here
are goals, this is what we can hope to accomplish.
But I'm really excited. We've had some really great training
over the last two three weeks, we're just waiting for
it to show up in a racing situation.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
And where will conference beheld.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
We go to this great place. It's called the Twin
Ponds at the farm. It's in Montgomery, New York, so
it's kind of right over the border into New York
and right above North Jersey. It's this farm. They let
us host a meet there during COVID. We found it
and it just was this really great place, and Manhattan's
kind enough to be the host. But it's great. We're

(41:41):
the only game in town when we're up there. It's
a really great course. It's a couple of loops on
two sides of these farm fields, so it's really spectator friendly.
I get out there in my bike, I could pretty
much see almost the entire race, which is really great
from a coaching perspective because you get a really great
you know, I can get some really great feedback or
give some really great feedback to the athlete, and you know,
I think it's really great. I think it's fair. It's

(42:02):
got some hills, it's not perfect terrain, which is kind
of fun also, but you also can run really really
fast on it, so I think it's really a great,
great opportunity, and for our conference, we're really competitive for
our level distance conforts, and I think it's, uh, you know,
it's a great opportunity to showcase our athletes in a
setting where, like I said, we're the only game in
town on that day, and that that's really really fun

(42:24):
and exciting.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
I own is still in there with you guys.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Yes, I own is in there. So on the men's side,
they're the perennial winners. On the men's side, I mean
they have obviously they've had great line lineage of coaches.
Coach Pienta does an outstanding job continuing on the legacy
of that program, and they have some great athletes, and uh,
they definitely make it really, really difficult. And on the
women's side, Quinnipiac has won the last three in a row.

(42:48):
They've done an outstanding job. Cale Carolyn has done a
really outstanding job with that program, and uh, you know,
I know that I own of them kind of battling
back and forth. And on the men's side, we were
fortunate we were second last chair and the women we
were third, which was our highest combined finishes, So we
were super excited about that and it's going to take
a big effort this year to hopefully replicate that. But

(43:09):
you know, we're we're up for the challenge and we're
hoping to you know, put ourselves in a position to
have successful We get to you know, get to a
couple thousand meters ago, hopefully be in it and see
what we can do.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
And from a training perspective, where do you guys get
I remember we ran you guys had a race back
in the day on the campus. But there's some great
training grounds out and out and around you guys getting
able to get off campus and get on some soft surfaces.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
Yeah, we have. We have a wonderful training environment. So
we spend a lot of time. We're you know, fifteen
minutes from Washington's Crossing Park. So down there there's a
towpath you know that goes for one hundreds of miles.
There's a jersey side and the pa side. The jersey
side is probably, uh, you know, around three to four
feet wide and gravel, and we have you know, we
have a section where we can go about six miles

(43:55):
where we're uninterrupted. So there's no no parking, you know,
no crossovers, no cars, So we do a lot of
our tempo threshold work down there. We'll do some progressive runs,
which is great. On the PA side, it's not as wide,
it's a little thinner, but it's prettier. It's more you know,
bucolic on the Jersey side along the canal, which is nice,
but there's some road so you kind of hear the

(44:15):
cars that have been buy the Pa side, it's a
little bit nicer. We'll start our long runs on that side,
so the guys can do like a fifteen mile loop.
They can run into New Hope Crossover in a Lamberville
come back over into Washington's crossing, so we do a
lot of runs there. We have a park that's real
close called Rosedale. We can park on two different sides
of it and you can run you know, seventy five
eighty minutes and not really run the same thing twice.

(44:36):
You may cross over a feeder trail here or there,
but it's mostly grass, dirt and gravel, which is really
really great. There is a paved portion out the back
that they call the Laurence Topwall trail, so we run
on that a little bit as well. You can go
out you know, five six miles and you know out
and back, which is great. We have this place called
the Union Transport Trail, same kind of thing. It's an

(44:57):
old rails to trail, but it crosses the road a
couple times. We don't really do workouts on it, but
we'll do long runs and we'll most of the time
we'd go out there for recovery kind of days. So
we get to go there. In Pennsylvania, we're very flat.
You guys can know from Jersey side, depending where you are,
it can be really flat. So we're really flat where
we are, so we go into Pennsylvania. It's a park
called Tyler State Park, which was attached to where I

(45:18):
went to high school. So there's a lot of very
challenging hills. So we do a lot of running over
there and we're trying to get some hill runs. We
have this place called Round Valley Reservoir that's a little
you know, it's above it's up in Reddington technically White
House Station area of Jersey, a little bit north of here.
But we can do a nice fifteen mile loop that
has a nice little mile and a half mountain climb

(45:39):
in the middle of it, which they don't find all
that much fun, but it's it's really pretty out there
and it's a really great chance to get some some
challenging runs in. And we're you know, we're in a
an area too where we can We have a trail
on campus. It's about right out the back of our campus.
It's a rails to trail. It's about three miles out
so they can get about six mile run and if
they wanted to for warm up or whatever. And and

(45:59):
we are in you know, we're in central Serberbia, Jersey,
so there's there's definitely some other places to run that
are that are really nice. So we're not we're not
hurting for it, but yeah, we're we're really really fortunate
on campus too, we have our own track which is outstanding,
and then we have a bunch of grass fields so
if we need to do some grass intervals and things
like that, we have we have some backfields that we
like to go to. It's about eight hundred meters loop

(46:20):
that's kind of protected on three sides by trees, which
is really nice. And yeah, we could go out back there,
bring out the speaker, crank up some tunes and run
around a little bit. I'll play DJ, I'll take requests
and the kids can go out there and you know,
have some fun. And but yeah, we're really really fortunate.
We have some great places to go.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Yeah that sounds amazing. We didn't have that at Mama's.
But you already said Jimmy said, Central Jersey.

Speaker 3 (46:42):
Yeah, it does exist.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
I live in Central Jersey. I think it exists.

Speaker 5 (46:49):
That's what we say. We grew up in Central Jersey.
All those North Jersey people and don't give us any love.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
No they do not. No people from South or North
don't think there's a central I'm central.

Speaker 5 (47:01):
Coach, I believe. When Coach Hage he was on he
said that there's a great business program at Ryder. What
are some of the majors. Are the kids on the
team or is there a bunch of in one major?
What are kids looking at and what are kids going
to ride or for?

Speaker 1 (47:18):
Yeah, business is great. I mean we were business school
before we came a college or university. So it's really
a flagship major. It's a really really strong we have
really strong business program. You know, just up the street
on Root one, there's a ton of you know, financial institutions,
you know, like Black Rock, et cetera. So a lot
of the athletes and even just regular students can do
some internships. We have a five year accounting program which

(47:38):
is really really great. You get your CPA when you're
out of here, which is which is awesome, and U
you know, you do an internship between your fourth and
fifth year and then you know, unless you did a
really bad job, you get an offer from them or
maybe hopefully competing offers, so that that's really great. We
have a really great health scienceist, so we have a
lot of a lot of a lot of our women,
especially are in the bioprogram. We added exercise science a

(48:01):
couple of years ago, so that's been a really really
popular major uh for us as well. Psychology, uh, sports psychology,
really really strong. Education is another one that's really great.
So we get a lot of uh, you know, athletes
that want to be you know, educators. I think part
of it is they want to be teachers, but they
also want to maybe hopefully get into coaching someday, which
is great. And uh yeah, so those are those are
some of our really really strong ones that we have.

(48:24):
We have you know, some sports media and sports management
programs that we get a you know a fair amount
of interest in uh as well. So it's uh you know,
it's really great that we have some things, and you know, we,
like I said, we added exercise science f years back,
which has been a really great addition to the program.
And you know, hopefully, well it's a few more things
here in the near future that the kids crave.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
Coach. You said, you're in suburban Central Jersey.

Speaker 5 (48:47):
When the kids aren't running, when they're not in the books,
what are they getting into as far as social life?

Speaker 1 (48:54):
Social life? I mean, they're I mean one of the things.
I mean, we're obviously right between you know, almost equidistance
between New York City and filled Out, so there's you know,
some opportunities there. There's obviously a lot of Philly New
York sports battles going on internally in the team. We're
real close to Princeton on myself Princeton University, but real
close to Princeton, so they do spend some time hanging
out up in Princeton, which is really really great. And uh,

(49:15):
you know, it's one of the things we're we're in
a suburban setting, but they do have access to a
bunch of different things. You know, we're not far from
like New Hope and Lambertfille, which provide a lot of
you know, entertainment and opportunities to do some things different
the Fall, I know, the especially a women's team they
like to go to. You know, we have a lot
of farms and you know apple things like that. Yeah,
apple picking or turhuen, which is down the street. We

(49:35):
run by it, so it's not that far for them.
So those are definitely things that they try to get
and get involved and to keep them kind of entertained.

Speaker 5 (49:43):
So you said, there's some pro sports Philly, New York.
What's the predominant team or teams that they root for?

Speaker 1 (49:51):
You know, I think it I think it's back and forth.
I mean there's surprisingly there's some Jets fans still left
in the wow. But but yeah, there's a lot of Giants.
Yankees is a big one obviously, you know, with the
you know, the Phillies Eagles, that's a big the big one,
big rivalry you know with that. I'm a I'm a
I'm a Philadelphia area guy, so I'm a Philly sports guy.
So it's been a rough couple of weeks from that standpoint.

(50:13):
They've lost a bunch of games. But but yeah, it's
usually in New York and Philly. But you know you
have your sprinkling in here. I'm sure you guys are
from Jersey. There's always the random Cowboys fan. You're not
sure how they become a Cowboys fan. So we have
a few of those on our team. We don't talk
to this guys, but yeah, we have a few of
those as well.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
It's funny you say that because I was a Cowboys
fan back in the day, and my parents shamed me
so much that I became a Giants fan. But I
was a I was a big Tom Landry fan. I
liked the hat and the suit and all that stuff.
They they ridiculed me until I changed allegiance to to
the to the Giants.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
Giants. I hate to say, but I think that's some
good parenting going on there.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
Well, you know the other funny thing, coach I you know,
like I said, we wrestled growing up, and you know,
I just always assumed people in New Jersey where you know, Giants, Jets, Yankees,
that sort of stuff.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
And then we started going to some wrestling tournaments down
to South Jersey and you see all these people in
all their Philadelphia gear. I was like, Dad, what's going on?
All these Philly fans He's like, we'll see, once you
get past like Ocean County, like southern Ocean County, they
start to send their allegiance to those Philadelphia teams and
so they and then you know, growing up, you have

(51:26):
friends from Cherokee and different places down there, and there
they love they love the Phillies, they love the Eagles,
and so it's a fun little you know, it's kind
of that Central Jersey area where you get that difference
of allegiances.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
Yeah, exactly. I unfortunately live in the New York market,
so I don't really get all the Phillies. So it's
kind of disappointing for me at times. I don't always
get all the Eagles or you know, Phillies or Flyers
and things like that.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
So they're trying to tell you something.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Yeah, I know, I make you.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
I make you.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
I'm not My kids are Phillies Philadelphia sports fans. I
think I did a good job there here, Coach.

Speaker 5 (52:03):
Is there anything about the program that we haven't covered
that you want our audience to know?

Speaker 1 (52:09):
I mean, I think maybe it's come through, but I
think one of the things that we really try to
make it a hallmark of our program is that we
are a team and that we're a full and complete
team and that one of the things we really try
to do is is, you know, we want to build
you know, we want to have spread several jumps, throws
and distance so that we have an opportunity to compete
for a conference championship in track and field. And that's
something that's really really important to us. And the other

(52:30):
part too is making sure that you know, hopefully they
you know, the kids that attract to a program, I
think are attracted to because of that that they want
to be part of something. You know, we've been really
really fortunate that we've won a lot recently. That's not
always going to be the case, but I think the
idea that they they want to be part of something
and that they you know, we have a chance to
hopefully grow and develop them and they learn some lessons

(52:51):
on what it's like, you know, so when they get
into the real world they have some tools and skills
that they can be successful, and we're hoping that they're
also really really great people. That's something we want to do.
And you know that whatever you come in and you
probably have an idea who you are, but maybe we
you know, hopefully can help you along the way that
you can become, and that we come you know, hopefully
we're close knit team, and then also that we're out

(53:12):
when you get out in the world, you can go
out and be a really good, positive, contributing member. And
that's something that we want to be the hallmark of
who we are. That we're you know, we're gritty and
tough when we're out there competing, but we're also you know,
hopefully putting together really good human beings as well.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
That's what it's all about.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Coach I really appreciate that perspective too. That's kind of
what coach Joe did at mom with we were a
complete team, and you know, I really became a fan
of track and field because of that, because we were
such a close, tight knit unit that you know, in
between you know, five care or ten care whatever, that
we were going over to watch the hammer throw and

(53:48):
the shot put in the discus and checking in on
the hurdlers and the jumpers because we knew it wasn't
a distance squad that was going to win any C
title for us. We needed, you know, to score across
the board in all events. So I love that approach
and I try to do that with the teams that
I coached to to try to be balanced and have
people scoring points in every events, because if you can
score points in every event, you're going to be real

(54:10):
tough to beat.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
Yep, exactly. And you know, here's the coach, Joe. I
mark Joe tremendously. He's a great friend of mine.

Speaker 5 (54:17):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (54:17):
You know, we were competitors against each other. He broke
our hearts many many times. But uh but you know
when it was all over, you know, he went over,
shook his hand and congratulate him and listen. I would
call him for advice at times, you know, and ask
for advice, like you know, I'm trying to beat the guy,
and he was willing to give me, you know, ten
twenty thirty minutes of his time to really help me out.

(54:38):
You know, we're trying to build a program and be successful.
And you know, that's great. It's great to see. And
those were great teams and he had great program for
a long time, and I'm really excited for him. You
got the you know, we had the track named after him,
which is awesome. And you know, he gave, he gave
a lot and really put that program on the map,
which is, which is fun and I'm glad you guys
had a great experience.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
Yeah, and not not only probably a battle with him
on the track and on the cross country port course,
but probably a lot of recruiting battles as well. I
would imagine.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
Yes, we lost way too many recruits to Mamath over
the years. So but you know, here's the the reason
why we had the program at the level it is
right now is because of Mammath and coach Joe. We
you know, we had to elevate who we were as
a program if we wanted to be competitive with him,
And all the credit goes to him. I mean, they
were just they were a juggernaut in our league. I

(55:28):
mean they were in our league. I think they were
in the league for ten years and you know they
won thirty eight of the forty championships in track and field.
I mean that's insane like that, that's just crazy, crazy
amount of success that you know, only two stumbles along
the way, and that's what they were, their stumbles. We
couldn't beat him, nless. They messed up and we were
perfect and we got lucky twice. But you know, Joe

(55:49):
was just outstanding and not only that, he's an outstanding
individual in person as well.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
So yeah, we love coach Joe over here.

Speaker 3 (55:55):
Yes we do.

Speaker 5 (55:56):
We can't have anything else for coach before we get
in the final four.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
I mean, I could talk track and field all night,
but he's got kids to get home too, and he's
probably got some recruiting calls to make. So let's get
into the final four.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
All right, coach? Are you a coffee drinker?

Speaker 1 (56:11):
Who I am? Not? I wish I was because it
looks like it's fun, like having so much fun drinking coffee.
I actually drink coke in the morning. That's my uh
my thing, so it's probably not the best thing to drink.
But I don't drink coffee. My wife's a beg coffee drinker,
so I make her coffee every morning before I go
to work, but I don't, uh, I don't drink it myself.

Speaker 5 (56:33):
Well, Coach, I don't think you need it because you've
got great energy, sir, thank you.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
So we've had a lot of coaches lately that are
that are laking their sodas, whether it's Coca Cola or
Mountain Dew.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
I just drink Mountain Do too. Coke in the morning, though, coach.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Do you have any daily practices or rituals you do
on a regular basis to show up as the strongest
version of Bob Hamer.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
That's a great question. My thing is I really like
to you know, back in the day, when I could run,
go for a run as many days as I could,
that was just my time. Now it's on my bike
or maybe if it's bad weather or the elliptical, like
I just need that time to kind of uh, you know,
decompress a little bit, let my mind wander. I would say,
I give the best speeches in my mind on my

(57:20):
bike or on the elliptical, and then when I get off,
I'm like, damn, I can't remember what I just said.
But I think that's something that really helps center and
ground me, you know, get some stresses out, maybe help
me work through some problems and challenges that we're having,
you know, in the program or training or with the team.
But that's definitely something that I think I take advantage
of as much as I can.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
Are you like a full kick guy getting out on
a road bike?

Speaker 3 (57:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (57:43):
I do. I have my I love a full kick
get out there and go and you know, get after it.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
I love.

Speaker 5 (57:50):
Coach, I am just like you when I am working out.
I have the best podcast interviews in my head, so
I get it for sure.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
Also we got it love it.

Speaker 5 (58:00):
So, coach, you said you like to play DJ track workouts.
What are you listening to? What are you reading? Music podcasts,
audio books?

Speaker 3 (58:09):
Anything like that?

Speaker 1 (58:10):
Oh? Yeah, sure, So I'm a big I'm a you know,
my former neive years with the eighties, so a big
eighties music guy. H hair bands were my big thing,
so I'm a big hair band guy. You want to
dial it down, like Metallica is my favorite, So Metallica
is a big, big one that I like. I'm also
a Swiftie and my kids got me into that. But

(58:31):
I do love I do love the Taylor Swift so
so that's kind of fun. I do love podcasts. I'm
a big, big fan. Sadly I am not. I was
not aware of your podcast until you reached out to me.
So I have done UH. I have done a little
bit of a dive into some of them because I
really do love UH. I'd love listening to coaches talk
because I think it's really I can always learn something,

(58:52):
whether it's reaffirming something that I'm doing or you know,
I can always pick something from someone else and the
way they're approaching something, uh be, how they're problem solving,
how they're doing their program that I can. I can
look up to it and myro and try to be so
I do really have, you know, a bunch of podcasts
I try to listen to if I come across anything
related to coaching, not just track and field. Sometimes I

(59:12):
listen to other stuff. I'm big. I'm a big college
football fan, so I read a lot about college football
coaches and you know, even just regular coaches I subscribe to.
I subscribe to The Athletic, which is a really great website,
and they have this new section where they call peak Performance.
So there's a lot of really great things in there.
Like I read a really cool thing about Pete Carow recently,

(59:34):
so I kind of employed it with my athletes on
my team, and I did it with my staff as well,
and it's gone over really really well, So I'm pretty
excited about that. But yeah, trying to learn, I wish
I could read more books. I tend to have the
same book that's sitting on my dresser that's been there
for about a year now, and I've only got through
like twenty pages because I'll open it up and fall asleep.
I need to do a better job with that. But
I do read a lot of articles in my inbox.

(59:56):
I get a lot of stuff sent to me, subscribe
to some things, so I do try to keep up
that way. But yeah, podcasts are great. Well you guys.
You guys will definitely be in the rotation. So I've
been digging through it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
So thank you. We appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:09):
I will spread the word.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
Thank you. Now, coach, we are not college football fans,
but I've been seeing a lot with the Penn State
head coach coming across my feed lately. What's going on?
What are your thoughts?

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
It's super sad, right, they were so close a year
ago to making it to the championship game, and this
year the wheels have come off for whatever reason. So
it's just kind of sad. I mean, coach Funken's done
a great job obviously of building the program for what
it takes to be successful. I think in modern college football,
I mean, things have really changed quite a bit obviously
with revenue sharing, nil you know, the do you have

(01:00:43):
a general manager for college football? It's like crazy to
me and you know, you have a bunch of analytics
guys and coaches on your staff. So yeah, it's just
it's really really sad. I mean obviously in Pence there,
so I'm a huge Penn State fan. So this year
has been obviously incredibly disappointing. But hopefully, you know, things
will turn around in their future and they'll they'll get
back on track and have a chance to, you know,

(01:01:03):
compete for some championships in their future.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
Is Penn State you're one of only college football team
or do you have other teams you root for?

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
I don't root for I don't root for anybody. Well, yeah,
I root for Penn State and anybody who plays Notre Dame.
But so you know I have there's a my two.
But no, I mean I admire other programs, but yeah,
Penn State's the only team that I that I root for.
But like I said, I do love it. I do.
I admire coaches and the and football. I Gues's just

(01:01:32):
I just love college football. I think it's just a
it's an outstanding thing to watch on a Saturday or
Thursday or Friday. Now I guess as well, but yeah,
I do love it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:40):
Is there another program other than Notre Dame. That people
either love or hate and there's no in between.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
There probably isn't. I don't know that there is, right,
maybe the Yankees something like that, right, but you're talking
college that. I mean, that's that's why people say they're
the most popular team in the world. Right. You either
love them where you hate it. Everyone has an opinion.
So they were the big rivalry back when I was,
you know, in college. You know that Pence, you know,
it is a really good thing. One of the cool
things I have is we actually when I was at

(01:02:06):
Penn State my freshman year, we beaten Notre Dame. They
were number one, and the game was actually on the road,
but we had heard stories about, you know, older guys
on the team talking about tearing down the goalposts and
stuff when they won a game, and so we went.
We got everybody from the dorms went running up to
the stadium and they were doing construction, so we were
able to get in there, and we're all thousands of us,
tore the goal post down and paraded it all through

(01:02:27):
town and and eventually we got it to this one
part and one of the guys on my team cut
a giant section off of it, so we cut up
little sections. So I actually have a section of the
goal post that's on my desk that I use as
a pen holder. So it's pretty cool. It's a pretty
cool little talking piece. But I get somebody that really
likes college football, so it's one of my cool memorabilia
things that I have in my life.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
Super cool. Speaking of gold costs, did you see the
goalpost top on top of the kid from the University
of Colorado and they toured down?

Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
Yeah? I did.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
I didn't actually see the video. My daughter actually going
Colorado and she left the game early. I was so mad.
I was like, what do you mean you left the early?
You missed the best part. That's why you went there
so you could rush the field and charge out there
and be on the field. That's why you go there.
So but uh, but yeah, no, I heard about it.
I haven't seen yet, so I have to go back
and take a peek at it. But I guess I
do kind of have a I'm a little bit of

(01:03:15):
a fan of Colorado because my daughter goes there right now.
But so, I guess I wasn't truthful in the in
the previous question. I apologize, but Dean's a good guy.
I think he's got it. I think he's doing the
right thing.

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
Yeah, we're fans. Jimmy's a cu Denver grad. So we
throw some allegiance to the buffs as well. All right,
sco buffs, as they say, right, coach, last one we
got for you to close as a lightheart one. Uh,
maybe it's a food item, maybe it's a beverage. You
mentioned already that you're swifty. Do you have a guilty pleasure?

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
Oh? Guilty pleasure? Oh geez. I mean I would say
probably my coke is my guilt and my coke Coca
Cola is my guilty pleasure. I guess. I mean, I
guess you could consider being swifty guilty pleasure, right, because
people don't realize, you know, I'll be spending tunes and
we'll go from uh, you know, Master of Puppets to
to Taylor Swift song, and the kids look at me
kind of side eyed, like what the heck is going

(01:04:08):
on until they get it. The yeah, the you know,
the upper class, but like it's okay, that's just the
way it is. It's a little different, a little different.
So but uh, yeah, I don't know. I mean that
would be it. Maybe maybe chocolate chip cookies. They're kind
of my kryptonite at times. I'm a big chocolate chip
cookie fan, So get a good choc chip cookie. It
kind of kind of gets me. Yeah, makes everything right

(01:04:29):
in the world. We need those, right, we do.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
Coach Hamer.

Speaker 5 (01:04:34):
After talking to you, talking to Coach Agy, we know
they got a good thing going on that rider. I
can't wait to see what the team does in cross
country and then in track and fields, in indoor and outdoor.
But we will be rooting for you. So thank you
so much for your time this evening. This is a
great conversation.

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
Thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
Yeah, coaches honored a pleasure to chat with us, even
get to know you a little bit better and been
following for a long time as competitors and fans of
New Jersey at college track and field and cross country.
So best of luck to you at conference and best
of lucky intoor and outdoor, and as Jimmy said, we'll
be rooting for the Broncos.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
Cool. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:15):
All right, ladies and gentlemen, that's coach Bob Hammer, Director
of Track and Field and cross country writer University. Make
sure you check all those links in the show notes.
Go give him a little love, Tell them that the
area bro send you. We will be back on Thursday
night with Chris Lear. He'll be joining us to talk
about his new book with Sean Brosin, Beyond Fast. We
are super excited to talk with him about that, and

(01:05:36):
we'll probably dive into a little bit of running with
the Buffaloes as well. So tune in on Thursday night

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
Two

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EP 409 — Bob Hamer (Rider University XC/TF Director): Building a Full-Team Culture, Developing Underrated Recruits & Winning in the MAAC

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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 409 — Bob Hamer (Rider University XC/TF Director): Building a Full-Team Culture, Developing Underrated Recruits & Winning in the MAAC