Grit, Gold & the Grind: Coach Ken Harnden on Sprint Culture at Auburn

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Aery Brose Radio, be there or B
Square because it's all killer, no filler. This is Ken
Hardon and you're listening to Aeri Brose Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Ladies and gentlemen, how do you know? Oha? Welcome to
another episode of Eric Rose Radio. We are here and
you were there, and you are now rocking with the best. Tonight,
we're coming out of starting blocks and we're going belly
to belly with a man who's guided Olympic athletes, NCAA champions,
and built sprint dynasties from scratch. We're live with coach
Ken Harden, two time Olympian and Auburn's associate head coach

(00:41):
for Track and Fields. You all know the drill. We
all know why we're doing this. We're here to present
conversations with coaches that are working with amazing athletes and
building amazing programs for our younger versions of ourselves going
through those recruiting process. If you a family member, anyone
who's listening to this is looking for a school right fit,
please share this episode with them. But before we get

(01:04):
into it, also, let's not remember let's remember to hammer
THATG button. Drop a comment every view, review, and share
helps us grow and get back to the sports we love.
Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcast. As always,
this episode is fueled by Black Sheep Endurance Coaching for
all your ultra marathon and nutrition needs. Now let's get

(01:24):
into coach Harden. He's a two time Olympian. He's also
a four hundred meter hurdle national record holder for Zimbabwe.
He was a two time NCAA champion and the four
hundred meter hurdles in nineteen ninety five, as well as
the indoor four x four in nineteen ninety five. He's
coached twenty five individual NCAA national champions and one hundred

(01:45):
and seventy plus all Americans, as well as nineteen Olympians.
He is a five time us TFCCCA National Assistant Coach
of the Year, and he was back to back in
twenty twenty four twenty twenty five. He's built the Auburn
sprint program into a national powerhouse with multiple NCAA and
SEC champions. He's also coached at Florida State, Georgia, and Tennessee,

(02:08):
and he helped Auburn to a fourth place podium finish
at the twenty twenty five Outdoor National Championships with thirty
five points from his sprints and hurdle crew. Without further ado,
it is an honor and a pleasure. We greatly appreciate
your time tonight, Coach Ken Harden. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Thanks for having me Rich. It's a lot of fun.
When Jim reached out, I was very impressed with what
you guys do. It looks like a really cool show.
So I'm happy to be here and very excited. I
appreciate the shout outs on the accolades. Truthfully, it's all
about the athletes, and I like to refer to myself

(02:45):
as the bus driver and make sure they get to
the meet and then they get to do what they
do best.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well pretty sure at all, but you're probably not driving
the bus like we do as coaches down here in
South Carolina. But get what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Can do and will do.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, absolutely absolutely, coach. Before we get too far into it,
anything you got going on, I know were late in
the summer here, so I'm sure if you had camps,
you're three of them. But if you have anything coming
up in that regard, clinics, anything anywhere, you would like
us to send recruits or if you want people to
find you on social media, the floor is yours.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
No, I have actually don't do a bunch of camps.
We just got back from three and a half weeks
in Europe, so it took the majority of my group
over there to try to get some experience and some
world ranking points and things like that. Really locked in
on sort of their success. I do do some camps
with some outside companies where we you know, we go

(03:41):
into places and do speed camps and things like that.
But no, I mean, I'm just regular guy, right. My
wife runs BB twenty five, which is an acronym for
the group, and the group sort of picked that for
the group. I train that's on Instagram, so that's probably
the plug hat put out there.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Okay, we'll put all that stuff in the show notes
for you. You said you were in Europe for three weeks,
had to go.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, it was really good, you know, trying to give
the young group a chance to see what professional life
is about. Right, it's not all the glitz and glamour,
and you know we for the most part, you don't
get to travel Noah Lyle style and sort of you know,
fly into Nie run Monte Carlo and then fly home
the next day. You know, you're over there for three
or four weeks and planes, trains and automobiles. So I

(04:31):
think we had a good trip. Maco was third in
Monico in the Diamond League. Jacobe was third in Monico
in the Diamond League. A gy ran nine ninety two
in sat viller and France, which was a super cool
trip because we got to go to Normandy where D
Day happened instead of see some history there. And yeah,

(04:51):
it was a good trip. Annelise got got a chance
to go over there and compete where her dad did
sort of twenty five years ago. And you know, I
think we got a chance to really see some things Israel.
The young Nigerian kid Ranteno six in Lucerne in Switzerland,
which was super neat to watch an eighteen year old
go over there and compete against the big boys and

(05:13):
get it done. So all in all, I think they
learned a lot and we got to sort of do
some things where I think that's part of the recruiting process, right,
We're giving people sort of a different view. It's not
just about how much anil money can I put in
your pocket, but what experiences can I put in front
of you.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Now those athletes, are they still competing? Are they getting
ready for World Championships and that sort of stuff.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Yeah, so Maca's already qualified. Obviously, it's inm bobw we
don't won't have trials. Israel and Ajai are in Nigeria
for their trials that in theory happens next Wednesday, although
Nigeria has changed the venue and not told anybody where
the new venue is, which is quite interesting. And then
Analyse and Jacoby will will go out on Monday to

(06:00):
Eugene for usas.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Okay will be going to USA's or doing some traveling yourself.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, yeah, so I'll be I'll be in Eugene, and
then I'll go back to Europe with a couple of
them for Brussels and Zurich. And then Maya McCoy was
a young lady that ran for me at Tennessee. She
still trains with me. She ran nine ninety or ten
ninety six tonight in Austria. So super excited about that. So, yeah,
the group's doing well, that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
Yeah, kach Nca is so late in the school year.
And then going over to Europe for all those meets
and then everyone competing, whether it be at their national
events or getting ready for the world teams.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
How does that training look?

Speaker 3 (06:39):
Is it just once once indoors over a little bit
of alone and then just all gas to the fall.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, Jimmy, it's look, we go into a pretty heavy
four week training block right off indoors, and then when
we got back after in Cuba's we put a three
week block in there and then sort of went back
to some training and or some competing and then get
ready for the trials. Right, So the meets in Europe
the last three weeks were really a prep for USAS

(07:08):
or Nigerian trials, and then when we come back from that,
we'll obviously go back to a small training block. It
is difficult in c Double a's come at a weird
time in terms of you know, where they are in
regards to USAS, But it can be done. I think, look,
my group competes less than most in collegiate track and field.

(07:31):
I think we have a very sort of outdoor in
c double A into the postseason focus, and I think
that prepares them for you know, not just the NCBLA meet,
but also world championships and their trials and things like that,
So there has to be some planning. But just like
your GPS when you try to find the closest Chick
fil A, you got to tell it where you want

(07:51):
to go before you can decide which way to turn
out of the driveway. So, you know, we start at
the end and work our way back to today.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
And saying, you know, to get back once school start,
and they'll kind of be in a little bit of
a wall. But you'll have incomeing athletes coming in. Will
they mesh right with them or is it two different
programs at that point, Yeah, it'll.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Be a little bit different. Obviously, Worlds is the biggest
change for US is World's being so late this year, right,
so middle of September, essentially you're finishing your season with Worlds,
whereas in the past it was sort of early to
mid August. You know, we start school August eighteenth, So
the group that I'll take to World Championships will be
in class for about three weeks and then all of

(08:34):
a sudden, we'll dip over to Japan for two weeks
and then come back and get back on it. And
obviously they'll have some more time off. The incomers will
start their training cycle about mid September, and then the
group that went to world will pick up about five
weeks after them.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
With athletes competing at Worlds, is there any more emphasis
on the NCAA meet or Worlds or are they both
kind of the same, Because obviously they're going to all
burn for education. You guys are helping them with that
education and everything, but obviously they want to do good
on the world stage as well.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah. Look, at the end of the day, we're here
for education. It's a free education. They've got to take
advantage of that, right, and they've got to get those
parts done. So we talk about that at the beginning, like,
if you're not going to take care of business in
the spring and over the summer with your classes, I'm
not letting you go to Worlds. Right, you have to
earn that right to miss those two weeks of class.
So we certainly talked about that upfront. But yeah, I mean, look,

(09:34):
we're trying to give them an opportunity. Right. If Maca
was here and he wanted to be a doctor and
there was an opportunity for him to go watch brain
surgery in Boston for a week, we'd let him go, right,
We'd probably fly him up there and give him that opportunity.
So I think this is in the same realm. And yes,
it's just sports, but at the end of the day,
sports is what connects the whole world in my opinion, talk.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
About sport connecting the whole world. I'm assuming you have
a unique origin story. You're from Zimbabwe, was track something
that was always you know, like Jimmy and I, our
parents were runners, so we kind of filed in the
family footsteps. What's your origin story and at what point
did that lead you into knowing that you wanted to

(10:18):
be a coach.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, So my family has been in Southern Africa for
the sixth generation to be born in Africa. So my
mom's family is Lithuanian jew My dad's family is British.
My mom's great great grandfather married a Portuguese lady and
they ended up in Mozambique. My dad's family was always

(10:40):
in Zimbabwe, so sort of the family's been there for
a long time. My dad was a pretty good athlete
growing up. My uncle was a very good hurdler back
in the seventies. Was ran thirteen seven on cinders, so
would have gone to the Olympics in seventy two, but
Rdisha boycotted and then we'd be kame Zimbaba in nineteen eighty. So,

(11:02):
you know, I played essentially every sport growing up, but
I went to boarding school when I was eleven twelve,
and we were made to play every sport every day.
So there was no day, no afternoon where you didn't
play at least two sports during the week. So yeah,
we worked hard, right. Rugby was my first love, and

(11:23):
that's what I wanted to do the you know, past
high school. I blew my knee out ACL playing high
school rugby my senior year and that kind of put
paid to that. So I came to the States on
a scholarship. I spent the first year rehabbing, went to
De Paul my first year and they were the only
ones that gave me a scholarship. With a torn ACL.
I walked on at North Carolina a year or two

(11:45):
and worked some jobs and did some things to pay
the bills, maybe under the table, I don't know, I
don't remember that far back, and just made it work right,
And so I got it done and ran at Carolina
for a couple of years, turned pro and then had
a decent pro career that was fairly short lived. In

(12:05):
two thousand and I tore my achilles about seventy percent
of the way through and that kind of ended my career.
And my coach, Terry Long, who was the head coach
at Florida State at the time, was also coaching Kim Batton,
who was world record holder in the foreign hurdle, so
and he kept telling me I should be a coach,
and I kept telling him I didn't want to coach.

(12:26):
It wasn't what I wanted to do, right, I was
going to go be Olympic champ and make millions of
dollars and do all this stuff. And anyway, I started
coaching in two thousand and one as a volunteer, and
in two thousand and three he retired, Bob Brayman took over,
and no one would take the job for twenty seven grand.
So there I was, and sort of the rest is history.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Top with you fascinating. I didn't know that you went
to the Paul head of coming over. What was it.
What was that experience like for you in terms of
coming from Zimbabwe. Maybe not necessarily getting recruited by a lot,
but I mean we talked to some coaches that are
recruiting international students and stuff, and you know, we know

(13:11):
as just domestic students. Sometimes going three hours away from
home can be a big shock for student athletes. What
was that experience like for you? Was there a lot
of culture shock?

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, there was a ton of culture shock, right first
press spikes, I owned it was when I got to America.
You know, we ran barefoot on grass and you know,
and I was I was a good athlete growing up
in a place where sports was very important to day
to day life for those of us who got to
do it right. But the vast majority of the people
in my country are poor. I grew up very blessed

(13:45):
in a I don't want to say we were wealthy,
but we weren't poor either, right, but in a in
a country that was that is poor, we were well off.
And I think when I got to the States, you know,
it was before cell phones, an email and that kind
of stuff. I was writing letters to my mom and
telling her how, you know, how the day was going
or the month was going to whatever. And they arrived

(14:07):
three four weeks later, So it was definitely a culture shock.
I think the people were were very different to what
I was used to right, you go to go to
school in Chicago, where there's there were more people in
the city of Chicago than they were in my country
when I arrived, So that was a huge culture shock.
But I will tell you this. I came over with

(14:29):
one of my best friends, Robbed. She is where we
both went to the Paul together. And if there's one thing,
you know when you grow up in a country like that,
you know how to work hard. And at the end
of the day, I tell the group this all the time.
I'm like, if it's hard, I'm excited because that just
negated ninety nine percent of the people, right, They're not
willing to work hard. So I reduced the field that

(14:53):
I'm up against. So yeah, it was a culture shock,
I think it was. It was interesting he's black, I'm white.
We came over together, so that was also an interesting deal.
Right now, you're from Africa, you're white, you must be racist? No,
clearly not. So yeah, there were some things, but the
opportunity was such a blessing, right, Like, how do you

(15:14):
grow up in this poor little country and you get
a chance to come over here and have somebody to
pay for your education, and you know, people are willing
to pay you to coach track and field and change
people's lives. So you know, I think there whatever we
brought to the to the team that we were on
was maybe nothing more than perspective on how good it

(15:35):
is here. And I think we we like to or
I like to continue to have international athletes for that
sole reason, right, not just because they can run fast,
but because they bring perspective and and a different viewpoint
on the world.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
And so as a as an international human I guess
or living in America, as a international coach, I should say, sorry,
are you doing? You know, some of the coaches we've
talked to the use things like I think it's called
sport book scholar book. But being from Zimbabwe and I'm

(16:11):
sure you have some connections, are you doing a lot
of that recruiting on your own and making those connections?

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah? Look, I think you know, running track professionally for
six or seven years, you sort of met somebody from
a connections, right, So you know, I think there's there
are very few places where I can't call somebody up
and say, hey, can you get me in touch with
somebody who knows this athlete? Scholar book is a fantastic,

(16:38):
fantastic business. They do a great job. We have utilized
them mostly for sort of Kenyans and people like that.
I recruited favor Ash when I was at Tennessee, who
ran you know, nine ninety nine for me there and
then nine ninety four here at Auburn, And then every
Nigerian that I've recruited has been a word of mouth deal, right, Like,

(17:00):
I don't want to just go recruit a young person
because they ran a fast time. I want to know
they're a decent human being. I want to know that
they're going to come over here and work hard. And
especially with the African kids, my group will tell them
that if you're coming here and you're not going to
present well for our continent, you're not going to make

(17:20):
coach very happy. So I think there's there's a lot
of honesty in the recruiting. You know, I went to
boarding school. We had inspection at six am every single morning.
Right Every wrinkle in your bed was one hour's manual labor.
So so when you come to Auburn, right, like, know

(17:42):
what you're getting yourself into. You know, and and I
mean I have no problem sitting in somebody's house and
you know, telling them and their parents like, this is
how we're going to do business. Right, I don't do missus,
I don't do late for class. If those things become
a problem, then we'll meet the stadium at five am
and we'll stairs until you can make it to class
on time. So it's just the way of life.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
Could you mentioned having to write a letter to your
mom right, talking to wherever every couple of weeks. And
obviously the world is a lot smaller because of the
internet and technology. Do you think that the international students
experience is any different or them coming over they're a

(18:27):
little bit they know more about the world than you did.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, one hundred percent, right, you know. I think they're
they're very aware. There's there's a certain level of comfort
for them coming over because they they have the ability
to talk to athletes that are on the team already, right,
the athletes that can tell them everything about what coach is, like,
what's he like on a good day, what's he like

(18:51):
on a bad day, what are his expectations, what's he
going to do for you? How's he going to treat
you on a given day. So I think that information
is hugely important. That being said, you know Israel, the Oconn,
the young Sprinder we have where his parents live, there's
no electricity, Like their house does not have electricity. Okay,
So some of that I think is very similar to

(19:13):
what we were used to. Certainly, when I arrived in
Chicago January two, nineteen ninety two, I had no idea
there was a lake there, Okay, like I didn't know.
I mean, he coach literally said, you have to open
a bank account if you walk three blocks towards the lake.
And I'm like, what are you talking about? What lake?
There's like four feet of snow on the ground. I've

(19:35):
never seen snow before. It doesn't get below fifty degrees
where I grew up, so you know, it was very different.
But yes, they watsapp has changed the world. FaceTime has
changed the world. I could walk around the track and
you know, take an athlete in South Africa on a
day tour of what we do and how we do

(19:55):
it right, So it's fantastic changed the world in our
sense for sure.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
In your experience or your athletes experience, especially when you
have kids coming over that don't have electricity, do you
ever find that it's sensory overload or they're not used
to process food, and you know they're not running well
because they're eating they like candy too much. Do you
ever have issues like that? Did you ever have issues
like that?

Speaker 1 (20:24):
You know I didn't. I was very blessed. My dad
is six foot four, he's eighty one this year. He
weighs a buck eighty five. He still mows the yard
with a pushmower. Right. My mom is five to eleven.
She weighs a buck thirty eight. And so I got
blessed genetically. I've never had to put on or watch

(20:44):
my diet right. In fact, I'm the other way. I gotta.
I have to go to the gym to keep weight on.
But yeah, we've definitely had some athletes. Look, if you
grow up in a third world country, you triple the
amount of meals you eat in a day when you
get to the States, right, just on on average. So yes,
I think that is a definite possibility. I think one

(21:04):
of the great things about building a program like we
did here. When I arrived there was no sprint program.
I brought favor with me. Favorite taught Ajai in year
two how to deal with the food and all the
stuff that you're talking about. Right, the Internet, the amount
of people on college campuses, all those kinds of things.
And then a GI is now taught Israel. So you know,

(21:27):
we definitely work on a buddy system. And you know,
I think the whether it's the kids from one country
or it's the international kids at one university, they definitely
look out for each other. And that's not just at Auburn.
I think that's everywhere.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
Coach you mentioned in your buddy system and guys looking
out for one another. But also we know sometimes in
a high level program where you have a lot of
top notch people, whether it's on the wrestling matter or
on the track, sometimes can be get too competitive. Is
that do the guys Do the guys play nicer and
they feed off of each other or does it get

(22:06):
a little too competitive sometimes?

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yeah, there's there's definitely no play nice in my group,
so they go they go hard. Man. I'm uh, I'll
be honest. The group I had this year I think
outworked every group I've ever had. And Jacoby Tharp is
probably the one guy that he's the spark right, Like,

(22:29):
there's nothing that's not a competition for him. It doesn't
matter if it's box jumps at five am on Friday morning,
or it's accelerations on you know, Tuesday afternoon. He's trying
to win everything every day, all the time, probably why
we get along pretty well. I'm also trying to win
everything all the time every day, and but I think

(22:51):
we have brought people into our group that are like minded,
so nobody is, you know, is bent out of shape
because of that. I think they all feed off of it.
And one of the great things about our team is
we've got people from all over in different events, and
so we're not exactly fighting each other every day for

(23:12):
a spot on the US Olympic team, right, so there
is a lot of sort of camaraderie there. And you know,
if you're running well, that means I'm also in shape.
So yeah, they go at it. It's a lot of.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Fun, I'd imagine, because at the end of the day
there's only four spots for that four by what team
you got.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, look, you know the last two years, right, like
we won last year without favor ash, like the NCB
a runner up and the hundred didn't run a fall
by one, and then this year Israel was seventh as
an eighteen year old and he didn't run either and
that fall by one is definitely a chemistry deal for me,
and I think people earn an opportunity beyond there, not
necessarily because they're the fastest in a certain event, but

(23:55):
because they fit the bill in terms of what the
job is. So yeah, it's but everybody's trying to get
on it, that's for sure. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Can you talk a little bit more about that chemistry
because you know, here in the United States, we've been
notorious for not being able to get the stick around
the track at major championships, and you know, from an
outside distance runner perspective, it's either like, oh, they're not
training enough together or maybe there's too many egos amongst

(24:24):
those four people. Can you elaborate a little bit on
that what you're looking for in that chemistry?

Speaker 1 (24:30):
Yeah, Look, for me, it truly comes down to are
you willing to do the work like we We definitely
train a lot right in terms of doing fall by
one handoffs, and it's not always the traditional let's go
out and blast some exchanges you know every day, right,
We do a lot of tandem stuff where we run
in a straight line and hand off three times in
a ninety meters stretch. We do a lot of work

(24:52):
where maybe it's not full speed stuff, but we're just
trying to get used to the what the guy in
front of me is doing. We talk a lot about
the incoming runner being in control of an exchange, right
the incoming runner is the one that can see what's
going on. The outgoing runner just needs to take off
at the right time. And that's all you have to do, right,
listen to instructions. So, yeah, we moved stuff around a

(25:15):
lot last year. So my first year here, we didn't
even have enough sprinters to really put together a fall
by one. And last year we actually the team that
ran at secs had favor on it. We took him
off for regionals. We didn't run great at regionals, but
I flip flopped the first two legs when we went
to Nationals and we ran school record in the prelims

(25:36):
and then you know, third fastest time in the NAA
history and in the final. So I think you're always
sort of playing with the chemistry there, moving things around
and trying to figure it out. And you know, much
like your basketball coach, your football coach, you're moving the
pieces on the chessboard trying to figure it out and
It can be a lot of fun when you've got

(25:58):
a group of young people that all have the same goal.
Uh and and ultimately, you know, I think that's what
we've created, is a group that's all headed in the
same direction. They all want to be in the same place,
but not just be there, but be there together. And
and I think that that only happens when you've got

(26:20):
people on the team that are highly motivated, highly competitive,
but also willing to bring people along with them. And
that's that's all about recruiting. Man, You've got to bring
the right people in.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
And are they all all those gentlemen? They're all coming
back next year, right?

Speaker 1 (26:36):
Yeah? The only the only one we lose is MAKA,
the big two hundred guy, so he's done with eligibility.
But we've we've signed a good group, so we're excited
about next year.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
Okay, Well, you guys finished fourth this year overall, you
got on the podium. How how was that for you? Little?

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah? Man, I'm hard to please. Look that I tell
people when I start recruit, And the first thing I
tell them is I'm hard to please. Right, I'm I'm
always looking for something to be better and to do
things at the next level. And that's not just on
the track, that's everywhere, right. Like my wife is the
former head coach at Dartmouth and was the associate head

(27:15):
of Penn for for eight or ten years, and she
does all the media training with the guys, and you know,
she does a fantastic job. She organized the entire trip
to Europe and booked every hotel and flight and all
that kind of stuff. So we're truly a team. And
it's not just about what you do on the track,
but it's it's everything, right, Like we're trying to be
the best we can be. So the fourth place trophy

(27:37):
was disappointing for me. I felt like we were better
than that, felt like we could could really vie for
a national championship, but knowing that we had to be
perfect in order to get there. And you know, the
sort of first two miracles were the fall by one
and then Jacobe winning the hurdles, and the hundred wasn't great.

(27:57):
You know, it felt like a Gi was the best
guy there. I think the cold weather really affected the
two Nigerians. They're just they're not used to that. They
obviously rank great in the prelims when it was eighty
five degrees and then not so great when I was
fifty five. So so yeah, a little disappointed. You know,
our goal every year is to win, and I think
we're we're putting together a team that can be there

(28:19):
every time. But everywhere I've been, we've taken a program
where it was in the fifties or sixties, and in
two or three years we've gotten to a point where
we can win trophies. The hardest part is to stay
there and be consistent, because that's the way to win titles.
So but look, it was a fantastic meat. You can't

(28:40):
be mad at it, right. You take six guys there
and you get thirty five points and you sort of
walk away and you're disappointed, and then you wake up
Monday morning you're like, I can be disappointed, but man,
I got to give these guys credit. They did a
fantastic job.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
So Coach Burrow come over, put his arm around you,
tell you everything's going to be all right.

Speaker 1 (28:59):
Yeah, he brings it so I can cry in it
in private. Right, So he's like, you know, sort of
gives me an ice cream. He's like, you'll feel better tomorrow,
you know that kind of thing. So but yeah, look it's.

Speaker 4 (29:10):
Tough, man, you You you spend ten months getting ready
for that one meet, and everybody has goals and nobody
wants to let the team down, and so you go
there with these, you know, incredibly high expectations and.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
You know, heck you, how do you come out of
that meat and not be happy with thirty five points
out of six guys? So you know, you you have
to treat them the way you would treat your son
and your daughter, right, like give them credit for what
they've done and then talk about how we can come
back and do it better next time.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
Coach you mentioned coach Burrell bringing the towel to cry
into Can you talk a little bit about the dynamic
and the relationship you have with him and how you
two work together.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yeah, Look, Coach Broll's fantastic, right it It is quite
something to coach Sprinston hurdles and relays in front of
a guy who held the world record as the fastest
man on the planet and won gold medals on the
relay and you know, medals at World Championships and one
hundred and stuff like that. So you said it the

(30:17):
whole time. I'm like, man, I hope I'm not making
this guy. I think I'm an idiot, right, Like I
hope I'm doing this right. I hope I'm doing things
the right way. But no, it's been fantastic. He you know,
we our whole staff got let go at Tennessee and
Coach Burrell got the job here and actually sent him
a congratulatory message on Twitter at the time, and I

(30:38):
was just like, hey, man, look, if you know you
need a guy to move hurdles, like I'm unemployed, so
have let me know. And then about a week ten
days later, he said, sends me this message, He's like, hey,
were you serious. I'm like, man, I'm dead serious, Like
I'm unemployed, like I literally need a job. And so
he called me up and he's like, you know, would
you consider being the men's sprints coach and being the

(30:59):
associate head coach. And I'm like, I'll be there tomorrow afternoon.
And I was there the next afternoon. So he's fantastic
to work for.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
He's really let me sort of get in my groove
and do what, you know, things I want to do
and things that that are my way. And you know,
I've tried to to do things the way I think
he would like to see them done and be consistent
and and sort of take a little page out of uh,
you know, the Santa Monica track Club. You know, they

(31:29):
just had this fantastic group and everybody was running fast. So,
you know, trying to make him proud every day. But yeah,
I mean without him, I may be out of coaching.
So it's it's been a blessing.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
So you've been coaching for twenty four years, your five
time NTA a Assistant Coach of the Year. Yeah, yeah,
I wasn't going to go for that.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
You know better than I've said enough that I it
just rolls off my tongue at this point.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
I know Rich knows from doing this podcast from being
coaches ourselves. There's a big difference between. You know, if
you're head coach, you're you're dealing with expense reports, You're
you're dealing you're dealing with more than the excess and ohs,
is being a head coach anything you've ever wanted to do?
Or do you do you like kind of playing in
the sandbox with with the athletes.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
No, it's definitely something I'd like to do. Look everywhere
everywhere that I've coached, I feel like I've I've grown
in terms of what I do for the program. Right Like,
Coach Burrell got here and he's like, all right, look,
you're the recruiting coordinator. You're actually going to order all
the Nike gear. You're going to do compliance, You're going
to do housing, You're going to do all the international recruiting.

(32:48):
You're going to take care of the facility. I am
going to raise money. I'm going to deal with the politics.
You're going to do the budget, you know what I mean. So,
and that's been great for me. I've learned a ton,
and I've done all of those things at different places.
I've never done all of those things at one place,
So I think it's being great. I think he is

(33:11):
the type of person you work for who wants you
to go on to bigger and better things. He doesn't
want you to just stay here because you're here, right Like,
so he understands that, Yes, I'd like to be a
head coach at some point, but yeah, if I ever
get that chance, then then I will still be the
guy who coaches. Right at the end of the day,

(33:33):
I think if you if you sat down and talked
to the athletes I coached at Florida State twenty four
years ago. With the athletes I've coached, you know this year,
they will tell you that no matter what, I'm there,
I'm available. I'm mom and dad away from home, no
matter how far away home is. Right. So the role
we play is not just to make you run fast

(33:55):
and turn left. It's it's truly about more than that,
and I want to see you go out into the
world be successful. We do a lot more than just
talk about track and field. So once a week I
walk out to the track and I throw a question
out right, what's the most important question in the world.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
This was.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
The week before Nationals, and everybody looks at me like
I'm an idiot, right, Like, what do you talk about?
I'm like, Well, for me, the most important question in
the world is what's in it for me? Because that
determines the person in front of you and what their
end goal is in your relationship with them. Right. There
are very few people in the world that come to
you and become part of your life that don't care

(34:36):
what's in it for them. And when you find those people,
you want to hang on to them. So we talk
about that. We do a real estate class once a
year where we talk about investing your money properly and
things like that. Right, real estate was something I did
my whole pro career. My brother and I end up
with a bunch of rental properties and housed a bunch
of the athletes on the team, which was fantastic. Right,

(34:57):
knew where my rent check was coming every month. So
you know, we were trying to do more than just
make you run fast, truly trying to make you a
successful person. You know, in the afterlife when track and
field's done.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
Well, coach, when you have that real estate a class
and rich and I call will hop on the zoom.
We want to sit in for that.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Ye please?

Speaker 3 (35:20):
You mentioned ordering uniforms, doing the recruiting, doing the budget.
What part of your job, doing that extra stuff that's
not the coaching, do you enjoy and what part do
you put off to the end.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
I'll be honest, I it's probably the same, right, Like
I love ordering all the gear, and then I hate
ordering all the gear. Right, Like, you know, Sally comes
in and she's like, you know, I throw at the
discus and I'm five to eleven and I weigh a
buck forty and that's what I was in high school.
And you ordered gear for Sally, and then Sally sophomore year,

(35:58):
she's done a really good job in the weight room.
She's won sixty five and she's six foot one, and
I'm like, I didn't order gear for you, Like I
ordered gear for the old Sally, right, not the new Sally.
So no, the gear is fantastic. It also gives me
a chance to really get to know every kid on
the team, right because I'm literally handing out gear and

(36:21):
ordering gear for every single athlete, So I have a
relationship with every single person. And I think in our sport,
a lot of times coaches end up being so insular
they don't even know the athletes on the other, you know,
in the other event areas. So I feel like that's
given me an opportunity. You know, Rich asked me about
a teammate that I had my freshman year and I

(36:42):
didn't know who they were. They're a distance athlete. And
that's probably the biggest change in my life as I've
gone through the sport is I want to have a
relationship with everybody on the team. I don't want it
to just be the group I coach. So while sometimes
I hate ordering gear, I love ordering gear.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
Coach. You are four hundred meter hurdler. You work with
sprinters and hurdlers. Now, is there an event outside of
those that, no matter what's going on in the meat,
you have to go and draw your attention to that
particular event.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
Ooh, that's a good one. Discus is one of my favorites.
I worked with Dorian Scott was I throws coach at
Florida State for a while, and he was a three
time Olympian for Jamaica in the shot put, and he
coached a number of really great discus throwers, and so
I love watching the discus, specifically the women's discus. It

(37:39):
is just a fantastic event to watch. So you will,
unless I'm warming somebody up on the warm up track,
you will find me watching the women's discus at every meet.
So it's a lot of fun to watch. And it's probably,
to be honest with you, the only meat I'll go
into the stadium, or the only event that I'll go
into the stadium to watch. I don't watch any of

(38:00):
the races. I generally stayed in the warm up area,
so you know, and I'll find out about it later on.
Everybody comes to me like this, happened. That happened, YadA, YadA, YadA,
and I'm like, cool, but I'm warming up the hurdlers,
so let's uh, let's keep things moving. So but women's
disc is probably my favorite.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
So you weren't in the stadium when you won the
four by one?

Speaker 1 (38:19):
No? Wow? Wow? Well I could Honestly, I couldn't be
right because Obi was was warming up for the hurdles
and then a giant Israel came back out and we
we did two block starts and then they went back
in and then Maco was warming up, and so yeah,
it just I don't know, it works out that way.
And there's a there's always a number of coaches that

(38:41):
you'll find that don't go inside. And it's not because
we don't want to see it. It's just sort of
part of the deal.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Okay. Cool. I'm curious from a from a training perspective.
You know, there's a lot of coaches strength and conditioning
all that stuff at the bigger schools, for sure, how
much involvement in terms of the strength and conditioning. I'm
assuming you're probably doing all of the biometric stuff. Are

(39:08):
you working with the strength and conditioning coaches? Do you
have a hand in that as well.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Yeah, look, we two years ago we hired Tyler Gay.
He's he's a strength coach. He was at Arkansas and
then he went to Washington State and he worked with
with track and field at both places, and without a doubt,
the biggest reason for what we've done over the last
two years is is coach Tyler right, Like, he's just fantastic,

(39:37):
not just because he makes them strong, but because they
they lift athletically, they lift to be better on the track,
not to make him feel like he made them strong.
And you know he's not sort of this this guy
who's like, well, my guy bench press X number of pounds, right,
It's it's truly about what we do on the track.
So he's been fantastic. I've had some some brilliant spring

(40:00):
coaches over the years. We were as far as date
we won national championships. Tyler Peacock was our strength coach there.
He actually has a gym down near IMG in Florida,
has had athletes on every Junior Olympic lifting team for
the last decade. Does an amazing job down there. I
think it's full circle performance. When we were at Georgia,

(40:25):
Katrine was our she's the head the Olympic Sports strength
coach there. She was in sobel At champion in the
discuss at Indiana. She's German, she was unbelievable. Barry Kine
at Tennessee and then Tyler here. So I've truly been
blessed with great people that were always willing to maneuver
around how we did things on the track as opposed

(40:48):
to how they did things in the weight room, you know,
And I think that's huge, right, It's got to be complementary.
And when you when you find that strength coach that's
just sort of stays in the in the weight room
and never comes to the track, then you've probably found
the wrong one. Right.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
I'm curious for an athlete who his hometown, his parents
don't have electricity, is doing Olympic weightlifting a bit of
an adjustment period.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
Israel definitely had an adjustment period and us too, right,
Like you know, when he arrived here he was still seventeen.
So one of the great parts about Tyler has been
that he didn't just have one way of doing things
right A zem Fami who led off the fall by
one in the Malaysian athlete. This was his first year

(41:34):
ever in the weight room. So he's run ten or
nine without ever touching a weight and we had to
teach him how to lift a broomstick, and then we
had to teach him how to lift a bar And
I say we, I mean Tyler, right, Tyler did a
fantastic job. But yeah, Israel, Israel jumped right in. He
is a brilliant athlete. He is fantastically talented. You're going

(41:56):
to hear a lot from him over the next eight
to ten years. I think he is the second most
talented sprinter I've ever coached, behind Makusha. And that's saying
a lot, right, because that means he's ahead of Walter Dickson,
he's a head of favor Ash and he's ahead of
Kendall Williams. So yeah, he's done some things.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Nice coach.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
What about Auburn institution the campus education stands out to you?

Speaker 1 (42:27):
Oh Man, fantastic question. Look, this is the best kept
secret in the South. I'm not gonna lie. And there's
a stigma because we're in the state of Alabama. But
this is a pocket of what I consider sort of
true American college campus. Right, this is what I expected

(42:50):
when I came to this country. It's a small place.
It's twenty five thousand students. You can walk to anything
you want. I can drive to any restaurant I want
in seven minutes. It is a great place to come
and get an education. It is underrated academically. If you

(43:12):
go look at the engineering school rankings and the veterinary
school rankings and things like that, they're extremely high. It's
a great institution. And everybody's like, well, where's Auburn, right?
What states that in? And look, I recruit young black
men and women, right, And so to walk into a

(43:34):
high school kid's house and say I want to bring
you to Alabama, Man, that's a tough one, right, especially
if you're from Virginia, you're from Chicago, you're from a
state like that. It's a difficult sell. Especially if that
kid is I say kid, If that young person is
good enough to go to the SEC, then they're being
recruited by Southern cal and Texas, A and M in

(43:56):
Florida and places like that. And why wouldn't you want
to go there over a school in Alabama? But I
think the opportunity to come here, get a fantastic education
and live in a true college town where I don't
have to lock my door. I can walk my dog
to the you know, to Tumor's Corner and go get

(44:16):
ice cream. It's pretty special.

Speaker 3 (44:20):
So with some of those kids that might not be
too sure and you know, they have the opportunity to
go out west. Is there a spot on campus when
you get them on for a recruiting trip that you
take them there getting a certain bite to eat somewhere,
take them to a football game, anything that you know,
if you get them to, we gotcha.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
I think it's the atmosphere in general. Right, Like there's
Heyday Market, which is a sort of spot right off
campus where it's part of the School of Hospitality where
they've got like nine different restaurants and you can walk in,
and you know, we always bring the recruits there because
you can get anything there from pizza to Mexican food
to I don't know what the balls are called, whether

(45:01):
it's like pokemon bowls or whatever. So you know, we
generally take them there, right because it's hard to please
everybody when you when you take recruits out to dinner
and you've got moms and dads and stuff like that.
So but I will tell you this, my recruiting reasoning
is that this is all about people. It's not about

(45:22):
the place, right, Like, the place is great. We have
a track, we have a weight room, we've got cold tubs,
and we've got a trainer, and we've got an academic advisor.
Everybody has that. This is about you having a relationship
with those people and those people changing your life. Uh,
those people investing in you. So when when we recruit people,

(45:43):
it's about coming to campus and getting to know the
people are going to be in your life every day.
If if you get to know Camille, who's our academic advisor,
who played basketball at a D one level, and you
feel like she's too strict or she wants you to
graduate more than you do, then you came to the
wrong place, right. But Camille is going to put her

(46:05):
heart and soul into to what you're trying to do
every day. If that means you're trying to get a's
and you're getting b she's going to help you get there.
If you're just trying to stay afloat and get seized,
she's gonna help you get there too. So it's truly
about the people. And yeah, we talk about that a lot.
You know, we're in Alabama, But we're an hour from
the Atlanta airport, so we're only twenty minutes from the

(46:26):
Georgia border. So does it really change that much. We're
actually closer to the Atlanta airport than the UGA campus. So,
you know, can you get past the stigma of living
in Alabama? And if you can, that's great. If you can't,
then we'll see you on Saturdays and we'll try to beat.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
You in twenty twenty five. Is there still a stigma
when you're recruiting about coming to Alabama?

Speaker 1 (46:51):
Yeah, yeah, I think so. I really think it is.
But look, I think if we get you to come
to campus, we've got as good a shot as anybody.
But when we bring you here, we have a good
shot because you get a chance to be around the
team and feel the vibe and get a feel for

(47:12):
what our group is trying to do on a day
to day basis, the level that they're trying to get to,
and that gives you an opportunity to say, yes, I'm
willing to be competitive like that every day with my
teammates to get to that level and push myself there.
I'm willing to be around coach who has rules right

(47:34):
and is going to regulate. I'm willing to be around
the academic advisor who is going to make sure that
coach knows if I'm five minutes late for a meeting
or whatever that is, and you're probably going to see
me show up at class and be standing outside the door,
and if you're late, then we're gonna chat about it. Right,
So it's truly about those things. And I think, yeah,

(47:56):
if we get a chance to get a young person
on campus, we've got a good opportunity to get them,
you know, to come here long term.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
Coach, I'm curious being at it for twenty four years,
you've seen a lot of different changes within the NCA,
most importantly what's been going on lately, not only with
roster caps, but also with things like nil and those
different things has and I guess even just like you
mentioned earlier about with WhatsApp, I'm sure that has changed,
Like recruiting has changed a lot from both when we

(48:28):
were athletes but also just starting off as coaching. How
have you evolved with all of that sort of stuff.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Yeah, it's it looks changing landscape, right, But look, I'll
tell you this, I'm in the minority here, but I
actually think that the roster caps and things like that
are a blessing for our sport. I think our sport
is watered down at the powerful level. I think we've

(48:58):
we've allowed it to be that. We've we've brought young
people onto campus who aren't good enough to be at
an SEC level or an ACC level or a you know,
a Big twelve level, and we've probably made their college
experience a lesser experience because of it. And I think
the roster caps are forcing us to be more of

(49:21):
a quality program. But that's also forcing talented athletes to
the next level, right to the mid majors and schools
like that, and I think that's a blessing as well.
You know, for for the time that I've been in America,
our sport is being a participation sport. We were here

(49:42):
to serve numbers, to serve to have enough sports so
that we can have a football and a basketball team,
and we don't have to be that. So I trually
think it's a blessing. I think we've put Oh, look,
we've put more money in our athletes hands, which is
also a great thing, and certainly from from an international
athlete's perspective, that's a positive. Right, when I bring a

(50:05):
young young man or a young lady over here from
a third world country and we have the team banquet,
how do they go and find enough money to buy
a suit or address for that? Right? You know you're
talking about My mom taught third grade at a public
school in Sabawe for thirty four years. Right. Her pension

(50:27):
today is seven dollars a month. That's what she got. Okay,
So we've brought these young athletes here from wherever it is,
right inner city Chicago, it's you know, the rural areas
of Nigeria, and we're going to expect them to be
comfortable in a scenario where they've got to wear a
suit or a dress or whatever at a banquet and

(50:49):
do an interview. And so I think that's a huge
positive that we've put some money in their hands to
be able to do those things. But at the end
of the day, sports is about winning, right, Sports about
being the best you can be. And I think that
at anytime we we pushed the bottom up, we helped
the top be better as well. So I think that

(51:11):
everything's positive. As long as it's not even playing field,
I'm all about it.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Would you have liked to have competed during the nil era.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
I was a walk on, so it wouldn't have mattered.
But I don't think I was getting any ni Al money.
So look, I felt my my college experience was a blessing, right, Like,
look to to come to the States and be able
to do what I love to do every day and
run track and compete, uh and get an education at

(51:40):
the same time with such a blessing that the opportunities
that's afforded me have been vast, right. I'm I've got
two children that are fantastic, and you know, I think
my my two sons have outdone themselves. They've certainly outdone
my parenting. Right. I've met the most amazing wife. I

(52:02):
live in a country where we have electricity every day
and this food on the shelves, so all of those
things are blessings. But yeah, look, I all I wanted
to do was run fast, turn left and jump over hurdle,
so it really didn't matter. So that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
Coach, you have it as a season's coach.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
Do you have any advice to your younger self? You
can say, old Jimmy, it's Okayla.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
Yeah, look, I one of my first experiences in track
and field was dealing with Walter Dix Right, one of
the greatest sprinters in its suble a history, still the
collegiate record holder in the two hundred from two thousand
and seven, and he probably taught me the most important

(52:50):
lesson that I'd tell every young coach, and that was
that when they do well, it's because they're great, and
when they do poorly, it's because you messed up as
a coach, right, And and if you're willing to believe
and understand that early in your career, you will be
a lot more successful because it goes back to the
root of the whole thing. Right, So it's not about me,
it's about them, So you know, keep their confidence level up,

(53:15):
take the hits on myself. I'm your bulletproof vest, right,
I'll take them all and have some humility. So when
I was a volunteer coach at Florida State, we I
gotta tell a story here. So we were sitting in
the office and Coach Long said, I have twenty twenty
plane tickets to go to the conference meet in Virginia.

(53:35):
And Dennis Nobles, who was the jumps coach, and Harlest
Meadows of the throws. Coach, we went to lunch and
we scored the meet and we decided that we took
twenty four guys, we could win and Florida State never
won an ACC title before. So we go back in
the office and we're like, hey, Coach Long, we need
to take twenty four guys, and he's like, we don't
have the budget for that, we're not taking it. So
I volunteered to drive to Virginia from Tallahassee and bring

(53:58):
the trainers with me. And that's where the bus driver began.
Right though, So when when people tell me well done,
I just tell them I'm a bus driver. It's all
the athletes glory. So I think if if you're going
to get into the coaching realm, understand it's not about you.
It's it's truly about them, a man coach.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
Is there anything that we haven't spoken on about the program,
the sprints, hurdles you college that you want to address
to our audience.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
No, I think you guys have covered everything right, you know, truthfully. Look,
you know rich sh at the beginning about young people
that are getting recruited or looking to be recruited and
things like that, and I really think that if you
if you scrape away all the stuff and you and
you meet the people and look at the people, then
then I think you make a really good decision. At
the end of the day. If you're there for the

(54:50):
bells and whistles, then you probably made the wrong decision,
because what makes your life great every day, or what
makes your life not so great every day, is the
people that you come in contact with. So, but no,
you guys have covered everything. I'm not sure anybody wants
to hear any more about my third world experience.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
Well, please forgive me for calling Auburn a college. It
is a university. No, are you good anything else searched
before we get in the final four?

Speaker 2 (55:19):
Let's do the final four?

Speaker 3 (55:21):
All right, coach? Are you a coffee drinker?

Speaker 1 (55:24):
Absolutely yes, but I only drink coffee as a transport
for sugar, because really all I care about the sugar.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
All right, So let's hear it. How do you brew
your coffee and how do you take it?

Speaker 1 (55:37):
So my Starbucks order is a Venti pike with an
inch and a half of cream and twenty sugars. Yeah,
that's a problem.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
Is that breakfast and launch?

Speaker 1 (55:48):
That's four coffees? Before lunch, and I don't drink anything
after afternoon.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
You do that four times?

Speaker 1 (55:54):
Yeah, look, yeah, right, like an earn of coffee at
five am for us to prepare for inspection at six
in boarding school, and then we'd get coffee at breakfast,
and then we get tea that was laden with sugar
at like breaking between classes. And so it's a it's

(56:15):
a problem. But but if I have a vice, it's
definitely sugar.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
Okay, Well, we're going to get to that, coach. Do
you have any daily practices or ritual as you do
on a regular basis to show up as the strongest
version of Ken Harden?

Speaker 1 (56:29):
Yeah, I make a concerted effort to always be on
time and always give one hundred percent. And and I
feel like if if I can do those things, then
then the group of young people around me has an
opportunity to follow suit.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
Right.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
And you know, I learned those things from my dad.
My dad worked very very hard growing up in Zimbabwe
and became a very successful businessman at a very high
level there, and and those are the things that that
he instilled in us. Look, he told me when I
was ten that he would respect me this much if

(57:07):
I went to high school. But he'd respect me this
much if I went to boarding school when I went
to high school, right like that, that he valued the
lessons I would learn there, And what we learned in
boarding school was those two things. Right beyond time, give
one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
Coach, What are you listening to right now?

Speaker 2 (57:24):
Music? Podcasts, audio books?

Speaker 3 (57:27):
Are you reading anything?

Speaker 1 (57:29):
So yeah, I read a fair amount, but most of
it's sort of get rich books, right, like stories about
you know, people making millions and things like that. Like
I enjoy stuff like that. I really enjoy investing into
real estate and doing those kinds of things. I think
long term success is the way to set your children

(57:51):
up for, you know, for successful life, So we do
that stuff. I like to listen to podcasts. My two
boys live in Tallahasseee, so I spend some time in
the car going back and forth for basketball games and
things like that. So do a lot of podcasts, and
most of it's obviously coaching stuff.

Speaker 3 (58:07):
So yeah, right, you want a tall coach, but you're
as far as real estate or your investments.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
So, coach, I've been telling people for a very long time,
when if and when I ever have the ability to
do some investing or I tell people that are young
athletes that look like they're on a good trajectory when
they do start making money to make investments. My three
are laundry mats, self service car washes, and parking structures.

Speaker 1 (58:33):
Yes, no, you're one hundred percent right, You're one hundred
percent right. Look, I when when I was running pro track,
I told myself that I was going to own a restaurant,
a laundromat, a cleaning service, and a yard service because
I hated doing those four things, right, So I wanted
to own a business so I didn't have to do
any of them. So yeah, I'm one hundred percent with you. Look,

(58:55):
I like the real estate route. I think that no
matter what the economy he's doing, people will be in
college people were paying rent. So if you're buying real
estate around a college, that you're always going to be successful, right. Like,
It's it's not a short term quick, you know, get
rich quick scheme, but it's a long term. It's a
great thing to do. But most importantly for young people

(59:18):
who come into a significant amount of money because they
turn pro it's also an opportunity to put money where
you can't spend it.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
That's that in and of itself is so valuable for
young athletes to have that access to that information and
warms my heart to know that you have those kind
of talks and classes with with the kids. That's that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Yeah, it's a lot of fun. They come up with
good questions when we do it too, so I think
I think they're really bought in.

Speaker 2 (59:44):
Good coach. Last one is a lighthearted one to close
it out. You mentioned your your sugar habit. Do you
have a guilty pleasure? And if it is sugar, what
specifically is it? Is it ice cream? Is it candy?

Speaker 1 (59:57):
It's it's all of the above. It's any thing that's sweet.
I mean, like, yes, a lot of candy. I don't
know if you remember Karen Harvey. She was our distance
coach at Florist Date for a long time. She bet
me one time that I couldn't eat an entire bag
of laffy Taffy's in one day, and I got through
fifty two of them and attracked meat. So, but it's

(01:00:20):
truly everything. I'll be honest if I will, I will
admit to having two vices. I love to go fishing
and it's the one thing that will control my add
and calm me down. I'm definitely a workaholic, But like
the light switch goes goes off when I fish, and

(01:00:40):
I can just be very calm and I don't need
sugar and I can just be very very chill. So
but yeah, so when the light switches is on and
it's sugar, and when it's off that it's fishing.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Okay, were we doing freshwater, saltwater, all the above?

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
Well, I grew up in a landlocked country, so mostly fresh.
I like to ass fish over here. I have fish.
I will fly fish. Zimbabwe is very high, right, so
we're five thousand feet above sea level at the capitol,
but we get almost to eight thousand feet, so we
trout fish quite often there. But we also have tigerfish
in the Zambezi Valley. We we have most of the

(01:01:19):
tilapia that you buy in the store is actually farmed
in Zimbabwe. So we've got a big sort of eight
nine pound bream which tastes really good.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
So yeah, I had a whole bag of it in
the freezer right now.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
Yeah, I go look where it's where it's where it's
it's grown. Yeah, something new every day there you go.

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
Yeah, do you catch a release or you're you're eating too?

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
No, all catch and release over here. I don't trust
what people put on their lawns, whereas you know at
home there's there's very little of that. No one can
you know If it's fertilizer, it's because of whatever animals
came through. That's fertilizer. We got so but yeah, so,
but I do enjoy a morning of bass fishing. It's

(01:02:01):
very calming.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
You've been fishing them much of this summer, No, because
we've been traveling.

Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
Yeah. Yeah. My eldest unfortunately got the itch as well,
so he I went and picked them up yesterday. That
was why we couldn't do the zoom yesterday. So tomorrow
morning early we'll be we'll be at the lake.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
Nice, okay, very cool. Last one? Do you get home often?

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Man? Not as often as I like. Yeah, it is.
It's a long way to go.

Speaker 3 (01:02:31):
Uh So.

Speaker 1 (01:02:32):
I took my boys there a few years back, and
they absolutely loved it. There were ninety four guys that
started boarding school together in nineteen eighty six. They're ninety
two of them on a group group text currently.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
And so every day is a memory of something where
one of us did something stupid, but we did some
crazy stuff. So it is the most beautiful place. It
is wrecked by bad politicians, but it is. It is
truly a fantastic place. And honestly, the people there are

(01:03:09):
just salt of the earth, just great people. And so yeah,
I don't get home as much as I would like to,
but unfortunately missed my thirty year reunion because of COVID.
But hopefully we'll get back. Planning a trip for Christmas,
so get a chance to go home for two weeks
then and see some friends and family, So it'll be cool, cool. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
Out of that ninety two, is there a lot that
are still still there?

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
A lot? Yeah, Yeah, about about a third are still there, right,
and obviously, you know, some of them are professional hunting
guides and some of them are living in the country
but working outside and doing things like that. Look, it's
a fantastic place to live. It is a difficult place
to live, but still home. So yeah, it's Look, the

(01:04:04):
our rugby team plays Falcon School, which is our biggest rival,
you know, obviously twice a year we go there and
then they come to us, and so there's always a
bigger reunion than most of the guys find a way
to have a beer or two, so we we have
a good time. So it'd be nice to go home
for that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:23):
Cool coach Harden, thank you so much for your time
this sear and then really enjoyed this conversation and all
the information you brought to our audience. So thank you
for joining the area bros. Tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
Thank you so much for having me. This fantastic that
was kind of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
Yeah, it was a real real honor and pleasure. Really,
Jimmy said, I enjoyed this like learning about your your
background and hearing about the program. And we we do
really appreciate someone of your notoriety and credentials taking an
opportunity to sit down with these two shmos from New Jersey.

(01:04:58):
So it's been an honor to pleasure.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
Well, thank you for having me. My wife is from
New Jersey, so I hold New Jersey in high regard.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
So okay, well you have to ask her if it's
pork Roll or Taylor Ham.

Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
All right, I'll let you know.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
Absolutely where New Jersey is.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
You're from Central so yeah, that's where we're from. Yeah,
so's she's a tarheel as.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
Well, okay was she She's a track athlete, obviously.

Speaker 1 (01:05:23):
Yeah, she ran track at Carolina a couple of years
after me. So Portia Dobson was her maiden name. So
she was a pretty good hurdler in her day.

Speaker 2 (01:05:32):
Yeah, I remember that name. Yeah, so I graduated in
ninety four.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
Okay, all right, so you and I are the same.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Yeah yeah, awesome. All right, ladies and gentlemen. That is
coach Ken Harden. Go check those links in the show notes.
Go give the Alburn Tigers Track and Field men's track
and field team some love. Let him know the area,
Bro Senta. That is all for us this week. We
will be back Brighton early on Monday morning. Luca Madeo
is joining us. He's going to be filling us in

(01:05:59):
how the under twenty three European Championships went for him
in the ten thousand meters. And then on Wednesday we'll
be talking with Joe Alaher and we're going to be
going back on the mats. We're going to be talking
a little jiu jitsu. So enjoy the rest of your week,
enjoy your weekend, and we'll see you back here Monday morning.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Grit, Gold & the Grind: Coach Ken Harnden on Sprint Culture at Auburn

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

The Joe Rogan Experience

All Episodes

Grit, Gold & the Grind: Coach Ken Harnden on Sprint Culture at Auburn

Stuff You Should Know