Indiana Wesleyan XC: From NAIA Powerhouse to 2025 National Champions w/ Coach Brody Beiler

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

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Ladies and gentlemen, howdy and aloha, we are here, you
were there and you were now rocking with the best.
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Aery Bros. Radio.
Tonight we're leasing up with coach Brody biler headcross country
coach of Indiana Wesleyan University, one of the premiere programs
in the NAIA. But before we get rolling, you all
know the drill hammer that like button. Make sure you

(00:41):
are subscribed on YouTube, drop a comment, every view, review,
and share helps us grow and get back to the
sports we love. And let's not forget this episode is
fueled by a Black Sheep Endurance for all your ultra
marathon coaching and nutrition needs. And we're here again as
always to shine a light on the programs, coaches and
athletes we wish we had access to when we were

(01:01):
growing up and going through the recruiting process. If you
love college running, college coaching, culture and stories about programs building,
this one is for you. On so Tonight's guest. As
I mentioned coach Bertie Biler at Indiana Wesleyan University. He
is the head coach. He took over in twenty twenty
four after thirty seven year head coach John Foss retired.

(01:24):
He's a former assistant coach at Grand Canyon University. He
coached all whack athletes seven straight indoor plus three outdoor
whack titles as an athlete who's an NCAA AL American
in the eight hundred All MAC Track Athlete of the
Year at Messiah as well as the two time asun
XC champion at Lipscomb. Without further ado, it is honor

(01:46):
pleasure to have you joining us this evening. We do
greatly appreciate your tone time. Coach Builer, welcome to the show.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Thank you. This is great. I appreciate it a lot.
That has a fun, fun platform that you guys have.
It's gonna be a great, great time tonight.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Well, we're excited for coach. Before we get too far
into it, anything you would like to put plug or
promote share anywhere we can send recruits maybe parents that
have questions. Anything you got going on the floor is yours.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, that's great. Our social media right now has been
really like the best platform to kind of get an
insight for culture, for the ins and outs of what
it's like to be a wildcat here at in the
en a Wesleyan. And so that Instagram is iwu xc
t F So that's the Instagram, and then Facebook as well,
and then yeah, if there's any questions, my email is

(02:37):
just a great, great contact and so we can get
you connected to either an assistant coach or the right person.
So it's just first name, last name. So Brody b
r O d y dot biler b e I l
e r at i n d w E s dot
e du.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
So that's great, awesome, and we will put all that
stuff in the show notes for you, coach. One of
the things we like to do before we get into
it as well as we like to create through lines
and just connect with our guests, but also make the
world a little bit smaller over here. This may hit,
it may not, but we're going to go for it anyway.
You spent some time at Lipscomb. One of our former
guests is coach Nick Polk. Did you guys cross pass

(03:13):
on there?

Speaker 3 (03:15):
No way?

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yes, I was coached by Coach Polk. He was he
came in my senior year, so yeah, I got to
actually be the captain on that team. And that was
the last team, the men's team that won the ACEUN championship.
Hopefully they can change that this upcoming weekend I think
is their ACEN championship. But yeah, twenty nineteen were ason champs.
And so coach Polk's been been a mentor in my

(03:38):
life and yeah, somebody that I've been able to pick
his brain. And they're doing some cool things on both
both the men's and women's team. So that's awesome, right
on awesome.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, we always like to, like I said, make the
world a little bit smaller. We weren't sure if that
was going to hit with the dates and everything, but
we're glad that it crossed over and that was a
great conversation with coach Polk, and we've got some other
through lines with him and some of the other coaches
we've had. So we're just making it smaller to find it.
The older we get, the smaller it starts to become,
which is cool.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Oh yeah, So coach, we all have our origin stories
to the sport. How did you get into running and
then how did that lead you into coaching.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, that's a big question. Lots of life. Grew up
in po central Pennsylvania, so the Rolling Hills, small town, PA,
about an hour north of Harrisburg. My dad coached baseball
actually for thirty years and really just gave me this
heart and desire for sport in general. And it was
in I think my pursuit for sport that I found

(04:38):
more maybe enjoyment in the conditioning of sport. And so, yeah,
slowly fell in love with just running through I think
the objectiveness of the sport that you know, there's no subjectivity,
nobody can pull you out of the game. You know,
no coach can can sit you over one other person

(04:58):
versus the other is just you know, who's faster, who's slower.
And I just really loved that aspect of running and
I knew that, you know, if I could keep pursuing it.
My high school coach was a two twenty two marathonor
Ryan McGuire, and just like poured into me a lot
at the high school level. Gave me confidence that if
I took this seriously, I could run in college. And

(05:20):
you know, thankfully that was able to come true. So
really cool there. Yeah, and then pursued an undergraduate degree
at at Lipscomb University, where I did an undergrad and
exercise science. Really loved to learn about the body through
really just like mentors there through after you know, a
hard season of life in undergrad had just like coaches

(05:42):
pour into me and really just people that loved student athletes,
that loved eighteen to twenty two year olds and wanted
to make a difference in their life. And you know
there during my time there, I found just a lot
of faith. I gave my life over to the Lord there,
so that radically changed change, changed my life. And then

(06:04):
graduated in twenty twenty during the pandemic. Lots of crazy
stuff happened there, and then did my master's at Messiah University,
did my higher education master's degree there, and yeah, I
did a concentration in student ministries. And I think having
both the lenses of the Division I backgrounds but then
also the Division III experience was just really radical in

(06:29):
just giving like freedom for the sport of like I
saw the seriousness of a private Christian institution of you know,
this boundary and balance that maybe we'll get to dive
into tonight on competitiveness and christ centeredness, and you know
at Messiah University, like they were also trying to balance
that out. And so through just both of those experiences,
like I just knew I wanted to coach or to

(06:52):
be in higher education, and that led me then to
Grant Canyon University, where my wife and I moved to
GCU and and there my time there, I was like, Okay,
I know I want to do this now, I just
gotta wait for the right opportunity to open up. And
this one opened up. So really thankful for IWU open up,
and it's been an answered prayer and I'm really thankful
for the opportunity.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, right on. You grew up anywhere near Carlisle?

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, pretty close, pretty close. Messiah is about twenty minutes
from Carlisle.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Okay, I had a teammate in college at Mama's University
that ran at Carlisle. I guess it was Carlisle, No,
maybe the anyway, I had a teammate who he had
a Carlisle shirt. I don't know if it was from
the state championships that they used to have there or if,
but he was from the Harrisburg area as well. So yeah, yeah,
that's great, small and world connections.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
Oh you miss Arizona.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yeah, yeah, I definitely miss Arizona. That heat is nice.
The dry heat is just especially now when it's getting cold.
I don't know. I love fall, Like the fall leaves
right now are beautiful here in Indiana, but come come
winter December, January, February, I'll be missing in Arizona. A Ton.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
Did you say that your master's degree was in youth ministry.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, so's it's higher education with a concentration in student ministries,
so very similar. Yeah, like a youth ministry.

Speaker 4 (08:18):
Do you feel like that helps with your coaching and
being at a Christian based institution.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Definitely.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
I think just learning like student development theories in my
higher education degree was like really helpful, and even the
student ministry's aspect of you knows, as an eighteen to
twenty two year old, like there's so much going on,
so many hard things in life that's that happened, you know,
whether that's you know, serious relationships that come to an

(08:48):
end or come together, if it's you know, parents, divorce,
you know, death of a parent or family member. There's
just a lot of hard things that happened to college students.
And I think just being a little bit more equipped
to walk alongside them through the lens of faith. I
think is really helpful. I think the only other degree
I started doing a counseling degree at GCU, but then

(09:10):
you know, it wasn't able to finish it. But that
was the only other degree I think every coach could
maybe benefit from, because it does feel at times that
that coaching is a form of almost counseling in some
of those one on one conversations. And so, yeah, really
thankful for both my degrees. But you know, I think
at the the end of the day, experience, you know,
really teaches you a lot. And I think, you know,

(09:31):
I'm just growing the lots right now as a coach,
and I know I'm going to continue to grow in this.
So yeah, it's been great.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
So you're in your second cross country season as head
coach at Indiana Wesleyan, and we know the men who
ranked second, the women are ranked fourth.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
How's it going.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
It's been fun. Yeah, it's been fun. We came in
the year I think men were preseason ranked eighth and
women were eleventh, and so we had a little bit
of a chip on our should of man like, let's
get it. We knew that the team was a special team.
I brought in eleven new guys. There was ten freshmen,
and so a pretty young, young team, and so there's

(10:11):
a lot of excitement on the guys side in the future,
and also on the lady side to bring in five
new women, and so yeah, there's a lot of excitement
for the future. And yeah, yeah, I think right now
in this season it's it's like, how can we keep
that joy, that hunger going of what is to come,
Like this is championship season where we really got to

(10:31):
make sure we're fine, tune in, you know, getting a
bed on sign, taking care of our bodies because bumps
and bruises can definitely come up at this time of year.
But I think there's a lot of fire and a
lot of joy. So I'm excited for postseason.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
And as Rich said in the intro, you're taking over
the program for a coach I was there for thirty
seven years. Was there a lot in place for you
or did you come in and feel like you had
to put a lot of your own philosophies in place.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Yeah, definitely, like coach Foss from like what was already there,
I really feel super blessed to have stepped in and
like received this baton, although it's a heavy baton and
there's different weights that come with a heavy baton to receive.
Just like, the culture and tradition that that is here

(11:22):
is just really special. And so I felt that my job,
my responsibility wasn't necessarily to come in and change a
bunch of things. I think sometimes when a new especially
a young head coach, can come into a program, it
could be because maybe a coach left for a different job,
or you know, maybe got fired, or maybe there was
other reasons that a head coach had left that that position.

(11:45):
And so is pretty unique to come in as a
new young head coach, first time head coach to a
program that has been loved so well. And John Foss
coach Foss like just loves Indiana Westland, like was a
numerous time All American here ran for IWU, was you know,
a coach for I think thirty nine years total assistant
coach for two two extra years on top of that

(12:06):
thirty seven and so just like loves this community. And yeah,
it just it was special to to walk into a
program that was so established. But also you know what
comes with that is you know, a little bit of
pressure too of you know, are we going to keep
this ball rolling or is there gonna be hiccups in
a transition, And so you know, we definitely went through

(12:31):
just like changed last year. Change, whether it's you know,
good or bad, is can be hard, and so you know,
I think we battled through some of that. Changed really well.
Last year, had a great season, broke you know, numerous
school records and you know, men finished this when we're
tenth and so overall it was like really solid season
and I think, you know, there's there's a lot of
momentum right now that's we're running with. So yeah, there's

(12:54):
a lot of fight and fire that we we're excited for.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
I love it. Coach wined the hot top. So we
love to ask all of our coaches. We'll get to
it right away. Since you have a exercise science background,
are you guys dabbling in the world of double threshold?

Speaker 4 (13:10):
Ah?

Speaker 1 (13:10):
I knew that was the question. I knew right away
that was the question.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
Well, man, last.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
Year we dabbled a little bit, and it was partially
because I think my guys were really interested in it,
and I did it with a niche group of men
seniors that you know, I called the three h's We're happy, healthy,
and hungry that checked those boxes and and also I
think had the time and energy to do it, like

(13:38):
a lot of them. We're super seniors that were able to,
you know, make sure they're eating a good three meals,
maybe even four meals a day, sleep a lot, roll
out orcover in between those sessions. And this year, yeah,
we're not doing double thresholds, and we're still doing you know,
double double, Like we'll work out her heart threshold in
the morning, but in the after noon it's oftentimes just

(14:01):
like a cross training double or you know, a light
run double followed by a lift. So I'm a big
believer and hard days hard, easy, easy days easy. So
those hard days are definitely still hard, but yeah, not
not specifically double thresholds.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
So yeah, and when it comes to the easy days
being easy, are you are using heart rate monitors or
straps or anything to kind of rein them in. I know,
as a younger buck, I was chomping at the bit
and probably went a little too hard on my easy days,
which probably cost me some opportunities and some performances along

(14:38):
the way. But I didn't have a heart rate monitor
and I didn't really listen to my coach when he
told me to slow down.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
So yeah, honestly same. I feel like my undergrad degree
as well, like just went after it too too fast.
And so yeah, learning a lot. I think there's a
lot right now, and just the exercise science world that's
really exciting. And you know, these watching is that everybody's
wearing like technology is getting really good and so that
makes it fun. Yeah, So oftentimes I'll I'll tell them

(15:07):
like specific heart rate ranges, but if they're not you know,
religiously looking at their watch, if they are run running
the double, then I'll give them like for the guys,
you know, hey, let's let's not go, you know, too
much faster than you know, seven to forty five, or
I'll give them some type of target range of you know, hey,
let's like make sure you're you're you're not going faster

(15:28):
than this, and they'll give you the oh, coach like
that's painfully slow, and I'm like, good, enjoy it, enjoy it,
So hop on the grass and have a good time.
But yeah, we have a lot of athletes doubling with
cross training as well, and so we'll use mainly heart
rate with with that.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
So what what are you using for cross training methods
or using bikes or rowers, skiers? What do you guys got.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, no, that's great. I I try to avoid the
bike personally as much as possible, just because I think
it is hard to get hard rate pretty high. And
so what we use we have ellipticals, our trainers, and
then we have our boost treadmills. So we have a
partnership with Boost Recovery and we're really thankful to have
two of those boost treadmills that are these like zero

(16:14):
gravity pressurized air treadmills that you know athletes will hop on.
And then also a big believer in just like the
aqua jogging and freestyle swimming, and so I have athletes
hop in the pool, get their floaties on and say hey,
like go splash around for a little bit and then
get out of the pool. It's really just you know,
to keep the body moving, like get that blood flowing
on that double and you know, not as much getting

(16:37):
after it, but just you know, motion is lotion and
so just getting the body moving.

Speaker 4 (16:43):
Could you bring up the boost trainers. What are the
facilities looking like? What does the student athletes have at
their hands, and what kind of surfaces are you training
on for cross country? Do you have plenty of cross
country run in there?

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yeah, lots of country roads, small town, India. We're in
Marrie in Indiana, so yeah, it's about an hour and
a half north of Indianapolis and then about forty five
minutes from Fort Wayne. So definitely lots of corn, lots
of country roads. We've got a nice greenway that runs
all throughout our town for I don't know, fifty plus
miles enough to keep on running. I think probably farther

(17:18):
than that. And then we have a cross country course.
So we're really thankful to have kind of all the
big three. So we've got a cross country course every
year that we have about seven thousand middle school, high school,
college athletes that run on our course. And it's a
beautiful course. Athletes love running on it because it's flat,
it's fast, and spectators love it because they just take
loops and loops and loops and just continue to see athletes.

(17:41):
And so yeah, across country course, we do a lot
of soft surface stuff on that grass. And then we
have an indoor track facility that was newly renovated Troyer
and so it's a beautiful six lane track and then
we also have a nine lane track that we've gotten
the opportunity to host outdoor nationals the last three years.
And so super thankful for for the resources that we have.

(18:02):
I've I've been to a lot of Division one programs
and you know, traveled a lot, and I really feel
like we're just very blessed and and yeah, athletes really
do have all the resources they need here, you know,
on top of even athletic trainers too, Like I would
include that as part of the facility experience and in
the full full circle experience. I think last year I

(18:23):
counted we had seven athletic trainers that had a PhD
and so just like super educated athletic trainers. One of
them was Adam Thompson, who actually worked with the USA
Fencing team and the Olympics last last summer Olympics, and
so he was our main athletic trainer for cross country
and so that was just like a huge blessing to
have an Olympic caliber, you know, athletic trainer at our

(18:47):
at our midst and you know, speaking of Olympic caliber,
like staff too, Like we just brought on McKean Haynes.
M Keem Haynes is Olympic bronze medalist in the four
by one and so he's our new sprints coach. His
wife is Janelle Price, who is a twenty fourteen world
champion in the one hundred meter, and so it's just
really cool. I feel like there's a lot of really

(19:07):
exciting things happening right now at Indiana Wesleyan and just
feel very blessed to be a part of it.

Speaker 4 (19:13):
You said there's about I believe. I don't correct me
if I'm wrong, but I believe you said there's about
seven thousand high school kids that get on your cross
country course during the season. So I take it you
guys are hosting meets. How important do you think that
it is of having high school kids that get to
come to the school race but also get to take

(19:34):
in everything is guys have to offer.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
Oh man, that's that's huge.

Speaker 4 (19:39):
Gym.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Like I think that you know, having middle school high
school athletes run on our course for you know, five
six years, it's it's just like they see the facilities,
are athletes you know oftentimes are you know, running those meets.
They'll be the ones that you know are helping them
across the finish line and cheering them on, and so
they get to interact with even college level athletes and

(20:03):
so yeah, and it's even you know, a huge revenue
builder for our program, Like NAIA programs are oftentimes, you know,
not always the most funded programs, but being able to
you know, host some of those meets just really allows
us myself to you know, take care of care of
those athletes, getting them the gear they need, the shoes
they need, and so we're just like super blessed, and
you know, it is it is a lot of work though,

(20:24):
you know, those are long weeks. When you know we've
got our own meets on Friday night, then you know,
we wake up the next morning and you know six
six am start after a midnight kind of finish, and yeah,
we're up and running. We've got you know, some of
those Saturday meets. It's twenty five hundred to three thousand
high school, middle school athletes and then you know another

(20:44):
three to four thousand spectators that are coming to these meets.
So huge meats that involve a lot of planning and prepping,
and you know, thankfully it's a well oiled machine. We've
got Eric Jackson who's been doing it for I think
twenty years with Crossroads timing and and so he's been
all over the country helped with the Olympic trials and
and so he knows what he's doing. And I'm thankful that,
you know, I get to keep some of my hair

(21:04):
a little longer. I don't stress too much because I
know he's got it. So thankful for Eric.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
And are you doing indoor and outdoor track meets as
well for high school in middle school?

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, we do both indoor and outdoor.
I believe we host about two indoor on a given
year and then two outdoor, so about nine nine high
school and middle school meets throughout the year between cross
indoor and outdoor.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
Okay, and you mentioned I believe you said Eric is
doing the timing, but are you doing You're you wearing
a meat director hat as well too.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, he really does functions as the meat director there.
But you know, we've had incidences where, you know, spectators.
One of my assistant coaches was actually helping out. She's
a nurse, and we had a spectator that you know,
went down and went into cardiac arrest. And so you know,
I'm the man, that's you know, on call and making
sure we're calling ambulances. And so I'm not as much

(21:59):
doing in you know, some of the entry you know,
pieces and direct athletics and whatnot, but but still making
sure that I'm there. The man was okay, he was
alive and good assistant coach. She saved his life, which
is a huge blessing, and so you know, really thankful
for that. But still when those situations happened, like, I'm
there and available for you know, hard situations. But then

(22:20):
also you know, really really positive situations too, like talking
to high school middle school athletes and connecting them to
the to the right people.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
So yeah, and you know, as you mentioned, having that
many high school kids coming through is great for recruiting purposes.
On a recruiting path, are you you spreading your wings?
Why are you going back to your roots getting looking
at some PA kids and maybe out west in Arizona,
or are we looking more regionally in terms of the Midwest.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
Yeah, yeah, that's a good question. So in the beginning,
like I was doing a lot of digging into Pennsylvania,
into Tennessee, even Arizona, and then once I have been
here long enough, it's been amazing, like with those you know,
huge high school, middle school meets, like inquiry wise, like

(23:09):
you know, any given year, we've probably got two hundred
talented men and women that are reaching out to us
from like a reactive perspective of recruiting that you know,
a lot of these athletes like Indian and Wesleyans a
pretty niche school. It's a private Christian school, very rural,
kind of between two major cities. And yeah, I don't know,

(23:31):
the facilities are unique, the schools unique, and so I
think it just attracts a pretty unique population and so
I uh, yeah, I think it's been more reactive there.
There are some proactive pieces of the recruiting on on
the side of going to those you know state meets
or All Star meets that you know, I'm still recruiting
Indiana kids. But you know, it's been it's been interesting.

(23:53):
We had a girl that you know, came out just
committed from Spokane, Washington. We've got what is it, eight
female recruits for the twenty sixth class and then seven
men for the twenty six class. So it's really exciting
for what we're bringing in next year. As well. It's
I think one of the best classes in school history
and so just a lot of excitement. But she was
gravitated towards IWOU because she saw some girls like praying

(24:16):
on Instagram through just our social media platform, and she
was like, man, like, I want to come to a
school like this because I see, like what you're doing
there is more than just you know, running. So yeah,
it's been unique. It's been maybe more reactive than I
once stop, but really thankful for where we're at.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah, what did think, Jimmy and I talk about a lot,
is like almost the more nicheous school is it almost
makes recruiting easier because it just narrows down and it
eliminates a certain amount of people that you can really
hone in on those people that are looking for that
niche is that would you agree with that in your

(24:55):
experience so far.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
One hundred percent. I think the challenge Rich is that
you have to identify the culture that you're swimming in,
like you have to know the school. I think it
takes time for a coach and for a program to
really understand the heartbeat of what makes that school tick.
And and I think some wise words through coach Foss
was like, hey, don't don't recruit a kid to run
for you, like recruit a kid to run for Indiana Wesleyan,

(25:18):
and that they believe in the mission and vision of
Indiana Wesleyan. And I think that's a unique piece of
Indiana Wesleyan. And really the nai A too is you
can do that that you know athletes. When when I
came in, I think there was this fear of man,
we've we had some studs, Like we had some studs
that that ran last year, like Eli Fullerton was a
national runner up in the indoor five k and and

(25:40):
outdoor outdoor ten k third place in the five k,
had numerous All Americans, and I was worried that, man, like,
are we going to lose these athletes when I come in,
because they were just running for for John Foss, like
this legend legendary coach. And I think it was just
amazing that they weren't running for Coach Foss, like they

(26:03):
were running for what Indiana Wesleyan stands for in the
mission and vision of the school. And that was really cool.
That's I think right now in a very transactional kind
of platform of you know, landscape and college athletics right now,
it's cool that I think the NAI provides a unique
experience for maybe more of a transformational opportunity for you know,

(26:27):
athletes and that are looking for those like Niche places,
because yeah, if they were to transfer, they wouldn't maybe
have gone to the school or have an interest in
the school because what they found here was was just
unique in Niche. So yeah, I think there's a lot
of truth truth to that.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
Rich that five K was thrilling last year.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
I thought he was going to get him. We were
so we were so excited, we were shouting, and uh,
he like reeled him in. That was the plan. We
knew Luca was gonna go out super high and we're
just like, all right, be patient. He he raced against
them in December and got him kind of in the
same strategy and and we tried it and uh yeah,

(27:10):
Luca just had another gear which was was just cool
and so, uh, you know, props to props to him,
props to Eli. They both ran with with a lot
of joy, a lot of fight, and you know, it
was a fundraise, So I was glad for you know,
to make it a make it a fun day. And
you know, Eli's a fighter. He's now at Butler. I
don't know if even following his journey, but he had
an extra year in n C Double A because of

(27:31):
I believe it was the the Juco Andy football player
get granting some non uh n C Double A athletes
an extra year. And so he's now he was just
their fifth guy at Butler just this past meet. And
so they'll be racing this week at Champs and you know,
going to the Nationals. It'll it'll be fun to watch them.
But yeah, it's sweet, Jim.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
I think we should look into that extra year of eligibility.
I mean, someone there needs a fifty year old cross
country runner.

Speaker 4 (27:57):
Think for yourself. Man, you might have eleven years, but
I got more. I don't want to compete. I'm good
on that. We'll do a doc on it. Rich how
about that.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
I mean there was that guy in Division III football
that's like fifty something this year, So you know you
can make a round at it.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Yeah, what's that the Philadelphia Eagles. That movie has Vince
uh oh, you know what I'm talking about? The running
back who is like fifty years old. Forty years old? Oh? Man,
what's the movie? I have to We'll have to go
back to it. I'll circle back I'll find it. But
it's a good movie. It's kind of like the Rookie
and Baseball. You know, he comes back and has the
extra extra years.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
But well, we're from Jersey, so we raised his Giants
fan and we don't really recognize anything about the Eagles, gotcha.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah, that's funny.

Speaker 3 (28:45):
That's great way to divide the podcast.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
Right, No, we don't watch football, but you know, we
do have a couple of relatives that are Eagles fans.
New Jersey's kind of like New Jersey's New York sports fans,
and then South Jersey is all Philadelphia fans, and we're
just kind of on that line of Giants, Jets, New
York fans.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
But yeah, no, that's great, that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
Brody.

Speaker 4 (29:10):
Being a Christian college, do you have any athletes that
have been on the team since you've been there that
weren't Christians coming in?

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yeah, I'm the cross country team, I don't believe. So yeah,
I think all all athletes that I know of pretty
unapologetically Christian. And I think that's that's something that I
know we don't shy away from in our recruiting process.
I've been sharing this cat acronym of recruiting, and so

(29:40):
the sea is curiosity of faith that we're really looking
for athletes that have a desire to want to grow
in faith. And so if there's not that desire that see,
then again kind of going back to that niche place,
like I don't know if it would be the right fit.
Like there's a thousand different colleges and universities the nation,

(30:00):
and so my my hope in prayer is that they
end up to where they they feel they will develop
and grow the best. And so if there's not that
c then then yeah, it might not be might not
be the right fit. So and then attitude is kind
of that that second letter of the acronym of you know,
we want somebody that's happy, healthy and hungary, that has
some fights, that has some humility as well. And then

(30:21):
T is talented and so somebody that's been given just
a ton of talent to help us with our two
goals of you know, two goals being grow in relationship
with Jesus. So that big faith piece, and then the
second piece is, you know, contending for a national championship
every year is kind of those two big big goals
that we have.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
We know, competing in college athletics can become consuming and
you can become obsessed with trying to be the best
and get on the top of that podium. But also
you're at an institution where faith is a huge part
of that. So how do you help your athletes balance that?

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Yeah, yeah, I think I mentioned it a little bit earlier,
but but that's that piece of you know, what we
call Indiana Weslian the both and and you'll see it
on some of our hashtags, and what that is is
it's really this, it's this balance of competitiveness and Christ's centeredness.
I've been a part of four different private Christian institutions

(31:17):
and in my you know, journey as a student athlete
and a coach in the last almost ten years now,
and so it's it's it's a journey. It's it's very
interesting because I think, you know, there's this you know,
like you're talking about this this balance and boundary of
you know, if if you are too focused on the
competitiveness and not the faith development, it can become you

(31:38):
know what Christians call like an idol, like something that's
consuming you, something that's you know, your identity really and
you know, something that that we're trying to to really
grow here is that that Christ's centeredness is your identity.
But also I think there's this temptation, especially in you know,
the sports world, that Christians are soft, that they're they're

(32:00):
not tough, that they're you know, not, they're they're pushovers,
they're gonna let you win. And it's like, no, that's
not that's not what we're going for. Like, the Lord
gave you like a talent to fight and to compete
and to be hungry and and to I really love
the word compete, and we dive into that on this
competitiveness christ centeredness, Like the word compete isn't just to
beat somebody else, It's to get the best out of yourself.

(32:22):
And so when we compete on our team and we
compete with other people, it's like, how can we get
the best out of ourselves? And so, yeah, that that
boundary and balance is really important, and I think that, yeah,
it's something that is a daily fight and needs daily reminders.
And we talk about running free here a lot. My

(32:42):
greatest desires as a coach is that athletes toe the
line with a confidence and a joy that they can
run free and and and that we break down Hebrews
twelve one and two that that really says, like, you know,
therefore I'll kind of dive into the airforeces we're surrounded
by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us row
off everything that hinders and so easily entangles, and let

(33:03):
us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector
of our faith. And in that first piece, like we
talk about throwing off everything that hinders and so easily entangles.
So we talk about you know, different anxieties like when
some people are tone up to the line, like there's
there's an anxiousness, there's a fear of failure. There's pressures
of coaches, of friends, of mentors of people that you

(33:25):
know they're putting on themselves that they need to do
something out there on the field to prove themselves to
have an identity in And so first we got to
like throw that off that that's not your identity, that's
not who you are, Like that anxiety, that anxiousness, like
whatever you can do, like chuck that off. But then
the second piece is like focus on like the gift

(33:46):
that you've been given, Focus on Jesus who gave you
that gift, and run with joy. So, yeah, that's a
hard piece. That's probably something that we talk about the
most in our program. When I talk with athletes on
either pre pre season, mid season, postseason, in like a
one on one conversation, we talk about three things. We
talk about the head, the heart, and the legs. And
so in that heart piece, like man, we dive into that,

(34:07):
like how's your heart doing, how's your relationship with your
mom and dad doing, your girlfriend? How is school right now?

Speaker 2 (34:12):
You know?

Speaker 1 (34:13):
And then the head piece is like how did you race?
How did you compete? Where'd you fall off in the race?
Like where's your mental game at right now? And then
the legs is the training piece that we really dive into.
But yeah, that's the coaching piece. That's the art of coaching.
Training is the science. You know, anybody can type in
on traggbt right now look up a good training plan.

(34:34):
But yeah, the coaching is the art. So that's the
part that you know, we're in these roles for.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
Nice and you kind of just summarize that a little
bit with this one. But you know, you mentioned in
the beginning when the preseason rankings came out, you guys
kind of had a little bit of a chip on
your shoulder. But now we're sitting at two and four.
How do you keep those squads hungry and grounded at
the same time heading into the championship season.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's that's a good question. I think
part of the secret is just gratitude. I think that,
you know, speaking about anxiety, like anxiety and gratitude can
exist in the brain at the same time, and so
like a little nervousness is good, but when anxiety overwhelms you,
of oh, man, if we don't perform, or if there's

(35:22):
a fear of failure, that we're looking instead of in
front of us, at the race ahead, at the goal ahead,
if we're looking behind us, of oh, somebody's coming on
our shoulder, Like that's when you get tripped up. That's
when you you lose the race. And so it's like, man,
we gotta we gotta focus on gratitude. Like we're healthy
right now, we're happy, and we're hungry, and so you know,
for today, it's like what do we need to do?

(35:43):
Today was our big recovery day, and so you know,
making sure athletes getting too the trainer and just focus
on today of you know, enjoy this gift, like as
y'all know and as I know now as a you know,
post post collegiate athlete, like fitness is fleeting and that's hard,
and you know, I think the sooner that you realize
that it's a gift and hard things happen in life

(36:05):
and it can be taken away from you in any moment,
Like I think, the greater the joy and the greater
the gratitude comes. So yeah, we're really just trying to
focus on gratitude and having fun. And at the end
of the day, like I think, as long as there's
that hunger mixed with that fun, which I believe it's there,
then I think, you know how, whatever the result is
at the end of the day, like, it's been a
great year and really thankful for this.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
Crew giving me some great nuggets to bring back to
my high schoolers tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (36:34):
Brodie, we know you got a lot going on as
a head cross country coach.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
What does your CEO position.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
Look like as far as running the business aspect of
Indiana Wesley and cross Country.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
Yeah, Jim, that's a good question. I feel like there's
a lot getting into this role that as an assistant coach,
I enjoyed some of the freedoms of just going on
runs with the guys and having a good time and
not deal with some of the politics or the announce
of budget lines and receipts and all those things. So yeah,
it's been it's been good. I think really growing in
a lot of ways, just with you know, the amount

(37:10):
of emails that you get in a day, or you know,
just balancing a budget, making sure that we're you know,
not just focused on this year, but how can we
you know, plan a tree now, so twenty years from now,
Like we're trying to renovate our cross country course five
years from now. Right now, we're thinking about putting these
like dirt berms into like our cross country course so
spectators can stand on them. Right now, we're trying to

(37:30):
renovate our bathroom and just in our bathroom and our
cross country course and so put water in there as well,
and so these big projects that it's like, hey, how
can we make a difference for generations of you know,
student athletes and not just focused on the short term
of you know, right here right now. But yeah, it's
it's it's challenging. I got a lot to grow. I
think the hardest piece of all of those little different

(37:52):
hats that you wear that's, you know, being a counselor
being a friend, being a coach, being a financial advisor,
a spiritual advice. There's so many different hats that we
wear as coaches. I think the hardest part is just
making sure that I'm keeping the loves of my life
in order. Tim Keller is like a He wrote the
book Meaning of Marriage that's pretty popular when young couples

(38:14):
are getting married, and he talks about this concept of
disordered loves and that it's really easy in our lives
to order things in the wrong places and that's when
really our life gets kind of out of whack. And
it's especially hard when you love something so much, like man,
I love this sports, orderline obsessed with this sport, and

(38:35):
it's really this fight to make sure I'm choosing other things.
I'm choosing the Lord, I'm choosing my family, and I'm
putting them above the sport, because at times like this
can really it can consume you. And so I think
balance and boundaries as a young coach is something that
I'm really trying to grow in and cling to coaches
like a coach Foss. You know that I can grab
lunch with and say, hey, man, how'd you make it

(38:57):
thirty seven years? Because not every coach makes it thirty
seven years. And I think having the endurance to withstand
some of the hard things in life, I think is
is just really really really cool, really admirable, really honorable,
And I think a pursuit that I want to chase
rather than kind of the.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
Short term sounds like you're the one that's handling the
expense reports.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
Yes, yeah, I have an assistant coach that helps me
with the receipts and he's like, man, working for you
is toff because you just swipe the peak card left
and right. Man, we're so yeah, I know, I'm I'm
trying to do my best make make the team happy.
And yeah, I know. It's it's been good. It's it's
been fun.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
Got you So you.

Speaker 4 (39:41):
Said something there that I admire. You said, you know,
you have a lot of growing to do as far
as being a coach. You're still a young coach. How
how do you manage being okay with that? Because I
know for me, I want to be finished right now,
right like I want to do the finished product that
I don't want to put the time I'm in I
want to be my best self right now.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
How do you kind of manage yet? As far as
being a young coach.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
Yeah, I love podcasts like I love what you guys
are doing right now. It's really cool just for coaches
to learn from And whether you see the fruit of
it or not, I promise you people are listening to
podcasts like this one and it changes people's lives in
something that Mike Smith. When I was at Grand Canyon University,
NAU is about two hours north and so I cross

(40:31):
paths with him a lot, but never talked to him
a ton. I feel like he was just kind of
like a superstar and I was this young assistant coach
that had no business maybe being where I was. And anyways,
he was on a podcast about a week ago with
The Running Effect, which is a really great podcast, and

(40:51):
he just talks a lot in his programs about being
process oriented and not outcome oriented. And I think that, yeah,
at the end of the day, man, it's like, if
we win a national championship, like that's gonna be awesome
and it's gonna be a great day. But I think
you know, what he talked about was almost this like

(41:12):
this apathy, this depression that some athletes go into of
like when they accomplish the best in their sport. There's
this like gold medal, Olympic depression that almost happens after
you accomplish something like that, because it's like, man's what's next.
I think he told a story about urban Meyer won
the national championship and that night in the locker back

(41:33):
he went back in his office about, you know, an
hour after the game was over and you know, started
recruiting and didn't even celebrate the moment because he was
so focused on, man, how do I do this again?
And I think there's you know, Ecclesiastes, a book in scripture,
talks about just like there's a season for everything, and
so I think celebrating where you're at is important, but
also just enjoying the journey, Like I want to have

(41:56):
fun doing this, like I'm living in an answered prayer,
and I don't want to become so obsessed with just
like outcomes that man, we have to win it all costs,
and you know, I want to win, and I hope
we win, and we're gonna we're gonna do everything we
can to win. But if that happens it's like the
the what's next piece, And I think it's just like man, like,
are we developing young athletes to be better men and women?

(42:19):
And are we pursuing excellence? And if we're doing those
two things, like you know, as long as I'm having
fun and Indiana Wesleyan wants to keep me around, Like,
I think that's that's a journey that I'm excited to
go on rather than an outcome that that I think
is very obtainable and possible. But I don't want to
get to the outcome and then think, oh, man, was
that it. I want to enjoy enjoy the journey.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
Well, speaking of winning the Crossroads League Championship is coming
up next week, who should we keep an eye out
for and who is going to be your main competition?

Speaker 1 (42:56):
Hopefully you're keeping an eye out for us. I'd like
to from.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
From you, guys, from from you specifically.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I'm just just messing around. Yeah,
we yeah, we're we're we're in a good spot. Like
I think at that Great Lakes Meet last last meet,
I just told the guys like, go compete to win,
and there was a few guys that I think all
all could have won that race, and they're all pretty
hungry to win this this race. And so Trent and
Sweets is sophomore. He just broke our sophomore record, had

(43:25):
about a forty five second PR. He's a stud, ran
three fifty three in the fifteen hundred. I think he's
got a nasty kick. And so if he's in the
mix with you know, four hundred to go, I think
any it's anybody's race. Josh Bainbridge is fifth year guy.
He's just running with so much joy right now. Yeah,
Braden Sweet's another one, just a stud. He ran three

(43:46):
one fifties and and one one in three days at
Outdoor Nationals and so he's got a nasty kick. Just
pr last meet, and we're just packing up really well
right now. But yeah, there's some other like low sticks
with there's schools like Goshen's got Drew Hogan and Taylor's
got you know, Louke Carbur and Ryan Hannock, and so
there's some really really great studs. I think, you know,

(44:08):
there's some great teams. Crossroads League has oh Man. I
don't know if I think it's four teams in the
top fifteen or somewhere in that bubble I know it's
kind of changed in one or two here every week,
but yeah, it's just really competitive and so it's anybody's game.
Nothing's promised, that's why you got to run the race,
and so just really excited for that on the men's side.
On the women's side, yeah, Taylor's got a great team,

(44:31):
like their women are one of the best in the
nation right now, if not the best in the nation.
And you know, we've got some strong low sticks and
some strong freshmen like Sydney Little's a sixth year actually
from lipscumb University. She just broke our nineteen year old
school record on the women's side, and then yeah, Elizabeth
Barrett's a numerous time All American and so I think
both those girls could be fighting for top ten finishes.

(44:51):
And then we got some young young guns coming up
that are just packing up well and we'll see how
you know, championship is for some of those underclas So
it's gonna be exciting.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
Is everyone excited to sleep in their own bed?

Speaker 1 (45:05):
Yeah, that's a nice part. I'm glad I get to
sleep in my own bed. Sometimes those hotel rooms are
just not the same. So yeah, no, it'll be it'll
be nice to host. Thankful for that.

Speaker 4 (45:16):
Is there gonna be a stream of that race and
will behind a paywall?

Speaker 1 (45:24):
Yeah, I don't. Unfortunately, we don't have any drones flying
around yet. I know the awards section will be streamed
and so that'll be on our websites. But yes, that
was honestly, I think one day soon, that's that's my
plan as well. Talking about planting trees for the future,
I'd love to get. We got this brand new Polaris
that's all like IWU Wildcat. It's got a wrap on it,

(45:45):
and so next thing, we're just gonna put a gnarly
big camera on there and just stream the race and
we'll make sure there's not a huge paywall for anybody
out there.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
I know some cameramen.

Speaker 4 (45:57):
Yeah, we're here for coach because since we got back
into doing more college coaches, which really has me watching
all these meets and I catch myself, I'm like, what
am I doing right now? Like I G but I,
like Rich said, we don't watch football, so that you know,

(46:17):
I love watching all the meats. And you mentioned a
lot of teams in that conference. We've spoken to a
lot of those coaches, so I'm excited to see the results.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Yeah, no, that's awesome and it's fun. Like I think
what's exciting with that meat is you know those that
win league don't always you know, maybe we'll win Nationals
or you know, one one or the other. Like it's
kind of like division one in that competition side of things,
where you know, conference is great, it gets you to Nationals,
but ultimately, like our end goal is that national meet.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
So yeah, coach talking about planting trees. What's your five
year vision?

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (46:55):
Man, I think just going back to that kind of
journey train of thought, like I just want to keep
keep growing myself as a coach. I think abstractly thirty
thousand foot view, like I just want to grow young
men and women to be better young men and women.
And so that's that's my biggest hearts desire. And then
the second piece is contend every year to win a

(47:16):
national championship. Yeah, we've got just a really strong recruiting
class this year shared that you know, we have seven
incoming guys and eight girls and probably some more coming
in and I think it's the best recruiting class in history.
And so yeah, it'd be fun to be a team
that competes to win a national championship every single year,

(47:38):
you know, wins those combined team titles. Like that's what
we're going for for excellence. We're going for the best
that we have and you know, whatever we have, like
we're going to pursue that with all our hearts and
whether that's first place or not, like you know, that's
that's our goal and that's our desires to to try
to go for that. But yeah, I think just keep
keep growing, keep building. I think our staff is growing

(47:59):
a lot right now, so there could be even some
increased positions maybe there in the future, which would be
really exciting to bring on some more staff. And yeah,
just things like that are really exciting on the horizon.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
We got me fired up, coach.

Speaker 4 (48:15):
As far as academics, is there anything unique to the university?

Speaker 1 (48:22):
Yeah, I know, there's a really big passion and interest
with our nursing department. And so we've got a local
hospital about five to seven minutes from campus, and so
I think six out of those seven girls that I
talked about coming in are all nursing majors, and so
lots of nurses there. On the men's side, I think
it's you know, predominantly Our engineering department is really strong.

(48:44):
We've got a really really smart group of guys that
are studying engineering and then some business majors. But yeah,
I think a lot of athletes as well come in
for like the ministry side of things, Like we've got
some ministry majors and athletes that are interested in being
even future pastors and whatnot there.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
So yeah, from a whole university perspective is they're a
face based element every day with the students, whether it's
chapel or like specific classes that even if they're not
that's not their major that they have to take in
their four or five years while they're there.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Yes, correct, Yeah, there's a few required classes they're fundamental to,
just like Bible, Bible Knowledge, Bible studies, and then there's
twenty eight chapel requirements per semester the student athletes are
required to go to. And so again it's it's kind
of going back to that niche piece, like if that's
something that athletes like are really hungry for and deeply desire,

(49:43):
like they're going to be challenged and grow in their
faith a lot. We've got weekly Bible studies that happen
with our team on Wednesdays. Like our team, our leadership team.
We've got a group of four men and women that
lead those groups. So yeah, there's there's definitely a lot
of faith formation that's happening. If that's again like an
interest in the passion of a young high school athlete.

(50:04):
What's the population, Yeah, we've got about two thousand undergrad students.
And I know we have a lot in our like
national and Global which is just like our online and
I think that just really helps. Like when you walk
on campus, you'll see some of the buildings are just
like beautiful. I think, you know, our even like our
dorm dormitories are are the number one in the state

(50:26):
of Indiana in terms of you know, just quality and
so from a facility standpoint, athletics wise, and then even
you know academics, Like you'll you'll walk on campus and
be like wow, like how how is this possible? In
marrying Indiana? And I think a lot of that is
you know, donors, alumni. But then also just our large
online format is really helpful.

Speaker 4 (50:47):
Rich nice dorms, indoor track, Bible basics classes.

Speaker 3 (50:51):
I'm in.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
Probably not too far from those square donuts there you go.
Maybe we may probably maybe a little bit further.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
But Richie got anything else for Coach before we get
in the.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
I do have one totally random question. I was just
curious as we're sitting here talking. You know, I'm down
here in South Carolina and we have a southern Wesleyan
university called SWOO. Is there any sort of connection between
the two or any other Wesleyan.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Believe there is. I'm honestly just getting a lot more
information with I think that institution is connected to there's
really like five Wesleyan institutions in oak Woo, I WU,
and then there's two more that that one that you're
talking about might be one, and then there's one more
that I should know and I don't know off the

(51:41):
top of my head, but those are connected to like
the Wesleyan denomination. From my understanding, there's some other institutions
out there that have maybe Wesleyan and the name, but
have since like not been connected to the specific like
denomination from the Protestant branch. So okay, yeah, cool, coach.

Speaker 4 (52:02):
First final four I got for you. Are you a
coffee drinker? Oh?

Speaker 1 (52:07):
Yeah, too much?

Speaker 3 (52:08):
So how do you brew your coffee and how do
you take it?

Speaker 1 (52:12):
Oh? Whole beans. I've got a nice brewer across the
corner over here, and I set that bad boy for
about four thirty am every day, ready to ready, to
just make it hot, hot and ready. But yeah, my
wife usually has different creamers to keep it fun, fun
and fresh. So whatever the kind of seasonal now it's
I think some pumpkin or a tumnal, little splash a

(52:35):
party in there, so usually changes. But I put a
little splash in. I wish I could drink it just
black like a true man. But yeah, I usually put
a little little party to get get my uh, get
my fixed.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
So I take I take it with heavy cream. So oh,
I'm not a man either.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
That's great.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
Coach. Do you have any daily practices rituals you do
on a regular basis to show up as the strongest
version of yourself?

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Yeah, that's great. I think one recently that I've been
really trying to practice is in the world of coaching,
I think it's really hard to turn off. I think
maybe any profession that you're really passionate about, it's really
hard to stop thinking about that thing that you're thinking
about that you can't fall asleep at night, and there's

(53:28):
this tendency to let it consume you, like we were
talking about earlier, and put it in front of things
that you know it maybe shouldn't be in front of.
And so I have this box. It's it's Romans twelve
one and two. And when I come in at work,
you know, whenever I come come home, I've got a
one year old. And so part of our story was

(53:50):
that when I when I got the job here, we
bought our house virtually. I started a day later, and
then we flew across the country with a seven day old,
and so it just was like boom boom boom, like
life changes. Everything kind of happened at once, maybe too
much so where it was a little overwhelming at times.
And it's been a crazy year. But yeah, the way

(54:12):
to kind of wage war against busyness is I'll put
my phone, I'll put my watch in that box. It's
Romans twelve one and two, and it says, do not
be conformed by the patterns of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. And when I
put my phone in there, when I put my watch
in there, it's this like piece of I need to
wage war against the busyness and distraction of loving my

(54:37):
wife and loving my daughter. And oftentimes it's hard. It's
hard because as a coach, I think I can feel
this like, oh, I'm valued or I'm needed and I
need to respond to this athlete's text immediately, and that's
a lie. That's not true. They're going to be okay
if I take ninety extra minutes and spend time watching

(54:57):
Dora with my daughter or whatever it is. And so
I'm just trying to wage war against some of that
busyness with that box. So that's been something I've been doing.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
I need a box. I like that. I need to
wage w.

Speaker 4 (55:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
My wife made it. She likes put stickers on it
and she's like, you're you're working too much too. You
got put your phone in there. So it sounds maybe
more heroic, but it probably started with a small disagreement
of how much I was working. So that's how it started.
But I like it.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
What are you listening to right now? Music?

Speaker 4 (55:36):
Podcast, audio books? Are you reading anything?

Speaker 1 (55:39):
It will just be Airy Bros. Radio from here on ounce.

Speaker 4 (55:42):
Yeah, uh yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
I think a lot of time in my margin has
been like podcasts and then kind of music to get
my heart ready. Just before practice, listening to different like
Christian worship music is usually kind of the the big
music that I listened to before practice, just so I'm
kind of laying everything down before I get there. But podcast, yeah,
I really love the Running Effects podcast. That's a great podcast.

(56:09):
But then from like the Christian space, I'm a big
John Mark Comer fan, and so he has some great
podcasts out there that I like listening to.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
So from a coaching perspective and a student of the sport,
do you have a favorite like training specific book that you've.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
Yeah, Daniels Running for me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great.
It's It's got Sarah Hall on it. And they were
kind of heroes of Here's are the Running Worlds when
I was grown up, and I actually got to coach
Hannah their daughter at Grand Canyon University and and so
I like cross paths with them a little bit, but
just maybe from afar kind of admired them. But anyways,

(56:48):
Daniel Jack Daniels, yeah, I know, he just a hero
in the sport and just passed away recently, which is
really really sad, but I know made a big, big
mark on the running world and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
So did you cross pass with Sarah Slatterty when you
were down there.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
Yeah, we met quite a few times, but she was
not the head coach. When I was the assistant coach.
It was Paul Limp and now it's Shaila Hulhan, who's
uh the head coach there, who's Shelby's sister. So yeah,
it's really cool. But yeah, I worked with Paul for
for two years.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Cool proad the last one we got to close it out.
It's a lighthearted one. Maybe it's a unique food item
from back home or maybe in Indiana. Maybe it's a beverage.
We know some coaches like the fish or golf. You
do have a young daughter, so maybe at some point
you're going to become a closet swifty. Do you have
a guilty pleasure?

Speaker 1 (57:42):
Guilty pleasure? Oh man, that's a tough question right now.
Oh I wish I had something more more ready. Yeah,
guilty pleasure. I think I still I still run. That's
that's maybe a that's usually my answer. But just like

(58:04):
going going out on walks I think right now is
like probably the big thing that's that's weird. I'll do
some like power walks and just like be outside and
just spend some time in the quiet to try to
again wage war a little bit. I think I just
there's a lot of noise right now in life, whether
it's a crying baby or a phone call or an
athlete didn't need. And so if I get five minutes

(58:25):
to go on a walk and just breathe, I think
that breathing spend my guilty pleasure as of late. So
love it.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
We're big fans of walk, so you're in a good place.
We love it. It's something that we pooh poohed a lot
when we were younger athletes, as I'm sure you did
running you just scoff at it. But you do a
couple of hundred mile races and you realize that walking
is a necessity and becomes a part of it, so
you better get good at it as well.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
That's awesome. That's so cool. That's a cool landmark. That
one hundred miler? Did you Which one did you get
to do?

Speaker 2 (58:59):
I've done Leadville one hundred three times and then I
did the Jersey Devil one hundred back home in New Jersey.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
That's awesome. That's really cool.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
Thank you, Brody. You got me fired up, sir. This
was a great conversation. I can't wait to follow you
and the team for the rest of the season, expecting
big things. We will be cheering for you. Thank you
so much for your time tonight.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
Yeah, thank you, Jim. Thanks for rid This is fun. Yeah,
I'd be happy to do it again. And there's anything
I can do for y'all. Let me know. If you
guys come to IOU, I'll have to toss you some
gear gets you repping, so thank you.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
We would be down for that for sure. We love
upping all of our fans, and one of our goals
is when we do this is to As I said,
we're from New Jersey, so we're trying to make sure
we get one New Jersey athlete to every coach that
we connect with because we have a lot of pride
in being from New Jersey. But there's a lot of
phenomenal runners and wrestlers in New Jersey as well, so

(59:55):
we're going to do our best to get a pipeline
coming to.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
That's great, good, Yeah, I'll thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
All right, Ladies and gentlemen, that is coach Brody Biler
from Indiana Wesleyan. Make sure you go check them out
on all the socials. Give them a little love, let
them know the area Bro sent you. That is all
for us this week. We do appreciate you tuning in
with us, and we hope you have a great rest
of your week and enjoy your weekend. We will be
back on Monday with Colin Lamb. He'll be joining us

(01:00:26):
from Lander University down here in South Carolina. And then
on Wednesday evening, Lyle Smith is going to be joining
us to talk about his recent book, Blood, Sweat and
Spikes the Mark wetmore Way, So we're excited to get
into that. Have a great weekend. We'll see all next week.

Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
T

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