Restarting Wilberforce University XC/TF | Coach Dean Freitag on Building an HBCU NAIA Program, Race Walking, & Year-1 Goals | ABR - Airey Bros.'s Radio

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Airy Brse Radio, be there or B
Square because it's all killer, no filler.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
This is Dean Free Listen to the Airy Brose Radio.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Ladies and gentlemen, Howdy and aloha, we are here, You
are there, and you are now rocking with the best.
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Airy
Brse Radio. Tonight, we're stepping back on to the cross
country course and the Oval with none other than Wilberforce
University headcross country and track coach Dean free Tag. But
before we get rolled, you all know the drill hammer

(00:40):
that like button. Make sure you are subscribed, drop a comment,
every view, review and share helps us grow and give
back to the sports we love. Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify,
and Apple podcasts, and as always, let's not forget while
we're here, folks, We're here to shine a light on
the program's people and stories we wish we had access
to growing up. If you were so, when you know

(01:00):
is chasing their dreams and athletics, wrestling, cross country, track
and fielder beyond, share this episode with them. Now, let's
lace up our spikes and welcome coach Dean free Tag.
Some of Coach free Tags highlights. He just recently hired
in August to twenty twenty five to restart the men's
and women's cross country and track and field programs at

(01:21):
Wilberforce and HBCU competing in the NAIA. He's a proven builder,
former assistant at Shawnee State help launch their program, a
guide national qualifiers and All Americans. His athletic background, he's
a two time NAIA racewalking national champion, a five time
All American, and once ranked in the top ten in
the world. And just recently, Wilberforce just had their first

(01:45):
ever home meet on August twenty ninth, where multiple teams
came together to pray before the women's race. The snapshot
of the community and the spirit he's building. Without further ado,
it is an honor and a pleasure to have you
with us this evening. We do greatly appreciate your time,
Coach free Tag. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Thank you guys for having me.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah, it is an honor and a pleasure. We're excited
to get to know you and have a chat and
hear a little bit more about Wilberforce, the program and
a little bit about your journey as well. I'm good, coach,
before we get too far into it. Anything that you
would like to plug or promote, share with the community,
anywhere you want us to send recruits, anything you got

(02:23):
going on on social media, The floor is yours.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
Yeah, we have a cross country and Track and Field
team Instagram at wilberforcet XCTF or my personal instagram I
use for recreating a lot too is just free tag
d my last name first and my first name awesome.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
We'll put all that stuff in the show notes for
you as well. And one of the ways we like
to show start the show, Coach. We all have our
origin stories how we got into the sports that we love.
We do have it. We do have a little through
line for you as well. As racewalker. Our father was

(03:03):
a race walker. He had some I guess under twenty
age group records at the fifty K. He also spent
some time out at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
So racewalking, although Jimmy and I have never done it competitively,
we used to like to copy our father's form and

(03:25):
technique on some of our family walks and those sorts
of things. So racewalking is something that's near and dear
to our heart. With that being said, you're a race walker.
What's your origin story to the sport? Did you start
right out of the gate as a racewalker? We were
a track and field across country athlete and from that,
how did that lead you to coaching?

Speaker 4 (03:45):
So out of high school, I was at a cross country,
track and wrestling where my sports in high school. I
ended up falling away from wrestling just because I knew
track is where I was going to go with college.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
But originally I went to college my whole goal was
to be a steeple chaser.

Speaker 4 (04:01):
Actually because my high school didn't have any hurdlers, I did,
so I hopped in hurdles into distance. I just thought, Okay,
steeple chase is what I want to do go to
college and it was a blessing that I didn't dot
by the time I actually got injured, had to slowly recover.
Wasn't it where I needed to be to compete with
our team at conference? And like the five k steeple

(04:22):
anything like that. My coach asked me if I could
do the racewalk just to help get some points, and
off of two weeks of practice, I hit the national
standard and ended up going on to the national meet
getting twelfth.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Less than a month.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Later, and I crossed the finish line at that conference
race and my coach walked up.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
And said, yeah, this is your event now.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
And as I said, went on to when two national titles,
multiple All Americans world rankings, and it just naturally flowed
into coaching because I did a god assistant coaching at
my university, the University of Rio grand under the man
who mentioned me, Bob, and he is one of the

(05:02):
men who kind of grew that interest in coaching just
because of the impact he had on myself and all
of our teammates, and me seeing that drew me to
want to be able to have that impact and guide
the young athletes in their career as well.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Okay, so before we get too forward to I am curious.
I'm sure Jimmy's curious as well too. You were a runner,
he got into race walking. That was your event. You
had a lot of success. So when you're training, are
you only walking? Did you still do some running? How
does that all work? We've always been curious about that.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
It depends on the walker.

Speaker 4 (05:37):
I myself, I did majority of my mind was running
and walking because I still competed once I got back healthy,
he competed running. I was on our varsity cross country team,
came close to some national meets with our cross country team,
never quite got there, but was still able to run.
Drop My PRS wasn't anything flash. I was a twenty
seven thirty eight k runner. But still stay with the

(06:01):
first love of it, but just continue to build that
background of walking as I grew.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
And is that the kind of thing getting ready for
nationals and track season? Are you doing walking intervals?

Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (06:12):
So during track season pretty much all my workouts are
walking and my easy runs were running.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Okay, cool, Good to know, Jim, good to know.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, very rich and I always rich being a runner.
And you know, sometimes you get hurt, say hey man,
just take up that racewalk and just to take the family. Yeah,
family torching and get into racewalking. Now, being a coach,
I know this is your first year. I will befer forced. Sorry.
Are you always trying to recruit runners into racewalking or

(06:45):
do you kind of see it as a specialized event A.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Little bit of both.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
There's some people who I specifically would would bring in
to do racewalk, but it's one of those, I'm always
keeping an eye out because sometimes you can just sign.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
You can just tell by looking.

Speaker 4 (06:59):
At runner, maybe they're four, just as like they're naturally
taking a little shorter steps and it's something they can
slow into easier.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
But as one of those, I kind of try to
let it naturally happen.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
I don't try to force it upon anyone because I'm
a firm believer no one's ever going to give their
one hundred percent if they're being forced to do it.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
Another racewalking question for you, because Rich and I are
always scanning Instagram, scanning YouTube, and we're seeing people breaking records,
and I'm always saying, both feet are off the ground.
They're running.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
They're they're not.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Racewalking, they're running that won't puts on the ground. Do
you see that a lot in competitive racewalking, where people
seem to be running more than racewalking.

Speaker 4 (07:37):
Yes, And everyone says that because it's just hard for
the mind to comprehend that someone can walk that fast.
But the rule is you have to have one front
on the ground to the human eye, because everyone likes
to slow down to ten percent speed and they see
a little crap come off the ground and say, well,
see he's off the grounds like you have. But the

(07:59):
referees can't see it, but from myself knowing how hard
he has to go, they're not coming off the ground
on purpose. So if they do, it's because their body
is going so fast that it's physically impossible to stay
connected to the ground. But these elite level racewalkers, they're
walking low six minute pace and you'd be amazed at

(08:19):
how how well they're able to stay on the ground,
or how how close they can time their heel in
their back toe to talk to where it hits simultaneously
and they switch.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
So I need know we're here to talk about the team.
But Richie, I have all the racewalking questions for you,
and so sorry for you to entertain and racewalking new
It's totally fine question I have because when I would
always say to Bridge, just take up racewalk, He's like, man,
this guy like that just looks like it hurts. That

(08:51):
looks like it would beat your body up. Did you
get more injuries racewalking? How was it on your body?

Speaker 4 (08:57):
I actually, up until after a college career, never really
had any injuries.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
After starting racewalking. I had a few.

Speaker 4 (09:05):
Bumps and bruises here and there, but nothing actually any serious.
Everyone says, oh, it's your HIFs or your knees are
gonna get hurt, and surprisingly, I mean, I ended up
getting a knee injury after college, but I don't attribute
out to racewalking.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Okay, okay, I was gonna say, how soon after that
first conference meet did you start thinking about winning the
national title?

Speaker 4 (09:32):
So I'm anturally I'm extremely competitive. I hate to lose
because I actually came into college as a walk on athlete,
so I've always had the mentality of I had to
earn everything I do. I'm always looking at the next
person out because I was overlooked by a lot of
people in at school, so.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
I always had the what's the next target?

Speaker 4 (09:50):
Once I hit a goal, it's okay, moving on to
the next thing, and immedia not gonna lie. I finished
that race, I immediately started looking at the rankings.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Who's number one?

Speaker 4 (09:59):
What do I gotta do to What do I got
to do to get to that number one spot? And
then once I got there, what do I got to
do to keep it?

Speaker 1 (10:07):
So Dean onto the team? Yes, sir, when did you
get hired?

Speaker 4 (10:13):
So I officially started coaching at Wilberforce on April first,
and I started.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
We had a roster number of zero. I came in.

Speaker 4 (10:22):
I finished the indoor season at Shawnee State. I loved
every second there. I had a great team, great head coach.
I worked with Connor Flynn, and it was one of
those me and him and my athletic director. After I
got the job offer, we were deciding whether I was
going to go start immediately or finished the full calendar
year at Shawnee, and it was just one of those.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
We decided I would.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
Be doing myself an injustice and recruiting if I didn't
go and give myself the best shot.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
And through a lot of tears and said.

Speaker 4 (10:52):
Goodbyes, I left Shawnee and started building the team at Wilberforce.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
And how has it been so far?

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Buildings, It's been amazing.

Speaker 4 (11:03):
We brought in roughly twenty freshmen in this class, and
I put out one of my first days on campus,
I put out a message in massing email saying, anyone
who's interested in joining track because we've never had a
full real track team. Anyone that was interested to come out,
and we had about thirty athletes who were on campus
who were still in shape, still worked out every day,

(11:24):
but never had the opportunity to come out and join.
So this year we have a roster. We have a
roster of roughly fifty to fifty five kids from zero
in April.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
And what's across country team numbers looking like right now?

Speaker 4 (11:38):
I believe I just looked earlier day and I believe
we're sitting at sixteen kids.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
All right, So will perforce? You were in Ohio? Correct?

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yes, about twenty minutes east of.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
Dayton, Okay. And it's HBCU, Yes, sir, okay. And so
you compete in the But is there also like an
HPCU sort of national.

Speaker 4 (12:05):
H there is, Uh, it's they they're still working on
an outdoor one. They have an HBCU indoor meet that
they do in Louisville. They just started that last year.
But we compete in the HBCU Athletic Conference in the NAI.
So our conference is all hbcs, So even though we're
in Ohio, we compete with schools from Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Louisiana.

(12:28):
This year for cross country, we'll be going to Decatur,
Alabama for our cross country conference meet in Shreveport Louisiana
for our track and field to conference meet. Okay, okay,
so we it's fun for our kids because I don't
say this in a bad way. Of conferences, we don't
see the same people over and over again. We at
our at our kids when we go to the conference meet,

(12:48):
this is the first time we're going to see every
person there and it kind of just keeps it lively.
But at the same time, they they know who they're
who they're gonna racing against.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Because we follow along with the.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Other teams, you get some good travel out of the tu.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Huh, yes, Sirdeed, can you educate us in our audience
on what an HBCU colleges?

Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yes, yes, sir, so.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
HBCU stands for historically Black College and University, which another
cool fact is Wilberforce is the first private HBCU in
the United States. It was founded in eighteen fifty six,
and it was founded during excuse me for not knowing
the exact urnament, but during segregation slavery as a place

(13:38):
for when schools were segregated for black men and women
to go and still get a higher education. So back
when it was founded, it was near almost one hundred
percent black school. It was black owned and founded, and
now as times have gone on and they still stand,

(14:00):
they're very historical schools.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
We do a great job of continuing.

Speaker 4 (14:05):
To show the history of where we came from to
where we are now because obviously going from eighteen fifty
to now standing in the same place, there's a lot
of history. It's been doing. Martin Luther King himself has
spoken and even taught a few classes on our campus
in our main academic God and is named after him.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Now, when you're recruiting for Wilberforce, do you notice is
that a hindrance or is that a benefit?

Speaker 2 (14:33):
When you're recruiting the kids.

Speaker 4 (14:36):
For most of our kids, I found it's a more.
I wouldn't say it's a hindrance or a benefit.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
But a lot of.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
Our team are take a lot of pride in what
the name they wear on their chests because they know
hundreds of thousands of people have walked where they have been,
people who have held jobs, held jobs and held positions
of authority and gone from nothing and having to fight
every single day, being oppressed, being told they can't do

(15:08):
this or that because the color of their skin. So
our team takes a lot of pride in from day
one of our team coming together because HBCUs, especially in
the athletic world, don't really get the respect because everyone
feels it is a small niche community and it's not

(15:28):
because you don't see HBCUs typically, I'll say, obviously there's
a small majority of white athletes on campus at most HBCUs,
and people just feel like that's holding everyone back. And
our kids want to show we're just as good as everyone,
We're just as fast. Just because we go to an
HBCU doesn't mean we're less than everyone else.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
We can't compete with the big dogs.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
What's the student population at will of course?

Speaker 4 (15:57):
Uh, we have roughly nine hundred students. Okay, I don't
remember the exact number. I have, No, it's between eight
and nine hundred currently, and we actually just brought in
our biggest class, one of the biggest classes in school history. Really,
we brought in over four hundred freshmen in transfers this year.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
Okay. What kind of challenges have you faced or experience
as you've been restarting or starting the program.

Speaker 4 (16:24):
Honestly, the first thing was just going from zero getting
kids because nowadays no kid wants whether it's a HPCU
or oh, I don't say regular primarily white university. No
one wants to be the first to sign on to
do something. With how many cross country and track and

(16:45):
field programs there are in the country and how many
different options there are. Everyone wants to go to what
they know, what they've seen, is already already there. And
that's why I feel really good about the team we
had because everyone signed on knows that they're part of something,
that they're setting the standard. I told every kid coming

(17:07):
in at a school it's been around since eighteen fifty six.
You don't get to be the first to do something
very often here, right, And they take a lot of
pride in we're setting the standard. They want to be
remembered twenty thirty years on the line of we helped
build this, We set the tone of what kids' generations
after us are going to follow in.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
And that was good.

Speaker 4 (17:29):
I'm sorry, I would say, and that was just once
we got that the first recruit, it was the ball
got rolling because it was one of those Okay, someone
else was wanting to take a chance, I'm going to
look into it. And then word of mouth carries and
we got some really good athletes. We got multiple state
champion athletes, high school national qualifiers, conference champions who have

(17:50):
transferred in. And I said once we once we got
one or two, it just picked up and out of
nowhere we had twenty kids signed on. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
I mean it is tough to sell, like, hey, we're
going to be doing this, this is what the vision is.
You get you can be a part of the first.
But there are some of those individuals that they see
that in that potential and they like that that they
had that mindset of I get to be the first.
I was on a team that had never won a
conference championship, and I was a part of the first

(18:21):
two conference championships. And now the program has gone on
to win like, you know, thirty plus conference championships, and
I you know, I've seen national qualifiers all Americans and stuff.
But I still can hang my hat that I was
the first conference on the first conference team that did that,
So that that could be a special sales pitch in

(18:42):
and of itself. What was I going to say with
with it being an HBCU, but being in Ohio, you know,
typically sometimes with the NAI schools or even smaller schools
Division two, Division three, they have kind of a regional
recruiting perspective. But as to HBCU, are you spreading the

(19:03):
umbrella wider to like more of a national search because
of that notoriety.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (19:09):
So it's so not even just because we're HUVU, just
because the world at tracking field right now.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
It's very hard to build a.

Speaker 4 (19:17):
Team only from one area, sure, especially being so close
to Dayton. There's so many colleges. Central State University, which
is another HBCU in Division two, is right across literally
right across the street from US. We have Cedarville University,
five minutes up the road. You have Wright State University
of Dayton. There's so many schools. If you're only going

(19:40):
to recruit from a certain area, it's kind of one
of those you're gonna hit a ceiling real fast. But
a majority of our team is from Ohio. We have
kids from We have some kids from California, Arkansas, Pennsylvania.
We have a large portion from Detroit in Indianapolis, we
have a good bit of kids from the city of England,

(20:01):
which was a really good moment for me because I'm
from northeast Ohio.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Cleveland holds a very close space in my heart.

Speaker 4 (20:07):
So bringing in a lot of athletes from my home
area schools I've competed with. Talking to their coaches who
saw me when I was a freshman in high school
and now I'm recruiting their athletes was a very cool moment.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
What are your thoughts on Lebron?

Speaker 4 (20:23):
Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan, but not gonna lie
that I wasn't cheering and jumping around when we won
the championship in twenty sixteen.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
Sure, sure, well. One of our goals doing this Jim
and I are originally from New Jersey, and our goal
as and doing this show is we want to get
New Jersey athletes to the coaches from all the schools
that we talk with. So we're going to do our
best to get the word out and hopefully get some
New Jersey athletes on your roster. We are a very

(20:51):
talented track and field state. So if you're out there
in New Jersey and you're listening, make sure you take
a look at Wilberforce.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
Definitely, Dean, what drew you to Wilberforce.

Speaker 4 (21:04):
Honestly, it was the fact that we were starting something
and not because I thought, oh I can make this
my own bit.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
It was something told me.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
I believe it was God pushing me on the path
to just something told me I need to be here,
because leaving Shawnee was not an easy decision. We had
built the program from twenty kids because we only had
a cross country team when.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
We arrived to their I believe they're up to eighty kids.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
This year.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
We were a nationally ranked program.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
I had two top fifteen finishes in the country back
to back years. But something just kept telling me, you
need to be here, you need to help start this.
And from the moment got the offer, I just knew
it's where I had to be.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
The school, and from the moment I stept on.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
Campus, everyone that at this university has been more than welcoming,
doing a great job helping and supporting. It's very ray
at a cross country meet that you actually get a
crowd of student athletes who aren't runners coming out and cheering, and.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
As you can see in that the I think that
speaks to it.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
In the picture I share with you guys the prayer
before women's race, and we yes yesterday against oh at
our home meet in August twenty ninth night. We had
a meet yesterday as well, so I got the dates
mixed up. But August twenty ninth, all the athletes that
were on campus came together and prayed together before a

(22:31):
race and cheered on our athletes. They were running around
the course yelling, and even some of them mid mid
race would run it to me, hey, how does this work?
Like how wanting to learn about cross country just so
they could better cheer on their athletes, asking hey, who's this,
Who's that? And it's just something I've never seen before.
The supporting university has shown to a program, especially a

(22:52):
new program.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Did you know that the other athletes were going to
be at the meet?

Speaker 4 (22:58):
I knew some were going to be. I didn't know
the number was going to be as high as it
was going to be, because naturally we spread the word
about it. We asked everyone to come, but you know
how it is. Sometimes you can only ask so much,
but sometimes people never come. And I'm in the zone.
I'm getting my kids warmed up, getting everything ready to roll.

(23:19):
Then all of a sudden, I see just twenty thirty
forty Roberforce kids spread out throughout the race.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Is the athletic department among the other coaches is pretty
tight because usually you don't even at high school as
you don't see things like that.

Speaker 4 (23:35):
Yeah, we our ethnic department is one of the closest
I've ever been part of. We have our own little
coaches group chat that we're part of, and it's not
even just talking about stuff like work. It's a very
close knit family atmosphere. Just this summer, we got together
and had a coach's barbecue just to get to know
each other. We brought our families, our loved ones and

(23:56):
just building a better building that culture because we know,
especially at a small school, we all need each other
to survive.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
So you said you helped build the program up at
Shawnee there was a cross country team and then you
build a track team up to eighty students. And you
said there was something pushing you to Wilberforce and that
you knew that God was calling you to be there
to build this program. Did you feel any pressure when
maybe recruiting kids and you weren't getting kids to sign,

(24:27):
or like you said, there were kids that didn't want
to be that first one. Did you feel like you
had a lot of pressure on you?

Speaker 4 (24:35):
I did it, but at the same time, I just
kept having to trust that because I had a vision
of what I wanted to build. Honestly, I thought it
was going to take longer to get to where we
are right now. I thought, okay, if I can bring
in enough. My first goal was I know, okay, it's April.
Cross country is the first world up. I just need
five guys and five girls as my I wanted ten athletes.

(24:57):
Was my first school to bring in. So I was
launched after first and I got a young man and woman.
They actually both committed on the same day from two
separate schools. Just coincidence that they both committed on the
same days. Like, okay, perfect, we got the first on
both sides. Now I just need a few more and
will be good, well out of nowhere because the young man,

(25:19):
they're both from city areas. They're both well known athletes
in the area. All of a sudden, our Instagram account,
it starts gaining more follows, more people noticing because we
post all the athletes that we get committed, and the
ball just started rolling and the pressure went from okay,
I just need enough to feel a team to okay,
now we can start building something. It's going to be competitive.

(25:39):
At the same time, I've never turned an athlete away
because their marks aren't good enough. I tell everyone, if
you're willing to come in and work hard, show up
every day, you gotta spawn on my team.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
Talking about the vision short term, what are we looking at?
What do you what are you thinking for the fall?

Speaker 4 (25:58):
The goal is so in nai to make nationals, you
have to either win your conference meet or be rank
kind have to get it at large or be top
four on your team. That doesn't make it. That's not
the winning team. And right now our team, they're not
settling for anything less than winning. We finished the duel
meet with Kentucky Christian just yesterday and one of the

(26:22):
first questions the team asked me is okay, what did
everyone else in our conference run? Where are we stacking up?
What do we got to do? The culture of this
team is they aren't expecting to lose. They are coming
in with expectations of we don't care that we're a
first year program. We want to win. They want to
let everyone in the country know who Wilberforce University is,

(26:45):
and I think we have a real shot.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Who are the top competitors in the conference?

Speaker 4 (26:51):
Dillard University out of New Orleans is always a tough team,
great program, great coaching, staff. They returned to a lot
of good athletes. University at a Marshall, Texas. Is it
looking very strong this year? They had brought in a
really great recruiting class and then Talladega of Voorheason two
Blue are also three that are not going to go

(27:12):
down without a fight.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
Okay, Okay, you mentioned you know you've felt calling and
God telling you that that was Wilberforce was something that
you needed to do. We know that there's a lot
of faith based institutions in the NAI. Is that something
that is tied with Wilberforce as well?

Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yes, we are a religious campus.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
Is that part of academics at all? Is there chapel
or anything like that.

Speaker 4 (27:44):
Yeah, we have a chapel every Thursday for the students
okay to meet in the bag.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
How did it go? How did you think it went
with the team?

Speaker 2 (27:57):
It's going really well.

Speaker 4 (27:59):
We actually after the first week, one of our freshmen's
Sky actually got Conference Runner of the Week, which was
huge and just seeing the support the campus have for
him and they heard he got that, just because they're
seeing one of their own winning and automatically the moment
he got that award, everyone on campus knew who his

(28:19):
name was, and seeing the look in his face when
you're he's realizing, Okay, all the miles, the early mornings,
everything's not for just not for him, It's okay. People
are taking notice, people are seeing this hard work paying off.
We've had athletes, so we compete on Friday and then Tuesday.

(28:39):
One of our athletes dropped a minute from Friday to
Tuesday off his time an athlete. He had never run
a cross country before, so seeing the look on his
face coming up the finish line, seeing the clock and realizing, oh,
I'm running faster than I ever had before.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
All Right.

Speaker 4 (28:55):
It's a very young team, so a lot of it's
still they're shaking out those nerves. We have a lot
of kids who I'd say ninety percent of our team
is freshmen, so a lot of them this is the
second time they've ever stepped on at a college race,
so they're still trying to get used to that. In
a week, we'll be traveling up to Cleveland and Learning
Community College for our first travel meet, and that's the

(29:15):
seeing the look in there after they finish the SASS race,
the nerves are gone. Now they're ready to get to business.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Being a young team in a program that you are
starting from scratch and it's your baby. Do you have
any team mottos or any metaphors or I'm sorry mantras
for the team.

Speaker 4 (29:35):
So there's one that I've had at every school I've
been at. When I was in college, when I was
coaching Gratis isn't there. When I was at Shawnee State,
my athletes heard me say this hundreds of times and
drove them crazy. And I've told this to my workforce
athletes and it's going to sound crazy.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
It's embraced the suck. There's going to be early.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
Mornings, hot, rainy, cold, windy days, and it's the moment
like that when you don't want to be there, when
you don't want to do the last set, when you
don't want to do one more rep in the weight room,
that's going to be the difference builder. I tell everyone
the days where you where you're working your butt off
trying to get that last little bit, that one second

(30:15):
left on a rep, think about how many kids that
you're going to be racing on the line. Didn't push
that a little bit farther, pulled up, took it easy
on themselves because they were hurting. That's what's going to
give them the mental edge, the physical edge to win
when it matters most. And then also just the fact
that this is a family. I've told them from day one,

(30:39):
Yes we're a team, but they got to believe each other.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
I'm not. It drives me.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
Crazy when teams have clicks. I don't allow that.

Speaker 4 (30:47):
I constantly am even though it's cross country season. I
have our cross country team come and practice with our
track team. I want people to know each other. And
it's already kids are Maybe you can already see the
team yelling together really well, enjoying with other teams on campus,
which has also been great because they're seat like the
basketball team. They're seeing kids do stuff they've never done before.

(31:09):
They're Our shotputter was amazing everyone the other day because
he's taking a sixteen pound ball and chucking at forty
to fifty feet and that everyone's going up, how's he
doing that?

Speaker 2 (31:19):
What's how do you? And there's that?

Speaker 4 (31:20):
Can I see that real quick? I want to throw that,
see how far they could throw it. But the one
they're already driving crazy to me saying is like I said,
embracing the sockets. It's not always gonna be flashy. It's
not what you see on Instagram or YouTube of all
these like flow track workouts, the big flashy workouts, or
everything's timed up perfectly. They're running the best workout of

(31:43):
their life. It's the days when you're hurting are what
make the champions. The little things.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
Yeah, it's all about doing the simple things. Well, yeah,
there's sometimes that's uh, it's tough sometimes. I coach cross
country as well down here in South Carolina, and you know,
the kids are always like bringing in TikTok or Instagram
and like, hey, can we do this? I'm like, well,
we've got to do a couple of other things before
we can get to that. We've you're looking at a
professional athlete, and we've got to We've got to work

(32:12):
on some of the little things a little bit better
before we can be making those things. And I'm going
to reintroduce embracing the suck to my kids because I
think they need that some days down here in the
heat and humidity in the afternoons after school. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (32:26):
And one other thing that these kids have taken is
and it was one of those I knew it was
going to happen preass and rankings come out because last
year across country team, we had a cross country team.
It was the men's and women's basketball team, and they did.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
Their best room.

Speaker 4 (32:41):
They went out there, they ran their hearts out. But obviously,
if you're runn against distance runners, you can only do
so much if you haven't trained for it. So we
got ranked towards the bottom of our conference. And I
told our kids it's because they don't know what we
have yet, they haven't seen us. They took it as disrespect.
They're like, we're going to go show the entire country
they're wrong about us.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
That's awesome, that's awesome. When is conference?

Speaker 2 (33:04):
A conference for us? Will be October sixteenth.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
Okay, all right, how many meats do you have before then?

Speaker 2 (33:10):
We've had two. We have three more before then.

Speaker 4 (33:15):
Learning, Yeah, we have three more, will be Learning Community
College Cedarville and Ohio Wes again.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
Okay, now getting back to the school itself, you know,
we like to talk to good coaches and get a
little more insight in terms of the academics and some
of the internship programs and alumni connections those sorts of things. Obviously,
being the first HBCU, I'm sure there's a very large
rolldecks of alumni connections. Is there anything unique or different

(33:44):
at will Perforce in terms of academic or majors that
people should know about.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
Major heads.

Speaker 4 (33:52):
I hate saying it's pretty much if you've seen one
university academic wise, you've seen them all.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yes, there's specific majors.

Speaker 4 (33:58):
We actually just introduce I believe, three new engineering programs
into the university. One of the biggest ones, though, is
our music program. We have nationally renowned band choir and
we get to hear him every day. They're actually practicing
yesterday while we were running across the country meet so
we got a little bit of unintentional music, which is

(34:19):
nice for the kids. Nice. But one of the biggest
things I've noticed is just the connection of alumni that's
not just here but across the country. When we first
started the team Instagram page, I started posting We've had
I was having people in groups from all over the
country message and talk about how excited they were to

(34:39):
see this program and talking about we had a young
income from Pittsburgh. We have an alumni group in Pittsburgh
who's like, hey, we'd love to see one of our
own coming down there and asking to get in contact
with him so that if he needs anything in the
future where I be internships or helping find a job,
that they can help do that. Talking to the alumni
who are out in California and wanting knowing kids who

(35:02):
are interested in coming to run track and getting in
contact with them, and not only that, just the HBCU
culture in general. It's not just us. All the HBCUs
come together to support each other very well, which has
also been very cool to see. Yes, we compete against
each other on the core, on a cross country course,
the baseball field, but in the end they all know

(35:25):
we're looking to keep the same culture alive.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
D Another thing we like to cover is the schools facilities,
across country trails. What do you guys have to run
as far as cross country trails, indoor tracks, stuff like
that at track.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
So cross country wise, it was actually another one of
it was a very cool feeling we had that meet
because we actually didn't have a cross country course. When
I arrived, I was out doing a run one day
after work and I was running around our athletic facility
and I just started the cross country running. Me was like,
I wonder if I go back this way, how's it go?
And found a loop that connected. I went to our

(36:04):
athletic director and showed in my vision. We went out
walked it. We're walking through waist high grass and I
kept on them like, I know it looks rough, but.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Bear with me.

Speaker 4 (36:13):
This is my vision. This is what I imagine it being.
And I got the green light from our president, from
our ad to go out there and make our cross
country course. And through a lot of man hours working
with our maintenance staff, myself getting out there and just
going over hundreds of times making sure everything was the
way I had envisioned it, our course came together and I.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
Personally, I think it came out really well.

Speaker 4 (36:39):
We had a lot of athletes from our team from
other teams running Lifetime Best on it. It's a nice
loop core, it's a multiple loop course, so it's very spectator.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Friendly as well. Track Wise.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
We practiced a lot of There's a local facility called
Athletes in Action. We practiced that a lot. It's a
faith based at an organization that not only spreads the
word of God but also keeps it gets athletes together
through sport to help bring that word, and we work
out there a good bit. We also Central State, who's

(37:15):
like a sister's hold to us that used to be
part of what we're forced. University is also very giving
and allowing us to use their facilities from time to time.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
All Right, one thing I don't want to brush over.
You said, the basketball team ran cross country last year.
How did they take those kids into that?

Speaker 2 (37:34):
I think I was more of a They were volunteered.
They were running cross volunteer.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
I love that.

Speaker 4 (37:40):
My first day on campus, one of the going through
admissions doing all the paperwork, doing my need of doing.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
One of the kids in the office.

Speaker 4 (37:47):
Who was a student worker, saw him and he goes, oh, him,
my name is so and So. I'm on their basketball team.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
And I introduced myself.

Speaker 4 (37:53):
I said, hello, I'm country telling I'm the new cross
country coach. Next word out of mouth is we have
a cross country team. Though I don't have to do
this again. He was more excited about that.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
I would imagine so.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
But the coaches I still and I love this. The
basketball coaches have told them if they're late to practice
late the class, they're going to be volunteered. They're running
a cross country again. And the cool thing is our
women's team, we actually have I believe three or four
women's basketball players who they asked if they could continue
running cross country because they know it's going to build
their endurance. They want to get physically fit, and they

(38:30):
just loved the team camaraderie, how they saw how close
the team is and they wanted to be part of that.
And they were out there running yesterday running a five
k when a month ago they didn't know we had
a cross country team.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
Well, we're big on the multi sport athletes. Jim and
I are both multi sport athletes. We always talked to
coaches about that sort of stuff. Especially, you know, there's
a lot of potential in kids that are multi sport
athletes that you know, maybe haven't hit their peak in
one particular sport, but you can see that potential in them.
You was just mentioned you did some wrestling as well,
you were multi sport athletes. I'm sure you've got your

(39:06):
eye out for those sorts of things. Some diamonds in
the rough that haven't quite hit their stride because they're
playing multiple sports and you can get them single pointed
focus in college and they're going to take off some blossom.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
Definitely, we have a lot of kids like that. We
have some who are sprinter today were football focused and
just seeing from just a few months of just summer training.
Because they've been training all summer the stride, they have
made our top distance boy right now. He was also
just the best overall athlete, honest team in high school.

(39:39):
So during track he ran four by one, four by
two would run a mile and he dropped I believe
ten to fifteen seconds off his lifetime best already in
cross country because and he told me, this is insane.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
I've never been in this kind of shape. I had
to let them know.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
Yeah, because you also never have focused on one event
for more than two weeks at a time.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
Yeah, that'll do it.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
Yeah, we're big goals guys over here at Area Rose Radio.
Do you have a three to five year plan for
the team and yourself? Yes?

Speaker 4 (40:17):
And so the first goal is I got a lot
of crazy looks, and I walked on campus and said this,
I want to win year one. I said, I'm very competitive.
I hate to lose. I want to start a dynasty.
And the goal is in three to five years, I
want conference to be one of those that's expected like Okay,

(40:38):
yes we're gonna we respect every team in the conference.
We know there's a lot of good athletes, but we
want that to be Okay, this is we're not peaking
for conference anymore. I want our goal to be podium
at Nationals. All Americans. I already have kids are in
my office today. Coach, what do we gotta do to
make Nationals? The eventual goal is to hopefully build a

(40:58):
program that can compete for trophy at the national meet,
if not try to win one. So I remember I
watched you guys' episode with coach Souder, who I knows
Coach Louder pretty well raced against them a lot. I
love the if I don't win a national title in
four years, you can fire me. I loved that quote,

(41:19):
and it's one of those I didn't say that, but
in my own head, I'm thinking, like, this is what
I want to get to. I want to get to
that level to be. If not, that's who we want
to be. I want that schools like that to be
our peers, not our targets.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
Yeah, we love coach Showder. Shout out to the coach Shuder.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
So you bring up coach Shuder, And when we talked
to coach Shatterer, we talked a lot about training and
what the training looks like, and we all know to
get those championships, you got to put in the time
in the training. What's your training look like, what did
team summer training look like, and what's it looking like
right now.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
The right now.

Speaker 4 (41:57):
On the distance side, I actually, uh just had to
be in one of my eight hundred specialists. We're introducing
double threshold training and explaining to him what it's gonna
look like, how we're breaking it down this summer, especially
for our sprinters, jumpers, throwers, was all.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
Just building that base.

Speaker 4 (42:14):
I told him to you can't win a national title
in the summer, you can't win a Commons title in
the summer, but you can definitely lose one there we need.
I needed them to get a good base of fitness
so when we get the campus we can dive right
into the hard work.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
We just started official practices this week.

Speaker 4 (42:33):
Still get some of the kids are a little out
of shape, but it was expected because I didn't give
them super hard workouts. I just needed them to be
in a place where we could get building. So they're
they're looking forward to that and they're not loving the
conditioning workout, so far, but it's one of those. Just
yesterday in practice I used the phrase again, you got
to embrace the suck.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
These aren't the big, flashy workouts.

Speaker 4 (42:55):
These are doing more reps in your used to, doing
longer reps in your used to because we need to
get you to this point. The fun stuff comes later
down the line when we get closer to meats. Cross
country wise, with our conference being so early, it's a
little bit different. We're gonna as we get closer to
conference meet the side, we'll probably do a small peak

(43:18):
to get ready to run our best race at the
conference meet, and then again start peeking for the national
championship again with the distance runners introducing right now, my
boys are doing this. I'm still working on getting the
girls mileage high enough, but getting that double threshold training
and to get them more mileage and more volume than
they've ever had.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
How do they like in the double threshold.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
They're actually enjoying up more than I thought they would.

Speaker 4 (43:42):
Because I also for some of the kids who are
still newer to it, I like to incorporate biking doubles
to keep the impact off their legs because a lot
of these kids are coming from programs I don't want
to say were bad, but they were just not as
higher as they weren't naturally ranked programs weren't amound.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
The coaches they're doing.

Speaker 4 (44:01):
Their best jobs, but kids who were underdeveloped or undertrained,
so needing to slowly build them up to that. But
they've actually been enjoying it because they see, again the
YouTube's a crazy thing. They've seen the Yaka Binger Britain,
They've seen Northern Arizona. They know what it can do
for them, so they bought into it immediately.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
That's awesome getting that buy in. Dean is a new
program and a new head coach. Are you are you
a one man show? Do you have some help or
you covering all the events on track and doing cross
country at the same time.

Speaker 4 (44:37):
For right now, I do a lot on I have
a students, have a student assistant coach who he is
getting ready to graduate. But he was a track athlete
himself in high school and loves the sport and he can't.
He says, I know I'm not going to be able
to get in shape to long term do what I
want to do, But can I help out?

Speaker 2 (44:55):
Can I coach? Can I be your assistant and help
take that pressure off of you.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
I have some student workers who have come in and
just whether it's day to day, just helping around about
the office. One of them actually is a cross country
runner who she is doing her student hours with me
and just helping get the little things done that would
take twenty thirty more minutes if I was just by
myself and come track season. Shout out to coach Jasmine Coleman.

(45:23):
She's actually a head volleyball coach. She's going to be
helping out with our sprinters and jumpers as she was
a sprinter in.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
College as well. Awesome, so I'll have some help out there.

Speaker 4 (45:35):
And all the coaches on our campus have been doing
a great job of if we're busy working together. I've
helped out with some of the strength conditioning or helping
get athletes condition on other teams. And I know if
I need to step away and need help, I can
always reach out to any of the coaches say Hey,
I got something going on today. Can you can X,

(45:55):
Y and Z come here? Can you have them do this?
That's another one of having that close knit athletic department.
We all are here for each other. If we get it, we.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
Know, as a head coach. There's a lot more to
that position, in that role than just the x's and
o's of writing workouts or getting kids into double t's
and that sort of stuff. Have you found some things
that you like in that head roll a little bit
more than others? Like do you like doing expense reports?
Because we hear that that's the bane of a lot
of coaches existence is Yeah.

Speaker 4 (46:31):
Doing paperwork, courchase requests, expense reports probably my least favorite
thing to do. But honestly, my favorite thing to do
is recruiting. And that's whether I get an athlete or don't.
I'm I'm an extrovert. I love talking to people. I
love getting to hear people's stories. So just getting to
and the best doing is obviously when you land the recruit,

(46:52):
but just seeing even I've had a cruise, I ended
up not getting my see amount of meat. I'm still
training for him. I want to see him do do
great things. But like I said, getting to hear people's
stories because no one has the same story, getting to
meet parents, meeting these kids, meeting their siblings. One of
our athletes on and I tell these kids when they

(47:12):
come in, I'm not just recruiting here. As I said
that I want this team to be a family. I
tell them I'm recruiting your whole family. If once you
sign on, it's not just you come here. I want
your family to feel comfortable to come around. I want
them to know the rest of the team. I want
the rest of the team to know your family. One
of our athletes his little sister. Every time I see her,
I give her a big high five and ask when
she's gonna come beat her big brother in a race, starting.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
That legacy early. Yes, sir, you get a you got
a bell in the office. Every time you get a recruit,
you're ringing a bell.

Speaker 4 (47:44):
I don't but that's a good idea and I need
to get with Yeah.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Yeah, I think I can't remember who it was. I
don't know if it was someone we had on the
podcast gym or someone that I just know in the
coaching ranks, but I'm pretty sure they had a bell
in the office that they would they would ring every
time they got a crew.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
That's a really fun idea, and I might end up
stealing Matt.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
Whereas the very least getting started, you know, get one
of those cowbells. Those are real popular across country track races.
You can just rather one of those before you get
one of those big ship bell was hanging.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
Oh, that's also a very good one, Dean.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
You got hired in April. Has it like world wind
since then?

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (48:23):
And actually just the other day when we were getting
ready to start our first meet, I couldn't believe it
was already August.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
I looked back.

Speaker 4 (48:29):
I was like, wait, I've been here five six months already,
where's the time gone?

Speaker 1 (48:35):
I know you said you got a lot of help
from other coaches and some of the students coming and helping.
Does it feel overwhelming at times?

Speaker 4 (48:46):
Sometimes you say, yet like if there's if there's a
problem I can't figure out. Yes, I can get everyone.
But just the fact that everyone on this campus is
so helpful, is so willing to drop what they're doing
to help you, it kind of stops, though a woman
from happening.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
So I've been.

Speaker 4 (49:03):
Blessed to not have that really happen other than a
few moments where it's just me being stubborn and not
asking for help and it's like I can't.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
Figure this out.

Speaker 4 (49:14):
But I've been blessed to have a great group of
people around me to help along the way.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
It always helps. Having a good support system.

Speaker 4 (49:22):
Yeah, and having the system of as I mentioned earlier,
Bob Welly, my college coach. He's retired now, but he
had fifty years of college coaching under his belt. Our
assistant coaching wasn't college coach Glenn Queen. He had I
believe thirty or forty years under his belt. And I
talked to them weekly some if not every other week,

(49:44):
sometimes just whether stick catch up and just see how
they're doing, or coach, I got a question, what do
you think of this? How would you do this, whether
it's training or the paperwork that nobody wants to do
of how did you set this up? What was your
system to make everything around as smooth as possible? And
along with my high school coaches, I talked to them
all the time because I came from a very small town.

(50:07):
Everyone knew each other, everyone's real close and having that
support system I can go to if I have questions
as well. Coach Ed Lidderdale rest in peace. Sad that
he just passed away yesterday morning. Was a great He
was a coach who'd been in the business for sixty years.
Talking to him asking how things changed, what was things

(50:31):
like that because yes, everyone's trains advancing, there's always the
new technology everything.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
I'd like to look.

Speaker 4 (50:38):
Back and see because there was great athletes back in
the day. I want to know what were they doing
to make themselves great. So I'm not a one size
fits all coach. I look at sprint training and I
adjusted to make my distance runners better.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
I look at.

Speaker 4 (50:52):
Distance training and I make tweaks here and there to
make my sprinters better, jumpers, throwers, everyone. I'm very much
a nerd for the sport, and I want to know
is there's something that I can do to make my
athletes better. I want to know what it is and
how I can adjust it for my whole team, not
just one or two kids.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
Swiss Army knife approach, I like it, Yeah, I do. Coach,
Is there anything about Wilberforce that we haven't covered that
you want our audience to know?

Speaker 4 (51:24):
The big thing is just if you if you come
to Wilberforce University, I want they need to know they're
coming to a school that takes a lot of pride
in their history and takes a lot of pride in
you as a student. One of the coolest things I
got to be part of we have a ceremonies called
write a Passage for freshmen every year because they use

(51:46):
the phrase because our colors are green and gold, so
they say, you show up green, you leave gold. And
each day during their welcome week they do go through
ceremony learning what's going to be like to be a
college student, what's expected to them, not only that, knowing
what it's expected to them as a Wilberforce student, having manners,
coming to class on time, paying attention, falling dress code

(52:11):
there isn't a specific one, but knowing, hey, don't come
in sagging your pants, headphones on, show up ready to work,
show up being respectful, but also just knowing there's again,
hundreds and thousands of people have come through the hallways
where you're at, have walked where you walked, and they
take a lot of pride in this and they want
you to take that pride too, And to end that,

(52:34):
we have a water tower on our campus and it's
really cool. So at the when you graduate, you walk
past it on your way out, you say say goodbye
to it on your way to the graduation ceremony, and
when you start you write a passage, you go the
opposite way, and it's almost one of those. You're starting
your journey out of the campus and in four years

(52:55):
you end your journey where it started.

Speaker 1 (52:59):
Rich Manners write a passage and dress code.

Speaker 4 (53:02):
I'm in yeah, and it's it was a very cool moment.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
It's not just this faculty.

Speaker 4 (53:10):
The faculty holds the students to a high standard does
and it's just a little things doing the little things.
You're right, holding the door for help student male or
female saying yes sir, no, sir, being respectful but je
sorry train of thought skipt it for SA. But also

(53:34):
the the students hold each other to that standard. We
have a very good student council, student leaders, upperclassmen who
they've gone through four years of they've lived and breathed this.
They take a lot of pride in that, and they're
not afraid to call out each other in a respectful way,
of course, not just screaming on at each other, making

(53:54):
sure that what they've been through, what they've helped build,
and what they've helped keep the standard for stays.

Speaker 3 (54:03):
That's such a huge thing. That last point you touched
on is that the upper classmen or holding people accountable
as well. I think that's such a huge thing for
a program and for a school to have that culture
where it's not always just coming from the adults, the professors,
the teachers, the coaches, but when they get it from
their peers in a respectful way, like you said, I
think that speaks volumes and it goes sometimes maybe goes

(54:25):
even a little bit long, longer, or further with the
younger kids or athletes to get that from their peers.

Speaker 4 (54:33):
Definitely, and seeing that one of the best things that
have been seeing that from my freshmen so far on
our team, because obviously with our team being so young,
that was one of the big things I was afraid
of is we don't have that upper classmen leadership right now.
But our freshmen have built that into each other, holding
each other accountable because they all know they're here for
the same purpose. And luckily when we had kids on

(54:56):
campus join, I had two athletes, my two captains, they
Eat and Latiana. They from day one day stepped in
and they just they have shown everything you want to
see in your captain. They hold each other accountable, they
hold their teammates accountable, and they built all the things
I've said that I want to build in a team.
They started without asking I sent out summer workouts. One

(55:19):
of the first things into our team group chat, unprompted,
was Hey, I'm I live in this area. Who's here?
Who can meet up? If you need a ride, I
can come get you. Let's get a workout and together.
So we're not doing this alone. I didn't ask them
to do that. They did it among themselves. Kids getting
in the group chat. Now at school, start Hey, who's

(55:39):
in this class. Let's start studying groups. Let's start we
can tutor each other. Some kids need to do workouts
on their own, getting together, doing the work together. And
this is, like I said, things that I'm not forcing
upon them. They've built themselves, which I think means so
much more that it's a culture that's athlete.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
We'll not coach forced.

Speaker 4 (56:03):
Because you just get them more genuine feeling of it,
that they have a genuine love and care for each other.

Speaker 3 (56:09):
Yeah, that's a great feeling as a coach. When the
kids are taking the initiatives to do those sorts of things,
it kind of makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside
that you sit back and see that those little text
messages of those group chats come through and they're like,
all right, they're getting it and get it.

Speaker 4 (56:24):
And it's a good feeling knowing if someone is slacking
that I don't have to be like, oh, get on
each other. I don't have to jump down people's throat.
They hold each other to that accountable of themselves. And
also just the competitiveness Dace, Like I said, from day one,
they've been We're not here just to be here. We
want to win. We want to show everyone who over

(56:45):
because a lot of these kids have that mentality. We
were overlooked too. We're not going to let anyone overlook
us again. So seeing every time I see them in
the weight room, on the track, or out on the course,
they're pushing each other. They're competing. So I have a
lot of kids who they were the top person of
their team. They're not used to having someone that can
push them to the same standard as them. We have

(57:05):
four boys on the team who all can run ten
six or faster than the one hundred, and every time
I see them together, it's who can jump the highest,
who can dunk a basketball the best, who can run
the fastest. They're just pushing each other, but it's in
a good mentality. They can push each other. Then the
second they're done, they can shake hands and be like, Okay, cool,
we got the work in today.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
Nice, I'm excited for the conference gym.

Speaker 1 (57:30):
So my coach, you got me stoked. I am super
excited we have this chance to chat tonight and follow
the team from the ground level.

Speaker 4 (57:40):
Definitely, it's like I said, I want to thank you
guys for having me on.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
You go just yeah we got the final four.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
Definitely. I was just gonna say it's been great.

Speaker 4 (57:50):
I said, I felt like I was called to be here,
and just every chance I have to speak, how much fun,
how enjoyable it's been here at Wilver four and what
the vision is, like you said, whether it was the course,
this team, it's my baby. I've helped start it from
the ground up. It means a lot for me, Like
I've told everyone, I've put sweat, tears, hours of my

(58:15):
own life into this. Like I have a I've been blessed.
I have a great girlfriend who's she's very patient with
me because I spent a lot, whether it's out out
at dinner, like we'll be having a conversation at the
pause for a secon. Because I'm responding to a recruit
responding to one of my athletes. You have a question
kind of evaculate because I had a workout, because I'm
also one. I'm an athlete. I trained with my kids.

(58:38):
I'm never going to tell a kid no, they want
to get extra work in.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
You're young, you can get away with those things. Still, Definitely,
I jumped into work at I'm a in a nice
pat for three days.

Speaker 4 (58:52):
The only one I've regretted is when I've tried to
left with one of my throwers because he warms up
with my body weight. Yeah, I'm sending him center watching
him throw weights on the benches.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
I don't know if I can even lift that off
the rack.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
I'll spot you.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
Yeah, I squat that.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
Final flour. Rich, let's do it, coach. Are you a
coffee drinker?

Speaker 2 (59:17):
Absolutely?

Speaker 1 (59:18):
How do you brew your coffee and how do you
take it?

Speaker 4 (59:21):
Uh? So, I'm very basic. I'm Hordboard brewing coffee, but
I'm ice coffee all the way through. I go to
every day, I stop at Tim Horton's on the way
to work. Mocha ice coffee with two creams and two sugar.
All right, all right, But for some reason I can't
stand hot coffee. I always have an ice whether it's
twenty degrees outside or it's one hundred degrees outside.

Speaker 1 (59:44):
I have been on a cold brew kick for the
past couple of years myself. I I don't know if
you have any Coole Foods or sprouts by you, but
I get the stump down nitro col brew in the can,
and I just for me, it's a as much as
I like the fancy hipster pour over and taste in
all the notes, I just when I want my coffee,

(01:00:06):
I just wanted as fast as I can get in
my system because then I'm gonna be happy and the
day is going to go smooth. Yeah. So that's why
I like the night dro clbro.

Speaker 4 (01:00:15):
I'm very much.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
And I know some people say it's not real coffee.

Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
I'm very much. I like the very sweet lot of
flavor because for some like like I said, black coffee,
warm coffee, I'm not a huge fan of the taste,
but I love the flavorings to it. I'm a very
big fan of like white moke cinnamon with it be
in the fall might go to has been cinnamon apple
at tim Mortons.

Speaker 1 (01:00:37):
Yeah, that that is something I didn't know, Rich. I
didn't know we had Tim Hortons in the States.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
Oh yeah, it was bigger than the middst.

Speaker 4 (01:00:44):
Hey they're really going it. U still only be in Canada,
but now it's spreading around.

Speaker 3 (01:00:48):
Well, you get to you get to Nationals, you and
you get together with coach shut or go get a
vanilla cappuccino with them. Definitely, we'll make yours ic.

Speaker 4 (01:00:58):
Yeah, that's it's very cool when we coach our because
competing at Rye over very close to the Cumberland So
I've been some of the athletes who are honest team
or coaches I competed with in college, so I have
a lot of connections and friends throughout that program.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
Okay, awesome, coach. Do you have any daily practices rituals
you do on a daily basis to show up as
the strongest version of Dean free tag?

Speaker 4 (01:01:23):
Honestly, surprisingly, no, it's more race days I do, and
my team thinks I'm crazy. Right before a race, I
almost get into the same mindset I would as if
I was competing. I'm very energetic. I'm very bad at
hiding my emotions. If someone's doing good, you're gonna see
me run around, jumping, screaming. So I'm just with the kids.

(01:01:46):
I'm I have my headphones on, I'm listening to hype music.
I'm getting excited. I'm I'm cheering a team on, trying
to not go too crazy, but trying to keep the
energy up. And then right before the race, I usually
dead silent and I lock been focused on what I
need to do to help my team.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
Jim, there's your segue. He just gave you to tee
it up. He's got to hype music on.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
So all right, yeah, Cooch, what are you listening to
right now? Music? Podcasts, audio books? Are you reading anything?

Speaker 4 (01:02:18):
So usually podcasts I listened to like when I'm going
because I live in Columbus so I can eat into work.
So I'm usually listening to podcasts. Listen to you guys
a little bit of everything. I'm big into sports exercise,
so follow some different podcasts talking about that running podcasts.
But music usually might go to to get hyped. Is
fall out Boy.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
What's your favorite Fallout Boy album?

Speaker 4 (01:02:41):
Probably American Psycho okay, or say rock and Roll.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
I'm a little a little bit older than you. I
would I would die saying that their first album, I
Believe It's Take This to Your Grave is one of
the best email albums of all time.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
Definitely have been listening to a bit of that one
as well.

Speaker 4 (01:03:03):
Right as I got into it is when say rock
and Roll and American Psycho had just came out, and
that's the one that hooked me. I also am big
into the set it off.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
All right. I've dabbled and said it all. I'm a
huge pop punk guy, huge pop punk guy.

Speaker 4 (01:03:19):
Yeah, I'm sorry when I was born because I'm about
to be twenty seven, it was right as I was
etting born with it, but my older sister was huge
into it. So from falling into the same case as
my older sister.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
Okay, do you mess with the starting line at all?

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
I haven't, but I'm definitely gonna check it out.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
All right. They have a new album coming out. They're
old guys like me, but they still got it and
I'm a big census failed guy newfound glory. Yeah, but
I was also just listening to fall Up Boy's second
album again. I like, I'm a little bit of hipster
like they're older stuff, but yeah, I'm a full up
old guy.

Speaker 4 (01:03:58):
Definitely, and my team. Again, I'm only twenty seven. I'm
not used to feeling old. But some of them heard
my music one day and I've never felt so old
to coach. What is that playing music for my kids?
And they're like, Coach, I've never heard of this band before.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
I got another one before you. Have you heard of
Hot Moulding?

Speaker 4 (01:04:19):
Yes? My sister introduced me to that one.

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
All right, all right, I'm a fan, Dean, I'm a fan.

Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
The last one to close it out. It's a lighthearted one.
Maybe there's something unique in Columbus. You mentioned the tim Hortons.
Do you have a guilty pleasure?

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
Probably either do you mean food wise or just like it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
Could be food? Maybe you like to play golf fish
Some people play video games food wise.

Speaker 4 (01:04:49):
It's so I'm being a runner, very basicly, I'm huge
in depasta they go to put it. I drink way
too much soda. I'm a sucker for orange mountain dew.
But I'm also I'm also love playing video games. I'm
a huge sports nerd. I'm either went around home. I'm

(01:05:11):
either if I'm not working, honestly, i am playing a
sports game on my Xbox or watching sports. Being a
Columbus me and my girlfriend we watched a lot of
Ohio State big soccer fans watching the Columbus crew. We
live about five miles from the stadium, cheering them on
being from northeast Ohio. Huge Guardians and Cavaliers fan.

Speaker 3 (01:05:32):
Do you played FIFA?

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:05:35):
Who's your team the career? Okay, right on, Jimmy knows.
We we had a crew back when we lived in
New Jersey. We used to play round robin FIFA for
hours on end. But yeah, now you're in Ohio, you're
gonna have to. You might have to link up with
coach Mark Delmonico from TIFF and he's a Mountain Dew
fan as well.

Speaker 1 (01:05:55):
Okay, yeah, but your positive dish of choice.

Speaker 4 (01:06:02):
Alfredo playing Alfreda is always good to go to. But
I'm a sucker for shrimp Alfreda.

Speaker 3 (01:06:09):
Stright up your ally, jim Yeah, back of the day, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:13):
Definitely, coach, Thank you so much for your time. Really
enjoyed this conversation. Like Rich said before, we can't wait
to follow the team into conference and be on and
see everything you got going on. And once you guys
give a conference title, we'll have you guys back on
watch you guys in nationals. Can't wait to see what
you do with.

Speaker 2 (01:06:33):
The program funds. Great, thank you, Yeah, Dean.

Speaker 3 (01:06:37):
It was great to get to know you, have a conversation.
Like Jimmy said, we'll be we'll be rooting for you
to come conference, hoping you get to Nationals and good
luck with the rest of your season.

Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
Appreciate it. Thank you guys for having me on. It
was a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (01:06:49):
Yeah, thank you all right, ladies and gentlemen. That is
Dean free Tag from Wilberforce University. Make sure you check
out those links in the show notes, go give them
a follow, let them know the aer Bros sent you.
We will be back tomorrow night. We're heading back on
to the wrestling Matt We're gonna go belly to belly
with coach Mike Drone from Lakeland University in Wisconsin. So
we will see you back here tomorrow night at same time.

(01:07:12):
Have a great Thursday tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:07:16):
H

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