Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 176 - Andy Olson Zoom Interview

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Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 176 - Andy Olson Zoom Interview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

0:22
Greetings and welcome into the What Come Preps Podcast. This is episode at one
0:26
seventy six special zoom interview. I'm Rylan Spencer along with me as always Tyler
0:31
Anderson of What Come Preps. Tyler, how are we doing doing fantastic?
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This is the fun part where we get to talk with a coach and the
0:38
last few years there's been additional coaches that we get to bring on and so
0:42
we get to do it again. Yeah. And if you are listening to
0:47
our podcast, then you know that we had a Britt Lens interview just a
0:49
little bit ago and Tyler. That was a fun one. So if you
0:52
haven't seen it, Tyler, they can get it on YouTube. They can
0:56
get it on Facebook. How I don't even know where where can they find
0:59
that one? Yeah, they can get it on both those that get on
1:00
walcom preps dot com. Just click on you know podcast Walko Preps podcast will
1:07
show you all of them. You can you can scroll down to that one.
1:08
But yeah, it's pretty easy. Just type in Walko Preps brit Lens
1:11
and it's a lot of fun, ask some fun questions. But today we
1:19
have a special guest. He is a Linden grad he's a former Linden coach.
1:25
He's also the new Blaine head football coach, and he moved to Wacombe
1:29
County Football just to be on the podcast. You gotta love the guy,
1:34
mister Andy Olsen. How are we doing, coach? I'm doing great.
1:38
I was wondering how long it take you to bring that up? Added to
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the list of many benefits of moving to Walcomb County, it's been on the
1:44
podcast with you too. You know, all these years you always told us
1:47
that you listen to the podcast and you kind of wish that maybe we would
1:51
do some stuff for Burlington Edison. You decided, you know, what the
1:53
heck with those guys. I'm not gonna beat around the bush. I'm going
1:56
straight to Walcom County just so that I can get on the podcast. That's
2:00
what it is. No arguments here. Hey, you have to appreciate a
2:05
guy that that that he's a real go getter. He gets what he wants.
2:07
Um. So, now that you're there in Blaine, um, have
2:12
you had a chance to get over to Westside Pizza and tried the Tyler Anderson
2:15
Special? I have not had the Tyler Anderson Special. What is that?
2:20
It's the lunch special. Tyler, what is the lunch pecial? I even
2:22
remember. Yeah, it's week days from eleven to three going get two slices
2:27
and a soda for five ninety nine. Really really good deal. And the
2:30
one that they make for me, it's it's a it's a it's a chicken
2:36
bacon ranch, but it's buffalo chicken bacon ranch, so it's got the buffalo
2:40
chicken taste to the it's awesome and so yeah, it's very very good.
2:45
I have been to West Side a few times since moving back up here,
2:49
and I have not tried the lunch special yet, though you do the carry
2:52
out special. There you go. I'll have to hit that up once we
2:54
get going. In August was some two days. I'll be the stop between.
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I'll come in and app for the Tyler Anderson. Yeah, you know,
3:00
you know what you need to do is just get like a booster or
3:04
somebody to just drop, like, you know, a couple of hundred bucks
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and just send the whole team over at once and see if they can even
3:08
handle it well. I will say. In June we had a team competition
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where um as team building activities things that weren't football related in our winning team.
3:17
Actually, m they get Westside Pizza on the coaching staff. So,
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oh, after our first practice in August, we'll be over there, so
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I might build a double dip. He So you mentioned it, you mentioned,
3:31
you know, June spring summer camp here has has been going on them.
3:37
What's your impression so far? How are things going over there? Blane?
3:39
Yeah, they're going good. I mean it's always you know, it's
3:43
a new adventure trying to get to know all the kids. Really, that's
3:46
where we lead with is build those relationships with those kids, get to know
3:49
them, build some trust. So we've gone through spring camp. We had
3:53
the opportunity to go to squalcom and for three days in practice with Nick Lucy
3:57
and some other schools, which was fantastic. And now that we're in July
4:00
were doing some seven on seven So we've actually been hosting that at Blaine on
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Wednesday nights UM and that's been fun. We've had anywhere between just four of
4:09
us to eight teams basically out of Walkham County with a couple of skage schools
4:13
mixed in. So coach we brought up earlier that you know you played at
4:19
Lindon you were assistant coach at Lindon, you went to Burlington as assistant coach
4:24
and became the head coach. Why why Blaine? Why now? Um?
4:29
There's a couple of different reasons. Why Blaine? Why now? Um?
4:31
One of my families up here, um, and I've always wanted to come
4:36
back to Walkham County. The community. While it's nice, it's still long
4:41
to go constantly down to skatget and I felt like what I wanted to accomplish
4:46
at Burlington we were able to accomplish when I was there. I never really
4:49
had a desire to be a head football coach until there was a need for
4:55
a head football coach because I grew up, you know, and working with
4:58
Kirk Kreamie or playing for Kirk, I mean saw the best of the best
5:01
to do it at the highest level right right, and then seeing a different
5:05
kind of angle really developed my why. And my why is to provide kids
5:10
with opportunities that are similar to what I had growing up that maybe I don't
5:14
want to say I took it for granted, but that was my norm.
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So to go to new buildings and help build programs and create positive experiences for
5:25
kids, that's really my driving why, you know, I was able to
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talk to coach Dodd before applying for the blame job, and you know,
5:32
he did such a great job for so long there, and you know,
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I felt like, you know, those kids really were excited and wanting to
5:41
continue to build something, and he had done such a great job with our
5:44
youth program to building that up, and so it just seemed like kind of
5:47
a natural transition to head north and become a border. Right. So you
5:54
come into the Northwest Conference one A now after being two A for so long,
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it's a it's a tough league. Tell us about just how crazy this
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Northwest Conference one A is, you know, it's it's right on part with
6:05
about how as crazy as the two as. Honestly, I look at going
6:10
into it this year. I mean, I wouldn't be shocked to see Nooksack
6:13
Valley preseason number one. They're phenomenal. They stood out to us. We
6:17
were able to last year in a jamboree when I was coaching Bronton s and
6:23
up because some of their guys and they're phenomenal, they'd be great at the
6:26
two A level. And then obviously with coach Turf thret Win and Christian,
6:30
he's got that thing going to now and Leper with the decades of experience in
6:34
Mount Baker, they're always a contender. I mean, you're looking at probably
6:38
three teams that will be top ten right there in our Week two. You
6:43
know, there's limited berths, right, so it's crazy. We saw that
6:46
last year on that was it a Thursday night? Yeah, blame the try
6:51
meat for two. I remember I was sitting there was pouring down rain.
6:54
I was in my office watching it on YouTube. Somebody was streaming it when
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I was down at Bronkton S And it's just blowing my mind that only two
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of these teams going to keep playing football. So that's kind of the nature
7:04
of the Beast though with the Northwest Conference regardless of classification. You know,
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I've talked to Ryland before about this a little bit. Coacheters really tried to
7:12
advocate for more playoff berths across the state and the one is definitely spoke to
7:19
that last year, right, greatly, great traditions. Excited to be up
7:25
here, like, it's gonna be fun. The stadium too, being only
7:27
a few years old. It's fun that you've been able to host some things
7:30
on Wednesday Night. What do you like about the stadium there, it's pretty,
7:33
it's pretty beautiful, it's phenomenal. It's it's outrageous. Actually, I
7:38
didn't realize how big it was until I wouldn't visit it in December to kind
7:44
of check things out, and wow, that is it's large. It's in
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my opinion, I think it might be bigger than the home side of Civic.
7:50
I mean, obviously there's not the wayside with it, right, good
7:54
grief, and it's it's beautiful. I mean even on the backside where you're
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walking around by the concession stands, it's all brand new, squeaky queen.
8:01
The field's phenomenal. Um. We gotta made it. In regards to facilities
8:05
at Blainey, I remember when I was crossing the Blaine crossing their headed up
8:11
to a hockey game and they were they were building that and they had just
8:13
like, you know, got the I don't even know the framing work done,
8:16
and I remember looking at it going, dude, that place is gonna
8:20
be big. Like when especially when you consider what was there before. You
8:24
know, it was almost like sifully seating with you know, some some wood
8:28
around it, and then it's like it's like, dude, that place is
8:30
going to be really really big. Like that's gonna be a lot of fun.
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Coach, when you think about Blaine football, and and and and when
8:37
you when when a team walks away from having played you, guys, what
8:43
do you want them to think of? And what do you want the community
8:45
to think of when they hear Blaine football. Um, I want them to
8:48
think about how they were able to watch kids that just don't quit. They
8:52
play the full forty eight minutes every Friday night, regardless of record, regardless
8:58
of scoreboard. We're gonna go out there and we're going to compete, and
9:01
we wanted to be the hardest forty eight minutes for our opponents each season.
9:03
We want them to think about, Man, they did the right way,
9:05
They talked with their pads, and they played through the whistle. That sounds
9:11
like a sounds like a Linden team or two that you might have played for
9:16
or coached with. M I know Tyler likes to geek out over some things
9:20
as far as personnel, and in the past we've talked about some of the
9:26
some of the great coaches that Blaine has had, whether it's been the head
9:28
coach, the assistant coach, who are some of the assistant coaches that you
9:31
have on staff right now, and what are their roles coming this fall.
9:35
So one of the most humbling experiences I had in the last five six months
9:41
was when I left Burwington Us and half my staff came with me. Wow,
9:45
and that blew my mind. I was like, Wow, incredible without
9:52
getting emotional about that piece, but um, my defensive coordinator Troy Anderson for
9:56
Browingtones and he's coming up with us. M The dude literally had the basement
10:00
to his house dedicated to film and it sounds like somebody that might be in
10:05
the sum a little bit. Well, he's an Anderson and maybe guys are
10:09
cousins. You just don't know it. But yeah, Troy, Troy is
10:13
a defensive wonder kin. And I knew of Troy before I went to Burrowington
10:16
Edison because he was actually friends with coach Creamy from back in the day.
10:22
Um, Troyson his early fifties. But he's gonna be making the commute up
10:26
and he's so passionate about defense. I mean, I swear that guy wakes
10:30
up on Sunday mornings hoping every final score of the NFL games two zero.
10:35
He loves it. And then We also brought his son, Hunter Anderson.
10:39
Hunter Anderson's a former quarterback for him Burwington Edison, and he's been on our
10:43
staff pretty much since he got out of high school. He's gonna be our
10:48
offensive coordinator at Blind and he's wired almost the same way but exactly opposite.
10:56
He wants every final score to be sixty three to sixty and it's just it's
11:01
like there are two of the same people with about thirty years difference in age,
11:05
and they bickered constantly about, you know, how football should be played,
11:09
and it's really kind of fun. But same drive and workout and Hunters
11:13
is gonna he's actually working on his master's right now to be a teacher,
11:16
and he's taught a little bit with us already, so that's really fun.
11:22
Another coach that we have on staff. I refer to him as the greatest
11:24
assistant coach of all time, which he hates, is Mike O'Dwyer. Mike
11:30
actually started his coaching career back in the nineties at Ferndella vic Randall and he
11:35
will laugh and tell you that he was the wide receivers coach. Outside of
11:41
this theme. For those that don't know, Ferndell runs the wing tea and
11:45
did not throw the ball much in the nineties, but Mike was the wide
11:48
receivers coach. Mike actually end up moving down to California for about twenty years,
11:52
and then he came back up to Skatchet County and we were able to
11:56
get him on staff. And he's phenomenal. You want to talk about attention
11:58
to detail and a heart for kids, it's just awesome, just phenomenal stuff.
12:03
And then our fourth guy that we took from Burlington's Trey Lopez. He's
12:07
a young guy, strength and conditioning coach, fiery, excited running backs coach,
12:11
let's go run over everybody type personality. But yeah, and then since
12:16
coming back to Blaine, we've been able to fill the staff with some other
12:20
fellows that were involved, whether it was seven or eight years ago in Blaine,
12:24
like coach Sean Miller or recently like coach Wes Kerwin, who's an eighth
12:28
grade pe teacher at Blaine. Really excited about where our staff's at. Actually,
12:33
that was always kind of a a big concern when he moved to a
12:37
new place, is how are you going to fill that staff? And you
12:41
know, the pieces really just kind of came together and we're in a really
12:45
good spot. We have a bunch of guys that kind of you are wise,
12:48
are similar, which is really important to me, and that is,
12:52
you know, we are translational with our kids. Before transactional. We'll worry
12:56
about the scoreboard after, we worry about kids and teaching them how to do
13:01
things the right way. And life through football is a big piece of that.
13:05
Yeah, I know Sean Miller through through through fast pitch and he's a
13:09
he's a he's a great coach. He you know, he led Blaine to
13:11
their best finishing school history this past year. So, um, that's that's
13:16
a that's really good. Um, let's go through kind of some guys on
13:20
offense. That the big thing about Blaine this year is that they return a
13:24
lot of guys. They only graduated four or five kids last year. One
13:26
of them was the starting quarterback. But I really liked what Colin Davis did
13:31
when he got in. Um, so, kind of who are the main
13:33
guys you're gonna lead on on the offensive side of the ball. Well,
13:37
you touched on that Colin Davis. He's been phenomenal kid, works his tail
13:41
off, and he's got a big heart and mind for football. Um,
13:45
he wakes up the morning thinking about playing quarterback, and he's had a really
13:48
good summer with us, and he's been at everything in regards to the weight
13:50
rooms when you can um hard worker. Um. So he'll be in the
13:56
mix at quarterback. Another guy that will mix in at quarter back a little
14:00
bit played slot last year Riley Iden soll be running a two quarterback system there
14:05
because both kids offer a little bit something different. And then obviously on the
14:09
outside a bunch of guys returning that we're pretty successful last year, Hunter Pazzetti
14:15
I think caught six hundred yards receiving last year or something like that. And
14:20
then a kid that kind of is under the radar on both sides of the
14:22
ball, Jesse Deming, has been phenomenal this summer. I think that he's
14:26
going to have a really great senior year. And that's another kid who just
14:30
works his tailoff all the time. Connor Dollery is going to be in the
14:35
mix as well. You know, if you've watched us play in the past,
14:37
you know that we use a little bit of a h back power type
14:41
look, and we think that he fits really well into that look. He's
14:45
got kind of mean streak in him and likes to go hit some people,
14:46
but can also go out and catch the ball. And then in the backfield,
14:52
we really do like two back sets or to be able to at least
14:56
be rotating our running backs constantly. So Colby Ship returns, he's going to
14:58
be a junior as well as Jaden Piez, who may have been more on
15:01
JV last year. Jade has had a really good spring in summer as well,
15:07
so we're kind of excited about those pieces. And then up front,
15:11
m upfront will be youngest this year as far as the team looks. Inside
15:16
the box as well. Victor Gerbel returns and you'll be seeing him play a
15:22
little bit of center this year. And then Um, we have some competitions
15:26
going on throughout the rest of the line. One kid that maybe you don't
15:31
know much about. He's going to be a sophomore kid who fills up a
15:33
door when he walks through it. It's Malkai Maril He uh, yeah,
15:37
he's fantastic. He's probably oh. Malchais six foot four, two seventy and
15:45
homeschool kid. Um takes seventh period weight training with coach Dodd and is just
15:52
the guests Sir type of kid and really just wants to get good at football
15:56
and is a hard worker and incredibly coachable. So we're pretty excited about him
16:00
in his future with football. That's awesome. What about the defense, kind
16:06
of the same type of guys. There were a few guys like Riley Eyed
16:08
as a safety, Connor Dowry coming off the edge, there were some and
16:11
Victor Gerball up front. There were guys that made some big, big plays
16:15
last year and you get a return a lot of them. Yeah, absolutely,
16:18
Um, Victor Gerbell, Otto Shelton, there's another one that's play in
16:22
both ways in the trenches. And Otto Shelton. Otto Shelton. That is
16:26
a great name, Like that guy right there, that's like nineteen seventies Oakland
16:30
Raiders right there. I can let up it though. He's got a younger
16:33
brother who's gonna be a freshman. Axel Shelton, Axel and Auto, Oh
16:40
my lord, I love these guys already. Yeah, there is their dad?
16:45
Is that Max Shelton. Um, I don't really know, Okay,
16:48
can kind of like be able to piece all the parents together. Yeah,
16:52
that's probably a tough question, but yeah, Otto and Axel, I can
16:56
appreciate the naming there, but yeah, I'm finding Axel's actually more of a
17:02
safety running back type and then Otto's the big fella inside and we're excited about
17:07
both those kids actually. But then yeah, going back to upfront, a
17:11
couple of guys that have stood out. Al Moser Hernandez is gonna be another
17:15
guy that's kind of that ninetech edge guy with Dollery opposite on the outside both
17:22
way guy Tyler Obama was a fantastic athlete that kids long and rangey last year.
17:29
It was unfortunate. Um I figured this out watching film and then obviously
17:32
then talking to him when I got to meet him he broke his carbone like
17:36
first series of the season. Yeah, and was gone, Yeah, he's
17:41
he's a great athlete as well. And then yeah, secondary got Shipp and
17:45
Eyed back their Roman playing center field opposite with Jesse Deming. Justin Mignard's got
17:52
a lot of run last year. As far as linebackers go, a lot
17:55
of juniors, a lot of junior linebackers, Blake Kereski MOLOI message again,
18:00
you got Pops there. And then Hunter Rozetti kind of fits into our hybrid
18:03
role. You know where he's gonna play a little bit of nickel. You
18:07
know. We'll put him in the box against maybe wing tea teams and then
18:11
spread him out if we're playing against the spread. Yeah, it's nice to
18:15
have a guys that are athletic enough to be able to do that. Hunter
18:18
Rozetti fits that role perfectly. Yes, yes, yeah, all right,
18:22
coach, this is where we do a thing called five Names. We'll give
18:26
you a name and just kind of give us the first thing that comes to
18:29
mind when you hear those names. All right, yes, sir, all
18:32
right. The first name is a name that maybe not super familiar to people
18:34
in Watcomb County unless you've played in the two way classification. Zach Watson Zachary
18:42
love that kid. I still refer to him as twelve U. That's just
18:48
that was his number. Zach Watson was an incredible athlete, incredible leader when
18:52
we were trying to build Burrowington as in back to what it is at least
18:56
now today, where it's, you know, contending to be a ten team
19:00
in the two ways. You look for your best kid to be your hardest
19:03
worker, and Zach Wasson was that. He had the personality and charisma that
19:08
you would want from a quarterback. Everyone respected him even though he was a
19:11
junior starting for US with them a very senior heavy group in front of him,
19:18
and he just led by example all the time. That kid. I
19:21
can't tell you how many nights where it's like, okay, Zach, can
19:22
I please close the weight room. We're supposed to be done thirty minutes ago,
19:26
and he was still in there, just working his tailoff. And you
19:30
know, he was dynamic on offense and defense. He had one of the
19:33
best senior years you could ask for a kid. And yeah, he really
19:37
carried us. You know, his senior year we alst to win him by
19:41
three and we were with a really good Squalcome team down the stretch there when
19:45
they were healthy. That Squalcome team might have been one of the best two
19:48
eight teams in the state, if not the best to a team in the
19:49
state. And Zach found ways to make plays. And you know, my
19:53
favorite part about Zach I coached him in basketball from his freshman year through his
19:57
senior year, in coach from football from the sophomore year to the senior year,
20:00
is watching him grow and find his voice. That guy commanded the attention
20:07
of his peers at all times and a lot of times. It was funny
20:11
too. You talk about coaches and player relationship and how you can be on
20:15
the same wavelength. You know, if I was upset, I knew Zach
20:19
was upset about something. So it could be fourth and two and I'm ticked
20:22
off and the offensive line coach here, let's just pay on the rock,
20:26
And I knew that he was ticked off too, and I'm just calling inside
20:29
run play and Hunter or now I see you would look at and go yeah,
20:33
sure, and I go, yeah, Zack's angry. He goes,
20:36
how do you know I'm angry right now? And that kid would just go
20:38
blow up a linebacker, kind of like Jake locker back and that is that
20:44
you dubbed. Just run somebody over, right and he'll go get you two.
20:48
So, yeah, twelve was a special player. I love that kid.
20:51
I still talk to him a lot. Yeah, he's he's gonna be
20:55
dustined for great things regardless of what he does in his life. Zach used
20:59
to come to our quarterback camps and he's so he'd come down to the Seattle
21:02
area every weekend and trained with us, and I remember he was always really
21:04
quiet. You know, he could throw the ball a little what didn't have
21:07
the biggest arm, didn't have maybe the most, but you know what,
21:10
he just he came down and he worked really hard, but he was so
21:14
quiet. Right and then I remember I was up there at that Linden game
21:17
that you talked about, and I remember standing on the sideline and in the
21:19
first quarter he had, like I don't know, an interception, he had
21:23
a long run and this, and I remember sending Jake keeps attacks. I
21:26
go, hey, this might sound weird. Zach Watson's he's a little baller.
21:33
And Jake was like, what do you mean? And I was like,
21:33
Bro, when I get the film, I'll send it to you.
21:37
You have to watch this kid's film. Like he's actually ridiculous, Like he
21:41
is absolutely of all the kids we had. I mean, you know,
21:42
we had six foot six kids with rocket arms, and you know Casey Ballam
21:47
and Simon Berkat, like we had these guys all the time that we're training
21:49
with us, and then here's little Zach Watson and you never would have known
21:53
it based on what you saw at our camps. I mean, he was
21:56
just they're having a good old time throwing the ball around. Didn't really he
22:00
show much emotion and then boom, here he is on game night. It's
22:02
like, bro, like, this is this guy? Like what is he
22:04
doing? This is unbelievable, but all right. Next up on the five
22:10
names, Blake van Dalen, Blake Van Dalen BBD, BBD And when I
22:17
think about him, I think about energy and passion. Those are the two
22:19
words that come to mind. I've known Blake since I was a ball boy
22:23
at Lyndon and he was a young assistant coach. I couldn't even tell you
22:26
what he was coaching back in the late nineties early two thousands, but I
22:30
do have one memory of Blake. My first memory of Blake. We are
22:36
driving down it must have been two thousand and one, the first year we
22:38
went in played Bellevue for the state championship and we ended up. I was
22:44
really pumped. I think I was in fifth or fourth grade. We got
22:47
a skip school on that Friday. So we're heading down Thursday for Thursday night
22:49
practice in the te Dome and we're on a charter bus. And again all
22:53
these things are just like the greatest day of any fourth grader's life, right,
22:56
And I'm sitting next to Brady Baumber, who's another ball Boy, and
23:00
we had Blake right behind us in tom Stopper and we were playing like technobile
23:03
on our little game boys. And I remember Blake and Tommy reaching over and
23:08
challenging us, and we had like a tournament between the four of us playing
23:11
this technobile game. And that's just Blake though, Like he was always so
23:17
well natured and just great personality and wanted to He loves building a connection with
23:22
you, and you know, at that time, you could think, you
23:25
know, here's this young assistant who's getting ready to go play Bellevue and you
23:29
know, but he's still keeping it light and looses at time and made it
23:32
for a really cool first memory. Yeah, there's not too many. There's
23:37
not enough good things you can say about a guy like Van Daalen. Number
23:41
three on the list chass Cock Chazz. So that's my athletic director now had
23:48
a Blaine. I've known Chazz since we were a little I have a lot
23:52
of stories about Chazz. Trying to think of a word to describe him.
23:59
There's a lot of words to describe I think of one word to describe Chaz
24:03
boss talking to our talking boss. Honestly driven, driven and he has driven.
24:11
He has the standards that he has in his head, and he doesn't
24:15
budge off those standards. I was Chasse assistant basketball coach at Burlington Edison for
24:22
five or six years, I forget the exact number, that he was the
24:25
head coach there, and it was a similar situation. Before Chazz took over
24:30
Burlington Edison basketball was something like fourteen and forty six and the three years prior
24:33
and being able to turn that around with him and rebuild that, like that's
24:37
where that spark really happens. Like, man, this is a lot of
24:41
fun creating a culture that kids are excited about want to be a part of.
24:45
And he was always just consistent, that's another word, with what the
24:51
expectations were. And he did a really good job bringing in people and allowing
24:56
us to be who we were because at that time, this is no secret,
25:00
I was a football coach coaching basketball. I didn't know lick about XS
25:07
and almost for hoops. At the end of the season when I was coaching
25:10
my JV team, we joke about how I had the cleanest white board in
25:14
the conference because I wasn't drawing anything. And he put me in the role
25:18
of JV coach and just kind of let me teach how to go about playing
25:22
and competing with each other, and he took care of the exos and on
25:26
his piece, and together we worked really well and it was a lot of
25:30
fun. I was coaching basketball is just terrific. I don't know if I'll
25:34
ever go back and do it again because I did it because he was the
25:38
head coach, right, but I learned so much about coaching coaching a different
25:42
sport there too, And yeah, I'm excited to do it again with him.
25:47
Obviously different roles, you know, with him being the athletic director now
25:52
not Blaine, and I'm the head football coach. But really it's fun to
25:56
work with people that you can trust and you can walk in and have honest
25:57
conversations with all the time. So yeah, the next one, and we
26:03
don't have all day, which is good because we don't want to pump this
26:07
guy's tires too much. Blake Whitman's okay, Blake. Also, congrats to
26:12
Blake. He just got married. I saw him. Yeah, that was
26:17
last week, So that was awesome. M really happy for that guy.
26:21
I saw a really cool picture that he sent me that was like the wedding
26:23
with Mount Baker. I think it was in the background, was I mean,
26:27
what a view Welcome County not lacking in views. I think he was
26:32
at the chagrins Um where they have all the Quietensdales, So that's where they
26:36
have this service. M Pie Blake women honestly, and I know that he's
26:44
gonna hate this. Yes, compassion. Blake is one of the most easy
26:51
to talk to human beings on Earth, and his ability to just sit talk
26:56
and care about you is phenomenal. Um. I've known Blake obviously. I
27:02
played for Blake in some capacity. His first year coaching was I think my
27:06
junior year of high school back in two thousand and six, two thousand and
27:10
seven. UM, And I didn't get to know him very well there because
27:14
he was just this young guy on staff and I was too busy trying not
27:17
to make Coach Bomber upset at me. UM smart. But UM yeah,
27:25
I got to know him more just growing up and then coming back and coaching
27:27
UM with him, and then that relationship really blossomed and I really do look
27:33
forward to hearing from him. He checks in year round, UM, how
27:37
you do and you know where you at? Blah blah blah, and then
27:40
Friday nights, you can always count on about a twelve thirty am phone call
27:44
from from Whitman and uh, what's funny is too you talk about us?
27:48
Yeah, well available, He goes to the next one, and then if
27:52
one he just honestly at this point round I think you're one A and I'm
27:55
one B and uh, yeah, he'll call and we reatch the games.
28:02
And now that I live in Walkom County, I have a little bit of
28:04
a fear that he's just gonna show up because he knows where I live.
28:07
I'm gonna hear knock knock knock at twelve thirty and he's gonna want to watch
28:11
film and talk, which I would be why didn't you answer your phone?
28:14
I'm at your house now I know where you live. Um, Billy Bean
28:18
and Moneyball when he's trying to Scott Hatteberg to show up, you know that
28:22
would be Yeah, that'd be blake. But yeah, and a guy you
28:26
can always like lean on too. Um him and ironically enough, Troy Anderson,
28:30
my current defensive coordinators. They talk all the time, literally all the
28:34
time. I had one time we had a later practice in the middle of
28:38
the week, which isn't normal for us. And I look over and I
28:41
see Troy on his phone and I'm thinking, oh, it's it's Ed Bomber
28:45
reincarnated taking a phone call in the middle practice. And I walk around,
28:48
What are you doing? He goes, it's women. He's calling me.
28:52
We're talking about this, this and this, and my goodness, guys,
28:55
um Defense never sleeps. That's another thing I'm convinced. Between Troy and Blake,
29:00
and they may average about four hours of sleep at night. Well,
29:03
I mean that makes sense with Whitman. He doesn't have to get a lot
29:06
of shut eye, you know what I mean? Yeah, Oh, my
29:15
goodness, four hours of sleep at night, that's all he needs. Last,
29:18
but certainly not least on this list. We got to hear you talk
29:22
about Kurt Creamy. Coach Creamy. A lot of people will talk about coach
29:26
and talk about like his sayings or you know, some of the things that
29:32
like he built a program around. When I think about coach and I try
29:37
to take something from every great coach that I've been around, I think about
29:41
this guy's just innate ability to connect with kids, and he was so efficient.
29:48
And you can talk about the efficiency of practice, you can talk about
29:49
the efficiency a pregame, the way he ran his program, the way he
29:52
ran his weight room. But he's also incredibly efficient with his relationships. I
29:59
mean, you know how it is that when you got one hundred and five
30:00
hundred ten kids in the program, right, and Kurt just would know what
30:07
kids needed more of him than others, and he would pour into those kids,
30:12
and he knew how to coach every kid almost immediately, and that just
30:15
made it really efficient for him in regards to I can push this kid this
30:19
way, but this kid needs this, and this kid may mean more here,
30:23
and this kid has a great home life here, so we're okay.
30:26
And when you're running a program, you only have so many hours in the
30:32
day, and I'm convinced that guy somehow family way to have twenty six hours
30:36
in the day. How he went about his day, I mean, everything
30:40
was intentional and every conversation was specific. I was blessed growing up. I
30:47
have a great family, and I had friends growing up, and I didn't
30:49
necessarily need the social emotional support of my football coach in high school. But
30:55
Kurt knew what made me tick and what would break me. And I hated
30:59
losing, and Kurt would come find me Monday in the weight room if we
31:03
lost a football game on Friday night, and like we would maybe not talk
31:07
for a couple of weeks. Like it's okay, you know, I'm the
31:11
lineman and he's coaching quarterbacks and doing his thing, and he come find a
31:15
moment to pull me aside and talk to me about the things I did well,
31:18
knowing that I was broken about how that how Friday went, and I
31:25
didn't realize what was happening until I look back later on and be like,
31:27
oh wow, that was intentional. So yeah, his intentionality and efficiency with
31:33
those relationships was just second to none. Now, obviously I think coach Creamy
31:38
is probably in this boat, But what do you think of inspirations as far
31:41
as you as a coach or mentor some of the people that you've coached with
31:45
or some of the people you lean on. Who are some of the names
31:48
you know, maybe along with coach Creamy vet that come to mind. Yeah,
31:52
this kind of reminds me of Tyler. Maybe you remember this back in
31:56
two thousand and six when Jake was playing, how they made the ultimate quarterback?
32:00
You know the Bellingham Herald back in the day, did it? Yeah,
32:01
they gave like the hands of this guy and the you know, the
32:05
arm strength of this guy. And yeah, and it was all a joke
32:09
because Jake Locker was playing out that time and it should just been just Jake.
32:13
But yeah, I kind of try to do the same thing when I
32:15
look at coaches. Um, you know, I wish I had that that
32:21
piece occur for sure. I wish I had ed Bomber's eyes in his brain.
32:27
I have yet to meet somebody that can see twenty two people on a
32:30
football field and process at all immediately like ed Um. Watching Ed back in
32:35
the day when he was up in a booth, it was just something different
32:38
and um, yeah, his processors just awesome. And I've tried and I've
32:42
tried, and I've tried, but you know, he just does it at
32:44
a different level. So there's that piece. Um. But one guy who
32:47
hasn't coached a lot of football but was one of my favorite coaches of all
32:52
time as a man named Kent Victor. Yeah yeah, cancel. Long time
32:57
assistant basketball coach, and he's coached middle school for ball forever. Like I
33:01
thought he was old when I was playing middle school football. Ken's passion,
33:08
man, I can still hear him doing the USC fight song while we were
33:13
doing the drum line and things like that and just our normal stretches. But
33:19
his passion and I was able to play basketball for Kent for quite a few
33:22
years every day, and he could really get the most out of every kid.
33:30
He was phenomenal at that piece. Another name I think of a lot
33:32
is Terry Keemick. Yeah. When I was first out of college, I
33:38
joined the winding staff and my role was a little bit unique, but I
33:42
was also coaching the freshman defense, so I spent a lot of time with
33:45
t K. Shout out TK. He just retired actually from teaching and this
33:50
past spring. That guy's heart, I mean, he embodied to like his
33:57
ability to listen. He might be the smartest guy I know, honestly.
34:01
UM. And he was with coach Krami for all the years that he was
34:05
there at one and two, just like Coach Bomber was. UM. T
34:09
K was quick to listen and slow to speak, and that's a phenomenal trait
34:16
and that's like you got to practice that. But yeah, I look at
34:22
t K and go, man, I wish I could I if I end
34:24
up leaving this earth half the listener that Terry Kimmick was, and um,
34:30
I've done a pretty good job. So yeah, those are some of the
34:34
local names that I try to piece some things together with and try to emulate
34:39
when I'm coaching. That's cool. You you mentioned Kent Victor when I was
34:45
in When I was in high school, he uh was a teacher at Mount
34:47
Baker. I think he was the ad for a little bit. He was
34:51
the head boys basketball coach in the late eighties for Mount Baker, so I
34:53
got to know him a little bit that way. Um, as far as
34:58
your style of offense, are you kind of bringing in what you ran at
35:01
Burlington? Yes, but I do think every year. I think this is
35:07
a really important concept for offensive coordinators to understand is your kids shouldn't fit your
35:15
system. Your system should fit your kids. So while things may look like
35:20
the spread, or we may look three wide with an h back, how
35:23
we utilize that it's malleable. We're always going to be adjusting to fit what
35:29
our kids are best at. Now. Obviously being new to blame and warning
35:35
these kids and putting them, you know, testing them a little bit at
35:37
camp, We're we're consistently trying to mold and figure out what's what's that going
35:43
to look like. So week one that may look different than it does week
35:45
six, but we do have some staples to our offense and that's really important.
35:50
Chip Kelly coined this phrase way back when when he's at Oregon that he'd
35:53
rather be great at a little than average out a lot, and I think
35:55
that's something that we really take to heart. We want to keep keep football
36:00
simple and that way our kids can play at full speed. And if we
36:04
can do that and put them in positions where they can be successful, um,
36:07
that gives us the best chance of winning on Friday nights. You know,
36:12
having having three wide and you talk about going with your personnel, guys
36:16
like if Riley's not playing quarterback, I would imagine you're gonna have him out
36:21
wide, Hunter Pazzetti, Justin minnaras Jesse Deming. There's a lot of talent
36:24
on the outside, kind of kind of remind you a little bit of the
36:28
Linden days when you were playing. Yeah, well we had a little bit
36:31
of talent my junior year on the outside when it was dirt Dallas, Chazz
36:36
Cock, Blair Bomber. Yeah, now they're the Brady Bomber. They were.
36:40
They weren't hurting for skill on the on the outside. And it adds
36:45
a former linement. It always killed me every time I heard a pass play
36:47
just una, hey, Bob back, they're just running legendary old line.
36:54
Coach Bob Wiley says, uh, passing the ball as cowardice, that's his
37:00
thing. That's a good way putting it back. Speaking about when you played,
37:05
coach, what do you remember about your senior year Week one? Because
37:09
I was at that game. What do you remember about that game? My
37:14
senior year Week one? Are you when we're at winding? Yeah, Blaine,
37:17
Blaine? There you go. So yeah, what's what's crazy is my
37:22
junior Week one? That was coach God's first game as head coach at Blaine.
37:27
Right, Um, so things kind of just happened to go in circle's
37:30
life is Circular County. Yeah, but um week one at Blaine. I
37:37
was the center my senior year for every game but week one, Oh um.
37:43
Because Ryan Hastings, who's just an incredible athlete. Back then, he
37:46
was playing in this Legion baseball tournament and he didn't have enough practices and he
37:51
was our left tackle, so our backup, our six guy on the offensive
37:55
line was centered and I backed up the other four spots while being starting,
38:00
so I had to go play left tackle. I remember I had a club
38:02
on my hand because I broke my hand. Was sweet because it's just an
38:06
added weapon and run walking. Yeah, I remember that we came out and
38:12
we were able to throw the ball really well. I remember how fired up
38:15
coach Kramy was to get the season going, and we had a very successful
38:21
night. And I do remember that I had my one miss snap of the
38:25
year because I was also are a long snapper. It was the fourth quarter.
38:29
I think we were up like thirty four to seven at this time or
38:31
something like that, and we had a punt for the first time. So
38:35
I had a mosy my rooend over there and grabbed the ball, but my
38:38
club took up most of my hand. I landed the fingers and I snapped
38:43
that thing about nine feet over tight Dallas's head. Who's who's our punter?
38:46
And that thing went flying, And I will remember watching Tate. My first
38:52
thought was, how can I get to the sideline and not find Ed?
38:57
Ta got the ball? Took a thirty class and sure enough Ed was thinking
39:00
the exact opposite, how can I stop Wolson? Forgetting to sign light and
39:04
without finding me, and I met him right there on the sideline and I
39:07
got earful. Thankfully that was by one bad snaw for the season. And
39:12
of course he made sure to highlight that the senior banquet at the end of
39:15
the season. Yeah, Olson's almost perfect. Then rehashed it all again.
39:22
But yeah, that was a fun night. How did do you have game
39:25
film from that game? Can we find that that batch? I probably do.
39:30
Yeah. What was so weird about that was that was the first season
39:32
of nwc Athletics becoming a thing, and the guy that was running it wanted
39:38
to have a football writer and so he sent me to that game so that
39:43
I was covering that for that It was you know, I had a jacket
39:46
and business cards everything. It only lasted a few weeks, but because other
39:51
reasons, but um, but yeah, I just I just remember that game
39:54
really really well, and I was thinking, oh, man, that was
39:57
your senior year. That was week one, your senior year, and it
39:59
was a against Blaine of course, so it's kind of funny how it all
40:01
goes back and forth. I'm sure I could find the film of that,
40:07
well, we might. If not, Woman's got it I'm sure. So,
40:10
I'm sure I was an incredibly average and forgetful high school football player,
40:16
or forgettable high school football player, and not forgetful. But I have some
40:21
great I have some great tape of doing the wrong thing sometimes. Women's probably
40:25
got that one on his nightstand, just on loop, just in case Andy
40:30
every wises up and strites to say something, I'm just gonna look at this.
40:34
It just keeps having take Dallas jump up and look back, jump up.
40:36
Oh man, Yeah, it was brutal. One final thing I remember
40:40
from that game. It was pre game and coach Bomber has always been really
40:45
worried about offensive whynomen getting hurt, like that's something that we can control somehow.
40:51
And Ben Callen was a three year startup right tackle, and we returned
40:57
most of our offensive one for my junior year. And remember we just finished
41:00
the pregame warm up. We're about to go to the locker room and then
41:04
come back out for the last time before the game started. And I remember
41:07
that calls us over, like help, man, what did we do?
41:09
Now? He pulls us aside and he grabs us, you know, not
41:13
hard, but like by the chest. It goes neither of you two are
41:15
allowed to get hurt this year. Oh, I just went thanks, coach.
41:21
Yeah, well, well we'll try to keep that in mind. We
41:25
can't afford to have you though, because then we don't have any backups.
41:29
And yeah, Ben calls absolute stud on the line. It was just kind
41:31
of funny as yeah, coach Bomber. So a couple of questions that we've
41:37
kind of asked, I would say quite a few people. Now. First
41:42
off, when you think about opposing places to play, was there a certain
41:46
place that you remember or maybe it's even now when you're coaching days where you
41:51
look at it you just go, you know what, I love playing here,
41:55
Burlington Adson. You know what, I'm not gonna lie. The first
42:00
time I ever went to a game there, well, I went to a
42:01
half game there and it was like a Monday night game or something. Was
42:05
that Lyndon Burlington game that I went to. That place is awesome on Friday
42:09
nights. Man. Let me tell you, that's one of the better atmospheres
42:12
that I can remember going to in the thirteen years that I went to,
42:15
you know, fifty games a year almost. That place is fun. It
42:19
really is. Yeah. And I think one thing that you don't really realize
42:22
unless you played or coach there. It's one of the last grass fields and
42:27
before Moult Baker like drudged out their field and made it phenomenal. Now,
42:32
in my opinion, prior to that growing test and had the best grass field.
42:37
Now, hats off to Baker, they got it. But it was
42:39
like playing on a fairway. Yeah, absolute, it was. It was
42:44
outrageous and they have both sides and you get the sunset over the valley.
42:49
Place would be rocking. And you know, if the game was competitive and
42:52
both teams are good like it was that night that you went, that was
42:55
a fun environment and I loved playing there. Unfortunately, my senior lost in
43:00
overtime there, so that was one of the Monday morning coach Kramy pick up
43:04
Bolson times. But um, yeah, that's a really fun place to play
43:07
though. Yeah, I remember that game. There was one the place was
43:10
packed like forty five minutes before the game. But I remember at one point,
43:15
so I was standing on the Linden side and I was all the way
43:19
what would it be it would be I was closest to the freeway, so
43:21
the northwest side of the of the field, and I remember just like looking
43:24
at an angle across the Burlington Edison stands were packed. There was like two
43:30
or three people deep all along the side, and then even back in the
43:35
end zone there was two three people deep. I mean, there was so
43:37
many people there and on both sides, you know, both sides it was
43:42
like that. But man, that yeah, that place that's underrated. You
43:45
know a lot of people. I hate to say that Burlington Edison is kind
43:47
of like an afterthought in a way, but it's not really like a big
43:52
name that a lot of people know around the state. But if you go
43:53
to a game they're on a Friday night. Man, Yeah, that's that's
43:57
a really good one that it really is. It's a the sunset, I
44:00
don't even think about that. Yeah, the sun is like right there,
44:02
just west of the field, basically going right down almost like behind Anna Cortis,
44:07
I guess in a way. But the other question we like to ask
44:09
people is if you could go back, So go back in your mind here
44:15
as a coach. Let's go as a coach. Actually, let's do it.
44:20
Let's do both. We'll do it as a player and as a coach.
44:22
If you can go back as a player, what is one thing you
44:25
would change one game. You would change one thing in a game you would
44:29
change. Maybe it's the snap against Blaine because it was your only bad There's
44:32
one what is one memory or something that you would look at and go,
44:36
man, I wish, I wish we could do that one differently. My
44:39
senior year, we played Ferndale at Ferndale and it was a competitive football game.
44:46
We end up losing seventeen to three, but it was one of those
44:50
where like no one could really move the ball. We started off that game
44:53
the kicker, actually our kicker almost Charlie Brown, the kickoff stepped and slung
45:00
and miss almost, but he ends up toe punching the ball on a line
45:05
drive and hit the Ferndale kid. And I was up front square in the
45:08
chess ball work Chet's back, I think with Josh Duggan, who recovered the
45:13
the accidental onsete kicks. So we got the ball, we got momentum.
45:15
Here we go, baby, and we ran the ball down their throat and
45:20
we end up with first and goal from like the two, and we threw
45:23
the ball four times and got out there with zero points. I was like,
45:27
mad, coach, can we just run one play right up the gut
45:30
like, let's go. That was always when I was and I when I
45:34
was coaching with coach Coremey, I'd make fun of him a little bit about
45:37
that one. We gotta get Brady Bomber a touchdown here, Um, rock
45:43
baby that on the field though, Like, how did Ed Bomber not just
45:45
say hold on time out, walk out into the huddle and just go,
45:47
guys, I don't care what coach is telling you to do. We're running
45:52
play. I don't really know. Um. My way memory of d from
45:55
that game was, um, we had a there was a fumble. We
45:59
found the ball. I think it was in the second quarter because we're in
46:00
the other direction and it was a scrum and I ended up losing a contact
46:05
and I'm blind, like I can see about three feet in front of my
46:09
nose type guy and I don't have a contact, but it fell straight in
46:14
my hand. There ran the sideline between places and gave it to Greg Helgiz,
46:16
who was our physical therapist on the sideline, and I run back out
46:20
on the field and I had a long snap the field goal. We end
46:22
up making the field goal. I had no idea. I just waited to
46:25
listen to what side of the crowd was cheering after the kick went out because
46:29
I couldn't see it. I come to the sideline and Ed ripped me for
46:34
not having a backup set of contacts. And from that day on, even
46:39
as a coach, I've always had a backup set of contacts with me at
46:43
all time. So Coach Bomber let me know. But we're able to get
46:47
the contact back in, thankfully, and I could see the rest of the
46:50
game. You ever like standing there on the sideline as a coach and a
46:52
contact is maybe bugging yet, and the only thing you can do then is
46:55
think about Ed Bomber, you know it. Unfortunately, there's many aspects of
47:00
my life where Coach Bomber's voice we'll echo throughout my brain. I could get
47:07
out of your head. I don't need you right now. All right?
47:12
Well, hey, same question. But as a coach, is there you
47:14
know, is there is there a play that you look at and go,
47:16
man, I wish we would have thrown the ball here or done this as
47:20
as head coach Andy Olson, Yeah, what would that be? Week?
47:25
It was week nine of Zach Watson senior year. Plain squalk, good golly,
47:31
they're good right, and we're we're competing. We're down. We missed
47:37
the next point. I think both teams missed an extra point. I think
47:38
it was six to twelve because nobody wanted to kick a ball through the uprights,
47:43
and there was about five seconds left and a half, I would think
47:46
maybe a little bit more, and Coach Lucy took a time out and we
47:52
ran the five two that year, but we wanted to put an extra defensive
47:55
back out there on the field because it was the last time out, and
47:59
we knew that he was going to try and take a shot to the end
48:00
zone, and I took our nickel and I put him over the middle of
48:05
the field, which is where Zach Watson was, which is a really poor
48:08
idea because no one's going to test his Zak Watson at that point in the
48:12
season, right And Coach had a great play drawn up and he was able
48:16
to throw a jump ball to his six foot three, six foot four wide
48:20
receiver in the front pylon corner of the end zone for a touchdown. They
48:23
go up nineteen to six at half dime, and I'm just like, man,
48:28
why did I do that? Like I shouldn't have put that kid in
48:30
that spot. I should have just doubled the tall kid on the outside,
48:34
and I wish I could have had that playback. There's lots of other players
48:37
I wish I could have back. But I mean, ultimately, you know,
48:43
the saying goes. Players win games, coaches lose games, and I've
48:45
lost my fair share of games. Now, that was a game. Was
48:49
that a game that ended up sending them to the state tournament? You guys
48:52
could have got in, right, Yeah. So at that point each team
48:55
had one loss and we met. It was a cold night, late October
49:00
night at Civic and at that point, I think Squalcom's ring fourth in the
49:06
state. We were sixth. Yeah. I told our kids going into that,
49:10
like, hey, this is like a state quarterfinal game, really,
49:14
and it was. It was a very competitive football game, and then Squalcom
49:17
wins it. They had a just phenomenal I think that's to this day one
49:22
of the best secondaries I've seen at the two A level. And now I
49:24
think three of those guys are playing for the Cubes. But yeah, then
49:30
we watched them go to the state playoffs and they absolutely rolled their first two
49:35
opponents and it was like, dang, yeah, look at look at the
49:39
storm go I could be wrong here, But if I can remember correctly,
49:44
I don't think I had you guys in the top ten and then you lost
49:49
to Lyndon and I put you in the top ten, and people were furious
49:52
because they're like, how does the team lose and move up? And I
49:53
was like, because I saw them in person, and they're actually pretty damn
49:58
good, Like I because I figured you guys were gonna be pretty good because
50:00
you had some talent. You had a good size offensive line. But then
50:05
when I saw you in and I say good size, I feel like I
50:07
feel like you guys had an almost like a Linden Christian offensive line where you
50:10
had some hype but they were all, you know, two hundred and thirty
50:13
pounds at absolute most type of thing. But you had some talent. And
50:17
I remember who was the receiver you had that year, m Alvin Abston.
50:22
Remember hopelessly fast. I mean he's running he's running track at Grand Canyon right
50:28
now. Rightfully, though, I was gonna say, maybe the only guy
50:30
that could have caught Zack Watson on a field, like it was unbelievable.
50:32
But I remember leaving that game and just thinking to myself, like, you
50:37
know what they could make a run here, like they could absolutely make a
50:40
run here because you guys you didn't have I mean Watson, and I mean
50:45
Watson really stood out obviously, but just all around team, you guys just
50:51
had I remember your your running back could could run physical and maybe you had
50:54
a two running back system if I remember right. But then I just remember
50:59
leaving that game and being really impressed because obviously we all thought Lindon was gonna
51:01
be good, but it wasn't just like, oh, Lyndon had an off
51:07
game. It was like, no, Burlington kind of took it to him
51:09
at points, you know, I mean Tyler who was the receiver form was
51:15
it um oh, what's his name? I can't think of it now,
51:17
Kleo JANDOC maybe took off on a on a catch and run where he just
51:22
split the defense and was gone. And it was like there was you know,
51:24
there was a couple of plays here or there where it was like,
51:27
man, if they get that one back, I mean they win. Yeah.
51:30
That was that was the first series. They're buying the sticks third and
51:32
long and they're in a slant and jan Doc caught it, beat the safety
51:37
exactly out from that play. Bad coaching choice by me and he took off
51:43
and he was gone. But my favorite part of that game, actually,
51:45
Ryland, this weeks back to like what we want our teams to really represent.
51:50
We were down twenty eight to fourteen and Lyndon had the ball that game
51:53
in the second quarter and it had a chance to just become y and avalanche
51:59
right that they're known for. And I was just so proud of our kids.
52:05
They stayed in well, I think we were down twenty fourteen and a
52:07
half. Actually we came out, we scored, we got a couple of
52:09
stops, and then it was thirty five thirty five late and they kicked a
52:12
game winning field goal. But like that game to me was what really our
52:16
kids thought, you know, we could be good. These things that we
52:20
talked about are important, and then they saw it like really come to life
52:24
for them and be like, if we allowed adversity to impact us and linger
52:30
with us and not have the next play mentality, we would have got blown
52:32
out. Instead, we found out how good we could be. And I
52:37
mean that's really important because when you're rebuilding a program, it's kind of a
52:42
catch twenty two. It's the story the chicken, the egg, confidence and
52:45
success without one you don't have the other. So how do you start developing
52:51
that when you can't just say, okay, well let's go out win a
52:52
football game. Right, And there was a quote about I think it was
52:57
Wes Welker said this when he was first drafted by the Patriots. Nobody nobody
53:00
wanted less Welk around at high school, if you remember, right, and
53:04
then coach Leach failed him and he had the career that he did at Texas
53:07
Deck. They talked about when I learned to control my control goals and just
53:12
believe in myself, that's when I found a new level that I could play
53:15
at. And really, that's what we're trying to do at Blame is how
53:19
can we help our kids at Blame understand that if you focus on the things
53:23
that we can control the things that we can't can't control, then we're able
53:29
to play fast, Then we're able to maximize our talent. Then we're able
53:31
to find out how good we really can be. Yeah, that's a good
53:35
way. That's a good way of putting it. Um And it's so you
53:37
know that the high school level, getting kids to just believe is so much
53:42
of it. Getting them to to to say we can do this, you
53:45
know, it's it's so much of it is mental. Another another question I
53:50
always like to ask is, especially with a with a player and has become
53:54
a coach. Now, Um, what player that you've coached. If it's
54:00
a Walking County kid, that makes it a little easier because I'll probably know
54:04
who it is. But what player that you've coached has reminded of you as
54:07
a player? Oh um, I was thinking we're going in a different direction
54:13
here. Reminded me as a player, as a player, as you as
54:19
a player. Yeah, well again, I was incredibly average us that he
54:24
coached. Maybe, yeah, I see myself in a lot of guys,
54:29
the guys that have to mentally figure out how to do something because maybe physically
54:32
they aren't just gonna go out and dominate somebody. Um. Honestly, I
54:37
think that that's what's helped me as a coach too, is I had to
54:40
figure it out, like I wasn't just gonna go you know, knocked skulls
54:45
and you know, pancake everybody every play. Um, there is a guy
54:49
mentally that reminds me of myself as a player, And unfortunately he's not a
54:52
Walcom County kid, but he just graduated. His name's Rys Thompson. Rise
54:58
Thompson was our center and knows last year and he's our center for the last
55:00
three years at Burlington US. And that kid is these He was incredible the
55:07
way that he could process the game. I would go ask Reese what he
55:12
was seeing on the football field along with Zach, and I knew that I
55:16
could trust what Reese had to say, because I mean, we can all
55:21
interpret what we see from the sideline, but we're not the ones actually out
55:23
there playing it. And to have just consistent, accurate feedback from Thompson that
55:29
checked like we'd go back and look at the tape and do like, yep,
55:30
Reese's right again. You know we can we can lean on this kid
55:34
if we're struggling with a blocking scheme or whatever, why is it? And
55:38
he would provide really good feedback and that helped us in the second half.
55:42
When we come out after halftime, we talk about, Okay, which kids
55:45
are giving us problems upfront physically, which kids can we potentially target a little
55:52
bit more to try and move the ball against. And Reese was phenomenal at
55:54
that and just yeah, I love that kid too. Reese Thompson was what
56:00
twelve was at quarterback, in safety. Ris Thompson was just that at center
56:04
and nose guard. He's awesome. Sounds like a guy that could be a
56:07
coach someday. Huh. That was what I said as I was crying during
56:10
his banquet describing Ries Thompson was I would hire that kid yesterday. Not too
56:17
many guys like I think about all of the high school football players I've seen,
56:23
not too many guys that you would actually save from day one after graduating
56:29
high school could probably step into a coaching staff and be just fine. Yeah,
56:32
he was that guy. He was that guy. He led by example,
56:35
and yeah, I'm excited to see what his future has in store.
56:39
I hope that one day he comes back and knocks on my door and says,
56:43
coach, I want to I want to join. But if not,
56:45
he's going to be really good at whatever he puts his mind to too,
56:49
Because my goodness, what a guy find me an apartment in Blaine, Coach,
56:52
I'm ready. I'm ready to be on a coach. You were an
56:58
assistant for a while a head coach at a pretty young age. What was
57:01
that one thing that when you became a head coach, when your first time
57:06
became a head coach, you went, oh, there's this too that I
57:09
didn't think about being the head coach. I have to deal with this,
57:13
You have to deal with the media. That was his problem. So I
57:17
was thirty when I took over at Burlington Edison, and that was pretty young.
57:22
I mean I'm thirty three now, so I'm still fairly young by football
57:25
coaching standards, podcast standards too. Yeah. I think the one thing maybe
57:34
I didn't realize as much as I do now is when you become a head
57:37
coach, you give up aspects of coaching football. Actually, Like, if
57:43
you will, if you love just coaching football, be a coordinator because you
57:47
can do that until the cows come home. Like that's what you do.
57:50
You wake up in the morning, you think about how to these kids fit
57:52
my system. You get a coach football, you don't have to deal with
57:55
all the managerial pieces of being a head coach and running a program. And
58:00
I knew that kind of existed. I was aware of it, but to
58:02
what extent I was naive. I mean, don't get me wrong, I
58:07
absolutely love being a head coach. I love all the things that we do
58:12
in that what comes with it in regardless to helping build a program and providing
58:15
those kids with those opportunities and helping mold them into outstanding young men when they
58:20
leave the program and seeing that change. But there's some weeks where it's like,
58:23
am I going to coach football this week? Or am I just gonna
58:27
be doing all these other things? And that's why you gotta have a really
58:30
great staff. And you know, the one thing, again, speaking back
58:34
to things I learned from Coach Bramy, surround yourself with the best you can.
58:39
Like, yeah, I have guys that have way more experience, way
58:44
more knowledge than myself on our staff, and that's very intentional. I didn't
58:52
I was a coaching in the nineties. I was trying to learn how to
58:55
get in a three point stands right, So they've seen so much more than
59:00
I have. So to be able to have those guys integrated in our staff
59:04
and create a culture where every assistant coach has a voice and feels like they
59:07
can share their voice and I'll be moving in the same diression, that's really
59:13
fun. But yeah, definitely there's times where it's like, man, I
59:15
wish I could just go out and coach football today and not deal with some
59:19
of these other things. There's there's sometimes a year one hundred percent right about
59:23
surrounding yourself with coaches. I mean, I think about you know, when
59:27
Jonathan Smith left the University of Washington and a lot of people are like,
59:30
oh, he's in over his head, he's not going to be able to
59:31
pull it off. And then I started looking at his coaching staff and it's
59:37
like Jim mahalcheck, I think confense A. Hinson was there. He started
59:42
bringing in position coaches where I'm like, Hey, these guys are really really
59:45
good. Like I don't think I don't think it matters whether you think he's
59:50
going to be a great head coach. All he's got to do is manage.
59:53
And he's got all these guys around him. And you talk about as
59:57
a head coach, maybe you don't coach near as much as you would like,
1:00:00
but if man, if you've got those assistants that you can lean on,
1:00:02
and it's like, hey, I'm an offensive line guy, sure,
1:00:06
okay, great, but I know that my O line coach can absolutely get
1:00:10
the job done, or I know that my D line coach or whoever man
1:00:14
that's there. You can't put a value on that I mean, having great
1:00:17
assistance is something that's I think maybe undervalued by people on the outside because they
1:00:23
don't necessarily you know, the head coach's name is in a little bit bigger
1:00:27
font on on the roster than than all of the assistants, and most of
1:00:30
the time doesn't even tell you what position they're coaching, right, it just
1:00:32
says assistant coaches, and then you've got this list of names. So that's
1:00:37
yeah, I mean, I think there's something to be said about that.
1:00:39
Um. Okay, Over the years, as I've gotten to know you,
1:00:44
you've always been good with the food recommendations, all right, So I know
1:00:47
Burlington the train wreck, I think you're I think you might be the one
1:00:52
that told me about the Scatchet Valley Burger Express. Actually I had somebody recommended
1:00:58
many years ago, but I think you confer it for me. Um,
1:01:00
and then uh, we got been to blame. And I don't really know
1:01:04
Blaine. I mean, have you had a chance to check out the fine
1:01:07
cuisine the it has Blaine treated you mean, Tyler, what's the steak place
1:01:13
that you always told me about there? Yeah, there's Anemon steakhouse there.
1:01:16
It's it's really, really, really really good right there on the water.
1:01:20
Really good. I have yet to go to that one. I've gone to
1:01:23
the one out in Everson, but I have yet to go to one.
1:01:25
And Blaine um my food recommendation. Unfortunately, this isn't a bigger place Ryland,
1:01:31
so I'm sorry to disappoint, but I can deal with it. Um.
1:01:36
I absolutely love the border Town. UM little Mexican restaurant. UM where
1:01:42
that's just like, I don't even know how to describe. It's a hole
1:01:45
in the wall type of place next to Starbucks between Chevron and it's a walk
1:01:50
up place. They got some tables out front and they have the best dang
1:01:55
shrimp taco I've ever had. It is incredible. Um. And Colin Davis
1:02:02
works there, so there you go. Name dropped there a quarterback he's working
1:02:06
there. Um. Yeah, it's it's it's really good food. And I
1:02:10
know that they have a taco truck that parks out in Lendon as well.
1:02:15
That's where I first heard about because my dad was yelling at me about this
1:02:19
burrito that he have that was like he was convinced it was five pound burrito.
1:02:22
Um. But yeah, the quantity is great, but the quality is
1:02:27
even better and Uh, yeah, you should check that one out. Yeah,
1:02:30
it's it's funny you mentioned that place, because that used to be like
1:02:34
that area was a taco truck. It was a there, it was their
1:02:37
taco truck. Before that, they would just park there and it was so
1:02:40
popular that they kind of built like a little just a little place. There's
1:02:45
nowhere to sit inside. It's just a yeah, there's a ton of tables
1:02:49
outside. And uh every time, every time, so good. And I
1:02:54
will I will tell you this. If you ask Joe Consensus anywhere to go
1:02:59
to eat um north of Bellingham, he will pick that place every time.
1:03:04
And he's from San Diego, so he knows good Mexican food. He always
1:03:07
gets on me about me Mexico and all these other places. Goes, no,
1:03:09
no, that's not Mexican food. This place is a Mexican food.
1:03:12
So he agrees, which he's that's what he's supposed to do. He's Joe
1:03:15
Consensus. I was about to say, how does Joe Consensus have an opinion?
1:03:22
Well, this is the one thing he has an opinion on. Okay,
1:03:24
okay, Tyler, do you get anything else before we get out of
1:03:28
here? I don't think so. I'm just super excited that coach Olsen's up
1:03:31
here because, and I've said this before, is when a new coach comes
1:03:35
in, the part for me that that is scary is, Oh, I
1:03:38
got to introduce myself to somebody new. I'm trying to explain what I do.
1:03:43
I'm kind of part of the media, but I'm gonna come out to
1:03:45
practice and I'm gonna do all these silly things and is it okay if I'm
1:03:47
on your huddle? And I mean, it's just all this crazy stuff.
1:03:52
But for someone who understands what I do, it's such an easy transition for
1:03:55
me. I'm excited to come out in August, get some pictures, get
1:03:59
some head shots of the guys, do another interview, kind of see where
1:04:01
the progress is at. So, you know, Blaine is special to me,
1:04:05
so it's gonna be it's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm glad
1:04:09
you took over the program. I love Jay Dodd. I played against him
1:04:12
in high school. I'm glad that he's, you know, not going anywhere.
1:04:16
He's still on the grounds and all that kind of stuff. So it's
1:04:19
a it's a really cool situation and I'm excited to see kind of what happens
1:04:23
with it. Yeah, I appreciate it, and I can't speak highly enough
1:04:26
about coach Dodd or we're just thrilled that he's still stayed involved and he's gonna
1:04:30
be running the weight room throughout the school year and he's been nothing but supportive.
1:04:35
So really really appreciate that because it makes it so much easier to on
1:04:41
my end. Alrighty, Well, he's Tyler Anderson watcom Preps, WACOM preps
1:04:45
dot com. I'm Ryland Spencer, who no longer have an affiliation to anything.
1:04:48
Apparently you've been listening to episode one seventy six or you've been watching episode
1:04:55
one seventy six of the WACOM Preps podcast. Coach Andy Olsen, thank you
1:04:59
for your time. Thanks guys, appreciate it. Everything you guys do for
1:05:01
high school athletics, it's phenomenal. M