Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / 2022 USTFCCCA LIVE podcast: Charles Ryan-San Jose State Univ

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2022 USTFCCCA LIVE podcast: Charles Ryan-San Jose State Univ · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:05
  Hey podcast listeners, we're super excited about December
• 0:08
  11th at 5:30 Mountain Time Denver Time when we're going to
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  go live once again on YouTube to record a live Gil Connections
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  podcast. To celebrate, we're giving you
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  bonus clips every day until then of last year's 2022 guests that
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  came onto the live Gil Connections podcast.
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  Check it out. Look in the show notes below and
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  you'll see the URL. Check us out December 11th, 5:30
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  PM Denver time. And I don't plan this.
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  Look, we're going to have our third Gil Athletics Connections
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  podcast alum in a row. Please introduce yourself, Sir.
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  Charles Ryan, director of track and field at San Jose State
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  University. See.
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  I appreciate you speaking up and in the mic.
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  Some of them are. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  You got some experience with this?
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  I mean we we do this on occasion every now and.
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  Then, so let's talk about that a little bit.
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  Okay, very impressed. You're an OG because you got a
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  you got a new guy now with the governor before originals.
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  I'm so impressed with because you know, I have experience with
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  this. It's real easy.
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  Actually. It's hard, but it's easy to
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  start a show. Yes, it's extremely hard to be
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  going three years on. I you're you're as shocked as I
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  am that we are still doing this thing.
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  You know, we started Athletics LLC, you know, during the
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  pandemic when people were looking for something to connect
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  to. And honestly, we're a little
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  bored and going a little stir crazy with, you know, all this
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  free time and you know, it's snowballed into something that
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  that people seem to care about and and seem to be interested in
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  and we enjoy doing it so. As long as they're still
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  interested, we're gonna keep this train rolling.
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  We haven't missed the show in three years.
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  So that is also impressive, cuz for one, the consistency is
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  extremely hard and it's weekly. It's not like you do this
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  monthly. Yeah, every.
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  Week super hard. Every week.
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  And then when you think about the people that are involved, so
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  Charles Ryan is here, by the way, new head coach, director of
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  track and field at San Jose State University, which we're
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  doing. Really cool things and really
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  good for our sport. By the way, I appreciate San
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  Jose, so Charles was on there. Marissa Chu from TCU.
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  Mike Holloway. Do I really have to tell you
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  where he's from? Come from Florida and then.
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  Chris Huffins. I don't know what he's doing
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  there, but he's there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  The executive producer asked. Yeah.
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  Oh my gosh. If y'all say EP1 more time I'm
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  gonna throw. But you got to check them out on
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  every Friday night on YouTube. So right here where you are
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  right now on YouTube live. Check it out every Friday.
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  When Marissa is on point, she's you know.
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  That's not always Chewy's fault. No, no, that's true.
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  But it does get done. It's.
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  Worse, it's 2% of the time it doesn't.
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  That's right. It's amazing.
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  So they have a video component, which they do an amazing job.
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  Great intro and outro by the great new Don Chic, who I've got
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  a surprise coming up in 2023. Yeah, yeah.
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  I like it. They do an amazing job and then
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  we're so gracious, so humble they allow us to take the audio
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  version. So we just stripped the audio
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  from it and we run it about. Two weeks later, for people who
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  don't want to watch on YouTube, but it's still to me, it was
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  there was so much valuable information getting kicked out.
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  It was like, how do I expand? Like how do I make more people
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  be able to listen to the topics that you guys talk?
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  About no, it's been really fun and we've always most of the
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  topics that we tackle we discussed amongst ourselves and
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  figure out what we want to talk about, but we take suggestions
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  from the audience and send us Dms and.
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  And Instagram messages and all that stuff.
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  So it's really, you know, it's us on the show, but we try to
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  make it like it's about, you know, the community, the larger
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  community that cares about our sports.
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  So if you got questions, if you got thoughts and there's things
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  you want us to get into, send us, send it our way, we'll do.
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  It and the easiest way to do that, if you don't know how to
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  get a hold of these guys, just go to the YouTube channel.
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  Absolutely right there in the comments.
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  Right there in the comments. Great job of reading those
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  three. I've heard you comment about the
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  comments. Oh yeah, they actually do read,
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  though. That's.
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  Another cool thing as far as that no, no end insight.
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  There's no talk. About No, no, no.
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  No. No, there's no end insight.
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  Nobody has been offered any, you know, significant financial
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  compensation to go off and do their own show or anything like
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  that, so. I'm shocked.
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  It's. It's no we we all really, really
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  enjoy it. And you know, we were the the
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  governor, aka Kareem St. Thompson, had to replace me one
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  day. Because that's right.
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  My son was being born, and so he.
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  Did a great job and we're like, well, we just need to keep him
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  in there. So it went from 4:00 to 5:00 and
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  it's been that way and it's going to stay that way.
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  Like we all really enjoy doing. We have moved mountains and all
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  kind of things to get the show done weekly.
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  At one point we were in four different time zones.
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  Throughout the world. That was fun.
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  That was an interesting during the Olympics.
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  That was crazy, I'll tell you. What?
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  As impressed as I am as the consistency, you guys have had a
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  special shout out to Mouse. Yes, through the Olympics.
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  So over there. Through the Olympics.
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  Through World Championships. Time zones, Yeah.
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  Super tired. He was a little responsible for
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  things, yeah, and never missed a show.
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  And that's what I love about. What you guys are doing there,
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  you're showing a different part, a part that some people think
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  they shouldn't be involved, like, oh, that's that's big boy
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  stuff or whatever over there, right?
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  I love that you kind of, you guys kind of pull that curtain
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  back and like, hey, we're going to bear it all, good and bad.
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  We're going to talk about it all.
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  Yeah, there's really no, there's no track and field or other any
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  other subject for that matter, that it's off limits.
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  We don't really run from everything.
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  We try to keep things current and up to date with whatever is
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  going on within the culture and the sport and you know, like I
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  said, people seem to enjoy it so.
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  As long as there's an audience for it, we'll keep rocking it,
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  that's right. That's a great point.
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  So we didn't talk about this, but I do want to talk about it
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  just a little bit. Tell us about how you enjoying
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  not being a head coach, Cuz you've done that.
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  I have, yeah. I think the program that you
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  took over is of such historical significance.
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  It's a different head coaching job.
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  How has it been and how are you enjoying it with struggles?
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  I'm having a ball with it. A lot of people thought that.
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  You know the resurrection of Speed City and all that other
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  stuff and given historical context and then canceling the
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  program and what it's been in the 20 tens on.
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  It was an impossible job. I never really saw it that way.
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  I saw it as a huge opportunity and I'm from the Bay Area.
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  So it's it's a little bit, you know, more special for me.
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  I'm. I'm honored to be in the chair.
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  I'm having a ball doing it. We had an incredible year.
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  One recruiting class. We set some program records last
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  year we sent six kids to regionals.
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  We're trying to triple that, you know, for this upcoming year.
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  We're just trying to, you know, be relevant at on the national
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  level because if you're going to do this job this way, that's the
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  only way it's going to play. You know, I have a fantastic
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  staff. I was able to get, as I've said
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  before, my number one draft picks it at every at every
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  position. You know, Ernie, TJ and
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  Charmaine are absolutely killing it for me.
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  And you know we're having, we're having a ball, it's it's mostly
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  a California Central team. It's going to stay that way.
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  But we do recruit all over the world and obviously out of
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  state. It's it's coming together really
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  nicely and if the team is about 85% freshman right now, so if if
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  the babies can run like adults. We all know how that goes by
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  the. Way we're we're going to have a
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  lot of noise to make this year if they can grow up fast and so
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  we're having. It compliment I can give you is
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  I think they got the right person for the job.
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  Well, I appreciate. It just seeing what you've done
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  in the first year and as you now evolve into the second year they
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  they kudos to the administration for pulling the right lever here
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  and getting. Best administration I've ever
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  worked for. Jeff Konia and his leadership
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  team are phenomenal from. Clients all the way down,
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  they've literally never told me no for anything I've asked and
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  they they find answers, they find solutions and when you're
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  working for solutions based people, you can get a lot of
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  things accomplished. Well, like I mentioned.
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  Thomas said Chuck's looks. Depends on how long you've known
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  me, you. Know what I mean?
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  He was a He's been on the Gill Athletics Connections podcast.
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  So whatever app you use, just Google his name or search his
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  name. I guess you would.
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  And Gill Athletics, It'll pop right up.
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  It's on YouTube as well. He was.
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  You were one of the OG's. I think you were one of the.
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  First, I was one of the early ones.
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  Yeah, for sure. You know, you might be.
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  I haven't done this yet. But I've thought about doing a
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  follow up with certain people because your life has changed.
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  Verbally. Dramatically.
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  From that, so. Everything.
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  But as an alum of the Gill Ethics Missions podcast, we're
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  allowing only for alums. I grilled you for a good two
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  hours. It was during COVID.
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  I'm never in the apartment. We get to flip the script
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  tonight. You get to ask me one question
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  and only one question. One question.
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  No holds far. There's no headed button or
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  anything though, so. Now, honestly, I would like to
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  know. As a person who jumped into this
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  podcast space and obviously have crushed it, what's that
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  experience like been for you? What has been the best part of?
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  To me, I see what you do as a give back to the sport.
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  So what's been the best piece of this for you?
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  Yeah, I didn't. Something that's happened that I
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  didn't, I wasn't aware that would happen.
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  Is you know, I interview these coaches of all different levels,
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  right? So from Division One
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  professional high school club, I mean just all the gamut guys,
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  gals, black, white, Asian all around, right?
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  And I knew focusing on their journey would be pretty cool.
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  Like how did they go to this one place?
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  Why did they go to this one place?
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  What mentors poured into them? I did not expect that as a on
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  the business side as a track and field manufacturer that I would
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  get any much or any like things that would help me.
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  And there were a couple of ones. It was nerve wracking when we
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  did it as well. And I tell you, one that really
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  stuck out early is when I interviewed Brooks Johnson and
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  which was very nerve wracking for me because there were
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  several. Yeah, shout out to Brooks.
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  We love Brooks. But yes, Brooks is an
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  interesting interview. For sure, but love him and what
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  a godsend that we have him here on this earth and in the track
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  and field, but he really talked about how he.
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  Thinks about coaching, not that he's not a Sprint coach, he's
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  not a distance coach and just the general and how you have to
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  like not have limitations because we brought up the high
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  jump men's world record and I was like would you ever.
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  I mean it's not getting to get broken.
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  He's like, of course it is. He's like that's what they said
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  before they jumped it. And so just the thought process
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  that he and company company really changed me and then he
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  brought in a quote again that really changed me in regards to
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  helping not judge other people. He brought up George Williams
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  quote of if you're not in the huddle, you don't know the play.
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  Indeed. And so it was awesome to go get
• 10:07
  George Williams on the podcast and hear the man say it.
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  And just that, like, when I think about judging people for
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  whatever reason, like, oh man, I can't believe they didn't choose
• 10:15
  Gila Putman or I can't believe my kid did that.
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  It's like, oh, you know what? I don't know.
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  I don't know what's going on. I don't know.
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  I don't know. So it helps me like how do I
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  meet you where you are today, knowing that I don't know.
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  Everything that's going on here today, and you may jump at me
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  for some reason. I've got coaches jump at me and
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  I used to get like defensive and now it's like maybe something
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  happened. Maybe something's going on
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  personally. Maybe they just also the truth
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  doesn't excuse what they did, but it helps me to not judge
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  them. So that's what I've gotten out
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  of it, man. It's been it's been an amazing
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  journey. Well, I listen, we appreciate
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  everything you're doing, man. You're doing a hell of a job.
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  You keep yours going, we're going to keep ours going,
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  everybody. We're in.
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  Let's get selfie to end this man.
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  Thank you so much. Awesome man.
• 10:57
  Thanks, Joe. Appreciate you brother.
• 10:58
  Have a good night. One day I'm gonna get an invite
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  on to the anytime. No, not anytime.
• 11:04
  I know that's not true. World records Shortest Gill
• 11:11
  Athletics Connections podcast ever.
• 11:13
  Check us out December 11th 530 Denver, Co Rocky Mountain
• 11:17
  Central Time. Check us out on YouTube in the
• 11:20
  link below in the show notes.