Latest / Johnny's World / Episode 9-Coach Jackie Sherrill

Transcript

Episode 9-Coach Jackie Sherrill · Johnny's World

0:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, everybody, welcome to the Johnny's World Podcast.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: This is BW here, and we have with us our co-host, John Clark Packer.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: How are you doing today, Johnny?
0:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: How are you doing, Brad?
0:45
SPEAKER_00: Doing great.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: Well, we have another special guest here with us today.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, he was he was a Mississippi State football coach when both of both of us were there back.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: Uh started we we started there in 2000 and he had been there for a little while.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: He'd already had a lot of success before that, but we have Coach Jackie Cheryl with us today.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: How are you doing, coach?
1:04
SPEAKER_02: Doing good.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh of course, I've known John Clark for a long time.
1:09
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
1:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I watched him grow up.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: He did indeed.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I remember seeing pictures of uh of you with him even before we were thinking about going to college.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: And John Clark was always a big state fan.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: And my dad went to Southern Miss and he always wanted me to go there.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't decide to go to state till I was a senior.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: And and um then I realized what a big deal it was that John Clark was friends with you.
1:34
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, yeah, he was a good friend too.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: Known coach for a long, long time.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, uh my my grandfather, he um used to always take he, it was funny.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: I just uh posted about him yesterday.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: He yesterday would have been he would have been 102 years old yesterday.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: And uh they were real instrumental uh people in my life, my grandparents and they would uh bring me up to um to all the football games when I was little.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I went to my first game when I was in the fifth grade, and um they got me season tickets, and uh they would always take me up to the uh to the fan day um every year before the season start.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the very first time I met Coach when I was a little boy with my granddad.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: And uh and uh we we did that every year, and then it wasn't until I had um emergency uh uh gallbladder surgery when I was in the eighth grade.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: I was 15 years old, and I'll never forget this.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh right after the surgery, I guess it was the day after the surgery, I got a my mom was in the room with me.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: She got a phone call, and uh and she said that the phone call said, This is uh this is Coach Jackie Cheryl.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: My mom was like, What?
2:43
SPEAKER_01: And and sure enough, uh coach, you you called uh you and uh Pim Love called and and uh you offered to uh uh let me have a uh uh field pass and travel with the team to to Memphis for that game.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: And um I couldn't go because I was still in the hospital.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: But you after that, you told me any game John Clark you want to you want to go to, um, you're more than welcome.
3:05
SPEAKER_01: And so I I got to know Coach through that, and we was right back and forth, and you gave me a bunch of uh memorabilia that I still have to this day, and uh it was just such a such a great time.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: I really enjoyed all getting traveled with the team and uh just moments that I'll treasure for for the rest of my life, and I'm just so thankful that we're still good friends to this day.
3:26
SPEAKER_02: Well, I appreciate that, but uh you were kind of special, you know uh you were a young man that had things that uh others didn't have.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh you were awful determined, you had a great desire to beat your battle that you were fighting, and you know, you you've ended up having a lot of discipline to you because you know, following you over the years uh and watching you go do your therapy and and do and try different therapy and knock on wood, I'm really excited that this one is is working for you.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks so much, Coach.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you you've been you've been part of my journey the whole way.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's been it's been rough, but uh yeah, I I can't believe it.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: I I just turned uh 40 just last month and gosh.
4:18
SPEAKER_02: How many John Clerk?
4:20
SPEAKER_02: How many other uh people 40 years old that has your disease?
4:26
SPEAKER_01: Not many, not many.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I I only know one person in the state of Mississippi who's older than me, and that's that that's it.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: That's the only one I know.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: I I don't know nationwide, but very, very few.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, because when I was born, the you know, the life expectancy was 15 years old, which uh which I mean I I I stayed those first eight months of my life in the hospital.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: So we weren't even sure my parents and family weren't even sure I was gonna make it through uh through the first night, you know.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: And then uh when I finally got out of the hospital, that's when the doctor said, you know, if someone born in 1981, when I was born, the life expectancy was 15.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: And so we uh we planned, you know, that I wouldn't live this long.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: And then every year, I just like you said, coach, it's just determination.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: I've determined my whole life, I've determined not to let anything get in the way.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: And um, I've just been fighting so hard.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: And uh just two years ago, I we moved uh we moved up to Stark well uh in 2019 to be closer to my doctors at UAB because uh uh at that point I was um on getting ready to be taught.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: It was taught in talks about possibly having a lung transplant because my my health has deteriorated so much with that.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: And uh you have to live within two hours of the transplant facility.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: So Birmingham was two hours from start from my door to the to the hospital was two hours.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: So uh I'd already met with them and and uh and and then I got hospitalized three times in 2019 once we moved up here.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: And each time I was hospitalized, they kept telling me they're like, John Gark, if you can just hold on, there's a miracle drug that it's gonna be for your gene type.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: Because with my with CF, it's a genetic disease.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: So um all everyone there had been some treatments available for some CF patients, but I was not able to take those because my mutation was different than um I have a rare mutation, but this particular drug was for the people with my mutation, they're like, can just hold on for it.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: And gosh, that was the hardest weight I've ever had to do dealing with it because I knew it was out there, but I couldn't get a hold of it yet.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: My health was declining.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: I was like, if I could just pray, you know, if I could just get this drug, this drug.
6:34
SPEAKER_01: And sure enough, October of 2019, I took my first dose of it, and uh it is just it has changed my life.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I I'm 40 from fighting and determining and everything, but I'm not sure, coach, if I would have made it up to 40 without this drug.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it it is it is uh since I've been on it, you know.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: Um this you know you've followed me for so long, you know how hard it is for someone with CF to gain weight and all that sort of stuff.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: And my lung function was slowly dwindling down to like I say, where I would have to do it.
7:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what was your uh what was your oxygen attacks?
7:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh it was I I didn't have to, that was a good thing.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: I did not have to be on oxygen, so that was good.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh that they told me that to have such a low lung function that I did.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: They said a normal person without CF, if they had the lung function you had, would not be able to carry on your life.
7:24
SPEAKER_01: But they said since you've been dealing with this your whole life, your body has gotten accustomed to it, so it's kind of used to it.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: So uh that's how I was able to carry on.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: And um, but since that day, since I got on the drug, and I had an appointment back in December, so I've been on it for over a year now.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: I've gained uh 20 points.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: My lung function has increased by 20 points, which there's nothing you could do with CF to increase your lung function at all.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: Like you can do IB to try to maintain it, but this it had bumped me up 20 points, and I've gained 20 pounds.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm I weigh as much, and my lung function is almost as much as 15 years ago when I was in college.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: So it's it's has literally saved my life, changed my life.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: So uh so so very thankful for that, and that's so thankful to C40.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: And just I feel I feel like I have a new lease on life with this truck.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: So it's uh it's been a long journey.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: And coach, you've been along the ride for me, and I I can't thank you for all you've done for me.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: And and and I'm I'm so happy that you're able to see me prosper and and uh it's just uh I feel like I've I've come full circle.
8:30
SPEAKER_02: You know, I started in 1977 to take kids, you know, players to the hospitals uh because I wanted to learn more about the players, and I always felt that I could learn more about the players being around kids, especially handicapped kids, than I could in other ways.
8:56
SPEAKER_02: And sure enough, the the meanest, the nastiest, the toughest players were always the best in the hospital with the kids.
9:06
SPEAKER_02: And so you try to analyze that, and it comes back to you know, those guys that probably have been exposed or they have more compassion.
9:17
SPEAKER_02: So just because you have compassion doesn't mean that you're not you know a tough-minded individual.
9:24
SPEAKER_02: And and I can say the same thing for you, John Clark, because you would not have survived if you were not a tough individual mentally.
9:34
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, coach.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: You're you're right.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: It it's so much in your mindset of what you think.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: Because if you the moment you say you you start to give up, and especially with CF, if I I've known a lot of people through the years that have CF that just got tired of taking the treatments and they just said, I'm gonna stop.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: And that moment you stop, you can't give it back, you can't ever get it, get it back.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: So it's just that mindset every day you have to you have to fight every single day.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: There's no giving up.
9:59
SPEAKER_01: That's why my motto in life is just keep living, because that's that's the truth.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: You have a choice whether you can live and fight, see another day, or give in.
10:07
SPEAKER_01: And I've always had that mindset, like you said, it's just a mental thing that just gotta just keep living, gotta keep doing it because uh and it and it's paid off.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: And it's just uh I hope more people and and and I think that's why everybody has a mission in life.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: I feel like I think my mission in life is to is to inspire people to fight, not give up.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: And and and and that's kind of what I've done with my job at the hospital throughout the years, is kind of sharing my story and letting them know that you know, even though you do have a bad diagnosis, um it it you you can fight it, you know.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: It's it's there's always there's always light at the end of the tunnel.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean it's a good way to look at it so you can fight about the minute.
10:48
SPEAKER_02: Uh tell me about your regimen of the uh medication.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, I have to do um when I get up in the mornings.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is really nice because before before I got on uh tricafta, I mean the mornings.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: I the moment I would wake up from uh sleeping at night, I wake up in the morning, I'd head straight to the bathroom, coughing, throwing up, and it was just an awful deal.
11:13
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't even go downstairs to eat without having to do my breathing treatments.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: But now, since I've got tricafta, I can wake up in the morning and breathe.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: It's it's amazing.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: I said I wake up in the morning and then I eat and then I come upstairs and I do my breathing treatments.
11:26
SPEAKER_01: I still have to do that's the thing with people uh hearing about this miracle drug.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: They think people who aren't familiar with CF think, oh CF is cured.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: Oh, they they take the drug, and that's not it at all because I still have to do all the stuff I've always done my whole life.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: I have to do breathing treatments morning and night, and also I also have to do the therapy vest, which is this vest that I wear on my chest, and it vibrates my chest.
11:47
SPEAKER_01: You break up all the thick mucus in my lungs to cough up.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: So I still have to do that, and I take uh around 60 pills a day.
11:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh, still have to do that because if the uh my body does not digest the fats and proof and the food properly through my pancreas uh insufficiency.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: So still have to do that, and then I battle CF diabetes.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: Um, people with CF uh, I mean, they're they didn't live this long as I do, so they didn't really know about uh people with CF developing diabetes.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: And sure enough, as you grow older with CF, your pancreas uh is already bad, but it eventually just quits producing uh insulin.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: So older patients with CF become diabetic.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: And uh, so I got diagnosed uh probably uh probably almost 10 years ago now, and and I got on the pump in 2016, and it's it was a lifesaver getting on the the pump.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: I still have to eat.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: They I can't go on a regular diet like a regular diabetic diet because with CF you still have to pound in all the calories and eat so much.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: So they just told me they're like, you don't stop eating, you eat all your normal stuff, you just cover it with insulin.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: So uh so I have to do that as well.
12:55
SPEAKER_01: Um you have a do you have a decom?
12:59
SPEAKER_01: I do, I have the DEXCOM.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: Sure do.
13:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh I got I was wearing on my arm and got it hooked up within my phone, and it'll tell you your uh blood sugar.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: And it's really cool because you'll you'll sleep at night, you know, and that that's been always kind of a worry.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: You don't know what you're doing while you're sleeping, but the alarm on there, when it when it gets low, it'll wake you up and and give you alert.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: So it's uh it's real neat having that.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: So um, so yeah, that's that's kind of my daily routine, and it's just a a daily battle that the tri capture, the miracle drug.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: I have to take it.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: I take two pills at night and one at I mean two pills in the morning when I get get up with a meal, and then one pill at night.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's really amazing because the clinical trials that I've been in in the past that never really worked.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, one of them I was in, I had to carry these, it was like sachets, these little packets, and I had to cut, uh, I would always have to carry a cup, the packets, uh spoon, and a bottle of water with me when I did it because I had to mix the stuff and drink it.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: And uh, which I would have done anything, you know, to get get improvement.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: But thank god that these are just pills.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: That's all I have to take, and I don't have to take all that stuff with me.
14:03
SPEAKER_02: So uh how many doctors uh do you have that are still treating?
14:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh let's see, I have my my main pulmonary team doctor at UAB.
14:15
SPEAKER_01: I I still have a good friend of mine who's a pulmonologist at UMC.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: My my CF doctor at Umc in Jackson was with me for 30 years.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, and uh she's in her early 90s now, and I still keep in touch with her.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: I called her.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh, she always likes to hear good news from me.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: So I I I've talked to her recently, and and she actually found the doctor in Jackson.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh she was like, John Clark, you're gonna you'll probably know a little bit more about CF than than he does.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: He's young, but I think he'd be great for you.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: And so he was uh um pulmonologist, and we became really good friends.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: And and but then my health started, like I said, started deteriorating, and and they didn't do uh lung transplants at Jackson.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: So the closest facility was in Birmingham at UAB.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: So they recommended me go over there and meet with the team there.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: And and my pulmonologist in Jackson ended up training with all these people at UAB, so that made it real secure to know that I was in the right place because they all knew him.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: So um, so my CF care team is at at Birmingham at UAB, and then I have um my diabetes doctor over there as well.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: And uh pretty much I've transitioned all my care over there, and especially now since we're only two hours away from there, it's uh it's been uh it's been it's been a great move.
15:30
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and we uh I've been fighting fight, I've been fighting her for a long time about that's not the right term, but uh she did not want to take the insulin and she wanted to handle it by diet and other things and uh you know conditioning, but uh she finally is doing the insulin and she's handling her blood sugar really well.
15:59
SPEAKER_02: But uh, you know, the insurance people, and especially the decom people, right?
16:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh it's been it's been a nightmare to uh uh try to get the decom.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: Uh and right hopefully she'll get it pretty soon.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she'll she'll like it.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: It's it's great.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh you keep that, you keep it in your arm for a few days.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like with my insulin pump that I have, I have to change, change it every three days, move the side around, and you do the same thing with that, and you just move it around, and and it's so great, especially because whenever I'd go out to eat at a restaurant, I'd always carry have to carry that thing with my uh meter in it and to prick my finger and all that.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: And now all you do with this thing is you just look at your phone and it's and it's it's so much more convenient.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: So she'll really like it.
16:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:47
SPEAKER_02: Well, be glad when she gets it.
16:49
SPEAKER_02: But uh well, tell me tell me how the uh dogs are doing.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: Coach, they're they're they're they're doing all right.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, actually, I went to the to the baseball game yesterday.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: We didn't win, but today, uh, today they they I think I just got a text message that they threw a no-hitter.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: So baseball team's looking good, and uh, I think the football team is on the right track.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: And uh I was gonna tell I was gonna get you, coach, to tell Brandon a little bit how you started coaching, what got you into coaching, how you ended up at Mississippi State.
17:20
SPEAKER_02: Well, uh I really didn't go to college to become a football coach.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: Uh my brother pushed me awful hard.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: I was living with my brother in high school, and and so when I went to Alabama, they played for Coach Bryant, and he was pushing awful awful hard to go to med school.
17:41
SPEAKER_02: And I entered, started out in biology, and uh then I switched to, I don't know whether it's because of uh you know defiance or you know, when your parents ask you to do things and try to get you to, we always in rebel, and I don't know if it if I was rebelling or what, but I entered uh business and ace to counting one, ace to accounting two, and I said, you know, this is easy.
18:10
SPEAKER_02: I'll I'll um you know get my business degree or accounting degree, and I took cost and theory, and my theory wasn't the same as that professor.
18:20
SPEAKER_02: I didn't make it in that class, but uh uh I stayed at Alabama one year as a GA, and then went to the University of Arkansas to finish my master's, and uh Coach Majors was on the staff, he got the job at Iowa State, and I asked him if I could if he would hire me, and he did.
18:43
SPEAKER_02: Uh, so we were there five years.
18:46
SPEAKER_02: I moved up to be the uh defensive coordinator in two years, and then third year assistant head coach, and then went to Pittsburgh with him and uh as the assistant head coach, defensive coordinator, and you know, wanted to be a head coach.
19:03
SPEAKER_02: I had a chance to be the head coach at Kansas State, but you know, it did not uh turn out, and then my fourth year at Pittsburgh, uh the Washington State, I got that job in 1976 was my first year, but I had the job in December or before when we're playing in the Sun Bowl, and I told the people at Washington State if it comes becomes public before the bowl game, then I wouldn't come.
19:37
SPEAKER_02: So today that would not be possible.
19:41
SPEAKER_02: Uh but they held it and no one knew that I was going, especially the players.
19:47
SPEAKER_02: And I told the players after the game that I would be going to Washington State as the head coach.
19:53
SPEAKER_02: So in 76 I went there and then came back to Pittsburgh in 77, had a great uh career at Pittsburgh, and then from there went to Texas AM and had a very good run at Texas AM.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: We won the championship three years in a row, and but even at Pittsburgh, uh made them uh you know, we do things in life for one reason or the other, and and you know, we had the administration that was going in a different direction, so I thought it was time to move on, and I should have been a lot smarter and stayed, but you know, I was kind of young and and uh I've always been hard-headed, so that probably didn't help.
20:44
SPEAKER_02: But went to AM, had a good run there, and then had the opportunity to come and be a be a bulldog.
20:51
SPEAKER_02: And you know, we had a great run there you know, at five years there, uh we were as good as anybody in the conference, and uh the only team that had won more games uh was Tennessee uh and Florida, and I think they had won like one or two more games during that period of time than we had.
21:15
SPEAKER_02: But we you know we beat uh Alabama and Auburn uh uh uh for a period uh period in there every year.
21:23
SPEAKER_02: So we owned the state of Alabama back then.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: I remember that.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: I remember Coach, uh I remember when you got hired, you you made a statement said that the people at Mississippi, something like this, you said the people at Mississippi State deserve to win and they can win.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: And coach, you proved that.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
21:40
SPEAKER_02: The three words that you know you deserve to win, uh, we can win and we will win.
21:46
SPEAKER_02: And you know, we got uh the the validation of it was when we beat Texas on national TV the first year, and it was kind of it really helped us uh in the first.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: Half it started raining a little bit right before halftime.
22:04
SPEAKER_02: Then it stopped, and the sun came out with the humidity, and we were able to finish without any problem.
22:12
SPEAKER_02: But uh Texas wilted in the fourth quarter, and we were able to win the game in the fourth quarter.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: I remember that.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, coach my my first game that I went to with my grandparents as a season ticket holder, I became hooked, and then I never missed another game.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: You'll probably remember this one October 1st, 1992, when we played Florida on that Thursday night.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: Remember that game?
22:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes.
22:38
SPEAKER_02: That was that was a great game.
22:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Shane Matthews was the quarterback.
22:43
SPEAKER_02: At that time, he was, you know, the front runner for the Heisman Trophy.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: Came out of Fascagula.
22:50
SPEAKER_02: We recruited him, but he went to Florida.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: And uh uh, you know, that game ended up, I think, 30 to 7 or 30 to 3, uh which we kind of flipped Florida from winning a national championship that yeah.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: Anytime anytime you could have beat the old ball coach in Florida, it was a lot of fun.
23:15
SPEAKER_02: Yes, indeed.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: I remember the first game I ever went to in in Mississippi State when I first got there was when we played Florida, and I remember Spurrier throwing his hat down, his visor down, and and then I think we carried off the goalpost of that game.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: So I got started out pretty good on that one.
23:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was in 1200.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: Yep, yeah, that that one uh it was 44, I believe, or 47 to 35.
23:42
SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, we it was 47-28 late in the fourth quarter, and then they scored again.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: But that was at one time, I still have a coffee cup with his visor on it.
23:56
SPEAKER_02: It says third and 59.
23:59
SPEAKER_02: Our nose guard uh uh had uh rattled their center, and he snapped the ball over the quarterback head two times in a row and ended up third and 59 and on the goal line, and Steve punted out of the end zone.
24:17
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but we had almost 400 yards rushing that game.
24:22
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
24:22
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
24:23
SPEAKER_02: We just kind of, but I told the guys the goals before the game, I said, you know, there are four goals.
24:32
SPEAKER_02: You know, one, we have to play physical, two, uh dominate the line of scrimmage, and three, uh win the kicking game.
24:40
SPEAKER_02: But four, we got to make the head the the head coach of Florida throw his visor, and he threw it many times.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: He sure did.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: That was a great, great game.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: Great game.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that was, I guess, Brandon.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: That like I said, that that first moment when I went to that game in '92, that's when I became a board.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: I guess it sounds like that did it for you right there, huh?
25:00
SPEAKER_01: Same here.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: Well, you two guys got Florida connection.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: But and coach, tell us tell us about beating Mississippi.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: You sure did uh you should enjoy that.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: So did I.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: And my granddad did too.
25:16
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, growing up, I went to Biloxi High School and growing up, it was Mississippi State, Mississippi, Southern Miss.
25:24
SPEAKER_02: It was never uh, I never used the term old Miss.
25:30
SPEAKER_02: And so when I said it, and when I realized how much it irritated them, I said, good, I'll just continue to say it.
25:40
SPEAKER_02: But they hated, they hated Mississippi a lot more than the team up north.
25:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
25:47
SPEAKER_02: They did not want to be called Mississippi, and even today, they don't want to be called.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, I guess, coach, tell us a little, tell us a tell us a little bit about some memories from that that 98 uh SECD uh West uh championship team.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: That was such a special year.
26:08
SPEAKER_02: You know, it was, you know, because that down the stretch you had to beat some, you know, Mississippi State's schedule back then down the stretch was awful tough because you ended up, you know, playing Auburn, Alabama, uh, LSU, Mississippi.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: So the the ending of the schedule uh was not easy.
26:32
SPEAKER_02: And so every game was a big game because if you lost that game, you wouldn't go.
26:38
SPEAKER_02: But we played Mississippi in Oxford uh for the championship, and uh we ended up having a great game during you know to win the the West and you know going and if the officials if the stripes had been better in the championship game, we would have won that one too.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: Remember that.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: You're right.
27:02
SPEAKER_02: You know, they they had a fourth-quarter lead on them.
27:06
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, they molested our little receiver apprentice uh so bad.
27:10
SPEAKER_02: I mean, they threw him down three or four times in the official and there but would throw the flag.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: But you know, you got to give it to them because Pierre Liz Price made uh great play at the end of the game.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: And you know, we we were covering really well, and it was a matter of inches because if the ball had been uh down an inch or two, then the it's you know, we bat the ball down.
27:37
SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, the defensive back had his hand up in the uh, but Peerless jumped up and the ball was you know a little higher, and he made a it was a great throw, great catch, great play.
27:52
SPEAKER_02: You know, sometimes you just got to understand that you know they they performed better than you did.
27:59
SPEAKER_01: Right.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: That was uh such a memorable season.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: The following year, the year of the comebacks, that was a that was a great year too.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: Tell us a little bit about that year, 99 season.
28:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, you had you had a chance to you know have a good year, but you know, uh that's when we really were rolling with with you know the running game, and you know, we got lucky and had JJ Johnson, and you know, JJ was uh not an average back.
28:31
SPEAKER_02: Uh so you know he he actually came to Mississippi State uh because of Keeper McGee.
28:41
SPEAKER_02: He wanted to play with Keeper.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: Everybody that were recruiting him said, why do you want to go to Mississippi State?
28:48
SPEAKER_02: Their tailback's Keeper McGee.
28:50
SPEAKER_02: And he wanted to play with Keeper, so we were very fortunate.
28:56
SPEAKER_02: If JJ had been there for four years, he would have he would have still been one of the favorite players ever at Mississippi State.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: Right.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: He was uh he he was a great one.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh well coach, we had uh we had Vic Safer on our show not too long ago, and he he talked a little bit about uh he had so many good things to say about you.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: I guess just expand on that, talk about how y'all knew each other and y'all's friendship.
29:21
SPEAKER_02: Well, he was in school when I was coaching at at AM.
29:26
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and through the years, but where we really became close friends, uh his son had an accident, skiing accident, which uh the the ski, the weight board hit him, hit his head.
29:41
SPEAKER_02: And so they they had to remove part of his skull because of of the swelling uh to you know not do more damage.
29:52
SPEAKER_02: Well, uh he took him to a rehab in Houston, but he had to learn how to talk, how to walk, how to do everything all over.
30:02
SPEAKER_02: Just he was you know a baby.
30:05
SPEAKER_02: And uh Vic shut everybody off, uh didn't take any phone calls, and stayed with his son 24-7.
30:15
SPEAKER_02: And I used to email him every night and ask him how progress was going and so forth.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: And finally, uh I asked him one night in the email, what have you done for yourself today?
30:30
SPEAKER_02: And he, you know, most people don't ex uh understand that, but you do.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: Uh you go through or are you know sometimes the caretaker, which is your mom, uh for all those years, or in this case, Vic with his son.
30:50
SPEAKER_02: Uh you have to, if you don't take care of yourself and do things and take time for yourself, then you you become so obsessed that you end up making yourself sick.
31:07
SPEAKER_02: So uh and so we became really, really good friends.
31:12
SPEAKER_02: I remember the first time I asked him after I explained it to him, he said I took a walk.
31:18
SPEAKER_02: Well, that was a first step.
31:21
SPEAKER_02: And you know, it's important uh for people to understand you have to take care of yourself.
31:29
SPEAKER_02: You know, we all get enamored, certainly in you know, helping former NFL players that I coached or are recruited or new or or teammates with, uh, you know, the same thing.
31:46
SPEAKER_02: There's their caretakers are the ones that end up having a lot of issues because it's hard.
31:55
SPEAKER_02: It's it's hard to take care of your loved one and knowing you know how much they're struggling.
32:02
SPEAKER_02: But you know, Vic it did a great job with his son.
32:06
SPEAKER_02: His son, you know, is really doing well.
32:10
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, got his degree from state, also got his master's from AM.
32:16
SPEAKER_02: And they he's in the insurance company uh business now, doing well.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
32:23
SPEAKER_01: Um also I wanted you to tell Brandon.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: I know uh I know you had a lot of motivational techniques that you uh you kind of got your team.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: Talk a little talk a little bit about that.
32:33
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, which one are you going on now?
32:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sure.
32:38
SPEAKER_02: Well, the uh there's a couple of funny ones, but uh you know I know where you're trying to go.
32:47
SPEAKER_02: Anyone you want to talk about?
32:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
32:50
SPEAKER_02: You know, the castration uh 101 and we play in Texas in '92.
32:58
SPEAKER_02: And I asked our our in our squad meeting if anybody knew what his steer was, because you know, the Longhorn is a steer, and that's you know, their mascot.
33:12
SPEAKER_02: No one raised their hand.
33:14
SPEAKER_02: We none of our coaches knew.
33:16
SPEAKER_02: We only had one, Jimmy Helms.
33:18
SPEAKER_02: He played for Texas, he knew.
33:21
SPEAKER_02: So on the way to practice, one of the managers came up to me and said, Coach, you know, we're in the cattle business.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: My dad uh, you know, he makes steers about 25 of them every day from a bull.
33:37
SPEAKER_02: So he said, My dad would be glad to bring one up here and show our players.
33:42
SPEAKER_02: And I said, sure.
33:44
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, that happened, you know, that he brought one up, it had uh the vet with him.
33:52
SPEAKER_02: The vet had given the uh the bull a shot of pen and selling.
33:58
SPEAKER_02: And so make a long story short, uh it went out and enamored the uh story that you know I was the one that did the castration.
34:11
SPEAKER_02: So I carry a knife now, and people ask, I pull it out, and I say, you know, I'm I teach 101, yeah, I'll be glad to show you.
34:20
SPEAKER_02: It only takes five seconds.
34:25
SPEAKER_02: But you know, there's so many.
34:27
SPEAKER_02: I I've always felt that you know you get ready to play, and you know, during the week it's the job of the head coach to get the players mentally ready to play, meaning not X's and O's, not other things, but uh mentally how to play the game and what's going on, and there's different ways that you motivate players to get their attention.
34:57
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, one time uh uh I playing and which is when we were at AM, we were had not beaten AM in a long time, and I had a good friend of mine uh uh bring a longhorn tied to the goal posts, and so every day of practice they were seeing the the longhorn vivo and their mic Friday night before we played them.
35:24
SPEAKER_02: I gave every one of them a bone chip, a chip from the horn, and you know, a lot of those players still have that chip today, but so it's it's important.
35:38
SPEAKER_02: And you know, there's coaches out there today that are doing a lot.
35:42
SPEAKER_02: You have to give your players more than X's and O's, and that was my job.
35:49
SPEAKER_02: And uh Saban of all the coaches today, I mean Saban, but same thing, you know, with with Clemson Dabble or Jimbo Fisher at AM.
36:01
SPEAKER_02: Uh they have people come in and speak to the team and do motivational uh talks with their team all the time.
36:11
SPEAKER_02: And matter of fact, probably Saban's budget is the largest.
36:16
SPEAKER_02: So, but it helps.
36:18
SPEAKER_02: It helps.
36:20
SPEAKER_02: And you can tell, you know, what how it happens.
36:24
SPEAKER_02: And if you hear the players talk, uh Alabama players after a game, you know, they'll repeat almost word for word what uh coach Saban said during the week, and which means that what he was saying registered to them and meant a lot to the players.
36:46
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, people talk about motivation, but it you have to find out what it is that to the players.
36:58
SPEAKER_02: And uh you know, one of the one things I uh did differently at different times is would have the players uh take out a sheet of paper and write uh who they they are dedicating this game to and why.
37:16
SPEAKER_02: And then I I would go through all of them and then have some of the players on Friday night read their their letter.
37:26
SPEAKER_02: And it you know, at times you would have the whole team crying because it was really meant a lot to them.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's a lot of team building activity too for that.
37:40
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
37:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, we uh you know I dressed up in a leprechaun when I was at Pittsburgh.
37:48
SPEAKER_02: I used to when we played Notre Dame, I would dress up in a leprechain outfit.
37:55
SPEAKER_02: You can imagine what it looked like me being in a leprechaun outfit.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: Wow, we have any pictures of that anywhere?
38:04
SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't think so.
38:06
SPEAKER_02: And then uh you know, we played Florida State and I dressed up, you know, the lauren cloth with the full headband, that headdress, and had the tom tom beating and danced around.
38:20
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, uh, well, coach, do you know um tell us a little bit about the Bulldogs now?
38:26
SPEAKER_01: Do you know uh you have a friendship with Coach Leach?
38:29
SPEAKER_02: Tell us what you think about Coach Leach and their program right now, where we're going with it.
38:33
SPEAKER_02: Uh Mike is gonna do a great job, and there's no question.
38:37
SPEAKER_02: There's there's a lot of things that went on last year that that uh you know you have to understand.
38:45
SPEAKER_02: And uh it he had no spring practice, he had no opportunity to get players on the same page and doing those things, and it was a process, but you know, they've recruited well, we'll continue to recruit well, took one of the best quarterbacks out of the state of Texas, and uh he will build a good program.
39:10
SPEAKER_02: Now, you know, Mike is a very serious guy when it comes to discipline, and you know, there's a lot of guys that are not going to be on the team if they break the team rules.
39:23
SPEAKER_02: You know, he doesn't give them you know that second and third choices like a lot of other coaches do.
39:30
SPEAKER_02: But he's he is a a good coach, uh very intelligent.
39:36
SPEAKER_02: And you know, if the media writes what he says, then they'll all be laughing because he does say things off the wall that no one understands but him.
39:50
SPEAKER_01: Right.
39:53
SPEAKER_01: Well, um another thing we're doing, um, we're we're talking a little bit about.
39:57
SPEAKER_01: I'll get Brandon to talk about that in a little bit about the small towns in Mississippi.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh but first I just want to get your take on Startville when you moved there.
40:05
SPEAKER_01: What what you enjoyed about living in Startville, any restaurants you enjoyed, or just tell us about outside of the ball what you enjoyed.
40:12
SPEAKER_02: There wasn't many.
40:14
SPEAKER_02: The the Harvey's was you know the restaurant at that time, and then later others came in.
40:21
SPEAKER_02: But you know, it's a small town.
40:24
SPEAKER_02: The university is one that it's a student university, uh, community university.
40:30
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, what happened on campus uh was you know good for and to give you an idea what how important uh athletics are to a community, uh you know, you take the attendance, and let's take Mississippi State, say 70,000, and you multiply that times 200, and then multiply that times five, that gives you the economic impact of that town or on that town that week.
41:09
SPEAKER_02: So if you have seven games during the year, then you have the millions of dollars coming in, and it really hurts the small towns more because that's that's the only thing, and the same thing with baseball.
41:28
SPEAKER_02: You know, I mean how many people come in town to watch you know the weekend.
41:33
SPEAKER_02: You multiply that out and multiply it because you know the money goes to the uh to the grocery store workers, it goes to the cleaners, it goes to other people, the gas station people.
41:46
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it goes down uh an awful long ways to the people that work in that community.
41:55
SPEAKER_03: Right.
41:55
SPEAKER_02: You know, Starkville is a small town.
41:59
SPEAKER_02: Starkville is a college town, and it uh it's really excellent place to live, to raise kids, and academically the you know, you have excellent uh grade schools, junior high and high schools, and Mississippi State's, you know, well known and well ranked in education in the university sector around the the United States.
42:33
SPEAKER_02: You know, there's there's you know things we don't even think about it.
42:39
SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, if you look at interior design, uh there's two schools in the SCC that are the top in interior design.
42:50
SPEAKER_02: And Mississippi State is uh the number one with Auburn.
42:55
SPEAKER_02: And those those two produce the the most and best students in out of interior design.
43:05
SPEAKER_02: I mean, then you look at different engineering programs, you look at uh, I mean, you can go on, but the vet school is uh doesn't take back seat to anybody.
43:17
SPEAKER_02: Right.
43:20
SPEAKER_01: Well, well, coach, I know you've done some stuff.
43:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh you've helped out.
43:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, I remember you playing in a golf tournament for cystic fibrosis one time, and you've been big advocate um throughout the years.
43:30
SPEAKER_01: Brandon, tell tell coach what we have going on, why why we're doing this podcast, what a little bit about the glass, small towns, and what it's benefiting.
43:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we I had this idea a few years ago because John Clark was always really interested in glasses, and he was always texting me and saying, Hey, uh, because I'm an optometrist and he'd say, Hey, can I get these glasses from you sometime?
43:51
SPEAKER_00: And it was always these celebrity styles and everything, and you could really only find them like in Los Angeles or New York, and they're really expensive.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Said, what if I figure out a way to create some glasses and then we can name them after John Clark, and then we can have a component there where we can you know raise awareness for cystic fibrosis and then make some some financial donations to them after we sell the glasses.
44:15
SPEAKER_00: And so it took us a few years to finally figure it out.
44:18
SPEAKER_00: So we finally got somebody a few months ago to be able to manufacture them for us.
44:22
SPEAKER_00: And so we started we made them and originally made some regular glasses.
44:27
SPEAKER_00: Now we have some sunglasses, and we started selling them and and as as an idea to just promote the brand a little bit more.
44:34
SPEAKER_00: So why don't we start a podcast?
44:36
SPEAKER_00: And so this is kind of how we ended up where we are today.
44:40
SPEAKER_00: And um, we've had a great response from this, and it's been really fun, and um it's amazing to see that that so many people like you are are willing to come on and and talk to us about this, and it's such a great cause, and and we just really appreciate you joining us today because this was great.
44:59
SPEAKER_02: You're welcome, but like I said, anything for John Clark, but you know, uh I appreciate both of you guys doing this, uh you know, reading some things today and uh do a Bible study later today, which I'm gonna have to slip out here in a minute to go get ready.
45:19
SPEAKER_02: But uh, you know, the term is giving back.
45:24
SPEAKER_02: And you know, awful lot of our life we are giving, which means that we receive, but uh there's there comes a time, and you know, I really appreciate John Clark because of all the the things he's had to endure and go through, uh he's with pe he's at peace with it.
45:49
SPEAKER_02: And you know, the determination that he has shown, the the toughness, you know, the discipline he has shown.
45:57
SPEAKER_02: Uh and again, I don't know of anybody over 40 with cystic fibrosis that's had it all their life.
46:07
SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, what y'all are doing not only helps in many different ways, but it helps monetarily, but it what it really does is it helps others to have hope, but it also helps the caregivers to to understand that they're appreciated in what they do.
46:31
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
46:33
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
46:34
SPEAKER_01: Well, coach, I can't thank you enough.
46:35
SPEAKER_01: You you've been such a big part of my life, and I'm so thankful that we still have such a great friendship.
46:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh I think back through all these times, my childhood, you let me travel the team and being part of it.
46:46
SPEAKER_01: It's just I'll forever be grateful for you, coach.
46:49
SPEAKER_01: I love you so much, man.
46:50
SPEAKER_02: Well, I love you, and you did an awful lot for our team too now.
46:55
SPEAKER_02: You know, our players uh they they enjoyed having you around and they they understood what you were going through, and uh you they get it gave them a understanding and of what it means to have some toughness to you.
47:14
SPEAKER_02: Right.
47:14
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
47:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that's a great place to end it, coach.
47:18
SPEAKER_00: So we really appreciate it, and uh, we're looking forward to putting this one out.
47:23
SPEAKER_00: I think it's gonna be a really popular one for people to listen to.
47:26
SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it, and uh good luck to you guys.
47:29
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Coach.
47:30
SPEAKER_02: Next coach in town, let us know.
47:32
SPEAKER_02: I will.
47:33
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
47:34
SPEAKER_02: Okay, thanks, coach.
47:35
SPEAKER_02: Bye.
47:35
SPEAKER_02: Bye bye.