Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / BONUS: USTFCCCA 2023 LIVE: Ray Williams-Washington University-St. Louis

Transcript

BONUS: USTFCCCA 2023 LIVE: Ray Williams-Washington University-St. Louis · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Hey gang, you know we like our bonus material.
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  So from today all the way through USTF CCA, in celebration
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  of our live podcast recording at the convention, we're going to
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  play you last year's clips, each one individual from today all
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  the way up until Monday, December 16th when we go live on
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  YouTube at 6:00 Eastern Time. Join us if you're at the
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  convention, sit down. We're going to be talking about
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  your feelings, actions, thoughts about the way the NCAA is
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  changing and we're going to make some predictions for next year.
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  And every guest that sits down with us will you get a a
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  exclusive free gift? So join us December 16th, 6:00
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  PM Eastern Time for the Gill Live Connections podcast on
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  YouTube and at the USTFCCCA convention.
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  Here is bonus material. No, he's a good, he's a good
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  ender to this. Hey, Mommy, am I all right?
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  So. I think he might be learning
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  this right now. First of all, introduce yourself
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  Coach Ray. Williams, Washington University
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  St. Louis, MO.
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  The bears. The bears.
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  OK, so something I was doing tonight that I've never done
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  before. Besides going live on YouTube,
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  we are also live on Twitter and when you called, you now say I
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  didn't believe it. Edit Broadcaster Yeah, it just
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  died, everybody. So listen everybody on Twitter,
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  come over to YouTube. We don't even.
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  Just too late for that. It's too.
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  Late who does? This Ray, you and I have been
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  friends for a long time. When you were five years old,
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  when I was 30. We love you.
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  Love. That love that.
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  You, you've done an amazing job at a lot of great institutions.
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  Listen, you know I think of you as someone who has a a fountain
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  of knowledge. You've thought of my opinion.
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  I hope this doesn't offend you. I love you enough that you know,
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  this is an offensive. I think you are seen more as the
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  the hype coach and there's nothing wrong with that.
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  Nothing wrong with that. You know, just like you came in,
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  you know, you know. Every time we.
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  Submit chat. And I love you for that, but I
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  think you don't get your due, if you will, of what's up here and
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  how you coach. And I don't just mean the X's
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  and O's, I mean how you relate to your kids, the programs, the
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  programs that you build, how you recruit and build those programs
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  athletically as well as academically.
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  So I want to kind of take the opportunity since I have you
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  here, you know, we, we have a a really broad audience, everybody
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  from guys and gals that are in the Hall of Fame tonight down to
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  people who have never coached but want to coach, you know,
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  athletes. What advice would you give
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  someone wants to become a track coach, whether it's college or
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  high school? I don't I don't know that that's
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  relevant. Maybe it is.
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  You can answer with part of your answer.
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  It could be that. What advice would you give to
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  help someone have a long trivia coaching specifically?
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  Track and. Field.
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  Yeah, So it's a passion, right? So I come from a family of
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  educators and so it's kind of instinctive.
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  So when you when you look at what's the end result, the end
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  result is to build that young person to be the best, whatever
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  they're going to be. We have a sport that doesn't
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  have an end to it. And so because our sport doesn't
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  have an end, how do we take our sport and apply it to what
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  they're going to do? And so, as I mentioned in
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  Washington University. Keep, keep talking.
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  Hey, Dave. Yeah, totally different, totally
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  different situation where I'm. So sorry, I forgot Washington
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  University. There are.
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  Players Division Three, they're not on scholarship, and so they
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  do it for the love of it and that whole paradigm of the love
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  for it. But what can you bring to the
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  table when they go into the workforces?
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  Accountants or lawyers or doctors, architects, I mean,
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  conversations I have with my students now just it's mind
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  blowing. Because.
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  The the altitude of of our young people, but it's, it's been that
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  way, you know, for now 28 years, including to athletics.
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  So it's been pretty good roller coaster.
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  It's funny, you kind of took the words out of my mouth.
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  I, I'm, I'm gonna say I'm famous for saying this.
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  I'm not famous for anything, but I say this a lot.
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  You know, the love that I have for for the people who choose to
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  be track coaches is because 99.999% are never going to go
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  pro and have the point O one that do 99% are going to make
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  money. Unfortunately.
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  I wish that would change, but every kid that you coach, every
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  kid that these guys and gals out here coach, are going to go on
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  to become moms, dads, business owners, to your point,
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  architects, clergy, charity owners, etcetera.
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  And that is the real, in my opinion, positive impact that
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  track coaches make on society because you're raising hopefully
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  good people by being an example, correcting when necessary,
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  patting them back when necessary, that they go become
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  good humans. What you know, you talked about
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  passion and what we do for the kids.
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  As we're giving this advice to young people, most in my
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  experience, want to coach track because they want to, I would
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  say, put their Sam's, their toes in the sample.
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  They like to be outside. That's the fun part.
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  Talk. To us about, you know, of all
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  the coaching duties you have the very formal ones.
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  Maybe there's paperwork and stuff that you have to do, the
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  informal ones. A kid comes in and wants to talk
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  about dropping a class or maybe being homesick.
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  Out of all of your coaching duties, how much time are you
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  actually on the track? The the part that we all
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  protocol get into touching. For, you know, the two hours
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  that that. We long.
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  For all day. The.
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  But but you said it will and that and that's when you can see
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  the longevity in the sport because the the coach, you just
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  want to play and keep your feet in the sands.
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  They don't last longer. Because they.
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  They miss the big picture. The big picture is to to raise
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  up the next generation of of of young men and women to do some
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  amazing things. But but yeah, to answer your
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  question, that that two to three hours, you know, maybe the prep
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  time or again, I'm in a situation where players have
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  class during the actual practice time.
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  So the three sessions in the morning, the two after practice,
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  you know, to try to get them what they need to be successful.
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  But yeah, that that little block of time is that's not really
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  what it's all about. And the big picture, as as any
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  educator would tell you, it's it's all about the
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  organizational structure, making sure there's a a plan and what's
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  the end goal. And a lot of people are are so
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  tied up into the science or art of it.
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  Yeah, put it both together. Yeah, yeah.
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  To to make make that end result do what you.
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  Do I've used this example before and I actually for some reason I
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  always use the same person. It's actually a a former boss of
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  yours, JB. OK, because you just said it's
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  not always about the XS and OS. And I think that's very true.
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  I think it's very important for coaching education and
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  understanding how to coach long jumpers better and just in terms
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  of better. Absolutely.
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  But I think how you work with these young people can overcome
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  a lot of maybe some not so great habits on the scientific XS and
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  OS side, right. So I always use JBI.
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  Don't know why I use that much to do.
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  I would say, you know, Jimmy, Jerry Baltus of Grand Valley
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  State, you know, his leadership skills are so good.
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  I truly believe that we could pluck him out of track and put
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  him as a hockey coach. And I don't know, maybe he
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  actually loves hockey and knows everything about, I don't know,
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  I just assume it doesn't. But even he would not know that
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  exes and knows of hockey. I think because of his
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  leadership skills and style that the leadership side of they
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  would be very successful. I think really good leadership
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  coaches could do almost any sport, any classroom, etcetera,
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  and have success because of the leadership.
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  Always. And that's that's the key.
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  You just. Said it.
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  You just said it, that that part of coaching is the secret sauce.
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  That's the secret sauce. My coach had it at North Central
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  College. Kyle Kerry and it it's, but
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  it's, it's about building those relationships, you know, that,
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  that extra 5 minutes to to just to tell a player, hey, you know,
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  these little things you need to correct things, have them on the
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  backseat tomorrow. That little bit is all it takes.
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  Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
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  You know, you have a huge responsibility, you know, not
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  young people today. Young people are going through a
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  lot of pressure, stresses, etcetera.
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  They need to have a good experience with you and they do
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  have that 2 hour block with you and even know that that's kind
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  of the the best time of their life that you know.
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  And you said it right, we call it recess.
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  Yeah, yeah. They ring the bell.
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  I say this every year. The door opens, 30 players run
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  all over, young people run all over.
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  I've never seen a hamstring pull.
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  Yeah. Right, maybe a couple of bloody
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  nose. Right?
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  3 little girls here in the corner having their
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  conversation. The two little boys over there
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  thinking boogers. But.
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  But but that that is, I think everybody needs that.
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  Yeah, yeah. And that that that joy.
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  Yeah, no question. You know, as they get on an age,
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  they're going to forget or at least embellish their PRS.
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  You know, I'm now A-150, half Miller.
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  Next year I'm sure I'll run 144. Oh my God.
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  But they were. Exactly.
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  Yeah, but they remember the bus rides, they remember the coach
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  that saw something in them before they could see it
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  themselves. They remember the stressors and
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  pressures of win a conference title when there's a team or
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  individual relay. That's what they truly remember.
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  I love that recess analogy, man. That's it.
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  I give it to them every year. Especially when you got so much
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  stress on the academic side. Sure.
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  When? You come over.
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  Here, lean that stuff there. That's awesome.
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  Open up, have a good time, great experience.
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  Let's have a little bit of academic here.
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  I've got 100 questions. Absolutely not.
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  One through 100. Yeah, absolutely.
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  You get to pick the number. I get to ask the question.
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  My number is 22. Why 22 It's.
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  A great question. So 22 was my number in high
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  school. My soccer freshman year I got
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  #22. My senior year we only had 18
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  jerseys so I took #2. I think this is a good one for
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  you. Get out of my kitchen.
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  What's your least favorite food or ingredients?
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  It's messed up so although I wear it well.
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  Better than I. Yeah, well, here's the thing.
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  I've been very fortunate. I I don't really have a bad
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  thing, right. You know, remember when you were
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  little, you didn't like salad? Like salad, You know, when I
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  couldn't understand why the, the squid tastes so funny and so
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  mushy? I like squid now.
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  So. Yeah.
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  So you know, when you evolved with years, your your time
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  changes. So in the kitchen, I don't know
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  man, I would say they like hot foods.
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  I love. It Yeah, I love it now.
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  That's a That's a great. Question, You're constantly
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  evolving, right? You I'm not someone in general.
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  You are constantly evolving, getting better every year.
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  Yeah, that's not no, no fan there, that's for sure.
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  That's for sure. Great.
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  Thank you for being on the show, man.
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  I do. Appreciate you and thank you for
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  the product that you always give me.
• 11:32
  Thank you. And I need a.
• 11:34
  Wait, that's over an orbiter land now?
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  Exactly. Hey, for everybody who sits down
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  with us tonight, we're giving them.
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  This is exclusive. We're not giving this out to
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  just in general. Only for them to sit down.
• 11:43
  Good connections, Holiday or? Man, thank you.
• 11:46
  Appreciate you. Appreciate you.
• 11:49
  If you're going to sit down, come and sit down.
• 11:51
  Otherwise, I am wrapping it up, man.
• 11:54
  Hey, how are you, man? I'm doing great, man.
• 11:59
  You guys good. All right, let me wrap up and
• 12:02
  not let me come see you real quick.
• 12:04
  All right, I'm wrapping up, man. Thank you.
• 12:08
  Appreciate you, brother. Appreciate you.
• 12:10
  So I always worry like who's going to step in as soon as I
• 12:12
  start to wrap up? Hey everybody, thank you so much
• 12:16
  for being here again with the Live Connections Podcast.
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  You know, we do this here at Gil Athletics because we love you as
• 12:23
  a person and what you do for the young people around the country,
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  around the world. And it really does mean the
• 12:28
  world to us. So keep watching, keep
• 12:30
  listening, and we'll keep bringing you amazing coaches
• 12:33
  around the world. Give you a sneak peek here.
• 12:35
  Coming up in Season 5. You can find us on iTunes,
• 12:38
  Spotify, the whole 9. But we've got that Baylor 4x4
• 12:41
  where we're going to have Michael Ford one week, Jeremy
• 12:44
  Warner the other week, David Hodge, our CEO at Gill
• 12:46
  Athletics, and then we anchor that four week block with Clyde
• 12:50
  Hart. You're not going to want to miss
• 12:51
  it. Who else do we've got?
• 12:53
  We've got Casey Comvest coming to the show.
• 12:56
  You're going to love that. We've got another amazing high
• 12:59
  school coach or club coach, Danny McCray.
• 13:01
  You're going to enjoy. We're going to continue bringing
• 13:03
  you special coaches every week on the podcast and then in April
• 13:07
  and May of 2024, every day starting April 2nd, we've got a
• 13:12
  high school coach from every state sitting down with us
• 13:14
  talking about how they qualify for the state meet and what
• 13:18
  events they run, meet a champions, things like that.
• 13:21
  And we're going to answer the the the forever argument.
• 13:25
  Is it state or states? You plug in with us at Gil
• 13:28
  connections podcast and we'll keep uplifting and honoring
• 13:30
  coaches around the world. Thanks everybody.
• 13:32
  Have a great night.