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March Madness Football Style with Jeff Paske · Cover IV Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Cover Four.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a Section Four football fan, this is your podcast.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Coach Smith.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be your host.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Joining us today on Cover Four is Jeff Paske.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: He is the current athletic director at Johnson City High School.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he's also a member of the Section Four Football Committee.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why he's our guest today on Cover Four.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to help us understand a little bit more about what I call March Madness football style.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: But before we get going, Jeff, I'd like to just have you give us a little bit of your backstory and how you got to be the current athletic director at Johnson City at an obviously such a young age.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks a lot, Tim, for having me.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very excited to be on the inaugural broadcast of the Cover Four and uh for the podcast and looking forward to being on here multiple times for you if you need me.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I uh I I went to Susquehanna Valley High School and we moved back in the area.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: My dad took a principal job there actually.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my and we came back my sophomore year and I played uh year JV and a couple years of varsity.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: And my junior year actually uh Judd Blanchard took over as as head coach of SV, and we had a successful two-year run um uh uh when I was on varsity there and uh won the division both years, went to the playoffs.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a great experience for me.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: I learned a lot from my uh coaching staff there and Alvin Lolly and Glenn McGyver, just Glenn Cole, great group of guys uh that you know football has always been near and dear to me.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so then I went on to play in college at Albany uh when they were shifting from the Division II to 1AA uh program and was there with Coach Bob Ford, legendary uh coach uh at that level and those levels and leading in into uh a different uh the 1AA program, which was awesome.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh I graduated there, that was 2000, and I got a job in Green um as a math teacher, and uh my brother was there as a PE teacher, and he uh he was the JV coach.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so I I uh was his assistant uh for JV football.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we did that for a few years, and then he moved up and became the the head coach at Green, and so then I was his assistant.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: And about 2005, while I was assistant, uh a position opened for athletic coordinator at Green, and so I applied for that and was was able to get that, and that's when I uh after a year, I was asked to be on the Section 4 football committee.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of how that came to being.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: But so I continued to coach there for five years uh through uh 2010 and then 2011.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: I uh switched roles as administrator into Johnson City as an assistant principal uh because of the opportunity here and did that for four years, and uh now it's wearing the maroon and white every Friday, and and it's exciting to be here and all the all the changes with the uh changeover from Greensfield to the Wildcat Stadium, and we're trying to hold that uh the nostalgia there has been awesome.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: I actually have a picture of the the uh Greensfield in my office and and the wildcat stadium, of course.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but after four years, um Mr.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Race, uh who was our athletic director at the time, took the assistant superintendent's job at Johnson City.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so the AD job came open and I was asked to apply, and I took that.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: So this is now my sixth year as AD here at Johnson City.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't want to be in any other position, and I I certainly enjoy the football aspect of it because of what it's taught me through the years from my family and my dad.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: My dad was a coach, uh, you know, my brother coached, and a lot of our family in our family is is football related.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I've been on the committee for about 14-15 years now, and it's been been a great experience.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I I don't think our fans really realize how lucky they are to have somebody with obviously your experience in a multiple facets and perspectives on the game of football specifically, but to be on the committee and representing section four.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Great background, Jeff.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you for sharing that.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my initial question is just kind of um, if you could level set us on where we stand today.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I know there's a few different scenarios that have been kicked around, where things stand today in terms of dates and possibilities and what that uh March season may look like.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, right now, football is a high-risk sport, so we're still waiting on guidelines on what that's gonna look like for New York State, you know.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: And unfortunately, we get a lot of uh pushback.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what are we doing to help the cause because Pennsylvania's playing and other states are playing, but we're kind of at the you know, what the governor and the department of health is gonna do with the high-risk sports, and that's kind of where we're at.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: So they moved uh the state association moved the date to March 1st, and we're looking at about uh March 1st to May 1st season for football.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we we will send out probably in the new year uh information to all the schools to find out just to make sure who's in and who's out, and if if anybody, you know, hopefully they're not cutting any programs.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: But there are some budgetary constraints going on, you know, through through the section and through the state.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: So some teams might might not feel the team, uh, but we just want to be sure and and get that taken care of.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll look to see the first go round is who's in.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then once everybody's committed, uh, we'll break it up by class, you know, double A's all the way down to uh eight men and and see how how many teams we have and how we'll align the divisions and and go from there.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: But we're hopeful that we can get seven or eight games in for all teams, which would be pretty close to a a regular season for them and uh and play through sectionals.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's the kind of the plan right now.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so from a uh playoffs perspective, the state playoffs aren't even being considered right now, just the sectionals.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they so this the state has uh eliminated state playoffs for fall all fall sports, so we're looking at just doing a sectional championship for for our schools.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I know you may have had uh some conversations or connections with your your counterparts in Pennsylvania or close, close in Pennsylvania, or maybe you have other ties in.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: What are you seeing in Pennsylvania?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I know from my perspective, I've watched a little bit of Pennsylvania.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I've also seen like you know, your Kentucky's, your Oklahoma's, your Texas's, those kind of libraries are playing football too.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: What have you seen in terms of uh anything that you can do to benefit from learning from like a close state like either Connecticut or Pennsylvania?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I haven't really had any discussions with Pennsylvania, but then I did see that, and I'm fairly knowledgeable.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: I see the NFL did it, has done a study, and that no cases uh from the coronavirus have been spread through the playing of football.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're hopeful that the you know, the state and the department of health actually uses that information uh to make our decision that high-risk sports are safe to play.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: And because they are, uh it's not being spread through the course of play, it's being spread at home or you know, out and about in the community.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of where we're at, and uh we're hopeful they they can make that change.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, from my perspective and others listening, I'm sure that they're thinking, okay, everything outside of the the lines, if you will, is is tough in terms of trying to keep this coronavirus down and you know, not spread it.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: But the safe place seems to be when you get out between the lines and actually play the the contest and get the student athletes out there and coaches and they participate in the actual contest itself.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, my brother is the uh eternal optimist.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he's I'm fairly optimistic as well, but he is even more optimistic.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: And he tried to tell me he was and he's very good about it.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: He said, you know, you think about it, okay?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, how long is a football play?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, Tim, how long would you say a football play is?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is probably on the average of uh three to four or five seconds, someplace in that neighborhood.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: So four seconds, uh, how many plays in a game?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure how many plays in a game, but I know they did a study, I think it was at the NFL level.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And if you took from the uh ball being put in play by the the the quarterback or the ball being centered, and the time the official blows the whistle, the average total amount of game time is something like five minutes.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a real it's a real small number that you wouldn't believe.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the point my brother was trying to say.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, look, we're we're not even playing 10 minutes.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Each kid, I'm gonna go against you if I'm a lineman or if I'm a receiver, I'm a quarterback.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: How much time am I actually gonna have contact with an opponent?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's gotta it's gonna be less than 10 minutes, yeah.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so definitely, definitely could the quarantine is uh six feet or less for 10 minutes or more.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we're not gonna be within that 10 minutes.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: So what's the what's the holdup?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it kind of makes an interesting point.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is a very interesting perspective, and and we've had a lot of time to think and have these different types of perspective, but it's things like that that really stop making thinking, well, maybe maybe we can do this.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: It you know, I didn't think about it that way, you know, the different perspectives on things.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's always it's always good to get that different perspective because you yourself look at things a certain way, you know, you're raised a certain way, you have certain tendencies and thought processes, but if somebody else sees something that's they they can obviously see something totally different than you do, and that extra perspective is something that's really a powerful thing, and we need to honor that.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, certainly.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was always told you got to eat a bushel of dirt before you die, anyway.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: So you want but it is what it is.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's not gonna be completely eradicated.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: So we need to live with it at this point and and let's go.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, these, you know, football, as I said, is near and dear to me.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, our student athletes need it, uh, our coaches need it, our families need it.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they need every all our sports uh because it it teaches so much about character and and everything else down the line.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's so important.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a lot of aspects of football that will really help you in life.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, getting uh working together with a team for a common goal, uh, being, you know, it's sort of about the team as opposed to you, those kind of things, and also from a not only from a participation standpoint, but also from a leadership standpoint, whether you're uh deemed a capant with a title of leader or you're just somebody that leads naturally by your abilities and actions, and then your coaches, they're they're really a leader, and that's one of the things I do in my business is explain the the similarities between athletics and business.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things I coach people on is that in athletics, the coach sets up the environment, but then they have to get out of the way, they have to step off to the sideline and let their student athletes perform.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Same thing in business, you know, you set your your team up for success, give them the tools and knowledge and whatever it is that they need, but don't forget to get out of the way and let them perform.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so you're absolutely right.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh that's that's key.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: So it's um, but I going back to the committee, so I mean that's that's kind of what we're looking at is is uh that season, and hopefully we were able to get that in.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh typically we would be we would be meeting if it was a regular year, we'd be meeting now to get the um the 2021 season kind of underway in terms of scheduling.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so just give a if you want a little background on that.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we have about 10 members on the committee, and we meet in December typically, and we'll have the BEDS numbers.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so for those listeners who are not sure, beds numbers are basically a uh a three-year count, ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade uh that the state gets and gives to athletic directors, and that determines your classification, whether you're double A, A, B, C, or D.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so we get that information um and then uh use that to align our divisions.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so that, and as you know, you've seen it change from year to year where you know, even Johnson City, we've been an A, we've been a B, you know, Forks has gone up and back from B and C, uh, Maine Anwell, uh, they've shifted a few times.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: So there's several schools that shift back and forth, uh, mainly in our our lower, you know, our BC level has been changing quite a bit.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: So once we get that in order, then we uh we uh we put our division games in, and then we look we look for matchups that we want to see.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: So we like to uh challenge our teams within the section, and we think it's helped our teams going on after sectionals.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: So for example, Tyoga has been great, and it's and Coach Ayelloton has done a fantastic job with his program, and he's always willing to, hey, you know, can we can we play Waverly or can we, you know, that Tyoga Waverly matchup is always a great make matchup.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: We've matched up Tyoga and Shenyoga Forks before when forks dropped down to a C and Tyoga was a D.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're looking to get those matchups because not only does it get those teams into a tough game before sectionals and so down the road, they put them through that experience that the players need so that they're ready, you know, battle tested ready when the playoffs come around.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so that we we try and hook those up as best we can, and we follow the general rule is we match up the sectional champs as best as possible from the previous year.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: So the double A will, you know, typically play the A champ, the A and the B champ will match up and you know, down all the way down the road.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it works out fairly well, and I think it's helped I think it's really helped our teams um because I know section three, they do not play out of class at all.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: They'll play all the double A's are playing at double A's, all the A's are playing A's, they stay strictly within class, and so we cannot do that.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason we can't do that is because we're such an odd section um in terms of we have so many typically C and D teams, and we don't have as many double A's and A's, and so we kind of got to help each other out class to class, up and down the road.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, so sometimes the question gets asked, oh, what why do you guys why do we schedule out of section teams?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that sometimes comes down to how many teams we have in our section.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: So if we have 41 total teams, double A down to D, we're an odd number of teams.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that means one team has a buy every week.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: So instead of doing a buy, that's where other sections come in.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: We'll play a section nine, we'll play a section three, uh, we've played section five, six, well, whoever we can get, uh we played section two teams because our section is so wide and top to bottom, too.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: And we played PA teams.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why we go out of section typically is if we're odd.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um if we're not odd, if we're if we find ourselves in an even year, we'll still go out of section, but that just means we got to get two games uh for that week instead of one.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll do that typically for our double A schools uh because uh it's hard to sometimes match them up against some of our B schools, so because we have so few A's.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of how scheduling works out, if that makes sense.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh I did some of the research on the numbers, and our C's and D's together make up it's like 67, 68 percent of the total number of teams that we have playing football in section four.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and one of the reasons we started this cover four podcast is we wanted to bring media uh potential attention to all the teams in section four, out east, out west, up north.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, we've got a very wide geographical uh boundary set up for section four, and there's like nine counties that actually play football, so there's a lot of potential in terms of geographic stretch, and that's one of the things we wanted to do.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And Jeff, you have given us a wealth of information, and I know that uh we appreciate that and uh the insight that you've given us, especially on how the classifications work.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people will complain and say, Well, why does why do they have to move up?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: They should stay down, that's where they belong.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's not based on the performance of the team as you alluded to, it's based on the previous years, nine, ten, and eleven class size, and that's boys and girls, it's not just boys, yeah, correct.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: And they've changed it.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I the and how they've done the numbers, and now they actually take the average uh of a couple of those classes to to make that number work.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so for for this year, actually, I was just pulling up what the schedule was supposed to be, and so we had four double A's this year, Corning, Elmyra, Horse, as Anithaca.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Binghamton actually dropped down to an A.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so Binghamton, UE, and Vestal are A schools, and then we only have three B's, Johnson City, Maine, Anwell, and Owego.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then our C's, we had um eleven.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see, you got eleven.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: You got six in the first group, and then you got five in the second group.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: And West.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then our D's uh we had uh 10 there, and then we had looked like we had nine scheduled for eight man.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um it's uh it's it's a lot of fun, and I really enjoy, you know, because it is football and and getting the schedule together and and working with the guys to to see those matchups and make it all work out, it's like a big puzzle piece.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, and and the it's like a big test.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing is too, I want to we want to get some coverage for what I call the eight-player teams as well, because that and most of them are far as I know are playing on a regular size field, and when you take three players, student athletes off the team on each side, that comes a very dynamic, uh finesse-oriented game because you have so much more field to cover.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually under contract with the arena team here locally, but it never came to fruition.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: But that was very similar to arena, it's eight players on a side, and that's that's a fast that can be a very fast and uh tiring game.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you your student athletes in different positions take on a little bit different role.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Some have to be a little bit faster, and the most cases because you have so much more uh field to cover.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we had I was really upset to see that we weren't able to play in the fall because we had a I thought we had a really good schedule for them.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's probably one of the cleanest schedules we've had.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: And the eight-man division, the nine teams in there, because we're nine, we had a buy each week, and we were able to work a deal with section three to get a game for each of those teams.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: So everybody had a full schedule.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they had they all had eight games, and it was gonna be, you know, it was it was just worked out seamlessly.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so I was just upset, even more so, not being able to play the season for that reason.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: So take your brother's advice, be optimistic, and things will work out.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we go through these speed bumps in life, and I I look at this uh this corona thing, as it's obviously more than a speed bump.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is uh it was a temporary roadblock.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I I think and I'm hoping that you know in the future this will be viewed almost like the flu.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the flu's been around forever, there's various strains of that.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And when you get the vaccination for the flu, it's not a hundred percent guaranteed because of you know how the the uh virus mutates, things like that.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm I'm I'm very optimistic and uh hope that we can get back to where we need to be.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Jeff, unless you've got anything else, I want to thank you for a great uh knowledge sharing session with with us.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate that.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I look forward to having you on the show in the future.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being our number one and first, actually, not the number one, because you're all number one, but the very first guest on Cover Four Podcast.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: We appreciate it.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Great time, and uh let me know anytime.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Bye-bye.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, tell your friends, Coach Smith says visit cover4.com and be the next fan up.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: In football and life, it's not where we line up, it's where we wind up.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.