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Episode 36: Kerri Blaylock · From the Coach's Mouth

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Culture is everything and it as a coach, if you're not invested
0:03
in it, so culture isn't talking about it and saying, oh, we've
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had a great culture or we have a culture.
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If you don't invest in it with the players, if you don't teach
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them things, if you don't have conversations, hard
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conversations, it will die. The culture will not continue.
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It just won't. You can't rely on your players,
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only you. It is that way.
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And I I think the top LED, our kids bought in and LED, but you
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have to be invested in it. Whether you live northeast,
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West, or South, the best basket info comes from the Coach's
0:40
Mouth. Welcome to the From the Coach's
0:56
Mouth podcast with your host Jay Bolden and Ken Krause.
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Yes, everyone, welcome to the From the Coach's Mouth podcast.
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We're happy to be talking to you today.
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We've got a very special guest, so we're looking forward to
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that. Jay, I did want to check in with
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you a little bit. Do you have anything special
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going on this weekend? Yeah, so my my youngest are 11.
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You kind of semi travel developmental team is supposed
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to be playing on Sunday, but I don't think we're going to dodge
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the weather. It's supposed to rain up here
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and so we'll probably get washed, but it's, it's kind of
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a, a good thing, I guess, because my oldest daughter
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Layton, who has Down syndrome, we have the buddy walk out here.
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So yeah, we've got some family in town, My mother-in-law,
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father-in-law in town. My mom and dad are going to come
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and some of Layton's friends and they come and support her and
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the other kids in our area from all over here that have Down
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syndrome. We're going to go walk and we've
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raised some money for them and, and all that stuff.
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So we're excited about it's a great, a great weekend.
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How about yourself? I've got kind of a quiet
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weekend, no outdoor lesson. So you know, easy tomorrow,
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today actually doing a little surprise birthday party for one
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of my neighbors. You know, yes, it is a surprise
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party, but by the time this comes out, it'll have already
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happened. So I'm not letting the cat out
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of the bag. That's.
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Awesome. Yeah, other than that, going to
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watch the Bears play. Oh boy, I gave up on that a long
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time ago. So yeah.
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But I'll tell you what, I was excited to watch Louisville beat
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Miami last night. That was a great game.
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So it was, it was good. And my, the reason I say that is
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because my, my wife is from Louisville.
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My in laws are in town. So we're watching that game.
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That was a great game. And I'm actually headed down
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there next weekend to go to a game, which is I'm super excited
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about that as well too. I love college athletics.
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It's just, it's so awesome. Yeah, that sounds like it'll be
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fun. So Speaking of college
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athletics, Ken, do you want to talk about this amazing guest
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that we have? And I know I am super stoked to
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have her and I know you're excited as well too.
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Why don't you tell some people or give some people some
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information about our amazing guest?
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All right, well, certainly it's not every day you get to speak
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to a member of multiple halls of fame, so we feel privileged they
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have the opportunity to spend time with our guests today.
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As a player at Herron High School in Illinois, she was
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considered one of the top three pitchers in the state, compiling
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a career record of 65 and seven, and in 1992 was named to the
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Herron Hall of Fame. She continued her winning ways
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at the University of Evansville, where our guest is still the top
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pitcher in Purple Aces history. She holds multiple records at
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the school including pitching wins, innings pitched, complete
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games, and shutouts, while also being third all time in career
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ERA with a 1.62 mark. She graduated with a degree in
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accounting, so she was sharp on the academic side as well.
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She was later inducted into EU of E Hall of Fame in 1994.
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After her playing days, our guest joined the coaching staff
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at Southeast Missouri State as a graduate assistant while earning
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her Master's in Business Administration.
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She then went on to Southern Illinois University where she
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became an assistant coach for the Salukis under long time
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coach Kay Brechtelsbauer, including five seasons as
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pitching coach before taking over the program from the SIU
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legend in 2000. Our guest quickly established
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herself as a legend herself. Over her 23 year run, she
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compiled a record of 751 wins against 413 losses and one tie,
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making her the winningest coach not only in Southern Illinois
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softball history but also the entire athletic program.
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Her many accomplishments include posting 1830 win seasons,
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including Four Seasons with forty wins, 8 NCAA Tournament
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appearances, 6 Missouri Valley Conference titles, and being a
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member of five NBC Coaching Staff of the Year.
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In 2022, she stepped down as head coach of the Salukis, but
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remained on as an advisor to the program.
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The accolades didn't stop, however, as that year she was
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also enshrined in two more Halls of Fame, the SIU Hall of Fame
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and the NFCA Hall of Fame. She didn't stay out of the
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coaching ranks for long, however, as in 2025 she became a
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volunteer assistant at nearby John A Logan Community College
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in Cartersville, Illinois. Ladies and gentlemen, please
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give a warm From the Coach's Mouth podcast.
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Welcome to the incredible Carrie Blaylock.
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Thank you guys. Welcome, coach.
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We're super excited to have you today.
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So we're we're going to jump right in.
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Carrie, I want I want to get get after with you today.
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I, I, we don't want to take up too much of your time, so we
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want to make sure we, we can get to just buy everything we can.
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So you've had such a legendary career at SIU and now you
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continue to impact the game at Johnny Logan.
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Can you walk us through your journey a little bit from player
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to coach, your NFCA Hall of Famer, SIU Hall of Famer, What
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keeps you, keeps that passion going for you to continue to
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give back to the game? The kids, I mean, obviously, you
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know, when I was a player is, you know, Ken mentioned I was at
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Heron High School and I had a, a guy who actually coached my
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brother in football was our was our softball coach.
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And he's now an Illinois High School Hall of Famer.
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But he spent all this time just learning about the game.
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So if you grew up in Heron, you were going to need to be a
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pitcher. I want to be a catcher.
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My dad told me he was very, very honest.
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Awesome man that you know, he said, sis, you can't really hit
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and you don't run very well. So maybe I think if you want to
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play Division One softball, maybe we should try pitching.
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So he was so smart and I'm like, all right, we'll do it.
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So anyway, that led to then college.
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And when I was in college, I'll be honest with you, like Ken
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said, I got a degree in accounting and I thought I was
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going to be an accountant. And I had every, I had a job
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already in Carbondale lined up and the head coach at Southeast
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Missouri State said, hey, would you like to get your master's?
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I had no concept this could even be done.
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You know, you could be Aga, you could go on to coach.
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And so ask my mom and dad, hey, can you foot the bill a little
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bit longer, you know, help me out.
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They said yes, went over there and as soon as I did it, I was
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hooked. So I think for me, it was
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impacting young people. I love it.
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I love teaching, I love coaching.
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I love competing, and so this was a way that I could do all of
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that. And so I think for me, you know,
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it's when I decided I wanted to do it.
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Coach B, Coach Brechtelsbauer gave me this opportunity, which
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I say this, you know, I thank her for my entire path because
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if it wasn't for her hiring me on a $5000 salary that she
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begged the administration to give me at that time, you know,
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I wouldn't have never done it. But what keeps me going with it
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is definitely teaching and impacting young women and, and,
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and just helping them, the relationships you build, but
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also teaching them how to be productive in life.
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I mean, this game is a microcosm of it.
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So I would say that's what kind of keeps me going with it.
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So looking back at your early coaching career, what lessons
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shaped you in, you know, the way that you became a coach at SIU
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when you took over? I honestly think that I, I was
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so my high school coach, coach Bruce Gillack, just his, he was,
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he was a life mentor. I mean, he was we were a bunch
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of, you know, girls and he treated us like football
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players, which was a kind of awesome, you know, like we
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learned a lot from him, but he shaped us in, you know, hard
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work, unselfishness, honesty, accountability.
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I mean, you I learned all of that from him and it was no
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making excuses. So that's what I try to pass
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along are those life lesson type things that then impact the kids
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on a different level because they translate to the game.
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And so we, we talk a lot about a lunch pail, you know, hard hat,
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lunch pail mentality about nobody's going to outwork us.
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We're going to be servant leaders.
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We're going to do everything right from picking up the dugout
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to, you know, how we put on our shoes to how our locker room
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looks to what we do in the classroom.
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And it all discipline translates outside of competition to
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competition. I would say too, like not only
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are those great softball lessons, but they're just great
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life lessons, right? I mean, life isn't always
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sunshine and roses and we have to learn to how to get through
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some of those hard times, you know, and without having that
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discipline, I think that, you know, and I think that's Ken and
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I talked about this all time. I think that's some of the
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things that are kind of missing in in today's youth sports.
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There's you know, you see everybody jumping from team to
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team and there's no loyalty and discipline.
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And, and that's great that you, you brought that up too.
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I do, I want to talk to you a little bit too, Carrie, because
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I know you've had some amazing assistant coaches that were with
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you when you took over the the job.
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So who were some of your assistants that that helped you
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get that SIU program to such high standards that you had kind
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of over the years? I know you've had a few former
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gentlemen that played men's fast pitch, I believe down there.
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I know it was, it was a big thing.
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So some of them and I didn't. You have Christy too, at who's
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at Saint Louis University, who is a fantastic coach in her own
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right. So.
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So when I started, when I started the program, my first
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hire was a guy by the name of Buddy Foster.
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And Buddy was at, he's been the head coach at Bradley, he's been
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an assistant at Kansas, an assistant at after us at SIUE.
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But anyway, he and I have were friends since we were probably
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13 years old. His sister and I played summer
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ball together. So Buddy is someone that I
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talked to multiple types a week as right now he's 60, I'm 59.
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We still talk multiple times a week.
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So when I started the program, I knew he was who I wanted.
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So I made a tough call. He was at Simo with Coach
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Richmond at the time. I made a tough call and said,
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coach, I want to talk to Buddy about filling our position.
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I want him to help me start this, you know, to start my head
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coaching career. So buddy was with me and those
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early years were just fantastic. You know, we went to a Sweet 16
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back back in the day. They did not have a, they didn't
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have a four team regional. They had an 8.
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They had 818 regionals. There were no supers.
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So we ended up in the finals, you know, one game away from the
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College World Series against the University of Alabama.
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He helped me there and then helped me until he took the
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Bradley head job. When he took that.
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Then I hired Christy Canoyer because for me it was always
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about trust people that I knew. So Christy was with me then for
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another 2 regionals, I believe she was with me and then she
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took the head job at Saint Louis University.
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And then I hired Jen Sewell, who's now the head coach at SIU.
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So I had three quality first assistance, but then it was also
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important for me to hire people in support roles.
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And and most of those were former players, Katie Wagner,
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Kelsey Gonzalez, Kenzie Bennett, you know, Maddie Vermizon.
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These were all players of mine who then stayed and helped us,
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helped us coach. And I hope I'm not forgetting
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anybody, but at my age, sometimes I forget.
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But, but I mean, those people, Haley Gorman, they're people
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that would help us as student assistants and, and keep it with
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it. So I I had a lot of great
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assistants. So were these people that wanted
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to go into coaching or did they? Were they like you where they
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had a career path going and you kind of redirected them into
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something that became their passion?
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My first assistants were all coaching.
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My second assistants are all out of coaching now.
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So, you know, a couple of them are in the business world in
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Chicago. One is doing pitching, private
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pitching lessons down here and has a great career.
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One of them was a teacher and now helps manage a golf course.
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So I mean, it's like, you know, the first assistants were all
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coaches. The second assistants were just
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people again, that it was very important to me.
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It's just a trust factor. I didn't really hire anybody
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outside of my circle, if that makes sense.
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For sure. Yep, definitely does.
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So I was going to ask you, a lot of our listeners don't know, but
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I, I was there at Carbondale basically 93 to 98 and I
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remember seeing the, the field at during that time.
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I can you give our listeners a little idea of how the
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facilities have changed down there in Carbondale?
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You know. Since that time.
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So when I first got hired there, we, if anybody's been to
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Carbondale, it's just a Grand Ave. is a Main Street that goes
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by the rec center, etcetera. So we were in a little corner of
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a parking lot, so we barely had bleachers.
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I can remember my mom and grandma sitting on lawn chairs,
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and I was afraid my grandma was gonna get swiped by a car coming
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by, right? So then we didn't have
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bathrooms. He had to walk across the street
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to the bathroom. Then we got these concrete
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dugouts there that were beautiful, but they built them
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on this. The the fences were 250.
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We laugh all the time, you know, so I guess.
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My of course, that's those those fences are 250 in a day when
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games were one to nothing or two to one most of the time.
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You got that right. You got that right.
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And so then there was a Title 9 complaint filed and I will say
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this, that SIU handled it awesomely.
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They didn't have to handle it the way they did.
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It was an anonymous, you know, we call it our 20 at back then
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stamps were $0.25. It was a $0.25 miracle, right?
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That and SIU did not have to handle it the way they did.
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They did a great investigation and they determined that we
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needed something. So then it became a $2.5 million
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stadium with locker rooms and a press box and TV capabilities
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and batting cages. And it's just, it went from, it
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went from the outhouse how do they say it to Uptown, right?
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We were, the kids had some place to it.
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It just changed the trajectory. I will say that that 2003 team,
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most of them that that ended up one game away from the World
15:45
Series were recruited to that old field.
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They were not recruited to that new field.
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The university did a fantastic job.
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The university chancellor at the time, board of trustees, our
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athletic director, everything was top notch.
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Yeah, I remember my my oldest daughter Stephanie was going to
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SIU at the time. And yeah, I remember them seeing
16:06
them breaking ground and and building that stadium was right
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outside the dorms. You know, she could see it from
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her window. And you know, it was just, it
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was an amazing thing to see going up, especially at that
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time because there weren't that many great stadiums around so.
16:21
No. It's kind of a, you know, I
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would imagine in the NBC that was kind of the premier stadium
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for a while at least. Us in Wichita State for sure,
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and they were still in the NBC at the time.
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But yes, it was it was the and it's still really honestly, it
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still is. I mean, it's still, you know,
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one of the best in the in the Midwest for sure.
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You built SIU into one of the most consistent performing
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programs in the in the whole area.
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What, what were the foundations of that?
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You know, how did you take that program and really get it to
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play at that level? What was different about what
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you did? I think those recruits early on,
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you know, it was Coach B. We had great teams in the 90s
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Coach B did a great job. We, you know, we won a
17:04
championship and won a conference championship in 91.
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And you know, it was recruiting and it's those players, they
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came in, they bought in immediately.
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And I was, you know, it was going to be like I said, we were
17:17
going to run the program how we were going to run the program.
17:21
We got some great kids from the Saint Louis area and from
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Southern Illinois and from Chicago and from Indiana.
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And we we recruited regionally. They bought in, they came and we
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just had a run that was just magical in, you know, it started
17:37
with those kids honestly in 2000 when I took over and then
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O34567, you know, back-to-back to, you know, all those
17:45
regionals. But those were all those kids.
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I had three sisters from the same family, a set of twins.
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I had multiple kids from the same summer organizations.
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And that's kind of what I would do.
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I would kind of go to summer organizations and I would get, I
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got a bunch of chaos kids out of Saint Louis.
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I got a bunch of Tennessee Fury kids and, and it went a bunch of
18:05
Indiana Magic kids and it just kind of went like that.
18:08
And they were the building blocks that the players, you,
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you know, coaches don't win ball games.
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This, all this stuff and everything you read, it means
18:17
nothing without those kids. So I did want to ask you, you,
18:21
you had some of the top prospects in the country.
18:24
You were able to recruit them to SIU.
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I mean, they could have gone to an Alabama or to a Florida or
18:29
to, you know, UCLA, you know, places like that.
18:33
How did you get those kids there?
18:34
What was the attraction to SIUC? Well, I hope that it was
18:40
relationship based. You know, I am not a
18:42
transactional coach. There are a lot of transactional
18:45
coaches out there. You know, what can you do for
18:47
me? What what can you win for me?
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I don't want to have a personal relationship with you.
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I don't really care to get in to know your family or whatever.
18:56
Those kids to this day are family.
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I still talk to, I still talk to a lot of them.
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I was on the phone yesterday with one of the greats.
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You know, she works for the PGA Tour right now.
19:08
And we're we're talking because she's going to the Vanderbilt
19:11
LSU game today. You know, just so I think it's a
19:15
relationship build that my my assistants and myself got to
19:21
know them. And then we sold Carbondale, the
19:24
campus, the family atmosphere, what you could do there.
19:28
We sold. Hey, you could maybe go sit on
19:31
the bench at a Power 5. Why don't you come here at a mid
19:33
major and why don't you make us great.
19:36
And some of those kids, early kids, you know, we beat the LS
19:40
us in the Florida States and you know, the Michigan's and we and
19:44
we competed. You mentioned probably one
19:47
thing. I got a picture that I recruited
19:49
tooth and nail against Northwestern, and she was from a
19:53
little town just north of here, an hour north of here, and she
19:57
came here, she threw 7172. Her name was Amy Hari.
20:02
And that pitcher kind of then led to, you know, that team
20:07
being built and, you know, we got more pitching and more
20:11
pitching and more great defenders.
20:13
And you know, like I said, we just got several kids that
20:16
really made a difference. Yeah, as a business major,
20:19
that's the concept of the lead goat, right?
20:22
You get that lead goat and get the others to follow the where
20:24
we AM. Carrie, I want to talk because
20:26
I've seen you interact with with your players and just seeing you
20:31
down there when I was down there in Carbondale.
20:33
Culture is such a buzzword today.
20:35
Like what does program culture mean to you?
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And how do you, how do you, how did you instill it year after
20:40
year? And, and I want to say this too,
20:42
you know, going down there after you had you stepped down, I, I
20:45
still see you at, at some of the games down there, sitting on the
20:48
hill over there by the ramp of the bridges.
20:50
And so there's definitely still a, a, a piece of that culture
20:53
with you for SIU there, even though, even though you've kind
20:56
of moved on. So what, what was the culture
20:59
like there at SIU? What did it mean for you?
21:02
Well, it's, it's everything and it's, you know, when I, when I,
21:06
again, this is the lessons that I learned from my high school
21:09
coach. Again, we talked about
21:11
immediately that how we did anything was how we're going to
21:14
do everything. So we were going to excel.
21:16
We won several. I'm just as proud of the
21:20
academic awards. We won top 10s in the country.
21:23
We were good in academics, we were great in the community, we
21:27
were great with people and they were going to buy into the
21:30
accountability factor. Like I said, the hard work
21:32
factor. It it is a buzzword, but but
21:36
there were repercussions. You know, we laugh to this day,
21:40
We laughed to this day about how back in the day, you know, there
21:43
were no cell phones, right? And there was no text messaging,
21:46
right? So they did not want to get a
21:48
call left on their answering, their physical answering
21:50
machine, you know, the old home answering machine from me.
21:53
If I knew they did something, they missed a workout or they
21:56
didn't, you know, being early. Jay Ken, I've left.
21:59
I've left the kid. I left the kid who's an awesome
22:02
kid. She's now, she's not a kid
22:04
anymore. She's a mom and she has children
22:06
of her own. But I left her and she called
22:09
me, you know, and when I got to the hotel in Atlanta and she's
22:13
like Coach Blair, like I'm like, I know buddy, but you weren't at
22:15
the bus, right? So there's just life lessons.
22:18
I got a call from one of my players, former players as an
22:21
FBI agent. And she called me the other day.
22:24
And I don't know if you've seen the viral video of Cara, Cara
22:27
Lawson, the head coach at Duke. And, and, and she's talking
22:29
about how to do hard with her team.
22:31
It's a 2 minute clip. And the kids said thank you for
22:34
teaching me how to do hard. This is why I'm at the FBI, You
22:38
know, so it's not just me, but it's the other assistants.
22:40
And it's, we taught the kids how to survive and do things.
22:45
Culture is everything. And it as a coach, if you're not
22:48
invested in it, so culture isn't talking about it and saying, oh,
22:53
we've had a great culture or we have a culture.
22:55
If you don't invest in it with the players, if you don't teach
22:59
them things, if you don't have conversations, hard
23:01
conversations, it will die. The culture will not continue.
23:06
It just won't. You can't rely on your players,
23:09
only you. It is that way.
23:11
And I I think the top LED, our kids bought in and LED, but you
23:17
have to be invested in it. I want to springboard off that
23:20
real quick too. Just a quick question.
23:22
So I just went to Illinois State this last weekend and I saw
23:26
Melinda sitting in in the Bleacher watching the game.
23:29
And then I was at Carbon Hill and I'm seeing you sit there by
23:32
by the bridge. Is it hard for you guys to go
23:35
back there and not be like, I want to coach again?
23:37
Or is it, is it easy and you just take that sense of pride
23:41
and and you're just watching and that is it is that hard to just
23:45
now after all those? Years I'll be honest, I haven't.
23:48
I didn't go. I wasn't at a game last year.
23:50
I haven't been there in a couple years, but it's, you know, I, I
23:55
watch from afar. I think, you know, I, I want
23:58
that team to succeed. I want them to win.
24:02
But you know what? That's, that's not my team
24:05
anymore. And I'm just happy.
24:06
It's it's I did what I could for that program while I was there.
24:11
And now it's somebody else's turn.
24:13
And I'm happy because I recruited.
24:15
They're still, let's see, two or three kids that are still on
24:18
that team that I, I recruited. So I'm happy for them.
24:23
I, I want them to, I want them to do well.
24:26
No, I wouldn't say anything's ever hard because you know what?
24:30
When I did, when I walked away, I walked away and I was happy
24:34
with the work that I helped do with those kids.
24:38
When you do go back, do you sit out there in the bad parents
24:40
section one more you you, you can say things under your breath
24:46
and you nobody's going to have to listen to me.
24:48
I. Did see you in right field
24:50
carry? I did see you all the.
24:51
Way back, Yeah. You.
24:52
I was out there. I was out there in 23.
24:55
You're right. I was out there.
24:58
So when you know, when you talk about building culture, were
25:00
there some things? I think a lot of coaches, you
25:03
know, would like to build a culture but don't necessarily
25:05
know how and want to do the team building thing where there's
25:09
some particularly memorable things that you did as far as
25:12
team building or just getting everybody on the same page, you
25:16
know, maybe some fun things that you did.
25:19
Well, I, I, I think later in my career, you know, we, we used a,
25:23
we have a sports psychologist on campus, Dr. Julie Partridge and
25:27
we would use her, we read some books, what drives winning, you
25:31
know, things like that as a team.
25:33
But I think it started day one, Ken, when I would sit with the
25:36
kids and we would break it down. We would have returners in a
25:40
meeting, We would have newcomers in a meeting before they went to
25:43
their first day of class. And I would explain basically my
25:48
non negotiables. I didn't have a rule, like a
25:51
rule written rule sheet, but these were non negotiables that
25:54
the kids knew and they were held accountable to that.
25:57
I mean, I've had to not play a really good player to, to make a
26:02
point. And I never yelled or I, I,
26:04
well, that's a lot. I did yell.
26:06
Let's be honest. That's a lie.
26:10
That's a lie. I, I guess.
26:11
I mean, my punishment was never like a bunch of it would be game
26:15
time. It would be practice time, It
26:17
would be playing time. I had a freshman one time and
26:19
she is now a physician assistant in an orthopedic place.
26:23
Smart, great kid. And she didn't go to study
26:26
table. And so she's from Tennessee.
26:29
And I remember I told her, I said, OK, you, you're this, it
26:33
was a fall game. And I said, you're, you're not
26:34
to dress. You just come in street clothes.
26:37
And she said, ma'am. And I said street clothes,
26:40
ma'am, what is street clothes? And I said, you're not wearing
26:43
your uniform. And so, so we laugh about that,
26:48
but it's just you. You've got to do the hard thing
26:51
sometimes and teach a lesson to then get them to understand.
26:55
But what I hope that we did, we had such a relationship that
26:59
they wanted to do the right thing.
27:02
And so again, I'm sure sometimes they didn't like me.
27:07
But I had a, my former player that coaches with me at John A,
27:12
you know, she's my head coach. She's like, man, you were hard
27:15
on me early. But it taught me, you know, it
27:17
taught me what to do the right way and to do things.
27:20
And we have such a relationship now.
27:23
I just just love being around her and her family.
27:26
And so I think it's just doing those hard things and sticking
27:30
with them and creating time for those kids.
27:34
You had such a long and and great career at SIU, and then
27:38
what inspired you to continue that coaching journey at Johnny
27:41
Logan? Well, I thought, you know,
27:44
sometimes I don't want to go into detail, but sometimes you
27:48
think you get out of something for a reason and then you
27:51
realize that that's that wasn't the reason, you know, And so I
27:55
guess maybe I was thought I was done coaching for one reason,
27:58
but in reality, I still have a lot to give.
28:01
And so I took that year off and Taylor immediately, my former
28:05
player, Taylor Siefert at John A was on me immediately.
28:09
Hey, would you come help? Would you come help?
28:10
And I said, buddy, let me just have some time.
28:13
So I went out and I sat and I watched her play the the team
28:18
play because I told her if I got back into it, I wanted kids that
28:23
were invested and wanted to do it the right way and played hard
28:26
for her, etcetera. And so I went and watched.
28:29
I thought, yeah, I'm going to give it a try.
28:32
I had the best time last year because of these young people
28:37
want to get to the next level. They work so hard.
28:40
They're great kids. They do things the right way.
28:43
Taylor It's been fun because I'm not in charge.
28:47
I don't want to be in charge. I know a lot of people who have
28:50
known me from the past might say, how how in the world is she
28:54
not wanting to take over? And I don't I I it's, it's been
28:59
such a breath of fresh air. She tells me what to do and
29:03
she'll ask questions and, you know, I mentor her more on how
29:07
do you deal with today's generation?
29:10
How do you talk to him? How do you love on him a little
29:13
bit? How do you, you know, not get so
29:14
frustrated? So it's given me a new
29:17
perspective and challenge. I've loved every minute of it.
29:20
So with such a long career, especially in one place, not
29:23
just as a head coach but also an assistant, how did you balance
29:27
kind of the traditions and maintaining those things and and
29:31
kind of the way you had done things with the way the game
29:33
changed, how did you manage to adapt to all of that?
29:37
It's different. I still, it's funny, Ken, I
29:39
still go. A lot of people will ask me, you
29:42
know, how I go a lot on gut, a lot on instincts, a lot on
29:46
things. And, and I realize there's so
29:47
many other tools now, but if you can make the kids believe,
29:53
especially pitching, I'm just going to use pitching, for
29:55
example, my job is to make them in the circle think that they're
29:59
the greatest thing that ever, ever walked out there.
30:01
Because if they don't, they're they're already going to,
30:03
they're not winning anyway. So I mean, there's so many
30:06
things that I relied on from the past that helped me with the
30:10
future. And I'm still connecting with an
30:12
18 year old kid. You know, I still do.
30:15
You can do that. It doesn't always have to be
30:17
about rap Soto, and it doesn't always have to be about, you
30:21
know, all of these tricks and trades.
30:23
Do I use them or would I use them?
30:25
Absolutely. But there's a human element to
30:28
all this that people better not forget.
30:31
Ken and I have been saying that I'm glad you said that Kerry,
30:33
because, because Ken and I have said that over and over and over
30:36
again, right? Like ball flight data is
30:39
wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. But if you can't get anybody out
30:42
with it doesn't mean really anything, right.
30:44
I mean, there's, we have, everybody has those pictures
30:47
that can, they may not have the best ball flight data, but
30:50
they're, they have one pitch that people just can't touch,
30:53
right. And, and I think and that's
30:55
that, that gut instinct, that human piece that you're talking
30:58
about there that we can't put an analytic on.
31:01
And I think we get so analytical because baseball's analytical
31:05
and softball has to follow suit. And, and, and again, even even
31:08
in baseball, there's still that human component of that
31:11
adrenaline in that rush. So thank you for saying that.
31:14
Cause Ken and I have been saying that forever.
31:15
Like it's just sure. Do we use the data with our kids
31:18
too? Absolutely, but we use it as a
31:21
tool to help us then then help coach that kid right, like it's
31:26
not we shouldn't be. Well, your ball flight data says
31:28
you got to do so. You can't throw that.
31:29
You better throw this pitch right, like it's you know, thank
31:32
you for saying that. That's.
31:33
Well, I think it's, you know, it's interesting because I
31:36
coached, I coached with Dave King.
31:38
I don't know if you guys know Dave out of he's with Triple
31:41
Crown Sports. He's this he, you know, he
31:43
created. So the big tournaments in
31:44
Colorado anyway, he puts together A-Team.
31:47
We go to the Canada Cup, you know, so we take a team of
31:49
college All Stars. So this year my pitching staff
31:52
was Ruby Malin, Tegan Kavan, Cassidy Kurd, Mattia Groff,
31:58
Ashley Rogers, Courtney Coppersmith, right.
32:01
So we're talking about people, Sam Lincoln, we're talking about
32:04
kids, the best of the best. So the human element allows me
32:09
to relate to them just as much as I can relate to an 18 year
32:13
old freshman at Johnny Logan Junior College.
32:16
The you know, and that's what I think they'll tell you.
32:18
I had such a great relationship with those kids, those young
32:22
women. I should quit saying kids.
32:25
Those young women at, you know, in Canada, as I do here.
32:30
We still had, we had all the analytic data in Canada, but we
32:34
still had to get to the crux of how do we beat Team Canada and
32:38
how are we going to do that? And how do we, you know, so
32:42
it's, it's the human element is a huge part.
32:46
Yeah, it's funny too, because you know, sometimes just it's
32:50
the thrill of seeing something that maybe you weren't
32:52
expecting. And, and last night I was
32:55
working with a pitcher and, you know, she was doing, I said, OK,
32:59
let's go to your curveball. And she throws her first
33:01
curveball. And man, that thing just late
33:04
broke like crazy. And even I was like, holy
33:07
smokes, that was something I felt bad for her mom catching on
33:11
the other end. And then she did it again and
33:13
she did it again. It's like, wow, this is amazing.
33:16
I hope you do that tomorrow in your game.
33:18
But it's just, do you still find that when you get somebody, you
33:22
know, you work with somebody and all of a sudden it just kind of
33:24
comes together for them and you get this, this rush?
33:28
Oh yeah, absolutely. And I still like, you know, I
33:32
stopped calling the game maybe my last couple of three years at
33:36
SIU and I was calling the game in Canada to win the Canada Cup
33:42
with Tegan Cavan on the mound. And I'm like, why did I do?
33:46
Why did I do that at SIU? Why did I stop?
33:48
What was the anxiety of stopping, right when, you know,
33:53
you have the capability to do something?
33:56
But calling pitches is still a rush for me.
33:58
And helping those kids, like, see a pattern and playing chess
34:02
with a batter and, yes, helping them figure out what is good for
34:08
them, you know, what makes them tick, you know?
34:11
So yeah, absolutely. Love, love helping, love being
34:14
in the bullpen, all that stuff. I was just going to ask, you
34:17
know, as long as you're talking about with the Canada Cup and
34:19
working with those girls and young women, sorry, and now I'm
34:23
doing it, You're working with those young women.
34:26
How coachable were they? I mean, you're there, you know,
34:28
for a few games in a single tournament, then they're going
34:31
to go back to wherever it is they go back to, you know, how
34:34
receptive were they if you said, hey, you know, why don't you try
34:36
this or let's, you know, let's do this sequence instead?
34:40
They were unbelievable. It was, it was an unbelievable
34:44
experience this year and last year.
34:46
The, the IT, it just, it just gave me such a, you know, like,
34:52
wow, there are just great young women out there who, you know,
34:57
here, here I am. First of all, I came from a mid
35:00
major and now I'm working at a junior college and they, I mean,
35:06
we, we just had the best time in the bullpen and they're, they're
35:10
awesome. And they, I think they see that
35:13
they're receptive, their competitors, they want to know
35:17
the tricks of the trade. They're respectful.
35:20
It was, it was just a phenomenal experience.
35:23
I feel like a lot of the a lot of the players that are in this
35:26
sport feel that they can learn from everybody, right?
35:29
I think Ken and I say all the time is like, you got to learn
35:32
something from everybody. Everybody's a piece to your
35:34
puzzle and you, you know, when you know, you take certain
35:37
pieces from different people. And so I think kids at that
35:40
level, we think that all like they think they know it all, but
35:42
I think they're more receptive to actually learning stuff from
35:45
everybody instead of just hearing one voice all the time.
35:49
Yeah, absolutely. So I do want to talk about this
35:52
since you're talking about the bullpens.
35:53
Carrie, run us through a bullpen at John A Logan.
35:57
Like what do you do or, and and then when you're done with that,
36:00
if you don't mind, what, what do you see?
36:01
What are the goals for John A Logan moving forward?
36:05
So as far as a, as far as a bullpen goes, I have different
36:09
things that I'll do different days, you know, we may focus on
36:12
different pitches. So sometimes I learned this from
36:15
Michelle Smith a long time ago. I'll do what I call ladders with
36:18
them. So we may throw 6 of it, 5 of
36:20
it, 4 of it, 3 of it. We'll switch gears as we go
36:22
along. We may have a day where we right
36:25
now in the fall, we're breaking it down where yesterday one of
36:28
them may work, you know, rise, curve drop, today another one
36:33
may work, change. You know, I'm not a great fan of
36:36
a screwball. We throw usually a hard inside
36:39
cut fastball, you know, so we may do different things like
36:42
that. My workouts are about 40
36:44
minutes. We're very much changed with at
36:47
this level when they're coming to college, we're going to learn
36:50
on the strike, We're going to learn work in the strike zone.
36:52
We're going to learn on switching gears between pitches
36:55
to work the strike zone. And then when we get specific,
36:58
we work one pitch counts where I may say, OK, you have an O2.
37:01
This is, I want to see a, a rise ball and I call it an O2, a fish
37:05
pitch, what you know, a chase rise ball and we work, you've
37:08
got one pitch to make it work. Then we may work at bats.
37:11
I mean, we, I kind of, I kind of mix it up every day to give them
37:16
to where it's competitive, to where they work on things.
37:20
But the fall right now, October, November, we're really breaking
37:24
stuff down. So this is our breakdown time
37:27
where we're going to work on it. They have a deficiency and a
37:29
pitch, things like that. But when it's season, we're
37:33
working, getting ourselves ready for a game.
37:35
As far as John A, I'm fortunate. I've got 5 great kids.
37:39
We lost the pitcher of the year in our conference in our region
37:43
last year. She's she's at University of
37:45
Tennessee at Martin right now. But we've got 5 great kids and
37:49
you know, they all come to work. We use all of them.
37:52
Good staff and ready to, you know, last year at Logan we were
37:56
51 and 10. We lost in the if game to go to
37:59
nationals. So we feel like, you know, we've
38:02
got a good group. A lot of freshmen coming in.
38:04
That's the thing. That's the thing that's
38:06
different, Jay, about a four year school as I get freshmen
38:08
all the time. So it's freshmen, you know,
38:10
you're, you're constantly teaching, but no great staff.
38:13
Well, yeah. And I would think that's the
38:14
other thing too, is that at a two year school like that,
38:17
there's constant turnover. You it's freshman, sophomore,
38:19
boom out, freshman, sophomore, boom out.
38:21
So you don't even get that chance.
38:23
How do you build the culture there when there's so much
38:26
turnover? Just naturally?
38:28
Yeah, we were talking about that.
38:30
We we did a little bit more this fall, a little bit more in our
38:33
pre pre workouts before we started.
38:36
We sat down with them. It's everyday, Ken.
38:39
I mean, it is, it's it you're dealing for me, if I was at
38:42
Southern and I had a team of freshmen and sophomores all the
38:45
time, it would be constant, constant help and talking about
38:49
it and teaching, calling it out in practice.
38:52
You know, a lot of thing with me, body language is huge with
38:55
me. You know, I, I, I don't want, no
38:57
matter how you feel, your body language is always going to be
38:59
good or I'm going to be telling you about it and it needs to be
39:02
better. And So what I work with body
39:04
language, especially with the pitchers.
39:06
And you know, what helps us, I think honestly is you play a lot
39:10
of D ones in the fall. So you get beat on a little bit
39:14
and it, it, it toughens you up a little bit.
39:16
I tell them all the time in the fall we're, I don't expect us to
39:19
really win, but I expect us to compete and I expect us to win
39:23
innings. So can we win this inning?
39:25
Can we win the next inning? What do we do?
39:27
And they've really bought into that.
39:29
So what do you think is the biggest difference between
39:32
coaching at the Community College level and at the D1, the
39:36
mid major level? I think for the head coach, for
39:39
Taylor, she does an amazing, amazing job recruiting.
39:42
You better be able to identify talent that can help you win
39:45
and, and she does that. Her and her dad, one of our
39:48
volunteers and and now a former SIU player, Riley Hamilton's
39:51
helping her too. So I think recruiting's huge.
39:55
I think development, like right now, Taylor's doing a great job
39:58
in this offseason. We're breaking it down where we
40:01
just have a defensive day. Where the infield, you know,
40:04
works for just an hour, the outfield works for just an hour,
40:07
the next day will just hit. So we're really breaking down
40:09
our skills to where we're getting better and seeing what
40:12
our deficiencies are. You know, I think that Community
40:16
College, the facilities, wow, John A just built this multi
40:20
$1,000,000 indoor. It's just amazing what they've
40:23
got over there for these kids. And so you can bring some
40:27
talented kids in that then are ready.
40:30
So I would say at the JUCO level, you, you better teach a
40:33
lot of skill work and you better just, you know, you're teaching
40:36
skill work all the time to get them ready.
40:39
Is it a tough sell to get a a kid to go to John A versus a
40:43
four year school and what draws them there?
40:46
We get a lot of local kids within a within a 2, let's say a
40:50
2 hour area. Now there's are some a little
40:52
farther, but it's a good program.
40:55
Taylor's been there stability. She's done a great job.
40:58
It's a good school They can get and and we one of our kids from
41:03
last year is now at Saint Louis University and going to be a
41:05
doctor. So, you know, you can get it
41:07
doesn't the whole I was telling somebody from the NCA this the
41:10
other day, the the talk of JUCO being just for poor academic
41:16
kids is is not the case anymore. It's a building block.
41:19
And especially if the NCAA gives this fifth year of eligibility
41:23
to division ones, you know, you could go to there three at AD
41:26
one you're rounded out. You can get some of your core
41:30
classes out of the way. But the other big thing is to
41:33
both of you, you can play immediately.
41:36
I used to tell kids all the time, I don't know if I see you
41:38
playing as a freshman at Southern, maybe you should go to
41:42
a JUCO and play for a year or two.
41:44
Don't sit on the bench and then you're ready to go.
41:47
So it's just, you know, it's, it's an opportunity for, it's
41:51
just a, it's just a difference Now as far as, as far as their
41:55
work ethic, what they bring, there is no difference between
41:58
what the, the, the young ladies I coached at SAU and these young
42:02
ladies at all. Kerry So I want to ask you as as
42:05
someone who spent so much time as a pitching coach and you
42:08
know, kind of what you're talking about there, that
42:10
opportunity to play right away. This goes to, you know, even
42:13
kids playing travel ball, trying to think of how to phrase this,
42:17
just you'll have a kid that's, you know, maybe she's still in
42:21
the development phase, so she's not quite as good.
42:24
You got a coach that really wants to win, so he's going to
42:26
put the ace on the field all the time.
42:29
These kids are not getting many innings.
42:32
They might get 2 innings in a weekend.
42:34
Do you see that as something, do you feel like, like I do, that
42:38
they tend to deteriorate then and that maybe they would be
42:42
better off in a team that perhaps doesn't play as high a
42:44
level or doesn't try to win as much to give them the
42:49
opportunity to develop where they could play more at that
42:52
higher level? I don't think there's any
42:55
question and I think that I talked to my I talked to my
42:58
players at Southern about this all the time, especially the the
43:01
kids that weren't quite there yet.
43:03
You have to be a great self evaluator, you know, and parents
43:06
have to be a great self evaluate, you know, an evaluator
43:09
of their kids. There's no reason to go sit when
43:12
you can play. You you need to play to get
43:16
yourself to where you're not sitting on those teams anymore,
43:18
you know, or you go to a mid range team or a mid level team
43:22
or whatever it may be. I think to be able to play and
43:27
to be able to compete is the most important thing.
43:30
And I don't think sitting on the bench and getting one inning
43:33
here or there is going to get you where you need to be.
43:35
I just don't. Yeah, and I'll agree.
43:38
So even at Saint Xavier where I'm at, like we have kids that
43:41
will come back to us after spending a year or so at the
43:44
Division One level because they just didn't get even time there.
43:47
And they'll come come back to us and they can make a huge impact
43:50
on our program. I think this year we have four
43:53
or five former Division One players that have come back to
43:56
our program. And you know, and I think their
43:58
biggest thing is they just didn't get the innings or they
44:00
didn't get the playing time. And and I think like Ken saying,
44:03
I think that kind of stalls development, right?
44:05
We can do everything we can and bullpens and defensively, but
44:08
they've got to be able to transition that over to the game
44:11
and that's kind of I think. Yeah, I think our number one
44:14
last year got 2 innings at a Division One.
44:17
She came back to JUCO and give her props.
44:20
She was a reclamation project because what had happened is
44:24
mentally she was shot. So all I did was build her up.
44:28
It was she had the skill. I worked with her at building
44:32
her, her confidence. And she was 24 and two and she
44:35
got AD one scholarship again. But sometimes they go and
44:40
they're kind of destroyed mentally, and it's just getting
44:44
that belief back. And I'm going to, I'm going to
44:46
jump on to the next question here because you've kind of
44:48
already talked a little bit of analytics and I will touch on
44:51
that one more time with you. But the biggest thing that
44:54
because we're talking about all of this stuff right now, what do
44:57
you think some of the biggest challenges coaches face in in
45:01
the softball landscape today? Oh, I'm sure for mid majors it's
45:05
an IL and keeping and retaining your players.
45:09
I think honestly, I'm a big believer that God let led me to
45:15
where I needed to be, right? I probably needed to get out
45:18
because this would be really hard for me to navigate all of
45:22
this because of just the all consuming type individual I am
45:26
and the the amount of time you know, you would need to try to
45:31
maintain. So I think NIL is huge.
45:34
I think recruitment and just dealing, you know, to make sure
45:40
you you build your team. I think the university
45:43
landscapes and how much money they have nowadays.
45:45
So I think mid major coaches have big, big obstacle that
45:51
they're facing, but I also see power fours because they just
45:56
power fours go to other power fours.
45:58
So it's just I think some of this has got to settle down at
46:01
some point, you know what I mean?
46:02
Or other we're going to really we've always had the haves and
46:05
the have nots, but it's really going to be separate soon,
46:09
right? But the cool part is I think
46:12
that schools like yours, J schools like the junior colleges
46:15
can start finding kids that are like, you know what?
46:18
I, I can go here for a little while and try to try to make my
46:22
way, especially in a Community College.
46:25
Or maybe I don't need that anymore.
46:27
It's a it is a big, big challenge to to in today's
46:30
athletic world. You know, it's funny, Kerry, you
46:33
talked about, you know, the blue collar lunch bucket mentality
46:38
kind of thing. I remember seeing Patty Gasso
46:40
after Oklahoma won its first national championship and, you
46:44
know, people were asking her about it and, and she said,
46:47
yeah, the difference between US and the UCLA's and the
46:50
Arizona's, we're a lunch bucket team.
46:52
You know, we just worked really hard.
46:53
We don't attract the the top level prospect.
46:56
We do this and this is how we approach it.
46:59
And it's just kind of funny to see how it's turned now because
47:02
I certainly think Oklahoma has its pick of the litter.
47:05
But is there still a place for that lunch bucket kind of
47:07
mentality? And can you win with that?
47:10
I do believe that. I do believe that.
47:12
And I think it's, you know, I, I'm fortunate because I, the
47:17
last, I think 13 years, I've been what's called I guess the,
47:21
I guess they term it the practice coordinator at the
47:23
Women's College World Series. So I work back, I greet the
47:28
teams when they come off the bus, I get all their equipment
47:30
up and then I work in the, when they warm up, you know, get
47:33
ready pregame. And so I'm around a lot of
47:36
coaches and I've seen you see those those teams prepare and
47:42
there aren't a lot of I'm sure there's some prima donnas
47:45
somewhere, but they're they're a lot of kids that just go to work
47:48
and want to be better. And it's what really, I would
47:51
come back to SIUI, come back to Logan and I say, hey, look,
47:55
these kids put their shoes on and go to work.
47:57
Like they're they're very dialed in.
48:00
You know, even these elite, elite programs, they're not
48:03
given anything. And I do see teams making it.
48:06
I mean, James Madison made it right to the World Series.
48:09
That's only been a few years ago.
48:11
There are teams that just are the hard working teams that get
48:16
there that maybe don't have all the money.
48:19
And there are still upsets because what makes an upset is a
48:23
good pitcher. So if you've got a great
48:25
pitcher, you're going to be able to compete.
48:27
I I always love the mid majors going up against the ACC teams
48:32
in the in the tournament. It's just, it's definitely like
48:34
those are my favorites. I'm like who's going to who's
48:36
going to knock who off here? So yeah, I love those when the I
48:39
love it, I love it. I love it.
48:41
How do? You help players handle
48:42
adversity or failure or anything like that.
48:45
I mean, that's it's a part of the game and certainly built
48:48
into the DNA of the game. So, you know, what do you do to
48:51
help them with that? It's so funny.
48:53
We were just talking about this as a staff because my head coach
48:57
is 33 years old, you know, and she's like, hey, Carrie, what
49:00
what do we do when they're, you know, when we're not hitting and
49:03
we fail? And I said, you know what?
49:05
It's just again, I just go back, Ken to communication, man.
49:09
I, I'm going to go right up to him.
49:10
We're going to talk about it. We're not going to, we're going
49:13
to address the elephant in the room when you're slumping or
49:16
when things aren't going right. And we're going to try to, we're
49:20
going to try to make it better for them and we're going to talk
49:23
about it and go to work. Now, there are skills again, if
49:25
you're at a if you're at a university with a sports
49:28
psychologist, I would use that tool to the NTH degree.
49:32
I would provide that to the the young ladies and several
49:36
pitchers and several position players at SIU would would
49:39
utilize Dr. Partridge and gain tools about how to breathe and
49:44
how to, you know, try to end the anxiety.
49:46
Because these kids, the main thing they need to understand is
49:51
softball. Being a softball player is not
49:53
who they are. It's what they do, right?
49:55
So many of them thinks it's who they are as a person.
49:58
You know who I was a coach, that's not who I was.
50:01
You know, it's, it's what I did for a living.
50:03
And I knew that right away. And I think you got to get these
50:06
kids to understand that. Carrie what What advice would
50:11
you give to young coaches who want to make an impact in this
50:14
sport? I would say that, you know, I
50:18
would learn, try to learn so hard about not being
50:21
transactional. They need to, they need to dive
50:24
in and they need to get to know their kids.
50:26
They need to know what makes them tick.
50:28
They need to understand who they are as people.
50:31
They need to be OK with there being differences and that all
50:34
of them are not going to be the same personalities and be OK
50:38
with that. They need to go to work and they
50:40
need to recruit and they need to get the right kind of kids and
50:43
they need to get the kids that will make that university proud
50:46
and make them crowd and, and obviously, you know, I
50:50
understand winning and, and winning's awesome.
50:53
It is. But sometimes you go through
50:55
some hard times to to be able to win and, and be OK losing.
50:59
And what you learn, you know, you, you can learn tons from
51:03
losing, tons from losing and, and, and always be able to do
51:07
that. So when you look back on your
51:09
career, you know, and all the accomplishments and everything,
51:11
is there anything that particularly stands out?
51:13
Any moments or something, you know, some great accomplishment
51:17
that you had or maybe it was just something really small.
51:20
I think the kids, the players faces, you know when you when
51:24
you're able to win that big win or some of the games, I would
51:28
stand around and watch them. That made my day.
51:32
I think seeing them graduate and get married and have kids and
51:35
come back. Those are the, those are the
51:38
great moments. As far as a, as far as a
51:40
coaching moment, I would have to say, you know, that Alabama
51:43
regional will be in my heart forever and ever because it was
51:47
the first and it was such a unique thing.
51:50
And, you know, I'll look at pictures and here buddy and I
51:54
are in khaki shorts and A and a cotton T-shirt.
51:57
I mean, we, there was no, you know, there was no logo.
52:00
There was no Under Armour and Nike, you know, we had a cotton
52:03
T-shirt and and it was just the best experience.
52:07
And so those are memorable things to me.
52:10
And, and just these, it's so funny.
52:15
I could be having a just a day, you know, where a down day and
52:19
I'll get a text message or a phone call and it happens.
52:22
It seems to happen right on point from a former player.
52:26
And that's why I'm like, yeah, that's why I did that.
52:28
That's why I became a coach. That's why I do what I do.
52:32
And it's just the most rewarding thing in the world.
52:35
Awesome. So just a couple more questions
52:36
for you here. We really appreciate your time
52:38
today. This has definitely been an
52:39
honor for me to talk to you, get to talk to you, pick your brain.
52:42
Same. How do you hope your players
52:45
remember their time playing for you?
52:46
You've already kind of talked about a little bit, but how do
52:48
you hope it? I hope that they feel like I
52:51
learned something and I became a better person overall.
52:55
I learned a lot about softball, but then what did softball teach
52:58
me? I learned how to, I learned how
53:00
to be on time. I learned how to, I learned how
53:03
to, I learned how to go to class and give it my all.
53:06
I heard learned how to be a good mom or I learned how to, you
53:10
know, be a good Co worker. I learned how to be a team
53:13
player wherever I'm at. That's what I hope they got out
53:16
of. It So what's next for you
53:18
personally? What continues to drive your
53:21
your love for the game and your interest?
53:24
I tell you, I'm so fortunate that I've, you know, Dave King
53:28
at Triple Crown. I, I work the Puerto Vallarta
53:30
tournament. I'm not going to work at this
53:32
year because there's only one weekend, but I go work in Puerto
53:36
Vallarta. I go work the World Series every
53:38
year. I go do the Canada Cup with
53:40
Dave. I'm doing stuff at John AI Golf
53:43
a lot. Love the golf I love.
53:47
I know well, I'm OK. I'm not, I'm not good.
53:51
I'm just OK. I'm OK enough that I don't throw
53:53
my clubs anymore, you know, travel and visit friends.
54:00
I've got friends all over the country that are coaching, you
54:03
know, one coaches basketball, women's basketball.
54:06
I got a buddy in Indianapolis. I, you know, I'm all, I'm kind
54:10
of all over the place and I just enjoy life.
54:13
And I think that that's the, the biggest thing that, that now is
54:17
that, like I said, I, I think I was led to, to leave when I,
54:21
when I left and there was a reason for it.
54:23
And I'm just in a in a fantastic, fantastic place.
54:28
I have one more question for you, Carrie.
54:30
And you know, this is kind of, I don't know why this popped up in
54:32
my head, but you seem so, you know, even keel and you know, I
54:36
love the answers that you're giving, but what would you say
54:40
was the hardest thing for you to perhaps change or adjust in the
54:46
way you approach coaching? Maybe something, you know,
54:48
things that you did early on and where you went.
54:50
And you know what? That's really not what I should
54:53
be doing and I need to make some kind of a change.
54:57
Well, it's funny that you call me even keel because most of my
55:00
friends would not say I, I don't.
55:02
And Ken, honestly, that's, I would say that's the biggest
55:05
change I've made over the last three years is that I really
55:08
wasn't even keel. I was, I was a perfectionist.
55:12
I was obsessed with making SIU the best it could be.
55:17
I was all encompassed. I was enthralled.
55:19
I was whatever. And what I learned was that I
55:25
learned to step back. I learned to.
55:29
Now I can talk to a player in this tone of voice and get the
55:33
same point across. I do raise my voice still to
55:38
this day, but I can still get the point across without coming
55:42
unglued and without saying something that might be taken
55:45
personal or something that might be considered an attack.
55:48
So I'm pretty even keeled in that regard.
55:52
I still am able to have tough conversations and get them to
55:56
listen and get them to understand without going there.
56:00
And I think I learned that. And my boss now Taylor, who was
56:06
was my player said to me, when did you become so nice?
56:09
And I said recently, I said very recently.
56:13
So I think it's, I think, you know, another one of my former
56:17
players said, you know, I always knew you loved me, even when you
56:21
were really saying some bad things or I thought it was a bad
56:26
thing, I knew you loved me. And I think that that's
56:28
hopefully what those kids understand is that I down deep,
56:33
that's what's most important to me is that I care about them.
56:37
And I think that any coach that they need to know that you care
56:41
and then they'll probably run through a wall for you.
56:44
And how did you get to that point?
56:45
What, what techniques did you use?
56:48
You know, if you were more excitable, a little louder at
56:50
the time, how did you learn to that down?
56:58
Well, well, I think it's, I think there's a lot of things.
57:01
I think when you eliminate stress and you eliminate things
57:05
from your life that we're not good and, and we're, you know,
57:09
that you end up seeing the world in a big different way.
57:13
And I think that that's what I did.
57:14
I just, you know, I retired, I, I got out of, you know, and you
57:18
just move, you move on and you, you get yourself in a really
57:21
good place. And I'm 59 years old now, you
57:24
know, I'm age and there's a lot of different things.
57:28
I would things I wish I would have done earlier in my career,
57:32
But you know what? Again, that's, I don't know.
57:34
That's what learning is about. And that's why you're given
57:36
opportunities. And I believe, again, I believe
57:38
God gave me an opportunity to do something different and see the
57:42
world in a different way. And and I'm I'm boy, I'm doing
57:45
it and I'm trying to take advantage of it.
57:48
Well, it certainly seems like it's working for you.
57:51
Awesome. All right, Carrie, thank you so
57:53
much for today. Again, I can't thank you so much
57:55
for being on here. It's a huge honor to talk to
57:57
you. Pick your brain a little bit too
57:59
as well. And and Ken feels the same way.
58:00
So we're we are so happy that you joined us today.
58:02
We don't want to take up any more of your time.
58:04
Ken, anything else before we go? No, I just want to say thank you
58:07
to Carrie. We really appreciate this.
58:09
It's been a lot of fun talking to you.
58:12
Thank you guys so much. All right, well, that's it for
58:15
us this week. Thanks to all of you for
58:17
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58:20
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