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D3 Coach Q&A - Cory White (Whittier FB) · The Student Athlete Sessions

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  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to the channel.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: We have another guest on our Division III Head Coach Q&A series.
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  SPEAKER_01: Tonight,
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  we're joined by the head coach of the soon-to-be-back Whittier
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  football program,
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  SPEAKER_01: the Poets down in Southern California.
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  SPEAKER_01: They play out of the Skyac League.
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  SPEAKER_01: Head coach Corey White joins us.
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  SPEAKER_01: He not only is a former...
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  SPEAKER_01: He's a college athlete himself.
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  SPEAKER_01: He played Division II college football at Humboldt State,
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  SPEAKER_01: but he's also coached at the Division I,
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  SPEAKER_01: Division II,
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  SPEAKER_01: and Division III levels,
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  SPEAKER_01: so we're lucky to have him here to share his experience.
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  SPEAKER_01: Coach White, welcome.
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  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it.
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  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me on.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
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  I think just to kick things off while we wait for some people
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  to get in and for
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  SPEAKER_01: them to be able to get their questions answered,
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  I think just talk us through where you guys are in the rebuild
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  process and in the
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  SPEAKER_01: process of getting the poets back on the football field.
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  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's been a good start.
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  SPEAKER_02: You know,
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  I got hired last February and we were able to bring in a
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  recruiting class of the
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  SPEAKER_02: class of 2025,
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  SPEAKER_02: freshmen mainly,
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  SPEAKER_02: a couple of transfers.
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  SPEAKER_02: and they just finished their first semester on campus.
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  SPEAKER_02: We're really trying to track right now mid-year transfers,
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  SPEAKER_02: and we got a pretty lofty goal of 30 at the mid-year.
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  SPEAKER_02: We're going to be right around that number.
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  SPEAKER_02: I've got 20 commitments as of today.
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  SPEAKER_02: The net starts classes January 12th.
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  With school shutting down on Friday for the holidays and then
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  not opening again
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  SPEAKER_02: until the 5th,
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  SPEAKER_02: it's crunch time,
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  SPEAKER_02: that's for sure,
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  SPEAKER_02: to try to get some guys pushed through.
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  SPEAKER_02: But that's what we've been working on all –
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  last few weeks um and then you know very optimistic that we're
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  going to be able to
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  bring in a very solid class of 2026 seniors and be competitive
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  in the first season
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  with the roster in the 70s you know maybe 80s if we're lucky
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  and uh just kind of
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  looking forward to building yeah it's going to be exciting to
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  have it back it was
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  SPEAKER_01: definitely an abrupt ending when it did go away um
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: But it sounds like you guys are building the right way.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's, it's not about just getting as many players in as possible.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's about getting younger guys.
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  SPEAKER_01: They're going to grow and develop through the program,
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  SPEAKER_01: which is definitely runs counter to a lot of recruiting at the moment,
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  SPEAKER_01: which is a lot of transfer.
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  I know you guys,
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  you're going to bring in 30,
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  but talk about that philosophy.
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  And I mean,
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  what that means for high school seniors who want to play
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  college football.
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  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think it's really important to build a foundation on freshmen.
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  And everywhere I've been successful,
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  the program has been built on freshmen,
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  not transfers.
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  SPEAKER_02: I think transfers are a reality,
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  SPEAKER_02: especially today's football,
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  SPEAKER_02: you know,
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  SPEAKER_02: just came from the FBS level.
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  SPEAKER_02: And we dealt with a lot of transfer portal, you know, of guys leaving.
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  SPEAKER_02: We lost 75% of our starters after that last season I was there,
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  SPEAKER_02: as well as getting guys from the portal.
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  SPEAKER_02: You know,
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  tracking down what's happening at the FCS and D2s and trying to
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  bring those players
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  SPEAKER_02: up.
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  SPEAKER_02: So it's something you got to embrace.
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  SPEAKER_02: And the situation that we're in, you know, obviously we don't have depth.
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  SPEAKER_02: When I took over, there's not one player on campus.
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  SPEAKER_02: There's no coaches.
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  There's completely even playing field,
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  right,
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  to create whatever we wanted.
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  SPEAKER_02: So I know that I had to bring in some older guys to bring us,
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  SPEAKER_02: give us some experience,
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  SPEAKER_02: right,
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  SPEAKER_02: and some guys to help us in these first few seasons be competitive.
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  and try to get ourselves to where we're competing for
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  conference championships.
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  SPEAKER_02: But at the same time, not ignore that we're building it on freshmen.
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  We had a nice large class,
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  35 actually class of 2020 flat players come in this first
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  group.
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  SPEAKER_02: We'd like to get around the same number in the class of 26.
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  SPEAKER_02: Just knowing that,
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  SPEAKER_02: you know,
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  you don't want to bring too many guys in the same age group
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  because you don't want
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  SPEAKER_02: to overload in certain positions.
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  SPEAKER_02: But that foundation of young guys is really important.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: How do you know how to build the program?
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  SPEAKER_01: Like what, what roadmap are you following?
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  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we might've lost code for you here.
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  SPEAKER_00: Can you still hear me?
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  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's see here.
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  SPEAKER_00: We're going to get him back here in a second.
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  SPEAKER_00: Looks like he's rejoining now.
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  SPEAKER_01: Also, how's it going, KD?
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  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you have a question,
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  SPEAKER_01: go ahead and put it in the chat,
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  SPEAKER_00: and then we will get Coach White to answer that here in a second.
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  all right we're back can you hear me okay yeah i can't see you
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  guys though what is going