Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #318: Lewis Edmonson-Hearne (TX) High School

Transcript

#318: Lewis Edmonson-Hearne (TX) High School · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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You're listening to the Gil Athletics Connections podcast
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with host Mike Cunningham. Track and field world UNL tuned
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in to our humble servant Mike Cunningham for another
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extraordinary message for Gil Athletics Connections.
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OK, OK, OK. You're back right here on the
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Guild Connections podcast. Quick segue.
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I like to just make sure I point this out to everybody.
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I hope you enjoy our intro music.
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And if you want the full song, it actually is at the end of
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this episode. And the reason I want to point
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out because first of all, I think it's awesome.
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I love that style of music. But it was written, produced,
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edited, designed the whole shebang by by a track coach by
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one of one of you guys and gals that are out there.
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So just so blessed that who Don Cheek from East Carolina
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University would do that custom music just for us for here in
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the podcast. I'm grateful for him and I think
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it's so cool that I was a track coach that did it as well.
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So if you haven't ever heard the whole song lyrics and everything
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at the end of this episode, I play the whole thing.
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And again, Udon, you're just so talented.
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Check him out. He actually has songs on Spotify
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right now as well. I'm free, which is a banger.
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I love it. So thank you, Udon.
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Appreciate you today. This is a lot of fun.
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I actually, and maybe we'll get into it a little bit, but he'll
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know what I'm going to what I mean when I say this, I actually
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wish he wasn't here today, but he is here and I'm and I'm glad
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he is. Yeah, you know what I mean?
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We're going to do this is another awesome high school
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coach. I'm super pumped to learn his
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journey. Help me welcome from Hearn.
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Am I pronouncing that right after I meant to check Hearn.
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Right? Hearn.
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Yes, Sir. Hearn.
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Texas. The Eagles, if I remember
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correctly. The wise, the wonderful Mr.
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Lewis Edmondson. Lewis.
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How are you my friend? Pretty good.
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How's it going? Yeah, you know what I meant when
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I said I kind of wish you were here.
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Yeah. OK.
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Good, good, good. Everybody else is listening.
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It's like, well, man, that's kind of, that's kind of rude,
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Mike. But no, no, I always wish only
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the best for you. And you know, you're going
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through it a little bit here, but I'm hope that you are here
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and I'm excited for you, my friend.
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Yes, Sir, happy to be here. You know, Louis, before we jump
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in our Wayback Machine and kind of learn where track and stuff
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starts with me, you know, one of the reasons that draws me to a
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guy like you to have you here at the show you have.
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And maybe we'll learn maybe what the influence is where it's
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whether it came from a person or came from an event or people
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over the sport. But you are, you're a leader, my
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friend. And what I mean by that is every
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track clinic that I go to that's in your air, you know, Texas and
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things like that, man, you are there, not just there, you're
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there at the forefront. You're, you're listening, you're
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taking notes, you're asking questions like you are involved
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in those and you even do things outside like you, you are,
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you're kind of like a, a bringer together type of person.
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You're always like, hey, how can, where can we all get
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together? You know, coaches are special
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and we need to celebrate each other.
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So where can we all get together and hang out and not have the
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stress of what's going on in the track and all that stuff that
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that has always just been so impressive to me because you
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don't have to do it. You know what I'm saying?
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Where can you, you know, before we get into your story is, is
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there, was there ever an impetus to that, a fire that started
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that or is that just your natural personality?
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Pretty much. That's my personality, man.
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I just, I just enjoy people having a good time, especially
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with coaches. We have so much work to do
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throughout the year. You know, you got 3 sport
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coaches that never have time, you know, and then that little
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time that you do have, you have to, you have to spend that with
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your family first and foremost away from what sports we coach.
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But then when you finally get that time, when coaches are
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together and we get to relax and, you know, let your hair
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down as they say. I, I, I think you should have a
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good time. So I'm always, I'll be that guy.
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I mean, to try to get together in this, you know, amongst
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coaches, because, you know, when we see each other, we're
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working, you know, we're competing, we're battling.
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And then, you know, you really get you don't get to know people
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who they are, their personality characteristics, what they
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believe in, or even I think the biggest thing about the the
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social events that we get to take part in is that you finally
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get to tell the person besides the social media man,
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congratulations on that, that award or that season or that
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journey, man in person. And I think it means more, you
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know, people say all the time you can text me, but it means
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more of you can tell me. Yeah, sure.
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And I think that's a big thing when we get together.
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And I think that's one of the biggest things that draws me to
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do those things. Yeah, I, I think, you know, I
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bet we find somewhere in your story you and I are a lot alike
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in the sense of I think you have a huge heart for those people
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who choose to become coaches And, and you know that that is,
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you know, like I always say, there's no bigger advocate for
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track and field coaches than me. And and I bet you through your
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story, we're going to find that you have always, always kind of
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lifted up people who become coaches in your life and mentors
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and what they've meant to you. So I'm excited to find out more
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more about that. All right, well, let's, let's do
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it. Let's get into our wayback
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machine here. You know, Lewis assuming, and I
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already know this actually. So it's not an assumption that
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you are an athlete somewhere. Track had to start for you.
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Where does where does track and field start for you?
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So track and field started for me as a young kid growing up, my
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dad, he was a track star out of Houston.
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He went to Cashmere High School in Houston and the, you know, I
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got to diving into things around the house like his, his memory
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books and whatnot of what he did, what he achieved and
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whatnot. And kind of just took a personal
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page from, you know, his book, just, you know, watching what he
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did saw, seeing the awards, seeing the medals and whatnot.
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And kind of as a, you know, as a kid, we see, see these things
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and we want to know, you know, where did that come from?
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What is, you know, what is this not knowing exactly how, you
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know, detrimental it was to achieve those things.
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And, and my dad kind of introduced me to it, you know,
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running summer track as a, as a, as a kid, he was my coach and
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whatnot. And we had a lot of fun.
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And I just man, it was, it was nothing greater than competing
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and, and being faster than the next guy, you know, and you
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know, in summer track, you get to do so many different events.
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You get to play with, you know, high jump, long jump, hundred
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200. And that's kind of where it
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started, man. My, my dad, you know, was one of
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those guys that he was a, he's a true competitor just like me.
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And we started out, you know, as a young kid racing in the
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street. It was a big deal.
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I could never beat my dad. I could never beat my dad.
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And then you get older and you're older and then you, you
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know, you get a little closer. You get a little closer and then
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you beat your dad. That's when that competitive
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edge started. Man, if I can beat my dad, I can
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beat anybody. So, you know, so Dad wasn't one
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of those guys who was like, oh, I'm gonna let my son win.
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He was like, you gonna beat me? You gonna beat me because you're
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faster? No, no, no way was he giving
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away. I love that.
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Was he like that with like, so like growing up my kids when
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they're little, I wanted them to learn like cards and the value
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of money and things like that. So we used to play heads up Uno
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all the time and, and never like there was no taking.
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If they didn't understand a rule or if they'd forgotten a rule,
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you know, we explained, I'm sorry, that's your job to
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remember, you know, and then, and then we started playing for
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pennies and the same thing. It was like, man, I'm taking
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your money. I wanted them to learn that if
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you go play cards, you know, I was a professional poker player.
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So I, I, I have this like, like I, I don't necessarily want them
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to play cards, but I want them to understand like, Hey, if you
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get into a game where you choose to play for money, you're
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playing for money. There's no give backs.
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There's no if you lose. So I was like, you know, so I
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love that Dad was like, no, man, you, you playing me, you're
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going to win because you win. Yeah, it's cool.
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How was it like, So Dad coached you in summer club up to a
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certain point, maybe all the way through.
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We'll find out. How was that?
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I'm always interested when dads coach their kids because you
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know, coaches when they coach kids when practice is over, you
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go to your home, coach goes to their home.
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How was it like, you know, being on the track and had to be some
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hard times and when I mean hard times like workouts that you
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didn't do well or didn't want to do, but then you went home and
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sat at the dinner table with coach slash dad as well.
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How was that experience? But that experience was real
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good, man. As you know, as I've gotten
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older, I value that even more with the coaching and the things
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that I do, the kids and how I coach them because my dad was
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one of the guys that he allowed the coaches to coach me.
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You know, it wasn't a sit in the stands and yell and dictate what
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the coaches did and what they're saying and how they're coaching
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you and the workouts and whatnot.
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But as we got home, like you say, you know, in the living
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room over the dinner table, it was like, well, how was the
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workout? You know, did you did you feel
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it was effective or did you give 100% or it was just questions to
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make sure that we are applying ourself?
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It wasn't ever your coach don't know this and I don't see it
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now. It was never that.
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It was just like, you know, make sure you're giving it 100%.
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And he supported my coaches as well, you know, because it was
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it was it was his time to step back and allow my coaches to
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coach. So that was something that I see
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now. It's, it's greatly appreciated
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because you know, everybody has a view and a point of view of
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everything that you know, but if you support it and, and do it in
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the right way, you know, they, they miss in the middle.
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What a great lesson on a parent child relationship there for the
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parent to ask questions. That's when I heard that.
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I was like, oh, that instead of like he said, instead of
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dictating of like, well, you know, why doesn't your coach do
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this? And your coach should have done
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this. It's like, oh, so how was it?
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How did you feel? What did you try your best?
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You know that? I think that's a great lesson
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for parent child relationships there.
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That's cool. OK, Get us to high school.
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You know, I know you coached football.
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Now tell us about high school. Were you a football player or
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track athlete? What What all did you do in high
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school? Yes Sir, I was a three sport
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guy. Well 4 sport.
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I tried baseball but we get on that later.
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But yes, football and basketball and track.
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Football was football was good man.
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It was one of those things for me that I enjoyed it.
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Very competitive, very hard working in a smaller country
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town in Caldwell. Football was big, you know, it
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was big for us. Everybody played it.
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That was just something that the town did.
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Everybody played it from junior high on up to high school.
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So we always had all our buddies out there.
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So it was never a, you know, tug of war issue about if you wanted
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to be out there or not because you're so close knit as friends
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that we always wanted to support each other.
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And we were there, you know, we played, we played well together
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because we were always we've been, you know, we did it since
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7th grade. And I, I enjoyed it and you
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know, I enjoyed it. It wasn't till after I got out
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of high school that, you know, you look back and you say I
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probably should have focused on this a little bit more because
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me track wasn't the first love. It was basketball.
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I enjoyed basketball like crazy. That was something that I, you
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know, that those were the the camps I was, I was going to.
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I remember it was a Don 80 basketball camp that was really,
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really big. And when I was in high school
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and it taught you the fundamentals of shooting free
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throws and you know, your shot and layups and things of that,
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you know, just, you know, just be to be better at your game.
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And I, I mean, I dug into basketball like crazy.
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And then, you know, when track season rolls around, you know, I
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just, I happened to be, you know, just a little faster than
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everybody else. So it was basketball 1st and
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then track. But yeah, I played.
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I played all sports. A lot of times I'll ask football
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track athlete like So what were you?
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Were you a football player who ran track or were you a track
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athlete who ran, who played football?
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But you, you were a basketball player.
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That was your identity first and foremost.
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What was it? You know, I'm always interested
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and we maybe actually, I don't know if you coach basketball or
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not. We'll we'll get to that later
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on, but you're on a track and field podcast.
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So track one out in the sense of like, you know, I know you as a
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track coach. But.
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What was it during high school? I'm always interested, you know,
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in our identity as a 1418 year old kid.
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What was it about basketball that was the top over track and
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football even like the track, basketball was #1 what?
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What was it about that sport? Or maybe it was the coach or the
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culture? What was it about basketball
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that won you over, at least back then?
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So we were all, you know, as friends.
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We were all competitive in basketball more than anything
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out there. Just, you know, just since we
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put it in, you know, the the way that we're putting it now, you
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know what won me over? It falls over in how I, you
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know, I coach it now and how I get kids out there.
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So basketball was something that was, you know, that was the
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Michael Jordan era for me and my friends.
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So we all wanted to be like, Mike, you know, it was so many
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good players about that, but Michael Jordan was the one.
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So, you know, that was one thing when we saw so many great things
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in basketball that we wanted to, you know, we wanted to do those
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same thing, have those, you know, same moves, that same
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shot, that same dunk eventually when you got there.
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But basketball and football and track, the thing that won me
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over is like, like I tell them now I want you to, you know,
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come out to track because you want to be there.
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Come to track because that's something that you know, you,
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you, you, you put it into a competitive form and that's
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going to make you better. If, if, if football is your
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sport, there are no more slow football players.
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So get what you get out of track.
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I'll I'll be happy to give that to you.
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But we have an understanding. But at the end of the day, for
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me in high school, trackers just running, you know, and a lot of
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people see, and I explained it to a lot of kids when I have our
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first meeting at the beginning of the year, You know, in
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football when you have to run at the end of practice, it's either
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it's either conditioning or it's a punishment.
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Basketball, it's either condition or it's a punishment.
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Nobody wants to come to track at the end of the year and just run
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again because you enjoy it. That's.
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A good point. So you know, that's how you
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know, that's what our mindset was and that's how I explain it
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to our kids now. It's not going to be a
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punishment. It's going to be your training
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when you get to track at the end of the year.
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So that's what it was for for me and my mindset that when I was
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in high school, I was like, man, look, man, I've been because I
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was, I was that kid. I was going to get in trouble.
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I was. So I was punished a lot of
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running and then, OK, now I got to go to track and run for fun.
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No, you can't convince me on that one.
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So. That's funny because I think we
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get very, it's just human nature.
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We get very myopic, very in our box.
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And so as track coaches, I think maybe we for for for those of us
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who are just track, you know, only coaching track and field
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that we sometimes forget, you know, these and hopefully
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there's more and more multi sport athletes.
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But yeah, when it's football, it's either conditioning or
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you're in trouble. Basketball, it's you're in
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trouble. And then you get to track and
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it's at the end of the end of the whole school year.
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And it's like, you know what, I have done enough running coach.
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I don't want to come to track and just go do more running, you
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know. Yeah, that's a, that's a good
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point. Where I grew up, I grew up in a
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small town, Alabama. All of our football coaches were
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all of our other sport coaches. You kind of grew up in a small
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town. Did you have where all your
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football coaches, the rest of the sport coaches there?
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Yes, Sir, very much so. So my football receiver coach
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was my my head track coach. So I got to be with him a whole
15:07
lot and the the same push was very detrimental to my
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performance because I've I've been with him all year.
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Sometimes he would end up being AJV coach, but more football in
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track. So I, you know, that that that
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same coach and motivator was with me pretty much all year.
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So yeah. So what was your relationship
15:27
like with your with your coaches?
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Man, my coaches were good. I had one particular coach that
15:33
was I had a bunch of coaches in high school.
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They were, they were, they were pretty good at teaching on and
15:38
off. That's one thing that I, that I
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picked up that I carry on. It's what I do.
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But you know, 1 coach, Coach Hapris Kobonik was my, was my
15:47
big mentor in high school, man, He was a Family Guy.
15:50
He was really, really close to my family.
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So he was one of those guys on and off, you know, the court and
15:56
inside of the school. It was going to be do right
15:59
period. You know, that's just what we're
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going to do. We're going to work hard and
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we're going to do right. And he was a great motivator.
16:05
And you know, he, he wasn't the, the deep dive in tech tech
16:11
technical coach back then, but the way he motivated me made I,
16:14
I would run through a wall for that guy.
16:16
That's just how he he, you know, he pushed me because I knew
16:20
where it came from. I knew it was a good place and I
16:23
could feel it. And it was a everyday thing from
16:27
him, you know, in the hallways. If I was, you know, getting in
16:30
trouble in classroom, you know, late to class, it'd be a hallway
16:32
thing or it be a cafeteria thing, or it'd be, you know, you
16:36
got to ride home, you know, let's get your parents on the
16:38
phone. You know, it was always
16:40
something that that was making me be better, you know, and
16:44
that's that's the thing that I appreciate about my coaches.
16:46
That same thing I try to do now, you know, you got to be on and
16:49
off the field type of coach to get these kids to do something
16:52
for, you know, do these things for you.
16:54
And that's just comes from relationship building.
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That's one of the biggest things that I that I took from the
16:59
coaches that I had. I appreciated that so much and I
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would do more for the cultures that I had the better
17:06
relationship for. Not that I wouldn't do anything
17:08
for all my coaches, but I it just meant more, you know,
17:12
coming from those coaches. What, what that's a good lesson
17:15
for us because I, I can't imagine anybody gets into
17:19
teaching or coaching that doesn't care about the kids in
17:23
some form of fashion. We all have, you know, different
17:25
definitions of what that means and styles of what that means.
17:28
You know, some people may think like, Hey, I would never give a
17:31
kid a ride after a practice because, you know, there's other
17:34
implications and that shows that I care.
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And then they're right. You know, I get that.
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And there's others that would, you know, they'll be the taxi
17:40
for all their team taking them home for, for the whole night.
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What was it, you know, about that coach and some of the
17:45
coaches that you had good relationships with that you were
17:47
so motivated to do better and be better for What was it about
17:50
their style? And, and maybe maybe you can
17:53
think of like a specific example that that one of them did or, or
17:57
he, you know, he specifically did that you were like, oh, this
18:00
like I kind of want to be like this guy, Like I at least want
18:02
to be around this, this guy, this coach.
18:05
Well, it's the same coach, Coach, my coach Carbonic was.
18:09
He was the same guy with everybody.
18:11
He built relationships with everybody.
18:13
It was always a push for, for, for everybody, you know, and
18:18
everybody felt the same about him.
18:20
You know, even coming into the high school, my sister was 2
18:23
years old and me. So he was a, you know, her track
18:26
coach as well as shopper coach. And, you know, she had a love
18:29
hate relationship for him, but she loved him to death.
18:32
You know, he was just, you know, he, he was just, he was one of
18:36
the biggest things that I, I did.
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The example that I would give is, like I say now, if you beat
18:42
him down, build them up and he was that coach, when he would
18:46
get on me, I would swear this guy hated every bone in my body.
18:50
But then when I when I did exactly what he was teaching me,
18:54
he was the first guy there to congratulate me.
18:56
Or if it didn't go as well as I wanted it to go, he was the
19:00
first guy there to tell me, OK, you know, you, you, if you gave
19:03
your best and there's nothing more than you could do, You
19:06
know, I remember going to the state championship and I had
19:08
ran, man, I had ran some great races all that year.
19:13
And I ran my worst race at the state championship.
19:17
And I just remember him being there.
19:20
You know, you come around and you're dragging your feet and
19:22
your heads down. And he was the first one there.
19:24
And he was like, look, man, you know, you're not going to always
19:27
win, you know, but you are here. You know, you, you're one of
19:31
those guys that that made it. You know, you looking, you look
19:34
across the you know, the the the stands and and you on the track.
19:38
You know, you know how many people watch that race.
19:40
You know that you beat out to get here.
19:43
And it was it was just something that about him.
19:46
That is the consistency more than anything that that made me,
19:52
you know, do anything for this guy or I just respect him so
19:57
much. I, I recently had it putting
20:00
words kind of that same thing, but here in the business side,
20:04
management side of. You know, when someone makes a
20:07
mistake, you correct the role. So you know, for here, you know,
20:12
the salesperson, the sales consultant, you know, this is
20:15
where made a mistake, this where we need to do better, blah,
20:16
blah, blah, blah. And when they do something good,
20:18
when there's a positive, you, you give the attribute to the
20:21
person like, oh, Lewis, you did such a great job with this
20:25
customer, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
20:26
You know, so you, you, you, you, you correct the role, you uplift
20:31
the individual. And I just thought like, oh,
20:33
that makes a lot of sense. Like, OK, it's not you.
20:35
You were still awesome. You made this mistake and we
20:37
need to correct it and move on. But you're still awesome.
20:39
Like you always got to keep that, that eye, that individual
20:42
high. That's cool.
20:43
I like that. And, and where does you
20:44
mentioned baseball? Where?
20:45
Where does baseball play into all?
20:47
Of us, Oh good God. So me being one of the faster
20:50
guys on the campus, my baseball coach convinced me to come out
20:54
and play baseball. So I, I told him, I said, dude,
20:57
I, I, I'm, I'm not going to stand there and let a guy throw
21:00
a ball at me as fast as he can. No protection.
21:05
If it's a hair off, then I'm going to get hit.
21:08
So and I said then I'm not going to look like a fool out there.
21:12
I'm I'm already scared of it, so I'm I'm going to dodge it.
21:15
I'm, I'm not going to stand in that batter's box and allowed it
21:18
to happen. So he said, OK, well, we'll just
21:20
put you on pitch run. Then you know, when he hits you
21:22
gets on base, you'll go run. I said, OK, I that deal.
21:26
So I got in there and I, I first two bases, I did good.
21:30
And then I remember my my last player of being a baseball
21:33
player, I went to, I stole third base and that catcher threw that
21:39
bad boy down the pipeline as fast as he could and it missed
21:43
me by about that much. And I I stole and got home.
21:48
And then so at that point in time in Caldwell, we would have
21:50
the Caldwell Relays and the Caldwell Baseball Tournament.
21:54
So after I got in, I scored, I got in, I said, coach, I
21:58
appreciate you, but I am done playing baseball.
22:02
He says. He says, I didn't think it was
22:04
going to be long anyway, but I appreciate you.
22:06
And I went and I and our high school, we have a hill that goes
22:09
down to the track. I went right down the hill.
22:12
I got to the locker and put my track uniform on and that was
22:14
the end of my baseball career. I'd love that you tried it,
22:19
though, right? Yes, yes.
22:21
Think about the story today. If, you know, if we were like,
22:23
oh, So what about baseball? And you're like, you know, I
22:24
never tried it. I was fast.
22:26
I might have been pretty good. You, you never know, right?
22:28
And so at least you tried it. And you're like, OK, yeah, I'm
22:30
not not my jam. That's cool.
22:32
So that you guys do it but not me?
22:34
Yeah, so that's the crazy thing, you know, about, you know,
22:37
sports. So with me and track and our
22:40
track program, like I said, it's already hard to convince the kid
22:43
to run. So, you know, with, with the the
22:46
girls program this year, we we haven't had a lot of girls run,
22:49
but we warn them that we have the talent walking the hallway
22:54
in the band hall in the, you know, in art, I mean, we have
22:57
them so, but they're in athletics.
22:59
So they predominantly play volleyball, basketball, track,
23:03
not so much. So this year, you know, our
23:05
basketball team was doing so well.
23:07
So I had the girls, it's pretty much the beginning of the year
23:11
because I, I, I, like I said, basketball team did amazing this
23:14
year. They went to the state
23:14
championship. So the coaches were already in
23:17
basketball and I, you know, I, I, no problem, I'll take it.
23:20
You know, they, they know I'll take track period.
23:22
So I convinced the girls walking through the hallways because
23:25
like I say, I, I, I do behaviors in our school.
23:27
So I'm in the hallways period. So a lot of these young ladies
23:31
that were, you know, walking the halls, you know, I had to chase
23:34
you down. I, I, you know, I deal with a
23:36
lot of that. So I was like, Hey, let's do
23:38
something with that time. Try track.
23:41
So I put it, you know, I put a sign up list outside my door and
23:44
it that that sign just was like, hey, you know, we going to sign
23:48
up, I'll sign up. So they started signing up, you
23:50
know, their friends, they just started coming in twos.
23:53
And I, when I got them to sign up at the first meeting, I said,
23:55
Hey, I know this is going to be hard for you, you, you don't,
23:58
you don't care for track, but just give me a two week trial
24:02
period. Give me a two week trial period.
24:05
No harm, no foul. So we got them in, we go to the
24:09
first track meet of the year. They, they, they have them, they
24:12
then they're having a great time.
24:13
They're taking pictures, they're winning medals.
24:16
So I get them the two weeks. Well, then after that it played
24:19
in right because we had spring break.
24:20
So I got the two weeks, then we got the spring break by then,
24:23
like they were sold. They, they, they, they enjoyed
24:27
it so much. And then I even had kids that
24:29
would, they told me coach, I will never, ever run track.
24:33
We got them out there as well. So I gave them the it's a two
24:37
week grace period, no harm, no foul.
24:39
Because a lot of programs say, well, if you quit this program
24:42
then you got to run 5 miles for five days.
24:44
But then that, that's already a threat.
24:47
That's. Right, and I don't want I don't
24:49
want that punishment, so I'm never going to try that sport.
24:52
So you know that two week trial period, OK, if you try, we
24:55
appreciate you and you you didn't like it.
24:57
So thanks for coming out. You tried it.
24:59
But if you come out and you find something that you, you know,
25:01
you're good at, you know, you get a team aspect, but an
25:04
individual basis, this is you. So, you know, a lot of people
25:08
don't get to be an individual basis at all.
25:10
They don't know that I can run the 800 or I can, you know, play
25:13
the tubal or I can play the drums or I can shoot the jump
25:15
shot. But you get to find out
25:17
something that you get to do, and it's you, you know, besides
25:20
being put on relays. I love that because you know,
25:22
you're really speaking to the athlete experience with your
25:25
sport and you know, it reminds me a lot of, you know, Tony
25:29
Holler, who you know, there's a always a big kind of divide,
25:33
whether you're a feed the cats or not feed the cats and all
25:35
this stuff. And I don't care about that
25:36
part. But one of the things that
25:38
really struck me when we had Tony on the podcast was, you
25:41
know, his overall everything that he does is all, but he's a
25:44
chemistry teacher, so he's teacher first.
25:46
His whole basis is make track the best part of every kids day
25:51
and that and that really struck with me.
25:53
It's like, yeah, oh, that does make a lot of sense.
25:55
You know, kids will be better just from that alone.
25:57
But they'll walk away from what do they graduate and maybe they
26:00
go to college or not to do your sport.
26:02
They'll walk away going man, I don't I liked track and field.
26:05
That was fun. I had fun with coach and I got
26:07
better. And that's how we we make
26:09
lifelong fans that go to track meets and become coaches and
26:12
things like that. So I love your aspect of like,
26:14
Hey, 2 weeks at two weeks, if you say it's not for you, cool,
26:18
appreciate you trying. I still, I still love you.
26:20
Move on. We're good, we're good.
26:22
So I, I like that. That's a, that's a good lesson
26:24
there. So I love that you did that with
26:26
baseball. So talk to me senior year,
26:29
you're playing football, you're probably playing basketball,
26:31
you're doing track, you're thinking about college.
26:34
What do you, what do you think about college?
26:36
How does college go? And where was coaching in your
26:40
mind? Like were you thinking about
26:41
becoming a coach as you're a senior?
26:42
Tell me more about that. So like I said, when, you know,
26:45
when you have so many motivational people around you,
26:49
you get to thinking about that. So, you know, I, our counselors
26:52
are talking about us, about college, you know, the subjects
26:55
of like, what are you, what are you going to, you know, go to
26:57
college for what are you going to study things of that nature?
27:01
So, you know, I, you know, my grandpa was a a coach, So I saw
27:05
it first hand and my, my dad was my, my stomach track coach.
27:09
So I'm like, OK, look, hey, this is what I want to do.
27:12
Did I know what it consists of behind the scenes?
27:15
No, but I know what I saw. And that kind of gave me a
27:18
blueprint of what I wanted to be because I, I had so many great
27:24
coaches and men in in my life that showed me so many good
27:29
things that that I knew that at some point in time I inspired to
27:33
be a coach. Now what it, you know, falls
27:36
down the line or what it, you know what that'll take, I don't
27:38
I didn't know, but I knew that, you know, I, I got with the
27:42
counselor, we started talking about, you know, kinesiology and
27:46
this is the field so that that I knew that that's what I wanted
27:50
to be. So you didn't necessarily have a
27:52
pinpoint of like, I'm going to be a football coach or I'm going
27:54
to be a track coach or I'm going to start my own club, which, you
27:58
know, you're 1817, eight years old.
27:59
Of course that makes sense. But you're like, you know, I
28:01
want to coach. I don't know what that means.
28:03
I see it. I don't know how to get there, I
28:04
guess is really the way to say it.
28:06
But that's that's where I want to go.
28:07
And you get some great counselors and teachers and and
28:10
family. I love you didn't say your
28:13
family was like, you know, if you go to college, your family
28:15
was like, So what are you going to study?
28:17
Because you're going to. College, everybody, my
28:22
grandmother, my grandfather, my, my mom, my aunt, they were all
28:25
educators. But the field, the field was
28:28
there. It was destined.
28:30
It wouldn't, it wouldn't, it wouldn't.
28:33
The way they presented it to me was like, this is what we're we
28:36
were planning to do it wouldn't. You're going to college, you
28:39
know, it was just like, do we want to further our education?
28:43
So it's, it was on the plate and we, you know, we all, my
28:48
brother, I have a younger brother and the older sister.
28:50
We all knew that that's what we wanted to do because we saw it.
28:53
It was. Not a not a demand and and maybe
28:57
a one step below an expectation of like, yeah, this is what you
29:01
do. This is why you further your
29:03
education. So let's talk about those steps.
29:04
Yeah, that's cool. So where did you end up going
29:06
and and why? So my story behind where I chose
29:11
was I say I I call it a true blessing because I ran Summit
29:17
tracking, getting sexes with the track club, LC Express, and I
29:24
had previously talked to a coach.
29:28
I was going to Neosho Junior College in Kansas.
29:33
Yes. Wait, shut up.
29:34
Are you serious? Yes, that's what that's why I
29:36
was going to what I was going to play basketball.
29:39
What year did you graduate high school?
29:41
97. OK, I don't know that you know
29:43
this. I was the head coach of Neosho
29:45
County in 2001 for track. I did not know that.
29:48
Yeah, that's why I was like, shut up.
29:49
I was like, are you putting my leg?
29:51
So I had a friend that got a got a scholarship to go play
29:54
basketball down. He was from Calvert and we were
29:56
really good friends. And I, you know, we were just
29:58
talking because we went to a a sports camp at Texas A&M.
30:03
It was a free sports camp, NYSP National Youth sports program.
30:06
And we were being a big in basketball and I loved it to
30:09
death. And he told me that the coach, I
30:12
can't call his name to this day, but the coach offered him a
30:15
scholarship to come to Neosho. We played basketball.
30:18
We were pretty decent, at least in O1.
30:19
I remember this. Yeah, yeah.
30:21
Yeah, yeah. He and he told me that, you
30:22
know, they had a great basketball team and I told him
30:24
about you and, you know, if you want to come, you know, let's
30:28
talk to him. So I end up talking to the coach
30:31
and he offered me to come down and I was like, OK, great.
30:34
So we had a verbal commit for me to come to New Yosho Junior
30:37
College. You know, it's not like today
30:38
time where you take your visits and all.
30:40
Oh, I I. We have no visits buddy, not
30:42
you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
30:43
It was just, you know, phone calls.
30:45
I talked to the coach and, you know, that was the verbal commit
30:47
that you OK, we got a plan. I I nobody else has talked to me
30:50
about college. I'll definitely go there.
30:53
And I and I get to play basketball too.
30:55
So yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm excited.
30:57
Yeah. So then that summer I ran so I'm
31:00
a track and one day after practice, I have two of the guys
31:05
that were in my district that were great quarter miles.
31:08
They they, they went to state as well.
31:10
And we go to you take a trip to pray of you.
31:16
And I said, and they asked me if I wanted to ride.
31:19
And I was like, yeah, I mean, I ride, That's all.
31:21
I call my mom and say, hey, mom, I'm going to preview.
31:23
I want to go up there and see the university and whatnot.
31:25
And because they're going to meet the coaches, they had an
31:28
official come up and see the campus and see, you know, see
31:31
what this, you know, looks like. So we're sitting in the, we're
31:34
sitting in the office and Coach Clifton Gillett, he comes out,
31:38
he's everybody's introducing their self.
31:40
So I kind of just fall to the back, you know, but I'm not, I'm
31:43
not there for this trip, you know, I'm just, I'm just riding.
31:47
And so he, he came up to me and he said, and what's your, what's
31:51
your name, young man? I said, oh, I'm, I'm not here.
31:54
I'm, I'm just riding with him. He said, that's not what I asked
31:56
you. I asked you, what's your name,
31:58
young man? And I said, oh, I'm Louis Louis
32:00
Evanson. He said the 110 hurdler and 300
32:06
hurdler from Caldwell, TX and I go, yes, Sir, he goes so and
32:11
I've been trying to get in touch with you forever.
32:14
And I was like what? He was like, yes, Sir.
32:18
He says we've been trying to offer you for a long time.
32:22
And I was like, so I, I hadn't received anything.
32:26
No mail, no phone calls, no nothing.
32:28
Because of course, you know, at that time it was hard to get in
32:30
touch with people for sure. So I was like, wow.
32:34
So he said, can you get your parents on the phone?
32:37
I said yes. So so I called my mom and he
32:40
talked to my mom and I got offered right there on the spot.
32:44
And I wouldn't you know, that's why I say it was a true blessing
32:47
because I, I if I had to miss practice that day, I wasn't
32:50
going, you know, I wouldn't have been there and made him.
32:53
So that's how I got to pregnant. That is, I mean, you know, I
32:59
don't know necessarily where you are and your your faith and
33:02
faith walk, but like to me that's like, oh, that's from
33:06
where I am. My faith, like that's God going.
33:08
Yeah, yeah, I know you need to go right along.
33:11
Just go right? Just.
33:12
Go, just go. Exactly how I feel about it.
33:14
Dude, that is, I got goosebumps, bro, because, you know, I think,
33:21
you know, we have perspective because we're at an age and
33:23
stage where we can see what we did and how we did and the
33:25
choices we made. And there's times in our lives
33:28
where there are seemingly very small, like you.
33:31
You OK? Am I going to ride or am I going
33:33
to chill? Very.
33:34
I mean, we make that decision 1000 times a day.
33:37
And you chose this route. You went to the right instead of
33:40
the left. And it births.
33:43
It's the beginning of what becomes now.
33:45
I mean, that is unbelievable. Like, I can't imagine what,
33:49
First of all, it, you know, and I I had a I'm so blessed that I
33:52
was the head coach at Initial County in Schnute, Kansas.
33:55
But man, that's a tough, tough little town, let me tell you.
33:58
Yeah, there's nothing. I know you grew up in a small
34:00
town. This is a small town.
34:02
Small town. It's a rough, rough place, man.
34:07
Wow, That just blows my mind. Louis, seriously.
34:10
Holy cow. And I love how humble you were,
34:13
like in regards to like, like I can see the story told another
34:16
way where, you know, like, oh, I rode along.
34:17
And so as soon as we met the coach, I, you know, you know,
34:19
I'm going to make sure the coach knows who I, you know, you were
34:21
just in the back. Like, hey, man, I'm not even not
34:23
even supposed to be here, bro. You, you handle them.
34:25
I'm just riding. I'll stay out your hair.
34:27
We're good. And I and I love his response.
34:29
Like I didn't. I didn't ask you that.
34:31
What's your name? So yeah, dude.
34:35
So that's how you got the Prairie View, ANM.
34:39
That blows my mind, man. I love that.
34:42
OK, so you go to prayer review. What do you?
34:44
That's crazy to me. Holy cow.
34:47
You go to prayer review. What do you study?
34:49
And how did track and field? It's no football.
34:52
Yes. Yes, football.
34:54
Football. Yes, Sir.
34:56
My gosh. That wasn't the track culture.
34:58
Hold on. Yes, it's a so it's a two-part
35:01
story. So when I get to when I get to
35:03
preview, so I'm studying kinesiology, healthy humor
35:07
performances. That's what it was called on our
35:08
campus, but it's still kinesiology.
35:10
Same same Rd. So I'm running track and the
35:17
sick my sophomore year. We, we're, we're in summer
35:23
workouts and football was not our best sport at that point.
35:28
We, we had a really, really we, we had a losing record.
35:31
And but you know, we, we, we were building, you know, we had
35:34
some different cultures that would come in, some stuff that
35:37
happened before I got there. But these.
35:42
Yeah, myself, no, yeah, my sophomore, sophomore, freshman
35:46
summer going into my sophomore year.
35:48
We're training, we're hitting the weights and whatnot.
35:50
We're, you know, we're, we're getting to the point where
35:51
workouts are going good. And so we all worked out
35:54
together. We called ourselves the track
35:56
board. So we all, we're all together.
35:58
We're working out in the evening and whatnot.
36:00
So we get a call from coach Gillard.
36:01
He was like, hey, y'all, where y'all at?
36:03
And we were like, we're in the way.
36:04
He was like, come to my office. So it was like me and a few of
36:08
the guys that that ran track and that that played football in
36:13
high school. And we, you know, we still still
36:15
had that passion, a little burn for it, but we, we, we knew we
36:18
came to run track. That's, that's just what we
36:20
were. And so he called us in and he
36:22
said, Hey, I got AI got a proposal for you.
36:26
That's going to be a two-part deal.
36:27
So our track coach for the football coach had got let go.
36:33
And the time period that that happened, they, you know, they
36:36
weren't in a rush to hire a new coach.
36:39
They wanted, since the record was not where it needed to be,
36:41
they wanted to seek out the best coach for the program.
36:46
So they all right, head coach was the interim I head track.
36:50
I head track coach was the interim head football coach.
36:52
They appointed him and had it, had it not been him, he we would
36:57
never touch the football field. He was not going to allow that.
37:01
So he he asked us if we wanted to play and we were like, sure.
37:06
Oh, man, yeah, we, we want to play college football.
37:10
Yeah, Yeah, right, right. Yeah.
37:12
So yes, I did get to play a full season my sophomore year of
37:16
football and it was, it was, man, it was amazing.
37:20
It was, you know, it was something that, you know, once
37:23
you look at it, you look back on it, it was like, man, I played
37:25
college football and I didn't, you know, and, and I got to, I
37:29
worked my way up to being a starter as well.
37:32
And it was man, it was mind blowing just travelling to all
37:36
these different States and and playing football, man.
37:38
It was, you know, to and I always put the spectrum on the
37:42
situation, man, coming from Lil Bitty Caldwell, you know, to
37:46
here and now I'm in Mississippi and I'm in Alabama.
37:49
I'm in, you know, Jackson. I was just travelling like that
37:52
was was like the kick the year off before track even got there,
37:57
before indoor even got there. You know, it was, it was man, it
38:01
was. I look back on that, man, that
38:02
was a great time. I appreciated that so much.
38:05
I think because we're in it, we sometimes forget, you know, air
38:09
quotes. No one plays college sports.
38:12
You know, I'm saying like I know lots of people play college
38:14
sports, but in the scope of, you know, how many people are in
38:18
America and the scope of how many people are in the world,
38:20
you know, college sports to worldwide Ave. right, Very few
38:25
people play college sports. So it's special.
38:28
And by the way, so if you play a college sport that that's
38:32
amazing. You're in a very, very small
38:33
fraternity. You play more than one sport in
38:35
college that just got even smaller.
38:38
By the way, what a cool experience.
38:41
Man, that's. Really awesome, but I think I
38:44
heard you only one year. Yes.
38:46
Only one kept going with track. Yes, Sir.
38:48
OK. So how is track going for you?
38:52
If I remember right, you know, 'cause you're, you're you.
38:54
You probably try to rival me. Actually, no one rivals me on
38:57
the amount of tweets a day. But if I remember correctly, did
39:00
you end up winning a conference championship?
39:02
Yeah, for one hurdles, yeah, I won.
39:04
AI won a couple of. Yeah, I was, I was.
39:08
I went. Yeah, Yeah, I went undefeated in
39:14
conference in the the 1-10 hurdles.
39:18
Nice. And I, I would have went
39:20
undefeated without the race. I can't say that.
39:24
But prior to the the accident I had, I was undefeated in the 60
39:28
meter hurdles as well in conference champions.
39:30
So four years outdoor because I got my medical red shirt, and
39:36
then three or three years indoor.
39:38
I was a conference. Champion, what if if you don't,
39:40
if it's OK to share? You said accident.
39:42
What what? What happened?
39:44
So I end up having A at the end of my sophomore year, I end up
39:48
having a accident. It was a track accident that I
39:51
was in with our track team. We were travelling to Arkansas,
39:54
Pine Bluff and we had a, we had an accident, rollover accident.
40:00
Yeah, we in, in the the 15 passenger van at that point in
40:05
time was, was it was a really top heavy vehicle and it didn't
40:10
take anything for it to. You know, the flip or anything.
40:13
So unfortunately, that's what happened to.
40:15
What? What year was that?
40:16
Is that 19? This was in 99.
40:22
Two thousand, yeah. So I would have read about this.
40:25
Yes, Sir. So the interest I told you as
40:28
the head coach at Neosho, the 2001, the year that is the year
40:32
I swore off driving 15 passenger vans.
40:35
Like I told our administration and every you know, I went to
40:38
Ball State and Mississippi State after that I told all the
40:39
administrations like guys, these are not safe vehicles, you know,
40:43
the, the way they're designed. And then, you know, we were in
40:45
Kansas, the wind. I remember coming home, I think
40:48
it was from conference and we were at Kansas State and I
40:51
remember coming home, driving the van back to Neosho, back to
40:56
Chanute and the wind and just, I mean it, it moved me 10 feet
41:00
over. And I remember my assistant
41:01
coach, he was driving the one behind.
41:02
He calls me. He goes, dude, are you falling
41:04
asleep? You know, I was at night and I
41:05
was like no problem, wide awake that that wind just moved me and
41:09
I'm like, oh man, I was 1 foot away from disaster and I've got
41:12
I got lives here, buddy. I got live.
41:15
Yeah. Oh goodness.
41:16
So you got hurt in that? Yeah.
41:18
Yes Sir, yes Sir, dude, pretty pretty so that they just just a
41:24
little layout. So the Saturday before we had we
41:28
run at U of H and I run 77878783 I think and I run the fastest
41:42
time in the country at that point in time.
41:44
Wow, Seriously. Holy cow.
41:45
Yeah. And then the next week we had
41:48
our accident. So it was kind of like after the
41:51
accident, you know, when you, when you, when, when it kind of
41:54
happened and you kind of just, you know, just play everything
41:58
that goes on. So after the, when the actual
42:04
accident happened, I was conscious what not, you know, at
42:06
that point in time. And, and then I, I go and I
42:11
check on friends and what not. And, you know, at that point in
42:14
time, it was just like a blur. So I sit down and I'm and I just
42:19
get this pain in my neck. I'm like, OK, you know, I'm a
42:22
kid, whiplash, you know, no big deal.
42:25
So I lay down and I just remember a lady asking me if I
42:28
needed any assistance. I was like, man, if you can give
42:30
me a phone, that'll be great. So I called the only number that
42:33
I knew, which was my, my, my brother's room at college.
42:37
I told him. I said, hey, look, man, we've
42:38
been in an accident, man. You know, call mom.
42:40
I don't remember her number. Just call her and tell her I
42:43
don't even know where we're at, you know, So that's the last
42:47
thing I remember. So then I wake up in the
42:48
hospital. I remember going, you know, in
42:52
the ambulance and I get to the hospital, you know, of course
42:54
they, they're doing their thing. And then I remember going in the
42:57
room and, and they're looking at me.
43:01
And then I, I, I, I, I don't remember X-rays being done, but
43:07
obviously they were done. Because when I, I wake up, I'm,
43:11
I'm laying, I'm still laying on this, this, this board.
43:14
And I'm just like, I feel like my head is about to bust.
43:16
I'm like, Oh my God, I'm hurting so bad.
43:18
Can you please get me off this board?
43:20
Put me in the bed And a nurse was in there and she was, they
43:24
just kept coming in doing my feet, you know, rolling,
43:27
touching my feet. I'm like, why do y'all keep
43:29
doing that? Like what's going on?
43:30
Like, and of course, you know, they can't tell you anything.
43:34
And you know, I'm still still a kid and I get and, and I guess
43:38
they wanted to wait for my parents.
43:39
In my mind, I guess they're waiting for my parents.
43:40
So that's why they're not telling me.
43:41
So I'm not sick of anything. So finally I just lay there long
43:45
enough and I just get frustrated.
43:46
I'm like dude, what is wrong? Like why do y'all keep checking
43:49
me? Like what's going on?
43:51
I'm fine. I got a little whiplash.
43:55
Yeah. You got me strapped down in his
43:57
bed. Like what's what's going on?
44:00
And like Mike, I'm literally like strapped in the waist, in
44:04
my my thighs and my legs. Scary.
44:07
I'm like, what's going on? Like, OK, let let me get
44:10
comfortable or something, you know, while I'm laying here.
44:13
So Mike, I had my hands, you know, they were, they were they,
44:16
they had my hands strapped here so I can move, you know, from
44:19
the elbow up. And the lady reached across and
44:22
she, you know, she was touching my shoulder, you know, make sure
44:25
I still had, you know, I get at that point in time, I didn't
44:27
know what she's doing. But now that I, you know, I look
44:28
at it, it was like, you know, see if I had feeling and
44:31
whatnot. Like she reached over and I
44:33
grabbed, I was like, lady, what are you doing?
44:35
Like, what's wrong with me? And the lady Mike, the lady
44:38
started crying and I say, what's wrong?
44:43
What's wrong with me? Like she started crying on me.
44:46
And she said, son, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but
44:50
you have to be very, very still. I say, why?
44:53
What's wrong with me? She say, son, I can get in a lot
44:56
of trouble just for this, but you need to know, son, you've
44:59
broken your neck. I say, oh.
45:03
What are you I say, what are you talking about?
45:05
I'm I'm moving like what are you talking?
45:07
She say, son, just lay here, take my words.
45:10
Be very, very still and let the doctors come in and work on you.
45:15
I'm like, man, you. There's no way she said
45:18
something. Yes, you've broken your neck,
45:20
Mike. I just.
45:21
It was like, you know, you see those cartoons from Tom and
45:24
Jerry back then where your spirit just leaves your body.
45:28
That's all. That's how I felt, man.
45:29
I was like, man, OK, you know, back in that day, you know,
45:33
broken neck, you're done. I'm like, you know, everything,
45:38
worst case possible, you know, scenarios came to my mind.
45:41
I'm like, I'm never going to be able to run track again.
45:44
I'm never going to walk again. I'm going to be helpless.
45:48
So I just kind of just later after that, Mike, I'm just in my
45:52
mind, I'm just looking at the whole situation of what it is.
45:55
And so that that happened and I'm, you know, I'm laying there.
46:00
And so then eventually time passed, but I'm just laying
46:03
there. I don't know what time looks
46:04
like, but then my, my parents get there.
46:08
And so they had a procedure, I guess they were talking to my,
46:11
my mom and dad and they told him, yeah, go ahead and, you
46:14
know, do what you need to do until we get there.
46:16
So mom's coming from Caldwell. We're, we're right outside of,
46:23
right outside of Karnak. So they, they get there to the
46:28
hospital and my mom said she could hear me just yelling
46:32
collar and just hurting so bad. So I had to have a procedure
46:35
done at that point in time where they didn't want to go in and do
46:37
surgery. So what happened to my neck was
46:39
I, I, my C6 and my C7, they smashed, they smashed and, and,
46:46
and they just pretty much cracked each other.
46:49
So my C6 and my C7 would just smash.
46:52
You know, of course, you know, there's a space and you know,
46:54
your neck and your rig raise and whatnot.
46:55
So they're, so they're smashed onto each other.
46:57
So they had a procedure that they were doing where they put
47:00
these screws inside my head and I would lay off the edge of a
47:03
bed and they would drop weights on this device.
47:09
And what it would do is it would try to pull and stretch your
47:12
neck. But they only did it like I
47:15
guess hour by hour or whatnot. Or I, I can't tell you exactly
47:18
how it went, but that was the procedure that I was explaining
47:20
to me. And I'm like, I can't believe I
47:22
went through it. I'm like, that's old school
47:25
medieval and I and I was yelling like that.
47:29
And and so when my mom got through, got there and they
47:31
heard me yelling like that, they were like, no, no, no, no, no,
47:34
no, no, whatever. And the doctor was like, you
47:36
know, we have no other choice but to to go in and do now.
47:41
So they fly in the best neurosurgeon in the country at
47:46
that point in time. And I have his name, but I
47:51
forget it. I have to get that to you.
47:53
But he but he did my surgery and it was amazing.
47:59
But I've I've had no. Wow, yeah, that's a good point.
48:04
So that goes back to sophomore year.
48:05
That's why I didn't play football anymore because.
48:07
Yeah, yeah, that makes. Sense never have contact anymore
48:10
like that, but that was oh. Right, right, right, right.
48:12
Yeah. Lewis, what's amazing is, you
48:15
know, if you would have told if I, if I hadn't known your senior
48:17
and you'd tell me the story, I'm like, Oh, well, then you have to
48:19
have some kind of stiffness. Yeah.
48:21
I mean, it's a major. I know you as this may come off
48:25
the wrong way, but as a normal part, like, you know, we hug, we
48:28
dab. I've seen you, you know, Holy
48:30
cow, dude. Unbelievable.
48:36
You know, I'm so grateful to know you and call you friend.
48:39
I'm even more so grateful that you're here.
48:41
You were one step away, less than a step away from not.
48:46
Oh my goodness. And the crazy thing about the
48:51
and, and, and like I say, preview was a whole blessing.
48:54
Like, I mean, I everything about preview, I love it to death
48:57
because it played out how it was supposed to be for my life.
49:00
So that football year that I played football, we did like a
49:03
lot, a lot of neck exercises, just strengthening,
49:08
strengthening the neck like crazy.
49:10
We were all it was mandatory and that that doctor stated that if
49:15
I hadn't played football that year and got the next strip with
49:18
the muscles built up around my neck, I would have definitely
49:21
been paralyzed for sure. He said there's no doubt.
49:24
He said all everything. He told my mom that all the the
49:28
the muscle tissue around your neck was the only thing that
49:32
saved your neck from from breaking completely.
49:37
Dude, I am blown away. That is amazing.
49:44
Again, another one of those like, oh, do I play football?
49:46
Do I not play football? Wow, that you, you said you won
49:52
four conference titles. You you did not compete that
49:55
outdoor season. No, not not that.
49:58
Yeah, OK. Because at first I was like,
49:59
dude, did you come back? Because if you said four, I was
50:01
like, did you come back but you said medical red shirts.
50:03
I'm like, OK, so you had the rest of that year off any as you
50:07
go into your junior year and you know you're a 20/21/19 year old
50:13
kid at that time and you know, you can be forgiven of thinking
50:15
you were invincible even after a very traumatic event.
50:19
Any trepidation of going back. So indoor season starts, which
50:23
means you've got to start traveling for me.
50:24
Any trepidation any or did you like, hey, you know what, that's
50:27
in the past, let's keep moving forward.
50:31
And it was, it was never. That's the great thing about it,
50:34
man. I, I.
50:35
And when I, it was just more. So let's get back to the action.
50:39
Let's get back to it. So my mind never ever really
50:41
went there. Now that you're asked that
50:43
question, that was the first time I've ever, I've ever been
50:46
asked that. I didn't, man nothing, nothing.
50:50
I don't think anything was going to stop me from being back in,
50:53
back in track and field again. So it didn't matter.
50:55
You know, how we got there, what we did, what we wrote, it didn't
50:57
matter. I was ready to get back rocking
51:00
and rolling and it was just, it was like forever and a day
51:05
already, you know, with all the training and rehab and, you
51:10
know, watching and because I remember distinctly getting
51:14
back, you know, after my surgery and going to the, the indoor,
51:19
the outdoor championship. I'm sorry, the outdoor
51:23
championship and and having to just watch that was the most
51:27
that was, that was more excruciating than the than the
51:30
rehab. You know, it was just like, you
51:33
know, you got to, you know, you have, you love the sport of
51:36
track and field period. But then when you got to watch
51:38
the event that you run, somebody else wins it.
51:41
It was just burning. That's that's my title.
51:43
Yeah, yeah, Yeah, it was. Burning to get back so and then
51:47
of course you know that OK yeah the the best thing about track
51:51
and field in college is that we have indoor.
51:53
So like yeah when track comes pretty quick.
51:55
So I was so eager to get back to that.
51:57
So like nothing really mind wise and mentally nothing.
52:02
Nothing really shook me. I've been back.
52:04
I've been thinking more and more lately about that.
52:07
You are me. I am and you are where you were
52:11
supposed to be right now. That doesn't mean you'll stay
52:14
that way. Does it mean that it's a that
52:15
you're in a good situation necessarily either.
52:17
But where you're where you were meant to be is where you are
52:20
today. And I wonder, you know, because
52:23
we, we have, you know, we know that what happened, you end up
52:25
going and recapturing your conference crown and keep going
52:28
back. But I wonder if that time where
52:31
you couldn't run and you had to watch someone else, your
52:34
conference go off, if that wasn't needed at that point of
52:38
like, you know, like, oh, I need to double down with what I'm
52:40
doing when I get back on the track.
52:41
I need to double down with my workouts and my health and my
52:45
habits and things like that. I wonder if you if that was that
52:47
was needed at that point, you know?
52:50
Well, particularly at that point in time, you know Mike the
52:53
crazy, you know how you like you say it was needed.
52:58
I think it was because that's when I became a more invested
53:02
track athlete because for some time, you know, my freshman
53:07
summer year and it's going to sound bad to all my track
53:10
coaches out there, track athletes, it's going to sound
53:12
bad because I was more concerned with just my conference.
53:16
You know, I was like, OK, I'm just going to win the swag.
53:19
You know, I never thought about NCAA SI never looked at the
53:23
times I looked at the rankings, but I never looked at OK, I'm
53:27
going to go to the NCS this year.
53:28
That was never a goal. You know, our goal and our
53:31
rivals was so big in our conference that just win the
53:35
conference, win your event, we dominate.
53:37
You know, we had this thing that we called it the dynasty.
53:41
You know, it was it was Southern University, TSU, Prairie View
53:46
and Jackson. At that point in time, we would
53:48
just we were arch rivals and it was just like our minds were
53:52
just centered on winning our conference, being dominant
53:56
indoor and outdoor in our conference.
53:57
So you know, if I, I don't man, just you know, to look back on
54:02
things, I probably would have qualified for NCS.
54:04
I never, I never cared to even look or even say coach, did I
54:11
qualify for NCS Like are you? Going so.
54:15
That's that that year that I had my wreck.
54:17
I sat on and I watched everything about track.
54:19
I was just watching track, track, track, track, track,
54:20
track, track. Then I started seeing in CS and
54:23
I was like, whoa, I'm running that.
54:26
Yeah. And why not, right?
54:28
Yeah. I'm running those times.
54:29
So when I got back, it was like, you know, the goals were, you
54:33
know, indoor outdoor in CS, you know, so it brought the more
54:38
competitive edge of, of being Coach Barbara Jacket used to
54:43
say, you know, she used to tell me all the time when I when I
54:45
when we in the conference, I'd come back and I was like coach
54:48
Jacket. I won the conference and coach,
54:50
if you know coach Jacket, you know, like we know her at
54:53
preview, she would always, she was very nonchalant.
54:56
You know, she meant well, but she's very nonchalant with the
54:58
things she said and she would always say it in pass And she
55:02
and I was like coach Jacket, you know, because she was so big in
55:04
track and field and I was like coach Jacket, man, I won the
55:06
conference. She was like, OK, you keep on
55:09
being a big fish in a little pond.
55:12
I'd be like. What?
55:16
Oh, that's tough, yeah. And I was like, what does that
55:19
mean? In 2001, we made it to the
55:24
national championship in the four by one and she was serving
55:26
as one of the the big, the big people on.
55:30
I call it the big. People called the.
55:32
Committee, she was on the committee at for NCS and it was
55:36
in Oregon and we got there and we got to work on getting out
55:41
there. We're getting ready to work on
55:43
our 4 by 1 handouts and whatnot. And we walked up, we ran after
55:48
Coach Jack and we're so happy to be there.
55:49
And she was there. So she's representing us.
55:51
We're representing her. And we got out there and you
55:53
know, she, she was so tough. You know, I went to hug and she,
55:56
she was like, wait a minute. And I was like, coach, man, give
56:00
me a hug, man, We're here. She's like, we finally got out
56:04
of that pond, huh? But I love her to death, man.
56:11
God rest the soul, man. I learned so much from that
56:13
Lady. But it was just, you know, life
56:15
lessons like that. Like, man, it was so so.
56:19
I mean, the lessons were like, like, Mike, you couldn't have
56:23
said it better. I am where I'm supposed to,
56:25
period. Wow, that's so cool, man.
56:30
What a fascinating, fascinating story.
56:33
Let's Fast forward here just a little bit.
56:35
So you graduate, Yes, Sir. You graduate with the X-ray
56:39
science, whatever it's called, Health and Human services or
56:41
whatnot at Prairie View. So you want to you want to
56:45
coach, you got this degree. So what?
56:47
What do you do? If you finally graduated, you
56:49
did a big thing. Graduating college is a big
56:50
deal. What?
56:51
What's next? So immediately, immediately when
56:54
I got out of college, so I kept, I kept running, you know, we say
56:59
we ran pros a little bit. I did that for about 6 years,
57:03
But I worked in, I worked in as, as I was running, I worked in
57:06
mental health and mental retardation feel.
57:09
And I was, that was excellent man.
57:10
Those life lessons I learned from that, you know, were very,
57:13
you know, man, hard feeling, very hard feeling it, it, it
57:18
taught me to value life to fullest, you know, and it,
57:23
it'll, it'll make sense here in a minute.
57:25
But so then I get into, I get into education.
57:30
I had a coach that was like, hey, man, I need AI, need AI,
57:33
need AI, need a coach. And he was a really good friend
57:35
of the family. He was like, hey, man, I, I, I
57:37
want to, I want to bring you a board.
57:38
And I was like, OK, good deal. So I started coaching.
57:41
This school was A1A school and right outside of Austin and it
57:45
didn't have football, so basketball and track.
57:47
So I coached basketball and track and well, when I first got
57:54
there, I was, I was just working in behaviors.
57:57
I had that I was the ISS teacher.
57:59
So I was just working with behaviors, whatnot.
58:00
So I hadn't really got into coaching yet.
58:03
And I was just like, I just kept going in the gym watching them
58:06
practice, going in the gym, watching them practice,
58:08
practice. So the coach, so you know, we
58:10
got out there and we did some pick up games and whatnot.
58:13
And as I'm playing with the kids, I'm coaching them and
58:15
telling them like, hey man, you know that, you know, talk a
58:18
little trash. Don't keep them competitive.
58:19
I'm like, look, you better learn how to use that left hand man,
58:22
because that right-handed. I'm I'm going to RIP you if you
58:24
keep going that. So the coach was like, hey, man,
58:27
are you are you interested in, you know, coaching a little bit,
58:30
man, I need an assistant. I'm like, sure, you know, let's
58:33
do it. So I jump into basketball and
58:35
then same thing happened in track.
58:37
You know, you know, when you found out that I knew my track
58:39
and whatnot, So I fell in the track, right, basketball and
58:42
track. And that was that was kind of
58:44
the beginning of that. I'm always amazed that coaches
58:47
who were really good at at the sport itself and and because I'm
58:52
always wondering, you know, it's, it's not, yeah, I like, I
58:55
like busting myths, right? And so one of the myths, and
58:57
this is probably pretty close to where people don't actually
59:00
believe this all the time, that just because you are a great
59:02
athlete, you're going to become a great coach, that that's not
59:05
because that means the inverse is true as well.
59:07
It means if you were not a good athlete, you cannot become a
59:09
good coach. So, and we've seen that 100, you
59:12
know, again, we're on episode 300 something we've had many,
59:15
many coaches here who were not even athletes, not even track
59:17
athletes, and they became very, very good track coaches.
59:20
So it's not true. And, and I actually heard it
59:23
saw, I saw it one time on social media where it actually might be
59:26
harder for a guy, a gal who was a really good athlete to coach
59:30
because, you know, genetics reigned supreme.
59:33
So you had to have some genetic superiority towards your event
59:36
or your sport. And so things, some things came
59:38
a little more natural to you than, you know, the 114 to 18
59:43
year old kids, you know, can not even walk and chew gum at the
59:46
same time, right. And so sometimes it's hard to
59:48
understand like, oh, you don't even like, why don't you get
59:50
this? It was just natural for me.
59:51
Why don't you get this? So sometimes it's harder.
59:53
How did you, as you started coaching track, how did you, how
59:58
did that process work for you? Was there like, like, did you
1:00:00
understand? Like, oh, OK, I'm working with
1:00:02
Timmy and Tommy here. And they, you know, they don't,
1:00:04
they can't even tie their shoes. So I can't just expect them to.
1:00:08
Run fast or even know how to Sprint or even know how to you
1:00:10
know, you see the kids with the arms and the legs of the like.
1:00:13
How did that frustrate you? Did you understand that all
1:00:16
these are individuals? How did that that initial
1:00:19
coaching year? So that the the first experience
1:00:22
that I had with that, I've always been a person, just the
1:00:26
way my mind works with track and field is just I've always been a
1:00:29
person of fundamentals first. You know, you're going to have
1:00:32
those talented kids, you know, they, they going to walk the
1:00:35
earth period. But you know, to get those kids
1:00:37
that, that that need that little extra, man, I was never afraid
1:00:41
to put the extra work in and go to extra drill or separate the
1:00:45
groups and put them in the in the standpoint of like, OK, we
1:00:48
eventually we'll get there, but we need to work here first.
1:00:51
So I've always been a a coach to push the, the, the components
1:00:56
of, you know, you have to, you know, repetitiously do these
1:00:59
things. We're going to take the time to
1:01:00
do these. We need a little extra work.
1:01:02
We need a little after school, we need a little before schools.
1:01:04
So you have to put that work in. So that's, that's something that
1:01:07
I've always thrived on. And it's it's funny you say, you
1:01:10
know, like with the guys that that are talented and you know,
1:01:14
like I was in Rockdale and I had guys that were naturally fast,
1:01:18
but when I broke them down and started doing skill work with
1:01:21
them, they really couldn't do the skill work either, you know,
1:01:24
with the footwork and the high knee and the, you know, step
1:01:28
drive knee, right? You know, so they would go same
1:01:30
leg, same arm. And I'm like.
1:01:32
Cracks me up. No, this doesn't make sense.
1:01:35
You're a superior athlete when I break you down and make you do
1:01:38
fundamentally things the correct way, you have no clue what
1:01:41
you're doing. So, you know, some people, you
1:01:44
know, some people get satisfied with the wins and the fast, you
1:01:48
know, but you know, the camps that we go to, I was, you know,
1:01:52
I've been blessing them to go to the, you know, the Texas and the
1:01:54
football camps and work those football camps.
1:01:56
When I was, you know, when I was in Rockville and I talked, I had
1:01:59
the chance to talk to those coaches and coaches like, look,
1:02:01
man, we don't, you know, we get guys here on this next level.
1:02:03
We really don't want to teach that, you know, so you guys that
1:02:07
are doing it in high school, we definitely appreciate, you know,
1:02:10
what you're doing because those fundamental things, you know,
1:02:14
step, step, plant, drive off outside, leg drive inside, you
1:02:17
know, those things are components of.
1:02:19
So I've always adapted to I'm going to teach you this, you
1:02:22
know, I'm going to teach you that.
1:02:23
We're going to repetitiously go over these things.
1:02:25
We're going to do these things. So I'm like, you know, when we
1:02:27
work work out with my track team, you know, we have a warm
1:02:30
up that we do that I don't even have to discuss with my guys.
1:02:32
They know that this is what we're going to do every day.
1:02:35
One of the things that we definitely do is like our groin
1:02:38
stretches. At first it's like my guys like,
1:02:40
Nah, I ain't doing the fine hydrocose that looks.
1:02:43
But then they understood that you know how much I use those
1:02:46
and how much I need those because my groin is so
1:02:48
detrimental. And if you heard it and tweak it
1:02:50
and pull it, that's a done deal. So they make sure they do those
1:02:53
things every day and like the fundamentals are very, very
1:02:57
important. So I always make sure I focus on
1:02:59
those. So where where does that come
1:03:01
from? Because I don't know that much
1:03:03
like your kids, they don't they didn't understand the
1:03:04
fundamentals. Someone had to teach them that.
1:03:05
So that means since the perceivably so that you had to
1:03:08
be taught that. Where did that come from?
1:03:10
Was that dad back in the club? Was that college?
1:03:12
Where did that like, hey man, you can be fast and that's cool,
1:03:15
but if you want to get faster fundamentals, you got you got to
1:03:18
ace the fundamentals. Where did that come from?
1:03:20
So. We did a lot of fundamentals in
1:03:23
my summer track, my summer track program.
1:03:25
What else he expressed with our, with our coaches, it was always,
1:03:28
you know, the, the, the warm up and fundamental formal
1:03:31
fundamentals. And then when I got to college,
1:03:32
it was like, you know, this is what we're going to do period.
1:03:35
Preview was one of those places that at that point in time when
1:03:38
I got this. So the preview you see now is
1:03:40
not the preview that we had. We didn't have all those
1:03:42
trainers, we didn't have all those guidance.
1:03:44
So we had to rely on the things that we needed to, you know, to
1:03:48
make us better, which was self-sufficient and
1:03:51
fundamentals. We, we did those so
1:03:53
repetitiously that we saw the results that came from them.
1:03:57
You know, you know, like the funniest thing that I, I
1:04:01
remember about, you know, we, we talked about fundamentals when
1:04:04
we're doing relays, you know, your handbag, big pawn, you
1:04:08
know, no reach anything. You know, we had guys coming
1:04:10
from Dallas or some of the fastest guys I've ever been
1:04:13
around in my whole life, had no clue how to come out of the
1:04:16
blocks, had no clue how to, you know, you know, drive phase,
1:04:20
finishing phase, because they were all relay people.
1:04:22
You know, they and they never learn.
1:04:24
You know how to run the curve, how to, you know, you know,
1:04:27
you're driving out, you know, you're not talking straight up.
1:04:30
You know, how do I, I had a guy, you know that, you know, when I
1:04:33
got to my, my grad assistant year sprinter from Dallas, he
1:04:38
was like, coach, how do we how do I do these blocks and you're
1:04:44
you're in college. Yeah.
1:04:46
He's like, oh, this is not, you know, we were relay people.
1:04:49
Is that a byproduct, this kind of a little bit of a tangent
1:04:52
here, but is that a byproduct of the Texas high school system
1:04:55
doubling up relay points? That's been AI don't call it
1:04:59
controversial, but a discussion, you know, we every year we talk
1:05:02
about this and the positives and the negatives.
1:05:03
Is that a byproduct, a negative of the doubling points in in
1:05:06
Texas high school? Man, I, you know, I, I think
1:05:11
that the one thing I, I don't think you take, I don't think
1:05:15
you take the points away. That's just, that's just my, my
1:05:17
theory on it. But I have seen a theory that
1:05:19
says, you know, we, we go ahead and we give the modellers, you
1:05:22
know, their relay as well. You know, let's, let's, let's,
1:05:24
let's implement that as well. So everybody can because, you
1:05:28
know, you go to the state championship and you go, you
1:05:31
know, 4 by 1, four by two 4x4, you pretty much right, right.
1:05:33
But. What, what I'm wondering is that
1:05:35
kid who didn't use blocks, was he always a relay guy?
1:05:38
Because it's like, look, man, we need this to your point exactly.
1:05:42
You win the four by 1/4 by two by four, you're, you know,
1:05:44
you're going to at least get a trophy if you don't win it.
1:05:47
But is that the byproduct? Is that a negative byproduct of
1:05:50
the Texas system where it's like, hey, Johnny, I know you
1:05:53
might want to run an open 100, but man, we've got you've got to
1:05:56
run the, the second leg of the four by one every stink and meet
1:05:59
because that's 20 points, not ten point, you know, and so then
1:06:02
you get to college. It's like, man, I've never run
1:06:04
an open. I, I, I hear this a lot where
1:06:06
it's like kids don't get an opportunity to showcase their
1:06:09
individual event for college and stuff like that.
1:06:12
And so there's the negative side of it, but I've heard the
1:06:14
positive. I I completely get the other
1:06:16
side of it's like, wait, so you want to take away, you know, we
1:06:18
talked about team track as a team and you want to take away
1:06:21
the one of the most team oriented things there are
1:06:23
relays, the importance of it. You're not taking away the
1:06:25
relay. So I get both, both sides to it,
1:06:28
you know, I it's, but I see there are byproducts, negative
1:06:31
byproducts maybe like this. So, so my theory is with my
1:06:35
with, with, you know, with the way we run things at her and,
1:06:37
and you know, the coaches can comply with what we're saying
1:06:40
because we discussed it so much. I have a natural to mind frame
1:06:45
and this is just me. I always say that when I speak
1:06:47
to people, I say this is just me.
1:06:48
So if I have kids on my, my, my team that are, that are fast
1:06:52
that we can go in, we go 4 by 1, four by two, 4x4 and let's just
1:06:55
call it a day. But if we drop that stick in
1:06:57
each one of those relays, season's over.
1:07:00
You never get an opportunity to display what you can do.
1:07:04
So I say, hey, look, if you want to be on relays, you, you're,
1:07:07
you're probably going to be only allowed to do 2 because I want
1:07:10
you in an individual aspect and that that gives you the
1:07:14
opportunity. You know, you're always an
1:07:16
alternate. I can put you.
1:07:18
Well, I want to after that, but I want you to have an event too.
1:07:21
And now, like I say, some coaches might not agree with
1:07:23
that, but that's just that's just me.
1:07:26
You know, first of all, it's hard to say that Texas is
1:07:30
limiting its Sprint capacity in high school when you have a kid
1:07:33
that just went 9.9 or 9.8 or where the heck you want.
1:07:36
That's just crazy. So it's like, well, it seems
1:07:39
like it's working. You know, no one, no one's
1:07:41
complaining about the state champion 200m runner because
1:07:44
they ran 24 seconds for the for the guys because all the fast
1:07:48
guys were running the four by two.
1:07:49
No, sorry, no, it's still the fast guys and gals are still
1:07:52
running fast. And two, I still think about and
1:07:56
you know, we've had this conversation several times.
1:07:57
I think it's important to continue to have where people
1:08:00
are talking about like the the roster limits and stuff for
1:08:03
Division One and all that kind of stuff.
1:08:04
And you know, the complaint is that like, well, kids aren't
1:08:06
going to be developed anymore. Like development is out the
1:08:08
door. And I'm like, you know what?
1:08:10
I don't think that's true. I kind of think of this Johnny
1:08:12
kid who's only running second. I shouldn't say only, but he's
1:08:15
running second leg in the four by one.
1:08:16
It doesn't get a chance to run the open And so maybe, you know,
1:08:20
air quotes the big boys schools don't look at them because they
1:08:22
don't have an individual time. And so he goes to Prairie View,
1:08:24
whether he walks on or whether Prairie View goes well, I've
1:08:26
seen you run. I know you fast, so you at least
1:08:27
get some scholarship and then Prairie View.
1:08:29
They got great coaches and they make this kid a nine point 89.9.
1:08:33
You know, So like, just because you don't go to the the power 4
1:08:36
schools doesn't mean you don't run fast.
1:08:38
And I can prove that because go look at the results.
1:08:41
Go look at what it takes to win these conferences.
1:08:42
Go look at, you know, non power 4 kids who will be in the finals
1:08:45
of the 100 and and all this kind of stuff.
1:08:47
So it kind of like like I feel like it all works out because I
1:08:50
believe there are amazing coaches on all levels, like
1:08:53
Johnny, you know, this mythical Johnny could go to a division
1:08:55
two school and still run 99 or whatever.
1:08:58
You know, it's all the genetics. So it depends on what genetic is
1:09:01
put in them first and foremost. Anyway.
1:09:03
So OK, go back to high school. So where you you have this, you
1:09:09
start coaching the basketball and track.
1:09:11
It's your first years and you end up going to Rockdale and
1:09:13
stuff like that. Where does where does today's
1:09:16
Lewis start? And what I mean by that is are
1:09:19
you right off the bat going to TTFCA&THSCA?
1:09:23
Are you, are you the, you know, coaching education seems pretty
1:09:26
important to you. Education seems pretty important
1:09:29
to you right off the bat. Are you doing those things or
1:09:32
did you grow into what what I know and see today?
1:09:36
So if I Fast forward to well, right after my first experience,
1:09:42
then I I got the I got the call to and 15 20/15/2016 I got the
1:09:49
call to go to to Hearn to be the head coach of Hearn of the boys
1:09:54
and girls and I had coach coach. My AD was Chip Baker and he was.
1:10:01
Is that Chip Baker's the guy that I see?
1:10:03
I don't know what he does but like I'm attracted to him cuz I
1:10:06
think he does like a positive things for coaching that Chip
1:10:07
Baker. Yeah.
1:10:08
Chip Baker Success Chronicle. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:10:10
I got to meet that guy one year. You got to.
1:10:13
I went to last year on the last day and he'd already packed up
1:10:16
and I literally I went to his booth and I was like, oh, I
1:10:18
missed. I need to go the very first day.
1:10:19
I need to. Go.
1:10:21
I got to get you two guys, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
1:10:23
That'll be a that'll be a awesome thing, yeah, For him to
1:10:26
be on your show as well. Yeah, yeah.
1:10:28
So he was your AD. He.
1:10:30
Was my athletic director? Yes, Sir.
1:10:31
And he man, just being around that guy, just it sparks, man.
1:10:36
He's so exciting about the things that he does, the way
1:10:39
that he teaches him. He has the life lessons.
1:10:42
Like I say, you know, when you can see, when you can see a
1:10:45
person in a light outside of what they do, then you do you
1:10:49
know, you, you gravitate to him more because, yeah, I can see
1:10:52
you being an excellent coach. I can see you motivating people.
1:10:55
Yeah, but when you do this on a regular basis outside of, you
1:10:59
know, your job description per SE, then that's when you get to
1:11:02
see who people really are, you know, and I learned so much from
1:11:06
him, you know, you know, coming in being, you know, new to the
1:11:11
the whole coaching aspect. So, you know, you take the
1:11:14
whole, you know, like you say, new.
1:11:16
Your coaching aspect was football, basketball, track,
1:11:18
things like that. Are you going to coaching
1:11:20
school? Nah, I'm good.
1:11:21
I had a long year. I'm fine.
1:11:22
You know, I'm not going to coaching school.
1:11:24
You know, I'm going to rest, you know our family, you know,
1:11:28
whatever you want to do in the summer.
1:11:29
And then you know, he he was like, coach, you need, you need
1:11:32
to go, man. You need to go to coaching
1:11:34
school. That networking will do you
1:11:36
good. It will be amazing for you.
1:11:39
You'll get to meet more people. You'll get to, you know, the
1:11:43
knowledge, the information. And his favorite word was go to
1:11:46
coaching school and let people bounce ideas off you.
1:11:50
I was like what it was like now speaking about it, that's that's
1:11:55
everything that happened, right, Right.
1:11:57
Everything that happened. And like you say, like I said,
1:12:01
well, Fast forward, rewind, it was that's where it was.
1:12:05
It started there, you know, and then getting there, meeting
1:12:11
people, when I first got there, I was just like the kind of guy
1:12:13
that just I'm just sitting there listening.
1:12:16
Is that right? So you didn't have to evolve
1:12:18
into this. I had to.
1:12:19
I had to because it, it'll sound crazy to say, but I just felt
1:12:24
like being in a, you know, seeing the schools growing up,
1:12:28
like, you know, for me it was like, you know, the West lakes,
1:12:31
you know, the, the, the all of the Houston.
1:12:34
Schools all of the Dallas. The big boys, I'm like, I'm
1:12:38
hearing, you know, and we, we just here, you know, but I'm
1:12:42
just at that point in time, I'm just going here, going there.
1:12:46
And I was really it was myself and Coach Baker that actually
1:12:51
end up going at that point in time.
1:12:54
So, you know, we we go do all things.
1:12:55
He was the athletic director. So he was, you know, doing
1:12:57
different things for me. And I'm just finding, you know,
1:13:00
I'm I'm the new guy. So I'm looking on the in the
1:13:03
book 1 room one O 8, you know, so I'm doing the new guy thing,
1:13:09
you know, and I and I'm making sure I'm hitting all avenues
1:13:12
that I want to cover football, basketball and track.
1:13:15
I'm I'm, you know, I'm at all the meetings and then you get to
1:13:18
see and at that point in time, I wasn't even going to the social
1:13:21
defense because I'm so busy. I'm learning, right, right,
1:13:25
right. I'm not missing a thing, you
1:13:27
know, So come back and you get to see what those guys are doing
1:13:33
and you get to put it in your own, your own way with your
1:13:38
kids. Because I tell people all the
1:13:40
time what I do may not work for you, but I'm going to give you
1:13:44
the information so you can do it and make it your own.
1:13:48
Your sprinting drills may work different from my kids.
1:13:51
My distance drills may be different for your kids.
1:13:55
And I told coach, coach Adams from refereio when he got to
1:14:00
speak last year, you know, I, I'm not going to say he was
1:14:04
nervous, but he was kind of like, you know, just a little
1:14:07
bit. And I said, coach, you have
1:14:09
nothing to be nervous about. Look what you're doing in
1:14:12
sports. I say, man, I don't know.
1:14:15
And coach, he called me, he was like, hey, man, I just want you
1:14:17
to look at my presentation. I say, dude, I don't have to
1:14:21
look at your presentation. I see the product.
1:14:25
Yeah, Yeah, yeah. OK.
1:14:27
But you know what's interesting about that?
1:14:29
I'm with you 100%. And I've had that experience and
1:14:31
honestly, that was some percentage of my motivation to
1:14:35
start the Gill 1918 project. I was like, man, if you're
1:14:38
nervous about staying in front of your peers, I get it.
1:14:40
Start here. This is a pretty easy.
1:14:42
Like, it helps you like, write out a script.
1:14:44
And, you know, I saw you. Yeah.
1:14:45
I loved your picture you sent me and you're writing your notes
1:14:48
and like, OK, I want to keep things in order.
1:14:49
So it helps you like start that and then you can bridge that to,
1:14:52
OK, let me speak at a clinic and things like that.
1:14:55
But what's interesting, you said that where you're like, you
1:14:57
know, coach what? You don't need to show me your
1:14:59
you know, you're good, but yet you had that same mentality when
1:15:04
you're like, I'm at little Hearn, we're just here.
1:15:08
You know, you had the same mentality you had to That's why
1:15:11
insane I was, you know, now and you know, you know, you see me,
1:15:14
I'm on stage and you're doing all my crazy things and this and
1:15:17
that kind of stuff. And, and I love it cuz I'm just,
1:15:19
you know, my motivation is I'm adding value to the guys and
1:15:22
gals that are in the stands. But I that wasn't day one for
1:15:25
me. No way.
1:15:27
I had to build up. Absolutely.
1:15:28
I was like, I'm like, who am I? You know, what am I?
1:15:30
And that's exactly have value to give.
1:15:32
Yeah. And so it's interesting you say
1:15:35
that to him when you had the same mentality.
1:15:37
Oh, 'cause I 'cause. I had to get on this.
1:15:38
You still to this day you can you can you can ask my my Co
1:15:41
worker destiny. To this day I still won't get up
1:15:44
on the stand and I'll do this all day long.
1:15:47
Have you not spoke? Never, dude.
1:15:51
That has to change. Never, bro.
1:15:52
No, seriously. I I I get it, but I've never
1:15:57
done it. Wait, wait, wait, Lewis, how do
1:15:59
you how do you reconcile this in your head?
1:16:02
You're such a smart individual. You have no problem saying, hey,
1:16:07
coach, you don't need to show me your stuff.
1:16:08
You're you're good, but yet you won't hold on.
1:16:11
Now this feels a little. I I know it sounds crazy.
1:16:17
It does. It does.
1:16:18
I I I accept it. OK, that's how you figured it
1:16:22
out. Like I just accepted that's the.
1:16:24
Way you accept it, I accept. It hey, we all need, I'm going
1:16:28
to call you a hype man in the sense we all need that guy
1:16:30
that's behind us going, hey man, I believe in you.
1:16:31
I believe it. You go that's me.
1:16:34
I don't believe in myself. And when coach, when he, when he
1:16:38
got up there and he was setting up his presentation, I think he
1:16:41
had a little no, no, no, no, no, that was coach No.
1:16:45
So when he got there, I told him, I said, dude, I'll be the
1:16:48
first one in the building when you're sitting up.
1:16:50
And he looked down and there I said, I was ready to go, you
1:16:54
know, and like I told him, I said the crazy thing about it is
1:16:56
like, you know, when you get to see your friends speak and you
1:17:01
see what they do, man, I took every note and I told him to
1:17:04
send me everything because there's something that you're
1:17:07
going to get from everybody. You know, you know, I, I, I
1:17:12
won't, you know, if you, if you compare and, and look at
1:17:15
everything, you know, I, I don't have the same athletes that, you
1:17:19
know, the North Shore's the Duncan Field, the Cypress
1:17:22
Springs, I don't have the But what you're doing as value, if
1:17:28
you know, with the information that you're passing on, it adds
1:17:30
value to my program with the athletes that I have and making
1:17:35
them better. You know, it's just something
1:17:37
that I think the biggest thing about coaches speaking and like,
1:17:40
that's why I love what you're doing.
1:17:42
And I've been passing it out there, man.
1:17:43
You got to do this, man, because there's something we can learn
1:17:46
from. I don't care.
1:17:47
How? I don't care what level you're
1:17:50
on, but there's something we can give you.
1:17:52
And you know, a lot of people say, man coach, you love track
1:17:54
and field. And you know, I say, well, you
1:17:56
know the one thing that I can't, I can't.
1:17:58
And I've won medals at the state championship, but I've never
1:18:00
stood on top of that, that podium and held that plaque and
1:18:02
say that I'm a first, second or third, you know, champion in the
1:18:06
state of Texas. But that doesn't that doesn't
1:18:08
kill my passion or purpose for anything that I do.
1:18:10
Because at the end of the day, we're still competitive.
1:18:13
You know, we're competitive. And I Mike, I remember that
1:18:16
feeling when I came home from the state championship and I was
1:18:19
the second going in. I was the second fastest hurdler
1:18:22
in the # hurdles and I can't and I got 5th, but I made it there.
1:18:27
You know, I made it there. You know, you don't always get
1:18:29
to push out your best performance, but you have to be
1:18:33
OK with giving it all you have, you know?
1:18:37
Dude, I feel like this is amazing to me, Louis, because
1:18:41
you know my picture of you in my head, you are this bigger than
1:18:44
life guy. Like you're the you're the party
1:18:47
starter. And I mean that in all positive
1:18:49
way. Like you are, you're so
1:18:50
encouraging. Like, of course you were the
1:18:52
first guy in the building for that other, you know, like that.
1:18:56
That doesn't surprise me. I've been surprised the other
1:18:58
way. If you were like, yeah, I've sat
1:18:59
in the back. Really.
1:18:59
What are you doing? Like that doesn't surprise me
1:19:03
that you haven't. I feel like I like, I need to
1:19:06
make this a mission. I need to get you on stage in
1:19:09
some form or fashion, dude. Yes, Because what you're saying,
1:19:16
you know, you say you haven't won, you know, the team title
1:19:18
and all that kind of stuff. But those coaches who win team
1:19:20
titles, they're awesome. They're not better than the
1:19:23
coaches who haven't. Right you.
1:19:26
As a person is first and foremost are awesome.
1:19:28
It's kind of like that what I said, you know, you, you correct
1:19:30
the role and you praise the individual.
1:19:32
The individual is still a 10 out of 10 man.
1:19:34
You're still an awesome person because we forget and I think I
1:19:38
think we do it. It's more so in track and field.
1:19:40
I think we're we're bigger victims, self victims of this.
1:19:44
We forget that winning is hard. I'm not talking about little
1:19:48
HARD capital H, capital A, capital R And I think we forget
1:19:52
it in track because, you know, there's, you know, 20 some
1:19:54
events for the boys, 20 some events for the girls, whatever.
1:19:56
And so every meet we go to, there's a one of the 101 of the
1:19:59
mile and one of the discus and maybe there's a team title
1:20:01
winner and we forget like like when those guys and gals that do
1:20:04
lead their teams to win the state title in Texas or any
1:20:07
state. That's hard and there were so
1:20:10
many things that you obviously they prepared and they did you
1:20:12
know, all the things and all that stuff, but they still had
1:20:14
to have luck. We we forget how important luck.
1:20:16
There's still things that they were outside their control that
1:20:19
that had to go right for them, right.
1:20:21
So that doesn't make them a better person because the other
1:20:23
person has one kid at this at the estate meet.
1:20:25
It just means that they did a they had the better talents of
1:20:28
the genetic thing was there, which is again, is not not under
1:20:30
control. They don't have to do with that.
1:20:32
So. You think about you think about
1:20:34
the logistics of everything. Like when you say when like all
1:20:36
coaches you know are important and they do a great job even if
1:20:39
you don't make the state championship.
1:20:40
But think about the, you know, particularly the 100 this year.
1:20:43
Think about the 106 eight this year.
1:20:45
There is a coach. Out there.
1:20:46
That guy, that guy, 8th place with a 10/3 and nobody's going
1:20:50
to talk about it. It has yet to be talked about
1:20:54
and he's an amazing coach. You may go through your entire
1:20:56
life and not coach a 10/3 kid. Yeah, and this guy gets 8th.
1:21:01
His coach and his athlete did an amazing, amazing and nobody's
1:21:05
going to talk about that 10/3. And and because you know, he
1:21:09
gets 8th at 10:30, 10/3, he can't control that.
1:21:12
That guy in front of him ran 98 and the other guy.
1:21:13
Ran 10/10. 60 He can't do so. That doesn't diminish what he
1:21:17
did correct and that doesn't finish what the coach did right.
1:21:20
Any other year, I say any other year, but you know, in most of
1:21:22
the years that might win or be second or third or something.
1:21:24
Like that? Oh yeah.
1:21:25
Oh yeah. No control over that.
1:21:27
So we go to any other control, go to another state in the 10,
1:21:29
three will be a state champion. Oh, by like a mile in some
1:21:31
states, Sure. Yeah.
1:21:32
Right. Right.
1:21:32
Right. Yeah.
1:21:33
Yeah. It's crazy.
1:21:34
It is but like the the but you know, like I just feel like the
1:21:38
first. So I had, I had went to this, I
1:21:41
had developed the, the mindset that going to the state champ
1:21:45
first, first when I got in the track, you know, it's like get
1:21:48
to the state championship. It's the state champion.
1:21:50
Every coach wants to get to the state champion, no matter what
1:21:52
your score is, get to the state championship.
1:21:55
So then when I got to the state championship, it was like, OK,
1:21:57
so then I, you know, I've been there a couple times.
1:21:59
You know, we, I've got a couple medals out of the, you know,
1:22:01
then I do some personal training.
1:22:02
I've got some kids that, you know, they've been there.
1:22:04
And then it's like my, my mind frame and it's probably, you
1:22:08
know, it's probably happened to some other coaches too, probably
1:22:11
in their sport as well, you know, football and basketball.
1:22:13
The first year that I did not make the state championship,
1:22:15
Mike, I was probably one of the most depressed people around.
1:22:20
My mom, my, my wife was like, dude, what is wrong with you,
1:22:25
Mike? I had, I, I thought the mission
1:22:27
was incomplete. I thought I had failed my kids
1:22:31
because we didn't make and that's something that we need to
1:22:33
talk about. You know, I push that because I
1:22:36
know there are other coaches out there that feel like.
1:22:37
That 100%. You know, and, and kids, you
1:22:41
can't, you can't coach it and you can't prepare kids if you
1:22:45
don't prepare for what happens after regionals.
1:22:49
You know, you go to a region where like region 4 for us and
1:22:52
two ways it's it's hard, super hard to get out.
1:22:56
You know, you may run, you know, I've I've done it.
1:22:59
You know, you may run a 40, you know, 43.
1:23:02
We went 43 two this year and we watched the state championship,
1:23:06
you know, and I had to prepare my kids like you're not
1:23:09
listening, man. They can't take away what you
1:23:11
what you've done. You know, you, you you're in one
1:23:14
of the hardest reasons. You're in one of the hardest
1:23:16
states with some of the fastest kids in the nation, and you're
1:23:19
one of them, you know, so we, I think that's something that we
1:23:23
need to, you know, prepare as coaches will there needs to be a
1:23:27
seminar on that. What happens if you don't make
1:23:29
the state championship? What happens if you lose the
1:23:31
state championship? How do you cope?
1:23:33
You know, you know, you cope, you know, walk the kids through
1:23:36
that motion, you know, and like, because we went to the state
1:23:39
championship in basketball and reluctantly, we we played
1:23:42
amazing. We didn't get the winning, but
1:23:44
our kids, you know, some kids were just so beat up that they
1:23:47
were like, man, we should have won that.
1:23:49
No, you competed. You competed to to the best of
1:23:53
your ability. The coaches coach to their best
1:23:56
of their ability. We're, we're, we're, we're still
1:24:00
champions, you know? What you're talking about is
1:24:04
kind of going back to that, you know, correct the role and
1:24:07
praise the, the identity. You're talking about our roles
1:24:10
and we're going to fail at our roles.
1:24:12
You know, you're a, you're a husband, you're a brother,
1:24:15
you're a son, a teacher. There's a lot of different
1:24:17
coaches, There's a lot of friends.
1:24:18
You're a lot, a lot of different roles.
1:24:20
And there are times you have a best friend and I, you know, not
1:24:25
knowing I'm just going to I'd be willing to bet that you have
1:24:29
failed as a friend at least felt like you have failed as a friend
1:24:32
in some form. You know, you weren't there for
1:24:34
your guy or whatever. You know, just life happens,
1:24:36
right? There's times I'm I'm married,
1:24:38
there's times where I'm like, Oh man, I'm not I'm not not doing
1:24:41
very hot in the husband category.
1:24:42
I need to I need to pick my game back up here.
1:24:45
That that's your roles. You those are separate of your
1:24:49
identity, who you are, who made you.
1:24:54
You are a 10A10 no matter how you roles can fail and impact
1:24:58
10. So when we get so when we move
1:25:01
our priorities incorrectly and we move those roles to the tops,
1:25:04
like, oh man, coach is again, I'll say, you know, no bigger
1:25:07
fan and advocate of coaches. And I still think your role as a
1:25:11
coach is maybe your 4th or 5th most important role.
1:25:14
You know, your your husband or your son or daughter.
1:25:17
Those are roles are way more important than coaching.
1:25:19
And yet sometimes to what you're describing there, sometimes we
1:25:22
put that coaching role #1 And so when we don't qualify for state
1:25:26
or when we don't win state or whatever, our kid gets 8th and
1:25:29
runs 10:30 and we're like, Oh well, I failed.
1:25:31
I just terrible depression sets. And you're exactly right.
1:25:35
And we have to remember it's like, Oh no, no, bro, you're,
1:25:37
you're a 10. This didn't go well.
1:25:40
That's cool. You get another shot, but you're
1:25:42
still awesome. That that's why I I work hard
1:25:45
instead of saying like coach and stuff like that, I say, Oh, the
1:25:47
people who chose to be coaches, you're not coach first.
1:25:50
You're Lewis first. Coach is a that's a role.
1:25:54
And and it's weird because it's one of only what, 2, maybe 3
1:25:59
jobs occupations that that title goes with you, right?
1:26:02
So like your, your neighbors might call you coach for crying
1:26:04
out loud. I, I used to be a called coach.
1:26:06
I haven't coached in 20 years. Doctor is another one, right?
1:26:08
You may have a neighbor and you're like, Hey, doc, how you
1:26:09
doing? You know, and maybe maybe pastor
1:26:12
kind of goes with you as well, right?
1:26:14
But I don't call my accountant, you know.
1:26:16
Hey accountant Bob, how you doing?
1:26:18
Right, right. It's a weird thing with coaching
1:26:21
and society that we still, even though as high as it, as a, we
1:26:27
put it on the pedestal of coaches that it's still a role
1:26:30
in the person who is that role that's more important.
1:26:34
No matter what happens in the job, Let's be real here.
1:26:37
It's a job. And I know people are going to
1:26:39
say, oh, it's a passion, Yep, sure.
1:26:40
But it's a job and I want you to get paid way more than you're
1:26:42
getting paid now, but it's still a job.
1:26:45
You, the person is way, way more important and way more valued
1:26:49
than this role over here. So, but I, you know, to your
1:26:53
point though, Lewis, because you said we need to be talking about
1:26:57
this. You're right.
1:26:59
So why aren't you? Yeah.
1:27:00
You see, you put yourself on a trap.
1:27:03
You need to be speaking about this.
1:27:05
You need to share the this experience and these thoughts
1:27:08
and, and and your because you talk to a lot of coaches.
1:27:10
So you you hear these stories, you need to share that.
1:27:13
So that that 23 year old first year coach in Texas who goes to
1:27:17
the TTFCA and like he was like, all right, I don't know what I'm
1:27:19
doing here. I'm in little old whatever town
1:27:22
Canyon. I don't even know what small
1:27:23
towns in Texas. I'm not even supposed to be
1:27:25
here. And he goes, well, I'm going to
1:27:27
go listen to this presentation because it's the only one
1:27:29
available. And he hears like, oh, wait a
1:27:30
minute. So I, I thought I was supposed
1:27:31
to do 24/7 coaching. Wait, this guy's telling me
1:27:33
that, you know, I've got a long career ahead of me and that, you
1:27:36
know what, what I do over here is way more important than what
1:27:39
I do here. And to keep building.
1:27:40
I don't have to be depressed and things like that.
1:27:41
That is important, Louis. And you might be the right
1:27:44
person to to speak on that. Yeah, it's it's it's something
1:27:49
that that that, you know, you look back, you know, we all get
1:27:53
a chance to look back on things and you get to, you know, like
1:27:55
at the end of the year, I always do a self surveillance.
1:27:58
I mean, that's a, you know, recollection on the year.
1:28:01
You know, what could I have done difference, you know, should I
1:28:03
have changed this? Should I change that?
1:28:05
And I think that's one thing that we need to do as coaches is
1:28:07
too, you know, we need to, you know, put things in, you know,
1:28:11
on paper and, and, you know, to teach yourself, you know,
1:28:14
because every year we, we, we live and we learn.
1:28:18
You know, that's one thing that I've learned to accept that we
1:28:22
live and we learn, you know, because, man, like I say, Mike,
1:28:25
it got bad. Like I championship.
1:28:28
I was like, OK, what I do with myself now, you know, I don't, I
1:28:31
don't even know what to do, you know, you know, my coaches, my
1:28:35
coaches that I work with say, well, those little people in
1:28:39
your head are going to get some rest now.
1:28:42
So I mean it it it it it's. Funny because.
1:28:46
Man, we we, you know in our season, we run ourselves ragging
1:28:49
a. 100% little. People in my head, man, they go
1:28:51
crazy. 100% well, Louis, I and you so by the time listener, by
1:28:56
the time you're hearing this episode, Louis has dropped his
1:29:00
Gill 1918 project. I encourage you to go back and
1:29:03
look at that and listen to that. And Louis, I'm going to
1:29:06
encourage you as you know again, you're so intelligent.
1:29:09
You have a lot of thoughts and those little voices are talking
1:29:11
to you. Those people are talking in your
1:29:12
head. Continue exploring that and if
1:29:15
there's other subjects like that that you want to explore through
1:29:18
the Guild 1918 project, please, you know, put pen to paper and,
1:29:21
and record those as well. You're always open to, to have
1:29:24
episodes for that. Because again, I think I, I'm
1:29:27
100% with you that people need to hear that people can learn
1:29:31
from you, just like people can learn from all you guys and gals
1:29:33
that are listening. And so you're, you're encouraged
1:29:35
as well to create Guild 1918 projects.
1:29:37
I was very, you know, I initially thought about starting
1:29:40
the Guild 1918 project as an X's and O's because we don't talk
1:29:43
about that here on the connections episodes.
1:29:45
But then it very quickly was like, well, wait a minute, I
1:29:48
want people to talk about recruiting and culture and heck,
1:29:51
I want somebody who does like really organized uniform
1:29:54
distribution. Cuz you know, we got teams that
1:29:55
are 102 hundred kids out there. Like, well, that's, that's a,
1:29:58
there's a way to do that a little bit better.
1:29:59
I was like, I want that as a topic.
1:30:01
And so I was like, Oh, let's open this up instead of just
1:30:03
being XS and OS. And that's why I started calling
1:30:05
it the Ted talks of track and field podcast.
1:30:08
Like, Oh, there's, there's much more like there's really no off
1:30:10
topic on that. So, so I encourage you for that,
1:30:13
Lewis, I want to swim the little bit of rest of our time here,
1:30:16
something that we were talking about during our pre recording
1:30:19
here. You know, I almost called the
1:30:22
the podcast, the Mythbusters podcast.
1:30:24
And you know, one of the things that comes up in conversation
1:30:28
and social and if it's coming up in social, you know, I know we'd
1:30:30
like to make this distinction between social and like, you
1:30:33
know, at the track or at the coffee shop conversations, but
1:30:36
those conversations are tied together what you're saying on
1:30:39
social media, you were saying to other coaches and and the
1:30:42
network and stuff like that. So a conversation that comes up
1:30:47
that I hear and it's typically from like a club or a college
1:30:50
coach and you know, and I understand where it's coming
1:30:53
from. They're they're frustrated maybe
1:30:55
with they go to a meet or a team in high school and they see that
1:30:58
maybe the coach doesn't isn't to where they they think they
1:31:02
should be educational. You know, they're maybe they're
1:31:05
not coaching the hurdles they way they wanted to coach or they
1:31:08
think it should be coach or the long jump or the trouble jump
1:31:10
and and whatnot. And so, you know, I've heard
1:31:12
remarks of where they'll say, Oh, you know, that high school
1:31:14
coach. There's just no excuse today
1:31:17
with the easy access of coaching education, there's no excuse for
1:31:22
a teacher who's a coach to not know how to coach XYZ events.
1:31:26
You can go to all these great clinics, TTFCA, the T, the
1:31:29
THSCA. Gosh, I can go on YouTube right
1:31:32
now and find plenty of of things.
1:31:34
There's Altis, there's USATF, there's USTFCA, million things
1:31:38
in between that that are going on there.
1:31:40
And, you know, and, and, you know, when I first heard that
1:31:45
kind of statement, I was kind of like, yeah, it's true.
1:31:47
Why, you know, you can go find how to coach anything now that
1:31:50
you know, and coach it well. And then I'm reminded of like,
1:31:53
oh, wait a minute, these coaches that are teachers that are in
1:31:57
the the schools, you know, from school bell starts to school
1:32:02
bill ends. And then for teachers who, you
1:32:04
know, grade work, like, oh, there's there's more going on
1:32:07
here. You're doing so much other
1:32:09
things and you know, Lewis, you reminded me, you know, I think
1:32:12
of you know, I think of teachers specifically and partly because
1:32:15
my wife is a long term sub. So I see a little bit more first
1:32:17
hand, but there's guys like you. What I'm kind of getting at is
1:32:21
can you explain kind of like like your average day and you're
1:32:25
a guy who goes above and you are at all the class things like
1:32:27
this. But you go through a lot in your
1:32:32
role. And while you certainly identify
1:32:35
as a track coach and a football coach, that actually is about
1:32:39
this bit. You know, I'm for you guys
1:32:41
aren't watching YouTube, like very small gap between my
1:32:44
fingers here. Maybe 5% of his day is actually
1:32:48
the coaching, the thing that you want to do being on the track
1:32:50
with her. There's or being on the field
1:32:51
with receivers or whatnot. You have all this other stuff,
1:32:55
really serious stuff by the way, that you have to do.
1:33:00
And that has to be your your main focus first.
1:33:03
Can you talk us through kind of like, I don't necessarily want
1:33:05
to say an average day, but help us understand why you aren't
1:33:09
able to just watch YouTube all day on how to coach hurdlers and
1:33:12
and go fly to this clinic. There's other things that are
1:33:14
prioritized for you. Can you help us understand that
1:33:16
a little bit more? Yes, Sir.
1:33:17
So just, you know, just to touch on that a little bit, you know,
1:33:21
being an educator and and coaches, you know, we talked
1:33:23
about it and a lot of coaches probably going to agree that,
1:33:26
you know, whatever your role is, you probably so so you probably
1:33:29
don't get the time. You, you know, you prefer to get
1:33:31
on a you would love to have. You know, my role is I'm a, I'm
1:33:36
a teacher and behavior interventionist on my campus at
1:33:39
Hern high. So first and foremost, do the
1:33:42
behaviors are the most important thing, you know, and when I say
1:33:45
behaviors that that doesn't mean negative or bad.
1:33:47
That means that, you know, that's, you know, if a kid is
1:33:50
not in class or a kid is, you know, talking in class, just
1:33:53
interrupting the educational setting or needs to be removed
1:33:56
or, you know, replaced or whatnot.
1:33:58
You know, those are the things that that I have to touch on
1:34:01
before I ever even get a, you know, in our school, before I
1:34:04
say get to the athletic department, you know, we don't
1:34:07
even, you know, I don't, I don't even get to get down there as
1:34:10
much as I have because I have so many other responsibilities that
1:34:13
go on. You know, especially if you
1:34:14
know, if you look at, you know, the, the teachers that are in
1:34:18
tested subjects, you know, those, those that's, that's time
1:34:22
consuming. So, you know, so detrimental
1:34:26
that, you know, those kids have to pass those, those testings,
1:34:29
those testing scores. And you're the one that's, you
1:34:32
know, you have to make sure that they're prepared for those
1:34:35
tests. You know, when it comes to the
1:34:36
star test. So around that point in time, if
1:34:38
you're a track coach, man, you, your preparation is through the
1:34:41
roof, you know, and you know, and it's just, you know, if, if
1:34:45
you get into a situation where kids are not where they need to
1:34:48
be, why are they not where they need to be?
1:34:50
That's more time implemented into your classroom.
1:34:53
You know, then you're, you're, you come through and you know,
1:34:56
you're graded on a certain level as well too.
1:34:59
You know, when your, your principal comes through and do
1:35:01
their observation, you have to be where you need to be in your
1:35:04
classroom. You know, you have to have
1:35:05
classroom management. You know, you have to have kids
1:35:07
that are passing, You know, you have to have kids that you know,
1:35:10
are ready to to move to the next, you know, the next grade.
1:35:13
And then if the senior year, then we need to do why is this
1:35:16
kid not prepared to graduate? What is he missing?
1:35:19
And you're you know, it's so many things that we as teachers
1:35:24
before we get to our coaching aspect, our coaching
1:35:27
responsibilities, like me, I probably won't touch the
1:35:30
athletic. I may get to touch my athletic
1:35:33
period maybe twice a week, if that because of that.
1:35:37
And it's after school, you know, where somebody else may have
1:35:40
athletics where they get to work on components, you know, blocks,
1:35:44
hurdles, relays. And then after school that's
1:35:48
extra. Don't get that, you know, and
1:35:51
that's not to say that we don't want to or, you know, it's just
1:35:54
it's time consuming. And then, you know, you look at
1:35:58
other schools where the kids a baseball player, you know, she's
1:36:02
a softball player and then she's still running tracks.
1:36:05
She's playing tennis, he's playing golf.
1:36:07
I mean, it's it. So you're not getting that time.
1:36:10
You know, yes, resources are there, but it's still a time
1:36:13
component of everything that goes on.
1:36:15
It has to be put together as well as the education.
1:36:18
You know, coaches, you know, when I was in Rockdale, you
1:36:21
know, Coach Miller, who I learned a great deal from, he
1:36:24
said, man, you know, buy your time, You know, make sure these
1:36:27
kids are equally at their best in every sport, but even better
1:36:31
in their educational aspect. But they still got homework to
1:36:34
do, you know, so they're there to eat supper and do education
1:36:39
and come back and be able to do it all over again.
1:36:41
So you have to buy your time, you know, So it's, it's a lot
1:36:45
that goes on with education. It's just not about the
1:36:47
resources, you know. Yeah, that that's reminded me
1:36:49
of, you know, and I said to you before, and I say it probably
1:36:52
every podcast where I say 99% of your kids, you know, for the
1:36:56
college guys and guys, I'll say 99% of your kids aren't going to
1:36:58
go probe. And for the high school guys, I
1:37:00
say, yeah, honestly 99%. I think 7% of kids go with the
1:37:03
competing NCAA overall. So let's say 93% of your kids on
1:37:08
average are not going to go on to college athletic, college
1:37:10
athletics, but 100% of them are going to go to college, college
1:37:14
or trade school or straight in. And so that that component has
1:37:18
to be prioritized over track in the perfect.
1:37:22
I don't know if this would actually be the perfect world,
1:37:25
but I'll say it that way because you'll understand my example
1:37:27
here. In the perfect world, sure, you
1:37:29
would always be on the track and then we wouldn't have to worry
1:37:31
about English and we wouldn't have to worry about discipline
1:37:33
and we wouldn't have to worry about stars and all that kind of
1:37:35
stuff. We just be on there and doing
1:37:36
our craft and having a good time because we enjoy it.
1:37:39
But in reality, that's that may be gone senior year.
1:37:42
You don't even most of them are going to even do it after senior
1:37:45
year. So, but they will be utilizing
1:37:46
the skills of the leadership and the academics and discipline
1:37:50
that's going on 97% of the time. You know, it's it just amazes
1:37:55
me. It's a little bit of, well, it's
1:37:57
judgmental. First of all, when someone says,
1:37:58
Hey, Louis, how come your kids don't know how to finish in the
1:38:03
hurdles or whatever, That's not true.
1:38:04
I'm just making up something. How how come you haven't gone to
1:38:07
a clinic or called this person And it's like, dude, why are you
1:38:11
judging me? First of all, because first of
1:38:13
all, you know, what is it? He without saying cast the first
1:38:16
notes like so you're perfect. That that's kind of what you're
1:38:18
saying, by the way, is that you're perfect.
1:38:20
So you can start pointing out what Lewis is doing wrong, which
1:38:23
we know is not true. Every coach from the mouses, Pat
1:38:27
Henry's, etcetera, Dennis Shavers, They all have things to
1:38:29
improve upon, even at their agent stage of coaching for cry
1:38:32
out loud. So I, I just really like push
1:38:34
back on those. Thank God it's a small amount.
1:38:38
It's not the majority of our coaching community.
1:38:40
I, I really push back of those guys and gals that are like,
1:38:42
man, those high school coaches, why don't they do X?
1:38:45
Why don't they do Y? And it's like, well, you must
1:38:47
never have been a high school teacher because, yeah, no
1:38:49
understanding of what's going on in their life.
1:38:51
And track, we'd love for track to be the majority of their
1:38:53
life. Guess what?
1:38:54
It's this much. And, and those things are super,
1:38:56
super important. You get those kids that you
1:38:59
know, you want to talk to them about, you know, I had one, one
1:39:01
of my sprinters, man, she definitely could have went on
1:39:03
and ran College in the next, you know, on the next level.
1:39:05
And you're prepared to go talk to the coaches, get her Ave. and
1:39:08
then, you know, you come in and you have that conversations that
1:39:10
coach. I'm done with running.
1:39:11
Yeah, I'm done. And then they're going to be a
1:39:13
successful person in college. Right, that happens.
1:39:16
And, and you're, you're super stoked about it and you know, if
1:39:20
you don't push them in the educational aspect just as well
1:39:22
as you're pushing an athletic standpoint, it's, you know, it's
1:39:25
not fair. In that example, I love that
1:39:27
example, if if you're upset or disappointed in that individual
1:39:32
who decides I'm not going to do track and yes, I understand I
1:39:35
could probably go into college, but I want to go do XY and Z.
1:39:37
If you're disappointed in them or angry or whatever, that's an
1:39:41
ego thing because that's about you.
1:39:42
That's you wanting that when he in this example, it's like,
1:39:46
that's not what would make me happy, that make you happy.
1:39:49
But is this about me or you teacher, coach, you know, so
1:39:53
you've got to be understanding that what your passions are
1:39:56
aren't the other people's passions.
1:39:57
You're just a conduit for those who do have the same passions.
1:40:00
Great, I hope you guys mesh up and work together in the path,
1:40:03
but there are so many other avenues that are just as in, you
1:40:06
know, let's be real here, as we're all track fans.
1:40:08
We love track and think it's extremely important, but it
1:40:10
ain't the most important thing in the world.
1:40:12
There's other, you know, doctors are, I'll say are way more
1:40:15
important. It's a track athlete, you know,
1:40:17
being a track athlete and stuff. So, so thanks for that, man.
1:40:21
I just, you know, one of the, you know, I said we almost
1:40:26
called the podcast the Mythbusters, but we very
1:40:29
intentionally called it connections because we, we
1:40:31
wanted one to uplift and honor the guests that join us here.
1:40:34
But we wanted to, to, to kind of bridge the gap between these
1:40:37
different set. We're we're one of the, I don't
1:40:39
know if it's like this in other sports.
1:40:41
Maybe you can, you know, you're in other sports, you're in
1:40:43
football and stuff. So maybe maybe you can actually,
1:40:45
you know, I do want to, I want to ask this of you.
1:40:47
So in track, it feels like we are all in our own pot.
1:40:51
We're under this track and field umbrella, but we have officials
1:40:54
over here. We have high school coaches over
1:40:56
here. We have club coaches over here,
1:40:58
we have Sprint coaches over here.
1:41:00
We have like, we're all in these.
1:41:01
You may be in more than one pod, but we're all potted up.
1:41:05
And it feels like, I don't know if I want to say majority
1:41:08
because it's probably not, but a decent number are either jealous
1:41:13
or angry at the other pods. Like oh, those officials, they
1:41:17
screwed up, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, well, you know,
1:41:19
if you didn't have officials be hard to have a meet by the way,
1:41:22
and all those Sprint coaches, blah, blah.
1:41:23
It's like, well, you know, missus distance coach, if we
1:41:25
didn't have sprinters, we wouldn't have a full team.
1:41:27
Like, you know, we all are. We're all under the same
1:41:29
umbrella. Do we have that in other like in
1:41:31
football? Do the do the do the offensive
1:41:33
guys? I don't want to say make fun of
1:41:35
it. Are they angry at the defensive
1:41:36
guys? And are the are the lineman mad
1:41:40
at the DB? Like is it like that?
1:41:42
And we're all mad at well, we're probably all mad at football
1:41:44
referees. I assume that's the truth.
1:41:46
Is it like that in football? Not not, I haven't experienced
1:41:52
it a whole lot. I mean, it's, it's I've seen
1:41:56
because we spend so much time together in football, you know,
1:42:01
your day in day outs, weekends and what not as coaches and
1:42:04
stuff. It's just like I just, I just
1:42:06
haven't experienced that football, you know, you know,
1:42:08
just cut it short. But it's because there's,
1:42:11
there's a lot of, you know, time consuming from, you know, early,
1:42:14
late summer, you know, and what have you.
1:42:17
The season goes right till December.
1:42:19
But but we have that in track. Yeah.
1:42:22
And, and I'm actually putting a little bit of words because I'm
1:42:23
actually saying, you know, you are seeing that in track and
1:42:26
field. I'm that that's what I see in
1:42:27
track and field. So I'm not putting those words
1:42:29
in your mouth, But we do that in track.
1:42:30
We're together a lot. And we're, you know, it's a long
1:42:32
season. Gosh, some of us do a 365.
1:42:34
And as athletes and coaches, it just seems like like.
1:42:38
So anyway, what I was really getting at is that's what we
1:42:40
wanted to do with the podcast was to help bring that together.
1:42:43
And that's what we're also really working hard on the Gil
1:42:44
1918 project. That's why like I've invited
1:42:47
officials like, hey, come on and do an episode of why coaches
1:42:50
should be certified. But let's we shouldn't be at
1:42:53
each other's throats. We should be working together
1:42:55
for the common good. And it seems like we we don't
1:42:59
necessarily work for the common good.
1:43:00
We work for whatever our pods good is.
1:43:03
Yeah, it's what, you know, just to speak on that man just puts a
1:43:06
little, you know, togetherness. I just the only thing that I've
1:43:10
seen in track that I wish you know could be better is and you
1:43:16
probably heard about it too. It's like the the the the
1:43:19
trainers and the coaches. You know, the outside.
1:43:23
When you say trainers, you're talking about the club coaches.
1:43:24
Well, well, yeah. Well, not Even so much.
1:43:26
Club coaches. Personal trainers.
1:43:28
Oh, OK, OK, OK. You know, personal trainers and
1:43:31
and and coaches and club coaches because it's all going to come
1:43:33
together. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:43:34
Yeah, you know, like even, you know, even me, I, you know, I
1:43:37
have my own personal training company that I run, but it's,
1:43:41
it's a, it's a gravitated effort with the coach, what they're
1:43:47
doing in practice, communication, you know, just,
1:43:51
hey, look, I, I got a kid that's coming and wants to come over
1:43:54
here. I want, you know, I'd love to
1:43:56
have your blessing, but this is what we're doing.
1:43:58
I'd love to know what you do during practice so we won't
1:44:01
double dip because at the end of the day, we want the kid to be
1:44:04
at their best. You know, I've had a lot of
1:44:06
success with, you know, me being a personal trainer outside of,
1:44:09
you know, my, my, my coaching at school because I just I make the
1:44:12
effort to communicate on a professional level.
1:44:15
So there won't be any negative aspects or so the kid, the
1:44:20
parent, other high school coach, because I never want a coach to
1:44:24
feel like what he's doing is not enough or what he's doing is not
1:44:28
good enough per SE, as people say.
1:44:30
Because, you know, I had one coach that was like, look, I
1:44:34
don't know what you know, I'm not afraid to say that, you
1:44:37
know, and I think sometimes we get eager to school about the
1:44:39
things we say and we don't want. To 100%.
1:44:41
That's the word. It's just it's, you know, Coach
1:44:46
Jones, my jump coach at she says it's OK to be good at what
1:44:50
you're good and be OK with that. Because if I if I don't know and
1:44:56
I and I, there's a better person.
1:44:58
Right, I don't. I don't have pride, you know,
1:45:01
You know. Hey man, get it?
1:45:03
Yeah, that, that's the one that bugs me the most is I'm going to
1:45:06
say club coaches, but you know, club coaches and high school
1:45:09
coaches and, and, and there's not a there's not a culprit.
1:45:13
And what I mean by that is it's not like, oh, all the club
1:45:16
coaches, guys and gals, you need to, you need to check yourself.
1:45:19
And it's not oh, all the high school coaches, you guys and
1:45:22
gals, you need to check yourself.
1:45:23
It's it's a mixture of both. I've seen what's interesting to
1:45:27
me is, you know, I think if I asked 100 coaches, track
1:45:31
coaches, hey, do you do it for the kids?
1:45:34
I think 100, maybe 99 would say, yeah, I do it for the kids, like
1:45:37
what's best for the kids. And then they'll do something
1:45:40
that it's not best for the kid. And it's like, wait a minute, I
1:45:43
thought for the kids. That's actually kind of my, my
1:45:46
philosophy about the transfer portal and, and the kids
1:45:50
transferring. And again, I know the coaches,
1:45:51
you know, their jobs on the line for things like that.
1:45:53
But I'm like, you know, if it's best for that kid to to
1:45:56
transfer, can you get into it for the best for the kid?
1:45:59
Maybe you're up to the best for the kid and we internalize it.
1:46:02
Yeah. Yeah.
1:46:02
And it's internal look. At it like that too man I like
1:46:05
yeah you get a kid that's in your program if you don't know
1:46:08
and if the kid is scared of work and he's don't Rep 4 or whatnot
1:46:11
he's never I. Think we use that as the
1:46:12
boogeyman though. Yeah, Meaning I think that
1:46:15
exists, but whatever. Thousands of kids are in the
1:46:18
transfer port right now. I seriously doubt a majority of
1:46:23
them are running because they got mad at the coach cuz he
1:46:26
yelled and yelled him or she made him do mild repeat
1:46:28
whatever. I you know, you know young
1:46:31
people. Yeah, man, I see young people
1:46:34
every day, all day. I see what they're posting on
1:46:36
social. I see how they act at track
1:46:39
meets. I see the news and I'm like,
1:46:41
dude, the majority of young people are super solid, smart,
1:46:47
like, thank God we're good in the next 1020, thirty years when
1:46:50
they become adults, like they're going to be great members of
1:46:52
society. Now we see on news and media and
1:46:56
all that kind of in our smartphones.
1:46:58
And so therefore social media post, we see the bad actions,
1:47:02
not bad people, they're good. They're they're sorry to
1:47:04
disappoint you. People who do bad things are
1:47:06
good people. They do bad things.
1:47:08
We see that and we go, oh, all kids, all kids are just and it's
1:47:13
like, bro, first of all, what a negative outlook in life.
1:47:17
But it's like, no, kids are good.
1:47:18
And so I think the vast majority of those kids in the transfer
1:47:21
portal, they're transferring for what?
1:47:23
It doesn't matter. It's not my life.
1:47:25
Whatever their reasons are, maybe they want to get closer to
1:47:27
home. Maybe they want to get paid
1:47:28
more. You know, we're paying athletes
1:47:29
not so we get paid more. We just had, you know, this week
1:47:33
that we're recording here. Jackson Cantwell, Christian
1:47:35
Cantwell, son, the number one. Have you heard about this?
1:47:39
So Jackson can do you know who Jackson you know Christian
1:47:41
Cantwell is? Or was, I guess I should say.
1:47:44
Now remind me real quick. Yeah, no worries.
1:47:46
Christian Cantwell was many, many time Olympic shop putter
1:47:49
for us. Oh yeah.
1:47:49
Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. I'm.
1:47:50
Sorry, yeah, yeah, all good. His son Jackson and I can't I
1:47:53
want to say Terry, yeah, Terry Cantwell, who also was AI think
1:47:57
she went to Nebraska big time stud, probably made Olympic
1:47:59
teams in the shop. But I mean, they're just, you
1:48:01
know, you, you, you put those two together and you're like,
1:48:03
God, let me see that kid. You know, genetics, right and
1:48:05
supreme, right? So Jackson is like 6 foot five.
1:48:09
He he's the number one. He's either the number one rated
1:48:12
recruit for football or he's the number one rated offensive
1:48:15
lineman. Either way, I think he's the
1:48:16
number one recruit, but he's also like a 70 something foot
1:48:21
shot putter and probably 200 foot discus.
1:48:23
So he's also like, if he didn't play football, he would still be
1:48:25
a full ride wherever he wants to go, right.
1:48:27
So he, he finally makes, you know, of course he's got he, he
1:48:31
can choose any College in the world.
1:48:32
So like came down to like Oregon, Georgia, Miami,
1:48:35
Missouri, because that's where his dad went.
1:48:37
I shouldn't say because that's where his dad went, but he's in
1:48:39
Missouri and things like that. And so he just chose Miami and
1:48:44
great, Corey Young's the throws coach there, man.
1:48:46
Corey's going to do a fantastic job with him when he does track
1:48:48
and it's and it came out because this is the day and age where
1:48:51
we're in. He got a two year, $5,000,000 a
1:48:54
year each year deal. And and so there's push back.
1:48:58
There's people like I can't believe.
1:49:00
And it's like, what does it matter?
1:49:02
First of all, this kid seems like one of the most respectful
1:49:05
kids in the world. If you go to Jackson Cantwell's
1:49:09
Twitter, I bet you close to 50% of his tweets are him gassing up
1:49:15
his teammates. Yeah, they got another kid who's
1:49:18
good. He's not 70 foot in the shop
1:49:20
hood, but yeah, he's like a 59 or 65.
1:49:22
He's super good. And most of Jack when, when
1:49:24
Jackson throws super far, most of his tweets are and my
1:49:28
teammate, yeah, Clay Clayton, I think my teammate also threw 60.
1:49:32
I'm so proud to be. And I'm like, bro, I'm throwing
1:49:36
70 feet and I got schools offering me 5 million.
1:49:38
I ain't saying nothing about my teammates.
1:49:39
It's all about me, baby. In this game.
1:49:41
He's still a kid, 1718 year old kid.
1:49:43
He's gassing. And I'm like, what I'm getting
1:49:45
at is, you know, who cares about this?
1:49:47
This is still a good kid. Even all these things that, you
1:49:51
know, he's going to a lot of money now and all this kind of
1:49:53
stuff. He's still a good kid.
1:49:55
It's not the and I'm not saying that kid is going to use the
1:49:58
Tennessee quarterback who went to UCLA as a bad example.
1:50:00
That guy's probably a good kid. I don't know, you know, but he
1:50:03
got to the brunt of the social media world of like, oh, this is
1:50:07
what's wrong with college sports.
1:50:08
It's like, bro, he's going to be gone in four years.
1:50:10
Are you still with the fan or? Not that's the one thing about
1:50:12
the portal that I don't understand is like, I don't, I
1:50:15
don't think there's not one kid. Well, I haven't heard, I don't
1:50:18
think there's not one kid or athlete that goes into the
1:50:20
portal that people have anything positive to say about.
1:50:23
It's automatically, it's automatically a negative aspect,
1:50:26
automatic. You don't know anything about
1:50:28
the kid, what behind the scenes is going on.
1:50:31
You know, his mom might have cancer and he wants to get
1:50:33
closer to mom, you know, I don't care if the dog is, you know,
1:50:37
you know, but there's always a negative aspect behind the kid.
1:50:41
Because we judge. We're judgement first foremost.
1:50:44
Yep. Amen.
1:50:47
It's crazy, man I, I, I just wish more people instead of
1:50:51
pointing fingers would realize like, you know, if I just worked
1:50:52
on myself, we'd all be pretty good.
1:50:55
And again, there's still going to be people who do bad things.
1:50:58
I get that. But let's not just go into the
1:51:00
assumption like, oh, every kid who's transferring that they did
1:51:03
that coach was too hard on them. And so they're running and it's
1:51:06
like now. And by the way, that is true,
1:51:08
right? I'm, I'm certain there's some
1:51:10
kids in the transfer portal that are like, man, coach, coach was
1:51:12
dogging me and so I'm going to leave.
1:51:14
Well, you know what that kid needs to learn.
1:51:15
Maybe they go to another school that they I think the coach
1:51:17
isn't going to dog them or whatever they call dogging and
1:51:21
they do. And it's like, oh crap, maybe I
1:51:22
need a change. Like maybe that's what the kid
1:51:23
needs. Remember, I think you are you
1:51:26
are where you're supposed to be at that moment.
1:51:28
So maybe that kid is supposed to be in another school and
1:51:30
realize, ah, crap, maybe I did have it pretty good over there.
1:51:32
A lot better. You think about it like some of
1:51:34
the kids transfer and they end up right where they need to be.
1:51:37
That's what I'm saying, Yeah, it.
1:51:38
Happened. It really does happen.
1:51:40
You know the most important word you said in that sentence?
1:51:42
We are still talking about kids. We are still talking about 18 to
1:51:47
22 year old. You're still a kid.
1:51:49
I'm sorry. You know, we're in the 40s on my
1:51:51
friend. We're still making mistakes,
1:51:53
right? Maybe not you, Louis, but I'm
1:51:56
still making mistakes, Louis. You know, you and I, this is
1:52:01
what I was excited about you and I could riff on this stuff for a
1:52:04
long, long time. But our time is up, my friend.
1:52:08
Hey, this is fascinating. This is these kind of interviews
1:52:13
are some of my favorite because you know, almost like the first
1:52:19
half today we did what, you know, what our charter is, if
1:52:22
you will uplift and honor, you know, what we're going through,
1:52:24
how you got to a prayer view and how you got to prayer view.
1:52:27
First of all, that was amazing. Your experience of prayer view.
1:52:29
I mean, that's just again, unbelievable.
1:52:32
So happy that you're here, my friend, Oh my God.
1:52:35
And then what you do as a high school coach for us.
1:52:38
And again, you're you're such a a leader for our coaches.
1:52:41
It just, I'm so impressed and so proud of you for that.
1:52:44
And then we get to talk about real world stuff, stuff that is
1:52:47
going on today. And what's interesting to me is,
1:52:49
you know, I, I kind of realized, you know, so we're recording
1:52:52
this in 2025 and you're probably listening to this in 2025, but
1:52:55
someone right now is listening to this in 2035.
1:52:59
And so they get to hear your story, Louis, and and it's gonna
1:53:02
help them in 2035. And they're gonna either maybe
1:53:05
laugh at us for talking about the transfer portal because
1:53:07
maybe it doesn't even exist in 2035 or they're gonna be
1:53:10
laughing like man, they thought the transfer portal is bad.
1:53:12
Well, the whatever they have in 2035, you guys would you guys
1:53:15
would crumble what we have, you know, so just a lot of Evergreen
1:53:18
things, Evergreen material that I think will continue to will
1:53:21
help people today and will continue to help people.
1:53:24
And I'm just, I'm proud to sit in the seat that I am.
1:53:26
And I'm proud of individuals like you that sit down and are
1:53:29
just so open and, and authentic and humble to share your journey
1:53:32
because I think that is what provides value to those who
1:53:35
listen and who, who will be listening.
1:53:37
So I'm just so really just so grateful for you, my friend.
1:53:42
And so, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you, man.
1:53:44
I'll see you. You'll be at THSCA.
1:53:47
Yes, Sir. Yes, Sir.
1:53:47
You will not be on stage, no Sir, but we're going to work
1:53:51
towards that. Deal.
1:53:55
That's all I can ask for. That's all I can ask for that
1:53:56
that I, I thought you would say no.
1:53:58
So I'm, I'm happy I, I win right there by you saying, OK, deal.
1:54:01
We'll work, work on it could be 10 years from now.
1:54:03
You could be doing 2035 like I said, right, But we'll, we'll
1:54:06
work on it. We'll work on it.
1:54:07
I appreciate that. I appreciate it.
1:54:09
Well, hey, super excited and grateful for you for being here
1:54:12
today. Very exciting.
1:54:14
Grateful for you doing a Guild 1918 project.
1:54:16
Please invite others. You know you did it so others
1:54:19
can do it right and I appreciate.
1:54:20
That hey. Guys and guys, I am super glad
1:54:23
that you guys were here today to listen to this journey as well.
1:54:25
I just I'm just so pleased with the men and women that we have
1:54:30
on the show everyone, whether they're their first year and you
1:54:32
know, I want everybody to know the the the people that I picked
1:54:36
first of all, the goal is to get everybody, but I only get 52 a
1:54:39
year. That's why we did the Guild
1:54:40
1918. I can get you on the show that
1:54:42
way much easier. But the the the guys and gals
1:54:46
that we invite to the show, it's a very like, it's not Willy
1:54:51
nilly. I work hard at trying to find
1:54:54
that coach who it's their first year coaching, their 40th year
1:54:58
coaching. I try to find men, I try to find
1:55:03
women. I try to find white.
1:55:05
I try to find African American. I try to find Hispanic.
1:55:09
I try to find all. I try to find middle school,
1:55:11
high school, college pros club, everything in between because I
1:55:17
think no matter where they are in their stage of their time or
1:55:20
their career, I, I think you can learn something from it.
1:55:23
Because no matter where you are, you're, you're, you're exactly
1:55:24
what I just described. You're in your first year, your
1:55:26
20th year, your wife, your female, you're Hispanic, you're
1:55:29
coaching club, you're coaching high school.
1:55:30
You're listening to that right now.
1:55:32
You can, you can learn from these individuals.
1:55:34
And I'm just so proud of the ones that say yes, because it's,
1:55:38
this is, you know, it's not easy.
1:55:39
This is 2 hours of work and you're, you know, I asked you
1:55:41
some questions, you know, Louis earlier said, I've never been
1:55:44
asked that question before. I, I make you think that's,
1:55:46
that's a skill set that I have as the interviewer.
1:55:48
I'm going to make you think because it's going to help you
1:55:51
help Louis to kind of work through that question and it
1:55:53
helps you listening. So I'm just so glad that you're
1:55:55
here. We're going to keep doing this
1:55:56
every Monday we'll have the long form Guild connections podcast
1:55:59
where we bring men and women from around the country, around
1:56:01
the world at times to uplift and honor their journey.
1:56:04
And then as, as the, as you guys, cuz it's a by coaches for
1:56:08
coaches podcast as you guys create the Gil 1918 projects,
1:56:11
we'll publish those right now. We're on a streak.
1:56:13
I'm so proud of you guys and gals that are doing these Gil
1:56:16
1918 projects. As long as we keep getting them,
1:56:19
we'll keep publishing them. And maybe we're gonna have to
1:56:20
skip a day or two because you don't provide the, the content,
1:56:23
but I'm gonna keep, I'm gonna keep not pressuring you.
1:56:26
I'm gonna keep encouraging you. Your voice matters and that's
1:56:30
important to me. And you know, we talked about
1:56:31
that with Louis as well. And that's why I want, I'm going
1:56:33
to work for the next maybe 10 years to get Louis on stage
1:56:36
because his voice matters. But I want you to participate as
1:56:39
well. So thanks again for being here
1:56:40
today. Join us tomorrow, hopefully for
1:56:41
the Guild Knights and 18 project.
1:56:43
And I just, I just hope you have a blessed day, man.
1:56:46
You deserve it. All right, we'll talk to you
1:56:47
guys soon. Thanks.
1:56:50
The goals to appreciate the coach, the ones that pour people
1:56:53
most every season needs a voice of reason speaking the growth
1:56:57
you got to prep before you carry the load ice coffee to the soul.
1:57:00
For those of us who stay on the go proper handoff to stay in the
1:57:03
zone which you packing for the road.
1:57:05
There's more than one way to go taking those that's paying
1:57:08
you're told it ain't practice if you hurt the Saint Clair.
1:57:10
It can't happen until you listen with both is you can't mentor
1:57:14
without a mentor of experience. You can reinvent those years.
1:57:18
Every plan's got to stand and deliver to and the price
1:57:21
sacrifice can you give up you. It's a choice and a fight, not a
1:57:24
win or lose. It's not a ploy boy device.
1:57:26
Y'all can make more moves. It's not about how to it's all
1:57:29
about why you don't know till you know who you are inside
1:57:32
6,000,000 Waste of time choose none.
1:57:35
So y'all cross finish line. The work ain't done so we learn
1:57:38
from the experts but y'all got to put in the leg work.
1:57:40
Guil athletics use the network. It's all about connections put
1:57:44
together for the profession to where every track coach could be
1:57:47
blessing.