Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / BONUS: USTFCCCA 2023 LIVE: Erik Kramer-Grand Valley State University

Transcript

BONUS: USTFCCCA 2023 LIVE: Erik Kramer-Grand Valley State University · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:00
  Hey gang, you know we like our bonus material.
• 0:02
  So from today all the way through USTF CCA, in celebration
• 0:07
  of our live podcast recording at the convention, we're going to
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  play you last year's clips, each one individual from today all
• 0:15
  the way up until Monday, December 16th when we go live on
• 0:19
  YouTube at 6:00 Eastern Time. Join us if you're at the
• 0:23
  convention, sit down. We're going to be talking about
• 0:26
  your feelings, actions, thoughts about the way the NCAA is
• 0:31
  changing and we're going to make some predictions for next year.
• 0:34
  And every guest that sits down with us will you get a a
• 0:37
  exclusive free gift? So join us December 16th, 6:00
• 0:41
  PM Eastern Time for the Gill Live Connections podcast on
• 0:45
  YouTube and at the USTFCCCA convention.
• 0:48
  Here is bonus material. You know, when you're in this
• 0:53
  business long enough, you, you find friends and.
• 0:55
  Yeah, yeah. Come on, come on, come on.
• 1:00
  You're the you're the ringleader.
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  Cool. Who's next?
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  If you got to, you got to, you got to work the crowd and figure
• 1:09
  out who's going to be next. And, you know, there's a lot of
• 1:11
  a lot of elbows and demand, a lot of demand, a lot of demand.
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  Why don't we start here with our next guest?
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  Appreciate him being here. Introduce yourself.
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  For me to speak up for you, Brian Ruggles and the head.
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  Boys track and. Field and cross country coach at
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  North Oldham High School, which is in Goshen, KY, which is
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  basically Louisville, KY. And Brian, you know, if I were
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  to. Pull 100.
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  Coaches that walked by here tonight, 97 of them were going
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  to be a college coach. I've always thought that this
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  opportunity is maybe greater for high school coaches for a lot of
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  fellow educational reasons, but networking reasons, etcetera.
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  What are you doing here this year?
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  Two main reasons first first and foremost is education.
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  So I took the Sprint circles and Greenland class of the 1st 2:00
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  with Tommy and Vince and Cable. And then I'm also also possibly
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  or we're probably looking to. Make a transition to college
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  coaches. So, you know, just hoping to
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  meet some people and learn some things about college coaching,
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  how to start and everything like that.
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  So I figured probably no better. Place to.
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  Be. Meeting of hundreds.
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  Of college coaches, yeah. When they're not at the tracks,
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  just about their athletes. Exactly, exactly.
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  And obviously there's a lot of great seminars and things that
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  are out there. So also they'll be learning as
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  that's going on, so. And and why you know, you've
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  been to high school coach for a long time doing a really, really
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  fantastic job. Why the idea of going on to
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  coaching the college? Which is kind of the next
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  progression of, you know, learning.
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  You know, I'd love to go to a place obviously where I can
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  provide value and also to learn, you know, I'm mostly a running
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  pitch. And so a lot of times as a high
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  school coach, it's hard I can't do.
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  Everything. And so I focus and try to make
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  sure that I don't do myself too much and I've got some good
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  assistant coaches that down on most of the field events and so.
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  Really good coaches have. Really good.
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  Exactly. And so it'd be nice to kind of
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  stay, take a step back in that manner and be able to kind of be
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  off to the side a little bit. So then also, I have four boys
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  and my youngest boy is a senior in high school this year.
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  So as far as when the time makes.
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  Transition. This is probably the time and
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  I've been doing this for I've been in for nine years.
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  So it sounds like you're describing like a mid life
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  crisis, but this is a good mid life prices better than going to
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  buy the expensive car that you really shouldn't be buying or,
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  you know, picking up gambling or whatever.
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  This is like a healthy mid life. Yeah, I want to advance.
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  I think if yeah, I think if you could give my wife a list.
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  So I have to assume, you know,
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  you've got like Tipperary of the USTCA, all the different right
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  there. And you can't, I'm going to give
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  you a little bit of a rule. You can't say the one you've
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  already done with the kitchen education.
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  There was some top meeting or a bit Hall of Fame that I mean,
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  that you were like, I'm not missing this.
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  This is the one thing I'm not missing besides sitting down
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  here in the good connection. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  Besides this. The one thing you're like, I'm
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  not. Missing OK.
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  I would say probably. Who's got 2?
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  Thoughts. And I'm probably, I'd probably
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  have to say that, but maybe the Bowerman.
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  Is yeah, yeah. So have you studied the the
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  three candidates for the Bowerman?
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  I'll be honest with you, I have not.
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  OK, so. I can't.
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  I can't handicap, yeah. OK, I can't.
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  Handicap. It's gonna put you in a spot who
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  who you thought might win Yeah it's it's like impossible by the
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  way. Yeah.
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  I mean, really, it's all six. The three guys and three women
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  are just, I mean, just nuts. Of course they're win.
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  Whoever wins, like of course, but of course another person,
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  right? It's amazing.
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  Well on the level of the times and marks that are coming out of
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  college recently are insane so. Wait a minute and you want to
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  get up in that mix. Hey, you know you and those
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  higher butt you know and why doesn't?
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  Dress your mixed diamonds. Dress your.
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  Mixed diamonds. Right, we have a little fun
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  here. I've got 100 random, and I mean
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  they're random questions here. You get to pick the number 33.
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  Why 33? Why?
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  Why? Why?
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  Didn't, oh, I don't know, it's. A third.
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  It's a third. Of 100.
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  All right, I love rainbows. What's your favorite color?
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  My. Favorite color?
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  Oh man, I will go with red. Is that right?
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  Not. Because it's you around right
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  now. Because it's.
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  You know, I don't know. That's just what comes.
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  You know, it's just one of those things like I probably decided
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  maybe I wanted to be a. Firefighter.
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  Yeah, so. I don't know.
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  Red's my favorite cover as well and for being on the show
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  tonight and only people who are on the show, it's not a
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  convention giveaway. It's only the people that
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  actually you've got an exclusive custom Guild connections podcast
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  Christmas for your treat today this year.
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  All right. Thank.
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  You for being here, man. Hey, if there is someone that
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  you are just just burning to meet that you knows here and I
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  can help you by making introduction.
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  There's a reason why it's the Guild Connections podcast.
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  You reach out and I'll do everything in my time.
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  I will do that. I read.
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  Thanks, man. Appreciate it, Sir.
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  It's awesome. I'm telling you, you know, high
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  school coaches need to be at this convention next year.
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  I'm 100% sure that it's in Orlando.
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  And so I would hope to see a bunch of coaches in the Florida
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  area, but really across the country.
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  I know it's a tough time with where it is with the holidays
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  and Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, but where's a better
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  place to go than Orlando, right? Because you go to Disney, bring
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  your family, spouses, etcetera. So Speaking of mouses, we have
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  our next guest already lined up here ready to go.
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  See, it's all about the transitions.
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  That's that's why I get paid the big podcasting bucks here.
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  Speak up loudly and introduce yourself.
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  Eric Kramer, the Sprint circles coach at Grand Valley State
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  University. And Eric, I have known you since
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  you were How old? Freshman in high school.
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  At least I don't get to kind of have to say like, you know, I
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  changed your Bible. Like, at least you were in high
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  school. Yeah.
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  Yeah. And you know, your most positive
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  quality and you've got many. Well, your most positive is your
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  wife. Yes.
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  Real honest with you, but your second one is your resilience
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  that, you know, I worked with you in some camps and things
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  like that, and yet you still kept going in the track.
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  You went in the coaching track and field, didn't let me deter
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  that. So you're obviously a very
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  strong young man. Thank.
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  You. Yeah, Eric, Grand Valley State,
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  which is awesome because we have a a new teammate that started
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  this year. He's a Grand Valley State alone
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  as well. Talk to me about, you know,
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  you've been in a couple different programs, you've done
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  very well at each one. What makes Grand Valley just a
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  little different? You know it.
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  It's one of the things is our head coach, Jerry Baltus.
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  You. Know, and it's, it's easy to
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  say, you know, hey, it's my boss.
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  I better kiss his butt a little bit.
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  But my boss is great too. But the reality of it is that
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  the thing that he does very well is he allows his coaches in
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  their event groups to be kind of like head coaches within their
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  event. And.
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  So I get to do whatever I want to do with my Sprint group if I
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  want to go to a certain meet, as long as it's OK in the budget.
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  He'll approve it. If he think if I think that it's
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  going to be what's best for my sprinters or hurdlers, he's
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  going to be OK with it. I just have to arrange
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  everything. But what he allows us to be our
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  own people and be the be our own coach and just as long as it
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  fits within the major umbrella of what his vision of the.
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  Program is. We're good to do whatever we
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  want to do now. Grand Valley has had a lot, has
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  a lot of good coaches there now and has had a lot of good
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  coaches. And I mean, there's just, you
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  know, you know, I love you. So this is a serious question
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  this time. What do you think was the reason
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  he hired you? The reason I say that is I have
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  to assume a guy like JB had a program like Grand Valley had a
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  lot of options. And, and I don't even want to
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  call it. Luckily you got it because you
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  earn and deserve it. What do you think was the
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  defining quality that he was like, oh, this is my guy, I
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  think. It may have been two things.
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  One was my history with I. I had met Jerry and Lou, the
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  early 2000 tens, when I was doing my graduate work.
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  We were in the same conference and my sprinters.
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  Were. Eating their sprinters and I
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  think they that was what kind of maybe put me on their radar.
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  And then when I was at UW Milwaukee, we would bring our
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  sprinters over for the big meat and would run and did very well
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  there and we had a lot of success.
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  And so I think that was being able to have that connection and
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  and having conversations with them just.
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  As a peer. Coach and getting advice and you
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  know, the, the ability to just walk up to them and so
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  personable. All of the staff there.
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  I knew right away when the position came open that I wanted
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  the job because I knew how how going the coaches were how.
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  Personable they were, how much supportive they were.
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  For me, and I knew they were going to be that way for their
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  athletes as well. And the second being my wife is
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  the head coach at Calvin University.
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  It's her alma mater. We're going to be there for a
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  while, I hope. And so the the idea would be
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  that there would be some continuity with if they bring me
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  in, I'm going to be there for a while.
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  You're not bolting right next attractive.
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  Job I'm not looking to go to the next new one job in the next
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  position somewhere else. My my alma mater is closed, so I
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  have no desire to go coach at my alma mater.
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  So yeah, I think that those were the two big fans.
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  And JB strikes me. In fact, I use him for some
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  reason. I picked him as my example when
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  I talk about the leadership that coaches exude and and I think
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  sometimes coaching sports is. Less about Texas.
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  And those and more about leadership with the athlete.
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  And so I've used JB on the podcast as an example several
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  times that I think we plucked JB off the track and cross country
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  and made him coach hockey. Now, he may be a huge hockey guy
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  and I don't even know, but I tried to pick a sport that I
• 12:13
  didn't know the Cubs. Fans.
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  The baseball. Yeah, well, I'm trying to
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  support he has no idea about. Yeah, I bet you you could put JB
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  in charge of a hockey team not knowing the axis and those in
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  the plays and I think because of his leadership style and still
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  they would be pretty good. So.
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  Much. Yeah.
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  Yeah, I still haven't seen that. I know.
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  But he strikes me as the type of person that always has a list of
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  like, I saw this guy because I bet you were on the list.
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  And it was like, oh, I have a position open.
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  Well, grammar, I've seen him and we know him.
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  Like we should be looking at him as well.
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  Yeah, well, you are certainly the beneficiary of that type
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  that I'm sure he had. You know they're always looking
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  for the next coaches. So here we are.
• 13:02
  We're in Denver again, right? What are you looking forward to
• 13:06
  the most? This.
• 13:09
  Week, the dinners, I'm, I'm, I'm a foodie.
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  So the, the, the dinners every night.
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  I, I love that. But obviously education, I
• 13:18
  think, you know, symposiums tonight, there's one tonight and
• 13:21
  a few tomorrow and, and Wednesday as well.
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  I, I look forward to those, you know, I may sit in one and just
• 13:29
  have my notebook out and not ever really write anything down.
• 13:32
  But if there's one thing I can take away from each one, I feel
• 13:34
  like then it was a beneficial thing.
• 13:39
  And that, that's always my advice when young coaches or
• 13:42
  former athletes that work into. Getting new coaching?
• 13:45
  Come to the convention because you're going to learn so much.
• 13:50
  Especially. Early on as a young coach and I,
• 13:53
  I know I would not be at Grand Valley.
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  If it weren't. For the coaches Academy and the
• 13:58
  symposiums and all of those things, because I learned a lot.
• 14:03
  And have you learned where the karaoke spot in Pittsburgh,
• 14:06
  Kansas is? Not yet, but I I'm I'm hearing
• 14:09
  it out. So let's have a look on here.
• 14:11
  I've got 100 questions. They're all kind of random whack
• 14:13
  questions. You get to pick the number, I
• 14:15
  get to ask the question. 87. Y 87.
• 14:17
  That was my high school. Football number.
• 14:19
  That's usually the that's for the guys. 87 Sweet or savoury.
• 14:24
  What's your favorite dessert? Savoury for sure.
• 14:26
  Gosh. For dessert.
• 14:35
  That's tough. I don't usually get dessert.
• 14:38
  If I do, it's usually like fruit but sweet.
• 14:42
  But yeah, that's a sweet. But I I would say like the big
• 14:44
  one in the holidays. Pecan pie, I thought.
• 14:47
  You were going to say fruitcake and we were about to end this
• 14:50
  right now, no. Pecan pie would be.
• 14:52
  You would do well in the South, Yes, and we get one more special
• 14:57
  bonus for you because you've been on the podcast.
• 14:59
  You're a Guild podcast alum. You are our first double.
• 15:04
  So you and your wife in the pole and we got to talk about two,
• 15:08
  you know, spouse spouses that are both track coaches.
• 15:11
  So it was very educational. Really do appreciate that We get
• 15:14
  to flip the script tonight. You get to ask me one question
• 15:18
  completely unrehearsed. No one knows we're doing this.
• 15:20
  So as he thinks about that question, it's a little risky
• 15:23
  for me, but I don't think he'd grow without risk.
• 15:26
  And you know, I've noticed in 17 I'll just kick him out here real
• 15:28
  quick if he goes AWOL do. You remember and this.
• 15:33
  It's more of a. To me.
• 15:35
  But do you remember in camp the one thing that you taught me
• 15:39
  that I was doing wrong? Oh my gosh.
• 15:42
  You know, first of all, I'm sure there were so many.
• 15:45
  There was a. Lot it was.
• 15:46
  Really hard, remind me. The number of steps I was taking
• 15:50
  to. What were you?
• 15:52
  Doing I was seven stepping where?
• 15:54
  Are you? Really.
• 15:55
  Which is like the and I was not A7 stepper.
• 15:57
  Which is the cool thing to do. Yeah.
• 15:58
  Like I've seen, like, you know, I'm always on Twitter big
• 16:01
  discussions about like, hey, how do I get my kid to seven?
• 16:03
  I'm like, you know, like, you know, people can do that.
• 16:07
  I've had one and I've had multiple guys that going on the
• 16:10
  trials and all that, you know. I do remember that now that you
• 16:14
  said that I can pick Chris on the maybe on the university
• 16:16
  track and I probably went off like, what are you thinking we
• 16:19
  were setting? Up the blocks and I and they
• 16:22
  were like, wait, what's your lead leg?
• 16:24
  What are you doing here? And then, all right, show me
• 16:27
  that you can do this. And it was just, and I'll never
• 16:32
  forget it. And then that's why that next
• 16:35
  year I dropped a full second from my one second little time,
• 16:38
  all because of this guy. So.
• 16:41
  And then I was like, no more coaching, just stop when you're
• 16:43
  at the top. I'm done.
• 16:44
  I'm done. Well, I'm glad that worked out
• 16:46
  for you, man. I'm glad your question was to
• 16:48
  show that I have no memory at 47 years old.
• 16:51
  Appreciate that. Eric, thanks for being on the
• 16:53
  show. Everybody who sits in the hot
• 16:54
  seat today, and only the people that sit in the hot seat.
• 16:57
  Get a custom Guild Connections Christmas ornament for your
• 17:01
  Christmas trees. I heard you interviewed my
• 17:03
  brother as well. I did.
• 17:05
  I'm glad you brought that up because if you're listening, we
• 17:08
  have a wonderfully like I'm super excited for this.
• 17:11
  We're building up the excitement because it's not going to happen
• 17:13
  until April and May of 2024. We went out and found a high
• 17:16
  school coach in every single state, including you, Washington
• 17:20
  DC and his brother was the Indiana representative and did
• 17:23
  an amazing job. What we did was we went out and
• 17:26
  found them and talked to them for about 20 ish minutes about
• 17:28
  how you qualify for the state. Meet in your state and let me
• 17:31
  tell you what boys and girls, buckle up.
• 17:33
  It is so Alabama through Wyoming, all 51 including PC.
• 17:37
  It is radically different across the country.
• 17:41
  So TuneIn in April and May every day starting with Alabama all
• 17:45
  the way to the end of May with Wyoming.
• 17:47
  You're not going to miss it and your brother was an absolute
• 17:49
  rock. Star, I look forward to
• 17:50
  listening. It was awesome.
• 17:51
  It was awesome. Eric.
• 17:52
  Thanks for being here, everybody.
• 17:53
  Thanks. Appreciation, man.
• 17:54
  Look, brother.