Latest / Johnny's World / Episode 10- Scott Stricklin

Transcript

Episode 10- Scott Stricklin · Johnny's World

• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, everybody.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to the Johnny's World Podcast.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_02: This is Brandon here.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: We've uh got John Clark Packer with us here today.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: How are you doing today, Johnny?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: How about yourself?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: Doing great.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: And we have another very special guest here.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: We have Scott Strickland, who was the athletic director at Mississippi State for a few years back.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: And he is now the current athletic director at University of Florida down in Gainesville.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: So welcome to the show, Scott.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Brandon.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Johnny, thanks for having me.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Good to be with you guys.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks a lot, Scott.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, um, since most people that are probably listening to this are Mississipp natives, um, tell us a little bit.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I was reading your Wikipedia page.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how accurate it is, but I saw you went to Jackson Prep and old rival of ours at MRA.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so tell us a little bit, you know, where you grew up and how you got started doing what you're doing now.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh grew up in Jackson, was actually born in Jackson at uh old Hines General Hospital, uh, which uh is it has a new name on it now, but I think the building still exists.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um grew up there in Jackson and and uh I went to prep as you mentioned and um uh ended up at Mississippi State and uh really um was uh uh I probably shouldn't put this out there uh uh because it's not a good uh example for young people, but I I was not an exemplary student.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I kind of got by in in high school and and uh really didn't know where I was gonna go to college until really late my you know spring semester, my senior year of high school.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I actually went, um, you know, had had was a huge sports fan, grew up following you know all the teams in the state.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And and my brother was at Mississippi State, and um I had uh that 85, you know, baseball team with Will Clark and Raphael Palmero had had, you know, like a lot of people in Mississippi, really piqued my interest in college baseball.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and so I I was following Bulldogs pretty pretty good.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: And um my brother was uh graduating in May.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was graduating from Mississippi State, May of my senior year of high school.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it was just so happened that same weekend as graduation, MSU was hosting the SEC baseball tournament back when they used to have it on campus.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: It was at uh at that time new Duty Noble.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh now we think of it as old Duty Noble, but it was the first concrete, you know, grandstand that we built opened up in '87.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so when I wasn't at graduation ceremonies, I was sneaking over to Duty Noble watching watching uh the baseball tournament.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just sitting out there, sitting in the stands out there thinking, why don't I just come to school here?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: I like it here.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: I like all my, you know, my brother, you know, I got to meet a lot of people through my brother being there, and maybe I can find a way to work around athletics somehow.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so really that was like that hatched a plan in my mind, and and uh wasn't really sure how that was going to happen, but ended up going to Mississippi State and uh first days of freshman, uh, walked into the athletic department offices there.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: And back then they used to all be in Humphrey Coliseum, like every coach, every administrator, every business office, which it was a very small staff back then.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, uh everyone was in the Coliseum.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I walked in the back door of the Coliseum, went up to the second floor and found the sports information office and asked it if uh they were taking any volunteer workers.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: And uh because I had a pulse, I qualified for the job and and uh was able to to to kind of find a place there.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And and really um I went into that building every day for the next four years and um just you know kind of at first it was just fun and and it it remained fun, but it became more you know, I started learning a lot and meeting people and um it just you know it kind of opened my eyes.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: This is something that that maybe I could continue doing after graduation.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I got a business degree from MSU, but um I I really my education came working in the Coliseum and working in the athlete department and was able to, it was funny because uh that baseball tournament was the the 88th season, and in the 1990 season, I was the uh the baseball PR person for Mississippi State uh for the baseball team.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was the you know sports information person.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so I got to do that for three years, and and I I really thought at that point that I would never do anything more cool in college athletics than traveling around with Mississippi State's baseball team and and being a part of that and got to go to Omaha and all that stuff.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it just you know, I was very lucky at a at a young age to be in a place to uh that that uh had opportunity.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was a small enough department uh that you know I got to do things hands-on that I don't know that if I'd gone to other bigger schools, I'd have gotten that opportunity.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: And but yet it was still big time.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, like a lot of you know, Mississippi State has that special niche, you know, it's it's a big time place, but it it doesn't it doesn't feel that way uh in a good way.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so that you know, I I was able to to do that and just kind of open doors once I graduated.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now you uh you've also worked around the SEC, haven't you?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in other schools.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I've I've worked at uh it's a little bit of a trivia question, uh John Clark.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: I've worked at four SEC schools, but I've worked at five schools that were charter members of the SEC because Tulane was one of my stops.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: One of the original members.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I've worked at actually five of the original 13.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I hope to stop there.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm tired of moving around, but um I left, yeah, I graduated from Mississippi State.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: I actually worked uh a year at MSU after I graduated, kind of an entry-level job, and and uh then went to Auburn for five years, uh, went to Tulane for a short time, was uh went out to Waco, Texas, was spent four years at Baylor, and uh and then came back to the SEC at Kentucky for for five years before uh ended up back at MSU.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just, you know, it's a great league.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: I feel really lucky to uh that spent that much time in the SEC.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my my two places, uh Tulane and Baylor, that I worked outside the SEC, and I learned a lot at both those places.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: But when you're not in the SEC and you're in college athletics, in the back of your mind, you're always thinking, how can I get in the SEC?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so to be able to have spent this is uh I'm gonna mess up the years.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is maybe my 32nd or 33rd year working in athletics, if you count my time, undergrad.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And all but four of them have been in the SEC.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I feel really blessed and fortunate.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we don't get to, you know, we haven't got to do it in the last year, but but in normal conditions, when you know, I get to go to a basketball tournament or spring meetings.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, there's so many faces that I know from other schools kind of, you know, and like me, a lot of them have moved around.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I met them at one school, now they work somewhere else.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there's something really cool about that being in in that fraternity.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: And and uh, you know, there's nothing like SEC athletics and the passion from the fans and the traditions and the the towns they represent.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, it's it's it's really special to be a part of.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: You you mentioned earlier uh before we uh talked with that you were glad to have uh athletics back this time of year.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us about uh from an 80s perspective, what we want what you guys went through during this COVID pandemic and getting back into college athletics.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, it's it's hard to it's really hard to go back and recreate that in your mind just because it it it was uh you know, I I like probably a lot of people, I I kind of my memory marks time based on events, significant events, you know.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: So you think about uh a special ball game or or uh you know a time you had interaction with somebody that was memorable, a birthday party or something like that.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um this you know, the days just kind of ran into each other starting, you know, March of 20 and going into really until the until we started playing games in the fall, just one day kind of melted into another.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, I've a lot of Zoom calls, a lot of this, you know, same repetitive meetings.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and we were, you know, progress was being made in all those meetings, whether it was a campus meeting or a meeting with the SECADs, but it was the same meetings day after day, talking about, you know, what are we dealing with, you know, the first few weeks we're just trying to figure out what we're dealing with, uh, like we all were as a country.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and then what's what's possible?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I'll never forget we I was on a campus call here, and uh we have an unbelievable medical complex uh UF Health, and uh one of the epidemiologists was on there um talking to the president's cabinet, and and uh he was he was um kind of laying out this idea if we test and we contact trace, and these were all new terms at this time, right?
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, this is last April.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: He says, if we do these things, and he had this chart that showed a model of spread to be limited to a certain degree.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: And um when you made the comment that we, you know, we do not have a fire-breathing dragon waiting outside your front yard ready to devour you when you leave the house.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we are we we can go back and do some normal things.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: It won't be normal, but we can do some things that seem normal if we'll ramp up testing and we'll do this contact tracing and all this.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember that day was like, you know, eye-opening, because it was the first time there was a ray of light that maybe we can figure out a way to bring our athletes back and our students back and our staff back.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: And and and and even at that point, we were a long way off from getting there, but it was kind of it was kind of a glimmer of hope to work toward.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: And and sure enough, that's you know, that's what's happened.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: We've you know, we and we kind of you kind of learned also the value of of not getting too far ahead of yourself, but doing things step by step.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you take one step and see what happens, you take another step and see what happens, and and then you learn and adapt if you need to.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, it's it's hard.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think we'll look back at time and go, can you remember that crazy year when we only played conference games and and there was no one in the stands and coaches had masks on the sidelines?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: But um the other part of it is um, you know, at times it would feel really normal, right?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you sit there watching a game on TV or even at a game, it would it feels really normal.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then you you look around and you see the setting, and that doesn't feel normal.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so you're kind of like slapped back into reality.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, I think it's been so healthy for the mental part of our students and our communities to have the the outlet of athletics.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because when it got taken away from everyone last March, uh you know that that you know, I don't think anybody was prepared for that.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: And and mentally and emotionally, I think that causes a lot of challenges.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: So grateful that we're able to to have a year.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I hope we never have a year quite like this again, but really grateful that we were able to to have some semblance of a of an athletic calendar.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's true.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: I remember that last year it just seemed like, okay, well, they're they're you know canceling the players' champion, you know, the players' golf tournament.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then now we're canceling the NCAA tournament, and now the Masters is canceled, and there's nothing to look forward to.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: All we have to do is just you know sit here and walk around the block every day and and that's it.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so I was so glad when they finally made the announcement in the summer they were going to start rolling things back out.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was so nice.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it um you know, I I the best example of kind of that uh duality of of things feeling normal and not normal at the same time.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I go back to uh uh Florida's football game against Georgia over in Jacksonville, which is is a really neat event.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's uh it's played or the where the Jaguars play in the stadium there and they split the crowd 50-50, and tailgating scene is huge, and it's right on the rip, the St.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: John's River there in downtown Jacksonville.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: And um typically when you drive in and drive out of that game, it is a circus outside the stadium in a fun way.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it it's like it is it is crazy.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: And um um win or lose, you walk out the stadium, you know.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: But usually I go down the field and go in the locker room and listen to the coaches post-game press conference, and then I walk out of the stadium, and typically it's still crazy outside.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so we won the we win the game.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's the first time in a few years we won that, and it was resounding win, and everybody's excited, and we, you know, with the team and listen to the press conference.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I walk outside the stadium and it's like a ghost town, like there's nobody there.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: There's like a few cars in this huge parking lot.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that was one of those uh slap you back to reality kind of moments that uh, you know, the game felt really normal uh and felt, you know, like this is something that we get to experience every year.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you walk out of the parking lot, and there's you know, usually it takes a long time to get out of that parking lot.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's no traffic, you just zip right out.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Just that um we we've all had several of those type uh uh situations occur in this past year, I'm sure.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no doubt.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um well Scott, talk a little bit.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're telling we are with our podcast, we're we are, you know, we have these glasses and we're we're trying to sell them to raise money for uh cynic fibrosis.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we kind of have named them after small towns and stuff like that.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: So um tell us about your your time at Mississippi or in Startville, um, a little bit about what you enjoyed living in Startville, what were your things to do, restaurants, anything like that.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then any any other small towns in Mississippi that you might have a connection with that you might like to share about.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, um, you know what I love about Starkville, even to this day, I you know, I have family there.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: I have a daughter actually who's a student there, and and you know, she loves it.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: I love that when I go back to Starkville, um, I can be driving down the street and I know where I I mean like my like just subconsciously, I know where every bump in the road is, I know where every crevice in the sidewalk is, I know, you know, I know the shortcuts.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, even with all the growth that that town has seen, it's seen a lot of growth.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much that that um is still the same.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, there's just there's just this unbelievable fabric of memories that that place holds.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And really, uh anywhere I am in in that town or on that campus, I'll turn and I'll have a flood of memories, you know, whether it's you know walking across the drill field or over by the the junction, uh, you know, down on Main Street or South Montgomery, and just I, you know, there's the apartment I lived in in college.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: There's, you know, where uh I used to take my kids to to play soccer when we were living there.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: And just there's just unbelievable uh memories.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: There's there's there's uh there's not many places that have uh the uh uh the concentration of memories as as Starkville does.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've lived in I lived in Lexington, loved it for five years, and there are places I go there where I have memories, but it's not on every corner.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: And and the great thing about Starkville, because of its size, um and and because of, you know, I was talking about earlier about how our memories are are um triggered by events.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think about all the big events in my life that occurred there in Starkville.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's uh obviously when you go to college, that's a big event.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: In my case, it's turned out where I decided to go to college, went to college, uh, decided what I was going to do for my career, uh met my wife there, proposed to her there on the drill field, got married in Starkville there at the Church of Christ.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, so there's just there's just so many memories of of being at that place that that make it really special.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: And and um uh it's just you know, it's like it's like putting on a comfortable pair of shoes.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: It just, you know, you just as soon as you it it kind of is magnetic how it draws you back into something that's really comfortable and um and and you know, place you know really well.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we always said um a couple of our friends when we were at Mississippi State, we always wanted to be the older guys that wore the yellow shirts that stood kind of in the tunnels at Humphrey Coliseum, that just you know, they seem like they're just retired guys, they live in Starpool.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it seems like a great place to just go back and retire to and and just remember all that stuff.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, it and it's um you know, I was at the uh I've been back to one football game, the egg ball, the the infamous um egg ball.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: The last time it was in Starpool, the missed extra point.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: And uh there's other names for that game.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure that fell off the tongue.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna use them right now, but um just you know, it's it's amazing how you just not only do you uh rec you know have memories flooding back from being there, but just the people you see.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's so many of the same faces uh that have uh that that come back.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: And um that's there are you know, I don't I don't know if there's many college towns that hold the same attraction uh to the people who went there that Starkle does.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: And um that's that's a credit to the people, it's a credit to the institution, it's a credit that beautiful campus um that is is, you know, I I think those of us who who have been, you know, haven't been to other campuses, we probably take for granted how awesome that place is.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: But it's you know, when you pull up off of Highway 82 or or Highway 25 or Highway 12 onto that place, it's like going to like a national park or something.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: You think about how well it's maintained and just the buildings and um you know, just suddenly you're in this uh this Eden of this this beautiful college setting.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: So um it's it's a special, special place.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I think it's why there's so many different generations of SNC people that that uh keep sending their kids there because it it gets passed on from one generation to the next pretty easily.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, tell us a little bit about uh you know what what's it like in Gainesville.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: I know John Clark's been to a few games there.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: I've never actually been there.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um how does it compare?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: Is it a little bigger than Starkville?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: And tell us a little bit about that.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, it's it's interesting.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: I I uh you know um Florida is a is obviously a big state, about 20 million people, and and Gainesville is is a really interesting um uh collection of different parts of Florida.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you have in the state of Florida, as everybody knows, you have the the panhandle, which is really like you know, a part of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia almost.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um you have North Florida, which has a lot of South Georgia influence.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you have these these large metropolitan areas like Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa, which is the central northern part of the state, um, that are just kind of uh, you know, almost uh any town USA.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're in beautiful locations as far as being on the water and everything, but um, you know, just just big thriving metropolises.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then you get into South Florida, and all of a sudden you get a lot of the the Cuban and Latin American influences and and everything.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: So there's there's all these different cultures within the state of Florida, and Gainesville kind of has like a mix of all of them.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um we've got a lot of South Florida influence.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we have a lot of good old Southern redneck influence.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we have a lot of uh people who have who have moved down from up north or the Midwest, and either through the university or whatever, and and and called this home.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: And um it's it's uh so there's it's really unusual to meet somebody in Gainesville who is a native of Gainesville.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: So just about everybody has come here from somewhere else.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: But the the flip side of that is um because everyone is kind of used to having gone through that onboarding process, they're really welcoming and good at helping others do that.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a very welcoming town, very nice town.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: People understand, oh, you're new to town, you need to go see you know, this is the doctor, and this is the where you shop, and this where you they because they're they want they're very helpful in that way.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: We have probably per capita the best medical care in the country, uh, the best hospital in the state of Florida is UF Health.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we have another large regional medical center here.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so for the size town, I mean, this is just a uh uh you know healthcare mecca for this part of the state.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and so that that you know, you get a lot of uh, you know, really successful people in the area because of that.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and the university itself is you know is is really special.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh a top 10 public university.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're they're number six.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Their goal is to be top five public university.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they're one of just a handful of schools in the country that has uh a law school, a med school, a vet school, and they're the land grant all on the same campus.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, um in Alabama, their med schools at UAB, right?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Or in old missus in Jackson.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: And um this is all right here in Gainesville.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: So but that you know it is the land grant, which I I take some pride in being in Mississippi State alone.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's but it's also got all these other curriculums, and and so it's 50,000 students and and um uh people have been super nice.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the you know their fans have a uh reputation.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'd always heard about how unreasonable they are.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: I've not found that to be the case.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think they they do have uh a history of success and and they have a lot of advantages that that help with that success, but but I found the people to be really um warm and and uh welcoming and hospitable.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: And um they, you know, the weather's not bad either.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's not a bad place from that standpoint.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh our winters are it was funny because you know, I'm in Mississippi, um, we have great weather, uh, March, April, into May.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: And and then you know, October and November can be kind of nice, maybe some September.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: But otherwise, it's usually really hot and humid in the summer.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: In the winter, we you know, we have some winter, we don't have snow, obviously, but it can, you know, it can you're ready for January, February to be over with.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And when we first, when I first moved here, we were looking for a place to live, and and there's uh all these houses with really nice outdoor backyard living spaces.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: And and the time I'm looking at it, it's still September and it's hot and humid.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think, why do these people want to spend all this time out here in this heat and humidity?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is miserable.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I lived here my first winter, and I realized why they have those outdoor spaces because there's about a six or seven month period, and we're in the middle of it right now where you don't want to be inside.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's it's like living in San Diego or something.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's really nice.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and uh obviously that's that's a big part of the reason this the state grows like it does and hasn't meet people is is uh is the weather part.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: But um good people, good place.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and just you know, it's it's been a it's been a good challenge.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: I had a I had a a friend of mine tell me um actually when I was at Mississippi State, he said his dad always told him there was a difference between having 20 years of experience and having the same experience for 20 years.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I thought about I I was told that when I was in college, and I've thought about that oftentimes that I've worked at six different schools and have moved around, and and I really feel blessed and fortunate because every one of those places is special to me.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: And and each of them have taught me something and and have allowed me to grow in its own certain way.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: And uh Mississippi and the state of Mississippi obviously is probably the most important part of my life because that's where I grew up and that's where I went to school.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: But uh Florida's been a good growing experience for me as well, and and we're grateful for the opportunity.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's uh it's funny you said that about how nice the people are in Florida.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh after college, I moved uh down to Orlando and did an internship at Disney World for um the fall of 2005.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the first week I was down there, I didn't have to work on a Saturday.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I looked at Florida's football schedule and saw where they were playing Tennessee.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: And this was back when it was they were rolling Florida, Tennessee was the primetime game.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so I got in the car, didn't know anyone.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: I just moved to Orlando, got in the car, drove up to Gainesville for the Florida.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Tennessee was uh primetime night in the swamp.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was that Saturday night.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I got out there and just walked around uh campus like with one finger up, just trying to eat, need one ticket, just me.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: And uh someone said, uh, oh, you need one ticket?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Yeah.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh they were like, Where are you from?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I told them I'm from Mississippi, I just moved to Orlando.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, this was my new experience.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: I always want to come check out the game at the swamp.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: And like, well, come over to our tailgate.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can come hang out with us.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: We got some food, come sit with us.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: And they kind of took me in, and and uh that there were some Mississippi connections there too.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: They said that they knew people from Mississippi, and I think that's just uh that's just SEC right there.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, everyone takes you in, and uh it was just kind of a kind of like a small family thing.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know any of these people at all.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: They're all gator fans, and they took me in.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh ever since that moment, man, I I always pulled for the gators too because that was just uh a special moment.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: I got to hang out with them.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: The game was great.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think Florida won, and it was just a it was a great experience.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, it's it's the people down there, you're right, are are nice and they they take you in and and that connection with the Southeastern Conference is just uh I've heard lots of stories about that where you know uh you you know when you go to a way game in another comp another school, people are so generous to you.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's just I think that's just the South in general, mainly just people helping out others and um and people taking you in.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: So it is, I do think I do think that's an S that that is an SEC thing.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and and I do think there's there's uh you know, there's a lot of places that share that, which is really cool.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: I will say there's there's um, you know, being a bigger state, there's a there are a lot of things that are different.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, the the Florida's Florida State series, while a big rivalry, and we actually, you know, we play them in everything and and we want to win in everything we play against them.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's not quite like uh Mississippi State Ole Miss or Auburn, Alabama, as far as um, you know, winning the game is great, but losing it doesn't like ruin your your your week um to the extent that that it might be a part of the egg ball or the iron ball rivalry.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just found that interesting.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that's because they're in different conferences.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't know if if uh you know um there's a lot of other things to to do around this state that you know maybe if your team loses a game, um, instead of firing off an email, someone just goes to the beach or something.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, you know, there's there's uh there there does seem to be a little bit more uh um measured responses uh to something like that, uh as opposed to you know the Auburn, Alabama, and Mr.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: State on this thing is is is almost like uh zero-sum last man standing kind of stuff that uh that is that I don't think people really understand until they've been in the middle of that.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's not taking anything away from this rivalry.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great rivalry, and they're obviously two great schools.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and the Florida-Georgia rivalry is a really big rivalry, uh, but again, they're not in state, so that makes a little bit different as well.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: But um, it's kind of fun going to different places and and experiencing uh those deals.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: I was at Kentucky and you know, the Kentucky Louisville thing, both in football and basketball, is a big deal.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: And and um, so it's it is kind of it's kind of neat moving around and getting experience of those.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've gotten to experience some of those here.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Scott, this has been really great.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we really appreciate you coming on today.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: And um I think everybody's gonna really enjoy listening to this one.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: So if you don't have anything else, John Clark, I think we'll we'll sign it off.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're good.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Scott, for taking time today and talking with us.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate it.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, guys.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it, and uh good luck with the uh the sunglasses and uh everything else you're supporting with cystic bicrosis.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's a great cause.