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From Helmet to Headset with Mike Chrystie · Cover IV Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Cover Four.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a Section Four football fan, this is your five.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Coach.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be your guest is Mike Christie.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Mike is an Oxford Academy graduate, Section 4 Hall of Famer, and current head football coach of the Norwich Purple Tonado.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Ironically, Norwich was a team that Mike used to follow when he was a young student athlete, and now he's leading the reins there at that particular school.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's pretty cool.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Cover Four, Mike.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, we appreciate you taking the time out of what I'm sure is a busy schedule that you and your wife, Missy, have.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: You have the 10-year-old twin boys and a four-year-old daughter.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: And if you just do the math, two parents, three young children, that equals busy or hectic household.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: So we really appreciate you taking the time uh to share, you know, uh, out of your busy schedule.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that that family is what it's all about.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we really appreciate you taking the time to uh talk to us today, Mike.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: It's my pleasure to be on.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, we first question up, Mike.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we'd like you to take us uh through your backstory so that we can get a little understanding of you.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: In essence, take us from helmet to headset from when you were a young student athlete and through the years and how you became the head football coach of the Norwich Purple Tornado.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so uh, you know, my my life, I guess you could say, has been rooted in athletics.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my father made sure that I was involved in it seemed like every sport imaginable growing up.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh ironically, the one that was really not available to me until I was in eighth grade was football.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I didn't play football until my eighth grade year.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oxford didn't have a youth program at the time, uh, didn't even have junior high football at the time.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you didn't really start playing football until 10th grade.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but I knew growing up, uh, my dad was a ref for 25 years.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I traveled to every game with him that he went to, and I knew that I loved the game of football.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: So once I got the opportunity to play, uh, you know, my love for the game grew even more.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh obviously in high school we had you know some some pretty good teams, won three sectional titles, uh, some great teams, some great memories there from high school from Oxford Academy.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I I was lucky enough to to attend Colgate University, uh played four years of football there.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh junior year, we were able to make the national championship game, which was which was unheard of from a Patriot League school at the time.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh after after I graduated college, uh once again, I was lucky enough first year out of college to to get a job at Windsor uh middle school.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I volunteered coach for a year under Dan Hodak.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um loved it.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh knew knew that I would would love coaching.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh after that, I went back to my alma mater, Oxford, um, and and got the head coaching job there.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I coached there for a handful of years.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then because of budget cuts um during that time period, uh my position got cut.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I uh applied for a job at Norwich.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, still coach in Oxford for I think two years uh while I was in Nor working in Norwich.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: But uh it got to be a lot not not being at the same school.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I told my my wife, I said, listen, it's just too much.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm in Norwich now.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: I you know, I think I'll try to take a year off and then maybe get involved in Norwich Athletics now that I'm working there.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think she was excited for me to take a year off.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but fast forward, get to Norwich.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: And uh the head coach John Martinson at the time asked me if I wanted to coach.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, one of the no-nos I think in a family household, without consulting with my wife, I said, sure, you know, I'd love to coach.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh um, but but I have a very supported wife.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: So she she she knew that I I probably wasn't gonna end up taking a year off.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and I worked under under Coach Martinson for a couple of years.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then uh when the when the position came open, I applied and uh here we are.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's an excellent story.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I you really had a great segue into what the next question was that I had for you.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you you sort of answered, but I wanted you to zero in on it.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: As you go from helmet to headset, you mentioned while you're at Colgate about you knew you'd want a coach.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: So my question was when did you know you wanted to be a football coach?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Was it a manifestation of a number of things that that culminated while you were at Colgate?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Or was there something that uh switched that was flipped that said, Man, I want to I want to coach?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I knew that I always wanted to be involved in athletics.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, at what capacity, I didn't really know until probably uh my time at Colgate started to end.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, for me, football was a sport where you you can kind of see when it's gonna end physically.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you can only play football so long.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I knew I knew that I wanted to be involved.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: And then once I switched my major to uh secondary education, I knew that, hey, you know what, what's one thing that's gonna keep me involved in athletics?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: And that's teaching.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll be the first to admit that my interest in teaching really grew from the fact that I knew I wanted to be around athletics.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the easiest ways to be around athletics is to coach high school sports, um, specifically football.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I I know administrators may not want to hear this, but you know, I I I'm teaching because I want to coach.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and and that's kind of what I've been living my life by, and and you know, my family understands that, and and and you know, here we are.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I uh when I when I was growing up, I I kind of saw teaching and coaching as two different things, but really they are the same thing.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Just your classroom is a little bit different, you know, in a in a traditional teacher's sense.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: You're in a you know physical classroom, you've got uh your your students are you know sitting at desk and they're they're less listening to and you're having conversations with them.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: The football field is just a different type of classroom, and you're actually constantly teaching and uh you know helping the the young student athletes.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that they really go hand in hand, and you're just like I said, it's a just a different classroom that uh you're teaching and sharing knowledge with.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the uh the student athletes in in Norwich as a whole are really um uh I want to say they're really lucky to get somebody like you, Mike, not only with the the wherefore all and the and the vision and the drive to do the coaching, but you're not gonna come across many situations where you haven't been there, done that or been there, experienced that.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's invaluable to student athletes because sometimes you have real young coaches that come in and don't have a lot of uh background like you do in various areas, not only in football, you've competed in a lot a number of you know sports, and football, in particular, at an extremely high level, and that's what you're coaching now, but you have the ability to share knowledge with, and I think you it comes with a little bit more instant respect because of they know your background, know what you've done, what you've been through when you say your name, and you know, after you follow up with Section Four Hall of Famer, that really says a lot right there.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so they should be, and this is to our you know, listeners out there, anybody that uh gets a chance to have uh coach share knowledge with them, really take the time to really listen and understand what they're saying and and take heed in that and and try to to do that, what they're saying, because they really have a great background.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, without without the Ben there experience that it's difficult.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: But I think you have a great opportunity there to take that program to back to the levels of when you were a young student athlete watching them.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I I think every coach would say that you know, we're there to to teach the game of football and and we're there to compete, and we want to win games on Friday night, and that's our goal, obviously.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but there is a whole nother goal to coaching, like you said, and and that's really coaching the game of life.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I've always said sports is a microcosm of the world.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, teaching those life lessons that young student athletes will need with them in the game of life afterwards is much more rewarding.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, yes, it's it's it's great to coach kids in the moment, but you know, five, six, ten years down the line, you know, when you're invited to weddings, when you're invited to graduation parties, when you you receive good news, um, or or or even bad news and they and they come to you because they can confide in you, because uh you had a special impact on them when they were going through your through your sport, through your season, uh, through your program.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think that's more rewarding than than winning a Friday night game.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's kind of where I am in my life right now.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: I I'd like to think I'm still somewhat one of the young guys.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but but but as the years have passed, I'm and and we have new coaches come in, and I realize I'm not the the complete young guy anymore like I used to be.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Look, call it your you're maturing like fine wine.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go with that.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: That sounds great.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the other thing, uh Mike, that I we want to know is what would you tell parents whose children are interested in playing football?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: What would you tell the just the parents at this particular point when they come up and say, hey, hey, Coach Christy, you know, I've got uh young Mikey here, or young Sally for that matter, that is really interested in playing football.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm interested to know your your insight on that.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: And now know that you didn't uh start competing in football until eighth grade, I think that may have actually helped you because there's so many young student athletes that are specializing now.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's it becomes year-round and they become actually bored with sports sometimes.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: So by the time they get to compete in you know, at the middle school level or at the high school level, they're they're kind of burned out.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that's unfortunate.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: But what would you tell parents today who's who approach you and say, hey, Coach Christie, my son or daughter is interested in playing football.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: No, I I think there's a couple different answers that that I would give to that.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, one is is this notion of special specialization.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you hear it all the time now.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, uh, I'm only gonna do this because I want to get a scholarship just for this sport, so that's all I'm gonna do.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I tell my players all the time I'd be I'd be a hypocrite if I said that, listen, I only want you to play football and do football year-round.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: I would I played three sports.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think it was the best thing for me personally.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and and that's what I would encourage people to do.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: At the younger ages, I would say have fun, you know, be competitive.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'd be the first to say my kids are as competitive as 10-year-olds can be.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but they also understand that at the end of the day, at that age, you should be having fun.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and the reason for that is you don't want that burnout factor.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if you're just, you know, just pound, pound, pound, pound, pound, and it's not fun at a young age, then I kind of want to play.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: You won't you won't make it through the program.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: So coaching of varsity sport and now going through the youth youth group with with my own kids, you know, you want to make sure that that you staircase the program so you retain those kids.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um just a little point of clarification there, Mike.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: You actually lettered in five sports in six seasons at Oxford.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: So you're a perfect example of what you know multi uh sports student athlete is all about.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: When I was growing up, we really had just the three traditional sports, and when one was over, you you what went to the next, you put you hung your cleats up, you grabbed the basketball, then you threw the basketball down, you grabbed the baseball glove and a bat.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that was that was what we had.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Then we did you know a lot of sandlot kind of stuff.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: We even used to have sandlot track meets because my dad was a track coach, so we had sandlot track meets, which you don't really hear about.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know what?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: That sound sounds like track practice at Oxford when I was in well, the only year I ran it.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, and you you absolutely excelled at that.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: You you were the 2001 100-meter champ, and that uh that's picking them up and putting them down.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to share with you how do you, you know, when you look at a student athlete, how can you tell when one student athlete is faster than another student athlete?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: This is kind of a trick question.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have an answer for me?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: Or am I?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: I got an answer for you.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: The faster student athlete's socks go a lot faster than the slower student athlete's socks.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, another little uh angle to this, Mike, you've got a young student athlete that comes up to you and says, Hey coach, and remember they're probably you know seven, eight, nine years old, so they're looking at you like you're you might as well be an NFL coach or you know a movie star or something, and they're they're coming up to you, just have enough gumption just to talk to you.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, coach, I'm thinking about playing football.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: What do you what do you think?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: I I welcome everybody.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, the the interesting thing now with the state of the world that we're in right now, uh I guess we can say that with uh the pandemic is you know, one of the big things that I'm trying to to keep is kids interested in in sports, you know, specifically football in my case, and just offering anything I can, you know, any any type of you know potential get together, um, you know, with the you know ramifications of social distancing and and mask wearing.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but when you get to when you talk about youth levels, it's really about having fun and engaging kids.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it's it's it's really not about putting them through the ringer uh to make sure that they're mentally ready for varsity football when they're seven, eight, nine years old.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you really want them to come back the next day.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: You want them to enjoy it, you want them to know that you're there for them.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um I know at the higher levels of varsity program, you know, we preach family, we preach brotherhood, we we we peach, or excuse me, we preach the word love.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it sounds silly, you know, a football coach saying love you.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, we we we really mean that in our program, and and hopefully that uh those ideals are starting to filter down into the you know, JV, the modified, and and and now getting involved in youth football.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm hoping that you know the words getting out that listen, this is the type of program that we have, and uh and hopefully, you know, the the community and parents are are are starting to buy into it.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what I am also uh a people-centered leadership coach in my own business.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: And the three, what I call the three ultimate, you've heard the term KPI, key performance indicators apply in business, they apply in athletics, they just apply in life in general.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And what that is, you have a program, whether it's you're you're leading an organization or you're leading a football team, there's three key performance indicators, and and they have nothing to do with numbers.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's all about feeling.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: So the first part is you want your student athletes to be inspired, meaning intrinsically them themselves have made the decision.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: I want to do this.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you want them to be inspired to participate in your program and come to practice and and give it everything they've got.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: But when they're there, you want them to feel appreciated, meaning that you, you know, you're not just a coach that yells at them when they're not doing something correctly, and then you don't give them accolades and recognize them and show uh appreciation for them when they do things well.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: So they want to be number one inspired to come in.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: They want to be appreciated when they're there and when they leave, they want to feel fulfilled.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: And you talked about the things about family and the brotherhood and and that four-letter word you hardly ever heard coaches say love.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: So it really applies the same thing in business as in in uh athletics and just life in general.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you take care of those three things, you know, you're gonna have a really successful program and they're gonna know, like, and trust you.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And trust is huge.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: And in other uh analogy is they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that is huge.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you kind of wrap all that together, and that's that has to do with life, not just football.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where we're going with this cover four podcast is is demonstrating, you know, the connections with with football and the rest of your life, because football is a part of your life, it's not something that you know you heard people talk about work life situations.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there's no such thing while you're at work or what you do, that's part of your life.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing with football, it's part of your life.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it's good to hear you say all these things, and you're definitely on the right road, uh, Mike, with doing the right things there.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: One uh thing I'd like to ask you is I'd like you to share with us a funny football situation you either experienced, witnessed, or initiated.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that's right, initiated.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: So what did you one that you experienced, witnessed, or initiated?
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: And keep in mind this is a family-friendly.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, so this will be a a PG story.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so one of our uh uh assistant coaches, uh Tom Stoddard, who's who's a Norwich grad, uh in the uh I believe he's a section for Hall of Fame, it's who's in the Norwich Hall of Fame.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, he's our defensive line coach now.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we had a we had a big win a couple years ago, I think 20 uh 17, uh over main end of a home, a home game, a home playoff game.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we always joke on the sideline of, you know, the other offensive coach that I have is up in the booth, and the two defensive coaches are on the sideline with each other.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: So when they get a stop, they're always you know high five in and and you know celebrating together.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: And and when the offense scores, you know, I go around and kind of air five myself with the coaching staff.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but but after after this one win, um I turn around and Stoddard's coming to to give me a big hug, and all of a sudden he he faints on the spot.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: And and if any anybody that knows Tom Stoddard knows that he's he's a bigger guy, you know, he's he he's a weight room guy, he's he's a big guy, and and I'm trying to move him after this game, you know, thinking, am I supposed to celebrate?
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: Am I supposed to give him CPR?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, what is going on here?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um and he came he came right back to light, and we just, you know, it's one of those things where he was so amped up and so excited for our kids uh that uh you know he just he he fainted.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um and it was you know one of those things where you know, if you know Tom and our coaching staff are really close, uh it's it's definitely something that we look back and laugh about now.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what he'd physically demonstrated was just how much he is into that program.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: He physically he took his physical being past past the point where he was obviously comfortable and he passed out.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, you can you can joke and laugh about it now, but at the time that's that kind of stuff is not funny.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, absolutely.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: You're absolutely right.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's definitely one of those stories.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: Looking back, it's funny.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: In the moment, I'm like, what is going on here?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: I've got in a moment very similar to that.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: I was coaching at, I believe it was at the JV level, and one of the student athletes gave me the impression that he was going into cardiac arrest.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I I'm like, okay, so I was getting, you know, clearing people away from him.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: He was down on one knee.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: He wasn't in uh he wasn't competing right then, he was in a rest uh rest mode.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: And he had he was had his helmet down on the ground.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I went over to him and in between his breaths, he says, Coach, coach, he says, I'm already put he put his hand up.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And what he had uh athletically induced asthma.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: And for some reason that didn't make it to me as a coach, I should have known that.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I was really kind of nervous at that point.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know you know if I needed to, you know, do CPR, uh, get the defib out, what I was supposed to do.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the D the Dfib is the electronic defibrillator, and come to find out he was okay, but I didn't know that.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, so you can have uh you know different types of scenarios that uh that things happen.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, I know one time I got knocked loopy and I walked to the opponent's sideline or started walking towards the opponent's sideline, and people are laughing, and it's not funny.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're right.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: That that is in cussion concussions now, you know, it's not only do you need to rest, but you need to stay away from classroom situations where you're really trying to cognitively uh interject yourself and concentrate.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: That also affects the concussion and slowing down the recovery process of that.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: No, definitely concussion protocols are definitely a lot different, even you know, from when I played football.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: They're uh obviously you got to be a lot more aware of them as not only as a player, but also as a coach.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, listen, Mike, this has been a great conversation with you, and we really appreciate you taking the time.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: And um I want you to know we we hope you have a very successful season coming up.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm optimistic we're gonna have a season beginning hopefully sometime in March.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh go purple tornado.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you again for having me, and I appreciate everything that you do for uh for Section 4 football.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I just want you to know that.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: All right, you take care.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: All right, thank you.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to click the subscribe button.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: And remember, tell your friends, Coach Smith says visit cover4.com and get involved.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: In football and life, it's not where we line up, it's where we wind up.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening.