Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #287: Ursula Harris-Scotlandville (LA) HS/USTFCCCA Girls National COY

Transcript

#287: Ursula Harris-Scotlandville (LA) HS/USTFCCCA Girls National COY · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:00
  Hey gang, real quick before we get into the intro here with our
• 0:03
  USTFCCCA Girls National Coach of the Year, apologies all on me.
• 0:08
  The audio about halfway in is just not great.
• 0:12
  Couldn't figure out how to correct it and get this done a
• 0:15
  little bit better, so bear with me.
• 0:17
  There's a lot of great Nuggets from Coach Harris here.
• 0:20
  Just want to apologize real quick for the bad audio.
• 0:23
  Let's get to the show. Track and field world UNL tuned
• 0:36
  in to our humble servant Mike Cunningham for another
• 0:40
  extraordinary message for Guild Athletics connections.
• 0:52
  All right, welcome back to the Guild Athletics Connections
• 0:55
  podcast. These are I'm so glad you
• 0:57
  pressed play. I get to do 52 episodes a year,
• 1:01
  which is remarkably fun and educational for me and awe
• 1:05
  inspiring because I get to interview men and women who
• 1:07
  choose to be track and field coaches, which, you know, if you
• 1:10
  know me from Twitter and the podcast stuff like that, This is
• 1:13
  my this is my happy place. OK, two of those 52 a year, I am
• 1:19
  blessed when the USTFCCCA boys and girls national coaches of
• 1:25
  the year agree to come onto the show.
• 1:27
  We've done this for like, I think this is the 4th year in a
• 1:29
  row now. So I'd go back and look, they're
• 1:31
  all right about this time frame sometime in November ish
• 1:34
  December when we publish them right as we're leading into the
• 1:37
  to the convention itself. And, you know, we've had some, I
• 1:41
  mean, just amazing men and women high school coaches who are
• 1:43
  really just instrumental into not only our sport, but our
• 1:47
  profession of coaching track and field.
• 1:50
  And we get to do it again this year.
• 1:52
  So I'm going to hop right into this.
• 1:54
  I'm super excited. Help me welcome the USTFCCCA
• 1:58
  National Girls Coach of the year from, I mean, the track state
• 2:02
  here. Let's be real here, Louisiana
• 2:04
  from Scotlandville High School. Help me welcome the wise, the
• 2:06
  wonderful Miss Ursula Harris. Ursula, how are you?
• 2:10
  I'm great. I'm wonderful.
• 2:12
  How are you? Well, I'm talking to you so and
• 2:15
  getting paid. This is my job.
• 2:16
  So, I mean, this is kind of, you know.
• 2:18
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is pretty.
• 2:19
  I'm a I'm a lucky boy, let me tell you, tell you that.
• 2:23
  Congratulations, dude. This is amazing.
• 2:28
  Unbelievable. Like I just, I cannot, you know,
• 2:31
  thank God enough to, you know, be given in a recognition in a
• 2:36
  war like this. Like it's just, I just never
• 2:39
  would have expected it. I, I'm, we're going to talk
• 2:42
  about your season that led up to this, but I'm always wondering,
• 2:46
  how did you find out? Like do they call?
• 2:49
  Do they show up? Like remember the old
• 2:51
  publishing's clearing house? Did they knock on your door or
• 2:53
  something? How did you actually like get
• 2:55
  the call or the e-mail to to be notified?
• 2:59
  So it started out as an e-mail and well, let's back it up.
• 3:08
  So when I was nominated for Louisiana Coach of the Year and
• 3:13
  I found out that I won, I was asked to write up almost like a
• 3:20
  little bio of, you know, my life basically and, and coaching.
• 3:27
  And they said, well, you will go up for national coach of the
• 3:30
  year. I said, well, OK, I'm just going
• 3:32
  to write it, You know, just never thinking that, you know, I
• 3:37
  would be picked. And then I received that e-mail
• 3:39
  from my athletic director and I was like, whoa, like I could not
• 3:44
  believe it. Like I just could not believe
• 3:47
  it. And so, you know, once I spoke
• 3:49
  with the representative and she, she was telling me all the
• 3:52
  details and I'm still just, like, in awe, you know, it's
• 3:55
  just I just I I'm blessed. Yeah.
• 3:59
  Blessed so so they work with your AD and then the AD actually
• 4:03
  tells you, Hey, hey, you want That's awesome, man, I love
• 4:06
  that. Yes, the AD informed.
• 4:08
  Me, did you think it was like a a joke e-mail or joke phone call
• 4:11
  or anything like that? Like, oh, who's doing that?
• 4:13
  Whatever. No, I didn't.
• 4:16
  I didn't think, I didn't expect it.
• 4:18
  Yeah, yeah. But I also didn't think it was a
• 4:20
  joke. I was like, wow, this is a great
• 4:22
  honor. Like, I'm just still basking in
• 4:25
  the, you know, the the glory of even being given this award.
• 4:30
  Yeah, You know, I sit in a very lucky seat.
• 4:35
  I work with and interview tons of high school coaches around
• 4:40
  the country. In fact, when we're recording
• 4:41
  this, we're actually recording this, actually, August 1.
• 4:44
  So the Paris Olympics for track and field are about to start.
• 4:47
  You know, I just got back from the Texas high school coaches
• 4:50
  show where I got to see, you know, hundreds and hundreds of
• 4:53
  amazing Texas high school coaches.
• 4:55
  And, you know, I do Wisconsin, Ohio, you know, I see all these
• 4:58
  high school coaches. So, you know, first of all,
• 5:00
  unenviable task for the committee of USTFCA to even try
• 5:06
  even on the state level. I mean, to to win the Louisiana
• 5:09
  girls coach of the year. I mean, that's huge.
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  I know a lot of Louisiana coaches.
• 5:13
  Come on, that's that's amazing. And then to try to distill those
• 5:17
  50 coaches down to one, I mean, if you're first of all, USTFCA,
• 5:22
  you can never get it right and you can never get it wrong.
• 5:24
  That's the crazy part about it, you know, to be real frank with
• 5:27
  you. So I just can't imagine.
• 5:29
  It's so cool. I'm just so, so excited, so
• 5:31
  happy for you. You know, we're we're talking
• 5:34
  with Ursula this week. Next week we'll have Nathan the
• 5:37
  boys coach of the year as well. So we'll get a chance to hear
• 5:40
  his story next week. So make sure you're you're
• 5:43
  plugged in there. So we'll talk about this year
• 5:46
  that led to this really amazing award as we move along, but I
• 5:50
  want to learn more about you. So how does a national coach of
• 5:54
  the year get started in our sport?
• 5:55
  Get started in coaching, Ursula, take us back.
• 5:57
  Where does where does track and field start for you?
• 6:01
  Track and field actually started for me in middle school.
• 6:04
  I actually started, I was running track in middle school
• 6:08
  and I was really good in middle school.
• 6:10
  Well, where I am, we're in like a small community, so middle
• 6:15
  school students could run for high school if they were good.
• 6:18
  So I, you know, did middle school, you know, for a couple
• 6:22
  of years. And, you know, I was so good,
• 6:25
  the high school track coach actually came and talked to the
• 6:29
  middle school coach. And so then I was able to run on
• 6:32
  the high school team. So I was a sprinter.
• 6:34
  I did 100 and 200 and I did relays 4 by 1, four by two, 4x4.
• 6:42
  And so actually in 1990, the school where I attended, Shady
• 6:46
  Grove High School, we actually won the state meet and I'm
• 6:50
  actually on the record of LSU for the 4 by 4 relay in 1990.
• 6:56
  So I've been, you know, involved in track for a long time and I,
• 7:03
  so I was brought up in a single parent home.
• 7:07
  And so a lot of my teammates, you know, they were able to do
• 7:10
  summer track and, you know, I, I couldn't afford to do it, you
• 7:13
  know, being that, you know, I had a single mom.
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  So, you know, I had to work really hard, you know, to try to
• 7:21
  stay on test because during the summertime, you know, I had
• 7:24
  nothing to do. So my 12th grade year, you know,
• 7:29
  I really wanted to, you know, run track.
• 7:32
  But, you know, a lot of kids get noticed from summer clubs, you
• 7:36
  know, basically, to be honest, in Louisiana.
• 7:39
  And so I wasn't able to do that. But thank God, I had a family
• 7:44
  member that that knew the athletic director at the
• 7:49
  university where I went to. And so I was able to get like
• 7:54
  1/2 scholarship. Like I didn't get a whole
• 7:56
  scholarship. So, you know, that was kind of
• 7:58
  unfortunate, but I ended up, you know, it was really hard for me
• 8:04
  to try to get back on track. So I just kind of, you know, I
• 8:09
  got my degree, but I just kind of weaned away from track and
• 8:12
  field. Well, let's.
• 8:13
  We'll dig in a second. Let's go back to high school.
• 8:15
  So did you. Where did where did you grow up
• 8:19
  in relation to where you are now?
• 8:21
  Same area. Same area.
• 8:24
  Oh. Wow, same area.
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  Actually, I graduated here. I'm in Marigold, Louisiana.
• 8:29
  That's where I live. OK.
• 8:31
  And so, you know, I went to college at Southern University.
• 8:36
  That's where I got my. Degree Jaguars and I got.
• 8:38
  My masters from LSU, but so I got married and we lived in
• 8:46
  Baker, LA for a while. And then so my husband's mom,
• 8:52
  she was diagnosed with diabetes. And so we actually moved back
• 8:56
  here so that we can be close to her.
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  And then unfortunately, like six months after we moved back, she
• 9:03
  passed away. I'm so sorry.
• 9:05
  Yeah. So we just stayed here and so
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  that's why we've been here. Let's explore the club thing
• 9:13
  here a little bit, because I'm here in a little bit.
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  Maybe the same timeline I was what?
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  What year was your senior year? What year did you graduate high
• 9:19
  school? 1991.
• 9:21
  OK, so a little bit earlier than I did.
• 9:23
  I'm from Alabama and graduated high school in 94.
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  But it was interesting how you mentioned summer track because
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  you know, today in 2024 and social media and and Internet
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  and things like that, I can find a track club, you know, faster
• 9:36
  than it. I can to finish the sentence.
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  I don't you know, I grew up in very small town Alabama, so very
• 9:42
  similar ask sounds like here in regards to the time frame and
• 9:45
  you know how big the city was or not not big, I don't think not.
• 9:50
  I don't think I know. I had no clue that there even
• 9:53
  was summer track where I grew up in in little old Alabama,
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  obviously didn't have Internet to even try to find one.
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  If I even thought about their one was one.
• 10:02
  How how you you kind of mentioned that summer track was
• 10:05
  still kind of the thing like if you wanted to, you know, try to
• 10:08
  run the next level in in your area even back.
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  Then it wasn't, it wasn't as prevalent as it as it is now.
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  So we only had like maybe one or two in the Baton Rouge area.
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  It wasn't a lot like it is now. Yeah, now they're.
• 10:23
  So they did like, yeah, like KY track club.
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  And I can't think of the other Eagle's wings.
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  I think that's the only two that they had here.
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  But you know, a lot of my teammates, they ran for KY.
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  And so KY had a lot of college coaches, too, that, you know,
• 10:49
  kind of volunteered. So they kind of had that
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  connection, if you know what I'm saying.
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  So yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense.
• 10:56
  Again, growing up in small town southern state, I I get it.
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  I mean, you know, again, it's different today, but you know,
• 11:04
  my experience was you had what you had my coach and and I love
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  my high school coach tremendously knew nothing.
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  You know, it was a thrower. It was doing his best.
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  Again, I'm not putting down my old high school coach.
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  I love him to death, but there was no Internet to go learn more
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  there. You know, in small towns there
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  wasn't a lot of options to go learn more and things like that.
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  I think if there would have been, he would have, but you
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  know, just didn't. So there was kind of, you're
• 11:29
  very isolated in my opinion, with what we were and what you
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  did. So you went to Southern grade
• 11:34
  school. What were you thinking about
• 11:38
  becoming? So were you going to get when
• 11:41
  you're going into Southern? Did you think about being a
• 11:43
  teacher, a business owner? What?
• 11:44
  What was the thought for your, for your future there?
• 11:48
  Well, I was going to get my degree in education because I
• 11:51
  wanted to be a teacher. I've been in the education
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  system now for like 17 years. So I started in elementary
• 11:59
  schools and I taught kindergarten.
• 12:01
  Oh, God bless you. And so yes, so you know, as my
• 12:08
  kids got older, because I have 3 kids, as my kids got older, you
• 12:13
  know, my patients kind of changed their view, so.
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  I got, I got two. I get it.
• 12:20
  Yeah, so I was like, well, no, I can't, you know, do the little
• 12:23
  kids anymore. So then, you know, I decided to
• 12:26
  move up to high school. And so that's kind of, you know,
• 12:30
  when my my baby daughter, she went to high school, I said,
• 12:32
  well, I'm going to just move up to high school, so.
• 12:35
  What? That's how I ended.
• 12:37
  Up my wife's not a full time teacher, but here in the past
• 12:40
  four years or so has become a substitute teacher and a long
• 12:43
  term substitute teacher. So she does a lot of fifth grade
• 12:46
  and actually starts this school year out as the high school
• 12:50
  geometry teacher as well. And same thing I thought, you
• 12:54
  know, my, my wife loves kids. Like I said, we have two.
• 12:56
  I mean, she just loves kids. I thought she would gravitate
• 12:58
  towards kindergarten, you know, just cause younger kids.
• 13:01
  And she kind of said the same thing.
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  She's like, Oh my. Oh man, It's it's tough.
• 13:05
  Yeah, it's. Different when I first started.
• 13:09
  Like it's different. Yeah, that's why when you said
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  kindergarten, I was like, oh, bless you.
• 13:12
  Because I've heard, not that it necessarily gets any easier in
• 13:15
  3rd, 5th and high school and stuff like that, but oh man,
• 13:18
  I've heard the kindergarteners. Oh my.
• 13:20
  What? What subjects do you teach?
• 13:24
  Well, when I moved to high school, I'm not teaching any
• 13:27
  subject. I am the the testing
• 13:30
  coordinator, so I do ACT and leave and work keys and things
• 13:36
  like that. I set those testing sessions up
• 13:39
  and that's, you know, basically what I do.
• 13:41
  And also I was five O 4 coordinator and that was with
• 13:46
  the kids that, you know, needed a little extra assistance in the
• 13:49
  classroom. Got it perfect.
• 13:50
  So where did track and field coaching start for you?
• 13:55
  So it really started when I had my youngest daughter.
• 14:02
  She's 18 now. She just graduated high school.
• 14:04
  Oh, very cool. And so she was like running all
• 14:09
  through the house everywhere. So I say once she gets old
• 14:11
  enough, I, you know, wanted to give her an opportunity that I
• 14:15
  didn't have. And so I found a, a track club
• 14:19
  for her to go to. But even before she got in the
• 14:22
  track club, you know, because I still had some skills that I
• 14:25
  remembered from when I was in school, you know, I would teach
• 14:28
  her like, you know, techniques and, you know, and formation,
• 14:32
  you know, how to hold her hands and, you know, breathing
• 14:35
  exercises and things like that. Before she even, you know,
• 14:38
  joined the the track club. And so, you know, it's just
• 14:44
  basically started from there. And once she got to the track
• 14:46
  club, you know, I kind of stepped back, you know, and, you
• 14:49
  know, let them do their thing. But, you know, I didn't do
• 14:53
  anything else again until like when COVID came, did did you?
• 14:58
  And so, you know, they had shut down.
• 15:00
  I'm interested as a parent who you know, you were very good at
• 15:04
  track. I was terrible at track, but I
• 15:05
  went on a coach and I was pretty decent at coaching.
• 15:08
  I wonder and and my son who is going to 8th grade is done, is
• 15:13
  doing middle school track and doing throws, which I didn't
• 15:15
  coach throw. So that's probably better.
• 15:17
  But if they were, you know, if my going into fifth grade
• 15:20
  daughter or if my son ever starts doing Sprint turtles or
• 15:22
  jumps, which is what I coached, like, I wonder if I can be the
• 15:25
  the parent that just sits there and as long as everything's
• 15:28
  safe, not overstep my boundaries as a parent.
• 15:30
  You know, I coached, I coached the SEC.
• 15:32
  So I coached at a pretty high level.
• 15:33
  You ran at a pretty high level. Did you find it hard as your
• 15:37
  kids? It was we we're only doing with
• 15:40
  one kid right now. And maybe you'll tell me the
• 15:41
  other kids did as well. But as they were going through
• 15:43
  club, you know, you you've had you've got your own experience,
• 15:46
  you got your own opinions. Did you find it hard to just you
• 15:50
  said you stepped back. Did you find that hard to step
• 15:51
  back and just let the coaches do their thing or did you find
• 15:53
  yourself speaking into it? How did you handle that?
• 15:57
  Well, I. Did like, if I, you know, I let
• 16:00
  them coach, but like if I saw her slacking, you know, then,
• 16:05
  you know, I would step in and speak up, you know, and just
• 16:07
  tear her like you know, you know what you're out here for you
• 16:10
  know, But I try not to overstep, you know, because I trusted them
• 16:16
  enough to hand her off to them, you know, so I, I, that's the
• 16:21
  only time I would really, you know, kind of step in so it.
• 16:24
  Sounds like you played the supportive role, not the you use
• 16:27
  the word overstep, the overstep of like, hey, coach, hold on.
• 16:30
  Let me tell you how we did it. That kind of intrusiveness.
• 16:34
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I hope I'm as good as you.
• 16:36
  I don't know if I can for for our coaches.
• 16:41
  I hope I do that. So they're going through club
• 16:47
  and the coaching bug starts to bite, Yeah.
• 16:52
  The so COVID came when she first came to started to go to high
• 17:00
  school to 9th grade. And.
• 17:02
  So, you know, everything was shut down.
• 17:05
  And so then I had to go into the coaches mode again because I
• 17:09
  didn't want her to, you know, to slack off or miss anything.
• 17:13
  So then, you know, we will go to the, you know, track at our
• 17:17
  local school here because, you know, everything was, you know,
• 17:19
  shut down. And so, you know, we went over,
• 17:23
  you know, exercises and drills and she's a hurdler.
• 17:27
  So I didn't want her to lose those skills.
• 17:30
  So I kind of stepped back in coach's mode then.
• 17:34
  And so I at that time, like I said, I was, she was going to
• 17:41
  high school. So I had applied for some high
• 17:44
  school teaching jobs and so I was fortunate enough to get one
• 17:49
  Escalerville, and she came with me.
• 17:53
  And so I got to the school and the track coach that they had
• 18:02
  there, you know, he remembered me from college because we kind
• 18:07
  of ran, you know, at Southern at the same time.
• 18:11
  And so, you know, he talked to the principal and, you know, he
• 18:14
  was able to give me an assistant coach's job.
• 18:18
  And so it kind of started from there.
• 18:22
  How did when you think about the coaches you had in high school
• 18:25
  and and maybe at Southern and you've seen a lot of coaches at
• 18:28
  this point as well, because he's, you know, the club coaches
• 18:31
  and things like that. How did you what what did you
• 18:35
  take from each of those coaches to start your I'm a call full
• 18:38
  time coach as you're going to a year, you know, become the
• 18:40
  assistant coach here at the high school.
• 18:42
  You're not just MA. You know, you're still you're
• 18:44
  always mom, but you know you're not mom.
• 18:46
  I'm the track coach. You're the track coach.
• 18:48
  Assuming you were over sprints and hurdles.
• 18:50
  How did you what did you take and how did you assimilate?
• 18:53
  You know what you've learned in the past from from watching and
• 18:56
  and participating. I just tried to make sure that,
• 19:00
  you know, I remember how I felt, you know, when I was an athlete
• 19:06
  and, you know, try to make sure that, you know, I'm the athletes
• 19:11
  were comfortable, you know, with me almost because I was a new
• 19:15
  face, you know, So I just wanted to make sure that they were
• 19:18
  comfortable and, you know, that they trusted me.
• 19:22
  And I kind of used those skills from, you know, my high school
• 19:25
  coaches, you know, being patient, of course, you know,
• 19:29
  and, you know, taking the the athletes to, to, you know, to
• 19:34
  the level that you know, they needed to be on.
• 19:37
  What was the status of the program where you were they
• 19:41
  routinely top three at state at this point or where, because we
• 19:44
  know where this ends, presumably we'll find out.
• 19:47
  But what? What was the status of the the
• 19:49
  program at that point? So when I came there, they were
• 19:53
  kind of struggling with the with the girls team.
• 19:56
  The boys were great boys always. So they were kind of, you know,
• 20:00
  they kept. They had like different coaches
• 20:04
  that would come in and leave and come in and leave and come in
• 20:07
  and leave. So, you know, the issue was
• 20:09
  really stability. And so, you know, once I came in
• 20:14
  as assistant coach because the coach that they had, he was
• 20:16
  trying to coach the boys and the girls.
• 20:19
  So, you know, my job was to step in and, you know, to relieve
• 20:22
  some of that, you know, work from, you know, off of him.
• 20:28
  And so the girls when when I came, I trying to remember, I
• 20:36
  think they finished maybe second.
• 20:43
  I think it I think it was second, second in outdoors.
• 20:50
  So that Will, I came like when my daughter was in the ninth
• 20:53
  grade, like I said, So they finished like in second.
• 20:56
  But she wasn't eligible to run because she kind of did like I
• 21:02
  did because she was so good in middle school.
• 21:05
  She ran for high school. And so Louisiana rule is, you
• 21:09
  know, if you're under LHSAA, then, you know, you're not
• 21:12
  eligible to run. So she had to sit out that year.
• 21:16
  You know, it was kind of hard for her, you know, watching me
• 21:19
  out there. But you know, yeah, I was going.
• 21:20
  To ask I, I know this is, I guess it's not common in the
• 21:24
  sense of not every kid is transferring for whatever
• 21:27
  reasons in high school, but I know this happens where kids are
• 21:30
  ineligible because of transfer. She didn't do anything wrong.
• 21:33
  So I actually broke a rule or anything like that.
• 21:36
  How did and you get to see both sides of it, your coach on the
• 21:39
  team and your mom at home. How does a you were talking
• 21:42
  about a freshman. So we're talking about what 14
• 21:44
  year old kid? How does a 14 year old kid stay
• 21:49
  in it? I mean, it's so easy to be like,
• 21:51
  oh, I'm not with the team. I can't even compete.
• 21:53
  It's so easy to go do a million other good or bad things.
• 21:56
  By the way, she could have went hardcore into academics in the
• 22:00
  Glee club. I don't know.
• 22:00
  You know, how does a kid handle that?
• 22:04
  Like how do you stay into it and be and just ready for a whole
• 22:06
  another year beyond for sophomore year?
• 22:09
  My daughter, her name is Macaria Harris.
• 22:12
  And Macaria, yes, I love that. She loves when I tell you eat,
• 22:19
  sleeps and breathe track. Like it's her passion.
• 22:23
  Like she is way better than I was at her age.
• 22:28
  And so she was supportive of her team and her teammates.
• 22:33
  Like she still would practice, you know, but, you know, she
• 22:36
  couldn't run any meets. She kind of practiced on her
• 22:39
  own, you know, because she couldn't practice with the
• 22:42
  coaches. But, you know, that just shows
• 22:44
  how determined she was, you know, and at every track meet,
• 22:48
  she was there, you know, pumping her team up and cheering them
• 22:52
  on. And, you know, all the coaches
• 22:55
  still say now that she was a a real trooper, you know, during
• 22:58
  that time. And she.
• 23:00
  Still was. Able to run, you know, club
• 23:04
  meets. So.
• 23:06
  You know, yeah. So she was still able to run
• 23:08
  club meets. So you know, she wasn't entirely
• 23:11
  out of the picture. You know, I, I do a lot of
• 23:15
  questions and stuff for the coaching body on Twitter and
• 23:18
  then I'll write articles about it.
• 23:19
  And I recently asked the the Twitter network, Twitter Track
• 23:24
  coaching Network about what and why should a college coach reach
• 23:28
  out to the high school coach when they're recruiting.
• 23:31
  And you know, I always tell people, you know, caveat, I did
• 23:33
  not. I was not a big reaching out to
• 23:35
  the high school coach when I what I was a college recruiter.
• 23:38
  That was 20 years ago as well, by the way.
• 23:39
  So things might have changed for me by then.
• 23:42
  But one of the main reasons a high school coach would answer
• 23:46
  that is, you know, you want to know more about the kid than
• 23:48
  just the times. That story to me kind of hit
• 23:51
  kind of resonated there about like, oh, because here's again,
• 23:54
  a 14 year old kid showing. I mean, in my opinion, massive
• 23:59
  amounts of leadership at such a young age.
• 24:01
  Again, easily could have and and and and have all the excuses in
• 24:06
  the world. By the way, Hey, I don't even
• 24:07
  want to be around track because I can't compete, you know, so
• 24:09
  I'll I'll next year, I'll catch you guys, I'll go, you know,
• 24:12
  again, do whatever else. She what you know, 14 year old
• 24:14
  girls have a lot of things to do, right.
• 24:15
  That to me is a story that if I was recruiting her, you know,
• 24:19
  for marks were, you know, in the marks have to be in a in a
• 24:22
  certain zone for for yours, for the school.
• 24:25
  But that's something that I would want to know and be like,
• 24:26
  oh, wait a minute. If she was doing this at 14, how
• 24:28
  is she doing this now at 18? And boy, is that the type of kid
• 24:31
  I won on my squad as a freshman right off the bat, showing
• 24:34
  leadership that that just kind of struck me like a story that
• 24:37
  you the times wouldn't tell me if I didn't ask high school
• 24:41
  coach or or mom or something. Yeah, that's really cool.
• 24:44
  Kudos to her. That's very cool.
• 24:46
  Thank you. So how did it continue to
• 24:47
  develop? That was freshman year for her.
• 24:49
  So she was an eligible, but you're coaching, you're the
• 24:52
  assistant coach. How did we keep developing there
• 24:54
  at Scotlandville? So after that, the, the head
• 24:59
  coach, he transferred to another school.
• 25:03
  And so the principal just asked me, it's like, what would you,
• 25:05
  you know, mind stepping up, you know, to be the head coach?
• 25:09
  And I was like, but, you know, thank God when I got there, you
• 25:14
  know, he had already established a phenomenal coaching staff.
• 25:21
  You know, so really I just kind of had stepped in because they
• 25:24
  had everything in place already. So, you know, I had, you know,
• 25:28
  coaches like Theodore Jordan, he did, you know, mid distance and
• 25:34
  Robert Dillingham, he was over long distance and then coach
• 25:38
  running pitcher, he was over hurdles and sprints.
• 25:41
  And then we had coach Terry, you know, he helped out with long
• 25:48
  jump and high jump. And you know, we had, you know,
• 25:51
  he people helping with discus. And so, you know, the staff was
• 25:55
  already there. So I just had to basically just
• 25:57
  step in, you know, and kind of, you know, just, I guess be the
• 26:01
  overseer if you so, you know, you know, I was blessed to have
• 26:07
  that already. So it's not anything like I just
• 26:09
  started myself because, you know, they were already in
• 26:13
  place. And so, you know, that's how you
• 26:16
  know, it goes from there. And so then my daughter, you
• 26:19
  know, became eligible in the 10th grade.
• 26:23
  And so that just stepped it up a notch because, you know, she was
• 26:29
  a hurdler and she was a sprinter and, you know, she's the, if you
• 26:33
  look her up like right now, she's the greatest hurdler in
• 26:36
  Louisiana ever. Wow.
• 26:38
  Really. Holy cow.
• 26:39
  Yeah. You need to look at.
• 26:42
  As I say, that's a big statement you just made because I know my
• 26:44
  history. You know, I recruited Louisiana
• 26:46
  a lot. That's a big deal.
• 26:49
  Yeah. She.
• 26:49
  Has broken a lot of Aaliyah Armstrong.
• 26:52
  Oh, OK. There you go.
• 26:53
  Done. Yeah.
• 26:55
  Records from from high school. And, you know, she's, you know,
• 27:00
  not to brag, but she's been, you know, Gatorade play of the year.
• 27:03
  OK, Yeah. Yeah.
• 27:04
  Yeah, yeah. And.
• 27:05
  You know the advocates starve stars twice, you know so and now
• 27:10
  she is the the National High school Coaches Association girls
• 27:16
  athlete of the year. She just got a like yesterday
• 27:19
  all. Right, you've backed it up.
• 27:21
  OK, good. I I always, sometimes, you know,
• 27:23
  we get hyperbole. You backed it up completely.
• 27:25
  As soon as you said broke Aaliyah Armstrong's records, I'm
• 27:28
  like, oh, OK, stop right there. We're we're good.
• 27:30
  Yeah. So and as far as.
• 27:32
  Bragging not only are you coach so I always, you know, please
• 27:35
  brag about your kids, your mom. You are 100% allowed to brag
• 27:40
  about that. Just because I'm curious, am I
• 27:43
  allowed to ask where is she going to school next year?
• 27:46
  Well, she's actually in school now.
• 27:48
  She got a full scholarship at LSU.
• 27:50
  Oh bro. So she's with Dennis running.
• 27:51
  Track. Yeah, man.
• 27:53
  So this is this will just be another line of amazing
• 27:56
  sprinters and hurdlers that come from Dennis Shaver.
• 27:58
  Here we go. I've seen this, yes.
• 28:00
  I I coach. In the SEC against him.
• 28:01
  So, you know, I'm used to this story over and over.
• 28:05
  Oh yeah. Well, that's way cool.
• 28:07
  Kudos, mom and family. I mean, that's a that's a that's
• 28:10
  a big deal. I love that.
• 28:11
  That's very, very cool. Imagine we're going to learn and
• 28:14
  and obviously it's kind of a duh type statement here, but she
• 28:17
  obviously was a a part of the puzzle for this amazing year
• 28:20
  that ended with this award. So yeah, yeah, yeah, that's
• 28:22
  definitely. Was so.
• 28:24
  Definitely what was the first thing now you you're you walk
• 28:28
  into you earn an enviable position, the head coach and
• 28:33
  there's a lot in place for you. Thank goodness.
• 28:35
  Like I I think of that as like a good thing because it's helps
• 28:37
  the the kids as well. It's not, you know, you're
• 28:39
  trying to rebuild everything, but each head coach has their
• 28:42
  own culture and, you know, direction that they take the
• 28:45
  program. What was one of the first things
• 28:48
  that and this is not a diss to the old coach, by the way, this
• 28:51
  you know, this is he's talked about you.
• 28:54
  You were very praising of him and what he set up in the
• 28:57
  coaching and things. Like that, what was?
• 28:59
  What was one of the first things that you wanted to put your
• 29:02
  fingerprint on the the program? I just wanted to let the kids
• 29:10
  still know that, you know, even though the coach was gone, that,
• 29:13
  you know, we still were going to be a team, we were going to be a
• 29:17
  great team. You know, just try to put
• 29:20
  together that togetherness of the team because, you know, some
• 29:27
  people try to separate, you know, oh, we have a boys team
• 29:31
  and we have a girls team. We just want to be a team, you
• 29:34
  know, just one team all together.
• 29:37
  So, you know, that's basically what I just wanted to make sure.
• 29:41
  And then we ended up getting a great coach from Ruston High
• 29:46
  School, Allen Whitaker and his assistant Kevin Jackson, and
• 29:50
  they took over the, you know, the boys side.
• 29:53
  So, you know, and they continue to store as well, you know,
• 29:56
  because they've won several titles.
• 29:59
  So, you know, it's just a dream team almost, you know, I, I have
• 30:04
  great, great, great, great coaches.
• 30:06
  I I keep. Hearing from you stability, like
• 30:13
  when you when I talked about when you talked about, you know,
• 30:16
  one of the first things you want to do is the assistant coach was
• 30:19
  OK. I needed the girls to understand
• 30:20
  stability like, hey, this you know, I'll be here for a while.
• 30:23
  We need to get together as a group now as the head coach, I'm
• 30:27
  hearing about like, hey, this, there's no radical changes
• 30:29
  coming. Like the plan obviously was
• 30:31
  working. So I'm going to continue to
• 30:33
  build that fire and things like that.
• 30:35
  And I, you know, it's hard sometimes being the interviewer
• 30:39
  here, not putting yourself in stories, but you mentioned
• 30:44
  growing up in the single parent family.
• 30:46
  Same by the way. And, you know, typically that's
• 30:52
  not a very stable situation. By the way, a lot of, you know,
• 30:57
  no negative to me with single parents.
• 30:59
  Again, I grew up in that household and very thankful for
• 31:03
  for what I had, but I would not for me would not have
• 31:07
  categorized it as stable. Not knowing your personal
• 31:12
  experience with it. You are nodding your head kind
• 31:14
  of yes. I'm kind of gathering that, you
• 31:16
  know, maybe some similar themes there, instability.
• 31:20
  How important was that background, how you grew up,
• 31:25
  obviously very successful, went to college.
• 31:26
  I mean, come on. I mean, this is, you know, the
• 31:28
  story we want to hear is people succeeding no matter what the
• 31:32
  background is. But knowing your background, was
• 31:35
  that a call it a motivator to be in a a stability force, a
• 31:40
  stability person for the kids on the team?
• 31:43
  It was because, you know, growing up after my mom got
• 31:46
  divorced, like, we moved around a lot.
• 31:49
  OK. Yeah, same.
• 31:50
  And I went to so many, so many schools, elementary, middle and
• 31:55
  high school, you know, I was kind of all over the place.
• 31:59
  And so being stable is very important for me.
• 32:02
  You know, even when, you know, as growing up, you know, I went
• 32:06
  through to high school and, you know, mom was still kind of
• 32:08
  moving. I was like, Mom, look, I want to
• 32:10
  go stay with my grandmother, you know, because, you know, she was
• 32:15
  more stable and, you know, I was able young and I would be able
• 32:18
  to complete, you know, high school in one place, you know,
• 32:22
  because even when I first started high school, you know, I
• 32:25
  went to school in 9th grade there and then we moved again.
• 32:28
  And so I had to go to school somewhere else.
• 32:31
  Then we came back again and then we moved.
• 32:32
  So, you know, it was a lot for me.
• 32:36
  And so that's why, you know, I like to focus on stability so
• 32:39
  much, you know, because once everything is stable, you know,
• 32:43
  you can get comfortable, you know, and you'll be more, you
• 32:48
  know, amped to, I guess, you know, be more motivated to do
• 32:53
  what you needed to do. So, you know, that's why it's so
• 32:56
  important to me. And that's why I try to, you
• 32:59
  know, with, with, you know, being married and, you know,
• 33:03
  making sure my kids have a stable household, you know.
• 33:08
  And so, you know, I just thank God for that, that, you know,
• 33:11
  he's kept me, you know, and, and my mom, she did, you know, the
• 33:16
  best that she could, you know, because she was, you know,
• 33:20
  trying to work in a day and she was going to college at night,
• 33:24
  you know. And so it was kind of a lot on
• 33:27
  me because I kind of had to step in, you know, for my little
• 33:30
  brothers to make sure that they had what they needed, you know,
• 33:33
  as far as food and helping with homework.
• 33:36
  You know, like you say, not taking anything away from my mom
• 33:39
  because, you know, she really tried, you know, she did her
• 33:42
  best, you know, but I guess, you know, taking that on too, you
• 33:47
  know, it taught me to be more responsible.
• 33:50
  Yeah. I.
• 33:50
  I was a single child, so I, I can't imagine having siblings as
• 33:54
  well. You know, it made me who I am
• 33:57
  today. From K through 9th.
• 33:59
  I, I moved a lot. I did luckily get to go to the
• 34:01
  same high school for all four years.
• 34:04
  But you know, you're always the new kid.
• 34:06
  That's why I always, when people ask when we're talking about
• 34:08
  like, you're always the new kid. I go in so you learn quickly.
• 34:11
  This again, my experience here. I don't want to put my
• 34:13
  experience, assume my experience the same as yours, Ursula.
• 34:17
  But you know, when you're always the new kid, you have to quickly
• 34:20
  find out who's your circle and who's not your circle.
• 34:23
  Like quick you get you get you learn it almost as a skill of
• 34:26
  like, OK, these are going to be my tribe and these are not going
• 34:28
  to be my tribe. And and then, you know, a
• 34:30
  semester or maybe if you're lucky, a whole year goes by and
• 34:34
  you do it again, You know, maybe you get a whole year out of
• 34:36
  school. So it may be who I am today and
• 34:39
  it's made you who you are today, Ursula.
• 34:41
  But it is tough sometimes. And I think I, I echo the
• 34:45
  sentiment about how important stability is to me now.
• 34:48
  So with my marriage and my children and things like that,
• 34:50
  it's like, OK, well, I'm going to double, triple, quadruple
• 34:53
  down on this group, my kids and wife, because I wasn't
• 34:56
  unfortunately able to do that. That's interesting.
• 34:59
  It's interesting how it molds you as a coach.
• 35:01
  You know, your, your, your, your background.
• 35:03
  You're still a human when you coach.
• 35:04
  Just because you put that coach title on doesn't make you some
• 35:07
  Autobot that you know, because I.
• 35:10
  I tell them too, that I'm a mom first, you know, so you know
• 35:15
  that. And a lot of them on the team,
• 35:16
  they call me my mom, you know? So, you know, and then that
• 35:21
  makes me feel good because I know that they trust me, you
• 35:26
  know? And when you gain that trust,
• 35:28
  you know, they'll work hard, you know, to make sure that they
• 35:32
  keep you happy almost, you know. You know, we certainly, you
• 35:37
  know, you've seen this as a, as a spouse and as a child,
• 35:40
  yourself and your own children, your own work group as far as
• 35:43
  teachers and things like that. We tend to do better, we tend to
• 35:48
  do greater things when we're doing it for others.
• 35:52
  And so I. Think the kids, what you're
• 35:54
  expressing there, I think they want to do better because they
• 35:56
  want to do it for you as well as themselves, by the way, their
• 35:59
  own parents and their own teammates.
• 36:01
  But when we're doing it for others, we know what we tend to
• 36:04
  give it more than if I'm just doing it for myself, which is
• 36:08
  also important. But just, you know, this, this
• 36:10
  the teammate aspect and coaches are part of that teammate aspect
• 36:14
  of it. So let's talk about this year.
• 36:17
  You know, it's interesting kind of maybe seems like maybe your
• 36:19
  daughter going along this curve for this, you know, this year
• 36:23
  here as you were going into the 2024 season.
• 36:29
  I'll ask you this way, did you foresee it ending with a coach
• 36:33
  of the year award or was it, you know, did you think it was going
• 36:36
  to be a special year? Talk to us about the year.
• 36:39
  Did not I actually going into the year, it was kind of
• 36:42
  bittersweet for me because my daughter was a senior, you know,
• 36:46
  and I knew that she would be leaving, you know, but you know,
• 36:49
  I also wanted them to do great things.
• 36:52
  So, you know, we went into the season, you know, we knew that
• 36:55
  we would do well, you know, because we were, you know,
• 36:57
  steady climbing the ladder, you know, and give us.
• 37:01
  A little bit little background. How did the 23 season end?
• 37:04
  Did you end as state champions or what?
• 37:06
  Yeah. OK, starting with we were my
• 37:18
  daughter's 10th grade year, we were indoor runner up and then
• 37:22
  we ended up being outdoor state champions.
• 37:25
  And then 20 to 23 we went into and we went outdoors and then
• 37:33
  this year we won indoors and outdoors.
• 37:37
  So you know, we have 5 state championships right now.
• 37:42
  I. Still got you.
• 37:49
  I know we're having a little stutter in there for a second.
• 37:52
  So that's kind of how, yeah, yeah.
• 37:57
  Yeah, I think we're having a little bit.
• 37:59
  Yeah, I can't. We're just it's, it's, it's like
• 38:01
  it's slowing down your your side.
• 38:03
  I don't know if it is on your side.
• 38:04
  I'm just saying the the communication on mine.
• 38:08
  So talk to us about this year as you're going in.
• 38:10
  There's a lot of responsibility of winning a state title the
• 38:12
  year before. You know, obviously some kids
• 38:15
  graduate, they're still new kids.
• 38:16
  So talk to us about how the 24 this magical season developed
• 38:20
  for you guys there. So we we knew that, you know, we
• 38:29
  had a lot of people, you know, on our backs because we won last
• 38:33
  year. And so we kind of motivated kids
• 38:36
  to say now listen, you know, coming back for us, you know,
• 38:41
  because we've run. So, you know, we just try to
• 38:44
  keep them motivated, make sure that they did that what they
• 38:50
  were supposed to do. We kind of gave them more
• 38:55
  independent. We just wanted to see how they
• 39:00
  would work on their own, you know, because a lot of them were
• 39:04
  graduated basically trying themselves.
• 39:09
  And so, you know, we just kind of worked on that and just kids
• 39:13
  motivated, had them working hard and so they knew what they had
• 39:21
  to do. You know, we kind of went over
• 39:23
  each event letting them know, say, hey, we need, you know,
• 39:28
  this amount of points in this race and we need this amount of
• 39:32
  points in this race so that they knew what they needed to go in.
• 39:42
  You know, they just needed to know like what their races were,
• 39:47
  you know, what they needed to do.
• 39:49
  And that's what they did. We even had a couple of other
• 39:53
  surprises someday we thought wouldn't point, but they
• 39:56
  actually did, so it worked out in our favor.
• 40:02
  You. Know in high school we're
• 40:04
  dealing with 14 or working with 14 to 18 year olds and in
• 40:07
  college, I'm not sure it gets easier.
• 40:09
  Not necessarily, but we working with 18 to 22 year olds.
• 40:12
  How as the high school coach of it, you know, we're dealing with
• 40:17
  1418 year olds. And maybe you were more skewed
• 40:19
  towards juniors and seniors. So let's call 1718 year olds.
• 40:22
  They're still 1718, they're still kids.
• 40:24
  OK, How do you keep, how do you keep the kids motivated after
• 40:31
  winning state titles the year and two years before?
• 40:34
  How do you keep them motivated to see the big, like I hate to
• 40:38
  say do it again because it is different, because you know, it
• 40:40
  is different kids, it's different year, etcetera.
• 40:42
  But how do you keep them motivated to stay on task to do
• 40:45
  it again? It's easy.
• 40:47
  I mean, I remember myself as a 1718 year old kid, It'd been
• 40:49
  easy. Be like, I don't need to
• 40:50
  practice as hard. Come on, we, we're, we're going
• 40:53
  to win. It's automatic, you know, those
• 40:54
  kind of things. How do you keep the kids focused
• 40:56
  on the the prize at hand? So we had some great seniors and
• 41:03
  they were so we had like, of course, my daughter Makaria
• 41:09
  Harris, we had Sade Gray. She's a probably Louisiana right
• 41:14
  now. We have Lady and Jack.
• 41:16
  She was a distance runner and we had Sincere Wilson.
• 41:21
  She was great with the jumps. So each almost each like, you
• 41:27
  know, the hurdlers had mercury and the sprinters had per day
• 41:31
  and you know the. Sprinters had.
• 41:34
  Laid in the jumpers had, you know, and to me, kids almost
• 41:42
  take things better from their peers than from coaches.
• 41:47
  And so they weren't able to keep those kids motivated.
• 41:51
  You know, they're like, guys, listen, we need to do this.
• 41:53
  You need you. We need to make sure we stay on
• 41:55
  test. So we kind of pass the baton
• 42:03
  that you, as you may say to the seniors, the team.
• 42:07
  So that's how big, you know, I mean, they were they were
• 42:11
  wonderful. Like, you know, we were blessed
• 42:13
  to have them as a part of our team, you know, because they
• 42:18
  were great leaders and, you know, great leaders make great
• 42:22
  followers. And so, you know, it kind of,
• 42:23
  you know, trickle down. We're having a little bit of
• 42:27
  technical audio difficulties here, but so I want to point out
• 42:30
  something you said and have you expound on it because you were
• 42:33
  talk. I love your your statement
• 42:34
  there. Kids take things better from
• 42:36
  their peers than other coaches. So it sounds like you're really
• 42:40
  talking about the importance of, I don't want to necessarily call
• 42:43
  it team captains because there can only be so many team
• 42:45
  captains, things like that. But there can always be more
• 42:46
  leaders. And I heard you earlier say
• 42:49
  something, I believe to the effect of like we didn't
• 42:52
  micromanage. And that's, I think that's my
• 42:54
  word. I don't think you actually use
• 42:55
  that word, but you, you empowered them, whether it's,
• 42:58
  you know, older kids or the better kids athletically to, to
• 43:02
  take ownership of the team and, and even their own like section,
• 43:05
  the sprints, hurdles and the, the distance and the throwers.
• 43:10
  Right, right. You've you've coached for a
• 43:14
  while. You know that's yeah, I'm going
• 43:17
  to ask a follow up question that you've coached for a while now
• 43:20
  here. How important was that aspect
• 43:22
  this student LED leadership on this magical year?
• 43:30
  It was it was very important. It was very important that we
• 43:33
  get those seniors ready for, like I said, college and even
• 43:41
  though, you know, we go out with college, let them leaders in
• 43:45
  high schools when they get to college, they can be better
• 43:49
  followers, you know too, because it's your responsibility, you
• 43:54
  know, to lead your section in order to be a good leader as you
• 43:59
  have to be a good follower as well.
• 44:01
  So it all kinds of, you know, kind of connects together, you
• 44:05
  know, just trying to transition them to get ready for it, you
• 44:08
  know, the college career and also to let the younger kids see
• 44:15
  what the older kids were doing. So when it gets their turn, you
• 44:19
  know, they'll give it to the same as well.
• 44:23
  Like our 11th graders that, you know, we took right now, you
• 44:27
  know, but they right up under those seniors.
• 44:32
  And so they were able to learn, you know, how to be a leader
• 44:36
  from them. And so that's what we kind of
• 44:38
  keep, you know, trying to do, you know, just get each, you
• 44:42
  know, group ready for, you know, what's to come.
• 44:47
  You know Ursula, it it strikes me so this is roughly 2024 was
• 44:52
  your 4th year coaching say that. Again, I'm sorry, it's breaking
• 44:59
  up. I don't know what's going on.
• 45:00
  It's all. Good, we'll make we'll make it
• 45:01
  work here. It it strikes me that 2024 was
• 45:05
  your 4th year coaching. Is that correct?
• 45:09
  My 4th. Year, yes, you know.
• 45:11
  I really, that's interesting to me because you know, a lot of
• 45:15
  not a lot of times, often a, an award like this will be for
• 45:22
  someone who's coached for 15/20/25 years and and they
• 45:25
  earned out that this is not a who deserves or doesn't deserve
• 45:28
  question. And it actually kind of gives me
• 45:30
  like, it makes me think about like a coach right now in the
• 45:35
  middle of Kansas and, you know, their their third, fourth, fifth
• 45:38
  year of coach and they're like, you know, I'm not really air
• 45:41
  quotes here important until I'm in my 20th year or things like
• 45:44
  that. Or I can't do big great things
• 45:47
  until, you know, I get a lot of experience underneath my belt.
• 45:50
  It it's really interesting to me, you know, really early in
• 45:53
  your official coaching career here now even your mom.
• 45:56
  So it's that's kind of like coaching 24/7.
• 45:59
  But as far as like officially, you know, on staff real early.
• 46:03
  Do you think that helped or hindered your career At this
• 46:09
  point, it's this is a hard question because you can't see
• 46:11
  20 years ahead and the things that you will have done in those
• 46:15
  twenty years. So the the kind of terrible
• 46:18
  question is do you think it helped or hinder that your air
• 46:21
  quotes only in your 4th year of coaching?
• 46:29
  I think it helped me because, you know, being new, you know,
• 46:35
  fairly new in the coaching, you know, environment, you know,
• 46:41
  sometimes I'm not too sure, you know, of, you know, what I need
• 46:47
  to do, you know, But getting this award, it just lets me know
• 46:52
  that it makes me feel more confident, you know, that I can
• 46:58
  only go up from here, you know. So it's, it's humbling to me to
• 47:04
  be able to get it at this, you know, this four years, but it's
• 47:10
  also giving me the confidence to be able to, you know, go out and
• 47:15
  feel great about the things that, you know, I have done and
• 47:20
  the things that I'm going to do. So it, it's kind of I, I don't
• 47:29
  know, I don't ever think that anything that God blesses me
• 47:32
  with hinders me. You know, I just always think
• 47:35
  that, you know, everything happens for a reason and it's
• 47:39
  happening right now for a reason.
• 47:41
  I may not understand, but God knows.
• 47:44
  And so, you know, I just leave it up to him to show me where I
• 47:48
  go from here. Yeah, it was a terrible question
• 47:52
  on my side because you're right. I, I, you know, confidence.
• 47:57
  We we, you know, as a coach, you've seen even in four years,
• 48:02
  you have certainly seen that, I'm going to call it new kid to
• 48:05
  the track, whether they were, you know, their first year as
• 48:06
  their senior year or their freshman.
• 48:07
  Certainly we see this in freshman where you see the
• 48:11
  talent the kid has and maybe they're even putting in the
• 48:15
  work. So it's not that aspect, but
• 48:17
  they just don't have the confidence in themselves for
• 48:19
  many reasons. Again, we're dealing with kids
• 48:21
  here, for crying out loud. Plenty of us adults don't have
• 48:24
  confidence in what we do. And so you as the coach, like,
• 48:27
  OK, how do I instill confidence in this kid?
• 48:29
  Man, if he or she would just believe in themselves, boy, how
• 48:33
  great they'll be. So I do, you know, I think about
• 48:36
  that as your career here, Ursula here is, you know, one of the,
• 48:39
  you know, I don't want to say the ultimate, but you know, a
• 48:42
  big confidence booster of like, hey, Ursula, you're doing a lot
• 48:48
  of the right things. You know, so much so that
• 48:51
  somebody, some committee thought you were the enough to be the
• 48:54
  national coach of the year. And so now what gets me excited
• 48:58
  about this when I see a coach in there, you know, not rookie
• 49:03
  year, but you know, they're they're early stage of their
• 49:05
  coaching career. It's like, oh man.
• 49:07
  Now, if Ursula takes this confidence and continues to grow
• 49:13
  in coaching, well man, we're going to look back in this
• 49:15
  24/20/2014, which was awesome, is going to look like a positive
• 49:20
  distance memory. Look at what she's doing now in
• 49:22
  2034 and 2044. You know, the impact, the
• 49:25
  positive impact that you'll continue to make young people
• 49:28
  because of this, because I've seen it where plenty of young
• 49:32
  coaches don't get a confidence boost.
• 49:37
  And by the way, doesn't always have to be a national coach of
• 49:39
  the year. It could be the head coach.
• 49:40
  Just patent a young coach on the back saying, Hey, you're doing a
• 49:44
  good job and they get out of coaching because they don't
• 49:47
  think they're making a positive impact.
• 49:49
  So I, I just love this for you and your coaching staff by the
• 49:52
  way, as well. They this is AI know it's the
• 49:54
  national coach of the year. And I'm not a huge fan of coach
• 49:56
  of the year programs, like staff of the year type programs
• 50:01
  because I know it wasn't just you and I, I, I think you would,
• 50:04
  you've already shouted out your coaches.
• 50:05
  So I think you are in agreeance here that it takes the distance
• 50:08
  coach, it's your AD, it takes the AD, you know,
• 50:11
  superintendents, etcetera. To have that.
• 50:14
  Boost for you guys like I'm like super excited for like
• 50:17
  Scotlandville freshman this year and freshman next year, like Oh
• 50:21
  my gosh, they're going to get like some amazing from these
• 50:24
  guys and gals. What are you doing?
• 50:29
  So you know, I talked about how I probably would have been as an
• 50:32
  1817 eighteen year old kid after I won state and been like,
• 50:35
  whatever, we're going to win it. How do you as a as an adult, as
• 50:39
  a coach, how do you keep yourself from sitting on your
• 50:43
  laurels and saying, Hey, I know everything have you?
• 50:46
  What do you do for coaching education at this point?
• 50:48
  What have you thought about coming up coaching education?
• 50:51
  How do you continue to improve? Well, of course we always have
• 50:58
  coaches conventions each year. And so, you know, I always get
• 51:02
  takeaways, you know, from that, you know, we have different, I
• 51:09
  even go sometimes on the, the website and I just read, you
• 51:14
  know, because I want to be familiar with all of the not
• 51:18
  just the coaching aspect, but like rules and regulations
• 51:22
  because I don't want to do anything, you know, they could
• 51:25
  affect our team. So being a teacher, continuing
• 51:30
  education is always important for me, you know, so I'm always
• 51:34
  reading and you know, trying to find out different things, you
• 51:37
  know, to make sure that we're doing the right thing because,
• 51:40
  you know, I don't want to be have us cited or you know, have
• 51:43
  our kids cited for something, you know, that we didn't know.
• 51:49
  I'm not saying that, you know, because I'm still learning
• 51:51
  everyday, you know, everyday. And not just from that, I'm
• 51:55
  learning from the coaches as well, because the coaches that
• 51:58
  are on my coaching staff, they have so many years of
• 52:02
  experience, like way past what I have, you know, So, you know, I
• 52:07
  could never take away from the experiences that they have, you
• 52:12
  know, and so I'm going to from them as well.
• 52:15
  So I just. You know, want to just continue
• 52:17
  learning as much as you know, as much as I can.
• 52:21
  You mentioned the LTFCA, the Louisiana Track and Field
• 52:23
  Coaches Association Association, one of the top coaches, state
• 52:27
  coaches associations around, fantastic clinic, fantastic
• 52:32
  leadership. So I love that you shouted out
• 52:34
  them as well. So with this award, with this
• 52:38
  award, you get to, well, you can always go.
• 52:41
  By the way, this isn't only because she won the award.
• 52:43
  Everybody should attend this in my opinion.
• 52:45
  But you'll be at the USTFCCCA convention in Orlando when we're
• 52:50
  recording this. This is weird.
• 52:51
  So you're listening to this. It's in a couple of weeks when
• 52:53
  we're recording this. It's still a couple of months,
• 52:55
  but soon you'll be in Orlando for the Is this your first
• 52:59
  convention? First one ever.
• 53:02
  I'm so excited but first one ever.
• 53:04
  You have no idea. It is literally I, I call it
• 53:07
  this, I call it my Super Bowl. I just love the week of USTFCCCA
• 53:12
  convention. First of all, shout out to Sam
• 53:14
  Seems the CEO and the entire USTFCCC organization takes a lot
• 53:18
  of men and women to pull this whole thing off.
• 53:21
  Not just convention, but USTFCCCA, but it is such a great
• 53:25
  week of, you know, a lot of coaching education as far as
• 53:29
  like how to coach long jumpers and sprinters and things like
• 53:31
  that, but a lot of professional development type of topics and
• 53:36
  things like that, like how to be a better high school coach and
• 53:39
  things like that. Like I just and it's a week of
• 53:42
  just fellowship. We're celebrating each other,
• 53:45
  we're learning from each other. I'm so excited for you.
• 53:47
  What have you looked at like past schedules at all yet?
• 53:50
  Have you started kind of thinking about like, oh, I
• 53:52
  can't, I got to make sure I do this or that or anything like
• 53:54
  that? I hadn't really checked into it,
• 54:00
  you know, as of yet, but I am so excited because, you know, I
• 54:05
  know I'm going to learn so much more when I can bring back, you
• 54:10
  know, to my other coaches and, you know, let them know what you
• 54:13
  know what I've and you know, some things we may need to
• 54:18
  tweak, you know, that I learned from them or, you know, you
• 54:21
  know, we can do differently with the kids.
• 54:24
  But you know, anything learning, you know, I love learning new
• 54:27
  things. So I'm just I'm super excited.
• 54:30
  You know, I'm going to get my little, you know, planner and,
• 54:33
  you know, circle, which, you know, presentations.
• 54:36
  I want to go to, you know, because I just I want to, I want
• 54:40
  to learn, you know, so much, you know, because you know, I God
• 54:46
  bless to be in this position. And I don't just want to sit,
• 54:51
  you know, and just say, you know, well, we've done this, you
• 54:55
  know, because there's always other things that that we can
• 54:59
  learn and other things that we can do, you know, because we are
• 55:03
  state champions. We don't know everything.
• 55:06
  You know, we have, you know, great coaches, as I said, and
• 55:09
  great athletes, but it's always room for improvement.
• 55:13
  And you know what The greatest opportunity you'll have during
• 55:16
  convention. Wait, say that again.
• 55:22
  I'm sorry. You know what the you know the
• 55:24
  greatest opportunity that you'll have during convention.
• 55:29
  What's that we'll? We'll get to meet in person.
• 55:36
  Yes, I was a little. Worried.
• 55:37
  I was like, oh, she does not seem excited.
• 55:39
  Oh no. Look, I was like, what?
• 55:46
  Very suspenseful. So as we start to to wrap up
• 55:51
  here, one is so when you're listening to this, this should
• 55:54
  be December 2nd when this publishes.
• 55:56
  So next week we'll have the boys national coach of the year.
• 55:59
  We'll learn his journey, Nathan. And then the next week will be
• 56:02
  the USTFCCA convention that Monday as as far as planning is
• 56:07
  right now in August, we'll be doing a live taping of the Gil
• 56:10
  Connections podcast. We've done this for the past few
• 56:12
  years. We have coaches drop in for a
• 56:15
  couple of hours, about 5-10 minutes each, and just kind of
• 56:17
  have a fun conversation with them.
• 56:19
  So make sure you join us on Monday live.
• 56:21
  If you're there, make sure you come over.
• 56:23
  If you're not there, if you're listening, we'll be live on
• 56:26
  YouTube so you can participate that way.
• 56:29
  And then Ursula will be getting her award there as well at the
• 56:34
  convention, which is just again, anything that honors track and
• 56:37
  field coaches, you know, I am going to support 1000%.
• 56:41
  So Ursula, as we wrap up today, you know you've got a lot of
• 56:44
  coaches listening right now. You've won this big award
• 56:48
  deservedly. What would be, I'm gonna put you
• 56:51
  on the spot here a little bit. What would be your number one
• 56:54
  piece of advice for high school coaches?
• 56:57
  And you know, I must talk a little bit while you're thinking
• 56:59
  about that so you can formulate your, your answer here.
• 57:02
  You know, there's coaches from, you know, middle of nowhere
• 57:05
  Kentucky all the way up to Los Angeles, Miami.
• 57:08
  You know, there's, there's a whole range.
• 57:09
  There's there's coaches who it's their first season ever.
• 57:12
  It's their coaches who are their 40th season.
• 57:15
  It's coaches who have five kids on their team, coaches who have
• 57:18
  200 kids on their team. When you think about high school
• 57:21
  coaches, typically teachers or you know the support staff like
• 57:25
  you that's helping our our young people out there, what is the
• 57:29
  number one piece of advice that you can give to them in regards
• 57:33
  to coaching track and field? My number one thing would be
• 57:39
  trust, you know, trust God, trust your coaching staff, trust
• 57:43
  your athletes and you know, it's just trust.
• 57:47
  Once you get that trust, then you can do amazing, amazing
• 57:52
  things. And you know, I witnessed that
• 57:54
  first hand. I witnessed that first hand.
• 57:57
  Just that, that trust is what's most important to me.
• 58:01
  I love that because you know, as you define trust, that stability
• 58:05
  is in the definition of trust. Openness, communication,
• 58:09
  honesty, faith, believe in each other.
• 58:14
  Responsibility is all built into that word trust.
• 58:17
  So I, I love that very much. Ursula, thank you so much.
• 58:23
  You know, we'd love to your point, I love how you're kind of
• 58:25
  a continual learner. You're always going to continue
• 58:27
  to learn that same reason we do this podcast, you know, to learn
• 58:31
  from coaches like yourself and what built up to this amazing
• 58:34
  award. It's really cool.
• 58:36
  You know, uniquely, I love that you got to experience this with
• 58:39
  your daughter would have been equally deserved and special,
• 58:44
  you know, without a family member on the team.
• 58:46
  But boy, to see your daughter progress with it in literally
• 58:50
  from like, I'm gonna call it zero to 100, meaning not
• 58:52
  eligible freshman year and then doing it, you know, her thing
• 58:56
  senior year and. Signing a scholarship, which is.
• 58:59
  A big deal. I just love that adventure that
• 59:02
  you got to go on for these past four years and really looking
• 59:06
  forward to five year year 567-8910.
• 59:10
  You know, you're at such a young we talk about training age with
• 59:14
  athletes. You got a young coaching age.
• 59:16
  I'm just super excited. Well, gosh, you're you're
• 59:18
  already doing big things now. What in the world's your 10
• 59:20
  going to look like you're 15. You know, these 1418 year old
• 59:24
  kids are. Yeah, these 1418 year old kids
• 59:26
  are so lucky and so blessed to have you and your coaching staff
• 59:30
  pouring into them, believing in them, earning their trust,
• 59:32
  giving them trust. This is literally the superpower
• 59:38
  of our track coaches out there. The impact, the positive impact
• 59:42
  that you are making on these kids, 99% of them are not going
• 59:46
  to go on to college or the pro ranks, right?
• 59:49
  But 100% of them are going to go on to be moms, dads, business
• 59:53
  owners, teachers, clergy, etcetera.
• 59:56
  And that is is what our high school and college, that's what
• 59:59
  our track and field coaches are doing out there and that that's
• 1:00:03
  your real impact on society. So I'm so grateful for what you
• 1:00:06
  do and what your coaching staff does.
• 1:00:08
  And congratulations, I'm so happy for you.
• 1:00:12
  Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
• 1:00:14
  I appreciate it. Awesome guys.
• 1:00:16
  And thank you for being here another week, man.
• 1:00:17
  I, you know, again, I get to do 52 of these a year and they're
• 1:00:20
  all special. There's just something special
• 1:00:23
  about the USTFCCCA National Coaches of the Year.
• 1:00:25
  To be able to learn from their really special year.
• 1:00:29
  I think there's a lot to take away.
• 1:00:30
  Again, I love that it's not a a legacy award, meaning only
• 1:00:35
  coaches who've coached 2530 years win this award.
• 1:00:38
  I love it's unique that she's year 4IN in doing these things
• 1:00:42
  because whether you coach for one year or 100 years, you're
• 1:00:44
  making a positive impact on young people.
• 1:00:46
  So it doesn't matter what year you're in, as long as you're
• 1:00:48
  you're in The Dirty work, you're in there helping those young
• 1:00:51
  kids out and I'm just so grateful for that.
• 1:00:53
  So join us next week. We'll head over to Indiana for
• 1:00:56
  the boys Coach of the Year and learn about his amazing season
• 1:01:00
  that ended with his National Coach of the Year award and then
• 1:01:02
  join us the week after. We'll go live at USTFCCCA and we
• 1:01:06
  get to get to hang out with these guys in person in Orlando,
• 1:01:09
  which is not the world's worst city at all.
• 1:01:11
  So thanks for being here. Join us next week.
• 1:01:13
  We'll do it all over again. If it goes to appreciate the
• 1:01:21
  coach the ones that point people most every season needs a voice
• 1:01:25
  of reason speaking the growth you got to prep before you carry
• 1:01:28
  the load ice coffee to the soul. For those of us who stay on the
• 1:01:31
  go proper hand off to stay in the zone which you packing for
• 1:01:34
  the road. There's more than one way to the
• 1:01:36
  go taking those that's paying. You're told it ain't practice if
• 1:01:39
  your purpose Saint Clair. It can't happen until you listen
• 1:01:42
  with both ears. You can't mentor without a
• 1:01:44
  mentor of years of experience. You can reinvent those years.
• 1:01:47
  Every plan's got to stand and deliver to and the price
• 1:01:50
  sacrifice can you give up you. It's a choice and a fight, not a
• 1:01:53
  win or lose. It's not a ploy boy device.
• 1:01:56
  Y'all can make more moves. It's not about how to it's all
• 1:01:59
  about why you don't know till you know who you are inside
• 1:02:02
  6,000,000. Waste of time, choose none.
• 1:02:04
  So y'all cross finish line, the work ain't done so we learn from
• 1:02:07
  the experts but y'all got to put in the leg work.
• 1:02:10
  Gil Athletics is the network. It's all about connections put
• 1:02:13
  together for the profession to where every track coach could
• 1:02:16
  be. Bless you.