Get Ready to RUMBAUGH!

This week, Andy and Troy invite new Offensive Line Coach Leo Rumbaugh to the bunker for some straight talk on WUBALL, the spring game tomorrow, life growing up in Eastern Appalachia, his military experience, and family - his ever growing family and his new family of football players right here in Forest City. You're going to love this guy and he's chompin' at the bit to get rolling (you might say he's "ready to Rumbaugh"!) See you tomorrow at Bolstorff Field for the spring game - bring a jacket and come read to RUMBAUGH!

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:32

You've seen me out there. You know I I do yell. I don't mind yelling.

SPEAKER_06 0:36

I don't mind yelling as long as there's teaching going on, too.

SPEAKER_07 0:38

Absolutely. Well, you know, if you were to talk to any of my former players, they they'll tell you like the coach may is gonna coach you hard. He's gonna yell at you, he's gonna demand, but they those guy those guys still know that I have their back now. Still to this day, they call me.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 0:58

Um, you know, they put me down as a reference for them, yeah, those kind of things. And yeah, I I do, I I I I'm very I'm demanding, and I'm gonna yell, and I and I'm not gonna let them I'm not gonna let them slide on things because if I let them slide, then I'm saying it's okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:18

100% true. Kids will rise and fall to whatever expectation is placed before them.

SPEAKER_07 1:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:24

Not in total, but the reality is that those that don't aren't gonna be your people. They're not gonna be the ones that are gonna perform for you on Saturday.

SPEAKER_07 1:34

Oh, I didn't even know I was on the website.

SPEAKER_06 1:38

Your name. Your name is your name and you click on it. Riley on there. Gotta work on it. Dude, why don't they just give it to us? Can we just do everything? Because it'll end up being me and I don't want to do it. Well, that's what I'm saying. When I say us, I meant you.

SPEAKER_05 1:51

All right. We're set.

SPEAKER_06 1:54

See if I can get this. I'll pop this down a couple more. Oh, that's really letter. Yeah. It was like a new Yeah, you got your new poncho shirt. I do. Well, I got this one out for spring break. I was on all right. I pretended like I was gonna button that, but I didn't. All right. We're recording. Lights went off. Well, it's because it's on me, but hold on a second. Well, that's okay. I don't mind that. I mean, it can be on you. Because the first question that we're gonna have while we're recording is did we get any did we get any texts on how we're gonna open the show? Because that's one of the questions, or that's what we asked the crowd to do last time here, uh, the Wallock Grid Iron Club podcast, is to because last week uh we opened the show with uh um we opened the show cold. We didn't Oh yeah, we we kind of jumped in like the Joe Rogan experience and uh they're gonna the people have questions for me? No, not necessarily. We asked them to tell us how like do you want us to open the show in an accent or uh or mimic someone's voice or things like that? I told Troy to work on Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. Um I threw we got nothing. Got nothing. Well thanks, guys. Nothing. Well then in that case, welcome to this episode of the Waldorf Gridiron Club Podcast. Uh thanks everybody for not sending us your recommendations so you're not getting that uh that uh video and audio treat to the ears of hearing Troy and I um sound silly. That's right. It's too bad for you uh that that's not happening, but I'll tell you this. Um if you go now to the uh now uh our platforming allows us to uh you can send a voicemail. And I'll tell you what. If you send a voicemail, because this has happened on some of the other podcasts that I produce, yeah, and uh people will call in and they will just leave a message. And obviously, if it's if it's funny, I'm gonna play it. If it's complimentary, I'm gonna play it. If it's wicked, no. I mean, if it's profane, I'm not gonna play it. But if it's, you know, yeah, there's there's a wide berth if I think if it's appropriate. So now you cannot just text the show, which many people have done. It's just been a while since they've done it. They're out of the habit, let's be honest. Yeah, you can also leave a voicemail, which is pretty sweet.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

I listen to it in the morning when I'm getting ready for the day, and I am also in love with your new theme music. I sing and dance while I'm getting ready. Keep up the good work.

SPEAKER_06 4:14

Cool. I may do that. I may leave a voicemail. Like use different that's where you use your different voices, man. Oh, you guys are great.

SPEAKER_05 4:22

Oh, yeah, yeah. Holy cow. Yeah, this is uh Bob Schmoltzi-Walchy calling in from Northwestern.

SPEAKER_06 4:29

Uh we really love your show out here in uh Second Pella. Oh, yeah, the wannabe Pella. I'm sorry, guys. We love Northwestern. Yeah, yeah, we do. The Dutch. The Dutch. The Dutch. They had like a festival not that long ago, right? Yeah. Yeah. You know, the Dutch got us. Was there much clogging to be done? Muching. Who doesn't like wooden shoes? Super cozy. I mean at some point, Troy, we're gonna have to know what that's all about. Wooden shoes, really. Dutch. Gosh. If you are on if you are from a place where it's like you're making land out of the ocean, and it's very flat, and it's you know, uh maybe a lot of canals and bogginess, maybe you do want shoes, shoes that could potentially help you float. Well, I would say not just that, but maybe just the uh the nature of uh what else is gonna be a little water resistant. Nothing's proof or then when you do, you lose a shoe. I mean, what a terrible thing that's gonna happen uh when you're out in the bog and you lose a shoe, what's wooden shoe gonna do? It's gonna float. You'll be able to just like crocs. Yeah. They're the original crocs, man. The original crocs. And the good thing is is that now I'm sure all those wooden shoes are made in China. They probably are. Maybe the Republic of Vietnam. Yeah. I mean, because uh they outsource a lot. Taiwan, um Laos, Cambodia, you know, the uh um yeah. So for the next 52 minutes, we're gonna go ahead and just talk about the world trade situation, particularly since the Strait of Hormuz is closed. Um that would be riveting. Yes, I'm sure everybody would or what we could do, Andy, is we could talk to which no. We should we should introduce our fans to somebody completely new, and now for something completely different. You know, folks, uh pretty excited because um, you know, we've gone through some the coaching change, we've been over that. Um, and we were pretty excited to see uh Coach Callaway, uh his his new stable of coaches, and tonight we got a treat for you. So uh fresh from Tennessee here in this great country is Coach Leo. Let's get ready to rumba. Coach Rumba, welcome, buddy. How you doing, man? Have you ever heard that before? Oh, never, never, really.

SPEAKER_07 7:04

I think if I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I I might be able to retire.

SPEAKER_06 7:07

All right, well, fancy. So, coach, uh, you've been in town how long now?

SPEAKER_07 7:13

Uh a week last Sunday. So about a week and a half, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:16

So were you here for a blizzard? Did you get a blizzard? No, I wasn't here for the snow. You didn't get the snow, but we got you into the tornadoes.

SPEAKER_07 7:23

Yeah, that was uh that was a little wild for me. Uh the the town I live in hasn't had a tornado touchdown in over 200 years. So I've never seen a tornado in real life.

SPEAKER_06 7:35

I've seen a few. I mean, that's nature of the beast on what's I don't like tornadoes when it comes. Uh I like them in two years because they're beautiful. They really are. Um and uh two years when you're retired. Well, when I retired, my wife, my wife has spent the last 27 years of being alone during severe weather. Um obviously when our children were young, she was she was kind of beefing up, trying to make sure you know mom's got this, and she was just scared to death, which I don't blame her. But the reality is um she's been alone for uh so I leave. I mean, that's what I do, that's part of my job, and uh go out, do that thing. And uh we were talking the other day, and she goes, How many more years we got of severe weather? I said, Well, we've got this severe weather season and next severe weather season. She goes, Then you'll be here with me. I said, No, no, no. You will be with me. That's right. You're gonna be on the computer looking at the radar, and I'm gonna be driving. Yeah. I'll be like Ryan Hall. You know, I've had uh the experience with when when he's out there driving. Oh, yeah. Sometimes he's driving down this road out here by the bunker, and I'll be up in the tower with a beer in my hand, as watching the tornadoes and the funnel clouds as they develop, and I'll see him coming. And one time I called you. Hey, you just went by. I was like, hey, you just went by. You see anything? I'm like, nah, not really. Yeah, it's all about information.

SPEAKER_05 9:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:03

So, coach, welcome to Waldorf University. Welcome to Four City, Iowa. Um, I guess just from the jump, how's it been in the last seven days?

SPEAKER_07 9:12

I mean, honestly, I I love it here. It's awesome. Uh it's a I love a small town feel anyway. I'm in I'm from eastern Appalachi. I mean, the only thing we're missing is mountains here. But other than that, I mean, it's uh like I said, I love the small town life.

SPEAKER_06 9:26

So what was the name of the town that you grew up in?

SPEAKER_07 9:29

Uh like Colton is something like so I I grew up in Severeville, Tennessee. Uh I live in Kodak, it's all the same county, but it's the home of Dolly Parton, actually. So what? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:40

Now I was um now we're gonna talk. Yeah, absolutely. I should have worn my Dolly shirt. I mean a Dolly Parton shirt. Yeah. Love.

SPEAKER_07 9:49

Oh, listen, she she's a pearl. We don't you know you don't in my town, you don't say a bad word about Dolly. Those are fighting words.

SPEAKER_06 9:56

Yeah, you ain't gonna hear it. You ain't gonna hear it from us either. Listen, on my coffee table in the house is the Dolly Parton coffee table book. What are those called? Coffee table books.

SPEAKER_05 10:08

I love it. I mean, who doesn't love Dolly Parton?

SPEAKER_06 10:12

No, you'd have to be a twisted, horrible being to not love Dolly. So that's that was her hometown. Yes, sir. So you have you met Miss Parton?

SPEAKER_07 10:22

I have never met her personally. I I grew up about five miles from where her her parents live.

SPEAKER_06 10:28

And she grew up, she grew up poor, did she not?

SPEAKER_07 10:30

Oh, sir. That whole the whole county, um, that whole area, the the all the surrounding counties, it's it's a pretty poor area. Right. I mean, it's Appalachia.

SPEAKER_06 10:42

Because that's what, that's right on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I mean, app just that that area, Appalachia. I mean, you hear about that all the time. Were were your hometown and some of your friends and family affected by that hurricane that came through not too long ago?

SPEAKER_07 10:57

So luckily, uh our county didn't, we we didn't get hit with anything um really bad. Now the county next to us, there was a lot of flooding and things like that. And then, you know, driving through the pass on I-40 over to North Carolina, so our county borders, uh, man, the the uh that hurricane came through and the it the river just completely washed away the road. I mean, there's massive construction, it's it's a mess. They're still dealing with uh the the after effects of that.

SPEAKER_06 11:27

Now, this area of the country um was is where you grew up considered part of the state of Franklin?

SPEAKER_07 11:35

No, no, so that so the state of Franklin was just a little bit north of where I'm at, uh, but pretty close to to it, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:43

Because Troy's a history buff. I'm sure he knows all about that. Ha, you know, I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, a state of this is a new thing to me. That was yeah, that was gonna be um during this secession, that was gonna be a new state. Okay that uh the folks in that part of the world were trying to put together. All right. Um, you know, because that area, um obviously Dolly Parton, but um wasn't like Daniel Boone like more more Crockett. Okay, Crockett, all right. I believe it was Crockett. Maybe Crockett, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 12:13

Well, so there's actually a a documentary, uh documentary movie called Jonesboro.

SPEAKER_06 12:19

Yep, okay.

SPEAKER_07 12:20

And that's actually kind of goes into what the state of Franklin was gonna be. And they're gonna name after Benjamin Franklin, of course.

SPEAKER_06 12:26

Really? Yeah. Write that down. Well, I'm gonna have to do some research now because I feel like that's a niche piece of American history that I must have missed, but uh that's pretty cool. I'm gonna check it out, which is probably much better reading than the ethics of private property. Yeah. I just finished reading um If I were a man. It's actually it's it's one book. It's not like a self-help. Um should be, but it's it's If I were a man and the truce. Yeah. And it was a bit written by um Primo Levi, who was an Auschwitz surviving Jew, okay. Italian Jew. Um that uh and so it was his story of his time um, you know, in in Auschwitz. And that's what you're reading? I just finished reading it. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Uh again, uh those things that are uncomfortable. Right now I'm reading the children's blizzard. Oh man, what's that? It's about a blizzard in uh 1888, in January, January 12th of 1888, that uh it was a flash blizzard that killed about 500 in our area from Decora to uh Yankton, South Dakota. No kidding. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 13:48

Now, coach, just so I understand, he is the emergency management director for Winnipeg, Hancock County, and so that's probably right up his reading alley of the different well, what would happen if we had that situation, a blizzard, which would you know, or a Holocaust.

SPEAKER_06 14:08

It's all part of do you have a plan for that? I do not have a Holocaust plan, but we do have, you know, and again, that will never happen again. I mean, I will take up arms against anybody that would do that to another another uh race, yeah, sector of people. Um, but anyway. You're on the record now. Yeah, I know. And we're not gonna we're not gonna go down this road. We got we have a we got pretty heavy pretty quick there. Yeah. Yeah. What are you reading, coach?

SPEAKER_07 14:35

Anything? Uh yeah, so I'm reading The Everyday Coach by Harrison Bernstein. He is the founder and CEO of Soldiers to Sidelines.

SPEAKER_06 14:44

And we are going let's you know what? Yeah, let's just jump in transition.

SPEAKER_07 14:48

Well, no, it truly is like that's not as a tricky. Yeah, I know. Truly I'm reading that book.

SPEAKER_06 14:52

Yeah, and I I did some research on Soldiers to Sidelines. You are um, were you one of the first to come through? Uh I mean, there's been like 900 and some, maybe over a thousand now, um of our of our uh military folk that want to get into coaching, and it's not just football coaching, but get into coaching, and then this program um takes our veterans and trains them up and just talk about the program a little bit because you're obviously more familiar than I am.

SPEAKER_07 15:23

Yeah, no, absolutely. Uh it's definitely a program I I'm very passionate about because uh what they've done for me and what they do for you know fellow soldiers. Um so I I wasn't one of the first. They they've been going for about three or four years, so that they had a good base. Um I was looking for coaching jobs. Uh I applied to about 300 and just wasn't getting any traction. This was last year, and I scrolled on Facebook, saw Harrison, was like, hey, if you're a soldier and you want to be a coach, hey, you need to come and check this out. So clicked on the link, went through the certification class, um, which they they do a four-day class. I got to listen to Rod Marinelli, who is a is a veteran. He spoke and he he's the defensive, he was a defensive coordinator for the Cowboys. He's he was in the NFL for a long time. Um, and they had different coaches. Kurt Warner uh spoke, his son, who's who's an offensive coordinator at Quincy, um spoke. So I there was a lot of a lot of high profile kind of guys. Uh, and they, you know, I told Harrison, this is my situation, you know, this is what I'm trying to accomplish. And he was like, all right, we got you, you know. So I ended up getting an intern spot with Tennessee State last year, and I got to work with just an absolute legend of an offensive line coach, Russ Ahrenfeld. Uh, and then this this opportunity here uh essentially came through a connection with Soldiers of Sidelines. Because I went to Tennessee State and interned there. The offensive coordinator knows Coach Gales. So when Coach Gales said I need an offensive line coach, he got it got my information from Soldiers of Sidelines because he's a he's friends with the football director. The football director sent him my resume. Then he saw I was at Tennessee State. He knows the offensive coordinator, he called him, and here I am. So, you know, in in the coaching world, it's it's all about who knows you, not necessarily about what you know or who you know. Because I mean, I've got a contact list full of people that I know, but it's all about who knows you and developing those relationships. And, you know, soldiers of sidelines, they constantly are bringing in high profile. There's, you know, you talked about the summit. Um, it that was the first summit that they'd ever had. Yeah. And it was it was phenomenal. You know, not only, you know, uh, for instance, Coach Marinelli, he spoke in my um my certification class, but it was via Zoom. He was there. So I got to talk to this man. This man knows he he's forgotten more about football than I'll ever learn. Yeah, of course. You know, but I got to sit and talk to this man for 20 minutes just one-on-one.

SPEAKER_05 18:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_07 18:07

You know, so that program giving that kind of opportunity to soldiers. And man, anytime I can talk to somebody that's in the military that wants to coach, I that the one of the wrestling coaches here is uh prior service. And I was like, man, you you you gotta get in this program.

SPEAKER_05 18:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 18:23

You know, um it's it's just a such a phenomenal program.

SPEAKER_06 18:28

Yeah, our head uh our head wrestling coach is uh part of the um 34th ID, and so they just got back from some things that they were doing with the Iowa Army National Guard. I think he's in the actually uh the CAV uh is what he was done. I could be wrong about that, but he was gone for a while. So um yeah, that's a that's that's a huge part. And having now I know you're in the army, we talked about that when you came in the door and uh because you were early and you said, well, it's just the military in me. And I'm like, what branch? And you said army, so you had the right answer. And then uh and then we know we so we let you in and then um talked a little bit about um your jobs and you know you were a medic, and I think that's awesome. Uh and now let's go into a little bit about and I'm sure that this was covered in the in the conference that you're discussing. Um I I think I think uh military men and women do make outstanding coaches. A large part of the leadership training is really coaching, mentoring, you know, developing. I mean, uh you can go th I mean the Army's been talking about leadership for uh uh forever. And uh, you know, when I went through they was called different things, you know, uh but and since that's it's all changed with the NCOES and all that stuff. Um but um talk about a little bit, you know, why a what drives a person with military experience to want to continue that tradition of helpful volunteer to a to no extent it's that that the voluntary nature of wanting to coach and and also be a part of a team and have that that close experience that you get. Um why do soldiers make soldier sailors, airmen, and marines? Why do they make Space Force? I mean, I don't know about that. But like what uh why do they make uh why do they make good coaches?

SPEAKER_07 20:21

Well, I this may not be the answer I'm kind of looking for, but for me personally, I can just tell you it's because I love football. Like there's there's very few my wife, my kids, my family, that's about the only thing I love more than football.

SPEAKER_05 20:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 20:38

So for me, you know, I and I tell people this football didn't get me ready for the military. Or the military didn't get me ready for football. Football got me ready for the military. Yeah, right. Yeah, you know, and I think I I love the game and you get the camaraderie that you miss, you know, when you're in the when you're in the military, you go through things that that nobody outside of that will ever understand. You know, my wife, there's things that that my battle buddies will will understand that she never will, and it just is what it is, you know, and sport athletics gives you that camaraderie, you know, whether it's with the coaches, with the players, you get that same camaraderie, you know, you you see that it's just like developing a soldier, you know. You're seeing this kid, you've got to be hard on them, you've got to hold them accountable, you know, but you get to watch them grow into great players, you know, and go on and do great things. I I told my guys, I I've coached all conference players and all that, but the guys I'm the most proud of is I've got a I've got a kid that right now, he's stationed up in uh on the Great Lakes. He's in the Navy.

SPEAKER_05 21:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 21:45

I've got two officers in the Coast Guard. I've got a sheriff's deputy in Louisville, I've got a um high level manager for a company out of Kentucky. You know, those guys, that's what I'm really proud of. It's great that they, you know, made all conference.

SPEAKER_05 21:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 22:00

But those guys, those are those men are fathers now. They're they're husbands, they're they're great people doing great things. And for me, that's you know, winning winning is great. And we want like I I hate losing more than I love winning. Okay. But making sure that these young men leave and become great people is the most important thing. And I I think, you know, coming from the military, we see that, and that's what we want to instill in those kids and the opportunity to to help that. Because we're we're shaping the next generation.

SPEAKER_05 22:33

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 22:33

The next the next president, the next congressman, you know, judges, all these people. We're shaping that. And it's a heavy responsibility. And you know, I think soldiers are definitely up to the task of that. Military, ex-military people.

SPEAKER_06 22:47

You know, I think that um yeah, because we always want to say soldiers.

SPEAKER_07 22:51

Yeah, yeah, include the army and sailors and everybody.

SPEAKER_06 22:54

Um well, there's very few um there are there are very few professions that you can prepare for, uh or exercises such as athletics, uh at the collegiate level, um, but even in high school and so forth, that blend all of the things that I think truly wraps up the experience that you have in the military, which is uh the physical side. There's a physical side, a physical discipline to being uh in the military. Same thing in sports, but it's more than that. There's the technical side, you know. The tech, you know, you have to be an expert in your in your in your position. And there and and as you go through the levels uh from you know junior high or your AAU elementary experience all the way into if you go to college and play any particular sport, you become more of a technical expert in that in that particular field, which is amazing. There's the academic side, because I know a lot of times military folks don't get the benefit necessarily from the general public of real uh thinking that they're thinkers, but but there's the academic side, the the the the nature of war and the strategic uh planning that goes into being you know a part of a team such as that. And then just yeah, the team aspect of doing all of those things all at once together. So it's physical and emotional and mental and all and it's just I don't think that there's a ton. I mean, most careers have elements of that to some degree, but not the intense level that you experience in in in athletics or in the military. Does that sound about right?

SPEAKER_07 24:35

No, you're you're spot on. Yeah, spot on. Yeah, I mean, you gotta be obviously physically fit, mentally fit. That's all my my alignment it's it's here.

SPEAKER_06 24:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 24:46

You know, you gotta be mentally tough to play the position, but you gotta be mentally tough in life. Yeah. Life is not easy, it it will beat you up. And if you don't have it here, you you just won't succeed.

SPEAKER_06 24:57

Yeah, and we've always said, I mean, I've I've said on uh you know, we've been doing this for five years now as a podcast, only podcast that I'm aware of in the uh certainly in our conference, and I'm not sure if we're I mean, there probably are some others out there. Yeah, yeah, I don't know that there's any other NAI football. I mean, there's NAI football. Yeah, and that they talk about everybody. Yeah, they yeah. But we've said before that, you know, um I mean football is invented by Civil War veterans who were afraid that their sons were gonna grow up never having experienced combat. So you have this uh I mean it's a land battle, it's it's warfare on the field. Uh, you know, the gridiron is that one acre where you get to experience that land battle, force on force, and then it ends in 60 minutes and it's all over, and there's a there's a victor, you know. Thank God since the forward pass was invented, you know. Good job, Teddy Roosevelt, getting that through. You know, we don't have as many people uh, you know, actually dying on the gridiron and we still have injuries and all of that. But it that is the history. I mean, that is it is a battle that you can witness um and and walk away from. Maybe that's how we should actually be solving most of our world conflicts.

SPEAKER_05 26:08

It's just a good old football game.

SPEAKER_07 26:10

You know, it's it's funny you say that because George Carlin does a great skit of baseball versus football. And he goes into, you know, he's talking about how baseball it's played in a park, a baseball park, you know, gridiron, you know. Uh it's it's a it's a great skit. Yeah, you'll have to YouTube it. He he loved George Carlin. He was a great guy.

SPEAKER_06 26:30

Oh, absolutely. Phenomenal. Yeah, absolutely. You did?

SPEAKER_05 26:34

You did?

SPEAKER_06 26:35

I did. I saw George Carlin live when I was when I my wife and I went when we were at northwest Missouri State, yeah, uh finishing up our degrees, and uh yeah, Carlin was there, second row, and I was a little like second row, it's gonna be great. Uh George Carlin, who is just uh I love comedy, and he's an icon and a wordsmith and an English teacher. Absolutely, he's so great about everything that he does. And then I sit down and I'm way too close. Only in the fact that I can't remember. I I Carlin's really not known for pointing at somebody in the crowd, but then I was like, maybe this was a bad idea. Easily made fun of this guy. Yeah, yeah. So he didn't. He didn't, he didn't, but he was yeah, he was great. He was great. So yeah, I love it. It was one of those. Yeah. You're on to the next questions. Yeah, I mean, so I guess what I want to know, just like um talk about your journey. Obviously, um, you're you're not the in the last few years, Waldorf has had a lot of coaches in their 20s. Um I don't know how old you are. Sorry I didn't interrupt you, but I'm like, this is great. Yeah, I don't know how old you are, but I know that the other coaches are my age.

SPEAKER_05 27:55

But you know, and I'm loving this new world of I'm not gonna say old guys, I'm gonna say like seasoned veteran experienced men that are coming in. They've seen it all.

SPEAKER_06 28:10

The best part of it is that yeah, they have seen like when I was when I was as as a first sergeant and as a recruit as a recruiter and all these other things, and you're leading companies and things, it was like the thing that the the new soldiers don't realize, and I know that you came in, uh, you said you came into the army at 30, so that was you were a grandpa, you know, at that point. But like I went in at 20, and I feel and and I was even old at 20. And I will tell you that like the the thing that I could tell all my recruits was is like, oh, you they all think when they go to basic training that their story is unique and special, and and and it's like those drill sergeants, the drill sergeant might be 26, you know, staff sergeant been in since they were 18 or whatever, and uh they have seen it all. Hundreds, thousands of people from all over the country, different walks of life, all 50 states and all of our territories, and they have seen it, they have heard it, they've heard the the the cheating girlfriend, the broken up families, the I'm from the streets, the rural, the I mean, just they've seen it and heard it all, and then but it never fails. You come in and they're like, Oh man, I'm special. My story's different, and they're like, Private, private, please. You know, like they've seen it, and that's gotta be a little bit like coming in freshman year or even transfer, depending on the maturity level of the kids in college. Sorry to interrupt you, Andy, but no, yeah, there was no interruption there. But so coach, talk a little bit about uh um your your start. We talked a little bit about where you're from, but and that you love football, how did that grow and what was your journey like? Uh, you don't have to go into a lot of specifics or details. Obviously, we know that you're uh you're a veteran of the United States Armed Forces and we're proud of that. Um and uh but just talk a little bit about your life, what from from eastern Tennessee to Four City, Iowa.

SPEAKER_07 30:19

Well, uh I said I'm from East Tennessee. Uh my football career was a little bit different. My father actually hated the game of football so much that I was not even allowed to watch football on TVs in his house. Heaven's sakes. Wow. It was not when I was 10. Uh a bunch of people had said had told my my parents that were like, this kid needs to play football. Like, holy cow. Um, so finally they let me play. Dad still wouldn't would let me watch it. But I will say this, you know, in my he never missed a game my entire playing career.

SPEAKER_04 30:56

Oh man.

SPEAKER_07 30:57

Um I lost my father in 2020 with COVID. Uh, but he never he never missed a game. He hated the game, hated football. Never missed one of my games. Why? Uh so my father was a swimmer. I we don't know where I got my size, they swear it was the milkman. Uh but my my father was only about five foot eight, 120 pounds when he was in high school, and he got beat up by the football players.

SPEAKER_06 31:20

So football from there. Uh makes sense.

SPEAKER_07 31:23

Um, so you know, I played, loved it through through high school, played in college. Um, after college, I got the opportunity to play arena football uh out in Billings, Montana, Corpuscity in uh Lakeland, Florida. Um so did that, and then I actually stepped away. I I didn't play or coach for many years. I I sold timeshare, which I'm not necessarily proud of.

SPEAKER_05 31:46

Uh but you know how to close a deal, don't you?

SPEAKER_07 31:52

So that's what I was doing about two weeks ago, actually. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um but then I actually quit that industry, and that's when I went in the military. And while I was in Germany, I got the opportunity to play and coach in in the GFL.

SPEAKER_06 32:07

Nice.

SPEAKER_07 32:08

So uh, you know, I played there big time um in Europe.

SPEAKER_06 32:11

Yeah, that's big time. GF. Ken Anderson uh and uh uh they they were they uh I can't think the other Anderson coach is the first name, but like they were several years ago. Yeah, yeah. Came from had that experience. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 32:23

Yeah, uh yeah, no, it was it was awesome. Like like getting to coach overseas, getting the opportunity to work with guys that, you know, yeah, they're they're 25-year-old men, but they don't really know football. You know, they just don't have coaching there, things like that. So, you know, it was a great opportunity to to get to work with extremely raw pe individuals, and you really had to teach because these they have no base, like the they don't even have to get into a stance kind of thing. So, you know, it was great, got to really work those guys, uh, still talk to a lot of them. Uh it's one thing my my former players would tell you they they still keep in contact with me, uh, even from in Germany. Uh, but I came back when I got out of the military, I I emailed right around 300 colleges, their coaches, and said, Hey, I will come work for free. I've got the GI bill. I just need to finish my degree. I want to get into coaching. Yeah, I'll come for free. Two colleges got back to me, uh, West Florida and Union College in Kentucky, which is where I went as a freshman in college.

SPEAKER_04 33:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 33:26

So the coach was like, Well, you're already here. This is the easiest way for you to get your degree. So uh they hired me as a student assistant, worked with tight ends for uh a couple years, and then they uh they moved me to linebackers and gave me a recruiting recruit uh coordinator title. And then I coached a line my last year there. And then I had to leave because they had some financial issues. So I went home and started selling timeshare again.

SPEAKER_03 33:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 33:54

Uh and I I coached in an arena team there, uh small independent league. It wasn't like the big arena or anything. Um and then I was just done doing what I was doing. Uh I didn't feel good about it. I I I was miserable at work, just hated what I was doing.

SPEAKER_06 34:16

Selling timeshares would make you feel bad.

SPEAKER_07 34:18

Oh man. Stories I could tell you. Um, you know, and I I just I went home to my wife and I was like, I can't do this. I I I can't do this anymore. And she was like, fine, quit, go find a coaching job.

SPEAKER_05 34:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 34:30

Like it was that simple. It was, hey, this is taking you down, you're done.

SPEAKER_05 34:36

Right.

SPEAKER_07 34:36

So we you know, we start on the path, and that's when I got hooked up with soldiers' sidelines and managed to spend kind of a whirlwind.

SPEAKER_06 34:43

Yeah. It's uh yeah, it's been awesome. That is such a great story, coach. Absolutely love it. So the the thing that um that I want to know more about is that through this journey that you just described uh briefly, which is sounds pretty awesome, you you had a wife and a family to to drag around a little bit. Tell us first tell us about your wife, and then tell us about the family that's developed from that.

SPEAKER_07 35:11

So uh yeah, my wife, we so I guess our story we actually met when I was 15 and she was 16. Uh, we worked together at Dollywood, uh, and we didn't like each other. We didn't like each other.

SPEAKER_05 35:22

Yes. Oh, really? We didn't like each other.

SPEAKER_07 35:24

We didn't like each other, and then you know, and then 15 years later, uh I'm I'm out with with some friends, and she comes in with with a friend of mine, uh a female friend of mine that I knew, and we just started hanging out. This was about six weeks before I left to go to basic training minding. Wow, and uh it wasn't until about our fourth date, probably, we made the connection that we knew each other from when we were 15, 16.

SPEAKER_06 35:50

You're that guy from Dollywood.

SPEAKER_07 35:51

Yeah, no, no, it was the opposite. It was like, oh, you that's I didn't like you. I told her. Like, oh yeah, I remember you anything. Uh so you know, we we kind of date for six weeks. I I leave for the military. Uh mind you, she so she had four children. So I I have five children. Um we uh we have four and then we we adopted the fifth. So um, so she it was her, the four kids. Uh we dated for about six weeks, and I left for basic and we hand wrote letters back and forth for 10 weeks. Oh my god. Like an old like old school school type.

SPEAKER_06 36:29

Uh romance.

SPEAKER_07 36:30

Yeah, you know, and then uh something you'll appreciate, you know, family days the day before graduation. So uh I actually proposed during right after that ceremony for family day. So all the all the guys and their families were there, and I proposed, and then the next day we got married, and then I shipped off.

SPEAKER_06 36:53

Not a long engagement, not a very long engagement. Oh, not at all. That's a weekend.

SPEAKER_07 36:58

No, no, no, it wasn't even a weekend. We got married. We got married, we met back up with my parents and the kids, and then we had dinner and they had to take me back to post because I left, I went to AIT for four months.

SPEAKER_05 37:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 37:11

So yeah, Andy, uh 68 Whiskey Medic is a uh that's four months, 16 weeks of uh well, death by PowerPoint for quite a while. From but then you got all the business after that. That's that's good time, yeah. Uh that's a long training.

SPEAKER_07 37:29

Mine was seven weeks, so I didn't have to it was you know, so yeah, the we the first four months uh of our marriage, we didn't even see each other. Uh we were phone, and then I I came home for a week, and then I went to Germany, and uh she didn't follow for another month after that.

SPEAKER_04 37:48

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_07 37:49

So yeah, the first you know, what six months we were together for a week.

SPEAKER_06 37:53

What is this amazing woman's name?

SPEAKER_07 37:55

Uh Dawn.

SPEAKER_06 37:56

Dawn. Yeah, I think I read that somewhere. And so you folks have have five kids. Yes, sir. And uh one of them is adopted, which is awesome. That speaks to my heart. My uh my my grandson is he came into our family through adoption, and yeah, I just love every part of that. So tell tell us a little bit about your uh the rest of your family.

SPEAKER_07 38:18

So um my my oldest daughter, she uh she's married and has five. She also married, she married a man with five kids. So it's kind of a family tradition, I guess.

SPEAKER_06 38:28

Yeah, absolutely. Sounds awesome.

SPEAKER_07 38:30

So I have five grandkids too. Uh wow. Well, yeah. Just like that.

SPEAKER_06 38:35

I mean, I just had one two months ago, you know. And so now a bunch of grandpas just sitting here. Isn't that refreshing, Troy? It is. I mean, but we just talked about that coach a little bit, where like we got these guys in here, like, well, yeah, I just graduated six months ago, and you know, like, come on, man. Like, we got not that we didn't have anything in common. We love all of our former coaches and obviously our current coaches, but it's like that's one of the things that I told uh Coach Callaway is like, this is awesome for me because I've been I've been the oldest guy by 20-some years a long time. Um, yeah, for like six seasons. And now it's like when I start talking about man's damn this turf is killing my back, somebody might actually go, Yeah, I feel you, man. Oh, it's not just that, Coach. It's the references that we've made for the last several years when we come up, like we speak in references, like we like uh mil people do it, military people are notorious for it, and then we'll just start quoting lines from movies. Yeah, but we would drop lines, say, from I don't know, blazing saddles or Tommy Boy or The Godfather or whatever.

SPEAKER_05 39:39

And some of these guys will be like, I don't know. Don't know what you're talking about. And then we're like, wait, you haven't seen The Godfather? You haven't seen Blazing Saddles?

SPEAKER_07 39:49

So I no, I've got a good one for you. Yesterday, uh, I was talking to one of the old linemen and he asked me a question. I was like, you know, it's kind of like Rudy. And he went, Coach, what was Rudy? I was like, You've never watched Rudy? How do you yeah, he was like, No, I I've never watched Rudy. And I'm like, All right, I order you, you have to watch Rudy. Yeah, like you can't be a football player and not watch Rudy.

SPEAKER_05 40:12

Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 40:13

And then another player said, Well, coach, I've heard of Rudy, but I've never watched it. And I'm like, Wait, have y'all watched the program yet? And they're like, No, we I was like, all right, so after the spring game, we're I'm I'm getting pizza, whatever, and we're we're watching Rudy and the program.

SPEAKER_06 40:28

Go to the Bowman, get the Bowman and get that, get the big screen down, get comfortable, get some popcorn. You know what, maybe that's what we ought to. I mean, I mean, we ought to sound like a million dollar idea. Yeah, yeah. Do football movie night, you know, for everybody, like the classics. Yeah, you know, North Dallas 40. Yeah, now I'm gonna say roughness.

SPEAKER_07 40:50

Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_06 40:55

I mean, is that replacement? Is that for Kathy Ireland, though? I mean, honestly Why would it not be?

SPEAKER_07 41:01

I mean, a little bit. Come on, man.

SPEAKER_06 41:04

Why would it not be? Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_05 41:06

Yeah, all of those things. Yeah, that's a good deal. Maybe we ought to do that.

SPEAKER_06 41:10

Just uh have some movie nights, let these kids get educated on some of these movies that they haven't seen. I'm not saying we gotta, you know, we're gonna have to do like 14 hours of movies. We don't have to whip out blazing saddles. No, you know, that's not a football movie, but like, yeah, they ought to know those. That's not something you play in polite public. I don't know if you can even play it anymore, but to be honest with you, yeah. Melbrook, it's still out there. Yeah, yeah. All right, so your your daughter, five grandkids, what else you got, man?

SPEAKER_07 41:36

Well, she owns, she actually has her own salon. Um then my oldest son, he he just graduated from May Maritime Academy. He's a marine biologist.

SPEAKER_06 41:45

Holy cow.

SPEAKER_07 41:47

Uh, and then so my my my oldest son and our adopted daughter, she uh she actually uh just graduated from the University of Tennessee uh last year.

SPEAKER_06 41:57

Go vols.

SPEAKER_07 41:58

Yeah, we're Tennessee through and through, man. Orange and white. Um my youngest daughter, she is actually a senior at UT Knoxville right now. Uh I believe she's a political science major. And then my youngest son is graduating high school in May. That's awesome. And so is my oldest grandson.

SPEAKER_06 42:20

Okay. Whoa, that is putting it all together. Yeah. So awesome.

SPEAKER_07 42:24

Yeah. Uh so I I have to go home in in uh middle of May because my my grandson goes to one high school in the county, my son goes to another. So I their graduations are three days apart.

SPEAKER_06 42:35

Nice. So yeah, I got to be back for that stuff. You gotta be there for the big days. So are we gonna get an opportunity to meet some of these people? Uh obviously you said um, I can't remember if it was on camera or not, that your wife, uh, you know, with the with your son graduating from high school, she's still there doing the mom thing, uh, you know, holding the fort down, um, that she'll get up here hopefully around that September time. Hopefully that all works out great for you, great for her. It'll be wonderful to meet her. But is the rest of the family gonna come back and watch dad and grandpa coach?

SPEAKER_07 43:07

Well, so I mean, they may come out and visit and catch a game or two, but no, not by any means would they be moved anybody moving.

SPEAKER_06 43:13

Oh, god, no. I mean, there's tornadoes here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 43:16

Well, and uh my I'll just my wife's not a big fan of snow, so uh that first snowfall, she'll be heading back down to East Tennessee.

SPEAKER_06 43:23

Coach, I'm just gonna winter. I'm gonna tell you something right now, and this is this is a knowledge bomb that a lot of people don't understand. I've lived in in Iowa for 54 of my 56 years, probably 54 and a half. Um I hate snow too. Hate it. With the blind passion of a million sons. I absolutely hate snow. Now I probably won't ever live someplace where they don't have some snow, but I mean, it it we get snow up here. We get snow. I mean come on. What? I mean it does I mean I'm pretty I'm pretty Viking, so I mean it doesn't bother me too much, you know. I enjoy being out in the tractor and working with nature. And then even when I'm cussing at nature, I'm thankful that I get a chance to to see all four seasons. But that being said, So the th the difference is still a frustrating situation when it like if you get a snowstorm in May, that's irritating. Yeah, that it that is. But but you gotta understand the difference between between you retired military and me. Uh public service, public safety. It snows a lot around here. All the folks that ain't from here like to drive through here on their way to someplace and they get trapped and it becomes our problem. Yeah. But let me tell you how it worked out, and maybe this is what we should go back to back in the old days. Uh when I and when I say old days, I mean like as people were coming across and you know, saddling west, and they hit a snowstorm because they're gonna go settle in California, but then they get in a snowstorm in Iowa and their wagon breaks down, and they just decide that well, I guess we're gonna live here. Don't have money to populate the state, and that's also why so many farmsteads have those broken wagon wheels just sitting outside there as decorations because they never left.

SPEAKER_07 45:20

Let me explain. You know, back home, they will cancel school at the threat of slow. Like the first flake hasn't hit the ground, and yeah, we're just going to cancel school. But that being said, there's a good reason. I've noticed this driving around here because I I always used to get frustrated by you Midwesterners coming out to East Tennessee and getting on roads and driving slow. I get it. Everything's flat here and straight.

SPEAKER_06 45:44

You know, on the Mount Roads, you know, yeah, there's a reason. Yeah, you don't want to drop down into a holler. I mean, if you or I mean that's how it was down in uh my in-laws lived in uh Branson, you know, and uh in the Ozarks. And so like they same deal. They get a little, they get the ice, and then you're like, why would you cancel? Because everything is this way and that way, and then all of a sudden it's you're off the road. And yeah, out here we're just like, I mean, you can see a school bus in the ditch from a mile away out here, so we can probably be all right. You don't want a school bus in the ditch. No, no, no. And what technically is a holler?

SPEAKER_07 46:19

Uh so I I need to learn. Well, I mean, really, the holler in the southeast is just you know the end of a road is down a long stretch. Now, technically a holler is you know, yeah, road it with inside two mountains. So you got two mountains on each side, down through here, and you got people living back here that's back back in the holler. We have uh one way in one way out, one way out of a holler.

SPEAKER_06 46:42

Yeah, we we we bought this low land over here this last fall. Yeah, good for you, but and we call that Sunnyside hollow, which technically is like that's the low point of say a township, which is what we bought a swamp, you know. So uh, you know, we're gonna turn it into pasture, but but yeah, so holler and holler and hollow would be similar but but different. But they're low spots, and the difference is is to get to the holler, I think you have to go down a pretty good slope to get there. Does that sound right?

SPEAKER_07 47:18

Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes it's it's flat. You're just in between two mountains, and like I said, there's only one way in the room. Yeah, but there's mountains on each side. Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, it's the low point because there's mountains on both sides.

SPEAKER_06 47:28

Yeah, yeah. Now I do want to know, so I find that very interesting. Um you played arena football. Yeah. The speed of the game of arena football is everybody I think that listens and watches this program knows is it obviously it's tremendously faster. Uh smaller field, you know, but just everything is just so much faster. Now, we were told by Coach Gales that this offense is gonna be no huddle, hurry up. And I love that. So, how does your experience having played in an environment where it's uh if it doesn't have to be no huddle, you could have huddles in an arena, but but it's but there's it's just a faster-paced game help you in preparing the line for what we're doing uh this coming season.

SPEAKER_07 48:24

Sure. I mean, you know, arena football, you you kind of said it, it's a condensed space. So every action has to be quicker. You know, you look at Carl Warner playing for the Arnstormers, you know, I got it why he was so good because he played in a league where he had to make he didn't get a three-step drop. He had to make now. So when he went to the NFL, it was like, oh, I get time.

SPEAKER_05 48:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 48:47

I get time to to go into a drop, I get time to read. Yeah, it's just so fast, you know. And the outdoor game teaching the line, it's like, okay, we're gonna learn this speed, but know that we have space to work with.

SPEAKER_06 49:00

Yeah. I had classes with Kurt Warner back in the day. Did you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 49:04

You went to UNI, huh?

SPEAKER_06 49:05

Yeah, sure did. Iowa kid. Yeah, that's a great story. Um, but yeah, absolutely. You know, Kurt Warner, Barnstormers, and he just wanted a chance. You know, that's that's like one of those, you know, that perfect moment, and now, you know, NFL Hall of Fame. Yeah. Kid from Iowa.

SPEAKER_07 49:22

Got to listen to him talk during one of the soldier sidelines things. Yeah, he's a smart dude, too. That guy knows football.

SPEAKER_06 49:30

He's from Iowa. Yeah. Proud of that. Yeah, absolutely. So, coach, one of the things uh that I'm always interested in is uh, you know, football is is obviously important to you. You know, you're coaching. Um, you said your family's important, but when you get time to yourself, whenever the heck that is, uh what do you like to do to let your hair down and just kind of relax and just get back to who you are at your core?

SPEAKER_07 49:55

Uh for me, it it's being outside, you know, bonfires. We my wife and I built a little outdoor seating area at our house, and we got a projector screen out there. So, you know, at night we'll just we'll go out there, start a little fire in the fire pit, you know, just hang out out there and you know, watch movies, we watch Tennessee games or you know, whatever we're gonna watch out there, and it's just real relaxing. And you know, I I like to be outside, you know, be out in the sun. Nice.

SPEAKER_06 50:26

Yeah, and I'll tell you, so you grew up in in SECville. I mean, the land where football is as much of a church on Saturday as the house of worship is on Sunday. What was that like growing up? I mean, I said Go Valls, I don't know what it is. I got a sweet spot for the Tennessee Volunteers. Have for most of my life, and I don't know what it is about it. Obviously, when when they're playing, I'm I'm also a Closet Alabama fan, sorry, coach, but um, but at the same time, that's about the only time I'm ever gonna root against the volunteers. But what's like growing up in an area where football is really king?

SPEAKER_07 51:05

Well, you know, understand this. Uh, up until you know, the late 90s, there was no professional sports in Tennessee. So all there was was the balls.

SPEAKER_06 51:17

We know that in Iowa. Yeah, we feel that, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 51:19

You know, so I mean you just you grow up, my father hated football, but all my friends were vol fans, so that's you know, all right, Tennessee. You know, and of course, once I started playing, and you know, that's all that's all there was. So the fans are passionate there. I'll I'll just say that. Well, that's some of them are downright crazy.

SPEAKER_06 51:42

So does that make you a a Titans fan then, or did you have a different professional team? Because Titans are, I mean, they're after you or the Oilers. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 51:51

So yeah, uh, so I guess I gotta kind of back my my family, like my mother and father are from New Jersey.

SPEAKER_03 51:58

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_07 51:59

My uncle. So my uncle was a huge New York Giants fan. Okay. And to tick him off, I picked the team he hated the most, which happened to be the Cowboys.

SPEAKER_05 52:10

So it had to be the Dallas Cowboys.

SPEAKER_07 52:11

You know, I became a Cowboys fan, you know, and that was before they were winning the Super Bowls. We're talking Danny White days, but it was the team that he hated. So I was like, I got you. I'm gonna I'm gonna pick I'm gonna be a Cowboys fan. Not I and I've always, you know, loyalty is a big thing for me. And you know, I I'm a Cowboys fan, and I was uh I've been for a long time through all the bad and Lord knows that a lot of bad. You know, same thing with Tennessee, you know, we we went they went through their struggles, and you know, you gotta be loyal to to to the teams that you pick. You can't be a fair weather fan.

SPEAKER_06 52:43

Well, I will say this about the so when I was in uh Korea in the Army, the uh America's team, the Cowboys, uh did they do send their cheerleaders around the world on USO trips. And the uh Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders came to our tiny little uh camp Gary Owen in the United States Cavalry up there on the Imjun River by the DMZ, and it was the best. There was 800 guys on that little squadron. And I'll tell you what, every single one of them was there. If if the if the North Koreans wanted to come over at that time, they would have had a little easier moment through the Western Corridor because we were all just fascinated with the dance routines of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

unknown 53:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 53:31

They came through the USO in in Germany, so I actually have a picture with one of the cheerleaders, but Peyton Manning was there too. I mean, that's even a pretty good idea. Yeah. Well, so here's here's what's what's kind of funny about this. So I was in the USO, and everybody in the USO is in uh uh Broncos gear because he was he was playing for the Broncos at the time. I'm wearing a Tennessee hat and a Tennessee pullover. Oh, I'm wearing my balls. Yeah, yeah. So he comes walking through the door, and like we're all just standing there, he likes he comes straight up to me. He's like, I like that. Yeah. So when when he autographed my hat, now I had been watching him, he was autographing everybody, you know, Peyton Manning 18. Peyton Manning 18. When I gave him my Tennessee hat, 16.

SPEAKER_05 54:15

Yeah, nice, nice.

SPEAKER_07 54:16

And just I was I was a little impressed by the fact that this man just signed a bunch of stuff 18. He still wears 18. He hasn't worn 16 in almost two decades. And he was like, Yeah, um 16. I love that. So yeah, he's uh he's a really smart dude, too. Yeah, again, another guy that knows has forgotten more than most will ever learn about football.

SPEAKER_06 54:38

But what a good man. Well, yes, I mean, what a good man.

SPEAKER_07 54:41

He does so much for that university too. He's extremely loyal to to Tennessee. Uh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:46

Well, and and I mean, an amazing family. I mean, that's a football family. I mean, Archie on down, yeah, he can't go wrong. So now Archie Jr. goes a little mess. I mean.

SPEAKER_07 54:57

I mean, that's where his dad was.

SPEAKER_05 54:58

But he I know, yeah, I know. And also he's but Eli's funny too. Like Eli is like he's doing all these shows, and although I will say I think one of the best skits on Saturday Night Live was when he was doing like the what is it? It was United Children, United Way. United Way. I actually saw Stitches get stitches, you know.

SPEAKER_06 55:19

I actually saw a video of Peyton being interviewed about that and how they were like, he was like, it was so tough. He goes, because they're like, no, we want you to throw this football to peg these kids in the head. And then he's he had to stop. And yeah, like all the parents of these of these kids are there watching, you know, because it's kind of a big moment for them. And um, he's like, Look, I don't want to hurt your child. He said, So this is and he's they were nerf footballs. He were soft, he said, but still, he goes, He's Peyton Manning, he's Peyton Manning, throws a laser beam. He does, and he finally he said, you know, I kind of got done with my spiel, and he said the he said one of the parents of the mom and dad came up and said, I want you to hit my kid in the face.

SPEAKER_05 56:07

Because for the rest of his life, this get you know, that the kids get you know, he gets to be like, Yeah. Remember that commercial? That was me. You know, my gosh, yes.

SPEAKER_07 56:16

This one in the dome for Dayton.

SPEAKER_06 56:18

Oh, that's so great. Absolutely. I I do I I I think that um you're obviously we talked about you know your your experience in in arena league and where uh how that uh uh applies now. We're coming into Springball, can't miss that. This comes out uh we got Springball tomorrow. Uh and so uh everybody's welcome to come out to that. Uh let's get the details on on that. Uh we're gonna feed the team afterward. We're gonna we're excited, we're gonna be grilling Iowa chops, which if you haven't had that coach, I mean uh we think that they're the best. Uh it's just they're pork chops, but they're thicker and you know, there's just they're just the best. And so uh the the team will have that. Now the weather on Saturday could be a little iffy on the in the uh in in the time frame. It's cold. It's gonna be cooler, yeah, for sure. So I think we might probably feed in the Djack. I think we talked with Adam a little bit about that and just getting that squared away. But that's something we're doing. Let's talk about what we're dealing with uh in spring ball. Uh Coach Gales had mentioned that you know, depending on where we're at, and Coach Callaway too, uh just you know, uh as with the with the with the line, the big boys particular, it could be ones-on-ones. Uh he wants to see what we're uh working with, but at the same time, obviously we're keeping everybody healthy, and we've got a ways to go on on uh b both sides of the line, want to make sure that we get those built up. And we're doing the that part of it, but where are we at on the uh draw for the for the line on the recruiting? Uh where do we need to be? What are the goals? And of course, we got a few months before the actual season starts. So let's let's talk about those two things, where we're at with the line currently that you're focused on, and then obviously we're um, you know, let's talk a little bit about spring ball.

SPEAKER_07 58:08

Sure. Um, you know, where we're at now, you know, we're we're getting better. You know, a little bit every day. Um I actually had one of the one of the guys in there today. I showed him practice film from my the first practice I was there versus our last practice we had. And I'm like, look, look at where what we were getting wrong and look at where we're getting things right now. Like, so you know, it's a it's a process, you know. Offensive line is is one of the most unique positions on the field because it it takes five guys acting in one as one to be successful. You know, you can't have four do it right, one do it wrong, or plays don't work.

SPEAKER_04 58:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 58:52

You know, I I sent my guys a video. Um, Coach Summerall at Florida was talking about it, and he's like, you know, the offensive line is the only position that doesn't need anybody else to play well to be successful, but everybody else needs the offensive line to play well for them to be successful.

SPEAKER_06 59:08

Amen.

SPEAKER_07 59:08

You know, so you know, it's a process of you know, taking those guys, getting them to jail so that, you know, they work well with each other. And it's a process, you know. You don't I didn't expect to walk in there day one and then be world beaters, you know, but they're great kids, they they want to get better. Um, they they take to coaching. Um you know, I coaches, you know, you've been out there, sir. I I'm I yell, I get on them, I'm gonna hold them accountable. You know, I told them I was like, if I let you slide because you don't step right, but you made the block, but you stepped wrong, if I don't hold you accountable, I'm saying it's okay to not do it the right way. So, you know, they've taken to that. Some of them, you know, so I'm like, all right, this is a little bit different, but you know, I'm not gonna change who I am. Um we're gonna I'm gonna hold them accountable. Yeah, you know, we were gonna build that line with with guys that want to be there. And I think we have that. You know, we got guys that are truly committed and you know, they want to get better. You know, we were in the weight room. They're like, Coach, you know, this is what I what I bench, this is where I'm at. Man, what can I do to get better? Like, all right, well, let's look at a couple things besides the weight room. What are you doing outside the weight room? What's your nutrition look like? How are you eating? I'm not eating great. Well, man, all right, let's let's talk about that, you know. So it's gonna take more than just the coaching on the field to bring them together. It it's it's you gotta look at coaching the line holistically. It's it's everything, man. I told those guys, if you're in the cafeteria, you all should be eating together. There shouldn't be, you know, two over here, two over that. You should be all you need together all the time. If you're up in the dorms and you're playing video games, y'all should be doing it together. That is the one position that they just they have to do everything together because they have to do it together on the field.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:50

You know, Coach Summerall points out like, you know, a receiver has a great game. He he makes 10 catches for 200 yards and six touchdowns, and we win. That's great. He had a great game, but what did the other receivers do?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:03

O-line ain't like that.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:05

You know, he he said uh a defensive lineman, he makes one play out of seven. That's a pretty good lineman.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:11

Really good.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:11

If you make one play, if you do it right one time out of seven on the O line, you're fired.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:16

You know?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:17

So it's and there's no and there's no stats to it. It it I mean, that's the that's the downfall of the uh O-line. Uh we're gonna on you know when the season comes around, we'll do our Wednesday night coaches show like we've been doing for the last several years. And um, you know, the the reality is is yeah, we we're we're talking to Coach Callaway, we're talking to a couple of players, talking to Coach Callaway again. What what did we do in the last game? What we got game in the game coming up, and you're just going by the stats that are you know presented. Well, unfortunately, online they just don't get stats. And but yet you're right. They if they don't do their job, nobody else does either.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:54

I guess we we have one stat, pancakes.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:56

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, is that officially recorded though?

SPEAKER_07 1:02:00

I don't know if it's officially recorded, but it should be.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:03

That's right. Yeah. Well, add it. Add it to our sports information connectors. Yeah. Yeah. Well, to get that done. Yeah. Well, I think that um the uh uh the timbre of the program is is uh deepening in resonance because of the age that we've got and the experience that we've got in our coaching staff. We've gone from a very young coaching staff for the last several years into a uh now a very experienced coaching staff from all over the country in different ways. And we are in a conference that demands every week, you know, and I'd say that's probably true. I mean, most people would in any any conference in the NAI or any any you know level would say, well, that's how it is in football. Um but this uh this is a tough conference, you know, and uh there's a lot of pride in this conference, there's a lot of um history, and there's a lot of um rivalries that we're not at this point, honestly, we're not part of any of those because we're not part of we can't be you can't be part of the rivalry if you haven't taken a win from somebody that had one, and we haven't gotten that win. And obviously, I know that all the coaching staff and the players definitely are you know that's the goal is to go out there and win. So uh how is the mindset of the the the team as you've seen it? You've been here a couple of weeks now, um, and just from sometimes it's nice to come into that spring ball while it's happening and and and seeing where things are at, getting that observation kind of from an outside perspective. What do you what are you seeing?

SPEAKER_07 1:03:47

I mean, I I see we've got a group of kids right now that are hungry.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:51

They want to win. You know, they they want to win.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:54

They do.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:54

They they they're you know, we hear the we can't have what happened last year or the year before. We get it.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:00

These kids are hungry and they want to win. Uh and you know, they're taken to coaching. They're they're they're doing the things that we're asking, you know. They want to win. That's that is the mindset of the team. Like, we're in a win. We want to win now.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:18

Very good. Yeah, definitely. We've got some, you know, we we got some great kids um that returned. We've got um some great kids that came in halfway through the year and and looking forward to seeing, you know, what we do to fill that roster um come this fall and and welcome these young men back on campus uh July, April, or July, April. Hmm. I skipped a few months. Yeah, that's all right. Yeah, well, I mean, whatever. You do whatever you want. But uh yeah, looking forward to all that. Um, definitely. So, like recruiting-wise, um, how are things looking for you guys? Because I mean, you sold timeshares, you should be able to get a kid to come play football at Waldorf, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:05:01

I I mean that's that that's the plan. That's the plan. Um, you know, my so I I've already reached out to quite a few of my contacts around around the country. Uh obviously most of my recruiting ties are in the in the southeast.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:15

So um there'll be some uh there'll be some kids from the southeast of this way, uh, some Tennessee boys, some some Georgia kids. We you got a Tennessee kid on your on your squad right now. Yeah, Andrew. Uh so it's it he's about his his hometown is about an hour from where mine is.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:34

His is a little bit north up in the mountains. Yep. So and then there actually there that one of our running backs is from Lenore City, Tennessee, which is right about hour and fifteen minutes west of where I'm from. So well, we got some we'll have some Knoxville kids up here.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:51

That's great. All right, that's great. Those uh those Tennessee volunteer bounce backs, the guys that I mean, why not? Why not? Let's bring them in. Yeah. We need we need those dudes. So yeah, if you're I mean, that's what they do over at Concordia. Are you kidding me? They're uh they're a half hour twenty minutes away from the University of Nebraska Lincoln. I mean, you see a lot of that. So I mean uh Well, your grades aren't good. Hodge likes to keep playing football.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:15

Yeah, I play I played against them in college. So I I went to Union College for two years and then I transferred to Mount Scenario College in Wisconsin. It doesn't exist anymore.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:26

I was gonna say I haven't heard it so here in Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:29

Well it's in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. So about an hour and a half northeast of Eau Claire. Okay, up on the Flambeau River. Well, yeah, we got there, we played the season and the school shut down. Oh so um yeah. And then I ended up in Montana. But when we well when I was at Mount Sonero, we actually played Concordia in Nebraska.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:51

So yeah, I've You've seen them, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's uh and again, um whether you've heard of it or not, you know, the G PAC, we believe strongly that it's the best NAI comp football conference um and conference um in the nation. Um again, there's history, there's tradition, yes, there's rivalries, but you know, the the fact that the schools that come out of the G Pack, at least football-wise, are always the expectation is national championship, you know, and um well heck, there's been an Iowa school that's been in the championship game for like nine or ten years at the NAI now. Great. Yeah, this conference or the other, yeah. Yep, absolutely. So so yeah, um, so coach, one of the things that that we always like to do, um, because we're getting close to our time. Oh yeah, we're doing good. That is uh is we always like to have our guests be able to have the last word, you know, what whether you want to say something to family, friends, uh players, fans, the university, or if you've got some sort of little pithy thing that you always wanted to say for uh the uh the interwebs to to hear your voice, then by all means, this sir, is your opportunity to do just that. So the last word goes to coach.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:09

I guess, you know, obviously, yeah, I I couldn't do any of this with without my wife and my family's support, and they've been phenomenal. You know, we're obviously we're living apart right now. He or she's there, family's there, you know. So obviously my my family, first and foremost, they're awesome. Um, you know, and then of course the the I gotta thank the coaches along the way that have helped me, you know, the soldiers' sidelines program, um some of the coaches by name, I guess I'll throw that there, you know, Jerry Cruzy, Greg Williams, um uh Toriano Morgan, you know, those guys really helped me um get to where I'm at. Um, you know, just really thankful to those people. I'm thankful for this opportunity. Uh, you know, don't think that I take this for granted. I am extremely happy to be here. Like, man, I pulled up, you know, Sunday night and got here by eight o'clock and I was just like, all right, I'm ready to go to work. Let's go to the office. Like, you know, Coach Gales, he called me, he's like, all right, you know, he offered me the job and I was like, I'm telling you, yeah, let's do this. Let's go. Uh, can I start recruiting right now? And he's like, I'm not on campus yet. Can I start recruiting? And he's like, Yeah, go at it. So, you know, as soon as I got the word that I was coming here, I was ready to get started. I was chomping the bit to be here. Uh, they had to tell me, Whoa, no, you can't do it for a couple, you think go be a couple, you know, you gotta wait a week, you know. I was no man, I'm I'm in the car. Like, I he he told me how how quick can you be here. I was like, Coach, it takes about 13 hours. I need two hours back.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:39

So uh, you know, so I I am extremely excited to be here and and I'm just really excited about the support and the facilities. I I was telling them, like, some of these facilities, these are some of the best facilities I've been around. Like, honestly, I and like our weight room, I mean, that that's phenomenal. You know, we're getting brand new turf. Yeah, man. You know, so there's so much so many positive things and so much greatness that's going on here. It's like, man, I I'm excited. Like, I'm ready to get go and get winning. You know, and and I I believe that that's where we're gonna be. We're we're gonna win. We're gonna turn this around. I didn't drive 15 hours and leave my family in East Tennessee to not turn this thing around, man. That's that's what we're that's what we're here for.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:28

Love to hear it. Love to hear it. I'm ready to rum ball. Oh, I see what you did there. That's pretty good. Well, Troy, um, I would be remiss. Uh, we're recording this on a Wednesday. Um, so today is actually the 15th of April. Uh, tomorrow is a pinnacle moment in my life, and the fact that uh my my beautiful bride and I will be celebrating 32 years together. Um I'm a lucky man, and I just wanted to say Keila, thank you for for everything that you've put up with over the last 32 years, and I can't wait to do 32 more at least. I don't know what would that make me. Damn it all. I'd be almost 90. Good. Ain't gonna happen. Yeah, it is. Ah, whatever. Whatever. But anyway, so yeah, super excited uh to celebrate with you tomorrow, babe. That's awesome. Tomorrow, now we're really messing with people's time. Uh yeah, yeah, yeah. You step back. We're this we recorded it on a Wednesday. Annie's anniversary is on a Thursday. This comes out on a Friday. Tomorrow's a Saturday when you see this, and come on out, uh, bring your tailgating gear. We're gonna watch what these uh guys have been doing, see what the coaches have put together. Um we're gonna have um uh some I think it uh are we planning on an 11 a.m. start? Is that 1130? I don't know. I'm not sure. I'm gonna get to the locker room probably somewhere. If you get there at 10 and you're hanging out and you're if you actually would this would be kind of fun. If you're there at 10, you might see some of the uh the the the heels and huddles uh people doing some of the stuff. And then uh we got our uh uh scrimmage, we get to see them uh work on some uh different uh things that they got going on. Uh we'll have music going uh and uh it'll be a good time. We're gonna feed uh the team afterwards, and everybody's welcome to come out. So by all means, uh come on out. Listen, uh, this is a whole new coaching staff uh for the most part. So uh there's it it might be a little bit cooler, but it's still springtime in Iowa, so for us this is nearly Shorts weather, and so uh get out there, have a good time, and uh show them uh what Forestity is all about, what they can expect uh this coming fall. Yeah, absolutely. Well, couldn't have said it better. Coach Leo Rumbah, um, it's a pleasure. I you guys uh you got to hear him um and uh get to know him. Come out on Saturday, uh get out there. The coaches want to get to know you, the gridiron club members, and they want to get to know the community that and and again they've been they've been immersed in football um since they since they got here. Um they've been around the town a little bit, but let's be honest, folks. Get out there, let's meet these guys, let's see uh see what they're putting together, and then we've got all summer recruiting and bringing in those dudes, and then uh it's it's straight off at the end of the summer, which is gonna happen sooner than later. You bet. Yeah, absolutely. Coach, thanks so much for coming today, buddy.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:29

Uh thank you guys for having me. And if you guys see me, by all means say hey, because I'll say howdy to y'all.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:34

Amen. Amen. Well, Troy, that's gonna do it for uh season five, episode four of the Waldorf Gridiron Club Podcast. Thanks so much for taking some time out of your day to to take a few moments with us. So don't forget to text or leave a voicemail. You'll probably make it on the show. Oh. Challenge. Challenge. It seems like. Yeah. Remember, how do you want us to open the show? What type of accent, what type of voice do you want to open? I feel like Carrie would take advantage of that. Oh, really? Do you think he's got the eggs to do it? I think I don't know. Maybe we'll find out. You'll he'll leave a message specifically for Papa Buff. Ooh, that's great. All right. That's gonna do it, folks. Thanks so much for listening for Troy Thompson. This is Andy Buffington, and forever and always, Go Warriors.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:38

You can join the Waldorf Gridiron Club and be part of the best small college football experience teams on the network. Just visit our website and visit your membership level at Waldorf Gridiron Club.org. You can also click on the support the show link in the show notes to donate.